Photo Shoot: Beautiful Baby Girl!

This sweet girl is the daughter of some friends of ours. She is such a sweet baby!

If you'd like to see more of this set, you can click here to see a few more!

Photo by Starshine Photography!

Uncle and Nephew

Sam came over to our house on Saturday. He and Brian were dressed alike, and they didn't even plan it! I guess great men have great fashion sense and that's all there is to it!

It was so adorable seeing the two of them swinging next to each other on the swing set. I'm not sure who had the most fun!

Based on the smiles on their faces, I think it was a tie!

Baby Birdies

Still no referral, but the dove outside the nursery windows is a mama! Actually, shortly after I took the last photos, I noticed the little baby birds in the nest. They're growing by the day!

He's a Mensch!

Have you seen this interview that President Bill Clinton gave to Jenna Bush Hager?

It was worth watching for the four minutes that it lasted. Besides the novelty of watching a Bush interview a Clinton, it was sweet to see their interactions. No doubt that Clinton has done some wonderful humanitarian work in the years since his presidency ended. But my favorite moment of this interview was when Hager asked him how he thought he would feel when Chelsea walks down the aisle.

The man paused and as his thoughts drifted toward Chelsea and her upcoming wedding day, his face changed from presidential to paternal, and the man was a downright sweetheart.

I think it is helpful to remember that the people who we most often know as talking heads delivering carefully scripted sound-bytes are also capable of thoughtfulness and candor--their human emotions run as deeply as our own!

Mary Poppins Moment

I had a total Mary Poppins moment today when I looked out the window of the room that will be our nursery to see this lovely lady sitting atop her nest.

Maybe we'll become mothers around the same time!

Wildflowers

This is the time of year when the highways and country sides are decorated with the brilliant colors of Texas wildflowers.

Their beauty inspires people of all ages.

On Friday, we drove out to Brenham where we met my sister and nephew to take pictures in the bluebonnets. Jilly really needs to work on having fun, don't you think? ;)

The weather was just beautiful, and so was the ranch where we stopped to take these pictures. (Many thanks to the kind owners who let us tromp through their flowers!)

It was a really great day!

TMI? I say, "Share on!"

So I just read this article about "Oversharing in the Workplace", which regales the reader with such horror stories as one worker having to hear his office buddy share a story about shaving his legs before a bicycle race, or another woman blurting out that her 16 year old son was conceived on her first date with her husband in high school.

All I can think in response to the article is, "Really? Have we as a society become so isolated that we can't handle hearing a male coworker talk about shaving his legs for a bicycle race?"

I'm not saying that appropriate boundaries aren't important, because they are. However, I think it's sad that we live our lives behind such well constructed walls that we find it hard to hear even such benign things as shaving ones legs for a race.

Okay, so admitting that you had sex on the first date with your husband might be inappropriate work conversation. I get that. But what I also get is that we are human beings with quirks and frailties, and I'm not sure that what we classify as "oversharing" really is "Too Much Information".

Maybe it's just a way to say, "Hi. I'm alive, and I fail, and I have joys and I cry sometimes. Am I the only one?"

What if instead of looking the other way while shouting "T-M-I!", we could look that person in the eye and say, "Dude! Did you have to borrow your wife's razor for that?"

At worst, we might feel uncomfortable. At best, we might make a new friend!

Para Mis Chicas...

I’m writing this post as I fly home from a week spent with two of my dearest friends. We had a fabulous week together in Charleston, South Carolina. It continues to be one of my favorite American cities.

As wonderful a place as Charleston is--and we went to so many cool places--my favorite moments of the trip were our evenings together at home when we just sat around talking, drinking wine and having dinner together. These dinners were Spanish style, of course, which means they included a big salad, a baguette, and a plate of sliced salami and strong cheese! In true Spanish fashion, these dinners usually got going around 9 or 10 pm and then lasted a couple of hours.

The three of us met in 2002/3 working for the same organization in Zaragoza. We became super close friends then and that closeness continues to this day. (And I really have no doubt that it will continue forever!)

As we parted at the airport, we hugged and cried and said our goodbyes. I’m blessed to have such special friends.

!Chicas, gracias por pintar mi vida de mil colores!

Charleston: Day 6 -- Isle of Palms

Today has been my favorite day of the trip so far. After a leisurely morning of sleeping in, coffee and breakfast, we went for a walk on the beach at Isle of Palms.

Tonight, we made predictions (and wrote them down!) about what our lives will be like three years from now when we hope to meet up again. May calls it "Three by Three"--every three years the three of us will endeavor to get together. We stayed up late talking. It was a rich time of friendship. I was a little sad this morning realizing that in two more days we'll all go back to our separate corners of the world (one of us in TX, one in the Carolinas, and the other in Spain), but I am so thankful and so content to have these women as my dear, dear friends. I love them.

I hope you all have a very Happy Easter!

Day 4: Angel Oak and Kiawah Island

Thursday, we drove out to Kiawah Island. On the way, we stopped to visit "Angel Oak". It is gigantic and beautiful!

Kiawah Island has a lovely resort where we had lunch...

And then we walked down to the beach.

May and I enjoyed a lovely walk 'n' talk together on the beach while Anne took a little nap on her beach towel. Doesn't she look like Audrey Hepburn in her little black dress?!

WOW!

Did you read the story/see the amazing photos of the woman who went paddle boarding on a 40 mile voyage to encourage her best friend in her fight against breast cancer? For two of the nine hours of her journey, she was escorted by a friendly whale!

Click HERE to read the whole story...it's totally worth the read!

Charleston: Day 2 -- A Walk Through I'on

I'on is a new development, but the architecture is full of Old Charleston charm. Pure architectural eye candy.

Day 1: Arrive in Charleston!

The fun started right away when Anne greeted me at the airport with cachirulos for each of us! ¡Olé!We grabbed some lunch, dropped my stuff off at her house and then headed back to the airport to pick up May. On the way to the airport, we saw a rainbow that was 180 degrees!

Then we met our Spanish friend May who came all the way from Zaragoza. We're having a blast!

Semana Santa

I’m on an airplane as I type this en route to Charleston, SC, where my best friend Anne lives. We’re going to spend Easter Week together with our dear friend, May, who is flying in from Spain for a girls’ week! I’m so excited to see them--to have a whole week together feels like friendship decadence! The three of us met back in 2002/3 when we were all working together in Spain. We became fast friends, and I’m so thankful that we have maintained our friendships over the past seven years!

In thinking about this trip, it occurred to me that Anne and I have have spent one other Easter week together. It was Holy Week (or Semana Santa, as they say in Spain) of 2003. I was living in Zaragoza, and a group of my American friends/co-workers and I decided to take a trip down to Seville where Semana Santa is celebrated in grand style.

There are processions through the streets with giant floats depicting scenes from the original Holy Week:

Photo found here.

Operatic songs are sung in the open air:

Photo found here.

Women are dressed in their traditional headdresses:

Photo found here.

And then there is the most striking sight of all: the throngs of people walking through the streets in these hooded garments that look to my American eyes precisely like those worn by the Ku Klux Klan.

Photo found here.

It is a most disconcerting thing to see. I never could get used to it. After associating such an image with the most heinous and unsavory of aspect of American culture, it was hard to see it as having any other meaning, regardless of what country I was in.

As I came to learn, Spaniards have worn such garments during Holy Week for centuries. The hooded cloaks are symbols of repentance. I tried to get comfortable with that and to dissociate what I saw around me in the streets of Seville from the symbol of hate that hooded cloaks symbolize here in America.

But it was impossible.

I have always tended to diffuse uncomfortable moments with humor, and Anne still gets the giggles when we reminisce about one particular day of our trip to Seville when I leaned over to her and said, “Hey, Annie, purple Kluxer at six o’clock”.

I am now arrived safely in Charleston, and perched on Anne's kitchen countertop to greet me was this little trinket she bought in Seville those many years ago.

Nothing like a little purple-clad penitent to bring back memories!

Newsies!

I'm pleased to announce that I'm not the only actor in the family! One of the many joys of my trip to San Francisco this past weekend was getting to see my "nephew and niece" perform in their school play. I put them in quotes because they are technically cousins, but because of our age differences, one of my nephews called me "Aunt Tracy" this weekend, and as you already know, I relish my role as aunt in life, and I'm happy to adopt anyone as a niece or nephew who would like me to be their auntie!

My nephew played the role of "Racetrack Higgins", a gambling man with a penchant for cigars (chocolate ones in the case of this school production)! Here he is singing his heart out:

And here is my beautiful niece (center) who played one of the newsies:

The two of them are cousins, and here they are doing a scene together:

I was truly impressed by my nephew's fully developed character. He was really quite impressive to watch on stage:

"Strike! Strike! Strike!"

Way to go you two! I'm proud of you!

Interesting Timing. What do you make of this?

I've noticed that even when I'm eating what I consider to be a normal diet of foods, my weight continues to creep ever upward. It is very discouraging.

This morning, I came across this article which basically states that the latest research shows that women who don't diet (like me) but just eat a regular diet of foods can slow weight gain (but not necessarily stave it off) if they exercise at a moderately intense level for an hour a day. And that means seven days a week.

When researchers followed more than 34,000 non-dieting women (average age 54.2) over many years, they found that regular physical activity was associated with gaining less weight over time—but only in women who weren't overweight or obese. (That means a BMI of lower than 25, or less than 150 pounds for a 5'5" woman.) And those women had to exercise quite a bit: An average of an hour a day of moderately intense activity—such as a brisk walk—or the equivalent (if you exercise more strenuously, less time is required) during a week was the amount of activity recorded for the normal-weight women who gained less than 5 pounds during the 13-year study. (Just 13.3 percent of women studied fit that bill.)

While it is encouraging that 420 minutes per week of moderately intense exercise will help stave off those extra pounds, I find it mildly heartbreaking that it won't make even the tiniest dent in them, in terms of losing some of them! To do that, I would have to exercise above and beyond those seven hours a week and probably go on a diet, too.

And truthfully, as I observe my normal routine, I believe that to be true. Here's the thing, though: I don't really want to go on a diet. Diets don't really work in terms of keeping weight off. That requires a lifestyle change, and my current lifestyle isn't excessive in terms of what I eat.

It seems like nature's way is for a woman to gain weight over time, and it is emotionally exhausting to be engaged in a never ending fight that it seems like I'm destined to lose.

For now, all I can seem to muster is to enjoy my food (which is hard to do when I'm feeling constantly anxious about it sticking to my hips and tummy), to try to eat a balanced diet, and to get out and exercise for the health benefits (ie. a healthy heart) even if I'm not losing weight in the process.

I'd love to hear thoughts from any of you women out there. I'm discouraged.

Note: I'm 100% aware that my body won't change if I don't change. I'm willing to make a change, but it's going to have to be something that I can maintain over time. Right now, I'm thinking that might mean going on a morning and an evening walk, to increase my amount of exercise.

Newest Member of the Family

My cousin and his beautiful wife recently gave birth to this little sweetheart! I got to meet her this weekend while I was in California, and let me tell you...she is a little bundle of precious preciousness!

Does anything melt your heart like a beaming father delighting in his new baby?! I also love generational pictures like this one!

Even though the new baby and I are officially first cousins once removed, her mom was calling me "Aunt Tracy", and of course, I love the title! I never had any idea how happy I would be as an auntie. It's one of my favorite roles in life!

*sigh* I love my family!