Saying Goodbye

Surrounded by my New York family, we all paid our final respects to Uncle Allen. Aunt Gloria and Uncle Allen had been married for 58 years. We will all miss him in our lives, but many happy memories will live on. Rest in peace, Uncle Allen.

Friday

My prayers, thoughts and love go out to my New York family, as my Uncle Allen was transported to the hospital last night with kidney failure. You all are in my constant thoughts today.

Danny is heading to East Texas to play guitar at a Relay for Life concert tonight. Good luck, Matthew and Danny!

Today is Kevin's last day on his current job. He'll be on call next week, but essentially has the week off, before starting his new job at SicolaMartin. He sure deserves a week off!

What fun it was to go to a night baseball game again! Matthew did great, and had an outfield hit on his last at-bat. Great job, Matthew!

Gong Gong & Pop Pop will return today from a great anniversary trip to Branson, MO.

We'll be at Murr C & Papa C's house tomorrow.

Kevin's New Job

Congrats to Kevin.... the ad agency that he interned for during his senior year of school called him in for an interview and then offered him a job! SicolaMartin is located in downtown Austin, and has been ranked by Texas Monthly as one of the best 10 companies in TX to work for, in their size category.

Danny's First "Gig"

Danny played guitar at Poor David's Pub Sat. night with Matthew Marcus McDaniel. They both love Texas Country music, and I think MMM's sound is a bit like the band Cross Canadian Ragweed. MMM's website is: http://matthewmarcusmcdaniel.com/ The 2 guitar-playing ladies in the photos were very talented, and 'easy on the eyes', facts which may have contributed to Andrew staying awake WAY past his bedtime for a rare night on the town... downtown even! When I asked Danny the next day if they had stayed after the show to hang out with the 2 female guitarists, he replied, "I wouldn't be alive today if I had," referencing his GF Danielle, who is one of the most beautiful girls around... I don't really think she has a THING to worry about! Danny seemed at ease on the stage, but I guess after countless dirt bike race starts, he's used to stomach butterflies.

Forts

Stumbled onto a link from within one of my favorite blogs - The Violet Hours, with photos submitted to a build-a-fort contest (http://www.booooooom.com/2009/10/13/wild-things-forts-vii-where-the-wild-things-are/#more-12295), and it took me down memory lane when Kevin and Danny used to build forts in our living room out of pillows and blankets.... I sure hope they remember those fun times!

Arboretum Shoot

My very talented, very sweet niece Shannon and I went to lunch and the Arboretum to see if the wind & snow had destroyed all of the tulips, or had left a few for us to photograph. A professional photographer might have arrived at the Arboretum as soon as it opened to capture images in the morning light, but OUR priorities were: the temperature needed to warm up enough and our tummies needed to be full, so we photographed in the very bright mid-day sunshine! I did sneak a couple of pics of Shannon, but we decided this trip was going to be all about the flowers, not about the humans. Thanks, Shannon, for lending me your zoom lens and for a great afternoon!

What's New & Random Stuff

Many prayers for my New York family that I love so much!
Thanks to Pop Pop & Gong Gong for a weekend trip to Austin & Wimberly
Loved spending time with Stephanie and Gong Gong
Thanks for meeting us for dinner, Kevin and Rachel
Both of my boys are in Austin this week!
Going to visit Murr C & Papa C on Saturday
Danny found a part time job
Papa's pear tree is in full bloom
Allergies are making me want to sleep 24/7
Wore sandals, pink toenails
Watching UT basketball tonight
Predict that Siobhan will win AI
Andrew riding the MS150 Houston to Austin ride in April
Jack wants to escape to the great outdoors and hunt for birds
Where are the bluebonnets this year?
Going on an arboretum photo shoot with Shannon
Kelley moved to a new place
Going to watch Matthew play baseball one evening soon
Wishing I could visit my NY family