To the circus...

Thursday we went to the Circus...
The Big Apple Circus is in town...and Ella Maria had actually been asking to go to the circus.  Don't ask me how she knew that the circus was in town...I think we have read a book or two about the circus, but I'm not sure how she really knew about it. I guess she is just a very bright child.  So, after asking for...well I can't even tell you, we got tickets.  I found a coupon code online that will give you 50% off each ticket, and it was only good for Thursday, 6:00 pm shows.  I guess it was meant to be...Ben was off Thursday (which is not something that happens often), and I got the discount code (which by the way had a 69% chance of working). 
The stars were all aligned...and we were on our way to the circus!  Ella Maria was literally jumping up and down.  We took the T into town around 4:00...that will give us time to get something quick for dinner, and get to the circus on time.  We got off at the Haymarket station, walked to the North End, had a slice of pizza, and some gelato.  Finally we were in front of the Circus tent...went in, found our seats, and we were ready for the show to start.
And the show started!
Ella Maria did not take her eyes off the stage the whole time...she was great.  Her favorite was "Grandma" the clown...when ever "she" was not on stage Ella Maria will ask "were did Grandma go?"
The dogs, the horses, the acrobats, everything was great...and she was all smiles and applause's for all!

 


Pizza at the North End

finally at the Circus!

the opening act...

"Grandma" the clown

Horse and as Ella Maria said..."the Princess"

Horses and " the Prince"

"The Russian"

Bello is back...he is a multi-talented guy...he is awesome!















a lot of the pictures did not come out...the Circus light is not the best for pictures.  But you get the idea...it was great...Ella Maria is still talking about it, and she can spot "Bello" in every single poster in town.  We will have to do this again!
Next adventure please...

Today Five years ago...

Today five years ago we were in Maui, Hawaii...take me back!!!
We had been there for 3 days already...and this day, May 15th, 2005 we were getting married.
The wedding took place at "The Cove" Beach, this little beach was hidden behind a brick wall...we had looked for it the day before without luck!  When we finally found it, it took our breath away...you will never expect what was behind that brick wall.
The weather was perfect...well, is Hawaii after all!
It was the perfect weather, the perfect place!
Everything was great...we were so happy to be lucky enough to had found all this over the internet, and not had encounter a problem at all.  Yes, we did everything on line...everything! I got my dress online too!  I had people freaking out for me...but I was very calm, sure that things were going to work out! What can I tell you...that is how I am, calm, cool and collected! LOL
A week before the wedding I got my dress...I had order a size smaller on the regulars, cause at that time they did not have my size on petites.  They send this one and it was a bit big, but the other one had already been shipped.  I got it 3 days before we were leaving, and it fit like a glove.  As we were walking out the door to run some last minute errands, the Fedex man was getting out of the truck...he said "good thing you are here...cause you need to sign for it!".  That was luck!
Well, my dress had arrived...I just needed to finish sewing the small pearls I got for the orange ribbon I was going to attach to the waist of the dress.  Those pearls were done in the airplane on our way to Hawaii (when you were still aloud to bring a needle, thread, and scissors into the plane).
I got my shoes on line too!
We got the shirts (Guayaberas)  that Ben, our fathers, and my "Man of Honor" were going to use...on line! My dad's shirt was to big when we got it...so it ended up being shipped to Hawaii.
We were so laid back about everything...and all was beyond our expectations.
When I watch those TV shows with the brides going bonkers, screaming, crying, and pulling their hair out...well, I fell lucky, and of course very COOL!
We had a wonderful photographer...and had a sunset photo shoot.   Ben got a Harley Davidson for our drive away "car"...the pictures of that are amazing!
We had a wonderful time! And I wish we were there right now.  In my defense...on our trip back five years ago, I said to Ben...lets just stay in Hawaii, I don't want to go back.  But he gave me a few good reasons why we needed to get back.  But as soon as we landed in Boston and looked out the window, rainy, gray, cold day...I turn to Ben and said "see, I told you he should have stayed!"
And we are here now...with a beautiful daughter, and one more little one on the way.  We will be back one day...and bring the little ones to see the place Mommy and Daddy got married.  Maybe in 10 more years...I will start saving NOW!
Well, all there is left to say is: Love you Boo! Happy Anniversary!

enjoy the pictures...

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A trip to New York is in order. We love going down to the "City"...we have not gone down for a while now. I think the last time we went was for my birthday in 2006...that was pre-Ella Maria. That was the last year we were able to afford driving down, staying at a hotel, and eating at all the places we wanted to eat. Our trips down to NY have always been culinary oriented...and I would love to go back and go to all this other places on my list. And as the years go by, the list grows bigger!
That brings me to this next article...this has just made it to the list...that and a tapping of the Martha Stewart show (laugh if you like!).
Well, enjoy some light reading...hope you are not craving something sweet right now.

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City Garden...update

Well, since we have not done anything else...that is super exciting, worth writing about, I decided to show you how are little garden is doing.  Ella Maria gets up every morning, has her orange "juicy", and says hi to her plants.  Then a little later in the morning we go out to water them...except on the rainy days (and we had had a lot of those).  She takes very good care of her "planties" I'm very proud of her.

The oregano is doing great...well the tastiest weed out there has taken over the pot.  If one can't keep oregano alive...well, one should not have a garden.
The flowers are just beautiful...we have had blooms since day one.
The strawberries are our pride and joy!  We are going to have such good "crop" (12-16 strawberries).  If the weather would cooperate...and be a little bit warmer, and not so wet, I think the strawberries would be doing so much better.  But, we are happy just to see how pretty they look out on our terrace.
Last but not least...the leeks and scallion, they are growing...we will be eating them soon.  I might use them today for the chicken soup I will make Ben...he is off from work and feeling like *#*$&%.  Lets just say he is a bit under the weather.  Hope that chicken soup lives up to it's reputation!

OK... I'll stop the babbling and go straight to the pictures. 
enjoy!

and of course you all want to see a picture of Ella Maria with her "planties"...so here is one of her being goofy.

dresses...

#3

This is the other dress I was going to make for Ella Maria...I finally got around to it, and since I was already hard at work with a dress I decided to adventure in the making of a head band.  Which I had never made before...but how hard could it be? Well, let me tell you that as usual...things look much easier than they really are.  My brain loves to play this tricks on me, and make everything look SOOO simple.  In my head everything makes sense...but getting my hands to agree with it, not so much!
Ok...I might be complaining a little, it was not as bad.  Except for the fact that the elastic was a bit small the first time, but after finally fixing it she will have some room to grow.
Just as the first dress I made her for this "summer" (still waiting for the real warm weather), it is a simple tube dress made with a smocked fabric I got.  White with red & pink strawberries...very summery and cute!  With the first dress I used some ribbon for the shoulder straps...not this time.  I made my own bias tape out of the extra fabric I had.  Not to blow my own horn, but not bad at all.  It looks like a professional made it.   I even had enough fabric to make an extra dress & head band...we gave it to Annabelle for her Birthday.  (We need some pictures of Annabelle).
And as usual...the pictures is what we all want to see!
enjoy...

Ella Maria got a present!!!

One of Ben's coworkers got Ella Maria a dress (thank you so much).  She went to Mass Art for an exposition, and the students were having a sale of products made by them.  So a student made this dress, out of a old t-shirt and some pretty white eyelet fabric.  The dress is called "Mini Rock Star"...of course, with a Weezer T-shirt we could not call it anything else.

Here are the pictures...we needed the "Mini Rock Star" to have some attitude for the photo shoot, and what can I say...the model delivered!

She is so much FUN!

my little ROCK STAR!!!

I will be using this idea...A WHOLE LOT!

by popular demand...

Ella Maria & belly...

:)

First day at the beach 2010!!

Sunday was warm, a bit sunny, a great day to take a road trip.  So it was decided we would spend it at the beach.  After some research...we were on our way to Crane Beach in Ipswich, MA.   Stopped for lunch at the Clam House, after a bowl of clam chowder, a clam roll, and a hot dog for Ella Maria...we were on our way to the beach. 
As soon as we got there, Ella Maria could not wait to get in the water.  She was so happy to see the beach...like she had not seen it in years (OK, with New England winters, it might as well had been years!)
We spend the afternoon there.  Ella Maria played in the water, on the sand, in the water with the sand, build a castle out of sand, covered herself with sand, wash the sand off, and finally got covered with some more sand.  She was sticky, sweaty, and covered with...SAND.  We will be finding sand on her for the next few days.  It was finally time to leave to our next adventure...and that was not easy, she was not ready to go (we would still be there if it was up to her).  Finally we left, and before we could make it to our next adventure she was asleep...it was like she had gone into battle and back.  The sun, the water, and lets face it...the sand took a lot out of her.
It was a great day! Summer is finally here! We can't wait for out next adventure!
As usual the pictures are the best part of the story...

Welcome Charlie!

Congratulations to Alicia, James & Annabelle! Charlie is finally here...(Charlotte Mary Elizabeth), born April 23, 2010 at 1:35 pm.
And I just remembered I had not posted pictures of her baby shower present.

So in honor of Charlie's birth I decided to post some pictures of the little onesies, hat, and bear friend I made for her...

Congratulations to the proud family!!!

OH BARCELONA...

Great article in the New York times...
The food is just beautiful.
A tapas place...what I would love to own a place like this!
I propose moving to Barcelona...
language                  CHECK
desire to move         CHECK
food                         CHECK
all I need is the cash...a job...a place to leave...and to convince my husband!
check out the article...
http://travel.nytimes.com/2010/04/18/travel/18Barcelona.html