Life Just Passes You by...

WOW! Somehow in the last four months I completely forgot I even have a blog! Isn't that funny - I came back to Houston, planned on living in Connecticut, was struck by Ike, stayed in Houston, found a job, lost a job, moved twice, survived Christmas and WOW now it's the day before 2009 - how crazy is all this? So, yes, in the middle of my life's chaos I forgot I post a blog.

Let the BLOGS begin!

One of my personal goals is too post at 3 blogs a week in 2009 - it's very therapeutic - it's like writing a journal online - except I don't share my secrets ;)

So for Christmas, one of my best friends, Jennifer gave me two of her original art pieces that I fell in LOVE with when she made them. I call them "my ladies". You'll see, check them out:

Butterfly Lady
Lucious Hair Lady

O.k. so the artist's titles are slightly different - but they are "my ladies". She hand cuts EVERYTHING, isn't she incredible? She is extremely talented. By her work at www.colorflystudio.etsy.com.

I hope everyone has a great 2009 and may all your dreams come true!

Until next year!

Moose

PEE PEE!

PEE PEE! PEE PEE! PEE PEE! PEE PEE! PEE PEE!
YEAH! Zachary went pee all on his own for the first time today! Woohoo!

Zachary's 2nd Birthday!

OMG! Zachary is two! I can't believe it! He has matured so much in the last couple of months. He is able to communicate so well with me what he wants - such when he wants me to open his water, take his harness off, etc. He's just a cutie patootie! Anyway, for his 2nd bday we took to Atlantis Marine World out in Riverhead in Long Island - he loved it! In spite of the 1 1/2 hour drive each way.

His first picture of the day, as a two year old :)

Zachary touching his first sting ray - he never touched one again. Just kidding, their stingers are taken off and he loved watching them.

What a good pic of him next to the aquarium!

Not a clear pic, but here he's coming out of one of the tunnels.

If you look closely at the bubble in the middle of the penquins, you can see Zachary.

Mommy and her angel muffin :) He makes me really makes me happy :)

By the end of the trip - he is all tuckered out.

To be continued.... his birthday party will be posted tomorrow.

Zachary and Me - Recent Pics

Oh the life! This is what it's like in Montreal - outdoor BBQ's, picking fresh veggies from the garden, in the summer...but in the winter it's a totally different story - lots of snow, watching movies, playing cards.

Oh my cute Angel :)

Us on the anchor at the Old Port

Zachary, Eleni & the Mime :)

Zachary directly outside of the Beaver Tail shop.

The best pic ever of Bubs!

Me and Bubby in front of a flower bed in the Old Port

They sell these amazing deserts called Beaver Tails - OMG! They are amazing!

Self - portrait...

night, night...

Montreal

This is the Old Port a.k.a., Old Montreal - this is one of my favorite places on earth! You just walk down the street and breath it all in - from musicians, to magicians, to fireworks, to artists, to jewelers - it is wicked cool!

Artist Lane

Down by the river - it's amazing that this serene picture was taken in the middle of the hustle and bustle of the Old Port.

Drama students just having a good ole' time dressing up and standing on the street for people to see them.

Jacque Cartier Plaza - the central part of the Old Port where everything branches off. Down the middle there are cafes, ice cream shops, caricature artists, etc.

A little something Zachary "picked" up in Montreal :)

Dogs

I don't know, but when I walk my dog and people come up to her and do the whole puppy talk I stop and let my dog socialize with them. NOT HERE! Here people act like I want to take their dog from them. When Scott was here and he was trying to pet this crazy lady's dog she pulled the dog away from him and frantically walked away from us. As we were waiting for the light to change to cross the street she was like complaining about us to herself - OUT LOUD-; another guy, that same day told me his dog was a trained guard dog, trained to attack, and he suggested I not go near his dog; and then today, THREE people pulled their dogs away from us, as I was trying to talk to the puppies. Why are these people so possessive of their stinking dogs!!!!

But on a good note - I had great exercise today and went to a great park. What I thought was going to be a leisurely stroll to the park turned out to be 20 blocks their, serious inclined walkways and another 20 blocks back. THEN, Bubby was sleeping and I had to carry him up the crazy steps in this building. The park was incredible, it was right on the East River and in between the Triborough Bridge and another massive bridge. Just a beautiful view. The park is was great for Bub's and had this whole misting area for refuge from the heat today - and their was a great breeze right off the river. It was just a great morning today. THEN, Bub's had a FOUR hour nap - do you believe it!!!

Beauty

So, New York is good for one thing - photography! With a good angle you can capture some great pics!

Greece

We went to my mom's, best friend's, restuarant today. I can say that there are aspects of New York that don't totally irritate me. As we sat at the front with the big windows open and the nice breezed blowing in, we at watermelon, grapes and cheese with bread - I totally wanted to go to Greece! Nothing ever inspires me to go to Greece, but today did. That's just one of the great memories I have of Greece (and I went 23 years ago), sitting on patio eating watermelon, cheese and bread. Hmmm, maybe Greece is in my future? Not sure yet. I need to get Grand Rapids, MI and Jamestown, RI out of the way first and then we'll see - not sure if I can convince Scott to go, but I hope so.

When I first met my step dad, some twenty years ago, he used to always ask me, "Why do you walk so slow, everyone in Houston does?" and my reply has always been, "It will be there when I get there". I was sitting in the car yesterday waiting for my mom to run an errand and I was people watching. EVERYONE is in a hurry here. I mean everyone! Even little old people who look like there are going to fly with the wind don't like people to pass them on the sidewalk. I don't understand, what's the rush? Although it explains why there are absolutely no overweight people here. I think it also explains why there is a Starbucks every fifty steps and why just about everyone smokes here (cigarettes are $8 a pack here). It's like they need fuel to keep up the crazy pace around here. I mean is the building going to vanish if they don't get there in time? New York truly defines a rat race.




What's the rush? It's like all New York breeds this certain type of mentality. To be in the front, to be on the top, to have the most, to get the most, to have the best, to be the best - why can't these people relax and smell the flowers? It's very rare here that you can even smell flowers, why not enjoy them?



Everything just reeks capitalism! There's nothing wrong with it, but if you eat, sleep and breath it - then nothing else will matter eventually.

Scott & Leni in the sitting area across from the WTC site.



















Ground Zero was under contruction:













Central park










Zachary's first subway ride.

Just different

So, as much I absolutely LOVE New York - I would definetely HATE to live here. When I was single and ready to go it was a totally different story. Now I have Zachary, which means ready to go in about 15 minutes. Not to mention having to carry him and his stroller up and down the subway stairs (and there are many). To go anywhere is an ordeal - even without him most of the times. You can't just jump in your car, go to your destination, park, shop and leave. OH NO - you have to decide which destination is most important to you, decide which route is most cost efficient and the path of least resistance (hardly ever is it both), figure out what time of the day would be best, and then take 3 hours to do a simple 15 minute Houston errand. Bluh!

One example: When Scott was in town we wanted to go to Whole Foods and have a picnic at Central Park. Sounds simple? Ha! I looked up Whole Foods locations and it said it was in Columbus Circle - oh my gosh! anyone who's ever been to NY knows where that is - well, it seems that NY likes to induce it's rat race by hiding everything INSIDE - you see, nothing is visible from the street, the facades are like Mardi Gras masks and you have to guess what's inside. So after a little searching and wasted efforts we finally asked someone and they told us in was in that building and pointed to a midrise size office building - who'd a thunk? Then we have to find the elevator to get the stroller down. THEN, after we decided what to eat we realized there are line markers - you know the ones that say "If you are here there about 50 people in front of you and it will take approximately 4 minutes" - that's sign wasn't so bad except I think we were at the 150 people marker. After we shopped we mosied on over to CP (for those of you have never been the park is something like 240 acres) so we asked someone what a good place to chill and eat was - he snickered and actually came up with something cute - when we realized it would take us 20 minutes to walk there, we plopped down at the first sight of picnicers.

Travel: 1 hour
Prep time: 2 hour
Lunch: 20 minutes

Getting home: Priceless

Jammies

SCORE!!!! - We went to Old Navy tonight and I bought Zachary 6 pairs of Jammies for $24 - Can you say SCORE? But I will say shopping in NY sux!!! I went to Old Navy and Marshall's and they are like a ZOO - I have been twice and both times the same thing. I couldn't find anything - I was on my hands and knees for the PJs.

Good night!
Len

The Benches

So today, Zachary and I, went for a little stroll through Astoria (Greek town) and I noticed something. First of all, each little, teeny tiny house has these teeny tiny yards that are like 8 x 8 feet. Each yard has totally it's own personality - some have grass for a make shift yard, some have plants, plants, plants, some have statues of frogs, people and even Jesus - but then something occurred to me. Some of the yards have cute little benches to make it feel nice and homey and as you look at the cute bench and think, awe how cute is that? you notice - THE CHAIN, HOLDING THE BENCH PRISONER WITHIN THE TEENY TINY 3 FOOT WROUGHT IRON FENCE- I mean do they really steal benches here! This is crazy!!!! Not to mention that as I walked by some of the yards, with my 2 year old in tow mind you, some of the people working out in their yards were eyeballing me as if I might do something to damage or steal something from these munchkin yards. Oye Vey! is all I could think.