The Meaning of Life, According to ELR...

I miss this show! I was looking up something on youtube today and stumbled across this. Made me laugh! It's worth watching!

I love you so much I could....

(photo from pinterest.com.)

This is the 4th year that B has been out of town over Valentine's Day!  This would make most women angry that they don't get to spend that one special day where you are suppossed to be with the ones you love spending unneccessary money and spending as much time together as the day will give!  Was that a run on sentence?!  BUT, I'm ok with B being gone, well, I wish with all my heart he was here, but I get 350+ days to tell and show him how much I love him!  So, I don't need a special day! 

LOVE YOU B, I love you so much I could Squish you!

Happy Valentine's Day from afar!

(Yes, I was taking that picture, while I kissed him!  I'm freaking talented!)

Car, Turtle, Frog and Penguin...

Anna is quite the artist.  She love's art.  You put paint, paper, crayons, scissors or any kind of craft in front of her and you have one happy kid!  Here are some pictures that she has painted at school, along with some pictures of us at her school program!

 Anna with Miss Janice from school.

I love her Car, Turtle, Frog and Penguin!

Dear New York...

 Dear New York,
It's me, Kelly. Perhaps not the Kelly you once knew, but down deep, it's still me. I've been gone far too long. I'm sure you didn't notice my long departure, but I noticed. I left my heart here 4 years ago. Although, not to worry, I felt it reconnect the second my eyes came upon your breathless skyline. Gasp. Your buildings, the smell, the sounds, oh how I have missed our frequent love affairs. I missed your busy streets, sleepless nights, and discovering something at every blink. The smells, are familiar to me and they have remained the same. Small favorite parts of you have changed, but I'm ok with that. We have to change to grow and become stronger. You may not have noticed, but I have changed too.

I have discovered new pieces of you that I love and when I come back, I will have to find once more.

( I soooo wanted to go see this sermon! )

 (Got to love street performers!)

(View from New Jersey)

Part of me is sad that I have to leave again, but I will be back.

Sincerely, Kelly

A couple of weeks ago, I was sitting at my computer like I always do. Dreaming of places to go. Hawaii, California, Connecticut, Berlin, I priced them all.  Most being far out if reach for what we had. And then, I found an amazing deal to NY. B walked in the doors to greet me from his crazy day. I looked at him, gave him a big kiss and said "let's go to NY for my birthday!" he looked at me very matter of fact like and said, "ok, let's go to NY for your birthday!" I looked at him in shock! Not from him telling me yes, but he has a crazy travel schedule coming up. Quite honestly he would be sacrificing a lot to take me here. Well, sacrifice in the work sense and being away that much more from the comforts of home. blah blah blah! Anyway, I pushed "buy" and it was official! 

New York, here we come! I began to act like a 8 year old who was just told I was going to Disneyland! I started to jump up and down. My kids came running in to see what was wrong. They really didn't know how to react, so they just started celebrating with me not knowing the reason.

New York warms my heart. I remember the first time that I came here. It was big, it was old and it was immediately embedded into my heart forever. Why? I don't know. New York is something you have to see to believe. It's the biggest, little city I've been too. 

Busy, so busy. So many people going so many places. Where? I don know. I am
Convinced you could spend a lifetime trying to it figure out. 

The smells are familiar. Awful, but I adore them. The burnt grill of the corner vendors, the putrid smell of the subway, coffee flowing from every couple feet. 
And now I am here.... Sigh... Having a fantastic time with the man I love.
More to come...

Sewing machine...

See this sewing machine?! 

Look hard!  Its beneath all the crap in my garage! Yep, there it is!

My mom gave me this beauty when I turned 30.  That's 5, yes, count them, 5 years ago almost to the day!  What have I done with it?!  Oh ya, that's right!  NOTHING!  If my memory serves me correctly, when I opened it up, I said, "What in the world (pretty sure I used a different word right here!) am I going to do with a sewing machine?  Thanks, I think?!"

How wrong was I?!  5 years down the road, I have SOOOO much I want to do with this, BUT, do I know how to use it?!  Ummmm... that's a BIG FAT NO!  This 34 year old brain (okay, so it's almost a 35 year old brain, but who's counting?!) can't remember how to thread of bobbin, much less actually plug it in! Damn high school home economics class! (Oops!  Sorry for the D bomb!) Why didn't I listen?! 

DANG IT!

Anyone want to teach me?!  I'll make you some yummy cheesecake cookies!

Why do you all HATE January...

I can't figure it out!  Why does everyone HATE January!?! I keep reading blogs about how everyone is down, depressed, can't function.... BLAH!  Who are you people?!  I LOVE JANUARY!!!

January to me means snuggling by the fire, sipping hot chocolate and cider while it snows.  Cooking, baking, being completely cold and running to get in a nice warm bed!  Watching movies while curled up by my best friend and eating caramel popcorn with my kids.  Ya, I don't do New Years resolutions, so I don't get concerned over that.  Yes, I LOVE the holiday's, but we all know they will be back, sooner rather than later.  I feel like we can start fresh and get going.  So far this January for me has been wonderful! 

For example, I just spent 2 full days with 3 of my favorite ladies EVER getting snowed in at our cabin!  I mean it!  2 FEET of snow in 2 days!  It was beautiful, hypnotic (we slept a lot), breathtaking and so much more.  We really should still be there, talking!  Why do I feel like I could talk to them FOREVER?!  There was never a lull in the conversation, except when we would finally pass out from exahustion.  Erica and I talked until 4AM and didn't even know it!  Then we were all back up by 8:30AM to do more talking, laughing, asking, wondering and of course eating!  The only crappy part about the whole trip was... I only got 1 picture of the entire weekend! 1!  What was I thinking?!  Granted it's the cutest picture EVER, but lame!  We are just going to have to go on another girls trip to get more pics!  Ok ladies?!  Are you in?!

Ok, so back to why I love January!  I don't really know, I guess I am not hardwired like everyone else.  I would rather be up to my knees in snow marveling at it's existence.  (Why does it snow anyway?)  Playing with my family and making memories in the cold and rushing inside to get warm. It's really the only time where my family is always together and not running around crazy like in the summertime.  We spend more time together when it's cold than not, and that makes me happy!  So, this is it.  Why I love this time of year.  You won't see this girl complain, except...

We JUST got our first official snow storm of the season!  Now THAT makes me depressed! But I'll take it!

So, keep your chins up summer lovers!  This has been the warmest winter EVER and if I have to deal with the warm in the winter, then you have to deal with the cold that just may come this spring and summer.... that is, if it ever get's here!