Quality Time with Friends and Family

Hi there,

Sick of your pictures? Never! I love them! And yes, I remember the vase - the one I almost didn't send because I wanted it for myself!! I liked the window sill too...I have not tried the bowl of lemons as decor, although my friend Kim has a massive lidded vase full of lemons on her kitchen counter and I always want to try that. It looks so European.

I'm so glad to hear you had such a nice weekend. Sorry about the short guest list, but it sounds like you had fun anyway. Sometimes low key is just what the doctor ordered. We had the same thing last night - S&T ended up going to their cabin to quad (imagine!) so it was just the four of us at K&R's. Even my kids were absent - off with friends - so we had some very enjoyable grown up time. The cocktail from Trader Vics was amazing - some rum thing with creme de cacao and about 10 other splashes of this and that - of course served in a beautiful wine goblet with a toothpick fruit kebab across the top - you two would love each other for the pomp and presentation! I'm always impressed and promised myself I will do the same, but I'm still working on it. The ribs were awesome, the salad was a hit up until I was told that R hates broccoli - oh well. And the crepes! Wow, truly excellent. All in all we had a really nice, quiet, relaxing time - the guys watched the game while K and I sat in the living room, curled up on the couch with our wine, solving all the world's problems.

This morning, we got up and were planning to go to Starbucks when I realized that M was already up (wow! before 2 in the afternoon!). He actually wanted to go with us, which is rare. We ran a few errands then went for coffee and breakfast, just the three of us (JJ was at a friend's last night). I don't talk to M much anymore so I treasured the time with him this morning. He told us that he had joined the Gay-Straight Alliance at school and was going to be going to meetings on Wednesdays. We talked a little about what they will be doing and how he wants to get involved because "how gay people get treated is just messed up". You know, he can be a real s**t but I gotta love my super-tolerant socially conscious kid. How proud I am that he's grown up that way.

C is on her way home for a few days this evening so J's in the kitchen marinating kebabs for the barbecue. We spent the entire day in the garden pulling the flowers, mowing, weeding, etc. Much progress made and it doesn't look quite as bare as I had feared. In a couple of weeks I'll get out there and plant some winter stuff. As for now, I'm going to sign off and help J with dinner. Thanks for the info on the pomegranate ginger ale - I'll look for it. Maybe I can find a different brand is I can't find that one.

Happy Monday to you - I hope the week starts off as well as this one ended. It's nice to hear the smile in your "voice".
Love you!
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