Friday, August 22, 2014

Let's all try being a little more appreciative

So my Gramma or G'ma as she signed her cards, died this past Saturday. She was 90, we knew she would die soon. But its so interesting how when it happens its still a shock.

My mom called Saturday morning 10 am EST, which is 7 am her time (Pacific) and I knew something was wrong as soon as I saw her face on my cell phone screen. I answered and could tell by the background noise she was in the car...she said that G'ma had died in her sleep last night. She had a "soft landing". My mom was on her way to her apartment to get her ready. I didn't understand.

The nurse had called that morning and told my mom that when she went into G'mas apartment she wasn't breathing. My mom and her sister went over there and bathed her, washed her hair, powdered and dressed her to leave the apartment. She was cremated on Monday.

My mom was there all day Friday. Mom usually goes there a few times a week, for a few hours, but usually not the whole day. They looked at old photos all day she said. At times G'ma knew who people were, at times she didn't. They talked about the people in the photographs and reminisced about when they were taken. She said when she left she kissed G'ma each time for all of us. "kiss - this one is from Allie - kiss - this one is from Maggie - kiss - this one is from Nora..." She said "I love you mom" and G'ma said "I love you too dear"...this is so extremely rare that even into their 60's my mom and her sisters still vie for these key words from their mom. I'm overwhelmed that my mom got to hear her mom utter those rare words one more time before she passed.
G'ma and Bella, Summer 2013

This has effected me in the most peculiar way. I've mourned the dead before, but this death made me appreciate those still living more.

I feel like I can't remember enough about her. I wish I could remember more.

So we will be unexpectedly traveling to Oregon next week. Even though she was cremated on Monday we're going to put her in the mausoleum with Grandpa on his birthday 8/29 and share a meal together. And probably go to Trader Joe's because as she got older, that was all she wanted to do! :) I'm very much looking forward to celebrating this brilliantly strong and beautiful woman with all of the other brilliantly strong and beautiful women in my family.

On a much lighter note we shared a beautiful meal last night with our good friend Ali and 2 new friends Sam and Ruthie! Such a fun evening at Garces Trading Co. topped off with beautiful cocktails at Charlie was a sinner. Unfortunately we were having too much fun to take photos! But believe me, the food was suburb and the cocktails were creative and expertly mixed.


Thursday, August 14, 2014

I love being busy, but this is a little excessive!

This week was super busy in my house!


In addition to our regular jobs during the day, we've each had additional responsibilities outside of the home every night this week. I've had a volunteer meeting each night and N has had a variety of work meetings/training's. I'm surprised at how exhausting it is.
Our nights are almost never low key and boring. We're usually getting home from the gym, walking the dog, feeding the dog, feeding ourselves, organizing and packing up breakfast and lunch for the next day and doing a rando household chore then its 10p and we're off to bed! But I'm surprised that when you add in an hour meeting, and throw off my schedule, how tired I am!

I still found time to continue my experiments with low carb granola. N wants big crunchy clusters, which I've been having a hard time achieving without sugar. But I found this Bon Appetite recipe and this Smitten Kitchen recipe and mashed them together. The egg whites in the recipes were the trick to the clusters N wanted and I subbed sugar free maple syrup and coconut oil. It took much longer to brown, probably 50 minutes at 300, next time I'll up the temp to 325. N likes them enough, I don't. I need to double the spices and salt, then I'll like them :)

It hasn't been all work and no play though. We had a great meal last night with a beloved long-time friend at Erawan, the first Thai restaurant in Philly. They have this fabulous week night dining menu, 3 courses for $16! And its a BYO. Love them. The food is always good. Its quiet enough in there to have a nice conversation and the staff is unbelievably friendly.



Also, we participated in a Sangria house crawl (last Saturday). Think of a pub crawl, but sub the beer for sangria and the pub for neighbors homes and that's it! It was a lot of fun, met a bunch of new people and got to scope out their design styles! (Now I don't feel that bad about my homes lack of style!)

Thursday, August 7, 2014

John Legend at the Mann Center 8.2.14


We saw John Legend at the Mann Center this past weekend (8/2/14)
I heart the Mann Center. It will be a place I miss when we're no longer living in Philly.
On our way to the Mann Center to see John Legend.

And there's something about the view of the city from there that I love.
Reminds me of the Emerald City from the Wizard of Oz.



You can catch a glimpse of the city back there...it was humid that day, there was a haze over it.


Ha! This woman looking at her phone was also eating chicken wings and waving the bones in the air mid bite! #onlyinphilly

Summer of 2014 at Long Beach Island



We happily spent more time at the beach this summer than we had in years past. (THANK YOU Smith Family!)

It seriously revives my soul.
All Smiles! We're on the beach!

Katie likes to dig big holes at the beach

Bathing beauty!

Nothing better than some ice cream after a hard day sunning at the beach

Yeah!
Our awesome friends Katie and Sara made this art for us!

Saw The Book of Mormon last night at the Forrest Theater in Philly.
Loved it! Very funny!
Also paid $15 for a cocktail at the theater and got to keep the plastic cup, the bartender told us, bring the cup back next time and you'll get a discount! Woo! (not.)