Happy Birthday, Happy Life !!

This weekend, we celebrated the first birthday of our two youngest grandsons, Patrick and Thomas. While every birthday is special and every one of the grands are treasured gifts I mention these two because well, it is their birthday and the fact that a year has passed since the harrowing night they were born. These little ones were due to arrive at the end of May, however they decided they wanted out on April 16th. Initially, in the first ten minutes, all seemed fine but soon after it appeared that Patrick's arm had a serious problem with circulation. I don't care to go into all the stressful memories right here but suffice it to say the little "spitfire" battled through and today, with his big brother Thomas, he is thriving and moving past all of that.  I am such a blessed woman.  To have God in my life and to reap His blessings in the form of family, work, play, and most importantly His presence, I have truly come to realize what is important in life and what needs to take a back seat.  Of course, being a 50 something has a lot to do with this realization.  When something goes amiss with someone important to you, you feel the urgency to help make things right, when something goes wrong with the car, or the kitchen floor, you are able to put insignificant things into perspective and realize that......IJTWLI

Dining out (or not) on Saturday Night

What is it about Saturday night that makes it nearly impossible to get into a restaurant? It seems as though no one (me included)cooks anymore especially on Saturday. In northern NJ there has to be a gazillion places to eat. Yeah, I know there are also TWO gazillion people who are going out to eat which is probably at the heart of my dilemma. Seems that if the reservations are not booked days in advance then you are out of luck. It really becomes annoying when you go somewhere and the line is out the door and so rather than waiting the 15 minutes or so you leave and move onto the next place. Of course, it's the same situation there and so you feel yourself getting grumpy because your stomach is talking to you and you don't know how to answer it. With food would be my first answer but that's not happening. Then the questioning starts - why do we do this? You think we would learn from all the past disappointing Saturdays. Make reservations early!! I am an intelligent person and not usually one who procrastinates. The more I think about it, the more I think that.....IJTWLI

Ah, Italia.....

I don't think you have to really go to Italy to know how beautiful a country it really is, however, George and I have been there and yearn for our next trip over the pond to the kind of lifestyle I so wish was part of our good 'ol USofA.  My oldest son and DIL are there as I write this and I am with them in spirit.  I often dream about being able to have my children/grands fall in love with the place too so that we could all pick up and move there permanently.  I know that isn't going to happen but I did say "dream" didn't I?  I normally am not one for revisiting places I have already been to but this is my one exception.  I won't ever get enough of Italia.  I love that the Italians seem so content with whatever life they are living whether it be in fashionable Milan, sleepy and romantic Lake Como, touristy Venice or gutsy Rome.  Italians take the time to appreciate where they came from and why they wouldn't want to leave.  They are content with what they have and are proud of what they have earned on their own.  I am not criticzing the US for I do love this land and nowhere on earth do you find the opportunities you have here.  It would just be ideal to see it all through the eyes of a native Italian for they truly know that.............IJTWLI       Ciao !