Kristen's Blog

2012-02-13T08:24:00.001-08:00

Greetings, All, and Happy Valentine’s day! I wish you lots of chocolate, warm fuzzies, and Cupid arrows in the backside…as suits your fancy. My requested Valentine gift this year was extremely romantic…I asked that Chris have the minivan detailed for me. I can’t tell you how happy I am driving around in my clean ride…this so suits my Type A personality!

My week was a challenging balancing act of work responsibilities and parental duties. Marin had her first cavity on Monday (it won’t translate well in email, but her experience with laughing gas was hysterical…she decided that she was a pig and snorted and grunted and giggled her way through the procedure ultimately deciding her life’s goal was to get another cavity so she could do this again). Then on Tuesday Clare woke up with an odd rash around her mouth, which turned out to be strep so she spent the day at home with me. In the middle of the night Wednesday, Marin had a bought of nasty congestion that seemed resolved by Sudafed. Given the strep rampant in the school and given Clare’s diagnosis, we took her to pediatrician on Thursday. Epic parent fail….she did have strep, but the diagnosis meant that she could not participate in the Science and Art show at Oak Meadow that evening. (I know we did the responsible thing by seeking medical attention and trying to minimize exposure to other children, but it did not feel that way watching Marin sob her heart out and protest that she felt FINE). In an effort to compensate, I had Chris bring Marin to Motorola where she presented her water wheel experiment to 20 or so of my very kind coworkers (REAL engineers, as I told her…MUCH better than your random pool of parents….she was not buying it). My coworkers applauded her work and even gave her a certificate of achievement from the Motorola Product Development Team, which was very sweet. And she got to join me for Brew Time with Barbie on Friday. (week 2 of special guests from the under 18 crowd)

Fortunately both girls were past the 24 hours on antibiotic mark in time to prepare for the now annual Father/Daughter dance. A nail appointment had been made for them and for Lauren, followed by dinner at the Holbrooks, where Heather and I reprised our role as wait staff to the daddies and the daughters. The girls were excited to get all dressed up and were lovely as usual. John and Chris were no doubt the luckiest fathers at the dance. In the midst of all this dance preparation, Eric arrived, fresh from an emotionally draining 7 months in Afghanistan. The choice of words is mine, but several people under his command were severely wounded during the tour and the impetus for his visit here was to see a solider hospitalized in Augusta, who was completely blinded by a blast to the face. Given all the turmoil that went on, I was very happy to not only see him, but also celebrated that he returned home without injury.

As for Eric’s entertainment, Heather and I took him to dinner at Stoney River (very nice steak house) after we got the daddies and daughters out the door. Then on Saturday I made a nice dinner at home while the girls attended Kidz Night Out at the gymnastics club. It was nice to have an evening of uninterrupted conversation and to spend some time catching up with our dear friend. We did not have anything overly exciting on the docket, but he was more or less just enveloped into the fold like the family he is.

Eric had to take off on Sunday morning so we did church and Marin’s audition for the children’s spring musical (such a sweet, pure voice to go with her sweet, pure little heart). I went to Step and then we went to Mike and Jim’s for dinner. All in all, a fantastic weekend.

Skipping the friend shout out this week, since this is so long already, but I will highlight the book review: The Marriage Plot by Jefferey Eugenides, a Christmas gift from Tom. This author tends to focus on controversial topics and this book was no exception, but fantastic character development and engaging storyline. Highly recommend.

I hope you all have wonderful weeks!

Love,

Kristi/en

2012-02-06T09:54:00.000-08:00

Greetings, All, and happy February!

Things here are fine…it has been quite a whirlwind weekend, which is not altogether unusual. Leading up to the weekend I enjoyed Thirsty Thursday with Heather, though Friday’s Brew Time with Barbie had to be moved to lunch time given a design review that I needed to host. The lunch also included special guests in the form of Clare (stayed home from school with a cold) and Alex (enjoying his last hurrah of working from home before he starts new job). On Friday evening, Scott joined us for dinner and an early birthday celebration, honoring his accumulated decades on this planet. Always a delight to host Dr. Thornburg and, shortly after his departure, we welcomed Thaddeus, Leyla, and Libby to Hotel Shappert. We stayed up until 2:30AM talking and reliving the highlights of Thaddeus and Chris’ Australian Outback adventure….so many stories and some of them I had not even heard. There is just no one in the world quite like Thad and I am so grateful for his continued presence in our lives and so excited that we now have Leyla as well!

Unfortunately Thad and crew had to head back to Oak Ridge mid day on Saturday, eliciting much despair in Clare. She carried around a photo of her and Thad from her first Christmas and cried for his return. Her despair was tempered by the mid afternoon arrival of her Chattanooga cousins, who had come to Atlanta to celebrate Samantha’s 7th birthday at the American Girl store. It was a noisy and festive several hours of cousin fun and then these visitors too had to head home, prompting both girls to suggest that we acquire larger living accommodations so that people can just move in. Saturday night I attended Girls Night In, hosted by a close friend of Heather’s, who also lives in Morningview. The theme was slumber party and the attire was pajamas. Naturally I donned my penguin footed pajamas (what 38 year old doesn’t have these?) and headed out, adorable in my flippered state. I.was.the.only.one.who.adhered.to.the.pajama.dress.code. …much to the amusement of the other attendees. It was a fun evening of girl talk, popcorn, and movie watching. We chose Hangover II, which was not quite as funny as the first one, but still a perfect light hearted movie for a Saturday night (in which you are the only one in pajamas…penguin footed ones, no less).

Sunday it was church, an outing to the Living in Space exhibit with Andrew and Barbie, Step, and then an evening devoted to completing Marin’s science fair project. If it seems we missed something large…as in a football game…we did. TV not on in the Shappert house last night, which is probably not a big surprise to any of you. We did have some chips and salsa, as it seemed appropriate to have some sort of game snack.

Today Marin had a dental appointment to have her first cavity filled. She is a good brusher, but we obviously have been too laid back about flossing as the cavity was between her teeth. She was extremely nervous about this appointment (she was only clued in last night) and was pitiful as she cried and clutched her stuffed octopus, Oscar. Given her dramatic response to her last dental X-rays, we’d already signed up for the laughing gas. It took about 30 seconds for that stuff to hit and, once it did, Marin’s attitude dramatically changed. She became incredibly amused by her gas mask, calling it a “pig snout” and she began oinking and snorting. She was completely cracking herself up and, once the procedure was over declared, “I can’t wait for my next cavity!” I recently changed pediatric dentists to find one who was more sensitive and child friendly…perhaps I was too successful!

This week’s friend shout out is Jen Cass. I met Jen many years ago through John and was immediately impressed with her sunny disposition and broad range of interests. She is an attorney by profession and has been both a defense attorney and a prosecutor and, more recently, served a brief tenure as judge. Her heart is music though and she is a very talented singer, musician, and song writer. A favorite memory of Jen is watching her perform at the Borders in Buckhead and then hosting for the evening afterward. I was pregnant with Marin at the time so it obviously been some time since I have actually seen Jen. The glory of the internet and Facebook in its ability to keep people in touch!

I need to get busy…I think the groundhog saw his shadow most everywhere so bundle up for the next few weeks!

Love,

Kristi/en

2012-01-30T10:12:00.001-08:00

Greetings, All! I hope you all enjoyed your Lunar New Year festivities. What it means for me is a week of no night conference calls since everyone in Asia is on holiday. It also means decidedly less email. Not to worry…they are back now…full inbox this morning and a call tonight. Things are back to normal on all fronts as I have now eased out of vacation mode…this week I prepared my own meals, cleaned my own house, shopped for groceries etc. I must say…while I love vacations, I’m pretty happy with my every day life too so it is all good! I did forget to mention one important aspect of my vacation in last week’s email though and shame on me. After we got off the ship, we met the Tulleys, Eileen’s parents, for breakfast. It was SO nice to see them and, oddly, our visits seem to end up corresponding with significant times. The last time I saw them for dinner happened to be the anniversary of Eileen’s death and this past visit was just days prior to what would have been her 38th birthday. I am so glad for all of our sakes that we have kept in touch. I think that would make Eileen happy.

I had both girls’ parent teacher conferences this week. I learned that Clare is as feisty at school as she is at home, though her teacher did note that she is not disrespectful. Just stubborn and opinionated. Hmm. Other adjectives used were smart, funny, sweet, empathetic, and enthusiastic. She apparently invests a reasonable amount of time trying to find the gray area in black and white rules to see if she can break them and needs to learn to use her inside voice more regularly. But on the whole, a good conference. Her teacher said and I tend to agree “Clare will go far in life.” Marin’s conference was exactly what I would have expected from my Type A, rule following mini Kristen. Marin’s descriptives included smart, hard working, compassionate, eager to learn, enthusiastic, and kind. While parenting can only go so far, I was still proud of my girls and I give me and Chris a gold star for the January progress conference.

I enjoyed Thirsty Thursday with Heather this week and had to mix up Brew Time with Barbie (B, feel free to work on this) as she was working. Instead of coffee, we went out for lunch after I attended Andrew’s basketball game on Saturday. Basketball is a sport I completely understand in theory so I was not lost on the side lines..Andrew’s team won the game in literally the last 30 seconds and one of the critical game plays was due to an assist made by Andrew. Saturday evening Heather and kids came over for dinner as John was attending a concert for a heavy metal band Heather did not care to hear. It was a fun evening and the kids had a great time being reunited with Lauren for a play date. It is cute to watch Andrew and Marin’s rapport develop as well as they are some of the “bigger kids” in elementary and thus have their own bonds.

On Sunday, there was church and then Kylie’s horseback riding birthday party for Clare. Clare looked absolutely tiny perched atop a very large horse…I was wishing for ponies. She was at first intimidated by the size of the horses, but when I asked her if she planned to ride anyway, she gave me a withering look and said, “Of course.” While Clare played cowgirl, Marin and Chris worked on Marin’s science fair project and did more assembly work on the Harry Potter lego castle. All in all, a fun weekend at home!

Friend shout out…this dropped out over the holidays, but it’s back. This week’s honor goes to John Barnes. I met John shortly after I started working at Motorola. I was the new kid on the block and incredibly nervous, even if I attempted to cover that up. John was amazingly supportive and kind and I genuinely missed him when he moved out West to work at Intel. Since then, I’ve come to admire him all the more as he left behind a successful career in engineering to teach high school science. I also appreciate him because every time he is in Atlanta, he makes sure to call me and we meet for a meal even if we have to meet (as we did once) at the Atlanta airport! John inspires me.

Book review…finished The Things We Do For Love by Kristin Hannah, very much a beach read about a recently divorced woman and her unlikely friendship with a teenager from the wrong side of the tracks. A good book in a beach read kind of way.

I hope you all have wonderful weeks!

Love,

Kristi/en

2012-01-23T09:52:00.001-08:00

Greetings, All! I have returned from my Magical cruise, in which the ship did not run aground and where the Captain remained with us. I was aware of the Costa disaster…it was probably the last thing I saw on my phone before I powered it down in the port terminal. And yet I boarded the Disney Magic with confidence and had a really amazing time (and strangely not one person on the ship EVER mentioned the Costa). One of the things I love most about technology is the flexibility it affords me to manage my job from anywhere…it is why my kids can do so many extracurricular activities and why I can spend so much time with them. The downside to so much accessibility is that it is difficult to disconnect…on a typical vacation, I’m often still doing conference calls and answering emails. Completely disconnecting for a week was AMAZING. No cell phone, no email, and I even went silent on Facebook.

With all this enthralling media free time, I worked out every day (to compensate for all the fantastic food), lounged in the hot tub, read on the pool deck, had drinks and uninterrupted conversations with Chris, saw movies (two), took the girls swimming, spent lots of time in general with the girls (they actually wished for more time in the kids area), and created priceless memories for both the girls and Mom and Tom. We went to character dance parties, character breakfast, character greetings, Pirates of the Carribbean night (they shoot fireworks off the ship), Broadway style shows, variety shows, ice sculpture carving, and family activities in the kid zone. We had elegant dinners every night with an incredibly attentive wait staff. Marin was chosen to play Who Wants to Be a Mousekateer and she was incredibly excited by this opportunity…she ran to the stage like the contestants on Price is Right. (she won a Disney Mousekateer pin) And all of this was on ship…

The Magic had 3 ports of call: St Maarten, St Thomas, and Disney’s private island, Castaway Cay. The weather was spectacular at all ports…sunny and in the 70s. St Maarten was beautiful…we had no planned excursions so just enjoyed several hours playing on the pristine white beaches and in the beautiful turquoise waters. At St Thomas, our party split up. Chris, Tom, Marin, and I took the champagne catamaran and snorkel cruise to Honeymoon Bay on St John Island. St John is home to the US Virgin Islands National Park, which, of course, was my driving interest in the excursion. The snorkeling was only OK…choppy water was stirring up sand and limiting visibility. But setting foot in the national park made it all worthwhile to me! Mom and Clare went on a Kon Tiki boat cruise since Clare was too young for the snorkel trip. On Castaway Cay, we spent the day on the beach, in the water, and digging up whale bones at Monstro Point. The weather does not get more sensational than it was on the Castaway Cay day!

Disney cruises have something for everyone and it was a perfect vacation for our multi generational gathering. Mom and Tom loved seeing the kids light up and the kids loved the constant interaction with the grandparents. And on the something for everyone…the housekeeper leaves a new towel animal on the bed each night. Tom was captivated by this…to the point (I’m giggling) that he bought a towel folding book in the gift shop and attended both the towel folding and napkin folding seminars on board the ship. (the fact that they offer such seminars means that Tom is clearly not alone in his interest) The next time I go to the lake house, I expect to have a towel zoo waiting on the bed!

Movie reviews…Mom, Tom, and I went to see War Horse and it was an inspirational story about a boy and a horse who are separated by World War II. A little slow in spots, but worth a watch. I also took the girls to see Beauty and the Beast in 3D…so fun.

Book reviews…finished Freedom by Jonathan Franzen. This is a very well done book centering on 5 primary characters…great character development, interesting insight into human nature, and thought provoking questions on the concept of freedom and how desirable it truly is in some cases. Also read Heaven is for Real by Todd Burpo. Burpo is a small town pastor whose 4 year old son nearly dies after a ruptured appendix. The boy maintains he has been to heaven and recounts several things he saw that stand up to Biblical integrity. Then again…presumably the authors of the Biblical books had not been to heaven as eyewitnesses. A sweet, hopeful story nonetheless.

I have now finished my lunch…and have approximately 200 more emails to wade through after reading 300+ this morning. A painful but necessary return to digital media!

Happy Lunar New Year to you all!

XOXO,

Kristi/en

2012-01-09T09:53:00.001-08:00

Greetings, All! I hope 2012 is treating you well. We are getting back into routine here. School has resumed, along with about half of our extracurricular activities. The balance of those resume this week. So my girls will have one week of normalcy before we go on vacation. The timing so close to Christmas is frankly not great, but the Motorola vacation calendar runs January to January and I can only carry over a week of vacation. At the moment I am sitting on 96 hours of paid time off so we’re doing a Disney cruise over MLK week with my Mom and Tom (this will still only consume 32 hours since it’s a holiday week, but oh well). So you will not hear from me next week, but I will be sure to relay your greetings to Mickey et al.

Speaking of work, the Christmas holidays were restful and the start of the year has not been too bad. Conference calls do resume this week (tonight…yahoo!), but they will not reach their frenetic pace until later in the year. Some of you have asked about the timing of the Google acquisition…I have no idea. I can tell you that I found out about the planned acquisition on CNN before being told at work though, in fairness, there was an email in my inbox and there was a meeting scheduled for later in the day. Point being, you might know about as quickly as I do!

Getting back into the routine, for me, included Thirsty Thursday with Heather and Friday morning coffee with Barbie (we need a cute name for this, B, think on it). I also had a fun 12th night outing on Friday, which is apparently a holiday of some significance in Britain. The girls enjoyed date night with Daddy while I went over to Andrea’s (from aerobics) for Indian food, wine, and authentic English trifle. A pleasant evening with some lovely ladies, many of whom noted that had never seen me not in workout attire and a ponytail….true, indeed. I am very good at compartmentalizing my life! ;-)

On Saturday, Heather and I worked the Private School Info fair on behalf of Oak Meadow and hopefully got some promising leads on new students. Afterwards, I spent a quiet day at home with the girls playing puzzles, Legos, playing on the new playset, and watching them “wash” my van. I will be the first to admit that I am very Type A, but I do enjoy unstructured days with my children. Saturday evening we hosted Jordan for a sleepover and brought her to church with us the next day so the girls definitely had a banner weekend. We wrapped up our weekend by hosting Mike and Jim for dinner, whom we had not seen since before the holidays.

Book reviews. I read The 17 Second Miracle by Jason Wright and a Christmas gift from Heather. I am sure she got it for me given the relevance random acts of kindness play in the story. In this particular case, the protagonist’s life is permanently altered when he shifts his attention from the matter at hand for 17 seconds and tragedy ensues. He spends the remainder of his life doing as much good as he can in even small increments of time reasoning (correctly, I think) that life can be changed, for good or bad, in very short time frames. An easy read, but I liked it so well that it occurred to me I had another book by the same author in my queue and so I read The Wednesday Letters as well. The premise of this one was a bit hokier, but we’ll allow Mr. Wright his creative license because he does write sweet stories. Three adult children return home after the death of their parents and discover the “Wednesday letters…” every Wednesday for their parents 40+ year marriage, their father wrote a letter to their mother. Some letters contain moments of great joy and others contain trials of which the children were never aware. A fast and easy read.

I have now finished my exceedingly healthy lunch of leftover pizza so I will get back to work…I hope you all have wonderful weeks!
XOXO,
Kristi/en

2012-01-01T16:38:00.001-08:00

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, Friends and Family!

So much happens in a mere week. Since I last wrote, we celebrated Christmas in Tennessee. We spent 6 days and it still felt like we didn’t get to spend enough time with everyone. There were the customary Christmas Eve and Christmas dinners, at the lake and LB’s respectively, as well as outings to Oak Ridge’s finest (Flat Water Grille) and the always delightful Soup Kitchen. At both Flat Water and Soup Kitchen, I was joined by Sadie and Eva, two of my oldest and dearest friends so that was definitely a treat. I also got to spend time with Sadie’s sweet little Milo, which reminded me poignantly that I definitely do not have babies anymore. Over the break, we got to see Mom,Tom,LB, Miriam, the Luthers, the Salibas, Aunt Betty, Don, Larry, Sadie, Rafi, Milo, Eva, Thaddeus, Leyla, Libby, David and Julie. Though we venture to Tennessee often, Christmas is the most special since we see so many close friends and family. Other highlights, particularly for the girls, included an outing to the newly re-built Cedar Hill park and an outing to the Children’s Museum with Miriam’s granddaughters. I took my mom and Aunt Betty shopping one day and it made me a bit sad to see just how bad my aunt Betty’s memory has gotten, but it made me very happy that I spent the time with her. She has been a devoted presence in my life and I was glad to return the favor.

Since returning to Georgia, we have wasted no time jumping back into entertaining. We hosted Scott for dinner on Friday and he was the last person with whom we had to exchange Christmas gifts. It was great to see him and catch up on our various holidays. Last night we hosted a New Year’s Eve dinner party with the Marreros, Holbrooks, Jen, and our combined 7 children. It was a noisy, but festive time and a great way to ring in a new year.

Book reviews…finished My Summer of Southern Discomfort by Stephanie Gayle, which details the plight of Natalie, a promising young defense lawyer who makes the mistake of getting romantically involved with her married boss. She ends up fleeing to Macon, GA to take a low paid prosecution position. As many of us are, she becomes charmed by the South and those eccentric characters that call it home.

Also finished The Widower’s Tale by Julia Glass. It started off a bit slow, but quickly became captivating…one of those that I would sneak off to read a few pages at a time whenever I could. The protagonist is 70 year old Percy ,who has recently had his private, sheltered life invaded when he agrees to let the local preschool convert his barn to their new school. The character development is splendid and the interwoven cautionary tale about extremism (in any form) interesting. Two thumbs up.

It is time to wind down and get wee girls in bed…we must work diligenty to re-establish a schedule and routine before school resumes on Tuesday.

I hope you all had wonderful and relaxing holidays and are looking forward to a fantastic 2012 (Mayans and their calendar not withstanding…)

XOXO,

Kristi/en

2011-12-12T11:20:00.001-08:00

Greetings, All!

Two weeks away from Christmas…so hard to believe! Around here the holiday festivities just keep flowing. Work continues to be more low key…I did ship accept 2 additional regional kits and have started working on 2012 programs, but I am definitely going at a more relaxed pace. I enjoyed my standing girl dates…Thirsty Thursday with Heather and coffee with Barbie (Starbucks has peppermint mocha for the holidays…yum!) During the week I also had the children’s musical at the church. My Joy choir was involved and Marin had a speaking part and a duet. She was dressed as an angel and that would sum her up…sweet baby…she did her parts flawlessly. Clare was dressed as a cow (actually a moose, but there were no moose at the nativity) and she was adorable as well. Barbie and kids came to the show so my kids were excited to have an impromptu play date and I enjoyed an evening hanging out with Barbie.

On Friday, the Holbrooks were gracious enough to host the Oak Meadow Christmas party and that was a festive time of good food and great company. I love my girls’ school and all the staff…it is such a wonderful, nurturing place! Lauren ended up spending the night at our place so Chris and I were treated to breakfast on Saturday morning. Marin and Lauren made toast and bacon and even ground coffee beans and made a good pot of coffee. I was impressed and well fortified for the Shappert family outing to the Toys for Toys distribution center. After an orientation that was longer than strictly necessary, we enjoyed a valuable couple of hours of volunteer work. Not only is Toys for Tots a great program, but they are one of the few charities I have found that will let kids as young as Clare help. And she was a big help.

Saturday evening the girls enjoyed an outing to Christmas in the Park at Town Center Park and a sleepover with Jordan and Katelyn, while Chris and I went to the Chorale Yuletide Feast at the church. As usual, the ensemble did an excellent job and it was a festive holiday performance. On Sunday, Marin had her second piano recital…she played Dance of the Sugarplum Fairy and Russian Dance from Nutcracker and did a fantastic job. Her confidence and ability have improved considerably over the last year. She has such a wonderful piano teacher! We concluded the weekend festivities by joining Mike and Jim for dinner and Christmas gift exchange. As always, it was wonderful to share their company.

This week’s friend highlight is Eva…it is difficult to pick a single memory for Eva since she has been part of my life since I was a child. I met Eva when I began dancing at Dance Arts…so I was probably 7. Since then, she has truly become a part of the family, joining us at every holiday dinner and we take a vacation together every year. We have been to Washington DC, Yellowstone, Sea Island, Amelia Island…so one memory…tough. But I’ll settle on this one. Eva is a talented seamstress and she custom made my wedding veil. When I went to pick up the wedding dress, they noted that my grandmother had been by to pick up some pieces of matching beading for the veil. I was confused because my Nanny was in no physical or mental shape to be driving to the wedding store, nor would she have any need too. Seeing my quizzical expression, they said, “your sweet grandmother…the one making your veil.” I’m not sure whether Eva announced herself as my grandmother or if they just assumed it to be so, but it made me so happy all the same. I was born with 2 grandmothers and was lucky enough to acquire a 3rd one along the way!

The girls and I are heading to Disney on Friday for a few days so I’m not sure when I’ll write next. I’m sure that I will write before Christmas, but I wish you happiness, joy, and peace in these last couple of weeks leading up to Christmas!

Much love,

Kristi/en

2011-12-05T10:46:00.000-08:00

Season’s Greetings, All! It is beginning to look and sound like Christmas and I hope you are all having fun and getting caught up in the holiday spirit…but not the stress. Things here are busy, as you might expect a household with 2 young children to be at the holidays! Work is much less hectic (for me) at the moment, which is a most welcome change. I had my standing weekly dates with my girls…Thirsty Thursday with Heather and Friday coffee with Barbie. And then our weekend was full of festive fun.

We kicked it off on Friday night by heading to the annual Suwanee Caboose lighting, for which Scott joined us. This event is always fun…singing, hot chocolate and Smores…then Santa arrives being pulled by a tractor rather than reindeer (this is Georgia). After the lighting, Scott joined us for dinner. Saturday morning it was off to the annual Morningview Breakfast with Santa, which includes a tasty spread, a train ride around the parking lot, and pictures and lap sitting with the Big Man himself. A children’s Christmas musical rehearsal followed at the church where Clare was delighted to dress up as a cow and Marin was beautiful as an angel, singing her solo on “O Come All Ye Faithful.” Immediately following the rehearsal (Saturday was a bit busy), I dropped Marin off at IHOP for a special birthday outing with one of her best pals. This was a 4 hour birthday extravaganza, which included bowling and Cici’s pizza. Marin has never been bowling and I was amused to learn that she bowls overhand. Clare was dismayed to not be included in the birthday event so I softened the blow by taking her to the Elf on the Shelf party at La Ti Da, a local gift shop. She got to see Santa again (she has now made it very clear that she wants a train, a robot, and remote control shoes for Christmas…what, you might be wondering, are remote control shoes? Santa is wondering the same damn thing!) and also do a variety of elf themed crafts. So clearly a great day for the Shappert girls!

And a great day for the Shappert adults as well because Saturday evening we hosted our 3rd annual Random Act of Kindness party. For those that don’t remember, several years ago Chris and I stopped buying each other Christmas gifts and started giving a larger amount to charity instead. Then we decided we’d rather do more than just write checks…and hence RAK was born. We host a dinner party and everyone leaves the dinner party with an envelope of cash to go out into the community and do good works. We re-convene over dessert and share our stories. Every year it gets better. This year’s good works included Christmas gifts purchased for a young woman recently rescued from the sex trade and currently residing in a safe house (yes, apparently this happens even in Atlanta…so very sad), an extravagant tip left for a Waffle House waitress, a huge tip left for a single parent waitress at Chili’s, several Pay it Forward coffees at Starbucks, an envelope of cash given to a young family walking through Big Lots, an envelope of cash given to a man washing his work clothes at a Laundromat, a gift basket left on the doorstep of a family whose young daughter is battling leukemia, and blankets and cold weather care packages delivered to some homeless in Atlanta. That RAK had to be expanded because as John and Heather handed out all the cold weather care packages, a hopeful little boy asked, “Do you have any toys?” (are you crying yet? Those of us at the table were) John asked, “What is it you would like?” The child answered, “Just something to play with.” Heather said, “We don’t have toys right now, but you wait right here.” She texted RAK headquarters that the Holbrook party would be reporting in a bit late due to detour in process and off to Target Team Holbrook headed to put together a care package full of items that a 5 year old boy would love “just to play with” and also his own cozy sleeping bag to make the street corner he’d be sleeping on a little more hospitable. (I know you are crying now) This party and the good works my inspiring friends do is definitely my favorite part of the holiday season…I just wish we could figure out a way to do it all year long. After last year’s party, 6 parties in multiple states were done as a result so I can only hope that the RAK party creates a ripple effect….either when people hear about it or when people who have the means receive that pay it forward coffee at Starbucks and find their own heart warmed to help.

Sunday morning the kids choirs sang and then the girls and I headed to the Earl Strand theatre in Marietta to see Sound of Music. It was a small, but quaint theatre and a great show. Marin became so inspired that she decided to do her “research a real person” project on Maria von Trapp. Sadie, you’ll be pleased to know that I pulled some pictures from our delightful Sound of Music tour for her to share with her class. ;-) She was very impressed that we had actually seen these landmarks in Austria and she was also impressed with how young we look. Though she didn’t say it, I’m sure she also found your striped shirt quite attractive!

Book review…if you’re still reading, you’re a champ…this one is long. Prayers for Sale by Sandra Dallas. This book takes place in a gold mining town in the beautiful, but inhospitable mountains of Colorado….time frame must be around the 1860s. A wise old woman befriends a young newlywed and passes along the stories from her life. A good read.

While work has slowed down, it hasn’t stopped so I will get back to it. Have wonderful weeks!

Love,

Kristi/en

2011-11-28T12:38:00.001-08:00

Greetings, All! I hope your Thanksgiving holidays were wonderful and relaxing. I did manage to ship accept my last 2011 North America kit on Monday and so I got to fully enjoy my holiday. I did not even take my laptop or check work email at all Wednesday-Friday! I paid for that a bit today, but it was so nice to completely unplug from the MOT for a few days.

We split our holiday time between the lake house and Bristol. We arrived in Tennessee very late on Tuesday and the girls and I headed to Dollywood on Wednesday with Mom, Tom, David, and Mom/Tom’s friend, Judy. It was a monumental day for both girls as they each had reached the “next step up” height threshold. At just barely 48 inches, the world of coasters was open to Marin and my brother was her willing roller coaster buddy. The child has no fear and exited each coaster with an ear to ear grin and the proclamation, “That was AWESOME!” As for Clare, she squeaked in at just over 42 inches and this enabled her to ride quite a few more things, some of which she insisted on riding “by herself.” While we enjoyed our Smoky Mountain Christmas, Chris spent the entire day with Thaddeus, which was so wonderful. It has probably been years since the two of them had such a span of time to hang out. I know Chris had a great time…the only drawback was that I did not get to see Thaddeus! We will remedy that at Christmas!

We had delightful Thanksgiving meal at the lake which included the lake house inhabitants plus Chattanooga Morris family, Eva, Ellen, Aunt Betty, Don, Larry, and Judy. The girls had a wonderful time with their cousins (Sydney and Samantha). There was much playing on swings and building of leaf piles and the maiden voyage of Mom’s new paddle boat, which is a fun addition to the lake house nautical fleet.

On Friday, we ventured to Bristol to spend the rest of the weekend with the assembled Shappert clan. It was a relaxing time of more eating, taking walks and runs, watching football (I am a rabid fan as you well know), watching streaming video of niece Julia’s pageant, and just hanging out and visiting. I feel so lucky to have married into such a great family!

We returned to Atlanta yesterday to find our pavestone porch largely complete and the backyard still a mudpit. Sod will likely be installed midweek since it’s raining today and potential snow/rain mix is predicted tomorrow! Hopefully by the end of the week, we can wrap up the yard part and arrange for the playset install. Then the fence.

Friend shout out…this week it is James Estes, who was my partner in crime for about 3 years as we supported laptop batteries together. I have many memories of James and his many escapades and every Monday morning involved an entertaining recanting of his weekend activities. He is the only friend I have for whom a martini has been named. But the memory that warms me today is thinking of James’ utter kindness during that horrible May when I lost my beloved Pawpaw and my mother in law within 2 weeks of each other. He shouldered pretty much my entire workload so I could completely fall apart. I am grateful for his compassion and support.

Book review…finished The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox by Maggie O’Farrell. This book was pretty grim, I must say, but interesting. A vintage clothing shop owner with a complicated personal life is surprised by a life changing phone call. A mental institution is closing down and she is next of kin for a woman who has resided there for 61 years. The book takes place in split time…the present…and snippets of the past 61 years until the entire story of Esme’s displacement is revealed.

I need to get back to work…I hope you all have wonderful weeks and that the transition back into work/school/activities is not too difficult!

XOXO,

Kristi/en

2011-11-22T05:35:00.001-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving, All! I hope you are all looking forward to a long weekend of good food, relaxation, and time spent with family and friends. We head to TN later today and are looking forward to a break from work. I did ship accept 2 kits last week just in time for Black Friday and the product I ship accepted last month is getting rave reviews on Amazon. I spent all day yesterday tying up loose ends and I SHOULD ship accept my last product for 2011 today…in time for Black Friday cyber sales. I will spend the remainder of the year ship accepting all the regional kits, starting on 2012 programs, and hopefully taking a lot of vacation time since I go into the holidays with almost 4 weeks of time to burn and only 1 week that can be carried over! It has been a pretty intense two months work wise so looking forward to the holidays!

Speaking of, we are all decorated here! Since we go out of town for both Tgiving and Christmas, we decorate early so we have some time to enjoy it. Our tree is up and decorations out and Jordan the Elf on the Shelf has returned to the giddy excitement of her little girls. In addition to moving somewhere new each night, Jordan now must keep up with the correspondence being sent to her and to Santa. Last night she had to eat the snack left out for her. A snack was left for Oscar the octopus too and Jordan wrote in her note that she hoped the girls didn’t mind, but that she’d eaten Oscar’s snack to since Oscar was just a toy. Marin told me that was just fine since Oscar clearly IS just a toy and Jordan is real. :-) I love Christmas through the eyes of little ones!

Other fun things…Thirsty Thursday with Heather and Mike and Jim over for dinner on Sunday. We also had our family portrait done on Sunday…the first one we’ve had taken in 4 years. If you want to view it, go to www.little-imaginations.com, enter the client proofing section, and the password is shappert. I thought they turned out well. The great thing about this photographer is that she sold us the digital images instead of a pay per portrait…so, if you want one, let me know and instant Christmas present!

Our yard project continues…one would think it would be done, but my contractor takes things it a very slow pace. I am very type A and the timelines I am used too at work make his snail’s pace difficult for me to comprehend, but anyway….the wall is done and it looks good. The patio should get started today…around 2PM if he holds to his typical schedule. Then it’s sod and playset…it’s getting there!

This week’s featured friend is Eric, respectfully known to the rest of you as Commander Bray, currently residing in Camp Leatherneck, Afghanistan. Upon considering my life journey with Eric, I had several outdoor adventures from which to choose…kayaking in Appalachacola, dog sledding through Yellowstone, skiing in Winter Park, snow shoeing in the Grand Tetons, and walks along the beach, but I instead have chosen to showcase one of Eric’s crowning achievements. Chris and I were the authorized witnesses and signatures that allowed Eric to enter the coveted Iron Butt Association, which is an organization that sponsors EXTREMELY long motorcycle rides in freakishly short amounts of time. To be inducted, Eric had to ride 1000+ miles in some ridiculously short amount of time and concluded this ride on our doorstep. I opened the door to cold rain and one very wet and tired biker. Eric and I met at U of I and have been close ever since. Now my whole family has adopted him as well so he’s stuck with us forever.

Book review…finished Lake of Dreams by Kim Edwards. The book is about Lucy, who, after years of living abroad, finds herself unemployed and returning to her childhood home. She has many unresolved personal and family issues. She founds old family documents in an old cabinet that reveal a “skeleton in the closet” and the rest of the book is spent unraveling that. While I enjoyed the book, I never quite connected with Lucy’s obsession to the past.

I must sign off and fix waffles for small girls. Happy Thanksgiving!

Love,

Kristi/en

2011-11-14T11:25:00.000-08:00

Greetings, All! I hope this finds you well. Things here are fine…work continues to be a round the clock exercise, but the twinkle of impending holiday lights signals the potential end of the tunnel. And it is soon to be the season or miracles!

The great Shappert yard project has begun. For those that have not seen our backyard, it is a large hill. Think highway embankment large. The project involves pushing back the hill significantly to gain between 6-8 feet of additional backyard. A retaining wall will go along the back, the sides will be fenced in, the concrete patio will be replaced with pavers and expanded to be approximately 300 square feet, the yard will be graded, and a play system will be installed. In short, a MAJOR project and one for which we (Chris) invested considerable effort finding a good contractor. Since much of this endeavor is hardscape and not easy to change once begun, Mom and Tom agreed to come be onsite and available for questions as the development progresses. To make a long story short, I’m convinced the end result will be beautiful, but our contractor is a bag of wind who arrives within a plus 4 hour window of when he says he will (this would be a huge issue should Chris and I actually be trying to run home from work to manage this). He delayed the start of the project by 2 days, then stated he would try to get the project finished within a week so that Mom and Tom would be there for the duration. In the 4 days he’s been working, he has amassed no more than 8 hours of actual time invested. I think it’s safe to say his “try to make it in a week” is another bag of wind. I do look forward to the project’s end results….in 2012.

Despite a hectic schedule, I was able to maintain my 2 sanity checkpoints by having Thirsty Thursday with Heather (+ Mom and Tom) and coffee with Barbie. I also had an OMPA officer meeting Thursday night and Heather and I were able to grab dinner after that and catch up. On Friday evening, Mom and Tom graciously watched the girls so Chris and I could go to the Holbrooks for dinner. While Heather and I get together regularly, John and Chris had not gotten a chance to hang out in some time and it was a great evening. As a fun weekend outing, I took Mom, Tom, and the girls to the apple orchards in Ellijay. While the trees were mostly bare, we did find a few apples to pick (and the girls were thrilled) and we were able to take the hay ride, visit the petting zoo, and shoot the apple cannon. All in all, a lovely outing on a beautiful fall day! After apples, the girls had a 6 hour spa party to celebrate Lauren’s birthday. Heather had gone all out and the pictures were absolutely priceless..I was also not surprised to learn that Clare was the only child who ate her cucumber eye mask. ;-) While the girls had their spa outing, I took Mom shopping and then went on a bike ride on the Suwanee Green Trail with Chris.

On Sunday, we had a special event at church. About a year ago, Marin wrote a sweet little song and I encouraged her to write down the lyrics. She continued to sing it and asked her piano teacher to help her write the score this summer. On Sunday, the Celebration choir (1st and 2nd grade choir) debuted her song “His Love Shines on Me.” I was so proud of my tiny composer! Now she wants to copyright it. ;-) She was well supported in this endeavor. Mom and Tom obviously came to watch and Mike and Jim joined us for the service and a nice lunch afterward. She was excited by the attention.

I forgot this section again last week…but this week I am honoring Dan Ericsson and the memory I have chosen to share is the time he, Jenny, some other coworker I can’t remember, and I went to a series of haunted houses. Those of you who know my fear of being trapped (elevators and airplane bathrooms are a big problem for me) might understand that my terror of dark haunted houses would be more elemental than fears of zombies or skeletons. One of the haunted houses appeared to be nothing more than a maze of cubical walls that we had to navigate in the complete darkness. I was mildly panicking and Dan was kind enough to hold my hand all the way through so I didn’t go into a full blown panic attack. Thank you, Dan, for helping me hold it together and also for not making fun of me afterward!

Book review: finished The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan which was basically the same thing as the Last Olympian series, though Greek gods were replaced by Egyptian gods. Despite the utter lack of mental bandwidth required to read these books, I have a peculiar enjoyment of them.

I need to get back to work…I hope you all have wonderful weeks and are looking forward to the upcoming Thanksgiving holidays!

Love,
Kristi/en

2011-11-07T09:43:00.001-08:00

Greetings, All, and happy November! Can you believe the holidays are right around the corner? I have no idea where this year has gone, but I am really hoping to have some time off during Thanksgiving week. Work has been brutal this week with conference calls lasting past midnight multiple nights a week and beginning again by 8:30 AM. The 8:30 calls are actually the worst because they interfere with my kid time and our ability to sing Disney songs at the top or our lungs on our way into work/school. I also have a head cold, which has made the long days more difficult to tolerate. Despite burning the work candle at both ends, I can’t blame that one on work…my daughters are the culprits there. We have all had a cold, but fortunately seem to be turning the corner.

Enough about work…I try to compartmentalize my life as much as possible and the rest of my week was quite nice. I enjoyed Thursday Thirsty with Heather and Chris joined us at the tail end which was a nice surprise. Also managed to have coffee with Barbie so got my sanity checks. LB and Miriam arrived on Friday for LB’s annual wrap party. I played Elf again this year and he seemed pleased with his haul. We got everything wrapped on Friday night (in part due to very large gift bags, in which several items were placed…family, take note. Be sure to dig!). Finishing on Friday gave us a wide open weekend and a beautiful one at that. On Saturday, we took a stroll along the Suwanee Green Trail and the girls brought their bikes to show off their riding skills. Grandpa was duly impressed. This was followed by lunch and Yogli Mogli and interesting conversations with Clare in which she told Grandpa that “he smelled like a cousin. Not an uncle.” No one really knows what that means, but Grandpa decided to take it as a compliment!

On Saturday evening, we made a nice dinner in and enjoyed conversation, watching old home movies (including some of Grandma Louise and parts of my wedding video), and a rousing game of charades. I wish I had video of LB’s demonstration of a butterfly! Sunday we headed to church for a meaningful all Saints service and then headed to the park and lunch. We were sad to part with LB and Miriam, but took comfort that Thanksgiving is right around the corner. Chris took Clare bike riding and Marin and I cleaned the house (she really enjoys playing the role of Cinderella and I am working this as long as I can). We all met up at the Morningview fall festival for jumpies, cake walks, and face painting. All in all, a fantastic family oriented weekend.

Our yard project should begin on Wednesday (we hope..it seems to be a bit of a moving target). We are looking forward to having a functional and beautiful back yard and hope to have time to enjoy it before winter sets in!
I need to get back to work as my lunch is finished…I hope you all have wonderful weeks!

Love,
Kristi/en

2011-10-31T12:04:00.001-07:00

Boo and Happy Halloween! I was awakened (quite early) by 2 very excited little girls who are very much looking forward to trick or treating this evening. Though costume choice varies from moment to moment (we use costumes from our dress up stash and do not acquire Halloween specific ones), I believe we will be going as a Hogwarts witch and Sleeping Beauty with a mask (Sleeping Beauty did not have a mask you say? This Sleeping Beauty does…maybe she went to Mardi Gras. No beads though. Sleeping Beauty is not that kind of girl)

Work continues to be busy and we had unexpected (at least to me) layoffs last week. I was not impacted, but was stunned by some of the people who were. At this point, we have largely good people left so it gets harder to stomach with each subsequent reduction. I never get used to layoffs, but very little time to dwell…this will only increase the workload on those of us remaining.

We had a fun weekend. Heather and I kicked off the weekend with Thirsty Thursday…it is brief, but we get a lot of debriefing and stress release accomplished in that 40 minutes! On Friday evening, I went to a Stella Dot party at Stephanie’s house. Stella Dot is jewelry…I’m the last person one would expect to attend a jewelry party, but Christmas is coming so I got some good gifts. On Saturday morning, the girls donned witch and butterfly Barbie costumes and we headed to Suwanee’s annual Trek or Treat on the green trail, which included a scavenger hunt for pumpkins, a hula hoop competition (Marin came in 3rd in her round), a dance party, hot dogs on the grill…basically family fun on a beautiful day. After Trek, I took the girls to a costume birthday party (wardrobe change en route…Marin now a pioneer and Clare Snow White). We concluded Saturday by hosting Scott for dinner, who came bearing tasty pumpkin seed brittle. A fantastic day.

On Sunday, I had a rare girls outing. Heather had put together an Oak Meadow ladies event (or it ended up that all attendees are affiliated with Oak Meadow in one way or another) to have lunch at Monaluce winery and then we went on to Three Sisters and Frogtown for additional tastings. It was another beautiful day and great camaraderie. I was so excited to see Ms Liz, who was the assistant toddler teacher for both of my girls. She retired from Oak Meadow last year and I hadn’t seen her since Field Day. She hasn’t changed a bit, except she seems a bit more relaxed now that she isn’t responsible for educating twelve 2 year olds every day!

This week’s friend shout out is my former ballet instructor, Cristian Addams. During my high school years, I probably spent as many waking hours with Cristian as I did my family given my 5 dance classes a week and rehearsals most weekends. I always loved Cristian’s unique style…all barres were set to contemporary music instead of piano and that was always fun. Though he demanded the best out of his dancers, he was always very compassionate and I always loved getting the notes he wrote the senior dancers during performances. I have fond memories of his Diet Coke consumption, his devotion to Cher and the Nylons, and Wee Nessie. He is also the only person for whom I have co-written a book….Amy, Sadie, and I collectively wrote the highly acclaimed 101 Excuses that Didn’t Work. (look for it on Amazon ;-) ) Cristian has lived in London for many years now and I have additional fond memories of Sadie and I showing up unannounced at his London ballet school when we went backpacking through Europe. He knew we would be visiting, but I don’t think he expected that we’d get off the plane and train on over to his studio! Though I am fond of many of my teachers, I must say I always loved Cristian the most and he always inspired me to do my best. I was not the most talented dancer in the world, but his demand for discipline has productively spilled over into other areas of my life.

Book reviews….finished two this week. Saving CeeCee Honeycutt by Beth Hoffman was a sweet book, set largely in Savannah. When Cee Cee’s troubled mother has a tragic accident, Cee Cee is rescued by her great aunt who helps her heal. A nice feel good Southern story with a collection of eccentric characters. Also finished One Mississippi by Mark Childress. Though it wasn’t intentional, I guess I was on a Southern kick. This book was actually much darker than I expected…I can’t say too much without giving away crucial plot elements.

I hope you all have wonderful Halloweens and get nothing but treats!

Love,

Kristi/en

2011-10-24T12:21:00.001-07:00

Greetings, All! I hope this week leading up to Halloween finds you well and looking forward to a bevy of costume themed, candy laden events! Things here are fine…I ship accepted a product on Friday…HUGE sigh of relief. There’s still more work to do (it never seems to end), but this was a much needed milestone hit. Celebratory Laura cookies for the team have been ordered! :-)

Despite a hectic work week, I was able to carve out time for Thirsty Thursday with Heather and coffee with Barbie. I had also over committed myself to bake for the Oak Meadow fall festival…given my general lack of baking (thus no ready supply of baking ingredients)and ridiculous conference call schedule, I had decided to do a major cop out and make slice and bake cookies (already in my fridge). I fessed up to this on Facebook and was incredibly touched that Barbie, an uber mom, stepped in and whipped up 64 made from scratch pumpkin cinnamon swirl cookies on my behalf. What an amazingly thoughtful gesture! And how lucky I am!

On Friday, Misty and Megan arrived to enjoy a weekend full of fun fall themed events. We headed to the Oak Meadow fall festival on Saturday morning, then left all the girls with Chris while Misty and I headed to the Country Living fair at Stone Mountain. My friends are far more talented than I in almost any domestic pursuit so I didn’t see anything at the fair that Misty is not capable of creating herself (but over 90% of it I would not be able to do). Nonetheless, it was interesting to see all the creative things people are doing by recycling even the oddest of things…old typewriter keys, for instance. It was a beautiful day and nice leisurely afternoon spent with one of my oldest and dearest friends.

On Sunday, it was off to church and then to the 5th (I think?) annual pumpkin carving party at the Daniels. Chris decked us out with a carving power tool, which was the envy of several carvers. Despite our impressive tool collection, we (Ok, me) had been a bit over zealous in our choice of Disney themed templates. We did end up with a cute Mickey jack o lantern, but had to toss Rapunzel in favor of a more conventional jack o lantern face. Another beautiful day and fun times with friends. We concluded our festive weekend by having dinner at Mike and Jim’s where the girls enjoyed a pre Halloween screening of the Wizard of Oz.

I forgot this section last week…big oversight. Today’s friend highlight is Stacie. Writing this little paragraph is actually great fun for me as I take quite a stroll down memory lane…and decide which memories are fit for public consumption (because I am clearly such a wild and crazy person, as is Stacie…). For Stacie, there were simply too many memories to pick just one and so I’m cheating…Stacie was my roommate for two years and our roomie years are full of so many great memories..playing the assassin game at PAR, walking to Delights with our punch cards, adopting JP Kitty in the Crystal Lake apartment, making arrangements to quickly retrieve her wedding veil when it had inadvertently not been brought to the church, the spring break that we got snowed in and couldn’t make it over Jellico Mountain and back to school, our post college trip to Memphis (Peabody Ducks!!)…I could go on and on. Though Stacie and I only see each other about once a year now, she forever holds a special place in my heart for all she was to me in my college and young adult working years and all she continues to be today.

Book review…took me a while to get through this one…The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver and winner of the Orange prize. Though I will read just about anything, this one had much more literary quality than what I often read. Multiple layers on which to read this one, complex character development, and much social and cultural commentary on war, patriotism, art, sexual preference, communism…a very good book, but a dense read.

I hope you all have wonderful weeks!

Love,

Kristi/en

2011-10-17T09:20:00.001-07:00

Greetings, All! I hope this finds you well. Things here are fine…busy as usual. One of my programs just had a rash of press releases, which means I am very near the finish line, but still have a few small details to iron out. For this program at least, I see a light at the end of the tunnel!

Fun events for the week included Disney on Ice Dare to Dream (purchased through Goldstar for $15...I am a discount junkie). Heather, Lauren, the girls, and I headed downtown and met Chris for dinner prior to the event and then the girls headed on to the show. The girls, of course, loved it and, like everything Disney does, it was fun and well done. On Friday morning I met Barbie for coffee and enjoyed catching up with her.

The highlight of the week, however, was our trip to Tennessee to celebrate Shappert patriarch LB’s 80 years on planet Earth. To have achieved such a milestone, he is a spry young thing. Just a few weeks ago, he returned from a trip to Sicily, Italy. Age is just a number…there’s nothing slowing this guy down. A lovely party was held on his behalf, with most of the delicious food prepared by my talented sister in law, Becky. I did make a few contributions…pita chips and quiches, courtesy of Costco. Impressive, I know. We also had a smaller family get together the night prior at Miriam’s house and it was great to have this relaxing down time. Eva attended the party so I got to spend some time with her and the girls and I took my Aunt Betty out for ice cream on Saturday morning. Aunt Betty will be 81 this year and she is not quite so spry as LB, but much loved all the same.

When not attending parties, we hung around the lake enjoying the beautiful weather, relaxing in the hammock, running and biking along the waterfront, and helping Marin assemble her mountain range geology project. I am not crafty so any kind of craft project is likely to make me break out in a cold sweat. She worked hard on it and considering we started with a shapeless lump of clay, she ended up with an impressive looking mountain range, complete with miniature pine trees and river rocks gathered in the back yard. She also did research and made a poster…a most studious endeavor.

I am off to an eye exam so I will close now before they dilate my eyes and render me more or less useless for the next several hours.

Have wonderful Fall weeks!

Love,

Kristi/en

2011-10-10T17:34:00.000-07:00

Greetings, All! I hope Fall continues to find you well. Things here are good…after a grueling work week (though highlighted by Thirsty Thursday with Heather!) and an even more painful commuting process for Chris with the advent of the ill fated Peach Pass, we enjoyed a long weekend in the mountains. The girls had fall break this weekend…it is hard to believe that they have been in school for 2 months! We kicked off the break by having dinner and seeing Dolphin Tale with Scott. I think the boys in our crew were not overly touched by the sweet little dolphin movie, but the girls in our party really enjoyed it.

On Friday, the family Shappert headed to Cherokee, North Carolina. Ah, the irony of spending Columbus Day weekend on an Indian reservation…I spent much of the weekend over tipping in a meek effort to apologize for my ancestors’ poor behavior. I was not sure how much sensitive Marin knew about the Trail of Tears, but she seemed to understand it quite well and, despite her empathetic nature, enjoyed visiting the Museum of the Cherokee Indian and the Ocanluftee Indian Village. We also had a fun hike at Tallulah Gorge, a brief visit to the North Carolina side of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, splashed in the river at Natahala Gorge, and set foot on the Appalachian Trail. Marin declared her intent to hike it in its entirely and asked me to join her. Hmmm…. We had a picnic by the river and played in a bamboo forest and relaxed at our very nice cabin complete with an outdoor fireplace (yay S’mores!) and hot tub. Though a short weekend, it was a wonderful, relaxing family weekend and one we all needed.

Upon arriving home, we concluded the fall break weekend by hosting Jordan and Katelyn for a sleepover. A lot of fun packed into a few days.

This week’s friend highlight is Charouny, another former coworker, a tiny sprite of a girl who nonetheless knew how to command an entire production line. Many fond memories of Charouny, including our Motorola sponsored trip to Cancun where we visited Mayan ruins and bought matching straw hats for our presentation team. I was also honored to witness Charouny’s beautiful wedding to Frank. Though it’s been years since our paths crossed, I’m happy to remain in touch via, of course, Facebook
!
It’s time to wrap this up and begin a night of conference calls. I hope you all have wonderful weeks!

Love,
Kristi/en

2011-10-03T10:55:00.001-07:00

Greetings, All, and happy autumn! It has been stunningly beautiful here the past week and it is definitely sweater weather. Now that it is not so blazingly hot, the girls and I have resumed park outings and nature walks. Clare is always on the lookout for a bird feather. Work continues to be busy to the point of being brutal, but at least I have my afternoons and early evenings with my girls and I am abundantly grateful for that flexibility. Our early evenings were quite busy last week. We hosted Barbie and kids for dinner on Monday evening while Alex traveled and the kids had a blast playing together. Andrew and Katie are so sweet to my girls and genuinely seem to enjoy playing with them. It also meant I got to see Barbie twice in a single week since we had our coffee on Friday too. On Thursday, Heather and I had a quick Thirsty Thursday outing and then headed to CatchAir (a newly opened indoor play center) for the first Oak Meadow Family Fun night. The event was hosted and planned by OMPA (Oak Meadow Parent Assocation, Heather and I are 50% of its board) and was probably our most well attended and most profitable family fun night yet. Hooray for family fun!

Friday evening the girls went to bingo night with their friend Jordan and Chris and I used a Groupon to go out for Indian food. As someone who has a peculiar and almost obsessive devotion to bargain shopping, the advent of Groupon, LivingSocial, HalfOffDepot, TravelZoo etc have allowed me to take this quirk to a whole new level. (for local parents…there’s a Groupon for CatchAir…check it out) Saturday Heather and I went to a spa in Buckhead for a 2 hour massage (TravelZoo deal). After my punishing conference call schedule of late, I would love to tell you that it was amazingly relaxing, but it was actually a bit more of an adventure. The visual ambience was very nice…dark room with stone walls lit entirely by candles…reminiscent of a monastery save for the figures of Buddha everywhere ;-). The audio ambience a little less…there was clearly a dryer going in the background which caused Heather to note, “Feels like home!” As for my masseuse, for a small skinny man he seemed intent on pulverizing the bones in my foot during the foot massage. I tried several times to tell him less pressure, but we had a language barrier and I think he only heard “pressure” and amped it up. Given the language barrier, he did not speak to me whereas Heather’s masseuse was giving her a running commentary on reflexology. I lay there with my eyes squeezed shut enduring my Chinese foot torture when I heard Heather’s masseuse say, “Now those were your female parts…” My eyes flew open, but I promise you…the lady was still at her feet. Anyway…the back massage was more traditional and better, but the lunch at Atlanta Fish Market afterward was definitely the best part of the experience!

After our adventure, Heather dropped me off at Town Center Park and I limped off to join my family at the festival ongoing. There were lots of jumpies and little rides and much excitement. My girls have done quite the festival tour of late. Yesterday we further capitalized on the great weather by taking them to a local pumpkin patch after church. They enjoyed filling wagons with pumpkins ,petting bunnies, and riding the ponies. As for church, my Joy choir, which is mostly 3 year olds this year, had their singing debut and they did very well. Some of them didn’t sing, but no one cried (at least not during), ran to Mama, peed, or threw up and that is always my gage of success with this age group. Many of them sang and they were all very sweet. It was World Communion Sunday so the chancel choir did a lot of really fun music, including the anthem sung in Nigerian where we were joined by a beautiful and talented opera singer from Nigeria.

Highlighted friend for this week is Kathy Carver, my first of many bosses at Motorola and one of my most compassionate. Probably my fondest memories of Kathy include the phone call she made offering me the job with McHenry tech ops. After she filled me in on the details, she noted, “I even have a roommate for you. Here’s Shin bone.” And thus I came to live with Jenny for the next 2 years! Other Kathy moments include arriving for my first day at work to find my cube fully stocked with new office supplies and my name on the door. Also…all those after hours volleyball sessions, in which she tried (in vain) to improve my performance for the Tech Op sand volleyball team. I would like to think I have been a better asset to Motorola overall than I was to the volleyball team! So, Kathy, though it’s been years since we worked together…thank you for hiring me, for teaching me how to be a good employee, and for creating such a fun team atmosphere at McHenry.

Book review…finished The Great House by Nicole Krauss. The book had 4 interwoven stories and narrators whose connection was a unique writing desk. The character development is excellent and the storylines engaging…though the overall feel is certainly melancholy. A very good read.

I hope you all have wonderful weeks!

Love,
Kristi/en

2011-09-26T10:03:00.001-07:00

Greetings, All, and Happy Autumn! Things here are fine following a busy and hectic work week. I always have conference calls 3-4 nights a week. This just comes with the territory of supporting Asia and I don’t begrudge it as I have the flexibility to spend time with my daughters in the afternoons. But we are now to the point where we are having 2 and 3 conference calls a night 4-5 nights a week. That’s a bit more tiring, but it is short lived and it is all for you, the dear holiday consumers of the world! So that’s enough about work.

In addition to work, we had a bit of illness derail the week. Marin woke up in the middle of the night Tuesday night complaining of stomach pain. We got her settled with us, though kept her home from school Wednesday as she was running a low grade fever and continuing to complain of intermittent stomach pain, with no other GI symptoms (use your imagination). She came to the office with me after her parent/teacher conference (all very good things, my brainy and cooperative baby) and charmed my coworkers as usual with her sunny disposition and excellent behavior. I figured we had turned the corner, then came home after choir Wednesday to find her crying and doubled over in pain. We looked online and called the nurse line and the unanimous verdict was that she should be seen in the ER to rule out appendicitis. As I had 3 of those aforementioned conference calls to man and Clare at home in bed, Chris and Marin had an ER bonding experience from which we learned not much other than that Marin did not have appendicitis or a UTI. She is much better…no more fevers, though she still notes the occasional tummy twinge. So we are monitoring.

She is obviously MUCH better as both girls ran the Be the Match run with me on Saturday morning. I ran the 5K and both girls ran the 1K. They did a great job and Clare loved it so much that she cried when it was over. I exceeded my fundraising goal (thank you so much to many of you!) and had my personal best 5K time of 28 minutes 49 seconds. This is also the only timed 5K I’ve run so we could call it my personal worst as well, but I’m the optimistic sort. It was inspiring to be a part of this event and see the very real ways that bone marrow transplants save lives. So, if I may…it is too late for my dad, the impetus for my run, but it is not too late for so many others. When I signed up to be on the registry list 20 years ago, it involved drawing blood at a clinic. Today you can contact the National Bone Marrow Donor program online and request a donor kit, which they send to your home. You swab the inside of your mouth and send it back. I hope you’ll consider it. In the 20+ years I’ve been on the registry, I’ve only been called once. That did involve about 9 vials of blood, but, in the end, I wasn’t a close enough match to proceed further. So very likely you will never be called, but you could end up saving a life!

Other weekend activities included Friday lunch with Barbie and Alex and then an outing to the Duluth carnival that evening with the girls. These rickety ride events always unnerve me a bit, but the kids love them and it was like a revival…there were so many people there from the church. (probably because they gave us all buy one get one free armbands at choir on Wednesday night). After the run, I took the girls to a Princess birthday party and then ran by the Duluth Fall Festival in pursuit of a berry bowl for Tom (like the one Misty gave me). Saturday evening Scott came over to replenish all the calories I lost running with homemade deep dish pizza and French silk pie. Have I ever mentioned that Scott is ALWAYS welcome for dinner?

And finally, a last highlight for the weekend…Marin can now ride a bike without training wheels (sniff). They have been lifted off the ground for some time, but added a bit of security should she start to tip. We ripped off the security blanket and away she rode…with the biggest ear to ear grin. It’s a big childhood milestone and it makes me sad and happy at the same time.

I have been thinking a lot about my friend Jeff, who we lost 2 weeks ago. I said in that email that I think about all of you more often than you think. And in response I’m adding an admittedly cheesy section to this email…I am going to note one of you and share a fond memory. I have created a random list from the contacts on this email and first one goes to Brian Egeston. Brian, working with you always made me laugh. I will never forget the video of you having a solo flash mob at the Great Wall of China or the fact that you named the ultrasonic machines (Bertha and Beulah?) I also admire you greatly for leaving the “secure” world of engineering to pursue your true passion as a writer.

I hope you all have wonderful weeks!

XOXO,

Kristi/en

2011-09-19T07:44:00.000-07:00

Greetings, All!
I hope this last week of official summer finds you well! Things here are fine, but busy as usual. Work for me has reached a make or break point for critical program launches so there’s a lot of pressure and late night phone calls, but I’m holding my own and remaining optimistic. I did manage to carve out time for my girl outings that help to keep me sane…though Thirsty Thursday with Heather had to be re-located to a park and included kids and tree climbing and a lot of dust from the baseball field. Coffee with Barbie was held at our usual Starbucks and was a great catch up time (though I can’t say that I’d recommend the new salted caramel mocha, no whip, skim milk. Maybe some things just should not be salted). I also went to a fun 31 party at Ellouise’s.

The weekend was beautiful, autumnal, and festive. We kicked it off by representing Oak Meadow in the Suwanee Days parade. My girls have not had the occasion to be in a parade before and they were quite enthusiastic about the whole process. After the parade, we attended the Suwanee Days festival itself and did the inflatables and rides, which was fun, though it was much more crowded than in years past. This is likely due to the fantastic weather. Saturday evening we dropped the kids off at Georgia Gymnastics Academy kids night out and went out for dinner with the Holbrooks. My kids have been dying to do Kids Night Out, but we had to wait until Clare turned 4. We had a wonderful dinner with John and Heather which there were no interruptions to the conversation, and the kids did not want to leave when we arrived to pick them up. An altogether fantastic day.

Sunday was equally as splendid. Another beautiful fallish day…after church, there was kite flying and then a family biking adventure along the new boardwalk trails at George Pierce Park. Clare rides on the tandem bike and Marin held her own, riding almost 3 miles. Such exertion clearly calls for frozen yogurt so we concluded the outing at Yogli Mogli. I loved it when my girls were babies and toddlers (and I miss those tiny babies), but they are both so much fun right now and able to do so much more…they are SO enthusiastic about family outings. I want to soak all this up now because it is fleeting. We concluded Sunday by hosting Mike and Jim for dinner, always a fun event.

Before I forget, my Be the Match race is next weekend and a few of you have asked for the information on how to donate (tax deductible). My personal page is here: http://www.bethematchfoundation.org/site/TR?px=1585050&pg=personal&fr_id=1731&et=dAz0gtZct65f4WjL2RQqvA&s_tafId=6024 Thank you for your support! (and to those of you that sent checks, I have made the requisite donation on line and thank you!)

Book review…finished a somber tale, Shock of Gray by Ted Fishman, which basically discusses the global aging of the population and the impact it is going to have on families, societies and economies. While I do understand many of the concerns, I have to say that I count some “seniors” among my closest friends and family. And these particular seniors are more active, engaged and healthy than many people half their age.

I need to get busy…have wonderful weeks!
Love,
Kristi/en

2011-09-14T09:59:00.001-07:00

Hello, Friends,

As promised, here comes the more traditional weekly note. This week we welcome 2 new people to the list. Jimmy Cornett, with whom I have worked on and off (mostly on) for over 14 years, has left the little pond of Motorola Mobility (aka Googrola) for the big sea of Samsung. This is a huge intellectual loss to the Mot, but also a personal loss…Jimmy was one of the last remaining people here who remembers our current office space used to be a factory. Nonetheless, I wish him all the best on this new endeavor. Also adding Ellouise, with whom I sing in the choir and who probably should have been added to this list long before now. I am honored to spend my Wednesday evenings and Sunday mornings in her beacon.

Work is very busy. As you know, I don’t spend much time dwelling on that here. Last Thursday, I had my traditional Thirsty Thursday outing with Heather and Barbie joined us, since work commitments and wedding travel were going to interrupt our Friday coffee. Must have my beverages and girl time! Friday afternoon the family Shappert ventured to Tennessee for the gala wedding event. This was a family affair as the girls were both flower girls, I was a bridesmaid, and Chris was a groomsmen. We skated into TN with just enough time to pick up the tux and head to the rehearsal where we dutifully marched up and down the aisle and stood on tape on command. After the rehearsal, it was off to the rehearsal dinner, which was hosted in a beautiful old home. My mother put a lot of fretting time into the rehearsal dinner and I thought it turned out very well.

Saturday morning the girls and I headed to the beauty salon for up dos. They were very excited by their fancy hair, very excited by their pretty dresses, very excited about their little silk baskets full of petals…very excited would sum up their day. They got to see lots of family members including my Aunt Peg from Mississippi, Aunt Betty, Grandma Eva, cousins Sydney and Samantha (and Aunt Sharon and Uncle Steve) and Grandpa Larry. The wedding itself was very nice…on the small side, but a sweet ceremony followed by a reception in the church basement. My brother looked handsome and happy, Julie looked radiant and beautiful, and it could not have been a lovelier day.

Since returning, I have had Clare’s first parent/teacher conference of the year where I learned mostly good things. She is a hard worker, empathetic to her peers, and abundantly curious. She is also stubborn (really?!) and strong willed and skilled at trying to find loopholes in the rules. This is quite an adept summation and confirms the challenge I face in her teen years!

Book review…finished No One Belongs Here More Than You, a collection of short stories by Miranda July and most probably added to my library queue because it was voted one of the Top Ten fiction books of 2007 by Time Magazine. I add books for all kinds of reasons, but that seems more likely than the subject matter which was, as one reviewer noted, “beautifully written and stunning in its sexual frankness.” Well, indeed…and this was not a book to leave lying about for one’s 7 year old to peruse.

I must get back to the grind now…I hope you all have wonderful weeks and enjoy life to the absolute fullest in tribute to those who have been taken from all of us too early.

Love,

Kristi/en

2011-09-12T07:13:00.001-07:00

Hello, Friends,

We just returned from a beautiful fall weekend in Tennessee where my whole family had the opportunity to participate in my brother David’s wedding. Many of you know that my brother has had a meandering and often destructive path in life, but he has been doing very well for several years now and his wedding was a joyous celebration of both his relationship with Julie and his whole-ness as a person. And so I would love to be updating you on all that and I will at some point.

For now my heart is heavy. For those of you on this list from U of I, it is with great sadness that I share the news I received last night. Jeff Speigel died suddenly on Saturday morning after completing an 8 mile run near he and Sarah’s home. He collapsed for reasons as of yet unknown and, though paramedics were on the scene quickly, they were unable to revive him. He was 38 and leaves behind Sarah and 2 young children. I was actually thinking about Jeff a lot this weekend…Marin was so excited to be a flower girl and asking me about the various weddings I’d attended and been in. I was telling her that the last wedding where Daddy and I were both attendants was Jeff and Sarah’s, our friends in California. I told her about the beautiful outdoor wedding on a hilltop overlooking the city. She asked if she’d ever met Jeff and Sarah and I told her yes, but that she would not remember as it has been 5 years since we last visited them in California. When we flew out for Sadie and Rafi’s wedding, we booked our return trip home from LA specifically so we could visit Jeff and Sarah and Amy. It was a short visit, but so easy to re-connect. And, of course, Jeff is on this distribution list and we are Facebook friends. Just last week I was looking at his Labor day camping trip pictures. I meant to comment on them, but I didn’t.

Since learning of this news last night, so many memories of Jeff have come flooding back. I remember the joy on his face when he and Sarah smashed the glass at their wedding. I remember he and I bonding at U of I over our shared misery of being Southern transplants in the Midwest. He hails from Kentucky and we spent quite a bit of time our first year wondering how we’d ended up in the middle of all these cornfields. We struggled with school…me with engineering in general and him with not liking mechanical engineering. He found his groove with computer science and it was because of him that I got my job as a workstation site operator, thus being rescued from my employment in dorm food service. Jeff got me into roller blading (briefly) and I remember blading all over campus with him. Jeff is also the person Chris asked to send me flowers on his behalf when he was studying abroad in Australia. Our dating anniversary is in October and Chris contacted Jeff and asked for his assistance in celebrating the occasion. I opened my Green St apartment door to find Jeff standing there with flowers. It was an awkward moment at first and then Jeff, recognizing my confusion, blushed fire engine red and said, “No No NO…they are not from me. They are from your boyfriend. He asked me to get you roses and tell you he loves you and misses you. “ It was such a funny, tender moment.

Which is frankly a good way to sum up Jeff. He was smart and articulate and funny and kind and loving and so devoted to his family. Throughout college we had a running debate as to who would first have children…he was sure a Shaplet would come first. Knowing Chris, I was just as sure a Speiglet would come first even though Jeff was not even dating anyone at the time. We bet a fancy dinner on the outcome. We never had a chance to have the dinner…I won…as Kyla was born just ahead of Marin. Jeff’s devotion to Sarah and to their two children was steadfast and complete and an inspiration and obvious through any interaction with him.

Though I did not keep in touch with Jeff as well as I should have, I always regarded him fondly as I do many of you. This email list originated as a way to keep in touch with my Motorola McHenry coworkers as I left and moved to Atlanta. It has blossomed from there. All of you…and I mean this with great sincerity...all of you are on this list because you have played an important role in my life. Some of you I talk too daily, some of you occasionally, and too many of you…almost never. But if you are reading this now, I regard you with the utmost fondness and respect and you likely pass through my mind more often than you might think. Even if I am not very good with individual follow through.

As I said, later this week I will write and update you on the weekend events, but right now it just seems more appropriate to keep the focus on Jeff. If you knew Jeff and would like to know the arrangements for his life celebration, please let me know.

Much love,

Kristi/en

2011-09-05T18:08:00.000-07:00

Happy Labor day from SOGGY Atlanta! It’s been a while since I’ve been able to say that though ,so we are grateful for the rain and hoping that the Tropical Storm Lee spawned tornadoes keep their distance! For a holiday weekend, I have very little to report. We have been on the go so much lately that we just took a quiet family weekend at home…in the spirit of labor day, we cleaned the house more thoroughly than usual and also vacuumed out the van and washed the floor mats (really exciting stuff, I know). The weekend up until today was hot and sunny so we did manage some park outings and some tandem biking…Clare actually made it for a 50 minute ride with Chris, exceeding all our expectations. Today the girls requested to paint pottery so we headed to Discover Mills to the only paint-your-own-pottery place open today (and quite busy…note to local Suwanee business owners…you missed a golden opportunity of captive-out-of-school children in need of something to do on a rainy holiday). We got lunch, rode the carousel, bought Marin some jeans, and then headed home to play in the rain. The girls donned rain jackets and rain boots and gleefully splashed in puddles . For a long time. Then they learned that rain boots can double as buckets and things got really crazy from there!

Work is busy and stressful…it will be that way for a while. I try not to dwell on it when I’m not there so…moving on.…

I was able to enjoy both my girls’ outings this week…Thirsty Thursday with Heather and Starbucks with Barbie on Friday morning. Definitely some the week’s best moments!

Book review…finished The Lost Hero by Rick Riordian and round 2 of the The Last Olympian series. I have to say that this one didn’t grab me as much as the first one. I don’t know if I just didn’t like the characters as much or if the series just didn’t lend itself well to a sequel. Nonetheless I read the whole thing and will very likely finish the rest of the batch since Misty was kind enough to loan them to me.

This seems short this week…you are probably grateful! I hope September is off to a good start for you all and that you are all safe and warm and dry.

Love,
Kristi/en

2011-08-30T11:31:00.001-07:00

Greetings, All!
I write you refreshed and relaxed after a weekend at the beach with my mom and Eva. At least I was relaxed until I returned to work this morning…

This was a belated birthday event for Eva, who turned 93 in April. Unfortunately her daughter, Ellen, had to have last minute outpatient knee surgery and was not able to join us, but the rest of us ventured to Sea Island, GA on Saturday morning. We stayed at the Cloisters ocean villas and it was AMAZING. The Cloisters is probably most recently known for having hosted the G8 summit and bills itself as a world class facility. I would have to agree….absolutely everything was top notch from the service, to the beautiful grounds, to the impeccable room, to the gorgeous view etc. I was concerned about all this because the Cloisters recently changed hands, as the previous owners had run the property into bankruptcy in an effort to be apparently exceedingly world class. They were also charging a perfectly silly $800/room and wondering why they couldn’t get customers. The new management company took over a few months ago and seems to have managed to maintain the wonderful atmosphere, but have made the lodging much more “affordable” (particularly when you split it 4 ways). Our room overlooked the Cloisters private beach on which I gathered the most beautiful and intact shells (including a sand dollar and numerous conchs). I also took runs along the beach and along the running paths which weave among beautiful gardens and under stately live oaks. I recovered from these runs with soaks in the hot tub, relaxing on the balcony, and consuming my body weight in fresh seafood (for protein, of course!) I was also very happy that the resort staff remembered our stay was to celebrate Eva’s birthday and sent her a lavish fruit and cheese plate with belated well wishes for her special day. If you have a special event and are in the Georgia area, I can’t recommend the Cloisters highly enough.

While we spent a lot of time just enjoying our resort, we did venture out and about on a few adventures. (Eva is the most spry 93 year old you will ever encounter) We took the St Simons trolley tour, which was a great way to see notable island landmarks, including Christ Church and the Fort Frederica National Monument (yes, protected by the NPS so check!) We did some shopping in the historic district and took in a jazz concert on the lighthouse lawn Sunday evening. Tom and Jim’s sister, Kay, joined us for this event and it was wonderful to see her. While we sipped wine and listened to music, a pod of dolphins frolicked just off shore. It did feel pretty much like being in a Disney movie, particularly given all the hurricane havoc further up the Eastern seaboard. I almost felt guilty that our weather was so perfect, but I was SO happy that everything worked out so well for Eva, who seemed to have a magical time.

The girls stayed home with Daddy and Pawpaw and had a good weekend biking, attending Andrew’s birthday party, shopping with money from Grandma Eva and Ellen, and dining with Mike and Jim.

Work is pretty crazy…it was not an overly convenient time to take a day off and I will spend the rest of the week making up for it, but I am very happy to have had the opportunity to have such a fun weekend with Mom and Eva.

I hope you all have wonderful weeks!

Love,
Kristi/en

2011-08-22T09:48:00.001-07:00

Greetings, All!
Well, it was quite a week. As I noted last week, my company has been sucked up the Google straw and what happens next is anyone’s guess. I do know that it is business as usual for the next 6 months, which for me and many others, means round the clock activity in an attempt to get products in the pipeline for the Christmas shopping season. So work is intense populated with, as you might imagine, numerous water cooler conversations concerning our new parent company. Other excitement for the week was the girls’ school going into lockdown mode, along with 2 public schools nearby. A suicidal individual, armed with a shotgun and a knife, was roaming the woods around the schools threatening to do harm to himself. While it seemed he intended to only harm himself, this is nevertheless not a situation to which children should be introduced so all the schools were in lockdown for several hours. It was unnerving to say the least, but Oak Meadow handled the situation flawlessly and I hugged my girls a little harder that afternoon when I was allowed to pick them up!

Outside of work the week was busy as well. I attended the P1 classroom orientation meeting both as an interested parent and as the Oak Meadow Parent Association co-President. So far I love Clare’s new teacher. Wednesday night church activities resumed for the kids which means I’m now leading Joy Choir again on Wednesdays. And Marin’s piano lessons resumed after a 2 week break. I also had Thirsty Thursday with Heather while the girls were at gymnastics and coffee with Barbie on Friday so I got in some girl time (and some tasty beverages).

Our weekend was busy, yet festive. On Friday Scott came for dinner bearing not only homemade ice cream, but also edamame dip and wine. The Shapperts must have been especially good this week! On Saturday, I took the girls to a birthday party at the pool, which was unfortunately more or less rained out. Regardless the kids seemed to have a good time playing on the playground in between rain showers and got to swim for about 10 or so thunder-less minutes. Saturday evening Chris braved 4 little girls as we were keeping the Wells girls for the night. I had a previously scheduled Girls Night Out with Heather and some friends…Heather very generously took us all out for dinner and to see The Help. It was a fun evening and I was very impressed with The Help, which proved that Hollywood can make a worthwhile movie without language, sex, violence, or things exploding. I can’t tell you the last time I had a girls night so I was very appreciative to both Heather and Chris for allowing it to happen.

Sunday the kids choirs sang at church (you may be saying…didn’t they just start back Wednesday? You probably aren’t saying that, but the answer is Yes.) and then we went to Mike and Jim’s for dinner. So a very full, but really fun weekend!

In about a month, I am running a road race for Be The Match. I am not doing this for any time record, but to raise money for the Be the Match foundation, which works to ensure patients that need stranger bone marrow transplants can get them. Most of you probably know that my father died of multiple myeloma when I was 14. These days his cancer would be treated with a bone marrow transplant…we’ll never know if such an option would have saved him then, but I am running this race now to raise money and awareness in the hopes that no one needing a transplant ever dies while a match is being sought. If you would like to donate to support my race, my personal page is http://www.bethematchfoundation.org/site/TR?px=1585050&pg=personal&fr_id=1731&et=dAz0gtZct65f4WjL2RQqvA&s_tafId=6024 and your contribution is tax deductible. I would be grateful for your support!

Book review…finished I Love You and I’m Leaving You Anyway by Tracy McMillan and a non fiction chronicle of one woman’s attempt to overcome her significant childhood issues (her mother abandoned her and her father was in prison for most of her life for dealing drugs and for being a pimp) and find peace within herself. The book was funny and sad and hopeful and, at the expense of sounding cheesy, a testament to the resilience of the human spirit.

I hope you all have wonderful weeks!

Love,
Kristi/en

2011-08-15T10:27:00.000-07:00

Greetings, All! Today I feel…Googly. I found out, likely after many of you, that Google has acquired Motorola Mobility for a vast sum of money and immediately there has been immense speculation in the market (and at our water cooler) as to what this means. We have already had a de-briefing from the Google CEO and there is another meeting this afternoon with Motorola management. I have no idea what the impact will be on anyone’s job, much less my own, and no clear idea of just when this will occur…it has to get through a regulatory process. My current strategy, as it has been for the last 16 years, is wait and see. I have too much time invested and too much of a good reputation built to make any sudden moves.

Other news…Chris’ official birthday occurred this past week and the event was celebrated with cake (because I am such an amazing baker, I purchased both a carrot cake and a cheese cake. A possible upside to a sudden loss of job would be more time to bake…?) and board games with the girls. I attended the Elementary school curriculum night, both as a parent and as a representative for the Oak Meadow Parent Association. Didn’t really learn anything new, but it merely confirmed for me what an amazing teacher Ms Cindy is and what an absolutely individualized lesson plan is developed for Marin each and every week. Also enjoyed my Hang-Out-While-the-Kids-Do-Gymnastics outing with Heather and Chris actually arrived at the gym in time to join the festivities.

Only a little over a week into the school year and I already had a sick one. Clare came down in the middle of the night Friday running a fever, but had no other symptoms. We ran her by the doctor, primarily because she said she felt like she had bugs in her ears and we thought maybe ear infection. No ear issues (and presumably no bugs) and everything else was negative too. It was very short lived as she was back in business by Saturday. This was a good thing because I was in Chicago and I would have hated for Chris to be solo parenting a sick wee one all weekend. As it turned out, she was fine so they attended a birthday party, open house for Marin’s musical theatre class, went to the park, had ice cream, did family movie night…I was so completely not missed that Clare didn’t even want me to tuck her in last night; she asked for Daddy. That kind of knifed me in the heart, I’ll admit, but just reaffirms what a great daddy Chris is. (and hopefully doesn’t reflect negatively on my maternal skills ;-) )

I headed up to Evanston Friday evening. Sadie, Rafi, and baby Milo re-located there in March, but this was the first chance I’d had to venture up. It was wonderful to see Sadie and Rafi and meet the ever sweet little Milo. He is an extremely happy and tolerant baby, who has recently discovered his voice…this is currently manifested in a variety of sweet coos and some very chipper squeaks and squeals. We took walks (and a 4.5 mile run) through the lovely Wilmette neighborhood, had fantastic breakfasts at local diners, ambled to Lake Michigan, and toured Sadie’s new lab. Stacie also drove up for the afternoon and evening on Saturday and it was fantastic to see her as well. A very fun weekend re-connecting with old and dear friends!

Book review…finished 2 this week (plane ride reading while white knuckling the arm rests). A Ship Made of Paper by Scott Spencer was a National Book Award finalist and it was easy to see why. Excellent character development and the central theme was human weakness, specifically as it relates to fidelity. A lot of race issues as well, so much so that I checked the copyright to see if it had been written decades ago (it had not). A very good read. Also finished a collection of short stories by Anthony Doerr. The Memory Wall was a collection of 4 relatively short stories…all had different melancholy themes, in which memory (and memories) played a key role. Very well done even if one does not feel like marching in a parade upon finishing.

I hope you all have wonderful weeks!

XOXO,
Kristi/en

2011-08-08T11:00:00.001-07:00

Greetings All and I hope today finds you well. It is a special day here in that today Chris embarks upon the last of his years that will have a “3” in front. I think this day has actually garnered more excitement for our daughters…who recorded a Daddy and Me book and hand painted picture frames…than for the birthday boy himself. Nonetheless it has been a fun weekend and he will dictate the plans for the evening…assuming those plans fit in the timeline between when we get home from work and before my conference call at 8:30. ;-)

We are back in school! The rest of Gwinnett County started today meaning the morning commute now includes dodging school buses, but we actually started last Wednesday. Heather took the girls to Lake Lanier Islands last Tuesday as a last-day-of-summer blowout and they had an absolute blast. If you have school age children, I highly recommend Camp Heather, but she’s pretty exclusive about the campers she accepts. Clare actually has a new teacher, which is not typical for the Montessori Primary program. Usually it’s the same teacher for 3 years, but her teacher from last year (who was Marin’s teacher for all 3 Primary years) is interested in pursuing a career teaching yoga now. Anyway, Clare liked the new teacher and Marin started second grade with Ms Cindy and I couldn’t be happier about that.

Gymnastics also started back this week…the rest of the activities filter in over the rest of the month, but, by the end of August, we will be back up to full capacity and going a mile a minute. I must say, while it seems like my kids do a lot of things, the cumulative hours they spend per week in their activities is less than 5…my hats off to these parents who cart their kids off to multiple sports practices all week and then games all weekend. I don’t have the stamina. Marin will be doing yoga (at school), piano, gymnastics, and musical theatre. Clare will be doing yoga (at school) and gymnastics and possibly some other extracurricular activity offered through the school. Ballet is not on that list. I don’t want to talk about it right now. ..sniff. Ok..so back to gymnastics…Lauren has class the same time as my girls so Heather and I scooted to Outback just around the corner and toasted the new school year with a skinny margarita sampler. My Friday morning coffees with Barbie (which occurred this week as usual) is one of my favorite times of the week; I’m happy to have this built in kid free catch up time with Heather now too!

We kicked off the weekend by having family game night and popcorn at the Shappert house. The girls are great charades players and Clare is especially animated. They requested to do this every Friday night “forever.” Those of you on this list who are the parents of teens…they’ll still want to do this at 16, right? 14? On Saturday, we did boring and expensive errands (new tires, duct cleaning) and then went out to dinner with the Holbrooks and the Marreros for Chris’ birthday dinner. That was a lovely and festive evening and a tribute to , in my mind anyway, the finest man currently residing on the planet.

On Sunday, I got in touch with my Southern roots. After church (it would only have been more Southern if fried chicken followed), I drove my lovely red pickup truck to the middle of nowhere and picked up a paddle boat that I had purchased off Craig’s List for my mother. I then tied down said paddle boat and drove it back home. I have fulfilled some crucial element of Southern-ness, I feel. I can now rest easy knowing that I have driven a truck while pulling a boat. Upon arriving home, Chris and I got in touch with our Southern Living roots and made homemade blackberry lemonade for the girls’ lemonade stand. You may recall (or not) from last week’s installment that Marin assisted Lauren in her lemonade stand for charity. This was all Marin could talk about last week so she did her own lemonade for charity stand and raised $44.75 which she chose to donate to her elementary classroom. I must say that I was not overly excited about the project at the onset…something about sitting in the blazing heat and flagging down cars pushing beverages on them did not strike me as the best use of a Sunday afternoon. However, I was almost sorry to end my shift and head to Step (Chris took over) because it was really pretty sweet. Marin had written a poster about where she was going to donate the funds and no one actually paid the 50 cents she was asking. Most people gave at least a $1 and one gentleman declared it the finest lemonade he’d ever had and gave her $10. We even had several people just stop and give her money and decline the lemonade. So her first venture as a non profit fundraiser went quite well.

I hope you all have wonderful weeks!

Love,

Kristi/en

2011-08-01T11:10:00.001-07:00

Greetings, All! Despite the heat wave, summer is over here! School starts on Wednesday, which is hard to believe. The girls spent part of the week at Oak Meadow and the latter part of the week at Camp Heather. We also tried to cram a lot of fun into the last full week of summer. We met Andrew and Katie for a play date at the fountain, followed by frozen yogurt at Yogli Mogli. We went to the magician show at the library and then to Suwanee’s Toast to the Town event, which included crazy hair for the kids. All 3 girls in my care (I had Lauren) were lovely with their multicolored, glitter fused hair. The non stop fun continued through the weekend starting with a Friday night sleepover at Jordan and Katelyn’s. It was actually only supposed to be a play date, but transformed into an overnight event. There was also tandem biking on the Suwanee Green trail followed by refreshment at Planet Smoothie. And Marin volunteered at Lauren’s Lemonade Stand, in which homemade strawberry lemonade sold out in record time and $40 was raised to benefit the local humane society.
There was fun for the older Shapperts as well. I had coffee with Barbie on Friday and Scott joined us for dinner on Friday evening. I think he found the house eerily quiet without the smaller Shapperts clamoring for his attention. For their part, they were dismayed to learn they had missed him Saturday morning, but wasted no time consuming the homemade peach ice cream that he left! Saturday evening we joined the Holbrooks for a fantastic grilled salmon dinner and on Sunday Mike and Jim came to our place. So lots of fun dinner engagements.
The weekend was not all fun and games, however. I had to work some on Saturday..units had been hand carried home from China and I needed to collect them and get testing in process. It will be a VERY busy week taking care of all this. However, I did not have to hand carry anything back from China so for that I am grateful. Chris and I also spent quite a bit of time on Saturday doing various mundane chores including such excitement as taking apart the dishwasher and cleaning all its filters and restoring a door knob to the master bathroom door. We also lined up a series of home events to occur this week including professional dryer vent and duct cleaning, pressure washing of the house, and appointments with 2 landscape companies to get quotes on a major backyard renovation project we are considering.
Book review…finished 2 this week. The Pioneer Woman by Ree Drummond was a very easy read and a simple story. The fact that I had actually heard of this woman was surprising, given that I may as well live under a rock so far as my knowledge of pop culture goes. I don’t watch TV, rarely listen to anything other than the kids CDs in the car, and don’t follow a single sports team. What is further surprising is the complete enterprise that Ree has been able to make out of a not overly interesting set of events (on the surface anyway). She was raised by an affluent family on a country club in a small Oklahoma town. She went to college and California and lived, by her own words, a shallow LA lifestyle full of colorful drinks and lots of shopping trips. Feeling strangled by a dead end relationship, she made plans to move to Chicago and stopped off for a few weeks at home. Once there, she fell in love with a rancher, her very own cowboy whom she refers to only as Marlboro Man in the book, and married him. So not all that interesting really and yet she has a well followed blog (which I admittedly have not read), the book publication, a children’s book, and, I believe, a cookbook as well. So hats off to her that she was able to carve out such a niche. And I briefly toyed with the idea of buying Chris a pair of Wranglers and a cowboy hat, but I don’t think it would have quite the same effect. I happen to love the more professorial type.
Also finished Let’s Take the Long Way Home by Gail Caldwell, a non fiction memoir of a friendship. This book was quite melancholy, but so very well done. While on the surface, my life could not be more different than the author’s, I definitely felt a connection to her and found her personal insight impressive.
Lunch is now over and the grind beckons so off I go. Have wonderful weeks and stay cool. I hear that we might hit 101 on Wednesday!
Love,
Kristi/en

2011-07-25T07:43:00.001-07:00

Greetings, All! I hope this finds you well. We had a pleasant weekend, which included my 20 year high school reunion. I was surprised to discover that some of my classmates look almost 40! ;-) Our event planners…ably led by Class President Carrie…did a fantastic job and it was a great event. Due to work conflicts we were only able to attend the main event and thus missed the high school tour on Friday evening. I will definitely have to make a point to see it…the recent renovation (which I heard was around 60M) is apparently amazing and ORHS is now a paperless high school. I have no idea if this means there are no more text books, but certainly all test and homework is submitted online. Other than Facebook, I have not done a very good job of keeping in close contact with many of my high school classmates other than Misty. So it was, of course, wonderful to see her and I did enjoy catching up with many others. I look back on my ORHS days with fondness so it was a nice walk down memory lane. In a video slideshow, Chris and I were also recognized as high school sweethearts that made it and there was a lovely prom picture to showcase this achievement. I was much blonder…he had Qtip hair…other than that, we don’t look that much different. And as I gallop into middle age, I don’t feel that much different either.
Leading up to the reunion, we spent a pleasant day at the lake boating and jet skiing. For the first time ever, we got Clare to ride the jet ski and she professed to love it. We also joined Eva and LB for breakfast on Saturday morning post reunion so it was fantastic to see them as well.
The girls had their well baby check ups last week in preparation for the upcoming school year, which starts NEXT week! Both have excellent hearing and vision and passed all other requisite testing with flying colors. Clare is in the 50th percentile for height and weight so no worries there and Marin remains my wood nymph, comfortably reaching the 25th % for height and just barely getting there for weight. I feel so blessed to have such healthy, confident little girls.
Book reviews…a non fiction week for me. Read The Blessings of a Skinned Knee by Wendy Mogel. While this relied heavily on Jewish parenting principles, I found it quite relevant to any parenting situation. The author made salient points about not coddling children and offered tips to relieve parental anxiety. This was good for me…I struggle sometimes with the right balance of freedom and hovering when it comes to the girls….and this will likely only become more complicated as they grow older. I tend too much toward worry, though I am gentle with myself on this because I have had some painful lessons on this front. I learned too early that seemingly benign back pain can in fact be cancer that kills your father within a year. And it is possible for a promising accomplished 19 year old to be killed in a scooter accident. Nevertheless I want to raise happy, confident children who believe that they can do anything and I need to learn the right balance of acceptable risk (but no, they will never be allowed a scooter and, if I ever catch them on a motorcycle, they won’t leave the house for a few years).
Also read A Framework for Understanding Poverty by Ruby Payne, which I read in response to the charitable donations I make the girls do in lieu of birthday gifts. I wanted to get more understanding of all the ways poverty can arise so I can answer future questions more relevantly. This book did accomplish that, though it was more of a “textbook” than I had expected.
That’s about all the news from this end…I better give my arthritic fingers a rest..it’s been 20 years since high school and all.

XOXO,
Kristi/en

2011-07-18T07:50:00.001-07:00

Greetings! I hope mid July finds you well. Things here are fine. The first week post vacation is always a bit challenging, but we have made it through and I am now looking at an intense 2 months…the end of September is more or less the drop dead date to ensure your product is available for the Christmas shopping season. This combined with a variety of other boring factors that I probably should not disclose means I’m in for a rough road. I have put on my seat belt. I am ready. Though maybe I should invest in a helmet for all the banging my head against the wall…
Outside of work, the week was busy as well. I had a meeting with the OMPA officers on Tuesday evening…we have a great group this year, but it is still a lot of work. Heather and I tried to no avail to let other parents have the “opportunity” to serve their child’s school, but alas….our first event was an ice cream social held at the school on Saturday. The school take care of most of that and it was a fun event…it was well attended and the children were so excited to see each other.
The girls were at Gross and Gooey Science Camp this week, hosted by Lifetime Fitness. Given that it was a gym running the camp, there was but a brief nod to science (some baking soda volcanoes and the field trip was to Fernbank museum), but they did get to go swimming and rock climbing every day in addition to crafts, dancing, songs etc…so it was definitely a worthwhile camp. We also took our own personal field trip to the Rainbow Village offices. Rainbow Village is a local charity that assists women and children who need transitional assistance exiting difficult home situations, predominately domestic violence. The village is a collection of houses and there are a variety of services offered including job training, child care, tutoring etc. In short, it is a very worthwhile charity and the girls collected art supplies in lieu of gifts at their birthday parties to support this charity. We finally had time to drop off our bounty of art supplies and the staff was very happy and so impressed with the girls’ “sacrifice” (it’s not like they don’t get birthday presents from family). I always struggle with how to approach this…it is so hard to explain poverty to a child, but it is so much harder to live it…I feel very strongly that my girls need to learn from a very early age that they have an absolute obligation to help those less fortunate. I have quotes all over my cube and one of them, from Halifax, is “Service is the rent we pay for our room on Earth.” So anyway…they showed the girls some pictures of kids in their program and Marin commented that they “look like me” and that she hoped they would like their new art supplies. Hopefully a valuable life lesson.
Our weekend was great fun…I had lunch with Barbie on Friday and it was wonderful to catch up with her. Then we had a visit from the recent newlyweds, Thad and Leyla! It was way too quick of a visit, but we were excited to have the chance to see them at all and to celebrate their recent change in status. ;-) Saturday evening the Holbrooks joined us for dinner and Sunday we went to Mike and Jim’s to celebrate Jim’s birthday. All in all, a very festive and full weekend.
Book review…finished Solar by Ian McEwan. I love Ian McEwan for his brilliant character development and engaging plots, but he writes the most depressing books. In this one, not only was the protagonist such a fundamentally flawed person, but the backdrop was global warming. Not a very cheery read, I must say, but as well executed as everything else he does.
I hope you all have wonderful weeks and enjoy these last few weeks of summer! We go back to school in 2 ½ weeks!

Love,
Kristi/en

2011-07-10T18:37:00.001-07:00

Greetings, All! I am happy to report that the Shappert family is reunited! On July 1, Chris, Clare, and I headed to the lake house to join Marin. Though she was glad to see us, Marin had too wonderful a week to miss us too much. She got to have lunch at the Soup Kitchen with LB and Eva, she got to go see Cars 2, she spent several nights hanging out in a hot tub, and she spent a full day at Dollywood. I’m not sure who had more fun…the grandparents or Marin! As for Clare, we tried to make sure she had a fun week as well. She went out for Katie’s birthday dinner, had a play date with Andrew and Katie, and went on a long nature walk (on which we found a bluebird feather…very exciting). She also ha d a special date night with Daddy. Sadly she came down with a stomach bug at the end of the week, but it was fast moving and she proved to be an excellent shot into the puke bucket.
The lake weekend was fun and festive with perfect weather and abundant water play. We hosted a cookout and got to see Eva, Ellen, David, Julie, Aunt Betty, and Steve and Sharon and girls came down for the day on Sunday. A perfect start to a wonderful vacation!
On Sunday evening, the family Shappert began heading to the North Carolina Outer Banks, stopping for the night at the midway point and joining the rest of the Shappert family (all siblings and families and LB) and Eric on July 4th. The Outer Banks..trendily dubbed OBX (which I’d previously thought was a brand of clothing) was very nice. Our spacious beach house was in Duck, NC, which was a quaint beach town full of bike paths, cute shops, and great restaurants. Eric was adopted into the clan long ago so we all had a great week, striking the perfect balance between relaxing on the beach (and in the pool and hot tub) and taking excursions. Outings included a family kayak trip in a beautiful maritime forest, a visit to the Wright Brothers Memorial at Kitty Hawk, and a visit to the Currituck Lighthouse in Corolla. As delightful as the trip was, all good things must come to an end…so on Saturday we headed toward home, though detoured by the Natural Science Museum in Greensboro (really great for kids) and stopped for the night in Charlotte, where Misty was kind enough to host us for the night. It was a fantastic and relaxing week, spent with some of my absolute favorite people…these family trips are so cherished and become even more so as the nieces and nephews enter the young adult phase. Time moves much too quickly!
Upon arriving home, we found the Holbrooks, busily remulching our front flower bed and pruning our landscaping. I can definitely say that our front yard looks better than it ever has and it was such a sweet and wonderful homecoming surprise!
Book review…finished The Kindness of Strangers by Katrina Kittle, which was a sobering book dealing with a foster family’s realization that their young charge had been involved in a child prostitution ring. A good book, but not very uplifting, I must say. Also finished The Lost Hours by Karen White. This book is set in Savannah and concerns former equestrian star, Piper Mills, who seeks to unravel disturbing family secrets after receiving a puzzling assortment of things from her deceased grandmother. This book took me a while to get into, but I was ultimately glad that I stuck with it.
I stare a busy work week (and likely hundreds of emails…I took a real vacation and did not even check) in the face so I better sign off and finish up some things for tomorrow.
Happy July!
Love,
Kristi/en

2011-06-27T10:26:00.001-07:00

Greetings, All, and happy summer solstice…hope you are enjoying the long days! It was an eventful week in the Shappert household. On Wednesday, Clare turned 4, an event she had long anticipated. Both girls were at Camp Heather this week and Camp Director Heather outdid herself, as usual, particularly regarding the birthday, which was complete with an outing to Monkey Joe’s and a Barbie cake (the kind with the doll sticking out the top). For her birthday dinner, Clare was joined by Uncles Mike and Jim and also Heather and kids. Other camp activities included art on the driveway (lovely chalk drawings of Rapunzel were created), more water balloon fun, and outings to the pool.

Over the weekend, the attention shifted to Marin, whose birthday is this week. Her party was held at the gymnastics club on Saturday where she and several friends enjoyed playing on all the equipment and feasting on Marin’s Disney Fairies cake (thank you, Publix). Mom and Tom arrived on Thursday to help celebrate the event and, as Mike and Marin share a birthday, we hosted a pizza dinner at our house last night to celebrate both big days.

Over the weekend, there was a lot of swimming and also a lot of furniture shopping, largely spear headed by Mom. The end result is that we now have matching chairs in the piano room, which comes in handy now that Marin is giving impromptu concerts. In fact, she composed an original song a few months ago which she and her piano teacher just set to music. It’s actually a sweet little song and two of the children’s choir directors at church are currently debating who gets to debut it. Marin is pretty excited about this.

This morning Marin drove off with my Mom and Tom to spend the week at the lake house. Given that Mom and Tom reside on a lake, my rule for overnight visits without the parents has been at least six years old and a strong swimmer (yes, life jackets still required in the lake). Marin now meets the criteria…Clare does not. The sisters’ parting this morning was pretty heart breaking to witness, with Clare crying and clutching Marin’s feet and begging her not to go. Marin, ever my empathetic child, was trying not to cry. I call Marin my empathetic one, but I have to give Clare credit…after the birthday party, Marin had a purple balloon tied to her wrist. We went by the library to return some books, a task which Marin loves. In the process of putting the books in the “laundry chute,” the balloon slipped off her wrist and floated away. Her reaction was…if I may be honest…beyond extreme…with immediate tears and gut wrenching sobs. I tried to catch the balloon and almost had it a couple of times, but a gust of wind carried it far, far away. I held her as she cried and then led her back to the car, where Clare, having witnessed the scene, was sitting there with tears in her own eyes and struggling to free the purple balloon still tied to her wrist. She told Marin that she wanted her to have the purple balloon and that she’d just get another one on “my next birthday.” So then I cried because it was all so sweet and I was so proud of Clare. And so I feel almost guilty splitting these two up for a week, but I know Marin will have a blast and Chris and I will enjoy spending some one on one time with Clare. As Marin pointed out, “I had 3 years alone with you…she deserves at least a week.” ;-)

Book review…finished Best Friends Forever by Jennifer Weiner (no relation, as far as I know, to the hapless Representative Weiner). A definite chic lit read and it really doesn’t warrant much further explanation.

I have finished my lunch so I need to get back to work…I hope you all have wonderful weeks!

XOXO,
Kristi/en

2011-06-20T07:43:00.001-07:00

Greetings, All! I hope you all had a wonderful Father’s day. For those lucky enough to still have their dads, I hope you were able to make contact with him and for those lucky enough to still have sticky fingered little ones about, I hope you got a lot of appreciation.

Things here have been busy. The girls were in Enchanted Princess Camp for half days this week and spent the other half of their days at Camp Heather. Activities at Camp Heather included outings to the pool, the fountain, a picnic with Oak Meadow kids, and a sprinkler/water balloon day in which Camp Director Heather was gamely sitting in the driveway allowing countless water balloons to be busted over her head. I witnessed this personally as I arrived to pick up my princesses. Other exciting activities also included a play date (and sleepover) with the Wells girls. Princess Camp culminated with a show for the parents and it was obviously that both girls had a marvelous time and are clearly having quite the idyllic summer.

Chris had a conference this week…fortunately it was in Atlanta and did not involve travel, but he was not home until 11 a couple of nights so we were on our own. On one such night, Heather and kids joined us for dinner and then the repair of my dryer which involved primarily a new heating element, but, much more entertaining, a cleaning out of my dryer ducts that incorporated my leaf blower. This repair man was quite a diligent soul, but I think it’s clear that I need to arrange for a professional vent cleaning…and soon.

Our weekend was fun and busy. Scott joined us for dinner Friday night, bringing with him homemade strawberry ice cream and birthday gifts for all the female Shapperts. Marin’s gift included a set of labs so she and Chris were busy the rest of the weekend running various experiments. We also had Clare’s 4th birthday party on Saturday at lovely Sims Lake Park. The festivities included Princess tattoos, a Princess themed egg hunt, a piñata, bubbles, play time on the playground, and a Tangled theme cake. She enjoyed every moment of the party and, in lieu of gifts, collected art supplies for Rainbow Village. So it was a good time for a good cause. After the party, we went to lunch with the whole Marrero clan, which was nice….I typically see only one of the four with any regularity.

Saturday evening Chris took the girls on a date to Medieval Times as part of their birthday gift from us. They were honored by the king for the accomplishments of turning 7 and 4 and this made quite an impression. During the date, I went to dinner and a movie with Heather and Jen, which was a nice girls outing. We saw “Bridesmaids,” which was very funny, thought the main character was incredibly neurotic. For Father’s Day, we rented a boat with the Holbrooks and boated around Lake Lanier, letting the kids jump off to swim in the deep water (with life jackets, of course) and also pulled up on a sandy island where we swam off the shore and conducted treasure hunts on the beach. All in all, a lovely day and a good way to say Thank You to two very devoted dads.

Book review…finished The Charming Quirks of Others by Alexander McCall Smith, the latest in the Isabel Dalhousie series. Isabel is always a fun read and was up to her usual philosopher-part-time-investigator antics.

I hope you all have wonderful weeks. We will be celebrating Clare’s 4 years on Planet Earth so it will be a week of merriment, I’m sure.

XOXO,
Kristi/en

2011-06-13T07:02:00.001-07:00

Greetings, All! I hope this finds you well. We are hot and thirsty down here and in need of rain, but, other than that, summer is progressing nicely. Other than various camps during the day, we have piano lessons as our only extracurricular activity this summer and are thus enjoying a leisurely pace. This week we had outings to the Town Center Fountain (and the requisite ice cream which naturally follows such an event), to the pool, to the library and to the farmer’s market where my sensitive children insisted that we buy something from every vendor so “no one feels left out.” At some places, we bought a single cucumber (and I don’t even like cucumbers), but we were a patron. The girls also attended Vacation Bible School this week and the theme was Pandamania. They had a wonderful time. Each day they were instructed to bring in a specific food item to be donated to the Duluth Co-op and a suggested offering to be donated to Rainbow Village, a charity working to aid women and children struggling to get back on their feet after a variety of difficult circumstances. I funded the offerings at the beginning of the week, which were nickels one day, dimes a next, reaching dollars on Thursday. Friday was “bring your best” and I was out of cash so I prevailed upon the girls to dig into their own wallets whereupon Marin humbled me by immediately offering a month’s worth of allowance because “I can always do more chores and people need this money now.” I was so proud of her and I think she took to heart the central theme of VBS which was “we are supposed to love everyone and do what we can to help.”

Our weekend was nice as well. I kicked off the weekend by having coffee with Barbie and Doug and then I went off for my annual mammogram…that actually was not so nice, but the fact that we enjoyed an outdoor coffee overlooking Hooters did not escape my notice. Friday evening we had a cookout at the Holbrooks…we had been away and they had been away so it seemed like forever since we’d gotten together. A very pleasant evening, which culminated in a sleepover for my girls. Saturday we took the girls fishing at a stocked trout pond…this seems like the type of childhood experience everyone should have and now we can scratch it off the list. Unlike their cousin, Brendan, my girls are NOT born fishermen. They enjoyed the casting, but they found the wiggling fish terrifying and they absolutely did not want to bring the fish home (catch and release not allowed). Sensitive Marin could not bear the thought of being responsible for the fish’s demise (though she did eat some later that night).

The Daniels joined us on Saturday evening for freshly grilled fish and the rest of dinner and it was nice to see them. They were kind enough to help out with some pick ups and afternoon care for the girls during VBS week and this was much appreciated. Sunday we had a VBS cookout after church and then we went to Mike and Jim’s for dinner. So a lot of food and friends this weekend.

Chris had a follow up on his knee and it’s doing OK, but he needs to be working harder at this at home physical therapy, which is fairly difficult to do when one has a full time job and 2 hours worth of commuting. He did bike both weekend days and is taking seriously the doctor’s mandate to get the muscle strength back in top shape.

Book reviews…finished 2 this week. The Last Olympian by Rick Riordan was the last of this fun series and I was happy that good prevailed over evil and that our intrepid hero fulfilled his prophecy. Also read What Matters Most by Luanne Rice, a definite beach read and worthy of a Hallmark movie. There was so much romantic tragedy in this that I almost couldn’t keep up…unrequited love, an adoption gone wrong, ill treatment of employees by the rich, racism, and religion as well. And all neatly wrapped up by the end.

I am actually listening to a design review so I must go pay more attention.

Enjoy your summers!

XOXO,
Kristi/en

2011-05-22T19:35:00.000-07:00

Greetings, All…I hope things finds you well. Things here have been very busy as we wrap up the school year. Chris was also out of town for 3 days this week on business leaving me to run the 3 ring circus solo. Fortunately the end is in sight and so is my Disney cruise ship…woo hoo! So…let’s see…I had a parent meet and greet for Clare’s new teacher. Ms Samina, who was Marin’s primary teacher as well, is leaving Oak Meadow. The new teacher seems very nice, but transitions always make me a little sad. I also had both girls parent/teacher conferences and heard many wonderful things about both my sweet little daughters. I am so proud of them and I cannot say enough wonderful things about their amazing school and fantastic teachers. In addition to conferences, I also attended both girls’ pre-birthday celebrations at school. Since they are summer birthdays, they celebrated early. I sent in snacks and watched, a lump in my throat, as Marin carried the globe around the sun candle 7 times, representing her years on Earth. Got another lump in my throat watching Clare make 4 rotations. It is so hard to believe how fast they are growing up!

John was also out of town this week so Heather and I and kids went out for Mexican on Thursday evening and then I had coffee with Barbie on Friday. These were both wonderful moments of down time in an otherwise whirlwind of weekend events. We had the Oak Meadow promotion night Friday evening where I enjoyed watching the movies written, directed, and filmed by the kids this year. Marin makes an outstanding gourd. Both girls had their gymnastics fun meets and they were tumbling dynamos in shiny purple leotards. We had ballet and swim lessons and a birthday party (a spa birthday party, no less…my 6 year old got more pampering in 2 hours than I have in all of 2011…I am sure of it…she even said something about cucumbers on her eyes!). Mom and Tom arrived mid afternoon Saturday and were definite troopers…attending both Marin’s fun meet and Suwanee Academy of the Art’s production of Alice in Wonderland, in which Marin appeared on stage dressed as a mouse for about 30 seconds. Uncles Mike and Jim were also sports and attended this venue. Unfortunately the audio was terrible and most of the lines could not be understood. I felt bad for the kids, who have worked really hard (and I know this having ferried Marin to numerous rehearsals) and had such poor technical support for their big show.

I did take Mom on a couple of girly outings…I took her to Bare Escentuals for a makeover and we also went to Soma while waiting on Marin to finish her spa party. She is all geared up for summer now with fresh new looks.

Book review…finished The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery. I think I have a fairly extensive vocabulary, but this book sent me hunting for the dictionary a few times (online, naturally). It was a very good book, though so very sad.

I hope you all have wonderful weeks and happy Memorial Days. I will write when we get back from our trip.

XOXO,
Kristi/en

2011-05-15T12:46:00.001-07:00

Greetings, All! I hope things are well for all of you and that none of you are impacted by all the Mississippi River flooding. Things here are fine…I suppose we will start with the week’s most significant event: Chris’ surgery. Patient Shappert, Christopher M. 38y M arrived at the hospital at around noon on Wednesday and was home by 4:30 sporting less of his meniscus and feeling a bit drowsy. Since then he has already started physical therapy and is working to increase the strength of his quad muscle, which atrophied a surprising amount in the 3 weeks or so since he injured it. The most distressing news is that, given the amount of meniscus that had to be removed, the doctor strongly suggested that he might want to replace running with an alternative form of exercise that would not have so much impact to the knee.

Other big news for the week…Contractor Barbie has been busy in the Shappert place again. We now have lovely tile backsplash in the kitchen which dramatically changed the look of the kitchen and is, of course, beautiful given the installer.

We had our final OMPA (Oak Meadow Parent Association) meeting of the year and, not surprisingly, I will be co-President for the 3rd year running. Our treasurer Heather and secretary Kerry are also returning and my fellow co-President is a lot of fun. I think it will be a good group…it’s just too bad that no other parents seem the slightest interest in stepping up.

I kicked off the weekend by having coffee with Barbie and then we hosted Lauren for a sleepover Friday night. On Saturday we resumed swimming lessons and then ventured to the Holbrooks for their now annual low country boil. Scott joined us and it was a festive evening of good food and great conversations.

Book review…finished Born to Run by Christopher McDougall, a Christmas gift from Barbie and a book that had previously been recommended to me by Eric and Amy. The premise is more or less that the running shoe industry has created a shoe that does so much “biological thinking” for us that we are actually more prone to injury since our bodies have lost their natural ability to run. He explores this theory through university research, interviews and observations of ultrarunners, and encounters with a tribe of Mexican canyon runners who live a remote and active lifestyle. It was a very interesting book and I have briefly begun dabbling in “barefoot running” courtesy of my birthday gift from Eric, which was Merrell barefoot shoes. I did a very short trail run yesterday and look forward to continuing to explore this.

On that note, it’s time to get ready for Step aerobics…for which I will still use regular shoes (for now).

Have fantastic weeks!

Love,
Kristi/en

2011-05-08T18:09:00.001-07:00

Greetings, All, and Happy Mother’s Day! I have enjoyed a fun Mother’s day with my little credentials. They made sweet cards and wrapped gifts themselves. It was a beautiful day so we had lunch outside after church and then let the girls play in Town Center Fountain. It just so happens that this weekend was also my birthday so there were festivities associated with that gala occasion as well. I kicked off my birthday weekend by having breakfast with Barbie at the Cracker Barrel….yum. Friday night I had dinner with Kim…had been WAY too long since I’d caught up her…we simply must get together more often! Saturday dawned sunny and beautiful and I began my 38th year by getting my hair highlighted and then heading out on an adventure arranged by my husband. All day babysitters had been procured and we headed to the North Georgia mountains with the Holbrooks in their convertible. A splendid day to be driving with the top down! We had lunch at the lovely Wolf Mountain Winery and then did a tasting at Frogtown Cellars before venturing back to Suwanee to hang out with the kids and Luanne. An all around fantastic day!

Things were busy leading up to the big weekend as well. I had an OMPA officers meeting…strangely, parents are not beating down the door to serve on this board so I may find myself as OMPA co-President for the 3rd year running. For Cinco de Mayo, the Holbrooks brought over fish tacos and we had chips and salsa and sinless margaritas in deference to our Latin friends. On Friday, Chris did an in house field trip at the school, reprising his role as Science Guy. Those kids are really excited by liquid nitrogen and he really would make a great teacher.

Speaking of Science Guy, he can add bionic man to his list of accomplishments. Wednesday he will go under the knife to repair the knee damage. The meniscus is 50% torn so they will likely just cut away the damaged part. More will be revealed once they are actually in. So please keep him in your thoughts and prayers on Wednesday and throughout the week as he recovers. It is orthoscopic surgery so hopefully will be a speedy recovery.

Work…I guess I have not mentioned it in a while. I still go. Every day. I even ship accepted some products recently. If you have seen the Atrix commercials, the featured keyboard is my baby.

Book review…finished The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest , the third in the trilogy by Stieg Larsson. This one took me a little longer to get into as the first part of the book was building more political structure rather than character development. However, once that part was finished, it was as absorbing as the two preceding books.

I hope you all have wonderful weeks!

Love,
Kristi/en

2011-05-01T18:42:00.000-07:00

Greetings, All! Since I am writing, I obviously have power and remain in possession of my computer equipment...Atlanta was largely spared the horrific storm damage, but the same can certainly not be said of our Alabama neighbors. Things were very tense here throughout Wednesday night as we waited on the arrival of the storm front. The Oak Meadow Elementary kids went on a field trip to a 4H center in Dahlonega...the first and second years only stayed Tuesday night so Marin was already back home, but the third-fifth graders were still on their trip. There were at least 3 tornados directly on top of them and they spent 4+ hours huddled in bath houses while their frantic parents awaited news of their safety....which came at 3:30AM. Heather and I were exchanging concerned posts and also waiting on Chris' plane to safely land from his day trip to Dayton. At the last minute, the pilot aborted landing due to tornados on the ground near the airport and diverted to Augusta. After a lengthy re-fueling and wait for clearance to land in Atlanta, he finally arrived home at 4AM. Needless to say, a long night...but fortunately only one night. We are very lucky.
Speaking of Chris...Mr. Walking Wounded. We don't know substantially more than we did last week. He has seen the orthoped, who suspects a torn lateral meniscus. We had to wait 48 hours for insurance to approve the needed MRI and he had that Thursday. He has a follow up appointment this Tuesday when we will learn the treatment plan. His mobility has improved somewhat, but he is in no way healed. I somehow suspect that orthoscopic surgery is in his short term future.
Our week was quite busy in between dodging storms. The children's choirs performed their spring musical, Heroes of the Faith, Wednesday evening and I was very proud of Marin who sang her heart out and knew all the moves. I thought she was clearly the most talented child on the stage, though other parents may disagree. Thursday evening I took my girls and Lauren to a carnival in the Discover Mills parking lot. These traveling carnival things unnerve me a bit as I wonder how stable the rides really are, but the kids had an absolute blast. After the carnival, we met the rest of the parents at Town Center Park for the first 2011 Toast to Town Center celebration. The last Thursday of the month April-Oct, the roads are blocked off around the park so the area takes on a pedestrian feel. People get take out or pack picnics and the open container law is relaxed in the park...there is usually music. It is a fun event.
Friday evening Scott joined us for dinner and came bearing pistachio gelato, a first for me. It had a bit of a grainy texture, but was quite tasty. And anyone who can make ice cream or gelato from scratch earns my unending respect. Saturday evening we went to dinner with Barbie and Alex and Barbie's brother. We enjoyed a great dinner and then somehow found ourselves at a venue showcasing the Ultimate Fighting Championship while the waitresses wore kilts and plaid push up bras. It was odd, but not as odd as the Elvis and Patsy Cline impersonator show we were considering (briefly). The girls had their last swim lesson of this session after church and then we enjoyed a spectacular afternoon in the park until Mike and Jim joined us for dinner. So a very full (and filling) and social weekend...could not have asked for better weather or better times!
I hope you all have wonderful weeks and that no one suffered major losses during this week's terrible storms.
XOXO,
Kristi/en

2011-04-25T11:02:00.001-07:00

Greetings, All, and I hope you had a blessed Easter! We had a wonderful weekend with family. The Salibas, Luthers, and LB joined us on Good Friday…Susan special ordered sunshine and warm weather after enduring weeks of bad weather in Ohio and she was rewarded. Sunny skies and warm temperatures allowed for park outings, jogs, and Easter egg hunts. We also had family game nights playing the new version of Balderdash. And, of course, we celebrated the meaning of Easter at church on Sunday where I sang in the choir and the collected family filled 3 pews. Wonderful conversations, fabulous times together…the only drawback was that Stephen and family were unable to join us. That and the fact that Chris blew out his knee playing Ultimate Frisbee with the nieces and nephews. On Saturday, things looked quite bleak in that he had zero range of motion and felt queasy every time he moved his leg. He is using crutches and a knee brace and the situation is some improved in that a bit of mobility has returned and he is not in pain. (but the knee crackles and pops and won’t bend beyond 45 degrees) He has an appointment tomorrow with a very good team of orthopedic specialists and we will know more after that appointment.

The week leading up to Easter was busy. Marin did Stanford Achievement Testing and took this whole process very seriously. She usually eats oatmeal or pancakes for breakfast, but she insisted on bacon or sausage as well every day last week because “they said protein improves your brain performance.” I’m not sure when we will get results, but I kind of expect that she will do pretty well. Heather and kids came over for dinner on Thursday since John was on a business trip and it was great to hang out with them. And Friday began with my Starbucks outing with Barbie.

All in all, a good week and a fantastic weekend…will keep my fingers crossed that knee surgery is not a topic for next week’s note!

XOXO,
Kristi/en

2011-04-17T18:11:00.000-07:00

Greetings, All! It has been quite a busy week…on the work front, I moved on to my 21st manager in 16 years. The previous one I’d had for almost 2 years, a definite record. I will miss him, but am optimistic about Mot in general since we also got raises and bonuses this week and it’s been a while since that happened too.

I kicked off the weekend with my Friday morning coffee with Barbie. We enjoyed a more leisurely chat than usual and then I headed to Oak Meadow for the annual Step to Peace celebration. There are many things I love about the Montessori community and this is just one of them. Loved seeing the kids stepping stones and listening to the songs they prepared…Clare’s class sang “We are the World” and Marin’s class sang “We’re Going to be Friends” by White Stripes. The girls had a double play date planned for after school so Chris and I went on a date by ourselves…an extraordinarily rare event and quite an enjoyable one. Regrettably the horrific storms that did wide spread damage all over the South went through here Friday evening (fortunately no damage here) and we ended up with 3 little girls sleeping on a pallet on our bedroom floor. We acquired a sleepover guest post play date…in this house, we still have only two! ;-)

Saturday morning dawned windy and chilly, but sunny and no sign of storms so off I went to Andrew’s lacrosse game, a sport which eludes me, as most sports do. Nonetheless I watched with pride as he ran around with a stick that had a net on the end of it. While I was watching lacrosse, Chris was monitoring the girls at the church Easter egg hunt and Clare’s ballet class. We all met up in Town Center Park for a festival that included inflatables and ultimately our girls running through the fountain fully clothed. (yes, it was really too chilly, but they had quite a good time). Saturday evening we set a certain record by going out two nights in a row. We shared a babysitter with John and Heather and headed out to Bonefish for some great food and even better companionship.

Today, as the week before Easter, is Palm Sunday so the girls processed into church waving palm branches and my Joy choir sang (and also had sword fights with palm branches). Well, some of them sang and some of them just stood there, but no one cried, ran for Mommy, threw up, or wet their pants so it was a success story as far as I was concerned. Morningview (which is our subdivision) hosted a spring fling so today was filled with more inflatables and face painting and also swim lessons…because the Shapperts just don’t have enough going on. ;-) Actually we’re in a “shoulder season”…a bunch of stuff will be winding up in the next 4-5 weeks(SCHOOL ENDS IN FIVE WEEKS!) so our activity load will get lighter. But must get in swim lessons before summer.

Book review…finished The Girls Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larssen, which is the second in a 3 part series following The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. This book gave much greater insight into Lisbeth Salander and explained much of her dark past, which was merely alluded too in the first book. In addition to fantastic character development, it was also an intriguing murder investigation. I had been warned it ends as a cliff hanger so you’ll be relieved to know I already had book 3 in my possession (thank you, Susan!) and I have already started on it.

We are looking forward to hosting quite a few members of the Shappert clan for Easter so the spring fun continues.

I hope you all have wonderful weeks and that the weather is uneventful for us all!

XOXO,

Kristi/en

2011-04-10T17:59:00.001-07:00

Greetings, All! When I last wrote you, I was wrapping up a couple of days in the Smokies. From there, Chris headed back to Atlanta to work and the girls and I headed back to the lake house. Though I spend quite a bit of time in TN over the summer, it had been a while since I had spent spring time there and I must say it was spectacular. Everything was blooming and beautiful and the days were sunny and perfect.

On Wednesday, my Aunt Peg and Uncle James arrived from Mississippi and we hosted a lovely dinner at the lake which included our new Mississippi arrivals as well as David, Julie, Aunt Betty, Don, Larry, and LB. It was a festive evening. On Thursday, Tom and Uncle James braved a full day with the girls while I took on the role of driving Miss Daisies and took my mom and two aunts on a mini girls trip. We used to take multi day trips, but jobs (mine), children (mine), health concerns, and proximity have made longer trips more difficult in recent years. We headed out just after breakfast and stopped off at the National Park Service visitor station in Wartburg (who knew?) and got good information from a park ranger fearing imminent layoff (I told him they would work something out) about an easy walking trail overlooking the Obed River. We took his advice and the trail and enjoyed the lovely view. We then headed to Rugby, TN, which is a restored Victorian era British colony. The film and guided tour were both interesting and I was captivated by the library which still houses 7000 books from the 1800s. We had lunch at the lovely Harrow Road Café, visited the historic Laurel Dale cemetery, hiked to the former gentlemen’s swimming hole, and then drove on to Alvin York State Park where we toured a general store and working grist mill. It was a great day and, as my Aunt Peg said, “we put a coin in our heart’s treasury today.” It was especially poignant given Aunt Betty’s declining mental acuity. She was still a delight and can easily carry on a conversation, but she has zero short term memory. She did not even remember placing her lunch order within moments of the waitress leaving the table. Fortunately this does not seem to unduly upset her or anger her, but I am very glad that my mom and Tom assist with her finances and her medical care because I do not think she is any shape to handle either.

The girls and I headed home Friday where we were happy to reunite with Chris. We have spent a glorious spring weekend soaking up all the sunshine and admiring the dogwoods and azaleas in between chores. Our bathroom is back in working order, our closet is organized, the garage is clean, and our truck bed of old bathroom debris has been disposed of. We have also taken the girls to the park both weekend days and had a fantastic dinner with Mike and Jim to cap off spring break.

The return to the work week and school will be a bit painful, but I am grateful to have had this wonderful week and am looking forward to continuing to enjoy best displays of spring in the South. Atlanta definitely blossomed in our absence…everything is green and all the dogwoods, azaleas, and cherry trees are in full bloom. Just stunning.

Book review…finished The Titan’s Curse by Rick Riordan, another in the Olympian hero series…more of the same…dodging monsters and trying to stay in the good graces of the Olympic gods, but definitely fun reads!

I hope you all have good weeks and an easy transition back to the real world for those of you, like us, just coming off spring break!

Love,
Kristi/en

2011-04-04T19:07:00.000-07:00

Greetings, All, and happy Spring Break! Things here are good…we are kicking spring break off in the Smokies. After arriving in Tennessee on Saturday and enjoying a lovely dinner with LB, Eva, and Mom and Tom, we ventured on to the Wilderness Lodge in Sevierville with Mom and Tom. Our first stop was Dollywood’s Festival of Nations on a lovely spring Saturday. The weather could not have been more perfect and Chris declared that he enjoyed Dollywood more than Disney…which proves a few things. One, the man needs more belief in magic and Pixie dust and also that Dollywood really can be quite nice. Everyone had a full, fun packed day and then we checked into the Wilderness Lodge and its accompanying water park and…I have to say that I am amazed. Not only are the girls having a blast, but I have known my mother for almost 38 years now and I never knew her to be such a daredevil. She is fearless on these water slides! We spent several hours in the water park today and even had time to take the girls up to Cades Cove, one of the loveliest spots in the Smokies. It has been a great time thus far. Sadly Chris heads back to Atlanta and work tomorrow, but the girls and I are here through Friday and will be seeing Aunt Betty, Aunt Peg, David and Julie, and LB and Eva again while we are here. It has already been great fun and will continue to be a great family filled week.

It was a banner week prior to departing for spring break because…..the bathroom is done!!! It is amazingly beautiful….Barbie did a fantastic job. Actually the grout still needs to be sealed…Chris will do that next week…but soon it will be open for business. And, in a shocking turn of events, a local tile store (where the tile was purchased) has requested permission to send a professional photographer to our home to take photographs for their marketing materials. Let me assure you…without the talent of Barbie, there would NEVER have been any kind of photographers requesting permission to enter the Shappert house! ;-)

Friday morning I enjoyed coffee with Barbie the Friend and not Barbie the Contractor and Friday evening we had dinner with the Holbrooks while Marin and Lauren attended a Tangled movie/pottery making event at a local pottery studio. All in all, a fantastic lead in to spring break.

Book review…finished Look Again by Lisa Scottlione (sp?). The premise of the book was interesting….an adoptive mother receives a Have You Seen This Child postcard in the mailbox and recognizes a stunning likeness to her (legally) adopted son. As a journalist, she cannot leave the question unanswered and a quest ensues. While I stayed up too late a couple of nights reading, I do have to say that the plot twists and turns were beyond unbelievable. Nonetheless a fun read.

At the moment, I find myself in the lobby of the Wilderness Lodge needing to get some work done so I will sign off and wish you the happiest beginnings of April!

Love,
Kristi/en

2011-03-27T19:24:00.000-07:00

Greetings, All! I hope this finds you well. We are one week away from spring break so looking forward to a little bit of slow down…or working with children afoot, whatever the case may be!
Bathroom update…coming along. The target completion date is this Friday because then Contractor Barbie is unavailable over spring break. Almost everything is tiled now save a small bit of floor so the plumber can walk over tomorrow and fix a wee mistake he made (that thus renders us unable to properly install the shower heads). Shower doors have been ordered and will arrive this week. Once the shower head thing is resolved, it’s just final grouting, install baseboards, put up mirrors, towel bars etc…and oh yeah….get the toilet out of the back yard (yes, it is still there) and back where it goes. It will be a busy week, but the end is in sight and it’s all coming together and looking really good.
Weekend was rainy, cold, and busy. On Friday night we stayed in and had family game night. Our girls are quite adept at charades and watching Clare attempt to be a flashlight (this is harder than you might think) was great fun. Saturday morning I caught Andrew’s lacrosse game before the rain moved in and spent some rare one on one time with him…this included good conversation, a hot pretzel, and Starbucks hot chocolate. From there, Heather and I went to the summer camp info fair at Lifetime Fitness. I am trying to lock down all summer weeks for the girls and was happy to get them signed up for Gross and Gooey Science camp and Olympic Games camp. 2 weeks down…a few more to go. It will all be done by the end of this week, no worries. …we already have one Princess camp locked in as well as Vacation Bible school and the Shappert family beach trip. There’s not much more to iron out, but I will be glad when the plans are set. After securing camp spots, Heather and I enjoyed a tasty lunch (sans bacon  )
The girls both attended a gymnastics themed birthday party with many of their classmates from Oak Meadow and then we hosted the Marreros for dinner Saturday evening. Barbie had spent most of the day in our bathroom so was happy to have some interaction with something other than a tile saw, but was also pretty worn out. We are working her hard….
Today was gray and yucky, but we managed church, aerobics, and another dinner engagement…the Holbrooks joined us this evening. We grilled out 2 nights in a row…it is spring time in the South…bring on the propane! The kids enjoyed play time and the adults enjoyed dinner and conversation in between fetching Princess costumes, breaking up some sibling rivlary, ensuring everyone had a crown etc
Book review…finished Knit Too by Kate Jacobs. I would have said this is the 3rd in the series, but it seems that I might have missed the 3rd and this is actually the 4th…either that or I didn’t remember the 3rd all that well. Anyway…the first two were better…I think it’s kind of like a TV series that struggles to limp along once it has killed off a protaganist. A tad mediocre, but there’s frankly not much I won’t read.
It’s late and the work week begins again tomorrow…though the announcement has not formally been made, I will get a new boss this week. My jury is out on that…I had my last boss for almost 2 years, which is most definitely a record for me. I remain cautious, but open minded…and that’s all I will say on that front.
Happy weeks and happy spring break to those of you already enjoying it!
XOXO,
Kristi/en

2011-03-21T08:02:00.001-07:00

Greetings, All and happy spring! (officially) I hope things are going well for all of you!

Things here are fine. Because so many of you have been asking, I’ll start with the Shappert HGTV update…we are moving forward, but continue to encounter a series of unfortunate events. The tile did not arrive on Monday as planned, but instead mid day Tuesday. This means tiling did not really begin until Wednesday and was humming along until the tile cutter broke on Thursday. Contractor Barbie became Repairwoman Barbie and was back in business without too much delay. Bottom line: the shower wall tile is all finished and the tub has begun. New faucets will be arriving this week for installation and measurements for shower doors will be taken. Not to diminish all the work that remains, but it seems to my novice self that the shower and bathtub tile is by far the most difficult and time consuming because so many pieces have to be cut to strange sizes. I’m assuming the floor is more straight forward. You are all welcome to shower in the new digs as soon as they are available and I will let you know! We will be handing out tickets…like truck stops.

Despite our one shower status, we again hosted house guests this weekend (what can I say…our timing is impeccable). Mom and Tom arrived on Thursday and came bearing a custom bookcase designed by Marin and created by Pawpaw. We now have a pink cowgirl bookshelf to hold our ever growing library. Though we donate books constantly, we still have quite an abundance. On Saturday, I took Mom on a girl’s outing…I took her to lunch at lovely Monaluce winery in the North Georgia mountains. We enjoyed a wine tasting and a fabulous lunch on the outdoor terrace…weather was absolutely fantastic on Saturday. After strolling around the grounds, we stopped by the outlet mall looking for a mother of the groom dress, but had no luck there. Being a bridesmaid (matron?), my dress choice is easy…and already ordered. While Mom and I were out and about, Chris took the girls on a nature walk and to the river.

Friday evening Mom and Tom babysat while Chris and I went out for dessert and coffee. It was nice to have even a brief date and we had a lot of romantic discussion about financial planners, the need to finish taxes, and summer camp options for the kids.  On Sunday, the entire family including Mike and Jim attended Marin’s first piano concert, which was held at our church. Considering Marin has had only 9 lessons, I was very impressed with her playing ability and her poise. She professed to be nervous, but you would not have known it to watch her. Later in the evening, we re-convened for dinner at Crossroads. So a fun and full weekend.

With the advent of spring comes spring allergies and Chris is a sufferer. His allergies blossomed into a sinus infection and he is now on an array of medications including antibiotics to restore his health. He is starting to feel better and hopefully will continue to mend throughout the week.

Book review…finished Sea of Monsters, the second in the Percy Jackson, Olympian hero series (I can’t remember exactly what the series is called). Anyway…fun reads and I am getting in touch with my adolescent male.

Take care and have happy weeks!

XOXO,
Kristi/en

2011-03-13T19:50:00.001-07:00

Greetings, All! I hope this finds you well and enjoying your extra hour of daylight. Things here are fine, but busy as usual.

First an update on Shappert HGTV. The bathroom modification started off at a gallop and concluded the week at a lope. This is not, incidentally, due to my stellar contractor, Barbie, but rather delivery time for the tile which should arrive tomorrow. There was still much accomplished…the shower has been bumped out a foot and the drain moved accordingly. Also new piping to accommodate the double shower heads. The shower base is in. All the cement backer board is in and ready for tile to be installed. Assuming the tile actually arrives tomorrow, then we’ll be back up to at least a trot.

This week was also the start of Holy Week and I began the Lent season by volunteering at the Music ministry’s Shrove Tuesday pancake supper. We served over 250 people and made quite a bit of money for the music ministry, which was nice. Churches, like everywhere else, have had to cut back program funding. Lent itself started Wednesday and the girls and I have made a commitment to do 40 nice things…one on each day of Lent. While I did give something up, time is my most scarce resource so a daily donation of it (in excess of what is already consumed) will be a sacrifice. So far we have taken goodies into the teachers and picked up litter at a local park. I’ve done some other things as well for people suffering some pretty extraordinary circumstances…nothing I can divulge. Anyway…I am hoping the girls will understand sacrifice and also become more socially conscious. There’s frankly always more we can do to better our small corner of the world.

We have had a fabulous weekend…both weather wise and because we welcomed a house guest (yes, with only one functioning shower…it hasn’t been a big deal and, honestly, given what people in Japan are facing, I’m grateful for every bit of my intact plumbing).Tom Reichardt, Chris’ former roommate, a groosman in our wedding, and an all around fantastic guy and accomplished scientist joined us for the weekend. Though we had not seen him in a few years, we slipped right back in the easy camaraderie from our student days and it has been very nice to spend time with him. We went to a comedy club last night while Heather graciously hosted the girls for a sleepover. Chris took him to the aquarium and around downtown today. I think he has enjoyed his visit and we have certainly enjoyed hosting him.

Other weekend events included Pioneer school for Marin. She and her friend Jordan went to McDaniel Farm Park for a 3 hour “camp.” Because Christi and I are uber moms, we ordered pioneer outfits from the Laura Ingalls Wilder museum (Ok…so a real uber mom would have sewed the costume, but that would never happen here)…anyway, the girls were adorable in their dresses, aprons, and bonnets and had a great time playing marbles and hoops, planting a garden, making beeswax candles, and making jam and butter. Marin was so thrilled with the experience that she stated an intent to do it every year until she’s 15. ;-)

Book review…finished Faithful Place by Tana French. This was another great detective story, but what really sets this author apart from most murder mystery writers is the level of character development. This one kept me up some late nights.

This is long and it is late…so good night and have a wonderful week!

XOXO,
Kristi/en

2011-03-06T18:36:00.001-08:00

Greetings, All, from the suddenly frigid South. Our Bradford pears and redbuds are blooming and today it is COLD. Hoping we will get back to being spoiled with spring weather this week! Things here are predictably busy. I had a crazy, busy week with work…with 2+ hour conference calls every night. While I was very glad to see the weekend, I was also glad my weekend plans did not include boarding a plane to Asia, unlike several of my coworkers. I’ll take the crazy week State side, thanks all the same.
The week also included Oak Meadow family dinner night at Chuckie Cheese…it’s been a while since I read Dante’s Inferno, but I’m pretty sure Chuckie Cheese is a circle of hell all by itself. The kids at least had a marvelous time and we had good company in the Holbrooks so it was not a wasted evening. On Friday, I met Barbie for coffee and a big topic of conversation was the upcoming master bath demolition, which I am still somewhat stunned to report occurred today. Frankly this renovation is long overdue, but the fact it is now happening is still somewhat surprising (SHapperts slow to make changes…we dated for 8 years before marrying, were married for 7 years before having kids…we are not people who would ever be accused of making sudden moves ;-) ) Alex, Chris, and Barbie spent 5 solid hours tearing down the bathroom and it is now ready for remodeling. I manned the 4 kids and dropped by the bathroom occasionally with unnecessary commentary. We are leaving the tub, counter, and cabinets, but everything else (shower doors, tile, linoleum, carpet, towel bars, shower base, etc) is sitting in the back of the pick up truck. We are definitely in touch with our Southern roots because the toilet is currently sitting in the back yard…
Other weekend highlights…Scott joined us for dinner Friday night and it was good to see him as usual. He actually prepared the meal so double bonus. …he is an exceptional cook and he brought wine and chocolate. There is not much more one could want in a dinner guest! Saturday dawned rainy and cold, but I headed off to the Oak Meadow open house after Clare’s ballet class and Chris transported the girls to a birthday party. The turn out at the open house was a bit disappointing, but I did my part as OMPA president and involved parent by bringing lunch and showing my support. Saturday night Heather hosted a surprise birthday party for John at Marlowe’s Tavern so we joined a festive crew of well wishers. John was indeed completely surprised and it was a fun celebratory evening for a wonderful guy.
Movie review…we watched Waiting for Superman last weekend, which was overall a depressing commentary on public education in America and how far we have fallen behind the rest of the developed (and frankly developing) world in the last 30 years or so. I am lucky in that I went to an exceptional public school, but not everyone has Oak Ridge schools in their back pocket. There are no easy answers certainly, but the whole viewing made me wish the open house turnout had been better for Oak Meadow!
Book review…finished The Lightning Thief by Rick Rjordian (sp?). This is along the lines of Harry Potter..in that it is adolescent fantasy. In this series, the young male protagonist discovers not that he is actually a wizard, but that he is the son of a Greek god. And that the Greek gods still play a pivotal role in society today. Anyway…a fun read and my 13 year old niece gave a big thumbs up to my book review on Facebook, proving that my status as the cool aunt remains secure. 
I hope you all have wonderful weeks…in my world, I am heading into Lent, which is one of my most favorite times of the year for many reasons.
Until next week, XOXO to all
Kristi/en

2011-02-27T18:06:00.001-08:00

Greetings, All, and happy March! Spring is right around the corner, though it has already felt like spring here for the last couple of weeks. It was a gorgeous weekend so we took full advantage going to parks both days and also having a picnic by the river.

There were other fun activities as well. I kicked off the weekend with coffee with Barbie where we mapped out plans for my master bathroom, which she is about to gut and re-build. Such a marvel and a talent, this girl. We hosted a double sleepover Friday night with the Wells girls while their mom traveled. It was a fairly late bed time, but a good time had by all. Saturday night we had a we-just-got-a-grill-come-try-it dinner at the Holbrooks. Salmon grilled on a cedar plank on their new grill was quite tasty and we enjoyed a pleasant evening around the fire pit. Tonight Mike and Jim joined us for dinner rounding out our fun, full weekend.

Work is busy…I recently ship accepted a keyboard for the acclaimed Xoom…which officially went on sale this past week. I have another product to launch in the next 2 weeks or so and then I really need to turn all my attention to the new suite of products for 2011. Chris fortunately did not have to travel this week and seemed slightly less stressed out, though he still logged an unfortunate amount of weekend hours working.

Movie review…we watched “The Social Network” Friday night, which is the story behind Facebook. It was an interesting movie and supposed to be largely true. It was hard to know what exactly to think about founder Mark Zuckerburg after watching. Clearly a brilliant guy…and I found it quite odd that someone so lacking in social skills was able to build the most successful social networking site the world has ever seen. Obviously he has great insight into human nature even if his own social interactions are somewhat lacking.

Book review….finished At Home:A Short History of a Private Life by Bill Bryson, which was a room by room history lesson of the structures we call homes. Like all Bryson books, it was full of interesting facts and historical perspectives…far beyond the confines of the rooms he was describing. I have the utmost respect for this author, which should be evident by the fact that I read the entire chapter devoted to the fuse box.

My girls have just popped out of bed…time to go remedy that. Happy weeks!

Kristi/en

2011-02-13T18:25:00.001-08:00

Greetings, All! Happy Valentine’s day! I hope cupid’s arrow strikes you all in the backside…or whatever it takes to ensure a happy day for you. Speaking of love, I am happy to pass along the exciting news that Sadie and Rafi welcomed little Milo to their family on Wednesday. I am giving Sadie a few days before I call to get all the details, but I do know it was an intense labor (blissfully short as far as these things go) and the little guy was 8 lbs 8 ounces and is doing well. Yay!

It was a predictably busy week for us…Chris was on a business trip to DC on Thursday and Friday so I played solo parent on top of my usual duties. The Oak Meadow Science and Art show was Thursday evening so we attended that and Marin demonstrated her magnetics projects to numerous “interested” parties. It was a fun evening and we topped it off by getting Chinese with the Holbrooks.

My weekend was supposed to include a weekend trip to Charlotte to visit Misty, but unfortunately she fell ill so we had to reschedule. In lieu of shopping and hanging with Misty, we took Marin to the ER instead. Chris was shutting the car door and Marin stepped in front of the door and caught it with her mouth just as it was closing. Lots of blood, a tooth (baby fortunately) knocked loose, a lot of pain (tooth was not previously loose), and a lot of hysterics characterized the next hour or so. My village in the form of Heather graciously watched Clare so both parents could be at Marin’s side. Fortunately the dual split lip will heal without stitches and there should be no permanent damage to any teeth. And Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta had us in and out within an hour, a testament to hospital efficiency at its finest. Another bullet dodged.

After 2 days of solo parenting and a harrowing outing to the ER, I was blessed to have some time down time Saturday night. Barbie and I went out for margaritas and a chick flick. We might have been the only people in “No Strings Attached” not on a date. It was a predictable love story plot, but Natalie Portman and Ashton Kutcher had great chemistry and it was just the kind of low key mind candy I needed.

The weekend was stunningly gorgeous so we did manage park outings both days and it was so nice to soak up some vitamin D. We concluded our weekend by having a wonderful dinner at Mike and Jim’s.

Book review…along the movie lines, I finished a beach read this week in Change of Heart by Jodi Picoult. Actually Picoult’s books usually deal with reasonably serious subject matter (this one dealth with capital punishment, organ donation, and sexual abuse for starters), but they are written a very beach read kind of style. I can’t take a steady diet of them, but I do enjoy them and the mental escape they provide on occasion.

Chris travels again this week so our week will again be a bit off kilter, but we’ll do our best to stay out of the hospital.

Love to you all!
Kristi/en

2011-02-06T18:12:00.001-08:00

Greetings, All, and Happy Superbowl Sunday! I imagine the game is on now, though I am writing you instead of watching. TV has not been on and I only became certain of who was playing today. Motorola…excuse me, Motorola MOBILITY… is going to have an ad, but I’m sure they’ll have a replay available for me tomorrow! ;-)

It’s been a busy week. Chris continues to work at a punishing pace with no end in sight. Things are a bit more low key for me right now, which is always welcome. I had Marin’s parent/teacher conference this week and it went well. I continue to be amazed at the caliber of work expected of her, but am proud that she always rises to the occasion. I also adore her teacher. Earlier in the week, I had expressed concern about trouble Marin seemed to be having with a particular math worksheet. Within hours of my sending the email, the teacher had responded with a bullet item plan of attack, which she implemented all week. By the end of the week, Marin was asking to do the previously evil worksheet and she got all 80 problems correct in 12 minutes. It had been taking upwards of 45 minutes, though this was due in large part to Marin constantly finding other things to focus on rather than the task at hand. Anyway…I can’t say enough good things about Oak Meadow and their teaching staff. So grateful my kids are there. This week it’s the science and art show and Marin is all ready to demo her project on magnetism. She also did research and a report today on Franklin Roosevelt for President’s Day.

When we weren’t prepping projects, it was all about Valentine themed festivities this weekend. Chris and John, in what is now an annual tradition, escorted their lovely daughters to the father/daughter dance. This is a big event in which hair and nails are done, the fathers bestow flower bouquets (guess who buys the flowers? Yeah, the unsung Mom heroes, but anyway),fancy dresses are worn, and a candlelight dinner is served complete with kid wine. The girls love the attention and, you know..the daddies don’t seem to hate it! Chris also took our girls to the Daddy/Daughter Chickfila event the following day. Reservations were actually required and apparently Chickfila was converted to a sit down restaurant with orders being taken for the gala occasion. My girls love Chickfila and time with their daddy so this was a thrill.

While my girls were off with Chris, I was taking in some girl time. Heather and I went to see Black Swan Friday night and that was one weird movie. I never was quite sure what was reality and what was hallucination, but there’s no doubt that Natalie Portman did an amazing job. On Saturday, Barbie and I went and got makeovers at a salon specializing in mineral based cosmetics. I don’t really know what that means, but, as I stare 40 in the face, I figure good cosmetics (and the lift acquired last weekend ;-) ) can’t hurt.

Today was sunny and beautiful…on the heels of a cold, rainy week so we enjoyed a park outing, lunch out, and a family centered day.

Book review…finished Country Driving: A Journey Through China from Farm to Factory by Peter Hessler. Hessler is a staff writer for the New Yorker and was based in China for 8 years. Given that I converse with Chinese counterparts almost daily, it was interesting to get a long term, eyes on the ground perspective. Also interesting to see how the culture is adapting to astonishing growth and change. And he confirmed what I had long suspected…those subsuppliers of my suppliers probably are working out of little more than their garage.

I hear children still awake and that is not a good thing…I need to go shut this down. Have wonderful weeks!

Love,
Kristi/en

2011-01-23T18:31:00.001-08:00

Greetings, All! I hope this finds you well. Things here are fine. We began the week with a holiday…pretty anti-climactic since we had been on a weather imposed “holiday” the entire week prior. Nonetheless, there was no work or school so the girls and I met Barbie and kids for lunch and a carousel ride. Once I returned to work on Tuesday, it was an exceptionally busy week with multiple day long meetings and dinners with out of town visitors. Fortunately these kinds of weeks don’t happen too often as they make juggling everything else more challenging. Part of the meetings involved laying out strategies for 2011 and I have to say that I am impressed with Motorola Mobility’s new marketing tagline which is: “Life. M Powered.”

On Friday, we all met Barbie and Katie for dinner and the handoff of Marin. She and Katie were having an American Girl themed sleepover. Chris and I took Clare to Target where, with her own money, she purchased a Target “American Girl” which was only $20. She has no idea that she doesn’t have the real thing. So both girls are thrilled and we have 2 new family members at the dinner table and 2 extra girls to tuck into bed at night. On Saturday, I took Clare to ballet and the Winter Carnival at the church while Chris collected Marin. Saturday evening we pooled resources with the Holbrooks for a babysitter and went out to a new restaurant in Suwanee, Porto Bello. We went solely because I’d gotten a Groupon there (I am addicted to these half off deal sites). The ambiance is more diner-esque than would be expected for a nice Italian restaurant, but the food was really good. It was nice to have several hours with another couple and no interruptions!

Today has been quite laid back. I went to church solo since the girls were exhausted from sleepovers and late nights with a babysitter. After church we just played with a bunch of Christmas toys…Marin set up an elaborate good guys vs bad guys Toy Story 3 skit and we shared roles. We played with Tiny and Buddy from Dinosaur train and got them going on a long dialogue (the toys talk to each other). Perhaps most impressive was the construction of the Brickadoo Villa. Marin devoted close to 4 hours to assembling this little house…it requires precise placement of the little bricks and used mortar to hold it all together. I lack the patience and fine motor skills to enjoy that kind of activity, but Marin was entranced. The finished product is pretty nice and all the more impressive considering the brick layer was a mere 6 years old.

Apparently there might be snow in the forecast this week…I surely hope not! There is STILL snow on the ground in some places….and that has to be some kind of record for Atlanta. Granted, these were probably places where snow had been piled up, but still….that’s going on 2 weeks. I’ve seen enough of the white stuff for this year.

I hope you all have fabulous weeks…can’t believe it’s the end of January already!

Love,
Kristi/en

2011-01-16T17:39:00.001-08:00

Greetings, All….I greet you from the still snowy South. I’m sure many of you (those that live in Minnesota, for instance) watched with a mixture of horror and humor as we bumbled through snow and ice down here…the guy that managed to catch his car on fire spinning out on ice was truly remarkable. The snow itself was significant…7 inches or so…but it was the freezing rain and Arctic temperatures for days on end that really made things a mess. We missed school ALL WEEK. Even Georgia Tech was closed for 3 days. Of course, what that really meant was that Chris and I took turns working whenever we could and traded off who was entertaining the girls and supervising all the outdoor snow activity. We worked on and off from 9AM to 11PM and later so I would not call the week relaxing…but it was certainly a change of pace. The girls had a fabulous time sledding in their all purpose tubs from Lowe’s (sleds not very plentiful down here and those that were available sold out in about 5 minutes) and enjoyed assembling an icy snowman. When indoors, they completed their Toy Story 3 lego train, built large villages from Lincoln logs, windmills and guitars out of Tinker Toys, and did a zillion art projects. Marin also did most of her science fair project and, of course, they watched more TV than I’d like. The weekend has been significantly warmer and all roads are open so here’s hoping everything is back to normal this week!

On Thursday evening, we did brave the largely improved roads to go out to dinner with the Holbrooks. The walls were closing in and it was nice to get out for pizza and some interaction with adults. On Saturday, the girls and I headed downtown to the Fox Theatre to see Beauty and the Beast. Mike and Jim joined us for this festive event and also for Chinese take out afterward. We all enjoyed the show…Disney really does know how to do everything pretty flawlessly.

Today after church, Marin and I went to lunch with Barbie and Katie and then ventured into completely foreign territory….the American Girl store. Other than Disney (because who doesn’t love happily ever after?), I have steadfastly refused most stuff “that everyone else has.” My kids don’t have a videogame system, nothing that starts with I and is assembled by Apple (this is as much so I don’t get lazy and use it as a crutch as anything else), and they don’t have Barbies (other than Toy Story 3 Barbie…and has anyone seen Pet Vet Barbie? No one would really work on animals in that get up) or Bratz (because those dolls look like hookers). When Marin expressed interest in an American Girl doll, I really only knew that they were shockingly expensive, but they seemed wholesome enough. I did, however, tell her she had to buy the doll herself this close to Christmas. (yes, all $100 of it…that is what allowance and birthday money is for). In a fit of generosity and assuming that American Girl had a clearance rack, I told her that I would get her and the doll a matching outfit. American Girl does NOT have a clearance rack and the clothes are even more ridiculously expensive than the dolls. I am still not sure whether to shake American Girl’s hand for their incredibly clever marketing or to beat myself over the head for succumbing. Nonetheless we have a new family member, a Marin look alike doll named Flower. And I have to say…there was something pretty heartwarming about watching my little girl pick out this beloved doll and the pride on her face as she paid for it herself. And watching her hero worship of Katie was incredibly sweet.

Book review…finished 2 this week (lots of snow). Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Stroudt and winner of the Pulitzer was a novel developed as a collection of stories in which Olive played a central role in some and a tangential role in others. I liked crusty old Olive and thought she was fairly misunderstood. A good book. Also finished This is Where I Leave You by Jonathan Tropper. This book made me laugh out loud in several places and somehow made a series of family tragedies incredibly funny.

I would love to say we are getting back to routine tomorrow, but it is a HOLIDAY. Not so much for me as I have a critical meeting beginning at 8:30 on Tuesday and I will need to spend a chunk of time tomorrow preparing for it. But we are digging out and I am no longer confined to my house so it’s all good.

Happy weeks!!

XOXO,
Kristi/en

2011-01-09T19:57:00.001-08:00

Greetings from a Southern winter wonderland! Snow if falling fast and furious as I type and pretty much everything in Georgia is cancelled tomorrow…while I’m excited to take the girls out in the now (and it is SO pretty), this does not mean I don’t have to work. The company is headquartered in Chicago after all…they laugh at snow. So flexibility will be the key tomorrow…the way it looks we’re going to be holed up here Tuesday as well.

So the week has been busy. 2011 programs are in full swing…Moto did very well at CES which is gratifying. When I was not working this week, I was devoting significant time to Oak Meadow…we had a 2 hour parent council officer’s meeting on Thursday to prepare for the second half of the year (cannot believe we are half way through the year) and I spent several hours working the Oak Meadow booth at the private school expo held at the Mall of Georgia. Hopefully it will lead to some new enrollees….our school is so amazing, but it is struggling for students, as I am sure many private schools are in this economy.

Marin’s big news is that she started piano this week. She has been SO excited and she loved her first lesson. She has diligently practiced every day since. I am proud of her and am glad she finally decided she was ready to play.

I enjoyed my coffee with Barbie on Friday….always a shining moment and stabilizing force in my week. And Mike and Jim joined us for dinner tonight, always a pleasure. Otherwise…it was a low key weekend with lots of family time. Marin got a lot of work done on her science fair project, we assembled half of the 500 piece lego train that Santa brought, created more art work with various Christmas art supplies…nice to lope along at a slightly slower pace for a couple of days.

Book review…finished the Law of Similars by Chris Bohjlian. I have read several books by this author and he always seems to be writing about some off the beaten path topic…such as water witches or midwifery. This one was about homeopaths. It has never been clear to me from reading his works whether Bohjlian is a proponent of alternative care options or whether he thinks it is a terrible idea. Typically…and this book was no exception…the central plot line is about something with the alternative practice going terribly wrong. He then goes on to argue both benefits and risks. In this book, a widowed father goes to a homeopath seeking something to boost his immunity so he can kick a persistent cold. He ends up falling head over heels for his homeopath and that frankly seemed a bit contrived, but, then again, I am not a widow raising a 3 year old and I have not had a cold for the past 8 months straight. Anyway…good book. And, I’m sure you’re terribly interested…I Wikipedia’d Bohjlian’s stance on alternative medicine and he is open minded.

I’m off….going to try to get some work done while I still have power. (the ice is still coming!)

XOXO,
Kristi/en

2011-01-02T19:04:00.001-08:00

Happy New Year! I hope that 2011 is off to a wonderful start for you all. We arrived back in Georgia on Tuesday loaded down with Christmas bounty, lots of dirty laundry, and nothing to eat in the house. Our neighbors, Stephanie and Rich, were kind enough to feed us a delicious dinner giving us the fortitude we needed to whip the house in shape and acquire food as we had guests arriving the following day. Mom and Tom, Kathy and kids, and the Salibas en route home from Disney all visited this week and it was delightful to see them all. The girls especially enjoyed an outing to the aquarium with Ian and Carly and a special viewing of the Weechi Wachi mermaids (I think Ian was less than enthralled, but then mermaids don’t hold quite the same appeal for 10 year old boys)

We rang in New Year’s Eve with the Holbrooks while Mom and Tom graciously watched the collected children. We just made dinner at their place and hung out talking until we made a brief appearance at a neighborhood party shortly before the peach dropped (yes, we drop a peach here). Our house guests had all departed by Saturday so we spent a quiet weekend putting away Christmas decorations, painting on the new easel, doing puzzles, playing games…some quality family time. Today I met Barbie for lunch and it was great to see her…she was gone for 2 whole weeks in Seattle. It was actually sunny and reasonably warm so post lunch we took the girls to Sims Lake and let them run around and play.

The holiday party ends tomorrow. While I am still off until Tuesday, Chris returns to GTRI tomorrow. On Tuesday, I will no longer work for Motorola after 15 ½ years. Alas, there will be no more Motorola and the stock symbol MOT will be retired. However, I have been rehired by Motorola Mobility which will join the NYSE on Tuesday so all’s well that ends well.

Book reviews…finished 2 this week. The Naked Mole Rat Letters by Mary Amanto and a birthday gift from Stacie. This is a collection of emails and diary entries from 13 year old Frankie, who becomes concerned when she intercepts a romantic email intended for her widowed father. I found Frankie incredibly annoying and disrespectful at first, but she grew on me as I learned more about what drove her. Also finished As Simple as Snow by Gregory Galloway, which was a dark yet funny book. I don’t know if I would classify it as “coming of age”or “mystery.” It was some of both. The 16 year old narrator, whose name is never revealed, falls in love with the mysterious Anna. After an intense romance, Anna disappears just before Valentine’s Day and is never heard from again. There are many layers and clues in the book…probably need to re-read it to catch them all. In fact, the author apparently was emailing clues about Anna’s locations to readers who bothered to seek out the book’s website. It was very well done, but definitely left more questions than answers and I really like things neatly wrapped up. It’s that type A in me.

I must sign off for now…Happy 2011

XOXO,
Kristi/en

2010-12-27T11:24:00.001-08:00

Merry Christmas, all! I hope you all wonderful holidays and that your plans were not derailed by weather. Surprisingly, we did not have much of a white Christmas here (though they did in Atlanta), but we did have enough of a dusting to be pretty.

We arrived in Tennessee on the 23rd and the days leading up to our departure were devoted to fun times for the girls. Marin bounced back from her virus and we went ice skating at Piedmont Park on Monday and met Chris for lunch. Tuesday we went to Jungle Jump and Wednesday evening we had a wonderful dinner and Christmas gift exchange with the Holbrooks. We also did a service project…Heather and I took our kids to the Toys for Tots distribution center on Wednesday morning and I was so proud of all the kids. They worked their little tails off and seemed to comprehend that they were helping children less fortunate. I think we will definitely make this a yearly tradition…my kids get so much stuff at the holidays…they need to understand the true meaning of giving at the holidays.

Since we arrived in Tennessee, it has been a series of festive meals and gift exchanges with various family members. We have seen Eva and Ellen, Aunt Betty, David, Julie, the Salibas, the Luthers, LB and Miriam, and, of course, our hosts, Mom and Tom. We are also celebrating the recent engagement (Christmas Day) of David and Julie. We are also aware of another exciting engagement, but I’m not at liberty to disclose the details of that just yet…anyway it is a time of happiness and excitement!

Book review…finished The Help by Kathryn Stoddard, an interesting but disturbing read about race relations in the Southern 1960s…specifically between well off white women and their “colored help.” I read a lot, but books don’t often affect me much….there were a lot of situations and characters in this book that really got to me. Also finished The Lace Reader by Brunonia Barry. This book is set in Salem, MA in the 1990s…a thriving witch population is coexisting alongside the regular townspeople and a group of religious zealots. There is a lot of mysticism, fortune telling (through lace, of all things), and various skeletons in the closet. An engaging enough read.

Happy New Year and have a wonderful rest of the holiday season!

Love,
Kristi/en

2010-12-20T05:20:00.000-08:00

Greetings, All! Can you believe Christmas is less than a week away? This holiday season has just flown by, but I am happy that I have consciously taken the time to do fun holiday things with the kids and at least attempt to slow down a little. This week we completed our gingerbread house and added more decidedly tacky decorations to our front yard. The girls felt our yard did not have enough flair and there is not much to be had in the way of tasteful outdoor decorations left. As I looked at our new additions of light up snowflakes and snowmen, I decided to embrace the moment because the day is not too far into the future when I won’t have little girls hopping up and down in footy pajamas asking for more lights.

This week has thrown some minor health challenges our way. The silver lining is that I was just noting to Chris that we had not spent $150 of our flexible spending account which goes away at the end of this calendar year. An emergency trip to the eye doctor for me, a trip to an urgent care clinic for Marin, and a little spin by the ER (also for Marin) takes care of that issue. I had a migraine on Monday, but didn’t initially recognize it as such since I get so few…it first presented as squiggly bright lines running all across my field of vision and I was afraid it was my retina tearing (I have had a retinal hole repaired). The eyes checked out and then the headache and nausea showed up…yuck yuck. Marin has had a virus this weekend, which is what resulted in both her doctor visits. She went to the Nutcracker with her friend Jordan and had been running a low grade fever before she went, which I disclosed to Jordan’s mom. We both decided it seemed like a cold and Marin felt fine so they went on. Near the end of the show I got a text that Marin was coughing, burning up, and lethargic. I took her to Children’s Healthcare urgent care Saturday afternoon and got the diagnosis of “virus.” Chris took her to the ER at 10:00 when we couldn’t bring her fever down from 105 despite ibuprofen. Fortunately Tylenol knocked it down and she’s doing better today...though still running a fever intermittently.

Marin’s illness did derail some of our holiday plans. We did gift exchange with Mike and Jim last night, but we did not want to expose them to Marin as they will be traveling over the holiday so we went in shifts to eat dinner and open gifts while Marin stayed at home. We also had to postpone the Holbrook gift exchange tonight, though we did take the girls to the light show set to music at the fairgrounds. They enjoyed that and the little pony ride that followed.

The choir had our cantata this morning so I had a busy weekend of rehearsing and then singing. We did carols from around the world, singing several of them in the original language (Thaddeus, though we tried, we had to abandon the Russian text and revert back to English for the Russian carol). I thought both services went well and singing Christmas music just stirs my soul.

I am technically off work for the next 2 weeks. While I will have to check in some and do some conference calls, I am looking forward to some down time with my littles. I hope you all enjoy this last week of holiday frenzy, preparation, and fun.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

Kristi/en

Greetings, All! Can you believe Christmas is less than a week away? This holiday season has just flown by, but I am happy that I have consciously taken the time to do fun holiday things with the kids and at least attempt to slow down a little. This week we completed our gingerbread house and added more decidedly tacky decorations to our front yard. The girls felt our yard did not have enough flair and there is not much to be had in the way of tasteful outdoor decorations left. As I looked at our new additions of light up snowflakes and snowmen, I decided to embrace the moment because the day is not too far into the future when I won’t have little girls hopping up and down in footy pajamas asking for more lights.

This week has thrown some minor health challenges our way. The silver lining is that I was just noting to Chris that we had not spent $150 of our flexible spending account which goes away at the end of this calendar year. An emergency trip to the eye doctor for me, a trip to an urgent care clinic for Marin, and a little spin by the ER (also for Marin) takes care of that issue. I had a migraine on Monday, but didn’t initially recognize it as such since I get so few…it first presented as squiggly bright lines running all across my field of vision and I was afraid it was my retina tearing (I have had a retinal hole repaired). The eyes checked out and then the headache and nausea showed up…yuck yuck. Marin has had a virus this weekend, which is what resulted in both her doctor visits. She went to the Nutcracker with her friend Jordan and had been running a low grade fever before she went, which I disclosed to Jordan’s mom. We both decided it seemed like a cold and Marin felt fine so they went on. Near the end of the show I got a text that Marin was coughing, burning up, and lethargic. I took her to Children’s Healthcare urgent care Saturday afternoon and got the diagnosis of “virus.” Chris took her to the ER at 10:00 when we couldn’t bring her fever down from 105 despite ibuprofen. Fortunately Tylenol knocked it down and she’s doing better today...though still running a fever intermittently.

Marin’s illness did derail some of our holiday plans. We did gift exchange with Mike and Jim last night, but we did not want to expose them to Marin as they will be traveling over the holiday so we went in shifts to eat dinner and open gifts while Marin stayed at home. We also had to postpone the Holbrook gift exchange tonight, though we did take the girls to the light show set to music at the fairgrounds. They enjoyed that and the little pony ride that followed.

The choir had our cantata this morning so I had a busy weekend of rehearsing and then singing. We did carols from around the world, singing several of them in the original language (Thaddeus, though we tried, we had to abandon the Russian text and revert back to English for the Russian carol). I thought both services went well and singing Christmas music just stirs my soul.

I am technically off work for the next 2 weeks. While I will have to check in some and do some conference calls, I am looking forward to some down time with my littles. I hope you all enjoy this last week of holiday frenzy, preparation, and fun.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

Kristi/en

Greetings, All! Can you believe Christmas is less than a week away? This holiday season has just flown by, but I am happy that I have consciously taken the time to do fun holiday things with the kids and at least attempt to slow down a little. This week we completed our gingerbread house and added more decidedly tacky decorations to our front yard. The girls felt our yard did not have enough flair and there is not much to be had in the way of tasteful outdoor decorations left. As I looked at our new additions of light up snowflakes and snowmen, I decided to embrace the moment because the day is not too far into the future when I won’t have little girls hopping up and down in footy pajamas asking for more lights.

This week has thrown some minor health challenges our way. The silver lining is that I was just noting to Chris that we had not spent $150 of our flexible spending account which goes away at the end of this calendar year. An emergency trip to the eye doctor for me, a trip to an urgent care clinic for Marin, and a little spin by the ER (also for Marin) takes care of that issue. I had a migraine on Monday, but didn’t initially recognize it as such since I get so few…it first presented as squiggly bright lines running all across my field of vision and I was afraid it was my retina tearing (I have had a retinal hole repaired). The eyes checked out and then the headache and nausea showed up…yuck yuck. Marin has had a virus this weekend, which is what resulted in both her doctor visits. She went to the Nutcracker with her friend Jordan and had been running a low grade fever before she went, which I disclosed to Jordan’s mom. We both decided it seemed like a cold and Marin felt fine so they went on. Near the end of the show I got a text that Marin was coughing, burning up, and lethargic. I took her to Children’s Healthcare urgent care Saturday afternoon and got the diagnosis of “virus.” Chris took her to the ER at 10:00 when we couldn’t bring her fever down from 105 despite ibuprofen. Fortunately Tylenol knocked it down and she’s doing better today...though still running a fever intermittently.

Marin’s illness did derail some of our holiday plans. We did gift exchange with Mike and Jim last night, but we did not want to expose them to Marin as they will be traveling over the holiday so we went in shifts to eat dinner and open gifts while Marin stayed at home. We also had to postpone the Holbrook gift exchange tonight, though we did take the girls to the light show set to music at the fairgrounds. They enjoyed that and the little pony ride that followed.

The choir had our cantata this morning so I had a busy weekend of rehearsing and then singing. We did carols from around the world, singing several of them in the original language (Thaddeus, though we tried, we had to abandon the Russian text and revert back to English for the Russian carol). I thought both services went well and singing Christmas music just stirs my soul.

I am technically off work for the next 2 weeks. While I will have to check in some and do some conference calls, I am looking forward to some down time with my littles. I hope you all enjoy this last week of holiday frenzy, preparation, and fun.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!
Kristi/en

2010-12-12T19:02:00.001-08:00

Greetings, All! I hope this last 2 weeks before Christmas finds you decking the halls and singing carols by a fire and anything else that brings you merriment this season. Things here are good…Chris is working a lot and I’m working more than I thought I would be for this time of year, but we are happy to have jobs so it’s all good. The time not devoted to work has been devoted to festive holiday merriment.

The kids had their choir performance on Wednesday night and there’s just something heart warming about all these little angelic voices singing Christmas carols. My little Joy Choir sang with little LED powered candles and these were so exciting…I only had one 3 year old try to eat his (and I resolved that situation quickly). Santa has delivered messages to both my girls again this year…via the Portable North Pole (PNP) and he has added enhancements since last year. They were both very excited to hear from the Man in Red and were relieved that he apparently got their letter since he knows they want all things Toy Story 3 and a pink Rapunzel dress.

Friday evening we attended the Oak Meadow Christmas party, graciously hosted by John and Heather. It was a fun evening of fabulous food, good camaraderie, and the ubiquitous white elephant gift exchange. On Saturday evening, Scott joined us for dinner and a little holiday outing to the Christmas Village hosted in Suwanee’s Town Center Park. The girls enjoyed the train ride (on the Holy Roller…this event hosted by a local church), the hot chocolate, the caroling, writing more messages to Santa, and making candy cane ornaments.

Tonight we have just returned for dinner and gift exchange at the Marreros. While Barbie and I are very good about making time for our weekly coffee outings, we don’t get the families together often enough so it was nice to have everyone under one roof. The kids enjoyed playing and it was a wonderful evening hanging out with good friends.

Book review…finished Cheap Cabarnet by Cathie Beck. This is a true story…about a 39 year old woman who finds herself done raising children (she married just out of high school, had 2 children by age 20, and was abandoned by useless husband by 22) and ready to move on to the next chapter of her life. Having devoted herself to raising children and struggling to make ends meet, she finds herself short on friends and so takes out a classified ad starting a women’s social group. Through this venue, she meets Denise and they form a powerful yet difficult friendship. Denise has MS and the book details the intense friendship and the pain of watching Denise’s health decline. I actually liked this book…was really rooting for everyone involved.

I hope this week goes well for everyone….this is the last week of school so it’s just going to be an all out sprint here, but it should be fun.

XOXO,
Kristi/en

2010-11-29T10:19:00.001-08:00

Greetings, All and happy Cyber Monday and a belated Happy Black Friday and, of course, Happy Thanksgiving! The girls and I enjoyed our Thanksgiving break in Tennessee, though missed seeing most of the Shappert side and, of course, did not enjoy being separated from Chris. I did see the Shappert patriarch, LB, when I met he and Eva at Soup Kitchen for lunch before he departed for Dayton. Upon returning from Dollywood, my Thanksgiving break primarily consisted of playing with the girls (big leaf piles assembled in the backyard overlooking the lake), reading, taking lovely runs, and basically eating everything that wasn’t nailed down. It was ugly. I will climb firmly back on the wagon (until Christmas ;-) ) As for Thanksgiving day, we got to see Eva, Ellen, Aunt Betty, Don, Steve, Sharon, Sydney, Samantha, David, and Julie…as well as those who live at the lake house….so that was wonderful. We did not, however, get to see Thaddeus and that was NOT wonderful.

Mom came back to GA with us in order to witness first hand the new carpet and furniture which is, I must say, breath taking. I am not overly driven by material items, but the dramatic change in the family room is striking. Barbie, Mom, and I ventured to Real Deals on Saturday to acquire coffee, sofa, and end tables and also accessories to complete the room. Barbie is so gifted in this area…I am most decidedly not. She is ready to rip down my curtains with her teeth, but, other than that, the room is perfect! We concluded our day with a girls night out at Cinco’s…great food and fun conversation…nice to get out!

We rounded out the break by hosting Rhonda and Julia on their way back to Ohio. They were wiped out after a long pageant week, but it was fabulous to see them and Julia was very patient with the adoration of her little cousins.

Book review…finished Grace at Low Tide by Beth Webb Hart, which was set in Charleston and nearby Edisto Island. The writing conjured up beautiful images of Charleson and the islands (perhaps because I have been there many times).The story is about a well to do Charleston family who suddenly find themselves bankrupt after a string of bad investments. They struggle to re-orient and find faith and meaning in their new lives. A good enough read. Also finished While I’m Falling by Laura Moriarty, a very fast read about Veronica, who is in college when her parents’ marriage collapses. The demise of their union sends Veronica on a bit of a self destructive streak and she must learn acceptance and forgiveness as she adjusts to everyone’s new role.

Well….yawn…stretch…I guess I’ve taken enough of a breather at lunch. Must get back to the grind. I hope your post holiday weeks are good and stress free!

Love,
Kristi/en

2010-11-25T18:25:00.000-08:00

Greetings, All, and Happy Thanksgiving! The girls and I are in TN and are eagerly awaiting Thanksgiving dinner with all the trimmings and time with friends and family. Unfortunately Chris will not be with us this year, though he is heading to Dayton to see his family before he heads back to Atlanta for a weekend of work. He really needs some down time…hopefully at Christmas! We have already seen some family and that has been nice. Rhonda and Julia stayed with us Friday night en route to Florida and will also stay with us next weekend en route back to Ohio. My cousin, Joey, and his wife and son stopped by the lake house Friday night and it was the first time I’d seen Luke since he was 4 months old (he’s 3 now).He had a good time playing with both Marin and Clare and I found it quite cute that he kept calling Marin either “little girl”or, better yet, Marionette.

Clare was a little under the weather when we arrived…fighting some sort of upper respiratory virus with a fever. Fortunately she improved significantly and Mom and Tom and I took the girls on a little excursion to Pigeon Forge. We went to Dollywood and spent the night at a motel with an indoor pool (lots of swimming). Today we went to the Titanic exhibit, which was very interesting and quite well done. As I write you, I am on a conference call…so I have not completely escaped work…but it’s certainly more relaxed.

Things were busy leading up to our departure as well. I attended Thanksgiving feasts in both girls’ classes and enjoyed watching the songs and skits. The Elementary class also hosted a Walk Through History event to raise money for new video cameras for the drama club. Marin was in charge of demonstrating how to make clay pinch pots, of which the family Shappert now has several. These are highly useful, especially for holding dry beans. (??)

Barbie and I managed to grab coffee before I headed out of town and I also got to see the new carpet in the process of being laid. By the time I return, the new furniture will have been delivered as well so I won’t be sure whether I have pulled up in the right driveway!

Book review…finished Someone Will Be with You Shortly a collection of essays by humorist and O contributing writer, Lisa Kogan. They were funny and basically centered around the chaos Kogan experiences balancing largely single motherhood (the father of her 6 year daughter lives in Switzerland, though they maintain a long distance relationship) and a writing career.

I am being distracted by both work and my youngest daughter so I must close. Have wonderful Thanksgivings! I am grateful for so many things and that includes all of you.

XOXO,

Kristi/en

2010-11-22T18:00:00.001-08:00

2010-11-14T19:00:00.001-08:00

Greetings and happy mid November! As such, I greet you from a house decorated for Christmas. Yes, I agree, in theory that putting up the Christmas decor in stores immediately after the Halloween stuff goes on 75% clearance and the fact that CHristmas carols are already piped through speakers at the department stores might be rushing things a bit....but, if you can't beat them, join them. That, combined with the number of days I am out of the state and thus away from my tree during the holiday season, warrants a mid November tree trimming here. WIth the tree has returned the Elf on the Shelf, Jordan, and it's just all fun and merriment here!

Joining the tree is a gorgeous new fireplace courtesy of Barbie (and from which stockings are now hung with care) and the conspicuous absence of the fish tank. We have retired the fish and relinquished the tank in preparation for the new carpet. Which, if it wasn't already on order, would have to be after removing the tank. 11 years worth of mildew and dried fish food...nice. We also have a new exercise bike...this acquired on Craig's list...and, as cold weather approaches, I'm glad to have an in house alternative to running. I write you now, in fact, after a quick spin on said bike.

Work has been busy...more for Chris than for me, but I have not had the customary down time I am used too at this time of year. It was gratifying that some website named 2 of my headsets the sexiest Bluetooth headsets that also work great...their words, not mine. Well, here you go....check out Finiti and CommandOne. http://www.businessinsider.com/the-7-sexiest-bluetooth-headsets-that-work-great-2010-11 I'm proud of those little guys, but wish they'd fully leave the nest so I can move on.

I did get to meet Heather and kids for dinner one night this week, which was fun. And the weekend was gorgeous so we took the kids to the park and for a walk. Both kids sang in their choirs at church this morning and did wonderfully. Both girls also attended Lauren's birthday party...Chris got to experience the magic of a birthday party at Chuckie Cheese which, of course, is magic for every child involved. MIke and Jim joined us for dinner tonight, concluding our fun, laid back weekend.

Book review...finished a collection of essays by Sloane Crosley How Did You Get THis Number? I may not have liked it quite as much as her first book (I Was Told THere'd Be Cake),but it was still a good read. She has a funny, self depracating style a la David Sedaris.

It is late and I need to add showering to my list of accomplishments for the day. Happy weeks!

XOXO,
Kristi/en

2010-11-07T18:26:00.001-08:00

Greetings, All! I wish you well from the chilly South as I sit in full view of my newly renovated fireplace. I will not use it until Barbie says it is done, but it is so pretty. Marble is all pulled out (and freecycled…people will take anything as long as it’s free, I’m convinced)…the stone tile is in and the first coat of paint is on the mantle. Second coat sometime soon, carpet arriving 11/20, and new furniture comes in 11/30. Then it’s on the master bathroom! After 11 years in the house, it’s either move or renovate and I’m too lazy to move!

So the week has been good. Work is….well, busy. I thought I’d have a bit of down time. No such luck. Things at the school are also busy…we did a food drive this week and also another family dinner night. The weekend was remarkably low key…after having been out of town or hosting guests for 8 weekends straight, we made very few plans. Don’t get me wrong…I love all these things and if you’re thinking of asking to come visit us, by all means…come on! But…given that nothing had to be done…not much was. We did meet Barbie and kids at the mall for the arrival of Santa. Oh, yes. We are all into the Christmas creep. I’m putting my tree up next weekend so who am I to cast judgment? In my defense, I am out of town so much at Thanksgiving and Christmas that I really have to get my tree up by mid November to get my fa la la on. Anyway, it was great to see the Marrero clan and dinner at Fuego’s was good, but the Christmas festivities were a bit lacking. I guess I expected the Santa arrival parade to be a bit more than a live commercial for the various food court offerings at the mall, but the kids had fun and the guy in the red suit did show up. We have just returned back from a lovely dinner at Mike and Jim’s so it has been a decidedly pleasant weekend.

Though we did have some drama. Last night I ended up taking Marin to the emergency room after an ill fated footstool encounter. She was apparently trying to lay out a dress for church and, unable to reach the hanger with just her step stool, she put the plastic sharp cornered stool from her play hair studio on top of that. If you can’t see where this is going, the whole thing toppled and the sharp plastic stool caught her right between the legs. Lots of bleeding in the girl parts, lots of crying, lots of drama and an immediate trip to the ER. (every woman who has heard this story cringes appropriately). Anyway…I can’t say enough good things about Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta from their complimentary valet parking to their staff to the efficiency with which they run things. We were in and out in 90 minutes with fortunately no stitches needed and a prescription for sitz baths, antibiotic ointment, and over the counter pain killers. The offending stool….in the recycle bin. Not even freecycling that puppy!

Book review…finished two this week. The Best Day of Someone Else’s Life by Kerry Reichs was a fairly recycled plot of the always-a-bridesmaid routine. It was very reminiscent of a Sex in the City episode, though much longer and not as entertaining. One might have wondered why I didn’t abandon ship at the first reference (yes, first) to the hoohah highway. I don’t know what to tell you. A deep character trait of mine is loyalty…once I start something…anything…I’m inclined to finish it. (this can be easily one of those faux positive things in an interview though when asked to describe a weakness). Anyway…finish it I did, thank goodness. And moved on to the better The Myth of You and Me by Leah Stewart. This was a much more thought provoking book about the impacts of formative friendships, even after those friendships have ended. I consider myself lucky that I have never had a friendship end over conflict (see that loyalty statement above)…but certainly time and circumstance has made some friendships become more distant. As you might have gathered, this book is about two girls whose intense friendship ends over an utterly common betrayal. Anyway…certain parts of it made me remember the Roommate Game that Stacie and I played in college. We prepped for weeks, quizzing each other on favorite foods, toothpaste brands, clothing size, etc and then the game itself turned out to be much more psychological in nature. One question asked us to imagine what we might say to one another if we’d had a huge fight and ran into each other years after the fight at some sporting event. I remember…even then…being incredibly sad at the thought of ever having such a thing occur. (and also wondering what sporting event I might be attending ;-) ) And while I do miss those roommate moments that just can’t quite be duplicated, I am so glad I got to see Stacie just 6 weeks or so ago!

It feels late…adjusting to daylight savings time…so I bid you all a fond goodnight.

XOXO,
Kristi/en

2010-10-31T18:10:00.001-07:00

BOO! Happy Halloween! I hope you passed out and consumed all kinds of treats! We had two little Jessies who had a good time trick or treating, but were pretty worn out from their strenuous weekend. We did the Hike Inn this weekend, which is Georgia’s only backcountry lodge and is accessible only on foot….5 miles on foot up a mountain, across lovely creeks, and through hemlock forests. It was a beautiful weekend and an excellent hike and I’m very proud of Marin for hiking the entire distance without once having to get in her hiking backpack. (at least on the way in  ) The inn itself is rustic, but cozy and places great emphasis on conservation. They serve delicious family style meals and there is no wifi. Cellphones are highly discouraged making it a wonderful way to unplug and unwind. Great to see the kids doing puzzles, throwing horseshoes, and learning card tricks. Both girls also got to see their first sunrise and it was pretty breathtaking to watch that blazing orange ball peek over the mountain! The Holbrooks joined us on this little mountain trek and I think a good time was had by all, though we moved with a little less grace and precision on the hike back out!

The weekend was already fun prior to our adventure. Barbie and I met for breakfast on Friday before she headed back over to work on my fireplace, which is looking really good. Barbie has more home decorating talent in her little finger than I do in my whole body! All the marble has been removed from the fireplace and all the stone tile is in place awaiting grout. It’s going to look really good! Carpet order was placed this week and aquarium is still on Craig’s list….it is yours for the taking. Then Scott came over for dinner Friday night, bearing pumpkin seed brittle, which was tastier than peanut brittle and just seemed so fitting, given the season.

As we head into the holidays, I’m also trying to work with the girls on gratitude and helping those less fortunate. The school is doing a food drive next week so they helped me prepare some things for that and we also stuffed 2 shoe boxes for Operation Christmas Child through the church. It’s a difficult balance…I don’t want to expose my children to too much suffering at too early an age, but, at the same time, I want them to grow up to be the kind of people who want to help…and they can’t help if they don’t know. They seemed excited about the spirit of both projects.

Book review…finished Lost in the Forest by Sue Miller and fortunately not a prediction of the weekend’s hike. The book was about two girls who have learned to accept and cope with their parent’s divorce, but are thrown into an unexpected tailspin when their stepfather is killed in a tragic accident. They choose various coping methods, some more self destructive than others. A good read, though kind of a downer at times.

I hope you all enjoy the first week of November!

XOXO,
Kristi/en

2010-10-24T18:32:00.001-07:00

Greetings, All! One more week until Halloween…I hope you all have your costumes ready! We are going to have two Jessies here so we are ready for a round up.
Things here are good…some progress has been made on the home renovation front, which I believe I referenced briefly last week. For starters, we are gutting the family room and re-doing everything. The aquarium is on Craig’s list…if you want it, just ask. Barbie is re-doing the fireplace this week with stone/tile and also will be repainting/refinishing the bright white mantle into something more soothing. New furniture is on order, but will be 6 weeks or so in coming. They came Friday to measure for new carpet so pretty much everything currently in the room will soon be finding alternative homes. We are actually only minimally interested in home improvement projects (which is why nothing has happened in that room in the last decade), but we are pretty excited about the home makeover and have utmost confidence in Contractor Barbie (that’s really a doll, you know)
Other highlights of the week included lunch with Kim (miss her being just the new cube row over) and Friday coffee with Barbie. Then Misty and Megan arrived from Charlotte…always so nice to hang out with Misty and something I wish I could do more often. We had nice dinners at home and relaxing evenings catching up. She was brave enough to attend the Oak Meadow fall festival on Saturday morning and ran the kids around while I ably manned the ball toss and beanbag toss games. Then we ventured to Town Center Park for lunch and yet another festival….seems like there’s been one every weekend lately. No complaints thought…beautiful weather and jumpies to wear out the kids. Chris had that situation well in hand so Misty and I headed to the outlets for some power shopping. Christmas 2011 is not too far away and since I’m done shopping for Christmas 2010…. ;-) All in all, a wonderful weekend spent with one of my oldest and certainly cherished friends. We concluded the fun by hosting Mike and Jim for dinner.
Work has been busy, though I am through most of the get-those-products-on-the-shelves-for-Christmas crunch. I do have one more product that needs to launch this year, but not for Christmas so it’s high pressure, but not insane pressure. I’ll take that and a few deep breaths.
Hope you all have wonderfully spooky weeks!
Love,
Kristi/en

2010-10-18T08:52:00.001-07:00

Greetings, All! I hope this finds you well. Things here are fine as fall marches on. We have had a busy week and a flurry of activity with more company. We are about to do some major overhaul on the house and I think adding a rotating door would be prudent. Or at least a vacancy sign. We definitely love it though so make your reservation any time!

So this week’s guests were Mom and Tom. They arrived Thursday and we had an enjoyable several days. We went furniture shopping, we went to Taste of Suwanee, and I took Mom to see “Secretariat” Friday night, which was just an all around feel good horse story and who doesn’t like those? They also got to watch Clare and the rest of my Joy Choir sing on Sunday and they were completely precious. On Saturday evening, we took them to the Morningview pig roast, which was fun and on Sunday Mike and Jim hosted us all for a cookout since Mike’s mom and sister were visiting as well. Definitely a full fun weekend, which also included Toy Story 3 on ice. Had gotten tickets a while ago so couldn’t include the grandparents in that (perhaps they were just as glad!), but the girls had a great time and we brought Lauren home for a sleepover. She happily adopted Mom as her Nanny too and I felt bad on Sunday morning to realize that all 3 girls piled in bed with Mom…a double bed…Tom had the good sense to relocate to the bed in the computer room!

Work and life have also been busy. I ship accepted a product this week…fortunately…since it was showcased at CTIA. I don’t even know exactly what CTIA is, but it’s some important trade show and 2 of the 3 Bluetooth headsets announced at the Motorola display were mine. No pressure or anything. We also went to the Spooky Nights of Lights at Lanier with the Holbrooks Monday evening and I met Barbie aka as my home construction contractor for coffee on Friday.

I am sad to report that Marin is hanging up her ballet shoes and trading them in for theatre instead. She had said last May that she didn’t want to do ballet this year and I agreed, as I promised myself I would never force my children to do activities that I found worthwhile if they didn’t have any passion for it. Then in August she did an about face and we ended up signing up for lessons. She was bitten by the musical theatre bug when she did the Pops concert at the church and so she is now in a beginning drama class. She comes by the love of theatre honestly as her Grandpa Larry was quite the stage performer in his day. Oh, yes, LB has performed on stage in tights.  For now, Clare loves ballet so I will still have one little ballerina.

Book review…read The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender, which was a good book, though flat out weird. The book centers around Rose, who realizes at about 9 years of age that she can taste the emotions of people who prepared her food when she is eating it. In this way, she realizes that her mother is terribly unhappy and that many people who put on a good front are hiding dark secrets. It gets even weirder than that, but to reveal more ruins plot line…and suspends the laws of physics.

I need to get busy. I hope you all have wonderful weeks…this is lengthy already so I will wait until next week to talk about our home renovations which are likely largely uninteresting to anyone not living in the house anyway.

XOXO,
Kristi/en

2010-10-10T11:30:00.001-07:00

Greetings, All! I hope this finds you well and enjoying the onset of fall! Love this time of year, though we snuck a little bit back into summer this weekend. I believe I was coming off my Disney high when I last wrote. We segued into life back at home last weekend by visiting the pumpkin patch (for the second time) and taking Marin to an ice skating birthday party. She now has dreams of an Olympic skating career or at least regular outings to the ice rink. Many requests this week! Last Sunday we ventured to Asheville for the day to attend Chris’ cousin Amanda’s wedding. It was beautiful outdoor setting by the river and it was wonderful to see everyone and share in the festivities. It was a bit unfortunate that Asheville experienced an unexpected cold snap and further unfortunate that I chose a sleeveless dress for an outdoor reception in 40something degree weather. Fortunately Becky had a jacket to loan me!

On Tuesday, Eric arrived on his motorcycle, which my daughters found a bit too impressive. They hung out at the door calling things like, “That’s the coolest bike I’ve ever seen.” We were a stopping point between 2 motorcycle rallies…one in New Mexico and one beginning in Valdosta, GA and culminating in Lynchville, VA. As I told Eric, I don’t understand the fascination of sitting on a motorcycle for thousands of miles, but, as I see him more regularly as a result of these rallies, I’m all for it!

Hotel Shappert is officially open for the season because no sooner did Eric leave, than LB and Miriam arrived. I continued my role this year as LB’s Christmas Elf and it was time to wrap his bevy of gifts. We knocked that out quickly and enjoyed the rest of the beautiful weekend by going to Sims Lake park, browsing in La Ti Da, going out for frozen yogurt, and making festive dinners while we relaxed around the house. LB and Miriam are both very inspiring…they are technically retired, but you’d be hard pressed to find more productive people. Currently LB has been beckoned out of retirement and is working more than full time on a project at the lab. He doesn’t let this get in the way of his social calendar which includes regular bridge games, choir, and several classes through Oak Ridge Institute of Continued Learning (ORICL)where is currently taking a music appreciation class. Likewise Miriam is enrolled in ORICL as well (and will be teaching a class this fall), is taking piano lessons, and also participates in a book club. It is very engaging to spend time with people who have struck just the right balance in life and continue to learn purely for the sake and love of learning. No wonder my husband is so amazing with a dad like that! :-)

Marin’s choir sang the Call to Worship at church this morning and I personally found her to be the cutest and most talented of them all. Also the most strangely dressed with a teal shirt under her red Celebration choir T shirt, a khaki skirt, hot pink tights, and flowered sandals. For the record, she dresses herself. We will be hitting a birthday party this afternoon before Step and then it’s off to Mike and Jim’s for dinner a viewing of the new Tinkerbell movie. Should be a nice ending to a very pleasant weekend!

Book review…finished 2 this week. Baker Heights by Jennifer Haigh was about a coal mining family in Pennsylvania and was a fast and engaging read. Also finished a gift from Stacie: The Penderwicks: A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting Boy by Jeanne Birdsall. This winner of the National Book award is targeted to youth, but, much like Harry Potter, it has universal appeal. The title sums it up pretty well and the Penderwick sisters were utterly charming.

I need to help Marin finish some homework and then apparently we have a barn to build with Citi blocks. Enjoy your weeks!

XOXO,

Kristi/en

2010-10-01T10:21:00.003-07:00

Greetings, All! I am many days late with this update because we have just returned from the Happiest Place on Earth. I actually completely unplugged and took the WHOLE week off from work...a long time since I have done that and I am sure that alone contributed a lot of pixie dust to the week! We left after work on Friday and drove part of the way with plans to arrive mid day. I had to laugh...Heather and John were also going this week and, as I was tooling along 75S Saturday morning, a car pulled up beside me honking with people rolling down the windows and making faces. They got up at the crack of dawn Saturday and still beat us down there. Ah well. Once we arrived we checked in to All Star Music and let the girls swim for the afternoon and then went to Downtown DIsney to meet the Tulleys for dinner. The Tulleys are my friend Eileen's parents and it was wonderful to spend an evening with them...which was made all the more poignant when Kathleen reminded me that it was the 18th anniversary of Eileen's death. I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to spend that evening...of all evenings...with them!
On Sunday, we headed to the Magic Kingdom where, with some big heel clogs and a poofy hairdo, Clare was tall enough to ride Splash Mountain and Big Thunder mountain. She has not yet developed her sister's thrill seeker tendencies, but she was tolerant enough of the coasters as long as they didn't go in the dark. Any ride that went into darkness was a definite no go. Her favorite ride, which I tolerantly rode 4 times in a row, was Aladdin's Magic Carpets. Other excitement for Monday was meeting Buzz, Woody, and Jessie....for which all 3 girls (including Heather's daughter, Lauren..I did not have another in the last week) dressed up in their Jessie costumes. I'm sure Jessie was touched. We all caught the monorail back to the Polynesian where the Holbrooks were staying and rounded at the day by playing on the beach and watching the fireworks from a distance.
On Monday, we headed to Epcot where we saw lots of characters (having multiple adults present really helps with the line holding so children can hop from princess to princess to cat (Marie from the Aristocats is at Epcot now). Marin also made her Test Track debut and a speed junkie was born! Clare's favorite ride was, of course, Nemo. On Wednesday, it was off to Animal Kingdom where Marin debuted on Everest and loved it so much that she rode it 4 times back to back (an extremely impressive 5 minute wait time!). Clare loved the safari ride and all the kids were thrilled to be chosen to dance in the Lion King show so it was an exciting day for sure. Exciting for the adults too because we checked the kids into Neverland and headed out for an adult evening at California Grille atop the Contemporary. Food was fabulous, wine was outstanding (John picked a great bottle), kid free conversation was enriching, and we closed down the evening by watching the Halloween fireworks from the Contemporary viewing platform.
On Wednesday, we headed back to Magic Kingdom where we spent the day hitting the rides we'd missed . The girls and I also joined the Holbrooks for breakfast at the Castle with all the Princesses. Surprisingly Chris wasn't all that anxious to meet Cinderella so he spent a slower morning getting a jog and some reading in before meeting us at the park. We headed home yesterday after getting in a bit more swimming at the Polynesian with the Holbrook kids. The Shappert girls could hardly bear to be torn away from their friends who are staying a few more days, but it was definitely fun for all of us to travel with another family. Built in playmates for all and extra adult hands to assist with the variety of tasks that come with transporting little people through amusement parks. Definitely a wonderful vacation and a magical experience for all (magical is a stretch for Chris, but he had a good time ;-) ) And I would highly recommend Disney's quick service dining plan, which was way more than enough food without the hassle of trying to secure reservations and be at a given restaurant at any particular time.
In the real world, work exists and will be painful next week, but I am studiously ignoring the 200+ emails that came through on my phone while I was out. I saw enough to know it's going to be a bit of a mess next week, but I am still on vacation today! Also had Marin's parent/teacher conference which was goal setting for the year. In the ELementary program, the student participates in the goal setting. It was cute to see Marin so engaged in charting her course for the year. She has settled into the multiage classroom just fine and is doing very well. She also has homework now...distributed on Friday and due the following THursday. She diligently does a little bit each night and is making significant progress in math, which got off to a slower start than reading.
Book review...finished How to Cool the Planet by Jeff Goodell and a gift from Tom. The book explores a variety of geoengineering options which, until recently, were pretty much viewed as pseudoscience. As the ramifications of global warming become more apparent, geoengineering is gaining momentum. It was an interesting and sobering read.
I must go. The SHappert ship has ported only briefly in its harbor. We head out to Asheville this weekend for Chris' cousin Amanda's wedding. She registered at REI (very cool) so I bought her the requested camping ax and saw set. I have to say...it will be the first time that I arrive at a wedding bearing a weapon as a gift.
Happy October and happy Autumn!
Kristi/en

2010-10-01T10:21:00.001-07:00

2010-09-19T12:04:00.001-07:00

Greetings, All! I hope mid September finds you well. Things here are good and looking better as we have started the count down to Disney. THe girls and I have anyway...Chris is settling into resignation. ;-) Work continues to be busy, but I did get a kit fully ship accepted this week and am poised to launch another one tomorrow. So all my hard work is at least turning into progress, which is gratifying.
I had Clare's parent/teacher conference on Friday and it went well. Clare has, not surprisingly, effectively inserted herself into the classroom community. She is interested in all areas and got high marks on everything, including grace and courtesy (which I found a little surprising...she can be a bit of a bull in a china shop). Her teacher called her "larger than life" and said that she is one of the most articulate 3 year olds she's seen in that everything that Clare says...and there is a lot that is said...makes sense. This has presented a bit of a challenge...currently Clare is eating lunch at a table by herself until she can learn to balance socializing and eating. Apparently when she sits at a table with other children, she talks the entire time, eats nothing, and apparently drags other kids over to the dark side such that they don't eat either. The whole conference made me smile...she has so much personality.
Chris had a business trip the early part of the week, so the girls and I headed up to Barbie's. It was great to see the kids. Barbie and I are very good about getting our "coffee time" together, but it's harder to get our kids together between school and their various activities. As for the rest of the week, we have had a revolving door of dinner guests. On Thursday, we invited Lynn over, a very interesting lady with whom I used to sing in the choir. I'd been meaning to have her over for months and I finally got off my backside and did it. On Friday night, Scott joined us. Last night Heather and I had appetizers and drinks on my patio and tonight Mike and Jim will be joining us. Good food and good conversations with even better people!
I was flying solo last night as Chris took the girls camping. I had commitments at church so he was brave enough to venture to the North Georgia mountains with 2 excited little girls in tow. It was a bit difficult to find a camping site, but they ultimately ended up at Track Rock and had a wonderful time roasting hot dogs and marshmallows, playing on the playground , walking on the nature trails, and enjoying the beautiful scenery. My girls are so lucky to have such a hands on, involved Daddy...Marin calls him her Daddy prince and she's right.
Book review...finished The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson. The book is set in Sweden and involves a complex handful of characters. While the book is suspense of sorts--the premise is that a disgraced journalist is hired by a wealthy, eccentric man to solve the mysterious disappearance of his niece. As the disappearance occurred decades in the past, the trail has run decidedly cold and much of the book is focused on unraveling the mystery. In addition to the very well done mystery, the book also lent interesting insight into Sweden's political system, social structure, and family dynamics. I'm very out of practice doing literary analysis, but I did find it noteworthy that the author always referred to the main characters by their last names...assuming some sort of distance from them...but at the same time, they were so well developed. A fascinating read and happily the first of a trilogy so there are more. Sadly, the author died unexpectedly before any of the books were published so he never realized his success.
My campers are heading home so I'm going to get a few things done around here while it is still quiet. I must say...I've enjoyed my rare moments of solitude, but I'll be glad to see my campers!
Happy weeks.
XOXO,
Kristi

2010-09-12T19:00:00.001-07:00

Greetings, All! I hope mid September (!) finds you well. I have had a fabulous weekend! I began it on Thursday by meeting Barbie for dinner/drinks (after kids in bed kind of dinner) and it was great to catch up with her. She also passed along a bag of Amish friendship bread and I think I might actually be able to make it without screwing it up. On Friday, I headed up to Chicago. Sadie aka Dr. Wignall will be starting a faculty position at Northwestern next year and was going to be in the area for a conference/house hunting trip. Originally I had some work meetings to combine with the trip so I made plans to join her for the weekend. Then we added Amy into the mix, completing an ASK reunion! On my work front, everything more or less fell apart, but the weekend proceeded ahead with many good times.
I landed mid day on Friday and ventured to Evanston where Stacie patiently awaited me. Though it had been way too long since I’d last seen her…2 years….we slipped right back into things as only old and good friends can. We enjoyed a late lunch and stroll around Evanston until Sadie completed her conference. Sadie then joined us and gave us a tour of campus and took us along the waterfront. We also browsed in a used book store (which sold books by the pound ) and then went out for Chicago style pizza (it just can’t be duplicated!). The weather was perfect and spending the afternoon with two of my oldest and dearest friends could not have been more perfect. Except that it just got better since we picked up Amy at 8:30. Regrettably Stacie had to return home and could not stay for the weekend, but it was so wonderful to have the time with her that I did. Post airport ASK headed to a wine bar and spent an enjoyable couple of hours catching up each other’s life, notably Amy’s recent return from hiking the Mt Blanc trail in Switzerland.
On Saturday, ASK had a lazy start to a rainy day, ultimately venturing out for brunch at Le Peep and some shopping. Sadie, a marathon runner, convinced Amy and I of the error of our ways concerning certain athletic attire. Thus we found ourselves in Title 9 being outfitted with more appropriate running undergarments. To try out our new gear, we all went for a 3 mile run along Lake Michigan and I am a total convert! Foolish are the women who actually pay and undergo the knife to acquire what the 3 of us have naturally been given, but hooray for the enterprising women behind Title 9 who have created the No Bounce zone and all that comes with it. Ok, so that was likely too much information, but, as Sadie said, it is life changing! After more walking around campus, we toured through Sadie and Rafi’s potential future neighborhoods and got a lay of the land. We concluded the day with a fabulous tapas dinner.
The weekend was absolutely incredible. At home, I am always running 100 miles an hour (in the wrong sports bras, apparently), a necessity and a path I have willingly chosen so no complaints. However, it was so nice to have a relaxing, laid back weekend with 3 people who have been absolutely formative in my life, whom I love very much, and who I am honored to call friends. As A A Milne wrote “Friendship is a comforting thing.” And that is exactly how I felt this weekend. Comforted. That neither time nor distance can alter true friendship.
Upon touching down in Atlanta, I regrouped with my family and headed out to watch Marin play her part in the choir Pops concert. She was in the Oliver number and I was so proud of her. She sang every word, hit every note, and danced every step. And she was, of course, adorable. On the way home, she said, “I’m sad it’s over. I must do another show.” She might be destined to follow in Grandpa Larry and the Saliba cousins musical theatre shoes.
Book review…finished The Prey by Michael Crichton, which I’d started at the lake. Typical Crichton…high tech melodrama…this one about nanoparticales gone bad. However, his books aren’t made into movies for nothing…I kept turning the pages.
Very happy weeks to you…we are seeing hints of autumn here and it is just lovely!!
XOXO,
Kristi/en

2010-09-07T09:40:00.001-07:00

Happy Labor Day, All!
This note is late…largely because we are at the lake house for Labor day weekend and I took a bit of a technology break. My cell phone doesn’t have coverage at the lake and I spent very minimal time with a monitor and keyboard. I am happy to say that I finally ship accepted the product I’ve been working on for 10 months…..YAHOO! While this was one small step for man, it was a giant leap…no, wait. That was putting a man on the moon. So anyway…this was kit #1 and I have several more variants of this product plus 2 more unique products to ship accept in the next several weeks. So I took the technology free weekend as some down time.

Our weekend was wonderful. It was a Shappert family reunion so all of Chris’ siblings and their families packed up and headed to East TN. My mom and Tom were gracious enough to open their home for a fabulous weekend of boating, ski doing, canoeing, sunning, etc. There was not a cloud in the sunny blue skies all weekend and the temperatures stayed pleasantly in the 80s. It was fun to see all the cousins interact…hard to believe that they are teenagers, with just 3 exceptions (my 2 counted in that 3). Time flies, which makes weekends like this all the more important! Our family includes more than just blood relatives so we were happy to have Eva, Thaddeus, and Eric at the festivities as well as people on my side of the family…Aunt Betty, David, Julie...it was definitely a full house. But full of all the best things in life. 

I must get back to the grind…I hope September is treating you well!

XOXO,
Kristi/en

2010-08-29T15:36:00.001-07:00

Greetings, All….hard to believe that August is winding down. I am looking forward to autumn and welcome the pleasant cooler temperatures the season brings! Also pumpkins, caramel apples, beautiful trees, and Halloween.  So things here are good. Work continues to be frenetic as push comes to shove and I hit shove this week. My committed ship acceptance date for my program is 8/31. Woe upon me if I miss it. So work is busy.

We are also busy with all the back to school stuff….believe it or not, we’ve been back going on a month now and all activities are in full swing. I met with the OMPA officers this week, a tireless group of ladies and we are all gluttons for punishment so we have big plans for the year. Working now on getting all the interest groups set up, our Teddy Bear travels program, and our first fundraisers.

On Friday evening, we had a double sleepover here with the Wells girls. Clare and Katelyn had a great time playing while Marin and Jordan went to the gymnastics club Kids Night Out. It was cute to see Clare engaged with a playmate on her own terms and not just as a tagalong to her graciously accommodating big sister. The bigger girls had a fun evening and we wound everything down by 10:30PM. On Saturday, we ventured to Suwanee’s Festival of Books at Town Center Park. I didn’t really know what it was, but it had book in the title so it’s a given I’d be there. There were lots of local authors, literacy groups, quick turn publishing houses, various vendors and lots of kids activities. My girls rode ponies, took a train ride, got face painting, and also got their hair and nails done. A fun family outing.

Saturday evening, the girls had date night in with Uncles Mike and Jim. Everyone needs uncles like Mike and Jim who cook fabulous meals, pop popcorn, and get movies that can be taken home at the end of the evening! While the girls enjoyed their date, we went to a surprise party for David Daniel at Marlowe’s Tavern. It was a nice evening to celebrate a most impressive man…I am honored to sing in the choir under his direction.

Today we’ve been busy with church, birthday parties, rehearsals for the Pops concert (Marin is in the Oliver number), and Step. The evening will bring a conference call which means the week is about to start….

Book review…finished If I Loved You, I Would Tell You This a collection of short stories by Robin Black. I have only had the bandwidth lately for short stories given that I’ve had limited reading time and short stories are easier to follow in short bursts. The author does a great job of character and plot development in limited pages. If I loved you, I would tell you I liked it.

Have wonderful weeks and happy Labor day!

XOXO,
Kristi/en

2010-08-22T14:57:00.001-07:00

Greetings, All! I hope you are well. Things here are good, though continue to be busy. I continued a hectic work week and worked most of Friday night and some of Saturday, but I am happy to report that it appears we are finally getting somewhere. Which makes all the hard work more gratifying and can not come a moment too soon as I am due to ship accept Aug 31. It’s too soon to crack open the champagne, but I at least feel comfortable buying the bottle (though not today because it’s Sunday and there’s no buying alcohol in GA on Sundays… ;-) )

The girls both started ballet and choir this week and may I just say that Clare makes an absolutely adorable ballerina. Marin actually looks the part now…she’s kind of sinewy and graceful. Clare…is…adorable. She also did well at Joy Choir. The kids choirs actually all sang in church this Sunday and Clare picked up the song from Wednesday and ran with it. I was proud of her poise.

I attended the P1 classroom meeting this week, in the capacity as both a parent and the OMPA (Oak Meadow Parent Association) co-President. I have now attended both girls’ class meetings and I am so happy with both of their teachers. It should be a good year.

Barbie and I managed to squeeze in coffee before our respective jobs on Friday and it was nice to catch up with her. I treasure those coffees….some of the best minutes of my week.  This evening John and Heather and kids are coming over for dinner and that will be great too. The kids will have a great time playing and it will be nice to have some adult conversation.

Our weekend has been laid back…I worked, as mentioned, and the kids and Chris are working on a see saw masterpiece, comprised mostly of scraps from our garage and old paint that was our color scheme once upon a time. When they started applying the Glass Cathedral to the see saw, I could hardly believe that I allowed a purple master bedroom for as long as I did. They have thoroughly enjoyed the project and it’s cute to see them so intent on it.

Book review…finished a collection of essays I Was Told There’d Be Cake by Sloane Crosley. Crosley was compared to David Sedaris and Sarah Vowell by critics and it’s definitely the same genre. Crosley is unforgiving with many in her circle, but she’s equally as hard on herself. Some of the essays are funnier than others, but it was worth reading.

Must go shower before our dinner guests arrive so I bid you farewell and wish you a wonderful week!

XOXO,
Kristi/en

2010-08-15T11:36:00.001-07:00

Greetings, All! I hope mid August finds you well. You will be glad to know that things with Clare improved this week. It was partially the timer and partially, I think, an acceptance of the school year routine. It was much smoother and for that I am grateful! On the work front, it has continued to be painful. I have had dinner time and late night conference calls every day this week including Friday. I really don’t mind the late night calls…I’ve been on call 24/7 since starting employment (though I am not saving lives…), but the dinner time ones are getting old. Given the dismal employment outlook, I do remain happy to have a job. Chris is also busy with work and he added a business trip to his mix this week. At least it was in Dayton so he got to visit the Salibas who are all doing well, though apparently the children are Amazons. Our 12 year old niece is as tall as her uncle.

This week things get even busier because the rest of the fall activities start…both girls are in ballet and Clare will make her choir debut (in the choir I teach…this should be entertaining). Despite the brisk pace, I do cherish down time with friends and I was able to get some of that. Heather was kind enough to host us for dinner Thursday where it was nice to have conversation with people in person and not on the phone and to discuss matters other than RF performance and production capacity. On Friday, Barbie and I went to the late movie and saw “Eat, Pray, Love.” I liked the book and thought the movie was a good adaptation and that Julia Roberts played it well. Mike and Jim will join us for dinner this evening to conclude the weekend.

Book review….finished Mrs Kimble by Jennifer Haigh. This book chronicles the lives of 3 women who are married (at different times) to the elusive and selfish Ken Kimble. It was a page turner, though often pretty sad.

Clare is napping and Chris and Marin are off on a father/daughter date (playing games and getting Smoothies) so I’m going to take advantage of the quiet moment and….take a nap! (ha ha ha…that word isn’t in my vocabulary…I’m going to prep music for Joy choir this week)

Happy weeks and best wishes to those of you joining the back to school frenzy this week…which includes my now college age nephew, Brendan! The nieces and nephews are all growing up, but I know that my children are going to stay my babies always. 

XOXO,
Kristi/en

2010-08-08T13:00:00.001-07:00

Greetings, All! I hope this week finds you well. Things here are fine. It’s been a week of adjustment as school started back on Wednesday. Clare has actually had quite a tough week…she’s not a morning person anyway and having to get somewhere on any particular time scale is difficult, resulting in every decision becoming at best a prolonged negotiation and, at worst, am extreme battle of wills. Combine this with enormous pressure at work and sleep deprivation due to late night calls for issues at work and well..it’s been a week. I finally dissolved in tears over coffee at Starbucks and offered to give Clare to Barbie to raise. She nodded with the wisdom that comes from the parent of an 8 and 9 year old and said, “Three is hard.” She then arrived Saturday bearing a copy of The Strong Willed Child and a light up, talking red, yellow, green timer. It’s been only a day, but getting dressed today was a huge success….Clare was determined to get into clothes before that light went to red. So thank you to Barbie and renewed confirmation that it does, indeed, take a village to raise a child!

When I wasn’t working or wrestling Clare into clothes, the week was fine. It is still HOT so we’ve done the pool. Thursday night the Heather and kids joined us for pool and dinner since John was traveling. We had summer salads, which was a refreshing post pool dinner. Heather joined John on his trip over the weekend so we hosted Lauren for Friday evening and most of Saturday and the 3 girls had a marvelous time. We did lunch, more pool time, and enjoyed Morningview’s back to school party with inflatables and popsicles.

I also had a rare….perhaps rare enough to say never…outing to a real hair salon to have my hair highlighted. The end result, after clarifying with the stylist that this is unlikely to become a regular thing and that I’m tired of the Jerry Springer root thing and over the Sun In, is that I’m back to my natural color which is decidedly brunette. They say that blondes have more fun, but…really…if you’re the type of female blonde to get an engineering degree….you’ve pretty much negated that anyway. ;-) It looks fine…I’m neither happy or unhappy about it…it’s hair.

Today is Chris’ birthday so it’s been a day of quiet celebration. The girls presented their home made coffee mugs before breakfast so he could have morning coffee in them and we went to lunch after church. Tonight we’ll be going to Mike and Jim’s for dinner and…shhh…Scott will be there. (Chris won’t read this until tomorrow so secret is safe) Should be a nice way to end the weekend!

Book review…finished People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks. This was a historical fiction book of sorts in which book conservationist Hanna Heath is hired to restore a famous Jewish haggadah. In the process of re-binding it, she finds several curious artifacts in the spine and on the pages…a white hair, a wine strain, salt water damage. As she examines each curiosity, the story of the person who had the book at the time is told. A very interesting read.

Chris and Marin are off for a run and Clare is napping so I am off to….exciting…fold laundry. Happy weeks!

XOXO,
Kristi/en

2010-08-01T18:51:00.001-07:00

Greetings, All! Believe it or not, summer is OVER here (though it’s still like an oven). School starts for my girls this Wednesday and gymnastics starts Tuesday. The other activities will be added over the next 2 weeks. This year I will have 2 gymnasts, 2 ballerinas, and 2 choir singers. The Mommy taxi will be burning up the road!

Marin’s 6 year well “baby” check up was this week. There’s quite a bit involved in the 6 year check up…all over check as well as vision, hearing, urinalysis, and blood draw to check cholesterol among other things. The blood draw was unduly dramatic, particularly for a child who endured back to back arm breaks a year ago with mostly stoicism. Nonetheless all the results were good and she continues her pixie status at 44 inches tall and 40 lbs. I am blessed to have two healthy kids…even if they do come a little unhinged at the sight of their own blood.

We ventured to Chimney Rock, NC for a brief vacation this week. At the last hour, I cancelled our reservations at a hotel and instead booked a lovely secluded cabin in the woods with a hot tub on the back deck. Spring Hill Farms has only 6 cabins sitting on 92 beautiful acres of mountain property and this turned out to be a very good move. Marin caught her first fish in one of ponds and we all enjoyed dips in the hot tub and coffee on the generous, woodsy back porch. We enjoyed a day at Chimney Rock where the girls proved themselves to be intrepid little hikers. We also had two fun outings where the girls splashed in mountain streams, one with bathing suits (parents came prepared) and one fully clothed (parents were permissive and had a change of clothes). We also went to tiny Rutherfordton, NC which had not much on Main St save for the excellent KidSense children’s museum. We spent close to 3 hours here and the girls had a blast. It was definitely a nice family getaway, but will be a one time thing. Chimney Rock and Lake Lure do not have enough to offer to warrant a repeat trip. That being said, we are extremely spoiled to Mom and Tom’s lake house and all its benefits so we are not as impressed as we might otherwise be by beautiful mountain lakes.

It was a nice respite from work, though I did go into work for most of the afternoon on Saturday to catch up on things. And, I am sad to say, that my coworker’s wife lost her 10 year battle with cancer on Thursday evening. I took a bunch of food over this weekend and am working on putting together the gift card package donated by my generous coworkers. I merely sent out an email stating my willingness to volunteer my time to acquire gift cards and put something together for Bill and his son and my coworkers….well, they have blown me away. My email was forwarded well beyond my original distribution group and donations are coming in from Chicago and Asia and beyond. Suffice it to say, I am humbled by the generosity and Bill will be absolutely blown away. This is a personal tragedy for Bill, no doubt, but he will never doubt the love and compassion of his coworkers…of that I am certain.

Book review…finished That Old Cape Magic by Richard Russo. Proud of Richard for branching away from upstate New York tannery towns and instead focusing on New England and even LA. I think I’ve read everything he’s written and, while he did get kind of geographically centered for a while, I’ve enjoyed every one of his books. In this one, a middle aged man confronts his life, his marriage, and his contentious relationship with his parents. A good read.

We have just returned from a delightful evening at the Holbrooks. We had not seen them, due to overlapping vacations, in over 3 weeks and it was just group hugs all the way around.

I must sign off now to prepare for the work week….have wonderful first weeks of August!

XOXO,
Kristi/en

2010-07-25T12:58:00.001-07:00

Greetings, All, from the incredibly hot and muggy South. I think it’s possible that I am sprouting gills in order to better breathe this incredibly humid air. Lots of storms this week as well, which has meant not as much pool time, though the girls did get some swimming in yesterday.

Work is still hectic…issues continue to plague me and, due to the imminent launch date, we have been meeting every 8 hours on the main issue. First thing of the US morning, COB US business, and at 9 or 10PM so we can give Asia instructions on what to do while we are sleeping. Good times. I’m hoping the end is in sight. It is for me anyway for a few days…we are on vacation in Chimney Rock for a few days this week. I SO need the break. Though it’s bad timing from a work perspective, school starts on Aug 4th so it’s the last available time for a summer vacation.

Clare was at Oak Meadow for camp this week and Marin was at Aquarium camp at the Georgia Aquarium. She got to do some incredibly cool behind the scenes stuff and she had a fabulous time. So to those of you that asked, was it worth the price tag…probably. Definitely a once in a lifetime kind of experience. The girls also had what I hope is a formative moment this week. In lieu of gifts at their birthday parties, their friends were asked to bring gently used books to be donated to Sheltering Books. (www.shelteringbooks.org check it out and if you find their FB page, you might recognize a couple of little girls) The founder of Sheltering Books is a 16 year old girl who came personally with her mom to accept the girls’ donation of 172 books. I’m hoping this not only encourages the girls to give back, but also makes them see that even children…albeit ones a bit older….have great power to do good in the world.

Clare’s 3 year well baby check was this year and she is a well baby, if a pixie-ish one. She weighed 30 lbs and is 37.5 inches tall. Actually this puts her between the 35-50th percentile on both. She looks to me like she’s grown a foot this summer, but apparently that is not the case.

On Thursday, I hosted Barbie and kids for dinner and it was great to see them. Working for both of us has interfered with our sacrosanct Friday morning coffee so we have re-allocated it to various times during the week. It’s a little different with 4 children underfoot, but I’ll take my Barbie time any way I can get it.

Last night I went to Chastain to see Chris Isaac in concert with David and Ellouise. We had a babysitter foul so Chris ended up home with the girls. In a happy turn of events, Scott was able to join him for an impromptu dinner

Book review…finished 2 this week…Songs for the Missing by Stewart O’Nan was about the disappearance of a college bound freshman and the impact her loss had on her family, friends, and community. Whether she is ever found is, of course, a large part of the book plot so I can’t reveal. It was a good read, kept me up turning pages. Also finished The Lives our Mothers Leave Us by Patti Davis. The concept of this book was better than the finished product, but it was certainly readable. Patti Davis, obviously famous because of her Presidential parents interviewed several famous women about their relationships with their mothers. I thought it was going to actually discuss the psychology of mother/daughter relationships, but no….Davis just relayed the info she gleaned and then gave her own general summary at the conclusion of each chapter. Since I’m largely disinterested in famous people, I was only marginally interested in their relationships with their mothers. But anyway….

Clare is just up from nap…Marin is rock climbing with Chris at REI…I have been interrupted 3 times in the last 3 minutes to get a popsicle, wipe a bottom, and watch a Barbie’s bathing suit change colors under water. Clearly it’s time to sign off.

Have happy weeks!

Love,
Kristi/en

2010-07-18T11:21:00.001-07:00

Greetings, All! As I write this note, I must fully acknowledge my middle age status. This weekend was Chris’ 20 year high school reunion. We were not able to attend…work has been kicking my tail and I was on a conference call until almost 7 on Friday (while hosting Scott for dinner…what an excellent hostess!). Chris is working now so leaving for the weekend was not going to work. Plus, as established, we are OLD and having just traveled to TN for the 4th and with a vacation upcoming, we did not have the energy. My over the hill status was further confirmed this week when my 15 year gift from Motorola arrived. Yes, 15 years for those of you who remember me as that energetic, green Tanapa engineer in the McHenry facility. My gift was a tent and, the way this week is going, I may just pitch it in the parking lot and move to Mot for a while.

So…as established…some stress on the work front (many, many late night conf calls this week…many, many issues). I am also spear heading a humanitarian effort at work, which is taking some time, but is mostly definitely worth the effort. The wife of my lead ME is nearing the end of a battle with breast cancer. Being a good Southern woman, I had offered assistance with meals several months ago and they weren’t ready to accept yet. This week, after hearing the grim timeline, he called and asked if my offer was still open. Indeed…a Southern woman AND a program manager…this is a formidable combination. I dispatched a request to my gracious coworkers and the food has begun rolling in. I am stocking my deep freeze and am ferrying meals daily. I also asked for donations toward gift cards for my coworker and his teenage son to use at restaurants later and the generosity has poured in. I have people signed up to clean, to talk to teachers on behalf of the family, to shuttle to activities. I asked for a modicum of help and my coworkers have taken it to an overwhelming level. I am both humbled and proud to work with these people. And will gladly do so for another 15 years.

Despite the busy work week, we have managed to squeeze in some fun this weekend. Scott came over for dinner Friday and I was able to visit once the call concluded. Always good to see him and the lovely desserts he brings (a triple chocolate mousse cake this week…Clare has been calling it the Mouse Cake all weekend..it is fabulous!). On Saturday, Barbie and I hit the Cracker Barrel for a breakfast of comfort food and then headed up to Real Deals. I wanted a kitchen rug so I can stop looking at my hard wood floor peeling up (yes, I could fix it, but a rug will just cover it.  ) I lack the home décor gene…my share and others went to the uber talented Barbie. She found the perfect rug and has now signed up to re-do my master bath! Woo hoo!

The girls had a play date (and sleep over for Marin) last night so Chris and I took advantage of the several hours of freedom. We went for a long jog on the Suwanee Green Trail and then went out for dinner…to a restaurant of our own choosing that served both good food and adult beverages. A great night!

The girls are both napping, which is good. Marin has a date this afternoon with Mike and Jim to see Toy Story 3 and, after a sleepover, the nap will leave her refreshed and ready to enjoy this experience. She has been very excited about it and it’s gotten good reviews. The movie goers will join us for dinner afterward.

I’m going to take advantage of the quiet house to get a few chores done…

Have happy weeks!

Love,
Kristi/en

2010-07-11T12:16:00.001-07:00

Greetings, All! I hope you are staying cool in these dog days of summer. It has been HOT here, but apparently nothing like people in the Northeast who are into triple digits. I don’t think we’ve gone higher than 98 here, but that’s quite enough! Given the heat index, we have spent time either at the pool or playing card and board games. Marin is getting very good at Uno, Guess Who, and Connect Four and I still really don’t like the game Chutes and Ladders!

This was the last week of Camp Heather. Clare was fully indulged this last week and Marin and Lauren attended Princess camp through the parks system (which was not, apparently, as highly rated as Princess camp at Suwanee Academy of the Arts on the 4 year old and 6 year old’s rating scale) for half days. Amazingly, we return to school in 3 weeks!!! Clare will thus be spending the next 2 weeks at Oak Meadow before our end of summer vacation. Marin joins her this week and then will be going to aquarium camp downtown. She and Daddy are both excited about commuting together.

It has been a family centered weekend, which has been quite nice. On Friday night, we went out for Mexican and then took the girls to the book store. Marin received a book card gift certificate (thank you, Grandma Eva!) for a birthday gift and she spent a delightful 45 minutes choosing several books. I know I’m a book nerd…so glad I’ve shared this with my daughter! On Saturday, I took Marin to a birthday party at the Junior Chef’s Academy. She was very excited about this because she has said for over a year now that she’s going to run a bakery when “I’m 22…as soon as I’m done with college.” She viewed the birthday party as a good trial run and was impressed with the homemade pizza and cupcakes she made. (I was impressed with the JCA business model…make parents pay a load for a party and then have the kids prepare their own food! ;-) ) Chris took the opportunity to take Clare on a date. They went to lunch and then headed to the river where Clare happily splashed and played. We rounded out the day with a pool outing and a quiet dinner at home. Tonight we will go to Mike and Jim’s for dinner and then start another hectic week.

Work is VERY painful for me right now. This is crunch time to get products in the pipeline for the Christmas shopping season and, ideally, things would be going smoothly as we come down to the wire. Rarely are things ideal. Remember this holiday season as you are buying and wrapping gifts that some poor program manager (and a support team, I’ll be fair) worked all kinds of hours and pulled all manner of heroics so that you could hold that product in your hand. Thank her.

Book review…finished The Girls Almanac by Emily Franklin. The first page of this book was a very complicated circle diagram with lines connecting the various characters. There were way too many characters and I had to constantly refer back to this map throughout the book to figure out what was going on. The premise was reasonable…it was supposed to chart the path of 2 thirtysomething women who find each other when they need each other most and chart a lifelong friendship. Sounded like a movie on Lifetime, but I was game. Instead the book was about a slew of other people and I’m sure if I followed the lines on the chart, I could have figured out how the 2 ended up meeting each other, but there was about 2 pages devoted to the penultimate friendship. The last 2 pages. It was, honestly, kind of a train wreck with too many characters and not enough development of any of them. Maybe should have been split out into two or three books or written as a collection of short stories. Which is kind of what it was. Ah, well.

Chris is down at the pool with Marin and I hear the stirrings of a new 3 year old who will be eager to join them so I will close and wish you all happy weeks!

XOXO,
Kristi/en

2010-07-05T20:23:00.001-07:00

Greetings, All and Happy 4th! I hope the holiday weekend was fun and relaxing for you all! We had a busy week leading up to the 4th…Marin turned 6 on Monday, which generated much excitement. The girls were also in Princess camp at Suwanee Academy of the Arts and thus departed the house each day in a different Princess costume. The camp concluded at week’s end with a performance from each group of princesses. Marin handled her song and dance routine with much grace and aplomb while there was a lot of giggling from Clare, but she was nonetheless a most endearing Princess. I also met Barbie for coffee on Friday, which was, as usual, a highlight of the week.
Mid afternoon on Friday, we departed Atlanta and headed for the lake house. Though I can only vouch for the Holbrook family, it appeared that most of metro Atlanta joined us on this venture. We stopped off in Chattanooga for a leisurely dinner with Steve, Sharon, and girls allowing for much cousin bonding time. After a brief stop for fireworks, the Shappert/Holbrook caravan arrived at Lilypad Lane a mere 7 hours after departing Atlanta! ;-)
The weekend could not have been more fabulous. The weather was sunny and warm—though not hot—every day and the kids played from sun up til sun down. There was plenty to keep the busy. There was boating and fishing and jet skiing. There was tubing and canoeing and swinging. There was toasting of S’mores, playing in the hammock, and cannonballs off the dock. Each day ended with a delicious meal and our own custom fireworks display from our private stash. The big boys (John, Chris, and Thad) all tried skiing and they all made it up and lived to tell about it!
As usual, the lake house was a gathering place. Throughout the weekend, it was wonderful to see Aunt Betty, Don, Larry, David, Julie, Eva, Ellen, and Thaddeus as well as those of us residing at the lake house for the weekend. Work has been hectic and crazy lately…I can’t tell you how wonderful it was to have this relaxing weekend surrounded by people I love in one of the most beautiful and tranquil places on Earth. And now…back to the grind!
Book review…finished After Dark by Haraku Murkani. The book takes place from 11:45PM to 7AM in a single night. There is not much character development and not much plot, but what carries the book is the stark language, yet vivid imagery. You feel like you’re right there with the character and seeing everything they see (even if you don’t know them well and that whole getting pulled to another room through the TV is never quite explained). AN interesting read for sure.
It is late and a busy week awaits me so good night and happy July!
Love,
Kristi/en

2010-06-27T18:53:00.001-07:00

Greetings, All! I hope you are surviving and enjoying the heat of summer. Things here are good. Both girls had Fairy camp this week, which brought with it much glitter, face paint, and magic. Clare also celebrated her official birthday on Tuesday so it is confirmed….we have a 3 year old. Tomorrow at 7:01AM we will also have a 6 year old! Time flies…..

Given the imminent birthday, much of this weekend was spent in celebration of this gala event. Several visitors were on hand to share the joy...a few visits were impromptu, but all were most welcome. Mom and Tom came for the weekend, as well as Becky, Brendan, and Erin. Steve, Sharon, and girls came for the day so that Sydney and Samantha could attend Marin’s party. And, becoming the second friend to use our home as a passthru point in pursuit of a vehicle purchased on Ebay, Eric arrived Saturday night on a newly acquired motorcycle. It was a full house, but wonderful to see everyone.

The weekend highlights included Marin’s birthday party, which was held at a pottery painting place. The party stalled in a couple of spots while paint dried for second coats, but overall it was fun and something a little different with a custom created keepsake for each attendee. There was also a cousin pool outing and everyone seemed to enjoy Morningview’s new slide. We hosted a cookout Saturday evening for the assembled guests and enjoyed a visit with the Marreros. Unfortunately the Great American Campout, to which Chris had planned to take Andrew and Marin, was stormed out. The birthday girl was too caught up in cousin excitement to notice, but there was a disappointed little boy. We will have to come up with another outing and make it up to him.

I was busy with church this morning…sang the offertory at all 3 services with Ellouise, proving that I still have pipes. I think it went well, but I’m not a born performer…still get nervous.

Book review…after The Book Thief, probably anything was going to be a letdown, but Strange Skies by Matt Marinovich was worse than expected. While it gets some rave reviews on Amazon (perhaps plants?), I side with the 2 reviewers who summed it up as “as deep as a puddle” and “just pointless.” Briefly…and I’m probably wasting typed characters…the protagonist, Paul, is a deeply selfish person who lies to his wife about having terminal cancer in order to get out of having kids. Oh irony of ironies, he is then diagnosed with terminal cancer and his wife leaves him. With almost no character development, he suddenly becomes attached to a woman with a terminally ill child that he meets at the airport. A bunch of random stuff ensues and then the ending is just ridiculous. On the positive side, the book was short with large font so I didn’t waste too much time.

Next weekend is July 4th so bring out your sparklers and let’s all join in a rendition of It’s a Grand Old Flag! Enjoy this last week of June!

XOXO,
Kristi/en

2010-06-20T19:42:00.001-07:00

Greetings, All, and happy Father’s day! This holiday found in my usual state of teary eyed mess as I picked out cards for the granddads and Chris. On that front, I suppose I am forever 14 years old and fatherless. As long as we’re on the heavy stuff, the choir sang at a funeral this week as we lost one of our own. A sweet, gentle man and talented percussionist who succumbed after a 2 year battle with frontal lobe dementia. He was only 60, but the real Jeff was gone well over a year ago. Never easy, but I think the family was comforted by the presence of the choir and I think almost all sixty of us showed up. That, to me, is one of the best and most comforting things about a church family. Now moving on to more cheerful things….

There is much anticipation and celebration in the Shappert house. We have been visited by the tooth fairy twice in the last 2 weeks…both of Marin’s top front teeth were spirited away by fairy wings and she is now gap toothed and adorable. Clare also turns 3 this week and so we had her party on Friday night. Several friends joined us at the Morningview pool for pizza, cake, and general swimming and splashing. In lieu of gifts at their parties, Clare and Marin are collecting gently used books to support Sheltering Books (www.shelteringbooks.org) So far we have collected 3 boxes of books to donate with Marin’s party yet to come. Don’t think me a wretched mother…they get plenty of gifts from family and our closest friends, but I want them to learn very early the importance of giving back...and also that there is more to special occasions than a pile of things.

We enjoyed seeing Scott this week, albeit an impromptu visit. We had storms on Tuesday night and his apartment building was struck by lighting and caught fire. Fortunately no one was hurt and Scott’s apartment did not sustain water damage, but he did enjoy a little slumber party with us until it all got sorted out. I got to see Barbie for a quick coffee on Friday which was nice and Saturday we made our first ever outing to Chastain Park. (thought of you, Clodagh!) Heather and John got tickets for Harry Connick Jr and brought us along. We had a fabulous tapas dinner prior to the concert and then enjoyed the soothing croon of Harry on a balmy summer night. Wine and candles completed the very lovely evening.

Work is very busy and has required a lot of late night conference calls this week to sort out a variety of issues. I would be working right now, but the SERVER IS DOWN. This is especially problematic given that I have jury duty this week and was hoping to get a lot of work done tonight. Someone less type A would have given up by now, but I keep trying to log in just sure that eventually I’ll get lucky. Of course, Moto Asia is already at work and they’re down too so they better get this fixed.

Book review…finished The Book Thief by Markus Zusak and a Christmas gift from Tom. AMAZING book. Set in Nazi Germany and told from the vantage point of Death. The book thief is Liesel, a 10 year old girl who is put in foster care when her mother is no longer able to care for her. Given the setting, you can imagine that Liesel has already experienced more than her share of hardship. The book is hard to describe…I recommend that you read it and soon.

I am throwing in the towel.

Good night, good week, much love.

Kristi/en

PS Still down

2010-06-13T11:29:00.000-07:00

Greetings, All! I hope this hot summer day finds you well. Things here are fine in that sticky, humid kind of summer way! It’s been a relatively low key week…as far as these things go in the Shappert house. Summer tends to be a busy time for me at work because getting products ship accepted and ready by the first of September is critical to making sure they are well propagated in various distribution centers in advance of Christmas shopping. So I am busy with 2 products that are supposed to ship accept within days of each other. Chris is just always busy at his job. With unemployment standing at just under 10%, we are definitely not complaining!

The kids had a quintessential summer week at Camp Heather. They had a marathon pool session one day, went to the Yellow River Game Ranch another day, and had a water day with sprinklers and beachballs and various other water toys on yet another day. Chalk drawing and bubbles in the driveway, popsicles on the patio…they had tousled hair and smelled of sunscreen every day when I picked them up. Seems rather how summer should be and I’m grateful that Heather is providing this opportunity for all of us. She is at the beach this week so it will be Gymnastics camp for Marin this week and Oak Meadow for Clare.

Scott came over for dinner on Friday evening and it was great to see him. Saturday we braved the heat and went to Stone Mountain for Georgia Tech Research Institute’s family picnic. We attended the luncheon, mingled with a few coworkers, and then took the kids over to the Crossroads area of Stone Mountain where they both loved the Great Barn and the Treehouse Challenge (which has been remarketed to be called something else, but the name escapes me right now). Marin harnessed up and did the Skyline walk, which was pretty difficult in spots, even involving some tight rope walking (Mommy was glad Daddy inspected the harness). She got a little tearful and afraid at some points, but she finished it and I was proud of her. She also did the rock climbing wall and made it to the top. Clare didn’t meet the height requirements for any of that so she contented herself by splashing in the stream and cheering on her big sister.

Today will be laid back…church, lunch, domestic chores, exercising, and a quiet dinner at home.

Book review…finished The Likeness by Tana French and a birthday present from Sadie. This was a well done murder investigation novel and kept me up late several nights to see what happened. Reality does need to be suspended a bit, as a pivotal part of the investigation is that a detective goes undercover to live with the victims’ roommates in order to investigate the crime from the inside. The fact that she’d look identical enough to the victim to be able to assume that role is not credible, but hey, it’s fiction. And it was gripping and intense.

I hope you all have wonderful weeks and have summer vacation plans in store!

Love,
Kristi/en

2010-06-06T14:29:00.001-07:00

Greetings, All! I hope this finds you well. Things here are fine. It was the first full week of summer break and I have a spreadsheet to keep up with what each girl is doing every week. This week Marin had a half day gymnastics camp and Clare stayed with Heather. Heather also got to do taxi duty and pick up Marin and Lauren at the conclusion of camp. I don’t get why Heather would want to spend the summer with my kids after having spent a school year with a classroom, but I’m grateful!  Our recently re-vamped pool is also fully open…they added a water slide, a tanning shelf, and a mushroom fountain. The girls have been swimming 4 times this week and love it.

On Friday, one of the directors of the school offered a night of free babysitting to the OMPA officers (as we had provided this service for our families throughout the year) so Heather and I went up to Lake Lanier and pre-registered for our triathlon. We met the guys for dinner and had a great evening. Poor Chris spent most of his pre-dinner evening at Marin’s ballet dress rehearsal. On Saturday I met Barbie for coffee and girl time and then took my bike for a spin for the first time this season. I have been doing triathlon training exclusively on a stationary bike and I realized, rather late, that this was probably was not wise.

Marin’s performance of The Twelve Dancing Princesses was Saturday evening and, as I told her, there was a certain Woodland Fairy who stole the show. After a few months of saying she was done with ballet, the lure of performing drew her back in and she now says she definitely wants to dance again next year. I promised myself I wouldn’t be a stage mom (much as ballet was such a huge part of my life) so I’ll give her the summer to mull over her possibilities.

So since I pre-registered, you might have already tumbled to the fact that the triathlon was, in fact, this weekend. I slept through my alarm and was thus awakened by my cell phone at 5:30 informing me that my chariot awaited. We had been told to arrive by 6AM which turned out to be WAY too early, giving us ample time to get our numbers on and then have almost 2 hours to contemplate just what we’d gotten into. As it turned out, it was fun and fine. The swim, which had been my big fear, was the easiest part…other than getting kicked in the face a few times. I crossed the finish line in just over 2 hours, but that included my transition times. For those of you who are keeping score (and there is at least one of you), my swim time was 14:57, my bike time was 58:40, and my run time was 31:17. It was actually a lot of fun and felt good to take on and successfully complete the challenge. I will have to say that the route planners need some lessons in topography…the website assured us that both the run and bike paths were flat and they were decidedly not. Oh well….all the more calories burned….which is good as we are having a celebratory low country boil tonight. Mike and Jim, who greeted us on the beach at 8AM, as well as the families who met us at the finish line are convening at the Holbrooks for a toast to the Triathletes!

By the way, LB, there was a 77 year old woman who beat the pants off me. So start training…next year I expect you to race it with me!

I hope you have wonderful weeks and wonderful summers!

XOXO,
Kristi

2010-05-30T18:50:00.001-07:00

Happy Memorial Day, All! I hope you have enjoyed a long weekend of time off and relaxation…we have been at the lake house so we are feeling relaxed and rejuvenated. Mom and Tom have spent a lot of time getting ready for the summer lake season…much yard work and gardening has been done, walkways have been added, and there is the welcome addition of a fire pit, which got its first test run at S’Mores tonight! There has been the occasional pop up shower, but the weather has been largely cooperative so it has been a weekend of fishing, swinging, Sea dooing, boating, hanging out on the sun deck, and taking morning runs along the lake. We have also ushered in summer by making clover necklaces, running barefoot in the grass, and grilling out. It has been more than lovely and we were joined by many throughout the weekend including Eva, Ellen, LB, David, Julie, Steve, Sharon, and girls. The cousins have had a wonderful time together and it has been a great weekend. Regretfully we head back to Atlanta tomorrow.
The week leading up to this holiday has been typically full. The girls’ last day of school was Wednesday and I dutifully attended Field Day and the accompanying International picnic. It was the last week of gymnastics and the studio dress rehearsal for the upcoming ballet performance, which is next weekend. In between all the girls’ various activities, I have been working a lot…trying to keep 2010 programs moving along and also kicking off 2011 programs. I am juggling 4 programs right now, which is adequately entertaining and then some!
Chris and I also celebrated our 13th wedding anniversary this week. It was a Monday so we did not do anything overly exotic. A quiet dinner at home with the girls…it is funny how romance changes over the years. Don’t get me wrong…my husband is hot and he can still take my breath away. But, at this stage of our lives, there is something so romantic about the words, “I’ll make dinner and watch the girls. You take a break and read.” ;-) I fell for Chris 21 years ago and I continue to fall for him for all kinds of reasons I never would have imagined at the time…parenthood changes everything and a man who patiently makes ponytails and sets up science demos involving Teddy Grahams and marshmallows…it’s romantic…in a very enduring and wonderful kind of way.
Book review…finished Gladwell’s What the Dog Saw which is a collection of essays about all kinds of things. There is no end to the things Gladwell will investigate (why, for instance, there are a multitude of mustard offerings in your grocery store, but ketchup has remained the same for generations). As usual, an interesting read.
I need to run…I’m at the lake and a book is calling. Happy weeks!

XOXO,
Kristi/en

2010-05-23T11:50:00.001-07:00

Greetings and happy summer to you! School is out on Wednesday…so bring on the sunscreen, bathing suits, and beach towels! We have attended a multitude of end of the year celebratory events. On Friday, Oak Meadow hosted a promotion night for the graduation candidates of which Marin was one. Mike and Jim joined us for this event, which did bring a tear to my eye as they flashed pictures of my baby across the screen…from her days in the Toddler class into the present. How can she be headed to first grade?? After the gala event, we went out for dinner with the Holbrooks and Kimberly, which was fun. On Saturday, Marin had the opportunity to strut her stuff at the Gymnastics fun meet. She joined several other girls attired in pink glittery leotards and did routines in tumbling, beam, bar, and jumping on some large stack of foam cubes (maybe the vault for small people?).

I also had end of the year conferences for both girls and learned nothing but good things about them both and their collective progress. Clare’s teachers did reaffirm that she is strong willed, but assured me this is not out of the ordinary. Both girls also had their birthday celebrations at school since they are summer birthdays. This is a big deal at Oak Meadow…parents are asked to put together a pictoral timeline and list key milestones. A snack is also sent. The children hold a globe and then walk around a candle in the shape of a sun. They make as many circles as the age they will be, symbolizing the number of revolutions the Earth has made around the sun in their life time. Both girls were very excited by their celebrations.

Chris had a business trip this week and so did John so Heather and I met for dinner Wednesday evening. Perfectly lovely day so we enjoyed dining outside and then taking the kids for rides in Heather’s convertible. I met Barbie for coffee on Friday, which is always the official start to my weekend (though I now spend the rest of the day working with my new full time hours). Other weekend events included the choir leader party at David and Ellouise’s, followed by the pool opening party in our neighborhood. Our pool is being greatly enhanced…with a water slide, splash fountain, and walk in area being added. Alas, something didn’t pass code so the pool was not actually open during its party, but there was still a band, food, and drinks and the event was well attended. Tonight we will have dinner with Mike and Jim, which will conclude a fun and busy weekend.

Book review….finished Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and ? Relin. A very good book about one man’s amazing journey to provide education to impoverished children in Pakistan and Afghanistan. As our relations with this region have deteriorated, he has only intensified his efforts, believing that books, not bombs, are the key to improving global relationships. It’s astonishing what he has been able to accomplish and proves that one person…even one in an unelected, non political role…can make a huge difference.

I need to go tend to girls. Clare has just woken from a nap and she’s in a tough spot. We got new patio furniture and she chose to sleep in one of the packing boxes for the chair. She can’t get out. This is kind of funny….and also very cute.

Hope you have wonderful weeks!
XOXO,
Kristi/en

2010-05-16T15:08:00.001-07:00

Greetings, All…I hope mid May finds you well! Things here are good…upon realizing it was mid May, I also made the somewhat startling recognition that my sprint triathlon is in 3 weeks and I’d been in a pool twice. I have done the biking and running back to back enough to feel reasonably confident. And I’ve done cardio 4 times a week faithfully for 13 years running now having missed only 5 weeks in that entire duration….that was 3 weeks after delivering Marin and 2 weeks after delivering Clare. So my Achilles heel is most definitely going to be the swim. Donning my birthday goggles courtesy of Mike and Jim, I added 4 swim sessions to the workout return this week and well…..hopefully I won’t drown. ;-)

I continued my weekend of celebration on Monday. Chris was gracious enough to watch our girls and Lauren so that Heather could take me out for a birthday dinner. It was a lovely evening and better company. The work week was engaging enough….lots of meetings. I met Barbie for lunch on Friday, fun as always…and then launched into a very kid centric weekend. Marin had a sleepover on Friday so Chris and I took Clare out for her own special evening which included dinner and an outing to the Suwanee fountain. Marin had a birthday party Saturday morning and then it was swim lessons for both girls. I did manage to make it to the farmer’s market to get my herb plants. Saturday evening Scott came over for dinner and then he and Chris had a guys night out with Iron Man 2 and post movie beers. Today it was church and then Marin attended a marathon 3 hour birthday party which included rock climbing, swimming, and the standbys of pizza and cake. So very busy and lots of birthday festivities.

Things will continue to be crazy for the next 3 weeks or so…then school ends and regular activities wind down for the summer. Hard to believe I will have a first grader next school year!

Book review…finished The Tipping Point: How Little Things Make a Big Difference by Malcolm Gladwell. An interesting book on how seemingly small things provided just the impetus needed to launch a fashion trend or an epidemic etc.

I need to go make dinner…hope you have wonderful weeks!

Love,
Kristi/en

2010-05-09T19:30:00.001-07:00

Greetings, All, and happy Mother’s day to you all! Things here are fine. It was a busy work week for me…out of town visitors, several all day meetings, and a dinner outing one evening as well. Fortunately packing in all these hours early in the week made for a more laid back end of the week. On Thursday, I went to the Oak Meadow Volunteer Appreciation breakfast, which was nice. They do this every year and are very gracious to recognize all the parents that put in so many long hours. We also get our names on a plaque so I want to see how many years running I can make the list. I’m at 3 now. :-)

And on Friday…I celebrated my 37th revolution around the sun. I have now officially ushered in the late 30s. The good news…it feels no different than the mid 30s, which felt no different from the early 30s. At some point, I’m sure this changes. Anyway, it was a good day…I appreciated all the cards, calls, FB wall posts, emails, gifts…definitely felt loved. The day began on a happy note (literally) when two small girls sang Happy Birthday and they day kept on at this cheerful pace. I had coffee with Barbie (thanks, Barbie), then ventured to Oak Meadow to watch Chris doing some of his science demos. He took the day off work to do an in house field trip at the school and the children really enjoyed themselves. I suspect a certain school employee who happens to work in the neighborhood might have been tasked with the drop off (thanks, Heather!), but there was an envelope of heartfelt thank you notes left in our mailbox, most of which said variants of “Do it again!” On Friday evening Oak Meadow hosted a Drop and Dine event (thanks again, Heather!) so Chris and I went out for a fabulous dinner at PF Changs (thanks, Mike and Jim!). A very fine day.

On Saturday, we embarked upon Round 2 of swim lessons and we are starting to make progress. This may due in part to the fact that Chris has taken over the role of swim instructor for Marin at a different venue than where Clare is swimming. They had the opportunity to showcase their skills at a pool birthday party on Saturday and both really do seem more comfortable in the water.

Today…Mother’s day…was another lovely, sunshine-y day. The girls had many well wishes and then it was off to church for my Joy choir’s 9:30 call to worship. Marin’s choir also sang at both church services and we noticed that she was unusually cooperative all afternoon and evening. I assumed it was Mother’s Day sweetness, but apparently she told Chris they’d been discussing the “10 Considerates” at church and one of them was “obey your mother and father.” She also said another was “do it the first time someone asks.” I’m no Biblical scholar, but I’m pretty positive that’s not in there, but you know what? I did not correct her! Mike and Jim joined us for dinner tonight (and they can tell you Clare still needs to brush up on the Obey commandment….) rounding out our festive weekend.

Book review…I finished The Gift of an Ordinary Day by Katrena Kenison. Susan had sent me a You Tube link of a reading the author did and it peaked my interest. While the book is more targeted toward parents who children are about to leave the nest, it still was relevant for me. And it reaffirmed that someday I will look back longingly at the total insanity that makes up my life at the moment. The book would have been better had it been a bit shorter….there were several chapters devoted to the building of a new house that I had to skip most of…maybe that was therapeutic for her to write, but I skipped ahead. Anyway, a good read for parents…anyone else, not so much.

Ok it’s late and I’ve got another full week ahead…children’s choirs are out for the summer so that’s one thing off the plate!

Love,

Kristi/en

2010-05-02T11:39:00.001-07:00

Happy May to all of you! I write with the happy news that we are not flooded in ATL (yet…our chance comes tomorrow) and with the delightful news that we did NOT visit the pediatrician this week and no one missed school! Yahoo! I did get my first ever cavity filled and I’m disgruntled that the tooth, which caused no pain previously, is now sore and cold sensitive, but I’m told this will pass.

It was a good thing that there was no illness as I was busy this week getting 3 kits ship accepted. There were smaller scale programs, as far as these things go, but I was happy to do my part to feed consumerism.??? If you can’t save the world, maybe give it things to buy.?? Speaking of valuable jobs, I ran into the doctor that delivered Marin on Thursday evening. I was kind of stalking her because she looked really familiar, but there was just an awful lot going on during that 19 hours and I haven’t seen her in almost 6 years and rarely while standing. ;-) Anyway, finally I just asked and, sure enough, it was she. She was kind enough to pose for a photo with almost 6 year old Marin and seemed pleased to be recognized and thanked again for the fabulous gift.

The week was busy outside of work as well. We ran into Dr. K at Toast to Town Center, which is a new venue hosted by Suwanee’s Town Center park. There was music, the fountain was on, and the open container law was disbanded for the evening. So we threw the kids in bathing suits and the Holbrooks joined us for wine and pizza in the park. A lovely evening.

We also added tennis to our weekly mix…Marin had been begging to take it up again. I agreed because most of our her other activities will be winding down this month. So it will be a crazy rest of May, but then we are only doing tennis and swimming through the summer. Going to take things at a bit more laid back pace….until the fall when Clare, who will then be 3, can start some activities of her own.

We kicked off the weekend by hosting Scott for dinner on Friday and he brought with him homemade cheesecake and lovely sweetly marinated strawberries. He can come for dinner anytime! On Saturday, I had a brief choir rehearsal and then went to the outlets with Barbie. It was time to procure gifts for upcoming birthdays and make a real dent in Christmas shopping. It is just never too early. While I was shopping, Chris was practicing science demos on our children and random children from the neighborhood who dropped by. He is going to Oak Meadow on Friday to play the role of resident scientist and there was all sorts of stuff going on…much of it involving liquid nitrogen. Apparently bananas were used as hammers, rubber bands were dropped and shattered, and marshmallows were used to produce dragon breath. We also acquired several new pets in the form of an ant colony residing in a space age habitat (their packaging even says this). The girls are fascinated by these intrepid little creatures crawling about in funky gel lit up by blue LEDs (I think this is the space age part).

Tonight we will conclude our weekend by going to Mike and Jim’s for dinner and then a new and busy work week will begin…I have lots of meetings and long days this week.

No book review…I am currently reading 3 non fiction books simultaneously so it’s taking me a while….

I hope you all have wonderful weeks and enjoy frosty cold margaritas and chips to celebrate Cinco de Mayo!

XOXO,
Kristi/en

2010-04-25T12:26:00.001-07:00

Greetings, All! Hope you have had a nice weekend and that all of you in the South have stayed safe. Suwanee just had drenching rain and some thunderstorms, but no tornadoes. My family in Mississippi was also spared tragedy, though my cousin is a volunteer fireman and he was called in to help with the disaster…the devastating tornado was only the next county over.

Thank you for your kind thoughts about no ear infections…I should have been broader in scope. Since Marin had strep, it should not have been too big a leap for me to consider that Clare would contract that. Back to the pediatrician…more antibiotics…yay. But wait…it gets better! A stomach virus too for 3 out of the 4 of us (Chris was spared). I managed to work through it, but the girls both missed a day of school and we did a lot of laundry and car cleaning…yuck yuck.

Fortunately the Shapperts are like jack in the boxes…you can stuff us back in the box, but it won’t be long before we bounce back! And so…the week was busy in between it all. I had an OMPA officer meeting and it was parent’s day at ballet so I watched my little Woodland Fairy perform. Swim lessons went better yesterday…less drama, but I don’t think Marin is in any danger of trying out for the Olympics swim team! The girls had a birthday party yesterday too and in lieu of gifts we were asked to bring toiletries to support the United Way Women’s Shelter shoebox program. I took the girls shopping with me and let them pick out the items as part of what is going to become the Shappert Family Service Projects. (details still being finalized)

On Friday I met Barbie for coffee and then we picked out fabric to re-upholster my breakfast room chairs. I went on to work and came home to find the re-upholstery in progress. In about 30 minutes, the table was transformed. Most impressive! Last night we went out to celebrate Barbie’s birthday and had a babysitter watch all 4 kids. We had a great dinner, then went somewhere else for dessert, and went to a new Mexican place at the mall for post dinner drinks and music. A fabulous evening and then, since kids were all asleep when we returned, Barbie talked me into leaving both of them. Clare’s first sleepover! She slept better for Barbie than she did for us and I didn’t get out of bed until close to 10…crazy. I slept through choir and everything…oops….but it was nice to get a full night’s sleep (and then some) To repay this favor in a small way, Chris and I picked up all 4 kids and took them to the park and out for lunch so that Barbie and Alex could get some stuff done around the house. We are now having a relaxing afternoon and basking in everyone’s restored health and the beautiful weather.

Book review…finished Bright Sided: How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking Has Undermined America by Barbara Ehrenreich. I really liked Nickel and Dimed by this author and I think she does excellent and insightful social commentary. However, she and I would never make it through a cup of coffee together. My sunny disposition and optimistic outlook would be too much at odds wth her cynical take on just about everything. She does make some good points in this book, but it’s not as bad as all that.

I must run…hope you have wonderful weeks….as for us, we are hoping to stay out of the doctor’s office for ANY reason. There…that should cover us!
Love,
Kristi/en

2010-04-18T11:31:00.001-07:00

Greetings from the sunny South! It has been a beautiful week here….dogwoods and azaleas out now, which I think has to be my favorite time of year. Weather has been perfect for daily park outings and nightly family walks. I love to take walks and don’t take the leisure time often enough. Most of the walks have been absolutely lovely, but on one notable one, Clare whined to be carried the entire time and was generally disagreeable. As we turned down our street, she very sincerely said, “Wow. That was a great family walk!” ;-)

It is a new week so it wouldn’t be complete without another minor illness update. Marin came down with strep on Monday night and missed school Tuesday. Fortunately as soon as the antibiotics kicked in, all the symptoms departed and she is feeling great, though both she and Clare are sniffling, possibly from allergies. Clare’s sniffles have me bracing for another ear infection…which has been the path of late…and, if she gets another one, we have to go to the ENT and talk about tubes. That would be 6 in 6 months. Taking an ill child to work, when one now works full time, is always a measure in counter productivity, but I have become the absolute master of working productively in even 15 minute increments. If I pass a computer with internet access, you can be sure I’m on Motorola’s new accessible anywhere email system doing something work related.

The weekend has been nice. I met Barbie for coffee on Friday and then went to Oak Meadow for the Step to Peace celebration. Both my kids sang their little hearts out and Clare brought down the house with her stirring (and very loud) rendition of “Love Grows.” Friday evening Lauren came over for a sleepover and Heather hung out for a bit. Then Mike and Jim joined us for post dinner drinks…it was good to see them all.

Saturday morning brought a new addition to our weekly routine (which isn’t entirely welcome, but necessary). Both girls are enrolled in swim lessons at Swim Atlanta and this was kind of a disaster. Marin has some mental and physical block against learning to swim (I now suspect she broke her arm twice last year on purpose…to get out of swimming). We must conquer this. After the swim “lesson,” (aka crying, sobbing, begging to get out of the pool…Clare, incidentally, did fine) Marin had a birthday party to attend at the Hudgens Center for the Arts and had a marvelous time getting her face painted, playing dress up, performing a puppet show etc. Saturday evening a girl from the gym, Andrea, came for dinner and brought her 2 girls. It was nice for all 4 girls to play and for us to have an evening of real conversation with other people who are close to our own height.

Today my Joy choir sang the 9:30 call to worship and then Marin’s choir and the other children’s choirs did the spring musical, The Three Trees. Marin knew every word and every hand motion and did a great job. I was proud of her. She was strangely fidgety, which I’ve never seen before, but she is only 5 and she might have been nervous being in front of the congregation for so long. Later this afternoon we will head to Barbie’s to celebrate Andrew’s birthday, which will be a fun conclusion to a full and beautiful weekend.

I need to run go assist with chalk murals on the driveway and grab a run. Hope you have wonderful weeks and please cross your fingers and say some prayers that Clare does not come down with an ear infection. That might possibly unhinge me.

XOXO,
Kristi/en

2010-04-11T11:01:00.001-07:00

Greetings, All! I believe when I last wrote, we had just celebrated Easter. The week continued to be a lot of fun. DC was in the midst of an unusual heat wave, but at least there was no rain so we were able to be outside. On Monday, we took the girls to the zoo and then to the Air and Space museum. Marin did the flight simulator and saw the IMAX movie Journey into Space, which she found most impressive. ON Tuesday, we rented paddle boats and floated in the Tidal Basin amidst the cherry blossoms. We also walked around and saw all the monuments. Marin particularly enjoyed seeing "Overhand" Lincoln. Eric met us for the Roosevelt Monument tour and a stroll around the Tidal Basin before we headed to the Natural History Museum. We met up with Barbie and kids, who were also enjoying spring break in DC. The museum was insanely crowded so after an hour or so we convinced the kids to walk along the mall and ride the Smithsonian carousel. That evening we met Brendan for dinner so it was a fun and full day.
On Wednesday, we ventured to Mt Vernon. A curator for the museum had recently visited Oak Meadow and done a presentation so Marin was very excited to see Mt Vernon firsthand and arguably knew more than any of us about the estate. We spent an enjoyable several hours exploring the house and grounds and then walked along the Potomoc. Chris also corralled the girls briefly and let me poke in a used book store, one of my favorite things to do. Eric was able to get off early again so we hung out at his place while Clare napped and then headed to National Harbor for an impromptu visit with Kumar. Through the wonders of social networking (facebook), Kumar recognized that our schedules overlapped for a day and invited us to meet for a drink. Though I had not seen him since college, he was as easy going and funny as I remembered and it was wonderful to see him and catch up. The girls also enjoyed playing in the sand along the waterfront and climbing all over a metal giant, who had inexplicably been buried there. From National Harbor, it was off to downtown Alexandria where we met up with Amy for dinner. Amy had been consumed with a major work ordeal so this was sadly the only chance we had to see her during the trip. We had a great dinner and then Amy and I walked back to Eric's apartment in order to maximize our time together.
On Thursday we started the drive home, waving a fond farewell to DC and a fabulous spring break. We are very grateful to Eric for upending his week (and his peace and quiet) in order to host us and really enjoyed our time in the capital.
The weekend in Atlanta has been pure spring time beauty...lots of things burst into bloom while we were gone. Yesterday we enjoyed a picnic and a park outing and today it's yard work and another park outing later in the afternoon. We will also join the Holbrooks for dinner tonight, who have just returned from the Gulf with a cooler full of fresh shrimp. A perfect ending to a perfect week. I did not long on to work a single time (probably the first time in a decade I have gone a week without checking in) so I'm sure tomorrow will be a startling awakening.
Book review...not much time to read, but I did finish Forgive the Moon by MaryAnne Stahl. This was a fairly predictable storyline...a nearing middle aged woman discovers her husband's waning interest in her, marital trouble ensues, she goes to the beach...and if you guessed she finds some handsome stranger who seems to appreciate her, then you are right. If you guess that her husband realizes he misses their life together and comes to retrieve her, you are also right. Oh, the conflict and torment. What to do. Readable enough, but not a new plotline.
I hope you all have wonderful weeks....I need to go assist with yard work.

XOXO,
Kristi/en

2010-04-04T19:22:00.001-07:00

Greetings, All! Happy Easter and Happy Spring break! I write you from Alexandria, VA and Eric’s apartment…a lovely venue on the 14th floor overlooking the city and in walking distance of many lovely parks and restaurants. We can see the Washington Monument, the Capitol Building, and National Harbor from the screened in porch. We began spring break on Friday by traveling to Charlotte where we had a great time visiting Misty and family. We were in no hurry to get to our next stop so spent a leisurely morning in Latta Park and had a relaxed lunch at Brixx before venturing to Richmond where the highlight was staying in a hotel with an indoor pool. Kids enjoyed swimming and yes, I did laps for the triathlon…only my second time training. This morning we ventured to DC and arrived at Eric’s. We enjoyed walking to an outdoor café for lunch and then went to Episcopal to visit our nephew Brendan and got a tour of campus. We attended Easter chapel service at 5PM and then met back up with Eric to head into downtown Alexandria. The girls enjoyed visiting the harbor (and having balloon animals made) and we all enjoyed a delicious seafood dinner. A lot of good food, visits with friends and family, and relaxation so far on this trip!

Preceding spring break, the highlight of the week was dinner with John Barnes of former Motorola fame. We worked together in Chicago and have kept in touch through the years. He is now a science teacher in Michigan and was in town for a quiz bowl with a group of students. We went to Atlantic Station for the evening and enjoyed catching up.

Another highlight of the week was a simply beautiful Friday…the weather in ATL could not have been more perfect. The girls and I met Barbie and Heather and kids at Town Center Park and had an outdoor picnic while watching the kids run around. A most excellent start to spring break.

Book review…finished Island of Lost Girls by Jennifer McMahon. In this, a recent college graduate witnesses a child abduction at a gas station. Oddly enough, the abductor is dressed in a rabbit suit. A manhunt (or rabbit hunt?) ensues in pursuit of the child which causes the witness, Rhonda, to revisit painful aspects of her childhood and her childhood friend who went missing. Not the best book ever written, but did keep me up late a couple of nights to see how it turned out.

Must run….hanging with Chris and Eric and need to get my nose out of the computer

XOXO,
Kristi/en

2010-03-28T18:23:00.001-07:00

Greetings, All, and Happy Spring! Things here are good…we continue to enjoy the beautiful weather (and dodge rainstorms). Work has been crazy for both us…Chris just because he’s so busy and me because the Mot did another layoff. This one was a complete surprise to me. I was not impacted, but it always kind of ruins the week when these things happen…and obviously much more so for those who are affected.

On happier notes, we have had a busy and fun weekend. I met Barbie for coffee on Friday and we went out to dinner with John and Heather Friday evening at Third Coast Grille. Fabulous food and great company (and free babysitting courtesy of John’s generous parents)! Saturday morning dawned cool and sunny and it was off to the Morningview egg hunt for a little hunting and gathering, some dancing with the Bunny, some jumping in the inflatable, and a little hokey pokey. Post nap we headed to newly opened Gary Pirkle Park in Sugar Hill and I highly recommend it for those of you locals with children. The playground is under a fully shaded pavilion complete with lighting and fans…will be very nice in the heat of summer and provides an outdoor play option for rainy days. Pretty walking trails with covered bridges too.

Saturday night David and Ellouise and their 2 girls joined us for dinner and tonight we hosted Mike and Jim. So it has been a fun, food filled weekend. Today is also Palm Sunday so it was a nice church service…always enjoy seeing the kids walk down the aisle with the palms. One just never knows what might happen…they might be waved cheerfully, they might become impromptu swords, they might be ingested…

Book review…finished 2 this week Boundaries with Kids by psychologists Cloud and Townsend. Very good book and very good pointers, though these books always make me feel somewhat inadequate as a parent. I really hope that even child psychologists send their children to school without shoes sometimes (on purpose because they just got tired of fighting about it) (PS…shoes were sent in along with lunch and both socks and tights depending on the weather…). The other book was Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chosbsky. This was a really good book…one of the best I’ve read in a while. The book is told entirely through 15 year old Charlie’s letters. One is never sure to whom the letters are written as they all start “Dear Friend.” I assumed it was a diary, but he makes reference to physically mailing the letters so they are going somewhere. There is also an allusion to a previous mental illness or at least severe anxiety issue, but that is never fully disclosed either. So the book and Charlie are somewhat enigmatic, but the letters so perfectly capture the uncomfortable feeling of being a teenager and not being quite sure where you belong. Very good read.

I am off to work…China just now waking up and heading in to work. And here I sit at the computer…poised to develop product and fuel the economy. ;-) Have great weeks!

XOXO,
Kristi/en

2010-03-21T11:28:00.001-07:00

Happy Spring! It may still be dumping snow on the middle states, but the calendar says spring here and we are starting to see it! Numerous park outings this week to enjoy the fabulous weather. After several days on antibiotics, Clare is on the mend and was able to go to school all this week. Chris is the latest member of the family to succumb. He has a sinus infection and finally broke down yesterday and visited CVS Minute Clinic. We’re now dosing 2 people with antibiotics twice a day and look forward to restored health.

Busy work week for both me and Chris. He had a business trip to Dayton this week, which was so packed he didn’t even get to see the Salibas. (Eric, that should make you feel some better about being dissed the last time he was in DC) I pulled some last minute stunts to get a product ship accepted and it got full ship acceptance on Friday so Yay me!

So work was crazy and productive, but the week was not without entertainment. The Holbrooks joined me and the girls for dinner on Tuesday and I had lunch with Barbie on Friday. The girls had a birthday party to attend on Friday afternoon and then Scott joined us for dinner that night. We had a fabulous meal (he pretty much cooked so I can say that without bragging) and then watched “Up in the Air.” Movie review…this is a very good movie and very well acted, but it was incredibly depressing. Happily, we had homemade blackberry cobbler (made by me…yes, I baked) and homemade ice cream (made by Scott) to improve the mood.

On Saturday, the girls and I headed to Chattanooga to visit the Morris cousins and attend Peter Pan the Musical at the Tivoli theatre. The costumes and sets were amazing and the girls had a wonderful time. Ice cream and an outing to the park rounded out a fun day. Chris managed to complete an impressive number of chores in our absence, despite his disagreeable sinuses and we were all reunited Saturday evening after a tearful and overly dramatic parting (on Marin’s part) from Sydney and Samantha. It’s nice to have cousins so near by and more cousins are moving closer. Not sure if that’s public knowledge yet so I won’t say who. My kids have 13 cousins so you guys can just start guessing.

Book review…finished Girls in Trucks Girls in Truck by Katie Crouch. This is about Sarah, a well to do Southern girl who falls from grace as she pursues a career in New York City. The book was a little disjointed…it almost seemed as if the chapters were written out of sequence and strung together later. There was also a strange switching between first person and not and then the occasional random chapter thrown in told in someone else’s viewpoint. It is possible the author was using this thematically to depict the chaos and disorder in Sarah’s life, but it didn’t quite work for me. Nevertheless it was readable and most Southern girls I know have spent time in trucks. (get your mind out of the gutter) Trucks are very Southern…we like our trucks down here and some of my fondest childhood memories involve being barefoot, sticky with Popsicle juice, and riding in the back of a pickup truck. My grandparents on the farm, of course, had a pickup truck and even by dad couldn’t resist the lure so we had one too. It may surprise some of you to know that my Midwestern father in law succumbed to temptation as well and for years had an incredibly Southern pick up truck that my mother in law made him park elsewhere whenever they had company. ;-) And yes, we have a pickup truck also. It’s unlikely we would have bought one on our own, but my grandfather left me his and I can’t part with it. This month’s Snapfish pictures show my daughters sitting in the back of aforementioned truck, barefooted and sticky with Popsicle juice. As it should be for little Southern ladies.

All right..it’s time to go…we have watermelon seeds to plant and Easter eggs to dye. We will be joining Mike and Jim for dinner later this evening, which will bring a happy conclusion to a busy and fun weekend.

XOXO,
Kristi/en

2010-03-15T15:16:00.001-07:00

Greetings, All, and advanced St Patrick’s Day well wishes to you! Things here are fine, despite ongoing minor health issues with Clare. She has had a tough couple of months. She got a “fever virus”mid week that basically manifested in a high fever, but no accompanying symptoms. One day after visiting the doctor she developed congestion which lead, in what is becoming a disturbing pattern, to a double ear infection. That was just diagnosed today after she toughed it out through our weekend out of town. She’s on antibiotics now and will likely be feeling much better tomorrow!

The day before the virus hit, I took the girls to one of those traveling carnivals, which was a delight to them and inspired me to bring out the Purell in large quantities. There was a decidedly dirty feel to the place, though one of the attendants complimented me on my “extremely polite children” so that was gratifying at least. Other highlights of the week included Marin losing her second tooth. She’s now lost both front bottom teeth and the top two are loose. Soon I fear we will have to begin pureeing her food as the permanent teeth are not coming in yet.

The girls had a 4 day weekend so we met Barbie for coffee on Friday and then headed to Little River Canyon in Fort Payne, AL on Saturday. My mom and Tom and Aunt Peg and Uncle James met us there. We had rented 2 adjacent cabins in DeSoto State Park and enjoyed a weekend of visiting (and consuming large quantities of Aunt Peg’s famous pound cake!). The weather could have been more cooperative…it misted rain on and off throughout the whole weekend, but we were still able to see an do a lot. We “hiked” (these were pretty short walks) to 4 waterfalls and aborted a longer walk to Lost Falls. It was starting to rain and Clare was decidedly fussy (and, as we now realize, likely in pain). We also drove the rim of Little River Canyon and pulled off at all the requisite stops for overlook views. Some of us also ventured to Mentone, AL and spent an intriguing half hour with a woman who professed to be a full blooded Cherokee Indian as well as a ghost whisperer, a psychic, a registered nurse, an artist, and multilingual in Ancient languages (she feels the need to be fluent in as many languages as possible so she can better commune with the dead). Hard to say what is fact or fiction in all that, but she did make a good cup of coffee.

Book review…finished Letter to a Godchild: On Faith by Reynolds Price. This began as a letter to his godchild and ended up developing into a short book, conducted in letter format. In it, Price shares his views on faith and a life that reflects it. A good read, but I have selected something much less dense for my next read. Watch for that next week!

Have happy weeks and enjoy green beer, potatoes, or whatever you choose to celebrate the luck of the Irish!

Love,
Kristi/en

2010-03-07T11:31:00.001-08:00

Happy March! Spring is in the air this weekend, though we had snow earlier this week so clearly Mother Nature’s jury is still out. We took advantage of the warm weather and sunshine at the end of the week and this weekend to venture to parks and take care of pre spring yard work and lawn care. Marin donned a child size pair of gardening gloves, stuck her hair in ponytails, and helped Daddy. Now we have pine straw on the hill, ornamental grass trimmed back, weed preventer spread, and pots primed with Mickey Mouse seed plantings, courtesy of Mike and Jim. (No worries, Mike…those are still inside!)

The week was good. Work was busy this and I’m not finding it difficult to fill 40 hours, though remain grateful that those 40 hours can, for the most part, be filled during hours of my choosing. Tuesday night we had a delicious seafood dinner in honor of John’s birthday…Heather knows how to make seafood. I also devoted several hours this week to a Silent Journey at Marin’s school, which was essentially a walk through all the classrooms to observe all the materials and then several hours to actual work with materials be taught lessons just as my children are. I confess that I was looking forward to this event about as much as most people look forward to dental work…I was participating primarily out of political obligation since I am president of the parent association. I have to say…I really enjoyed the experience and being forced to be totally present and focused on only one thing was good for me. And has totally reaffirmed for me our choice of school.

Last night I spent quite a bit of the evening hanging out in a tattoo parlor…news that likely comes as a surprise to many of you. There is no need to covertly look for my tattoo next time you see me (because it’s not anywhere you can see.. ;-) ) No, not me who got the tattoo, but some of you may be equally surprised as to who I was supporting. It was, in fact, Barbie in a tattoo pursuit. Sadly I hung out for over an hour in the parlor and didn’t get a chance to see her undergo the needle. There was still quite a wait and I had to be at 9:30 church even earlier than normal since Marin’s Sonshine choir was singing the call to worship (she did a splendid job). Tonight we are going to dinner with the Holbrooks to conclude our weekend.

Book reviews…since I am now biking at least once a week, I am getting in more reading (I am not, however, getting in the pool very much. Ok, at all. I need to start taking that part seriously) anyway…finished Song Without Words by Ann Packer, a sad (but hopeful) book about the ramifications of untreated depression on a family and long term friendship. Also finished Year of Fog by Michelle Richmond, a book about a woman who loses her fiance’s child just months before they are to be married. Refusing to believe the child has drowned (they were walking on the beach), she embarks on a self destructive year searching for the child and attempting to redeem herself. Whether she finds the child is the point of the book and the only reason I kept reading…got a bit slow in parts.

A pig tailed girl is crying on the patio so I better go see what I can do to restore her smile.

XOXO,
Kristi/en

2010-02-28T11:10:00.001-08:00

Greetings, All! It is the last day of February which surely means spring is just around the corner! It was sunny this weekend, though chilly. We had minimal plans this weekend so we did take the opportunity to tackle a few home repair projects. It’s hard to believe we’ve been in the house 10 years now…unfortunately that likely means a few more home repair projects will be on the horizon!

Our week was actually busier than the weekend. On Tuesday, the girls and I met the Wells girls for Pajama Party at Chickfila. It was cute. The kids were all dressed in PJs and they decorated pillow cases. The Chickfila cow also dropped in wearing his PJs, which was very exciting to the girls (they might think it’s a real cow?). Wednesday night after our extensive regular activities, I met Heather for drinks to catch up on our recent beach trips. It was nice to see her in a non kid setting…we probably did 3 months worth of conversations in an hour! 

On Thursday my brother and his girlfriend, Julie, came for a visit. They had concert tickets at the Tabernacle and I’d offered our place in the burbs as free lodging. They came bearing Princess wands, thus ensuring the devotion of their nieces. They were quickly roped in to a Duck Duck Goose game, hula hoop and jump rope demos, and a rousing game of Heigh Ho Cherry-o. They enjoyed the concert and also an outing to the aquarium before venturing back to TN. It was nice to see them and nice to see my brother doing so very well.

Friday I met Barbie for coffee and then worked. The working full time thing is not so bad, though I have shifted my previous Friday-for-running-errands time to other times during the week, which can mean I’m grocery shopping at 10PM on a Thursday while simultaneously on a conference call. Good thing I can handle multi-tasking.

Tonight we will have dinner with Mike and Jim after possibly bundling up for a park outing. A nice low key weekend, which is good to get every now and then.

Book review…finished Blink by Malcolm Gladwell. In this book, he explores the way humans make snap decisions, which he calls thin slicing. Humans are actually quite good at this and he explores the many positive aspects of this ability to “think on your feet,” but also the detrimental things that can happen when we rely too heavily on our gut instinct. An interesting read.

One little girl is napping, but my other has just finished drawing her picture and is looking for some play time. I’m off to play.

XOXO,
Kristi/en

2010-02-22T07:18:00.001-08:00

Good morning, All! I am belated in my letter this week as I returned late in the evening from a marvelous weekend celebrating Eva’s 92 (almost) years on this planet. Mom, Eva, Ellen, and I head to Amelia Island, FL where we spoiled Eva with a weekend at the Ritz Carlton. From the moment she arrived, she was treated as the royalty she truly is. She was greeted with a champagne toast, flowers were sent to the room, decorative chocolates were sent to her at dinner, the staff called daily to see if there was anything they could do to make Ms Eva’s stay more pleasant. As it was, her stay was decidedly pleasant. We took walks along the beach, gathered shells, relaxed in the hot tub, had fabulous seafood meals. We ambled through downtown Fernandina Beach, took a horsedrawn carriage ride, and soaked up the sunshine at the harbor watching boats and feeding hungry pelicans. We went to Fort Clinch State park and ambled among the live oaks and Spanish moss and walked to the end of a 1000 foot pier. We had coffee on the beach in the mornings while watching the sunrise and had S’mores and hot chocolate at a beach bonfire at night. We were only there 48 hours or so, but managed to soak up a few months worth of relaxation and spoiling. We ate at the Ritz’s signature 5 star restaurant, Salt, one night and at The Verandah at Amelia Island Plantation the other. Both were fabulous and I now have a new appreciation for the variety of things that can be done with salt. Salt (the restaurant) has at least 40 different types as seasoning for various dishes. And here I thought it just came in a canister at the grocery store!

I missed my girls, but acquired some mermaid gifts to soften the blow of my absence. Really…they were unconcerned. They had a fabulous weekend with Daddy…hikes along the Chattahooche river, Jordan over for a sleepover, and Scott over for dinner. They were too busy having fun to miss me much and Clare seems to be recovering from her double ear infection, which cropped up last week.

The weekend at the beach was a welcome diversion after a hectic week. I had quarterly Ops review at work and tried to juggle the necessity of my physical presence at work with Clare’s ear infection and subsequent fever. She joined me at work for a day and a half and this went as well as can be expected. It was also the start of Holy week so I volunteered to help other choir members host the Shrove Tuesday pancake supper and then we had Ash Wednesday services the following day. After a non stop week, it was nice to have a weekend reprieve.

Book review…finished The Reading Group by Elizabeth Noble. This was about a group of British women who form a book club. Their lives end up as complicated as the characters in the books they read (infidelity, aging parents, falling out of love, unmarried daughters becoming pregnant…) and the friendships they form help sustain them through difficult times. A good book. Also finished Windless Summer by Heather Sharfedin and this was pretty marginal. While I felt bad for the main character, a widowed man struggling to raise his severely autistic daughter and keep his junky motel afloat, the book itself was only OK and then it got completely unbelievable and crazy at the end.

I must get busy as a full day looms. I hope this last week of February treats you well.

XOXO,
Kristi/en

2010-02-14T18:25:00.000-08:00

Greetings, All! I hope you had a wonderful day and got hit in the backside by Cupid’s arrow. And also that you are poised to have a good year of the Tiger. It’s Lunar New Year too and for those of us that work with Asia, it a vicariously big deal. Things here are grand…we celebrated Valentine’s day with a visit from Grandpa Larry and Miriam. Actually they arrived amid snow on Saturday and we had a wonderful weekend visit with them. Miriam was my former English teacher so she and I had quite a good discussion about books and she recommended several selections that I have added to my library queue. Who knew my high school English teacher would still be encouraging me to read 20 years later? 

As for the snow, it was great fun. Probably 3 inches or snow of nice snow…conducive to snowmen, of which we acquired two…and enough for sledding so we did that too. Good times for my little Southern snow deprived girls. Other fun things for the week…had an OMPA officer’s meeting Tuesday…at Wild Wing over Alabama Slammers. It’s always best to plan future school activities with an adult beverage in hand! Also the girls and I met Barbie for coffee on Friday and that is always the best way to start a weekend. We watched some of the Olympics opening ceremonies on Friday night and Marin enjoyed finding the countries on her map as they paraded in (geography nerd…she must get that from Chris…I’m admittedly pretty geographically clueless). Miriam and LB headed home today after church and lunch and, after a vigorous step workout, we hosted a Valentine’s dinner with Mike and Jim complete with delightful chocolate martinis, prepared by Mike. An indulgent chocolate-y evening, which is frankly how I like my Valentine’s days.

My first week of full time was…as predicted by many…not so much different from my part time weeks. I did put in more time at night and I did work on Friday (though with kids underfoot…darn 4 day weekend…I didn’t really expect the corporate wheels to turn quite so quickly). This week is Ops review so I’ll be tied up most of the week with that, which is good since Asia will be pretty quiet.

Book review…finished Among the Mad by Jacqueline Winspear. This is the latest in the Maisie Dobbs series, a London female detective. The series is set in 1930s London. In this book, Maisie Dobbs is called in to assist the Scotland Yard when a series of threatening letters are received from a clearly disgruntled and disturbed individual. Maisie must sort through the clues and find the villain before he unleashes havoc on the masses. Cheeky good fun.

The hour is growing late and, per my new agreement, I must go spend some time with the Mot. Have fabulous weeks!

XOXO,
Kristi/en

2010-02-07T17:45:00.001-08:00

Greetings, All, and Happy Superbowl! I actually thought it was last weekend, hence the football reference. I do have the TV on…primarily to watch the commercials. As for the Fillies and the Angels, may the best team win!

A fairly big development regarding work…as of tomorrow (???), I return to work full time. I have been part time for 6 years so this feels pretty major, however, as I’ve been told repeatedly, I’ve always been loaded the same as a full time program manager anyway. They have agreed to let me work a flex schedule so I can still pick the kids up mid afternoon. The primary difference is that I no longer have Friday off. This was my idea and driven mostly by all the renewed press time Motorola’s potentially imminent company split is getting. If I’m loaded full time anyway, I might as well stop looking like an outlier and start earning my full salary. So…deep breath…welcome back, Me.

Other highlights of the week included lunch with Kim (she’s doing well and enjoying life in the non profit sector) and the Science and Art show at Oak Meadow followed by drinks and snacks at Wild Wing with Heather and some other OMers. On Friday, I met Barbie for breakfast (and this is still sanctioned under my new schedule…I factored it in). Clare joined our little party as she had a stomach bug and missed 2 days of school…fortunately she was feeling completely fine, but there is that whole must-not-attend-school-within-24-hours-of-puking rule. Friday afternoon, I picked up Marin and her buddy Lauren and took them to a kiddie salon for up dos and fancy hair styles. Their daddies were taking them to a Daddy/Daughter dance hosted by the Gwinnett Park system and they needed to get glamorous. After hair and nails, we headed to the Holbrooks where the daddies and daughters had dinner in the dining room, while Heather and I played the roles of cook, server, bus boy etc (not so different from most nights, really… ;-) ). The girls (and dads) seemed to enjoy the fuss of dinner and had a great time at the dance. So reluctant were they for the night to end that it ended up extending into a sleepover.

Saturday I got in a pool for the first time as part of my triathlon training. To my surprise, I was able to swim the ¼ mile (18 lengths of the pool), but it wasn’t easy and I had to split it between 3 strokes. While I didn’t intentionally take a break, there are small rest points every time you hit the side and turn. So swimming a full ¼ mile with no interruption will be more challenging. Definitely need to spend some more time in the water! Saturday night we all headed to David and Ellouise’s for dinner and an evening of Wii Rock Band. This was Ellouise’s birthday request. We jammed to the Beatles, Classic Rock, and even some country. A fun night.

Book review…finished House of Daughters by Sarah Kate Lynch. The book was set in the Champagne region of France in a run down winery called the House of Peine. Once one of the finest vintners in the area, the winery has fallen on hard times primarily due to the apathy of its proprietor. He dies in a tragic accident leaving the winery split between his 3 daughters, 1 of whom he hasn’t seen in 20 years and 1 of whom he has never met. The daughter who has remained faithfully by his side throughout her life feels betrayed. And thus the story unfolds. A decent read.

I must now turn my attention to the Mot. Part of my new flex schedule requires that I put in some time each evening…not much different than previously, but I’m ethical enough to make sure it’s routine.

Enjoy your weeks!

Love,
Kristi/en

2010-01-31T11:57:00.001-08:00

Greetings, All! While most of the South may be getting pummeled with ice and snow, we remain snow free (though frigid) here in the ATL. The wintry weather did disappoint a few little girls though. My niece Samantha’s birthday party was scheduled for Friday evening and had to be postponed. My little girls had been eagerly anticipating the event. We tried to soothe their disappointment with a family night of popcorn and board games and hopefully succeeded to some degree.

The week was pleasantly busy. In addition to our regular activities, we hosted Heather and kids for dinner on Tuesday and attended the Oak Meadow family dinner night at a local pizza joint on Thursday night. I kicked off the weekend on Friday by having an enlightening and fun coffee with Barbie. On Saturday, Heather and I had planned to take all 3 girls to the Princess tea hosted by the Discover Mills Disney store. At the last minute, Marin proved that she is still sensitive to eggs (we had hoped she’d outgrown this) and her tummy was too upset to go. So there were only 2 little princesses…Clare and Lauren had fun. Clare will have to work on her grace…her attempt at a curtsy usually results in a topple to the floor.  Then Chris and I got quite a pleasant surprise…Heather presented us with movie tickets, a dinner gift certificate, and an offer for babysitting and urged us to go out that evening. She claimed we’d done some nice things to deserve such fine treatment, but I’m not sure about that. Since Marin’s egg induced malady had passed, we were excited to take her up on the offer.

So we enjoyed a fabulous steak dinner and saw The Blind Side. I thought this was just another football movie so I wasn’t that interested at first, but I had heard good things about it and it was rated highly on the Tomato meter (www.rottentomato.com) so we gave it a shot. I’m really glad we did. While football is certainly a big part of the story, it is mostly a character driven story about human potential. Alternately a celebration and a tear jerker…and the best part is that’s a true story. Definitely recommend it.

Book reviews…finished 2 this week. One a short read by Reynolds Price called Letter to a Man in the Fire: Does God exist and does He care? You may (or may not) recall that I read Price’s memoir about his battle with cancer a few weeks ago. In light of everything going on in Haiti, this title jumped out at me. The referenced man in the fire is a young medical student who is diagnosed with serious cancer. He writes to Price presumably for hope and enlightenment. While Price is not a theologian, he is very well read and is fluent in ancient languages so he has read original texts of many religious texts. His assessment to the title is yes and yes, but he feels that God is not nearly as concerned as we are about our duration of time on Earth. An interesting read. Also read Touch the Top of the World by Erik Weishenmeyer. Erik is a blind mountain climber who has summated many of the world’s tallest peaks, including Everest. While I confess that I don’t understand Erik’s single minded pursuit of climbing, particularly when his condition greatly increases the danger and he can’t visually appreciate the experience, I was impressed by his tenacity and his unwillingness to let blindness define him. An inspiring read.

Clare is now up from nap so I am off to prepare mid afternoon snacks and fold laundry. Enjoy your evenings….I think there’s some big game on or something.

XOXO,
Kristi/en