Inspiration

I am looking through my blogs that I follow today and come across a post from my very dear friend Lori over at Wildflowers.

She talked of inspiration day.

It got me thinking.

What inspires me?

I mean sure, there are people who have inspired me but what inspires me to do what I do?

So I got to thinking

and thinking

and thinking

Besides the obvious that my children inspire me to be the best mom I can be, there are people out there who do it for me.

They are different for the different things I do.

Like at work, the children I work with inspire me. I mean, I can work with a child for months and nothing happens, they don't get it BUT the one single, solitary day they do, when the planets align and "click" I see that (what I call) "AH HAH" moment I know it has all been worth it. The frustrating days, the tantrums, the long hours all forgotten in that one moment in time. That inspires me at work.

The creativity that I see on my blogs I follow, inspire me.

You know, when I bought my house I wanted that beachy, cottagey feel to it and could find it NO WHERE. Now it is all over. I am doing it now.

The women I follow and have come across give me the inspiration to try new things, give tutorials on how to do stuff and that is SO AWESOME!

My friends inspire me. I have my bestest friend in the world who has been there for me forever.

When things got tough for me, she and her family were there for me.

We don't talk every day but we are tight.

She is the BEST cheerleader ANYONE could ask for, really she is.

I went through some rough things late last year and early this year things started to turn around and she is always there being my friend. I love her for that. She inspires me.

She inspires me because I always know that WHATEVER I do she has my back and I always have hers. I love her like my sister (probably more so at times we are so close).

Here she is with one of our male besties.

Anyway. That is what inspires me. Oh and by the way my inspiration's name is Jen. I love ya my friend (she has no idea I have a blog - now she will).

Zizette

Rude Awakenings

So, it's 3:20 am and I am in my deepest of sleep.

All of a sudden a loud, screeching, siren goes off. WOOO WOOO, BEEP BEEP, WOOW WOOW!!

Threw my Arse right out of bed.

Thank you dear &*^@%$# Hubby!

Apparently, he set the wrong alarm this morning at 3:20 when he woke up on the couch and came to bed. He set the one you set when you leave the house, then walked into our hallway and that is when it went off.

After I got up off the floor I ran to the keypad and turned it off. Then reset it and then grabbed the phone since the alarm company would be calling momentarily.

They did, I gave the secret word and tried to go back to sleep.

Oh yeah, BTW, hubby was in the bathroom washing up, WTH? (actually then it probably was WTF but I am trying to be nice here)

The he crawls into bed and in his oh so annoying voice repeats Hello to me several times - he knows it annoys me and that is why he does it, but at 3:30 am? HELLO, that drives me NUTS and I have to get up in 2 hours!!!

I was able to fall back asleep rather quick (good for me) and dreaded it when the alarm clock woke me at 5:15 - I hit snooze until 5:30 when I heard the coffee maker signal it was done.

Did you ever notice our lives are filled with alarms, buzzers, ringers? Just thought I mention that, it occurred to me as I wrote this post.

Here's to a peaceful nights sleep.

Zizette

Wild Boar

A few weeks ago I spoke of a Wild Boar sitting in my Fridge waiting to be cooked.

We did in fact cook it as a tribute to my baby bro who passed who loved to eat FuNkY Foods.

Now Boar is just a pig but this was a WILD Boar! Wild like my Mike.

I love to cook, my dad is an awesome cook, my husband is a CIA Graduate and my youngest brother loves to cook. So we cooked it together.

We made it like a stew, oh yeah along with some Goat Loin (Hey I have a weird friend who hunts and gave it us).

We cooked it in the Big Ole Le Crueset Dutch Oven on the stove.

We seasoned the meat and seared it in the pan, then with all the good bits added some wine to make a nice sauce.

Threw in some onions, potatoes, carrots and peas.

It came out really nice. A nice Stew. It was one of those recipes where we put stuff in willy nilly so I am sorry not to have a recipe or measurements.

However, I did make a HORRIBLE risotto. I had not planned on making it and my dad said oh, make your risotto. IT STUNK!

I made it in a pot that was too small and I was rushed. You cannot rush risotto so it was like paste because it was overcooked. Never again will I do that (because believe me, a week later my dad still reminded me I messed up the rice).

I am in the mood for a good risotto though, maybe this weekend.

Zizette

Master Bedroom Redo

I have been yearning to redo my bedroom.

It's blue and even though blue is my favorite color, I hate the room's color.

I want something else.

Something light, something airy.

Something different.

Start off with the paint? New Comforter?

Changing the furniture is NOT an option.

I do love my furniture but I MIGHT prefer it a different color (one that hubby does not like- so it's a no go).

Here's some of my inspiration:

I found a color I am digging - Virtual Taupe by Sherwin Williams and I have always loved the bedroom here and the paint is Glidden Armadillo.

Right now the dormers are painted blue too. I think I will paint them white again.

And today I think I have found the bedding that will be the inspiration for the whole redo. I think I will be ordering it this week. Once I do I will pick the paint and go from there. I am very excited.

New Beginnings

Spring is the time for new beginnings, right?

We have had some new beginnings over on my end.

I cut down some AWFUL bushes in my backyard (actually a really awesome brother in law did with his handy chainsaw).

He also cut down two Rhododedron bushes/trees on the side of our house. I have like 10 of them and they have never been trimmed or maintained.

I am not a tree hacker BUT they were so overgrown and blocking a huge area in our yard, not to mention beautiful light into my screened in porch.

I have plans for these areas.

I am thinking to find an awesome table or something to be a gardening table where the Rhodos were. It can back up to the side of the garage and still not block light to my screened in porch.

I love the reclaimed wood/aged look of this one

This would great in the spot

Where the ugly bushes one resided I would love to put a potager garden (box garden). I found a neat little site where I can buy the corner pieces and then you just slide the wooden boards into them. I am very excited for that.

I love the copper corners

Ahh, fresh veggies.

So, aside from a little yard work, Thanks Steve, I also started a new job and so did the hubby.

I love my new job, that was why I was MIA this whole week (I was also doing work for my summer position - I run an activity at a Day Camp called Digital Design/The Design Center.

Basically I have the girls (I do not get boys), go out and take pictures then come back to me to do a craft based around their pictures. This is my third year and I will have to show you some of the stuff we do.

So I was ordering my supplies for that as it was due yesterday.

And all the new beginnings just around me, the flowers starting to come in, the little yard animals out and about and all the lovely birds that I am fortunate to have around me.

Springtime is beautiful!

Enjoy the day!

Zizette

Date Night

Things have been tight around here for a while but tomorrow I start my new job and hubby is doing well in his new job so we went out.

A friend's husband and his band, The Mix, was playing at a local bar/restaurant, so we went and did a little of this:

Such an awesome time!

The bar was 3/4 full of people from our elementary school.

I met some new people, talked with some other good people and had a night out with my man.

Before hand we went to a new BBQ place (We had never been there before) with our good friends. We had good food and good times. Had some of this:

and some of these

I had such a good time. It was nice going out. Usually when hubby ad I gone out it's only been dinner and then home so this was so out of our "usual" and you know what, it was really nice.

Have a great day - today I will be cooking the wild boar with my family AND my niece has a tournament in our town so there is some time today where my brother in law said he would come over and do some handyman work for me so I need to get busy on a list.

Zizette

Michael

Today is my baby brother's birthday. He would be 26. A beautiful person taken way to soon from us.

He was just coming into to his own and being that he and I are 13 years apart this was really being the first time in our lives we were connecting - we were connected but we were connecting as adults and it was nice.

He died 9 days after my son was born and one of my last memories with him is when I was in the hospital the day after and his mom was with me visiting and the hospital phone rings and he was calling to see how I was doing and how his nephew was doing. It was so cool and funny ay the time. I always checked on him, I changed his diaper and now he was checking on his big sister. The picture above is actually of him holding my baby. It is one of my favorite pictures and it sits on our mantel.

He was an amazing human being. He would give to anyone, defend anyone, help anyone and it never mattered to him who, what or where you were.

Everyone truly lost someone who could have done so much.

I miss him and some days you just don't think about how deeply you feel but I do right now as I share him with you.

I know he watches over my babies and keeps them safe.

So today we will celebrate! He loved weird foods and trying things different. A friend is a hunter and he gave us some wild boar ( I don't know if I can eat it ). So my dad, my other brother, husband and I will cooked together since that was something that Michael loved to do.

I'll let you know how the boar comes out (oddly enough I found a recipe on Epicurious.com for it). Should be interesting.

That is my tribute to a very special man who I love and miss very much.

Have a great day!

Zizette

Hear the Silence?

silence [ˈsaɪləns]

n

1. the state or quality of being silent

2. the absence of sound or noise; stillness

Ahh the sound of silence.

No fighting, No running around the house, No shouting of "MOM!!!!" and No screaming of "SAMMMMM!"

It is pleasantly quiet.

I am actually putting my taxes together.

UGH.

Every year I vow to get it done early and every year I am behind.

I finished it all and I have brought it to the accountant.

The quiet will be over once they come home from school.

Even though I enjoy the silence, I still missed my kids today.

Zizette

Amazing Road Trip

Life is about experiences.

The experiences you give your children and ones you have learned yourself are the b

est.

No amount of learning in the classroom can compare to what you give your children.

This week I brought my children to Washington D.C.

We had so much fun. Hubby could not make it since he had to work. So we did our Road Trip

on our own.

The beginning of our trip after we purchased new sunglasses

We were there to see the cherry blossoms after all (I think I need one for my garden and a magnolia tree)

I love this picture of the kids and the Washington Monument and Reflection pool

WW II Memorial - Maya's favorite because it was so beautiful

Sam looking cool in the Chinese Garden in Chinatown - I know this will be a favorite in the future (possibly Blackmail?)

The kids had a great time. I had them walking on Friday for 8 hours! (To tell the truth it is Sunday and my legs and hips still hurt - boy do I need to start exercising!)

We saw amazing things: the Washington Monument, The National Mall, Abe Lincoln, The Capitol and of course my inspiration to go there - The Cherry Blossoms! They were gorgeous! I really got to use my camera.

It wasn't until we were leaving that I saw a Tulip Gallery - it was a huge garden full of all types of Tulips. I would have loved to take pictures of that.

So many beautiful opportunities to take photos. I will post some of my others that I took.

We will be going back again, maybe the same time next year. (We met another family from our area and they have gone this same weekend for the past 3 years - could be a nice new tradition)

A funny thing happened, my son said to me when we were close to home, "Hey mom we had our first Road Trip" - (then he made the fist punch action with me). He's getting so cool ;)

Good memories for all and we are now happy to be back home.

Zizette

Happy Easter

I would like to wish all my lovely friends and family a very Happy Easter.

Enjoy the day with your families.

Zizette

Road Trip

The kids and I are going on a road trip.

Leaving this am after I tutor.

We're gonna have fun, we always do.

We're excited.

The kids have a few favorite treats in store

Indoor pool at hotel (YAY!)

Room service (they want it o bad after having it only once)

Lots of fun!

We'll be going with our the hubby (he has to work).

It's a good way to break up the spring vacation.

(We may even have some guests if I can convince my friend to come with us last minute).

See you when we come back with LOTS of Photos!!!