Horse show season upon us...

Most of you know I love being a vendor at Horse shows.
I love the smell of the barns, the saddles, the hay, even the horses!
The vendors are very different and very upscale.
It is a whole other culture. people who are in love with, obsessed with, passionate about horses, ponies, and dogs.
And it is also a group that doesn't have to worry about the economy...

Not a bad group to sell to.

Mostly it is a nice change up for me. I buy differently when I go to market.

I look for "horsey" things- Head bands with bits, umbrellas with jumpers, necklaces with ponies, all with my preppy vibe.

the only potential problem?

Rain.

At the mercy of the weather.

I guess it isn't so different from lacrosse tournaments!

Elusive sleep- Thank you Ms. Peri Menopause!

Because "Peri" and I have been hanging out for a number of years, we met earlier than most women do, I thought I was done with the sleep issues.

In the middle of our "relationship" when hormones were up and down or as I know now diminishing...

My sleep sucked.

Some nights I would just get up and read ( this was before blogging obvs!) or I would lay there tossing and turning drifting in and out of sleep.

You can imagine the mood I would be in the next morning/day.

Cranky, grumpy, tired... rhymes with witchy.

But now that I am nearing the end of 'Peri" and easing into "Meno" I rarely have sleep issues.

I am back to my old self. I don't feel as edgy or... rhymes with bitchy.

Until tonight.

Here I am at 5:15am. I have been tossing and turning since 3:30.

I am WIDE awake.

Which is fine, I can find plenty to do.

The problem is that later today, around 10:30am,

I will not be someone you or anyone want to be around.

I will be irritable, edgy, and annoyed.

I will be forgetful, disorganized, and scattered.

I am not alone. According to More magazine,

"Sleep woes peak during the perimenopausal transition, says Barbara Phillips, MD, medical director of the UK Healthcare Good Samaritan Sleep Disorders Center, in Lexington, Kentucky, who notes that 12 to 40 percent of women report having trouble sleeping during these years.

"With impending menopause, most women experience a reduction in progesterone and estrogen," says David Slamowitz, MD, medical director of the SleepWell Center in Denver. "These hormones help regulate sleep, so declining levels can cause sleeping difficulties."

Although scientists are unsure exactly why sleep is so affected, there are several possible causes. The conventional wisdom is that hot flashes and night sweats interrupt sleep; however, Phillips says, the opposite may be true -- that middle-of-the-night wake-ups may actually cause hot flashes."

Somehow, it feels comforting to know that this is out of my control, that I did nothing wrong.

Blame it on the peri,peri,peri, peri meno pause!

Now the important stuff...

I am pretty sure I will be needing these in the near future-

Fitflop-walkstar 3
And the white will be a must have,

fitflop-walkstar 3
As for the black, I think I NEED these suede beauties,

fit flop- Oasis

Mineral basin, Snowbird utah

This is where we wanted to be. The back of Snowbird,

Mineral Basin.

When the sun is out it is the best place to be.

Lots of black diamond skiing.

Yet, as you can see, there is an easy way down as well.

Be aware that due to the vertical, blues and greens at Snowbird would be considered blacks at other resorts.
This it the way we chose to go.
This is a tunnel with a magic carpet that brings you through the mountain into the wide open bowl of Mineral basin.
it feels like a ride at Disney World!
I think they should have more signs and entertainment along the ride.
It takes about 5 minutes.
and then you're out.

Ready to find some fun!

Believe it or not, as much as there was a blizzard most of our time there, pockets of sun would open up through the clouds. Because you are so high up you could see it snowing across the basin and it would be sunny for a few minutes and not snowing where we were skiing. And then within minutes we would have skied back into where it was snowing!

Try to ski Mineral Basin when you go to Snowbird- It's amazing!

Lacrosse gifts, Lacrosse posters

Lacrosse gifts, sports posters

Lacrosse gifts don't have to be boring.

Your son's bedroom doesn't have to be boring either.

Go to http://www.preppyplayer.com

See what you need to start the season off right!

St. Patrick's Day, How it's done... in Hoboken

In Chicago they dye the river green.
In Hoboken they start... on March 6th!

The parade is the big draw and although it starts at 1pm...

This was the line at 8:30 this morning as people begin to line up outside the bars in Hoboken getting "ready" for the parade. My son was up at 8am this morning,

( the EARLIEST I have seen him up on a Saturday morning in years.)

he took an 8:30 train to Hoboken to go to a St. Patrick's day party that starts at 9am!

The parade in Hoboken and the all-day pub crawl has become so popular that people actually prefer it to the St. Patrick's day parade and celebrations in NYC.

I have asked why and most say that it is because Hoboken is easy to navigate, all the pubs are in a centralized location giving the feeling of a huge block party, and public transportation is so easy going back into NYC or anywhere in NJ that no one has to worry about driving.

Need recommendations for Paris!

Calling all bloggers!

The Frau and I are meeting up in Paris next month and need recommendations for hotels.

We know we can count on you to let us know about the most economical, best locations, most clean places to stay in the city of lights- the BEST hotels in Paris!

Happy post! Happy Birthday!

A sweet sixteen is coming up!

The frau took these photos and was saying that the B&W didn't come out the way she liked, so I started having some fun!
I lightened this up a bit- the middle pic is darker so it was tricky trying to lighten up the middle without washing out the two side pics.
This one I had fun cropping, I like how it looks!

The colorful ones below are to celebrate a colorful, beautiful, and interesting girl that is growing up overseas. She is learning about other cultures, other languages, and ( I hear) how to stick up for herself!

Love her!

Sorry about that last bummer of a post...

I am most likely deleting that last post.*

It is so negative and... dirty.

Not dirty in a sexual way, dirty in a depressing, ugly, evil way.

My main point or reason for posting it was not really achieved.

What I wanted to and needed to discuss was,

Didn't everything seem so easy and simple when you were in elementary school?

Didn't really know anyone who had died, had cancer, committed crimes, abused drugs, had alcohol problems, or was violent.

Not many 4th or 6th graders have any experience with that.

I am positive there are a few that did...

through their family or other relatives, I just didn't know about it.

I look back at my 6th grade class picture and I see a smiling, squeaky clean group of attractive kids.

Their slates are still clean, their potential unlimited, their dreams unbound.

Then I look at the mugshot from the last post and I think,

How and when did it turn so bad?

*deleted it. especially since in the last few minutes many people have googled the man's name and were directed to MY site! WTF!

Thank you! Ski Helmets save lives.

Jordan and his sister Allie

Thank you to all for your kind thoughts and prayers.

And a big thanks to God because,

Our boy's going to be OK.

He will wear a back brace for three months or more and must endure extensive rehab,

But we'll take that over what might have been...

Folks,

you know how I am always preaching about Helmets and skiing?

How they save lives?

How it's not how you're skiing, it's the other guy/tree/rock/runaway board or ski pole you have to worry about?

Well, our boy is proof that helmets save lives.

AND that the power of prayer is a beautiful thing.

Thoughts and Prayers

This beautiful boy, my nephew, was in a terrible ski accident today.

His back is broken and he has some crushed vertebrae.

Thank God he is alive, can move, and will heal.

And thank God he had his helmet on.

He always does.

He is an amazing skier, very skilled. He was skiing with his buddies up at Snowbird, Utah when he was cut off by another skier or boarder, he became airborne and hit a tree.

Luckily ski patrol was nearby and was able to brace him and then rush him to the hospital.

My poor sister and brother-in-law. That had to be one of the worst phone calls to receive.

They were able to rush to the hospital right away.

Please say a prayer for him and that he has a quick recovery.

And please say a prayer for his family as I know they are sick with worry.

We love him so much and feel so helpless being so far away.

I wish I could be there to comfort my sister and help somehow....

Thoughts and prayers and lots of texts and phone calls will have to do.

He is a senior in high school, an accomplished swimmer, a stellar student, a wonderful son, brother, grandson, nephew, cousin, and friend.

I am so glad and thankful that we still have him.

And I am so glad he always wears his helmet.

How come?

While we are walking down memory lane and as I look thru old pics...

I wonder,

How come we had to wear bathing caps?

It was explained to me by my Grandpa that it was to keep long hair from clogging up the filters of pools.

But in the top pic you can see my mother wearing one in a...lake.

And you know what?

We're talking the late 60's early 70's here. Many, many boys and men had long hair.

In fact, I seem to remember a perfectly, ghastly pixie cut my mother gave me that was far shorter than any guy's haircut.
So how come we had to wear them?

And then...

How come everyone stopped wearing them?

Did the filters in the pools get better?
And, we also ( being Catholic) always had to wear a hat or veil to church. On Easter we really jazzed it up, obvs.

My mother was twenty-five years-old in this pic...

Hats can age you I guess.

How come we didn't have to wear hats or veils to church any more?

I know the answer to that one!

Styles were changing in the late 1960's/early 1970's and the fact that women covering their head at church was not mentioned by the Vatican II... well little by little the practice lapsed.

Thank goodness because I could never find a bobby pin to keep my veil on!

Who is watching the children?

July 1963?

That means I was just under 31/2 years-old.

(I am the unsupervised little girl at the TOP of the jungle gym)

My sister was not even two years old.

( she is the one at the bottom of the pic, about to scale the jungle gym, unsupervised)

Hello child protective services?

Did you exist in the 1960's?

Because I promise you there isn't a parent alive in 2010 that would allow two cute, topless little girls to go higher than a foot without Mommy or Daddy hovering.

And about us being topless...

I know for a fact that little girls DID wear shirts in the 1960's!

Where were ours?

At least I had a groovy pair of sunglasses on.

Name change, Can you blame them?

I would imagine that anyone with the last name of Hitler changed their name immediately after WWII.

I read in the paper yesterday that a daughter-in-law of Madoff has filed for a name change.

She asked that she and her children's last name be changed from Madoff to Morgan.

Interesting.

She is still married to the jailed and disgraced financier's son...

I wonder what he thinks?

But,

Can you blame her?
As for this guy,

Many of his family members that live here also filed for and changed their last names.

Can you blame them?

Can you think of any other notorious surnames that beg for a change to protect innocent family members?

Snow day

Hello!

This is the ONLY type snow day I want to see.

Hockey gifts

Hockey gifts

http://www.preppyplayer.com

It's that time of year.

End of the season hockey banquets

Championship games

Thank you Coach dinners

This is when my website gets busy.

I have hockey gift wrap, thank you cards big enough for the team to sign, and posters perfect for framing and to give to the coach.

It was all his...

Or as he would probably say,

"the road to glory..."

We have been watching A LOT of Olympic ski events, obvs.

Skier Rainbow

Blogger meet-up

While on vacation I had coffee with Somer, my fav blogger in Utah.

So good to catch up, compare blogger notes.

Expect big things from Somer.

I have a feeling that she will become the go-to girl in the CF community.

Want to know what I mean?

YOU can go to:

http://lovetobreathe.blogspot.com/

We're back!

Something I said I would never do again? The red eye. Yup.

Snowbird today. Having a great time, wish you were ALL here! Miss my hubby and gi- it's not the same skiing without them. Also, I miss postin

twitter like posts

Ina from Alaska is correct!

I feel as though I'm twittering or is it a'twitter?

I haven't figured out how to properly post with my new iphone. ( got it for my birthday!)

AND, I am on my Dad's computer and can't post the pics I want from my iphone, I know there is an app for that- just have to figure out which one!



So, an update.

Obvs we've been skiing.

Had an event at my sister's

Got to see Somer, my fav blogger in Utah. http://lovetobreathe.blogspot.com/

More skiing to come.

Lots of visiting with family.

Love it.



Which brings me to...

My dear sister in Germany- The Frau.

It is so weird being here and not seeing her or her family.

And now I just read her blog and I can tell she is very homesick and down.

Some of you have already sent her words of support and encouragement,

Thank you.

But if you haven't?

Head over to :

http://fraukmwest.blogspot.com/



And please give her a big virtual kiss from me!

Alta rocks!!

Utah- blue sky, sunny, great day of skiing

ski trip necessity

So the most important thing I am packing for my ski trip?

My helmet!

Because like most my age, I didn't grow up wearing a helmet while skiing- I was slow to start wearing one.

I made my children wear them.

I suggested and urged my student's parents to make sure their children wear one.

It wasn't until another helmet wearing adult suggested, very gently...

that maybe I should wear a helmet since I am out there teaching and serve as an example. He pointed out that helmets not only protect us from errant skis and snowboards, other skiers, riders, trees and rocks...

They are really warm!
So now I do. I can't imagine not wearing one.
So does Olympic skier Lindsey Vonn!

Please get a helmet if you don't have one. I promise you won't regret it.

Improved

Yes, the process of getting a passport has certainly improved!

In fact it was painless.

A far cry from when I had to drive to the county courthouse, wait on long, long lines and then worry if my passport would be mailed back to me in time for my trip.

Today we went to the local library where a young man named Eugene took our son's picture, made sure everything on the application was just right, all in a timely fashion.

The best thing was-

he reminded me that my passport would be up for renewal in five months and that this may give me a problem on our trip to Europe.

Really?

Yes, according to Eugene, no problem going to Europe but it will be a hassle coming home. For some reason even though the passport is still valid reentry into the country can be sticky...

He suggested I renew.

I did.

Thank you Eugene.

Skiing in Utah!

I am stoked!

Even though my knee can act up, I am anticipating lots of long runs and tons of bumps.

Are any of you going to be in Utah skiing President's week?

Don't be shy. Let's meet for an apres de ski drink, doesn't have to be alcohol.

Although mine will be :)

I will be at Alta, Snowbird, Deer Valley, and Brighton.

At least that's the plan. I'm flexible.

I'm looking forward to visiting with family, skiing, a sale at my sister's, and quality time spent with my youngest.

And, possibly skiing with...

You!

Le saboteur

Is always... there.