Shorts, Dresses and Board Shorts YES!

It's getting to be that time of year, the sun is now shining it's been slowly warming up and my family is wanting to hit the beach. This now officially puts me in PANIC mode. Another year of swearing that I will work out early and be "beach ready" is shot. I have not worked out at all. I usually at least try to work out at home a little bit to get rid of the jiggle. Nope not even that!

So as the Fourth of July approaches, I get to try and find something that hides my body for our annual bike ride and beach trip. I've been a little excited that those really long dresses with sandals are popular this year. But that wont do for our bike ride. I guess I'll need to find some extra long shorts to hide the "special" areas.

Here's a few options for you ladies who may have run into the same procrastination problem that I have.










See it's all in how you camouflage the areas...so if your panicking too, head out and pick your self up a few of these "MUST HAVE" items!

Back On My Feet

I was finally able to go back to work today...I guess that's a good thing?! You don't realize how sick of being sick I am! I hope this is my last one for a long time. Elijah was able to go to football practice too.

Now that I'm up its back to the crazy summer schedules. I just got back from picking Elijah up from practice (with his bike), and then went and picked up Josh from work (with his bike), it was pretty tricky trying to squeeze two beach cruiser's in the back of my car. After a few minutes of yelling at the boys to BE CAREFUL...didn't want the spokes broken or my car scratched up, it was off to pick up some food.

I called ahead to order the Pizza Hut Meaty Marinara Pasta (love it!), and when I got there it was supposed to be ready. Of course they couldn't find my order so we sat there for 25 min. I don't know what is going on lately but every time I go to a fast food place lately I end up having to wait FOREVER...guess my patience is being tested and I'm not passing.

Finally get home, ready to relax...nope, my ENTIRE house wreaks of ammonia (DOG PEE!) I swear it was so strong it burned my nose hair! Back out to the store to get carpet cleaner, powder, air freshener...and it still smells.

HAPPY MONDAY TO ME! Hope yours was better.

Father's Day, Nurse Maid and Things, Oh My!

I want to wish both my dad's a very HAPPY FATHER'S DAY! With both of them living in two separate states we never get to spend it together, however this year with the graduation so close to Father's Day we were able to have a big family dinner last week at The Crab Cooker in Newport Beach.

I wish we were all closer...I'm sometimes envious of other people's family's as I see all the other grandparents attending their grand kids sporting events. But it was definitely nice to all be together again for a little while!

I'm so grateful for my husband and want him to know how much I love and appreciate him! He has raised my boys as his own, coaching, teaching, loving and supporting them. Never missing an important event...even the dreaded track meets that he hates!LOL!


















He has been the only father in their lives and a WONDERFUL example! I love you honey!!

Last night Elijah was up all night with a really high fever. You know what that means...I was up all night taking care of him. I didn't feel comfortable leaving him alone today because he's been pretty out of it, not to mention two spinal taps in two weeks which is giving him severe headaches from the lack of fluid that they took out. So Anthony had to go to his dad's house with just his kids.

Hopefully Lijey gets better quick...his first high school football practice starts tomorrow and he's been looking forward to it. It's always a battle to earn a starting spot on our high schools top ranked football team. His health is #1 though.

I hope everyone had a GREAT day!!

Another Trip to ER Today

Against my better judgment I let Elijah stay the night at a his good friends house after an 8th grade graduation party. I got a call to pick him up this morning because he had a headache, fever & sore, stiff neck and back! Same symptoms that he had with his Meningitis.

Here's the thing...because of the mystery bacteria (Dr.'s not sure exactly which type to treat him for) they told me that if he has the same symptoms to get him back in immediately and they will re-treat him for a different type of bacterial meningitis.

Well, I of course I immediately started to cry, feeling like, "I can't go through this stress again." But wiped the tears and went in to comfort Elijah who was crying too. And no, I didn't let him know that I was upset.

We immediately went to the hospital again...they did a CT Scan, X-Ray, blood work, and the dreaded Spinal Tap AGAIN! Poor kid!! Well, 5 hours later we received the good news, it's just a viral infection, NOT MENINGITIS AGAIN! Praise the Lord!

I thought today was supposed to be a relaxing day for me??????

Paris and More...

June has been a whirlwind month for me. First Elijah's meningitis scare, high school graduation, visiting family, trip to Lake Arrowhead, jr. high graduation, Jullien's trip back to New York and now his trip to Paris for fashion week (This Sunday-July 8th). He got signed with the #1 modeling agency in Paris-Marilyn (MGM) and they posted his pic in their show package MODELS.COM.

Yesterday I was in an exceptionally good mood and my husband asked, "What's up with you, why are you so happy?" That made me stop and think, "I guess I haven't been the most pleasant person to be around this month!" I realized that my good mood was due to the fact that Elijah's Jr. High graduation signaled the end of my BUSY June! It was a come down of emotions of sorts. Without even realizing it, I was feeling a relief. Funny how we can get so bunched up.

It's Friday and after work I have NOTHING!

Here's a few picture recaps:


Jullien picking up a teacher as he heads up to get diploma



Elijah, My stepdad and Sister Amy

My mom and Jullien

Me & my childhood friend Tierna

Elijah, Jullien and Christian (his girlfriends brother)
Jullien (with new laptop) & Joshy

The boys and my dad

The cake my sister Stacy had made for party

Family visiting Grandpa in Lake Arrowhead


My stepmom and sister Stacy (girls day out in Balboa)

Elijah's 8th grade graduation





La Familia

Graduation lunch at Claim Jumper

I Survived

I made it through graduation...barely! It was so hectic trying to get everything ready. My sister cooked all the food and came over and set it all up for me while we were at the graduation...couldn't have done it without her. The graduation ran over and they changed my son's grad night time from 9 pm to 8 pm which gave him exactly 15 minutes to come in, say hi to everyone and then leave. Come to find out, they told the kids that they had to get there at that time but the bus didn't actually leave until 9:30p.m.!!! I was SO MAD...we had family that came from out of state to see him and only got to visit for 15 min.!

Another little dilemma came when we had the carpet cleaned on Monday and it didn't dry by graduation day, everyone was slipping on the hardwood floor. My dad walked on the carpet and then onto the hardwood floors to walk down the stairs, both feet slipped out from under him and he fell and hit his back and tailbone. He has the largest, blackest bruise I have ever seen. It is covering almost his entire back! He couldn't go golfing on Friday with everyone because it was so sore. I felt SO BAD!

It was a great turnout though, and all in all, everything went smooth. It is so nice having all the family together. I hate that everyone lives so far away.

One more graduation on Thursday for my youngest son, 8th grade graduation...much easier than HS Graduation.

One last thing, I got a surprise yesterday, me and Jullien took some shots of him practicing different posing angles. I sent them to his agent to see if he liked any certain poses/angles and he ended up posting them on his blog. I felt like a real photographer! Check them out RedNYC.Blogspot.

I Did It!

I'm so proud of myself...I set a goal to clean all day Saturday so I wouldn't be a raving B***** by Thursday for the graduation, and I actually did it. I had Adam and Elijah help, they scrubbed the walls (I thought that might teach them to not drag their dirty hands across the walls & help me at the same.) I scrubbed the fridge...found lots of old treats tucked away far in the back, growing some fuzz (my family is not to big on leftovers)...cleaned floor boards, my room and the bathroom. All the deep cleaning that I put off week after week. I still have more things to do, but I feel happy that I wont be trying to do all of it on the day of graduation.

Last night after I finished cleaning, the little guys (yes I'm referring to my 15 & 14 year olds), brought two girls home with them from the beach (one goes to high school with Adam). I assumed that one was for Adam (15) year old, he loves the ladies and is always on the hunt for a new one. I thought Elijah was just entertaining the friend so Adam could get to know his "little friend" better. They went to the pool and then came back to watch a movie. I kept going into the kitchen to "get things" and check on everyone...the hormones are raging at that age and I needed to keep an eye on the whole situation, LOL.

Today I found out that Elijah liked the girl that goes to Adam's high school and Adam liked the friend. So here's the thing, Elijah's in 8th grade and I'm not to sure about the older woman thing! I know I NEVER would've liked someone younger than me, most girls go for the older guys.

Why do they have to grow up?

Oh guess what, I sold my very first item on EBay. I had the kids clean out their closet and I listed two pairs of shorts...the Quicksilver shorts sold for 3.99. I was so excited...until I noticed the snaps on one of the pockets was broken. So I panicked and thought, "GREAT...my very first item and if I send it out like this I will get a bad rating and no one will buy from me in the future. So I jumped in my car, ran to a few cleaners until one of them said they could fix it. Now I pick them up on Monday to mail out...and it will cost me about $5.00!!! So I'm going to be paying someone to give them some shorts!LOL! Only in my world (I'm quite the entrepreneur don't ya think?) Give me a call if you need some help losing money!!hahahaha! I definitely learned a lesson, and I will be checking and re-checking everything before I list it. I always have to learn lessons the hard way. Well enough of my ramblings, I'm going to actually try to go to bed early for a change!

New York, Cleaning & Graduation

We have a busy week ahead of us...luckily I finally got my massage yesterday, it was AMAZING! Now I'm ready for the crazy week. Jullien leaves for a quick trip to New York again. He has his last final tomorrow and then on Tuesday he has his MANDATORY graduation walk through. Which means he fly's out on Sat. at 7:00 a.m, may have a photo shoot on Sunday and then a HUGE audition on Monday (can't say who yet because I don't want to jinx it...LOL). Then jumps on a plane Monday evening to be back for his walk through.

I have tons of cleaning to do and I am the world's worst procrastinator. All the family and friends will be coming over for an Open House Graduation party next Thursday, immediately following the graduation ceremony. My house has gotten so out of control that I don't know where to even begin. Do you ever feel like that? You start cleaning and then get overwhelmed and think, "What's the use!" This happens to me just about every weekend. Now I don't have a choice, so Saturday I'll take Jullien to the airport and then come home and get started (window washing, dusting, shredding all the piles of stacked paper...you know, the fun stuff).

Is it time for my vacation yet?

Wouldn't Ya Know It!

Today was my first day back to work after my "isolation" last week with my son in the hospital. My neck was KILLING me all day...don't worry it's not meningitis, it's something much worse......OLD AGE! Sleeping on those hospital chair/foldout beds has my neck so messed up.

Driving home from work I remembered that my wonderful husband gave me a gift certificate to my favorite massage therapy place. I was thinking about it the whole way home from work as I kept reaching back to massage the huge lumps lining my vertebrae trying to ease my throbbing headache.

I picked up Elijah from school, drove a little too fast trying to get home to change and head over to get some relief. Elijah chatted away (he's actually excited to be back at school after his hospital stay). In the hospital one day he told me, "Mom, I'm tired of "OLD PEOPLE" conversation, I need to talk to my friends." "What are you talking about...I'm a young, cool mom!" I quickly shot back a little hurt that he thinks I'm old AND boring! "Well sorry but you are old now and we've spent to much time together this week," he replied with a smirk trying to make it seem like a joke. "Whatever Lije, you should be happy your not staying here all alone, and I know I'm a fun mom so you can't fool me!" He is a smart boy and left it at that.

Now where was I? Did I mention that I only got four hours of sleep last night? I'm out of my calcium magnesium, which is a natural cure to help you sleep, along with my neck pain. Okay sorry, I'm all over the place today!

So I get home check my e-mails change into my comfortable clothes, jump in the car and head over already visualizing how I will fall asleep during the massage and kill two birds with one stone. I go inside and see two ladies in front of me, "Sorry we are running a little behind can you come back at five?" says the man behind the counter. I'm a little worried...I don't have an appt. and for some reason they seem to be really busy. I ask him if he has any openings. "No, not today, we started running specials, 1 hr. massage for $20.00 on Tuesdays if you bring a friend. We have been really booked up." I YIGH YIGH...wouldn't ya know it!