you are not here

~ UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS, URBANA ~

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Happy Monday Friends!

Tonight, unbeknownst to you, I will be getting ready to fly home from Illinois!

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Davy's girlfriend Taylor and I are going on an adventure to visit Davy & Daniel!

First we will stay in Urbana for 2 days at the boys' apartment.....

then all 4 of us will be traveling to Chicago for 2 more days - YAY!

 WOOT!

Here's a view of the skyline/Navy Pier from the water

 We're staying at the Hyatt right on the Magnificent Mile in downtown Chicago!

 This is one of the attractions I hope to see in real life!

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Hang tight and have a great week!
I'll tell you all about it - with my own pics - when I get back!
Can't wait to see my boys! :)

!viva la revolucio'n!

I didn't know this, but apparently my son Davy is really Che Guevara.

Had I known this, I could have used it to all kinds of advantages - some more legal than others.

And it also explains the poster in Matty's room, a lot of things about Davy I mean Che.

All right, all right..... 

Davy was in a Criterion Collection contest to look like a character from one of their movies :)

I think he did a FAB JOB!!!

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And speaking of Davy and movies, I need to be a proud mom for a minute and announce that

one of Davy's films was recently accepted into Chicago's International Film Festival!

 Way to go Davy! So excited for  you!

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Happy Friday everyone!

all kinds of wheels

 I finally have the pleasure to announce that the Mouse got his driving permit!

It took him a few years to accept that I meant what I said about good grades and would not cave in.

So I'm proud of him for dealing with it, and proud of him for his terrific grades.....

..... and SUPER proud of him for being such an awesome driver! Ten and two baby!

 Yeah, I could really get used to being chauffeured around.....

..... especially when it includes the Jimmy Dean's Drive-Thru :D

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In other Mouse news, I completely forgot to mention he got a dirt bike for his birthday last month.

The thing is a BEAST and it scares me.

And one more news flash of Mouse news, he and Tom had a little..... mishap, you might say.

You can see by it's roll bars that it's now a little, shall we say, wonky.

More directly, THEY ROLLED THE DUNE BUGGY W/O HELMETS ON and are lucky they only lost flesh!

This would have been the gash out of Tom's head.

They had just barely put the roll bar back on.

Boys...... sigh :/

bad kitty

 She thinks it's hers :/

 WHAT. THE. HECK. 

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!

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Happy Monday! :)

oh yes I did

 I've wanted one forever. YEARS.

I've had one in my hand at the Apple store at least 10 times. And walked out without one.

I just couldn't spend that kind of money on a cell phone. 

When the iPhone 5 came out I finally took the jump for the iPhone 4S.

Oh my gosh, I love it. I seriously love it.

Did I mention I LOVE IT!!!

I'll never look back.

 I'm also having a little problem with what I call 'phone outfits'..... 

It may or may not be more than just a little problem.

Let's just say my iPhone dressed up as a bear for Halloween.

And as you already know, I didn't even celebrate Halloween this year.

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Meh - there are worse things than 'phone outfits' :D

I LOVE MY iPHONE!!!

times

As in..... did you fall back this weekend? Complain if you must, but I love it :)

I had something really nice happen to me this weekend.

See those huge *BEAUTIFUL* roses next to my bed? 

My neighbor Tina said they were smiling at her in her garden, and they needed to come to me!

It made me so HAPPY! :)

I had a cold all weekend - Tina didn't even know! - and I had flowers to cheer me up!

THANK YOU my dear neighbor and friend!

Speaking of Tina, look at her and Ava on Halloween!

Miss Ava was the *CUTEST* little Minnie Mouse -

and Tina has a smile that lights up everyone's life! LOVE IT!

Seriously, have you EVER seen such an *ADORABLE* Minnie Mouse?! I think NOT!

And while we're mentioning roses, here are my last little blooms for the season (pink, just for Cindy!)

I hope you all had a great weekend!

chair of my dreams

Papa Bear chair by Hans Wegner

IN DA HOUSE

*BAM!*

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Happy Friday Everyone!

Shell & I are wicked

You know what these two sets of feet mean.

SHELL CAME TO VISIT!

She was barely off the plane and we got pedicures first thing!

 I also made her get extra piercings because I knew she wanted them :)

So after we took a class at the Apple store, we went straight inside the mall!

 Second piercings on both ears, plus a cartilage piercing up top - SO CUTE!

 Shell was here when we had our Velvet vs. Cake Goodness Girls Only Taste Test!

I so wish we had taken a pic of all 4 of us: Tori, Taylor, Shell & me - 

we had so much fun and laughed so hard we were dying :)

 We spent a lot of time with the Mouse, and really enjoyed his guitar playing

He has a killer acoustic version of "Blackbird" that he's just GOT to record!

 Then Shell & snuck off for the day and drove to Redondo Beach

 and did something we had planned on for months but hadn't told anyone.....

TWIN TATTOOS

 We searched and searched for something that would be meaningful to us both -

we found a Celtic symbol that is beautiful and means several things.....

Friends and Sisters Forever

 Shell got hers in black on the back of her neck - it looks AMAZING :)

I got mine on my forearm in turquoise - also amazing :)

FRIENDS AND SISTERS FOREVER :)

 Obviously Shell and I did LOTS of fun things together during the week she was here!

Shopping probably topped the list. Well, after the piercings. And tattoos. And seeing friends.

And we drove to Santa Monica so Shell could go to one of the Shabby Chic flagship stores :)

 So of course we HAD to drive to Pacific Palisades and visit the house I grew up in!

It had been nearly 40 years since Shell had seen it! 40 years! Oh, the fun we had here together :)

 Matty took some pics of us before we had to drive Shell to the airport, hehe

They make me happy and sad at the same time - I miss her so much already.

I love you Shell!!!