Happy Days...

...are here again! [Music and Lyrics by J. Yellen and M. Ager]

So, to finish off the STRESS SAGA... I talked to my boss, who was very reasonable. I'm going to take of the last week of the year & carry over 2 weeks into January. Fingers crossed the condo actually closes this time!

Other wedding updates: Hired the florist, hired the photographer, Mom got her dress! She's gonna look so smashing! I'm so happy for her. :-)

Oh & best of all... it's snowing!!! I celebrated my birthday this week. Many thanks to all who celebrated with me, in person or afar. I felt your love from around the globe. It snowed for my birthday, too. But today, it's really coming down. I might just have to go build a snowman! Yippee!

I'm boring.

This page is my proof.

Stress

Stress:
6. a. A mentally or emotionally disruptive or upsetting condition occurring in response to adverse external influences and capable of affecting physical health, usually characterized by increased heart rate, a rise in blood pressure, muscular tension, irritability, and depression.

Well, lately, I feel extremely metally disrupted. It's crazy. I was telling Carol on Monday that I could actually FEEL my blood pressure was high. So, after a couple of days of that, I ended up with total & utter exhaustion. This, of course, came just in time for my dear mother's visit for the Thanksgiving holiday. Nothing like great timing.

Speaking of Mom.... now there'sa woman who's had her share of stress. She's finally getting over a really nasty bout of shingles. After all she's been through, I could probably stand to learn a few coping techniques from her.

Let me back up a bit to explain why I'm so stressed. The obvious answer is the new condo & the wedding. The more detailed answer has to do with certain aspects of each.

The condo is easy to explain: the builders have been giving us the run around about a closing date. First they said Nov. 22. When Nov. came around, we took a look at the project & said to ourselves, "there is NO WAY that place will be complete on time." However the builders, who like to live in this blissful world of denial refused to fess up to this dire situation. So, at our urging, we got them to agree to at least move the closing back to Dec. 9. Why waste a day's vacation when you know it's not gonna happen, right? So, just as we are finally done with all the back & forth on setting that date & working on a walk-thru date.... we get a letter from them that says, hey, guess what? We're not ready & we have to move everyone's close dates (AGAIN). So now we're scheduled for Jan. 2. I have to think this is a much more realistic date. However, with all the run around we've gotten from them, I simply can't get myself to feel at ease about this whole thing. Now this wouldn't normally cause me so much stress, except for the following: I saved all of my 2005 vacation for this moment. Plan is, we'd close & I'd paint & decorate. Now, Dec. 9 was pushing it, but still allowed me to take those 3 weeks I have. Now that we're closing in 2006, this put a whole new twist into the equation. Now I have to negotiate with my boss to carry over all or part of my vacation into 2006. Why not just take the 3 weeks now &then use some of my 2006 vacation, you might ask? Well, because I'll need all of that for (that's right, you guessed it), the wedding!

Speaking of which... here's source #2 of my Stress:

1. We had our tasting last week. Results were not good. Now this is one of (if not THE) highest rated restaurants in Westchester county. So the fact that the food wasn't good completely hit me from left field. I know they say there's always something that goes wrong with every wedding. But this was certainly not one that I was planning on. Nor am I willing to accept. Heck b/w Alec & me, half of our family is Italian. The food MUST be good!!! And there must be lots of it!! I met with my contact at the restaurant yesterday & made it clear to her that I am not happy with the situation. We made several revisions to the menu. Alec & I will have a second tasting next Wednesday night. Fingers crossed.
2. It's possible that we'll have too many guests for the space. I refuse to even think about this.
3. As must be with all things. $$$$$$ I'm having a really hard time managing the budget on this baby. I don't think I'm being extravagant in anything that I'm doing. The problem is that I failed to keep the guest list down in the beginning. That and the fact that this in NY. I'm a KY girl living in a NY expensed world. The dollar figures on everything are horrendous. I think I'm just going to have to figure out a way to live with the fact that things cost a lot more up here. I can't figure out how to cut costs any lower than what I've already got. Believe me, I've looked around. Ugh.

Hey, on the subject of money... Did I mention we're buying a new condo? Oh, and we're going to need to furnish it. Oh and the holidays are coming.

Smoking Stinks

Literally. There have been so many people in my life who smoke. It's a nasty rotten habit that has no redeeming qualities whatsoever. I've seen them struggle to quit countless times. How can I help them? I don't know, but I refuse to give up the quest.

If you're trying to quit smoking, here's a few resources:
www.smokefree.gov
www.lungusa.org

Good luck. And remember, it's worth the struggle. Don't let this habit kill you.

Bridesmaids, Bridesmaids Everywhere!

Or at least the gowns were. I subjected poor Anne-Marie to trying on every dress in the tri-state area. In the end, we came up with a winner & she remained my friend & maid of honor! How lucky can a girl get??? I'd post a picture but I think I'd rather keep everyone in suspense. Besides, I think there's probably some copyright issues involved. (something only a true geekgirl would think of!) Sorry gang.

Did somebody say Pool Party??

WAHOOOOOOOOOOOO!














Labor Day was awesome. We had too many burgers... AGAIN! I really suffer from the Italian "get too much food for your guests" syndrome. Thanks to all my ancestors!

Even Milo had fun hanging out, as captured by Anne-Marie:

Taj Mahal

I recently had the good fortune to visit the Taj Mahal and here's proof:

Completely wilted in the August heat at the Taj 

It was really hot and took about 4 hours by car to get there. It was really amazing & I'm glad I spent the time and money to do it. Who knows if I'll ever get to go back, right? Amazing how white it is, huh? The palace is made of a non-porous marble, which is how it stays so bright.

Save-the-Date and other wedding items

Ok, so it's been WAY too long since I posted anything... Sorry. And the thing is that there have been SOOOOOO many things going on. I'll do my best to recover. The problem is that when things get busy, I don't have the time to write. When I have the time to write, I don't have anything interesting to write about! It's a dilemma. Oh well. I'll get over it. Let's move on.

Last month witnessed a major event... I finalized the wedding guest list & mailed out the Save-the-Date notices. Pretty cool, huh? What a relief!

On another note... I found the dress! wahooooooo! So, I'd tell you all about it & post a picture, but my future Mr. might happen upon this site & read all about it/see it. So as not to destroy the surprise, you'll just have to wait and see.

Some Sad News

Some of you may know that the people who drive down Barnes Lane are often going quite fast. There have been several minor accidents on this road since I've moved here. This morning at 6AM we heard screeching tires & a loud bang. So we knew there had been another incident. Our first concern is to be sure that no one is injured. Then we leave it to the professionals to take care of the rest. Although the driver was unhurt this morning, I'm sad to say that Oscar did not survive. The driver was going very fast & swerved to try to miss him. He failed. He must have been going extremely fast, because his car continued another several hundred feet before it hit a telephone pole further down the road. It happened very fast & I'm confident that Oscar did not suffer. He probably didn't even see the car. Regardless, it's a very sad day & we will miss him dearly.

Back on track

I picked up our save-the date notices last week. They came out really well & I can't wait to send them out. I've spent many hours pouring over the guest list & trying to make sure I get all the details right. I think I've got most of the issues on my side of the list covered. That was the easy part! Now I have to work on Alec's side of the list. That's had to wait, though, as Alec's parents are out of the country. They will be back tomorrow. Yippee! Once Carol is home, I'll be able to go over the list with her & verify everything's correct. There are a lot of international addresses and I want to make sure I have the format correct.

Once that's all settled, it's just a matter of geting the stamps that I ordered on line from the US Postal Service and printing out the mailing labels. I picked up some clear mailing lables by Avery that I hope work out well. I didn't think these announcements were worth the extra printing cost for each envelope to be addressed by the printer. We'll save the niceties for the invites.

I've finally gotten motivated to get back into shape. I think it was the save-the-date notices that got to me. Anyway, I'm back on Weight Watchers. Today is only my third day, but there's already a noticable difference. I've not weighed myself since Monday & only plan to do so once a week. My clothes feel looser, though. Monday was the hardest day. I think my stomach growled all day. I snapped at Alec, too. He's always talking about food. I just couldn't take it anymore. Other than that, he's been really supportive. The real test will be when Chuck & Carol get back. It's going to be hard because Carol is always cooking such great meals. I'll just have to be careful about my portions.

I've also been exercising... which has been extremely hard as there has been a heat wave this week. I knew it was bad when the weather icons from my forecast fox browser plug-in turned into red sweltering thermometers. It was scary! Anyway, so most of my weight loss is probably from sweating! Ich!

Good news on the running front... I really should thank Laura Broenniman. She's the one who motivated me to get back into running. There's a half marathon in Ridgefield in October. I thought that would be a good goal. Right now, I can barely run 4 miles without dying. I'll get there. To think I used to be able to run more than 15 miles at a clip! I've really gotten out of shape! I'll get back though.

Laura & are are going running at the Mianus River Park on Saturday morning. I told her how out of shape I am. However, I don't think she completely understands how seriously out of shape I am. She's gonna find out! Hahahaha!

International Marketing Class

I had my first day of International Marketing class at Palisades today. The cases (Dell direct model v. IBM.com) are quite interesting. However, I don't feel like I've learned anything yet. Hopefully tomorrow will be more productive.

As is usually the case with these type events, it was really great to see some old friends & catch up on everyone's lives.

The food at the Palisades is really good. I need to have more self control. Oh, the will power!!!! :(

Party On!

So, I finally got around to sending out the evite for the big party. I need to take down the poll. I'll do that tomorrow. Hope we have good weather & good turn out.

More pictures of the house

So, now that I've finally been motivated, I have updated the site with some pictures that were taken around the property about 3 weeks ago. Life is getting back to normal...

Here's a really nice picture of Alec & his mom, Carol. 

Here's a view of the deck. 

Carol asked me to help with some of the gardening around the house. Here are some of the planters I made for her on the back deck. 

Carol is always putting fresh flowers around the house. I think it such a nice touch. 

Here's the table that Carol set for when my mom and her husband, Tom, came to visit. Isn't it beautiful? 

The Wedding Plant

I'm a bit behind on my posts... Here's what this whole site was originally about: Mom & Tom got Carol & Chuck a beautiful peony bush. The following are pictures of the final result. Chuck & Carol refer to it as "The Wedding Plant". We look forward to enjoying it's springtime blooms for many years to come.

 

 

 

 

I'm back

So, I'm back in the office today. I slept pretty hard about two nights ago. Still I feel like I've been hit by a Mack truck. :(

At least I'm catching up on all the e-mail that I received while I was out last week.

Happy Hour in NYC tonight. I'm going to enjoy a well deserved Amstel Light.

A few thoughts

I have to admit that I was really floored by the loss of my grandfather. I know it must seem selfish. In all reality, it is. Gramps was one month away from being 94. He lived a long, fruitful & very happy life. This fact is best demonstrated by the fact that the body that was to be seen lying in the casket at the wake looked nothing like the man I knew. The simple reason behind that is that for all the 36 years that I knew him, he was always smiling.

Gramps had a beautiful smile. Just check out the picture posted below.

So, why was I so surprised? I'd just seen him about 2 weeks before he passed away. He was energetic, simling & joking (as always) and sharp as a tack. I remember commenting on the car trip home how that despite his age, he seemed healthy as a horse. It was amazing. I guess that's why, when shortly thereafter I learned that he'd been admited to the hospital for a bleeding ulcer, I really didn't think much of it. Afterall, Gramps had been through this before. His ulcer was healed by Sunday night. But I think he'd had enough. He'd been ready to go for a long time. I just wasn't ready to let go. I'm still not.

I feel amazingly lucky to have had him for as long as I did. He was a very special man, as was my grandmother. I prefer to think of them finally reunited in the afterlife.

There has been another thing that has floored me over the last several days. It's the pure generousity and kindness of those around me. For a man of 94, I really didn't expect too many people to still be around to send Gramps off. Boy was I wrong! I am truly touched by the consideration of those who took the time from their busy day to visit with Gramps & with our family. In an era where there is never enough time to do anything, the fact that so many were willing to put their lives on hold for a few moments of quiet with us did not go unappreciated.

Finally, I must say that I am so very touched by the generosity of my future brother-in-law, Chris. Despite the fact that he was in the middle of putting together a company celebration for Klipmart, he took the time to send me one of the most beautiful bouquets of flowers that I've ever received. This, as well as Alec & his parents attendance at the wake & funeral really made me feel so happy to soon become a member of their family. I love them all so dearly.

And just when I thought everything had quieted down, I received a lovely basket of houseplants & stargazers from my best friend Anne-Marie. Despite whatever difficulties she may be facing right now, she too, took the time to look out for me.

I feel so amazingly blessed. Thank you all.

Mary, Tracy, John, Jack, Natalie & Gramps at Natalie's birthday party, July 2004.

A goodbye to Gramps

My grandfather passed away last Sunday night. My uncle sent out the following e-mail about him today. I thought he did a really nice job of summing things up:

All,

On behalf of the Mitro family, thank you for your expressions of condolences and the beautiful flowers for my Dad, "Rocky" [aka Caesar Rocco Mitro].

For those of you who never met him, he was a simple man who lived a long life of 93 and 11/12th years, on his own terms, with humility, humor and love.

Although he was a man of very modest means, he was a very rich family man of life-long friendships. He was loved by all, and during his lifetime he loved and helped countless thousands of friends, neighbors, and strangers in ways we will never know.

As he told those who were with him on the afternoon before he died, ”I have lived a wonderful life, I have a loving family, and many friends whom I loved and who loved me. It’s now time for me to go”. And in spite of the protestations of those around him, he went to sleep that evening and passed peacefully without pain or reservation.

He will be missed, and as we mourn his passing, we celebrate his life and the joy he brought to all of ours.

God bless you Gramps!

Pictures taken for a planting

These are some general pictures that I took today to give you a feel for the immediate area to be planted. I also took some wider shots to give you a feel of the overall landscape & what the house looks like.

Planting to be just in front of the end of this fence

Taken from the pool area (across the lawn)

From across the lawn (with the house)

A good shot of the house & the upper barn

Close up of the planting area

The house

Along the fence line