Is so far filled with
Stockings yet to be touched
Four very filled stomachs crammed to the gills with scrambled eggs, pancetta, panatone, and hash browns
Christmas music enveloping the house,
Bloom Bread proofing in the oven
Neighbors sticking their noses out of their houses wondering why there is a smokey meat smell invading their houses at 9 in the morning
Phones blowing up with merry Christmas wishes
A blinding sun melting frost off the roof and grass
Curiosity as to what is under the wrapping paper of the gifts under the tree
A certain sadness since we are missing a sister
Another sadness since there will be no "pray for me" call to yiayia this year
Friday, December 25, 2009
Monday, December 14, 2009
Saturday, December 5, 2009
έχουν ένα καλό υπόλοιπο
After meeting some of her long time friends at her wake, I finally realized part of what I've always been told is true... I am almost exactly like my Yiayia (and I hope that I will always be).
Her wedding picture was up, and her greek girlfriends rearranged the chairs in the room to surround her and it. They were crying, talking, crying, talking, pointing, turning around to look at me and my father, gossiping, laughing, crying, talking, crying, talking, pointing, turning around to look at me, gossiping, laughing, crying and repeating the cycle again and again. After about the fifth time, I finally asked my father what they were saying, and it was "you look exactly like Yiayia".
It was something that I was always told but never saw myself... perhaps because I was too close to the situation, or because at the point where I finally started to look her hunched stature and gravity had made it a little to difficult for me to see the resemblance. But there, in that room, looking at her wedding picture I saw the resemblance, and I realized that I want the resemblance to go further than just our looks.
I was told things about my Yia Yia, things that I knew, like that she loved to have people around her and to talk for what seemed like forever. And things that I didn't know, like that she had a way of talking to people, listening to them, and remembering facts about them that nobody knew she retained. Her friends would be shocked when she called up two weeks later to make sure that doctors appointment of their nephew went ok. Information, and tidbits that her friends and nurses wouldn't remember telling her about, but her remembering specific details. She genuinely cared about not only these select few people that came religiously in the last few years to her home bound side, but about everyone that she was connected to- even if it was in the smallest way, like the pharmacist who she had never met. She not only cared about these people but they cared about her. She had a spark, and energy about her that caused people to genuiely carea bout her has well. Like that pharmasist, who she had never met face to face had expressed heartfelt concern and sympathy for our family's loss.
That is the part of her that I hope I will inheret or at least learn how to become, to care not only about my family and friends, but to care about every person that I come across in my life. I want to have that spark that she had, that enabled people to open up to her and get to know them, in a way that not many people do.
So from this trip that was meant to say have a good rest Yiayia, I left with more, a desire to be like her, not only in looks, but in heart, mind, and soul.
That is my hope. To be like my Yiayia, in more ways than one.
Her wedding picture was up, and her greek girlfriends rearranged the chairs in the room to surround her and it. They were crying, talking, crying, talking, pointing, turning around to look at me and my father, gossiping, laughing, crying, talking, crying, talking, pointing, turning around to look at me, gossiping, laughing, crying and repeating the cycle again and again. After about the fifth time, I finally asked my father what they were saying, and it was "you look exactly like Yiayia".
It was something that I was always told but never saw myself... perhaps because I was too close to the situation, or because at the point where I finally started to look her hunched stature and gravity had made it a little to difficult for me to see the resemblance. But there, in that room, looking at her wedding picture I saw the resemblance, and I realized that I want the resemblance to go further than just our looks.
I was told things about my Yia Yia, things that I knew, like that she loved to have people around her and to talk for what seemed like forever. And things that I didn't know, like that she had a way of talking to people, listening to them, and remembering facts about them that nobody knew she retained. Her friends would be shocked when she called up two weeks later to make sure that doctors appointment of their nephew went ok. Information, and tidbits that her friends and nurses wouldn't remember telling her about, but her remembering specific details. She genuinely cared about not only these select few people that came religiously in the last few years to her home bound side, but about everyone that she was connected to- even if it was in the smallest way, like the pharmacist who she had never met. She not only cared about these people but they cared about her. She had a spark, and energy about her that caused people to genuiely carea bout her has well. Like that pharmasist, who she had never met face to face had expressed heartfelt concern and sympathy for our family's loss.
That is the part of her that I hope I will inheret or at least learn how to become, to care not only about my family and friends, but to care about every person that I come across in my life. I want to have that spark that she had, that enabled people to open up to her and get to know them, in a way that not many people do.
So from this trip that was meant to say have a good rest Yiayia, I left with more, a desire to be like her, not only in looks, but in heart, mind, and soul.
That is my hope. To be like my Yiayia, in more ways than one.
έχουν μια καλή Yia Yia ανάπαυσης (have a good rest Yiayia) you deserve it.
comparison photo will be posted soon.
comparison photo will be posted soon.
Thursday, November 26, 2009
thanksgiving day menu
BREAKFAST
Toast
Toast
Selection of Cheeses
Coffee
LUNCH SPREAD
Mozzarella rolled with prosciutto and basil
Gourmet hot dog pigs in a blanket
Brie
Crostini with pesto and ages Parmesan
Selection of salamis
Hot croissant ham and cheese sangwiches
Mixed olives
Peperoncinis
Beer
MID AFTERNOON SNACK
Aged english cheddar
Toasted flat bread crackers
Stuffed mushrooms
Wine, beers, and mixed coctails
DINNER
Grilled Turkey
Orange Cranberry Sauce
A selection of Sesame, poppy seed, and salt crispy bread sticks
Cranberry Stuffing
Poblano pepper cornbread
Gravy
Selection of roasted vegetables
Balsamic Green beans
Wine and some more wine then some more wine
DESERT
Pumpkin Pie
Hazelnut Chocolate Pie
Both served with Vanilla Bean Whipped Cream
Peach Champagne (WOOOOO)
and homemade limoncello
LUNCH SPREAD
Mozzarella rolled with prosciutto and basil
Gourmet hot dog pigs in a blanket
Brie
Crostini with pesto and ages Parmesan
Selection of salamis
Hot croissant ham and cheese sangwiches
Mixed olives
Peperoncinis
Beer
MID AFTERNOON SNACK
Aged english cheddar
Toasted flat bread crackers
Stuffed mushrooms
Wine, beers, and mixed coctails
DINNER
Grilled Turkey
Orange Cranberry Sauce
A selection of Sesame, poppy seed, and salt crispy bread sticks
Cranberry Stuffing
Poblano pepper cornbread
Gravy
Selection of roasted vegetables
Balsamic Green beans
Wine and some more wine then some more wine
DESERT
Pumpkin Pie
Hazelnut Chocolate Pie
Both served with Vanilla Bean Whipped Cream
Peach Champagne (WOOOOO)
and homemade limoncello
Friday, November 13, 2009
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
yippie for TRUE AUTUMN WEATHER!!
is Washington bound in a few days!
So excited to be back in weather where people aren't decked out in skiing gear once the thermometer hits 60!!
So excited to be back in weather where people aren't decked out in skiing gear once the thermometer hits 60!!
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
parent teacher conferences.
today was HECTIC at work... the kids have half days of school monday through wednesday this week and then no school thursday and friday for parent teacher conferences and then fall break so we're offering extended CARE hours and all day CARE on thursday friday, not so lovely for my sanity but oh so lovely for my bank account!
anyway today the kiddos we're going INSANE and i was trying to figure out an activity to do with them to keep them entertained.... and that activity turned out to be fully body outlining (remember when you would lie down on butcher paper and your teacher would trace your body and you got to color it in and stuff) anyway it started out with 5 kids... ok i could handle tracing 5 kids, then it turned into 20. Seriously tracing 20 kids.... and keeping an eye on the non tracers who decide that its super fun to run around with sissors telling other kids to "come look at MINE!!"
oh. man.
then when i was at the preschool with audrey (the special needs girl that i'm there to support) she decides that she wants to play the game that she plays with her dad (where she hits him on the head and he falls on the floor in fake pain) with me.... oh no ma'am that game does not fly with me so when she didn't like the result of me not falling just signing stop she decided that pinching would be the best way to achieve the fall on the floor in fake aganoy, seriously mom time to trim the girls nails.... i have bruises from this tiny little twirp who just learned how to walk on her own.
anyway the day is over and in two weeks from friday i will have a wonderfully large paycheck to put towards the seattle trip. POSTIVE THINKING.
love.
anyway today the kiddos we're going INSANE and i was trying to figure out an activity to do with them to keep them entertained.... and that activity turned out to be fully body outlining (remember when you would lie down on butcher paper and your teacher would trace your body and you got to color it in and stuff) anyway it started out with 5 kids... ok i could handle tracing 5 kids, then it turned into 20. Seriously tracing 20 kids.... and keeping an eye on the non tracers who decide that its super fun to run around with sissors telling other kids to "come look at MINE!!"
oh. man.
then when i was at the preschool with audrey (the special needs girl that i'm there to support) she decides that she wants to play the game that she plays with her dad (where she hits him on the head and he falls on the floor in fake pain) with me.... oh no ma'am that game does not fly with me so when she didn't like the result of me not falling just signing stop she decided that pinching would be the best way to achieve the fall on the floor in fake aganoy, seriously mom time to trim the girls nails.... i have bruises from this tiny little twirp who just learned how to walk on her own.
anyway the day is over and in two weeks from friday i will have a wonderfully large paycheck to put towards the seattle trip. POSTIVE THINKING.
love.
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