My Two Favorite Pictures in the Whole World

Here are my two favorite pictures. One is from Francesca's birth and the other is from Martina's Birth. Warning...they are intimate pictures that tell a story and capture a moment and there might be a little bit of boob showing. So if you'd find that disturbing look away.

















Francesca's Birth



Martina's Birth

Pics of the New Arrival

Martina Kikisa Pecora was born on Aug 19th at 9:41 pm. 7 lbs 13 oz, 21 inches.

Mother's Day/Father Day Recap- and Recycling

We are pretty low key here for Mother's Day/Father's Day. We just like to spend time together and not spend a lot of money on material gifts. Not because it's all the rage (with the recession and all it seems everyone is into saving money, simplifying) we have always done it that way. That's just how we roll. Some people call it cheap or lacking in forethought...we like to call it living a meaningful/ purposeful life and enjoying the moment. It's all how you look at it (and what type of access you have to a thesaurus).

For Mother's Day I went to Orchard Supply Hardware, spent $30 dollars on things we needed anyhow and got the free Orchid corsage. I love corsages and think we should make this an annual tradition for Mother's Day. So keep it up OSH cuz we are too cheap to buy one and would never plan ahead to order one from a florist. I mean we are too busy living with purpose and meaning. Paolo and Francesca also bought me the white tulips.







(Weird, as I am writing this an OSH commercial came on).

For Father's Day, Francesca and I made Paolo a crown and then she wanted one too. So here they are with their crowns. I made them wear them all day. Again, I think we have stumbled onto a family tradition. Plus I am recycling our grocery bags.




If I can re-use something I feel all good about myself. We are the type of people who go to a birthday party with oddly wrapped gifts. Mountains of beautifully wrapped gifts and ours sits among them...tin foil, brown paper bag. That's us. You'd think I'd feel embarrassed but no...the only thing I feel is moral superiority. That's how I roll. Take THAT evil, thoughtless consumers!

Gifts from a recent Birthday party we attended.




This is the gift we gave. Recycled brown paper bag which Francesca colored.



Ok, I'm not that good of a person. I just do it when it's convenient. We were out of wrapping paper (again...I was living in the moment). At heart, I am a consumer and must fight the urge to buy things that I do not need.

Now, Paolo really is superior about recycling/reusing. A few weeks ago he made this....






Yes, that' s a canister vacuum (at least 20 years old held together with lots of duct tape) with a garden extension cord. The cord on the vacuum was frayed (dangerous). The garden extension cord was cut in two (a gardening accident...I swear I want to fire our gardener. She does a terrible job and has a bad attitude*)


So, Paolo took two non-working things and made them into one working thing. He is such a MacGyver. We are so please with ourselves about this. Seriously. Proud. Is that sad?


*I'm the gardener. So while I'm at it I'd like to fire the cleaning lady, too. She's kind-of bitchy these days.

39

I awoke the morning of my 39th birthday to a breakfast of waffles made from scratch by Paolo. We can't really celebrate my day since I have Graduation tonight and will work until 8pm so this morning's surprise was a wonderful way to start my day. Of course, I did not take a picture so this internet image will have to suffice.

I would like to be able to indulge in my birthday tradition of buying Paolo a shirt on my birthday. Not since the Lira changed to the Euro has he bought himself something to wear. The man has no clothes and refuses to buy any so I use any excuse to buy him clothes. His birthday, my birthday, Francesca's birthday...all excuses ...I mean....occasions to buy Paolo some textiles.

Anyhow, I have had many calls and Facebook wishes and it's been really nice. I'm not the kind of person who needs a lot of hoopla but acknowledgment is wonderful. I even scored some homemade lemon curd from my birthday twin, Elizabeth. BTW a birthday twin is someone who has the same birthday as you...I got her nothing ;( becasue I suck. It's not like a forgot it was her birthday it just didn't occur to me to get her something. She's a much nicer person than I (shut-up Ryan and Danny...I heard you saying "Who isn't?")

Demotivators

"Blogging. Never Before have so many people with so little to say said so much to so few"


Need a laugh? You can view this and other hilarious demotivators here.

Two more of my favorites:






When you wish upon a falling star, your dreams can come true. Unless it's really a meteorite hurtling to the Earth which will destroy all life. Then you're pretty much hosed no matter what you wish for. Unless it's death by meteor.





Hard work often pays off after time, but laziness always pays off now.

San Miguel

I mentioned our building in San Miguel in my last post. A few years ago we bought a commercial property in San Miguel. As with most things real estate related, it took much more time and money than we thought it would to renovate. And don't get me started about the economy and how hard it is to fill commercial buildings right now. But I digress.

San Miguel is the kind of town where, on Sunday mornings, the coffee shop is not open but the bar is. It's got it's own rustic charm. We really enjoy visiting. The town has seen some improvements in the past few years. It's fun to watch happen and even more fun to be a small part of it. Over the years Paolo has gotten to know most everyone in town. When he walks down the street everyone knows him which is very different from our suburban existence where we barley know our neighbors names. No seriously, I can't remember what their names are. John and Laura? No. Give me a minute. I'll get it.


Here is the "before" picture taken when we first bought the building a few years ago. It was a diner for many years. It also housed a Mexican Restaurant at one time. Before that it was a 1950's movie theater. Most anyone in town will tell you the building's history, the where abouts of it's prior occupants, ect. And now the good people of San Miguel can add our names to the building's lore.





Here is the "after" shot




Here is a close-up of the Laundry we co-own with a partner who lives in San Miguel and does the day to day running of the business.






And here is a picture of the Grand Opening of the Laundry held last September. It was hot as well....San Miguel. The local Spanish-speaking radio station was there and we grilled hot dogs and went through lots of water and sodas. The opening of the Laundry was a big deal not only to us but to the town. Even the people who do not use it stop Paolo and tell him how 1) happy they are to have the laundry in town (prior to the opening people had to drive 8 miles to the next town to do their laundry) and 2) pleased that the laundry is a nice, clean, well-maintained space. The town is full of empty lots and empty building so to have the building renovated with a new business in it is a boost.






So that's our San Miguel project. We didn't really know what we were in for when we bought it and never in our weirdest dreams thought we'd be the proprietors of a laundry but we're just rolling with it. It's one of those interesting turns life takes.

Dan and Loretta!

Weekend in Paso Robles

We spent the weekend in Paso Robles with my parents, my brother Danny and his wife Kristin. A good time was had by all. It was hot but we survived by seeking out shade and cool-white wines. Well, I was the designated driver so just the shade for me. On Friday night we went out to a wonderful restaurant, Artisan. If you are in the area it's worth checking out. Here is Francesca and Sylvia (my mom) and Mick (my dad).


On Saturday we checked out our building in San Miguel, drove to Pomar winery where we had a lovley tasting and lunch then hit the Paso Wine festival. In my heat induced stooper I neglected to take any photos the entire day. I had to keep telling Paolo to get out there and DRINK because he had $55 worth of 1 ounce tastes of wine to cover.

We met some of Danny's friends and their three kids who are, like, the best kids I have ever met.

On Sunday, Mick and Sylvia hit the road early (as usual). Danny and Kristin went with us to Avila Beach for lunch. After the 100+ temps inland, the 65 degree weather felt mighty nice. Here is a picture Paolo took of Danny and his dog, Luther. Paolo often claims to be taking a picture of a building but he's really secretly taking a picture of someone. Who knows why he does it. We have dozens of these.




I'm just kidding about Paolo taking pictures of people. He really was taking a picture of the building and Danny got in the frame. But since I forgot to take pictures this is the only one we have of that day. So just go with it.

Francesca

This is Francesca. She's 2 1/2. When she pee-pees in the toilet it's yellow. But she wants it to be blue.