WHAT'S IN A NAME

I introduced myself to someone today at work. 

I looked down at her name tag as I was shaking her hand, and said:  Cynthia, that should be easy to remember, my sister's name is Cynthia, she was very special to me.


She then told me her story.  When she came to this country she was in a refugee camp.  She spoke no English.  She said that one of the people who helped her so much in the camp did not speak her language but they had the ability to communicate with each other and that she felt a very special bond with this woman.  When she became a citizen she was asked what she would like her name to be.  She wanted to honor this woman, so she chose her name.  She said that her only regret was that she had lost touch with her and was never able to tell her what she had done.


We hear all the time, I am named after...I am naming my baby after.  In my case, I named my son after my father.


Can you imagine having such an impact on someone's life that when given a choice they would want your name?  Who would you be??



 

GOING CRUISING

Jorge Cruise is handsome, charming, and inspiring.  He is the author of many of my favorite "Diet Reads"...since I do not actually diet or exercise, I now just refer to them "reads."


He is the author of...Eight Minutes in the Morning....

which I would gladly give him...as well as





...the very popular  "Flat Belly Cure"

 which is something to which I aspire...

and, the latest, the "3-Hour Diet"..

 

a time constraint that I can probably stick with.

I admit to having most (or all) of these books tucked away, packed with my fantasies of actual abdominal muscles rather than fat globules...kind of like the ugly stepsisters keeping Cinderella hidden, just like my stomach muscles are currently.

So Jorge was in the store today with his family and lo and behold he is ordering my favorite lunch of all time...

Chocolate cake

Vanilla Ice Cream

Smothered in Chocolate Syrup 

At least I order it for lunch...he had it as an appetizer!  

So there!! 

We eat the same thing...he looks like that...and me, well, I still do not have a flat belly.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HENRY!!

This has been a big year for Henry.

He has lost 68 pounds this year.

He ran 6.8 miles last week.

He has done so many 5Ks I have lost count.

He is in training for a half-marathon.

He still has odd taste in clothes.

What could this year possibly hold for him??

A trip to his new most favorite store in the world...

Perhaps a new pair of running shoes...

 ...where we met Betsy...

Then on to Nozomi for...

 Dinner with Betsy.

 I got him tickets to "MY RUN" a movie about a 57-year old man who ran 75 marathons in 75 days...true story.

Hoping that this will dissuade him from the inevitable...

if I ran 2 I can run 3

If I ran 3 I can run 5

If I ran 5 I can run 10

If I run 10 I can run 13

If I run 13 I can run.....

But his big gift, wowed him incredibly...

he ended his night dreaming of his upcoming

TATTOO!!!

 

 

THE CHEEZ(IT) STANDS ALONE

When Cliff was home he bought a box of Cheez-it crackers.  They were scrumptious, wonderful, cheezy.

Henry surprised me of Super Large Cheez-it crackers.  Twice the size, twice the taste.  Heaven!!

I got up this morning looked outside and did a double take--

 yup--the Cheez-It stood alone.

Denny Crane Rosengren Friedman was evidently unable to open the box with his paw.  Every person (dog) deserves a healthy nummy snack!!

DAY AFTER NIGHT

I know that I am probably the last person in the world to read Day After Night.  That being said, I am now sharing the shame of that fact and telling you to buy this on your kindle, on Amazon, get it at the library.  

As enthralling as The Red Tent was, Anita Diamant's lastest book will carry you away again to a different period of history.  I was a little reluctant because I really did not like her "Last Days of Dogtown" book at all, but this is remarkable.  Just a few pages into Day After Night and you feel as though you can smell the ocean, and feel the lumps in the pillow. 

Here is a review:

Just as she gave voice to the silent women of the Old Testament in The Red Tent, Anita Diamant creates a cast of breathtakingly vivid characters -- young women who escaped to Israel from Nazi Europe -- in this intensely dramatic novel.

Day After Night is based on the extraordinary true story of the October 1945 rescue of more than two hundred prisoners from the Atlit internment camp, a prison for "illegal" immigrants run by the British military near the Mediterranean coast south of Haifa. The story is told through the eyes of four young women at the camp with profoundly different stories. All of them survived the Holocaust: Shayndel, a Polish Zionist; Leonie, a Parisian beauty; Tedi, a hidden Dutch Jew; and Zorah, a concentration camp survivor. Haunted by unspeakable memories and losses, afraid to begin to hope, Shayndel, Leonie, Tedi, and Zorah find salvation in the bonds of friendship and shared experience even as they confront the challenge of re-creating themselves in a strange new country.

This is an unforgettable story of tragedy and redemption, a novel that reimagines a moment in history with such stunning eloquence that we are haunted and moved by every devastating detail. Day After Night is a triumphant work of fiction. 

Read and enjoy!!

HURRICANE SEASON

Hurricane season will have a whole new meaning this Fall!!  Cliff was just admitted to the University of Miami School of Law.

We could not be more proud!

THE THOUGHT THAT COUNTS...

I have been doing my best to avoid meat lately...well except for the occasional Philly Cheesesteak from Jersey Mike's (is that a contradiction in terms).

Tonight when I got home from a rainy drive to South Coast Plaza, Henry said that he had gotten some stuff for dinner.  I had been thinking I would have my usual Whole Wheat toast with Earth Balance and Peanut Butter.  

Went to take the nightly bath and play my hour of DS and all I could think about was Henry saying there was a London Broil in the cold cut section of the refrigerator.  I could only think of that sandwich!!!

The last episode of Ramsay's Restaurant was on and I was going to have a great sammie, some Sake...num-o.

I reach into the top drawer of the refrigerator, spot the aluminum foil packet with the meat, grab it, pull it out...

picture...Carrie

"juice" everywhere

on me

throughout the fridge

on the floor

aaaarrrrgggghhhh!!!

I am trying to clean the floor while Denny is busy trying to lick all the "juice" out of my robe.

Back to a meat free existence ... the sammie was good, now that I am writing about it ... not so much.