One More Holiday Visit

Tom, Caroline, Anna (5) and Sara (8).

I had one more set of visitors over the holiday break: Caroline, Tom and their daughters Sara and Anna. I love how Sara is a total ham for the camera! :) It was great to catch up with Caroline again and finally meet her girls.


As always, it's great to be a townie. :)


Blessings,


Emily

Happy Hanukkah!

Barbara and Mom

Last week, we started off Hanukkah with a wonderful dinner (cooked by Mom, of course!) and wonderful company.  

Me and Jeannine

I was also able to go on a short outing (1 hour) to a Hadassah Hanukkah party, which I really enjoyed. I hung out reclining on a chaise at the end of one of the sofas, and women kindly came over to me to chat. 

Me and Mom all dressed for Hanukkah. I am wearing my Shalom sweater and Silver nail polish just for the occasion! :)

Thanks Mom for the latkes, chicken, applesauce, spinach salad and chocolate covered strawberries!

Last night of Hanukkah

I love lighting the Menorah. This year we lit two. I spent time listening to my Hanukkah CDs, listning to the NPR Hanukkah Lights stories, and watching a Hanukkah concert. One evening after a hard day, I just sat in my recliner and watched the candles burn from start to finish while listening to my CD that describes Hanukkah in story and song. I'm always so sad when Hanukkah is over! 



Blessings,


Emily

Annual Holiday Visit with Ang

Me and Ang

Spending an afternoon with Angela, one of my best friends in the whole world, is a tremendous gift. Our honest, authentic relationship always leaves me feeling incredibly blessed. I'm amazed that our lives our so different, yet we maintain such an emotional closeness that has survived since 4th grade!

Me and Ang with our iPhones

We spent so much time talking about our new iPhones that we had to take a photo of us with them. We love how our choice of covers fits our personalities. Hey, we had to balance out all of our serious meaning of life discussions with some fun stuff! 


Blessings,


Emily

Christmas at Dad and Abbie's

Back Row: Bill, Monica, Meredith, John, Reese
Front Row: Abbie, Dad, Me

Just a little family photo from Christmas Day at Dad and Abbie's. I went over for a couple of hours to eat some lunch and open gifts. 

Hope you had a blessed Christmas,

Emily

Doodles Again!

Thanks for the box of toys to sit ON. :)

Look who came to visit again! Twice in three weeks! We sang Itsy Bitsy Spider, 'made cookies', played with the iPhone, and she showed off how she knows where her eyes, hands, nose, mouth, feet, belly button, etc. are.

It's amazing how much Lana has changed in just three weeks. She's putting more and more words together (as in saying, 'Thank you, Daddy!" when he changed her diaper!). 

I'm so in love with my little niece, so grateful for our visits, and so grateful for the friendship of her Mommy and Daddy.

Blessings,

Emily

Concert Outing: Audra McDonald

Program Cover: Audra McDonald

We went to see Tony-award winning actress and singer Audra McDonald in performance after Thanksgiving. The performance was at the same theater where we have gone for our other big outings (Wynton, Joshua Bell, Pearlman-Ax-Ma). As always I was able to use my reclining chair and we were treated like royalty by our beloved Lisa.

The concert was PHENOMENAL. If Audra is on tour near you: Go See Her Sing! She is perhaps one of the greatest broadway singers of our time. 

Her concert is about 90 minutes of (mostly) broadway tunes dating from 1929 to the present. She is accompanied by a jazz trio, but mostly the concert is all her singing and sharing stories about the songs histories and why she has chosen them.

We had lots of favorite songs, but were perhaps most moved by her performance of a James Baldwin poem which speaks especially to those of us struggling:

Mom and I so enjoyed this outing!


Blessings,


Emily

Doodles Was Here!

Look at my ponytail!

I had an extra-special surprise visit from Sarah and Lana yesterday. Sarah was in town for a meeting and brought Doodles along. Nothing like my 17 month old niece and my friend of many years to cheer me up.

What class shall I take?

She enjoyed 'reading' all of the catalogs and some coloring while she was here. And she even knows how to clean everything up (completely willingly)! She is so much her mother's daughter. Good thing she doesn't take after her Auntie Em.

Girl time. Long time buds.

Bye Bye! :)

Thanks so much to Sarah for making Doodles so much a part of my life. I'm so enjoying watching her grow and seeing her new tricks every time she visits. 


Blessings,


Emily