A Beautiful Day!

We're off to Commencement at the University of Oregon. Whit will graduate with honors, earning a Bachelor of Science Degree in Economics and a minor in Business Administration.

College was easy for him, and he took ping pong, frisbee and yoga along with the basics. He worked for the Football team and had a beautiful girlfriend. It was just the way college was supposed to be.

He has a job with an economic consulting company and is planning to go on to Graduate School in a year or two.

I can't wait for this day. The sun is shining, the champagne is chilled, and we're on our way. I can't wait to hug our boy!

** bonus: There's a big celebration at a winery this evening with all of his friends, roommates and their families. We're staying at a country hotel. We're even bringing Boomer!

Man, that pizza was good

If you haven't made pizza on your barbecue grill yet, you should give it a whirl.

We had a little shindig last night, and I decided to finally get around to grilling pizza. Teri swears by it, so it has to be good!

I bought texas rolls in the frozen bread section, thawed them overnight in the refrigerator, and then rolled them out really thin - they made a perfect plate-sized pizza. (or buy the ready-made pizza dough at Trader Joe's - just don't make the pies too big) Norris oiled up the grill and baked the crusts before everyone arrived - once we were suitably lubricated with wine and stories, everybody put on their own toppings. The last step is to throw them back on the grill to finish them off, but we were having so much fun in the kitchen that we just did it in the oven.

Only one person fell asleep watching the Dubai pics, LOLOL.

Love my girls!

Double Trouble

Twins. I want some! Aren't they beautiful? They're as sweet and well-mannered as they are adorable.

Me x 12

Created with fd's Flickr Toys.

The concept:

a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.

b. Using only the first page, pick an image.

c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd's mosaic maker.

The Questions:

What is your first name? Cary

What is your favorite food? Onion Rings

What high school did you go to? Sparta

What is your favorite color? Red

Who is your celebrity crush? Josh Holloway

Favorite drink? Diet Pepsi with lemon

Dream vacation? Around the world

Favorite dessert? White birthday cake

What you want to be when you grow up? Rich (why not? then I can travel!)

What do you love most in life? Family

One Word to describe you. Happy

Your flickr name: caryperk

Is it wrong?

Gosh, how i lamented over our new exterior paint color. I drove around for weeks and looked at houses, picked up swatches from different stores, and generally fixated over getting this perfect color that I pictured in my head.

We bought (at $13/can) about 5 cans of paint and tested it on the house. Several other packets were tried. There was practically a quilt on the front of the house. We asked everyone who came over to vote.

Finally we found the right color but it was the wrong shade.

I went back to the paint store and got the next darker shade on their palette, but it was somehow too green.

Finally, I had him create a custom color which was the right darkness but not so green.

We LOVE it. All of our neighbors who stroll by or catch us in the supermarket tell us they are in love with it too. Our house finally looks snappy. It's only been painted for a month, but every time I drive home I'm so happy. Just yesterday my stager (who stages my listings) called and gushed over it. Wow, all that obsession paid off!

So of course last night a neighbor calls to ask me what exact color it is because they want to copy it. Here's where I pull out my "it's not a real color - we invented it" card because I DON'T WANT anybody else in the neighborhood to have the same color house! I've always hated it when people copy me. Do you know how hard it is to be an original??? I work at it, I tell ya.

So anyway, this doesn't deter him. He asked if he could bring his swatches over and hold them up to our house. How could I say no to that?

Is it wrong to be so selfish about this? Am I being ridiculous? Probably. But I'm still annoyed as heck.

(now you're going to want to see a picture of my house, aren't you? I'm afraid it won't live up to the hype, LOL)

Bore You

Apple TV update:

We've synched our Dubai/Egypt pictures, added some background music and are ready for slide shows on our big screen TV.

It'll actually be a nice nap time for you - come over, have a bunch of free drinks and settle in on the couch. we'll dim the lights, and you can take a little snooze while we drone on and on ad nauseum.

And I'll be wearing my belly dancing outfit.

Seriously, I did NOT fall for that at the souks, but I did get gold embroidered curled toe "Aladdin" slippers.

My next obsession

Even though I don't know how it works yet, I know I'm obsessed with my new Apple TV.

Not as much as she is. But I'm expecting big things.

Thanks to my brilliant children for knowing I need this and to my dear darling for giving me a fabulous Mother's Day present, even though I'm not his mother. The kids do an excellent gifting job on their own, but don't tell him that he can stop with the presents.

More on my new toy when I get all the required cables. (that don't come in the box)

And if you know me, which you probably do or you wouldn't be here, you'll know that of course now I'll have to buy a new video camera ... all my listings are all going to be on YouTube before the end of the summer.

I hope this doesn't mean Norris needs a new tv.

Mother's Day Flowers

I'm sure it was Claire who chose this lovely bouquet for my Mother's Day gift from the kids. Peonies (her favorites) along with ranunculus, roses, parrot tulips, all in a neat pedestal vase.

Unfortunately, Martha's suppliers must have wrapped these up a week ago because there was mold and falling petals... and they weren't as they should have been.

One quick call and a new bouquet is on its way. How nice that they stand behind their product, no matter how perishable it may be. Now I'll have the pleasure of another ring of the doorbell and a box of pretty flowers.

Happy Mother's Day to all you Moms and Grandmas.

(I'll be in open houses from 11-5 on Mother's Day. Good thing my kids were home last weekend!)

Can I say how much I adore being their mother?

Going, going....

hoping by this afternoon, this one will be GONE!




As is this one...








They will bring a new little baby home to this house in October... what a fabulous yard for birthday parties and barbecues. You should see the back 40!

They're Here

The kids are home.