Life Lessons and Lots of Fun!

Happy Monday and first day of my last semester in school. It's cold outside but I am excited about the next sixteen weeks and at the end, I get my Associates Degree. It's a starter degree, but it's a degree nonetheless. I'm pretty proud to be accomplishing this and if I can pull off this last semester with good grades, I will graduate with honors.

This whole weekend was a hoot! I got to have a nice long visit with my friend Bettie Laven, I got to see Al Wright, Kathy Ledner Moehring, Georgia and her family, and so many more! Dave had some time to go play a game at his buddy's house and we all watched some movies. Dave, Mason and I were in Alameda for the Kiwanis Clubs Chili Cook off. We all collaborated on a recipe and Mason put it all together. He learned how to use hickory wood chips in the barbecue to smoke the meat and chili's and when it was all said and done, he learned something even bigger than cooking techniques. Mason did not win anything for his chili and he was pretty bummed (It's his first time ever being in a contest and not placing), but better to not win on a level playing field, than to win just because he is 9 and pretty cute. He'll see that when he looks back. I'm glad this happened sooner rather than later so he can see the value of what we do together is more than just what comes with the prize. And, not everyone in the real world gets a trophy for showing up to play (I hate that aspect of youth sports today). All that said, the experience was just one more fun ride - working together as a family in the kitchen, Mason learned to smoke and grill chili's, and we had a weekend get-away in Alameda. The only thing that would have made it better would have been if the Anderson's were home to do it all with us.
 

It's time to get back in the swing of work and school, but we have some fun plans on the horizon, too. I'll share those as they materialize. Mason has something cool coming this week and he will be sending out an e-mail to share with you what that is, you're going to love it. Stay tuned!
 

I want to leave you with this little reminder, "Today you have the opportunity to make a difference. You can smile at someone you don't know, pay someone a compliment, or spend some time with a child not being a grown-up. You get the chance today to make a positive difference in this great big world, today you can be the change you want to see." Take this with you today and let me know how you made a difference! Love, KP

The Perfectly Choreographed Weekend

It's never fun to be sick, and for me to be sick on Monday, well that's a double whammy! This is a bad week to be under the weather as we had such an amazing weekend and I want to share it with you.

We headed out on Friday after work to the bay area and landed in Campbell to meet Dave's mom for dinner. It's always fun to watch her and Mason laugh and play no matter where we are or what we're doing. From there we made our way to Alameda where we had an amazing day on Saturday. We went to the beach to fly kites and we had lunch at Quinn's Lighthouse (one of my favorite places!). While we tootled Alameda, Mason was full of questions. My calm, quick what's the right answer was put to the test. Question #1: "Why don't we give everyone who asks for money our money?" This lent itself to some not so loving remarks but the answer was that there are programs for people to seek help through churches and other organizations provided someone is not able to work. Mason still thought we should be more giving and willing to part with our cash. Question #2: "How do women get pregnant?" This question led to Dave taking a big bite of lunch filling his mouth rendering him unable to speak! A lot of help he was! My answer was very matter of fact, when a man and a woman are in love, they have sex (which Mason knows a little about, but I reminded him is a conversation we will have when he is a little older. As he says, "I know mom, it's not appropriate.") and this is how a woman gets pregnant. He then went on to ask if Dave and I are in love, why don't we have more kids. Well, that one I let go in the shadow of some silly comment by my helpful husband to which Mason replied with rolling his eyes and a look that screamed Dad! Don't be so immature! Finally, question #3 was in the car listening to the radio. The song, I Kissed a Girl was playing and Mason asked, Why would a girl kiss another girl?" I answered, "Girls sometimes kiss girls. People are just people and love who they love." He then went on to ask, "Do boys kiss boys?" "Yep, some do." I matter of factly replied. "Eww! That's weird." I reminded him that we heard a gay man speak about being bullied and I asked him if he thought it was okay to beat up a boy because he kisses other boys to which he emphatically answered, "No!" Thankfully, that ended the questions that challenge mom.

Dave and I had a date night in San Francisco that included dinner and the show Rock of Ages. What fun! I have tried all these years to get Dave to go to see shows with me to no avail. Clearly a show written around the music and hair bands of the 80s was what I needed. We had a ball. Mason spent the night with Uncle Mike on his boat and he had an equally great time. They went fishing, kite flying, sailing, they played pinball and went to Tuckers for ice cream. On Sunday, Dave played in a game tournament in Oakland while I went shopping in San Francisco with Lisa and Diana. It's safe to say that though we got home very late Sunday night, a great time was had by all!

I hope all of you are able to coordinate your schedules to include the people you don't get to see very often and make it all work as beautifully as we did last weekend. It's completely blissful when everything just falls into place perfectly! Enjoy the warm weather this week and I'll see you next time!

Happy MLK Day!

Happy MLK Day! For most of you it's Martin Luther King Jr Day, but in our family it's also Mary Lorraine Kalinowski Day! Laughing! You see, Mary is Dave's mom and yesterday was her birthday. We celebrated on Saturday night at Shadow Brook Restaurant in Capitola with family and friends. It was lovely. Take a look here, it really is a special place!


The weekend was full of love! We spent a night with David and Lisa in Alameda - our home away from home. Do you have a friend that truly makes you feel that welcome in their home? I'm incredibly lucky, because I have several friends who make me feel that way! We spent a little time with Al and Linda and to top off our bay area visit, we had lunch with David, Alice and Kayla.


Today we are heading up the hill to put Mason in his second of three snowboarding lessons. Dave and I will ski and I've got plans to share all the details of Boreal's programs for learning to ski/board. With that, I'm off and running. I will post pictures from the weekend and today tomorrow. Happy MLK Day!

We're Home!

Big Sigh! We are home.

Hi guys, what a great time away from home we had! I have to say, if Dave were home, I would likely not have considered house-sitting and visiting away from him for that long. So with that said, I had a FABULOUS time! It is one of those little bones that get thrown your way when you are in the game with a crappy hand. Let me see if I can't recap without writing a novel......

Monday I discovered the gym with child care. What a great invention! I am now shopping for a gym with this wonderful service close to home. I was pleased to learn that I am not in as bad a shape as I thought and I ran for 12 full minutes on the treadmill. The other amenities were nice as well, the steam and saunas, the whirlpool and the sun deck all in the ladies locker room with no clothes required! When was the last time you did a little time with Mr. Sunshine in the buff? Smile! We also had lunch with Al and a visit with Moira. Monday wrapped up with a much needed massage! Fran gave me the lovely gift of a massage and child care for Mason. How cool, we are invited to stay in their awesome home AND she got me a massage! Thank you God!

Tuesday was another date with the gym and then assisting Al with a photo shoot for Diana! What fun. After all that glitz and glamor, Mason and I had a great evening with Alice. Funny how you can have friends that you don't even talk to all that often but when you get together, it is like no time passed at all. I just adore Alice and Andrew!

Wednesday was back to the gym, running errands, lunch with Carole, a visit with Dr. Joyce, a great evening at the Chamber mixer and finally with Mason fast asleep, a glass of wine with Terry! We had some serious catching up to do too!

Thursday was our day with Aunt Lisa! Lunch, a little shopping and a pedicure. It was so great to be doing the things I love to do in the town I still think of as home with the people I love. Auburn will feel a lot more like home once Dave is here with us making the memories that make home, home. I did go to the gym, but sporting a fresh pedicure, it seemed only appropriate that I sauna and have that naked date with Mr. Sunshine. We went to bed early so we would be fresh faced for our date with Al Friday morning.

We met Al at 9 AM to take pictures of Mason on the beach. I wish I had another set of hands to have shot video of Mason in the sand. He loved it. He just sat there for the longest time rubbing his feet back and forth in the wet sand. He of course tasted it and then proceeded to simply play. It was wonderful and as usual, Al captured the moment exquisitely! Al, you're the best! Take a look at just a few of the great pictures he took. We took a little siesta and then met Georgia and Fiona for lunch and then to play at the park. This is the first time Mason was on a swing by himself. He really liked that! Those pictures next week.

And finally on Saturday, we went back to San Jose and had a great time with Dave's' mom, sister and her family. We enjoyed a nice lunch and then walked all through Santana Row, sort of the Rodeo Drive of San Jose. Not much there for me (too much $$$$$) except Ben and Jerry's!

And this morning we stopped in to see Alice and Andrew on our way home. They actually have a vineyard in their back yard and will be making wine! Not to mention the basketball court and outdoor kitchen under construction. Cool huh?

Enough already, we are happy to be home. For a motivator, remember what Zig Ziglar says: "You can have anything you want if you just help enough other people get what they want." I say "YESH!"

Love you all!

Kathy