Amanouz

is the Middle Eastern restaurant where we always used to go before we had children.  It's cramped and tight and the food has flavor, so we stopped going with children, probably after a screaming baby experience and yes, we have been back on a few dates, but not with the kids  This weekend was a huge victory because we brought the kids and they liked it! They ate the food. They drank the tea and we sat surrounded by people on all sides and it was OK. It was a big night.

Lily poured the peppermint tea with a tea leaf in each cup.  Georgia wanted nothing to do with the tea and she had to be cajoled into trying it; it was so sweet and so strong, of course she loved it.

Here's a pic of Rob and me. It is so hard to get a photo of us together without him making some obnoxious face. He was just about to make a face but Lily caught him before he made it.

Georgia did fall in love with the tea.
Everyone enjoyed their meal. Rob, Lily and I got chicken or falafel sandwiches but Georgia got a plate of gorgeous crepes with fruit, honey and powdered sugar. We'll definitely be going back!

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Ignite Your Power conference

Lucky me.  I got to go to a conference on Tapping/EFT this weekend featuring some of my favorite teachers.  Margaret M Lynch is a sassy fun coach who does helpful tapping videos http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDWIVZKcmTI that are fun and authentic.  https://www.facebook.com/mmlsuccesscoach

She's from near Boston so she had a free conference on Thursday, Friday and Saturday about setting up your business and tapping to get rid of blocks that might be keeping you small.  She had great speakers and great information. It went 9am to 9pm and I was exhausted by the time I drove to my parent's house in Andover and fell asleep!

The skyline was lovely. 
The people were inspiring and friendly.
Sometimes I would get tired from talking to all the interesting people and I would just sit there and feel pleased that no one needed anything from me and there was no where else I needed to be.  Ahhhh.
Then we would have to make a video with a complete stranger and then review it. Yikes!

I was feeling all brave and social so I went up to Stella Orange, whose emails I read every week. She helps people write newsletters and has a really comical and reassuring style that I love. It was so great to meet her and see, in person, that same personality she reveals in writing.  She took a photo of her and me for her newsletter that I just got in my in-box today.
I feel a bit famous.


 

Here's Stella's website if you want to check out a really cool copywriting coach.
 http://stellaorange.com/stella-who/

Here is the city at sunset.  I was on the phone with Rob in an empty ballroom watching the skyline come alive with lights; it was lovely.

This greeted me when I got home. I was so glad to see the family!  It really is good to get away.  And then to come home.

Bulbs

It smells like spring in the house at least, with the paperwhites blooming.  The days are getting longer and I hear the cardinals singing their spring song in the yard.

Sprouts

Here are some brave beets growing in our gardening violin teacher's window. Aren't they bright and lively? Don't they give you hope for spring even though there's a foot of snow outside?

The pond froze over!

The pond at the golf course near our house actually froze over! And someone used a snow blower to make a rink.  We went down to play and fall with our friends. What a long cold winter this has been, but this was an exciting transformation to witness. Soon, (please soon!) it will be melted and warm and filled with enormous snapping turtles.

We're singing this song in our house.

We're enjoying Frozen quite a bit at our house.  Did you see it? It's fun and has a big theme of sister-love which suits us well.

Here's the video that Jimmy Fallon did on Oscar night. Georgia (and therefore all of us) watched it over and over and over.  It's great fun to see people making music with instruments from a kid classroom.

Crafts with Grandma

Here's Georgia and Grandma doing crafts together. My mother comes bearing supplies and she and the girls make glorious items like these fuzzy creatures in their colorful popsicle stick house.

Below they are using glue guns.  Whoever used a glue gun? I thought it was like a staple gun and avoided the whole idea.  But now everyone in our family is using this amazing tool to stick things together forever, like these shells and wood. We also used the glue gun on some winter boots and Rob borrowed it to do some work in his bike area.

Need to borrow a glue gun? We've got one.