A few of us escaped from work today to check out a beautiful estate/museum nearby, Hillwood Museum & Gardens.
Marjorie Merriweather Post acquired Hillwood in 1955 and created a series of pleasure gardens for her leisure and the entertainment of her guests. Being that this is only 1 mile away from the office, we enjoyed a few hours investigating the gardens and touring the house.
Posted in Adventures, life, nature, thoughts
Tagged gardens, house, motivation & inspiration, summer, washington dc
My 8 year-old and her buddy are planning to start a punk-rock band. When I told them they would have to buy instruments, they decided to have an iced tea stand to make money. It was about 100 degrees outside but they were determined…
If you look closely at the picture, you will see “Iced Tea for a Band”
D is rockin’ the Harry Potter lightening-bolt part in her hair
Summer is winding down, we will remember these days…
Just this house…
As the work week begins, it is important to remind myself of things that I love. Here is a slideshow of one of my favorite places, Charlottesville, Virginia. A Small town with great history, personality, and culture – along with all the beauty of its location in the Blue Ridge Mountains, and less than a 2 hour drive from Washington, DC (another one of my favorite places).
I will live there someday 
Posted in Adventures, life, nature, thoughts
Tagged gardens, motivation & inspiration, virginia
It’s been over a month since I read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and I have not blogged a word about it. I think it’s mostly because I am in denial that there are no more books to look forward to, even the appeal of MuggleCast and PotterCast have worn off, mainly due to the fact that there are no more theories or predictions to discuss. I will eventually go back and read the entire series (again) as I do with my annual journey through Lord of the Rings. I am hungry for new books that take me to magical places with heroes who have all the odds stacked against them. I guess there is always Wizard Rock.
I am currently reading “The Dark is Rising” series by Susan Cooper – suggested by my sister Linda. I am now on book 2 of that series. That should keep me busy for a while.
Back to the point of this post. There are several parts of the Deathly Hallows that are most inspiring for me. Of course the end of the book where Harry is walking towards his death- and his family is with him is probably my favorite part. I am most proud of Molly Weasely and Neville Longbottom for the brave and fierce part they played in the final battle. Molly proved fatal when Bellatrix threatened to kill Ginny – and of course the “stay away from my daughter you BITCH” was priceless coming from Molly’s mouth. We didn’t hear profanity much during this series, but when it did show up, it was more than appropriate.
And of course, Neville cutting the head off of Nagini was awesome. The best part of all with Neville was the fact that during the final battle, when everyone else was battling with fatal spells – shooting them back and forth at each other – he shows up with a plant. Gotta love him.
Posted in Books, Children, harry potter, Music, thoughts
Tagged lord of the rings, magic
For the first time in weeks, I had some time alone yesterday to be at peace with the quiet in my mind (and my house). My kids were out of the house for the entire day and evening. I had planned to watch my netflix movies and do some organizing around my room - then attend an “advanced” cocktail party at my friendly neighbor’s house in the evening. I was SO looking forward to this day of peace, adult converstation, and no kid-related stress. Unfortunately, things didn’t turn out the way I had planned.
Now, I don’t usually like to talk about my ailments – because I don’t want it to increasingly become the topic of conversation as I grow old. But there is a point to this, I think. I was a little headachy all day (I chalked it up to the poor air quality and the fact that it was 100 degrees outside and the barometric pressure was dropping) but by 3 pm I had a full-on, I-can’t-see-with-my-eyes-open, get-me-out-of-this-place, can-someone-turn-off-the-sun, I-feel-like-I-got-shot-in-the-neck-migraine.
Of course I had no migraine medication, so I stuck it out with ibuprofen and steaming hot showers with a mix of essential oils, closing all of my shades and windows, and covering my eyes for the majority of the afternoon. Basically I dealt with it, and it was horrible. I really needed an Imitrex.
I found out last week that my healthcare plan limits Imitrex to 4 tablets per month. Are they joking? Do they realize how debilitating migraine headaches are AND that Imitrex is the most popular medication available to treat them? I guess THEY have decided that migraine sufferers should have no more than 4 per month – this of course after extensive research?
Apparently, there is a limit to how many headaches you are supposed to have! I must have missed the memo.
Posted in Fitness & Health, I need to vent, life, Random Ramblings
Tagged healthcare, migraine, Rants
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