When Irish eyes are smiling...

Today New York goes green! No, it's not because of the Jets nor is it an environmentally conscious state. Today is St. Paddy's Day!

An Irish acquaintance of mine, Fiona, explained to me that for so many years the Irish were unable to afford travel which resulted in their heritage remaining pretty true to the one nation. Not like here in America where everybody brings their culture with them and sprinkles it in their traditions, their decor, and their mannerisms. It was only after speaking with her did I get how hard everybody holds on to this distant heritage.

After all, as my mother comes directly from Germany and I've been raised with many German traditions as well as speak the language, it is apparent that I am German. But if it wasn't for my mom, my Irish heritage would be much more active.

You see for years when St. Paddy's came around, I almost had to defend myself for wearing green because "you're not Irish, you're German." And yet, friends who's family have been in America since 1900 are Irish. Well - I am as Irish. After doing a genealogy sort, it seems that my family came over in the very late 1800s and guess what...they owned a potato farm in Hempstead. If that's not Irish enough for you...my dad was a cop and we have green eyes. It's obviously deep-rooted in our blood. And if what Fiona says is correct, there's a very good chance that side of the family as long as it existed was of Irish descent; so I may have 1900 years of Irish DNA within me.

So now that I set the background, let's go on to today's celebrations.

We begin with Logan (Gaelic name that means "from the forest" which may explain how he can fly up a tree and jump over bushes at ease)deciding on which green clothes to wear. We settled with green karate shirt and green hoodie over jeans. Then it was on to the bakery to get Irish Soda bread.

This afternoon I will go to the airport to pick up a 5'1" leprechaun named Krissy. Logan does not know that she is coming in for a visit so that she can see his last home swim meet. I know he'll be thrilled. After coming home, we'll have some corn beef (minus the cabbage) and off to see Logan sail through his swim practice.

It's a pretty mellow celebration for us, but I'm excited to turn on the television to see the parade at 11am and wait to see the bag pipers march by. I have a personal stake in this as my very dear friend, Kerry, and her son Colin, will be piping (Colin) and marching (Kerry) as members of the Ancient Order of Hibernians. Keeping fingers crossed that they get some screen time this year. The past two years they did but I understand they rotate the line-up and they may not step off in time for the cameras. Either way, it's a beautiful day - sunny & about 50 degrees. So the luck of the Irish is shining upon us today! With that...I end off with a famous Irish blessing...

Erin Go Braugh! Ireland Forever!

To Smell or Not To Smell

I recently had an interesting conversation about the power of smell, smelling, and smells. What began as a simple comment became a round of telephone calls about who does and who doesn't.

Let me begin with a simple statement I made to my mom about my sister. I want go out with my sister and experiment with different perfumes. Now I need to step back a little more to bring you up to snuff (yes - pun intended!)

About two years ago, Kerry and I decided to skip going out for a nice dinner while Kelly was otherwise engaged. Instead, we decided to use that money for something frivolous. After all, it was Christmas time and everybody was so busy treating everybody else to treats...who was going to treat the single girls?!? We were.

We first went for some make-up tips at the Mac store and wound up at Sephora's. This lovely boutique of make up, perfumes, and other beauty products. Both of us allowed the sales girl to do us up and give us mini makeovers. We proceeded to buy hair products (my favorite - Jonathan Anton's Dirt), make up, and perfume.

Now as I set the stage for the smell story, you need to understand the store is lined with perfumes of all scents, colors, bottle shapes, and designs. The way to choose a smell, is to take the testers and spray a strip of paper that is also lining the shelves. It took a while as Kerry was sniffing around for a Lilly of the Valley scent and checking out a nice Londony sort of scent (don't ask how to describe that...but know it wasn't fish & chips or pints of ale scents); I was taking it on with Versace's Bright Crystal - a musky floral amber scent. Both lovely smells chosen for different palates.

Bringing me to today's stinky story line.

Next time my sister visits, I told my mom that I'd like to play this smell game with Krissy. It's fun and easy. Smell away and get a bunch of samples that you can play with over the next few weeks before honing in on the special signature scent you'd like to associated with. Let begin with...my sister does not smell. I just felt like going on a sniffing-spree.

Now I've been told that I've smelled (good & bad - depending on who's saying it!), my cat smells, my dog smells, and even my turtle smells. Having a son, he too smells yummy (to his mom) and is even more proud of the smells he can make! BUT what's nicer than closing your eyes, smelling a smell that brings on some great memories. Some smells bring on sad memories but this is supposed to be a feel-good-post.

When I smell Polo, I think of men I had crushes on as a young girl. When I smell Old Spice, I can remember my dad back in the 70s. When I smell Opium, I think of my grandmother. When I smell powder, I remember Logan as a baby. When I smell Grey Flannel, I remember good times with Bill.


THIS is what set off a round of smell-e-phone calls with my mom resulting in a simple fact that to smell or not to smell...we all want to smell nice and let us leave it at that! Oh, and the next time you put on a squirt behind your ears...give it an extra pump for me. You never know who's sucking it up.

Life Gets in the Way

I cannot believe it has taken me almost three weeks to post again. It seems that if I don't have 20 minutes to devote to reflecting...I don't reflect. I believe I may be that shallow or -- ahem -- lazy. No, not lazy - busy! Basically life gets in the way.

The past few weeks have been filled with working, swim practices and meets, and spring cleaning. So let me summarize what's doing in these areas.

WORK
I'm currently working only three days a week which is a big ouch on my wallet. I cannot do this so I've been trying so hard to cut corners that have already been rounded out this past year. The good news is that I will begin working temporarily five days a week as I fill in for Jen's maternity leave. That should help me even out a bit more. I'm excited about this because it seems that when I work on a more compacted schedule, I seem to be more balanced with everything. It may have to do with limited time or maybe the additional income, either way...looking forward to the upcoming months.


SWIM
Logan a.k.a. AquaMan is doing great. He has really grown as a swimmer as well as embraced this as his sport. Such an exciting sport that so many people just don't get. One of my closest friends "warned" me that it was long and boring and the meets are miserable. W-R-O-N-G-! I am fascinated with the whole process. Logan's swim team ranges from 7-17 years as well as being co-ed. In one night, you can see how swimming and experience progress. The way the two-hour meets are set is that you begin with the younger swimmers for individual races of backstroke, breaststroke, freestyle races boys vs. boys and girls vs. girls. As each series of individual races are completed, the next age group goes on. By the time the high school kids are up there...you are on the edge of your seats. After individuals, it goes onto the four-team medley of backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly, and freestyle. And we end the meet with a series of freestyle relays, again teams of four.

Logan's own team of four have so far (fingers crossed to keep the jinx away) have won 6 of 6 races. We have two more meets and they're hoping for undefeated for their age group 11/12 years. Each boy excels at their stroke - Bobby begins with backstroke, Logan takes on breaststroke, Nadar takes off with the butterfly, and Chris/Kevin finish it off with the freestyle. Such a great site to see! Sounds silly, but it always makes me think of the four that won this past summer's Olympic medley. To me...just as great each time! We're holding on to 2nd place and hope to make it to the Championships on April 2nd.

SPRING CLEANING
We've had a bit of snow and even snuck in a snow day a week or so ago. Crazy winter weather! But hoping to encourage the warmer weather, I've been doing a small project each weekend, trying to get the house ready for my full-time hours as well as a busy spring/summer schedule. It feels really great for me to finally get the time and energy to dig down into some long awaited projects. So I guess the three-day work week did benefit me almost as much as the money did.

And finally...Rudi is home from the hospital which brings both joy and concern as he heals that heart. Good thing is that it's not the love of a woman that he lacks...just some nice thin blood. Keeping positive thoughts headed south and including him in our prayers. Because the power of prayer is stronger than many understand. So here's to you Haboo! We love you!