A Happy Birthday Indeed!

It's not a secret... my life with Frank isn't romantic. But that's not in the nature of either one of us. We play around, bicker, poke fun and jab at each other all the time. It makes it fun, and it makes me love him. When anyone makes a remark about him not being romantic, he gets defensive, which I think is hilarious, because I'm not the romancing type of girl. Hell, give me a hot dog and beer at a Dodgers game over a fancy dinner any day, as long he's sitting there next to me.

I didn't know what I wanted for my birthday, so I couldn't even give him an idea, except for some Juicy Couture perfume I've been wanting. At my family party last Saturday he told me he hadn't gotten me anything yet, but that it wasn't my birthday. I of course told him it was fine. Tuesday when I got home a spied a small wrapped box on the credenza in our entry way.  I opened the tiny box, the box that looked like a ring box, only to find a note. A NOTE! A note that said I needed to pack a bag and get off work early on Friday because he was taking me away for my birthday. At dinner I guessed that we were going to Napa, and he was a little frustrated, but I didn't and couldn't guess anything else we were doing.

I anxiously waited the rest of the week, and at 3pm on Friday I was in my car headed home. We left our house around 4 and made it to our cute little inn around 6.15 called the Chardonnay Lodge. A tiny, 20-unit motel, with themed rooms and beautiful roses. We relaxed and decided on where to go for dinner. We decided on Black Bear Diner, an inexpensive restaurant we both knew would be just fine, considering all the things we would do on Saturday.

Saturday Morning we poured over a map and chose 2 wineries to visit before our lunch reservation at Michael Chiarello's restaurant, Bottega, in downtown Yountville. We ended up choosing Castello Di Amorosa, or, The Castle Winery, and world-famous V. Sattui Winery.

As you approach the castle at Castello Di Amorsa, it feels like Italy. The long driveway is lined with gorgeous cypress trees, surrounded by vineyards. You walk up several stairs and cross over a draw bridge, into a large courtyard. We just purchased a tasting, not the whole tour, and walked through the castle into the tasting room. We were treated like family, our server was Italian himself, and was very knowledgeable. We each chose a bottle of wine we couldn't leave with out and wandered around the grounds a bit.

We got back in the truck and headed to V. Sattui. A place that is literally everyone's speed. From the amazing BBQ to the tasting room and cheese shop. We tasted some amazing wine and wandered around the cheese shop and gardens. We ended up purchasing 4 bottles of wine and while I really wanted to get some different cheese, there wasn't any way for us to transport it and keep it cool since we were going over to Yountville for lunch.

We visited Dean and Deluca and wandered around in awe of all the amazing produce and delicious looking food they had to offer before heading to Bottega. We were a little early when we got to Yountville, so we wandered around NapaStyle. A little store right across from Bottega where Michael Chiarello features his wines for tasting it offers an amazing variety of rock salts and specially crafted meat rubs. We tasted the Roasted Garlic rub, and I knew I had to have it!


We had a 2.30 reservation at Bottega and were still a bit early, so we sat at the bar and had a drink and browsed the huge wine list. We were sat outside under the canopy and it was gorgeous. We ordered Polenta Under Glass for our appetizer and were still deciding on entrees when our server came over and offered us the special, a veal burger with truffle mayo. OMFG! I love truffles, so I jumped at the chance to order that. Frank ordered a raviolo made with potato dough and black truffles.

As i was starting to get really excited about my veal burger, a waitress came over to tell me they'd run out of the special, I was totally bummed, but went back to what I originally wanted before the special, red wheat linguine with veal and pork bolognese. Ugh! It was to die for. We both mmm'd and yumm'd our entire meals. When we'd finished, i had already decided this place was just too good to pass up dessert, so we ordered Tiramisu Profiteroles. Little cream puff shells filled with tiramisu ice cream and drizzled with freshly melted chocolate. Ugh again! Heaven on a dessert plate! (Frank's phone takes much better photos than mine, so you'll see a few more photos soon).

We headed back to our room as fat, dumb and happy as could be. We relaxed for a bit and decided what we should do for the night. We headed out to Downtown Napa and walked around, gawking at all the closed shops and debating about what small thing we should eat. We wound up at Downtown Joe's on Main Street in the heart of downtown. Frank watched the Giants lose, and I watched the Sharks win. We had some of the best bar food we've ever tasted, and had some great hand crafted, fresh brewed beers.

Sunday morning we knew we were heading to Downtown St. Helena to have a very early lunch at Gott's Roadside. Home of, literally, the best burger ever. We shared. Yeah, that's right, we shared. For those of you that don't know Frank that well, he doesn't share, ever. But I ordered a fresh ahi tuna melt, and he ordered the Bacon cheeseburger, and we shared. Ugh! great food. We walked around downtown St. Helena and wandered in and out of shops the whole afternoon before heading to Redwood City to meet my parents for dinner at the Old Port Lobster Shack.

And well, what can I say about the Lobster Shack? Quite possibly my new favorite seafood place. Lobster Bisque, huge lobster rolls, and even a WHOLE LOBSTER! Ugh! Frank and I shared again. We ordered the WHOLE steamed lobster, and a lobster roll, filled with huge chunks of lobster, mayo, green onions piled in a toasted buttery bun. I love lobster, and this place was phenomenal.

We left my parents and drove on home from our long weekend. we unpacked slightly, threw some clothes in the washer and fell into the couches. we were exhausted, and as Frank said, sometimes you need a vacation from your vacation.

But this was by far one the best birthday weekends I've had. Ever. Look for a new recipe coming soon and a video from this weekend.

Absolutely,
The Lady

So Many Things Have Happened In Just One Year....

Just like it sounds. So many things have happened in the last year. Almost all of them good, but life has moved so fast over the last 2 years that I almost don't believe it.

At this time last year, I'd just returned from Los Angeles with Frank and a fresh tattoo. I'd endured 48 days of drinking nothing but water and tea. I'd just spent my first holiday away from my family with Frank's, and enjoyed a coca-cola classic for the first time in 48 days. Frank took me to San Jose Cafe for a birthday breakfast, where I enjoyed a full cup of Hot Chocolate topped with whipped cream. I worked that day and picked up the girls from school, where they were so excited to wish me a Happy Birthday. Later Frank and I celebrated with a birthday dinner at PF Chang's with my family and best friend.

And now, it's been a year.

It's been over a year since I got my tattoo and went to Disneyland. I did the same Lenten sacrifice, only this year I gave up the eff word too, and I'm still with Frank. But so much has changed! and it's, quite frankly, awesome!

I finished school, and had a fabulous graduation party filled with family, friends, food, and Bocce! I finished my work as a nanny, and went back to work teaching swimming lessons, which wasn't an ideal job for me, but it did yield a pretty awesome tan and some much needed time in the sun. I dove head first into helping out with the Aiuto Foundation's annual Sicilian Golf Festival and even landed myself a spot on the Women's Auxiliary Club board of directors as the Communications Director.

But August 13th, (which was a Friday, I might add), was probably one of the most life-changing days of the year. I got the call from Empire Broadcasting that they wanted to offer me a job as the new Creative Services director. I was so thrilled I could barely hold it together to call my mom to tell her. It was one of the most exciting days of my life so far.

2 months later Frank and I would travel to Reno for the Great Italian Festival and celebrate his birthday with a surprise trip to see his uncle conduct the nova vista symphony and attend a 49er's game in the rain with my dad the next day.

Thanksgiving we traveled to Paso Robles to enjoy an amazing weekend of food and wine with his family and even took a day trip to Moro Bay. Christmas Eve was spent with his family and Christmas day was simply spent with my little family at my sister's house in Clayton since she'd sustained a pretty gnarly car accident just 5 days before.

New Year's Eve was one of the best celebrations I've been to in a while, and I was sure to drink my weight in vodka and rum with some of my best friends and well, Frank. Haha.

At the start of the year we were itching to move out of the Box, so as you all know, on February 13th we moved out of the box and into The Mansion.

So now, an entire year has past, I'm 26, employed in my field doing a job a love, and earning a great salary.

We see my parents almost weekly, and have Sunday Dinner almost every weekend at his mom's house. Talk about some traditional Italians! We enjoy spending time with our families, and that's probably the one thing I missed the most while I was living in Los Angeles. Even though my friends were my family, there's nothing like joking around with your parents.

Frank and I are happy, and he's planned a weekend trip out of town for my birthday. I only know we're going to Napa, what we'll do there is still a total mystery to me. But since he paid for my tattoo for last years birthday, I guess he figured a trip would suffice. Haha!

Here's to another amazing year. We'll see what I have to say when April 6, 2012 rolls around and I'm 27!

Absolutely,
The Lady

Apologies (again), Valentine's Day, Computer Issues, Sur La Table, Bunny Baskets, Iron Chef: BACON! and Relay For Life. Wheew!

Ok, So, first and foremost, I apologize. As my mother so kindly pointed out, I haven't been blogging. It's been almost 2 months, and while I had visions of grandeur about what this blog would be and how it would lead to some amazing opportunities, this can only happen if I put the time into it. So now, I'm here, apologizing, though I'm sure most people didn't miss me, or even wonder where I'd been. But If you were one of the few (my mother), I'm sorry.

Now we'll discuss. Valentine's Day. Unfortunately, or fortunately, which ever way you'd like to look at it, Valentine's Day came the very day after we moved into our 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom apartment. Affectionately referred to, as, The Mansion.  We we're stuck with no furniture, and the same rinky-dink triangle-turned-square table we had in The Box. But I had planned to make a little dinner and just hang out. We'd discussed, several times, I might add, that Valentine's Day was cancelled for us. We didn't have a lot of money because of the move, and we were pretty wiped out from all the packing and unpacking. So We weren't supposed to purchase gifts or anything.

Yeah, well, clearly that didn't happen. Frank is generally very matter-of-fact. Sooo, when he said there would be no Valentine's Day, I believed him. I was wrong. The receptionist in our office rounded the corner towards my office as I was standing in the hall way with a large box and said "this is for you." I said "are you sure?!" and she said yes. So I took it from her and opened it very slowly. Inside was a teddy bear, and  vase full of a dozen mixed roses. It was one of the best surprises I've had in a long time.

 Ugh, and now, onto computer issues. So, VERY unfortunately, my computer at work died about 3 weeks ago, and man oh man, I was NOT a happy camper! I couldn't work, I couldn't access my files, and I was having the wrath of nearly everyone in my office come down on me because it was my machine and files that EVERYONE needed weren't backed up anywhere. I've been working on my personal machine since it happened, and while that's all well and good, I still don't have a computer. Our amazing IT genius has ordered me a brand new machine, and I should have it fully loaded by next week.

Now I understand that's not an excuse, but that has been stressing me out, like to the max, and that's one of the main reasons I hadn't been blogging.

Sunday afternoon Frank and I ventured to Santana Row so I could spend a gift card for the amazing kitchen store, Sur La Table, only to be stopped by all the traffic on Stevens Creek. So I said forget it, but he said we could go to Palo Alto. I was a little surprised because he was driving, and we all know Frank doesn't really like to drive or run errands, or any of that. So we made our way to Palo Alto and even took the scenic route on 280. Once I walked in, I wanted EVERYTHING in site! I ended up purchasing a rolling pin, a pig-shaped cookie cutter, a Shake & Chop garlic chopper, a "prep taxi" (see photo) and a nice bottle for Olive Oil. 

I wasn't planning on the rolling pin or the pig-shaped cookie cutter, but my office has an "Iron Chef" competition each month, and this month's secret ingredient was Bacon, so on Sunday, I decided to participate. The event was so take place on Tuesday, and I had a meeting Monday night for the Women's Auxiliary Club. It wasn't a meeting I could have easily skipped, since we were making Easter baskets to give to the Children's Shelter for Child Protective Services. This charitable cause is so important to me that I put off making the cookies till Monday night. 

I planned to make roll out sugar cookies with bacon inside and a maple glaze on top. And while that's the type of cookie I made, the dough was very soft, and I didn't want to wait until midnight for it to harden. So i made drop cookies dipped in the maple glaze, and I thought they turned out pretty darn good. I didn't win, or even place, but I thought they were pretty creative. 

Our women's club does great things. I mean, really, we do some amazing things, and there are some amazing women involved. Monday night we made 53 Easter baskets and today they were taken to the Children's Shelter. That's amazing to me, given the idea that some of these children were taken from their parents and probably won't ever see them again. 

On another note, there are only 45 days left until The Relay For Life. Wow! I can't believe it's so close. My sister and I some-how decided we would take on this year's Silent Auction and become co-chairs. As if we both didn't have enough to do. But still, this cause is one that's very close to my heart, and I'm SO PROUD of my amazing team. To date, we've raised $2,010. That's just $490 short of our goal of $2,500! I'm so proud of our team this year. We'll be hosting a fundraising event at the Pasta Market in the San Jose MarketCenter on Coleman Ave Thursday April 14th! Print out the flyer to the left and please, PLEASE come out and support this amazing cause. I will be there, along with several other members of my team. If You'd like any information about the Relay For Life fundraiser at the Pasta Market, don't hesitate to email me at ldisalvi@empirebroadcasting.com.

I hope to become a regular blogger again, and post a video of our new apartment/The Mansion. I'm also going to try to be diligent about posting a new recipe each week. I printed one out from Yahoo! Shine for a chicken burger, so maybe I'll make that next week. At this point, though, I'm certain that this blog has been sufficiently long enough given my extended absence. 

Absolutely,

The Lady

P.S.

The Day Of My Birth is less than a week away! If you're racking your brain for a gift idea, I can always use some if this!

Pineapple Coconut rice, Relay For Life 2011, and Baseball!

So here we are. January is completely finished, February 13th (moving day) is fast approaching, I have a new recipe to share aaaaand... Football season is finally over and we get back into the swing of the bat and baseball season! Thank God!

The Dodgers will be in the Bay Area for their first game of the season and if moving wasn't stealing all my money, I'd be going to a game. Oh well, at least I get to watch my boys in Blue play on TV for a change. But, being that the 4-game series is right before my birthday, anyone feeling generous enough could certainly buy me tickets! haha!If that doesn't happen, I suppose I'll settle for some beer and chicken wings at Hooters or some other equally awesome sports viewing establishment. Who's with me?

Moving on, I'll tell you about my new recipe for Pineapple Coconut Rice. One day last week ( I can't remember when, so don't ask), Frank and I went to Mom's for dinner and we had steamed veggies, pineapple sausage, salad and this awesome pineapple coconut rice. I don't use a rice cooker, ever. We own one, and Frank likes to use it, but I feel like the rice always comes out mushy or hard. There's no happy medium. So, I cook rice on the stove, and it's always good. I used regular Calrose white rice, 1 cup of rice calls for 1 2/3 cups liquid. I doubled the recipe and put 2 cups of rice in the pot with 2 cups of water, 2/3 cup coconut water and 2/3 cup pineapple juice and cooked it as usual, letting it boil, then turning it down to simmer for 15 minutes, then turning the heat off and letting it stand for 5 minutes. I tossed it with salt, pepper and chopped green onion. Man oh man! It was really tasty. I think next time though I'll add 1 cup each of pineapple juice and coconut water and 1 1/3 cups regular water.

The Result? Yum with a side of Yum! It was sticky, a little salty, a little sweet and had a little onion kick from the chopped green onions. It was really good and I would definitely make it again.

Now, for the thing that is weighing on me the most, and I meant that in an amazing way. It's been decided that I would be the team captain for the Women's Auxiliary Club's Relay for Life team: Sicilian Sisterhood & Friends this year. I can't tell you how excited I am to be taking on this amazing adventure with some truly special women in my club. 

I like participating the American Caner Society's Relay For Life because it doesn't raise funds for one specific type of cancer, rather, it supports all forms of cancer research. 

I relay for so So SO many reasons. Among them are young women who happen to be my friends, my best friends, who are and were fighting thyroid cancer. Of course I also relay for my mothers parents, her sister and my grandfather's sister, relaying for these two young women means so much to me. I can't even imagine what my life in Los Angeles would have been like with out them, and I don't want to. 

In one weekend I was able to reach my fund-raising goal of $100, but I'm far from finished. I challenge everyone out there to imagine a time where the words "I have cancer" will no longer be a standard part of conversation. Where women won't lose gorgeous locks of hair from Chemo and men won't have to worry about prostate cancer. This is why I relay.

Click here to view my personal page, read ALL the reasons I relay, donate to the cause, or even join my team! I'm diving head first into fund-raising, so be sure to keep a look out for ways your can help raise money for team Sicilian Sisterhood & Friends. 

Absolutely dreaming,

The Lady

Semi-Apologies, Big News, Crab and Tortellini Soup...

First of all, I semi-apologize for being absent last week and the good majority of this week. There have been some major developments among The Lady's household, and so I've been managing that.

What are these developments? Well! Frank and I will finally be moving OUT of the box! We've secured an apartment within the Country Club Villa complex in North-East San Jose. It's situated at the edge of the Foothills right near the San Jose Country Club. On February 13 (Happy Valentine's Day to us!) we'll get the keys to our huge, 900 sq ft 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom apartment. That's right, I said it! 2 whole bedrooms and 2 whole bathrooms! I was literally lost for words when I got the call that our applications had been approved. We're planning a combo House warming/Birthday Party on April 2nd, so keep your eyes open for that!

As for the crab, well, what can I say... The January Sons of Sicily Crab Feed was amazing, as usual. Since February's feed is always so crowded and sells out quickly, January is more relaxed and roomier. Despite the crab being small, it was delicious! I'm nearly an expert crab cleaner and I didn't get one single whole piece of crab out of the shells I cleaned. I was a little frustrated with my ability, but then I realized it had everything to do with the way they were cracked, and the size of the crab. ugh! Anyway, I'm very excited about February's crab feed, because I fully intend to eat my weight in crab with my whole family. That photo is me and momma at last years January Crab Feed.

And now, this amazing creation I made for dinner I call Spicy Tortellini Soup! This soup didn't follow a recipe, rather, I'm trying to clean out my refrigerator in an effort to NOT move food. So I knew that we had a package of tortellini, some chicken broth, a can of tomatoes and a bag of onions onions. I picked up some spicy italian sausage links, spinach and green onion at the store, and used everything else from home. 

I removed the sausage from the casing and crumbled and browned it in the bottom of a heavy pot. I sauteed diced onion and crushed garlic in the renderings from the sausage. I added a can of diced tomatoes flavored with roasted garlic to the mix. I let it all simmer together and dissolved 2 chicken bullion cubes in hot water. I buy the cheap kind, it's called Caldo de Pollo. I added that to about 4 cups of water let it warm before adding it to my big pot. I also had about 2 cups of left over chicken broth from the Cream of Cauliflower soup so I threw that in as well.

After the whole pot was boiling, I added a whole 1 lb package of cheese tortellini. I salted the soup with a hefty serving of Pete's salt, black pepper, garlic powder and dried basil. As the tortellini were about done cooking, I added about 3 cups of chopped fresh baby spinach. When the tortellini were done cooking I turned the burner off and let the spinach wilt and the soup cool. I served it with plain biscuits and topped it with Parmesan cheese and green onion. Keep in mind that isn't my photo because I'd left my phone in the car and didn't take a one. Sorry! There's a lot left over and I brought some for lunch today, so I might replace this photo with my own before lunch.

The result: Wow, this soup was really good. While I felt it needed some additional flavoring, it came out really well for not having a recipe, and for never having made soup. If you have any recommendations for adding some flavor, I'd love to hear them!

Keep an eye out for another recipe coming soon, and you can be sure to expect a video tour of the empty box apartment. I might even give a "before" tour of the new apartment and one "after" when it's all furnished! In the words of the wonderful Ru Paul "I'm so excited I could just spit!"

Absolutely,

The  Lady

No Recipe, New Cautionary Tale and Other Useless Information

So While the plan was supposed to be a new recipe every week, this week has been crazy with unexpected events to keep both Frank and I busy. Monday my mom and I went shopping, as we do almost every Monday that my dad attends his weekly meeting with the 7:30 Club, but this time Frank went with him for guest night. Apparently he's considering joining. Who knew? Haha! 

Tuesday yielded a slow day at work and I was excited to try a new recipe that night, but lo and behold, the King of the Empire (owner of the company I work for), wasn't feeling well and raffled off his 2 pairs of Sharks tickets (we're talking 12th row, center ice), so Naturally I had to enter. And I won. Frank was in a dull mood and tired, so I called my best gal Laura and of course she was raring to go, I mean, who wouldn't be (except Frank)? So we ventured to the Sharks game where there was an alarming number of Toronto Maple Leafs fans around us and I couldn't help but yell "GO BACK TO CANADA" every chance I got. The Sharks ended up loosing and I decided I'm going on a Sharks hockey hiatus for the next 3 weeks to see if they can pull their shit together again.

 

Last night I had  my monthly board meeting for the WAC over at the Drying Shed on the east side. I don't like driving over there by  myself so I caught a ride with Frank's mom Janet. We chatted about moving and all that and worked some things out. Also, the apartments we've decided we'd really like to move to are over in that area, not to mention Frank's aunt and some of our other family friends live in the same complex, so I spoke to one of the women in my club who helps manage them (as her family owns them) and we're hoping to be able to move into a 2 bedroom on her property by the end of March. Ugh, moving is getting so close I can almost taste it, I'm dreading packing, but can't help dreaming of all the space that would be offered with a 2 bedroom, rather than a 450 sq ft box!

So now, aaaaallllll of this brings us to today, where I'm working hard and hardly working all at the same time and my mother and I and hopefully a few other women will walk 2 miles at the Campbell Community Center tonight at 6pm. If you're reading this, available, and in the area, you should come join us. We don't walk super fast, but we're done in under an hour and then go home and have a healthy dinner. So come on out! We may have a new recipe tonight, I'm not sure. It depends on if I go home and cook for Frank and myself or if we go over to mom's. 

And now, for the cautionary tale. If you ever decide to wax your arms at home, by yourself, I would advise against it if you'd like to keep your top layer of skin... Haha! I know it doesn't sound funny, but it is, because I decided that since I wax my eyebrows, and my sideburns, and I used to wax my legs that I could totally wax my arms. and I did, for about 10 minutes and then realized I'd also waxed off some skin near my wrist on my left arm. So I concluded nothing good could come of this anymore and I should stop. You really couldn't tell unless I pointed it out to you, and really, it just looked like a peeling sunburn. I know, I know: I'm lucky I didn't pull more skin off. It didn't hurt and as soon as I realized what I did I stopped and cleaned myself up and slathered the freshly waxed area with neosporin. So now, the next time I decide I need to remove the hair on my arms and I want results that will last longer than shaving, I will totally go to a salon and have someone else rip the hair out of my skin. Thanks for making it seem so easy, Sally Hansen. You liar!

Oh, By the way, I made this for my sister for her birthday... Happy Birthday Baby Boo!

Absolutely,

The Lady

Mediterranean Pizza Skillet and a 3 mile walk.

Alright, so the original plan for this blog was to cook one new recipe a week, however, this week I made 2 different dishes. I just couldn't help myself because they both looked so good! So after making the crab cakes on Tuesday night I was on a kick, so I ran with it. Even though Frank had to go do laundry, I brought everything to his mom's house to make dinner. I loved this dish! It's a Mediterranean pizza skillet, and literally, it's a one pan meal.

Of course, we never follow recipes exactly around here, so here's what I did: I used chicken tenders seasoned with Pete's salt, cut them into little chunks and sauteed them with garlic for about 5 minutes. I added 1 can of diced tomatoes flavored with garlic and basil, and 1 can of drained quartered artichoke hearts packed in water. I let that boil for about a minute and then reduced the heat to low. While it was cooking down I sliced medium black olives in half along with some green onion. I tossed just the olives into the pan, leaving the olives for later. I sliced a loaf of soft French bread, put it on a cookie sheet and broiled it on high for about 4 minutes, this way the top gets nice and brown but the bottom stays soft. 

When the bread was done I removed it and let it cool a bit while I added baby spinach to the pan. I rubbed the toasted side of each slice of bread with raw garlic and spread butter over the top and put it back on the pan. Then I put them back in the warm oven until the spinach was wilted. I topped the skillet mixture with the green onions.I placed 2 slices of bread on each plate and topped them with the skillet mixture and a sprinkling of garlic and herb feta cheese.

The result? Good grief! This dish is amazing! It's a one pan wonder and I will most definitely make it again. Total cooking time for the whole skillet is about 20 minutes, and you prepare the bread during that time, too. I served this with a salad and Frank's mom made these delicious cauliflower fritters (another recipe soon to come, don't worry). 

My only suggestion would be to leave out the chicken next time and make it a vegetarian dish, OR crumble some Italian sausage and then follow the same recipe. The recipe I had called for kalmata olives rather than black olives, and romaine lettuce or escarole instead of spinach. I had a can of black olives and didn't want to buy the others, and I don't like warm lettuce and escarole is expensive. So I adjusted based on what I know we all like, and it was great. Definitely a 4 star dish!

And now for the more exciting part, tomorrow morning I will join my mom, Frank's mom, a co-worker and some of the women from our Women's Auxiliary Club to walk 3 miles. This group began around this time last year and I joined them in February and the pounds just started melting off, so at the start of this year I took the initiative and contacted all the women and let them know my mom and I wanted to start walking again. Hopefully we'll stay on track (no pun intended) and keep going through out the year. We'll meet at least 2 days a week. Once on Saturdays for a 3 mile walk at Almaden Lake, and once during the week, typically Wednesday, for a 2 mile walk in Campbell. This is the year to get fit... for all of us. I can feel it.

Absolutely,

The Lady