Adam's New Car

Leap forward 17 years from MAY 1989 and now instead of a new baby boy I am about to give birth to a teenage driver. I am excited and scared out of my mind all at the same time.

Tomorrow Adam, Mike and I drive to Charlottesville, Va to pick up Adam's Jeep Cheerkee. And I have to say I am very proud of my son because he has worked his ass off at Starbucks to pay for this car. It is a 1996 Jeep Cheerkee Country -- dark green, 4 door with a 4 wheel drive. It has had one owner (my next door neighbors daughter) and has been very well maintained.

Adam leaves for Mississippi on Sunday so he only get to drive it one day but hey that's ok because he wil not get his DL until the middle of August. He has more than 50 hours of driving with me or another adult plus he is taking Behind the Wheel right now so i feel good that he will be a safe driver. Plus since he paid for the car and he is paying his insurance I feel pretty good that he will be a excellent driver.

Since Adam has no DL yet I am driving with him back to VA while the other Mike drives my car back.

The good news in all of this is Erica (who we are buying from) lives right near three great VA wineries I have been wanting to try out. So, we drive down, grab some sandwiches, try some wine (Adam get cokes) and make a day of it.

I talked to Katy and Gabe last night..they seem to be bored but having an OK time in Mississippi. I miss them so much !! I can't wait until they get back.

Last -- I crossed out two items on my summer to do list that i got done. 28 more to go. :)

Sniff....Sam and Amy off to NYC

We had dinner tonight with Sam and Amy. They both finally sold their condos so they are off to live the good life in NYC. Both Mike and I will missing seeing them...even though Sam will be down to AOL a good bit it is not the same as them being right her in good ole NOVA.

Good luck guys!

NOVA ..Home to some really cool people

My friend Waj is leaving in a few days for to Israel and Palestine in a few days. Yes, she going to the Holy Land! No, she is not converting or starting a llama farm.

She will be interning with Panorama - the Palestinian Center for the Dissemination of Democracy & Community Development, an NGO based in Ramallah. The good news is that she be living in Jerusalem. The bad news is that she will have to pass through checkpoints to and from work. It should be very interesting to say the least!

If you want to read her blog ...go here
Waj's Blog

She is one of the coolest and funniest people I know. I am sure her blog will be entertaining. :)

In more good news...Adam was promoted to shift manager at Starbucks. Whee !! I am very proud of him. He will be training like crazy the next few weeks before he leaves for Mississippi. In August when he returns he will get his DL. I can't believe he will be driving. I am going to have him a car by then. It is both thrilling and scary as hell to think he will be driving be himself. Besides taking Behind the Wheel I am also signing him up for a defensive driving course.

Katy, Gabe and Bri leave for Mississippi Sunday. I know Lance is very ready to see all of them. I hope that Katy does not get too homesick this summer. This wil be the longest they have ever been away. I am both ready for a break and nervous that they wil be so far away. Lance is a great dad so I don't have to worry but when you are a Mom you always do. :)

I am almost finished with my latest National Geographic book...I expect this one to sell quite well and get good reviews. God knows our team has worked our asses off on this project. Garrett is going to take us all to Georgis Brown's when we are done. Whee !!

Ok..back to work......

Life is funny

You know ...life is funny. It has a way of changing in ways you never thought possible. I love it when people suprise me.....in good ways suprise me.

Take today...I called Bri's mom Vikki to find out what size photos she wants of the great photos I took of Bri.

She actually thanked me for taking such great care of Bri and raising such a great kid. Wonder never cease. Of course I am not sure if it was sincere or not but at least the words were there.

I know she is going to have a great time living near her Mom and Dad. If anything good can come out of what happened between Lance and I -- I think that this may be one big thing. It will be good for Briana to have them both close to her. And we will miss her but I think right now Bri needs this. And she need to get to know her mom the way she knows her Dad.

On to different note...I am almost finished with my NGS Children's Book. ..Our Country's First Ladies. YEA!! I wil be finished with the other one by the end off the month. Then only small NGS projects for the next few months. I need a break from photo editing and shooting 12 hours a day.

Gabe got a baseball award last night for most hits/runs. He was so excited ! Katy is going to play soccer in the fall. I already bought the school supplies for them for the fall from the PTA so at least that is done.

News Flash...Teenagers allow photograph

Yes, miracles do happen...Adam, 17, and Bri, 14, allowed a couple of photographs to be taken after we went out for Briana's going away dinner at Cheff Geoff's. Don't they look great all dressed up ?

7 more days until school gets out

7 more days until school gets out.....I cannot wait for the lazy days of summer. It is also very bittersweet because my stepdaughter Bri will be returning to Mississippi to live with her Dad. I sometimes hate the way our family is divided now.

I am going to miss her something terrible. How can you raise and nurture a child for 11 years and not have an empty hole in your heart when she flies from the nest? Briana is 14, a talent artist, wonderful sister and most of the time a joy to be around. She is smart, clever and very beautiful. She is going to be fine but I am going to miss on Sunday morning how she crawls into my bed and just snuggles with me...telling me about her week, her friends, what boy she likes now, begging to go to the mall...being oh so grown up and in some ways still a child.

I know Gabe, Katy and even Adam are going to be very sad when they come back from visiting with their dad and Bri is not here. This is their sister that they have grown up with. Who has fought with them, played countless hours of Beanie Babies, built inside forts and outside secret holes? Who has comforted them, loved them and been there for them.

Last night I took her and Adam to a fancy DC restaurant (Chef Geoff's). We got all dressed up, did valet parking, the whole nine yards. We get seated at this nice candlelit table. Bri is very exciting to be out and looks down at our table and sees that they have paper on top of the cloth tablecloth. She gets all excited and says .. does this mean we get to color on the paper..where are the crayons ?? LOL...I tell her that there are no crayons at Chef Geoff...the price of growing up. :)

We will all love and miss you Bri...and will be counting the days until next summer when you come stay with us for a month.

On another note...I miss all the kids this summer. Gabe and Katy wil be gone awhile also returning in August. And when Adam returns he will have a car and will embark on his last year of high school. I can't believe he will be a senior!!

WHEN I ever finish these two books for NGS ....I will spend the lazy days of my summer painting the house, working out everyday and getting Zumba certifies to teach, I am going to take dance classes and learn the tango.

I am going to workout everyday. :)

I am going to enjoy silence, hearing the crickets at night, sipping a glass of wine under my outside chandelier.

No AC :(

First, yes it was the hottest temps in the country today here in DC. A whopping 96 degrees. Bad news -- AC still not really cooling, Good News - I am getting a brand new AC/Heating Unit June 15th.

Lance (my ex -husband) got a fantastic promotion today at work. It almost seems like karma because it is right before the kids come down for the summer with him. It will be more money, day hours and no weekend work. I am so glad that he is doing well....and also somewhat sad that it never came to be while he lived here in NoVA but he is a Mississippi boy at heart.

Onto other thoughts...I downloaded the a free trial of RRS. It is really awesome to be able to get all your news and blogs in one place without having to jump from webpage to webpage. The one for mac is Net NewsWire

Very cool site.

I did try out and get an account on corkd

I am Vawinelover and I have already written one review :) In case you don't know Corkd is a free, web-based service that makes it simple to review and share wine.
The just started up about a week ago and already had 4000 members. You can become drinking buddies online. :) Not real drinking buddies but friends with other people that like trying good wines.

Wine review blog

This will be a quick one today since I am on deadline for two books right now for National Geographic. (aka NGS)


Today summer turned on here in Northern Virginia (NOVA). Last week we had the coats on and this weekend it feels like Florida was transported to my backyard...along with several hundred bugs and humid temps. We are going to be adventurous this year and plant a small garden. The kids and I (Bug - my youngest girl, Skatergrl - my beautiful wantabe skater girl, and GB - my 9 year-old Mr. Bossy) are going to plant squash, tomatoes, corn, peppers and green beans. I even rented a tiller last week and till it up. Boy, I am glad not to be a farmer.


Cool page you might want to check out...Mike sent this too me today
http://corkd.com/Wine Review Blog
You can post your own wine reviews...how cool is that. I am going to have to try it soon. The Virginia Wine Festal kicks off next week. Great fun and even better wines to try.


Ok......that all for now.stayed tuned to tomorrrow..I might take out the AC guy if he does not come fix my AC.

Katy's First Communion

Katy's First Communion was beautiful today. I had to almost bribe her to get her to wear a dress but in the end I think she had fun picking it out. Afterwards we went to Gabriel's ballgame and tonight....Mike and I get to be all dressed up and go to the White House Press Photographers Dinner. Very, very fun :)

Starting to blog

Here is a photo of Katy and Gabe, 7 and 9.

Ok...here is my first attempt to blog. As my profile says I will be writing about all softs of crazy and interesting things...well interesting to me. :)

You will here about my kids -- Katy, Gabe, Adam and my step-daughter Briana


I will see if I can capture images of the teenagers but it might be a harder task than I think. :)