Zonta Update

I have been a member of Zonta for a couple of years now, and they recently asked me to be a "First Year Director" on the board of the local Three Rivers North Chapter. Since my term as president of the Sojourner House board is ending in June, I expect to have a less time-consuming role there (although I'll still participate). So I said 'yes' to the director spot for Zonta.

A week of so ago, the nominating committee called me back and asked if I would consider taking the position of President Elect. Since I have almost no awareness of the Zonta International aspect of this organization, there would be a learning curve here. However, they convinced me that my leadership experience from Sojourner House would serve me well; and they have a couple of people who can mentor me. So I have accepted the President Elect spot. Guess I am just a born leader . . . or a born woman's advocate . . . or both.

Zonta . . . Advancing the status of women, worldwide.

On that note, one of the Zonta members in our local club is Mary Jo Hess, who is fighting a courageous battle with cancer. Her faith and courage are inspiring, and I have put her CaringBridge site on my favorites for all my blogger friends. Please lift up Mary Jo in prayer on her journey.

HOME GROUP DEDICATION FOR MELANIE!

Here is our picture from last night's open house and dedication for Melanie at Northway! It was an awesome evening, and Melanie is over a third of the way toward raising her support goal. She wants to be finished by August so she can be full time with the students at Ohio State by September. Let us know if you have friends who might be willing to be part of her team!

Thanks to Bill for his wonderful dedication.

Weekend doings!

Matt and Mary came over from Columbus on Friday night. It was a beautiful day yesterday, and we went walking in the neighborhood and just relaxed in the morning. On Saturday night we headed downtown (duntun) to The Church Brew Works for dinner and then off to Heinz Hall for a concert. The program was all Rachmaninoff, who is one of my favorite composers. This picture was taken at Intermission in the garden courtyard outside the hall between the Vocalise and the Symphonic Dances (part 1) and the third piano concerto performed by Denis Matsuev (part 2). The pianist was truly an amazing performer; he did TWO encores that were also beautiful. This guy was rocking that 9-foot Steinway grand. I'm sure they tune HIS piano very often. It was great to spend time with Matt and Mary and to do something so fun on top of it!


I also wanted to post a great new picture I got of our newest family member, Nathaniel Ethan, on the occasion of being 6 weeks old! Stan and Abby (and big brother Gabe) sent two great pictures of Nate - - - with his eyes open! I just couldn't resist putting this little cutey on the blog.



Finally, Greg and I did some yard work this afternoon, and the honeysuckle plants in the corners have come under attack again. This time Greg cut them down to about 2 feet off the ground. He trimmed off all the "feelers" and put the main plants below the top of the fence. They look pretty pathetic, so I will see if they are going to behave themselves or whether we end up taking them out completely. I've also planted 10 new perennial mums that I got from Spring Hill nurseries. And the Ohio State Horticulture donations of spirea and ground cover are once again showing signs of life. You just can't beat that OSU plant stock.

Melanie was here!

My baby girl is all grown up. She amazes me how she has changed in just a few short months since graduation. The transition to young professional is completely underway.

I didn't take any pictures. We were enjoying ourselves so much that I didn't want to interrupt the flow to take photos. It was an awesome Easter at Northway, though. We haven't been 'home' for Easter in several years. I forgot what it is like to celebrate with your own church family. It was nice to get hugs from all our home group friends and to say "He is risen! He is risen indeed!"

Hope you had a great Easter!

Hello from the Windy City!



I got up at 3 a.m. this morning and left for the airport for a 6:00 flight to Chicago. With the time difference, we landed at 6:35; and I was downtown at the Sheraton Towers before 8. My training conference started at 8:30 a.m., and I had time to check into my hotel (thank goodness there was a room available before noon). I have been in training all day and attended a showcase reception before going out to dinner. The way I figure it, I have now been up for about 19 hours and have eaten two real meals and miscellaneous coffee and snacks. My body is totally whacked . . . I think I should go to bed soon.



I really like Chicago . . . I don't know why. I have come here countless times over my career on business. A couple of times I have come here for fun reasons, too. There is something cool about the place. For example, as I came up LaSalle this morning to the hotel in the airport shuttle, there was a police vehicle parked along side the street with the words "Scuba Unit" on the side of it. Pittsburgh has lots of waterways, but I have never seen a scuba unit in downtown Pittsburgh. What's up with that? When I'm here, I always expect Dick Tracy to come out of some building in his trench coat and hat or something. Chicago has its own personality with the El and the Miracle Mile and Navy Pier. The one thing I don't think I'd like to deal with is the traffic; I'm really spoiled in Pittsburgh.



Tomorrow is another long day, but I will be home tomorrow night. I wish I had a picture to share with you. How about this?

It has been a long week, my friends!

As I sit here on Friday evening, I must say that March did NOT go out like a lamb! I had some stuff going on at work this week that culminated a couple of months worth of business case analysis . . . and getting it in front of executive management for approval. I have tap danced this presentation at least 4 times this week . . . each time with a different stakeholder. I'm glad to say, I think it will be approved on Monday. And that Irish blarney served me well in giving my presentation.

In addition to launching my business case and strategy, I also met with my boss for a performance review, tried to convince another of my business customers that we need to hire some consultants to help us with a project, and spent a number of hours on Visio drawing logical diagrams of some of our processes as a reference model. I DESERVE this glass of wine, I'm telling you.

The week was complicated because I got a cold about Wednesday. Unfortunately, I wasn't sick enough to be down in bed, so I struggled through the last couple of days. (Better living through chemistry.) At night I was doing NyQuil and Vicks Vapo Rub. Greg said I smelled pretty bad, but it didn't bother me. :-) I needed to sleep, and I accomplished that goal. Greg even talked me into trying the Netty Pot this morning, which I have yet to master. Regardless, I think I passed the critical part this morning. I am starting to feel better. This is good, because Melanie is coming over on Sunday. YAY!!!!

Tomorrow I am going to finish the taxes (yes, Dad, I started them). Then I want to cut out my dress that I've had fabric for since about the first of February. The sewing is my reward for doing the taxes. It may sound crazy, but I find the reward system still works for me.

Birthday Weekend!


This weekend was my birthday, and it was awesome! When I got up on Saturday morning, Greg had baked me some birthday chocolate chip cookies (since a whole cake is a bit too much for us). He had ALSO gone shopping and gave me a present in traditional Froehle wrap; i.e., the Sunday funnies. As you can see in the background here, he was also making our traditional Saturday morning breakfast of blueberry waffles. I had a wonderful waffle and a cup of coffee with my birthday cookie.

The present turned out to be a lovely, olive-green shirt jacket from Chico's. Since green is hands-down my favorite color and Chico's is also on my top three favorite stores right now, this present was an instant hit.

After breakfast, I went for a walk and took my shower. Greg went to take a nap, exhausted from cooking and wrapping gifts and stuff. :-) So I took off to get a massage and to get my nails done. It is sort of like the "spring cleaning" of personal care since I got my hair done on Thursday. I should be good for a little while.

In the evening, we had plans to meet our friends, Mickey and Maribeth, in the Cultural District for dinner at Six Penn Kitchen. We got dressed up and had a great meal there before our show at the Benedum Center, "La Boheme." This was the first time we had seen this opera even though it is in the top 3 Italian operas staged in the U.S. I looked it up on Wikipedia before the show and read the story and the history; and the show lived up to its reputation. We really enjoyed it!

This evening we called Katy and David on Skype and talked to them while they ate spaghetti. Katy wanted me to play BINGO with her on Skype, but I couldn't see the cards. Maybe Daddy will scan some of them and send me a few so we can play next week.

Thanks to all my great friends and family who sent cards and called and gave me e-mail wishes. It was an amazing day, and I am sooooo lucky to be alive with all of you out there.

Celebrating our Birthdays; David and Oma!

David's birthday is Friday; he will be one year old. Oma's birthday is Saturday; she will be older than one year old. :-) This weekend Opa and I went to Columbus to help David get started on his celebration and to start my party, too.

On Saturday morning, we got up and had our Saturday waffles that Opa always makes for us. Then we hung out for a while and opened David's birthday package. It was a Fold 'N Go Barn from Melissa & Doug. Katy helped David with the unwrapping part. Then we opened all the doors to the barn and put the animals in and sang a chorus or two of Old MacDonald to intiate the barn.

Later we ate lunch before heading off to Graeter's for David's first chocolate ice cream!

On Saturday afternoon, Emily took Opa and Melanie and me out to see their new house in Westerville. It was sunny and warm, and we walked around the new yard and peeked in the windows. It is a great place; and they will be moving in about six weeks when all the paperwork and things settle. Then we went on to church and made our way back home for dinner and a quiet evening . . . well, as quiet as it ever gets anyway.

On Sunday morning, Katy and David stayed at home with Opa and me while Brian and Emily went out for brunch and a walk. We had fun playing computer games with Bert and Ernie and playing some more with the new barn and reading books and just snuggling.

When Brian and Emily came home, we got all our hugs and kisses good-bye and left to meet Mary and Matthew for lunch out in Dublin. We stopped at their apartment and then follow them to a neat little place called Anna's on Sawmill Road. It had a nice buffet that allowed us to try a lot of new and interesting food. They also had the most garlicy, wonderful hummus I have ever eaten. It was HEAVENLY. :-) Unfortunately, I was so busy talking to Mary and Matthew that I neglected to take any pictures. But we had a great afternoon and headed back to Pittsburgh from there.

So besides the fact that Ohio State lost in double overtime Friday night in the NCAA tournament, we had a really good weekend. But at least Pitt is still in the running. All is not lost.

It's Monday again. Here we go again!

Dinner at Passport Cafe with Kathy -- another one.


Tonight I met my friend, Kathy, at Passport Cafe for dinner. Kathy and I are Zonta buddies and golfer buddies . . . although she is much better than I am at golf. She is also better than I am at picking out wine, which makes her a great dinner companion as well.


We had the special chicken entree with blueberry and lime sauce and roasted brussels sprouts and rhutabaga. It was WONDERFUL. So was the cappucino I had for dessert.


Here is Michael. He was our waiter. We ate outside on the patio on MARCH 18! Can you believe it? Anyway, Michael is my all-time favorite waiter. I think I have said that before. Now you can see what he looks like.



Michael will take excellent care of you if you visit the Passport Cafe. Tell him Kathy sent you.

St. Patrick's Reprise!

I love this holiday! It's so . . . green!

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!!!!!

When IRISH Eyes are Smilin' . . . . watch it here and smile.

BEAD FOR LIFE . . . a new favorite place!


On Wednesday at my Zonta meeting, there was a representative from Bead for Life presenting the program. As most of you already know, I love to make jewelry and am always on the lookout for interesting beads and components for my art. I am especially fond of beads and findings and pendants made by women who are gaining economic independence by making and selling these pieces. (Antelope Beads is another one of these places.)

Bead for Life is based in southern Uganda; and it is an organization that markets the hand-made beads of a group of women who HAND ROLL each bead from paper and glue. The beads and the designs are exquisite. They also have lots of necklaces and bracelets and chokers already put together for people who want to buy the jewelry. The prices are very affordable (most things $20 and under). The colors and patterns are lovely.

I've added Bead for Life to my web shopping list on the left. I would encourage you to check them out and to consider them for gifts and for "statement jewelry" for yourself. Wear their pieces proudly. You are helping to eliminate poverty in women and girls by buying these designs.

If anybody is interested in a pair of Bead for Life earrings in either red or gold, let me know if your ears are pierced and which color you would like. I'll make you a pair of poverty eliminating earrings!

Oh, I joined Facebook this week, too. I really can't decide if I can keep up with another "collaboration platform" in my life. I personally enjoy the blog a bit more because I can ramble more. But feel free to look me up on there if you are a FB fanatic. Although this blog has more of my life right now than Facebook.

I am homesick for Columbus and the kids and Katy and David. Little David will be a year old coming up on the 27th. Time has really flown by; and he will undoubtedly be walking soon. We are headed over for a birthday celebration really soon or I would be very sad.

Lunch with Shane and Louisa!




Thursday I got to meet my friend, Shane, and her 6-month-old daughter, Louisa, for lunch. Shane and I have been long-time lunch buddies at Federated over the last few years; and I have really missed her since she went on maternity leave and then extended into FMLA leave when her husband was called to Iraq on reserve duty. We met at Atria's, and it was great to catch up on her life and my Oma and Mom stories for the last six months.





Louisa was a VERY GOOD girl . . . well, she was pretty interested in grabbing silverware and stuff. But what do you expect when exploring the world is your full-time job? Anyway, Shane and I promised to get together again really soon . . . especially since the weather is getting better.



---------

"A Powerful Noise," the movie I saw Thursday night, was . . . well, powerful. It was a documentary about three women from Vietnam, Bosnia, and Mali who have done amazing things in terrible circumstances to help women overcome poverty and political and economic diversity. After the movie, there was a live simulcast (sp?) of a panel discussion with Madeleine Albright and Natalie Portman and Dr. Helene Gayle and others. My soapbox would include asking you to read two screens of web text here: http://www.apowerfulnoise.org/womenandpoverty.html Make the world a better place for everybody. Educate your girls!! Check out the web site for more information.

-------
Okay, finally, Greg and I had a revelation last night (Friday). After going to a movie on Thursday, I remembered that I kind of like doing this occasionally in the evening. Someone at church last week mentioned "Slumdog Millionaire" to us and said it was worth seeing. Then there was a brief reference to it Thursday night in the panel discussion. So I asked Greg if he wanted to catch a quick dinner and see this movie on Friday after work.

We met at Boston Market for a quick dinner. This turned out to cost us $8.49 because Greg had a coupon for one free entree with a purchase. SWEET! We were ready to drop a twenty at the theater because it was evening instead of a matinee like we usually do. When we bought our tickets, they were $13! AHA!!! The teenager at the booth gave us the SENIOR CITIZEN DISCOUNT! OMG!! We're over 55! Our whole evening cost $21.49. I hate to say I am a cheap date; but I AM!

With this revelation, my social life has just improved dramatically, folks. I see a whole bunch of dinner and a movie dates in my future. So what movies are worth seeing? Anybody seen anything lately worth watching. (The previews were not too promising, I must admit.)

A POWERFUL NOISE! TONIGHT!

http://www.youtube.com/apowerfulnoise

WHEW! We made it through February!

Yes, February is the longest short month of the year. Even with a few warm days there toward the end, it sort of felt like a long, cold march over the mountains. But, CHIN UP! It's now March!

Greg has spent all weekend fixing things around here that have all of a sudden gone nuts! Thursday when I was getting ready for work, I kept hearing this dripping in the bedroom. I finally found the drip, and it was coming from the window dripping down from the ceiling above where the wind blows water up under the capper on the top of the roof. The wind has taken a few more shingles up there this winter. We are hoping for the wind to be kind to us until we can get that fixed. Greg REALLY doesn't care for repair work up there. If you've been to our house, you know that the back is 3 stories on the edge of a hill. It is a great view from the deck. It looks like Mount Everest from the top of the roof over the master bedroom.

Anyway, yesterday when I went to open the garage to run some errands, the cable on the garage door opener broke. Greg spent most of the afternoon repairing that so I could get my car out tomorrow morning. Then we were cleaning up from supper, and the garbage disposal backed up in the sink. We are almost afraid to turn anything else on for fear it will break. Maybe things come in three's. Do you think?

The bright spot is that I found a really quick, tasty recipe for Applesauce Barbecued Chicken in my Taste of Home Simple and Delicious magazine for March/April. I made it for supper last night, and I promised Emily I would send it to her. So here it is in a post for the rest of you as well:

Applesauce Barbecue Chicken
Prep/Total Time: 20 min.

4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves (6 oz. each)
1/2 tsp pepper
1 Tbsp. olive oil
2/3 cup chunky applesauce
2/3 cup spice barbecue sauce
2 Tbsp. brown sugar
1 tsp. chili powder

Sprinkle chicken with pepper. In a large skillet, brown chicken in oil on both sides. In a small bowl, combine the remaining ingredients; pour over chicken. Cover and cook 7-10 minutes longer or until a meat thermometer reads 170 degrees.

Yield: 4 servings (1 chicken breast and 1/3 cup sauce) equals 308 calories, 1 gram fiber, 8 grams of fat for you Weight Watchers.

Hope you are all keeping warm and starting to plan your spring activities. Here's hoping we are almost done shovelling snow.

BABES IN THE BURGH!


Brian, Emily, Katy and David have been spending the weekend with us. We have had lots of fun! I have been too busy to take as many pictures as usual, but these two representations pretty much say it.


On Sunday night, mommy and daddy went out to dinner; and Katy and David stayed with Opa and Oma. Katy was singing with us at the kitchen table. She knows lots of new songs like "I've been Workin' on the Railroad" and "Frere Jacques." This video is priceless even if it's a little low volume. Turn up your speakers. It's worth it!

We also made a trip to the Children's Museum today! This was quite an experience since it is President's Day, and the place was pretty busy. Mister Rogers' area was neat, and so was the wood carver and tree stuff on the second floor. However, the waterplay area can't be beat. And even David got in on the act up there. He was standing on a stool splashing away with the best of them.

Finally, I don't have any pictures yet, but Stan and Abby and Gabe welcomed a new baby on Sunday evening weighing about 7 pounds, 10 ounces. His name is Nathaniel Ethan; and word has it he is just as handsome as his brother, Gabe. More information as we have it. Congratulations to the whole family.

Blogger Catch-Up

It has been a busy week launching February, so this post is going to be a little bit random with all the things I want to say. You know, with the Super Bowl and Mary and Matthew's visit and our home group and our anniversary and the stinky weather, there is a lot to comment on.

I'll start with a final word on the Steelers win last Sunday in the Super Bowl. The "Steeler Nation" has really enjoyed their victory celebration this week. The city is lovingly calling itself "Sixburgh" and ravenously buying shirts and hats commemorating their sixth Lombardi trophy. There was an amazing parade on Tuesday at noon; and over 350,000 people came downtown to wave their terrible towels and stand outside in 20-degree temperatures with snow whizzing around their heads to watch the parade and hear the speeches and see the trophy itself. This picture, which has been seen all over town, pretty much says it all.

Okay . . . moving on!

Also on Tuesday, we have our home group meeting here at the house in the evenings. Cathy and Larry brought some of the snacks, and they provided orange sections and grapes stuck together on toothpicks in a delicate and attractive arrangement. As we were eating and collecting the toothpicks and orange rinds on our little Stiller plates, we discovered that besides running a successful business, Larry has a hidden creative talent previously used to entertain his children. That talent is creating stick figures from the discarded toothpicks and orange rinds. I had to take a picture of Larry with his creation. The figure was even able to stand by itself. What a feat of engineering! This is the female version, by the way. We hadn't eaten enough oranges to make a companion for her.

Home group is about quality time, too, you know?

As you saw from my earlier post, Opa and Oma celebrated our 9-year wedding anniversary on Monday. We didn't go out on Monday night, though, because our favorite restaurant, Passport Cafe, is closed on Mondays. So we postponed our date until Wednesday evening. In spite of the cold temperatures, we had a lovely dinner with Michael serving us; he is one of our favorites from Sunday brunch. He still introduces himself to us every time. As he pours our water, he says, "Good evening, my name is Michael. I'll be serving you this evening . . . ." And Mark Matera (the owner) stops by to make sure we enjoyed our food. It was a great way to celebrate the beginning of our 10th year.

And finally, I have been wanting to add some more blogger detail about our visit with Mary and Matthew last weekend. I had e-mailed Mary before they came over that Greg and I would really appreciate having a couple of recent photos of them. I love family pictures and have them all over the place. Mary brought us a CD with photos from their wedding on the beach in Clearwater, FL, this summer. I got some prints of these and have been busy framing and putting pictures in an album this week. I just had time to resize a few pix last night and wanted to share a little bit of Mary and Matthew's beautiful day with my blogger buddies. Aren't they a great-looking couple?

That warm sand and beautiful sunset sure looks inviting. Congratulations to the newlyweds!

A Perfect 10!

Need I say more? (Go, Bucks!)

Today is our 9th wedding anniversary! Yep! Ground Hog Day! Love you, Opa!

Great weekend with Mary and Matthew!

Greg's daughter, Mary, and her husband, Matthew, came to visit from Columbus this weekend. It was fun to spend some time talking and catching up. One of our favorite things to do with first-time visitors to the 'Burgh is to ride the Duquesne Incline to the top of Mount Washington and have dinner on top of the hill overlooking the skyline. We haven't had any first-timers for a while, so it was a treat for us, too, to ride downtown in Greg's new car and navigate the snowy parking lot to the bottom of the incline. Here is the required picture of Mary and Matthew with the skyline in the background. Don't they look great? As soon as we took the picture, we went to the restaurant to get warm. It was 20-something out there and a little breezey. Brrrrrr!

We have had a few hours of temperatures above freezing today, and the sun actually shone this afternoon. It was a beautiful weekend in many respects, but it was really great to relax and spend time with family. It was a wonderful time eating and talking and looking out over our beautiful city skyline with lights.

Opa's New Car

Mitsubishi Lancer, Cobalt Blue, 5-speed manual transmission, many gizmos too numerous to list.

Result, happy Opa! :-)

Bye-bye, Taurus . . . .