Happy 100th Birthday to my Father-in-Law

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Credit

Today, October 3, 2011 would have been my Father-in-Law, William Harry Shewbridge's 100th birthday. I unfortunately never had the chance to meet him as he had already passed away when Bill and I started dating.

I did get to know about his character from cards and letters I found that he had written to my mother-in-law through-out their marriage when we were cleaning out their house

All Things Happy

It doesn’t always have to big things like expensive watches & dresses (I so want one right now) to make us happy. Many times, its small things that put a smile on our faces. And this is my list of those things.  ♥ Spending time with people I connect and love… be it family or friends. They sure do put a smile on my face.♥ Pulling legs of my friends.♥ That I have changed in past 2 years. Now I m

Visiting Sistah

I got to spend a couple days with my sister Meredith (aka sistah) in Claremont, CA before I had to fly East and she had to start her second year of medical school; once again we jam packed our days ... Here is a recap of our top 5 mini adventures:

1. 90 min Bikram (hot) yoga class

2. Double feature at a drive-in movie theater (Captain America and Harry Potter)

3. Lots of play time with Lil - her 4 lb chihuahua

4. Awesome trip to the antique mart

5. And of course In and Out Burgers! (Can you tell which one is sans meat?... Hint: not mine.)

I really miss her (and CA).

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Note on the etymology of "sistah":



My grandmother never uses proper nouns unless absolutely necessary ... so when inquiring about Meredith she always asks, "how's sistah?" in her thick Brooklyn accent. (Also, she refers to me as "the kid" - even if I'm standing right in front of her.) Meredith and I find my grandmother's colloquial quirks endearing, and have adopted them accordingly.



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Visiting Home - Fallbrook, CA

Paradise: My Mom's Back Yard

After our Santa Fe trip, Diana and I spent a couple of days at my mom's house in Fallbrook, CA, and laid by the pool, ate great food, and met her new horse Andy.

This is Andy (and what he thinks of me)



... and this is me trying to bribe him with carrots.

After the stables - mom and I traded in the carrots for a Hawaiian lunch



...and then, Diana and I took in a car show.

Diana and I even got to see a movie during our visit: Cowboys & Aliens, which I give 5 out of 5 stars. I can't believe the critics who slammed the film... the movie is about cowboys versus aliens - what did they expect?? Like Snakes on a Plane (another classic), the movie doesn't purport to be anything more than what it is - fun, campy brilliance. (Then again, I am somewhat of an eccentric aficionado of fantastically bad B films - as evidenced by the fact that I consider Shark Attack 3: Megalodon one of the greatest movies ever made.)





On Sunday, my sister met up with Diana and I for an afternoon Padres game. Now, I'm a Yankees fan and Diana is a Giants fan - but baseball is baseball, and neither of us had been to Petco Park. On the way down to San Diego, we gave Meredith a crash course in the basic rules and strategy of baseball. It turned out to be a great game between two not-so-great teams (Padres vs. Rockies), which resulted in a win for the home team. Bonus - we had insanely good seats (15 rows from the field), which only cost $38 a piece on StubHub.





After the ballgame, we dropped Diana off at the San Diego airport for her return flight to San Francisco, and Meredith and I drove up to Claremont for some sistah time.

Things That Make Me Happy

Sunset near the beach:  A walk along the marine lines gazing at the departing sun and listening to the splashing sea waves on the wall… swinging in and out… walking by the chaupati, where you can feel the cool water on your feet, and the rushing sand under the toes…Laughing: When my family sits together, and we laugh on most minor and trivial issues till we get rolling on the  floor!A hug

Yankees Milestones: Jeter and Grandpa

Last week, Gary and I witnessed a Yankees' milestone when Derek Jeter earned his 3,000th career hit. The hit itself could have been straight out of a Hollywood movie script: full count, Yankees trailing by one at home, Jeter at bat -- all eyes and cameras on him when... he hits a BOMB that blasts out of left field - soaring Jeter into history. What made it even sweeter was that hit 3,000 was the first home run Jeter had at Yankee Stadium in about a year, he went 5 for 5, and had the game winning RBI in the 8th inning. Jeter is only the 28th major leaguer in the history of the game to get 3,000 hits - and the only Yankee. Even if you don't like the Yankees, you have to admit that Jeter joined the exclusive 3,000-hit club in style.

Earlier this season, there was another milestone at Yankee Stadium - I got to take my grandfather to a Yankees game for his 88th birthday. It was even more special because I was able to also share the day with Gary and my two cousins - all three of whom are HUGE Yankees fans.

Grandpa at his First Yankees Game at the New Stadium

My grandfather grew up as an Italian immigrant in Brooklyn - rooting for the Yankees for as long as he can remember. He only got to see one home game at the old stadium as a young man, and has pretty much watched every Yankees game on TV since. During my grandfather's second Yankees home game - he was in awe of not only the new stadium, but also of the entire "food culture" that has since developed around the game. As people got up and down for sushi, cheese steaks, garlic fries, beef nachos etc... he stared in wonderment:

"Are these people here to watch the game or eat?" he asked.
"Both" I said, while sipping a gourmet latte.

My grandfather went the traditional route and had a hot dog, which he said was the best hot dog he ever tasted. We too had the perfect game - with late scores from all of his Yankee favorites, and a win for the home team. It was a great day at the ballpark.

A hot dog at the ballgame beats roast beef at the Ritz. - Humphrey Bogart

I love baseball, and I follow two teams: the NY Yankees and the SF Giants. This will never change. Both of these teams represent the majority of my life, split between NJ & San Francisco; they are my "home teams", and I have spent hundreds of hours with friends and family on opposite coasts cheering for them both.

My sister once asked me why I love baseball so much. I guess because it's a simple game and a complex one:

- every at-bat starts as a one-on-one match up - until the batter wins, and then it turns into a 9-player team game;
- any team can come back at any time;
- fans can wear a part of the professional uniform (baseball hats) every day of the year;
- if a team is ahead, they still have to play their hearts out, and can't just "keep possession" of the ball to win;
- it's played on grass fields, under the starry nights of summer;
- the nit-picking-stats are mind-boggling - like an ultimate never ending Trivial Pursuit game;
- the clock does not determine who wins, skill does;
- and there is always a chance of catching a ball at a game, just like a real major-league star.

Bruce Catton said that big league ball was "the greatest conversation piece ever invented in America". Maybe that's the best reason for loving baseball; when I see young kids at games talking with their dads about a hit-and-run play, it reminds me of sitting on the couch as a little girl with my grandpa - feeling like a grown up because he and I would yell the same things at the TV when the guys in pinstripes did something wrong - or something extraordinary... both of which usually happened in every game.

NJ Does It Better...

We made sure that my sister Meredith got two Jersey specialties before she headed back to California: pizza and Bent Spoon ice cream... I miss her already!

The Best-Laid Plans ...

mom, grandma, grandpa, and uncle Frank

My mother and sister flew out from California for my grandmother's open heart surgery last week... The trip did not go exactly as planned:

Horses and Planes

My mom is a polio survivor and has significant weakness in both legs requiring leg braces; she is also a paraequestrian rider, and fell off her horse the day before she was scheduled to fly to NY. It turns out she pulled a groin muscle and fractured her pelvis in the fall. She, of course, was told not to fly; which she ignored.

The next morning the car service my mom had hired to take her and my sister to the San Diego airport (1 hour away) broke down, so my sister threw everything in her own car and drove as fast as she could. She pulled up to the curb, unloaded the bags and pulled out my mom's spare wheelchair - only to find that in the confusion they had forgotten the footrests - and my mother couldn't use the chair without them. After my sister got another wheelchair (with footrests) from the airline, she sped off to long-term parking... which was under construction - so she had to go to the overflow lot, which was even further.

When the parking shuttle picked her up, my sister told the driver that her flight was leaving in 30 min and she had left her wheelchair-bound mother on the curb... he quickly replied "don't worry, I know a short cut" and went flying down a dirt road. He dropped her off, pointed in a general direction and said "just run through that field... the airport is on the other side."

Dutifully, she got out and ran across the field and into the airport "on the other side" just in time to see my mother in an elevator - like a movie - with the doors closing... later they found each other - and somehow managed to successfully negotiate two planes across the country.

Med Student Diagnosis

I rented a wheelchair and picked them up at the Westchester airport, swung by my grandmother's house to pick her up, and the four of us headed over to my grandfather's nursing home / rehab facility, and met up with my uncle. (We told my grandparents that my mother was in a wheelchair because her leg braces broke - we didn't want to scare or upset them.)

While visiting my grandfather, my sister - who just finished her first year of medical school - was able to recognize the signs of C-Diff (a serious intestinal infection), which was being ignored. After her initial assessment was confirmed - we still had to make a big fuss to get him the medicine he needed. Thank goodness for med school!

Hairdryers and Fire Alarms

So then it was back to grandma's house for some sleep before her big surgery day.

We all turned in at a decent hour, only to be woken up at 3am by an alarm. At first we thought it was a fire alarm in the hallway - which my sister unscrewed... it wasn't that. Then we found another fire alarm a few inches away, which we couldn't seem to disconnect. As we were trying with all our might to get the second alarm down from the ceiling (and figure out why my grandparents' house has two fire alarms within 5 inches of each other), my grandmother - without explanation or hesitation - plugged in a hairdryer and started blow-drying the hallway. We finally got fire alarm #2 disconnected - but the beep - beep - beep - beep didn't stop; neither did my grandmother, despite our pleas.

Serendipitously, we looked at where my grandmother plugged in the hairdryer and saw a carbon dioxide alarm - which was going off... not in a way that was alerting us to deadly danger - just to a dead battery.

Once we got the alarm switched off, my grandmother slowly lowered her hairdryer, like a gunslinger from the Old West who had just killed the bad guy in the black cowboy hat... at which point my sister and I began hysterically laughing at the absurdity of the last 48-hours.

Update

I'm happy to report that things have settled down: mom is healing, grandma has two new heart valves, and grandpa is about to be released from rehab. There were many more ridiculous moments over the past week, but luckily our family is blessed with both strong genes and a healthy sense of humor.

Idiom Side Note

The common expression "the best laid-plans of mice and men often go astray" comes from Steinbeck's novel Of Mice and Men, which took its title from Robert Burns's poem "To a Mouse. On turning her up in her nest with the plough".

Happy 4th of July

My sister took this pic going over the George Washington Bridge today ...


My mom, sister and I spent the morning visiting my grandmother in the cardiac ICU at NY Presbyterian Hospital, and the afternoon visiting my grandfather at his nursing home / rehab facility in NJ.

I am happy to report that they were both in great spirits and up to their old antics; in fact, they were joking around so much that my props were superfluous... But hey, when else can you wear flags on your head?



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This is Grandma

Guest Blog Post: Meredith aka Sistah

The day before her open heart surgery, grandma was doing her usual routine - trying to feed us with a flurry of randomness from her refrigerator. It truly is something to behold for those who have not personally witnessed this phenomenon. Her surgery went great and she is recovering at New York Presbyterian right now, so in no time I'm sure she will be back at her old shenanigans.

Lunch Table Inventory:

mac & cheese, Raisin Bran, Rice Krispy cereal, almond cookies, oatmeal cookies, pecans, chopped chicken, cherries, plumbs, sliced strawberries, bananas, fruitcake, blueberries, left-over wanton soup, Chinese vegetables, cantaloupe, apple pie, peaches, and homemade peppers stuffed with rice, tomatoes and cheese.

Happy Father's Day ~ Dad, Step-Dad, Pop

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I just want to wish all the dads, grandads, soon-to-be dads a very happy Father's Day!!


There is one father in particular that I would like to mention.... my dearest husband Bill.




Isn't he just so handsome?  =)


Generations of Shewbridge Men


Bill raised two children of his own by the time I met him and they are both wonderful people, just like he is... which he got from his father, a

Whats LOVE?

Its LOVE when a Little Baby girl puts all her Energy 2 give her Daddy a Head Massage 2 Relief his Headache.Its LOVE when a Wife makes Tea 4 her Husband & take a Sip b4 him 2 See if the Tea is ok. Its LOVE when a Mother gives her Son the best piece of Chicken n he pass it 2 his Younger Sister.Its LOVE when a Friend holds Ur hand Tightly on a slippery Road after Rain 4 your protection.LOVE is

Memorial Day Memories

My father is a West Point graduate, and my mother was a military wife (as were both of my grandmothers). Memorial Day gives us a chance to say thank you... to the soldiers and families of soldiers who make the ultimate sacrifice, every day.

My mom and dad (now divorced) were married at West Point


My Dad and I on the army base in Washington State

Even tough army officers have to change diapers and make little airplane noises to get their babies to eat...

My grandpa Di Maria in his air force uniform with my grandmother. (They have been married for over 60 years.)


My paternal grandfather, who died from diabetes before I was born, in his army uniform.




(I'm not a Tim McGraw fan... but darn this video is good.)

A Para-Equestrian's Passion

My beautiful mom showing off her Mother's Day present: a pictorial history of Jackie-O's lifelong passion for horses

My mom contracted polio in 1955; ironically the same year the vaccine came out - she was 5 years old. She spent 10 months in the hospital, and the polio left her with severe weakness in both legs. The doctors all said she'd never walk again, but she proved them wrong by walking, by herself with the aid of leg braces, up to the altar to receive her first Holy Communion. Afterward, she got a gift that would change her life: a ride on a white pony.

My mother in 1956 with my grandfather - taking her first ride on a horse while still wearing her leg braces, Holy Communion dress and veil

This began my mom's love affair with horses... but it wouldn't be until she was in her 50s that she would start competing competitively as a para-equestrian rider. Over the past few years, she has gotten so good that her competition level required her to get her own horse. After much searching, she finally found Andy - a beautiful white Arabian. I can't wait to meet him this summer.

Mom and her horse Andy at
REINS Therapeutic Riding Stables

My mother's grace and talent continue to inspire all who meet her, especially those in the equestrian community. Thanks mom for reminding me every day that there is no value in being a victim - only in living bravely.

Happy 3rd Birthday Nano Bytes Shewbridge

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Today is our little baby Nano's 3rd birthday... I cannot believe how big he has gotten!

Here he is when we first got him at 10 weeks - the little bugger:






Here is how he looked at age one:



Here is how he looke at age two:



And here is our furry little love now:



How could you NOT love such a beautiful little boy? Hew is just so sweet, he gives us kisses all the time for no

Friday Photo Flashback: Disney World

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Alicia from More Than Words says she started Friday Photo Flashback because "I have so many pictures from my PRE-digital camera days. I thought it would be fun to scan them and share them here with you.. I'm having so much fun doing this, that I would love for you to join me, too! So dig out the photo albums and put your scanner to good use! Don't forget to link up so we can all visit and

San Diego Day 2

The day started with a trip to the Reins stables to visit my mom's passion - horses. Reins is a therapeutic riding program, and my mom's second home. My mom had polio at the age of 5 and spent a year in the hospital. They said she'd never walk again, but she proved them wrong. Not only can she walk - but she is an incredible rider - training for the paralympics.

After a visit to the stables, Christine and I ventured on a 9 mile "hike". Fallbrook is known for beautiful trails, but we chose probably the only non-scenic walk in CA. It started out hopeful enough ... but then twisted and turned past freeways, an abandoned drive in movie theater and swamp-like marshes. Oh well...at least it ended at the ocean.

Start of 9 Mile Hike
Hopeful our walk will be somewhat scenic

Middle of 9 Mile Hike
Trail is dubbed "The Denny's of Hiking Trails" by Christine

End of 9 Mile Hike
Pacific Ocean

By the time we got to the end of the trail, we were too tired to do anything more than snap a picture of the beach. We then proceeded directly to "Pappy's Bait and Tackle Shop" for ice cream.

One thing that kept our spirits up on the trail was the thought of pie. Not just any pie, but the best pie I've ever had in the world - which was waiting for us at home.


So after we had pie and ice cream, we showered and changed for dinner with my sister in Claremont (now THAT's a vacation). My sister's in medical school, and this was the first time I got to see her new place and meet Lil - the cutest, littlest dog in the world:

My Sister's Dog Lil

After a tour of my sister's digs, we went to a gastropub, The Back Abbey , for dinner. It was delicious; the pommes frites were particularly tasty - twice fried in duck fat.

It was a short visit, but I miss my little sister very much, and it was great to see a little slice of her "new life" as a medical student. I'm very proud of her.

San Diego Day 1

Ahhhhh ... My mom's house has everything a girl could ever want:

Sunshine and a pool ...

My dogs: Christine with "The Gretch" (above) and Bently (below) ...


Charley and his shinanigans ...





...but best of all, it has my beautiful and amazing mom -


serving up her homemade lasagna with love and a smile ;)

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Happy 20th Birthday to my Baby, Alexander & Belated 23rd to Nikolaus

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Today I want to wish my baby boy Alexander a very happy 20th birthday... I just can't believe it has been that long since I held my "little" 9 lb. 10 oz. baby boy in my arms... Yep, I gained 50 pounds during my pregnancy and he was a big baby... I'm still trying to lose those last 30 lbs of baby weight.  :-)

Boy do they grow up so fast:

 






One of my favorite photos of Alex

  

365 Project: Week of February 1st - February 6th

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I have decided to post my 365 Project photos once a week as this will be easier on my schedule and on me since one thing I will be trying to do is take Friday's off completely from the computer. Don't know if I'll be able to stick to that, but I know that I will be limiting my time at the very least on the computer on Fridays.


So here are my photos for the week of February 1st - February