What Ana Does

As much as I miss summer days, I love Sundays in October. Normally, we stay home. Dave turns on football ALL DAY. And the girls and I putter around the house, watching a few snippets of the games, sorting, cleaning, playing. Lately, Dave and I have been doing our weekly food shop on Sunday mornings. Just the two of us. It's kind of a date. Then, we'll make something BIG for lunch to eat with the girls in a very casual way at the island. Maybe in the crockpot? Dave has been prepping food for lunch and dinners on weekends, as well, in an effort to eat more balanced meals. So he also spends much of Sunday in the kitchen, where he can watch the football games while cutting up veggies and making rice. Last weekend, Leah decided to film him to make a cooking show. As a self-proclaimed, proud HOMEBODY, Sundays in October are just about perfect to me. And they make saying goodbye to summer temperatures and looking down six months of cold, winter weather almost doable. ...

For a very long time, David has been dreaming about buying a Jeep Wrangler. Just a fun third car to drive to the pool or beach, out for ice cream. Have his girls' hair blowing in the wind and enjoying a summer day out. For reasons only he understands, this dream took on some movement while we've been in Paris. He's been scouring ads for months, understanding pricing, milage, wear-and-tear, etc. and all there is to expect from a used Jeep. Yup, it's our first weekend in the States and he found one that fit in his criteria. It's a 2008 in olive green and it was love at first sight. For a used car, it's looking pretty good. Soft top. Manual transmission and all. My argument was, this is as good as it's going to get, it's in the budget he set aside and it's ready to go. I'm not spending all my Saturdays in the States going from one dealership to another looking at subtly differences in used cars. After long deliberations, it's ours! And ...

This might be the first Super Bowl Dave has ever missed and ... according to ESPN highlights the morning ... it was one of the most exciting in history. Really?! The game started at 1am, so yeah, we completely missed it. But we caught up with highlights this morning. Super Bowl Monday Morning I watched a bit of JT's performance and the new movie trailers (really the only thing I care about) that were previewed. For me, not a bad way to Super Bowl ... and I didn't even eat a whole bowl of nachos. I guess this is how expats experience the Super Bowl.

So 12 years ago I was getting married to my best friend. And while the day wasn't the perfect, candy-coated day I had dreamed about until it was a distorted fantasy -- it ended perfectly. Together. Freezing in the Chicago Wind Life is better when you've got a teammate, best friend, co-conspirator and adoring husband to spend it with every day. "Wherever you are is home." 

I would never have believed David would have any desire to run a marathon when we first met over a decade ago -- or even first dating. Heck, even three years ago! I still don't know what got into him, but he ran the Chicago marathon this weekend. He's officially crazy.  Pre-Race! And we're all so proud!! I even got the girls t-shirts to wear while we cheer him on on this chilly October day. Related posts: All the weekend posts

We had an amazing weekend at Disney World in Orlando. The girls are just at the PERFECT age to really enjoy the parks ... and the princess! They were in total awe meeting Cinderella and Rapunzel -- totally adorable. We loved the roller coasters, the Mickey ice cream pops, the parades, fireworks, the hotel pool, shopping (obvi) and meeting the characters -- we filled autograph books and they're our favorite souvenirs.   Here are a few favorite pics I took with my phone. Dave brought the big camera, too, so a photo book is in the making.  Taking on the Magic Kingdom! We Just Loved That Castle! Mickey Pops -- A Favorite Treat to Keep Cool

was a pretty good day. I married my best friend in front of all my family and friends. We ate, we danced, we gazed out at the grey Atlantic ocean just outside the windows of the lovely, historic Narragansett Towers. Yeah, it was a pretty good day. My beautiful Mom and handsome brother walked me down the aisle at around 11am -- and I still can't believe I made it without sobbing. An adorable and friendly Rabbi married us under the huppah decorated with fresh daisies by some friends earlier that morning.  It wasn't sunny, just overcast enough to make the day a little silvery, which was fine with me. It made the pictures, taken by a photog friend of ours, a little more shadowy and dramatic. We had a little cocktail hour with a mountain of delicious cheeses, grapes and crackers (I was big on having a mountain of crudités). Lunch was buffet-style fish and fresh veggies. (No, I didn't get the omelet bar that I wanted.) A bottle of Spanish Rioja was on every table. We danced...

I haven't actually sat down and watched a game in, well, years but (as I've mentioned before) I love football season. Mostly because of this ... Thumbs Up! My adorable football fanatic husband will watch the NFL Red Zone channel for hours and do load after load after load of laundry.  I can putter, run errands or take the kids to a play (as I was about to do just before I took this picture) and he'll just keep washing and folding. Marvelous. Related links: More Family Room posts

Happy Birthday to the best husband and father in the entire world. You're OOOOOOLD today! HANDSOME!