WEEKENDS IN PARIS.........STATUES!!

Welcome back to Weekends in Paris.....

The grand tour is almost complete....just a few more weeks..and this week we have statues...

They are everywhere you look in Paris....some are very famous....others are just wonderful decorations in the gardens that are all over the city....

This guy looked awfully bored......or maybe he was on a cell phone?

I love this one.....I do remember that it was in the Jardin des Plantes..... the gardens across the street from our apartment...
I would go there during the day to read while daughter was in class...
It is in the 5th. Arrondissment and has been there since 1626
Now that's old!

Winged Victory....at the Louvre

Venus de Milo......also at the Louvre

every statue needs a pigeon!!

this one was on someone's tomb....

Another shot of my favorite....the flowers in this garden were beautiful..

This was also in the Jardin des Plantes ......there was also a small zoo and a science museum...

They went that away..........

this is a miserable looking man......but I wouldn't like living in a cemetery either....

The Pigeon family tomb......they didn't believe in

"Till death do us part".... and gives new meaning to the phrase.....

"Not tonight I have a headache"....

and my personal favorite....

If I was him I would be ashamed too!!

Thanks for stopping by.....Daughter is still in Italy...they went to Capri today and everyone is loving Miss Sophie.....I have yet to lose the cat so things are going well....I'm still having a little problem with retrieving and sending e-mails....and I'm missing visiting every one's blogs....but other then that I was lucky to be able to post this.....See you all next week when we're winding down with cafe's and flowers....

CHANGING DIAPERS AT 60...................

What does it take for a 60 year old man to change a diaper for the very first time in his life??

The same thing that gets him to put on a pink "Princess" crown....a very cute granddaughter!!

The Boss was not much hands on when the daughter was little....Didn't changed a diaper....Didn't feed her....never got up during the night....It wasn't until she was about 3 that he felt comfortable with just the two of them....... Something to do with thinking she would break.........They always went to the movies together and just hung out while I worked my little part time job.....

All that has changed when our Miss "B" came along.....

Here's grandpa down on the kitchen floor the other day.....pink crown in place.....craft box emptied.....and enjoying every minute of it....

Me and daughter went out to the local spa for a pedicure and left the grandpa in charge....

A good time was had by all and a diaper even got changed....

I was somewhat shocked by that one.....

here they are up in B's room reading a story or two......

Can you tell he is her favorite "Boss" of all time...


How cute is this??
Miss "B" and the rest of the Fam took off the other day for Rome and we are missing them....
We are enjoying being back in Jersey.....my first stop was to the local Stop and Shop for
Taylor Ham....cheese....some tomatoes....and hard seeded rolls....
It's a Jersey thing....
Yesterday was spent down Long Beach Island.....
tomorrow is visisiting with the "Big Boss"....
Oh, there will be stories to tell.....
In the meantime....I cannot sent e-mails....my computer... which I lugged all the way here won't connect to daughter's server.....The only other snafu we have run into is..........


I thought once and for all I killed the damn cat......
No...........cats apparantly just sleep this way.....
Thanks Miss Kitty for giving me a catsitter's headache.....

WEEKENDS IN PARIS..........The Main Event!!

Welcome back to Weekends in Paris....

I promised you something very special this week and I don't think this will disappoint!

Okay...what's up with the guy with the machine gun....You know it has to be some sort of

"Main Event"Oh....Look there's lot of them....It has to be something extra special....

They were swarming all around the Eiffel Tower...

Everywhere...

There were people coming in droves....from every direction....from every nearby subway stop...

Everyone looked very excited.....

and ofcourse being Paris...everyone was carrying some sort of food and wine..

The crowds started forming early....We managed to score seats pretty close to the stage...considering there had to have been thousands and thousands of people behind us.....

All the ladies were out in full force....Just waiting....Big smiles...

Waiting in anticipation for.....................

This man!!!

And his posse'..........

The Three Tenors....

A free concert....

in front of the Eiffel Tower....

It just doesn't get any better then that!

We were sitting on the huge lawn in front of the tower.....we had brought some bread and cheese ofcourse....I remember it being very hot that night....It was July and it was the weekend of the

World Cup....

There were hundreds of thousands of people all around us....

When Luciano Pavarotti got up and started singing Nessun Dorma.....

Well....I just turned to the daughter and in my typical fashion of being a "World Class Fainter"

I say....

"I think I'm going to pass out"..........

She totally ignored me....I could have been telling this to a stranger who only spoke French...

She knows me by now....it usually passes pretty quickly...I guess it could be considered more of a woozieness....

Was it the heat? The crowds? or was I just overwhelmed with excitement to hear this magnificent man sing in the most magnificent surroundings....

It was breathtaking......I will never forget it as long as I live....I was just magical..

The show lasted for a few hours....

And then we were treated to fireworks....

It was a long night....and we made it back to the subway just in time to catch the last train of the night to get us back to the Rue de la Clef.....

See you next week!!

A YEAR IN THE LIFE...............

"a gift from Eli Fugazza.....my friend in Italy......."

On April 14th. of last year I began one of the most fun journeys of my life.....Daughter suggested I start a blog.....She thought I had something to say and I haven't shut up since....

Thank you daughter and in the spirit of this milestone here is a *not* so brief look back at a year in the life of a blogger.....Early on I introduced you to the "Boss"....

here is our best impression of the Soprano's......

He loves those damn hats....

I invited you all to celebrate an anniversary and re-visit a fairytale wedding.....

I didn't tell you of my favorite of all time footwear....
I considered calling the blog........"Lady in High Tops".......

My very first post was untitled....."Fat and Skinny Had a Race".......named after a wacky poem that the "Boss" knew from his childhood....I got inspired after seeing the buying habits of both a thin women and a overweight women at the "express" line at the grocery store....
This post proved to be popular as it's one of the all time most looked at posts....
Who Knew??

And if I actually knew how to link you might be reading that first post right now.....

I then introduced you to the "Other" Boss of the household......
Boo....the Pyrenees....
To prove my point that the dog isn't all that fond of me...he actually locked me out of the house the other day.....I went out on the porch....he layed down in front of the door inside the house and then refused to move.....

You met
The Real "Fat" Housewives of Cobb County....
my dear friends....Sherry....Necie and Helen....
who didn't mind that I used this name in my post.....

We celebrated a first birthday!!
Happy Birthday Miss "B"


I had Adventures in Cat Sitting.....

Miss Kitty.....our Grandcat.

I discovered No-Knead bread baking.....

I baked an awful lot of bread

and I encouraged you all to do the same.....

I gushed about my admiration for Vinnie D'Onofrio

Hey, he's not as bad as Brian Dennehy (sorry Susie-Q)

Sophie met her Great-Grandfather......and if this picture had a thought bubble it would say....

"Who in the hell is this man and please tell me we're not related"..

I had the pleasure of meeting HGTV's Vern Yip at the Pottery Barn outlet up in Dawsonville..

He's as lovely in person as he appears on air....

I bet they didn't make him wait an hour to make his purchase...

and who could forget the husband asking....."Who in the hell is Vern Yip?"

I told you about the greatest stuff on earth...

Kiehl's Face moisturizer

I never miss a day.....

we went to my favorite event of all time...

The Cobb County Friends of the Library book sale

All Books $1.00!!!!!!!!!!!!

and there are thousands and thousands of them....

I tried out a new profession.....

uniforms aren't for me.
I decided I would rather stay home and sleep late.

We had squirrels living in our attic.....
They didn't want to leave...

They even thought about turning it in to a "Spa"

Miss "B" debuted her 2009 calendar of famous movie scenes..

Here she is as "Sophie and the City"

my favorite post of all time....you were all so kind to stop by and leave such wonderful comments about our girl....

I warned you all about the hazards of dry cleaning.......the hijinks's of both the Pottery Barn and Zappos....but got the most comments about the Big Ten fiasco....

I did get a letter from corporate saying the two employees were fired..

I made a quiche and entered it into the Pillsbury Bake-off.....

Not a Chance......

I discovered Tablescape Thursdays......from Susan at

Between Naps on the Porch..
I am totally hooked!!

I started taking you all on a trip to Paris.....

and I did more tablescapes...

I was invited to become a "Darling Baker"......I'm very honored to be in the company of such talented women....Thank you Jain for considering me for your very special group of ladies

and I made more food...........

and we ate more food.....

And the highlight on my year of blogging.....besides meeting all you special ladies out their in cyberspace was meeting bloggers in real life....

My new friends.....The Georgia Bloggers.....

The year has been amazing......I have met ladies that you would swear you have known your entire life.....the connections that you find between strangers is incredible from Laura at the Shorehouse...who is "me" 30 years ago......to Susie Q who is the only person *ever* to know what the movie "Since You Went Away" is.......Wonderful Sally in Colorado and crazy Nikki Crumpet who never fails to make me laugh with her hijinks.....and to dear Eli in Italy...my friend across the ocean...

and then there's Joyce.....Joyce knows what it's like to be married for almost 40 years and isn't afraid to tell it like it is....Plus she's from New York and you all know about New Yorkers....Right Daryl??

Thank you all and I hope you keep coming back for a very long time!