Jaime Just Grew Up! Happy 1st Birthday!

Somewhere in the rush of the last year, I may have not given the birth of Ms. Jaime its due. Which is very bad of this auntie.

Happy First Birthday, Ms. Jaime!

The most recent addition to the Idaho Branch of the Tree turns a whole year old today. Wow did that year zoom by.

Look at this little peanut with her mom and siblings back in December 2014.

Fast forward almost a whole gestation cycle later, and I got to see her chubby smiling face IN PERSON back in August 2015. She didn't quite know what do to with me (and why would she?), but her mom has figured out the trick to get all those great shots that Grumpa has been sharing with me, like the ones above.

And even though Mom was her favorite person, she's kinda of okay with her poppa too.

The older kids love her too - in their sibling-esque ways, 

and there's not a family resemblance at all or anything.

In August she wasn't quite mobile yet, so you could put her down and she'd play. 

Maybe roll over, and definitely rock,

but to get around, she had the best transportation mode of all figured out.

What a smiley little one. Another water baby for the family.

My visit was too short, and she just keeps growing, developing, and investigating.

Per Christina's SM accounts (thanks Grumpa):

 

Look at this face! She even held still long enough for me to get a few pictures in. This little lady is EVERYWHERE!

 It has happened- Jaime has been out as long as she was in: 9 months. It sure is racing by. Love my little princess!

 This little trouble maker is so pleased with herself that she finally found the pantry door open so she could investigate.

  10 months old!

Lucky shot by Grandmary of Grumpa and the youngest 

Pretty Kitties for Halloween 2015

 At 11 months, quoth her mom:

This little lady is so fun and hard all at once. She is into everything but has so much personality. Love her.

 (Sorry Jaime. There has to be the obligatory baby bath shot somewhere.)

Thanks, Grumpa, for sharing Birthday Celebration photos:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JAIME! Hope you enjoyed tasting the books!

Post-script to her birthday:
By mid-December, Grumpa shared this one from the gang, with the quote:

This little one has decided now that she was 1, she would take off and start looking and acting all big.

Also, apparently the winter rolls around in Idaho and now the little monkey is out playing with her sibs in the snow.

I don't WANT to wait a year to see her, but the way schedules are looking, it may be. I need to make a Skype appointment here soon.

~my August photos by iTouch; rest courtesy of Jaime's folks via SM, except one by Grandmary

Upstairs, Downstairs at Caramoor: Holiday Edition 2015

After a morning of Board meetings, and an afternoon at my desk trying to catch-up after being away for two weeks, the main event of the day night was a private dinner hosted by the Chairman of the Board and three trustees and about 40 guests, entertained by three folk musicians, with the dinner in the Music Room. It was the first time in my 20+ years with Caramoor that the Music Room had been cleared of heavy wooden risers and over 150 chairs, and set up to entertain for dinner. It had probably been more than 25 years since the Room had been used this way, so we were all excited to see how it would go as a dinner/concert location - and kick off the holiday season with festive decor. 

The Room is pretty Baroque/Renaissance as it is, so you don't need a lot of fancy decorations. A very tall Christmas tree festooned with paper ornaments decorated by the schoolchildren who visit as part of the arts-in-education programs, drawn in with their impressions of art in the House and Room. Nooks were filled in with collections of winterberry branches, and floral arrangements were scattered around on tables. Flickering LED votives on the table. All equaled simple understated elegance.

Upstairs for the fancy folks

Meanwhile, downstairs in the cold basement/garage,

the worker-bees had a very fancy table for 6.

  We decided to really think about how we could market this as a destination dinner or film shoot location. 

Maybe as a Prohibition-theme party site?

A Campaign Donors' back-to-basics lunch-box "dinner in a box?"

I kept going back to horror film- themed rental.

 Clear out the catering rental boxes and the Pepsi product stash and you have room.

The ambiance is there.

Low ceilings with pipes. Touch at your own risk.

 The freezer for the bodies is already there, as is the death match/prisoner cage.

Humor and many layers of coats kept us warm;

 But really -- this was the best part of the night.

 

It was a very long 13+ hour day, with lots of prep, long in-between times of waiting busy-ness, and then intense hours of being "on," directing people, being welcoming, and trying to keep my feet from slowing dying and trying to stay warm. But laughter - and watching certain colleagues try new things, liking them, and QUICKLY becoming jaded about expensive champagne types was humorous, as I downed my ginger ale.

Cin cin

Salud

~photos by iPhone

Pressing Matters

I just got back from vacation Wednesday, and had one day in the office before the onslaught of meetings. (I didn't miss the meetings.)

Even though we snack and munch and eat our way through our weekly team meetings with regularity, today's ... took the prize.

Or - was on the mark?

Pressed it's case?

One of my colleagues brought in her panini press to make grilled cheese sandwiches for our meeting to belatedly celebrate a teammate's birthday.

Yes. You read that right. 

She brought bread, three kinds of cheese, butter, 

and her panini press to make grilled cheeses for our staff meeting.

I think maybe we're taking this a BIT too far. 

Come and get 'em.

Hot off the griddle just in time to call the meeting to order.

 These girls.

We are all crazy.

 

 ~ photos by iPhone

Woozy from Weaving through Wave Hill

I'm still so tired from yesterday(?)'s red-eye, my body thinks it's MST, and I'm so so so far behind on catching up on my email. I thought one day of a buffer before hitting the ground running was enough, but no ... Ha! I should just know better by now.

Tonight is going to be late, even for me, even with my body thinking it's on MST. It's after 9:30 and I JUST started 4 loads of laundry.

I hadn't planned to be doing laundry so late. I hadn't planned to do anything but come home, finish unpacking, do laundry and REPACK for a 3-night stay at the office because of a weekend full of events - but some how I'm ending powering through jetlag.

Instead of coming straight home after work, I ended up representing the company at a Members Night with Christine at Wave Hill in the Bronx. It was so lovely to explore a cultural partners property in a different light, talk with random ladies and get restaurant recommendations, meet new contacts from our exclusive catering company, see how different companies deal with parking issues, get an unexpected meal, and see some great sights.

But I'm going to pay for this ... (I already am. I may have been weaving a bit by the end of the night. Thank goodness it was brisk?)

Enjoy the photos.

I'm off to deal with the laundry and keep packing.

So THAT's the name of the plants I have hibernating in my office over the winter. I had no idea. And they are succulents-esques. No wonder they are thriving NOW and not when they were outside.

 ~ photos by iPhone

Edging too Close: Making the Mail

There is nothing like cutting it so close on finishing a crafting project that you are literally putting the last stitches in the edging and the label in the morning and then rushing to the Post Office in the afternoon so you can two-day Priority Mail it with prayers to make it to a baby shower on the 5th, less than 4 days from now ... in California. 

Yeah. So maybe that was me. I THOUGHT I had plenty of time. I literally started this present as I sat in my plane seat on the tarmac, en route West-bound on the 18th, had hours of driving up and down the length of Utah, rock-and-talk time with the aunties and cousins and kin, but I MAY have made a tactical error by working on my Christmas cards during the two week break.

I was so rushed packaging this (and my other two big boxes), that I didn't get the dimensions. It was pretty big though. It could be a crib cover, a toddler bed blanket, and/or keep someone(s) in a nursing rocker warm.

As it was for a pair of gems upon the birth of their first child, I went with a diamond pattern - one that was heavy enough to provide warmth if there were ever any cold California nights, but airy enough at the same time.

The poor hostess. I emailed her today and informed her the gift was en route- but oy! Too close. I only knew about the shower for months.

POSTSCRIPT: It got there on time (WHEW!) - and can apparently keep 2.5 people covered. Whoops.

Photo courtesy of Claire and Jenny

 

Go big or go home.

Also note: I finally got new labels explaining, once again, that this is NOT KNITTING.

 


~ photos by iTouch/iPhone