Words We Love from Carly...
Some of these words she still says, many she's already outgrown, much to our sadness...
Cuber for cucumber (Gregg's personal favorite)
Dado for Dad (one of my favorites)
Helicopler
Cinderelly
Ta-Da (she's outgrown but would put her arms in the air like a gymnastics dismount)
Jerry Lewlis
Wittle bit (eg. Carly gets in the tub and says it's too hot. Gregg says no it's not. Carly says "wittle bit")
Fwing Set (for her new swing set)
Ro-Ro's (for the dogs as in they say "Ro" when they talk)
Wuf Fu (love you, obviously. The best words she could possibly utter)
10 Places I Want to Travel to
I saw this on Amber's blog and apparently it's referred to as "a meme".
a meme n (mëm): is an idea that is shared and passed from blog to blog,
like a question posted in one blog and answered in many other blogs.
So here goes my attempt. I've been lucky enough to travel to MANY places around the world. A lot for work which is nice so it's on someone else's plane ticket. I've done the backpack thing through Europe, I've been to Israel, Japan, Tahiti, 6 cruises to Mexico and the Caribbean, Hawaii, South Africa and a few off the beaten path places like New Caledonia, Cyprus, Namibia and Tasmania. But there are still quite a few places I'd like to go or go back to. Not in any particular order...
1 - Australia. Anyone who knows me, knows this is a no brainer. I've been there 7 times and if I could move there I could. Two of my closest friends live in Sydney and it's the best city in the world, IMO. But there are other places I'd like to see. I'd love to see Ayers Rock, the other half of Tasmania we didn't see on our honeymoon, Melbourne, more of the Barrier Reef. One day, we'll all go back. While I'm in that neck of the world, I need to go to New Zealand.
2 - Greece. Gregg went right before we got together and it look beyond spectacular. Gorgeous blue skies, white buildings. Stunning.
3 - Copenhagen, Denmark. Not sure exactly why, but I'd really like to see Scandinavia. Norway and Sweden too.
4 - Alaska. I really want to do an Alaskan cruise.
5 - Russia. I know, a bit of a scary country but it still seems fascinating to me.
6 - Any Olympics city. It's always been my dream to work on the Olympics. I know they're hell to work on but I think it's an experience that everyone needs to do. Figuring that I'll never actually achieve that goal, I really want to go to one. We talked about going to Turin, Italy next year but that doesn't seem so feasible with a 3 year old and if I'm hopefully pregnant. So we're shooting for the winter Olympics in Vancouver in 2010. I prefer winter sports than the summer sports if given a choice.
7 - China. Want to see the Great Wall of China.
8 - Italy. Been there twice. What a beautiful country and it's impossible to have a bad meal. I would like to go more towards the south where it's more resort-y.
9 - Turks & Caicos. I know someone that used to live on one of those islands and all I've heard is how amazingly blue, clear, gorgeous it is. That's an island I'd love to veg out on with an umbrella drink.
10 - Hmmm, thinking. Maybe Provo for some good LSS shopping!!!
Okay, who's next? Where do you dream of going??
Here's a shot of our toes in Sydney on our honeymoon...
Here's a picture of us in Cyprus in 2000. This was a few months before we got together but we were already good friends.
Carly has a swing set!!
(sorry, not sure why the returns are all wonky)
Well, after dropping a pretty penny, the swing set was installed yesterday. Carly's request was that it was green and she got her wish. She LOVES it. She already is comfortable on the swings, climbing up to the treehouse, sliding down and even walking up the side. We figure it's only a matter of time before she figures out how to use the rock wall and the monkey bars. She and Gail came by the telethon office today and I showed her the attached photo. She took one look at her "fing set" and said "I want to go home." So off they went so Carly can show off her swing set to Grandma.
Carly just completed another week of swim lessons and she did GREAT. She started jumping into the pool from the side and swam all the way across Conrad's pool. She did really well and already another leap of improvement after just a week. I'm really looking forward to next year when she'll do two weeks in May and one week in August. I'm sure there'll be a huge jump over that two weeks. She really enjoys the pool and can spend hours swimming with Gregg.
And Carly officially said the cutest thing two days ago. I drove into the driveway and she was playing with the basketball with Gregg. She was in her Princess nightgown, all Shirley Temple curls from swimming and just having a blast rolling the ball down the driveway. I said to her "Carly, how did you get to be so cute? Where did that come from?" Without missing a beat, she replied "From Tazzie." So there you have it. She learned all her cuteness from the dog.
Busy time
Well, I've started the 6 weeks straight with work. Between "Big Brother and the "MDA Telethon", it's going to be a nutty six weeks, assuming I survive it all. It was a big day at work at BB with a good surprise winning HOH. Tomorrow we tape the double eviction for the week. Someone's going home and they won't be happy about it. They'll get over it when they spend a few weeks up in Napa in the sequester house.
Anyway, as promised, here's a picture of Carly's black eye. Not great since she won't sit still for a photo but it certainly commemoriates the big event.
Carly's black eye
Well, Miss Carly has her first black eye two days ago. She was sitting on her futon, the dogs starting to play and Tazzie turned around and ran into her, full tilt, and hit her in the right cheekbone. Carly handled it really well. A little bit of crying, Gregg put ice on it right away which she thought was fun, but she was fine. Of course, she woke up yesterday with a perfect semi-circle black and blue under her eye. Once I get the photos off my memory stick, I'll post one. She looks very cute.
I went to the 2nd Day To Create on Saturday with Carol Wingert and Tena Sprenger. Another event sponsored by the Foxy's. Once again, it was FANTASTIC!! Carol and Tena are simply the nicest ladies in the world. Their creativity is nothing short of inspiring. The projects were fun, challenging and gave me lots of ideas to use in the future. In some ways, more usable techniques than CKU. I'm so proud to know them and I can't wait to meet up with them again. Hopefully, I'll get a chance to get to Phoenix, or certainly the next time they come to LA. It's just such an amazing day and I wouldn't miss it for the world. Now, if only I could find more time to scrap. With the next 6 weeks, between "Big Brother", the Telethon and then my little surgery, free time is at a premium. I suppose I need to squeeze some sleep in there too. Then again, sleep has always been overrated.
More sad news
We just got some very sad news that cameraman Scoop Geren has cancer. We ran into Kenny Stein in the parking lot of the hotel last night who told us that Alissa Levisohn got a call from her Dad telling her that Scoop has cancer. Kenny said that it was "everywhere" but no one quite knew what that meant. Gregg spoke with Mike Snedden this morning who, I think, spoke with Dave Hilmer. Apparently, Dave and Scoop were walking to the parking lot after "Big Brother" on Thursday and Scoop couldn't turn on his cell phone. Dave helped him and explained just hold the button. Scoop said he's been forgetting things lately and he's afraid to take jobs because he's afraid he'll forget or miss shots. Dave told him to go to the doctor. He did and he's been diagnosed with lung cancer and spread to his brain. That's bad. Yes, it's terminal and he's not working anymore. Dave is helping get everything organized for Scoop's family and insurance, etc. He's not in any pain yet and swears he'll put out the Jack Daniels when it gets to that point. At least he still has his sense of humor, which is good.
It's all so sad. Scoop is such a nice man. Every time I see him, there's always a hug and he always asks how Dad is. He was supposed to work on the Telethon this year so that's sad that he won't be. What's ironic for me is that we found out this horrible news on Wendy's birthday. Scoop and Wendy were really close friends. So that's my marker. The where were you when this or that happened. For me, I heard about Scoop on Wendy's birthday in Baton Rouge. I'm really so sad about this. Cancer has affected way too many people in my life in the past year and it's just so darn wrong. It makes me sick. Please Scoop, feel good. Be at peace and pain free. Most importantly, know that you're loved everywhere.
Wendy's Birthday
I just had to take a moment and remember that today's is Wendy's birthday. Well, it's the first birthday since she passed away last October. I'm sure it's a tough day for Claire too. I think about Wendy at least daily. I miss her and I miss knowing that she won't just pop up with a late night hello IM. We all miss her professionally and that can never be replaced. There seems to be less people ADing so it really feels like a bigger hole to fill. I just miss her sense of humor. I miss her smile. I miss her goofiness. I'm still so sad that she's gone. I just wanted to wish Wendell Hoopner a very happy birthday. I still love you and miss you very much.
It's been awhile
So I've been a flake and haven't blogged in awhile. I need to figure out how to add more things to this to make it more entertaining. Anyway, we're here in lovely Baton Rouge, LA for the Miss Teen USA Pageant. It's hot and humid but definitely not as bad as I'd expected. The show? Same old, same old. I'm more interested in what's going on at "Big Brother" which I'm missing today. Anywho, as usual, Carly went to bed late with us last night and wasn't interested in going to sleep. What a surprise. We crawled into bed and in an effort to calm her down and try to get to sleep, I said "I'm going to sleep" and rolled over. She immediately grabbed me and and said "No Mommy, wake up!". It was hilarious. Then Gregg did a high five-low five-fist with her. Then she did it with me, both hands. Then she picked up her Elmo doll and did it with him. It was classic. Okay, i guess you had to be there but it was really funny. Miss Carly has quite the sense of humor and LOVES to laugh and loves it when she makes us laugh, like she did last night. She was cracking up that she got us laughing so hard.
Okay, off to figure out how to spruce up the blog.
