long weekends are rad

WKF was proud to show us his new skills...he spent a few days this summer in a skate camp and he has mastered the drop in...

PDX food cart scene rules

I can't believe I am related to people that live in a house this beautiful...

and inside that gorgeous house those people host a killer kids table....

Annie cheffed up some beef stroganoff - a specialty of hers from her old restaurant days in chicago...

Brother love fest while mom tends to the noodles. Side note, the # of people in the photo below who look like they could turn 86 next month = ZERO

P wasn't going to let her bro roll into the skatepark without her

Lunch With Annie

This always chic woman has relocated to Oregon, which makes it easy to pop on some stylish sunnies and have a lovely lunch date on a Sunday afternoon.

Petit Bateau

I spoke too soon. Look here, a photo of Annie. Straight chillin' on the back of the boat while P tubes. 

WKF has started the season strong, and seems to love waterskiing as much as his father...

Keeping things interesting, beyond tubing and skiing, Uncle Amen stepped in and taught him to surf...

turn the music up for this one...

Ding Dong

Hear that? It's one of my favorite sounds. The dinner bell.

Last weekend, I ate beautifully. Taking photos of your food may be uncool (such a funny link)...but sometimes you just have to...

Working lunch at Cheese and Crack. What did I love more, the name of the restaurant, the tray situation, the homemade crackers, cornichons, the colors, or the spoonful of chocolate ganache with sea salt??? I can't even answer that. 

That lunch was a tough act to follow, but an oyster dinner party did the trick. My friend E drove to the coast Friday to pickup freshies. So good. 

Always order pizza by color

Yummy treats from Annie, who was with us for the past week, but somehow didn't get photographed

The Ultimate Belly Shot

I adore a good belly shot. This one may be the best I have ever seen. Behold: Annie circa 1976

It is so hard to believe that this photo is nearly 40 years old. Not hard to believe Annie was looking so stylish and perfect-postured. I love this bump and the stud that it became. 

Thank you Annie - for bringing O into the world, in style (the only way you roll). 

Thank you Sam - for sharing this treasure!

85? 80thrive!

Although we celebrated last month, today is the actual day! HBD Annie!

This girl still teachers pilates, sells real estate, reads more than anyone I know and rocks high heals every day...

PS - Was this really 5 years ago? I love the video at the end. 

Cousin Love a la Gorge

A weekend with these cuties in beautiful Hood River was a lovely way to ease back into Oregon life.

A family that does stair workouts together....

Pretty sure Annie was the only 85 year old on the teeter totter thing...ever...

It was also a great chance to celebrate Annie, our matriarch who will hit 85 next month! The team below is busy baking a cake using a very old family recipe.

These girls (above and below) put the gorge into gorgeous...or vise versa...or whatever, they are gorgeous 

Grandpa Love

O's sister SN tracked down the following photo/bio amazingness, from the 1922 Johns Hopkins yearbook. TLC (such good initials) was Annie's father (O's grandfather). 

I absolutely love the witty copy, it feels so sharp and timeless - like something someone would post on facebook today. 

"Combined with the beauty of Adonis, 'Teddy' has an unusual hypnotic charm, of all of which he is entirely unconscious."

"...the girls simply 'go wild' over him"

"He usually arrives at 8:30am, just in time for his 8 o'clock class"

A quick look at his photo and bio, and I am amazed to realize how much of him lives on in his family.  O's bro and his ongoing military career, O's niece and her lacrosse success, O and his Adonis good looks (duh!) and engineering degree.  It excites me so much to know my kids have his genes, because he sure seems like a stud. 

Photo du Jour

Merci Annie and Mich for this fab Parisian Frock

USA! USA! USA! Oranje! Oranje! Oranje!

While our family was visiting, we all joined up with some dear Amsterdam besties and headed out to a huge football match. USA vs. Holland, men's friendly game. Both teams are Nike and both teams have a place in our hearts for obvious reasons. As a result, we knew we'd win the game either way, and we dressed and cheered to support them all...

 In the end, it was USA that won the match (4-3). A major upset...beating the Netherlands at their own game?? This was a first for USA, and it was very exciting to be there.

As she should be, Annie was proud of her son and I think she enjoyed seeing him at "work".

For a beautiful recap of this same evening from HB's POV, click over here. #orangecrush

Family Birthdays!

If this is what 84 looks like, sign me UP!  Happy Birthday Annie!

Sweet sister Michele - HBD to you too!  Your birthday...but we were the ones getting gifts (from you). We love our new books and we love you!

Portland Love!

Our time in PDX came and went so fast.  Despite a 9 hour time change,  there was no time for jet lag.  We were both busy working and packed our free time with family, friends, doctors, dentists, and knee surgery (for O)!  

So fun to see these faces.  

 This band got right back together...rocking out...

Waiting for the school bus to drop off W's bestie from preschool...WKF talked about this moment for weeks before and after it happened...he was just so excited to see his friend IH get off that bus!

 Each noticed the other was bigger...

 Silly as ever...

 Their other mom...

 Falling back in love with our city...

O had to have some pretty major knee surgery while we were in PDX.  Something about replacing his ligament with that of a cadaver...and a pretty gnarly meniscus situation.  It was not fun, and although he is stronger every day, it is still not fun.  His goal is to be off crutches in about 4-5 more weeks, and skiing by December - with lots of pain and effort (and global travel) in between.   Post op, P was there, with her magic wand, to make it all better...

Special delivery from the sweetest friends, who SHOULD HAVE COME UP TO OUR ROOM!  So bummed we didn't get to see their faces, but we did get to eat yummy treats from their neighborhood!  Merci AP and MM!

 Uncle Sylly, looking tall, flew in for a few nights in the hotel with us

 Sylly brought PapaJ with him...

 Team HammyT

The best medicine in the world...his babies, his baby bro and his pops, all snuggled up with him and his knee.

 This little diva barely took off the crown that uncle Sylly gifted her...if you ask me she is the fairest of them all...

Our newest cousin, the gorgeous B, drove down with her family for the day to check on their Uncle O and his bum knee.

Uncle Adam and Auntie Joy were the biggest best helpers to us while O was laid up...

 Super Adam...

Annie flew in as well, to snuggle baby B and help take care of her  my our baby O.

Not pictured, was the most fab girls night which occurred in my hotel bed with mac and cheese, ice cream and laughs, but no cameras.

Also not pictured was bobby's bday fete.  So fun to hang with old buds at a cool new place, jackknife.

The only photo evidence I have of that night was me, after the party...feeling so tired and unfabulous in the hotel laundry room late on a saturday night...I kept laughing as I thought of what my girl KK would say if she saw me...and so I took this pathetic selfie, wishing I could have sent it her way.  She would say, "girl, you the hottest bitch in that place".  She would have been right.  It was about 8000 degrees in there, and I was the only bitch in that place.

Thank you PDX, for having us.  We will be back...