My New Friends, Gary and Elaine

When Russell and I started thinking about renovating our house, I began my HGTV, magazine, and catalog obsession. I knew that the visuals would be easier for me to use as examples of what I'd want in a new house than trying to describe it. I turned down corners and ripped out pages of rooms, moldings, gardens, doors, paint colors, light fixtures, you name it.

Since then, we've bought two more houses, and the magazines and catalogs keep coming. Now I have the Internet, too, and it's there I met my new friends, Gary and Elaine.

Gary and Elaine are the two elusive people who live on our catalog pages. Have you ever wondered who is reading that book open on the bed? Or why there is a bicycle hanging over the fireplace?

Catalog Living explains it all. I know it's not for everyone, but it cracks me up almost every day.

Today's post makes fun of a red carpet next to a bed in the bedroom. All I can imagine now is Charlotte rolling out of bed each morning and walking down her own personal catwalk to start the day.

One More

Yah!  It looks like the video I posted works.  So here's one more...

Anson's in the blue coming at you.

Shredding Snow

I'm sure I don't have my snowboarding terminology down, but I'm going to try. I've put off posting this as I am not sure if I'm doing the video portion right, but I'm going to try.

Anson and Russell just returned from a radical trip to Park City, Utah to snowboard. Anson ripped up the slopes, even the black diamonds.

I loved how Anson called or texted me every day, sometimes sending photos or videos of himself. 

One of the resorts had a heated bubble on the ski lifts.

Right after I spoke to Anson one day, Russell made a video of him to show me where they were when I called.

After snowboarding down The Detonator, Anson got a souvenir (the scary metal thing about to steal his drink) and some apres ski cider.

Anson finally realizes he too cool to ride the lifts with Dad, and goes on his own.

Love is in the Air

I've been a bad, bad blogger. Actually, I've been a lazy blogger. It's been nice to take some time off of just about everything.

As today is Valentine's Day, I thought I start back up by providing that Barbie update. Did you know that she and Ken actually broke up, but are now back together, just in time for Valentine's Day? Me either. Brush up by reading this article.

I know most of you could care less about Barbie, and I usually don't either, but Charlotte is such a huge fan that Barbie and her alter-egos have become a second family around here.

Also, I just had to write something after a recent visit to Target. I found Charlotte lollygagging in the Barbie aisle. And this is what I saw:

Apparently Mattel rereleased her at Christmastime, and there was one, lone package left on clearance for about $20. Charlotte has this exact Barbie, but the original, from Emma. Doesn't she look like she could be in a Breck commercial?

But more importantly, I came across these new items:

Really? I know Barbie does not exactly have a reputation for being a feminist, but come on!!! Can't we do better than this?

And poor, poor Ken. In an effort to make him cooler, I guess, I saw several new versions of him. I thought the crocheted pants and top we were forcing him to wear were bad, but that was because we had no other choice.

Twilight meets Johnny Depp:

The anti-Justin Bieber hair:

Any guy who wears a t-shirt that claims he is the ultimate boyfriend, is, not. And the fact that you can make him say whatever you want....something tells me the people on the "plastic boyfriend" ad campaign came up with this guy, too.

On a more positive note, the Barbies and Kens are more diverse than ever, so that's a step.

Hope you have a non-plastic loved one to share this day with, be it a mom, dad, sibling, pet, child, friend, or loved one's voice from across the miles!  Love to you all...

January: The It Month

To start, I want to say happy birthday to...
Brandon
Charlotte
Philip
Emma
Jason
Dad

And thanks for the patience and understanding if I did not get birthday greetings out to you!  December and January have been a whirlwind of events, and primarily sickness, in the Ford household.  I figure we are due for at least six months of health around here.

So much has happened since I last blogged, so here are a few updates.

Charlotte asked if I would take her to the Plaza in NYC for her birthday. Not exactly feasible (for many reasons!), but we could have a pampered day. We started her birthday with a pedicure and manicure, pink sparkles for the fingers and blue sparkles for the toes.

Any respectable nail polishing must be shown off, so we followed that up with lunch at The Umstead Hotel. It's Raleigh's only "luxury" hotel, and as we were about the only ones there on a Monday at 11 am, we got the star treatment!

Can you believe that little diva is only 5? We had such a lovely, grown-up day. Love you, Charlotte!

Our next adventure was more age-appropriate. We had dinner at Mellow Mushroom, a pizza joint, with Emma and Anson. Russell had to work so we had celebrated with him the day before. Again, the restaurant just loves a cute little face on someone's birthday, and surprised us with this cinnamon pretzel made especially for Charlotte.

Next I trekked to the lake house with the kids and their friends. I was still quite under the weather, and ended up realizing later that I probably already had the flu at that point. Despite that, I had a wonderful time.

Winter is beautiful at the lake. I woke up to this view and a light dusting of snow. Something about the light at this time of year is amazing.

Sally and Philip helped one night to get some jobs done, and I was on my own the next day. I had promised to take the kids out on the boat, but when it started to snow again (as it had the night before), I thought for sure I had an out. But no such luck!

So we bundled ourselves up, and set out on the water with the temperature in the 20s F. Anson's friend Lee (who looks like he might actually be prepared for the Arctic) was the only one who had fun. The rest of the crew ended up flat on the bottom of the boat to escape from the wind, and was sure I was crazy for taking them out. All I could think of was that I had turned into my father-in-law. :)

But the real fun started the next morning, when the kids realized the lake was frozen. A morning of throwing sticks on the ice and trying to punch holes in it was worth all the cold weather.

Let's see, what else happened? Oh yes, the school spelling bee. I've not been to anything that nerve-wracking in a long time. It was a true Scripps National Spelling Bee. Anson and all the kids sat up on stage and spoke into a microphone. There were twenty kids total, representing the 3rd, 4th and 5th grades. Anson missed the word "infinity" by spelling it "infinite." He was a bit bummed at first, but I think within a few minutes you could see the relief wash over his face as he watched the other children continue. Seriously, can you imagine a person with a very North Carolina accent trying to pronounce and then spell "ululate"? (Do any of you even know what that means?) For some reason, that is the only word I remember, but there were many I had never heard of and that were more than 3-4 syllables.

We are so proud of Anson for winning his class bee and getting up on stage as the youngest person there!

Now this is more like it. Anson the Caniac with his rally cap and strange monkey he got in the hockey gift shop.

Lastly, Charlotte and I watched the Golden Globes pre-show red carpet walk, and she decided she had to get in on the act. Witness the Charlotte look (she's showing off her jewelry and updo that are difficult to see in this picture and wearing my cocktail dress, pinned in the back, and my shoes).

Well, that caps off the month of January. Coming up next...an update on Barbie!

Mind the Gap

I'm a little behind on posts.  Lots of pictures piling up in iPhoto to share, but between holidays, birthdays, surgery, stomach bugs, fevers, sinus infections, and flus, we are way behind on everything at Casa Ford. Including laundry.

Be back soon.

Christmas Across the Pond

I received these absolutely adorable photos of Jake and Ollie today, taken at Christmastime at their nursery (Jake is the older one, Ollie's the youngin'). I wish I could give them a virtual hug!

Jan and Colin also sent a photo from their Christmas lunch, taken in Cornwall at Julia's parents' home. Julia's Mum, Sue, is sorting out the turkey and then going clockwise we have Alex, Julia's brother, Simon, the boys (hidden), Julia, Jan, Colin, Laurence (Julia's Dad) and Great Grandma (94 yrs) - the photo was taken by Kristina, Julia's sister. 

For those on the American side of the family, here is the family tree explanation:
Colin is my father-in-law's (Philip's) brother, or Russell's uncle. Jan is his wife.
Simon is their son, Julia his wife, and Jake and Ollie his sons.
We are so lucky to be able to know them all!


Last, but not least, I received a photo of my mother's family in Hungary (mom's dad was Hungarian and these are from his part of the family tree). In the picture left to right: Emi, the grandma, and her grandchildren: Andrea (20), Flora (17), Ernoe (16), and in front, Anna (6), at a dance for Flora's final examination in her secondary school. 

What beautiful families Russell and I have! Who would have thought that we would have such a diverse and interesting history? I really enjoy seeing photos of the family, so if you ever want to send me some for the blog, please do!