Mele Kalikimaka!

Mele Kalikimaka from rainy San Diego!

My twin and me Christmas Day

Day one: Ready to tackle the crowds and do some last-minute shopping 

5 years old...kinda 

Tony, Melissa, and Sophia are here! 

Nick and his Italian sausage 

Christmas attack cat 

That river was a street yesterday 

The Scacco family! 

The first time the sun has been out in DAYS...gorgeous 

Downtown SD 

Kev and Me...Secret Santa! 

Nick has had a great Christmas so far!

More to come...

Holiday Gala

A Holiday Gala was held by the wonderful KATE!!  She is the most wonderful hostess...see below for proof:

The outdoor Christmas tree

The Christmas tent 

Everyone gathered around! Great friends, great conversation 

Nick and Jeff... 

Mina, Kate, and Linds...reunited 

Lita...a little too excited about the Christmas wine...leads to pictures like this. 

Mina and Jeff 

Who in the world knows what we were talking about...certainly not something serious...

Happy Holidays!

All ready...

Last day of work, CHECK!

(What a sunrise on my drive to work! Fog on the marsh, sunrise over the ocean...I'm a lucky woman)

 Chill-out day at the beach on my first day off....CHECK!

Favorite bottle of wine? CHECK!

Red velvet cupcakes with green cream cheese frosting? CHECK!

Holiday nails? Haha....CHECK!

Looks like I'm ready for KATE'S 2010 HOLIDAY GALA!  

Pics soon to come!

Aloha!

The Cream Pot

There is a special little restaurant right around the corner from our apartment called

The Cream Pot

It is everything that I would have loved and adored as child...and still do!  

When I was a little girl, I loved all things creamy...

whipped cream...

clouds...

off-white (no joke)...

fluffy pillows

Fortunately, and unfortunately (for my physique), my obsession with cream continues...

I married a man who loves real-fat products, like heavy whipping cream in coffee

I now love whipping cream coffee...

Thank God I grew up dancing, as my awareness of fitness has so far cancelled out the damage done by cream.

When The Cream Pot opened around the corner, I knew it was my type of place!

When Mom was here recently, we took her there.  Here are a few images captured during that breakfast!

Enjoy the creaminess of it all...

  

This is the inside of the restaurant.  It is decorated as if hobbits live there.  The little street light leads to the kitchen.

  

Nick with his favorite menu item...a pure chocolate drink (cacao)

  

Please excuse us...we had just woken up

  

All of the coffee accessories are miniature...and creamy

   

This is a hobbit door, at least I think. I've never actually opened it.  I'll try next time.

  

This is the indoor entrance, filled with little things

 

And my favorite part, a red wine reduction, blueberry crepe, with fresh lavender cream on top, and a tiny purple flower.  Really.

 

This is the staircase leading from the outdoor entrance.  Every detail was paid attention to.  Gotta love it!

North Shore Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving on the North Shore

I'll let the pics speak for themselves...

I am so thankful for my wonderful friends!

Gracias, Mahalo,

It's that time of year again....thankful time!  

Gobble Gobble

I will start with a sweet little story:

At the beginning of the year, I started a "Thankful Board" in my classroom.  It was intended to be a positive way to start the day, you know, we all say one thing that we are thankful for?  Well, somewhere between "the 1st quarter is over" and "we have a lot to do before Christmas", there were a few days where I intentionally skipped talking about our "thankful things" (as my students call it).  I figured that we needed to get to work in order to accomplish all that I had planned for that day.  

However, plan to abort thankful things was quickly shot down.  One of my wonderful students (all of whom I adore) knew right away that we hadn't said our thankful things and said, "But Mrs. Scacco, what about our thankful things?  I want to tell you my thankful thing!"

Oh, Lord in Heaven above.

Like I'm really going to let that one pass.

And so we sat around the blue table.

And talked for 10 minutes about...

Our Thankful Things.

Bless this boy!  Whether his intention was to talk about this thankful thing, or to get out of classwork, he reminded me that there is no "work" more important than the work of gratitude.

Yet another reminder to SLOW DOWN Mrs. Scacco!

I am thankful for all of my students. They keep my mind in check. 

With that in mind, here are my other thankful things:

My family:

I don't have a picture of Tony and Melissa readily available, or it would go here!  Along with Baby Girl Sophia!

My apartment:

In one word, SAFETY!  Although there was a fire on the 23rd floor tonight, yikes!  We were not damaged, though.

My health, although I have a nasty cold right now, I am in good overall health!  Yeah!

Hawaii:

This little slice of heaven is 10 minutes from my apartment, and I'm usually the only person there!

My husband:

Goofy picture, but come on, aren't we cute?

The Married Life

I woke up this morning wishing to reflect on...

The Married Life

I am not one to share too much personal information, and so I will just skim that surface.  I do, however want to share the joy in my life that keeps me chugging along, lightens my day, loves me.

This is my husband:

That is NOT our dog.  Hehe...It really randomly came out of the bushes and made friends with my husband's lap.  At first, I was jealous...
"Hey dog...I don't even like dogs, but I was willing to give you a chance, until you stole my husband's lap!"
...and then I realized that I shouldn't be so stingy.

My husband has PLENTY of love to share with the dog and me...and all of the kids in his class...and our families...I mean, this man is full of love!

He is:
Peaceful
Thoughtful
A Really Great Cook
Handsome
Encouraging
My Best Friend

I really could go on and on, but I need to get back to my school work.  I'm sure that I'll share more later.

Great thing about Hawai'i?
I met my husband here!

aloha.

Blue Day

I wore blue today.

Not just because it is my favorite color to wear,

but because this man passed away:

Someone somewhere organized for people to wear blue today in his memory.

It was the least I could do. 

I've honestly never mourned someone that I've actually never met as I am mourning him.

I've had the absolute pleasure of watching him surf many times...just one of the glories of living in Hawai'i nei.

Those memories will live with me forever.

I've wondered in the last few days whether my sadness is sincerely in mourning, or if I am channeling my exhaustion from being so overly busy into a more "acceptable" cause.  But no, I am truly sad over his death.

And so I'm left thinking about life, and death, and the phrase "carpe diem".  I wish, more than anything that I lived my every minute with that thought in mind, but I don't.  I can't.  I have to plan for the next event, day, lesson, project.  My schedule reflects my priority to make sure I am "prepared" for what comes next.  Monday night, I have to prep for Tuesday.  Tuesday day, I have to prep material for Tuesday night....and the pattern continues.  I am not the only person dependent on this...students, coworkers, bosses, etc are dependent on my planning, as well.

Yet, I can't help but end back where I began.  How can I live for the day?  Death always reminds us that we are living.  Is that the lesson?


Andy, we miss you, and always will.

Aloha.