Sister Weekend At Marysia's

Enjoying gum for the 1st time on the plane

Currently, I am sitting in my sister, Marysia's family room in the Baltimore area.  I am hanging out here with Marysia, my other sister Margaret, my nephew Andy, Madeline and Marysia's dog Jesse.  We are just chillin' and watching Alice In Wonderland before Madeline heads to bed.  A very low key evening is much welcomed after a busy start to our time together.  I am pretty sure, too, that I'll be changing into some lounge wear soon in order to make the evening even more low key!

Eiffel Tower

Notre Dame de Paris

Arc de Triomphe

Louvre

David lit a candle at St. Joan of Arc

Margaret (from Dayton, Ohio area), Madeline and I flew in to Baltimore on Wednesday night.  Hmmmmm....before I talk about my trip here, I should mention that David was recently in France!  David left Buffalo on Saturday (12/4) and returned home right after my book club gals left our house on Tuesday (12/7).  Most guys would comment that David was brilliant in that timing but (A) my book club/MOMS Club friends are a joy and (B) David purchased freshly baked bread that morning in France and some wine and he was hoping to get home in time to contribute these French treats with my friends.  Unfortunately, David's flight out of Paris was delayed.  Luckily, however, David did get out of France that evening because the following day France's airport, and all of Paris for that matter, was shut down due to snow.  With trips to numerous countries, I could safely say that David is a "world traveler".  David's impression of France????  He very much disliked it.  Humph, I guess I'll never get to see the Eiffel Tower.  David certainly tries to visit any new locale with an open mind, yet the French, he said, have a reputation of being rude for a reason.  David, did surprise me with a call to tell me that he was standing "smack dab under the Eiffel Tower" and he just called to tell me that he loved me.  Awwwwww! 

So, David got home late on Tuesday night (after being gone 3 nights) only to have Madeline and me turn around less than 24 hours later to depart for Baltimore.  We arrived Wednesday evening, had some dinner, relaxed a bit and also prepared for Marysia's Tastefully Simple party which was the following evening.

Christmas Shopping

On Thursday, Marysia had to work.  My nephew arranged to carpool to school so that Margaret and I could use his car during the day.  Margaret, Madeline and I headed to the mall (go figure) to do some Christmas shopping.  Shopping and food.....would you expect anything else from me??  No, of course not!  So, we also ventured to Panera's (Margaret's favorite) for breakfast to "fuel up"for our shopping and we tried out P.F. Chang's for lunch.  Thursday night Marysia hosted a Tastefully Simple party for me.  Marysia has such a nice group of friends.  It felt as though I have known them for a long time, although many of her friends I had met for the first time that evening.  Marysia's party was very nice and quite successful.....good news for Mushie because that means lots of FREE Tastefully Simple products for her!

Disney Store!!!!

Pocahontas souvenir

Friday, Marysia worked the morning and was home by noon.  That worked out perfectly because, Margaret, Madeline and I slept in, had a lazy morning and were barely out of our PJ's before Marysia came home.  What to do then???  Back to the mall, of course!  I have to say, Madeline was a trooper!  We were at the mall for 5 hours and Madeline hung tough!  Madeline did get bounced back and forth between me and my sisters, got to ride some of those coin operated rides, rode a train that zips around the mall, rode the merry-go-round and visited Santa.  In the meantime, we sisters made great progress in our Christmas shopping.  Friday was also my niece's (Lauren's) 17th birthday.  Where has the time gone?!?!  We all went out to dinner to celebrate.  Mmmmm....Maryland is noted for crab cakes for a reason!

Using chopsticks at P.F. Chang's

Another diner was also celebrating her birthday.  "Crazy Aunt" wanted them to get a picture together. I forgot the flash :-(

Action shot!

After :-)

A LEOPARD Santa ?????

Merry-Go-Round

UGLY feet posed with egg nog.  Notice our matching PJ's??

Today, more shopping.  Are you seeing a pattern?  Also, Lauren was allowed to get a second piercing in her ears for her birthday and so we were able to  witness the event.  This could've gone one of two ways.  Either Madeline would've wanted her ears pierced or not.  I want to hold off until Madeline is about 10 years old before she gets her ears pierced.  I explained to Madeline what was going on as we watched and made sure to mention the pain associated with the piercing.  Madeline made sure to let me know that she didn't want her ears pieced. I am sure that will change over time, yet I managed to successfully discourage that idea (at least for a little while).  Since I began this post, the evening progressed.  What did we end up doing?  We sisters hung around, sipped on egg nog, helped Marysia wrap her Christmas gifts, and watched "It's A Wonderful Life" - such a festive evening!  Certainly, a few egg nogs