My Best Life

At Last, My Love Has Come Along

It's taken a while to get this post up. But Ii won't  let the time gone by diminish the love and pride I feel for having married Jim on June 7, 2009.

We are so different in so many ways, but in the ways that count we are so compatible. We both come from similar backgrounds and value family over anything. We both love to give back to the community. We love our kids and our extended families.

I waited fourteen long years to get married again, and Jim was worth the wait. In addition to gaining him as a wonderful husband, I also get two great additions: his daughter Deb, who lives in Denver, and his son Marcus who lives with Jim. It's great to call them family. They are great kids.
We got married in a short and sweet civil ceremony on the balcony of the Iowa State Historical Building in downtown Des Moines. The back drop was the gorgeous state capital building with its magnificent gold domes. To keep costs to a minimum, we only invited our parents, siblings and nieces and nephews. If you think about it, most weddings are just a bunch of traditions that have accumulated over time and become traditional in American weddings. That doesn't mean we have to pay homage to every one of the traditions. And we didn't. And it was still beautiful.

It's great to be married again.

My Baby's Last Prom Night

Tonight was bittersweet for me. My younger daughter Bailey's last prom night ever is tonight and for the last time, I went through the front porch ritual of taking prom pictures. As you can see, she looked absolutely beautiful.

There is something about seeing your last kid go through these last rituals of childhood and emerge an adult sometime between now and this fall when she becomes a college student. For her, it is a sense of new found freedom and the strong desire for her own space, her own rules and her own schedule. I remember wanting to move out of my parents' house so badly that I couldn't wait until it happened, so that last summer before college I made my own rules, much to my dad's dismay.
Bailey has a good head on her shoulders, so I think she'll be sensible, but I look forward to watching her find her own way.

I love you, Bailey Rachel. Have fun, my sweet girl. Love, Mom

Flowers from my backyard

This afternoon I spent a little time in my backyard with Trixie the Wonder Dog. She was sniffing for squirrels (the bane of her existence) and I was after pretty flowers. It's been so long since I had time on a beautiful spring day to just BE, I wanted to capture the moment, the flowers and share them with you. I also want to keep the memory for myself.

I collect unusual ceramic pieces, or ones that speak to me in some way. This particular tea pot belonged to my Grandma Celsi and I inheirited it when she died. I like the contrast in colors between the punch of yellow, shiny and smoooth, and the tangle of flowers. And of course, the flowers are my favorite color.

Happy Spring!

Iowa, You Make Me Smile!

  Today was the best day I remember having in a long time. I woke up early, walked past a crime scene on my walk with Trixie (ok, that wasn't so great), went to Panera and had breakfast with all my blog buddies and logged on for my morning news fix.

And there it was, plain as day. "Iowa Supreme Court unanimously upheld a lower court ruling that a state law banning marriage between same-sex partners is unconstitutional." WOW. What an unexpected and delightful surprise.

It was like 1965 all over again. (Not to mention 1839, when Iowa became the first state to ban slavery) Iowa has a long history of defending civil rights. My dear friend Merle Fleming was a member of the first Civil Rights Commission, which in cooperation with a Democratic legislature, wrote and enacted volumes of new civil rights legislation that historic year. I also happened to be the year my folks got married and the year I was conceived.

Merle would be so pleased to see that gay people in Iowa are finally legally able to have their relationships recognized. Because isn't that all people really need? Recognition for who they are, what they stand for, and that their life means just as much as the people next door? I think that this is what it's all about.

So excuse me, I have some more smiling to do.

Making Meatballs With Mom

When you grow up in an Italian family, you get used to what I like to call "group food projects." One of those is making a big batch of pasta sauce with meatballs. We make regular size meatballs for Sunday pasta, which are about the size of a golf ball. For a special dish called "pastachina" (pronounced pasta key-na) small meatballs (about the size of marbles) are traditionally mixed right in with the sauce and baked in with a bunch of cheese. The traditional recipe also includes sliced hard-boiled eggs. I don't put those in mine, but sometimes add a layer of spinach or ricotta cheese.

In any case, this "lasagne" is delicious and today Mom and I got together to make a big batch of meatballs. I am making four huge pans of pastachina for some co-workers. So, I took a little video of us making them and I poked fun at my Mom for her unusual meatball rolling style. Check it out.

Chelsey Gets Her Diploma...I'm So Proud!

I couldn't be more proud of my oldest daughter Chelsey. Last night, she graduated from Roosevelt High School in Des Moines. She looked just adorable in her cornflower dress that matched her eyes perfectly! Here's us immediately after the ceremony. I also took the liberty of taking a video and posting it to YouTube.

I love you so much, honey. Congratulations!

Target Has a Crappy Return Policy!

I spent part of my day today playing with children on the Target Facebook group. I posted a rant about how Target's return policy has turned against its customer. I received a bunch of angry rants from obvious Target groupies who defended the policy.

After pointlessly going back and forth with these little drones, I discovered a site that points out flaws in Target's customer return policy in people's own words. Nothing could be more powerful than that.

WWI Memorial in Kansas City: All I Can Say is WOW!

Who knew that there was such an amazing place right here in the Midwest! I usually have to go to Washington D.C. to be wowed by such a great monument. But this weekend, while I was in Kansas City to see my boyfriend's sister and her husband, we went to visit the nation's official World War I Memorial.

To get a sense of how amazing this place is, you have to visit in person. First of all, its imposing tower rises over the rest of downtown KC like a beacon. We rode up to the top and got a 360 degree view of the city, including some fool who was swimming around in the Westin Crown Center swimming pool in the 50 degree temps! Brrr.

After coming down from the tower, we toured three separate facilities, each progressively more cool than the previous one. There were interpretive stations with computers everywhere, giving impressive detail about all the displays and artifacts.

Probably the most impressive of all the artwork on display was The Panthéon de la Guerre, a cyclorama the size of a football field, featuring 5,000 full-length portraits of prominent figures from World War I—a painting that blatantly sought to arouse patriotic fervor in its viewers. The largest painting ever attempted in its day, it was painted in the 1930s then stored in a warehouse and forgotten for 20 years, before being rescued and installed as a mural in the KC memorial. 

There were numerous media in use within the museum, including audio recordings of famous speeches by everyone from Hitler to Booker T. Washington. There were also computerized light tables that explained in detail the different types of planes and tanks used in the war.

When the memorial was opened, people from all over the U.S. sent in their prized memoriabilia, and massive amounts of it are on display. There are medical field kits, art made from shell casings, Howitzers, helmets, wool underwear, and letters from the front. We spent nearly four hours walking around. One of the most intriguing displays was a huge field of 8,000 red poppies. We found out that during the war in Europe, troops often fought in large poppy fields. Each of the 8,000 poppies represented 1,000 people who were killed in The Great War. Also known as "the war to end all wars," it is well documented and chronicled in this extraordinary space.

Congratulations to the people of Kansas City for having the foresight to build this fabulous place. It's too bad that mankind obviously has not learned its lesson, and continues to send young folks off to die in needless armed conflict.

Chelsey's Senior Pictures

Chelsey got her senior pictures taken this fall and this was her favorite and the one she turned in to the yearbook. There were so many good ones that it was hard to choose. She only smiled in about half of them, so we were left having to pick from those. This photo was a compromise.

Her semester finals are over now, so she's one the final stretch towards graduation. I am so happy for her, and hope she can stay focused.

It's An Interesting Time to Be an Iowan!

In last week's Iowa Caucus, Barack Obama pulled off a stunning victory. Not only did he have a superior turnout organization, but he obviously inspired a whole new generation of young voters to turn out on his behalf.

One of those young Iowans is my daughter Chelsey. Even though I was a Hillary supporter at my caucus, she declared herself an "Obama Girl" several months ago. True to her word, she showed up to help me at the caucus, but when it came time to count supporters, she sat with the Obama folks. Along with her friend Jonavae, they sat through what must have been a boring hour and a half and supported their candidate.

My boyfriend Jim also helped at the caucus, signing people in since we were swamped with turnout. Even though he is an independent, I was very thankful for his assistance!

My other daughter, Bailey, also showed up to help. As an added bonus, both of them got extra credit at school for showing up.

The results of the caucus were historic, and I am more proud than ever to be an Iowan.