Happy Mother's Day!

I know the BEST Mothers. I truly do. 

 Between my friends, cousins, sisters, grandmothers, aunts and my MIL and MOM . . . 

I am surrounded by some amazing ladies.  

We had the pleasure of hosting a few at our home on Mother's Day. 

Marky out did himself again with a meal that was out of this world and I got to hang with my lovely gals. 

Grammie, Jessica, Karen, Me, Meggy, Mom

I hope all the wonderful Mamas had a wonderful day full of love 

and lots of appreciation for all they do! 

xoxo

Girls Vacation

So one Friday in July, I hopped on a plane to go here . . .














To eat some of this . . .





























. . . and some of this . . .








. . . while looking at this!












I also got to go shopping here . . .




You may be asking yourself why did Lizzie get to go, eat and shop at all these places? Find your answer below . . .





































Twenty-eight years ago, a wonderful set of grandparents (my Nana and Papa) decided to treat their three daughters to a girls vacation - a vacation just for the girls. No husbands and no kids! These three sisters were April (my Aunt), Gayle (my Mom) and Kim (my Aunt). This tradition has carried on year after year, mostly in California, but has taken the three sisters and their mom as far as New York and Europe!

In more recent years, the children of these three sisters are now wives and mothers, and the tradition has grown to include these daughters and nieces. This was my first girls vacation! Along with my sister and cousin, I flew out to California to meet my other cousin, who flew in from Chicago, to see my mom, my aunt and my Nana. We had a fabulous time! We ate, drank, talked, laughed - and I only had to take care of myself all weekend!

As much fun as we had, visiting all these fabulous places, the best times were spent in our hotel room, talking and laughing about boys and family and friends. I am so blessed to have my husband and my two kids, but my life is even fuller than most because of the relationships I have with my grandmother, my aunts and cousins and especially my mom and sister. I know so many fantastic, smart, beautiful women! What a treat this vacation truly was to spend time with them!

Bye, Bye Mommy

ye Mama! My Mama is off on her summer adventure extravaganza with her fiance, Rich. They are packing up and driving to their home in Lake Wawasee, Indiana. Amazing house (see my post back in Sept 2008), but it takes a full day of travel, and that's if you fly. My Mama will be back in July for two weeks and we will be in Indiana at the end of August, but other than that, it will be a Me-la free summer. :( She will be missed terribly!

Since she has met Rich, of course she hasn't been around as much as when Karsten was a baby. (Talk about a built-in babysitter! Mark and I were spoiled!) But, it's been so wonderful, watching her fall in love, seeing him love her, getting to know, and loving Rich as part as our family . . . I wouldn't trade any of that for her being around more. For the most part Mama has been gone just for weekends, visiting Rich at his love nest, but now she is gone for the WHOLE summer! We are going to be lonely!

I think we will all be okay, as we get used to this. There is definitely an adjustment that needs to happen, because I feel sad and lonely, but once it does, I'm hoping the summer will go fast! My poor little buddy is just as upset, he and Me-la have a special bond and he knows and understands that she is leaving. Again, I hope, once we get in our new routine for the summer, the time will go by fast and it will be July, then August before we know it! One can HOPE!

So I bid you farewell, Mama . . . I know you are going to have the BEST time once you get up there! And July should be here in just a wink! I love you more than anything!

PS Tell Rich I said "hi"! :)

These are some pictures from our dinner last Friday; I was too sad tonight to take pictures of our dinner at Liberty Market. So here are pics from Bucca di Beppo last week.