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November, 2006

  1. November 25, 2006 by Leanne

    Thanksgiving Feast!

    A Lithuanian dessert tower – made of fried donut dough, honey, and poppy seed. Yummm.
    The main course – prepared to perfection!

    UGH – The day after.

    We spent Thanksgiving evening out by the cozy fire.
    (Randie and DJ – above; DJ below)

    DJ can’t wait for dinner to be served.


    Too much begging for turkey – wore her out!

    The bad news – mom went back in the hospital at midnight Thanksgiving night. The good news, she’ll be released sometime over the weekend.

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  2. So Much Going On!

    November 19, 2006 by Leanne

    Oh my gosh – what a self-induced busy weekend. There’s been no time to do the necessities of life like laundry, buying dog food, sleeping in late, etc… So to help you understand, as Julie Andrews once sang, “Let’s start at the very beginning…”

    Before I get started, I know I am starting to sound like a broken record, but holy cow – what incredible weather we had this weekend! Unbelieveably beautiful from sun-up to sun-down. You’ll see in the pictures below.

    Let’s start with Friday night. A small group of us gathered together to reminisce of our 2006 Hong Kong days. We had a special guest in town, Susan from Hong Kong, to help us relive those memories. A good time was had by all.

    Our fabulous little Hong Kong group.
    Who’s this Hollywood celebrity with Susan at dinner?

    Gary and Charles having way too much fun.

    Me and Susan – in front of a Christmas tree at the Boardwalk Resort. Yes – all the holiday and Christmas decorations are up. YIKES!

    I almost forgot – we had a rocket launch here off the Brevard coast on Friday. I was driving down the road and saw it and quickly grabbed this shot of it going up. As many of these rockets and shuttle launches I’ve seen during my lifetime, I still get excited watching one launch. That’s part of the joys of living in Florida.

    Ok – back to Saturday: I woke up bright and early to support the Disney Volunteers with the Keep Brevard Beautiful Florida Coastal Clean-up. I was one of several hundred who got up very early to meet at Downtown Disney and head over to Brevard County to help clean up the beaches. You wouldn’t think picking up garbage and trash is fun, but it was. It had to be the people I was with because we had a great time.

    Then, Saturday night, was the famous Brandon Backyard Party. This year I took my mom, as she never gets out of the house and after more than 7 -years, still hardly knows anyone I work with. It was a tad chilly for her, but the party was a fabulous as ever. No pictures to show you because the ones I took weren’t in the right camera light setting.

    I haven’t even taken you to Sunday yet. That story later.

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  3. Art Show

    November 12, 2006 by Leanne

    This weekend flew by way too fast. I can’t believe it is Sunday night already. I think the adage is try that the older you get, the quicker time flies by. I certainly believe it.

    Today is Ashley’s birthday – a whopping 13-years old.. that’s 91 in human years. She’s doing okay for an old lady. Her hearing is fading and her hips are giving her lots of trouble, but she still has that playful puppy-like attitude kick in every once in awhile. Right now, she’s napping at my feet while I work on the computer. Pretty soon, she’ll head to bed – she does that when it gets dark out. She needs her beauty sleep. Join me in wishing her a very happy birthday!

    Friday I spent some quality time at the Festival of the Masters Art Show at Downtown Disney. What a fabulous weekend for an incredible art show. It was picture-perfect – ha, no pun intended.

    Downtown Disney alive with art and art lovers this weekend.
    This Asian inspired art won a big award.

    Got $50k burning a hole in your pocket? Buy a mammoth!

    I’ve never purchased art-jewelry before – until now. Yes, one of these rings now has a home on my finger. (And I absolutely love it!)

    My famed sunset photos. I took this today on my way home around 5:15pm in South Orlando. In reality, it was much more spectacular than this photo lets on.

    Later!

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  4. My Home Town

    November 6, 2006 by Leanne

    Winter Park, Florida

    It’s quaint. It’s beautiful. It’s charming. It’s my home town and it is full of so many great memories. It’s where I remember walking with my mom and grandma holding hands doing what women do best – shop. We celebrated my high-school graduation with dinner at the Park Plaza Garden restaurant. In high school, the weekend hang-out was at the East India Trading Company. During my college days, the popular beer joint was Two-Flights Up. I remember when I was 10-years old, my mom took me to the then Barnett Bank where she insisted I open up my first savings account. I deposited $11.00. That was big bucks back then for a 10-year old! During my 20′s, hanging out at the lounge at Park Plaza Gardens was standard. And at some restaurant bar on the avenue, was where I was steered into my future in TV, which eventually ended up as my life where it is today. Almost all those places have gone by the wayside, only to be replaced by something new and hipper. So, I have a lot of history with Winter Park and Park Avenue.

    Saturday morning I made the short drive back to Winter Park. I started off at the Farmer’s Market where you can get the freshest vegetables right from the farm, plants right from the nursery and the best bread and muffins you can imagine. The place was jamming! Politicians were out doing some last minute campaigning, the surbanites were there walking their pedigree dogs, and the wealthy senior citizens were there just enjoying life. I left the market with my gorgeous tomatoes, fresh green beans, just baked whole-wheat sourdough bread, and a huge $5.00 plant of burgandy mums. A great day was had by all.

    These two pictures are Park Avenue.

    This is some new artwork just added to the park. Interesting.

    This is the “hidden gardens” of Park Avenue. It’s an off-the-beaten path of the main avenue where you’ll find a few restaurants, an art gallery, and some other shops. It’s so quaint!

    This fountain has been here since I was a little child. It used to be filled with really large goldfish.

    These two shots are of Central Park. No, New York City isn’t the only city with a Central Park. The city just installed these new art statues that I think will be there for a few months.

    And finally, the Amtrak train station butts right up against the park. When we were kids, our family would board the train here and travel up to New York City and Washington, DC for our summer vacation. It’s a travel adventure all families should do at some point in their lives.

    My heart belongs in Winter Park.

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  5. So Long Halloween – On to Thanksgiving

    November 1, 2006 by Leanne

    I have never been a fan of Halloween – and still am not. I am thankful the dreaded night is over with. This year, although I had a bag of candy to hand out, I left my front porch light off and thankfully, didn’t have one trick-or-treater. I did hear the kids out in the street screaming and yelling when I let the dogs out. I just didn’t want to deal with it, and the barking dogs, and unfortunately, in today’s times, the fear of “who” exactly I am opening my door to. It’s done with for at least another 364 days.

    Welcome November! I live for the fall season to get here. The change in the temperature is so welcome and needed for my sanity. If I see another forecast of 90+ degree temperatures, I think I will scream.

    Not much to report this week in the blog. Therefore, you are stuck with my rambling thoughts and my throw-back of doggie pictures.

    Mike proudly displays MY very first carved pumpkin. I’ve never carved one before this year, because my dad always did it when we were kids and I just never did one the rest of my adult life. Here’s my happy pumpkin.
    (No, Mike was not here for Halloween, this was taken the weekend of Miguel’s party.)
    Jefferson looks so sad! He’s riding in the car -which he LOVES, but just had this incredibly sad expression on his face. What’s up?

    And Ashley was just as happy as can be riding in the backseat. She just sits here and sticks her head out the window taking in all the scents.
    Happy November 1.

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