Goodie Heaven

Love, love Jean Philippe @ the Bellagio. Home of the largest chocolate fountain in the world. This is another tradition when I'm in Vegas - go get ice-cream and see their latest creations. You can see additional pics here. Keep in mind that almost everything you see is edible.

Body Worlds

I saw the exhibit when it traveled through Boston and was blown away. Shil and I headed over to the Luxor to check out the Body Worlds exhibit. Not as extensive a collection as the show that came through Boston, but still found it awesome. That is a world that is misused today and I mean it in the actual definition of the word. If a show comes near you check it out.

Journaling with kids

I brought along journals I made for the girls and they love them. We spent many hours together writing and drawing in them. Love that!

Bellagio

Traditions get started in all sorts of ways - one is simply doing something and then repeating it every time I come to town. I love the seasonal displays at the Bellagio. This time it was New England Fall. You can see more pics here.

Laughlin

How can one not visit a place called Laughlin? My brother had to work out that way today, so went with him and explored the riverwalk along the Colorado River.










































Additional pics can be seen here.

Mirage

The thing about being in the desert is that the clear dry air fools the eyes - well at least my eyes.

This morning decided to walk over to Mandalay Bay - after all I could see it - how far could it be? Famous last words. About an hour later, I popped into the Borders at Town Square for refreshments - an oasis in the desert would not have been more welcoming. After the welcome sustenance decided to push forward and finally arrived at the casino. Why not take the local bus you might ask? Well, after a certain amount of time, I was committed, and refused to give up and hop on. My objective? Shark Reef. Loved being in the underwater tunnels and watching sharks swim an arms-length away. Also saw one of the last remaining golden crocodiles in the world - though must admit that it looked sad and lonely.

And yes, I did take the bus home - though had to walk about a mile from the nearest stop. So ended up walking about 6 miles total (I actually went online to figure it out), and so exercise for the day? Check.

Halloween Carnival

This is my first Halloween season with the girls. Such fun. The girls got all dressed up.
Bella was a model, Sophia a diva and Maya was Alice in Wonderland.
You can see more Carnival pics here.

Air Travel

I was on United flights out here to Las Vegas and both flights were packed to the brim - I felt like a sardine in a tin can - there was barely enough room to move. The flight attendants did not have seats - so had to stand the entire way! I know that all the air lines have cut back and consolidated their routes, but this is nuts. On the bright side, had wonderful views of our lovely planet from a window seat. Watched a beautiful sunset and thanked the stars that my trip only took several hours, as compared to the early pioneers who spent months or even years getting out this far. Certainly puts my whining into perspective :-)

Viva Las Vegas

Am loving hanging with my family in Las Vegas - my 3 little nieces are the most adorable and smart cutie pies in world. They have been taking dancing classes, and recently performed at the local Onam festival. Bella is second on left, Sophia is on the left towards the back, and Maya is to the back on the right.

So very cool no?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23OXsE6erMA

New gadget

At least new to this blog. If you read this blog - look to the right and tell me that you do under Followers. Such fun.

Visual Journal

Found this funny head shot of Luke and had to play with it.

Visual Journal

Was listening to music while playing with this page:
"You have got to heal your body. Heal your heart. Whatever happens, what matter most is what you think of yourself. Get it together."

The Danger of a Single Story

How amazing that while I am on the theme of stories, I run across this incredible TED talk by Chimamanda Adichie.

Stories

I love stories. Hearing them. Reading them. Telling them. With all this multi-media at our disposal this is skill I think we are losing. Remember when you were a kid and asked, "Tell me a story"? At some point we got too grown up to ask that childish question. Not childish at all in my opinion. It is how we learn, experience and remember.

I've been thinking lately about all those stories that disappear when people die. What happens to those stories if no-one remembers them? Am reminded of a particular moment in time - I'm in Cochin with my maternal Ammachi at the beside of her sister who is in a coma. Ammachi is telling me stories about the antics they got up to when they were little girls. A memory that haunts me because I did not record the details at the time. Since then have captured stories that my loved ones tell me in my journals. And just this week bought a digital voice recorder to capture the nuances of stories.

How do you capture your stories?

Time flies by

Earlier this week we celebrated our 18 year anniversary. Where the heck does the time go? Time seems endless when you are a kid - I remember how slowly the hours passed - maybe it simply felt that way because I was doing homework :-). It speeds up the older you get, and the speed up is not linear but exponential. Whether you are doing something you love or not, time flies by, so why not do something fun today?

Happy Diwali

Happy Diwali. May your life be full of light.

Visual Journal

The fall colors outside my windows is stunning. This page was inspired by a rainy fall day.

Recent Reads

1. The Summer of the Great Grand-Mother
This is the second journal-type book by the author I have read and I loved it. The author's mother starts to get senile as she gets older and the book explores their relationship - past and present. I am reminded of all the stories that disappear when a person dies. This is such a gift the author has given her family.

2. The Painter from Shanghai
A book I picked up because I liked the cover art and to my delight I loved it. I had never heard of this Chinese painter, and am again reminded of how little I know about Chinese history and art. This is a great read - tough at times, but gets you really thinking about the choices people make.

3. Top 10 Las Vegas
This is one of several books I read recently in preparation for my upcoming trip to Vegas. Fun and fact filled.

4. Arizona, New Mexico & the Grand Canyon Trips
Love this book. This is one I will buy, and hope to someday actually do all the trips described. Would be a great themed vacation.

5. The War of Art
Amazing little gem of a book. Another one I will read again and again. I felt a shift in my mental models as I read this. What could be a greater gift than that? Here is a little nugget:

"We're not born with unlimited choices.
We can't be anything we want to be. We come into this world with a specific, personal destiny.
We have a job to do, a calling to enact, a self to become. We are who we are from the cradle, and we're stuck with it.
Our job in this lifetime is not to shape ourselves into some ideal we imagine we ought to be, but to find out who we already are and become it."

Visual Journal

Coming to the end of my current journal - have a goal to get it finished before I head out to Vegas next Wednesday.
I love mobiles - always have. For some reason was thinking about them again.





















This animal fascinated me. Love those horns.

Journaling with kids

Here are pages from Luke's journal:

Journaling with kids

Here are some pages from Jonah's journal:
















The page on the left captures his excitement about an upcoming trip to Cancun, and the one on the right shows the route from his house to mine.

Luke and Gus

When Luke was little, we took him to the Concord Children's Museum and he found a little giraffe that he loved and he walked around with it all day. Flash forward almost 5 years later and Luke loved this giraffe that we got from our neighbor. He spent the afternoon making his case as to why it should go home with him, and he named it Gus.

Gus

On a recent afternoon together, we all took out our journals and drew Gus the giraffe. In order, these are done by Luke, Jonah, Susan and me.

Topsfield Fair (7)

Would not be a fair if there was not junk food galore. Though charging $6 for a cannoli is daylight robbery in my opinion.

Topsfield Fair (6)

One of the attractions of the fair is the wide variety of animals - here are some of my fave pics.