G'day mate!!!

Well, we're off!!!!!  I know you'll be super bored without our blog to keep you entertained while we're gone, so here's some shots of adorable Aussie fluffiness Rob has been posting to FB to tide you over...

I just have a feeling being in an amazing place with the absolute love of my life will heal my vertigo once and for all.  I can't wait to update you and I'm sure you'll be inundated by all the photos when we get back!  Love, Bruce and Sheila. 

Showering my sweet friend....

Wait, that sounds weird.  My beautiful friend Lisa is preggers are due in December - over the weekend I went to her baby shower and it was SO LOVELY to honor her and see all of her adorable schwag!!!

I actually only took a few pics with my camera - but before you think I'm slipping in my photographic duties, I took the rest on Lisa's camera, so you'll just have to picture LOADS of adorable girlie stuff.

In the meantime, just be satisfied with our cute mugs.  And how beautiful is that glowing Lisa?

Halloween is on like donkey kong!

I was NOT about to let Halloween pass even though I was dizzy as hell and both Rob and I had colds to boot.  Halloween is my favorite and this stupid vertigo has already robbed me of so much, I wasn't about to let it take away my fave holiday, dang it.  So, Rob was such a trooper and we busted out our old 80's prom costumes from the tacky costume party.  Amazing how a little cold medicine, blue eye shadow and tacky costumes totally transformed our moods.

 

 

 

 And to complete the tackiness?  I had to hold up the dress with clothes pins, hahahaha!  Galileo looks on with total disdain.

I'd forgotten we even had a doggy tuxedo for Galileo courtesy of my Mom - thanks Mom!  It actually was my sweet old dog Hobbes' (from childhood) tux - and just like Hobbes, he went totally limp and paralyzed once we put him in it.  We called him our limo driver, though frankly if he was driving us somewhere, we would have gone nowhere fast.

We had so much fun handing out candy like such dorks - the kids seemed to love our costumes.  I was too distracted to take pics of any of the kiddos but I did take a pic of our neighbors as a Smurf family, how cute are they?  Totes adorbs!!!

LOVE our 'hood

When we got back from NY, our neighborhood had a big old block party, it was sooo much fun!  It was in our cul d sac and we'd hired some taco guys and a bouncy house for the kiddos...it was a blast.  I absolutely love our neighbors and am constantly reminded by how blessed we are to have scored the neighbor jackpot.  Most every evening the kids and parents all congregate in front of our house anyway, and we love going out there to join the ruckus and chat.  I am so incredibly grateful to live where we do - I love our 'hood!!!

Here's some shots from the party...

ROW - the Tomato soup with pasta and basil edition

 Ok, not to be "that girl" but it's still not soup weather in Sandy Eggo - still in the 80's and sunny, but I was craving soup when we both got home from NYC with colds, boo.  I hadn't tried this recipe yet (from my Essential Vegetarian cookbook) and it was delicious!  I admit I'd never made tomato soup from scratch before, just from canned tomatoes, so it was fun to try that out.  Definitely worth the time, it was tasty.

Here's my tips, if anyone's interested.  I used an immersion blender rather than messing with cooling with the soup down and pouring it in batches into an actual blender.  Forget that crap.  It also only calls for a cup of the cooked pasta and I figure, if I already made the whole bag, then the whole bag is going in!  Carb loading!!!  And finally, I added way more fresh basil than it calls for because, let's face it, basil rocks the house.

 The sick soup critic next to me only gave it a "meh", I liked it more than he did.  I'm sure he would have been more stoked if there had been huge chunks of meaty meat.  :)

 I totally forgot to take a pic before I started digging in, so sorry for the gross pic of my half-eaten meal, haha! 

Battery Park and winding down

Ok, enough boo-hoo'in.  After the WTC memorial, I needed a break (and all my mascara was gone anyway) so I wandered through Battery Park and looked at all the gorgeous leaves.  Again, I had so much fun playing with my new camera - I love Liebs! 

The fall colors were GORGEOUS, here's a few of my faves and then I included another slideshow at the end if you want to see all my pics....

 There she is!!!

After Battery Park, I meandered over to City Hall Park - charming!

 If you can't read the bench, it says "humor is a release" - I thought it was great I had a drive by from this little fluffy guy at that exact moment....apparently he agrees.

 If you can't read it, this bench end says "people who go crazy are too sensitive" - hahahahaha!  Pretty sure I shouldn't put this photo up at work, eh?

The end!  Here's my slideshow if interested in more fall pics...

World Trade Center Memorial

On my last day in NYC, I went to the World Trade Center Memorial.  We went to the area in 2006 when we were last in the city, and back then it was only an empty place.

I can't imagine a more beautiful, moving, and respectful monument to the lives that were lost that day.  Being there feels so spiritual and profound - I was absolutely moved to tears the moment I came around the corner and saw the memorial.

I bawled for a while, then moved on.  I spent a lot of time there, I felt it was important to spend time looking at all the names, and I love how they clustered the names of the lost together by where they were: each flight, tower, etc.

I also absolutely love the symbolism of the water cascading down into the earth - how it renews in such a beautiful cycle, plus the sound is so calming. 

 Here's the amazing Survivor Tree (talked about here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_September_11_Memorial_%26_Museum ) that is just so incredible - again, I love the symbolism.  At the memorial museum, I bought one of the leaves that has been bronzed - I love this tree so much.  Again with the boo-hoo'in!!!

And here's the Freedom Tower - I can't believe how much progress they've made!  It looks like it's almost done.  So breathtaking.  Apparently when it's done it'll be 1776 feet tall and will be the tallest building in the United States.

At one point, I walked by the Flight 93 area and I saw 2 United flight attendants (they were wearing their badges) crying and touching their friend's name.  I stepped back to give them privacy in their grief but I just absolutely bawled watching them talk about her, remembering her fondly, etc.  I feel so honored to have witnessed that moment - this is their friend Sandy (I came back way later to take this pic so as to not intrude on their space).

 

 It's so amazing, but of all the names around both "towers", only one is already rubbed bronze from so many people having had touched it, and that is of Todd Beamer's of Flight 93's.  Of course that made me boo-hoo all over again.  I'm sure you know the story of this amazing man, but if not, here it is:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Todd_Beamer

Here's the rest of my photos in a slideshow if you're interested: