Sister Swartz and Snow

Christie and Matt arrived on Friday night to 67 degree weather, and departed in the ice and snow on Sunday. What a crazy weekend!

Lauren's scary face

Giggle squad

Lauren's concentration face

Christie and the girls play on the couch

THIS is why I covered the fireplace ... although you can see that one of my Facebook friend's warnings came to fruition: Yes, Tyler, apparently covering it DOES make it that much more intriguing to them!!

Lauren

Kyla and Matt horsing around

Walking to 3 Monkeys Sunday for lunch: Lauren, Aunt Crazy, Polar bear on Main Street, Christie, Kyla

The cubby under my stairs became Lauren's personal playspace on Sunday. My cleaning supplies took up a new residence in the hallway.

Kyla was more interested in the flashlight than the cubby!

Matt and Lauren at lunch

Kyla's infamous scowl

Getting ready to go back out in the cold!

This killed me. Lauren REALLY didn't want to leave on Sunday. She was extremely tired and really upset. Yes, of course it broke my heart! Aunt Crazy isn't made of stone!

Richmond In The Snow

Maple tree in my backyard

My front porch

View from my kitchen window

The "Wellies" I bought in England in May - not insulated, but fun to stomp around in!

Lunch at Sticky Rice - My wasabi was a Snowman! I looked up and the guys behind the sushi bar were laughing at what a fuss I was making about it.

When I found out which guy had come up with the idea, I made him pose in front of his little Wasabi Snowmen Menagerie.

Today at the office, we looked out the window and saw that someone had made a snow angel on the Plaza in front of the Dominion building. See? Even during a snowstorm, people at the electric company can have a sense of humor.

Academy Awards Weekend 2009!

Well, that's it. It rocked. Every year we have a great time together, and this year was no exception!!

Meredith was supposed to leave Saturday morning, but ... well, let's just say she was headed down 95 just after lunchtime on Friday! Which of course means that I also left work around 2:30. Let the games begin!

Mere and Aunt Crazy

We hit the grocery store for some supplies, then we went to Grape for some ... well, some OTHER supplies! There was a tasting going on and since we weren't on the clock, we partook!!

Bill (one of my favorite people in the world) from Grape and Cheese, and Aunt Crazy

After some appetizers at LuLu's, Meredith and I picked up Liz and Lori from Main Street Station at 8:37, and we were in Havana 59 minutes later!

Havana 59 mojito at 8:59

Me after knocking the icewater onto my lap. Saved the Mojito, though.

Meredith MADE us these hats and scarves! They were PERFECT!! We couldn't believe it.

The girls all cozied up in their PJs getting ready to watch Sex and The City - Lori's first time!

Meredith and Liz on Saturday morning after Meredith's massage and Liz and my manicure, we hung out waiting for Lori to finish her massage at Legend with Will so we could eat a hard-earned lunch at Can Can.

Beautiful Liz at Can Can

The Oscars girls - requisite group shot: Liz, Lori, Meredith and Anne

Lori sporting her "What Would Buddha Do?" button from Mongrel

Bobby Flay's Oscar Cocktails (amongst other cocktails)

Richmond girls meet Oscars girls: Kristen, Leslie, and Lori

Liz and Meredith with the brunch spread

Nicole, me, and Liz

Nicole, Liz, Lori, Meredith, Leslie and Kristen

People looking at the house dropped these chocolates off later - pretty cool!! (Delicious too!)

Meredith and I ran to Sheilds Market for some more wine, where the cashier (who is actually on the front of their web site!) gave her this button because it was her birthday. It says "I'm #1: Why Try Harder?" Hahahaha....

Watching the Oscars in our glittery tops and sweats.

A shot of Kate on the Red Carpet

Meredith and I dropped Liz and Lori off at the train on Monday morning at 10:34 (oops! Their train was actually at 10:27 rather than 10:37 as Aunt Crazy thought! Luckily the train was late!!) Then - to ease back into reality - Meredith and I went out for a coffee and bagel. Another FANTASTIC Oscars weekend down. Thanks girls!! I love you guys!!

Googling Blog Filler

Well, although I had a great weekend last weekend, I didn't take any pictures! To me a blog post without pictures isn't really worth your time.

So today I googled Blog Filler, and I found a few ideas.

1) Post a few pictures that are already on your computer that make you smile, just because.

This is a picture of me with my Baby Fro.

This is a picture from my trip to LA in 2005. Great trip, great day, great actors, GREAT movie!

This is a recent picture I stole from Jen Hen's flickr account of her new baby Anna ... she is sooooo cute!!!

2) A random clip or movie file that makes you smile. This one got me too ... there is one reader (yes, YOU, California!) who will understand why this is particularly entertaining to me!

3) This one's on me.... I learned something tutoring last night. Nyabol (age 8) was subtracting two, double digit numbers:

_52
- 39
====

I was watching her write it down, and when she started, this is what she said:

OK... Can a 2 year old beat up a 9 year old? No, so take one from the tens column
... that leaves four ... ok, twelve minus nine ...

Hahahaha - Is this what teachers have to resort to today? I was cracking up. I didn't stop her - hey, if it works, it works!

Hokie Kennedy 2000-2009

I do have a sad bit of news. Yesterday my Mom had to put down her dog, Hokie. Hokie was a happy, loyal dog to the Kennedy family for many years. Hokie (originally Lucy when she was adopted) was a great companion to my newly-empty-nested parents. She never really played with toys, she didn't know a single trick, and she had the nastiest looking eye infection you've ever seen in your life, but she would sit on your lap for hours and wanted nothing more than to be fed and petted once in a while. We'll miss you, girl.


Well, that's enough for now. I really did have a great weekend last weekend, which included a "Valentines Sucks" party (which, I discovered, is the exact same thing as a Valentines Party), a lot of sleeping, yoga, coffee and beers with my friend Nicole (one right after the other!), and random errands. Still, I haven't quite finished my Christmas Cards. Oh well.

This weekend should be interesting AND picture filled! It's our annual Academy Awards Girls' Weekend ... God help the greater Richmond area!!