Lost in the neighborhood...

As an architect I am very opinionated. Not that I am going to knock at 

my neighbor's house and tell them what's wrong with the house,

 but I will for sure think about the construction and will work on my conclusions.

 This mammoth has landed in my area. 

It started growing from the ground about 18 months ago and it's still not finished.

 The back of the house has a gazebo sustained by 4 dancing ninfas in Greek dresses.

They hold the top of the gazebo while they overlook the small pond in the

backyard and stare at all the neighbors with dropped jaws.

The back of the house is a 3 story house with walkout basement to a patio. 

The front is what you see. I call it "Museum Style".

 At the front there's this water fountain and a few more Greek figures dancing along the drive-way,

 which were not here yet when I took the picture.

 Above the windows are shields with initials representing the family's name.

 There are Roman columns with Gothic windows...
Romanesque portico and a dropped round roof (French Country maybe?).

 Inside: 2 kitchens, 3 fire-places, and thousands of square footage.

  It will be interesting to see what kind of family will come to live here.

 Conclusion? When building a house it's of good taste to look around and
 try to stay with the style and proportion of what is there already.
 Don't build a English Tudor where there are only American Ranch,
 don't build a Modern all glass house where there are only Mexican stucco houses.
 Respect the "spirit" of he neighborhood.

Jambalaya, a confusing post.

 Remember way back then when I said I was going to try a new recipe every week?

 That was before Christmas ran over me, before birthday party and before other 

 "little" events in life took place.

 I had totally forgotten about the whole food project until yesterday...

When I was killing time at the book store between one job and another

 and I found myself hoarding a few recipe books. But consciousness took place

 when I realized I already had way too many books on cooking and was not 

using them in their full potential.

 And to compensate for the time I had missed not trying new recipes,

I did the "Jambalaya"!!!! (I know, it sounds more like a dance!)

 Grab all the ingredients you see above. See them? Cook and Mix! Done!

 OK, for the slow audience... Here it goes:
Sautee garlic and onions, add the celery.
Slice the sausage and cook it with veggies.

Meanwhile, cook some rice in a different pan, using chicken broth instead of water.

 When sausage is totally cooked,  add salt, pepper, and

 the diced tomatoes, caned corn and shrimp.

Last you add the rice to this mix.

5 Minutes later your dish is ready!

Easy? YES!

 Delicious? YES!

 Am I gonna cook this again? YES!

 Hope you will try this recipe!

 Happy February to all! (Already?)

There's still time

 Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do

than by the ones you did do.

So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor.

 Catch the trade winds in your sails.

Explore. Dream. Discover...

 (Mark Twain)

 

Sentimental fool

Yes, I am a sentimental fool for goodbyes and last days.

 It hurts inside when it is the last day of anything.

Last day of school I show up to take pictures.

 Last time I talked to someone stays in my mind.

Last time I visited family.

 Last family vacation.

 Last time your baby said something funny but you didn't know 

that would be the last time...

 Last graduation, last day of Summer, last kiss from the person you loved.

 Last concert you child played.
Last dance you saw your daughter dressing up like a princess.
Last time you took your pet to the vet and never saw it again.

Last time you laughed so hard that made your belly hurt.

 So, "the last" is always there lasting forever...

 How can we put it to sleep?

Favorite days of the week

 Monday and Friday who needs more?

Weekends are for house work since the week rushes by with other types of work.

 Monday is the perfect blank canvas where anything can be painted.

Plans are squared out, people are contacted, deadlines are traced and it's

 the day with the most expectations, looking ahead and making everything happen in 5 days!

 So Monday is full of enthusiasm! 

 And the days just follow what Monday started.

 Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday are here to make life a reality.

 Sometimes the days go so fast that there's hardly any time for lunch. 

But a busy woman when has time for lunch, what does she do?

 She runs to the mall to find that cute piece of accessory,

 because God knows she will not have time later on.

 And finally the most deserved day of the week: Friday!

 When there's a total stop and just enough energy to celebrate the week past.

 To relax and enjoy the moment whatever it is.

 To meet friends, to eat out, to have a drink or just stretch out on the sofa...

 Reading or watching TV.

Hurray for Friday!

The speed of life

Is it possible to think like a machine? Do they think at all?

 Or are our brains imbued with mechanical behaviors?

The week went fast, like pushing a forward button on a cassette player

(inside my head that's what felt like).

 Bloing.... Vroommm...

The birthday party, work and other little things squeezed here and there, like a cookie maker

squeezing dough through a tiny whole and cookies coming out in beautiful shapes.

One day I woke up to this amazing  Schubert ice-cream sky and like life in general,

 before you blink, the moment is gone. 

You click on you camera or on your memory to save the moment 

and the color already escapes from the sky...

My reading is reduced to bed time only, and I confess I have become 

 extremely interested in "Human Behavior" lately. 

 While my book pile grows on my side table, I watch people with magnifying glasses.

 Will mind and heart come to a consensus? 

I don't know, there's a strange machine inside of me.

 And because time never stops and the people left behind will not return,

 I look at my cell phone and slowly check my address book,

 sliding my finger over names that meant something to me in the past,

 push the EDIT button, and even slower saying goodbye... I press DELETE.

Like a computer, sometimes we need to clean the old data of our daily life

 to be able to add the new or just to make it run faster.

 I am cleaning...

 And nurturing the human part left behind: The heart.

Parent trap

You know when you find yourself at a spot and you look around and don't know how you got there?

 That's a trap!

 Sometimes the lovely kids you have set you on those traps, too.

 My daughter's birthday parties in the past have always been easy to manage.

By easy to manage I mean parties at a place where we pay them to do everything.

 We invite the kids and the party place takes care of decorating, serving,

 and entertaining.

 Well, this year things took a different direction...

 She wanted a sleep-over with 5 of her very best friends from school.

 A sleep-over with a tea party! Yes! I said. Already planing with her how we would decorate the table with cupcakes of all colors and styles, and use my fancy tea-cups and let them bring their dolls.

 Beautiful!

 But later on she thought it would be a good idea if we all went 

to Build-a-Bear, so they could build their own stuffed animal 

and that would be their "gift bag" for attending the party. 

Well, yes, we could... I guess. Just 6 girls, right?

 "And then, after the store, we would come home for pizza and cake!!!" She said.

 WOW! Really?

 "And after the pizza and cake, can we dance in the basement? Just like our past disco parties?"

 Sure! Why not? I said, thinking that would help making them tired and ready for bed.

 And then a day or two later:

" Can we rent a movie and eat pop-corn, too?"

What the heck! I said. What time are you "big kids" planning to go to bed?

 I fall apart after 10PM. I can not talk or think after that hour!

 So.... as long as all of you girls are in bed by 10PM, you can watch a movie.

 OK, deal!

 "Mom, can we have waffle and fruits, plus some hot cocoa for breakfast before they go home?"

 What?? Ok, just invite them to stay until next week... 

 And so the parent trap was set to get me, so tomorrow night you know I will be baking

 cupcakes at night after work. 

 Saturday I will be running a mini hotel and Sunday I will be tired...

And still gotta go to a business meeting.

(Does this story remind you of that book: "If you give a mouse a cookie"?