London Round-Up

I made it back to 'the other side of the pond' in one piece. After a few days, I'm back in the swing of things and am thrilled that we have more hours of light at the end of the day to spend with the family.

Professionally, the trip provided a lot of focus. It reminded me of how thankful I am to be building a career that can provide for my family. Or at least -- I reminded myself of that whenever I felt lonely at the prospect of going home to an empty hotel room every night. Luckily, I'm also thankful for friends - even in the UK - who showed me a good time while I was over. Who knows what more will come out of this trip and the perspective it has given me.

What a treat to come home to Zane's surprise: NEW KITCHEN FLOOR, new curtains, a clean house! Wow - I'm a lucky woman. Anna looked FEET taller and SO mature. My heart melted at her requests to not leave again and I was so excited to hand off the matching bag and shoes I got her from Zara (my favorite Spanish clothing store), her requested stuffed bear (Paddington) and books: Paddington Bear and Winnie the Pooh - each with the original drawings and a Scottish skirt!

The weekend I came home, I was surprised at the airport with flowers and hugs & kisses as if I had been gone for years. We joined my family for dinner in the evening and the following day we enjoyed the sun outside as we did some spring cleaning in the yard. We're getting pumped about gardening! Who would have thought?

Anna made friends with a few kids in the neighborhood and we watched them play across the street - it was very exciting for me. I have always wanted this for her. And of course, I have to throw in there that I LOVE the socio-economic and racial diversity in our neighborhood - I'm so glad Anna can have this.

Finally, I was so happy that Zane and Anna had this time together. Two weeks with each other visiting with family and friends, and the pictures sent to me clearly showed that they had a great time. They have clearly come to adore each other in a way that just melts my heart - a constant reminder to never take what we have for granted. Anna is so proud to have him and I can see that she confidently feels loved. Moreover, I have never seen a more doting and loving father who always, ALWAYS, seems to put his 'girls' first.

One of my favorite pics sent over while I was in London :)

Another favorite

And yet another one - this girl is a dancer!

Apple of my eye!

Here's the photo round-up (it's incomplete for now but I'm posting what I have - stay tuned!):

Took a picture of the theater where I watched 39 Steps. This was on my walk home on Thursday evening - My last night, on Friday consisted of various bars with my buddy, Andrew where I SHOULD have taken pictures of the drunken chap who was giving his chair a lap dance, or else the other guy who was sleeping at his table...Use your imagination!

Quick pic before heading out to Heathrow. Z & A hated that I didn't take too many pictures!

At the airport shellin' out the pasalubongs (gifts). Here, I'm explaining the background on the Pooh stories :)

Dinner with family and friends the night I returned. Anna sports her new bag and Scottish skirt!

Yard work! Hi Sasa! I missed you too, buddy!

Chicago Baby!

While MJW was in London, AFJW and I took a trip with Mr. and Mrs. J (Lolo and Lola) to Chicago. It was a good opportunity for me to do a little parent-in-law bonding!

We left early, on a Saturday morning from East Lansing. The car ride down was great! Our first course of action and what ended up being the theme of the trip was putting food in our bellys! hahahaha! We stopped in China Town at a lovely Chinese restaraunt serving Dim Sum. I found out that, food is a great way to bond with MJW's father. Let me put like this: HE LOVES FOOD.

At the table we enjoyed all sorts of great Dim Sum dishes... I even crushed some "Adidas," which are chicken talons! YUM! hahahha. AFJW filled up on some yummy dumplings and Chineese brocolli. Oh! and some egg drop soup.

Once we filled up on Dim Sum we headed over to the Chineese Market Square for some Pashal.

Parking, quick and easy. YES!

Our hotel was NICE! The Millennium Nickerbocker Hotel! The valet parking there was ridiculously over priced, so I dropped off the fam and headed to Tessa and JJ's layer of tech. Parking there was 1/5 the cost. I picked up Tessa (JJ had to study) and we headed by to the Knickerbocker via The Red Line.

Once there, we decided that, yep it was time to eat again! We sat and chatted, Lolo and Lola were able to get to know Tessa for the first time. It was great, because they all hit it off and conversation was fun for all!

Tessa recommended that we go to Giordanos for pizza. Didn't take too much to convince Lolo! He was like: "World famous pizza? Let's go then!"

Yum!!!!

The pizza was great and filling. Lolo admitted that he thought two "medium" pizzas would have not been enough. After his first bite into the deep dish spinach and cheese pizza, he revised that thought.

Once our bellies were full, we headed to the Water Tower Mall. Enjoyed a little pashal and then headed back to the hotel room for some chit-chat.

Elevator System

TRW and AFJW heading down the escaltor

TRW and Lolo... All Smiles

Tita Aman, AFJW and Lola (Lolo catching back up)

Quick glance at the London clock... She MUST be sleeping ;)

The next day we all piled in a cab and headed to the Linkin Park Conservatory!


It was a very rainy morning and afternoon, and I believe it would be fair to say that the conservatory had a few leaks in the celining. But the plants LOVE the fresh rain water, so I can't complain, it's their home.

The girls and I were excited to see all of the plant life from around the globe. Lolo wasn't as excited though. Plants are pretty close to inanimate objects, and offer little joy to him. At one point (near the end of our visit) we lost track of him and Anna was worried that Lolo was "lost in the jugle" LOL.

AFJWs hot pose!

I copy her hot pose! LOL

Potty break. JK!!

Daddy-Daughter Shot

Our trip home was quick and safe. This would mark one of my favorite times spent in Chicago. It would have been even better if our BEAUTIFUL Mom was there. But no worries, there will be many more trips to the Windy City that we will all enjoy together.

Just missed some bad weather.

The...

KITCHEN FLOOR!!!

I spent two nights working on this MEGA project! And boyyyyyy was MJW surprised!

The kitchen floor now matches the dining room floor, which is a dark wood laminate. A great IKEA find ;)

The kitchen was the last real "out of date" portion of the house that we really needed to upgrade. The hideous kitchen floor (yellow, spotted and stained linoleum floor) was an eye soar to say the least.

My plan was to recruit my co-worker Chris to help with this task. I knew I would only have a couple nights during the two weeks MJW was gone to start and finish this project. Chris, actually read my mind some how and offered his help a couple days before I was going to ask him! You see, I went over to his house last summer to help him paint the entire house, so he "owed" me one ;)

He instant messaged me:

"Zaner, I heard you had started painting rooms in your house without me!"

Me: "Yes I have, but I DO need your assistance with a kitchen floor install. *gasp"

He was nice enough to offer a couple hours of his time, and he recruited one other person, Russel, to help out. Chris also had a miter and scroll saw that I desperately needed to do a prorfessional installation.

They came over on a Friday night, and stayed for 3 hours! We accomplished the initial demolistion and first couple rows of new wood laminate installation. It was discovered that underneath the old linoleum floor was another sub-floor with an even uglier linoleum. Weird... I wonder if someday someone will cover up my floor, thinking that this wood laminate is the nastiest thing they have ever seen! Time will tell, but I can say for sure that both layers of linoleum were sickening. hahahhaha.

The adjoining area between the kitchen and living room

Using the scroll saw to cut a non-linear cut

Anna washing up some Spinish! Proteins and Vitamins





Sasa on the old kitchen floor, getting g-o-o-f-y

I was able to continue and finish the floor installation the following Wednesday, after our trip to Chicago (blog post coming on that). I stayed up that epic night until 2AM laying down the last pieces of the floor. When I laid down and hammered into place the final piece, I looked over the entire room with the GREATEST sense of relief ever! I knew MJW would be SO HAPPY and suprised. The best part of all.... AFJW kept the surprise a total secret, even under the constant pressure to reveal it by Mom! Kudos to AFJW! <3<3<3