Thursday, March 19, 2009

Friday Fave Five

According to Susanne, this is Friday Fave Five, #29!

I love doing this post every week. It helps me focus on the blessings in my life. All week long I'm watching for positive events, blessings from God, beauty in my surroundings.

1. Sunday was the best, best day! I have no photos to prove it but trust me, it was great. An early morning drive from our house to Long Beach (where Sara lives), a stop at the local coffee place where the regulars still remember us from the years we sat with our kids and had coffee there before church. Then a wonderful church service, catching up with friends, lunch and dinner with our children. TIME spent in the best way.

2. Monday Ellen and I drove to Santa Monica and had tea at Tudor House. I wrote a post (see below) about our great day. We celebrated our birthdays between our special days.


3. My birthday was Tuesday! One of the first grade classes did the birthday dance song. I definitely got in my cardio workout. Emails and phone calls and birthday packages. The cutest email came from Son #2 who emailed me at 12:45AM to wish me a Happy Birthday with the query "Am I the first?" The kids like to see who can be first to wish each other a happy birthday!

4. I got sucked in to a great children's book that The Princess and Chaplain Dan gave me to add to my Newbery Award list. I really enjoyed this book because I love children's books and I love England and I love history. I wouldn't say this is a happy book, but it's an accurate portrayal of what life was like for poor people during the Middle Ages.



Crispin, The Cross of Lead by Avi. Newbery Award winner, 2003

5. Last but not least, it's spring garden planting time in southern California. The Professor and I have prepped our little vegetable plot and I've already put in two kinds of parsley and an heirloom tomato. Because Fridays are my day off, I plan to plant more tomatoes and some lettuce today. A friend gave me some extra bean and pea seeds and I'm thinking about trying out her idea to plant them in buckets.

Thank you, Susanne, for hosting FFF each week! Enjoy others' weekly faves by going to Susanne's blog.

32 comments:

jaeyde said...

ooo i forgot about your newberry award list. your project means that you'll be reading one of my favorite authors! Nail Gaiman won the Newberry this year for "The Graveyard Book." You can hear him read the entirety of it for free (legally too!) online at http://www.mousecircus.com/videotour.aspx?VideoID=1 He's a master storyteller :)

Ally Jay said...

Happy birthday for Tuesday, sounds like you have a full life.

Jane said...

What a lovely week. Jane x

Jientje said...

Happy (belated) birthday!
What a great week you had, but then again, don't you always have great weeks? So do I!

Anonymous said...

Sounds like a wonderful week. That chocolate looks very tempting!

I too love this meme. It gets my mind going in the right direction.

Dorothy said...

Sounds like a wonderful birthday week, Willow! I am glad for you!

Anonymous said...

Loving your fives this week, Willow! What beans will you plant? I was afraid I missed the growing season for them, but maybe not.... :-) Happy end of a wonderful week!

Anonymous said...

Sunday sounds like a perfectly wonderful day. A belated happy birthday to you!

That book looks interesting!

Susanne said...

Happy Belated Birthday! Tea at a Tudor House sounds fun! Especially with Ellen thrown in the mix!

We are about 2 months away from planting here. Enjoy yours!

Claudia Bugh said...

I like to read books that have won this award - young adult - or otherwise. Generally they tell a terrific story. Have you read Ender's Game by Orscon Scott Card. That's a good one.

Angie said...

Happy Belated Birthday! :) Sounds like you had a lovely day. :)

Jerralea said...

What a great list, Willow! I think you have a wonderful life. Happy Birthday and I hope you sampled all those goodies. Your birthday only comes once a year!

Islandsparrow said...

What a great birthday week for you!

Enjoy planting your garden - ours won't go in for another month or so. But we have our seeds!

Karyn said...

What a happy week!

Gardening around here is still in the planning stages...I will be starting some plants inside this next week.

Brenda said...

Happy BD! What a nice week. That food looks great!

The Correspondent said...

Happy Birthday Week, Willow! Tea at Tudor House is a most excellent way to celebrate a birthday.

I'll have to check out Crispin. Thanks for the recommendation.

Knitting Linguist said...

I love reading your favorite fives! It's a great way to sum up the week :)

Unknown said...

Well ... a happy belated birthday to you! Sounds like you had a great birthday week, which is the best way to celebrate.

Now ... have a good weekend to boot!!

Anonymous said...

OOOO Happy Belated Birthday to you. I hope it was a great one. What a great week it sounds like you had.

ellen b. said...

It was a good week for sure. Hope all your appointments went well and I'll see you on Tuesday, Lord willing...

Anonymous said...

Love your idea for the yarn.

Your fav 5 made me smile. I hope you had a wonderful birthday with those special cakes.

Pat @ Mille Fiori Favoriti said...

A nice reflection on your week Willow. I see that you meet fellow bloggers too! It's fun.

I never tried planting peas ina bucket -- good idea! There is nothing like fresh sweet peas.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Mary said...

Willow,

It sounds like you had a great week. I'm glad you had a nice birthday and sorry I missed it.

I have some swan photos posted that you might enjoy if you have time to stop by.

Have a great weekend. The weather here is to be a bit warmer and I'm looking forward to it, though this week wasn't bad.

Happy Spring, my friend.
Blessings,
Mary

Caroline said...

Happy Belated Birthday! Your list sounds wonderful, as usual. I was in Santa Monica/Malibu on Friday with twenty kids on a fieldtrip to the Getty Villa. It's such a pretty area, especially on a weekday without all of the toursits.

Hootin Anni said...

I saw your adorable profile avatar on Mary's Writing Nook and thought I'd stop by and tell you so. LOL The bunny is too precious.

And yes...your post below this, I do...I do remember the Kool-Aid yarns.

Happy weekend wishes to you.

Anonymous said...

happy Tuesday birthday !

Bethany said...

Happy Birthday!!!!!I'm so glad that I read this post today! Hopefully now I'm back! yeah!! I'm glad you had a good week and I hope your weekend is even better! I've really missed you and thank you for all of your support lately!

Elizabeth said...

Sounds like a good week.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!
So what will you make with your yarn?

Mama Mia said...

Hooray, great week! Love you, Mums. :o)

Kari said...

Happy Belated Birthday!
Sounds like you had a great week.

Bumpkin Hill said...

that sounds like a great day. Loved your koolaid yarn too. Catherine

Kari said...

Hi Willow,
I just realised that my email never got to you last week. You asked me about my Dad and I wanted to let you know. So I typed out this whole email and I just realised it never made it. Anyway so below I have copy/pasted that email to you. Sorry.

Hi Willow,
You are so right about the deals. Yes having my mum come over was the best. I'm glad she's here to help me take care of Dad and I know my Dad is grateful. There is only so much he can tell me as his daughter. So I know he's thankful.
So you lived in Papua/Indonesia side? How long where you there for? And where you there for work? Sorry about the questions but I'm always excited to hear from people who have lived over on that side of my world. And so I want to hear your story. By the way I was born in Indonesia and lived there for about 3 years. I don't know how to speak Bahasa Indonesia but my parents do. I would really like to go back there someday.

Thanks for asking about my Dad. He has stage one lung cancer and is going through chemotherapy. I'm thankful that we caught it early and that the dostors are confident that the chemo should help - of course it all depends on how his body responds to it. He has a session scheduled for tomorrow.
Thank you again for asking.

Well hope you are having a great weekend and be blessed this coming week.