Mom's Brag Book

My daughter Ashley is getting married next June (have I mentioned that before?)  She and Daniel recently had engagement photos taken by Daniel's best man, Andrew Guerra.  

This is the post where I unashamedly and without reserve, show off pictures of my beautiful daughter and her handsome fiancee.  This, after all, is the reason we have blogs and go through all the fuss and bother of getting on the internet in the first place.  

I think Andrew did an amazing job.  All of the pictures were beautiful and I had a hard time choosing - but these are a few of my favorites.  Enjoy!

If music be the food of love, play on.

William Shakespeare

It is difficult to know at what moment love begins; 

it is less difficult to know it has begun.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

For, you see, each day I love you more,

Today more than yesterday and less than tomorrow.

Rosemonde Gerard

Love is a great beautifier.
Louisa May Alcott

Brief is life but love is long.

Alfred Lord Tennyson

Life is a flower of which love is the honey.
Victor Hugo

 

Your love, O LORD, reaches to the heavens,

       your faithfulness to the skies.

Psalm 36:5 (NIV)

Bonjour!

Today I am dreaming of all things French, as my sweet daughter just arrived back home from a business trip to Paris.   Rough business, huh?  Ashley works for Made Goods, a company that manufactures and sells the most gorgeous mirrors and chandeliers to boutiques and designers.  Part of her job is traveling to home shows and her latest trip was to Paris for the annual Maison & Object Trade Show filled with beautiful treasures from around the world.  I tried to get them to take me along as a mirror putter-upper, but these mirrors are way too heavy for me.  Maybe next year I can go along with my Windex bottle and some paper towels!

(I have to make an apology here, I have no idea how to place the sweet little accents over my e's, as is proper in many French words.  I tried to figure it out and could not, so apologies to the French and those of you who speak French for the absence of proper accents on words.  It was really bugging me, but I'm over it now.)

While most of her time there was spent working, Ashley did have time to see some of the sights and apparently she ate very well while she was there.  One of the highlights of her trip was a visit to the world famous La Duree tea salon.

This is a sampling of the pastry counter inside. It almost makes me weep.

This Parisian tea room was founded in 1862 and it was here that the decadent double-decker macaroon was invented.  I have never been to France, but if, rather when I go, this will be what I spend my money on.  I will arrive back at home weighing twenty pounds more than when I left.  Just thinking about croissants and pastries and every other delicious French delicacy is adding pounds as I'm sitting here typing.

Well, Ashley knows her mama well, and she did not leave La Duree empty-handed.

How cute is she, looking so French with her little green bag?

That little bag contained some treasures.  All I can say is - oo la la!

For starters, there were macaroons for her sister, which Rachel was sweet enough to share.  As Rachel described the rose macaroon, "It tastes just like in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory when they said it was like eating a real flower!" A-maz-ing!  I would show you a picture but we gobbled them up before I could grab my camera.

Now, I know you will be jealous when I describe what Ashley brought back for me.  Because you probably just ate a piece of cold pizza, or a peanut butter sandwich or a cup of yogurt, but sometimes, when you get something real good, you've just got to brag.  I am sorry if I cause you to sin, but here is a sneak peek.  This is just the packaging.

I know, the boxes themselves look good enough to eat!

Before I get to my Laduree goodies, Ashley also visited Fauchon, and bought me a jar of melt-in-your-mouth lavender honey that was delicious on my toast this morning.  Yum!

Now, in the pretty blue box was a jar of Caramel au beurre sale, caramel butter sauce. It is so rich and delicious that I haven't decided what other ingredients are worthy of its presence, so I just keep sticking my finger in the jar and licking it off (don't tell my kids!)

The jar inside the purple box is the piece de resistance.  I was born for these kinds of delicacies.  I should live like this every day.  I could get used to this!

This was not Ashley's first choice.  She had picked up something else, but the all-knowing French saleslady shook her head and said,  "Non!"  She picked up this treat and told Ashley this was the one she must buy.  Like the obedient American she is, Ashley bought it.  That lady knew what she was talking about.

It is called Delice au The Marie-Antoinette.  This incredible delicacy is a spread for toast or bread and is hard to describe, except to say, it tastes just like you would expect Marie-Antoinette to taste - rich, delicious, sweet, citrusy, but a bit tart and exotic.  I have never tasted anything quite like this before. 

It's good to be queen!

She Said "Yes" to the Dress!

We went wedding dress shopping last night. 

My girl is getting married next year and wedding preparations are starting to kick into high gear.  Of course, high on the list of have-tos is finding that perfect dress.  But, between working very long hours and being out of town on business trips, Ashley has had a hard time fitting it into her schedule.  We finally managed it last night.  Grandma joined us and so did her sister Rachel.  It was just "us girls."  The three generations out for a night of shopping.  What could be better than that?

It's quite a personal thing, wedding dress shopping, and finding that perfect dress can raise the anxiety level of even the most cool-headed bride.  Ashley figured this would be a trial run, just to get a lay of the land and see what is out there in wedding dress world.  She really didn't have a concrete idea of what she wanted so she thought she would take a peek and try on a few things before she made any commitments.  She did know what she didn't want - nothing too flouncy or frou frou.  She is tall, like her sister and I, hovering around the six foot mark and doesn't want to add a lot of lace and fluff.  She likes to keep things simple. 

So, here we are, waiting for Ashley to come out of the dressing room in that white gown, in breathless anticipation.

When Ashley was a little girl there was nothing she liked more than looking at herself in the mirror.  She especially liked store mirrors, where she could see herself from all sides.  As soon as we would enter a store, she would beeline for the dressing rooms and twirl around, singing at the top of her lungs. 

When we walked into the bridal store changing room last night,  the mirrors reflected into each other to infinity, plus they had risers, for that inner superstar!  Rachel said, "Ashley, this would have been your dream come true when you were five years old!"

Well, my girl is no longer five years old.  She is a beautiful young lady preparing for her wedding day and when she walked out of that dressing room door in a white dress, it was a little bit hard to take in.  I didn't cry, I wasn't even very emotional.  It was a bit surreal.  I'm not really believing this yet.  It's going to take me a while to really absorb the fact that she is moving into another phase of her life.  I am really more excited for her than I am sad for me. 

It has been easy welcoming Daniel into our hearts.  He is easy to like, with his infectious smile and his teasing, middle-child ways (fist-bump for the middle child.)  He clearly loves our daughter and loves the Lord.  Ashley's face lights up when he walks into the room.  She is head over heels in love.  What more could parents ask for?

So...back to the dress.  After trying on a few, not-so-flattering, four-sizes-too-big dresses (what were those sales ladies thinking?) and one very cute, almost-there dress Ashley opened the dressing room door and came out in "the One"!  As soon as she turned around and looked at herself in the mirror the biggest smile spread across her face.  She could not stop grinning.  This was IT.  There was no reason to keep looking, or to try on another dress.  We were done.

As Ashley put it so succinctly,  "I can picture myself walking down the aisle in this dress and feeling beautiful."  What more do you need than that?

Well, here's a glimpse from last night. 

This was the "dress that almost was."  It's just a teaser and all you're going to get for now.  You'll have to wait until next June to get the real thing.

In the meantime, this mama is happy, because nothing makes me happier than seeing my kids smile!

Farewell to a Friend

I have been struggling with what to say today.  This morning I got a call from my mom to tell me that a dear friend had died.  Cindy had been ill for a very extended time and confined to a hospital bed.  Sometimes she would respond to visitors and at other times there was nothing but a blank stare.  The last time I saw her she smiled warmly when I came in the room and sang along with me.

Throughout her illness her beautiful children have been without the presence of a loving mother in their home.  They have done their very best to care for each other and 'keep the faith'.  We will never know how difficult this has been for them.  Cindy's courageous mom is in poor health herself and I cannot imagine the grief she bears, losing another child.

After talking to Pam on the phone today, I thought I would share with you the things I loved the most about my friend and the times we spent together, before kids, before marriage, before life became very complicated!

- her sense of humor  - she was the queen of practical jokes and spent a small fortune on Charmin to TP people's houses - my father was NOT amused

- her gift of music - she played the piano beautifully and loved music!

- her generosity

- her smile - killer!

- her M&M cookies - yum!  I need to make some today.

- her sense of adventure - we traveled from Canada to Central America together, and we were 'cohorts in crime'

I chose this grainy old picture of us for several reasons (I'm in the pink and Cindy is in black beside me). I love to remember the fun we had having dinner on top of the CN Tower in Toronto. We are seated with our youth pastor Dennis and his beautiful wife Lynda. Oh, how we tormented those two. I know we look sweet and innocent in the picture, but it is by God's grace alone that Dennis and Lynda still love us!

Ultimately, it is God's grace that I am dwelling on most today. I knew Cindy well enough to know that she was talented and beautiful, but also complicated and flawed (just like me!)

It is comforting and precious beyond words to know that today, her suffering is over, her body is released from its terrible bondage and she is resting at the feet of Jesus.

Cindy, you are loved. You will be missed. I will see you soon.


"So we're not giving up. How could we! Even though on the outside it often looks like things are falling apart on us, on the inside, where God is making new life, not a day goes by without his unfolding grace. These hard times are small potatoes compared to the coming good times, the lavish celebration prepared for us. There's far more here than meets the eye. The things we see now are here today, gone tomorrow. But the things we can't see now will last forever."
2 Corinthians 4:16-18 (The Message)