Liberty

“Liberty is the possibility of doubting, the possibility of making a mistake, the possibility of searching and experimenting, the possibility of saying No to any authority--literary, artistic, philosophic, religious, social and even political.” - Ignazio Silone
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Here's something fun to try: In iTunes (or wherever) create a playlist search of "America". These are the first few songs that came up on my search:

"Voice of America" by Asia
"Peaches" by The Presidents of the United States of America
"American Idiot" by Green Day
"Give Me Novocaine" by Green Day from their American Idiot album
"Feelings" by Offspring from their Americana album
"She's Got Issues" by Offspring from their Americana album
"Kids in America" by Kim Wilde
"America" by Yes
"Young Americans" by David Bowie
"America" by Simon and Garfunkel
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Happy New Year

Wishing you and yours a wonderful and peaceful 2008!

Photo of SF fireworks taken a few years ago on New Years Eve.
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Flowers for the Fourth

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Memorial Day

I hope everyone has been enjoying the long holiday weekend, the unofficial start of SUMMER! Hurray for summer! Our summer promises to be a busy one. Plans already include a graduation in San Diego, a wedding in Alaska, a week with nieces and nephews at the hideaway, a possible trip to Banff National Park in Canada, which would include a side trip to Calgary for some hockey equipment for the husband. It's in Calgary where we first discovered Boston Pizza, one of our favorite pizza joints in North America. I'll definitely splurge on Boston Pizza if we happen to go to Alberta this summer. Oh, and Tim Hortons, too. hmmm...this post has taken a turn towards food...I'm obviously hungry. Ok, moving on.

I know for most of us, the long weekend is a celebration with family and friends including BBQ's, beer and lots of outdoor activities. And it should be! But I'd also like to take a moment and give a little nod to our family and friends who have served in the military. My dad served for just a few months during WWII. But he was a proud Filipino American and enlisted when our country needed him. Peace out.

Happy Mother's Day

Presidents Day

Happy Thanksgiving

We're off to Southern California in the morning for our Thanksgiving festivities with family.

Wishing you all a wonderful turkey day.

Candle surrounded by empty plates from last year's turkey fest in Laguna Beach.

Labor Day Weekend

I love it when holiday weekends are busy but not exhausting.

We started the weekend with a birthday party.
ABowen blew out all 5 candles on her scrumptious ice cream cake. We were happy to note that the temperatures were a lot milder than her 3rd birthday. It seemed to be the topic of converstation. "Remember how HOT it was a couple of years ago?" It was great catching up with A&W Bowen's grandparents and aunt. We see them about once a year, almost always at one of the kids parties. Since Jimmy went to college with EBowen and was in our wedding, we've known the family for quite a few years and it's always a pleasure to see them again and catch up and chat.
WBowen's party wasn't actually till Sunday, but we couldn't go so in effect, we celebrated his birthday on Saturday, too.

After leaving the Bowens, we went to meet the newest little person in our circle of friends. Dad is also another one of Jimmy's friends from college.

Much later that night, around 9:15pm, Jimmy asked if I wanted to go to the Headlands. Of course, I'm not gonna turn down a spur of the moment trip into the city! We took a bunch of photos and froze our butts off (I wish!). However, James, not feeling cold enough, suggested we go to Ghirardelli Square for ice cream at 11:46pm! I will never turn down ice cream...it's my biggest weakness so if someone suggests it, I have no willpower to say no, despite the butt that didn't freeze off moments before. Surprisingly, there were at least 50 other people there squeezing in a late snack before the shoppe closed at midnight. After our snack, we tried to go to the Palace of Fine Arts for more nightime photography, but there's construction going on all around and everything was blocked off. So we headed home Saturday night/Sunday morning after a fun and busy day.

Sunday we headed to the parentals for a relaxing afternoon and dinner with them and today, Monday, we stayed close to home. I went to Michaels to spend my 50% off coupon, but that was it. The weekend also included watching "Monster" and "The Godfather II", watching over a kitty who isn't feeling well, several Su Doku puzzles and a WOG (walk/jog, about 3 miles).