Project 365 - Christmas Morning

Christmas Morning

It comes and goes so quickly.  There is so much preparation and anticipation.  And even for the Leshinskys . . . a very Jewish family . . . we find a way to celebrate a little bit of everything.  Beginning with my birthday in October, it is seems like it is non-stop celebration . . . a day off for Veterans Day, then Thanksgiving, then work holiday parties, friends holiday parties and then the girls are off from school and life gets crazy at home.

Then comes the quiet of Christmas morning.  With not much sleep, we sit and open presents and I snap away as my children mug for the camera.  When all is said and done, I am exhausted and fall into a deep sleep.  In fact this year, I slept for a good four and half hours on the couch in the living room with my music . . . mostly Beatles . . . playing from  my phone!

It was a really great sleep and after dinner, I ended up going back to sleep.  Guess I needed it!  But at least I had a fun morning.

More photos are on my Flickr account.  Just click here.

Project 365 - It Just Doesn't End

It Just Doesn't End

So the saga continues. After spending our entire summer with our house turned upside down with the leaks in each of our three bathrooms, ripping out everything from each bathroom and re-doing them, a leak in the air conditioning unit which ruined the Pergo floor which was completely replace in the living room and dining room. . . . we had a little more work done!

We had been able to save some of the Pergo wood from the living room from the center of the floor.  We stored that in the garage for a while.  A few days before Christmas we had Pat come back and rip out the carpet in the den (it was well over 10 years old and it was really, really gross).  Then he installed the Pergo wood.

Of course in the days leading up to when Pat showed up, the girls and Joel had to take EVERYTHING out of the den, except the furniture.   We found stuff in that room that we didn't know that we had!  Every single vinyl album from my youth is in that room (and I had a lot of music).  Not to mention the cassette tapes that Joel acquired when he worked at Record Bar in Terre Haute, Ind.  Then we found VHS tapes and other tapes of the girls when they were little (that will be my New Years vacation project to watch it all and label it all.

These photos are of the awful mess in my hallway and of Pat working to put the Pergo down in the den.  The final product is really beautiful.  I am sitting in the den now as the girls are up in their rooms watching movies and Joel is sound asleep in bed.  I find it very cozy in here now.

Project 365 - Just Your Every Day Sunday

Just Your Every Day Sunday

Today we spent as a family.  Starting the day with coffee and the newspaper, then shopping at Costco, Publix and BJs, picking up Adina at her girlfriend's and then eating dinner together in the dining room.  It was all very nice and I actually had some time to put our holiday cards together and edit my photos from this weekend.

Oh, I should explain the traffic photos . . . if you look up on the highway (I-595) you will see the bikers that do the "Toy Run" each year.  They close the highway for several hours and thousands of bikers ride from the beach all the way west to Markham Park and donate toys for needy children for the holidays.  We weren't stuck in the traffic, we only had a red light, but it looks like we were!

I am ready to fall asleep, so I am not going to say very much.  But my photos should tell you about our day.

Project 365 - Art Basel

Art Basel

Art Basel takes place one weekend a year in Miami Beach.  It is the premiere art event for artists, art dealers and art buyers.  As for me, I am the art enthusiast and I was so excited when my neighbor, Robert, invited me to join him and his friend, Beverly, to go down to Miami Beach to not only see the Julian Lennon photography exhibit at the Adrenne Arsht Performing Arts Center, but to also wander around the various places where artists were showing their artwork.

If anyone knows me at all, they know that not only am I a Beatle freak, but also love photography exhibits, especially black and white photography.  So to have all of that rolled into one exhibit was just the best!

After we went to the Arsht Center, we traveled over to Collins Avenue, found a parking spot IMMEDIATELY which is really rare and walked over to La Sandwicherie for a quick bite.  It was the same place where I ate with my Level III photography buddies two weeks ago, but that is another story.

Then we walked up Collins and went to the Carlton Hotel where each room on the first floor was transformed into an artist gallery for Art Basel.  There were some amazing artists, and there were some that were just okay.  But all of them were so interesting and willing to talk to us.  We must have spent more than an hour wandering around each gallery and talking and sipping wine.

Then it was on to another gallery in another hotel and then we went into the Delano Hotel which is now owned by Madonna and has been unbelievably revamped and redesigned.  There was a very young, hip crowd there and it was a hopping evening.

On the way back to the car we stopped at Espanola Way where we sat outside and had coffee and chai lattes and chatted about our evening, politics and the upcoming holidays before we headed back to Broward!

For more photos, visit my Flickr website.