ALL ABOUT MY NANNY!

The BEST part about GGW every year, is spending time with my Nanny. We all spoil her, and pamper her, and she loves every minute. This year my cousin Allison put together a scrap book for her. A few months ago, Alli asked us to write down some of our favorite memories about Nanny. She put it all together with pictures in a book. Then one night, we all gathered around with tissue, and listened as one by one we read aloud what we each had written. This is what I wrote:

My dear, sweet, precious, Nanny! Having you as my Nanny, is the one of my greatest treasures in life. Every time I look at you my heart melts, and I begin to smile. You have always been there for me, with your sweet concern, and unending support. I remember when I first met Charles, and finally brought some color into this family! LOL! You trusted me and my decision making. You weren't judgmental, just concerned. I was thankful to have your blessing, it meant the world to me. When Charles and I got engaged, I just knew that I wanted you to play a special part in my wedding. I was so lucky to have you stand up and honor the both of us, by reading the special poem. Whenever I watch my wedding video, I always tear up when I see you. You looked beautiful! You got a bit choked up when you were reading it, and it gets me everytime!
One of the other many blessing in my life, are the examples of marriage that surround me. You and Papa, as well as my own parents are true examples. I have been married long enough now to know the "realness" of life, and the fact that marriage isn't easy. I know that you have been thru both good times and bad, yet you have held on. I appreciate it, I respect it, and I thank you for it.
I don't think any of the grandkids will ever forget the good times at the Ventura Apartments. That was the coolest place to visit ever. I loved playing "office" in your office! I loved the pool, and the Pac-Man game. Going to the ice-cream place and playing more video-games, was always a great time. I don't think either of us will ever forget the story about the egg-plant. I always get a great chuckle when I think about that, and what a loser I was. LOL!
Another blessing that I don't take for granted.....is the fact that you are such a cute dresser. I mean some Gramdmas are decked out in polyester, and orthodics.....but not my Nanny! You just out dress me for every occasion, and that is really okay with me. I love watching your cute little bootie in your jeans. Then when you add the adorable shoes, and accesorize so adorably, it's just over the top!
Your spaghetti is another blessing in my life. I don't get to eat it very often, but when I do.....ooooh baby!
Thank you for always remembering my birthday, my kids b-days, my hubby's b-day! It means a lot to me. I love looking at your signature. I remember as a kid always trying to copy your signature. You make the coolest, cursive,capital E. I think I finally got it down.
Some of the best memories have been over the last 5 years at the Girls Get Aways! It was so funny when you tried on my over the shoulder boulder holder! It almost fit. I loved your emotion and excitement when you found out we were going to the Braves game. Most of all, I look forward to this years weekend and many, many, more to come.
I love you Nanny with all my heart! Thank you for always loving me. The greatest gift and blessing you have ever given me, is my mom. I love you both very much!

I don't have any pictures of myself when I was reading mine, but I was crying pretty hard. Nanny was crying, the whole bunch of us were! It was a memory I will never forget. Thanks Allison for thinking of that wonderful idea.


My Aunt Patty had this picture of my Nanny blown up, and it was on top of the mantle all weekend. Nanny thought it was the best thing ever. She loved it. As soon as she saw it, she teared up.>

This was Nanny's first glimpse at the book.
This is Nanny starting to cry as my mom is reading what she wrote.
This is my beautiful mother, crying, as she is reading what she wrote!
When we first arrived, our 3 hostesses; Patty, Emily, & Allison handed out our GGW Nantucket bags. They are pictured below. They are so awesome. They are LandsEnd bags monogrammed with the GGW. Each bag was filled with some goodies. Nanny is the best model ever!


LOBSTER DINNER!

Can you tell my face that this lobster is really freaking me out? Well, it was and I did not try it. My Aunt actually had a whole lobster for each and every person. The table was all dolled up for the occasion. Everyone but me, thought it was the greatest meal ever.
Nanny couldn't wait to dig in!
Allison bbq some chicken breast for me, and I was as happy as can be!

Well, that's it for today. I will maybe post the rest tomorrow!

GGW 2008- WAS "BEACHY KEEN!"

I just returned late last night from GGW. We had an amazing time. Best yet!! The food was amazing! The house was gorgeous! The conversation was hilarious, emotional, and memorable. I can't believe the time has already came and went. The first day is always fun. Everyone is traveling, and coming in at different times. But we get all caught up, give lots of hugs, and we just can't seem to keep the grin off our faces. I got there first, after a long red-eye flight, followed by an hour ride in a little 10 passenger plane. I actually got to ride co-pilot. I was a bit nervous at first. The view out of the front window was beautiful. But flying over the Atlantic Ocean was a bit scary. Once we arrived at the adorable house, I visisted with Emily and Auntie Patty, and then they let me take a great nap. It was so quiet, and just heavenly. Later that day, everyone else arrived.


Auntie Patty's house is amazing. It isn't huge, but what it lacks for in size, it makes up in charm. And the house turned out to be just the perfect size. Here are a few pics of the house.



The second day was AWESOME! We went out on a sailboat. Sailing, on the Atlantic, OMG! It was fun, a bit scary, and oh so memorable. Thanks Aunt Patty! My sister has the better pics of us out on the sailboat, so I will post what I have. I can't wait to get the ones from her.



Before we went sailing, we had all got dressed in white and denim, to take so pictures. My sister has those pictures on her camera. We were lucky, because she borrowed a remote control for her camera. This allowed us to take group shots. This is one of our favorites! Later that night we had a fabulous dinner. I don't usually eat fish. My Aunt was serving swordfish, and everyone assurred me, I would like it. I decided to try it, and thought it was good. I was such a "big girl"! The cheesecake came later, and thats really why I'm a "big girl!" LOL! The next morning, we played a fun game. Allison broke us up into 2 teams. We then ran around outside for about 20 minutes chasing clues. Kind of like the Amazing Race show or something. When we came back Allison was all dressed up, and had taken Nanny hostage. It was then our job, to "free Nanny", by answering some trivia questions.
My mom and Aunt Patty, and Aunt Candy really should have won. They new more of the answers to the questions. However, they failed to play by the rules. They kept just blurting out answers, rather than raising there Nanny paddle. Therefore we would get to answer the question, and they had just blurted out the answer we didn't know. It was fun! We then decided it was probably going to be the best time to go to the beach. We all put on our Nantucket sweatshirts, packed some snacks, and off we went.



I just realized that I could have the events a bit twisted in my head as to exactly what things we did on which day???? But it doesn't really matter! The next day involved shopping downtown. It was pouring down rain, but that didn't stop us. We put on our raincoats and off we went. Our main mission is to find a gift for our "gift exchange" that we do every year. Nantucket is more expensive than other cities, so we had to raise the dollar amount to $20.00. I purchased a Nantucket hat and tee shirt. It was pretty cute! My Cousin Jo got my gift. I got the cutest little night shirt ever. It actually said Girls Getaway Nantucket on it. Auntie Candy picked it out, and it is perfect. We shopped and had a great lunch out. I had vegetarina chili, and grilled cornbread. Yum-o!
My favorite dinner was the night we ate out. Its this little restaraunt that serves only one thing on the menu. The menu changes nightly. The night that we went we had; lobster fritters, with apples, and caviar (they served me Roasted Red Pepper Soup instead. We called ahead) then a wonderful salad, followed by the most amazing meal ever.....Beef Wellington, with green beans, potatoes, then dessert. I don't know exactly what the flavors were that made everything so yummy. But they were the best green beans EVER!!! The most tender filet inside of the puff pastry. We could cut our filet with our fork. The potatoes were yummy! The dessert out of this world. So after all that food, I started to feel a bit sick. I have been on the Weight Watchers Plan for about 7 weeks. To make a long story short, and not too gross. The minute we got home, I threw up my 90$ meal. I would eat it again, even if I had to throw up again. We all finished our plates cuz they were so yummy. Im thinking because I had only been eating low fat, and fat free that all that just hit my stomach a bit too harsh.


I will post more later, this is taking forever!!

ISSUE OF THE DAY! PRO LIFE VS. PRO CHOICE

I realize that this can be a very sensitive subject. So let's discuss it that way. I know that there seems to be so many "grey areas" when talking about this particular issue. However, in my mind, it's real easy to make simple. God gives the gift of life, and life begins at conception. So it doesn't really matter how the baby was conceived, it has been conceived, and therefore is life. I am sure that if I was raped and became pregnant that would be a very trying, emotional, and most difficult thing to go thru. My only question is, would having an abortion make it better? I just don't believe so. I have heard some neat stories of fabulous people, who are doing great things with their life, who are a product of rape. God has a plan for everyones life. The fact that so many people are using abortion as a form of birth control is just sad. It's just too easy. It makes me sad. I don't think that Obama is all gung ho to kill babies, but he does support Pro Choice. That to be goes against the word of God. What do you think?

ISSUE OF THE DAY! - THE ECONOMY

Let's be real people! We have all lived above our means. It's hard not to wanna keep up with the Jones'. And sometimes, it's not even trying to keep up with the Jones' as much as it is keep our head above the water. But my point is simply this. How in the world is the poor state of our economy, President Bush's fault? Which leads me to the next question....who will help turn us around, McCain or Obama? Tell me what you are thinking. I still need to do some research myself!

Politics, Religion....Let's talk!

One of my very best friends asked me, "why does it seem that so many christians vote Republican?" I told her that my best guess was that it was because of what we consider the "moral issues", such as abortion, gay marriage....etc. She then asked, "do you think they would tend to just vote their party, or do they really look into the candidates?" So I am asking all of you. Who are you voting for and why? It's just about time to vote, and it's time to get real. I am 80% sure that I am voting for McCain. So prove your side, and let's have a grown-up discussion about all of the things you are not suppose to talk about.

Tina Fey is Funny!

Did anyone see Saturday Night Live? I don't watch it very much anymore, but I knew that Michael Phelps was hosting and I was curious. Anyways, Tina Fey came back to SNL to play Sara Palin, and oh my gosh, did she nail it. It was hilarious. I wish I could figure out how to download a video from You Tube. Maybe I will ask someone. Hang on Did I actually do it? Ok, let me see. Good luck!

Girls Get-A-Way 2008 - Nantucket!!!!

For the last 5 years, the "Bakken girls" have been getting together in Septmember, for our annual girls getaways! My sister, Shannon, came up with the concept. The first year was at her house in Vancouver, WA. My mom, and Shannon hosted a fantastic first getaway! The 2nd year we went to my Aunt Patty's house in Alpharetta, Georgia. Talk about fun, and more fun. Year 3 brought everyone to my house in fabulous Las Vegas. I would have to say, that I was also a great hostess with the mostess. Next, we went to sunny Los Gatos, California, where my Aunt Candy pampered us both on and off the beach. Year 5 took us back to the beautiful northwest. Instead of going back to Vancouver, my mom and sister decided we should move it to Seattle. We rented a beautiful home, and enjoyed all that Seattle has to offer. Now we are here.......it's my Aunt Patty's turn again. Instead of going back to Georgia, we are going to go to their summer home, in Nantucket!!! Yes, I know how lucky I am. I am sorry that you can't have tea with me and Kathy Lee. Lol! My cousins, Emily and Allison (Patty's oldest 2 daughters) are hosting, and Patty just has the priviledge of paying! I leave in 2 weeks. I cannot believe how fast the year goes by. Seattle, couldn't possibly have been 1 year ago already. Of course when we get back, I will tell you all about it, with stories and pictures. For now, I just wanted to make you salivate. Just kidding!