and speaking of cousins ...

my twinnie's hub has a remarkable cousin named robinne lee. she's a gorgeous mommy and actress. you may have seen her in hotel for dogs, hitch, seven pounds, and other movies.

she just began work on a new independent film directed by russ parr.

friend her at facebook to follow her journey.

oh, and yesterday she was photographed by the sartorialist himself, scott schuman. pretty cool.

go robinne!

image courtesy of robinne's facebook page.

pasta night in naples.

lucky for all of us, sis's BF is italian ... and a great chef.

so during our naples trip, we had a homemade pasta night.

it was educational for the kids. and needless to say, delicious.

he made the fresh pasta and a delicious herb ricotta filling ...

... and showed us how to form the perfect tortellini.

then he topped it with off fresh basil pesto, extra virgin olive oil and toasted pine nuts.

and that was just the appetizer.

then he made pappardelle, a wide ribbon-like pasta.

and thin capellini noodles.

molto bravo!

and then there was a putanesca sauce, and something with acorn squash ... i thought i'd died and gone to ... well ... naples.

here's sis, suggesting maybe one more dash of something would make it even better.

overkill, after all, runs in our dna. we can't help ourselves.

notice john's wry smile.

and the secret ingredient?

love, of course.

lots of love.

PS: thanks for indulging my use of the "posterize" feature in photoshop. it's kind of addictive.

we're on a boat, y'all.

one of the highlights of our south fla. trip was riding on sis's bf's boat.

we took an excursion from naples to isles of capri, about a 90 minute ride.

here's captain john. what a sweetie.

along the way we went tubing in the gulf and basically luxuriated in the piercing blue skies, gorgeous waves, cavorting dolphins, and lady gaga tunes (we're on the edge of glory, baby!).

the kids were over the moon about it.

twinnie's hubz rupert was the bravest rafter of the bunch. the boy and i opted to stay portside.

here's capri fish house from the boat's vantage point. they have a buffet on sundays. you run a tab and just basically eat all day long, whenever you're hungry.

i like saying "put that mojito on my tab." it has a nice ring to it.

this is twinnie with her older boy and mine.

grouper fingers. the best in south florida.

maybe the world.

i think i ate about a million and a half of them.

the noted blogstress kelle hampton was there as is her custom (see her weekend recap here), and i couldn't help snapping a shot of her sleeping nella-bean.

here's sis and her older boy.

we sure do have a lot of boys in this family.

kelle hampton sighting: she's right behind them. love her.

and speaking of boys, there was a lot of co-bro love being spread around.

gotta love the cousin-brothers from L.A.

i'm ready to go back. seriously.

more tomorrow, my lovelies.

bits of my weekend, vol. 57, part 2.

i am back in nashville but my time away lingers with me.

my skin is peeling from languid days in the south florida sun, bronzing, floating, boating and shelling.

i'm still savoring the fantastic meals my sisters cooked up with sis's BF john: hearty stewed mulagatawny soup, spicy-hot thai dishes brimming with ginger, garlic and tamarind, and home pressed pasta noodles swimming in olive oil, pesto, herb goat cheese and toasted pine nuts ... insanely delicious. (recipes to come!)

i am still reveling in the first part of the trip in my home state of illinois: it was a bittersweet melange of childhood memories, farm fresh foods and feeling the love of family.

the whole thing started as a dream. to bring together the family, as we always do each summer for granny camp, but add to it an extra five days in naples, fla., so the boy could bond even more with his cousins on the glorious beaches.

it was a series of miracles. from the perfect weather at my parents' home, to the glorious sunset revealed after a rainstorm blew over and clouds cleared away just in time on closing night.

i'll share pictures this week. there are too many to post at once. for now, enjoy these.

oh! and without my brother-in-law rupert, these photos wouldn't have happened. thanks for capturing these precious moments, "g."

the boy flanked by his co-bro's.

this silly grin never left his face all week long.

my formerly terrified-of-water kiddo is now a fearless fishy.

sunset (and sunburnt) at barefoot beach, july 4.

me, cousin sooz, twinnie and sis.

it's the obligatory bikini shot. we'll keep doing it as long as gravity allows.

twinnie's boys, twinnie, me and the boy.

monster sunburn. the little booger fought the sunscreen like it was the plague. you'll be glad to know it's healed up nicely now, so please don't call child services.

more pics to come, my lovelies. i missed corresponding with you daily.

life is good.

Barefoot beach

Heaven, I tell you. Updates soon. Well, not too soon.

we're on our way!

hurray! we're off to illinois! many updates to come!

disclaimer: this image is from our last trip to illinois, and posted before we left nashville. i haven't mastered posting images from 14,000 feet up. yet.

going home.

can't wait to fly home tomorrow to see my family.

there's also going to be an impromptu facebook-driven grade school reunion, as in anyone who ever went there, so that is going to be something.

then next week we're all going to my sister's in south florida for some beach time.

i can hardly believe it's finally here.

this image, by the way, comes from my 1970 yearbook, the year my twin sister and i were in the first grade.

can you tell which one's me?

i will try to post as i go, but i may be having too much fun to do daily updates. i'll do my best!

peace and love,
joan (the one on the right)

Happy Birthday Dad!

you taught me some important lessons in life, dad, like:

always keep a manicured lawn - if you do, it will inspire your neighbors to do the same ...

work hard and then leave the rest in God's hands ...

always drive a clean car to church on sunday ...

a hot bath will cure most any ailment ...

and most importantly ...

nothing runs like a Deere!

happy 75th!

more thankfulness

here are a few shots from the weekend with my parents, aka, granny and grandpa. we had a lovely pre-thanksgiving thanksgiving meal with all the trimmings, hung christmas decorations and played at the park without coats. gotta love tennessee weather.

thankful

friday mom and dad drove down from illinois for a much needed visit.

they whipped up an entire early thanksgiving meal for me and helped get up some of the christmas decorations.

and the new kitchen aid, the new kitchen aid! we've named her "black beauty," and put her to use in making pumpkin pie.

tonight we're going to whip whole cream for the pie and experiment with meringue. for the generous little elves who gave me this amazing gift, I could not be more thankful.

jack henry has been ecstatic to spend time with granny and grandpa, who went with us to red tree coffee, the library, the park and panera bread. we went treasure hunting at goodwill and essentials shopping at target. i haven't had time to download the pics, so i've posted my beloved black beauty for the time being.

there's nothing like the love of family.

thankful, thankful.

There's got to be a morning after

Time for some post-Easter eggsalad.

Happy Easter

Well, it's Easter. Jack Henry doesn't fully understand the significance of it all, but we did color a few eggs yesterday in anticipation of an egg hunt after church. It's going to be a lovely day. When Uncle Mike visited recently he brought a pretty amazing gift that Jack Henry is very excited about. A pitching machine and batting helmet. Now that the weather is finally cooperating (knock on wood), we can't wait to get it out and see what our miniature Derek Jeter can do. Pictures to come. Have a glorious day!

Isn't she lovely?

I just have to brag. My twinnie's husband has some great genes. This is Rupert's cousin, Robinne Lee. She is an actress in Los Angeles and mom of two fabulous tots. She recently starred in Seven Pounds and Hotel for Dogs. Her husband, Eric Hayes, is one of the producers of the crime thriller State of Play, starring Russell Crowe and Ben Affleck, which opens in theaters soon. Check it out!

Wild Life

Sis sent me this adorable t-shirt from her recent trip to Costa Rica. LOVE IT! Of course it has our trademark monkey on it.

Another twintuition moment

It's been a long, long week. But at last sissy is back from the land of poison dart frogs, toucans and bamboo, a.k.a. Costa Rica. As expected, she had a life-changing experience.

I did not know her flight schedule. I only knew she was flying home yesterday at some point. So at 6:55 p.m. last night I randomly decided to ring her cell phone to see if she had landed in Houston to change flights before heading to Los Angeles. Seven minutes later she called me (not knowing I had called her) to let me know she had landed in Houston.

Crazy twin stuff.

Are you sure we are identical?

While I was at home cremating a roast and dissecting a failed giant cupcake, my West Coast doppelganger was quietly cooking up this.

Only Jean can turn the task of making soup into a magical journey to Narnia. Read about it here.

We're having a twin moment

Look what Jean posted on her blog today! I swear we did not coordinate this! (see below)

And while we're at it, what an adorable family they make! Jean, Rupert, Jackson and Isaiah, we miss you! Come visit us in Tennessee!

Addendum: I found it odd that Jean's angel has brown hair and a pink dress, while my older sister Charlotte's (not pictured) looks exactly like mine: Red yarn hair with brown face and green dress. Seems Jean and Char need to make a swap. Mystery solved!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Turkeys and me go way back. This is my grandfather at his turkey farm in Illinois where my dad grew up. When my parents got married they built a home just a few miles away, so I grew up playing and working on the turkey farm. Each spring, when the 3,000 chicks arrived from the hatchery in Iowa (usually at about 3 a.m.), my cousins and I would all be summoned to the farm to help lift the fuzzy birds out of their boxes, dip their beaks in a water trough and set them loose in the sawdust-covered pen. When they were a few weeks old, we'd reconvene at the farm to do a now obsolete process of "de-beaking," which meant trimming the turkeys' top beak with a tiny red-hot guillotine so they wouldn't peck each other. During the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving, people drove from all over town and from far-flung locations to get their fresh, home-grown, corn-fed Thanksgiving turkey. My cousins would help the adults at the cash register and answering phones in the "sales room," a renovated garage next to my grandparents' country farm house. The smell of percolated coffee and doughnuts filled the air. My cousin runs the farm now, and even though the birds are raised at his farm, they still sell them at the sales room, just like the old days. Here's an article about the farm in the Pekin Daily Times.