love is real. there's a whole city to prove it.

paris is the city of love, mais oui?

i'm so happy my sis and her lovely bf celebrated her birthday in paris.

she sent me a few pictures, and it looks like it was an amazing trip. i can't wait to hear all about it.

here's a peek at their love-ly adventure.

wednesday wuvlies: twinnie's office

i think what a person has in their office says a lot about them.

twinnie's office has always been a mystery to me, since i'm almost never with her when she's working.

partly that's due to her living approximately 1,734 miles away.

so, the last time i was in in l.a., i hung around her office and took pictures.

here's a glimpse into twinnie's world, a place where dreams, hard work and passion collide (and bloom) on a daily basis.

what's in your office? what does it say about you?

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.

bits of my weekend, vol. 56: groveland grade school reunion edition.

i'm here in central illinois to see my folks and it worked out to go to a reunion of folks who went to our now defunct grade school. what memories.

i'm on the left, my twinnie's on the right and in the middle is our classmate sheryl who cooked the whole thing up on facebook.

what did we ever do before facebook?

this is our schoolmate christi hogue.

i remember going to her house for an awesome birthday party.

here's a bunch of us, including in the center, the fabulous cindy anderson.

here's me and my sibs on the steps inside the old grade school.

that was a long time ago.

a really, really, long time ago.

more bits to come. it's taking forever to upload the millions of photos we've taken so far.

los angeles, day 3

day three.

the big highlight was a visit to akbar cuisine of india in pasadena.

my camera did not cooperate so the photos were quite dark and i had to lighten them in photo shop.

here's my beautiful sister.

did i mention she is fabulous?

the food was amazing. the spices - cardamom, mace, ginger, mint, curry, tamarind - blew us all away.

a culinary feast not to be forgotten.

we ordered a variety of dishes and shared.

here are the balchoa scallops. delish.

here's the chicken kati roll.

and the samosas - stuffed with spicy curry potatoes and peas. my fave.

i didn't get pictures, but our entrees (along with a delicious chunky raita and garlic naan) included chicken tikka, coco lamb and vegetarian akbari with paneer (this was for me since i don't eat meat).

heaven!

afterward, we went across the street to pop, an ulta exclusive champagne and dessert bar.

my twinnie knows the owners, so we got amazing service.

this may look like a lot of champagne, but actually we just sipped and sampled. lushes we are not.

that's me on the far left, in case you can't tell me from my twinnie.

the real highlight was the peanut butter chocolate creme brulee. yeah, you heard that right.

it was ridiculous.

we all laughed a lot, and enjoyed just being together.

sisters!

don't forget to read about day one and day two.