Temps rising....

Florida is so great. Super hot but fun and relaxing. Brief summary of what's been going on: Saw Uncle Charlie & Aunt Lois, went to a photo exhibit at the Daytona Beach Comm. College and ate at an mid-east restaurant, climbed 175 ft. lighthouse and ate at a very beautiful restaurant in Daytona, hung out at the house setting up their new comp, New Smyrna beach, BBQ, shopping & buffet, throw in laps in the pool, spotting wildlife and sleeping and that about sums it up. I still have a day and a half to go

A Moment of Peace

I get just a few hours of peace before I run off again but this time for VACATION,

Our retreat was good. We were in this creepy Stephen King/The Shining retreat house in the woods. Of course we had a thunder and lightening storm and then the fog rolled in. We were watching for Jason and/or Freddy to appear.

Coasting

Naked Roller Coaster anyone?

Hope everyone in Paris is ok, after hearing about the ceiling collapse at the airport. You guys are always in our thoughts!


Yesterday we went to visit some friends who just had a baby. It was the first Moroccan-Japanese-American baby I ever saw. He's 2 weeks old and I got to hold him...oh it was so sweet!


I leave in a few hours to once again join my co-workers in some forced fun activities. So not looking forward to this...on the other side of it, as soon as its over I can go to Florida and soak up the sun with mom and dad!

Lightbulb effect.....!

Habibi and I at my boss's wedding party last September. It was on the rooftop of an art gallery in the West Village 

This is very new to me so bare with me while I experiment.

Well I actually spent some quality time with blogger last night and caught on to this whole inserting photos in a blog phenomenon. I'm very proud of myself.

Lazy Saturday...but I've already scrubbed the kitchen floor, stove and hand washed a bunch of clothes for my trip. I leave for another retreat tomorrow up in Chappaqua--near Bill & Hill, I'll be sure to say hi for you all!

Gonna head out now and enjoy what's left of the sun......

On Your Mark, Get Set......

I don't know where to start, nor do I think I really want to re-cap. Just looking forward to going to Florida on Wednesday but I need to survive between then and now. We have one more away retreat to overcome before I can go on vacation. Bummer!


I'm quite thrilled because I finally have my very own laptop with everything set up. Ah...privacy and freedom. Who knew it could be this sweet?

The most remarkable thing about my mother is that for thirty years she served the family nothing but leftovers. The original meal has never been found. --Calvin Trillin (1935 - )

Bored Room (insert Yawn)

Well Day 1 of our annual staff retreat/yearly strategy meeting where we hole up in a conference room and talk about our accomplishments, what we're thankful for and our wish list and then we put everything down on a calendar. Not too Koom Ba Ya but after a week in DC with these people I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed and crowded.

I'm just trying to keep my head above water. Forgive me ya'll if you sent me an email and I haven't responded.

"Pour some sugar. Oh, in the name of love. Pour your sugar on me....I'm hot sticky sweet, from head to my feet, Yeah!" --Def Lepard

THE BOYS (AND THIS GIRL) ARE BACK IN TOWN!

I'M BACK!

Well we blew into D.C. hoping to conquer and we did! It's been a real long week and I'm not sure I want to re-hash it. But I'm back and I'm glad about that.

Still haven't seen Issame yet. He got in mid-morning. I am trying to get out of work early today. She waiting impatiently for my co-workers to get out of a meeting.

Our Girls Advisory Board made the society page of the Washington Post

Mid pleasures and palaces though we may roam, Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home. --John Howard Payne (1791 - 1852)

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY! First shout out goes to my Mom, down in sunny Florida! I miss you too much! And soon you'll have your own laptop and you'll be able to read this crazy stuff.

2nd shout goes to Pat in Paris! Yeah Pat!

The rest goes to Haja Malika in Sidi Bernoussi (my MIL), Ann's mom, Heather's and 2 new mom's Jamee and Emily! (BTW, Sadie made it through the surgery A.O.K., she's a tough lil bugger!)

My guy left Friday night and made it safely to Dodge (Chicago), I spent Saturday in Queens getting re-acquainted with the newly renovated and overly suburbanized mall of my childhood.

Today was a bit quiet seeing as me mum ain't here but it as good to chat with her and I'll be seeing her in about 2 weeks!

I leave in the morning for D.C., my hopes is to have a computer to use on a regular basis. Hope this happens....if not, please forgive me!

ROAD TRIPS
My baby leaves tonight for another road trip with the guys to Chicago. This time to help his cousin move his stuff back from Chicago to the NYC. He'll be gone a week. I leave on Monday for DC and am scheduled to come back on Sunday but we may leave earlier depending on the weather. I'm driving down with some co-workers to DC. That should be interesting...it's literally going to be 24/7 with my bosses.

I thought Friends was a dud last night. It seemed rushed and no effort was put in to it. I really wanted Rachel to go to Paris. I was disappointed.

Issame and I finally had our romantic evening together--I didn't think it was going to happen but it was great. We transformed our guest room into a movie theater/tent with all pillows and quilts. We started watching A Mighty Wind but he was like so we popped in The Cooler and it was great! We had an amazing time together. Thank you, Sweetie!

I finally created a site for our photos: Catch the Kratz

It's been a stressful week and the next 2 weeks will be just as stressful so I thought today's' QotD should be something funny & lighthearted. Here goes:

Rock and roll is the hamburger that ate the world. --Peter York

I have two sides of the coin of baby news to share

Sadie needs to go for surgery to help with her breathing. Our brave little fighter is having trouble breathing and so the docs have decided to operate on her tomorrow. Make some prayers and light candles for her.

On the other side, my good friends Carlos and Emily finally gave birth to their daughter Glorianna yesterday . She weighs in at 6.6 lbs. Welcome to the world, GLORIANNA

News to Use
I got this from a mailing list I belong to called the Middle East Report. My sentiments exactly:

Saddam Hussein’s horrific legacy of mass torture was one of the arguments
deployed to justify preemptive war against Iraq. On April 30, 2004, George
W. Bush said, “A year ago I [gave a] speech…saying we had achieved an
important objective, accomplished a mission, which was the removal of Saddam Hussein. As a result, there are no longer torture chambers or mass graves or rape rooms in Iraq.” Even as Bush spoke those words, he and millions of newspaper readers and television viewers across the world were aware that torture chambers, rape and sexual abuse of detainees in Iraq are not a thing of the past. The shocking revelations and photographs from Abu Ghraib also provided stark proof that the practice of torture is not limited to
"uncivilized" societies.

The Abu Ghraib scandal breaks at a time when some commentators argue that
the "war on terrorism" may require the US government to suspend, in certain
cases, its legal and moral prohibitions on torture. Has the specter of
terrorism rendered torture a "lesser evil"?

Lisa Hajjar, professor in the Law and Society Program at the University of
California-Santa Barbara and an editor of Middle East Report, argues to the
contrary. In "Torture and the Future," now accessible in Middle East Report
Online, she shows that "the one core right that all human beings can claim"
is the right not to be tortured.

Read her essay online at

Friends ends tomorrow night.


Happy Cinco de Mayo!

Special Favor:
If we could all pray a little extra today for Baby Sadie,Daddy Duane & Mommy Jamee.

On my way home yesterday I took a nice flop in the street and cut and banged my knee pretty bad. By the time I got the rest of the way home, blood was dripping down my leg. Very attractive!

This time next week I'll be in Washington, D.C. for our annual Girls Rights Week event.

We hate some persons because we do not know them; and we will not know them because we hate them. --Charles Caleb Colton (1780 - 1832)

Quick weekend re-cap:

Friday night Habibi and I went to Mamouens for shwarma and hung out in a cafe across the street sipping coffee and talking about Morocco.

Saturday
I went with the guys to Prospect Park to play soccer. I went rollerblading for a little while and lived. Then went to one of my co-workers daughter's 4th birthday. We headed into Bay Ridge afterwards and ate at La Maison du Cous Cous. I didn't have cous cous, just some salad and shish kebab. Crashed at the apartment after smoking shisha with Issame.

to Fiona!

Sunday
Was a holiday in Morocco so we celebrated with people coming over to eat, drink tea, watch Moroccan TV shows and make a mess of the apartment.

Monday Morning
Some of those messy Moroccans are still in the apartment asleep.


Lately I've been feeling like something has been missing from my life, and then allovasudden I realized what it was: the Sopranos. It stinks not having cable. I feel like I'm so out of the loop on things.

Update
Sadie's doing alright. Seems as if she stopped breathing for a bit over the weekend but she's ok now. Here is a link to the Miller Family's site. some of the photos are a little graphic. It's great to see her progress and also educational to learn so much about premature babies. She's not out of the woods yet, folks, so keep those prayers and positive beams of hope coming.

QotD is for those who have allergies:

I used to wake up at 4 A.M. and start sneezing, sometimes for five hours. I tried to find out what sort of allergy I had but finally came to the conclusion that it must be an allergy to consciousness. --James Thurber (1894 - 1961)