Peace Out!

I'm not sure when my 4-year old nephew started flashing the peace sign in photos - or where he learned it! - but I sure do love this little guy. I spoke to him briefly this morning and I've officially been invited to visit Las Vegas in the "middle of summer" and not a day before!! He was quite emphatic about that! Perfect. Las Vegas in the "middle of summer." What more could a heat-hating auntie want??

Cancer 101

After five appointments with doctors - three surgeons, one oncologist and one internist - I think we've been blessed to receive "good" news in a bad news week.

I've accompanied Mom to her inital visits with surgeons and oncologists and what we're hearing is pretty good, all things considered. The tumor is small - 8mm - and it doesn't appear to have affected her chest wall or lymph nodes, so they're calling this Stage 1, grade 2. Her surgery will be a lumpectomy - not a mastectomy, thank goodness - and her treatment will be 6-12 weeks of radiation, followed by five years of a hormone-blocking pill. The best news: no chemo! Well....fingers crossed no chemo.

She'll go in for surgery in two to three weeks, take a week or so off to recover, and then begin a round of radiation. Then, hopefully, that's it!

If they find that the cancer has spread to her lymph nodes, we're in a different territory - one that includes chemo - so I'm trying to remain optimistic that this won't be an issue and she'll get a clean bill of health by the end of July.

Here's hoping...

I've certainly learned more about cancer in the past 48 hours than I ever really wanted to know. It's such an ugly disease. Mom tested negative for the genetic marker, which is great news, but apparently it doesn't put me or Susan in the clear. Mom and I need to discuss what it means for me, but that's a conversation we'll have later. In the meantime, I now have a mother, maternal aunt and two maternal second cousins who've all had breast cancer. That can't bode well for Susan or I.

Jocelyn's Mother's Day

Jocelyn spent her Mother's Day with these three turkeys. I need to get my behind back out to Vegas before I miss out on Walker's last baby days and before Sawyer grows up even more!! Where's my toddler nephew??

Mother's Day in Seattle

I had to stay in Seattle this weekend for work, which is a real drag because Mom is in Washington, with Susan, so it would have been nice to spend Mother's Day with her, especially with the new health issues on the horizon, but I still managed to have a really nice day.

Rather than sit in my hotel in Bellevue, I decided to take advantage of the beautiful 75 degree day and take the ferry over to Bainbridge Island. It's amazing how beautiful Seattle is, especially when the weather is perfect! The contrast between the water and the snow-covered mountains is so beautiful!

I finally saw Mt. Rainier - six weeks in Seattle and I had my first sighting! It's really hard to see in the picture because it's at a distance and the snowed peak blends in with the sky, but it was out and lovely to see.

Bainbridge Island is beautiful and it's main city, Winslow, is really charming. I spent about an hour browsing through the downtown shopping district and having lunch and then I drove to the north end of the island, across to Suquamish and then back over to the eastern side of the island, where I stopped at Fay Bainbridge State Park.

Everyone was out with their families, eating picnics, flying kites and staring at Mt. Rainier! It was such a great day!

Every road along the island is practically shaded with enormous trees! The whole metropolitan region is a massive forest - it's all water, trees and mountains and it's perfect!

I especially loved the ferry right to Bainbridge and back to Seattle - I'm a sucker for a ferry, regardless of the city! I love the Larkspur ferry between Sausalito and San Francisco; the Staten Island ferry; and now, the ferry to Bainbridge Island!

Homes along the Bainbridge Island coast....I can only dream!Even though I wasn't able to spend the day with my Mom, I was still able to enjoy a really nice day!

Breast Cancer

Today, Mom was diagnosed with breast cancer. It's unbelievable to me that breast cancer and its treatment will now be topics that I will be closely conversant on and knowledgeable about. I've often said that the one thing I didn't want in my family is cancer, and here we are.

We're still not sure what we're dealing with - Mom had her annual mammogram and something odd popped up; she's had a biopsy that confirms tissue is malignent; and she's going in for an MRI tomorrow - but what I am sure of is that the next several months are going to be l-o-u-s-y.

Relaxation Vacation in NC

Amalia and I just enjoyed the MOST AMAZING vacation weekend!!!! What did we do? NOTHING!

Last year, she found this beautiful spa and resort in the Blue Ridge Mountains and we both said, "One day!" Well, "one day" was this weekend and the place is awesome! We flew into Charlotte on Thursday night and drove about an hour to Hickory, where we spent the night and toured the furniture outlets in the morning. If I ever have to furnish a home, that'll be the place to go! We eventually left Hickory around 11am and drove another hour to Blowing Rock, where we checked into the Westglow Spa and Resort. Hello!

This is the main house that's an old Georgian manor home. Inside is a sweeping staircase to six beautifully-furnished bedrooms, and on the main floor, there's a beautiful dining area and sun room, where we ate breakfast and dinner....

And a stunning living room/dining, called the Blue Ridge room, with beautiful oil paintings, furniture and valley views.

Our bedroom....we loved it!

Two cozy beds with twin comforters, a luxurious shower with a rain showerhead and a balcony overlooking the valley with two rocking chairs. Talk about Southern Comfort!

The grounds were also awesome! Loved it all!

Here's the best part....

This is the relaxation room!! Right after we checked into our rooms, we headed up the lane to the "Life Enrichment Center" - a ridiculous name for the gym and spa area - for our afternoon massages. We were given robes and directed into the relaxation room, where we hunkered down under a cozy blanket for four hours!

Does Ama look relaxed and happy, or what?? Aside from our massage, this is where we lounged, read and napped. Luxury!

One of the best parts of Westglow is their in-house restaurant. We ate the most delicious food! For dinner on Friday, I had a salad, antipasta, filet mignon and their signature desset called, Chocolate Earth. Yummy!

On Saturday morning, we woke to a bit of a rainy day, but who cared? By 11am, we were in robes, in the relaxation room and reading trashy magazines. We moved only to eat lunch and get our facials. Otherwise....prone and inert. At one point I made the Herculean effort to move to the window bench overlooking the valley, where I took a one-hour nap. Loved it!

That evening, we again had a delicious dinner: salad, sunchoke soup, sea bass and huckleberry cobbler.

On Sunday, our last full day, we took a walk around the estate, worked out and....were back in robes by 11! We decided to really go for the gusto on our last day, so we both had 2-hour massages. I'm here to say, it was the life!  We ended the day with our final yummy dinner of salad, a king prawn that was as big as my head, fillet mignon and homemade ice cream.

I've never before had such a relaxing and - oh, ok....expensive - weekend, but with the life I lead, it was absolutely terrific to walk away from the computer, blackberry, airports, telephones and TVs and just....be. In a robe. At a spa. Ah, the life!