A Michigan kind of week

I saw a great quote by H. Jackson Browne, whenever I think about being busy. Here it is with no excuses.

"Don't say you don't have enough time. You have exactly the same number of hours per day that were given to Helen Keller, Pasteur, Michaelangelo, Mother Teresa, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson, and Albert Einstein."

So no excuses on the lack of updates and fun in the Enchanted Mitten. The week flew by and we are at Sunday already. How this time flies is just a mystery to me. Huge and baffling mystery.

I had a couple of incredible days. On Wednesday, I attended the January Series speaker's lunch. This year, I had the privilege of being invited to hear Christine Brennan, a sports journalist with USA Today. She gave a great talk on tough topics - women in sports, children with demanding parents, young women and sports injuries, doping, Olympics - no topic was off limits. It was incredible. We were also treated to another incredible speaker on Friday, Ayaan Hirsi Ali. She was amazing. If you don't know her story, you can read about it here. And you will understand why she travels with body guards, along with incredibly tight security at the college.

Another cool thing occurred at work. I was sitting at my desk, (WORKING) and my colleague, Razel said, Dee quick, look out your window. The most amazing hawk was sitting on a branch right out my window. Now I didn't have my good camera or any good lens for that matter, the day was horrible gray and I have some dirty windows... but I did have my little Lumix and grabbed a couple of pictures of him. In talking to Henry, he suggested that I send a picture to Randy Van Dragt, our Ecosystem director. Randy said, "This is an immature red-winged hawk. Heavy spotting/streaking, the white stripe above the eye and no red tail are signs of an immature." We just thought he was stunning.

Since I am just turning 35, I wanted a special dinner for my birthday. Last night, Paul made me Prime Rib for my birthday dinner. We included our good friend Deb in the celebration, since there is always way too much Prime Rib for just two people. :) We stopped by our favorite store and Amy, Ryan and Andrea put on their thinking caps, pondered and looked and then recommended a fabulous Syrah -2003 Bonaccorsi Santa Ynez Syrah. WOW! It was amazing. And for dessert, we had our favorite Irish Coffee with a recipe from the bar of the same name in San Francisco. It was a terrific night.

I have been busy with consulting projects - mostly volunteer work, helping people who need it. I have been busy with pictures, my camera, light, lenses and learning. I have been busy with his High Handsomeness, as Big Johnny fondly calls him. We are just crazy about him, ya know.

Today, we are hosting Ann Marie for the day. It's a nice chance for her to take a break from school, hang with HB, curl up on the sofa, surf and study. Samson loves her as much as he loves Deb so it's fun to have her over. Don't know what we are doing for dinner - Ann Marie and Paul will probably go forage for food and supplies. I do know that we will watch the NHL All Star Game and probably have a good fire in the fireplace.

So that should catch us up. Happy Sunday to all. Doesn't get much better than this. Tomorrow, we are back at it! Enjoy!