Spring Has Sprung !!

Last Sunday, we celebrated Easter with our grandkids and Doc's parents. I may have gone a little bit overboard with the Easter baskets:

I had to use laundry tubs to hold all the loot. A normal sized Easter basket would never have been large enough. Let's check out each one in detail :

This one went to Joseph.

This one went to Benjamin. He loves pop-up books.

And of course, Calista's basket was almost entirely pink.

We had a golden egg. A gob of quarters was inside. The kids had to guess a number between 0 and 50. The magic number was written on a piece of paper inside the egg. The number was 14, and Joseph won.

The kids were flabbergasted by the amount of gifts, and that there were many books.

Joseph loves puzzles, so we were sure to include some in his basket.

We went over to Win and Mimi's for dinner. We had ribs. Mimi decorated the table in an adorbale springtime theme.

Calista's 5th birthday party was on April 15th. I couldn't go, because I was stll contagious from the flu. She had requested a toy kitchen, so that is what we got for her.

Benjy estimated the cost of the toy kitchen as $500. It really cost $30.

Calista was overjoyed with her kitchen, We opened it for her and she started playing with it right away.

I have continued to make springtime bouquets from the flowers in our yard. Because we had a lot of rain this year, we have gotten a lot of flowers.

This is just the front porch. Our house is a very very very fine house.

Here are a few more pictures of my little posies.

Roses - orange and salmon pink - English lavender, purple stock and baby's breath.

Orange roses, African daisies, gazania, and basket flowers.

And Martha Washington geraniums and baby's breath.

I have two outfits to show you. Yesterday, April 22nd:

I wore an Ann Taylor houndstooth sheath. It has black knit insets for style and comfort.

The black velvet belt is also from Ann Taylor. I wore two necklaces - a LV lock and a black drop pendant from Kenneth Jay Lane.

Today, April 24th, I am wearing a wrap dress from Donna Morgan. It has ruching at the waist, and is very flattering.

Although it's difficult to see, I am wearing an INC drop pendant and my Hermes CDC cuff bracelet.

Lastly, I found this adorable chicken roaming the parking lot the other day. There are houses surrounding the lot, so I'm sure she just hopped the fence, and when she was done pecking around, hopped back home.

The Big Bad Bug

Well, it happened. I got the flu. I was at work on Thursday, and even went to a couple of meetings. I felt fine all morning. Then, when I was sitting in Grand Rounds listening to a lecture on kidney cancer, I started to feel bad. Real bad. Within 45 minutes, it was unbearable. So I left the lecture and went home. I only live 5 minutes away from the hospital. My head hurt, my body was aching and I had chills. I took my temperature, and this is what the thermometer said.

Yipes !!! I will say that it felt like I was dying. Luckily, I had a course of Tamiflu at home and so I started it within 2 hours of getting sick. By that evening, my temperature was down to 102.

I spent the next four days in bed. Fortunately, I had Nurse Dog to help me.

My little private nurse never left my side. Even though I didn't eat much, I did manage to get a lot of fluids in to avoid any problems with my kidneys.

So now I am back at work, six days later. I feel pretty good, but I have laryngitis. It 's better today than yesterday. I missed my granddaughter's birthday party on Monday, but I couldn't go since my in-laws did not get the flu shot this year. I did, but since I work in Infectious Disease at a hospital, thems the breaks.

On Monday, I felt the need to get up and walk around, so I went out into the front yard and cut some flowers and made a couple of little bouquets.

That cheered me up a bit. I also framed the pastel I drew of my Kenni. For a couple of years I have been trying to do his portrait, but I could never get it quite right. Finally, success. And pastels are my least favorite media.

While I was laying in bed, my two cosmetic bags came. First, Birchbox:

 From top to bottom:
1) Smashbox Cosmetics Super Fan Mascara
2) Living Proof Style Lab Prime Style Extender
3) Balance Me Congested Skin Serum - my skin is not the only thing that has been congested lately.
4) MAC Cosmetics Prep and Prime Natural Radiance in Radiant Yellow
5) Doucce Luscious Lip Stain in Passion Peach
6) Coola Resiliance Organic BB cream SPF 30

My Ipsy bag came the next day:

From left to right :
1) Tarte Double Duty Beauty Base Tape Hydrating Primer
2) 111Skin Y Theorem Repair Serum
3) Eyeko Black Magic Liquid Eyeliner in Carbon Black
4) Hikari Cosmetics Cream Pigment in Honeydew
5) The Balm Cosmetics the BalmJour Creamy Lip Stain in Konnichiwa

Before my near death experience, I wore a couple of things. On April 9th,

I wore a dress from JC Penney. It is a thick double knit.

The print has some burgundy in it, so I wore the jacket from a Petite Sophisticates suit.

To go with this, I wore a wide braided belt and rose gold jewelry.

The next day was April 10, and I must have been incubating virions at this point.  I unwittingly wore one of my favorite dresses for the reproduction of H3N5 in my body.

This beautiful scuba dress is from Taylor.

I wore my grey leather waterfall jacket from INC on top. Nurse Dog photobombs.

The back is all venice lace.

 I wore some of my mom's jewelry. This is a lace medallion pendant in sterling, along with a crystal station chain.

Unfortunately, I wore my favorite Calvin Klein dress during the Giant Fever Episode. I will have a hard time looking at it, after what we went through together.

Five days later and four pounds lighter. 

These are green Calvin Klein trousers, a white blazer from Theory, and my Gucci scarf that I got in Europe last fall.

Doc commented that "at least, you look normal."

Here is what I am wearing today:

My whips and chains print Versace pants go perfectly with my husky sex line voice. On top, I have a sequined tank, a white blouse and a belt from White House Black Market.

And finally, some sadness. Here I am, last September, about to go inside Notre Dame Cathedral.

The spire is no more.

Along the banks of the beautiful Seine, in the gorgeous City of Lights. So many bad things have happened in Paris since Doc and I were there. It was magical, and we are so grateful that we got to see it before troubles started.

See you all soon !!