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Happy New Year- 6 days late

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Happy, Happy New Year.

Yes, I realize today’s date is the 6th of January, but sometimes living life gets in the way of blogging about the escapades and adventures that happen in daily life. After a truly special Christmas and New Year’s in Delaware ( complete with seeing 5 movies!!!! ) Katie & I drove back from Bethany Beach on January 1st- all the way home to her mountain school in Brevard , NC. Cold, freezing, icy, snowy- and her home has little to no heat. So Katie, Danny and I all huddled in bed together. Max was the only smart one choosing to sleep on the very comfy over stuffed chair.

The next morning , her special friend Case came down from his mountain top home and Katie made breakfast. Blueberry pancakes with true maple syrup, farm fresh eggs and local goat cheese. Delicious!!!!!! I drove home and could NOT believe how crowded I95 was both ways. All those folks heading south to Florida and all those people heading home from Florida made for a traffic jam on the interstate. I made it home and yet again realized how much I love and adore my coastal barrier island. Driving from Savannah out the old Tybee road ( formerly a railroad) and looking over the vast expanse of marsh and water, I can’t help but think of how lucky I am to live in such a physically beautiful place. The weather is cold but that really is ok because it just doesn’t last long. Never does. As cold as it is now, it will be warmer again very soon. I’m back home, opened lots of wonderful cards, holiday newsletters and pictures. Here were snippets from two of my favorites.

From my friends Kitty & Larry in Palm Desert, CA

“Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take but by the moments that take our breath away.”

This is from Leonard Miller aka The Sandman. The man who creates all those magical sandcastles on the beaches each summer as well as paints many of our cottage signs. This was a hand made Christmas card I found on my door stop when I came home.

“To you Diane Kaufman

Keep on showing the new comers your skill in what a house a home can be.

Show them a spontaneously unexpected intrusion of nature just by looking out a window or a door.

Show them a special charm, only a Tybee home can provide.

Show them that it’s Family Friendly, And most of all , it’s a Keep sake.

Leonard Miller, the Sandman”

I will keep this card forever.

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September 11th, 2001

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I woke up early this morning thinking about all those people who woke up on September 11th 2001 and started their morning and daily life just like they normally did, not realizing the world would change this day. What I can’t figure out today is why this is not the first news story today- yes it’s still mentioned and acknowledged, but each year it becomes a more distant memory. I don’t want to forget all those people who went to their jobs and never came home. Or ran to rescue and help those in need and also never came home.

Here is my blog from last year.

I was in London on Marriott business. I was with Marriott colleagues, 60 customers from all over North America and my mom and sister who were able to join me on this business trip. Tuesday was our off day from the trade show and I was in Chelsea window shopping. I walked into this wonderful little pillow store which sold ridiculously expensive pillows ( $220 for a pillow!). The 2 shop girls were in the back of the store, looked up at me and said- ” Are you American?” When I said yes, they said, “your country is under attack.” They motioned me to this tiny TV and I saw the second plane flying directly into the 2nd Tower. I could not believe my eyes…. I quickly went back to the street to grab a taxi back to the hotel, the cabby had tears in his eyes as he told me how sorry he was for my country… Everyone I encountered the next hour getting back to my room could not have been kinder to me as an American… We spent the next week in England with our customers and colleagues until airplanes were allowed to fly again. Watching TV, mourning, staying in touch with our friends and family back home…. a week I’ll never forget. Our flight back to the US was on the first day you were allowed to fly. Everyone was very nervous during the 7 hour flight, but British Airways did a tremendous job and we all applauded wildly when we landed in Atlanta.

 

Personally I didn’t know anyone who was killed in the attacks, but I do have a connection to one very special woman.

 

My friend Ann ( who I’d written about earlier this year – Love at 52 1/2) grew up in Maryland with a family with three kids. The oldest daughter was Ann’s age and they were life long friends. She worked in NYC at Cantor Fitzgerald, fell in love and married in her 30’s and had the perfect NYC life. Exceptional success at work, , happiness and love with a great guy …. She was just like us, went to work on a beautiful Tuesday morning at a career she loved and around 8:45AM a plane plowed into her office building a few floors below where she was working on the 104th Floor and she had no way down….
Her mom is someone I’ve gotten to know thru Ann over the past few years, Joan, is one of the bravest women I’ve ever met. A tremendous faith that has taken her through the past 7 years. She told me a few years ago that even though I didn’t know her, I had a guardian angel who would always be around watching and protecting. Today, and every day, I honor Valerie Silver Ellis . The New York Times did a series of tributes to all the people who died on Sept. 11th to tell the rest of the world what these people were all about. Here is Val’s.
“Fixing Shoes, and Wagon”

 

One of the best Valerie Silver Ellis stories takes place in the early ’80’s when she was starting out at Cantor Fitzgerald. A senior trader asked her to take his shoes to be repaired, so Ms. Ellis had taps put on the toes and the heels extended to four inches. When the senior trader ordered the upstart young trader to redo the job, Ms. Ellis had the shoes bronzed.”They ended up being friends,” said Brian Hull, a friend and former client of Ms. Ellis. “She refused to be insulted, she refused to be intimidated. She just worked as hard as she could and she won.”Ms. Ellis, a 46-year-old equities trader, worked at Cantor Fitzergerald for 20 years, 18 of those at the World Trade Center.”Someone said at her memorial that Val collected people,” her husband, Sam Ellis, said. “She also loved to collect art. We had a place in the Hamptons and she liked the artists in the area. She loved the beach; she loved her dog Spudley. She also loved the theater and we’d often entertain clients by taking them to theater and dinner.”Mr. Hull said, “You never had to see her to know that she was in a room. You just knew her laugh. She always found a reason to laugh.”

 

Profile published in THE NEW YORK TIMES on October 16, 2001.
I moved to Tybee Island full time in November of 2001. I decided that if a girl just like me could die after going to work at on a beautiful Tuesday, then I’d better be doing what I love and living where I truly want to be and appreciating and valuing every single day of my life .

September 11th, 2001 Read More »

Katie comes home!

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One of the true delights of life is when the daughter that you raised comes back home for a visit as a young adult. She cooks, she chats, she likes to do everything I like and more, she tells me about her adventures and best of all she’s my blood and my legacy and what I’ll leave behind when I’m gone. Her summer job in Brevard, NC where she works during the school year is managing the camp’s organic garden. She brought home bounty from the garden! Is there anything better then fresh heirloom tomatoes, okra, fresh basil and peaches? We made breakfast, lunch and dinner at home every day because there couldn’t possibly be anything better at any of the local restaurants. Adding to the fresh fruits and veggies were shrimp from the shrimp boats of Lazeretto Creek that were swimming in the marsh and ocean a day earlier.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We rode our beach bikes daily, especially at dusk which is our favorite time of the day. The beach bikes have seen better days but they get us around and no one would ever consider stealing them. We went to the beach to sit in the tidal pools of the south end of the island and spent one magical afternoon off Suzanne’s dock floating on big inner tubes tied to the docks and watching the tide float out of the tidal creek. Each evening we’d see what reality tv shows were on and were so delighted when Sex and the City- The movie was on HBO! Katie has left to go back to her real life and work and I already miss her!

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The Teen Choice Awards & our favorite Tybee Teen!

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The Teen Choice Awards is being shown right now on FOX. The people that bring us American Idol have this awards show which teens and tweens support in huge numbers. Don’t think this is a frivolous awards show. This is the first step in kids lives to show them the power of their vote and they can make a difference in the world. It may start with voting for the Jonas Brothers as their favorite group, but also puts them squarely on the path of voting when they turn 18 and can really change the world!

And speaking of teens- our favorite teenager and summer time local girl next door is the main attraction of the show! She’s all over the show singing, performing and just adding her star power! Here’s the bio they have on the awards website. This will just exhaust most people, but not our Miley! Read carefully and you’ll see that as soon as she finishes shooting here on Tybee Island, she’ll be off on her new tour which includes not only the USA but London.

“Miley Cyrus is a multi-platinum recording artist and the youngest recording artist ever to have four No. 1 albums in less than three years. She stars in the hit cable series “Hannah Montana,” currently in its third season, and recently appeared in “Hannah Montana: The Movie,” which topped the box office its opening weekend. She is the author of “Miles to Go,” the best-selling story of her record-setting successes in TV, music and film and her rise to global fame from her small-town Tennessee roots. In addition, Cyrus and designer Max Azria of apparel house BCBGMAXAZRIAGROUP, Inc. have teamed up to create Miley Cyrus & Max Azria, a new apparel line launching this August that will be sold exclusively in Walmart stores. Cyrus is currently filming “The Last Song,” written by Nicholas Sparks, and is set to embark on a 45-city North American tour this September.”

http://www.teenchoiceawards.com/

Daughter Katie is here visiting for a few days and she made an incredible dinner- Shrimp Cakes on a bed of Organic Greens, a great bottle of Chardonnay and our home made Peach Cobbler in the oven for dessert…. I’ll be sharing some more of her great food she’s been spoiling me with all week. Now back to watch those teens!

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