Some Handy Ideas

Ok, I just thought this was pretty so I threw it in!

Martha Stewart has a great idea for keeping sheets and pillowcases together and neatly folded. Fold the sheets and place inside the pillowcase. Wow! Why didn't I think of that. I'm always hunting for the pillowcases.

http://storageandglee.blogspot.com/2011/02/martha-on-sheet-storage.html

Whoa, this would make my life so much easier. Not only is everything in it's place and all the lids are present and accounted for, but they are not all stacked inside each other. Love this!

http://www.kitchens.com/slideshows/12-storage-solutions/cookware-organizer.aspx

Wow, this is so simple. We all have bread closer thingies and if we don't we can get some cheap. Great idea.

Keeping Busy

My best friend Annette's son, David, is a minor league baseball player. Thursday his team Rawhide was playing locally about an hour away. We braved the traffic and headed out to watch his game.

He was first at bat and started the game off with a double, a stolen base and a run. Easy-peasy! His team won 5-4. It as great to see him and be with my friend as she watched her son play ball.

Katie, David, Delaney and Natalie.

Katie and David born two days apart and went to pre-school and elementary school together. Delaney and Natalie together since they were about 3. (Delaney didn't really go to preschool. Hated it, cried everyday for 4 months. Enough was enough, took her out).

K'ya Restaurant in Laguna Beach

We met some friends here for dinner and the food was delicious. They serve small plate (tapas) style and we ended up splitting all the dishes. It was just enough for me actually. It is a great way to try a new dish. A bite of this and a bite of that went a long way. Make sure you make reservations as it is packed. It was loud and you had to lean in to talk, but it didn't stop us from catching up with our friends!

Super 8

HH and I went to see Super 8 and loved it. Set in 1979 it brought back memories with songs and cars. The kids were great actors and it is a great family movie. Best I've seen this summer.

Midnight in Paris

Cute movie. I read The Paris Wife, so I really understood what was going on in the movie. The main character is a writer and wishes he had been born in another era. He travels back in time and meets up with the icons of his golden age. I liked the premise and the acting was good. Great girlfriend movie.

Bad Teacher

Don't bother, not funny at all, just bad.

I've Done Some Reading - Time to Share

The Help

This was a great book. I couldn't put it down. I loved the women in it and their personalities. I found it fascinating that you could have a woman raise (hold, comfort, feed, play and love) your child, but feel they weren't good enough to share a bathroom with or that they carried diseases. Of course, not all the help was treated that way, some were treated like family, but the dynamics are so interesting. It is well written and a page turner.

Fall of Giants

This is a great epic novel, the first of three in a series. It starts out in Edwardian times and goes through the first World War. It follows a couple different people through this time. Some are from England, Russia, Germany and the U.S. It is detailed and historic. Loved it and can't wait until the next one comes out.

The Paris Wife

This is the story of Ernest Hemingway's first wife, Hadley Richardson. It is very interesting and I can say that by the end of it, I didn't like Ernest Hemingway very much. It begins with their courtship and ends with their divorce and covers everything in between. It was a fascinating time to live in the Paris artist community. It ties in nicely with the new movie Midnight in Paris. I enjoyed it.

Cutting for Stone

EH, it was okay. Parts of it I really enjoyed, parts were boring. If you are a huge reader give it a go, if not don't bother. I read this book right after "Unbroken" and "The Hangman's Daughter" and it wasn't as good as either of those. Maybe it suffered due to the order it was read in.

The Duchess of Cambridge

The Royals have just arrived in Los Angeles for three days. I wish their itinerary came close to anywhere I was so I could see Kate. I'm obsessed with Kate and her fashion sense. I love her clothes, her style, her elegance and grace. I hope younger women everywhere will embrace her style.

She always looks so put together. Her clothes are straight off the rack (not forever 21, but available to the commoner, like me!).

She is simple yet polished.

I love that she doesn't wear extra short dresses. Tastefully above the knee. I realize she is working here, but you rarely see her in something mid thigh.

She even looks good in a life jacket!

She is an inspiration to all.

I look forward to seeing her California style.

Pena Palace

After our harrowing ride in the bus straight up the mountain, we finally reached Pena Palace. At least I thought we did. We entered the gates into a beautiful garden with lots of shade and a cool breeze. Looking around, I could not see the palace anywhere. I saw a path with a sign and a little trolley shuttle. Hmm, we checked out the shuttle and it was 2 euro a person. I started the day with 200 euros cash, but after all the admissions and lunch, (which to our surprise, the restaurant did not take credit cards and I was forced to use cash. Luckily, I had enough) I didn't feel like shelling out the money so we walked. Everyone blazed up the hill, except me. It just about killed me! Seriously. It was steep.

Finally, the Palace/Castle was in sight and what a sight it was. I think when they built this place, the guy could not make up his mind and wanted every style available at the time. A little of this and a little of that. Basically, it had a moorish feel. It was the summer palace for King Ferdinand II and family. It was Delaney's favorite.

It had all kinds of walks, parapets and little secret places to sit and enjoy the breeze.

The kids loved exploring every nook and cranny.

The architectural detail was amazing.

It looked like something out of a story book.

Well, that was then end of our week in Portugal. I wish we had more time to visit more sights but the beach was too inviting to pass up.

We had such a great time and enjoyed being together for the experience.

The National Palace in Sintra

This is Sintra, a beautiful little town nestled in the hills of Portugal, close to Lisbon. It has two palaces. One is the National Palace which I will show you today, and the other is the Palace de Pena for tomorrow. Greg and Alyssa found a parking space close to the center of town, but we had to park about 1/2 mile away. We parked and walked away. When we got about 1/4 mile down the road, we noticed that you had to pay for parking at one of those ticket machines. We went up to buy one, but they only took coins. We didn't have any coins on us. We thought we would take our chances (because we were too lazy to walk into town, get change and walk ALL THE WAY back). Well, you guessed it. We got a ticket! Fortunately, they gave us a prepaid envelope and all you had to do is put 2euro in it and mail it back. Whew!!!

Parts of the town date from the 13th century. It is shady and very pretty.

The Sintra Palace is known for its tiles and those two chimneys in the kitchen.

I'm always amazed at the kitchens in Palaces and Castles. They caught their own meat: deer, chickens, pheasants, boar, bear and whatever else was near by. They had to serve a lot of people, so there are huge counters, fireplaces, pots and pans and roasting spits.

At 6'1 Greg fills this entire doorway!

Beautiful tiles line the walls of all the important rooms.

The ceilings are fantastic.

After we finished with the palace, we relaxed on a terrace having some ice-cream and we noticed these little guys. I have to say, I was a little worried for them.

We waited for the huge bus to take us up to the Palace de Pena. This is wide compared to what we faced later. There were 3 miles of switchbacks and the road was so narrow. Sometimes it looked as if the bus was going to crash into the wall on the hairpin turns. The mirrors would miss the wall by 1/2 an inch. I'm not kidding! When we got out of the bus, I checked it out to see if maybe they ever did hit the wall. Not a scratch on it. The bus drivers were excellent. Not only did they have to navigate an extremely narrow road with hairpin turns, but people were walking up the road and cars were coming down. The bus took up the entire road so it was a little scary at times.

Alcobaca Monastery & The Love Story of Pedro and Ines

A little further down the road from Obidos, is a beautiful Monastery called Alcobaca.

Upon entering the Sanctuary.

These are the tombs of Pedro and Ines. Pedro was the son of King Alfonso IV. His father wanted to make an alliance with Spain, so he arranged for his son Pedro to marry Constance. When Constance arrived, she had with her a beautiful lady in waiting named Ines. Pedro fell deeply in love with her. The King had her exiled until Constance's death to try and break up the love affair between the two of them. Pedro continued to see Ines and had three children with her.

Pedro gave gifts of entitlements and such to Ines' family. The nobility in Portugal felt threatened by this and convinced King Alfonso that Ines was a threat to his throne because her family had attained great wealth. The King ordered the death of Ines. This enraged Pedro and he rebelled against his father. There began a civil war. The King won, but died a year later. Pedro became King.

Pedro announced that he had wed Ines in secret and that she was a Queen. He found two of her three assassins and personally ripped their hearts out with his bare hands. He then had Ines exhumed and brought to Alcobaca where he had two tombs made and installed in the monastery so that in death the two could be together. On the processional walk from where she was buried, he had all the nobility follow her casket to the monastery. Once she had arrived, he placed her wedding ring on her finger and had each noble bow down and kiss the ring.

The entrance into the cloisters.

This may be our Christmas card, I'm not sure.

I hope you enjoyed our little trip to Alcobaca Monastery.

There is free admission on Sunday's from 10-2pm. It was beautiful.