Last Day of Summer School

It was a fun, fast paced 10 weeks of summer school for Shayna. It was her first time in a school setting and I think that she handled it a whole lot better than me! The picture on the right is the front door to her Room 8. This school always has the best decorations... Her class was decorated with a pirate's theme, hence the anchors and treasure chests.



Here's a picture of Shayna with her friend, Maura, and the assistant teacher, Miss. Macias. Shayna was not too happy when I snapped this photo...



Here's Shayna with her teacher, Miss. Carro. Hopefully, we will get Miss. Carro as her teacher in the Fall! Once again, Shayna was in no mood for picture taking! I should've taken these pictures before the start of class rather than after class!

Box Tops for Education Marketplace

About a month ago, I was contacted by a company to review a site called Box Tops for Education Marketplace. Let me tell you... I love to shop online, so this was a no brainer for me. It was simple to use and Shayna's future elementary school will receive a cash donation for every purchase I make through the site.

Shopping at BT Marketplace is easy –
1) register via this link https://www.boxtops4education.com/Registration/Default.aspx
2) shop online at over 70 online vendors
3) your school then gets a check.

The Box Tops Marketplace allows you to earn cash for your school when you shop online. Click on the link to one of your favorite online stores. Participating retailers including JCPenney, OfficeMax, Wal-Mart, BestBuy, Target, Lands' End and Oriental Trading Company, the Marketplace can serve as the source for all of your back-to-school shopping needs and raise money for your school at the same time. Up to 8 percent of every qualifying purchase is donated back to your school of choice at no additional cost to you.

When you arrive at the website and sign in all you have to do is click on one of the aforementioned stores and you’ll be automatically sent to that store’s web site. Shop as you normally would and a portion of your qualifying purchase is donated to your school. YES, it's that easy!!!
So please sign up, as I did, and let's get some much needed cash for our schools!

Farmer Shayna

Last Sunday, we headed south to Irvine to go watermelon picking. we paid our money and got on the wagon for our 55 minute tour of the 30 acre Tanaka farm. It was great, but very warm for the 9:30 am tour!






We ate farm fresh carrots!

























We ate farm fresh tomatoes!












We ate farm fresh raw corn, which BTW is WAY better than cooked corn!











Here is a cute one of Mark and Shayna in front of the tractor!











We ate farm fresh cucumbers...












...cantaloupe













...watermelon


















Checking out watermelons in the field!











It was a really fun morning! After some time in their farmer's market, we headed back home with some very useful facts about fruits and veggies (like, watermelon also comes in various colors, like yellow, and cucumbers are 20 degrees cooler on the inside-hence, "cool as a cucumber"), which I know will come in handy...one day!

Last Night...

Last night, my friend, Lisa, picked me up at my parent's house at 8:30 for a fun night out. At my 20th high school reunion a couple of weeks ago, Lisa and I were chit-chatting with a former classmate, Chris. In high school, Chris was very musically talented, as his keyboard tie and scarf he wore to school, spoke for itself...LOL! Well, as it goes, Chris invited us to the Hotel Cafe in Hollywood to see him play with his band. It was AWESOME! Here's a picture of me, Chris, David Sanger (another former classmate), and Lisa after the show. Lisa and I each bought a CD.. and you can too at Chris' website - The Other Chris Joyner. His sound is very similar to Jack Johnson, IMHO.

Here we are... looking hot!!! I'm on my tip toes!!!
Lisa, me, and Gwendolyn. It just so happens that it was (is) Gwendolyn's birthday today... we celebrated at midnight with candles and apple pie a la mode, courtesy of Chris and his girl, Deborah.

After the show, Chris recommended Kitchen 24, a new restaurant right across the street. We got a booth and ordered up some midnight grub! YUM! I had the most awesome challah french toast!!! Holy cow... there went my diet! Who cares it was soooo worth it! It just so happens that it was (is) Gwendolyn's birthday today... we celebrated at midnight with candles and apple pie a la mode, courtesy of Chris and his girl, Deborah.

I got back to my parent's house at 2:10 am and I got up this morning at 6:30 to drive Shayna to school, and then I was off to the gym. I feel a whole lot better now that I perspired 5 beers and challah french toast in 2 aerobic filled hours at the gym!

Please Donate!

My great friend, Lisa, has recruited me to join her Team! You see, her dad has been diagnosed with Alzheimer's. If at all possible, PLEASE go to my website, where you can donate... it's tax deductible and plus, Lisa will like me more - just kidding...

Click here for My Website

We will also be joining Lisa and her family for the 5K walk this October. If you would like to join us, email me or leave a comment and I will get back to you!

Thanks in advance!

Happy Birthday, Dad!

Yesterday was my dad's 64th birthday, but we celebrated tonight with Josh, Mindy, and Joey, who are in town looking for houses because they are moving back to SoCal. We went to a great little Italian restaurant down the street from our house, called Ferraro's. Mark and I really like it there, so my brother and I took my parents out to dinner.














Shayna loves her cousin, "Baby Joey" very much. It's so cute how gently she plays with him!





Tomorrow we are off to Tanaka Farms to pick watermelon with our neighbor's Jenny and Will, & their daughter, Larissa. It should be fun!!!

Oh and BTW, I put together an AWESOME earthquake kit for my dad's birthday present!