Cute Dog | The Blessed Life

Well, hello again!

Boy, has it been a LONG time since this girl published a blog post! What’s my excuse? Laziness: pure and simple. Although this post will be long, I promise future ones won’t be so wordy. And because there is way too much to catch you up on, here are 5 Things on My Mind at this very moment:

The Patriots are moving on to Denver!!! NEXT: Conference Championship and the perfect Tom Brady’s #17 meeting with Peyton Manning. I am not from New England, but my mom and her side of the family hail from western Massachusetts, and my husband (aka Mr. Wonderful) was born and raised on the North Shore of MA, so there you go. We have been together almost 10 years now, and not a day goes by where we don’t bitch, complain, get excited, scream, share social media stories, or something regarding one (or more) of our Boston sports teams. It’s simply a way of life; it’s who we “are”, not what we “do”. Don’t know how to explain it, but when you grow to love a team on your own without being born into it, it’s different. It’s a CHOICE, and one that I own with pride, 100%. Sometimes I think I take a lot more offense to people’s snide comments about being a Pats fan than if I DID have it in my blood. No, I can’t NOT take it personally. Yes, I wear my heart on my sleeve, so for all of you who give me a snarky look when you see me wearing my Pats shirt at Target – suck it! We love our teams and stick with them, win or lose, thick or thin. You could learn a thing or two about loyalty to your team, COWBOYS FANS! Oh, and how do I feel about Tom Brady and “Deflategate”, you ask? <<<looking straight into the eyes of the SOAB who dared go “there” — with a sweet, southern smile>>> Yes, those deflated footballs were OBVIOUSLY the only reason we kicked your team’s ass last year. And this year, too, when the weather didn’t mess with the PSI. Oh, I’m sorry…is your team in the playoffs? Yeah. Bless your little heart.”

The Walking Dead returns February 14: How romantic! I am so friggin’ excited – what a perfect Valentine’s Day evening for Mr. Wonderful and me. Getting to see Rick and the gang and the twists and turns those incredible writers have in store for us…can’t wait! (No, unlike Mr. Wonderful, I don’t read the graphic novels so everything’s new to me!) And for those who think it’s just about zombies, it’s not. It’s about relationships and how people cope AFTER the zombies have imposed their will on society. So see, it’s so much more! 🙂 It’s also the same night as the debut of HBO’s new series Vinyl, produced by Martin Scorsese and Mick Jagger. According to HBO’s website, “this new drama series is set in 1970s New York. A ride through the sex- and drug-addled music business at the dawn of punk, disco, and hip-hop, the show is seen through the eyes of a record label president, Richie Finestra, played by Bobby Cannavale, who is trying to save his company and his soul without destroying everyone in his path.” I am always hip to shows that are about the music industry, given I was on the radio side for so many years, so can’t wait to see if it lives up to the hype. Plus, I will watch ANYTHING with Ray Romano in it! 🙂

Fonzie is our favorite child. My 12 year-old is constantly asking me who my favorite child is (we have 6 human kids). None of the other munchkins ever cared about this, but for some reason, he is obsessed with getting a definitive answer out of me. The irony is that we probably spend more time with him than we did with his older siblings, so I’ve thrown out the reason being he feels like we don’t pay enough attention to him. I tell him every time, without batting an eye, that my favorite child is Fonzie. No, we didn’t go all Happy Days nostalgic and bestow the name of the King of Arnold’s Drive-In to one of our other 4 boys. THIS is Fonzie. Our four-legged furbaby. See, he IS perfect!
He is willing to test his wild side and push his boundaries.

He cares about his health. He works out with Daddy.

He gets good grades & understands the importance of a good education.

He is a good boy in the car and doesn’t bark commands to change the radio station.

He knows the importance of family snuggle time.

Bonus: Our boy’s a cover model. He wants to save up to buy mommy and daddy a condo in Cabo to retire. He told us so.

I am obsessed with the new Giada de Laurentiis cookbook my Mom got me for Christmas. Who wouldn’t want to know all her secrets, especially the ones that keep her looking like THAT! She says people ask her all the time how she can look like THAT when she is a chef and eats for a living. I love all the family secrets and tips she shares between all her great recipes for everything from skincare to why she won’t eat airplane food (other than the obvious fact that it’s AIRPLANE food.) I have tried a few of her breakfast recipes with success. She has turned me on to chia seeds – holy canolis, I feel like I am eating tapioca pudding in the morning – it is SO yummy and good for you. And last night, I made her California Turkey Chili, a big hit with the kids, and made enough leftovers to send home with them to their apartment and some for us here. Score! Loving Giada, we had to try her restaurant in Las Vegas and I posted a TripAdvisor Review here if you want to check it out.
I curse the name of Ticketmaster because they won’t stop after market sellers from getting ALL the decent-to-great tickets for Bruce Springsteen’s tour. We love The Boss. There is simply NOBODY who can perform a live show like this man. I am not going to go into great detail now about why we have this strong connection to Mr. Springsteen, because the man deserves a separate entry on my blog to do it justice.
The closest Mr Wonderful will probably ever get to a pic with The Boss

Suffice it to say that at 66 years-old, he can outdo musicians 1/3 his age with being able to sound MORE incredible live than his studio recordings, and his on-stage antics keep him moving the majority of the 3+ hour show. It’s insane. Mr. Wonderful has been t0 probably 50 shows mostly pre-me, and I have been to 9. So when Bruce announced he was doing a mini-tour of 3 short months starting mid-January, we were STOKED! The day tickets went on sale, 10am, we had every app ready on all our devices ready to score some great seats. Phoenix was our target. I kid you not when within 1 minute into the sale, it was sold out. Then we figured, Sunrise, FL. Nope. Denied again. So we thought, guess we’ll have to StubHub it. Not completely surprised, because we always have to get tickets that way. And we’re generally ok with splurging on $300-400 seats with a good view. Shoot — I WISH we could find seats in that price range now! We are looking at triple and more for the same type seats. We love you, Bossman, but we will probably have to pass this time. Please talk to the Powers The e to make it easier for your fans to not have to take out a second mortgage to see you live. To say I am sad is an understatement. During happier days, look how close we got to Bruce during “10th Avenue Freeze-Out!” September 3, 2012, Philadelphia. (Sorry – can’t figure out how to post the video here bu!) Surprise birthday present for Mr Wonderful. Not too shabby seats, eh?! Under $300. Sigh…those were the days.