special delivery

one of my best friends from college called to tell me they had their second child. allow me to help introduce to the world, jaron shane simler! now, jaron was a special delivery because he was adopted by my best friend and his wife. they were fortunate enough to find a young woman who chose them to be her baby's adopted parents. so, my friend, jeremy, and his wife were present in the delivery room to witness the birth of their son.

i got a chance to talk to jeremy about the whole experience. he shared with me the whole process and gave me a testimony about the biological birth mother and how she came into their lives. it was truly a blessing and they believe it is by grace alone that they now have a brother for their daughter, karis.

jeremy and kristalyn are home with their new son and enjoying all of the joys of being new parents all over again.

families come in all shapes and sizes. this is just another shining example that all that a family needs is love. it doesn't matter how the child came into the family, what their age or nationality is........or who their parents are.......be they male/female, male/male, female/female....or a single parent. all that is needed is pure love for that of a child. poof! you have a family!

my best wishes to jeremy and his family. i pray for your sleep! here are my best wishes, also, to those that are contemplating becoming a family...however that may be.

be good to each other......

i oughta be in pictures!

i was involved in a video shoot here at marriott international that was recently posted on youtube.com. the video is announcing a new competition that our associates can get involved with that promotes our spirit to serve our guests strategy. for a small low budget film, it's pretty cute!

you barely see me, but i'm the one in the black tux with the white painted face. i was supposed to be a "ghostly butler" who was the spirit who serves our guests. yah, big role!

my friend, claudia, that some of you know has a huge cameo as fish face. you'll definitely see her in the video. soo.......check it out, it's quick and funny!

Marriott International on YouTube.com

feel free to post any comments that you have on youtube about the video, and please share with your friends!

be good to each other!

gotta love the girls

i've never understood those people that have seen a certain band or singer perform "X" amount of times in concert. i mean, i guess i could see someone seeing a performer a couple of times over their lifetime, but thought it ridiculous when someone would say, "i've seen U2 perform like 34 times." well, now i have to throw myself in that damn bucket that i never use to understand.

monday marked the 7th time that i have seen the indigo girls perform live. i never thought i would see them this many time, but here i am and i love every concert that i attend.

i have been a fan of the indigo girls since 1990 when i got into college. so, it's been 16 years of fervent following of the girls. now, i don't travel all over the country to see their concerts, but i have seen them in different states....just depending upon where i am living.

if you have never listened to the indigo girls, you are missing some beautiful music. 20 years after they began releasing records as indigo girls, Amy Ray and Emily Saliers have politely declined the opportunity to mellow with age. you could just say it's just not in their constitution. devoted environmental and social justice activists and lifelong music-industry mavericks, the girls have spent their entire career pushing boundaries on a variety of fronts.

the girls seem to come to the washington area every year....usually to wolf trap or merryweather. the next time they come into town, feel free to join me in hearing them in their element....outside, with their acoustic guitars in hand, and harmonizing with the stars.

be good to each other!

35 and counting!

sometimes birthdays come and go without a trace. and yet sometimes birthdays come that will be burned into your memory......whether good or bad.

this past weekend i was blessed to celebrate my 35th birthday, and some definite memories were created. some even captured on film!

the weekend actually started out with a dinner at guapo's in tenley town with my former work team. my old boss was visiting from the uk, so we all got together for old time's sake and downed some 5 pitchers of margaritas. what a great way to start things off!

i then made my way home to be welcomed by brad who was there waiting with a room full of balloons, a cake, a bouquet of flowers, and many many presents. i was treated so special and it was a perfect way to end the evening.

brad and i woke up the next morning and were invited to a dear friend's house for lunch. rolando had made us a very special lunch consisting of tomato basil bisque, and a chicken pesto pasta dish. all accompanied by wine, bread and followed by tarimisu. we were stuffed! thanks, rolo, for such a wonderful birthday treat!

saturday evening, i went to dinner with a small group at one of my favorite restaurants in dc, thai-tanic! yes, the name is funny, but the food is amazing and cheap and the drinks are tall and strong. it was probably a good think that we went to dinner and started with a full stomach, because little did i know how much i would actually drink before the night was over. if you've never been to thai-tanic, try it! it's on 14th street in logan circle. i highly recommend the panang and you can't go wrong with their pad thai. YUM!

we then strolled over to halo where i was met by many friends who came to celebrate the evening with me. halo is a great space and is known for it's fabulous drinks. i think at one point i was drinking a cocktail with two others on deck. thanks friends!!!! all in all, i believe i had 5 cocktails at halo in addition to the two we had started out with at thai-tanic. then came the shots! yes, my friends, what would a birthday be without shots? we made our way upstairs in halo and i had two shots, almost one right after the other. at this point, i'm a little fuzzy on who actually purchased them, but i just remember there was a group of us all enjoying them. whew!
so, now if you're counting, that was 7 cocktails and 2 shots. so what's next? yup, you guessed it, FOOD!

a small group of us made are our way to the diner in adams morgan. at this point, i'm not really sure what i ordered, but it did come with fries and i remember ripping into those. with all the hustle and bustle in the diner (that place hops), the conversations were lively and the laughter was strong......as you can tell by this picture. at some point, we decided to leave and brad drove us home since he had just joined us at halo after the completion of his performances at the kennedy center.

the next day, brad and i joined another group of friends for brunch at rosemary thyme's in dupont. it was a gorgeous day and brunch (including bloodys) was just delicious! it could have stopped there, but oh no. then 6 of us decided to head to g'town to go see jackass 2. this movie is a whole other blog unto itself....go see this movie.

after laughing for about 2 hours, it was off to chorus rehearsal and then after rehearsal drinks at halo once again. funnny how things come full circle.

we concluded by going to dinner at the melting pot in dc last night (monday) and celebrated birthdays for me, brad and tom qualey. bick's birthday is coming up in 2 weeks, so it'll be time to whoop it up again!

so, thank you all for making my birthday weekend so memorable!!!! it was truly amazing and just another reminder of what special friends that i have in my life. i truly count my blessings every day and thank you so much for your friendship.

be good to each other!