I love you Portland forever. . . part one

Ladies and Gentlemen, drumroll please, I give you. . .

The Kroger Ladies!!



Alas, my trip to Portland is over. Now I have photos and memories of this fabulous trip to reflect on. Let's get started!


The view of the Columbia River as we flew into Portland.


Distant mountains surround the city.

After taking a taxi to the super chic Nines Hotel, (http://www.thenines.com/) I arrived in my own room. Just for me. I took a look around . . . bed:desk:bathroom:view out the window:I couldn't help but have a happy dance!The dance continues here:Then I dined at Pazzo with 8 effervescent, spirited, genuine and refreshing ladies. We comprised the 9 women there to film commercials, each of us making a 30-second story about our life and food during the holidays.

We are: (back) L to R- Vicki, Amy, Eleanor, Sheryl, Crystal, me, Tanika, Jessica and Natalie.As the weekend went on I found myself very proud to be selected with these women. As you can see, we had fun.Before bed I gazed out the window at my very own view of the city. . . .

To be continued. . . .

A spooky letter hunt. ..

Erin Miller, kid activity mastermind extraordinnaire, took us on a spooky letter scavenger hunt on Friday.
Robert found a G. Checking out the neighborhood decorations.

CC keeps up in her wellies.

Baikal Miller, Esther and Katherine Aiken pose happily.

Dinner followed our walk. Thanks Millers for a fun evening! The chili was yummy and the company was outstanding!

Kids and godkids

At church, the kids model winter clothes. It is finally getting chilly. ..

Granny made Robert's Batman costume. Love it! Thanks Granny!

He flies.

On Tuesday morning we were graced by the presence of Esther's godmother and one of my very best girlfriends, Ellie Hammond. THANK YOU Ellie for coming all this way for a visit! xxoo

Checkers.

Good times.

Esther, the cherub

On Saturday evening Esther reminded us that we should "get up early tomorrow because I have to get to church early to sing in the big church!" This is big-time, indeed. The name of her choir? The cherubs or as the kids like to call it, "Chair-up choir."

The marvelous Karol Kimmell warms up the choir.


In church.

Portland darling, here I come!

Above, the lovely city of Portland, Oregon to which I have never been but now am going!

I got the call last Thursday. After being in contact for about a month with the ad agency that shot the Kroger commercial I was in last fall, they (the agency) are flying me to Portland, Oregon next Monday (26) to shoot another commercial. This one is part of a holiday campaign.
I fly out Sunday am, stay in a hotel 2 nights alone (I can really sleep!) shoot the commercial and then hang out in Portland. Long plane ride back (reading whatever I want or doing whatever I want) on Tuesday.
Bring it on Portland! Mama like!

U2 360

U2 360

The U2 concert. . . What can I say?

I loved the playlist, the Georgia Dome was packed and I had a great time with Glo.

Before the concert we had a light dinner at the Brown house.

Glo and I didn't have our cameras at the concert but some girls sitting next to us snapped this photo:

You can see the crazy cool stage set up behind us.

We stayed as long as we could after the concert hoping to see the whole thing come down. What a huge production! Just before getting on Marta to go home, I ran into a girlfriend of mine from Furman, Amy Joye Bailey and her husband, Rob. They drove to Greenville with friends to see the concert and were staying near our destination so we escorted them back to their stop. Scott picked us up at ?? o'clock to get us back to Gloria's. Thanks brother-in-law!

It was a late night for this mama of three and I still haven't found what I'm looking for. . . .

Girls, mom is going to lie down for a while. . . don't wake me up.

I've been under the weather for a few days now. A stomach bug was not what I had in mind for this week. As a result, Esther, CC and I have spent a LOT of time at home. They have been rockstar kids! Maybe my mom is right, i.e. it's okay not to do something fantabulous every day with you kids. They just value being around you. Well, girls, you have been around me a lot. I have just been asleep a lot of the time!

Latest quotes:
"Mom, how does Bono make his voice so rockin'?"- Robert
"Mommy, baby come car in?"- CC (1st sentence!)
"Juice, gummy? Juice, cookie, crackee, baby, mommy!"- more CCisms
(Sung at a mind-blowing volume in the van)" God is here and everywhere and EVERYWHERE and God is Christ in Christ and GOOOOOOODDDDDDDDDD. And even when you breathe God goes into your nose and God is everyWHERRREEEE!!!!"- Esther
"Mommy, you can do it. Just remember, no matter there's a will there's a way!"- Esther

things are getting scary. . .

What does one do on a rainy day in Atlanta when one's oldest child has no school due to Columbus Day?
Begin celebrating Halloween of course. With a lot of cornstarch, a little water and some food coloring you can make your own bloody goop.

Take a cheese quesadilla, cut jack-o-lantern eyes and a nose. Boom. The quesadilla disappears.

Who is that masked girl?

Take a lovely ghost family cake from Martha Stewart. . .

Take out the cake because that's too complicated, use straws to hold everything together along with sticks, acorns and leaves and you have our version:

A ghost graveyard surrounded by eyeballs, bats with leaves for wings and spiders on a plastic tray.

Boo!

Kanuga 2009

Our parish retreat at Kanuga last weekend was a blast. As long as I remember that getting a lot of sleep at Kanuga is not realistic, I am fine. Here is CC with her godmother, Karla Kosar.The beautiful Herring girls in their Halloween costumes for the costume parade on Saturday night.



Above, Robert sang with the Primary choir at the prelude of the service on Sunday morning. They sang really well!

Below, A Kanuga tradition: we sing 'When the Saints go marchin in' as our closing hymn and all process out of the church together. Here is a pic and a video of that:

Rob and the girls pose in our cabin.

Our cabinmates, Brad Russell and Joe Bryan. Thanks for a fun weekend guys!

Brad and Joe's son, Will, who is buddies with Robert.Will, Oliver Kosar and Robert.

When we got home we found a package from Nonnie and Grampy to help us feel better from the flu. Here, Esther is working on one of the puzzles that they gave her. Thank you!

Dearest U2-

Welcome to Atlanta.
Tonight is the 360 concert at the Georgia Dome and I will be there with my sister, Gloria, my U2 soulmate. She is my only sibling.But you are the brothers I never had. You saw me through adolescence with An Unforgettable Fire and The Joshua tree. Thank you for standing for something and telling about it in your music. At the time, there were not many articulate and truthful (and beautiful) voices in my universe. You came in loud and clear through my Walkman singing MLK and Running to Stand Still as lullabyes to me at night. Now I sing them to my children.
You came in loud and clear in college when I took up running at night to de-stress. How did you know about my Wild Horses?
You came in loud and clear to my parish when we staged U2 Eucharists as an alternative to traditional worship. You didn't know? Read about it here:
http://www.religionnewsblog.com/14198
I feel so excited about the concert tonight I can hardly stand it. I can't wait to see you in person and gain insight into my own life through the live experience of your honesty, artistry and relevance. Thank you in advance.

With deep affection and admiration,

Laurie Haynes Burlington

p.s. wanna have a drink later?

off to Kanuga

The Burlingtons are off to Kanuga Episcopal Center in North Carolina for the weekend. Our first non-working parish retreat should be fun! A couple of quotes to brighten your Friday:

Me, "Look Esther and Robert at that chimney. It has something old on it that looks like a bunch of metal sticks put together. That's called a TV antenna. It's how people a long time ago used to watch TV."
Esther, "Oh, so is that how Jesus watched TV?"

Esther, "Okay people, here is rule of life number 29. Listen up. Always bring your brother or your sister a spoon to eat their couscous with if you are having couscous for dinner."

Robert, to Esther, "Esther, at Kanuga you walk to church to eat breakfast, lunch and dinner. And all your friends are there."