Dad's Surprise

I have a little down-time at the moment, so I'll fill you in on details.

My dad has been the Rotary District Governor of District 5190 for the last year.  This weekend is his district conference.  My mom decided way back in January that this was too important an event for me to miss--the whole family needed to be together.  Anyone who doesn't know my mother, is unaware of just how dangerous she can be once she gets an idea in her head!  ...She began planning a surprise of epic proportions.

The first step was buying my plane ticket on a friend's credit card (dad carefully reviews the monthly bills...this way there would be no paper trail).  Once that was taken care of she needed to devise a way of tricking my sisters into picking me up at the airport without ruining the surprise!  She invented Rotary V.I.P. Vitorio Pearluchi (suspiciously similar to Viola Pearl!) who would be flying in from L.A. at 8pm Wednesday evening.  Maggie and Lucy would be asked to please do the favor of picking up and escorting this gentleman from Reno-Tahoe International Airport to the Nugget in Sparks where the conference is being held.  My mom was giddy with excitement through all these planning stages because she just knew Maggie and Lucy would NOT be keen to pick up some strange Rotarian and spend an awkward 10 min ride back to the hotel with him!

In the days leading up to the surprise she was getting more and more excited.  I was bombarded by enthusiastic emails detailing what I needed to bring and keeping me updated on the latest in her surprise efforts.  The theme of the conference is Star Trek ("Boldly Go Where No Rotarian Has Gone Before...!") and so in keeping with the theme, my mom ordered Star Trek outfits for all of us.  Of course when the box arrived with an extra dress, my technologically challenged mother had no problem feigning surprise and frustration as Maggie and my dad laid into her about being "dangerous" on a computer and "how could you not check the quantity box before clicking to purchase?!" :)  She loved every second of it.

Finally, on Wednesday and according to plan she played the part of the stressed and frazzled First Lady appealing to Maggie and Lucy for help picking up this V.I.P from the airport.  Thankfully the woman helping to orchestrate the surprise along with my mom filled the limousine driver in on the situation (yes, I was driven back to the Nugget in a limo!).  He was game for the surprise and so escorted Maggie and Lu into the airport to witness, all the while teasing them light-heartedly that they couldn't even pronounce this guy's name!  Maggie and Lucy, for their part, were willing enough it seemed although once out of ear-shot from my mother began immediately complaining to each other about having to run all her silly Rotary errands and how awkward this was going to be at the airport...and were they even wearing appropriate clothes to be picking up a Rotary dignitary??

From my end I had the good fortune of sitting next to a kind, business woman who said she'd be willing to film the surprise.  I sent her off toward baggage claim ahead of me and waited for about a minute before following.  You can see from the first video I posted that this was just barely enough time for her to get in position with the camera on before Lucy spotted me.  She came shrieking down through the slot machines toward me with Maggie hot on her heels.  Lucy grabbed me in a huge disbelieving hug and when Maggie joined the huddle she knocked us both to the ground!  Neither of them could believe it and all of us were coming close to tears.  With both my sisters clinging to me I made my way toward the limo driver and the camera lady, both wearing ear-to-ear smiles.  The first part of our surprise had been a complete success.

We cackled and laughed and recounted the story all the way back to the Nugget where it was time to surprise my dad.  My mom's partner in crime met us as we climbed out of our first ever limo ride and gave us a run-down of what would come next.  He was in the middle of dinner with visiting guests from Korea and last year's P.D.G. (Past District Governor).  They would all walk in front of me as human shields and then suddenly part to reveal me once we got to the dinner table.  As it turns out my dad was sitting with his back to us--perfect...

I'll let you watch the video and see the rest for yourselves:



My mom deserves a BIG pat on the back.  This has been the best surprise ever!  My dad just keeps saying, "She's real!"  And after the opening speeches this afternoon, I couldn't be happier or prouder to be here with him for the grand finale of his amazing adventure as District Governor.

I love you Mom and Dad. 

The Big Surprise

More details when I have more time.  For now I'll let the video speak for itself.  I asked a kind woman sitting next to me on my LAX--RNO leg to please take a video of my sisters' reaction to my surprise arrival.  I failed to mention that if you hold the camera vertically, the video comes out sideways...  Oops.  And I also forgot to explain how to zoom, but all the same I think you can get a good idea of the sisterly exuberance even though we're far away.  Pay attention, because when Maggie comes running up on me and Lu hugging, she knocks us on the ground!  Then they wouldn't let me walk them closer to the camera! :p

Enjoy!  (all surprise details in a future post)

Quick Pics

Right now I should be in bed... but I wanted to share some quick pics of the first floor of the new house. :)  I thought this would slowly become more real...but I guess I won't really believe it until I'm scrubbing floors and packing/unpacking box after box! :)

The street view.  You might not be able to read the name: Pablo Neruda.  One of my all time favorite poets. 

View of the patio upon leaving the kitchen.  This little landing will be my summer breakfast nook. 

Patio leaving the garage.  Bela LOVED her new digs. ;)

The patio looking back at the house.  The glass you see is the garage and the door to the right, the entrance to the kitchen.  The shutters on the far right are a door from the living room.

Kitchen... Some day I think we'll have to re-do the cupboards.  I'm not fond of the chocolate wood color.

 

Dining/Living room

Fireplace and door out to the patio.

My office. :)

Bela in the master bedroom. :)  The door on the left also goes out to the patio--I love all the natural light we can get!

Our bathroom!!  No more worries of falling down stairs when we have to go in the middle of the night!

View from the bedroom back toward the front door: Living/Dining room.  The fireplace is to my left...

Half-bath under the stairs.  This is everyone else's bathroom. ;)

Staircase... 

I know it's hard to get an idea of the layout with the pictures.  I promise a video at some point.  Tomorrow I'll upload the pictures from upstairs.  Yep, the house is THAT big! ;)  Now you know what you need to do...COME VISIT!  :)

Key in Hand

It's final.  We've got the keys. :)  Tonight I'll be doing a photo shoot so you can finally SEE the house we've bought.  All the papers are signed, everything's official.  We're homeOWNERS and still I can't believe it.  What a crazy ride it's been to get to this point! 

I can't wait to start moving!

This is Water...

I came across this viedo on a friend's facebook page and I think it's worth sharing here:  

Why is it that it is always so easy to fall into that self-centered trap of thinking the world is out to get us?  Why is it so hard to consider that other people might find themselves in similar situations to our own, or even worse situations?  By default, as the video points out, most of us tend to play the victim, rather than making conscious desicions to change our attitudes.

Books and movies are good when they have complexity; when you can't absolutely LOVE any one character or absolutely LOATH another.  The fall of a hero or the redemption of the antagonist is what makes for drama, a twist in the predictable narrative, and ultimately a more realistic story/character.  None of us is perfect...  even though, when we find ourselves in situations like the one described in this video, we might like to think we are.

When I read a good story or watch a good movie, I love analysing the characters' motives (is that the lit. major deep within?)--what drives them in their actions/interactions?  And it's deeply satisfying when I can sypathize with all the characters, at least on some level.  Why is it so hard to do the same in life?  Why am I so unwilling to be understanding with my real, flesh and blood fellow human beings, and yet get such pleasure from my fictional generosity, forgiveness and empathy?

The truth is, as the video above points out, that being fair and understanding is just plain hard.  It's all too easy to demonize.  If someone or something is Bad, we can ignore, marginalize, hate, kill... There is no thinking twice about it.  No question.  Contributing to making a better world means it's up to us to change the way we react in even the most banal of situations.  In the words of Gandhi: "Be the change you want to see in the world".

Tour Guide

That's right.  I had a surprise visit Saturday from my cousin "out-law" (I'm assured this is the technical term for X in-laws). ;)  He and his nephew were in Marbella (ritzy fritzy-ville on the Costa del Sol) and had an unexpected free day.  They were hoping to see a bit of the "real" Spain; I dare say, they came to the right place/person.  I showed them around La Roda a little and then we headed to the next town over, Estepa.

Estepa is a beautiful town, much more "Spanish" looking than La Roda.  As you come up to in on the free way, you can see the ruins of a fortress on the hill and the typical casas blancas cascading down from there as church steeples rise up through the maze of tiled rooves.  It is a place worth visiting, for sure, and being just 10 minutes from home made it that much more attractive for short-notice tour guiding.

Some friends of ours from La Roda recently moved to Estepa and so I got in touch with them, too, hoping they would be up for playing tour guides.  I know a little about the town, but not enough to make wandering around the kind of interesting visit that it could be.  It's always best to get that kind of history from the locals. My friends were good sports and after the three of us had made our way to the convent on the hill (the church dates to the 16th century) and ordered some sweets from the nuns there, we met up with my friends for a dose of Estepeña culture accompanied by coffee and drinks.

It was a wonderful afternoon/evening.  I learned much more about Estepa and my guests thouroughly enjoyed getting some history and a glimpse of "real-life" in Spain.  We ended our visit in a tapas bar in town. Apparently the tapas in Marbella, aside from bad, are also quite expensive (big surprise).  We ordered some fabulous grilled squid with green sauce, fresh anchovies in lemon, Iberian fillete and ham...  You get the idea.  We redeemed Spanish cuisine and all within our budget! ;)

Once we were back in La Roda, of course we made the obligatory stop at Pub California.  That's right--the first (x)family member to have a drink in the new bar! :)  They headed out of town around 12 midnight...although I offered a bed, they turned it down since the next morning they were planning to get up early for a visit to Gibraltar.

It was a great visit.  As one of my friends in Estepa points out, unexpected get-togethers are nearly always the most fun!  It's true.

Bon Appetit

This was my dinner last night.  Look good?  It was.  I made it 100% from scratch--tuna and olive pizza with manchego cheese and herb crust. :)

Sunday nights are pizza nights and usually we have frozen pizzas from the supermarket that we bake in the oven.  (don't curl your epicurian lips at the idea!) One in particular is especially delicious--Mediterranean with goat cheese!

Last night we were out of pizza, and in an effort to save some money (but mostly because I love inventing in the kitchen when I have time), I decided to make homemade pizza.

I guess it was a little more like a foccacia because the crust was a bit thicker than pizza crust tends to be here in Spain, but it was absolutely scrumptious!  I added some thyme to the dough to give it a little more flavor and then dug around in the pantry for the toppings.  Tuna is a very common pizza topping in Spain and I have to say, I've come to really like it.  In any case, my pizza tasted as good as it looks and I'm going to have leftovers for breakfast!

Cold, pizza: my favorite!