Wednesday, June 19, 2013

A Visit with the Family

Sorry about the lack of blog posts in the last week, but in part that is due to my being gone Friday-Sunday on a rare visit with some of my family. My parents came in from San Diego to attend my Boston-based aunt and uncle's 50th anniversary party, then went to Maine for a few days, then to Schenectady where my sister Sarah, her husband Rich, and their 20 year old daughters Addy and Brianna live (when Bri isn't off at college). Here's everyone gathered around the table one night when we went out to dinner.
I adore my family, and don't get to see them nearly as much as I'd like, so I took a few days and went up to Schenectady to hang out with them all. We had a pretty good time not doing much of anything (in part because of scheduling issues and in part because my poor parents caught a cold from someone at the party, and my mom felt crappy).

In news that will surprise...absolutely no one...the high point of the trip for me (besides being with the fam) was a trip to a huge Barnes & Nobles nearby. I love my local Indy book store, but being able to wander around a giant store filled with books was just heaven. I only got a little carried away...
(And the gift book I bought for Addy isn't even in the picture, since it stayed with her.) In my defense, the big grilling book was $12.99, down from $29 when you bought something else. Which I clearly did. And the Indie band book is for my friend Chris's son, and the Hello Kitty dress-up doll fridge magnet is for my wonderful editor Elysia, who loves Hello Kitty. So really, it is almost like I just bought three books :-) And two of them were research for the current Baba Yaga novel. Oh, nevermind. Where was I?

Right, family. My nieces are twins, but you would never guess it by looking at them or talking to them. They are as different as two sisters could be, although they are both beautiful and talented and amazing in their own ways.
That's Bri on the left and Addy on the right. Bri is studying Fashion Merchandizing at Marist College, and Addy is doing a culinary degree (oh, the things she can cook!). On the side, she creates incredibly complicated and detailed costumes for Cosplays based on Manga books (Japanese Anime). This is the one she wore to our last breakfast, because she was going to the Albany Comicon right afterwards.

See what I mean? How cool is that?
Here's one of my favorite pictures of the weekend--my gorgeous sister Sarah, me and Addy, camping it up in the Robin jacket she also made.

My family isn't perfect, but I love them all more than I can say. It was a real treat to be able to spend three days with them. Of course, now I have to play catch-up with everything else! I hope you had a weekend as good as mine was.

9 comments:

  1. I love family photos!

    That top picture -- is that Addy on the left? From that angle she looks like you, but full on, she doesn't.

    I've yet to meet the perfect family (although mine comes close, snort). Your nieces sound like they have a lot going for them. They must take after you:)

    Susanne



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    1. Yes, that is Addy. Bri actually looks a lot more like me (we have pictures of her at around 5 that looked A LOT like what I looked like at that age...but she is way more gorgeous than I ever was).

      They may take after me, but they also take after my sister and brother in-law, who are not only both smart, creative, very cool people, but great parents to boot.

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  2. Great pics and I'm glad you got to spend time with your family. And your niece Addy looks a lot like you.

    Yay for books!

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    1. I'm not sure she looks like me, but boy, are we alike in other ways :-) She's actually a very talented writer, among other things.

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  3. You and your sister look so much alike. And it's so nice to hear about families that like each other when the news is so full of the dysfunctional and hate filled families. Go Team Witchy.

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    1. Well, I'm not saying we're not dysfunctional :-)

      But we do love each other very much, even if we don't often get to spend time together.

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  4. YAY for family time! (Hey, next time you're in "Sun" Diego visiting your parents, if you have time and are interested, let me know? I live in the county, less than a half-hour north of downtown. <3)

    YAYYYY BOOKS! XD D'awww Elysia will love the magnet book. Can't quite read the titles of the middle and right-hand books (the cupped hands and the fairy one). Heh, this is me being nosy. \o/

    Addy's black and white outfit is GORGEOUS. And I love that jacket.

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    1. Unfortunately, on the rare occasions I get there, I am only there for a couple of days at most.

      The middle book was an anthology of modern fairy tales, BLACK THORN, WHITE ROSE, edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling. That's the one with the cupped hands. And the other was Patricia McKillip's THE BARDS OF BONE PLAIN, which I've read, but didn't own.

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    2. Awww. Fully understandable, though! I'll wave from where I am if I know you're in town next time, how's that? ^__^

      Ah, nice! I'll have to check those out. Thanks!

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