drawing a line in the sand

Today Sal and I headed to our local beach to participate in a (peaceful) protest of offshore oil drilling, and to promote the pressing need for clean & green! energy sources. All in the name of protecting wildlife, our coastlines, the environment.

The event, Hands Across The Sand, was held today at 750 beaches worldwide!! Isn't that awesome? About 200 of us gathered here on Delray Beach, lined up hand-in-hand for 15 minutes, drawing a symbolic "line in the sand" against offshore oil drilling. Sal and I have always been proponents of renewable energy ... wind, solar, hydroelectric, etc. ... and in light of the current horrific oil disaster unfolding in the Gulf of Mexico, we felt especially compelled to join in today's event.

We stayed afterwards to splash in the waves and revel in the beauty of our (still oil-free) beach.

Hope you too are enjoying some of summer's pleasures this weekend!

it's a special day for Ruth & Paul !!

Today Sal's brother, Paul, and his wife, Ruth, are celebrating their 15th wedding anniversary!

CONGRATULATIONS !!!

We wish you a fun day filled with romance! :-)

Love,
Susan, Sal, Buddy & Aruba

happy Father's Day!

(Sorry for the belated wishes, but Blogger was giving me trouble this morning, ugh!)

Wishing all the dads out there a fun and relaxing Father's Day! Including mine!

And Buddy & Aruba send a special Father's Day "woof" to "Grandpa"!

Love,
Susan, Sal, Buddy & Aruba

anniversary in paradise

(photo credit: Maui Visitor Bureau)

OK, I'm so excited that I can hardly type !!!

I have such fun news to share !!!

This summer, Sal and I will be celebrating our 20th wedding anniversary. Already??? Yep! And we've been giving some thought to how we want to mark the big occasion ... it has to be something romantic, of course! And then, voila!, just like that, it became apparent ... because Sal was invited to present his amazing research at a chemistry conference later this year in ... [drumroll please!] ... HAWAII !!! {gasp}

So we've decided to extend our stay and celebrate our special milestone anniversary in Maui, which to me is perhaps one of the most romantic places on earth! Sunsets, leis, hula dancing, tiki torches, gorgeous scenery ... OMG I'm busting with DELIGHT !! The timing is so incredibly perfect.

I love, love, love Hawaii ... we've been there before but still have more to explore. Always the traveler, never the tourist, LOL. It's a magical place, and has cast a spell over me. Our trip is still many months away but already I am GIDDY with anticipation!

And to the chemists who chose Hawaii as the conference venue --- may I hug you?

Aloha,

wildlife + oil = heartbreak

I can hardly stand to watch the oil spill news reports anymore!

My heart BREAKS seeing the images of the helpless wildlife stuggling in the oily goop that's washing up on Gulf shores! Here are just a few (photo credits: AP Photographer Charlie Riedel & Boston.com):

OMG, right?

I feel as helpless as these birds look.

But there is something we can do to help protect against future oil disasters. On June 26, there will be a Hands Across The Sand event held nationwide (and not just in coastal states!). Sal and I will be participating right here on our own Delray Beach! A human chain will be formed along the beach, concerned citizens hand-in-hand ... a metaphorical barrier to more offshore oil drilling. Let's send a message about the importance of clean, renewable energy ... our coastlines and wildlife depend on it!

Here's a scene from the event held back in February along a beach in Florida's panhandle, which is IRONICALLY now cleaning oil from the Gulf spill off its beautiful beaches:

Please consider "joining hands" with me and Sal later this month at a H.A.T.S. event near you!

ahhhh..... that new car smell

After a week of comparison shopping and haggling with dealers, we finally decided on the car we want (actually, it's Sal's car ... but he let me choose the color! ... how sweet, right?).

Yesterday we drove off the lot in a shiny new 2010 Mazda 3 in gorgeous "gunmetal blue"! Loving it so far! We were looking for a good value ... safe, fuel-efficient, with a cool look and some fun features, but not too expen$ive (we're not letting a vehicle mess with our travel budget!). We found all that in the Mazda 3.

My dealbreaker was a sunroof (hey, this is Florida people!) ... no hole in the roof to let in the sunshine, no sale! So that eliminated some models from the get-go. And Sal wanted handsfree Bluetooth/mp3 gadgetry. It made me SO happy to watch him and the salesman get the car programmed ... now Sal can listen to the audiobooks that are on his iPod, right thru his car's Bose 10-speaker sound system, whoa! Sal totally deserves it ... he works so hard, he's such a dedicated professor and researcher. Enjoy sweetheart, and safe travels!

It was sad to say goodbye to Sal's Jetta ... it was with us for 10 years of road trips and memories. Funny how cars are almost like a member of the family, right?

Today Buddy & Aruba want to test drive our new ride. So we're all going to Sonic ... of course! :-)

zoom zoom!

a new month, and a new chapter

Hey there & happy June!

Today is a NEW beginning for me! It's my first day at a NEW job ... working with Sal in his research lab! My contract paperwork was finalized today. I'll be a technician, of sorts, helping him, his PhD students, and his postdoctoral researchers with all sorts of things. You name it!

First order of business will be to review and update the lab's hurricane preparedness plan. Fitting, since today's the official start of hurricane season. Eeek! We Floridians don't even want to consider the possibility of a storm! :-(

Aside from that, there are a whole host of things that I'll be working on, streamlining day-to-day lab operations ... ordering chemicals, budgeting research grant funds, updating Sal's website design (I think it needs more bells & whistles, LOL), coordinating equipment repairs, etc etc etc.

Sal can really use the help, he's swamped, and I'm uniquely qualified to do it. All those years as an engineer and then running a chemical company for a few years thereafter were certainly great prep for this!

Looking forward to working with you, Sal !!! As always, we'll make a great team! :-)