Super Bowl XLIII Edition

This week end people here in the US are enthusiastic about the Super Bowl (American football). They call it the biggest day in sports, I don't know about that, but for sure it is a big event. It takes place on Sunday in Tampa, Florida. There are all kinds of tailgate parties with many celebrities who are rushing down there! This year the finalists are the teams from Arizona- the Cardinals and from Pittsburgh, Pa - the Steelers. Last year I was more involved thanks to New York - Giants, who actually won the championship! This year I don't care who's winning, everybody though is betting on Steelers, including Hussein. What I will watch is the half time show featuring Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, the commercials - it is a tradition that during the game to run nice, unique, funny and very expensive commercials (around $3 millions for 30 seconds) - and the festivities at the end of the game, including the famous Gatorade bath! Coni probably not even that , because on Saturday evening, he intends to go to a club in Queens with 3 other guys to play tennis, from 8pm to 1am, and by the time when he'll be back, around 3am, Australian Open will be starting. Because of time zone, here the hour is very odd +16 hour(with Romania there are +7). The match between Nadal and Federer will be a good one and it's worth the effort, though ! So, after such an eventful night he will be slipping all Sunday long.
Corina and Kevin are watching the game from their place. They are not going anywhere either - next day, on Monday morning they go back to work and for sure the game will run late. Besides they were partying on Saturday! So this Sunday everybody is lazy, in spite of the weather which will be nice for the first time this year .
PS - posted Feb 2 : Steelers won the Super Bowl and Rafa Nadal for whom I was rooting , won the Australian Open. Congratulations !
Bruce Springsteen was OK , I liked especially the end song "Glory Days"-brought back nice memories of my glory days!
The commercials were pretty lame - Snow Globe, a Doritos chips commercial was voted #1 - Corina liked it; I liked a more traditional one, Pepsi's Forever Young commercial featuring Bob Dylan.

To Kevin

"Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday dear Kevin
Happy birthday to you"...

Imagine I and Coni singing it to you! Are you laughing yet? No way we will do such a thing , but we will drink a glass of wine to your health!

By the way, you share the day with the late actor Paul Newman and Ellen DeGeneris and also with the former Romanian dictator, Nicolae Ceausescu (he would've been 91 years old).

So Kevin, Happy b-day once again!!!

Chinese New Year

Today starts the Year of Ox , a year which will bring you luck in love and work. But not all the signs are the same. According to Chinese horoscope overview, the best prospects in this year will be for the Snake (that is Corina) with 10 favorable and 2 neutral months, followed by the Rooster (Adi) the same. The Ox (Kevin) is in the middle, with 3 favorable, 5 neutral and 4 unfavorable month. Coni is a Dragon with 3 favorable , 4 neutral , 5 unfavorable months. For mama and I, a Goat (5 neutral and 7 unfavorable) this year will be not as favorable as we desire. But what's new... at least for me! I wonder what year will be a good one so I can look forward to it!!!
PS: My horoscope also says that I should watch what I eat towards living a healthier life, so my decision to start Sensa program it's right on the money!

Sensa

If you remember, my New Year's resolution was to lose weight. January is not over yet and I already fell of the wagon. I decided that I need help, my will power is not enough. So, I looked around and I found Sensa. It is a new weight loss system, all natural with no stimulants or diuretics. It works solely with your sense of smell. Smell has a profound influence on taste, and taste has an influence on appetite. Sensa works with the body's natural responses, triggering its own appetite control system. It is a white powder and comes packaged in a shaker, one for salty foods and one for the sweets. Just sprinkle Sensa on everything you eat to effectively curb your appetite and lose weight without feeling deprived. It makes sense and looks like something I could stick with. I intend to follow this diet for six months and I will post my results from time to time. And the price... $75 for two months , so for six months, times three - $225. It's worth it if I will have results and get rid of all the extra pounds once and for all !!!!! Wish me luck...

Hi Adi !

In cinstea inaugurarii noului presedinte USA , asata seara, Empire State Building este luminat in culorile steagului american: rosu , alb si albastru. Nu vreau sa insist asupra inaugurarii somptuase cu mult pump si de prost gust , sunt sigura ca a-ti vazut-o si voi la televiziunea romana . Am sa mentionez insa ce diferenta si contrast intre aroganta lui Hussein si modestia si bunul simt al lui Bush ! Sper ca americanii stiu in ce s-au bagat si ca nu-si vor regreta votul . Coni a fost invitat la o petrecere data cu aceasta ocazie. A fost singur , I couldn't stomach it.....

Churrascaria

The party from left to right: Cristi, Stefan, Arthur, Claudia, Dacia(Arthur's wife), Doina(Cristi's wife), and Coni(if you don't know by now - my husband) and I, the photographer(of course not in the picture)

Churascaria is the name of a chain of Brazilian restaurants all you can eat type. They have a very assorted buffet of side dishes but you want to go easy on them, although the temptation is big (they are very tasty) and that because of the meat! It comes served on huge skewers right of the grill - all kinds : pork, lamb, beef etc - never ending supply of interesting meats!!! First time that we came accustom with this restaurant was a couple of years ago in Chicago and since then we went on different occasions including Corina's 30th b-day. Yesterday we were invited to a party at the one in Green Field . It was nice, like among friends, although at a point I had a shouting match with Arthur(one of the friends - see the picture above), of course about politics! We never had such problems and it came to me as a surprise, especially that usually he is pretty reasonable . Last night unfortunately, he was impossible and completly wrong! In the end we kissed and apologized to each other and to the rest of our party and planned to go together on a ski trip. Nothing more to say!

Professional Bull Riders

You won't believe where we were last night ! Oh, yea.. at a rodeo ... not somewhere in south, but here in NYC at Madison Square Garden. We had great seats right in front of the action, in Delta Airline' s suite (some friends gave us the invitations) So, it was an interesting evening with all the glitz and sound effects, nice music, bulls and macho cowboys . Even the National Anthem was sung at the beginning of the show...only Borat was missing ! ... I don't know why but bull riding is known as the "toughest sport on dirt". OK , maybe because the riders are up on the back of the bull for only 8 seconds , and that for the best of them - others for less than 2 sec.!!!! -the rest of the time they are down on dirt running not to be caught by the bull !!!! Funny....

To promote bucking, a thick flank strap is pulled around a bull's abdomen to squeeze the genital area - ouch.... I didn't know that !!!

Atlantic City

Bally's Wild Wild West ....On Saturday we went to Atlantic City again . After a stroll on the Boardwalk (5 miles in its entire length ) we decided to stop at Wild Wild West Casino . It was fun . See a couple of pictures from indoors and outdoors of the casino !!!

A picture near a cactus ...

...and the Sheriff's office !

2009

NEW YEAR , NEW YOU ! What is your New Year's resolution ? Mine you know it by now : losing weight -eating healthy and stay fit !!!