My baby in China

Max recently participated in a People to People ambassador program taking him to various parts of China.  He visited Beijing, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Wuzhen and Donghi Village.  It was an amazing trip for him; one that taught him about the absurdity of stereotypes, one that highlighted his social skills and one that presented him with a view of life much different than his reality.

Here are a few photos of those experiences:

Max in Tiananmen Square

New friends

Max on the Great wall

Which Terra Cotta Warrior doesn't belong?

Karate Master Max

Delegates from the states

RSVP Means Respond Please!

Can someone explain to me what part of RSVP is so difficult to understand?  The letters come from the french expression "respondez s'il vous plait" or in plain English "please respond".  That means as the receiver of that invitation you must contact the host/hostess and note if you are attending or if you are not attending.  It does not mean sit on your ass and do nothing.

I am throwing a surprise party (more to come on this in later blog post) and I was careful to send out the invites 5 weeks in advance of the date.  Clearly I asked for an RSVP.  I was even considerate enough to offer a phone number and an email for my guest's convenience.  And guess what?  The day before the RSVP date, I have one...yes one...response out of the 50 people invited.  Are you kidding me?

What this means is that I have to call all these people to see if they are attending. It means I have to find phone numbers and schedule time to make these calls.   It means I have to delay responding to the caterer on food and drink order.  It means I have to delay my respond to the venue on how to set up tables.  It means a giant headache when I am trying to do a nice thing.

Therefore, if you are a person who feels he/she is beyond RSVP, let me assure you that you are being rude and difficult.  Call your host/hostess when you are invited to an event and RSVP! If you honestly did not know what RSVP meant, well I have educated you.

Definition of Thoughtfulness

My husband is a very generous and thoughtful man.  He has an exceptional talent for getting the perfect gifts for the people he cares about.  This year for my birthday, he epitomized the word thoughtful.

For several weeks before my birthday, he kept telling me that he has finally gotten me something that I am always bugging him for.  It's not too expensive and it is not jewelry, so I really had not idea.  At first I thought those Christian Louboutin shoes..no he said that was superficial, then I thought a new fur coat...no he said that was redundant.  I started wondering what stupid thing I brought up that I was no longer interested in.  I know it is shocking but I may sometimes have a short attention span.

Well he did it.  He bought me tickets to see Madame Butterfly at the Metropolitan Opera House in NYC.  You may be saying, so what?  Let me explain why this is so thoughtful.  Matty and I started our love of opera together when we lived in Detroit.  Before each opera, we would buy the CD and listen to it prior to attending the performance.  Every time we travel, we try to get opera tickets.

Since we have started seeing opera, I have begged him to get tickets to the Met.  We tried on several occasions and each time, our timing was off.  Either they were sold out or we just couldn't coordinate it.   Every time we go to the Regal theaters and see that advertisement for Opera at the Met on the live screen,  I gently punch him and complain that the Met will go bankrupt before I get there.

So the first weekend of December we will be flying to NYC to see my favorite opera at the most desirable venue.  We have hotel and dining plans to add to this winter escape to NY.  Best of all, my husband also purchased a ticket for Max.  He knew that I would want to expose Max to the joy of opera - even though Max is not nearly as thrilled.

Matty worked on getting these tickets for months.  Three fabulous seats for a Saturday night performance.  I could not be more excited.  Can you find a better definition of thoughtful? How ever will I find a comparable gift for his Sept. birthday?