Video iChat is a beautiful thing

I have been watching my friend Martha's baby grow each week. I love to see her face change over time. She has moved from rugrat to crawler to furniture cruiser and will be walking alone soon! Her mom and I have Macs with video cameras and use iChat to check in with each other. Martha lives in Hawaii! Alessa knows me through her mom's computer screen. Sometimes I put my laptop on the floor so our dogs can say hi. We carry our laptops around and share items we just bought or what flowers have just bloomed. So dang COOL!

Now we need to get Sean and Em's computer hooked up so I can watch Holland too!

Here is Holland at about 3 weeks.

Holland has finally arrived...

Here he is, long awaited, highly anticipated and everything we hoped for. Holland Christopher Bowman.
Born May 30th 6 lbs 12 oz. 19.25 inches long. Brown perhaps curly hair. Sweet natured with already a certain tenacity.
Can't wait to watch him grow...

I'm glad he lost the pencil thin moustache...

Little baby Holland is preparing for launch....

Yippeeee!

Emily just left the doc's office and it appears that my little double-Dutch grandson is prepping for his arrival!!
Holland weighs well over 6 lbs now. Emily is 2 centimeters and 70% effaced. It could be days still but the process has definitely begun.
Wow!!

He looks a lot like both Sean and Em in his 3D ultrasound image. Sean's chin, Em's nose. No clue about the pencil-thin moustache though...

Oma Jill
(Gramma in Dutch)

Last weekend

Santa Cruz was really brilliant last weekend. Took Bob for his first run on the Giant Dipper. Still a hoot after all these years and Bob screamed like a kid! Obligatory corn dogs and lemon aid were appreciated but more for the sake of tradition than taste. AND caught a side show of Chinese Acrobats and High Diving pirates.

If you get to the area near the old Rio theater soon, you MUST check out the new Indonesian restaurant called Batik Cafe. They specialize in Sumatran flavors but there are lots of familiar flavors. Everything was perfectly seasoned. Don't miss it! Off off Seabright and Soquel.

Had a nice evening bike ride from Dina's house in Pleasure Point out to the Capitola Wharf where a jazz band was jammin on the roof top cafe there.

Saw Lord J and Shama Mama after way too much time. So nice to see them together! Met up with a couple of their RW&B beach buddies.

Good friends, good music, great FOOD! Perfect weekend!

StillJill

Blogity blah...

Hey everyone,

Just got back from So Ca where although the sun was shining, the cloud of dust-smog kicked up by the Santa Ana's leave me coughing and choking three days later. Wow! Glad to be back in the north where I can breathe a little easier. I'm thinking the spring winds down there are stirring up the soot and ashy bits left over from last years McMansion BBQ! Just a theory... Bob is feeding me whiskey and maple syrup to ease my sore throat or maybe he is just trying to get me drunk...

Anyway, I got to see my daughter Cheli who introduced me to the world of PINK BERRY! YUM! We need one of these trendy yougurt parlors up here. Their yogurts are tangy like traditional yogurt not sweet like ice cream and they come in green tea and coffee flavors with toppings like fresh berries or mango or kiwi. Good stuff!

Emily has moved out of the house making me an official "empty nester". Although I sincerely hate this term. I am not some pouting piece of poultry, I am feeling that this is the beginning of something really good!

Also just set up a tribe for my HUGE extended Dutch Indonesian family called "Vons Rock!" Our grandfather's name was Adelbertus Von Stockhausen. The photos being posted of my family in Indonesia from the 1930s are just amazing.

Love to all!

Jill

A little food for the spirit awakening within us...

I'm getting that feeling again, the warm and fuzzy one as I begin to anticipate going home to the Playa. I feel the desert sun, hear the beat of the Deep End... Then the innate planning side of my brain starts to send me little nudges to start stocking up on jello and booze and batteries, sort through the gear and feeling the familiar silt on my fingers. I start to wonder what I can contribute this year. Today I found one man's story. If you have not read this be sure to:



I arrived in Black Rock City many years ago dazed and confused. I started wandering around checking out the art and the life, but my enthusiasm waned because I was starting to feel overwhelmed and a bit ashamed. What if all these people knew that I couldn't even draw a stick figure or hammer a nail? They would throw me out, label me a spectator, and most importantly, cut me off from this vibrant community that I was growing to love. Surely this open-to-all community didn't mean to make me feel ill at ease? In the end, it sort of worked itself out over time. The community pushed and pulled at me over the years until finally I crawled out of my shell and did something I had never done before. I did something that I really enjoyed, and I did something that other people liked a lot.

More... at
www.burningman.com/particip..._man.html

Testing 1 2 3...

Emily is 18! And I'm still standing!

So if new parents get Bonding leave when they have a new baby, shouldn't I receive an equal Unbonding Break? After all, I've actually completed the work they only look ahead to.

I am a loud and proud single-parent veteran of 18 years of one-eyed sleep, chicken pox/nuggets, projectile vomiting, inhuman day-care overtime rates, angst-ridden, hormone driven teenage insanity, anger mismanagement, substance experimentation, house thrashing parties and I am still standing!

Happy Birthday to Emily. Congratulations to ME!

StillJill

Hip n happy holidays my loveys!

What a mad month it's been!
Just a few more white knuckled road trips to the mall and I'll have fullfilled all the wishes on my list.
Between, finals and job interviews there's been no time for actual Christmas cards so instead here are a few of my favorite things brought to you via browser.

Boys in blue tutus, with sexy smile flashes,
Playa talc tickling my nose and eye lashes,
Silver white winters that melt into spring,
These are a few of my favorite things....

www.virtualparks.org/parks/c...ist.html

www.wikihow.com/Get-Rid-of-Junk-Mail

www.zillow.com/myzillow/F...C896BF074BA

www.tiffany.com/

www.moveon.org/

Happy holidays loveys! 2007 is going to be an incredible time!
May each month bring you love and joy and fun!

Love and kisses. Mwah!!

Waiting for the other shoe to drop...

My group at Intel will find out which heads will roll next week. Ah well, we'll see... I've spent the last week or so thinking about what I'd do if I get the option to stay and look for another position or hit the road. I have to say a smile comes to my lips when I think of opting out. Maybe I could follow Anna to India or spend some quality snorkeling time with Martha in Kona... I would definitely head south to spend more time with Bob and Cheli. Maybe create some art or write another book???

Any great ideas out there?