I Love That Dirty Water

Yeah.....This is my 2013 X-Mas card. 

"Peace and blessings, 

Love, Candy and Tommy."

It turned out to be a "wikid pissa" Boston weekend, but I didn't intend it to be:

• Celts playoff game Friday night in the sky box. The Celts looked AWFUL, and I'm telling you they were awful from the opening tip off. We knew early on it wasn't going to be a great night for the Boston ballers. Up in Luxury Suite land, the walls are lined with a mini museum with all kinds of Boston Sports memorabilia. While I was walking around I spotted My Tommy all alone and I seized the moment for a photo op. *sigh* I love that photo. It made the Friday night loss to the Knicks hurt a lot less. 
• Sox game on Sunday in My Guy's new season tickets. LOVED the new tickets and LOVED the game. Sox won and ended up sweeping Houston and are sporting the best record in baseball right now. 
• Never one to miss out on a fabulous retail opportunity, I bought awesome Celts gear on Friday night and a killer Pats t-shirt and Red Sox hat on Sunday. I bought them from the BEST BRAND FOR TEAM GEAR ever. Super cute and sexy, and the quality is amazing.  
• Then last night, I attended a local fund raiser for Boston's One Fund. The party, held at a local restaurant called Tempo, did an amazing job! The staff, the food, the silent auction items, the raffles and the entire evening was so well done. They had a band playing and passed hors d'oeuvre's and the guests were feeling festive. I have no idea how well they did, but I know they raised a lot. It goes to the injured people in the marathon bombings to help with medical costs and funding. Right now it's a cause we can all get behind.
• The icing on the cake was a win by the Celts and another day to live in the NBA playoffs. I think I love all of my Boston teams equally, but I'm rooting passionately for the Celts right now. Saying for sure which team I like better would be like choosing a favorite child which would never happen and just not realistic. But one thing is for sure:

We all know who my heart belongs to....*sigh*

My Brother Is Iron Man

Happy Friday Bloggers!

So, I told you a long time ago, that my brother was Iron Man, right? Today  I thought I'd post a little Iron Man T&A for the sexy people out there and ask you to go see my brother's new movie.

Iron Man 3 premiered last night and Gweneth KILLED it in this dress. She single handedly coined the new fashion term, "side ass". No wonder she is People Magazine's newly crowned "Most Beautiful Woman".

You go girl!

Have a great weekend bloggers and try to be the superhero in your loved one's lives this weekend!

Creature Comforts

While reading New York Magazine, I spotted these incredible homes that were converted from the most unimaginable things.

This one? Was once a Stable:

The front entrance has a minimalistic beauty unmistakably unique.

The view from the street.

The family/living room has a coffee table fashioned from recycled bowling alley wood.

This is amazing. This was once a cathedral.

Gorgeous family room. Check out the choir loft over a wet bar.

Is this what heaven looks like? I'm loving the stained glass windows.

A peaceful space for a kitchen.

This one isn't a tree house for a kid:

A peaceful shangrila in the master of this tree house. 

Party any one?

Sometimes its nice to envision a life lived in the unconventional. Don't cha agree?

Witty Wednesday

This is me in a million years......well, maybe not a million.

Facial Recognition

The beauty industry attracts people of all shapes and sizes. Women especially understand our society's obsession with physical beauty and maintaining it. We bond over shared beauty secrets and covet the latest, greatest beauty treatments. Beauty is something I love, and I share that love with my clients every day. Each woman, unique in their specific concerns and needs. It's a matter of trust I share with these women. A mutual respect for my expertise and the effectiveness of the products I recommend and the women who buy them. I take that relationship very seriously. Women are the biggest part of the formula for my success.

So I was quite struck by the interesting article I read this morning about the mother of both accused Boston Marathon Bombers, Zubeiat Tsarnaeva.

Zubeiat Tsarnaeva is a licensed aesthetician in MA, who worked from her 3rd floor familial apartment on Norfolk Street in Cambridge. Two of her longtime clients, Anne and Alyssa Kilzer of Belmont gave the Boston Herald's Margery Eagan an interesting glimpse inside the family. Both mother and daughter were said to have been to the Cambridge apartment many, many times in the six years Zubeiat Tsarnaeva gave them facials. Daughter Alyssa found it hard not to refute the media claims of no one seeing "extremism or radicalism" in Bombing suspect #2, younger brother Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.

Incredibly, Alyssa claimed to have seen signs of radical extremism in their mother:

"At one appointment, Tsarnaeva “started quoting a conspiracy theory, telling me how she thought 9/11 was purposely created by the American government to make Americans hate Muslims,” Alyssa 23, wrote on her blog of her visits to the apartment."

“I have to say I felt kind of scared and vulnerable when she said this, as I am distinctly American, and was lying practically naked in her living room.”

There has been lots of speculation in the media as to who or whom "radicalized" these brothers, who spent nearly all of their lives growing up Americans in Cambridge. There are those who question the Muslim community in Boston. Those who question the Internet influence; social media radical extremist groups and YouTube, and those who question the motives behind older brother Tamerlan's six month visit to Russia in the beginning of 2012. But the picture painted by Alyssa and her mother Anne is quite interesting, indeed. 

Mother Anne talked about the immaculately clean apartment that Zubieat kept and about the time she and her daughters spent in close proximity with other family members. Zubieat, she said,  would work on the mother and daughter in the living room while other Tsarnaev family members, who would sometimes argue, were in other rooms. Anne recalled her as "proud" and a "mother who worked hard and seemed close to her children." Anne Kilzer was one of the many who called police after recognizing the photo of the Tsarnaev brothers the FBI posted in the media in hopes of finding them.

She explained that 19 yr old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev presented himself as "helpful to his mother" and family and daughter Alyssa wrote:

"Alyssa also stated that Tsarnaeva’s two daughters, one about 18, were both in arranged marriages. When one daughter brought her baby home, Dzhokhar would look after the boy.

Sometimes, on congested Norfolk Street, he would also go down to put the visitor-parking pass on her car window."

“Yes” she said, “I gave him my car keys.”

"Once Tsarnaeva took the parking pass out but “first put on a hijab,” 
Alyssa wrote, as she’d 
become increasingly religious mentioning Allah and
 the Koran between confessions of worry and
 arguments involving her older son, Tamerlan."

Does this new information lend to the evidence that those boys were taught religious extremism at home? It very well could be, but it  also very well could be that the brothers taught their mother that same religious extremism at home too. I'm not accusing anyone of anything here, but what I am saying is this:

A lot of the answers to all of the questions somehow must lie inside that 3rd floor apartment and the people who live there on Nolfolk Street in Cambridge.

Good Stuff Cheap

When I was a kid my mom used to drag us, (and I mean drag us) to a discount department store chain around these parts called Building 19. The 11 stores, located in MA, New Hampshire and Rhode Island are housed inside a huge warehouse. The basis of Building 19's business plan is an off priced buyout chain. Department store castoffs, clearance items, and inventory other department stores deem, "dead" or "un-sell-able", soon become a major player in Building 19's sales plan . Dirty, dusty and crappy are the three adjectives that come to me  off the top of my head, and the store's famous slogan is and has always been "Good stuff Cheap". Building 19 always had a sense of humor about their stores, and off color jokes can be found on handwritten on posters on the cement walls.

Needless to say the joint is a junk pile, but one that I remember spending a bit of time in as a kid. My mom loved it! Having 5 kids, the endless rows of books, toys, tools, clothes, and any other kind of junk you can think of appealed to my mom. Plus, when we got there, we would disperse from my mom and traipse all over the place. Looking back now she was brilliant. In those days, you could let your kids run rampant through a department store and she got a much needed break from us with some retail therapy as a bonus.

Yesterday my mom and I went back in time and went to Building 19 together.

It was the same old dirty junk pile that I remember but this time I was a woman with a wallet and a different out look on their junk. My mom and I split up, some things never change, and I ended up getting a few great bargains. Tommy Bahama irregular t-shirts (that hardly looked irregular) were $6.99 ea. I buy those t-shirts for My Guy quite often and they retail for $49.99 and up. I bought six at the discounted price of $6.99 which is less than the retail price of one. I found boxes and boxes of greeting cards. While I had to sift through them, I managed to buy all of my mother's day cards for both mothers, grandmothers and several hilarious random birthday cards for .33 cents each! A real bargain there, because now a days cards are expensive.

I proceeded to find funky, cheap readers for $1.99, (cuz remember I told you I'm blind) and generic name zip lock freezer and sandwich bags for a few dollars. I was quite conscious of price, because when you are shopping for a bargain you want to be able to brag about it, but as I proceeded through the store I found that all their good stuff wasn't so cheap. Or not as cheap as I remember. I'm thinking it may have something to do with the down economy, and that vendors and department stores are unable to take huge losses on overstock like they once used to.

In any case I manged to do my part to support Building 19. I ended up with a several bags full of junk, for a grand total of $55.49. None of it, I really needed, but it afforded me an opportunity to bond with my mom doing something we have always done. Shop till we drop.

Gotta love "good stuff cheap".

I Am Boston

The Daily Dandy is back up!
Due to a password error, Google locked me out of my account.

And of all days???

Things here in Massachusetts today are best described as "intense".
I awoke to police warning residents of a community no more than 10 miles from my home, to "stay indoors". I posted on Facebook at 10;30 this am:

""The Commonwealth watches and waits" We are literally witnessing the largest police operation in the state's history in real time. I am unable to walk away from my TV , not quite sure if life should go on as usual just outside my front door. The threat so real, the communities are under lock down no more than 10 miles around me."


Today we are all Boston.

• My high school and college friends continue to text. 
• My family, we have been keeping tight grip on each other. 
• My blogger friends reach out via Facebook to make sure I am ok.

Today I am Boston:

• I am the mother of a daughter named Crystal: 29 year old Krystle Campbell.
• I am a Boston University graduate student; class of 2000: Lu Lingzi age 23, BU graduate student.
• I am the the mother of a young man who was once an 8 year old boy: Martin Richard of Dorchester.

May their innocent souls rest in peace.

At 2:07 pm, April 19th, 2013,I sit in my store and I wait, watch and listen to the TV news. Unable to do anything to help.

Just a witness to a bizarre piece of history.

Changing Course

I've got to change course and talk about something else....

So forgive me, but I thought I'd change it up quite a bit. Today I want to talk about the newest beauty craze-
Tit-tooing.

You heard me right, TIT-TOOING, and it's all the rage. I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't read about it for myself. Now "tittooing" is nothing like the picture above. No, this latest beauty craze comes out of the UK and it's not about pictures on boobs."Tittooing" is about  the tattooing on or around the nipple to darken the areola or re-shape the nipple. And get this: some people think their nipples are too pink.?

"A lot of people want their nipples made darker. It’s the fashion," says Gail Proudman, a clinician who performs the procedure. "Some people think theirs are too pink or their boyfriends want them done. I think sometimes they are doing it because they are conscious of them being pale and they think it’s fashionable to have dark nipples."

Since when did nipples become "fashionable"?

The entire procedure takes about two hours to perform and touch ups are needed every 12-18 months to avoid fading. Prices have been quoted at 1,200 British Pounds for a full set, which according to today's calculations is about $1827.60 USD. A real bargain.

I have to wonder how safe it all is?

I guess it all comes down to the youth in our culture being obsessed with perfection. I'm all for doing a safe procedure if you can afford it and it makes you feel good. But the last time I checked, unless your job description listed "porn star" a woman's nipples were kept mostly under wraps. Or bras. Or shirts for that matter. I'm not sure what this says about the direction of the youth of our world.

One thing's for sure, I'd file this one under titty torture.

Beloved Boston

I wasn't there.

Neither my kids nor my husband were there. We were all safe.

She in NYC, is the one who alerted me of the events via text. He, safe on the golf course with my dad, 70 miles away from the war zone. My husband ensconced safely at his desk and I, enjoying a rare day off with my mom.

I wasn't there, but I could have easily been there like I had so many years before.
I can only share with you how most of us Bostonian who live here felt when the first waves of info came in:

It was 3:15, and I'm shopping at Neiman Marcus in a local suburb. Frick texted me. It read, "Mom, did a bomb go off at the marathon?" "Are u there?" "No."I replied." H/O"

I stopped, and searched the web on my iPhone. I googled Boston Marathon 2013. Nothing. I searched some more nothing. I then searched "bomb at Boston Marathon." I found the footage. I clicked on to the raw video and heard the news that a bomb had gone off at the finish line of the Boston Marathon. The report  said it was a, "horrific scene". It went on to describe bloodied streets and loss of limbs and I immediately went into safety mode. I started mentally checking off my family members.

That's what everyone that lives here did.

The first text was sent to my best friend. She lives in Boston and is an avid runner. I knew the answer before I finished typing the text, so I immediately placed a call to her seconds after I pressed the send button. I couldn't wait. She answered, "I'm ok." She was crying.
"Thank God," I said. "Were you there?"

"Can," she said between sobs. "I was right there. I had just decided that it was getting cold and that I had shit to do and that it was time to go home." "I felt the blast behind me and turned to see the smoke."
I was so glad she was ok. So glad she was safe. So shocked that she had been so close. She hadn't even called her mom. I let her go, telling her I loved her and to call her mom.

Then I went over the familial list:
I come from a large family and the majority of us are 20-50. Prime Marathon viewing years. The texts began furiously. While I was walking through the store, word got out and people everywhere could be seen either talking on their smartphones or looking at their smartphones. I drove home because no one really wanted to NOT be in front of a TV at this point and we listened to Boston Sports radio, which turned into news talk on the ride home. It was an uneasy next few hours as we awaited word on the family safety. It wasn't until 6:15 that we knew for sure that both my 26 immediate family members were ok and my husband's 11 members were safe. We were lucky.

Then the worst news of all came.

3 people had died and one of them an 8 yr old boy.

Hundreds of people had been injured. It was worse than we could have imagined. I felt at that moment that life had changed.

We were glued to the TV for the rest of the night as I'm sure you were too.

Trying to make the best of a horrid day which was no happy holiday after all.

Happy Holiday

Today is holiday in Massachusetts! It's Patriots day and it's a nice little break for us in early spring.

Patriots Day is a civic holiday that commemorates the anniversary of the first battles of the Revolutionary war; the Battles of Lexington and Concord. It is alway on the third Monday of April and the battles are re- enacted in both Lexington, MA, at the Lexington Green, and Concord, MA at the Old North Bridge. Hundreds of Militia groups gather to enjoy the re-enactment of the battles and play war games.

It's also the 117th running of the Boston Marathon, or "Marathon Monday". The 26.2 mile marathon which begins at 9: 35 AM and goes in waves till the last group runs off about 10:40 AM. For me? It's a forced holiday. The famous marathon runs right in front of The Candy Bar  in Wellesley, and closes things down in the town for most of the day. The streets surrounding Wellesley are blocked and there is only foot traffic allowed. It's not a great retail environment, so we all shut down for the day. The weather is not cooperating either. The chilly 43 degree weather will keep the spectators to a minimum.

A traditional Red Sox/Tampa Bay matinee at Fenway rounds out the Patriot's Day events  making us a bustling HUB of activity. I am going to make the most of a rare Monday off and do a few things I never get to do, like cook and clean and go to the supermarket. (seriously, I really just said that)

Happy Monday Bloggers!
I hope yours is a good one too.

Candy's Weekly Wank

"You've just had your twelfth baby miss. What are you going to name this one?"

"Phil"

"But you named the last eleven Phil"

"Yeah its great. I say, "Phil go clean the room", they all go clean their room. I say, "Phil come for dinner", they all come for dinner."

"But what if you only want one of them?"

"Oh! Then I call them by their last name."

I Was Just Thinking: A Cleansing Of The Mind

I did it and I survived!
It was no big deal really, the best part of the one-day Detox cleanse is the way I feel today. Beside a splitting headache at 4am, I would have to say the cleanse was a success. It gives me renewed energy and lots of Mojo. It feels good to clean out the brain and body cobwebs.

Having said that, I was just thinking:

• I'm not sure if it's the one day cleanse or the season, but suddenly I want to clean out EVERYTHING! Purge the crap and make clean, tidy room for new space and new ideas and things. 

• What's all the hub bub about Beyonce and Jay-Z going to Cuba? Are we, Americans. still prohibited from travelling to Cuba, “unless authorized by a general or specific license,”  Bey and Jay were never going to face the possible $250,000.00 fine or 10 year jail sentence that could be imposed by traveling to that specific locale. Reportedly the Treasury department approved the trip as an "educational exchange". Hopefully that exchange is about music education.

• When I was in graduate school, we were required to read all three newspapers daily; The Boston Globe, The Boston Herald and The New York Times. I will never forget being lambasted, in front of my classmates,  for naming the Herald as my go to new source in class. "Your tastes in journalistic content leave much to be desired,"scolded my professor, to which my peers seemed to laugh and point their fingers. Well, some 12 years later who has egg on their face now???  The Boston Herald was just voted one of the Unites States "Ten papers who do it right" by Editor and Publisher magazine. Not that I 'm gloating, (but I am), the Herald is not only thriving but  expanding. While the Boston Globe faces extinction,  ironically now owned by the New York Times. Not me, no egg here. 

• Frack has entered into the dating game. I couldn't be more thrilled for him. He has been invited to dinner with his gal pal's family tonite and he's looking forward to it. She's adorable and I think it's nice at his age to have someone special. They grow up so fast....

De-Toxic

Remember this photo?

This was one of our clues that I shared with you last Thursday regarding the Magical Mystery Tour the Toxic Trio embarked upon this past weekend. The Trio asked what the significance of this photo was, to which a blurry answer was provided. But since we were a wee bit blurry ourselves, we didn't pursue. When trying to recall the significance, I could only come up with the clues; three blue wine glasses and something about three's. That was it. 

Anyway, when we arrived home we were told that the Trio Trip was not complete. There was yet more and a delivery would be coming to our home Tuesday night.
Really? 
I was quite sure my liver would go on strike if there were more, but I anxiously awaited this new development. It was an exciting new surprise, and I thought for sure there was no way to top the weekend.
But this? Turns out, it was far better than anything I could have ever imagined.

Delivered to us, complete with enough for an entire day for both My Guy and I was The Blue Print Cleanse. I couldn't have been more thrilled and more curious. 

The Renovation Cleanse, by Blueprint, is today's complete menu for us and I'm looking forward to food deprivation like I never have before. I've always wanted to try a cleanse, but wasn't exactly sure how to start or where to start. Looks like I need no longer wonder.

The Renovation Cleanse is 6 juice drinks, each 16 oz to be consumed throughout the course of 3 days. The goal is to abstain from solid food and to cleanse your body. Instructions are to space them out as you like, but to stay hydrated with herbal teas and water in between. The only specific instruction is to try to have #6 two hours before bedtime.

So I'm anticipating an interesting day for me today, considering I have never done any type of fast or cleanse before. BUT I LOVE IT!!! I'm excited, and if I make it through today successfully, I just may purchase days 2 and 3 and go for it all. Cuz that's how I roll!

Oh, and incase you were wondering about the picture above and significance of the clue? It was quite brilliant, really. 

Three blue wine glasses- We had three blues:

• Jet Blue
• Fontainebleau
• Blue Print Cleanse

Good luck De-Toxing Trio!

Wiggle It, Just A Little Bit

And the winner is.......Miami's Fontaineblue Hotel and Happy Mommy! 

And it did not disappoint! We arrived Friday afternoon to pouring rain and lots of excitement. Of course a little rain never never held back this group, and we quickly had lunch, unpacked and went down to the lobby to explore our new surroundings. In hindsight, I should have realized that a lobby that has a huge bar, complete with a light up disco floor in the larger portion of the lobby was there for a distinct reason, but in my "just arrived" excitement I hardly noticed.We had a few drinks then went off to the first destination, Mr. Chow in the W Hotel. 

Is everything in Miami a "scene"? I'm not complaining, because I seemed right at home in the nightclub atmosphere of the Asian Fusion  famous chain restaurant. The food was outstanding, the wait staff amazing and the atmosphere was fun and young, but a bit loud for an intimate dinner if that's what you are looking for. But that's not what this group was looking for. This group was ready for a little party. I said little right? 

All of that was fine and well, but the real heartbeat of Miami and our trip was yet to come. We had no idea what we were about to encounter. Now, I had been to Miami before, but I brought the children last time and we enjoyed the famous South Beach in a different way. This time it was from an entirely new perspective. The Fontaineblue has a unique vibe and by unique I mean after dark it turns into something completely UNBELIEVABLE. (Heff and Bama, save your pennies, cuz this place is your kind of vacation!)

After Mr. Chow, we arrived at the front of the Fontaineblue among what looked like lots and lots of young people. Did I mention lots? and we sort of looked at each other like, "What's going on here?" 

WHAT WAS GOING ON? Hundreds, and I'm not kidding you when I say hundreds, of scantily clad young women and men had descended upon the lobby of our hotel. Scantily clad being the operative words here. One young lady was more "naked" than the next and it was then that we decided that this "show" was so much better than anything we would have paid admission for. 

For the next two to three hours, we sat at the lobby bar and had what was the best part of the trip: the people watch. The Fontaineblue has a famous four story night club called LIV and no we didn't go into it, but believe me when I tell you, we didn't need to. The line to get into LIV starts forming early in the evening and never stops. The club opens at 11:30 and closes at 5:30 am, but the real show is what takes place outside the club in the expansive lobby. 

Jiggle and wiggle were jiggling and wiggling all over the place and I'm sure jiggle did not know what wiggle was up to. Boobs, butt and legs were on display in every size, shape, color and creed and even the fat ones looked gorgeous. I swear. It was hilarious and us newbies did not know where to look next. The entertainment was endless. The best part were the dresses..or lack of and the high heels. Judging by the height of the high heels and the length of the dresses, (strategically just above the coochie area, was the average) you would have SWORE there was a stripper convention going on at that hotel, and not the medical convention that was taking place in another part of the hotel. 

That scene was only topped by the scene at the hotel pool the next day. Really, that scene was much better if  I ever believed that could happen. I never have seen more bikini's, boobs and big heels at a beach destination. Skin was a pre-requisite and if you weren't showing lots skin, you were the one who was looking uncomfortable. God bless them, they were out in full force at the pool too. What a scene. 

We saw much more on our ventures up to Ocean Drive. That's where the late great Gianni Versace was brutally murdered on his front steps in 1997. His palatial private residence is now a private club complete with a restaurant, but you can't walk by there without stopping to ponder the sad shame of his untimely murder.  On our trek further down we caught a full on Drag Queen show that was amazing! We didn't even need to go into the bar that was hosting it, this one was right on the street for all to enjoy! Some of the most beautiful transgendered men/women I ever had the pleasure of judging with my applause. It was at The Clevlander, a few crazy blocks down, that we saw first hand the art of naked body painting and pole dancing right on the street!!! In full on view of everyone. The point here is, if you can't beat em', join em', so we sat and had a few jovial cocktails and enjoyed yet another show. 

All in all, the endless skin show was a blast, and the trip a huge success, but the greatest thing of all was the great time spent with great friends. Like the name of the famous night club in the Fontainebleu, it makes you want to LIV your life to the fullest. Miami beach is one of those places that really enjoys life. 

And a life like that is certainly worth living every once in a while.

Magical Mystery Tour

Hey Bloggers!

Today's post is more of a riddle of sorts, and I need your help here to solve the mystery. You see, I'm leaving today on a long weekend with two other couples who are my very good friends. We, the three couples, decided back in January that we would draw numbers out of a hat and that each couple would plan a mystery weekend away for the group.

Tomorrow is start of trip number one.

The only things we know for sure are this:

• We are traveling no more than two hours away from MA.
• We are taking an airplane.
• The destination will host temperatures over 70 degrees F
• Elvis, Frank Sinatra and Goldfinger all have this place in common
• The name of these glasses will tell it all..

Now, by the time you read this, I will be well on my way to the mystery destination...and I won't be returning to the bloggersphere till Tuesday, April 9, 2013. 

As it stands right now, we aren't sure where we are going, but we have a few suspicions. Miami? Fontainbleau? Still not sure...

Tell me bloggers, what to you come up with?

I'll reveal the mystery destination and the winner who guesses correctly on Tuesday. The prize? 

You can come on the next mystery with us trip in September. 

Have a great weekend bloggers and try to keep the mystery in your life alive....

Mumbled Messages

Remember Mumbles from Dick Tracy?

Mumbles was a Dick Tracy Character from the iconic Dick Tracy Cartoon who first debuted in the 40's. Quick bio: Mumbles was a gangster who was part of a quartet of musicians who committed crimes. Dick Tracy and the cops chased Mumbles and his gang for years. Mumbles did not have a speech impediment, but earned his nick name from using "sloppy speech".

Mumbles is also the nick name of the beloved Mayor of my fair City of Boston. Mayor Tom Menino has held his desk at city hall for 20 years. During that time, Mayor Menino would mix up and mash together certain names, words and constantly fumble minor facts into a bit of a jumble. The press would always have a field day, and they would play the video sound bites of his gaffe's on the radio and the TV news. Even the print papers would publish Mumbles "more infamous" blunders.

Flash forward to today:  So I'm reading my Boston Herald this morning and my favorite old Herald scribe hit me right between the eyes, as he has so many times before. His message powerful and sent clearly and articulately. I decided it was too good not to share here today. Quick Bio: Joe Fitzerald used to write sports, back in the day when Candy was a young and bright eyed journalism  undergraduate working at TV38. I read him every day. He has a knack for spinning a story and making you feel like you are having a conversation with him at the local diner counter over morning coffee. Joe was moved to the middle of the paper doing human interest stories about 5- 10 years ago. Joe recently lost his beloved wife of may years to Alzhimers at the age of 65 last October. He poignantly wrote about their life together.

The old Joe reared his head this morning with his message. You see, Joe is everybody's newspaper man, and even though Mayor Menino made embarrassing bumble and jumbles when talking, that's only a small part of the story of the man; the Mayor. Joe tells the story to not us, the Herald readership, but to his "pal Johnny", a sixth grader here in Boston.

I won't tell you everything, but I will share with you the words Joe printed of our imparting Mayor of Boston's wife, Angela Menino,

“Tommy’s always telling me, ‘Don’t worry about it.’ Even though he doesn’t show it, I know it has to hurt.

“When we were kids we all had something that other kids could pick on, remember? Maybe we had an accent, or wore glasses, or were fat. There was always someone eager to make fun of it. Me? I wore braces.

“I can still remember one bully who loved making fun of me. I tried to be a good sport and laugh along with everyone else, but I also remember how much it hurt inside. And that’s what I think of when I see what they do to Tommy.”

I encourage you to take a moment and click the link HERE to read Joe's column, because it's a great lesson in humility and compassion. Isn't it the responsibility of the press to tell a good story? One that has relevance and is inspiring? Mr Fitzgerald has a real knack for that. All good newspaper men do.

As for Mumbles? Don't worry about him. His record speaks ever so clearly for itself. He knows what's really important. It makes me think we all should.

For Cry Eye

I've been slowly going blind. Seriously, over the past 2 years my eyesight has gotten worse and worse. I can't see anything up close at all, and forget reading a paper or a book. These days, to do any of that, I need my glasses. Of course, the more I use my glasses, the more I need them and I've considered using one of these thingies cuz I'm constantly searching for my glasses:

WTF???
I had a conversation with my brother on Sunday about this, he is 4 years older than I, and he told me it's just going to get worse. Great! I went to the eye doctor and we had a conversation about Lasik, which is not applicable for my needs. Great again! I have a very common, age related vision problem called presbyopia.

Which basically means that my eye lens has become less flexible. Which basically means that I can't read crap. Restaurant menus? Forget it. Good thing my iPhone has a flashlight because I use that all the time if the restaurant is dimly lit.

As time progresses, the condition will only become worse. Now, I don't mind wearing glasses. I think it's actually kind of fun, wearing funky specs to round out a style. What I don't like is the way my eyes feel, blurry and unfocused all the time. It's very unsettling. But what am I to do? Since presbyopia cannot be prevented, I guess I need to speak to my eye doctor about options.

Are there surgical options in my case and what are the risks and benefits? Believe me, this is not a vanity thing. As I said, glasses are fun and a great accessory. This is about my overall well being. Blurry vision is not fun and I don't like the way it makes me feel. Friends of mine have had Lasik and say that it was one of the best things they have ever done. Is there a procedure for Presbyopia that would garner results like lasik?

If so, where do I sign up?

Living in a clear world is much better than a cloudy one.