A Blast from the Past!!

Does anyone remember this photo? It was taken at Pier 39 in SF, the summer of 1994.

Rebecca & Zak

Rebecca & Zak are doing well. She is still with Time, INC & very happy to be able to say that, after all their layoffs. She continues to manage paper inventories for the 4 flagship magazines … Time, People, Sports Illustrated and Entertainment Weekly. Zak is now Project Manager with a Hospital in Manhattan. They are 2 1/4 hours away from Litchfield...so a return trip can be done in a day if necessary. Aleeph, is nearing the end of his Senior year...code for busy applying to colleges. Afsara is a Sophmore & enjoying all the social aspects that presents. She is now a cheerleader at Columbia High School, takes dancing lessons & is a real fashionista!!. Lorenzo turned 1 on Nov 6th & is a character. He can make so many faces & is very good at expressing himself. He has a few words now...he fell in LOVE with our cat Kiki...& said that word from a.m. to p.m. Franco became a star by obliging L. with many trips to the basement to visit Kiki.
They were in Greece late last Summer on vacation (top right photo).

Francesco & Katherine

Here's are a few recent photos of the Junior Barbacci Family.
They have just bought a house in Alexandria, VA & managed to move in December 20th. Franco & I hope to get down there in the next month to help them with any projects they need to work on.
Francesco has been working about 6 months at IISS (International Institute for Strategic Studies), another Think Tank with headquarters in the UK. His position = Special Assistant and Operations Manager, IISS-US. Her is the URL to find out more about his job & see a rather nice photo of him!!
http://www.iiss.org/about-us/staffexpertise/unit-administrators/francesco-barbacci/
Katherine was busy as a stay at home Mom, last year. She hopes to rejoin the workforce some time this year. Gabriella turned 1 December 18th. She is a real cutie. I gave her an adorable pink tutu....seems it's a bit early as the first & second times she was OK with it but the third time she ran away from what appeared to be the Tutu Monster!! OOPS!

Valentina

Soon after Valentina arrived home to celebrate Christmas, she received very good news

about a promotion & raise at the Council on Foreign Relations (a.k.a. the CFR). New title: Assistant Director, New York Meetings Program. So she had much more to celebrate. You GO GIRL!!

What I find most amazing is that most people I talk to have never heard of the CFR or know what it does. Is it just my people?! It’s rated the #2 Think Tank (for scholars) globally. See article in link below: http://www.foreignpolicy.com/story/cms.php?story_id=4598&page=0
Here are a few photos of her.

In 2008 she managed to score several sponsored trips: one to Aspen, Colorado for the Socrates Society Seminars held by the Aspen Institute; one to Norfolk, VA, to visit the U.S. Naval Base – she even stayed overnight on an aircraft carrier that was at sea 75 miles off the coast of Virginia; and last but not least, as a member of a delegation on a7-day trip to Israel where she met with officials in government, the Foreign Ministry, private sector, as well as various schools, non-profits, and religious centers. She was a bridesmaid a 3-day Indian wedding in Columbus, OH, where she showed off the dance moves she learned from Bollywood movies! (see photo above)

She was in Washington DC for the Inauguration & attended the Green Ball put on by Al Gore, Monday evening. Trust her to get an invite!! See photo of her in brown dress.

Christmas 2008

I'm afraid we were NOT very successful at taking many photos this year. We were too busy watching the stairs, gates & doorways lest the two 1 year olds fell down. I'm hoping to get more photos from the kids, when
they have time to share.