Karen Eats the Food and Helps the Starving Children of India

• Mite boxes
• ashes on my forehead on Ash Wednesday
• Tantum Ergo Sacramentum
• eating the food I didn't want to finish so I could help the starving children in India
• having a quarter to put in the basket at Mass at Our Lady Star of the Sea
• saying the family rosary in the living room on Kenny Avenue

Mary, Punks, and Kris Kin

• lighting punks
• steamed clams with melted butter
• bangs
• piles of Christmas presents
• the white bowl in the center of the dining room table with Kris Kin gifts
• Daddy leaving quarters for his Kris Kin
• white cotton gloves
• Mommie's leather driving gloves

Maureen Remembers The One Armed Swimmer and the Mermaid

• perfect attendance in grade school
• typing pins on my uniform
• shorthand pins on my uniform
• Daddy swimming and using only one arm
• Mommie body surfing and trying not to get her hair wet
• Mary's long curly hair
• Meg's long blonde braids
• Chrissy's perfect bangs
• Eileen floating on her back in the ocean then making like a mermaid
• jitterbug
• lining up in front of the fireplace for pictures
• Christmas stockings with holes in the toes
• Gerald and Petey
• decorating the Christmas tree one tinsel strand at a time

Karen Croons

• In the Still of the Night
• When a Man Loves a Woman
• My Guitar Gently Weeps
• Angel Baby, My Angel Baby
• slow dancing at Holy Cross dance
• my first piece of pizza at a parlor in Upper Darby

Karen's Heartthrob "I Never Knew Ye"

• filling the pan with water in the yard on Perry Street before we went to the beach
• coming home from the beach and stepping into the warm pan to rinse off the sand
• seeing the grown-ups gather around the kitchen table on Perry Street
• hearing the kettle whistle as the grown-ups got their tea
• the 45 record player on Perry Street
• watching a boy walk down Perry Street every day at 5pm to go to work - he was around 16 - I never knew who he was but I had a tremendous crush on him - sigh
• watching Rice eat his ham sandwiches with mustard that Grandmother made for him
• the Bubbling Well
• listening to the cacophony from the beach when we would come home in the middle of the day - what a wonderful, wonderful sound - you could hear the people and the fun all the way home

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Kindle Wireless Reading Device (6" Display, Global Wireless, Latest Generation)

Live At The Troubadour [CD / DVD Combo]

Colleen Discovers Shopping in Pennsauken

• Korvettes - going on the bus with Mommy
• Maureen coming back from LA - dressed all in black and she looked so cool and beautiful
• going shopping at the Bazaar of All Nations - Maureen and I got hats with the dangling discs
• going shopping with Karen to Pennsauken, NJ

 AND PENNSAUKEN!

                                                                  

Maureen's Pocketbook Full of Miracles

• snowglobes
• walking home from school in the snow
• puffy white clouds with faces
• thigh high stockings
• thigh high boots
• midi-skirts
• mini-skirts
• dancing, dancing, dancing
• watching Mommie & Daddy dance
• hats
• my first pocketbook - it had a chain handle and I used it as a rosary the first time we rode the #13 trolley into the city - we were 7 (maybe) - I was so frightened at how fast the trolley drove and then we went underground - I was terrified so I just used the chain on my pocketbook as rosary beads and prayed - a pocketbook full of prayer

Karen Seeing Stars

• Barry White - You're the First, the Last, My Everything
• Beatles - I Want to Hold Your Hand
• having stars placed against my name, on the bulletin board, at school for going to Mass every day
• Mother St Michael
• first time Mommy made homemade french dressing with mayo and ketchup

Hi5 Love Winter Graphics Comments

Karen Becomes a Construction Worker

• construction paper cut-out tulips
• construction paper woven baskets made for Mother's Day
• making my own Mother's Day card out of construction paper
• shopping at the 5&10 for Mother's Day gift
• May Procession
• white shoes and white anklet socks
• white undies and white carter t-shirts with the little bow
• going to school in the morning with only a sweater on
• going to school in the morning without a sweater

Karen and The Bluebird of Happiness

• pop beads
• red wax lips
• french nougat candies
• white ruffle with black dots short jumpsuit
• Easter egg prize card - one of my all time favorites - I know I put this on before - loved the name picking and punching out part
• Daddy's handwriting
• Mommy's stick figures
• bluebird of happiness Halloween costume I made to wear to Colleen & Phil's party
• Miss Masters - teacher

Karen Straps on Spaghetti

• yellow pique spaghetti strapped dress
• Be My Baby - The Ronettes
• lunch roll...sliced thin
• Mommy and Daddy sitting at the dining room table after dinner having tea
• Irish soda bread
• Irish potatoes
• Hatchets filled with cherry candies on February 22
• The Untouchables

Maureen, The Soldier, and The Convertible Dryer

• Daddy's drawing of the Carousel for me and Colleen in first grade. It was so beautiful. I wish we still had it.
• Dress for junior prom - brown chiffon, funnel neck, blue shoes
• Dress for senior prom - brown velveteen, blue shoes from the junior prom. White ruffle blouse that was ironed and starched for years until it fell apart. I loved that blouse.
• Going to the seamstress for senior prom dresses on Catherine Street in South Philadelphia with Mommie - it was a scary place to go.
• Marathon phone calls from Kevin Glenn that lasted for hours and hours.
• Time with Kevin Glenn when he was on leave from the service.
• Going to 30th Street Station with Kevin G, Colleen, Honora, Joanne and several others the day he left for the service. 
• Weekend Kevin G home on leave in North Wildwood. Colleen, Honora, and Joanne drove around in a convertible to dry his clothers hanging off the back of the car.
• Borrowing Karen's VW Bug
• Rohm & Haas
• Lunches with Karen in Center City on the 2nd floor of a drugstore on 15th or 18th at Chestnut
• Lunches with Colleen at Univ of Penna - oh boy!
• Mother Stephen Mary
• Christmas Daddy took me to see Mother Stephen Mary after she left Holy Spirit. She was transferred to Philadelphia. I visited her. It was a rainy, rainy Christmas day but wonderful. Daddy waited in the lobby while she showed me around her new digs.
• Going to Brockway with Colleen, Grandmother, and Daddy
• The day some girl told me some boy thought I was cute! I was a freshman. Who knew!?
• Changing seats in grade school. It felt like a whole new life when they gave us a new seat to sit in. I loved how that felt. A brand new perspective.
• Western movies - I loved the sound of galloping horses.
• Memorial Day - Cape May - beginning of my suntan
• Music
• Hats
• Hurricanes in Cape May
• Kelties Bookstore - Cape May
• Shop in Cape May with the flowered canopy interior - Karen worked there. I think it's on her Favorites list
• John F Kennedy
• Camelot
• Wizard of Oz
• Gone With the Wind
• Candyland
• Collecting bottles on the beach
• Rafts
• Third floor
• Lunch on the beach - pb & j - yum
• Pretzels on the beach - yum, yum

Karen, Ooogers and Jimmy's Goodyear on The Balcony

• pink rubber curlers...tong style
• Betsey Wetsey
• brown linen raincoat - Edwardian style
• white wrap-around duck cloth skirt with navy blue & white stripe tee
• navy skimmers
• dyed navy blue neck beads
• ooogers between toes
• Mary dressed as flower girl in Eileen's wedding
• Midnight Mass then home for eggs
• Margate and the "party" we gave - Rice was there
• Red Sails in the Sunset song
• Howard Johnson's with Kakki and clam roll sandwiches
• Aunt Catherine and her tea bag wrapped in napkin
• Grandmother's white oxfords in the summertime
• Aunt Alice's sterling silver bracelets
• yellow and green flowered sofa in Secane apartment
• Jimmy Goodyear
• The Balcony
• The Habiliment

Meg - Profile

Meg is number five of the sisters and the seventh of ten. Meg is strong, capable, and compassionate. She works diligently; no job is too large or too small for her capable hands.

Meg has spent most of her adult life teaching special education in Cape May County to children with moderate to severe handicaps. She has enormous inner strength giving her an innate ability to guide disabled children both physically and mentally.

Meg possesses exceptional creative talents and to keep her students engaged demands a high level of creativity, so with this ability, Meg has developed a skill that is both exclusive and proficient in knitting, weaving, and sewing. She recently added hand-painted silk shawls and scarves that are quite simply, breathtaking.

Her dream is to retire at some point to Center City, Philadelphia and begin life anew since it is where she found her style, her drive, her future while attending LaSalle University. This may complete Meg's Circle of Life.

Mary - Perfume Floats, Fishing, and Boogie Woogie

• Saturday nights - Daddy playing the piano while Mommie's perfume floated down the stairs - happiness
• lightning bug rings
• mimosa trees
• honeysuckles
• fishing off the rocks with Kevin and Gerald
• green lounge chairs on the beach on a cloudy day
• playing hand ball on the beach
• leaving the beach at 7:30pm

Meg's First List - Fried Frog Skin, Got Milk?

• pb&j sandwiches wrapped in waxed paper in a large Acme bag, filled to the top with pretzel rods as dessert - no beverage
• summertime - sitting on the bottom step or in the hot sand waiting for Mommy to deliver the food
• pb&j sandwich dipped in the leftover oatmeal from breakfast, reheated with sugar and milk that I raced home to get before anyone else during the school year - one tastykake as dessert - milk as our beverage - the BEST!
• jelly bread - a real misnomer - it was peanut butter and jelly on a piece of bread with no top, but we called it a jelly bread
• pretzels and grape juice for our Saturday night treat watching TV
• spaghetti every Thursday night
• mac & cheese every Friday night with fish sticks and tartar sauce
• stew - I forget the night it was served but not Colleen's grimace as she walked in the door and smelled it cooking
• fried frog skin from Karen's biology class, served to Rob for dinner, prepared by Mommy - what a hoot!
• lunch meat and cheese with lettuce, tomato, mayo on a kaiser roll, in a brown paper bag all warmed up for a class trip to Lenape Park - YUM! a kaiser roll was strictly a field trip event, always paired with a whole package of tastykakes and an apple
• pan fried scrapple with catsup - not ketchup - on Sunday morning
• hot dogs with cheese and bacon in casserole of baked bean

Mary - Profile

Mary Beth is the baby of the sisters and the ninth of ten. Mary is sensitive, sincere, and passionate about improving all aspects of her life including health, self-awareness, mental acuity, and exercise. She sets daily intentions and prepares to accept the results.

We think she networked with Shirley Temple long, long ago and still has the naturally "Curly Top", the ringlets, the lollipop dreams "On Account-a-I-Love You"; so "Baby Take a Bow" as we introduce you.

Mary Beth manages The Cape Motel in Cape May, NJ, and sets her intentions on continuing the successful reign of her mother and father-in-law in supplying a family friendly, meticulously clean, affordable vacation destination off the beaten track and according to references from clients, has succeeded.

Mary is also an accomplished artist with multiple media talents including knitting, weaving, hat making, designing, and decorating as part of her portfolio. With her rapier wit and one-liners, we add another stand-up comedian.

Mary's First List - Splits Bananas with Daddy

• my beautiful, stylish big sisters: Karen, Maureen, Colleen, Chrissy, and Meg
• I couldn't wait to grow up to be like them
• pb&j sandy sandwiches on the beach
• lollipops (chocolate)
• Bud Holmes
• collecting bottles
• potato sack races
• trips to 69th Street with Mommie
• trips to center city with my big sisters
• banana splits with Daddy

Cartoons by Lilly





The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Live At The Troubadour [CD / DVD Combo]
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest
The Girl Who Played with Fire

Maureen Names Names

• Sherlock Holmes with Basil Rathbone
• Alfred Hitchcock Hour
• The Birds
• Terry hiding under the coffee table watching The Birds
• Tommy Frankenfield
• Honorah McCrory - first grade til now
• Deborah and Dolores Bryant
• Dorothy Carpino - she galloped daily sans the horse - honestly
• Kathy Hood
• Kathy Fitzgerald
• Dennis Fitzgerald
• Carolina Morris - a good friend - then she moved when we were in 6th grade
• Lee Edelman - freshman year
• Joanne Ardito - freshman year til now
• Kathy McDevitt
• Palma Freda - R.I.P. - she died in freshman year and went to school every day until she passed away. I will always remember her. Maura reminds me of her.
• Serenity

Maureen and the Interns; Hugging and Smiling

• my short hair at 19
• working at Univ of Penna Hospital
• Mark the intern at U of P
• Jeff the intern at U of P
• Rich the intern at U of P
• Greg the intern at U of P
• Mrs Schulman - U of P
• rollerskates and key
• Outer Limits
• Car 54 Where Are You?
• Daddy hugging Mommie by surprise and her smiling
• hanging out on the boardwalk
• pinball
• treats at Helen and Bill's
• Holy Child Academy campus. Karen, what was it like inside?
• the lane to Holy Child Academy
• snow days
• snow forts
• 5&10 Christmas shopping

Karen Saves Ten Cents a Day and Goes Dancing

• the outfit I wore that New Year's Eve - black & white long skirt with fringe on the bottom, black lace turtleneck with long white pearls. The skirt was beautiful - woven - got my hair done at some sshmanzy shop on Walnut Street.
• Rob's wedding
• going to Boston with Eileen, Rice, and Jay
• makeup
• Christmas coloring books
• dresses Colleen and Maureen wore - gray and brown? I have the picture in my mind.
• Harry's All American Bar
• Maureen's blue jaguar
• Colleen's green batik dress
• saving my milk money - 10 cents a day to make 50 cents to take the trolley to Chez Vous on Friday night
• pansy watch Mr Tryder gave me
• our first "adult party" on Secane Avenue
• going to see Mary Poppins 1,000x's with Gerald - Jayne Aubin worked at the theatre and I would take Gerald to see it...wonder if this would be on his list?
• spying on Eileen and Tommy Cook on the front porch on Perry Street
• spying on Miss Dougherty (teacher at Holy Child who lived on Chester Pike) parked with her boyfriend on Kenny Avenue
• soda and pretzels at Nana's
• Horn & Hardarts

Maureen is a War Bride and a Spy

• Christmas Eves at Colleen and Phil's
• Tree trimming at Colleen and Phil's
• New Year's Eve with Honora and Colleen pretending we were war brides or girlfriends of servicemen so we wouldn't feel strange at the Kon Tiki on Walnut Street
• Spying on Karen going out with Tony Zuppo on New Year's Eve. Stone Ponies "Different Drummer" was playing on the radio in the kitchen on Kenny Avenue
• Colleen's love of parties
• Treasure under Colleen's mattress on the 3rd floor in Cape May
• Colleen's silver necklace from Walt Rosenberg
• Colleen's blue pant suit she wore with the silver necklace from Walt Rosenberg
• Mr Tryder
• Outings with Mr Tryder
• Dinners with the next door neighbor
• Red wagon - pulling it, riding in it, scooting in it
• The Lone Ranger
• The Dungeon at Holy Spirit schoolyard
• 4th of July in Cape May - potato sack races, egg races, barbecues
• Smoking Newports
• The canal, the boat, the skis
• Walking from 428 to the docks with Terry and carrying the skis to take the boat out
• Rob's graduation from high school at our house on Kenny Avenue
• Eileen's wedding preparations at our house
• Cupcakes with lemon and orange icing from Horn & Hardart that Kakki brought on Wednesday nights
• Book Reports for grade school
• Coloring books and crayons
• Christmas Plays in grade school - "a clock, a clock, a clock for sale"
• Playing baseball in the driveway
• Doubledutch jump rope - yippeee
• Sliding down mountains of snow in the Acme parking lot on our cardboards
• Easter Sundays and breakfast after Mass complete with snowflake rolls oooooooohhhhhhh
• Climbing trees
• Karen falling out of trees

Colleen and King Kong in a Den

• listening to the transistor radio
• trying to work the transistor radio antenna
• painter's pants, tan t-shirt and moccasins
• watching King Kong on a television in the front room den at 428
• photos from the party we had for Karen when she was leavin' on a jet plane and we gave her flowers for her hair...she was going to CA

Karen Wants a Fat Lip with an Ice Pop

• Inner Sanctum
• roller skates with key
• 1/2 ice pop
• getting rinsed in the basin in the yard in Cape May
• The Little House in Cape May
• 3 o'clock Bandstand
• looking for Rice on Bandstand
• do you want a fat lip?
• It's a really Big Shooooow Ed Sullivan
• the new baby in the house
• Sun In
• leavin' on a jet plane don't know when I'll be back again

Karen's First Pedicure in a Sink

• playing Martha & The Vandella's Heat Wave on the record player with the 45 insert over and over and over and over and over
• the gray pleather couch on the enclosed porch at 426
• sitting on the bathroom sink washing my feet at 90 Kenny
• Fairmount Park first Earth Day
• the assortment of Christmas corsages to sell

Cartoons by Lilly

Karen Wants to Die Naturally with a Doctor Close By

• eating the petals from the magnolia tree on Dr Tomlinson's property
• eating onion grass

Karen Ignores Child Labor Laws

• scrabble night in Cape May with Kakki
• taking the bus to Starlight
• working at Clothes 'n Things at 14
• working at The Carroll Villa

Colleen Does An Impression of Gidget

• tanning on the deck of 90 Kenny Avenue in April
• seeing Maureen drive down 90 Kenny Avenue in her 1958 Bentley
• my matte black VW
• my brown leather skirt and jacket
• birthday parties at 90 Kenny Avenue
• my first ever Strawbridge charge and I bought placemats for the bureau in the front bedroom
• going to Germantown so Eileen could take Mommy, Maureen and me to get our Easter outfits
• going to Grandmother's
• Lyn, Cathy, Allen, Eileen, and Rice
• Grandmother, Kakki, Aunt Alice
• Aunt Alice providing the brick ice cream at 5235 Knox Street. Wow
• Corner store at the end of 5235 Knox St for penny candy
• Staying at Grandmother's at Christmas and Easter break
• Sr Mary Alice
• Aunt Catherine
• stubbed toes
• splinters in our feet from a real boardwalk
• nurse's station in Cape May
• shark scares in the ocean
• going out as far as we could in the ocean and waving to the lifeguards
• cute Steger boys
• cuter lifeguards

Colleen's Learning to Speak Again and the Word is "Pretzels"

• going to 69th Street with Mommy and stopping in Rexall for a soda and cheese crackers on the way home
• Friday night drive to Cape May in my MG
• Friday night drive to Cape May with the family
• Friday night drive to Cape May with Daddy and taking over the driving
• Friday night drive to Cape May with Daddy and Maureen. Maureen almost kills us. Daddy was asleep, awakens from the backseat, said "what happened, someone is honking". We looked at each other, shrugged and he said "the jerks" and went back to sleep.
• Friday night drive to Cape May in Karen's blue bug with no oil
• Friday late afternoon drive to Cape May with Kakki and the macaroni salad Karen made
• "Pressers" on the beach
• Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches
• tandy takes
• cream filled donuts Daddy brought home late at night
• hiding all my tip money under the mattress on the 3rd floor in Cape May and splitting it with Maureen

Karen Takes the E Train and It Turns Out To Be A Bus

• original Kris Kin
• taking the trolley to 69th Street then the "E Bus" to Germantown
• going to PGH to meet Kakki and drive to Cape May
• the original "Limited" shop
• the first "Gap" store
• Danny's cheeseburgers with Daddy
• riding in the Mustang convertible with Daddy
• sleeping on the 3rd floor in Cape May with Grandmother

Colleen - Make Love Not War

• make love not war sign left in Mommy and Daddy's bedroom
• jeans with the embroidered sun
• painter's pants and tan t-shirt with orange design
• silver bird necklace
• convention hall when the turquoise artists were selling
• turquoise necklace
• turquoise ring
• opal ring that I had on hold forever at a jewelry store and Daddy took me to pick it up - he thought $30 was a huge amount of money to spend
• tinted sunglasses I got on MacDade Blvd in Collingdale at a real eye glass store
• MG
• turquoise scarf I wore on my head
• silver hoop earrings
• gold hoop earrings

Colleen Dives Into a Closet and Comes Out With Dracula

• the first to get the "muk muk"
• drinking the last sip of Daddy's tea every night
• my seat at the dinner table next to Daddy and Gerald
• finding Daddy's cigarette butts in the house and smoking them, then almost passing out - I think I was 16
• the fan - finally - in the front bedroom
• Halloween - diving into the front bedroom closet for an outfit
• blue short sleeved top, 3 buttons and collar, plaid shorts from Helen and Nana
• my short brown boots from shoe store near Univ of Penn
• bowling a perfect score and winning a prize from Chief Halftown
• walking on the billboard sign near the Acme
• collecting all the change out of the pay phones in Cape May
• looking for coins under the He Man Chin Up on Perry Street beach
• collecting bottles on the beach, turning them into Stegers and buying penny candy - trying to turn them into Bud's
• taking cover from the rain in Cape May Star & Wave entrance on Perry Street
• carrying the big red striped umbrella
• Daddy teaching me to drive

Karen Loves Pink, Orange, and Lilac

• trips to the 5&10 on Chester Pike
• The Bazaar of All Nations in Collingdale
• Mommy's pink tube of lipstick
• small orange juice glasses lined up on the kitchen sink
• lilac bushes in the spring

Karen's Waist Rises and Falls

• maroon dress with beige arms and top....it was either lace or woven and high waisted
• black dress with little pink and white flowers, drop waisted worn with white tights and black shoes with ankle straps premiering on the Jerry Blavat TV show
• pink flowered pants with pink organdy long sleeve blouse from the Mayflower Shop
• swirly dyed aqua, fuchsia, sleeveless umpire organdy dress
• white pique two piece bathing suit, boy shorts and high front
• Daddy sitting at the kitchen table with celery and cabbage......chopchopchopchopchopchopchop

Karen Buttons Up Her Back

• white pique pants and top, sleeveless, buttons up the back
• pink drop waist dirndl raincoat
• blue and white crepe Maggy of London dress
• picnic on Brigantine Beach with Mommy and Daddy et al

Karen's Eggs and Beans

• white organdy dress with exquisite overlay lace for Palm Sunday Procession
• dyeing Easter eggs in the kitchen on Kenny Avenue
• licorice jelly beans
• red jelly beans
• Nana sending little boxed Easter eggs
• card at school that you punch out a name, pay the amount and have a chance to win the Big Easter Egg. If I remember correctly, Daddy seems to have always won. It had the big punch out circle at the top
• first potato salad of the season
• peeps
• butter cream Easter eggs

Maureen Discovers Food and Fortunately, Dancing

• The Slop - the dance not the food
• trolley rides to 69th Street
• coke and peanut butter crackers at the drugstore counter - 69th Street
• Christmas on Kenny Avenue - the madness
• Thanksgiving on Kenny Avenue - the appetite
• Little Christmas on Kenny Avenue - preparing for the big time
• family birthday parties on Kenny Avenue
• long hair when I was 5
• smocked dresses
• trips to Grandmother's
• Lyn
• cheesesteaks
• cheese hoagies
• Doritos
• ice cream and potato chips
• hot chocolate
• Daddy's Sunday breakfasts on Kenny Avenue
• Easter Sunday breakfasts on Kenny Avenue
• anklets with ruffles
• white cotton gloves
• Fr Colby's pictures
• red and white stripe beach umbrella
• Frisbee on the beach
• Midnight Mass
• Spring Fridays waiting for Daddy to come home to go to the shore for the weekend
• playing fort
• Scrabble
• Candyland

Karen's Multi Talented, Mixed Media, Educated Turtleneck

• A Whiter Shade of Pale - Procol Harum
• pale green cords and darker green mixed media turtleneck....bought at some store on Univ of Penna campus
• espadrilles in beige green and orange
• The Cupboard on Washington Street
• skeeball
• Landsdowne Ice and Coal
• Ridley Lake
• black & white tweed ice skirt lined in red satin - Caroline Dowling's mother made it
• doing the chocolate pudding Sunday Standoff with Colleen
• plastic high heels
• Holy Cross dance Saturday nites
• the Geator with the Heater, Boss with the Hot Sauce
• Hy Lit
• Jesse Kranich

Venus Does Karen's Hair

• getting my hair done at Venus Beauty School on Chester Pike
• playing in the field on Burnside
• running to 7am Mass during Lent - pant, pant, pant - out of breath - pant, pant, pant

Karen Has a Tree Trunk Growing Up Her Leg

•  the red rose bush outside the porch on Kenny Avenue
• the azalea crown made for the Blessed Mother statues at school - with thread
• Moonlight Sonata
• the igloo Daddy made with ivory soap
• Kakki and Eileen's Wednesday nite visits for dinner to Sharon Hill
• my jeans with the embroidered tree trunk up the leg and rear
• the cash drawer coming out with our "allowance"

Maureen - Profile

Maureen is the second oldest sister and third oldest of 10 siblings. She thinks it thrilling that Karen sent the first list of Favorite Things since she is now reconnecting to the past with great joy and greater memories.

Maureen is private and self-reflective. Her interests include working, writing, baking, cooking, reading, and listening to music.

She spent many years living in Los Angeles and travelling ten of the western states for her job. When she returned to the East Coast, she began travelling the mid-Atlantic states, also for work. In 2000, she finally decided to stop driving her life away and began a design, remodeling business that keeps her grounded, close to home, and satisfied.

Maureen loves to laugh and has many opportunities for this joyful pastime when she spends time with her sisters.

Maureen Loves Clothing, Dancing, and Poker. Maureen is Broke!

• Chez Vous to dance the night away - at least until 10pm
• Granny Glasses
• Falls (hair) - someone told me I looked zaftig in a fall - go figure
• Gas Money
• Nan Duskin - charge!
• The Parlour - charge!
• Zipper blue Scandinavian dress/coat from the Parlour - charged!
• All clothing from The Parlour - charged!
• Basketball - charge
• Library in Sharon Hill - I loved all the wood, it felt rich and private and exceptional
• Weekends in Cape May
• Painting the house on weekends in Cape May
• Poker weekends in Cape May
• Missal
• May Processions
• Mass during the week
• Kakki
• Sculpture
• Bermuda
• Fr Galchus
• Red Camaro
• Jaguar
• Pinky heart shaped ring

Karen's Diamonds and Painted Nails

• the first hair dryer that came in a box from California from Kakki
• May procession
• little tiny roses in the back yard at 90 Kenny, peeled the petals and put on as false nails
• diamond rings made from lightning bugs

Colleen Surfs 25' Waves

• body surfing 25' waves
• churning under the ocean, trying to figure out which was was up and out of the death defying surf
• wearing a bikini to the beach, then changing into a one piece in the ocean to go body surfing
• Fr. Galchus' anniversary in NY - eating kielbasa one and only time
• in love with Donnie Piacentine
• in love with Walt Rosenberg
• in love with Bo Bonner
• Kakki's cars
• friday nights in Cape May - the aunts arrived
• Eileen's 426 party

Colleen - Profile

Colleen is number three of the sisters and fourth oldest in the family. Colleen embraced the Favorites List in part for its purity and in large part for its therapy. Colleen has just completed six months of breast cancer treatment that at times reduced her to tears of despair, tears of pain, and tears of joy. Colleen considers herself a cancer survivor. Her sisters think she is a hero and a survivor.

She is a passionate advocate for cancer patients and survivors since she has also endured and prevailed over the extremely serious melanoma. She designed and developed a beautiful and artistic line of sun safe clothing called Sun Threadz www.sunthreadz.com/ and just recently completed a fashion show for the 7th Annual Focus on Melanoma Fashion Show, May 14th, presented by University of Pennsylvania Abramson Cancer Center.

As an artist Colleen also creates a beautiful line of organic jewelry under her own name, Colleen Dougherty Bronstein Jewelry www.bronsteinartwork.com/.

She is our stand-up comedian. She sees humor in most any situation, truly, any situation. We think she made our father laugh when she was two. With her fervent activism, extraordinary sense of humor, and artistic talents, we know Colleen will succeed in life and business.

Colleen's First List - Her Heart Nearly Stops for Maybelline

• library in Sharon Hill
• all the books I read on the front porch
• guitar gotten one Christmas (just like Bruce) - under the Christmas tree was a brand new Japanese guitar
• gold circle pin
• Easter outfits - reversible tan linen skirts to green floral and the green floral jacket that matched with green shoes - wow
• hats we made when we were in high school and wore - wool fabric - they would remind you of a kongol today, sort of
• embroidered jeans - LET THE SUN SHINE LET THE SUN SHINE
• black and white eyeliner with lashes lined on the bottom
• clips to weigh down the front of my hair
• wine and slide party
• blizzard one Christmas eve we went to see Rice and then into town - walked from Darby - magical
• snow shovelling
• 5 & 10
• tuna macaroni salad on the way to Cape May
• Maybelline eyeshadow - I felt weak looking at all the colors that could go on my eyes
• Sun in
• bikinis - especially the orange flourescent

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Karen Thinks We are Wonderful

• excellent writing ability
• beautiful blue eyes
• regal appearance
• marches to the beat of a different drummer
• visually perceptive
• silver eyeshadow that we wet with a brush
• Halloween costume - "Bird of Paradise"
• walking home from Darby one Christmas Eve in a major snowstorm...trolley and buses were stuck

Karen Wears a Pants Suit and Panty Hose Follow Her

• Saturday night cheeseburgers with grape juice and potato chips
• my brown dirndl skirt with wide belt and blue Ellen Tracy crepe blouse
• wine and slide in January snowstorm
• small bag of popcorn after the dance at Convention Hall in Cape May
• the Bunny Hop
• the Polka
• black midi coat
• maroon midi skirt with beige natural weave sweater
• vw LOKM (last of Karen's money)
• the Beatles and the overflowing kitchen skink
• Heat Wave by Martha and the Vandellas
• getting tips at the motel after a weeks' stay by the guests
• Hanscombs orange glazed mini cakes
• french fries at Petroffs'
• skiing on the canal in Daddy's boat
• navy blue pants suit, midi zipper jacket with hood (loved that) - one time someone wore it and left a pair of pantyhose in the leg.....I went out with a foot trailing behind me.....out of my leg......

Live At The Troubadour [CD / DVD Combo]
Kindle Wireless Reading Device (6" Display, Global Wireless, Latest Generation)
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest

Maureen's First List - Pleather and Lace

• 14K bangle bracelet
• short, short hair - it was nearly straight
• flannel PJs - always
• pink ceramic earrings, they were so heavy they tore my earlobes straight down
• pink rabbit jacket that I treated as though it were sable
• red pleather suit with 20' long red scarf
• pink and beige layered linen top
• Karen's brown dirndl skirt and blue blouse, she looked like Twiggy at the time
• Dr Zhivago coat
• brown leather boots over the knee
• white ruffled blouse (ironed a million times to make the ruffles stand up)
• blue jeans - forever in
• pink leather sling back shoes
• blue satin dress I wore to Joanne's wedding
• Starlight Ballroom
• Wildwood Catholic friends
• Prendie friends
• bike riding
• Friday nights with the girls at the Hot Shoppe
• Friday nights with the girls at the T-Bar
• Friday nights with the girls at the Anvil Inn
• Kevin Glenn
• Tommy Mogck
• Newports
• snowstorms
• books, books, books

Karen - Profile

Karen is the oldest sister of six sisters and second oldest of 10 siblings. She started the Favorite Things with an unspoken rule - nothing negative. It began when six sisters yearned to relive incredible memories of childhood and life as young adults.

Karen is provocative, flirtatious, and adventurous with a quirky sense of humor. She is an original from the "Age of Aquarius".  Her personality will emerge and delight as the "Favorite Things" list unfolds.

Among her passions: writing, dancing, singing karaoke, facebook, dating, and falling in love. It's never too late; at least for Karen. She relates to Audrey Hepburn and channels Audrey whenever a camera is within range.

With her love of the stage and ability to engage the audience, Karen continues on her path to public speaking.

Karen Begins the Favorite Things

• scarab bracelet
• 14K gold monogram disk
• white oxford peter pan collar
• cardigan sweater with grosgrain ribbon placket
• navy blue skimmers
• dippity do
• metal hair clips
• flannel nightgown with safety pin
• transitor radio with batteries from the freezer
• potato chip sandwiches
• 3pm - american bandstand
• dancing at the luncheonette on Sunday morning to Danny and the Juniors