#MyMississippi

Back in MD after a wonderful, wonderful trip to MS!  Despite a rocky start with my luggage on 4th of July, we still had a great trip and couldn't be prouder of T! 

I cannot even begin to describe how professional and organized the Miss Mississippi pageant is.  Everything is top-notch . . the production numbers, the costumes, the choreography, the girls are treated like rock stars throughout the week and are very well cared for.  T's hostess mom was awesome and extremely protective of her two girls.

Sunday was her official check-in and Monday evening was the parade through Vicksburg followed by an autograph party at the Outlet Mall.  The weather in Vicksburg was perfect the entire week and the parade was so much fun!  T's two little princesses, Lydia and Sterling, were super sassy and T absolutely adored them!  One of the great things about the Miss Mississippi pageant being in Vicksburg is how the whole town gets behind the pageant.  Everywhere we went people asked if we were in town for the pageant, asked what our daughter's title was and followed it up with a "good luck" or "I'll cheer for her!"  Wednesday Cosmo, KJ and my parents all arrived and prelims started that night.

T had evening gown Wednesday night, swimsuit Thursday and ending prelims on Friday.  T wore a red, strapless, mermaid style gown with a layers of ruffles on the bottom -- KJ said she looked like a flamenco dancer!  It fit her like a glove and I love the color red on her!  The gown was very elegant, timeless, classic and totally T.  She also had on-stage question that night and did great!  Interestingly, everyone else's questions were about their platforms so they were able to give thought out responses.  For some reason they asked T about lacrosse so her response was a little more impulsive.

Thursday morning was another autograph party, this time in at the Coca-Cola Museum in Downtown Vicksburg.  Contestants were situated at various stores on Washington Avenue and the public popped in and out to talk to the girls and get to know them.  From there the girls had lunch with the Rotary Club at the Country Club.  Thursday night she totally rocked swimsuit.  Poor Coach!  He had never seen her bouncing across the stage in a bikini and looked at me and said, "Holy Shit."  It was pretty funny!  Honestly, I thought she should have won swimsuit prelim.  She really did look amazing.  Some of the girls were very muscular with extremely broad shoulders, T is definitely fit and athletic but more feminine.

Friday afternoon the Dew and T's best friend Tana arrived in Vicksburg and we had dinner at a Mexican restaurant before heading to the Convention Center.  T did an amazing job with her talent and the audience was clapping along.  She tweaked her routine a bit since I had seen it last and added a split and a few other moves.  She hit all of her turns and I really thought she had a shot at possibly winning a talent prelim but then the girl after her totally nailed her lyrical dance.  She was the clear winner that night.



All week I kept thinking that T was holding her own against the veterans and more experienced contestants and I was right.  Saturday they announced the top 10 and a little later in the evening they announced scholarship winners.  She placed 14 out of 41 girls.  Now, that may not seem great but this is Mississippi.  EVERYONE has participated at a pageant at some point in their lives!  The top 10 consisted of several returning contestants and even a couple of Miss Mississippi's Outstanding Teens.  These girls have been competing for years and most have pageant coaches in addition to their pageant directors, most have had vocal lessons or choreographers assisting with their dances, trainers to get their bodies in shape and unlimited budgets when it comes to wardrobe.  Some of the girls even had specially prepared meals brought in for them all week.  T joked around and said Tana was her trainer!  They worked out together almost every day.  T's directors were awesome and helped her with mock interviews and wardrobe selection, T said she taught herself how to walk in evening gown and how to pose for swimsuit.  She had a make-up lesson from the MAC counter at the mall in Tupelo before she left for the pageant and her hair and make-up looked amazing all week.

After each night of competition there was a visitation for the families to meet with their contestants and Friday and Saturday nights were cocktail parties at the casino.  That was a lot of fun because the Dew and Tana came to those and we really got to spend a lot of time with Taylor.  The Dew likes to dance so he and T hit up the dance floor each night. 

T had an amazing week in Vicksburg.  She met some wonderful new friends, learned a lot about herself and I think she'll be back next year!  (if she wins a local pageant!).

Finally!!!

Ugh.  Finally finished reading "The Goldfinch" by Donna Tartt.  I'm not going to lie.  I really did not enjoy this book.  I wanted to like it.  I really did but I don't see what the big fuss is about (read the NY Times review here:  http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/13/books/review/donna-tartts-goldfinch.html?_r=0)

This book is almost 800 pages full of completely unlikable characters.  I wanted to feel some empathy for Theo but he grew up into such a creepy slimeball I actually detested him by the end of the book.  His girlfriend Kitsey doesn't even love him enough to not cheat on him with his boyhood nemesis Tom Cable.  His childhood friend from Vegas, Boris, is an unapologetic, drug-abusing criminal and the whole "underground art world" plot is just mind-numbingly convoluted.  The only two characters with any type of redeeming qualities were Hobie and Mrs. Barbour (who, in her own weird way, does seem to care a great deal for Theo).

Snow, Snow and More Snow!

Really enjoying today's snow!  It's been snowing since about 9 AM and hasn't let up at all.  It's really accumulating quite fast and is very light and fluffy.  I took the dog for a walk this morning and you can't even see where our foot steps were.  KJ had off from school yesterday and today so this does not count as a snow day for her.

Cosmo closed his office early and stopped for lunch and Starbucks on the way home.  KJ likes some white mocha something or other but since I don't do coffee he bought me a peppermint hot chocolate.  The two of them shoveled the driveway a bit and did some sledding down the hill in our backyard.  We had the dog all bundled up in her coat and KJ took her down the hill a couple of times.

KJ's volleyball practice has been cancelled, I'm burning some Delicious smelling Red Velvet candles and we're all nice and cozy, snuggled up on the couch and about to watch a movie (options are:  The Butler, Rush, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2, or Jack Reacher).

Post Holiday

The holidays are over and life is getting back to normal.  The relatives have gone home, the kids are back at school and regular TV programming has resumed.


I've started watching "The Curse of Oak Island" on the History Channel.    http://www.history.com/shows/the-curse-of-oak-island  As we all know, I'm a big history geek and love shows like this that force us to look at the unexplained, the other side of things.  The possibilities.  We're two episodes in already and, unfortunately, I'm getting a little frustrated.  They haven't really come up with new evidence as to the mystery of Oak Island and I feel like I've seen all of this information before on an episode of "America Unearthed" or that show from the 70's with Leonard Nimoy. 


I've been watching "Reign" on the CW.  I think it comes back on a little later in the month.  It's the story of Mary Stuart (AKA Mary Queen of Scots) and is kind of a Gossip Girl meets The Other Boleyn Girl and I'm probably about 30 years old to be watching it but it's fun and campy and not very historically accurate which really doesn't bother me.  I get my history fix from other sources. 
http://www.cwtv.com/shows/reign


This week "Blacklist" returned to NBC.  I made Cosmo sit down and watch it with me and he really, really liked it.  James Spader is awesome in the role of "Red" Reddington.  http://www.nbc.com/the-blacklist/


I also started watching "Intelligence" with Josh Holloway and the red-headed actress from CSI, Marg Helgenberger).  http://www.cbs.com/shows/intelligence/  He's got a computer chip in his head and is basically a walking, talking, living and breathing Internet.


Tonight is "Nashville" night!  http://abc.go.com/shows/nashville  I really enjoy this show which is very weird because I do not like country music.  At all.  But I love Connie Britton's character and Hayden Panettiere is also great as Juliette Barnes.  She's kind of an ingénue in public but a bitch behind the scenes. 


While I do enjoy a good TV series, I also like to relax with a good book.  I'm currently reading The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt.  The book is long.  756 pages on my Nook.  I'm on page 242 right now and to be honest, I'm not sure if I'm enjoying this book.  Maybe I just had very high expectations and am a little let down??  IDK but I'll see it through to the end. 
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/13/books/review/donna-tartts-goldfinch.html?_r=0

What Do You Want to be When You Grow Up?

Having some problems uploading photos to my blog the last couple of days.  Yesterday I had a great post about the Golden Globes Red Carpet Fashion but without pictures, it's kind of pointless.


KJ has just started her last semester of middle school.  That just kind of hit me.  I rec'd an e-mail about an open house for rising 9th graders.  The end of January she meets w/ guidance counselors to choose her high school curriculum and the parent's meeting is early February.  Wow.  Let that sink in for a minute.  My baby girl is on her way to becoming a high schooler.  A freshman. 


We met Champ out for dinner last night and had a really nice chat w/ KJ about what she wants to study, how important high school grades are, etc.  T was easy.  She always knew what she wanted to do.  She was on the broadcast team in elementary school, middle school and high school.  She only visited colleges with a broadcast journalism program.  KJ just isn't sure.  And let's be real here.  She's 14.  I'm "40-something" and still don't know what I want to be when I grow up. 


She'd like to do something sports-related but has decided she does not want to be a sportscaster.  She said she would be too nervous on the air.  She'd like to work for a professional sports team but she's not sure in what capacity.  She loves to travel so we talked about pursuing a career in hospitality.  She also asked a lot of questions about Human Resources and we talked about a career in Marketing or Sales and how she could use a degree like that.  She said she "wants a fun job" where she can make "lots of money."  Don't we all???

Scar

No!  Not him!!  More like 4 small bullet holes!  Yup.  Unexpectedly had my gall bladder removed the day before New Year's Eve.  Holy hell.  That is not something I ever want to go through again (and thankfully won't!) and I never want to wish that on my worst enemy!



I went to bed Sunday night before Cosmo (which is a rarity in this house; I'm usually up until all hours of the night).  My parents had just returned from my cousin's wedding in Columbus and my brother and his fam had left earlier in the day.  I couldn't get comfortable.  I tossed and turned and had a really weird pain in the middle of my chest that wrapped all around to my back.  I got out of bed so my tossing and turning didn't disturb Cosmo and laid on the couch for a while.  Which seemed to make things worse.  So I sat up and watched TV.  That didn't help either.  At one point, I was on my hands and knees gasping through the pain (please keep in mind KJ was also asleep on the couch and never woke up through any of this).  After about an hour of horrific pain that was not going away, I woke up the hubby.  I swear to God, I thought I was having a heart attack.  The pain was horrific and I couldn't breathe.  It felt like a boa constrictor was wrapped around my upper body and slowly but steadily squeezing.  I begged him not to wake up my parents and I begged him not to call an ambulance.  Just get me to a hospital.  Well, since we haven't lived here very long, neither one of us had any idea where the hospital was! 



We got in the car, pulled out of the driveway and called 911.  The sent us a few miles down the road to the Emergency Center (a stand-alone emergency care center that provides the same emergency medical care that patients can receive at a hospital emergency department, but does not have inpatient beds).  They took wonderful care of me.  And let me tell you I was in sheer agony.  I kept crying to Cosmo "OhMyGod  I think I'm going to die.  Some thing's really wrong."  Cosmo told the ER doctor that I had a pretty high pain threshold and for me to beg to go to the emergency room was an indicator of how bad things were.  We got to the emergency center around 1:30 AM, they quickly did an EKG, checked my vitals (blood pressure was through the roof but they think that was because of the intense pain I was in) and started me on some pain meds.  After some chest x-rays (which came back fine) and an ultra sound, they determined I had gall stones.  I had a couple of choices:  be submitted to the hospital for pain management, have the gall bladder removed ASAP, or go home.  I was still in a lot of pain so going home was not an option.  And neither was laying in a hospital on pain meds without actually doing anything about the stones that aren't going to "pass" like a kidney stone would.  So, they transported me to the main hospital around 7 AM, got me a bed and by 1 PM I was in pre-op.  Around noon the girls and my parents came to the hospital and KJ took them to the cafeteria for some lunch.  I remember being wheeled into surgery at 2 PM and the next thing I remember is waking up in recovery.  They went in laproscopically (through the belly button and I have an incision point right between my boobs deep in my cleavage and two incisions on my right side).  By 7 PM that night I felt totally fine and by 8 AM the next day (New Year's Eve) I was ready to go home. 


T and KJ took my parents to the airport bright and early Tuesday morning and came to the hospital straight from Dulles.  Cosmo met us at the hospital and they all helped me get in the car and the girls drove me home, got my prescription for me and picked up plenty of ice pops, broth and jello.  Yummy. 


As you can imagine, New Year's Eve was kind of lame and I barely got off the couch.  T got together with her "little" (she lives in Arlington) and another one of their sorority sisters for New Year's Eve.  They had dinner with the Little's family and then went out afterward.  T spent the night because there was no way I was going to let her drive on New Year's Eve.