Wordless Wednesday

Prom 2011

"On with the dance! let joy be unconfined; No sleep till morn, when Youth and Pleasure meet To chase the glowing hours with flying feet." ~ George Gordon, Lord Byron, Childe Harold's Pilgrimage

So T had a wonderful time at Prom! The weather was amazing, she looked amazing, her friends all looked amazing. Basically, it was amazing! Ha ha! She was thrilled with her hair and was so happy with the way the whole look turned out. It was exactly as she planned it. The girl knows what she wants! It was wonderful to see all the kids looking so grown up.

"A good snapshot stops a moment from running away." ~ Eudora Welty

Great Ending to a Great Week !!!

So Prom day has finally arrived! Yay! Love seeing all the kids cleaned up and looking so grown up!

I love, love, love T's gown and can't wait to see how everything comes together. Her dress is spectacular and everyone in the shop stopped and stared when she came out of the dressing room. Several girls told her "that's your dress and you're crazy if you don't buy it." She originally tried the dress on in white (size 0) but didn't like the way it fit across her (non-existent) hips so she went with the size 2 in light blue. It was definitely one of those "a-ha" moments. We both looked at each other and said, "this is the one."

I haven't seen the whole package yet . . . the hair, the nails, the shoes, the gown, the make-up. I saw the dress and the shoes before alterations but haven't seen it all together (T had a lot of the train cut off her dress and she had some strap adjustments as well). She had her hair cut a couple of weeks ago and at that time they experimented with a couple of possible hairstyles for tonight. She's still so tan from the beach so she'll look like a total Barbie doll tonight. She'll have a good time tonight w/ her friend Jay and her group is a really nice bunch of kids that have been to the house several times. The weather looks like it's going to be great for photos. T's nice and relaxed and is having lunch w/ a couple of girl friends after school today before her hair & nail appointments.

Although today is all about Prom, this week was all about lacrosse. I sat at 5 different lacrosse games this week and boy is my ass tired! Tuesday the boys JV and Varsity played Mountain Brook, Wednesday KJ and T both had their first games of the season (KJ played Mountain Brook and T played John Carroll). Thursday the boys JV and Varsity played John Carroll but I went to KJ's game vs. Berry. Lot of highs and lows this week . . . on the one hand, I think the girls Varsity team is going to be very good (they stomped JC 19 to 4 --something like that; T had a couple of goals and assistants and unbelievably, not a SINGLE yellow card!! Whoo hoo!). This is definitely going to be a rebuilding year for the boys. There have been some issues this year w/ several of the kids that resulted in suspensions and it's just a really young, in-experienced squad to begin with. This is the first year our side of town has had a middle school girls team and the rainy spring kept practices to the bare minimum. They lost both games this week but definitely did extremely well all things considered. Some of the girls had never seen a game before, never held a stick in their hands and had no idea about offense or defense or where they needed to be on the field. They are a very sweet group of girls and are very kind to KJ (she's the only 5th grader on the squad). They all run out to the middle of the field and jump on her after each game even though they've lost.

Happy Anniversary

"Never work just for money or for power. They won’t save your soul or help you sleep at night." – Marian Wright Edelman

Today was my one-year anniversary at work. I am so incredibly blessed to work with such an incredibly talented, warm, caring group of people. They made me feel very special today and treated me to my favorite salad from the restaurant and everyone signed a thoughtful card. My two best buds surprised me with my favorite scented candle and a super sweet card.

“My life is like a stroll on the beach...as near to the edge as I can go.”
--Thoreau

Back from quite possibly one of the best vacations ever. The weather was amazing, I loved our condo, the girls were awesome (KJ brought a friend and they got along incredibly!) and I basically vegetated on the beach for a week. My Nook was loaded and it was wonderful not having to be anywhere at any specific time. No lacrosse, no volleyball, no school. Nothing! We slept in, ate whenever/whatever we felt like, laid on the beach for hours and hours, played in the water, played in the sand, played in the pool and got together with friends a couple of times. We all came back with a tan and even saw some dolphins a couple of mornings. Just awesome!

“I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each.”
-- T. S. Eliot

"Under this window in stormy weather I marry this man and woman together; Let none but Him who rules the thunder Put this man and woman asunder. " -- Jonathan Swift

Crazy, crazy weather we're having! Last night's storm was so nice. I was SO cozy this morning and did not want to get out of bed. We've lived here almost 12 years and this morning was the first time I had ever seen flooding on one of the local roads I travel on every day.

T is supposed to have her first game tonight. If this weather keeps up, all the fields will be under water and no one will get any games in. Champ has the turf field tonight so he might be able to move the girls game there. Last night we had our Bnettes member/parent meeting. Some new faces. Good news is our bill this year is a little less since she won't need a new orange sparkly or silver jacket or game day clothes (the decision is out on her boots . . . I think they're nasty and she needs a new pair; she thinks they're fine). Bad news is they've added a couple of items to the shopping list . . . a new game day shirt (they wear them to school w/ spandex dance pants), a new dance bag and the girls are also getting some type of jerseys. It also sounds like this year's band director is mixing things up a bit with the half-time show. It's all good!

Laissez les bons temps rouler !!!

Mardi Gras kind of snuck up on me this year.

For some reason I thought it was next Tuesday and didn't decorate or send KJ to school with any beads today. Yikes!

One of the guys brought in King Cake from Edgars and a bunch of beads for everyone and decorated his door (yes, he's from New Orleans).

"Let the rain kiss you. Let the rain beat upon your head with silver liquid drops. Let the rain sing you a lullaby." ~ Langston Hughes

Love this quote about the rain! I know I'm in the minority but I find the rainy, gloomy weather so soothing to my soul. We are such an incredibly busy family. Inclement weather wrecks havoc with the fields, cancels sports and forces our family to take a little break and enjoy some down time. I love it.

So, because of the cruddy weather, I had a very, very nice weekend. Coach & KJ drove up to Greenville, SC w/ the boys lax team. She LOVES going on those trips with the team. She loves being the water girl, holding the clipboard for her dad and just spending time with him. Unfortunately, it was a bit of a wasted trip. They arrived in SC late Friday night and JV had a very early game Saturday AM (I think faceoff was at 8 AM which is really 7 AM Central time!). They were able to get in the Varsity game before the weather got really bad. One of the dads tweets game updates and does a great job so I was able to keep up with all the action from home. The dad is very sweet and did not tweet that my husband rec'd a technical foul the last minute of the game. The boys went on to win 13-12. Fortunately, Coach is able to laugh at himself and tweeted about final score and mentioned "the Hoover coach rec'd a technical the last minute of the game. What an Idiot! Wait! That's me!" I thought that was pretty funny! After the lax games, the whole team went to a local hockey game which KJ loved. It was Paws for Pucks charity night and there was a huge German Shepherd sitting next to her. She said she wished she had brought Trixie. On Sunday, Greenville rec'd the heavy rains we had Saturday so the fields were a mess and they ended up driving home a bit prematurely.

T worked all day Saturday and Sunday we had a nice breakfast out and did some shopping. She bought some new sandals for SB'11 and a pair of sneakers. She also picked up a pair of nude pumps that she's had her eye on. She was supposed to have her first game Sunday but it was rescheduled due to the poor field conditions. The field will really benefit from the kids being on spring break next week and will get some much need maintenance.

Friday was Buccanettes try-outs and T did make the squad for her senior year! Yay! So incredibly proud of her. Also very glad that all of the returning girls made the squad as well. I don't think the Orlando trip in April would be very fun if you knew you didn't make the squad for next year. Last year there were less girls trying out but it took longer to find out who made the squad. This year they did things a little differently and had the Band Director entering the girls scores as they auditioned. T walked in the door around 6:45 PM, we talked for a bit and the list was on the band website in less than a half an hour. The senior girls "kidnap" the underclassmen and take them back to the high school for a celebratory party. This year they tried to mix things up a bit and made the girls wear masks so they couldn't tell who was in the car with them until they got to the high school. Poor Alison ran up our driveway in the pouring rain so she could get a photo w/ T. There were two other girls in the car but they were all supposed to be quiet and not know who else was there. T said it was hysterical. They kept poking each other and when Alison got out of the car to kidnap Clare, T said the suspense was killing her so she ripped off her mask to find out who else was in the car. We already knew who was on the squad, T was just dying to know who was in car with her!

Gathering

Getting a lot done on this yucky Saturday. I've been reorganizing all of my holiday decorations from Thanksgiving, Christmas and Valentine's Day . . . re-wrapping / re-packing, throwing away some stuff, etc. I'm also getting items together for my Spring dining room tablescape and finding inspiration. As always, I can see it in my head, just need to pull it all together. I'm going for a rustic, earthy, bring-the-outdoors-in, kind of look. Sort of like setting a garden party table indoors. I found a wonderful burlap table runner I plan to use and the most incredible smelling candles in rustic clay pots. We just got them in at work and I love the Olive Verbena. So fresh and clean smelling.

Yessir! Love me a rainy Saturday!!! After I'm done in the dining room and attic I plan to relax on the couch w/ my Nook. I'm currently reading "Swamplandia." Don't know how I feel about it yet. Not really sure where this book is going.

It's the Freakin' Weekend I'm About to Have Me Some Fun

I have always loved that line! I don't know who sings it or even the name of the song but I've always think of it on Friday mornings. I don't know exactly how much fun I'll have this weekend due to the gloomy weather we're expecting but I will definitely make the most of it!


Tough losses to Spain Park last night. This year's teams are very, very young. There are some 8th graders playing, only 1 senior, a handful of juniors, 2 sophomores and a boatload of freshmen. There have also been a couple of injuries that really affected the team. I think this season will be a "rebuilding" year and next year will be awesome! I just hope my husband survives the season. Some of the refs calls are killing him.


T came to visit me at work today. I love when the girls visit or when Cosmo joins me for lunch! She had a prom dress fitting and plenty of time before she had to head to school this afternoon. So we had I bought her a late breakfasdt and we had a nice little visit (they all make fun of me at work and tell me I'm going to miss her when she goes off to college). Although T wants to major in communications, I also think she would do really well at hospitality. She's so friendly and outgoing and walks around the hotel like an old pro. She was that way when we lived in Cincy, too. My friend LCM used to say that T walked into that Marriott like she owned the place (and she was onlly 3 years old at the time!). She used to go back in the kitchen and all the Chefs would fuss over her, the Front Desk girls oohed and aahed over her, too.

Buccanettes try-outs tonight. It was SO sweet at last night's lax game. All the mom's were hugging T, telling her good luck, one mom said, "you'll be wearing those white boots again next year" which I thought was really cute. The audition dances are pretty tough this year. The hip hop is to a really fast Beyonce song that I've never heard before and I can't remember what the jazz song is. T's got her first lax game of the season Sunday afternoon. Hope the weather holds out. This game has already been rescheduled once, don't know what they'll do if the weather is bad.

L.B.'s

I've managed to drop a couple of lbs since the beginning of the year and, more importantly, I've been able to consistently keep it off. I don't obsess about my weight and usually don't even get on the scale. I just go by how my clothes fit. At the beginning of the new year I decided I would weigh myself each morning and watch what I eat a little more closely. I lost those first couple of pounds pretty quickly and then the next couple of lbs. came off. I gained a couple lbs back but have since lost them again so I'm back where I was after that initial weight loss. Unfortunately, we eat out a lot because of our extremely busy schedules and I don't have the opportunity to exercise alot. However, I've added a lot of fruit and vegetables to my diet and limit my snacking. I noticed my skin was very, very dry this winter so I started to drink a lot of water during the day. I must be do something right . . . the other day at the lacrosse field two moms that I don't see very often told me I looked like I've lost some weight! Yay! That's always a good sign!

Travel Inspirations

Budget Travel.com has recently released their list of the Year's Top 10 Most Travel Inspiring Movies of the year. No surprise that Eat Pray Love is on the list but I think the movie that most appeals to me is the Tourist w/ Johnny Depp and Angelina. Venice is totally on my list. The Wonderful Wizarding World of Harry Potter? Um, not so much.
http://www.budgettravel.com/feature/the-10-most-travel-inspiring-films-of-the-year,6921/

Also check out the Top 10 Beaches from movies:
http://www.budgettravel.com/slideshow/top-10-beaches-from-the-movies-photos,6757/?pic=8 (I've always loved the beach from the end of the Goonies when the big pirate ship sails out and I like the beach from the Twilight movies; guess I like my beaches like I like my men: a little rugged. hahaha).