just happy she's alive

Anne Hutchinson and Miss Otis

Friday was KJ's 4th grade Wax Museum. They've been learning all year about the Revolutionary War and Colonial America and key historical figures. KJ ended up as Anne Hutchinson, a Puritan who was killed in an Indian Massacre. In her research she discovered that the Hutchinson Parkway in NY, also known as the Hutch, was named after her. Drove up and down the Hutch thousands of times and had no idea. The kids worked so hard and looked so great. Some really cute costumes. Last night she had a friend's b-day party at the new Embassy Suites. She was really looking forward to it and I think they were going to swim and hang out all night. She's probably not going to be a happy camper today.

Last night was T's rehearsal for today's dance recital. Holy cow. It was long. She had to be there at 6 PM and I think we walked out of the BJCC after 11 PM. I was exhausted. I had literally walked in the door from work, changed my shoes and turned around and headed downtown. T drove from the house to the BJCC and freaked out a bit. She's driven on the highway before, no biggie, but I wasn't paying attention and forgot she didn't exactly know where she was going so we had a couple of hairy moments on 65.

Today's dance recital should be pretty good, I really like the theme and there are lots of props this year. One of the little girl's classes is dancing to Dolly Parton's "9 to 5" and they are wearing big bouffant wigs and carrying briefcases. T's hip hop song is to some song about shopping and they come out carrying shopping bags. Her pointe class (yay! her first year on toe!) is a circus / big top / big show theme and she wears a white, white wig and a little top hat and fishnets. Doesn't even look like her. Her jazz dance is awesome. She totally rocks it. Her sweet, sweet friend Sarah told her she was so good, that she couldn't look at anyone else. She told T she totally owned that dance and really made T's night (which was good because that hip-hop dance is not T's friend. She mised a LOT of Wednesday night classes this spring to go to her lax practices/games and it shows. She is not nearly as comfortable with the hip hop dance as she is with the two jazz, one tap and pointe dances). I have begged T for years to take a tap class and she finally took one over the summer. Her teacher told her she was very good but she just never felt it. I talked her into taking the class full-time and last night her tap routine was the only dance that got a big response from the kids and moms at rehearsal. Lots of oohs and aahs. There are only 4 girls in the tap class and the song is a really sassy number about Miss Otis sending her regrets.

After today's recital she has a friend's Sweet 16 at the country club so I will take her & Devon straight there from the BJCC. Another long day. Tomorrow she needs to get in one of her Bnette costumes and take some photos at the local businesses that sponsored her in this fall's football media guide. Never ends in this house.

Smokey. As in....

.....the Smoke Monster from Lost, Smokey Eyes (more on this later!) and Smokey the Bear (also a nickname for my uncle).

So Lost is on tonight (can I get a Whoop! Whoop!). I think there's only one or two episodes left. Finally! All my questions will be answered! (I seriously doubt it but it's nice to dream!!).
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My mom had three brothers: John, Charles and Michael (she was the 2nd child, the only girl). My two oldest uncles had nicknames, Michael, for some reason, did not. My Uncle John came out of the Navy w/ the nickname Zip. EVERYONE called him Zip. It just stuck. He passed away when T was a little girl and we were living in Cincinnati, he was my Godfather. So, I had to have been in my early 30's when he died but don't think I ever, not even once, called him Uncle John. The second brother, was nicknamed Smokey when he was a little boy. He was a little chubby in the face and had a buzz cut. His grandfather, my great grandfather, was a forest ranger (I may have this part of the story wrong; my great grandfather was also in WWI and had one of those weird hats) and Charles used to plunk that hat on his head and everyone said he looked like Smokey the bear. It stuck. He's in his late 5o's/early 60's and he's still referred to as Smokey.

T & I are totally obsessed w/ learning how to make a "smokey" eye; I think we just need to break down and sit at the MAC counter and ask for help! Last night I bought CoverGirl's new smokey eye pencil (or something like that). The directions on the packaging are so freaking small I need a magnifying lens. Professional grade.
So, as you can see these three things are totally random and have absolutely nothing to do with each other. Reminds me of that song from Sesame Street when the girls were little...One of these things is not like the others, one of these things doesn't belong. Randomness will only prove my point later in this blog. And now, on to the randomness!

Everyone has something they like to do and something they get a great deal of enjoyment from. Some people like to garden, some like to do crafts. I suck at both of those things. Some like to go for a run or a hike or engage in some other type of physical activity. Some folks collect stamps or other paraphernalia. I like to read. A lot. I like to travel. A lot. I like to read about travelling and I read when I travel. I enjoy decorating. More specifically, I enjoy decorating my dining room table. I luv, luv, luv to set the table based on the seasons and holidays. I love to layer patterns, fabric and textures and create a warm, inviting table.

I also like to blog. My blog is about whatever pops into my head. Some days it's politics, some days it's fashion and make-up. Some days it's lacrosse. Actually, there are a lot of days I blog about lacrosse (pretty much from January through June/July). Some days I blog about my kids. Some days I blog about my hubby. Some days I blog about both. Some days I blog about my kids, my hubby AND lacrosse all in the same post! Crazy, I know! Some days I blog about my hair or a particularly good mani/pedi. Whatever. If you don't like what I blog about, please do us both a favor and stop reading. Stop reading immediately. You obviously can't handle what I blog. Please stop misinterpreting everything I type and please stop leaving snarky, vague, oblique references on other social networks. I am a 40-something, free, white American citizen. I pay my taxes. I volunteer my time and give back to my community on a regular basis. I help my friends and family when in need. I am entitled to my opinion. You are also entitled to your own opinion. Here's a thought, why don't you start your own blog and post something? Why don't you own up and put yourself out there once in a while? I think you are the meek, ignorant type that would rather complain than actually speak up. That passive/agressive type that would rather call/text all her girlfriends and say, "Can you believe she/did said that???" If my blog offends you so much, why don't you leave me a comment once in a while? Why don't you call me on the phone (you have the number) and discuss? I'm open-minded about these things. Since you are obtuse and slightly ignorant, I will break it down into simpler terms for you.....while I don't necessarily agree with everything Howard Stern, Rush Limbaugh or Anne Coulter say or do, they are entitled to freedom of speech. I am entitled to freedom of choice. I choose to change the channel or choose not to follow their blogs. Get it now???

Happy Mudder's Day!

Hope everyone had a wonderful Mother's Day! Cosmo and the girls brought me breakfast in bed and then I read (in bed) until noon. It was wonderful! KJ & I took Trixie for a lovely walk at Ross Bridge and washed both my car and the dog when we got home (Trixie really liked jumping in and out of the little creek). Cosmo had all-star practice late in the afternoon and we met him out for dinner and had strawberry shortcake back at the house for dessert.
I'm catching up on my TiVo and watching the Amazing Race finale. Good God I hope those 2 stupid models don't win it all. They are the epitome of ugly Americans and are an embarrassment. I luv, luv, luv the Cowboy brothers and think they played a great race.

T has been so incredibly busy we've barely had a chance to chat. She's had a couple of projects /research papers due and Friday was her lax team end of year party. They had a company come out and set up lazer tag, hamster wheels, Wii and X-Box. It was really a lot of fun. Each of the girls got a dog tag with their name and jersey number and a phrase that best describes them. T's said "The Intimidator." Very true. She plays the game hard and she plays the game the way it was meant to be played. Not everyone can play lax, it's not for wimps.

Saturday was Devon's sister's dance recital and afterward she went out to dinner with his family. I think last week (or maybe the week before??) was the Belles ceremony so we talked about our favorite dresses. We both agreed that our neighbor Callie had the prettiest dress. I luv, luv, luv'd the color palette she used. She's probably one of the smallest/shortest Belles but she had the biggest, fluffiest dress and it was extremely flattering. Our friend Kristy also had a very pretty dress, an ice blue to match her beautiful eyes and her dark hair and KJ said Mary Scott had the best hat. Some of the girl's dresses didn't seem to fit very well in the bodice area and the pastels weren't very flattering to their skin tone/hair color. I can't tell if one of the girls' dresses was poorly made or if it was the way she stood in every one of her photos, but she looked 9 months pregnant. It was very strange.

Me & My Pal Sue

I had one of the weirdest experiences of my life the other night. A total "6 degrees of separation" kind of feeling. Cosmo & I have TiVo'd the NBC show "Who do you Think you Are?" this season. I started to watch the Susan Sarandon episode Tuesday or Wednesday but something came up and I only got 10-15 minutes into it. So, I tried to watch it again Thursday night while Cosmo was up in Huntsville for the evening. O.M.G. What a show! My dad went to high school w/ Susan in Edison, NJ (I think her name back then was Tomlison or something like that). We always joked that my dad going to high school with her was his big claim to fame. I think she even signed his yearbook. Cosmo & I, on the other hand, went to high school with the girl "Flo" from the Geico commercials.

So back to Susan . . . Apparently, she never knew her maternal grandmother. Her mother's mother disappeared when the mother was just a toddler. The family actually thought she was dead. Well, as they investigated, they found out that she had a really tough life. As they tracked her life through birth certificates, death certificates, marriage certificates they discovered the grandmother was pregnant by her 19 year old neighbor when she was 12 years old, married at 13, ultimately ended up being married 3 times, etc. So, the really weird part was they tracked her grandmother down to Rockland County, NY! Not just Rockland County but Garnerville, Cosmo's home town. Doesn't end there. Not just Garnerville, but her house was on the first street as you entered his childhood neighborhood. He had to pass her grandmother's house EVERY day of his life and if it's the house we think it is, he would have even delivered newspapers to her for years before she passed away in 1984. No lie. We have literally driven past this woman's house millions and millions of times! The most amazing part of the show (to me) was the family resemblance Susan and her grandmother shared. Susan's mother only had 2 photos of her mother, one was a laminated, tore up photo from the newspaper or something and another was taken at at the World's Fair in the 30's but the photo was distorted because it was actually a reflection from the fun house mirrors. The grandmother's 3rd husband sketched his wife and when Susan Sarandon held the drawing up to her face, the resemblance was uncanny. She looked so much like her grandmother it was crazy! The grandmother also had a bit of a wild, independent streak (very rare for a woman of her time). She was a bit of a showgirl, hung out in some of the famous New York City night clubs (ie. the Copacabana, etc.) and lied about her age as it suited her. The sad part of the whole show was that her grandmother lived 1 1/2 hours from her growing up and they never even knew each other. So close.

http://www.nbc.com/who-do-you-think-you-are/bios/susanS.shtml

3-time Varsity State Champs! (can I get a whoop! whoop!)

Sunday was State Championship day and the weather was so crappy! UGH! Second year in a row we've had severe weather (last year we had tornado warnings and had to huddle under the stadium!). JV played at noon and lost therefore ending their 3-year championship run. Girls Varsity played at 2 PM and had a couple of delays due to lightening strikes. Boys Varsity was scheduled to start at 4 PM and didn't start too much later than that. (for a full recap of the weekend's action, check-out Cosmo's blog at http://www.bamalax.blogspot.com/) Varsity played a GREAT game! It was a very clean game from both teams, no rough hits, no nasty parents, not too many bad calls, etc.

After the game the team had their end of year at a local wings place. KJ had her lax game at the same time clear on the other side of town. Being the good mother that I am, I drove her all the way over to her party and then all the way back to Cosmo's party. The boys were really pumped up and gave Cosmo a standing O. It was pretty cool.

This is Cosmo's nasty lucky lacrosse hat. He wears it constantly and I would love to throw it away but I promised him I'd bury him in it. The brim has holes in it and their are stains all over it (honestly though, he looks really cute in it!).

Last night was our first family sit-down dinner in a long, long time and it was wonderful. Cosmo & I bought new patio stuff (cushions, umbrella, table, couple of reclining chairs) and we had candles everywhere. T had her iHome rocking and we just sat and visited and caught up with each other. The crickets were chirping, we could hear the frogs in our neighbor's pond and KJ said it sounded just like eating in the Rainforest Cafe. We had such a nice night she actually said, "this was fun! let's do this EVERY Monday!!"

So,

I love my job and all the wonderful perks that come with it. The spa recently switched over to Aveda products (which I have ALWAYS loved!) and they've marked down some of the discontinued spa products for $5. I bought some professional hair repair serum, some glycolic cream (great for my dark spots in the summer!) and also bought some lightening cream (again, got to get those dark spots!). I also bought some OPI nail polish and a bunch of pedicure products for T. Friday I had an incredible 50-minute massage right smack in the middle of the afternoon and felt wonderful! Like I said, LOVE my job!

Lacrosse season is winding down. T's team didn't make it to the semi-finals and KJ's team lost by one last night in overtime. It was a rough game but we all went out for ice cream last night as a team and that seemed to make everything all better. Cosmo's varsity played against their cross-town rivals last night and it sounds like I missed an awesome game! Parents have been calling him and e-mailing him all day about what a great game it was, great crowd, etc. He told me last night he was so proud of those boys and they "totally brought it" last night. He said they really stepped up. State Championships are tomorrow for both JV and Varsity.

T went to the Crawfish boil last night w/ friends and is at her friend Kate's Sweet 16 party tonight. She went to dance this morning and we ran a bunch of errands today after I picked her up. Despite a horrible record, she personally had an outstanding lacrosse season and racked up a butt-load of goals. Not bad considering this season she has juggled lax, studio dance AND b-nette practice twice a week. She scored the only 2 goals in Wednesday's game against Vestavia and has played with braces on her knees and a thumb brace most of the season. Very proud of her.

KJ, Cosmo & I went out for dinner tonight and also checked out some new patio furniture. I'd like to put down an sawgrass or sisal rug but think it may leave a big fade mark in the off-season since it's not a covered deck. We picked up one of KJ's friends for a sleep-over and I took a magnificent bubble bath using some of my new spa products. Got to gear up for the big day tomorrow! KJ was so funny at dinner, she gave Cosmo a big speech about it's not if you win or loose....