The Martins are coming! The Martins are coming!

"There is nothing better than a friend, unless it's a friend with chocolate." -- Charles Dickens

This week completely flew by me. Really looking forward to the weekend. As always, it will be busy but loaded with good times and good friends.

T has a photo shoot Sunday afternoon and then has dinner plans, KJ has a game Sunday afternoon and then T has a game in the evening. I thought Sunday was supposed to be a day of rest??

LCM and her family are stopping here for a few days on their way down to Disney for their Spring Break. Yay! So excited! I guess the last time we've seen each other was 2 summers ago when we visited them in Cincy. She's the type of friend that I don't get a chance to talk to often but when we do talk, we always pick up right where we left off. Thank goodness for Facebook, too! We do a lot of posting on each other's walls.

Had a really nice lunch with the hubster earlier in the week. I love when we have lunch together, it's nice and quiet and we really get a chance to talk and catch up. So much stuff going on, it's not even funny. He had a really, really great time in Miami at his niece's wedding (wish we all could have gone but we had already paid in full for T's Disney trip and I'm taking vacation in the summer for T's b-day and my cousins' wedding in October). Kristen looked beautiful and Champ had a nice visit with his brothers, sister, his mom and assorted nieces and one nephew.

Last month I was nominated for Associate of the Month but didn't win :-( Sounds cliche but it "really was an honor to be nominated." I had some stiff competition but had a nice time at breakfast this week and got to know a little bit more about some of the people I work with. I am always amazed at some of my co-workers. Everyone really, truly cares about one another and is proud to work there.

Tonight Coach has a lax game and is taking his team on the road this weekend. T had a game Tuesday night against Vestavia and lost by 1. It was a tough game. The refs were calling some weird, "BS" calls as my hubby would say and called back one of T's goals and one of the other T's goals. So, had those two goals counted, they would have won by 1. An inexperienced ref can really make or break a game. Despite the cruddy penalties, T still managed three solid goals (four if you count the one they took back).

Lacrosse season is winding down and I couldn't be happier. This season has really taken a toll on our entire family. Not because of the losing record, that's not a big deal. This year is a rebuilding year and everyone knew that going in. This year has been really tough as far as undisciplined players, the parents, the refs, obnoxious comments from other fans, everything. There were a lot of issues that Champ has never, ever had to deal with before and, quite honestly, the guy is a volunteer who doesn't even had a child on the team. He shouldn't have to deal with some of these things.

Another Spectacular Weekend

Such a gorgeous weekend! KJ and I had a wonderful time horseback riding yesterday. So peaceful, so relaxing and such a joy to spend time with daughter #2. It was nice nice to just wander thru the woods, enjoying nature and letting all the stress go. It was almost as good as a massage (almost, not quite).

We had a nice lunch on our way home and ran a bunch of errands. We popped into the mall and found window treatments to go with my new comforter set. A friend stopped by last night to borrow some books, we ended up chatting for a while and I feel like a bad hostess. I didn't even offer her a glass of wine or anything! I didn't realize how long we ended up visiting!

Today KJ played the Oak Mountain middle school girls team. They lost 9 to 2 but the second half was much better than the first and we even had a girl score her very first goal in the last couple seconds of the game.

T is on her way home from Disney and Cosmo is on his way home from his niece's wedding in Miami. It sounds like they both had good trips. Cosmo was able to visit with his 2 brothers, numerous nieces and a nephew, his sister and his mom. I can't wait to see photos from the wedding. I'm sure Kristen was a beautiful bride!

So you HAVE been listening all these years!!!

Funny thing happened last night. We like the show "Who Do You Think You Are" (you may remember my post about my weird quasi-connection with Susan Sarandon). Last night KJ & I decided to catch up on a couple of episodes while Cosmo was at practice and T was out with friends. It was the Rosie O'Donnell episode.

Now, I'm not really a Rosie fan but knew that she had purchased a home in Nyack, NY years ag0 (located in Rockland County New York where Cosmo & I grew up). Nyack is a beautiful, artsy community located on the Hudson River and is home to many celebrities due to it's promiximity to the city and the theater. Bill Murray is a long-time Nyack resident and Stephen Baldwin had a home there before he ran into money problems (see the Baldwin home below).

Many celebrities and atheletes lived in Rockland or rented a home while they appeared on Broadway or were in season. Mick Jagger and Jerry Hall rented a home in New City for a while, I used to work at the Nanuet Mall in high school and Jon Voight used to come in often with his ex-wife and their children (Angelina Jolie and yes, I've met her; she was probably around 10 or 11 at the time), a lot of the Soprano's cast (Lorraine Bracco the phyciatrist for one), Jack Klugman, Burgess Meredith, Al Pacino, Hayden Panettiere was born there and many, many more.
The home Rosie originally purchased was Helen Hayes' home "Pretty Penny" (Helen Hayes is regarded by many as the First Lady of the American Theater). See Photo Below:
Growing up, Nyack was our biggest football rivalry. The were the Indians and we were the Red Raiders. It was such a big rivalry, there was even some type of Little Brown Jug trophy that probably dated back to the '20's and Prohibition or something like that. I don't remember. Anyway, Cosmo was a football player and I was a cheerleader. One of my favorite cheers was "Send Nyack back to the Indians, tie them to their tee-pees." In hindsight, that probably wasn't the most politically correct cheer but hey! It was the 80's and our brains were fried from waaaaay too much Aqua Net. Naturally, over the course of kid's lives, we've bored them with stupid stories from our childhoods and just never really knew if they were paying any attention. Well, last night while we were watching the show, they mentioned that Rosie O lived in Nyack, NY. KJ jumped up out of her seat and said, "NYACK??? As in "send Nyack back to the Indians, tie them to their tee-pees Nyack???" and proceeded to do the cheer perfectly. I was shocked and so excited! I finally had confirmation that at least one of my children listened to me! To my surprise, T had the same reaction KJ did when we showed her the opening credits of the show (only problem was, she got the cheer all wrong. She said something about tying up the Indians and throwing them in the Hudson).

Senior Year and Florida

Getting everyone ready for their upcoming Florida trips. T is headed to Disney and Cosmo is going to Miami. T is SUPER excited and I know she'll have a great time and make lots of memories with her friends. Cosmo's flight is crazy early so he's not nearly as excited as T is. haha!! I hope they both have incredible weather! T had some forms/reports due this week to keep on file for her senior packet. She had to do a resume listing her grades, personal accomplishments, awards, etc. She also had to answer questions for a personal profile and have a teacher complete an evaluation form. Cosmo & I had to complete a "Parent Insight" form (which was actually titled "Parent Brag Sheet" which I thought was pretty funny) and we had to sign a release for her transcripts. Filling out the paperwork was actually kind of fun and I was very impressed with her high school accomplishments and grades. But, sheesh!!! I cannot believe in a few short weeks her junior year will be over and I will be the proud parent of a high school senior. And, if that wasn't bad enough, my baby will be "graduating" elementary school and entering middle school (even though our school district just rezoned and did a bunch of wacky stuff and she'll be attending an "intermediate" school for 5th & 6th graders next year, she'll still be a middle schooler in my heart). Where did my little girls go? Maybe it's time to start thinking about having a baby????

Super Sunday!

Spent a great day out at the lacrosse fields . . . both of my girls played Huntsville today. One daughter won, one daughter lost but I love watching them both on the field! KJ's middle school team lost 9 to 3 but each week the girls are improving and are such a sweet group of girls. After each game, despite the score, they run out to the goal and give KJ bigs hugs and smack her on the helmet. The Varsity team played incredible today and I belive the score was 19 to 4 (maybe 5??). All I know is there are 4 girls named Taylor on the team and 3 of the T's each scored 5 goals. Pretty cool (and daughter #1 didn't even get a yellow card!). Yesterday they played John Carroll and I think the final was 17 to something. Yes, daughter #1 got thrown out of the game (today, one of the "newer" dads asked me which girl was my daughter, I told him and he said, "Oh. She's a little aggressive, huh?" Umm. ya' think???). I missed the entire game because I was at another event but a friend of mine from work went to watch T play which I thought was very sweet. The week after next is going to be tough w/ both Oak Mountain and Vestavia on the schedule.

The weather was outstanding today and it was wonderful to be out in the sunshine! Not sure what the weather is supposed to be like the rest of the week but it just really doesn't get any better than today!

Spring Spruce Up

Love this time of year! Getting so much done around the house and I love it when the hubster hands me cash and tells me to go buy whatever we need / I want. Yesterday KJ & Cosmo bought some flowers and starting freshening up the yard, today I was on the hunt for a new comforter set and also bought some new window treatments for the dining room. Had a hard time with the comforter set and the hubby's not too crazy about what I brought home (and I'm probably going to ask him to paint our bathroom which is going to drive him insane because I promised he wouldn't have to). I didn't see anything I liked in Bed Bath & Beyond, loved a comforter set in JC Penney's of all places but they were out of the king, walked clear to the other end of the mall and liked a Tommy Bahama set in Belk (but then realized I'm probably not going to love it in the winter and do I really want to go comforter shopping again in a few short months??), disappointed in the selection at Macy's, walked all the way back to Penney's and bought a different set than the original one I saw. I've got to find a day to schedule our window cleaning, our gutter cleaning, the mulch delivery and our carpet cleaning. I'm thinking if we just get it all done in one day, it will be much, much easier. Next up on the shopping list: a dining room light fixture. Hate, hate, hate the one we have in there now and always have since the day we bought this house. This is the year it's coming down!

Tea & Books (and a little lacrosse thrown in for good measure)

"You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me." ~ C.S. Lewis

I don't think there's a quote out there that better describes me or applies to me than this quote from C.S. Lewis. I love nothing more than to curl up with a good book (and a hot cup of darjeeling). I like to read in the car on long trips, in bed right before I fall asleep, on an airplane, on the beach, sitting in carpool line. Doesn't matter. Books are portable and meant to be read when you have a few free moments. Everyone has different hobbies and interests and reading is definitely my #1 interest. I can read just about anything -- chick lit, historical, romance, horror, mystery, sci fi, biographies. You name it, I read it. I'm always on the look out for a good book and usually keep a list in my purse so if someone mentions the name of a book, I can jot it down and have it handy. Do you remember those old commercials . . . "a mind is a terrible thing to waste?" I couldn't agree more. One of my biggest pet peeves are uneducated, uniformed people. In today's day & age, there is no reason to be uniformed or uninterested in the world as it unfolds around you. The Internet is at your fingertips, cable TV, e-readers, public libraries have incredible resources these days. There is no reason to be ignorant!

On the lacrosse front, T had a rough game Wednesday night vs. Ramsay High School. Ramsay beat us in a close game this past weekend at the DALC (I think it was 10 to 8) and we lost again 14-12 on the turf at the high school. T still managed to have 2 goals but she was definately "off." Not one of her best games. She was upset, Coach was upset and even little sister was upset. Mama doesn't usually get too upset. I think I get more upset over the boys than I do T's games for some reason. Last night the boys lost to Vestavia 13 to 9 (which is actually not as bad as I thought it was going to be). The boys were behind for the most of the game and started to make a bit of a comeback in the second half. I've said it once and I'll say it again, this is definately a "rebuilding" year for the boys. Having only 1 Senior is killing us and, although there are several seasoned Juniors on the team, we really need one or two boys to step up and be a leader on the field. I think that's one of the key components missing this year. We don't have that one player, that BFrench or JSly or some of the other boys through the years, to take command on the field.