Blowing It Up!

Yesterday was our annual "Khoatic KJ Klean-Up."  Every year, usually the last day of school, KJ and I go through her room.  Yesterday we totally tore her bedroom apart.  I mean, we emptied EVERY drawer, her entire closet, her bathroom, etc.  We reorganized, re-folded and threw away 2 trash bags of stuff and dropped 1 bag off at Goodwill.  Even though we've only been in this house 1 year, her room was never set up properly.  I let her unpack her room and I should have just done it myself.  She was not a happy camper when I woke her up and told her our plans for the day but she was a trooper.

Today she and Coach are visiting with their BamaLax family.  A couple of the teams are here in MD for a tournament.  They were originally supposed to be playing in Gettsyburg, PA but that tournament was cancelled so they were able to get in the MD one.  KJ was excited to see some of her former Bumpus classmates.

This week's weather has been amaze-balls.  No humidity and nothing but blue skies!

#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!).

#MyMississippi

Wow!  Can't believe it's been almost a full month since I've blogged!  We've had such a busy, fun summer so far.  We had some lax friends visit us, our dearest friends in the whole world from Cincinnati visited us and then we were off to MS for the pageant! 

I flew into Memphis on 4th of July.  The flight was fine however I didn't see my luggage until late Sunday, July 6.  Apparently my luggage never made it off the plane despite it being a direct flight from BWI to MEM.  My luggage went on a nice little vacation to Orlando, Charlotte, somewhere in New England (Manchester, NH perhaps?), back to BWI and finally to Memphis.  Southwest did made special arrangements for my luggage to be delivered to me in Vicksburg despite it being out of their normal delivery range.  Unfortunately, the delivery service truck was involved in some type of shoot-out in Memphis and had all of it's windows blown out in a hail of gunfire.  Can't make this stuff up people.  So then I was told that they would get my luggage to me Tuesday.  At which point I totally blew a gasket and had to threaten a few people at Southwest with bodily harm.  Or, as my family would say, I "went all New York."  You do not want New York Valerie to come out to play.  Alabama Valerie is fine, even Maryland Valerie is OK.  New York Valerie will cut a bitch. 

We spent 4th of July at the lake house of one of T's friends and shot off some guns.  You know.  Typical 4th of July in Mississippi!  T, the Dew and I had a nice dinner in Oxford and Saturday morning we headed to Vicksburg for her first day of rehearsals.  Saturday night T got to meet her two princesses and on Sunday we had to check her in at the Convention Center.  I can not stress how impressed I've been all week with this program.  So far, everything has been extremely organized.  After check-in, I delivered her pageant items to her dressing room where I was assisted by a great group of helpful Boy Scouts.  After that I had to deliver the remainder of her luggage to the contestant's hotel where I was also met by Boy Scouts who helped unload the car and carry her luggage to her room.  I didn't have to lift a finger! 

Last night was the parade in Downtown Vicksburg followed by an autograph party at the Outlet Mall.  So fun!  I wish the parade could have looped around again and go through the town twice!  The girls all looked amazing, there was some awesome convertibles and T's little princesses are the sassiest ever!  The city of Vicksburg really gets behind the girls and everywhere I go someone asks me if I'm in town for the pageant and if so, what's my daughter's title and I usually get a "I'll say a prayer for her" or "I'll be sure to clap extra loud for her!" 

Today I had a wonderful pedicure.  I went to this salon back in late February/early March when I came into town for Orientation.  The stylist who did my toes also does the hair and nails for the reigning Miss Mississippi and the panel of judges this week. 

Tomorrow Cosmo, KJ and my parents arrive.  T has her interviews in the morning and Prelims start tomorrow evening.  She has evening wear Wednesday, Swimsuit Thursday and Talent Friday.  Thursday she has another autograph party and lunch with the Rotary Club at the Country Club.  Thursday's autograph party will be fun because my parents, Cosmo and KJ have never seen her in her sash and crown.  My parents haven't seen her since Christmas so I'm sure there will be a few tears of pride.  Both of my parents are big cry-ers!!! 

O's and Cards

Last week we started watching House of Cards on Netflix.  I am totally hooked!  It's so, so good!  House of Cards is everything I love about living in DC!  The power struggles, the intrigue.  I think Kevin Spacey is one of the greatest actors of our generation and his on-screen wife, Claire, is portrayed by Robin Wright who was in two of my most favorite movies ever -- The Princess Bride and Forest Gump (aka Princess Butter Cup, aka Jenny).  Robin Wright was also married to the other actor I consider one of the greatest of our generation . . . Mr. Sean Penn.  I couldn't sleep one night and kind of went on a marathon and finished Season 1.  Champ is only on episode 5 or 6 but that's the beauty of Netflix . . . you can watch at your own pace.  T and The Dew are watching it also so that's been kind of fun.

Friday KJ had her 8th grade formal.  Sniff, Sniff.  Can't believe she's graduating from 8th grade in a few days and will be a high school freshman in the fall!  She had a couple of girls come over for photos beforehand and said she had a really good time at the dance.  Today they cleaned out their lockers, tomorrow she has her 8th grade field trip to Mountainside for zip lining, swimming, rope course and lunch.  Friday morning is the graduation ceremony and she's done!  Next week she's going to volleyball camp with her friend Corrine and next weekend we have two sets of friends coming to town!

This past weekend Champ surprised us with tickets to the O's home game vs. the A's and he made hotel arrangements in the Inner Harbor so we didn't have to drive home late at night.  The weather was incredibly perfect, mid-80's, and we had a wonderful late lunch before heading to the game.  I had never been to Camden Yards and it was quite an experience!  The O's have a HUGE fan base.  EVERY person in that stadium was wearing orange.  It was a great game and we had an easy walk back to our hotel.

I thought we had a graduation party on Sunday but totally read the invitation wrong and missed the party!  It was on Saturday, not Sunday.  I swear, sometimes I think I'm dyslexic!

First time for everything

There really is a first time for everything and I found that out firsthand on Friday.  At almost 47 years old, and having worked fairly steadily since I was 15, I was released from my duties at the hotel.  It kind of came as a shock, kind of not.  While Catering Sales were through the roof and basically carrying the hotel, Group Sales were sorely lacking and rumors were rampant.  We had been told that an older section of the hotel, "the Lodge," was closing effective June 1 but "the Towers" would remain open.  There was a lot of speculation on how this would affect the associates and management.  As it turns out, I, along with two others, were casualties of war.  Everyone kind of assumed that one of the Sales Managers was on the chopping block, possibly two.  So, it was a great surprise to most that I was one of the ones let go.  But, in reality, it kind of made sense.  My position was created in January after not having a Catering Coordinator for several years and as the old saying goes, "last one hired, first one fired."  I enjoyed my job very much, I liked the people I worked with and I liked the work I did.  That's that.

On the bright side, everything does happen for a reason and I think the reason was that I'm supposed to be home this summer.  Even though she's about to be a high schooler, we were still very nervous about KJ being home all summer with the pool.  We wanted her to enjoy the pool but we wanted her to be safe, too.  And, I certainly didn't want a bunch of kids at the house if I wasn't home.  We have some friends visiting in June, we have plans for July and now I don't have to feel guilty about asking for time off.

It's still a very weird feeling to be called into HR and be told the company is restructuring and there is no longer a spot for you on the team.  I flip-flop between acceptance and anger.  On Friday morning I walked into the hotel and for the first time thought that it could be me.  For weeks I had received the assurances of my supervisor that I "was fine"  but something hit me that morning and I told a co-worker I think my position is going to be eliminated only because it was newly created.  Obviously I knew the gig was up when I walked into HR and saw my boss crying her eyes out.  Apparently, she had been hit with the news just moments before I was called into HR.  In between packing up my desk, I spent most of the time reassuring her that I was going to be fine.  I think I was a little shell-shocked.  But on Sunday afternoon, I got mad.  I'm mad because in essence, this really has nothing to do with me.  It has to do more with the inadequacy of others and the inability to put "heads in beds."  I feel like I was a pawn in a twisted game of politics.  The Catering department was given the OK to finally get the Coordinator they so desperately needed only to have it snatched away at the first sign of trouble.  My position was viewed as a luxury, not a necessity.  The only thing that makes me feel better is knowing that it wasn't anything I did.

Ab Fab

Such an absolutely fabulous weekend!  Didn't want it to end!  The weather was pure perfection, mid-to-high 80's, nothing but blue skies, not a cloud to be seen.

Saturday Coach and KJ made their way to Baltimore for the NCAA Division I lax semi-finals where they were to meet up with my brother and nephew.  Cosmo pulled into the parking lot and got out of the car only to hear, "Cos??  Is that you??"  Sure enough, it was a guy Cosmo played pee-wee, middle-school and high school football with.  I think Tommy moved to Florida our sophomore year but they guys were buds on FB.  Cosmo was the center, Tommy was the QB.  Tommy was there with his boys and their high school team from NJ and they had a big tailgate spread.  Naturally, Cosmo and KJ are not ones to pass up a tailgate so they visited with Tommy and his fam for a while.  And then, oddly enough, they rain into a girl who played Hoover middle school lax with KJ and her brothers also play or have played lax for Coach.

KJ had a great time getting her picture taken with various players, autographs and swag.  She came home with lanyards, sunglasses, Tervis tumblers and t-shirts.  They had great seats and were able to stay out of the direct sun and avoid a sunburn.  My brother's seats were in a different section but they were still able to meet up with each other and do all the fun fan zone stuff for the kids.  My sister-in-law and C spent the day at the aquarium and everyone met back at my house in the evening.  The kids were exhausted and we watched Frozen before we went to bed.  Loved listening to my niece sing "Let it Go."

Sunday morning the kids were in the pool by 10:30 AM and we had to drag them out around 7 PM.  I think they only time they got out of the pool was to eat and (hopefully) use the bathroom!  Uncle Chris had the heater on all week and the water was perfect!  It was like bath water!  Al and Z came over around 1 PM and we grilled and chilled.  Around 5 PM our B'ham friends came over for dinner on their way back from DC.  They were in Baltimore for the lax games too and it was so wonderful to spend some time with them.  The boys had a good time in the pool and I think Mr. B was happy to have some boys to play with instead of C.  KJ's "friend" Connor came over for the day and ate with us, threw the rock around a bit and played some cornhole.

Monday KJ and Coach went back to Baltimore for the finals and the kids had to get one last swim in before they headed back home.  After everyone left I had a great day catching up on laundry (I love pool towels hanging off the back deck or the pool railing -- it just screams summer!), catching up on my tan and catching up on my book.  As much as I love being surrounded by family and friends, I also covet my quiet time.  The weather was spectacular and I spent quite a long time just floating on my pool raft.  No noise.  No one yelling "Aunt Valerie!!!  Watch this!"  No one doing a cannonball.  Just some good, quality, peace and quiet.  Aaaaahhhh......

Fatti Maschii, Parole Femine

Interesting post title, huh?  Answer will be revealed at the end!

The weather has been absolutely positively fabulous the last couple of days!  The service opened our pool on Wednesday and we had a ton of rain basically all day Thursday and Friday morning.  Cosmo put the pool heater on and by 12 noon on Saturday KJ was swimming (it wouldn't matter if the heater was on or not; she'll swim in anything!  If there is a body of water nearby, that kid will be in it).  And she had the dog in the pool with her.  It's so funny to watch!  Trixie jumps in and can swim from one end of the pool to the other.  Her little legs go a mile a minute and she looks like a little wind-up bath toy.

First weekend we didn't have volleyball and we were able to get so much done around the house.  We cleaned all the patio furniture, Cosmo put some mulch down around the pool and the patio and surprised me with several hibiscus potted plants and gerbera daisy pots to put around the pool deck.  We're having company Memorial Day weekend so I got all of my pretty plastic plates and serving pieces out of storage and washed them to get ready for some al fresco dining!  I also put away my "Spring Shabby Chic Parisian Flea Market" tablescape and my dining room and entrance way are full-on "Summer Beach House" mode.

Saturday night we decided to drive to Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis to see the Bayhawks play the new Florida Launch.  We got to see Coach's buddy PT play.  They met at a lax camp they did together and have been friends ever since.  Always great to see great players such as Queener, Kevin Crowley, Polanco, and Mikey Powell.  The weather was perfect, we had great seats and KJ had a lot of fun.  She forgot to bring a ball with her so she didn't get any autographs this time.  MLL games are so fun because the players are so accessible.  No egos.  Most, if not all, of the guys also have regular day jobs and several of them also coach youth leagues.

Looks like we're going to have a busy, fun summer!  My bro and his fam will be here for Memorial Day as well as some friends from Alabama.  June 6 is KJ's 8th grade formal and apparently everyone's coming to our house for photos.  June 13 is 8th grade graduation and there's a weekend at the end of June that we will get to see our friends from Cincy as well as some Bama friends.  My cousin's wedding reception is mid-June, too.  After that we transition to full-on pageant mode and will have some free time mid-July to mid-August.

Post Translation:  

(Manly Deeds, Womanly Words)

http://www.netstate.com/states/mottoes/md_motto.htm