I Have Joined the Masses (finally)

I said I was never going to do it. I said it's expensive, others taste just as good, and all those who do imbibe are just spoiled, anarchistic, and out to destroy our free world. And yet here I am in the morning sipping my Caffe Verona DARK from the bag from the little shop in our subdivision--STARBUCKS. I wish I would have never met you because I have fallen, head over heels, in coffee love! I love your quaint little shop. I love your CDs that come out monthly (so far I have purchased: Paul McCartney Kisses On the Bottom, and Billy Joel.)  I am addicted to Caffe Verona. I even have the ceramic travel mug when the handy dandy little lid. Yup, I'm in trouble.  
My usual frugal and humble habit is to work at the high school and then drive down the street to purchase a cup of McDonalds small coffee, two creams, at the reasonable price of $1.06. Heck at that price I could dig in the coin section of my wallet and use up all the heavy change accumulating there.

But then I discovered, you, My Beloved, Starbucks and it's like that Sinead O'Connor song "Nothing Compares. Nothing Compares to YOU!"
I guess there are worse habits and worse expenses. And maybe if I alter the two--one day Starbucks, the next day McDonalds, I can justify it all.

Or I can tell myself LIFE IS TOO SHORT NOT TO ENJOY STARBUCKS!

NPR Is Not a Friend of Mine

Last night Katie was taking off her fake nails from prom (finally) with my most feared enemy--NAIL POLISH REMOVER! You see over the years nail polish remover (NPR) has left it's evil trace in more than one place in my heart......It started years ago at my parents' home. I was home from college and I removed a nice shade of Sally Hansen (my favorite nail polish at the time) red nail polish with Cutex nail polish remover and set the discarded cotton ball down on my parents newly aquired dresser (NPR soaked side down). When I went to throw away the ball it STUCK to the dresser because the acetone and varnish formed a nice little mesh. I felt so bad. We tried to smooth it away with a little sand paper and touch it up but to this day there will always be a spot under the lace runner.

Then years later, a couple months ago, in my own home I was coming down the steps to see Becky at the high top kitchen table removing her nail polish with--you guessed it--the feared NPR. Before I could yell DON'T SET IT DOWN she had done so and yes, there is a slight mark on the wood. Of course she apologized and added a sweet little comment, "Now when you look at it, you'll always think of me." Which I do (lovingly, of course) almost on a daily basis! And sometimes when I'm particularly missing her I touch the spot and think of her spirit and her ability to go on and STUDY even though she is SO SICK of that organic stuff I know NOTHING about. Diligence, my greatest pride I have for her! (You'll be home in a WEEK, Sweety!, I tell myself)

So you can't blame me for watching Katie like a hawk last night, can you? She had a BOWL of nail polish remover on the leather drum we use for a coffee table. Yes I know, there are many water rings and drops of oil and scratches and such from the ten year old drum that is supposed to look distressed (the whole premise of the drum is that it was attached to elephants in Africa and sounded for what, I don't know--war? tradition? celebration?) But a whole bowl of NPR could do some SERIOUS damage, don't you think? I even went as far as putting a towel under it, to soak it up, just in case. She was able to soak the fake nails one by one and detach them from her real nails without any spillage, yeah!

I ask you--it's 2012--isn't there a more efficient way to remove nail polish? An easier way? A less damaging way? Because I would be all for that!

Because I do so love polishing my fingernails and especially toenails with the adorable color that's out there. Check out the lovely shade below of my favorite nail polish. It seems to last the longest for me.

And it's called Orange You Glad It's Summer! Love it!!

An Award??

Becky from Preppy Premed has been kind enough to nominate me for a blog award (my first--YAY!!). THANK YOU SO MUCH, BECKY! Go check out her blog for wonderful fashion advice, student advice and all around great insight into daily life  http://preppypremed.blogspot.com/

According to the rules of the award each nominee should:
1. Nominate 15 fellow bloggers for the Versatile Blogger Award.
2. Add an Image of the Versatile Blogger Award.
3. Thank the blogger who nominated you in a post.
4. Share seven completely random facts about yourself.
5. Include this set of rules.
6. Inform each blogger you nominated of their nomination.

Here's my random facts:

1.  When something bad ( a death of a loved one, 911, American Airlines filing for bankruptcy--you get the picture) happens, I make muffins. The last time I did this was when Becky and Katie's school counselor died of cancer February 24th. I made peanut butter and chocolate chip muffins.

2.  I love nail polish. OPI is my favorite. The new oranges are this season's best!

3.  I keep a journal which has turned into more of a scrap book full of movie and ticket stubs. Covers from play programs I've attended, nametags from events, photographs...anything really.

4.  I LOVE reading. I am presently reading TWO (how did that happen?) books: The Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown and Bedbugs by Ben H. Winters.

5.   My favorite part of the day is walking my dog five miles around the conservancy. I seriously do this every day! (I think I've missed maybe five days this year so far.)

6.  I listen to Top 40 radio stations.

7.   As a writer I won The Binnacle's Fifth Annual Ultra Short Competition in 2008 and therefore had     my short/short story "Dreams" published.

These are the 15 blogs I would like to nominate for THE VERSATILE BLOGGER AWARD:

Preppy Premed
Cool News For Women
Desiderate
Gora! Gora! Gora!
The Spice Spoon
The Amazing Adventures of Spice Girl
A Sizable Apple
Fitness Fixation
Go Fug Yourself
55 Secret Street
Girl Woman Beauty Brains
The Pioneer Woman
Jenny on the Spot
A Happy Chick
Buny Glitter

Congratulations Everyone!!

It's Monday Already? or Prom Weekend!

It's Monday already? What happened to the weekend? It just kind of soared by like a swooping crane...
Katie went to prom--YAY! She woke up Saturday around 11 am and started getting ready--shower, scrunched her curly hair, makeup, toenails. I helped her pin her curls back on the side of her head so that her neck was elongated. Then she topped her hair off with a beautiful rhinestone headband. She wore clip-on rhinestone earrings (she's never got around to peircing her ears...yet). She slipped on her silver satiny rhinestone pumps and waa-lah!

Here she is--pretty as a princess.

We went over to her friends' house. They have an incredibly beautiful house complete with a French swooping (obviously my word of the day--I wonder how many times I can use "swooping" in a sentence today!) staircase that was the perfect backdrop for the group and couple shots. They had beautiful/delicious appetizers for us parents and yummy wine/beer.

Here's Katie and her date--John. Isn't he handsome?

Not to mention the fireplace. That made a great backdrop for the group pictures.

katie and John went in a group of six couples--twelve kids total. They went out to dinner at a fancy Italian restaurant-Porta Bellas. Then headed over to prom. Afterwards they went over to one of the girl's houses for and after prom party. The after prom party lasted all ight (and was parentally supervised--thanks, Pat!) She came home Sunday at 8:30 in the morning. I was just leaving for breakfast with my two neighbor buddies--Anne and Nanci. We were celebrating Anne's birthday.

We rounded off the weekend with barbecue chicken, mac n cheese (yes-Kraft), baked beans and green beans.

Thanks for grilling out, Jim!

And The Gang's All Here

Everyone is home this weekend! I cannot believe all four of us are here for a guranteed 29 hours. Jim got in after midnight from his two day trip.
I picked Becky up at 11:30 pm Thursday night from the bus stop. Yesterday we did what we truly LOVE. Clothes shopping. Or rather bargain clothes shopping. More for her than for me. We went to TJ Maxx and Marshalls and got THE bargains of the century! She found Ralph Lauren casual ts, Calvin Klein coral-colored floral shorts, cool white shorts, a very artsy lace shirt and a sequiny pink cami and a taupe detailed blouse. Funny thing is she found a pair of coral Ralph Lauren shorts and when she tried them on they were way too BIG for her. Then I looked at them closer and said--hey, aren't those the kind I like? In the size that fits ME? In the color I have been searching out? YES they were. So of course I  had to purchase them for Myself!!

My new shorts are similiar to these without the fringed hem. I was actually wondering what to wear with the shorts besides a white shirt. The checkered madras shirt looks pretty cool, don't you think? I may have to keep a lookout at the Max or Marshall's for said shirt...

Daughters

I love my daughters. And I love being a mom to DAUGHTERS. Being a mom to daughters is the most wonderful thing in the world!
Over the years I have been there for them and they have been there for me.
Take my  job at the High School. I'm a cool Lunch Room Lady (hey you'd be surprised how many people are vying for this job). I applied when Becky was a senior and Katie was a sophomore. Jim had just got captain with the airline and he told me--I'm going to be gone alot, I just got a raise, you don't have to take this. Becky said--go for it! Well I took her advice and took the job. Let me tell you that first year was difficult because I was "on call" and called in ALOT because some of our lunch room ladies at the time were older and had alot of health issues. I kept saying--I'm quitting! Becky told me to stay. Stay until the end of the month. Stay until the end of the semester. Stay until the end of the year. You'll regret quitting. And I did stay. With her support I made it through that first year. Seeing HER coming through the line every day HELPED ALOT--her smile, her joy, her "Hi Momma!" Now I'm on my third year at the school and loving it. We're like a big extended family. And as my co-worker Heidi says--how many people get to eat lunch with their friends every day? Together we've weathered kid issues, husband dilemmas and deaths of parents.

Katie too has been there for me. When she was a sophomore she went out for the musical "Anything Goes." She just wanted, desperately, to get in the ensemble since the year before she didn't make it into the musical "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying" at all. So audition week she went out and then GOT A CALLBACK and then GOT THE LEAD of Hope Harcourt! It was a very stressful week for her. That week was a very stressful and sad for me. My 42 year old cousin committed suicide. The funeral was Saturday of that week an hour and a half from our house. My husband was on an airline trip. Becky was in Washington D.C. with Walk for Life so it was only Katie and I home. I woke her up early that Saturday (after the tiring week) and told her--you don't have to go to the funeral, your tired, you've had a long week. But she told me--I'm going. You've always been there for me. I'm going to be there for you. SO she rallied, got into the shower and edured listening to the Glee soundtrack from the first season "Don't Stop Believing" over and over until we got to the funeral.

My daughters are amazing!

CHARACTER

My daughter got the upper part of her ear pierced last Friday. She called me on Saturday morning and asked, "Mom will you be mad at me if I did something?" WHAT I wondered? Many a thing came to me in that pause of a moment--tatoo, drugs, sex, nose piercing. "No." I answered carefully. "I got the cartilage of my ear pierced," she said quietly. "WHAT!" I screamed into the phone and "YOU DID WHAT?" and "WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT?" I guess I lied about the being mad part.
You see I've never really been a fan of tatoos and piercings. I think it looks trashy and rednecky. I think it takes a beautiful body and decimates it. But that's just me. And I thought my daughter felt the same way.
"What did she do?" My husband was overhearing the whole conversation.
"She got her friggin' ear pierced," I said.
He took it better than I did. He didn't like it but he realized quicker than I did that she IS twenty. She IS an adult. It IS her body.
I still didn't like it and made it known. Because I remembered all the conversations we had had in the past when we saw senior citizens with tatoos that had begun to sag, when we saw the checkout girl at Claires pierced in so many places we thought that she may just deflate, slowly, like a ballon with a tiny hole. When we watched the Academy Awards and thought how beautiful Angelina Jolie looked in that long, red designer dress if only she didn't have that obnoxious tatoo around her arm.
My husband took the phone from me. "Does it look cool?" He tried to remedy the situation.

A couple of hours later I texted and simply asked why? She told me her friends were all getting peircings and she got talked into it. I asked her, "Is that true? Or did you really want to get it? Because if you really wanted to get it, it's okay with me." She didn't respond.

Even later I got a text from her. I took the earring out.
Why? I texted? I hope you didn't do it for me.
She texted. I took the earring out. I came to the conclusion that it looked trashy and I didn't want to have it on my wedding day. She said her friends were mad at her.

I realized at that second that my daughter has CHARACTER. She did something SHE wanted to do, not me, not her friends, not the big Being above. HER. And like I am, so many times for both my daughters, I feel proud.

The earring closed up. Now I have a new picture in my mind. I see her. I see her in a beautiful white wedding dress, mermaid design--tight fitting around her torso and hips, then flared out and of course a long train. I see her beautiful, long blonde hair wrapped into a French knot or chignon. Her ears with simple pearls (a wedding present from me?) or diamonds...She looks elegant and beautiful and true.

a Capella Weekend

Katie's a Capella group, The Edgetones, had three performances over the past weekend. In case you don't know, an a Capella group consists of total vocal, no musical instruments accompanying the singers. The leader merely gives the singers a note via a pitch pipe to begin the song on key. The group was amazing, if I do say so myself!. They sing a wide range of songs from Justin Bieber (it was a parody, okay!) to The Eagles "Seven Bridges Road." I got a chance to take some photographs of the group.

They sing in splendid harmony!

This is a closeup of Katie. Isn't she beautiful?!

Here's Katie doing her Justin Bieber rap number to the song "Baby, Baby." This is the thrid time she got to perform as a rapper. Her rapper days began in eighth grade when she got to play an opera singer/rapper in the musical "The Bachelor." Then last summer she did a rapper number in "The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, abridged." Isn't she adorable?

The girls also did their own rendition to the song "Hallelujah." The song performed in the first Shrek movie. It was my favorite song!

SUMMER MOVIES!

Entertainment Weekly's Summer Movie Preview arrived in the mail yesterday--YAY!!
Now I can decide which movies to see in the theater and which to wait until DVD.
Let's see...this summer looks like every past summer in that it is A Glorious Summer of Superhero Movies! There is The Dark Knight Rises, The Avengers, Men in Black 3 and The Amazing Spider-Man. Of those I may see The Dark Knight Rises.

What can I say the movie features Anne Hathaway and Christian Bale, two of my favorite actors!

Here are the movies that look the best to me: Moonrise Kingdom. This movie takes place in 1965 on a sparsely populated New England Island. A scoutmaster leads the search for a pair of runaway lovebirds. The movie features Bill Murray, Frances McDormand, Edward Norton and Bruce Willis. Then there's To Rome With Love directed by Woody Allen who makes a guest appearance in the movie. This one features romantic vignettes in Rome with a huge international cast. I loved Woody Allen's movie last year--Midnight in Paris--it was even up for a Best Movie for the Academy Awards! I'm hoping Allen's latest is just as clever and fun. The last movie I want to see is The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. I've been seeing this as a trailer every time I go to a movie and it looks SO GOOD! SOOO FUNNY!!! It's about a ragtag group of British seniors portrayed by--Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, Bill Nighy and Tom Wilkinson who retire to a shabby Indian hotel run by an ambitious young entrepreneur (Slumdog Millionaire's Dev Patel).

My family and I have always tried to see every movie that is up for Best Movie for the Academy Awards. Then we watch the show every year and try to predict the outcomes. We even play Oscar Bingo!
It's a little early to make predictions but after watching a few of these summer movies I'll be posting my reviews...

BANGS II

We need to talk about side swept bangs. Bangs I didn't cover in yesterday's post. Now these are bangs that have grown out a bit, are longer than the eybrows and therefore need to be pushed to the side of the face. These bangs are also a popular fashion statement.

See how Reese Witherspoon pushes her bangs to the side?

Both my daughters sport side swept bangs. Becky on the left has them pushed back with a cute headband. *Sometimes side swept bangs tend to fall in your eyes and then become bothersome, thus the use of headbands. Aren't Katie's curls cute? They certainly add to the side swept bangs look!

Our dog, Maggie, too, does a fine job sporting the side swept bangs craze.
What a poser!! It's almost like she's asking, "don't I look FINE?"

BANGS!

I desparately need my bangs trimmed. Or is the proper term "fringe?" Yes, I'm one of those dorks who has bangs. Or am I on the upswing of cool? There are actually pretty many famous stars out there who are sporting bangs these days: Taylor Swift, Lea Michele, Zooey Deshanel, Tyra Banks, Penelope Cruz. I guess I'm not alone. According to teen.com "bangs are definitely having a moment right now!" Sssshhh I know I'm not a teen.

No this is not me...it's Zooey Deshanel, Silly!
These are the bangs I dream of at night. Thick, tamed, and tinted beautifully. But alas, the minute I step out the door mine frizz and curl sidewards and turn out separating, looking more gothic than fashionable.

This is me a couple of weeks ago. See how they are veering to the left?

Then there are bangs I would NEVER get.

Kind of scary, right?  Well I'm off to make an appointment with my hair stylist...

Tsunami Warning

A tsunami warning was issued for the entire Indian Ocean Wednesday after a powerful 8.7-magnitude earthquake was recorded off Indonesia's coast.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake was centered 20 miles beneath the ocean floor around 308 miles from the provincial capital of Banda Aceh.

---

The quake is in a similar location and of a similar magnitude to the 9.1-magnitude tremor on Dec. 26, 2004 that triggered a tsunami in the Indian Ocean, killing 230,000 people, nearly three-quarters of them in Aceh provinceA tsunami warning was issued for the entire Indian Ocean Wednesday after a powerful 8.7-magnitude earthquake was recorded off Indonesia's coast.--MSN Breaking News Story 

I remember the last tsunami. It was the day after Christmas. I remember watching the news, seeing the massive destruction and looking around at all the unwrapped paper pieces from presents and feeling so lucky and grateful. But at the same time feeling so sad for the victims and the relatives of the victims.

Please God watch  over your people.

Easter/Spring Vacation Wrap-Up

My Easter/Spring Break is coming to a close. Back to work and KT back to school tomorrow.

So what are some of my favorite things we did this past week??

*Hunger Games movie with my older daughter, Becky.
*Shopping for summer clothes.
*Prom dress shopping for KT.
*Pedros with my girlfriends and drinking mango margueritas with chips and salsa.
*Making mahi mahi fish tacos with my hubby.
*Dyeing Easter Eggs.
*Our Easter Buffett at an IRISH PUB.
*Attending my mother-in-laws music group--Allegro--and listening to my daughter play the piano.

FUN...sums up our vacation!

The Revolving Door Syndrome

I took Becky back to college--Chicago--early this morning. I'm in the Revolving Door Syndrome of life--she comes, she goes. She stays, then leaves. It's a door that never really closes. Just opens and rotates and she walks through, to her other life, then in again, rotates back to us.

A door that never really closes.

You can't slam a revolving door.

And for that I'm really grateful!

HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE!!!

Eggs dyed-done. Baskets put together-check. Church at 11 am. Buffet to follow.
I do love Easter!
My daughters are 20 and 18 and I still enjoy putting a basket of goodies together for them. Over the years the contents have changed from little windup bunnies and Barbie accessories to this year's. Today's includes OF COURSE chocolate: Lindt Lindor Truffles, Lindt Gold Bunny, miniature Cadbury creme eggs. Jelly Belly Jelly Beans. Essie Nail Polish and a Spring Nail File. Burt's Bees Tinted Lip Balm (in Hibiscus).
And OF COURSE I'll hide the eggs we dyed for them to find...hehe!

*Just wish my hubby were here too...the life of a pilot's wife...flying solo alot of the time.*

How Am I Supposed To Do This When My Daughter Did Most of It?

It's ironic that as my daughters are finding their independence and leaving home I've become totally dependent on them for: all things computer, clothes consultation, the daily gossip, the world of entertainment and finally, which book is the coolest and best to read (i.e. Hunger Games)
Take this blog. My oldest daughter walked me through the steps because she has her own blog. http://www.preppypremed.blogspot.com/. Yes, that was a pitch. Check it out, it's the best!
Fear not, it's not just me. My younger daughter is trying to put a blog together and she's not getting it at all either HAHA!