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Thursday Ten: Unintentional Holiday Break Edition

December 30, 2010 by 3 Comments

1. Well, hello there. Guess I took a break. I didn’t mean to. I sure have a lot to talk about – like Christmas, and how I made a cheesecake so good that it could bring a tear to your eye. I’ll do that. Soon. Just as soon as the holiday chaos settles – JUST A LITTLE.
Brownie Mosaic Cheesecake

2. I told y’all last week how I was test driving the amazing Dell Inspiron One 23? Yeah. Dell provided the computer to me for review and we are basically smitten with the thing (Hello? HD screen? Amazing for photos) – and now I’m giving one away over on BD. If you’re a US resident over the age of 18, get thee on over and enter to win it.

3. I’m finding it hard to believe that 2010 is nearly over – whether that’s good or bad, I’m not really sure. I’m excited to see what the new year will bring.

4. It’s currently 38° and rainy. After the brutally cold temps of the past few weeks (brutal is my word – really, I suppose it could have been worse out there), anything over freezing feels like a heatwave.

5. I try to keep the begging to a minimum here, but since it IS the end of the year – tis the season to make last minute charitable contributions to great causes! And in case you needed one to support… I am walking in the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer again this coming summer. 39.3 miles over two days. It’s an amazing experience, and if you would like to support me, and support the cause of kicking breast cancer’s ass, click and donate. (Love y’all. You look pretty today)

6. I need to go and get my hair trimmed but finding the time is so freaking hard. I am really going to be fighting the urge I always get midwinter to chop all my hair off – which is why I have to go SOON so that “hey! Cutting off four inches of hair seems like a good idea” thought doesn’t wander into my brain.

7. I am incapable of typing the word “brain” without typing the word “brian” first. Stupid fingers. And I just typed “weord” instead of “word” and oh my goodness, I think maybe I need a little more sleep.

8. I have been going through an intense perfume smell testing process that evolved from a friend sending me massive quantities of perfume samples from Sephora (I love internet people). After everything I smelled (and there were TONS), I have narrowed it down to Bliss or Philosophy’s Amazing Grace. I loved Versace’s Bright Crystal but think it might be a little TOO MUCH for me. I have such a sensitive sense of smell, I am so easily overwhelmed by fragrance. The lighter the better.

9. I finally bought a Speedlite (well, I got a gift card for Christmas, so I bought nothing). I picked it up the other day and LOVE that I can have some light in my inside pictures without the subject being totally flooded in fake flash. Why did I wait so long?

10. I finally saw Black Swan. Have you seen it? WHOA. I knew it was being billed as a “psychological thriller” but I had expected more ‘psychological’ and less ‘thriller’. I jumped so many times – frankly, it creeped me out a lot. It was one of those movies – I can’t say I enjoyed it – because that would just seem weird. Extremely well done. Extremely thought provoking. Extremely scare the bejeezus out of me.

Filed Under: Do Good Feel Good, Eats, Mom Shtuff, Photography, Thursday Ten Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

Thursday Ten: Art and Music and Onion Rings, Oh My! Edition

September 30, 2010 by 6 Comments

1.  Last week, I posted a review of Maroon 5’s new album, “Hands All Over”. This week, I’m letting you know that A&M is letting me giveaway an autographed copy of this album. You want it? Leave a comment for me telling me so. I’ll randomly pick a winner next week Thursday.

2. I’ve been still hooked on visiting ArtPrize. I had a two day span where I didn’t go see art, and I was starting to get a little bit TWITCHY. It’s one of the coolest things Grand Rapids has to offer, and I look forward to them announcing the Top Ten pieces later today. The public votes on the winner.

One of the pieces I love is made entirely out of wine corks. Wonder if the artist drank all the wine himself?

3. During ArtPrize, I’ve been loading all my pictures into a Flickr – it’s been fun to see other people’s shots of ArtPrize and to share my own. The downside? Even though I do not have my photos labeled with a Creative Commons license, I’ve noticed that a few of my pictures have been used on other blogs. And it’s a weird feeling – I want to be flattered that someone liked it enough to use it but… That’s Stealing. Odds are, if someone had asked, I’d have said okay. Please pay attention when you’re taking images from Flickr to see if the owner of that picture has authorized its use. If he/she hasn’t, try asking them if you can use it. (Okay, off my soapbox)

4. As I type this, the dog is at the vet getting neutered. Poor little dude – not. Meanwhile, while he’s not underfoot, I have vacuumed and scrubbed my floors. Having the dog not in the house is not unlike when your toddler takes a nap at the crucial point where you need to get a lot of stuff done. Yes, I’m saying dogs and toddlers are similar… except I’ve never REALLY been allergic to a toddler.

5. Music of the week — My friend Lotus clued me in to the free single on iTunes this week, Cory Morrow’s “Second Chance”. Loter’s hubby plays guitar for Cory, and though country music is not usually my thing, the song is pretty good and hey, it’s Lotus-by-proxy. And that’s a good thing. Other recent downloads include (blush) a few of the Glee renditions of Britney songs.

6. Let’s talk about Glee for a second, why don’t we? I like the show – a lot. But I’m beginning to hate these themed episodes. It feels like all the dialogue in between is just filler to get to the next themed song. And while Britney’s music doesn’t annoy me, this episode kind of did and not just because of that BIG EFFING SNAKE. Of all the Britney things to copy, they had to copy the snake? Why didn’t they copy the ratty jean shorts with the gas station bathroom key in one hand and a bag of Cheetos in the other? MUCH less freak-outty than the snake.

7. I saw this clip posted of Jimmy Fallon, Justin Timberlake and The Roots with the History of Rap. Starting and ending with Sugarhill Gang, this is a pretty awesome clip. (If the embedding doesn’t work, it’s worth the click through)

8. After three days of craving onion rings and a failed attempt making healthy oven baked onion rings at home, I caved and ordered them in a restaurant last night. They were SO GOOD, as I knew they would be. They also made my stomach hurty later. Me and fried foods? Not friends.

9. Tomorrow is the FIRST DAY OF OCTOBER. And you know what that means? My birthday month. Yes, month. Eventually, I will get to hate my birthday and won’t celebrate it (no, I won’t) and won’t require a whole month of celebration, but for now? OCTOBER’S (almost) IN THE HOUSE!

10. And since October is traditional Breast Cancer Awareness month, I want to remind you to not limit your awareness of this disease to a mere 31 days a year. So many amazing groups doing great things. My friend Rachel and her friend Tricia are working on a Saving 2nd Base project – also, if at any time you feel like donating to support me in my 2011 Avon Walk, my donation link can be found HERE.

Filed Under: Do Good Feel Good, Mom Shtuff, music, Photography, Thursday Ten Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Thursday Ten: OMG, Ke$ha Is Stuck In My Head Edition

June 17, 2010 by 2 Comments

1. I don’t really like Ke$ha. She gets a lot of popular radio play and I get a little squidgy when my daughter sings along about brushing her teeth with a bottle of Jack, but, I have to admit, “Your Love Is My Drug” is catchy. I mean, I guess I had no choice but to catch it – it’s getting A LOT of airplay. In ONE hour on a radio station in northern Michigan last weekend, we heard it THREE TIMES. In one hour.

2. With my limited time to get things done in the summer, I have taken to doing the Jillian Michaels Shred again. I tend to not enjoy it while I’m doing it, but I do like a condensed workout. Admittedly, I’ve taken to scowling at the television during lunges though. I know it must totally break Jill’s heart.

3. Father’s Day weekend is approaching – do you have cool plans? I asked the girls what to get for Hubby, and Pumpkin said, “DEFINITELY a new golf club.” Fantastic, right? I know hooey about golf and golf clubs – don’t know what clubs he has, what clubs he needs and uh, aren’t they all the same anyway?

4. I hope y’all know I’m kidding in the above statement. Golf has been my saving grace with my photography hobby. What easier way to justify needing new lenses than to explain that different lenses do different things. Kind of like golf clubs. Whoa. Look at that bag full of clubs in the garage. Hmmmm.

5. The Princess has started gymnastics team practices – and while I think three hours of practice twice a week is a little hard core, she seems to be enjoying herself. She also seems to be progressing more quickly than I would have thought. Just a week ago, she struggled with a front walkover – and now she has it (nearly) down. I’m pretty surprised with how rapidly she’s picking these things up – but it’s exciting as well. The excitement she feels when she masters a new skill is pretty easy to read on her face – and that’s awesome.

6. It’s just past lunch time and I’ve already gotten dinner started. Whoa, right? I’m actually utilizing my crock pot for the best (homemade) pork tacos ever. And yeah, my house smells AMAZING.

7. I’m due to start a conference call shortly for an explanation on a project – a conference call that will likely leave me more confused than not. I am not 100% how to bridge the gap – when you have one person who needs to explain a project outloud to truly feel like they’ve explained it, and one who needs to read the detail to truly understand it. Writing down project details isn’t my coworker’s strong suit, but reading details is mine. Sigh. Somehow, it all works – once we muddle through the frustration.

8. I went to Costco on an empty stomach yesterday – and was thoroughly disappointed to find that there were hardly any samples out. Costco, you’ve failed me! They did have a PopChips sample. I ate mine. And then I ate the samples my daughters grabbed (stop looking at me like that. They’re GOOD). Then I bought a bag of Pop Chips that is big enough to be used as a hot air balloon once I eat all the chips.

9. I treated myself to a new camera strap this week. I had seen the link to High Key Camera via someone’s Twitter stream awhile back and had bookmarked the page.  In need of a lil retail therapy earlier in the week, I picked a funky green colored strap. Amazing and speedy service – and adds a little personality to my camera. Adorable.

10. My feet are almost completely healed post-Avon Walk. I definitely bounced back quicker this time. Thank goodness. There’s definitely an advantage to having known what to expect this go ’round. Who wants to join us next year?

Filed Under: Eats, Mom Shtuff, Photography, Thursday Ten Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

In It To End It – AWBC, Done and DONE.

June 9, 2010 by 6 Comments

This weekend was THE weekend.

The weekend I’ve been waiting for since I hobbbled across the finish last year. Sure, at the time I wasn’t 100% sure I could put my body through the experience again — but I think in my heart, I knew that the adventure and the benefits far outweighed the fear of blisters, aching feet, and missing toenails.

I was right.

This weekend marked my second Avon Walk for Breast Cancer. Two days, 39.3 miles. Actually, I think Avon has a faulty mile measuring system – our team is sure it’s more like 40 or 41 miles. Nevertheless, we came, we walked, and we had a great time doing it.

I was lucky to be on a great team – I found them via Twitter last year (Isn’t the internet INCREDIBLE?) and over the course of time, I have gotten to spend time with a couple of these women outside the walk, and I adore them. Good hearts, good humor, good people. It’s funny how things work out – and I was happy they let me join them again.

Our team raised over $18,000. Chicago as a whole? Over $7 million. Chew on that a bit. SEVEN. MILLION. DOLLARS. In the midst of this gruesome economy, millions of dollars was raised. Millions of dollars that will benefit local (Chicago/Midwest area) programs for research and treatment programs for breast cancer. Those are the kind of numbers that can make a difference.

Every three minutes, a woman in the United States is diagnosed with breast cancer. During the walk, a “three minute” ribbon” is placed on a walker at the three minute interval — it’s an eye-opening visual cue to see the extent to which lives are affected by this disease – just how large the number is. It further drives me to want to continue to participate in the walk – so that one day the stat becomes “every five minutes” then “every ten minutes” then “once a week” and then “remember when there was a thing called breast cancer? Thank god that doesn’t happen anymore.”

To walk among these strong survivors and their families and friends — as well as those who have lost someone to this disease – it is an experience difficult to put into words. It is an uplifting experience, and at times it’s sad. To see the streets lined with people to cheer us on and thank us for walking… feels good. And to know that we’ve raised money that can hopefully make a difference? That feels good too.

We had rain on Saturday. More than a little rain.

Rain makes for soggy socks and blistered feet and bad hair and wet clothes. Rain makes for spirits that are dampened. But we kept on (I admit, I may have complained a little bit). Sunday the sky was blue, the weather was gorgeous and there were ice pops along the way.

Through it all, we kept putting one foot in front of the other (and yes, live tweeting our progress. I’m a geek, what can I say?).

To cross the finish line with our team felt good. Very good.

I was cheered along the way by @ replies and DMs via Twitter. By text messages. By emails. By messages on Facebook. By cupcakes at the finish line. The support meant the world and I appreciate those who sent good thoughts our way. To those who financially contributed, I am grateful as well, and if I didn’t say thank you for your contribution know that even though I can be an unorganized jerk, from the bottom of my heart, I am grateful.

In it to end it.

Avon Walk, June 2010. Chicago.

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Thursday Ten: Le Fou I’m Afraid I’ve Been Thinking edition

May 13, 2010 by 3 Comments

1. The past few days, I’ve spent a lot of time pondering the things I enjoy doing, the things in which I excel. What I have found is that I am halfway decent at several things but don’t feel like I have focused on any ONE thing quite enough to say that it’s where I shine. Have you ever really thought about where YOU shine? What are YOU really good at?

2. The Princess was invited to try out for the gymnastics team and SHE MADE IT. The program sounds a bit intense – and yes, there will be a competitive aspect… however, this kind of goes back to the first point: what are you really good at? Gymnastics may or may not be something she wants to stick with – but right now, she’s enjoying it a lot. I want to give her the opportunity to see where it goes, as long as she wants to. When she decides she’s done, she’ll wrap up whatever season she’s in – and that’s it. No pressure. I’m kind of curious about this road we’ll be traveling.

3. Last night was the May meeting of our book club. We discussed the book selected for last month, Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide, shot the breeze a little bit and then? Picked next month’s book. A book by Nicholas Sparks. How did we go from FGM and human trafficking to Nicholas Sparks?

4. Because “Half the Sky” was such a HEAVY read (good read, but definitely heavy), I decided to lighten things up with Julie and Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously, which is a much lighter read. Also, it cements the knowledge that I have no desire to learn French cooking. Too many livers and lobsters.

5. My guitar lesson went well today – fortunately, my sister was able to hang out with Pumpkin so I got to go solo. Finished working on the Taylor Swift ditty, and went back to Pearl Jam. It was a little easier to work on something without making sure Pumpkin was entertained. And she had lots of fun with her aunt and took a nice nap and spent lots of time singing “Down by the Bay”.

6. I went through Pumpkin’s backpack the other day to sort through all the work and art work she brought home from preschool/daycare and recycled several art projects. Mind you – I LOVE to keep artwork created by my children. However, I don’t love to keep artwork that was clearly cut and assembled by the teachers. And I can tell. The work our kids do is perfect in its imperfection. I wish the teachers would leave it alone.

7. Is it raining where you are? DAYS of rain in Michigan. It’s making me cranky.

8. American Idol’s Final Three – are you happy with the final three? Are you even watching? I loved Lee and Crystal’s rendition of my favorite song – “Falling Slowly” – and yeah, I downloaded today and have listened several times.

9. And since I’m talking about TV, I’m gonna kick on over to Glee and say first of all, I loved Wednesday’s episode. I love the storyline with Kurt and his dad (“Fine doesn’t sound like that song was sung”) — but when they sang U2’s “One” and called it classic rock? I had to hit the Google. “One” was recorded in 1991. I was in high school. So, stuff from my teen years is classic now? Since when? Also… feeling old.

10. Just a few short weeks until the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer. I am SO close to my goal – and I appreciate ALL the support and love I have gotten. But, if you still want to support the cause (and really, you should because it’s a great one), feel free to share the donation love with my teammate – her link is here. If you donate to her, and write in the message that I sent you, I’ll send you cookies. (Offer limited to the first five peeps to donate).

Filed Under: Books and Stuff, Do Good Feel Good, Mom Shtuff, music, Thursday Ten Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Thursday Ten: Did You PhotoHunt YET? Edition

April 15, 2010 by 1 Comment

1. You probably know that TODAY is the deadline for the photoscavenger hunt to raise moohlah for fighting breast cancer and kicking it in the bootay. Have you entered yet? No? Why not? Read more about it HERE.

2. New music for the week: Um, stuff from Glee. Yeah. I’m unashamed of my love for this show. I am also not at all embarassed that I now have at least three different versions of “Hello” in iTunes – including Lionel Richie’s original. I love that song and remember vaguely the video from way back when – wasn’t he blind in that video? Or the girl was? Whatever, I was too busy singing along.

3. The Princess lost another tooth over spring break. These two teeth falling out have left her with that adorable gap in the front of her mouth. I love it. I wonder if her dentist will give me a discount at her cleaning in a few weeks – clearly she has less teeth for him to check.

4. Project Runway night TONIGHT. I’m kinda curious which of the two-tied-designers ends up going to Bryant Park (I hope it’s not Mila). Oh, the suspense. Also, I’m pretty pleased with the other two who are definitely heading to Fashion Week – I’ve been pretty impressed with them all season. While this season is better than last season, I think Lifetime still has a way to go until it’s up to par with what the show was on Bravo.

5. Today is tax day. Are your taxes all done? Were you pulling your hair out getting things wrapped up last night so you could get ’em in today?

6. Today was my first guitar lesson in two weeks (due to spring break and what not). Admittedly, I have hardly picked up my guitar in that span of time and was more than a little concerned how badly it would go today. BUT… it didn’t! In fact, it went pretty well and I somehow managed to have made some progress. Things were fine til Pumpkin decided to smack my (very surprised) guitar teacher on the butt on the way out of the studio. Whoops.

7. My guitar teacher also let me know it was about time to pick more songs I wanted to learn to play – so if you have any ideas (NOT Freebird), drop me a comment. The request line is now open.

8. It’s 80 degrees in Michigan today. The sun is shining. The flowers are blooming. The air outside smells like cow manure. Michigan spring in full effect.

9. I went to book club last night and we had a pretty decent discussion stemming from the reading of Irreplaceable* – mostly regarding the topic of organ donation which was a primary theme in this novel. Then we chose next month’s selection out of the jar, and, DANG. It sounds like not my cup of tea. A non-fiction book about the oppression of women. GRANTED – I know the topic is important, and it actually has excellent reviews on both Amazon and Good Reads – but heavy lifting is not why I’m in a book club. I’m more than a little “meh” about that selection.

10. And in what is my most exciting news of the week: I finally got a big girl camera. I’ve been drooling over the Canon DSLRs for a long time and finally took the leap and got one. I’m kind of excited. I love it and I think it needs a name so that I can pat my camera lovingly and murmur sweet nothings to it. And if you’re gonna murmur sweet nothings to your camera it should totally have a name.

*affiliate link like whoa

Filed Under: Books and Stuff, Do Good Feel Good, Photography, Thursday Ten Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Thursday Ten: It’s Iced Latte Weather Edition

April 1, 2010 by Leave a Comment

1. Awwww yeah. After guitar lesson every week, Pumpkin and I hit the Starbucks drivethru. You see, I bribe her with chocolate milk if she can hang tight during my lesson. She sits in the practice room with me and my teacher and sometimes gets a little bored (totally understandable). Today, instead of my usual cappuccino I got an iced latte because – WHOA – this weather definitely called for it.

2. Still working on “Falling Slowly” in guitar – every time I hear it, I get kind of giddy – it’s one of my favorites (and the top most played song in my iTunes).

3. And with warmer weather comes… SKINNED KNEES. Pumpkin just wiped out wearing shorts for the first time in 2010. Guess I’d better stock up on bandaids.

4. HEY, Have you read about the PHOTO SCAVENGER HUNT yet? Definitely a fun way to raise money for a great cause.

5. This season of American Idol? It’s really boring. I said that last week too. Though, I did love the acoustic version of Chris Brown’s “Forever” this week.

6. Song of the week? Someone posted an audio of “La Mar” by The Beautiful Girls which is really got a mellow Jack Johnson-y flavor to it. I love Jack Johnson, so yeah, I’m loving this one too – and look at that beautiful ocean.

7. That video reminds me that I really want to learn to surf. Know what bothers me most about the thought of surfing? Getting water up my nose. And I’m sure that would happen – maybe even more than once.

8. The iPeriod app for the iPhone is pretty freakin’ accurate. Which is fabulous. *Sob* Can someone give me some Cheetos, please?

9. Do you ever get on a food kick? I made french bread the other day and since have been wanting these fabulous oven roasted turkey sandwiches on slices of warm french bread with just a smidge of spicy mustard. And I just want sandwiches. Lots of them. (Sigh. See number 8).

10. Warmer weather means it’s shorts weather. I hate shorts. I wonder when I stopped loving shorts – because I remember being so excited when the weather broke, the sun came out and I could uncover my knees, but now? Bleh. Shorts? Yuck. Last summer, I decided to skip the whole shorts hooey and wear summery dresses – it was a nice alternative, but not necessarily very practical. So, capris it is.T

Filed Under: Do Good Feel Good, Mom Shtuff, music, Thursday Ten Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Announcing: A Photo Scavenger Hunt!

March 28, 2010 by 6 Comments

And now, some big news!

As some of y’all know – I’ll be walking in the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer this summer. In addition to the awesome group that let me be on their team last year, I’ll be joined this year by one of my favorite peeps, Kat. We’re pretty dedicated to the cause and fundraising for it – but we wanted to make it fun.

THIS IS WHERE YOU COME IN.

We’re doing a photo scavenger hunt.  To enter, a minimum donation of $10 can be made either via our paypal (bloggersforbewbs AT gmail), or directly to our Avon Walk Pages (My linkie is here, and Kat’s is here). All funds will ONLY be used for our Avon Walk fundraising and we’re happy to send receipts if you’d like.

Kat and I have brainstormed a list of NINE words to give you some creative direction – we didn’t make them TOO specific – we wanted you to still have freedom to take shots you love.

Compile your nine shots into a 3×3 matrix (I used Picnik – I have mad love for Picnik – it just makes this easy).

Upload to our FLICKR group by the APRIL 15 deadline (gotta do something to make tax day fun, right?).

And then? THERE WILL BE PRIZES. We’ve got gifties from BioElements skincare, Eden Fantasys, an original piece of jewelry from the Bead Girl, (JUST ADDED) several awesome gifts from Vera Bradley (including a watch, a tote and some other goodies!) — and a few other things are in the works (Kat and I will be updating our blogs with more information). We’ll award prizes to the best overall mosaic and the best individual picture within a mosaic.

Any remaining prizes will be given at random! (WHEE! Which means HEY, even if you take every shot with a cell phone with spaghetti sauce smeared on the lens, YOU CAN STILL WIN!).

The NINE words we have selected are:

COMFORT
LOVE
PINK
FRIENDSHIP
CHALLENGE
JOY
DETERMINATION
HOPE
PEACE

We can’t wait to see what you come up with!

Filed Under: Do Good Feel Good, Photography Tagged With: , , , ,

Thursday Ten: New Strings Edition

March 25, 2010 by 3 Comments

1. My guitar has new strings. I was lazy and I just had the music store put them on – it took them four days and the cost? Excessive for strings (my teacher’s eyes bugged out real big when I showed her the receipt). Yes, lesson learned – I’ll do it myself next time. But wow, my strings DO sound great.

2. Began working on two songs today – Jack Johnson’s “Sittin’ Waitin’ Wishing” (for its use of bar, major, minor, and seventh chords) and “Falling Slowly” because it’s one of my favorite songs of all time. I was one of the few who wasn’t totally enamored by the movie “Once” – but I sure do love this song.

3. Did y’all watch Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution on Sunday night? What did you think? I was STUNNED. I guess not entirely surprised – but yeah, stunned. Expect more from me about this topic. The next episode airs on Friday night. Watch it, and we’ll talk about it next week. {Also, I really hope the lunch ladies/cooks at my daughter’s school aren’t that cranky!}

4. Thank you so much to everyone who gave me feedback about The Princess and things I could do moving forward in absence of a gifted program in her school. Good news – we do have an appointment with her principal to sit down and talk about how we can keep her challenged in third grade and beyond — as well as pairing her with a teacher who doesn’t mind doing the extra work to keep her loving education.

5. That wasn’t the ONLY parent-teacher conference for the week. Oh yeah. Yesterday was my first conference with Pumpkin’s new preschool and I was pleasantly surprised. I think what surprised me most was how social my daughter is – not to the extent where the teacher says she’s a chatterbox – but that she’s friendly with all the kids. The teacher said, “You’d never know she hasn’t been here since September. She just found her place here.” Awesome.

6. Last week I had lots of extra fun social stuff planned – including dinner out with a former coworker/friend and my good friend. TWO NIGHTS OUT. That also means two meals I got to eat that weren’t cooked by yours truly. You can see, I’m sure, why I am mourning last week a lil bit, right? Tonight I’ll be cooking Cuban black beans and rice which means that I fully anticipate getting to hear from my children what a rotten cook I am. It’s inspiring, really.

7. I caved in to the inexplicable urge I had to buy matching dresses for my daughters so they can dress alike for fun spring pictures on the beach. Yeah, I don’t know what I was thinking either but I think it will be cute. I also think they’ll hate me for this in ten years.

8. In just over 70 days, I’ll be walking in the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer – I’m VERY excited. I’m also hoping that it doesn’t rain. Rain would be bad.

9. American Idol this week… So… They could choose from Billboard Top 100s and they all chose crap songs? What was THAT all about? You have all that amazing music at your disposal and whut? Not impressed. At this point, I have no favorites – but several people who annoy me severely (Didi, I’m talkin’ to you).

10. According to the preschool’s calendar, Saturday is Photography Day. I plan to celebrate by taking some pictures (DUH). MAAAAAAAAAYBE I should celebrate by asking the Photography Elves to leave a new camera for me. Wouldn’t it be nice if there were really Photography Elves?

Filed Under: Do Good Feel Good, Mom Shtuff, music, Photography, Thursday Ten Tagged With: , , , ,

Thursday Ten: I’m Not Wearing a Coat Edition

March 11, 2010 by Leave a Comment

1. It’s 50 degrees here. Marinate on that. Fifty. Five-zero. The snow has melted and the lawns are visible. They’re brown, but visible. I went on my first outdoor run of 2010 today. A slow meandering jog, more likely – but wow, felt good. Here’s hoping this is the change for the year (but I fully anticipate at least one more spell of crappy weather).

2. I love to dance – so it’s really no surprise that when Amy Krouse Rosenthal of The Beckoning of Lovely published this YouTube video, I decided I had to learn the dance. And yes, I’m filming the process, including the hilarious moments when I bump into furniture and trip over my own feet.

3. Music downloaded this week? “All This Beauty” by the Weepies – which is the song in the above video. Love it – it’s cute and bouncy and just feels like spring.

4. Guitar lessons went well this week – still working on Ingrid Michaelson’s “The Chain”, as well as Train’s “Marry Me”. Ingrid’s song is easy and I needed that, because the Train song would be perfect if I could just make my fingers move fast enough (I’ve got a ways to go).

5. Our first official book club meeting was last night – and it was … interesting. It seems I was the only one to like the book, Still Alice (why YES, that’s an affiliate link, baby!). The discussion questions in the back were sort of… weak, but the book itself? I really enjoyed the book. I’m curious how next month goes – the book choice was mine (more on that to come in the next few weeks, mmkay?) – and if there’s a huge difference again on who enjoys it and who doesn’t, then… perhaps this will be more of a social thing versus a shared taste in reading materials thing.

6. Those green flowers I bought at Costco the other day are fading to white, one petal at a time and the water in the vase is this amazing emerald green color. It’s kind of a fun process to watch, the dye draining back into the water. Then again, maybe I’m easily amused.

7. Corey Haim. Dead. Y’know, while I don’t necessarily mourn for celebs, I have to say it always blows me away when one passes – and the news is filled with clips from the span of a career. I vividly remember going to see the movie “Lucas” in the theater. It was one of the first movies my mom allowed me to see on my own – she dropped me and a friend off at at the theater to see it (after buying our tickets). I loved that movie. And it’s one of those movies that I had forgotten about until the news of him OD’ing broke. {However, I never forget the movie “The Lost Boys”. I loved that movie then, I love that movie still.}

8. I have just under 90 days until the marathon and a half walk for breast cancer. I am SO excited. I have so much to do yet – but I’m pretty excited. I have to say, even if it is more cumbersome, I’ll be wearing a backpack this year instead of a fanny pack. I broke down and bought one last year, but felt absolutely ridiculous wearing it – PLUS, I want to be able to keep flip flops on hand for when I’m done for the day and want my nasty walking shoes OFF.

9. This week feels like it’s been 100 years long. Things with work and extra projects have kept me from being bored – and I’ve kind of totally over extended myself with extra curriculars too (book club, a lunch with old friends, appointments). I love not being bored, I love being busy… but I’m kind of ready to kick back with a pretty pink drink and a book and put my feet up.

10. I’m told that National Chocolate Caramel Day is coming up. Seriously. It’s a thing. What is YOUR favorite chocolate-caramel treat? Looking for ideas, as I WILL be celebrating accordingly.

Filed Under: Books and Stuff, Do Good Feel Good, music, Thursday Ten Tagged With: , , ,
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