Two week ago, I was standing inside of Sephora with Lena, discussing plans for New Years Eve. The plans included dinner, dancing and wine! Or maybe a comedy show! THE POSSIBILITIES!
New Years Eve was going to be exciting and fun! A special occasion, no doubt.
So special, we were going to wear false eyelashes. (Did you know they sell false eyelashes KITS? Like, with all of the “tools” you need to put them on? I had no idea! But man, was excited to try it out for all of the New Years Eve celebratin’)
We spent the afternoon discussing important details– like, what would we wear? Whose husband would be the better dancer? (mine) Who would be the designated driver? (me) Jeans or dresses? (jeans)
Man, we were as excited as two women in their 30’s could possibly be about going out on New Years Eve.
We decided we’d go home, google things like “New Years Eve Hotel Parties!” until we found The Perfect Place.
We finally found a place. A place with an amazing view. A place that was offering appetizers, main course that included steak AND lobster, desert, a bottle of wine, dancing and party favors. All for only $150 a couple. (Bonus: For the 30 and over crowd. BOOM!) I guess what I’m trying to say is that we found THE PERFECT PLACE.
I was thrilled that for the first time in, maybe, ever? We had made adult plans for NYE. This was going to be so very great!
Monday morning, I got an email from Lena. Basically, it said “I’m sick.” My heart sank. But! It was only Monday! There was time for her to get well!
But yesterday came and went and she was still sick.
Then, PigHunter started having chest pains.
Lena’s husband injured his knee.
I got my period.
Plans? Canceled.
There will be no Hoe Down Arms from PigHunter. There will be no lobster dipped in butter. There will be no applying of fake eyelashes. There will be no laughing until I pee a little.
Instead, I’ll be cuddled closely next to my family on the couch while we (most likely) watch reruns of King of Queens, while eating sugar cookies and sipping on sparkling cider in our pajamas.
As it should be, I suppose.
Happy New Year to you and yours.
Monthly Archives: December 2009
Best of 2009: Photo Edition (July- December)
January- June’s photos.
July
Presidential Suite, Baby
Tranquility
4th of July
Silhouette
August
Born to love
Gap jeans
chain link
September
central park
Jim Henson
first soccer practice
more from Central Park
Madison Ave
Friends in NYC
October
fire in the distance
sunlight
clinging
Tony Hawk, live, in person
Halloween, 2009
heart
an evening walk
November
leaving Las Vegas
make a wish
fallen
New York, New York (Vegas)
Thanksgiving
December
reading by the fire
christmas lights
tacky christmas lights
peace
cousins
Best of 2009: Photo Edition (January- June)
Photography is something that I love with a passion. Last year I sold a lens so that I could upgrade from a Canon Rebel XTI to a Canon 40D. I regret selling the lens, but it was the only way I could upgrade. (I’m currently considering selling a kidney to buy the lens that I sold. Any takers? $649! Total bargain.) I’ve been going through my images from the past year all morning on Flickr. (Well, in between waiting for phone calls from my husband, who was having various tests done on his heart due to chest pains. But don’t worry! He’s fine. Or at least the doctor thinks so. FOR NOW. Awaiting further tests.)
I have to say (and this is hard for me to say, because it’s not very often I feel this way about anything that I do) I am proud of the images I captured this year. I wanted to showcase my favorites here, all in one place. However, I think I’ll break them up into several posts.
I hope you enjoy looking at them as much as I enjoyed taking them.
January
My very first shot with the 40D
my newborn niece
Union Station
My kids, with flare
February
Valentines Day
Lindsay in the Four Seasons, Houston
E returns home from 6th grade camp, Lil Sister couldn’t be happier
Kirtsy takes a bow
March
mmm. strawberries
locket
Inside Barbie’s Malibu Dreamhouse
More from Barbie’s Malibu Dreamhouse
April
Purple
Remembering Maddie. Always.
March for Maddie
Tea party
May
flowers in her hair.
The Preschool Graduate
Bubbles
Wine Tasting
June
Natasha Bedingfield
The Middle Child turns 12
My Everything
1,2,3 my kids
Fathers Day
On the Down Load.
I think you would laugh if you saw my list of goals for 2010.
It says things like “read more.” “organize my inbox” “start commenting on blogs again.”
(I bet your says things like “finish my book proposal.” “Follow up with Oprah re: the interview.”)
One of the things on that list (and this list is real, you guys) is “update the music on my Generic MP 3 Player.”
This is where I ask for your help.
What is your current favorite workout song? I did this once before and ended up with a great collection of music to kick my own ass to.
(p.s. I am looking for all types of music. Fast, slow, rap, metal. BOY BANDS! All of it, whatever motivates you to move.)
On Christmas Day
This year, we did Christmas a little differently.
Since there would be no dinner at Oma’s (because Oma now lives with my mom) we decided to open up our home to the family for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Everyone loved the idea.
I had family at my house from 8:30 in the morning, until 11 pm. One would think having family over for that many hours in a row would be kind of awful.
It wasn’t.
In fact, it turned out to be one of the best Christmas’ in recent memory. Here are a few reasons why.
Breakfast, lunch and dinner, all served out of the Triple Buffet Slow Cooker (which, if you haven’t figured it out by now, I am obsessed with.)
My brothers went through my underwear drawer, stuffed a box full of my giant bras and granny panties, wrapped them up and gave it to my son as a gift.
(Oh, look. My Dad! Looking at my bra and panties! MERRY CHRISTMAS, PASTOR DAD!)
The kids loved their presents.
But, the best thing about Christmas this year?
Besides laughter, love and family?
SHOOTING THINGS!
(Relax, gun hating liberals! They’re bb guns. The real guns are locked in a safe.)
A Christmas Letter
“Will you be in heaven with me, Grandpa?”
That’s what I asked my Grandpa when I was just 3 years old. The story goes that from that moment on, he never touched another drop of alcohol (he was an alcoholic) and he asked Jesus into his heart. He started going to church every Sunday. The idea of not being in heaven with his first Grandchild was his Come to Jesus Moment.
I’ve heard that story since I was a little girl. It’s always been one of the most cherished memories.
But ever since my Grandpa passed away, I feel in some ways that my Grandma has used what was once a treasured memory against me. She asks me often why I don’t go to church. “You’re the reason your Grandpa came to know Jesus. And now you won’t go to church!” She’ll say. (Often.) I have felt so judged
On Christmas, she gave my daughter a bible. Inside was a handwritten note from her.
“I want you to read that letter in front of the family.” She said. I felt angry with her. I assumed she was trying to shame me publicly in front of my family for not going to church.
I asked my sister to sneak the letter into my bedroom so I could read it privately before reading it in front of the entire family as my Grandma had requested.
As I read, I felt the anger melt away.
I may not agree with the things she says, but for the first time since my Grandpa passed away, I am at least able to understand where she is coming from.
We’ll Go Ahead and Pretend Like This is My Christmas Card, Since I Didn’t Actually Send Christmas Cards This Year. :-(
Tomorrow morning there will be 18 people sitting around the Christmas tree by 8 am.
We will have breakfast for everyone– biscuits and gravy. Sausage and eggs. A variety of muffins and fruit. There will be coffee, hot chocolate and orange juice.
We will open presents as we eat and drink.
There will be happy faces, maybe some disappointed ones. There will be laughter, maybe some tears. There will be lots of hugs, maybe some arguments.
There will most likely be spills that will stain (not) our carpet.
But it will all be wonderful and good.
Tomorrow can’t get hear soon enough.
Whatever your plans are for tomorrow, I hope you have a Merry Christmas with those you love the most.
My Little Author
“But Mom! I need more paper than that!” She says.
“G, girl. This is mommy’s printing paper. 10 sheets is more than enough.”
“Mommy! I want to make something very special. Please, can I have more?”
I sigh heavily, as I reach for a handful more. “This is all, G. I don’t want you wasting all of my printing paper.”
She takes her stack of paper and runs to her room. She closes the door just a bit. I can hear the sound of the crayon box hitting the floor.
I go about my work.
A few minutes later, I get up to grab a glass of water. As I walk past her room, I see her laying on the floor. She has the papers stacked just so. She carefully puts a line of glue down the left edge of one paper.
I watch her as she does this over and over again.
I finally make my presence known.
“What are you doing?” I ask.
“I’m making a book, Mommy.”
“Oh, how wonderful!” I say.
I leave her to finish her book.
An hour or so later, she walks into my room and hands me the book she just made. “this is for you, mama.” She says as she walks away.
“Come back! I want you to be here while I read this.”
“But Mom!” She replies. “I need to make another one!”
I let her go on her way. I open the first page.
I see my toyz.
I turn the page.
I like my iskreem
Next page.
I wot to go to the prk.
Last page.
I like you.
I get up out of my chair to go tell her how much I love the book she wrote for me. I find her on her floor, gluing more pages together.
“I loved your book, G. It was so great!”
She stopped gluing, looked up at me and said “You liked it?”
“Yes, I did.”
“Oh, good! I want to write books when I am an adult. I hope everyone likes them.”
I instantly felt guilty. “I don’t want you wasting my paper.” I had told her.
I had accused of wasting my precious printer paper. I was annoyed that the construction paper she had in her room wasn’t good enough. She just HAD to use (waste!) my precious printing paper.
Except she wasn’t wasting at all.
She was creating.
My girl is a writer. She writes books. She can have as much paper as she wants, any time she wants it.
The Last You’ll Ever Hear About This Party.
“So, how did the Christmas party go? I’m dying to know!”
I can’t tell you how many emails, im’s and dm’s I’ve gotten about my party. (11) It’s crazy! People want to know! And I have meant to write about it for about 2 weeks now, but as you may know by now, I’m not the most disciplined writer. (But that is going to change in 2010. I’m going to write so hard and so well. You’ll see.) However, today is my first day of vacation and aside from cleaning the entire, filthy house before company comes over tonight, (look at me! Opening my home to company AGAIN!) I have nothing but time to write.
So.
The Ugly Christmas Sweater Party.
The invitation that I sent out went a little something like this.
“Please come to our house on the 12th of December for a Christmas party! We’ll have cookie decorating for the kids! We’ll make s’mores by the fire pit! We’ll walk to see the Christmas lights! We’ll drink egg nog and wine! There will be a nacho bar! Wear your ugliest Christmas sweater and we’ll have a prize for the ugliest one! IT WILL BE SO MUCH FUN!”
(I was really excited.)
The response from everyone went exactly like this:
“We can’t wait! It will be so much fun.”
“Our whole family will show up in Christmas sweaters!”
“I am having all of my friends looking for a sweater now!”
“Nachos! CAN’T WAIT!”
With the exception of 6 people, everyone marked “attending.”
We went to Costco and bought everything we needed for The Perfect Nacho Bar (including the Triple Slow Cooker Buffet, which I am still obsessed with.) We bought Pennsylvania Dutch egg nog, wine, tons of sugar cookies, frosting, candy, everything we’d need for s’mores. We set up the ping pong table in the garage.
The day of the party, the first text message came.
“we won’t be able to make it.”
Then another one.
“Please don’t be mad, but we can’t make it.”
Then, another one.
“We’re going to try REALLY HARD to be there, but we probably won’t make it.”
Then, ANOTHER ONE.
“My wife has to work til 8, so, we probably won’t make it.”
Then.
It started to rain.
And not just rain. POUR. It was pouring.
We hoped it clear up, because if it didn’t, there would be no s’mores, there would be no Christmas lights.
The rain never cleared up. In fact, it got worse. Streets were flooding! The first couple to arrive said they almost turned around because of the rain.
At 5:00, we had 4 couples here. 3 of them were family.
(10 had RSVP’d.)
I was the only one wearing a stupid ass Christmas sweater.
The party had failed. It wasn’t anything like I had planned.
People flaked. The weather didn’t cooperate. I looked like an asshole with my sweater.
But, you know? If I’ve learned anything over the past 3 years, it’s that life doesn’t always go the way you planned it. Shit happens. I had a choice. I could pout about everything that went wrong (and pretty much everything went wrong.) Or I could make the best of the situation (not to be confused with The Situation.)
I made the best of it.
It wasn’t the kick ass party I had dreamed it would be, but it turned out to be a lovely evening with friends and family. An evening filled with great conversations, lots of laughter.
And nachos. Pounds and pounds of nachos.
We’ve already decided we’re doing it again next year.
The Christmas Sweater Makes the Song Better
When I saw Neil’s The 2009 Blogger Christmahanukwanzaakah Online Holiday Concert last year, I felt bummed that I hadn’t participated. I swore that next year, I’d do it.
“Next year” has arrived and well, I did it.
So awful! I know! But! I had the best time doing it.
(My husband, on the other hand, did not. I kept forgetting the words and kept asking him to delete and start over! And he was like “this better not turn into an hour event. I have The Sing Off on pause! Hurry!” Which, basically meant that he’d rather listen to complete strangers sing on TV (more specifically, complete strangers who call themselves “Max Factor” because they are His Girlfriends. All of them.) then listen to his wife sing. But, whatever.)
All this to say, head over to Neil’s to check out the concert! So many awesome performances! It will honestly be worth your time, so go! Now!