Picture Day

We got some pictures taken by Rachael Brinton on Saturday and I wanted to show-off some of my favorites. Rachael did an amazing job and I have to tell you that not only is she super talented, but super patient! She has such a great eye I seriously could have posted 100 more pictures that I love. Check her out, especially if you live in Ann Arbor!

27 Dresses...and 1 Man?

Last night I was lucky enough to get a girls’ night with some great friends. We went to Carlyle Grill and had some amazing dessert (oh, and a side of fries - random but delicious) and then went to 27 Dresses, a really fun movie. Unfortunately, that’s not what this story is about, the highlight (or low point) of my night took place in the restroom at the theater.

So I’m walking out of my stall to wash my hands when I look up to see a man washing his hands at the sink. He doesn’t really notice me until I jump, cover my mouth and gasp – oh yeah, that got his attention! As soon as I opened my mouth I felt a pit in my stomach and I knew I was doomed, “Am I in the Men’s room?!” SHE just smiles and says, “No, you’re in the Women’s room.” Did I say she? Oh yeah, that’s ‘cause my man is a WO-man! Now I’m dying. What do I say, what do I say? “Oh thank goodness!” did I just say ‘thank goodness?’ Thank goodness would be that I didn’t just call this woman a man, thank goodness would be that I really was in the men’s room!

On the bright side the girls got a good laugh at (let's call her Pat) Pat's and my expense, and in an attempt to console me one of my friends even said that she has a sister who might actually take it as a compliment if someone mistook her for a man. Here’s to hoping.

Why I Hate Texting

I know this is so sad but I just don’t get it! The automatic word finishing thing, how to do punctuation, how to capitalize, do numbers, how to turn off auto-word finishing…it’s all beyond me. It’s no exaggeration when I say that I have literally spent 30 minutes on a one line text before, and many times spent that much time and then just given up!

I got a text from one of my good friends 2 days ago announcing the birth of her new baby girl. Now anyone who knows me knows I normally ignore texts but I thought that this blessed event actually deserved some kind of response so I decided to attempt a sufficient reply - “Congratulations!”

I started by pressing “2” three times to make a “C” but instead got “Aaa” and that’s as far as I got before I went to rescue Ben from the hitting his head on the coffee table. In diving to save him (and me) from the woes of a head injury I pressed some key and looked up to see the message being sent on my phone. So that’s what she got in reply to her happy news. “Meet the newest….She is beautiful and healthy! We are so blessed!” Oh, okay “Aaa!”

I thought about sending an explanatory text with a “congrats” at the end but realized it was no use. It would take me far too long to figure out and I’m a busy woman, I have 2 small kids to entertain for about 13 hours a day! Instead I decided that maybe she would think that “Aaa” is an exclamation of celebration, like “Yay!” or “Woohoo!” Hopefully, ‘cause that’s all she got. Hmm, maybe I should send an email??

Chuck E. Robot

The other day Keely went to her friend Eden’s birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese and she was all over Chuck E. when he came out to greet the kids. She had a great time and on the way home this was our conversation:

Me: “You really loved Chuck E. didn’t you?”
Keely: “Yeah, except he didn’t talk but that’s because he’s not really Chuck E. Cheese.”

Me: Oh, he’s not?”
Keely: “No mom, he’s just a robot that Chuck E. sends out to birthday parties when he’s too busy.”
Me: “Really? But you do believe that there is a giant talking mouse that lives at Chuck E. Cheese?”
Keely: “Yep mom, but sorry, that wasn’t him.”

So disappointed! I drive all that way and spend all that time only to get short changed with a robot! : )

Grey's Anatomy is back!

Okay, I'm not even "PMS-ing" and I think I cried from start to finish watching Grey's this week. Not that this is always a measure of good tv, but in this case it was. Is there any better show on the air? Just say no, it's always best to agree with me!

‘Cause You Gotta Have Friends

On our last trip out to Utah I was excited to find out that many of my old friends would be in Utah visiting their families too. I decided that since I had just been to Utah to visit my family 2 months ago, I was going to use this trip to try to catch up with some friends. While I still spent most my time with family, it was wonderful to be able to sneak out and hook up with some of my favorite people:

First group of Ann Arbor friends (Emily, Tanya, Jenn, me, Gwen, and Carly)

These girls were some of my first friends in Ann Arbor. I remember my first week in Michigan I knew I was going to love it and that was largely because I had already met these girls who right away included me in all their plans – including those long gone but much missed “Friday lunches.” We’ve all moved on and everyone lives in different states but thanks to Tanya (I think I can pretty well speak for the group in calling her our “uniter” because she always makes sure everyone stays connected) we’ve all kept in pretty good contact!

Petersons (Front to back:Michelle, Jenny, Mark, Shawn and me)
We went to breakfast with the Pertersons and my wonderful friend Michelle who I still get to have with me in Ann Arbor. The Petersons are another couple that have moved on from Ann Arbor and are now in California. Not only did Abbi and Keely get along famously, but I always had a blast with Jenny! One of my favorite memories was stopping at a scary gas station in Toledo, OH on the way home from the zoo. Everything was going wrong, I couldn’t get the gas cap off my car, I put my credit card in the wrong gas pump, and we really were in a bad area. This weird looking guy came out of the gas station to see if he could help me, which was so nice, but then I turn around to see Jenny “the bodyguard” Peterson standing behind me in this totally protective fighter stance. I mean, what was she going to do?? While I was thankful to her for having my back, I’ve never laughed so hard!

College Roommates (Rachel, me, Steph, and Arah)
Oh the stories I could tell, but I won’t! Really, these girls are crazy fun and every time I see them I remember why they were so easy to live with and why we clicked so well. We were constantly on the move but I think my best memories were our Mafia parties (not the real mafia, the card game) and just hanging out at the house with friends. I have to say that I'm thankful everyday that I got to have my sister Arah as one of my roomies - that's when we really became close and her friendship is one of the most cherished in my life. We were sad not to have Chelsie at lunch but she was busy getting ready to deliver a baby. : )


High School Friends (In 2nd picture: Kerrieleigh, me, Autumn, Jenny)

Okay, my friend Autumn found this prom picture and I don’t want to hear any cracks about my big hair, white nylons, or my silver astronaut dress! : ) I have to say that I had the best group of high school friends ever! As you know we are from a VERY small town which meant we had to be a little creative with our fun. Although we were very good girls, we did seem to get in a lot of trouble because of that “creativity” factor. One of my most vivid memories was the time we decided to practice vigilante justice on one of the “mean boys” from high school that we felt had just gotten away with too much. We buttered and leafed his precious truck and then prayed we wouldn’t get caught. I remember he caught up with us on Main Street about an hour later looking for the culprits and we just sat there shaking our heads with shock and concern saying, “Who would do that to you? That’s so messed up!” Sounds mean I know, but if you knew him it wasn't!

Why God Doesn't Want Me at The Lion King

I still don’t have the answer to that and okay, maybe it wasn’t God but I tell you that some higher power in this universe did not want me there! First things first – right around “time to go” I looked where I thought the tickets were, but they weren’t there! I tore up the house looking for them and finally gave up. I thought I had received a copy on my email but I was wrong. I then decided to call the Detroit Opera House directly to see if we would still be able to get in if I just printed off my receipt; of course I could get a hold of no live person on the phone. We are totally late by this time so I just decide to chance it, grab Keely and start driving to Detroit. Needless to say I was SPEEDING because we were so late and I get pulled over going 86 in a 70. The police man was nice enough to only write me up for 5 over and we are back on our way when I see a sign, followed by more signs that says I-75 is closed – that is the only way I know to get to the theatre and if you’re familiar at all with Detroit you know that it is the last place in the world that you would ever want to get lost! So, I pull off some random (and scary) road in Detroit and punch the address in my navigation system and once again we are on the road!

Finally we get there, pay an insane amount to park and go in and get sent to Will Call while they’re calling “final seating” over the intercom. I’m praying the whole time in line that I get some really friendly, helpful customer service person that’s willing to make some exceptions but we all know that’s not in the stars. Instead I get a girl who’s worn out from dealing with issues all day and is just like, “Oh, the company you bought these from is not affiliated with us, can’t help you, and NOT my problem.” I was even trying to use the “look at my cute, desperate, sweet daughter who’s been looking forward to this for a long time” angle – nothing! This is when I realize that I will get nowhere without crying which is not hard because I’m already holding back. I walk up choking back tears and barely able to speak to one of the ushers, ask to talk to a manager and she goes and gets her manager who is just one of the usher managers and can’t really help with ticket sales. She does take pity on us however and says that she’ll sneak us in, but if we get caught we’re on our own. She gives me a few tips on how to navigate to our seats and what to say if someone asks us for our tickets and then sends us on our way. We find some seats (not ours) and sit in them and then I spend the whole first half of the show worrying that some big bouncer guy with a flash light is going to approach us at any second, make a scene in front of everyone and then kick us out. We end up making it to intermission and once we sit down for the second half I start to relax and enjoy the show, until…

I remember my dream from the other night where I get mugged in a parking lot that looks just like the one we parked in! All the sudden I start thinking, “Maybe we weren’t supposed to come here. Maybe God put so many roadblocks in our way so that we would just turn around and not get mugged! Oh crap, how am I going to protect Keely?” Okay, I realize that sounds insane but you just have to understand my day – it really didn’t seem so farfetched at the time! So after the show was over I try to leave with as much crowd as possible. I walk with the other people going to the parking lot and I stay with them as long as possible (I’m sure they thought I was totally invading their space). As soon as I realize we’re going to have to split from other people I pick up Keely, run to the car, get in and LOCK the door. It’s only once I look around and realize that we’re just fine and that there are no muggers standing around that I realize how crazy I really am, but I still will not relax until I’m safely out of Detroit.

Finally I’m on the freeway, take a deep breath and Keely pipes up from the back seat, “Mom, that was the best show ever and I love going on dates with you!” All the sudden my day’s not so bad!

Before the show (nice and relaxed)

On the way out of the show (sweaty and gross)

Roller Skating

Arah, Laura and I took the kids to Classic Skate today and Keely was sooooo excited to skate. There was a bounce zone and a jungle gym there too but Keely was only interested in skating. While everyone else spread out I went and got our roller skates and helped Keely put her skates on. Since Keely has never actually been skating before I thought I should join her so I was like, "Wait a second and I'll get my skates on." Keely just looked at me with a really concerned look on her face and said "Are you sure mom? Do you know how?" I have to admit that her lack of confidence cut deep but the kicker was when this little boy on one of those razor scooters started circling Keely and me while taunting "slow pokes, slow pokes." I swear if his mom (or the surveillance cameras) hadn't been watching I would have kicked his wheels right out from under him. Instead I just leaned down and said, "I think he likes you." Keely got this real proud look on her face and just kept on cruisin'!