one for me, two for you

haiku wednesday on thursday

Anticipating

Waves, sand, toes, sunscreen, smiles. Count

Down to a long drive.

{my moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.

Inspired by Soulemama

 
Happy Weekend Lovies!

loving

things i'm loving these days:

white wine (i used to be strictly a red girl, who knew?!)

{note glass accompanying fajita creation in Sunday Funday post}

veggie booty

 

the boys love it too! they call them green puffies.

 

green grass and irises blooming (my favorite spring flower)

 

and finding other things blooming from treasures planted last fall!

and little yellow flowers on this delightful broccolini!

 

shellac manicures (okay so i've only had one of them, but i love it!)

 

weight watchers (yup, i'm in the program for the second time in my life, and loving it!) also loving jillian michaels and billy blanks. hey, i've got the will, he's got the way!

my tom's, paired with dresses. and skirts.

poached eggs!

 

watchin' my babies ride bikes (i have pics somewhere...promise!)

family fondue. seriously it's soooo cool!

 
and who says we can't have fondue on a week night?!

what a yummy life!

Sunday Funday

I know a group of kids (=20 and 30 somethings) who gather for Sunday brunch and call it "Sunday Funday" which is usually a follow up (=sober up) to "Saturday Sin-day..."

This is not that kind of Sunday Funday; it's merely a Sunday I happened to decide I wanted to document in pictures. And so it begins...

We decided bacon, eggs and toast were in order for breakfast, but were out of two of those items, so Marc needed to make what is becoming a "customary" Sunday morning trip to the store. He usually asks all the kids if anyone wants to come.

Aidan was the only taker, and this is how he dressed himself. God love him.

Alec stayed behind to talk on his banana phone while I made coffee and got things started.Now, I'll say that on Saturday, which was NOT sin-day, the stars alligned and I made two of the most beautiful and perfect poached eggs you've ever seen. No gadgets, no gizmos, just a pan and water. I attempted the same thing on Sunday, and was not successful...they got poached, and were edible, but were not pretty. And took forever because I threw out about three eggs. So there are no sweet pictures of our delightful breakfast, because everyone, self included, was so cranky and hungry by the time it was served, it was just time to eat.

Can you guess what our first outing was? Yep, Bed Bath & Beyond to look for an egg poacher! Not only did we find that, we found some adorable little boys for sale. They thought this was incredibly funny.

Next, Garden Ridge to hunt for patio furniture. And might I say, for a garden stuff filled store, they have an attrocious collection of garden gnomes? Give me Big Lots any day. Not even worth a picture. We didn't find any acceptable patio furniture, but we did find a family's worth of recliners.
 
 
 
 
Alec wanted to push the cart. And push it he did...into everything he couldn't see.

 
 We may or may not have allegedly found the papazzan cushions and started jumping into them. But you can't prove anything...I wish I could have snapped this picture a second earlier though, because Marc did a killer cartwheel into the stack.
Next, stop by Bueno for some taco roll-ups, and off to Mod's for gelato, yeah! We LOVE Mod's for a lot of reasons, one being that they have a SELECTION (more than one) of vegan gelatos. Are we vegan? No, but Aidie is allergic to cow's milk and gets left out of all the ice cream having adventures. Except when we go to Mod's.

But someone (not naming any names...Missy) didn't take the time to figure out whether or not they're open on Sunday. I'll save you the trouble, they're not. But we still had fun romping around Boston for a few minutes! Here's Marc and Corrinne's Michael Jackson "wind" moment (yes, it was quite windy).

And the "This is It" moment.
 
And finishing our taco roll-ups.

And back in the truck to head home. Marc, what happened to your aviators? 
Back home, the kids adopted toads (apparently named Marc and Missy), 

Built them a habitat, 

took real good care of them, 

and we enjoyed the quiet inside. 
Then Marc and Aidan made a special trip to the store for dairy free ice cream and some regular ice cream for the rest of us, while I started sizzling some fajitas! 
Here's Aidan playing with his corn.

One of the many reasons he didn't get to enjoy ice cream and whipped cream with the rest of us.  
And Megan, I did NOT partake of the whipped cream or ice cream. I had a small scoop of no sugar added frozen yogurt, and stayed within my points.

Add a couple of munchkin haircuts,  

And you have one epic post, and an epic Sunday Funday.

Here's to wrapping up my Monday reminiscing about Sunday!

 

{my moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.

Inspired by Soulemama.

Happy Weekend Lovies!

The Story You've All Been Waiting For

At least, I'll let myself believe that everyone's as interested in my life as I am...

So...you remember my list? #12 says, "Find a life partner that makes me insanely happy, on whom I can lavish all my silly affections."

Well, I've found him. My lobster (you know, you have to imagine two old lobsters in their tank...). He's mine and always has been. He's who I've been looking for my whole life, and at the same time, I feel like our souls have always been together. More about how insanely happy he makes me later, how about I tell you about the night I said yes to a very important question? You got it!

He's got two, I've got two, and between us we've got 4 kids, two exes, two jobs and an insane amount of laundry. We are thrilled when we have kid free evenings and weekends. Last week was a crazy week for all kinds of reasons, and before we knew it the stars aligned, we both got off work a bit early, baby daddy was able to meet me in Stroud an hour early, and baby momma wanted to keep the big kids for the evening, so Marc-alicious started planning date night! He called me at work and told me to grab something "kinda dressy" for dinner when I got home from work (I figured I'd just stay in my dress from work), and grab a change of clothes since we'd "probably be out pretty late and might want to crash somewhere."

Of course it sounds fishy. It's Marc!

We drop the littles in Stroud with their daddy, who Marc nearly mowed down pulling out of our parking spot because he was so anxious to be wherever we were going on time, and peel out headed...west.

Me: Are we going to Oklahoma City?

Marc: No.

Me: Are we going to Dallas?

Marc: No.

Me: Are we going to Kansas City?

Marc: Kansas City is five hours in the complete opposite direction.

Me: I know...just asking...how long are we going to be in the car?

Marc: *checking his phone* About an hour and fifteen minutes.

Me: I wish I would have changed clothes.

Marc: That's why I told you to bring a change of clothes.

Me: *Putting my head down, and shaking it while giggling.*

Soon he turns onto highway 177 and we are officially out in the middle of nowhere. I can't decide if he's taking me to an Amish bakery in the middle of nowhere or taking me out to the middle of nowhere to chop me up into little bitty pieces and feed me to the goats. We did see at least one sign for "show goats" now that I think of it. Did you know there were such things as show goats? I didn't. I've grown up in Oklahoma my whole life and never heard of show goats.

Anyway, fast forward, after stopping for a potty, Frappuccino, and a handful of homemade trailmix because I'm starving, we make our way to Sulphur, Oklahoma, and pass a sign that says, "Echo Canyon Spa Resort," and I think to myself, "Oooooh, self, that sounds delightful! We should go there some time!" Before I know it, we're turning off the road and Marc's on the phone telling someone we're here and punching in a code to a huge swirly iron gate...next to a sign that says Echo Canyon Spa Resort! We're THERE!

We had an AMAZING meal of steak, duck, twice baked potatoes, fresh roasted asparagus (my fave), garlic bread with homemade pesto, a signature salad with the sweetest watermelon I've ever tasted, and light and fluffy cheesecake for dessert. Oh, and their special peach drink, made from peaches from their orchard! Yum!

I'll have to fast forward through the HILARIOUS monologue from one of our waitresses about her in shop class wearing high heels, facial school where she's going to learn how to do a velvet peel that she's not real sure about but apparently it makes "old ladies" look ten years younger, and the "customary" dance of the last people in the dining rooms (they were sure to dim the lights for us).

Then we picked up a second bottle of wine and headed back to our amazing room. I went into routine and to the bathroom to start taking off my eye make up and wash my face. Marc rushed in and said, "Don't do that! It's like you're saying the night's over! Let's go out to the balcony and drink our wine." Okay, okay.

Once out on the balcony, I take a sip of wine and enjoy the cloudless sky, perfect weather with warm air and a cool breeze, and ALL the stars you can't see in the city. Then he says, "So, I've asked you before and I'll ask you again, what do you love about me?" Classic Marc. So I tell him a couple of things, blah, blah, blah. Then he says, "Well, you know I want to be with you for the rest of my life don't you?" I answer affirmatively. Then he tells me some very sweet things he loves about me. He gives me a couple sweet little kisses, which quickly become quicker and less romantic and I start to notice he's breathing a little more quickly too. And I'm thinking, "surely any minute he's going to get down on his knee..."

Then he says, "I'm going to ask you a kind of serious question, and you can answer honestly," and...gets down on his knee...and pulls out a little white box.

Yep.

And opens the box.

But before I tell you what he said next I have to say, when he opened the box there was a light. A beacon of light BEAMING from the box, the ring box. And at first I thought to myself, "he did NOT just open up a ring box with a built-in flashlight, cause that would be cheesy." Then I looked and the ring. The magnificent ring. And I remembered that it was dark outside, and I was really glad it had a light. We lovingly refer to that part of the night as the Mel Brooks moment of the evening; may the schwartz be with you.

It's gorgeous. He's gorgeous, though I couldn't see his face to look him in the eye to tell him, "Yes of course!" after I caught my breath and fought back my tears and took my hands away from my mouth so he could hear me. Then we went inside so he could put that beautiful ring on my finger (which the sneaky boy has had since JANUARY!) because I was honestly too afraid to take it out of the box outside on the balcony in case I dropped it off the rail!

My hands were shaking and I couldn't stop smiling. Our very special moment that will forever change our lives. I should have taken pictures of our meal that night, or the wine, or the road trip down, or the obligatory dance (which was very, VERY sweet)...but I must have known it was all too special to ruin with picture taking. Those will be MY moments, in my memory and heart. But I will share with you pictures from the next morning, when I woke up to sit on that sweet little balcony and admire the breathtaking thing on my hand that tells everyone,

"I'm taken!"

 
 
 
 

And here's a silly little video from my Marc.

Love you baby. What lovely memories from the perfect adventure. I can't wait to make a lifetime more of them with you.

Haiku Wednesday, Times Two!

Thankfully the sun

Is here, bringing Spring weather

To my door at last.

 

Started a garden:

Squash, green beans, peppers, lettuce,

And some tomatoes.

 
 
Happy Wednesday Lovies!

You can go your own waaaaaayyyyy...

I grew up with an ex-hippie mother, like the kind where my parents actually met on a commune, grew their own food, and birthed my brother with a midwife on the farm.  Not that that has a WHOLE lot to do with this entry’s title, but she did listen to a lot of Fleetwood Mac, and…I dig ‘em.

Some time late last fall, I was on my evening commute home from work and came to the stoplight at 41^st and Sheridan.  You know the one that is notoriously long, and if you’re headed south, like I usually am, you end up sandwiched in between Home Depot and Night Trips?  Yeah, there. 

On this particular day, as I sat, indefinitely, with NPR in the background, something quite ordinary caught my eye: a flock of birds.  It was rather large, and seemed to be hovering right over the intersection.  What was not so ordinary was their flight pattern.  Have you ever noticed birds when they change directions?  Sharp turns with ripple effects that mimic a stream or school of fish almost seem non-directional.  It’s fascinating, even mesmerizing.

As I was caught up in watching this flock of birds flutter and flicker in the sky above me, my mind was taken up in thoughts and wandering.  I completely lost track of time and was baffled at how long I watched this pattern, and how many times they changed directions.  I thought to myself, “South is THAT way, guys!  Isn’t that instinctual?  Don’t you do this every year?  Every time you change directions, it’s that much longer ‘til you get some place warm for winter!”  I was also baffled that the light STILL hadn’t changed, but that’s another post…

Each time they changed directions, they must have changed “lead birds” too.  Are birds that hard up for smart cookies?  Or are there just too many cooks in the kitchen?  Either way, I felt sorry for all these followers flapping their wings, desperately wanting to land somewhere warm and tropical and catch their breath!  I wanted them to be free and get going in the right direction!

Something else interesting occurred as I watched enthralled by this nature play, seemingly staged for me only.  Every few seconds, two or three birds would break away from the group and head straight south, no wavering.  Even as they slowly peeled away, it barely made a dent in the mass of birds left in the lost throng still flitting back and forth like a giant pin ball.   It struck me, like the song Ants Marching by DMB, that we are all often like this, caught in the day to day grind of jobs, obligations, bills, and all the things that keep us captive to a life that’s really just dragging us around in circles.  The things that have us stuck in traffic during an hour long commute (second of the day) that keeps us away from our families, or the distractions of countless things that promise to bring us more happiness, health, wealth, time, gourmet food, and brighter, tighter skin.

I don’t want to be one of the birds lost in the crowd, counting on an unreliable leader to take me to some unknown happy place.  Or worse, not even know who my leader is.  I want to be one of the birds who goes his own way.  I want to be my own bird, and my little birds to be their own too.  Most importantly, I want to know where I’m going.

This is the year, kids.  This year, I crossed the threshold of my thirties and am looking ahead to many more changes and adventures.  This year I’m making a change.  I’m not sure what it is; I may still have a way to go before I’m out of the throng of confusion.  But this year...I’m getting out and I’m flying south.

Ten Days of Christmas - Day 9

It's interesting to wake up on Christmas morning in a hotel.  No tree, no kids clamouring to open their presents, just quiet.  You can lie around as long as you want to and leisurely make some mediocre hotel room coffee and listen to the birds sing.  We'd already planned on mimosas, so Marcalish got dressed to go track us down some OJ, and found a stocking at our door!  Yay!Ho Ho Ho!When we popped the cork, it sounded like gunfire!  We were really glad we didn't shoot a hole in the ceiling.  Or shoot one of our eyes out (which is doubly funny since A Christmas Story was on all day long on TBS)!

Cheers!Headed downstairs for an amazing Christmas morning brunch at the hotel cafe.  Smoked ham, bacon, sun-dried tomato risotto, ommelette made to order with swiss, cheddar, spinach, tomatoes, and onions!I think Marc got one of everything!  I love his grin peeking through in this pic.We walked over to the Harkins theatre in Bricktown for a movie.  This is no small adventure.  It was literally the second time we've ever gone to the movies together, just the two of us.  And the last time was our first trip to OKC!  Unless you count the drive in...

It was a frigid walk to be sure, but it was nice to get some exercise, and truly wasn't that far.  We saw True Grit, which was really good.  And no joke, there is a movie coming out about gnomes.  This is really becoming a hilarious theme in our lives.  I didn't get a pic, but here's the IMDb page.

On the way back to the hotel, we passed this shop I've never seen before.  Looks delightful!  Of course it was closed Christmsas day, but I plan to come back and check it out another time.  Reminds me of Ms. Sarah and her s'moregasm cupcakes and oreo balls.  She would be famous with a store like this!Stop off at the hotel for socks for me, bundle up again and off to walk to the ice skating rink behind the municipal building in OKC.  Burr!Christmas in OKC - love the lights!After we walked on dead downtown streets, into the wind, for what seemed like an eternity, we finally found civilization, Christmas music (which was skipping), and a big hunk of ice.Cheeeese!  Insert cute pic here!Let's just say niether of us had been skating in quite some time, and we were a little trepidatious, but we carried on like good soldiers.  I honed my ballet skills.And refused to put my arms down while skating.  I was DETERMINED not to fall on the ice.  Marc teased me, saying, "You're flying!  You're flying!"Marc honed his smartass skills and...well, at least he didn't fall.We skated just long enough for our toes to go numb and our ankles to start hurting, then opted for hot chocolate and a warm cinnamon roll (complete with a big glob of melted butter on top!), before heading back to the hotel.We spent some more time being lazy at the hotel, watched the end of Knocked Up and Grease, then got all snazzed up for our fancy dinner at Deep Fork!  Look at that guy!  He cleans up pretty nice!And there's my beautiful new coat I got for Christmas!We settled in with wine and bread, then had some great shrimp ceviche as an appetizer, and salads.Marc got the rack of lamb, which I tasted, but wasn't super excited about it.  He loved it!I got the serloin, which was delicious;  I was just so full from the bread and pre-dinner courses I couldn't come close to finishing it!  But everything was so yummy and it was a great experience!Our next plan was to pick up coffee and find some playing cards and head back to the room and play gin rummy, but we never found any cards, and our Starbucks did not keep us awake any longer!  We fell asleep on the early side of things, and have no shame in it whatsoever!

It was a Christmas to remember for sure!

Tomorrow, looking forward to a Sunday Brunch, possibly one more movie, then picking up my sweet little men and finally getting Christmas with them! 

Ten Days of Christmas - Day 6

Well, well, well...I woke up on Day 6 early, and couldn't go back to sleep.  I was pretty sure the novelty of being a stay-at-home-mom was starting to wear off.  So I actually felt excited about waking up early and having some time to myself before children woke up, to sit and watch the news and work on my blog and leisurely sip some coffee.  But we all know what happens when mom wakes up early thinking she'll get some her time.Even HE doesn't look happy about it!  We made due though.  He kept me company and we watched some cartoons, while Alec slept in til 8:40!!  Poor kid was pooped.  Since I was feeling pooped from all our activities, I farted around most of the morning, when I should have been cleaning, then finally did a mad clean up before lunch.  The carpet was DISGUSTING so I was determined to get things picked up enough to vacuum before we got out of the house, which made me late (just call me Linda) to our lunch date at my brother's house!  My sister-in-law is a teacher so she's off for Christmas Break with her kids and invited us over to sammies and romping around outside, so I took her up on it.  We got some good mommy chat time and the kids enjoyed themselves!

Then we stopped over for a visit with Yaya (my best friend's mom, who is like a mother to me and in turn another grandma to my kiddos)!  We needed to return a movie rental to her and she had gifts for all the kids...As if they hadn't already had enough sugar over the holidays...Yikes!  On the way home we stopped and picked up some construction paper and glue sticks because the children had been begging to make homemade ornaments.  *Sigh* another project.

I complied.  I got out the printer so they could print off pictures to color.  And this......became this......and then there was a nerds explosion......and mommy was glad Yaya gave her her own sugar...The kids really did work hard and enjoy themselves being crafty.And made some cool ornaments!A little bit later that evening my friend Megan from high school came over to learn the ropes of her sewing machine.  She's had it for a while but didn't know how to use it, so I told her I'd help her figure it out.  I got out my machine and apron kit thinking I might be able to get started on my own project (which never happened because I had monkeys I had to tend to in between giving instructions...).And before she showed up I decided to get my crownie on.Which are chocolate chip cookie dough brownies.  I normally make them with ganache, but I just used some store-bought frosting, because I knew this one was dairy free so Aidan could eat it!

Here they are fresh out of the oven!As I was frosting them, the kids joined me and wanted some licks out of the can.

...as if they hadn't already had enough sugar for the day...Corrinne also came to help Megan with her little project.  Hi Megan!  You're on candid camera!Her lesson was successful and she learned how to use her machine.  Very well I might add!!  The whipped up a little gift in just a couple of minutes to give to Corrinne for being her helper.  So sweet!

And then Marc finally made it home from work after a very long couple of days, and I was very glad to see him.  Especially knowing he didn't have to work the next day and we'd officially be able to start our Christmas vacation together!

Whew!  What a tiring few days, looking forward to some days of relaxation to round out the Ten Days of Christmas!