one for me, two for you

Punkin Patch 2010

This year, we visited Carmichael's Farm and Pumpkin patch the weekend before Halloween.  Lots and lots of fun all around. 

Goats, pigs, chickens, emus, and the like to visit with and feed. Just can't get over their cute little butts in this one.
 Alec apparently couldn't get over the goat butts...
Corrinne and Carter were all about the feeding, though I'm not sure why they were trying hay.Maybe I've been too emphatic about teaching Aidan the "rock on" horns?  He uses them like people use the peace sign for pictures now...Awe...Marc, emerging from the hay maze... Alec decided to hang out in jail because he was a little hesitant about the dark maze!
 Pony rides!  Yee-haw!
 
 
 
  
 
 Camel rides!  Woah!
 
Seriously with the horns, Aidan?
Just another day on the farm!

 

Happy Autumn and Halloween!  Ok, so the Halloween wish was late, I know... I know...

Lookin' for a little inspiration...

Ever have one of those blah days, where you feel kinda bummed out for no particular reason?  Not depressed or anything, just black and white and in need of color...

Yeah, I'm having one of those days.  Woke up to the smoke alarm this morning around 4:30 and never really went back to sleep, the boys woke up early and were whiny messes, didn't make it out of the house with coffee or lunch, and the list goes on and on.  I did blow dry my hair, but Aidan's was a disaster to say the least.

Once I got to work, a sugar free Starbucks mocha and mini quiche from Boston Avenue Grill helped tremendously, then I needed some tunes to get me goin'.  I felt like a little Ra Ra Riot to get me started then hit genius, and I LOVE this new mix.  St. Peter's Day Festival might be my new favorite song from the album, and Girl in the War by Josh Ritter might be a new top 10 song for me.  Expect a post on those two!

Lunchtime...still wookin' pa nub...
 
...and...found it.

Lunch.  
Had my first veggie burrito.  I've been on the Ensalada a la Elote kick lately, and this was a delightful freshie fresh.  Black beans, sweet potatoes, caramelized onions, spinach, cheddar, and white queso.  Ptl.

When I'm feeling blah, I need art and beauty, creativity, and yes projects.  These kids helped me today...

SouleMama and her latest blog about paint choices.  I totally want my house to look like hers... 
Design Sponge and their mini-trends.  I'm finding myself drawn to red for the first time in my life!  And see that stocking over on the right?  I'm lovin' birds and trees, and am wondering if I'll ever finish the family Christmas stockings I started last year.  I got one of mine done, and helped Meg with hers, but never finished mine.  Go figure, right?

 

ashley ann and her DIYs (not to mention her amazing photography!).  Oh, I will make this doilie table runner.  It will go ever so perfectly on my kitchen table when I finish painting it!

And Jenny, with Pearl Street Interiors, has her Little Green Notebook blog where she posts daily inspiration.  I'm in love with her green book, as I have my own green book in my bag, always, and I adore this color pallette in the header of her front page.  I think I want my bedroom to be that blue, and that orangy red in the kitchen...two of my kitchen chairs will be that deep blue for sure...

 

Hmmm...la la la, la ti da...mood is better.  Coming home to my Mr. Wonderful, chinese food, Java Chip ice cream and laughs helped too.  Ended the night with nuggles and kisses from my littles.

Sigh, it's Thursday.  Another one down, and a few more dreams in my pocket to take with me into the weekend.

Kid-free Road Trip to OKC!

Our first roadtrip.  24 whole hours without children, which never happens with four between us.  Needless to say we were pretty psyched.  And not just a road trip – tickets to The Avett Brothers, with Grace Potter and the Nocturnals opening.  Hotel room so we got to stick around and play in the City a bit the next day. 

 

Yay!  Missy’s excited!

 

Gorgeous day.  Crisp and cool.  Sunny and magnificent.  We drop off kids with my amazing family, and officially get on the road.

 

Marc’s giggling at me, but is just as giddy as I am. 

 

Check in at the hotel, meet friends at Coach’s in Bricktown for dinner, then on to the show.  Grace Potter is amazing.  She’s fiery and talented.  And swings that hair all around!  Sorry, no pics because my camera was still “misplaced” at the time...

And there they are, the brothers of Avett, from North Carolina.  New haircuts!  Scott clean shaven and Seth sportin’ a ‘stache.  Who’da thunk?

They put on an amazing show, but the crowd seemed so out of it.  When I saw these guys at Cain’s last year, the people were stomping and jumping along with them, and sang every word of every song.  We were obviously surrounded by fans because they sang along with some, and even knew some of the older songs, but people looked at us like we were crazy for dancing.  Have you ever seen these guys live?  C’mon they play bluegrass like it’s metal!  Oh well, we had a blast.

Sidenote: it was Sunday night, show started at 8:00, and there was a bar.  And people had kids.  More than one person.  We were stepping on children.  I do not get that.  This is definitely the kind of band kids would enjoy, but maybe at an outdoor festival, during the day, not at a bar (essentially) on a school night.  But, whatever – to each his own!

 

Hilarious part of the evening involves my boyfriend and his persistence.  He loves having event specific memorabilia, like set-lists (from the stage), t-shirts with dates and locations, and limited edition posters.  After the concert, Marc stuck around and started “asking” the security guards and crew on the stage for set lists.  If you know anything about this guy, you know he doesn’t give up and usually finds a way to get what he wants when it comes to this kind of stuff.  He certainly didn’t get belligerent in any way, but was probably being a little tool-ish to say the least.  One of the security guards asked him at one point, “Do you want to go to jail?”  He, of course, answered, “Yes I do– SETLIST!!”  Then was promptly manhandled by one of the security guards and told to get out.  This was about the time one of my friends tapped me on the shoulder and told me my man was about to get kicked out (all of the above occurred unbeknownst to me!)  I ran in and called off the dogs and pulled the poor guy out.  What’s great is the next day I found this post (read knucklehead's) on the Avett Brothers’ website forum.  He’s a legend!

 

Thankfully, I was socially lubricated enough to go back in after him and sweet-talk a different guy into getting me some picks off the stage.  1 guitar pick and 1 ever coveted banjo pick.  I had to feign interest in his dreads and band, “Soul Crisis” (somehow I remember the name…), and insist that I was in no way connected with “that guy” who was up there hassling the crew previously. :)

So, thanks to me, we got some event specific memorabilia.  Numbered event poster AND picks.  Pretty cool.

 

To wrap up the trip the next morning we tooled around the city and found some loverly things…and interesting things.  Like this ad for an upcoming art show that is “censored” to say the least…

 

Played around in the Paseo District and Craig’s Curious Emporium.  Marc did not buy the umbrella.

 

But he  did buy me the ear warmer!

 

And we are officially in love with the Picasso Café.  The food was AMAZING.  Prosciutto wrapped figs with goat cheese, hummus and spinach dip trio, lobster bisque…O. M. G.  Delectable food, on a delectable day, with a delectable date!

Nice pic of me blinking…

 

We finished off the day with a stop by Shop Good to see some old friends and a phenomenal store (a percentage of all their sales go to charity!), then to a movie (in a real theatre, with no children, and no cartoons), then hit up Starbucks for the drive home.  24 hours and we felt like we’d been on vacation for a week.  Ahhhhhhh.  So much fun!

 

Now, off to the next adventure…

 

Those girls are runnin' fools!

So, I've really been enjoying running with the girls at work, during lunch.  Ok, ok, so I've only actually done it twice.  But it works out so great to get it over with midday, and not have to wake up early, or cut into family time in the evening.  And, I've got to say, I'm not as motivated about the Tulsa Run this year as I was last year, so the camaraderie helps too!  You can't beat getting out in the middle of the day to enjoy the sunshine and get a boost of energy for the rest of the afternoon.  Today we did 4.05 miles - here's our run.  Not sure if we can go much further than that and keep it within our lunch hour (showers included), but even if we have a few short runs during the week and do long runs on the weekend, we should be well on our way to the 9.2 of the Tulsa Run!  The health club at work is new to me, and I must say I'm pretty impressed.  I'm also a fan of the aerosol deodorant and I might start using it at home...on my feet...so my dress shoes don't smell like adolescent locker rooms.

Side note: I heart www.mapmyrun.com.  Remember the 6 miler I did a few weeks ago?  Yeah, well, when I mapped it I realized it was actually 7.5 miles.  Yikes!  No wonder I was hungry that night. 

6 mile bouquet

Well, well, well...it's September and time to gear up for the Tulsa Run again this year.  I've gotten seriously out of shape it seems, despite continuing to jog, and MUST get crackin' for serious.  Last couple of weeks I got up to 5 miles, and this week was 6 miles.  I feel like a slug, thanks to my horribly poor diet and tightening pants, but I will charge forward!  This week marks the beginning of a serious committment to put good foods in my body and not keep gorging myself on sugar, sweets, junk food and gigantic portions of all of the above.  I think that will help...

Back to the point of the post: 6 mile run this past Sunday along the Creek Turnpike trail - it was LOVELY.  Beautiful, cool Fall weather and plenty of wild flowers to keep me company.  They were so inspiring, I was tempted to pull them along the way to bring home and put in a vase.  However, I knew hanging onto them with sweaty palms would make me crazy, so I collected my bouquet with snappies from my phone to share with you.  Here you go, enjoy!

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

To top it all off, I miraculously still averaged an 11 minute mile even with all the stopping and snapping.  Not bad if I do say so myself!  My knees were killing me though after the run.  Time for new kicks!

{my 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.

I pledge allegiance to the flag...

This year, I attended my first Tulsa Pride Parade.  It was just one part of an epic family weekend with the urban family.  It was so exciting to bring the boys along with other families to an event that celebrates diversity in such a unique way.  I want my boys to know, from a young age, that "there is room for everyone in God's love," a quote spoken every Sunday morning at a local church I've visited several times recently.  Sadly this is a truth I embraced way too late in life, and now that I have I will never let go.

As a parent I want my children to never doubt themselves, who they are, what they want, what they think, and what they can accomplish in life.  As a Christian, I know that God's love is way bigger than most religions give him credit for.  As an American, and member of the human race, I know that all people were created equal and unique and deserve equal opportunities and celebration.  It makes me think of those words emblazoned on our memories from the Declaration of Independence,

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

Aidan once asked me if God was the rainbow.  I answered that people think God is a lot of different things and asked if he thought God was the rainbow.  He said, "yeah, I think that's nice," and I agreed.  The rainbow is a symbol of God's covenant with all the earth from the book of Genesis, chapter 9,

 "I am making a covenant with you and your descendants, and with the animals you brought with you -- all these birds and livestock and wild animals.  I solemnly promise never to send another flood to kill all living creatures and destroy the earth."  And God said, "I am giving you a sign as evidence of my eternal covenant with you and all living creatures.  I have placed my rainbow in the clouds. It is the sign of my permanent promise to you and to all the earth.  When I send clouds over the earth, the rainbow will be seen in the clouds,  and I will remember my covenant with you and with everything that lives. Never again will there be a flood that will destroy all life.  When I see the rainbow in the clouds, I will remember the eternal covenant between God and every living creature on earth."

So, when someone walked by us selling little rainbow flags, I jumped on the opportunity to buy one for Aidan and one for Alec.  I crouched down and told them this flag means that God loves them, and that they can be whoever they want to be and do everything they want to do in life, that they are special and unique, and I love them so much and will always be proud of them.

Enjoy some pictures from our adventure!

Waitin' for the parade... Ry, is that a pirate face, or just plain margarita face?   It was HOT... Thank the good Lord Jesus for goldfish! And for Aunt Brandi bringing books along in case the kids start melting down! And Uncle Ryan!
Still waiting...Um, this picture really needs no caption, but we're thankful for alcohol too.  And straws...Luh you Jer!
Luh you Brandilicious!
Here comes the parade!  So much to see, so much to celebrate.
I had chills toward the end of the parade when there were people of all different shapes, sizes, and color carrying the massive rainbow flag!
And topped off the whole night with our kids' first concert ever.  Eric and the Adams.  They were phenomenal!! 

 
Dancin' fools!  We had so much fun.  Aidie was bustin' out all the "good moves"! Shortly after this delightful experience and epic adventure, Aidan was learning the pledge of allegiance at daycare, and would often practice and recite it to people.  Several weeks went by, and one afternoon after I picked the boys up from daycare and overheard Aidie teaching Alec the pledge in the backseat.  I looked back and realized he was holding one of our little rainbow flags, and showing his little bubba how you look at the flag and put your hand over your heart when you say the pledge.

I almost cried... That's a pledge I can get behind. 

Say it with me,

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Amen.

{my moment}

Inspired by SouleMama's {this 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.

 

here's mine:

Inspired...

i want to be ashley ann

and amanda soule

and tracey gaughran-perez

and bakerella

and holli b

and lil blue boo lady

and ms. single mama

and ree

and nie nie

and oh, so many others...

but for now i'll just be me. and today i'm inspired, and determined to figure out what i want and how to get it. and do ALL the things i love in the mean time!

love you.

love,

me.

Adventures in Tulsa - The Admiral Twin Drive-In

I love adventure.  I love discovering hidden treasures while running errands or catching wind of some festival or market happening around the corner.  I love knowing you don't have to travel far to find excitement and adventure.  Usually, my kids are my partners in crime (see Robots and Donuts saga, and our trips to the Philbrook), and now I get to drag the boyfriend along too! 

It's been since at least Jr. High youth group that I've been to the Drive-In.  Check out Pinball Rebel's blog about it - great pics!  I simply mentioned it to the boy and he was equally delighted about the idea.  Immediately, we began discussing what would be included in the picnic dinner, how we would arrange the truck for optimal comfort, etc. etc.

The day we had planned to go, ideally chosen for our mutual lack of offspring, had showers off and on and we were afraid our plans would be rained out.  Thankfully, it rained just enough to cool things off, and by the time we rolled in to our spot the skies were clear and the weather was perfect!

Here we go!

Comfort optimization of truck bed, accomplished by the layering of moving pads, pillows, and a quilt for chills when the sun goes down, check!

Snuggle worthy? Check!

See, clear skies, told you!!

Delightful picnic of grilled chicken, sliced sharp white cheddar cheese, grapes, strawberries, and crusty french bread with butter.  Sam Adams and Lindeman's Framboise in the cooler.

 
Yum!

Toy Story 3 (yes, we are adults who intentionally went to see a kids' movie without the kids, and it was delightful!) on the big screen!

 

Smiles all around.  What a fun, fun, and most perfect date!

Here's to adventure; it's everywhere!