Charlotte Brown aka Charlie Brown

That's what we'll call her :)  She's a little 4-foot tree that we found at the tree farm yesterday, looking all lonely and forlorn by herself... Em really wanted a larger tree but I stood tall for Charlotte - and tried to convince Em that she'd look so pretty propped up on a wrought iron Longaberger stand - LOL! And she does... and Em agrees now... and we both *love* her :)

I'm aiming for better photos throughout the next week, but this was just a quick shot to capture her regal-ness :)  We are ready now - outside lights are up, tree is here and decorated, shopping has begun.  It's only November 28th. Life is good :)

Happy Happy Joy Joy

This was one of my little purchases from yesterday - I think it will bring lots of joy this season :)

Day after Thanksgiving

Today was a really nice day, it may just be one of my favorite days of the year (NO, I do not do Black Friday shopping - I just love the laziness of the day).  It was clear and warmer today and I have to say I was thankful the snow melted.  I love while it lasts for a few days, but I was ready for it to drift away so that we could get down to the business of Christmas decorating.

My BFF Kristy's son and friend came down to put up our lights :)

Said BFF and I headed to University Village for some Christmas cheer :)  

(we didn't do Black Friday shopping, we didn't even leave town til 3pm)

These were all displays in a pretty little shop that we wandered through.

In the Anthropologie store:  a deer with leg warmers :)

Isn't this a fun idea? You can get these brushes at Home Depot super cheap!

 

Always fun hanging with her :) 

And then another shopper passing by took pity on us trying to take our own photo

and helped us out by letting us pose :)

blurry, but I love these lit red spheres in all the trees!

Oh yes I am :)

Simple dinner...yum

Emma wasn't here for dinner so I broke out the PF Chang's frozen orange chicken - paired with Uncle Ben's 90 second rice, this is quite a scrumptious little bowl of bites!

All is calm, all is bright

Just a personal message to myself, I love having this blog to reflect back on as the months tick by.

It's November 21st

AND WE HAVE SNOW!  Wow, they were right - this is going to be a wicked winter! I say bring it on!!!

A perfect Fall day:

With my favorite girl:

Crisp, clear, cold weather
Soccer game - we won
We bought outdoor Christmas lights for the house
Errand to Costco
Up to the knitting store
Starbuck's holiday drinks - Peppermint Mocha for E, Caramel Brulee latte for me
Holiday Glee blaring on the CD player in the car, singing our hearts out
Walk with Cooper
Snuggled under a new fuzzy blanket


It doesn't get any better than that my friends.

We love holiday Glee :)

Emma and I decided we needed to buy the Holiday Glee album at Target today:

Our favorite song?  'Deck the Rooftops'.  What?  You don't know that traditional Christmas carol?  That's because it's been Glee-d:  it's a blend of 'Deck the Halls' and 'Up on the Rooftop' - very snappy and very cool :)

Speaking of Holiday Glee:

I just bought our tickets to this performance by the Seattle Men's Choir for December 5th - Emma and I are joining my good friend, David, that I used to work with years ago while a dispatcher for King County.  The SMC is the largest community chorus in North America - and performs at Benaroya Hall - also home to the Seattle Symphony and the Pacific Northwest Ballet's performance of 'The Nutcracker'. We are so excited to see this!

Speaking of Glee:  do you watch the TV show? I wasn't interested in it at all last year during it's first season - seriously, who wants to watch a musical each week? Okay. I do. Emma and I decided to give it a try during the summer season that it was on repeat, and we fell in love.  It's set at a public high school glee club, and the social 'misfits' that comprise it, and life's lessons thrown in.  And yes, they have lots of music each episode, very wonderfully choreographed musical routines.  Love it. The fact that they sing a lot of older songs (70's & 80's - gasp!) is even more cool - because I have been able to share my pure love of Journey and Steve Perry with my daughter who had never heard of them before :)

A lot of people think that it's content is too mature for a 12-year old. Maybe it is. But I (we) have always chosen to parent by exposing Emma to real life situations, socially (un)acceptable situations, and controversial situations. I think I (we) have done a pretty good job so far. So I let her watch this with me.

The cast of characters includes:  a gay teenage boy, a jock, a cheerleader who gets pregnant, a disabled student, an overweight black girl, a very promiscuous girl, and a few more labels sprinkled in between. The storyline has tackled pregnancy, coming out, discrimination, the separation of Church and State, just to name a few.

What I absolutely love about this show is the opportunity for discussion that it gives us each week. It is not uncommon for us to pause it halfway through, for 20 minutes or more, and discuss the social message. For example: Emma just couldn't wrap her brain around the fact that they weren't allowed to pray for a classmate's father who was in the hospital - she prays every day at her school. They sing hymns and 'religious' music every day. So when the show focused on the kids trying to work around the politics of Church and State, it was a great learning opportunity for her to really understand how most kids are unable to worship during the day. 

As a parent I welcome these opportunities. Any chance I can get to discuss life with my daughter, I'll take it. And coupled with Glee, I thoroughly enjoy the process.

December Daily Album

Ali Edwards is a regular mom, married and raising two kids - and happens to be a very well-known scrapbooker.  She has an incredible eye for scrapbook design and a passion for documenting life. Everyday life. Including the weeks and days leading up to Christmas, to help remember all of the magic that occurs within one short month.  I was so excited to gather my supplies when I saw her post her 2010 album a few weeks ago.  And I am so proud of myself for completing it already (November 16th!) and welcoming the activities and memories the month will bring for me to capture and remember.  Thanks Ali.

Here's my book, as inspired by Ali's interpretation and plan:

Each transparency is the prelude to the day (you can kind of see day 25 above) that is printed on cardstock with a space for pictures and/or journaling.

Back from Dayton. Oh the stories...

This will be my silly post - things that made me scratch my head along the way, tales of being lost (why is that becoming so prevalent recently??) and other fun things.

The first thing that just makes me say "huh?" is that the Cincinnati, OH airport is actually in Hebron, KY.  Why not just call it the Hebron Airport?  I mean, it's in another state people, it's not like it's in a neighboring Ohio town!  Anyway, we made the most of it and stayed the night in Kentucky to cross it off our list of travels.  Check out the beautiful Hyatt Place in Hebron!

Very scrapbook-y... I kept one of the key cards because it was very artsy - lots of little organized circles of different colors.

Now... we had a time change we had to overcome - when we got there at 8:00pm it was only 5:00 back home.  So this is how we helped keep ourselves up later the first night:

It was the only travel-sized Backgammon set we could find at the airport - it's magnetic and fits on your keychain! Seriously... we could only move the pips around by pushing them, couldn't even pick them up! We realized, much too late, that Emma had a nice sized version on her iPad! LOL

Bob's Big Boy is popular in this part of the country... Bob wasn't nearly as "big" as I thought he'd be.

Seriously?  I had to ask people... 'are you sure it isn't 53rd Bank?'  Doesn't make sense.  When I asked the guy at the airport where the nearest ATM was, he kept saying 'fifth third'.  What?  53rd?  No, *fifth third*.  Whatever.  I just nodded my head, smiled, and chalked it up to a language barrier and misunderstanding in the gift shop. Turns out, he was right - or is he?

We just thought this street name was funny :)

Merry early Christmas to me!  I bought the wristlet for myself, and the pot for our wonderful hosts. Sue says that Tim is making chili in the pot tonight for dinner :)

And these California rolls?  Um yeah.  I didn't get a bite.  Actually, I did.  I took a small bite of one and put it down, as I was doing something important (like kicking 7th grade girl butt in ping pong or something...) and when I came back, Haley had finished my bite!  She ate the whole plate!  :)

So driving in my old age:  what the heck is happening?!?  I have excellent navigation skills, I drive by directionals not landmarks (i.e. go west on 53rd for 2 miles, then south on I-5).  My days as a FedEx driver served me well.  But the fact that I got lost multiple times on both this trip and the trip to WI in the summer draw me to two possible conclusions:  I am either getting old and senile, or things just aren't marked very well in the midwest :)  I think you know which one I'm leaning toward.

My first two 'reroutes' (what we'll call them) were during an elusive search for a Chick-fil-A.  Stacey Kingman, I know you love this place and its lemonade, and I was trying to emotionally connect with you girl... it wasn't meant to be.  The first CFA that I was chasing, via my GPS on my iphone (not easy to read while you're driving in unfamiliar territory - following that blue dot!), happened too fast during a couple clover leafs of freeway right after crossing the river into Ohio.  No biggie, I just clicked on the next CFA stop which was about 8 miles ahead - I'll find that one.

It took us off the beaten path to a flurry of hospital/medical centers and the University of Cincinnati.  Let's be clear:  I FOLLOWED THE DIRECTIONS PROPERLY.  But apparently this CFA is buried deep within the campus and NOT ACCESSIBLE BY CAR.  Thanks iPhone, you let me down.  As I was following said directions I was coming upon giant STOP - DO NOT DRIVE FURTHER signs - as in, you are now on the campus walking grounds where cars cannot travel.  And yes, I tried to drive further before Emma so eloquently advised me of missed signs.  "MOM!  STOP!  YOU ARE NOT SUPPOSED TO BE HERE!"  Hey, Chick-Fil-A was up ahead, I was just following the iPhone.  I backed out (because there was literally no room to turn around, and gawking 20 year olds holding their iPhones thinking 'Lady?!?!  What the hell?!?' - and Emma slinking down into her seat just praying we would get out of there before she had to make eye contact with any of them, rolling eye contact I mean.

I tried a different route, which was still incorrect, blew a few traffic lights while reading said iPhone directions, and finally gave up.  Getting back onto the freeway proved problematic... I apparently took the 'Alt 275' route and could not figure out for the life of me how to get off of the 'Alt' part.  I don't know this as fact, but I think we ended up in a pretty seedy portion of Cincy.  Let's just say I didn't even stop at some stop lights and definitely did not get out at the convenience store to ask directions.  Eventually we ended up in a bit of an industrial area, so I felt comfortable to go into the shop area and ask a nice older man to please help us - almost on the verge of tears - but I pulled through.  We got back on track and made it to Tim & Sue's... but when we arrived at 2:30, I asked if it was too early for a glass of wine :)

I'll make this next one short and sweet: driving back to the Cincinnati airport (remember? it's in Kentucky), at 8pm on a Sunday, we're plugging along this time with large printed directions from MapQuest... and Emma's playing music from her iPad, we're chatting, and all of a sudden I look up and see the "Welcome to Indiana" sign!  I say:  "wait. what are we doing in Indiana?"

Oh that got a lot of laughs from a certain co-pilot :)