Happy Birthday, Sara!

I would like to take this opportunity to wish one of my very dearest and best friends a VERY HAPPY 30th BIRTHDAY! Without her, college would not have been nearly so fabulous. Here's to hoping that all of you out there take today to remember and appreciate the people in your lives who allow you to be completely yourself, who join in the craziness, add to the joy, and just seem to make things better when they're around.

Since Sara shares my love of quotes, here are a couple for her:

"No distance of place or lapse of time can lessen the friendship of those who are thoroughly persuaded of each other's worth." -Robert Southey

And the one that most describes us...
"It is one of the blessings of old friends that you can afford to be stupid with them."
-Ralph Waldo Emerson

Have a great day, dear friend!

My American Idol

I am 30. I am a responsible adult. I have a full time job. I am the mother of two children. But I turned into an embarrassingly shrill 15 year old at the American Idol concert last Monday night. Um, this is me with David Cook onstage in the background.

Let me just clarify by saying that this past season was really the only season I've followed regularly, and only because I wanted to see someone legitimate make it all the way to the end. Someone with experience who can play instruments, carry a tune, write and arrange music, and look good in the process. I am tired of the cheesy ballad singer, the Norah Jones imitation, and the Broadway actress-turned-singer not because they don't have talent, but selfishly because at the end of the day, I wouldn't buy an album from any of them.

I will buy a David Cook album however. I'll buy several. And just to show my support, I went to the American Idols Live concert (okay, to show my support and because my good friend generously got us a free suite). IT WAS SO GOOD. There were about ten 15 year olds next to us screaming at new octaves for Jason Castro and David Archuletta. I joined them, rather, I surpassed them, when David Cook took the stage with his own rock version of Lionel Ritchie's Hello. Next came Aerosmith's Don't Wanna Miss a Thing, the American Idol Original Time of My Life, and Hero by Fuel, along with a few witty quips and genuine audience appreciation, and the plethora of guitar picks spun into the crowd. He exited the stage only to return for an encore of the one and only Billy Jean, arranged by Chris Cornell and performed old-school rock-n-roll style including a 2-minute electric guitar interlude in the middle.

All the other performers looked and sounded exactly as they did on the show (I actually felt like I was watching the show at times) but when Cook came on it was like we orbed to a legitimate rock concert. If you're not yet a fan, YouTube his performances of Always Be My Baby, Hello, First Time Ever I Saw Your Face, or even Phantom of the Opera's Music of the Night. Or look up the performance of Sharp Dressed Man he led with ZZ Top at the finale. Then tell me you're not a fan.


Go David, Go!

First Day of School

Today was the first day of school. Sort of. I teach a graduate school class every Fall for students pursuing their masters in occupational therapy. The class I teach is held every other Saturday until the beginning of December and is especially fun for the following reasons:

1. There are several quaint little stores near the college that I can go to during the lunch break or after class.
2. On the official schedule, the sections are supposed to be from 8-12 and 1-5. If we get through all the material, we can usually end each section a half hour early. Seriously, who can talk for 8 hours? No, Rachel, even I can't.
3. I get cinnamon rolls and Starbucks for myself for the morning class.
4. It gives me a great chance to stay up to speed in the field even though I'm taking a little break from working in the clinic right now.
5. I get to make splints and casts and show other people how to do it; I love creating splints for different diagnoses and getting students excited to work in rehab.

Beautifuls' Retreat, 4th Edition

If you have been following my blog for any length of time, or just know me a bit, you may remember that there are two retreats I attend each year that are necessary for building lasting friendships and maintaining my overall mental health... They both include wonderful girl time full of desserts, endless hours of drinking coffee in our pajamas, talking into the wee hours of the morning, sleeping into the early hours of the afternoon, laughing hysterically, playing the occasional game, looking at pictures, and re-hashing the old days. (And yes, I can legitimately say "old" days as Cheryl and I recently discovered that we have known each other for TWENTY YEARS. Since when am I old enough to have had a friend for TWENTY YEARS? I have no idea where the time has gone).

Last weekend was the Beautifuls' annual retreat. This is the high school gang (though several of us met pre-high school and we've stayed friends through and past college so I'm not sure that qualifies anymore). Anyway, it consists of Cheryl, me, Brooke, and Amy. For a history of the Beautifuls and past photos of the group, click here and here and here.

This year we stayed in town and took the opportunity to go out for dinner and walk around an outdoor shopping plaza while still making plenty of time to lounge around the house polishing off about 32 chocolate chip cookies over the course of 2 days.

No, we do not sit in a circle with lighted candles chanting the rules of our club, nor do we paint each others' fingernails and have pillow fights in our underwear. Our one fabulous tradition is that we celebrate all 4 of our birthdays in one fell swoop. We all show up with arm loads of gifts, place them in stations on the couches, and usually open them within about 1 hour of the start of the retreat...about the same time we break open the desserts.

Our time this year was topped off by this You Tube video that had us in stitches each of the 13 times we watched it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4dXGj_-orxw

Thanks, ladies, for a much needed and tremendously fun and relaxing weekend!

Happy Birthday, Rich!

An ode to my brother, Rich, and how he has enriched my life all these years:

-You taught me creativity and precision by showing me how to make homemade Numb-chucks and throw them at various neighbor children with stealth and accuracy when I was 7.
-You boosted my intellectual processing skills by inventing and a club with me called "Boosum-sooum-sooum" which included our own written language (which I can still use and decipher).
-You helped me develop courage and bravery by forcing me and Rachel to fight each other when we were in junior high, and by introducing me to Rocky IV.
-You developed my fine arts appreciation when you bought me my first Def Leppard album followed closely by Monster Ballads.
-You built up my physical endurance by dunking me under water in the deep end of the pool until I thought I was going to pass out.
-You taught me taste discrimination and cultural understanding when you took me to drink my first beer.
-But most of all, you showed me what a big brother ought to be when you offered to physically harm any guy who took me on a date if he treated me poorly, and when you cheered louder than anyone else at my college graduation.


(Rich, shown here with nephew, Brice, and wife, Andrea)
Just think, you'll get to celebrate the next birthday with your new baby boy! I know you'll be a wonderful dad because you've been a great big brother. I hope I was a sufficient "little brother!"

All in the Family

Noah at 9 months... and Lauren at 9 months.


Again, Noah at 9 mos... and Lauren at 9 mos.

And all we've managed to change is the living room rug. Well, and a new house I guess.

On The Move

She's crawling! After months of pulling up on coffee tables and stairs (she loves to stand up), Lauren finally decided she'd try moving around on the ground, though it's more of a knee-hop and body-drag than the typical crawl...



She's so proud of herself, but it's back to standing up!

2 year old or 12 year old?

This morning I came home from a jog and walked into the living room to find Greg and Noah watching Sports Center. Noah looked at me and said, "Mama, I watch football!" Greg was, of course, smiling ear to ear, and I thought it was a nice break from our typical morning spent in Mickey Mouse's Clubhouse.

Greg went to work, and Noah continued watching Sports Center. He kept shouting things like "Good catch!" and "That guy fell down!" A bit later he asked if I would find him some "Sot-ker" on TV. I found the women's Olympic Soccer team playing (and losing) but Noah was enthralled -- standing up on the couch and yelling "Nice!" every time someone shot a long ball. After his little TV Sot-ker obsession I taught him how to throw a ball in after it is kicked out of bounds. Needless to say he's been throwing the ball "in" to each room of our house all afternoon.

I'm going to have to explain to his wife and children some day that it is our fault he neglects them every time the World Cup rolls around, I can just feel it.