Monday Mash Up, June 11

People, we are so freaking tired over here. Not. Even. Funny. Gah.

But it's good. It's all good. We had a great gathering here on Friday night. All our nearest and dearest. I'll write more about it in Cal's graduation post tomorrow, but I wore a maxi dress, even though I'm probably too short. What kind of shoes do you people wear with those things any way? I went with flats. Neel had the yard looking beautiful, and he must have asked me a dozen times what our neighbors thought of it. He's a good man. Callum wanted red velvet cake (that's my boy), so we got a small one of those and another, slightly bigger white cake for the non-red velvet eaters. Fried chicken and some sides; my boy was in heaven. We thought we'd be eating chicken for daaaaaaays, but it's already almost all gone. It was great having my mom and dad here, but my dad had to leave Saturday and he missed Cal's game. It was a great one, and I'll bore you with a season wrap up later this week too, probably. Let's just say, a great enough game to deserve a mid-afternoon ice cream. For all of us, of course.

Sunday, after my mom left, poor Neel took a benadryl. Can you see what happened to him? He went back to bed. We had plans to go downtown, but some friends called and invited us to the pool and that sounded like a much more inviting plan. Friday was really the first day of summer vacation, but really, it feels like it starts today. The official start. Cal already has a full week on deck. I have lots of plans too. Can't wait to tell you about them.

In the meantime, I'm looking for some inspiring reading. I know Tina and Theresa have recommended The Fire Starter Sessions, and weren't Annie and Chi reading something about productivity? And how's BYW 2.0 going anyway, you guys? I'm feeling totally left out, and as you know, that's one of my fears. Wink.

five things, june 8th edition

photo credit to my mom

1. I think I can't believe we pulled it off.

2. I think this week ended up being a lot harder than I thought it would be. You all know I had a rough go of it earlier this week. My eyes are still gritty and tired from all the crying. It was a good lesson for Callum, I think, to see that it's okay to cry. I kept telling him, I'm okay, I promise. It feels good to do this, really. We've had a rough winter, and I needed to release it all somehow. I know Theresa wondered about our disappointments, and if they were simply mine, I'd share them. Because they belong to Cal, I feel that I can't really. Part of it certainly is having one set of his grandparents miss the festivities. Neel's father is really not well and may need surgery. That's another worry we're sitting with now. But kids are resilient, and he's doing well enough to take care of me (although he's sick again).

3. I think I can't be more grateful to my mom and dad for making this week happen. Full of laughter and sunlight and family. It meant the world to me.

4. I think Callum's graduation ceremony was really lovely. We got great seats (I was worried!), and I got some nice pictures (I'll have a post for you next week.). We had about an hour to kill before the ceremony started (that's how we got those great seats), and I was chatting with my mom, dad and Neel, and my eyes filled with tears. I grabbed my hanky, threw my sunglasses on and that was that. No more tears from then on out. I can't guarantee how the rest of the weekend will go.

5. I think I'm ready to relax. All of us are. Tonight we're hosting a small party for Cal, and tomorrow my dad heads out. We have baseball in the afternoon and we'll likely munch on leftovers. Sunday my mom heads out and it's back to life, back to reality. Just the three of us again. Isn't that an awesome picture? I love it.

graduation day {life}

Dear Callum,

Well my love, you did it. Another year in the books. I'm not going to lie and say that this year was all unicorns and rainbows and birds singing. There were parts of this year that were darn hard weren't there? You had a lot of challenges this year - we all did - but there were a lot of good parts too.

When we made the decision, back in fourth grade, to switch schools, one of the things that we loved about your new school was that 6th grade was still in lower school, with middle school starting in 7th grade. It's a special part of lower school, the 6th grade, off in its own area and almost a pre-middle school. You change classes and have a quad and cubbies, new friends and exams. All good stuff, even the exams!

You had an amazing homeroom teacher who was also your science teacher and a history teacher that inspired a love of the subject that Papa and I can't wait to watch unfold. There was a lot of hard work. A heavy homework load (heavy enough that reading for pleasure went by the wayside a bit this year), organizational struggles, and challenging, frustrating math.

Oh math. We're not helping you out much genetically there, I'm afraid. But we'll get it figured out.

Your teachers love your inquisitive nature and your cheerful spirit (even if they wish that sprit might talk a little less often in class...). They say you're a great writer, and we're not surprised to hear this. You loved almost every minute of your research project on Patton, and you did well on it too. We're proud of all your hard work this year.

Out of school, you really spread your wings too. Keeping old friends and finding new. You got braces over the summer and learned how to tie a tie.

You went to your first dance. And we went to your second dance (yikes!).

As ever, your choice of Halloween costume was creative and fun. I so appreciate how you always want to do something unique and different and try something new. We took some trips, traveling to Charlottesville and Charleston. You still love traveling to new places and are always willing to try new foods. You developed a love of photography, and I'm really looking forward to exploring that love with you more this summer.

You adore your dogs and your iPod; I often see your face bathed in its glow. When your iPod cracked this spring, you were nearly devastated, but you managed until we got you a new one.

I might have mentioned that you're always willing to try something new...

Last summer you told us that you didn't think you wanted to play lacrosse any longer and you wanted to give baseball a go. To say we were stunned is almost an understatement. But we gave fall ball a try, and you know what? You were right again. Baseball is your thing.

It's this baseball thing that makes me think you're one of the bravest people I know. Papa feels that way too. The kids who are your age and playing now have been playing for years, and still you weren't afraid to go out there and try something new. You wanted to do it badly enough that you didn't mind being the new guy. You didn't mind flying solo in a sea of strangers. You struggled, but you were better than any of us expected, I think. People had no idea that you hadn't picked up a ball or bat until this summer. When you got your first hit (a double!), I nearly floated out of the stands! Your coach gave you the game ball, and I don't think I've ever seen you smile so big.

Baseball has been a large part of our lives this spring too, and you know what? I like it that way. You're learning a lot about the game and a lot about yourself. We'll be sad when this season is over, but we're looking forward to lots of baseball watching in the years to come.

You know Cal (And when you started baseball, you wanted to be called Cal. It's tricky, but we're trying to honor that.), what I love about you is that in the midst of all these changes, you are still so essentially you. One of the administrators in your Lower School told Papa last year that at the start of 6th grade you're all just kids, but by the spring, POOF, you're teenagers. Teenagers. Oh. God. I have all summer to get used to that idea, at least.

Yes, you're so essentially you...a good friend, a kid with an interested and inquisitive mind who'll try anything. You're brave and competitive and loyal and kind.

Watching you mature into such a fine young man is a delight, and we couldn't be prouder of you. We have a great summer ahead of us, and I think you're really going to like Middle School.

In fact, I think you'll love it.

It's Graduation Day. Congratulations, dear. We love you. Mama and Papa

fledgling {still + life}

Well, my dears, I've had a rough go of it. Yesterday was a Bad Day like I haven't had in a long time. I started crying around 8:30 in the morning and tears just sort of oozed all throughout the day. The disappointments kept coming in waves, more for Cal than me (those are the worst, aren't they?) until I wasn't sure I could take another. Thank God my mom showed up. But. Shakes self off, dusts hands. Show go on and all that. Disappointment is bitter, but we learn from it too, I suppose. Graduation is tomorrow. My dad gets in tonight. We'll cook out on Neel's new grill and make sure Cal has a clean tie. Tomorrow I'll have a post about my boy and his year. I'm writing it this afternoon to take my mind off things, and after that it's summer. Finally. Then I'll tell you about this little guy too. Thanks for hanging in with me.

monday mash up, June 4 edition

Can you tell I'm sliding into summer vacation mode? My posts are coming later and later! I told Cal this morning that I can NOT believe that he actually had to go to school today. I feel like I had a bit of an ADD kind of weekend this past weekend. We have so much coming down the pike this week that I'm having trouble finding my focus, you know? Much as I love all of Callum's early dismissal days, they really throw me off my game. I feel like I should be able to put my head down and get a ton of stuff done, and instead I find myself wandering from room to room trying to decide what time I need to leave to go and pick him up from school.

So we had some big storms on Friday night apparently. There were storms all around us all afternoon, and we'd offered to let our friend's dogs out provided the weather proved safe to do so, and Cal and I just couldn't make up our minds! Our dogs would be cowering in a corner at a puff of hot wind, so we were hesitant to let these other guys out. Decisions! So hard! And then at one point I step out side and we see that big beauty in the top right photo wandering in a yard across the street, collarless. What a sweetie. We have another neighbor who we all consider a dog-whisperer, so our first stop was his house. Nobody home. So we fashioned a collar out of one of Callum's old belts and Neel took him for a walk around the neighborhood. Folks, it is a hassle to deal with a wandering neighborhood dog. Totally messes up the tenor of the evening, but we always do it. Our dogs escape and always come home, but it's the most terrifying feeling. How can we not help out? And this old guy was such a dear. Mellow like a lazy Sunday, he'd get up and follow us from room to room, just hanging out. Our dogs, in their crates, never even realized he was there! So we sat on the front porch with him for a long time, hoping his people would walk by. We called the Neighborhood Dog Whisperer again. We called the Neighborhood Dog Whisperer's friends. Finally I looked at the dog and said to Neel, "Could this be Rain? The Neighborhood Dog Whisperer's dog?" I looked at the dog again. "Rain?" He slowly turned his head and looked at me. Wag, wag, wag. About that time the Neighborhood Dog Whisperer's Son came home and we were able to verify! It WAS Rain! Happy Endings all around. What I didn't know until after the fact was that Neel had told Callum that if we didn't find the owner, we'd KEEP HIM. That would mean four dogs. Crazytown.

What we also didn't know until after the fact was that a tornado touched down just miles from our house. I told you we had some crazy weather. We have so much water around us that it has always seemed unlikely that tornadoes would be our "thing" (hurricanes and nor'easters, yes, tornadoes, no), but of the nearly nine years we've lived here, there've been tornadoes in three of them. That feels like a lot. Our sky was crazy and we had big weather, both in the evening and overnight, but nothing that violent. And for those that were struck by the tornadoes, no one was seriously injured or killed. Lucky.

The rest of the weekend was focused on gearing up for this week. (Hence my lack of focus.) My mom arrives tomorrow, and my dad on Wednesday. Neel's parents were due Wednesday too, but it looks now as if they aren't going to be able to make it. Neel's dad's health isn't the greatest, and he's in a lot of pain. Flying is out of the question, and a long car ride would be pretty unbearable too. We completely understand, but Callum is so disappointed. He was so looking forward to having everyone here to celebrate his graduation. We all were. And Neel's dad must surely be feeling just as disappointed. They haven't officially decided yet, but we're all moving forward as if they can't come, and we're focusing on celebrating Callum as much as possible regardless of who is here in person and who is here in spirit. It would have been the first time my parents and Neel's parents had seen each other since our wedding in 1995, and I kind of can't believe it's not going to happen. Anyway, there's still a lot to do. The garden looks delightful. Neel did an amazing job. He was in it from sunup yesterday, and we ate dinner there last night. I broke out a campari and soda on Saturday, but had to have a Pimms on Sunday evening to help celebrate the Diamond Jubilee. How could we not.

Guys, I can't believe my boy is headed to Middle School soon. Big times! We're so proud of him. I do an end of year blog post for him every school year, and I think I'll post that on Thursday. Graduation Day. I'm buckling up because it's going to be a crazy week, but an exciting one too. What all have you been up to? Anything fun? Quick! Distract me so I forget I have to clean the bathroom!

 

five things, june 1 edition

1. I think the more things change the more they stay the same. When Cal was newly born, meaning we weren't even out of the hospital newly born, I got an immediate glimpse into how our overnight parenting was going to work. After our birthing all-nighter and those initial feeding all nighters, Neel was incoherent, nauseous and quite literally walking-into-walls tired. I was tired too, but not that tired. The two parent system works best for our family, and we learned pretty early on that for Neel to be the most effective father he can be, the man needs his sleep. Fast forward almost thirteen years to a bout of Fifth Disease accompanied by an itchy rash. For three nights this week, Callum has crept to my bedside, scratching his torso and unable to sleep. Nothing, not lotion, not medicine, has worked. Neel's been under the weather this week, so each night Cal and I eventually came downstairs to watch a bit of SportsCenter and finally fall asleep on the sofa in front of the TV. Not ideal, but desperate times and all that. Last night, before bed, I asked Callum why he always came to my side of the bed instead of Papa's. He knew his dad hadn't been feeling well, but also, "Papa gets grumpy in the middle of the night!" Ah. The more things change... Last night went a bit better. He still got up, but we tried a different lotion, and he managed to fall back asleep without coming downstairs. We're all tired though. Here's to the weekend. And only two weeks left of the rash.


2. I think I can't believe that today is the last Friday of sixth grade! Callum has had early dismissals all week making it feel very much like the end of school is near, near, near! Getting up in the morning is hard (read #1 above), homework feels superfluous, and the weather is glorious, calling us all outside. We're all ready for our week days to feel more like weekend days, I think.


3. I think I can't believe that Callum will be graduating from Lower School in less than a week. His school has a beautiful ceremony for the kids who are moving up to Middle School, and all of Callum's grandparents will be here to celebrate the event. I can't tell you how thrilled I am for him about this; it will be wonderful to have everyone here to celebrate. I'm not a little stressed about everything we have to do to get ready for an influx of company, and a party, and lots of juggling both before and once everyone gets here, but it's a fun kind of stress. I expect there will be a post about lists sometime next week. Fortunately I've been up a lot at night so I can worry about things like, will anyone be able to come to the party we're having for him and a friend next week? Fun times!


4. I think you really can't have too many lipsticks, but my new favorite purchase might be this.


5. I think it's almost funny that Tina (Happy Blogging Birthday, Tina!) and Annie didn't realize that we lived near the beach. Positioned as we are between the Atlantic and the Chesapeake Bay, we have our choice actually (between "waves or no waves"), and living blocks away from a tidal river, the water is very much an integral part of our lives. I've written much about this beachy life and how it impacts me and us and how... significant it feels to me. Newer readers might not know that though. Summer's here now, and Cal and I will hit the beach at least once a week. The photo above is from our first bay day of the year, and from here on out, we'll have our toes in the sand often enough to take it for granted. Don't worry, though. I know how lucky I am.

fenced in {life}

Well, first, let me say "hat's off!" to Tracey of Helana and Ali who pointed us in the right direction on the gray. It's not as dark as she suggested in this blog post, or as dark as we could have gone, perhaps.

But we think it's a huge improvement over the green, and we're pretty happy with it.

The green was feeling a little too baseball-y and clashy with all the other greens going on. I guess it is possible to clash in nature. But the gray (Dark Slate Solid Stain by Cabot) provides such a lovely contrast.

It frames the yard and the plants beautifully. This little picket fence will soon be getting its own Dark Slate treatment.

Neel's been working his butt off, and things are shaping up beautifully.

hydrangea heaven {life}

I'm just going to come out and say it: I adore these plants. I had a picture of them up a few days ago, and Teri from Beach City Life Style commented on them (hint: she liked them), making me think that a few more pictures and some words were in order.

We have a whole wall of them, and Neel added two more to other parts of the yard this weekend. I never ever get tired of them. Ever.

I first remember really noticing hydrangeas in my grandmother's town in southern Illinois. We were traveling through one spring, and took a drive through town. We stopped at the Logan Museum because my grandmother had a connection to both the Logans and the house itself, I think (Mom, you'll have to weigh in here.) If you look at the house on the right hand side of the page I linked to, you can see the house itself with its dreamy front porch. Between the fence and that porch are a gorgeous row of plump and fluffy pink hydrangeas. When you're standing on that porch, looking down on those hydrangeas, you feel like you're wading in a sea of pink. It was quite stunning.

I've been in love with them ever since.

Our hydrangeas, the ones in the backyard at least, line a wall of our shed. The shed itself (actually condemned when we bought the place) provides one of the "walls" of our backyard. These hydrangeas were little babies when we put them in there. One of downspouts of our house lies just across a small path from them, and after some flooding issues in the yard, we installed a French Drain right in that path. Let me tell you, those hydrangeas L.O.V.E. that French Drain. Apparently hydrangeas like having their feet wet, so this is the perfect spot for them.

A lacecap bookends the trio of Niko Blues.

We occasionally lose a beagle behind that wall of flowers, and just this weekend, Neel remembered that there is an azalea tucked in between each of the blue guys. And that vine climbing up the wall of the shed? Well, that's a hydrangea too.

It's not a bad view.

weekend mashup, memorial day edition

Dear friends, how was your weekend? I can't say a word until I thank you for all of the lovely comments you left on my Fear post. Ultimately, it wasn't all that scary to post all those things. for the most part. Did you go read some of the others? So moving. What I found the most moving as I read all those wonderful blog posts is that I never thought, I can't believe she shared THAT. More often than not, I thought, oh! Me too. I'll go back and leave some comments to your comments, but mostly I wanted to say thank you so much, for your understanding and sharing. It only serves to remind me that we're all more connected and alike than we're not.

We had a really lovely weekend, for the most part. People, I feel SO much better. Those antibiotics are doing the trick. Friday night I went for Chinese with some of my favorite neighborhood girlfriends, and that was just lovely. We grabbed cupcakes on our way home and sat in the front yard for ages, snacking on dessert and chatting. Just about the best way to spend an evening in my opinion. Saturday was full. Lunch and the beach with some friends. It was the first time Cal and I got our toes in the surf, and was nice. The ocean and the bay are such a part of us (we're just about totally surrounded by water here), that it never occurred to me that some of you newer readers wouldn't even realize. I expect some beach-themed posts will be forthcoming. After that delicious afternoon, we dropped Cal at a friends house for a sleepover and ended up staying for dinner. That river view in the top middle was our view at dinner. Not too shabby, eh?

Sunday without Cal was errand day. A trip to the hardware store, a trip to the grocery store and the garden center (I did point out that Neel never comes make-up shopping with me even though I always go to the garden center with him...). All errands Callum hates, but it was such fun to do them just the two of us. Picked up Cal mid-day and headed to a celebratory pool party that evening. Once we got home, Neel and Cal got their annual Memorial Day war movie marathon on, while I read cookbooks. Fair compromise.

Monday, oh Monday. How lovely to have the day off. Neel painted the fence and worked in the garden while I set about restoring our house after what feels like months of neglect. But here's the kicker. We think Cal has Fifth Disease. How crazy is that? I think I mentioned that he had a fever a bit over a week ago. On Thursday, when I picked him up from school, he showed me a rash on his forearms, and he had bright pink cheeks. We assumed that it came from digging in a bush for a baseball, or the fact that I'd recently changed lanudry detergent (of course), but the rash didn't go away. It's not terribly itchy, but it is uncomfortable, and he's past being contagious, but it caused a lot of consternation over the weekend. The rash should go away in a couple weeks. Wait, what? Weeks? Good grief. Kid can't catch a break.

Today we get back at it. Less than two weeks of school (and a lot of early dismissals coming down the pike), and there's much to do. What have you guys been up to? Feels like we haven't chatted in ages!

five things may 25th edition

In a riff on my normal Friday Feature Five Things I Think I Think, I'm joining Theresa from InspirationCOOPERATIVE and a slew of others discussing Things I Fear, or perhaps more simply, Things About Me. Theresea has linked to the other posts on this topic, and I hope you'll check them out. I know I will.

1. I fear heights. :) I thought I'd start out going easy on myself. Growing up, my dad had "A Fear Of Heights," (Maybe we'll do a five things about my family next! Who's on board?!) but it was not really anything I thought about much. I'm not sure what my first experience was when I knew how uncomfortable I was in high spaces (And I can pretty much handle glass elevators and gorgeous vistas from penthouse hotel rooms! As long as no one leans on the window...), what I remember first is climbing a lighthouse on Cape Henlopen in Delaware with Neel. It was the combination of the sprial staircase (don't like those no matter how high), those funky metal grate steps with no risers and then, the height. Church spire in Munich and most recently another lighthouse in Hatteras, North Carolina. That one, in North Carolina, was my ah-ha moment. That this is a physiological thing. I can talk myself into climbing the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse (it's gorgeous), but people, I can't do. it. At the Hatteras Light, the steps go up in stages, each stage about 10 steps. I made a stage and a half and said to Neel and Callum, "Guys. I'm going down." Neel was great. He asked if I needed him to walk me down, and breezily I said, "Oh no, go on! I'll be fine." I was not fine. After that, I knew. And it's okay. While I waited for Neel and Callum to come back down (and tried not to think of them on that teeny tiny walkway at the top of the light, I chatted with a dad whose entire family was climbing the light without him. Same as me, he wanted his feet on the ground. Same as me, hyperventilating and sweating and rapid heartbeat. But it's okay.

2. I fear I am in a parenting crisis. It's been a hard year. There's not a lot I want or feel I can say about this because I want to respect Cal's privacy and ours as a family, but first off, he's fine, we're fine. Nothing is wrong. So worry not about that. But this year has been hands-down the most intense and challenging that we have faced as a family. The hardest since he was an infant, and let me tell you, (Mark knows just what I'm going to say here...) his infancy nearly killed me. Killed my self-esteem, killed my confidence, killed my sense of identiy. It's not like that now exactly, but since we figured things out together in those early days of his infancy, I've always really trusted myself as a mom. Now, not as much. What I'm trying to trust is that I've always been able to figure out how to parent this child of mine, and that I'll figure this stuff out too. It's been a hard year.

3. All that being said, I fear the loss of parenting. Having just one child was a deliberate decision on our parts, and we have a great vibe as a family. It's what works for us. But as Callum grows in to this wonderful young man that I see him becoming, I grieve the loss of the smaller child that he was. No. That's not right. I don't grieve his growing up as much as the fact that that sort of parenting is done for me. The sort that sat and built Legos for hours, and watched Kipper, and taught him things like "This is an apple." I should also say that I recognize that I have loads and loads of parenting ahead of me. But things are clearly changing. The kind of parenting I'm doing is changing. We all feel it acutely, his growing up, and it brings me great delight. But there's loss too.

4. I fear loneliness. When I was a kid I would go to the mall and hang out at Waldenbooks. (dork alert) One of my favorite books was this big floppy paperback that described people based on their name. The definition for Lauren read: Lauren likes her independence, but she doesn’t want to be on her own. That feels like such an apt descrption for me! I do love alone time. I love being on my own, alone with my thoughts or having the space to just be. Be in my house or in some space on my own. I work on my own, and I'm totally fine with being that way. But I don’t want to be alone. Left out. Not a part of things. There’s a difference. Maybe left out really is more the sense I’m trying to get at. Feeling left out, even if there’s a perfectly reasonable reason for it, makes me edgy and sad. Where did I go wrong? Even if I know it has nothing to do with me. Loneliness is different, I think, than being alone. Is that a song?

5. I fear that I'm not the woman I want to be. I will admit that I have flashes of brilliance, but I don't work as hard at it as I should. I'm not mindful enough, my feelings get hurt too easily, I hold grudges, I can be too judgemental, and I love french fries. I recognize that this old life of mine is a work in progress, but I wonder if I'll ever move beyond those flashes of brilliance into feeling settled and okay with me being me.

Okay. Did it! The hardest part was when my screen went blank, and I thought I'd lost 1-3! All is good though, and thank you (I think!) Theresa, for this amazing, challenging experience. Remember, check out InspirationCOOPERATIVE for more inspiring, thought provoking blog posts.

Happy Weekend, my dears.

Neel's Garden :: Late May {life}

Poor Neel. Do we say that a lot around here or is it just me? Don't feel too bad for him. He loves playing in the dirt.

For some reason I've been working at our desktop in the family room lately rather than my laptop, and said desktop looks right out onto the garden. This means that Neel often gets texts from me during the day that say things like:

I think we should paint the fence charcoal gray.

After we'd painted it forrest green. (As as aside, designers, help me out here, why is green so hard to get right? We have the toughest time with that color.)

Last week, after watching the sun throughout the day, I told him that I thought we needed to move the raised beds for the vegetables from the side of the yard to the back of the yard where they'd get more sun.

Neither spot is ideal, really, but the back part of the yard bakes in the late afternoon, and the side yard is mostly dappled during the day. Fortunately he listens to me. He got started before I could snap any "before" pictures. These are the beds without their beds.

And these are the beds. Back safe, home again. (You'll note that the fence is not yet charcoal gray. I just thought of that this week.)

He moved the beans too. He said that when he had all the plants laid out, he almost forgot which ones were the cucumbers, but one whiff of the roots, which smell distinctly like cucumbers (go figure!) reminded him. It's coming along.

This morning I said, "Rather than going here; I think the grill should go here." He mulled it over awhile and agreed.

Me, being sarcastic: "Aren't you glad I'm staring at the yard all day so I can think of all sorts of changes for you to make?"
Neel, being sweet: "No! I like that you do that. It helps me out a lot." Long Pause.  "Really."

she had a birthday {life}

So I mentioned that my friend Marianne had a birthday celebration this past weekend. She may deny it, but she's one of my most glamorous friends. We've known each other a long time. Since her youngest and my only were really, really little. Man. We have big kids now. Her oldest is taller than we are. Gah. We have the kind of friendship that moves in and out of the present. We can go ages without seeing each other, or we can be more connected. No matter what, she's a glamorously lipglossed shimmer in my life. I appreciate that so much in a friendship. People get busy and life gets in the way. But the friends who don't hold the busy against you and who can jump right back at it...those people are special.

Lately we've been more connected, and that's meant the world to me. I was thrilled to be included in the weekend's festivities. Fever or no, this dinner with an amazing group of women was not something I was going to miss.

The food and drink were plentiful.

There may have been a party hat. She didn't wear it for long.

I gave Marianne a tube of my new favorite lip care (see, I can do product too!). Our friend, and one of Marianne's business partners April, is checking it out here. I mentioned Fresh's Sugar Advanced Lip Therapy before, and all I'll say is go get yourself some.

It was a great evening. A table full of women, all laughing and talking over top of each other in the best of ways. I saw some friends I hadn't seen in ages and sat across from women I'd never met before. The spirit was celebratory and bright. I forget sometimes, how important nights like this can be. I tend to be more hermit-like than perhaps is necessary. Our family is tight, and in the long dark tunnel that this past winter has been I've tended to hibernate with them rather than reach out. Reaching out and spreading my wings felt so deliciously lovely. I should do it more! Sharing an evening with a group of intelligent funny and glamorous women reminded me of that side of myself, and even though it was Marianne's birthday, I felt like I'd been given a gift. Likely we all had.

Happiest of birthdays dear girl. May all your wildest dreams come true.

monday mash up, May 21

Well, for starters, I'm sick. Again. I felt it coming on Friday afternoon, that little tickle that signals the begnining of something not good. By early afternoon, when I went to Sephora for a gift for a friend, I felt crummy enough that I didn't get anything for myself (now that's sick!). (But Marianne, I can't remember the name of that lipstick you showed me, so we really do need to go back!) By early Friday evening I had a fever. Now. This was an alarming development because a dear friend of mine was kicking off an amazing birthday weekend, and Friday's festivities were the only part I could join in on. I rallied, and it was so worth it. You can see the amazing birthday girl in the upper right hand corner (and those are empty Fireball shots in the upper left). 

On Saturday Neel had graduation at the medical school where he teaches while I ran Cal to his baseball game. I wanted to throw that photo of Neel in because I've never actually see him all robed up in his PhD garb with his mortar board and whatnot. Pretty cool huh? They had the graduation at the same place where our local hockey team plays, and our hockey team is in the playoffs this year...that means they had to build a floor and stage on top of the ice for graduation! Neel said it wasn't bad at first, but after two hours, the cold started to seep in a bit.

Callum went to a baseball game for our local minor league team with a friend on Saturday, and Neel and I went out to dinner. Nice. Let me tell you about Callum first. For those of you who don't know baseball, the minors are like off-Broadway. It's where you go before you become a star. It's also where you go when you've maybe been injured and need to get back to fighting form. So Cal and his buddy go to the game (it was also fireworks night), and turns out that the team our guys are playing has a big-league star playing with them while he rehabs from an injury. Kevin Youkilis. So not just a big-league player, but third baseman (Cal's position) for the Boston Red Sox (Cal plays for the Red Sox). A big-league star. I tried to think about an analogy for you non-baseball folk (I know you are legion.), and seeing Kevin Youkilis play third base in our sweet little ball park would be similar to having your community theatre put on Out of Africa for a month and having Robert Redford come in to play the lead for a weekend. Pretty cool.

Neel and I went to dinner where I had another Negroni, and we ordered too many tapas to eat (we managed) including, but not limited to tempura asparagus. Also cool.

Sunday was misty and cool. I worked and Cal studied for exams (three down, two to go) and Neel moved our raised beds for vegetables. I can watch the sun while I work, and they needed to be some place else. I think we'll all be happier. For the second year we have robins nesting in the eave of a balcony right outside our family room, and for the first time on Sunday we saw the babies. As Neel was digging, he'd find worms and leave them on the step under the nest for the birds and the papa robin would swoop down to snatch them up. We're trying to help out anyway we can. It takes a village.

We went to a rainy picnic at a colleague of Neel's and the kids always manage to have fun in the mist. It's Sunday night now as I write this, and another week is upon is. Cal has his sports physical at school tomorrow. Driving home the fact that he'll be in Middle School. Good for him. I've been thinking all weekend, in the back of my mind, about Theresa's post on Friday. I'm in, are you? Writing about what we fear...how hard can it be?!

five things may 18th edition

1. I think I still surprise myself at the amount of crap that I'm unwilling to take from people.
2. I think it occurred to me yesterday that we've lived here for nearly a decade now. I do get restless sometimes, but as I was saying with some new neighbors of ours, it's a good life.
3. I think I can finally start showing you some of the pictures I've been taking lately. More to follow...
4. I think I'm really glad I get to spend the evening celebrating a dear friend's birthday tonight. Only partly because Callum might be pitching in his baseball game, and this way I don't have to watch.
5. I think I fell a little more in love with Callum's school last night. We had Middle School Move-Up night, and I was so impressed. The director quoted from A Tale of Two Cities, saying that Dickens's description of the French Revolution acurately depicts what happens in Middle School every day.

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to heaven, we were all going direct the other way.

I think it's going to be great.