Year: 2010

  • The wonderland years

    While we were in Bryan over the weekend we took the kids to Santa’s Wonderland. It’s become something of an annual tradition for us and I don’t think the holidays would be the same without it. There’s really nothing more than a hayride looking at lights and drinking hot chocolate in 78 degree weather that makes it feel like Christmas is right around the corner.

    We had to see Santa to make sure he knows what everyone wants this year.

    Will was very concerned that he might change his mind before Christmas but we assured him that he could write Santa a letter and let him know about any changes.

    Caroline felt that her time at Santa’s Wonderland wouldn’t be complete without a trip through the petting zoo. And so I squashed all my feelings about farm animals and possible communicable diseases and let her go on in.

    I think the goats got a little frustrated with her when they realized she was doling out her food one grain at a time. She was a little drunk with power. Until a sheep chased her down and she realized her strategy might not be in her best interest.

    And I totally hate to get sappy on y’all, but I’m going to anyway because it’s Thanksgiving week and I just have felt so overwhelmed with gratitude lately.

    From the moment we walked into Santa’s Wonderland, I felt myself get a little bit weepy and nostalgic. The kids were running around trying to catch faux snowflakes falling from the sky. (Not really. They were actually falling from the fake snow machine on the roof, but whatever.) They were laughing and spinning all around and it was just one of those times when I felt like I was witnessing a golden moment of childhood. Just pure delight. And I felt so unbelievably blessed to be a part of it all. To get to be part of these three little lives.

    (It didn’t help my emotions that some guy on stage was singing “What a Wonderful World” by Louis Armstrong at the time.)

    Suddenly it dawned on me that the first time we ever took them to Santa’s Wonderland, they looked like this.

    And now they look like this.

    So for Christmas this year I’m going to have to tell Santa that I wish everyone would quit growing up so fast.

    My heart can’t take it.

  • Road trip! With exclamation points!

    On Friday, P and I went to Caroline’s school for a Thanksgiving Feast. And I’ll just go ahead and confess that my expectations were low. So imagine my surprise when I found the instant mashed potatoes with faux gravy to be delightful. If that isn’t a prime indicator of PMS, then I don’t what is.

    Of course, considering that I’m a huge fan of Hormel chili and the occasional can of Spaghetti-Os, it’s not like anyone can accuse me of being a culinary snob even in the best of times.

    Shortly after the feast was over, P headed south for the ranch and I went home to finish packing for the big road trip Caroline and I had ahead of us. There is nothing like the feeling of power that comes over me when I can pack a suitcase and limit Caroline’s wardrobe choices.

    A little after 3:30, Gulley and the boys showed up at the house to pick us up and, after insisting everyone make one more stop in the bathroom, we hit the open road. The kids did not disappoint us. We’d only been in the car about six minutes before one of them asked, “How much longer until we get there?”

    I replied, “We’ll get there when we get there. Don’t ask us that every five minutes.”

    “Okay…but how much longer ’til we get there?”

    The good news is they only asked about forty-two more times over the next three hours. And in between times they alternated which two of them were going to annoy the other one until that one decided to tell on the other two. Then they’d interrupt Gulley and me so they could rat out their fellow man. What they didn’t know was that Gulley and I decided before the trip began that we were going to have a strict policy of telling them “WORK IT OUT YOURSELVES” because we were too busy discussing wrinkle creams and the Aggies chances against Nebraska.

    We finally arrived at Honey and Big’s house and I have never been so happy to be greeted with homemade chicken salad and some incredible artichoke cheese dip. I think I was in my pajamas in about 10.3 seconds with a plate of food in front of me.

    The next morning the kids woke up at the crack of dawn and rode with Big to pick up Shipley’s Donuts. They came home with enough donuts to feed all of us and at least twelve of the neighbors. And then they went outside so Jackson could teach Caroline some of his sweet football moves as I reminded them, “REMEMBER THAT HE IS THREE TIMES YOUR SIZE. DON’T BE TOO ROUGH.” Because Caroline is a little bit like one of those pint-size fluffy dogs that thinks she can take on a German Shepherd and win. And then she’s surprised when she gets leveled.

    By mid-afternoon we headed out to Kyle Field for all the pre-game festivities. Big and Jackson had tickets to go to the actual game, but the rest of us decided to just enjoy all the fun and then go home to watch the game on T.V. Not to mention that since there were 90,000+ people there, extra tickets were a little hard to come by.

    When we showed up at Kyle, it was literally a sea of maroon. I have never seen anything like it and I kept Caroline’s hand in a death grip because I would have never seen her again if she’d gotten away from me.

    We watched the band get ready to lead the football team into the stadium.

    Then Gulley and I posed for a picture because we almost felt like we were nineteen again. Except for the kids. And the fact that our hair is significantly flatter. And neither of us were wearing a Leslie Lucks dress.

    After a few minutes we heard the sirens of the police motorcycles escorting the team bus. The band began to march and the team made their way into the stadium while the kids lined up to give them high-fives.

    That’s a terrible picture of the whole thing and I have no idea who that blonde kid is. Just thought you should know the whole thing was much better in person.

    About that time, three fighter jets flew right over us and the kids were in complete overload that there were so many blessings to be had all in one moment.

    After that, Will and Caroline insisted they needed to get their bounce on.

    Then it was time to watch the Corps of Cadets march in. Caroline and Jackson stood at attention the entire time.

    And then Jackson and Big went in to Kyle Field while we walked around a little bit more and then finally headed back home to make sure we got there in time for kickoff. I don’t know that I’ve ever been more proud to be an Aggie than when I saw how incredible Kyle Field looked on T.V. It was a vast ocean of maroon with Twelfth Man towels waving so much that it looked like snow falling.

    We sat on the couch, we jumped up and down, we screamed and yelled and we watched the Aggies pull off the upset. It was glorious. I even used exclamation points on my Facebook status and I rarely use exclamation points. Especially in triplicate form.

    But THE AGGIES WON!!! We are ranked. In November. And it feels pretty dang good!!!

    As we drove into town on Friday night we were on University Drive, which goes right by the A&M campus. I looked over at Gulley and asked if she remembered that night almost twenty years ago when the Aggies had just beat the Longhorns and we were on University Drive in a car filled with friends and a trunk-load of Frito-Lay chips doing some serious backseat dancing to Groove is in the Heart and eating Cheetos Paws and maybe drinking cheap beer.

    (I feel like I need to give a brief back story. Gulley has an uncle that used to drive a Frito-Lay truck and he always had mass quantities of chips to dole out. And we were poor college students and took full advantage. Her daddy had shown up at the game that night with his trunk full of chips to pass on to us if we wanted them. Which, OF COURSE, who turns down free chips?)

    (Also, the Cheetos Paws were a taste sensation. I don’t know if they make them anymore but it was some cheesy goodness in the shape of a cheetah paw.

    (It was a loose version of a cheetah paw. Kind of an abstract Picasso-type interpretation.)

    (Also, if my dad is reading this then I’m just throwing in the part about the beer for literary embellishment purposes. We were actually on our way to the library after the game to study.)

    (Oh, and on the way into town, Jackson asked if you have a locker in college and we explained that you don’t need one because you only have three or four classes a day and you just bring the books you need. He asked what you do with the rest of your day and we said that we treated it like a full-time job and spent all our free time studying so we could be prepared and make excellent grades. I realize you shouldn’t lie to your children but they really don’t need to know about that semester their mothers failed golf because we decided it was more important to lay out by the pool and get a good tan.)

    Anyway, where was I? I’m just rambling to nowhere.

    So I asked Gulley if she remembered that night and we died laughing because of course we remember that night and those idiots with big bangs and Brighton belts throwing back some Cheetos Paws. And I asked, “Would you have believed it if someone would have told us then that twenty years later we’d be driving down this same street in a decidedly family-friendly SUV filled with McDonald’s Happy Meals and three kids in the back telling each other to stop humming?”

    We both agreed that neither one of those nineteen-year-old girls could have even fathomed such a thing. And it probably would have sounded terrible to us at that time.

    But you know what?

    It really is the best.

    We wouldn’t trade it for anything.

    Not even a bag of Cheetos Paws.

    Gig’em Aggies. Beat the hell outta t.u.

  • Fashion Friday: Edition neither beauty nor love comes easy

    I sat down earlier to peruse the internet for various articles of cute clothing. And you know what I found?

    Nothing.

    I feel that a moment of silence is in order.

    Maybe I’m just not in a clothes kind of mood right now. Or maybe there are only so many ruffled jackets and tunics that a girl can get excited about.

    Or maybe I spent the afternoon taking Caroline to gymnastics and waiting in a lobby filled with toddlers who haven’t discovered their inside voice and then followed that up with an early dinner at Chick-fil-A and 278 other families that had the same idea. And coming home only to face the reality that Caroline had a folder full of homework and very little in the way of time management skills.

    I may have said something along the lines of, “QUIT MAKING TURKEYS OUT OF THE CROSSED-OUT WORDS AND JUST WRITE THE SENTENCES” right before I blacked out from the frustration as she began to draw another turkey.

    Whatever the case, I decided that today is not about clothes. Today, my friends, is about beauty products. Because as Wes from The Bachelor sang, “Love don’t come easy…” and neither does beauty.

    Here are the products that are currently in rotation at my house:

    1. Laura Mercier tinted moisturizer

    I’ve never been a huge fan of foundation because it always ends up feeling too heavy on my face. I just need a little something to even out my skin tone and hide the ever-increasing imperfections. Which is why it was a happy day when I discovered the tinted moisturizer.

    It provides just enough coverage, but still looks totally natural. It’s a better version of my normal face.

    The Laura Mercier can be a little pricey, so I alternate it with Neutrogena’s Healthy Skin Enhancer tinted moisturizer. It’s very inexpensive and I use it on days when I’m just going to HEB and leaving a trail of sugar down all the aisles.

    2. Nars Makeup Primer

    I just bought this a few weeks ago and the verdict is still out. I like it a lot because it goes on light and easy, plus it helps my makeup stay on all day.

    There are a ton of primers out there and, at first I was afraid, I was petrified. Kept thinking I could never live without you by my side.

    What was I talking about?

    Oh. Primers. I was skeptical at first, but I have come to the conclusion that using a primer makes a big difference in the staying power of your makeup. And on another note, the salesgirl at Sephora told me not to use one with sunscreen in it when I knew I was going to be photographed because it can give your skin a weird tone in pictures.

    I wish she would have told me a way to avoid having a totally fake smile and awkward-looking hair while being photographed.

    3. Cetaphil

    This is my old standby. I use Cetaphil at least once a day to wash my face. It’s gentle and it doesn’t dry out my already dry skin.

    4. Aveeno Skin Brightening Daily Scrub

    I discovered this about six months ago and have used it every day since. And P even uses it now. Because as you get older, dead skin cells tend to accumulate on your face and make your skin look dull. Nobody wants that.

    This scrub is gentle enough to use every day even with my sensitive skin. And I do think my skin looks brighter. Or maybe I just have higher wattage light bulbs in the bathroom right now.

    5. Neutrogena Healthy Skin Anti-Wrinkle Cream for Night

    Y’all don’t even want to know about the laugh lines/deep wrinkles I have around my mouth area. Especially on the left side. If I weren’t afraid of needles and/or long term side effects of botulism, I would check into Botox.

    But I am a big chicken. So I use this Anti-Wrinkle cream with retinol instead. And it helps tremendously.

    According to Gulley, I have no wrinkles on my forehead. She doesn’t either. Although one of her favorite things to do is lean across the table as we’re eating lunch and ask me if I can see all the wrinkles on her forehead while she makes a facial expression that would cause a newborn baby to have wrinkles.

    6. Hummingbird Farms Lavender Lotion

    This lotion is the only thing that keeps me from drying up completely during the winter. I honestly don’t know what I did before it came into my life. And even P is now addicted and when we run out I have to hear him talk incessantly about how his neck is SO ITCHY because it’s so dry.

    Which is why I try to make sure we never run out.

    7. L’Oreal Everstrong Bodifying Shampoo and Conditioner

    Sophie is the one who told me about this. I went and bought it for two reasons: It smelled delicious and it’s inexpensive and I’m always a fan of the inexpensive.

    I truly love it. Especially the conditioner because it really conditions my hair without making it too greasy or lifeless.

    8. Nars Bronzer in Laguna

    Originally I walked into Sephora last year to investigate the Nars blush with a name I’m not going to mention because I want to avoid the google searches. But it didn’t really work for my skin tone even though it’s supposed to work for almost everyone. I’m a bronzer anomaly.

    So they suggested I try the Laguna bronzer and I adore it. I wear it instead of blush and it looks totally natural on my skin. I’ll buy this over and over again.

    9. Covergirl Lipslicks in Daring

    I have at least thirteen tubes of this scattered throughout the various purses in my closet because it’s so inexpensive and I seem to buy a tube “just in case” almost every time I go to the grocery store.

    (Just in case of what? What exactly do I think is going to happen to cause a lipgloss shortage? I am an episode of Hoarders waiting to happen.)

    It comes in other colors, but I like Daring. It looks dark, but when you put it on it’s just about the color of your lips when they’re chapped. I mean that in a good way.

    10. Freeze-It Hairspray

    Listen. If there’s a chance you’re going to find yourself in a tornado or a mild hurricane, this is the hairspray for you. I don’t know what is in it, but I can tell you that I have to wash the spray nozzle down with hot water at least once a week because it gets all clogged up. Which is the universal sign of a hair spray that isn’t playing around.

    I don’t use this every day and I don’t recommend it for every day use unless you’re trying to replicate Loni Anderson’s hair from the early 1980’s. But when I want to tease my hair at the crown to give it a little height before I pull it back in a ponytail? This baby is the best.

    And did you not see that you can get a two-pack from Walmart for under $12.00. If that doesn’t let you know it’s capable of eroding the ozone, I don’t know what does.

    11. Amplify Thicklift Liquid Volumizer

    This is another favorite. I put a big dollop of this all through my hair from the roots to the end before I blow dry it and it gives my hair the best volume, especially after I roll it with my giant set of hot rollers.

    Yes. I live in Texas. Why do you ask?

    12. Voluminous Million Lashes Mascara

    I was a big fan of Covergirl Lash Blast up until I decided to try this about a month ago. I’ll admit that I am a sucker for marketing and the promise of a million lashes did me in. I was powerless to resist.

    And while I don’t have a million lashes, it does provide great coverage with a mascara wand that is very similar to the Lash Blast. It definitely seems to make my lashes look thicker without any clumping.

    So, now for some quid pro quo. What are your must-have beauty products right now? I must know. I will not rest until I know.

    Actually, that’s not true because it’s late Thursday night for me right now and I am exhausted. But, still, you get the point.

    Y’all have a great Friday.

  • S’mores

    Apparently I used all my words yesterday.

    _______________________________________

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  • This was my Tuesday

    Before I get all wrapped up in recounting what was a truly non-eventful yesterday, I wanted to let y’all know that the outfit Caroline had on in that last picture is from Naartjie. Which, frankly, I’m a little obsessed with right now. Mainly because I know she’ll probably only agree to wear stuff like that for about another year before it’s all Justin Beiber t-shirts or some similar horror.

    So yesterday morning was pretty cold. At least cold by Texas standards and all I wanted to do was drop Caroline off at school, drive to Starbucks, order a Peppermint Mocha in a festive red holiday cup, and then go back home and spend the rest of the morning reading about Prince William and Kate because there is really nothing I can get behind so much as a royal wedding. I am a sucker for some British royalty for reasons I don’t even understand myself.

    But I didn’t get to do any of that. Well, later I spent more than several minutes reading all about Prince William and how he gave Kate the ring that Charles gave Diana. It looks very similar to those costume jewelry rings they sell at Steinmart but, you know, it’s real and is probably worth more than my house. Or my life. I’m also willing to bet she isn’t going to have to worry about her finger turning green.

    The point is I had to run. As in exercise. Because, even though I haven’t mentioned it lately, I am still in the process of moving from the couch to a 5K. I took a three week hiatus back in October due to my bronchitis because it’s hard to exercise when your lungs are trying to abdicate from your body, but I’ve been back at it since the end of October and I think that puts me at week 5 even though I accidentally did day one of week six last Friday and ran for eight minutes without stopping before I realized my error. And so now I know that I can run at least eight minutes without stopping and OH THE PRESSURE to keep up that momentum.

    Between you and me, I have yet to experience anything resembling a runners’ high. Although I have experienced several instances of runners’ side cramps that make me want to head back to my couch TOOT SUITE to recuperate.

    Anyway, I put on my new fleece with my running shorts and decided I was going to need to kick it old school if I was going to find the proper motivation. (Yes. I just wrote “kick it old school”.) I added a little Don’t Stop Believin’ by Journey and some Bobby B. And possibly Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch.

    It totally worked because I ran the farthest I’ve ever run. Plus, I almost didn’t want to kill the lady inside my iPhone that condescendingly says, “Halfway There” during the middle of it all and that is huge progress. It just goes to prove that sometimes nothing will get you through like Steve Perry or Bobby B. or Marky Mark and his Funky Bunch.

    After I got back home, I made a list and went to HEB. When P got back home on Sunday night, the first thing he asked me was when I planned to go to the grocery store and I said, “When I feel like it” because I am a giver by nature. He said he was going to start a list because we were out of several things. I waited until he’d left the room to look at his list and, I’m not even kidding, this is it:

    Orange Milano Cookies
    razors

    I believe both those things fall into the category of WANT, not need. He owns a landscaping business which means he can totally grow a beard.

    So I held out for two days and then went to the store to get razors and Orange Milano cookies and milk and toilet paper because NEED, not want. And I decided to go ahead and buy the stuff I’ll need to contribute to our family’s Thanksgiving dinner. I turned down the baking aisle to load up on semi-sweet chocolate and sugar, then I began to make my way through the rest of the store.

    However, the floor was so gritty all of a sudden. And I was wearing my cowboy boots and the gritty sound and texture was more than I could bear. I was raging internally about HEB and their gritty, dirty floor and composing a letter to the manager in my head, when I looked down and realized that the sugar I’d put in my cart had a hole in it and I was the one trailing sugar all over creation. And then stepping in it and making an even bigger mess.

    So, yeah. Never mind on that letter to the manager.

    I spent the rest of the day meeting Gulley for lunch, picking up Caroline from school and trying to decide if I want to grow my bangs back out or get them cut again. We also worked on memorizing some animal poems because, apparently, memorization is a big thing in second grade.

    Finally it was time to make dinner. I planned to make chili because it was slightly cold outside and I figured everyone (Everyone? All three of us!) could make a Frito pie or a chili dog or maybe combine the two together like the brilliant folks at Sonic have done.

    (Yes. I took a picture of the menu at Sonic. Because I have been obsessed with the combo chili dog/Frito pie. Depending on the sophistication of your palate, it is either brilliant or disgusting. I happen to think it is the food group I’ve been looking for all my life. Clearly, I am sophisticated.)

    But here’s a cooking tip you can take to the bank or wherever else you like to take things that are worth keeping. I’m not claiming to be any kind of master cook. I’m not Pioneer Woman throwing down with Bobby Flay, but I can tell you this one thing.

    If you plan to make chili for dinner, it really helps if you remember to buy the ingredients to make the chili when you’re at the grocery store.

    Thank you and good day.

  • And she doesn’t pretend otherwise

    Last night I was helping Caroline get ready for bed. Which, I’ll be honest, pretty much consists of me telling her, “Go put your pajamas on”.

    But she still has issues with getting her freshly washed hair combed out into some sort of configuration that won’t lead to morning hair drama.

    So I walked in her room and we sat in front of her mirror while I combed her hair out. It was one of those moments that caught me by surprise and was just too much. My heart was so full of love for that little girl in the mirror. I hugged her tight, kissed her cheek and said, “You know what you are?”

    Because we’ve always had this thing where I ask if she knows what she is and she answers, “The light of your life!”

    And I say, “That’s right, baby. You’re the light of mama’s life.”

    But last night, I said, “You know what you are?”

    She looked right at me, smiled and said, “HIGH MAINTENANCE”.

    Well, yes. That too.

    Is there anything sweeter than a seven-year-old girl whose facial expression seems to say, “WHAT UP, SUCKA?”