I Knew Her When...

I saw this commercial the other day and did a quick double-take. I recognized the daughter. I knew it. In fact, I had just seen a re-run of Arrested Development (God rest its soul) and had the same double-take.



Oh, hello little girl from "When a Man Loves a Woman"!


Now, see the girl on the right? I just saw her in another sitcom ad!



AHHH! Everywhere there are reminders that I am just.getting.old.

Momma's Got A Brand New Bag

(Sometimes I hate trying to come up with post titles)

I bought this today at Target. This photo doesn't do it justice, however. The inside contains several sections, including a padded one for my laptop. There is a wallet compartment, a phone compartment, and something perfect for diapers. See, I'm not really a purse person. Don't get me wrong, I love great bags. But I hate toting a purse around and I tend to get tired of them very easily. Also, I can't justify spending loads of cash on a purse that I'm going to toss in the backseat and onto the floor of the ladies room and spill apple juice inside of...you get my drift.

I currently carry a canvas bag from J.Crew:


Loved it for about 4 months. It's just simple enough to work for me. But the downsides are: no sturdy bottom so the purse leans to whichever side carries the most weight, a canvas bottom so it will need a good washing by now, and only one small zip pocket with no other compartments. It served it's purpose for 4 months and now I'm moving on to a bag more suited for work/mommydom.

My ideal bag would be stylish but have the accoutrements of a Mountainsmith pack:

I loved this pack. It totally worked for my Kanakuk/K-Life days. You know, 'cause I had to carry my bible, and my Beth Moore bible study, and my journal...my life was so WILD! Seriously though, why doesn't Mountainsmith make diaper bags?

On a totally different note, Russ and I have begun* the P90X workouts. I'm scared to even mention this because it means...dun dun dun...accountability. But I need to let folks know so they understand why I must grab the back of my knees to ensure that I can pick my legs up to move them forward. Or why sitting up might bring a torrent of hot, salty tears from my eyes.

*I said BEGUN! I can't promise anything more than that, people.

Ginormous Child

See? A Photo! Sister was not a fan of those mittens.

Misdirection

I'm ashamed to have stayed away from here for over a month. I typically stop reading if someone waits so long to post. I've been thinking about deleting this blog, mostly because I don't know what I'm doing here. The list of blogs I read are mostly family and friends, who may or may not post regularly, then friends of friends who post daily, then mommy/design blogs. Confession: When I read mommy/design blogs (ie: the blogs of other mothers who are crafty, take amazing photos and/or do tutorials on their sites like "how to sew a designer diaper bag") I typically come away with a fair amount of self-loathing and insecurity. I'm lucky to snap a blurry photo of Davy eating dog food taken from my iPhone to put here.

I really, really, really wish that I had an ounce of decorating savvy and that I had enough time/money to redecorate a room and publish high quality shots of the entire event. Because these are the types of things I like to read on other blogs. Then I can compare myself and walk away with that satisfying dose of insecurity and self-pity!

What I do for the majority of my day is sit with people and hear incredible stories or terribly sad incidents or share in the beauty of watching God move in the life of someone who had previously had no presence of Hope in their lives. But I cannot talk about that here. It's all very interesting and even exciting but it needs to stay locked in my office where it belongs. It's safe there and not at all safe if I were I to share it! (Those who know me best know I can be lacking in discretion. Hey! Here's my office number!) But seriously, counseling happens to be one thing I have a talent for - oh how I wish I could use this as an avenue to brag about that! (Note: I'm being sarcastic - it is my belief that good counseling has little to do with the counselor herself...it's a Holy Spirit thing.)

Anyway, this leads me back to the understanding that what I do with my day cannot be shared here and cannot be the purpose for this blog. And because I'm not a super-mommy or even a super-photog, I don't think that documenting Davy's life here is the purpose for this blog.

I do love to read. A lot. In fact, it's one of the reasons I haven't said anything here for awhile. I thought about doing more book reviews. (You'd much rather come here than Goodreads or Amazon, right?!)

Several friends have bugged me to write. As in, get published. Ha! Now, I have a plethora of good stories, mostly because I am a magnet for embarrassing moments of the poop variety. But I don't know if I could be a good writer. I might try to share more stories here....we'll see. There are many moments in a day when I think, "I should blog about this!" But they are fleeting and superficial...and maybe that's what this place needs... If you stop by here, would you stop & offer feedback? What would you like to see?

(I have to pause and point out my codependecy here: "Hey guys? This is my blog. What would you like me to do with it?" Ugh. It's exhausting to be this much of a people-pleaser.

Lovey

The hubs is a Superperson, in case you can't tell from his 1978 tee.


Look, even back then, he was a sweet, laid back boy. Truly, the guy is in his element when he can just relax and talk one on one with someone - a quality that quickly (is 9 months quick?) sucked me in...


This one is my favorite. So tuckered out. Dirty jeans. Dirty face. Boys, you know?

I married the coolest guy ever. Sorry. He's taken.

Happy Birthday to Russ! My sweet boy!

Recasting Twilight

If you are burnt out on the Twilight phenomenon, please know that so am I. This post was written out of sheer annoyance.

Confession: I read all the Twilight books in a matter of a week and a half, voraciously devouring them (which is not hard considering they are akin to a "beach read" as far as depth & plot go) and reading late into the night. But. I thought the first movie was worse than a bad after-school special. Just terrible acting, worse casting, and the hair dye on the majority of the cast? Ohmalord.

Exhibit A:


The Cullen family is a joke to me. Peter Facinelli as Carlisle? Seriously? And the bottle blond hair? It's despicable! I was truly disappointed and thought I'd make some casting changes to improve this bajillion dollar trainwreck.

So let's start with Carlisle. Forgive me for not buying into Mike from "Can't Hardly Wait" as Dr. Cullen!


I'd go for this guy instead:


If you don't find John Slattery attractive enough, check your pulse. After all, Carlisle Cullen needs to have just the right air of youth and sophistocation to be believable.

And what about that chick playing Rosalie?



I don't know who Nikki Reed is, but I do know she's a natural brunette with tan skin. NOT A FIT! Rosalie is supposed to be beautiful, pale, and be able to act her way out of a paper sack. I was so disappointed with Ms. Reed in the first movie. My choice for Rosalie would be:


First of all, if you've ever watched "Big Love", you know that Amanda Seyfried can pull off the perfect amount of cold/yet cautious that the role of Rosalie calls for. Who's with me on this choice?

...Now onto one of the most annoyingly disappointing cast mistakes: Bella's Dad. This was really irritating to me, as if the casting director needed each and every actor to look like some kind of arm candy! I know the vampires are supposed to be very attractive, but Mr. Swan is a mere human. I'd change him from this:


To this:

You've seen J.K. Simmons play a dad in both "Juno" and "I Love You Man". I think he'd do a much better job as Bella's OLDER, introverted father. And I'd like to see his more serious side in a movie.

As far as Kristen Stewart as Bella, I'm fine with that. K-Stew plays the exact.same.person in every movie she has ever been in: pensive, tense, tight-lipped, boring, blah.

(Panic Room)

See? And here, too!

(Adventureland)


And Bella is a serious girl. But now I'd just appreciate it if Ms. Stewart would recede into privacy. Because I'm getting about as burned out on her as I was on Beyonce' for awhile. (AND YOU KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS, KATY!)

I'm a Team Edward kind of gal so I'm all for Rob Pattinson...except his faux American accent drives me batty...as does his "smell the fart" acting as Edward.




Rob, I'd enjoy Edward a lot more if you'd just tone down your English accent. After all, back when Eddie Cullen was born, most American still sounded a bit like the Brits.

That's it, folks. My rant is over.

Go Here for Therapy

I know. It's been over a month and a half. For shame. It's just that my job requires so much thinking. And words. And depth. And I have nothing left to put here when I'm home. Also? My daughter walks and (tries to) talk now! So blogging has been pushed waaaay down on that To-do list.

Due to all of the above, I've also stopped reading most of the blogs I used to keep up with. But this morning while Davy was busy not napping and squealing loudly from her bed, I wandered over to a blog I read every once in awhile. It never disappoints.

Matt lost his wife the day after she gave birth to their daughter, Madeline. I've kept up with him on and off and spent a little time reading about their extended stay in India - where he first proposed to his wife. I wiped away lots of tears today and thought, Grief is truly a Journey.