Bachelorette

Ok, I'm partly ashamed to write this post, though I'm not sure why. I used to watch the bachelor(ette) all the time with my high school girlfriends when I lived in Birmingham. How fun to spend one night a week sharing good food, fun times, and lame TV comebacks from this season's most eligible mate!

One thing I found out when I lived in Durham was that my sister seemed to have a weakness for this show, which says something, because this lady is not your regular TV watcher. I think you could take away her TV and she'd be perfectly fine, just so long as the girls had something to watch a Disney movie on with a babysitter when she and her husband got to sneak out for a date night.

So last week when I was up there, I was a more-than-willing participant in watching the bacherlorette. The problem was, they'd DVR'd three two-hour shows, so by the time we watched them all, I was hooked. Beyond hooked. So hooked that when my brother-in-law texted me last night that it was on (and that he was turning in his man card), I squealed and ran into the other room to watch Ali & co putter around NYC and dance on rooftops.

I don't know that I'll be posting updates on my watchings, but I will say that it's unfortunate that B and my brother-in-law can't both escape downstairs to the basement to watch ESPN instead. To B's credit, he did watch it. Unfortunately, I think that had something to do with his recent injury...

13 Months!

We blew past this one. I was half asleep two night ago when I started whacking B on the arm and saying, "We missed it! We missed it! Happy Anniversary!" I know, I know, at some point I'll move past this month-to-month stuff (sad!), but for now I'm not ready to really reflect only once a year. Too many fun things that I'd miss!

In the past month, we've been to Williamsburg, Virginia; Sonoma, California; Berkely, California; Princeton, New Jersey; Atlanta, Georgia, and Durham, North Carolina.

We've enjoyed our one-year anniversary (woohoo!), packing the Pod, B's graduation (complete with school-sanctioned Champagne toast. Ladeda!), B's youngest brother's graduation from Berkeley, wine tasting in Sonoma, drives to Atlanta, two new babies from our friends, an awesome weekend at our 5th college reunion, a meeting with a financial planner, and a few fun days with the nieces in NC.

We said goodbye to our second apartment, moved for the third(?) time, started Bar review classes, and remembered Dad on the anniversary of his death.

It's been quite the month, and I can tell that next month's update is going to be super full, super short, and super late. Where is time going??

I'm so thankful for many things in my life, mainly that the family I've been given (and the one I've chosen & married into!) and the friends I've made are among the things that make my life feel so full and blessed. What more could I ask for?

Baby Watch 2010

I spent last week in Durham with my sister and her family on "baby watch." She had a few signs of labor early in the weekend, before I got there, and so we spent the entire week with the thought in the back of our minds (or mine, at least!) that today could be the day that their family grew a little bigger.

Instead, Baby S decided to hang out in utero a little while longer. Fine by me! We had such a fun week of playing together, stocking the fridge, and generally taking it easy. We went to Chick-fil-A, played at the mall play place, enjoyed play group, had a picnic, splashed around in the pool, made cookies, took walks, fed geese, and generally loved nap time (one and all!).

So true, there's no baby, but I'll meet him or her when I go back next month. I did, however, have some quality time with the monkeys.

Highlights:

Me: Ella, when you swim, push the water back with your hands, but make sure to keep your fingers together. When your fingers are apart, they look like forks (show forks), but when your fingers are all together, what do they look like?

Ella: Fives?

~

Sienna: I need some more fuzz for my dolly's head

~

Lesson Learned: If you've got to return something to Target, the $1 section is a God-send. Seriously, the girls played in the bins for at least 20 minutes, then expected nothing when we left. I'm pretty sure they don't know those things are for sale...

~

Ella: Sienna, let's get our umbanellas and go out into the rain.

~

Sienna (wailing): I got a boooooo booooooo. [Note, this is not sadness over pain of a boo boo, but rather simply having gotten one.]

~

Sienna (getting out of the bath 20 minutes later): Is the boo boo gone yet?

Reunions Recap!

B & I had such a blast at reunions this year. If you don't know, Princeton reunions are not to be missed. They're insane. Don't take my word for it, read this article from GQ.

Basically, in a nutshell, about 100,000 alums descend on the tiny town of Princeton, New Jersey for a long-week of orange-stained madness. We drink, we p-rade (parade), we dine, we share stories, and we try to sleep on tiny twin beds with our manly husbands. Let me tell you, we are not in college anymore!

We loved it. We got in on Friday in time for our class dinner (each class, on the five-year rotation, has a courtyard with a tent as "headquarters"), then spent the rest of the weekend catching up with friends and having a blast.

Highlights:

* KA "barbecue" behind Cottage. "Toasting" on cars when the owners walked up. Oops.

* Sleeping in a twin bed.

* Waking up to find B on the hardwood floor with his head on our duffle bag.

* Throwing a pillow at B and rolling back over.

* Showering in dorm bathrooms again.

* Realizing that they upgraded from floaty shower curtains to actual glass doors.

* Realizing how tired we were at the end of it.

B said on our way home, "Wow, that was a really fun thing to do. Every five years."

Then we both snuggled up on either side of my pillow and fell asleep on the plane back to Atlanta...

Remembering Dad

I always wonder if I have a writing block only when I've put off writing about something, either because I think it'll be too long, too hard, or simply too time consuming. Oh well, enough personal analysis. On to the memories!

The one-year anniversary of Dad's death was tough, but I actually think it was tougher "looking forward" to it than actually experiencing it.

On the actual day, B & I were in California, spending a low-key day with his family touring the wineries in Sonoma. The day itself wasn't overwhelming. I got voicemails from siblings, sent text messages, and talked to Mom, but it was sad.

It's been too long since I talked to Dad. An entire year since I've heard voice on anything other than my saved voicemail or the video from the rehearsal dinner. (More than) 365 days since I've called him too early and woken him up on my way to work, had an excuse to buy an embarassing number of Peeps, or watched for sales on Diet Mountain Dew (as if Dad ever waited for a sale!).

But I (thankfully!!) still think of him. Every time I see Diet Peach Snapple tea, pass a McCallister's deli, or make one of his Mom's recipes. Coconut cakes make me smile. Alabama cups make me smile. Bad TV late at night makes me smile.

Some things still don't make me smile. I miss him like crazy when I'm on a long car trip and can't call. Dad had a million things to do, always off to buy more Mountain Dew, work one of his three random jobs that he loved so much, or simply enjoy his 5th morning cup of coffee. But he was almost always home. So you'd call Mom on your road trip and talk with her, then call Dad. Often you got the same stories, but there was a double-dose of comfort and company. I miss that.

There are things I'm sorry about with Dad. Not regrets, necessarily, but just things that I didn't notice enough or appreciate often. But one thing I did do the February before he died was to write him a letter and tell him how proud of him I was. Of course, he assumed it was something regarding taxes and didn't open or find it until April (again, love it!), but he did get it and I know he read it. I'm thankful for that because it gives me a little peace, and some grace that perhaps the times I didn't stop and sit with him are somehow balanced out.

I survived the anniversary without turning it into an "angriversary," as we feared last year, but I still struggle. Dad's birthday, and he and Mom's anniversary, are coming up. Keep the prayers coming! As for us, B & I are planning to celebrate the day with something Dad would've loved. Maybe we'll make Diet Mountain Dew floats.

Excuses, Excuses

Once again, here I am, two weeks behind apologizing for being two weeks behind. Haley, if you're reading this, get ready!

'05! '05! '05!

More to come on this topic but, for now, here's a pic that pretty much sums it all up...