Just call her Fiahanna....

Friday started off innocently enough.

I said to Princess Petunia on the phone as I was driving home... "I'm going to go get my nails done tonight, want to come with me - and you need a trim, we'll get your bangs done at the hair salon next door.".  She was excited for her "Girls Night" - because we go out, do fun things and typically get dinner before coming home.  It's fun, quality time for us.

When we're driving to the salon she says to me "I'm going to do more than trim my bangs.  I'm going to cut my hair short."  Me:  "Really?!?!"  Her:  Yup.  I want it like Rihanna's.  Really short."

I'm thinking she wants something like a long but severe bob.  Okay, I'm good with that.
But she starts looking at the magazines while we're waiting, and each of the pictures she picks are severe pixie cuts. 
Seriously?!!?
Seriously.

She's as serious as a heart attack.
I've got to be honest -- I tried really hard to talk her into less drastic styles.
She got really pissed off at me.  No two ways about it.

The stylist senses my concern, and takes it upon herself to not quite give her what she wants.  She gives her a much softer and adorable bob; and while it's shorter than I'd like - it's beyond adorable.  Princess Petunia is not happy.  Not even a little.  She basically tells the stylist that it's no where what she wants or asked for and practically storms out.

Am I embarrassed?  HELL yes I am.
But.....I can relate.
(How often have I been upset because I didn't get the cut I wanted...and maybe I didn't say so.
Good on her for speaking her mind, though rather uncouthly.)

So, I suggest she sleep on it.  See how she feels in the morning.  Try this on for size and if she still doesn't love it we'll go and get it cut tomorrow.  Sure enough, this morning, first thing she's like "this is cute and all, but nothing like I wanted.  I really wanted a fun, almost boyish cut.  Like Rihanna...".

What's a Mom to do????

Off we go, to yet another salon where we explain what she wants.  The stylist is hesitant - and that's an overstatement.  How many girls, or even women break down when a mere inch more than they realized is taken off???  And yet here is this soon to be 8 year old girl demanding a pixie cut.    The stylist takes a deep breath and announces the beginning of the cut. 

He's more than  half way done when Princess Petunia really sees herelf in the mirror and she announces "I love it!! It's exactly what I was looking for."  Boy, did he breathe a sigh of relief.  And I'm not going to lie - throughout the whole cut, I had incredible pangs of anxiety.  It's her hair - she wears it how she wants, but oh my....is it short. 

And yet it fits her personality; it's sassy and fun.  It's spunky.  It's perfect for her impish personality.  And she LOVES it.  I think my big anxiety is that I worry that the girls in school might tease her for the big change; but her attitude has been "don't blame me for the cut, blame Rhianna - it was her idea!".  I love that she's comfortable in her own skin, it's one of the most important things that we as parents hope for our children; and I love her to the moon and back that she has it.

It is an absolutely adorable cut on her.  And this is exactly what it looks like!

Bibbity Bobbity Boo....

Nature vs. Nurture?

What would you do for a Klondike bar...?

Eenie Meenie Miney Mo...
Catch a tiger by it's toe.
If it hollers let it go.
Out goes Y O U.

To be or not to be...that is the question.
What is the answer?

Stifle, Suppress or Curb?

Georgie Porgie Puddin' and Pie
Kissed the girls and made them cry.
(Who names their kid "pudding and pie"?)

How many licks does it take to get to the center of a tootsie roll pop?

Whereever you go....there you are.

Who let the dogs out.....??

I just don't get it.

Everywhere we've lived, we've always had a neighbor who just refuses to bring their dogs in.  And I wouldn't mind, but the dogs bark...and bark...and bark....and bark.

And it's night time.

Sometimes, upwards of midnight this happens.  In our old neighborhood, it was our neighbor across the street -- we also had a neighbor behind us that would do it occasionally as well.  Once we actually had to call the police because it was 2am and the poor dog was crying so loudly and woefully - and we had fisher cat in the area so we were also genuinely concerned for it's safety.  Of course, getting a good night sleep was truly the catalyst of the call.

Now in this neighborhood, it's our neighbor two houses down.  I wouldn't mind - but they have two large dogs, with large barks.  And they bark incessantly...... why don't they just bring them in?

Might I add, that we live with the town forest behind us, which means we have predators in our backyard.  Hello, don't they care that coyote might prey upon their pups??

It's only 8:10 but it's been going on for an hour now, dear God - bring the dogs in!!

School's out for summer... (almost)

It's funny; when I was little, summer vacation was just that.  Summer.  And vacation from school.
There was no summer camp, family trips, or anything unusual.
It meant all day long bike riding. playing with my friends and if it was really warm - trips to the MDC pool.

My kids have no idea how fortunate they are.
Baseball camps, theatre camp, and cheerleading are on the agenda along with endless swimming in the pool (which is going to be open in just one week, might I add!).  I'd have killed to have had a sleepover at a friend's house, let alone spending the day someplace learning something fun, or practicing something exciting.

It's amazing how much we try to give to our kids, based upon what we didn't get to do.
It makes me wonder what they'll be wanting to do for their own kids someday.

“It's always darkest before dawn. So if you're going to steal the neighbor's newspaper, that's the time to do it.”

I love reading the Sunday paper.  It's my once a week indulgence, when the house is quiet and the kids are still sleeping; I make a cup of coffee and sit at my kitchen table with the birds chirping and read.

I love the paper for the same reason that I love the book store.  I love the touch and feel of the paper...the smell of the print.  When you have the newspaper in front of you, you may will read stories that you may tend to skip or just scan online. 

The same goes for reading a book...you more often than not scan online pages than read them.  We're not programmed to read online, the internet is more often a tool for scanning information, rather than getting lost in it.

The beauty of the print paper too is the mere journalism that goes into it.  And journalism should not be a dying art -- blogging and new media should not be the casual way of receiving news of an authorative or even interesting manner.  There is a time and place for everything and yes, I love blogs and bloggers and casual sites - but English is an art, and for those who don't appreciate it - for you I am sorry.  While some may argue that newspapers going online does not kill journalism, unfortunately I think it does.  Good, even possibly brilliant writing may go unseen - lost amongs the skimming of casual interest.  Not to even point out that as a result, organizations don't feel that they have to necessarily hire skilled writers, and that impacts the workforce nationally, and on a more personal scale - locally.

So I do my part, and I read my paper every Sunday.  And I hope you do the same!
And if you choose to surf the Wall Street Journal, NY Post or other publication elsewhere from where you live, that's okay too!  But just be sure to occasionally indulge in a good ol' fashioned sensory experience of flipping pages, and folding papers.

It's a bird, it's a plane...it's the Novovirus - aka, the Supermodel Diet

So Monday I was hit with the stomach bug, or otherwise known as NovoVirus.
And it wasn't fun kids.  It wasn't fun.
The only time I pretty much cry for my mother, is when I'm embracing the porcelain goddess.

The truth of the matter is, the yukky stuff didn't last all that long....it was the achiness, the fever and the lethargy.  I have never, ever spent the day in bed sleeping.  I could not keep my eyes open and truly, from my nose to my toes - I ached.

The good news is -- it lasted approximately 24 hours and then I was done.

Dehydration can be a girls best friend.  It makes you feel lighter, brighter, and ready to get back into gear.

I got my first pedicure of the season when G and I went to Foxwoods this past weekend for the Fray concert (pictures to follow in the next blog post!) so that means it's time to hit the mat.  (Truly, you can't go to yoga with ugly toes.  That is just disgusting....).  And mixing it into the routine is going to be Barre Yoga.  A pretty interesting concept of ballet meets pilates meets weights meets yoga.  I go to my first class tomorrow and I can't wait.

Yesterday was the most perfect day of the week.  Yes, I know that Monday was amazing but listen it was hell for me and I don't mean the temperature.  But yesterday.....we took the kiddies to our favorite beach where they got to swim and play, and then we went to our favorite beach side bistro for a light dinner.  It was a gorgeous day to be in the sun and watch it set and just relax.

Who could ask for anything more?

I feel pretty, oh so pretty...oh so pretty and witty and wise....

Or, not so much.
Lately I feel like I'm very....blah. 

Since cutting my hair, it's so inbetween - I don't feel like I look like me.

I have been watching the "Housewives" and I see how they're always so dolled up to the nines - always.  Sometimes I wish I was that "pretty girl".  I mean, I'm all about the "fou fou" and pretty things, but when it comes to my appearance, I've always been more of a minimalist.

I prefer less makeup, and maintenance free hair.  While it sometimes would look like I spent time on it, truly my hair has always been a style that takes minutes.  And as far as cosmetics, as much as I love going into Sephora, I'm truly all about lip gloss, mascara and a good blush.  That's it.

Style?  My style is workout gear.  And when I'm not working, it's simple and classic.  I like timeless and clean lines though sometimes I wish I could shake it up a bit.   Good pants or jeans, a simple shirt and a fun scarf -- that's my style. 

I see these girls who clearly spend lots of time applying make up, doing their hair, dressed to the nines and I sometimes feel as if I just fall short.

I wish that I was the the girl who was dolled up all the time....but it just wouldn't feel right.
But lately, I don't feel right being me either.

Rock, paper, scissors - shoot!

I haven't had a set of good steak knives in years.
Literally, probably 10 years.

When we moved, my MIL gave us dishes that unfortunately - weren't complete sets when she bought them, unbeknownst to her; so we returned them, and instead bought really good cutlery knives.

What was I thinking all these years???
They're amazing!

And, I even have an electric carving knife, which truly makes life so much easier.  I used to manually carve my turkeys with my horribly bad dull knife that probably was a bread knife.  I mean it tasted good but ugh, what a mess.

I feel like a flipping rock star when I carve my meats and turkey now.

It's funny how the little things can sometimes make the most difference!

Hungry Eyes....

Hunger Games:  Book vs. Movie.
The book wins, hands down.
But doesn't it always?

There's just no way a book can ever clearly convey all the beautiful details that a book provides.  It can't give you the back story of all the characters or lay the plot out as neatly; it's a much more abbreviated "in your face, hurry and catch up" kind of presentation.

If you read Hunger Games, then you probably felt like I did; that the movie was an okay adaptation of the book.  What sort of threw me is that they eluded to some things without any backstory - and then completely left other important details and characters out entirely.  Which, of course if they're going to do a sequel (and you know they are going to do a sequel) then the Hollywood powers that be are going to be using creative license on actually changing the story.  I don't know how an author can actually feel good about that?

The casting was overall, pretty good.  Some of the characters were portrayed differently than I imagined them -- some, spot on.  They really got some of the casting done right.

Would I say not to go see it?  No.
I'd say if you haven't read the book and want to see it - go for it.
And if you like it, even a little bit -- you've got to back and read the book.
It's an easy read, quick and not crazy complicated.  But the details that aren't in the movie really are some of the finer parts of the story.

I can't help it, I'm a bit of a purist when it comes to these things.