Things I love, love, love today...

My brand spanking new Trex decks....the Groth Chardonnay in my glass...the sounds of my children playing in the den at the moment ( so much better than fighting!)...my new hair salon....the dress I'm wearing Saturday night to the North End.... the new Spanish red wine I tasted today...the flowers I know I'm going to love when I hang them on my farmers porch now that the deck is done...my solar skimmer for the pool...the fact that I took the 4th of July off....watching my very big Maine Coon Cat try to capture a very small fly with big leaps and bounds....the upcoming and pending heat wave....and of course -- my life.

Lyrically speaking....

What you want baby I got
What you need
You know I got it
All I'm askin' is for a little respect
When you come home
Baby when you come home

Respect
I'm out to give you all my money
But all I'm askin in return honey
Is to give me my proper respect
When you get home
Yeah, baby, when you get home

I ain't gonna do you wrong while you gone
I ain't gonna do you wrong
'Cause I don't wanna
All I'm askin' is for a little respect
When you come home
Baby, when you come home
Respect

Ooh, your kisses, sweeter than honey
But guess what, so here's my money
All I want you to do for me
Is give me some respect when you get home
Yeah, baby, when you get home
R-E-S-P-E-C-T
Find out what it means to me
R-E-S-P-E-C-T
Take care, T-C-B
A little respect

I'm gonna knock you out...Momma said knock you out...!

I can't believe I forgot to blog about this.
So here's my second post in one day - and only the second time I've ever done that!

Guess where G and I are going in August?
Guess....!
Give up?








To see Mike Tyson's Undisputed Truth Show in NYC!  Front row and VIP Meet & Greet to meet Mike Tyson.   Holy canoli...!!

So much fun.  I can't wait.

What doesn't kill you makes stronger....

I'm just ready.
Done.
'nuff said.

Today I had a hair appointment at a new salon that a friend who has hair that is always gorgeous - recommended.  Now, the stylist she uses was booked - so they booked me with someone else, whom the person who booked it didn't mention was the lead stylist - aside from the owner. 

So imagine my surprise at the cost when checking out.
( I went to a salon in the town where I live.  We moved to a rather affluent North Shore community where everything is more expensive just because of the zip code; so I knew I was in for a bit of an increase but oh, my....)

However, I am not disappointed with the results.  Not even a little bit.
As a matter of fact, I think it was worth every dime.

I can't remember the last time I went to the salon and really loved or felt like I got what I wanted.  But I did today!

Did I mention that we may be building a third store, in the aforementioned affluent North Shore town?  Yes, we have an Internal Design Review with all of the town players in two weeks.

Hopefully, the sales generated will justify the cost of my salon visits....!
Somehow...I think it will.

Whew - it's been a while!

I've been MIA so to speak - it's been a busy time of year!!

Most of it has happened in the realm of the kiddies. Here are some of the highlights:

Princess Petunia had a Flag Day ceremony at her school that was so nicely done and incredibly touching.  The whole second grade put on a concert for the school and families which included local veterans from as far back as WWII to as recent as the current conflict.  They all spoke and gave their feelings on patriotism and the flag.  The children sang, some spoke - and this girl was moved to tears by this poem, read by one of the veterans.  I have always been patriotic, and working for the military for so many years I'm sure heightened that to a certain extent; but 9/11 affected me in a very profound way, and I tend to get emotional and choked up when I hear certain songs or poems regarding our country.  I was fortunate to have worked side by side with many men and women who choose to serve and protect our country.  And while I don't miss my job, I do miss the environment and the good people I met along the way.

We've had art night and ice cream social night; Field Day and Field Trip day -- and of course, Class Trip. 

My son graduated 5th grade today!  Both kiddies have their last day of school tomorrow, but he had an actual graduation ceremony today.  When I was little - I had no graudation outside of high school.  And it was a beautiful ceremony, complete with each child speaking their favorite memory of the school. I asked him tonight if he was sad that he was going to be leaving the school and moving onto Middle School and he said he was a little -- he liked the school.  I can see why; while I'm happy that my daughter will get the full experience of it, I wish he could've been there for a longer time.  But it's okay, I'm glad he experienced what he did.  I just sort of wish that we moved here sooner than we did; this school system is head and shoulders above where we were before. All that mother's angst for not....

I am sick with a stupid freaking cold.  Ugh, who gets colds this time of year?  Oh, a word to the wise - don't take Mucinex DM.  It made me dizzy, nauseous and just gross. It made me actually feel worse than I already did!  So, me with the typical Demi Moore raspiness of barely having a voice and a cough -- fun fun.

And hopefully, tomorrow we'll get the hot weather we're hoping for, and we will all enjoy being out in the yard.  Because this girl - is taking a half day off!  And it's not to lay in bed like Monday....my cold damn well better be half way gone by tomorrow at noon.  Or else....

Opposites Day....

Since I normally post the warm and fuzzies of my favorite things - let's shake it up a bit, shall we?
These are a few of my least favorite things....

Ignorant Mercedes Drivers.  Selfish and self centered people.  Narcissism.  Laziness.  Disrespect.  The smell of rotten lettuce. Bad movies that take up 2 hours of my life that I'll never get back again.  Shallow & superficial.  Wasted energy on jealousy.  Anything with raisins.  Liver and onions.  Sweet drinks.  Mean spirits.  Bad Karma.

Saturday something or other....

Sunshine.  Sleepovers. 
Poolside.
2 Nephews.  2 Nights.

Wine -- clearly a necessity.

Neighbors dog.
1 Houseguest off....1 down to go.

Supper?
Not BBQ.

Cause that's tomorrow......

Wine -- clearly, a necessity.

Duck, duck, duck....GOOSE!

Today was Princess Petunia's acting debut.
She was the lead in her class play of Charlotte's Web. 
Literally the lead -- first name in the credits even!
(And to those of you in the creative world, you know how important credit placement is...just sayin'.)

She was so prepared....she knew her lines, the other kids lines -- she even would prompt the other kids when they didn't know who was next on cue.  She LOVES this stuff! 

I was so very proud of her.

(Maybe, she got this bit of the acting bug from her mother??
I'm always wondering what the heck she did get from me, because it certainly isn't her looks --she is all her Dad --  or her spunk!)

She was sooooooo good.
So good!!!

Definitely up there as one of my top Mom moments, for sure!

Oh how I miss my Grey's Anatomy....

It's been quite some time since I watched Grey's.  I miss that show.

I did manage to catch up on a few episodes from last season (not the one that just ended, the one previous) and it wasn't a challenge to figure out what was going on.  That's part of the beauty of soap operas -- years can go by and so long as a few of the characters are still the same, you can pretty much piece all of the parts together to figure out where they're at in the storyline.

But I do miss Meredith's imperfections and McDreamy's perfection - and McSteamy's lack of caring about perfection.

So here's a little tidbit from the show, from an earlier season.  I love, love, love the monologues that open and close each episode.  The writing of these really pieced each weekly escapade together, and even when seperated from the script as I've done here -- they truly hit home for msot of us, at certain times - on so many levels.

"We all get at least one good wish a year, over the candles on our birthday. Some of us throw in more, on eyelashes, fountains, lucky stars. And every now and then, one of those wishes comes true. So what then? Is it as good as we’d hoped? Do we bask in the warm glow of our happiness… or do we just notice we’ve got a long list of other wishes waiting to be wished.

We don’t wish for the easy stuff. We wish for big things. Things that are ambitious, out of reach. We wish because we need help, and we’re scared, and we know we may be asking too much. We still wish though, because sometimes… they come true."

A woman is like a tea bag - you never know how strong she is until she gets in hot water.

Okay, so not so long ago I was talking about the Real Housewives of the OC and how I didn't like any of them - not even a little bit.  I started watching LA, purely out of curiousity of how the insanely wealthy live, and I ended up liking them.  

This show, I started watching because I figured "what the heck" - and found them all so pretty but so catty - that it was almost uncomfortable for me to watch.

Well, here we are 16 or so episodes later and I do like some of them -- at times.

But there's one girl who I really like.  Really, really like.  I think she's the real deal, mature, and while sure she's funny and fluffy a bit - the truth of the matter is, she's a real person.  She's grounded despite her wealth and I just like her. 

Mrs. Heather Dubrow.

Cheers Sistah!

(I'm holding on tight to the resolution of NOT watching New Jersey or Atlanta.  Ugh, way too much drama...they're just c-razy!)

Everybody's workin' for the weekend....and other random thoughts.

Ah yes, how I love my Fridays.
A glass of wine in hand...dinner cooking...classical music playing...and all this insane pollen making me oh-so tired. 
It's all good.

I'm feeling a little less blonde than I'd prefer these days.  I'm so not digging the new ombre hair style - it's like, when your roots are growing out so the dark is heavy and the light is at the ends.  It's so not a good look.  I'm sort of the reverse; lighter on top, darker underneath.  While cool, I still would prefer to be brighter.

On the upside, my hair is definitely long again.  It's like all of a sudden...it grew!  By my one year anniversary of cutting it short, it should be pretty much where it was when I cut it.  Unbelievable, right?  That's what I'm thinking....

I really and truly can't be growing old.  I just can't be.  Today at Starbucks, I ran into a married couple who are friends of mine from high school; for the 5 minutes we spent catching up, it was like we were right back in school.  I mean, I see them from time to time anyway - but today for some reason, it was like we were kids again.  And even though we were talking about our kids, and how it's fun being a parent and challenging at the same time -- it still felt like we were the kids.  It made me feel very nostalgic for when I was young, and truly didn't realize just how much life I had ahead of me.   It's funny how when you're "in the moment" of life, you really just don't know all that you think you do.  Anyway, it was a good visit....It was good to see them, and I look forward to the next time I run into them again.

I can tell you what I am not looking forward to -- all this flipping rain we're supposed to get.  What is up with cold and rainy?  Ugh, so not what I was hoping for.  But you know, with the ying is the yang - and the upside to all this lousy weather is that tomorrow I can look forward to just hanging in and catching up on laundry. (I know, crazy to be happy about catching up on laundry, but truly - there will be nothing to distract me from it which is a good thing!)  Pajamas, a good cup of coffee and warm, cozy smells of laundry.  Little people running about and hopefully a day of relaxation.  Best of all, all of this horrible pollen will hopefully be washed away!! 

And then maybe....this girl will be able to wear mascara once again.....