There is one thing I adore about living in South Georgia, the hospitality and the traditions are followed to the letter. A close friend of mine is soon to be married and so this past weekend saw the first of the whirlwind of showers, preparations and celebrations. I was in the US for about five years before I attended an American wedding and I have to say it's all very beautiful but SO different from how we do it back home. Anyway, Tracy and Don are a wonderful couple and I really wish them well. Tracy's best friend hosted a couples shower on Saturday night, only the weather didn't care. Oh no... we needed some rain and by golly we got it!!!! There we were all huddled into what can only be described as a "party barn/workshop/porch" thing in the back yard. The rain was torrential people and this building had a tin roof!!!! It was loud and I have to be honest a little scary, I have been really afraid of storms since our house in Tallahassee was hit by lighting just after Ashley was born. There I was nursing her and all of a sudden BOOM the house was hit, so that was obviously the best excuse ever to quit breast feeding, Kudos to those who can do it... not this mama.
Anyway back to the storm, the food was good, the company excellent and the wine flowed, but so did the rain. My do was done and my jeans stuck to my legs, Steve and I discovered we can't share an umbrella, we're just not that co-ordinated. It all ended when we were called home by the kids, not because they were afraid of the storm but because the older ones were afraid of the little tropical storm we call Ashley. So that was that.
Sunday rolled around and another shower, this time the weather was beautiful, the kind of day when you look at the sky and can't believe it's soooo clear and refreshing. A group of ladies gathered at Holli's house and had cup cakes and punch. There wasn't a raindrop in sight. Quiet pleasantries were exchanged and everyone complimented the hosts on the lovely table. It really looked great and made me think, wow this is really nice. This is the reason we have those little dishes and buy those pretty napkins, because sometimes it matters! Sometimes you have to pay attention to details and make someone feel special, once in a while do something "pretty" for someone. Throw away the practical household tips and just do something pretty!!! The pleasure in seeing Tracy being spoiled by good friends was a treat for me. I was jealous of course, I want to be showered with gifts, but to witness all the love shown to such a wonderful lady was my gift. So now all we have to do it sit back and enjoy the day, I can't wait to see her walk down the aisle while I sit there with a vice like grip on my kids. I am so excited and will be reporting on the wedding of the year for sure....watch this space.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Ashley has started a little thing where she talks in a funny voice a lot, each is a character that she makes up. The other night getting ready for bed she was Elvis (kind of) and boy she made me laugh. Of course I had to video her, she's a whole different ball game and still pictures just no longer cut the mustard with her!!!! So here she is, she did get a little silly as she tends to do on camera but you get the picture.
Back to my own room....
Did I ever mention that I have the most beautiful, bright funny kids on the planet? Well I do. Sorry to those of you who thought your kids were all of the above, but mine are the cream of the crop, top of the heap, A number one!!! (Frank Sinatra 1915-1998).
This is how I feel every day when I wake them up with the song of my choice and it continues until I put them to bed with a story and hug , there are moments in between when I could cheerfully strangle them but mostly it's a love fest. This week has been no exception, having finished (at least almost finished) Sydney's room she's settled back in is loving her own space again. She has it organized as she wants it and has the toys she treasures most within easy reach, her beds arranged as she likes them and her secret diaries tucked where she thinks no one can get to her innermost secrets... no I don't read them.. and if I did, well I'm her mother and I'd never admit to anyone that I may have had a sneaky peak now and again. So blissfully settled in and enjoying being out of Ashley's room, why oh why do they have to fuss about "sleepovers"....... she wants Ashley to come and sleep in her room now. Arrgghhh... Ash is happy to oblige, for a whole ten minutes. Just when you think they are so cute wanting to be together, and it lets me off the hook and bed time is going a lot quicker, little bit gets up and heads back to her own Purple Palace with pink blanky dragging behind her. This leads to an outburst from big sister!!! So now I have two girls crying and fussing about where they want to sleep!!! I can't be in two rooms at once settling them in. I did get a little frustrated and yell a tad about getting into bed and staying there and being a big girl... GO TO SLEEP!!!! Anyone who has ever been in this situation, and if you have kids you've been there, knows it's a thin line between keeping a calm bedtime routine and banging your head on the wall. You feel your entire inside about to erupt and spout forcefully out of the very top of your head. The answer, go to the bathroom. Tell everyone "wait a minute, Mommy has to pee pee I'll be right back." Lock the door, plug your iPod into your ears and stay there for about 15 minutes. That's how long it takes to do your bizz right. When you emerge all will be well, they will have screamed themselves into a coma and you won't hear another peep until morning. That is when you can look at their pretty, innocent, sleeping faces and thank the Lord for these precious little gifts. That is the moment you can say, yes I am super Mom, I did it; they are asleep and it's the end of the day and all is well in the world. Then you can go beat your head against the wall because you step back into a pile of dog puke. A mother's work is never done!!!
This is how I feel every day when I wake them up with the song of my choice and it continues until I put them to bed with a story and hug , there are moments in between when I could cheerfully strangle them but mostly it's a love fest. This week has been no exception, having finished (at least almost finished) Sydney's room she's settled back in is loving her own space again. She has it organized as she wants it and has the toys she treasures most within easy reach, her beds arranged as she likes them and her secret diaries tucked where she thinks no one can get to her innermost secrets... no I don't read them.. and if I did, well I'm her mother and I'd never admit to anyone that I may have had a sneaky peak now and again. So blissfully settled in and enjoying being out of Ashley's room, why oh why do they have to fuss about "sleepovers"....... she wants Ashley to come and sleep in her room now. Arrgghhh... Ash is happy to oblige, for a whole ten minutes. Just when you think they are so cute wanting to be together, and it lets me off the hook and bed time is going a lot quicker, little bit gets up and heads back to her own Purple Palace with pink blanky dragging behind her. This leads to an outburst from big sister!!! So now I have two girls crying and fussing about where they want to sleep!!! I can't be in two rooms at once settling them in. I did get a little frustrated and yell a tad about getting into bed and staying there and being a big girl... GO TO SLEEP!!!! Anyone who has ever been in this situation, and if you have kids you've been there, knows it's a thin line between keeping a calm bedtime routine and banging your head on the wall. You feel your entire inside about to erupt and spout forcefully out of the very top of your head. The answer, go to the bathroom. Tell everyone "wait a minute, Mommy has to pee pee I'll be right back." Lock the door, plug your iPod into your ears and stay there for about 15 minutes. That's how long it takes to do your bizz right. When you emerge all will be well, they will have screamed themselves into a coma and you won't hear another peep until morning. That is when you can look at their pretty, innocent, sleeping faces and thank the Lord for these precious little gifts. That is the moment you can say, yes I am super Mom, I did it; they are asleep and it's the end of the day and all is well in the world. Then you can go beat your head against the wall because you step back into a pile of dog puke. A mother's work is never done!!!
Friday, March 27, 2009
Tornado warning....
Oh the weather outside it frightful, there are storms, high winds, heavy rain and a fashion dilema all going on at the same time. What the heck do you wear when it's 80 degrees but it's rainy and dark.
Here are the fashion rules we use in England, no worries about whether it's Easter, Memorial day or Labor day, if it's wet it's generally cold and you can wear jackets and wellie boots, even add a sou'wester (that's a yellow plastic hat) if you want to. If it's dry and hot it's time for fashion fatalities, shorts and sleeveless, tight fitting tops; soccer shirts and soccer shorts with undies that you can see through the shorts; lobster red cheeks and upper arms; caloused heels and strappy sandals. Oh we look so horrible, but thankfully it's only for a fortnight every July so we don't cause too many people to keel over and die. If you've ever been to Orlando in the height of summer (which every American avoids) you will have seen them in droves. Bright red Brits on their package holidays sporting Manchester United and Liverpool football (soccer) shirts. They are loud and travel in big groups because if we're travelling across the Pond for a holiday of a lifetime we're bloody well taking the whole family if we like them or not. That way we can boast to our friends and neighbors who had to stay home and enjoy the balmy wonderful summer in the south west of England, with beautiful beaches, clean air and excellent pub food.
It was a dream of mine as a child to go to Disney, I didn't know the difference between "World" and "Land" I just wanted to got to Disney. Nor did I care about Epcot, Kingdom or whatever, I didn't even know there was more than one park to choose from, it didn't matter to an eight year old British kid.
Now here I am all growed up and wondering when I can go home again to experience that relaxing, excellence called British Summer Time. It gets light at four thirty in the morning at which time the little Blue Tits and House Martins start their song. You can spend well over an hour or more at breakfast when it's still a little chilly, eating the best sausage, egg and beans you're ever likely to come across. Then you can walk on the hill tops or the beaches before soaking up the sun for the approximately four hours that it's warm enough to do so. Then you sip a Shandy in the pub and enjoy a "ploughman's", it's a delicious plate of salad, ham, chunk o' cheese, pickles and crusty bread. You talk a bunch o' nonsense with your best farmery friends and walk home dodging the moths and trying to identify all the beautiful wild flowers on the path home... ahhh bliss. This, my friends, is paradise... talk about so laid back you're horizontal!! One day when I am a famous whatever, I will have my own travel show where me and the three
people I love most in the universe will travel and have a camera man to capture our experiences and we'll be the Emmy Award winning McGillicutties.... the family you all want to be!!!! To get a hint of what I'm talking about Google "Salisbury, Wilts" and the South West of England, Cornwall and Dorset. Take a cyber-vacation people... 'tis something to savour!!!! Don't forget your factor 4. Now in order the get a little taste of what I'm talking about go and watch Four Weddings and a Funeral.... it's been a long time hasn't it? This is one of my all time FAVE movies and I even have a friend who is actually in the movie, ironically enough, he's the American who plays the love interest of Hugh's Grant's sister in the movie. He lived in Salisbury when I was there and he was a very tall, very handsome chappy!!!! Yum!!!!
Here are the fashion rules we use in England, no worries about whether it's Easter, Memorial day or Labor day, if it's wet it's generally cold and you can wear jackets and wellie boots, even add a sou'wester (that's a yellow plastic hat) if you want to. If it's dry and hot it's time for fashion fatalities, shorts and sleeveless, tight fitting tops; soccer shirts and soccer shorts with undies that you can see through the shorts; lobster red cheeks and upper arms; caloused heels and strappy sandals. Oh we look so horrible, but thankfully it's only for a fortnight every July so we don't cause too many people to keel over and die. If you've ever been to Orlando in the height of summer (which every American avoids) you will have seen them in droves. Bright red Brits on their package holidays sporting Manchester United and Liverpool football (soccer) shirts. They are loud and travel in big groups because if we're travelling across the Pond for a holiday of a lifetime we're bloody well taking the whole family if we like them or not. That way we can boast to our friends and neighbors who had to stay home and enjoy the balmy wonderful summer in the south west of England, with beautiful beaches, clean air and excellent pub food.
It was a dream of mine as a child to go to Disney, I didn't know the difference between "World" and "Land" I just wanted to got to Disney. Nor did I care about Epcot, Kingdom or whatever, I didn't even know there was more than one park to choose from, it didn't matter to an eight year old British kid.
Now here I am all growed up and wondering when I can go home again to experience that relaxing, excellence called British Summer Time. It gets light at four thirty in the morning at which time the little Blue Tits and House Martins start their song. You can spend well over an hour or more at breakfast when it's still a little chilly, eating the best sausage, egg and beans you're ever likely to come across. Then you can walk on the hill tops or the beaches before soaking up the sun for the approximately four hours that it's warm enough to do so. Then you sip a Shandy in the pub and enjoy a "ploughman's", it's a delicious plate of salad, ham, chunk o' cheese, pickles and crusty bread. You talk a bunch o' nonsense with your best farmery friends and walk home dodging the moths and trying to identify all the beautiful wild flowers on the path home... ahhh bliss. This, my friends, is paradise... talk about so laid back you're horizontal!! One day when I am a famous whatever, I will have my own travel show where me and the three
people I love most in the universe will travel and have a camera man to capture our experiences and we'll be the Emmy Award winning McGillicutties.... the family you all want to be!!!! To get a hint of what I'm talking about Google "Salisbury, Wilts" and the South West of England, Cornwall and Dorset. Take a cyber-vacation people... 'tis something to savour!!!! Don't forget your factor 4. Now in order the get a little taste of what I'm talking about go and watch Four Weddings and a Funeral.... it's been a long time hasn't it? This is one of my all time FAVE movies and I even have a friend who is actually in the movie, ironically enough, he's the American who plays the love interest of Hugh's Grant's sister in the movie. He lived in Salisbury when I was there and he was a very tall, very handsome chappy!!!! Yum!!!!
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
What's with FB?
Hello again. It's late on Wed evening and I wanted to relax on facebook and catch up with some old friends....ahhh a great way to unwind. I did the sexy lady quiz and apparently I am Audrey Hepburn, oh Audrey, so elegant and sweet!!! I am sure there aren't many people who have had the inclination to mention my name and Audrey's in the same 5 million word epic, never mind the same sentence. Tomorrow I am wearing black with some simple pearl accessories just to see if anyone mentions how much I remind them of the great Ms. Hepburn, I think I'll hoist my voice up an octave too while I'm at it.
Anyway I digress, so I'm jumping here and there and the pc (unfortunately not a Mac) keeps making a weird noise and the page disappears! Get back on, dunk there it goes, get back on, dunk there it goes. OK this is getting to be tedious. Are there too many millions of us on there? Surely not, the twelve year old founder of fb was just chatting to Matt Lauer the other day telling him how it's growing by 250 gazzillion, druswillion every millisecond and yet they can handle it. Not a problem for the tennis shoe wearing geek. You're on TV with Matt Lauer for crying out loud, get some decent shoes!!!
So instead here I am with my reliable old blog, at least here I can ramble on about the other. If you have also been having problems with fb and you've managed to walk away, please tell me how to overcome the addiction. How do we ease back into the real world and actually connect again with friends; real face to real face. For a fb addict and germiphobe it's a scary thought. Maybe I am just not as equipped to deal with real flesh and blood friends instead of my little cyber-buddies. I"ll have to brush my teeth and hair and buy the real Gucci loafers, not just the ones I can get on the shopaholic site. Please oh please fb don't do that to the world, come back and let me sit here once again in pj's with messy hair and smudged mascara, connecting with the wonderful 45,789 "friends" on my page, all of whom know me intimately and have had lunch with me at least a thousand times.... online that is!!! OK can't stand it any more I'm headed back there for one more try and if it fails I'm going to have to try My Space. See ya.
Anyway I digress, so I'm jumping here and there and the pc (unfortunately not a Mac) keeps making a weird noise and the page disappears! Get back on, dunk there it goes, get back on, dunk there it goes. OK this is getting to be tedious. Are there too many millions of us on there? Surely not, the twelve year old founder of fb was just chatting to Matt Lauer the other day telling him how it's growing by 250 gazzillion, druswillion every millisecond and yet they can handle it. Not a problem for the tennis shoe wearing geek. You're on TV with Matt Lauer for crying out loud, get some decent shoes!!!
So instead here I am with my reliable old blog, at least here I can ramble on about the other. If you have also been having problems with fb and you've managed to walk away, please tell me how to overcome the addiction. How do we ease back into the real world and actually connect again with friends; real face to real face. For a fb addict and germiphobe it's a scary thought. Maybe I am just not as equipped to deal with real flesh and blood friends instead of my little cyber-buddies. I"ll have to brush my teeth and hair and buy the real Gucci loafers, not just the ones I can get on the shopaholic site. Please oh please fb don't do that to the world, come back and let me sit here once again in pj's with messy hair and smudged mascara, connecting with the wonderful 45,789 "friends" on my page, all of whom know me intimately and have had lunch with me at least a thousand times.... online that is!!! OK can't stand it any more I'm headed back there for one more try and if it fails I'm going to have to try My Space. See ya.
Woe is me....
I was born on a Wednesday and for some reason my Mum always would take delight in telling me that Wednesday's Child is full of woe! Thanks for the encouragement there mother!
Now most of you will probably think I am an upbeat kind of a chick, and mostly I am, but when I am feeling under the weather I revert back to being Wednesday's Child. This week has been one of those times, hence the lack of blogging. I am doing this one quickly so that my avid readers won't desert me thinking I have given up on my latest "thing".
I have been the victim of one of those mysterious viruses, back ache, head ache, sore throat, chills without a fever that kind of thing. I usually don't bother with docs (they're all quacks) but on this occasion I felt so shitty it was deemed necessary to drag my weary butt to the not so urgent care. Just like I thought, "it's a virus" said the quack, "antibiotics won't help but if you pay me $100 I'll give you a scrip for some Darvacet and you'll be on you're way". See! I could have done that if I had a degree in scribbling prescriptions. The pain killers really didn't help and I have been wallowing in self pity and bad temperedness for a couple of days now. This morning I have noticed an improvement and my sense of humor is gradually creeping back into my persona. That means if you visit me in the office today, yes, I will help you with the coffee machine and yes I will be nice to you. Apologies to those who may have crossed my path over the last couple of days, my woe has gone and the good Ali is alomst 55% back!!! Give me a day or two and I may even start being nice to Steve again who knows.
Now most of you will probably think I am an upbeat kind of a chick, and mostly I am, but when I am feeling under the weather I revert back to being Wednesday's Child. This week has been one of those times, hence the lack of blogging. I am doing this one quickly so that my avid readers won't desert me thinking I have given up on my latest "thing".
I have been the victim of one of those mysterious viruses, back ache, head ache, sore throat, chills without a fever that kind of thing. I usually don't bother with docs (they're all quacks) but on this occasion I felt so shitty it was deemed necessary to drag my weary butt to the not so urgent care. Just like I thought, "it's a virus" said the quack, "antibiotics won't help but if you pay me $100 I'll give you a scrip for some Darvacet and you'll be on you're way". See! I could have done that if I had a degree in scribbling prescriptions. The pain killers really didn't help and I have been wallowing in self pity and bad temperedness for a couple of days now. This morning I have noticed an improvement and my sense of humor is gradually creeping back into my persona. That means if you visit me in the office today, yes, I will help you with the coffee machine and yes I will be nice to you. Apologies to those who may have crossed my path over the last couple of days, my woe has gone and the good Ali is alomst 55% back!!! Give me a day or two and I may even start being nice to Steve again who knows.
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