Deuces

I scrambled for a letter in my golden tin can.  A letter to share with my friends on this blog.  A letter to give my husband something to read during his long work day.  He did, after all, tell me it is the only thing that gets him through the day and the pressure was on. And so over an hour ago I rifled through that tin can as I watched an episode of "The Locator" and pondered a song change on my blog playlist.  I was hitting a wall, and despite the wonderful sentiments in crinkled envelopes, I couldn't find one to share without spilling someone else's memories into my blog.  So many of the letters were from my girlfriends.  Fresh out of high school then, and we were so young, naive and going through our first-ever heartbreaks.  Letters of love that confess desires to reunite with someone who was now in love with another.  Letters that let loose deep secrets about who-did-what-and-with-whom over spring break in 1999.  Crazy stories....

On Wednesday evening we had our first annual "Thankful for Friends" evening.  It was our way of celebrating the friendship we have sustained through the last 16 years of our lives.  The friends that have seen me through crushes, loves, loss, dreams, oopsies, minimum wage, careers and failed weight loss goals.  These are the friends I've known since middle school or freshman year of high school.  These are the friends who brought along their own families and significant others to delight us with their presence.  This was the first annual "Thankful for Friends". I love the children.  I enjoy the sounds of stomping and wondering if the ceiling will give way to their Rock Band triumphs.  I revel in the look on their moms' faces as if to say "I am so sorry..." and they rush to call up the banister their bribes and warnings.  It makes me smile.  And I will say to them that it is all okay.  The things in my home are just possessions....

I google you.  Well, maybe not me.  But someone has googled you.  Someone has typed your name in that beautiful search box and pushed that fancy 'enter' button.  Search initiated. I was speaking with a friend last week.  Who knows how the conversation started, but as is often the case among women it landed on a topic about an ex.  You know, a dude I was crushing on once in my life.  And so at one point we get to talking about the less-than-spectacular woman my ex has found himself with.  Like the "Inspektor Gadget" I think I am, I know so much more about his current than I probably should.  For all I know, she is also a goodwill ambassador and rescues hungry children all while modeling size 0 lingerie.  Nonetheless, whoever our exes are currently with are never as awesome as us.  It's just the law of women.  If she is gorgeous she must be dumb.  If she is wealthy she must have a mean spirit.  If she has big...

Last night it was slumber party night.  I was shifty and agitated yesterday.  A hard case of cabin fever despite having been out for work during the day, I could not shake.  I was bored.  I get bored so easily it's embarassing.  I love good television, but I am not one to watch it for hours on end.  My husband gets to bed at a respectable, adult time given his early morning work shift.  I, on the other hand, love me some nights.  But weeknights can be a drag when you can't be arsed to update your status on Facebook every few minutes...when there is nothing catching my attention on T.V.... when you don't have the latest arrival from Netflix, and the house is already pretty dang clean.  There's a place I know I could go for a good time.  It's open late, and the food is fattening.  This place is often referred to as "Mom's" and my nieces and nephews' friends call it "Gramma Cory's" My mom is a weird senior citi...

Saturday was beautiful wedding day.  Man, I love weddings.  It's pretty weird because as a kid I despised weddings.  Literally, no lie, at every wedding I felt nauseated and bored.  I didn't tear up.  I didn't feel elated for the happy 80's and 90's couples.  I just wanted to pass out. A few years ago it all changed.  I suddenly liked weddings.  You know, it's a celebration, and no disrespect to the married couple and the vows, but the booze and DJ at the reception really helps.  I also developed a new-found appreciation for all the hard work that goes into wedding planning after Lloyd and I planned our own.  I sure do love me some weddings. And now I have been married about 6 months and I am totally, like, totally married.  I looked onto the dance floor longingly at the young, naive singles.  I had my brightest smile on when my husband and I broke it down on the dance floor but then looked out at male friends and it d...

O.K. so as long as I am walking down 80's memory lane, let's take a stroll through one of the best movies of all time:  Footloose.   If you disagree, run away, run far, far away.  Your kind aren't welcome here.  I'm kidding.  Now I feel bad.  Please continue.  Footloose stars Kevn Bacon in his sizzlin'est role, ever. (Get it?  Sizzlin'?  Bacon?). He is this kid who is rough around the edges and he comes into this quiet, conservative town and shakes things up.  I mean, who doesn't want to be the person to shake things up???  And he's so foxy.  Like, in that yellow Volkswagon Beetle with those dance moves.  Those dance moves.... oh, those dance moves.  As I mentioned yesterday,  when you are a kid you don't realize people wear costumes and wigs- you think it's all natural.  And then with Kev. I thought he really could do somersaults off of warehouse beams- This was before I understood what stun...

I have a favorite music video of all time.  It is Whitney Houston's "Wanna Dance With Somebody".  Even as I type this, I can see her with that large coif of gorgeous hair, that jean jacket, and that smooth waltz slide she does.  Love me some 80's Whitney.  Those pre-Bobby days.  It's awesome when you are a kid and you don't know how things work.  One of the reasons I loved that video was because I thought she was just SO gorgeous and I always wondered how her hair looked so awesome.  It took me an embarrassing amount of years to understand that women can wear wigs and hair extensions and weaves and all of these other glorious pieces to make their hair large and in charge.  I would tease my hair for hours on end and beg the good Lord to give me long, luscious, curly locks- just like my Whit .  This naturally flat, stick straight hair that tangled under the duress of my childhood.  And then there was the jacket. I wanted a jea...

Thanksgiving is a special time of year, isn't it?  It's like a legitimate reason to pile your plate high with carbs and pie and no one looks at you like you must be with child.  You wear stretchy pants, or at least make a reference to the episode of 'Friends' where Joey wears his Thanksgiving stretchy pants. I have a tendency to not think of Thanksgiving completely in the traditional sense, but not to say it is any less wonderful.  My brother was born on Thanksgiving day many a moon ago.  My nephew was also born on Thanksgiving not-quite-so-many moon ago.  One of my besties was born on Thanksgiving, as well.  So I think of birthday week when all those orangey-reddish table linens start to be pulled from everyone's decor closet.  You know, you have to make that conscience effort to remember that it is someone's very own personal special day, in addition to the holiday. So Thanksgiving means being Thankful for all the typical "Let's Give Thanks"...

It's funny the teachers you remember in life.  In first grade I had the most amazing teacher who I helped after school.  I was a bit of a scraggly kid and she made me feel so special.  She gave me my first lunchbox.  It was a used, metal Kermit the Frog box.  It was so cool. Second grade was a pretty cool gal, too.  She was mesmerizing.  I loved when she would read out loud to us.  She was so animated and she was beautiful.  She had those lovely curly locks of brown hair.  Like, 80's style curly.  Big and soap-opera star-ish. And there were some other stellar ones in the years that followed.  There were some real snooze-fest ones, too.  But I'll never forget the one that called me an idiot. I was in high school and right there, in front of the whole class he said it.  It cut really deep.  It was a painful moment for me.  I was embarrassed and I tried to hide it.  What is unfortunate is that th...

"What's a nickel?", he asked, as they sat in the Starbucks parking lot. "What do you mean?" she responded. "I don't know what that is", he replied. She stared intently at him for a moment.  Was he being serious?  He was.  He was being completely serious.  She held up a dime and asked "What's this?" He gave her a sheepish shrug, and said "ten cents.... but I don't know what you call those." Was he being serious? He was. He was being completely serious. My husband didn't know what a nickel was until 3 days ago.  He knew the value of the coin, just as he knew the value of the quarter, dime and penny.  You see, in the motherland of England, they don't have names for their coins, and he seemed to function well enough without this knowledge here in the U.S. of A. for the past 3 years. This discussion came to fruition the other afternoon as I scanned my wallet for change for a desperately needed latte.  I as...

I like the days when my husband is home from work and we hang out together I like fresh coffee on those days you just gotta have one "rightnoworelse" I like when friends come to visit me I like toddlers, especially the outgoing ones I like going shopping on skinny days I like skinny days I like when stuff I have ordered online arrives.  It's like Christmas I like laughing until my cheeks hurt I like the drive-in I like waking up to rain on a lazy weekend I like arriving at my hotel when on vacation I like planning my life, even though some say you can't plan it, mine is going swimmingly I like a clean house.  I love a clean house I like my husband's weekend breakfasts.  Big and hearty. Yum.... I like shopping I like themes I like home-made cards and gifts I like people who have a positive energy and outlook.  It radiates everywhere I like when a must-see movie finally arrives via Netflix I like fire-pits and the stuff you do with em' I l...

My husband & I were invited to a birthday party for our next door neighbor's 2 year old daughter.  She is the most precious little thing ever and we have become good friends with our neighbors so naturally we made the short trek across the lawn to attend.  It was the morning events that are what proved most interesting:  that search for the perfect gift, for a perfect little girl. Child-free means we have no clue what to get a 2 year old.  I mentioned this in regards to my nephew's 7th birthday party over the summer, as well.  For tots, I always go the safe route and buy clothes (**Spoiler Alert**- If you have a tot, he or she is getting clothes from me as a gift).   This time, however, I wanted to think outside the box and buy a present other than clothing so Lloyd and I left for the toy store and sought the perfect gift.  I almost immediately settled on a baby-doll.  They were adorable and I wanted to buy one alongside a ...