QOTD

I like reading these types of headlines:

Opposition to gay marriage lower in 2012 campaign

I wish I read more of them!

Yaya's Dooley

If the way my husband's parents treat their grand-dogs provides any insight to how they are going to treat our future human children, then we're in luck.  Or at least our future children are in luck.  Last weekend Trigger and Dooley stayed with Yaya and Papa, and Yaya reported that Dooley did not want to go in her crate at bedtime, so Yaya let Dooley sleep next to her in the bed.

As a result every night this week Dooley whines for the first ten minutes you put her in her crate at bedtime.   She wants to sleep in our bed- a trick Yaya taught her.  It makes us laugh.  Thanks Yaya!

Old Habit

Yesterday I was at Target and I stopped by the card section to pick out Mother's Day cards.  I found a card for my mother, and then (out of habit) I started looking for a Mother's Day card for a grandmother.  I almost picked up a card when it hit me (it stung a bit) that I no longer have a living grandmother.  I then thought of my mom and how she no longer has a living mother.

And life goes on...

Adam Bumps Chris Off

It's okay for my husband to cheat on me as long as it's only with the named celebrity we've previously discussed.  For years, ever since our wedding, I've been nervous that we'd run into Chris O'Donnell when we vacationed in Los Angeles, because he's been my husband's named celebrity.  However, tonight my husband informed me that he would like to replace Chris O'Donnell with Adam Levine.   Now I have to worry every time Maroon 5 comes to town!

Of course, my husband still has to make sure my path never crosses with Matt Damon's, because Matt is the one celebrity my husband has cleared for me!

S'mores

This weekend while we were at our buddy's river house we brought (almost) all the necessary ingredients for s'mores, the camp fire's tastiest dessert!  Almost all the necessary ingredients, because we did not bring a wire hanger, which is what we normally use to roast our marshmallows.  So we made s'mores in the microwave.   And I discovered that they are so much better in the microwave because the chocolate gets melted too.

I've been making s'mores in our own microwave ever since we got back home.  I've added a layer of peanut butter to help anchor the chocolate.  I'm also thinking about making s'mores with Nutella?

This is the first time in my life I've thought about a s'mores when there's not camp fire around.  This is life changing.

Bo Bartlett

Readers of this blog know that I love art.  I just discovered Bo Bartlett and you must check him out too.  Of course, my husband says I'm a sucker for art that includes people, which might be the reason Bo Bartlett's work speaks to me.  Looking at a great piece of art relaxes my brain.

Roaming Weekend

Whew.  It's Sunday night and we're tired.  Is that a good way to start the week?  It's a good tired because we had great weekend...and we went to bed in a different town each night...

Thursday night - Waxahachie, at my husband's parents' house

Friday night - Austin, at the hotel

Saturday night - Johnson City, at our buddy's river house

Sunday night - home again, home again!

I'm happiest roaming the world with my husband.

Have a good week.

QOTD

This is a bit dated, but the point is still very powerful.  Are the homos that want to get married really a threat to the "institution of marriage?"  I mean really.  Remind me how my relationship with my husband interferes with your marriage?  I'm searching for the logic...

...still searching...

Paul Singer

Have you ever heard of Paul Singer?  He's the founder and CEO of the successful hedge fund Elliott Management.  They have assets under management of approximately $19 billion, and he earns about $100 million a year.  He's also a big ol' Republican. AND he publicly supports gay marriage?!

Paul Singer's son, Andrew Morris-Singer, is married to a man, Corey Morris-Singer.

Why don't more Republicans support marriage for all?  I wish the GOP had more "Paul Singers" in the mix.

I've said it many times on this blog, but Republicans are on the wrong side of history on the marriage issue.  They need to make marriage equality part of their platform.  Marriage is consistent with "traditional family values."  I don't understand how in 2012 the Republican nominee for President can proudly/publicly be anti-equal rights.

I want the same rights as my brother.  Nothing more.  I want the freedom to marry the person I love.

Blue's Here

My parents picked up their 8-week old chocolate lab yesterday.  Of course we drove to my parents' house to see Blue.  She is beautiful.

My MBA Man

My husband got into an Executive MBA program, and in celebration his parents sent along some new gear for him to wear.  I'm excited for my husband.  His career will continue to take off with his new knowledge.  He has an electrical engineer undergrad degree and will have an MBA graduate degree- that's a deadly combination!  We're in for an exciting adventure.  For the next two years, every-other-weekend my husband will be in school.  He still has all the responsibility of his full time job.  And he still has all the responsibilities of his full time husband job!

Looks like he'll need Hermione's time-turner.

Saturday Night With Our Nieces

We spent Saturday night with our nieces. We went to a carnival, to dinner, and to the play ground.  Presley fell and busted her lip at the playground.  It was a big bloody mess, but my husband scooped her up and took her to the bathroom.  He handled the situation.  I was holding Paxten and before I could figure out what to do my husband was already on it.  I'm so sorry Presley received her first busted lip on our watch, but it was incredible watching my husband solve the crisis.  When we got home I held Presley and kept an ice pack on her lip while we talked.  It was a bounding moment for us.  My husband was playing with Paxten upstairs. It was a bounding moment for them.  Later when I was tucking Presley into bed I told her I loved her, and she replied: "I love you too."

Her four little word reply, "I love you too," sent my heart into another realm.  It was exhilarating.

Damn I love those little girls.

So Much Love

Life includes disappointments, missed opportunities, sadness and losses for each and every one of us.  That's life.  The challenges in life only ensure that we can celebrate with more enthusiasm the joys, gifts, and happiness-es that are also included in life.  Life is beautiful.

In October, my mother lost her mother after a long battle with cancer.  In December, my mother had an accident which fractured her skull and bruised her brain. She has a traumatic brain injury, which is still healing.  This year my mother retired so she could focus on healing.  My mom loved her job; she was passionate about teaching.  She was passionate about her students.  And apparently my mom's high school loved her too because the entire high school created an Lip Dub dedicated to my mother.

As her son, it overwhelms my heart with happiness and love when I watch this video and hear the entire school yell at the end "We love you Mrs. Parker."

You must watch this 8 minute video.

Life is beautiful.

Leslie Jordan

Last night we caught the spectacular performance of Leslie Jordan's one man show, Fruit Fly.  It's a 90-minute show trying to answer the question: do gay men end up like their mothers?  The show is really about his private life: when he was 11 years old his father died in a plane crash; he was given hormone shots at an early age because he stopped growing, which meant his body developed way before his peers; after high school he worked in Atlanta clubs; he had a terrible drug problem, which lead to many funny situations...the show was hilarious because Leslie knows how to tell a story.

The show ended with him talking about how much he loves his mother even though she'll never be marching in any parades on his behalf.  He said his mother was doing the best to see with the light she has, and if he wants her to accept him then he also has to accept her.

Our Yard is in Bloom

It's been a lovely spring, and we're really enjoying our blooming yard.  Flowers are so pretty!

Easter Lunch

We hosted Easter lunch for the family.  Parts of the day felt strange because the last Easter we hosted my grandmother was enjoying the day with us, but I haven't seen her since her death in October.  This Easter my grandfather came with my aunt and cousin.  It was an immensely enjoyable day because we have such a fun family.  The highlight, I'm sure everyone would agree, was my brother's two daughters.  At 4 and 2 years old they are at such a fun stage of life.  They add chaos and joy to any situation.

Here's the lunch menu:

• Prime beef tenderloin
• BBQ chicken
• Smashed Yukon Gold potatoes 
• Glenda's mac & cheese
• Carrots au gratin
• Aunt Jan's broccoli crunch salad
• Curried chicken and pasta salad
• Roasted tomatoes, mozzarella, pesto, basil
• Deviled eggs (My brother's are delicious!)
• Yeast rolls
• My mom's homemade vanilla ice cream with fudge brownies for dessert!

And of course since I catered my way through college, we had enough food for at least ten more guests!  When I cook I like to have left overs, because I was brainwashed in catering: "if you don't have left overs, then you didn't have enough!"

Happy Easter

Trigger and Dooley want to wish you a very happy Easter.  I hope you enjoyed the day with your friends and family.

Thank You Marines

Tonight we walked into a restaurant behind two Marines each with a date.  The Marines were in their dress uniforms, and as gentlemen they held the doors open for their girlfriends, but they then insisted that my husband and I follow behind their dates.  Meaning the two Marines held the doors open for us too.   It was nice.  Once inside the restaurant they hustled ahead of us to get back to their female friends.

After we finished our meal we discretely told the server of the Marines' table to bring us their check.  The server was taken back a bit.  He asked if we wanted to pay just for the two Marines or if we wanted to include their dates too?  We laughed.  We told him to bring the check for the entire table.  The server then asked if we wanted to meet the Marines?  Again we laughed.  We told him we just wanted to discretely take care of their meal.  The server came back with the check and went on and on about how nice we were to do this.  No, no - we're not the ones serving our country, defending our freedom, and possibly sacrificing our body or life in the line of duty.  The least we could do is pick up their check for one meal.

As we walked out I glanced back at their table.  The two girlfriends were smiling at us.  I guess the server ratted us out!  I smiled back and we walked out the doors.  It was our random act of kindness for the week.

If you ever get the chance to pick up the check of a soldier in uniform, then I highly recommend it.  It made us happy, it made their server happy, it made our server happy, and hopefully it made the Marines feel valued, loved, appreciated by two strangers in Dallas, Texas.

I wish I could afford to do more.  But if everyone does what they can...then the world is a happier place.  

Happy Endings

Is anyone else watching Happy Endings?  This fast paced comedy is one of the funniest shows on television right now.  My favorite is the Brad and Jane; they are the married couple.  They crack me up.  This show is very funny.  You have to watch a few episodes to get a complete understanding of the characters.  It's worth it.

Babies

Like us if parenthood is in your future, then you should add Babies to your Netflix queue.  This wordless documentary film follows the first year of life of four babies from four different parts in the world.  I found it interesting and entertaining.  For me it really underlined the point that humans have been raising babies for hundreds of years, and babies don't really need all the "stuff" we can buy at our American baby stores.

QOTD

This made us laugh.  I thought I'd share.  Do you ever wonder what life would be like if you weren't scared of failure?  If you fall, you'll only hit the floor...that's not so bad, right?  Be fearless.

All's Well

All's well in our home.  We were unharmed by all the crazy Dallas weather yesterday.  It was windy, rainy, and tornado-y in our part of the world yesterday.  So far I haven't heard of any deaths.  Several people lost their homes, but I hope no one lost their life.

Dish Washer Death

Our dishwasher lost the ability to wash and rinse dishes.  You have to run it once with dish washing soap and then a second time without soap to ensure the dishes are clean and soap free.  Soapy dishes is not a good thing.  (We learned the hard way.)  I was saving cash for a new wing back chair, or a new floor lamp, or a new couch, but instead we purchased a new dishwasher.  It should be here in two weeks.

I'm not sad.  Our dish washer was lame.  I've been waiting for a reason to get rid of it, but I didn't want to replace it until something went wrong.

I did it!

I haven't run in a long, long time.  I practice Bikram yoga regularly, which is a total body work out.  Yesterday, to the surprise of my buddy Jordan and everyone else in my office, I ran four miles.  Non-stop.  Jordan was emailing updates to the office while we ran; I averaged a ten minute mile.   It's silly, but I was the office hero after I ran four miles.  They were so surprised, because they couldn't do it.  I've always been undervalued, underutilized at my firm when it comes to work.  This wasn't any different!  My husband knew I could do it.  Again, it's silly, but having my husband believe in me is very satisfying.  My husband wasn't surprised when I completed the challenge.

Now, Jordan "yoga is just stretching" is going to do a Bikram yoga class, and I hope his wife has life insurance because I plan to kill him in class.  It's going to be tough!

Running Today

I clipped a few irises from our yard and brought them inside so I could enjoy their beauty.   I love purple irises.  I will be thinking of their beauty while I run four miles after work today...  

My buddy Jordan (who has never stepped foot in a Bikram Yoga class) claimed that yoga is just stretching and is not a legitimate work out routine.  Jordan is a runner.  I popped off and claimed that I only do Bikram yoga, and I could run four miles but he couldn't do one yoga class.  Today after work I have to run four miles without walking.  Later in the week Jordan will do a Bikram yoga class.

I think I was in college the last time I ran.  Everyone in the office is betting against me.  Everyone except the one other person that does Bikram yoga.  I think I can, I think I can, I think I can...

Bowling for Dave

Our friend Dave turned 30 years old yesterday, and he held a good old fashioned bowling party.  Did you know the bowling alley morphs into a club at night?  They dimmed the lights, turned up the music, and put up big screens with music videos playing.  Did you also know I do not like bowling?  I can't even fake it.  I just throw the ball down the lane and I don't care where it goes.  Sometimes I don't even knock any pins down, and sometimes I knock down all the pins- I'm so indifferent in the outcome.   My husband likes to bowl.  He's really good too.  I had fun last night because I was hanging out with my husband and our friends.

Happy Birthday Dave!  (Now that you're 30 you need to marry Myranda.)

First Monday

On Saturday my husband, my parents and I loaded up and headed to First Monday Trade Days in Canton Texas.  We didn't buy much, I wish I'd bought more, but we had a lovely day together.  As a kid I went to Canton many times with my Aunt Jan before her death in 1994.  I still think of her every time I go.