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Tamara
06.20.11 | Permalink | | Comments Off on TamaraBradley says this is the most honest picture taken of me lately. He says it shows my skin texture and color, my eyes and my energy.  I thought that was nice, so thought I should post that picture for posterity.
One day, when the polish of middle age has worn off, when I am old, grey , withered and wizened, I can point to this picture to tell my grandkids, “This is what your Mimi looked like at 37.” Because I WILL be a “Mimi”, just like my mom. And I am sure, that just like my kids are about their grandparents, my own grandchildren won’t be able to believe that I was ever that young. And while I may doubt it today, we will all be able to see how lovely and happy I was at 37.
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S’more S’mores!
06.19.11 | Permalink | | Comments Off on S’more S’mores!
June hits and our kids start thinking about marshmallows. I am not kidding. As soon as the grill gets turned on, they start dancing around us and chanting all about s’mores. If you follow our blog at all then you know the significance of s’mores for us. As vegetarians we can’t eat regular marshmallows because a primary ingredient is gelatin, a byproduct of the meat industry. So our marshmallows either arrive in the mail for a ridiculous cost or are bought at PCC for a ridiculous cost. Our kids know this, know of the expense and know that marshmallows are like GOLD, so when we DO have the s’mores we get very very excited around LJ house. This past week we had our first s’mores of 2011. We were justly exhuberant!
Last year Jude ate mostly cold marshmallows. He was so impatient to get the darn things into his mouth that there was very little left of the marshmallow on the stick by the time he was ready to make the s’more. This year he went in the other extreme. While this photo doesn’t show it, Jude appeared to like his marshmallows cajun style: blackened!
When all was said and done, we had two happy kids full of sugary goodness and two parents who happily looked on while their kids had a little piece of summer in a s’more!
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How to Take a Picture
06.18.11 | Permalink | | Comments Off on How to Take a Picture
First off, I should say that title is a joke. Any really great pictures that make it out of my camera are mostly the fault of the ridiculous amount of pictures that I do take and a camera that does a nice job… But I digress.
Today I realized that I havent posted new Facebook pictures in months and really wanted a new profie picture. I know, super exciting and an important way to spend a Saturday. But we also went to the beach so I don’t feel too bad. Of the beach though, we have no pictures. This, however, made it to the blog? Hmmm. Anyhow, I tried, unsuccessfully, to take a picture of myself in front of the mirror. I really thought it’d be easy, but I kept getting weird pictures, weird angles, and a lot of camera. I thought that this series of photos was kind of funny so I thought I’d share.
I like this one because my hair looks like Princess Leia’s. I was wearing piggytails and my new longer hair (which to most people is still short hair) is still short enough that they are close to my head and curl just enough to look like buns. But in this picture, I looked at myself instead of the camera and the camera ended up being the focal point. Uncool. My camera does not have its own facebook page!
Again not looking at the camera. What was funny to me was that I THOUGHT that I was looking at the camera. The whole thing was just confusing.
And finally, when I did look into the camera, the camera blocks my face. Then the batteries died and I ended up with this silly attempt at a facebook profile picture. And by this time I have a weird look on my face because I was getting a little bit frustrated that I could not get this. And I did not stop at four pictures, oh no. I have many many more. Of me NOT looking at the camera or the camera in front of my face. Obviously I still need to work on my mirror self portrait taking skills. Eventually, Bradley came around and just took some of me, but I am still going to have to figure this out!
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Toto
06.06.11 | Permalink | | Comments Off on TotoGigi was Toto in this year’s Hilltop rendition of ‘Munchkin Mediation’, our All School Musical for this year. She sang alongside Virgina (AKA Dorothy) about learning to wait turns to speak. Really, that is what the song was about (“Don’t interrupt, don’t be abrupt, take turns hear the replies,” this was the chorus). And guess what? It was AMAZING! Our talented music teacher has found plays that teach conflict resolution and character education during a musical and they are quite entertaining. My Gigi wanted to be Dorothy, or really? Glinda the Good Witch, but was given her third choice, Toto. We had to paint a little black nose and a little puppy smile on her sweet little face (of course Jude needed a little nose and smile too), and we put her ponies in puppy dog ears. And then, the magic happened! We all watched with awe as our sweet little first grader bravely walked onstage arguing (“because it is part of the ‘acting’ mom”) then she walked up to the microphone and sang in the most pure little voice without any fear or stage fright. I cried, we cried, the audience ooohed and ahhed. I was impressed. Her courage, her talent, her cuteness… It was a night not to be missed, so many of our best came out: Mimi, Bop-bop, GSB, Pipi, Lydia, Jude, Mom and Dad all came to support our little Toto. And every one of us was blown away. (video coming later)
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12
06.05.11 | Permalink | | Comments Off on 12It has been 12 years since I married my true love. 12 years. 12 years since we looked into one another’s eyes and proclaimed that we would be together Forever and always, always and ever.
It has been 12 years since you sang Jeff Buckley’s rendition on Corpus Christi Carol as I made my way down the aisle with my parents. 12 years since my bustle wouldn’t stay put and Chris had to restart our first dance.  12 years have passed since you dropped the crumb of cake down the front of my dress, and I retrieved it and fed it to you.
It has been 12 years since Michelle said to kiss and you took me in your arms as your wife and kissed me like a husband kisses his wife.
12 years. 12 amazing years. In those 12 years we have managed to finish college, find a job, build or remodel three houses, we’ve made two of the most beautiful, bright babies this world has ever seen. 12 years, 12 of the best years.
Happy Anniversary, my true love, my Papa Bear.
