Tina

So I'm thinking this is the look I need for my wedding.  Yes?

Check out the hair!  Yes, it's all mine.

So, in actuality I was playing Tina in Tony N' Tina's Wedding but I'm thinking I can totally use some ideas from this for my own wedding.  I mean, if nothing else then definitely the hair!

Kids...Part 2

So, as previously stated, I have recently spent some time with an adorable one year old and an amazing five year old.  My niece, Elizabeth Marie, and my nephew, Nathaniel, live in Austin so I am  forced to cram all bonding time with them into five days for Christmas or a week for Easter, etc.  I've missed out on birthdays and first steps.  So it was really important for me to spend some quality time with them on this last trip.  I would be seeing them wake up every morning and putting them to sleep every night and I was so excited to make some memories with my two smallest family members.  

And, again, as previously stated, it was exhausting, indeed.  But also so rewarding.  And memories, they were made, my friends.

Nathaniel, as we were getting him dressed in the morning, said to me "Can I give you a hug?".  I said, "Yes, please" and he proceed to crawl into my lap and wrap his arms around me for a good old fashioned cuddle.  We sat like that for a few minutes talking about this or that and it felt so good to  have that connection.  

Little Libby has tried to say my name, I'm told.  True it's garbled and slightly incoherent but I've heard that she looked down from the deck to the lawn where I was running around with her brother and called out, "Aaa Neeeie" (clearly intended to be 'Aunt Stephie', as I am referred to by my family now).  And to see that girl smile when I walked in the room was enough to melt my heart.

We went on strolls where Nathaniel and I lamented about the 'Private Park' on our street, wishing we were among the select few who were deemed worthy to slide and swing.  We then went into planning mode, going over the designs for our own park, complete with water slide and the best monkey bars this side of the Amazon.  If you're nice to us then you can come play too but not you Christopher because you tease Nathaniel at school so you are not allowed.  That goes for the rest of you bullies, too.

And I found that Libby really likes for me to sing Motown and dance around the room with her in my arms.  And I'll never forget the first time she reached up for me to hold her.  Made me feel so good to feel her little arms wrap around my neck for a hug.  Kids are great.

So, exhausting?  Yes.  Amazing?  Completely!  One of my favorite trips to Austin, definitely.  And I'd do it again, Samantha.  Any time.  Thanks for letting me join in the fun.  Love you!!!

Kids

My sister got married last weekend and as a special gift to the newlyweds I decided to stay a few extra days and help watch their kids while they took a honeymoon.

I have never been more exhausted in my life.  I'm too tired to write silly anecdotes about the week.  I can't relate any stories as my brain is still mush.  Mike and I are thinking that being parents to our kitten is good enough.   For now.  For a very long time.

To all the parents out there, I salute you.  I don't know how you do it.

Warning: The following is a rant.

I don't know if you've noticed but so far my blog has been completely void of any political subject matter.  It's not that I don't care.  BELIEVE me, I do!  But I feel that we are inundated all day every day by propaganda on all fronts and I don'tneed to explore the subject at any length here.  Besides, my vote is decided and has been for a very long time so what is there to talk about, really?  And, I've really enjoyed all of the truly mundane things previously discussed in this blog.  Sometimes, especially during times such as these, it's nice to escape to a land of wall clocks and eighties rock.

Well, friends, I'm sorry to break the rules but here goes.

GAY MARRIAGE.

If you're against gay marriage then don't do it.  But why prevent others from doing it?  Who does gay marriage hurt?  The church?  Society?  That's a matter of opinion and has NOTHING to do with the law.  

I love America and here's why.  In America you are entitled to your opinion.  Entitled.  Express yourself.  Argue.  Debate.  Pick a cause to fight for and fight!  But why pick gay marriage? How does it affect your life if two men are declared 'Husband and Husband'?  I really don't get what the big deal is.  

If you do not approve of homosexuality because of religious reasons that's fine.  But there's a little thing called separation of Church and State.  Which means we cannot pass laws based on what Jesus said was right and wrong.  

And I love how people think gay marriage will lead to a new interpretation of the Constitution.  Kind of like it did when we included African Americans and Women.  What were we thinking?!

And I realize I'm ranting but when I see those ads to 'Vote yes on Prop 8!' I get so frustrated.  Aren't there more important issues we should be dealing with?  War?  Debt?  Education?  Health care?  Redefining the requirements for one to be chosen as a Vice President?  These are issues we should worry about.  

People say that gay marriage will destroy the sanctity of marriage.  I got news for them.  Divorce destroys the sanctity of marriage.  Literally.  You want to protect the sanctity, then outlaw divorce.   No?  Then shut up.

Aaaaaaaaaand rant DONE!

IKEA

Few people know this about me but before I wanted to be an actor, I wanted to be an interior designer.

I liked to act from the beginning but didn't know that it counted as a real job.  By the by, for thosew of you who still don't know, acting IS a real job.  When I was a kid, however, I thought I'd have to do something else to make money so I wanted to be an interior designer.  

I LOVE looking in people's houses.  Mike and I will go on walks at dusk when it's dark enough that people have their lights on but light enough that they haven't closed the drapes.  I peep.  Mike thinks it's rude and he's probably right but I can't help it.  I LOVE stealing a glimpse at this man's fireplace or that woman's sofa.  And I LOVE the architecture.  In fact I would have wanted to be an architect but for the math stuff.  Me no likey the math.  

But interiors...yessssssss.  I love it.  My mom and I used to wander through antique stores on the weekends and I used to picture the houses that belong with the furniture.  This chair belongs in an old colonial next to the fireplace while this table should sit in a breakfast nook under a picture window.  I especially liked when the store would set up a 'mock' room with the furniture.  This one is a bedroom, that one a kitchen, and here is a tea room.  I could choose the houses in which these rooms belonged.  Granted my imagination was limited to the houses that I had been inside so many of these rooms ended up in my mom's or my dad's or even Cary's houses but I still enjoyed my fantasies.

So imagine my joy when best friend Cary asked me to help decorate her new place.  YEA!  We talked about the space, I spent the week watching HGTV and then on Saturday we headed off to IKEA for some staple pieces.

I lOVE IKEA!

I had never been before this weekend.  Wow.  It's heaven.  There are little rooms all set up and decorated and complete with bathrooms and closets.  I LOVE it.  They have everything!  They have art work, office supplies, beds, kitchen cabinets...I'm in love.  Cary and I had a successful and fun mission and we left with two cartfuls so now I only have one question...

How can I get a job decorating the IKEA show rooms?

Suggestions?

Macy's Registration Extravagaza!

So, Macy's had a wedding registry party on Wednesday night.  

"From six til nine, mocktails and appetizers will be served and don't forget your parting gift!"  

I take my mother because, let's face it, Mike would rather have his ear sawed off than attend an event such as this. However, I do not want Mike to be completely out of the loop so we consult on what he'd like, colors to steer away from, china patterns that he finds mildly desirable, etc. and I am off to Union Square to have some fun with my mom.  Shopping without spending any money?!  And mocktails to boot!  Sounds like a fantastic night out in the city.

We arrive fashionably late and make our way up to the sixth floor where the extravaganza will begin.  We are greeted with the pulsing sounds of some pop remix emitting from the speakers flanking a DJ booth which seems slighting out of place amid the Waterford Crystal vases and the Lennox stemware.

We check in and proceed to a kiosk where we get entered into the system and then they give us the scanner!  I am mildly disappointed that said scanner is some flat taser looking device and not the gun that we were promised but tasers are cool too so I let it go.

It is fun going around scanning items.  We only get tripped up a couple of times but we manage to figure it all out in the end.  It is just very surreal to listen to Justin Timberlake singing Sexy Back while I'm sipping on some delicious grapefruit and orange juice concoction deciding between the Tuscany and the Country Stemware.  Who am I?

And looking around at the other couples, I am glad that Mike stayed home.  There are two kinds of couples present: 

1. The tired bored looking grooms following their brides around, laden with glasses and paperwork, who occasionally bicker with their brides-to-be over the uselessness of some vase or picture frame.  

2. The uber grooms who have an opinion about everything and for the most part cannot agree on a single thing with their brides.  Yikes!  

We see one couple who, though they appear a tad sleepy at the end of the evening, leave holding hands and smiling.  That's promising.  If you can get through a day of registration shopping and not be completely sick of each other than you've got something special all right.  

I manage to skip the registration trauma altogether by leaving groom boy happily at home so I get to spend an evening with my mother who makes everything so much fun.  She is patient and helpful during the long and tedious task of scanning all our Fiestaware by hand to ensure a wide variety of color and she keeps us focused so I don't get overwhelmed.

By the end of the evening we are nexhausted and dehydrated (Macy's air conditioning is not functional at the moment) so luckily Rose, our lovely consultant who checks us out, is delightful.   We leave with our goody bags, smiles on our faces, and a grand sense of accomplishment.  

Contented sigh.

But seriously the music was weird.