somebody stop me!

Hi, my name is Annie and I am a blog addict. It seems I just can't stop adding new ones.

After admiring so many others' I gave in and started a catalog of my favorite home-related photos, ideas, recipes, and quotes. It's really just a digital place for me to put all those things that I used to tear out of magazines + put into files + then forget. The tumblr platform doesn't even accept comments but feel free to visit if you'd like to see the clips.  Or not.  It's called Gather.  And it's all about hygge and you know how I like my hygge.

You're probably wondering "what's next? a blog documenting Annie's breathing patterns? a catalog of her grocery receipts? her ideas for sculpting with dryer lint?" and to that I say, Maybe.  I don't rule these things out.  (I really am considering one more: a child development-dedicated site. What? I can stop anytime I want.  Really.)

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Meanwhile, I'm heading off to meet a lovely friend for lunch. {Actually Chrissi was my sister's friend growing up (and Matt's, too)} We caught up with each other again when we lived near each other in DC a few years ago and now she and her family are in Connecticut at Yale for a year.  She's an amazing photographer (see below); if you live in the area & are looking for someone to take some great photos, send her a note.  And her husband's a psychiatrist in the military so--who knows?--maybe they'll be headed close to you next.

A Party City is Very Good

{Quick explanation of the inside-joke title to this post.  When G and I were dating, he came to my grandparents' mountain cabin to meet the extended family.  My grandpa built it decades ago and, as a confirmed europhile (especially Germany) one of the personal touches he created is a carved mantle with his favorite Luther quote: Ein feste burg ist unser Gott, or A Mighty Fortress is Our God.  When he heard that Greg speaks Danish, my grandpa asked if he could translate the phrase on the mantle.  Greg, sensing this was a litmus test for future inclusion in the family, took his time studying it, looked up and said,  "A Party City is Very Good?" It was very endearing.  Apparently Danish and German languages don't play well together.}

Anyhoo, I'm prepping to host a slumber party here tonight with all the young women (12-18) from our church youth group.  Good times, y'all.  

Chick flicks, check.  

Easter candy, check.

All other manner of junk food, check.  

Louie sent to the dog hotel, check.

Make kids vacuum, check.

Fresh flowers, check. (Here's my floral philosophy.)

We'll be making those fabulous tissue paper pom-poms (^)for an event next week. Check.

A little preventive nap this afternoon, check.

Pancake breakfast makings, check.

Bedroom two floors away from the "sleeping," check.

One baby step closer to achieving my goal of kool-aid mom. A party city is very good, I say.

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And tomorrow we'll attend Miss Saigon at the high school.  Remember the drama when we found out they picked it for this year?  {Lauren decided not to audition since they weren't watering it down AT ALL for the high school production.}  Love the music, still not sure it's the best choice for a high school production.  I'll let you know...  

edited to say: picture courtesy of Martha Stewart

Happy happy joy joy

at least that's what I keep telling myself.

Happy that G is arriving back home today, just in time to help Sam participate in his last ever Pinewood derby.  {He's been in Arizona this week at Thunderbird, learning all about being an international man of mystery + about doing business in Saudi Arabia.}

Happy that it's Friday, that I am halfway through the semester and the class sessions just keep getting better (with a few learning-curve moments thrown in there).  It's lovely to get a good measure of energy and feedback from the students every week. I'm learning a lot.

Joy in the contradiction of eating sourpatch kids and drinking diet Coke. (I know, neither the pinnacle of health.  I promise I ate beets and broccoli for dinner.)  In the fabulous sunrise yesterday as I drove Lauren to seminary.  In polished toenails and taking my girls for their first-ever pedicures.

Joy in finding out that Louie and the dog next door have been passing their toys to each other under the fence (how fabulous is that?!).  In wearing my red shoes on a gray day.  In realizing (yet again) that I really am in charge of my own life, my own happiness.

(l to r) Maddy, me, Lauren.  They got their long toes and limbs from their father.  While I have sausage toes. And limbs.

Around here these days...

~Twilighting. I am taking Lauren to the midnight opening of  Twilight tonight.  Yes, I'm officially crazy.  I'll just leave that Mother of the Year nomination form conspicuously on the table there.

~Grooming. Louie is out getting his groovy on today.  His first grooming appointment which, because of his fabulous fur, will take all day. I kind of miss him around here.  We haven't been able to see his eyes for months. I wonder if he'll look like John Stamos/Rod Steward/David Bowie again?

~Listening. You know how when you were an early teen and there was That Song that you absolutely loved and (in my case) taped off of the radio and listened to over and over and over?  The one you never ever got sick of and made your heart go flutter every time it came on?  That's happening around here these days with the same songs flowing from two bedrooms.  My girls are officially obsessed with Taylor Swift and her new CD that came out this week.  Especially White Horse:  "I'm not a princess, this ain't a fairy tale..." (Let me take this opportunity to apologize to my family for inflicting them with  Footloose tape, Journey's "Open Arms," and "Endless Love"  during my early music years. Then I found Depeche Mode et al. and went alternative and inflicted them with that.)  I don't think we go more than 15 minutes without someone playing that CD.  Truly.

~Presenting. Lauren got her birthday present today, four months late.  She's sooo excited about her brand new flute, the Yamaha 461H.  Next year she'll want the kind of Yamaha you can ride.

~Painting. Maddy's room will be receiving its post-wallpaper paint this weekend.  It only took me a couple of months.  Word to the wise: just go straight to purchasing a steamer to remove wallpaper. 

~Bracing ourselves. Not one but TWO of our kids are heading for braces in the next few months (Sam and Maddy).  Headgear. Retainers. Spacers. Bands.  Teeth extraction.  The works!  Upon investigation it appears that the alignment and jaw issues both kids have are not actually from my side of the family but are exactly like Greg's teeth.  And he always said he should have gotten a dental dowry when he got married...

~Handing in. I just finished my last stats assignment of the semester, with just the final left to complete next month.  I am making peace with multiple regression, residuals, outliers, and Mauchley's Test of Sphericity (which, to be honest, is just fun to say).   

~Anticipating. I love Thanksgiving.  It's my favorite holiday.  I'm enjoying making lists, planning meals and shopping.  Being thankful.  We have friends coming to see us for a couple of days right before Thanksgiving (can't wait!) so it will be a delicious, blessed week.

~Loving these. Enjoy:

First Aid Kit.  

Love that they are two sisters from Sweden, doing covers of Fleet Foxes music. Very talented and cool and haunting:

This adorable French girl:

This one will make any day brighter:

Guaranteed. See more here.

Randomness: Life is Funny

While waiting in the aptly-named waiting room at the doctor's office this week, a 40-something woman sat next to me reading a magazine.  Every once in a while she talked with her daughter, a little girl around 7 who was playing with the waiting room toys.  Suddenly, her phone rang.  You know what the ringtone was?  "Stacy's Mom has Got It Going On." Really, lady?  That was what you chose from the vast quantity of melodies available for ringtone?  Because my thoughts are these: No matter how attractive you are, if your ringtone has to announce you've "got it going on" then it diminishes you a little in my eyes.  I had a really hard time not laughing hard & avoiding eye contact with the other flabbergasted/amused parents in the waiting room. (Or maybe, to be fair, it was Stacy's mom who was calling.  Then it would make sense.)

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Louie the dog got into our Bananagrams game, which has little letter tiles like Scrabble.  When I found him and shooed him back into the other room there were a few tiles left on the floor.  I kid you not: they spelled IMEOW.  Maybe Louie's ready to confess to some cat tendencies but had to put it in writing rather than face us with the news?

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As for the post-its from the last entry, all I did was write on a few post-it notes, put them on a white piece of paper, and scan them in. (I love adventures in scanning and was a little loopy from the root canal.) Then I cropped it so the line at the edge of the paper wouldn't show.  Voila! 

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Speaking of scanning, here's a little beauty from the archives.  The first one's not so bad.  Our mock trial team (yes, I'm a proud card-carrying member of the geek club) had to miss Senior Prom so we held our own little prom, complete with professional photos.  We had such a blast and ended the evening jumping on the trampoline at midnight and playing night games in our prom finery (and if any of you are by any chance reading this--thanks for the memories! ):

This next one's great.  I like to call this one Blindsided by the 80s.  I went with such a cool guy (in fact he just married one of my other high school friends this month--they refound each other through Facebook). It's not his fault that this particular style isn't so hip today.  

And what about the fabulous photo backdrop (is that crumpled up pink saran wrap)?!