A big birthday in a big place

Ugh. 50. Fifty. Time marches on. You peer into the mirror one day at your reflection and you've turned into your mother. On 10/20 I will be fifty. Just saying it is painful. I am truly not happy about it, but what do you do? Try to be reasonably fit and healthy and happy. To celebrate, we are off to Arizona, to visit the Grand Canyon.
We are also visiting Sedona which is known for the spiritual power of the vortex. I suppose I would describe myself as mildly curious. I grew up Pentecostal and we certainly recognize (but don't fear) the power of the spiritual realm. They say if you feel the power of the vortex that it will affect you in a positive manner for quite some time. Who wouldn't benefit from that? I plan to check it out and I'll give you a full report.
We also plan to visit the town of Jerome. We're camping at Mathers campground and hope to be able to get into Phantom Ranch for a night. I hike a lot. I walk a lot. Am I ready for the challenge of the canyon? I'll let you know how I do.
I don't know if I'll be reporting from out there or I'll report upon my return. At any rate, I'll be in touch.
My daughter says "But Mom, you don't seem like a fifty year old."
Thanks, Laura.

Halloween cards

If I can make these cards, then you can too! I used Halloween images stamped on cotton - called "Homespun Cotton Scraps" from Crafty Secrets. I found mine locally at Papertrix in Nashville, but you can buy yours online. If you are interested in how to reproduce these cards, write to me and I'll give you exact details.
This one says "Sing a song of Halloween, Pumpkins everywhere. Cats, Bats and witches flying through the air."

I was up until 12:30 on a school night! (AKA work night.) I couldn't help myself. I was in the zone, that wonderful zone, oblivious to what time it was or what was going on around me. Doug kept saying "Honey, go to bed." I usually kennel Chelsea around 10, 10:30 when I go to bed, but she was on the floor, right beside my chair - with her favorite toy, her bunny.

Hoosiers Outrun Cancer

Here is our IUAA Hoosiers Outrun Cancer team that participated in the 5K last Saturday morning. I am second on the left, next to Mama and Mr. Bland.
I actually Outwalked cancer with one of my IU book club buddies, Nicole (pictured to my left)(additional book club ladies, Catherine and Patty to Nicole's left). It was so nice to have someone to do the walk with, to talk with. She is about the same age as my daughter and thin. Even as hard as we walked, I don't think she ever broke a sweat or huffed and puffed. I was definitely huffing as I talked. We finished the 5K in 50 min. I would have personally liked to have done it in 45, but we lost a LOT of time in the beginning as we were not near the front of the pack. By the time we finished, we were closing in on the walkers near the front.
At one point, there were all of these goofy boys - maybe 8-10 years old, being boys, goofing off and I was plowing through like "move it, move it boys!" and Nicole told me that one of the boys said "she is taking this serious!" Yup.

Chelsea makes friends.

This past Saturday was Lotus Festival in Bloomington and on Saturday afternoon we took Chelsea with us to the free music at 3rd Street Park. She made lots of friends.

This little guy really has a tight grip on her here, at one point he grabbed her eye and I cringed...Chelsea did fine. She seems to know...

One special new friend was a five year old Corgi named Haley. Her owner was lovely, too.She was one pooped Puprs.

At least the pizza and beer was good

I lifted this cartoon from this blog when I saw it on another blog. Don't you love it? Oh Sarah, Sarah, Sarah. Wasn't she such a maverick last night?

We got into the spirit of the debate at our house by printing out the Palin Bingo sheets, but since the word maverick wasn't on our sheets, we just had to drink beer at random.

I picked up a six pack and a pizza and at the pizza place this twenty something guy told me how "hot" Sarah Palin is and how "he would." Thanks for sharing, guy.

She is intelligent, there is no debating that fact. But, she is still, overall, an embarrassment to women. I know we will all be tuning in to Saturday Night Live tomorrow night to see what Tina Fey does with the debate. Betcha five million that she'll use the word maverick once or twice.

Sarah lost me at her "I hate gays" statement. Actually what she said was something about defining marriage as being between a man and a woman. And, there are a lot of people who would agree with her on that one. I also loved it when Gwen Ifill asked her if there were any promises she'd made that she would change and Palin said "how long have I been at this? Five weeks?" Um, you really drove your inexperience home then. And everything kept going back to ALASKA. Um, Sarah, we're talking about the entire United States of America, here.

And don't even get me started on her views on drilling.

What did you think?

Attending a Citizen Cope concert - or "How I hung with the twenty year old set."

About a year ago,my son Bradley and I were in his room working on FAFSA and I loved the music he was playing. It was Citizen Cope. He burned a copy for me and I've been listening to it, ever since. Recently, I saw that Citizen Cope Solo Acoustic tour was going to be in Indy at the Murat. So, for part of B's 21st birthday, I bought a couple of tickets. We drove to Indy last night and had dinner at Bazbeaux Pizza on Mass Ave first. (Yum, I jus loves me some Bazbeaux!) Then, on to the concert. It was supposed to start at 8, but he didn't come out until 8:30. We had amazing tickets and we talked about how our tickets could have been even more amazing if we didn't play the "who is going to get the tickets?" game. We were in the 11th row, seats 11 & 12. For awhile, we sat. The guys behind us were way drunk. At one point, one of them spilled his drink on my back and when I told B., I thought he was going to punch him. He was all like "Hey! Don't be spillin' drinks on my mom!" whoa. I got tears in my eyes. I knew most of the songs. Citizen Cope is cute, has a great voice and is very stoic most of the time. He started singing "Pablo Picasso" and said "The woman that I love" and then he stepped away from the mike and the audience sang on "is forty feet tall." and he gives this slow, shy, cute smile. He stopped playing at ten, but came back out for three more songs after he went off stage. I thought the concert was short, but Bradley deemed it "about right." I was one of less than five in the audience over thirty years old. It is pretty cool when my 21 year old son will go to a concert for his age group with me. Thanks, B. You're the greatest!

What is essential?

The other day, my daughter was getting on me because I still only have a nineteen inch t.v. and she thinks I need a new big flat screen. She said "I would like to see you have the "essentials." What is essential to one may be frivolous to another. Getting a new t.v. isn't in my list of priorities. I don't watch a lot of t.v. Of course, that may change once we upgrade our cable and I get HGTV.

Nor do I have tivo. My daughter says it would change my life. I'm certain it would.

Nor do I have a dvr. I do have netflix. If I want to see something that is featured on HBO, I usually rent it from netflix. I like the convenience and I like being able to sit through hours of Six Feet Under or Mad Men.

Another thing I don't have and don't want is a blackberry. I love being away from the computer and not having to answer email. I don't understand wanting to answer email via your blackberry and always being in touch. No thank you!

Nor do I have an ipod. I listen to music in my car and on my computer at work. Sometimes, I think ipods are dangerous and definitely anti-social. Plus, just like when people were wearing headphones and blasting music, there will be a lot of people have hearing problems (what?) in the future. One of my friends has that ringing in her ears from listening to her music so loud. Usually, you can hear what people are listening to, even with the earbuds in their ears. Turn it down!

One thing I would love to have is a notebook. And, I'll have one in the near future. But, I know I'll be on it when I "should be" doing something else. Plus, when I can't sleep, I get up and get online. Not good.

What has been essential to my happiness as of late is my new puprs, Chelsea. That little girl is a joy. We are teaching her to sit and speak and how to walk properly. I walk her every day. She can fetch for thirty minutes at a time.

And, I bought a new Nikon Powershot P80 that I am working to master - it is fun to have it with me and to be able to post my own shots.



What else is "essential" to me?

Family.

Friends.

Starbucks. Venti Mocha and Pumpkin loaf.

Margaritas.

Hiking and being in the woods.

Candles burning bright.

Chili on the stove.

A fire in the fireplace with s'mores!

A glass of wine.

A magazine or catalog. A cat at my side in my wicker chair.

My car. Being able to go where I want, whenever I want to.

Gardening.

A good book.

All of the toys and stuff are fun, but not essential to me. I know. I'm becoming my mother.

Tell me, what is essential to your life, your well being, your happiness?