Another One Bites the Dust

Today was a special day for my baby boy, Elijah. We got up early and took a trip to the DMV for his driving permit. When we pulled up, the line was wrapped around the outside of the building. I knew we were in trouble! It took us 1 hour just to get inside the building.

Yes, my short morning trip turned into 4 LONG hours of waiting in one line after another (I know, I should've made an appointment, but I thought most people would be at work/school- WRONG.)

I told him, "You better pass, I can't take waiting like this another day!"

No pressure or anything right?

So here's how he progressed:

line #3

Picture time-he told me, "STOP! You didn't take pics of my brothers!"
I didn't have a camera phone back then...

legal signature and thumb print

testing time - you can miss 8 out of 46 to pass

the STRESS...did i pass??????

PASSED!!! (missed 4 out of 46-not too bad)

Official Driving Permit Picture

Scary - driving me home!

It's official, another one bites the dust...I have no more babies left!

Driving (=) Never Home! (sigh)

Hey, Chicken!

I was talking to my boss today about food, likes/dislikes ~ it brought up a funny memory. As parents we often tell our kids things to get them to do what we want. I used this little trick whenever I fed my kids meat. They all liked chicken, so whether it was steak, fish, ham, pork chops, ribs etc...I told them it was chicken.

I thought it was brilliant & it worked!

They would sometimes complain, "This chicken's hard to chew! It doesn't look like the other kind," (it was steak). I quickly said, "I used a different sauce, and cooked it a little longer, besides there's different kinds of chicken, dark and light, but you like the taste don't you?"

"YES," they'd reply, "but it kinda hurts our teeth, don't cook it so long next time."

This went on until they were in junior high school. When I finally decided it was time to come clean. I didn't want them out on a date telling a girl that the chicken was good while they ate steak. No one wants a bunch of little dummies!LOL

They were shocked to find out that there was actually meat other than chicken! hahahha

AND...

It served it's purpose for a time.

Do you have anything you told your kids or your parents told you growing up that makes you laugh now?

Hermit

This is where I should've been...

I don't know what it is, but this past weekend I felt like a total hermit. I didn't want to leave the house at all. We got invited to a music/art show down in Santa Monica on Saturday night, but I was too lazy. I popped in movie after movie and just wrapped myself up in a blanket and layed around. So unlike me!

Even today, I'm off work and I was going to drop the kids off at school, attempt to go straight to the gym, (my back is still ridiculously sore-no idea why. Had an ultrasound to check my gall bladder, liver, kidney's and stomach-which came back okay. YAY! But what is this pain? X-Ray's next I guess. ) The gym didn't happen.

I was also going to head out to lay by the pool or ride my bike to the beach and write a little bit (it's a gorgeous day here today) but went upstairs to finish some reading, fell asleep and woke up at 12:00 p.m.! What's up with me? Well maybe my body just needs to rest?

So I feel like I've wasted my weekend and today by being non-productive. Hmmm...need to search for my lost motivation this week.

I Went-Paula Abdul-Live To Dance

we were supposed to dress hip & cool...sooo
here's my best impression for the night
(i had a short black leather jacket too)

boots: wild diva
top: forever 21
stretch pants: labijou

Last night we went to a live taping of 'Paula Abdul's' new show, 'Live to Dance.' I found a website, 'On Camera Audiences' (that I'm sharing with you), where you can get free tickets to everything from game shows to 'American Idol' (which of course has a waiting list & is hilarious this year with Steven Tyler & Jennifer Lopez.)

Anyways, I love anything that has to do with dance so I ordered the online tickets and told my hubby, "I got FREE tickets for us!"

Ya, he wasn't as excited as I was, but he went along without too much complaining. He's finally getting used to all my crazy ideas and places I find to take him along with me on my adventures.

We had to be there no later than 3:30 p.m. Here's the biggest problem in my life...I'm late to EVERYTHING...ALL the time! We were going to leave at 1:00 pm, but I was late. By the time we actually got in line, it was almost exactly 3:30. Which put us on a waiting list for seats, if VIP's didn't show up. While in line, they told us that they might have to split us up once we got inside. This lady who I was talking to behind me said, "If they split you and your husband up, maybe we'll get put together!" Guess I made a friend in line and she wanted to get rid of my hubby and hang out...lol! Luckily we got in, didn't get split up, but had to stand by the stage for the whole hour. My hubby wasn't too happy about it and reminded me over & over that we would've had seats if I wasn't late. I didn't mind, we had a great view and could dance along.

Oh I almost forgot to tell you, Paula was the tiniest, little thing ever. She is sooo adorable and even prettier in person. Funny how t.v. adds the extra pounds on you (glad I wasn't on camera, I probably would've starved myself for weeks if I saw me packing an extra 10 lbs...eek!)

and...you can see i stayed blond
~newly dyed two step process~

All in all it was a fun, FREE night out. I asked my hubby once it was all over, "Do ya want to go to 'So You Think You Can Dance' next? Or maybe, 'The Price is Right' or 'Let's Make a Deal'?"

Which he quickly replied, "NO. You get to drag me to one of these things a year, so pick and choose wisely because you've met your quota for this year, unless you want to take a friend instead!"

The moral of this post: Life's too short, step outside your comfort zone and search for a little adventure!

And The Verdicts In

After receiving a few comments that the brown makes me look older...that's all I needed to hear to make up my mind!LOL

OLDER!

That is worse than the 4 letter swear word...it's a 5 letter nightmare! But I definitely appreciate the honesty!

So I will stay blond, dread doing my two step process but will suffer through it not to look older. Don't get me wrong, I'm the happiest I've ever been in my life, wrinkles and all. My 40's have brought me confidence, peace, love, fulfillment and a sense of finally feeling...good enough.

Good enough for what? I don't know, but just GOOD ENOUGH. Women in general have this issue I think of always needing to please- friends, family, boyfriend, husband, kids...we are in search of perfection. Always waiting to feel good enough.

Well I finally reached the point now to know that I was ALWAYS good enough. I was just too focused on everything that was wrong with me instead of everything that is right!

Know that no matter what you look like, hair color, weight, flaws, career, friendships, love life or lack of one...YOU ARE SPECIAL and GOOD ENOUGH!

Help-Should I Go Dark?

I've been obsessed with going dark again for a LONG time. My natural color is dark, dark, dark, almost black brown. I've been blond for about 16 years or more. I'm tired of it. I'm tired of the up keep. I do my own hair (I went to cosmetology school years ago), but the two step process is such a pain!

I'm so torn, I don't want to regret it. It would take a long time before I'd be able to get it blond again if I hate it.

So PLEASE help...I pulled out some old Halloween wigs and put them on to see if I could deal with it. So be honest!

I actually like this darker color (not the style-lol!)
But is it better than blond?

To go dark or not...that is the question?

So do I stay blond????????

Haiti Orphans- A Letter

I recently read on a website that approximately 80% of the children in Haiti are orphans. I came across supermodel, Coco Rocha's post about an opportunity to write an email of hope and encouragement to the orphans/children of Haiti a year after the tragic earthquake.

She'll be heading to Haiti in a few days and will actually print out your letters and give them to the children.

What an amazing opportunity to touch the heart of a hurting, lonely child. Please take a few moments out of your day to brighten a lonely child's life with words of comfort and love.

The email address is:
letterstohaiti@gmail.com


Coco's Post asking for your Letters:
Coco's Haiti Letter Request

You can make a difference today!

Birthday Party Dance Off

HAPPY 22nd BIRTHDAY TASCHY!

Tonight we had a belated birthday dinner for my step daughter, Natascha. She was out of town on her actual birthday. We had all the kids (except Josh-school & Jullien-traveling), and I invited my hubby's ex wife, her husband and their kids.

After we ate and had cake we played one of our fav games, Taboo. Then movie night, Natascha picked Step Up 3. The acting wasn't the greatest, but the dancing was AWESOME. We ALL love dancing! After it was finished, everyone broke out into an impromptu dance off. It was quite the event! Of course I tried to join in, but that was short lived because I did something to my back last week and it's still not better. BUT I was able to snap a few pics.

My hubby tore it up with his new move that we decided to call the Teradactyl. He would bring his arms in close to his body and then with his hands sticking out do some crazy moves! The kids were all in hysterics and they cleared the dance floor to make room for the AMAZING TERADACTYL.

Dillon perfecting the concentrated hand movements!

Taschy crumping!

Jeremy working the robot!

Adam throwing out some freestyle!

Taschy mixin it up w/ some stompin the yard!

AND Anthony opening up the dance off winner...

headin' into the Teradactyl!

sorry but couldn't release the final pics of the ACTUAL Teradactyl until we have it copyrighted!

I'm sure it will be the new craze to hit all the clubs...LOL!!

We have quite the party's...AND...don't mess with our dance offs!

The Art of Joy

Art: Dance of Joy I-by Monica Stewart

My sister, Stacy, has been going through some difficulties lately. She's been battling and struggling with her 21 year old son and his addictions. He's made some poor life choices and now their family is paying the price. He's still refusing to go to rehab. It's so hard to see those you love hurting. There really isn't much anyone of us can do personally, but we continue to pray, hope and trust.

Since I'm constantly looking for the joy in all things (like I previously posted), I realized that I need to not just look for the joy, but look for ways to bring joy to others.

My sisters birthday is on Monday. After talking to her for a while, I told her I would come over tonight and make my famous tacos (translation: the only thing that I cook really good) for her birthday dinner & her favorite-German chocolate cake.

This seemed to perk her up a LOT! Something so simple.

Wow, who knew that joy can be found, given and received so easily. This New Year is full of many new awakenings. I continually and joyfully hope for a huge change this year!

Just When I Thought It Was Good

As usual I went and overspent at Christmas and now I'm paying the price. I'm not sure if it was the over spending on the kids, or that I was off of work for a week and a half w/no pay just before Christmas (due to sickness) or the fact that I made a New Year's resolution to be glad in all things, that has me in this predicament. It's probably a combination of the three.

Why does it seem like whenever you make a promise, you then get tested in that area?

I'm not talking a little bit of testing, but A LOT! The last few days I've felt like I'm beating my head against a brick wall. Every time I tried to do something, bam, nope, it wouldn't work out.

I would repeat, "Be glad in all things...and this too shall pass!"

But somehow it's easier said than done. On Monday I finally gave up before I broke down and did what I used to do in stressful times...took a nap. Sleep has always been my escape. I woke up and felt refreshed, I re-grouped and started all over again, trying to tackle the mountains in front of me.

Today's actually a little better, I will push through this and, "Be glad in ALL things," because I know that worrying wont change anything except maybe make me sick. Besides, everything always works out in the end. I just need to learn a lesson I guess.

Which is really what life's all about right? LEARNING & GROWING day by day!

11 Years Ago-I Did It!

Many years ago I spotted the love of my life on the football field. He was coaching the other flag team. We became friends and the following year, my 6 year old son, Jullien, ended up on his flag team. The attraction was undeniable, we started dating but really didn't think it could go anywhere because we each had 3 kids and 6 kids was way too many!

Everywhere we went, people stared at us and our huge entourage of miniature people following behind us, pushing, shoving, yelling and fighting with each other. It was chaos...but it grew on us. The kids also grew closer and began to accept one another.

We tried to fight the enevitable, but two years later, we could no longer imagine a life without each other in it.

Anthony asked me to marry him, which I happily agreed to. We were married on December 31, 1999 on the Corona Del Mar Bluffs overlooking the ocean in Newport Beach, CA.


Through the past 11 years of ups and downs, stretching, growing, forgiving, trusting, overcoming and putting our faith in the Lord, our love has grown stronger.

Happy Anniversary to the Love of my life!


ya...I don't know, me being me...goofball!



our honeymoon in Santa Barbara, CA
patio at our Bed & Breakfast
(double click to view larger)