bad influence

Well, the phrase "bad influence" might be a little harsh, but  it is true.  Melanie, my dear sister in law, I'm looking at YOU.

Sure, it started out innocently enough.... I was in town and you sweetly offered to bring me a Sonic drink.  Or maybe I offered to bring you one.  I'm actually not really sure, but somebody went to Sonic during Happy Hour and got drinks for somebody else.

And this is how I learned about the concoction called a "Cherry Cream Diet Coke."

At first I thought, "ew."  And then I tasted it.  It is reminiscent of a root beer float.  Or an Italian cream soda. Maybe even a Colorado bulldog.  Or perhaps a combination of them all.  I don't know, but it is delicious and basically the only thing that got me through the last couple weeks at work.

My boss sent an email the other day asking what our favorite Sonic drink was.  We had some department planning days this week and I figured it was some sort of "get to know you activity" - like we would have to match a person with their favorite drink, so I went ahead and said "Cherry Cream Diet Coke with extra ice."  (I figured everyone else would say "Cherry Limeade" and I wanted to keep things interesting.)  She actually had one of our program assistants go order drinks for all of us, so then I felt really bad about being all high maintenance.  (The girl had to go inside to order but said she still had to order on the phone.  Finally she said, "this is not going to work.  I have to order some complicated drinks.  Can't I do this in person?") Don't you know that almost every single one of my coworkers asked if they could try it?  And they liked it too.

Looks like you're on to something.

Also, looks like you aren't the only one.  When I was looking for a picture, I came across these lovely ladies that give us a recipe to make our own versions.  This one also has vanilla, which sounds delicious.  And this one is CHOCOLATE cream diet coke.  What?!?!?  Things could get crazy. 

my mom is so cute

Nothing like encouragement from a mom to get a blog up and running.

My sister-in-law and I got this message in our facebook in-boxes this week:

I miss your blogs, dear girls. You both write so well...and give us such a great peek into your homes and thoughts.  Just sayin'.....

I've actually been thinking for awhile that I missed the outlet and that as soon as I got through this busy patch at work I wanted to make myself post at least once a week.  And now that I know my mom counts on them, well - I don't really have a choice, do I?

holding it up

Sarah and Dale kept their nieces for a funcation last weekend, so I invited myself to go see "Brave" with them.  I don't know if I'm allowed to tell this story on my blog or not, but I'm going to because it is hilarious.  Sarah informed  the girls that they were going to see Brave in 2D at 12:30.  The oldest, "Schmoey" told Sarah that she can only watch movies in 3D.  Sarah told her that her, Dale and "Schmilly" would go to the movie and she could stay at home with a babysitter, because the 2D tickets were already purchased.  Schmoey acquiesced and joined us for the 2D screening.  She survived.  (Quick movie review:  liked it!  I think Pixar is amazing - how do they make things look so real?  I loved the red headed kiddos and my favorite part was when the queen got all "momma bear" on the bad bear.  It even brought a little tear to my eye.  Very cute movie, might be a little scary at parts for the really little ones.)

Anyway. 

We saw the movie at Alamo Drafthouse, which is known for it's clever pre-movie entertainment.  There are no dancing hotdogs or animated rollercoaster rides - they show old cartoons, old movie clips, music videos, etc.  One of the clips was an advertisement for an upcoming movie event featuring the old film "An American in Paris."  I have not ever seen this movie, but it I will be watching it soon, because one of the lines captured me:

The guy says to the woman:  That's... quite a dress you almost have on. 
The woman says:  Thanks.
The guy says:  What holds it up?
The woman says:  Modesty.

Does it get any better than that?  I love it!  It makes me want to purchase this dress:

 (photo)

and reenact the scene.  (Well, I don't really know what the scene entails since I haven't seen the movie yet, but I could at least reenact the line.)  I'm pretty sure that if I had this dress, I would curl my hair every day and wear pearls and heels.  And bake pies.

While we're talking about it, I would also consider wearing this dress and reenacting another of my favorite movie lines:

 (photo)

 "No, I don't think I will kiss you, although you need kissing, badly. That's what's wrong with you. You should be kissed and often, and by someone who knows how."  Oh, Rhett.  They just don't make 'em like you anymore.  (Yes, I know this isn't exactly a Scarlett O'Hara dress.  But it has a full skirt and has kind of a curtain-y pattern on the fabric, so it could work.)

i just want to hold my shoes

Several months ago,  my sister mentioned that she and her husband were going to take a long overdue "mini-moon" (mini honeymoon) to a music festival.  They got a sweet package deal and the plan was set into motion.  I volunteered to watch their 3 kids while they were away.  Annie - 7.5, Aidan - 2, and Adeline - 7 months.  I figured - I'm around them quite a bit... .how hard could it be? (This is where all you moms out there insert your evil laugh.....)

Well, last Friday, they arrived.  The whole family spent Friday night so that the kids could get acclimated.  My sister and her husband left around 10am on Saturday.  (they kind of snuck out so that no tears would be shed.)

*Note- I'm lucky I got any pictures at all.  All of these photos were from my blackberry, because despite my best intentions, I never got around to getting my camera out.  Things were a little busy.

We collected bugs,

waved and yelled "hi" at golfers as they drove past,

went to get cupcakes,

swam in the tiniest pool on earth,

and chilled on blankets covered with toys.

We also went to a baseball game.  Aidan wanted to wear a hat, so I dug out one of my old visors and he put it on with his tiny little camo sunglasses.  If this picture doesn't make you laugh, you have something wrong with you.

The baseball game was HOT.  Super hot.  So we only stayed long enough to eat a hotdog.  You can see how flushed the kids are in the picture below.  (And don't worry... I didn't keep Adeline in her carseat - she had been asleep and just woke up.)

You can also see how flushed I am (photo courtesy of Annie.)

We spent time at the neighborhood swimming pool

and the local park (while wearing cowboy boots!!!)


We ate macaroni and cheese, hot dogs, raspberries, chicken nuggets, spaghetti-os, pop-tarts, bananas, marshmallows and pancakes. 

I wasn't as tired as I thought I would be after waking several times with the kids each night.  Adeline still wakes up once or twice, but she is easily pacified with a pacifier or a bottle.  Aidan woke up the second night crying for his mom (and assuring me his dad was outside in his car.)  He kept saying, "I just want to hold my shoes."  I was like - here, they are right here by the bed!  You can see them!  He kept crying, so I was about to give in and just let him sleep with his sandals.  Finally, he'd had enough and said - "NO!  I want to hold my SHOES!"  I said, "Ooooooh, your JUICE?"  And he nodded.  So I went and got his sippy cup and then he was happy. 

Other memorable moments:
-  Annie hula hooping like a professional.  She can even hoop around her neck.
-  Getting stung by a wasp while pushing Aidan on the neighbors swing.... while I tended to it, Adeline fell off the bed.  Fortunately she didn't get hurt.
-  Having the kids use pool water to fill up watering cans and water all the flowers
-  Scolding Aidan for picking the flowers off the plants.  I said, "leave the flowers on the plants."  He got all serious, looked at me, pointed at me, and said:  "You better watch it."  I bit my lip so I wouldn't laugh.
-  Adeline peeing all over me as I changed her diaper.  Turns out that doesn't just happen with boy babies.
-  Annie showing me how games worked on the ipad
-  Aidan getting a kick out of Larry blowing his hair with the leaf blower
-  Getting in "trouble" from the lifeguard at the pool because he thought Annie had brought her own hula hoop to the pool.  (it was one of their toys, but I guess he didn't recognize it. You aren't allowed to bring toys from home.)
-  Aidan as a "fish" in the bathtub and Annie with a white beard made of bubbles
-  Finding a camel and a rhino in a houseplant after they had left 


It was exhausting, but worth every second.  They were all so good and never once acted up.  (But they are still a lot to handle when you're thrown into the fire and have them all at once.... at one point, Larry said - "Man, can you imagine if you had BAD kids?")  Getting to tuck everyone in and kiss them on the forehead was the highlight for me.  So glad I got to spend time with them!

nonsense

Remember that time when I blogged every couple days?  Yeah.  Me neither. 

It is kind of weird - you would think that being in grad school would have prevented me from blogging, when in reality, I guess it was my outlet for all things nonsense related. 

Speaking of nonsense:

******

It was almost exactly a year ago that secret agents threw my surprise graduation party - where I went from being "Miss Bee" to "Master Bee." 

 

That was fun.  I think we should have another party, because that was really the last one we've had.  Would people play along if I had a "Now you can wear white" Memorial Day party?  (As in they should wear white?  Shoes and all?) 

******

And speaking of college-ish things - I finally paid off my undergraduate student loan.  Sweet!  Unfortunately, that was also my oldest line of credit, so "closing" it by paying it off also lowered my credit score by 2 points.  Seriously?  Since when is paying off a loan a liability?  Whatever.

******

I do not like the song "Call Me Maybe."  But I will be patient with people that do, as I heard "Straight Up" by Paula Abdul the other day and was like, "Oh my gosh - this song is terrible!  How did I like it?"  Of course, then I also started singing, "Hey baby!  I'm forever your girl."  So - like I said, I'll be lenient with anyone who chooses to like it. At the end of the day, music is all about making you happy.  So if that song makes you happy, more power to ya.

******

Did you know there is such a thing as too many Groupon/Living Social/Moolala/Eversave/etc deals?  I'm currently trying to figure out when to schedule my riverboat tour, wine class and car detailing.  Also need to determine when I should order my 144 custom fortune cookies.  

******

Dear people who are on the feeding-tube diet:

Seriously?

******

"I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells." - Dr. Seuss

the thing about teaching...

The thing about teaching is that you are really and truly affecting the life of every student you have.  For some, it is just a minimal impact. For others, it is huge.  I can't help but fall back to my favorite quote about teaching:

“I've come to the frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element in the classroom. It's my daily mood that makes the weather. As a teacher, I possess a tremendous power to make a child's life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration. I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal. In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis will be escalated or de-escalated and a child humanized or de-humanized.” -Dr. Haim Ginott

However, you never know.  In teaching, there is no instant gratification.  You may NEVER know if you had any sort of imprint on the life of a student.    It's hard to believe that I've been out of the secondary classroom for 5 years.  My first students are 28-30 years old.  Whoa.  A few have found me on facebook.  And I figure - if they thought enough to send me a friend request, why not accept it?  There is one in particular that really touched me.  I'll call her Sue.  

Back before facebook got all weird and I could actually follow along with what people were posting and saying, I noticed that she was an advocate for an Eating Disorder support group.  It became fairly obvious that she had struggled with - and then conquered - some sort of eating disorder.  While this would be a sad thing to read about anybody, it was particularly poignant to me - because Sue was a student in my Nutrition class.  (where we cooked.  and ate.  and did units of study over eating disorders...)  And I remember that she rarely (if ever) sampled the food that her group prepared.  (even though they were supposed to.)  I can't say that I knew she had an eating disorder - I wondered, but she was an athlete and seemed to be in good health.  So it isn't that I felt guilty, but I did feel like I *should* have known....that I could have made her life easier in one way or another if only I had probed a little more.  Or asked the right questions.  So not too long ago, I sent her a message via facebook:

Sue -  I've been thinking about this since we became FB friends last year..... I remember that you never ate during our Nutrition class, and at the back of my mind, I wondered if food was some sort of demon for you. (But I thought maybe you were a little OCD like me and didn't want to eat something that other people had prepared.... did they wash their hands? Did they cook it long enough? etc.) You seemed like the picture of health to me - always so tan and fit from [the sport you played!] But now I gather from some of your posts that my initial thoughts were probably right.... and I wanted to tell you I'm sorry that I never said anything. (And even more sorry if we ever said/did anything in class that made you uncomfortable!) You look like you're doing well now... but if there is ever anything I can do, please let me know. Better late than never, right?


She responded with:


Wow ...You just brought tears to my eyes! You were right, I struggled with an eating disorder from the time i was 13-14 until about 3 years ago. Please know how much I appreciate you sending me this message. I was in complete denial during high school times, but somehow kept it "under control" because I knew I had to at least minimally take care of myself in order to [participate in a sport.] I [was in a college sport] for a short time but ended up dropping out because things go so bad. I moved back to Austin thinking that would help, but after a few years that proved to be false, and I degenerated to my ultimate low and decided I wanted to live. I finally received inpatient treatment almost three years ago at a wonderful facility up in [a state.] Life is so much better on the other side, and honestly I feel grateful, in a way, for my journey through all of that. I returned to college about 2 years ago and am a junior [subject] major at [college.] Life is great. Ironically, I remember having moments of fun times in your class. Are you still teaching and/or are you still in the Austin area? You were a great teacher, something I will be soon! Thank you again for the email. For real!


Talk about something bringing tears to your eyes....


So where am I going with this story?  Well, Sue and I are also Pinterest friends now, and she pinned some of my recipes today.  And it made me happy. And I figure that even if I didn't make a difference to her while she was in my classroom, maybe I made a difference after the fact.  It's never too late to do the right thing.

the long post where I talk about SXSW

I decided that since I've lived in Austin for 10+ years, I should finally experience SXSW.  So this year, I went.  Five days of goings-on would make for a very long post, so you're just getting a recap.

Tuesday:  We went to pick up our wristbands.... got there at 8:50pm and they wouldn't let us in line since they were closing at 9.  Boooo.  So we found a couple of shows that didn't require a wristband.  The first place we tried was a tiny little place where the Heartless Bastards were playing.  We got inside and immediately headed for the door, as it was JAM-PACKED with a wall of people.  I don't even have claustrophobia and I was getting anxious.  It was horrible.  Pretty sure that was a fire code violation.

Wednesday:  Marathon day.... we went to stand in line for Fiona Apple.  We got there at 5pm and the doors didn't open until after 7.  Not to self- next time you stand in line for several hours in a line that is standing still, SIT DOWN.  Here we are early on:

Not the most flattering picture, but whatever.  We met some nice people in line - a photographer for Rolling Stone Mexico and a band named Body Parts.  Fiona was incredible - she is such a unique person.  (and tiny)  I really liked one of her new songs but now I can't remember what it was - I'll have to check out the new album.

Sharon Van Etten was after her.  Sarah and Dale had seen her last SXSW and loved her voice.  She is a great performer with a beautiful voice.  Glad we stayed to see her.

From there, we tried for a couple other bands, but the lines were tooooooo long.  We finally  landed at a place where we got to see The Oh Sees (with Carson Daly on the drums, which was random), Hacienda and Alberta Cross.  I enjoyed all of them - it was just really hot in the venue, so I had to dance while fanning my face.

We went to eat at 24 Diner, where Dale started feeling sick.  Sure enough, he had the flu.  Which meant that the rest of the week was just going to be Sarah and I.  (Sorry Dale, wish you would have been able to go the rest of the week.)

Thursday:  A friend sent Sarah her invite to the Entertainment Weekly Music Lounge party, which was a "VIP guest list" only.  So we felt pretty fancy when we walked up to the door girl and gave our names. This might have been the most fun part of the week.  Well - let's get this into the open - there was an open bar.  So the Tito's and Soda were flowing (for free), which you have to admit is pretty awesome.  But that wasn't even the best part.  The bands started with J Roddy Watson and the Business.  That dude can play the piano!  They were so fun to watch.  Next was Delta Spirit.  They were so fun to watch - every member of the band looked like they were having a blast, even though they had to be exhausted and it was like their 5th set of the day.  I'll totally go see them again.

We wanted to sit down to finish our drinks before leaving, so we found a table.  It had a reserved sign, but we could tell the guys sitting there were also table crashers.  They were ridiculous, but fun to talk to.

We popped into the photo booth on our way out:

From there, we saw Saint Motel, who were a little too "L.A."  They weren't bad, just not great.  Our last show was pretty far, so I convinced Sarah to take her first pedi-cab ride.  Since she has worked with people who have traumatic brain injuries, she was not very excited about it.  But we survived.

We capped the night off with another great show from Milo Greene.  They have a pretty unique, fun sound and I really liked them.  I hope they come back.

Friday:  Sarah and I started at this cute warehouse that had been converted into a bar for the week.  It was sponsored by HGtv, so it was really cute.  The back patio looked like it was straight out of a magazine.  Here we are sitting on the deck:

WATERS was the band, and they were fun.  Their set seemed really short though, so I would have liked to hear more.  We found another photo booth on our way out.

We should have stayed there, because everywhere else we went was ridiculously crowded.  We had ZERO chance of getting into the Jack White show, so we popped into Esther's Follies to sit in the AC and listen to a few comics.  (That is a good little trick - that place keeps the air REFRIGERATED if you know what I mean!)

We kept swinging and missing at all the shows we tried (because the lines were so long), so we were feeling dejected and decided to head out.  But first, I saw on the SXSW twitter feed that Citizen Cope was playing.  You know how I feel about Cope.  We got in (for the first time we got to feel what it was like to breeze past people because we had a wristband and they didn't).  We were in a little spot right next to the door.  It was a great view.  See?  Here he is, getting ready to go onstage.

However - there were some grade A jackwagons in the house that night.  The place was shoulder to shoulder with people (see fire code violation comment above) and the door guy was trying to tell us that we couldn't use the door we were near as an exit - when it was time to leave, we would have to swim through the sea of people to get out.  I said, "That door is clearly labeled EXIT, so I don't think you can tell us we can't go through it."  Sarah was getting a little panicky due to being claustrophobic, so she basically told the guy he was crazy and that we were going to be using that exit.  We listened to a couple songs, when all of a sudden another employee came up and asked us if we had wristbands.  When we showed him that yes, in fact, we did, he started stammering and was all, "well, this area is actually only for artists."  Whatever.  BS.  We told him we were going to leave and he backtracked, saying - "You don't have to leave, etc etc etc" But Sarah said, "We're leaving.  And we're using this door as an exit."  And we grabbed hands and busted through.  We tattled to the police that they were a fire violation on our way out, but I think they were a little more concerned with the ONE ZILLION people that were on 6th street that night.

Saturday:  We once again used our sweet "standing in line" skills for the "Big Easy Express" movie premeire and concert.  We waited in line for about 2 hours again, but this time we brought water and blankets to sit on.  The LBJ library lawn is an incredible place for a concert.  We parked it on our blanket and enjoyed watching the movie - it was so great to relive the Railroad Revival Tour.

After the movie, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes did a show.  They can work a stage - seriously one of the best shows you could go to.  They were followed by Mumford and Sons, who I could listen to any and every day.

You can't see it that great, but look at the UT Tower in the background.  (on the right side)  The music was incredible, but the setting made it even better.  What a way to end my SWSW experience!

Phew - it was exhausting just writing about this.  I don't know how I actually did it all. I left out all sorts of stuff, but this is just going to have to be enough.  Sarah, you'll have to pick up and add anything I left out.