Yesterday was bad. Today was better. Oddly I had some good dreams through the night. So much that when Scott was getting Emma ready for school, I was smiling in my sleep and he asked me what I was smiling about. I was half asleep and remember that I was going to explain…right after I woke up more and could speak coherently. Now, I don’t recall what it was but I knew I had had good dreams. Funny how that affects you after you’re awake. A few other (VERY RANDOM and UNRELATED) things that made my day good:
1 – I have to thank Amanda for recommending this Staying In Love series by Andy Stanley. Really good. If you are married, take the time to listen.
2 – These two t-shirts
3 – And this one is going to be very unrelated to the last two, but pictures of New Moon filming came out today and squeeeee. Does that make me a BAD Little Miss Christian??
Popularity: unranked [?]
To the little girl I saw last week,
I caught a glimpse of you last week. You were playing with a friend that looked like she could pass as your twin. Long brown hair, brown eyes, both skinny and tall. I would have called you a bean pole like everyone used to call me. I have to admit I was jealous of you. You seemed so happy, smiling at your friend’s silly ideas, running as fast as you could to catch up. Innocent as a lamb. You’d follow her to the slaughter if she tried.
I wondered what you would think of me if we met. Would I seem familiar? I have that brown hair and brown eyes you and your friend share. The same freckles across your nose. Would you say I was nice? Polite? Happy? Would you see my daughter and think she looked familiar? The same freckles splayed across her nose and the legs that seemed to go on forever. Bean pole she is too.
Would you like the kind of mother I am? Be proud of the job I have? Wish you would have a husband like mine one day?
Would you hope that one day you would grow up to be just like me?
Because you did.
And I wonder where you went.
Because sometimes I can’t find you.
And on those days I miss your smile, your laughter, your innocence. Even your long brown hair. And especially your friend.
I hope I see you more often, little girl. I miss you.
Popularity: unranked [?]
I thought today would be pretty laid-back but not so much.
This morning we were up a little early and visited with Dani & Dave at their church. It was good to be at church with them again. It’s been several years now since that and I miss it.
After lunch at IL’s we went with Jake and Jill to see Night at the Museum. While it doesn’t stack up to the first one, it was a decent movie. I can’t recommend that you race out to the theater to see it but I don’t think you’ll regret it either if you decide to venture on your Memorial Day. I enjoyed some new things..Amelia Earhardt, Seth Rogan, and the Egyptian prince…while I also enjoyed seeing some things from the first movie…the cowboy, Dumb-Dumb, the monkey, the dinosaur and of course Larry. The best part of the movie is when Lexi says Daddy, when are they show the monkey doing this? and then proceeds to slap herself in the face. Scott and I had a good chuckle over that. Oh and just to forewarn anyone with small children, Lexi was screaming for us to get her out of there when the Egyptian dude raised his army from the underworld. She calmed down pretty quickly but it’s definitely a cover your eyes moment for the little ones.
After the movie we went to church where the youth played volleyball. My old high school volleyball habits kicked in and I went for a few balls on the hard floor obviously without knee pads and I have a pretty big knot and bruise on my knees. My thumb is also swollen where I served it a few times. I never did learn how to serve overhand very strong. But it was a lot of fun.
In other random news, I noticed some of my favorite flowers came out. I can’t until they all bloom.
And I did well on my CVS trip I made after church. Only spent .64 on fingernail polish, tampons, toothpaste and two packages of Hello Kitty band-aids. Oh and a piece of caramel candy. I picked a new shade of Revlon nail polish. It’s called Tropical Temptation. Very nice for summer. Feet sensitive people, this is a cover your eyes moment.
This evening I’ve spent uploading pictures from our ropes course event yesterday. And I guess since I’m on a pictures kick, here are a few of me.
This is the one I fell on.
Look, Mom, no hands!
Very proud of myself!
Popularity: unranked [?]
Yesterday I saw on Twitter that Season 6 Idol Contestant Phil Stacey was going to be in Charlotte. I tried to reply and ask if it was a public event but I unsuprisingly did not get a response. So Google to the rescue. I pull up our local Christian station and see they are doing a private meet and greet today. It included dinner, Q&A, autographs/pictures and the 2 hours Season 8 Idol Finale. There was a form to fill out to win but I figured that they certainly would have picked the winners of the tickets by then. But I fill the form out anyway.
Today I was finishing up work about 4:15, I get ready to get my hair cut at 5 and just as I am getting ready to leave about 4:30, I get a call from the radio station saying that someone had backed out, could I come that evening? It “just so happened” that the place was no more than 2 minutes from where I was getting my hair cut and doors opened at 6:30. It really couldn’t have worked out better. Especially since Danny was not in the finale and I didn’t have to worry so much about getting it all screencapped and such for the web site. It worked out perfectly!
We all know I wasn’t looking forward to it much but this completely pumped me! How cool is it that I got to watch an Idol Finale with a former contestant??
When we got there, there literally was a meet and greet. We were able to talk to him for a few minutes. Of course within the first two minutes I got out that I was a big Danny Gokey fan. He’s apparently a friend of his. We both agree he needs to do Christian music and his label wants to sign him. We also found out that we have the same Church of God background. And he went to Lee University, where Heather went for a year (?) and also the same school that our old church, Central Church of God supports and whose pastor frequently speaks on campus. We all love Pastor Livingston. Seriously, look up their podcast. You won’t regret it. So things were off to a great start!
We ate dinner, catered from Qdoba then. The meet and greet was held at a stone company. It sounds odd but their showroom is absolutely gorgeous. There were 5 or so tables that are set up for customers and each have a cabinet with a flat screen at the end of it that were all tuned to American Idol. Phil chose our table that also had a woman and her two teenage daughters, one of which also is attending Lee University. It’s a small world, people! Obviously we talked a lot about Lee and the group Lee Singers that he was a part of and used to visit our church. He told some really funny stories. I was crying I was laughing so hard listening to some of the stories.
With what little time we had left, he answered questions and played his single off his new album coming out in August. It is a GREAT song and I definitely can see it being a hit on Christian radio. And I’m picky!
Once Idol started, we all gathered around our respective TVs. During the commercials Phil would give little tidbits of information about behind the scenes of idol.
It was a lot of fun watching Idol with a group. I loved meeting Phil. I was telling her he seemed like our kind of people. We could definitely hang with him and feel right at home. He is a super sweet guy, very personable and we did get to hear snippets of him sing live and his voice is amazing in person.
As for the finale itself, I just have to say it was the best finale in a long time. Kara’s bikini segment was my favorite Idol moment EVER. And to top all this off, Kris actually won!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I feel like I need to give a note about the pictures…I have a dumb look on my face at dinner and my hair is so flat! My hairdresser always insists on flat ironing it to pieces!
Popularity: unranked [?]
It was an overall slow weekend. Scott worked nights the whole weekend so the girls and I spent a lot of time at home. The highlight was probably our trip to pick strawberries. My favorite question from Lexi was “Why does it smell like horse poop?” Good question and I’m going to try to ignore the fact the girls ate a strawberry whilst picking.
Welcome to the Strawberry Patch! Notice the sun is still shining
I think this is right after the poop question. Smile!
A spring shower was rolling in and luckily we hit a great spot to fill up to overflowing before heading out. Unfortunately I got my shirt dirty in the process of trying to hold it all in. Lexi continues to pose even in the strawberry field…
Hm, yeah, we better hurry.
You can’t see Emma, but she’s bending down to get a strawberry we spot in our rush out.
You can see my hair blowing hard. It has started to sprinkle by now.
Lexi gets “stuck”. “Mommmyyy!”
As soon as we get in the car, the bottom opens up but we got the strawberries!
We stopped at the store on the way home and got some chocolate and then had a little fondue party at home! We all loved it!
In other news from the weekend, Mom made us cheeseburgers Saturday night. We put this Cranberry mustard on it that is TO DIE FOR. The lady that makes it actually goes to my parents’ church so it’s a local thing. I usually hate mustard but this is very sweet, more like honey mustard. I keep saying she needs to sell it to a local restaurant and make it a speciality sandwich. Yummo! The good news? They have a site where you can buy it! You’ll soon be thinking of all the different things you can put mustard on like us!
Popularity: unranked [?]
The wonderful meals I had last week in Indy did not go unnoticed by my scale or clothes. I took a skirt to wear and couldn’t zip it. Yikes! I had ordered the 30 Day Shred DVD before I left for Indy and I was never so pumped to get back to exercising Saturday.
When I was going to the gym, I had gotten used to the advanced 1 hour classes and when I was done within 20 minutes of workout Saturday that only included about 6 minutes of cardio, I was thinking I had gotten off easily. But by mid afternoon I was starting to feel a little sore. By Sunday morning, I could barely walk. Knowing if I just pushed through, I’d be ok, I continued every day with the workouts. But I was still really hurting into Monday. Tuesday I woke up 90% better though. It was like magic!
I’m pretty sure it’s doing something. At times, my muscles have definitely felt shredded. I have lost about 2 lbs since Saturday. But I have to say usually I don’t lose weight by exercise alone. It’s usually all about the snacking. I’ve buckled back down on my Isagenix shakes and cut out the late night snacking which is always my Achilles’ heel. I just think about the scale in the morning and I’m more apt to choose a handful of almonds over a bowl of ice cream. Not to say I don’t give myself a treat. I was happy to eat the chocolate chunk cookie Scott brought me from Starbucks yesterday afternoon.
The thing is though that when I’m exercising, I always, always eat better. Eating bad makes me feel like my exercise was all for naught. So for me, they go hand in hand.
One thing that is hilarious though is the girls have really gotten into this. They love when I pull my mat out and have started doing the exercises with me. On Tuesday, they insisted on doing the workout by themselves. And Lexi did NOT want me watching. I thought for sure they’d bow out early but they did everything start to finish. I did sneak a few pictures and video but at the time they didn’t have clothes on except their underwear *ahem* so I don’t really want to YouTube that. So anyway, just trust me when I say it was HILARIOUS. Here is a peek at them stretching though. So cute!
Popularity: unranked [?]
Cause I think I have one. It is no surprise I’m sure that I was sad about Danny leaving Idol. Yeah, I cried. A lot. Not an ugly cry but a long and slow cry while I replayed his goodbye song over and over (gah, yes, i’m a little fangirl inside like that). If I thought Tuesday’s rendition was amazing, this one beat it by a mile. It was obvious he was singing to his wife and I’m usually not one prone to caring about Hallmark moments, but that one put in a puddle. Maybe I AM prone to Hallmark moments and that’s why I hate Lifetime and Hallmark movies. Hmm. It was just hard knowing it’s only been 10 months since he said goodbye to her and in one of the biggest moments of his life he didn’t have her there with him to support him. And you could just SEE his emotion all over his face. This is the part that kills me every time.
Ack. It was just so beautiful. (On a side note, his lips remind me of Elvis there.) And knowing that he was just one week away from beating Adam (or at least having the chance to) hurt a little too. So yeah, I’m sad. I know he’ll do well and I’ll scream for him at the Idol Concert and hopefully get his autograph and then proceed to buy every record he ever makes. It’s all good. Or it will be.
All I can say now about Idol is Kris FTW!
And I may as well plug my web site here. If you want to keep up with him sans Idol, check out IHeartDannyGokey.com
Popularity: unranked [?]
Honestly Top 3 was not as good as I imagined it might be. Definitely some good moments but I don’t know.
Danny “Dream Little Sister” – Here’s the thing. Danny didn’t know that song. I didn’t know that song. I bet most of America didn’t know that song. So while Danny sang it fine no one could relate. I think Paula REALLY hurt Danny’s chances for the finale. If he doesn’t make it, I’m blaming her.
Kris “Apologize” – I love this song. Like really love this song. Kris wasn’t perfect but I think it fit his vocals. Overall just ok for me.
Adam “One” – It’s no surprise by now I’m not a fan of Adam but usually I can admit when he’s good even if I didn’t like the performance. Well, I think this time I was ok with the performance but I didn’t think he did well vocally. Close your eyes and listen to that and it’s not a winner.
Danny “You Are So Beautiful” – This for me was hands down my favorite from Danny this season. Strong in the right parts. Beautiful falsetto. So heartfelt. Simon had it right with masterclass. I just don’t even know how you can compare ANY of the vocals tonight to that.
Kris “Heartless” – I am familiar (and like) this song by Kanye West so I was very confused as to how he would pull this off. I was pleasantly surprised. I think he did a great job. At times though I felt he was really straining vocally to stay on top of it. He gets major points for originality though. Wow.
Adam “Cryin’” – I didn’t enjoy ANY of this vocal or performance. I think he ruined the song and once again gave me the heebie jeebies.
How I’d rank it
That first Danny song could easily go at the bottom BUT I’m leaving at 4 because I didn’t see anything wrong with it vocally where I had issues with Adam vocally.
I think this race is tough to call. Right now I think I’m going to have to call Kris going home though. Even if he stays I don’t think Kris can win. Against Danny or Adam, I don’t think he vocally can stand up next to them.
Popularity: unranked [?]
