Dependable Divas Giveaway!

The lovely ladies from Dependable Divas (who I featured in my Friday post on Scottsdale Moms Blog) are sponsoring a giveaway for 6 hours of their services! Can you imagine what two ladies who organized for a living could do in your house in 6 hours?! The kids room, the garage, the laundry, the office, the kitchen…just think of all the places they could make neat and tidy! It makes me a little jealous that I can’t win…

Head on over to Scottsdale Moms Blog at 1pm today and enter to win – just tell us all about the messiest, craziest, most in need of the Divas place in your house. The winner will be chosen at random on Friday June 22nd. Details and fine print on the site.

Good luck!!!

Birthday Recap

I planned to post about my birthday yesterday, however, I was severely sleep deprived due to Baylor’s favorite doll, New Baby, loosing her hat and pacifier in the middle of the night. More on that tomorrow. If the doll makes it to then.

Anyway, I had a lovely 30th birthday. It hasn’t quite sunk in just how old I am, but I’m sure as my back gets achier and the cost of my face cream continues to increase, I’ll get a good dose of reality.

I treated myself to a lovely pedicure, breakfast with the sister (including presents!), a nap, phone calls from family and friends, endless FaceBook well wishing and dinner with B and PW. It was a fast, but totally relaxing day. We dined at one of my favorite places, Cowboy Ciao and then came home for some cake and presents – it was a fantastic day spent with the ones I love…I am however, looking forward to the birthday remix where we have cake AND cocktails in a few months!

 

And yes, that dress and hairdo do look familiar. It’s the only damn thing I own that fits right now and doesn’t look too horrible. Not to mention my hair is atrocious due to the need for a cut and color and hormones. Did I mention that I love the end result but hate being pregnant??

Hand Over the Camera


When we were kids, my dad snapped pictures of everything and anything we did. He had a great camera and always had it handy. So I guess it’s safe to say I come by my need to document life via photos, naturally.

I invested in a Cannon Rebel T3 last summer after exensive research. I needed something that was fast, easy to use, small and didn’t cost us Baylor’s college fund. I realized that in order not to break the bank, I’d have to ditch the small requirement. I settled on the T3 because it wasn’t enormous and it got great reviews for newbies like me.

I snap pictures all the time with it – which means I’m never in the pictures. PW will take over periodically, but then there’s never a picture of the three of us. So this past weekend for Baylor’s party, I grabbed a friend that I knew took great pictures and asked them to snap a few shots of the important moments so that I could actually be present and enjoy. And the result? Awesome. The pictures are beautiful because they’re done with someone else’s eye so the light is a little different, the zoom is a little closer, everything is just different enough that it’s fantastic. And the best part is that I get to help blow out the candles on the cake, eat it and have the picture to remember it for a lifetime.

So next time you are busy snapping away, hand over the camera and see what happens. At the very least, you’ll be able to prove you were actually there!

Case in point? I love the flowers in the front of this pic.

I love catching me mid song and B’s sweet smile!

Archives Week

It’s Archive Week at Scottsdale Mom’s Blog! I got to pick my favorite from Angela’s (a fellow contributor) posts. Which might be the most difficult and also the easiest job ever since she write such great stuff. Angela is the “what to do and where to go” lady and she has some really fantastic ideas. The post I chose has some great places to visit with the munchkins, even in the heat! Who doesn’t need ideas of what to do with energetic munchkins in the summer?? So read, enjoy, and get out!

www.scottsdalemomsblog.com

Total Eclipse of the Mind

I love all things celestial. I like constellations, shooting stars, meteors, planets, eclipses – if it’s happening in the sky, I’m in.

Last week the news was all about the  upcoming solar eclipse. It’s the first time it’s been visible in Arizona in 18 years. And you know what? I know exactly where I was for the last one. I was 11 and it was summer. Our awesome summer babysitter, Kim, had taken Ali and I downtown to a small festival all about the eclipse. There were tons of instruments and fun eyewear that made it safe to look at the eclipse – I even remember that you could see the shadow of the moon over the sun in the small pin holes in the tent. It was awesome.

So you would think I would have at least made a post it note for the solar eclipse that happened yesterday, yes? You would be wrong. A brutal combination of baby brain and busy weekend left me totally without a reminder to look up. What’s worse is that I knew something was up. I walked out of the office and said to Peter “am I nuts or did it get dark outside in the last 5 minutes?”. Avoiding the obvious answer of “are you really asking me to confirm your sanity?” he agreed, it had gotten darker. I looked out back and concluded that some dark cloud had descended on our house…the light was just so strange. And STILL, nothing. Not even a hint of a reminder went off in my head that the totally amazing eclipse was going on.

It wasn’t until later when I saw Facebook posts about the event that I realized A. I’m an idiot B. there was no dark cloud but rather the moon passing between Earth and the sun causing a shadow on Earth and C. I blew it! I was so bummed. Especially after seeing some of the pics:

Obviously this was taken with a special lens…but STILL. Isn’t it cool?? And to think I was goofing around indoors the entire time. Arg!

Summer Decor

The table behind our couch needed a little…something. Some change. Some summer. Something new. So I splurged on some good Pottery Barn candles and grabbed their catalog too to steal some decorating ideas. A few cheapy sea shells and voila! Instant summer decorating! Check out Scottsdale Moms Blog today to see the results!

www.scottsdalemomsblog.com

For Rent

My step sister Sarah texted me this pic Saturday night:

My response: “It must have been VERY nice and VERY expensive!”

Peter’s response: “Seriously. 1 Beth is PLENTY.”

It’s nice to know you’re loved….

Suggestive Literature

I have a problem. I am very totally and completely influenced by Baylor’s book Curious George Visits the Chocolate Factory. I can’t read it without craving a big box of chocolates. I can feel myself starting to drool when reading the descriptions of each type of chocolate. I can smell the sweet smell when George sneaks into the candy room.  Nothing else will stop the craving, it has to be a box of chocolates. Particularly See’s Candies…which is why I stood in their store last week and happily hand-picked each one of these little beauties…what? I can’t drink the bottle of wine I really really want, why not substitute with candy?

I wish I was as influenced by the tales of George’s other adventures….but unfortunatly despite reading and rereading and reading again Curious George and the Hot Air Balloon Race and Curious George and the Dinosaur Dig I have no desire to become an archaeologist nor hop in a balloon. Maybe if George wrote Curious George Finally Writes the Whitty Memior He’s been Dreaming About Despite Having Two Kids, Running a Business and Trying to Stay on the Acceptable Side of Sanity it would have the same effect as the damn chocolate factory story. AND my butt wouldn’t get so fat so that would be nice too.

Bar Hopping with the Iphone

Today’s post is brought to you by  the one and only Noni. That’s right, Big Jude, my mom is the guest blogger today. She didn’t intend it, but when she sent me the following email, I knew it was perfect fodder for The Goon Room. So grab a drink and toast the 55+ crowd and their salute to the Iphone. Her quote about what kind of Iphone she has is my favorite – enjoy and thanks Nonester!

Yesterday I found the perfect place for a bar—next to the Apple store at Biltmore Mall.
 
Went to the Apple Store to have my Iphone checked out—you make the appointment on line (of Course) once you figure out how to move the page far enough down to let you see everything because of course you use the larger print on the computer than the under 30’s.  Then you book the appointment at the genius bar and you become hopeful—like maybe the Iphone can be fixed and no longer run down to dead battery every 4 hours, maybe it will finally connect to WIFI and that damn Siri will quit asking how she can help and when you tell her she just says—I’m busy now.
 
So off I go —a little early cause afterall they’re doing me this great service and I arrive –the store is a large loud box—all hard surfaces so everything is alive and moving—the tables are lined with goodies—Iphones, Ipads, computers, TV’s and there are no signs because cyber people know where to go because Siri told them….me unfortunately had that deer in the headlite look in my eye and I clutched my Iphone hoping somehow it would communicate with the mother ship and let her know I had arrived!
 
Everyone in the store that is a customer is an average age of 55+ (I’m being nice) and everyone working there is 19+ (again kindness).  I wanted to fit in so I thought I would look at an extra plug for my Iphone—make nice kinda—a perky young thing pounced on me and offered help—What kind of Iphone do you have—well I was ready–“White”!  She saw the little darling under my arm and snatched it up and announced —Just an Iphone!  Ok, I’m learning…..then she asks if I would like to check myself out—frankly I just got here and was hoping to check myself in—so I decline and she says ok—do you want me to email your receipt or do you want a paper receipt—well I figured she didn’t know my email so I say paper—only to find out they don’t have paper—so I said skip the receipt—I’m really here for trouble shooting.
 
Three very nice young people checked their tiny little wireless computers and saw I was indeed a “scheduled guest” for the genius bar!!  One of them drew the short straw and suggested I “take a load off”—now seriously at my age and backside don’t ever use the  word “load” in the same sentence with my name…..so I continued to stare into the vast array of things flashing, happening, and doing.  Finally a nice young man who only spoke Japanese appeared and announced he was there to help.  He asked me several questions with that thick Japanese broken English to which I politely replied “What???” and then he suggested a Reset was in store—so I handed over the Iphone and he proceeded to wipe it out as I watched and asked me to hold it for 5 minutes—I think this is similar to how the doctors let you visit with the sick family member before they pull the plug.  He pulled the plug and handed it back and said—if that didn’t fix it reschedule another appointment—so I walked out shell shocked realizing I had just lost all the phone numbers, my email, and my 3 new audio books and as I drove home in the quiet I realized a martini bar next to that store would have a steady flow of people (55+) all day long!!!  Anyone up for investing?