High Five for Friday (9.27.24)

 

Another week of less-than-stellar news and roadblocks, but we're chugging along, high fiving each other when whenever and wherever it makes sense to do so.

One

Will has been dealing with a pretty serious back injury (more on that in a future post, when I have the bandwidth to talk through the ups and downs of the diagnosis), and while he's still far from recovered, this week he was able to start physical therapy. I'm so grateful for his positive attitude and commitment to doing everything in his power both to heal and to get back on the field with his teammates.

Two

Last Friday's "Night Lights" was one for the books. 

• Our high school (A&M Consolidated) beat crosstown opponent (College Station) after six straight losses in this rivalry match up. After going toe to toe for three quarters, Consol pulled away in the fourth to bring home the victory. Will said it was the most exciting football game he's ever attended.
• My friend Kristen, who moved away back in July, made a spontaneous trip to College Station for the game. I didn't get to spend much time with her, but I did get to hug her which made me happy.
• Hallie's friend Kara, who moved away in August, also came back to College Station last weekend. She surprised Hallie, Avery, and Abby when she showed up at the game, and their reunification was so sweet.

Three

On Saturday night - after an 8.5-hour day of Nutcracker-ing - we had Hallie's headshots taken for the Nutcracker program. Per usual, "the Ashleys" (Siegert of Fig-Mint Photography and Lindsey of Ashley Lindsey Photography) did a fantastic job and I can't wait to share it...next week! 😉

Four

On Sunday afternoon we assembled Hallie and friends' mums for homecoming! Consol's HOCO isn't until the end of October, but College Station's HOCO is this weekend so we needed to finish these accessories ahead of tomorrow night's dance. 

They missed Kara...

Five

These two little babes moved on to another foster, but they're still available for adoption if you'd like to add an adorably tail-less tuxedo or a chatty adventurer to your family!

Happy weekend, friends!

Monthly Medley: September 2024

 

This month's Monthly Medley is coming to you a little early, since next week's posts are reserved for my (soon-to-be) 18-year-old man-child.

Reading

Zero Days by Ruth Ware definitely wasn't my favorite of her thrillers, but it certainly wasn't a bad read if you like mysteries (which I do). I think my biggest beef with the story was that Ware's descriptions of events, activities, encounters, escapes, etc. were frequently too long and detailed. I love an author who paints a picture with her words...whose descriptions are so good that you can imagine yourself in the scene and feel like you're walking alongside the protagonist. But at some point, the character is just "climbing a ladder," and that process shouldn't take four pages to explain.  

I also read First Comes Love (I know, two books in one month, and September isn't even over yet!) by Emily Giffin. I used to read all of Giffin's books as soon as they were released, but it had been probably three years since I'd picked up one of her novels. This emotionally challenging yet endearing and completely relatable (at least to anyone who has siblings) story about all different kinds of love hit the spot for me in between suspenseful mysteries.

Watching

This month I watched the Netflix documentary Sign Stealer, as well as The Perfect Couple, a Netflix short series. Sign Stealer was average, but I loved The Perfect Couple and was sad when it ended after only six episodes. 

I also watched and enjoyed the pilot of High Potential staring Kaitlin Olson in a role completely different from everything I've seen her in before. I'm looking forward when the next episode of this new show comes out next week, as well as when all of the networks' new fall shows start dropping!

Listening To

I tried three new podcasts this month, but none of them stuck, which is kind of a shame because I'm a little tired of my usual podcasts. I continue trying new podcasts next month, so hopefully I'll have something new to report at the end of October!

Following

I've been thoroughly enjoying Emily Vondy (@emilyvondy), a video creator whose specialty is "motherhood in all it's wild glory." She's funny and creative and honest and I wish I'd followed her when my kids were younger.

Wearing

This was a month for new shoes - I "accidentally" picked up three pairs at DSW while on a shoe shopping trip with/or Tom. 

• I'd been looking for a pair of maroon sneakers to wear to high school, club soccer, and Aggie sporting events (yep, they're all maroon), and this pair kind of fell into my lap. They're comfortable and cute, and I LOVE the pink laces. 
• I'd also been looking for a slide or loafer for fall, and this driving loafer (I chose tan) fit the bill. The best features of these shoes are its arch supports and cushy sole, which took them up a notch compared to other loafers I've tried on recently.
• I wasn't looking for this last pair, but these Mary Jane flats (I chose taupe) were on super clearance so I decided to give them a try. I was worried that either I couldn't pull them off or they'd age me, but they felt pretty good and Hallie told me I didn't look stupid when I wore them for the first time.

Trying/Using

This set of three pairs of sunglasses could fall into this category or the one above, but since I bought and highlighted three pairs of shoes already, we'll put it here. I wear out my sunglasses - the result of just wearing them A LOT - pretty regularly, so I'm always looking for inexpensive new pairs to add to my stash. They're obviously not the highest quality available, but they're polarized, lightweight, and comfortable, and they get the job done at a very reasonable price!

At just $6, I couldn't afford not to try this under eye brightener (with hyaluronic acid and shea butter). I was pleasantly surprised to discover that it actually does make my under eye area look brighter, which contributes to me looking more awake...even when I don't feel that way.

Eating/Drinking

Our only new recipe worth sharing this month is this fudge-filled vanilla bundt cake. Hallie actually served as head chef on this one (the two new recipes I tried didn't make it to the keep/share list), and while she followed the recipe exactly with a delicious result, she has one edit she'd try if making the cake again. We both thought it was a little weird that there was sugar in the cake and in the glaze but not in the filling, so if she were to do it over again, she'd cut the amount of sugar in the cake a little and add that amount of sugar to the filling. 

Smiling About

• The world's most entertaining (dramatic? flamboyant? fabulous?) referee. I would love to watch this guy work.
• This dog needs a kiss on his nose before each meal. Oh, my heart.
• Turns out middle schoolers get the zoomies too. I've saw Will do every single one of these during his 6th - 10th grade years.
• This view of Stephen Nedoroscik's ("Pommel Horse Man") teammates watching him compete his routine and secure the bronze medal for team USA.

Happy fall, y'all!

Just kidding. It's not fall here.

High Five for Friday (9.20.24)

 

A couple of times a year I introduce a High Five for Friday post with a disclaimer of sorts, a reminder that while most weeks offer a reason(s) to high five, most weeks aren't made up of only high fives...and some weeks are nearly void of high fives altogether. I don't ever want to give the impression that I'm not deep in the trenches of motherhood and marriage and work and health alongside of those who read these posts. 

HFFF posts help me focus on the good things, which I find especially important when those good things are happening in the midst of - nearly buried by - a bunch of crappy, stressful, anxiety-inducing things. The last week or so has felt pretty heavy for me, and if that's the case for you as well, know that I'm thinking about you and hoping you can find something to high five about too. 

One

How did we get here?

Two

I couldn't possibly be prouder of him.

Three

No one loves the rain like she does. It's one of my top five favorite things about her. 

Four

Tom was at a conference in Phoenix for the better part of last week, and while there, he was able to spend time with a few of his friends from graduate school. 

Tom met Neal and Dan back when we lived in Ann Arbor and they were all working on their master's degrees and PhDs at the University of Michigan. Neal and Dan have known our kids since they were born, and were with us through the first almost four years of Will's life and 18 months of Hallie's; they hung out with the kids frequently, and even babysat a time or two. While Neal and Dan don't know the kids at their current ages, they certainly remember them, so when the three guys sent me this picture...

...I sent them back these pictures - plus the picture above of Will in his cap and gown - to remind us all how old we really are.

Five

Happiness Highlights

She convinced him to play in the rain with her
too - they raced "boats" (popsicle sticks) in the
street streams until the water stopped flowing.

Fake Fall arrived and stuck around
for one AMAZING morning. (Spoiler:
summer quickly returned.) 

A friend/teammate of Will's set up this net on a cement
slab in the middle of a field near our house. (There used to
be something on this slab, but whatever it was came down
when the field was "relandscaped" for drainage.) I love that
he figured out a way to actually use the slab, as the field
sitting empty has always been a beef of mine.  

She was NOT fooled by the "make a box-shaped square on the
floor so your cat will sit in it like it's a box" trick. She's too smart... 

Senior breakfast for orchestra kids - looks like fun! 

A good (and well deserving) friend of Will's
was featured on Classroom Champions! If you
looked hard enough during the video footage of
Ben in math class, you can see Will sitting a
couple of rows back. 😂)

Friday Night Lights! We're loving watching
Hallie's friend Abby CRUSH this new adventure!

 Sunday night - family game night - on the porch,
under the lights, after the rain. Perfection.

Over the summer, lightning struck the kids' high school's auditorium.
Repairs will take place soon, but because the sound/light systems aren't
fixed yet, the first choir concert of the year was moved to a local church.
The kids sounded great, and we enjoyed both the concert and our
family dinner out afterwards.

Friends who know how challenging your week has
been and bring cake to you while you're working = 😍

Happy weekend, friends!

Cupids, Dragons, and Sasquatches, Oh My!

Since we moved to Texas 13+ years ago, we've made regular trips to Houston. At first, we drove into the city for its touristy establishments, like museums or the zoo, or to access the airport. But eventually we started driving to Houston much more regularly - almost every weekend for at least six months of the year - for Will's soccer games. My best estimate is that we've make the trek to the Houston area at least 200 times, but that number is probably closer to 250. 

Why does this matter, you ask? Because the number of times we've driven to Houston is not much higher than the number of times we've driven past Frazier's Ornamental Concrete. 

According to their website, Frazier's is "one of Texas' best known resources for home and garden décor and commercial site furnishings." That sounds kind of boring, and not like a topic about which to write a blog post, but believe me when I tell you that this place isn't what you're envisioning. (Unless you've been there, of course. If you've been there, you know what I'm talking about.) Everything is bigger in Texas...and that includes home and garden stores.

Frazier's has been in business for more than 50 years, offering customers traditional as well as unique (and even strange or weird, in some cases) ornamental and architectural pottery, planters, sculptures, statues, furniture, and fountains...and offering passersby an interesting visual distraction as they transition from Highway 6 to Highway 290 or vice versa. Frazier's can apparently do special orders, but I'm not sure why anyone would need to place a special order because, from what I've seen, they carry just about anything you could imagine already. 

Benches, fountains, wishing wells? ✔

Birds, owls, deer? ✔

Cats, dogs, barnyard animals? ✔

Polar bears and gorillas? ✔

Statue of Liberty, Cupid, Mother Mary? ✔

UFOs, aliens, sasquatches? ✔

Dragons, dinosaurs, gargoyles? ✔

I read that Frazier's is popular among tourists - and that actual tour buses stop there on occasion - which makes sense, given both what they offer and the sheer size of the property. Again, everything is bigger in Texas.

Sculptures and statues as far as I could see in
this direction...and in most other directions as well.

A couple of months before his birthday, Tom decided he wanted a chiminea as a gift. I did a little research online and popped into a few local garden shops and bigger chain stores, but I couldn't find one I liked. So one afternoon on our way home from Houston (our trip to the Museum of Illusion), the kids and I - completely on a whim - whipped off the highway and into the Frazier's parking lot. 

It was a million degrees outside. More accurately, it was 100 degrees outside. But it felt like a million degrees outside because there were no clouds in the sky and there was no breeze, and Frazier's IS NOT AIR CONDITIONED. The chimineas were outside anyway, but it would have been nice to have the option of cooling off inside after wandering the chiminea "department." 

We browsed for only a few short minutes, both because of the heat and because of what felt like hundreds of wasps planning an attack against us. And while we found a few we liked, I just didn't feel like I could make a decision under those conditions. I completely understand not being able to have all product inside - the grounds go on for what feels like forever - but the conditions just weren't ripe for shopping.

I knew I wanted to purchase Tom's chiminea from Frazier's though - they had the nicest product and getting one from this Texas landmark would make the gift more special. So a few days later, Hallie and I dressed in our coolest and most breathable attire, steeled ourselves to face the wasps, and drove back to Frazier's. We made our selection, paid for our purchase in the non-air conditioned building, and waited patiently while they graciously loaded and secured our extraordinarily heavy chiminea in the back of my car. (Getting it out of the car later was a challenge, but Hallie and I managed it on our own!)

Her permanent location is yet-to-be-determined -
she's been seeing how she feels in different spots
while Tom does some backyard cleaning. 

Tom loved his birthday present, and it's been fun for all of us to have something from this Texas establishment at our home. Frazier's website invites customers to "come and experience how just walking into Frazier's can lift your spirit and, perhaps, change your life for the better." And while I feel like that assessment is a bit of an exaggeration, I admit that after visiting Frazier's myself I definitely consider this shopping destination worth a road trip! But maybe not in the middle of summer...

High Five for Friday (9.13.24)

 

One

Hallie transitioned to a new - not just to her, but to the community - dance studio this summer. The decision to move on from the studio at which she'd danced for 11 years was somehow both a hard one and an easy one, and was accompanied by a wide variety of emotions. But after a solid summer of intensives and a great start to regular fall classes last week (and with anticipation for the studio's upcoming move into new space), she and I are excited about this next dance adventure ahead of her.

Two

My girl isn't so into pep rallies or football games or joining stuff in general, but she did sing the National Anthem with her choir at Consol's first home football game and then stayed until halftime to watch the dance team and band perform. (I may have bribed her to stay with hotdogs and popcorn from the concession stand.) Will was there too, or so says Life 360 😂, but Hallie and I didn't see much of him that night. 

I really do love high school football and Friday night lights.

Three

After halftime, Hallie and I headed across the street (from the stadium to the school) for the choir lock-in. She stayed all night, but because I had to get up early on Saturday, I only chaperoned until midnight - at this point in my life there's no way I could make it through a full day of Nutcracker-ing (a full day of anything, really) on an hour of sleep. 

Choir is the only student organization granted permission to hold a lock-in in the high school, and I'm so glad she/I went - it was a blast, and a really cool opportunity to experience the school in a different light (or lack there of 😉).

The event is put on by the choir leadership team. They were so well organized and the entire night so well coordinated - every minute is accounted for with games and activities and food, which means both no sleep and (hopefully) no trouble. Below is a pic of the video that kicked off an epic 90-minute scavenger hunt and a pic of the teams huddled together to figure out their first clues. Between the scavenger hunt and other games, Hallie logged FIVE MILES that night!

Four

We have new babies! All four of the Antihistamines* - Claritin (Clare), Benadryl (Benny), Allegra (Allie), and Zyrtec (Zee or Tec) - stayed with us from Friday through Monday, and then after their first trip to the vet, Allie and Tec came back to us while Clare and Benny went to another foster. 

Left to right: Allie, Clare, Benny, Tec

We have a soft spot in our hearts for kittens who are a little different, which means we truly can't get enough of Allie (whose abnormally short tail is about the size of a cocktail wiener) and Tec, who doesn't have a tail at all. They remind us our Popeye. 

All four are truly delightful - local friends, if you'd like to come meet Allie and Tec, let me know!

* We just couldn't call these adorable little kittens their full, official names, so we immediately gave them all what we thought were cuter nicknames.

Five

My senior('s pawprint). This senior year stuff gets more and more real by the day.

Not my senior, but I wanted a pic of her with
Will's paw. Hopefully he'll agree to take his own
pic with it at some point this year!

Happy weekend, friends!