36

It doesn't pain me to turn 36 like it did to turn 35, however, I feel like the plans for the 40th bash should begin now. Sigh.

It warms might heart to have spent the morning with 5 of my best childhood girlfriends. The longest friendship in that group is about 29 years. INSANE. Kristy (in the middle) is getting married in October, and we gathered to celebrate and to meet Mike (they live in another state). We really had a great morning.....

Of course I had breakfasted and yard saled with Adam and the kids beforehand.






I'm self-centered, and pretty happy to be managing the late 30s as such (see above) :) Hee Hee, do not let the book cover fool you. The doc visits this week were not entirely positive, and the insides are suffering, trust.....

Mom offered to have the kids "PEN NIGHT", which, I struggled with deeply, because I missed having them with me. However, it was not practical for the events of the evening.....Adam took me shopping at Lowe Mill, which, sans kids, meant I could finger every item in the mill. I stole away with a tee shit, a new pair of earrings, and a loaf of Fred Bread....perfect birthday gifts!

I was able to take a bath and get ready for dinner at a leasurely pace....never realized how luxurious that can be....

Dinner was OUTSTANDING! We'd seen all the art hung sans the final piece Adam did. It was more than stunning. The food was phenomenal. I've never been in a restaurant 1 week past opening where the kitchen has it together, but they had it more than together. They had it melt in the mouth together. We had ahi, swordfish, filet, and creme brule. If I thing to go grab the item descriptions from the website later for you, I will. It was...off....the....hook.....

I got so many phone calls and texts and Facebook messages....my day was filled with love and happiness. The only thing I missed was the kids, but I called them, and, apparently they didn't miss me at all - they said they wanted to be with their gams...and so they did.

So, I am not going to do a gift run-down, because it'd be weird and tacky, but my family and friends were overly generous and I got so many wonderful and thoughtful things. But I have to share that I finally got a macrame owl to live in my house courtesy of the Allens! Come see it sometime...after we clear out this tornado...

Birthday done....time to finsih the house "redo" phase I....

Peace and love folks.

Summer, Summer, Summertime......

So, the school year began in August '10 and ended May '11...and somewhere in the time between...well, children transformed.






We wrapped up the second session of swim lessons. Alya hates the water. Ben loves it, but cannot swim yet. Since we have a pool at our disposal all summer, we'll be continuing the basics we learned in lessons.



The kids wanted an Earlyworks visit, so I begrudgingly accomodated them, because, activities like this end up being a PITA. They won't just play and enjoy...they mope about the place complaining about the noise and other children. Hi, my name is Christa, and I have painfully antisocial children and it is my fault for guarding them in a bubble since birth. Even when they don't have fun...they do have fun...trust.....



We got a Saturday out on my SIL and BILs new pontoon boat! LOVELY! We had a blast with Adam, Emily, Shelley, and Lori!



Louise is enrolled in Stage Arts II for the Fall (ballet, tap, and tumbling). She chose dance over soccer and music. She went NUTS when I let her try on her dancewear. Unfortunately, the leotards are too small (I'd picked them up for $1 each at a consignment sale), but all her accoutrement worked, so she just needs new 'tards....ha ha...Ben's soccer suit up pics to come (he will get his stuff through AYSO closer to season).





Mini flapper..



The happy accident....James Steakhouse will be opening June 18. We ended up doing 21 pieces for the restaurant (everything in there is Adam's).....the final piece was a nightmare and was miraculously completed right before we left for the beach. I photographed it for our records and realized our van is in the print....we were parked outside the restaurant when Adam did the photography and we never realized our van was in the bottom right corner of the last large piece until the very end! How odd and fun at the same time! This piece will be in the meeting room upstairs, so be sure to visit all the areas when you go!



We've been enjoying George and Joey's pool!








And, finally, we just returned from Miramar Beach (Destin), George and Joey's condo, and we whole Landingham crew went. It was a BLAST!!!! Oddly, the only pictures I took with my Nikon were of this moment where George was in his jumper in Adam and Emily's room and the kids were playing in there too. I took the others with my little camera, and, I guess it is a good thing that I documented little and just relaxed and enjoyed the family for 6 days!

?

During the summer, Adam always fixes the kids' breakfast. I found them eating yogurt, huddled on the couch, watching cartoons recently. It's a big couch. They don't care.

That need to be close to those we love is partially what prompted my resignation from blog and Facebook....on several levels...yes, it was only a week, but I needed to reset my clock.

Primarily, I needed to reset my focus to my family. That may seem absurd considering I am with them always and a devoted and dedicated wife and mother....but internet time (while I keep it limited enough) drains me. How do you deal with the disappointment people can cause you? How do you?

I just walk away. (obviously I cling to hope emoptionally for a while, but that gets the gavel at some point too....there...bang...gavel.....)

In using that first week of Summer Break to prioritize and chill and evaluate, I walked away with some refreshing insight and joy and hope.

We have a beautiful summer ahead of us and beautiful lives. "I had a false belief, I thought I came here to stay....we're all just visiting...all just breaking like waves..." That's Pearl Jam.

Peace and love folks.

Vacay

Break...taking a break for a while from anything online (sans my Ebay sales...a girl's gotta make money)...I've significantly cut back on my online time in the past few weeks, but I do find I still "excuse" my frittering by blogging, reading blogs, and checking in on Facebook periodically.

So, everyone have a fabulous summer. Ours has started swimmingly :) I'll check in....eventually.....

C