Sweet Sweet Summer

Vintage Linen Postcard

I have officially fallen into the black hole that is the middle of summer... woke this morning with NO IDEA what day it was, where I needed to be or what I needed to do today.  PURE HEAVEN.  Every year we have about two fabulous weeks when most of our planned camps, practices and activities are over but we are still looking forward to summer vacation and back-to-school is still just far enough away to not seem like a reality.

I'm still here but I guess I'm not writing much because there isn't much to write about besides kids coming in and out of my house constantly and at all hours, trips to get sno-cones, sweltering heat and middle of the day movies.  It is all going to come to a screeching halt sooner than later, but in the meantime if you need me I can be found blissfully residing in my happy place.

The Sunbather Hand Tinted Photo

Confession Friday UPDATE and a Saturday SHOUT OUT

Sassy Glass Pendant

The dreaded WEEK 5, DAY 3 is history...

in the books... 

kicked to the curb... 

eatin' my dust... 

yesterday's news.  

Even threw in an hour pilates class when I finished just for grins.  

So what if I haven't moved more than 3 feet in any direction since I finished?  

I want thank you all for your kind words of encouragement and support (and Handsome Hubby for a very sweet text message).  I know it sounds like I ran a freaking marathon, but really as far as I'm concerned IT MAY AS WELL HAVE BEEN.  I will try not to get lazy sick  before I get to the end, so as not to disappoint all you awesome peeps.

And speaking of AWESOME PEEPS, meet my gorgeous friend Jules...

Taken on one of the THREE days we can actually wear a sweater AND a scarf here...

We have been friends for thirty years a LONG time... since we were giggly, goofy high school girlies and now we are just giggly, goofy grown-ups.  

ANYHOO, I happened to mention to her earlier in the week that I was facing down the 20 minute monster on Friday and she instantly piped up that she was going to come run with me... now, a twenty minute treadmill run is normally just a warm-up for Ms. P90X  but she wasn't feeling well and was sleep deprived and (despite my protests) she STILL drove 20 minutes to meet me at the gym at 8 a.m. and hopped on the treadmill next to me to cheer me on... and frankly, I am almost completely certain I might have cheated if not for her... and she did that dang pilates class with me, too. 

All I can say is I hope every single one of you have a least one friend like Jules, because really and truly, SHE ROCKS!

Guess what we did last night to celebrate with the Hubby's?

We had Skinny Margarita's, of course.

Confession Friday...

June 1950 True Confessions Magazine

Some of you may remember this post about my plan to start the C25K plan...

Run Kelly Run!

Ok... so I had good intentions. Really, I did.  I think I got lazy sick or something and after the first week I stopped, and I actually felt GUILTY that I had blogged about it but didn't finish.  Like, I will never even meet most of you fabulous folks IRL, but I felt like you would be virtually shaking your heads and giving me the TSK, TSK finger wag.  So, what have I done?  Well, I jumped back on the wagon so to speak... but I didn't tell you, because I was afraid I might disappoint you again (even though you didn't know I did it the first time)... and I waited until I was 100% committed to reveal... so where am I now?  

WEEK FIVE, DAY THREE

Why am I telling you this now?  Because WEEK FIVE, DAY THREE is the first day in the program that has NO WALKING intervals (I'm sorry for shouting, but this scares the living $%#@ out of me)... I have to run for
TWENTY STRAIGHT MINUTES 

Vintage House Number

and I am going to do it TODAY.

Let us pray, shall we?
Heavenly Father, Please do not let Kelly die on the treadmill... AMEN.

Running Print

Semi-Wordless Wednesday... It Takes A Village

This beautiful family has stolen my heart... Joshua and Robin were killed in an auto accident over the July 4 holiday weekend while driving through Fort Stockton, Texas, on their way back home from a family vacation in Colorado.  Both boys are being treated for spinal injuries. The Berry's daughter was treated  for a broken arm and ankle.  The children's aunt and uncle have been named legal guardians.

These sweet babies are going to need years of medical attention, so if you feel compelled to help you can easily donate ANY anount to the Joshua and Robin Berry Children's Trust... or pray, or tweet or repost this so other's can help... we are all God's children and these babies need our help. 

Movie Monday

This really is not a movie blog, but since I live in Haitis Houston, it has been too friggin' hot to do anything else so off to the movies we go...

I'm sure you are thinking we saw THAT movie, the one with the wizards flying around or some such things... but no, we are not Harry hounds at my house.  However, we did happen to be at the theater the day of that crazy premiere and ran into some friends waiting to get a seat... 

Mind you, I snapped this pic at 5:30 p.m. and the movie started at MIDNIGHT... and they ALREADY HAD TICKETS, cute girls just wanted to make sure they got great seats.  Ok, how bad a seat could you have in the Cinemark?  It's not as if it were showing at the Superdome... anyhoo... pretty much every girl I know over the age of 13 was sitting on the floor of that lobby for HOURS waiting for their date with Harry and I'm thinking Sweet Son would have been wise to get a quick case of Potter fever... just sayin'.

Back to OUR movie... this one has been in the theaters for awhile now, so if you don't get to the movies soon you may have to wait for it to come out on DVD.

I had NO CLUE what this movie was about before we went... Dear Daughter asked me on the way if it was scary.  OH NO, HONEY... I DON'T THINK SO.  Ooops.  Five minutes in she mouthed, "I hate this movie" and spent the rest of it with her head buried in my lap.  Double ooops.  

Regardless, Sweet Son and I thoroughly enjoyed this one... the young actors were awesome and Kyle Chandler (STILL crying from the series finale of "Friday Night Lights") as the dad just made it even better.  Steven Spielberg doing what he does best... humor, romance, special effects, and drama all rolled up in one.  And how could I not LOVE a movie where a bunch of pre-teen geeks break into a rousing rendition of "My Sharona"?  MOST EXCELLENT.

Only complaint?  There were a few choice words I would rather they had left out... of course, as I'm commenting on my disdain for a few of the word choices, Dear Daughter pipes up, "it's OK mama, kids say those words at school all the time"... NICE, well now I feel SO much better.

Oh, and be sure to watch all the way to the end of the credits... 

you'll be sorry if you don't.

It's all about ME!

All About Me Necklace

I keep reading on other "blog tip" posts that my ABOUT page should grab you... but what I had didn't even grab me, so I'm pretty sure it wasn't grabbing anyone else.  Did a little update... check it out and let me know what you think.  

Abra, abra cadabra... I wanna reach out and grab ya!  (No, I am not a GLEEk, I have millions of useless song lyrics stuck in my head and sometimes they just fly out... it's a sickness)

ABOUT ME!

ME Necklace

ME ME ME It's All About Me Scrabble Tile Cufflinks

Yin My Yang...

I'm pouring sweat, my heart is racing and my legs are shaking... why, she MUST have run a good 5 miles, you say?  No... I went to PILATES.  Seriously, who woulda thunk?  Let me just say I am probably the most inflexible female on the planet.  Much to my junior high girl dismay, I could never even do the splits.  

Dear Daughter, on the other hand, can do things with her arms and legs that, well...  just should not be allowed.  As for me, this is what

I sounded like at my first pilates class...

Mimi has always said I could never sneak up on anyone with all my poppin' joints...NOT pretty.  I actually enjoyed the class, and realize as I am getting old more mature it would benefit me to increase my flexibilty.  Not fooling myself, I will NEVER be one of those zen yogis who can wrap their toes around their ears, but it might be nice to be able to at least TOUCH my toes without having to curl into a ball.

Yogi Yam Print

As sore as I am now, there was something extremely relaxing in the process... the breathing, the soothing music, the stretching, that whole mind/body thing.  I might have actually stopped thinking for about three minutes about the orthodontist appointment, volleyball game, swim meet, car repairs and unpacking that I have to do... ok, maybe two minutes.  I know when I was holding that plank all I was thinking about was strangling my instructor with my yoga mat.

I could be convinced to try it again... maybe, just MAYBE even venture into an actual yoga class.   The one and only time I tried a yoga class with one of my BFF's, we got the giggles so bad we nearly got thrown out.

Here is a pic of that fiasco... 

Yeah... that's totally not me.  

But admit it, I had you fooled for a second there, didn't I? 

Movie Monday...

Home from Camp Kim (and back to running and Weight Watchers because seriously we drank ate, drank ate, drank ate, and drank ate... you get the picture).  During the week we saw several movies and wanted to share my (not so) expert opinion in case you are hitting any of the summer movies this year...

Bad Teacher

We saw this with the senior campers only at the Alamo Drafthouse... did I mention how much we drank ate this week?  I love the Alamo for funny movies, because really everything is just funnier when you are eating fried pickles and enjoying a sangria... but I DIGRESS.  This movie was... well... bad.  I mean, it is FUNNY, but it is truly mindless, politically completely incorrect, crude and of very little moral value.  DO NOT GO if you are easily offended... clearly, I am not all that evolved, because I laughed my head off.

Monte Carlo

This one I saw with my three favorite junior campers... Dear Daughter, Marvelous Marissa and the little Crazy Blonde.  It basically consists of cute girls and cute boys running around some very scenic locations in a totally predictable but equally cute story.  Nothing Oscar worthy or earth shattering, but certainly enjoyable, especially when accompanied by three ridiculously cute little girls, a large bucket of popcorn and a Coke Icee.

Larry Crowne

The Pretty Woman meets Forrest Gump... I mean, really... can it GET any better than that???  While perhaps a little predictable, this movie will do NOTHING but make you feel warm and happy and GOOD.  Good.  Good.  Good.  The margarita's and Mexican food before the movie weren't so terrible either.

Yep... off to the Weight Watchers website now.

Silver Saturday...

July 9, 1986... Girl's Night Out (OK, admittedly pretty much every night was GNO in 1986) at a club that shall remain nameless a very cute boy asked me to dance.  

After gettin' our groove on to Peter Gabriel's "Sledgehammer" (romantic, no doubt... it was the EIGHTIES y'all), cute boy and I spent pretty much every single day together for... well, the next 25 years.  

Do It Like Duff...

Some of you may remember from this post that Dear Daughter has been on a mission to work with fondant for awhile now.  We had this flipping AMAZING cake made for the Sunday Sundae Social she and three of her friend's threw recently...

Well, this just about did her in... see the invitation behind the cake?  On the way to the party she was describing to me the cake of her "dreams" for this party, we had simply emailed the cake designer a copy of the invitation and let her create it on her own.  I kid you not, when we walked in and saw the cake she nearly fell over.  THIS IS THE CAKE OF HER DREAMS ... pretty much exactly what she described to me on the way to the party. We have been haunted by fondant dreams ever since and she is determined to master some form of this crazy cake art for two of her cousin's upcoming birthdays.

THIS IS EASIER SAID THAN DONE...

One of her BFF's attempted fondant from scratch (those words make me shiver) for her mom's birthday last week.  Keep in mind she is ten years old and I'm thinking fondant from scratch is intended to be mastered by adults who get paid big money to put themselves through that torture...

Maybe not quite what she had envisioned, but certainly made with love and you bet your sweet buttercream it was eaten with gusto by her brave fabulous family!

Here's the good news for any of you Cake Boss inspired amateur chefs out there... our friend the Ace of Cakes himself has come out with a fun and easy pre-mixed fondant in some groovy fun colors that is perfect to help you unleash your inner Martha Stewart without wanting to impale yourself on your pastry knife.

Aunt Kim purchased this pack of Duff Multi-Pack Fondant at Michael's, it comes in a variety of colors, but they chose the BRIGHTS for their first attempt. With a 40% off coupon, it ran around 10 bucks... well worth it to avoid that FROM SCRATCH stress.

Getting started was the hardest part... Aunt Kim threw in some muscle (Boot Camp has served her well) and helped get it softened up. Then the cousins went crazy... cookie cutter, rolling pin, spreaders... whatever they could find, they worked with this stuff for what seemed like HOURS and finally produced this...

Not too shabby for their first try... 

I'm seeing many fondant filled afternoons in our future. 

Good ol' Fashioned 4th Fun...

Due to this crazy Texas drought, fireworks here were cancelled... but that didn't stop us from enjoying the 4th with some Mayberry style mayhem.  First stop, the community pool... 

My water babies... 

and Aunt Kim in

her happy place!

After a few hours of pool playtime, we headed over to the 

community Fourth of July Fair... 

Dear Daughter is in that ginormous ball... 

And here is the Cousin Crew with the Assistant Fire Chief... who just happens to be one of their favorite uncles.  

Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!  Nothing beats a good, cheap carni ride...

(Semi) Wordless Wednesday...

Sunrise over central Texas...
(taken driving 75 mph down the highway through the car window with my iphone.  really.)

Bear Sighting...

Day Two of Camp Kim and we had a very scary incident...

Who know there were bears at Camp Kim?

Greetings From Camp Kim... Day One

Note the camp chaos going on behind me... do I look concerned?

Our week at Camp Kim started out with a rousing celebration of many family birthdays... big family = boatloads of birthdays.  So, off we went to commune with nature at The Oasis, an Austin landmark built into the hills overlooking Lake Travis.  Drought conditions in Texas (rain dance anyone? ANYONE?) have caused the lake to drop low, low, low... 

But it's still a great spot for hanging out and enjoying the sunset with our junior campers...

Cousin J lookin' a little crabby there... but aren't they cute?

Dear Daughter took the whole communing with nature thing a little too literally... ummm... someone tell me whose kid this is, because on NO PLANET did I give birth to a child that 
would gleefully entertain
a live tarantula.  
ON NO PLANET.

We ended the day by enjoying a little Beatles cover band... 
YOU SAY IT'S YOUR BIRTHDAY!  NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA!

Dear Daughter and Cousin Z did a little dancin'...

And Cousin J got his happy face back.
Until next time, Campers...

Happy Camper

Vintage Photo

I'm going to camp y'all!!!  No, I'm not just a little excited, and no, I'm not going to be sweatin' in a cabin in the woods with outdoor plumbing and powdered eggs for breakfast... I'm going to Camp Kim where I have my very own beautiful (airconditioned) room waiting.  

Let me explain... some of us get luckier than others in the in-law department, and while I've had a few in-laws that I wanted to throw back in the river (who shall remain nameless but thank you God they decided to throw themselves back), I have been ridiculously fortunate in the sister-in-law department.  Every year we go to Austin for a family reunion of sorts with Handsome Hubby's ginormous family for July 4th... this year Dear Daughter and I are staying  on for a week of Aunt Kim planned fun and frivolity.  Poor boys have to come back home to work (just another reason to be glad we're not stinky boys)...

I told my flipping adorable, amazing, smart, beautiful sister-in-law that I didn't care what we did as long as I don't have to make any decisions or be in charge of anything, and let me tell you my friends she has come through in spades!  I received the most beautiful agenda of activities we will be enjoying with my nieces and other sister-in-laws.  

Among a variety of camp activities, we will be communing with nature (did someone say pool?), enjoying the arts (3D movie at the Alamo Drafthouse and big girl night out dancing to an 80's cover band... yes, please), creating arts and crafts (painting and wine tasting at Pinot's Palette... yes, YES, please), and learning valuable life lessons in how to manage our money (HELLO outlet mall!).

I will send you all some virtual postcards this week of our adventures...

Kum Ba Yah, peeps!

Happy Camper Postcards