The final stretch ... Fashion Friday

Here we are almost at the end of NaBloPoMo-ing, and thank goodness! I compare these posts with all the longer-winded entries from the early days, when I would write about good stuff- or at least better about mundane stuff.  It is after all mostly mundane.

This past week I was happy to be able to go to my usual warehouse sale (that I attend every year, twice a year- the agency represents Free People-and Autumn Cashmere as examples. I thought I would rock the sale in honour of my 50th.  I won't get into my actual purchases but what got me was that I received compliments from two of the sales staff admiring my boots and my bag. What??

Boots from Clark's in the UK (yes, they are so much nicer in Europe versus Clark's Canada where they are pretty much fugly orthopedic shoes). ...and the bag, why it's fringe-y Michael Kors which apparently is very Marc Jacobs.

So maybe I've still got a modicum of 'it'.  Whew.

Started from the bottom

"Started from the bottom now we're here ...
Started from the bottom we're still here ...
Started from the bottom and we'll always be here ... "

This version of the Drake song has been re-purposed by little G and her friends.  Apparently they have all been in the bottom row of the classroom photo -every single year since kindergarten. So they updated the song to reflect this.

How cool is that, for 10 and 11year old girls.  Wait we're talking Drake.  Should I be worried instead?

Wordless Wednesday - Respect and Honour

My kind of playdate

The kids were off school yesterday, and I took a vacation day to spend time with them My daughter passed on the opportunity- she opted to spend the day with her best friend. But my boy, he wanted some quality time with his Mom.

We went for a sushi lunch, and then caught the matinee showing of "This is It".

If you haven't seen it yet, even if you're not an MJ fan... you should see it. This was just his rehearsal. His concert tour would have been out of this world.

My favourite part? Watching my son's eyes fixated on the screen, with excitement and awe as Michael Jackson danced, sang and slid across the huge stage in front of us. His most favourite MJ song now? "Smooth Criminal", because MJ played a mean gangster.

We've now got moonwalking practice as a regular after school activity in the hallway. Now if I could only perfect the move where my boy slides and balances on his toes. Who am I kidding - I can't even try!

Mad Single Dad

I caught the season finale of Mad Men last night.

(are these people unbelievably beautiful or what?)

I've been so out of it over the last few weeks, that I actually missed the previous two episodes ... one during which Don was caught and had to reveal all of his past life to his wife, Betty and then dumped his mistress. The part of the storyline I've been waiting for, for two seasons. Can you believe it? Grrrrr....

So Don, Betts is finally handing you divorce papers. Your affairs will no longer be extra-marital. I wonder how fun it will be to make the rounds now that you'll actually be a single Mad Man?

A single dad, Mad Man. Hmmmm.

How about you fast forward 40 years and try something a little different...a particular Asian cougar comes to mind...

(Just kidding mind you. My slightly dough-ier husband, after giving his toast about his beautiful wife and kids being the reason that his 40s have been the best years of his life ... well, he's definitely fitting the bill. I've got my own smooth Don Draper operator in-the-house).

How am I going to handle waiting until summer 2010 for Season 4? Ackkkk!!!

Party

We went to a friend's 40th birthday celebration last night.

It was a great night out. A wonderful dinner, with cocktails, wine, three course meal, and then more drinks - Grey Goose and cranberry anyone? And then the dinner tables cleared and there was dancing.

Dancing? I hadn't gone dancing in forever...at least not with my husband. (There was the matter of that small July partyfest in Chicago.)

The music was pretty bad (an incessant Pitbull beat that underscored every song) but it didn't matter. It was a party.

But I was a bit wrecked this morning. Just a bit.

Oh to be turning 40 again.

Two Career Family

This is my first Saturday post in a long while, and it will be brief (well, for me, anyway). There is so much swirling around my head about work, but the one thing I told myself when I started full time again, would be that I would post about work minimally if at all. I'm an all consuming type of gal, and the last thing I need is for that part of my life, which already occupies more than half of my time, to seep into my blog hobby. But it threatens not only to seep, but to flood.

I need to be smart and resist my urge to "blurt" everything out in one post, though. I have that tendency, to tell every stranger my whole life story (gee - have you noticed?). Now it's starting to happen at work; well, not my whole life story, but sometimes, in the interest of trying to bond with new co-workers, I know I've been suffering a bit from verbal diarrhea, and my inside-the-head voice is screaming," Okay, TMI, shut up, now...".

The one thing that is abundantly clear to me after 7 weeks on the job is that it is no longer just a job. As I suspected, I have thrown myself into it wholeheartedly and it is what it is. I take work home with me in my bag; I bring my laptop home; I compose memos - at home; I ponder my departmental resources and how to deal with HR issues - at home; I think about long term strategy - at home. It's all in my head, even if I don't lug the paperwork.

It's a career again.

We are a two career family.

In the almost five years I was at home with the kids, doing a bit of consulting, I did contemplate and was completely open to the possibilities of re-locating with the man if the right opportunity ever came along for him. Out of the country - even WAYYYYY out of the country. Something that took the oh-so-conservative me years to even imagine doing. The fact that I didn't have job ties was incredibly freeing that way.

Guess what? An opportunity has sort of come along. Murphy just loves us.

Because now that I have a career again, it's no longer so easy to make that leap. And to give credit to the hubs, it's a huge consideration for him now too. He wants to make sure that I give my job, my career, a chance to build up again. I feel guilty about that too - especially as it's all so new to me and I'm not sure that I love the whole career thing just yet.

Another opportunity will come. But DAMN why didn't this happen a year ago? I would have quite happily enjoyed the sunny U.S. or taken the kids on weekend train rides through the European countryside. You know, while their Dad slaved away at work. At his career.

This is it

This, this is a movie that I would love to see...



But chances are, as any parents of young children, I won't be able to see it until it comes out on DVD.

I think I could get the boy to come see it with me, no problem. He's actually become a huge MJ fan since he's heard some of the songs. The boy even scrounged through my closet and suggested that the class jack-o-lantern be carved in the likeness of MJ. Yes, I have a hat like MJ's - I never said I wasn't a packrat. But the girl, I don't think she'd sit through the whole movie.

As consolation, I brought home the commemorative CD that was released with the movie. When you listen to the music in the compilation, it really hits home how brilliant he was, an amazing entertainer and showman who was about to unveil an unforgettable show. The more the shame of his tragic death.

So for now at least I have my morning commute to work, as I drive through the suburban streets to the commercial parks, the music energizes me and gives me strength for the upcoming day ... the strength to be startin' somethin'. Ooooh!



(And tomorrow, my friends, my story around Billie Jean and life lessons.)

Helpless

It's the worst thing, seeing your babies so sick.

You know your girl is burning up when she asks you to feel her toes because she bets you could cook on them. And indeed they felt like little hot coals. Her temp was registering at 102 with the ear thermometer.

It's amazing, this pattern. She's following the exact same symptoms as her brother, just 24 hours apart. He hit a whopping 105 for a while (but he is prone to exaggerating and comes by that quite honestly). But I should have figured she would hit a low again today, after she seemed almost 100% better this morning. It seems though, that the night time is the worst. Needless to say, I haven't been getting very much sleep myself.

At least the boy is on the mend. He ate sticky rice, soup and about 3/4 of a pizza for lunch today. He had a lot of catching up to do, which was a really good thing.

My kids are generally in good health. I cannot imagine having to deal with a chronically ill child, what a mass of nerves and bundle of worry I would be. Just a few days of this and I'm a wreck; the man has to remind me sometimes not to sound so alarmed when I see another symptom that I hadn't previously googled.

And a lot of good I am to them. I'm starting to feel a bit queasy myself sometimes, but I don't know if it's just psychological, whether it's that time of the month, or whether it's just my gall bladder acting up. I know, I know, I've got to get that taken care of.

But first, we've got to take care of the kids.

Send me good vibes to help us kick this virus in the ass, will ya?

Everyday, everyday I write ...

the blog.

I know, I'm nuts.

But I can't ignore a challenge.

NaBloPoMo 2009. I met some great blog pals back in 2007 - some that I still follow to this day, a full TWO years later.

Wanna come along for the ride?

Guess what flu in with November?

Yeah. Great.

Poor boy, he woke up on Saturday morning - Halloween morning - with a sore stomach, thinking it was hunger pains.

I made him breakfast, then took the girl to dance class, leaving the boy with his Dad.

A 101 deg. fever and a trip to the bathroom to "throw the ball" (our code word for throwing something else), nixed the evening festivities with his friends. "This sucks. It's the worst day ever!".

The girlie went out with her Dad last night. Trick or treating as Cinderella, and I must admit she looked like quite the princess.

And then this morning, the princess had a sore tummy. And a fever of 100. "Mommy, I just want the sick to go away."

After spending most of the day with both kiddies, feeling helpless, I went to get groceries.

And the girlie threw the ball. Twice.

Nice of me to leave the fun stuff to their Dad, eh?

So thanks, November. Things better get better.

Fashion Friday: Spanx'ed and Berried

Well, guess who hasn't heard the word "recession" yet. Yeah, guilty as charged. I've been doing a little shopping. Cannot resist the deals.

For one thing, I had to buy a dress for the holiday party. More on that later.

But first, I'm loving the deep berry red shades of the season.

I needed a hat, and was looking for one of those slouchy types and believe it or not, this was the ONLY one I found in the accessories section:


So what do you think, Remy Shand or Mary Tyler Moore?

Back the party.

I had to get a proper mani, after all I'll be shaking hands with people later and what's worse than rubbing mitts with sandpaper? Ugh.

Here they are, in OPI's "We'll always have Paris".


And back to the Spanx. Yes, I had to get some to fit into this which I purchased for the part-ay tonite:


And since the dresses were so pretty at BCBG I had to get this too:


So no presents for mommy this year, she's done!!

Little Emo

One of our favourite activities is tucking the kids in at night, especially if they are willing to go to bed. They're sweet, snuggly, and if you do everything according to plan they'll pass out before you're out the bedroom door.

The girlie, especially, needs the routine to be EXACT. Every night, after she washes up, she has a story read to her while she sits on Mom or Dad's lap on the rocker. Then she climbs into bed, with her little doggie Koko, and sometimes another guy (lately the IKEA rat) and asks for another story, usually one about our childhood.

I'll be honest, we've run out of stories and often have to make things up. After the "real" story, we then kiss her three times, Koko once, and we must tell her we love her, so she can say, "see you in the morning, love you too!!!'. Often she gets her "love you too" out before we say it first.

Last night, as her Dad was getting her wrapped in her covers, she said, "Daddy, I want to hear a story."

And her Dad started his usual trip down memory lane, before he was interrupted.

"No Daddy, I want to hear a story about the dead."

O...kay.

Daddy replied, "No sweetie, that would be a very sad story."

That seemed to satisfy her. So instead, the hubs regaled her with the story of the time when as a teenager, he and his cousin took his uncle's car out in the dark and did donuts on the field of a neighbouring cottage/farm, unknowingly destroying rows of freshly planted trees ...(well, not really, hopefully he'll hold that story until she's much much older).

A strange request though, don't you think?

And check her latest self-portrait:




It bears a remarkable resemblance to a familiar face:



(image from scifipedia.scifi.com)

You can call me Morticia.

Wordless Wednesday - Why I love the Grey Cup

... (that I didn't make)

...(that I DID drink)

Tagged on a Tuesday

Thank goodness! Seriously running out of blog fodder. I even thought about vlogging myself bodyjamming every new release since the last one ... the latest even has Marilyn Manson, kills me, people...and then I thought better of it. Are you freakin' kidding me? I can't even believe I did it the first time.

I was tagged by lovely Colleen at Mommy Always Wins for this one word challenge. One word? I'm so longwinded. Here's a go at it:

Where is your cell phone? Purse
Where is your significant other? work
Your hair color? brown
Your mother? busy
Your father? TV
Your favorite thing? bodyjam
Your dream last night? sleep
Your dream/goal? balance
The room you’re in? office
Your hobby? blogging
Your fear? sickness
Where do you want to be in 6 years? here
Where were you last night? here
What you’re not? perfect
One of your wish-list items? spa
Where you grew up? Toronto
Last thing you did? type
What are you wearing? tartan
Your TV? big
Your pet? peeve
Your computer? Vaio
Your mood? okay
Missing someone? hubby
Your car? tank
Something you’re not wearing? perfume
Favorite store? Lululemon
Your summer? hot
Love someone? totally
Your favorite color? purple
When is the last time you laughed? Yesterday
Last time you cried? Yesterday

Now I hope I'm not gonna make you cry like my daughter did at a banquet on Saturday ( when no one tagged her to be "it"). But you go ahead and do this one if you'd like. It's quick, easy, and it fills. Have fun.

Weekly Winners #46

Good Morning Winter

Pink-Monkey-dressed-as-a-bunny-wearing Mouseketeer

The Agent

The Actor

The Family Gallery

For much, much better photography, visit LOTUS.

Fashion Friday - Loud

It's been a while since I posted one of these Friday nuggets. But I had to capture the rarity of shopping downtown in the middle of the week.

The Man had a meeting downtown for a couple of nights earlier this week. He packed first thing in the morning of the meeting (he's been doing a fair bit of travelling again, so this is old hat to him), got into his car and then joined the legions of vehicles making the trek into the city. About an hour and a half later, I got a phone call:

"Uh, Karen, could you do me a favour?".

"Uh, what might that be?"

"Well, I forgot my bag ... with my laptop and all my work in it. Could you bring it down for me?"

At first I was exasperated ... driving downtown can be tricky at the best of times, but if you time it right it can be smooth sailing. I'm always concerned about making it back home in time to pick up the boy.

Of course, I then snapped out of it and realized that his hotel was right in the middle of the Mink Mile.

"Sure, I'll pick up the girl and bring your bag down."

I'm not in the position to be buying Prada, Gucci ... but it was fun getting some holiday ideas at Pottery Barn. Of course I wasn't going to go home empty-handed, so a visit to Zara was in order ...



Cuter on...



Yeah, a little loud, eh? I yell so well because my clothes often chime in with me. Here are a few other items I've purchased in the recent past...







And I guess I've always had a soft spot for paisley, as this has been in my closet for about 8 years...



But alas, not all is lost. I did pick up practical mom wear which I wore today because it was the coldest day of the season so far, brrrr ...



So the favour did cost someone somewhat... but at least I didn't go ballistic at Tiffany's.

Happy Weekend all!

Desperado...

Thirteen Things ...times three and then some.

I know, this is cheating. But I'm desperate. And I completed this on Tuesday.

It's just past the middle of NaBloPoMo and I've got nothing. So a meme it will have to be. Desperate times call for desperate measures.

I borrowed this meme from my bloggy pal Melissa (just in time, I must say). Well, at least most of it. I left the last question off because I'm a tad superstitious.

So here we go...

1. Do you like blue cheese? LOVE it.

2. Have you ever smoked? Yes, but not tobacco. Oh wait, maybe a couple puffs of cigar. But not even mary-jo-wanna. I did light up and inhale some weird herbal cigarettes that stunk; just to prove to myself that I could smoke if I wanted to. So now I know that I definitely don't want to.

3. Do you own a gun? No.

4. What flavor of Kool Aid was your favorite? Strawberry or cherry ... whatever the red is.

5. Do you get nervous before doctor appointments? No.

6. What do you think of hot dogs? Like them. Helped my kids polish off 54 of them, don't you know...

7. Favorite Christmas movie? A Christmas "You'll shoot your eye out" Story.

8. Favorite thing to drink in the morning? Coffee.

9. Can you do push ups? Some, but the lazy-ass lady kind.

10. What’s your favorite piece of jewelry? The ring that hubs bought me for the birth of my boy. Silver with encrusted diamonds and garnet stone, engraved with the boy's name and birthdate.

11. Favorite hobby? Blogging, how'd you guess?

12. Do you have A.D.D? Don't think so, but that would explain a few things.

13. What’s one trait you hate about yourself? I can be very impatient, often with my kids.

14. Middle name? Mary

15. Name 3 thoughts at this exact moment.
1) I drank too much coffee.
2) I have nothing to post tomorrow.
3) I need to get the invitations out for the girl's party

16. Name 3 drinks you regularly drink? Coffee, tea, water

17. Current worry? Getting my work project out without breaking my back.

18. Current hate right now? That hubby's working more weekends than he's not, at least it seems that way.

19. Favorite place to be? With my family.

20. How did you bring in the new year? We were in Mont Tremblant, in a ski condo, watching Shrek 3 with the kids. I think we slept through midnight.

21. Where would you like to go? Manhattan. Lurve NYC. Someplace I've never been? Ireland maybe Russia.

22. Name three people who might complete this: Go for it if you need it!

23. Do you own slippers? Yes.

24. What shirt are you wearing? Wine coloured sweater hoodie.

25. Do you like sleeping on satin sheets? No. Too slippery ... okay, stop there.

26. Can you whistle? Not really. I can yell, though.

27. Favorite color? Purple.

28. Would you be a pirate? No. I get seasick.

29. What songs do you sing in the AM?: Top 40 stuff that the girl wishes I wouldn't. Like Pink, Katy Perry, Akon, Neo, Lady Gaga, Madonna ...

30. Favorite Girl’s Name: Quinn

31. Favorite boy’s name: Aidan (stop laughing, if we'd had a twins for the last pregnancy, it was definitely a possibility ;0)

32. What’s in your pocket right now? Grocery list.

33. Last thing that made you laugh? My husband's hair (a constant state of amusement for me... I need help).

34. What vehicle do you drive? Honda Odyssey. In universal bland tan. Wasn't my first choice but you can't beat the convenience when you've got kids and crap. Don't hold it against me.

35. Worst injury you’ve ever had? Probably happened when I was a kid, at about 3 years of age. I was being chased by my cousin Batman and fell into a wooden baby toilet seat ... my two front teeth were slammed back up into my gums. I don't remember it, thank gawd...just writing this made me cringe.

36. Do you love where you live? Pretty much.

37. How many TVs do you have in your house? 4

38. Who is your loudest friend? Probably my oldest friend, but she's at least a tie with me. It's an Asian thing... we yell.

39. Do you have any pets? Goldie the goldfish.

40. Does someone have a crush on you? I think so. My little girl is going through an "I love mommy" thing 24/7.

41. Your favorite book(s): Books, what are they again? I'm partial to the "Walter the Farting Dog" and "Knuffle Bunny" series, but I'll have to check my Goodreads. Maybe I need to jump on the Twilight wagon?

42. Do you collect anything? Everything. I'm a packrat. Magazines are my biggest thing (I think I've got almost every issue of Canadian House & Home since 1995, hidden in the walls ... don't tell my husband).

43. Favorite Sports Team? You know, I'm pretty lame. I don't follow any. Other than the hometown teams I don't know of many.

So are you still awake? Sorry it was so long.

Hope you have an awesome Thursday!

Wordless Wednesday - "Me"

(by little G )

Help, I'm alive ... and I'm in concert withdrawal

This is one of the rare times that I wish my kids were teenagers. In fact, the only time I've wished, as far as I can remember.

Because if they were, I'd make them take me with them to this.

Tokyo Police Club are the hottest thing to come out of Newmarket since, well, 80's sensation Glass Tiger. They've just been featured on Desperate Housewives, so they're not "bleeding edge" anymore. But they're good.

And Glass Tiger ... well, I've met Alan Frew (sans mullet) at a couple of corporate gigs. He's still an awesome singer, and I didn't forget him cuz I guess he's never really gone.

But METRIC, that's who I'm excited about. Listen.

Can't wait until their new disc comes out.