Hi Ho...

...well I'm not Kermit the frog, but a new Muppets movie is on its way soon. But truth be told, I wasn't sure how to launch into a greeting after being away so long. I have been more than delinquent here. Since my last update, I have been busy...

family vacationing...

soccer momming...

traveling here...

Dublin Castle

Octagon Bar...Clarence Hotel...U2 owned.

and here...

(Opera House Copenhagen)

And, I've been to see this fellow

People at work had NO idea who he was - made me feel sooooo old(and the fact that he was playing at Casino Rama didn't make me feel any younger - despite the other fact that we appeared to be the youngest in the crowd...). But memories abounded because Avalon was the "last dance" song at our wedding. Bryan Ferry is still sexy and suave, even in his sixties. No wonder he has a 27 year old girlfriend. (Okay, that's borderline acceptable, but let's move on.)

I hit another birthday, and "turning 25 again" sounds a little more forced and a little less funny now that I'm on the other side of 40 approaching - gulp -the next decade.

This forced me to think about how I could switch things up a bit. I've now found a new addiction to add to my BodyJam fix of the week:

Now that I'm sans gallbladder and can re-indulge in cheese, and drink wine, and only feel ill effects every so often...I can work the guilt off even harder.

So now we're pretty much caught up. Mission critical, because I cannot NOT have a Halloween Post.

I keep raising the bar in terms of my costumes the last couple of years. So for 2011 I'm thinking I'll go a little darker, scarier. My costume has something to do with this...

Care to hazard a guess?

I'll let you know how it goes.

Happy Halloween.

Walk

Baby Steps. Learning to blog again.

Yes, I'm back from an over four month hiatus.

In that time, my incompetence as a mommy blogger has been evidenced by the following:

• Blogher ads officially requested that I remove their link. That's okay - I was making less than zero revenue;
• I didn't provide any witty anecdotes about a great family ski vacation in Tremblant (well, I didn't ski, but it was fun nonetheless)... no fun pics (including space age inflatable leg boots a la "Lost in Space" that encased my tired legs during a spa treatment), no oohing and ahhing about the private hot tub and the wonderful accommodations, the non-stop gondola rides with the girlie, the pride in seeing my boy survive a bloody ski-to-the lip incident only to pick up and continue another 3 hours of snowboarding...
• Also absent - posts about major life milestones for not just one -the horror- but both of my kids:

My girlie lost her first baby tooth .... and now she's on the verge of losing the second;

My boy turned eleven. He's a tween now, people, and overnight he began eating two dinners and sleeping in every morning;

• I didn't weigh in on any of the hot parenting topics such as the TigerMom/Fun Mom debate - itching, just itching to get in on it but alas, left it too late;
• I missed writing about the beautiful Royal Wedding:
• I didn't reminisce about how I woke up way early to watch the other fairytale Royal wedding as a teen.
• I did not dish about how gorgeous Kate is and how I wholly approve of pretty much all of her fashion choices,
• Didn't note that William is still handsome despite starting to look more like his father than his mother these days ...
• (when we get totally caught up later, you'll understand why I was other wise occupied during the Wedding Day);
• Both US and Canadian versions of So You Think You Can Dance have started and I've said big, fat, nada...
• I didn't mention with glowing pride that both kids got A+ grades on their report cards... (oh, I guess I just did)
• I haven't gone on and on and on about gorgeous, spouse-endorsed crush - he speaks French, Mon Dieu - Bradley the Coop
• We lost a household member (poor Goldie, RIP) but gained a couple new ones. Did. Not. Blog. About. It.

My bad. But here we are.

And what would a post from me be without the occasional musical reference?

I've rediscovered the Foo Fighters. Their performance on SNL around Easter time, sealed it - they need to be on our couples' concert list soon (this just in - found out that I'm traveling when they're playing the ACC in Toronto come August - not happy that the Man may be going without me * sob *).

Can't think of a cooler alt. Dad in their 40s than Dave Grohl.

Enjoy.

Five Minute Friday Fragments

Why five minutes?

Because that's all I've got.

*****

My 9 year old's take on the whole Woods' scandal: "He's not a Tiger, he's a Cheetah."

*****

I went to my first book club meeting, and to be honest it felt like more of an excuse to have some wine, cheese, goodies, and get caught up with friends, and make new ones.

We discussed "The Help", which, by the way, I found to be an excellent read. I'd actually purchased it to read on the plane for my last work trip - but I was so engrossed that I ended up getting to the last few chapters before I got to the airport.

The evening was eye-opening in a way that was a little discouraging. Even in my more liberal neck of the modern day woods, the attitudes that were portrayed in the book (which was written about the 60's in Jackson, Mississippi and dealt with the lives of black housekeepers/maids and the white ladies of the house), still seem to persist albeit in much more subtle ways.

I'll leave it at that.

*****

Have you caught "The Marriage Ref" produced by Jerry Seinfeld yet?

It's absolutely hilarious. The premise is that couples present their marital issues to a panel of celebrities (usually including comedians), and the host of the show makes a decision as to which spouse he will side with in the dispute. It's all fun and the issues are quite trivial (last night, a man refused to eat his wife's green bean casserole which she's been trying to get him to try for 10 years ...) and my husband and I are usually howling like hyenas throughout the show.

Ironically it's become our couple's thing to do on Thursday nights. Go figure.

*****

As a quick catch up, I've managed to hit the Bodyjam circuit with a vengeance.

This is my favourite release so far, Bodyjam 50.

I can't wait for my gym time tomorrow morning.

Don't forget to visit lovely Mrs. 4444's.

Have a good one!