Party Prep

Seriously, how do you expect me to get anything done when this is happening?

But!  Lots of shower prep work to be done today.  Thank goodness my mom is back to help me.  My mom is superwoman.  We even managed to squeeze a little shopping in to our shower prep...

Katie and I love taking our Mom to Coldwater Creek and helping her pick out outfits, because I guess we both feel a little indebted for all those days when we dragged her into Abercrombie & Fitch or prom dress shopping and she had to stand there while we tried on 8 million things in the dressing room.  (Or worse, broke down in tears because NOTHING FIT WAH WAH WAH.)  But this time, something terrible happened in Coldwater Creek.  I started texting my sister pictures of clothes that I WAS TRYING ON.

And even worse?  She approved.  (Although she said I need to belt it.)

I would like to believe that Coldwater Creek has just gotten hipper.  Not whatever the opposite conclusion would be…

But look at this cute Chambray skirt!  (The top is from there too.)

My mom is probably appalled because what was her "safe" zone for shopping is no more.

The weekend passed by in a blur of pink poufts and melted white chocolate and glue funning, but everything was ready to go for Sunday afternoon!  I am quite certain I could not have done it without my momma there to help, and hopefully she had a teensy bit of fun hanging out with me as we went down my uber-OCD to do list (sorted by date, location and activity.  I’m painful.)

We are ready to party with baby 4c!

Hanging with Mom

It's been such a fun weekend with my momma here visiting.  I bet she had no idea she would come to visit and I would put her to work.  That'll teach her to visit!  Hopefully she had as much fun as I did...

Hot glue gunning...

Cooking...

More cooking... this time for Matt & our 2 neighbors who are doing the deck construction...

She left this morning to go down to Charlotte to hang out with Katie.  It's much easier to say good bye when I know she's only 90 minutes away and that she'll be back in a few days!

Hey Mom…

For cinnamon toast and cut up popsicles when I was sick…

For dying the milk green on St. Patrick’s Day and pink on Valentine’s Day….

For always taking over making the cookies when I’d get bored half way through and leave the batter in the mixer….

For making me practice piano for 15 minutes every morning before school…

For always answering the phone when I call you on the way home from work, even when you have work to do….

For providing us with a sit down dinner all the way through high school whenever we were home…

For turning over driving instructions to Dad…

For learning how to make black bean burritos and numerous other meat free recipes for the 8 months I decided to be a vegetarian…

For learning all my friend’s names and remembering details of their lives….

For being a role model for a stable and supportive marriage…

For attending every basketball & football game I cheered for, even though I know you could care less about either sport….

For not picking me up from summer camp when I called to tell you how homesick I was…

Or college…

Or Spain…

For coming up to my room with hot cocoa on cold mornings in high school…..

For never once saying “I’m disappointed in you”….

For letting me wear whatever I wanted, even during the “thrift store” stage….

For teaching me how to make beef stew, roast chicken, corned beef & cabbage, perfect corn on the cob, Christmas cookies, spicy shrimp, flank steak, mint brownies and countless other dishes….

For buying me that blue dress with the twirly-skirt from JC Penny’s in 4th grade…

For being the perfect amount of strict during high school…

For never blowing off my heartbreaks whether it was not making varsity cheerleading my first try or getting dumped or not getting a sorority bid…

For teaching me how to separate the lights and darks, sew a button and fold a fitted sheet…

For learning how to french braid for dance recitals…

For always having Pontillo’s in the warming drawer and doing pick up duty from Thirsty’s whenever we come home…

For unwavering faith in my ability to catch a fly ball in right field, host Christmas dinner, make honor roll or write a book…

For being a friend…

Thank you, Mom.  Just in case I forgot to say it when you needed to hear it, thank you.  I love you.

As A Person

Ohhhh hello, blog. Funny how you just hang out here waiting for me while I go busily about my life in the real world. You knows, interactions that don't involve a tweet, a status update or a g-chat...

Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Dinner for two on the patio.
We love appetizers-for-dinners. And wine.

My mom was here this week - WEEK - and it was just lovely. It was an exceedingly well-timed visit, as Matt was right into the thick of trauma surgery month and has basically just been sleeping and working, sleeping and working, lather, rinse, repeat. It was nice to have company and break up a long month where I was starting to hold philosophical discussion with my pooch, and I know Mom always feels like she's stepping on our toes to visit (YOU AREN'T) so I think it was easy for her knowing Matt was MIA and she wasn't imposing on our quality time together, budding new marriage and all. (2 years, in 2 weeks, yall!)

We went for walks (lots of walks), we drank lattes (lots of lattes), we drank wine (even more wine), and we talked and talked and talked and talked. My aunt left me a message on my fbook wall asking if her kids will ever MISS her as I posted that I lamented my mother turning left to go north on 52 as I turned right to go south (and go to werk. Meh.) It made me ponder the direction our relationship has turned in, and how it has grown and changed from teenager-hood to semi-adulthood.

I mean, I always LIKED my mom (I mean, loved, duh, but I mean like-like-as-a-person, yanoo?) We never really went through that like, moooommmmmmmm get out of my roooooom stage in high school and I think pretty much immediately upon leaving the nest, I pretty quickly became a thrice-to-cuatro times a week phone caller. This was even when long distance rates still existed! Lurve, right? Well, I have to confess that probably for a good chunk of college I used my mom as my own personal sounding board. I can't recall that I ever asked her about her day, her job, her worries, her passions, her life.

I guess that's what being a mom and a kid is all about - the balance is never fully equalized, and I suppose that's how it's supposed to be. This morning I was getting ready for work, and my mom noticed my hem needed sewing. As I sat in my undies eating my oatmeal while my mom stitched my skirt back together, I wondered if I was 27 or 7. (Note: semi-adulthood.) But I didn't care. Taking care of me (all her kids, nay everyone) is what makes my mom the person she is.

But the joy I've discovered in having a friendship with her - wanting to know who she IS, not just as a mom, has really brought a new amazing aspect to our relationship. I looked as forward to her visit as I would a week with one of my best girl friends. Maybe even more, because I love mah girls but none have ever stocked my fridge when they visit. Come to think of it, they usually empty ... well, never mind.

As much as I still went about my life while she was here - went to work, walked the dog, wiped pee out of the crate, grilled chicken, went running, tweeted, ya know, the basics of life - it felt like a vacation to come home from work every day and just hang out with one of my favorite people. Although I always loved being with my mom, I can see now it was much more selfish in my teen/early 20s - I loved being with my mom because my mom was already there to be with me. To shift things just every so slightly has really just been one of the most wonderful things in my life.

So to my aunt, whose children right now might be door-slammers, or busy themselves with texting when you're driving them all over the g.forsaken town.... will they come to miss you? Yes, immensely. The secret is they already do, it just takes a few tries of turning your white load pink or figuring out how to cook a pork chop on your own before the gratitude for what you did for them for 18 (erm, 27) years really whaps them upside the head. And once they start realizing that you made pork chops (or spaghetti, or hamburgers, or tuna rice casserole) for five people EVERY SINGLE DAY for LOTS and LOTS of years... then they start wondering how you did it.

And that's when they start wondering who you are.

Way cool.


Thanks for coming Mom... safe travels!