Finding a groove...

Heels have always been my footwear of choice. The higher the better. I feel dressed up and girly and professional, and my posture is WAY better when I'm wearing these. I might sometimes feel sexy, too. I wear them to work, out on dates with Scott, lunch with girlfriends. Just L.O.V.E. them. In these shoes, I feel powerful and in control...like the manager I used to be, the independent, can-scrapbook-anytime-I-like-and-eat-popcorn-or-greenbeans-for-dinner-girl who had a clean (nay, spotless) apartment (which was decorated very decidedly "girly"). I also feel a teeny, tiny bit uptight in them, a little rigid...ok...maybe a lot rigid.




You know what? You can't catch a curve ball wearing those bad boys...and I've had a few pitched my way lately. Since tendonitis moved in (and HOLY SCHNIKEES it hurts) I've been sportin' these guys instead:

Cute? Yeah. Girly? OK. Powerful and sexy? Not so much. I like 'em, though. I realize I'm more relaxed, like I can catch up with my life. You know what else? Everything is kind of settling into a groove, too. Life is not perfectly clean, tidy, wrapped up in a bow, or shiny and sexy with a flexed calf all the time. Just ain't happening. Sometimes I have my act together enough that we sit down to dinner together. Sometimes we have cereal. The house is "mostly" clean. The world will NOT end if kid #1 doesn't want to wash her hair for a week. Eventually, she'll do it. Or if kid #2 wears 5 outfits in one day? Fine, too.

I know. You might be thinking, "Ann is overmedicated." Nah. It's just the shoes...

Mentor of the Year

Last Saturday we attended a banquet in Phoenix at which Scott was awarded Mentor of the Year for his work with graduate students and AZ Game and Fish. I was so proud of him as he accepted his award; he gave a great speech and was so at ease in front of all those people.

That done, I need to figure out why we look like the Bonar family of Amazons. What is up with our giant-ness?!

Hooray!!!!

I LOVE Laurie Notaro. She is hilarious, insightful, wise...and says all the things that we only WISH we could say. This one, her second book of fiction, ships April 13th, and I could not be happier about it.

You can pre-order from Amazon right now. New release...in paperback...for only 11 bucks and change. Awesome, huh? Check out her website at http://www.laurienotaro.com/ . Funny stuff, my friends. Please note, in particular, "Death of a Catchphrase," in the archives.

Edited: I just tried to access the archives on Laurie's website at work and it is blocked here because it comes up as porn. It is NOT porn. I promise... :)

My dear friends...

...usually don't look quite this crazy. :) The group shot from the Winter Formal includes Sara (a math teacher and fellow scrapbooker) as Alice, Michelle (a PE teacher) as the White Rabbit, Nina (a math teacher) as Queen of Hearts (in a slick Fancy Nancy crown), and yours truly as The Mad Hatter.

Yes...we did go to dinner that night in costume. Really.

Happy New Year Randomness

1. Contemplating whether I will say two thousand ten...or twenty-ten. Twenty-ten sounds weird, but I didn't say nineteen-thousand-ninety-nine. Nor did I say twenty-oh-nine.

2. Deciding on new hair style. Things are working out better since I bought a flat-iron that cost more than 4.99.

3. Recovering from cross-country skiing. Tendonitis has officially moved in to join chin hair, bifocals, and droopy bra straps in permanent residence.

4. Snuggling with Rikki, the previously NOT so loveable pomeranian who moved in when the kids did.

5. Recommiting to WW (put 8 lbs back on--dammit). Don't remember the fiber increase having this same impact last year. whoa. (One might think that I'm only dining at Cafe Rio, Lori!)

6. Enjoying the "fresh start" feeling of January.

7. Thinking, praying, hoping for two different friends whose husbands have lost jobs.

8. Feeling joyous, thankful, ecstatic for another friend who is finally pregnant. :)

9. Loving my husband for trying SO hard to be tidy and organized. (You have NO idea!)

10. Anxiously awaiting new books from my fave authors: Laurie Notaro (June), Charlaine Harris (May), Jodi Picoult (March).

My sissy...

Why would she not want me to kiss her in the middle of Disneyland? I don't get it. :)

Susan is one of the most awesome people I know. She is a fantastic mom, great teacher, excellent cook/baker, and, luckily for me, a really, really, really super great friend and sister.

I'm really glad we didn't kill each other when we were younger and didn't really feel the love like we do now.

Uh oh.

2009, where did you go? I cannot believe it is December 2nd, y'all. That whole thing about how time passes more quickly the older you get is true, I guess, huh? Remember when you were a kid, and "older" people couldn't remember how old they were? I thought that was RIDICULOUS. Now, I am that lady. Bra straps that slide off my shoulders, bifocals, chin hair, the whole shebang.

Sheesh.

In other news, I have made approximately 60 Christmas cards to send to my amazingly lovely friends and family. I make them every, single year, you know...and I never send them. This year, I'm going to actually buy stamps...and probably get them in the mail BEFORE Christmas.

Happy December!