Pajamarama and Baby Proof

so i know i haven't been so great at updating regularly. that is mostly due to two factors: 1) i have been rather busy, and 2) i have been rather exhausted. i hope to resume more or less daily posts starting with this one. i've got alot stocked up to write about.

today, however, i will tell you about friday night. we had our monthly pajamarama, when a character from a children's book comes to visit our store. we do a special story time, and the kids come in their pajamas (usually) in the late evening. this time, our guest was pancake pig. woohoo to that, huh?

to make things more complicated, emily giffin (author of something borrowed, something blue, and the new york times best seller baby proof) . we had a rather sizey crowd of mostly young women, unsurprising since she's a chic-lit heroine. she was really sweet, which is not exactly normal for an author. i've personally only read something borrowed, and while i really enjoyed her style of writing and her honesty about the human condition (so to speak), it wasn't what i expected and i was kinda disappointed. not in her ability as an author, but in the plot and a couple of the characters. read the blurb and you'll see why.

i'm so glad my mom is home. it's such a relief to not eat lunch alone every day. :)

Im Tired

i am. tired. very. tired. it's annoying.

i love america.

"but may you never be so happy that you forget about your home
your home in the land of the free" - andy peterson

sandra has a new cd coming out. i'm so excited.

the devil wears prada was hilarious. superman returns was great. i'm going to see pirates on saturday.

did i mention i was tired?

my condolences to all hockey fans bemoaning the loss of that guy who retired.

Speaking of...

..."fireworks and rain," that's what happened tonight. it ended in a pretty pathetic way...

3 Main Thoughts

1) the number one way to reaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaally make me mad is to pick on either my mother or my sister. in this case it was my mom who was ill-treated, and i am madder than a wet hen and a wet cat - COMBINED.

2) superman returns was a good movie.

3) it should not be necessary for the movie theater to have a sign that says "children under 6 years of age will not be allowed in R rated movies after 6 pm."

Funny Label

on my shampoo bottle...

"Directions: Massage into wet hair and indulge in the luxurious lather. Surrender to the intoxicating fragrance. Rinse when ready..."

seriously??

Close of the Day

by sandra mccracken

close of the day
fireworks and rain
it feels like a holiday
unburdens my frame
and this is not what i deserve

from where we fell
the voice of rapture tells
a story of weight and wonder
to carry us down
and this is not what we deserve

He rolls out a blanket
to hymns of the ages
the tales of the sages
coming alive
and this is not what i deserve

face like no other
kiss of a lover
the marks of my name
torn into Your hands
and this is not what You deserve
hallelujah!

Pet Peeve of the Day

one thing i absolutely hate is when a song's lyrics don't match its tune. i particularly hate this in hymns. today's example: o love that wilt not let me go. this song is fabulous - theologically sound, emotionally engaging, beautiful words. the original tune, however, is crap. i hate it. it makes you sound like a cross between a dying cow and the mysterious "sea cows" in the background of sandra mccracken's song "close of the day" (which, by the way, is an excellent song with the exception of the sea cows - i'll blog it sometime). the new ruf tune (a la indelible grace) is wayyyyyyyyyy better. makes it sound like we're actually GLAD that Christ's love isn't letting us go...

Chill-Time

you know what is way fun? hanging out with my dad. since he and i are the only ones at home right now, and both of us weren't working today, we just kinda hung out. we went to olive garden (my treat, now that i have a paycheck and it was just father's day and that's his favorite restaurant) and then we came back and chilled before we went to see the lake house, which was really sweet. i ran into ann taylor loft for a couple of minutes and bought a skirt on sale and a really cute top i've had my eye on. we went to a lady in our church's apartment to fix her alarm clock. she's got aspergers and lives alone and just generally has a hard time of it. :-( after we left her place, we ran by the volvo dealership in order to pick up a treasure map to try to find the buried treasure, a la pirates of the caribbean 2. then we swung over to blockbuster to pick up glory road, which we watched and liked, basketball people that we are.

we talked alot. i can't imagine having parents who didn't like to talk to me. today's major topics of conversation were (a) church discipline, particularly regarding homosexuality; (b) the next year in general; and (c) my bedtimes.

all in all, a day well spent.

The Devil May Wear Prada...

...but i think he also made my black BCBGirls pumps. my feet are KILLING me. i have a giant blister on my right foot (where a bunion would be if i had one) and like 5 other blisters located around various parts of my toes.

but lauren, you idiot, this was clearly unwise - you wore high-heeled shoes to a job which does not allow you to sit down? what did you expect to happen? well, gentle reader [wow saying that is way trippier than i expected], i have better balance in heels. i am more comfortable in heels. and i can't wear flipflops, so most of my shoes are out anyway. heck, i bought these shoes to work in - i have a pair of brown shoes from the same designer that i love so much i'll plan an entire week's wardrobe around them. they are crazy comfortable, and i thought these would be too. apparently not. :-(

Wilma, I'm Home!!!

well, back to the blogging world is more like it. the last week and a half as been muy crazy, but i return unscathed, at least permanently. it's been good, it's been bad - it's been all over the place. and now you probably want the rundown.

ok, well the superhuge good news is that my famous match-making experiment between my best friend and my cousin reached its one year reunion while we were in cape may. they've been dating for almost a year, and last week, he proposed. she said yes. we had champagne when they got back to the house. it was mahvelous......... :)

[sidenote: i am SO a fan of people getting married. they should do it more often, but only once and it's good for life. did that make sense?]

there were lots of fun family times at the beach this week. it was really fun - i love the part of these extended-family vacations that involves serious cross-generational interaction necessary when between 14 and 24 (depending on the day) people are under the same roof. some serious QT with cousins from 1 1/2 to 30-something, with aunts and uncles, and even with my grandfather, who miraculously got to come with.

and i read a really really interesting book. if you (a) liked jane eyre and/or pride and prejudice, (b) liked wuthering heights but always wished the men would behave like men instead of like 5 year olds, and (c) can handle the idea of a book longer than 400 pages (this one is more like 650), let me recommend wilkie collins' lady in white. i read the whole dang thing in less than 5 days. :) oh, and it's kinda a girlie book and yet not exclusively - in that respect, it's much more like wuthering heights.

sidenote: the mavs are being good boys and playing well and with heart and pride. me gusta mucho. (the past couple of games have been embarrassing though, i will admit.) humbling that sizey texas ego you know we have...

we saw cars while we were on vacay. it was cute

the bad stuff that happened was that out of the 20-some-odd people who were in the house at various times throughout the week, 7 of us got rather sick. i somehow managed to get sick twice (yes, we all know i have extremely bad chances against most illnesses that come my way), and the second time was saturday night. i have never been so sick in my life. i hardly slept. i couldn't come home sunday because i could hardly handle a quick shower, let alone a 3 hour car drive to the airport and all that was to follow it. i came home monday night, but was really light-headed and suffering from a pretty intense headache. i've been exhausted as my body has been trying to recover.

i have also read some books i didn't like. prime example: something borrowed. (i know i know - what was i thinking?)

then there was a lovely experience where i really realized in a whole new way just how bad i am with money. i just don't understand it. mom and i have outlined a gameplan to pinpoint the problem and fix it. it just scares me because i thought i was being more careful. at least i didn't do irreparable damage to anything (like my credit report or my tenants' electricity). sure is a good thing you can't overdraw the grace of God. and at least i still have time to learn before i really could do some serious damage.

gooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo mavs!