Monday, June 30, 2014

Hats and Hooters

When Sophie was born, she spent 34 days in the NICU. I still have absolutely no idea how Tom and I made it through that time, I really don't. I can't figure out how I was actually able to walk out every night and leave that sweet little soul there. But you do what you have to do to survive.

I remember driving home one night and the situation almost caught up to me, I could feel the gravity, the reality, sneaking up my stomach, up to my throat and when that feeling was almost to the point where I had to scream or I would never catch my breath, this silly silly song came on the radio. I've never been a Steely Dan fan, but I changed this song to Sophie instead of Josie and laughed all the way home.



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Friday, June 27, 2014

Drive On Bro. Al

Stop what you are doing. Go get a bib. Put on your stretchy pants. Imma bout to serve up a big heaping helping of AWESOMESAUCE smothered in the JAM!

If you have a date tonight, do yourself a favor, listen to this entire album as you get ready. If you are as lucky as I am and your date always comes home with you, listen to this entire album to end your evening. You're Welcome!



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Wednesday, June 25, 2014

Sweater Girl

Very few things are cooler than a brand new empty refrigerator!

And where have the past 20 years gone?



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Monday, June 23, 2014

Oooh So Shiny!

So this is how my emotions work now...

We are getting a new fridge delivered today! Brand new shiny bells and whistles fridge. So excited I actually spent the weekend cleaning the garage so we can move the old fridge there. But last night the realization hit me...all the fridge pics will have to go. And the boo hoos began.

Since we brought Sophie home, one of our nightly routines has been the walk around the fridge and the naming of the pictures. Christmas cards, favorite snapshots, school pictures all secured by my collection of weird celebrity magnets. For the first few months, Tom would point to each picture and narrate. Then Sophie started picking the pictures by pointing. Now she participates, naming her cousins, me, Tom. The best is when she gets to a picture of herself. For a few weeks, she would jab her little finger into her tummy saying "That's You" but now she's figured out it is actually "That's Me" instead.

Now they are all gone. Young Elvis, Skyler and Davis, Carter and Ava, The Swanns, Fonzie, Stacy, Jason, Violet and Nicolas, Charlie's Angels, Mommy's Daddy, Old Elvis. Just a blank ugly almond fridge waiting to be moved outside. Mommy is devastated. Even my Kiss magnet looks sad.

None of this has been particularly traumatic to Soph. As we got our breakfast this morning, she stood in front of the fridge for a few seconds before saying "Hey!" and that was it, she went about the business of emptying the big tub of stuffed animals. For Soph, it was just another Monday. As it should be.



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Friday, June 20, 2014

Donnie and the Monkey Man

When I was in my late teens/early twenties, I baby sat two of the funniest little blonde baby girls you could imagine. Amanda and sweet Hope made me laugh so hard so often that my ribs hurt. Those girls loved barbies and the New Kids on the Block (this was before they were NKOTB). Most girls loved Joey or Jordan. But Hope, she loved Danny bless her heart. When I wanted to tease Hope, I would name all of the other "kids" and then say "and the Monkey Man." Went a little something like this "Joey and Jon and Jordan and Donnie and the Monkey Man."

Later in life, I would work with two different young women in two different record stores that seriously honest to PETE followed NKOTB around the country when they were teens. Like, their mothers drove them from state to state, helped them find the hotels where the band would stay, took FAMILY VACATIONS to Boston and then sat outside houses for hours waiting for one of the kids. One of those girls is actually in the video for "Hanging Tough."

Flash forward almost 20 years and I'm watching NKOTB on Palladia while my 4 month old is relaxing with her 6am bottle. The hubby stands in the doorway and watches and we both agree "Remix" is a real toe tapper. Even Sophie tried to sit up and watch. As the hubbo left the room, he asked "Is it weird that I really like the New Kids?" I think his college roommate had the best answer to that question: It is only weird when you admit it.

And sweet sweet Hopey, you were right, Danny is the hot one:)



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Wednesday, June 18, 2014

Always Look Up!

I don't think my audience will include that many folks under 35 but just in case, I have some advice for you. Please just trust me on this one...

Before you decide to get on the bar to boogie, be sure to check for ceiling fans.




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Monday, June 16, 2014

Something about Daddy

I'm a Daddy's girl, always have been. When we found out the sweet pea would be a sweet girl, I wasn't sure that my husband fully understood the amazing road he was going to get to travel. He knows now, without a doubt. I watch him walk our baby to sleep every night. I watch her wait for him to pull up in the driveway every afternoon. It would be easy to feel a little left out but the truth is I've already had that experience. I love you Daddy, til we meet again!



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Friday, June 13, 2014

Guess we just have to go to Myrtle Beach!

I've been lucky with roommates. Really lucky. My former roomie Rachel and I have had more than our fair share of awesome adventures. We are sort of an opposites attract pair of friends but we have one very important thing in common. We both tend to ask "Why Not?" instead of "Why?" and we usually can't think of many reasons to NOT.

One of our best adventures made us roommates instead of just friends. We waited tables together, I had trained Rachel just a few months before and we formed a fast friendship. One late night on a patio in the Old City, Rachel asked "Hey, do you want to go work at the beach this summer?" Three days later we drove to Myrtle Beach, found jobs at the same restaurant and an awesome little shack across the street from the beach in "North Myrtle." The owner lived in the front of the house while we lived in the back. Seriously, she could open a door in her kitchen and walk into our living room. And it was AMAZING!

Sand in my flipflops and the floorboard of my car will forever remind me of our summer at the beach. And the movie "Shag" which we watched several times that summer and even more times that fall. Rock it out, Pudge!




Wednesday, June 11, 2014

Drive Time

Well kids after a stormy night with no electricity, we're going to hit the road to the beach. Traveling with a toddler is tough so Sophie...well Sophie has a motion sickness issue. She can make it about 20 miles before she loses her lunch. But we're armed with a preschool prescription for nausea and a Kindle full of Bubble Guppies so look out Nags Head, the Sughrues are on our way!




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Monday, June 9, 2014

Little Girls with Light Up Shoes

Kali, our super sweet nanny, bought Sophie a pair of light up jelly sandals for Easter. They are pink with purple butterflies attached. And the kid is CRAZY for them. She loves shoes in general really. At my grandmother's funeral, she actually chased a couple of little girls down just so she could grab their feet and get a closer look at their shoes.

My grandmother Ruby loved fancy shoes too. I always said she never met an animal print or bedazzled flat that didn't come home with her. So this is for Ruby and for Sophie, who inherited her great grandmother's love of fancy fancy FANCY shoes!



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Friday, June 6, 2014

Buttermaker!

The more I interact with teens and tweens, the more I realize I'm the music equivalent of some character Walter Matthau would play in a movie. You know "Hey kid, stay outta my yard!" while wearing bermuda shorts and a dirty fishing hat.

When I hear 13 year old girls talking about 'punk' and 'goth', it is all I can do not to scream "But they're doing it WRONG!" And just when I start feeling especially judgey, I wonder what the parents of my college friends must have thought of me in my birkenstocks, broomstick skirts and Col. Bruce Hampton and the Aquarium Rescue Unit T-shirts.

Whatever, they are still doing it wrong.



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Wednesday, June 4, 2014

Summer of '69

This is absolutely, positively 100% true...

I know the guy who yelled "Play Summer of '69" when Ryan Adams was playing the Ryman Auditorium in 2002. For the record, he knows the difference between Ryan Adams and Bryan Adams. He just thought it would be HILARIOUS to request that song during Ryan Adams acoustic set. Ryan Adams was not amused...not even slightly amused. I bet Bryan Adams loves that story.



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Monday, June 2, 2014

You Ol' Boogie Fool

My college roommate Gerald is honest to Pete the funniest person I have ever met. I can't tell you exactly how many times he made me laugh until I cried, snorted, spit a drink out of my nose or peed a little. I can tell you it happened pretty much daily. Your funniest joke or coolest story would get a "ah sookie sookie now" and when we were in the car together he usually told at least one pedestrian to step out and meet Jesus.

Gerald could out Aretha Aretha in Karaoke. I'm pretty sure there is a 'studio production' video out there somewhere with him singing Funky Cold Medina on spring break in one of those "record your own video" booths. And he would break into Niki Hoeky with a really nice Soul Train line dance on command.

I miss him almost every day and haven't seen him in almost 20 years. But whenever I'm driving along and someone looks like they are going to just keep on walking through the crosswalk even though the sign is clearly flashing "Don't Walk", I politely invite them to step out and meet Jesus.



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