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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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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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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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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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!