give a little bit

sometimes things brew inside and around you for a long time as you await some sort of closure, some sort of graceful resolve. without waxing poetic or delving too deep into the personal lives of the people i love and know, i have to say i am getting in touch with some closure and resolve and some understanding in several areas. life unfolds in stages. like an onion, you have to peel back one thin layer at a time. it's a process.

about a year ago i tore an article out of a magazine while i was having hair day. it struck me so i folded it up and tucked it away. from time to time i have pulled it out to read in hopes that i had arrived at a similar destination of closure that this writer was sharing about in her story. i don't know that you ever "arrive", but i will say that sometimes even the smallest decision or gesture can change the face of things in an instant. all of a sudden one more layer is pulled back, and a little more clarity comes to you, a little more understanding, a little more peace. a little more grace for everyone's human-ness.

here is a quote out of this article. it doesn't matter what the situation is... it is applicable to life, our decisions, friendships, marriage, parenting...

"i believe in love. i believe in hard times and love winning. i believe people make mistakes. i believe people are selfish and generous at the same time. i believe very few people want to hurt others. i believe life can surprise you. i believe in happy endings."

sideways

i went to a wine tasting downtown with some girls a few weeks ago. california wines were featured that evening. after tasting several whites and reds, i purchased a chianti that is incredibly light and delicious. after the tasting we went to dinner and one of my friends mentioned that she had tried a sparkling white wine at the last tasting that was amazing. so, last week this bottle of white wine appeared on my doorstep. another friend that was with us that evening knew i was interested in it and brought me a bottle as a surprise. why does a treat at the door or in the mail just make your day? i called her to squeal and say thanks. she instructed me to let it really chill before serving so i refrigerated it and finally opened it tonight. i will say it is a perfect sparkling white wine. not too sweet and not too bubbly. a definite keeper. and so happy that rome offers something like this to do on a thursday night.

part of the plan

sooooo...first there was this blog. next there was tweeting. now facebook? pb says his plan is coming together.

so the blogging part of the plan...hmmm. he sold me on the blog as something we were going to do together but then he gracefully took the back seat on it. he does contribute as the silent blogger with suggestions for topics, critiquing, and of course, the priceless photo contributions and editing he does for me. and i will say it has been very therapeutic, if i can use that term in a non-heavy, non-self help, sort of way. as i have mentioned before, it is such a great way to keep the ones we love in touch with what we are doing. we looked back through the archive of posts last night and it really is cool to see what we have done, thoughts we have had and it makes us appreciate some good memories. i do hope wil and em will find it meaningful to have one day...our daily lives in a diary of sorts.

well, i added twitter next because i have been kind of intrigued by it. i mean, who really cares what random things we are experiencing or thinking throughout the day? so we let pumpkin, our cat, tweet for us. now it is his perspective on what is happening and no one can get offended because it is coming from him. : )

yesterday, i enlisted wil to help me set up a facebook page. (maybe it is time for school to start). he has been bugging me to do it for a while. i'll admit that i am having to eat my words now. i was the first one to say i didn't have time for it (yet, i can blog) and to jokingly make fun of the whole thing. probably because i knew that i would secretly enjoy it though. so now it is set up and i have found myself checking it all day! was this part of your plan pb? there are fish and cats to feed and there is laundry that really needs to be folded...

now i am doing 3 things i thought i would never have or make the time to do. it is fun and it is good for you in a lot of ways. thanks for the grand scheme, pb. what else could be left in the plan?

chasing waterfalls

there is a red building down town that we have been eyeing for some time now. pb can see it from his studio so it is a daily tease. we have big plans for this building as our future home and the home of kelly moore photography. we want to do our part in saving the face of broad street. we took a photo of said building on sunday and sent it as a persuasive measure to a potential investor. we know it would be amazing. we promise.

last night we took another walk down town and measured the building. we talked about our incredible plans and ideas the whole way home. later, pb spent several hours sketching out basic floor plans for our project. granted, it needs the skillful touch of a professional architect to tweak the drawings, but we do have something on paper now.

please keep us in your thoughts as we pursue this restorative dream project and strive to do our part in the development of downtown rome. donations to the cause are accepted.

cruel, cruel summer

we left 105 degrees and rome yesterday with a cooler and swim gear and headed to the lake. wil and em got to kayak and ride a sea-doo as well as the inner tube being pulled behind the sea-doo. they had a blast despite battling the incredible heat index and an unusual amount of sibling rivalry and general picking on each other. we have asked for parental advice on this subject on various occasions as we struggle to referee and keep our cool. i guess the bottom line is that what went around is coming back around. i don't remember how my parents handled it (and when asked, ours don't seem to recall either) but i know i was never scarred and i survived it all, so i guess we just do our best and hope for the same in handling it now from this side.

we did have a great afternoon and dinner. what a great place to be able to go on a saturday afternoon. every time we go we say how much fun it is and how we can't wait to do it again...sans sibling stress perhaps? and fyi, full beer bottles do not float...

mo money, mo money, mo money

so the entrepreneurial endeavors continued today. it is a million degrees but they have persevered. we made trip 2 to the dollar gen to replenish supplies this morning. another life lesson in business was discussed as our owners had to use their earnings from yesterday to stock up for today. they could not understand why i was not buying the supplies for them? after explaining that my initial investment was all that was going to be made, and a few mumbles and grumbles, they finally got their small business owners lesson for the day. a rep from the rome news took their picture this afternoon too. an exciting day on pear street.

when life gives you lemons....

it has been suffocatingly hot here in rome g-a. we have been lax on the blogging because we haven't done much but try to stay cool. with end of summer boredom and restlessness brewing (which i do not get), i drove em to the dollar gen today to buy supplies for a lemonade stand. she made the lemonade, decorated her sign, set up the stand, and enlisted her two neighbors as business partners. one was stationed at the end of the street to yell at any potential customers and the other two manned the stand...in chairs. the first obviously had the harder of the jobs. things were slow at first, but when our neighbors that live across the street returned from their day-long golf outing, things picked up a bit. the total earnings at last check were approaching $15.00. as we are nearing closing time and em's partners had to go to dinner, they have decided to re-open tomorrow afternoon. snacks may be served since it will be a tgif afternoon...

now

i read about a woman in another blog this morning. she was killed in a car wreck in atlanta 2 days ago. she was a wife, mother of two and successful interior designer. she blogged daily about her family, home, work and all the things she was passionate about in her life. the blog yesterday was written by her husband. it is heart breaking. i read it several times this morning because in a way, it drove home even further, some of the thoughts i have wanted to blog about lately.

when we got back from our vacation in the mountains, i was looking through all of the photos. they were so great. i couldn't help but think about how much fun we had and how quickly those moments became memories overnight. when you are in the moment, sometimes (a lot of the time for me) you are focused on other things and not really relishing the time you are spending with those that you are with and love. i know this is sounding serious, but it is...in a good way. why is it so difficult at times to really enjoy where you are and what you have without worrying about what you don't have? i know for me personally, the older i get, the more i get it. it may take a few times or a few nudges from those around me, but i am better at letting go of things faster and learning to truly enjoy the moment. however, the blog i read this morning just reminds me how much i still need to slow down and appreciate the little moments of everyday. at times they may seem boring or insignificant, but tomorrow they are gone.

perfectionism is another thought i have been pondering on lately. last week we were watching a rerun of modern family. it was the season finale and although we had seen it, still just as funny. the mom on this show struggles with perfectionism. it is humorous but sometimes things speak to you in a more serious way if you are tuned in and really listening. she was trying to get the perfect family portrait taken because she realized that life was passing them by and things would never be the same for everyone as they were in that moment. in her attempt to capture it though, she was driving everyone around her crazy. her husband commented on the fact that she tended to miss the beauty in life and all that is around her because she is so focused on the flaws. ouch. when i looked back at our photos from last week, all i could see was how beautiful my family is, how healthy we are, how precious those moments together with wil and em were for us. they are growing up and this time will never be the same. that's not meant to sound morbid...just the truth. there will be more great moments and we have so much to look forward to in our life but i want to appreciate where we are now and not look back in a few months and regret not realizing how great it truly was...because at the time, all i could focus on were the flaws.

i hope that this silly blog that we started will be a time capsule or diary of sorts for our family. one day wil and em can look back and read through the things that we have posted month after month, the photos we pointedly chose to use (sorry for the embarrassing bikini/track suit photo) and see how much we enjoyed our life. i hope it will be a window for them into our lives as we learned things, struggled with things, cooked, travelled, shopped, and made simple but priceless memories every day. whether it be a trip to bruster's on a friday night, laughing at potential pet names, dreaming of a building we want one day, sending wil and em on a scavenger hunt, driving them to school on a monday morning or going to a fancy cotillion. i hope it will show them and our extended families a little bit more of who we are and how proud we are of all of you. love you, mean it.

pumps: a short comedy.

we haven't received many comments lately so we decided to step it up a notch and try our hand at video. here is a test run of the short film. again, this is just a test but feedback is more than welcome.

grass is always greener part 2

we blogged in april about our never ending grass problem of dying grass. it finally died. pb and wil spent one of the first mornings of summer break out in the heat pulling up all of the dead grass. we decided that sod was the best route to go and it finally got finished today. what a difference it makes. we keep walking out on the patio to admire it. i would liken the difference it has made to that of fresh highlights or even more, a great haircut that you were in desperate need of, and didn't realize it. maybe it's because that is the conversation i was having with a good friend today while the sod was being laid. whatever the comparison, it has made a huge improvement to our back yard. now we just have to stay off of it and water, water, water for a week.

the cat that is featured in the background of today's blog is our most recent addition to 2 pear street. if you know this cat or anybody missing one like her, we have named her sarah. she has been well taken care of and can be found on our patio at anytime of the day.

malibu tan

some product endorsement time...i found this while we were on vacation at wal-mart. i was looking for the jergens natural glow lotion and saw this. i had not seen this particular self-tanning lotion before, it was less expensive, and had a very promising product description on the bottle. so if you are looking for that summer glow without ruining your skin for the rest of your life....i do recommend this lotion. it delivers a gradual glow and is easier to apply than others that i have tried. i haven't noticed any streaking or orange wrists or ankles. and it smells really good...like you are in malibu or jamaica, for that matter.

go shawty

we celebrated pb's birthday a day early because we are heading home tomorrow : (. we had b-day dinner and opened presents with cake by the fire tonight. happy 4th and happy birthday! go, go, go...

keep the fire burning

every time we have a fire at home we ask each other, "what is it about a fire?". for us, it has been that treat that we look forward to at the end of the day. pb will email me at school and ask, "fire tonight?", and i can't wait to be home. we enjoyed our share of them this spring on school nights and weekends. some nights it was our way to decompress after the day as we quietly soaked in the heat and stared at the flames. other nights, we would stay up late, listen to whatever music we were in the mood for and talk and talk, solving all sorts of problems. those were the nights that we made plans and got excited about life and all the possibilities of now and the future. sometimes we talked about kids and what we could do to be better parents and how to parent together. we discussed teaching them about life and about growing up in times that are so different than we were kids. things are so accessible for them. and they don't talk, they text. another blog for another time...

last night we had a fire and we all found ourselves asking again, "what is it about a fire?". as we sat outside with my mom, wil and em, the conversation never stopped. a fire seems to bring people together. we had played a new game that we got for the kids, roasted marshmallows and listened to music while the sun was going down. once it got dark and the lightening bugs were buzzing around us in full force, we all sat down around the fire pit and started telling stories. 3 generations and no one was texting, checking their email, mad or picking on each other. something about staring into the flames and feeling the warmth of the fire...it brings everybody together.

of course, "are we doing that again tomorrow night?", was the question to close the evening as we were picking up our things and putting out the fire. like we have said so many nights by our own fire at home when we are solving problems...it is the little things in life that everybody will remember.

em a.k.a. margot tenenbaum

one of my favorite movies is the royal tenenbaums. i am a huge gwyneth fan (which i have to seriously defend to pb) so of course, i loved the character of margot tenenbaum, that she played in the movie. she was cool, dark and moody and i thought her stick straight bob, heavy black eyeliner, izod dresses and fur coat were completely superfly. today we let em channel her inner gwyn and pose for a shoot as margot. scary how easily she morphed into the character...

they're baaack...

the kids and grandparents arrived yesterday. we grilled pork chops, made a salad and mac and cheese and enjoyed dinner on the deck last night. despite the scandal that our photo session caused, the neighbors did come over and sit by the fire with us. we made smores and took lots of photos. wil even drove the larry's truck around the mountain while we all held our breath at the sound of spraying gravel. day one of the family vacation...
maybe sal will surprise us in an rv.