AMP goes Hollywood

In an hour and a half, my darling husband will be featured prominently on the evening news. He will be the unshaven man taking out his trash with the bright lights in his eyes, asked "How do you feel about the fact that the city hasn't plowed your road?" (the storm was a week ago), and answering vehemently, in the way that only prematurely old, cranky homeowners can. "Yes, I pay my taxes!" He will then mention our friend Becky nearly getting stuck on the road two nights ago - since she was utterly insistent that we should complain to the city (I didn't, but I have my suspicions which of my neighbors did). What makes this even funnier, is that when I called my friend Jamie to watch the 10 o'clock news, before I could tell her to set the DVR, she said, "I just saw a trailer for the news and they are talking about the worst roads to drive on since the storm, and they SHOULD have come to your street!"

Blizzard Party

I am a Southern girl at heart. I must admit to a little residual resentment toward AMP for moving me up North, into the land of accents (we don't have those in the South), chowder, and of Nor'easters.
But the North has grown on me, and despite the fact that my daughters pronounce the word mirror as "mira" (AHHHH!), I will say some of the best days of my life happened while we have been snowed in up here with friends and family. Several years ago, our good ole southern friends, Kevin and Angela, came with their son to visit us, and we were planning on showing them around the area. 28 inches of snow put a kibosh on those plans, so instead we made snow ice cream, a pot of beans and cornbread, 3 gallons of sweet tea, and sat in our pjs and played cards for 3 days. It was the best mini-vacation ever!
On Tuesday night, we slept over at some of best friends house and surprised our kids with a sledding party the next morning - but not before we loaded up the table with breakfast. Eggs, chocolate chip pancakes, hashbrowns, cheese danishes and muffins, bacon, sausage and coffee - all prepared during intermittent power outages. So the conclusion I now can draw, is that I am obsessed with food (Resolution #2 is going to be very, very hard), and I can't wait for Blizzard Party #3!

Live, Laugh and Love

These are my New Year's Resolutions - definitely a day, or two, late, but finished before my Christmas Cards, which, let's be honest, may never see the light of day. After two plus weeks of Christmas, of two sets of houseguests (but the really good kind), of cooking and cooking and cooking some more, of being blissfully snowed in, twice, of trudging into work after being snowed in, of 3 kids on roller skates at midnight (insanity?), these are things I want to focus on for '11:

1. To be more patient - as three adorable, and complete monsters race in and around my legs, shouting for my attention "Mommy, Sissy just shoved my head into the wall", "Mommy, he just took my bear", "Momma, it's MINE!".
   
2. To lose a few more pounds - This is after a full day of birthday cookies, cupcakes and icecream. After weeks of my mother-in-law's famous chocolate, chocolate chip cookies, chocolate glazed donuts, and Emily's Amazing Banana Bread! After I devoured a pancake, and bacon and eggs and a hashbrown for breakfast this morning and just dumped Belgian Toffee Chocolate creamer in my nightly cup of coffee - do you see a pattern here?
   
3. To live every day to the fullest -On Christmas morning, my Grandmother passed away. I am glad she is with Jesus now, and that she got to see him on his birthday, but still, it reminds me to live it up everyday. And yesterday was a fabulous birthday (thanks AMP, the bag was definitely the fastest way to my little heart), but 31 years have come and gone, and I want to make sure that I enjoy every possible second of the next 31 - particularly with those little monsters described in Resolution #1.
   
4. To blog everyday - It's January 12th. And the last blog was on Dec. 24th....Whoops.

11 years ago, before this phrase became insanely popular, my crazy blonde roommate and I had a favorite song - Clay Walker's Live, Laugh Love. This year on Christmas, we both, unbeknownst to each other, sent gifts to each other inspired by this phrase. And that is my thought for this year, 12 days in. More living and enjoying life with my fabulous friends and family. More laughing at all the joyful moments that fill my life, and always, more giving and sharing of Love.

He has achieved success who has lived well, laughed often, and loved much;
Who has enjoyed the trust of pure women, the respect of intelligent men and the love of little children;
Who has filled his niche and accomplished his task;
Who has never lacked appreciation of Earth's beauty or failed to express it;
Who has left the world better than he found it,
Whether an improved poppy, a perfect poem, or a rescued soul;
Who has always looked for the best in others and given them the best he had;
Whose life was an inspiration;
Whose memory a benediction. (Bessie Anderson Stanley)