Monday Memories: Jack Daniels, summer 2008

I haven't done a Monday Memory in a while...and was missing my childhood friend, Rebecca (hi, bec! I miss you so much my WEF!!) so, thought I'd take a moment to share a very important moment in our lives...our first shot of Jack Daniels. bwahahahaha!

Alright, not exactly an important moment. But a funny one. We had toured the Jack Daniels distillery that day with our husbands, but since it is located in a dry county in TN (irony) had not been able to taste it...and since neither of us ever had...(or maybe we had, just hadn't had a shot of it---which by the way---I do NOT understand. Shots, that is. Seriously not a fun way to ingest alcohol)

As evidenced by our faces, she had already done it--me, not quite yet--notice, I'm still smiling ;)

Happy Monday, Everyone!!

Monday Memories...'Murder By Natural Causes'

The fun times had at the ADA's at Magenta Theater on Saturday have me reminiscing about my time with the theater company. This show was the first full-length production I did with them. It was fall '05. I got to shoot a gun :)

Monday Gotcha Day Memories

Evangeline, we dreamed about you and prayed for you long before you were even born. Today my Monday Memories are about you. because this week is your Gotcha Day. (we 'gotcha' !) :) A term that is so casually tossed around in adoption communities, but a reality that holds such a wealth of emotions.

precious princess in her Sunday best

mommy and daddy hold you for one of our first photos as a family big sis gets hold of those squishable cheeks :)

and here we are. today. with our treasure from China!

I love you, Evangeline. I love being your mommy. I love your goofy times, loud times and pretend times (when you insist on being called tinker bell, minnie mouse, horsey or puppy), I even love your grumpy times. Even during all of those prayers, I could not have imagined a more perfect daughter, a more perfect addition to our family. My life is so much sunnier with you in it.

Monday Memories...musical theater

Me, singing in a show in college. it was an original that our class (Children's Theater, maybe?) wrote to perform at local elementary schools called 'Growing Ups and Downs'.

(sorry about the quality of the photo ~ scanned.)

I love Musicals. Just last week, a friend and I went to see the Broadway touring show of RENT. (I'm going to have to go with Seth Rudetsky on this one and say that it was 'amawwww-zing!') Saw WICKED this past spring, Phantom last summer, Avenue Q and Spam-a-Lot the spring before... as well as a few amateur productions locally, including Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, The Sound of Music, and of course, the very famous Once Upon a Palace Purple...oh wait, I didn't exactly SEE that one...I was in it.

which really brings me to the point of this Monday Memory post. I do so love seeing them. it is the performing in them that I have never been too keen on. not that I don't LOVE them...I do! and not that I wouldn't love to do more--I would! it's the confidence in the singing I lack.

so, I'm going to do something that I should have done long ago. I'm going to take singing lessons. YIKES!! this is a very new decision, and one I am quite excited about ~ but also feeling very vulnerable about it. crazy, huh? I love the stage, love performing...so it only makes sense that I should sharpen this part of my craft...that's one of my favorite things about acting : you can never be 'done' learning how to improve your performance. there is always something more ~ because it is life that you are representing...and, goodness knows, that never stops changing.

and this... well this is my friend, Dana, who went to see RENT with me. she does musicals, too. and I put this here because I love her. :)

Monday Memories...remember when we went on vacation for Spring Break?

So, it's not going back real far this Monday.

Just last year, at this time. Spring Break.

You can read the post here.

*sigh*

dare I even mention the word economy? are you as sick of hearing about it as I am? ok, I won't then. I'll just say that the 'e' word has this Spring Break looking a bit less...well,... Disney.

not necessarily a bad thing ... just forcing us to be more creative this break ~ today we spent much of the day painting and cleaning. it was actually quite fun!

Monday Memories...doesn't even look like the same house

This photo is from Christmas 2004. Just over 4 years ago. And it was taken in my house--not that you'd know it if you came over today!

My husband loves projects. He almost always has a 'project car' he is working on, as well as some home-remodeling project going.

In this photo, alone, there are many examples of his remodeling/projects. I could tell you, but it is easier to just take a photo...


of how this same exact corner looks today!The molding on the door on the left in the photo is the only thing that has not changed. The wood stove and brickwork was beautiful, but in early 2005, Gabby was walking along the bricks, slipped and fell right onto the wood stove. Fortunately, she reached out to catch herself, so the burns were only on her hands--but they were severe enough that Daddy immediately tore out the stove!

Well, since he was going to have to match tile on the floor for where the bricks had been, and was going to have wall to fill in--he decided to do downstairs in all hardwood and add a window.

and that's just one corner! currently he is splitting our bonus room upstairs into two rooms: a bedroom for Evie, and a small office for himself. I'll post pics of that another day.

(yay! for Monday Memories...gives me another day before having to post more on my progress...er...not so much progress...on my mess clean-up)

Monday Memories

December 18, 2004. ballet recital for Gabby and Hannah. standing outside because someone pulled the fire alarm at the school. so, we all exited, stood outside for an excessively long time while the firemen arrived, checked out the building and then cleared us to go back in and continue the recital. I remember thinking how grown up the girls looked in these photos. amazing how quickly that changes to thinking I can't believe how young they look!

also reminds me of the ballet recital Gabby and I attended for Hannah the next year that had to be postponed a day at the last minute because a squirrel got electrocuted on the power lines and blew them out. as all of the audience was leaving the school, there were parents taking photos of the poor fried rodent dangling from the wire.

and that, folks, is the kind of Monday Memories you get from me at 11:30pm on Monday night, after having no internet for 2 days, having to go to the airport at midnight last night when my mom's flight was delayed almost 2 hours, and not taking a nap when I had the chance because I was trying to catch up on all my blog reads...like my husband said when he texted to let me know my internet was back up --'your crack is back' . I make no excuses about my habit. I just wrote about an electrocuted squirrel. this is good stuff.