Ride Cowgirl Ride

This past weekend my daughter and I went down to my parents place...a 14,000 cattle ranch (yeah, there's plenty of room for her to roam) in southern Oregon. And boy, what a wild weekend it was! She found her black hat (she's a bad cowgirl, after all) and was off and running. She got to ride a four wheeler, drive a pickup, ride a bull (okay it was a calf, but really when you think about the size comparison it was like a bull!), eat a steak and baked potato (including the skin!), pet a horse, play with dogs and refuse to touch an adorable kitten -- she also went for a huge hike for those little legs. We walked on a log and discovered a rock slide. The great outdoors really is like one huge playground for kids. My sister and I used to be able to entertain ourselves in a barn, in the fort (which was just two huge rocks in a certain formation), fishing or swimming in the creek. It's important to me that my daughter now has the opportunity to get to know this lifestyle, even if it's only on occasion. It's in her blood...and she looked awfully cute in that black hat...watch out cowboys!

5 Friends to be Happy About Right Now

At different stages of my life I have been surrounded by my good friends, and then at other times, we are all living in separate parts of the world. I was one of those people who LOVED high school...I was active in sports, student council, social events, etc... I had a large and fun group of friends -- I've known my oldest and dearest friend Danette since sixth grade. But then when I went to college I suddenly found myself in a different situation. I did meet new friends, but it was never the same. They were not GREAT friends. My junior year in college I spent a year oversees in Melbourne, Australia. This is where, as I've told many people, I truly found a missing part of myself. I had a life changing experience and met some great friends along the way, including my friend Allana. "F you, caterpillar man!" But the time came when I had to return to the good ol' USA, I soon graduated from college, took my first job, moved to Portland and found another great friend in Julie...a colleague, but mostly a friend. She and her husband ultimately introduced me to my future husband and life was good. But then life changed. Me and my husband found ourselves on our way to the Midwest...St. Louis. At this point Danette lived in Amarillo, Texas, Allana was a flight attendant for the King of Bahrain -- yeah, I could do a whole post on her and her crazy jobs at another time -- and Julie was in Portland. And I was off to a city where I knew absolutely nobody. Little did I know that would be the place where I would ultimately find the largest concentration of really great friends, and suddenly it was my husband who found himself missing his buddies. I forged great friendships with a number of girls from my work, J-Lay, Cheri, Lauren, Katie...it was wonderful. Things happen and circumstances change...Cheri and I disbanded our relationship and Lauren picked up and followed a boy to Chicago but we are still close. And then, what happened? Yep, you guessed it...things changed. All of a sudden Pat and I were on our way BACK to Oregon and I was yet again leaving my good friends, J-Lay and Katie, behind. What is the deal? The good news was that I was reunited with Julie in Portland. Danette had since relocated to Cape Cod, Mass., Allana was back in Australia and the Midwestern girls still bouncing around St. Louis. But as fate would have it, Julie scored a kick ass job at UofO and she and her family are now in Eugene. I love all of these girls and I love that regardless of distance I know our friendship will never change or go away. Despite being a world away, Allana dropped everything and caught a flight to be in my wedding four years ago...that's friendship. In my most recent issue of Redbook there is a section about 5 Friends to be Happy about Right Now. I could perfectly slot my best friends into these spaces. I'm so thankful to call them my friends even though I don't get to see them on an everyday basis. And after all, things will continue to change and no doubt I will someday find us together in the same city, and meeting new acquaintances along the way.

5 Friends to be Happy About Right Now

Your Number One Fan (she thinks you're hilarious) - Dan
The tell-it-like-it-is Friend - Allana
The Shoulder to Cry On - Julie
Your Complete Opposite - J-Lay
The Fashion Plate - Katie

Love you guys.

School Pictures

Today is picture day at my daughter's school. Oh, the chaos! It started last week with me trying to find her something to wear for the pictures. Who would have thought that would be so hard? I just wanted a nice sweater...is that so much to ask? Maybe I'm pickier than I thought. True, I wanted something that expressed her personality (fun, smart, hip and strong), ideally something that wasn't predominantly pink and certainly nothing with bows, ruffles or lace. Aacck! Speaking of which, isn't it hilarious to see what kids wear on school picture day (especially at this age?). You get a true idea of the parents' (or at least mom's) style based on what they want to see their kid wearing in an 8x10 frame in the living room for the next year. I started out at Target...they had a couple of nice things but one was pink and one was light tan which I figured would wash her out. Then I moved on to Babies R Us this past weekend...that is where I buy the majority of her clothes. I love the Koala Kids brand...it's funky meets trendy. There was a nice sweater there but it wasn't even close to her size. After exhausting the selection I headed to the mall. I went into Gymboree but immediately started sweating due to the claustrophobia coming over me as I struggled to navigate between the racks of clothes and hyperactive parents who are willing to drop $30+ on everyday clothes for their one-year olds. And I'm sorry to all of you dads out there, but nothing is more stressful than a dad in a kids clothing store who is actually taking the shopping seriously. I mean get out and go sit on the bench in the hall with the rest of the dads! Needless to say I struck out big time at Gymboree and by this time was starting to panic. I knew I was on borrowed time with my husband who was at home with Miss B, and had already called me twice to talk about....?? Moving on. I hit Macy's...surely a large department store would have something I liked. Nope. Nada. Zip. I was about to leave the mall when I remembered Baby Gap...and I had a gift card. Bonus. I speed walked down the mall corridor to Baby Gap, ducked inside and was immediately surrounded by cute clothes! Now the problem wasn't finding something, it was narrowing it down! But I managed and walked out with the perfect sweater and long-sleeved tee to go with the jeans I'd picked up at Target a few days ago.

Fast forward to this morning. Wait, I should back up to last night. Anyone who has seen my daughter knows that she is not lacking in the hair department. In fact she has the most awesome, curly strawberry blond hair. And with all that hair, it's a crapshoot as to what it is going to look like in the mornings. My husband took special care to comb it just perfect last night after bath time, giving her the best shot at waking up without a major case of bed head today. And it worked. She was looking good! We got dressed and were out the door by 7:45 in order to get to school by the appointed picture taking time of 8 a.m. I swear she could sense my stress as she wasn't her normal, jovial, dancing self in the car but instead she seemed a bit distressed...a little worried. A little like, "Mom, what is in store for me?" She has learned the word smile and when you say, "B, smile!" she puts her fingers up to her cheeks and it's so friggin' cute! I kept practicing that with her in the car on our drive. We made it just in time (my husband thought there was no way we'd be there by 8:00 earlier this morning when I was struggling to pull myself out of bed at 6:30), and her class was gearing up for the big moment. I did all I could...she looked adorable...no runny nose, no tired eyes. It's up to her now! Come on girl...show those pretty new teeth and perfect dimples! Love you!

Rating The New Fall Lineup

• Boston Legal - my favorite of the week so far...by far! "You are my sunshine..."
• Dirty SEXY Money - just from the name you knew this one was gonna be good
• The Office - Michael Scott's Dunder Mifflin Scranton Meredith Palmer Memorial Celebrity Rabies Awareness Pro-Am Fun Run For The Cure...need I say more?
• Grey's Anatomy - it wasn't my favorite...I mean are you serious that we have to suffer through more icky sex between Izzie and George? Ewww! It's just not right. But there's still something about those Seattle Grace docs...and who can't help but want to see the smoldering continue between our favorite MerDer combo?
• The Big Bang Theory - watched this nerdy comedy by chance and got a few good laughs out of it.
• Two and a Half Men - we're still getting a kick out of Charlie and his sex-crazed ways, although I'm amazed by what they're able to put on the small screen these days!
• Hot Shots - this is Desperate Housewives in reverse!
• The Unit -lots of dramatic action packed into this season's first hour! Is Jennifer Garner even the least bit sad she dumped Scott Foley now that he's a hot army guy!
• Desperate Housewives - The juiciness is back on Sunday nights!
• Brothers & Sisters - Turn on the waterworks...I was bawling for most of the show!
  
• Private Practice - they're going to need to pick up the pace on this show...it's riding on high expectations and I didn't think they were met in the season premiere.
• K-Ville - saw five minutes of this and that was five minutes too much.
• Hi, My Name is Earl - can't believe they've stretched that same karma list out over three seasons.
• Journeyman - was on my way to dreamland when my husband was watching this, but even he agreed this won't make our Tivo lineup. And wasn't this show on before under the name Quantum Leap?
• Back to You - so disappointingly bad!!
• Heroes - I didn't watch the whole show, not even most of it...I'm sorry but I can not get into it -- I know I'm in the minority here.

Tell me what you thought about week number one...are we in agreement? Still looking forward to Pushing Daisies this Wednesday.

Take a Bite Out of...No Not Your Friends!

Remember a few days when I wrote about how adorable and loving my daughter is these days? Well she's still all of those things...especially to me and my husband...and usually to her teachers and friends at school. But this week we've encountered a fun new challenge. First I should preface it by saying she's teething big time. I mean there are red, swollen gums, lots of drool, moments of trying to put her whole fist in her mouth and lots and lots of Tylenol dosings. And along with those fun symptoms, Miss B has discovered the power of her new chompers and decided to put them to use by biting two friends at school on both Monday and Tuesday. Wonderful! Just last week she got bit and I was pissed. I made a point of seeking out the center's director and saying, "B got bit today?" in a tone that was saying, "What the hell, my daughter got bit today? What's the deal?" And now the tables have so quickly turned. Of course I must wonder if she hadn't been bit last week would she have realized the power of that act? When I arrived to pick her up on Monday, the school's director met me near the office and said, "B had a little incident today. She actually bit twice." I was mortified. "Don't worry," she said. "It's very common at this age, and she's obviously teething and miserable. I'm sure it's a stage that will pass." The next day we had a plan of action, hit her with Tylenol when she wakes up from her nap, make sure teething rings are handy...nope, that didn't work out. The biter struck again...twice more! She's showing her red-haired feisty side. When someone tries to take her toy, or isn't moving fast enough through the tunnel she just nips 'em! Yesterday one of the teachers was assigned as "B's shadow" to keep an eye on her especially when lots of toys were in play. I pulled up nervous, hoping more "naughty slips" weren't waiting for me to sign. "We're okay," the director said when I opened the door. "There was an 'attempt' but we thwarted it." Thank goodness, I thought. Today is yet another new day and she was happy when I dropped her off and with any luck she'll be happy this afternoon...and so will all of her friends.

Tune into Your Tube

It's that time of year again...the start of the fall television season! Clearly my life has gotten much more routine in years of late and it may be sad that I'm this excited for the fall lineup, but I'm fine with all of that. My husband and I actually went through the guide this weekend and updated our Tivo Season Passes to ensure we don't miss an episode, which will be tougher this year since The Office and Grey's Anatomy are on at the EXACT same time.

There are of course the oldies but goodies that keep coming back for more (honestly, how long can ER stay on the air?), then there are the new shows of which two or three will actually stick -- think Heroes from last year -- and others that will fail miserably despite having the right intentions -- I'm remembering Studio 60 On the Sunset Strip. This year I'm pulling for the new drama Dirty Sexy Money...if nothing else the title is captivating! But then at the top of the heap are our favorite shows, the ones that left us hanging last year and that we're counting down the minutes until the opening credits roll. My favs -- Grey's Anatomy, Desperate Housewives, Brothers and Sisters, The Office and the big daddy of them all 24...alas, we must still wait four more months before I can start salivating over Jack Bauer again. Who are the winners, losers and most anticipated shows on your Tivo?

She Loves Me!

My daughter has taken to blowing me kisses, giving me hugs and snuggling with me as of late. I, my friends, am in heaven! Can this age and stage last forever? I know there will come a day when she wants to be as far away from me in a room as possible, but that is not today and I LOVE IT! Last Friday we were driving to school and she was munching away on a banana. She'd eaten down to the peel so I asked her if she'd like me to help her out. She shook her head and then put the most adorable, "Mom, I love you so much," look on her face that I thought I might melt right there in the driver's seat, but then it got even better! When I glanced back a few seconds later, she started blowing me kisses! Oh my goodness! I had to restrain from just pulling over right then, getting her out of the car seat and hugging her to pieces, while saying "thank you, honey, thank you!" I never had it bad with Miss B. She was a good, happy baby -- she slept through the night early on, she wasn't colicky, she ate well, but still something inside me says I deserve the kisses and loves that are coming my way now. I'll soak it in as much as I can...hold her tight, let her know how much I love her back and if I have my way, never let go.