So That Was Fun

25 February 2007 by

Probably the best way I can explain this past weekend is to tell you that by nine o’clock Friday night, I had to take two Advil because I had a splitting headache from laughing so hard.

No kidding: there were several moments this weekend when I had to remind myself to breathe.

As an unexpected bonus, our friend Melissa was able to join our little mini-reunion at the last minute. Melissa was Miss Everything in high school, bears a stunning resemblance to Julia Roberts, and earned her PhD in something I couldn’t explain to you if I tried. She had a baby not too terribly long ago, but she has bounced right back into her usual size 6 clothes.

Also, she does not have any wrinkles.

And if you’re thinking that you might have to resent her for just a second if you met her, I’ll just go ahead and tell you that you can’t. It’s impossible. She’s one of the kindest people I’ve ever met, and when I think of her, I think of sunshine.

So between the surprise of getting to see Melissa, Merritt’s wacky shenanigans that left me doubled over with laughter, Daphne’s well-timed punch lines, and Liz’s hilarious stories, I am exhausted in the best possible way. We ate way too much, talked non-stop, and laughed until we sobbed. It was divine.

I kept a running list of blog topics in my head all weekend…I thought that I might write about our recollection that Merritt once wrote a term paper in college on belts, or celebrating Melissa’s birthday in a Mexican restaurant and Merritt using just enough Spanish so that the busboy got a bit of a crush on her and literally embraced her when we left, or my complete inability to park Liz’s gigantor SUV without either taking up two spaces or ending up at a terribly awkward angle.

But oddly enough, I find that I can’t write about any of those things.

Because as I sat around my breakfast room table this morning and looked at the faces of four girls who, for the better part of my life, have seen me at my very best and my very worst and everything in between, I felt so completely, profoundly grateful for the blessing of such sweet friends that it overwhelmed me just a little bit, and I realized that there is absolutely no way that my words can do our weekend justice.

And that’s okay – because there are some parts of my life that I just need to hold really close to my heart without thinking about how I’m going to edit them. That’s how I feel about these past few days.

However, you’ll be delighted to know that D. returned home today with a humdinger of a Martha story, and I’m sure it’ll make its way into the blog fray in the next day or two.

By the way: do you know what was the best part of D. and Alex being gone all weekend?

When they came home.

See y’all tomorrow.

Filed Under: My Friends Rock

This Is When My Friends Rue The Day I Started A Blog

23 February 2007 by

This weekend my friends Merritt, Liz and Daphne are coming to visit me.

I’ll pause for a moment so that you have sufficient time for applause. 

Daph and I met when we were freshmen in college, and I don’t think there’s anyone on the face of the planet who gets my sense of humor as well as she does. She can essentially say one word – for example, “monitor” – and, because of her unique Daph-esque inflections, make me laugh so hard that I find myself snorting and in desperate need of a disposable adult undergarment.

As you can tell, I am a delicate, Southern flower.

I have been friends with Merritt and Liz since I was twelve years old and had recently experimented with an easy 1-2-3 bang-cutting method that I saw in Seventeen magazine. Unfortunately, I did not achieve the “wispy bang” look that I was after, and instead I ended up with a two-inch tuft of hair that essentially transformed the left side of my head into a neon sign that said “HEY, Y’ALL! I CUT MY OWN BANGS!” in bright orange letters.

But Merritt and Liz wanted to be my friends anyway. I’ve been understandably loyal ever since.

Now because I didn’t meet Daph until college, I don’t have the vast repository of embarrassing photographs that I do for Merritt and Liz. I’ve looked ALL OVER my house for a picture of Daphne and me from our junior year of college, simply because she was going through what we like to call her pseudo-alternative phase – complete with small, round glasses that would have made Michael Stipe very proud indeed – and I was coming out of a Terribly Permed phase and sporting a lovely ‘do that was straight as a board at the top of my head but a mass of ringlets at the bottom.

However, since I couldn’t find that picture, I decided to post this one instead:

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We were eating pizza, and while I would love to tell you that such an occurrence was a very rare one when we were in college, that would be a lie. As a matter of fact, the number for Domino’s was 324-2100, and the fact that I still know that critical bit of information almost fifteen years after leaving my beloved alma mater is proof that my daddy’s investment in my college education was worth every. single. dime.  

That’s me on the left, by the way. In the sweatshirt that’s both tie-dyed and bedazzled. Because I totally had it goin’ on in college. Oh yeah. Had to beat the fellas away with a stick. Or a Domino’s box, as it were.

After I found the picture of Daph and me, I started to look for pictures of Merritt and Liz, too.

I think you’ll be well-pleased with what I found:

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That’s Liz, then Merritt, then me.

As you can tell, I spent most of my time not tanning when I wasn’t teasing my bangs and neglecting to pluck my eyebrows.

I don’t know what made me laugh harder: the fact that Merritt and Liz sported thick, gold chains in their senior portraits (don’t think for one second that my 17 year old self wasn’t green with envy about that, by the way), or the fact that you could have quite easily hung Christmas ornaments from our hair.

I mean, look at those well-defined layers. We could have nestled writing utensils or small snacks or diminutive furry creatures in there for hours on end without disturbing our coiffures in the least. Personally, I’d like to see us recreate those looks this weekend, but I don’t think they make lacquer for hair anymore because of some federally-mandated regulations about stripping away ozone or somesuch nonsense.

Needless to say, we have big fun in store over the next few days. So if you need to find me, I’ll be in my living room or my kitchen, laughing until I lose my breath, collapsing on the nearest piece of furniture, clutching my side, then laughing some more, all the while trying not to wet my pants.

And until I return, indulge me if you dare: leave me a comment with the name(s) of your best friend(s) from high school, the band or singer that you thought was the AWESOMEST when you were 17 or 18, and – if you can bear it – what you would have been wearing if I had run into you on an average high school day (and thanks, Veronica, for this idea).

In closing, I’d like to leave you with these words of wisdom that my friend Brian B. wrote in my high school yearbook:

“May your path always be filled with success (YOU decide SUCCESS). If you do not know where or how to find it, stick to your guns, never surrender. Blood is thicker than water. You cannot get blood from a stone….”

I have no idea what that means, internets, but I have a feeling it’s terribly profound. And deep. And stuff.

Filed Under: My Friends Rock

The Bestest Link Of All

22 February 2007 by

For several years my daddy has maintained a webpage of his own. It’s a password protected deal where he posts pictures of grandkids, fourth cousins eight times removed, and basically every possible morsel of genealogical minutiae that you could ever want to know about our family.

A couple of weeks ago D. decided to see if Daddy had posted anything recently, and later that day when we were in the car, he said, “Hey, your daddy linked to you.”

“He did what I’m sorry huh?”

“Your daddy linked to you. He mentioned something about your blog on his webpage.”

Now if it’s hard for you to understand why I was a little shocked by this information, it’s because it’s only been in the last six weeks or so that I’ve known that Mama and Daddy are active readers of my blog. Daddy says that he has to “log on” and then pass the computer to Mama, and in fact just this last week Daddy wrote me a sweet email that congratulated me on my “recent blog awards” and went on to suggest that maybe I should “back up all of your blog posts into some sort of database, as Mother and I think that maybe one day you could compile them all into a book.”

I couldn’t help but picture me standing at a copier, painstakingly running off copies of each and every blog post, then putting the pages through a three-hole punch, placing them in a vinyl binder, and then asking Alex to put one of those title stickers he just made with some markers in the center of the binder cover. It’s sure to be a best-seller!

Anyway, I logged onto Daddy’s webpage, and after a little bit of clicking around, here is what I found:

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Where do I even start?

First of all, one of my favorite parts of Daddy’s blurb is that I’m “a blogger at boomama.net,” mainly because the word “a” implies that I am but one blogger on a staff of many here at BooMama, where we toil furiously in the blogging trenches to bring you some of the very best mediocre writing you’ll ever find on the interweb.

Second, the part about him not wanting to brag? Totally sweet. I don’t care how old I am.

Third, I love it when he says that I have “a large reading audience, nationwide.” I’m not so sure about the “large” part, but when I read it I thought, “DON’T TELL MAMA THAT SOME CANADIANS READ, TOO! IT’LL BLOW HER MIND!” And then she’d call me and say, “You mean they can see your blog IN CANADA? Well I had no idea. HOW IN THE WORLD do they do that?”

I also giggled when I saw, “it is different than most of what you read,” because it’s just a little bit ambiguous about whether it’s different in a bad way or different in a good way. However, I have to admit that it definitely is different if your normal reading material is a newspaper or magazine. I mean, consider the sheer volume of CAPITAL LETTERS and exclamation points! They don’t allow those SOPHISTICATED WRITING SKILLS in those fancy printed publications!

OH NO MA’AM THEY DON’T!

Finally, I thought it was very gracious of Daddy to point out that my writings are done “mostly on the spur of the moment” because I don’t “have a lot of spare time.”

In other words: don’t expect too much, people. She’s frazzled and crazed. SHE’S FRAZZLED AND CRAZED!

All in all, I thought Daddy’s post was delightful. Being in your 30’s doesn’t mean you stop enjoying some parental encouragement. And while I’m sure that some of my distant relatives were a wee bit horrified by what constitutes “writing” in my little corner of the blogosphere, I’m glad that a few of them might know where to find me now.

(Sidenote: if you ask my mama anything about my “website,” she’ll tell you that I have “a blog on Google.”)

Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to return to “backing up my database.”

Or, you know, watching “Little Bear.”

We’re busy as bees, people.

And on behalf of all of the writing staff here at BooMama, I want you to know that we’re going to continue to crank out as much writing product “on the spur of the moment” as we possibly can. That is what we do.

All one of us.

Filed Under: Family Fun

Prayer Request

21 February 2007 by

Many of you have followed Amy Wilhoite’s blog as she has chronicled her battle with leukemia.

Today Amy found out that her cancer has returned; you can read the details on her blog.

Please keep her sweet family in your prayers.

Filed Under: Faith

AI – Top 12 Women

21 February 2007 by

Fingers crossed that tonight is better than last night.

And fingers crossed that nobody sings “You Light Up My Life.” Because that would just be wrong.

Here we go.

OH! WAIT! I’m adding a Mr. Linky to the bottom of the post so that you can link to your blog if you’ve posted about American Idol tonight, too. Just please make sure that you link to your specific post and not just to your blog (thanks, Melzie, for the idea!).

Stephanie Edwards – “How Come You Don’t Call Me Anymore” – She can sing. And she also has some really cute dresses, based on the clips we saw tonight. But am I the only one who thought this song had an odd tempo? I do love that she came out confident, and she was way fun to watch. I like her.

Amy Krebs – “I Can’t Make You Love Me If You Don’t” – She has a great voice – even if she was a little off-key in parts – but the bottom line for me is that this wasn’t a very fun song. It was boring. She’s not boring – but the song felt like it plodded along. I’d love to hear her do something a little more uptempo, and I agree with Randy: she’s better than the song she chose.

Leslie Hunt – “Natural Woman” – Great, rich tone to her voice. She’s a little all over the place with her on-stage moves…but I bet she settles down with time. And can I just say? She has fabulous hair.

Sabrina Sloan – “The Way That I Loved You” – Isn’t she beautiful? LOVED this performance. Very Christina Aguilera-ish. And the good Christina – not that whole XTina “Dirrrty” thing. She seemed to pick the absolute perfect song for her voice – and she is definitely one to watch. Great job.

Antonella Barba – “Don’t Wanna Miss A Thing” – I agree with Paula: she’s a beautiful girl. That’s all I know to say.

Jordin Sparks – “Gimme One Reason” – She’s a JUNIOR IN HIGH SCHOOL, y’all. Good gracious. And she has an absolutely gorgeous smile. As for her singing, I’m LOVIN’ the funky version of a Tracy Chapman song – shows tons of her personality. This girl is adorable, but on top of all the adorableness is a big heapin’ chunk of talent. Love her.

Nicole Tranquillo – Y’all, I have no idea what that song was called. D. and I think it may be called “Stay Together, Baby,” but that’s because those were the only three words we understood. But you know what? The guys in the audience seemed to love it. I just think if she’d done something a little softer, a little less r & b, she probably would have had a much better, much more natural performance.

Haley Scarnato – “It’s All Coming Back To Me Now” – One of my most favorite Celine Dion songs – but this performance seemed more like the talent portion of Miss America than “American Idol.” And there’s nothing wrong with that…but compared to, say, Sabrina or Jordin, it seems like she played it safe.

Melinda Doolittle – “Since You’ve Been Gone” – I HAD CHILLBUMPS THE WHOLE TIME. She is phenomenal. And I adore her. And I think that it was one of the best first-night peformances ever on AI. FANTASTIC!

Alaina Alexander – “Brass In The Pocket” – She is a very, very pretty girl.

Gina Glocksen – “All By Myself” – That’s a tough song to sing, and I thought she did a good job. I winced a little bit when she hit the high notes – but she definitely showed off her big voice, and I loved the ending.

LaKisha Jones – “I’m Telling You I’m Not Going” – I cannot think of a bigger, bolder song choice. Miss Lakisha is throwing down the gauntlet on this one (I typed that before Simon said it, just for the record)…and she can FLAT sing. Mercy me. Like D. said: it’s not just that she can sing. She can’t help but sing. It’s just who she is. Unbelievable. She has been working in a bank. With that voice. Working in a bank. Unbelievable.

I think the girls are the ones to watch this year, y’all. They’re in a different league that the guys.

Who will go? Antonella and Alaina. Actually no way both of them will go, because they’re so pretty, but they were the weakest links, I think. So I’ll say Antonella and Haley.

Best of tonight?: It’s a tie for me: Melinda and Lakisha. They’re in a different league.

Holla back in the comments, y’all.

Filed Under: TV Is My Friend

AI – Top 12 Men

20 February 2007 by

OH MY WORD it’s TWO HOURS?

I had no idea.

But praise the Lord for DVR – we’re gonna fly right through all those pesky commericals.

Rudy Cardenas – “Free Ride” – First of all I would really, really like to own a t-shirt like the one he has on tonight. He sounds good, though he may have been a little over-the-top first time out, what with all the “WOO!”-age. But the boy can sing – no doubt about it. Fun way to start the show. I give him big points for being calm under pressure.

And it feels a little bit like old times to see Paula being outraged by Simon’s comments again.

Brandon Rogers – “Rock With You” – A little old school MJ from his “Off The Wall” days? I can get on board with that. And young Brandon can certainly sing well. But I think the problem for me is that the song is a little boring – not really something that the crowd can get into. I’m rooting for him, so I hope he comes out with all guns blazing next week.

Jason “Sundance” Head – “Nights In White Satin” – OH, y’all. I am so sad, because this is one of my least favorite songs EVER. I was hoping he would come out and sing something really fun. Also, it’s a little strange, because when he sings loudly, he sounds just a little bit like Meatloaf. I’m worried that tonight’s performance wasn’t quite as distinctive as he needed for it to be. Aside from, you know, sounding like Meatloaf.

Paul Kim – “Careless Whisper” – OH, it takes me right back to seventh grade to hear this song. Unfortunately, I didn’t really like it then, and I wish I liked it better tonight. I do like the tone of this guy’s voice – but I just didn’t like this song choice. As Randy would say, “it was just aight for me.”

Chris Richardson – “I Don’t Wanna Be” – BIG POINTS for singing something catchy and crowd-pleasing, for doing an original take on a Gavin DeGraw song. And I do believe I detected a hint of a young Justin Timberlake on the stage. I thought he was adorable…even though his voice wasn’t perfect, he had personality for days. Really liked it. Afterwards I looked at D. and said, “Well, he was darlin’.” We’ll be seeing him for awhile.

Nick Pedro – “I Will Be Your Man” – He seemed to lose his way about half way through the song, but he does have a beautiful voice. And I appreciated that he didn’t try to scream or “overdo” the song. Once his nerves settle down, he’ll probably do just fine.

Blake Lewis – “Somewhere Only We Know” – I LOVE THIS BOY. I thought he was going to beat box, and then he hit us with a ballad. He’s great. He’s unique. And I LOVED seeing his daddy singing along with him. It sort of made me want to cry.

Sanjaya Malakar – “Somethin’ ‘Bout Your Love” – He seems like the sweetest person ever. And I love me a Stevie Wonder song. But I don’t think Sanjaya found his singing groove tonight. I just wanted to hug him.

Chris Sligh – “Typical” – He hasn’t even started singing and I’m sitting here on the couch saying “COME ON, NOW! COME ON!” And now that he’s singing, I have absolutely no idea what he’s singing, though I’m hearing the word “typical” a lot, so I’m assuming that that’s the title. I didn’t love the song, but I love him, so I’m going to continue saying “COME ON, NOW” all the way through the rest of the rounds. I’m just sayin’.

Jared Cotter – “One” – Y’all, isn’t he handsome? He’s really sort of disconcertingly handsome. And he did a nice job with the song until that unfortunate falsetto moment, but there’s no doubt in my mind that he’ll go through to the next round.

A. J. Tabaldo – “Oh My Love” – Well MY WORD he was comfortable on that stage. It’ll be interesting to see what he does to set himself apart from the pack, because I think he’s going to have to take some risks to really break out. Very fun performance, though.

Phil Stacey – “I Could Not Ask For More” – I was really, really happy when he picked up that microphone stand and WENT TO TOWN after a sort of ballad-ish start. He did a great job once he really opened it up and sang. LOVED the second half of the song.

Who will go? My guesses? Sanjaya and Sundance. I don’t think they did enough to set themselves apart from the pack.

Best of tonight?: Blake Lewis. Without boxing a single beat. I thought he was FANTASTIC (remember, I’m trying to work that word into my vocabulary. How’s it working for me? Sounding okay?). I liked Chris Robinson a whole bunch, too.

Back tomorrow night with the Top 12 Ladies.

Can’t wait to see what y’all think in the comments!

Filed Under: TV Is My Friend
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