Well, I just got home from my first-ever lacrosse game. Our high school was playing for the state championship, and since we know a lot of the kids on the team, we decided it would be fun to go to the game. And LISTEN. WAS IT EVER. We had a blast. It was hot as fire and I’m pretty sure that I may have gotten my first sunburn of the season, but it was so worth it. Our boys won, and I am tickled to know that there is lo, yet another sport that I enjoy watching.

Granted, I wasn’t really dealing with a shortage in that area, especially considering that we went to a high school baseball play-off game this past Friday night, and I spent most of the weekend following the State / Auburn baseball games on Twitter.

All I know to say is that my daddy trained me well.

But I will not bore you with additional talk of sports (except to say that the SEC baseball tournament is only 2 weeks away!) because we have far more important business to tend to today. And that business is this.

My friend Lisa-Jo Baker has written a fantastic book about motherhood. It’s called Surprised by Motherhood: Everything I Never Expected about Being a Mom, and I have so many good things to say about it. It’s beautifully written, it’s insightful, and (in my opinion) it’s just as much a love letter to Lisa-Jo’s beloved South Africa as it is to her kids (I was fascinated by Lisa-Jo’s strong sense of place because it totally parallels the way I feel about the South). More than anything, this is a book that beautifully chronicles the joys and the heartaches and the wonders of motherhood. It will warm your heart and feed your soul whether you’re a mom, an aunt, a mentor, a godmother, a grandmother, or a mom-to-be.

I’m so happy to be giving away two copies of Surprised By Motherhood (thanks, Lisa-Jo!). But there’s a catch: I’m only going to leave this giveaway open for 24 hours so that the folks who don’t win still have a chance to order it in time for Mother’s Day.

So. If you’d like to enter to win, all you have to do is leave a comment on this post, and just for kicks – since it’s spring and all – tell me your favorite flower. But if your allergies are terrible and your don’t really care for flowers, then tell me your favorite kind of chocolate. Or, I don’t know – just tell me something. WORDS OF ANY KIND.

I’ll close this giveaway at 10:00pm central tomorrow night and draw for winners ASAP.

Happy Monday, y’all!

This giveaway is now closed; the winners have been notified.

I have sat down to write this post at least eight different times, but Hazel has decided that tonight is a fine time to turn into a wolf/jackal. One of the lesser known qualities of the wolf/jackal is that it is happiest when someone is chasing it through the house and/or trying to make it come out from under the bed. It is also unusually fascinated by dryer sheets and likes to rummage through the laundry room (or the laundry) to find a stray sheet that clearly must be ripped apart immediately.

The wolf/jackal also barks incessantly while doing all of the above.

But now, finally, SHE SLEEPS. She barked one last time and then collapsed next to a pile of clean towels on the guest room bed. AS YOU DO.

And while I’d like to think that I could create some big connected story right now (with transitions and, lo, A POINT), I do not have that kind of brainpower tonight. So I’m gonna LIST IT UP and hopefully write some connected paragraphs next week.

1. Yesterday I got all of the bookmarks and bookplates in the mail, so those should be in your mailboxes in the next couple of days. I hope I didn’t mess up any inscriptions; I tried to be super careful and thorough and whatnot. However, if I made a glaring error, just let me know and I’ll do my best to get it fixed in time for Mother’s Day.

2. This video made me laugh so hard. I think there may be a little language in the first song – just FYI if there are little ears around. But OH, HAVE MERCY at the second song. Emma Stone is adorable.

3. Earlier today I convinced my fellas that we really needed to go to supper tonight – and then make a pilgrimage to a certain grand opening.

As you can imagine, it was like going home.

We also got tickled as we were walking in because just look how this car was parked.

It was like they just stopped in the middle of the parking lot and ran in. They were too excited to even pull in a parking spot. And listen. I GET IT. It took a year to re-build the store. A re-opening was cause for serious celebration.

Within five minutes I had an armful of stuff to try on. David, on the other hand, had found two packs of white undershirts and was ready to go. He and Alex must have been able to tell that I was off the charts excited to be back in my Steinmart element again, though, because they offered to walk down to the bookstore while I finished shopping. I tried to make the most of my time (though obviously I will have to make a return visit this weekend so that I can commit the new store layout to memory), and I found a couple of really cute things.

As an added bonus, the store was full of wide-legged linen pants, and after three years of digging through racks full of skinny jeans or straight leg jeans, my heart was very happy indeed.

4. For the last few weeks I have been trying to find a new dress. It has been one of the most frustrating clothing-related shopping experiences in recent memory because let me tell you what apple-shaped people don’t want in a dress: a drawstring or elastic around the waist. And let me tell you something else that apple-shaped people don’t want in a dress: a band of fabric running underneath the chest area. SO. I have decided that I am wearing maxi-dresses for the rest of my earthly days. What does the fashion industry have against a cute shift dress that hits around the knees? I don’t understand.

5. Thanks for being mighty patient with me this week. Hope y’all have a great weekend!

All righty. Sister has taken the Mother’s Day bookmark DRAWED ‘ER UP real pretty-like (I’m not sure what just came over me with all that “drawed ‘er up” business). These are the same favorite expressions that we’ve heard Mama use over the years – just in 8.5 x 11 form. Feel free to print at will. Or if printing isn’t your thing, then PINTEREST IT UP, MY FRIENDS.

(I’m starting to think that three days without blogging – and with a lot of envelope-stuffing and bookplate-signing and no small degree of tornado-watching – has started to affect my brain.)

(I do apologize.)

But speaking of signing bookplates: I’m mailing all the bookmark / bookplate stuff tomorrow. Tonight I just have to finish up the last little bit and then put on the return address labels because FANCY.

SO.

Just click on the link below, and it’ll take you to a separate page with the full-sized file that you can print or pin or whathaveyou. Hope y’all enjoy it – and thanks, Sister, for making it so fun!

Salty Sweet 8.5×11 Blog Print

…just as soon as I finish these little Mother’s Day happies.

I have gotten (and am getting) the biggest kick out of going through the spreadsheet (I KNOW! I MADE A SPREADSHEET!) (well, technically Google made the spreadsheet, but I PRINTED IT) and seeing where everybody lives. It’ll probably take me another couple of days to get everything labeled and mailed, but I’m making good progress and, as an added bonus, I’m catching up on Survivor as I sign the bookplates and stuff the envelopes. WIN and WIN.

And even though I’m taking a little bloggy break until I finish everything, I’ll still be on the Twitter and the Instagram. I mean, heaven forbid I should work on a project without checking my phone every once in awhile. That would just be wrong.

Hope y’all have a great week!

What we have here is an assortment, a medley, a HODGE PODGE of topics.

Please pardon the absence of any sort of unifying narrative thread.

1) I may have mentioned one or forty-three times that I gave up sweets for Lent this year. I actually prefer salty stuff to desserts – give me a bag of chips over banana pudding any day of the week – but oh, do I ever have a weakness where chocolate is concerned.

That weakness is because I love it and find it to be very delicious.

And this right here? BIGGEST WEAKNESS OF ALL.

Alex got a big bag of them for Easter. I can only blame myself since I’m the one who, you know, bought them. But I promise you that they CRY OUT TO ME every time I walk by the bag. So far I’ve managed to resist, but I’m forever mindful that I’m just seconds away from a full-on chocolate breakdown at any given point in the day.

2) This afternoon my friend Tiffany posted some very exciting news on Facebook, and the news was this:

Y’ALL DON’T EVEN KNOW.

It made my whole day. I mean, I enjoy living in the land of Alabama / Auburn football as much as anybody, but I am so tickled to be able to support my Bulldogs with a car tag. David (jokingly) asked if I was going to get mine personalized with “BOODOG,” but no. No, I am not. Just a regular ole MSU tag will suit me just fine.

3) I don’t know if anybody is interested, but Cynthia Rowley has a super cute line of dog bowls and dog bowl stands (holders?) at TJ Maxx and Home Goods. There are lots of fun colors, and the prices are great. Here’s the one that I got for Hazel (except that I had my camera on some weird setting when I took the picture, so I can’t really explain why my walls look that color).

4) All the Mother’s Day bookmarks and bookplates came in, so I’ll be doing a little signing and mailing over the next few days. I hope to have everything mailed out by the first of next week, and if for some reason I don’t make my goal, you’ll be the first to know. Sister is working on the printable, and it’s DARLIN’ PLUS.

5) The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. It’s too good, y’all.

6) This made me laugh until I cried. Make sure to turn on the sound in the upper left hand corner. (And thanks, Nicole, for posting it on Facebook and completely changing my Tuesday morning mood.)

7) When I was in Home Goods this afternoon, I noticed that there was all sorts of activity going on at our new Steinmart. I drove across the parking lot to see what was going on (in case you don’t remember, this part of Birmingham has endured a harrowing Steinmart ordeal over the last year or so). Our old store had some structural issues with the building, so the developer tore down the original building, moved the Steinmart to a vacant store front across the parking lot, and rebuilt the store on the original site. This means that we have a BRAND-SPANKIN’ NEW Steinmart, and it opens on May 1st.

Between that and the Mississippi State car tags, I may require some vapors.

I don’t want to speak too soon, but I think I have a new favorite cracker for spring.

I know. It’s a little sudden. It was only a month ago when I was raving about the Crunchmaster Multi-Grain Sea Salt crackers.

But like so many good things, these crackers came along seemingly out of nowhere. I wasn’t even looking for a new favorite cracker. I picked them up on a whim, really.

I was at the grocery store, reaching for my standard box of Triscuits (I typically prefer the cracked pepper and olive oil) when a new flavor caught my eye. The combination of ingredients sounded interesting, so I put the new flavor in my cart – along with the cracked pepper and olive oil because, well, TRISCUIT INSURANCE.

It was almost a week later when I tried them, and while I don’t want to overstate it, I think it’s safe to say that I will be a repeat customer as long as Nabisco continues to make them.

Here’s what I enjoy about them.

1. They’re very dense. They’re not as crumble-y as a regular Triscuit, so I really like the change in texture.

2. They’re a little sweet and a little salty. Apparently I am drawn to that combination like a moth to flame.

3. This year I gave up sweets for Lent, so when I first tasted the little bit of sweetness in this particular Triscuit, my first thought was, “OH, IT IS PRACTICALLY A COOKIE.” But it’s not really like a cookie. It’s just that sometimes a hint of sweetness is mighty welcome indeed.

(Especially if you’re trying to curb a white-hot craving for red velvet cheesecake.)

(And no, the sweet potato / sea salt Triscuits certainly can’t replace cheesecake.)

(But they’ll do in a moment of quiet desperation.)

And if you’ll indulge me, I have one more cracker to share.

When Melanie and I were in Chicago a few weeks ago, the Tyndale folks served these sea salt crackers.

They’re outstanding. Here’s what I like about them.

1. They’re super crunchy.

2. They’re excellent with a slice of parmesan cheese. Some crackers can’t handle parmesan because they fall apart as soon as you bite into the parmesan, but this one was up to the task.

3. They’re rectangular. This means they’re the perfect two-bite cracker. I find that larger square or round crackers can lead to awkward snacking in front of other people because there’s no graceful way to eat them (especially if they tend to crumble), so a dense rectangular cracker is a much nicer option.

Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to find these crackers in Birmingham. I still have to check Whole Foods, though, so I’m holding on to hope.

So there you have it. My new favorite crackers.

And yes, I realize that I’ve done a significant amount of needless over-analysis on this subject.

Let’s just all smile and pretend this is perfectly normal.

Do you have an all-time favorite cracker? Please feel free to share with the group.