benjamin: on friendship

i have always believed there was much to be learned from children. . .

Atreyu still rocks. As do Kara & Brandon.

last summer, i wrote about bernie's former-supervisee-turned-friend, kara. 

or, karaface!

she had come back to campus from her job at Dreamworks to present at our RA end of the year banquet. 

today, kara and her charming fiancee Brandon are tying the knot at a precious little church in Studio City, CA. 

bern flew out there for the big event, and the boys and i had a fun day together here. 

we did a few chores and errands.

then we headed out to Micheal's for some fun halloween craft supplies. 

we did a little crafting. 

and then, The Big Event.

we tried on their halloween costumes. 

(benny had asked previously if he could "trick-or-treat just a little." i told him no and gave him a piece of our candy for putting on his costume.)

suffice it to say that the majority of our afternoon entailed the following...

a tad of this.  

a smidge of this. 

and a whole lot of this. 

the boys were in heaven, and i now know that benny's cape needs to be hemmed if he has a chance of staying upright on the big night. 

our next adventure? 
tonight i introduced anth to the original version of The Neverending Story. 
i was really excited about this. 
bern and i both adore this movie.
based on the cover of the DVD, anth was less than convinced that this would be a decent use of his time. 
halfway through, when we went to make some popcorn, anth turned to me and said, "mom. this movie is legendary. you were totally right."
(no, i did not actually describe this movie as legendary.) 

but i mean, come on. 
you've gotta love Atreyu.

at the end of the movie, i asked anth what he thought. 
he still agreed that it was a really good movie. 
and then, "but, really, if i was that kid, my first wish would be for my mom to come back to life. not to ride around on some dragon. i mean, maybe that would be second."
yes, even after a movie about the importance of imagination, anth finds the logic. 
i love him more all the time. 


while it was a lovely day here, it is a much more exciting one out there in Studio City. 

bern sent along this picture after the ceremony. 
so precious. 
even more precious? 
the fact that the ceremony included her siblings reading from both Adam Sandler and When Harry Met Sally. 
my favorite part is that the reception involves taco trucks. 
genius all the way around. 


so much love, and many happy days ahead to kara and brandon, from all of the savvy fam!

failure to communicate

remember that time? 
you know. . .
the one when my friend from work came over?
and she brought her precious little girl so we could cook dinner for our kids and let them watch a movie together?
and anth had just gotten his new pumpkin carving kit for this year?
(yes, like 45 weeks early, i know. he's like his mother.)
and his friend wanted to see his pumpkin carving kit, which was still perfectly wrapped and unopened?
and because it was new, and therefore precious to him, he didn't want to share?
and i was thinking, the darn thing is still in it's packaging, so what harm could it be?
so, i, trying to be helpful, told him, in front of his sweet female friend, "oh my goodness anthony. would you please just let her touch your package?"
and my friend and i started laughing?
and i was laughing so hard that i was crying?
and poor anthony and his friend didn't understand what was funny?
and, worse, didn't understand why we wouldn't tell them what was hilarious?
yes, that time.
that was awesome.
it was a proud moment for me. 


i tell you, someone out there really needs to start writing my Parent of the Year recommendation letter. 
i'm full of gems like this. 

what the kel?

i often mention my old pal kelly. 
she and i worked together in residence life at OSU for almost a decade. 
and she moved up to Wisconsin. 
this classifies her as a buttface now. 
but we're working through that. 


kelly was the one who came into town and helped me with my wine cork wreath. 
ahem. 
wine cork bagel. 
she was also here to celebrate her birthday. 


her mom was concerned that she would receive the proper birthday cake. 
thought i would be happy to eat a variety of things other than cake on my birthday, bern is actually a firm believer in the necessity of cake on one's day of birth. 

i wanted to share this photo as clear and convincing evidence that kelly did, in fact, have a cake. 
the boys and i even sang. 
then bern and ben stopped to do...

...this.

anth snuck in for a more traditional photo than the one bern and ben opted for. 

ben followed suit. 

but not before serenading kelly with a rather sweet rendition of Firework by Katy Perry. 

currently, kelly and i are both at a conference in New Orleans. 

we are here to learn fun new things about our field and reconnect with colleagues. 

mostly we are sweating. 

because it is new orleans. 

in july. 

i probably should not have just posted a bunch of pictures of her on the internet while she is here to kick me in the shin in person.

i'm a risk-taker like that. 

put a cork on it

okay.

so, you can totally think i'm a hot mess for saying this.

but i really need you to read the title of this post to the tune of beyonce's Single Ladies (put a ring on it.)

because life is far too serious.

so, why not?

my boys would tell you that i regularly rewrite songs such as this.

right now they would tell you that is it moderately to very nerdy of me.

if i'm still doing it in a few years, they will avoid me altogether in public settings.

anyway...

my good friend kelly came into town last weekend to celebrate her birthday on July 3rd.

she was here for 5 days.

overall, it was a wonderful time.

except for the fact that it highlighted how much of a not-so-very-exciting-person i've become.

there were a few key things that really illustrated this point for me.

they include, but are not limited to, the following:

1. i was tired each night by 10pm.

2. seriously. twice i started to nod off on the couch while kelly and bernie were still talking.

3. we hit the mall on saturday for 5 straight hours and it just about killed me.

4. as in, when i got out of bed the next morning, the pads of my feet hurt.

5. kelly helped me catch up on what i've been missing.

6. by that, i mean, she helped me catch up on the 4 episodes of The Voice i had not yet watched.

7. and, finally, in a true testament to "i give up," we spent her last full day here crafting.

i mean.

i love to craft.

i always have.

but, given a full day off and endless options of what to do (i mean, aside from the fact that we are totally land-locked and it was far too hot outside...), we chose to get crafty.

kelly and her friend call this "Girls Gone Mild."

me? 

well. i was in junior high in 1989. 

and i loved hair bands. specifically Sebastian Bach of Skid Row. 

(and Poison's Bret Michaels. but that's an entirely different post.)

so, for me, "Youth Gone Mild" would be more appropriate.

whatever you call it, i devoted my day to gluing things together.

for the last...i don't know...2.5 years...i have been collecting wine corks.

sadly, i can't even say that i have been collecting my own.

for the most part, i have been collecting from other people.

like kelly, i wanted to assemble a wine cork wreath.
(yes. again. big ambitions.)

this was actually a bigger project than i had planned.

here is what i learned yesterday:

1.) some people have favorite brands. :)

2.) some are much more willing to test the waters. (and by waters, i mean wine. clearly.)

3.) the wine industry's shift to these cork-free corks makes for a boring looking wreath. only use these on the first layer.

4.) just because the picture online of the pretty little wreath with bells worked out perfectly, it does not mean that you (AKA, i) have the skill set to emulate it at home. note the extreme lack of bell in between two of these corks.

5.) you should never, ever, leave your camera unattended on the coffee table while intensely focused on your glue. because you might end up with a picture like this. because the photographer finds it hilarious to take a photo of her happy, sitting-on-the-couch, relaxed feet with you working away in the background. and, because when you realize this, you will probably look up at her to glare. maybe call her a buttface. and, most definitely, squirt very hot glue onto your finger. i mean...just maybe.

6.) but, in the end, you will not only get one very tender/concerningly numb finger...but also one of these. which i find to be rather fun. (though i am still curious what wine caused the purple on the bottom right there.)

7.) warning: if you choose to sit on the floor and lean over said project for, perhaps, 5 hours, you might stand up and say a particular letter. highlighted on a particular cork here. again. just maybe.

overall, aside from the fact that it makes me a goober, i am pretty darn proud of this wreath.
and i wanted to say thanks to all of the people who so diligently imbibed so that i could make this.
on my day off.
be jealous. 

not THAT mario...

hooray for seeing old friends. 
today bern and i had the chance to enjoy a fun lunch at Betty's with an old Hall Director friend of mine, Mario. 
and meet Michael, who is a gem.
and yes, Doug, you are lovely, too. 

but i get to see you on a semi-regular basis.  

during our lunch, Mario, Michael and Doug told us of their bizarre adventures yesterday while in the process of trying to buy a Paul Robinett candle. 

this story reminded me of a trip that Mario and I chaperoned to NYC while he was the Hall Director for Baker West. 

A trip that included a frightening hotel with doors that didn't really shut and definitely didn't lock...

and long stretches of no hot water... 

...and this quality photo taken in Central Park.

(where, clearly, we were on different pages.) 

and the trip included the antics of these gems...eric, brandon and crystal...on the subway. 

and mike and dan. 
all lovely folks of Baker West. 

mario and i have always shared a similar palate. 
and a love of a ridiculous hobby that resulted in this photo. 

anth was still a little nugget when i went on this trip. 
here he is, rocking his "baker west: where everybody loves everybody" t-shirt. 
wholesome. 


when we got home from lunch, anth asked who we were with while we were gone. 
bern told him "mario." 
anth's face lit up and bern asked him if he remembered mario. 
(which would be surprising since he was just over 18-months-old when he moved away.)


the excitement on his face quickly washed away when he realized that bern and i had not just been dining with a life-sized version of Luigi's counterpart from his current favorite video game.
it was clear from his crestfallen face that we had just instantly gone from in-with-the-celebrities to his usual boring parents. 
sorry (real) Mario. 
true story.