Melonie Johnson

Elements of an Irish Dancer: The SHOES & The DRESS

March 10, 2011Celebrations, Kids, UncategorizedWrite a comment

My little Irish dancer came home from school sick with a fever yesterday, so I never got a chance to post Day 9 of 17 Days of Irish…however, it all works out – since a sick kid at home knocks my schedule into the trash I can sit here, drink a mug of coffee as big as my head, and do a combo Day 9 & 10 post! Miss A is recuperating in her pj’s and a tiara, playing Lego Star Wars on her DS, and Lil’ G is harassing me with a jack-in-the-box (well, actually it’s a bunny-in-the-box, but still…).

Now that you have a complete picture of the view from my world, let’s move on to the topic du jour: Irish dance shoes and costumes.

We’ll go from the ground up.

All dancers begin learning soft shoe dances first. Called “Ghillies” what makes Irish dance shoes different from a basic ballet shoe are the fact they are laced from toe to ankle, and do not use eyelets, but loops in the leather. Boys Irish dance soft shoes look a lot like your basic jazz shoe (in fact, Miss A often dances in a pair of jazz shoes to practice in so she doesn’t wear out her ghillies).

Oh…and here’s a dancer secret: to keep those poodle socks in place while dancing, the girls use something called sock glue:

Some dancers buy the fancy stuff, but Miss A has found that this works just as well:

Another tip…after over a year of struggling to help Miss A tie up her shoes before class, before a performance, etc; I took the advice of some other dance moms and bought elastic to re-lace her shoes…it has saved us a lot of time and energy!

For hard shoe dances, the shoe looks like a tap shoe – but bulkier (and, in my opinion, louder).

irish hard shoe — Photo source: http://www.irish-danceshoes.com/

Hard shoe dances are so much fun to watch, and guarantee to get an audience going, especially as the dancer starts to move faster and faster (Miss A was in a show this past weekend, and I am always amazed at how fast some of those girls get their feet going!)Miss A hasn’t begun to learn hard shoe yet…maybe in another year. Oddly enough, the first hard shoe dance her troupe learns is called St. Patrick’s Day!

How many dances a dancer knows equates to what level she is dancing at – at the highest level, a dancer can qualify for a solo costume – those beautiful, gorgeous confections of velvet and lace and satin and silk and all sorts of glittery things. These costumes are hand made, unique, and – of course expensive. Many dancers will sell their costumes to another dancer once they grow out of it. To take a look at some of these incredible dresses (and to get an idea of why I need to start an extra savings account) visit Dance Again, a site where dancers can list dresses for sale.

Before they can get to that level though, first a dancer starts out with a basic costume. For Miss A’s dance school, it is a skirt and vest:

My Irish Dancer 1 — This is Miss A about a year ago, you can really see how much she's grown! The vest and skirt are the first costume a dancer wears before moving up to the "class" costume.

After progressing a bit, and performing in several shows – a dancer can qualify for a “class costume” which is a standard dress for that particular school of Irish dance.

Miss A is currently in one of the rental class costumes. If she continues to dance, I will probably buy her the fancier, more elegant version of the class costume (and, obviously, more expensive).

Speaking of expensive, while I dread how much one of those solo costumes are going to cost. If Miss A sticks with it and continues to progress, I look forward to helping her choose a dress she likes, and can’t wait to see her dance in it!

Those things are like eye candy, and one of my favorite parts of a show, it’s always fun to see the combination of colors and patterns a designer puts together!

irish-dancer-the-herald — Photo Credit: http://www.theherald.co.uk

All Things Irish

The Backstory on How I Came To “Meet” March’s Monday Muse (and how cool random networking can be)

March 6, 2011Blogroll, Books, IMO, Life, Uncategorized, WritingWrite a comment

My “meeting” of tomorrow’s Monday Muse – the first and I certainly hope not last – of 2011, occurred on FaceBook. It all came about in a rather crazy way, and it just goes to show you how things can kind of just happen.

Flipping through my local newspaper one day last spring, I caught a blurb about the RWA Chicago North Spring Fling. As of yet I have not joined RWA (Romance Writers of America) but may do so in the near future (I go to my first “trial” meeting next week actually.) Anyways, I saw that Sarah Wendell (of SmartBitches fame) was to be a speaker at the event. I love SB Sarah – she is made of awesome, as I learned while participating in an e-reader test drive she coordinated for Sony a few summers back. So I did the logical thing – I got in touch with her and we set up a little meet n’ greet while she was in town.

When I met up with Sarah in the hotel lobby she was mid-conversation with Carrie Lofty, who was there promoting her new book, Song of Seduction, that was going to be part of the initial launching of Carina Press. The three of us sat and chatted for a bit and traded mommy stories (We are all multi-tasking-mavens! Mamas who do it all! The whole reason for Monday Muse to exist! Enough with the exclamation points!). And later when I got home I looked up Carina Press and even liked them on FaceBook – why not, right? This is all part of my craft and the world I hope to be taking by storm very soon, so it never hurts to stay connected. (Also, Carrie will be speaking at the RWA National conference in New York this November, I won’t be able to go – but if you are, and you attend her workshop: The Pitch Witch, please be sure to tell me all about it!)

Just before Sarah and I headed out the door to grab some breakfast, Erica O’Rourke stopped us to let Sarah know how much she enjoyed her presentation. A bit of chatting and Erica and I realized we live in the same town (she is going to be the arm I cling to next Monday at my first RWA meeting). It’s crazy, because since our chance meeting that morning last spring, I run into her almost every week where I teach some of my theatre classes. Erica has had some wonderful success since we met nearly a year ago – her novel, Unchosen, won the RWA Golden Heart award for best Young Adult manuscript and her book, Torn, comes out through K teen/Kensington in July of this year.

Yes, I am hoping some of their good fortune rubs itself all over me.

So Sarah and I finally went off and had a lovely breakfast and a great talk – and I made her sign my copy of Bosoms.

Back to my original point (I did have one) – having “liked” Carina Press on FB I now get fun little tid bits, such as: when a book gets released, Carina will post some of the author’s favorite quotes from her work. They will also post the first line or two of the novel. While reading one of the latter I nearly snorted with laughter, it was just so ridiculous. An English Lit major with a strong focus in Victorian era work, the sheer Gothicness of the quoted lines caught my attention and I couldn’t help but add a comment. The thing was, Carina also included a plot summary that I found intriguing, but feared the outrageous prose would prove too much for me. Well, imagine my surprise when the author herself comments right back with a polite (I am paraphrasing here) “Um, just to let you know, the first lines in the book are actually not “my story” but lines from a novel the heroine is reading.”

OK, now I was hooked. So I bought the book, and then I looked up the author’s personal blog and liked what I found – and so again, I did the logical thing – I asked the author if she wanted to friend me on FB (I was sure to tell her I wasn’t a lunatic). She must have believed me about the lunatic thing – because she did friend me, and it’s been fun to get a glimpse into her world and get a taste of her thoughts and ideas when I happen to catch them over at FB. “Talking” to her some more I find that we really have quite a bit in common, aside from the desire to write. We both have a strong background in theatre, and we both started our children out in homeschool and chose to continue their education in a non-public school environment.

The author I am referring to is Susanna Ives, and I can’t wait for you to meet her tomorrow when I introduce her to you as the Monday Muse for March.

The book that lured me in was Rakes and Radishes. Available from Carina Press. I will include a review of R&R tomorrow as well, because, as I’ve said before, I’m a multi-tasker.

And come to think of it, Sarah, Erica, and Carrie could all qualify as Monday Muses too – so don’t be surprised if you see them featured here at some point. I’m not one to waste resources.

E-reader Test Drive From Writer to Novelist Monday Muse

An Irish Red and an Irish Read

March 5, 2011Books, Family, IMO, Life, UncategorizedWrite a comment

Welcome to day 5 of 17 days of Irish. Today we get a bit of a history lesson.

Many Americans “become” Irish on St. Patrick’s Day, and some (like me) have anywhere from a jigger to a pint of Irish blood in us, yet celebrate like we are the full keg.

As Americans, I guess we tend do that a bit; sift through all the ingredients in our melting pot and, for one reason or another, choose to focus on certain aspects of our heritage more than others.

Maybe it’s because, since I was little, people see me and ask “You must be Irish, huh?” or, “I bet there’s some Irish in you somewhere.” or some such similar comment. What is it about red hair that makes people think Ireland? To answer this question, I consulted the mighty Google, which then took me to that fount of all knowledge, Wikipedia (you need to see the reference photos on the side – they’re pretty funny).

Turns out, the assumption is mostly true – while it’s Scotland that has the highest percentage of red heads, Ireland comes in at number two. The funny thing is, I get my red hair from my maternal great-grandmother, who immigrated from Lithuania. (My maternal grandfather – the one who provided me with the most Irish blood, had dark hair and dark eyes). Wiki explains that as well, noting that, prior to the 20th century – red hair was most often seen as a stereotypically Jewish trait – notably among Jews living in places like – you guessed it – Lithuania.

So anyways, back to my point – maybe it was all those inferences that I must have Irish in me that made me curious. I found myself drawn to Celtic myths and legends, and when I came across this book while browsing shelves one day, I bought it on impulse:

The story of Irish legend and hero Cuchulain, this book was amazing. I adored it. I went on to buy every book I could find from author Morgan Llywelyn, which is how I discovered her Irish Century series.

From 1916 and the Easter Rebellion to 1999 and the struggles Ireland and Northern Ireland face today, Llweyln has constructed a rich tale – informative and fascinating. It is full of details and facts, yes, but also rich with a cast of remarkably memorable characters. I highly HIGHLY recommend this series!

I thought I owned every single book she has put out – but while putting this post together I discovered she released a book last year about legendary Irish navigator and Saint, Brendan of Clonfert.

Not that I usually receive gifts for St. Paddy’s day…but this wouldn’t be a bad idea if someone decided they were going to surprise me. (I am shameless when it comes to presents, if you haven’t figured that out yet).

See you tomorrow for day 6…when we’ll continue with the theme of presents…and something you may be adding to your own wish list!

Friday Fast Five: Lots of Pink Power, A Printer for Petty Cash, and Poop in Lil’ G’s Pop?

February 25, 2011Blogroll, Cool Stuff, Hallmark Moments, Kids, Life, Products, Tantrums, UncategorizedWrite a comment

1. Seeing as many websites and blogs host their giveaways on Friday, I often include links to a giveaway or two on the FFF. Today there are some great ones: awesome prizes for an awesome cause: first up, from Today’s Mama: they are giving away an 21.5″ iMac with iPhoto and iMovie and iWantToWinIt! The great news is, all you need to do to enter the contest is show support for JustAsk, a group that advocates early screening tests for your personal potential risk for developing breast cancer. Check out the post on Today’s Mama for all the info. Another giveaway connected to Just Ask is from Tip Junkie – who is giving away a Canon Rebel SLR camera!!! I want one of these like you have no idea – even though my idol, PW, prefers Nikon, I like Canon better.

2. On the topic of breast cancer, a dear friend of mine has decided to participate in the 3Day walk in Arizona and is collecting donations. I know it’s hard to give to everyone and everything, but if you feel so inclined, here is a link to her donation page. Every little bit helps! She is now more than half way to her goal, and mentioned she was trying to think of ways to raise more money. I told her to dress her big ol’ dog Gus up in a pink bikini and take him door to door asking for change – she asked me how much wine I was drinking these days.

3. Back here in the MidWest, I have several friends who participate in the Chicago 3Day. Every summer before the walk one of the girls hosts a Bunco night to raise a few extra bucks. Bunco for Boobies! It’s a wonderful way to hang out with friends while raising money for a great cause. Last summer we each got these adorable hand painted wine glasses as a thank-you gift:

Pink-Ribbon-Breast-Cancer_74260E82 — This is not an actual picture of the glass I received, but a very nice substitute I found on Google. I promise to take a pic of the real glass and post it soon.

4. For my friend in #2, I was able to donate a bit more than I had planned because I saved a load of cash another way, proving that unless the question involves your ass and a pair of pants, it never hurts to ask. Case in point, last Saturday I took the husband on a hot date – we went to Best Buy to shop in peace without the usual screaming and chasing involved when taking our girls to a store. I got myself a sweet new wireless all-in-one printer. Kodak was offering a special deal – bring in any old printer (any brand) to be recycled, and take $50 off the purchase of a new Kodak printer (and that is on top of any weekly sale price). With a deal this great, of course the printers were not in stock and I had to have mine shipped out. Before I left to pick it up mid-week, I checked the BB website for ink deals and hey-o, the price on the printer I had just purchased had dropped another $30! Many stores offer a price match guarantee if a price changes within a certain amount of time from the purchase date, but I was a bit worried that with the recycling discount I had also received they would say “Are you kidding me? No way lady, get your cheap ass out of my store!” But, like I said – it doesn’t hurt to ask. And go me – because I walked out of there with my printer and a $30 gift card! If you’re shopping for a new printer, the Kodak recycling credit ended this week – I think – but I believe HP is running a similar offer.

5. And finally, because I know you have to be wondering just from the title of this blog post…Lil’ G and the poop in her pop. A few weeks ago I was at the drive-up window at the bank where the very nice tellers are always sure to include a treat for the girls in the canister (it might have something to do with the fact that on more than one occasion Miss A has leaned out the window and shouted at the top of her lungs into the teller speaker thingie, asking if they have any red lollipops.) This particular trip the teller gave the girls Tootsie Roll pops. Lil’ G had yet to encounter such a thing. Which is why, a few miles down the road, I hear from the back seat, “Poop!” Let me tell you, that word, shrieked by a two year old, strikes terror into a mother’s heart – especially when that mother is doing 55 and has no way of launching a fecal seek and destroy mission. Cringing, I ask her “What poop? Where’s poop?” Please, don’t faint from the eloquence of my speech. Lil G’s repsonse was “Poop in my lollipop!” Which really freaked me out til I looked in the rear view mirror to see her holding up her tootsie pop, with the fudgy center exposed – looking for all the world, like, well…poop. “Oh no, honey, that’s not poop – that’s candy.”

There is a lot to be said for the kind of trust children have at this age. “Oh, candy?” she asked me, eying the sucker for just a moment more before popping it back in her mouth.

Hopefully, the “Not poop/candy” issue won’t come back to haunt me in some horrible way. Don’t laugh: we’ve recently launched potty training and the danger is very real.

Friday Fast Five Giveaways

Friday Fast Five: The Snow, The Gym, the Notorious Lil’ G, and why I’m not that into UF

February 4, 2011Books, Cool Stuff, Hallmark Moments, IMO, Kids, Life, Life Sucks, Products, Tantrums, Uncategorized, Working OutWrite a comment

1. If you have read the last few posts o’ mine – you may have noticed the area in which I reside was bombarded with a heckuvalot of snow. And woo-hoo! We are supposed to get more this weekend! I don’t know where the snow is going to go…but I fear it may still be here in May when Lil’ G turns 3.

2. Speaking of Lil’ G – that girl has more drama than her mama. And I have a heckuvalot of drama, (see how I managed to use my made up word again?) they don’t call me The Original Drama Mama for nothin’. So, last night Lil’ G went all Godzilla on her train table. When she came downstairs this morning my husband asked her what happened – she broke into tears, her gorgeous blue eyes pools of despair and sweet little lips trembling, she cried, “Oh my train, my train, what happened?!?” Then the little stinker had the audacity to turn to Miss A and say “Sister did it!” Oh, art of manipulation – how early thy is learned.

3. On a less nefarious note, lately Lil’ G has taken to making phone calls. Her conversations always begin roughly the same way, “Hi Dada (or Nana, or whomever). I Gwyn!” The other day she had her play phone and made a call to her best buddy in the whole world (if you don’t count Dora and the Wonder Pets). The conversation began as usual, “Hi Sammy, I Gwyn!” then after a pause, as if listening to a comment from her pal, she continued with this blithe response “My diaper’s fine.” Hmm. Ok then. It makes sense, I suppose – after all, I suspect the condition of one’s diaper is of upmost importance to a two year old.

Lil G and Buddy S — Lil' G and gal pal Ms S

4. I finally managed to join a gym for the first time since Miss A was younger than Lil’ G. I am so happy I did it – Lil’ G plays with other kids while I workout instead of zoning out in front of the t.v. or throwing toys at me while I’m on treadmill from over the gate I put up to keep her out of the workout room. A few days ago I tried Zumba for the first time, it was a heckuvalot of fun. (ha! did it again). Sure beats trying to run outside like this crazy person:

5. A couple of weeks back I mentioned the end of a series of books I had been following. Well, I finally had a chance to read the book and, though some may say I can’t be a true fan of the author and feel this way – I say you don’t lie and tell your friends they look great when they decide it’s time for harem pants to make a comeback. From the get go the Fever series was not my favorite, I’m not much of an Urban Fantasy (aka: UF) person – but I thought it was awesome of KMM to follow her own path and write what she felt compelled to write – not what her readers demanded. So I followed her along the journey she started with DarkFever, and thought I would reach the end as she had promised with ShadowFever. Unfortunately, as the book itself says “The end…for now…” the series ain’t over. She has a contract for 3 more Fever books, and left holes and dangling hooks all over ShadowFever – which I felt was not fair to her readers. If she wants to keep writing in this new world she created, that is fine – but don’t promise a complete series and then end it in such a fashion. I felt a bit, well, taken advantage of. I suppose I like my HEA’s too much, which is why after finishing SF I loaded Spell of the Highlander onto my ipod and have been enjoying listening to that this week while I shoveled snow (see #1) and worked out (see #4).

This is a heckuvalot more to my liking.

Snow Day! I ain’t drivin’ so let’s start drinkin’

February 1, 2011General Suckitude, Kids, Life, UncategorizedWrite a comment

Well, it’s official. Miss A’s school closed early today and canceled school for tomorrow as well. By tomorrow morning we are supposed to be buried under the worst snow storm in 40 years. Oh the hyperbole! But, since I’m now stuck at home with a husband “working” from home tucked away in his office upstairs, I get the joys of a crabby 2 year old who needs a nap but won’t take it. A seven year old who keeps sneaking more Doritos after I tell her to put them away…fights between the two of them over what show gets picked off of the Netflix cue (Wonder Pets vs Wizards of Waverly Place!). Oh, and Lil G just demanded I clean the cookie crumbs out of her belly button. Yep – 2 hours into our “Snowed In” adventure, and I’m ready for a drink.

Winter Drink 2 — Look, it even has "Winter" right in the title! It's Perfect!

Don’t worry, I’ll pull it together in a little while. I’ll hide the snacks and make a decent dinner, turn off the t.v. and try and find some other way to keep the girls busy; one idea you might want to break out if you find yourself snowed in as well is something I came up with awhile back after seeing something in the Land of Nod catalog: let your kids go wild and color all over the walls! (Well, not exactly, you’d need something stronger than a beer after that!)

With some poster board and a black sharpie you can set up a wall of “frames” that your kids can doodle in to their hearts content.

Looking for other boredom busters? Assuming you have power, check out these fun FREE Valentine printables to keep ’em busy, courtesy of the Indie Tot. Included are word finds, cute critter cards to color, and make your own stickers.

So, if you are somewhere Mother Nature is blasting with a not-so-gentle-reminder that it’s February 1st and we’re in the dead of winter – I hope all your loved ones arrive home safe and sound – be smart and stay home if you can, pour a drink, relax and don’t think about all the shoveling that’s waiting for you.

The Day I Had to Sew Boxer Shorts on Dilbert

January 8, 2011Cool Stuff, Family, Life, Products, Time Wasters, Uncategorized, WorkWrite a comment

I had completely forgotten about this little bit of wifely assistance I performed for my husband until he mentioned it recently. I forget what about our conversation prompted him to recall the story, but he said something to the effect of, “You know, like that time I had you sew underwear on Dilbert.”

Now, you’d think one would remember such a task, but no, the memory had been buried, lost beneath other details like the birth of our children.

Having dug the details up once more, I recalled the incident, and demanded my husband provide me with photographic evidence, so I may write about it here – my personal eternal archive of the mundane and magnificent alike.

This is the premise: my husband has long been a fan of the Scott Adams’ cartoon strip, Dilbert. He sympathizes with the plight of the IT office guy, I suppose. He also appreciates the snarky wit of Dogbert. Over the years I have given him some Dilbert related gifts: books, Christmas lights, calendars, and once – a little tapestry/wall hanging thing. This last item must be rarer than I realized, because a brief Google image search turned up nothing. I had hoped to show you all what it looked like in its original de-pantsed glory, but no luck. Basically, the tapestry is a representation of one of Adams’s favorite topics: Casual Friday. At this point, one of Dilbert’s co-workers may have taken the concept a bit far by deciding his birthday suit is a respectable choice.

Wanting to share the humor with his co-workers , my husband brought the wall hanging to the office. Now, all we the audience are treated to is a rather innocuous view of a backside. Apparently though, someone found this bit of booty provocative, and deemed it inappropriate. Their complaints prompted a visit from HR, and a request that my husband remove the offensive material from his cubicle. The problem was they never specified just what “offensive material” they were referring to – so after a bit of head scratching, my husband gave up and just asked. When he found out what exactly was causing all the hullabaloo – the ridiculousness of the situation was just too much for him, and thus the request for me to, “Sew some pants on Dilbert.”

Here are the results of my efforts:

Dilbert-shorts-565x600

Dilbert-hanging-401x600

My husband sent a little note to Scott Adams about the incident, and he actually got a reply – with Adams appreciating the humor of the situation and our solution.

What have we come to in this life, where people exist who have nothing better to do than worry whether or not the benign buttocks of a cartoon character in somebody else’s cubicle are properly covered?

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Friday Fast Five

November 19, 2010Cool Stuff, UncategorizedWrite a comment

1. The new Harry Potter movie came out today! The husband and I will have to schedule a date night (hopefully in the next month) to go see it together. We rarely go to the movies, it’s almost an annual thing…we went for all the new Star Wars movies, of course. Then for all 3 Lord of the Rings movies. Now all that’s left is Harry Potter! I think after part two comes out we may not go see a movie together for a loooooong time.

2. Speaking of movies, next week Disny’s Tangled comes out and Miss A has been looking forward to it for months. We are going to try and turn it into a Girls’ Night Out with a few other Mama/Daughter couples, as part of the fun, we plan to make these really cute Bow/Clippie holders as a themed project. Now I just need to find yarn that resembles Miss A’s strawberry blonde locks. One of my super crafty friends has her own version of this project, so we are going to meld the two ideas together for something really great!

3. Black Friday approaches…I think I will skip the lunacy this year. Every time I decide to brave the retail jungle on this most notorious of shopping days, I come away disgusted with the human race. I think I will brew up something hot and delicious, wear extra comfy pj’s and if I do any kind of shopping, it will be on-line.

4. My NaNo count is struggling. I have high hopes for plumping it up this upcoming holiday week when I have a small break from the usual daily demands. All I’m on the hook for is making dessert (I’m debating between THIS and THIS…I’ll probably make both…oh, and did anyone else catch PW on t.v. last Wednesday?). I am seriously hoping to more than double my word count between next Thursday and Sunday. Any of my writing buddies wanna do an on-line word war Thanksgiving weekend? Let me know.

5. On the topic of plumping things up: Feta Fries.

Oh sweet heaven. During my time as a high school English teacher I only taught Freshman once – my first year of teaching. I had the little heathens 8th hour – the last period of the day. I swear the administration schedules stuff like that on purpose; you know – some kind of hazing weeding out process. Anyways, that was 11 years ago and now one of the boys from that class owns owns a little restaurant in town. His family is Greek, and it cracked me up at how tickled he was while we worked our way through the Greek mythology unit. Remember the dad from My Big Fat Greek Wedding? Just like that. The reason I mention this is because although his place serves most of the standard stuff like pizza, burgers, etc, he always tries to add a little Greek spin to things in some of the offerings. Like the Feta Fries. A friend of mine told me about them and I had to try them. It had been a very long time since I allowed myself the treat of french fries (I find it hard to only eat a few so I try not to eat them at all), but it was worth it because they were incredible! Perfectly toasty hot seasoned thick cut fries showered with a heavy dose of feta. An unexpected combination but really yummy. And salty!

Friday Fast Five NaNoWriMo

Friday Fast Five: With Pictures!

November 12, 2010Cool Stuff, Life, Products, Uncategorized, WritingWrite a comment

1 – It’s my birthday this weekend! I am not ashamed to admit that I LOVE PRESENTS!!! I adore getting gifts. To my credit I also get a kick out of giving gifts as well. One of the neat things this year is all the birthday freebies I’m getting! So far, here is what I get to “cash in on ” during my birthday month:

A free drink from Sbux, a $10 giftcard to WorldMarket (time for me to buy that tea I wanted!), a free ice cream cone from Oberweiss, 20% off my total purchase at Hallmark, $10 off at Rainforest Cafe, and best of all – a free meal at my fav place (Cooper’s Hawk). I also just found out I get free eyebrow shaping at Ulta’s salon – I’ve never done anything to my eyebrows before, so I’m a little trepidatious (which, btw, some people say is a word while others argue it’s not), but hey – it’s free so I’ll give it a whirl.

2 – This past Wednesday, my sand v-ball team, The Java Mamas, played our final tournament game. Yes, you got that right – we live in the mid-west and just played an OUTDOOR SAND VOLLEYBALL game in the middle of freakin’ NOVEMBER. We thanked our lucky stars that we had uncommonly awesome weather this week and enjoyed an unseasonably fair evening temp in the 50’s. However, the sand was still pretty freakin’ cold. Why so late? It was originally slated for the end of October (which is still pretty late, but not horrible) but a freak wind storm caused a cancellation, followed by some schedule issues that led to another cancellation, but finally we played our game and WON! Hurrah, the Java Mamas are the champions!

Here we are posing with the 2nd place team (who are called the Beavers, and yes, their team name leads to all sorts of jokes).

java mamas 2010 champs — That's me in the Ireland sweatshirt...sorry about the quality, my camera can't handle night shots.

3 – My NaNo word count has been at a stand still the last couple days, mainly because I got hit with a big ol’ sick stick and felt horrible – 0ut and out crawl under the covers and hide horrible. I’m starting to feel a little better today and have high hopes to make up for lost time this weekend. As the recent NaNo pep talk quoted from Robert Frost, “The best way out is always through.” That is really an unconscious motto for my life, whenever things are tough I don’t stall and dwell in misery or back out – I push through. It helps to have a wonderful husband who picks up the slack and a sweet daughter who makes cards like this:

4 – Not too long ago I mentioned I had been on a streak of good luck, one thing being the awesome Miloushka necklace I won courtesty of BirdCrafts. I promised Bird I’d post about my prize, and here I am finally getting around to it!

necklace prize 2 — When it first arrived, the husband wanted to know who the heck in the UK was sending me jewelry...

necklace prize — ...as tempting as it was to let him wonder if I had a secret admirer from overseas, I reminded him about the contest I had won. Isn't it pretty!?!

Here is a pic of me sporting the goods:

prize necklace cropped — Can I just say that trying to take a picture of yourself is not very easy?

Yes, I have freckles. Lots and lots and lots of freckles. Part of the red hair and fair skin package I suppose. As is the little bit of sunburn I’m still sporting into November…and speaking of “goods” while I love the sweater I’m wearing (and, as the sweet cashier at Trader Joes noted in a very complimentary way, the color of it matches the necklace perfectly) upon seeing these pictures, I realized it is rather, er, low cut, as you can see in the uncropped version.

Thanks again to Bird Crafts and Miloushka Jewelry!

And, on the subject of giveaways, I’m giving away five special edition free copies of the first book in Karen Marie Moning’s DarkFever series. The contest closes Monday, so enter now! So far, only Miss Tami has entered, so if nobody else bothers, she’ll be getting all 5 copies! Also, Lil Lollipops Designs (who will be featured here soon) is hosting a necklace giveaway of her own, check it out – the prize is gorgeous!

5- So, a couple of weeks ago I saw an Article in the New York Times about a dude I went to college with, he was Algernon to my Cecily in one of my favorite plays, The Importance of Being Earnest , we were nominated for the Irene Ryan Award and the scene where Cecily describes how Algernon wooed her heart via all the letters he (that is she pretending to be him) wrote her was selected for some type of award as well, I can’t remember what; it’s been over 10 years! Funny, considering what a big deal it felt like to me at the time. Anyways, I still haven’t seen his t.v. show, but from what I hear, it’s a wee bit popular. Yes, I can admit I’m jealous of his success – not that I have aspirations to write for a t.v. show, but I wouldn’t run away screaming if the job were to be offered.

Friday Fast Five Giveaways NaNoWriMo