Sarah

I've been on two more friend dates (one intentional and one accidental) in the last week and I just had the odd realization that apparently the only people I'm friend dating are named Sarah or some variation of the spelling.  So far I've got Sarah G., Sarah S., and Sara (whose last name initial is P., but since she spells her name without the h on the end, she's just Sara).  Weird. 

If anyone else out there has any friends you'd like to set me up with, Sarahs or otherwise, please feel free.  I'm on quite the roll here.

I Remember You

The grandmother of one my best friends passed away last week and I've been thinking about my friend and her family a lot in the days that have elapsed since then.  I never had the pleasure of meeting her grandmother, but I'm sure she was a fabulous lady.  Since I don't have any memories to share about H's grandmother, I decided to share some memories of my own grandmother, but really I think everyone should take a moment to remember your own grandparents or other family members who are no longer with us. 

The following is really more for me than anyone else.  In thinking about H's grandmother, I realized that this spring will mark 17 years since my own grandmother died.  My sister and I always called her Muffy.  I have no idea how that name came about, but it was perfect for her.  Muffy with the puffy hair, because of course she had puffy, Southern hair.  She lived in Shreveport until I was 8, and at that time she decided to move to Dallas and into a nursing home that was down the street from the house my family lived in at that time.  The unfortunate part about this is that it gets harder each year to remember her in her home and what she was like then.  She was still fully functional and healthy when she moved to Dallas, but she didn't want to maintain a large home and she wanted to be close to my mom and our family, so the home she moved to was a good choice for her.  What I do remember about her is the way she would call me and my sister her little doodlebugs; that she loved roses; that she loved sweets, especially Poppycock; she got her hair done every week and always dressed so nicely; she was a little quiet and reserved and very much a Southern Lady; she wore Chanel No. 5; and she was funny.  Even as a child I picked up on her wit and humor.  She always wore long sleeves and pants, although Mom tells me that when she was a little girl, Muffy always wore nice dresses.  She loved hats, but I only know that because that's what my mom has told me.  She never wore hats in my lifetime.  I remember that when we would hold hands, her hands were always a little cold, but they were always very smooth and soft.  I remember that her left pointer-finger had a weird little kink in the top joint, something I just noticed this past Christmas that my mom now has, too.  She always wore on her right ring finger a diamond dinner ring that my grandfather designed for her years and years ago.  I remember the smell of the "cold cream" that she used on her face at night, and the smell of pink Dove Soap always reminds me of her, too.  I remember her black polyester robe with yellowy-white roses all over it.  She would come and stay with us every Christmas and I loved it.  She always had honey and Ovaltine chocolate milk mix in her pantry, and she didn't have a toaster or microwave.  Instead she made toast in the oven and cooked bacon on the stove.  Any time I smell bacon that's been cooked in a skillet, I always think of her. 

I wish so much I'd had the opportunity to know her as an adult.  She was a wonderful grandmother to me as a child so I like to imagine that she would have been fun to know now.  I would love to know her stories about what her life was like as a newlywed.  I know she would have had lots to say and many stories to tell.  I would have loved to have her at my wedding and my sister's. 

There are other people I've lost in my life and I think about them often, too.  Maybe I'll share memories of them another time, but today it's about remembering grandmothers.  If your grandparents are still living, call them tonight and say hello and tell them that you love them on behalf of those of us who can't. 


And with that, I'm off to go cook dinner, which will NOT include mashed potatoes tonight.

Material Girl

Leaving the house at 8:15 a.m. in 17-degree weather on a Saturday morning is not fun.  However, it ultimately proved to be worthwhile.  Since I was already in Georgetown I decided to do a little shopping after my JL meeting wrapped up.  I was looking for some new gloves (since apparently I have claws for fingernails that bust holes through my awesome knit ones with the grippy palms), fun tights, and some long sleeved shirts/sweaters because I'm tired of the 8 I've been rotating between for the last 2 1/2 months.  One of the places I browsed through was H&M and this is what they are trying to sell people these days:

I was taking these pics covertly with my phone so they aren't the best quality. The pants above would be sequined leggings. Take note of the blue and black zigzag sections sequins at the bottom.

Now, this picture does not do these pants justice.  I will be the first to admit it.  Namely because it's hard to see where the pair of pants on the end stop and the next pair begins.  What you need to realize is that these are modern-day Hammer pants.  Baggy in the butt/thigh with an elastic waistband, totally tapered at the ankle.  Bonus: they have pockets, and since they are anti-form-fitting, you could probably stash the entire contents of your purse in them, thereby negating the need to carry a purse with you while you're out on the town in these snazzy pants.  These pants have a lot to offer, so don't everyone rush out to their nearest H&M at the same time, ladies.

Another bad pic because it runs into the vest behind it.  I think this would look especially great with the black pants pictured above.  Who doesn't love a good, oversized vest?

The one thing I neglected to photograph was their broad selection of leg warmers.  I went in thinking, "I bet they'll have some cute tights or something," and suddenly I found a pair that looked super fun and sassy.  Then I noticed that they were way thicker than the pair hanging next to them.  And then I stopped and read the package and realized I'd wandered into the leg warmers section, which is a place I don't belong. 

The unfortunate thing is that none of these were jokes and you may see women seriously wearing these.  (Or you might see someone in a killer MC Hammer costume next Halloween, WHICH. WOULD. BE. AWESOME!)  These were all seriously being sold.  And there were some crazy European women looking at the silver leggings (crazy Europeans looking at bad clothes is my favorite part of H&M).  No purchases for me at H&M.  However, I did manage to score 3 sweaters and 1 long-sleeved t-shirt at the Gap for $41.  Made my day.  Then I got home and realized that husbands are very sneaky and sometimes tricky, which is a whole other post for another day.

I Can Mash Potato, I Can Do the Twist

That statement is only true if you're talking about cheesy dance moves from yesteryear.  What I actually found out tonight is that I suck at making mashed potatoes on the fly.  Bit of a blow to the cooking ego, that one.

Friends Forever*

Today's topic: the Friend Date.  Is there anything better??  Getting set up to be friends with someone by a mutual, absentee friend who thinks that you and the not-yet-friend will be a good match.  I just had my first D.C. Friend Date last Monday night and I'm happy to say that I think it went well.  This was my first 1st date of any kind in about 4 years, so I have to say I was actually a little nervous.  My first date w/ L doesn't count because I'd already known him for a while, so there wasn't any nervous-ness about whether or not I was going to like him or if he was going to like me or what he would be like.  This got me thinking about my last REAL "Is he going to like me??" date and that would have been sometime in April 2006.  It's weird how in my head, I don't think 2006 was that long ago, and I'm still a recent college graduate, and then I actually write the number down and realize that WOW- 2006 was four years ago and my life is incredibly different.  I digress.

So friend date was good.  Another friend of mine has a friend in the DC area and is possibly going to set me and L up with the DC friend and her husband.  Anyone else out there have friends you want to set me up with?? 

I also went to my first Junior League of Washington transfer event yesterday morning.  Newsflash: leaving the house at 8:15 in 17-degree weather on a Saturday morning is not my idea of fun.  However, God smiled upon me as I drove through Georgetown looking for a place to park and lo and behold, I got a spot LITERALLY right outside the front door of headquarters (not an easy feat on M Street in Georgetown.  You should be impressed, even though you probably have no idea what I'm talking about).  Also, I have to say that driving down GW Parkway that early in the morning with so few cars on the road is really beautiful, even in the winter.  Anyway, back on topic: I may be setting myself up on a few more friend dates with some girls I met yesterday.  Hopefully they will be as fun as all my Texas/ Louisiana/etc. friends, or at least close to it. 

And one last thing on the friend note: Welcome new reader!!  I now have TWO- count yourselves- TWO public followers.  I neglected to publicly welcome you a few weeks ago when you first joined.  On behalf of one another, I invite you both take a moment to look at each other's profiles and check out each other's blogs.

*I'd like to point out that I have been able to successfully reference TWO Zach Attack songs as post titles. You're welcome.

Keep on Rockin' in the Free World

Happy 2010!  I hope both of you followers out there had a great Christmas and rang in 2010 with friends and/or family.  And for you anonymous readers out there, the same goes for you as well, although I'll broaden my statement to include whatever holidays you celebrated.  Gotta be PC here, right?

L & I did a quick tour of the D/FW Metroplex for Christmas and it was great, although words cannot describe my frustration with arriving in the 214 just in time for the first white Christmas in my ENTIRE LIFE.  I was so hoping to enjoy some 60-70 degree weather and no snow, but alas, God was in quite the jovial, joking mood and had other plans in mind for us.  At least the snow was the good kind that melts after about 24 hours.  Anyway, L's niece is really starting to "get" Santa (she's 2), although I think L's brother learned the lesson of "don't give an exciting, unwrapped toy as the very first gift to a 1 1/2 year old because she won't want to open all the other gifts everyone else bought her."  He gave her one of those red cars that you can get in and Flintstone yourself around the house in.  L and I also learned that it really is the little things that are most entertaining for young 'uns- she didn't want to actually move herself around in the car; she just wanted to continuously open the door, get in, shut her dress in the door, then open the door, get out, and rinse and repeat.  A thousand times.  I did learn, though, that L is a willing and enthusiastic participant in imaginary tea parties and that he enjoys playing peek-a-boo.  Always endearing.  He'll be a great dad some day, although for the record, not any time soon.  We also got to see several of my friends on our last night in town, which was awesome.  I needed some good "friend" time.  It's sorely lacking here, but hopefully that'll change soon. 

For those wondering about what L gave me this year for Christmas, I did not get any sleepwear this year.  Due to his rendezvous with The Eye, he wasn't able to be sneaky like he'd planned to be with my gift and go pick it out during lunch (he was working from home the week before Christmas because who wants someone with The Eye to come in to work?  Gross), and I needed to go run errands on the 23rd, so we both headed out to Tysons together.  L steered me into Anthropologie and I found a fun bag.  I asked him to pick out something he liked for me and he did well, but after trying it on we both agreed that the shirt he picked wasn't in the right color in my size.  So purse it was.  He also was very sneaky and got me a pair of earrings on the sly.  Here's a pic o' the bag:

We had our first visitors, BP and SP, for NYE and the following weekend, which was very fun!  Love hosting friends.  Lots of site-seeing and a lunch at Good Stuff Eatery, which I've been dying to do.  For those of you out there who watch Top Chef, that's owned by Spike from like Season 3 or 4- I can't remember which.  It's a good place for a burger fo' sho'.  The Ps went home on Sunday morning and on the way home from the airport I tried my first Dunkin' Donut.  Except actually I rather dislike donuts; I prefer the donut hole.  Not sure if it's worth all the hype, but the coffee definitely is good.

All in all, it's been a good 2 weeks since the last time I posted.  I've got my list of resolutions for 2010 and am already working to bring them to fruition.  Here's hoping 2010 is even better than 2009 was (glasses clink).