My Baby is ONE!

Happy Birthday, Stella O'Dell!

I am going to edit this with some text later on today but for now, here are pictures of her Luau.

I am in denial....

...that I really need to be getting ready for work right now but you know what? I'm sick of it!!!

Tomorrow is my big event. After tomorrow, I will be a normal human again.

But right now, I just want to discuss a few brainless things because I am really tired of THINKING.

1. Have you guys tried McDonald's coffee? It's great! I drank 2 giant ones on the way home from NC on Sunday. And the beauty of it all? Drive thru. See, since having Stella, I have dreamed of opening a new business that has several options via drive-thru...because it is such a PITA to get her in and out of the carseat when all I want is a coffee. And I would LOVE a healthy drive-thru food option - one does not exist in Richmond.... And there are other services I have thought of as well. It really would be a success. Like a "Brew Thru" but not just alcohol...coffee, healthy food, a few items that you usually need at the store (bread, milk, coffee, diapers, wine, etc....)

ANYWAY, so I am really happy with the McD's drive thru coffee. But I have one gripe (of course!) In North Carolina, when you order the coffee via drive thru, you tell them "cream and equal" or whatever and they put it in the coffee for you. What a NOVEL idea! In Richmond, they grab a few creamers and packets and throw them in a bag. Ummm, doesn't it defeat the purpose of a drive-thru coffee when you have to pull over and put the extras in yourself??? Just sayin.....

2. Another fast food thought - I was driving to work yesterday and passed a billboard for the new Wendy's burger - The Baconator. First of all, "baconator" is horrific. What marketing genius came up with that? But to make it worse, the billboard shows a picture of it and says in big letters "HOLY COW AND PIG!"

That is so gross, I may never set foot into a Wendy's again. Somebody needs to get fired. Dave is turning over in his grave. And he should be.

3. My newest guilty pleasure and probably the best show I have ever seen in my life:



ROCK OF LOVE WITH BRET MICHAELS

I mean, SHUT UP! This is FABULOUS!!!

First of all, I have to tell you, I'm a Bret fan...and it goes back 20 years. (Oh, that makes me want to puke.) But it's true. And for anyone who attended my wedding, you heard Cece's Toast about how when we were 12, we drew pictures of our weddings and mine was to Bret - with Cece (my best friend) as maid of honor and CC Deville (guitar player in Poison) being best man. (And Cece and CC were also married, by the way.) So, yes, I do have a past with Bret.

This show is genius. I watched the first episode last night and could not tear my eyes away from the trainwreck. From the transgender german "girl" with her hideous white shoes and old lady purse (she's a man ya'll - she HAS to be!) to the STUPID STUPID STUPID bleach blonde girls with implants as big as their heads..........

I can't wait for next week.
CAN'T. WAIT.

*****

So, do you think the work stress has finally made me crack?

Quickie

We're back from my Aunt's wedding in North Carolina - and it was heavenly!




Unfortunately, my big event at work is Friday and I am busy running around like a headless chicken. Not to mention Stella's big birthday party on Saturday.....

SOOO, that's all the time I have for now.

Look for an update after the weekend with LOTS of pictures.

7-7-07

We went to Toby's Cousin Angie's wedding today. I didn't take any pictures except of us in the parking lot. Nice.

It was a nice, small wedding. The reception was a cook-out and HOLY HELL it was HOT. Stella went to bed for the night (I hope) at 5pm!! The heat took it out of her.

Stella and Da Da


Self-Family-Portrait



After the wedding, the pics took FOREVER and Miss Thang was hungry so we set her up in the back of the truck with her sippy cup and some cheerios

Look Who's Walking!

As you requested...

Here are the requested pics from this Blog and my other board...

My House - all new windows - yay!:


My Car, the family-mobile:


The inside:


Can't forget the car seat and the gym bag that never gets used:


My pink cell phone that I hate cause I can never hear anyone:


Me with the band!! (Kim! I had to get creative - I don't have any recent ones and I won't see them until the 25th - I'll post new ones then.)


The usual scene (haha Erika!)


My favorite hair products - my Philosophy Amazing Grace shampoo and conditioner:


My REAL scrapbook room:



But lately my traveling Scrapbook suitcase has been in the dining room since it's heavy as hell and I had a Workshop a couple weeks ago and haven't felt like lugging it up the stairs:


My favorite shoes - My reefs (No, Choo, not the crocs!)


My current fave purse - my Vera. I am SOOOOOO the Mom I swore I would never be:


For Brandy - something from work! Here is the Intern Orientation that I just recently worked on:


And Stella eating dinner - tortillas with cheese and peas:


I'll have to update with one of my desk at work...and we don't sell peanuts in the Company Store anymore since we split from Kraft. :)

That was fun!!!

If everyone jumped off a cliff, would you do it? Yes.

Ask me to take pictures of any aspect of my life that you're interested in/curious about -- it can be anything from my favorite shirt to my cell phone to my car. Leave your requests as a comment to this entry, I'll snap the pictures and post them back here. It's like a glimpse into my world!

I post pics of Stella all the time...but I DO have other things in my life. ha! I have loved looking at everyone elses pics... What do you want to see from me?

And it's about time for a light-hearted, fun post - don't you think?

TC

Tommy's funeral was today - it really might have been the best memorial service I have ever been to.

Carol's was awesome too - because it was all HER. The colors, balloons, her artwork and her writings...

This was all Tommy - it was MUSIC. Which was his life. That's how my family got to be such good friends with the Clarke Family. Daniel and Matt met in 9th grade marching band and my parents and Daniel's parents were in band boosters. I was 2 years older than them, but Matt and I always kind of had the same friends... so our families just got close over the years though school music stuff...and then when we all graduated, the boys still persued music and we would hang out at all of the various gigs. And Tommy was an AMAZING musician himself and was in several bands that we would go see too... The main one I remember was TC and the Hot House Band - they were funky and fun. I wanted them to play at my wedding one day - but that group had sort of stopped playing by the time my wedding rolled around.

Tommy was always so happy and cheerful and boisterous. Is that how you spell that? When he'd see us he'd yell "It's the Taylors! What's up Mr. T, Mrs. T!" (And then to me) "Hey there beautiful lady!" And give us all bear hugs.

Anyway, the service was great. It was the perfect mix of faith and religion with personal stories of Tommy. And MUSIC.

Daniel is an amazing piano player. Currently he is playing keyboards for Mandy Moore. But he has played with Bruce Hornsby and other big names. He really is so incredible. I found this video on YouTube:



So at one point, the pastor read "letters" from his sons. Both were so great... Daniel's really struck me and I am going to paraphrase it here because it's a great message to share.

Here's what I remember he wrote:

"I was driving home late last night with my best friend Robbie and we were talking and I realized how much I am like my Dad. See, I stopped at the toll booth on Powhite and I stopped and talked to the late night toll booth guy, Billy. He's a cool cat. I see him all the time coming home from some gig and we always end up chatting - sometimes as much as 10 minutes. He talks about his family and asks me about mine and we just talk and sometimes he hits the button that makes the light go green before I even pay. I know he appreciates our chats because it has to get lonely there in that toll booth in the wee hours. We have gotten to be friends.

Sometimes we are in such a hurry to get from here to there that we forget about the "in-between" - and my Dad never forgot about the "in-between." Infact, he dwelled in the "in-between." The reason I am friends with Billy is because that's how I saw my Dad live as I grew up. Everyone was his friend and he listened and cared for everyone - he never met a stranger. I learned from him.

Obviously music was a large part of our relationship. He always told me 'It's not how good of a musician you are; it's how good of a person you are.' All of those people did not come to the viewing last night because my Dad was an amazing sax player - they came because he was an amazing man. And it was just a bonus that he was a killin' sax player." :)

And the service ended with a performance of ONE of Daniel's music groups (which we used to go see ALL the time.) They are a jazz quartet called Neighborliness. They played 2 songs - the 2nd one was a totally upbeat jazz rendition of "Walking in Victory" featuring a sax.

It was SO Tommy Clarke.

Lots of prayers for the amazing Clarke Family.

Sad

Tommy Clarke passed away this morning from a heart attack. Tommy and Judy are very good friends of my parents. And their son Daniel is a very good friend of my brother's - and a friend of mine too. We all went to high school together and we have followed Daniel's music career over the years and we'd go see him perform with whatever amazing musical outfit he is with at the time.... there's a lot of them! Tommy was also a musician and my family would go see his band back in the day...

The Clarkes came over to Mom and Dad's not 2 weeks ago to visit after MY dad's heart attack. Daniel was home from touring (he is currently playing keyboards for Mandy Moore) and we all sat around and laughed and talked about old times.

It's just so sad. I'm really sad for Judy and for his sons...

There has been too much death and illness around us in the past few months. TOO MUCH.

Sunday Morning

I have about 30 seconds to update. That's more than usual!! :)

Yesterday was Mom's 55th birthday. We had dinner at Cracker Barrel and Stella wore a dress.



She got better at it...



We have a very busy July coming up. Next weekend is Toby's cousin Angie's wedding. And then on that next Thursday, Stella and I will be headed to NC again. My aunt Cissy is getting married in Cullowhee, NC which is about 8 or so hours from Richmond. I am going to drive to Morganton for the night to stay with my college roomie Ashley and her family. It will be GREAT to see her and it will be a nice stop. I'm sure after 5 hours, I'll be ready to NOT drive anymore. And Stella will be ready to NOT ride anymore. We'll drive the 2 hours to Cullowhee the next day... The wedding is on Saturday and I know it's going to be so lovely. Then on Sunday we will drive back to Morganton to stay with Ashley again...and then do the rest of the trip back to Richmond on Monday.

The NEXT weekend is Stella's big 1st Birthday Luau. We're looking very forward to having everyone over to celebrate! And Stella has 3 costume changes already - with more to come, I'm sure. She's going to be SO sick of me. But it's a perfect opportunity to wear the Hawaiian outfits that were bought for her by Family members who have gone to Hawaii in the past year.... Either this or Halloween. :)

Her actual birthday is Monday, July 23. I CAN NOT BELIEVE IT.

Then on the 25th, my aunt Sunah and I are hopping on Jet Blue and flying up to NYC for an MCS show that night! Our gracious host is Mr. Donnie Sanders and I can't wait to see what he has planned. I don't care if we sit on a park bench and talk - I am so excited to catch up with him and hear stories of Broadway. We will have dinner and then head to the show. We fly out the next morning.

Can't stay away from my girl that long. :) One night will probably kill me.

And on that note, I'll leave you with some pancakes and watermelon.