Purist or Edgy?

Yesterday on the car radio I heard an alternative rock bank, Seether, cover Careless Whispers. Certainly you know the original by Wham? It hit the top of the U.S.'s Billboard Top 100 in 1984. Let me know what you think of this rock version by voting over on the right.

I figure your vote will fall into one of four categories...

a. You're a purist and messing with Wham's original is pure blasphemy.

b. You can't believe a real rock band would sink so low...they must have lost a bet.

c. You love it! Some rockin' guitar riffs and drums is just what that sappy song needed.

d. You were either born after 1980 or spent much of the 80's secluded on a commune and have never heard this song before today.

Preempted by the weekend

I know I said I'd be doing some reviews of our New York trip. I still intend to but this weekend kept us busy. Saturday we caught the Pixar movie, Up. Great story, touching messages and fun for all ages. I definitely recommend taking the entire family. Then we had an invite for dinner and swimming with friends, so that's where we were for the evening. Then Sunday was church, taking GrampAl out for his birthday lunch, more swimming and working on the eight paper mache' planets below (I'll explain that more once they are further along in the process...but for you die-hard astronomers...someone else has one of the larger planets which will be either Venus or Saturn. After some discussion, it was also decided to include Pluto...the miniature non-planet in the foreground).

I did post some pictures from our NY trip out on Facebook finally so if you follow us there...take a peek.

Returned safely.

We have returned from our trip to New York City and to our family's comfortable routine. The trip was everything we hoped it would be. The weather ideal, the sights picturesque, the food ambrosial, the city electric, and the time together renewing. My plan is to provide a synopsis of each day over the next few days. In the meantime I'll share a peek with a view of the sunset from the Empire State Building. Did I mention picturesque?

A third-grader in waiting

I want to take a moment to acknowledge all those people that warned me that life would go by faster as you get older...you were so incredibly right. And those that said…wait until you have kids…then it really goes fast. You were doubly right. And now I’m adding an extra level to that…once those kids are in school…you better put on a crash helmet and a 5-point harness because we’re talking sound barrier speed.

It doesn’t seem like that long ago that I was writing about Em’s first day of second grade. And here we are, just 42 weeks later, and Em is a third grader in waiting. 42 weeks. Sounds like a long time…but man it flew by. And the crazy thing about it? I start thinking about all the things we have planned for the summer - Y Camp, VBS, our annual Father’s Day weekend outing, the 4th, some camping, a trip or two to Cali – and before you know it we’re starting another school year in August. August brings a busy back to school schedule and then it’s Halloween. The year-end holidays follow that in the blink of a Christmas light and it’s a new year. The cycle just keeps going…just faster and faster. Especially once we add Megan to the school year mix in 2010.

May be it’s that the school year has a beginning and end and each new school year brings a measurable level of maturity to your children. But when you are a kid you have school years and it didn’t go that fast. In most cases it just dragged on. I suppose it is that one year is now only 1/40th of my life versus the 1/8th that it is was in second grade. 2.5% of a lifetime versus 12.5%. Just a blip. And those blips continue to get smaller and smaller.

At any rate, it’s been a great school year. Emily’s second grade teacher was marvelous. The school year brought many new things learned…multiplication, creative writing, the democratic process of an election year and so much more. It also brought some new front teeth and a couple inches in height. So tonight we begin the celebration of summer vacation. She’s already negotiating a later bedtime.

An evening spent with parrotheads

We spent last night with old friends enjoying the music of another old friend, Jimmy Buffett. We were grateful he made Arizona an early stop in his SummerZcool tour. It allowed us to enjoy the show on what was practically a balmy night.

It was a typical evening with Jimmy...lots of shark fins, sons of sailors, forty year old pirates, cheeseburgers grilling and volcanos blowing. Definitely a great way to kick off the summer.

Me and my "old lady" shoes

I fall into that category of women that admittedly loves shoes. I don’t buy a pair in every available color, Imelda Marco’s like, but I do enjoy shopping for and finding the perfect pair. My latest search has been for a black wedge sandal that’s comfortable enough to walk around NYC in. Earlier this week I was at Macy’s and decided to look around. I was gravitating toward the “comfort” brands of shoes. The young gentleman that was helping me kindly retrieved my size in a couple pairs. I tried on a particular pair of Aerosoles and he says with a surprised tone, “Oh, those are actually nice.” He goes on to say that when the comfort sandals arrived he and his colleagues were surprised that the shoes were not more “old lady like.” After rolling my eyes, I graciously pointed out to the sweet young man that I had reached a pinnacle age that I actually desire a comfortable shoe…but still want it to be stylish. So based on his thoughtful comments I assumed I had found the perfect pair and reluctantly gave the young whipper-snapper some sales credit. Let me know what you think…

Prince charming

Last night Megan announced that Wyatt, a boy from school, is her boyfriend. That is because he is her friend and he is a boy. So he is a boyfriend (logical). And because he plays with her. And dances (definitely a plus). But she also informed me that she is going to marry Wyatt when they are bigger. And how does she know he's the one? Apparently it is because he's taller than her (a criteria I am afraid I cannot argue with) and because she'll get $5 (I'll need to coach her on the finer skills of negotiating).

I really can't make this stuff up.