Carried Away

On Saturday I went out with a couple of high school pals. We went to my friend’s new house – lovely! Got to see her kids whom I hadn’t seen in such a long time – they’re adorable. Then we went out to dinner at an Italian restaurant (had a young, surly gal waiting on us – I think she was jealous of our vibrancy – plain and simple) and did a little shopping. The malls are open until 10 p.m. now which is kind of cool. Now if I could just get my bank to stay open past 5 p.m., I’d be in business (or “bidness” as my boss likes to say). We went to Vera Bradley. It was kind of funny because neither of my friends had ever been to a Vera store and they were kind of just waiting for me to get done and leave. They were saying things like, “Did you see how much that rug is??!!” “If you let me pay $10.40 for this pen, you’ve got yourself a deal.” Just not their style. By the way, did I mention that they are largely unfiltered? They just say what’s on their mind. This, to me, is refreshing. We

I watched the election results on my new favorite channel - MSNBC. I watched in awe as the election closed with a definitive new leader. An answer to our fears of the future and what was to become of this great nation. I will admit that I had tears of joy and empathy, particularly when I saw Rev. Jesse Jackson and Oprah crying in Grant Park. African-Americans have been through a lot. And in the past few years, we've all been on quite the roller-coaster. This gives me hope that we can become something better. We have a chance to be great again. What's not to love?

If it weren't for Michael Crichton, I never would have read science fiction. Michael died today at the age of 66 from a long battle with cancer. He was brilliant. He's the kind of author that makes you think about the world in a different light. I encourage you to pick up one of his books and try not to be impressed by the knowledge within the pages. My favorite book of his is "Travels". It is a collection of short stories of his life. He lived his life to the fullest. I do like to meet authors and try to spill out some words that would indicate I'm an intelligent life form. I'm sorry I never got to meet him. He will be missed.

So I've developed this condition as I've gotten older. It must be caused by a combination of my memory being sucked out by child-bearing and old age (ok, and maybe just being lazy, but I can't be sure on that point). My mind will name someone, but it's not their real name. So for instance, I met a woman last week and her name was Tammy. But for whatever reason, I want to call her Michelle. I met a woman named Nancy and immediately thought "Karen". That one was fun because I used it as a code name when talking about her to co-workers. But by and large, this is just weird. Maybe I have a gift for naming! Or maybe not :)

A co-worker asked me and my family to a house warming party this weekend. When I replied that I couldn't attend the party he was sad that I wouldn't be coming and said (in the nicest possible way) that he didn't think I was the partying type. Oh how things change. When I was in my 20's and early 30's, I did my best! When I got married, moved to the country and had kids, things slowed WAY down. I described myself as "dusty". Just haven't pulled out the party shoes in awhile. Part of me thinks, "been there, done that" and part of me thinks I need to drink more of the wine I have stashed for no apparent reason.

I have been blessed with so many wonderful friends in my life. Even though we don't all live near one another (hi to IL and MN!), we keep in touch. Friendship between women can be very powerful. Below is a story of something that happened to me that was unplanned yet was very touching. Two years ago September I went to Washington DC to visit my brother and go to the National Book Festival with my parents and brother. On my return trip to Madison, I had to connect in Chicago. It's always a nightmare, but I got on the plane and we headed to Madison. Just before we were to land, we were informed that the landing gear had issues and we had to turn back to Chicago as it has a longer runway. I've traveled a lot and had never had an issue where there was a possibility that we would have problems landing. I was admittedly tired, but I started to cry because it made me think that I wouldn't be able to see my husband and kids. A couple in front of me saw that I was traveling a

Ok, so I don't truly intend this to be a political outlet for my views, etc. However, I had to share this run-in. I have been wearing an Obama/Biden pin on my coat since I went to Washington DC a month ago (went to the National Book Festival - great venue for book lovers). Mostly people that notice the pin don't say anything or if they do, they are Obama supporters. Not today. I went to pick up my daughter at the after school program and I met the mom who was taking care of the kids. We made introductions and her daughter had said that her mom has 5 jobs so I was inquiring about what exactly she did. When we were about to end our convo, she was eyeing up the button. I couldn't tell if this was good or bad so I just said something like,"Oh, just have my button on, you know." Trying to make light of it, I suppose. She said,"So you're a democrat?" I said,"Well, I consider myself a moderate - voting for the candidate that I think makes sense. I d

Here's a funny, but not so funny at the time story - LOVE getting older... Last fall I was at my brother-in-law's wedding. My husband was in the wedding and the wedding was at 2 p.m. in the afternoon with a 5 p.m. reception time. No naps for kids so they were having meltdowns at regular intervals. I was frazzed by the time the reception got underway. At about 9:30 I was dancing with son in my arms on the dance floor (to ABBA's "Dancing Queen" which is a fun song!) - my husband with our daughter and I must have tried a "special" move and my knee went out. My husband's cousin is an urgent care dr. in nearby town and she basically said that I have a bruised knee and stretched the ligaments, etc. So was on crutches and had a knee brace. And I'm friggin' old, clearly. My new sister-in-law called to see how I was and she said I was one of 3 people that fell that night. One was drunk, but we and one of her aunt's weren't. I'm done

I've been thinking about this for awhile. I need a blog. A place to tell funny stories that I can share. Hopefully you'll get a kick out of my tales.