I made my debut as the newest Board Member at tonight’s big Gala. It was a large event with all of the town’s upper crusties. I felt like a fish out of water. But I had a good time after a few Cosmos. Jeremy finally joined me later in the night and then I felt more comfortable once I had him by my side– you know, it’s always nice to have somone to talk to, much less cannodle with. I’m not sure what was weirder for me: the men who eyeballed me, the women who hit on me, or the mothers who gave me the cold shoulder. I guess I’ll never completely understand the socialite type crowd. But I dont have to; at $100 per plate, I don’t care about all the silliness between. I care about the kids and all the wonderful experiences we’ll give them with with the money that these Galas and funraisers bring.

Here’s me before the Gala. I’m kind of happy to see a couple of pics of me, much less decent pictures of me. When you’re the woman behind the camera, you don’t see yourself very often. Especially since I’m normally in cut off sweat pants and a stained up wife-beater. So glamourous! 

Speaking of canoodling: my favorite part of the evening was coming home with Jeremy, getting into my unsexy cozies, and snuggling up to the Man of my Dreams… 

I didn’t want to mention this until it happened. And it happened. Jeremy and I put in a request for consideration for the position on the Board for the Children’s Museum and, with that, the Arts Center. It’s growing EMENSELY, and there was 2 positions open. The Children’s Museum is opening this GRAND new center, and the person who fills the position would help with fundraising, galas, ideas, painting, building, creating, EVERYTHING!

WE WERE OFFERED THE POSITIONS TODAY!

My heart is overflowing! I start my “duties” on Friday night at the 50’s party, meeting all of the Board Members and mingling. Saturday night at the fancy $100 per plate Gala, I’ve been awarded the position of “Coat Girl.” I don’t mind– I’m going to doll it up like a little pinup momma and take those jackets with a smile on my face. For my good deed, I get to rub elbows with the upper crusties of our town (Not my favorite part, but they have money and their kids rooms might need murals– Yeyyyah.) But the good part is that I get to eat some prime rib and have a few totties to boot. I’m easy.

Wooooo-hoooo. Pics to come!

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Conversation Highlight of the Day:

There was this little dude, about 6, at Austin’s football game tonight. He and his friend kept watching Bella who was contently painting her toenails and applying lip gloss because she was bored out of her mind watching football. The little dude comes up to Bella while she’s painting her toenails and asks her why she’s wearing so much pink. She rolls her eyes and he leaves for a few minutes. When he comes back to poke fun at her…

Little Dude: “You go to school, or what?”

Bella, in her sassiest tone: “Shahh. Yeah, I go to school! I go to Beauty School.”

Not much going on in the home front. I’ve decided to quit posting pictures of the kiddies after this– neither flickr or Stepherz.com. We’re private, hermit-ish people and it doesn’t make any sense to expose my kiddos to the internet. So now my muse is gone with posting pictures… I hope y’all don’t get tired of seeing pics on me? It will inspire me to be creative with my camera, eh? I’m probably going to try some youtube journaling, so that might be something to look forward to.

First of all, this entire post is NOT about diets…

I’ve been diligent about my diet– sticking to low fat everythings, but I’m getting creative. I think I’ve figured things out, and I hope that this enlightenment helps me keep the pounds off… When I’d get hungry, I’d eat. I’d eat whatever– cereal, junk, chips, dips, fried, mashed, carbs, etc. The “enlightenment” came when I figured out that I don’t like to feel hunger. But hunger and emptiness are different things. It’s ok to feel empty, not ok to be hungry. Your body needs a rest, including a rest from digestion. And when I feel hungry (which isn’t so often now that I’ve learned to distinguish between the two), I eat something that is good for me– no carb counting, no calorie counting, etc. For instance, normally I’d eat a bowl of cereal right now, before bed. Now I eat a nice bowl full of edamame or an apple. Talk about a delicious healthy treat! For lunch today I had a sandwich made with tomatoes, lean turkey meat, sprouts, and low carb bread with mustard (200 calories). It was filling and yummy. For dinner I had salmon, broccoli, and a salad with balsamic vinegarette dressing. Deeelish and only about 500 calories a reasonable amount of calories! I know y’all must be tired of hearing about diet stuff, especially if you aren’t dieting. But, it’s a big part of the changes I’m going through right now, so you might hear a little too much of it for awhile.

Best yet is that I’ve been able to incorporate healthier eating into all of our diets. Jeremy is actually eating veggies, and so are the kids. Nooskers has always been my little veggie lover, so he was no problem. Here’s Jeremy eating a yummy turket breast sandwich before bed instead of twinkies and cupcakes!

Doesn’t he look enthused?

And here’s my waist after 6 weeks of “watching” my diet… You would probably be more impressed if you could see me nekked. But I’m no exihibitionist so, work with what ya got here, k? These are 2 relaxed bellies. Mind you, I’m 5′10″, so fat distributes. I guess I’m just floored by the measurements more than the pics. I went from a 31 waist to a 27/28. And my arms and rumpus alone lost POUNDS!

Anyshutthehellupaboutdiets,

Ok, so besides the dieting, here’s what I’ve got… I’m going to Florida on Monday. Big deal, right? Well, I grew up on a beach in Charleston. I grew up jumping off the bus when school was out to go running to the shore, by myself, because that’s where I belonged. I picked blackberries along the trail and pocketed horny toads and shells and sea glass. I’ve never felt so completely in tune as I do when I can hear that ocean, taste it, smell it, feel it. The ocean comforted me when my mom wasn’t around, and when she was, it was a HUGE part of our memories together. So, this is a Big Deal to a little southern beach momma who was transplanted in the cold dessert of the Southwest.Even bigger is that my mom’s mom, Elizabeth, is meeting me for 1 entire 24 hours in Florida. Just she and I on the beach, swapping memories, catching up, and forgiving. And, OMG, is there so much of that to do. I can’t even tell you. I can’t even begin to tell you what seeing her means to me. But I will share one day. So, I guess I’m telling you that I’m going to a place that my soul loves… with the people my soul belongs with… and the cherry on top is that I may be able to am determined to find a piece of peace that I was deprived of when my mother died in 1988.

I’ll probably won’t post again before I leave, maybe I’ll be over at Momma Magpie. But, since there won’t be anymore pics of the babes (or at least of their faces) after this, I leave you with pics from our last beach adventure (September 2006)…

Hugs to you and I’ll be back October 1st! Can you believe I’m leaving my laptop at home!!??? I’m already feeling ghost pains from just the thought of it!

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Edited to add: Ok, maybe I’ll be posting one more time. We have a huge 50’s themed fund raiser party for the Children’s Museum on Saturday. I have to post some pics of us– since the Children’s Museum and vintage 50’s anything are my passions!

….Laugh at them. “Them” being those celebrities we love to both hate and mimic at the same time.

Trying to get some movement on Momma Magpie, so I thought I’d mention that I have another blog again. I think you should go and laugh at those pics of Victoria and JLo at Fashion Week, at least. Those girls are crazy cool. JLo is so far from the block she’s got diamond encrusted boogies and Victoria is so uber superficial that she gives her nanny a raise every time her kid’s need their boogies wiped. I love hating them. I want a fargin nanny to wipe boogies too. What?! Have you seen the size of Noosker’s boogies!?

In other news, I went to the doctor this week for a big fat shot of Depo Provera. You see, I’m not really in a hurry to go under the knife again this year (2 d&c surgeries in 3 months is enough, thank you) for that tubal I mentioned. I’m thinking it’s Jeremy’s turn to contribute to the “fertility fund,” or the “lack of fertility fund”. Homeboy is getting his parts fixed, not I. Woooooo Hoooooo! SwollenInfertileNutsAlaMode! He’d probably make me sleep on the couch if he knew I was celebrating swollen nuts.

But besides the whole Depo/swollen nuts thing, I did get on a scale at the doc’s office. Turns out my scale is off by a few pounds and I’m not really 137. Oh, no. I’m 133!!!  I even managed to squeeze some Lucky jeans on that I haven’t worn since, oh, 2002. They were tight, tight. Too tight to wear in public, too tight to wear and still walk, too tight to wear and still exist. But, they went over the ol’ birthing hips none the less. Progress is being made. I will NEVER wear a bikini again (I have a Frankenbelly– stretch marks, appendicitis, laporoscopy scars), but I’d be happy to wear those cute Luckies again. It’s all about illusions, y’all. I might never have the body of a 26 year old neked. But I could appear that way in clothes. And I’m alright with that, I reckon. Especially since my old man seems to like me neked, Frankenbelly or not, enough to knock me up 3 times in 7 months. I know people who only get their groove on 3 times IN A YEAR, much less get pregnant that many times. Ohhhh, the 30’s do something wonderful for the sex life, don’t they?

And lastly, I’m leaving for an Island off of Tampa in 10 days. Did you hear that? TEN days? Island? Sun? Beaches? A granny bathingsuit with sand in the crotch? Oh, yea. I’m going to be living the good life!