One Man's Jacket and Another Man's Boots

My last few years of high school, denim jackets were popular. I had a stretchy, light-colored one from Gap but I also "borrowed" my Dad's denim jacket from the '70s. The Gap one was donated at some point but Daddy's has moved with me from place to place to place. Now that denim jackets are popular again, and it's light-jacket weather, I pulled his out.

I safety pinned the back to pull it in a bit and stitched up some of the holes. The shoulders are quite boxy so it would be great to take those in, too. I can do this because I have no intention of giving it back to Daddy. Sorry. It's been in my closet for more than 10 years so I don't think he misses it.

My grandfather, Poppy, was a born and raised Texan. He also lived in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Florida, but he spent his last years back in Texas. After he died, there were two pairs of cowboy boots in his closet. He had small feet so the men couldn't fit in them, and the women either couldn't or didn't want them. So one pair went to my small-footed great uncle, and one pair went to me.

I've worn them once before and always mean to wear them, but am afraid of messing them up. I tend to do this with important things, especially things that belonged to my grandparents. Yet I don't think Poppy would want them just sitting in my closet. He also might not have wanted them paired with a dress and pearls, but hey, I'm a country girl in the city, that's just how it is.

January 3: Drinking Straw Day

Today was a celebration of the creation of the drinking straw by Marvin C. Stone in 1888.

I love straws. My favorite are bendy straws, of course, but I've really gotten into the pretty paper straws that have become more popular the last few years. I'm currently on my third box of these that I use every day at work.

It so happened that straw day coincided with my family birthday celebration. We tried a new restaurant in the downtown of my hometown. I brought my own straws to ensure we could adequately honor the occasion.

It was a wonderful time with my family. We laughed a lot and just had a good time. I was spoiled by my siblings, as usual. Melissa brought some crackers and we all wore our crowns and played with the little toys before we left.

As a bonus, we got to go up and down my favorite street at Christmas: Center Street. It makes my heart happy.

Shoppping With Mom

I was so very excited to have my Mom up this past weekend. It's been awhile since we've had a weekend in DC together and it was great. Things haven't been too stressful lately, but they're certainly not perfect, and it's always good to have my Mama here.

The main point of trip was to hit the Luckett's Spring Market. Luckett's is a popular antique store in Leesburg that Mom has read about a lot. For their Spring Market, vendors cover the grounds, selling their vintage, modern, and re-made fares.

I have a dream of making a couch out of a clawfoot bathtub like Holly Golightly in "Breakfast at Tiffany's," and this just fueled that dream.

There were a lot of great vintage offerings, and a number of items that were already revitalized and re-purposed. Since Mom and I like the fun challenge of doing that ourselves, we weren't quite as blown away as we thought, but it was still nice.

And, of course, we each walked away with a few things. Mom bought a great hutch to put on the screen porch, and I got the following.

Old Pepsi crate, basket that used to pick up golf balls, tin watering can, and a stamp holder with stamps. If only my name were "Barbara H. Taylor," I'd have my own signature stamp.

They really did have a little bit of everything, from old hen houses to a GIANT corkscrew.

Even though it rained a bit, and we should have brought a rolling cart for our wares, it was a productive day that we hope to repeat in the future.

Indiana Jones and the Crazy Dream

I’ve always been a very vivid dreamer. I have many dreams every night, in color, and most of the time I can interact in them. For example, if I’m having a nightmare – which I still have quite often – I can realize it’s a dream and wake myself up. I have recurring dreams, some of them for years, and dreams that feature the same fake places and people. When I take melatonin to sleep I dream real things I need to do, like paying a bill or making a list, and the next day I think I’ve done it. I even kept a dream journal in high school so I could look for consistent themes and meaning. (I actually really believe in dreams revealing latent thoughts and feelings. It’s the only new age-y thing about me.)

I say that as a precursor so you know I could blog about a crazy dream every day. I don’t, obviously, but the one I had last night is just too hilarious and crazy not to share.

I found myself in a re-creation of the third (and my favorite) Indiana Jones movie, “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.” (I haven’t seen this in several months so I’m not sure why it was in my head.)

My brother, Joey, was in the Indy role. I was the sidekick. Not sure if that meant I was the requisite female character or if I was his rotund friend, Sallah.

For the first part of the dream we were in a church with lots of hallways and people. (Including a few people from my real life.) I assume we were in a church because the last time I saw Joey was for his wedding, in a church with many hallways. This church was very bright and open though. We were told by several people that we were going to go meet a knight.

As I dreamt this I was also picturing scenes from the movie, which really made it interesting.

Joey and I began walking down a hallway, knowing we were going to have to choose the Holy Grail. As we walked I told him, “This time, when you take the holy water to Sean Connery to heal him, don’t leave me. I get lost so easily and it’s really confusing around here.”

We got to where the Holy Grail should have been, but instead there was a dish full of bracelets. Some fancy, some simple. In my head I knew that in the movie you would die if you picked the wrong one, but in this scenario there was just a mini earthquake. The more you got wrong, though, the stronger it got.

As we looked at the various bracelets, Jennifer Lopez appeared and picked a very silver and gaudy charm bracelet. I knew this was wrong and said, “Early Jews didn’t like ornamentation.” The ground shook and then J. Lo. was gone.

I then chose a simpler bracelet, and the scene kept flashing between the bracelet and the Grail from the movie. At this point the knight appeared to congratulate us for making the right choice. (He wasn’t there the whole time like in the movie.)

Then my alarm went off so I have no idea how we got holy water back to Sean Connery. Or why, in my own dream, I was the sidekick and not the star.

29...let's go

This year I turned 29. I'm still not sure how I feel about that so I'll just move on.

Both the parents had to work the first half of the day so I stayed in my pajamas on the couch, watching Doctor Who, and occasionally packing. It was perfection. I opened my presents and then we made our way to Raleigh to have dinner with the sister and fam.

We ate at Raleigh Times, which is a restaurant housed in the former home of a newspaper. I had a comically large pulled pork enchilada, which was only ok. Joey always orders a huge burrito at one of the Mexican restaurants we go to, so I took this picture and sent it to him. (I apologize in advance for all the pictures of me in this post. But, it was my birthday, so that's ok, right?)

They didn't really have a dessert menu, but they did have some chocolate cake that was apparently homemade every day by a little old lady. (It was also only ok.) They also didn't have any birthday candles so the waitress found a bigger version of the candles on the table. (Which you can't see in this picture.)

I didn't take many pictures that night but here is one of the group. (Minus Joey and Michelle, who couldn't make it.)

After dinner we went to Melissa's to open presents and then say goodbye to the parents, since I was staying in Raleigh for the night.

They got me exactly what I asked for, a kids backpack from REI, but despite my measuring it out when I asked for it, it was still a bit smaller than I was expecting.

Once I lengthened the straps, it looked a lot less ridiculous and was what I wanted. And before that, it was just a lot of laughing, which was awesome.

It was a low-key day spent with the family and exactly what I love. A great start to 29. Which I'm still not really ok with that.

Home for Christmas

The day after Operation: Christmas Cheer came Operation: Home for Christmas. Which got off to a rocky start when my train was delayed 3 hours due to a fire on the tracks in West Philadelphia. I was so happy when my train finally arrived that I barely noticed that the license plate didn't say "Fresh" nor were there dice in the mirror

I was able to be home for a full two and a half weeks, which were jam packed. Serious busy-ness going on. I worked from home the first 4 days, wrapped all the presents, did a lot of baking, a lot of decorating, even some cooking, plus some shopping, visiting, and eventually some lazing, too.

These are some of the decorations. The top middle photo is the bonsai tree with some ornaments and a bow because Mom and I got a little silly. The middle photo is a bunch of the figure decorations. Daddy thought they looked ready to attack, so I put them in a more proper formation with the Nutcracker leading the way. The bottom picture is Daddy wearing the Christmas card holder as a hat. The big left picture is the tree, the most beautiful one in years according to the parents. The big right picture is the Christmas eve table scape with Grandma's china and Christmas tree napkin holders. Plus Mom's tree display in the center.

These are the cookies I baked. I did everything but the magic cookie bars. I even made some cookies that I don't even like. (Which weren't nearly as fun to taste test, of course.) I don't mind baking but standing up for hours did take its toll on my getting-older body. And I did swear. A lot. (Which I think Mom got a little too used to because she barely checked on me.)

This was the first year I contributed to Christmas Eve dinner. I made shrimp ceviche and baked brie. I'm not sure the change was fully enjoyed by all, but I thought they were good.

This is the second year that it has just been me and the parents first thing Christmas morning. It's still a little weird but better than last year, especially since everyone was able to come over in the afternoon. I always end up taking pictures at our gatherings and luckily everyone usually humors me. First set are our candid shots, second set are our posed ones.

And that was Christmas at home. Unfortunately, Mom was sick for about a week of it so we didn't get out and about as much as we usually do, though she did rally to take me to traipse around Chapel Hill, which was Heaven, of course. And the day before that I went with Daddy to Greenville, on what was supposed to be just a trip to Harbor Freight but we ended up adding several other stops and got home many hours later.

I'm the middle child so I never got the parents all to myself. So I'm not going to lie, it was kind of nice to just chill with them every evening, even when we were each huddled around our laptops and even when I was forced to watch HGTV or Duck Dynasty. I know I'm forgetting tons of stuff but know that I was in North Carolina, with my family, and it was good.

Thanksgiving

Either because I don't really care for the day, or because it's not a lot of fun to take pictures of people eating, but I never take pictures on Thanksgiving. Until this year!

We spent the day at my sister's house. This was the first holiday since she and her family became vegetarian/vegan, but it worked out just fine. I even tried some tofurkey. Which I never need to try again.

 

It was a low-key day, as ours usually are, with just a lot of eating, talking, drinking, and then cleaning. And as the pictures show, there was also some cheesing (from the nieces), reading (of ads), posing (with a turkey placeholder), lazing (the dog), and drinking WHILST cleaning (me, obviously.)

 

A siblings pictures WITHOUT one of us in a graduation gown.  This just doesn't happen very often.  (And we almost never get to pose with a lumberjack.)

 

It was a good day and if it hadn't of happened two months ago I might have been able to write more about it.

Happy birthday, Mom!

You're the greatest and I'll see you in a few weeks!

Love,

Bonnie

Stranger in my own kitchen

My family has lived in the same house for 23 years. Though there have been many improvements, the important stuff always stayed the same.

Then, I left for college. And within a month the parents had built a pantry. Which was and still is awesome. Not awesome, however, was that it meant changing the location of things that had been in the same place for 15 years. Tupperware in bottom cabinet to right of sink? Nope. Bread in middle drawer beside refrigerator? Nope. Just when I'd finally have it figured out where the chips were, I'd go back to school, and then the next time I came home, they'd be moved again. I'm convinced the parents waited for me to leave and then immediately switched everything, thus slowly eroding my sanity.

Ten years since the pantry was built, I finally sort of had a handle on things. Then they went and renovated the kitchen. Which is even more awesome than the pantry was. Not awesome, however, is that nothing is where it should be. The silverware drawer, which for 23 years has been above the trashcan, is now one drawer over. And the trashcan is now one cabinet over. It's like the entire world has shifted over one space! Except for the spaces where now a lazy Susan sits, which just really throws my sanity for a loop. Literally. (Though I do love a good lazy Susan. See: Yours, Mine, and Ours. The original.)

And let's not even talk about the fact that there are three refrigerators and a freezer. Sample conversation:
Mom: Get me the ground beef out of the refrigerator.
Me: It's not here.
Mom: The one in the garage.
Me: Which one?
Mom: Poppy's.
Me: It's not here.
Mom: Because you're looking in the freezer.*

I have no doubt that when I return for Christmas they will have mixed things up as much as possible just for fun so that I'll have no choice but to make my tea in a cereal bowl and eat my grits with a measuring spoon.

However, the kitchen really is stunning and all done by Daddy -- with Mom's supervision and assistance -- so I guess it's ok that I'll never find anything ever again.

*I frequently confuse the freezer and refrigerator. That's not their fault; I get distracted easily.

What 31 Years of Marriage Looks Like

Daddy: That was a fox pause.

Bonnie: [confused look]

Mom: Faux pas* 

*foh pah

Carolinians Take the Capitol

Last month, my mom and her four sisters played tourists in D.C. It was the sisters chance to explore and hang out together so I insinuated myself just twice: to host a dinner at my apartment and to tour the Capitol.

I took no photos of dinner, but I made stuffed shells, Caesar salad, and garlic bread. Mom brought an amazing caramel apple cake and some wine. Despite the shells being a bit cold due to a bit of a detour that brought them to my place later than expected, I'll call the dinner a success.

The next afternoon I took a few hours off work and met them at the Capitol Visitor's Center. Despite living a mere mile from the Capitol for 2 years, I never made it to the new Center, and my last Capitol tour was from Karey circa 2006, before I was even a Washingtonian.

The tour was given by a very knowledgeable and polite child – seriously, he was only 18 – and was well worth the time. I think we all greatly enjoyed the stories and history of everything, as well as a little hypothetical verbal smack down talk against a couple politicians.

A visit with some fellow Carolinians.

Rubbing this spot, where they wanted Washington to be buried, for luck.

The rotunda took my breath away again.

This is one of my favorite paintings that I repeatedly studied in school and even wrote a short essay on once. It never fails to make me smile.

On my last visit my favorite spot was the Old Supreme Court Chamber. We got to see it again and it definitely is still great.

However, my new favorite spot was getting to see the Old Senate Chamber. Why is that, you ask? Because this is where Senator Preston Brooks of South Carolina (of course) beat Senator Charles
Sumner of Massachusetts WITH A CANE in the 1800s. And who says politics is boring?

In verifying the names on Wikipedia I found that Brooks died at a mere 37 years old. Probably serves him right. It took Sumner 3 years to recover but he did return to service and lived to be 63. So he wins!

Just for fun, I took a picture of the floor where it very well could have happened and a picture of the ceiling, which would have been poor Sumner's view during the literal smack down. History nerd forever!

We all enjoyed the demonstration of the whispering spot.

As well as the staircase where presidents wait to enter the chamber.

And, not to be shallow, but there were some pretty shiny chandeliers, too.

Thank you, America.

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

I'm a bad daughter and didn't get his card in the mail until yesterday, but I wanted to make sure he knew I was thinking about him.

So happy birthday, Daddy. I love you and miss you and will see you next month.