Last Call for the Beach

On Sunday, October 7th, our housegroup started our new schedule, that is, we now meet on Sunday nights instead of Thursdays. For the entire week prior to our first meeting, I was frazzled just thinking about the day. No more going to church and then heading home for an entire day of lounging and reading the newspaper. After all, the kids would have to go to bed at 6:45 pm and actually go to sleep immediately for housegroup to go smoothly, but how would they do that if we didn't wear them out?

On the first day of the new schedule, Matt & Nadia came to our rescue by inviting us to Gillson Park Beach. They had just found a "secret" spot high up the beach that had a little hill for the kids to run up and down, which sounded like just the energy-expending activity I was looking for. We had a great time with them, so I can't explain why I only took this one picture of Izumi!

Next summer I hope to get out to the beach earlier and more often (this was probably our fourth visit for the entire year?!).

Stand Out or Blend In: That Is The Question

Lately I've been sewing more (see pink dress in my profile picture). Now, I am NOT saving money by creating my own clothing, particularly in light of the fact that I buy 95% of my wardrobe straight off of clearance racks. However, I am motivated by wanting to be different. If I make my own dress/shirt/skirt, I can be very nearly certain I am the only owner of that exact item.

On the other hand, if I wanted to blend in, I'm not sure that I would be willing to make, or even pay to have made, one of these. It would be a GREAT Halloween costume, though a bit difficult to move around in since there seems to be no provision for the need to look around...

Not only did I want you to see these pictures, but I really couldn't pass up the opportunity to tie in chindogu, which are hilarious! Stand out or blend in?: something to think about, but the real question is, why don't I already own this book?!

Wicked Famous Person

There's no logical reason why I would wait six weeks to tell you that on September 1st, Aogu, Darren, Cat & I went to see Wicked. Putting my delinquency aside, it was an excellent evening! I have to admit, it's been so long since I had an evening out of dressing up, going out for dinner and going to a show with my husband and good friends, well, there's really no way it could have been anything other than perfect. Except it kind of was even better than that because Glinda was our friend! Alright, I'm stretching the connection, but not that much: Erin M*ackey's father is a friend of Cat & Darren's, so Erin helped us get good tickets, and then she put on a super performance, just for us. I guess that's her job, actually, but she did it really well, and it was more exciting to watch knowing that we know her. Sort of.
And thanks very much to Cat & Darren not only for knowing Erin and arranging getting the tickets, but also for revving up the "going-out-for-an-evening" machine in the first place and buying us a delicious dinner at Morton's (Is that where we went? I remember that it was a steakhouse and that they showed us a live lobster as one of the specials of the day! I hope I'm not getting the name wrong!). The more I think about it, the more retroactively happy and satisfied I feel. When are you coming back?!