after driving around listening to the 90s radio station i’ve come to the conclusion that the world has really lost touch with the wisdom of the 90s. we need to bring it back into our consciousness…one song lyric at a time.
i give you this new series, Words to Live By, on MomJeanz for your weekly inspiration:
who wore it best edition.
cast your vote! who wears this pretenders tank sweatshirt a la josh brolin in goonies the best???
contestants:
^^^ mike ^^^
^^^ phil collins ^^^
^^^ elaine ^^^
^^^ alaina moore ^^^
^^^ or wrucker bump? ^^^
Send in your vote today!
dear family,
one of the things i love about us is that we’re willing to give things a try. we don’t put ourselves in a box more than we have to and for the most part, we make things work. we have a lot of fun and adventure in our lives because of those things. we’re great. let’s keep it up and add another to this crew!
love, me.
i know 9 mos pregnant me would not have been able to hang in for the entirety of nelsonville music festival last weekend but dammit if i wasn’t sad to miss out on the all the fun. i was really and truly grateful to head down on sunday as a family of three and just enjoy the day and atmosphere. i can’t say we were as invested in the acts as much as we’ve been in years past. it was more about taking in the atmosphere. maybe it was a little bit about making a promise to ourselves that we’d be back in full force, bigger and better than ever next year.
darla definitely knew the ropes this time and made it very known that she did not need us. that is until she wanted us to buy her something. i desperately wanted to just let her experience this last time down there as a trio in the way she see fit but damn if that girl isn’t having a hard time making good decisions right now. i know she’s a kid. but i’m just a bit flabbergasted at how she comes to the conclusion that things are a good idea sometimes…
anyway, i just want to say i’m thankful to the universe for making it possible for us to attend this past weekend, thankful for my husband and his energy levels, thankful for the weather, and thankful for the beautiful ohio people who make the weekend so magical. unless this next kid is born with that extreme allergy to sunshine or something of the like { please do not do this to spite me, universe. this is only a blog } our tix for next year are as good as bought. boughten? buyed? i buy?
pssst. read our full weekend of attendance from last year here.
it’s boot weather. this weekend was very much out and about. friday is looking to be our family day this fall. we braved the homecoming crowd to take in the blues for smoke exhibit in the afternoon. this was a precursor to our friend’s performance there friday evening with Lonnie Holley. Both performances blew my mind but Lonnie gave me a new catch phrase that’s been stuck in my head: thumbs up to mother universe.
between the two wexner events we walked past a new little donut spot {literally named the little donut shop} and had to stop in for some tasty maple bacon goodness. mike got a samoa and darla got her standard sprinkles special. those last two pics are us as cheerleaders for the columbus marathon. this was my first time as a spectator at a marathon and it was more inspiring and entertaining than i thought it would be. that might be due to the pair of sideliners dressed up in the horse mask, followed by his friend clapping cups behind him up and down the road. it was fun to cheer on the runners.
i guess this is the only time of year we visit the wexner center since the last time we went was about a year ago. it’s a great way for me to make observations about darla’s cognitive progress, though. last year she didn’t really want anything to do with looking at the exhibit. this year she was just really motivated to look at only the things she wanted to take in, which is pretty wonderful in my book. no standardized tests needed here!
but it does make it a bit hard for mike and i to have a personal experience. luckily, the wexner offers free tours on thursdays so we can return again at a later date.
but what i mainly want to say about life thoughts from the weekend is how thankful i am to have this little family that runs around getting involved in so much life. i can let myself get pretty stressed out at times about the fact that laundry piles up, dishes don’t get done and there never seems to be enough time to clean up all the messes. and then i remember that’s a sign that i’m living my life. i’m not simply maintaining it. a clean house is life management, not life. we get out there. that may be our strongest area as parents up until this point, we get darla out for experiences. she’s done a lot in these short years. she’s learned to be the master of her own universe. she’s learned to seek out life. and for that i’m thankful.
this says weekending but it’s really just our friday night down at the commons for nick tolford & co. i’m telling you all, keep an eye on this band. we have seen them a couple of times this summer and they are so fun. mr. tolford’s tunes are a rumpus for my rump.
doesn’t this outing look like a good time? IT WAS! i fall more and more in love with the commons each time we go there. maybe because it’s another place where darla’s craziness doesn’t have to be contained as much. she can chase dogs and run around to her heart’s content. the set up makes it very easy for us to enjoy tunes with her. and who doesn’t love carousel rides and jeni’s push pops?
and i get to admire the large groups of friends that gather there and try to come up with strategies to make them all my friends…or clients. i see a lot of pregnant ladies down there and i’m still working up the courage to walk up and hand out a card. i’ve only done it a few times. do you think that would be received well? i’m thinking i need to have a conversation with a long-time doula about their experience with this approach. i generally like to let couples/mommas find me but maybe having a little more courage would do me a world of good.
something to think about.
so what about the rest of our weekend? we had a rainy saturday morning getting stuff done around the house, attended a friend’s birthday where darla stayed up way too late but it was all worth it because we got to watch her rap battle with a 35 grown male, a sunday pancake breakfast, a bit of work, enjoying the beautiful weather and extra books at bedtime.
i love you weekend.
some latergrams of our mini-vacay in chicago, which was absolutely beautiful and perfect.
oh how i love chicago.
i tried to take my picture-taking down a notch while there. at least i took fewer than i take of everyday life. i guess this is because i was trying to be present in the moment. and in part because i hadn’t planned on doing a post of the trip. but i decided to share because this will probably be one of the only vacations we’ll take this year so i’d like to record it. and because it might make you think i’m cool.
we travel to chicago for pitchfork almost every year. on the first day of the festival i was feeling like i’m just too old to hang with these hipster kids anymore. by the last day i remembered why i need to keep doing things like this. i need these excursions to keep me young. these trips reach back into my past and remind me of what my youth was about. they remind me of my interests and let the elaine that sometimes gets trapped under no’s, don’ts, stops and be carefuls!
it certainly helps that we were kid free for the weekend. {thanks parents!}
traveling is one of my favorite things we do as a family but it was nice to have a weekend between just husbeau and i. well, add our best friends to that equation but they were kidless as well so we all spent some much-needed quality time together…talking about our kids. no, not really. and that is what was great. we spent time talking about things other than our children. we were like real people for a few days.
some highlights from the weekend: daughn gibson, bike rentals down to the navy pier, phosphorescent, bjork, late night convos with our friends, belle & sebastian, solo walk through lincoln park & along the lake, r. kelly {even though i tried not to like it because he’s a perv} glazed & infused donuts, waxahatchee, m.i.a, sunshine, cool chicago breezes and feeling footloose and fancy free. shimmy shimmy shake.
i want to end this post with some thank yous: thank you to my parents for watching darla. thank you to robin for letting us crash on her floor, thanks to sarah and jeff for being such wonderful friends and attending numerous festivals with us over the years, thank you to mike for a wonderful, loving weekend and thank you universe for making chicago and the pitchfork festival exist in the first place. i heart you all.
saw this man and his band last night and it was the best of daily moments, for certain. i left wishing that i could do it all over again and then i realized that i get to this weekend. sweetness.
guess what! i won tix to see yeasayer tomorrow night here in columbus. if i haven’t told you before {i have} they are my favorite band. i feel very honored to have been bestowed this gift from the universe.
the only problem is that in all likelihood it won’t be able to go.
the situation is that one way or another i’ll be supporting a momma as she brings her babe earthside.
i’ve known about the possible schedule conflict and even entered the contest with the thinking that the baby would make his way here before but you see babies operate on their own schedules.
so i think this has all transpired to test me, to say “are you sure you want this on-call life of missing out on special events, important family occurrences and yes, occasionally your favorite band?”
and i can tell you the answer is yes. albeit, at the moment it’s the kind of yes that would visually be represented by me kicking a rock in the dirt and saying yes under my breath because i reeeeeaaaalllllyyyyy love yeasayer and was digging the idea of seeing them almost an exact year later but it’s a yes. a definite yes.
and it’s ok. it’s more than ok. it means i’m in this. it means i’m committed. and that’s pretty cool for a gal like me.
i’m having a little trouble deciding on my daily moment yesterday.
i’m torn between this moment from our last childless night {thanks mom & dad!}:
or this moment of seeing some dad country on the big stage:
or THIS MOMENT when i took a really awesome selfie. le sigh.
cast your votes, please!
ps. i just want to make note that the heart around mike and i not so much symbolizes the love we have for one another as much as it symbolizes the love we each have for his authentic olivia newton john shirt. i “borrow” it sometimes.
Since I was standing transfixed, sending little prayers up to the heavens to remember the finale moment for all my days, I’d say this is my daily moment from yesterday.
Local natives & the national was simply the best show I’ve witnessed in a long time. I’ve seen both many times but there was something magical about last night. Anyone who was there will agree.
We barely let the national boys leave the stage. They lined up along the front of the stage and sang an a capella version of Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks with the crowd in accompaniment as their final farewell. There is something about hundreds of humans raising their voices in song together. It really got me in a special place to see so many folks I know singing along and enjoying the moment. I cried. That’s not saying much since I cry all the time but it’s been a while since I’ve been moved to tears at a show. Moved by tears of happiness at that.
If you were there I hope you’ll remember it all your days with me. If you weren’t, we’ll just pretend you were.
momjeanz 