A Good Farewell

My grandpa Tommy passed away last month, and it was my privilege to take part in his final send off. Let me say one thing: My family knows how to throw an awesome funeral. It fit him to a T, and he would have loved every second of it.

As you can tell from the photo, he was a total bad ass Marine. At his funeral service there was a full Marine Corps honor guard and a 21 gun salute. And these weren't your old, pretty wooden ceremony rifles either. Those Marines were carrying the same semi-automatic weapons you'd see on the streets of Baghdad because this is wartime, son. (Did you catch that grandpa? The beauty is in the details, isn't it?)

The other thing we did was tell stories. All 7 of his grandchildren stood up together and just told stories about our favorite memories of him. And we didn't just eulogize him. We were talking and laughing with each other and with the people out in the pews. What a wonderful thing to inspire at your own memorial service.

I hope with all my heart that when I die (after a very long and happy life with my husband and children, Inshallah), that people have so many stories about me that it takes 3 days to tell them. I hope that there's at least one story that's so crazy and so juicy that my grandchildren fight over who gets to be the one to tell it. So I'm going to remind myself to take my kids on adventures, and tell them jokes, and teach them the real value of being ridiculous as well as forthright and upstanding. There's room for everything.

And I really hope, when my time is up, that they remember to put up that photo of me looking all hot and sassy in my bikini on the beach in Portugal.

Grandpa giving me a bottle.

Grandpa meets Caden for the first time.

Happy Birthday Sweet Boy

Today is Caden's second birthday, and I have to say that two-year-olds get a bad rap. Everyone has heard of the terrible two's, but I think he's more fun now than ever before. I love the fact that he gets jokes. I love the fact that he has opinions and things to say. I can't get enough of his truck/helicopter obsession. I mean, sure, a fight broke out at his birthday party over a super cool silver truck. And yes, the left side of his hair is significantly shorter than the right because of a total meltdown during a haircut. But still... I love it.



We had a party on Saturday and invited his neighborhood buddies, plus my family -his Auntie Cathy made a special trip down just for special day. We stuffed them with cake and ice cream, then let the hilarity ensue.


Opening presents... going okay so far...


Silver truck is opened... all hell breaks loose. Daddy is a little stressed.



Here's the truck. It IS very cool, and I can understand the stir that it caused. You needed a screwdriver just to get it out of its packaging. Very cool. The doors, trunk and hood all open. Super cool. Under the hood is a scale model of a real engine and in the trunk is a pimped out speaker system. This had the dads trying to get their hands on it too.


Our little man went to sleep that night feeling loved and stuffed full of cake. And under his arm, pressed close to his shark jammies, was that truck.

Is There Something You Need to Tell Me?

So the other day I went to get my eyebrows waxed, and the girl behind the counter says to me "Do you want to wax your upper lip, too?" And I was all, "Huh?" and she says "Your upper lip, do you want to go ahead and wax that too?", real slow and loud like I was feable minded and just not understanding her.

Bitch, what?? Do I have a 'stache? Is there something you people haven't been telling me? Seriously, I rely on my friends to tell me these things. But don't look now! I'm too self-conscious.

Frogs are Boring

So yesterday was President's Day, and AOL actually gave me the day off. I decided to take Caden to see the live frog exhibit at National Geographic's Explorer's Hall, and my mom came along, too. The place was totally packed full of kids. We were about 5 minutes in, and my mom and I were admiring the fancy Vietnamese moss frogs when Caden announced that he "wan go home." Then he said it about 15 more times just so we got the point.

Boring exotic African bullfrog.

The trip was not a total bust, however. We went out to the courtyard, and miracle of miracles, there were PUDDLES! Caden had a grand time splashing in them, and even recruited some playmates to join him in National Geographic's newest toddler attraction.

Total time spent in Frog exhibit: 7 minutes

Total time spent in puddles outside: 45 minutes

Dark Confession #2

I am 35 years old and I still have a desk that looks like this:

Inspiration

Who do I want to lead the country in these explosive times, with my children in mind? I think it might be Obama.

I Love Potbelly's

Potbelly's makes the best sammiches. Period. I think it's got something to do with the spicy brown mustard they use, although the oven that they run the sammich through may hold a special secret, too.

The first time I ever went to a Potbelly's was in downtown Chicago. The line would be out the door and down half the block on an average weekday. But the thing is that they run that place like the gestapo and it's fast- You order the basic sandwich in one place, toppings after the oven, and drinks you get at the cash register. And it's all to thumping techno beat to keep everyone moving. NO SCREW UPS ARE TOLERATED. If you dare to tell the sandwich guy that you want no mayo on your wreck, you will be publicly scorned. The first time you go to that Potbelly's, you'd better go with a friend to show you the ropes. It's an institution.

They recently opened a chain out here in Ashburn, Virgina. Yesterday I was in line behind an old man who kept changing his order and ordering tomatoes from the sandwich guy, and they were sooooooooooo nice about it. In Chicago, he would have been killed immediately.