Archives for May 2011

Mother’s Day ’11

May 10, 2011 by Leave a Comment

My Mother’s Day celebration started early.  I went to Daniel’s preschool for a special Mother’s Day luncheon on Friday.   Daniel gave me a homemade vase and the teacher read aloud questionnaires filled out by each child about his or her Mother.  When it was my turn, I learned that (according to Daniel):

I have silver/yellow hair. (Note to self: Book hair color appointment pronto.)

I am 40 years old. (Many kids said their Mom was 18 or 21.  I guess I should be glad he has a good memory, right?)

I like to vacuum. (At least everyone knows I’m not a Hoarder.)

My favorite color is pink. (I’ll take it.)

I don’t like to cook ALL of the time. (Understatement of the year, kid.)

But when I do cook, I cook fish sticks the worst.  Because I let them get black in the oven that one time. (???)

Okay.  I have NEVER cooked fish sticks.  Not once.  Hubbie cooks homemade tilapia fish sticks.  On the STOVE TOP.  And he has never burnt them. Not once. Daniel has an amazing imagination.  He loves to make up stories.  But, COME ON!  I would have rather he imagined me as a 25 year old who never, ever cooks.  That’s okay.  He made it up to me with the yummy lunch buffet and lots of hugs.

Speaking of cooking, Hubbie is the Top Chef of our family.  He made me an amazing Mother’s Day breakfast on Sunday.  I had french toast with bananas and fresh berries.

My gift was a morning at the spa for a 90 minute massage.  HEAVEN.  Then, I was back home for my yummy poached salmon lunch.


It was a day of eating and relaxing – my two favorite things.  I read magazines in bed.  I watched a lot of  television. We all went to the bookstore for coffee.  I got the best Mother’s Day cards from Hubbie and the kids.  I got this beautiful spring bouquet of flowers.

But the best gift of all was this:

A 15 minute window in the afternoon where both kiddies were getting along.  They were reading books together.  I couldn’t have asked for a better day. I hope your Mother’s Day was awesome too.  You deserve it.

PS:  I just realized today is the TWO YEAR ANNIVERSARY of PopMommy.  Time flies! Thanks to everyone who continues to visit me here.  I appreciate it so much.

Filed Under: Celebrations

Taylor Swift: “Mean” Music Video

May 9, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Here is Taylor Swift’s video for her brand new single, “Mean.”  It’s my favorite song on her latest album, Speak Now.   Enjoy!

Filed Under: Pop Culture

A Night with Gretchen Rossi and some Real Housewives

May 7, 2011 by 2 Comments

Last night something really exciting happened in Jacksonville …I got dressed up! I wore heels! I went out to a club! Oh, and I met Gretchen Rossi and Slade Smiley from Bravo TV’s The Real Housewives of Orange County.

Yes, Gretchen is just as small and pretty in person as you would think. Perfect hair. Perfect makeup. Perfect teeth. And a very sweet personality. I think Slade really enjoyed the attention much more than she did. And, hey, Kara Keough was there too!

Kara’s the one in the colorful bustier who looks like a swimsuit model. She is Jeana Keough’s daughter. Jeana was one of the original stars of The Real Housewives of OC and she’s also made a couple of appearances this season. They brought her back to create some tension with Tamra. (I love this show.) Kara was last seen going to school at Berkeley University. I found out last night that she now lives in Jacksonville! Super cool. She moved here to be near her boyfriend, Jacksonville Jaguar Kyle Bosworth, who she met when she transferred to UCLA. Kara seemed pretty chummy with Gretchen and Slade.

Gretchen and Slade flew into town for a special appearance at this cool new lounge/nightclub in Jacksonville called Suite. Suite is located right in the middle of a suburban shopping center but you would never know it. It’s very hip and trendy and I love that they have a dress code. You can wear jeans but I convinced Hubbie to rock his suit. He looked amazing. I wore a dress from New York & Company. It’s a black and white wrap dress and it was very comfortable.

Since Hubbie is a morning radio guy, we got the special hookup. Joe, The General Manager, sat us in the outside VIP lounge where a waitress brought us drinks. We were the first ones to see Gretchen and Slade when they arrived.

This isn’t Gretchen, but doesn’t Hubbie’s morning radio producer, Ashley, have some serious Gretchen hair? SO jealous.

I also had some fun with my neighborhood Mommy Group friends. We usually meet up at the park for play dates so it was so nice to get dressed up and do something fun without the kiddies in tow. Now here’s a shot of some REAL housewives. We had a blast.

Suite has an amazing drink menu. I stuck to Sauvignon Blanc but my Mommy friends had the special low calorie martini from The Slim List. It was fun to chat and compliment each other’s dresses, jewelry, and shoes. I spotted three women (including Ashley) with the same neutral Guess heels. How cute are they? I must go out and buy a pair. Nude is apparently the new black.

It was a bit chaotic in the meet and greet area. Everyone was trying to get Gretchen and Slade’s attention.

We managed to push our way to the front to get some photos. I was planning on asking Gretchen if she was still with Slade, but that question was obviously answered for me. So I asked her about her hair. Yes, she does it herself. Yes, she uses hot rollers. And that’s about as far as I got. Hubbie managed to jump in for a couple photos before we moved aside to let everyone else have their 5 seconds with the reality stars.

Then we were out. It was past midnight and past my bedtime. We had soccer in the morning. It was so fun to get a little glamorous and hang out with a bunch of celebrities. Now back to my life as a Real Housewife of Jacksonville, Florida.

Filed Under: Mommy Life, Pop Culture

Lady Gaga on Oprah: You and I

May 5, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Here’s a sneak peek of Lady Gaga performing on one of the final Oprah shows.  She sings “You and I” which, interestingly enough, Haley Reinhart just performed on American Idol last night.  Check out her high heel piano and you can’t miss that face mask.  She’s one of a kind.

Filed Under: Pop Culture

Casey Abrams

May 4, 2011 by Leave a Comment

I’m down to my two favorite contestants on American Idol.  Casey Abrams was voted off last week.  I was not surprised.  He was amazing from the beginning, but he took a lot of risks.  The judges used their one “save” on Casey and I think he struggled from the after shock of that big moment.

And this was the moment I knew Casey was going to be in the Top 24 AND on my favorites list.  It will be cool to see where he goes from here.

Filed Under: Pop Culture

Annabel’s First Ballet Recital

May 2, 2011 by Leave a Comment

On a much, much, MUCH happier note…

Annabel had her very first ballet recital last week.  It was more like an open house for parents to go completely camera crazy.  It was awesome.  Annabel was a camellia flower which meant her costume was pink!  (Thank goodness!)  I don’t know what we would have done if she was blue or purple.  She wore a pink flower headband and an enormous pink tutu.  She had absolutely no fear of getting up on that stage and dancing her heart out.  In fact, she was the very last little girl to step down when the 3 year old performance was done.

It’s very exciting to see your kid be passionate about something, ANYTHING.  Annabel is passionate about ballet.  We bought her pink Gerber daises to celebrate.


Filed Under: Mommy Life

Osama Bin Laden is Dead

May 2, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Sunday, May 1, 2011: Almost 10 years after 9/11

I was watching The Real Housewives of OC on Bravo TV and I checked my Twitter.  I saw the string of tweets: “Osama is Dead!” “Go USA!”  “Yes we did!”  I ran to turn on CNN and then I watched this:

I went upstairs to wake up Hubbie.  “Osama Bin Laden is dead.  He’s DEAD.”  We hugged.  The tears came.  That murderer almost ruined my wedding.  He killed innocent people.  I’m happy, but I still don’t know what to think.  I’m relieved, but I’m scared. Could there be another threat this week?  Next week?  Could something else big happen to our country?  I have to get on a plane to Washington, DC next month.  Should I worry?  All I know is I feel an overwhelming gratitude to our military men and women who know how to keep a promise.  They got him.   They really got him.

 

Filed Under: Mommy Life, Pop Culture

Easter ’11: Part Two

May 1, 2011 by Leave a Comment

We had another eventful Easter with Daniel’s ER visit, but OTHER THAN THAT, it was a beautiful day.  The kids woke up to find their Easter baskets filled with goodies from the Easter Bunny: the traditional chocolate bunny and jelly beans as well as a cool garden magnifying glass and sticker sheets (Thank you Target dollar bin!)  Daniel opened his chocolate bunny in 5 seconds and took a bite.  The perfect breakfast appetizer.

Then we were off to Sunday mass where we could show off our Easter ensembles.  Annabel’s beautiful dress is from The Children’s Place.

After church, we came home to find a visitor in our backyard – one of Easter Bunny’s helpers!  (We named him Brownie.)

Hubbie made a delicious Easter dinner.  GG came over as well as Hubbie’s radio co-host and producer, Miss Anna and Miss Ashley.  We love having the singletons over for holiday dinners.  It’s fun to listen to their stories and it’s just more festive to have extra people around the dinner table.  We had ham, Polish kielbasa, dill potatoes, asparagus, green beans, corn, hard boiled eggs, and a cheesecake dessert.  We were all having so much fun (and drinking lots of white wine) that I forgot to take more photos.

And one final note: Annabel won the annual hard boiled Easter egg cracking contest.  She kicked my butt.

 

 

Filed Under: Celebrations
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