My Boyfriend Does My Makeup

Dooce thinks O should have his own show - I agree. They are so cute!

An amazing 3 minutes 46 seconds

I'm a fan of Dooce - she seems to find some of the most amazing music, a lot of which while it isn't my "style," is worthy of a few minutes of my time...

THIS?  This was definitely worth it - not only music from Yo Yo Ma, but dance by Lil Buck.

Have to admit, "Lil Buck" is not what I would have expected.  But I'm still picking my jaw up off the floor.

Yo Yo Ma and Lil Buck

Thank goodness it's over!!!

For the past two weeks I've been planning a surprise party for my husband - it was his 60th birthday and I thought that deserved something a little special...  To make it that much better, too, his friends D and A came down from Massachusetts for the party!  He teared up when he saw them.  I'm so grateful they took the time to come down for the party; the only thing that would have made it better is if we could have spent more time with them...

J and I talk about EVERTHING and for the last two weeks, since I last-minute-decided to throw this shindig, I've had to watch every word that came out of my mouth.  "Maybe I'll call T to join us for b'fast tomorrow..."  My instinct is to say, "Don't bother, he's in PA this weekend."  "How do you know?"  "He texted me to RSVP for your party."  Nope, that would have certainly spoiled the surprise...  "M called."  "Oh, where is she?"  "On Rte 3 en route to Bromilow's?"  "Why?"  "To pick up your chocolate motorcycle lollipops, the favors for your party."  Nope, probably not a great conversation starter unless I wanted to spoil the surprise... 

I HATE lying.  I know it wasn't really lying; it was just avoiding saying certain things.  Even his friend K struggled not to slip when they were talking.  D's birthday is a few days after J's - he wanted to call when we weren't home so HE wouldn't slip and he was planning on screening his calls when J called HIM so he wouldn't slip then...

That whole surprise thing is stressful.  Maybe had I started planning it earlier, I'd have been less stressed, just concerned with not slipping rather than worrying about every last minute detail...

Wish you all could have been there.  Rather than tell you all who was there, it would be easier if I just post some photos and add some captions....

Introducing... 

My handsome nephew J and my beautiful niece A... now if only he had smiled, with his eyes AND his mouth!

 My beautiful mom and J again

 My niece T and my darling daughter M

Our friends from Massachusetts, D and A

Our friends E and T - T was one of our best men at our wedding (we had 2!  Best men, not weddings!)

My sister C and her beau T - I think almost every photo I have of them is in a similar pose!

My niece C and my sister-in-law P

My great niece E and me - isn't E gorgeous?!?  She is SUCH a good baby - not a peep out of her and she was up WAY past her bedtime...

E and my daughter - how I wish the picture was clearer...

Me, J and M - nice family photo!

A and me in one of those self-portrait photos you take at arm's length...

E and her great uncle, the b'day boy himself

Courageous, the movie

Watch the trailer here:  http://www.courageousthemovie.com/

Apparently the Sherwood Ministry, from the Sherwood Church in Albany, GA, has produced several independent movies in an effort to expand their outreach, but I've only seen one:  Courageous is due in theaters September 30.  My sister got advance screening tickets from one of her sales reps and asked me to go along.  The screening was intended for local ministers and while I thought for a moment I might feel a bit out of place, the audience was a bunch of people from several walks of life, all who believe in the value of a father's place in the family.

The movie is about 5 men, 4 friends who are police officers, and one Hispanic man who's a manual laborer struggling to keep food on the table and a roof over his family's heads.  They become friends, the 5 men.  One of them suffers a tragic death in his family and struggles to come to terms with his loss.  During that struggle, he thinks about a quote by his sheriff:  that a high percentage of children without a positive father figure/role model eventually wind up doing drugs, committing crimes, walking away from their own children...

These men resolve, in a beautiful family ceremony, to be there for their children, to guide them, to teach them, to show them the way to God, to love them...

The movie follows their lives through loss, success, tragedy, and just the every day.

Sure, there were a couple of too-easy conclusions to some of the situations, but I LOVED THIS MOVIE.  I was lucky enough to have an awesome father, a tremendous mother.  I grew up confident in their love and support, knowing what was expected of me, what they hoped and prayed for me.  I have two sisters who will most likely agree that we had a pretty Leave It to Beaver/Father Knows Best sort of childhood.  We were loved, protected, guided.  I BELIEVE that not only should fathers step up, PARENTS should step up.

But the purpose of this movie was to show how important it is for a father to be there for his family.  It was an inspiring, powerful movie.  At the end we found out that the movie was created by the Sherwood Ministry.  The "stars" are not actors, the writer acted in the movie, people in church and in town donated a lot of the set props, the actors are "just people."  They did a tremendous job, and quite honestly, I'm eager to see some of the other movies they did, too.  Apparently their last movie, Fireproof, was the #1 independent movie of 2008.

Tomorrow is J's Birthday...

... so of course, in the grand tradition of our family, we extend birthdays at least one day, maybe five (of COURSE that's not a hint of any kind!)...  Here are some photos from our 1st b'day celebration...

Grand-niece E's mommy made b'day hats for Uncle J and for the baby...

The cutest thing is when he's in the room, she has eyes for no one else.  Well, it's cute, but rather annoying since I'm totally addicted to her smile and love when she looks at me!!!

Apparently since she just turned 9 months old, she can have sugarfree icebox cake with Cool Whip, but she can't have any ice cream to celebrate J's b'day...  No dairy until she's a year old.  (Because I suppose, you can be allergic until the 365th day, but on the 366th?  All clear!!!)



Keeping a Journal

Ali Edwards posted this on Facebook. I think, despite how much I love my husband, that I sort of fell for this guy...

I promised you a photo or two...

I promised you a picture of the banner J made and hung up in the doorway of our room while I was away...  I got home and there were hearts on the front door and on the inside French door, and this banner was hanging in our bedroom doorway...

And just 'cause she's too cute, I can't not post a photo of my baby grand-niece...  (Don't pay any attention to the bad grammar OR the bad photos of me - just look at how absolutely ADORABLE she is!!!)

Why Publishing is a Unique Industry...

Publishing: 'Not Like Any Other Business'


"When people say publishing is a business--actually it's not quite a business. It's part gambling and part arts and crafts, with a business component. It's not like any other business, and that's why when standard businessmen go into publishing and think, 'Right, I'm going to clean this up, rationalize it and make it work like a real business,' two years later you find they're bald because they've torn out all their hair. And then you say to them, 'It's not like selling beer. It's not like selling a case of this and a case of that and doing a campaign that works for all of the beer.' You're selling one book--not even one author any more. Those days are gone, when you sold, let's say, 'Graham Greene' almost like a brand. You're selling one book, and each copy of that book has to be bought by one reader and each reading of that book is by one unique individual. It's very specific."

--Margaret Atwood in an interview with the Globe & Mail.

I haven't read much by Margaret Atwood, but this quote will make me check her out!  It was published in Shelf Awareness on March 21st, and I had put it aside to post here, but I'm just getting around to it... 

When I first joined the publishing industry, after several years in the independent bookstore world, I learned that there were really only 300-400 people in publishing, and they all just moved around from company to company, position to position.  I clearly remember the day one of my sales reps changed companies -- I felt so much a publishing insider 'cause I could track him from one company to another!  I was working for a woman, at the time, who'd been in publishing for a few years and seemed to know everyone who was anyone, but it turns out that all it takes is a few years in the business and you, too, could "know everyone."

I've been in publishing long enough, too, to have seen how it changed from "publishing" to "a business."  Big companies swallowed up small companies.  Instead of moving up to an executive position from a lowly sales rep position, bean counters were hired from outside our industry to turn publishing into a profitable business.  That's when we lost a lot of the passion in publishing.  Back in the day, when there were a lot of small, independent bookstores, before B&N took over the world, the employees in those indies knew books.  They knew authors.  They knew their customers.  There were several employees in the small bookstore in which I worked.  We knew who to call when the new so-and-so came in 'cause that customer would be in the next day to get it.  We knew to put away all the new Harlequins 'cause Ms. XYZ would be in to pick them up, no matter the cover, no matter the author.  We knew if something would sell the minute it was pulled out of the carton, and we knew who would buy it.

Today?  Not so much.  Sure, if you ask B&N management if their store employees know books, they'll say yes.  And to a certain degree, I guess they do.  But they don't know me.  Hell, I'm in there once a week and the employees, not a one of them, would recognize me if they were about to run me over with the book cart.  They don't know who I read, they don't know who I won't read, they don't even know my first name! 

That's a business.

That's NOT publishing.