I DID A WEDDING!

I photographed my first wedding. I was really nervous, because if you mess up anything at a wedding, there's no "do-over" or "complimentary re-shoot". But as it turns out, things went well. I have more pictures posted on my Facebook if you care to see them. WOOOO! I'm feeling good about it, but don't really want to do weddings again. Although I have another one in May, for our old babysitter. But that's the last one. For real.

Since Back in tha Day

Tiff and Dawn were my roommates in college. The fact that we are still friends even after they lived with me is a testament to their grace and patience. They are really fantastic women, so much fun to be around, and I LOVE THEM! Dawn, whom you may remember is a marathoning maniac, came here to do her 20th marathon. Yeah. I know. You should click over to her site and read about it. She ran up a mountain in three feet of snow. Frankly, I was wiped driving my minivan down the dirt trail to pick her up, but whatevs. Anyway, because she was coming here, Tiff planned a trip in as well, and we had a really, really great weekend together.

I gotta say, though, the highlight was our brunch before they left. We were at a REALLY fantastic cafe in Seattle, and we were seated right at the bar. We watched the chef making all the meals, and chatted her up a bit just for fun. So eventually, this little wisp of a thing says to us, "So. How do you ladies know each other?" To which we replied, "Oh, college."

Wait for it people...

She said...

"Oh yeah? Where do you guys go to school? U-Dub?"

Yeah. Pretty much we still look like we are college girls, right? RIGHT? My ego blew the roof off that place at that moment. It was huge.

We, of course, informed her that we were a teense older than that, with a combined total of 14 kids between us, and that we usually go to bed at 10:00 on most nights, and um, we're actually... old.

Anyway. I love you girls. We've had some CRAZY times together, most of which will remain locked in a mental vault labeled "Shhhh..." Brandie, we missed you.

We've never done a girls weekend before. All I can say is if you have some girlfriends, you should get away with them once in awhile. It is good for your soul. We are not gossipy, and I love having real, meaningful conversation about things that matter. It is so refreshing!! So call your girlz up, make a date, and make it happen. Totally worth it.

DO NOT DISTURB

If you know me at all, you will know that I am a slave to slumber. Eight hours a night is my bare minimum. Perhaps it's because I have freakishly low iron levels, or perhaps it's because I so enjoy laziness... either way, in bed by 10:30, asleep by 11:00, up at 7:am. That's how I roll.

I can excuse infants, and perhaps even toddlers from disrupting this regimen I hold so dear. They're young; they're needy; for a time, their very sustenance was attached to my chest. I whined, I cried, but I got up when they needed me. I did this for several years.

Fast forward to the here and now. My two youngest are about to have birthdays. They will be 10 and 8. I have worked hard to teach them the important things in life, like DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT KNOCKING ON MY DOOR BEFORE 7AM. Lately, however, it seems they've regressed to their childish ways. And I am NOT happy about it.

This morning, the knocks came at 6:30 and again at 6:45. "What's fifteen minutes?" you may ask. Fifteen minutes is three 5-minute intervals of sleep, and I demand every bit of it. My initial response was to scream at my door "I'M SLEEPING IN HERE!! GO AWAY!" But I tried that all last week, and clearly it's not working.

Enter My Brilliance. I ignored the knocks and stayed in bed until 7:00. Then I got up, got dressed, and calmly walked downstairs.

"Good morning, children."

"Hi mom!"

"What time did you knock on my door this morning?"

"6:30," says one.

"6:45," says the other. (Are you as aghast as I that they were keenly aware of this??)

"Hmmm. Is that BEFORE or AFTER 7:00?"

"After?"

"Yes. What's the rule about mornings?"

"Don't wake you up until after 7:00 on school days?"

"Yes. What time will you be going to bed tonight?"

"The regular time?"

"Welllll... no. I will need some extra time for myself this evening, as you both took time away from me this morning. Noe, you may go to bed at 6:30 tonight; Keola, you may go at 6:45. In the future, whatever time you knock on my door will be the time you go to bed in the evening. How does that work for you?"

"It sucks."

"Do we use that word in our house?"

"No ma'am."

"Thank you. Enjoy the rest of your breakfast."

Please. Hold your applause. I'm trying to take a victory nap.

Secret Millionaire

Have you seen this new program? It's been on for a few weeks now, I think. And it's been nagging at me for at least that long. I refuse to watch it, but I've seen trailers. That said, perhaps my judgments are unfair since I'm basing them solely on 45 second clips. Still...




The premise is these wealthy folks (really, super, ultra wealthy) "give up" their life of luxury for ...wait for it... SIX WHOLE DAYS to go be poor. Of course we all know how the tug-at-your-heartstrings fairytale ends: the millionaires write a check to the poor people's charity, and hundreds of lives are made better because of it. On the surface, I get that. But here's the thing. What is the real purpose of this show? To bring awareness to struggling areas of our nation? I think that's how the press release would read. Let's be honest though. It's to make us tune in, cry a little, then feel warm and fuzzy watching the poor people receive their handout. And the ratings will soar, because Americans want to feel warm and fuzzy, and we want to feel like in the middle of financial crises, there's hope.

Here's my beef. You saw this coming. These "secret" millionaires are suddenly supposed to "know what it's like" to be destitute or impoverished after six days in a roach-infested apartment eating at soup kitchens? They have a finite glimpse into this window through the comfortable lens of their multi-million dollar eyes. They are going home in less than a week. I can think of few things more degrading, disrespectful, or condescending than to parade into someone's life of poverty, throw some pity money at them, and then fall back into your lap of luxury.

I could perhaps buy into this show if these millionaires made a permanent lifestyle change; if they sold some of their toys, rolled up their sleeves, and started implementing policies and programs that MATTER in people's lives. I really feel there needs to be a more even distribution of wealth in our country, although we all know it would be political suicide for anyone who attempted to legislate it.
I don't begrudge these folks their financial status for a minute. But when they step into the spotlight under these circumstances, then yes. Yes I do. They say this show will "remind us all that the greatest gift we can ever get is the chance to give." Also, "ABC will break down barriers, and close the gap between the haves and have-nots." Really? REALLY?? The chance to give $45K (on national television with all of America watching you) is really awesome. And when this show is over, and the gap has been "closed" for one week at a time, then what? What's the follow-up plan here? Who's going to stick around to empower these people once the donations run dry? Who's going to fight for social policy change that balances out this completely inequitable institutionalized poverty??

The racial component also eats at me. Here come the rich whites, into the poor black neighborhoods. One clip shows the millionaire white woman referring to two senior citizens, black women, as "seriously so cute" for the work they're doing with youth and music programs. Let's try some real adjectives, like "courageous" or "dedicated" or "selfless". But CUTE? I wanted to slap her.

Bottom line: I'm happy to see some deserving charities receive donations. I am disgusted at the feeling of exploitation that this show seems to exude. Do we need radical change in our social programs? Absolutely. Is this a 100% bad way to do it? I'll settle for 98.5% bad.

Big Willie Style...

A friend that I grew up with recently went to hear Bill Clinton speak. Go check out his thoughts on the speech by clicking here. Very enjoyable.

Unless you're a Republican. Then maybe not so much.