what did you just say?

They did it. Ms Picket and Carolyn….On-line have gone and written themselves a book – and it is fantastic!  

I’m not going to write a review because I don’t do that sort of thing.  So I’m just going to blog about this fantastic little book I just read and it’s going to go something like this…..

I love to read.   I especially love reading biographies.  Historical, celebrity, survivors – I love them all.  This summer I’ve read Larry King, Tori Spelling (and Candy’s – had to hear both sides but hands down Candy’s the bitch – just sayin’) and Melissa Gilbert’s  books (did you know she “dated” Billy Idol and George Clooney??  And loved the booze and cocaine??) . 

But I also dig a good fiction chick book.  One of my all time favorites being The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood.  When I first read this book I couldn’t put it down.   Me and my hubby were in Montreal and I couldn’t wait to see how it ended and one night, after he went to sleep, I stayed up until 3 in the morning sitting in the bathtub of our hotel room (in my pjs) to finish it.    I loved it so much that if Nash were a girl, his name was going to be Vivienne  so I could call him her Vivi after the main character of the book.  It’s about friendship and motherhood.  It’s about having fun, drinking too much and doing wild and crazy things.  It’s about loving husbands that sometimes say or do the wrong thing.  It’s about teaching your children to not be afraid (the elephant ride??) and to be the best that they can be.  And it all revolves around this big old scrapbook that the Ya-Ya’s kept filled with their memories.

Darcy and Carolyn have rolled these two favorite things together.  They’ve modernized my favorite fiction book with the true story look at their own lives.  In their story, the Ya-Ya’s aren’t friends that grew up together since grade school, but friends that meet over the internet via their blogs.  Yet  before they ever even met face to face, they had just as strong of a friendship as Vivi and Teensy.   And in their story, their blogs and e-mails play the role of the scrapbook.  Oh, and instead of mint juleps they drink Miller Lite.  

These ladies are storytellers and writers.  They’re all thinky one minute and cursing like a trucker the next.  Every page holds a new story that will seem oddly familiar.  Holidays with crazy relatives, fights with husbands, struggles with kids, and that always elusive question –  ”what the hell am I doing?”.

It’s a page turner.  Even if you don’t know a thing about these girls, you’ll immediately be drawn into their lives and feel like you’ve known them forever.  And you’ll love them.   And cheer for them.   All those things you’re afraid to tell anyone?  They have the balls to say it out loud AND in print.   You’ll want to know what happens next.  And guess what?  You’ll be able to find out by reading the continuing story on their respective blogs.  Or maybe you’ll just catch them when they’re on Oprah after she’s given “To” her stamp as a Book Club read.

I didn’t finish this one in the bathtub (but I totally would have had that been an option).  I read a little on the train Friday and then during moms-day-off-at-the-mall yesterday as I treated myself to a long solo lunch at Joe’s American Grill (holla!) where I nearly finished it off (along with a sangria – have you tried these??  amazing!) but completed it early this morning sitting in a rocking chair inherited from Ms. Picket herself which just seemed right.

I would offer to lend you my copy, but let’s support these gals and order your own copy.  I promise after you’ve read it, you’ll be glad you did.  As the poorly written slogan says, click here and Just Do It.

The weekend started with Nash’s best friend’s birthday party.  It was a Harry Potter theme and this mom put all other moms to shame with this one.  She’s been planning it for months (years??) and had more activities at this one party than I have planned for all seven of Nash’s parties combined.  The kids made wands, they shopped from their Hogwart’s list at the store for their school supplies, they made potions from bone dust and then everyone put on their swimsuits and had a balloon toss and hit the slip and slide.  She and a friend were dressed in full gear with capes and the works.  I won’t even mention the cake that would put Duff at Ace of Cakes to shame and the engraved party favors.  Here’s my little Harry…

Immediately following the party we jumped in the car and headed to my cousin-in-law’s place on a lake in New Hampshire.  It was spectacular.  A gorgeous house over looking the lake and mountains, a sunset boat ride, great food, drink and company.  It was just the three of us, the two of them, their two teenage sons and oh, TWELVE of the 18 year old’s closest friends.  That’s right.  FOURTEEN teen boys AND *gasp* girls.  All crashing in the big basement – community style.  They were all polite and called the hosts “Mr. & Mrs. A.” which I thought was adorable and respectful.  We stayed out of each other’s way for the most part (even though Nash was fascinated with said teenagers).  They all piled in their car(s?) and went into the little town for ice cream.  While they were gone, we had dinner and drinks and just hung out on the screened in deck, safe from bugs, until the sky was black.  The teens returned four (!) hours later from their “ice cream” run with the biggest case of the munchies I’ve ever witnessed.  They filled the kitchen and began cutting brownies, making plates of nachos and frantically filling containers with every snack they could find.  Two girls were desperately searching for a bag of salt and vinegar chips.  They weren’t on the table where they left them but hey, here’s another bag of chips.   Oh no.  ”Those are sour cream & onion and we HAVE to have the salt & vinegar!!!!”   I thought about telling them we ate them, but I’m pretty sure they would have thrown me over the deck.  They were eventually tracked down and there was a squeal of delight as  they headed back to the basement with their armfuls of snacky food.  (10 minutes later one of the guys was back to make yet another plate of nachos, something I’m sure continued even after we went to bed)  It was interesting to see what we’ll be in store for in another 10 years.  (Eeek!)

After a few hours and not nearly enough sleep, Nash woke me up at 6:15.  I tried to get him to watch a movie and let me sleep a bit more, but alas, no luck.  So we headed for the beach at 7 AM.  Me, Nash, 2 ducks and 1 loon.  It looked something like this:

We spent the entire day on the beach.  We swam, we kayaked, we boated, we sailed, we built sand cities, we entertained 4 dogs, we ate, we drank, we talked, we had an a-maz-ing time.   Eventually we had to drag Nash away from the beach and hit the road.  He wanted McDonald’s but  fell asleep in the car 10 minutes after we left.  He woke up when we were almost home and said “are we at McDonald’s yet?”.  And we were – but now we were 10 minutes from our own house.  

I piled the wet, sandy laundry near the basement door, but couldn’t bring myself to get it down the stairs.  We covered ourselves in aloe lotion and fell fast asleep.   Short, sweet but perfect weekend.

Greetings from California!  Just a quick post from the family vacation.  A certain someone refuses to adjust to the new time zone and as awesome as it is to have a sleeping child at 7 PM every night, it blows to be woke up at 4 (yes, FOUR) nearly every morning.   So now as I wait for the coffee place down on the dock to open, I shall blog.

We are having the best time on this trip.  We’ve been staying with one of my best friends, Jennifer (a/k/a Jenfrensen) in Santa Monica where she has been taking excellent care of us.  We’re being lazy while still doing our touristy thing.  Day one we headed  to Hollywood and being the geek I am, I wanted to check out the Kodak Theatre which is preparing for the Oscars.  And who did we run into “straight away” as Nash would say?  His hero:

He was way more excited than he looks in this photo, trust. me. We cruised Hollywood and checked out my old stomping grounds.  So much has changed since I lived here, but it was fun to see the old ‘hood and show Nash the Capitol Records building.   

Day 2 we had a play date with my friend Jennifer and her son Autry who is 6 months older than Nash.  It was so great to see them meet for the first time!  They had a fun day together but then Nash started to seem a bit out of it and clearly had a fever so off we went and he slept for about 14 hours.  After speaking with my pal Dottie from his doctor’s office, it was determined that he likely had a virus that has been going around (which he’s now brought to the West Coast – Sorry, JJ!) .  

So a shot of Motrin, lots of liquids and our boxes of tissues (did I mention that we’re all sick?)  we headed to San Diego for Day 3 – Sea World!  This was the single greatest family vacation day EVER!  We all just loved every single part of it.  There were hardly any  people and we could walk right up to the front of every exhibit.  We fed  and pet dolphins!  We fed sea lions!  We touched stingrays!   WE SAW MANATEES!!!   And, oh yeah, killer whales.  It was amazing, amazing, amazing.   We stayed until they kicked us out.  We even discussed going back today but I think today is zoo day.

That’s all for now.   More photos and stories when we return…..