The Dirty 30...

Welp. You only turn 30 once right? Not that I need ANY excuse to have a few libations, (hehe) but turning 30 warrants well....libations! Soooooo I was led to believe by my hubby that we were going out for a MUCH NEEDED date night and that he had already lined up for the kids to spend the night at Grandpa and Nona's. (that should have been my first hint that he was plotting, he's no Martha Stewart when it comes to party planning) But little did I know that he had been on the sneaky sneaky with one of my best friends for over a month! 

Skipping to last night, we were headed out to the restaurant Local in mid-town (or so I thought). Pause... since when has mid-town become a booming metropolis in our city? Or am I really just that behind and sheltered? Maybe I should get out more??? After ten minutes of circling like a shark for a parking spot, we finally found one and were headed in. We got to the door and all of a sudden J says, "Ok, change of plans." Uhhh, ok? He said he didn't want to hurt my feelings, but Local was booked so we were going to Bosco's instead. Well ok, that sounds good to me. So we get in, bypass the hostess and he tells me to just keep going straight to the back. (ok this is starting to get a little "weird") I turn the corner and out comes the loud squeal... "SURPRISE"!!! There was an entire group of people at a big table all there to help me celebrate being one year closer to geriatric-hood! Ha! We had a great time at dinner with some of my best friends and the rest of the night was up to "wherever the wind blows us" aka wherever the cab drove us lol. 

Kelly, McKenleigh, Ashley and me at Bosco's 

After dinner we headed over to Local, for real this time haha to hang out and have a couple of drinks. Of course we tend to take pictures like there's no tomorrow, so here's a few pics of us attempting to "act our age" (like we ever do that).

Typical..... 

   

      

Wifey swap! LOL

My mini-me....  (just act like you don't see this pic Mom ha!)

After a while we headed downtown to continue the party. Side note, last night was "dress like Santa pub crawl downtown" that one of the local bars hosts every year and we saw some pretty funny attempts to look like the the big guy who comes down the chimney, ha! I WISH I would have taken some nonchalant, potentially embarrassing pics of the Santa's but ask me if that crossed my mind at ONE O'CLOCK in the morning? NOPE. Oh well, on to more shenanigans...

           

         


              
          Holly and Kyle.... oh these two...aren't they cute?? I'm sure he thinks our family is NUTS!
                                                                                   

Me and Holls! (We missed our other sissy, Auburn... don't worry Aubs, we drank one or two for you)
Sad and scary my youngest sissy is old enough to even go to a bar!
I feel like she should be at home playing barbies! Guess I'm starting to show my "age" LOL

Me and Kelly! So many fun nights and memories with this sweet girl! LOVE YOU!

We had such a fun night and got home around...hmmm, yeah it was late. Ha. I am so thankful and blessed to have a sweet hubby and friends who came out to celebrate me turning the DIRTY 30 as I have been hearing from everyone for a while! Don't worry though, just wait til' they all turn 30...hehehe. So getting sentimental here for a minute, from the bottom of my HEART, a HUGE thank you to everyone that came out and helped celebrate my birthday. Really, it meant the world to me! I feel like such a lucky girl to have such wonderful friends and family that love and care about me! 

In other breaking news... Jackson is back to 100% Whooooo, FINALLY! The kids had a great weekend and now that I'm getting closer to "old fart" status, I'll gladly share all my AARP discounts with my YOUNGER friends! (yes, I'm admitting that one of those came in the mail for me the other day) Hahahaha! I mean good grief! I'm only 30 AARP! That's about the equivalent of someone making a phone call and asking for someone who is no longer alive! Can you say awkward!?! GEEZ! I hope your weekend was as fun and blessed with love as mine was! 

Here's to the DIRTY 30! Til next time friends!

~EM

Frustration, Spilled Milk & a Side of Gangnam?

Sometimes you just have to get it out. Today is one of those days for me. (I'll go ahead and apologize for the small pity party I'm throwing here) Jackson is still sick, day 12. I think a 4th trip to the doctor is in our future tomorrow morning. Poor baby. Whatever this "virus" is or isn't is really throwing him for a loop and a half. And if I am being really honest and candid, I'm SO OVER THE SICKNESS! Not only for him, but selfishly for me too. I'm tired. I want to pull the "I want my Mommy" card, too!  

After a long week of leaving school early for multiple days, missing school all week last week, a lot of sleeping and not a whole lot of eating, I am really starting to worry about my little man. We had therapy tonight and I guess I shouldn't be surprised but we still don't have any more test results even though they were ready before Thanksgiving.  UGH! The "printer" has been messed up at EDFTC or so I am told. I'm sorry but where is the customer service?? I have begged for them to just fax it, email it just any way they can come up with to get me these darn results and still nothing. Oh well, there's always next week, I suppose. Jackson's session didn't go very well today. I could hear the frustration through the door as he was trying to work on his speech. I guess I wouldn't have much patience if I didn't feel well either, much less on a Friday. Feeling helpless, I listened on the other side of the room as my poor little guy struggled and was anything but interested in focusing on his speech. Cutting his session 20 minutes short, his therapist Ms. Courtney opened the door and said he had reached his limit today. 

Game over.... Therapy-1, Jackson-Zilch.

As we continue on our journey for answers, I'll share some of Jackson's "habits". Frustration is putting it lightly for Jackson when things are going "according to plan" for him sometimes. If he spills even one drop of milk, he wants a whole new glass and the world is coming to an end. He has cried and cried over  his spilled milk, multiple times. So much for the saying "no use in crying over spilled milk" huh? He also tends to process things differently. You know how people ask you "If you could be anyone for a day who would it be?" I would want to be Jackson. I wish I could walk a day in his shoes, see his perceptions of how the world turns and really experience things the way he does. 

Often times he becomes very obsessive over things like movies, commercials, the weather, certain iPad games, etc. I mean really... if there was such a thing as the Jim Cantore School of Weather, I would have earned a degree in Meteorology by now! He is also very analytical, which I find interesting. He likes puzzles and he's really good at them. He likes to know how things work, taking them apart and putting them back together, things like that. He's very interested in, surprise... the weather, sports and scores and who's winning or losing. He' also critical when he thinks sports teams/players don't do well. He's very quick to say "they didn't do good, or they need to try again or that was a bad shot" and seldom is he interested in anything but winning. He doesn't understand the concept of losing. He can't lose at anything or there is a guaranteed meltdown. I think he ponders about how technology works. He's very good at using technology too, just ask my Apple iTunes account how easy it is for a six and a half year old to get past a password and buy apps. (cue the OUCH to the ole bank account)

He's also very in-tune with sounds or select words and repeating them, a lot and at totally random times. Like theme songs in commercials, just think "ba da ba ba ba, I'm loving it" from McDonald's. Phone numbers from ambulance chasers, I mean lawyers on tv. For all you Memphians out there....trust me, if anyone ever needed Nahon, Saharovich and Trotz, Jackson could recite Corey B.'s # on command!  Guess that "catchy" advertisement of their phone number is working for at least someone, lol. 

I could go on for a while about obsessions that he has, because there is a laundry list of them, but the last one I'll talk about tonight and perhaps the most hysterical to me is Gangnam Style! O.M.G. I mean, it's really quite funny. Don't even ask me how many times we have watched that You Tube video because I'll never admit to the actual number. I'll just put it this way.... he has watched that video enough to LEARN all the words and dance moves on his own. Now he's no prima ballerina when it comes to his dancing skills, but in his mind he thinks he's on Dancing With the Stars. I even caught it on video....hehehe!!!!

Don't judge my messy den of kids homework, toys and junk. Sometimes you pick your battles so cleaning that day wasn't at the top of my list (sorry). I'm sure this video will go on the list of "I can't believe my Mom did that to me", but I love to capture him in all his happy moments of glory and feelings of accomplishment! It's also "good Mom code" to have embarrassing moments of your kiddos right!?!

After a long week and an unsuccessful therapy session tonight, I'm looking forward to getting up our Christmas decorations this weekend and crossing my fingers for a healthy boy.

TGIF

~EM

Memphis- Birthplace to Bon Qui Qui? Huh?

I know you are wondering what the heck is this post about??? Well... as I am STILL patiently waiting for more of Jackson's test results, (there's always tomorrow huh)  tonight it's time for a post with a little ehhhh light-heartedness. Soooo here we go.....

Often times with all the stresses going on from day to day, I search for the little things that keep my mind clear, make me giggle like a school girl and maybe contribute to my sanity in some small way. After all, you do burn calories from laughter and I can't remember anyone that just loves to be around a scrooge, right? I'll admit I am a junky for all things funny from movies, to SNL, to completely obnoxious cards I can send for holidays and birthdays. (sorry family hehehe) But my huge weakness you ask? YOU TUBE & HULU. Good grief I could laugh at ridiculous skits and "wanna-be superstars" in terrible video clips all day. It's amazing the things people will post. Some hilarious, some not so hilarious and then there's always that ONE video that has to be somehow related to home.....Memphis. 

Known as the birthplace of Rock and Roll, Memphis has produced it's share of mega superstars like Elvis and Justin Timberlake along with our great city name  being "name-dropped" in  more songs that any other city in the world! (bet ya didn't know that tid bit did ya... if you did, humor me and act like I taught you something today ok?) But of all the great history and musical artifacts Memphis has to offer, we also have a small reputation of being labeled as ghetto? At least from outside this great city. And is word ghetto even cool anymore? Well, you get the point. Now don't get me wrong, I've had my share of uh um how do you say it...interesting experiences (yes that's a nice way to put it) for the last 10+ years I have lived here. Which leads me to this chick....meet Anjelah Johnson aka Bon Qui Qui. Funny, somewhat ghetto and guaranteed to make me laugh every time I see one of her comedy skits. What I didn't know is how Bon Qui Qui came to be... until yesterday! The short clip below recaps her experience of being at, yup you guessed it, a MEMPHIS Burger King drive through. 

Between that "drive through gal" and her brother (I'm guessing he's a hoot) Bon Qui Qui was brought to life. HA! What!?! Who even knew Bon Qui Qui stemmed from something and someone that was actually real in little ole Memphis, TN.

For your viewing pleasure and maybe a few chuckles, I hope Bon Qui Qui makes you laugh and appreciate all the "characters" you encounter. Funny things like this remind me to never take myself too seriously and give thanks to all those that contribute to my well being from a good daily dose of laughter! Providing Memphis history and a cheap laughs, hmm not too bad for a Wednesday! 

So funny and maybe a little ghetto-fabulous! LOL

~EM