love

10-year review

by mayberry on May 2, 2012

Dear Employee #1:

Congratulations on your 10-year anniversary with the Company. We are very pleased with your progress this year. If we were in a position to give raises (if, in fact, you received any salary at all) we would certainly give you a nice big one. Instead, we will continue providing technical support and upgrades to existing equipment, such as figure skates and other footwear.

We wish to call attention to several indicators of progress in the most recent year:

  • Seamless transition to new work team (Grade 4)
  • Excellent protection of newly issued equipment: after braces were removed and retainer installed, no Dumpster diving was required
  • Vision upgrade led to significant improvement in reading interest and performance
  • Continued mentoring of Employee #2 with a great deal of patience and good humor
  • Tested ability to compete in individual as well as team events with excellent results

In short, Employee #1: Way to go. Keep up the good work. (We must note that the mustache is not in compliance with our personnel policies, but we trust that is a temporary aberration.)

Love Best wishes,

The Management

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Royally happy

by mayberry on May 1, 2011

I loved everything about the royal wedding. Everything! I was smiling all day on Friday. Then sun came out for the first time in days. I even went to an afternoon tea party and wore a hat.

I loved the dresses, the trees in the Abbey, the uniforms, the music, the cars, and the carriages. I loved the genuine affection and loyalty and pride between the two brothers and the two sisters. I loved Pippa wrangling the train and all the little kids. I loved Beatrice and Eugenie looking like Cinderella’s stepsisters. I loved the boy choir and everyone in the congregation singing along to the hymns. I loved the camera angles from the BBC–bells tolling! Hats perching! Cathedrals soaring! I loved “Be who God meant you to be and you will set the world on fire.”

I loved the crowds lining the routes. I loved the kisses and the grumpy little girl on the balcony and stuffy old Charles picking up a little bridesmaid so she could see. And then I loved rehashing it all with the Fug Girls coverage. Loved. it. all.

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Ladies’ man

by mayberry on January 7, 2011

J (indignantly): I kissed him and then he wiped off his face! Watch!

She kisses him on the forehead, he dramatically applies his sleeve to the area.

O (oh so smooove): I’m just making room for more!

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Something blue

by mayberry on September 8, 2010

Twelve hours before we were due to leave for my sister’s wedding, as I was packing like a crazy person, Opie desperately needed to put on his ninja Halloween costume (foreshadowing of things to come at the rehearsal dinner, apparently; see left), which was somewhere in the depths of the dress-up box in the basement playroom, where he refuses to go unaccompanied. So I grudgingly took him down there, and soon realized that something was amiss. Something was, in fact, really smelly. Opie confessed to having spilled something or other on the area rug recently, but I soon realized the entire 5′x7′ rug was soaking wet. As were the two beanbag chairs sitting on it, and the fabric-covered storage bin nearby. Oh, and look, way over here! A giant puddle on the linoleum! I started mopping, and sopping water up with towels, and cranking up the dehumidifier, and actually, I was pretty glad about the ninja costume because at least we found the leak before we left town for eight days, and not after.

The next morning, we got up before 5 a.m. to go to the airport, where we then sat until after the far more civilized hour of 9 a.m. In the end, after lengthy sojourns in both Minneapolis and Salt Lake City, we arrived in California more than 12 hours late after 22 hours of travel (and only one tantrum, in the hotel room at 2 a.m. when Opie felt completely persecuted by our refusal to let him watch a little TV before bed. “Just one show!” he wailed).

But the wedding–the whole vacation, really–was totally worth it. My sister lives in Pennsylvania but spent most of high school and college  in northern California, so she wanted to be married there. The ceremony was held on the side of a mountain in California, with pine trees and a stone patio and an incredible view.

The view

We stayed in a small inn nearby, where we–the wedding party, family, and other attendees–were the only guests. I loved being able to spend a few days with normally far-flung family members (my own, and my sister’s new in-laws too. Jo was completely taken with the groom’s 11-year-niece–I mean, how cool is an 11-year-old when you are 8!). The inn had a lounge/game room on the ground floor, with a huge Rock Band/kararoke set-up, another Wii, pool, ping-pong, air hockey, and a poker table. So fun!

Jo and I spent most of the day of the wedding getting purty, while Opie entertained the groomsmen with his best joke: What’s the difference between roast beef and pea soup? Anyone can roast beef, but no one can pee soup (thanks iCarly!). Here we are all dolled up.

With bonus EAR

Doesn’t she look amazing?!

Minutes after these pictures were taken, at the inn, we went to the ceremony site. There Opie proceeded, accidentally, to FLING the wedding rings right off his little ringbearer’s pillow–at the exact moment that my sister’s car pulled up. So basically I greeted her at her own wedding with the words “WE LOST THE RINGS!!” Thankfully, we were inside a small tent when this happened, so at least the rings did not go flying off the side of a cliff or out into the wilderness. My cooler-headed brother recovered them quickly from the corner of the tent.

After that, the hitching proceeded without a hitch and so did the party. Jo and I danced until the DJ packed up at midnight. “Party in the USA,” indeed! Congratulations Susan and Andrew. Happy almost 1-month anniversary!

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Puppy lamp

by mayberry on June 28, 2010

Every night when I peek into my son’s room, I see the puppy lamp. I swear it makes me smile almost as much as the sight of my little boy all sprawled out who knows where/how/why (on the floor? the armchair? horizontal or feet-first on the bed? next to a tower of picture books or a row of perfectly lined up toy airplanes?).

We’ve had the puppy lamp since way before Jo was born. Somewhere in the first trimester, my husband got into the Pottery Barn Kids catalog and next thing you know, the nursery was pretty much finished. He bought the lamp, an ABC rug, and stencils to paint the alphabet on the walls. Once you have the rug and the wall decor, there’s not a lot of decorating left to do, you know?

I appreciated the enthusiasm, I really did, but apparently he’d never heard that mothers usually like to at least help pick out this stuff. Still, I liked it and I liked how the room turned out, with blue walls that we decided were suitable for a boy or a girl, and the alphabet letters in a border near the ceiling. They were all white, except for the ones in the boy and girl names we’d picked out (word nerds!). A friend came to stay with us at one point while the room was half guest room and half nursery; he spent half the night racking his brain to figure out the names (he eventually did it).

When we left our apartment in New Jersey, we said goodbye to the painted letters. When Jo turned 7 we finally got her a big-girl rug–no more pastel ABCs. But when we upgraded Opie’s room from baby to boy two years ago, the lamp stayed. In the past several weeks I’ve given away most of my maternity clothes and a substantial chunk of our newborn boy clothing stash, without (too many) tears. But I’m going to miss that lamp.

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iOMG

by mayberry on June 16, 2010

My very generous husband gave me a very generous gift for my upcoming birthday (the one that ends in zero) and our also upcoming anniversary (another ends-in-zero event).

A dog on a surfboard! Just what I’ve always wanted!

Well, actually, an iPad. I was/am stunned.

After I get over my shock, I’ll need to load ‘er up. If you have an iPad, or covet one enough to have done some window shopping, tell me what I should get! (And P.S., I don’t have anything Mac or Apple–not even an iPod–so I am starting from scratch.)

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WW: Ring Boy

by mayberry on January 13, 2010

We randomly acquired this item yesterday in one of those “skill”-crane machines. Immediately Opie said “Hey! I can use it for the wedding!” We sent this picture to my sister so she knows her ringbearer is already prepared.

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I’m there right now

by mayberry on December 11, 2009

It’s my spy lookout, my scenic view, my alone space, my social (networking) place, my home office. It’s where I eat, work, chat, and play. It’s where I live: in front of my laptop, at my dining room table, looking through my front windows to the street and park beyond.

Today’s #best09 prompt is “best place” of 2009. I knew it had to be somewhere at home. I love going out, I love traveling and seeing both new and familiar people and places. But I also crave the comfortable cocoon of home. I need to be surrounded by my own stuff in my own rambly old house.

I used to work in a little bedroom upstairs on a desktop. Three years ago, we bought laptops and I still planned to stay in my office, with the bigger monitor and my own private desk that I wouldn’t have to clear every evening. But when the laptop arrived, I flipped it open on the dining room table and I’ve never gone back to the office. Here, I love being able to look out the windows–in front, where I’ll see ice-fishing shanties being towed to the lake soon. And at the side, where my neighbor’s kids come outside in all manner of silly outfits and play with their puppy.

When I sit down in the morning with my first cup of tea, I swear I sometimes sigh with the relief and anticipation of a few hours of work/Web time. And since I’ve needed that relief more than ever this year, this has to be my #best09 place.

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Belated, but one of the best ever

by mayberry on July 20, 2009

The occasion: My birthday, and that of a friend.

The event: A dinner party in our honor, with four other friends as guests, and our two husbands as chefs/hosts.

The menu:

  • Cold hors d’oeuvres — goat cheese balls with roasted walnuts, crostini with olive tapenade or artichokes and parmesan, fresh gazpacho
  • Hot hors d’oeuvres — scallops with paprika, grilled shrimp, tortilla espanola, chorizo
  • Roast turkey breast with truffle oil
  • Grilled vegetables prepared in a citrus bath
  • Green beans with orange zest and sesame
  • Saffron rice
  • Dessert — raspberry sorbet, mint ice cream, and ginger ice cream with berries and cookies
  • Beverages — red sangria, white sangria, berry bellinis, fruit-infused water (strawberry/rhubarb and lemon/blueberry)

My friend K. and I hatched this plan a few weeks ago and boy did it ever succeed. We were talking about how all she wanted for her birthday was a really nice meal that she didn’t have to prepare herself. We moved into talking about how I would love to entertain more, but my husband gets super-anxious about having things just so when people come over. Somehow these two came together into an idea to have the two guys work together on a dinner party for us. I pretended I knew nothing about this while E. (K.’s  husband) emailed my husband to propose such an event. And then it all came together in my backyard last night. I sat on a chair for about five straight hours eating and drinking and chatting and can you think of a better birthday present?!

Cherry on top: The kids stayed at E.’s house with K.’s parents and when I picked them up, K.’s mom said “These two children have some of the best manners I have ever seen!” I’m sure she was just being nice but I will take that compliment ANY TIME.

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My jet set friend

by mayberry on March 3, 2009

Recently one of my oldest friends came to town on a cheering-up mission (oldest as in, I’m not going to do the math because the answer will scare me). It was a perfect girls’ weekend–dinner out, a night at a hotel, a yoga class, a little window-shopping, a theater outing. She happened to be here the night of the Oscar broadcast so we watched that together.

Oh, and we got pampered at a spa too, thanks to a Christmas gift from my husband that proved far more valuable than he ever imagined it would. I wrote about the spa in a guest post at my friend Anne’s blog, The Jet Set Girls–where you can get all kinds of insider beauty and travel tips.

R. and I live almost exactly 1,000 miles apart, but we make it work. We don’t talk every day anymore like we did in high school (you know, debriefing the day that we spent almost entirely in each other’s company) or email many times a week like we did before kids (she has three and the hottest topic of our nonstop chatter was whether either of us is brave enough to go for one more). But she came to visit me here in Mayberry when Opie was only a few months old. My kids and I went to see her when she was juggling a brand-new baby and two older boys by herself thanks to a horribly ill-timed National Guard deployment for her husband. We’ve managed to meet up on business trips to New York (mine) and Chicago (her husband’s).

Jobs, houses, and hometowns may come and go, but your best girlfriends? You can always count on.

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