Mornings with Lily

So, our dog, Lily, is not the hugest fan of getting up and going outside in the morning. She sleeps under a chair in our room, and will pretty much ignore every cajoling word that comes out of my mouth until I adopt the stern get-up-or-you-will-pay-dearly tone to my voice. You'd think by now I'd go right to that tone, but I like to believe that the sweet one will work one day. Poor, deluded me.

Here is the reaction the sweet, kind tone elicits:










Please note that she does not even open her eyes to acknowledge my voice.

Here is the reaction when I start going into the stern, you-better-listen-to-me tone:














I like to call this her "I'm sorry - did you want something - I really can't be bothered" expression.

It probably doesn't help that I'm laughing most of the time because her reluctance cracks me up so much. And a side note: If Tyler is the one talking to her, she will immediately get up. Apparently, I'm the pushover. Go figure.

Godspell

If you haven't seen this play/musical and it ever comes to a city near you, I highly recommend it. I went to see it with some friends this week, not knowing what to expect from a musical taken primarily from the Gospel of Matthew. It was simultaneously funny, touching, and quirky. It gives a refreshing perspective on the gospel and has some great, catchy musical numbers in it. And I laughed out loud multiple times during it - always a bonus.

Warning: They do come into the aisles and interact with the audience, so if you have a fear of being pulled out of the crowd, sit in the middle, not on the aisles. Otherwise, you'll be busting a move with some cast members.

Here's what you shouldn't do if you go see it:

• Sing along with every song you know, so the person sitting next to you is not only treated to the cast's wonderfully rehearsed version, but also your high pitched, warbling, off-key version as well. In the words of American Idol's Randy Jackson, "It was a little pitchy dawg, and you did NOT work out in the end."
  

It's like I was listening to two different shows at once. I mean, I'm glad this lady was a such a fan of the show, but let the people around you enjoy it too. Not only was she singing, she was also swaying side to side, with not much regard for personal space.

Moral of the story: If you go see a musical, no matter how much you want to belt out your favorite songs, just don't. Buy the soundtrack and sing at the top of your lungs in your car. More power to ya.

Quiet

Life has been interesting lately. A lot of things going on, both good and bad, but in the midst of it all, I've found one thing I'm increasingly thankful for. Quiet.

On the more superficial level - it's just nice to be in a quiet place, relaxing and spending time with a book, or with Tyler and Lily. We went to a birthday dinner for some friends of ours last night and while it was so much fun, it was one of the loudest places I've been to. Except maybe a concert. When you're standing right next to the speaker. Maybe I'm just getting old, but I value external quiet a lot more than I used to. Just call me grandma.

On the internal level, being able to just stop, whether it's in my car, before I go to sleep, stepping outside during the day, or whenever - being able to just be still and quiet has been such a welcome blessing lately. It's given me time to think, to pray, to listen - things I don't think I took enough time before to do. And so in the midst of life, I've been able to carve out little pieces of quiet time that have helped me cope and reflect and give things over to God that I would normally hang on to myself. It's a hard thing to do, letting go of things, of worry, but I find the more I do, the more at peace I am. Funny how that works, huh?

Like a twister, I was born to walk alone

One of the things that makes me laugh most in life is misheard song lyrics. Obviously, since the title of my blog was inspired by one. Well, I got a good laugh, and a giant snort, out of realizing that Tyler had the lyrics to the Whitesnake song, "Here I Go Again", totally wrong.

Actual lyrics:
Here I go again on my own
Going down the only road I've ever known
Like a drifter, I was born to walk alone
Cause I know what it means, to walk along the street of lonely dreams.

Tyler's version, as he rocked out to it in the car:
Here I go again on my own
Going down the only road I've ever known
Like a twister I was born to walk alone
Cause I know what it means, to walk along a street that's 30 degrees.

Oh those solitary twisters, and knowing how it feels to walk down freezing streets. Now, Tyler makes me laugh everyday, but that was the hardest laugh he'd gotten from me in a while.

And, I'm always looking for a good excuse to post a picture of an 80's hair band.

NYC and the D-O double G

So last weekend, I went to NYC for a work trip. Always nice to go to fun cities like that on the company's dime, even if work must be done while we're there. Here's how my trip started off: left house at 12:30 on Saturday afternoon. Arrived at The W in NY at 10:45 that night. My first clue that this is how this trip was going to go should have been the flight number: 518. Lost fans, you recognize those numbers, right? That should have been a giant red flag.

Because of the terrible storms in NYC, our flight was delayed about 2 hours. All the flights ahead of us were getting canceled, so I was just thankful that we were actually getting out of Atlanta. Silly, silly me. Then, we proceeded to circle above Virginia (around Richmond, I think) for almost an hour. THEN, we were diverted to Norfolk, VA, where we sat on the runway for 2 hours. Here is a summary of what occurred every time the pilot came over the speaker:

Pilot: Well folks, I just spoke to air traffic control...
*Hopeful silence from passengers*
Pilot: And it's not what I wanted to hear.
*Loud groans from all passengers, including a shout from a man in the back, "Can we AT LEAST get some water?!"

I'm not kidding - this exact same scenario happened about 3 or 4 times, followed by either the news that we had to wait for the NEXT air traffic report, were not allowed off the plane to eat because all the restaurants in the terminal were closed, and were not allowed outside the terminal to the restaurants that WERE open because TSA had decided to go home for the night and therefore we would not be allowed back on the plane if we did disembark. The last news was the best - at about 8 or so, the pilot came back on and said that our estimated departure time from Norfolk was 10:30. Meaning we would be sitting on the plane for another 2 1/2 hours. I thought the man who wanted the water was going to throw himself off the plane. But then, thank heaven for whoever the awesome air traffic control person was in Laguardia, because he or she was able to get us off the ground at around 9. And the window of opportunity for this take-off must have been about 7 seconds because the pilot turned that plane around on 2 wheels and burned rubber down that runway. It was hilarious. And a little scary.

We finally landed in NY with many cheers from the passengers. And then...the pilot came over the loud speaker. So the icing on the cake that was my flight to NYC was that the power was out in the terminal we were supposed to taxi to, and therefore we had to sit on the runway and wait for the generator to kick in/power to come back on. Luckily, it was only about 15 minutes, but are you kidding me?! We had a co-worker who left Atlanta about 2 hours after us and he got to NY about 3 hours before us. Good times.

This was followed by 2 full days of work - though my work really is fun sometimes, so it was really just more tiring than anything. The shoot we were there for went great and was a huge success.


Now, we come to the D-O double G part of my story. That's right, I met Snoop Dogg. And not only did I meet him, I went to his after party. The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductions were happening across the street from our hotel, so of course, Snoop had an after party for it. Now, this did not happen due to any sort of "mojo" or "skills" I had, but purely because a co-worker of mine. I met him in the hotel lobby - shook his hand, exchanged hello's - everyone, Snoop is a very nice guy. And later that night, we headed to the party, which was absolutely nuts. We arrived to many fire trucks and policemen shouting that NO ONE else would be allowed in and we might as well go home. Well, my aforementioned co-worker wouldn't have it, and because she knew one of his bodyguards, we were in! Not without insane crowd surges as soon as Snoop arrived and we were informed to "follow him in". Everyone else also apparently had the same idea and I swear for a second, I thought I was going to die trying to get into Snoop's after party. Would have made for a good story, right? So yeah, me, of all people, made it in to the after party of one the most famous rappers ever. I honestly couldn't believe I was there. In my Gap khakis and Banana Republic sweater, nonetheless. WORD. I thought it was absolutely hysterical and still can't believe it happened.

You will not get a blog as action-packed as this in a while, so hope this tides you over. :) Peace out, homies.

Call me Annika

So I went to the driving range with Tyler this past Saturday. Up to this point, the extent of my golfing has included some impressive and not-so-impressive showings on the putt-putt course. Or, mini-golf, for you mid-westerners out there. After borrowing some left-handed clubs and receiving some constructive criticism from Tyler, I think I managed to actually make contact with about half the balls I hit. And when I hit them, they did not go very far. But I get it now. I get why people love golf. Because when you do hit it, you get a pretty good rush of excitement and it makes you want to keep going and keep getting better. You still can't make me sit down and watch a golf tournament though.

But the event that prompted this driving range outing was Tyler getting a new set of irons at his new favorite place, the PGA Superstore (imagine this being said in a big booming voice). However, before he buys said set of irons, he approaches me first to discuss pricing. My husband should be a salesman. Here's how the conversation basically went:

Tyler: "So, I found a used set of irons at the PGA Superstore today."
Me: "Oh really?"
Tyler: "Yeah, they're awesome. I hit them really well and I love them and they're the best clubs ever."
Me: "That's great honey! How much are they?"
Tyler: "Only $700."
Me: Silence. Trying to decide if this is REALLY a good deal on golf clubs as I really know nothing about how much they should be. Then deciding that no, I don't think it is b/c it's not even an entire set of clubs. It's just for irons. "Wow, isn't that kind of expensive?"
Tyler: "Maybe. But hey, I found this other set that I like even better and they're only $200."
Me: "Oh great - you should totally get those!"

Well played, Tyler. Well played.

Happy Birthday, Lily!

That's right, because she is like my child, I am posting a Happy Birthday entry for my awesome dog, Lily Belle. I figure as much love as she gives us, I would give her some blogger love in return. She is 4 years old today and is just getting cuter and sweeter every day. Some people say she has a face only a mother could love. Psh - that's what I say to those people. We even got her some treats and a new toy that will probably last about 5 minutes in honor of her big day.




This is her modeling pose. Notice the perfect balance of aloofness and "come-hither-ness".