The Reason for the Season

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

Christmas Tree

I had an idea come to me that I believe in my heart was spiritually inspired. I won't get into the how's or why's, but I will share with you the gift I feel that my step-FIL wanted me create for my MIL.

As many of you know, I was by his side when he passed last year. It was one of the hardest moments of my life. I have felt connected to him more than ever since that time, though.

We all still feel his loss so deeply. Just the other day, Natalie said to me, "Mom. He said that they'd take me to the next race (he raced with his Ferrari). But I never got to go." That last race, he'd taken Amanda and Matthew but Natalie was too young. Hearing her say that broke my heart.

Then, I was going through old videos we have, and there was one of him kneeling down to help Matthew open one of his gifts several Christmases ago. He was SO excited for him, all animated and lively. He was so much fun. And wow did he love my kids. Like his own. Hearing his voice and seeing him again...it just felt like a punch in my stomach. It physically hurt.

On to the gift....my MIL recently sold her house after it being on the market for forever. The house she last lived in with him. She's now in a brand new condo.

We have a tree planted in our yard in memory of him. So the idea came to me (again, I believe it came from him...if I could explain how it came to me, you'd understand) to do a painting of the tree to give to her so she can have that to remember him by in her new home. A gift from him to her, though. Not from me.

So even though I was terrified to try to do the painting (I was so afraid of making it look horrible), I sat down last night and went to work. I sketched the tree from a photo I had. Then used my watercolors. This is what I ended up with:



(You can click to enlarge) Ignore the shadows on the glass.

It wasn't as awful as I was afraid it would be....I think I captured the tree fairly well.

I really can't wait to give it to her on Christmas Eve. I just wish he could be there with us instead.

Christmas Clips - Part One - Elf

In keeping with the Christmas mood here, I'm going to be posting clips from some of my favorite Christmas movies. Up today..."Elf." (hit "play" on that song above to hear the lovely voice of Zooey Deschanel from the movie....I could listen to that song all day)

Okay, ready to countdown my favorite moments? (feel free to skip ahead to #1 if you'd like because it totally rocks...but you will be missing out on the funny if you do. *grin*)

Here we go:

#8- The Escalator Ride (10 seconds) (actually one of the funniest parts of the movie for me, but this was the only clip I could find and the quality sucks)



#7- "Santa! I know him!" (1:01)



#6- Buddy discovers New York (1:04)



#5- "Did you hear that?" (18 seconds)



#4- Throne of Lies (1:48)



#3- "Baby It's Cold Outside" (1:38) (Will Ferrell singing with Zooey...isn't she amazing?!)



#2 "Buddy the Elf! What's your favorite color?" (1:25) (scroll to the end to hear the clip...this was the best I could do and definitely wanted it included since it's been our Christmas answering machine greeting for awhile)



#1- The Tree Scene (18 seconds)



We still rewind and watch this part over and over.

So what's *your* favorite color part?

Guess Who's Going to Britney Spears' Circus Tour?

Update: Click here to see the brand new video of "Circus" which is AMAZING. It just premiered on "Entertainment Tonight" this past week and embedding is disabled or I'd put it on here for you to see. It's worth the click over (at least to me, but then I am biased, lol).
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Yes, uh huh. ME, ME, ME! And my daughter. I read an announcement that Brit was making her comeback with a tour, so I went to her website and found a special offer to get tickets before they go "public." (Click here if you want to get in on the offer)

Ticketmaster tried their best to keep me from scoring tickets, but I would not give up and spent the better part of an hour trying to get tickets. And kept watching the good seats go to someone else each time. So our seats are crappy, but I'd watch from the roof if I had to! This tour is going to be HOT!

And as if it couldn't get any better THE PUSSYCAT DOLLS will be performing with her!!! Perfection!

If you haven't caught Brit performing her two latest songs off of the Circus CD, here's the YouTube videos for them. I already loved, "Womanizer," and I love "Circus" even more. If the tour is anything like these videos it is going to be amazing!!

Womanizer on X-Factor:



Circus on Good Morning America:



I could not be more excited!!

Totally 80's

My old friend from high school found this picture and sent it to me on Facebook yesterday:



I am still doubled over laughing over my 80's hair and the pink, ruffly homecoming dress. If I remember correctly, my date for that dance was a guy that I just reconnected with on Facebook as well.

One of my friends on Twitter sent out a message with his name in it and I was so stunned! Turned out to be him and we've talked here and there.

Now, I've been reconnecting with a lot of people from that time. So much fun, even if I don't have the best of memories from my school years.

By the way, I clearly remember that "Walk Like An Egyptian" was nearly impossible to dance to. At least for me. The beat is way too fast to pull off any sort of cool dance moves. :)

The 30 Rock Skit - I Love Kenneth the Page

Kapgar and I have been scheming on a 30 Rock skit that, if the producers at NBC had any smarts, would become a real story line (with us in the starring roles of course.)

I'm titling it "I Love Kenneth the Page." Or alternately, "Obsession."

Let's cue the music before we go any further:



Okay, on to the story. It goes something like this:

Kevin and I are new pages under Kenneth's "tutelage" as Kevin put it. (that word makes me giggle). I immediately fall in love with Kenneth the Page. I mean what's not to love about this guy:



At first, Kenneth is really happy to see me each day:



He even takes me out to a party after work on the set of TGS (work with me on the photo editing here, lol):



But my crush on him turns into a crazy, stalker-type obsession and he begins to get a little worried:



Suddenly, wherever he goes, I follow. He tries to keep that beautiful smile of his on even though he's totally creeped out. Elevator rides are the worst, as I'm almost always on there with him:



The crazier I get, the more Kenneth is turned off. But there's someone who actually loves my craziness. My new fellow page-in-training Kevin:



The crazier I get, the more Kevin wants me. But my heart is set on winning over Kenneth, so I resort to all sorts of tricks to get his attention. Like leaving a present for him in his office:



The final straw for Kenneth comes when I pop up on the stage from the audience of Late Night With Conan O'Brian in the middle of his interview:



It's also the final straw for Kevin, who realizes the only way to win my heart is to plot Kenneth's demise. Unfortunately for Kevin, the authorities get wind of his plot and promptly arrest him before he can carry it out:



But then Kenneth reports me and I too am arrested:




And Kenneth is finally free of the both of us. He demands that he gets the final approval of all new pages from then on out.

As for me and Kevin...well, not even jail could stop our obsessions. We were content to live them out through our cells.

My cell:



Kevin's cell:



The end! *bow* *bow* *bow*

Be prepared to see both me and Kevin on 30 Rock with our brilliant skit any day now. :)

When Puppies Misbehave

What do you get when you cross one green, unattended bath crayon with a mischievous white puppy? This:





Unfortunately, using the "You'll just have to stay that way now! You think about what you did when everyone sees you looking this way!" tactic doesn't work well on a dog.

Update: Amanda told me this would make a perfect LOL Dog so I went in and made one:


moar funny pictures
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Thanks to my gorgeous and dear friend Jane for giving me the "I Love Your Blog" award!!! This is the second time I've been blessed with this award and I'm just as excited as I was the first time around. You can never have too much blog love, IMO.

Click here to see my post in which I passed this on before if you missed it.

Thank you, Jane. I totally <3 you!