Aaahhhh I missed some of the earlier ones this year, but not this one! I have two other posts that I have been working on, so I don’t have anything specifically to talk about in this one. But, what better time than to share a picture of this awesome dress that my coworkers and I are slightly in awe of?
I mean, it’s got to be super heavy, but that dress is hilarious.
ANYWAYS, I am doing a new podcast! It’s called “The Broadcast” and my cohosts are my old roommate from Astoria, Amanda, and my cohost on The Tribe, Shandy. I will have more on that within the next day or so.
Next up in random, here is an awesome video of some dude named Richie Moriarty doing 14 different celebrity impressions while singing the opening song to “Hamilton.”
There isn’t very much else going on right now. Jay has a toy show this weekend, which is always fun for me and Zach to go to. Jay and I have been doing Blue Apron, so I will have a post about that soon, too. Thankfully, the rest of June is going to be quiet. Hope everyone else is doing well!
They say in the darkest night,
there’s a light beyond
Happy Birthday to our little Zachary Louis, who I truly believe was sent to us two years ago today, June 13, to replace loss and sorrow with a constant source of life and joy. It is impossible to be sad when he’s around, and every year, he will continue to bring happiness and healing to his entire family. Thank you, Lord, for giving us the amazing son, grandson, nephew, and friend that you knew that we needed.
Words cannot describe how much we miss you. Sorrow is not just for Shakespeare and poetry. I wish that my son had the chance to get to know you, his namesake. I love you more.
I read a book! (I really need to do that more often.) And, I liked it a lot. It was a wonderful young adult novel called Serafina and the Black Cloak by Robert Beatty.
Okay, well technically, the book is described as a middle-grade “spooky mystery-thriller.” Despite the middle-grade descriptor, I found Serafina and the Black Cloak to be a fun, whimsical tale of an unusual young girl named (you guessed it) Serafina who for some reason lives in secret in the basement of the Biltmore Mansion in Ashville, NC. Her father has hidden her presence from the world, and she only goes out in secret at nighttime to explore the mansion and catch rats. One night, she witnesses something supernatural, and from then on, her life is changed. It’s up to her to stop an evil that is spreading through the manor as it also leads her to uncover her own origins.
I loved this book and the story. I read it in within a day, which is rare for me, especially nowadays, even with books that are easy reads like this one. The story had a nice, quick pace, but never felt rushed. The author succeeded in the most important part of any story: making us care about the characters. While reading the book, I felt what Serafina felt and I cared about whether or not she a) found out the truth about herself and b) was able to defeat the book’s antagonist. I admit that I did guess the major reveal at some point in the middle of the book, but when it actually happened, I was satisfied. One other thing that helped a lot? My familiarity with the Biltmore itself. Even though I haven’t ever been there, I love their wine! But in all seriousness, being able to Google search for a map of the grounds because I knew it was a real place, written about by someone who is very familiar with the area and estate, helped get me more invested in the story.
If you are like me and are into fantasy young adult books, then I definitely recommend Serafina and the Black Cloak. It’s an easy read and a fun story. I already pre-ordered the next book in the series, Serafina and the Twisted Staff and am looking forward to reading it this summer. If you have already read this book, let me know in the comments! I’d love to discuss it.
Man. Eighteen years is a long time. Children born on the day you left us can buy cigarettes and get tattoos. They are graduating high school and going to college in the fall. Incomprehensible. We are in a time vortex, right? Are we closer to fine yet?
We miss you always. We love you always. We honor you always.
You know how sometimes you have these moments that mean nothing to anyone else, but mean everything to you? I had that happen to me today. I haven’t gone for a walk in over a month, at least. This morning, Jay, Zach and I went to mass for the first time in a month or so. A portion of the Raleigh Greenway runs behind our church. Since I used to work near where our church is located, I used to walk that greenway almost daily for three years. It decreased a bit when I changed jobs in 2012, but I was still there at least once or twice a week. I haven’t walked there in a good year-and-a-half, but today, I really felt like I should do it. As I was walking, I came across this written on the ground:
To add some context, my grandpa used to always say, “I love you more.” It’s actually written on his tombstone. Friday (March 11) marks his 85th birthday. Ever since he died, I’ve come across that phrase more than ever. But honestly, I’ve been struggling lately, and I needed to see that today.
I’ve thought long and hard about sharing this next story ever since it happened two months ago. After seeing that today, I decided that I will share. The below account was written right after it happened, so it is my initial reaction, and all details are true to immediate memory.
Zachary and I decided to have some fun on Snapchat yesterday while Jay went to pick up our pizza for dinner (Fridays during Lent are our perfect excuse!). We had many outtakes that I didn’t post so that it wouldn’t be overkill, but we kept recording them because he was having such a fun time. I figured I’d share a little bit here so anyone interested can see Zach’s adorable personality. He was in such a great mood all day yesterday. Love my little baby boy.
Well, it finally happened. After three years of plucking my little gray hair (I even changed my part to hide it!), two more finally grew back in its place…
Jay and Zach got me this new book of writing prompts called “300 Writing Prompts” for Christmas. I have been flipping through it and it is waaaaaaay easier than the 641 Things to Write About Challenge. I’m not sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing, lol. While a lot of those topics made me really think, these seem like they will be good for getting to know you and introspection, though some are similar to the old challenge. Anyway, I’m going to kick it off with the very first prompt given in the book. Please feel free to answer it yourself in the comments. 🙂
What’s your favorite way to spend a lazy day?
My favorite way to spend a day off is loading up my iPod with new podcasts and going for a nice, long walk. And by “nice, long walk,” I mean, a 2+ hour walk, haha. I love walking. It’s refreshing and calming and exhausting and accomplishing all at once for me. Going for a nice, long walk puts me right.However, since the question specifies “lazy day,” I’ll have to get into the mindset that lazy day = rainy day, haha. Honestly, my favorite way to spend a lazy day is in my pajamas watching Netflix or HGTV with Jay. (In this scenario, Zach is at school since let’s face it, there is no such thing as a ‘lazy day’ with a 20-month-old.) Bonus points if it’s late enough in the day to drink wine while doing so! When we lost
However, since the question specifies “lazy day,” and I don’t think that a 2+ hour walk qualifies as “lazy,” I’ll have to get into the mindset that lazy day = rainy day, haha. Honestly, my favorite way to spend a lazy day is in my pajamas watching Netflix or HGTV with Jay. (In this scenario, Zach is at school since let’s face it, there is no such thing as a ‘lazy day’ with a 20-month-old.) Bonus points if it’s late enough in the day to drink wine while doing so! When we lost Internet last month, we had one night where we stayed up for hours playing gin rummy and drinking bourbon. That was pretty awesome, even if the next morning wasn’t so awesome, haha. Ah, good times.
