WonderFALL. Finally. Bundle on up.

Uggs out, shruggs out!

Delayed Fall is the absolute worst thing I can imagine season-wise. Worse than delayed Summer, even. When the daylight is less and less with each passing sunrise and set, yet I'm still rocking flippy-floppies and a tank top, I get angry. The humidity this September was almost unbearable. Yes, I have forced my new Seychelles boots on a handful of times and my Uggs have made their seasonal debut as of yesterday, but it's been hot and humid and high 80's. It's well passed time to go for mums & pumpkins & spiced lattes, not go back into the attic and unpack our warm-weather wear like we're traveling to South Florida for a weekend jaunt.

That is all (for now), Mother Nature. You and your Indian Summer can pack up and take a hike already and leave the fall foliage and crisp air for us to enjoy a bit before Old Man Winter awakes...inevitably sooner than we'd appreciate.

XOXO
-ERSM

Make a little space and get out of your own way...

Kelle Hampton posted this song on her new FB page today. So fitting. Not sure how many of you reading this can relate to "nothing ever happens if you stay in your room" or "nothing ever happens if you leave the party too soon", but it's a constant debate in my own mind because I hate to miss out on...anything, really.

Which leads me to the point of this post - I tend to follow extreme habits mainly in my social life --- either play it too safe or do just the opposite and go pedal-to-the-metal on a social bender. Where's the middle ground exactly? I have no idea. Our calendar reflects this same existence - slammed busy with no time to breath, sleep, or eat a complete meal ... followed by purposeful lulls painted with downtime & quiet-time & kitty-time at the Carter House with my #1 & only piece of man-candy.

I'm not sure this is even a real issue that I'd like to fix...I just think it's our form of 'balance' if you can even call it that. I wish the ebbs and flows were a little more frequent and not so long-lived or distinct, maybe? That way we wouldn't get so burnt-out and then later on turn restless.

Just some blog-for-thought for ya on this Tuesday....

Have a fab day, ya'll!

XOXO
-ERSM



P.S. On a less internal, contemplative note --- "Rally Pretty Pink"! Ya dig???

A birthday week.

Well hello again, miss bloggy-blog! I've missed your (inter)face & I know I've been a bad mommy, so here I am. I'm back.

Beer Flights at the Leinenkugel Beer Garden

This past week were Jeremy's bday celebrations....34 big ones this year! Can't believe it. Life sure does have a way of flying past us without much of a warning...I guess the 'warning' is the birthday. Kind of depressing. Perhaps that's why we celebrate -- to lift the mood that you are in fact a year older....a year wiser, but still a year older. We celebrated with beverages for this exact reason. Makes it a little more palatable. At least temporarily.

Perfect Pour

Homemade Butterfinger Ice Cream c/o Woodberry Kitchen

9-24-11 WBK Menu

Other moments were glittered with yummy foods....per the usual. Homemade corn & roasted chicken soup, crispy brussel sprouts, Carolyn's chili, crab pots at Woodberry Kitchen. (Holy delicious, batman. Come to mama....)

WBK Crab Pot to Share

Homemade Tasties

Over various celebratory meals we contemplated and discussed the year passed. It was a great one for more than just these mentions... We jumped the broom in Jeremy's 34th year.  And then we got back on track to getting settled in our new Hamilton home doing various improvements and really just enjoying the calm after the engagement and wedding TYPHOON that had hit full force in 2010. Even travelled to some new spots including Bethany Beach, Cape May, Luray VA, & Charleston. Oh and of course Jeremy made the very important point that Goku was maimed... I mean "declawed"... in his 34th year (against my will in my 28th year). A detail none of us will ever forget...ever. I'm still recovering from the trauma myself, but he'll continue to 'celebrate' it on a yearly basis, I'm sure. I wonder if he'll want our baby declawed?

Ok back to it... on Saturday night, dear friends filled the Grand Cru and we toasted and laughed and enjoyed each other's company for Jeremy's day. We're pretty lucky peeps...prettyyyyyy lucky (or 'yucky' as I would say as a little 3 year old chick who couldn't pronounce her 'L's'.)

Thanks to all who came to cheers the old man and to anyone who missed it, well WE missed YOU! Catch ya next year for the big 3-5.

XOXO,

Love.

-ERSM

My earthquake brings all the boys to the yard.

Yesterday we had an earthquake. Yep, that's right. The 'quake of 2011. So bizarre. What I thought was the train next to my office barreling by, turned out to be a 15-second long 5.9-er originating 125 miles south in VA. I'm sorry, but DON'T WE LIVE IN MD?! Natural disasters are not something that frequent my life, until recently. We get little pieces of hurricanes in the fall, which is normal but now apparently we get hit by tornados and quakes. We're not equipped for such weather and frankly we need a bit more warning and time to prep, k?  Great, thanks. Good talk.

Selfish Smorkin

Not a good friend, Mega.

'Quake of 2011 Damage at The Carter House = Minimal-to-none. However, Fry took a pretty serious fall ending in a face plant. None of his other friends (you know, Megatron or Smorkin Labbit) were brave enough to rescue him. Poor, Fry.

Fry Face Plant.

Reset.

I'm back. Serious delay between posts and I need to apologize to myself because it's really unacceptable to not take a few hours a week to expand my creativity and force myself to write....shouldn't be so hard since I love it.

Anyhoo, just got back from our annual August Maine trip. Each year (for the most part) we take the hour and five minute Airtran flight to Portland, ME, where we're greeted by an ear to ear smile from Henry and the sweet (ear piercing) voices of my 8 and 5 year old niece and nephew - Jade & Hank. We head to a sacred place on this earth -- The Maine Lake House (also fondly known by the Smith/Clinton clan as "The Maine Attraction") -- where we're greeted by our other million family members for a long weekend of lake adventures!

Family can be stressful and frustrating and something that you can't even come up with words to describe...can only shake your head at. I realize this isn't only MY family that's this way, and that you can definitely relate. Everyone grows up and becomes their own, true self they'd been looking for the whole time, which is usually very different from the next person...and that's OK. In fact that's normal. Just takes adjustment. Take patience. Takes appreciation. These long weekends with my siblings and parents and nieces/nephews are SO special to me, and Maine, similar to NC, happens to be the perfect place to hit reset, restart, Apple-->Sleep, whatever you prefer. Just step back and really get down and dirty with some serious family hang-out time. Get to know who we've all become as the other 360 days of the year gone by have change us gradually, making each visit different and unique and just plain awesome.

To my Smith/Clinton/Martin/Penny/Grotzka families all over the damn creation --- LOVE TO YOU ALLLLLLL!! Each one of you is important in my role and the self I have become, so LOVE and THANKS.

Here are some pics for documentation of our time in Maine-ia 2011. I know there's a common theme including the most beautiful baby you've ever laid your eyes on, but he's just so damn photogenic! ;)

Jade and Grandon playing with Luke on the beach.

Babies LOVE Jeremy. Proven, scientific fact.

Standard.

Just had to include this for obvious reasons.

More Grandon, Jade and Luke.

Cousin Fun!

Jammin'

Sonny's Fam & Luke Marley

Uncle Ben & Aunt Marta w/ LMP.

Anniversary Rock for me & J-money.

Morning Playtime.

P.S. Alex, we missed you like you don't even know this year!!!! See you in September though for some more serious hangout time in OC. Get pumped, Handy. :)

Drop It Like It's Hot As Hades.

Idiom Def: If something's as Hot as Hades, it's extremely hot.

St. Paul Street. Hot as Hades.

Yeaaaaa....definitely doesn't do this week's record highs any justice. Opening the door to check the mail at work today was like leaping into a massive, steam-charged, clear flame the size of Baltimore. Cars and buses zooming passed on St. Paul Street create this heat-wind that's hot enough to take your breath away --- in a bad way. It's just too hot.

Luckily, I work at a dream job right now and will be able to "enjoy" tomorrow's sweltering 105 (without heat index, mind you) at the pool --- THANK BABY JESUS FOR SUMMER FRIDAYS! Laying out in code orange is probably a bad idea but that water is so enticing. I think I should get me some snorkel gear or scuba even! That way, I don't have to come up out of the water for long periods of time, like a suburban, blond manatee of sorts, escaping the Summer blaze. GENIUS.

Neighbors might think something's wrong with me, but it's time they know the truth. Not until I bust out my dance moves mid-scuba to the current song playing, will they FULLY know.

I recall growing up in Stoneleigh, the Norman Rockwell setting of Towson, MD, on the hottest of hottest days every kid in the neighborhood it seemed, had a lemonade stand...a candy stand....a lemonade AND candy stand....an "anything-and-everything I can sell" stand. Each block would be freckled with these cuties pies, which at some time, circa 1991, were the likes of me and my 4 crazy sibs ready to wrestle you down for your $.50 and barter with you to get our "one day only 3 for $3 deal", which makes ZERO sense since one cup was $.50. There aren't any mathematicians amongst my sibs, clearly --- only salesmen, brokers, ad execs, lawyers...and a teacher -- and that teacher, SHE was the worst of us all! (PROOF: I thought that a nickel was worth more than a dime for the first 10 years of my life because of her! SIZE DOES NOT DETERMINE THE VALUE OF THE CURRENCY, SARAH)! I just hope she doesn't teach her students this nonsense ;)

I digress....

On these too-hot-to-do-anything August days in Baltimore, I recall my step dad, Henry, pulling up from a long day at work with 5 or 6 cups of the sweetest (or most watered-down) lemonade you've ever tasted. He be balancing 5 on his briefcase and 1 between his jaws, walking up the back stairs to the house. "I couldn't just stop at one stand!" He'd proclaim, as he dumped each cup of yellow syrup or pink 'water' (depending on the stand and how much Country Time was allotted for that day's product), down the sink. "Have to support these young entrepreneurs, you know!! They're the future of our fine country!"

Too cute.

Stay cool, ya'll. I'm off to find my scuba gear for tomorrow's dive ... and choreograph my pool-side dance exhibition to our blog song of the day, Drop It Like It's Hot (which btw, my hubslice thought was "Drop it like it's HARD" until about 1 week ago...I know...I was just as shocked. He's sheltered and clearly doesn't know what truly good music is all about.)

XOXO
-ERSM

MISSING: Potted pink, purple and white petunia! (& some zen-monk words of wisdom.)

OK first off - WHO STEALS FLOWERS FROM A PORCH!!!??? Really pisses me off. And you KNOW it's not an adult who just wanted their own pot of beautifully pruned petunias. No, no. If that were the case, I honestly wouldn't be this irate or breathing fire. If they were currently hanging from someone else's covered porch or shepherd hook, with fresh water and dead blooms pinched, I'd be....perplexed more so than red-faced mad. But no, I guarantee they are laying face down in some gutter or dumpster all because a 15 year old, out too late on a Summer night, thought it was funny or was dared to go up to my porch, open the gate, take it off the chain and run. Well, they better run. Because if I catch them attempting this HILARIOUS feat again, they're gonna have a shepherd's hook in a place they might not think is so amusing. 


Secondly, and very, very different, I read this nice little line of ancient knowledge this morning and thought it was truly sound and beautiful. Take a read and let it resonate wherever it does within you....  


"Many paths lead from the foot of the mountain, but at the peak we all gaze at the single bright moon."
Ikkyu - Zen-monk poet, 1394-1481


Happy Wednesday, all, & enjoy the day (except you little bastards who yanked my 'tunias! You'll get yours.... DUN DUN DUNNNNNNNN).