Magic Moments Monday

We had a wonderful day at the zoo on Saturday where I snapped this photo of my husband and son checking out the Hippos.

I had to scour the archives for the following picture.....

Same location- same very handsome men.

How fast time flies.

Are there swarms of cicadas in the end of the world scenario????

Don't some people call them locusts??
Whatever your preference, they are on my list-
I am sooooo over this cicada hatch!! I have always hated them- one of my earliest memories is standing on the deck at my grandma's house afraid to go down the stairs because a giant bug was standing there leering at me with its big beady orange eyes and hissing..... freaking scary if you are 4 (or 31, whatever).

We basically live on a cicada farm right now, they are all over my kids playhouse, the trees, the foundation and I can only assume crawling throughout the entire yard :(

A few weeks ago we noticed a bunch of tiny holes in the dirt around our trees and N thought it was pretty cool when I explained how the bugs live underground and come up and shed their shell- blah, blah blah. It was still cool when we started seeing the occasional shell stuck on a leaf.

Now- NOT COOL- go away scary bugs.

This morning we tried to walk to the babysitter's house and after rolling the stroller through several yards of bug carnage/dive bombing insects, we gave up. I know they are harmless, but there is something apocalyptic disheartening about a fat bug that screams at you when you walk by!

Paaaaartay ;)

I love a good party- this is no surprise to those of you who know me. Last weekend, my mother and I threw my cousin a baby shower. It is her first baby (a girl) and she is a wedding planner with great style so we knew we wanted it to be extra special. I decided against the usual themes and chose a "sugar and spice" theme of flowers, paisleys and swirls. We went for a color palette of mostly pinks and purple with just a bit of orange and lime green sprinkled in there. to keep "baby" in an otherwise adult party, I included diapers and vintage pink pacifiers wherever I could. I think my favorite part was the centerpieces made of single tier diaper cakes with a short vase in the center so that I could add flowers in the shower colors (I got very lucky at the florist that morning when their selection of cut flowers offered exactly what I wanted to put them together). We had a great time and she seemed to love it. Isn't she beautiful by the way?!

Welcome to the Shower for Baby S!!

Pom Chandelier

Candy favor bar- "too bad" we had so much left

Aren't these great?! I am so tooting my own horn here :)

Love the pacifiers on the bows- great Hobby Lobby find

Sugar and Spice diaper cake and the gifts

Me and the glowing mommy-to-be

Seriously amazing brownies (found on my sister blog http://dr-mommagourmet.blogspot.com/2011/05/gourmet-brownie-shortcut.html )

Partygoers and part of the spread

non-alcoholic of course ;) wouldn't want Angie to feel left out!

Me and my Momma

Mini Memoir.... a prompt from Red Dress Club (on smoke)

The silence was so defined, so loud that you could almost hear the whispering trail of smoke as it rose from the end of a single burning cigarette. It climbed slowly up and out, peppering the room with its subtle acridness as a low note began to reverberate from the piano.  All eyes and a sharp-edged spotlight were focused on a tiny dark stage alive with intensity. She raised her smokey eyelids, placed a stiletto heeled foot on a bentwood chair, and began to sing. Rich tones reached deep into my very soul, warming but taunting me. It said this could be you. This stage and this audience, bent on every flick of her wrist and change of note, could be yours. The song tore a hole into my heart and freed precious memories of those past performances, those too few moments when I felt truly alive.  

And then SHE kicked me, the feeling deep within. My unseen but already cherished little girl moved to cover the hole, to fill my void with a new purpose. I moved my hand across my swollen belly and bit back my tears and opened my smokey eyelids. My stilettos were firmly on the floor and my voice silent, the audience was not for me but still, I felt alive. HER voice, as silent as that whispering trail of cigarette smoke gave me new life.

This week's prompt was based on a picture of a burning cigarette in an ashtray.