Successful Shopping Venture

Shopping is a hit or miss thing for us, and usually it is a miss. So, when we have a good shopping trip, we feel really good about ourselves. Yesterday, Monica had the afternoon off and we went to see the movie 21. After the movie we went to Wolfchase to get me some glasses from Lenscrafters. We got there at 4:30 and it turns out I needed a new prescription, so I saw one of their eye docs. After I ordered my glasses and sunglasses, we had to kill 1 1/2 hours until they were ready. That was when we started our suicide mission to find a dress for Monica to wear to two weddings this spring.

Fortunately, we were looking for a chocolate brown dress. I think most people know that if you can know the color of the dress, you can scan through racks pretty quickly, and it can save days of dress-looking time. We pride ourselves in being quick scanners at stores. After trying several stores in the mall, Monica said the dreaded phrase, “It looks like we’ll have to go to a department store.” Fear entered my heart, but I had to be strong for her, and we went to Macy’s. This is the amazing part--we were there less than 20 minutes and walked out with the perfect dress! We gave each other several high fives and then proceeded to go to Brookstone to sit in massage chairs and lie on their Tempur-Pedic mattresses. After picking up my glasses, we left the mall at 8, without fighting. Three and a half hours of shopping and we were still friends!

Jamaica '08, JM, and DM

We are officially going back to the land down under Cuba. We are going over our 5th year anniversary, just like we went over our 4th last year. As far as traditions go, we think this to be a good one. This is not a Babymoon either, so don’t start thinking in that direction. Once we have a child, we’ll have to start going to Beaches, but it is pretty much right next to Couples on the same stretch of white sand.

On another note, does anybody feel let down by John Mayer’s new song “Say what you need to say”? He sings the line “Say what you need to say” like 42 times or more. I thought that sort of repetition was saved for Christian music! Speaking of Christian music, Dave Matthews is coming to Memphis August 2nd and we’re going to try to go. We usually get passed up by the good ones in Memphis, so this will be a big treat.

Say what you need to say, say what you need to say, say what you need to say, say what you need to say, say what you need to say, say what you need to say, say what you need to say, say what you need to say…

Jesus Loves the Little Misguided Children, Too

As I sat in the McDonald’s drive-thru waiting for my 2 cheeseburgers and a parfait, I looked forward and saw a small child peeking over the back seat in the car in front of me. He had this real inquisitive look that only a child could give, and then he preceded to give me the bird. It was perfectly formed—knuckles tight and middle finger extended as far as possible with noticeable muscle strain! Not exactly a “Precious Moments” figurine experience! Here I am minding my own business and a five-year-old is insulting me. I ended up just sitting there, understanding that there is no way this kid understands completely what he is doing, hence his huge grin. I avoided making any negative response and refused to reward his behavior, but I found myself overcome with sadness. His parents were sitting in the front seat and didn’t see any of this, and I had the thought of getting out of my car and telling them what he was doing, but I decided this wasn’t a good idea because I had no idea how his parents might respond.

This was just one of those times to sit and be sad. He had no idea what he was doing and besides my hair being a little messy, this couldn’t have been about me. A good Christian might pray for the boy right then and there, but I have not achieved this level of sainthood. Out of all of this came the thought and question: what is a proper response to a situation like this—the proverbial 5-year-old flipper offer? And a companion question: What will I do when I catch my 5-year-old flipping someone off? (I plan on these things happening).

Memphis Tornadoes

No, I’m not talking about a dinky little semi-pro roller hockey team, Memphis tornadoes refers to actual tornadoes. One touched down at a mall 10 miles away from our house, but we just got a lot of wind and rain.

Here is what I think is funny: Memphis city schools let out at 12:30 in the afternoon because of the possibility of severe weather. They weren’t even predicting the storm to come through until after school was out. It didn’t even start raining until 4pm. This is way different than what would happen in Edmond, OK public schools. I had to remind myself, though, that Memphis has a more litigious culture, especially when it has to do with schools and liability, and also, a high number of kids are in after school programs until 5 so their parents can work—and things were pretty crazy at 5. So, it makes more sense to me now, but is so different from where I grew up.

LOST is Found

Tonight might be the most important night ever for the show LOST. All this unnecessary anticpation due to the writer’s strike has kept us on our toes. We watched the last two episodes of last season on ABC last night. They had a pop-up video type thing going on at the bottom of the screen that was helpful for getting back into the story line. We have waited so long for this show, and tonight our waiting will be over.

Why is this the most important night ever for the show? First of all, we’ll know if the fan-base has hung around after all this time. I’ve talked to a few friends who loved the show, but do not plan to get back into it. Second, we’ll find out if they can live up to their cliffhanger ending last season and continue with the momentum. Third, we’ll see if a show that doesn’t revolve around power-women (i.e. Desperate Housewives, Lipstick Jungle, Cashmere Mafia, Big Shots—haha) can still survive on TV. Fourth, they’ll find out if showing the premier trailor 50 times a day works.

If you are teetering on the edge of getting back into it or not getting back into it, you should get back into it. We need you to watch so the show will go on. We have purely selfish motives here.

In other news, Tom Petty is playing at the Super Bowl and is also going back on tour. We will see Tom and the band in August in St. Louis.