not necessarily in this order

  Hello from our deck on the first warm weekend day to really appreciate it! Nothing like a romance novel and a super soaker to prevent the squirrels from taking out my birdcam again to set the Saturday vibe! Honestly, I’m sitting here like a plant soaking up some sun and avoiding my to do list. Lil Momma is running around the yard in socks, practicing her dance solo, and chattering away. The Mr is cleaning our gardens and making plans to take down a small tree that is allowed the squirrels to take out the antenna on our other birdcam a few weeks ago. Last night we went and saw Alton Brown’s final tour in Boston.The Mr and I have seen every tour he’s done and his shows (television and live) have really been one of those constants in our almost 20 year relationship. Lil Momma joined us last night, which made me super happy to do something fun as a family before everything gets crazy. (Crazier) In this very moment, she’s having her yearly realization that she loves being outside and ...

When Lil Momma was a tiny thing and it was winter, one of our favorite things to do was to pack up a snack-heavy picnic lunch and drive somewhere just the right amount of far away. We’d go for a chilly walk in the woods or we’d go stand near the ocean and just freeze to see the water and jump back in the car and go grab hot chocolates. Then, we’d park in front of a beautiful view and have a car picnic with some fun tunes on the radio. (For LM’s younger years, the rotation was very Taylor Swift heavy, haha!). We’d chat and eat and warm up and sip our fun drinks and it was just this little moment of joy and good bit of distraction during those toddler and preschool years.  I’m in the position, like I have been in recent years, of having to burn vacation time during the last two months of the year. Note, being more intentional with my paid time off is one of my birthday goals for next year . I try to stay out of the house while the Mr. is working and it’s been a really fun challenge ...

Maybe I should have called this “Dancing Uphill” as my life is revolving around these weekend dance competitions right now, haha! A few thoughts from lately:   Lil Momma had an amazing first dance comp of the year 2 weekends ago. Her first-ever duo got one of the special judges’ awards for storytelling and they placed in their category, her hip hop dance placed in its category, jazz was adorable, and she had a wonderful time running around with her friends. Bonus, all of her dances were done in ONE HOUR. Of course, we did hang out for SEVEN HOURS to see awards (not to mention driving down the day before and having a parking nightmare from the comp and a college graduation making spots impossible – I had to drop LM off, watch her go in, and then drive to a parking garage and power walk uphill 15 minutes to get back to her), but it was all worth it to see her having a nice little moment.   Last weekend’s comp was a bit oof, to be honest. We stayed overnight at a hotel, which was...

  One  This week has a bit of a slog. A regular amount of busy but it feels like my brain has been moving on .75 speed. I don’t know if this is it, but after being incredibly consistent with my allergy meds for MONTHS after buying a pill organizer, I somehow missed TWO DOSES this week – so, maybe my brain is just full of pollen and histamines?  Two  I’m having such a hard time commenting on some blogs. I get sent into a weird login loop for platforms I didn’t know I had logins for and the like. I created a new email address for me at this blog (notnecessarilyinthisorder (at) (gmail) etc.) to see if I can get around it. So, if you see that in your spam filters, it’s me!!   Three  The first dance competition weekend is upon us! LM dances  on Sunday afternoon  and awards are  at 7:30 pm  (ON A SCHOOL NIGHT?!?!?) and will be doing a Duo for the first time ever. Her performances will be wild; they are all in an hour, so she’ll go from her Duo...

5 recap rambles from the weekend that was and a fun blogging challenge for the week that will be!   One  Thanks for all the good thoughts for LM! She was pretty oof on Saturday with a chunky cough and congestion, but  managed to rally for Easter  and went back to school today. (well, that was a fight, but it happened)   Two  Since her babysitter was ok with the cold, the Mr. and I were able to go to the  Murder   Mystery   party  with my former workout friend group! It was  Deadwood themed , so we all dressed up in our best 1800’s Western garb (which was wild) and a couple of friends decorated the house where we met like a saloon! The company we used was called  nightofmystery  and they supplied everything you really need to hold one of these parties (character descriptions, how to “run” the party, costume suggestions, etc.). We all received cards with objectives for our characters to figure out clues (the Mr. ended up bei...

  Lil Momma has some ad hoc dance classes (during tech week for her show?!?) to learn her competition lyrical duo, so I thought I’d live blog my mental tangents from here in the waiting room… I’m usually in my pajamas right now  Tomorrow is a half day of school 7:15pm is so late to be out and about  I hope the costume I ordered for this fits  LM looks like such a big kid <<internal sob>> The dog is probably going to give me a guilt trip when I get home  There’s the other mom asking if I can bring her kid back; oof, night driving to strange houses Do I have anything for lunch tomorrow? Tomorrow is a half day of school I wonder if it will be warmer tomorrow  I wish I brought a snack. Or a water.  We need to be at dress rehearsal by 3:45 tomorrow which means we need to leave at 3:30 which means I need to get her ready at 3 which means I need to leave the office by 2:15 at the latest which means I need to leave the office by 2 at the latest bec...

    One  This week has been oof. I don’t know if it was  residual tired from the time change, a wild work week where I had to be in office an extra day (and extra early) to co-lead a workshop, or just a really full brain and not enough sleep. Or, all 3?   Two  To jump back a week, Lil Momma and I saw  Frozen  the musical  at a theater in Rhode Island last Friday night. She loved, loved, loved it! I went in thinking I would be lukewarm about it, but ended up really enjoying how they translated it to the stage – and, SVEN WAS THE COOLEST THING EVER!!! Next season, this theater has a handful of shows that LM, the Mr. and I would all really enjoy and I’m hoping to lean into experience presents and keep this going. Three  We did have one  awkward   theater   experience , though, that keep haunting me. LM and I were spread out a bit because our friends who were supposed to join us could not, so I was on the aisle and LM was spac...

One  It’s a chop, but not a wild one! And, an explanation (which was more of a win, haha!)… I had gone to the same place to get my hair done for 10 years up until 2 years ago. When they dyed my hair, it would burn my scalp and I’d get a rash on my forehead and ears, but they said it was just because I was sensitive. Apparently, the dye was too intense chemically and impacted my curl pattern as well. SO, my stringy, knotty, gross ends were the damage from those years, while the hair above is healthier because of the better for me dye I get at the place I have now.  I HAD 2 DIFFERENT CURL PATTERNS GOING ON ON THE SAME STRANDS OF HAIR?!?!?!  No wonder it / I was a mess. My mind was blown! I told her to cut off all the damage and am so much happier with it. Though, it still doesn’t work for day 2 in office, so I guess my next adventure will be to see if my roots stay mostly bearable if I’m washing my hair 2-3 times midweek…   Two  Next week is school vacation here....

  Some thoughts from a February snow day for my girl and work from home day for me and her dad   One  “Why is Lil Momma up so early when we didn’t have to get up?”   Two “Is my hair too wild for video calls or can I hide it with my headset?”   Three “Thank goodness cinnamon toast felt fancy enough.”   Four “I am so glad the Mr and I aren’t doing Valentines because I didn’t get anything.”   Five “So much for checking my technology for that big meeting tomorrow.”   Six “Yay for friends who take my girl sledding.”   Seven “I will give myself grace for having the Mr get himself a card from Lil Momma since I thought we weren’t doing Valentines.”   Eight “I don’t know why I am so exhausted  at 4pm .”   Nine “I only have  until Friday  to finish one of my library books and I am not enjoying reading it but I have to finish it for a challenge”   Ten “I am so glad we can have family dinner and a cozy night and early bedtim...

  This was the first week with everyone a certain level and above   going back into the office on Tuesdays and Wednesdays   and oof, it was a lot. I have been going in on Tuesdays and Thursdays for well over a year – the Mr thought I should get out of the house more and the change in scenery and ability to “leave” work did me good – but, this change of energy with so many people and so much noise and all the wild energy and feelings coming off everyone about the change was exhausting…   …and, then there’s my hair.   My hair washing schedule worked really well with my Tues / Thurs in office days. For context, I have curly hair down barely to my shoulders. I treat my curls with fear and respect. I try to only wash my hair 2-3 times a week as not to wash all the $$ I spend on dyeing it down the drain and not to dry out my curls. On days where I don’t wash it, half the time I end up spraying it down with water and recurling it (even though they don’t look amazing, i...

  I am having one of   those work weeks that just beat you up . Vague asks that do n’t make sense, changing timelines and details, being behind the ball but not having any way to get ahead… Sigh, this is not when I shine. However, I had my personal pity party last night and am trying to let the stress go and do what I can do with what I have when I have it.   For this week, I wanted to ramble away about  Lil Momma’s audition for a special production class  at her musical theater school as it took up most of our energy last weekend:   Lil Momma went in strong on Saturday am and was so ready with her bit of song and good attitude. With both us knowing more than half the auditioners would NOT make it in, I tried to balance my car ride pep talk with real talk ride to the studio, for sure.    When I picked her up, she was devastated, unfortunately, because a bunch of the younger kids and some of the competition team kids had gotten a callback for that ...

    A weekly a portmanteau of TANGents and rambLES Ramble #1 : My effort to lower my screen time this month has turned into what feels like an aggressive use of my local library and   5 books done in the first 9 days   (and 2 prompts checked off for the Pop Sugar Reading Challenge!!). Here are a handful of hot takes:   Good for a Girl: A Woman Running in a Man’s World –  Lauren Fleshman Lindsay rating  = 3 ½ stars Ten-word reaction : thoughtful, sad, infuriating – but I wanted more of her voice PSRC Prompt : #7 – a book about women’s sports and/or by a woman athlete    The Dark Angel (Ruth Galloway #10)  – Elly Griffiths Lindsay rating  = 3 ½ stars Ten-word reaction : twisty and dense but not enough exotic; loved Ruth’s growth   The Stone Circle (Ruth Galloway #11)  – Elly Griffiths Lindsay rating  = 4 stars Ten-word reaction : Nelson being all in his head is all I need   Meet me at the Lake  – Carley Fortun...