Archive for the ‘Baby Z’ Category

All About…Daisy

Aug 14th, 10 / 5 Comments

Daisy, circa 1985

I know, right? I write a blog all about my life and now I’m going to write a post all about me.  I’m just that self-centered! Perhaps I’ve done this before but frankly, I’m too lazy to look into my archives so here we go again. New readers: enjoy! Old readers: I hope I’m not boring you. Mom: hush.

1. I’ve lived in: Washington, Idaho, Arizona (twice), Virginia, Alabama, Utah, Dallas, New Orleans and Chicago. I also spent eight years overseas, living in England and Germany. My Mom and & Dad both grew up in California but my Dad’s family was from the South (Georgia) which is where we spent a lot of my summers as a kid. Now my Dad’s family is spread out all over the South while my Mom’s family is in California.

2. While I consider myself to be from the South, I live in Chicago and I’m married to a man who was born and raised in Detroit which is where my desire to make pot roast in December comes from. They don’t really make pot roast in the South, but my husband definitely endures a lot of grits for breakfast. He’d never had grits until we got married. Blasphemy. My point being: we love both cheese curds & cheese straws.

3. I have one birth mark, it is on the bottom of my right foot.

4. I have blonde curly hair but tragically didn’t really realize it was curly until I was about 16. That explains why my photos from age 10 to 16 are so……awkward. And poofy. I want to reach in with a straight iron and fix all those yearbook shots.

5. In high school I was on the cheerleading squad and the debate team. (I think this is where my Gemini personality comes in.) I was a better debator than cheerleader, which is why I’m now a lawyer and not in Dallas dancing for the Cowboys. Nothing shouts “cool kid” like showing up 5 minutes late to a football game and tying your ribbons in your hair as you run on the field because your debate tournament ran late. Nothing.

6.  I moved to Chicago from New Orleans 2 months before Hurricane Katrina hit. That storm is one of the defining moments of my life and I still cry when I see images from it.

7. I started blogging in law school when I needed an outlet from the absurdity of the gunners, the library, the final exams from hell and people with Supreme Court Justice aspirations (hint: it isn’t going to happen, idiot). After I became a grown-up lawyer I moved to this space, where I like to think I’m slightly more mature. In reality, I think I just swear a little bit less.

8. I cook, a lot. My baking skills are mediocre (I’m not big on measuring) but I’m slowly working on that as well. My husband’s most requested meal is pork tenderloin, goat cheese mashed potatoes and veggies. My favorite meal to make is risotto & I think that I have finally perfected the art of a roasted chicken and a homemade cheesecake. Typically not for the same meal.

9. I live in the city of Chicago but I work in a suburb 29.6 miles from my house. This means I spend about 3 hours a day in the car commuting, even though I leave my house at 6 in the morning and I leave the office at 3 in the afternoon to try and avoid peak traffic times. In other news: when I’m wealthy, my first splurge is going to be on a driver.

10. I have an obsession with dishes and china that you can read about here. I make no apologies, but if I invite you over for dinner, please feel free to request a certain pattern. I’m happy to oblige.

11. One day B and I will have kids, but right now we are enjoying our newlywed life. We got married a year ago in October in Savannah, Georgia. (10-10-2009) It was everything we wanted and more, especially the food. We served heavy appetizers and had food stations instead of a plated dinner and it was easily the best decision of our wedding. Bonus? I didn’t have to create a seating chart. Win-win! 

12. We have a beagle, Rhett Butler, who makes coming home from work even more fun. His hijinks are featured regularly here. We also have a nephew, Baby Z, whom we love dearly but don’t get to see nearly enough.

13. I have one brother and B has no siblings which means our future kids will not grow up like I did, with 12 aunts and uncles and cousins galore. This makes me a little sad, but I have no doubt I’ll assuage that guilt with extra trips to Disney World.

14. I’m a klutz, I often speak before I think, I chatter aimlessly when I am nervous and I have a constant case of foot-in-mouth syndrome. If you can get past these things, we will probably be good friends.

15. I am training for a 109 mile bike race that I’m riding in November of 2011. I am reminded daily of what a silly decision this was, normally when I’m putting on my compression fit biking shorts with the padded ass.

16. I monogram everything. It is how I do things.

Baby Z, Bicycle, Chicago, Married Life, New Orleans, Rhett Butler, Wedding

Future Plans

Jul 22nd, 10 / 2 Comments

Rhett Butler has been plotting as of late:
(He wishes I’d let him be while he thinks of his schemes.)

Anyway, he has recently announced his plans.

He, (and the Blue Dog) will be ruling the world. He just needs those thumbs he asked for for Christmas.

He is already working on his pose as you can tell. Blue Dog does all the smiling.

(Rhett Butler is the face of Serious Worldly Business.)

His first task will be naming Baby Z his second in command…

…mostly because he is just the right height to hand over his goldfish crackers on demand.

Hey, a leader has got to eat, people. Don’t judge.

Baby Z, Rhett Butler

Tidy Bear

Feb 22nd, 10 / 7 Comments

Growing up my Uncle (my Mama’s brother) had a stuffed Bugs Bunny. Bugs was his bud and Bugs went everywhere with him. For years Bugs was his number one pal and they shared many adventures similar to Calvin & Hobbes, only this was R  & Bugs. One day my Mama’s other brother got into a fight with R and in a moment of childhood anger he picked Bugs up & hurled him across the room. In what my Mom describes as a moment of astonishing fear and panic, Bugs hit the wall and…and….. his head came off.

 

Yes. Bugs Bunny’s stuffed head popped right off. My Mom said the entire house went silent- after all Bugs was R’s best friend – with fear as to how R was going to react. R calmly picked the pieces of Bugs up and left, going to his treehouse and pulling up the rope. Many hours later my other Uncle, a bit worried and feeling remorseful went to see if Uncle R was doing ok.

 

He was.

 

He’d just been busy skinning Bugs the stuffed animal & tacking his polyester “hide” to his treehouse wall.

 

(For those worried, Uncle R turned out just fine. No homicidal tendencies & his little boys are adorable & smart as a button.)

 

Years later, when I was a little girl I had a stuffed Lowly the Worm. (Lowly the worm drove an apple car – so nifty!) I loved Lowly and his jaunty little cap, he was long & skinny and the perfect companion to play outside with. He was also excellent for whapping my baby brother upside the head with. Of course, in one ill fated arguement I whacked Bubba too hard and poor Lowly’s head came off. I cried and cried and my Mom sewed it back on, but after that Lowly had to stay in the toybox, lest he start losing his felt eyes or little hat.

 

I also had a stuffed bear – cream, with pink gingham lined ears and a little bow around his neck – that I named, in a fit of “Two Year Old OCD Precursors” Tidy Bear – he was, in fact very neat and tidy. Tidy Bear had a bell inside his belly and he would jingle as I walked with him. My Mom said that she always knew where I was based on Tidy Bear’s jingle. After repeated washings the bell grew rusty and instead was just a metallic clank, but I still packed Tidy Bear for every trip and overnight stay- to the point where his face was permanently smushed to the side. Tidy Bear traveled the world with me until an ill-fated hotel stay after one of our moves back from Europe. I was 14 years old and Tidy Bear had gotten tangled in the bed clothes & was taken to the hotel laundry facility where he was never heard from again. My Mom tried to convince me that Tidy Bear had been picked up by one of the maid’s at the facility and had found a new loving home, but I remain convinced that hotel staff was simply out to get me.

 

It is funny, the mementos we hold on. Baby Z has become firmly attached to a soft chenille blanket B & I picked up for him at a sailing event, he takes it everywhere. My brother has begged us for a second one, something to give Baby Z when the original blankie is in the wash. My best friend growing up had a stuffed puppy dog, and my sources tell me the puppy dog, now flat and tattered,  still resides under her pillow at night. Lowly Worm has long been tucked away, with my American Girl dolls & photos of me with my ever-present pal Tidy Bear. Even Rhett Butler has a lovey- an (organic!) stuffed lamb I bought him on a whim. He snuggles up to it at night and carries it around during the day. The things we find comfort in are often small and inconsequential to the rest of the world but to you, that smushed stuffed animal, or even (eep!) remaining Bugs Bunny “hide” is full of memories and comfort.

 

What about you? Is there a Bugs Bunny hide, tattered blanket or smushed up animal whose had his eyes & head sewn back on more times than you can count lurking in your bedside table?

Baby Z, Family, Rhett Butler