2012: Year in Review

I've been sick all week -- actually most of my vacation. You know, the one in which I dreamed about catching up with friend, going to see live music (hey, I did get one karaoke session in) and getting completely rested and rejuvinated. Ah ha ha. Maybe being relegated to the couch is what I needed.

I haven't been good for much, but sitting on the couch and reading. And flipping through photos from the year. From the photo evidence it looks like I ate a ton of oysters, went to a lot of beaches, had some fancy cocktails, and took a bunch of photos of two pugs and one child. So, not bad.**

January: Annual tradition of going to the circus with the family, a trip to Vegas with Stephanie, and a coastal SC drive, in which I saw my college friend Liz, ate oysters at Bowen's Island, and caught this lovely view from Botany Bay:  

February: Teaching a writing class at Nate's school. The spa at the new Baltimore Four Seasons. Taking Nate on his first trip to See Rock City, despite that it was so cold we couldn't feel our fingers. The lowlight of that trip was hearing about Whitney's death while huddled under the covers at the Chattanooga Choo Choo. Just one of those moments.

March: A phone call saying, "Hey, you want to meet Patrick Demspey?" And then, the following day, this:

 

April: Nate's sixth birthday party (bowling style). 

May: Celebrating eight years of being married to Shane, who puts up with me despite a whole lot. Traveling to New York for cousin Brendan's wedding, during which we took the Circle Line with the family around the Statue of Liberty. Also got to see the Keith Haring exhibit at the Brooklyn Musuem of Art. I did cry that day, as we learned of Beastie Boys' Adam Yauch passing. Just saying.  

And spending an epic two weeks traveling the Gulf Coast for story research, during which time I met Alice Cooper. (Not related to the story.)

June: Eating a lot of food in New Orleans. Seeing my great friends Steve and Nancy, who were showing Steve's work at Jackson Square.

Also, a drive through Middle Tennessee, where I got to visit with my new friend Kristen, go to my first Bonnaroo (where I saw Radiohead), and sit in the, well, "a" General Lee.

July: Celebrating my nephew, Henry's, first birthday in Jackson. 

August: Family trip to Sandestin. Being surprised on my 36th birthday by Mom and Dad givine me a piece of Steve Joynt's art -- the Gulf Fish -- which I'd fallen in love with in New Orleans. And Nate starting first grade without being turned away at the door like he was the year before!

September: A drive down FL's historic A1A, where I got to visit with my oldest friend in the world, Jennifer. 

October: Dressing like Wonder Woman on Halloween. Going to the Burger Coalition's sixth-month anniversary dinner at Jones Valley Urban Farm. Visit Tampa (and seeing Courtney, Frank, and Blake in the process), and duckng into the gorgeous Dali Museum, which I hadn't seen since the renovations. Beautiful.

I also judged The Hangout's Oyster Competition, eating a few dozen oysters in the process. It was fun, but I had to declare an oyster-eating moratorium after this. (To be rescinded in 2013.)

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November: Having the entire family home for Thanksgiving. Having Norman King, R.D. cook an incredible bird. (Though he claims the secret is in the half-bottle of Prosecco I poured on it. Per his request.) 

December: Pulling off our third annua Santa party though I was close to end-of-year exhaustion.

Forgive me if I forgot a great part that included you. 2012 was filled with friends, family, and long and winding roads. I'm so thankful for each experience.

**Yes, there were some lame parts. I got sick way more than I wanted to. I hit a few walls.

But I also got the great gift of grace, which I really started learning about it my MORE group last winter (through Highlands), and was bolstered through the reCreate conference (which I wrote about here).

By the time I attended the LIFE Retreat this month, realized that the thrashing around I'd done this year was done, finito, in the past. But that's a whole other post. Grace is great. Great is what's getting me unstuck and moving toward the new.

And the oysters? The oysters aren't bad either. 

Merry Christmas From The Jazz Hands Family

The gifts have been opened, the sugar has been ingested, and the Poinsettias are being consumed in an attempt to stave off my sinus infection. That works, right?

As we settle in for a nap before setting off to go to the movies, I share with you intermission in today's festivities. First a video from Christmas Eve: the annual singing of Happy Birthday to Baby Jesus:

No Christmas family basement dance off this year because we're all not here. But, in the spirit, a dispatch from the land of mechanical Christmas toys: my parents' house:

Merry Christmas to you and yours. Hope that it's booty-ful.

Related Posts:

Happy Birthday Baby Jesus: Jazz Hands Family Tradition 

Last Christmas

Baseball Is Confusing

Today was Nate's first baseball game of the season. He played last fall, but a lot of things have changed since then, including a number of the rules, and the fact that that this year, they are keeping score. 

One of the moms came up to me and Shane during the day and asked if Nate was ours.

"Um, it depends?"

She said Nate had turned to one of his teammates during the game and said, "Man, I'm confused!"(The parents thought this was funny. And it was funny, probably delivered with total honesty and exasperation.) 

I get it though -- the kid was telling the truth. Baseball is confusing, especially to a six-year old who hasn't been around the game a whole lot. Heck, as a 36-yr old I'm confused watching the game, and really just clap when everyone else is clapping.  

His honesty struck me. How do you know to play the game unless someone has told you the rules? And what happens when the rules change on you? 

As adults, it happens all the time. There are new rules in our jobs, sometimes new rules in relationships. Figuring out these shifts is hard unless someone tells us (and people tend to forget).

The good news is that some things never change. Some rules stay the same. 

You just have to learn them. From good sources.

Related Links:

A Very Young Editor (I'm Thankful For Childcare)

Bird on My Head and a Tweet from Elvis on My Phone

It's difficult to sum up the past few weeks other than this photo, taken over the weekend at Sandestin, where my family and I spent a great long weekend. Yes, those are birds on my head. And yes I smiling but also thinking, "please don't poop on me." 

So we had a great trip, which I'll write about when I wake up out of the blog-launching laser focus I've had the past few weeks. Yesterday, a day after the bird encounter, said new blog went live. It's called The Daily South, and it's the official new blog at Southern Living. We've only just begun (insert Karen Carpenter voice).

Today Elvis Tweeted us in response to a post about Elvis Week. OK, not Elvis himself, but you know: the official Elvis account. My job here is done.

Not really: it's just beginning. And as a reminder that life happens when we're busy making other plans, the second I hit "Publish" on my first post for the Daily South, Nate ran up to me and said "Mommy, Mommy, I lost my first tooth!"

My friend Anne came to the rescue, surprising us with a gold dubloon left in our mailbox late last night. Kiddo was thrilled.

There's a bird on my head and an Tweet from Elvis in my pocket. Just another week. Or as Elvis would say, TCB. 

Summer Is: Calm **

This is how I started the summer, yesterday:

Nate and his friend Austin played in Austin's neighborhood pool. They chased butterflies. Austin encouraged Nate, who is still a hesitant swimmer, the magic of being able to bob underwater. It felt like it was 100 degrees outside but the cool water was perfect. It was calm. Last year I wrote a series of posts entitled "Summer Is." This summer, the word I want to choose is calm.

Maybe I'm noticing summer more this year because it's the first summer Nate is out of school. Unlike preschool, there's a noticeable break in the year. (I used to think year-round school would be great -- for kids and parents. But after a first year of school I see why that break is so needed. Mind changed.)

We all need a break. Though I don't have the summer off, it's still summer. So I'm getting off this: And spending summer like this. 

This summer I want to read, stacks and stacks of library books and Kindle singles and magazines that have been piling up on the coffee table. I want to read until I fall asleep: And have this guy sitting next to me the whole time: I want to take time to walk around and think. Or not think:

And when it gets too hot, back to the pool, or to the new Steel City Pops for some of these:

I'm going to spend more time with these people (spotted at our Memorial Day barbecue):

There will be writing -- specifically the outline of a project I've put off for a long time: **And though I hope this summer to be calm, that doesn't mean there won't be an occasional dance party, like today at my parents' country club. Who knew there would be a DJ? Nate provided poolside entertainment for the zillions of people there to cool off on the first official day of summer. Can't always have quiet ... thankfully.