Fueling My Run

These are the songs on my January17 Running Playlist...

Starboy - What is this song even about? I'm scared to ask considering what The Weekend likes to lyric about. Even after googling the words I can't explain it you...all I know is that it makes me want to pop my shoulders mid run. And a well placed curse word every so often can be very energizing. // "Star Trek groove in that Wrath of Khan. Girls get loose when they hear this song." 

Only One - I am sucker for a song that has a strong beat and a builds to a pounding pace. This radio edit does not disappoint. // "We're moving fast, but time is slow...Baby you got me feeling like the Only One."

Just Hold On - I blame this one on my shameless love of One Direction and going to high school with Steve Aoki. I had to buy it. It's actually pretty fetching. // "So what do you want them to say when you're gone? That you gave up or that you kept going on?"

Fresh Eyes - Running side by side (in life and on treadmills) with the same person for the last 21 years of my life...the lyrics of this song speak to my heart. May we all see our partners with fresh eyes. // "Appreciation, well it comes and it goes. But I'll ride this wave with you. It's human nature to miss what's under your nose."

Play That Song - Because Chopsticks. And because we all have "that song" that makes us go all night long. // "Play that song...the one that makes me think of you."

Castle On The Hill - whuuuuut? Ed Sheeran dropped two new singles yesterday and this one is all the heart eye emojis I can type. Driving beat + great hook + beautiful bridge = my new favorite. It's one of those life affirming power ballads that only Sheeran's raspy voice can lend legitimacy to. // "I'm on my way, driving at 90 down those country lanes. Singing to 'Tiny Dancer'...and I miss the way you make me feel, and it's real." 

Don't Wanna Know - I. Can't. Stop. Singing. This. Song. What is about Levine?...every damn song is so damn catchy. It must be the repetition. And the tattoos. // "I don't wanna know, know, know who's taking you home, home home and loving you so, so, so the way I used to do, do, do."

Let Me Love You - because my 2016 Resolution was to never lose faith in The Biebs again and it's the only resolution I've ever managed to keep. "Don't fall asleep at the wheel. We've got a million miles ahead of us." 

Water Under The Bridge - When I wanna quit I turn this one up. Adele has a way of schooling her subject without sounding angry. She is woman hear her roar. It makes me squint my eyes and mouth the words and punch the air and push through those last 3 minutes at an 10% incline. "It's so cold out here in your wilderness. I want you to be my keeper, but not if you are so reckless." 

______________________________

Matt and I were on side by side treadmills yesterday at the gym, but he didn't want a picture with me. You think it was my attire? LOL Can Baby Girl release some new music please?

Miley. A Defense? or a Gut Check? Maybe the BEST OF BOTH WORLDS.

Did you watch the VMA's Sunday night?? Some crazy ish went down. People have been UP IN ARMS about it for the past 48 hours.

I know I'm a loud person. I've made it so that I have an online presence...I've been putting my crazy out there for almost 8 years...with the blog and Facebook and Instagram and Tumblr and Twitter. There isn't much about me that is quiet.

So it's no secret I love Miley Cyrus. I call her Baby Girl. BG for short. If she's performed live anywhere within a 100 mile radius of me in the last 5 years...I've been there. And I've loved every minute of it. I own all of her CD's and movies. I could (proudly) "name that tune" to any number of her songs within 4 notes. Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy. It shouldn't surprise me then, that after Sunday night...I got a good 90+ texts/emails from friends and family wanting my opinion on her antics.

Can I really put it into words? The way I love this kid, I'm not sure. It's like trying to explain why your daughter is Queen Princess Fairy Mermaid Snowflake Rainbow Cupcake Ballerina at her dance performance. Because she just is. And she is amazing at it. Of course she is.

But...OK. I'm gonna try...

But first, I must know: Did Sunday night's broadcast really SHOCK you? If yes...I have to ask, where have you been? Have you forgotten being touched for the very first time at an awards show? (psssst...that was THIRTY YEARS AGO.) Do you not remember feeling like Pedro was your brother, your best friend, your next door neighbor? (psssst...that was TWENTY YEARS AGO.) Have you never cringed, and covered your eyes, and placed your hands over your heart, all the while hoping against hope that what Nev was unearthing couldn't be true?! (psssst...that was YESTERDAY.) Do you even know what a Catfish is?! (psssst....it's okay. I didn't either. But thanks to MTV, I know now.)

The VMAs are meant to shock. Meant to rub you a little the wrong way. IT'S MTV FOR GOSH SAKES. When did the nation forget this? MTV is not in the business of making you feel good. Of respecting your traditional values. They have made millions off of marketing the ugly, the weird, the shocking, the awkward, the uncomfortable, the in your face, the UN-politically correct. Why now, do you expect them to stop? To reign it in? The show aired at 9PM. This wasn't Saturday morning, local channel cartoons. All those impressionable babes should have been tucked in. 

Yes, I still love her. (In fact, I think I love her even a little more.) No, I don't think she's spiraling out of control. If that were Megan or Molly up on that stage, what would I do? Okay, Le sigh...let's do this: 

I will admit, Miss Cyrus was over the top. Even for me, a die hard LOVER of my BG...she was in my face. But about two seconds into her performance I was laughing. And shaking my head. And saying out loud, "Oh heck...here we go." Because, while I watched her performance with wide eyes and didn't 100% agree with the route she was taking...I understood what she was doing. This wasn't a poor rich kid, ruined by the spot light, falling off the deep end. This was planned. This was calculated. This was on purpose.

Miley's performance Sunday night resulted in more than 306,000 tweets per minute. That is more than during the Superbowl or when Obama won his second term or when we killed Bin Laden. 

LET THAT SINK IN. 

(it's sad and disgusting and I drives me insane that it's true, because I beg of you...there are SO MANY OTHER THINGS I wish we would champion in this manner...but it is what it is. WE make it so.)

And what has happened? Many talented people performed Sunday night: Katy. Gaga. Bruno. Justin. NSYNC. Macklemore. (Hello? Did you listen to what Macklemore was trying to say?!) Miley didn't even win an award!! But WHO and WHAT are people talking about? How many tweets and Facebook and blog and buzzfeed and whatchamacallit posts have you seen in the past 48 hours that were about Miley? People who have no clue what the VMAs even are...still know that Miley did SOMETHING Sunday night. Her performance has been streamed over 10.3 MILLION times on MTV.com in 48 hours. Nothing else even comes within 10% of that. 

A quote from Rolling Stone:

"Miley was the one star in the room who truly understood what the MTV Video Music Awards are all about. She stole the night, which is why the nation is still in recovery. Thanks, Miley." 

In all reality...that's exactly what she did. She stole the show. Hands down. No debate. 

Bankrupted it, is more like it. 

Do I think she could learn a thing or two from Gaga and Katy? Their performances Sunday night were arguably "flawless." They embodied power, edge, sex and strength. And everyone is still taking them seriously Monday morning. (Even tho Gaga danced around in seashells and a G-string, ahem!)

Yes. As a Miley lover, there is a part of me that screams, "WHY CAN'T YOU JUST BE SAFE AND SMART AND MARKETABLE??!!! Why do you have to rock the boat SO HARD?! Why do you have to come in like a wrecking ball?"

But then again...who is talking about Gaga or Katy's performances 48 hours later? No one. No virtual gossip columns. Not Perez. Not Buzzfeed. Not E! News. Not every other mom blogger on the planet. Even sugar sweet, tried and true, Taylor Swift (I say that tongue in cheek) dropped the F-Bomb on national television but it failed to produce a single blip on the virtual radar. 

Who and What is everyone STILL talking about? I'd venture to say, Miley's camp couldn't have wished for things to go more perfectly. Her fans bought it, those who hated it are talking about it, and EVERYONE is paying attention to it. 

And I am reminded WHY I love her. 
She's bold. She's brave. She's so young and yet so self assured.
She's marketable because she refuses to be marketable.
Her crazy, in your face, open chaos - that's her vulnerability.
Does she hide it? No.
Do you hate it? Love it?
She doesn't care.
She's using it to her advantage.

And she is a success.

She dropped the second single from her yet to be released EP Saturday night.

24 hours before the VMAs.

WITH NO PROMOTION WHATSOEVER. 

None. 

All she did was send out a singular tweet. 

In less than 24 hours, Wrecking Ball was #1 on iTunes in the USA, Britain and Brazil.

While the nation was watching her thinking, "OMG and WTF?!"...her single was going #1. 

She's not dumb. 

And she's not lacking fans.

This crazy, twerking, short hair, tongue lashing girl you see...

It's a brand she's selling. 

And it's working. 

To the tune of MILLIONS UPON MILLIONS OF DOLLARS.
And, if the last 48 hours are anything to show, apparently eons worth of free publicity.
(pssst...twerk was just added to the Oxford dictionary. No joke.)

Who wants to place bets on there being a run on foam fingers this Halloween?

Miley made her first million as an actress. 

Are you really so shocked that this is where she is now? 

This reinventing, self movement...it's very Madonna. 

(WAIT. WHAT?...that's so MTV. That's so 30 years ago!)

It's a performance.

She is a performer.

And the entire nation is walking right into her gyrating lap. 

In the grand scheme of things, I get why she did what she did Sunday night. It's marketably, bankably, absurdly GENIUS. But there is part of me that wishes she performed WB and brought the house down in tears instead. This is real. This isn't her playing games. The girl has a ridiculous voice...so much so, that I feel she takes it for granted. She doesn't even care to show it off. Cause she knows she owns it, and so do her fans. When Christina Perri tweets that your song is "massive," you know that it's angsty angst to the angst. (Notice she has it on continuous loop...Me too, CP. Me too.)

Miles, my BG...where was THIS VOICE Sunday night? Why do you fight it? I feel like there is a part of you that says "Eff it...people are gonna talk and hate anyhow. Might as well give them something to talk about." And I get it. I do. Cause there is a part of me that would do the exact same thing. 

But I digress. Back to the whole "What if that was Megan or Molly on the stage?" question...

Here's the hard thing for me to explain.

A Mother's Love.

If that were my kid,
Living big and loud. Happy and having fun. Alive in her dream.

Being herself. Being fierce, being brave. 

Earning a living...

I would give her a Standing O.

Just like Tish gave Miley Sunday night.

Of course I would.

She's mine and she's living.
We would have traveled this course together.
Our choices bringing us to this point.
So yes.

Of course. 

I'd be proud of my daughter. 

Would I be scared for her? Worried for her?
Would I wonder if, somewhere along the line, different decisions could have been made?
Would I wish she wasn't under the world's microscope?
Would I want to champion her dreams?
Would I kiss her goodnight?
Would I tell her the planet is better because she's on it?
Yes...I would.
Of course.

But here's the REALLY HARD THING for me to explain...
The VMA's are a point of national concern.

WHAAAAT?!
No, actually, I can't explain that one. 

Syria is using chemical weapons on it's own people.

A trans gender woman was beaten to death just for being.
1 in every 6 Americans are without dinner tonight. 

30,000 people DIE EVERY WEEK due to the lack of clean water.  

There is a homeless man that has sat on the corner of 17th and Orange for the last 12 months and I've never stopped.

But the nation is up in arms over Miley Cyrus and a foam finger.
And I'm spending time and energy writing a blog post about it...

Today, I will admit, Baby Girl is not my favorite.

I love her. So much.

But I hate that she can so easily bamboozle a nation.

Get us caught up in the superficial.
(If I stop to think about it...
It's really US that's not my favorite)

There is so much to be up in arms about OTHER THAN MILEY CYRUS. 

She has legs longer than the Mississippi.
She has a voice that will slay you.
She's brave and she loves her Momma.

Love her for these things. Or don't. 

But don't give her power she doesn't deserve. 

Fight and make a scene and get all UP IN ARMS for things that matter.

For love.

For clean water. 

For education. 

For good. 

For equality.

For fun.

For human rights.

For warm beds
For full bellies.

Do it. Please. 

BE APPALLED.

BE MORTIFIED.

Write about it on your Facebook page.
Blog and tweet and call your best friend!

Come in like a Wrecking Ball. 

WE CAN'T STOP promoting good. 

WE CAN'T STOP doing the right thing. 

WE CAN'T STOP finding joy. 

I hope we can't. 

If we do...

It will wreck ek ek me. 

Tuesday Tidbits and a menu plan

The Tidbits (aka: randomness floating about my head today)

1. Miley at the Billboard Music Awards - Ahem. Girlfriend had better have worn underwear. I get that she likes to assert that she's no longer 'Disney'...but whoa. I loved the shoes and liked the blazer, but the braless cleavage was a little much for me. I don't find it sexy. I find it trying too hard. While her vampy hair completed the look, it was not my favorite. I'm pretending her hair was the same as this night. By far, my fave.

2. I'm working on the photo prompts and graphic for #JunePhoto366 today. Creating and participating in this year long challenge has been so fun for me. April and I have become great friends...we even GOT TO MEET! and I enjoy that the commitment makes me take a few minutes each day to focus on the beautiful and fun in my life.

3. Since I've been so out of the blogging scene the past few months, I just today saw that two of my parties were featured on Tip Junkie! Keep Calm & Break Dawn is at the top of the party page, and Wyatt's Star Wars birthday party was on her list of Top 27 Star Wars Parties online. Fun for me. I'm still pretty partied out from Gala...but Megan's 9th has been popping up in the back of my chaos.

4. One month from today is the kids last day of school! I am excited for Summer...and Sunday Fundays...and Messy Days...and Bucket Lists. Memorial Day weekend is always the weekend we start grilling and eating outside almost every night and spending HOURS in the pool. I can't wait. Thinking we should celebrate with some strawberry sangria and fancied up ice cream sandwiches or something...and I REALLY need to get my tomato plants in the ground! This weekend for sure.

5. I have a bunch of recipes to blog! For Mother's Day I made a Meyer Lemon-Strawberry icebox cake that turned out super yummy. And last week, I made a steak and egg salad for dinner one night. The kids were not so impressed, but Matt and I enjoyed it. I hope to get the recipes up this week. 

6. ABC is saving me from my Hart of Dixie withdrawls. The Bachelorette...every season I swear I'm not going to watch. But it's like a train wreck...I can't help but look. And Rookie Blue. Oh yes...it's back on this Thursday night. Andy & Swarek better not mess this up. 

{source}

6. Cannes. Well really, just Kristen at Cannes. On The Road premieres tomorrow, which means red carpet fun...and June Elle came out yesterday (I snatched it right up.) This past week, she's been promoting SWATH all over the globe and knocking my socks off. UK and MEXICO photocalls have been my two favorite looks so far. Her hair is beyond. And I could eat those yellow shoes for dinner. And I'm obsessed with fuchsia lipstick right now...even more so on her. Excited to see what she shows up in tomorrow. I crossing my fingers for flow-y, jewel toned fabulousness...one of these Elle Saab's would put me over the top. We shall see...we shall see...

{source for all three dresses}

Here's what will be on our table this week:


Monday - Kielbasa chicken kabobs with rice and fresh pineapple
Tuesday - Ham steaks with sugar snap peas and scallop potatoes
Wednesday - Girls are headed to the American Idol Finale!!! And Mateo has Open House. So Munch and I will probably get take-out. I'll vote sushi, he'll vote Happy Meal. If I'm lucky, we'll get both.
Thursday - Mexican crockpot chicken over creamy polenta
Friday - I host Supper Club! I picked "Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives" as the theme. I'm making traditional Patty Melts for the main course and serving them up in red plastic baskets with dill pickle spears.

Two Favorites Tuesday and a Menu Plan

Oh boy.

Yesterday was a good day for little, old me...

And the silly things that make this silly girl giddy.

Two of my favorites came back with new happiness for me to enjoy!

One, Miss Cyrus released the new music video of her cover of Bob Dylan's Lonesome When You Go, celebrating 50 Years of Amnesty International. I love the video - the abandoned house and how everyone is by their lonesome playing their instruments. It's solemn, pensive and perfect; focusing on the music - not on Miley, not on costumes, not on dance moves. I love her voice here too. It's mournful and full of sentiment. So not Hannah Montana. And so not Untamed. I love those two versions of her, too (of course)...but this feels like what she is meant to do. I've always thought vocally she'd knock it out of the park (and finally be taken seriously as an artist) if she'd just shake the fear of her Father and Godmother's country music shadows and embrace the folk/country genre rather than the pop. To cover someone like Dylan takes some serious guts, no matter what the cause. And to do it well....well now I'm just waiting impatiently for a new album with more of THIS.

Two, Zoe Hart and Bluebell, Alabama returned to my television. In my next life, I'm moving to the South, naming my children after trees, and spending my days sipping sweet tea while I sit on my wrap around porch. Love this show. I love Rachel Bilson's spunky character, her fabulous fashion, the vintage-ness of everything and everyone else in town, and oh Lordy, I love the romantic push and pull that is the energy between Zoe, George and Wade. Can you tell from my collage below who I want Zoe to end up with? And...I do not love Lemon, but I think Jamie King plays her fabulously. So excited for the winter season. I will be sad when May sweeps is here.

Here's what will be on our table this week:


Monday - Open faced tuna melts and caesar salad
Tuesday - Spaghetti and meatballs with garlic knots
Wednesday - Chinese New Year dinner - Chinese chicken salad, egg rolls and almond cookies
Thursday - Book Club. I'm bringing herbed turkey meatballs with cranberry bbq sauce
Friday - Roasted turkey breasts, escarole and cannelinni beans, and 5 minute Artisan bread (both recipes from the Farm to Feast I went to.)

I've come to terms...

My mac took a dive at the beginning of Summer.
I was sad.
But my gracious, sweet, ever pleasing husband brought home his work computer for me to use while class wasn't in session.
So I've been surviving.
Even if it is a PC.

At first I was very respectful.
Saving pics to an external drive.
Logging out everytime I signed into Google or Hotmail or Blogger.

But slowly...that waned.
I think there are at least 25 different picture folders now.
An entire folder titled "Reina" that holds everything else I want to bookmark.
It's even my iGoogle home page that comes up when you get online.
Pretty much, I just took the thing over.

And Matt hasn't really said much.
He's let me have my way with the thing.
Except for when he logs on to read his Gmail....
And this comes up.

I've come to terms with my tween obsessions.
Miley, being one.
But alas, Mateo has not...He cringes everytime!
I think this better go before he takes the computer back to class.
His football and surfer boys might give him some trouble if they saw it!
Whadda ya think?
Apple store, here I come.

The Climb

By days end, I was in a deep dark place yesterday.
I can't explain what sends me there.
If I could, I would never go again.
But I could feel it coming on.
Whispering in my ear all day long.
So that by the time the kids were in bed
I was a crying, useless heap on the couch.

Matt held me and asked what was wrong.
"I don't know. Nothing. Everything. Nothing," I replied.

With that awesome response, he did what every awesome, caring husband would do.
Held me some more and turned on the TV.
The Hangover was on.
(this video has some spoilers and not so nice language. So watch appropriately!)

The Hangover Movie "Stu's Song" Restricted - watch more funny videos

I laughed.
Outloud.
Over and over.
There in Mateo's strong arms, my climb back out of the darkness began.
He truly is my rock. My favorite.

Today is brighter.
Cause I woke to these three.
Happy. Beautiful. And All Mine.

But I'm still climbing.
Fueled by Miley's Liberty Walk blasting throughout the house while I clean.
"Feeling your heart again, Breathing new oxygen.
Free yourself, slam the door, not a prisoner anymore."

(PS - this is video of the concert I WAS AT Monday night!! It's not my video...but Mateo and I were this close! It was amazing. Upside to being the oldest person at a Miley concert at the House of Blues...no line at the bar. Matt left to get us a beer and was back in under 2 minutes! HA. Click HERE and HERE for two more. I love.)

Donuts, Diet Coke and a picnic at the park for Megan's last day of school are also helping my ascent.
The fact that Laura admitted to having Bieber Fever definitely makes the climb more fun too!
Molly hollering into our oscilating fan "Luuuuke, I am your Faaaaa-ther!" ain't half bad either.

Hope everyone has an awesome weekend!
Ours is jammed packed with FUN.
My prayer is that I have the right heart, mind and energy to enjoy it all.
"We're gonna get it...when we live it."

Where Everybody Knows Your Name

I've said it before and I'll say it again...

WE LOVE our house, our street, our neighbors!

Tonight 4 families on our street are getting together for a potluck BBQ.

To kick off Summer.

To let the kids run wild.

To celebrate our blessings!

What to Eat??

Tonight I'm taking

Grilled Corn with Cayenne, Lime & Cheese

and

Key Lime Cheesecake

and

Salted Caramel Cupcakes

I love Summer!

Almost as much as our neighbors.

But not as much as my husband...

He bought two tix to THIS today. I DIE.

Thank You Matthew for putting up with {and indulging!} my obsessions!

My love for you Can't Be Tamed!

Random Tidbits

The sermon last week in church was about WORDS. And trying to go 24 hours without saying anything bad about anyone. It's been way harder that I thought!

My TiVo currently has 47 episodes of Young and the Restless in its que. I need Matt to take a trip to Costa Rica so I can catch up at night! Sadly, I could probably delete every.single.one. and still know what's going on.

For lunch, Molly powered down a hot dog doused in mustard and heavy with sauerkraut. She's so my people.

This weekend is my Glass Slipper Gala. Do you say it GAL-la? or GAY-la? I haven't a clue. But I hope to squeeze into my dress that's Haute Blue. Right after I sew some straps for it. Cause I'm not 17... and my boobs have nursed 3 babes. Me and strapless are not friends.

Whenever we walk thru a parking structure, the halls of Matt's school, or a big building...Wyatt hollers at the top of his lungs "GECKO!" and waits for it to bounce back to him. It's hilarious.

I better hurry up and watch those Y&R's cause on May 13th...if there is no room for Oprah, I'll freak.

The girls were playing house last night. Megan was dressing up as the Dad. I heard Molly holler from the bathroom as she grabbed a wad of TP, "I got your penis, Megan!" Awesome.

I absolutely love that on a whim, I can decide to take Matt lunch...pack up the kids, and be sitting with him face to face in under 10 minutes.

Cause his smile is better than any can of caffeine to get me through the rest of my day.

Can't Be Tamed rocked my socks. Loved every single thing about it.

All I want for Mother's Day is a Poolside Family BBQ. I'll even do the cooking. As long as Crack Burgers are on the menu. And Sapphire Martinis. And Blueberry Pizza.

(This post inspired by Cookie Mondays...who I get to squeeze this weekend. HOLLA!)

Gorgeous

We had neighbors over to watch the Oscars last night. So...between my Sophia pop tops and "hostessing" I didn't get to watch that much of it. Which is really just fine because out of all the movies nominated, I think I had seen TWO! District 9 and Inglorious Basterds. You can tell who controls the Netflix que in this house!

But thanks to my fabulous sister, I got to see the important stuff (or I should say...the stuff that mattered to me!) She texted me to say "Kristen Steward looks amazing. I love her dress!" So I was able to run to the TV just in time to catch her. And Miley too!

These two GORGEOUS ladies already have my heart regardless of what they showed up in, but in my humble opinion, both seriously rocked it last night. (Fumbled presenter speech and all.) I will say Miley's smile puts her over the top. If KStew would just hint at being happy...she'd hit it out of the park.

(both images taken from MTV.com)

Who's in for Eclipse at the Imax June 30th, 12:01am? (Yes, I just googled ticket sales.) I'm under no illusion that it will be nominated nexy year, but I'm determined to see more than just than blood and guts and robots and aliens in 2010.

Even better, THIS comes out on my Birthday!
I've already read (and enjoyed) the book, so I think the movie is a must.

When I Grow Up

I want to be Miley Cyrus!

The girls and I had a blast at her concert last night.

Seriously SO.MUCH.FUN.
I'm still smiling. And singing. And dancing.

Party In The USA!

Yes. I sang every word.
To every song. Shameless.

All I can say is, Miley's costumes were ridic and it was obvious she was having a blast.
Almost as much fun as us!

OK - maybe I don't want to be Miley. I DO love my life!

(But those legs would be fun!)

(And the tutus!)
This was my favorite outfit she wore....
maybe it should be my Halloween costume!

Flying thru the air every once in awhile wouldn't be so bad either....

Oh well...guess I'll just have to settle for Karaoke and a tshirt!

Honestly

I swear. I'm trying to blog.
But tell me, HONESTLY.
Could you get anything done with this kid smiling at you all day?

Yeah...me neither.
I have to spend my time thinking of new ways NOT to eat him up.

I have to get especially creative when I'm blasting my Power Song (and folding laundry) in my room and he runs in saying "Miley Cyrus! Miley Cyrus! Party SA, Mom!" Think I've played this song enough times in the past week?? My 23 mo old knows the words! He also knows his Momma is totally Looney Tunes.

Don't fret too much. I'm not completely jading him. We talk about Macho stuff too. You can't get more manly than Pirates and Superheroes, right? His "Yo Ho" bit slays me. I ask him to do it at least 50 times a day.

And besides, real Men love Miley. Just probably not as much as me. How lucky am I to be blessed with rockstar girlfriends who indulge me and my issues? One of whom works with the girlfriend of the guitar player in Miley's band. She sent me these up close pics from a recent concert. Suzanne...you rock my world!

 

  

 

On a side note...to all of you who've asked me if I'm worried about my girls looking up to Miley after her performance at the Teen Choice awards (you can see it on YouTube if you haven't already)...here's my answer.

Yes, her shorts were a little short. But visit any mall or beach in a 10 mile radius and teens are wearing WAY LESS! In my opinion, this isn’t pole dancing. She crouched down once. She never danced with the pole. This is leaning down while holding a pole to steady herself so she doesn’t fall off. Really, if I were trying to sing and dance while atop a moving ice cream cart, I’d be holding onto that pole as well! I wonder....If it weren't Miley, but some nameless backup dancer doing the same thing, would anybody have taken notice? If she'd gotten her start anyplace other than Disney, would this move have stood out? Had there not been a pole atop the cart, would people still consider her performance "racy and provocative"? The girl is 16 years old, lives with her still married parents, and continually talks about her faith. She has more self confidence than most 30 something women I know. I can think of 100 other worse people my girls could look up to! And while they may enjoy her, I would never expect a celebrity to be a "role model" for my children. That is my job!

So yes. I'm 33 and Miley, I think you're the cutest thing ever. Listen to your Dad and ignore the haters. Maybe I'll take up pole dancing in show of support. Either way, it's a Party in the USA here in the Burns household!

"And a Miley song was on....a Miley song was on....so I put my hands up!"

Movin' On Up

There once was a little girl.

Who came into this world,
With a temperament as sweet as pie.


She was an easy peasy baby.
Grew into an even happier little lady,
And is ever more, the apple of her Daddy's eye.


She loves Miley, hopscotch and gymnastics.
Her heart for the Lord is fantastic.
In 4 weeks she'll be six, oh my!


Preschool and JrK are now old (graduation) hat.
Come September, Kindergarten will be where it's at.
Can't believe how fast these first years went by.


My sweet MJ, I love you so.
More than I ever thought my heart could know.
When I tuck you in at night, I sigh.

AND...I was featured in today's post on Creative Parties and Showers!! (Apropos that it was for Megan's Carnival Golden Birthday) This year she has requested a "Pink Pirate" party....so time to get brainstorming! Be sure and click the button below to check out Creative Parties. I LOVE this site!!

About Me

Hi! My name is Erin Burns and it's very nice to meet you.

 

I'm both honored and flattered that you've taken the time out of your busy day to get to know me and those I'm Bringing Up a little better.

 

I am living my dream.

I have a soft spot for Sapphire martinis.

I Google everything.

I have Ab Fab girlfriends.

I constantly have 5 projects in the works.

I bake.

I blog.

I garden.

I can't say no to fresh flowers.

(Or the beach.)

I have a love/hate relationship with Diet Coke.

I pound the pavement with my Nike+ Magic Shoes.

I will run a half marathon in 2010.

Running is my therapy.

I love being at home.

I'm hot for Teacher.

(He's also a football coach.)

A big piece of my heart is in Chicago. 

 

I don't like coffee, chocolate or peanut butter.

My mom says that's unAmerican.
I'm a bit of an insomniac.

I buy my blonde.

(But I didn't used to have to.)

I read.

I sing Showtunes.

I spend way too much time (and money) on Etsy.

I love Jesus Christ, Barack Obama, and Miley Cyrus.

(Yes, it's possible to love all 3. Yes, I am 33.)

I both found and lost myself the day my first born was laid in my arms.

My youngest, a boy called Munchie, has me double wrapped around his pinkie.

 

I'm wife to Mr. Burns (remember that teacher I was talking about?)

Together we are Co-CEOs of,

Bringing Up Burns - a family owned business of raising happy kids!

I'm the maid,

laundress,
dolly dresser,

chef,

chauffeur,

accountant,

owie kisser,

personal shopper,

train track assembler and

occasionally the exotic dancer.

 

He's the bread winner,

anything electronic fixer/setter upper,

trash man,

dog walker,

lego engineer,

football coach,

and my secret weapon.

He's my best friend, my biggest cheerleader, and always puts us first.

He folds laundry and makes breakfast on the weekends! 

I think I'll keep him :-)

His Love is to me what spinach is to Popeye.

This blog is my forum to wax poetic about all of the above.

All with some pictures to make the ride fun.

I hope to display the joy my family and being a Wife and Mother bring to my life.

A life I fabulously love!

It's chaotic and often messy, but fun and SO fulfilling.

BUT Enough about me...Please leave a comment and tell me about you!