bee and rose

Happy St. Patrick's Day! How about a wee stroll down memory lane?  Thank you to everyone who messaged me about sharing this blast from the past again this year:)  (yes, Maureen...I do read your emails too!)  Even though it was originally posted in 2009, not too much has changed (says Dawn in her "I can't believe I have PMS every single year at this same time"   happy (think Pharrell singing "Happy") voice.  So grab a cup of Irish coffee, Jameson whiskey, Guinness or whatever suits your fancy on this fine St. Patrick's Day and let me share a tale of whimsy with you.  (and may the luck of the Irish be with you if you come my way today!  Don't say I didn't warn you!)    Oops! What's she doing here again? Wasn't she just here a month ago? UGH! The nerve! We had so much "fun" last time she was here, didn't we?  Well, since I have a full day of Irish activities planned, I guess I better be gettin' my Irish on.......

March Madness has officially descended up on our world as we are just days away from St. Patrick's Day.  Irish Dancer Girl will be shamrockin' all over the city of Tucson (Irish Dance style) for the next week to spread leprechaun love amongst the citizens.  While going over the performance list this morning, my mind wandered back to a time in the not so distant past where my sweet girl gave me a lovely surprise just before her very first St. Patrick's Day March Madness performance.  Thought it would be fun to take a stroll down memory lane with ya'll and give you some giggles.  Sit a spell while I weave a tragic tale of the six year old Irish dancer and her incontinent mother. One fine March day in 2009, Cat and I began our school morning cutting out shapes and chatting it up like two old ladies at bingo night. I had to (ahem) “use the little ladies room” for the 400th time in 20 minutes, and in the interest of safety, (because I’m one of those annoying over-protec...

Sometimes it's the little things in life that have the most incredible impact. Sometimes it's when you are so frustrated that you want to give up, but decide to persevere that life can completely surprise you in ways you never imagined. For example, see this little photo? This little charmer was a source of major frustration for me back in 2010.  It was just a little photo that I wanted to edit to add some fun to this  blog post .   A simple process, right?  Ummm, not even.  It took me many attempts and hours to work this to my satisfaction.  I nearly chucked my laptop across the room because I was so frustrated.  However, my inner voice kept encouraging me to move ahead and on January 20, 2014 I was enormously rewarded for my effort s! That is the day that a very important person came into my world all because of Mary Poppins and her magical measuring tape.  Miss Jane Austen also played a part in this matchmaking business:)  Yo...

Being the mother of a female tween, I knew the odds of getting my daughter past the whole "boy band romance" thing were not in my favor.  For a while it seemed we might just squeak by and then a guest at Cat's 10th birthday party last year changed everything.  Meet the party guest... Allow me to introduce you to Niall Horan, member of the wildly popular group "One Direction."  (please excuse the lip prints on Niall...Cat and the party guests went a little bonkers when they saw him...)  This should have been a red flag that Irish Dancer Girl was about to be swooning over the five fellas in the band, but I kept thinking my girl was far too smart to fall for all of that hype and marketing.  I clearly was not prepared for the power of Directioners (yes, this is what they call themselves) and their love and devotion for these lads.  Oh boy, she was swooning just looking at the poster.  Fast forward to the dance part of the party.  Big brother a...

One of the duties of motherhood is to keep a fabulous "slang-cabulary" so that you can actually understand what your tweens and teens are saying to you. Tweens and Teens love their slang. (and apparently, so do I because it was brought to my attention by my daughter that I use the words "fabulous" and "super fab" way too much.)  Believe me, I clearly have a problem.  According to Nickmom.com, I am way too old to be saying the slang terms listed below because "no mom should say this stuff."  Pfft!  You're not the boss of me, Nickmom.com.  It seems that there are words that are not fit for "mom use" and I'm only finding this out today.  Heavens!  Think of the horrible embarrassment I have been causing my children over the years!  (like I care...causing horrible embarrassment to my children is the fun part of being a mom...)  Let's do a run down on a few of the "Naughty Words" from the list, shall we? " ...

Hi...I know you may be a bit frightened by the title of this post.  Not to worry!  While I can put my "bad-a$$" panties on for certain occasions, most of the time I'm a pretty docile creature:)  However, there is a skeleton in my closet that a friend of mine reminded me about recently and insisted that I share it with the world...more specifically, the old moms of the world.   Now when I say old, I mean old like me...(I was turning 43 at the time)...not elderly...although since hitting my 40's, I feel elderly when I get up in the morning, but that's another post!  It happened a few years back when I ran into a close friend who had recently turned 39.  Looking back, it is actually pretty funny!  So let's get cozy and ready for my ramble...or maybe I should say rumble (wink!) My friend and I took our kids out to a local park one fine fall day. We were dressed in typical "old" mom attire...jeans, cute t-shirts, banana clips and shades. (Yes, I w...

Eleven years ago today, I was beautifully blessed with this darling baby girl, Miss Hi-Yah...also known as Catherine Renee Grace Smith.  She has grown into a lovely young lady who is kind, caring, super smart and an incredibly talented Irish dancer!  As I reflect on this day, I realized that we are moving away from dolls and dress up and are now heading into new horizons.  These days, it's about books, music, dance and friends...oh! and of course, ONE DIRECTION.  How could I forget that?   Happy Birthday, my darling girl!  I love you to the moon and back times infinity:)  So proud to be your mom!