Not Me Monday IS BACK

Inspired by MckMama and her MSC*

If you've been reading, you know MckMama was hospital hopping in the hospital with Stellan for 5+ weeks -- She's back home!!!! and Not Me Monday is up and running {not that I completely stopped anyway because I do not do so many things that are ridiculous}

There's this huge little musical production I've been rehearsing for since Feb. -- Our schedule has been 3-4 nights a week, 2-3 hours each of those nights -- The two weeks preceding Opening Night, we rehearsed 4 nights a week, each rehearsal being between 3-6+ hours each. Yeah. -- I was not so exhausted come Monday morning {last week, of course} I set my head down on my desk to apparently take a nap to take a deep breath -- I did not wake up 30 minutes later with drool running down my arm and hair stuck to my face only to realize I was S.L.E.E.P.I.N.G. at work! I did not say a quick Thank God that my door had been shut and go on as though nothing had happened -- Not Me!!!

I did not almost go out on stage Friday night with my flip-flops on -- I had my hair, make-up and dress fully ready -- Then we were called to the green room for "notes and a prayer" and I did not go right to back stage, take a deep breath and realize I had no pantyhose or stage shoes on... This absolutely does not mean I'm really exhausted :) -- Not Me!

I'm not out of time... I do not really wish I could tell you all the funny things that have happened to me... like not wearing my shirt backwards, not forgetting that I left Elly Mae outside when she's an inside dog, not falling asleep whilst in the sun so I don't have the weirdest tan lines ever... I do not have lots more to say, but I have to get to work :)

HAPPY MONDAY!!!!!!! See you tomorrow for Tuesday Talk!

Featured Friday: Guest Blogger and Blog Love

I had a friend of mine IRL, Miss Bliss, that blogs with her husband, Mr. Wonderful -- I've known them both since, well... I was born -- She graciously asked if I wanted a guest blogger because I've been going crazy so darn busy! Of course I said yes! She's a professor at the University of Miami, a writer and a Newlywed! As women... I'm sure we can all relate to this post! Enjoy!!

Hi, lovely girls,
This post comes to you from Miami Beach, Florida, my on and off home. Reflecting on what I worried about or dreamed about at different ages lead to the following age summaries:

Age 0-10: try to be good so you don’t get in trouble, who are these strange people who are staying at my house? Why are the church people so good at happy faces there but so mean at home? Swim with friend one day and feel the best day of my childhood. At age ten, I go with my pregnant-with-twins- but-thinks-it’s- one- baby-mom and my five-year-old sister to the airport. My mom has our birth certificates and report cards in her purse. We have our favorite dolls. We fly one-way under assumed names from Philadelphia to Cincinnati and I experience culture shock in my own country.

Age 11-13: food stamps and WIC and United Way and private education loans and grants and my grandmother helped sustain my (now) three! sisters and my mom and I; my mom was now the sole source of income and provider for us all… she went to an intensive 2 year program to be able to work a job with the highest salary and quickest graduation to be able to support us. Madonna and Michael Jackson are just entering the scene and breakdancing is big and girls just wanna have fun. Help raise my sisters.

14-18: Mom rebounds. Marries older man. From Russia. This is how I start ninth grade. Ninth grade is hard enough for anyone. I had a new stepdad who is 20 years older than my mom, who I am helping learn English vocabulary. I enter a new school. Again. This one is nicer and richer than my previous school. The kids have known each other since birth. I wish I had nicer clothes. I wish I were prettier. The weekend before tenth grade starts, I have one new shirt from the mall in my nearly empty closet. My visiting step-sister’s luggage does not arrive, and she wears it first. Tenth grade: mom leaves the guy. Change high schools. Change right back. 11th and 12th grade: the teachers and guidance counselors at this amazing high school prepare me to apply to college and ace my SATs. (at least the verbal!) I fall in love with a guy who my mom thinks is the wrong color. I secretly see him anyway, and we never do what she was so worried about.

Age 18-23: Mom remarries again right before I start college. My shit is in garage of their new house before she drops me off at my college dorm room. I never have my own room at their new house, where my sisters and mom and her new husband now live. I never have anywhere to put my clothes when I come visit, either. My college professors suggest things to me like, “when you work on your Master’s degree, and you could do your Ph.D…” concepts I’ve never heard of… Leave college in the middle of a semester one day with my best friend and we drive her Miata from Cincinnati to DC, and move in with her parents. Return to school when I am ready. Spend a lot of time feeling very sad, and looking for love and mistakenly thinking sex creates and guarantees love.

Age 24-33: Apply to grad schools if they have an ocean nearby. Move to Miami for school, knowing nothing about Miami and never having been there until deciding to go to school there. Succeed on paper, in resume format. Date the wrong guy—a walking temper. Waste a lot of time breaking up with him and giving him “one more chance.” Finally understand it is nice to have a weekend off work without fighting the whole time. Knowing nothing about financial management, proceed to screw my finances up completely. Begin Ph.D. Leave that program and then teach at University of Miami. Head to work and laugh that I am in charge of a college course. Spend some years here locked in anxiety and one day while teaching at UM, realize I am free to enjoy the rest of my life. Teach at a high school for two years and wonder how in the hell high school teachers survive their administrations and boards of education and some parents. The students were great. Return to teaching college. Begin deciding to dream and create and enjoy every day of my life. I do wonder why my family does not call each other to ask: how was your day? And really really listen, just to ask and to listen. The idea of sisters who talk on the phone daily always appeals to me. Even briefly--- but—life is busy, I know. It’s busy and then over.

Age 33-35: Have stupid crush on guy at work. Later realize I only had a crush on him and thought he was funny because I was that sad when that feeling started. Realized he is not that funny. When I feel better, I marry the love of my life, the boy I swam with on the best day of my childhood. Live in Boulder, CO and cry for six months straight because I am so well loved and it is better than I could have dreamed. Move back to Miami Beach, with him, to return to job teaching at UM, and for him to go back to school. Our future is starting now, with the ocean swirling right next to us

THANK YOU, MISS BLISS!!!

Now... for my Weekly Blog Love!!!

She is new on the blog scene {well, at least to me} and she lives in Germany! She's a hairstylist, to which I could reply "You had me at hairstylist" -- I have a secret obsession with creative people, but let's keep that to ourselves -- Oh. I'm back. I just got a little carried away there. -- She is really well traveled and it's SO fun hearing about her adventures through Foreign countries! She's down to earth, sincere with every word in her commenting, SO FREAKING CREATIVE! and is all around inspiring!

She's Steph! From The Adventures of Jon and Steph! Thanks for all your sweet and sincere comments and being a great "blog friend" -- Let me know when you travel back to the states so you can do my hair and we can chat about photography :)

Know anything about beagles?

Petey (our beagle that behaves)

I do.

I got a huge lesson in them last night.

Apparently they bark incessantly when they are caught up on their leash.

Clearly their owners are dead because there is no way in God's precious name that they did not hear it barking for 7. hours. straight. last night.

No. I'm not kidding.

Yes. I'm tired. And may be slightly cranky. Only slightly.

Anyone feel like cheering me up? I need something funny people.

I digress.

Not Me Monday!

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

I hate the time change. I really just wonder who's place the government thinks they are taking... Ugh -- I did not have to wake up at 6:30 7:30 a.m. Sunday to teach a Sunday School class on Sex -- I did not just say that. You don't talk to 7th, 8th and 9th grade babies kids about sex... especially in church. Seriously, what sort of person would I be? Good thing I didn't do that! Not Me!

Remember that musical I'm in? I love it. The only way to describe it is it's like reconnecting with your best friend after not seeing your best fried for 5 years. I. Love. being. the. center. of. attention. to. Sing. -- I'm meeting some wonderfully talented women and I just love it. If you're a singer, you know that you really shouldn't stuff your face like a maniac eat before singing. Well, I would never show up at every practice with fries, burgers, mozzarella sticks and soft drinks, oh my {am I in the Wizard of Oz?} not me. I'm way to health conscious for that and the other women might think I have no idea how to take care of my voice. So it's a good thing I'm not eating like a pig fast food because that would be really inappropriate {not to mention I'd like to keep my girlish figure} Not Me!

I did not wash my hair twice in the shower this morning because I'm so tired. My hair really does do fine with one wash. To add to this, I did not shave one leg, get distracted by the fact that I forgot to wash my face and then get out of the shower with my other leg a forgotten thought. Clearly I'm not sleep deprived. Really. I'm not.

Do any of you have cars? Yeah. I drive a trash dump one. I finally took D's advice to clean it before someone needs a ride somewhere and cuts me off as their friend because it's so nasty. I was not busy enough yesterday, so between the wedding shower and rehearsal I cleaned out my trash dump car. I would never tell you that it took an hour just to remove the junk and put it all in its proper places the trash. I mean there's no way one little VW Rabbit could hold that. much. junk. -- Good thing it was not that dirty.

Well... That's Not Me... I hope you will get some therapy and join in!

Happy Monday!