free fallin'

The letter F...I honestly haven't come up with much.  I'll probably think of a lot later because I write these posts, and then I get this letter stuck in my head until I do the next one!

 Franco...James Franco has replaced Brad Pitt at the top of my favorite actors list.  I love his character on General Hospital.  He was hilarious in Pineapple Express, I hope I get to see Rise of Planet of the Apes, and I loved Freaks and Geeks.  Some of his other movies really are bad, but oh well.  He's done all different kinds of movies, he's done tv, he's written a book, and he goes to college at some of the toughest schools in the country...for fun!

Frogs...I did a research report about frogs and how they're disappearing because people keep moving into their habitats for my Environment and Man class at UTT.  After that, everyone in class called me the frog girl.  Then, all my friends and family started buying me frog stuff.  I have calenders, jewelry, pictures, and more figurines than I ever thought I would see of frogs!  My classroom had a frog theme for a while.  I try not to buy anything frog related now unless it just absolutely calls to me.  The last thing I got was a pregnant Sprogz from my mom when I was pregnant with Scout.  I already had the teacher, the bridesmaid, the hippie, and the graduate, so I had to have it!  And, it turns out, Scout looks like a frog when he sleeps sometimes.  I still like frogs, I just don't want them all over my house! 

Fireworks...I like fireworks as long as they stay way up in the sky.  Watching fireworks at the Rangers game is scary and I don't like sparklers or any kind of do-it-yourself fireworks.  Maybe it's because the one time my parents let Bean and I hold a sparkler...my shoe caught on fire!  We managed to see about 2 fireworks from Times Square while we were in NYC on the fourth this year.  Sea World and Astroworld had pretty good fireworks.  Our hometown does fireworks every year.  It used to last about 5 minutes, but I think they're up to about 12 now!

That's all I have for now...maybe I'll think of some more things later and add them.  For now, I'm off to the grocery store!

"E" Train

it is way too hot outside.  scout and i are hiding out for a few days.  it's just too hot to get him out unless i have to take him somewhere.  none of that has anything to do with the letter E though, so here we go...

i haven't been able to think of much for the letter E...

etsy...yes, i'm sure you all know what etsy is by now.  i love it.  i have lots of scrabble necklaces from there.  i bought a bag to hold my plastic bags a couple weeks ago.  i bought my mom's mother's day present on etsy, scout's first Christmas ornament.  i try not to visit too much, i could spend some serious money!

 Eric Clapton...so funny...i think he may be Scout's favorite singer!  he really likes pretty much any music, but my dad started playing eric clapton and bb king for him from the beginning.  when he stayed with my parents while we were in new york, they listened to his version of "how deep is the ocean" every morning.  when i'm feeding him lunch, we'll listen to music on my computer, and if i play eric clapton, he starts dancing in his high chair.  and his favorite song is "i shot the sheriff!"  not your normal toddler tunes!  everyone else in our family loves eric clapton, too.

Egg Cream...i had heard of an egg cream, but really had no idea what it was til we went to new york.  it doesn't even have eggs in it!  it is milk, soda water, and chocolate syrup.  sounds weird, but it's awesome.  i want to try to make one at home, but i'm sure it won't come close to the real thing!  gem spa in east village supposedly makes the best in all of new york, so we were kinda spoiled by having our first egg cream there!

East Village...speaking of east village.  it was my favorite place we went to in new york.  central park was a close second. but east village is awesome.  i already blogged about it, so i'm not going to say anything else.  but if you ever go to nyc, you gotta get outta uptown and lower manhattan and go to east village! 

daylight

ok, first of all...i don't know how i did a list of things i like that start with the letter C and did not include Chick-fil-a!  second, today's song title is by better than ezra, because i know reina likes them as much as i do!

D...this one has taken a while.  but, i think i have enough to do a list!

Duncan and Durant...as i've mentioned before, i hear a lot of smack talk about my choice of basketball teams.  i don't care.  my favorite team for a long time has been the san antonio spurs, mostly because of tim duncan.  because i think his days in the nba are numbered, i've been looking for a new player to watch.  my pick is kevin durant from the oklahoma city thunder.  and more importantly, he played for the texas longhorns.

 Dressin' Gaudy...love this store, love the people that work there, love my peacock feather sandals i bought yesterday.  i have been shopping here since middle school.  about 90% of the time when someone asks where my jewelry is from, it's from here.  the other times it's either from canton or etsy. 

Digital camera...yeah, my brother-in-law will tell you i don't know how to work it right, and yeah, he's right.  i don't care.  i love my camera.  i have a canon powershot s5.  i know nothing about speed and aperture, and all that stuff.  but, i do pretty well on auto and i like switching colors around!  without our digital cameras, my mom and i wouldn't have THOUSANDS of pictures of scout!

Dramamine...i get motion sickness very easily!  without this stuff, i don't know how i would've made it to tokyo, la, nyc, or mexico.  it definitely came in handy on a 3 night trip to colorado in a suburban with my mom, sister, cousin, and my mom's parents!  slept most of the way there and managed to tick off my mom's dad...score!

Dad...this is my dad.  i believe his name has been changed to poppaboppa by my son, but he's ok with that.  i didn't even try to find a picture of him without scout because i'd have to go back to before scout was born.  scout likes most people.  scout loves his momma, daddy, and gram. scout goes absolutely crazy bonkers when he sees his poppa!  my dad is the absolute best man on earth.  period.  no debate or contest.  so, if scout wants to hang out with him, follow him around, absorb his taste in music, he's not going to hear a no from me.

Disney...yeah, it has its critics.  sure, they have made some stinkers.  it doesn't matter.  i love disney!  we went to the disney store in times square and got scout patch from 101 dalmatians.  he loves it.  he wears shirts with tigger and patch.  i'm not real big into the disney princesses, thankfully, i have a boy!  my absolute favorite disney movie is peter pan.  i really like jungle book, aladdin, fox and the hound, and finding nemo.  except for princess jasmine in aladdin...those aren't really girly movies!  my favorite characters are usually the little sidekicks.  i've never been to disney world or land.  hopefully, we'll get to take scout when he's older. 


i'm sure i left something important off, oh well!

circle

today is brought to you by the letter C...

Converse...i wore them in 3rd grade.  i got more in 7th grade.  the black pair i got in 7th grade is the pair i still wear!  i have had turquoise, yellow, black, purple, color block, orange, and black, red, and white plaid.  but, the ones in the picture are my all time favorites.  they belong to my son, Scout.  he's already outgrown this pair, but as soon as it's cool enough for him to wear shoes again, we'll get him another pair.  we tried a pair of vans, my second favorite shoe brand, but his foot is too fat!  the pair you see here will soon be getting a display box...right along with a certain pair of striped pajamas!

Coca-cola...i switch back and forth from coca-cola and dr. pepper every few years.  but the more i travel, the easier it is to stick with coke...they're worldwide! this can is in russian because it was a special edition can for the olympics a few years ago.  Scout loves coca-cola, too.  he has no idea what it tastes like...but he can stare at a red coke can for hours!

California...no way would i ever live there.  but the weather is much nicer, there's lots of stuff to take pictures of, and my sister lives there.

Christmas...always my favorite holiday, but SOMEONE made Christmas a little different this year...wonder who that could've been???  Scout was born December 4.  He was a big baby when he was born, but then he lost too much weight and went back in the hospital less than 2 weeks before Christmas.  we also had to take lots of trips to the doctors' office for weight checks.  between that stress, the lack of sleep, and recovering from having Scout, i barely remember anything.  this Christmas will be SO much more fun, i can't wait!  and Scout should get his auntie for Christmas this year...they're supposed to be here!

Cookie Monster...i'm a bigger fan of oscar the grouch and had a big bird doll when i was little.  but scout loves the cookie monster his great aunt gave him!  i spent many mornings this past spring making cookie monster sing and dance for him while we were getting ready for school.  and he loves cookies...how can you not like him?!?!  at least the cookie monster i grew up with did.  i hear he's all about the veggies now!

i have no idea how Scout took over my whole list of things with C...but it does make my blog much cuter!

bad

so, onto the letter B...and yes, i did use a michael jackson song as my title again.  it won't happen all the time!

Bean...my sister...and I forgot  i actually have a picture where you can see her tattoo!  it's a butterfly, so that definitely works for this post, too.

balloons...we have the balloon races near here every year.  i think i've actually only been once when i was really little and then a few years ago with k-dogg and a friend.  it's at the end of july, so it's always really hot and they have country bands play every year, so i don't like that.  but the balloons are awesome when they are lit up.  one year, i was driving to the church to leave for mexico early in the morning, and we got to see a lot of them in the air during the early morning race!  i can't wait to take scout in a few years. we'll just leave before the music starts!  

blues music...love it, love it, love it!  kenny wayne shepherd is my favorite!  and blue on black is one of my favorite songs.

baseball...more specifically, the texas rangers.  but, i spent a lot of time at the ball park when i was younger for someone who didn't have any brothers! 

blankets...yep, i make fleece blankets.  at last count it was somewhere between 50-60.  i like making them for babies, but i try to make them a little different.  not all pastel blue and pink!

bears...yes, i may work at a different school district now, and have to wear shirts that say bulldogs.  but, i grew up a bear, i taught bears, i will always be a bear!

abc...

now that i'm done blogging about my trip, i need to start something new so i don't quit blogging again.  so, i am kinda copying a meme my mom has been doing...but instead of doing a certain letter each day this month, i'm just starting with a and i'll do it when i feel like it.  so A...

Audio Adrenaline...one of my favorite bands since i was about 14 or 15.  love them...even though they aren't really together anymore, actually wearing one of their concert shirts right now

that's from one of their really old albums...but it's still my favorite!


asparagus green...that's the name of the color we used on the wall in Scout's room, so cool

Austin, TX...home of the Texas Longhorns

A Time to Kill...probably the best John Grisham book, and a really good movie, too

anyway, the perfect word for SO many situations

wow, that was actually kinda hard.  probably should do that when i slept well the night before and haven't been busy playing with Scout, doing laundry, going to rescue my mom from being locked out of her house, and trying to redecorate/repurpose my living room while Scout is learning to crawl and rolling around everywhere!

summer in the city

ok, last day and then i will be done with the nyc posts!  wednesday was so hot!  we thought we would be ready for it, the temp still wasn't as high as it was at home...but it was so humid and we don't walk around outside all day at home!  i don't even know how we woke up wednesday morning after everything we did on tuesday.  but, we did, and we went to chinatown.  i'm not talking about canal st., where you go buy the fake illegal purses.  i mean real chinatown.  where we were the only white and english speaking people around for a few blocks.  we started on canal st., you pretty much have to if you take the subway there.  those people got on my nerves.  you'd be walking down the street and this nice innocent looking lady would appear out of nowhere and whisper, "belts, sunglasses, purses.  fendi, coach, louis."  ummm, hello, i'm wearing a "hippie" skirt and my purse was on clearance for $15...do you think i want to follow you into some dark back room behind a wall in your dirty little shop to buy a bag that's still fake and illegal?  sorry.  and i have a real coach, thankyouverymuch.  anyway, i didn't really like chinatown.  after going to tokyo, it's like why bother.  but we did go to columbus park and see some serious cards and mahjong games.  that area is part of the five points neighborhood on which scorsese based gangs of new york...yeah, nice place!  we ate some pork buns and a coconut roll at tai pan bakery.  they were delicious and cheap!  2 buns, a roll, a coke, and 2 bottles of water for $8!  we walked under manhattan bridge.  and someone asked ME for directions!  probably because we were the only other people around he thought would speak english...not because he thought i was a local!  after chinatown, we went to lower manhattan to go on a tour of wall street.  i wasn't expecting much from this tour, but it was actually really fun and i learned a lot.  we saw the nyse and federal hall.  we also saw the new building they are working on at ground zero.  we also got to see trinity church while we were waiting for our tour.  george washington went to church there when he lived there and alexander hamilton is actually buried in the church cemetery.  after the tour, we made it back uptown and got ready for dinner.  k-dogg had made reservations a month earlier at wd-50.  it's owned by wylie dufresne.  if you watch top chef, especially the season they were in nyc, you should remember him.  so we got dressed up and rode in a taxi to the lower east side, passing the flat iron building.  the food was amazing...the duck was the best meat i have ever eaten.  we saw wylie!  yeah, he actually cooks at his own restaurant...take that, bobby flay!   it's definitely the most we have ever paid for a meal, but it was fun and something we'll never forget! 

mahjong

oh, wow!  these were great!

at columbus park

manhattan bridge

what the heck!

nyse

trinity church

federal hall, where george washington was inaugurated

bowling green park, one of the oldest parks in nyc

the famous bull

the new building

the flat iron building

k-dogg at wd-50