Next week is going to be way better than this week.  How do I know?  For starters, True Blood is back on Sundays.  The perfect way to quick off the last week of school.  Season 5 starts this Sunday night.

A Season 4 recap in case your memory needs some jogging…

Pissed off werewolves, vampire preachers, possessed Lafayette, heartbroken Sookie, lovestruck Jason,  Bill. Eric. Alcide.  Oh, it really is that good.  Happy Watching!

Cheers to the freakin’ weekend. 
I drink to that, yeah yeah
Oh, let the Jameson sink in
I drink to that, yeah yeah

Can’t get enough of this song! 

Cheers.  Be safe!

We call them flip flops (my dad calls them thongs, but that is just embarrassing!)  The Hawaiians call them slippers and I am in love with my new Locals slippers.  Greatest purchase on my recent trip Maui!  I wanted to get my boys an inexpensive pair of flips.  Our friends that live on Maui suggested Longs Drugs.  “You can get anything at Longs.”

Locals were the only flip flops they had, so that is what they got.  They were $2.99 a pair.  At that price I decided to splurge and get myself a pair.  Mine were slightly more expensive at $3.99….and I will say are extremely comfortable!  I went with basic black soles and translucent black straps, but they had fun colors in sizes ranging from toddler to adult!

Heading to a Hawaiian island soon?  Pop into a Longs Drugs and outfit your entire family with flip flops for the price you would pay for one pair on the mainland.  You will not regret it.

[Or you could order from them their website http://localsusa.com/.  It will cost you a bit more this way but it is an easy way to bring the islands to you.]

 Bring on summer! 

Tomorrow I am trading up.

These…

for these.

And this…..

for this.

Aloha!  I will be back in two weeks.  Refreshed and ready for the downhill slide into summer. 
xo-denise

Ever feel like this?  If only I had 8 arms and a way to clone myself.  It might be possible to get it all done.  Thursdays are my manic days.  Back to back practices with dinner shoved in between somehow.  Homework often gets pushed to after 8pm, which is super fun time for a 2nd grader to be doing math.

Last week I posted a Facebook status.

“Tuesday nights we are all home, with nowhere to go.  No games, no practices, no batting practice.  That means family dinner.  Everyone eats at the same time, together.  I treasure Tuesday nights.”

It got me to thinking.  If 30+ people took the time to hit the “like” button on my status, it must have hit a nerve.  We are all busy.  We are all SO busy.  Ever feel like there is no going back?  No way to change this hectic, fast paced life we have created for ourselves.  I dream sometimes of pulling the plug on all things extra and hunker down with my little family.  Would we be any better off?  Would my children grow up to be more well-rounded adults?  Would I lose my mind?  [I fear we would drive each other insane within the first 48 hours.]  I just don’t know.

For now, I will enjoy my Tuesdays and loathe my Thursdays.  

We all need that one person in our lives that will tell us the cold hard truth.  No matter what.  A girlfriend, sister, whomever.  Sometimes the truth is hard to hear, but consider the alternative.

Ms. Mariah Carey needed that sounding board this week in Austria.  She wore a one piece ski ensemble that did nothing to flatter her.  Where was her person?  This get up was just really unfortunate on so many levels.  I can’t imagine it was all-together that comfortable either.

So happy to see the WTC 1 towering over the skyline.  It is a true symbol of resilience.  While deep, deep wounds may not completely heal, we can rebuild.  In the midst of sorrow, despair, or heartache there is a chance to emerge from the rubble and stand tall once again.

I know.  This is not a glamor shot.  Obvious absence of Photoshop.  And real.

This photo and the website the shape of a mother tries to show the truth about giving birth to a child.  Tummies [and other parts] don’t always just snap right back into place.  We don’t often see these images, except maybe in the privacy of our own bathrooms.  It mostly likely is the norm, yet we beat ourselves up for our less than perfect ____________. [Feel free to fill in that blank!]

I am trying to live with a simple creed in mind:
Eat foods that fuel your body.  Exercise.  And except that, which you have no control over.

Be kind to yourself today.  You are simply amazing.