Thursday, August 28, 2008

Let's Talk Tennis, Shall We?





This is where we spent the past 13 hours, in Queens at the US Open.
What a day, what a day, what a really great day!
We arrived at 10:30am, hung out at the practice courts and then headed into Arthur Ashe stadium to watch a lot of matches.
We saw Venus roll right through.
James Blake won after his opponent withdrew in the third set.
We saw Ana Ivanovic lose to an unseeded player in a stunning 3 set upset.
After that we saw Serena crush her opponent in one hour.
The last match of the day was Nadal against an American qualifier Ryler.
Great tennis, great commentating, great day. They have these American Express radios for American Express cardholders. They're small and hook on your ear and enable you to hear all the commentators. I'm not an American Express cardholder but the nice guy at the booth generously gave me one anyway. It was too funny. Nothing beats John McEnroe commentating.
I would try to write some witty stuff about our day and all the tennis, but its 1 am and I'm beat. Plus, we're headed back to the Open in a few hours for tomorrows match.
Take care,
Julie
Oh yeah, today the sponser was Evian water. They gave everyone this cool misting bottle designed by James Blake. Very handy.

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Where do I even begin?






Whew! Where do I even begin? It is 1am and we got back to our hotel room about 15 minutes ago. We have been up and about since 9is this morning.
Here's the day in a recap and pictures
Breakfast of bagels and a little cafe. This was a must. When I lived in the Bronx for three years, I would eat a bagel almost every day. My oldest was born in Manhattan and he grew up on bagels. This one was for you son!
After breakfast my sister wanted to go by the Today show. Fun times there. And let me just say, I take back what I wrote about celebrity sightings because today we saw Tina Fey walk right past us as they were filming 3o Rock. I was so excited about it until I called up my husband to tell him and his response was, "Who's Tina Fey?"
We went shopping in Anthropologie and honestly this in and of itself deserves and entire post, but time is of the essence, so here's the bare essentials....Two, huge stories full of amazing things AND if that wasn't enough, a HUGE, HUGE room of sale items! Heaven I tell you, heaven!
On to Central Park and lunch at Tavern on the Green. Aren't those lanterns beautiful? We ate outside and the lanterns completely filled every branch.
As you can tell from the pictures we went to see Mamma Mia today, too. Three words...3rd row seats! Unbelievable! I laughed and sang and had a ball. By the time they did the encore we were dancing in the aisles. Tell me, can anyone sit through a live version of Dancing Queen? I didn't think so. By the way, the last picture is me sitting in my 3rd row seat wearing a new shirt I purchased at Anthropologie.
Moving on, as if all the stuff mentioned above wasn't enough, we spent the entire evening at the US open watching Lindsay Davenport win her match and then Andy Roddick completely destroyed his opponent.
What a day and what a night!
That's all for now. I have got to get to sleep. More tennis all day tomorrow.
Take care,
Julie
P.S. Can I just say Times Square is a bit more, how shall I put this, risque than I remember it being 6 years ago!

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

We're Here!




Here's a quiz question for you:
1. You know you are in New York City when:

A. You don't understand a word the taxi driver says but you understand the finger he is giving someone else.

B. You walk outside your hotel room and immediately are hit up for money by a panhandler.

C. You can buy two hot dogs and a drink at Gray's Papayas for $3.50

D. You can buy a slice of cheesecake at Cafe Lalo's for $8.00.

E. All of the above

Yes, that pretty well sums up our first evening in the big apple. My sister and I met up a little bit later than planned (thank you FAA for the computer glitch across the nation, however, I am just grateful for the safe flight)

Yes, our taxi driver managed to irritate another driver to which our driver responded with an ugly finger gesture. Imagine that.

Yes, we walked 30 blocks one way to get a piece of cheesecake from Cafe Lalo's. You know, Cafe Lalo's from You've Got Mail. The place where Meg Ryan goes to met her internet love only to have Tom Hanks show up and he realizes his internet friend is his enemy. And let me just say a couple of things about Cafe Lalo's:
1. That's me in the picture
2. The cheese cake is totally worth the 60 blocks round trip and two blisters on my feet.

Can I just interject here with a statement that the blisters on my feet from walking tonight prove that fashion and function are mutually exclusive terms when it comes to foot wear. Ok, I will proceed.

Yes, we had hot dogs and cheese cake in the same night. What can I say? It's vacation. That's my sister in the picture with the hot dog.

I love being back in New York City, so many memories here. That's all for now. I will write more tomorrow.
Take care,
Julie

P.S. I know what you mean mom about the comments feeling like an eye quiz. I can't tell you how many times I put in the wrong letters!

Start Spreading the News...

I'm leaving today.

That's right. NYC here I come.

By the time you read this I should be on my way to the airport to fly to NYC where I'll meet up with my older sister who is flying in from Ohio.

Why, might you ask, am I headed to the Big Apple?

This past spring my older sister celebrated a big birthday. (I won't tell you what that big birthday was, but let's just say it rhymes with "shorty") My sister is also a huge tennis fan and has wanted to go to the US Open tennis tournament for some time. We lived in the Bronx for 3 years and my husband and I have each gone to the US Open, but never my sister. So, I had the idea, "Let's go to NYC and celebrate your birthday and go see some tennis!" She agreed immediately, and thus the trip was born.

We are also going to go see Mamma Mia and do a few of the touristy things. Hopefully we will not get mugged or stuck on the subway. (yes, it did cross my mind. I will also make sure we stand away from the subway platform. One can never be too careful about those things, you know)

My husband and I lived in the Bronx from 1999-2002. I haven't been back since we left. I have all sorts of thoughts about seeing the city.

In short, I am excited!

I will try to blog as much as possible and include as many pictures as I can. I'm not counting on seeing any celebrities. The only celebrity I ever saw the entire three years we lived there was Sigourney Weaver.

Here's hoping Andy Roddick wins the Open. (Yes, I will be fine if Nadal wins, but it's the US Open, I want an American to win) And I'm rooting for one of the Williams sisters as well.

Pray for my family while I'm gone. I know they will be fine. Pray for my flight to be smooth as well, if you think about it.

Take care,
Julie

Monday, August 25, 2008

Back to School!


Today is the first day back to school.


I thought this day would NEVER come!


I know, I know. I sound horrible to say I'm excited. But in my defense, it's been a long summer and they are ready to go to school.


My oldest son begins 2nd grade and my middle child, a girl, starts kindergarten. The youngest boy starts Mom's Day Out next week. I hope he enjoys his last week of freedom. We met their teachers last week, dropped off supplies, found out more supplies we needed, picked out outfits for the first day of school (to coordinate with their best friends) got hair cuts, the whole nine yards. The only thing left for me to do is make lunches and pray we don't all oversleep in the morning.


It could happen.


We haven't had to set an alarm since the end of the school year.


I'm praying for them both to have a wonderful year. I'm asking God to give them great memories and good experiences, friendships to last, and good choices to be made.


What about you? Anyone in your house starting school this week? If so, are you excited, nervous, dreading it?

Take care,

Julie


Saturday, August 23, 2008

And the Winner is.....

The winner from my first official giveaway is...

Emily at www.mumblingsfromtroyohio.blogpost.com !

Way to go!

Emily, if you can email me your address, I will mail the Real Simple Family issue to you on Monday! (I may have your address, if you guys are in an old Troy phonebook, I'm not sure though)

Thanks for playing and I promise to do more giveaways in the future!
Take care and have a great weekend,
Julie

Friday, August 22, 2008

Friday's Favorite #3 and a Giveaway!

Let's start with the really good stuff, a giveaway! Not just ANY giveaway, my very first blogging giveaway! YEAH! Last week forFriday's Favorite I talked about my favorite magazine, Real Simple. (In case you are new to Friday's favorite you can read about it here ) When I went to our HEB grocery later that day, I noticed a Real Simple Family issue in the checkout aisle. I picked it up and bought it. However, this week in the mail I received another copy of the same magazine with my September issue of Real Simple.

I do not need two identical magazines. Maybe shoes, but that's another story.

So, I want to give one away! Just leave a comment and you will be entered. I will leave the contest open until this Saturday, August 23rd at 7:30am (Central time). I will then have my husband randomly select a comment number and we will have our winner. I will post the winner then! Unfortunately I don't have a random integer so my husband will have to do for now. Have fun! You may comment as many times as you wish!

Alright, now that the technical stuff is out of the way, let's move on to todays Friday Favorite.
My favorite today is a radio show from Chicago Public Radio called This American Life.

Where do I even begin in describing this programs greatness? How about with the shows host, Ira Glass? He's witty, an incredible storyteller and interviewer and he and his staff always manage to put together an hour of some of the most engaging, thought provoking stories on the radio.

I first heard This American Life back in 1997. I was listening to a story called Fiasco! . It's the story about a small town attempting to put on a "progressive" version of Peter Pan at a local theater when everything imaginable goes wrong. I was laughing so hard I had to pull my car over and stop so I wouldn't crash. If you go to http://www.thisamericanlife.org/ the Fiasco episode is listed in their archives section as one of their 12 early classics. Check it out. You can also sign up for their free weekly podcast as well as download past episodes and listen to a current episode. Look up http://www.npr.org/ to see if your local National Public Radio station carries This American Life's weekly show. You can also check out the TV show of This American Life on Showtime.

Here are a few of my favorite stories they told, in no particular order...
1. Pray
2. This one has two unbelievable stories. The first is about a place called the "Rubber Room". It's a room in NYC where public teachers are sent while awaiting reassignment or release. The second story is about a place called Chimp Haven, which is a retirement home for chimpanzees. I could not make this up if I tried. The story is calledHuman Resources .
3. The Ghost of Bobby Dunbar.

What about you? Do you have a favorite radio program you can't wait to hear? Maybe it's Prairie Home Companion? Or Car Talk? or Fresh Air? Let me know.
Take care,
Julie

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

I did not see this one coming

The other day I was doing some grocery shopping at HEB.

As I rounded the corner of the aisle I saw something that caught my attention.
At first I thought I was seeing an unusually tall, hairy woman with a sundress on until I got closer and realized it was a MAN with sunglasses, long blonde hair (it very well could have been a wig, I didn't stop long enough to get a good look), pink lipstick and a dress on.

Not what I was expecting to see in the pasta, rice and beans aisle.

(Just to clarify, the sundress was more among the lines of a sleeveless cotton nightgown like the kind my 80 year old grandma used to wear.)

What about you all? What is the most unusual sight you've seen while out and about? These ought to be good.
Take care,
Julie

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

What's a Girl to do?

The other day I went to my favorite salon to get my hair cut. It ended up being one of the best haircuts I have had in a while. Long layers.  Thinned out.  All equals less frizz for me here in South Texas and that is a very good thing.

Anyway, I was faced with the same dilemma I encounter each time I go to have my hair cut...

What do I do with my purse when I am taken back to have my hair washed?

It is quite the problem.

Do I....
A.  Leave my purse at my stylist's station hoping nothing happens to it.
B.  Take it back with me while I get my hair washed and risk appearing a bit paranoid.
C.  Leave my purse at home and just bring a debit card and my drivers license.
D.  None of the above.

What do I do?

I can tell you what I won't do.  Leave my purse at home.  I only leave my purse at home when I am going for a jog, otherwise it is attached to my arm.

So I wrestled with the issue internally while I was waiting to have my hair washed.  

Then I made my decision.

I left the purse at the station.

I just hope my mom is not reading this.  She just may  pass out from the stress caused from thinking about all that could have happened to my purse while it was left alone out in the open for everyone to see.

What about you all?  How do you deal with the purse issue while at the stylist?  Let me know.  I'm curious how others handle this whole situation.  
Take care,
Julie 

Monday, August 18, 2008

Go Speedy Go!



The kids have been begging us all summer long to drive go-karts at a track nearby. We planned to go earlier in the summer, but the day we were going to go just didn't work out.


So we waited until August to go when it's nice and toasty outside.


Because nothing says I love you better than taking three kids to a hot asphalt go-kart track in South Texas when it's 100 degrees, in the shade!


That's what I thought.


As we were heading out the door, I noticed my husband was wearing closed toe shoes, which is odd for him considering he lives in flip flops when he's not working. I asked him about the shoes and he said, "Serious go-karting calls for serious footwear."


I replied with, "But I'm wearing flip flops."


His response? "I guess you'll be coming in 2nd place on the go-kart track."


Since when did go-karting become serious competition with place awards being given? Apparently when the boys in the family are involved and they are sitting behind any kind of steering wheel.


I went back and changed my shoes.
At the race track we took turns driving on the Family Track where the adult drives and a child (of almost any age or size) sits next to the adult and uses a pretend steering wheel.
My husband was prepared for 1st place, at any cost. Which child was in on it with him? Our daughter, of course. She is so much like her daddy. When she was asked how she wanted to drive, she replied, "Fast." Not so with the boys. The oldest is like me, cautious, analytical. (At the bowling alley the other day he, out of the blue, asked me if he should be concerned about getting foot fungus from the shoes. Poor kid, I can relate.) The boys did not want to go as fast as possible.
The first picture is of my husband and daughter. What's that you say? It looks blurry? That's because they were speeding past everyone on their quest for "1st Place". Let me mention just a couple of things that were taking place during that blurry picture.
1. They were passing a sweet but startled mother and her 18 month old child.
2. There were only 5 cars on the entire track that time, most were mothers with children under the age of 2
What can I say? He's my husband and I love him.
We managed to stay outside for about 30 minutes until everyone collectively melted down from the heat.
Then we went inside to the air-conditioned game room and spent a small fortune on video games. Take care, Julie
One more thing: The second picture is just a testament to proper go-karting foot apparel.




Friday, August 15, 2008

Friday's Favorites #2

This week for Friday's Favorites I have picked a magazine. In case you are new to Friday's Favorites, you can read about it here .

There is one magazine I look forward to receiving in the mail more than anything else.

More than a Boden catalog,
More than an Anthropologie catalog,
More than a J. Crew catalog and even more than Dwell magazine, which is saying a lot because I really do love the above mentioned items. However, none of them compare to the joy I feel when I look in my mailbox and see the newest edition of Real Simple magazine.

This magazine if full of helpful hints, product reviews (think best black pants or best moisturizers), and great writing. I usually read it cover to cover in one sitting.

This month's August edition is no exception.

For example, one of this month's articles features a month's worth of meals that can be ready in 20 minutes.(pg. 152) Did you catch that? Twenty minutes. What's not to love about that?

There's another interesting article full of organizing tips for each room of your house.(pg. 168) Good reading, especially if you are a mother of small children.

If you have not done your back to school supply shopping yet, you will want to check out the article on page 122 containing ways to save money when you do buy back to school supplies.

Finally, you can go online to http://www.realsimple.com/ for different stories, recipes, blogs and more. I especially like the adventures in chaos blog.

How about you? Do you have any favorite magazines you can not wait to read? What about a great summer recipe that can be ready in a flash? Please share! I can't wait to read your comments.

Thursday, August 14, 2008

Long LOST Voice

My kids were watching PBS cartoons on TV yesterday. One of the shows they were watching featured an Irish goat that sounded just like Desmond from LOST.

To say I can't wait for LOST to return is such an understatement. LOST is the only show I watch religiously. I avoid all contact with anyone during that hour. The kids go to bed nice and early on that night. (Thank you ABC for moving LOST to the 9pm hour last spring. Please keep it there. Whether you move it to Wednesday or Thursday does not matter...I will follow LOST to the ends of the TV week)

Anyone else out there eagerly waiting the return of LOST? I'll probably start watching all of season 4 again in about September, thanks to http://www.abc.com/

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

I'm Getting So Computer Savvy!

So, I am finally learning (a little) about how to do various things with my blog. Things like uploading a picture, setting the date for a post, and now copying and pasting! I am so proud of myself I may just burst!

One of the newest additions is something I believe in and support on a personal basis and that is www.compassion.com You can click on the link above and find out what Compassion is and what Compassion does.

I first heard the president of Compassion, Dr. Wess Stafford, speak at a mothering convention in Nashville almost two years ago. (www.mops.org) I was moved to tears at his testimony and passion for seeing all children given all the opportunities and resources available to enable them to live productive lives, regardless of where they lived.

I left the convention as a Compassion sponser for three kids.

I don't regret it for a second.

I plan to write more later telling about the Advocacy program with Compassion International, something which I am newly a part of, but for now I will leave it at this. Please take a minute and check out Compassion. I know it can change you, your family and a child's life forever, in Jesus' name. Take care, Julie

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

The Green Haired Kid

So this is our pool. Well, technically it's not OUR pool, it's the pool we pay money to belong to and swim in.

Yes, it's normally this empty. Although there was this one day last week when the summer camp kids came and it was really crowded, what with all 25 of us in the pool.

Since it's so hot here in South Texas we have been swimming at the pool a lot. So much so that I noticed my daughters hair has a faint green tint to it. I haven't been requiring the kids to shower after swimming. I figured the chlorine more than likely killed any germs on them and that they would be fine till bedtime baths. Apparently, I figured wrong.

Here's where I need your help. Do you all know of any kids shampoos good at getting rid of chlorine? Please let me know. Maybe in a few years my daughter will want to make a statement with green hair, but not right before she starts kindergarten. Thanks! Take care, Julie

Sunday, August 10, 2008

A Trip Down Bowling Lane

Last week my dear friend Yvonne and I took our kids bowling. We attempted to go earlier in the week to the only bowling alley our city has, but unfortunately the bowling alley was full of summer camp kids and senior citizens.

Yes, senior citizens. And yes, I was surprised too. I guess the Wii systems really are paying off.

Going bowling reminded me of a time ten years ago when I took a local writing class. It was held at the Art Center in town and met once a month. The teacher was older and had curly hair. On our first day of class she wore navy blue tights with white sandals.

That should have been my first clue.

Her writing claim to fame was a cookbook series written from the point of view of a cat.

That should have been my second clue.

I was at least 40 years younger than everyone else in the class.

That should have been my third clue.

But at the time I did not catch any of the blatantly obvious clues. I was young, naive and hopeful. I had my sights set on learning the skills necessary to write books that landed on the NY Times Best Seller lists.

This was not the class for that.

Each time we met for class we would sit in a circle and read aloud one page of something we were working on. Following each persons reading the rest of the class would provide feedback.

All of the members of the class (except for one older gentleman and myself) were there to put to paper their life story. The older gentleman was there to learn how to write letters to the editor-bold, angry letters to the editor about the many faults of our fine city.

Class after class I would listen to others life stories. Some interesting and some not. But without fail, whenever someone finished reading their page aloud the rest of the class would gush with wonderful and positive feedback. Things like, "Oh Mary, the emotion you write about for five paragraphs on the inside of your childhood home brings tears to my eyes." (grab tissue and wipe eyes for maximum effect) Or "Rosita, I could feel the dust in my eyes as you wrote about that dark and dusty road you walked down for ten miles in order to give birth to your oldest son."

Very positive feedback.

One time I came to class with a piece I had been working on that in my humble opinion was brilliant. I couldn't wait to read it in class. It was a story about how my dad almost became a professional bowler (yes, it's true). I wrote about how I always wondered what my life would have been like if my dad had indeed became a professional bowler. I had imagined all the places bowling would have taken us to, like, Omaha, Nebraska or Detroit, Michigan. When I got to the end of my piece I paused and waited for the positive feedback I was sure would be coming. Instead, I was greeted by absolute silence. Not a word. I sat there in stunned silence for what felt like an eternity but was in all reality more like a minute, until my teacher spoke up and said, "Good." and then moved on.

GOOD?

Are you serious? A good? Not an excellent or you have potential or I can't wait to see where your writing takes you?

I should have known though. All the clues were there and they all added up to one thing...

Wrong class.

I had not thought of that story for a long time and it makes me laugh now. Who knows, if I am fortunate maybe someday I can teach a class after I become famous for writing a cookbook from the perspective of a scorpion.

A girl can dream, can't she?

Saturday, August 9, 2008

Almost 9 on the 9th

My sweet friend at http://www.becomingmethruhim.blogspot.com/ does a fun post called "9 on the 9th". (By the way, thank you friend for helping this helpless blogger out with the info on how to change the date for my post!) I'm giving it a go and since my husband and I went to see Dark Knight on Friday night I decided to do 9 things I like about going to the movies. The sad part is though, I can not come up with 9! So without further ado, or mumblings here they are:
1. Movie popcorn...need I say more?
2. Ice cold Coke from the soda fountain
3. Comfortable reclining seats
4. Previews. To say I love previews is quite the understatement. I have been known to skip a movie if there's a chance I will miss the previews.
5. Two words...surround sound
6. Break from reality for two hours
7. Watching something that makes me laugh, cry and think.

That's it. What about you? What is your favorite thing about going to the movies? Do you go to movies? How often? Let me know and go check out my friend at http://www.becomingmethruhim.blogspot.com/
Take care,
Julie

Thursday, August 7, 2008

Friday's Favorites

This week marks the beginning of what I am calling Friday's Favorites. I am pretty sure I am not the first blogger to come up with this title, so I'm not taking any credit for it. If you know who did, let me know so I can give them credit.

Each week I'm going to pick a theme and share a few of my favorites from that theme, whether it's shoes, hotels, books, products or websites I like. Should be fun!

Since school is just around the corner, I thought I'd focus on a major back to school item for this first edition....backpacks.

For the last couple of years I've bought a new backpack for each child at the beginning of the school year, mostly because the backpack from the previous year bit the dust by the end of the school year. (think broken zippers, holes in the seams from wear and tear) This year I decided to bite the bullet and invest a bit more money into buying a product that will last longer than a year. (I'm hoping for at least 3-4 years)

Enter Land's End.

Not only does Land's End make quality products, they also have an incredible guarantee that states, "If you're not satisfied with any item, return it to us at any time for an exchange or refund of its purchase price." (Land's End School Uniform catalog, page 4)

How awesome is that?

Also, if your school is on their preferred school list your school can earn 3% cash back on certain purchases you make. It's free and you can find more information about it at www.landsend.com/school.

Land's End has backpacks for every age and need. I bought a pre-school pack for my almost 4 year old. It comes in Navy or Pink and costs $26.50.

For my daughter who is starting Kindergarten I bought a Classmate Jr. backpack good for kids ages 4-7. It is also $26.50 and comes in a variety of colors. You can also buy the Classmate backpack for kids ages 7 & up for $29.50.

Lastly, I needed a backpack for my son who is going into 2nd grade. I'm sure he will have more homework this year and in preparing for older grades I went ahead and shelled out more money for the Wheeled Classmate backpack. At $59.50 it is a substantial bit more, but I figure it will last 4 years which is like paying about $15.00 a year which is less than what I've paid the past several years for a backpack that fell apart.

You also can pay extra for the option of adding your child's name, school logo or a variety of designs for $5.00 a piece.

UPDATE: For some reason I am not able to link all the pictures of the different backpacks and insert them into this piece. I apologize. I am so new at this and I'm not sure what in the world I am doing wrong! However, all the backpacks can be found at www.landsend.com/school

Land's end also makes great lunch boxes that range in price from $10.50-35.00. They come in a variety of colors with the option of adding a name or design.

Whew, that was a lot of information. Any thoughts that you have on back to school items? Do you love to shop for school supplies? Have you bought the supplies already? Have you been able to find everything you need? Do you have a favorite lunchbox from your childhood? Let me know. Take care, Julie

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

You Know You Have No Restraint When...

You know you have no restraint when you answer your front door, chat to the FedEx driver for several minutes, sign for a package, go back inside and realize you had brownie batter around your mouth the whole time.

What can I say?

It was brownie batter.

Just for the record...I would do it all over again in a second, it was that good!

UPDATE: Thursday night Steven Curtis Chapman and his family are going to be featured on Larry King Live. I think the time is 8p.m. central time. In case you missed the Good Morning America segment about their family, you can click here

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Rocking Around Our House

One of our errands from the other day was stopping at a music store. See while on vacation my oldest child inherited my husband's electric guitar. Just for the record, it's over twenty years old and it weighs a ton.

I told my husband the good news for our son is that if guitar playing doesn't work out, at least he will be the only 8 year old with bulging biceps.

While at the music store we had the guitar fixed and my son spent his birthday money on a Fender amplifier.

What have we gotten ourselves into?

Since our visit to the music store, the decibel level has risen exponentially at our house. It is like a rock and roll star has taken up residence. The surprising thing is though, the rock star is my husband. Now I knew he liked to play his acoustic guitar. I just didn't realize he likes to rock.

Who knows, if his career as a doctor gets old, maybe we can go on the road and tour.
Take care,
Julie

BTW....stay tuned...On Friday I am going to begin a weekly Friday Favorites post featuring products, books, websites, stuff I like. You will not want to miss it!

Sunday, August 3, 2008

Please check this out

So, I was all set to write this witty post about a birthday party we went to at Chuck E Cheese's on Friday. I was going to talk about how the crowd on Friday is more of a mouse eat mouse kind of place.

I'm a real comedian.

But then I sat down at the computer and started browsing and I ended up on Steven Curtis Chapman's website.

Now most of you probably know who Steven Curtis Chapman is. If not, he is a contemporary Christian Musician. You are probably also aware of the recent death of his little girl back in May. An unspeakable tradegy that is really impossible to put into words.

Maybe what you did not know is that Steven Curtis Chapman's assistant Jim, has a blog tht he writes for the family and in it he includes all sorts of information concerning concerts, events, updates as well as very personal and heartfelt posts.

I ended up reading a month's worth of his posts and was moved by the power of his words on behalf of the Chapman family.

I cried like a baby for an hour.

Then I got on my knees and prayed.
Prayed for the Chapman family.
Prayed for my own family.
Prayed for forgiveness for not being the mom I want to be for my kids earlier in the day, for being too short with them and where I didn't exactly show them God's love.

Lots of good stuff.

Anyway, if you get a chance, please check it out here.

Also, Good Morning America is doing a segment on the Chapman family this week, Wednesday, August 6. I think I read that it's supposed to be during the 8 o'clock hour. Finally, People magazine is also doing a piece on the Chapman family. It's supposed to be on newstands August 13th.

Please take a minute to pray for the Chapman family and check out the website.
Thanks,
Julie