Better Than Nothing

This might not look like much, but I'd been living without coffee in the morning for far, far too long. Which is criminal for someone like me who typically lets nothing, not even cream or sugar, get between coffee and me. Well, I think the H had finally had it up to here with my morning moodiness so we grabbed this on a lark. That's better.

Hamm and Scallops

Yep, we had another grown up, Mad Men dinner the other night. Hard to say which I liked better, the Hamm or the scallops. Then again, why choose? They were both awesome.

Whatever Makes You Happy

Adam Lambert makes my mom very happy (see previous post.) So she bought two tickets to his Glam Nation tour date in San Diego and invited me to come along. We had a wonderful time together (her, Adam, and me as the third wheel) from which I'm pretty sure my mom still has not recovered.My mom looking so pretty and happy before the concert, and in case it doesn't come across in this picture, so glittery! She's flashing Adam's famous peace sign, and is wearing his even more famous gun metal nail polish. Go Mom!My mom and me at dinner before the show. But of course I got my glitter on too!Checking out the merchandise pre-concert.My mom modeling her new tee. Some video images before the show started. We thought we had first row tickets, but they ended up being in the first row of the Grand Tier. Oh well, still excellent seats.

Can I just pause here and say it was very enlightening to be at that concert with my mom. She easily conversed with many of the people seated near us (it was one big, ecstatic family from what I could tell), and I picked up on quite a lot by listening to them. For one thing, Adam is known as "impossibly beautiful" by those who love him. His die hard fans also consider themselves to be in "the other closet," in that they feel they must hide the extent of their devotion from family and friends to avoid being thought of as nuts. Awww! And his fans (including my mom, as I noticed for the first time sitting there waiting for the show to start) wear matching "Planet Fierce" wristbands in honor of His Glamness. I begged my mom to tell me what Planet Fierce meant, but a lady seated behind us leaned forward and told me, "Your mom has to keep some secrets." So funny! Oh, and another lady sitting behind us was someone my mom recognized from a fan website. What the?Unauthorized concert footage. Say what you want but that guy can sing, and he put on one heck of a great show.The security guards outside of the stage entrance after the show, where my mom and I waited and waited to catch a glimpse of Adam. And catch a glimpse we did. Those mean security guards tried to shoo us down the street, but my mom and I are rebels by nature (didn't you know), and because of our refusal to go anywhere, we ended up being the closest ones to the autograph barricade. When Adam finally did exit the stage door, he walked straight to my mom and gave her the first autograph. "Thank you for coming," he said sweetly to her. I was seriously afraid she was going to faint, especially after she told me she TOUCHED HIS WRIST. Damn my camera for being on the wrong setting (and shame on me for never ever reading my owner's manuals), but hopefully you can tell from these blurry shots that we were about as close to him as one can get without his bodyguards getting excited. Even I got excited, as you can probably tell. What can I say? Happiness is contagious.

My Sorry Attempt at Face Painting

As I was saying, my friend Julia's amazing face-painting artistry recently inspired me to purchase a Snazaroo kit and try painting my own kids' faces. Painting has never been my specialty, but where my red-headed, two-year-old son was concerned, I figured he'd look cute no matter what. And he's too young to complain, even when it looks like he painted his own bunny face. See what I mean. My poor daughter, on the other hand, did try to paint her own face, so frustrated was she by my pathetic attempt to draw a flowering vine up the side of her face. Yeah, it didn't go well. In a nutshell, she was really mad at me for doing such a bad job, and then got even madder at herself for not being able to improve upon my work. I would keep practicing, but I'm afraid to get her all riled up again. Lesson being that in her case, face painting might have to be left up to the pros. Bummer.

Face Painting With Friends

My friend Julia casually mentioned the other day that she'd picked up some face paints off Amazon and would my kids like to come over and get their faces painted. Would they? We can't pass one of those godforsaken face-painting booths without my daughter asking to be a butterfly, and my son pretty much wants whatever my daughter wants. So of course we accepted. And yes, Julia is supremely gifted in all things artistic. Just look at her beautiful work! Snook, the butterfly. I don't think she's ever been more pleased with herself.Bubs, the snake. This is his "mean guy" face. And below are the artist's own lucky daughters. And two more adorable little cuties from that day. With a friend like this you can be sure I won't be throwing down $12-$15 at those booths anymore. Not that I ever did. Julia, you are an inspiration! She truly is. I already bought my own set of paints and gave it a go. I'm embarrassed to even show you, but more on that later . . .

Sweet Child of Mine

To be on the receiving end of these sweet little crayon drawings. Wouldn't you agree this is one of those things that makes being a mom so gut-swellingly/heart-bustingly/tear duct-overflowingly beautiful. Guess which one is my favorite. MOOM? Come on now! That's not even fair!

Skin-tillating

A little while back, I ran out of my go-to tinted moisturizer. So armed with a gift certificate, I ran off to the Sephora in JCPenney for a new one only to find out they don't carry it. The horror! I never thought I'd stray, but the nice ladies there talked me into one from Tarte as a suitable alternative, and luckily they were right. For about ten dollars less and a lot more dewiness, I might be switching my allegiance permanently. While there, I also found this great concealer and highlighter from Lorac,and this supposedly miraculous primer from Korres to get everything started off right. Don't new products just make your day!