heyMamas

The Beauty of Being Bored

A good friend of mine at work is from London and we constantly talk about the difference between Europeans and Americans. 

Americans have giant flat screens TV's in our living rooms, Europeans think that is beyond crass. 

Americans buy tons of clothing, Europeans spend a great deal on very few outfits and wear them much  more frequently.

Americans live to work and Europeans work to live.  They travel extensively and value vacations more than we do.  

Americans go out to restaurants when getting together with friends, Europeans have more low key dinner parties.   

Americans are more impressed with money and material things that people posses, Europeans, are more impressed with the last book your read, or your political views, or what you are currently studying. 

Sure their teeth are shit compared to ours, but they seem to have a lot more substance than we do.  Of course these are gross generalizations and there are outliers in every category, but there is a truth to what she says. 

She herself is now living the life of a genuine New Yorker, although she has to go back to London soon as her Visa will expire.  She feels like since she has come to live in New York, all she does is work, spends the majority of her salary on rent and eating out, but says she can't help it as this is just the New York lifestyle. 

The one thing that I find the most fascinating about her experiences and feelings about the differences between Americans and Europeans is that she says, in the U.S nobody ever really just does nothing.  People in America are always doing something. 

In London when you ask someone on a Monday, "how was your weekend, what did you do?" and they respond simply, "nothing."  She says most people will answer back, "beautiful."  

Whereas in the U.S. if you ask someone that same question and they were to answer "nothing", they might look at you as if you were a little sad and pathetic.  

One day a few weekends ago, we had an early dinner {one of our favorite things to do} and then the girls and I sat around the table and worked on a fun project.  Just me and my girls.  Each one pulling a chair so close, they were practically in my lap.

It was beautiful.

Beautiful to be sitting together working on something that didn't involve anything technical or modern. Just talking and listening to each other. It was beyond awesome and certainly the highlight of my weekend. 

So for as much as I can, which usually isn't very much considering our sporting schedule on the weekend, I am going to try to schedule a little more nothing. 

A little more nothing so that maybe one day we could actually be bored. 

I would love to see what that feels like. 

Showing Talent

Both Lily and Belle love to sing.  And sing they do.  All over the house, in their rooms, in the basement, outside in the car and of course, in the shower.

Everywhere.

Anywhere.

Sometimes ear plugs are necessary.

They think they are going to win American Idol and if not, they will just settle on becoming pop stars the good old fashioned way.

Lily once did a talent show in her old school when she was in kindergarten.  She sang one of the Vanessa Hudgens song's from High School Musical.  The night of tryouts, we headed over to the school, disc in hand and I never imagined in my wildest dreams that she would actually get up there in front of everyone and sing.

But she did. 

And then she sang in the talent show a few weeks later, AGAIN in front of about a hundred people.  Pretty gutsy for a kindergartner.  Drew and I were blown away. 

Belle is the singer in the family though, {but I will deny ever having said that if Lily ever asks, even though it is actually written right here in this very blog} but has never sung in a talent show.  She is shy and although I know she would do a great job, she is hesitant.  When she is ready, she will rise to the occasion but we haven't felt the need to push her.

Talent show tryouts which are coming up in a few weeks, are the latest buzz at school.  Belle has decided she would like to try this year and she even asked the music teacher if she would play the acoustic guitar while she sang along.

 We'll see......

This is her song.  Stay tuned for how it turns out. 

No promises.  

Although the only promise that I can make, is that every time I hear her sing this song I have to hold back tears because I am so proud of her and at the same time, so in awe of how she sings and what she looks like doing it.  So if she does make the talent show, I can promise, that I will be the Mom in the corner making the ugly face as I try so desperately to hold back tears.

Snow Days

We had our third snow day on Long Island yesterday, and it has been incredibly exciting for my girls.  My only wish would be less working when I am snowed in and more playing, although I did manage to get in more hugs and kisses than I normally get when I am at work.

The girls went sledding in the later part of the afternoon, but insisted on doing this the ENTIRE morning....

 

After about an hour of wrestling, I yelled at them to get out of their pj's, brush their teeth AND their hair and make their beds. 

"Have a little pride in your appearance," I must have said at least ten times although I cringed at myself after for having said that since they are only ten and seven, but I couldn't help it.  Lounging around in pj's all day makes me crazy!!  The lounging part is great, I just feel like it doesn't hurt to look pretty and have fresh breath. 

An entire day of them drifting from one thing to another sort of reminded me of college kids home on a break from school.  Ya know, after having been away at school and slaving over your books and your partying, and then you go home to your parents house for the holidays and sleep all day and go out all night. 

They stopped the wrestling long enough to go change into some real clothes, but as soon as they were done they came right back downstairs and started doing some kind of cheer-leading pyramid building thing, which is sort of hard to do with only two people....

A for effort though.

 

Mama's Bits: Over Already?

{This is my category called Mama's Bits where I discuss a piece or person that is highly relevant at the moment in pop culture in an effort to catalog for my girls, who and what was popular during their childhood.}

 

It's been a long time since I posted something in Mama's Bits.  It hasn't been because I don't read my favorite gossip blogs everyday, but more like what I have been reading has been total crap.

Until a few weeks ago when I ran past this cover on a magazine rack  in Penn Station on my way home from work.  Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds, a couple!!!  I was so excited.  They would be so amazing together! 

I love them both so much individually that not loving them together would be a complete impossibility. 

 
Both just newly divorced from total idiots, I thought it was a done deal, good to go, the fat lady singing.....only to find out tonight as I googled them to get a picture, that they ARE NO LONGER DATING!

The article that I read said that Sandra called it quits because she wanted to focus on her son and I admire her for that, I really do, but can't she have some fun on the side?  Isn't she entitled to a little levity after what she went through with that dirt bag husband of hers?

I have read that she is a super private person so maybe this no-more-dating-declaration is nothing more than a ruse to get the magazines and photag's off their backs.

 

Only time will tell I guess, but seriously how cute do they look together?

Our Living Room Makeover

Had I been more prepared for the following post I would have had a great picture of our bare living room/indoor playground in the "before" state.  The closest thing I could find is the photo below from Belle's tenth birthday party and thank god we didn't have any furniture then because the girls played with one single solitary balloon in that room for hours!

One balloon. 

Nine girls. 

NO furniture. 

And they were happy.

We have been living in this new suburban house of ours for seventeen months and we have just finished furnishing our living room.  As I said above, we didn't fill the living room with furniture for a long time because honestly we didn't see the point.  We didn't need the room because we have a den that houses our TV, but the girls, they are a different story completely. 

The girls needed that room...BAD.

They needed to do gymnastics and round-offs and splits, and all sorts of other things you can do in a living room that is left empty and neglected for seventeen months.  

Who were we to mess that up?

Well, over vacation and many months of debate {this is the closest I will ever come to doing any sort of work to a house with Drew, forget a renovation, ohmygodiwoulddie}, we have finally furnished our living room, crushed the girls dreams and no longer have to explain why we don't have any furniture when people come over.

  

White Furniture? 

I know, we are freaking crazy.