Jaleel White

I don't remember too many of my birthdays distinctly, but my eighth birthday party stands out.  It's the only family party I can recall where we ate dinner out.  We met at Ryan's which delighted me beyond measure primarily because there was an all you can eat buffet and soft serve ice cream.  I'm pretty sure I only consumed dinner rolls, pepperoni, olives, and chocolate ice cream~ ah, the unsophisticated palate and free will of a child.  I felt terribly spoiled on this birthday as well because I relished the opportunity to have happy birthday sung to me and to open presents before an audience of other diners.  It made me feel important.  I think because it was such a unique event in my childhood, I have such strong memories of the gifts I received.  My most treasured present was a doll.  I'm sure all girls my age had special dolls but not like this one.  It was the greatest doll ever fabricated in the 1990s.  It was the Talking Urkel doll...

He said humorous catch phrases like "Did I do that?" and "Got any cheese?".  I played with Urkel so much that one of his suspenders broke off and his pull-string no longer made him speak.  For a season he was my favorite, but it didn't last.  The popularity of Family Matters faded, and I outgrew my toy.  My Steve Urkel doll was tossed into the old donation pile and exiled from our happy home.  Did I just give a synopsis for the Toy Story movies?  The Urkel doll & Woody bear some uncanny similarities...

Years later when I was a freshman in high school, something totally unexpected happened.  I was invited by a friend to have brunch with his family at the Ritz Carlton in Buckhead.  In my mind it was the height of elegance and by far the fanciest event of my young life.  I wanted to look my best, but I had one major problem.  I was plagued by bad vision and had to wear glasses.  Of all the deplorable enemies of femininity, prescription spectacles were the worst.  So while preparing I chose my most beautiful skirt and headband for my hair.  I selected chunky platform shoes because ladies where shoes that boost their height.  And I tucked my loathsome glasses in their case and left them on my nightstand.  After all, what if someone were to have a camera?  I didn't want to be immortalized on film at the fanciest place ever looking like a nerd.

Well, the Ritz brunch exceeded every expectation I had.  There was a chef preparing specialty omelets.  Every kind of pastry imaginable filled a beautiful table~ croissants, scones, muffins, danishes~ all glorious.  You could eat sausage, bacon, and eggs to your heart's content.  And there, at the caviar table (yes, a whole table dedicated to caviar) was Jaleel White.  Or so I was told.  Sure, I saw the figure of a young and slender black man, but he could have been anybody.  O curs'd spite!  Having left my glasses at home, I missed the possibility of seeing not only a real life celebrity, but one I had actually cherished.  Why had I not just packed my glasses in my purse?  Certainly the Steve Urkel would not have thought me a dork if I wore corrective eye wear.  I was urged by my friend to greet Jaleel White, but I felt such tremendous chagrin for not being able to see him that I was only persuaded to stroll past his table on my way to refill my plate.

While reflecting on these two Urkel anecdotes, a word kept coming into my mind.  Vanity.  It's like King Solomon was in my head reciting Ecclesiastes from his King James Bible, "Vanity of vanities; all is vanity..." (that's how he kicks off the book in chapter 1 verse 2, and yes Solomon owning a KJV is anachronistically impossible).  At two different times in my life, I was consumed with vanity.  The first I think is common for children and adults alike; we all desire to be celebrated especially by those we love.  Perhaps it was innocent enough at the time, but in my memory it is a top shelf momento.  It is my pride of special birthday nostalgia.  Maybe there is no danger in boasting about my eighth birthday. 

On the other hand, being embarrassed by wearing glasses was a silly thing.  Pretty much without exception, teenage girls are vain.  On that day it cost me something.  It could have been an episode of Family Matters (and likely was) where Steve removes his glasses to be cool but has some misadventure leading to property damage and an unhappy Carl Winslow.  I know for a fact that Stephanie Tanner struggled with glasses insecurity.  If I hadn't been so consumed with appearing a certain way, I wouldn't have missed a neat opportunity (or fibbed to many of you about how I've actually seen Jaleel White in person).

Steve giving Stephanie a pep talk about wearing glasses (Source) (VIDEO)

Stephanie Tanner & I had the same stylist~ floral dresses with lace collars and glasses

I wish at both those times in my life Solomon could have been in my head (or rather, heart) and imparted some of his wisdom.  I was too proud for my own good and attributed the good things in my life (particularly my eighth birthday party) to some inherent greatness in me.  On the other occasion, I was figuratively (and literally) blind to how shallow I was until there were consequences for my vanity.  Perhaps if I hadn't been so self involved, I could have had a little more gratitude for my family and friends treating me to nice meals and for having parents who provided glasses for me.  Who knows?  I might have even had the courage to introduce myself to Jaleel White and share with him that I always identified more with bespeckled and humble Steve than too-cool-for-school Stefan...

A day in the life...

... of a SUPER housewife.  Well now that I'm a full-time homemaker, I thought things would be dull.  I should have learned this lesson by now, but free time always fills too quickly.  In my day to day I try to set aside chore time, reading time, and social time (though this is not everyday).  Chores range from doing the dishes, making the bed, tidying up the dorm, and manage our grocery list and calendar.  I also kill bugs because we keep the windows open and have no screens.  Soon I hope to venture to the grocery store solo~typically Kyle and I go together because it's sort of a team effort, but it'd be nice to give him a break.

My reading time is the highlight of my day~I have 4 areas of reading.  I try to keep up with the news on a few different websites each day.  I have just started reading the Old Testament in chronological order and taking notes to what God illuminates during my studies.  I have a textbook called La France contemporaine; this is so I read in French and learn more about my current home.  Lastly is fun reading.  I have a whole bookshelf full of books that have been scavenged from the GTL communal library.  In the past month, I picked up 10 books... a bit ambitious, but I'm optimistic.

Social time has been the best.  I'm sort of a homebody, and I was seriously bad about spending time with our friends on school days.  In the past week, Kyle and I had Bible study (like always) on Monday night.  On a lovely sunny afternoon Lauren and I sat lakeside and knit.  We met a funny French fella who chatted us up for a while (or should I say, "il a drague un peu avec nous").  Lauren got a bad sunburn on her legs except on the parts where her project (a cute angora sweater) covered her fair skin.

On a brief tangent, I had once been an amateur knitter as a young girl.  My aunt Pam decided to take knitting classes at a local Michael's craft shop.  Somehow or other, I was volunteered to be her knitting partner.  It was quite fun because there were limitless resources in the store.  I never completed any project; I was very bad at following through on things I started without the proper motivation (i.e. my mom's reminders).  Anywho, my great aspiration to make a knit cover to a pillow was never achieved, but I did successfully decorate a wicker basket with fake sunflowers to hold all my knitting materials...

Back to modern times~this is what I achieve on our knitting and sitting outing:

The color seems a bit muted in this picture~it's more of a Kermit the frog green (or lime green if you are my old step-mom Lane.  I mean old because she no longer is my step-mom, not because of her age....).  I call it Squiggly Rectangle.  It's still on the needle because I'm out of yarn and don't know how to terminate the project.  Help me Lauren!

Lauren and I ended our delightful afternoon with some bitter lemon beverages and cartoons!  Then there was a cookout at GTL for all the undergrad students as a sort of Independence/Bastille day joint celebration.  The food was fantastic, but those undergrads are certainly unruly and rude.  It's a bad batch-o-kids.  I didn't socialize again until Friday.  Rocky invited us to a super secret surprise birthday party for his wife, Maria!  A big group of us were scheduled to meet at la Winstub (a Hamilton favorite).  It's an Alsacian restaurant, and the food is marvelous~I had scalloped veal in a muenster and mushroom cream sauce and a huge side of roasted (hashbrown-like) potatoes.  There was also some Kir & Riesling involved.  We had a lovely time with a huge group of friends.  

Kyle, me, Rocky, and the birthday girl!

You may say to yourself, "Self, this does not a whole week make."  You'd be correct in assuming that I didn't simply do chores, read, and hang out all week long.  I have found a new weakness.  Cartoons, cartoons, cartoons!  I spend a good amount of time on Cartoon Network's website watching episodes of Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends and clips of Adventure Time.  On top of that, Making Fiends on Nicktoons is a hit~I remember watching it when it was just an online thing.  Lauren also indulged my new obsession; she and Michael have Netflix.  In the online library is a whole host of old Nicktoons~we watched Aaahhh! Real Monsters and Ren & Stimpy last week.  I'll leave you with a clip from Adventure Time~it makes me so so happy.

Alli T!

I hope my dear friend Allison won't mind a birthday blog on her husband's birthday.  It's a bit belated (why do we only use that word with birthday greetings?), but Alli's b-day was yesterday.   Alas, shall we take a stroll down memory lane?  For those who didn't attend GT with me, Alli was my roommate for the better part of our college career.  We definitely had a meet cute~ we both requested random roommates for our freshman year and were surprised to be paired together since we attended high school together and even had gifted lit in 9th grade together and AP U.S. history our junior year.  It was a funny coincidence, but I thank God I was paired with her upon entering university.  We lost a good amount of time playing Tetris Attack, and I have Alli to thank for any athletic achievement I have reached~she, in fact, introduced me to the gym and the elliptical.  Allison also brought me to my first small group~ it was a study on Galatians. We haven't spent much time together in the past couple of years, but even now she is not far away serving as a missionary in Birmingham, England.  Perhaps if Kyle lands a position with Siemens, we'll get to join Alli & her husband Mike in the UK.  Let's get on with the photos... I have a veritable cornucopia of digital history.

The oldest picture I have of us together... at least Alli looks cute.

Looking fresh for a formal

Sassy dance moves

Less formal dancing...

We're in the middle row sporting red tops with all our girl friends.

Chilling out by the wonderful wall of prayer in 225 Woodruff.

This is Alli.... in a box!

Beach vacation our sophomore year~seafood time!

On rock & rock on!

Mind the gap

We are GT fans...

... and frequently attend football games....

... and sometimes get a little hyphy with Whitney!

A golf outing at the driving range~ we learned together, but she's probably way more skilled than I am.

This was the last time I saw Alli before she departed for Mexico~she survived living on a volcano.

Be happy.  Hug a pumpkin.

We enjoyed a good many sporting event at the SAC fields.

Merry Christmas brownies!

Beach brownies

T-Rizzle and the gals!

Apparently not having the best time at this Christmas party...

Classy black & white photo

There's no telling why we were so thrilled, but it must have been something like Trey cheering us to say cheese as happily as possible.

D-double d-date!

Brownie reunion just last summer

Getting Alli into her wedding dress on her happy day!

Et voila~a lovely bride & groom

Preparing with Alli, friends, and sisters on my wedding day.

What a lovely ensemble of identically dressed loved ones.

Happy birthday Thompson couple!

Hope yall have a lovely time celebrating your first birthdays in the UK!

Take care birthday buddies and hope to see yall in Europe one of these days!

Miss Lewis, It's Your Day!

Greetings one and all.  It seems as if all the summer undergrad students at GTL have finally brought a bit of warmer weather to us.  This was much needed to say the least.  Kyle and I've been having a super awesome weekend, but I'll share photos from that in a bit.  First things first!  Today is Audrey's 26th birthday, and she's celebrating back in the states.  Audrey is one of the few friends that we've been able to see since we moved here.  Her lovely parents live in Heidelberg, Germany and graciously invited us to join them for a bit during the Christmas season.  Audrey & her mom, Sheri, taught us how to play a really fun dominoes game.  We are so hooked, and how else to celebrate Miss Lewis' birthday than to go out and buy a set of black and white tiles for some fun at home. As always, we shall take a walk down memory lane with some photos.  Hold onto your hats kids!

I am not kidding, this game is fun!

This probably constitutes the first time Audrey & I hung.  We received a unique experience with our campus minister, Rick...

Audrey, flip flops & a hoodie?  I seemed to consumed by my book to notice that my socks don't match or that Rick is sitting on me.

Then Audrey & I celebrated surviving the attack of the killer Rick by smoking a cigar.  Also, Kevin was there.

A couple of years later, we founded our own bandana gang in Juarez, Mexico.

Behold the beauty of American orthodontics!

Audrey helped me fulfill my lifelong dream of hugging two redheads at once.

Wedding reception or Halloween party?  You decide.

Smiling is our favorite especially at pizza joints!

I should have taken Audrey to my high school prom. I love a good foot pop.

We should put those sunglasses to work.  We are squinty.

You are so pretty, friend!

Audrey encouraged me to let out the inner dork.  She even did the sorority squat in this picture to not make me feel so short.  What a pal!

Don't worry friends, we're not at some man-hating, bra-burning even here.  It's a good old fashioned game of boys vs girls flamingo football.

To assert our white trash Southern girl badness, we got some sweet tats on our lower backs.  Then Kyle was taking us to a friends house when we got pulled over by the cops.  Turns out Kyle had borrowed the car from a guy he'd known for 2 weeks, and his name was Dave or Mike.  Kyle couldn't remember where Dave or Mike lived, so the cops decided to make the arrest. The law enforcement knew Kyle would be a problem because he wasn't wearing a shirt; they finally cuffed him while he was pinned to the ground, but not before he smashed his head on the back of the car.  You can see it on COPS sometime, but don't expect to see Audrey or me.  We didn't sign the release forms so hopefully our faces will be blurred out.

March Plaidness~lady style.

Heads next to each other...

...or heads stacked, we have fun together.

Flower eyes and ping pong~ that's all I remember about Spring 2008.

We enjoyed a tasty brunch at the Mosby wedding.

Audrey through me a party to help me stock up my trousseau.  Love the decorations in between our heads.

Audrey's looking lovely partying with a bunch of bridesmaids.

We should really spend more time in Worms together.

If Worms doesn't work, I'll happily take Mannheim.  Cheers to you, Audrey, on your happy birthday!!!

Please, eat cake~not a balloon.