Can I please put some time in a bottle?

Monday, August 11, was Daniel's first day of 8th grade, and I insisted on taking the traditional "First Day of School Photo" (and wasn't met with much resistance). I got to thinking how cool it will be someday to put 13 "First Day" pictures in a line and see the transformation. I'm not ready for that day, yet, but here's a little sneak preview comparison of the first day of Kindergarten vs. first day of 8th grade. This is why I love to take pictures and scrapbook! WOW!

Question of the Day

I am loving that the Summer Olympics have started and I have been trying to catch different events on my non-cable TV. My big question of the day is:

Why do the male beach volleyball players wear shirts and longer shorts, but the female players only wear bikini bathing suits?

I'm sure that it has a lot to do with who's watching the events and sponsors, etc., but PUH-LEEZE . . .

I never . . .

When I was in college, I remember playing a game called, "I never," where we sat in a circle and each person went around and said something she had never done (don't worry, it didn't get too personal). If the other people in the group had done the thing she'd never done, they had to put a penny in the middle. The person with the most pennies at the end was the winner.

Well, Daniel did something today that I've never done: He got braces! He got through it fine and doesn't seem to fazed by having all that metal in his mouth. I'm actually a little envious of the coolness factor, but not enough to plunk down thousands of dollars to get some of my own!

Some other things I've never done are:

• watched an entire Star Wars movie
• been snow skiing
• ridden a motorcycle
• toured Graceland
• been kissed (ha! just kidding!)

So, anyone want to play? Post something that you've never done and see if you can stump me or anyone else who might want to play!

Should I be offended???

Well, my newly painted big toe met with an unfortunate incident the day after my pedicure last week. Yes, I got a chip within 24 hours of having my toes all nicely painted. (This is why I don't pay for this too often!)

So, all week, I've been thinking that I need to find someplace that sells OPI nail polish and namely, You're Such a Kabucki Queen shade, so I can salvage my pedi before it's too far gone. Today before lunch, I decided to check online and found out that a Sun Tan City store on West End, not far from my office, had the color I needed. Off I went to Sun Tan City to get myself some happiness in a small bottle. I walked in, asked for my nail polish (I had just called a few minutes prior, so the guy remembered what I was there for), and made the purchase. I asked him to validate my parking ticket and as I'm getting ready to leave, he said, "Come back if you ever want a suntan!"

Hmmm! Was that I reference to my lily white skin (which is actually slightly more tan than during the non-summer months) or was he just doing his job at the counter of the tanning salon? I guess I don't really want to waste too much time being offended, but I still thought, "He didn't just say that" as I walked out the door and smiled to myself as I went to the car.

Sister Saturday: Girl Time!

Jeanette's baby is due in four weeks (27 days, if you're counting, and she is!), so I wanted to treat her to a pedicure as she prepares to welcome her daughter. Of course, I couldn't let her get a pedi all by herself! I think we're off to a good start in giving my niece lessons on what it means to be a girl!

We walked into Magic Nails and told them what we wanted and were escorted to our side-by-side chairs with water basins flowing, ready for our tired feet. On the way to the chairs, we picked out our nail polish colors. Jeanette's was bright pink (don't know the name of her color) and mine was a different shade of pink, called "You're Such a Kubucki Queen" (which I hope isn't something bad!), but also bright. For the next half hour we enjoyed soaking our feet in the bubbling water, having our callouses scrubbed and smoothed away, and getting our legs and feet massaged. At the end, our pink-hued toes were happily dried off under the lamp, and we went on our way to the next stop: Las Palmas!

They're back!

The GCC youth got back from their mission trip to NC yesterday afternoon and it's been so fun for me to get to hear Daniel's stories from the trip. I may not have heard much from him while he was gone (except for a few text messages), but he has definitely made up for it since he's been back. I expected that, and have not been disappointed. :-)

From the time I picked him up at Jeanette's house until he went to bed last night, he gave me lots of details about what they did and all the fun they had together. I think one of the most valuable experiences for him was the relationships he built with the other youth. He got to know the older guys and chaparones and formed friendships that will continue to influence his life in the years to come. They had a great week and worked hard, and Daniel is ready to go again! He's glad that he still has five more years that he can go on these types of trips with the youth group. I think this experience even surpassed Centri-Kid for him, and if you know how much he loved C-K, that's saying a lot!

I love summer evenings!

When I was a member at FBC, Nashville, back in the '90s, they used to have something called "Summer Sundae Nights," which were ice cream fellowships after the Sunday evening service. They'd set up tables in the drive-through and had hot dogs and hamburgers, as well as ice cream with various toppings. We'd all hang around eating our ice cream and enjoy the extra time to spend together outside on a summer evening. I loved those nights!

Tonight, at Grace Community Church, we had a "Summer Wednesday Night" (that's what I call it, they just called it a "dessert fellowship"). We had a church info meeting first and then everyone hung around afterward and ate yummy desserts and just had some extra time to visit on a nice summer evening. I enjoyed getting to chat with some friends, and also got to know a newer friend a little more. I watched other people's kids run around and play (my kid is on the youth mission trip), and observed lots of good, summer fun happening around me. Hopefully, people will remember these types of nights as a part of what makes our church tick, just like I have good memories of those Sunday nights at FBC.

I feel very blessed to have these experiences and even more so, to have my church family and my dear friends to make these memories special.