Surprise Picnic Baby Shower

Can it get any better than this? My dear friends at work planned a secret picnic baby shower for me!

They hooked me with an email request to a gang of us to go to lunch at Moe's Southwest Grill -- just about my favorite lunch spot -- they know me too well. So my buddy A.K. and some of our interns snag me, but I was going to drive separately since I had to run an errand. Although this put them in a tizzy, they covered well and insisted I follow A.K.'s car. Moe's is like 1 mile away, and as you now know, I am VERY well aquainted with how to get there. So I said "Follow you? Why? Do you think I'm going to get lost?"

Next thing I know adorable interns Amanda and Liz come running after me: "Can we ride with you? A.K.'s car is too messy." So they start getting me to chat about stuff, while we're following A.K. down the road. I start to turn towards Moe's, but A.K. doesn't. Quickly, Amanda says "Oh, we found a shortcut. Follow A.K." I'm thinking ... a shortcut past the turnoff to Moe's? But I follow.

I stop for a yellow light. A.K. didn't. She pulls off the road to wait for me. Then she keeps going and going and going. So Amanda's saying "Oh, I remember, A.K. had to drop something off!" Next thing I know, we're turning in to Oak Hollow Lake and this cute little park, and there's everyone from the office with a picnic lunch in the shade by the lake. Is that not the cutest thing? Here take a look:

So, since I have gestational diabetes, Mary Leigh and Aleasha and the girls planned foods I could eat, even making me a special cake that had 15g of carbs per serving with sugar-free cool whip frosting!

But here's the really cool part. They all think it's really hard to surprise me and thought I MUST have known something was going on. On Monday, I gave Mary Leigh a picnic basket I found out in the garage when I was looking for Tory's old baby clothes. I knew I would never use it and she collects them, so I gave it to her. I remember she was acting weird about it. "Why are you giving me a PICNIC BASKET?!" but just thought she was surprised and wondering if there was some occasion. She thought I knew about the party and was playing with her. Then when I asked Aleasha yesterday about doing a lunch for a coworker next Wednesday, she snatched up her Treo to make sure I couldn't see calendar information about my shower or get any other clues. She says I barely missed seeing her with pink balloons and a present when I was coming in to work. Then when I didn't ride in A.K.'s car today -- she thought I knew for sure and was giving her a hard time on purpose! When they found out I was totally clueless and totally surprised, there was a report that they all felt a certain sense of triumph.

I just felt a certain sense of gratitude that I have such good friends who would go to such lengths to throw such a special party. I know I will never forget it.

Sugar, Sugar

I used to wake up to my local AM station playing Adult Contemporary hits as a kid. The radio was in my parents' room, but we had it loud enough to provide background music to get ready. One song the morning DJ loved to play back in the 70's was The Archies' "Sugar, Sugar" which suited me fine since I also enjoyed the Saturday morning cartoon.

But now I am on a hunt for sugar. Or rather, on a hunt to find food without sugar. And carbs. Gestational diabetes is back in the picture for me on baby two, so I'm upping protein, lowering carbs, and AVOIDING sugar. It's not that its hard exactly. Read the labels, make smart choices, use Splenda. Follow the special diet -- the hardest part is eating all the snacks I'm supposed to eat, while checking my blood sugar at the right times at work. Which always happens to be during a meeting with a client or in the middle of a conference call.

Things I snuck into my diet: Low Carb Breyers Ice Cream Bars. These things are pretty yummy for just 9g of carbs! Sugar Free fruit bars from Edy's -- tasty! Things I have to add to my diet: more protein!

A snack before bedtime is supposed to be something like ice cream, right? My nutritionist suggested I eat protein at this time. "You could have a little rolled up piece of ham or roast beef, some string cheese, too. And have some carbs, like 4 Triscuits." I like party food as much as the next guy, but I'm not sure I'm ready to eat some ham and Triscuits at 10:00pm. It's surely a smart snack for someone in my condition, but the thought of nibbling on some ham before bed just doesn't do much for me.

Which brings me back to the song that's stuck in my head:

"Oh, honey!
Oh, Sugar, Sugar
You are my candy, girl
And you got me wanting you ..."

I'm at the point where the Tums I've been ordered to eat for extra calcium to avoid leg cramps are a true delicacy because they have 2g of carbs from sugar! Do try the Cocoa N Creme Smoothies if you get the chance!

Cooking with magic elves

I have been cooking the same 5-10 recipes since I went away to college in the (ahem) 1980's. While I love my spaghetti, cheese enchiladas, chili, meatloaf, and ham and cheese pie (aka quiche); they are not the foods you want to eat every single week for the rest of your life. So I got into this restaurant habit that I needed to break. It's expensive and fattening.

I bought cookbooks and read recipes but was afraid to try them. I can be a picky eater sometimes. I don't really like mushrooms, onions, peppers, squash, eggplant, you get the drift. I ate so much chicken that I became sick of it. (And it doesn't taste good like it used to. Have you noticed that the chicken breasts you buy in the store don't taste as chicken-y as the chicken you ate as a kid?)

But I digress.

I found the solution. I went to this new place in my town called Gourmet Creations and made 6 dinners that serve 4-6 people in about an hour and a half. Six dinners that sounded really yummy and were made by me, with fresh ingredients. Six dinners that will live in my freezer just waiting for the night I will move them over to the fridge and defrost them so I can eat them for dinner the next day.

Okay, five dinners because we ate one tonight. It was awesome. Chicken breasts stuffed with artichokes and goat cheese, and a vegetable medly of green beans, butterbeans, onions and red peppers. I would never cook like that on my own, but the Gourmet Creations folks made it so easy!! Little elves in brown aprons would whisk away my dirty mixing bowls and spatulas; find me more cut carrots, and help me carry all my dinners to the car.

Makes me look forward to Sunday dinner for the first time in YEARS, I tell ya!

Glad for Plaid

I went to Catholic school from 1st through 8th grade. Loved the school -- HATED the uniforms. You would too: they were rusty red, forest green, brown, navy blue, and black plaid. It was an unusual pattern, asymmetrical, mostly of the green and red in odd-shaped rectangles and lines. So it was kind of like ugly Christmas, especially after you had worn the jumper, the skirt, or the pants for at least one yet. The red faded into this nasty orangey rusty red -- you always knew the kids whose moms had bought them uniforms way too big (you'll grow into it!) or had hand-me-downs from older siblings (if it was good enough for your sister ...) or just had one that your mom washed a few times a week.

There are many beautiful plaids out there. Black Watch, Glen Plaid, Houndstooth, Buffalo or even Burbury. I even like those yellow plaids with the black in them that you see around this time -- back to school time. But the Holy Spirit Catholic School plaid defies description. You have to see it to believe it. I don't have picture on me now, but I will post one soon. From my description, you may be thinking it's that nice Christmasy-tartan you see around the holidays, but you'd be wrong.

When I graduated from 8th grade, I took my mom's sewing scissors to my uniform skirt. I had been wearing that skirt 1 or 2 years, so it was pretty faded and put up no resistance to my rage against the plaid. But that plaid has had its revenge, oh yes!

From that day forward, I have never been able to wear plaid again. It looks so cute in the catalogs and on the mannequins. Over the years, I have tried on many, many plaid outfits. Maybe this will be the ONE, I whispered in department store dressing rooms as I slipped a garment over my head. Then I opened my eyes and saw:

Catholic schoolgirl.
And not the hotsy Britney Spears version either. It all turns into Holy Spirit plaid to me.



So what I have I done? I have just registered my daughter for Catholic school. A uniform is required. It's plaid! But it is the cutest darn plaid, a regular plaid, a run-of-the-mill plaid, a plaid I would have gladly worn for 8 years. Look at it over there, all navy blue and white, with a hint of red, yellow and green. It's the kind of plaid you see in the Lands' End or L.L. Bean catalogs, in girls' Christmas dresses or back-to-school fashions. Just in case, I'm hiding the scissors. She's in 3rd grade. I've got five years to go!

Is it a sabbatical if you're too busy to blog?

I knew it had been a while since my last post, but was surprised to see it was actually in January. I haven't done any of the things designed to boost readership, like ... tell people I had a blog, post to other people's blogs, leave comments around the web quoting myself, so it's not like I was leaving anyone in the lurch, right?

But tonight, I decided to pick things back up and see what would come out. I felt like writing about cool books I have read. I've been thinking about reading this summer and don't really feel like there's a lot of good recommendations out there. So here are some of mine:


The Outlander Series by Diana Gabaldon
I read these books years ago when they were considered historical romance and filed as such in my local B&N. Imagine my surprise when I recently pointed some book club members to these books and we all traipsed over there to pick them up. I searched the G's of the historical section with mounting panic ... but they were nowhere to be found. I was on my way to the information desk, when I passed fiction and literature and thought "heck, I'll take a quick look." Boom baby! Diana Gabaldon, upgraded to fiction and literature, with new classy covers and everything. Most of mine have the original covers. Paperback. Yep.

Anyway, they are a sweeping saga of Scottish history, American history, English history with fascinating bits about historic medicine, customs and a fabulous love story or two or three wound in there. A main character with a Scottish accent and a kilt, a sassy strong woman and some time travel -- color me happy. There are 5 books in the series, I think. All of them are great reads.


The Stephanie Plum books by Janet Evanovich
When you're looking for a sassy (there's that word again) female detective, look no further than Stephanie Plum and her formerly-a-ho sidekick Lula. All kinds of crazy stuff happens to Stephanie. If she were real, I'd tell you NOT to EVER lend her your car. Did I mention she's a bounty hunter? There are 11 books, and I think a new one coming out this summer. You don't have to read them in order, but they have cool names, each with a number in the title so you know which one you've got.


The Judge Deborah Knott books by Margaret Maron
I love, love, LOVE these books, and have two of them signed by the author. (Thanks Miz Maron! I sure enjoyed meeting you a few years ago.) In these books, set in North Carolina, not too far from where I live, Judge Deborah Knott serves justice on the bench while tripping over a mystery or two. The first book in the series is The Bootlegger's Daughter. And yes, the judge is in fact a bootlegger's daughter. There's a lot of good Southern stuff going on in these books, some fine mysteries and a whole lot of family. Right now I'm re-reading Killer Market, set at the High Point furniture market.

I'm doing this off the top of my head, so I'll probably have more recommendations coming up later. I'm off to scrapbook.

Two Peas Meme Challenge

Meme Challenge 1.21.06 Here it is: List the 5 events/things/or people, that have made the most impact on your life. Events, places, or people, that have made a mark on your life, as you're living it now.

These aren't in order ... they're just my list:

1. My daughter
Your life completely changes after you have a child. I wouldn't change a minute of my life since she entered the world. Except, I would have taken more naps when she was a newborn instead of holding her and watching her sleep every time.

2. My husband
He's the first guy who ever really "got" me. He thinks I'm just the cutest thing ever and mimics my mannerisms, which is both fun and annoying. I had to do a Myers-Briggs personality test once and I brought home the descriptions of all 16 types and asked him which one he thought I was. He took one look and pegged it.

3. My mom
My mom believes I can do anything and supports me daily. She sacrifices to make me happy, shares my joys and listens to my woes. Plus she will come over and clean my bathrooms -- it makes her happy.

4. Sister Marie Frances Regis Collins
Sister Regis unlocked the English language for me. I was a great reader, and she took that love of reading and gave me a rock-solid foundation in grammar from 6-8 grade at Holy Spirit Catholic School. She made us say our prepositions in alphabetical order, and I can still do it .. about, above, across, after, against, along, among, around, at ... plus she taught me how to diagram sentences. It's a long-lost skill, but one that still helps me as I make my living by writing.

5. Craig Thomas and Glenn Hargett
These two gentlemen have to share the space, but both gave me my start in my first career. Craig was program director at WJNC-AM in Jacksonville, NC. He gave me a job as a DJ after I spent my junior year doing my high school's radio show on Friday nights. For some reason, it impresses people to know I was a DJ in high school. Glenn gave me a job as News Assistant and then Assistant News Director (funny how switching around a word gives a title more oomph!) and taught me more about news, fair & balanced reporting and the NC Open Meetings law than anyone person has the right to know. When a later News Director in TV told me the problem with me was that I was a "Big J Journalist" I knew I was a journalist with a capital J because of Glenn Hargett.

You know, I could do a whole new list on places and events. I may just do that in another post.