Revisiting the Past

Tonight I got to go out to dinner with one of my friends from college ... and it was sooooooooo much fun ... Tosha let me know over a month ago that they would be here on the 13th so I have been looking forward to it for some time ...

We both lived in Hashinger Hall together at the University of Kansas back in 1989 ... there was a group of us ... Tosha, Jenny, Mike, Brian and myself that hung out all the time ... our favorite thing to do was watch Spinal Tap ... I even remember that Christmas Break of 1989 we all agreed to not watch the movie so we could have a 3 week break from it ... the night we all got back to school we were giddy with excitement to watch it ... there weren't many people who wanted to hang out and watch it with the group of us because we had watched it so many times that we either started laughing before the funny parts happened or we said the lines alone with the movie ... we were a close bunch and stayed close even after we moved out of the dorms ...

Of course at some point we all drifted apart and then along came Facebook ... wow what an amazing site ... I have now reconnected with Tosha, Jenny and Mike ... Brian is still MIA ... although Brian and I stayed close friends up until about the beginning of 2004 and then I lost touch with him ... the email address he said he would keep forever is no longer working ...

Anyway ... I digress ... so it turns out Tosha and her family lived about a mile from us in MD for 2 years and we had no idea ... they moved away several years ago but there is a possibility that they may be moving back ... which would be so super fantastic ... because we all had a blast together tonight ...

We went to La Madeline and sat outside ... her two daughters and Schuyler had a blast running around ... chacing birds and making pretend castles ... Tosha and I talked about old times ... caught up on what all has been going on in the 20 years since we were in school together ... and David and her husband chatted about work and who knows what ... I was having too much fun hanging out with Tosha and watching the girls to listen to their convo ... but needless to say it was a fantastic evening ...

It really would be great if they got to move back here ... they would be an hour away but that would be nothing ... my fingers are crossed ...

Now I'm just waiting for her to get back to SC so she can send me the group photo that was taken with her camera ...

Clarkland Farm

Clarkland Farm 10/10/09

Today we went to Clarkland Farm with Skye's friends Sophia, Danielle and Jake ... the kids had an absolute blast ... running from one thing to another ...

Schuyler actually road the horse 4 times ... we bought one ticket ... she traded her hayride ticket for another horse ride and then Danielle and Sophia decided not to ride the horse so she used their tickets as well ... she absolutely loved it ... during one of the rides she proclaimed, "Mommy I want a horse!!!" ... of course she does ...

Part way through the day she stopped answering to Schuyler and when I asked her why she said, "My new name is Mrs. Plots" ... we still can't figure out why but she responded to that for the next hour and a half ... it was quite funny when she tried to explain that was her name ...

The group had such a great time that I think we are going to start planning something once a month to go and do ... all the kids love being together and all the parents had fun hanging out ...

How to Respond?

So what do you tell your child when they ask to see a friend of theirs when you are no longer friends with that family? It is such a difficult situation ...

I've tried saying they live too far away ...
The response was that we needed to get in the car and go there

I've tried explaining it is too far away to go by car ...
The response was we could use a plane

I've tried we can't take a plane trip now, mommy and daddy need to work and you need to go to school
To that I was handed the phone and told to call so she could talk to her best friends ...

There is no way to explain to a 3 year old what happened ... and why you no longer see your best friends ...

It has been over a year since she has seen them and a good 10 months since she spoke to them on the phone ... hasn't deterred her want to see and talk to them ... it breaks my heart ...

She got teary when I told her we couldn't call them ... her bottom lip pushed out and she told me she needed to go to her room and be alone for a little while ...

When I went up to see her she told me she was sad and that she was just going to lay on her bed and hug her kitty for a while cause that made her happy ... she said she would be happy again tomorrow at school when she could see all her other best friends ...

Poor thing ... I hate seeing her this way ...

Domino's House Party

Tonight we threw our first House Party and had a blast ... it was a Domino's Pizza American Legends party ... their new pizzas that represent different areas around the country ... I was pretty excited to get picked for a house party and looked forward to having people over ...

David was awesome and grilled a bunch of chicken, sausage and steak before everyone got here ... also some veggie platters and fruit platters ... some salads ... drinks ... it was a nice spread ... I called Domino's early to place our order for delivery later ...

I cleaned the house like nobodies business ... it felt great having all the areas of the house where people would be spic-n-span ... beyond clean ... de-cluttered too ... granted the other rooms need LOTS of work but it is getting there ... but I digress ...

Skye had a blast showing off for everyone ... she was the true social butterfly ... and everyone hung out and talked and ate and tried new pizzas ... it was such an enjoyable evening ... we really need to start having people over more often and doing more things at our house ... maybe as I work on this place and get it better and better we will do things more often ...

Anyway the House Party party was a big success and I hope I get to do another one soon ...

Sad News

On Wednesday January 14th, musiKidsFounder and President, Lisa Flaxman Martel, passed away after a battle with breast cancer. I had the privilege of knowing and working with Lisa. She always had a cheerful smile, positive words and a giving spirit to all whom she touched. She will be missed. If you'd like to read more about Lisa, click here.

The family has established the Lisa J. Flaxman MusiKares Fund for the Celebration of the Performing Arts through the Montgomery County Community Fund. This fund will honor Lisa's legacy of support for the performing arts in the local community. Funding may be used to support performing arts celebrations, elementary school artist-in-residence programs, public school community performances, and scholarships for local students to attend performing arts institutions and/or to gain access to private arts instruction. Donations should be made payable to: "Lisa J Flaxman MusiKares Fund/MCCF" and may be mailed to:

Lisa J. Flaxman MusiKares Fund/MCCF
c/o The Community Foundation for the National Capital Region
Attention: Kenny Emson
1201 15th Street, NW, Suite 420
Washington, D.C. 20005

I worked with Lisa while doing Rock-n-Tot ... she was very kind to me and encouraged us greatly in the pursuit of starting our own business and did a lot to help get the Rock-n-Tot name out there ... Skye loved playing at MusiKids and thought it was a great place ... I am sure she will be missed greatly ... oh and please say a prayer for her 3 little kids ... I can't stop crying thinking about them ...

Random Remembers

I feel like so much happened over the weekend and I randomly keep remembering stuff ...

First of all it was amazing to get to hang out with Heather ... I love her so much and any time I get to spend with her is totally precious ... Schuyler fell in love too ... she wanted to be around Heather any time she could ... playing with her dollhouse ... singing songs ... dancing for her ... going down to wake her up each morning ... and this afternoon helping her roll up her clothes up to pack them in her suitcase ... at the airport when we said good-bye she cried so so so hard and was so upset Aunt Heather was leaving ... it broke my heart ...

Heather brought Skye her first Jack-n-the-box and it is awesome ... it is a sock monkey ... Heather is now Skye's sock monkey aunt and Skye just loves it ... she loves to be surprised and she cracks up every single time ... she thinks it is awesome ...

Last night David made pot roast for us and it was beyond delicious ... I just love that David is so here for me and our company ... we had two home cooked meals that were fantastic and it was great for all of us to sit around the table and enjoy dinner together ... and as usual Skye was a little show off and performing for us all ...

Oh David and my dad found something for our kitchen that I am so excited about ... a button that installs at the sink to run the garbage disposal ... it is awesome ...

I'm so happy Heather got to spend 4 days with us ... I only wish it could have been more ... and I really wish we could make the trip out to Lawrence to see her ... I would love to show David where I went to college ... where I "grew up" ... all my favorite spots ... and just hang out in a place I love with the people I love ... that would be fantastic ...

Busy Weekend

Well Heather got here from Kansas on Thursday late afternoon and Schuyler and I went to the airport to pick her up ... it was probably my best airport pick-up ever ... we parked in the garage right by Southwest ... we came off the elevator and the monitor said her luggage would be on turnstyle 2 and that is right where we were ... we went and sat down and before my tush was on the seat we saw her walking out ... and then it was right back to the car ...

We hung out at home Thursday night ... David fixed chicken and potatos and veggies that were delicious ... and Skye was just so happy to see her ...

Friday started out a quiet morning ... I made my own cinnamon rolls from scratch without a recipe that turned out sooooooo good ... I was so happy about it ...

My dad called and wanted to go look at some stuff for the remodel ... so we packed up some snacks (not enough) and headed out ... we spent hours at home depot ... thank goodness Schuyler had Heather with her ... they looked at all sorts of stuff in the store ... got a stack of Minnie Mouse paint swatches ... had hot pretzels and ran around the store ...

While we picked out this amazing black kitchen sink ... bought a new sliding glass door, small window for the kitchen above the sink and a huge bay window for the window wall (that is going to become half the height so we can have cabinets and counters underneath it ... we also got a kitchen faucet ... and looked at tons of other stuff like toilets and tubs and all that jazz ...

Then we headed to a granite place ... it was in a warehouse and awesome ... they had tons to choose from and after much consideration we found one that we both loved ... and the guys prices were amazing ... he gave us a sample to bring home and think about and we told him we would be back Satruday ...

So this afternoon we all headed out again ... we had searched around and we weren't going to find a better price for granite countertops and all of us really liked the guy ... so we paid our deposit ... and set up the tenative schedule ...

Then we headed to a WAY high end bath, kitchen and lighting place to look around ... get some ideas for stuff we want that we can then look for online at a reasonable price ...

It kind of sucks that this is the weekend we needed to start getting stuff done since Heather is visiting ... but at the same time she made it all that much easier to get stuff done ... and Schuyler is just in love with her ... and has had so much fun hanging out with her ... and we did get so much done ... although we have these long lists of stuff we still need to do ... I just don't know that David and I were prepared with all that needed to be done ...

At least while Heather has been here we have been able to stay up late talking and hanging out ... I just love when she is here ...

Our soon to be new black sink

Heather testing out the tubs

Such A Trip

So back when my best friend and I were kids she dated this guy Mike ... he is from France ... had a heavy French accent ... and they dated for years and years ... I was pretty sure they would eventually get married ... just seemed like they should but it didn't happen and she and I went off to college at the University of Kansas ...

I always thought it would still happen ... so much so that we made a drunk bet one night ... even wrote it out in chicken scratch and had witnesses sign it ... that if she married Mike one day she would owe me a pitcher of beer (in college that was like currency to me) ... I still have that little pink piece of paper too ...

She eventually married someone else ... and divorced him 10 years later ... for the last 2 years she has been going through the divorce grieving process ... during that time she read a book about getting yourself back ... one of the things it talks about is letting go of old anger ... writing letters to let it all out ... which she has been doing ... she wasn't sure if she was going to send them but writing them helped her a lot ... she is sounding more and more like herself everyday ...

The letter to Mike she decided to mail to his mom's address in France ... she half believed it would come back ... it has been 20 years ... neither of our parents live in the same house they did 20 years ago ...

On my way to work this morning my phone rang ... it half startled me cause I can't even remember the last time it rang in the morning ... I saw it was Kris (who is in Vegas mind you so it is really early there) and I picked it up saying, "What the hell are you doing up this early?" ... she screeched, "Guess who called me?" ... and I just knew it ... I screamed, "MIKE" ... "YESSSSS ... can you believe it??" ...

They didn't get to talk ... both times he called he left a voicemail message ... and cause she never checks her voicemail at home (we are seriously two peas in a pod - I never check mine either) she didn't get the messages for a couple of days ...

She filled me in on the messages and said he left an email address but his accent is just so thick and he said he hadn't spoken English in so long that he was having trouble ... she asked if when I got to work could I listen to her voice mail and get his email address for her ...

Well let me tell you ... hearing that voice quickly zipped me back to the 80's ... I would recognize it anywhere ... it was just a trip ... when Kris and I were going to Orange Coast College our freshman year he was always hanging out ... waiting for her to get out of class he and I would sit around and talk ... and it was like being in 1988 all over again ...

I got his address and she called me back on her way to work ... she asked if I would send him an email letting him know her email address and cell phone and the time difference and all that since she doesn't have access to personal email at work ...

It is all just a trip ... his messages were so sweet to her ... she was beside herself giddy thinking that after 20 years they are going to talk again ... he is still living in France ... and he thinks about her often ...

I am just so proud and excited that she is doing all this stuff for herself ... I have known her 25 years ... and she is sounding the best she has ever sounded ... (except maybe in our Summer of Sizzle which lasted from ages 20 to 24 where all we did was have more fun than 2 people should be allowed to have in one lifetime) ... but all kidding aside ... I am just beyond happy for all that is happening for her ... and love her more than life!!

Thanksgiving 1991

Kris and I have been friends since we were 14 years old and started working at The Record PX together ... after my first year at University of Kansas she drove out with me for my sophomore year and loved it so came the next semester ... we became pros at getting bumped off flights at Christmas and Summer so we could get the free ticket (back then they still did that) and go somewhere for Thanksgiving and Spring Break ...

The photos below are from a trip we took to Boston and NY ... we went and stayed with my brother at his dorm in Boston ... then took the train to NY and spent Thanksgiving with my grandmother Lucy ... it was an awesome trip ... we had a great time ...

These goofy photos are from us jumping around dancing in my brother's dorm room ... ahhhh to be 21 again ...

 

Winter Formal 1991

So today my friend Jason sent me a couple of photos from our sorority winter formal ... The Christmas Pearl ... in 1991 ... Kris, my best friend, and I were kind of rebels in our sorority ... I don't know how seriously we took it ... but we always had fun ...

For our winter formal Kris took Jason and I took my friend Jordan ... we got a hotel room ... drank a lot ... and had a blast ... I remember at one point a chaperon came up to Kris and said, "Could you please dismount your date" ... I broke the straps on my dress jumping on the bed ... it was just a fantastic night ...

and weren't we oh so cute at 21???

Work before Wedding

Today is my last day at work before the wedding ... Kris and Chevy are getting on a plane tonight and will be here in the morning ... I can't fucking wait to see her ... it has been since March of 2001 since we last saw each other ... this might actually be the longest we have gone without seeing each other since we were 14 years old ... it is going to be great ... and tomorrow afternoon Heather will be getting on a plane to be here tomorrow night ...


the time is finally here ...


up until a few minutes ago none of this seemed real ... until Kris called and said she was packing cause they were going to the airport at 9 tonight ... then it hit me ... this is my wedding ... I haven't been working on all these projects for someone elses wedding ... crazy man ...


all the family stuff I am just letting go of ... there is nothing I can do and I can't spend my time worrying about other people ... they can worry about themselves ... what is done is done ...


I still have a ton of stuff to do but I will have a couple of days at home to work on stuff while Kris, Chevy and Heather are out sightseeing ... I am sure I will get everything done in time ...


Yesterday I went and had my eyebrows waxed and shaped for the first time in my life ... I felt so decadent and guilty ... like I really didn't need to be doing something so extravagant ... but I did have a gift certificate for it [obviously Kris was trying to tell me something] and they did come out quite nice ... but I don't think it is something I could actually spend money on on a regular basis ... just not my style ... and since no one has noticed I am thinking it wasn't too necessary ...


My dad is just getting over being really sick and it sounds like my mom might be getting it now ... that won't be good ... weather.com also is predicting rain for the whole weekend ... again, not good ... they are having a party the night before and planned on using their deck ... so just to be on the safe side I am stopping at CostCo today on my way home and buying a tent they could set up ... just in case ... neither need to know about it and if we use it great ... and if not CostCo will always take it back ... I would prefer that to happen but we will see ... at least the wedding and reception are inside the same location so once people get there they won't have to worry about going out in the rain ... schwoooooo ...


damn man in a few short days I am going to be a Mrs. ... who would have thought???

The End of Sex and the City

I can't believe it is over ... the last episode left me happy ... sad ... euphoric ... lost ... touched ... complete ...


it makes me miss my friends ... and it feels as if another set of friends is leaving my life ... I cried tears of joy and sadness ... it is/was a fabulous show and a part of my Sunday nights will feel empty now ... I am so happy I was able to experience every episode for the last six years ... it was a very special experience that touched both my heart and mind ...


I will miss Carrie ... Miranda ... Charlotte and Samantha ... they are woman who dared to be themselves and a part of each one of them is in me ...

Bad E-mail

I just got this email about one of my best friends - we met when I was 18 years old and have kept in touch since then ... he was visiting NY right after 9-11 and I was in the city that day as well ... we tried to hook up but being up there [the smell and all the posters] was just too much for me ... we continued to email ... and he was someone I could talk to about anything ... around Thanksgiving last year I realized it had been some time since I heard from him which bothered me ... I kept emailing him and they didn't bounce but I didn't hear back ... I knew he had gotten married and had a killer job in Seattle so I figured he was busy and would get around to writing back ... I emailed a mutual friend of ours that lives in Seattle as well but at both Thanksgiving and Christmas he mentioned nothing ... just chit chat and verified I had the right email address ... today I sent our mutual friend another email ... and tonight I got this email back ...

Hi Liz! It has been a long time!

Well, how do I put this. Mike became a heroin junkie, lost his wife, job, apartment, and car and is now (I assume) homeless somewhere in Seattle. Frankly, I couldn’t tell you if he were still alive or not. I haven’t talked to him in over two years.

Weird, eh?

yes it is weird ... it is fucking weird ... I live on the other side of the country and my first thought was to jump on a plane with the 100's of pictures I have of him and try and find him ... walk every alley and street ... grab him and tell him I love him and I am here to help him ... I just keep crying ... how can no one know where he is ... how can such an amazing person's life end this way ... a drug induced mystery ...

this is my second close friend who has disappeared in a cloud of heroin ... what the fuck ... I have read this god damn email 50 times already tonight ...

I am at a loss for words!!

Concerned

my friend Mike emailed me today [this is going to be hard to write I am already tearing up] ... his brother went to the doctor because he had been dehydrated for about a week ... he learned he has Acute Myelofibrosis Leukemia ... Mike and I have been friends since we were 9 years old ... I have know Chris [his brother] since he was 5 ... he is only 29 years old ...


as soon as I got the email I wrote Mike back and told him I was ready to go for a bone marrow scan at a moments notice ... it would be the very least I could do ...


when I was in 2nd grade I lost one of my best friends to Leukemia ... it was so hard to watch someone go through the pain and suffering ... I think about her all the time ... how hard it must have been at such a young age to endure all she did ...


I am thinking as many good thoughts as I possibly can for Chris and his family ... and I am here for anything they could possibly need ...

Chatting with Jon Stewart

Oh my goodness we had such a great time at The Daily Show tonight ... first of all we were the first ones there ... which was awesome cause not that many people in line got in tonight ... secondly during the warm up Spiro [David's friend] yelled out to Jon Stewart during the question period 'What did you have for lunch today' ... and Jon sat there thinking and he said ... 'oh we had deli today what did you have for lunch?' and Spiro said "sushi" ... and Jon said "how can you have sushi when there are so many great sandwiches out there?" ... Spiro was wearing a Dreamcast shirt and Jon said "do you work for Dreamcast?" and Spiro said ... "ahhhhh no" and Jon said "Well I know you didn't wear that shirt for the ladies ... cause that is just what a girl wants to see ... ohhhhh he plays video games" which sent everyone into uproarious laughter ... and Jon said "ohhh I love playing video games I play all the time ... have you played [i can't remember which game he asked spiro if he played]?" and Spiro told him no he hadn't played it ... Jon made a couple more jokes and then threw out those little stress ball toys that are a planet and it says 'The Daily Show' on it ... and David caught one and gave it to me ...


the show was totally funny but there wasn't a guest ... but when I watched it on TV tonight Michael Moore [the guy who did the movie Roger & Me] was the guest ... it looked like they taped it last night or something ... he said tonight during the warm up that they would be on vacation for a week after tonight's show ... it really was so great ... and then at the very end of the show ... they panned our side of the audience and I saw myself ...


after the show we all went to T.G.I. Friday's ... it was great ... I love David's brother Drew and Spiro is just a crack up ... we all had fun ... after we got back to the house Drew headed home cause he has a big Physics test tomorrow and David and Spiro went out since it is David's last Thursday night here in NY ... I think Spiro is really sad that David is moving ... he doesn't have many friends so it is hard to see one of them go ... especially someone who he goes out with every Thursday night ... I told Spiro over and over that he is welcome to come to DC anytime he wants ... that there is plenty of room at my parents house ... so I hope he plans a trip down there sometime ... so the boys are still out ... and I should be doing a bit of packing right now while Davie is out ... cause tomorrow is going to be a hell of a day for us ... we have to have everything finished before we go to bed cause the movers are going to be here at like 8 AM on Saturday ... :) oh joy!!

Going Away Dinner

tonight david and i went to The Outback Steakhouse with Tracy and Jeff and Rob and Lisa ... i had such a great time even though we waited 80 minutes but the food is so good there it is worth waiting ... it was just so fun ... even though we don't see them all that often i am going to miss them ... i sure hope everyone comes to DC to visit us ... i know we will see Tracy and Jeff 'cause they go to DC every year ...

Classmates

now on a more positive note ... i have gotten in touch with several friends from elementary school thanks to ClassMates.com ... which is pretty bitchen ... it is great catching up with people that were so near and dear to me in the past ...


although i am learning i am one of a few people that doesn't have children ... and i may be one of the only people never married ... many have been married and are now divorced ... but only a few never married ...

Depeche Mode

last night was so fun ... we went and saw Depeche Mode at Jones Beach and it was so fun ... the place is amazing and it was the first concert i have seen there ... and i would love to see any band there ...


i wound up working all day today even thought i had the day off ... we got more hosting sign ups today than we got all last week ... isn't that always the way it is ... busy as hell the one day i am working alone ... :)


i think i mostly worked so much cause i am trying to keep my mind off of everything that is going on at work ... i hate when things are unsettled and i don't have all the facts ... i am not one who is good at being patient ... but i have no choice right now ...


its so weird it feels like sunday ... how groovy is it going to feel on friday when i get another weekend ... so to speak ...

Fun Surprises

that email just made me so happy ... it is from my friend Devin and i haven't heard from him in soooooo long ... we have probably been corresponding online for over 2 years now ... wow when you stop to think about it ... it is amazing how fast life goes ... it feels like just yesterday we would spend hours talking about life ...


i am working on writing him back right now ... i just love fun surprises ...

Silly Head

-----Original Message-----

From: devinh@

Sent: Saturday, June 02, 2001 10:54 PM

To: liz@

Subject: hey, silly head



hey liz...its been so long...i thought about you today...so here i am...so much

has happened to me since the last time....just finished a western with burt

reynolds and luke perry...its was a diffcuilt show...six day weeks....3 hours

of sleep a night...lots of stories to tell there...but i want to know about

you...i saw the new site...its beautiful...the cartoon of you is perfect...tell

me everything baby...i think we should start talking more often now...i'm just

going out to a club right now...i willl check with you tomorrow....talk to you

soon silly head....devin