Ode to My Bro On (or near) His Birthday

My "little" brother's birthday was last Saturday, but because I'm lazy super busy and important I didn't get a proper birthday post put together.

First up, I failed to include this particular song in a previous post so I'm including it now. This was kind a secret code song for us and he was appalled disappointed that I forgot it.



My dad's first and middle names were John Willis. My parents' intention was to name my brother John Mark but to call him Mark. This is a practice that I just don't understand, and apparently even as a 2 3/4-year-old child I didn't get it, because I refused to call him Mark. Now, it could be that I called him John because that was my dad's name, but let's just pretend that I was brilliant yet annoyed even as a toddler. Anyway, we ended up using John Mark (or JM), although in school and as an adult he goes by John.

I've posted a few pictures from our childhood before, but I'll repeat a couple here, too.

Despite the picture above, John Mark wasn't really an athlete, although he did play on the golf team in high school. He was in the marching band; he first played the baritone and then sousaphone. He's a talented musician, both instrumentally and vocally. He was also very interested in computers back in ye olde days (anyone out there remember the Commodore 64?)

Left, my wedding in 1991; Right, with our dad at JM's wedding in 1998

John Mark and his wife Mozella have three gorgeous children who are all very talented in their own ways as well.

One of my favorite pictures: me, my brother and my niece Jacqueline

From left: James, Mom, Grandma Elmo, Aaron, Me, Dad, Jacqueline, Jeremy, Mozella, John Mark
Christmas 2001

Front: James, Mozella, Grandma Elmo. Back: Jeremy, John Mark, Jacqueline, Mom
Grandma Elmo's 95th birthday, April 2013

This week John Mark and two of the kids traveled to Ohio to visit my mom for a couple days and they came to Columbus on Gwensday for a baseball game.

Siblings! (Damn you, iPhone and your dirty lens.)

For this week's #backthatazzup tune, I'm going way way back to 1978. This song was the B-side (raise your hand if you know what a B-side is) to "Sharing the Night Together" but it's fun and funny and we never got sick of playing it on our little record player.





Happy (belated) Birthday, John Mark. I love you!

I love the crescent moon....

Come on girls, sing it with me!

So today some fellow bloggers are having a Greek is Greek linkup, and when I realized that three of the four co-hosts were in the same sorority as me, I knew I had to participate. Granted, I'm much older than these ladies but I'm here to tell them (and you) that being in a sorority has lifelong benefits.

When I went to college in (gulp) 1985, I had no intention of going Greek. Back then at Wittenberg, rush wasn't held until winter term, so by the time it rolled around, I had friends who were Greek, my boyfriend at the time was Greek, and other freshman friends were rushing so I did, too. In 1986 I pledged Gamma Phi Beta.

Pledge night (that's me on the far left).
I'm happy to say that I'm still in touch with all the other girls in this picture!

Our composite picture, before we went to wearing all the same thing.

While sorority life during college was fun, I had no idea how much it would mean later in life. And while people often bitch and moan about Facebook, I will always be grateful that it reconnected me with so many of my sorority sisters. There's a group of us in Columbus/Dayton who get together for lunch (hey, let's do that again soon!) or drinks, and I often see Facebook posts of other reunions. Last fall several of us gathered when Christine was in town for work.

Sorry about the demon eyes - I can't seem to fix it

In January, 16 ladies met up in Florida for a mini-reunion. I was sad to miss that one!

Candy, my sorority sister, fellow Columbus-ite and blogger at Bird Uncaged (where she lists something she's thankful for everyday, wrote this:

"You may not be able to put your finger on the reason why you feel so comfortable the minute you walk in the door, in the moment. But 25 years later, after you have seen each other through marriages and births and divorces and death, or maybe you haven't seen each other at all, but you can sit down in a room together and talk and laugh and cry as if not a single day has passed, THEN you will understand why these beautiful women are your sisters."

Today I'm grateful for my sisters.

Borrowing Soapbox Topics

While reading some other blogs, I came across not one, but two topics that I feel like I need to share.

The first one is from Erin at She's a Big Star. Erin was one of the co-hosts of last Friday's blog linkup about football. The gist of it is that after Friday's post, someone contacted her about blogging about DirecTV's NFL Sunday Ticket. Sounds pretty cool, right? Erin thought so, too, except that the man's email specifically said that he wanted her to write about why men need Sunday Ticket. When she explained that she'd love to do the post but she's a woman, as are the vast majority of her readers, the guy replied that instead, they'd like her to blog about "How to Keep Your Home Safe as a Single Woman." So today Erin wrote an open letter in response to this person, and it's fabulous. You can read it here.

Amen, sister

Next we have my real-life friend Steph at Life According to Steph, who posted today about oversharing on Facebook. I couldn't agree more, and I can't really say it much better, so I urge you to read her post. (You can find it here.) Steph and I are very similar in that we'll tell it like it is, but we're not going to post things that we know will hurt a friend's feelings or divulge something that's been entrusted to us. At least, not intentionally.

I've talked about my infertility, insecurity and bad habits. I'm honest here and on Facebook, but that doesn't mean I tell you everything. Facebook posts that expose skeletons in another's closet or seek attention without really saying what's going on (otherwise known as "vaguebooking") are unnecessary and immature. But let me be clear, if you choose to post such things, I will get my free entertainment out of it.

Sad but true

Yep, it's really August

It's hard to believe, especially with the fabulous fall-like weather we've been having here in central Ohio. Yesterday I spent a glorious afternoon on the screened porch alternately napping and reading. While the temperatures have been cooler than normal, this screenshot from my phone last week clearly has something wrong with it. Can you imagine that temperature swing?!

The weekend was very low-key, which is fine by me! Friday we went out to dinner and then just hung out on the porch by ourselves and listened to the Reds get their asses handed to them.

Saturday I had some work to do, but it wasn't that bad. We also learned of the birth of our newest framily member, Rylie Jo. Talk about the circle of life! Her pictures are beautiful and I can't wait to meet her in person.

Sunday I sang at church with some of the other women in the choir, did some chores at home and the aforementioned napping/reading. Aaron went to the Reds game, where they again got clobbered. (And by the way, the Pirates are still hanging on to that best record in the MLB!) Sunday evening found us enjoying time with friends and neighbors.

I didn't post this last week, so since I'm about to redo my nails, here's last week's nail art, inspired by my new Toms sandals:

Sorry, I'm kind of all over the place today. It's Monday, after all...

I have no title for this post...

I think those particular brain cells are gone. I hope you come back, little brain cells!

Did you miss me? I haven't managed to post in several days, and today won't be thought-provoking by a long shot, but it's Friday, which means Fan Friday with Sarah AND my girl Erin is co-hosting a Football Friday linkup so I couldn't sit that out, and of course it's #backthatazzup Friday with Whitney and I definitely need some jams to get me through the day. Holy run-on sentence, Batman.

So here's the thing. Usually at this time of year I am salivating for football season, but right now I'm still totally invested in baseball. Why? Let me show you.

Even though they lost badly last night, the Pirates are on top of the overall standings. I sure hope I don't jinx them now.

As for football, in a mere four weeks the college season starts. We'll probably have some overlap when we might have to switch out these:

for this:

...since Aaron's a Buckeye fan and I'm a Penn State fan. But once NFL season starts, it's Steelers all the way, baby! On Gwensday, I was over on Erin's blog where I was certain she'd draw a mustache on me.
Check it out here.

I thought about cropping this but I kinda like how the gecko looks like it's biting my arm.

As for #backthatazzup, this song relates to nothing else in this post but we played it last night on the porch and it cracks me up.




Happy weekend, friends!

A lovely fall weekend ... in late July?

Oh, I'm not complaining. Our weather has been glorious - windows open, needing a sweater in the evening, not wanting to get out of bed because it's just a wee bit chilly... who am I kidding? I can find any number of reasons to not want to get out of bed. It did rain on Saturday, both literally and figuratively. Our weekend definitely had its ups and downs.

Friday evening we continued the Restaurant Odyssey.

I think Aaron's eyes are closed as he remembers "the best cocktail ever."

Saturday we woke up to the news that our neighbor Amy's sister had died, very suddenly and unexpectedly. Julie was only 56, she'd been married for 33 years and had three children and one grandchild, with two more on the way. Amy and her family are what we call framily (friends who are family, per Steph) and we are shocked and saddened by this loss. It's also another reminder to not take life for granted and to savor every moment we have together.

Julie (second from left) with her sisters and her daughters, June 2013

Later on Saturday, we went for lunch/brunch with another couple to Hangover Easy.

Left, my cinnamon french toast with praline pecan topping. Right, Theresa prepares her pancake (it's a gift).

Sunday we did some chores, which for Aaron included working in the garden:

We had a late lunch/early dinner at another Restaurant Odyssey stop, Arch City Tavern. Later in the evening we gathered the troops to rally around Amy and her husband Colin. It's so good to be able to mix laughter with the tears.

And just to end this post on a happy note, here are various pictures of the cats.

Clockwise from left: Bella took my spot on the chaise; Clover and Gato are thinking about going to the porch; Bella now seems to like toilets, first on the one in our bathroom; then a few minutes later in the other bathroom; Clover and Gato love the windowsills; how can that be comfortable?; Sunday nap on Mom & Dad's bed.

Honoring a Birthday Twin

When Aaron and I were first married we religiously watched NFL Primetime on ESPN on Sunday nights. The show always featured Chris Berman and Tom Jackson, but for a few years in the early 90's, Robin Roberts was also a co-host. I have to be honest and say that a lot of female sports reporters fall short of the mark in my opinion, but there's something about Robin that draws you in and makes you feel comfortable, and she was fun. She was known for the catch-phrase "go on with your bad self!" And oh, by the way, we share a birthday - not the same year, but we were both born November 23rd.

In 1995 Robin transitioned to Good Morning America and worked for both ABC and ESPN (they have common ownership so they're sister networks). I didn't watch her much for a while because if I watched a morning news program at all it was Today. But after Robin became the co-anchor of GMA (and especially after Today seemed to implode), I was drawn more to ABC in the morning.

People I know who have battled cancer or other awful diseases shrug off the label "brave," because they certainly would prefer to not be in the situation and they say that they don't have a choice in the matter. I say, yes you do have a choice because you are fighting the battle when you could just feel sorry for yourself and give up.

Robin Roberts not only fought TWO potentially fatal diseases, but she did it publicly, letting viewers in to see her battle. It was so touching to turn on GMA while she was on medical leave and see her coworkers give her a shout out each day. I was amazed to hear of the enormous increase in bone marrow donors after she went public with her second illness. Robin is an absolute inspiration, and when she was presented the Arthur Ashe Courage Award at this year's ESPYs, I certainly felt there was no one more deserving.

Below are two clips from that night; the first one is the introduction and pre-taped piece, the second is her acceptance speech. Together they last about 20 minutes, but it's time well spent, I promise (you might want some tissues handy).







In honor of Robin's college basketball career, here's an oldie but a goodie for #backthatazzup Friday: