by mssinglemama on May 21, 2009
It’s here.
Finally.
I have been wearing mine every day since it landed in my mailbox. When I opened it I gasped. It’s beautiful… and I still can’t believe this little seed of an idea has turned into a tattoo and now a real necklace that we can all wear together. I feel like we all created it together.
I know.
Cheesy.
But I can’t help it. You’ll understand when you see it.
I know that if each of us wear this necklace we’ll find strength and comfort in knowing we’re not alone - the premise of my entire blog. [click to continue…]
by mssinglemama on May 21, 2009
Ever felt like you just want to dive off a mountain top?
No?
I hadn’t either.
That was until I spent three days straight with Nolan and Benjamin, two adorable three-year-olds who, when together, can’t stop beating on each other. Like a cosmic formula Kristin and I’s sons had it out for each other during our entire vacation in Vancouver.
Click over to see what happened…
[click to continue…]
by mssinglemama on May 14, 2009
We were right.
Kristin and I had this feeling about each other - that we’d get along like no other and it’s true. She took this picture of Benjamin and I at the park on Kit’s Beach in Vancouver.
I am now going to stop blogging and become a model for some mommy magazine. Seriously - what the hey? eh? I look HOT as hell. It’s her camera or something.
In reality we’ve been running around like crazy mamas after the boys.
Double trouble.
Benjamin has jet lag so he’s like a wild man. His madness is a bit contagious inspiring Nolan to try new things - like running away from the mommies onto soggy beach rocks.
And their mommies are inspiring each other too.
Keep checking for new pictures in my photo gallery. And, as always, more stories to come.
by mssinglemama on April 30, 2009
by mssinglemama on April 13, 2009
I woke up wishing I had stayed behind in my dream.
There was a fire.
I saw a staircase.
But the rest of the people were running past it for a second staircase, a more crowded staircase - almost impassable.
I chose the empty staircase.
There was someone else ahead of me. A man. But I couldn’t tell who he was. We made it to the bottom and to the scene of a concert, an impromptu concert for a crowd of about 10 or 12. Afterwards I walked up to the woman with the guitar and said, “Happy travels.”
She was radiating a feeling as warm as her bright hazelnut skin, something everyone wants. She hugged me and told me, “thank you.” There was something about the way she spoke, the way she smiled. She was completely free.
——
Overdue for some relief, I left Benjamin with my mom last night.
This morning when I finally crawled out bed, trying to hang on to the memories of that dream, I had no idea where the day would take me.
I thought I may be hanging out with one guy but I got a text from another inviting me to a concert by “that guy from Smog.”
Are you kidding?
I’ll be there.
And then I was.
Standing within a few inches of a small stage against one wall of a record store on campus, I couldn’t help but take in the scenery. [click to continue…]
by mssinglemama on March 29, 2009
On Friday I took the morning off so I could get ready for my 11:00 a.m. photo shoot.
After Mia (she’s so awesome) took Benjamin to daycare my friend Del (just as awesome) came over at 9:00 a.m. to do my make up. And in less than two minutes my kitchen table looked like a salon.
For the photo shoot itself I picked my favorite designer jean boutique. The manager, Kevin, has been in the “jean business” for over 25 years. When I walk in he whisks me straight to a table with straight leg, dark wash beauties that make me squeal like a little girl. Then he set me loose on the rest of the store to find the perfect top.
Needless to say, there were a lot of options.
I can’t show you which outfit I did choose because I forgot to have someone take a picture of the shoot on account of my nervousness it’s a surprise. While I was getting dressed and attempting to do my hair the photographer walked in with just a few things. [click to continue…]
by mssinglemama on March 27, 2009
You’re all asking about the camera.
I thought you might but I didn’t want to shock you with the sticker price of my newest toy in my last post.
To me, $679.00 is a hell of a lot of money but I splurged on this puppy anyway. Why? Because life is too damn short not to have excellent photographs of your child (if you can afford to have them. Fortunately I can, so I bought it). Three years ago if you would have told me I would be financially ahead again I would have told you, “It takes me three years?”
And then I would have promptly drowned myself in the nearest pond.
Three years seems like a long time when you’re staring down a barrel of your ex-husband’s incredible credit card debt*, have a baby to feed and are living in your mother’s house. Especially when - up until that point - you were completely financially independent and ahead (all. of. the. time.).
So when I paid off his debt last month I decided to invest in yet another life weapon.
Yes a life weapon.
Something that makes life easier or better. [click to continue…]
by mssinglemama on March 18, 2009
Because today was Benjamin’s first and his last third birthday and because I didn’t buy him a single present in Austin I spent my lunch break on a mission.
My mission was to buy everything I would need to transform his room from a nursery/toddler room…
[Click to continue, although, be warned - there are TONS of photos in this post and a video - although I think you won't believe what you see. I still can't believe I pulled it off]
[click to continue…]
by mssinglemama on March 17, 2009
On Saturday morning I slipped away in the middle of the night to jump on another plane.
This time Benjamin had to stay behind.
I let him fall asleep in my bed so I could watch him drift while I packed. He spent his last few moments awake begging me to stay, “Mommy, take me with you. I want to go to Texas too.”
“Not this time, baby, but some day soon.”
Texas is a place Benjamin only knows from the pictures he’s seen scattered throughout the house. They’re tucked in places where I’ll see them every day, constant reminders of a time when I was completely in love - not with a man, but with a place.
Like the one on my dresser mirror of my knees wrapped around the edge of an inner tube floating down the Guadalupe River. And Benjamin’s favorite, the picture on the fridge of my sister and I beaming in a self-portrait we snapped before heading off to a concert.
Texas, it seems, will always be tugging at my soul and begging me to come back.
I told Benjamin stories about the days ahead while his eyes grew heavier.
“You’ll be at your daddy’s, then your grandma’s and then Mommy will be home.”
Rather than actually packing outfits I was just shoving all of my favorite tops and pants into the suitcase hoping they’d all look okay together. I had run out of time. Turns out leaving for a trip, even a work trip, means more work on either side of the deal, before you leave and as soon as you get back.
But it was worth it.
The SXSW Interactive Festival in Austin is the most well-respected gathering of geeks (self-professed digital obsessed professionals like myself) on the planet. Needless to say, it was just a little crazy. I spent the days hopping from panel to panel and the nights buzzing from party to party.
Like this one.
Where I had one of my favorite beers (without a cigarette)
and then sat on a hay stack to hear the band. [click to continue…]
by mssinglemama on February 26, 2009
I’m not sure where this little vacation will take us.
But our much needed reprieve from life will be just in time to catch the Joshua trees blooming.
Spring hits early there.
The Joshua Tree National Park lies directly in the path of two merging deserts. One more lush and green, where the Joshua trees grow, and the other dry and filled with cactus and shrubs.
The past and the future.
Lately mine have been going at it. My past will always be a part of who I am, as it is for all of us, but it needs to move into the back seat and let the future drive. I’m not sure why - maybe because I’m about to turn 30 or maybe because I’m just ready - but I have an overwhelming feeling that something is brewing, something big.
But first, my future has to beat the shit out of my past.
I’m hoping it leaves all of those shattered pieces in that desert. [click to continue…]
