Category Archives: family

Baby Shoes

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baby-shoes-001Who knew that baby shoes could be so cute? Before my grandson baby-shoes-010Capt. Adorable was born, I thought the only cute shoes came in women’s size 8.5. Wrong! I already have raved about Robeez but there’s so much more in baby-shoe world. For instance, my friend Susan gave us this pair of red Goody Goody shoes. How precious are they? I can’t wait for him to wear these — maybe with a cute shortall and a little plaid shirt. And my friend Erika Rosenberg, who raises alpacas and angora rabbits and then sells beautiful items made from their fur, gave us this incredibly soft and cozy pair of baby booties. Check out her business, St. Florian Fiber Farm, at http://www.stflorianfiberfarm.com/.  I’m not sure how long Capt. Adorable will let his grandma buy him darling little shoes, but I’m going to enjoy it while I can!

Photo Gifts

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photo-books-003It’s not Valentine’s Day yet but you know you need to think photo-books-0061about those other gift-giving occasions coming up — weddings, graduations, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day and family reunions. Want to earn fame as the best gift-giver ever? Two words: Photo books. Our older daughter and her husband gave us two for Christmas, and they top my grab-in-case-of-fire list (daughter and her husband as well as photo books, of course). I had seen these done as wedding albums but honestly never had considered them for anything else. What are photo books? They’re hardback bound photo-books-0041books printed with your own photos — your own personal photo album. My daughter said she got the idea after she photo-books-0052was bemoaning a small budget for gift giving and I told her all we her family wanted was more photos of new baby Capt. Adorable. After that, because she is young and techno-savvy and up on all sorts of cool stuff, she knew exactly what to do. There are several  sites that offer photo books (Kodak, Apple and HP do — search on “photo books” for more) . Liz chose Walgreens (http://photo2.walgreens.com/storepage/storePageId=MemoryBooks) and was pleased with the results. She had great fun, she said, designing layouts and playing with the photos but if that’s not your thing you can make it as simple a process as you’d like. Prices range from $10 to $50 and up, depending on your choices.  She did one on our beach trips — Capt. Adorable’s first tastes of sand and surf — and one on his first six weeks. Everybody who sees these just melts and says, “These are wonderful! I want to do this.” And you can.

Newspapers

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Newspapers have always been a huge part of my life. I grew up watching my parents read the big-city daily that came to our driveway every evening and checking our small-town weekly for school lunch menus and ballgame wrap-ups. I met my husband while working at the college newspaper. My first jobs as a college graduate and later as a newly  divorced woman and single mom were as newspaper reporters. My husband is a newspaper sports editor, I’m a newspaper columnist and we pick up newspapers everywhere we go. Am I worried about the future of newspapers as the industry faces crisis and change? Hmm … maybe. Read my column today at http://www.timesdaily.com/article/20090130/ARTICLES/901300301

Interior Decorating

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furniture-jan-2009-004

After my husband and I got married five years ago at the ripe old ages of 46, he just sort of moved his toothbrush and sock drawer into the house where I’d lived for a decade as a single mom raising two daughters. As a couple, he and I never have created a household together from scratch and I’m constantly trying to figure out what his “style” is before we do that. We’re probably distinct opposites — on everything. For instance, he’s a newspaper sports editor who watches “CSI,” listens to Rush Limbaugh and says his favorite movie is “Roadhouse.” I’m a freelance writer who watches “Survivor,” listens to NPR and adores the original “Sabrina,” although we both like “Good Eats,” REM and “Raising Arizona.” Hmmm. You see my dilemma. I can’t figure out how all that translates to one unifying home decor.  But I keep trying. On a recent meander through a furniture store, I asked him which — if either — of these two candle fixtures he liked better. Naturally, it wasn’t the one I liked. However, there is hope because we both said the one we didn’t pick wasn’t all that bad. Maybe after five years of marriage, we’re becoming more alike than different. Crazy!!! But in a good way.

Family Fun

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nolan-jan-2009-021I love these photos of three of the most important people in my life: nolan-jan-2009-0201Older Daughter holding her hands out to her son, Capt. Adorable, who is curious but cautious and unsure but trusting on his first trip down a playground slide, with Younger Daughter in the back being supportive and encouraging. And Grandma — me — is there snapping pictures, as usual. This answers the age-old question, of course, of how many people does it take to get a 9-month-old baby down a slide. I’m sure this same adoring fan club will follow Capt. Adorable around as long as he’ll let us. I mean, what kid wouldn’t want his mom, his grandma and his aunt to applaud and record and document every proud moment???

Stomach Bug

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Hello, stomach bug. How are you? What’s that? You want to come stay at our house for awhile? Sure! C’mon! I’ve heard tales that you’re a dangerous guest, that you take advantage of any little opportunity to wreak havoc and that you plan some nasty surprises, but I’m not scared. I’m pretty tough, in fact. I’ve been sick before. I’ve had stomach bugs before. No big deal. I can handle it. Come on in. Sit down. Make yourself at home. I’ll be fine. Really. Everybody else who complained about you just didn’t now how to deal with you. I do. Uh, I mean, uh-oh, hmm, I feel a little bit like  … uh, could you excuse me for moment? I think I need to run to the …

Read more at http://www.timesdaily.com/article/20090123/ARTICLES/901230301

Prom Dresses

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prom-dresses-007With the ceremonies out of the way in a couple hours, tonight we’ll prom-dresses-003be watching the inauguration balls and catching glimpses of Obama style, the formal version. The gold coat and dress Michelle Obama is wearing today is gorgeous and I can’t wait to see her gown. But at least here in the South, shopping for spring prom dresses as already started as moms and daughters hit the stores on these cold and dreary winter days — sharing dressing-room space with June brides and bridesmaids. With two dress-up-loving daughters, I’ve had many seasons of formal shopping — some more successful than other. My advice? Wear comfortable clothes, have water and aspirin with you and bring plenty of Kleenex. If this store window in downtown Florence, Alabama, in any indication, simple and elegant gowns in jewel tones are going to be popular this year — I love how the colors glowed in the night lighting. It’ll be interesting to see if any inaugural trends show up at prom. Stay tuned!

Baby Shoes

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photo-books-026I love little-boy clothes. When my now 20-something daughters were little, it robeezwas girl clothing that got all the attention — smocking and embroidery and ribbons and ruffles — but now I think that boy clothing has caught up, style-wise. And just in time, too, for our grandson to be one of the most fashionable little guys on the nursery circuit. Little-boy clothing departments are full of miniature cargo pants with tons of pockets, cozy hoodies, cute T-shirts and of course Robeez shoes. I’d never heard of Robeez until my daughter was expecting and she showed me these precious soft shoes with colorful and fun designs for babies and toddlers — a far cry from those stiff white lace-up shoes she had to wear. Our grandson (also known as Capt. Adorable) is wearing his dragon Robeez in the photo — they seem to among the few pairs of footwear he doesn’t/can’t kick off immediately. I think the “Busy Car” pair also is a must-have, and we’ve got a couple others on our shopping list. Now that he’s standing on his own and considering this thing called walking, shoes are becoming more important — he usually gets by with bare feet or just socks — and of course when it’s 20 degrees like it is today, shoes are a must. Thank goodness for Robeez — pulling those white leather shoes on and (attempting) to get them tied was exhausting! Check out the Web site, http://www.robeez.com.

Restaurants

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tin-angelIf you’re headed to Nashville, Tennessee, put Tin Angel on your nashville-jan-2009-008places-to-eat list. Heck, it’s worth making a trip there on its own. From the tin ceiling and weathered brick walls to the menu featuring fresh and innovative dishes to the feeling of neighborhood and convivial warmth (important on freezing winter nights when it’s literally, you know, freezing), Tin Angel is one of my new favorite places. We visited the West End restaurant on the strength of a review my husband had read in the Nashville Scene (http://www.tinangel.net/images_miscellany/scenereview.pdf) and ordered according to the reviewer’s recommendations. All I can say is, “Yes, please.”  I had the spinach salad with poached egg, and it was the best spinach salad I’ve ever had — not your usual bacon-sugar-vinegar combination but instead some sort of savory yummy deliciousness topped with a velvety poached egg. Only my mother’s warning voice in my head kept me from licking the plate.  My husband had the Catfish Pomme de Terre with a horseradish crust and mustard sauce on braised shredded cabbage and I had grilled scallops, one of the evening’s specials, both accompanied by our go-to restaurant seafood wine — a bottle of Conundrum. Our dishes were full of balanced and layered satisfying flavors and the portions were perfect. A wonderful evening and a memorable meal! We ate late enough — in fact we closed the place down — that we had no lines or parking glitches, but Tin Angel is so popular that at peak times you probably will. Worth it, though. Here’s the Web site: http://www.tinangel.net

Tennessee Travels

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nashville-jan-2009-001nashville-jan-2009-002My wonderful yet workaholic husband actually took a few days off recently and we headed to Nashville, Tennessee, for time with family, friends and a peacefully quiet hotel room. We like Embassy Suites — the two rooms to spread out in, the consistent quality of service and nashville-jan-2009-032cleanliness and of course the free drinks and snacks in the afternoon. (What? nashville-jan-2009-0063We’re easily impressed!) We loved this bar-food gizmo set up in the lobby for the daily happy hour. It had all sorts of crackers, pretzels, nuts, candy and mixes for do-it-yourself creating — the perfect accompaniment for beer and lazy discussions about where to go and who to see and what to eat later that night. Good times! It doesn’t take much to amuse us when it’s just the two of us on vacation. If we have access to real coffee (me), Diet Dr Pepper (him), reliable Internet and plenty of newspapers, we’re content. Throw in good restaurants and time to do whatever we want whenever we want to and we’ve gone beyond content and straight into happpy. And by the way, one thing we did while on vacation was catch “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.” If you haven’t seen it yet, go immediately. It’s a moving and powerful story you’ll think about long after you leave the theater. I was disappointed it didn’t garner more awards at the Golden Globes, but I’m hopeful it will clean up at the Oscars — it’s that good.