celebrating moms. and fake tattoos.

Listening To: Your Song by Ellie Goulding

Hello beauties (and beastlies). How've you been? I've missed you people so stinking much.

It looks like blogging will be sporadic through the summer. Thanks, in advance, for sticking with me even when my world gets spinny :) My sincere hope is that the time I'm not on here will lead to something fab. Something you're gonna like even more than frequent bloggy musings. I miss being on here more often though, and I'll try to re-focus in the coming months. I just chopped up a LONG blog into three little blogs for next week. This brevity business? We'll see how it goes ;)

Many eons ago, when we last convened, you might recall I mentioned a giveaway. Well ... I lost the giveaway. Then I found it again. But so much has occurred between then and now, that I want to hold off just a teeny bit longer. I'll talk about storms on Monday. (How are you girls in the Southeast? Still hanging in there?) And then I want to talk a bit about fascinators too. I've mostly been scooped on the Royal Wedding. There isn't much left for me to say. But yes, you better believe I totally got up before the sun got up so I could watch it. Had a ball. This was the first time in many years I was sad that I wasn't still in college. That would have been FUN to watch with a bunch of friends. We'll chat about the wedding next week.

I'm about to go workout. And work off Cinco de Mayo. Guacamole is such a fickle friend, you know? Way too clingy. Way.

But I wanted to jump online for a smidge and let you know that I haven't forgotten you. I've been thinking about you all week, especially those of you who are graduating high school this year. And I know finals are here (maybe over?) for you college types. Endings and beginnings get all tangled together this time of year. I've been praying for you this week. And whenever I pray for you, for all the "new" up ahead in the next few months, my heart goes wild. I believe this is going to be an incredible year for you. I hope you finish strong; that your school year winds down in the most wonderful of ways. And I hope you're excited for the new up ahead of you too.

As you know, Mothers Day is fast approaching. Instead of buying a card for my mom this year, I made her one. With my face on it. Behold the picture:

Nothing says, "I'm grateful for all you've done for me" ... like a fake tattoo. I also took this picture:

But I look a little too tough in that one. That's a look that intimidates. But you probably know that. You probably trembled when you saw it (my mom's reaction was ... laughing so hard she cried ... but I'm sure she trembled on the inside). That look says: I might be small. I might have a fuzzy dog. I might enjoy doing ballet/pilates inspired workouts. I might have awakened before 6AM to watch the royal wedding. I might have worn a hot pink skirt on Easter (...with strappy black heels)... but DO NOT MESS WITH ME. ;)

If you want to put a fake "Mom" tattoo on a picture of you, to gift your mother (or whoever you celebrate on Mother's Day!), this is how you do it: you go to picnik.com. You upload your photo. You click on the tab that says, "create." And you stamp the tattoo someone not too scandalous. Have fun with that! :)

I talk about my mom, the Pie Wizard, pretty frequently on here. My mom is my best friend. She's gorgeous (like a folk song). She's smart-funny and, also, brilliant. My mom has always been obsessed with learning. She is fascinated by the world (when I was little, she kept copies of National Geographic in the floor, where I could see and flip through them, so I would get fascinated with the world, too).

I was looking at one of my favorite pictures of her earlier. She's about my age in the picture, leaning over the rail of our old front porch. She had blond, wavy hair back then and it's falling around her face. She looks like a wildflower. She's all sunlight and summertime. Her smile in the picture is the perfect kind of smile: confident ... and just a little bit sassy. She's smiling like she has a secret. I love that.

My mom can grow a flower from a seed. She can make a pie from scratch. She taught herself to play piano. She made my sister's wedding dress. She made my prom dress. She can seriously dance.

She sees the best in people. I love that about her. I want to be that way. I hope, at some point in my life, I feel as gorgeous as my mom looks in that picture. I hope I feel as gorgeous as my mom is, all the time, every day. Beautiful is effortless for her. It always has been.

<-- That's a picture of us at a photobooth in the mall. Neither of us could figure out where the camera was until the flash came. Clearly, the flash scared the daylights out of me.

Without getting too sacharine, I also know that Mother's Day is a painful time for many of you sweet readers. It is a hard weekend for my mother; because she thinks about my granny start to finish. We miss Granny everyday, but the missing part inflates on holidays. Holidays are so bittersweet that way. And I'm guessing there are many of you who've never had a conventional Mother's Day at all. Today, I started thinking about friends who were raised by their dad's - in single parent homes. And friends raised by grandparents. Friends who credit mentors, or aunts, or women in their church, as fulfilling a "mothering" role for them. I love the ways God writes family into our lives. So glad "family" doesn't have to be some Barbie-box-set. No matter how your family looks; I hope you get a chance to celebrate this weekend.

I hope you'll take the time to brag on someone down in the comments - whether it's your mom, your dad, your Aunt Thelma who drives the yellow scooter, or whoever has championed you along this year. Take some time this weekend to tell the people you love how much they mean to you. Make muffins. Buy flowers. Go for long walks and listen. Get a fake tattoo :)

I'll be back next week. Till then, I would love to hear from you (and hear about your mamas and aunts and sisters and so on) down in the comments. I'll close with a song that always makes me think of my mom (she used to sing James Taylor songs to me when I was little). Such a good memory. Happy Weekending to you! :)