Zoe Getting Her Ears Pierced

I'm fairly certain Zoe has been asking to get her ears pierced for about a year.  At first Rob insisted that we have it done at the doctor's office.  I thought that was silly, but I told Rob that he should make an appointment then.  Not surprisingly, that never happened.  Actually each time Zoe brought it up, it was like we were having the conversation for the first time with Rob.  But, this is about Zoe, not Rob. 

Around Christmas time I gave up on that whole idea and told Zoe I would take her to get her ears pierced over the Christmas break.  Unfortunately the snow storm stole the day I had picked and we had filled our week with too many other plans so we never did it.  With nothing on the calendar this past Saturday and a desire to go to the mall I declared it ear piercing day.  Zoe was so excited.  She couldn't stop talking about it and thinking about it. 

We arrived at the mall on Saturday afternoon and I asked Zoe if she wanted to go straight to Claire's, where they do ear piercing.  I know if it were me I would want to go straight away, but not Zoe.  She wanted to wait.  She wanted it to be the last thing we did before leaving the mall.  That's when I sensed there was some nervousness so I told her that she could back out of getting her ears pierced at any time (before I paid) and no one would be mad at her. 

We shopped the afternoon away including an extended tour of Sephora and the Apple Store and finally there was nothing left to do, but go to Claire's.  There was already a young girl getting her ears pierced when we arrived.  She was just about to have it done and she started to cry.  This set Zoe right on edge.  I thought she would change her mind on the spot, but she didn't.  She drifted around the store until it was her turn as she got more and more nervous.  Finally it was her turn to get into the stool.  The lovely girl who worked their hurriedly prepared everything and tried to explain that it wouldn't hurt while Zoe worked herself up into a slightly frantic state of tears.  "I don't want to do it!" she finally cried and I said OK.  But she didn't get up from the stool she just sat there clearly hesitating so I said,

"You've wanted this for so long and now here we are.  It won't hurt, so just do it."

"No!  I changed my mind!"

"OK, then let's go," I said.  Rob took her arm to help her down from the stool, but again she didn't move.  Rob and I looked at each other and we knew we had to kind of force her.  That she wanted us to.  So we both told her to just sit down and do it.  The girls at the store were fantastic and they jumped right in and did it in a second.

Lo and behold, it did not hurt.  Apparently we had attracted a crowd because as soon as it was done, there was a round of applause from another group waiting to get ears pierced.  Zoe smiled really big once she realized it was done, it was wonderful.  I could tell she felt so grown up and so special.  She ran to look at herself in the mirror, all the tears of moments ago already long forgotten. 

I have to say the earrings do look adorable and I am very glad she went through with it and am proud of her for it, but my only regret is that they make her look more grown up. 

Here's a nice view just moments after the piercing was completed:

Zoe and the Violent Kids

A couple of years ago Zoe told us she wanted to start a band and call it "Zoe and the Violent Kids." Rob and I thought that was a fantastic name for a band and we talked about the name a lot.  Somehow this turned into something embarrassing for Zoe.  I don't know how or understand why, but any time either of us mentions that name now, she pulls a pout, a serious "I'm not talking to you," kind of pout.  Of course neither of us have patience for the pouting, but we have tried to respect her desire for us to refrain from mentioning it.

However, when my father showed me this picture he took of Zoe and her cousins I couldn't help but think this would be the perfect album cover for the Zoe and the Violent kids debut.

Either that or this looks like a movie still from an adaptation of "Lord of the Flies."

Tuesday Shoesday: Spring Dreams

It's been and incredibly cold and snowy winter and sometimes the only thing that makes me feel better is dreaming about spring.  The other day I thought I would start thinking about shoes for spring.  True spring shoes are hard to come by.  Many of them are really just summer shoes, and many others are just too flowery.  I really didn't see anything that perked me up until today.

No surprise that today I found myself on the Kate Spade website looking at the new arrivals section and out popped this gorgeous shoe and it hit me, that is a spring shoe.  If I could have, I would have ordered them immediately, but I think I'll have to save my pennies for a bit.  It will be worth it.  Besides I can't wear them now anyway so there's no point in having them here making me feel bad about all the snow and ice, right?

For now I'll just dream...

My Favorite Books & Movies of 2010

Books:

I read 61 books in 2010, but these were the standouts for me.

Sense and Sensibility

That Old Cape Magic

The Two Lives of Miss Charlotte Merryweather

The Book Thief

Major Pettigrew's Last Stand

Movies:

I'd watch any of these movies again.

Coco Before Chanel

Hot Tub Time Machine (fabulously ridiculous)

Toy Story 3

Away We Go

The Black Swan

2011 Resolutions

I like to take my time making my resolutions. The end of the year is such a flurry of activity that there's not really time to think things through until the dust of the holidays begins to settle. But now I have had time to think and here's what I've come up with...

1. Save -- last year was not a great year financially. I had hoped to get on a budget and I still hope to do that, but mostly I want to save more money for the inevitable rainy days.

2. Smile and have fun -- it sounds silly maybe, but I've been thinking about how important it is to look for the positive rather than focus on the negative. And that life should be more fun than drudgery or negativity. It is easy to get bogged down in what you don't have or can't do or don't want to do, butI have a lot to smile about and enjoy and life is generally better when you're smiling, laughing and having fun. And now that I have my braces off, smiling is a lot more fun!

3. Stay on top of my email -- email is a huge part of both my work life and my personal life and in last year's storm of work I let it all get out of control. I lost track of emails for work, I didn't reply to friends in a timely way, I generally let my email turn into chaos both in my work and personal accounts. There's no need for that. I am going to read email as soon as I can and then deal with it as soon as I can. That means responding or filing or deleting as appropriate. This maybe my biggest challenge of the year, but I think it will be worth it if I can make some real progress.

4. Continue eating well -- after working really hard to lose almost 30 pounds last year this past month I really slipped back into my old, bad ways of eating and it is showing on the scale (and in my jeans). I worked too hard to go back so (like millions of others) I am back on the good eating wagon with every intention of staying there. I feel better and I look better when I'm eating better so there's really no reason not to.

5. Commit to my blog -- last year I was pitiful in the amount of postings. I need to up it's priority and think about setting aside specific times for it -- maybe even a schedule. I don't want to stop blogging, but I don't want to do it half-assed either. I think that even if I can only commit to once a week, that is better than blogging only when I remember as I did it last year. I'm working on this plan. (And not giving up yet Ms. Musings. Thank you for the encouragement!)

2010: The Year in Review

In January 2010 I made my usual list of resolutions. Let's see how the year stacked up to my goals.

Resolution #1
Make a budget. Stick to budget.

This one didn't work out so well. The bad economy lent a major hand in this one. Long story short, I'll have to try this one again.

Resolution #2
Blog more
Well, I'm 0 for 2 so far. I wanted to blog more, I really did, but I had the busiest year of work I have ever had. Any time I had away from work I also wanted away from the computer. I'm going to have to think about my blog in 2011.

Resolution #3
See more movies
Well, this one I did accomplish. I didn't get to the theater as much as I would have liked, but I did sign up for Netflix which includes streaming. My list of movies is pretty long, I think.

Resolution #4
Do some different stuff
This one I also accomplished and I'm really pleased about it too. I went ice skating a number of times, skiing a couple of times, took Zoe to a couple of new museums, went bike riding, took Pilates classes, and got an impractical car among the highlights.

Considering the year overall and that it was one of the most challenging work-wise, I think 50% is not a bad mark. Resolutions aren't supposed to be so easy otherwise why bother, right? So, I have hope to do a little better in 2011. Now it's time to start thinking about what my goals are going to be.