May 22

Auntie K

A while ago, my brothers and I got together for an evening out. The youngest brother and I suspected imminent baby news from the middle brother, because he and his wife had gone out of their way to meet our parents for lunch the weekend before, and thereafter he promptly suggested our gathering. We knew that before too long they’d be working towards such things, though we had no confirmation that they had already begun.

About 45 minutes in, middle brother let us know that his wife will be his designated driver until early December. Even though I wasn’t at all surprised, I found out that I was THRILLED. It shocked me how thrilled I was / am. I’ve had friends announcing pregnancies since 2007 (good god, one of my law school besties has a kid that’s going into KINDERGARTEN. wut.) and to be perfectly honest, I’ve never been *thrilled* about any of them. Don’t get me wrong- of course I’m happy for anyone who is happy about their family expanding. But for every announcement, there’s always been a little voice in the back of my head saying “but.. you’re a 2L!” or “did you MEAN to do that? like, it’s on PURPOSE?” or “you’re going to move to the suburbs and we’ll never have fun again” or “noooo, you were always the one other hold-out!” or little worries for safety and health or whatever else. Even though I knew this announcement was coming, I found myself grinning like an idiot as middle brother talked. Sure, I  jumped up, hugged him, and exclaimed, “You’re fertile!” like a jackass.

Then I immediately went into planning mode. WUT. This is all so unlike me. It’s due in early December? I’m hosting Thanksgiving again because HOLY CRAP YOU MIGHT BE HAVING A BABY. Oooh, I get to throw a baby shower! That’s what aunts do, right? OH MY GOSH BABY CHRISTMAS. I hardly recognize myself.

tiger cake

this cake would kill my brother dead (http://apieceocake.com/)

They won’t be finding out the sex. I approve wholeheartedly. My Insane Mother will let me use her house for a shower (her family is in the Chicago area; a Michigan-area shower must happen as well. and using Grandma-to-be’s house means no rental fee which means MORE MONEY FOR CAKE. I’m good at this party thing, guys) and I’m already digging around online for invitations (thanks, Ty, for the ideas! I’m going to be creeping on all your plans even though I’m looking at an October/November shower instead of late summer) and looking through cake galleries and wondering what sort of nursery theme, if any, they’ll be having because that will influence shower stuff. WHO AM I?

don't worry; crap like this still makes me barf. reputation intact.

don’t worry; crap like this still makes me barf. reputation intact.

Anyway, if you have any ideas for shower stuff (activities, noms, games, decorations, themes, favors, whatever) that don’t suck, please let me know. You know which ones suck – the melted candy bars in diapers and so forth. Really, anything to do with diapers. Ew.

IMMA BE AN AUNT!!

May 20

Tappity Tap

I began ballet classes when I was 4. When I was old enough, I also took jazz classes, and went en pointe. I never wanted to tap dance – all that NOISE gave me a headache. But my freshman year of high school, we did Singin’ in the Rain as our school play and I had to learn to tap. I loved it. I caught up with some summer classes, and joined the rest of the senior (read: high school) tap class from there on. Every year, the senior tap class closed out our recital. There was a regular dance, based on whatever the theme was that year, and then the senior tap class always did a dance we called “42nd Street.” It’s to the (instrumental) audition scene from the show of the same name, and it was a beast. The kind of shape we had to be in just for 42nd Street was obscene, but to do it right after a different full dance? Whew. It was awesome.

My freshman year of college, 42nd Street (the show) came to the theater in my hometown and my family attended. We always went to the Saturday night show, the fancy one with the best performances, the highest-class audience, the most formal dress, etc. This was always the show where we ran into our people; the people who knew musicals like we did, the people we’d known for years from the dance studio and choir concerts and all the high school plays. At halftime I ran into a friend who was a high school senior at the time, and he just gave me a huge hug and said “THEY DID YOUR DANCE!” I had no idea how closely our instructor had choreographed our dance to the show’s. She was a badass, truly.

Anyway, this is all a long way to show off my new favorite thing ever:

kenny

It’s cool, Kenny, sometimes I find myself tap dancing through the copy room or on my way to get a cup of coffee too. But I really wish I had a cane.

May 19

Book Review: I Kissed a Zombie and I Liked It by Adam Selzer

zombie

04 Read the rest of this entry »

May 18

Book Review: Passion by Lauren Kate

passion05 Read the rest of this entry »

May 18

Book Review: Torment by Lauren Kate

torment05 Read the rest of this entry »

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