Way Back Wordful Wednesday-The Blind Date

Welcome to Way Back Wednesday with The Adventures of Goober Grape and Monkey Man, The Life of a Sippy' Cup Mom!, Our Life With Jake! and introducing The Scoop on Poop...our newest hostess with the most-ess!

We hope you'll join in and have some fun!

Grab the button, answer the question, link up...and that's that!

This week's topic:

What Are Your Favorite Memories From Your Prom/Homecoming/School Dance?

(Pictures are NOT required...some of us have to scan photos and may not have the ability to do so ::coughStephcough::)

You mean you've never had a date that was as stiff as cardboard?

One of my favorite movies ever is Footloose. And not just because I love to watch Kevin shakin his bacon, either. You see, I can totally relate to the movie. I grew up in a private school with the same rigid rules as the town had in the movie. We didn't dance, we didn't hold hands, we didn't do a lot of normal, teenagery things (and yes, I totally made that word up.). 

We did, however, have "Banquets".

*shudder* It was like a bad production of an Oscar night. Fancy dresses, funny looking dates, speeches...

Not to mention dinner. Dinner was probably the worst. I mean who serves spaghetti to a group of 16 and 17 yr old girls wearing PROM dresses? I know, right?!?

Believe it or not, back in high school I was not popular. I had a very small class with a very tight clique, that I just never fit into. This meant that no one wanted to ask me to be their date. I wasn't going stag, and my BFF, Tracy, was going with her boyfriend, a boy from outside the school. 

Yes, rebel she is. AND she even set me up with her cousin. Whom I never met. So, not only did I not have a date to the banquet, but I had a BLIND date.

I get ready in excitement. I'm decked out to the 9's in my little light blue vintage dress, feeling a burst of confidence since my very tiny aunt had once worn the same dress. My hair done just right, the makeup piled on yet looking barely there. I was a hot little number.

I arrive at my friend's house and finally meet my date. 

 (google image)

I kid you not. He was even shorter then me. I was MORTIFIED. I was expecting JFK, Jr and I got Steve Buscemi, instead. I was totally bummed. 

As sad as I am to say it, from that point on, I don't really remember much of the banquet (except the spaghetti, because my grandma never forgave me for the spaghetti stain on the gorgeous vintage dress).

My best memory from the night, though? My crush of 4 years telling me that I looked beautiful. I will NEVER, ever forget that moment. I would date all the Steve Buscemi's in the world for that compliment back then. Thanks Rick. You totally turned my night into a fantastic memory.

As for Footloose. we are still trying to convince that school that there is a time for everything...

What is your best memory from a school dance?

Link up and share today!

(Want to see more Wordless/Wordful Wednesday posts? Just visit Seven Clown Circus, A Beautiful Mess, or Live and Love...Out Loud. You can also see more at Wordless Wednesday.)

PINT/ONHD: Strep, Pee & Houseguests Oh My!

So what are you waiting for? Head on over to Supah's for instructions on how to make your own sticky notes, then stop by Live and Love...Out Loud for instructions on venting your Oh No He Didn't story today. Then hop around and read everyone else's. Laugh, live, love. Happy Tuesday, everyone!

Royalty Excitement!

 This is the best day of my life, for I have seen THE QUEEN! Observe the genuine happiness on my face! This sunflower dress was the best and breeziest outfit I could muster while waiting outside in the blistering heat to catch a fleeting glimpse of Her Majesty. But catch a fleeting glimpse I did! Her and Prince Phillip pulled up in a motorcade and I saw her step out of the vehicle wearing a wonderful yellow suit dress with a matching hat. I only really saw the back of her, but it was such a wonderful experience! The celebrity of the Queen is so much more awesome and historical than that of Britney Spears, y'know?

Here is an outfit from a few days ago, I got about a million weird stares and awkward comments on the tights.

Shakespeare in Love

The best part of this movie is not the inevitable love story between William Shakespeare and Viola de Lesseps, but the many references to Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet and later works. Everything about this film is a mixture of the tragedy and comedy that filled Shakespeare's plays and sonnets. Even the smaller roles, such as Ned Alleyen (Ben Affleck) who always wants to be the leading role, stood out about the rest. Every character was both comic and tragic at some point or another. Overall a brilliant film and definitely deserving of the seven Oscars it won, including Best Picture.

QUICKIES

"I know something of a woman in a man's profession. Yes, by God, I do know about that."- Judy Dench (Queen Elizabeth)

"The show must...you know..."- Geoffrey Rush (Philip Henslowe)

"[urging him] Go on..."- Joseph Fiennes (William Shakespeare)

"This is not life Will. It's a stolen season."- Gwyneth Paltrow (Viola De Lesseps)

"You see— comedy. Love with a bit of a dog. That's what they want."- Geoffrey Rush (Philip Henslowe)

"I will have poetry in my life. And adventure. And love. Love above all. No... not the artful postures of love, not playful and poetical games of love for the amusement of an evening, but love that... over-throws life. Unbiddable, ungovernable - like a riot in the heart, and nothing to be done, come ruin or rapture. Love - like there has never been in a play."- Gwyneth Paltrow (Viola De Lesseps)

"I have never undressed a man before."- Gwyneth Paltrow (Viola De Lesseps)

"It is strange to me too."- Joseph Fiennes (William Shakespeare)

"Write me well."- Gwyneth Paltrow (Viola De Lesseps)

When Scenes

In the beginning of the movie, when Henslowe asks Will if he has been working on his play, and William Shakespeare answers "Doubt thou the stars are fire, Doubt that the sun doth move" he is quoting from Hamlet (Act II Scene 2). The lines are from a letter he wrote to Ophelia while pretending to have gone mad, and are followed by "Doubt truth to be a liar, but never doubt I love."

About six years before the film was finally made, Julia Roberts was cast as Viola and flew to the UK to try to persuade Daniel Day-Lewis to take the part, but he declined in order to do In the Name of the Father (1993), so Universal Studios dropped the project when no suitable alternative was found. Joseph Fiennes was the only actor ever actually cast in the lead role.

Kate Winslet turned down the role after her 1997 success in Titanic.

Will is shown signing a paper, with six illegible signatures visible. Several versions of Shakespeare's signature exist, all of which are different. This has led to debate about whether William Shakespeare may actually have been illiterate.

Ben Affleck took the part in this film to be near then-girlfriend, Gwyneth Paltrow.

Guest Blog: Full House, Full Heart

She was kind enough to stop by my humble home and grace us with her presence yesterday. Today, she is back to give us a speech. Please welcome back The Empress....

Love in Chaos

by The Empress

If you ever need a cure for house envy, come to our house. You'll leave feeling that your house is the best organized, most tightly run ship on the planet. A visit here is good for that. With 4 males in the house, the level of noise is beyond what some would find comfortable. The same can be said for the level of activity, as in indoor soccer games, and football tossing.

There is someone always either playing the piano, or shooting the Nerf guns (yes--S-- as in PLURAL, as in MANY to choose from), or seeing how many paper airplanes can be flown off the upstairs balcony at once. Hmmmm....maybe they'll fly better if we tape pennies to them.

Snacking is always going on, there is PlayStation being played, more boys from the neighborhood, a Wii game may be started upstairs. The lemonade pitcher will be spilled, and someone will leave their unfinished popsicle to melt on the kitchen island. There are shoes to be tripped over, and lego pieces that will spike the tender arch of your foot.

This is our home, with love in the chaos. 

I grew up in a silent home. My mother didn't like noise, and didn't encourage interaction. She preferred quiet solitude. This was a good thing, in part, it turned us all into insatiable readers. But, my memories of what it was like growing up, are often accompanied by the sound of the quiet ticking of the clock in the dining room that I would hear daily.

I grew up wanting a boisterous home, bursting at the seams with family life, much like my friend Stephanie had. That's what I wanted. I am now blessed with that. I am the mother of sons.

And, within the sound of yet another vase breaking, or a dish being dropped, or the sound of experimental aircraft being thrown off the upstairs balcony, you will hear love among the chaos. The sounds of a full house, and my own full, satisfied heart.

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Beautifully written, if I must say so. This must be why she is The Empress.

Have a safe and happy Independence weekend, my friends. I hope to read all about your mishaps next week. And, please don't let this be your next blog post:

There once was a redneck and his redneck wife. The wife didn't want another child, and asked the redneck husband to get surgery so he can't impregnate his wife.
The redneck goes to a very expensive doctor. The doctor who is in a hurry and is sure the redneck can't pay for his operation, just hands the redneck a firecracker and says, "Light this, hold it, count to 10." The redneck is confused but the doctor seems to know what he's doing.
The redneck goes home and lights the firecracker. He starts counting with the aid of his fingers... "1...2...3...4...5..." The redneck pauses, puts the firecracker between his legs and resumes counting on the other hand....

Fly a Train

I found the most life-defining (okay, maybe just wardrobe-defining) book at the public library last week! It's called Dr. Martens: The Story of an Icon by Martin Roach, and i can hardly believe I've never heard of this book before seeing as I wear Docs almost every day the temperature is right. In fact, I have 61 posts tagged as 'Doc Martens' as of this moment and most of them are my outfits. Oh right, quit bragging and back to the book.

It discusses the history of the Dr. Martens brand as well as a brief history of each decade in the 20th Century since the inception of the brand. It features a timeline of important world events in each decade, but the most interesting parts are the ones discussing Dr. Marten's relation to underground music subcultures. By the time I finish actually reading the book (not just browsing the pretty pictures), I'll have a huge list of bands to research.

Since the book coincided with the 40th anniversary of Dr. Martens, the brand commissioned British designers to re-envision what their ultimate Docs would look like. It was fascinating to see all the ideas!

Great book, great photos, can't wait to finish reading it!

BSOW: A Visit With Royalty

Happy Friday, y'all. Help yourself to some ice cream. You deserve it. Take your shoes off, grab a pillow, and get comfy. We have a fabulous blog featured here today.

Did you know that today's featured blogger has her own kingdom? Yes, She rules it with a fair hand and it's a pretty nice place. She has many skills. She can see the future without a crystal ball. She speaks Angst, one of the languages of her people. She's an A-Lister. Best of all? She's got a hot twin brother. 

She looks out over her land, and says "Good Day Regular People". And they call her The Empress.





I asked The Empress: "If there was a movie made of your life, who would play you and why?"

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A Lifetime Movie Network Original

by The Empress

                                                                       

DramaMama asks, "If there was a movie made of your life, who would play you and why?"

The answer is the 2008 Lifetime Original Movie "Through the Eyes of the World: The Greatest Singer in the World: Celine Dion!!!"

Sad to say, as much as I'd like to ask for Sophia Loren to play my life, in "Nevus," the story of a small Italian town's temptress, I couldn't honestly give that answer.

All evidence points to me having to be played by Celine Dion, and end that sentence complete with a rolling hands bow.

I have been told more times than I can possible recount, that I look EXACTLY like Celine Dion. And not as in, "wow, you are so beautiful, you look like Celine" and not as in "Oh, you are so tall, you look like Celine," but as in "wow...your face is so long, you look like Celine," and "your mouth and chin and lips are really weird, like Celine Dion."

The eery similarities continue. We begin with the impersonable facial resemblance, and move on to me standing in front of any mirror, at age 12, the same age as Celine was, holding a hairbrush for a microphone, pretending I'm saying "maman! It's me...on the radio!" and I commence to belt out a haunting, melancholy dirge.  I was forever holding diva concerts in the bathroom, the more heartwrenching the song, the better.

Celine's life and mine paralled each others throughout highschool, also. Like her, I was often "without the shoes and always losing the boyfriends."  The boys would tell me, as they told her, "but you are too skinny, and flat," but I, like her, knew I was beautiful. I, like her, "felt the beauty I had ...here...inside..." And we'd both beat our chests and stare out ferociously with that declaration. 

Like Celine, you can make me cry--like that! Snap! "And the tears...they come to my eyes."  Just to hear my son say, "maman! and I am in tears."  It is too hauntingly beautiful, the name...the name! of maman!

I end, with these undeniable identical occurrences in our lives:

*Celine's husband paid for her braces, mine paid for my retainers

.

*She often publicly states that her life, her life, it is like a dream!! I often feel myself walking through my day in a foglike dream state, also.

*I am really skinny.

* I want to be a Canadian.

*She has hit the longest, highest note on record. My neighborhood hears me hit some pretty good ones here at home, when the windows are open for the summer.

*She has been known to burst into tears, at the thought of the happiness that surrounds her.  I, too, have been known to burst into tears when I look around and see what surrounds me at home.

And, finally, like Celine, my children will tell you that I am "here, there, wherEVERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR they are...I, will be there with them, too................" seeing what they're up to, and what mess has to be swept up next, and finding out who is eating in their bedrooms....

Because, I am Celine Dion, the greatest mother! in the world!

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The Empress has left her kingdom under my care (for the next 8 days) and has ordered me to fling poop on anyone's door who dares not leave a comment. (Just kidding, of course, but Baby E will be very upset to come back to empty walls. You wouldn't want to upset Baby E, would you?)

She'll be back tomorrow with a fabulous guest post, as well.

By the way, my comments had an accident and spent some time in recovery, so please feel free to go back and try again on yesterday's 2 Truths & a Lie post. 

I missed hearing your voices.