A Day at the Mall...

It was a cold and rainy day. I thought I'd spend the day in my nice thermal jammies, watching the Heels annihilate ... hummm, Tracey may read this and I like Tracey, so let me edit that ... watching my alma mater play some b-ball.

Then somehow we had a major miscommunication in our house. Before I knew it, I was in real clothes (and a rain coat) and heading to the mall with Kelsey. It was fun (she says in a semi-incredulous tone).

We hit all the teen shops. And then some old people ones too. Kelsey found several ... memorable pieces.

...from the sale rack at Forever 21...

...at Belks ... it was 75% off ... I'm beginning to think Kelsey doesn't like sweaters with stripes.

... trust me when I say that ruffles are THE thing in fashion. Maximizing metallics and ruffles, this blouse heads in the direction of overkill.

And this skirt... darlin' isn't it? Ralph Lauren's spring collection for ONLY $200.00. Yikes!

Praying for Charlotte ...

You know how it is... there are people you smile at to be polite. We are southern, after all. It's in our upbringing and possibly our genetic code. We're supposed to smile at everyone. It's the right thing to do.

Then there are those people who make you smile. You see them or hear from them and a smile just breaks out across your face. Not particularly out of politeness, but out of a genuine fondness for those people. The smile starts on the inside and then just busts out onto your face.

My friends make me smile. Jenn is my friend. Jenn makes me smile. Jenn's baby girl, Charlotte, was born with HLHS. She has to have her heart re-plumbed through a series of pretty big surgeries. Charlotte is going to have the second of her really big surgeries on Thursday, March 12th. There's a button to the right that you can click to see the blog that Jenn writes for Charlotte and Charlotte's brother, Sam. It'll have updates on it that you're going to want to check out so that you'll know how to pray.

It'll mean a lot to Jenn and Tim and Sam and Charlotte to know that they are covered in prayer. Thanks for joining us in lifting up this sweet family. I pray that as you get to know them, they'll make you smile too.

A Taylor Swift for every occasion...

There is no way you could ever in a million years get me to go back and relive my teen years. Bleh! It's the roller coaster ride that leaves you feeling sick without the thrill of pulling G's.

I don't know. Maybe it's the fact that spring was in the air and now the weather's gone all winter again. Or maybe it's the fact that Valentine's has come and gone. I don't know. But it seems like drama is bustin' out all over in Teen World.

Back in the day when I was going through it, Gloria Gaynor gave voice to survival of the drama trauma. Yes, I'm old.

Now, there's a new voice in town, the champion of adolescent girls: Taylor Swift.

I like Taylor Swift. She has a song for every occasion. Nearly. There's one for...

... every girl's dream ...

... unrequited love ...

... an angry break-up ...

... oh-no-you-di'int ...

... the painful-but-wise break-up ...

... a celebration of friendship ...


Life rolls on, you know, in spite of the drama. As a teacher, I hate to see my students go through it. As a mom, it tears out my heart. Of course, there IS a Forever Prince. And there is a Happily Ever After. I hope the girls that I work with know that. I pray the one in my house knows that.

In the meantime, I'm glad to have Taylor Swift floating around on You Tube to give a voice to emotion so deep.

What an honor...

I have to take a minute to give props to my big guy. He never really loved sitting down and reading when he was a preschooler. He'd much rather have built a fort or created a spaceship from Legos than ever practice writing or play school. I can remember a time in elementary school when homework was so painful we wondered if he'd ever have a shot an anything academically inclined. It was just a mess!

But he hit middle school and things changed. School matters. He has some goals, for which we are grateful.

So here he is... in seventh grade... at his induction to the National Junior Honor Society earlier this week. We are so proud. He is an awesome young man. He wants to serve in the military one day. Naval Academy. Then Marines.

We are blessed.

[...and because I know I'll hear about it later... yes, his older sister was also inducted into the National Junior Honor Society when she was in seventh grade too. But I didn't have a blog back then.]

A whole new world...

Saturday night was her first dance without her daddy as her date. Wow. Where did that time go? I think of myself as being 23 forever, but seeing her so grown up made me realize... I'm not 23 anymore. What a surreal moment.

Surreal. But good. She's beautiful. I can't take one bit of credit. The Lord did that.

We shopped for the dress last minute. Found a great deal at Belk's. I took it in a bit and then added straps to prevent any kind of a "wardrobe malfunction" from happening on the dance floor. She loves yellow. She loves laughing. She's happy. It was the perfect color choice. The whole event was full of joy.



Zack got all gussied up too. Not 100% to his liking, but because he loves his sister... and because she bribed him with the promise of ice cream at the mall... he put on a dress shirt, khakis, and a tie.

There's the dad. He was very, very funny. I didn't know how Jimmy would take the prospect of his daughter going to a dance. But he handled it with the perfect balance of protecting the princess and humor. He chauffeured the whole group to the dance. Before they left, he grabbed his iPod. I had a feeling something was up. Sure enough, he announced in the car that as chauffeur it was also his privilege to DJ. He kicked off the night with a dedication to Kelsey's special friend, Davis... "Cleaning this gun" by Rodney Atkins.

And there's one with mom.

And one with Pepper too. Note that Zane is missing from the pictures. He was snow tubing with the rest of the middle schoolers from church. He had a blast. I don't think he regrets missing his sister's first dance at all. I'm not actually sure he's aware he missed it. Just kidding. He did ask her if she had a good time.

Dinner... with a special waiter. It was funny. Everyone had plenty of ice. And about every five minutes they heard, "Are you ready for cake?" There was much rejoicing when the guests FINALLY finished dinner and ate the Valentine's cake.

I think this is actually Take 2 on the corsage. She had it on before dinner, but somewhere in there a ping pong game broke out in the basement. And of course, you can totally annihilate the competition in ping pong with a wrist corsage on. So it took a little break and we repeated the presentation just before they left for the dance itself.

Little brothers are the best chaperones... EVER!!!

This is the gang that joined us for dinner before the dance. Once again, we love having teenagers in our home. If they are here, we know where they are and what they are doing. That's a good thing. No gang fights. Or stuff.

What a night! Kelsey and Davis had a great time. My students started sending me chat messages on Facebook, telling me all about the dance before Kelsey and Jimmy even walked in the door from taking Davis home. It was AWESOME!!!

5 Things that Scare Away Snow...

I have lived in this area of the fabled rain-snow-line my entire life. After years of "The Snow is Coming! The Snow is Coming!"only to be followed by a little jig we call "Oops We Missed It Again," I've discovered five things that scare away an impending snow storm. I'm going to take a gamble in sharing these secrets, as people I know ... in my own family even (MOM!) ... don't like snow. I trust you will use your newfound knowledge for good (snow) and not evil (no snow).

1. Parking your car in a different spot than you normally park. Parking facing out (if you normally pull in headlights first) = Strike 1. Parking at the end of the driveway, facing the street = Strike 2. Parking on the street, facing whatever direction you drive to get out of the neighborhood = Strike 3. We're out of the running for some good snow.

2. Failing to purchase bread, milk, and/or eggs within 48 hours of the predicted snow. They are staples. We can't risk running out of them. And once again, for our friends who have been transplanted from other parts to our lovely area... no... we don't make french toast every time it snows. It's just a coincidence that our must-have-staples are the ingredients for a yummy breakfast.

3. Not doing homework. OK kids... do you want snow or not? If so... get that homework done!!!

4. Bringing home extra work from the office/school so that you will have something to work on while you're stuck at home until it's safe to drive.*

5. Getting snow stuff out of storage before it starts to snow. "Stuff" includes ski pants, sleds, shovels, skis, snowboards, snow boots, etc. If it helps you have fun in the snow, it MUST remain in storage until YOU are ready to walk out in the snow and play.

You see... evidently southern snow is very, very shy. Or sneaky. At any rate, if you act like you know it's coming, you'll scare it away for certain. (The only exception is the grocery store trip. Just don't buy something obviously snow-related like hot chocolate mix or marshmallows. Stick to the staples.) So, for the love of all things cold and flaky and wet, PLEASE be good and let the snow fall without fear.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

*When is it safe to drive after a snow? It is safe to drive after a snow when ALL the snow is gone. Do not even think about using four-wheel drive or chains or any of those anti-snow gadgets to get around on the roads. You may have done it a million times before if you're from another area like, say, the North or the Midwest. But people here don't know how to drive in the snow. We hardly ever get any because folks are always doing ridiculous things like parking cars in the street, not going to the grocery store, skipping homework, planning to be out of work, and unpacking snow equipment early. So it doesn't matter how great a snow-driver you are if everyone else on the road is clueless, does it? If you do go out, be patient and stop saying bad things about southern drivers. Remember, a southern driver warned you to stay off the road in the snow.

Tag... I'm it...

Here it is. In the legendary words of Michael/Marvin Lee Aday, "Two out of three ain't bad..."

In the frenzy of 16...19...21...25...30...35...40 things tagfests going around Facebook, I'm grateful for this one. Just six. So... here we go...

1 - Link back to the blog that tagged you: http://thencbrownings.blogspot.com/

2 - Make a list of 6 (un)interesting things about yourself.

I'm thinking I'll go with a college theme for this one...

i. The novel I read in college ... that I HAD to read as part of the curriculum ... that most impacted my life was Black Boy by Richard Wright. The one I hated the most... Uncle Tom's Cabin. The one I skipped and read Cliffs Notes instead (yes... there was only one!) ... Le Morte D'Arthur ... 530 pages... early modern English... Spring of senior year.... 'nuff said.

ii. My favorite college stress-reducer was a trip with my sorority sisters to Swenson's at University Square where we'd devour an Earthquake together. If we couldn't get enough people to go in on the Earthquake, I'd get one scoop of bubble gum and one scoop of cookies'n'cream. And if I REALLY had a lot of studying, I'd also get a scoop of double-chocolate.

iii. I made my roommate hate me for ... years ... by pretending that our room in the sorority house was haunted. For future reference... if chairs appear on top of and then disappear off of your bed each time you leave the room, there's probably a mischievous roomie hiding in the closet.

iv. A couple of summers ago, I returned to a law enforcement official the Ocean Drive sign that made it home with me from our Pledge Trip.

v. My favorite sorority song that EVERYONE got up and danced to was "What I Like About You."

vi. I cried when I found out I had to student teach at Wake Forest-Rolesville High School. It was on the "other side of the universe" from Chapel Hill. How right I was... on many levels!

3- Tag five other blogs, and let them know by leaving them a comment.

(Yeah...well... that's where the two-out-of-three concept comes in!)