Holiday 2013…

We came. We saw. We conquered. We yelled. We napped.  We had martinis.  That’s the story of 2013 in a nutshell.  Merry Christmas.

Details? You can’t possibly want more details?   Well, I’ll give them even if you don’t want them.  (Warning – you may want to stop reading here and just enjoy the pictures!)

This year we were grateful for our mini-van cuz it turns out you can fit SEVEN band kids and six LARGE instruments in it.  And hey! Only one of the kids had to ride on the roof!

Our brand new high school daughter got a scholarship for two weeks to a Youth Symphonic Band Camp.  It was so exciting; except for the part where there was a giant forest fire and they had to evacuate the entire camp for four days…other than that? She had a solo and a time at first chair during the final performance. All those sax lessons and Tylenol-for-Mama started paying off.  #kleenexneeded

Turns out our little Blondie? She's a musical hoarder...This year, she is playing Alto Sax. soprano sax (seems good by me), piano (this is required in our house – you know, I model myself on the Tiger Mom) and violin. We made her quit the clarinet…there’s only so much one family can handle.  Add in guitar and the worst sounding trombone ever and you've got the picture. 

And her special gift to us? A love of percussion instruments. #boomboomboom

The Taxman is now an official band dad.  Me? I hide a lot during band performances. #notdoingit

Glowie is over the moon, cuz she now has a little doggie of her own.  The dog has had 22 names, but it appears we have settled on Coco Chanel.  I see pearls and little black dresses in her future.  By “her” I am referring to Glowie AND Coco’s future!

Our little Glowie had such a great time as Alice in Alice in Wonderland.  That shit lights you up! So she went to sleepway camp (cuz I’m no fool!) and did Stunt Camp.  Stunt camp? You may ask what kind of mother sends a 48 pound child to stunt camp?  Well, it would be the mother that ended up meeting the ambulance at the Emergency Room when Glowie was ambulanced down the mountain after “landing wrong” from an 18 foot jump off a scaffold. All’s well that ends well, but we are still waiting for the final ambulance bill. #expensivetriptocamp

Glowie is in 5^th grade and I love walking her to school every day…just us and the doggies.  It’s our Norman Rockwell Family moment.  Well…at least if you catch us on a morning when I’m not yelling about dog poop, picking up shoes and “how can you not know that there are 52 weeks in a year!?”

This has been a golden year in our family: both our daughters are maturing and becoming more responsible.  What this really means is: we can now leave them alone on Saturday nights so we can have our Date Night with dinner and a cocktail.  (Or two.)  Now THAT makes all the parenting-angst seem worth it!  Well, at least on Saturday nights!

We love the mountains. This year we added a boat.  The taxman and the girls loved it.  There was a lot of water skiing and fun lake trips.  By “fun” I do mean trips where I stayed home.  I found that bouncing and flying over the wake in the lake, gave me post-traumatic stress syndrome from having had my second spinal fusion surgery only one year ago.  Somehow I couldn’t get behind the “YIPPEE” thing as everyone’s bottoms flew out of the boat seats.  Me?  I prefer swimming.  Or napping on the couch while everyone else goes boating!  Yeah, THAT worked!

New York BABY!  We are not very adventuresome…but this year, we went to New York so I could be on the Today Show with our beloved friend Dorothy.  Al Roker and Natalie Morales were quite lovely, but dammit…I didn’t get to plug my book.  WICKED on Broadway, horse drawn carriage rides, the Subway, fine dining, street hot dogs, pedi-cab rides (the thrill there is surviving to actually tell about it later), MOMA and just a lot of stuff where you throw $20 dollar bills at people without stopping, all day long.  We had so much fun and it was worth every penny, or should I say “dollar”? #dollarS

I read Lean In and started saying: “Yes” to leadership opportunities.  Now? I have less time for napping, but dammit, I’m a good example of a harried, over-stressed mother/business owner and now – public servant.

I hang with a group of Really Cool Broads in a Women’s Leadership group I started.  Best idea ever, after getting another Brazilian Blowout.  (You can start one too, just ask a few women you admire and voila – you’ve got a group.  And you can rotate dinner – even better.)

While you are conjuring up images of sleek hair and other Norman Rockwell moments (local football games anyone?) Did I mention that my daughters both suffer from an impairment that prevents them from picking up their own shoes?  Oh, and Blondie is moody? Did I mention that I am short tempered?  Glowie can be, shall we say, “persistent”.  Did I mention that we do a lot of family therapy? 

And that stuff works for us.  So on that note, we toast you and we say…”we’ll drink to THAT!”

Happy New Year!!