I would have preferred the beer

Today at lunch Hannah ordered iced tea with lemon. It's not something she orders often but she does like it. Iced tea is a huge deal in the South and when we lived in Arkansas it seemed like everyone drank it although I never acquired a taste for it. When Hannah ordered the iced tea today it made me think of a funny story from when we flew down to Arkansas for my friend Stephanie's wedding.

We flew down to Arkansas the day before the wedding (without the kids) and arrived in time to head over to the rehearsal dinner. We were a few minutes late and most of the people were already there. When we walked into the room I looked at all the tables that were set up for dinner and I thought to myself "This is my kind of party....all the place settings already have a glass of beer at them." Then I realized it was iced tea in every glass. Talk about a let down.

I am a horrible, horrible friend

Stephanie, I am SO sorry I missed your birthday. My only excuse is that it was the final day that I was working on the yearbook. I know you vividly remember me yelling at Ricky in the auditorium at Jacksonville High School about our high school yearbook when I was Editor. As a matter of fact neither of you will ever let me forget it. I can only say that cleary I am still very single-minded when it comes to yearbook.

Please forgive me. I hope it was a good one.

Rent

If you haven't ever seen the musical Rent you really should. It's a fantastic play. Even my husband, who usually only tolerates my love of the theater, loves going to see Rent. We've seen it quite a few times. Tonight on my way home from work I was listening to the Rent soundtrack in my car. It's truly fantastic.

I remember the first time I went to see Rent. It was the weekend I flew out to see my friend Stephanie when she was going to school on Long Island. I remember booking my last minute ticket when Northwest Airlines used to do their Cyber Fares which were posted on Wednesdays for flights that following Saturday with a return on either Monday or Tuesday. I remember going to a party at Four Seasons (four party apartments in college...not the luxury hotel) the night before where I participated in my first, and only, beer bong in college. I even have a picture of that somewhere. They were also doing keg stands that night but I didn't try one of those. I remember going into the city with Stephanie on the train from Long Island. It was only the second time in my life that I had been to NYC. I've always loved Steph's singing voice and I remember her singing me some of the Rent lyrics from the song La Vie Boheme (Why Dorothy and Toto went over the rainbow/To blow off Auntie Em) and from Happy New Year (You can take the girl out of Hicksville / But you can't take the Hicksville out of the girl) . I remember paying $20 for standing room only tickets and standing in the back of the theater in my high heel boots completely enthralled with every minute of the show. The entire thing was magical.

And then I remember taking the train back out to Long Island and falling down the stairs coming off the train platform. But that's another story for another day....and no, it doesn't involve a beer bong or alcohol of any sort but it does involve a bag of frozen peas.

And we're back!

We are back from Coeur d'Alene and we had a FANTASTIC time. I'll blog all about it later (along with pictures).

I just wanted to post that my friend Stephanie had her baby. Aidan Patrick Scott joined this world at 10 lbs. 7 ozs. and 22 inches in length. Congratulations Steph and Aaron!