Green!!!
25 Feb 2010 Leave a Comment
OMG! It’s that time again…
SHAMROCKFEST!!!!
I’ll be quite frank when I say I wasn’t that interested in going this year but then I checked out the line up. Here’s just a taste:
- The Roots
- Train
- Scythian
- Carbon Leaf
- Seven Nations
- Mr. Greengenes
- Donegal Express
- Enter the Haggis
- Dr. FU
OMG!!!!
This line up is off the hook. I mean Train!?!? With “Hey, Soul Sister” in the top ten right now and they will be celebrating with lil ole us?
I love that this year is more diverse, Rock, Irish, Blues, Retro and Folk music. A leetle something for everyone and I love it all.
Sweet Motha of Gawd!
I’m so freaking excited.
Plus:
- 40+ bands and djs
- 10 massive stages
- Dozens of party areas
- Activities
- Strolling entertainers
- Irish Village – with all your favorite Irish bars
- Shamrock Pub Games
- NCAA basketball viewing tents
- Tons of beer trucks serving a variety of brands
- Visit the D.C. United interactive tent
- Acres of food & beverage vendors
- Much, much, lots more!
Oh and have you heard? It’s a little hush hush right now but I know you won’t tell… yet.
There’s a new addition to the line up…
Maybe you’ve heard of them?
Currently, they are touring with the Black Eyed Peas.
LMFAO!!!!
Two Irish fist pumps up!
Now I just have to find someone to tag along with me.
Have I mentioned… SO EXCITED!!!! You know that funny feeling in your tummy kind of EXCITED!
My Shovel
23 Feb 2010 1 Comment
This is my shovel. There are many like it, but this one is mine. My shovel is my best friend. It is my life. I must master it as I master my life. My shovel, without me, is useless. Without my shovel, I am snowbound. I must use my shovel true. I must shovel straighter than any plow who is trying to snow me in. I must shovel before he plows. I will… My shovel and myself know that what counts in this war is not the mounds of snow we shovel, the countless times we shovel during a storm, nor the smoke we make with our snow blowers. We know that it is our backs that count. We will be hurting… My shovel is human, even as I, because it is my life. Thus, I will treat it as a brother. I will learn its weakness, its strength, its parts, its accessories and its durability. I will keep my shovel greased and ready, even as I am sweaty and ready to shovel again. We will become part of each other. We will…. Before God I swear this creed. My shovel and myself are the defenders of my home. We are the masters of our enemy, the snow. We are the saviors of my family. So be it, until victory is America’s and there is no snow, but sunshine.
Lent
22 Feb 2010 Leave a Comment
I am also reminded of last year’s homily where the priest said, “We all give up candy and that’s easy but who can go home after a bad day at work and be Joyful?” That made such a difference in my life and changed the way I viewed Lent. Mini Red enjoyed it too!
I believe I have kept up with the “Joyful After Work” theme but now is the time to stop and re-evaluate. Then every year can just become better and better, right?
I have decided to take on a bit more and this one is a toughie. No cussing in the car or rather no Road Rageous cussing. I am, however, allowing myself to say “POOP”.
Mini Red has been encouraged to choose something in her life to eliminate or improve and really stick to it. Last year she didn’t do so well but at 12 I believe she can learn a thing or two.
What are all you Catholics out there planning on giving up?
Oh and if there is abundance of “Ode De Fish” on Friday’s it’s us Catholics.
DerbyCakes
15 Feb 2010 Leave a Comment
in fun, Roller Derby, Volunteering
Saturday Mini Red and I headed downtown to the Roller Derby but this time was different we were volunteering. Originally, it was just gonna be Mini Red volunteering for some points for school but I figured why not and had my name put down too.
We didn’t know what to expect but we got to the Armory just after 2pm. O’Canadoll was our contact and she put us on cupcake duty under Ovary Action (28)*. We found out that operation Cupcake was a surprise for the fans so we nicknamed it “The Georgetown”.
Operation Cupcake was out of the norm for the DC Rollergirls. Seems TLC is filming a six episode pilot called “Cupcake Sisters”**. It’s along the lines of “Ace of Cakes” or “Cake Boss” but this show follows two sisters who run Georgetown Cupcake. For this first episode the sisters present hundreds of cupcakes to the fans of the DC Roller Girls after the first bout. These hundreds of cupcakes were put together to look like the DC Roller Girls logo.
This is when Mini Red and I jumped into action, along with the other volunteers and players, to hand out all of these cupcakes to the fans. This was a lot of fun and we met so many people. Seems they were filming the sisters handing out the cupcakes and there Mini Red and I were right along with them. Mini Red and Ovary’s daughter were dubbed the dancing cupcake girls and they were sure to get them on camera.
I was very cool to see all of this going down. The cupcakes arrived three hours later than expected. The sisters had to rush to put them together behind the secret curtains. The cupcakes were originally supposed to be presented at half time of the first bout. To even see the cameraman at work and the sound guy and then to see some of the shots played back was all very cool. All things considered the sisters worked pretty fast to only have it pushed back til the end of the bout. It was evident they were all very stressed but by the time it was all done they seemd to feel great about the shots they got.
We were only signed up to help out with the cupcakes but we tried to help out wherever we could I think Mini Red‘s favorite part was handing out freebies to the crowd. The older she has gotten the more shy Mini Red has become but not at the roller derby. Mini Red fit in perfectly and had a blast mingling with the crowd as well as the players.
We were so exhausted that we couldn’t even hang for the end of the second bout.
O’Canadoll and that entire crew do an amazing job running this derby. Cudos to you all for a job well done… Every month.
SOB
12 Feb 2010 Leave a Comment
Shit of a Blizzard!
Snowmageddon
SnOMG!
Flake -A-Palooza
SnowDeath
Snowpocalypse.
The names go on and on.
It wasn’t til the second storm on Tuesday morning that I stood at my back door looking outside and thought “Apocalypse” then realized how fitting Snowpaclopyse really was.
A week stuck in the house with a teenager while trying to work and I must admit a bit O da PMS at work made for disaster. Ok ok I know it could have been worse and when I heard Mini Red trying to talk down a friend of hers dealing with a similar situation I knew we weren’t alone.
I was praying for the weather men to get it all wrong but Tuesday morning I ran out while I could. Where did I go? The grocery store! Oh for the luv that was horrible. Luckily, I got a FANTASTIC spot underground and believe me I was thanking the snowy heavens for that.
As I walked in I braced myself. I had come this far I better follow through so I took a deep breath and approached it with the best attitude I could. In the store you could tell many were working hard to keep calm as the store was PACKED. Some old woman was non-stop over the loud speaker telling us fresh bagels were almost done and gonna be coming up the elevator any minute and would we PLEASE buy some bird feed to help those poor little birds throught this storm. Oh an don’t forget to tell everyone else how wonderful the Kensington Safeway is. I got some Jumbo Gulf Shrimp for a steal and when I got in line sent Mini Red for coffee at Starbucks. I couldn’t help but feel like I was forgetting something but chalked it up to the panick in the air and stood my ground.
We stopped by the folks afterwards and I was able to finally get the picture frame with all the pics working. Mom and I were mexmerized watching all the pics and ends up Dad was the same way when he got home.
I woke Wednesday morning to the sound of some snow melting off the roof but when I looked outside it was pure white. We had been upgraded to a Blizzard warning. Come On People this is DC there aren’t blizzards here! Ummmm Yeup it’s Snowmagegddon of a different kind.
The wind was crazy and I headed out to shovel around 3:30pm. This was to be the fifth time shoveling in five days. I did my front walk then approached the public sidewalk and headed up in front of the neighbors and started working on her walk. I had to take my time because my back was so incredibly sore from the previous days. Even though I was sore I had a hard time stopping I knew it was best to get as much shoveled now rather than later when it was ice..
After shoveling I showered and Mini Red and I headed to the Folks cause it was Dad’s birthday. We had fun walking over there and didn’t see many cars. The Folks seemed very excited to see us and I have to admit I loved it when Mom was nearly begging us to stay the night. We popped open some wine and watched the Caps come to the end of that fabulous winning streak. But not before we notice Pepco out on the back street where my Aunt lived. Mom was hollering out the back window at them like some redneck, “Ya’ll from Pepco?”. Mini Red and I were sent on a mission through the back yard and 3.5 feet of snow over the mound of snow out the back gate to then connect with the dudes from Pepco. I was so glad I hadn’t run that day (treadmill) or I would have never made it. I had to push Mini Red over the snow mound. We were soaked but we reached the Pepco dudes. They promised they weren’t leaving until my Aunt and her neighbors had power. My Aunt had been without power for 5 days and it took them all of maybe 30 minutes to get the power on again. Those boys must have been incredibly busy. So we trekked back through that tundra of a back yard and changed into the dry clothes we brought.
The walk home was actually kind of fun. There was a group of boys and I knew Mini Red was terrified I would say something to them but one was wearing trash bags as boots and I had to comment “Like your boots!”. They all got a giggle out of it and thankfully Mini Red wasn’t mad. Hey I’m a Mom I gotta embarass her.
Thursday Mini Red headed off to meet friends, and a coach , for a snowball fight. I love this girl but I was tickled to have some time to myself to work and shovel.
During this week I was a bit thankful for the snow because it saved me money. I know the Government is paying out the nose for all this but it saved my bank account except for that day at the store and today.
Today I took some time off work and dropped Mini Red off to see her friend who is moving to Florida today. I then went to Monkey Mall. Oh what fun! I made friends and shopped and I’m not much of a shopper but I was very happy to be out and I chatted with everyone. Sure glad Mini Red wasn’t with me she would have been embarassed.
I guess it didn’t save me that much but at least held me off until payday… today.
This snow is incredible and I am hearing from friends all over. You can’t help but take pictures but the pictures can’t seem to capture it all. I have run out of places to put the snow but I’ m praying hard that I won’t have to shovel anymore.
Gawd I can’t wait til summer!
