Monthly Archives: May 2017

International Week of the Birthday ~ day two

Posted on May 8, 2017 by robynbird

Now, this is a bit more than I’d normally subject y’all to. Only I quite love this quote. It’s so very Robynbird!
I’m all those things.
And many more!
And this year, as I celebrate the forty-sixth anniversary of my birth, I feel like I finally accept myself and my place in the world in a way I’ve never done before. I’ve noticed it more than a few times recently. Enough to bring it up to my therapist.
I feel completely free, yet absolutely in control.
I dig it.
I am lionhearted. And nerdy. And sexy. I am intelligent. And courageous. And I really do embrace every teeny bit of all that insanity and more!
This Monday has been an excellent second day of my Birthday Week!

Categories: me | Tags: acceptance of self, birthday, celebrate, Erin Van Vuren, Girl Power, international week of the birthday, love yourself | Leave a comment

International Week of the Birthday ~ day one

Posted on May 7, 2017 by robynbird

Today started ‘International Week of (this girl’s) Birthday’!
I spent Sunday of IWotB running errands.
Costco and Wegmans for groceries. Home Goods, Target, Ross, and Bed Bath & Beyond for stuff for the kitchen. I actually made a purchase at each stop, but at Ross I only bought a very cool something for Thing 1 and a little treat for Thing 2 to have when she arrives later this week.

At Home Goods I found these gorgeous Tiffany blue napkins. There wasn’t a chance in hell that I was leaving the store without them. The moment I saw them, I knew they were meant for me. A little ‘Happy Birthday’ to me, from me!

Upon seeing them for the first time, YBW declared that if I died and could come back as linens, I would be these napkins.
You know, he’s got a point.
They are so very Robynbird.
Today was a great start to my Birthday Week!

Categories: me | Tags: Bed Bath & Beyond, birthday, celebrate, Costco, home goods, international week of the birthday, linens, napkins, Ross, running errands, Target, Tiffany blue, Wegmans | 5 Comments

beer and the guy that killed Pluto

Posted on May 5, 2017 by robynbird

YBW and I enjoyed the gorgeous spring weather on Tuesday this week. We were headed into DC to a lecture at the Air and Space Museum.

I had to zip into Falls Church to pick up more chalk paint on the way, so we stopped at Mad Fox Brewing Company for a nibble before we went downtown.

YBW had a kick ass burger and I had a crab cake with our Tori’s Rockstar Irish Red Ale. It was really breezy, but warm enough to make it worth eating outside.

You may not know this, but Pluto is (has always been) my favorite planet. I think it stems from watching Schoolhouse Rock as a kid.

Anyway, turns out that this Mike Brown from Caltech is the guy that “killed Pluto”.

Ah hell nah!
I mean his freaking twitter handle is @plutokiller for crying out loud.
I’m feeling the desire to stab rising up in me…

Well, as it turns out, the killer of my beloved Pluto gives a pretty decent talk about his search for the “new” ninth planet.

With some pretty cool visuals.

Far be it from me to promote the guy that kicked my Pluto out of the planets…but he was pretty good. So, if you’re interested in his talk you can see it here.

Categories: me | Tags: Air and Space Museum, Caltech, Interplant Janet, mad fox brewing, Mike Brown, pluto, rockstar irish red ale, schoolhouse rock, Smithsonian, solar system | Leave a comment

kitchen in progress

Posted on May 4, 2017 by robynbird

What day is it?

GRANITE DAY!!

(as Thing 1 would say) Wootness!!

It’s very exciting!!
Here’s what the kitchen looked like before.

and

The cabinet doors are still off because I’m in the process of waxing them. I’ll paint the base cabinets as quickly as I can. See how much better the island looks painted?
The guys are still here working nearly finished…so these are just “in the process” pics. But stay tuned, y’all.

and

I’m SO freaking excited!!

Categories: around the house | Tags: Annie Sloan Chalk Paint, Annie Sloan Chalk Paint Wax, granite countertops, home improvement, kitchen, kitchen remodel | 1 Comment

the night Alan Cumming sang me some sappy songs

Posted on May 4, 2017 by robynbird

I was delighted to receive these tickets in my stocking at Christmas and the time for actually seeing the show finally came Saturday night!

I’ve been going to the Kennedy Center literally my entire life (my dad was a police officer there in the early 1970s) but I never saw anything in the Concert Hall.
I loved the lights!

Did I mention these were box seats?

I was fully prepped to snap shots throughout the show, but the very shirty usher had different plans…so this was the only one of the stage, and not an Alan Cumming in sight!

An evening of funny and sad stories, inappropriate humor, and some pretty sappy songs, I was more than entertained, I was delighted!
We were amused by his story of creating a condom ad with Ricki Lake for Trojan.

Funnily enough, even though he sang a Dinner at Eight by Rufus Wainwright, my favorite song of the evening was his version of The Climb from Miley’s The Hannah Montana movie. (What? I’m an enigma.)
Y’all can watch it here.

Categories: me | Tags: Alan Cumming, concerts, delight, fun, Kennedy Center, Miley Cyrus, Ricki Lake, sappy songs | 1 Comment

lifting them up in love and light

Posted on May 2, 2017 by robynbird

They say death comes in threes.
I don’t exactly know who “they” are…but that’s what they say.

I find it is true.
In the last two weeks, three people I love very much have experienced death.
Now, I was only truly close to one of the deceased. The mother of a girl I grew up with. Amy’s mother loved and taught and mothered me just as she did her own five children.

The other two deaths are further removed. Each of them is the father of a guy I love. I never met these fathers, but I love their sons a great deal.

My friend Jack’s father left a whole in his world and he’s been struggling so. It pains me to know this, to know that I really can’t help. He has to heal in his own way.

I got a message from Thing 2 this morning, she wanted me to know her arrival time might be delayed. The young man who is her true and dearest friend has to bury his father some time in the coming week. I’ve know the young man since he was an awkward preteen in middle school, with an unhealthy crush on my daughter. He grew and matured as a young man. I loved to watch as he took the stage with both my girls in high school. Turns out he and Thing 2 were meant to be the best of friends!

My heart is heavy for my friends. Dealing with this painful grief. So if you don’t mind, would you all join me in lifting them up in love and light?
Love and light to you, Amy and Jack and Lane.

It just occurred to me to wonder if I’m feeling this love so strongly on this particular day? Today is the anniversary of my own father’s death.