Taking A Cup of Tea with Mom and Me to a New Level

 Sometimes, you can be so dedicated to an idea that it starts to define you.  DD and I have always enjoyed our tea time together, thus the blog title; but this weekend, we took it to a new level.  It wasn't just a cup of tea with mom and me: it was mom and mom and mom and mom and mom and mom and several me's.  We celebrated DD's 16th B'day at a tea house with 5 fellow girls and 6 moms.  Some people may think this could be boring, but with our group boring is not in our vocabulary.  Fun is wherever we are.  And on this afternoon fun was at Tea Roses Tea Room. Where we devoured yummy food (those cucumber sandwiches where the perfect blend of sweet and pepper), laughed until we cried, reminisced about days gone by, and planned to never let these friendships dissipate.

So here is to a little more tea for all the moms and daughters out there.  May you always find time for tea with each other.

PS Happy Birthday, yet again.

Love,
Mom

Hello 2011, Goodbye 2010

This weekend and holiday season has been very very very VERY busy!! I'm sitting her writing this blog post, tired beyond belief, because I just got back from babysitting. Yes, it's a little past midnight, but whatever ;) So I really need this key on my laptop, don't you think?

So I'm not like this, while I'm writing this blog post

Okay, so my weekend you ask?

We'll start on Wednesday, I was at work and finished working at 3:00. Mom then picked me up and we drove down to CT, so I can go to the Cheesecake Factory and see Yogi Bear in West Hartford with my old Girl Scout troop :) I got a Carlton Salad, without chicken, which was the best salad I've ever had! I had a Godiva Chocolate Cheesecake, which was really good also :) Now, our waitress was the slowest waitress known to man. We got seated around 11:45, and we didn't leave by 1:14 and we didn't even eat our cheesecake, we had to order it to go!

Yogi Bear, was the cutest movie ever! I absolutely loved it!! Having it in 3D was pretty awesome also, but I still don't like the whole fact of having to pay the extra $2 for 3D, but it was worth it!!

When I got home from the whole day with my troop, we had a respite for the weekend. Her name is N, and she's really awesome!

Friday!!!



New Years Eve, which in my mind means PARTAYYYYY!! Okay, so my party consisted of burning potstickers, drinking sparkaling cider, sitting above the garage watching Dick Clark's Rockin New Years Eve, and feel bad for not having a party to attend. Yeah, that's a nice wonderful night, don't ya think? Well N and I spent the night watching TV, talking, and drinking.

Yes I stayed up all night and accomplished it :D

Saturday aka today! The first day of 2011, I just want to state that I'm so glad that 2010 is over, my life all last year was an emotional rollercoaster, and man did I want to get off!!! So I had a babysitting job Saturday night to watched H, the cutest boy possible!! So I wathced him until 11pm and his parents gave me a car ride home, and now I'm writing this blog post practically asleep on the laptop.

The only thing that is keeping me up right now would be this (just infront of my laptop).

So good riddance to 2010 and hello 2011!!

Cae

1st Grade Teacher :)

So last night I had a dream that involved my 1st & 2nd grade teacher and most of the other teachers that worked with me through my two years in elementary school. So this morning when I woke up, I decided to see if I could find her email through the school district and send her an email - - - Luckily I knew her last name, but for whatever reason I couldn't remember her first. So I searched the website to see if somewhere it was listed. About thirty minutes into it, I finally found a whole list and found my first grade teacher, we'll call her Mizz B ; ) Well I found Mizz B's email and decided to send her an email, let me tell you, I haven't seen or talked to her in at least 8 or 7 years. So I sent her a little email saying "Hi Mizz B, it's Cae, you had me in your firs and second grade class in 2000 (man am I old). I just wanted to see how you were doing, and have a merry Christmas!"

I waited all day for a response to this email, and I finally got it when I came home from work. Being in contact with Mizz B, made my whole day :) She was an amazing 1st & 2nd grade teacher, and she probably still is. I remember when Mizz B would play the guitar for the class, and she also told us a story about the Christmas Crow, which I still remember to this day.

I'm hoping that she'll find her way here, since I emailed her the link.

Merry Christmas,

Cae

Prime Rib Dinner Take Two!

Well it's the morning after the Prime Rib Dinner, and well it went so well last night! Everyone came over once Mass let out, then our violinist/fiddler for the night made his way over and was ready to play once he was fed! The atmosphere was great, people were spedning their money on the autographed books, the raffles we had going, and drinks! Even though I wasn't a server this year, I got the next best thing. I was the greeter, and although I compleatly freak out when the first person shows up, by the third I'm having fun, it's really nice.

I have to say, the whole night was really nice, even though I wasn't a server. I actually prefer not being a server, because I was able to walk around and stop at tables and see how they were enjoying thier night, instead of running all over the place! Well check out the slideshow above to see just really how much fun it was!

Cae

Spelling Through Songs

Let's spell through singing or count!


1. Glamorous by Fergi
2. Dinosaur by Ke$ha
3. Beautiful from Even Almighty
4. Respect by Aretha Franklin
5. Trouble from The Music Man
6. Hollaback Girl (Bananas) by Gwen Stefani
7. Ridin' Solo (Solo) by Jason Derulo
8. Damaged (Damaged and Heart) by Danity Kane
9. L.O.V.E. by Nat King Cole
10. D.I.V.O.R.C.E. by Dolly Parton
11. The Effect (Flobots, is this a word?)by Flobots
12. 2012 by Jay Sean
13. Gloria by Van Morrison
14. F.E.E.L.I.N.G.C.A.L.L.E.D.L.O.V.E by Pulp
15. U.N.C.O.U.P.L.E.D From Starlight Express
16. L.O.V.E. Machine by WASP
17. Henery the Eight I am! by Hermans Hermit
18. BAD by WASP
19. Pump It by The Black Eyed Peas
20. 3 Words by Cheryl Cole & will.i.am
21. Campfire Song from Spongebob Squarepants
22. Schadenfreude by Avenue Q
23. F.U.N from Spongebob Squarepants

I had to ask for some help from my friends, since I couldn't think of many songs, but with all of my friends on Facebook we made it work. So I'm going to give a shout out to S.C., N.A., I.L.aka The Rev, Rabbit, Pan, Sophie, Sky, Alphabet, Aetheon, Jess, Bro #1 and CH thanks so much guys! Without you I would have a very lame list!


Now for all of you lovely people reading this slightly weird and crazy blog, isn't that list  ?


Cae :)

Put Your Heart Into It!

I was talking to my boss S, the other day at the library's annual Fall Book & Bake Sale. We were in the library doing library stuff, she was mainly adding magazines and book on cds into the collection and I was just keeping her company, and we got onto the subject of the library. The one thing I never realized was how much, or little, S got when she became the director. She got a little collection and a huge task to make this library as big as it is today. If you walked into my library today, you wouldn't know that the YA section was non-exsistant at one point, that we lost our whole collection when the library burned to the ground several years ago, that the children's section was S's little project, that this little library is fighting for it's life. I believe that if you love something with all your heart and you want it to succeed then you have to show it, you need to be there for this cause or building, you need to be there to support it, and you need to put your heart into it. When I walk into my library, I see how much of S's heart that she put into the library, and let me tell you. It's a lot! Noticing how much of S's heart went into this library and is still going into this library, shows me how I want to be when I'm a library direction.

Now, I've always thought of the what if's in my life, what if I didn't go to the library that day, what if I was never a good reader, but just recently have I asked myself a new what if.

What if S wasn't the director of my library?

Cae ♥

April 19-20, 2009 to April 19-20, 2010

Since I moved a year ago, I figured I would write a comparison of April 19-20. The two days that when I moved.

~.:April 19, 2009:.~

I woke up early, sat up on my mattress (my bed's in storage). Today mom is going to give the sermon today at church. I grabbed a pair of jeans, my dark blue & white stripped shirt, and my hot pink wedge heals out of the blue travel duffel bag. We left for church at 9:15. I wasn't singing in the choir today, because I knew I was going to cry, so I sat next to Jill instead. I waited in the narthex for Squid. I was always asked about the house, if I liked it, and if I wanted to move from people who knew my family. Squid never showed, so around 9:50 I walked over to the pew next to the organ. i sat on the red pew cushion, and waited for Jill. I kept my composure, until my mom went up and started her sermon.

"People use the phrase bittersweet to explain such a time of change in one’s life, but perhaps for us it is a little more bitter than sweet. But such a move is just another part of our faith journey." My mom said. Jill gave me a tissue then said "Cae, look at the congregation. . .They're crying. Cae, your dad is crying."

"Jill, my dad doesn't cry, he never cries," I said as I looked, sure enough some of the members of the congregation were crying. I looked across the church and looked up to the balcony. Sure enough my dad was crying, I lost all of my composure when I saw my dad crying, he never shows emotions. After church Erika took some photos of the family with Jill & Elven, the As, and the Ts.



We were just about to leave at 12 when mom said she needed to head to the market. She went over and saw Mrs. A (Squid Moms). Squid was with Mrs. A, so she and I hugged and cried in front of the church. "Cae, don't cry, because then I'll cry" Squid said as I cried and hugged. "Too late" I said as we hugged. "I'm going to miss you" I said as we hugged more. Finally when we were semi-composed we said goody. Once back home, I was sad, but as mom said "bittersweet"

~.:April 20, 2009:.~

I got dressed, pulled out jeans, hot pink wedge heals, My blue v cut short sleeve shirt, and my pink University of Hartford sweatshirt. Mr. Dattilo (our Realtor) came to the house around 8:00 as we were trying to pack the vehicles up and find our cat. At 11:00 the house was completely empty, well except for one basket and our cat. Just as we left the home owners pulled in to do a last walk through. We drove to Perk on main, to have a visit with Erika & her mom. Squid left a gift for me, since she had a horseback riding lesson. I opened my first and it was a pair of lounging pants with the towns name on the left pant leg. After mom and I went back to our house, to see that Bandit (our cat) came out, so mom got the cat and I changed into my new pants. We made it up to Massachusetts by 1:00 we had my grandfather follow us up, with stuff in his car. When we pulled into the driveway my new next door neighbor came over with her mom.
"Hi, I'm Meagan," Megan said "Hi, I'm Cae" I responded I just stood. Meagan and I talked until Meagan's mom said that they should let us unpack. Once I knew that there was a girl my age next door to us, I knew that we moved to the right place.

~.:April 19, 2010:.~

My hair was in two braid from last night. I took the braids out, and my hair was immediately wavy. I found a pair of jeans, my 3/4 sleeve shirt, and a pair of flip flops. I had work today until 5. It was also Patriot's Day (the day that messed up the whole house buying process up here), so it was a slow day at the library. I spent the day doing stuff I loved, reading, writing, cooking, and watching Survivor! I went for a long walk down my street, realizing what I gained up here in Massachusetts.

~.:April 20, 2010:.~

I woke up and dug around my closet for a pair of jeans, and a tee-shirt. Once those were found I went and took a shower. I got dressed and quickly braided my wet hair, and walked downstairs. Today is a boring day, not doing much of anything. I went on another long walk down my road, just thinking about moving and that since moving here, it was a really good thing for me, and that since moving I've been able to do much more things than, when I lived in Connecticut. I spent the rest of the day reading and playing outside with my next door neighbor. Compared to last year, this year was a lot more easier, and less stressful.


Since moving, I have learned a lot of things about life, and my relationship with God. Most of it because I moved, and it was hard on the teenager I am. I also have been able to excel in thing, and be able to do stuff that I wouldn't be allowed to do in Durham. I've gotten a job, written a book, made new friends, and gained a whole second hometown.

When I first moved to Massachusetts, I just about found something wrong with everything, and when I couldn't find something wrong with it I could just say "It's not like Connecticut" and I would be right. I have now realized that Massachusetts isn't as bad as I thought it was going to be, I've been able to grow in many ways, and I love it here!

Cae ♥

I just want to be ME!

I never really thought about being a follower, I was always a leader, but since I moved I've looked around me, looked in my closet, and I've kind of lost touch with some close friends, and I've realized, I've never been a leader. I've always been a follower. This morning I was so fed up with being a follower, that I just need to be me sometimes. I don't hate pink, I actually like it. I love skirts and dresses. I love wearing high heels. Makeup is alright, but I don't go over load on it. I love wearing sweatpants. I want to be the good student who can graduate high school next year. I want to be the girl who is headstrong, and can do everything that I dream of. I want to be more like me instead of E, Em, Syd, Myrn. I want to be C, Dear Daughter. I want to be myself.

I don't know why and how I got fed up with everything, but I am and I think it's time for some change. It's time for me to change back to ME!

With Love,
The True and Real C ♥

Snow! Snow Days! Cancelations- - -

Yesterday, it snowed enough that the surrounding schools and the private school my next door neighbor goes to all closed. For me, I was only hoping for a delay, yes I'm homeschooled, but the reason for the delay was that I could then still go to the library, but as the weather got worse and worse that day, I gave up on the library (I also got a call that they were opening late at 3:00) and my younger brother and I started playing outside, within the first two hours the youngest girl from next door came out and played with us, we sleded, made a snowman (that I named Inner-child, so I can always find my inner-child), started snowball fights, and I wrote stuff in the snow. After a couple more hours outside, M., J., and I went inside and we had some nice hot apple cider and played some board games. M. went back home to shovel her driveway with the rest of her family, Arond 4:30 I went backoutside to help M, J, and M.'s older sister Je. build another snowman. We were outside for even longer as it got darker, we started a snowball fight agian, after we finished making the snowman (which looks like Mr. Moneybanks from Monopoly). Jake and I didn't go back inside untill 5:30/6:00.

Yesterday was the funnest day so far. I can't wait untill another snowday, because that one will be twice as much fun!

Did you get snow yesterday? If, so what did you do?

Summer Reading with Friends

Last night I was talking to my friend over AIM, and she reads a little, but not as much as I do, and I love reading, but then something happened, see last summer she said that reading was a waste of the time for the summer months, but last night she asked me for some good summer reads, and well I have read a ton, that she would like. I told her to check out my We-Read bookshelf on Facebook, give me the title of the book, and I’ll tell her if it was good. I ended up giving her around 15 books for the summer, all good books, and I think people should get more involved with reading. I’m currently reading Cindy Ella by Robin Palmer, but I also have three books on order from Border’s that is somewhere in Ohio, that I’ll be donating to my Small New Little Library. I’ve read two out of the three, and the third is the continuation of the series. I read the first two last summers at my old library. They were quick summer reads. The series is called Death By. There are currently three in the series; Death by Bikini, Death by Latte, and Death by Denim. They are a mystery series, but they are a good quick summer read. I posted some books that I’ve read that you can find on Amazon

By C

Kicking Off the Holiday Season with the Radio City Rockettes

I know that it is a little early for many of you to think about Christmas, but guess where we are today . . .



We'll let you know how it went.

Guidebook to Raising Teenagers

Someone please tell me where the guidebook is for raising teenagers. I am trying so hard. I remember how difficult it was to be a teen, to try to fit it, to have your body change before your eyes; but I think DD, thinks that I have no idea what it is like.

We tried the mall again this weekend and then they came back to the house to hang out. I could tell you the good and the bad parts of the day, but suffice it to say there was a few times that I spoke to them and apparently in doing so completely embarrassed DD. After they left, she broke down in tears. My heart broke for her and I apologized for her being embarrassed, but refused to retract or promise not to do anything I did. Trying to maneuver our way through this time is going to be very difficult.

I welcome all advice, especially from those of you who have been through this and endured.

She is such a smart, interesting, creative girl. I don’t want her to shortchange herself. I wish that we could offer her so much more, but we do the best we can. I hope the one thing that she knows is that we love her with all our heart.

Mom & the Mall

DD had asked to go hang out at the park with two of her friends. I nixed the idea. If we had been down at the fields, she could have gone off with them, but I could not see the point of just aimlessly roaming. It seemed like a recipe for trouble (not that DD tends to be trouble). So I told her that she was old enough to go to the mall with me, but then she and her friends could go off a bit by themselves as long as they checked back with me at the coffee shop (actually I did one better, I found a Boarders Bookstore with a coffee shop) periodically. She was estatic and so the day was planned or so I thought. She and her friends spent all morning making and breaking plans. The phone rang almost continuously, even DD got annoyed at her friends I think. Finally, the appointed time came and we headed over. I actually picked up my father so I had someone to keep me busy too. And would you believe it, one of the "friends" never made it - - -Let me rephrase that, "He arrived just in time for us to leave, as we had other plans for the evening". Then to top it off the other friend decided to stay with him and mean parent that I am, I refused to leave until I made sure that she was with the boy and his father, which resulted in us being late to our next stop. I was supposed to be home at 4 to head to DH's dad's house and instead I was barely leaving the mall. UhOh! So much for trying to be the cool mother of a teen.



However, I did get the next book for my book club, had a great hot vanilla Chai, and had a good conversation with my dad. So it wasn't a total loss.



NOTE: I went to the Borders website to find you a picture of their cafe. I keyed in the location we went to and opened up that link and found this picture of their store, except it isn't a picture of their store in the mall we went to. I hope no one uses this picture when they go online to get directions, because they will drive in circles at the mall and never, ever see this.

MASH

You know how you play MASH and all of your friends make horrible funny predictions about what will happen to you. Well, durring my way up to a Girl Scout camp with a troop and my friend, Audra, and I decided to play MASH. During my turn I got horrible things, but all we did at the end was laugh. We then did one for her mom. It was fun!z! While we were playing I learned that this game makes no sense . . . it was only a game that builds friendships and makes you laugh . . .Trust me. It accomplished that. We laughed forever and we are a little closer friends : )

By

C


See - - -All things change and all things stay the same. I remember the very same game more than a few years. I was always thrilled to get a mansion, a ton of kids, a jaguar, and the love of my life and laugh when I ended up in a shack.

By

D

Sleepover Report from C

One of my BFF (Best Friend Forever) had a Birthday party this past weekend. 6 of her closest friends (aka VIP) were going to go laser tagging at A New World in Middletown. It was fun to play. We played two games. The last one, I got 3rd place. Her dad then drove us all back to her house to meet up with the rest of her friends and go swim in her pool.

Around 8:00pm, we all got out, had some Pizza, and she opened her presents. Well, my present was going to be a heart necklace from Icing……. (Store in the mall.) But we never got to the mall. So my family and I were at Cabela’s in East Hartford and my mom goes “How about you get Eva a gift here?”

“Mom, Eva probably doesn’t even know what Cabela’s is. Plus she wouldn’t like anything here.”

“She isn’t dumb C. she probably knows what Cabela’s is. Let’s look!”

Well once I got to my friend’s party and she was opening my gift, she looked at the two shirts I got her. And asked the question that I wanted to hear:

“Hey C. where did you get these?”

“I got them at Cabela’s why?”

“Where?”

“Cabela’s Eva. Do you know what that is?”

“No, is it in the mall?”

“No, it’s not.”

I almost laughed, but I didn’t. Only one other person knew what Cabela’s is and that was my friend, Sydney, but she is outdoorsy like us…….and her father is a police man and she goes there with her father all the time.

Once all the boys left, the girls all ran downstairs and we danced and played truth and dare……….which was really funny. Then we sent a Get Well Soon video to Donny. He came to the party, but got sick and was leaving for Canada the next day.

We then watched Camp Rock and went for a midnight swim. Right before we went to sleep Eva came over and asked what Cabela’s is, I simply told her what is was and she asked why they had such cute clothes for that type of store. I just looked at her and laughed. We went to bed around 1:00am and then woke up at 9:00am…….8 hours of sleep……….not good to function on.

My mom came to pick me up at 12:00. The first thing I said as I got into the car was……

“I was right!!! Eva didn’t know what Cabela’s is!!!”

My mom just looked at me and then was just like “you asked her if she knew or not” type of look. I just looked at her then we laughed a little and just drove back to the church, so I could say bye to my dad and brother………they were leaving for a 50 mile Boy Scout Canoe trip.

By, C

Slumber Party

DD is at a sleepover tonight. It is her BFF’s birthday party. They were going to Laser Tag and having a pool party with boys and girls. Then just the girls were sleeping over. My DD is growing up. It wasn’t too long ago she was able to go her first sleepover – period. Slumber Parties are a rite of passage for girls. They have their good points and there propensity for problems – does truth and dare sound familiar? And my baby girl (I’m sure that she will hate that term, but all you mom’s understand the feeling) has passed through this cusp. It just reminds me how few years we have left before she won’t be sleeping under our roof period. Parenthood is such a fleeting period of our life. It can seem like forever when you are getting up for the third feeding in a night and it may seem never-ending when you are shuttling them to and from all their social activities. But truthfully, it is just a blink in our lives.

Hopefully DD will have a wonderful and relatively uneventful overnight. I’m sure she’ll have lots to tell us about – especially the part about boys tomorrow.

By, D