Extravaganza

It's a little late, I know. And I considered not posting about it at all as more time passed, but I decided not to.

Last Saturday was the Black Belt Extravaganza and my boy ROCKED his performance. The audience was clapping along and he got great applause when he finished. The whole show was great, but his part was my favorite. Of course!

We had to be there at 11am to start practicing and the show didn't start until 5. My parents brought Shell & my girl with them. The boy was so excited that he had so many people there to see him. My parents haven't ever gone to any of his karate events, and Shell goes to very few. We were very proud of him. He received his Conditional Black Belt, so he will progress check in January and test for his Black Belt in April. It's pretty neat that he will be a Black Belt at 10 years old.

Cinderella & Her Prince

I am so excited today after finding out that my kids got lead parts in their school musical. The musical is Cinderella with a modern feel. My girl is Cinderella and my boy is the Prince. I am so, so proud of them. I can't wait to get home tonight to see their reactions. I found out early because their choir teacher emailed the cast list to me. She thought I *might* want to know. Did I ever!
My girl has wanted this part since the beginning of the school year when she found out that they were doing this for the musical. Her teacher mentioned that her brother would probably make a good Prince, but my girl wasn't too sure. She said "I can't be in love with my brother!" I think we've kind of convinced her that that's what acting is all about - pretending to be someone you're not.
Tomorrow is the Karate Extravaganza. My boy is ready to perform his form and get his new belt.
My kids are stars!

A Week Ago...

... I saw Madonna in concert. It was all I was expecting, plus some. Our seats weren't really that bad, and with the binoculars that Eric brought, we saw everything we wanted to. What a show!

We were running a bit later than we had planned and were just getting to the Pepsi Center at 8 (scheduled start time). We knew that she started 90 minutes late at the L.A. show, but were a bit afraid to count on it happening here. After rushing to get to our seats, we sat and waited. She started at 9:30. Nobody that we could see even seemed fazed by this, except for one guy who probably was dragged there anyway. We were on our feet from the start and I would have stayed that way if my feet didn't start aching from the boots I was wearing. Finally I took them off and stood the rest of the time pain-free.

She did a lot of songs from her newest album Hard Candy, which I really like. She also sang Borderline, Vogue, La Isla Bonita, Get Into the Groove, Like A Prayer, and the first verse and chorus of Like A Virgin. She also did an acoustic version of You Must Love Me from Evita. It was beautiful. She did other songs including Music, Ray of Light, Hung Up, & Human Nature. FUN, FUN, FUN!!! I had a really great time and I got to share it with my best friend.

We didn't get back home until around midnight and then stayed up talking until 4am. I realized then more than ever that even though I talk to him on the phone pretty often and we IM a lot, that nothing compares to talking face to face. On previous visits, I am usually sad and kind of mopey the day that he leaves. He mentioned it once and I made a conscious decision to not do it this time. His visit just wasn't long enough to not enjoy every moment possible. So last Wednesday while driving him to the airport, I patted myself on the back a little for not being that way this time. He agreed, but said that I did seem sad the night before. The thing is, I wasn't so much sad that he was leaving, but sad with the realization of what I don't have. I don't have someone I can just hang out with and talk to. I have my wife of course, but it's not the same. The closest I have to a "hang-out" friend is Shell's best friend, and it's not really fair to vent about my wife to her. While I love hanging out with her and her girlfriend, I wish I had someone of my own. And to be honest, I just wish I had Eric here. We have shared memories and stories and experiences and inside jokes and confidences. He could never be replaced and I honestly don't have the time to invest in a new friend anyway. So pity party over. I am grateful for what I do have, I just can't help it if I miss having more.

To end on a high note, here are a few pictures from the Denver show. (I didn't take these)

Christmas Meme

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper
2. Real tree or Artificial? real
3. When do you put up the tree? the second week of December
4. When do you take the tree down? depends on how dead it looks, but by Dec. 31 at the latest
5. Do you like eggnog? no, it's yucky
6. Favorite gift received as a child? a purple phone for my room
7. Hardest person to buy for? everyone. I struggle every year for gift ideas.
8. Easiest person to buy for? my youngest niece
9. Do you have a nativity scene? yes, but I don't always put it out
10. Mail or email Christmas cards? mail
11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? I really can't think of any. I'm pretty easy to buy for.
12. Favorite Christmas Movie? A Christmas Story
13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? the day after Thanksgiving
14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? no
15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? butter cookies
16. Lights on the tree? of course
17. Favorite Christmas song? Carol of the Bells
18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? stay home
19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer's? yep
20. Angel on the tree top or a star? angel
21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? one on Christmas Eve, the rest in the morning
22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? worrying about the money needed to buy gifts
23. Favorite ornament theme or color? I like lots of color on the tree
24. Favorite for Christmas dinner? ham
25. What do you want for Christmas this year? happiness & joy for my kids

I tag StephLove , jilliebean , renaissance woman , teaberry , mrs. bluemont

3 1/2 Hours

...until my best friend is here. YAY!!!
I'm so excited.

And the Madonna concert is on Tuesday...

And my mom is going to make turkey dinner on Sunday...

And we are going out to the bar on Saturday...

And I don't go back to work until Thursday...

Does it get any better?
Hope everyone has a great weekend!

A Rose is a Rose is a Rose

copied from hollywoodfarmgirl ~
when the government declared the illegality of interracial marriages unconstitutional in the late 60s, it was not a unanimous decision. in fact, 80% of the country was against it. thank goodness the country led us into better perspectives, and didn't leave it up to the humanly flawed citizens. but now... we're going to VOTE on equality? "is this person the same value as that person? say ay or nay..."

would rosa have wanted the people to VOTE whether or not she could get on the bus?

would martin have waited for a VOTE to see if everyone thought blacks should be equal? i think not.

no matter how many voters there are wrenching away MY RIGHTS into their bigotted hands.... you can't take my family away from me. you can't make us stop loving each other. you simply can't. try to vote on that.

PRESIDENT OBAMA!!! if you can finally make it to first-class citizenship, then so can i. one day.

I may not live in California, but the decisions made in that state concerning the rights of people like me do affect me. If it's ok for California and Florida and Arizona to write discrimination into their constitution, what will stop other states from doing the same?

Happy and Sad

I am so incredibly happy that Barack Obama was elected our next President.



I am proud that for the first time in 16 years, Colorado is a BLUE state.



I am glad that we elected a Democrat as Senator. Not to mention that we already have a Democratic Governor.



I am heartened that of the 7 open seats in the House, Colorado elected Democrats to 5 of them.

One is the nation's first openly gay non-incumbent and the other trounced the uber-conservative & homophobic incumbent to become the first Democrat to hold Colorado's 4th Congressional District seat in 36 years.



I am relieved that the measure that would have defined life as beginning at conception was defeated by more than 70%.



BUT

I am so disappointed with the results on Prop 8 in California. People actually want to write an amendment to the state consitution stating that marriage can only be between a man and a woman. When will we become better than making it a law to discriminate?

It is another blow to see similar ballot measures in Arizona and Florida passing as well. Unbelievable.

It broke my heart to see that Arkansas passed a measure that prohibits unmarried sexual partners from adopting children or from serving as foster parents. This applies to gay couples, unmarried straight couples and single people. Can somebody explain to me how it is better for these kids to stay in the system then for them to find parents who want them, regardless of the makeup of their family? I don't get it.

It's hard to be excited and crushed at the same time, but that's what I am today. Hopeful and despairing. It sucks. It just doesn't seem right that people should get to vote on my rights. Or that discrimination in any form is law. There is only so much that our new President will be able to accomplish, especially since he's going to be dealing with the way Bush is leaving our country. But I have to hold out hope that he will make some change somewhere towards equality and fairness for my family and others like it. Along with everything else that I believe he can do. How long until January 20th?

Halloween

I wanted to get this post up before it got too far past Halloween to make sense. I finally remembered to bring my flash drive to work so I could get these pictures up.

Here are my boy and girl on Halloween this year:

And here are a few of my boy on Halloweens past:

And of course, my girl:

I realize that I am missing a few years in there. These are just the ones I have either digitally or scanned in. Must add "Scanning hundreds of pictures" to my list of things to do. I'm sure it will get done someday...

Just Do It!

How could anyone NOT want to vote in this election? Even if you think your vote doesn't count, do it anyway! We all have a stake in how the country is run for the next 4 years, I just don't get it. This has been the most personally taxing election season for me. I voted for Hillary in our Caucus, and although I was disappointed that she didn't make it, I was so proud that a woman made it so far. I did my homework and became confident in Obama's abilities. I was proud once again while watching the first African-American accept a major party's nomination. My party's nomination. I have researched everything I can find to be sure, and there is no doubt in my mind that Barack Obama NEEDS to be the next President of the United States. I hope that the majority sees it that way.
We have a Definition of Person amendment on our ballot this year. No question, voted NO.
I also voted for Jared Polis for Congress. If elected, he will become the 3rd openly gay member of Congress. That's exciting. And no, I didn't vote for him just because he's gay.
I wish I could vote on California's Prop 8. I would proudly vote NO. Again, I hope that the majority of people do the same.
I have talked about the candidates and issues of this election so much, I will be happy to talk about something else after the results are in. But I would gladly keep up the debate if it meant that EVERYONE who is able, would do their homework and vote. I will sit and watch the results trickle in, and believe that THIS time, the right person will be elected.