Just Go With The Flow of Happiness

It's crazy what makes us happy – or mildly content. For me after two evenings and mornings on my sister's back deck, I was thrilled to capture one hummingbird in action. Though the bird is not in clear focus.

Still... yay!

The focus of the weekend was getting to my sister RoAnn's on Saturday so we could see he granddaughter – my great-niece – Kenlee dance in her recital Sunday.

Let me just say, that was the most awesome experience! You were so good, girl!

In addition to her fans who were there to cheer her on, we all had a late lunch with Sunday. Then, it was a nice relaxing treat at my sister's to just relax by the "fire" in the evenings on the back deck.

Today I headed home and seeing my parents' grave was the only non-detour. Was glad about that. Also it had been pouring rain and it stopped for approximately 8 minutes so I could visit Mom and Dad and then it started within seconds. It was insane. So grateful!

As for the rest of the weekend... I am thrilled to be back home safely (with some parts only $4 per gallon of gas)... and craving to do more for more my nieces and nephews. A project for another day!

I Could've Made That

I am heading to Minnesota tomorrow afternoon and am excited to see my great-niece's dance recital on Sunday. All I was looking for after work was some card that said something like "Good job!" or "You're a rockstar!". But no, Walmart has apparently given up on keeping 70% of their cards in stock. So onto Walgreens I went. 

Nothing 100% applied. But I found something I could make up words with that a 10-year-old would understand.

Thank goodness hubby is out of town with some high school buddies for dinner or he'd say, "Well, you can make a card, can't you?"

Yes, I have the rubber stamps with the unfortunately dried-out ink pads and the actual blank paper cards and envelopes. Someday (in my free time) I may return to that hobby.

In the meantime, thank God and Amazon that there are "dance girl" gifts I can give her and a matching gift bag!

A few dance t-shirts will fit into this bag nicely. SHHH. Don't tell her!

I'm just excited to finally see my Kenlee dance. She has sort of invited me several times! 

Now I just have to figure out what to pack for 88 degrees vs A/C for the next three days. I am so up for the challenge!

Life of a Show Girl (the Twins' Era)

Someone asked me how long my twin sister and I have been "performing" (using term loosely) songs and dances. I think this is the earliest documentation I could find. No date on the photo but I'm guessing we were 2 1/2 or 3 1/2. (I'm the chub-ster on the right.) And yes, based on the very short dresses my sisters were wearing in the dead of winter, it was the '70s folks!

Here we are with a group of cousins singing to Grandpa and Grandma Johnson as part of a family Christmas. This has been quite the long-standing tradition! 

Then throughout childhood, we sang at church things, 4-H things, bridal showers and baby showers (our mom would make up the lyrics), and for nursing residents. That pretty much went by the wayside after high school graduation, but we resurrected it in 2000 in the form of an "opening act" at each of our sister weekends.

So yeah, we're not shy and it's always fun to make people smile! Too bad we're not making billions like that other show girl...

But if you are a fan of hers, there's something in Wisconsin Rapids worth checking out!

Every year the South Wood County Historical Museum hosts a Christmas Tree walk with beautifully and uniquely decorated trees throughout the large home.

This year, some creative Swifties paid homage to her latest album. Cute.

Look closer and you can see the "garland" mimics her trademark friendship bracelets. And, you can grab one off the tree for yourself!

Look even more closely and you'll see song lyrics from multiple albums that tie into winter or Christmas. Great job, ladies!

There are at least two dozen other trees to see – plus decorated mantels, wreaths, rooms. All for a free-will offering for the museum. Check it out this season! 

You might just start singing and dancing yourself!

Mommies Seeing the Mummies

 
Back in the days when hubby and I commuted to work in Iola, nearly an hour drive, we listened to the Bob and Tom Show on the radio in the mornings. Their often close to R-rated programming format is showcasing lots of comedians and bands that also could pass as comic relief. 

That's when we first heard Here Come the Mummies. We immediately liked and were entertained by this eight-piece funk-rock band of 5000-year-old Egyptian mummies with a one-track mind. So this summer, when I saw they were playing in Wausau at The Grand Theater this fall, I bought tickets as a birthday or anniversary gift for Jim.

Fast forward 2 months and he scheduled his guys golf weekend at the same time. So I had to find a backup date in short order. You know who works well for that? Golf partners who also share an occasional raunchy sense of humor. So it was Molly and I – two mommies – off to see the Mummies tonight!

It rained all the way up there but it stopped so we could walk around near The Grand and get something to eat. Ended up eating at The Limerick, an Irish pub a couple blocks away. Good stuff.

The concert was almost like a micro-music festival with opening sets from TWO (very loud, rock-heavy) bands – Platinum Moon and Lachy Doley. It after 9 p.m. before HCTM took over and we could party like it's 1999 B.C.! 

It was impossible to get a decent shot from the upper balcony, especially since lights were constantly changing colors or flashing. But you can see they ARE dressed as mummies! And they played until 11 p.m.

They are such a talented and entertaining group. I'm glad one of us could enjoy our anniversary. Ha. And Molly did, too! Now to get the funky dance tunes out of my head so I can sleep fast for church choir in the morning. 

Birthday Weekend Sandwich

For this birthday girl, I couldn't ask for a better celebratory weekend than having my bday sandwiched between two rounds of golf – and celebrating actual birthday with tons of friends!

After a fun round on Friday, we headed out by noon Saturday to Delafield and a cathedral on the grounds of the St. John's Military Academy just outside Milwaukee.

What a glorious and historic venue! 

All of the stained-glass windows were gorgeous.

But none could compare to the bride of course. Claire is always beautiful!

So honored to be a part of Claire and Joe's official Gotcha Day! It was so nice.

I managed to snag a hot birthday date with hubby. The reception was at The Commodore, right on the shores of Lake Nagawicki (or something close to that). What a gorgeous venue!

We each had our assigned tables, but then they went one step further.

At each of our place settings we got a personalized card. And I think to an individual, we all shed a tear at this heartfelt sentiment. Wow. Very special.

Of course I was thrilled to have perfectly delicious "birthday" cake. Yum!

And a made-to-order sunset. God knows me and my birthday wishes, that's for sure!

After a fun evening of a ton of dancing – including a few with hubby – we were spent! This morning, though, we hit the road from Milwaukee-dom to get home by noon. 

I got some shopping done and Jim visited his dad – and then (after multiple rain showers) it was time for golf!

Today was our final week of Couples League, which meant we were doing a scramble format, then dinner. Except the rain was not done. So we switched up the plans and ate our year-end dinner food first, then headed out. But it was still a soggy several holes before it quit.

We were lucky to have our friends Sean and Michelle be part of our foursome! One, they're awesome people. And two, they're awesome golfers! This is our Eagle Selfie on the par 5 4th hole. That was all Sean. Great drive, great second shot to land it close to the hole, then we gave him honors to knock it in a few feet for eagle.

Needless to say, we finished 8-under par for our 9-hole round. And won the scramble. I have a lot of wet stuff to dry out in the sun tomorrow. But with a little prize cash in my pocket, I can say it was worth it!

What a fun weekend! Maybe aging isn't so bad after all.

New Beginnings

Pretty appropriate that our dinosaur-obsessed little boy got to drive a "dinosaur truck" from Bluejay Drive to his new home in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. 

Yup, he and Mamie arrived Friday night with the U-Haul and somehow got everything in there – including some of the big stuff (dining room table and chairs, coffee tables, etc.) that have stayed in our basement for the past two moves! We've got some space back!

Why Cedar Rapids? Well, just like their moves to Denver and Raleigh, they researched areas for things like quality of life and safety – and interesting things to do. This time, they also prioritized being able to comfortably afford the cost of living there. They've learned the hard way.

I'm just glad it's just a little over 4 hours away! Same as going Up North to see family. No biggie.

So while they moved south, I attended a dance recital at the Performing Arts Center in town. A couple of senior moms were paying me to go. And I saw a handful of other dancers I knew, too. Let's just say I took a thousand pictures and leave it at that.

From there, I went straight to Stevens Point to celebrate another new beginning – our friend Marigene's retirement party.

While Marigene is my golf partner, Dar is her real-life partner – and Jim and I just adore them both.

Looking forward to having her at my golfing beck and call during her retirement. Ha!

Stayed up super late editing dance photos and continued this morning. Pretty much a low-key day until our next new beginning for the summer: Couples Golf League at TriCity.

It's I think just a 6- or 7-week league so I'm glad our first opponents were our friends Craig and Sara. Fun to golf with people you know. There's like 22 couples signed up so there's a chance (even though between hubby and me we do know a lot of people) that we'll be playing against strangers (aka new friends) in the coming weeks. Should be fun!

Only thing is that we got home at 8 p.m. and I feel like the weekend was gone in a blink of any eye. 

I still gotta get that petition going to add a day between Sunday and Monday. Who's with me?!

Have a great week, everyone! 

Dancing Queen or Something

I've spent a good chunk of the last two days in dance mode – either taking pictures at the recitals or editing them.

What I know for sure is that I would never be cut out to be dancer. Nor would I have been able to endure months of practice like they did to put on these amazing shows!

But is was so fun to watch some of my favorite girls. Here's Paige as Jessie in the Toy Story segment..

And here's Anna in the Race Car role in the Toy Story dances.

And let's not forget my friend's daughters Amelia or ... 

... Raquel who will keep this dance program going! How fun to be a part of it. Pretty sure I'll be trying some (unsolicited) dance moves this week! Way to go, Variations team!

Well Shake My Shamrocks

When it's St. Patrick's Day AND it's a Friday, you know you have to celebrate somehow! Even if I am zero percent Irish and don't have a stitch of green clothing in the house. I did, however, uncover some cool shamrock glasses (above) and other props that hubby said I could wear.

As long as I stayed home. Ha. I still had fun without them.

The evening turned into another mini AHS class of '81 reunion. We picked up one couple down the road and met up with two more couples from Jim's class AND saw a band with another classmate in it.

First stop was O'so Brewery in Plover, where The Foxfire Affair was performing. This husband-wife duo sang and played a mix of Celtic and folk and what they call maritime alternative. Their instruments ranged from guitar, banjo, and mandolin to flute, Tamborine (on his shoe), and a squeeze box. Very entertaining. I think we'd see them again.

Then we did a complete 180 and went up the road to Rookies Pub, where our friend Todd's metal/rock band was performing. Starting at 9 p.m.! It's no wonder we got home at midnight. We had to stay at least through the first break.

Terri and I got a picture with Todd in the background.

Then we sort of got a group one with Todd trying to get in it, too.

And this one includes our hubbies up top, who both had their knees replaced about the same time this winter. They didn't do any dancing. But the rest of us made up for it. Shaking our shamrocks with the best of 'em! Rising Phoenix always does an incredible job.

I say that even though my ears are still ringing. Not kidding.

Guess I can pretend to be Irish for a day. But pretending to be young AND handle loud music, that's a different story.

Hope you had fun going green today. For some of us it was the only way to cope with our busted brackets. But we won't talk about that blarney business!

Booked Stay-cation

Hello! My name is Elder Lee Robyn. Ha. Get that one? I am in a musical mood and I pretty much danced through the day, checking off "to do" items one by one. My stay-cation was booked. I even mapped out my errands so I could start at the south end of town and work my way up in a time-saving manner back home.

Got through my list. I've got my Wild Women's Weekend "gear" packed. And my car is loaded. 

Just in time for an amazingly funny and relaxing evening I "booked" with my friend Cindy. We bought tickets to the Book of Mormon months ago after not getting a chance to see it before when it was touring through Appleton and everywhere else. The Grand Theater in Wausau is a nice venue because it's small enough we could see and hear well – and laugh our backsides off. 

I think our cheeks still hurt from smiling and laughing for a solid 3 hours. It's just hilarious. Outrageous and bit raunchy so not for the faint of heart or easily offended. We do not fit into that category. Ha. We loved it.

Most everyone else did, too, based on the quick-to-their-feet standing ovation at the conclusion.

Now it's off to bed for a quick sleep so my fun vacation can continue! 

What a Big Bang Blast!

The Big Bang Boom tour bus rolled into town, bringing with it my favorite singer-dancer-sweetheart extraordinaire! My "niece" (as I call her) Megan. Oh, and the rest of the KIDS from Wisconsin crew.

This her 6th and final year with the program and I've seen her perform each year – including when she first auditioned during high school! She's had talent since she'd sing in church when she was young. And tonight was no exception.

I'd have to say this was my favorite program yet. I think because I was familiar with almost all the music. The focus was different genres of music that influenced the music of today. So I got my fix of Motown, the British Invasion, some '80s music (oh yeah!) and even musicals – where Megan got to sing Fame. Super awesome!

Didn't bring my camera. Just enjoyed the show and only took a few snaps with my phone.

And of course I got her autograph and a hug and a picture. Keep shining, my Megan girl. Your smile can light up a room. And when you sing, we ALL smile.

Weekend with a Few Friends

Hung out with a few friends this weekend! OK, the people above were part of the state waterski show team championship today, but we also spent time with a smaller crowd yesterday.

Traveled over the Green Bay to see our friends' lovely daughter get married. We all survived a 91-degree wedding in a chapel with no air-conditioning just fine. Seriously, we were too busy drying tears and sharing laughter to notice.

And before we new it, the happy couple were smiling their way down the aisle to start their happily ever after! Taylor has a had a smile that can light up the whole room since she was a little girl. Now she's got another reason to smile. And Kolin is up the task. Great guy. Great couple.

They had their reception and dance at a place called the Gathering on Broadway. Neat venue. Super delicious and the DJs were great. I did at least 10,000 steps worth of dancing with my girlfriends! Fun, fun, fun.

Got back to our cool historic hotel after midnight and hit the road this morning.

Since I've been shooting the Shermalot Waterski Show Team this summer, I went over the Lake Wazeecha to catch their act. As the reigning champions, they got to go last. 

Couple challenges. Every team today had to deal with wind and waves more so than last night. And since Shermalot won last year in Division 2, they automatically moved up to Division 1 now. Tough competition. They did very well but ended up placing 7th. I hope they're OK with that. If people don't stick landings, so to speak, or fall off, etc, they don't earn the points. At least I know everyone was entertained since our (my team now, ha) emcee got a Showmanship Award. That was awesome to see! 

And it's just a fun environment overall. See a show somewhere if you ever get the chance. The skiers are basically like 3 years old and up!

So now it's off to bed. Between dancing, traveling, and shooting and editing pictures, this old lady (who will never get up on skies) is plenty tired. 

Let's have a great week!