Photo courtesy of Fail Dogs.

I walked out of my office last week and saw newly planted pansies bobbing in the sunshine and nearly started crying. Today I heard “Lucky Man” on the radio by Montgomery Gentry and did start crying. Boy am I embarrassed to admit that. And no, I’m not pregnant.

The hubby and I have a date night tonight while the girls spend the night with his parents and it couldn’t be better timing. I’ve been in an intermittent funk all winter and have had a hard time shaking it. What better way to celebrate the first day of spring with a date, even if it’s going down to 37 degrees tonight?

This George Michael song pretty much sums up how I feel right now about going out tonight.

I don’t know if it’s because I’ll be 40 next summer, but I feel caught in an odd transitional place in life, somewhere between not being quite middle-aged, yet definitely not in my 20s any more, somewhere between feeling like I should be incredibly thankful for what I have in my life, yet restless and wanting some sort of change, somewhere between being in awe of seeing my children grow up but not wanting them to do it quite so fast. I don’t know. Maybe it’s because I’m in denial about the fact that I really need reading glasses, in addition to my contacts. Damn you presbyopia! I do know I have so much to be thankful for, but sometimes that just doesn’t seem to be enough and I am ashamed to admit that.

It’s time for me to shed this winter funk. The sun is shining, there’s not a cloud in the sky, I have two adorable little girls, an understanding husband who is an awesome cook who works like crazy, and I have my swank new purse.

I know some of my blog friends are going through post-winter blues. Maybe it’s in the air?

p.s. Because I am a wealth of information, and also because I get depressed when I read about new TV shows featuring characters my age with teenage children (OK so I had my first child at nearly 33, that’s not that old), did you know there is talk of a Beverly Hills 90210 spinoff?

And also, because I just found Shamelessly Sassy and to coordinate with the butt title of this post, you have to check out this bizarre medical story she blogged about.

With Miss A now potty trained except for Pull Ups at night (cue the choir of angels singing over a gleaming potty in a meadow of daisies), and my black and multicolor striped purse slash glorified diaper bag with the cute black beaded fringe going on its fifth summer, I have been engaged in the Cute Summer Purse Hunt of 2008.

Since I tend to carry the same bag for years and I gravitate toward some sort of exciting variation of solid black or brown, I’ve been looking at some preppy mama bags in fun colors just to liven things up a bit.

On Monday we took the girls out to lunch at the Rainforest Cafe and to see a matinee of Horton Hears a Who (which I highly recommend) to kick off Spring Break: Miss C Bounces Back From Strep Throat Edition. The geniuses behind Off Broadway Shoe positioned a store directly across from the restaurant in an effort to entrap mothers far and wide. Since I hadn’t been in one in a couple of years, it was all I could do to not sneak over under the guise of going to the ladies room. As soon as we paid our bill, I asked the hubby if he would get lost with the girls for a few minutes while I browsed in Off Broadway. I headed to the clearance section and miffed that I couldn’t find a cute pair of shoes on clearance for less than $40 (a criminal offense in my retail Zen utopia), I wandered over to the purses.

There she hung, trimmed in my favorite spring color, a very saucy apple green. This was a purse for summer evenings sitting outdoors, sipping margaritas, and listening to live jazz or maybe some reggae. This was not a purse for diapers, unscented wipes, and butt ointment.

I bought the purse even though my old boring purses may talk about how slutty she is behind her back. My standard summer outfit consists of denim Old Navy capris I bought on clearance or khaki GAP shorts with a black short sleeve t-shirt and black sandals, so I figured this would spice things up. If nothing else, the hubby will be able to spot me from a mile away the next time I get “lost” on purpose in Target. Then again I could always hide in a dressing room and turn off my cell phone. Sometimes I just need a little peace and quiet people!

I’ve found many cute purses during Cute Summer Purse Hunt of 2008, so I thought I’d share some of my finds:

These hobo style purses with matching makeup bags are from Swoozies in Atlanta (I wasn’t familiar with them, but I quickly signed up for their e-newsletter):

Pink Monogram’s cute tote is reversible (I love the green.):

I also like Pink Monogram’s classic little black monogrammed purse for just $25:

This fun pink monogrammed straw bag from Morgan & Co. is definitely more than $25, but I won’t hold that against it:

Happy shopping in honor of me ditching ye ole diaper bag.

p.s. What kind of purse do you carry? Are you a faithful, carry it until it is falling apart type bag lady like me or are you one of those must have a coordinating bag with every out fit bag divas?

Channeling her inner Janis Joplin.

Miss A is in da house!

Sing it sister!

Simon, Paula, Randy? Eat your heart out. We’ve got your next American Idol right here.

Spring Break 1990

Road trip with four other girls from Bowling Green, Kentucky, to Daytona Beach, Florida, in a crammed gold Chevy Baretta that reeked of hair spritzer. Close out the trip by getting kicked out of our room at the Aztec theme beach front Days Inn for having some nice boys from Michigan in our room after midnight after being asked by security to have them leave as they weren’t hotel guests but oops they didn’t leave and then somebody emptied their drink over the balcony and the spittley remains just happened to christen one of those security guards in the head. Spend our last morning in Florida sleeping in our car in a Denny’s parking lot. This was also the trip where I got sh*t on by a seagull as I was talking to some guys and trying to be all cute in a bikini. Did I also mention it was Biker Week?

The blogger at age 20. Same cheesie grin, but skinnier and with five times more hair volume thanks to spritz, my trusty pick, and blow dryer diffuser.

Spring Break 2008

Feel absolutely decadent for going to bed on a Sunday night without setting my bedside jumbo numbers illuminated digital alarm clock. Consider living it up today and requesting extra butter on my popcorn at the matinee of Horton Hears a Who. Thank God the girls are still at the juice box and matinee age, not the overpriced shooters and bikini contest age.

Party on spring breakers. Party on.

I just joined Team Mom’s review board and the first shipment of products couldn’t have come at a better time. It was a recent Friday when Nashville was under a winter storm watch, Miss A had the flu, and mama was out of wine. In other words, the natives were restless and the weekend had only just begun.

The first item we opened was the new Baby Jamz CD sung by Solange Knowles, sister to performing artist Beyonce. Solange has redone traditional children’s songs with a fun, and funky, hip hop style. The girls absolutely loved this CD. I was a bit skeptical since Miss C is 5 ½. But she and Miss A were dancing around the den as soon as the CD started playing. This was a great way to burn off some energy and we all know how important that is, especially when the weather prohibits outdoor playtime.

The second item was the Baby Jamz Music Crew mini boom box. Again, I thought this toy might not hold Miss C’s attention, but she actually played with it more than Miss A. I’ll be the first to tell you that I am not a big fan of battery operated noisy toys with no off/on switch, but this one is tolerable. The only negative thing was it seemed difficult for the girls to get the wobble figurines to stay on top of the toy. It also did not hold their interest for as long as the CD.

Of the two products I’d definitely recommend the CD over the toy. It’s definitely a children’s CD that both kids and adults can enjoy listening, and dancing, to.

Baby Jamz products are available exclusively at WalMart and are the first ever hip-hop inspired infant/toddler line and were created by Solange and her father, Mathew Knowles.

So what CDs are your kids listening to? My girls love bluegrass and Jimmy Buffett and of course like every other little girl on the planet Miss C loves Hannah Montana.

It’s the weekend before Miss C’s spring break, only I’m not feeling so spring breakish. She was sent home from school yesterday and today was diagnosed with strep. Thankfully we hadn’t booked a Caribbean cruise, although we could all really use one. Still, I’m hoping that she’ll be feeling good by Monday so we can enjoy having the week off.

This is going to be one of those long, I’d love to thank the Academy posts so grab a cold beer, a Coke, a Chai Latte, or whatever floats your boat and pull up a chair.

Liza at Liza’s Eyeview in beautiful Hawaii was sweet enough to give me an E for Excellent blog award. Liza is a real sweetheart. My mom reads her blog and Liza even sent my mom a Valentine’s Day card.

I realized in going back through my archives that I do a fairly decent job of thanking people for blog awards, but then I pretty much suck at paying it forward. So, like, check out these most excellent bloggers, dude! (Is it dorky that I am now channeling Keanu Reeves or maybe the California surfer dude sea turtle dad from Finding Nemo?) I’m supposed to award this to 10 bloggers.

Now give me some fin…

Jen at Get in the Car!
Colleen at The Delaney (and Waylon) Diaries
Erika at Momsational and Plain Jane Mom
Holly at Holly’s Corner
Sonia at …and the Pursuit of Happiness
Jennifer at Playgroups are no Place for Children
Mamatulip
Ginger at Gingersnaps
Sarcastic Mom
and Kelly at Filtering Life

I also got a fabulous Blogger of the Year Award from Kailani at Island Life. I’m not really sure what the Earth is nestled in in this graphic, but it kind of bothers me for some reason, maybe because it resembles some bodily orafice.

I’m going to present this marshmallow morphing the Earth bling to three Nashville bloggers who are the busiest bloggers I know. I can think of at least three blogs or websites that they each regularly contribute to:

Busy Mom, Lindsay at Suburban Turmoil and Mrs. Fussypants (don’t forget to check out her latest, Blissfully Domestic. I’ll be posting over there about issues related to working moms.

Lastly, Mom of 3 Girls presented me with a Beautiful Blogger award.

I want to pass this on to some bloggers I’ve met in real life and to some of you whom I feel like I’ve met in real life:

Sitting Still (Nicole just landed herself a writing gig at Parent Dish!); Amy at Milkbreath and Margaritas; Jennifer at Little Piddles; Debunot; Anne at Bun in the Oven; Mrs. Flinger (still peeing on sticks after all these years); Rachel at Monkeys and Princesses; Meredith at Like Merchant Ships, and Amy at Mom Advice.

White Trash Mom, one of the first blogs I discovered two years ago, recently honored me as part of their regular “White Trash Mom’s Monday List of Moms I Want on My Side” feature. Love the bling.

Thanks for all the bloggy love. Now send us some stay healthy vibes, will you?

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, originally uploaded by blondemom.

The girls and I headed to the swanky big mall south of here Wednesday for Miss A’s birthday party extravaganza (and yes we are still celebrating…cake and pizza on Sunday at our house with family). Our first scheduled stop was at Build a Bear.

It was a gorgeous spring day and I took the scenic route, a winding, hilly drive that takes you past beautiful homes, a golf course, and Nashville’s Steeplechase. The last few miles I decided to get on the “fast road,” which is what Miss C calls the interstate. Lord have mercy on my soul but mama is not used to driving on the interstate with all the close to 5 p.m. nutballs driving 80 miles an hour to make it to Chili’s happy hour with their buddies after work. I live a sheltered, boring life. What can I say.

We were in the right hand lane and getting ready to exit toward the mall when I noticed a guy in a silver sports car trying to merge and I waved him over. He enthusiastically waved back and I thought, “Well that’s nice.” Then I realized he was flipping me off with mucho gusto. The bastard.

It dawned on me that I was one of those annoying distracted mommy drivers (in an SUV granted, and not a minivan, but still) with two laughing, screaming kids in the backseat, windows half down, wind whipping through the car, a bluegrass CD blasting.

I instantly thought to myself, “Single asshole sports car driving dude must not have kids.”

Sometimes I long for those carefree sports car single days.

But on that day I longed for nothing but being a mama. And who can blame me? All the happiness in the world I could ask for was in the backseat.

My fellow Nashville blog mama Ginger tagged me for a meme and I am finally getting around to it. Miss A had a wonderful birthday yesterday. Thank you for all the birthday wishes!I took the girls to Build a Bear, Empty a Wallet and they picked out a white poodle and a pink kitty with blinged out costumes (one fairy and one ballerina, thank you very much). So much for bears. Miss A requested pancakes at Cracker Barrel for dinner and that seemed very reasonable considering she loves pancakes. We seriously need to buy stock in Cracker Barrel.

Now back to the meme. I’m supposed to link to the person who tagged me. Check. Then I’m supposed to go back through my archives and link to my five favorite posts.

Link One: must be about family
Link Two: must be about friends
Link Three: must be about yourself
Link Four: must be about something you love
Link Five: can be anything you choose

** Tag five other people (at least two must be new acquaintances so that you can get to know them better).

Link One: One of my favorite posts about my family was this post about my maternal grandmother from two years ago.

Link Two: This post about the Sisterhood of the Traveling Panties legacy shared with my college journalism buddies is a favorite.

Link Three: In this post I close the chapter on all the medical tests I went through last year to finally have closure and the reassurance that I have a healthy boob (two actually.)

Link Four: I love our annual trip to my dad’s condo in the Florida Panhandle, which I hope we can make a bi-annual trip.

Link Five: This post, The Real Deal, is just one of my favorites and captures the real essence of motherhood.

I’d love to read what Amy at Milkbreath and Margaritas, Jen at Get in the Car (check out her Hot Men of Housework calendar idea), Rachel at From the Land of Monkeys and Princesses, Jen at Just Chicken Feed who just announced some major news, and Jennifer at Playgroups Are No Place for Children have to say.