Cindy 4.2

Yes, it's that time when I mark another completed orbit around the sun. We celebrated a couple of weeks ago by going to a concert in Deer Valley. Big Bad Voodoo Daddy put on a fun show. I mean, who doesn't love good, trumpet-heavy swing music?

Anyway, as my birthday approaches, here's what I've been thinking about lately:

K I N D N E S S

We need more of it. We need to give people the benefit of the doubt. If we want kindness shown to us, we must first show it ourselves. The Golden Rule and all that jazz.

Also, be kind to yourself. Ease up on the negative self-talk. 

I don't really know where this blog post is going, except to say that the older I get, the greater my appreciation for kindness becomes. My desire to be kind grows stronger.

All you need is kindness.
And maybe a Ford Mustang. (Another birthday, perhaps?)

The Blue Angels

My 11-year-old has been telling me for years that he would love to go see the Blue Angels in person. "It's something I've wanted to do my entire life," he told me.

We've spent a lot of time watching videos of them on YouTube.

Well, they finally made it to a town near us, so we spent my birthday checking off an item from J's bucket list. The look on his face when they made their first Mach 1 pass was the best birthday present I could have received. The feeling in my chest as they roared by was a close second.

I've said before that I believe in hefty amounts of horsepower. Our day with the Blue Angels cranked that up a notch. Or twelve. My words fall painfully short to describe the feeling I had as they streaked across the billowy sky that day, but J now has my permission to join the Navy if he so chooses.

 

 

 

Mission Accomplished.

Cindy 4.0

Top 10 Birthday Highlights

10. Breakfast at Ruth's Diner with friends. If you're in the Salt Lake City area, you really have to go to Ruth's Diner. Secluded up in Emigration Canyon, it's an old trolley car that was converted into a restaurant 60 or so years ago. You can eat on the back patio, surrounded by tall trees and the sound of a rushing river. And their breakfasts are DEEEE-LISH!

9. There's something significant about having a birthday with a zero attached to it. Dan was especially sweet to me, gently easing me into my fourth decade on this planet.

8. Jamison sucked the helium out of my birthday balloon and sang "76 Trombones" in a very funny voice. Yes, The Music Man is still very much alive at our house!

7. Getting lots of texts and phone calls from friends and family.

6. Being sung to by a professional opera singer -- in Italian! (See #9)

5. Shopping at one of my favorite places as a result of receiving a generous gift card. (See #9)

4. Being told over and over how young I look. (See #9)

3. A good nap (I need my beauty sleep, after all).

2. A surprise party at an Italian restaurant, surrounded by wonderful friends! (See #9)

1. Speaking of which, a friend suggested that I am 4.0. Four Point OH. I liked that idea. It sounds like a really good Olympic score or a perfect G.P.A. Or just a better version of myself. So I'm sticking with that.

I am Cindy 4.0.

Confessional

Dear Jen,

I know on several occasions, we have discussed at length, the trustworthiness of someone who wears red pants. This was based on a character you had written into your book. And no doubt, that girl could NOT be trusted.

But I have something to confess to you. I, Cindy Stagg, own a pair of red pants, and have owned them for almost a year now. I received a T.J. Maxx gift card for my birthday last year, and I purchased these pants. They were so cute there, hanging on the rack. And when I tried them on...they were even cuter! They cuff at the ankles and come with a darling little leather belt!

But I digress.

I have been very careful not to wear them in your presence, for fear that you might think ill of me. One time, I wore them on a day I happened to be substituting at Midway Elementary. I was exiting the side door at the end of the day and you were waiting outside with Sampson. Fortunately, you were distracted by all the little kids wanting to say hello to your horse, so disaster was averted.

I hope, with time, you will find that I can still be trusted -- despite the fact that I wear red pants, and yes, I allow my daughter to wear them, too! I think my track record speaks for itself. Besides, you cut that red-pants-wearing floosey out of your story anyway!

Sincerely,
Cindy

A Glimpse of Things to Come

Last week our daughter turned twelve. We don't typically do birthday parties, but this year we caved in and allowed her to invite twelve giggling, squealing, sreaming 'tweens over for lemon cupcakes and a Wii dance party.

Things spoken during the festivities:

My husband was outside grilling hotdogs. He needed a plate from the kitchen. He said to me, "You go get it. Everytime I walk in there, they stop talking."

In hopes of joining the dance party upstairs, our eight-year-old son came downstairs and said, "Mom, check out these awesome dance moves I've been working on!" I quickly called a friend to come over and keep him company.

More than once, and from more than one attendee, I heard, "Taylor Lautner is so HAWT!"

Finally, as my husband and I were banned to the garage to enjoy our hotdogs and lemon cupcakes, he asked, "How did this happen? Why are WE the ones in the garage?"

I licked my strawberry frosting and said, "Welcome to the future. Get used to it."

The Cheese Monger

I was hoping to start off the month of June with a blog post like this:

Today is June 1st and it's finally starting to feel like spring up here in the mountain tops. The trees are exploding with a profusion of pinks, purples, and whites. The sun is shining and my glitter toes are sparkling.

That's what I would like to write. And it's mostly true (the above picture was taken last Thursday). Problem is, that it's raining and I came home and had to turn on the fireplace.

So I'll just share what I did yesterday. There's a fancy-shmancy grocery store down in the Salt Lake City area that boasts among other things, a huge selection of the world's cheeses. I like cheese. A lot. Can you beat a nice slice of gouda on a baguette? Hardly. But Dan adores it. Even more than I do. So as the finial cap to his birthday, we went to this store and spent a while hanging out among the Havartis and Edams.

Wild and crazy, I know.

And then we met the cheese monger. No lie. That is her title. It said it right on her name tag. And boy, did she know her cheeses. She gave us a few samples, and insisted we try the Spanish Machengo with a black olive (and not the kind from a can). Wow. I can never eat olives from a can ever again. Ever. She told us about her job, her love for cheese, and how she's been able to travel to Italy, Spain, and other places around the world to hone her mad cheese skills. We walked away with a block of the Machengo and a block of Butter Kase from Germany. And some olives. Not from a can.

As we hesitantly left the cheese area, Dan said, "if for some reason, my company no longer requires my services, I'm going to become a cheese monger."

Inside Jokes

If it seems like I've been delaying my 100th post, it's because I have. Do you know how much paperwork is involved in moving a kindergartner to 1st grade? Plus I've been busy planning a surprise party for my husband's 40th birthday. Besides, I wanted my 100th post to be something really, really good. I finally got it.



When Dan and I got married, we each brought things with us to start our new life together. He had a T.V. I had a compter. He had a good car, I had a Dodge Omni that wouldn't run if the weather dipped below 68 degrees. Thankfully we lived in Arizona. But the best thing I got from Dan with our marriage (besides Dan) was a handful of good friends. They were all high school/college buddies and because Dan was their friend, so was I. We've been married for nearly fourteen years and I have heard all the stories from the glory days enough times that I can repeat them to you verbatim. That's almost as good as being there, right?



A typical get-together looks like this: all the guys are on one side of the room incessantly ripping on each other about all the stupid things they did when they were younger. All the wives are on the other side of the room laughing at them. It works.



So for Dan's big 4-0, our good buddy Robb put together this little ditty. It's full of inside jokes, but you can appreciate the talent.



Enjoy.