"Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" performed by Judy Garland

There are many versions of this song, but in my opinion, you can't beat the original. This has been my favorite Christmas song this year. It has been hard to get in the Christmas spirit without my husband around, but I am "muddling through somehow." The thing I love about this song is the sense of hope for the future, that in time things will be good again. That is what is getting me through right now.

Merry Christmas!

Week in Review (Dec. 12-16

Monday — Was 15 minutes late to work because it took me 40 minutes to get through downtown Tampa (a distance of less than two miles). Did I mention that I was actually running 10 minutes ahead of schedule that morning and was excited to get to the office early to get the work week underway. Didn’t happen.

Downtown Tampa as viewed from our boat on the Hillsborough River.

Tuesday — Bad day all around. More traffic woes on my way in (car had slammed into a pole on the other side of the road and everyone had to slow down to gawk at it), couldn’t get the copy for the parents’ newsletter right, and Western Union rejected my money transfer to my hubby because they didn’t believe I was me (wasting a good hour of my day). The bright spot in that mess was attending my three-year-old’s Christmas program and watching her sing “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree.”

Wednesday — Much better day. Got to work early, banged out a press release and finally got the copy for that newsletter straightened out.

Thursday —Best day of the week, by far. Finished copy for another newsletter, went on a Hillsborough River cruise with my fellow UT Public Information peeps (so fun) and had a blast playing with my three-year-old in the evening.

Friday — Decent day. First one in the office this morning, talked to a Congressional Medal of Honor recipient this afternoon, and have been noshing on all the yummy vendor holiday swag we’ve been getting at the office this week (thank God for Ghirardelli gift baskets). Not to mention it is FRIDAY!

Discovered this week: ABC’s Revenge. All the episodes are up online right now and it is such good guilty pleasure fun. Check it out.

Plans for the weekend: Two words. Christmas. Shopping. (Haven’t even started so I will be out with the crazies tomorrow, babies in tow!)

What are you doing this weekend?

Wordless Wednesday: Oh My Darlin' Clementine

(One of the reasons I love winter in Florida.)

"The Cave" by Mumford and Sons

I cannot get this song out of my head. The lead singer has a great voice, all deep and gritty.

I love the lyrics, especially the chorus:

"But I will hold on hope
And I won’t let you choke
On the noose around your neck

"And I’ll find strength in pain
And I will change my ways
I’ll know my name as it’s called again"

And I also love the banjo. Not an instrument you hear often on the radio, unless you're listening to a country station, and even then not so much anymore.

New Routine

This has been a rough week for me. Basically, my husband is going to be away from home for quite a while and this was my first week without him around. Besides missing him (a lot; he is my best friend after all), it has been a challenge for me to figure out how to juggle everything by myself. He’s always been the one to get the kids up and ready in the morning, so I had to work that into my schedule.

The three-year-old

Bedtime has been the other big challenge. Typically, we’d “divide and conquer” — I’d put the baby down and he’d read to our three-year-old and the whole thing would be done by 8 p.m. This week, I’ve nursed and rocked the baby down around 7:30 p.m., then immediately started the process of getting the three-year-old to bed.

And it is a process! First I have to get her up the stairs, not easy when she doesn’t want to go to bed and goes all limp-noodle arms on me. You try carrying an unwilling 30 pound three-year-old up 17 stairs and see if you’re not winded! Then I have to get her to brush her teeth without sucking all the toothpaste off the toothbrush or spilling water down her shirt. Once I finally get her to sit in my lap after she’s spent five minutes making faces at herself in the mirror, we have ten minutes or so of peace while I read her a story or two (which I actually love). Then comes getting her in the bed and tucking her in. I’ll ask for a hug and a kiss and she will wrap her little arms around my neck and give me a hundred slobbery kisses (my absolute favorite part of the process). Once I’ve extricated myself from her grasp, I turn out her light and say I love you and close the door. Usually, within five minutes of closing that door — just enough time for me to sit down and turn the TV on to see what’s on the DVR — she comes out of the room to say she has to go pee-pee. Sigh.

Most nights I’ve been lucky to get a half hour of “me” time before falling exhausted into bed.

Not that I don’t love being a mom, because being with my kids truly is the best part of my day. It’s just that this week has been harder than usual without my parenting partner there to help keep the chaos to a minimum. I suppose like all things in life, I will get used to this new routine.

But today, I am truly thankful it is Friday!

New Fav

I recently started following @notmommyofyear on Twitter and today finally got around to checking out her blog, Not Mommy of the Year. I love it and can so relate to so many of her posts. For example, the post about her daughter wanting to sing "Mississippi Girl" instead of "You Are My Sunshine"? Yes, except insert "Single Ladies" in my case! If you are a mommy, especially a working mommy, be sure to check it out...

I Heart Shania

I have loved Shania Twain since I first heard her song "Any Man of Mine" as a teenager. I loved the sassiness of that song and only grew to love her more as she released a series of albums full of love songs and girl power anthems. She was the first artist I went to see in concert and the woman puts on an amazing show.

I have missed her the last few years while she's been out of the spotlight dealing with things in her personal life. I am so glad she's back with an awesome new single (see below) and the announcement she'll be headlining a show at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas. I have never had a desire to go to Vegas before, but with that announcement it moved to the top of my list!

If you haven't watched her docuseries on the OWN Network, "Why Not? with Shania Twain," I highly recommend it. With everything that's been going on in my personal life lately, I could relate to her journey and she truly gave me hope for the future.

Eye to the Telescope (Music Monday on a Tuesday because it feels like Monday)

I know this album has been out for quite a while (like years), but lately I have been obsessed with K.T. Tunstall's Eye to the Telescope.

Every.

Single.

Song.

The lyrics, the music, her voice. Perfection. I highly suggest you check it out...

Wealth

"There are all kinds of wealth, and while everybody needs to make a living, it’s really poetry that makes me a rich man." - David Kirby, poet and professor at Florida State University

What makes your life richer?

Wordless Wednesday: "Grown-Up Purse"

(Thanks Mom & Dad for this awesome birthday present!)

Thoughts on 30

Top 10 moments of my twenties…

1. The birth of my first daughter, Evelyn Grace (7/31/2008)

2. The birth of my second daughter, Darcy Elizabeth (3/4/2011)

3. Saying “I do” to my husband (11/8/2003)

4. Blake asking me to marry him (5/17/2002)

5. Graduating cum laude from Florida State (5/2/2003)

6. Buying my first new car (10/2007)

7. Buying our first house (7/1/2005)

8. Visiting Disney World with Blake (12/5-9/2009)

9. Starting my first “real” job (Florida Department of State, 7/1/2005)

10. Buying our dream home (4/17/2009)


Top 10 plans and dreams for my thirties…

1. Watching my daughters grow and change

2. Celebrating 10 years of marriage (and 20 years of being a couple)

3. Exploring new career opportunities

4. Possibly living in a new city and discovering its personality and hidden gems

5. Family vacations and getaways with my husband and sisters

6. Finishing my first novel (hopefully!)

7. Learning Spanish and brushing up on my French

8. Visiting New York City and, with any luck, Italy and/or France

9. Owning a car that can accommodate a family of four and all of our stuff on a road trip

10. Planting an herb and vegetable garden and keeping it alive for more than a month

Waiting for the End

Obsessed with this song right now...

Will reading Pooh give your daughter an inferiority complex?

I read an article this week about a study that found a bias toward male leads in 20th century children's books. The study found that this bias was even worse when the characters were animals. The study's author, Janice McCabe, an assistant professor of sociology at Florida State University, concludes that:


Photo credit

"The widespread pattern of underrepresentation of females that we find supports the belief that female characters are less important and interesting than male characters. This may contribute to a sense of unimportance among girls and privilege among boys. The gender inequalities we found may be particularly powerful because they are reinforced by patterns of male-dominated characters in many other aspects of children’s media, including cartoons, G-rated films, video games and even coloring books.”

(You can read the full article here.)

As a mother of two young girls, this got me to thinking about the books I read to them. While some of them seem fairly gender neutral ("Goodnight Moon," "The Sneetches" and "One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish" by Dr. Suess, "The Very Hungry Catepillar"), my daughter's favorites, "Llama Llama Red Pajama" and "Winnie the Pooh," are definitely dominated by male characters. Even her favorite television show, "Go Diego Go," has a male lead.

So my question is, does this really matter? Will reading too many male dominated books and watching too many male dominated shows really make her feel less important than her male cohorts?

When I think on my own reading and viewing history, I am struck by how many strong female leads there are in my favorite books, shows and movies: Elizabeth Bennett in "Pride and Prejudice" and Anne Shirley in "Anne of Green Gables"; Sidney Bristow in "Alias" and Buffy in "Buffy the Vampire Slayer"; Danielle de Barbarac in "Ever After" and Miranda Priestly in "The Devil Wears Prada" (to name a few).

I consider myself very much a feminist and feel that women's contributions to this world are every bit as important as men's. So, since I know for a fact that my own parents read many of the same books to me that I read to my daughters (that is why I picked most of them), are the findings of this study bogus? Am I just an exception to the rule? What is your opinion? What are some of your favorite female leads?

Wordless Wednesday: "Push Present"



(Happy two-month birthday to my Darcy!)



Entering the great maternity leave debate...

Having just given birth to my second child two months ago, maternity leave has been on my mind a lot lately. With my first baby I was able to take off the full 12 weeks granted me by the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). Between my vacation and sick hours and short term disability insurance, I was paid at some level for about half of that time. The last six weeks or so, we relied on our savings to make up the difference.

Me on maternity leave with my second child

With my second baby, I did intend to again take the full 12 weeks. This time, I had enough sick and vacation hours that, combined with my short term disability insurance, I was able to be paid 100 percent of my salary for the first eight weeks. After that it would have been unpaid leave.

About five weeks in, my husband had some legal trouble and was put on unpaid administrative leave from his job. I quickly realized that we both could not be on unpaid leave and still pay the bills. I made the difficult decision to come back to work early.

While my coworkers have made every effort to make my transition back to work as easy as possible, I have to admit I felt a bit frustrated and angry that I was being cheated out of this precious time with my newborn daughter, both at my husband and at the maternity leave policies in this country in general. Never before have I wished so much to live in, say, the United Kingdom where they get 52 weeks of paid maternity leave (at least partial pay), or even one of many countries in South America that get 12 weeks or more of maternity leave at 100 percent pay (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, to name a few).

Upon doing a little research (okay, I just went to Wikipedia, but still!), I learned that the United States is the only industrialized country that doesn’t provide paid leave for new mothers nationally, though there are exceptions in some U.S. states. How messed up is that? Mothers in Botswana get paid leave, but moms in the most powerful country in the world are forced to pull together a combination of sick and vacation hours, disability insurance and savings or be unpaid altogether (if they can afford it).

So my question is this, if you are a mother, how much leave did you take and how much of it was paid? Did you feel ready to go back to work when you did?

Change

"With victories over both Miami and Florida this year and a bowl win, Coach Fisher has shown us that change is not something we need to fear." — Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to The Florida State University graduating class of 2011

Nobody said it was easy...

There have definitely been times in my life when things feel so messed up and overwhelming that I wish I could go back to a simpler time, when life seemed so wonderful and full of promise. I'm going through a time like that right now and feel this song really captures that emotion.

Latest Obsession: The Hunger Games Trilogy

Considering I am less than eight weeks away from my due date, I have had much on my mind besides "the novel." Honestly, I'm not sure how long it will be before I work on the novel again. And really I'm okay with that. I have come to the realization that it will be there waiting for me when I am ready to address it again. For now, I am concentrating on potty training my two year old, getting ready for a new baby and getting my ducks in a row at work so I can enjoy my maternity leave.

Instead, I will tell you about my latest obsession, namely The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins. I picked up the first book, The Hunger Games, during the holiday break and finished it in less than a week (quite a feat for me these days). I went straight out and bought the other two books and have already finished the second book, Catching Fire, and started the third and final book, Mockingjay.

These books are excellent. The characters are rich and compelling, the story is fast paced and gripping. I don't want to tell you too much because I went into them knowing only what was on the book jacket. So I will leave you with only that. I hope you pick these up and I hope you enjoy them as much as I have!

"In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. The Capitol is harsh and cruel and keeps the districts in line by forcing them all to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV.

Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who lives alone with her mother and younger sister, regards it as a death sentence when she steps forward to take her sister’s place in the Games. But Katniss has been close to dead before--and survival, for her, is second nature. Without really meaning to, she becomes a contender. But if she is to win, she will have to start making choices that weigh survival against humanity and life against love."