Sweet 16

It's Monday and I'm at Borders and they finally got Wi-Fi!!! Finally. I won't use it on Saturdays; that's for magazines. It's an on-the go day, and there's a Borders near Emily's school, and I have some blog writing to do. So there you go... I'm at my favorite place with my large, caramel latte, extra shot, extra hot. Ladeda! I'll be meeting Bon and Karen for lunch at Ram's Head for lunch. It's been a long time since we've been together. It was kind of last minute, and I'm hoping Kathy can join us too. Great company and fish tacos!

I'll do a quick recap of what's been going on around here. For one thing, I've been filling up my gas tank a lot! Thank goodness gas prices are down and Em's school is near a Sam's Club with a gas station. Gas there is around $2.20/gallon. I've been filling up around twice a week! I didn't figure that in the price of private school. Emily has made friends, which I'm really happy about, so though it sounds like it, I'm not complaining about the time and expense of all the driving. Not yet, anyway! Tay's house is a 48 mile round trip from our house. Phil's is 40 miles. School is a 25 mile round trip. I'm getting a lot of audio book time in on my solo rides home.

This past Saturday was the school's big event: Creekfest. I was there at 7:45 AM to set up. I ran the 'fish for a winning fish' booth at 11. I watched Emily's field hockey game at noon. All the teams from the middle school and upper school played. We hung out till around 3:00. I'm posting collages today. You can click on them to 'biggify' the pictures.

Creekfest


Saturday night was the Homecoming dance. I brought Emily to a friend's house and a group of friends got ready together. I lent Emily my camera so I could see the pictures of them ready to go. Wish I could have seen it in person, but this was a good substitute. Emily said they had a great time. She spent the night with the girls at her friend's house.

Homecoming
I went to a 50th birthday party on Saturday night for my friend Kit's brother Charlie. I've known him since he was a little boy. It was a great time and the food was fabulous! I hung out with Kit and one of her co-worker's, Helaine. My middle name is Helayne, and I've never met anyone with the same name. She's only known one other. What a coincidence! It was a gorgeous night with a full moon and a perfectly clear sky. Charlie's house is in the 'country' and the view of the moon from his deck was amazing.

I spent time sitting around yesterday morning. I'm not a sitting around kind of person, as you know. I went outside around 1:00 and did a little this and that in my garden. Then I pulled the car into the drive and spent hours doing a professional detail job. It looks so good. During the course of cleaning I found Emily's license and keychain. As it turned out, she spent the day cleaning her room, looking for said items that she didn't tell me were missing. I got the car cleaned and she got her room cleaned. Then I decorated the driveway, as you'll see soon. And I had a neighbor take some pictures of the two of us.

We went to dinner last night to celebrate her 16th birthday, which is today. I made mostly mini cupcakes, and some regular size ones with the remaining batter. I watched a video on how to use a pastry bag to pipe on frosting. I'll never frost cupcakes any other way ever! I had the kitchen table set up with birthday stuff and a breakfast of waffles when she came down this morning.

Birthday!

Notice the birthday crown? It's a tradition. Tonight I'll take a portrait picture of Emily wearing her crown. I've taken this same picture since her first birthday. She humors me!

I dropped the cupcakes off at the school office after Emily went in. One of the girls will bring them down to the field after practice to surprise her. Then Emily and her friends will go out to dinner at a Japanese restaurant. My little girl is 16. To me, that's such a milestone. I'm happy, but a little sad to say good-bye to childhood.