5 Friday Favorites: February 23, 2018

Happy Friday, Friends!

It seems I've been doing a lot of writing lately, but not much of it has ended up here. I'm happy to be back here linking up with A Little Bit of Everything, Grace and Love, and Momfessionals today to share some of my favorite things from the week.

Here we go.

1. A Spontaneous Trip to NYC

My sister called me last week and told me that she and her family were flying from California to New York City for their winter break. She asked how close it was to us here in Northern Virginia and if there might be any way we could meet them there for the weekend. At the time, I think I had probably just changed into my second pair of yoga pants for the day and was seriously contemplating re-watching Season 2 of The Crown. Basically, my mood has pretty much been this lately:

In a miraculous turn of events, I rallied, talked to Steve and we decided that we could take a break from our rigorous schedule of Netflix, basketball, Netflix and basketball and drive up on Sunday so that we could spend the latter part of President's Day weekend with my sister and her family. We had a blast drinking red wine in Little Italy, furiously scanning the streets for celebrities and window shopping on 5th Avenue. It was so much fun and I felt really patriotic about it because this, of course, is exactly how Abe Lincoln, George Washington, et al. imagined we would celebrate them in year 2018. 

As a bonus, we were so lucky to discover through the power of social media that my very best friend from high school was in New York at the same time. So we hopped in an Uber and headed to her hotel for a drink at some time after 10:30 pm which felt super hip and cool since lately 10:30 pm seems to me like an hour only seen by rock stars. I'm telling you we were just like the Sex in the City girls except not at all because there were only three of us and also, frankly, those girls were super-pervey. Not that I'm judging or anything. Everyone has their flaws and I did like their shoes.

Also, in case you were concerned, while my boys were not invited on the trip, Fake Daughter was, of course. My sister even found her this Versace dress. It costs just shy of $600. The shoes are $425. It's fine. She's fake. She won't outgrow them so it's totally worth it. She's very excited to wear it to the ballet with me because we all know she ain't going into the basketball gym in this get-up.

2. The Good Place

I've mentioned before that my husband and I are in the middle of watching The Americans on Amazon Prime. It's great, but very heavy and serious. I needed to find something that made me laugh and The Good Place is a winner. I'm not sure how many seasons this show has been on, but I'm in the middle of Season 1 and it is delightful. Kristen Bell is adorable and funny and I'm pretty sure I'm going to be in love with all of the characters real soon.

3. Wearing a Merry Christmas T-Shirt in February

Everyone should have a friend that will order you a special gift and then perhaps forget that she ordered it and then go ahead and surprise you with it in the middle of February. My sweet friend, Holly, gave me this last week. And you can bet your cowboy boots that she knows me well enough to not be surprised that I put that thing on and wore it around town on February 22nd like it was my job. I love friends and generosity and seasonally inappropriate tshirts. 

4. Sisters First by Jenna Bush Hager and Barbara Pierce Bush

I'm loving this book by the Bush twins for a million reasons. I love reading about the unique relationship of sisters because my sister is so important to me and gets me better than any other human ever has or will. They write a lot about growing up in Texas which is completely in my wheelhouse, of course. I'm a huge fan of the Bush family and met my husband working on George H.W. Bush's 1992 campaign. They take you behind the scenes for a personal look at their Poppy, Ganny and their Mom and Dad - all who I some how feel are members of my own family. (I'm not saying that's not creepy, but it's true.) I just counted recently and it appears I have seven memoirs and/or books about various members of the Bush family. This makes number eight.

5. A Basketball Game During Which I Lost My Ever-Lovin Mind (at least 7 or 8 times)

photo from vivaloudoun.com

It's possible you're over my talking about sports here, but if that's true you probably would have given up on this here blog a long time ago. There is no doubt what was my favorite moment of all time in the last seven days. Perhaps in the last year or two or three. This is a photo of the Potomac District High School Basketball Championship game on Friday night and it might look like just an ordinary shot by one of Kyle's teammates. No ma'am. You see that scoreboard? You see that score? You see how much time is left? You see that glowing yellow #8? That 8 means that this shot was made with exactly 2.2 seconds left in QUADRUPLE OVER TIME. I can tell you I called on Jesus approximately 75 times every minute of this game. At one point, a friend leaned over to me and said she didn't know how I could handle games like this. She must not have been watching me closely because I don't think I really had a handle on anything in those four overtimes. I'm pretty sure I didn't know my name or the date or even which kid was mine.

Anyway, our clutch #2 put that ball into the basket as time ran out and our talented group of boys won the District Championship. Mayhem ensued as the players, students and fans celebrated the victorious end to the greatest basketball game I have ever seen in my life.

You'll notice that our boys decided to dye their hair for the play-offs. This has led my husband to start calling Kyle (1st from the left) "Ponyboy" on the regular which gives me no end of joy and laughter and brings Kyle no end of annoyance.  (I believe this proves we are parenting well.)

In Debbie Downer news, if you follow me on social media you know that we were defeated on Tuesday night in regional play-offs  - a loss which caused me such despair that I spent hours trying to push the idea that the season was over out of my head while using "Jenn's Unhealthy Coping Mechanism to Deal With Disappointment #1" which was trying on about 25 pairs of shoes at DSW the next day before coming to my senses, putting my credit card away and spending a $1 on a large diet coke while I begged myself to get a grip, for the love. 

Here are some more photos of Ponyboy which I think could get me in trouble because I don't think I'm supposed to screen shot things from this website. So, I'm risking litigation and jail time just to shamelessly show you photos of my kid.

Dear Lawyers, Settle down because I'll go buy the photos today. I will. I'm fully into "Jenn's Unhealthy Coping Mechanism to Deal with Disappointment #2" which is to relive moments from games of the past season by mindlessly scrolling through pictures and spending money on them. I'll probably buy photos of everybody else's kid, too. No worries.

Now, I gotta go because I just realized I still had this gift card last night which brings us to  "Jenn's Unhealthy Coping Mechanism to Deal with Disappointment #3" on my list.

Listen, I know it's quite ironic that I wrote about losing just last week right here with all manner of conviction that these moments help build our children's character and perspective. But, I have never claimed to personally be a beacon of reason and maturity when it comes to sports, friends. At least not within the same week of a loss. I'm a work in progress. ;-) I wish you a weekend of healthy coping mechanisms, my friends. Godspeed.