An announcement.

This is my sister...

Jilly Bean and Me at the "Iron & Wine" concert, 11/13/10


and I like her a lot.

The end.

Happy Birthday, Jilly-bean!

Happy birthday to my older {not by much},

shorther {by a whole lot} sister!

I can't believe you're 27 and I'm 25.

Wink, wink.

My, how the years fly.

I love you!

Fabric & Swordfish

I have a super, special, secret project in the works with those scrumptious beauties up there.

I canNOT wait to get them in the mail.

I love fabric so much, sometimes, I think I could just pile it all up on my bed,

and roll around in it naked.

If you think that's weird...

you won't want to meet my sister.

Why?

Because she tells everyone that she wants

 to rub the swordfish from McCormick & Schmicks all over her face.

It's that good.

What the hell did my parents do to us?

Maybe they deprived us of important sensory experiences

when we were little.

{Nah, that's too easy.}

Maybe it's because they lied to us for years,

and told us that liver was steak so we'd eat it.

Maybe it's because we'd get grounded from going out on the weekend

if we didn't make our beds every freaking morning.

No, I'm sure it's the fact that

my mom used to play 'hide and seek' with us

just so she could scare the poo out of us when we found her.

Who knows?

I do know this...

that game sometimes pretty much always ended in tears.

Except from my swordfish loving sister who got giddy with excitement

every time Mom would pop out from behind the shower curtain and growl.

Grrrrrrrrr.

She totally misused her 'mom power'.

Those memories are priceless.

Oh, and Mom & Pops...

I love you.

Happy Birthday, sweet Jill!

It's my sister's birthday today. She made me promise not to reveal her age, or it would be certain death to me. But, let's just say that she IS (not) younger than me. She is my only sibling, and I used to detest her. That sounds real nice, doesn't it? But, it's true. One time, on the evening of my first date with Jake, at the ripe old age of just-turned-17, we had a knock down drag out. Jake came to pick me up, and I had her jeans on that she had no intention of wearing, and she made me take them off before leaving on my date. She caused a big stink in front of Jake, embarrassed me, and made herself look like a 'bleep'. See what I mean? Then there was another time that she attacked me with her cat-like claws, so I pushed her down the basement stairs, and when she tried to come back at me like a meer cat, I did what any sensible person would do...I threw a kitchen chair down the stairs at her. I think we were 18 and 20 at the time. (Whoops, did I just unintentionally reveal her age?)

That was then...this is now. I love my sister. She is a GREAT sister, an awesome mom, a thoughtful daughter, an attentive wife, and a top-notch friend. We do just about everything together. She married Jake's best friend, my boys were born just weeks before her two kids, we have breakfast every Wednesday, and talk on the phone about 3-5 times a day. I cannot imagine us living apart (we live within 5 miles of each other now). Did I mention she is my very own personal shopper?

S0, happy birthday, Jilly-bean! I love you!

Psssst, she's 33!

You scratch my back, I'll scratch yours.

I watched Jill's kiddos yesterday afternoon, so she could get her hair done. And this morning she took Rosebud. This is what I did...

wrapped

sipped

ate

watched.

all alone.

How often are you alone? I don't mean just without your kids, I mean really alone. I am hardly ever alone. Not completely, anyway. I think being alone every once in awhile is really good for the collective. Thanks to Jill Marie, I was alone this morning.
Aren't sisters wonderful?
I love you, Jilly-bean.

2 weeks until Christmas!