My little sister and I threw a surprise birthday party for MommyMac and it was AMAZING. So many close friends of my mom came over for the surprise and when she walked in the door, her expression was priceless. Being able to give a night like that to the woman who has given me so much was probably one of the absolute best moments of my life.

That being said, we did learn a few very important lessons in the planning of said party… the biggest lesson being that you don’t send a pair of hungry McDonald girls to H.E.B. to buy party groceries.

We walked into the store with a list and $222.37 cents later, we walked out of the store with the contents of our list + enough random food to feed an army. But we had a blast shopping, so I wanted to share our oh-so-random list.

Recipe for a surprise party:
1 case of Coke
1 case of Diet Coke (aka elixir of the gods)
2 giant things of ketchup
1 case of Diet 7-Up
20 sweet potatoes (27.72 pounds, to be exact)
4 sticks of butter
1 roll of parchment paper
1 bottle of carrot juice (because it looked good)
1 16 ounce jug of egg beaters
1 bag of pre-cut green beans
1 box of classic yellow cake
1 bok of chocolate fudge cake
2 16 ounce jugs of frosting
1 thingy of lemon juice
2 cans of Rotel (1 hot, 1 regular)
26 ounces of salt
1 roll of parchment paper
Roughly 100 asparagus spears
4 packages of football-shaped plates
1 bag of Baked pita chips
2 bags of “Hint of Lime” Tostitos
2 things of 2% milk Velveeta cheese
SPRINKLES!!!! FOUR DIFFERENT KINDS!!!!
1 bag of pre-cut broccoli
1 bag of baby carrots
1 bag of Spicy Nancho Doritos
1 bag of BAKED Sea Salt Kettle Cooked potato chips (because Alice was hungry)
2 bags of “alle olive” Larzaroni Bruschettes (because I was hungry)
1 jug of garlic marinated olives from the HEB olive bar (because why not?)
2 bags of Nestle semi-sweet chocolate morsels
2 bags of Nestle semi-sweet white chocolate morsels
7 boxes of Uncle Ben’s Long Grain and Wild Rice (sans any chicken product)
1 bag of pecan pieces
50 Solo Cups (because I was concerned we might run out… for a 20 person party)
150 Napkins
1 Dry Roasted Peanuts
1 22 ounce thing of garlic powder
1 22 ounce thing of black pepper

and… 1 bottle of Vintage Ink cabernet (to drink while unloading aforementioned groceries)

The good news is that we saved $5.67 by shopping at H.E.B. The bad news is that we were having SO MUCH FUN last night we took ZERO pictures.

Happy birthday Mom!

Yes… we live together.
Yes… we see each other all the time.
Yes… we frequently (x 50) say the word’s “I love you” out loud.

But finding these little slips of paper often makes my day.

While one of my favorite things about our tradition is the simplicity, I visited Papyrus in Rice Village to purchase a birthday card recently and found some more unusual ways to say “I love you” that I absolutely adore.

Hello?! Adorable!!

So now I think I’m going to up the “love note” ante a bit and I would love your help. What are your favorite places to buy cards? Etsy? A shop down the street? Because I’m on the hunt for the cheesiest card in the west.

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Last Monday I instituted a plan to turn my intense dislike for Mondays around. Every Monday, my plan is to think back on the last 7 days and highlight a few of my favorite things. These things are on no way related to anything important… except the fact that they make me smile. So here is this Monday’s list!

1. Clay Walker at RodeoHouston with my best girlfriends
2. Evening spin class at the Tellepsen Family YMCA
3. The view from my office
4. The fun Houston Arts Alliance I’m working on with MMI client, PODS Houston
5. Researching all things raw: Lesson one… peel before freezing
6. Pre-SXSW and Girl+Guy Party excitement

Now… to get back to snacking on raspberries.

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And then I thought… aren’t I lucky to be this busy?

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The background: Yesterday I was having a no good, very bad day. There wasn’t anything particular wrong, it was just one of those off days everyone has. I unloaded to Mom and, like always, felt much better. This morning I arrived to work, checked my gmail, and was greeted by the following email…

Good morning Little Lady.

I hope today will be better than yesterday.

It is difficult at times to count your blessings but I hope that you can do so…

God loves you
Mommy and Alice love you
And then there is Matt
Sergeant and Love Tap love you
You have a wealth of wonderful friends
And the list is endless…

Much peace to you today even though challenges will occur.

I’ll be saving this list for a rainy day because she is right… No matter what, always count your blessings.

And remember that Mommy knows best.

They are my confidants, my colleagues, my family members and my heroes.

They are who I call when I break a nail, get a flat tire or happen to trip and fall into love.

They make me laugh, pick me up when I cry, spell check my press releases and remind
me I’m too old to shop at Abercrombie and Fitch.

They know I’m not a morning person, that crowds make me nervous
and that I could watch sappy movies all day long.

They aren’t afraid to tell me when I’m wrong or fight for me when I’m right.

Whether they live near or far, I don’t know where I would be without them.

Here’s to you ladies… You are truly the best.

If you haven’t, here is the low-down.

Inspired by the survivorship story of its Assistant General Manager, Marion Burch, Memorial City Mall has kicked off a month-long initiative to raise funds and awareness for the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund (OCRF). Yesterday marked the beginning of the mall’s  “Paint the Town Teal” event and it will continue until September 30. Teal is the color that symbolizes ovarian cancer and the mall is going to great measures to promote awareness. They’ve even painted teal ribbons on the ice skating rink!!

Here is where you come in. The mall is selling “Paint the Town Teal” bags stuff with amazing offers from various mall merchants; including Metropark, Radio Shack AND Chick-fil-a. The bags are adorable and sell for only $15, with proceeds benefiting the OCRF. If you live or work near MCM, stop buy Guest Services and buy one of your own.

The bags have many uses including, but not limited to:

• Environmentally friendly grocery shopping bag
• Tote for all of the random things you bring to work every day
• For the boys, they would make a great gift for your significant other or mom

Why is a mall going above and beyond to promote awareness of ovarian cancer? Ovarian cancer is a very silent and very deadly breed of cancer… in many women, it’s caught way too late for a total cure. Awareness of the disease is key to discovering it, because it doesn’t show up in your normal well-woman exam.

Marion was diagnosed with Stage IIIC ovarian cancer in August 2007 and continues chemotherapy to remain stable. She recently had her 37th round of treatment. She says, “We want to raise awareness so more women will recognize the symptoms and get diagnosed early. The main signs are easy to ignore — bloating, eating less and feeling fuller, abdominal pain, or trouble with your bladder — but, if they occur persistently for weeks, go to the doctor! Experts say that when caught in the initial stages, ovarian cancer has a much better chance of being cured.”

I am proud and humbled to have clients that do such amazing things.

What I discovered is that a simple definition does not cover my personal belief system. So after months of making lists in my notebook, scribbling all over the back of my church handouts and writing notes on meeting agendas as ideas come to me, this is the belief system that I prescribe to.

I believe in the power of friendship and the importance of a good support system. I believe in my mother and my sister and the strength they bring to my life. I believe in a loving God who is always there, even when I do my best to ignore him.

I believe that treasures are found in the most unlikely of places and that when you are open to them, they will find you.

I believe in the power of laughter and that cotton candy is always a great idea. I believe sometimes it’s better to cry than to pretend everything is perfect and I believe that when things seem like they can’t get any worse, an upswing is just around the corner.

I believe that one needs stillness from time to time to really think things through and that living a healthy lifestyle leads to clarity of mind. I believe in the power of a good hug and that you shouldn’t put too much stock in what fortune cookies tell you.

I believe in fairy tales and happily ever after and that I am living mine now.

That is the short list… and by no means complete.

I am still searching and would love to hear what things bring belief and meaning to your life… If it’s not cotton candy, what does it for you?

Thank you Flickr user Indrani Soemardjan for the beautiful image!

And you know what? I am really okay with that. So rather than going into a long rant about how much I suck at blogging, or making a promise to myself to blog more or even writing something thoughtful at all, I’m just going to tell you in a nice, neat, numbered list, what my life has looked like over the past two months.

1. I lost my happiness
2. so I quit my amazing job
3. I spent way too much time in my PJs
4. and watched too many sappy movies
5. but then I read a really amazing book about happiness
6. I started running again
7. and got organized
8. I spent a lot of time with my best friend Monica
9. which involved TONS of laughter
10. I started finding happiness all around me
11. and started wearing high heels again
12. And then out of the blue I got a wonderful job offer
13. I took it
14. and my first project was Mom2 (hooray!)
15. I changed a tire wearing a yellow dress
16. and fell in love with the Mom2 Crew all over again
17. I spent some time by a campfire
18. and did some more organizing
19. Today I woke up…
20. and discovered a peace in myself that I never knew existed

I would say that as tumultuous as they have been, the last two months have been two of the most AMAZING months of my life! And it all boiled down to figuring out how to solve my own problems… with a ton of help from my beloved friends of course.

And because this post wouldn’t be complete without it (and because it totally cracks me up every time I see it)…

Photo evidence of Jenny and I changing a tire in evening gowns. And in case there is any confusion, I totally stole this picture from Jenny’s blog. So I am Maggie and Me is Jenny… if that makes sense.

And because I think this post needs a picture of Jenny and I looking like ladies (ie, without our asses in the air), here is this one with she and I and Gwen that I love just as much as the tire-changing one.

And because why not? BANGS:

Make your own at www.merrynewsinator.com. It’s fast and fun!!