Ever heard of a “boom mic”?

Every movie, commercial, media event you ever watched employed someone to hold one. The person holding said mic would be fired if you ever caught sight of the microphone or the “boom operator”…so if you have never heard of this contraption, don’t worry. They are meant to go unnoticed.

Boom operators are usually of this variety…

Even though I yoinked these photos from the world wide web, having been on a few sets I speak from experience: The beautiful people tend to be IN FRONT of the camera and the lesser mortals BEHIND the camera.

But every now and again

the laws of the universe are challenged

&

the BABES

are

behind the camera

firmly gripping

the

BOOM MIC!

I rest my case!

Yo, Brynn – you gotta send me a picture of you with the boom mic! So that I can make this collection COMPLETE, yo!

Peace out.

(yo)

BTW, While I am on the topic I would like to add that  I love my sisters A LOT! Including the ones who are not holding boom mics but are currently holding tiny wee babes, named Gabe.

Of

Life without dad.

Jan is on the other side of the world.

We miss him.

During the last trip he took, the girls and I sent him this photo of us. We discovered photo booth and took a billion pictures of ourselves.

The black and white photos were taken at the beginning of his trip.

Here we are a few days later, in bed

No longer smiling I resemble a zombie!

Here is how it works at our house:

I have all the dates for Jan’s out of town travels on my calendar. I acknowledge I am a wimp. I know that there are women who are perpetually without their menfolk, but I have gotten used to having my man around and I dread when he goes away. You see, I am not very nice when he is gone – dang it! I am just a tired, beat up, pathetic figure.

So you can imagine how I felt last week when, out of the blue, Jan got an email saying that he was needed in Asia.

BOO! HISS! is what my heart said, but I smiled and my mouth said, “You gotta do what you gotta do.”

Today I came downstairs from putting this person down for a nap

On my computer I found a million N E W photos of Millie – which she had taken while I was putting Clara to bed. Here is a sampling of what was waiting for me on my screen –

The question is this:

WHO WILL WIN?

Me

or

them?

currently they are beating me 2:1, we had pizza for dinner and sometimes I just have to sit down and whimper

Come home soon, Mr. Dawson

b/c

“you help me so much”.

Here we are, early morning – bubble gum popping!

(This was on only four hours of sleep the night before — I was dying to find an activity that would allow me to be horizontal!)

EXTREME SPORT, Dawson style is UPSIDE DOWN bubble gum popping.

(photos courtesy of Millie Dawson)

Currently my mom is at my sister’s house caring for her and her family. You see, baby Gabe just made his earthly debut and they all need a little “grandma action”. New babies and grandmas just go together so nicely. Like peanut butter and jelly! Fred Astaire and Ginger! Milk and cookies!

Apparently Grandma was having a long talk with Khali in which they were plotting a dream trip when Khali and Millie will be old enough to travel alone to Grandma’s for a sleepover, just the three of them!

Grandma asked Khali, “If you could go anywhere in the whole world, where would you go?”

Khali thought long and hard and then said,

“DUNKIN’ DOUGHNUTS!”

Right then and there Grandma and Khali started truly plotting — to make her dream come true (grandma admitted to me that she too was very excited to get a doughnut).

When we heard about their plan to go to DD today before Khali had to be at school – we decided we would go too! To Dunkin’ Doughnuts, that is…

T’was marvelous!

(mmmm! doesn’t this tempt you to go there yourself? Nothing like a “gut bomb” covered in pink frosting and rainbow sprinkles first thing in the morning, says I)

(I’m currently on a diet — no really! I am! I just pretended to eat that…I bit, but “I didn’t inhale” – I swear!)

We love you Khali and Grandma and hope your doughnuts tasted as good as ours!

Here’s to you and here’s to the mighty

(photos courtesy of Jan’s iphone)

The other day Millie called out to me,

“Mom! You’ll never find me!”

I just love how Millie’s little “side kick” must also get in on the action!

My mom has this crazy spoon – it is over 10 years old, dark wood, and has only half of a bowl.

She loves her spoon.

It is like the Velveteen Rabbit of spoons. It is the most used and the most beloved of all the spoons in my mom’s kitchen. All the other spoons must be jealous.

The other night I was in my kitchen cooking and thinking of my mom and her spoon. I don’t know why — but as I thought of this spoon I got really emotional. Do you ever make yourself cry just thinking about what it would be like to loose your mom? I do this every so often, try to imagine my life without her, and I make myself hysterical (even now as I type this I am getting tearful).

I thought,”If that spoon is still around when mom dies, I am going to ask for it.”

(as I wiped tears from my eyes)

“I will take it home and cherish it.”

Then, as I was stirring some batter,

GUESS WHAT?

The spoon I was using BROKE

& now I have a spoon

JUST LIKE MOM’S!

How random is that?

Random enough to blog about, says I!

FYI:

The girls have already discovered it and put it to good use!

I know, I know – yet another collage!

I just discovered Picasa – I will tire of this soon, bear with me.

The other day Millie and Clara were hanging out in Clara’s room – taking books off the shelf and “reading”.

As I watched them potter about it struck me that this was one of those wonderful moments where they were happy, and enjoying this simple activity together and so I grabbed the camera and did my best to capture it.

(I realize this is a bit on the small side, but if you click on it you can see it bigger and get a better sense of it.)

Dear recent celebrators of birthdays in the month of January,

In case you come around here looking for your tribute and you cannot find it. If you read this, it will remind you where you can find it.

Due to your wonderfulness  these tributes are LONG and so I only keep my immediate family’s tributes up on the main page (even tributes for my beloved in-laws are kept in this new spot).  Please know that you are still loved and adored. Just in a different spot of my blog.

P.S. Chas lest you think that I have forgotten your birthday, I have not! I have been much consumed with documenting your recent nuptials and hence, focusing my efforts on your wedding. I hope that is okay with you.

I am on a mission.

My mission involves two specific colors:

cobalt blue

&

mustard yellow

WHY?

Because 10 days from today my little brother is marrying this goddess of a bride to be,

And I for one, would like to please her.

(I so enjoy pleasing a beautiful goddess, don’t you?)

She picked cobalt blue and mustard yellow as her wedding colors. Aren’t they fun? I love them!

Because I am me, I cannot be content to just look for something for myself. OH, NO! I must outfit the entire wedding party. So dear sisters and sisters-in-law (and sisters of my future sister-in-law) if you see something you like here let me know and it shall be thine.

Here is what I have come up with so far.

These two sweaters from Ann Taylor (on a super sale)

Any takers? I was thinking of Brynn, Allison or Tess…

Now, Sam – I know that gray is neither cobalt blue nor yellow – but as the groom will be in gray I thought that a little gray chucked into the mix will not mess with things too much – at least I hope this will be the case, cuz my dress is gray, and so are the flower girls dresses (if you’ll recall)

I found this necklace. Mom, you have any interest in this puppy?

Found these gloves at J. Crew for $12.00. I was planning on wearing these, but can get more if anyone has interest in them. There was also a matching scarf. Any takers?

Ah, the ELECTRIC BLUE tights – got these for $6.00. I don’t think I can pull these off (or on for that matter). But I thought that maybe Betta or Rosie might just have the sort of fashion daring to make these work. Again, if more than one person wants these, I can get more.

I think that I am going to wear this head band, as modeled by the lovely Millie.

On a side note, check this out – does not this mustard yellow frame look perfect with your engagement photo, dear Sam and Chas?

It is placed right here, on my desk so that I might look upon it on a regular basis. It fills me with J O Y!

The end.

For now.

*

*

Just kidding there is a P.S. to this post as well.

Brynn, looksies what I finally got for you –

Those herringbone tights!! Only I paid around 7 dollars for them (they were 30% of 9.99, suckaz!) I will bring them out with me when we see you next weekend.

Are you thinking what I am thinking? ANOTHER birthday tribute?! But wait. This one is for my dear, kind, sweet sister-in-law, ALLISON.  That name may ring a bell, she has been mentioned once or twice on this blog. She is one of the best people I know so I would like to celebrate her in classic Dawesome fashion and give her a right old birthday shout out.

There are some very obvious things that I could say about Allison.

Allison is a love. If I were only able to pick one word to describe her the word would be: love. She loves people in a deep and abiding way.  You can feel that when you are with her. Love beams out of her and lands on all those people she comes in contact with.

She is beautiful. And the crazy part is that every time I see her she just seems to get more and more beautiful.

She is kind. There are few people I know who are as kind as Allison. She is determined to see the best in people and in situations. She never says unkind things about people. Now this isn’t to say that she doesn’t object to certain things – she does, it is just that she has something I totally and utterly lack – the ability to keep it to herself. Once I showed her something I knew she wouldn’t be cool with. And I could see on her face that she didn’t like it AND YET she kept her cool and didn’t say anything. I was amazed, still am! She doesn’t find any pleasure in criticism. I can see her cringe when my family starts to pick a movie apart. If it is a movie she loves I sometimes worry that we are picking apart her heart.

Which brings me to the next thing I love about Allison. She is a truly devoted friend, daughter and wife. If she pledges herself to a person or a cause – she defends that person or cause with gusto. Alli, remember the time when I said that I thought that Fenway was a superior ball park to Yankee stadium? It was as if I had uttered blasphemy! She is a Yankee fan, true blue, and she couldn’t believe I would say such a thing! Meanwhile, Ian, also devoted to the team – smiled from ear to ear.  She devotes herself fully to those things she loves and believes in. Her devotion is most beatifully manifested in her relationships. She is deeply devoted to her husband.When she and Ian wed, we used to constantly tell her how much she improved Ian – how she made him a better man. But instead of flattering her this made her upset. When she married Ian she saw the man – but we still saw the little boy that we’d grown up with. The one who convinced Brynn that if she didn’t bring him cinnamon toast he might die. She just hated if we ever said anything about Ian being less than awesome! Guess what, she was right to demand, in a loving way, that we change our tune! As she saw the very best in Ian we could see it too!  She was right.

She is also devoted to her family and to her God. She loves, loves, loves her parents and her siblings.

She has got class. True class. She was raised beautifully by her parents – for example she always washes her hands before she eats anything and loves vegetables – but Allison’s class goes beyond a fantastic and careful upbringing – Allison has got class in the deepest part of her heart. She exudes the same kind of loveliness that Audrey Hepburn had – beauty mingled with a love of humanity and a heart that longs to help those around her. THAT is Allison.

She is a bright person. She gets straight “As” – and works very hard to get them, but she makes it seem like it really isn’t that big of a deal. She takes these impossible classes and tests and gets the highest marks in the class. HUH? I say to myself, how does she do it? She does it with that wonderful brain and killer work ethic of hers.

She is responsible. Just curious, what were you doing when you turned 21? I’ll tell you what Allison was up to: Married at 19 and mother of the ward at 21! Ian was called to be the bishop about two and a half years ago, the day after his 26th birthday. And there, right by his side, was Allison, radiating goodness and light. She was not out partying like many young women her age, Allison was going to nursing school full time and supporting her husband as the wife of the bishop – while serving in four other church callings. Not to brag, but she is off the charts and – did I mention? – is MY sister-in-law, cough, cough.

She is earnest and sincere. Very, very sincere.  I don’t think she has a cynical bone in her entire body. (This is her watching Milo and Otis with Millie and Nikki – I rest my case!)

She is grateful. She appreciates things. Once when we gave her a pair of pillow  “shams” for her birthday she was so excited she exclaimed, “Shams? Shams! I LIVE for shams!!” Allison is like a little kid in her ability to enjoy and appreciate. She loves life. She has fun. She sings along to music in the car, she skips down the street, she loves and lives life fully and intentionally!

She also LOVES food. She really appreciates good food – but most remarkable of all, when she feels full she STOPS eating. Even if what she is eating is really, really good. Every time she does this I marvel. I the person who cannot stop. One of the first things my mom said about her was, “I love this girl! She really appreciates her food.” It is true she does!

This is a really big birthday for Allison.

This is the year when her life will change forever.

This is the year when she will become a mother.

I am very excited for Allison to be a mom. I believe that she was born to do this. She is so kind and so nurturing. I have total confidence in her. All that love she possesses will now be channeled to the tiny human being who will be blessed to call her their, “mom.”

I am looking forward to watching this incredible world open up to you and see what you do with all the challenges and opportunities that motherhood will afford you.

Happy, happy birthday, dear sis (in-law). I sure do love ya!

P.S. She makes a mean tuna melt. Just sayin’.