Category Archives: Uncategorized

Facebook Friend Friday

I love that little photo collage at the top of my facebook that highlights eight friends. Since all of the people on my facebook are “real” friends, I decided that I want to tell you about the collection as it appears this Friday.

First is the fabulous Brookie. Brooke was our first Mrs. Oklahoma International. I learned the ropes with her and we became so close. David and I refer to her and her equally fabu husband, Teddy, as our middle child as they fall in between Brandon and Geoff in age. Not only did we have a really fun year with Brookie, we got to know and love her guys: Teddy, her husband, and her Irish twins, Corbin and Ian. One of my very favorite memories of the Good family is when Brookie was giving up her crown at the 2008 pageant. Teddy escorted her on the stage and Corbin and Ian were waiting, each with a rose, backstage with Teddy’s sister. She was going to let them join Teddy and Brooke on the stage at the appropriate time. One of the boys, I can’t remember which, got ahead of the game and went out to join his parents on the stage. Teddy’s sister tried to get him back but I told her to let him go. Then the other boy got away and joined the rest of his family. He then took the hand of his brother and the Good’s did a ring around the rosie on stage. I have goosebumps while typing this. Sometimes you can’t script moments as good as that one was.

Next is Sara Sosnowski. Sara is an amazing cosmetologist who does my facials and pedicures. She also cuts David’s hair when we’re in Bartlesville. I’ve been seeing Sara since before she was married and now not only is she married, she’s having a baby! I can’t wait. I’m so excited for her and her husband. If you need spa services in Bartlesville, I cannot recommend Sara enough. I’m glad I can stay in touch with Sara via facebook now that we’ve left the ‘ville.

Oh Shannon Gallagher. How can I tell you how much she amazes me? I met her at the Bixby Heartlink women’s networking group. I was immediately fascinated and drawn to her because of what she does. Shannon is a Nutritionist/Phytotherapist (a modern day herbalist) who specializes in endocrine health which in turns controls the reproductive system. She’s been working in fertility for almost the entire time she’s been in this line of work. I am completely convinced that we should look at our health issues from a natural viewpoint instead of just dumping drugs on top of them as a bandaid. When I see that Shannon has helped another lady become pregnant, I want to cry with joy. Shannon is a positive and amazing woman with three cute little kiddos and a terrific chiropractor husband.

Mike Sheats is my cousin. It’s so funny because I believe the last time I saw Mike, he was 11 years old and David had to help get him off the roof of their house in North Carolina. We were 18 so you know how many years ago that’s been. I’m so happy to have connected with Mike on facebook. Now I can share in his life and the lives of his two super cute kiddos, Madison and Kyle. Yummy blonde goodness. They are CUTE!

I met Heather Dutcher when she was Mrs. Cleveland County International 2010. I was immediately drawn to her passion for her platform which was to help find a cure for pancreatic cancer. She called me to tell me that her dad had died of pancreatic cancer about the same time my mom’s ovarian cancer had re-emerged after the seven years which usually indicates an all clear diagnosis. I could totally relate to Heather’s loss as I was in the middle of something similar myself. Heather took her local title and ran with it. I was always amazed to watch my titleholders and see what they would do with their local titles and Heather’s path was impressive. The following year, little social media queen that she is, she did all of the social media for the pageant, relieving me of the responsibility. I love this girl so much and am so glad our paths crossed!

Well, Nikki Rottmayer. She’s the mother of our glambaby and beautiful wife of our son, Geoff.  I love her. She and I have had some good times living through the weird careers that our husbands have. I liked her from the first minute I met her and knew she would be perfect for Geoff. I’m glad he thought so, too! Nikki is fun, friendly and fabulous. 🙂

Jon Fisher is one of my very first twitter friends who has become an in real life friend. Through Jon, I met his amazing wife, Afton, and watched their little boy Cecil grow through the photos Afton posted every day on facebook. It’s always so funny to me how I love Cecil so much but have only seen him a handful of times. I think, “Oh Cecil! I’m so happy to see you!” and his look says, “STRANGER DANGER”. LOL! Jon is terrific and so funny. He’s a designer and I love that part, too. I’m so glad to know Jon and I love him and his little family.

Finally, there is Marilyn Davidson. I met her through the association the International Pageants has with the American Heart Association. Marilyn works at the capitol on issues that are important to the AHA. Through Marilyn, I met her husband, Myles, who is fabu. They are truly fun and friendly folks and now they have a cute little boy, Gibson. While I thought he was the image of Marilyn when he was born, the older he gets, the more he looks like his daddy. I love following his growing up on facebook, too.

Facebook kind of freaks me out at times. Because of this, the people who are my friends are really my friends. I hope you enjoyed this peek into my friends list. I love them. 🙂

Unintended

So you know I made a deal with my BFF’s husband to run a marathon next year. And I’ve been gearing up to start running again. But…I’ve been way too afraid to go out the door and run. I was afraid someone would laugh at me.

On Saturday, there was a run here, in Bartlesville. I hadn’t heard about it so I googled it when we got back from walking Boo Boo. Turns out it was even a 10k which used to be my favorite distance.

I looked at the map and I saw that it followed the Pathfinder north and behind the police station before ending up Downtown again. Hmmm. I have seen the Pathfinder but never really knew where to get on it.

When we were driving back from grocery shopping, I asked David if we couldn’t turn on the road that would take us to that spot on the race map and he did. Guess what? There’s an entrance to the Pathfinder with a parking lot and everything!

Suddenly…

I figured that if I went down to the Pathfinder to run, there would be way fewer people to see me. And that’s what I did today.

Today was supposed to be a recon mission. Check it out, see how it goes, who was there. I planned to walk and loaded a 60 minute Latin walking file onto my iPod. I planned to run tomorrow provided the Pathfinder was suitably empty.

When I turned on my iPod, it wasn’t the Latin walking workout, it was the Jeff Galloway 30/30 Run/Walk workout. So…I decided to go for it.

It went well! Yes, running feels weird at this weight. I haven’t run since 1999 and I was considerably lighter then. But the 30 seconds running alternating with 30 seconds of walking made it into a workout that I could do.

Wee hoo! I was so excited to run. I’m really going to run a marathon. But first up is The Color Run in June. 🙂

Have I mentioned I’m a bubblehead?

From this morning’s twitter feed:

Today, after driving home yesterday to Bartlesville to pick up UPS deliveries, I planned to pack the car and head back to Little Rock.

I wanted to get on the road early but that wasn’t to be as I discovered someone had tried to break into our big house and I had to get the storm door back in it’s frame as best as I could and make a police report.

I was starving. No breakfast. But I just couldn’t stand the thought of eating McDonalds again so I figured when I stopped for gas, I’d grab something a little healthier at Quik Trip. I almost pulled off to get gas in Owasso but there were four cars ahead of me pulling off and I just didn’t want to wait that long so I checked and figured I could get gas in Sand Springs.

I was going to Geoff and Nikki’s house in Sand Springs to pick up some of the office equipment that had been shipped back from Saudi. I pulled into the first Quik Trip after getting off the highway and that was when I realized I had no purse. As I thought about it, I could clearly see it laying on the couch where I had obviously forgotten to pick it up.

There I was an hour away from home, with no money and no driver’s license and no gas. Having never found myself in such a situation, I found myself paralyzed with indecision. I honestly had NO IDEA WHAT TO DO.

I called Nikki. I told her my predicament and she said they could buy gas for me so I could get back to Bartlesville. Whew!

I drove, carefully, to their house which was less than a mile away.

Isn’t it weird how not having your driver’s license can totally make you feel guilty? I drove down to Sand Springs without a care in the world and, yet, as I drove home, I felt like my car had GUILTY GUILTY GUILTY in flaming neon stamped all over it.

Add to that, on the way to Sand Springs, a guy in a silver car had cut me off. And then drove slower than I was when he got in front of me. I passed him again and then I noticed him coming up, fast, in the lane on my left. Followed by a Tulsa County Sheriff. Who eventually pulled him over.

And I laughed.

Driving home with no driver’s license, I was afraid that I was about to be the recipient of some karmic retribution.

I would be pulled over.

I would be that girl.

The arrested one.

I drove the one hour home, hands at 10 and 2, barely breathing. When I finally made it home, I gave a huge sigh of relief.

So I didn’t get arrested. I was proud, too. And relieved. I ran into the house, grabbed my purse and headed toward Little Rock.

I’m so happy to be here. I think I’ll hibernate for a while. 😉

Judging a book by its cover

Under the category of you learn something new every day, did you know that books have different covers in different countries?

I didn’t know this!

My friend, Beth Hoffman, who wrote my very favorite book Saving Cee Cee Honeycut has just had her book published in the United Kingdom.  I’m excited because now everyone in the UK gets the opportunity to read this awesome book.

As I congratulated Beth, she commented that the thing that has been so fun is seeing the covers that each new country chooses for her book. I asked her if she had a link to the covers produced so far and she showed me:

They are all very different and, yet, you can see how each cover relates to the story inside. Beth says she’s very curious to see what the books from Israel, Indonesia and Korea will look like. Me, too!

I thought this fact about the different book covers was interesting. I figured if I didn’t know they did this, other people might not know either. Also, it gives me a chance to share, once again, this awesome book. If you haven’t read it, I highly recommend it!

The anti Year in Review

I was reading a blog that I like called Addicted 2 Decorating. She did a year end Q&A about herself instead of doing a “2011 Year in Review”. I liked the idea so I’m thieving it. 🙂

Here goes!

  1. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE?
    I was named after the title song from the movie “Laura“. However, my mother always called me LauraSuzanneSheats when she was mad at me so I prefer to go by Lauri. Unless you’re mad at me, of course. It’s how I know. 😉
  2. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED?
    I cried last night when I learned that the daughter-in-law and first grandbaby of one of my twitter followers were having emergency surgery. If you don’t think you can love people you have never met, you’re wrong. While I knew the situation was in God’s hands, I cried for them because I know how that would make me feel if something happened to Nikki or Aniston. Mom and baby are fine, so you don’t worry.
  3. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING?
    I don’t like my handwriting. It’s hard to read and I get impatient with myself. Mostly I print. When I was in third grade, we moved halfway through the year. In the old school, we were just learning how to make cursive letters and in the new school they were already writing. So I faked it. LOL!
  4. DID YOU GO TO COLLEGE?
    Yep. I went to lots of colleges. Most of my college time was spent at Old Dominion University, though.
  5. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCH MEAT?
    I don’t like lunch meat. All that nitrite and nitrate stuff. Eeeuuwww.
  6. DO YOU HAVE KIDS?
    I have two awesome boys, Brandon and Geoff. Being their mom is the second best thing I’ve done in my life. The first best, being the wife of their father. 🙂
  7. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU?
    Yes, I’m wacky and fun. I like people like that.
  8. DO YOU USE SARCASM ALOT?
    Oooh I try so hard to keep the snark monster stuffed way down inside.
  9. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS?
    Nope. I had my tonsils taken out when I was 3. Two of my earliest memories are from that experience. One, I remember them waking me up with a mouse handpuppet and two, I remember standing in the bed and watching my dad walk by the door. He didn’t know which room I was in but I was afraid he wasn’t coming to see me. Wild, eh?
  10. HOW MANY U.S. STATES HAVE YOU VISITED?
    I haven’t been to Alaska, Maine, Connecticut, Rhode Island or Vermont. So that’s like, what? 52? 😉
  11. HOW MANY COUNTRIES HAVE YOU VISITED?
    21 – USA, Cuba, Netherlands, Hong Kong, Canada, Malaysia, Singapore, Fiji, Great Britain, France, Spain, Germany, Switzerland, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Egypt, UAE, Haiti, Mexico, Jamaica. I think that’s it. 🙂
  12. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP?
    Oh gee, I don’t know. I’d zip line for sure. Jump out of a plane, yes. But bungee jump, I just don’t know.
  13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL?
    Oh, I love cereal but I cannot eat it. It makes my stomach hurt really bad. But I love Frosted Shredded Wheat.
  14. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF?
    Only if I can’t get them off tied. 😉
  15. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG?
    I know I’m strong. It’s my role in life. LOL! The day I flipped the tire, I giggled all day long I was so tickled. 🙂
  16. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM?
    I really love mint chocolate chip ice cream. I don’t eat it a lot but when I think about ice cream, that’s the one I want.
  17. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE COLOR?
    I love turquoise. I call it turkwah. My designer, Juni, taught me that.
  18. WHAT IS YOUR LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF?
    I wish I didn’t have such thin skin. Most of the time, if someone says something terrible about me, I don’t care. But there are times when I do care more than I should. This is the reason I’ll never be president of the United States. If someone said something bad about me, I’d just become a puddle on the campaign trail.
  19. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST?
    I miss Brandon the most. (Happy Birthday, sweetie!)
  20. WHAT COLOR SHOES ARE YOU WEARING?
    No shoes. I love to look at them more than wear them. 😉
  21. WHAT WAS THE LAST THING YOU ATE?
    Mexican food from Mexicali Restaurant in Tulsa.
  22. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW?
    Ha! Kool & the Gang Radio, natch. 😉
  23. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE?
    Green. Then I’d match dollars and emeralds. 😉
  24. WHAT ARE YOUR FAVORITE SMELLS?
    I love the smell of jasmine and my perfume, Flower Bomb. Oh, and sheets washed in lavender detergent. And coffee.
  25. DO YOU PREFER THE PHONE OR E-MAIL?
    E-mail. I’m usually awake way earlier than other people and early in the morning is when I do a lot of my best thinking. Email doesn’t intrude. People can answer at their convenience.
  26. MOUNTAIN HIDEAWAY OR BEACH HOUSE?
    I love, love, love the beach!
  27. FAVORITE SPORTS TO WATCH?
    I love basketball and football. Those months where the two sports are both going on is the most wonderful time of the year.
  28. WHAT IS YOUR NATURAL HAIR COLOR?
    I was blonde as a child, tow headed. But as I got older, my hair got darker. It’s pretty dark these days. We add blonde highlights to hide the shiny hair. 😉
  29. WHAT IS YOUR EYE COLOR?
    Suede blue.
  30. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS?
    I do wear contacts because I’m vain. But since I got my new Rayban hipster glasses, I find myself wearing them more than my contacts.
  31. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE FOOD?
    My favorite food is a cheeseburger. I love them. Most especially with blue cheese but any kind of cheese will do.
  32. DO YOU PREFER SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS?
    I love comedies. I’m not a big movie watcher. I need to be completely entertained or I’ll fall asleep in the dark.
  33. LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED?
    I can’t even remember!
  34. WHAT COLOR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING?
    White. That doesn’t happen often.
  35. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE SEASON?
    I love spring or fall. Any time I can have the windows open with a cool breeze. I’d rather have summer than winter.
  36. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE DESSERT?
    Cake. I love it. I love to bake it and eat it. And talk about it. And wish for other people to eat it. hee hee
  37. DO YOU PREFER THE COMPUTER OR TELEVISION?
    I rarely watch TV. I watch sports and news but when David isn’t home, the TV isn’t on much at all.
  38. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING NOW?
    I’m reading Son of Stone by Stuart Woods. Love the Stone Barrington books!
  39. WHAT IS ON YOUR MOUSE PAD?
    I use a placemat. It seems to have just the right texture.
  40. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE SOUND?
    I love the sound of laughter. Anyone’s laughter. It’s contagious and it makes me happy.
  41. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE KIND OF MUSIC?
    I like all kinds of music except rap and country. I’ve been listening to Kool & the Gang Radio on Pandora for about a week now. It makes me uber happy.
  42. WHAT IS THE FARTHEST YOU HAVE BEEN FROM HOME?
    I think Fiji since it’s on the other side of the equator and the International date line. But I’ve been to Malaysia, too. Not sure which is further.
  43. WHERE WERE YOU BORN?
    I was born in Rockford, IL.
  44. WHAT COLOR IS YOUR HOUSE?
    The Garage Mahal is white with a forest green roof.
  45. WHAT KIND OF CAR DO YOU DRIVE?
    I drive a black Jeep Commander. It’s invisible. 😉

So there you go. More than you ever wanted to know about me.

I wish you and yours a very happy and successful 2012! I know ours will be exciting. It always is. 🙂

Just be yourself

Last night while I waited for David to get close to Tulsa so I could go pick him up, I was perusing my twitter stream. This is what I saw:

First I saw my friend Erin Patrick say that it takes courage to become who you really are. I barely even had time to let that roll around in my brain when I looked further down and saw my friend Bernice’s tweet about letting go of perfection.

And it hit me.

That was when I finally had the courage to be who I was always meant to be. When I finally let go of perfection.

No one is perfect but I spent so many, almost tortured, years of my life trying to be just that. It was only when I finally realized I wasn’t, and would never be, perfect that I was able to be me.

And guess what? I like me! 🙂

If you struggle with trying to be perfect all the time, you might want to read Bernice’s blog post. It’s good.

One of my favorite songs is The Middle by Jimmy Eat World. Some of the best words are:

Live right now, yeah, just be yourself
It doesn’t matter if it’s good enough for someone else

True, true, true!

Take it from me, letting go of the stress of feeling like you need to be perfect is such a relief. And it gives you the courage to be who you’re really meant to be.

Now go forth and be you! 🙂

I hate everything about you

If you’ve read this blog much at all, you know how much music is a part of my life. There is always music on in the car and I always sing along.

When the kids were small, they’d join in.

Today, I was driving to Tulsa and the song (I Hate) Everything About You by Ugly Kid Joe came on the radio. I love that song. It’s fun. :-)

Now you wouldn’t think a song about hating someone could be fun but the tune is bouncy, the lyrics are catchy, there is maniacal laughter and different sorts of vocal changes in it.

When I hear the song now, I literally laugh out loud.

The reason? The song was popular in 1992. Brandon was 10 and Geoff was 9. We sang it loud, word for word, in the car, on the way to…

church.

OMG!

What kind of a mother was I?

It’s this that makes me laugh. But we had fun. And we didn’t mean it. We just liked the fun.:-)

Heaven is a bed

So if you’ve known me for, oh say, an hour or so you will know how I feel about the beds they have at the Doubletree hotels.

We started staying regularly at the Doubletree when I started directing the Mrs. Oklahoma International pageant. The Mrs. International Pageant is held every July at the Northshore Performing Arts Center in Skokie and the host hotel is the Skokie Doubletree.

A couple of years ago, we got a new bed. We decided on memory foam because David and I had done a mystery shop on the Sleep Number bed and had the same sleep number. So that didn’t seem like the bed we should get. I was so looking forward to the memory foam.

That lasted for one night sleeping on it. It hurt me. Seriously, it’s like sleeping on a brick in my opinion. I feel bruised (on my collarbone!) some mornings when I wake up. David likes it and can’t see what I’m complaining about.

Shortly after we got the memory foam bed, it was pageant time. I got to Chicago, slept one night on the Sweet Dreams® bed at the Doubletree. I called David the next day and told him it was SO heavenly. He wrote it off to the fact that we had just driven 12 hours to get to Chicago and I was extra tired. I told him he was wrong.

I was waxing rhapsodic about the bed the next day and the bellman, John, said, “You know you can buy one for your house?” Oh! I can????? He gave me the web address and I looked at it and began my campaign for the Doubletree mattress of my own.

David’s argument was that we had just spent quite a bit of money on the memory foam mattress that was a mere 30 days old.

I added a second pillow top to the existing pillow top.

Another year went by, I went to Chicago, and asked David for the Doubletree bed with renewed ferver.

David reminded me that the memory foam was only a year old.

I added a feather bed.

There was now so much stuff on top of the mattress to try and make it soft that I could barely get the sheets down over the corners. I felt like the Princess and the Pea.

David was out of the country for six months. He recently came back and had meetings in Little Rock. Although they had arranged a hotel for him, we decided that if we could get Boo Boo into Doc Davis’ Doggy Sleep Away Camp a day early, we’d go over and stay a night at the Doubletree.

We got Boo in and I made my reservation, using my Hilton Honors points. I requested an Executive Queen room and prepared for our trip. I was ridiculously excited to go and be just David and me in Little Rock, a place I’d never been before. The highlight, of course, sleeping on the fabu Doubletree bed.

I tweeted about it as I tweet about everything. I couldn’t contain my excitement about the visit to the Doubletree in Little Rock. In a little bit, I started receiving tweets from @doubletreelr. I didn’t even know they had a twitter account.

She asked if I wanted a city or river view. I didn’t even care. As long as there was a bed in the room, I was going to be happy. Then she asked and offered eating and sightseeing recommendations. Wowza! Seriously, I was beyond impressed. On any visit to the Doubletree, I’m just so happy to sleep on the bed that the free cookie seems like the max in great customer service.

We got to Little Rock after dark.

When we opened the door to our room, I saw a staircase. What?!?!

I had seen this room online when I was choosing which room we wanted to book and I knew it was a double story suite. Holy moly!

It was amazing. There was a gift basket on the table. David said, well this room comes with a gift basket. He went to look at it and was surprised that the gift basket had my name on it.

As we explored the gorgeous suite, David said, “Wow, I think I need to travel with you more often.” That made me smile. 🙂

The suite overlooked the river which was awesome. As you know, the one thing I miss about living in Florida or Chicago is the water.

But the highlight of the room was most certainly the awesome Doubletree bed!

We wandered down the street for dinner because the hotel restaurant had a 45 minute wait.  I loved the downtown at night. Everything was dressed up for Christmas.

The next morning, we had breakfast in the hotel. I had some fabu pancakes because you know, no road trip is complete without pancakes!

We then wandered around the downtown again, visiting the Old State House Museum before leaving for the next hotel, also a Hilton Hotel but not the Doubletree.

Many, many thanks to Mary Speed, Guest Services Manager for this amazing surprise and fabulous experience. I talked to the staff at the hotel and they love Mary. So, as well as having amazing beds, it’s clear that the Doubletree Little Rock is a great place to work.

I can’t wait for the next time we can go to Little Rock and stay in the Doubletree. If they were pet friendly, we’d be there every time!

P.S. As soon as I know we are going to be here long enough to receive it, I’m getting my own Doubletree bed for our house! I finally convinced David! 🙂

I’m a Muppet

We’ve been traveling with David. We missed him so much while he was gone that we want to be with him every minute that we can.

We are back in Little Rock and staying at the Studio Plus. David recommended that we bring our own towels because you don’t get the same towel service at Studio Plus that you get at a regular hotel.

I had just bought some beautiful new navy blue towels since most of our towels are still packed up in the PODS container.

I had washed them all once. I have to wash everything before I wear or use it.

Today, I used one of these fabu blue towels to dry off with and instantly became a Muppet.

Blue Muppet? Grover or Cookie Monster? I identify most with Cookie. 🙂

Yes, I had navy blue fuzz all over. And it wasn’t easy to get off!

It was really funny, if a little irritating, and I got to laughing pretty hard.

I tweeted about it and posted it to facebook. Where I got the best laughs of all. 🙂

Now, that the laughs are over, I’m left with this Muppetational mess

and no broom to sweep it up with.

When we leave on Saturday, I hope the maid doesn’t think we killed Cookie Monster! 😉