Top Ten: What's Goin' On.

Good morning, friends. It's Sunday morning and I figured I'd start it out with a nice little top ten to bring you to speed with what's swirling through my head today.

But before I do? Look at what I've been listening to! My Cicada Ladies CD!

My friend Sister Moon's daughter is in that group and plays a mean mandolin.

Yay.

Read more if you dare.

THE TOP TEN THINGS I'M THINKING ABOUT 

OVER MY COFFEE THIS MORNING.

Like to hear it? Here it go!


#10  Fifty Shades of . . . Heeeey!

Am I the only one that did NOT get the memo that this book was . . . blushing. . .pornographic? Eh hem. Yeah. How come or better yet WHY COME nobody told me this before I downloaded all THREE books and innocently started reading the first one?

Dude.

I was sitting in the hair salon like. . ."What the. . wait. . . .did he just. . . . hold up. . . .did she just. . . .awww hells naw. . .did he just. .  . . awwww damn!"

Seriously, America? Seriously? NY Times Bestseller? Man.

0_0

And yes. I did indeed complete the first book. I gave it a chance and read it all the way through. And it's not the freaky-deaky-ness of the book that makes me question the NY Times Bestseller status. It's just. . . . just.. . . uhh. . .yeah.

Who's read this? NerdGirl? Somebody? Anybody? I need y'all to weigh in.

Oh. And if you HAVEN'T heard what the Fifty Shades trilogy of books is about consider yourself warned. Blindfolds, whips, and paddles are involved. Just saying.


#9  First Day of Cool.

Tomorrow is the first day of school. I was notified by my son Isaiah that rolling backpacks are NOT cool. To quote him, "SO not cool, Mom."

I notified him that working hard and doing well is MAD cool. I'm talking cooler than a polar bear's toenails.

He said he'd see what he could do.

#8  Bedside Baptist

Just nudged the BHE to start getting ready for church. He asked me if we could please just go to "Bedside Baptist" today?

That's our code for sleeping in: Bedside Baptist. Where Reverend Pillow will preach directly into your ear and Deacon Sheets will lay hands on you.

Heh.

That's terrible, isn't it? (Don't answer that, Sister Moon!)

#8 Give me MO.

Even though the brother isn't on team USA, I was pretty hyped to see Mo Farah from the UK win those two gold medals for the 10,000 and the 5,000. I never thought watching a long distance running race could excite me. Curiously, that is exactly what happened.

Congratulations to Mo Farah. And congratulations to NBC for pulling out the violins, telling me all about him in full dramatic splendor and then sucking me in to root for him.

Hollering, "Go Mo! Go Mo!" at two a.m. after waking up on your couch from what you fell asleep on earlier is SO not cool. (So don't tell Isaiah.)

***

Had to take a break to live my life. The rest of this top ten involves the things on my mind on a Sunday early evening.

***

#7  Body Dysmorphism

I took the kids to the pool a lot in the last few weeks. No. I don't have a weight problem, but I actually have rather full thighs for my size. So you know how crazy we women can get about our body parts, right? Well. Confession: Instead of looking in the mirror and seeing thunder thighs, I have tricked myself into believing that I am really the body double for the bad-ass Alyson Felix. And I'm saying. If you run 200 meters faster than anybody else in the world then of course your thighs need to be strong. This is what I tell myself.

Mmm hmm.

I kid you not. Since I don't spend a lot of time dogging myself out, sometimes the pendulum swings too far. I was SO Alyson Felix at the pool today. Down to the ripped abs and guns. Dare you to challenge me on it.


#6  Bedside Baptist--Again.

The kids and I went on to church this morning and the BHE stayed back. We did our regular ritual of hitting The Waffle House and then came on home. By the time I walked in, Harry was chilling on the couch watching recaps of the Olympics. He looked very well rested and seemed to be in high spirits.

"What was Reverend Pillow talking about today?" I asked him with a wink.

"Aww man. He preached a good word. Right into this ear right here," he replied. (Pointed at his right ear.)

Heh.

Rule in our house: No making anybody feel bad about a church bye-week. Period. Unless you're a child. Then you just have to do what we say and you don't get bye-weeks by choice.

#5 Mexico versus Brazil.

Now. Normally I would have absolutely no stake in this whatsoever. But seeing as my son Isaiah is a self-described "soccer kid" AND I have many good friends with close connection to Mexico. . . I was rooting for Mexico to get the gold.

So yeah. I watched and even shouted what my friend the profesora in Pittsburgh texted me before the game: "Vamos Mexico!"

And they won! Yay!

***

The last four items are simply photographs that captured moments that make me happy.

#4 Work-life balance.

Last Saturday in a neighborhood park.

#3 Small Group Family Photo 2012 with SG Beta and SG Gamma. 

My house. Two weeks ago.

(Plus my two original small group members, Isaiah and Zachary. And minus Mark G. who couldn't make it.)

And just for old time's sake, here's our family photo from 2007 with SG Alpha and then from 2009 with SG Alpha and SG Beta. 

I'm officially lame -- my house hasn't changed a bit. Ha!

My small group students look so comfortable in my home because they are truly a part of my family. I love that this is a part of our curriculum at Emory. I really, really do.

#2  Oh, what a day!

This is a photo from a lecture I gave early one Tuesday morning a couple of weeks ago. The BHE and I mixed up our schedules so childcare was a bust. Harry's thing was less kid-friendly than mine so that meant heading to the hotel with Things 1 and 2 in tow. 

Lucky for me my boys are awesome troopers.

(And even luckier that they had portable electronics to keep them quiet during Mommy's boring lecture on "Neurology for the Internist.") 

They even went to the polls to vote that day, too!

Best. Kids. Ever.

#1  -  Way to spend the afternoon before the first day of school.

This SO made me wish I had my friend Mark's camera and not my iPhone 4 (no-S) to capture this lazy brotherly love moment in my friend Tracey's hammock today.

They were just chatting away. Talking about school starting and whether or not people in the Olympics do that as their "main job" or not.  They really got into that Olympic part, too. It was really funny.

Then they just sat there in silence. Chilling and wishing the summer wasn't about to end.

I don't blame them.

***

Happy Sunday, y'all.

Now playing on my mental iPod. . . . The Cicada Ladies playing live music and giving a shout-out to teachers and public education on the day before my kids return to it! Check it out!