The Love Buzz (I mean Prom) Challenge

It's that time of year - Prom Season! Because prom at good ol' DTHS always seemed to fall on Mother's Day weekend, the coming of that holiday reminds me that prom is just around the corner ... shows where my priorities are, huh? What's even more sad is I've been bugging our babysitter for literally months to find out whether or not she's got her prom dress yet :) I just want to live vicariously through her!

Since my high school days, I have always loved prom. I think mostly it was the chance to put on a fancy dress, get my hair done, ride in a limo, and feel like an adult for one evening that was so alluring to me. In fact, I remember prom buzz started at DTHS shortly after we all returned from Christmas break. Accordingly, I had to make a game plan to ensure I had a date for this all-important-of-dances because I sure as heck wasn't going if I didn't have one. And this wasn't easy for me because, let's face it, I was neither "cool" or a knock-out. In fact, I was probably more cynical and sarcastic back then than I am now and was in a lot of ways a tomboy (I had a strict anti-dress policy). Both attributes are big turn on's for guys, trust me. Thankfully God showed mercy on this pathetic soul and provided me with dates for both my Junior and Senior Proms (ironically, both named Tim).

Neither of my prom experiences disappointed either. I had a total blast with my dates and the friends I went with. I find that even now that the prom season of my life is more than a decade behind me, I still enjoy this time of year. In fact, I like going to the fancier restaurants here in San Antonio on Friday and Saturday nights during prom season just to see all the kids (literally) in their prom attire. (Yeah, get that DTHS friends, proms here don't include a meal!).

I already hope Morgan will enjoy getting dressed up for her prom like I did. My mom was never one to take lots of pictures or go over the top with the "oh'ing" and "ah-ing" of high school dances, but prom time was different with her. She seemed to enjoy taking me and my sisters dress shopping and helping us get all dolled up. I'm pretty sure I'll be amped up about 10 times that with Morgan. Poor girl ... I hope she'll be ready :)

Okay, okay, so I titled this "The Love Buzz Challenge" and you're probably dying for me to get to the point already, huh? (Sorry, I needed to take the detour down memory lane to help set the mood.) Well, what I want is for us all to dig through our old photo albums and find our prom pictures and post them ... on your blog or on Facebook, wherever. And while you're at it, post a memory and/or story or two about your prom experiences. I'm sure there are some wickedly bad (and therefore funny) prom stories out there too :) Let's not be bashful friends! Once you've done this, please post in my comment section so I can check it out ... and if you're brave, leave your blog address there so all my other "fans" can take a gander! (Health Careers, don't you let me down!)

Oh, and about the term "Love Buzz" - it was the theme of one of my Proms. Amanda, as one of our class officers, maybe you can explain how this came about?? All I know is it was a Nirvana song ... and I only know that because I googled it :)

Alright, I'm off to search for my prom pics! Can't wait to see what you all come up with. -B

Duck Tape's 2007 "Stuck at Prom" Scholarship Winners

It's a problem when your (male) date's skirt is shorter than your's.

I'm sure the guy on the right is adorned in a white sheet nowadays.
And his confederate girlfriend/wife is probably now wearing
too-tight Daisy Dukes chasing six kids around their trailer home.

Um ... yeah. There are no words.

NYC 09

Two weeks ago JD and I spent a long four day weekend in NYC to celebrate our five year anniversary. What made it especially great was that Morgan stayed behind with Grandpa and Grandma Schlueter (thanks Dad & Mom) and did wonderfully (so now we know we can do this again!). JD had visited NYC on a few previous occasions, but it was my inaugural trip. And choosing to visit in the spring was a good choice.

There is just SO much to see in this city. We tried to scratch the surface by hitting the "must-see's", but even still we know there is so much more we would've liked to do. Our feet definitely told us each evening that we had seen a lot -- we did a ton of walking! I won't go through all the places we visited. Like I said if it's on your "must-see" list, we probably saw it. One exception: The Met. We're not big museum folk, and we couldn't justify the expense of time it would've taken away from other things we wanted to see.

We did see the Statue of Liberty from the Staten Island Ferry (which is free and also offers great views of the lower Manhattan skyline). Next trip I think we'd add a boat trip out to the island to see Lady Liberty up close and personal ... and take the side tour to Ellis Island as well.

And, of course, I had the obligatory slab of New York style pizza and a Gray's Papaya hotdog (Ness, remember those from "Fools Rush In"?) :)

One of our favorite experiences was seeing "Wicked" on Broadway - a truly fun twist on the story of the Wicked Witch in the Wizard of Oz. However, it was in purchasing our tickets for this show that we learned our credit card information had been stolen and used with out our permission. This was a definite downer. Thankfully, our bank caught it and cancelled our cards to protect us from further theft.

We experienced a few other disappointments along the way as well. One included not being able to see into the construction site where the WTCs once stood. Obviously the construction is due to erection of the 9/11 Memorial. We were just bummed it was completely walled off from view.

Deficient customer service was another bruise on the Big Apple. With very limited exceptions, we were treated poorly. It often seemed that servers at restaurants existed merely to take your order and bring you your initial drink -- and then they expected a good tip for this! Even our hotel management when told that someone on their staff may have stolen our credit card information seemed to act like "So? What do you want us to do about it?" Honestly, I've been treated better in France -- and they are openly rude to Americans -- than I was by New Yorkers. For real.

So all in all, it was a good trip with a few blemishes. Jonathan and I really enjoyed our chance to get away as a couple. Even after having Morgan in our lives for just 19 months, we realize how much we need to get away and just be us. And I'm glad to have checked NYC off my list of "Places to Go." To all my Midwestern friends, don't worry - Chicago is still my favorive U.S. city :)

Central Park

Strawberry Fields, Tribute to John Lennon.
I wouldn't be a good Beatles fan if I didn't include this.
But no, I didn't leave the flowers ... I'm not that weird.

A view of the cement jungle (as Jonathan called it)
from Top of the Rock (Rockefeller Center).
The depth to the layers upon layers of buildings is amazing.

One of only three pictures taken of us together on this trip.

View of Central Park (all 5o blocks of it) from Top of the Rock.

Atlas

The hub-bub of Grand Central Station.

One of Jonathan's favorite pics taken at Grand Central Station.
He was the cameraman for the majority of the trip.

View of Our Lady from the Staten Island Ferry.

Like I said, JD had the camera most of the time
so there are a lot of shots of me.

Brooklyn Bridge

Yep, it's still New Year's Eve 2009 in Times Square.

My recent favorite pic

We just got some of the digital images from Kel & Jess' wedding, and so far, this is one of my favorites. The photographer, a friend of Jess', snagged this shot of Morgan and JD as they arrived. And here's a pic of the happy couple for good measure...

The Golf Pro

But which one is it?

Nothing Like The Feeling...

...of the wind in your hair. One of Morgan's newest thrills. Love it. Love her. Love the smiles and giggles that accompany it.

Look at that tornado of hair!

Strategery

As usual, I'm a bit behind in my blogging. Easter for us was a bit of blur of a weekend as we had a lot going on. I helped host my fourth baby/bridal shower in five months the Saturday before. Then Easter Sunday morning our church held its service at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater, the property that we are in the process of purchasing. It was an awesome service and cool glimpse of what things will be like in the future! From church, we made a quick trip up to Fredericksburg to celebrate with Jonathan's family. At Great Grandpa and Grandma Schlueter's, we set up Morgan's first egg hunt in their back yard. We thought this would be a better location than out at the ranch house where Morgan may have picked up sheep poop instead :) I was a bit skeptical that Morgan would catch onto the gist of the egg hunt, but the girl got it from the get-go and wasn't ready for it to end ... until she discovered that there were treats inside the eggs! Thankfully, this year she was satisfied with animal crackers, goldfish, and raisins as her treats. I get the feeling next year she'll be demanding candy :) Daddy was already disappointed that there wasn't candy in her eggs ... poor guy wanted a part of the action!

After that, I had three days to get the three of us packed up - for Morgan to head to Grandpa and Grandma Schlueter's and for Jonathan and I to head to NYC to celebrate our fifth anniversary. More on that to come...

Our Little Easter Bunny

Before the Easter holiday passes, I'd better post Morgan's Easter pictures. I went with my friend Kristi and her kids, Audrey and Connor. Morgan and Audrey had matching dresses, a by-product of one of our previous shopping trips together. Naturally, Kristi and I couldn't resist getting a few pics of the girls together. Overall, this was one of Morgan's better professional photo shoots of late. How can I tell? Well, frankly, she's smiling in the majority of her pictures. Hope you enjoy!

Here are a few pics from Easters past. The first is Morgan's picture from last Easter, her first Easter. As you can see, the bunny ears have become something of a tradition - mostly because I think they are stinkin' adorable on the girl. One day she'll really hate me! The other two come from a treasure trove of old pictures I received at Kel's wedding. I'll post more soon; they're just so funny.

2008

1987
How I hated this haircut. I was never meant to be cool...

1985
Okay, so after reading Mom's caption to this picture,
it wasn't taken at Easter after all.
Oh well, it's already uploaded so you're getting it anyway.