Um...

This is pretty much just because I'm completely in love with this man. The Frames are coming to New York in November. How awesome would a quick trip be?


(low rising, glen hansard)

Nikki...Nick...N...

As a general rule, I pretty much hate nicknames. I think they are...well, I have a name for a reason, right? Nicknames seem weird to me. That's not to say I've never had one. I think I've had several. My family, for instance, calls me "T". Always have and always will. I had two nicknames from my ex: Estelle, which was more a joke than anything and still makes me laugh and Felix, which was bestowed upon me early on in our relationship. In fact, I can't remember a time he didn't call me Felix; he rarely used my given name. And while I mostly hate nicknames, I didn't mind that one. I'm still sad, sometimes, that it is gone.

Isaac and I, however, don't have nicknames for one another (not counting the "babe" or "my love" or "whatever else goes in that vein we call one another"). He has a couple from his younger years that people still sometimes call him, but I cannot, for the life of me, join in with them. It just seems weird. He's very much an "Isaac". Sammy has a host of funny nicknames. Some which won't live past his small years, but some that may. Most, I'm sure, he would hate for me to record for posterity. "Poodle" I'm sure, is one of those. Oops! Does this count as recording?! Hmmm...:) (In my defense, poodle has a very natural progression...I'm just not sure why it STOPPED and STUCK there!) However, he gets called Sammy Lammy, Poodle, Lou (which is most common and I can see that one sticking...especially since he gets called that in public and actually answers!) and, of course, Sammy. Which is not his given name. I sometimes get sad thinking there will most likely come a day when he is just "Sam" and not "Sammy". Hurts my heart a little.

I know I'm not alone in my shortening the name for nicknames dislike. One of my best friends hated when her given name (Nicola) was shortened to Nick or Nikki or something else (we won't get into how her nickname from then on became Sprite...). And I know my sister was pretty adamant that her oldest was called his given name from the start and not shortened to any of the popular nicknames usually attached to that name.

What about you? Nickname fan? Hate yours? Wish you had a cool one and long to start the trend yourself? (oh, wait...is that just my superhero dream coming to life?)

(Speaking of makes me happy...not that I was...10 pts to the person who can tell me where the title of the post comes from. It makes me laugh!)


(get the message, electronic)

So...

It's amazing how the weekend after a huge pity party, down on life fest, you unplug from the world and have an lovely weekend. One of those weekends to make you remember what's important. Who's important. What's right with the world. One of life's little tender mercies. We did a lot of yard work this weekend...a few things that needed done before the snow comes. I sat at my desk MAYBE a total of an hour for the entire four days. It was truly glorious. It was needed to replug into my life. Replug into my family. To remember.

In the old house, I had a lot of those moments...you know the ones that make you feel so content and that life is complete bliss? In the new house, though, not so much. I have been missing them completely. I'm sure it's due to trying to sell the old house and getting truly settled here, full of projects and to dos. But yesterday. Yesterday was glorious. Nothing special happened - it was full of cleaning the spiderwebs out, putting the fence up, putting down bricks for a walkway...But by mid afternoon I was overwhelmed by contentment. I felt life was good - is good - and right where it should be. There was something about working outside with Isaac, running errands, watching Sammy FINALLY learn to ride his bike that made everything ok. All my freak outs, my uncertainties, my insecurities, my concerns and questions about my career melted away. I was with my boys and nothing else mattered.

Or maybe it was the pending excitement over my newly purchased apple and nectarine trees...


(def leppard - hysteria)