As in “Easy Reader, that’s my name–uh-uh-uh” from The (original) Electric Company.  Morgan Freeman was supercool!

I picked up The Middle Place by Kelly Corrigan on a whim while in Barnes & Noble one day.  Spending so much time on the computer lately, I felt the urge to hold paper in my hands.   I knew that I picked a good book when I read this paragraph on page 10:

I hit send and start my routine: pull on yesterday’s yoga pants (I don’t actually do yoga), pair them with a new green T-shirt from Costco, toast frozen waffle for Claire, smear bagel with cream cheese for Georgia, water down juices for both, strap girls into car seats, drop girls off at preschool, come home to move things (dishes to shelves, cans to recycling, socks to laundry basket, bills to pile, shoes to closet).  By 11:30 A.M., after I’ve lost he whole morning to a couple dozen five-minute tasks, it’s time to head out for pickup and begin the afternoon routine, which is as dull and typical as the morning routine, so I’ll spare you.

I could so relate to this when my kids were young!   I thought this passage was both funny and honest.  But despite the monotony of her days, Kelly loves being a mother.  And she equally loves being a daughter–especially the daughter of her charismatic Irish-Catholic father, Greenie,   This is what she calls the Middle Place–”that sliver of time when parenthood and childhood overlap”.   

 Kelly’s world is perfect until she learns that she has breast cancer.   The journey of her treatment and recovery is told from the the vantage point of her current life and flashbacks into her childhood; the reader is able to see how her family and upbringing shapes both her worldview and self-image during the most trying time in her life.  But just when she thinks she has a handle on things, she learns that her beloved father has cancer also; Kelly must now learn how to support her father in a way that she has never done before–as an adult.   It’s truly touching to see the love that Kelly has for her family and the way that this love evolves and grows when she least expects it.

Funny, refreshing and honest, I really enjoyed reading about Kelly’s journey as a mother, daughter and cancer survivor.

Although it is a favorite of many, including our First Lady, I’m not a fan of J.Crew; my style leans more toward Lucky Brand, Free People and Betsy Johnson.  During a normal mall crawl, I don’t even bother going in the store.  However, last week when I was looking for some shorts for our upcoming trip to Disney World, I figured J. Crew was a good place to start.  I was right; I did find some very cool walking shorts (I will funk these up with a pair of aqua Converse low-tops that I saw in the Garnet Hill catalog).  

But the J.Crew jackpot was this pair of linen-cotton “Seaside Pants”.  Oh my, these pants are perfect!  Wide-legged and loose fitting, they are like wearing pajamas, but they have a very flattering fit.

I will wear these with a cute top and high-heeled sandals or one of my many Lucky Brand peace tee shirts and flip-flops.   I will live in these pants this spring and summer!  

I think that I will have to keep an open mind towards J. Crew from now on.

Girly, at 7 years old, is becoming increasingly more opinionated about what she wears.  I can still shop for her everyday clothes alone, but when the stakes are high, it’s better to bring her along.  

Saturday night Girly and my husband were scheduled to go to a Father/Daughter dance.   It was Friday afternoon when I remembered that she didn’t have any shoes to wear to the dance; time for a last minute trip to Nordstrom!

Shoe shopping is never fun, especially during a time crunch.  And especially with Girly and her opinions and narrow feet.    Ballet flats were too wide for her and she didn’t like any of the other shoes–except the pink sparkly Converse.  Not a bad idea, I thought, because anyway I hate buying dress shoes that she wears once or twice.   If we could find an outfit that was dressy enough, but worked with the Converse, we would be in business.  She had a cute black skirt at home already, so all we needed was a top.  Poking around the girls department, we found a few options, but she fell in love with an (ugly) hot pink tee shirt with an attached scarf.   After figuring out that it was really the scarf that she loved, we were able to find a cuter shirt (with peace signs too–always a plus as far as Mommy is concerned) and a child-sized scarf for sale separately.   And this is the look that we can up with, more rocker-chick than Cinderella, but a princess all the same:

And with her green velvet blazer:

Ready to dance the night away with Daddy!

Hair, body build, skin color, eye color, intelligence, maybe even talents and skills–these things are often thought of as hereditary.   Ah, but let’s not overlook the ability to wear a hat!  My husband, with his handsome self, wears many things well, but not hats.  Seriously–baseball hats, winter ski hats, fedoras–it doesn’t matter, he looks silly in a hat.  My son clearly gets his hat-wearing ability from me. 

Note: they are wearing the same hat from the men’s department in Nordstrom: 

*I’ve posted the following paragraph and video before–while we were actually on vacation–but if you haven’t seen it, take a look (a little long at 9 minutes, but worth the time).   If you’ve already seen the video, skip down to the (more traditional, sane) review of our experience in Savannah.

This was supposed to be a simple road trip to Savannah; a mere 4 hours away from Atlanta.  Our goal was to leave about 8:00 a.m, but since I was wiped out from Christmas, I didn’t even finish packing until about 10:00 a.m.  We started loading the car about 11:00 a.m. and that was when our road trip comedy of errors began–our rental car was too small for our luggage.  What do we do?  Watch and see:

After that crazy trip, we did manage to have a good time in Savannah.  I had been there before on a solo vacation and I was eager to show my family some of my favorite things and experience new things as well.

Since Savannah has such lovely architecture, we didn’t want to stay in a traditional hotel, but in a neighborhood.  The last time I went to Savannah I stayed in a lovely B & B right on a square, but many of them don’t allow children.   The Mansion on Forsyth Park seemed like a good compromise.   I had heard good things about it and since I found a good rate on travelzoo.com, we decided to give it a try.

The room décor for some could be over the top, but for us, it was fun.  The beds were great and the big red velvet sofa and chandielers were Alice in Wonderland-ish.  The room was large enough to accommodate my family and also had room for my daughter to play.  It was very dark though; not a room that you want to be in all day relaxing, but since we weren’t there to relax, it was okay.  We were in the Bohemian room over-looking the park.  Which sounds great, but actually I am a light sleeper and could hear traffic whizzing by all night long; no one else in my family seemed bothered at all.

The bathrooms were very large, BUT there was no door to the bathroom, only a curtain!  So there really isn’t any privacy.  The toilet is separate from the sink and tub, but the door is made of glass, so someone can’t brush their teeth and someone else use the bathroom with any privacy.  The tub however was fantastic!  The water stayed hot and the tub was nice and deep.  The whirlpool jets were just what I needed after a long car ride!  I loved it!

We toured the rest of the hotel and loved looking at all the art on the walls.  There was a fascinating exhibit on display with hats from several decades.   The common areas in the lobby and bar lounge were small, but cozy.  Although we didn’t swim in the pool, we went outside to look at it.  It was very stylish, if very small.  It was more of a lounge area to take a quick dip in the water–not to swim in.   We didn’t eat in the hotel restaurant or use the spa.

Our first meal in Savannah was dinner at Tubby’s on River Street (we were driven there in a town car by a hotel employee, a very nice feature of the hotel).   I actually don’t care very much for River Street in Savannah because I find it to be very touristy, so I didn’t expect much in the way of food.  But several hotel employees had suggested Tubby’s so we gave it a try.  I was wrong; food was very good.  The seafood was fresh and lightly fried in a seasoned batter.  I try to stay away from fried food so I didn’t order mine that way, and I was very sorry; I ended up eating the rest of the family’s meal.

We didn’t do much site-seeing that evening because we were so wiped from the drive.  We called the hotel for a ride back and they were there to pick us up in no time at all.

The next morning we had breakfast at the Gryphon Tea Room on Bull Street.   The food was just okay, but the atmosphere is great and the décor is lovely.

Since the tea room is right across from Shop Scad, after breakfast we browsed around before continuing our walking tour of downtown, and particularly the squares.   The squares are my favorite part of Savannah by far.  Stopping at each square to read about the featured statues, we learned many things about historic Savannah that we didn’t know before.

When we reached Broughton Street, we browsed the many shops.   The Paris Market was wonderful, filled with great coffee table books, lotions, furniture and all kinds of unique household items.  There was a snack bar where we bought homemade French marshmallows that were divine.  The kids and I gobbled them up before even leaving the store (my husband doesn’t like marshmallows, which we just don’t understand).

Our next stop was Savannah Bee Company where we stayed quite a long time tasting all the different honeys and talking to the employees and co-owner.

What a beautiful store!  We learned so much about honey and bought a few jars to bring back to Atlanta.

After Broughton Street, we headed to City Market for lunch, but we didn’t like the atmosphere there very much so we ended back on River Street again.   Once again we had some really good seafood, this time at Dockside .   After lunch we walked all of River Street, ducking in and out of the touristy shops and  toured The Peacemaker, a ship with an interesting history and current ownership.

Leaving River Street and making our way back to the hotel, I talked my family into walking through Colonial Park Cemetery, which I think is beautiful and historical.  My family disagreed and walked through as fast as they could.

Not far from the cemetery we came upon The Cathedral of St. John The Baptist and found out that we could go in and walk around.  If we thought the outside was beautiful, the inside was absolutely breathtaking–the windows, ceiling, alter, piper organ–everything was spectacular.

What a wonderful end to our day spent exploring the streets of Savannah’s Historic District!   Another night at The Mansion, a tasty breakfast at a great neighborhood diner, Clary’s Cafe , and it was time to say good bye to Savannah.    We had a good time and will be back again soon, but it was on to the next leg of our vacation, Amelia Island (read about it here).