Put On Your Sunday Clothes!

CONFESSION: I have a hard time with Sundays. Especially now that our church service time has moved to 9am.  Honestly, I'm not usually up for the day until 11am...occasionally later. Don't go thinking I get tons of sleep or anything, I don't usually get to bed until 3am and then get up for about for about 45 minutes to get the girls ready for school, then go back to sleep. I know, but it works for me. For us.

(Yes, Lollies and BuddyBoy stay up late, too. Don't judge, it works for us)

So, having to get up to be at church at 9am is really tough - not just on me, but on everyone. Sleepy kids, sleepy husband...you get the picture.

It's really easy and tempting to ditch, I'll be honest.

Lately, I've stumbled onto something that's good motivation to get me going.

Ready? Ok.  Getting dressed up.

I know, that probably sounds shallow....I should want to go to church for the spiritual reasons. And I do. And I want my kids to be there. But it's really easy for the tired part of me to override that. You know...I'll go next week, one week off won't hurt, I could really use some rest....blah, blah, BLAH!

But I've found that the motivation I need to get me out of bed is to have a really rockin' outfit to wear.

Sooo...maybe I'll try to blog about my Sunday Clothes. Bought myself something new for tomorrow. We'll see how it goes. :)

Wanna meet a TRUE Diva?

Yesterday, or rather Wednesday, I had a lovely Starbucks date with my dear friend, KELLIE!

Now, Kellie is a REAL diva. Seriously. She's an amazing performer! She's performed for many, many ye...well, she has a lot of experience. I have learned SO much from watching her onstage. And - she's got a fierce divatude that I just adore! Oh, and she's from Australia. That's instant coolness in my book.

EDITED TO ADD: This current photo of the Kellie - looking more diva-licious than ever.

Kellie and I have had fabulous adventures together! Although our paths have crossed for years, we finally got to work together in 2009 in the fabulous musical THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE! She basically spent the whole show trying to sedate me so she could kidnap me and sell me into white slavery. Poison apple and everything.

 Kellie Wright as Mrs Meers and ME as Miss Dorothy

Not to be confused with....LOL!!!

During MILLIE, Kellie encouraged me to audition for a little broadway review she was doing. And I got the part! So, we "toured" to beautiful, exotic SPOKANE, WA to bring them a showstopping show the likes of which they've never seen....SHOWSTOPPERS, TOO!

We had lots of fun adventures!

We rehearsed....

 (Kellie and I are Center)

We performed...

Me singing "Memory" from CATS!

And Phantom of the Opera - yes, I had a BOAT!!!

Imagine Kellie performing such classic's as "Don't Rain on My Parade" and "Some People". You have to imagine because I know if I put a picture up she will kill me. Yes, she will. Poison apple or no.

And we PLAYED!

at "Intrigue"....Opening night cast party! Um...Kellie...what is Charlotte doing in this photo?

At the dueling piano bar where we ticked off all the locals by SINGING OUR FACES OFF!

and....

I met my very first real life drag queen....who promptly picked me up and carried me across the, uh, venue.

Now, if that wasn't cool enough....just a few months later, we headed up to lovely, exotic EDMONTON, CANADA to do a Christmas show for all the lovely holiday Canucks!

Our amazing cast...Me, Kellie Wright, Jimmy Emmerson, Kevin Sherell and Tai Lewis!
Dontcha LOVE our matching, bugle bead gowns. I. totally. did. n't. But, hey. We were fierce.

It was coooooold!

 BRRRRR! Seriously, it was cold....like -40 something at night!

But we totally had a blast! 

Then last year, in the summer this time, we headed back to EDMONTON, CA, to do a murder mystery, this time with DramaDad in tow. She spent most of the show belittling me and putting me down. 'Til she was MURDERED!!!!

We...

Posed for photos!

Partied hardy! (One should note that it was about 9:00 PM at the time...the sun didn't set until like 11 PM.

Umm...this is the closest thing I have to all of us together...sorry, Kellie. 

Sometimes, we lunch with friends.

Sometimes we lunch together or meet at Starbucks.

Facebook banter? ALWAYS!

And sometimes we get stranded at Walmart for HOURS (ok, like hour) waiting for the darned shuttle to pick us up.

Yeah. Kellie's the real deal. A tried and true DIVA!!! Been there, done that, facebooked it. I love her and I'm so glad we're friends!  

We have a show we want to do together....we both have a lot going on right now, but hopefully it won't be too long. 

Oh, and she loves my blog. That makes me so happy. So, Kellie, I'll TRY to blog more, because I know that at the very least, you are reading. And that's enough for me. 

I think I just blogged instead of working out. Hmm...maybe I should work out....

What's on the DivaMommy's Phone!

Who's been busy? It's me, it's me!

I've had the craziest year so far. Seriously, buuuusssssyyyyyy. So, it's a catch up edition.

Jessica's super cool link up adventure!

 Super cute layered looks at a store in the mall.

 Lollies being a cutie patootie at Mickey D's

 I'm in love with this mermaid tail skirt that a little girl was wearing at a party I did last weekend. I'm totally going to emulate it for my next Mermaid Princess costume.

 Buddy boy, fast asleep on Drama Dad's lap during church. I thought it was adorable.

9am church is killer on our family.

 DramaDad, trying his darndest to fit into the costume I made for him when we were dating...12 years ago. 

 This BLEW MY MIND! There is someone inside that donation box, handing bags of DONATED clothes out to the lady on the outside and they were going through the bags, taking what they wanted. STEALING from CHARITY! Right out in the open. No shame. I was seriously appalled. 

My fortune. Of course, the week that my debit card number gets janked and my bank account drained.

Really amazing textured fabric. Had to have a picture. 

I also took a trip to Newport Beach (just down and back) and finally started P90X. It's killer, I can only make it through half of most of the workouts.  But I've already lost a few elle bee's! Awesome.

So, that's all for TUESDAY!

Awkward and Awesome

Ok, showin' some Sidney love. A day late. Almost 2 days late.

Fashionably late. HA!

AWKWARD: Not realizing my car was in drive when I got out to switch with my husband and jumping back in as quickly as possible to stop it before it ran into the dance studio. Right in front of said husband and a friend. 

AWESOME: Friend sharing a story of how her husband did the same thing and ran into their garage, doing the splits to try to reach the brake.

AWKWARD: Walking like a monkey/old lady/bear on hind legs because of my P90X workouts and hubby reminding me that I'm in public.

AWESOME: Doing P90X and looking forward to working out. Soon, I'm a gunna be HOT!

AWKWARD: Realizing that I should have bought an XL in the JR's section instead of a L to fit around my boobies.

MORE AWKWARD: Said size L top shrinking in the wash to the point it's almost useless.

AWKWARD: Oldest daughter telling me that I'm getting old lady eyes.

AWESOME: Securing 2 new contracts for my business this week. 

AWESOME: Coming up with a new business idea that got my husband super excited. He's a hard one to impress, so that means a lot. :)

AWESOME: New business logo!!

FUTURE AWKWARD: Attempting to be Belle and Cinderella tomorrow, knowing my muscles are going to be super sore. 

AWESOME: My new favorite word, courtesy of my precious Lollies: Super.

My Lollies, in her self portrait session after chocolate pudding.

Thrifty for Thursday

Sooo...

Today I stopped in at my FAVORITE Thrift store chain - Savers - and while I didn't find anything I was looking for, I grabbed some GREAT finds to enhance my wardrobe.

For about $27, I got all of the items you see here, on my dress form dummy. I would have modeled them, but I didn't really have time to get myself all dressed up, edit the photos, blah blah blah. Lots to do right now! And forgive my less than tidy sewing room.

Please note - the photos may seem a little long/wide - because I took them with one of my CHRISTMAS gifts (ya know, the kind you buy yourself with the help of GIFTCARDS!!!) This little baby:

So, on with the fashion fun!

 CK Striped Shirt - $4.99, Sonoma Hooded Sweater Vest - $3.99

 BDG Teal Sweater (because I need more color) - $4.99

Everything in this outfit was 1/2 off -silver tags!

Anne Taylor Top - $3.00, Exhiliration Sweater - $3.00, NY & Co. Skirt - $3.50

Belt (purchased at a different store but still 1/2 off) $2.50

 Especially love this skirt! Love the Black/Ivory combo and the TEXTURE!!!

I will wear it with my black tights/ankle shoes. Gonna be HOT! I'll take a pic. 

 And this top is majorly rockin'! I've been wanting something with ruffles for a while now.

Oh! And we haven't worked out today yet, but I've been eating totally differently - high protein, low carbs and fat, and today I was able to successfully conquer the "after dinner sleepies" I always get by having 1/2 a protein shake with dinner. I've gotten SO much done tonight and not felt like I was dragging the whole time. I really hope I'm on to something here. Tomorrow, I doubt I'll be able to move after working out tonight.

MIA

Sometimes...

Sometimes everything that can go wrong, does.

Sometimes what doesn't kill us makes us stronger. May be cliche, but true.

Sometimes sleep is all you want in the world and when you finally get it, it's the best thing ever.

Sometimes all you need is a taste of success to ignite the fire of hard work.

Sometimes you think oh, it's Tuesday. What's on my phone. Oh. Work. Dang!

Sometimes your house turns into this:

But, hey! It's a living. 

This year has been non-stop stress, hard work, emotions, drama...and I wouldn't trade it for the world. It means our business is taking off. Even though it's been completely overwhelming, and maybe I even cried, once, it's been totally worth it. I feel grateful and blessed.

And sore. Started p90x today. You only wish you can see the "before" photo. You will. When there's an after to go with it.

No resolutions, just a decision!

Making a list of resolutions has never appealed to me. I thrive on goals and need them, but I make them all the time. Deadlines are my best friend and worst enemy. I never seem to get work done without them, but they are always too soon.

Last week I was idly clicking through some blogs - fashion blogs to be exact. I have of late found a renewed interest in how I look. I think it was the change in hair color.

Anyway, I was reading one where she was showing off not only her style, but her cooking, decor - kinda everything about how she lives. Not here family or kids or hobbies, but here life style. At first I laughed and thought it was pretentious.

But then it hit me. THAT is what I'm missing! I'm so pre-occupied with work, kids, life - I don' t have a lifestyle! If I'm running to the store, I just throw on whatever I can find quickest, put my hair in a ponytail and hope my yesterdays makeup isn't all over my face in a clownlike manner. I am a slacker at keeping things neat and tidy - always have been though I've gotten much better. I have about 5 things I cook on a regular basis and eat out way to often.

I will get SO fixated on an event, a time - such as opening night of a show, a cabaret concert, my husband leaving town for work, a vacation - whatever it may be, that I forget to enjoy the time leading up to said event. But if I don't have something to look forward too, I enter into a state of limbo and don't do much of anything, though I have plenty of projects I could be working on.

So, my decision for 2011 is to enjoy the journey. Take care in picking out real outfits to wear - even if I'm just running to the store. Spend and extra 5 minutes putting on makeup even if the only person who will see me that day is my family. Plan a menu for my family and work harder during the day to give myself the time to prepare it. Take an hour out of my night to play CLUE with the older girls...even if they're hopelessly terrible at it. Take pride in cleaning up - even if it's for the 50th time that day, so I can enjoy the beautiful decor my husband has worked so hard on. We just ordered P90X. And I'm going to do it. So I can look better and feel better.

And it won't be hard to do - I really don't think so. How can a decision to enjoy life be hard?

Actually, I've been doing it for the last week. And I've still gotten all my work done - and looked great doing it, enjoyed time with my kids and husband in a slightly cleaner house. It's been a good trial run and it makes me excited for a wonderful year to come.

And...I'm going to blog about it :)