New Pics of P Dizzle

"Yesterday is history and tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift - that's why they call it the present." Wisdom from Kung Fu Panda. :)

I figured out how to blog easily from my mobile, so look out for random thoughts on the fly!

Love, Mer

Thoughts on Michael Jackson, Upon His Death 6/25/09

This is my favorite picture (and album) of Michael Jackson - the cover of the Thriller album. In elementary school, my parents bought me a Fisher Price tape player and I played that cassette over and over and over... I wanted a poster of this very shot to put on my walls, but my parents wouldn't let me get one; I did, however, have a Michael Jackson t-shirt that I wore to "field day" in 2nd grade. I loved that shirt! I think that Michael Jackson is probably the Elvis of my generation...

Did you know that in 2005, I skipped work one day and drove up to Santa Barbara from San Diego with a friend, and we camped out in front of the courthouse to see MJ? I don't know where the photos are, but I did see him! We also followed his caravan from the courthouse to Neverland and watched him wave to the HUGE throng of fans - from all over the world - waiting there to see him come home. This was about about 2 weeks before that trial concluded; he left the country shortly thereafter and I don't think he ever returned to live at Neverland because he filed for BK and gave up the ranch. This would indicate that I'm a crazy fan, but honestly, it was just a fun boondoggle and an excuse to call in sick to work. haha

My predictions for the estate of Michael Jackson:

1. Neverland will become the new Graceland and will become a tourist attraction/ museum in California. (If they can figure out all the bankruptcy stuff that is currently being processed; will the State of CA turn a bad situation into a money-making opportunity?) That might be interesting!

2. The autopsy will return and show that MJ was a long time drug user. That would help explain his increasingly bizarre behavior over the last years. I'm guessing some prescription, some street drugs and a whole lotta booze.

3. We're going to see Michael Jackson sightings in the rag magazines, disputing the reality of his death. Perhaps I should be the first one to claim I saw him! Actually, I did see someone walking their dog this morning past my house that looked a little like Michael Jackson... or was that dog a chimp?

OK, in all seriousness, the entertainment industry lost one of its greatest players yesterday and there's no doubt that Michael Jackson provided the soundtrack for many lives around the world. With that, I hope that God blesses his soul and that he finally finds the peace that he obviously never found on earth.

Love, Mer

My fave MJ song with some scenes from his best videos:

Happy Father's Day!!!

Happy Father's Day to the best baby daddy in the whole world - my hubby, Sheridan. I love you so much and you're an amazing father to Patrick. We're so lucky to have you in our lives and hope to spoil you as much as possible today. You deserve it!!

Here's a little shot of Patrick and his handsome dad yesterday - Patrick's new high chair arrived and we let him take a spin. He looks so tiny in that big chair, but I'm sure he'll be filling it out in NO TIME. I think he weighs around 17 pounds now and today is his 5 month birthday; pretty big for a little peanut that weighed 5 lbs, 13 oz at birth. I think we're gonna have a big guy on our hands!

Happy Father's Day to all the other daddies out there...

Love, Meredith

Style

Well, let's just say I wish I had some. I'm starting to put together a general design plan for the house so that as I'm shopping and considering furniture for our house, I can put together rooms and pieces that look good together and create a cohesive feel throughout the house. Since we're doubling our square footage in our current rental house and tripling the square footage of our tiny apartment in San Jose, we have a LOT of stuff to buy. See prior posting about saving money at Costco; now you know why I've been so cheap lately! haha

But anyway, as I've gotten older, one thing that's become quite clear to me is that I really have no sense of style whatsoever. Really! I usually dress pretty safe and boring (at least I think so) and my house... eek, that's a whole 'nother story! It's always looked very amateurish, and I'd like to avoid that in our new home since we intend to be there long term. (Did I just say that? Wow!)

When I lived in Raleigh, I shopped at one of those stores where you buy the whole room at once and they put together all the pieces for you. It was easy, cheap, and cute enough. And in San Diego, I just continued using that furniture from NC and added pieces here and there; it was good enough for a single gal's apartment. And then I bought all of Shayne's stuff when she moved to Boston, so then I took over HER style, which she had already put together. So again, my design skills have never really been put to the test until now.

But now it's time for me take this very large blank canvas and turn it into something modern, stylish, comfortable, pretty, and hopefully eclectically cool. (Oh yeah, and do so within a reasonable budget.) And through the little bit of planning and shopping that I've done over the last few weeks, since we closed the deal on the house... I've realized that I need help!!

I've been scouring through websites, magazines, stores, and trying to think of a general design scheme on my own and nothing is coming to me. What I *don't* want is a house full of rooms that don't flow from one to the next, with odd colors that don't go together from one part of the house to another. I want a general color palate that looks good together, and furniture that all generally coordinates.

I thought it would be a good idea to start at the Ethan Allen design center on their website and have learned that my style is "Loft - Energetic. Fashion-driven. Practical. Materials borrowed from industry, architecture, and nature. Clean shapes. Punches of color. Spontaneous and fresh. Kids and pets? Bring them on."

Can someone please translate that?? Perhaps I should start somewhere else...

So here are a couple photos of some of the materials I chose for the structure of the house - cabinetry/backsplash/granite/tile for the kitchen (same tile will populate most of the downstairs, except the family room and master bedroom) and the carpet next to the fireplace tiles. Paint will be Benjamin Moore Crisp Khaki - http://www.myperfectcolor.com/Benjamin-Moore-234-Crisp-Khaki-p/mpc0006164.htm - throughout house until I figure out what colors I might want to paint individual spaces. Beautiful stuff, but monotone, huh? I need some color! But which ones?! Ugh, I'm so confused.



I'm going to put this out there to The Mer Show audience. What are your thoughts on these issues?

1. Black furniture. Can it be mixed with espresso colored woods in the same room?
2. What are some modern yet timeless color palates I should consider for the family room? I think that might determine the palate for the rest of the house? I gravitate toward reds and purples, but will those be too dated in a few years? Are they dated NOW?
3. I like cool colors for the master bedroom (see my BORING bedroom now?), but with the warm tones in the carpet and walls, how can I pull that off? We're putting our current stuff in the guest room and buying a bedroom suit plus new bedding, art, and everything else for this room. Does anyone have any recommendations on pretty, but not too girly bedding sets you've seen lately?
4. Any suggestions on places I should look for inspiration? I'm stumped!

HELLLLLLLLLLLLP! Can someone please nominate me for a cool TV show on HGTV that can help me out with this project? ;)

Love, Mer

p.s. Thanks to Patrick for napping long enough today for me to A) write this post and B) do some design research online. xoxoxo

I Heart Costco

So since we moved to Austin, I have been a Costco addict!! I'm not really sure why, but I do have a couple of theories. First of all, I actually have the room in my house to store 20 rolls of paper towels, 2 giant containers of maple syrup, double loaves of bread, and a 5 lb bag of potatoes because I don't live in CA anymore. Yay, space!!!

Second, when we moved here, it became a family goal to spend less money, in general, so that we could save to buy a house. Costco allows me to buy in bulk, freeze things for future use, and generally save money. I've started buying steaks, chicken, ground turkey, bread, eggs, OJ, soy milk, and all our staples at Costco and it's really made a difference in our grocery spending!! Especially given that I eat basically 3 meals a day at home now and Sheridan and I eat at home every night... Even if we wanted to spend the money on dining out for dinner, it's hard to get out with Patrick since his bedtime is about 7:00 p.m. nightly.

Also, Costco is such a big, interesting store to roam around in, I find it really fun to kill time there. Being a stay at home mommy can be a bit quiet and lonely sometimes, so at least there I can nosh on samples, cheap pizza from the food court, and have lots of strangers stop to tell me how adorable my son is... hehe Poor people, they sure get an EARFUL since they didn't know they just started up a conversation with an adult conversation-starved housewife!! ;) I'm sure none of them want to know the size, consistency, smell and color of my baby's stools, but that's what they GET. Too bad, so sad. Some days that's all I have to share with the world!

Plus, it's a great place to buy cheap booze, which comes in handy for "adult swim" (my term for the adult time that Sheridan and I share at home once Patrick's gone to bed and Mommy's nerves are shot from a day of blowout diapers, crying, puking, snot, drool, putting up with the barking dog, cleaning and cooking). And how unfortunate is it that one can only buy said booze in bulk?? Not at all, actually.

So I guess Costco, for me, is a place to snack, people-watch, shop for neat stuff, save money, stock up on after mommy hours party supplies, and talk to other housewives and strangers that don't work during the day. What's not to love?

Love, Mer

Jon and Kate Plus 8

Oh man, I got sucked into this show when I was pregnant and laid off in San Jose, and now I'm really into it since there's so much drama! Why am I, in the immortal words of the Black Eyed Peas, addicted to the drama like the rest of the world? It's awful.

BUT ANYWAY... I vacillate every day whose side I'm on in this horrible he said/ she said debacle. I mean, Kate is SUCH a pain in the arse and has been really horrible to Jon on the show. "Jon, do it this way, do it that way, NOW dummy!" and "OMG, do you have to breathe so loud" and all sorts of really petty behavior toward him and on national television, no less! If I treated my man that way, I should be ashamed of myself! But I would never... It seems that in the new episodes, she feels bad about her behavior because she seems so much quieter and very sad. I really do feel sorry for her because it appears to be a very lonely future she has ahead of herself and I think she brought it on herself.

In a way, I don't blame Jon for needing a break after being verbally abused for so long, and so publicly. HOWEVER, did he really think he wasn't going to get caught stepping out? And now that he has gotten caught, does he really have to gallivant so openly with his new girlfriend? I mean, he took her to Utah when the cameras were filming for the show! What the heck was he thinking?! Not only was that really uncool toward his wife, it was disrespectful to his kids. I was on his side until the last couple of weeks - he's being a jerk.

It's really sad watching a couple and family fall apart before your very eyes... but it does make for some interesting television. Remind me never to go on a reality show about my marriage and family!! Let's keep The Mer Show simply an online endeavor for now... ;)

Love, Mer

New House

So as of now, we're under contract on our new house and are getting all the administrivia in order. Soon, we'll meet with the design center to pick out colors, cabinetry, flooring, and all that jazz, and permits will be acquired by the builder so that the foundation can be poured. I want to catalog the progress on the new house here on The Mer Show so that Sheridan and I will always be able to look back at the excitement (and probably some heartache) that building a house will provide us and our family.

So here's where we are right now... an empty lot! :) We hope that we're able to keep some of those oak trees that pepper the property; I guess it'll depend on how far back the house will need to be built on the lot. We're excited to be building on the corner of a cul de sac, and at the end of the cul de sac is a large area of empty (and beautiful) land that should provide our little kids a lot of fun space to explore. (Let's hope there are no snakes back there!)

So here's where our future home will be:











View of the lot from the back (see the car in front, on the street?)











Our future neighbors' lots, on the same side of the street (there are only 2)











Our future neighbors across the street











View at the end of the cul de sac - open field. Ahhhhh, space!!!











Daddy and Patrick















Mommy and Patrick

Guess Who's Teething?

Check out the DROOL on this kid, both on the face and his shirt. His new favorite thing in the whole world is the colorful teether that a friend of Sheridan's family sent this past week. I can't believe he's holding his own toys now!!! My baby boy is growing so fast.

And Patrick *finally* likes to sit in his new Bumbo seat. About 2 weeks ago, he would still have a fit every time we set him in the thing... I'm talking full-on "pouty lip and meltdown" would occur every time he even laid eyes on the Bumbo, but now he really likes it. It gives me one more place to set the little guy when I need to get stuff done. Yay for that!