May 18th Challenge

Hi it’s Christina –

Good Morning! It is another beautiful day in Central NJ, and I started mine with a quick trip to the grocery store so I could get that out of the way and have the rest of the day to do what I please. We finally got the grass cut, thanks to my father in law bringing over his mower, so I may just bring my laptop outside for a few hours and work on editing out there.

Right after I finished my blog yesterday, I got a text from Lys asking if I could pick her up at 12:30 instead of 12:00. I look at the clock, and it’s nearly 11:00. Then my phone beeps and I get the text she had sent the night before telling me where I need to pick her up. How does that happen? Anyway, I see she needs to be picked up in Franklin Lakes, which is an hour north of us, I still hadn’t showered, Tyler’s bike isn’t in the car yet (yeah, he forgot it), and I wanted to dig up a patch of Lily of the Valley for Tyler’s folks to plant, because his mom loved the bouquet Lys gave her, and asked if she could plant them. 


It’s funny, Tyler’s mom is the third person to ask if they could plant the cut Lily of the Valley I’ve given them –  nope, but I’ll give you some so you can.

“I should make it by one,” I told her and started racing around like a nut. I think I walked in the door at ten after, so I think I did well. I walk in the door, am greeted very nicely, then promptly offered a crudité and a glass of wine – no to the wine, but I took a cucumber chip topped with crab, mostly because I felt bad repeatedly refusing the servers. I go over to where Lys, Tyler, and business partner Bryan are standing, and Tyler promptly tells me I’m not allowed to leave until his dad comes back. Okay, I can stay and look at pretty things for a while if I must.

As heavy as it looks

Let me tell you, Tyler in a jewelry store, is a person in his element. He took me on a tour of their entire line, explained about the different designs, the different metals, the different gems – colors, cuts, countries of origin. He was so excited, so passionate, and so knowledgeable, you could tell he truly found his calling in life, which is phenomenal for someone so young. He had Lys modeling various pieces of jewelry – which I totally understand, but then he started snapping bracelets and sliding rings on me. I just chuckled and let him have his fun.

Soooo pretty!

I dang near died when I was looking at a very heavy, very beautiful, ring, and it slipped out of my fingers and hit the glass counter. No harm was done to either the ring or the counter, but I did request Tyler not hand me anything which was worth just shy of a million dollars, or at least not to tell me its worth until after I handed it back to him.

Now, just because I don’t wear jewelry (it would be a sin to leave it sitting in a box because I have nowhere to wear it), does not mean I cannot appreciate it. As I said before, pictures do not do Tyler’s dad’s jewelry justice. There was one piece I did fall in love with, but even if I could afford it, I don’t think I would spend $125k on any piece of jewelry…ever, no matter how gorgeous – and this necklace was gorgeous. It was platinum and white diamonds with rose gold and pink diamonds.

Amy in action

We got back home around 3:30, much to Dani’s chagrin because I was supposed to highlight her hair, but returned too late to do it and for her to be able to get to a 5:00 party. Later today I’ll be putting on my hairdresser’s cap.

2014 Championship Team

When I got home, I flipped on my computer and found a message from my friend Donna. Her daughter Amy has been out in St. George, Utah for the NJCAA Softball Championships, and made it to the final game of the series. Unfortunately they lost the last game to Angeline, TX; but Amy did AMAZING. She is the team’s catcher, homerun record holder for her team, and she tied the all-time championship homerun record for the series. She was also named to the “First Team All-Tournament”, which is a great honor.

Slutty Brownies

Around 5:30 last night, one of our neighbors knocked on our door and invited us to a picnic at his house. Other friends of ours told us about the picnic, but I thought it was next weekend – I forgot yesterday was the 17^th, I thought it was only the 10^th. Once a year, these neighbors throw a big party, and invite all the neighbors – probably because they have a live band and they don’t want anyone calling the cops because the music’s too loud or is still playing after midnight.

Mild Mishap

Lys quick whipped up a batch of slutty brownies, and we headed over around 7:00. As soon as we walk in, I see a woman sitting at one of the tables and I asked her, “Are you by any chance a Faulkner?” to which she gave a cautious “Yeah…” I told her I graduated high school with her older sister Michelle. After that, I bumped into several people I knew, and even some parents of people I knew. The whole “zero degrees of separation” was in full force last night.

Corn Hole

Ray and Laurie put out a big spread, and the food was yummy. I got to play corn hole for the first time. It was fun, and I actually held my own. I partnered up with a friend’s cousin who was visiting, and we lost our first game 21-19, but then we won our second game 23-20. I am going to pat myself on the back a little, because I was throwing against the party’s corn hole champ, Jimmy. He hit four in the hole, in one turn, and got to sign the board. I was able to negate a lot of his points, and I was even able to score a few points against him.

Okay, this has gone on long enough. I’ll wait until tomorrow morning to tell you about my garden. I hope you have a super-d-duper day, and happy writing!

Your Last Challenge was:

You will never believe what I found in the back yard

Now, I have found some pretty strange things in my back yard over the years – arrowheads, a two headed snake, a rare coin, an orange frog; but this time, nobody’s going to believe what I stumbled upon. Heck, I still don’t believe it and I held it in my hand.

Since it was such a nice day, I decided to tackle weeding around the pond. Not one of my favorite chores, but it beat working inside on something as equally loathsome. I was almost halfway through when I spotted what I thought was a salamander. Much to my surprise, when I put my hand down next to it, it climbed right into my glove and rubbed his face against my finger, much like a cat does when she wants some attention.

This odd behavior had me raise my hand closer to my face, so I could get a better look at the creature. When I did, he made eye contact with me, and as strange as this sounds, appeared to smile. Then he proudly unfurled a pair of craped wings, blew tiny puffs of smoke through his flared nostrils, and then rubbed his head against my finger again. It took all I had not to drop the poor thing.

It was obvious he was affectionate and friendly, and for some reason he liked me; but all that kept going through my mind was, where the heck am I going to keep a dragon? My husband’s going to flip.

Your Next Challenge is:

They sat next to each other, but pretended to be strangers

You have ten minutes (be honest). There is no right or wrong, just write. Spelling and punctuation don’t count, and NO ONE is allowed to criticize what someone else has written. Go.