On the day that you were born..

To my niece Katherine, upon leaving your terrible two's behind forever. 

Katy, I remember the day you were born. (I was in class)

I remember the first time I saw you  (in the car seat on top of the armoir)

I remember your first word (I tried to make it "Aunt")

It was "Jack", in case you forgot (because you've always loved your brother)

You are the 4th child (And the tie creator)

The baby (and you will always be)

And no one was ever better suited to the role (You wear your title with pride)

You play the part of adoring younger sister (Even if the others kids sometimes forget you)

And mamma's baby to perfection (She lets you run wild!)

You are angelic in one moment (giving kisses and sweet smiles)

And a whirling dervish in the next (Remotes, water, destruction galore!)

You give Jack-Jack someone to hug (he's loved your from day 1)

James someone to conspire with (against the Elly-Jack alliance)

And Elly someone to boss (she was born to be an older sister..like your mom)

You give your Mom someone to spoil (Like nothing I've ever seen!)

And your dad someone to call "the rat" (he tried lizard with Elly and it didn't take off)

In some ways, I 've missed you the most (you keep everything lively and fun)

I've missed your Paul Newman blue eyes (you've got the best eyes of them all)

And your feathery hair (it's like doll's hair! It's beautiful)

Your desire to be part of everything (sweet when they include you, heartbreaking when they don't)

And your sweet, loving heart (You are the sweetest thing ever)

Heavenly Father sent you to us (because He knew we were ready for our 'baby' to arrive)

We are so lucky (LUCKY)

He knew we wouldn't be complete (nothing would be the same)

Without our Katy- Cat. (Rat. Ratty. Kat Rat. Deal Breaker)

I love you, Katherine Danielle Monroe!

Here's to 3 amazing years, and many more to come!!!

Aunt Lolee

Making it Rain...

It's official, people.

I am a cheater. 

I made plans with one of my former interns

but then lied ummm...stretched the truth so that I could

sneak to the movies with another former intern. 

And then..the icing on the cake

After the movie, I told intern # 2 all of my gambling stories

and encouraged her to give it a try. 

You guys, I'm not just a spinster anymore. Now I am officially a 'bad influence'.

Sweet. 

Lolee

Oh my gosh, Oh my gosh, Oh my gosh!!!

These are a few of my favorite things..

I walked across an empty land

I knew the pathway like the back of my hand

I felt the earth beneath my feet

Sat by the river and it made me complete 

Oh simple thing where have you gone

I'm getting old and I need something to rely on

So tell me when you're gonna let me in

I'm getting tired and I need somewhere to begin 

I came across a fallen tree

I felt the branches of it looking at me

Is this the place we used to love?

Is this the place that I've been dreaming of? 

Oh simple thing where have you gone

I'm getting old and I need something to rely on

So tell me when you're gonna let me in

I'm getting tired and I need somewhere to begin 

And if you have a minute why don't we go

Talk about it somewhere only we know?

This could be the end of everything

So why don't we go

Somewhere only we know? 

(Somewhere Only We Know)

Keane

Lolee

Another productive Saturday

Things I should be doing today:

1. Working on my resume

2. Cleaning

3. Prepping an amazing Easter dinner

4. Checking in with my clients

Things I am doing today:

1. Watching Harry Potter...again

2. Laying on the floor

3. Eating jelly beans

4. Calling my sisters to entertain me

Well, have to go. The jelly beans aren't going to eat themselves.  (that would be really cool though, wouldn't it? If they all turned on each other in the bag.) 

Another holiday in the trenches!

Lolee

Sometimes it hurts instead...

I am so lucky to have the family that I have. 

Thanks, Danielle. You are always the voice of support and encouragement.

Thanks, Eri. You are always the first to volunteer to slash some one's tires.

Thanks, Dad. You are the only person who can make me feel 100% better. 

I would be lost without you. 

Lori Ann

(the baby)


p.s.- More new music that is helping me achieve hipster status: Sara Bareillis "Gravity", Adele "Someone like you",  and "Take the Long Way Home" by Shane Mack 

I don't mind spending every day, out on your corner in the pouring rain...

I didn't intend for my last post to elicit sympathy. I guess it did, though!

I'll take sympathy any chance I can get..it's like crack to me :)  

Anyway, one of my all time favorite bloggers asked me to blog about my love life. 

This is the "Spinster Chronicles" after all, so I guess I should comment on my non married life style. 

I am not dating.

The South is not a treasure trove of hot, metrosexual, wealthy, Mormon men. Which are just a few of my qualifications for a future husband. Other qualifications include: good dancer, have an accent, willing to cry on command, harry potter fan, employed, have a twin, be able to fix my car, and the ability to make me laugh- which is actually harder than it seems. Most of my laughter is polite and meaningless

I could both see myself and not see myself getting married in the next 10 years or so. I have a plan for both of these contingencies. 

Who doesn't want to find the love of their life? Who doesn't want to swept away in romance and then have a long and content life with someone? Have children and a home and someone to support them? 

I would love all of these things. 

However, I am kinda at peace with possibly not having them. 

I have been in love once. Not like "in a five year relationship then he broke my heart" kind of love. I guess 'intense infatuation" would probably be a better description. 

Songs and poems and life seemed to have so much more meaning and there were moments when I felt like I couldn't breathe. 

Anyway, I hope this update on my love life (or lack thereof) is all you could have wanted, Mrs. B Roth:) 

Lolee

Someone Like You

I am not lacking in self awareness.

I know when I am boring someone, or when someone doesn't get me, or whatever.

That being said, I get that I probably put too many videos on this blog.

To be honest, I rarely watch other people's videos.

However, someone sent me this link tonight and watching this video made me cry.

Maybe that's more testament to my mental illness than the power of the video.

Who knows?

But..if you get a chance watch it. It's Adele singing "Someone like you"

                                                                                Lolee

I could see Daniel waving goodbye...

This is a time lapse series of photos from the tallest mountain in Spain. I have almost never seen anything as beautiful..

The Mountain from Terje Sorgjerd on Vimeo.

Lolee

She's been gone since that summer...

# 11- Learn the art of cat napping. (aka stealing my dad's cats)

There's been a lot of people that tell me that they can't get enough of my "list" blog posts.

You know, the ones where I list all the crap...awesome stuff I have planned. 

Well, back by popular demand..another list:

STUFF I FULLY PLAN TO DO THIS SUMMER WITH MY DEVIL NIECES AND NEPHEWS!

1. See every corner of Philadelphia. It's sad that I've lived both near it all my life, as well as living IN downtown Philly for a year, and I've never really seen more than the basics. 

2. Camp out in the backyard. Or at least the screened in porch

3. Convince one or more of them to take a chance on Harry Potter

4. Have SEVERAL camp fires

5. Go swimming in a real lake...or the pool at Nockamixon..either one

6. Buy Elly's kindergarten wardrobe. 

7. Go strawberry picking

8. Go to Music Fest

9. Go to a carnival

10. Have the BEST summer of our lives!!

Jealous, much? 

Lolee

Dixie Land

Ok,

I've got 50 days left in the South. 

While I am INTENSELY excited to leave, there are a few things I need to accomplish before I do. 

1. Get a picture with the Confederate Solider statute

2. Try Short Sugars Barbecue. 

3. Make fried green tomatoes

4. Tell someone "As God as my witness, I shall never go hungry again"

5. Get a picture of "Pettigrew" road. I drive by it like 10 times a day, and it always makes me frown. 

6. And last; but not least...take the midnight train to Georgia. 

That one's been on my Life Ambition List forever, and I WILL NOT leave the South without accomplishing it..I'm going to look up train times right now...

Lori Ann

This is not what I intended..

I keep checking back here, but nobody has updated today. 

Entertain me, clowns!

I've already watched the Deathly Hallows twice and stared at my laundry for an hour, willing it to put itself away. 

(Which; you'll be angered to learn, it did not do)

I was going to see my clients, but there are tornado warnings and there was a torrential downpour. During the only time I was outside, of course. 

The south has heard me talking smack about it and it has answered back with a vengeance. 

The walmart in Reidsville is changing everything around. 

It's disconcerting. 

I had to wander around to find the books. 

Then I had to stamp my feet in rage because there were no good books.

Oh walmart..how did it come to this? 

*sigh*

I guess I can't evade filing my taxes any longer. 

Lolee

I ain't (going to be) missing you at all

To whom it may concern: 

(I'm talking to you, state of North Carolina)

I am officially; in writing, resigning my position as the victim of your unseasonably hot weather. 

Effective June 5th, 2011. 

Yours truly,

Lori Hinsdale

You guys

I put in my official written notice today. 

I feel free. 

I'm going home. 

Lolee

Know all of the things that make you who you are...

I keep wanting to write about what a hipster I am becoming. 

Only, I'm not really a hipster.

Just super cool and trendy.

I've gotten back into my Songs about Jane phase. 

Takes me back to some crazy times in my life. 

Like the time my sister Erin deliberately dumped me into a lake after we lost a canoe race to the town of Perkasie and the country of Scotland respectively. 

It's so hot here. So hot. 

I can't wait to get home. To shop for Elly's kindergarten wardrobe. To camp out and have adventures in Qtown with my muffin babies. My life isnt quite right without them. 

I totally pulled up next to car with hydraulics today, and you know what was blasting from my radio..you guessed it... Justin Beiber! I think I kind of saw a glimmer of respect in the drivers eyes. He probably would have high fived me if his friends hadn't been there. 

Lolee

Somewhere only we know

I was out of work sick today. 

I always think it's going to be so much fun to be home in my pj's, but I don't know exactly why I think that. 

I spent most of the day, wondering around my apartment, calling my sisters, making soup that I didn't want to eat and cursing because I couldn't find my Harry Potter dvd's. 

Yeah. That's right. I curse when I am alone. 

It makes me feel edgy and dangerous, dammit.

Sorry, mom. 

I can't stop watching that dang "Friday" video on Youtube. It's so bizzare. 

Also, my hipsterness is ever increasing. This week, I added Mumford and Sons, Keane, and classic Red Hot Chili peppers to the "non main stream" music I listen to. 

Go about your provincial, hum drum, unoriginal lives.  

I'll be over here, creating strange art, talking about eating organic, and other fabulous things of hipsterness.

Lolee

Random Random

It's so hot here.

I can't sleep at night already.

Whenever I second guess my decision to move back home, I think of the fact that it has been in the 80's most of March and now its getting even hotter.

Every night I have been cooking myself the same thing for dinner:

Can of beans, diced up ham, brown sugar, Jack Daniels smoked barbecue sauce, cheese. 

SO AMAZING. 

I had an amazing night tonight with my clients.

The kids I work with are so cool. I wish I could "rescue" them all. 

I hope that what I am doing is enough. 

In closing, I want to give a shout out to Biff's mom, who supports me in whatever I chose to do, and whoever I chose to be. Unconditionally.

You are amazing. 

Lolee

As you move on, remember me

I wish I had something thrilling to blog about.

I got in trouble at a IEP meeting yesterday for passing notes to my intern.

I am super apathetic about my job. 

I just watched Black Swan and I found it to be pretentious and over done. 

I am so excited to sleep in tomorrow. 

My iPhone addiction has only gotten worse with time. If you don't have one, you need to get one ASAP!

I couldn't think of one decent April Fool's joke today. I am not a good enough actor to pull anything off. 

It feels like a good time to reread all my Harry Potter books!

I had a dream that Danielle (my sister) had another baby!! Maybe this is an omen. 

Some friends of mine from college (well, she is technically my sisters college roommate), just adopted a baby after 14 years of marriage. I could not be happier for them! they are going to be the BEST PARENTS EVER!

I found out today that all the weirdos hang out in the dollar store in the middle of the day. Good to know. 

I can't wait to go home. I wish it were today, because I am weary of all of this. 

I think I might go to  the movies and hobby lobby tomorrow. Have a fun, crazy day. 

What do you think??

Lolee