six.

My Darling Reesey Bird:

I can hardly believe you are six months old. The amount of sugarcoated happiness + sunshiney rejuvenation that your presence has brought to my life has filled my heart so incredibly full, I often fear it may burst... but it always seems to grow a little bigger, expand a little wider... and allow me to fall more in love with your sweetness everyday.

I love your high-pitched shrieks + squeals that always echo loudest mid-air.

I love your sense of adventure...

...& how you pay close attention to all the little details, never ever missing a beat.

I love how you smile so coyly when I whisper your name.

I love your wide-mouthed kisses...

& the way your long eyelashes flutter... like tiny angel wings.

You, my sweet niece, are loved beyond measure.

Bear hugs & eskimo kisses,
Auntie Awesome

happy birthday, Grams!!

Untitled from Jocelyn Kirk on Vimeo.

Happy Birthday, Grams! Happy Birthday, Grams!
Happy Birthday! Happy Birthday!! We love you! We miss you! Come play with us soon!

Love,
the happiest girl

+ her niece, Reese! =)

p.s. please excuse my obnoxious high-pitched voice...

much-to-celebrate-monday.

Today, Reese + I celebrated. We celebrated the simple things.

We celebrated the beautiful "fall-like weather" by the lake. We celebrated that we slept through the night + consequently, were all smiles today. =)

We celebrated that I found out that I had indeed won tickets to ELLEN. We celebrated that we were both dressed before noon.

We celebrated another day together, just her + I + those big, squishy lips.

christmas tradition?

 I think Grams + I are on to something... maybe sembling a new tradition... After going to see a sold-out Little Fockers on Christmas Day (Grams could not get over how packed the theatre was... "These people should be at church!"), we stopped at one of the only places open for dinner... a Mountain Brewery!

 From our keg to yours, hope your holidays are filled with lots of Christmas Beer Cheer! 

{Notice the beer-making equipment in the background of our Christmas Card 2010}

Yesterday, we hit up the Boxing Day/After Christmas sales! I have one more wonderful day with this fabulous lady... not quite sure what I will do with myself when she's gone. 

M.F.T. #23: Grams.

Kudos to Coca-Cola for creating such an awesome marketing ploy...Santa Claus came a few days early here (he must of known about the severe weather sweeping Tennessee this morning). While I'm skeptic of the red suit and black boots, I definitely believe in the Naughty or Nice List and here is the expression of someone who personifies the Nice List...

Grams is already the hippest grandma I know ... She's the only sixty-something whose favorite catch phrase is "That is just like so cool." She's known to have done a few jagerbombs in her time and she is often heard overusing the word "smartass". She is up-to-date on all her celebrity gossip and always identifies upcoming fashion trends. She texts me often and has even been dabbling in the stalker tendencies of Facebook recently. If its even possible, she got a whole lot {technologically} cooler this Christmas when Santa brought her a Kindle (ken-dall as she pronounces it!) and a MacBook as a small thank you for all her good deeds this year! Thank you Grams for being so fabulous today and every day!  

M.F.T. #21: {unconventional} Christmas.

It is Christmas Eve and I am so lucky to get to spend it with this lovely lady, just her and I... eating Pringles, watching The Proposal and doing each other's make-up in our pajamas. It's not the most conventional way to spend Christmas but one thing certain about our family... there's nothing conventional about it. I often catch myself wishing for the perfect family, one where everyone got along. Everyone loved unconditionally. Divorce was a foreign term. I long for a "childhood home" to retreat to where I would find the Strawberry Shortcake wallpaper still on the walls and one of those hammocks of all the stuffed animals I had growing up. Sometimes I try to imagine what it would be like to have a seemingly "normal" family... one that went on family vacations together and sent out annual Christmas cards.... one that talked on a semi-regular basis and knew the day-to-day details of one another's lives. I wish for this and then I decide it would be boring. To know exactly how we were going to spend your holidays. Who would be in attendance. What food would be served. While these are all things I will definitely strive for in my own family I create one day, I'm okay with the dysfunction of my family. It is our "norm" and while it's entirely unconventional which is challenging at times, I wouldn't have it any other way... for that be normal, which would be weird.    

M.F.T. #3: Scrabble.

My Favorite Thing #3 is Scrabble. My love for Scrabble has been passed down to me from Grams who got me hooked on the game during our summer/winter breaks together growing up! I would be just as excited to spend a Friday night in my pajamas playing board games with a hot cup of Caramel Truffle Tea than I would to be boarding a plane to go somewhere amazing like Argentina... On second thought, if I was handed a plane ticket to Argentina to explore the wineries, the food, the penguins and the accents I would pack my Scrabble board in my carry-on and be on the first flight out but anywhere else, I would pass. Grams and I play every time we are together and I believe she has only won once! =) Although I always manage to beat her, she's one of our my four top competitors - amongst the likes of Lori, Chris and Carly. It worked out well to have a roommate who is equally as competitive to make up words with individual letters that strategically make up more words like me! I think half the reason I can't remember once ever feeling bored in LA was every time we had a spare moment, we played Scrabble. A random fact about Scrabble - it is a real word that means "to scratch frantically." To me, it's kinda like doing a crossword puzzle (another favorite past time of mine + Carly's) but without the clues! Scrabble + family game night in general is definitely something I will be passing on to my (grand)children!

The Traveling Triumvirate Takes.. Vancouver!!

The city at night from the top of Mt. Grouse

The ladies enjoying scones and high tea

One of many great conversations on the patio

Revolving Restaurant with 360 degree view

The Lift, a fabulous choice by Kim with great drinks, food and view

The Traveling Triumvirate

My grandma, sister and I have started a family tradition where each summer we meet in a fun city instead of Grams coming to visit us in Florida! The first year we met in New Hampshire and had a fabulous time with the Duffley's and sight seeing in Boston! Last year (with the fabulous addition of Auntie Linda) we met in New York City! It was my very first trip (but definitely not the last!) to the Big Apple! Our week there was incredible! In 10 days, The Traveling Triumvirate will reunite for our third annual trip in Vancouver, B.C.! I absolutely cannot wait! =)

"Grandmas Are Moms With Lots Of Frosting!"

Not many granddaughters are as lucky as me to consider their Grandma one of their best friends! Each summer I come home to visit we play countless games of backgammon,crib and yahtzee!, drink bottomless cups of tea and have endless conversations filled with laughter! Thank you, Grams, for a fabulous holiday!