Happy

Remember that Clinique fragrance "Happy"? I always liked it, but it kinda stunk on me. Not great with my body chemistry. Now Nonna is a different story. She has that enviable body chemistry that can make any fragrance smell intoxicating. Her favorites are "Georgio" and "Red" and people have literally followed her for aisles around the grocery store just to keep catching a whiff of the wonderful scent of whatever she happened to be wearing at the time. She, of course, will be mortified that I have posted this on the interwebs-just like she is mortified when people say, "ooooooh, Mrs. Nonna, you sure do smell good!"

Well, I digress. The title of Clinique's "Happy" was my segue to writing about my happy weekend, but the tangent about Nonna's perfume was just too tantalizing. Somehow it was one of those magical weekends with perfect weather and just enough time for relaxing and productivity. Our family spent lots of time together, most of it outside. Last year I had a near obsession with going to "the park." This year Mr. Lipstick is in his third year of law school and life is much more hectic. Time is more precious. Going anywhere seems like a hassle and the backyard is suddenly appealing.

This weekend we tinkered with our newly planted flowers and played with all the usual toys. We also found a little brown frog. I freaked out because I don't like frogs. They are squishy and they have that strange pulsating chin...thing. Well, before you know it, JBB and Pretty Girl were freaking out too. Then I realized that I was in the process of screwing up my kids. Here we were-in our backyard in the presence of nature (learning experience) and I was completely and utterly destroying the entire moment. So...I ran upstairs, grabbed the camera, and we started taking pictures of the little dude so they could show their friends at school. Then we watched him for the next fifteen minutes or so as he hopped across the yard and we yelled, "bye, Froggie" as he disappeared into the bushes.

JBB discovered that Mr. Lipstick's giant pile of stone (that will become a wall around the back yard) is actually a giant pile of fossils and I discovered that laying in the backyard looking up at the sky is about the most relaxing thing that one can possibly do on a Sunday afternoon. It only got better when Pretty Girl curled up with me. Everyone seemed very content and no one even said a word about "the park."