Super sweet and lessons from a Prince

Happy Friday, everyone! You've survived another week. This calls for an upbeat post.

Blog awards always make me smile, particularly with the nominations coming from some incredibly amazing ladies. So I'm incredibly delighted be nominated not once, but three times for the Super Sweet Blogging Award. The first nomination is from Risa @ Who Shot Down My Stork?  I found Risa's blog through LFCA a couple months ago and have been following her journey ever since. Risa is currently preparing for her first (and hopefully only) round of IVF, so go send her some support.

The second nomination is from KelBel @ Tales from Our Yellow Brick Road. Outside of the fact I get to live vicariously through her travels to Belize, KelBel is also a pregnant ALIer who is literally at the same stage in your journey as I am. Too crazy and also a lot of fun to watch her progress. If you haven't checked out her pictures, I really recommend you do so. Plus she has the most adorable Golden Retrievers I've seen (outside of my MIL's ... but I'm bias).

The final nomination is from Melissa @ A Place Where I Can Be Me. Though I've only recently found Melissa's blog, she is a resolved ALIer who previously struggled with unexplained secondary infertility. She's currently navigating the road of parenting after infertility. Stop by her blog and support her as she completes a 30 day blog challenge.

Thank you again ladies! This really made my day

I'm going to jump around a bit with this post, but will come back to answering questions and giving nominations at the bottom. Feel free to jump around yourself. Considering my sunshine-induced mush brain, it may make reading my rambling a bit more enjoyable.

Over the past couple of years, I've eluded to the fact that I was born and raised in the Midwest. Unlike most midwesterners, though, where I was born was not where I spent the next 22 yrs of my life. My first two years of existence were spent straddling the borders of Ohio and Michigan, not too far from one of the smaller (and more polluted) Great Lakes. My parents then relocated back to my mother's home town for a couple of years before we relocated again to a small town where corn fields and farming were a way of life. I spent most of my childhood learning swimming in local lakes, getting lessons on how to drive combines, not worrying about locking doors and knowing that I needed to behave because everyone knew who I was and any misbehavior would quickly become foder for the gossip mill.

It was my teen years that have had the most impact on me developing into who I am today. The summer before I turned 12 yrs old, my parents relocated for a final time to a metro area that straddles the fork of the Mississippi and Minnesota Rivers. Though I initially had trouble adjusting to the area, as suburbia and I have never really had a good relationship, I instantly feel in love the downtown area. As I grew older and became more mobile, my friends and I would frequently visit the Uptown area, loitering around the local coffee bars and various eclectic shops. And it wasn't long after that that the trips to First Avenue became very route, exposing me a new music scene that would ultimately become a staple when I relocated West.

Growing up, I knew about Prince. More specifically, I knew the music. I remember dancing in rain puddles to "Batdance" and "Raspberry Beret", singing along to "Diamonds and Pearls," "When Doves Cry" and "Cinnamon Girl." Today, when I've feeling blue, "Purple Rain" is still a song I listen to to calm my fears and help dry the tears.

The thing is, though, I never knew much about Prince as a person. Sure, there were sightings of a purple limousine that would drive around the Uptown area and rumors that if you stood in line outside his mansion, on certain nights he would invite the crowd inside to his private club and DJ a dance party that would last till dawn (btw: if anyone has ever done this, please leave a comment). But Prince the person; I knew nothing. 

A couple of months ago, that changed. While exiting the freeway to pick up my carpool partner, I hear a Prince song come on KEXP that I had never heard of titled "Starfish and Coffee". Upon first hearing it I laughed at the silliness of the lyrics, but throughout the day found it stuck with me. A couple of days later, when Grey was having a particularly nasty day at work, I purchased a copy from iTunes as a way to cheer him up. Though his initial response was "cute," it wasn't long before he was humming it too. A week later, he went off to a conference on the East Coast and planned on sharing this song with his nieces and nephew. Something fun for the family.

And then we both started reading about Prince as the person. His musical genius and how he lived. And we learned that this seemingly eclectic man is also the father to an angel. That he knew the pain of losing a child. And just like that, as Grey looked at his brother and his family and he knew that this song was not meant for them. And so, though he spent such a wonderful time with his nieces and nephew, playing and reading, he brought the song home for our Beats and to be shared with other ALIers. Because even though it's a simple song, it's one that we both treasure. You can find the link to the YouTube Video of Starfish and Coffee here. Anything with Muppets makes it all the better.

Photo Source

What Prince taught me that day waiting in line on the offramp is sometimes you just need a reason to smile. I'm sure we all had a Cynthia Rose in our childhood; the little boy or girl who did or said seemingly strange things, but who was also was the most fascinating person you'd ever meet. And my "Cynthia," though an oddball, certainly had one hell of an imagination and even exactly how to make everyone smile. I hope that one day the Beats will meet their own Cynthia Rose.

Okay, back to the Super Sweet Blogger Award.

Here are the rules:

1) Thank the blogger(s) who nominated you: see above.
2) Answer 5 super sweet questions: see below
3) Include the Super Sweet Blogging award in the blog post
4) Nominate 12 other bloggers.

Super Sweet Questions:

1) Cookies or Cake? I'm not one to discriminate, but I do lean more towards cake. Particularly Wacky Cake cause it's just that easy to make.

2) Chocolate or vanilla? This is where I'm channeling my inner Cynthia Rose: I'm a vanilla girl. Specifically, I like vanilla as a base. Don't get me wrong, I like chocolate with the best of them, but chocolate on chocolate on chocolate? A bit too much for me. 

3) Favorite sweet treat? So the rumor is that the cupcake craze that's taken over the nation started in Seattle via Cupcake Royal. I can in no way verify whether this is true. But what I will say is that the city has three new obsessions: ice cream (Molly Moon's and Bluebird Creamery), pie (A la mode) and waffles (Sweet Iron). My favorite of these options? Give me a month, I'm still deciding.

4) When do you crave sweet things the most? All the time. Battling my sweet tooth has been a hard thing, hence the reason we also need to have fruit around the house. My cravings are always the worst at the end of a long day, though. 

5) Sweet nickname? Growing up, my friends took to calling me solely by my last name. Mainly because hollering "Cristy" down the hallway resulted in too many heads turning. After Grey and I were married, that changed as my newly extended last name sounded way too much like the name of a well-known midwestern car dealership. But just as my nickname for Grey is Grey, he decided I needed my own. So he calls me "pussycat," stating that many of the mannerisms are cat-like. As of late, I have been renamed "klutzy pussycat."

Finally, Blog nominations. I'm going to focus more (though not be exclusive) on newer/less followed bloggers for this one, but there are many, many wonderful blogs out that that I really encourage you to explore.

Catching Our Rainbow 

Gypsy Mama's Journey

Invincible Spring

The Unexpected Trip

Home Grown Love

Motherhood after Fertility Frustrations

Something Out of Nothing
Baby On Mind

Donating Hope

Just T

Moon on a Stick

Hope Floats Among the Cherry Blossoms

And finally, two blogs that aren't part of the ALI community, but will most certainly help satisfy your sweet tooth

Sprinkle Bakes
Bakerella