Rocker Grrrl and Olive

This weekend turned out to be a bummer, despite the beautiful weather. Emma was going to her first concert in Syracuse at the state fair: Justin Bieber. She loves him. I think it's a perfect first concert and the tickets were Emma's 14th birthday present. I was so psyched because we were going to make it a family affair. Since we live several hours from Syracuse, we got two hotel rooms--one for Emma and her friend Emma (that name sure got popular) and one for Tony, Tula and me. We were going to spend the day at the fair. Sounds good, right?

Justin Bieber got sick. The concert is Wednesday. The hotel wouldnt refund my money. Until...I refused to get off the phone and threatened to keep calling back all day long until they at least gave me an even trade for Wednesday night. Guess what? If you're really annoying, people will give in! I spent a couple of hours scrambling to rearrange our plans and it was stressful, but I did it. The only problem is that I can't go on Wednesday night because I start work again. Tula and I will be staying here together.

Anyhow, these pics were taken the day before our Big Disappointment. Emma looks a little mean and evil in the full body pic, but she's actually pretty nice ;)

I picked up the earrings for Emma at the farmers market in Westfield, Ny. Emma layered a black shirt under the Paramore shirt and I love the effect.

She also made a skirt this week, which I'll post later.

I also put a pic of our freaky dog, Olive, who is almost 2 years old. She's completely insane (think Marley and Me). Anyone out there have an insane dog, too?

High School Orientation Day!

*Apologies for poor photos, we had to use the backup camera today.

Today was freshman orientation for Emma, who has switched districts because she wanted to come to the school I teach at. I'm so cool with that. She only knows a handful of kids there, but makes friends easily, as she did today.

She's pretty brave--not only starting high school, but starting with a whole new group of kids. But in true emma fashion (no pun intended) she jumped right in and handled it like a champ. That's my girl!

For me, I'm still in totally casual clothes. I was setting up my classroom today, so I needed to be super-comfy.

When we were taking today's pics, my younger daughter, Tula, popped into frame with her new Skechers Twinkle Toes!

Stripes, dots and flowers!

It's kind of a gloomy day, so Emma is wearing a fall outfit. We are really excited for fall, actually. It conjures up images of warm sweaters, pretty leaves falling, and just general coziness.

I just noticed that i have to fix the date on the camera.

True Blood is very bloody

What do you all think of this cover? I am a True Blood fan, especially Sheriff Eric, but even I was surprised when I saw this. I did run out and buy it, in Walmart no less--I can't believe they put it on the shelf because they censor everything!

After staring at it for a half hour, the effect wore off, but then when I walked past it sitting on my chair later in the day, I was resurprised. I like to think I'm all radical and edgy and stuff, but I think I would've liked this pic even more without the blood. I know the point of all that blood is because they're vampires, but maybe the magazine got caught up in shock value? It still would've been true to the triangle love story thingy without all the blood, and then I could've seen more of Alexander Skaarsgard's flesh hehe. Anyway, I'd love to know what you think.

Melissa's Favorite Summer Book

I read The Passage by Justin Cronin this summer. It's really long and I couldnt put it down. I am so glad it's a trilogy!

For those of you who are over the teen vampire thing but like that kind of dystopian, government-experiment-gone-wrong story, this is for you.

In this book, the government has created vampire-like monsters, ostensibly for use in war. But of course, the creatures escape their clandestine confinement several floors underground in a high-security government building. And yes, they destroy the world and spread their virus (thus creating more of themselves).

Jump a hundred years into the future to one of only a handful of man-made mini-cities created by survivors of the "Virals." This town is essentially a fortress, guarded around the clock.

Inadvertantly, some of the townspeople discover that there are other survivors outside their gates. So of course they head out to find them. They discover more than they bargained for.

8th grade Recognition night

At Emma's 8th grade recognition night this past June, both mom and daughter went for basic black while Emma's sister Tula went for quirky.

My new hat!

Nikki made me a hat!

Lemongelo

A few months ago, I decided I wanted a son. Nothing wrong with my two lovely daughters, but I thought having a son would be fun. I didnt really want to be pregnant again and adoption is too expensive. So I improvised. Meet my son, Lemongelo.

Emma's graduation dress

We are getting ready to start the new school year. Fashion-wise, Mel's a little sloppy these days. Emma's got it going on, though. She never takes time off from fashion. In the meantime, here's a pic from Emma's 8th grade Recognition night. A few months before, I bought her an outfit for a Spanish project. It was kind of fancy and expensive, so she promised she'd wear it again for Recognition night. Yeah right.