new phone, new start :)

I recently got a new phone (portrait mode ahead!), and that acquisition really felt like a turning point in me getting back to the blog! So much has happened in our family since I stopped posting regularly -- from turning 30, getting a new gig at Republic Title, going to Mexico, Emily + R3 getting braces, R3's VOICE CHANGING, Darrah + Richard's trip to Galveston, Meghan finishing her apprenticeship... just to name a few things I can think of off hand!

I feel so guilty whenever I don't do this blog upkeep regularly, mainly because I really, truly love keeping these memories in place! I've had a "line a day" journal I've been keeping up with in the since May 2018, and that's been giving me some peace while we work through this massive season of change. And while those lines are good, pictures/videos are way way better!

So, without further wait, here's a slice of life so far in October. 😊

Quite possibly the greatest video I've ever recorded in my life, haha. Just walked by the hallway one evening and saw these babies all hanging out in Sadie's room. *cries all the tears*

Sadie fell in love with frozen grapes, and left me this sweet note when I prepped some and forgot to tell her!

Just a casual morning before school 😭

The presidential text! Ken and I were driving to Frisco from Prosper on Preston when this went off, and so many cars started breaking, haha.

MY BABY CUDDLING WITH A BUTTER BRUSH.

"A Portrait of 3 Moores"

courtesy of Meg ;)

... and another c/o Meg! 😍

Vera looking so cute at Debbie's birthday brunch at Cane Rosso!

DOS LIDDLE TUCKED PAWS

Baby Eliam vs. Baby Dan 😱

Just some texts I got while I was getting my hair trimmed 😭

bits and pieces

January has been really hard - I'm not going to pretend it hasn't, and that's ok. But here's some fun stuff that's happened along side all the exhausting stuff.

New J. Crew sweater got me all Laura Petrie like. :)

Basically, January's mood board.

On to fun stuff... this happened. :)

The laughs that iPhones bring...

... over and over!

Ladybird!

january so far :)

We had a case of the pukies that ran through the entire house the first week of January. It was miserable! Fortunately, Emily and R3 got hit at the end of the week... and I got a funny picture of Emily with her comfort items on a Friday night. ;) 

She was feeling better the next week to watch the Golden Globes with me! (She is so hilarious... quite the award show companion, she is.)

Lots of fashion pictures, I guess! Green is my new favorite ;)

Busy Saturday hanging out with R3 (for an extremely delayed birthday date) and Shaleah (for an extremely impromptu friend date!).

I did not ask for Shaleah to take this picture, haha - I just wanted a picture of the salmon skin sushi (!)  to show Sadie. ;) 

Sweet baby Del.

Meghan, "I got a picture of him and me with him smiling in it!!!"

Mom holding court (with Matt and Ioana) after Del's service. She's such a riot.

Funny texts. :)

Delightful things not pictured:

- Going on a movie date with Meghan to see I, Tonya (after Richard AND CJ came down with the pukies, haha!)

- Richard and I having our own make-up date at Cantina Laredo and then seeing The Post.

- The utter delight the boys have at watching Ruby (the Roomba) do her cleaning duty. ;)

Delma Lou

Del Dixon Moore passed away on Thursday, January 11, 2018, after a long battle with Myasthenia Gravis and other health-related issues. She was surrounded by family in her last moments.

Del was a performer from the beginning. Her mother, Lucille and father, Henry, encouraged her to sing and dance from an early age, which she continued to do throughout her life. During the 1980s and 90s, she was involved with the Dallas Press Club. The Club put on an annual review called the “Grid Iron” show. Del, along with her deceased husband, Richard “Dick” Moore, and friend, Jo Gudjohnson, wrote, performed and sang in many of the skits which were satirical in nature and based on political happenings in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex during that year. Performing was her passion, but she started her career as a legal secretary and worked with well-known Dallas attorney, Sid Stahl over a course of 50 years. She retired from Beal Bank as an administrative assistant in 2013.

To her grandchildren, she was Granners. To the love of her life, Dick, she was the velvet hammer. To her sister and brother, she was the best sister in the world. Del had a big beautiful smile, and she never met a stranger. She always had a kind word for people, and rarely spoke ill of anyone. She would do anything to help and was generous to a fault. A testament to her character is that she maintained 50-year friendships with Jo Coke, Jo Gudjohnson and Sid Stahl. The newcomers at 30+ years were Lorraine and Oscar Ramos, Mike and Kathy Kroening and Charlie Karl.

Del is survived by her daughter, Terri Flowers, and son, Tod Dixon. Tod recently married, and Del enjoyed his new wife, Sarah. Terri’s daughter, Lindsay Cheatham is married to Jason and they have raised the awesome family of Marissa, Jada, Devin and Alyssa. Terri’s son and daughter-in-law, Clint and Melissa Flowers, have precious two-and-a-half-year-old twins, Clint and Amelia. Del treasured all of her children and grandchildren.

Del relished reminding her brother, Roger Berkley, about how he set her nursery on fire the very day her parents brought her home from the hospital. Roger’s daughter, Stacy Bullock, and her “Auntie Dellie” conversed for hours about solving all of life’s problems.

Cheri Hazelwood idolized her older sister, Del. One of Cheri’s favorite memories is of Del teaching her the ABCs. As the years rolled on, Cheri was amazed that she, Del and Terri became the same age. Cheri has two sons, Brandon and Trey Karl. Trey and his wife Gabi are the parents of 4 kids, Joseph, Anna, Pippa, Jude and one on the way. Brandon’s daughter, Erin, is a freshman in college in Colorado.

Del had the privilege of being stepmother to Dick’s children, Kim, Darrah and Richard “Chip” Jr. Darrah has two sons, Cody and Ryan Etherington, who have grown into remarkable young men. Chip has a lovely family of Meghan, Emily, Richard III and Sadie. Charming Kylie joined Chip as his wife in 2013.

Del’s life was enriched by family and friends, some of whom are mentioned herein, and others too numerous to name.

For Del, the show will go on.

a look back at 2017

After doing 5 blog posts in 5 hours... why not knock this out, too?! :)

1. What did you do in 2017 that you’d never done before?
BUY OUR DREAM HOUSE IN OUR DREAM NEIGHBORHOOD, get full custody of our little ones (!), take Emily to high school, go to a parent-teaching conference, go to New Orleans, watch Meggie graduate from Toni & Guy and start a job at a place she really likes, take in a family friend for a few months, start indulging ALOT, work with a nutritionist, stop working out and NOT FEELING BAD ABOUT MYSELF (because life happens and that's OK!), Instagram Stories, haha?.

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?

Um, not really! The social study and family court proceedings really took over our life/sanity/spare time, so... don't think I did anything I put on my list for last year! ;) Honestly, I'm don't want to make resolutions except try to make my life easier (through recurring calendar events and notifications to trigger my brain) and enable myself to be better whenever the opportunity presents itself. The only thing I really want to commit to is going to the mall once a month because it genuinely makes me feel better. 

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Yes, TONYA (little Eliam!), Katilin (Lincoln!), and Maryam's daughter-in-law (Baby Sofia).

4. Did anyone close to you die?
Nope.

5. What countries/states did you visit?
Just the USA! New Orleans (with mom and R) and Ruidoso (with the family!). Then we did a Staycation in October which was FANTASTIC.

6. What would you like to have in 2018 that you lacked in 2017?
I want my commissions to outweigh my base salary! And I want to start working out again once school ends (and I won't have to get Sadie up at 6:15 every morning). 

7. What dates from 2017 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
May 1st - we closed on our house!!!
July 13th -  the final custody papers were signed. :)

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Paying off my physical therapy bills, getting custody of the littles, revamping my makeup/wardrobe routine (like really!), joining the board of Together Richardson! And I got really close to my goal of gettin $50k in premium on month... all the way up to $47k! And I am generally being so much easier on myself and self-aware in the most helpful ways (apologizing right away for stuff, etc.).

9. What was your biggest failure?
I hate driving and so the first thing I think of is anything car-related (which is nothing major or my fault but... I hate car stuff!). And not really a failure, but I had to go to the emergency room after Thanksgiving because my throat was really swollen and it all turned out to be... allergies! I'm developing allergies! $800+ lesson, fun times! I was also a mess getting the kids settled in school and honestly should have taken some time off for that to help my sanity but... c'est la vie! Lesson learned!

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
I got mono for the first time in May, which was miserable, I had multiple anxiety attacks after the social study was done (of all things... just my body letting go of the stress, I guess!), and then learned I had allergies (NOT STREP) as mentioned above.

11. What was the best thing you bought?

A daily SPF sunscreen, lots of new make-up, a nutritionist plan, and mom got us a Rooma for Christmas!

12. Whose behaviour merited celebration?

- R3 for forever being so sweet and appreciative of how we take care of him. (Giving us hugs, telling us, "Thank you so much for taking such good care of me! I'm exactly where I need to be." *cries all the tears*)

- Meghan for moving out into an apartment on her own and getting it all done!

- Sadie and Emily for adjusting so well to their new schools.

- Mom and Richard being angels all the fucking time.

- Brittany for being the best work-wife ever.

... I could keep going because all my friends and family members are super adorable and wonderful.

13. Whose behaviour made you appalled?
TRUMP. YET AGAIN.

14. Where did most of your money go? 
Buying a house, our family attorney, car shit, really dope food and clooothes.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?

Watching "Insecure" and "Broad City" every week, Sadie getting her own room once Meghan moved out, weekends alone with my husband, FENTY HIGHLIGHTER, Hilary/Zach  coming into town for Christmas and spending the night with us!

16. What song will always remind you of 2017? 
Vince Staples x Big Fish, Dawn Richards x Sands, Solange x Cranes in the Sky, Years & Years x Desire, ABRA x I Guess, Mi Gente (Beyonce remix), Lady Gaga x Dancing in Circles, NERD/Rihanna x Lemon

17. Compared to this time last year, are you: 
(a) happier or sadder? Happier! Prouder! More Chill!
(b) thinner or fatter? STRONGER.
(c) richer or poorer? Richer! #bossbabe

18. What do you wish you’d done more of?
Gone to the mall more regularly (SOUL FOOD, NOT ASHAMED)

19. What do you wish you’d done less of? 
Feel bad for self-medicating because MY LIFE IS STRESSFUL and I have a brain that will just not shut down sometimes.

20. How did you spend Christmas? 
With friends and family. :)

21. Did you fall in love in 2017? 
#BLACKGIRLMAGIC (Ava Duvernay, Issa Rae, Ruth Negga, etc.) and Jen Hatmaker.

22. What was your favourite TV program?
Insecure, Broad City, KUWTK, Great British Baking Show!, Master of None.

23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?
Ugh, I really don't like that Trump is our FUCKING PRESIDENT. :/ (STILL TRUE FROM LAST YEAR)

24. What was the best book you read?

I read alot of online articles in my downtime which was a nice change of pace!

25. What was your greatest musical discovery?
The Insecure playlists on Spotify,

26. What did you want and get?
THE BABIES. And a "more organized brain," thank goodness. :)

27. What did you want and not get?
Some contracts from work, haha, but not much. (same from last year, haha)

28. What was your favorite film of this year? 
SO MANY GOOD MOVIES I enjoyed this year. Get Out, The Big Sick, Ladybird, Wonder Woman, Logan, The Shape of Water, Blade Runner 2049, Logan Lucky.

29. What one thing made your year immeasurably more satisfying? 
All the great comedy specials I watched! Dave Chapelle, Judd Apatow, Craig Ferguson, Tiffany Haddish, Michelle Wolfe, Judah Frielander.

30. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2016?
First part of the year: bold and colorful... second part of the year: luxe neutrals with glam minimal make-up.

31. What kept you sane?
Having fresh hair from morning washings, using the timer feature on our washing machine, calling Hilary and making therapist appointments when I really needed to, scrolling through Instagram to look at artists, fashionistas and ballerinas. ;)

32. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Jon Hamm as I rewatched the last few seasons of Mad Men, haha. Hugh Jackman in Logan because he reminds me so much of Richard, I swear to God. The girls on Great British Baking Show because they are PRECIOUS.

33. What political issue stirred you the most?
The Muslim "Ban," #MeToo and #TakeAKnee

34. Who did you miss? 
The ladies who left our office (Colleen, Kim, Cameron)

35. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2017. 
"You are enough."

36. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.
I GET IT HOW I LIVE IT, I LIVE IT HOW I GET IT.