We May Not Have Provided Adequate Nutrition For Our Child, But We Did Find The One Place That Sold Beer During A Lightening Delay.

We had a great weekend that flew by faster than I can comprehend.  One of our highlights was JD's state lacrosse tournament.  The boys made it to the championship as the second seed and lost to the first seed by only one point.  Both teams had been undefeated all season and it was quite a battle to watch.  Something about youth sports just gets to me - those kids work so hard and to see them psych each other up and support each other, makes me well up (of course, in the spirit of full disclosure I also well up during pet adoption segments on the local news and any time I hear Pomp and Circumstance - so I clearly have a weak spot emotionally).  But this aspect of youth sports is a great thing to see.

Tournaments though, also make it clear that we are by far one of the more unprepared families out there.  It's a little embarrassing.  We show up to these day long events grateful that we've remembered our chairs and the sunscreen.  But after the first game it becomes crystal clear that we really needed to think farther ahead.  People are setting up tents and grills.  Most of them come with coolers full of sandwiches and cut up pieces of fruit.  They are mixing large vats of sports drinks and filling water bottles like they're in a factory.  Meanwhile, we're standing in line at the concession stand debating whether or not a Snicker's bar or peanut M&M's would be a better choice for our kids between games.  I filled my purse with the last four bottles of Gatorade from one stand, hoping it would last the day and Geoff and I even bought JD a turkey sandwich that was so sketchy we returned it - the packaging didn't even allow you to see the sandwich inside and the ingredient list was a four inch paragraph.  For a turkey sandwich.  After some negotiating with a vendor from a stand with a grill, we ended up cobbling together something "nutritious" using chicken tenders wrapped in a piece of lettuce from a hamburger topping.  Impressive, huh?

So we're going to do a better job for this next tournament.  I found a cute cooler at TJ Maxx that we could fill with some good stuff to eat and look chic doing it too (I know how important that is to my family).  My plan was to utilize it to serve cocktails poolside when we entertain this summer, but I'm very inspired now make it my tournament cooler and attempt to redeem ourselves as parents before this season is over.

I'm wearing this today:

Most of my day will be spent in the jeans and blue shirt because I'm having a glamourous Monday highlighted by 78 loads of laundry, but there's a meeting later so I'll add a white blazer and slip into some wedges to take me from washer woman to writer.  Kinda like Superman, I think.  Or not.

And it's Meatless Monday.  I'm serving a bunch of cucumber sandwiches along with some Boulder potato chips because I can't seem to enjoy a sandwich of any variety without some kind of chip.  The cucumber sandwiches are crazy good.  Try this:  Spread mayo on a slice of French or Italian bread.  Top with slices of cucumber and basil leaves.  Salt and pepper generously and top with another slice of mayo covered bread.  Oh my.

gratitude:  new opportunities, pots with flowers on porches and patios, a little rain, the morning

thanks and love.