mom

This is my mother. Isn't she gorgeous?

As you know, Sunday was her day, and we celebrated with brunch at my new apartment! It was the first time that K and I have ever had people over for any sort of gathering (the old apartment was too small and we've only recently started to accumulate furniture), so we were a little scatterbrained, but I think it turned out pretty well!

On the Menu

Mimosas

Green Mountain Coffee

Fresh Fruit Salad

French Toast (w/ real VT maple syrup of course)

Sausage/Bacon/Egg/Hash Brown casserole (I told you K was a gourmet...)

Sorry, no photos, I was caught up in the moment! Also, it was snowing. Snowing. Mother Nature must not have felt properly appreciated on her special day. Or would Earth Day be her special day? No matter, the snow has since melted and I was able to go for my morning run in the sun (PS: I realized [with the help of googlemaps] that I've been running five miles every morning [that I go], rather than the three I had somehow thought I was. Yay!

And now, a little tribute to the best mom a girl could ever ask for:

With her father, Bob (aka "Pumpy"), on her wedding day.

And with my father (still happily married after 25 years [and they don't seem to have aged a day!]).

Look at that purple jumpsuit! My how fashions come back around... I would totally wear that to a summer picnic, if I could pull it off. I must say though, I sure did know how to rock a diaper.

Love that suede coat! Very seventies-chic (because the eighties just weren't that cool).

This must have been taken when my parents were living in California. I know it was before they were married, because my father sold the motorcycle to buy my mother's engagement ring. I tell that story to everyone who will listen--it's so symbolically romantic!

Mom & me on the porch of our first house. I'm wearing a bonnet! By the time I was old enough to form memories of the house, it was in much better shape... probably because of this:

No, no, I didn't magically fix it up by being so incredibly precious. I do look rather excited about those building diagrams, though... maybe carpentry is my calling!

What it looked like on Mother's Day this year. Okay, so I'm exaggerating. But that's how it felt.

Nautical stripes and high-waisted, wide-leg jeans? She could have stepped right out of 2010--a timeless, classic look.

As my mother reads the paper, I bust a nut over the sale flyers... some things never change. Don't let her fool you, though. Where do you think my shopoholic tendencies come from?

I'm so proud of my mom. She's beautiful, intelligent, confident, and a genuinely kind and caring person (and stylish, of course!). I can only hope to be half the woman she is. For twenty-five years she was a full-time wife and mother, and she has truly made me appreciate what an important job that really is--so much, that I can't imagine doing it any other way when I have children of my own. And now, after devoting all of those years of her life to her family, she's finally doing something for herself: working full time as a Case Manager for Washington County Mental Health, and simultaneously finishing up her Masters degree in Counseling (and finally taking that trip to Paris!).

Happy Mother's Day, Mom. You're the Greatest.