After a wonderful, yet exhausting, week of Awana training, church, work, Ladies' Night Out with my lovies (at MY house) and school...YES SCHOOL...I decided to catch up on my blog reading.  I was catching up on my Megan's blog, That Wasn't The Plan, when I realized she had issued me another post challenge.  So, here goes...

1.  How did you decide on your blog name?  

Under the Chocolate Milky Way is a mixture of 2 things:

a)  Chocolate Milk
Those of you who know me well know that I have a seriously scary addiction to chocolate milk.  I have had at least one glass every day for most of my life and I get nervous if there is no chocolate milk in the house.

b) The 80's song "Under the Milky Way" by The Church.
I've always found this song to be hauntingly beautiful.  I have no idea what it means; I've just always liked it. Around the time that I was trying to think of a name for my blog, Lincoln was using a cover of the song in one of their car commercials.  One afternoon I was watching TV...the commercial came on....and voila! 



2.  What tip would you offer new bloggers? 

 Have fun! 

3.  What was your dream job growing up? 

I wanted to be a counselor.  Or the wife of a very successful basketball player. 

4. What would you love to get paid to do now?

Watch TV with Blossom, Balto and Greta.

5.  What is your favorite season?

1.  Fall
2.  Hockey 

6.What is your favorite summer outfit?

I have no real style so I have to say that shorts/jeans and my Charlotte Hornets tshirt.  My Charlotte Hornets tshirt feels like a big cottony hug.

7.  What is your favorite summer cocktail? 

Well, since I don't "drink" per se.....  Lemonade (and or, chocolate milk!)

8.  Favorite summer memory?

Spending a wonderful afternoon with my Aunt Jean and Uncle Dick a few weeks before Uncle Dick passed away.  Uncle Dick was having a great day and I enjoyed hearing stories of how he first met Aunt Jean and some of their stories about the "early days".

9.  Who would play you in a movie about your life?  

TV's LaWanda Page

 aka Aunt Esther

10.  What is your favorite tip for balancing all the "in-betweens" in your life?  

Find a good counselor.

So there you have it!  OK Lorraine, I'd tag you but it wouldn't go with the theme of your blog....As the Resin World Turns.

Exhale

Last week was a crazy busy week for me.  Friday night was the only night I didn't have something planned for after work.  I even went to bed early that night!  Besides, I had to get up early Saturday morning for a training session with Blossom and Katie at a nearby Greenway.  Blossom did amazing and frankly, so did I.  :-)

Tuesday was my niece's birthday.  We had a wonderful celebration at Red Robin and then went to her house for cake.  She sure loves cake! 

On Thursday, I lost not one, but two of my beloved uncles on the Helms family side....Uncle Dick - far right (below) -and Uncle Ken -far left.  Yesterday, we said goodbye to my Uncle Dick.  The service wasn't easy but it was absolutely beautiful.  We will have a service for Uncle Ken at a later date.  I can not tell you how much I love my precious family.

My Uncle Coy & Aunt Bobbie are not pictured in the above photo but I am happy to say that I got to see both of them at the funeral as well.  

My dad was diagnosed with the Shingles last Wednesday for the third time.  Yes, the THIRD time.  He was unable to make the service yesterday but he is feeling better each day.  Unfortunately, the third time has been the worst time for my dad.   

I'd like to publicly thank my Megan for bringing me & my family a "Mini Taco Bar".  How cute is that?  I should have taken a picture.  Megan is in New Orleans for business this week and I feel like I am getting a personal tour of the city via text pictures.  While I am loving all of the pictures...this might be my favorite.  Here's Megan in the "coolest hotel room ever!" 

 

And to wind up this terribly random post, I wanted to post some pictures of Scott & our nephew.

 

Daniel designed an "air conditioner" and Scott helped him build it.  Daniel is a little obsessed with air conditioners right now.  He can't wait to meet my friend, Brian, who gets to work on air conditioners all of the time.  

Well, there you have it.  That is what has been going on with me.  How about you?  What have you been up to? 

Megan's Deskable

So, Megan had a vision of a deskable.  Read what happened here:  (Hint:  It involves Scott)

That Wasn't The Plan 

Sunday Stuff

Today I'm going to post about 2 beauty products I am totally excited about.  

#1  Color Wow - for color treated hair.  I know what you are thinking, "How could someone as young and beautiful looking as Julie need to color her hair?"  Well, I was going to post a picture of my dad at my age but, apparently, all of those pictures are still at my parents' house.  If you saw my dad's hair at my age, you'd understand.  I love the quote, "Better to turn gray than to turn loose!"  I remind myself every time I want to pout about my gray hair.  Sidebar:  My 80 year old dad still has a full head of gorgeous (now white) hair.

I get my hair colored every 5 weeks and by the time week 4 rolls around, my roots have started to show.  By week 5, I look like a skunk.  Enter Color Wow.  

All you do is brush it on your roots...and....wow!  I'm good to go until my next hair appointment!!!!!   If you saw me at church today, I was totally rocking the Color Wow.  You didn't even notice did you??? 

I can't tell you how much better my life is because of Color Wow!

Item #2:  Frownies

Frownies is "Botox in a box"!  Granted, I've only tried it one night but it worked pretty great on my number 11 lines.  Ok, so here I am all ready for bed with my Frownies on.... 

The instructions say to wear them every night for 2 weeks and then 2 or 3 times a week after that.  This product has been around since the 1800's and the testimonials are overwhelmingly positive.  I think the review I read that makes the most sense is from a lady who found out she was making a lot of worried faces in her sleep. This product keeps you from scrunching your face while you sleep and lets your muscles relax & reset overnight.  I've been told several times that I have a "very expressive face" (what does that even mean???) so I'm guessing I probably frown a lot in my sleep. 

I'd like to file this product under, "Why not?"  I'll keep you posted.  

French Onion Soup

Those of you who know me, know that my sister-in-law is from Syria. For the past 10ish years, Rana's mom, Laura, has made the long (and now dangerous) trip to spend summer here in the U.S. with her.  Laura is fluent in Arabic, French & Greek...but speaks no English.  This means that every summer we spend a lot of time with this sweet lady just smiling & nodding. While I do know a few Arabic words, I'm sure it isn't humanly possible for Julie to learn to speak Arabic (let alone read or write it).  Heck, you know me.   

So....for the past few weeks, I've been spending an hour a day studying French with the Pimsleur method.  I'm pretty sure that I've learned more in the past 2 weeks than I learned in both years of high school French. I've even started trying out some of my new skills with Rana's mom.  Unfortunately, I discovered via my favorite French learning blog, "Comme Une Francaise" that I recently made a major faux pas while speaking with her.  I was so stinkin' proud of myself for speaking French and I wondered why she was ignoring me!!!  Ugh...how embarrassing. 

Some of you may remember Rana's niece, Christel, who has spent a lot of time here taking care of my niece & nephew.  Christel is from Marseille, France, where she lives with her family.  If I start having problems with my homework, I will call Christel and ask her for the answers.  :-)

Sidebar:  Christel's mom, Yolla (Rana's sister), came here for Kevin & Rana's wedding.  Yolla doesn't speak any English either, so while the two of us were waiting on Rana at a hair appointment, I recited to her every French word I knew while she nodded and smiled.  I told her the alphabet, months of the year and counted as high as I could.  I think she understood that I was trying....  Oh gosh, now that I think about it, I probably told her that embarrassing thing that I told Rana's mom.  Ugh. 
 
Here's what's next:

I have signed up for French 1 and the corresponding lab at Central Piedmont Community College.  My class starts August 17th.  While I could have audited the class, I chose to get the full experience and try to get a good grade.   

Here's my challenge to myself:

When the class gets hard, I will not drop the class. 

I will try to make a good grade so that my grade point average will improve and I can finally get into Harvard

Become a French teacher
Lose 10 pounds
 

If any of you speak French, let me know!  I will keep you posted on how class is going and whether or not I have withdrawn from it yet.  

"She Tried (But Not Very Hard)"

So I came across an interesting blog idea...."Write your own obituary".  At first I thought, "Oh no, if I write my own obituary, I'll probably die.  And then, they'll probably use it as my real obituary.  Then that would be ironic".  (Scott says I use the word ironic incorrectly.)  But then I thought, why not?! 

So here goes....

Julie Kristin Helms Lanford was born in 19** in Charlotte, North Carolina.  She was born in Charlotte, but that was only because there were no hospitals in Waxhaw, where her parents lived.  She was the daughter of Johnny & Doris.  Sister of Kevin.  Wife of Scott.  Sister-in-law of Rana.  Aunt to Laura and Daniel.  Julie loved her big family and had OVER 50 aunts & uncles (that is counting their spouses).  She loved all of her aunts, uncles & cousins (well the majority of them) but she especially loved her Grandmother Helms.  Grandma Helms was the only grandparent Julie ever knew and they shared a special bond.   

Julie loved Jesus with her whole heart.  She tried to be like Jesus but failed miserably.  Julie always strived to have a super clean house but that never happened.  It was usually cluttered with dirty clothes strewn everywhere, days old dirty dishes in the kitchen and cat pee on the laundry room floor.  She wanted to be a great cook but frankly, never had the patience.    

Julie was an average student that made average grades.  She was a community college dropout that went on to great success in commercial real estate; a line of work that she found rather dull and boring.   Her husband said that every time something got hard, Julie quit & gave up.  Julie agreed that was pretty accurate.   

Julie loved her animals.  Over the years Julie had many pets; all of of which were special to her.  Her best friend in the world was her nearly toothless cat, Greta Sue.  

Julie had an unnatural fondness for chocolate milk (see name of this blog) and saltine crackers. 

Nothing in the world gave Julie greater pleasure than spending time with her niece and nephew and then getting to leave them.  She loved her parents more than life itself and was thankful for everything that they taught her.  

Julie would like to send a shout out to all of her friends...."What up?"  If Julie were still here today, she'd be trying to clean her house, exercise, eat healthier & learn French.   Oh & laughing about something....everything.  She loved to find the humor in life.  Her favorite thought was, "It could always be worse." 

PS.  Julie would like for Scott to know that she is watching him and after an acceptable period of grieving he is allowed to remarry.  But only if the woman is ugly.

****

Wow, reading that fake obituary made me realize that I might be the dullest person ever.  That's ok though because I love my life and I wouldn't change a thing!  (Except I'd like to hire a maid, personal chef & a personal trainer.)