Seeester’s Birthday

Today is my seeester Eugenice’s birthday.

She came to visit me this weekend and boy did we have a BIG time.

First, we shopped around in downtown Franklin and had an early lunch at Puckett’s.  We left the restaurant to check out a cute little bakery and stumbled upon this completely normal scene on Main Street:

The latest in hybrid vehicles.

Thankfully this guy kept his road rage under control.

Apparently the dress code for this event was formal.

Somehow (perhaps inspired by our canine acquaintance’s fashion statement), we wound up at the mall where I purchased these VERY tall shoes.  I thought that I was going to sneak one by Eugene and finally be taller than her.  But then she also bought some VERY tall shoes.  So I got to be tall and she got to be VERY tall.  At least I was tall.

Here are some very professional photos we took of ourselves dressed to go out to dinner.

I’m not sure what’s going on with my right eye here.  I think it got stuck.

Eugene’s poof was not cooperating.

We take ourselves very seriously.  Obviously.

This makes me laugh uncontrollably every time I look at it.

The point of these pictures was to capture our full outfits, especially our sassy new shoes.  Clearly we succeeded.

Not.

We ventured down to the Gulch and had a delicious dinner at Sambuca’s, where we enjoyed some great live music in our VERY tall shoes.  We also had a celebrity sighting, which was a special present that I organized for Eugene (not really, but that’s what I told her.  I won some major points).

After enjoying ourselves thoroughly at dinner, we started toward the door and realized it was pouring rain outside.  We decided to wait it out for a little while, but then it just started raining harder.

Wonderful.

So, we agreed to cut our losses, take off our new tall (and suede) shoes, stick them in my purse and run for the hills (the car).  I hope someone witnessed this and had a good laugh.

The next morning I whipped up a gourmet breakfast of Eggo waffles, butter and butter-flavored syrup.  I then served this delicacy on my formal storage bin table next to the sofa.  I know this made Eugene feel really special.

As I tried to take a picture of Eugene enjoying this beautiful breakfast spread, my camera went off like a machine gun.  Evidently, the night before as we tried to take pictures before going out to dinner, Eugene had adjusted my camera to a timed, rapid-fire setting so we could back up and get a picture of ourselves since there was no one else to take a photo of us.   I was not aware that my camera was still on this setting when I turned it on the next morning.  As it went off, my instinct was to find cover because I had no idea what was happening.

Eugene just shook her head.

All in all, I would call it a very successful weekend of birthday/sister shenanigans.

Welcome to the third decade of your life, poodle.   I hope you had a stupendous Birthday.

I LAHV you.

Y’all be careful and take an umbrella,

Sugarlump

“Eugene”

I have mentioned my sister, Eugene, in several of my posts.  You may be wondering if her name is really Eugene since that is not a girl’s name nor has it been popular since 1950.  It’s not technically her given name, but it’s what I call her.

Her real name is Petunia.

Just kidding.

It’s actually Gloria…..

Ok, fine.  It’s Julia.  But there was some confusion about her name as an infant so for a few seconds it was Gloria.

My great great aunt (my great-grandmother’s sister-in-law. I promise I’m not lying about that one) stopped by my grandparents’ house when my family was visiting just after Eugene/Gloria (Julia) was born.  My great great aunt sat down on the sofa and my mom handed her Eugene/Gloria (Julia).  My great great aunt looked at the new creature adoringly and asked her name.

My Mom: “It’s Julia.”

Great great aunt: “Oh GLORIA! What a beautiful name!”

Everyone in the room: “No, JULIA.”

Silence. The child was then handed back to my mother.

Just kidding.  Everybody moved on pretty quickly and my great great aunt still thought my sister was precious.  But you see the beauty of her being born in the 90’s is that we have this gem on tape and I like to watch it whenever possible for a good laugh.  What really sends me over the edge is that Gloria is not in the top 99% of names my mother would choose for her child.

So now you’re probably wondering why I call her Eugene.  If you knew her, you would realize that she is such a Eugene.  I think the name actually originated from me morphing her name from Julia to Uja, which naturally then became Eugene (duh, isn’t that an obvious progression? No? Well, humor me then).  Needless to say, it stuck and I can’t remember the last time I called her Julia or Gloria.   She is even listed as Eugene in my cellphone.

You may also be wondering if my sister appreciates me calling her Eugene.  I don’t think she minds and she responds to it when I call out to her in public, so I’m going to continue calling her Eugene.

We share a very bizarre sense of humor that only the two of us seem to understand and I believe me calling her Eugene falls into that category.  It’s just part of our special sisterly bond.

If you saw us together, it would be clear instantly that we are sisters.

We’re practically twins!

Not.

(Heels? Really Eugene? Throw me a bone here, would ya?)

So that’s how Eugene got her name.

And every Southerner knows you need a good country name.  You’re welcome, Eugene.

I LAH-ve you.

Y’all come back now, ya hear?

Sugarlump

Not Cool

I had something on the order of an “Aha” moment the other day while talking to my younger sister, except, it was more of an “Oh no” moment.

You see, I used to be too cool for school.

And then I was the cool big (and taller) sister.  My shirt says so.

This dynamic really worked for us.  I was daring and adventurous.  I drove with my windshield down and no hands.  I did not require a snowsuit to play outside in what is obviously multi-colored windbreaker weather.  And I was still taller.

So a few years have passed since the pictures above and although my sister is now about 4” taller than I am, I thought I still had a firm grasp on the cool big sister gig.

And then, one (terribly sad and life-altering) day, that gig came to a screeching halt.

I was talking to my sister on the phone the other day and I was telling her about letting my clients know that I am moving and how much I will miss them.  I mentioned one client in particular that I have really enjoyed getting to know because I feel like she and I are on the same page about a lot of things.  I casually conveyed this thought by telling my sister that my client and I are “like souls” (as in similar), to which my sister replied “did you just say ‘souls’?” (exuding disdain)

Me: “What?? Is there something wrong with souls?”

Eugene: “No….it’s just….you’re just….funny.” (a.k.a. NOT cool)

And there we have it folks.  I am no longer taller or cooler than my little sister.

And I have graduated from school so I can no longer be too cool for it either.

Dangit.

Y’all come back now, ya hear?

Sugarlump