Out at the Promenade
We had a great, relaxing night at Ladies Night Out at the Promenade at Chenal last night. It was exactly what I needed after a busy week! And the weather was perfect for strolling around.
First off, a little shopping.
Moody Mom and friends, getting their shop on
Lucky Mama and I met up with Moody Mom and her group at Crazy 8, which is one of my favorite kid stores. My family is there A LOT because they always have such great deals there. And speaking of deals, I picked up a couple pairs of summer sandals for only about $10 each. Whoo!
A little something perfect for toddler toes
After a little more looking around, we headed over to Bravo! Cucina Italiana to meet Arkie Mama for munchies. It’s a perfect place for a girls’ night dinner — cocktails, low-calorie food that’s absolutely delicious and even light dessert!
What else could I start off with but a pomegranate margarita?
Flatbread Roma for only 340 calories — yes, please.
The light cheesecake made with Greek yogurt — a perfect way to wrap up a great night with friends.
Next up at the Promenade: June shoe giveaways! Click here for details: http://www.chenalshopping.com/events/june-free-shoedays-giveaway/
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This post is sponsored by the Promenade at Chenal, but all opinions are my own, of course.
Send in the Clowns (Giveaway post)
Lucky Mama here, so Moody Mom and I recently got to spend some time with a couple of clowns. No I’m not talking about our husbands 
, we got to hang out with Dave and Cheree, a very funny husband and wife clown team who are Ringling Bros. & Barnum and Bailey’s only full-time Ambassadors of Laughter.
I’m glad Yavonda cleared up the fact that we are not talking about hanging out with our husbands, although Brad is a redhead. Well kind of redhead, if you don’t count the huge bald spot – Moody Mom.
Proving that life isn’t fair, Dave’s makeup takes 10-15 minutes and he can be dressed in 3-5 minutes.
Cheree said her makeup takes a full hour to put on. As for getting dressed, add another hour. See — even as clowns, guys have it easier!
If that sounds like a fun job, it is. Basically, Cheree and Dave tour cities about a month before the circus is due to arrive in town. They talk to the media, to bloggers (like us!), visit schools, libraries and hospitals and basically make sure that folks know the circus is headed to town.
I agree, It sounds like a great job and a great way to travel. Hey Yavonda, want to become a clown with me and travel the USA? – Moody Mom.
This time, the show is Fully Charged, which is running June 6-9 at Verizon Arena. Some of the highlights include a laser-light show by Anton, high-wire walkers (think about walking on a wire the size of your thumb — that is what these guys are going to do), jugglers, horses, camels, elephants (oh my!) and of course, the clowns. Go here if you want to see more on the show and its acts, as well as ticket info.
I can’t wait until opening night. Hubby, Bear and I are going with some friends. There will be twelve of us ready for some fun at the circus. - Moody Mom.
Before I forget, I want to tell you about the All Access Pre-Show. First up, it is free with your admission to the circus. Basically, if you show up an hour before the show starts, you get to meet some of the performers, try on costumes and see some animals up close. And did I mention that it doesn’t cost extra? This is a great way to start you night at the circus.
Hubby and I have taken Bear to the All Access Pre-Show twice already and we plan on taking her again when the circus comes to town this June. It gets fairly crowded at the pre-show. Be sure to arrive a little early, it gets crowded! – Moody Mom.
So back to Dave and Cheree. They have been married 21 years and they actually met at an audition for clown college. How cute is that?
Sounds like fate, if you ask me. They are such a cute couple and I enjoyed spending time with them. – Moody Mom.
Cheree, whose background is in dance and gymnastics, said she dreamed of being in the circus since she was a kid. For Dave, well it was his fallback gig after aerospace engineering didn’t work out. I kid you not. He was studying aerospace engineering and having a tough go of it. His dad (who was a hometown clown in Ohio) told him that he should try clown college. So he did.
I thought Dave was making a joke about this at first. – Moody Mom.
The pair joined Ringling Bros. & Barnum and Bailey in 1999. This is their 7th years as Ambassadors of Laughter.
Being a tad bit of a moody girl, I had to ask how they were able to be so cheery all of the time. Clowns and other performers feed off the energy in the room. They love to hear laughter and cheering from the crowd. Remember this when the circus comes to town. – Moody Mom.
So once Moody Mom and I quizzed them about the show and their lives, it was time for a few tricks. They showed us a little juggling (complete with a lot of laughs) and then asked for a volunteer. Moody was quick to volunteer me. And that is how I found myself in the middle of their juggling act.
Yes, I threw Yavonda under the bus, claiming I had to take the pictures. Now I wish I would have volunteered also. Looks like a lot of fun. – Moody Mom.
I’m not moving.
Nope, not moving.
I survived!
It was a lot of fun. But if you’re ever in the middle of two clowns juggling bowling pins, be sure and listen when they tell you not to move.
Wanna go to the circus? Thanks to the Angela Rogers Group, Little Rock Mamas is giving away four vouchers for opening night of Fully Charged at Verizon Arena! Vouchers must be exchanged at box office for tickets. To enter, leave a comment on this post about your favorite circus memory. Deadline is Memorial Day. Good Luck!
Wordless Wednesday
A friend of mine gave Alaina a stuffed horse that her son played with when he was a child. I think it is a hit. What do you guys think?
Gotta love how both of my dogs managed to photobomb this picture
A girl and her horse
WebMD in the news
So have you heard about the Santa Fe woman who has been charged with one count of injury to a child with intent to commit bodily injury? She is accused of waiting hours to take her son to the hospital after the 14-year-old was shot in upper left thigh. Police say that instead of taking the youth to the hospital immediately, she instead got online, specifically on WebMD, and researched how to treat gunshot wounds. Read the full story here.
Now I’m not going to presume guilt here, but I do have to make one comment. I’m a big fan of WebMD. I admit to Googling various ailments or symptoms when someone in the family isn’t feeling well. But I have to say, a gunshot is kind of a no-brainer. I don’t think one really needs to think too hard about how to react to a gunshot wound — go to the hospital. Go immediately. I would say this is one time you would be perfectly within the bounds of reason to ignore speed limits. WebMD is a handy tool, but not for gunshot wounds.
What do you think? What is the craziest ailment you’ve ever Googled?
Ode to Grumpy Cat
Most of us are familiar with Grumpy Cat. The annoyed feline is this year’s (and last year’s) Internet star.
But the mere Internet is not enough for Grumpy Cat, real name Tardar Sauce. Now he is being immortalized by the artisans at Lowe Mill Arts & Entertainment in Huntsville, AL.
Check these out. And if you really fall in love with a piece — it is all being auctioned off at the end of the month.
Alaina needs a haircut
It is hard for me to express how badly my child needed a haircut. They had school pictures at daycare a couple of weeks ago. Her hair was so out of control that it could not be tamed with barrettes. So what did this mom do? I totally sent her for pictures in a hat. She looked stinkin’ adorable.
However, it isn’t really possible to send one’s child to school EVERY day in a hat, so I figured it was time for another haircut. I figured I’d start the process with a bribe. So I told Alaina on Sunday that on Monday we were going to get a haircut. Then I dropped the bribe — if she was good, she would get a cupcake. Yeah, so I bribe my kid. Sometimes ya gotta do what ya gotta do.
Matt and I picked her up early from daycare today. We asked her what we had planned. She said haircut — then she said cupcake. We reminded her that she had to be good in order to get a cupcake.
Ha, it totally worked! Alaina was so well behaved at the salon. She played quietly with the trains until it was her turn. Then she didn’t cry when the lady wet her hair. She looked down as instructed (we had to let her look at the pics on Daddy’s phone so she wouldn’t keep moving her head, but I think that totally counts when one is 3.)
So after the haircut, we walked down to the cupcake place. Horror upon horrors — it is closed on Mondays!
Luckily, Fresh Market is in the same shopping plaza, so we walked down there. They had chocolate cupcakes — even better, they were mini, which means Alaina would actually eat the entire thing instead of two bites and being done. (Hey, when you’ve paid $4 for a cupcake, it really needs to be at least halfway consumed, right?!)
So now Alaina can actually see without her hair getting in her way. I’m thinking the fact that my child no longer looks as shaggy as my dog counts as a parenting win for the week.
Before the haircut — her daycare teacher had put her hair in a Punky Brewster ponytail in an attempt to control the beast that is my child’s hair
Afterwards — her hair is still a little wet here, but you can still see the improvement
A little chuckle
Buzzfeed is one of my guilty pleasures. I love a good laugh and 99% of the time, I find something in their lists to be really funny. I’m really digging this parenting one. Check it out!
Brain on Fire
You might be looking at the title of his post and saying, “Say what?”
See, last night I read Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness by Susannah Cahalan. In it, she tells of her experience with anti-NMDA receptor encephalitis. I couldn’t help but see some similarities between her journey and mine.
First of all, we are both journalists — I’m an editor for the Democrat-Gazette, she is a reporter for the New York Post.
Our noticeable health problems started with a migraine, then a seizure. While her neurologist thought her seizures were from alcohol withdrawal, the neuros at the hospital thought I was suffering from viral meningitis. We were both initially prescribed Keppra as an anti-seizure drug. We both experienced pins and needles in our hands.
That is pretty much where the similarities ended though — thankfully.
She goes from that into total madness. Paranoia, hallucinations, manic episodes, depression, slurred speech, difficulty walking, loss of the ability to read or write — by the time she is diagnosed (in her third or fourth week of hospitalization) she is probably days from death. In order to confirm the diagnosis, she had to have a brain biopsy.
Once she is diagnosed, the treatment starts — and she is one of the lucky ones who responds to it. But she has a long road back to normalcy and to reclaiming her identity — what made her her. During her month of madness (and for quite some time afterwards) her loved ones wondered if she was still there. They would see glimpses of the person she was, but she couldn’t escape the prison that her brain had made of her body.
The author goes through some seriously scary stuff. And like MS, anti-NMDA receptor encephalitis is at its core brain inflammation. Our immune systems go haywire and start attacking our brains. In my case, lesions form. In hers, the entire right hemisphere of her brain was on fire, as the doctor put it.
Just wow. I have to say that after reading Brain on Fire, I’m feeling better about my new brain lesion. It still sucks, don’t get me wrong, but it could be worse. I’m still me — and that matters a lot.
About Me
Yavonda is an assistant city editor for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. She and her husband, an English instructor at Pulaski Technical College, have a beautiful little girl, Alaina. Chloe the cat, a puggle named Ginger and a schnoodle named Abby round out their North Little Rock household. 
