The Senator's Wife

I promised you a post about the Speaker’s Ball a few weeks back. Total fail. Both me and the actual event. What a weird experience. My, oh my goodness.

Let me back up a bit.

Ten years ago when the Senator and I attended our first Speaker’s Ball, it was a really fun experience. My Senator had just been elected and we promised each other we would attend as many events as possible…

The Speaker’s Ball was one of the first and resembled a high school reunion of sorts where everyone seemed to be excited to see each other for the first time in a long while. We were new to the game so we just watched, had a drink and tried to figure out who the real players were in the room.

People really dressed up, there was a reception, dinner and entertainment. No program really, other than the Speaker of the House took to the microphone and thanked everyone for coming as they ushered in a new legislative session. Looking back, it was really nice being the fly on that wall.

Fast forward a few years and the leadership in the House of Representatives changed….which meant the Speaker’s Ball fell into the hands of another party planner. Literally.

I’m not sure what they have been trying to do with this event, but every year since has been a different experience. One year, the party was dry, like prohibition.  Some years there has been a long program with speakers. More recently, the Speaker’s Ball resembled a high school prom or even a wedding reception.

Then, there was this year….

And this…

This lady greeted you as you entered the room and if you look closely, you can see the water that was spraying from her fingers like a fountain as she moved them to music. It was a pretty neat effect, really… if you were roaming around Ceasar’s Palace in Las Vegas.

I am still at a loss for words when it comes to the rest of this event so I think I’ll just leave it there.

And, besides… I am cooking and cleaning tonight because some of the Senator’s colleagues are coming over for dinner this week.  This is one of my favorite things that he does and I have written about it here.

More later – on all the above.  We are a good two weeks into session and things are just starting to get interesting! SW

It has been a busy month around here.

I just returned from Las Vegas and a board meeting for this organization.  It was a very productive meeting and lots of fun hanging out with some of my all-time favorite people.  I get to see these ladies roughly three times a year, but consider them some of my very dearest friends even though we all live hundreds of miles apart. They are such accomplished women in their respective fields and amazing moms who inspire me on a daily basis.

The Senator came along too and bought us a few great dinners.

He’s a keeper.

And, before my meetings even started, the Senator planned a nice, romantic evening at a fantastic steak house followed by a front row table to watch the fountains at the Bellagio…a popular attraction in the city of lights.

I think I took a million photos that evening and sent them to everyone in my contact list.  Sorry about that people!

Vegas is definitely Disney World for adults.

And, just for the record, it is also the Year of the Dragon. This is a H-U-G-E celebratory event in Las Vegas. Every hotel, restaurant, casino lobby etc. was tricked out in Chinese red combined with dragon paraphernalia.

These are just a sampling….

Oh wait…now I have moved into window shopping and the gorgeous dresses….

Which were truly amazing…

And, rather timely for me seeing that the Speaker’s Ball is tonight and if you have read any of my previous posts on that, you know I struggle with the outfit.

Hmmm…

However, this year it specifies cocktail attire on the invitation which means short NOT long so I am done here. Thank you people for making this easy on me!

I promise to share some photos of the attire, it is always a treat.

Check back with me for more on the actual event, who was there, what the buzz is on the upcoming session and, of course what people were wearing. SW

So, the Senator and I had a mini-date night last night watching the New Hampshire primary returns and the victory speeches of the Republican Presidential candidates.

I know, we are weird like that.

Anyway, I quickly snatched the paper napkin out from under his cup and wrote down my thoughts at the time.

Here they are:

Ann Romney.  Wow. I like you.  You have MS.  You have five children.  After hearing your speech last night I’m convinced they need to get you out more often.

Ron Paul.  People support you because it is a cause.  People support Romney because they want to win.

Newt.  Brilliantly articulate. Visionary. I would have paid good money for a front row seat to watch you debate the president.  Had you stayed above the fray, you might have had that opportunity.

Huntsman.  I really wanted to like you.  You are balanced. Smart. Can work well with others… super gorgeous family. America likes that.  Maybe in 2016 you will have learned you can’t do this all by yourself. It takes an army of talent and volunteers to win a political campaign of this magnitude. Go find them….fast!

Santorum.  No disrespect, but I am at a loss for words.  I think my Senator likes you.  We were in a heated discussion about your politics during your speech so I have no notes. Not a big fan of the sweater vest, but I sincerely admire your wife for homeschooling seven children. The thought of that ages me.

And….that’s all she wrote…. until South Carolina, of course!  When is that one anyway?

SW

Hi there.  I’d like to reintroduce myself to the blogosphere.  I am a Senator’s Wife.  I have two children and they keep my busy. I volunteer during my free time for this non-profit organization.  I used to enjoy blogging about politics and life and some of what I see being married to a public servant.  But life is hectic and busy and sometimes I just don’t like telling the world what it’s actually like in the fish bowl.  Politics is about perception and things aren’t always what they seem.

However, 2012 is an election year and I am glued to the tube when it comes to following this stuff.   Maybe it’s because football season is over? Maybe it is because I have started running in the wee hours of the morning and find myself following the political news cycle a little more closely.  Running on a treadmill is a dangerous thing unless you are completely sidetracked and entertained by exciting television.  Trust me on this one.  I am not a runner, nor have I EVER been…until now. After 40, those calories don’t go away like they used to….

Anyway… maybe because I have taken up running, or maybe because I really do have a passion for politics, or more likely because my Senator is term limited and I won’t worry so much about what I say being used against him in the political arena.  I am getting ready to take the protective shield down and tell you what its like from the inside because this is my story.

Thanks for letting me share that with you today – the Senator’s Wife

I really think there is truth to the saying ‘when it rains it pours,’ and this week has been no exception! Everyone in our household has had stuff going on and mostly at the same time.  Even the house looked like it had been busy and the weather here in Oklahoma was nuts with several earthquakes, tornadoes, flooding rains, and wind. I’m beginning to wonder when we will see the locusts.

It was also an election day yesterday in many parts of the country which makes for an interesting news cycle and a feeding frenzy for journalists.  The Senator and I have found ourselves glued to the tube late at night watching the debates and news conferences.  A bad habit, I know, but none the less we are political junkies and this is like a mini date night on a busy day after the kids are asleep.  Not really.  Anyway, we have been squabbling recently over the coverage of such aforementioned news events and are now in a full-blown battle for control of the late night remote.

Just curious, but do you all have a favorite news outlet? If so, please let me know.  I need to find some neutral turf or another venue in the instance that I lose out to my man and his media!

Although, HBO hasn’t been so bad.

So, I took a visual tour of my own, dormant blog the other day and loved re-reading some of my older posts.  Not because they were some brilliant masterpiece or anything, but because it was a brief record of the past few years and some events that I had forgotten about.

I have been busy lately.  Really busy.  Last May, I was elected to serve as the board president for this organization. It is a national non-profit that has honored outstanding moms across the country for roughly 77 years.  I have written about it here. This was going to be a huge responsibility and in an effort to budget my free time, I had wiped my plate clean.  Well, rather I had dropped off some non-profit boards that I was currently serving on and had scaled back on some other activities like blogging, exercising, socializing, basically anything that filled in the blanks between mom responsibilities and Senator’s wife responsibilities.   You get the picture.

This blog has been neglected and that made me sad.  Until I read a post from a terrific young mom (pictured center above) that I met last April in Salt Lake City.  She writes a blog and had been named the Arizona Young Mother and subsequently, the 2011 National Young Mother of the Year by none other, than American Mothers.  She is just a fantastic spirit of energy and I was thrilled to be working with her in this organization throughout the next year.  So, I started reading her blog and immediately decided that is one smart momma.

Recently she talked about being so busy and how blogging was consuming more time than she had to give- and so she was going to limit her posts to fifteen minutes.  Basically, allowing herself only fifteen minutes to write them and post. I knew I liked her.

Hence begins my new strategy.  I know I have not suffered from a lack of potential content lately, just a lack of time management skills and the ability to prioritize what is really important to me in the big scheme of things. This seems like a simple solution in my attempt to continue to manage it all!

I’m thinking I should apply that to exercising too.  A forced fifteen minutes a day could go a long way…

But, these fifteen minutes are almost up!

SW

We have just returned home from a road trip through the deep South and I must confess, it exceeded all my expectations.

I am not one to like car rides, but to see this lush country-side, their historic points of interest, and major universities combined with some of the most hospitable people you will ever meet – made our journey down south absolutely awesome!

I am still catching up on the laundry and mail and all the things that get neglected when you are gone that long……but I will post a few of my favorite pic’s from a long the way for now.  Enjoy!

Arkansas!

Mississippi………..

Tuscaloosa.

And, just across the street from the tornado at the University of Alabama…..

Tennessee for a legislative conference….

And Elvis!

And, Alabama again….but not in that particular order!

Then there was Florida….where I should like to live forever.

But, seeing that I don’t have that option, it was certainly nice to see this common and beautiful sight on the long road home.

More tales from our trail soon……..

The Senator’s daughter wants a trampoline.  She has wanted one for as long as I can remember.   In fact, the word trampoline has been included on every Christmas and Birthday wish list for as long as she has been able to write…. Yet, there has never been a glimpse of a trampoline or glimmer of hope for one to magically land in our backyard.

The reasons are simple.  The Senator has a real phobia about these contraptions.  He thinks they are a liability and an apparatus just begging for children to break something.   My father, who is a physician, concurs.  In fact, he has always insisted that no child or grandchild of his shall own a motorcycle, trampoline or go sky diving. Ever.

Alright, so I lived with that growing up and turned out ok.  Bikes and planes were never my thing and the neighbors had a trampoline.  Sorry dad.

Yet, the Senator’s daughter….well, she refuses to accept this. Although, I’m sure if any of the neighbors had a trampoline I wouldn’t be having this online conversation.

But, this girl has some serious sass and determination when it comes to finding solutions….and, she wants to jump on a trampoline.  Her trampoline.  Before she is too old to jump.

She also realized early on that it wasn’t going to happen in the traditional manner considering her overly protective family situation.

So… the Senator’s daughter has been working hard, saving her money and has now banked enough pocket change to purchase a trampoline for herself…plus tax and shipping if necessary!   She made the announcement around 7:00 p.m. on Sunday evening in the presence of the Senator, and her grandfather.  It was fun to watch.  Even more enjoyable was watching her take them out into the backyard to show them the site she had selected for the trampoline she was going to purchase. Priceless.

Her grandfather approved with one condition; no flips.  As in, you can and will not do a flip, forwards or backwards of any kind. Period.  The Senator’s daughter agreed without hesitation, realizing this was nearly a done deal.

The Senator….not so much.  He is still trying to figure out how he lost control over the situation.  I imagine he will soon realize, if he hasn’t already, that his daughter is one sharp cookie and had this one all figured out before he knew what was happening.  She will also jump using extreme caution.  I hope.

Like I said, feel free to jump on in the conversation.  I’m sure it will remain an ongoing debate around this joint even after the trampoline has magically landed in the backyard!

I’ll keep you posted.

SW

So…the Senator’s daughter and I managed to sneak in a little road trip to New Mexico over Spring Break. Just us girls.

Along with my mom of course, because we stayed at her place!

We took in the sites..

It was just breathtaking.

And spiritual….

And serene.

And….interesting.

And unusually warm that week, so the Senator’s daughter grabbed her paints and we headed toward the river.

It was the perfect place to spend the afternoon…

And special time together.

Thanks mom!

The Senate has been in session for a little over a month now and they are kind of making a dent in the well over 2,500 pieces of legislation that were filed.

I think the Senator told me they were averaging about 70 bills a day?  Not too shabby.

On another note, my mother-in-law turned 85 last week. She invited me to go to her garden club with her next month.  I love that woman! Really, I do. You have no idea how much.  She is an amazing lady and I have written about her before.

It’s also spring break here in Oklahoma, and let me tell ya – as tax payers….y’all are getting your money’s worth.  No spring break for those elected officials down at the marble palace.  The Senate will be in session all week which means we are …um, here…at home….

And, we’re having fun with that……

I think.

SW