Nocturnal Admission

I am a nocturnal woman in an early bird world. Some would call me a "night owl."

I hear friends crow about how they rise at the crack of dawn, before anyone else is awake to go for a run, do a few loads of laundry and enjoy their cup of coffee before their day is filled with the demands of their husbands and children. They are so proud of themselves!!! Being an early bird is so admirable!! I discovered today that these bright eyed and bushy-tailed folks are called "larks." If you were blessed with the "lark" gene, you are a lucky person indeed.

I, on the other hand, am not so blessed. Being a night owl housewife is just plain shameful. (Unless of course, you're nursing a baby, or working the night shift at the emergency room.) I would love to go for a run, drink a cup of coffee and vacuum the house, at 1:30 am. The only problem is, these are all activities which are stimulants, which would result in my staying up ALL NIGHT, which would be fine with me, if I could sleep until 11.

If you want to have a good old time with me, come on over to my house at around 10 pm. I am a bundle of laughs at 10 pm. I am not, however, pleasant to be around at 6 am. (The only exception to that is when I'm curled up under my comforter snoring. And YES, I do snore.)

My energy level hits its stride around 4 pm. At 11 pm I am still rarin' to go. Tonight at 12:20 am I sat in my closet organizing sweaters, quietly, so as not to wake my slumbering husband. I felt ashamed. I should be sleeping, like all the other respectable citizens in this town. What's even more shameful is getting snagged in my pajamas at 10 am by some go-getter neighbor who has been up for 5 hours before I even open my eyes. Get off your high horse you annoying lark!!!!

I've been like this since I was a kid. When I was as young as 7, I would sneak a flashlight into my room and read until way after midnight. Sometimes I would even sneak and turn on records quietly in my room. The mornings were a nightmare. "Just five more minutes Mom, I'm sooo tired!!!"

According to my research, our internal body clocks (or circadian) sleep-wake cycle, which regulates hormone levels, body temperature, blood pressure, alertness and performance ability is genetic. My poor children have inherited my night owl gene. If we had it our way we'd all stay up until midnight, EVERY night. It is my job to fight our natural body clocks and function in our 9 to 5 society. Some school mornings, it gets just plain ugly around here.

Why can't my body clock work in a more socially acceptable way? Believe me, I've tried it, on myself and my kids.

I cruised the internet and came up with some pretty obvious tips to change my owl-like ways:

1. Set your wake-up time -- and then stick to it like glue. Ideally you should get up at the same time every morning, including -- gasp! -- those precious weekends. If you sleep more than 90 minutes later on a Saturday or Sunday, you will affect your body clock, readjusting it to the later wake-up time just as you have to get up early again Monday morning.

2. Seek light. Immediately upon awakening, expose yourself to bright light for at least 20 minutes, either by walking or exercising outside or using a special light box or portable light visor around the house, with approximately 10,000 lux of light.

3. Try melatonin. It's important to discuss this first with you doctor, but for many people, taking this over-the-counter supplement -- a synthetic version of the natural hormone -- about six hours before you want to go to sleep can help regulate your body clock.

4. Put yourself in a position where you can sleep. Avoid eating, alcohol, caffeine and exercise, which rev up the body, for at least a few hours before bedtime, and then turn off the TV, power down the Internet and get off the phone. Instead, turn to your MP3 player for some mellow music or a "boring" book on tape. That way you'll evade additional light exposure and be able to start winding down. "If you keep moving, keep doing things, you're going to override any sleep signals you want to be reinforcing,"

As you can see, there is no hope for me, except to change my nature. If you were born a "lark." God bless, you can just go with the lord gave you and the world will applaud your vim and vigor.

I, on the other hand, will have to fight all my natural tendencies in order to fit in with society.

It's not fair I tell you!!!

I think I'm going to start a revolution. This country is all about equal opportunity for all people. Am I right here?? I think we should have special programs in our schools for "night owl" children. Perhaps we can hire some special "night owl" teachers to start the school day at 11 am.

I'm tired of being discriminated against! Why should I have to fight the way I was born just because society tells me I have to get up at 7!!!???

Are you with me here? What do you think? If you're a night owl, do you feel sick and tired of trying to fit into society's schedule?

I think President Obama should take some of that stimulus money he has and implement some programs designed to help "night owls"function better in society.

I'm going to start my own group, and I'm calling it the NAANO. The National Association for the Advancement of Night Owls.

Say it loud and say it proud. "NAANO!!"

A representative from my organization might be calling you or come knocking on your door to ask for your support. When they do, please keep an open mind. Try not to see night owls as lazy, or strange. Remember, we were born this way, and we just want to be accepted.

Okay, I'm actually tired now.

Good night.

Please don't call my house before 9 am.

And please don't judge me.

Thank you for your support on behalf of the NAANO.

Multitasking...

You all know how busy the summer is...especially when you have the kids with you ALL THE TIME for two and a half months, like I do...so I'm taking the lazy woman's way out and combining my Facebook page, with my blog.

Last night my husband and I along with our good buddies had a blast at a Steve Winwood/Santana concert at the PNC Arts Center here in beautiful Central Jersey.

Here are some photos from our very fun, very sweaty evening.

Here's me, with my $14 frozen margarita in a special guitar "souvenir glass" which I promptly tossed when I finished sucking this baby down.










Here are some of our bestest buds and a random dude after we switched over to beer.







Here is a distorted photo that I took of myself and my sweet husband Brad, we celebrated 12 years of wedded bliss on Saturday.

Here's my review of the concert. Steve Winwood, awesome, sounds exactly the same as he did way back when. His songs really brought me back to my younger days. He looked pretty old, which of course made me a bit sad. I know we are all getting older, but I still don't like to think about it. Perhaps I should see a shrink to discuss my aversion to the inevitable passing of time.

Santana...well...let me tell you...UNFRICKENBELIEVABLE. I saw them years ago. (About 25 years ago!) I liked them back then, but I looooved them now. Their music is perfect for an outdoor summer concert, totally hot, everyone was dancing, and smiling and having a blast.

Carlos Santana's parting words to the audience were "you are the light and the love."

As corny as it sounds, I really felt it last night.

Good times.

An observation....

I'm not sure if I've mentioned this before, if I have, please forgive me, I'm getting to that stage of life where I tell the same stories over and over. I'm also getting to the stage in life where you would THINK most women wouldn't be able to wear bikinis in public and look halfway decent.

You would think that wouldn't you?

Well, I have to say, there are a ton of women at my beach, who are in their mid forties and look AWESOME in bikinis.

Damn them.


I kind of thought I was past the age where I'd have to feel pressure to look hot. I thought this was my time to wear a mom bathing suit and a mu mu, while I apply sunblock on my daughters and read "Good Housekeeping" magazine by the pool.

Apparently not. It seems lately everyone my age is looking BUFF and strutting their stuff. WTF? Why are you doing this to me? Can't we all be soft, chubby, middle aged ladies together?

Playing tennis does not cut it for me. If I want to join the over 40 bikini club, I'm going to have to step it up and dedicate myself fully to getting ripped. If I start now, maybe, just maybe, next summer, when I'm 46 I'll be playing frisbee on the beach while I sport a hot little string bikini.

So tell me, are you one of those hateful middle aged women who look a cover girl from "Shape" magazine? It's okay if you are, you can admit it. I won't hate you. Maybe you can inspire me.

If you sport a Lands' End tankini with an Old Navy cover up over it, like me, that's okay too. Please make yourself heard. I need to know I'm not alone.

That's all I've got today. Now I'm going to scoot over to my neighbor's cross country travel blog, so I can feel a bit better about myself.

TTFN.

FINALLY!!!

I have been blogging for almost three years and FINALLY I met a fellow blog buddy, FACE TO FACE!

Today I met Patty from Preppy Player . My niece was playing in the "Lax for The Cure" lacrosse tournament in New Egypt, NJ today and I knew Patty was a vendor there, so I stopped in and payed her a little surprise visit. (Although it turns out it wasn't really a surprise since my sister stopped by a few hours before I did and told Patty my plan.)

It was so great to finally meet her, she is so cute, as is her daughter Michaela. We talked tennis for awhile and then it was time for a little shopping at her awesome booth. She has the best selection of adorable items including great Scout bags, pajama pants, painted tubs, tunics and jewelry. I got the prettiest preppiest bangle bracelet set that Patty put together for me, (she has great taste ) and she even gave me a nice little "blog friend" discount.

Of course I forgot to bring my camera, but we did manage to take a picture of us with my Blackberry.

Oh and BTW...I removed my previous posts. I am discontinuing my "series." My family has all advised me that I'm playing with fire, so I am done.

Thanks for tuning in.

Now I have to come up with material all by myself.

Damn.