Thursday 13: Happy birthday Marm!

You may sense a theme coming on with my September Thursday 13s... there are a whole lotta family birthdays this month! And, in honor of my mama's 5-0, I present to you: 13 fabulous things about my mother.

1. Her laugh is as big as the world. 
Photo by Beth Baugher of True Love Photo
Yes, really. My mom has the loudest laugh in the universe, at times cackle-y, but most of the time full of joy. If I close my eyes and think really hard, I can hear her all the way in Cactus Land.

2. The woman can cook.
And she looks good doing it. This was Thanksgiving Day, 2008 I think.
She may choose not to, but she's a damn good cook when she feels like. Things I love: spaghetti sauce, potato salad, Thanksgiving everything, and most recently, BBQ chicken drumsticks.

3. Dedicated might be her middle name.
She and Emily sewed 1,000 wedding fleurs! Marm designed the bouquets and wreaths, too.
Some times you could also say "stubborn," but when she gets a project or idea in her head, get out of the way. Case in point: wedding fleurs. My GOODNESS, she was amazing at sewing fleurs and dreaming up bouquet prototypes... thousands of 'em.

4. She's beauteous.
Photo by Beth Baugher of True Love Photo
You want to know where I get my looks? Look no further!

5. Have I mentioned her creativity?
Pugs only swim at the Poffenberger house. Photo by Ann Poffenberger, my mom!
She recently took up photography and has blossomed into a beautiful shutterbug. Her best subjects are my sister's pugbeasts, but she captures flowers and bugs and everything else, too!

6. Your hairs are her canvas.
At the salon on wedding day!
With more than 30 years under her belt, my lovely mother is an amazing (textbook definition here!) artiste when it comes to hairdressing. As a result, I have not seen my natural color since I was 13. I think she likes doing color best but I know one of her favorite things is to chop off long hair. She keeps trying to come at mine with the sheers. (One of these days maman!)

7. Hairs are also big business.
I have no idea.
Not only is she a talented cosmetologist, my mum is a successful business woman having owned and operated the most award-winning salon in Sacramento for the last 15ish years with her lovely business partner(s). (I'm fuzzy on the dates!) If you're in the area, get thee to Hoshall's Salon & Spa in Carmichael!

8. She's a lean, mean, texting machine.
With Sadie, the horse dog.
The advent of easy-to-use phone technologies means I must have unlimited text messaging because she texts. All. The. Time. And I love it. Really. ;)

9. And a loving stalker-mommy. 
In Central Park on Mother's Day, 2009
A normal week means playing phone tag with my mama at least a few times. If she's not calling me every other day, I wonder what's going on in the universe. Calls increase during commute times, especially now that her new car has blue tooth and she can TELL it to call me. Weirdness.

10. There is no better shoe date.
Love, love, love.
We *might* enable each other's shoe obsessions, but I will not be ashamed. Most of the time, our size-10 tootsies can't find a damn thing and we mostly end up gabbing anyway.

11. She's a Cookie Monster. 
Marm & Tim at Harris Ranch. They just survived their first flight with me and T!
Her cookies are too sacred to be wrapped up in a simple ode-to-cooking. Chocolate-oatmeal delights, peanut butter blossoms, caramel/chocolate/coconut EVERYTHING bars... I could go on. I'm trying to decide whether she makes cookies better than she does hair. Hmm. It's close. ;)


12. Silent Night is her song.
Christmas morning, 2009
Marm might be even more tone deaf than me, but if my childhood memories serve, she can kick ASS at Silent Night. I don't know why, but Brenda and I would ask her to sing it to us all year long. Every time I hear it, I think of my mama.

13. Single moms rock. 
Visiting the McClellan Chapel with us, October 2009.
When I think about how my mom was my age with two little kids, single and struggling to make ends meet, I think about the strength and perseverance of moms. I wouldn't be where I am today without her sacrifices. Thank you Marm!

Happy (early) birthday mom! Love you!

xoxo,
shawna

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