Friday's Five: Dawn

Welcome to this week's edition of Friday's Five, my regular feature that asks a fabulous blogger five random questions.

I'd like to introduce you to Dawn from Bee and Rose. She lives in Arizona with her husband and two children. Dawn has been blogging for only a little over six months, but she's already amassed a large following of readers who enjoy her funny, honest style of writing. She will move you to tears with her lovely dedications to Grandma Gigi, who's been diagnosed with Alzheimer's, and then turn around the next post and crack you up with hilarious rants about topics like PMS or the horrible dye job she received.

1. How old are your children and what kinds of things would they buy if they each received a gift card to Wal-Mart? Connor is 12 (about to turn 13!!! . . . can you hear me crying??) Connor would make a beeline for the video games with his gift card! Catherine is 6 (going on 16!) She would buy crafts, puzzles, and movies with her gift card . . . and lip gloss . . . lots of lip gloss . . . I think she's going through a hooker phase . . . lol!

2. Even though my girl plays soccer, I can totally relate to the posts you write regarding your daughter's sport. Tell us a little about the training and competition involved in Catherine's Irish dancing.

Catherine currently takes two classes per week (3 hours). We supplement that with extra classes and private lessons when time allows. She loves to practice at home as well. She also performs at many local events. It's a very complicated form of dancing, and great exercise, too! She's been at it for one year now and has just begun competing. A competition is called a feis (pronounced "fesh"). She's had two competitions now and won medals at each one. At her second competition, she was moved into a category with older dancers. She placed first (out of 11!) in Light Jig and won two third places in other dances. This allowed her to advance to Beginner 2 level after just two competitions! She's won six medals already! We are very, very proud of her!

      We are blessed with two amazing teachers at her dance school, Christopher McGrory and Michael Patrick Gallagher. Christopher is a world-renowned feis musician (platinum selling!) and world champion dancer. Michael Pat has been a Riverdance dance lead for years. Catherine is truly fortunate to have this kind of talent working with her!

3. You've blogged about some of the stress involved with your husband's recent health issues. How do you cope when you start to feel overwhelmed by all your responsibilities? I read! Books have always been a source of comfort for me. Now that I've discovered blogging, I have lots to read! I also hang with my kids . . . playing games, reading with them, etc. I find that scrapbooking helps me remember all we've shared as a family. That helps pull me back into focus when I start feeling the big overwhelm. Writing about it has also been very cathartic. And prayer! Lots and lots of prayers! I'm very lucky to be surrounded by lots of supportive family members and friends.

4. I love the title of your blog. How did you come up with the name "Bee and Rose"? We are huge nicknamers in our house. I don't think my husband has called me by my "real" name (Dawn) in years! It's either Minnie or Mouse! I call him Chilly or Smitty depending on my mood . . . hee hee! The kids, of course, have various aliases, too . . . we're just weird that way! lol!

      When I decided to do a family blog, I knew I would have to nickname the blog. Bee is symbolic of Chilly. He has a Dodge Rumble-bee truck (known as "the Bee") that I affectionately refer to as "his mistress." I chose Rose because I have always loved the movie Sleeping Beauty, especially since the name Aurora means Dawn. "Bee and Aurora" just sounded completely idiotic. Then I remembered that she was also called Rose. That just seemed to click. So basically, it's fancier than saying "Minnie and Smitty"! I also like that it sounds kind of shabby chic!

5. What did you have for dinner last night? We enjoyed Nana's (my mother) delicious spaghetti!

Thanks, Dawn! Your little girl looks so precious in that photo—tell her all the Internet mommies say congratulations on those medals she's wearing! And you're absolutely right about "Bee and Rose" sounding shabby chic; maybe that's why it appeals to me, because I am nothing if not shabby. And chic, of course. You can tell by the sky-blue Crocs on my feet.

Well, I'm off to the blogosphere to find another blogger to shout questions at! See you back here next Friday with the answers.

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