You might wonder why the smiley face is in honor of Cassie. It could be because she’s so pleasant. Or because we all smile when we’re around her. Or because we thought she looked like red ketchup on a bun. Take your pick. If you really want to know what it’s for though, I’ll tell you. A few months ago, I took the kids to Ma & Pa’s (Dad’s favorite down home diner). Cassie got a burger. And when it came time for the ketchup, she Very. Carefully. Drew a smiley face.

Mom and I went today – and in honor of Cassandra, there you have it. One happy little cheeseburger.

Every day, both of us will text the other something nice… anything nice, but it always includes “I love you and…” Here are some examples from the past week.

• “I love you and your beautiful eyes.”
• “I love you and your beautiful singing voice.”
• “I love you and your luscious long hair.”
• “I love you and admire your guts.”
• “I love you and think you’re an awesome bottle washer.”
• “I love you and your luscious long legs.”
• “I love you and your deep brown eyes.”
• “I love you and your smokin’ hot booty.”
• “I love you and how nice you were this morning.”

Now, it’s just a little thing – you’ll notice that all of these things are LESS than 160 characters. I actually think they’re less than 140. (So you could send them in tweets too!) But what a great way to have a connection with your sister! It takes about 10 seconds – more like 60 if you text like my dad – and makes you both smile. Don’t you think it’s worth your time?

Today, I’m issuing a little challenge… well, more like throwing down the gauntlet. Yeah, that’s right. Throwing down the freaking gauntlet.

Text someone. Think of someone you care about, and let them know. It’s easy – you could even copy one of our examples. (Use the “luscious legs” text judiciously please. And the “smokin’ hot booty” should only be used for those people that you are super close too. Trust me.)

Oh? And before all the rest of my siblings start being sad that this is a Jessie/Leila thing – I texted you this morning. Because I love you all too. And your luscious legs.

Kansas City was the best of them all!  I wore a white coat out – they brought an extra tablecloth to cover it when they hung it on the back of my chair.  When I ordered my drink, I asked for tons of ice with my water (my normal mode of operation).  Normally they bring your water out before you even ask for your drinks, and it arrived (as usual) while our first server was explaining things – and he sent it away because it did not contain enough ice.  Within a minute, we had water with TONS of ice. Our servings were gigantic, and the cheese balls (my very favorite part) were never empty.  I ordered a brazillian lemonade and one of our servers stopped by to give us the recipe of how to make them at home. We were well taken care of. Since I live so close (dangerously close!) I will be back.  Often.

Some of the things I celebrated:

• my last name
• dark jeans
• cheetos
• the color red
• fantastic girlfriends
• country music
• the iphone
• my own business
• spanish
• my education
• my beliefs
• my family

Life is worth celebrating every single day.  There’s a quote I love that says “The best things in life aren’t things.”  That’s so true – and I was happy to celebrate some of those things this weekend.