Special Guest Star: Auntie Spotter!

Hi, friends!

The bombshell and the baby

This week's special guest star is my good friend and former coworker Sarah Potter, known for years around these parts as Spotter since I once saw her writing "S. Potter" on a bottle of salad dressing at work.  The name began as a cute play on her name, but upon reflection I've concluded that it's the most apt silly nickname that I've ever foisted upon someone.  Sarah has caught me when I've fallen so many times that she'd easily qualify as an ESPN-league cheerleading base at this point.  This may be why she has back problems.

Look out, Spotter, here I come, and I've been eating A LOT of cake!

I first knew that Spotter and I would be great friends my first year teaching at the school where she still works as the office manager/master of all she surveys.  She was delivering a file to my office and instead of walking it in she danced it in and left with a kicky little spin move.  It was like I had entered a musical or a fairy tale, and I knew in the way that only girls know when they make new friends that I was in love.  "This chick's awesomely crazy!," I thought, and it remains true.

So awesomely crazy that Livy's wiggles rendered her unphotographable

Auntie Spotter Fun Facts:

*Sarah Potter is the single most glamorous woman I've ever met in my life.  Every day, EVERY DAY, she is absolutely lovely and put together.  And this doesn't necessarily mean hair, makeup, accessories, and outfits, although these are certainly well-mastered weapons in her arsenal.  Spotter even looks wicked hot at 4:30 in the morning at the gym.  It is both infuriating and fascinating.  I remember getting ready at the gym vanity together before work and just wanting to sneak peaks at the exotic goodies in her makeup bag to see what real girls know that I never learned.  Livy is lucky to have her as an auntie.  I can't imagine a better person to teach her the wonders of eyeliner, nail polish, and jeans that fit well.

*She is going to hate me for posting this.

*Sarah is a wonderful singing partner.  At 3:45 on good days we would choose a song to sing with our friend and coworker, Zach, and then belt it at the front desk.  Some days it would be "Beat It," some days it would be "Sarah" (obviously), and some days it would be Christmas songs.  This song time was like tea time, but far more energizing and far less tooth-staining.

*While I will  never admit that anyone can burp louder or more powerfully than I can, I will say that Sarah has me tied for both offensiveness and shamelessness.  Once, to celebrate the recent graduation of one of our favorite students, we brought her into my office, shut the door, and took turns blowing the student away with roaring monster belches.  Now, THAT'S my kind of lady.

*SLB probably has mixed feelings on this, but Spotter was officially the first person besides me who knew that I was pregnant.  I had peed on three pregnancy tests one day after work and all tests came back inconclusive.  They were the kind where one window shows a control line and the other window shows a line if you're pregnant.  Well, the line in the pregnant window was so faint and indistinct all three times that SLB and I argued and made a bet as to whether or not I was knocked up.  When I told this story to Spotter the next morning before school and drew her pictures of the windows she disgustedly forced me to race to the drug store before my first student to get pregnancy tests that use words (I had no idea they existed!).  So, in the minutes before I was set to teach, I peed on a stick and won my $1.00 bet with SLB.  On my way to my office I flashed the stick at Spotter, we hugged and danced (I think at the same time), and then I went and taught some English.  It was silly and exciting and wonderful, and I'm happy I got to share it with my silly and exciting and wonderful friend.

*Sarah is an amazing photographer and was the genius behind Livy's first real photo shoot.  For those of you lucky enough to get a birth announcement, Sarah took the picture you saw.  If anyone reading this is interested in asking about her services or rates, let me know and I'll put you in touch with her.

Spotter made my baby purty.

*She doesn't even mind that Olivia licked and drooled all over her yoga ball.

Going in for her first kiss, always so exciting.

We love you, Auntie Spotter!

She was the first person Livy smiled at, and she hasn't stopped since.