"Mom, I can't believe you screwed up again," Shelby told me this afternoon ... half mocking, half serious.

We showed up to Color Me Mine, to paint with Mrs. Claus, exactly one week early. I misread the date and marked my calendar for Wednesday the 7th, not the 14th. 

The worst part is I screwed up our mommy-daughter date to Color Me Mine twice in less than a week. On Sunday we showed up at 9 a.m. to paint with Santa. But somehow I missed the fine print that you had to reserve a spot in advance. There were no spaces left and though Shelby was quite sweet about the mix up, she was disappointed. We ended up seeing a movie (with Cooper) instead. 

I guess I'm a little frazzled these days. To make up for my mistake, we walked around the mall; went to look at the stores Shelby likes; goofed around; took silly pictures of ourselves with my phone; and got a treat (Shelby picked Wetzel's Pretzels). In the end, it turned out to be a pretty great mother-daughter date, just not what we originally planned. I love hanging out with Shelby. She makes me laugh. She helps me forget the crap that makes me frazzled. She expresses herself in the most natural, silly and authentic way. Some days, like today, that spark for life rubs off on me and I let go of some of my seriousness and embrace my silly.