These folks leave their workouts bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, ready to take on a day that hasn’t yet penetrated our consciousness, and they pay good money for the privilege. One Crossfit friend of mine doesn’t retire each evening until she has logged in to see tomorrow’s pre-dawn ”Workout of the Day” so she can sincerely anticipate – not dread – the exercise that, after all, can’t be more than a few hours away. I used to be uncomfortable when she spoke of “snatching,” but I have since learned it is a term for an Olympic weightlifting move. Apparently there is an Olympian deep inside all of us that is just waiting to get out.

Another friend on a different group exercise program helpfully shared that there are buckets set out at each station of her workout. I could surmise that these buckets aren’t for collecting candy wrappers. Is it a mark of pride or shame to toss your cookies into a bucket in front of the whole group?

Just the other day I was listening to how her group ”sleeps in” on Saturdays and begin workouts at 8:30 a.m. instead of 5 a.m. I quickly realized this meant she was working out SIX DAYS A WEEK. Was I the only one wondering, “But what about Saturday morning pancakes?”

What’s my beef (pun-intended)? Is it that these ladies can run around in yoga pants without a hint of jiggle, or because I suspect they wear compression pants a little more often than is strictly necessary? Again, I can’t decide which.

I will say this: If you can wake up and keep up with these people, you deserve to wear whatever you want while the rest of us lazy pancake eaters snooze.

The Birmingham area is FULL of free or low-cost children’s activities this summer.   Among them, the libraries, city parks and movie theatres provide free or discounted movies throughout the summer.  Here is your guide to Birmingham Summer Movies.  The schedules can also be found on the Birmingham Events Calendar connect to our calendar with your smart phone for greater convenience.

Outdoor Movies in Birmingham:

Free Friday Flix in Homewood – Each Friday at 8:15pm families can enjoy a free, outdoor movie at Homewood’s Central Park.   Visit this link for the schedule of movies.

Movies After Dark at the Helena Amphitheatre – Free movies beginning a 8pm on Friday evenings throughout the summer.

Harpersville Drive In – Just 20-30 minuntes south of Birmingham on Hwy 280, families can enjoy the drive-in movie experience.   Showing on weekend nights (Fri-Sat-Sun) at 7:30pm, adult tickets cost $5 and children just $2.   Check their website for movie listings.  (Currently showing The Avengers).

Movie Theatre Summer Series:

Alabama Theatre Summer Movie Series –  For $8 per ticket, families can enjoy classic movies each Sunday afternoon at 2pm.  Click here for the full schedule.

Carmike Theatre at the Summit – Summer Kids Series at the Summit begins June 4^th and continues at  10am each Thursday morning throughout the summer.  For just $2 per person enjoy the movie, small drink and popcorn.  Click here for movie listings which include Puss n Boots, Over the Hedge, Chicken Run and more.

AmStar Theatre in Alabaster – For $3 per person, families can enjoy a movie, popcorn and a drink.  Shows occur at 10am on Tuesdays and Wednesdays during the summer.  Click here for movie listings.

The Edge 12 on Crestwood Blvd –  Enjoy a free movie at their summer family film festival!   Showings at 10am on Tuesdays and Wednesdays all summer.  Click here for movie listings.

Library Movie Series:

Free Friday Flix at the Hoover Library – Enjoy free new release movies at 6:30pm on May 18^th (Mission Impossible:  Ghost Protocol),  June 15^th, July 20^th and August 17^th.    Free snacks provided.   Additional titles to be announced soon.

Comic Book to Film Series at Avondale Library – Sunday afternoons at 2:30pm beginning June 3^rd through July 15^th.  Enjoy free movies depicting comic books adapted for the screen. Most movies in this series are PG-13 so this is a teen to adult activity.   Snacks are provided.  Call the library for titles at 226-4000.

Popcorn and a Movie at Emmet O’Neal Library – On Thursday mornings at 10:30am, children in grades 2^nd – 6^th grades can enjoy a free movie and snack.  Click here for the schedule.  List includes Puss n Boots, Hugo, Adventures of Tintin, The Muppets and more.

"Cinco de Mayo," right on time

Most of us think of the Birmingham Botanical Gardens as a backdrop for the kids’ photos, but that’s a shame. The Gardens merit frequent visits for their own sake, as they are always changing with the seasons and, let’s face it, who can appreciate the place when you are busy fussing over smocked vs. seersucker for a photo?

Tags in a real rose garden? I don't feel so bad.

Spring/early summer is a particularly fine time to visit the gardens because the Dunn Formal Rose Garden is full of color. Did you know that the garden is an official All America Rose Selection Display Garden? This means that the varieties change every year to showcase some of the newer introductions. This also explains why some roses still have their tag identifiers and care instructions. At first glance, I confess I thought it seemed a little unseemly for professionals to rely on cheat sheets, but then I considered that this garden is maintained by Rose Society volunteers who are basically starting over every year.

Rose varieties are as interesting for their optimistic names as for their beautiful color. Who can resist “Strike it Rich” or “Dream Come True“? You never hear of roses called “Forgotten at the Old Homestead” or “Neglected Briar Bush“. I was amazed to discover an area of Knockout Roses in the gardens. Weren’t those developed specifically for us hopeless non-rosarians? Would an proper English gardener allow such a pedestrian specimen? Perhaps everyone needs a no-fail plant after all.

In any case, the Gardens are free to the public and you will not find a more lovely place to stroll and enjoy someone else’s hard work and expertise.

Other All-America Rose Display Gardens in Alabama include Bellingrath Gardens and U.S.S. Alabama Battleship Park.

"Mom" bracelet, popular gift from the elementary school Santa Shop

Hold your nose, the fragrance inserts touting “gift with purchase for mom” are tumbling out of every newspaper. Gullible dads and kids are desperately searching for a Mother’s Day gift that will answer our ‘focus-group tested’ secret wish to roll in a wildflower meadow or lead a horse along the coastline, free tote included.

But here’s what Moms really want: Time. Perhaps you can’t manufacture more for us, but you can certainly take less  so that we are free to have a bit of time for ourselves.We’re talking about:

Time to sleep – You know that state of semi-consciousness in which you realize your sheets feel good and you can stay there? We want to sleep until we go through a few REM cycles, where we don’t look at the clock, where we finally get up after we simply can’t lay there another minute. Dad, you get that kind of rest on a family vacation, but since that’s still a “business” trip for us, we’d like a crack at capturing some of those sweet ZZZs.

Time with girlfriends – Do you have any idea how the stars have to align in order for us to carry off a proper night out with our girlfriends? The undertaking is so complex that if you wrote a mathematical formula, you would have at least 80 dependent variables between a group of four women, and most of those variables would be related to children. Dad, resolve to handle everything on our night out, even the kid’s stomach bug that presents itself just as we are headed out the door. Mom, since you’re destined to get the bug anyway at some point in the family cycle, why not take a chance with the restaurant’s featured cocktail?

Time with our Moms – Just like our marriages, our mother/daughter relationships became All About the Kids the moment baby #1 was born. Either we’re telling a great story to Mom, now an adoring grandmother, or we’re too distracted to really talk or spend time together. Make some space for us to catch up with our moms, whether that means leaving you guys at home while we go visit or whether you send us off with our moms for lunch and an afternoon together. Mother’s Day has deeper meaning between us now.

Time to ourselves. We’re not counting time when the bathroom door is shut but you still knock. No, we are talking about unrestricted, uninterrupted time, like curling up with a book long enough to identify a plot. Maybe we could have a warm bath followed by padding around the empty house (in other words, scram) in our favorite robe. The race against time between Mother’s Day Out drop-off and pick-up is only a blink. We want to stroll around Target at our leisure without anyone facing toward us in the buggy.

Finally, time together.We’re much better company when we’ve had a break and feel relaxed and appreciated. Once we’ve had our time, we’re ready to rejoin the family. And when we receive your gift of fragrance, we will be happy to smell like whatever you have chosen.  Just don’t forget to hand over the free tote.

Riding the bus in L.A.

Friend and local Mom, Katie Rogers, is an explorer. Her hunger for new ideas, people and places took her to cities across the country and, thankfully, home to Alabama where her accent clearly belongs!

Among her ideas and endeavors, Katie made a documentary of her commitment to live in Los Angeles without a car for 80 days.  Can you imagine?!  It all began several years ago on a hike in Sun Valley , Idaho when Katie, out of curiosity, asked why her friend seldom drove and, by default, thoughtfully considered the environmental impact of cars.

“And then it hit me,” said Katie, “like a lightning bolt.  I thought, I should make a movie where someone goes without a car in Los Angeles – to show it can be done.  And then realized, that person’s going to be me!”

It did not happen immediately. Katie moved to Los Angeles but the idea never left her.  “It was haunting me,“ she said.  True to Katie’s personality and of benefit to the film, she started with little planning so that the film would capture the stress and fear of figuring out how to live without a car for 80 days in L.A.   The film footage documents her life by bus, bike and foot as she manages to work, live and play in a city that, by most assessments, REQUIRES a car.  She did it and says the following on her blog from that time.

“LA can be done car-free.  I met many upon many who are car-free and are just fine.  What if we could shift it? What if we could all get out of our cars more? Experience each other more? Experience the air and sunshine more? Go like children on bikes powered by nothing but our own awesome energy?”

She discovered a wonderful community of committed people – passionate about biking and a

Car Less in New Orleans

carless lifestyle.  “They think 80 days is a joke, I met a person who had gone 17 years!”  she laughs.   On day 4 of the Carless project, she met a man who traveled around the world carbon free (canoe, bike etc.) and interviews him for the film.  She also learned that most everyone has a car and, thus has an opinion about them.  Curiously, people also have an opinion about public transportation.  Strangers and friends offered opinions about the quality of public transportation even though they’d never used it.

Today, Katie lives in Birmingham enjoying the slower pace and people.  She is a Mother to Ava, Feng Shui Consultant, Arborist and Artist.  She has 80 hours of footage from her Carless days, the experience and love of living car free, passion for a world built for people rather than cars and a great story to tell.  17 days ago, Katie launched a fundraising campaign on Kickstarter to raise the $10,000 necessary to hire an editor and get Carless in LA to film festivals.   117 people have committed over $7,200 and almost 1,000 like her project on Facebook, including the band Cake.  She still needs $2,800 before May 22^nd to make Carless in LA a reality and you can help her by making a contribution.  When asked what words could describe her feelings if the film gets funding, she said, “I don’t even have words for that. I’m going to be so psyched.”

In keeping with Mother’s Day, we mused…What would she tell her daughter if she too decided to go car free in LA for 80 days? I’d say first “have fun” and then “be careful”.  I’d tell her about being ‘doored’ (when a car door is opened in your path because drivers do not look for bikers) because that is the scariest thing and no one knows about it.

Starbucks is onto Alabama Artists

Last year the #1 country song in the nation was Brad Paisley’s ”Old Alabama,” which left me sort of longing for new Alabama artists to fill the void.   That’s why I’m so excited about the fabulous young band Alabama Shakes from Athens. If you have ‘t heard of them yet, you will.

Just last August Alabama Shakes was playing in Florence as part of the W.C. Handy festival; now they’re on Letterman, Conan, SXSW, and a world tour. I can’t stop playing their debut album “Boys and Girls” with its old revival style, soul-meets-rock, timeless sound. I love this informal ”Live from the Shoals“ (not the official video) from Pegasus Records in Florence. Brittany Howard, the lead singer, looks like any girl you’ve made small talk with while waiting in a checkout line, and then – boom –  she starts to sing and you are completely blown away. This is that barefoot, Susan Boyle moment before a professional stylist starts assigning designer duds.

Alabama Shakes aren’t the only group of artists building momentum for the state’s new musical talent. Spring’s most anticiated movie, The Hunger Games, has a soundtrack featuring the Secret Sisters, who hail from Greenhill (near Florence). John Paul White, one half of 2012 Grammy winners the Civil Wars, is also a Shoals native.

And speaking of “Old Alabama”, another artist who has embraced his status as a classic and icon is Lionel Richie. His latest album, featuring duets of his old songs with newer artists, is Tuskeegee. It’s nice that he threw some props to his native state, although the man has clearly preferred L.A. ever since he left (wonder what daughter Nicole would think if she ever saw Tuskeegee).

Clearly, there is fresh new talent all around us and it’s showcased at festivals and entertainment venues throughout the state. It’s just a matter of discovery, and perhaps, re-discovery.

Note: Alabama Shakes is performing in Birmingham in May - Birmingham, England, that is.

Your local comic book store is Kingdom Comics at 1425 Montgomery Hwy in Hoover. Bring the kids out on Saturday between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. for a free comic book and a photo op with some of the superheroes and villains of  The Avengers. Let the kids know that all those superhero characters they idolize at amusement parks got their start as comic book characters and eventually landed their big break in movies. Gosh, do the kids behind all those Spiderman masks at Halloween even know their superhero started out on the pulpy paper of a comic book?

Free Comic Book Day is especially appropriate for this Saturday as it is one day after the movie The Avengers comes out. If you take the family to see the movie you’ll be making a serious entertainment investment (the 3D version is premium priced, as usual), so it’s  a relief to find some supporting material for free. Consider seeing The Avengers at The Rave in Patton Creek just after a stopping by Kingdom Comics and you might keep everyone’s spring fever at bay for a few more days.

Homewood residents LOVE Homewood and their day of celebration is aptly named “We Love Homewood Day”.   From morning to night, residents will enjoy this city-wide party that includes at morning run, 10am square dance exhibition, arts & crafts,  a Sidewalk Chalk Contest and ends with music and dancing in the streets until 9:30pm.  Hundreds of vendors will be set up throughout.  The heart of this festival occurs at Homewood’s Central Park.

From 1:30 – 5:30 at Veterans Park on Valleydale Road, you can Celebrate Hoover by enjoying a slice of Alabama’s largest apple pie, a Kids Zone with inflatables and rides, over 100 vendors and demonstrations by the police and fire departments.

We’re tempted to go to both!  Hats off to Hoover and Homewood this weekend.

Who knows more about dealing with these stains than the moms at the ballpark? They wince as their kid slides into home plate and silently curse the man (it had to be a man) who decided white pants would make for a sharp-looking baseball uniform. Other things being equal, most moms would prefer their kids be drafted for a gray-pants team.

Laura, a BirminghamMom whose son and daughter have played ball many seasons, shares her tip for laundering stubborn clay as well as any other tough stain: Fels-Naptha heavy duty laundry soap.

This soap removes all sorts of stains, including food, grease, and even blood. Your grandmother probably used it; it’s been around over 100 years! Apparently it’s environmentally friendly as well. Just wet the stained area, work the soap into the fabric, and wash as usual.

I’m told the only outlet in town that carries Fels-Naptha soap is Publix. It’s on the top shelf next to other laundry items and is an unbelievable 99 cents. Apparently a single bar of this wonder soap can last your entire child-rearing epoch and yet it costs less than a soda in the check-out aisle.

Thanks for sharing the find, Laura. With this soap, the Cardinals’ uniforms can still look respectable by the time it’s team photo day.

Corazon Flamenco Dancers

A new spring festival begins this year on May 12^th in downtown Birmingham.  Sponsored by the Birmingham Multicultural Association, an all-volunteer group, the Birmingham International Street Fair will be a lively celebration of the many cultures represented in our community.    ”Our City Our World” is an opportunity to see and learn from the many talented and culturally distinct groups Birmingham. Enjoy dance presentations, live music, arts and international foods in one place from 11am until 7pm on 3^rd Avenue North (between 19^th and 20^th Streets) and on 20^th Street North (between 2^nd Ave and 4^th Ave N).

Children mesmerized by dancers.

This is a free event thanks to many volunteers.  Birmingham Moms know a thing or two about volunteering (room moms, PTA, non-profit events, Junior League etc.) and we can thank these volunteers with our attendance and support.   Your children will be mesmerized by the dancers and music while you enjoy a beautiful afternoon.  It is amazing how much children can learn from active events and participation will certainly augment their learning in the classroom. Additionally, this festival is only a few blocks from the McWane Center so it would be easy to spend time indoors and then walk to the festival for a few hours.

Click on the links below and you will be impressed by the talent.

The performance schedule follows:

11:20-11:50 Jasmine Dance Ensemble (Chinese Cultural Association)

Noon- 12:45 Marc Gunn- Celtic Folk Singer

12:55-1:35–Dancers from Indian Cultural Assoc. of AL

1:30-2:30–West African Dance classes from  Nathifa

2:20- 3:05 Corazon Flamenco-Flamenco Dancers

3:15-4:00 Carlos Castilla- Classical Latin Guitar

4:10- 4:55 Umdabu- Zulu Dancers and Drummers

5:10-5:45 Katie Cox School of Irish Dance

6:00 B-Law Riddenwise- Reggae band