eat.sleep.play.repeat

Three Weeks

2012-02-02T19:01:00.000-05:00

Dear Junior,

Today you are three weeks old. I can't believe how fast, and slow, this time is going. We are still figuring out your feedings and it has made the past few weeks incredibly hard. We're also not quite sure what to do with you after you've been fed, changed, and burped. It's pretty amazing how much bigger you seem now that you are in the real world though!

Your sleep is erratic but has been strangely plentiful today. Nighttimes are actually easier since you will eat and go right back to sleep after every few hours. We keep you in a bassinet/pack n play right next to my side of the bed so I don't have to move much to get you. My arms are puny though and it's going to take a lot more effort to pick you up once you start packing on the pounds. I can't wait for you to get head control though. It really is the little things.

You are wide awake in the mornings and don't mind being changed. You eat, and then I pass you off to E so I can devour a huge bowl of oatmeal with peanut butter, almonds, banana, and white chocolate chips. With a glass of a milk. It is my favorite part of the day. You sit on E's lap usually and observe the world. This is his last week of paternity leave so I'm not sure what's going to happen next week, but I hope we find a good groove soon.

I think you are an easygoing baby so far and you only seem to cry when something's wrong. Yesterday we took you out on your first stroller walk with the dogs and you did not enjoy that one bit. Today we took you on a car ride to the bank and McDonald's and you also didn't seem to be a fan. You do enjoy the white noise app on my iPhone though, and the Happiest Baby on the Block DVD has been helpful in figuring out how to calm you down.

We gave you your first real bath last night and you didn't seem to mind it, although I have a suspicion that you pooped in the tub. You barely cried though. As I write this, you are passed out next to me on the couch. You are so small and it's strange to think you won't remember any of this. You have a doctor appointment tomorrow and I hope you have put on enough weight by then since you only gained 3 ounces last week. I also hope you don't need a diaper change or pee all over the clipboard again (we were pretty impressed).

Here we are, and I can't believe that we're here. We love you more than words can say.

Quick Update

2012-01-25T15:24:00.001-05:00

How quickly life changes! Junior is now 13 days old and it feels like the fastest and slowest time of my life. Everyday we get to know him a little bit more. I can't wait for him to grow up a little and start responding to us, yet I dont want to miss out on this short stage of his life where he is so little and helpless.

The first week home was literally a haze of sleep deprivation, soreness, and nerves. But the midwives at the hospital were right, it does get a little better everyday. And it helps when you can't stay mad at the person turning your life upside down! After almost two weeks of living with Junior, I've learned:

- he's not yet fond of normal sleeping hours. He feeds every two hours and will spend most of the late evening/early morn hours cluster feeding and crying if we try and put him in his crib. Last night he finally passed out at 2 and slept for an amazing 5 hrs, at which point I woke up and worried he had slept too much.

- I've become very adept at sleeping in a ball on the couch with a blanket over my head. I feel pretty.

- he makes a perfect 'o' with his mouth and stares at you with bug eyes until you feed him.

- diapers are no big deal. Although going through 4 in one change can be tiring.

- drugstore.com and amazon are my friends. As is target online!

- E has been making all the dinners and doing laundry/dishes. Thank goodness for paternity leave! Stocking up the freezer was a lifesaver too.

Time for a diaper change!

Introducing Junior

2012-01-22T10:53:00.001-05:00

January 12, 2012 at 10:08 pm. 7 lb 9 oz and 20.5 inches long.

Sleep-deprived, hormonal, stressed and so so blessed.

Big

2012-01-08T19:59:00.002-05:00

Smiling in anticipation. Of cheesecake.

Dear Junior,

We made it to our due date! And uh, past the due date. And then past it some more.

COME ON JUNIOR!!

Truthfully yours,

Mom

I am now three days overdue. Which is hardly anytime at all considering how long the baby has been baking. But boy am I antsy! Maybe it's because everyone else is having their babies (*hateyouBeyonce), or the fact that I don't want to work from home tomorrow, but the restlessness has been at a high all weekend. Yesterday I ran around like crazy running errands, getting groceries, cleaning, cooking, and baking. Plus I stayed up super late reading my Kindle thinking perhaps I would start having contractions in the middle of the night (fail). Alas, it's a waiting game.

Highlights of the past week:

- This super cute package we got in the mail from E's aunt and uncle:

It's a baby made out of diapers and onesies, plus a bunch of receiving blankets, prefold cloth diapers (apparently great burp cloth material), a stuffed animal, and baby hats. I'm going to steal this idea for whenever my people start making people of their own.

- We made it to the Cheesecake Factory on Thursday night and it was everything I dreamed of. Actually, it was better than I thought it would be since I figured only their desserts would be good. We had a calamari app and E got pasta carbonara whereas I got the chicken bellagio (chicken with some sort of pesto pasta and arugula). Then we had delicious cheesecake! Mine had hot fudge on it and his was white chocolate macademia nut on a blondie brownie. Okay, his was better. And now, I yearn.

- Painted all the letters for Junior's room today and they turned out great! Just wondering if they'll be too heavy to hang now because we got super huge ones. I also took pics of the room since it's pretty much done now.

- Washed the shower curtain and Swiffered the floor. It made me feel whole again.

- Made cookie bars with pureed white beans and oatmeal from a healthy cooking website. I underbaked them. It was weird. They had chocolate. I shall eat them.

- Went in for a non-stress test at the doc on Friday. The baby's doing fine and I don't have another appointment until this Friday. Then we start talking about the I-word. I don't want an induction! It was fun listening to the baby's heartbeat for an hour though. But I'm definitely not having contractions yet.

- Got caught up in the world of Minesweeper again thanks to a free app on my phone. Send help.

Speculating

2012-01-07T12:00:00.000-05:00

*At two days overdue, I asked E the following*

Me - "What are the first words you're going to say to the baby when he's born?"

E - *thoughtful pause* - "You're late."

One Last Post

2011-12-31T19:10:00.002-05:00

Happy New Year! Unfortunately, this is the only baby you'll be seeing around these parts tonight. I'm 99.9% sure I'm going to cap off 2011 still pregnant and just 6 days shy of my due date. I'm not grossly uncomfortable, but I have resorted to a sloth-like state. E has a snowboarding trip at school this week, and he has promised me a trip to the Cheesecake Factory if we make it to my due date on Thursday.

I am not opposed to bribery. I can only hope my offspring feels the same.

Plus it's not too bad doing nothing all day! And making plans for no farther than 24 hours in advance. So far today I've slept in, re-discovered Minesweeper on my iPhone (a horrible, horrible game), watched How I Met Your Mother and an episode of One Born Every Minute (there are some screaming crazy pregnant ladies on that show) and spent some quality time with my new toy:

Yup, I bought myself a Kindle Touch last week. It only took three days of indecision. I've got leftover Amazon gift card money to buy books with it, so expect those in about three more indecisive weeks.

I also ate some sandwiches. The urge to cook has left me. As has the urge to wear real-people jeans and put on makeup. It's a shame I don't go out more actually.

Some highlights of this year:

- A promotion - yay!

- Going on my first real business trip and not dying.

- Trips to New York.

- Expanding my watch collection with no shame.

- A long and leisurely vacation to Alaska. I miss the waffles.

- A great Thanksgiving spent with family and friends.

- And of course, baking a baby.

I can only imagine the craziness next year will bring. Or perhaps next week?

Merry Christmas

2011-12-25T19:25:00.001-05:00

Here's hoping everyone has a warm and cozy Christmas.

Kicked off the day with a great online sale at the Children's Place. Junior got his winter coat for next year for 50 dollars off!

It's been a very low-key weekend for us. I no longer have overtime from work to do, and Friday was my last day in-office. With less than two weeks until my due date, we're sticking close to home for the first time in my 26 years of existence. It feels bittersweet. I think we'll have double the joy/traveling craziness next year though (note to self: do not have another late December/January baby).

On Christmas Eve I spent some time cleaning the house and prepping for dinner tonight. We had an 8 lb ham (the smallest one I could find), E's mom's famous sausage stuffing, taters, green beans, and soon we shall devour some chocolate lava cake for dessert. Can you guess what part excites me the most? Chocolate baby! We also spent a good amount of time watching How I Met Your Mother episodes on Netflix today and saw the latest Mission Impossible movie. It's so weird to think it'll be our last time in a movie theater for a long time. I am appreciative that the baby let us see Tom Cruise do his famous running-man scene.

E woke me up at 7:30 this morning and we gave each other our presents. He got a nice iPhone speaker dock for me and I got him a couple of sweaters from Macy's, a Detroit Lions lunchbox, and a Burton iPhone case, which he promptly put to use. Tomorrow we have an oil change for my car and then I'm hoping to snag a trip to the mall. Got to stock up on shampoo for next year!

Black Friday Deals

2011-12-18T21:20:00.002-05:00

Whoops I forgot to post about my Black Friday finds! One of my favorite days of the year. My advice? Check sites like bfads.net ahead of time and buy the stuff you really want online. That way, you can take it easy and browse the good-but-not-incredibly-crucial sales on the actual day. We squeezed in a good breakfast with friends at 5:30 AM and went shopping from 6:30-8:30. Most of the crazies were gone by then but the sales were still plentiful. Then I hit up the mall later and got rear-ended by a big truck...but all turned out well in the end!

Small, but substantial haul this year:

A coat for less than 60 dollars that I can wear now and when I return to normal-people size? Sign me up. It looks even cuter in person.

Finally caved and bought a Keurig machine for 125 dollars. My future soon-to-be-sleep-deprived self already thanks me.

All the seasons of Gilmore Girls on Amazon for less than 10 dollars a piece! E was quite thrilled with this one. (Side note: Am I the only person who found this show horribly annoying at first, and then became obsessed with it?).

Christmas Gift Idea

2011-12-06T18:47:00.001-05:00

E, in a reverent and passionate whisper, "I need this. Get me a banana stand and I'll put my headphones on it!"

In a Nutshell

2011-12-04T19:37:00.001-05:00

It's hard to believe I've gone from here:

10 weeks. Uh, I never thought of myself as skinny then but I sure do now!

To here:

Taken a couple weeks ago at 33 weeks. The bump has dropped a little since then!

In 5 months! I've gained around 21 pounds, and thankfully not too much of the dreaded face fat *knock on wood. My wedding rings still fit too. This whole pregnancy has been pretty darn easy considering the horror stories I've heard and I hope I never stop feeling blessed for that. Lately I think I've shifted into the "I'll be pregnant forever" mindset. The thought that this baby is going to be making an appearance in just about a month sounds foreign to me. I've even made peace with the pregnant lady waddle.

Jamie, last night - "You're starting to waddle a little I see!"
Me, assuredly - "Yup!"

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving at home (minus the uncomfortable 14-hour car ride) with family and friends. We also had a gorgeous baby shower where I got to see Anthony attempt to go pro at the drinking-apple-juice-from-a-baby-bottle game. The people in our lives have been way too generous to us. Last Friday I had a surprise baby shower at work and it was so flattering to see how much people cared. I also ate a whole cupcake (note the pride). It's all happening so fast though! I've been nesting all weekend and racing to get the last of the nursery stuff washed and put away. The little room is full to the brim but it surprisingly doesn't look too bad.

I'm going to start on my overnight bag tonight and am planning on doing some freezer meals next weekend. If we make it to our due date in January, I've decided we should go out for a carb-busting Italian dinner in Providence (they make great Italian food there on account of all the mobsters). I also even managed to squeeze in some Christmas shopping and work over the weekend. My hips are sore and I've started waking up at 3 in the morning again for the bathroom, but it's not too bad (I'll be pregnant forever, remember?).

I think there's ice cream calling my name...

Breaking and Entering

2011-11-17T17:41:00.001-05:00

Almost Thanksgiving! Almost there. The bulk of the week is over and now we have a fun and busy weekend filled with some last-minute shopping, frenetic cleaning/packing, dinner out, and Breaking Dawn (victoryyy).

But first, a "things-learned-the-hard-way" update: E broke into a house yesterday.

Was it our home? Well, yes.

We were running out to get some gas station coffee after dinner (don't judge lest ye be judged) and my lovely husband pulled the door closed behind him and promptly his eyes grew as wide as saucers.

I looked at the door and said, "You didn't."

"I don't have the keys."

Pregnancy brain hard at work, I replied, "Open the door!"

Yup, it took another minute or two to realize that he had locked the door from the inside without grabbing the keys (he thought they were in his jacket pocket). We had his phone, and promptly began debating if we should call a locksmith or break the lock and change them, which we should've done eons ago anyway. E was in favor of busting down the door rather than getting a locksmith, and I miraculously agreed. He then braced himself and threw his little shoulder into the door a few times, I briefly doubted his manhood out loud, and then poof! We had successfully broken back into our house.

Unfortunately, I then realized that 1. Our house is very vulnerable to attacks and 2. The break was not as clean as we had hoped. Part of the door frame broke off along with some paint on the walls. E talked to his co-worker today and it should be an "easy" fix, however, I'm pretty sure we're out much more time and money than a locksmith would've cost. On the bright side, we're finally changing the locks!

Decisions, Decisions

2011-11-13T19:47:00.001-05:00

My doctor told me a couple months ago that "pregnancy brain" (aka, being super forgetful/operating in some sort of a hormone-induced fog) is very real and I believe her completely. Not so much the forgetting part but more of the indecision! Last night, I went grocery shopping for hours and kept forgetting what I was planning on buying when I was on that side of the store. I agonized over which granola bar to buy and ended up buying all three. I wandered around looking for anchovy paste and found it on my third lap around the aisle.

Other examples:

- I couldn't decide between two phone covers at the store today and stared at them long enough that E made the choice for me. Since when did hot pink with polka dots even become something that I would consider?

- Picking out Christmas gifts online. I've had my Amazon cart open all weekend and still can't pull the trigger. What if I'm forgetting something? What if I'm buying the wrong thing? What if I haven't looked at every 65 cm stability ball that the site has to offer?

Help!

At least this weekend has gone by mercifully slow. Didn't get a lot done, but I pat myself on the back nonetheless. At 32 weeks, I'm trying to soak up all the rest I can, although it's hard since sleeping for long stretches makes me sore. We went out to British Beer Co. for dinner tonight and the panko-crusted green beans were the highlight of my life (take that evil nutritionist!). Now all that's left is to enjoy the rest of my vanilla cinnamon coffee, think about pulling that Amazon trigger some more, and gear up for another week. Breaking Dawn part 1 next weekend!

Starting to Feel Like a Parent

2011-11-09T19:18:00.005-05:00

We met with our pediatrician tonight and afterwards E said he started to feel like a real parent. I can't wait to see him as a dad!

He also valiantly installed our car seat last night (pending a successful police inspection) and all of a sudden I realized 1. how small the baby will be and 2. how real it is! Somehow the pukey neon green color of the car seat was at once intimidating and endearing. We're going to have a kid of our very own sitting there! Making messes! Spitting up! Pooping! Whoa.

We had breakfast with E's coworker and his wife over the weekend. They have two young children and she was telling me how she didn't even remember what she used to do before she had kids. She wasn't upset or resentful at all though, just matter of fact. In case I ever forget, our now-very-limited "before kid" phase mainly consists of:

- Working extra hours because it's nice and quiet at home in the evenings. Plus, money!
- Watching Food Network, Glee, Chuck, Supernatural, and the occasional trashy reality show.
- Runs to get coffee or ice cream.
- Eating out when we feel fancy or lazy.
- Reading magazines and playing on the internet.

(Try not too be too jealous of our adventures).

I'm grateful for where we are in life and excited/nervous for what's to come. Sometimes I miss the ability to go out on the town and party it up until the wee hours of the morning, but when did we really do that anyway?

T-minus 8 weeks!

Happy November

2011-11-03T18:50:00.001-04:00

Three days in and the month is already flying by! I'm happy tomorrow's Friday but there's a busy weekend ahead of us. On Saturday we're taking a childbirth class and Sunday is breakfast with E's coworker's family. Should be fun. Hope there's eggs. And Bacon. It deserves some capitalization.

In other news, I received this present in the mail a couple weeks ago from the fairies at BlogHer.

Woohoo clean smelling clothes! You smack one of these babies onto the inside of your dryer and don't have to worry about popping in dryer sheets for a couple months. So simple. I like the strong Bounce smell, but the downside is it goes on everything that you wash in there (I don't need it for dog pillows. And is this safe for baby clothes? I am undecided). I dislike fishing out those little used sheets from the laundry though so that's a benefit. And hey, my dryer feels a little fancier at the end of the day too.

In other, other news, my back hurts and I am a complain-y 31-week pregnant lady. I made it to the gym once this week though and did yoga today and I feel so accomplished! Now I just need to stop passing out on the couch after dinner. I miss being pain-free. On the bright side, my hair has pretty much stopped falling out after showers and is super healthy. Aces!

We ordered a bunch of pumpkin and apple pies from the kids in the culinary arts program at E's school for Thanksgiving. Very excite. I do cherish pie. But not as much as I love:

McDonald's ice cream cones! One dollar for pure bliss. Junior loves them too. Plus they are low fat. I'd say this is the strongest craving/love affair of my pregnancy so far. Today I cheated and had cookie dough ice cream with sprinkles from a local ice cream shop by work. Heaven! Thank goodness I can still enjoy ice cream.

Three more weeks until we leave for vacation, and seven weeks left until Christmas!

What Weekend?

2011-10-30T21:59:00.000-04:00

Where did the weekend go? I spent it working :(.

On the upside, got to put this together today:

Our crib set! We splurged on the bedding from Babies R Us since we got the crib for free from our kind friends. Aside from the car seat and stroller, we've spent very little on the baby's room so far. E's mom also sent us the crib mattress as a gift this past week and we were eager to put everything together. I also hung up a bunch of baby clothes and rearranged our little room to make it look less awkward with all the furniture jammed in there (full-size crib, changing table, storage cube, glider). I'm not going to know what to do with myself when it's finally done!

I tossed and turned all night and finally woke up at 5:20 this morning to let the dogs out. Thanks to the freaky weather, there was a substantial coating of wet snow on the ground and our big privacy hedge had collapsed over the walkway. So I wandered around the backyard until the dogs did their business, attempted to walk by the hedge branches, heard some strange tweeting from the birds that were presumably hiding out under there, and decided to back off. Poor birdies! I hope it melts by tomorrow - it's not even Halloween yet!

Then I went back to sleep for a while but achy hips combined with the weight of a sleeping dog (thanks Sam) made it pretty hard.

Tomorrow we're going to chill at home and pass out candy to the crazy children on our street. I don't want to go back to work!

Watch Love

2011-10-20T20:22:00.001-04:00

Yup, I bought this.

A shiny new Skagen watch, thanks to Rue La La. What can I say? The clean and simple Swedish design gets me every time. I may or may not already have a bounty of watches, but who doesn't need another watch? Exactly. Plus I don't have a silver one with a black face (just a blue face, and a silver face).

(Ihaveaproblem).

Sadly, this has been the highlight of my week. I'm on a lower-carb diet for my "impaired glucose" so I've been diligently tracking what I eat via my handy iPhone app (oh yeah! I got an iPhone! Puffy heart). It's a little depressing because my doctor told me at my 28ish-week check-up yesterday that, while I may not have to count carbs forever, I will always have to be mindful of what I eat, since I my mom has Type II diabetes. I am mindful of what I eat, but it sucks to be lectured like that, and to have a glass ceiling on the amount of cake I can consume in my lifetime. Especially cake with pudding in the middle!

Junior's doing well, although lugging him around has given me pretty constant back pain. I'm tempted to get one of those support band things, but I'm pretty sure it won't work since my pain is in the mid back and those are more for the lower back. He moves around all the time though and it's so reassuring. I can't believe there's only 11 weeks left! Pretty terrifying and exciting. Three months from now, our life is going to be completely upside down. But at least I'll know what time it is!

27 Weeks

2011-10-11T19:39:00.001-04:00

Feeling mighty large.

Why hello, awkwardity!

Not-so-awesome things that have happened in the past 7 days:

- Almost passing out from a non-supportive chair (aka my office chair and I, we had a falling out and are no longer on speaking terms).

- Begging for a fancy conference room chair. Did you know I have twice the volume of blood flow than usual, which means my face can turn red twice as fast when I'm embarrassed in front of my boss? I am the picture of health.

- Passing the glucose test (yay) BUT being told I didn't technically pass it, and having to go in for a nutritional consult tomorrow. Sulking is my forte.

- Secretly feeling so good when I waddle.

- Getting tired early at the super awesome fair we went to this weekend, and while out shopping. How am I going to survive Black Friday?! Skipping the 4 AM shopping would be heresy. Maybe E will push me around on one of those wheelchair things, which could potentially also double as a battering ram if shoppers become hostile.

- Iron supplements. I think they were created by Satan, and cleverly marketed by the types of smooth-talking people that you see in Love and Other Drugs (aka Jake Gyllenhaal).

-Realizing I have a 30-45 minute window of standing/activity. Any longer, and my hips start to ache like an old lady.

And begrudgingly, some things I'm not complaining about:

- A kicking baby that thumps when he gets dessert. He no longer feels like an alien!

- The plethora of baby clothes that our friends blessed us with. Junior will never wear the same hat twice.

- Sales on storage bins at Target so I can finally start cleaning out the nursery. Can I buy stock in these bins? I think I've bought several hundred this year alone.

- Unexpected decaf pumpkin spice lattes from kind people who don't need to be paid back. Big puffy heart!

- Pumpkin in general. This has nothing to do with pregnancy. Pumpkin is just that cool.

- Still being a couple pounds shy of 20 lb of weight gained. I'll take what I can get. And so far I've dodged the face-fat bullet!

In conclusion, I need peanut butter.

Plans for the Weekend

2011-10-01T11:01:00.001-04:00

Hooray it's October! One of my favorite months (crispy weather, warm comfort food...uh I'm out of reasons). Oh and it's also my 4-year work anniversary. It's nice to be gainfully employed.

Things I'm looking forward to this weekend:
1. Bagels at Panera with the husband tomorrow.
2. Assembling some stuff for Junior's room. We have a car seat, stroller, and play pen now! It's all becoming so real. I can't wait to stuff Sam in the play pen and see what happens. He's our 20 pound test dummy. That's right, dummy.
3. Not cooking thanks to leftover calzones and Chinese food from this week.
4. Sleeping in!

Things I don't care for this weekend:
1. This cold thing. I have the sniffles and I can't tell if it's getting better or worse. I don't think I can take any medicine (i.e. Dayquil, Nyquil) for it though. Blah!
2. Cleaning. Time to tackle the little room so E can get crack-a-lacking on taking down some more stuff in there.
3. Laundry. Enough said.
4. Work? Let's see if I get motivated to do work though first.

Last night we went out to dinner and I got a big bacon cheeseburger with fries and ate the whole thing! I was impressed. I was low on iron indeed. Then we got to watch a horribly depressing episode of Supernatural and went to bed like old people. Ah, the life.

Fall, Apples, Sadness

2011-09-22T19:32:00.001-04:00

Apple-picking season is upon us! It was a quick one for us - we went out to pick the last of the Honeycrisps and a whole bunch of Cortlands last weekend. It was the first weekend for Cortlands so the trees were ripe for the picking and no one was there. Plus we got to eat apple fritters (glorified donut holes) and I was very, very satisfied. The next day, I made and froze 31 apple dumplings to get me through the long, cold months ahead. Apple dumpling = cored, peeled apple filled with cinnamon sugar and butter, wrapped in a buttery pastry crust and basted with cinnamon sugar sauce. Topped with vanilla ice cream of course. Heaven!

The only thing standing in my way of winter apple bliss is the glucose test that I'm pretty sure I failed at the doctor's yesterday. They check the way your body handles sugar between 24-28 weeks to see if you are at risk for gestational diabetes. I blame it on my weird diet that day (ate lunch two hours late) but who am I kidding, I'm doomed to take the three-hour follow-up test. And if I do have gestational diabetes, goodbye dumplings! Oh it is the sadness. They also have to test my blood something like 4 times and I can't eat anything all day. I haven't received the call from the doctor yet confirming this, but my test results online don't lie! Poo.

Other than that, fall has been going pretty smoothly. I don't usually enjoy September because of the harsh shift into work (for E) and morning traffic (for me). Plus it brings back memories of school years that seemed to last forever. At least I still have my energy, and haven't really been bothered by the soccer ball I've been carrying around as of late. This weekend I need to get on researching daycares and pediatricians. And then hopefully next weekend we can go to the Topsfield fair! Petting barnyard animals and eating kettle corn is a highlight of fall.

Lazy Day

2011-09-05T15:52:00.001-04:00

One last lazy day before the start of school for E, and work for me.

*sob

Even though I've been a busy worker bee all summer (minus the so-long-ago two-week hiatus from life in August), this upcoming week feels like the start of the true daily grind. Especially with traffic! I'm going to have to leave 15 minutes earlier now to get to work on time (45-50 minute commute). Plus I'm taking back my daily morning walks with the doggies. Le sigh.

At least we made this weekend a good one. We ate at Pizza Hut for lunch on Saturday (no buffet available sadly) and then I helped Jamie pick out a spiffy new watch on sale on Macy's. I love shopping! Then I even managed to head over to the outlets and Target that night. Yesterday we got the oil changed in my car and the battery replaced (because my car always needs more than an oil change) and then I finally got E to wander around Babies R Us with me. I think we've settled on a few things for Junior's new life with us, including:

A Baby Cache convertible crib. Recommended in my most awesome book, Baby Bargains.

A Baby Trend Snap and Go stroller frame. We manhandled the fancy all-in-one stroller+car seat (Chicco Cortina) for a while before deciding that it was just too big and bulky for my little car and puny arm strength. With this one, we can pop in the car seat until the baby is about 6 months old and then we can upgrade to a lighter umbrella stroller. Tada! (I'm dumb when it comes to strollers, so this is again Baby Bargains telling me how to live my life).

And finally, the best car seat on the market, according to those in the know. The Chicco Keyfit 30 (oooh, ahhh).

Anyone feeling like buying me a present?

September Already

2011-09-01T20:46:00.000-04:00

Yikes it's been far too long!

To be fair, I did have my little Internet window up to knock out a post when Hurricane Irene hit, leaving us with minimal damage but NO POWER FOR 2 DAYS. I know, I'm a wuss. But it was bad! I was panicking about not being able to blow dry my hair and had to go down to our friends house to 1. Save our frozen ribs and 2. Take one of the best warm showers of my life.

So anyway!

In August, we went here:

And it was great! Our Alaskan cruise was so relaxing and stress free, plus there were the most delicious Belgian waffles ever for breakfast every morning. Is it bad that the highlight of my vacation was waffles? With bananas, a drizzle of syrup, and whip cream? I need to recreate this.

We did a lot of shopping at their cute little touristy towns, saw a humpback whale breeching, walked all the way to the salmon run, ate fancy meals and dessert, and took long unnecessary naps in the middle of the day.

(Okay, so we did have a couple fights during vacation - a week on a boat with no internet will drive any married couple a little crazy! Gotta keep it real).

Then we had a great time visiting friends and family back in Michigan. Michigan summers are the best!

On the baby front, I've felt Junior (still don't know why we call him that - yes HIM!) kicking around more and more lately. It's great. Half the time it feels like gas, the other half it feels like he's trying to thump his way out of there. I can't wait until E gets a proper kick out of him. It's hard to believe I'm 22 weeks along as of today, although my waistline would beg to differ. I wonder when the inappropriate comments from strangers will start?

Running Out of Conversation

2011-08-23T21:13:00.000-04:00

On the hefty 12-hour drive back from Michigan this past weekend, I suddenly recalled a movie scene when the song "If I Die Young" came on the radio.

Me - "E, if I die, will you put me in a boat in the river? And put coins over my eyes for the boat man?"

E - "Yup." *pause as he remembered the scene himself*. "And then I would set the boat on fire."

Packing

2011-08-03T20:48:00.000-04:00

Ugh. Packing.

Only 1 more day of work left before we leave on our Last Hoorah Vacation (cruise and visiting family) and I am feeling exhausted. I've been trying to pack a little at a time over the last 3 days but it's like a slow torture! Do I have enough clothes? Are these clothes warm enough for Alaskan temperatures? Am I forgetting something? Where did all this stuff come from??

So instead of working tonight, I passed out on the couch for an hour after dinner. It felt pretty glorious!

Things I am so so so looking forward to:

- Reeelaxing!!!
- Breakfast mornings. I love breakfast on vacation, maybe cause we rarely go out for it here at home. We already have bagels planned, and I have an old craving for biscuits and gravy that I think my lovely MIL will indulge for me.
- Shopppping! I'm going to try and buckle down and buy some baby stuff so we're not too slammed with purchasing things at the last minute.
- Dinner with old friends.
- Coffee downtown. Where all the cool kids go!
- Cooler weather! It's only in the 50s in Alaska right now. This summer has been pretty brutal, especially with our puny air conditioner.

I will miss the doggies though since we're going to be gone for 10 days! I don't think we've been away from Sam for longer than 2. He's a rascal. Last night when I was packing he decided to curl up in my half-packed carry-on and fall asleep. And he looked so cute with his giant head lolling out of the side that I couldn't bear to move him.

Back to work!

The Short List

2011-07-20T19:31:00.000-04:00

Happy almost birthday to me! Just bought this pretty Roccatella crossbody bag from MyHabit yesterday. It only took me 10 minutes of indecision to pull the trigger this time!

My birthday is a scant two days away and my wish list is pretty short this year. Okay, it's pretty short every year, which drives E crazy as he never knows what to get me. I love my birthday and any solid excuse to eat Coldstone ice cream (tonight woohoo!) but for some reason the gift part always stumps me. I did manage to eke out a few wants after some deep, hard pondering though.

The contenders this year:

Oatmeal whoopie pies from Wicked Whoopies in Maine. We tried them once before and we still talk about them. How sad are we? Deliciously sad, is the correct answer. Alas, at 26 dollars a dozen online with 14 dollars for shipping, they make my budget hurt and my heart yearn.

A Kindle. Or, a Kindle? I can't decide if I want this. It'd be great to have for reading on our vacation and lying around in bed (I love you Harry Potter, but your books are pretty honkin' big bedfellows), but I rarely buy books and I don't like the idea of having to rebuy the ones I already own. Yet I want something sleek and tech savvy too after the iPad and iPhone that E's acquired this summer. Plus I could buy a really cute case for it! But said case would be really expensive. And I don't need another reason to spend money. Indecision!!

What appears to be the mother of all pregnancy pillows to ease my old-lady aches and pains at night. Early pregnancy is weird. You feel the same, look mostly the same, yet get all ache-y by sleeping in the usual positions at night and have to get up at least once to go to the bathroom. I think it has to do with shifting joints and expanding uterii, but the bottom line is I want the promise of a deeply restful sleep that this pillow offers. That is, if it will fit on our bed. Goodbye husband!

Other than that I am asking for a Banana Republic gift card because I love me some shopping and am still slightly delusional that I will be able to find nice clothes from there that I can wear during/after this pregnancy.

Ooh, and ice cream of course!

Trip to the Vet, Sam Style

2011-07-12T19:10:00.000-04:00

- We took Sammy to the vet today. It was his first real visit since we adopted him in September (he only went in for a brief once-over then). It was horrible! The vet gave him a bunch of vaccines and he promptly started freaking out and struggling in the vet tech's arms. It gets worse - he started pooping out little turds on the exam room table and secreting an unpleasant fear scent from his business end. We didn't realize how bad it was until we left the room and the receptionist asked us if one of the dogs had some "anal gland testing". EWW!!!

- We then drove around with the windows down, air conditioner blaring, and gagging as we had previously agreed to grab Taco Bell after the vet visit. It was worth it, but we couldn't eat the meal until we got home and hosed that boy down until he was good and clean.

- Now, this girl (modeling her coming-home present for the year, Doggles):

She tagged along to the vet to get weighed and cried under the chair the whole time like a baby while Sam was getting shot up. She didn't even get a shot!!

- Deal: I price matched Frontline at my vet, saved 40 dollars, and got 2 doses free due to a promotion. Finally a break!

- Total damage: 241 bones. Ouch. And a follow-up visit in three weeks for a booster vaccine. This time Sam is NOT getting any food beforehand!

- I love my dogs.

Busy Bees

2011-07-10T17:44:00.000-04:00

Poor Reasons Why I Have Been Absent:

1. Parents came to visit last weekend. It turned out surprisingly well! They cooked a ton of food and cleaned out our backyard for us (it was choked with weeds). We also took them to sushi buffet and they pronounced it "very clean" (aka delicious).

2. Covering for boss out on vacation - work work work. Don't feel like staring at a computer after that!

3. It's hot outside. As in, sit at home and try not to move hot. Thank goodness for our crappy little air conditioner. Crappy little air conditioner, I love you.

4. Working on our newest project:

We're expecting! Yup, and due in January. It's our first baby, our parents' first grandchild, the first offspring of our friends, etc. And it only took 2 weeks for the shock to wear off!

Needless to say, our summer plans for repaving and revamping the walkway/driveway plus making a fire pit in the backyard have now turned into possibly just repaving the driveway and saving as much money as possible. On the plus side, I have a bunch more shopping to do!

5. But contrary to the money thing, I want pizza!!

An Unexpected Boat Ride

2011-06-28T20:22:00.000-04:00

After a warm and sunny summer day today, I convinced E to take the canoe out for a spin in the large reservoir behind our house when I got home from work. We quickly changed, sunscreened up and trooped down to the basement to grab our honking beast of canoe (an excellent Craigslist find). I grabbed one life vest for me and the only dog life vest that we had bought pre-Sam. Since Sam had never been out on the water before, we thought it would be best to put it on him since we knew Argon can swim.

Argon modeling the life preserving apparatus.

We got in the water okay and paddled around peacefully for several minutes. I sat in front and finally got the hang of paddling so as 1. not to annoy E and 2. not steer us in circles (it's an art!). The following conversation took place.

E - "What's that thing over there?" Gesturing to what looked like a piece of floating cardboard.

Me - "Oh I don't know."

Me, thinking - lalalala.

We lazily paddle around it in peaceful silence.

SPLASH!

I screamed and whipped my head around and saw Sam had leapt overboard and was swimming out into the great beyond! He then shot us a mildly startled look that seemed to say, "What? You think this is wrong?"

Eric shouted "Sam!" and started laughing. Thankfully the life vest kept him afloat as we frantically paddled toward him. He had his leash floating beside him in the water (thank goodness!) and did not seem troubled at all as I slowly pulled him over and then lifted him back into the boat using a combination of superhuman mom-adrenaline and the handy little handle on the top of the vest. Nevermind that the water deflected probably 30 or so percent of Sam's meager 20 pounds. I saved my dog's life. Like a boss.

After having a good laugh in shock/relief, we kept going after securely fastening his leash around the center of the boat and continued the journey without incident. When we finally got off the canoe, E wandered a little too close to where the pier had sank into the lake and promptly slipped on the wet wood and nearly fell into the water.

I did not save him, but I did laugh. He came up laughing too.

I love summer.

Summer Has Begun

2011-06-25T20:52:00.000-04:00

E picked me up from the train station the other day. I noticed he had brought my hot pink water bottle with some sort of juice inside. His own water bottle was beside it in the other cup holder.

Me - "Oh did you bring me some juice to drink?"

E - "No but I brought you some water. You can't drink that. That's my diet Pepsi with amaretto!"

"???"

Sunday Burgers

2011-06-19T17:13:00.000-04:00

A good Sunday contains a good burger.

I had a great burger today from Eagle's Deli in Brighton. We hadn't been there in ages and they had completely renovated the store from the last time. It was busy and crowded but the fries were just as delicious as I remembered.

It's been a busy weekend entertaining E's friend Joe from the faraway land of Colorado. It's been a little while since we've had a visitor but I hope that we managed to show him a good time. We ate out at a few local places, got him lots of good beer, drove around Boston and walked around Cambridge. We also tried unsuccessfully to get inside E's school on a Saturday and ate delicious ice cream! All mentions of ice cream deserve a punctuation point! I love my sweets.

Consequently, I am feeling lazy and bloaty. My plan for tonight is to do laundry, prep a spinach artichoke dip for E's teacher potluck tomorrow at school, do some light freelance work, make some breakfast sandwiches for the week, and settle down with a cold glass of apple juice to watch the Next Food Network Star. A quiet night is in order!

Weird Saturday

2011-06-12T19:12:00.000-04:00

Yesterday was weird but pretty good! Here's what we did:

- Woke up late and hurriedly got ready to go to our oil change appointments at Firestone. E lovingly popped some Fiber One pop tarts into the toaster oven for me so I wouldn't starve. They are really delicious! Too bad I think they're being discontinued.

- Frantically tried to buy Seattle tickets while waiting for the cars. Something was weird with the airline site and it would not let me complete my purchase! It took 2 hours of fruitless searching and attempting to pay before I finally gave up and did some real work.

- Stopped by Walmart and then headed to one of E's kid's open house. The first of many in my life I'm afraid. The food was good though and they were all super nice (apparently it was a family open house, still not sure how we found ourselves there). They had a pasta salad with imitation crab meat that was delicious! And I got to eat rice with an over easy egg on top. Good stuff.

- Got ice cream!

- Passed out once we got home. It rained all day.

Today I finally attacked the mess that is our front yard and hedges. I also finally worked up the strength to make dinner (chicken parm). We got a watermelon at the grocery store today and I'm excited to eat that while watching Food Network tonight. Be jealous!

So...who wants to fly me to Seattle?

Happy Birthday Bob

2011-06-08T19:12:00.000-04:00

Don't be fooled by his geeky teacher attractiveness. Sadly, he's already lapsed into Summer Vacation mode (tshirts, flip flops, and shorts).

Happy Birthday to E! Today marks the beginning of his 26th year of life. Time for some sharing!

1. E was born a blue baby. I have no idea what this means but he told me this via Gmail today.

2. Meat is his favorite dish. Blackened meat is even better.

3. A student gave him an R2D2 clock today and he was so excited he took a picture with his iPad and emailed it to me.

4. He also received a small chocolate cake and a video game. It's a glorious day in his world.

5. I got him nothing.

6. I lied. I got him an App card, mainly because it was on sale at Target (what what!).

7. We had homemade barbeque chicken pizza for dinner with caesar salad.

8. It's too hot outside. This has nothing to do with E's birthday.

I heart that kid.

Tornado Watch

2011-06-02T09:47:00.000-04:00

Last night there was a tornado watch and a threat of some pretty severe thunderstorms.

Me - "So if the watch becomes a warning, do we have to go down to the basement?"

E - "Yup."

"I think we'll get wireless there though! If that happens I'd change my clothes and grab my laptop and one dog before I go down there."

"I'll grab my laptop, those two pieces of software (*pointing to the iPad and my laptop), and my PS3"

"What about the other dog?!"

Thoughtful pause.

"I'll come back for Argon."

Fight or Flight

2011-05-29T19:31:00.000-04:00

This morning Argon and Sam mercifully let me sleep in until 6 am before they started stepping on me and snuggling (Argon) and biting at my arms in order to wake me up (Sam, sigh). Since E has been away all weekend, I dragged myself out of bed and dutifully took them on an extra long walk. Why extra long? Because I made a promise to E that I would walk them more over the weekend as penance for a week free of the gym. Okay, so it's been more like two weeks. Exercise has gotten pretty bad around here.

Anyway, we rounded the corner onto a street a flew blocks down from our house that I had walked down before a couple times. It was quiet, and I had two full poo bags in one hand and two leashes in the other.

Suddenly, I heard a dog bark and a man yell at it. They were hidden behind a truck and a fence so I didn't think much of it.

And then!!

This comes running out into the middle of the street.

Actor portrayal.

A pitbull. On the smaller side, but still twice as big and as tall as Sam and Argon. My puny little red haired dogs looked about as shocked as I was. And of course the only thought that popped into my head was the conversation with my coworker this past week about how pitbulls tend to have inborn aggression.

It took me about a second to realize that I had no hopes of outrunning this dog. So I grabbed both leashes and twisted them until my dogs were standing somewhat behind me. The dog had not moved, so we were at a standstill about five feet apart in the middle of the road. If she lunged, I planned to wing around and block the doggies with my legs, and then pick them up like footballs to protect their furry lives. I pondered whether I had the courage to kick a dog in self-defense.

It also occurred to me that I was wearing shorts. And my un-exercised legs probably tasted delicious.

The dog took one step forward and...

...headed to the other side of the street to pee. The owner dude, who must've been moving as slow as any human being can possibly be, ambled over and lectured the dog a little while saying that she was harmless. Harmless! The dog looked ashamed. He apologized I graciously said, "That's okay!" And booked it out of there as fast as I could without drawing attention to myself.

No more long walks for this girl!

There Comes A Time

2011-05-26T13:44:00.000-04:00

There comes a time in every man's life where he must use a plunger on his bathtub drain to unclog what must surely be a hairball from Hades.

Tonight, it is E's time.

And I can't wait!

We were all set to buy a bottle of Drano to handle this clog (seriously, Sam could drown in our tub with the slow drain it has now) but after some quick Googling I discovered that the best method to handle this problem is to fill the bath with a little bit of water and plunge away like a mad man. The mental image of E straddling the tub tonight and angling for the best plunge position fills me with glee.

Who said marriage wasn't exciting?!

Why We Chose Alaska

2011-05-25T20:00:00.005-04:00

We're going on vacation y'all!

To the land of the free. The wild. And the whales?

Yup, we're going cruising to Alaska in August for seven glorious food-and-adventure filled days. This is my first cruise and I'm super excited. E's been on two, and it sounds like you do a lot of laying around eating food (that you paid for so long ago it appears free), and sightseeing. Plus shopping! Heaven. Our ship leaves from Seattle so we will be spending a day or so out there as well, checking out the legendary Pike Place Market and visiting the original Starbucks (about time).

So why did we choose Alaska over Europe? Basically, it came down to the numbers, and the type of vacation that we wanted. It was a tough decision. Some of the factors involved were:

Price: While pricey in its own right, the cruise will still be thousands of dollars less than Europe (specifically, Italy and France where we wanted to go). We could've toned down our budget for Europe to match the cost, however, then it would be a trip spent trying to save money. When we first started our savings account for this trip, the number one thing I didn't want to do was travel on a shoestring (hostels, one meal a day, limited sightseeing, etc). If we go, we should do it right!

Planning Time: Europe on a smaller budget than what we had hoped for would've meant limiting ourselves to at most two cities. We also couldn't spend as much time there as we would have liked due to travel and hotel costs. A flight to Italy from France is cheap, but it's still close to 300 dollars for two people. Alaska has a lot of planning involved as well, but the lodging and meals are at least covered and predictable expenses. I do need to figure out how to fit in whales, salmon, and sled dog puppies though!

Family: We are driving back to Michigan and leaving from there for Seattle, which means we get to hang out with our families the week after we return (two whole weeks of vacation!). This prevents my parents from trying to drive out to see us, which they were planning on doing a couple weeks ago before we made these plans. The thought of them driving is pretty scary. Plus this way the dogs can stay with E's mom for free! She adores them too. We haven't been home since December so it will be nice to see everyone again.

Overall Enjoyment: I think even if we went to Europe on a limited budget, we would enjoy it just as much. However, this way we can still have a long vacation with less worries, and save money for our expenses next year (which includes a lot of travel plans!). While it doesn't mean that we don't ever want to go, this feels right for us at this time.

That being said, let the planning begin!

Sweet Dreams

2011-05-19T13:27:00.001-04:00

E came into the bedroom to pull me out of bed this morning as Sam had been unsuccessful in doing so for half an hour.

Me, groggy - "I think I dream-cheated on you last night?"

E, good naturedly - "Okay hon."

A couple minutes later.

Me - "Oh! I just remembered who it was with! I made out with Justin Timberlake!"

E - "..."

Me - "It was totally worth it!"

Thortastic

2011-05-17T19:15:00.000-04:00

This guy.

Where is this month going? We saw Thor this past weekend and it was not bad. I discovered that a certain level of muscle and deep blue eyes will look attractive on any man, no matter if he is blond with long hair. Throw in an accent and a red cape and the picture is complete!

But seriously, it was pretty good, despite it's love story having very little substance (they knew each other for what, 2 days?). We also saw the previews for X Men and Green Lantern, which was pretty awesome.

I am unexpectedly going to NYC this weekend after the persistent nagging of my bestie. She crazy! But I am excited nonetheless. I don't know when I'll be going back! Gotta get in all the gyros, soup dumplings, and Steak Shack while I can. And ice cream too I hope. If this gross gross weather will ever go away.

Oh! And we bought E this a week ago:

An Apple iPad 2.

I was so proud of him because he saved up for it almost all by himself! With real funds! The only problem is they are so hard to track down that we had to order it off Apple's website. With a one to two week delay in shipping. Have you ever seen a grown man cry?

On May the Fourth

2011-05-04T20:42:00.001-04:00

E, watching videos of light sabers for sale online:

"Wouldn't it be cool if I had a laser that could light a match? That'd be bitchin'"

Shopping Update

2011-05-01T11:06:00.000-04:00

I love me a good deal.

This weekend I ventured out to our so-so mall with the 25% Macy's Friends and Family discount (I had a mailer, though it's useless considering that they have coupons on every counter). And I finally bought my watch! I've been craving a practical yet stylish watch for months to add to my ever-expanding watch collection (obsession?). I checked out a smaller version of the above Bulova that I had seen online but in person it looked well, small. So I went with the one-size-up option. Final price: 225 + 20% off sale + 25% discount = 135!

While waiting for it to be sized (did you know you can't return it once they size it? bunk). I wandered over to the shoe clearance and found these babies:

Michael Kors Goldie Flat

I needed a new black heel since a young Sam chewed off the back straps of my work shoes in September. These were 98 dollars + 50% off clearance + 25% discount = 36 dollars!

I also bought a top from Express (needed to use a reward coupon) and some workout shorts and swimming trunks for E. They are bright red and I think it makes him look like a lifeguard. Don't know how fond he is of that. I got groceries afterwards and we ate cheese pizza and salad while watching 2/3 of the Godfather (what a strange, creepy movie). It was a very solid day!

After Lunch and After Work

2011-04-26T21:03:00.000-04:00

E came to work with me last week (on spring break, lucky B) and we enjoyed a lovely sushi lunch. On the way back to the office, the local pizza shop came into view.

Me - "Ooh see that place right there? That's where Kristin B. and Kristin H. are going to have lunch today so if you see them say hi."

E - "Okay. Can I say, 'What up K-squared?!'"

"Yes, yes you can. And I will look at them and say, 'I told you he was like this.'"

---------------------------------------------------
A couple days later and totally unrelated:

E - "I gotta figure out why the mic on my computer isn't working right!"

Fiddles with Skype settings.

Skype program - "Please speak into the microphone to test the sound quality."

E pauses briefly and looks into the monitor - "Why hello you good looking fella!"

Just What I Need

2011-04-20T18:18:00.002-04:00

Dude.

Sammy just peed on me!!

This is Sam. Half Dachshund, half Hell Hound.

There I was, lounging on the couch after dinner minding my own business when Sam jumped on my lap and started peeing. PEEING!!! I immediately leapt up and ran away screaming in hysterics, "HE PEED!!! I GOT PEED ON!" Granted, it was very tiny, but it got on my pants, shirt, and even my unmentionables! E quickly started cleaning it up while I ran for the washing machine. Sam paused, casually wandered over to the front door mat and resumed his business of urination. Disaster.

Is this what having a kid is like?

Theories:

1. Sammy is sick. He threw up yesterday and was acting sleepy last night. This may or may not be related.

2. Sammy cannot stop drinking water when it is available. Perhaps we made too much water available to him today.

3. Sammy is incontinent. At the age of 1.

Regretfully yours,
Msnels

Spring Break

2011-04-17T18:23:00.001-04:00

It's E's spring break! What will he be doing with all of his free time this week?

PARTY!!

...and then we remember he's 25. And boring.

So! His agenda for the week includes:

- "Organizing" - haven't gotten him to explain what this means yet.

- Lunching with me at work while doing said "organizing". Sushi awaits.

- Playing games.

- Running an AP study session for his kids (this involves pizza! And Me!).

- Playing games.

- Getting quotes for paving our driveway (take THAT spies/neighbors!).

- Cleaning the house and steam cleaning the carpet (insert chorus of angels singing).

When did we become adults? Case in point: this weekend I deep-cleaned the bathroom. This involved bleaching the tub, scrubbing it down along with the sink and toilet, wiping the floors down by hand like my old-school mom does, and Windex-ing everything. It felt great. And I only felt slightly nauseous afterwards from the bleach poisoning.

Again, I have no idea how I got this old.

Tomorrow I think we're hanging out with Jamie. We're going on a nature trail walk and watching Source Code. Afterwards, I'll be home in time for my 4 PM Jello and afternoon nap once I pop out my dentures.

Things I am shopping for but cannot find:
- Air conditioner to replace our ancient one.
- A swimsuit in case I need one for vacation (bikinis went out the door with my early twenties).
- A perfect vacation (yup, the inner Alaska/France debate rages on).
- Flea medicine (this is a dumb one but I can't find it as cheaply as I once did and it bothers me).

Off to go work!

Inception, Suburban Style

2011-04-12T16:40:00.000-04:00

We've been discussing possibly paving our driveway for a couple weeks now (it's gravel like our neighbor's). The general rule of thumb that I discovered is that if your neighborhood has mostly paved driveways, you should too. It doesn't really add too much value otherwise. Since our neighbor's were not paved or poorly paved, I figured we had some time to leisurely price out our options and decide.

BUT.

When we arrived home after work today, the neighbor's driveway had been freshly, nicely, perfectly paved.

We've been incepted!!

Stroop There It Is

2011-04-10T21:46:00.000-04:00

*Warning: Cheesy '90s song reference above. I couldn't resist.

Tonight we chucked the doggies in the backseat of the car and went out to return a video (Tron...a strange film), grab coffee, and pursue the above-pictured stroopwafels. Stroopwafels are a delicious, delicious, divine Dutch treat of two waffle-y cookies that sandwich a thin layer of caramel. They are meant to be placed over a mug of hot, steamy coffee so that the caramel melts and the cookie becomes ooey gooey/yum x 10000000. A coworker brought these into work several months ago after a trip to the Netherlands and I like to reminisce about my first experience with them from time to time.

And now I'm drooling.

Anyway, so E promised me that we could go get some this evening in exchange for me walking the dogs this afternoon. I had seen them at our neighborhood grocery store a while back but this time we were prepared to take the pricey plunge (5 dollars for a tiny box, we are Dutch after all!). BUT...we couldn't find them!

Instead we wandered around the grocery store at 7pm on a Sunday night with 2 unrelated avocados in hand while searching for these elusive cookies (hey we also needed avocados). I pined. I yearned. I almost bought some far less superior pizzelles (some type of foreign cookie). But in the end, I had to settle for a McDonald's ice cream cone. Which was tasty as well, but it just ain't no stroopwafel.

So far, this week is not starting off well.

At This Moment

2011-04-03T15:00:00.000-04:00

Currently, the Msnels household is engaged in the following activities:

E - Stuffing his face at the annual game dinner (game as in wild animals) that he attends with his buddy Jamie. He both loves and loathes this event - loves the opportunity to try various exotic meat dishes but loathes the feeling of overeating and consequent gastric unhappiness (TMI y'all!). If only there were a way to regulate the food that he eats!

Me - Watching Love & Other Drugs again while "working" (truth is I stopped working 3 hours ago). It's a good movie! But the fact that she has Parkinson's is sad. I want to see Source Code! Jake Gyllenhaal is A+ approved at the moment.

Sam - Took a drink of water, licked my foot, and is now staring out the window from his perch on the back of the couch. The life. His new hobby is to relentless destroy a toy (he used to pretend like he didn't care about them at all but now it seems he has a personal vendetta against them). I bought him two new toys at TJ Maxx yesterday for 4 dollars a piece - a stuffed animal with squeakers on it and a tennis ball with a squeaker-filled tail attached to it (really). He's already ripped open the tennis ball and has somehow managed to slowly digest part of the stuffed animal's ears. Gross!

Argon - Hanging out under the table like the queen that she is. We have to take her to the vet tomorrow for her annual check-up - $$$$! What a stinky girl.

Tonight we are having our new traditional and utterly formal Sunday night dinner of sausage egg and cheese breakfast sandwiches. We are also watching the finale of Chopped All Stars on Food Network. How is the weekend almost over already???

2011 Resolutions...and Confessions

2011-03-30T20:17:00.000-04:00

Confession 1: It isn't January. However! It is also not quite April, which seems like a mighty fine time for my New Year's Resolutions.

(don't hate).

1. Go to the gym 2 times a week. Why 2 and not 3, or even daily? Because it's attainable and doesn't sound horrifying. Plus, my gym has a women-only area that has a great selection of weights and weight machine that I never see ladies use. Not that I'm afraid to use the machines in the main floor, it's just that man sweat freaks me out a little. There I said it. A usual session at the gym is about 30 minutes weight lifting/strength training followed by 20-30 minutes of cardio. And I'm okay with that. Fitness is a journey! (Pictured above is me rocking it out at sunset in my half-nek workout gear...not).

2. Eat more fish. Fish is healthy and satisfying, a bit pricy but always fresh around these parts. I'm trying to incorporate this into at least one meal a week, with healthy greens too (I unexpectedly heart spinach salads). A tasty dressing recipe: 2 tablespoons orange juice, 2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar, 2 tablespoons olive oil, and a dash of salt. Yum!

Confession 2: I was going to put a picture of a fish here, Google-imaged it, and promptly freaked the crap out. Fish are terrifying! Cooked fish are still delicious.

3. Go on vacation. Deep breaths people, because it's happening! The Msnels household is going to...somewhere! This year. Currently hopelessly torn between:

Europe - Specifically France and a few cities there (Paris definitely, perhaps Nice, Marseilles, or Bordeaux). We've never been abroad before, but we have some knowledge of French and one of my lifelong goals is to eat a fresh baguette with cheese for lunch (because I think it's utterly Parisian and cool). But it is very expensive and involves a ton of planning.

Or:

Alaska - A cruise! Very relaxing, plus tons of food and I do heart wildlife. Plus we could visit the Mecca (Starbucks) as all Alaskan cruises seem to depart from Seattle. It is also quite pricy though (a little over a grand a person, not including airfare, but still cheaper than France). However...it's not Europe.

What to do?!

4. Stay out of credit card debt. Self explanatory, but I'd like it to be a life goal!

5...leads me to:

Confession 3: I've been thinking about this list for 3 months and I only have 4 goals this year. Is that bad?

Off to go finish off some Edy's slow churned cookie dough ice cream and watch trashy Lifetime TV.

Keep Calm and Carry On

2011-03-23T20:48:00.002-04:00

The most "authentic" pizza place we found in NYC. It has nothing to do with this post. "Office" fans anyone?

Who pressed the fast-forward button on my life? It's hard to believe a quarter of the year is almost over! Work is consuming me, but my family is happy and so I am happy. I spontaneously picked up this fun meme from internets and I shall now force it upon y'all:

The ABCs of Msnels:

A. Age: 25 but closer to 26! Eventually I'll have to start counting the other way. Hmm.

B. Bed size: Queen? Honestly, I can't remember. It's an okay size.

C. Chore you hate: Cleaning the living room and vacuuming. Would rather pay E 20 bucks to do it. And he'll happily accept!

D. Dogs: 1.5, as Argon has informed me she is more human than dog.

E. Essential start to your day: Plain oatmeal with Splenda, a touch of brown sugar, a heavy helping of cinnamon, natural peanut butter, and a sprinkling of white chocolate chips. With orange juice on the side. Divine!

F. Favorite color: Blue-by.

G. Gold or Silver: Silver. But if you're talking teeth? Gold.

H. Height: 5'8. I had a scare in 2009 where I was informed I was 5'7 - I've decided that nurse was bananas.

I. Instruments you play: My lovely warbly singing voice.

J. Job title: Banana Queen of the Editorial Department.

K. Kids: Not yet! *cue the hyperventilating

L. Live: Near Beantown (Boston). Love the East Coast!

M. Mom’s name: Yeon.

N. Nicknames: Msnels (although only I call myself that). The Queen. Oh and E created a magical and unique nickname for me - he calls me "hon".

O. Overnight hospital stays: None! I'm a hospital virgin y'all! I've never been to the ER, OR, or any sort of hospital R.

P. Pet peeve: Insensitive people.

Q. Quote from a movie: "Because you were the best of us!" (The Dark Knight). I like to blurt this line out at random times of the day while at home.

R. Right or left handed: Right handed. I hold my pencil weird.

S. Siblings: One older brother (whom we call Bak). We like him.

T. Time you wake up: Weekdays it's around 5 or 5:15 and on weekends I love the luxury of sleeping in til 8, sometimes even 8:30!

U. Underwear: Is a beautiful thing.

V. Vegetables you dislike: Raw onions and CUCUMBER, my mortal enemy.

W. What makes you run late: Trying to finish up too many things at once. Or, doubting an outfit.

X. X-Rays you’ve had: Just my pearly whites.

Y. Yummy food you make: I make good Italian food as it runs in my blood (100% Korean here).

Z. Zoo–favorite animal: Giraffes or elephants. I heart the zoo!

Two more days until Friday!

Morning Calls

2011-03-17T09:28:00.000-04:00

Pre-coffee, I accidentally dialed my mom's cell number instead of E's in the morning for our usual commuting chat. It rang once before I realized my mistake. I hung up quickly and dialed E.

E - "Hey"

Me - "Haha, I just about to call you but then I-"

*Phone rings, it's my mom. She sounds sleepy (it's 6:30 am).

E - "What?"

*I hurriedly hang up on him and answer the call

Me - "Hi Mom, sorry, I called you by mistake."

Mom - "Hello? What happened?! What's wrong?!"

"Oh I just called you on accident, sorry about that!"

"ACCIDENT?! THERE'S BEEN AN ACCIDENT???"

Screw You Winter

2011-03-06T10:38:00.000-05:00

I found these pics hanging around on my desktop so I figured I'd say goodbye to them now. And check out the artistry above!

Goodbye winter! I hated you passionately this year.

(Note: Yes, I am aware it is not yet spring, however, my IBFF (imaginary best friend for life) Dylan from channel 7 has informed me it is meteorological spring (no idea what that means) and I shall take it.

Ahem.

Goodbye tiny pathways caused by being too cheap to buy more than one shovel!

Goodbye treacherous walks with doggies!

Goodbye barely discernible mailbox!

Goodbye shoveling! (I only shoveled about 15 minutes total this year, feel free to hate).

Goodbye icy roads that trapped my car in the driveway and shaved 1.23 years off my life!

And a very special goodbye to our once strong and intact privacy hedge that succumbed to the super heavy snowfall this year (sniff). This one's for you.

(pouring out a forty...of olive oil...because that's how I roll)

Next: New Years resolutions! I have no sense of time.

Saju Beans

2011-03-04T17:45:00.002-05:00

TGIF! It's been a rough, yet fast-paced week for everyone, including Sam (aka Saju Beans, my super-savvy nonsensical nickname for him at the moment). Yesterday morning, I took Argon and SB on their daily walk. On the way back to the house, two cats appeared sitting on the snowbank next to the stairs. Here's the exchange that I imagined occurred:

Cats - 'Sup.

Argon, pulling slightly - Whoa look at that!

Sam, going ballistic - OMG CAT CAT CAT

*We walk up the stairs with the cats eyeing us like we're intruding on their personal property. One of them is black and the other is gray with a freakishly large head.

Sam - CAT CAT CAT

*Once inside, he runs to the couch, leaps up to look out the window, and promptly falls between the wall and the couch in his haste. Stuck, he then backs up to the side of the couch and begins running around the coffee table like a crazy person.

*Argon calmly walks to water bowl and takes a drink.

Happy March!

2011-03-01T18:59:00.000-05:00

Spring is almost here! And running outside in PJ's to let Sam go potty has gotten slightly less chilly (what's that you say? A jacket? Psh). I was blinded by the sunlight on the drive home today and it was glorious. Especially the extra long time I got to sit in my car due to some fantastic traffic on 128. *Insert really happy face

We had a blast in New York and ate our brains out. Although it was quite the dirty city. We went to Joe's Shanghai, Magnolia Bakery, Tofu House, Doughnut Plant, Alice's Tea Cup, Shake Shack, and then more Shake Shack (E was obsessed after the first bite). That's just the food! Pictures to come. We then waddled to the bus stop at 7 AM on Sunday and got home by 11, where we proceeded to eat some more.

It is hard to come back from a 4-day vacation on a Sunday and dive into work on a Monday though. I feel like this week is flying by but it is hard to get stuff done when I'm so tired and not used to getting up at 5 AM. The doggies seem to be right back to normal however. Tonight Sam was fascinated by a plastic cup and an ice cube whereas Argon happily sat on the couch and licked the air around her. We saw an episode of the Office and Supernatural (so behind on TV) and now I'm getting around to working some more. It feels good to be home.

Back in the Saddle Again

2011-02-21T09:27:00.000-05:00

It feels so good to be home! I got back on Saturday from 4 days of long, hard work at a conference in California (no, not as sunny and glamorous as it may seem) and am so ecstatic to be bumming around and doing nothing until work tomorrow - 3 day weekends are my friends. Also, so is paying off your husband to clean the house while he's at home for school vacation week (20 dollars well spent).

Things I'd like to do today:
- Get a massage
- Watch chick flicks
- Eat ice cream
- Get another massage
- Shop

Things I'm probably doing today:
- Work
- Clean up a little
- Catch up on Glee
- Taxes??

And I'm okay with that! We're heading to NYC on Thursday and I can't wait. It's E's first time in the big Apple so my priorities are that we 1. Sightsee, 2. Eat good NYC food, and 3. Make sure he doesn't get robbed. A friend told me over Christmas that when he and his buddy went to Italy they made sure to wear super tight pants. So tight that they were pickpocket-proof when a group of street hooligans tried to show them how to "dance" while discreetly clawing at their pockets. They had bought the pants for something like 3 dollars each off the street with the intentions of never wearing them again and were quite pleased with how well they performed. Teaching parable?

For Valentine's Day

2011-02-12T19:02:00.000-05:00

On Friday afternoon at work, I missed a call from an unknown number. Naturally, I promptly Googled the call and the first search result was a nearby flower shop. My brain started furiously processing this information.

OMG, E finally took all my 50000 hints and bought me flowers!
Maybe the flower delivery guy is looking for me right now!
What if he can't find the office? Should I call him back?
I can't believe I'm getting flowers today!!

Two minutes later I received the following voicemail:

"Hi, this is Mike from Gold's Gym. We just want to tell you about a special we're running this month on our membership rates..."

Awesome and Not So Awesome

2011-02-04T21:14:00.003-05:00

Things I am in love with:

- Pandora internet radio - Big puffy heart! Ever since working overtime took over my life I have been listening to my custom Mat Kearney/Ingrid Michelson station nonstop. It's awesome, like having a musical library at my fingertips on an endless shuffle (*note: Pandora is free for cheaparses like me and I am not compensated for this short glowing review, not even one Canadian dollar - sadness).

- McDonald's - Last night we had to pull over and wait while they brewed our coffees for us. It was about a 5 minute wait of sitting in the car and chatting it up with H-band - super painless since we weren't in a rush. When they finally brought our drinks to the car they gave us 2 "parking tickets" (good for free ice cream), 1 coupon on each of our drinks for their free oatmeal, AND the rest of the little jug of milk they used to put in our coffees! McDonald's rocks my socks.

- Superbowl Sunday - It's back!!! And yes, there will be fried chicken. Omg so excite!

- Upcoming vacations - The Man and I are going to NYC in 3 weeks. It's his first time ever and I am already daydreaming of Chinese dumplings, gyros, and fancy brunch. And other, non-food related stuff too (although all I can think of is the food).

- My new jewelry stand and the 24 little bags of Pop Chips I bought from Amazon. Amen.

Things that I am not so much in love with:

- WINTER - I'm over it. No more snow! Slippery, wet, slushy, GROSS snow. My poor little car got stuck in the driveway yesterday when I tried to leave for work. It was torture, I couldn't get it to rock back and forth because there was solid ice directly underneath the tire. I tried pushing it with all my puny might (apparently 8 lb weights at the gym don't prepare you for pushing Corollas around), I even considered calling roadside assistance/knocking on the neighbor's door at 7 AM in the morning. Finally a crazy awesome neighbor came by walking his dog and was kind enough to push me out. I then promptly called E in a combo of hysterics/relief saying on repeat, "I got stuck! (sob)".

- Work - Actually work is great...working every free moment of the weekend however - yikes. I mean, it has to be done but it is sooo tiring. Today after dinner I just collapsed on the couch for a 1.5 hour nap with doggies surrounding me. Actually, that wasn't that bad.

- Did I mention more snow on the way?

TGIF!

Snow Day

2011-01-27T08:49:00.000-05:00

No joke, this girl really loves herself a snuggie. How she got into this position I have no idea.

Date Night

2011-01-22T23:06:00.005-05:00

*Side note: I'd be doing work right now, but I'm entirely too lazy to grab my supplies that are located approximately 5 feet away from me. Hooray for laziness!

Tonight we went out on a fabulous date/"anniversary" (of what I don't know)/half-birthday celebration. Actually, it was the Man's Christmas present for me this year. What better gift than a romantic dinner and quality time with the previously referenced Man?

We went back to Siena in Providence which we had gone to for my birthday last year. It did not disappoint!

We started off with fried calamari and wine. It tasted a lot lighter than I'm used too (thinner slices? lighter breading?). Delicious. Oh umami. After E had drinken 3/4 of his wine we noticed there was a black speck in it (bug? ceiling fragment?) - the waitress kindly gave him another FULL glass and then split it so I could have more too! Happiness!

E ordered the penne a la vodka with chicken. It was deliciously creamy and down-home tasting (if your home is an upscale Italian villa).

I got one of their specials - salmon with lemon risotto and green beans. The salmon was juicy, slightly sweet, and not too filling which I appreciated. I actually liked the green beans over the risotto - they were perfectly salted! Perfect salt!

Then for dessert we got what I was drooling over the last time we went - fluffy doughnuts topped with powdered sugar with vanilla gelato and Nutella on the side. I die. AND there were two doughnuts on the plate so I didn't even have to share! We were also given steak knives to cut the doughnuts. All doughnuts should be eaten this way.

All was good and well until E received the bill that he was to pay.

Just kidding! He was good-natured and gentlemanly. Siena also offers free valet parking, which was wonderful since it is 20 DEGREES OUTSIDE PEOPLE. What the frack?

Of course, nothing beats snuggling up with a doggie or two back at home.

I swear our kitchen isn't normally this messy! Oh, who am I kidding.

Note how E's nice-people clothes flew off him once we got back.

Yay computer time!

An Email From My Mom

2011-01-22T09:08:00.001-05:00

Dear **** :-)
How are you ? we are very well.
I well ask you one thing order for me if you can
AMAZON.COM 2011 orchids-Smithsonian Institution Calendar(Calendar) /zebra publish Corp.(Author)
I will pay. please order for ME.
ASAP :-[ :-[
let me know

love
Mom

A New Year

2011-01-16T10:11:00.046-05:00

Another year has come and gone and how did I do on my resolutions? Not too shabby! Here's the run-down:

1. Get our passports. For merriment - international style! And that doesn't just mean being able to travel through Canada and lessen our commute home mind you. - Done! And being able to drive through Canada has saved bunches off our travel time. Woohoo Canadia!

2. Whip my own cream. With the help of my Kitchenaid of course. - Done! And it was fabulous. Whipped cream + sugar + a dash of vanilla extract = divine coffee topping that keeps your hips company long after the morning has passed.

3. Finish the guest room. By finish I mean start. Currently it is full of scrapbooking odds and ends, blankets, a spare TV, a broken laptop, and much more. - Done! Thankfully we knocked this one at the beginning of the year (February) and it is now a much more functional office. Unfortunately our sofa bed looks far better than it feels but I don't complain. Yay organization FTW!

4. Write 100 blog posts. I got to 85 this year and I'm pretty impressed! - Done! I made it to 103 - not bad!

5. Get out of debt. Credit-card wise at least. - Done! Thanks Uncle Sam! And I'm hoping it stays that way this year!

6. Survive the year without denting my car (any more!). - Done! Pretty sad when that's a goal though. There is this strange piece hanging down the bottom of the car but 1. I didn't do it and 2. It doesn't seem to be fully broken and therefore does not count as an injury/dent. Pfft.

7. Start scrapbooking again...which leads to... - FAIL.

8. Finish our wedding album (writing this makes it official, and that officially scares me). - FAIL. Boy, I am ashamed. I just can't seem to find the willpower. Maybe this year?

9. Force E to make lots of money so that he can get a snowboard (according to him)/prevent E from spending all his money on a new snowboard (according to me). - Done! Guess who won this war? Although I did make him work harder, which I guess equals a double win.

10. Make more time to laugh, have fun, and enjoy life to the fullest. - Done! :)

Final Score - 8 out of 10. I will take this as a victory.

Retro Baking Conversation

2011-01-15T19:14:00.002-05:00

Dug this one up from my now defunct Twitter. How could I have forgotten?

"Hey Eric, will you think of a name for my banana walnut muffins?"
"Uh, how about Balnut Muffins?" <-- see? man-child.

Good Thing He's a Morning Person

2011-01-14T20:58:00.000-05:00

About to start working on a Friday night y'all. That's what it's all about!

But before I forget, I need to commit this incident to memory:

*Note, last night I placed a spray bottle filled with water next to the bed to deter Sammy from playfully nipping my arms and chomping on my ear with his massive jaw strength to wake me up. It really is precious.

----Morningtime.----

Alarm goes off. Sam wakes up and bounds over to harass my peacefully slumbering form.

Me - "Ah ah! Ah AH! Off!!" - Waves arms like a crazy woman. Blindly reaches for spray and shoots.

Momentarily deterred, Sam heads for his next victim.

Me - "No Sam! Off!" Attempts to spray him again.

E's voice from under the covers - "Uh, you just sprayed my head."

---- Later that morningtime ----

E - "It's actually a good thing you sprayed my head. It reminded me that I needed to take a shower!"

Bread-a-licious and the Holidays

2011-01-09T20:34:00.004-05:00

I'm baking French bread in my new breadmaker right now (thanks E parentals!). The smell is intoxicating. I'm getting into this bad habit where I need to eat as much freshly baked bread as I can. My BFF Toby understands.

I finally finished moving my Christmas pics to the computer! And so I feel tired. Here's my holiday highlights:

Hanging out with my mom, dad (not shown), and Emily, my long-lost goldilocked sister. "Man I wish my hair was nice and curly like yours!" "Yeah...I get that a lot."

Many mornings spent doing nothing with E.

Shopping for sweet italian food and checking out the new digs at HJ's. Why does that sandwich look so wrong?

Comparing head sizes with TM. This was a great dinner but I still had no appetite from being sick earlier on in the week. Sadness!

A hockey game with E's family. Pictured here is a big metal pig located downtown and...my brother came back! I sheared the sheep (shorn?).

And of course, returning home to a completely plowed in driveway. My little Corolla couldn't plow it's way in so E had to laboriously shovel out a spot for it at 10pm at night. A perfect opportunity for me to take pictures.

I loved seeing everyone and even the drive wasn't so bad this time around. Sam did have a horrible week accident-wise, but he seems to be improving (although 3 loads of laundry today beg to differ). Today I managed to do much of nothing, work, and clean at the same time! Still not ready for tomorrow though.

Notable Notables

2011-01-08T08:03:00.000-05:00

Time for the first bullet post of the year!

- Woohoo it's Saturday! I have to do really boring stuff like clean and work and laundry but at least I don't have to drive anywhere. Perfect since it's snowing like a wild man out there.

- Sam woke me up this morning by biting my arms and hands and stepping over my face. Thanks dog. The other day he walked over me and I got a good whif of doggy armpit. Did you know it smells like nachos?

- Today I think we're going out to dinner with Jamie. I'd also like enough motivation to watch a movie, but I'm yet undecided.

- I finished the Hunger Games trilogy! It was...interesting.

- I still have to write a post on my new resolutions, revisit my old ones, and get some pics off my new camera!

- Wednesday we finally made up with the gym and I did something weird because my neck is super sore. I am sad for this.

- Made cinnamon bread this morning! It smelled delicious. My dream of waking up to a house that smells like fresh bread was realized.

- Today my brother returns to his faraway med school. Fingers crossed that he makes it okay.

Time for coffee!

Book Land

2011-01-03T19:38:00.002-05:00

Can't write - too absorbed in this:

And it's so good! Nothing like a good young adult, set-in-the-future-so-anything-can-happen series to make the transition from vacation to real life much more bearable. I just finished book 2 and am already wagering how much sleep I can go without tonight as I dig into book 3. I love having all of the books in a series at once! It's almost like that awesome feeling when you finish Eclipse and Breaking Dawn is sitting right next to you, begging to be read. Anyone? Anyone?

2011 is starting off to be a good year!

I Got Love in My Tummy

2010-12-29T11:50:00.000-05:00

And in my heart for you too, dear reader!

I had a lovely Christmas. Although I was out-and-out sick on Sunday (sick on vacation - ewww) I am now feeling much more like myself. And what is more like myself than some Wednesday morning shopping? Just bought these two essentials on Etsy.

A brand new desk calendar for 2011 (a year that shall be legendary).

And a purty gadget pouch for my new Canon point and shoot!

*Moment of retail bliss*

It's so great being home and seeing my parents, my long-lost brother (who's been abroad at med school for a year), and friends. I also love how everyone is so much nicer in my little home town than anywhere else. Rose-tinted glasses anyone? I'm trying to convince E to move back here one day - he could be the only one working full time and we could probably still afford a house bigger than the one we are in now! My parents and his would be around the corner to babysit our imaginary kids and I'd only be working part time/from home. How great would that be?! I have some very small-scale dreams.

For Christmas I also got the bread machine of my dreams, a tiny awesome food processor, glittens (gloves plus mittens), books, gift cards, headphones, and an iPod nano! All of my electronics from 2004 are finally being replaced this season. Sam and Argon are behaving somewhat (Argon more so) and I've been eating tons of good food. In short, I highly recommend vacations.

I Heart the Holidays

2010-12-21T20:24:00.001-05:00

There's nothing quite like relaxing on the couch with your man-child husband playing video games in the background and your dog obsessively licking his paws as he's curled up next to you. Ah bliss. We leave for home in two days and yet I am feeling sorely unmotivated. Laundry? Not yet. Packed? Hahahaha. Presents? Done! I feel a slight sense of loss at that. No more frenetic shopping? It is the sadness.

But check out my new toaster oven biznatches!

Me like. It was an early Christmas present. I drooled over this on Black Friday (perfect for toasting bread for dinner, which we devour like the carbivores we are). The only slight problem is that I love having clear counters and this will take up a lot of space. I'm also hoping for some other new appliances this year *fingers crossed. My life is fascinating, if you were not aware!

Oh and I finally whipped my own cream! I had completely forgotten about my Ten in 2010 list until a couple weeks ago. I'm eager to revisit it soon and see how I did. Although I can tell you right now there is no wedding album made. Shameface.

Things I'm looking forward to: seeing my brother, who is finally back in the country on break from med school, my mom's impeccable Korean cooking, bagels, breakfasts, friends, and VACATION TIME!

Not-so-cool things: snowwwww!

And attention span is...lost.

A Snippet

2010-12-14T20:07:00.003-05:00

Highlights from the lives of dogs:

There are important things outside this window that deserve my full attention.

I refuse to look even remotely pleased to see you.

Check out my neat tricks!

Where's the food?

I feel like we're rocketing towards Christmas and I'm pretty happy about it for the most part. We still have 2-3 more presents to get, all of them to wrap, and a looong drive ahead of us. But we'll be home! And I'll be happy to see my brother again (it's been a year since we've seen him!) and these two fellas who have fiiinally become betrothed.

The past weekend I was feeling a little sick but we still managed to have E's coworker buddy and wife over for dinner. We also saw Inception for the umpteenth time (we now own it actually). Good movie, just a little trying after the 4th viewing :). I could never say that about the other new movie in our household - Eclipse! And Sunday was perfect in that I did absolutely nothing all day. And it's already almost Wednesday!

Off to go buy more stuff on Amazon.

On Sharing Treats

2010-12-07T11:00:00.000-05:00

Me - "Okay Bob*, I packed up the cookies for your coworkers into a bag for you to take to school."

(*Note, sometimes I call E Bob. Long story.)

E - "How many are there?"

"About six cookies and a few biscotti I think."

"What if that's too much?!"

"Uh, then you can leave them at school and eat them with lunch? Like normal?"

"Oh. Okay."

Naughty

2010-12-06T19:52:00.007-05:00

Who, me?

So Sam's developed this awesome habit of randomly pooping on the carpet. Sometimes he'll go 5 minutes before we take him out, sometimes it'll be an hour. I think he doesn't really need to go, he's just bored. Our reaction? Gross, but at least it's a hecka lot easier to clean up than pee! Haha we are so disgusting. Trust me, we serve edible food here people.

Anyway, we think it might be karma from his weirdly good behavior over Thanksgiving break. Sam slept peacefully in the car both ways, and didn't have a single accident when we were home. Well, save for one. Which wasn't our fault!

When me and E left the house on Friday, we kenneled up Sam and left him at my parents' house (I explained to them that he was working on kennel-training). When we got back, I asked my mom how Sam had behaved.

Mom - "He cry the whole time!"

E, mumbling to me a minute later, "She let him out of the kennel. I could tell because the latch was closed differently."

Me - "Mom, did you let him out?"

Mom - "How did you know that?!"

E, mumbling some more, "I bet he had an accident too but your mom is too proud to admit it. You're a lot like your mom."*

*Note, I should've been offended here, but hey, it is what it is.

Two days pass.

Me, before leaving the house, "Mom, it's okay if you take Sam out but just be sure to put him back in."

Mom - "I'm not gonna take him out again, he pee!"

A Musical Journey

2010-12-02T20:54:00.016-05:00

Ben, Carl, and E, friends forever!

Although our friends are spread far and wide now that we are old and employed, it is still great to get together and get loose.

And so ladies and gentlemen, I present to you a snippet of the performance that Ben treated us to during karaoke night at the local pizza place in our hometown. Is he not a musical genius?

Shopper's High, We Meet Again

2010-11-30T18:55:00.000-05:00

I'm back!!! From a glorious mini-vacation that was filled with a little too much turkey, but just the right amount of friend-seeing and relaxation. I bought stuff too! For starters, I finally retired my old Sony Cybershot for the beauty you see above. Here's a pic of what my old camera looked like:

(Slight exaggeration possible).

I got it on Amazon's Black Friday sale so there was no crazy line waiting for me! We also got a new GPS (an updated version of our old one, which has a frayed cord and is missing the dash mount). Classy I am.

We did go out on Black Friday though and got some sweet deals. Check out these rad towels! We got two different kinds. Mine were 5 dollars a piece and E's were 10 - hmm, I wonder how that happened.

Also, this Martha Stewart kitchen shears set was on sale for 15 dollars! Who doesn't need a tiny pair of scissors expressly dedicated to cutting herbs (that you have obviously raised up yourself from seeds and pollen from the eyes of fairies)?

We got some good deals on Christmas presents too, which I can't post here because of the prying eyes of elves.

But alas, we decided not to impulse buy the 20 dollar toaster oven. And for this I am sad.

RIP toaster oven, RIP.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2010-11-24T12:10:00.000-05:00

But first let me say this:

1. New York was fun.

2. I saw man with a cat on his head. A live cat. On a hat. But wouldn't it have been awesome if it was in the hat?

3. I also saw a bunch of illegal hand bag peddlers make a run for it from the cops by slinging their wares over their back in a giant bed sheet and dashing across the street. Hilarious!

We are leaving from home in less than 5 hours! I cannot wait to stuff my face with E's mom's famous sausage stuffing and murder E by waking him up at 4am on Friday to go shopping with (what am I talking about, he woke up at 4:30am today normally!). Turkey bliss.

Day Off

2010-11-11T17:59:00.000-05:00

Everyone loves a day off, although some are a little wary of it.

Today the Msnels household did not have to go to work due to Veteran's Day (thank you veterans!). I love having a random day off in the middle of a long work week. With so many changes going on lately, it's nice to spend time doing one of my favorite activities - nothing! Here's what I did:

- Woke up with Sam's wet nose in my face at 5:30am (dislike!).
- Read my book!
- Took a nice nap (note I hadn't yet gotten out of bed at this point).
- Woke up officially at 9, ate breakfast and played internet.
- Tried to finish my coffee in one gulp and ended up choking on it and having it nearly shoot up my nose.
- Poured rest of coffee down drain. Attempted to be cool.
- Bothered E while he played games, yelled at Argon for eating some strange creature's poop, read some more.
- Slept some more! Yayyyy.
- Rudely awoken by E, who forced me to the gym where I tried to rock it out Msnels style with Flo-Rida when he cut me off again to go home.
- Had a delicious and nutritious early-bird meal of leftover pizza, tacos, and peanut butter pie.
- Watched the Office and saw the end of the wedding episode again (love!).

Now I am playing more internet while Sam sleeps curled up in my lap. Like a BOSS!

Hooray For Short Weeks

2010-11-07T19:09:00.002-05:00

^We get Thursday off this week - I love short weeks! E plans on playing his new death game copiously and I'm going to probably read my book (addicted to the latest True Blood novel). I think we're also seeing "Despicable Me" at the cinema pub that afternoon! Nothing like $4.50 popcorn and curly fries in a musty movie theater.

Which reminds me - at what age does all the things that were once embarrassing as a kid become totally awesome? We thought about this on the way home from dinner last night. We ate at one of E's coworker's houses and I was full to the brim with stuffed lobster the size of my head. I kid you not! Mm New England lobster. We met their cute little 2-year-old kid too. It's weird how the people around us are becoming much more grown-up. Children? Two-car garages? Life is going too fast!

With the time change, this weekend has been nice and long. I went to Target and TJ Maxx twice (haha), scored a great suit, and made a yummy cake. I also bought an adorable pair of Halloween pajamas on clearance at Target but somebody's super long torso and giant head wouldn't fit into them so they had to be returned. Hmmph. That somebody is also conked out contentedly next to me after a day of swallowing abnormally large pieces of rawhide and making a protest accident on the floor after E took the rest of his treat away from him. Oh Sam.

Onward ho!

Like Mother Like Daughter

2010-11-05T21:00:00.004-04:00

Tuesday evening my mom called me and we had the following conversation.

Mom (in Korean) - "What is that thing you put on your bed really tightly? A sheet?"

Me - "Yes, a fitted sheet."

"Fittend sheet? Okay!" *sounds of her about to hang up*

"No wait! A fitted sheet - F-I-T-T-E-D."

"Fittend?"

"No, E-D - 'D' as in dog."

"Oh okay!" *end call*

Five minutes later, she called again.

"Guess what? I bought two sets of sheets at Penney's! They were 49.99 each!"

"That's great Mom!"

"Plus I had a 10 dollar off coupon!"

Crazy/Hot

2010-11-01T17:36:00.000-04:00

While discussing beauty.

E - "Remember we talked about this? In general, the crazier a girl is, the hotter she is."

Me - "Well how crazy am I?"

"Flippin' nuts."

A Monkey and a Pumpkin

2010-10-31T09:59:00.000-04:00

Happy Halloween! I plan on kicking off today with my favorite combination of TJ Maxx/Target shopping and later watching Harry Potter 6 with these plucky fellows:

(not pictured - human husband).

I'm still feeling stuffed from yesterday - we helped Jamie move to his new apartment and went out to Chili's afterwards. I got chicken fingers, fries, corn, AND a McDonald's sundae for dessert. So good! But yet so bad.

And I may or may not have had a piece of pumpkin cake with cream cheese frosting for breakfast. Yay Halloween!

Daily Argon

2010-10-26T20:25:00.011-04:00

Her favorite blue blanket + my pink Snuggie (don't judge) + Sam's discarded chew toy = one complacent Argon.

I picked up the toy from TJ Maxx when Sam was in a chewing phase of his life (he's totally out of it now). It's a squeaky lizard with crunchy appendages - what dog would not love it?!

A Crispy Fall Weekend

2010-10-24T09:00:00.019-04:00

Saturday was a great day. Not a lot of work (okay so we slacked off) and lots of errand running on perfect fall day. We grabbed coffees from McDonalds (I won a medium fry from Monopoly!) and later on went to Target to buy some much needed necessities (paper towels a.k.a. Sammy Accident Clean Up Tools, dishwasher soap, etc). E also bought a PC game and was quite pleased. We were also way too late for their summer clearance - devastating. AND I found that my RedCard, which now saves shoppers 5% on all in-store purchases, was closed without notice after not using it for over 8 months. Ick. So it doesn't sound so great, but it wasn't worth getting upset over.

We then headed over to the plant nursery down the street and bought four GIANT mums for 10 bucks! We got to wheel around a cart to retrieve them and bought three little sugar pumpkins for 5 dollars as well. We're finally getting into the season. The best part was when E trotted over and picked out a good-looking mum from one of the many racks that they had out. Right after he pointed, a man walked up and grabbed it and brought it straight to his own car. The look on his face was so funny.

For dinner we ordered out at Smokey Bones (the best BBQ ever) and got to stop over at the Gap. And I bought something! A gray sweater for a very sweet deal (45% off). I'd call that a win. Today we are planning on getting our new plants in the ground and perhaps buying a rake (I don't know why E felt he needed to go Incredible Hulk and break the ones we had). I don't want to go back to work!

Happy Mole Day!

2010-10-23T08:44:00.003-04:00

In honor of the day that has driven my husband crazy for the past month ("it must be truly, definitively awesome" is his motto), I present to you this labor of love.

Special kudos to Dean from Supernatural, holder of my once single heart.

Now go forth and conquer!

Burgers and Regret

2010-10-14T21:11:00.000-04:00

I just realized that I never recapped our Labor Day weekend DC trip! Brace yourselves folks!

We rented a car and drove down for the weekend to see our home slice Ben and his new gal. Her name is Linda and she is legit French Canadian. I even sputtered out a few Frenchy words with her until I got shy. Hehe.

Ah the love of the young.

But let's cut to the chase. We went to BGR for burgers on the first full day we were in town and it was glorious. The fries definitely made my short list - not too thick or thin and very crunchy. We were so full that we pretty much skipped dinner that night. Although immediately afterwards, I found the energy to stumble into the gelato place next door and get a chocolate hazelnut/vanilla combination to share. Delish!

The weather was perfect for wandering around.

See we can be cute too!

We tried to visit the National Archives (one of the only museums I haven't yet seen) but someone needed to dash off to hide his pocketknife/shank from the metal detectors *coughBencough*. His detour caused a crowd of servicemen to enter before him, which led the museum staff to temporarily close the entrance to new visitors. With him stuck outside and us waiting around in the lobby, we had to call it quits. Who carries a shank around DC? Crazy people that's who.

We then did some more exploring, eating, and (sadly) very little shopping. So sad!

We also met up with Mike later that day and had a blast winning an impossibly hard restaurant trivia game with only one question right (one more than anyone else had!). We played some weird card games afterward and I met Party Mike. Party Mike likes to lean into walls outside the bathroom door. He also enjoys singing high and low. I greatly enjoyed Party Mike.

Ben took us to breakfast at First Watch the next day. It was a healthier breakfast place and I really enjoyed my meal (I love some form of egg + bacon + potato to start my day).

We also caught a glimpse of Georgetown but I didn't get to shop - sob.

Late in the afternoon we stumbled into Starbucks for refreshments.

We also hit up a flea market. Check out the cool sunglasses Ben found. We can be cool and hip too Melinda!

I love how the houses in DC are all smushed together. It's very cute.

We got pizza for dinner and they gave us drinks in mini-pitchers! It was awesome!

What a nice mini-vacation!

Some Observations

2010-10-09T09:45:00.000-04:00

It's cold outside! So cold. I actually wore my winter coat on the dog walk this morning. Okay, so that's a lie, I've been wearing it frequently in the morning since October started. What can I say? I like to be warm.

I love a lazy Saturday morning at the beginning of a three-day weekend. We have no plans, other than the nagging pressure to clean. I feel like doing some shopping and maybe baking. And then tomorrow we have to help a friend paint his new apartment. Hopefully there will be calzones involved!

We went to a high school football game last night. It was less than 60 degrees outside and I saw more than one teenager wearing leggings as pants. One had leopard print leggings-as-pants on! Me, I wore a hoodie, jacket, and brought a blanket. They also had representatives from the National Guard there who gave out seat cushions. I was soooo in love with my seat cushion. The inventor of bleachers did not know what he was missing!

In short, I am an old lady.

We Fit Together

2010-09-27T18:04:00.002-04:00

Yesterday, we went to the apple orchard for our annual "pick more apples than we will ever need" event. The cheery girls at the counter told us that they were unfortunately out of homemade fritters (disaster!) but gave us two tickets to the hay ride, on which I presumed we would be told where the types of apples that we were going for would be. Instead of waiting around in the unexpected cold for the tractor (although mind you, I do love a good hay ride), we took off wandering through the orchard on foot, checking the signs to find the elusive Honey Crisp variety that I had my eye on this season.

After about five minutes of seeing nothing but Macouns, Empires, and my buddy Cortland, I whined, "I'm cold!"

E replied, "Well, should we run?".

I thought for a split second. "Okay". So E took off on an easy jog and I plodded after him in my insensible non-running shoes. And there we were, in the middle of the apple orchard, loping around like two crazy people out for a strange yet undoubtably classy jog.

But the best part was, we found the Honey Crisp apples!

A Temporary Truce

2010-09-25T19:58:00.000-04:00

I love it when they sleep, for sleep = calm.

While they aren't yet buddy buddy, they do seem to tolerate each other quite nicely!

Me, I'm glad it's Saturday. I ventured to the mall today to replace my trench coat that Sam ate (RIP Forever 21 purchase circa 2005!). I found a pretty tan one at H&M - thank goodness because the mornings are starting to get cold! I love this time of year. Tomorrow we plan on going apple picking. While I have historically made dozens of hearty dumplings with our loot, I am trying to find something a wee bit more on the healthy (read: less butter side) this year. This will not stop me from having a cider donut though. Nor did it stop me from happily eating E's gift of McDonald's to me this afternoon. The food coma was glorious!

Awkwarditity Update: we took the dogs to Petco this morning to exchange a harness and leash for a smaller size (Sam has a very strange and long torso with a barrel chest). E and I stopped to debate something for 10 seconds in the aisle when I looked down and saw Sam had peed. Embarrassing! Luckily they have stations for this stuff. Sigh. On another note, last night we went to dinner with Jamie after his football game. It was pretty late, but I didn't realize how late it was until I fell asleep on the couch afterward while watching TV. Yup, I fell asleep on Jamie's arm. And E was nodding off sitting next to me, so there Jamie was, awkwardly watching the tube at 11pm at night with a dead and half-dead person. He didn't seem to mind though.

Next week marks my third year of joining the work force. It's hard to believe how much time has gone by. I am so blessed to have a steady job, steady husband, and two strange little puppies at home. Love!

Highs and Lows

2010-09-17T19:44:00.000-04:00

I'm completely unmotivated to do anything tonight except perhaps read, and get ready for bed soon (how lame am I?). We are planning on going to E's school tomorrow to clean up his lab so we have to get up bright and early! It's been quite a week.

The Highs
- Date night on Tuesday with Toy Story 3 and some darn good curly fries at the local cinema pub (cheap food + movies = always a good time). And it was such a cute movie too! Funny and touching, without the wonky stuff that's in some kids movies nowadays (hello Coraline?).

- Nacho night. 'Nough said.

- Free nights and no extra work. Less money, yes, but I do so heart my time spent doing nothing.

- The sweet clutch I scored on Gilt. Yummy! I need to think up someplace fancy to take it.

- There are three fish in the freezer. Whole fish! E got them from a coworker who loves ocean fishing. He's in charge of gutting and cleaning them this weekend because the sight of one of them make me squeal in horror. This shall be fun.

...and of course,

The Lows

- Sammmmm. Chewing! Oh the chewing. Last night we arrived to find a large chunk of our ottoman gone, foam filling everywhere, a hunk taken out of my car key, and my fall trench coat destroyed. He demolished all the buttons on it and then swiped my keys down to give them a good chew it seems. All within an hour. We're going to have to buy a kennel for this boy. And the enhanced doggie smell! I foresee a weekend of intense cleaning. The cuter he gets, the more trouble he seems. Hmm.

- Traffic. Now that school is back in full swing, my gas tank is feeling the effects of more lovely New England drivers on the road.

- Early bed times. We've been going to bed before 9 every night and, while it makes the week go by fast, I never feel like I've accomplished anything.

This fall definitely seems like a transition period. Maybe a good toffee mocha latte and some freshly picked apples this weekend will turn things around?

Another Week Begins

2010-09-13T20:24:00.002-04:00

And lookie lookie! I gots myself a treat.

A shiny new Kate Spade clutch! At a sweet deal, thanks to the Gilt sale today. Have you heard of Gilt? It's a members-only sale site that I'm addicted too. A lot of the sales are out of my league, but a girl can dream (and hold things in her cart for 10 minutes to wistfully pretend that it's hers, but that's another story).

I'm a sucker for contrasting linings.

Woohoo bags! This week is looking better already.

PS. My new dog just let one rip in his sleep. Classy.

I just thought you should know.

Current Events

2010-09-12T16:43:00.000-04:00

1. We had Qdoba this weekend. Lately, I've been really into eating out and eating salads (unfortunately not at the same time). Is this more good than bad or vice versa? I refuse to answer.

2. Always plan for the next weekend in advance. That way, you always have stuff to look forward to. This week we're watching Toy Story 3 and taking the doggies to puppy play time! Easy fo-sheezy.

3. E is speaking to himself and/or his laptop this afternoon as football season is now in full swing. It was to be expected.

4. Sam is curled up next to E's chemistry book and Argon is gnawing on a bone so large that she can't lift it up with her puny little mouth. I believe they are happy.

5. Today I am wearing pink.

6. Dinner plans: apple chicken sausage and roasted potatoes with veggies. I also bought yams and popcorn at the store today. My tummy is excited!

7. We went to DC last weekend. It was fun, but tiring, and incredibly stressful when you're in a strange city with no gas and it's Labor Day (meaning all gas stations outside of the highway were closed). I miss the food though.

8. My doggies' feet have the same smell. I like it. Don't judge until you've tried it!

9. We had our first pumpkin spice lattes of the season today! I heart fall. Apple picking and cider/donut consuming are my absolute favorite! Although it's colder outside and I'm a little sad.

10. I must now go attend to my yam.

Please Pardon My Absence

2010-09-08T20:13:00.000-04:00

We've been expanding our family!

(No, not that way. Not yet!!)

Who's this?

Meet Sam! He is a roughly 1 year old Basset/Dachshund mix that we adopted over Labor Day weekend. His head is massive, and he has a tiny dachshund body with a looong torso and big fat paws. He also happens to be the exact same color as Argon and is equally laid back. We named him after Samwise Gamgee, Frodo's best buddy in Lord of the Rings. Because we're super hip like that.

After a shaky couple of days, I think he's settling in quite nicely.

Who Needs A Savings Account?

2010-08-27T19:20:00.001-04:00

Not me apparently! This week has been the opposite of fun at work, but thankfully we've got the following delightful occurrences to look forward to.

The Detroit Lions vs. the Patriots game on Thanksgiving day! Eric and his dad and brother will be attending so I technically do not get to enjoy it, but I will get to have the luxury of not making T-day dinner and hanging out with my family and friends in Michigan. Heart!

To get there, because we're spoiled, we're renting one of these babies.

A full-size car! So exotic. We're also renting a car (not as big) for Labor Day weekend, where we will be going here.

Washington DC - I anticipate shopping, food, and hopefully some uh-mazing cupcakes! I am not eager for the 8 hour drive there, but I shall survive. We also have to pay Jamie to babysit Argon that weekend - kaching!

But before that, my friends, before all this, I will be going on this week Thursday to see:

WICKED! At long last! Swoon. They are in Boston and I got the tickets at a sweet deal. I'm also hoping for the whole day off at work - a much needed mini-vacation!

So uh, now that I have no money left in my life, who will pay for me to go to here?

On Buying and Selling

2010-08-24T18:28:00.006-04:00

E, holding up a stack of PS2 games - "I've decided I want to buy a green PSP. I grabbed these games to see how much they're worth if I sell them, but they're worth nothing! This one is only worth 1 dollar, this one 2, this one 1..."

Me, after some thought - "Uh, those aren't your games. They're my brother's."

Daily Argon

2010-08-24T09:00:00.000-04:00

Also known as, RIP Old Purse.

Step 1: Settling in.

Step 2: Owning it.

(But I got a new one, and she's buttery tan and hot pink on the inside *swoon*)

Our Casino Adventure

2010-08-22T18:18:00.001-04:00

Last weekend we spontaneously decided to visit Mohegan Sun Casino in Connecticut (side note: I'm still amazed by how ridiculously easy it is to cross two states on this side of the country). Truth be told, we were inspired to embark on this gambling adventure by a radio commercial for an all-you-can-eat lobster buffet there. That turned out to be too pricey for us, but we compensated and went to someplace better!

Every good road trip starts with fuel (this is E's exact face every time he realizes I'm taking pictures of random things).

The casino is a really pretty, swanky place. It's actually broken into three separate areas named for the earth, wind, and sky. We spent most of our time playing slots in the Casino of the Earth because, well, we parked closest to it. The only downside is that smoking is still allowed in certain areas (gross, but bearable).

This wolf moved!

The Casino of the Sky.

The inside is full of shops like a mall, and more funky decor. I saw a Bar Americain there (Bobby Flay's restaurant), but we were only rich enough to take a glance at the menu posted outside.

Side note: They had bathrooms with automatic toilet seat covers! My favorite.

E won 40 dollars on the dollar slots! We each played two dollars there, but I promptly lost mine and he scored big. The penny and nickel slot games were confusing and the card games were too intimidating, so we stuck with the quarter slots. I won 40 as well, but spent it all. All in all, we played 40 and left with 50 so we were happy :). We did have to pay an ATM surcharge though *grumble grumble*.

Taking a shot with the winnings.

Then we ate at Bobby's Burger Palace! Also owned by the Flay, this place boasted a simple menu and a signature burger called the Crunchburger. It was basically a cheeseburger with potato chips on top. I liked it! It reminded me of the manwich and chip sandwiches that I used to make as a kid (another delectable treat).

It really was strangely orange inside.

The menu was posted on the wall only. It was decently priced (burgers - 7.50)

Once you placed your order, you took a seat at one of their long, shared tables. Thankfully it wasn't too busy, I don't know how I'd feel about sitting by strangers for a meal (hello antisocial!).

My crunchburger. I'm a sucker for a good cheeseburger.

E got the Sante Fe burger, which had jalepenos, cheese, and queso sauce. Mmmm.

We also split a side of tasty fries that had a kicky mayonnaise based dipping sauce.

Full and with some cash still left in our pockets, we made it home in time for a leisurely afternoon nap. Win!

Midweek Breather

2010-08-18T19:35:00.000-04:00

Some thoughts:

- It's already Wednesday, yet I am feeling completely unmotivated. I have work to do tonight! But I just feel like vegetating.

- So my husband is trying to sell me his Nintendo DS. "I thought what's mine is yours!" I said. But apparently, no, he wants 70 dollars for it (family discount) and will pre-load it with my favorite word games. It's so funny that I'm considering giving him a little money for this. I just need to find some Hello Kitty stickers to grace my new toy.

- I went to the gym today, and now I am craving french fries and ice cream. Is this normal?

- I spilled juice all over my purse this afternoon. Luckily, it was my cheap-o purse I got in NYC so I didn't cry a thousand tears like I would have if it were my MKors bag. But still, it was sadness. Time to get another one because...

- Melinda's moving to NYC!! Yay! I will have a friend within a semi-reasonable distance! I am pleased.

- Oh! And I got a new Bluetooth. I feel super cool now.

On Gifts for Teachers

2010-08-12T19:03:00.017-04:00

While getting out of the car this past weekend, I noticed a worn-looking Christmas Tree Shops bag that appeared to be full of empty soup cans with no labels.

Me - "What's in that bag in the backseat? Is that your trash?"
E - "No I won that bag!"
"What's in it?"
"A bunch of tin cans with holes poked in them."
"You won empty cans?!"
"They're actually really cool - they already have the holes in them for a science experiment. We're going to burn pecans!"

Daily Argon

2010-08-10T09:05:00.001-04:00

Window watching on a lazy Sunday.

Happy 2nd Anniversary!

2010-08-08T19:57:00.001-04:00

We celebrated our second year of marriage by...

eating chocolate lava cake

eating shrimp pasta (thanks Giada!)

running through the woods nekkid (okay not really)

planning a trip to the casino next weekend

going grocery shopping

making oatmeal pancakes for breakfast

reading, playing, and napping

exchanging NO gifts (hey we're radicals! gifts aren't a big deal for us)

popping open our anniversary wine that we bought last year. It was a St. Michael's riesling that was surprisingly fizzy...uh oh. But potent...yum.

watching our wedding dvd - i almost teared up at the speeches again - it's so fun watching your friends cry :D:D:D

How has it already been 2 years?!

I love this man.

Car Love on a Saturday

2010-08-07T17:09:00.000-04:00

Argon and Old Gross Toe.

Yay it's Saturday! But boo, it's 5 o'clock and so far the only things I've done today involve 75% waiting for my car to be fixed and 25% working working working in a tiny gassy-smelling waiting room, with the same news reel looped over and over on TV. For FOUR hours. We finally ventured out for lunch at a classy Taco Bell and picked up a few things at Target only to find the TV off when we returned. Why didn't we think of that?!

Anyway, at least it's over. My car got a flat tire yesterday morning before work. It actually worked out really nicely as we were planning on bringing both cars in today for oil changes and who knows what else. Both our cars are cursed you see, requiring copious amounts of work that miraculously spring up each time we go in for a simple oil change. So E valiantly changed my tire and I toasted it at 50 mph on the highway with my hazards on the whole way down to the car place. We've finally found a Firestone that we can trust so we don't mind driving the extra 20 or so minutes it takes to get there versus a more local place. E's car oil change was shockingly cheap at 12 dollars with a coupon and survey discount. Mine on the other hand, had a leaking strut, which had to be changed out and was quoted at over $1000. I wasn't shocked, although I was expecting the need for new tires and/or brake pads instead (turns out there was a nail in the tire and they fixed it for free since I bought it there). So we got the repairs done, they found out they could salvage some parts instead of charging us for them, and it only cost a cool $700.

And now we sit at home, poor once more, and chilling like villains (see photo above). Here's to another three months until our next "oil change" *knock on wood*.

Twenty-five

2010-07-30T20:19:00.000-04:00

Thoughts:

1. T. G. I. F. TGIFFFFF. I am completely content with doing nothing tonight, after quite a crazy week at work. I made dinner and went to the gym to boot so I feel mighty accomplished.

2. How has it almost been 2 years since I became someone's wife? It feels so...

4. Old. I'm old. I'm 25! That's old. When I was younger, I thought I would die around this time because it seemed so far away and uneventful. I'm glad to be alive! But I don't know...on one hand I have the knowledge that the 20's are one of the best decades of life and I should be living carefree and easy (my life is not hard by any means). But on the other - I used to be 17!

5. Apparently I can't count.

So, for my 25th birthday/second 24th birthday last week, I decided on a fancy dinner at Siena Restaurant in downtown Providence. It had valet parking and I was pretty geeked about that. We invited Jamie along for the ride too, since we knew he'd enjoy the after-dinner entertainment.

Basking in the restaurant glow. I even curled my hair for the occasion. Please ignore the butt on E's face.

He's so photogenic.

I ordered a potato parmesan gnocchi that was so delicious and creamy, E had a pasta bolognese with a meat sauce that I compulsively stole bites of, and Jamie had a perfectly cooked salmon. We also shared a vanilla gelato vodka beverage for dessert while Jamie had fried donuts with Nutella and gelato *drool. The restaurant was really comfortable, upscale, but not pretentious. I would've taken pictures, but we also had a bottle of wine at the table and, well, you know. :D

Afterward, we went to my chosen activity for the night - black light mini golf!

The place was located in a truly classic strip-mall location next to a movie theater.

We ordered 4 for 10 dollar beers and puttered on down through 18 holes. I had a Corona, ick, but held on to it while I swang and I think it helped my score because I won! And swang is not a word.

I told you it was a long week!

But back to business...

Jamie and a bitchin' dolphin.

Eric wore an outfit that mysteriously lit him up like a Christmas bulb.

I also pwned a 25 cent play-til-you-win candy crane game (my favorite) and got to groove along to the sweet sounds of today's greatest hits (yay JBieb!).

It was a great night :). I also got some sweet presents this year, including gift cards to Francesca's, Anthropologie, McDonald's (everyone knows I love McDonald's), a gift subscription to Rachael Ray magazine, the newest Giada cookbook, and Giada bakeware (from E E). I am hopelessly domestic.

On the Canoe

2010-07-27T21:58:00.000-04:00

We took our canoe out for a spin tonight because the weather wasn't sweltering and I was feeling flabby. After generously lathering up with sunscreen and asking E to spray me in the face with bug-be-gone (mosquitos love my blood), we trundled off with our massive canoe. I swear, it's over 100 pounds and so wide that we have to tilt it to get it through the basement door.

It's probably about a few hundred yards to the reservoir that we live on, but it's hilly, harsh territory with deadly dangers such as an inexplicable dead bird on the lawn, poop, and the neighbor's flower pot that could knock over at any minute. We also had Argon in tow (of course) and filled the boat with our paddles, life jackets (for me only because E still thinks he's invincible), and Argon's life jacket (she didn't wear it, so apparently she thinks she's invincible too). That thing is heavy! And I am weak! I wore E's gross gardening gloves for some support but my soft, non-worked hands still feel a little sore. Did I mention I like to complain?

After making it to the water, we proceeded to paddle our way out to watch the sunset. Our leisurely conversation went like so:

Me - "Ooh I'm gonna take the back end tonight for a change!"
*I scramble into the back of the canoe. Argon jumps in.*
E - "Okay"
*ambles into the boat and we are off to the wild*
*paddling*
E - "Do you know how to paddle? We're going in circles!"
"We wouldn't be going in circles if you weren't paddling so hard!"
"At this rate, we're not getting back til 9:30!" (*note, we left at 7:30)
*more paddling, mostly in circles, as I occasionally forget how to steer*
*I attempt to mimic E's method of paddling to no avail*
E - "Uh so, if you paddle on the left side, what direction does the boat go?"
"To the right!"
"Okay good, just checking."
*sounds of more paddling and circling*
*E begins waving his paddle around in exasperation*
Me - "I thought this was going to be a relaxing boat ride!"
"I want to go fast!"
"Why can't we just enjoy life?"
*E pauses*
"That's it, we're turning around."
*We eventually turn around and almost row straight into a flock of lazy moving geese on the way back*
Argon - OMG BIRD
*E teaches me the elusive method of stop-steering (aka digging the paddle in the water to abruptly correct one's direction). I proclaim it is the greatest invention ever.*
*more circling ensues*
*we make it home alive*
E - "Well, that was kinda fun."

Indeed.

At Long Last: Adventures of a Digital Perm

2010-07-20T20:54:00.000-04:00

The "before" shot of me happily stuffing my face with dessert at the sushi buffet.

Alright my dearies, I have now had my perm for one full month, and feel somewhat qualified to give a run-down of my experience.

In short? Eh.

I arrived at the hair salon at 5 pm on a hottt Friday afternoon. After getting off the train and walking the wrong way (twice), I was a hot and sweaty mess. I hurriedly made it upstairs, into the salon entrance, and promptly asked to use the bathroom so I could attempt to clean up. After doing my lady business, I frantically blotted at my face with a paper towel for as much time as didn't seem suspicious. I then emerged to find a tiny Japanese lady waiting to show me my chair. My stylist, Miho, was new from Japan and didn't speak much English. After much translation, we decided that I would go for big loose curls. For the next three hours, I:

- Was shampooed multiple times, each time with a small towel placed gingerly over my face. My whole face mind you, so my hot breaths got shoved right back into my sweating face. I was gloriously glowing. So much so that Miho dabbed my face for me after toweling off my hair the first time.

- Had multiple products applied to my hair and rinsed out. One of these solutions was horrifyingly smelly but thankfully they rinsed that out first.

- Got my hair rolled up into curlers and attached to the Medusa machine (which had wires running to the curlers). It wasn't too bad, but kinda strange when the teenage son of one of the stylists helped out (he did have amazing hair though). The machine got really hot, but not uncomfortably so.

- Played on my phone, read an issue of Real Simple magazine, and drank from a water bottle I had been smart enough to steal earlier. Thank goodness I had those!

After a blow dry and quick tutorial on how to style my hair, I ran like a crazy woman in work shoes to the train station so I wouldn't have to wait 40 minutes for the next one back home. I was exhausted, although E did take me to get a delicious caesar side salad and chicken nuggets from Wendy's (don't knock Wendy's, their salads are good!).

And the hair? This is a shot of me later that night:

Curly! Although I think the heat and humidity + sprinting to the train station like a crazy woman brought it down a little.

And here it is last weekend (I'm pretty sure this was a day after I shampooed):

Check out my "this is why I'm hot" face.

In truth though, I thought it would be a bit more curlier and a bit more easier to manage. Well, a lot more easier to manage. Before, I would wash my hair, wait a little bit, dry it, and go. Now, in order to have the best hair, I have to do the following:

- Wash hair.
- Apply styling mousse.
- Comb out hair.
- Loosely twist hair and let air dry for about 20 minutes (sometimes I skip this part).
- Blow dry with diffuser, twirling hair as I go.
- Comb out hair again.
- Apply curling spray, twist more, clip up twisted, or curl ends with curling iron.
- Spritz with hairspray.

So. Much. Work. I think that the digital perm has made my hair a lot more do-able and it does look nice, but it is so much more high-maintenance than I expected. If I don't do anything to it, it will air dry into a limp pouf ball (curly haired girls - I feel for you). And the second day, there is always only a slight curl leftover - it's pretty much straight. Maybe I didn't get tight enough curls? I don't know. It's a love-hate thing...but with my hair being so long, it takes a lot of time to wrangle it right. While it's pretty now, I don't think I would spend 300 dollars on it again as it just wasn't the low-maintenance waves that I had hoped for.

Garage Sale Deliciousness

2010-07-16T09:00:00.004-04:00

While Melinda was here, we got to do a lot of things that only girls can do together. Like, shop. And discuss personal hygiene. And, well, shop some more. Not to mention hijack the TV for episodes of crappy reality television! But aside from that, the highlight of the past weekend was hitting up garage sales (or, "yard" sales as folks around here like to say). E swore over his millions of games that he would never go garage sale-ing with me so this was the perfect opportunity to find some good deals with some good company.

After trolling the sales posted on Craigslist Friday night, we woke up at 8 AM on Saturday to hit up 5 sales, 1 estate sale (way too expensive), and a crazy jungle of a thrift store. Here's what I scored:

Books: A great looking copy of The Lovely Bones for 1 dollah, and the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants plus Memoirs of a Geisha for 20 cents (do not knock my Traveling Pants or I will knock you). Ten cents a piece!

A completely unused copy of The Game of Life for 2 dollars. None of the pieces were even popped out! We have forced E to play this with us multiple times since.

A talking watch! A watch that talks! It was originally meant for blind people, judging from the manufacturer (National Association for the Blind?). Two dollars. Although I can't figure out how to make it stop announcing the hour, every hour. I think I have a watch problem.

And finally, the piece de resistance:

A squirrel lamp! For 4 dollars (talked down from 5). I bought the watch and the lamp at the same thrift store and they only ended up charging me 5 dollars for both. Plus, we checked the tag at the bottom of the lamp and it was sold at Urban Outfitters for 36 dollars! What the what! Exclamation point overload!!!!

All in all, garage sale-ing was giant spaving high that I enjoyed greatly. There were so many things I didn't know were missing in my life until now! And total damage? $8.25 (I rounded up like a baller and paid a quarter for the paperbacks). For some crazy reason, however, E completely hated the lamp. So, for now, I have placed Mr. Squirrel on the living room side table so he can get acquainted with its presence. And I think it's working.