A whole lotta nothing...

Just a myriad of random knowledge about our weekend:

B is still sickly. Ugh. Turns out sick two year old, especially after a week and a half, is not fun. Not one bit.

I went to Sam's Club for, something like the second time ever in my life, today. With the Hubs. And my mother in law. And it was awesome. We got, like 25 pounds of m&ms today. Who doesn't need 25 pounds of m&ms?  And also 4 bottles of wine.

Parenthood rocks. I mean, the show (not that I don't love parenthood). It rocks. And I love Minka Kelly, even if she cheated on Jason Street with Tim Riggins (any idea what show that's from?) and now helped Crosby cheat on Jasmine. I still love her.

My mom was here this weekend, which resulted in a little shopping. Yay! Look at these lovelies:

  (I love me some scarves)


The month is almost over and I haven't picked out anything for my 30 for 30. I'm almost positive I'm already failing this challenge, before it's begun.

I applied for an additional freelance writing job. It could be amazing so fingers crossed that I get it.

A Mish Mosh of thoughts

It's a quiet day here... Resulting in a post full of random thoughts...

Winter is still in force, kicking our butts and freezing us out. B's response was "stay home" when I asked him what he wanted to do this morning. When checking my phone (which may or may not be correct) I shivered as I read- 3 degrees f. Brrr...

I'm taking down the rest of the Christmas/ Winter decorations... You know Valentine's Day is one month from tomorrow? What other excuse do I have to use pink around the house? This will result in a post-nap trip to Michaels to see what I can find.

Tomorrow night we have a birthday outing ... A friend who is turning 26 and said "that's like 30!" ... Well, thanks for aging me, dear friend! Regardless, I'm excited for an excuse to dress up and go out with my wonderful husband.

After reading the current post at one of my favorite blogs (www.kellehampton.com), I went ahead and snagged the second version of Sweet Nella Charm Bangle. 50% of proceeds go to Nella's ONEder Fund. I was already wanting to donate something and I love any excuse to support small business. Check it out and score a cute bracelet while supporting a fantastic cause.

I'm actually blogging on our iPad so I'm interested to see how this turns out. The hubs takes my MacBook to the office everyday so my computer time is severely limited, hence the lack of regular posts. And pictures.

I started watching 'The Good Wife'. What a phenomenal show. I can't believe I waited this long! And everyone is on it! I'm so addicted, I've watched 8 episodes in two days... That's a lot considering I don't watch when B is awake.

November Already!?!

Well, well, well... it sure has been awhile, hasn't it? I guess I got swept up in Autumn even more than I'd realized.  What have we been up to?  Lots of stuff, really.  Mostly it can be summed up by saying we've been spending time with the people we love... The Huz has been around a lot, which is great for all of us; we live near friends now, so we've been out & about quite a bit for the first time in about 22 months; there's all sorts of new places to explore.  We've been having fun.

So in honor of that fun, here's a random selection of highlights (in no particular order).

Halloween was spent dressed as a monkey. A monkey who became a little obsessed with candy.  Considering he didn't know what candy was until that day, that's not cool.  Luckily, his parents ate all his candy before he could get to it :)

B's favorite book is currently "Goodnight Chicago" ... He says 'Cago!' & tells us he misses it. However, we haven't actually lived in Chicago since September 09, so I don't believe him.  Plus we visit frequently. As in, we were there two weeks ago. Regardless, he requests the book to sleep with him at night, which is pretty cute.

He's obsessed with tractors (another post about that soon) & choo-choos.  He can wake up from a dead sleep & yell 'CHOO CHOO!' if he hears one.

The Huz has a new car. Brand new. Which is pretty sweet.  But that resulted in me getting a new-to-me, but really just the 'old' Jeep that is full of Tucker's hair, Starbucks coffee stains & old fast food stink (M has basically lived in the Jeep for the past two years).  I've done my own detail job & it's suitable for now.  So long, my first baby-mobile (a lovely Chevy Equinox- no minivan for me!).

Today we went & looked at 'potties'. Now, I tend to dislike that word, but toddler toilet does sound kind of weird.  And B picked up the word potty somewhere... must be that Grandma of his. Anyway, we put one in the cart & B literally sat on it for about 15 minutes.  He later said he didn't want it, so I put it back, but we will be owning one very soon.  I'm not in a hurry to be done with diapers, but I'm not going to hold him back if he is.

I'm trying out Hot Yoga tomorrow night, which I'm psyched for.  I'll let you all know how it goes. Could be pretty scary as I've been slacking off in the past year at my yogi-ness.

We think we're going to St. Louis in a couple weeks. It'll be B's first trip there. Two baby baptisms in one day.

...I promise to be back soon!

good days ahead

today is a good day.  unfortunately, mike will be gone for 3 days... but... it's still a good day. things are happening, we're having a good time & i'm excited for what's next.

...of course, that crispy fall weather is helping in the morning! by mid-afternoon it's still in the 80's, but 55 degree mornings & cups of coffee go well together.

we have a bike ride in wisconsin this weekend & i'm packing the week full beforehand.  today it's the dog park, story time & a few errands...

tomorrow it's the family museum & the farmer's market.

more dog park, bike ride shopping, cookie baking, book reading, shoe shopping, new recipes (butternut squash risotto - thanks grandma, for the squash!) laundry & cleaning thrown in there... 8th grade football games & more.

AND... here's something cool if you're in the quad-cities... the qc times has deals (just like groupon, for those who are familiar) & this week's is a sweet gift card to the best mexican restaurant in the country (i feel qualified to make this statement, as we've searched high & low through seattle, chicago, peoria, & all of iowa & have never found a restauarant up to par with azteca).  i'm picking up $100 worth of gift cards today! want in on it? here's the link: http://upickem.net/84sQzUlQZ1Z

Random Blurbs from the Suburbs ... on a Wednesday

I hate wearing jeans ... around the house anyway. I love a great fitting pair of jeans when we're going out, but seriously, during the day, I can't bring myself to wear jeans, unless I'm going to a store, etc.  Just now, I got out of the shower & grabbed a pair of jeans & I literally couldn't put them on! I threw them down on the chair (assuming I'll put them on if we go out anywhere today) & grabbed yoga crops.

Speaking of showers... men have it so easy.  Showers are much faster when you don't have to shave or wash your hair (or at least as much hair as I have). I showered last night but then shredded this morning, so I needed to just wash off.

Speaking of Shredding... I fully regret taking last week off.  I started the 30 Day Shred on May 26th.  That lasted two days.  I took a week plus off & then started again.  Was going strong for 6 days, but then I tried Level 2.  And I lost my motivation. Ugh. It kicked my butt all over again today.  MUST KEEP IT UP!


I got a Kozy carrier a couple weeks ago, but have only tried it twice ... for minutes.  B doesn't seem overly thrilled, but I very much want to carry him on my back.  I think today we'll head out to a walking/biking path & toss B up on my back so I can handle Tucker a little better.  The 'issue' there is that I have to get B on to my back on my own, with no couch, etc.  I hope B likes it.

I'm thinking about running a Cookie Lee sale ... I'd like to clean out my inventory before the NEW CATALOG comes out in AUGUST.  Anyone interested? I'll post details soon on my Cookie Lee site.

What I should be doing...

blogging one of three reviews i need to post.


putting in a Cookie Lee order from last week that i still haven't done. (in my defense, i'm waiting on 2 extra checks in the mail that will make me feel as though i have a million bucks to spend... rather than spending money in my bank account that is not full of a million bucks. smart, right?) i must do it by tonight. absolutely. no buts about it. 


i should definitely be at my bible study that started 40 minutes ago. but B gets SO upset when I leave him with the lovely church ladies. and then i always end up bringing him downstairs with me, where he runs around freely... but i feel bad ... like we're distracting everyone. and he just gets SO upset. really, you should see him. red face, tears streaming, sweaty baby... it's awful for everyone involved, really.


folding laundry. but that's a daily thing that i should do & often don't. 


taking a shower. maybe, maybe not.  i mean, my hair doesn't look greasy (for once) & i don't smell... so what's another few hours. oh & no, i still haven't solved the shampoo issue. for now, i'm rebelling against my own 'green' ways & i went back to the suave green apple shampoo & conditioner that was in B's guest bath. at least it's green colored... & i won't buy it again! it does smell delicious though. in-hale...

instead.

i'm going to go see what Oprah was about this morning & drink some coffee. shh. don't tell the Huz. (it's not like he reads this anyway, right tweeps?!)

Weekend Smiles

Instead of a long drawn out post on why my weekend rocked, I'll just summarize.

A great friend in town for her Spring Break- she's B's godfather's fiance & we love to see her when she's here (she lives in Arkansas til graduation in May).  We met up in Chicago & went for a bike ride down the Lake Shore bike path.  The Hubs & the Godfather used to go last summer all the time, when we lived in Lincoln Park.  This was my first real ride (excluding a quick spin around the bike shop parking lot) on my new bike!  Here's my new bike, here's B in his trailer, & here's the view at Navy Pier! (disclaimer- all pictures taken from my iPhone)

We did discover that B, like me, is allergic to penicillin, so throughout the weekend we had to keep up with Benadryl & watch his rash.  It didn't stop us from having fun though!  (and yes, he has food in his mouth)






Yesterday was gorgeous, when the sun was out & we did some shopping we needed to do.  We are all in a wedding on May 1st & we needed to get B's tux, the shower gift & my dress for the bachelorette party.  After shopping we took Tucker to the park.   Here's a few pictures from yesterday:

I got these amazing shoes & I can't wait to wear them out with this awesome dress!

A few other honorable mentions...

Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution. Did you watch? I did. And I'm so excited for people in America to start getting IT.

I got a blog review request & if it comes in time, my wedding shower dilemma will be solved!

My shoes for the actual wedding are 'on the truck for delivery'.  If you're my twitter friend, you may have participated in my poll to decide which style to get. I ended up waiting too long & ordered the only pair in my size (hopefully)! I haven't worn exciting shoes for a long time so I'm excited, all though I know I'll be terrified of being a giant in 4 inch heels!

And... because Blogger is sucking it up right now & not uploading half of these pictures... I'll just tell you, rather than show you, that there are 4 large boxes of products for Baby D.  I'm waiting on 2 more packages & then everything will get sent!

Oh! And The Kind Diet is waiting for me at the library!!

Random Blurbs from the Suburbs ... on a Thursday

Just some random tidbits from my week...

I cleaned out the pantry...

... now I just need to find the local food pantry to donate!

And I couldn't help but laugh when I stopped behind this at a red light...

...So I had to decide if I had time to dig out my phone & snap a picture... & I did. Safely, I promise! 

And currently the sun is shining & my coffee is hot, so...

Oh & while I've got you- if you don't follow my friend Madison already, you should.  She's a fantastic blogger & she's really close to 400 followers! 

Random Thoughts of the Day:

2 posts in one day- way to start off strong!  Anyway, just got this and thought it was pretty funny and pretty true, so why not post it! I did not actually write this, I just received it in an email & laughed. A lot. 

I wish Google Maps had an "Avoid Ghetto" routing option.



More often than not, when someone is telling me a story all I can think about is that I can't wait for them to finish so that I can tell my own story that's not only better, but also more directly involves me.



Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize you're wrong.



I don't understand the purpose of the line, "I don't need to drink to have fun." Great, no one does. But why start a fire with flint and sticks when they've invented the lighter?



Have you ever been walking down the street and realized that you're going in the complete opposite direction of where you are supposed to be going? But instead of just turning a 180 and walking back in the direction from which you came, you have to first do something like check your watch or phone or make a grand arm gesture and mutter to yourself to ensure that no one in the surrounding area thinks you're crazy by randomly switching directions on the sidewalk.



That's enough, Nickelback.



I totally take back all those times I didn't want to nap when I was younger.



The letters T and G are very close to each other on a keyboard. This recently became all too apparent to me and consequently I will never be ending a work email with the phrase "Regards" again.



Do you remember when you were a kid, playing Nintendo and it wouldn't work? You take the cartridge out, blow in it and that would magically fix the problem. Every kid in America did that, but how did we all know how to fix the problem? There was no internet or message boards or FAQ's. We just figured it out. Today's kids are soft.



There is a great need for sarcasm font.



Sometimes, I'll watch a movie that I watched when I was younger and suddenly realize I had no idea what the fuck was going on when I first saw it.



I think everyone has a movie that they love so much, it actually becomes stressful to watch it with other people. I'll end up wasting 90 minutes shiftily glancing around to confirm that everyone's laughing at the right parts, then making sure I laugh just a little bit harder (and a millisecond earlier) to prove that I'm still the only one who really, really gets it.



The other night I hit a new low at an open bar. I had already hopped on highway blackout when, inevitably I had to find a bathroom. Eventually I decided it was probably on the other side of the bar so I tried to walk over there, but ran into a guy coming the other way. We played that, Both go left, Both go right game to no avail, so I finally put out my hand to guide myself past and that's is when I realized, yup, that's a mirror I just tried to walk through. And the guy on the other side is me. Even cats can recognize their own image.



How the hell are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet?



I would rather try to carry 10 plastic grocery bags in each hand than take 2 trips to bring my groceries in.



I think part of a best friend's job should be to immediately clear your computer history if you die.



The only time I look forward to a red light is when I'm trying to finish a text.



A recent study has shown that playing beer pong contributes to the spread of mono and the flu. Yeah, if you suck at it.



Was learning cursive really necessary?



Lol has gone from meaning, "laugh out loud" to "I have nothing else to say".



I have a hard time deciphering the fine line between boredom and hunger.



Answering the same letter three times or more in a row on a Scantron test is absolutely petrifying.



My brother's Municipal League baseball team is named the Stepdads. Seeing as none of the guys on the team are actual stepdads, I inquired about the name. He explained, "Cuz we beat you, and you hate us." Classy, bro.



Whenever someone says "I'm not book smart, but I'm street smart", all I hear is "I'm not real smart, but I'm imaginary smart".



How many times is it appropriate to say "What?" before you just nod and smile because you still didn't hear what they said?



I love the sense of camaraderie when a n entire line of cars teams up to prevent a dick from cutting in at the front. Stay strong, brothers!



Every time I have to spell a word over the phone using 'as in' examples, I will undoubtedly draw a blank and sound like a complete idiot. Today I had to spell my boss's last name to an attorney and said "Yes that's G as in...(10 second lapse)..ummm...Goonies"



What would happen if I hired two private investigators to follow each other?
 While driving yesterday I saw a banana peel in the road and instinctively swerved to avoid it...thanks Mario Kart.



MapQuest really needs to start their directions on #5. Pretty sure I know how to get out of my neighborhood.
 Obituaries would be a lot more interesting if they told you how the person died.
 I find it hard to believe there are actually people who get in the shower first and THEN turn on the water.



Shirts get dirty. Underwear gets dirty. Pants? Pants never get dirty, and you can wear them forever.



I would like to officially coin the phrase 'catching the swine flu' to be used as a way to make fun of a friend for hooking up with an overweight woman. Example: "Dave caught the swine flu last night."



I can't remember the last time I wasn't at least kind of tired.



Bad decisions make good stories



Whenever I'm Facebook stalking someone and I find out that their profile is public I feel like a kid on Christmas morning who just got the Red Ryder BB gun that I always wanted. 546 pictures? Don't mind if I do!



Is it just me or do high school girls get sluttier & sluttier every year?



If Carmen San Diego and Waldo ever got together, their offspring would probably just be completely invisible.



Why is it that during an ice-breaker, when the whole room has to go around and say their name and where they are from, I get so incredibly nervous? Like I know my name, I know where I'm from, this shouldn't be a problem....



You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you've made up your mind that you just aren't doing anything productive for the rest of the day.



Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after DVDs? I don't want to have to restart my collection.



There's no worse feeling than that millisecond you're sure you are going to die after leaning your chair back a little too far.



I'm always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if I want to save any changes to my ten page research paper that I swear I did not make any changes to.



"Do not machine wash or tumble dry" means I will never wash this ever.
I hate being the one with the remote in a room full of people watching TV. There's so much pressure. 'I love this show, but will they judge me if I keep it on? I bet everyone is wishing we weren't watching this. It's only a matter of time before they all get up and leave the room. Will we still be friends after this?'



While watching the Olympics, I find myself cheering equally for China and USA. No, I am not of Chinese descent, but I am fairly certain that when Chinese athletes don't win, they are executed.



I hate when I just miss a call by the last ring (Hello? Hello? Damnit!), but when I immediately call back, it rings nine times and goes to voicemail. What'd you do after I didn't answer? Drop the phone and run away?



I hate leaving my house confident and looking good and then not seeing anyone of importance the entire day. What a waste.



When I meet a new girl, I'm terrified of mentioning something she hasn't already told me but that I have learned from some light internet stalking.



I like all of the music in my iTunes, except when it's on shuffle, then I like about one in every fifteen songs in my iTunes.



Why is a school zone 20 mph? That seems like the optimal cruising speed for pedophiles...



As a driver I hate pedestrians, and as a pedestrian I hate drivers, but no matter what the mode of transportation, I always hate cyclists.



Sometimes I'll look down at my watch 3 consecutive times and still not know what time it is.



It should probably be called Unplanned Parenthood.



I keep some people's phone numbers in my phone just so I know not to answer when they call.



I think that if, years down the road when I'm trying to have a kid, I find out that I'm sterile, most of my disappointment will stem from the fact that I was not aware of my condition in college.



Even if I knew your social security number, I wouldn't know what do to with it.
 My 4-year old son asked me in the car the other day "Dad what would happen if you ran over a ninja?" How the hell do I respond to that?



It really pisses me off when I want to read a story on CNN.com and the link takes me to a video instead of text.



I wonder if cops ever get pissed off at the fact that everyone they drive behind obeys the speed limit.
I think the freezer deserves a light as well.



I disagree with Kay Jewelers. I would bet on any given Friday or Saturday night more kisses begin with Miller Lites than Kay.