12 Years Ago Today

My friend Jessica asked me if I'd like to go with her to a Halloween party after work. Normally I'm not a fan of parties where I don't really know anyone but I said yes. We got there and to my surprise I was having a great time. There was this one guy there that I just thought was awfully cute. Eventually I had to leave to take Jessica home but after I did that I went back to the party just so I could give my number to the cute guy. I'm very happy that I did.
I can't believe we were ever that young.

The Thought That Counts

Email conversation with coworker

Coworker: Happy Birthday

Me: Um thanks but my birthday is in July. Thanks for the thought though.

Coworker: Lol sorry K said it was your birthday. You should just act like it is and make everyone celebrate

Me: lol good idea I'll make Dave take me out

Conversation latter with other co workers K & M (who sits next to me)

K: (standing in M's cube) Hey is it your birthday

Me: Nope it's in July. C sent me an email too

K: How funny E (yet another coworker) said it was.

M: That's weird

K: She said she got an email from you

M: From me? What is she talking about?

Me: Laughing so hard I was speechless and there were tears of laughter running down my face


I have no idea how that particular comedy of errors happened but it did cheer me up.

Life Is Not Fair

Something truly tragic happened to a couple I care about. I'm not in the mood to try to be funny. I just want to cry for them. Today tell someone you love them and give them an extra hug.

Another Example of My Warped Mind

I had a dream that someone I knew had a child that was very ill (not entierly sure who). The child was so sick that the Make a Wish Foundation came to grant them a wish. Only instead of getting to go to Disneyland or getting to meet their favorite sports hero they got a trip to.....the supermarket.

Wine For The Cheap

Do you drink wine? Are you broke all the time? Well I do and I am (btw the second is not because of the first). Over the years I've seen lots of cool wine labels that made me want to buy the wine but once I looked at the price (say $4.50) I said to myself, "I think I'll pass". I'm not sure why so many cheap wines have labels that I find attractive but there you go. The fact of the matter is there is a lot of terrible wine out there and most of it is cheap but sometimes you find something pretty good that's just inexpensive because no one has ever heard of it. A while back I found a site called Wine For The Cheap where they do humorous reviews of wines under $10. What I like is they are not all snooty making you feel like you don't know anything about wine. As a matter of fact I'm not sure if they know anything about wine but their reviews are humorous (even if you don't drink wine) and they make me want to try something new. Check 'em out if you've got a moment.

Quality Day Care

My Mom: I drew Fiona a picture of herself and I told here here are your eyes and here are some little teeth. Then she wanted the pen so I told her she could decorate it and she drew a beard.

Pumpkin Patch 2009

Aint I Observant?

My all time favorite show was Buffy the Vampire Slayer. My first favorite show was Scooby Doo. I only now noticed there was a theme.

Cute My Butt

Why do we say "Cute as a button"? I've never looked at a button and said, "now that is cute".

A Tradgedy Of Epic Proportions

My curling iron broke. Now how will I make my hair vaguely wave? Happy freaking monday to me.

Party Girl

In our New Orleans hotel room

Dave: Fiona you can't keep running over to the window in just a diaper. People are gonna start throwing beads up here.

I HEART New Orleans

I love New Orleans. We've been (quick mental math) five or six times. There's awesome food, amazing music, breath taking architecture, and fascinating history. But really it's a great place to party down. New Orleans has been the site of some of my best drinking stories, including one where I think I broke a guys nose (FYI not a good idea to grab random women walking by and attempt to kiss them). So being there with our not quite two year old daughter was....weird. We were walking down Bourbon street past strip clubs and sex shops on our way to dinner and I thought, "Yeah, this is not the best route". The weird thing about the French Quarter is just a block from the bars and adult entertainment mentioned above is antique shops, jewelry stores, art galleries, and upscale clothing boutiques. We went back along that route. Her first beignet at Cafe Du Monde

St. Louis Cathedral in Jackson Square

We have a painting she loves of this same corner in our living room. That building behind her is for sale. It used to be a restaurant we ate at one time but it wasn't very good. It was also in a Buick commercial with Tiger Woods. Yeah I know that's not interesting, we've discussed my nerdyness before.

I Married a Crazy Person and We Bread Another One

That would be Dave and Fiona in the pool IN A THUNDER STORM. His theory, "We're already wet"

Happy Happy Joy Joy

A couple weeks ago my pregnant sister in law (AB, different from AK who just had a baby about 5 weeks ago {note to self, should really ask if they mind if I use their first names}) thanked me for not being all negative and telling her how bad being a parent can be. I was shocked, I thought I HAD been being negative. I guess maybe her friends are better at getting that point across...or their kids were even harder shudder.

Tuesday night Dave's older sister (T) brought her two kids over for a last visit with Fiona since we were leaving the next morning. Our nephew is testing his boundaries so he was getting a time out and he was crying. Our niece didn't want to use the potty so she was crying. Fiona was crying because everybody else was crying and in walked AB and her husband (L). The look on AB's face was priceless. I just stood there and grinned evilly.


Note: My niece and nephew are great kids and generally very well behaved it was just one of those moments. I look forward to my next nephew arriving in January.

She Learned a New Word

Cupcake

Be It Ever So Humble

There's nothing like coming home.....to a house that smells like wet dog.

I'm back with lots of story's & pictures & one complaint (but let's see how the hotel responds to my email before I go in to that).

Things I Love About Traveling

Friends and/or family you don't get to see often
New and different landscapes
Understanding how big the world really is
Different foods (all our trips are planed around where we will eat)
Coming home

I've missed you all. I'll tell you all about my trip once I've recovered.

Next I'll Get Her a Tatoo and a Pack of Smokes

While doing some online shopping for my SIL (AB's) baby shower I discovered there actually is such a thing as sleep medicine for baby's. As much as I complain about teaching Fiona how to sleep I think that is just disgusting. "I'm too lazy to do sleep training or just get up when the baby cries so I'm going to just drug my child." Despicable!

Bibliophile

Do you ever look at real estate listings just for the fun of it? Recently for no particular reason I've been looking at mansions in various parts of the country and making my list of houses I would buy if I won the lottery. What you don't have a list? You know one here (CA), one by Dave's family (AL), maybe one in Hawaii or New Orleans (or both). One of my criteria for my next house (mansion or not) is I want an area I can use as a library. What I'm finding interesting is a lot if not most of the mansions actually have a library with built in bookshelves. Apparently rich people as a group are big readers who knew.

Because I Can't Update the Quote of the Day (Not That I've Been That Good About It)

The World is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page. ~St. Augustine

When preparing to travel, lay out all your clothes and all your money. Then take half the clothes and twice the money. ~Susan Heller

Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime. ~Mark Twain

A passport, as I'm sure you know, is a document that one shows to government officials whenever one reaches a border between countries, so the officials can learn who you are, where you were born, and how you look when photographed unflatteringly. ~Lemony Snicket

Ode to the Waffle House

You're greasy
You're smoky
You're kinda a dive
But I can get breakfast for $3.95

I love the Waffle House.

Things I Hate About Traveling

Driving to the airport
Waiting for the shuttle
Waiting in line to check in
Waiting for the plane to take off
Layovers
Airport food
Waiting for the shuttle to take you to the rental car place
Waiting in line at the rental car place
Driving in an unfamiliar city to get to your final destination

Guess what I'm doing today?

No complaints though, I'm on vacation. Hopefully I will return with many funny stories and hopefully Dave's family will still speak to me after I post them here.

Couple Speak

Dave: Hey check it out a coupon for that place

Me: That one place we went that time?

Dave: Yeah!

Me: Cool

I Get It Now

I sometimes complain about being a mom. I also tell all my friends and family all the horror stories I have. Mostly I feel this is a public service because no one warned me about the unpleasant parts. I mean I knew there would be poop, and sleep deprivation, and tantrums but I didn't realize how much there would be. Actually no I think my poop estimate was pretty accurate but I had the mistaken idea that she'd start sleeping all night after a few months and colic....yeah colic sucks so much I can't think of a metaphor harsh enough.

I know all the other moms out there are laughing at me right now but I bet you can sympathise too. No matter how prepared you think you are, actually raising a child is totally different in practice than it is in theory. Of coarse we got the hang of it pretty quick and it really isn't that bad even at the worst times and it just keeps getting better and better.

Conversation with Fiona:

Fiona: Mama Mama (meaning look at me)

Me: Yes honey

Fiona: (Gets down on all fours and starts hopping) Ribbit ribbit

Me: Are you a froggy?

Fiona: Yeah froggy

Me: (Gets down on the floor with her) You know what? You are my all time favorite froggy and that's saying something (I've got a frog collection including a tattoo)

And then she gave me a kiss.

Yeah there are moments that are hard and I'm not going to try to sugar coat them but over all being a mom is the most fun I ever had.

Who Doesn't Like Money?

Weird fact about banks. Normally when you prep money to send to the Federal Reserve you strap it in the appropriate amounts and then rubber band five straps together (we called this a brick but I'm not sure if that's a standard term). The opposite is true with coins you have to remove them from any wrapper they are in and send them back in burlap sacks like you see in old timey movies or cartoons. I was always disappointed that the sacks didn't have a big dollar sign painted on them.

Not Child Friendly

A few weeks ago I decided Fiona was old enough too start sleeping with a real blanket. I went to a discount store figuring maybe I could get a deal. I found a section of soft fleece throw blankets for six dollars each (score) and found one in a pattern of green, blue and white that would match her room beautifully (green walls, white furniture). I was all set to buy it when I looked at the photo on the package and realised the pattern was the playboy bunny. I thought about it for about two seconds but bought a purple blanket with rainbow polka dots that doesn't match anything.