Our week

It started with hives.  A few of them.  The next day he was covered in them.  They came and went.  We're not sure if it was an allergic reaction to an antibiotic he was put on for a sinus infection, or if it was viral.  Either way it freaked.me.out in the middle of the grocery store when I looked down to see hives covering my child.  I stopped the cart and called the pediatricians office right there I was so distraught.  They were not concerned even a tiny bit and made me feel like a dumby.  Oh well.

Our week had lots of artwork.  Matthew kept wanting to take out the basket of art- he'd do play dough for a while; markers for a while; crayons for a while.  It was fun to watch how into it he was.

In preparation for our big trip (oh! Have I not mentioned yet? Matthew and I are flying to Philly on Wednesday to see my bff!!!! I am super pumped.  We are also going to Baltimore for the weekend.  Which will involve crab dip.  Just sayin'.)

Anyway, although he's getting older, a stroller is obviously still a good idea in the airport and various other adventures.  I am flying alone, so umbrella stroller it is.  Unfortunately our $12 umbrella stroller, well, sorta sucks.  So I researched and researched and found one I love.  LOVE.  It has high handles, the wheels glide instead of getting stuck every 5 feet, it has a small basket underneath for storage, it has a cup holder for moi, it reclines, has a large canopy AND it stands up on it's own when folded.  I am in love.  It is the Uppa Baby G-Luxe for those interested.  I bought a 2010 model, and with free shipping, I got it for a great deal.  Matthew also happens to love it.

Our week also included a few delicious meals.  This was one in the making. It is the filling for a vegetable and black bean enchilada casserole. What you see here is squash, red peppers, onion, spinach, and black beans. Can I get a YUM YUM??? 

I also made some beef enchiladas for the boys (I should say boy, since Matthew didn't touch either of them). It worked out perfectly, since I was making both, I was able to give half of each to our neighbors for their dinner.  They have a newborn and a toddler, and can always use a break from cooking.  Even after giving 1/2 away, we still had leftovers. Score!



Our weekend is started, and going to be a good one!  In an hour, Matthew and I are going swimming with my cousin and 2 of her kids.  Tonight is date night.  Tomorrow my cousins family is coming over for a cookout.  :-)

4 Years!

Happy 4 years of marriage to us!! (yesterday to be precise- just didn't have time to post)

Mike worked all day, Matthew had his last day of school until September, and I ran around getting last minute errands done without child (probably the last of those for a while).

We had plans to have a very nice dinner out, just the two of us.  However, as is often true as parents, our plans were changed for us.  We had a friend lined up to babysit Matthew for us, unfortunately she had to go out of town last minute, so we had to improvise. 

Waiting for Mike when he got home:

The strawberries and pineapple heart were stolen from the gorgeous and delicious edible fruit arrangement Mike had sent to me earlier in the day.  I didn't get a picture before Matthew and I started eating some fruit, but it was beautiful!  And so unexpected.  The wine--well, it was a gift to us at our wedding shower, if you can believe it.  It had a note attached to "enjoy on your 1st anniversary!".  Well, 1st anniversary I was pregnant; 2nd I was nursing a baby still and not drinking much; 3rd was last year, and I honestly can't remember why we didn't drink it; so I put it out this year.  Guess what? We never opened it.  Neither of us felt like drinking wine.  It's still on the counter, so hopefully I'll enjoy a glass this weekend.

Next, I lay out his very practical, un-fun, gifts for him on the bed.  (hey, it was easier than wrapping).  Dude needed some new clothes like you can't imagine.  The snacks were just fun things I found at World Market- the banana ketchup is something he loves from his days in the Philippines; the Mochi are a Japanese snack he likes; and the snack sticks, eh, I just threw them in there.

Next we attempted to get pictures.  We were having camera difficulty, as well as toddler and dog interference, so this is what we got:

 (it will never, ever be questioned who his father is, will it?? He is Mike's mini-me.)

  (folks, that's what a high-speed toddler looks like in pictures)

My fabulous husband gave me the best gift ever.  Really.  I would not have believed he could think of such a great gift all on his own, as he doesn't even like coffee, but alas...he knows how much I like it! :-)  My mom has a fabulous Keurig at her house and I have always coveted it.  Finally, it's MINE!  Oh how I love thee.  Nothing like a fresh cup of coffee whenever I want it, instead of coffee that's been sitting around in the pot.  I love that you can still use whatever coffee you normally do if you so choose, simply by getting the re-usable basket thing (that's the technical term, by the way).  Oh yes, I also love the variety of kcups you can get as well.  I love that I can have one cup of caffeine in the morning and then decaf the rest of the day.   I love it, I love it.

After gifts and pictures, the plan was I cook dinner.  Last minute though, my husband decided, "eh- let's just all go out".  SO I had a date with TWO men for our anniversary--and it was fabulous.  We had a gift card to Red Lobster, so it certainly didn't break the bank.  I managed to make smart choices (no yummy delicious cheesy garlic rolls for me!), just a bunch of grilled seafood (hold the butter), side of steamed broccoli and replaced the rice with asparagus.  Who knew eating healthy could taste so good?!

My gracious cousin has offered to babysit Matthew on Saturday, so that Mike and I can go enjoy our date night alone.  I'm sure it'll involve steak, so Mike should be pleased. :-)

Happy anniversary to my amazing husband!! I love you.  It's been a fabulous, busy, sometimes dramatic, 4 years.  I cannot even fathom a better man to spend my time with.  You make me happy and you love me.  What more could a girl ask for??



Judgement day

Ok, I'm not here to judge or anything, who am I kidding, of course I'm here to judge! :-)

Since we moved back to Texas and are able to go to a fancy mega-gym here, I've noticed all the ladies who workout with their hair all done up and full make-up on.  You know, pretty much they look more put together than I do on a day when I'm actually trying to look put together.  Anyway, I will accept that a small percentage of them may look that way because they came from work or somewhere else that they were looking nice for.  However, since I am a stay-at-home-mom, and thus, I go to the gym pretty much mid-morning, most of the other women there are obviously either stay-at-home-mom's or work a different kind of schedule (I say obviously because that child care center is FULL in the morning).  I just cannot understand the whole hair and makeup thing.  Am I missing something?? I honestly think the worse I look after a workout, the better my workout must have been!  But some of them, I mean, they have their hair styled and perfect.  And then...they don't even pull it up in a pony or get it out of their face or whatever. Huh? How is that even comfortable? I have fairly short hair and I think I would be ready to kill myself if I had that crap hanging on my neck while I'm trying to exercise.  I must be missing something.

The exceptions I've found are spin class and Sunday mornings.  If they dare start a spin class in full-makeup and hair done, there's no way they'll leave said spin class looking that way.  And Sunday at the gym, I looked around and realized there were more women looking like me (no makeup, hair pulled back, shorts and a tank/tshirt rather than the perfect matchy-matchy skin tight clothes). It must be a Sunday morning phenomonon- they dragged their ass out of bed on Sunday to go to the gym, they sure as hell aren't there for a fashion show!

Yesterday I had a doctors appointment downtown, thus, I actually put on makeup.  I went to the gym afterwards because I couldn't get it together enough in the AM to go.

Even with makeup....this is how I look leaving the gym:

Hey.  I'm there to sweat.  I'm there to impress myself.  I sure as hell am not there to impress anyone else!
That said....ladies.  Do what ya gotta do.  If holding a perfect hairstyle and full makeup while trying to workout without breaking *too* much of a sweat makes you feel better, by all means, have at it.  At least you're there.

 

NYC!

Ok.  So the NYC trip was pretty much a month ago now.  I've been wanting to update about it for a while, but for some reason one thing or another got in the way.  Most recently, the last 2 days anytime I went to get onto blogger the site was down. Boo! :-(

Mike and I were able to get away for a glorious 3 night trip to New York City!! By ourselves.  No toddler in tow.  This was a fabulous, fabulous occasion I tell you.  Our first get away without child, since he was born.  Hey, I love my kid, but every now and then you just need a break.  Time to be grown ups.  Time to have no curfew.  Time to drink wine. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

(at the airport, ready to go!)

Anyway, the main purpose of our trip was to go see Saturday Night Live.  I am most fortunate enough to have a little brother who just so happens to have a best friend who is an actor on SNL.  It's so weird- I mean, to him, this is just his bff, the same guy he's been friends with for years, no biggie.   For us, he's a guy we watch on TV every Saturday night.  So to say the least, I'm a bit star-struck by my brothers friend.  (Interesting, I met him once before he was on TV and THEN he was just my brothers friend....)  You keeping up?

Anyway, so my brother got us some tickets and we decided to make a long weekend of it.  It was great fun.  We chose not to push ourselves to rush, rush, rush and see and do everything imaginable in New York (hey, there's a time and a place for this...but we've both been to New York before, and didn't feel any sort of need to do such things on our ONE romantic weekend away).  Instead, we took the leisure approach.  Eat when we want, where we want.  Walk the city.  Roam.  Really, the only thing on our agenda was to meet my brother Saturday afternoon, and go to SNL in the evening.  Everything else was fair game.

So we wondered to Times Square:

We ate hot dogs on the street:



Our jaws dropped as we checked out the price of groceries in the heart of the city:

(umm, yes, that's for ONE box of cereal)

We took in a show:

And we chugged coffee late afternoon on Saturday in preparation for being up until 4AM:

(p.s. the coffee did little to help.  By 2AM I was what you would call a walking zombie, barely able to form complete sentences. Oh my how the times how changed!! This mama never stays up that late!)

We had a fabulous time.  Just the two of us. Mike and Lynn.  It was wonderful, very good, fantastic.

Then came Saturday night, and it was surreal.  After dinner with my brother at a fabulous hole in the wall Brazilian restaurant we just happened to come upon, we headed to 30 Rock.  We got there mid-dress rehearsal, so we hung out in Bobby's dressing room, watching the run through on the TV in there.

(me and my brother, Dan)

When it was time for the show, Mike and got in line and were brought into the theater.  We didn't have the greatest seats, but they were, as we like to call them "the best seats in the worst section of the place."  It didn't matter- it was just so cool to be there, who cares if we weren't front and center (ok...front and center would have been pretty damn cool).

After the show, we were able to get a little tour of the stage area, and take a few photos.

From there, we hopped in a limo and we driven to the after party. 

(when the actors leave the building, there is a line of limos and town cars waiting to take them to the party.  They keep the location hush hush and it changes every week, to keep the party private).

The after party was pretty cool, even if I was too tired to make conversation with people.  We had a few drinks and appetizers.  Our table had a few other actors and their friends at it, which was cool even if we didn't mingle with them at all.  Everywhere I turned there were famous people.  SNL actors, the musical guest and their dates (The Foo Fighters), random other celebs (Daryl Hannah, Steve Martin), the host (Helen Mirran....who sat less than a foot away from me sipping her martini).  It was wild I tell you!  We didn't take any pictures while in there, trying not to be too dorky.  We left a while later, and got dropped back at our hotel....at 4 am, or something like that.  I was perhaps drooling by this point, definitely with bloodshot eyes.

I wish I had taken more pictures, but we were too busy enjoying ourselves to stop every 5 feet to snap a photo.  I'll definitely remember this trip for a long time! 

And of course, we've since decided, Mommy and Daddy need to do more trips together in the future!

:-)