See my pretty new duds? I’m in love. What do you think?
Big huge thank you to my very lovely and talented best friend Jenna for the re-design. Because my own site (or more likely WordPress on my iPad) is now try to eat me I can’t seem to link to Jenna. But you can find her at http://allaboutavacakes.com. She is awesome and I love her.
Also please check out my widget on the bottom left hand corner. It’s where you will find other peoples posts that I’m in love with this week.
1. Tomorrow morning, at the butt crack of dawn, I am leaving on vacation. I will be home on Tuesday. I need this trip. I need a few days away from my life. A few days of hanging out somewhere else. Eat cupcakes to my divorce. Something, ya know? I am so excited for this trip, however the time that my flight is in the morning, makes me question my own sanity.
2. I have had trouble sleeping the past few nights. I’d been in a better sleeping stretch for a while, but it seems to have left me. Have you seen it? I’d really like it back.
3. Last Saturday, Morgan had her very first dance recital. She has now been hit by the dancing bug. She wants to double up on her dance classes. Which would be fine if I didn’t have two other children who deserve to take classes too. She loved being on the stage and having everyone clap. I’m not even bragging when I tell you that my girl has mad skills. She is a great dancer. Truly.
4. I can’t decide whether I will post while I’m gone or just not bother. We’ll see. I’d have to write said posts today and I’m just not sure I have the energy for that. If I don’t? Well I will be seeing you all next week.
5. Yesterday Mom101 started National Thank a Blogger Day. You can also see it on Twitter with the hashtag, #thankablogger. I love her for this and a ton of other reasons. This one though? Is a great idea. It was nice to see everyone thanking others yesterday. I could thank people for the next three days and I don’t think I’d be able to mention everyone. Mostly though? I’d like to thank all of you. Those who are my friends. Those of you who comment. Those of you who read and never comment. Thank you. Each of you, for being here for me for the past few years. I don’t know what I would have done without all of you.
Today I am 30 years old. You know…in case you didn’t catch that by the title. I’ve gone back and forth on having a serious issue with it. Not the day itself, more the where I thought my life would be issue.
Today I’m okay with it. Helps that I’ve spent four awesome days with friends on vacation. Truly the combo of best friend, beach and loads of cake does wonders for a person. Which is why I’m posting this today instead of when I get home. Ha.
Anyway. I thought I’d make myself a list. 30 things that I’d like to do in the next ten years. Some may not be possible, because I don’t know what tomorrow holds, much less the next ten years. But its good to have goals. Or so I hear.
I considered doing it for the next 30 years, but I can’t think past next week, much less 30 years from now. So the next 10 years it is.
1. I want to have another baby. How this will happen, I have no clue. But its my number one for sure.
2. I want to sell my house and buy a newer one. Or re-model mine.
3. I’d like to take a photography class. Actually learn how to use all the cameras I own. Maybe actually start using them.
4. I’d like to take a cooking class with the girls.
5. I want to go on an Alaskan cruise.
6. I want to take my kids to Europe. I want to see London, Ireland, Scotland, Italy, Paris and Poland.
7. I’d like to write a novel all the way through, instead of deciding its crap and shredding it 3/4 of the way through.
8. I’d like to learn to just enjoy the small moments instead being sad about them coming to the end. i.e. Being sad about going home from this trip two days before I even have to leave.
9. I’d like to fall in love again one day. Maybe the true love I thought I had wasn’t really true love at all. No way of knowing really.
10. I want to take my kids to Disney World and Universal in Florida to see the Harry Potter exhibit.
11. I’d like to re-learn to play the piano.
12. Put together a photo book for my mom, aunts and uncle. Pictures of them as kids and of my grandparents.
13. Make a book with photos of all my grandma and great-grandmas recipes.
14. I’d like to take my kids to a concert every summer.
15. I want to go to DC and see the Smithsonian.
16. I’d like to someday not need to go to therapy.
17. I want to see Central Park and have frozen hot chocolate at Serendipity in NYC.
18. I want to take my two best friends to Los Angeles and show them all my favorite places.
19. Find a job I love.
20. I’d like to go to the east coast in the fall and see all the trees changing color.
21. I want to learn to worry less and enjoy life more.
22. I want to find a place to go cherry picking.
23. Find a great bakery to buy good cupcakes in Denver.
24. Take Harrison to a sporting event, once I figure out what his sport of choice is going to be.
25. Take the girls to tea.
26. Try and find out where my dad’s family came from in Poland.
27. Learn how to nap.
28. Try para-sailing.
29. Own jet skis and use them every summer.
30. Actually do ten of the items on this list.
-All in all we had a great Thanksgiving. However, there was some family drama as their always is. I have a cousin who believes the world revolves around her. She always seems to get her way. She is the biggest asshat. Even bigger than her mother, which we all thought wasn’t possible. She didn’t want me to see her daughter (long story, but her oldest kid lives with her dad and step-mom in Colorado, about five hours away from us, but they were in Texas visiting family as well) and made it impossible for me to see her while we were in Texas. (Until this time last year, the girl practically lived at my house and I miss her.) On the drive home yesterday though, we ended up driving behind them and they called us when they noticed it and we all stopped and had lunch together and I’ve invited them to my house for Christmas. Take that, cousin.
-My great-aunt passed away on Wednesday night. She’d had a stroke the previous Friday and I decided not to mention it. It just didn’t feel right. Anyway, we didn’t stay for her funeral, which was yesterday. I did help plan it. It put a slight damper of the holiday. We decided to celebrate her life by doing it all anyway. She would have wanted us too. It did change the mood of the week though.
-We saw the world’s smallest skyscraper. Seriously. See?
It’s four stories high. It’s all small and tiny and cute. The story is this: at some point, lets say 100 years ago, although it may not have been that long ago. What? It’s my story. Anyway, this great businessman came to town. He told the town that he could build them the greatest, highest skyscraper in all of Texas. They looked over the plans, which looked amazing. He told them it would bring people from all over the world to see it. They could charge admission. They agreed and paid him his rate. He built it. They were outraged at how tiny it was. He told them that they’d signed the contract, they’d approved the plans, it wasn’t his problem. He left town. Turns out, the plans were exactly how he said they were. However, the town folks had not noticed that he’d used inches instead of feet in his measurments. It was clear as day on there, but in the excitement, they’d failed to notice it.
-We took roses to put on my grandparents and great-grandparents graves. Took us about 30 minutes to find them. Good thing we did too, since my grandpa’s middle initial is wrong on there. Nobody had noticed it when grandma passed last December.
-Football is a fierce subject in Texas. Doesn’t matter if it is the NFL or college. They don’t care where you live, if you are in Texas, you are a Texas fan. The end. To have a little fun, I pretended not to know a thing about football. I like seeing that vein in my uncle’s neck pop out.
-As a family, we all went and saw Blind Side on Saturday. See that movie. Trust me. It is phenomenal. I am now a Raven’s fan. I had to ask where they played and I don’t even care that I’ve never been to Baltimore. I am now a Raven’s fan. Everyone had a favorite line of the movie. We spent the following two hours at dinner discussing it. My favorite line? Tim McGraw plays the dad and he turns to his wife, played by Sandra Bullock, and says, “who’d of thought, we’d of had a black son, before we’d met a democrate?” Cracked me up.
-My youngest cousin is seventeen years old. He’s a great kid. Funny, sweet, easy going. His girlfriend made him go see the Twilight movie on Friday night. I guess there is a part where the one buff guy rips off his shirt, when the girl is bleeding? Anyway, D stood up in the theater and said, WAS THAT REALLY NECESSARY?? Then he said to his girlfriend, H, don’t worry ALL GUYS look like that. I’m not sure D still has a girlfriend. If so, he owes her big time. He’d already been texting his dad and my husband for scores to the Texas vs. A&M game. Ha. Then again, a smart girl would have gone with her friends, not her boyfriend. Seventeen year old boys don’t care which vampire is hotter.
-The twelve hours in the car on the way to Texas was not so bad. Girls played nicely, read books, watched movies and listened to music. The boy managed to notice every, single bird that flew by; he napped for hours; he watched Cars and was generally a happy little dude. The way home to Texas took thirteen hours, but it felt like twenty-seven hours. The girls fought; with me, with each other. Batteries in iPods died. Movies were toooooo boring. This song is stupid, I don’t like this candy. On and on and on, it went. At 7am, the questions about how much longer started. The answer of ALL DAY AND STOP ASKING was only met with tears. Instead of napping, Harrison screamed and hit people. We had Cars on constand loop, just hoping he’d stop for ten minutes at a time. Then the last three hours, he choose to sob. Non-Stop. For three hours.
-Mostly though, we ate too much, we slept too little and we had a great week. How’d you guys do?
It’s still on right? Oh sheesh, I’m tired. Nothing like squishing what should have been a weeks worth of stuff into four days. I’m going to try and give you the condensed version of my trip, because well, I’m tired.
Our plane was delayed on the way out there, which I guess is par for the course. Our first plane had some sort of a brake malfunction, which sounds bad. I mean you need brakes, correct? They finally gave us a new plane, after and hour and a half and three gate changes. Funny, but the later flight to LA, the time I thought was too late? That plane left (and I’m sure landed) before us. When we finally got in (at midnight LA time, which is 1am for us) I drug my half asleep children to the rental car place to pick up a car. Ever tried to drag two bags, three backpacks and two half asleep children through an airport? I don’t recommend it.
We get out car and they go, do you want directions to Disneyland? Me being the smart ass, said no, I’m from here, I know exactly where Disney is. I get on the 405 and head towards Disney and completely miss my connecting freeway. Yeah, I may be from LA, but at 1:30am, I could have used directions. Plus, it’s not like Disney was someplace I went to often.
Thursday I get woken up at 7am (not sure if it was my time or not, never bothered to change my clock) by my lovely child asking if we can go to Disney right that second. She has her bikini top, jeans and her sisters flip-flops on and has a backpack strapped to her back. She is ready for Disney. Needless to say, it was another couple of hours before we all made it there.
We were there with a group of family. Logan’s auntie, cousins and their kids; most of whom are teenagers. Everything we did took time. Six teenage girls take a zillion years to get ready. Also, I am not ready for the drama that is teenage girls. Nor the attitude. I adore these girls, don’t get me wrong, they are awesome chicks. I am just not ready to have my own be that age.
Disney rocks. That’s all that needs to be said about that. We came, we rode, we ate. Then we ate some more. The end.
There was some drama at one point. Thursday night I think. The screaming, people (not me) running off in different directions crying, type of drama. Not unusual when you get 11 chicks together for five days. But by the next morning it had all been worked out.
We went to Huntington Beach, where I taught my girls and all the rest of those crazies how not to drown in the ocean. Oh and the fine art of body surfing. And Issa got fried. Serious. Like my forehead had blisters, burned. I am not the only one, but I’m thrilled that my kids didn’t get burned. Am thinking I possibly need to start wearing my kids sunblock. Peeling from your forehead and crying every time someone runs into the back of your legs is not fun.
On Friday, we went to Sea World, which I haven’t done since I was a kid. I’d never taken the girls. I think they have gone with my mother before a couple of times, but I’d never taken them myself. The shows were awesome. A bit cheesy maybe, but the animals were great. I’d put some pictures up, of Shamu and the dolphins, but my camera and my computer are in a lovers quarrel right now, so maybe tomorrow. I got some great ones, so I promise to share soon.
The worst part of that day was the bus ride up there. We had the talkative bus driver. The guy had a microphone and used it the entire hour and a half ride up there. He kept saying, I’m not going to talk the entire time, but he did. Incessantly. At 8:30am, on little sleep and having had no coffee, all of us wanted to duct tape his mouth shut. We were texting back and forth, the best ways to take over the bus and kick him off. Luckily on the way back, he was really freaking quiet.
Saturday, I left the girls with everyone else (their choice, because they wanted to go to Disneyland one more day) and went to visit a cousin of mine and her kids. I got to cuddle a scrumptious newborn all day and had a pretty good time with everyone else there.
Sunday I got up way to early, because another cousins boys are freaking out of control. (But that is a whole other subject.) Then I waited impatiently until it was around noon, so I could go and have lunch with the lovely Instamom. She is as sweet and awesome as she seems.
That’s pretty much it. Drove to the airport and got carsick on the 405. It’s dam bumpy. But really, I think Denver has ruined me. I’ve gone soft. Kinda funny to get carsick when you are the one driving. Waited around the airport and then came home, where I yet again, got to drag half asleep children to the car.
Only other news I have, is that Harrison learned how to pull himself up with the couch. My husband was kind enough to call and tell me that on Friday evening. Dude doesn’t seem to remember the, it’s only the first time when mama sees it rule. Am betting the boy walks at 10 months.
I hope you all had a lovely weekend. At some point I will manage to come and visit everyone.
I think the first time I found Christina’s site, Fairly Odd Mother, was days before I shut down my first site. I remembering thinking dam, I wish I’d found this chick earlier. She seemed funny and sweet, despite her love of really bad television shows. When I came back to blogging, I made sure to track her down. And hey, she is sweet and funny and someone who I can’t wait to meet at BlogHer this summer…but the love for bad reality TV shows remains. I am thrilled that I managed to trick her into guest posting for me.
I’m very honored to be guest-posting at Issa’s blog. I realize that many of you may not be all that interested in hearing from someone you don’t know so I thought I’d tell you of the few things that Issa and I have in common:
* we both got married in 1999;
* we both got pregnant super fast after deciding “let’s give it a go!”;
* our three children came in rapid succession; girl, girl and boy (my oldest is 8, youngest is 4);
* we are both hopelessly cool (ha! ok, maybe Issa can claim this).
The one major difference, I’d say, is that I am (ahem) a bit older than Issa. While she is still flitting about in her 20′s, I’m about to dance with #42, a number that is almost impossible for me to fathom.
I was known as a “late bloomer”. Wonder why?
So, needless to say, I didn’t really date in high school.
I also spent the bulk of my 20′s living La Vida Loca (or a much less-exciting version of that). I was a “Career Girl” as my father so kindly put it. Sure, I dated, sometimes for a decent chunk of time, but nothing clicked until I was 29. I “finally” married when I was a week away from turning 32.
You may have heard my mother’s sigh of relief?
Like the cliche, I spent my 20′s being the bridesmaid, not the bride. Several times over.
Oh, and what a bridesmaid I was. I wore blue, pink, taffeta and fuzzy, hot black.
(I also spent my twenties growing, cutting and then growing my hair apparently)
Missing from that photo collage is even a little coral number for a wedding that never was.
Is it any wonder that, after so many weddings, so many dresses, I opted for a casual, simple wedding and let my sister pick out whatever she wanted to wear to be my Maid of Honor?
It now seems oh so long ago.
Issa, enjoy the rest of your twenties my dear. And dress well. Because when you are 40-something, you will find yourself digging through your photos for fodder for your blog. Trust me on this one.
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