Writer's Workshop: Rewind to Summer

It isn't the typical summer vacation, but the only tropical vacation that we've taken was our honeymoon and that wasn't summer. We have taken two summer trips to England to visit family. In fact, my husband has only ever been there in the summer, when the weather was gorgeous. He might think that it's like that all the time.

Perfect day at Windsor

 We've been lucky with our trips so far. We've missed the rain, and while we did catch part of the heat wave two years ago, it wasn't nearly as bad as a heat wave in New York.

Blue skies over London

Our next trip to England will be the first with the Baby, and it also will not be in the summer. I am not anticipating blue skies and fluffy clouds. I'm also not sure how the flight will be, but that is a post for another time.

Maybe I should cancel cable...

I've been a little MIA recently. The Husband and I have actually been spending the time together. Watching Dexter. We've started season one on Netflix streaming. We have one episode left. (Let me tell you, it was hard to not watch that last episode at midnight last night, but we really needed to sleep.)

That is why I can't start new tv shows, I get too involved. Strange how when I had a full time job, I had so much more time for tv. I watched so many more shows, and I still had time for a pretty full social life. Now I've broken up with most of my tv shows, and I feel like I can't get it all in. I knew that I would be busy once the Baby was born, but I had no idea exactly how busy I would be.

So while I think that my husband would flip out if I actually canceled cable, I am going to cut back on what I am watching. I am falling behind on everything, not just here. I'm hoping that I'll be able to focus on the revamp, as well as some consulting work that I am trying to line up. I look around, and I see all these moms who have it all together, and I feel like I am flailing around. It's time for me to get my stuff together, both online and off.

Here's to hoping that I can get more consistent with my posting.

To Deck the Halls

It's that time of year where I start decorating for Christmas. The decorating tends to fall on my shoulders, since my husband isn't quite as Christmas obsessed as I am.

Last year, we did basically the same thing that we have done in the past.

Christmas 2009

This year, everything is different. First of all, we have the Baby. Second, we no longer live in the same apartment, or even have a lot of the same furniture anymore.

We still have the couches, but we no longer have the tables. Also, since we've moved, we no longer have that window sill perfect for placing Christmas cards.

Because of the Baby, we want to have a tree big enough to put presents under, which means that we'll have a larger tree that is on the floor, not a table. We've already gotten new (shatterproof) ornaments. We are also concerned with the Baby's extreme curiosity, and how that will work with a tree in his reach.

Also, coming from a very decorated house growing up, I'm concerned that the one tree just isn't enough decoration. But we don't have a lot of places to display lots of decorations, or store them when the season is over.

Tonight is the moment of truth. The Husband will be picking up the tree on his way home from work. As much as I wanted to go as well, we decided that it would be too difficult to deal with the Baby and a tree in our car.

How did your decorating style change when you had a baby?

Writer's Workshop: Lost Friendship

I came very close to writing about the TSA. The only thing that stopped me was that I am going to be traveling to England in the next few months (with the Baby, first time he'll be on a plane), and I don't really want to think about that right now.

So instead, I'm thinking about a friend who left my life over thirteen years ago, let's call her L. (Thirteen years? When did that happen?). She was one of my best friends from high school, but when we all went to college, she decided that she wanted a clean slate, and got rid of all her friends from high school.

One of our friends (S) was dumped because L didn't like S's boyfriend. Another friend was cut off because she was still friends with S and me.

She stopped speaking to me because when I came home on a break, that happened to be her birthday, I didn't make enough of an effort to see her. My calling multiple times and leaving messages just wasn't good enough.

I know that that was just a lame excuse, and I'll probably never know the real reason she didn't want to see me again.

I did see her once, about nine years ago, while on a date with my (now) husband. She was having dinner with her parents, brother, and who I assumed was her boyfriend. I spent the entire night flipping out about being there in the same restaurant. I never spoke to her, and she never spoke to me.

Then about four years ago, I was catching the train to work, and was thrilled to find an available seat. It wasn't until after I sat down that I realized that I was sitting next to L's father. This time I wasn't able avoid a conversation, but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I asked how everyone was doing, and I was thrilled to be at a pretty impressive place in my life.

I still have not spoken to L. I don't know what I would do if I did. I do think that way too much time has gone by for us to ever really be friends again.

I think about her every once in a while, and I miss her. But then I think about how she got rid of me and I realize that I am better off the way things are now.

Merry SITSmas!

Now that the holiday season is here..

Head on over to The SITS Girls to see more SITSmas cards.

You Capture: I Ate This

I'm still on the very strict no dairy/no soy diet, so it's been a while since I've been able to enjoy dessert. I wasn't going to miss out on Thanksgiving, so I made a dairy and soy free apple pie. And I honestly ate most of it.

I thought it was delicious.

Holiday Picture FAIL

Since The Baby has been born, I have take about eight thousand pictures.

Yes, eight thousand. With my camera, not counting my flip or phone. I might have a picture taking problem.

This year, since it is The Baby's first, we are going to do picture holiday cards. You would think that somewhere in those pictures, I would have one that I loved enough to put on our holiday cards. But nothing was perfect. So inspired by pictures of my nephew I recently saw and the beautiful weather yesterday, I took The Baby out to get some new pictures.

I just didn't anticipate what would happen the first time that The Baby was on grass, not a blanket.

I couldn't get him to look at me! No amount of calling out his name, or squeaking toys could get his attention from the grass and leaves. He was so fascinated, that it even took him about fifteen minutes before he started to eat them.

I did not get a great picture that day.

We also tried over the weekend to get a cute family picture. That didn't work out so well.

Here's to hoping that I have better luck at Thanksgiving.

The Holiday Issue

It's hard to believe that it is almost Thanksgiving, which means that the holiday season is upon us. That is bringing a whole bunch of issues this year, since it is the first with The Baby.

The biggest issue being where do we go?

We are lucky enough that both families live within two miles of each other. So in the past, we've always split the major holidays. For Thanksgiving, we would have dinner with the husband's family and dessert with mine. That meant that we usually spent less time with my family.

So this year, my mother asked if we would do Thanksgiving dinner with them. Since Thanksgiving is the one day of the year that we get together with my cousins (who live quite a bit further than two miles away), I agreed.

This is not going over well with the husband's family. They want the see The Baby.

It doesn't seem to matter that every Christmas for the past ten years (with the exception of the one year I was out of the country), I've spent both Christmas and Christmas Eve dinners with his family. I would only see my family for a little while before church on Christmas morning. And this year isn't going to be different.

It also doesn't seem to matter that we are going to be visiting with them before heading over to my parents' for dinner. So they will get to see The Baby. They just won't get to spend all day/night with him.

And I feel bad for my parents. They are getting the better part of Thanksgiving, but they are getting seriously shafted on Christmas. I know that this bugs them. One time my mom made a comment about it and since she feels that she should never complain, I know it must have really been bothering her.

Sometimes it feels like we are spreading ourselves too thin trying to spend time with everyone. This doesn't even take into account spending some holiday time with just us, but that is an issue for another post.

How do you handle seeing family at the holidays?

The Halloween Parade (Literally)

There was no big party to attend this year. There was no trick or treating, since candy is still off limits. But my little lion did march (ok, was pushed) in the local Halloween parade.

And yes, he had a tail.

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This post is part of the Celebrate Halloween SITS Contest, which I really want to win. If you haven't already checked out SITS, you definitely should. They have the best blogging tips, and are a great place to find new and interesting blogs.

Check out my other entries for the contest:
Ghosts of Halloweens Past
Creepy Crawly Creations

Also linking up to Cole's Trick or Tweet.

Ghosts of Halloweens Past

For a number of years, every Halloween, my husband would get the flu. It started the year of Josie, when he called me the morning of the party. My (at the time) boyfriend, who only ever wanted to be left alone when he wasn't feeling well, called me and asked me to skip the party and stay home to comfort him. (Which I didn't do, because I had people depending on me to complete our costume. I swear that it wasn't because I wanted to go out and NOT get the flu...)

Every year after that, come Halloween, he was sick. To the point where people stopped thinking that he would ever show. (Not that it ever stopped him from getting a Halloween costume, he got a new one every year that he didn't use.)

Then last year, I was four months pregnant, and we were planning on heading to the same Halloween party that I went to every year (alone).

And he didn't get sick. And he got to use his costume. And no one knew who Dr. Horrible was. But I got to spend Halloween with my husband for the first time in many, many years.

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This post is part of the Celebrate Halloween SITS Contest. If you haven't already checked out SITS, you definitely should. They have the best blogging tips, and are a great place to find new and interesting blogs.

How much is too much?

Recently, Mama Kat has had a few posts about internet safety which have really hit home for me. I've always been a little paranoid about how much I share on the internet. I haven't really figured out how much I'm going to share on here. Right now, I haven't used any names, and I'm thinking that I'm going to keep it that way. I've been limiting the pictures I post, even though I usually love to show off my family and friends.

I know that I don't have a lot of readers right now, but I'm hoping to grow. So how much is too much to give away? And is there a point where I am not sharing enough? I started this blog as an outlet now that my life is so baby-focused. How much does it really help me if I have to edit everything I write about?

Writer's Workshop: Creepy Crawly Creations

I am not the most creative person. Especially when it comes to Halloween costumes. My costumes tend to be of the store bought variety. There are a few years in recent memory where I tried to be a bit more creative than "Sexy Alice" (although, I rocked Sexy Alice last year at four months pregnant).

A few years ago (a few more than I care to admit), I convinced two friends to do Josie and the Pussycats with me. It wasn't that long after the movie had come out, so there were the licensed versions available for purchase. We did not go that route.

Melody, Josie and Valerie*

The three of us went shopping at off-the-beaten-path stores to get the perfect outfits and accessories. The ears and tails were generic tiger accessories, but everything else I thought brought it all together perfectly. And even though we didn't have the generic movie costumes, people still recognized who we were.

We had ears! And tails!

That was an awesome Halloween.

* Masks have been added to protect the innocent.**

** I'm (apparently) not that innocent.

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This post is also part of the Celebrate Halloween SITS Contest.

You Capture: Orange

I wasn't going to participate this week, but I passed this tree while walking with the stroller this morning. I couldn't believe how vivid it was when all the trees around it were still green.

Writer's Workshop: About Me

This week, I decided to try Mama Kat's second prompt. I figure that it is something that I need to do anyway, and maybe it will motivate me to finish the redesign (which I think is taking me way too long). This is definitely a work in progress, but at least it is a start...

About Me

In April, everything changed. In April, I changed, so I'm not sure where to start. Who I am now? Who I was then? What I'm trying to get back? I guess I'll start at the beginning.

I was a bit of a princess.

At my bridal shower

I'll admit it, I was always a bit of a princess.

At my seventh birthday

And at twenty-one, I met my prince. Seven years later, we got married.

The big day

Life was blissful. We had a wonderful apartment in a luxury building. We had friends who we went out with regularly. We even had a pub where we were regulars. Then came April.

An even bigger day

Now I stay at home with my baby boy. We don't get out with friends, and I doubt that they would recognize us at the pub anymore. We have had to cut back on a lot of expenses since I'm not working (for a paycheck, you can't tell me that I don't work), and that includes moving to a place that doesn't have granite counter tops and gorgeous sunset views.

So now I'm trying to navigate this new world that we live in, and not loose my self along the way. This blog is about me, where so much of my life is now about someone else.

Please bear with me

I'm still planning on revamping this entire blog, including (hopefully) moving to a new domain. It's slower going than I had originally planned on. We've been dealing with sleeping issues (in that none of us is getting any), and I have been using my nights for other things, like spending time with my husband. Hopefully, the sleep will get better, and I'll be able to do a bit more here.

Army of Women

I want to get this out as early as I can, so it will be short (as the baby doesn't like it when I am not paying attention to him).

My grandmother is a breast cancer survivor. It isn't something that is ever really talked about in my family, but I think that it is pretty amazing. Breast cancer has also touched my husband's family as well, with another recent survivor.

It is because of them, and many other reasons that I supporting the Army of Women and their goal to get one million people to sign up.

“We are dedicating ONE day to reach ONE million women to sign up for the Army of Women. We are declaring October 1, 2010 the official Army of Women Day. We beseech all bloggers to blog about the Army of Women and empower women to take the next step by signing up and taking part in breast cancer research studies. Together, we can move breast cancer beyond a cure and eradicate it once and for all.”

There is no cost to join, and signing up allows you to hear about studies that you might be interested in participating in, it doesn't place you in the studies automatically. You have the ability to participate only in the studies that interest you. All people are needed, so please share this with your friends.

Writer's Workshop: 10 Reasons Why I Love My Job

Things have gotten surprisingly busy for me these past two weeks, and it doesn't seem like it is going to let up anytime soon. So my redesign is currently on the back burner, but I will finish it all eventually. Hopefully sooner rather than later. But for now, Mama Kat had a prompt this week that I didn't want to let pass by.

1. I don't have to spend 3 hours commuting every day. (Up hill. Both ways. In the snow...)

2. Having more time to spend with my husband. It used to be that I would leave for work before my husband and come home after him, not leaving us a lot of time together. Now we have dinner together at a reasonable time, as well as some grown-up time after we put the baby to bed.

3. Being able to see friends and family when I want to. I am no longer limited to the weekends.

4. Getting outside in nice weather. My son is a big fan of the outdoors, so we both get to benefit from lots of fresh air. I'm not sure what will happen once winter comes.

5. The excited look my son gets on his face when I go to pick him up. He'll kick his legs and reach his arms out for me.

6. I get to cheer my son on as he tries new things. I can watch the determination on his face as he pushes his limits, like when he was trying to sit up on his own. He would quickly lift his arms up off the floor and try to balance himself before he has to put them back down again. He would get so proud of himself, and would give me a great big smile when I would applaud him.

7. Even though no one else wants to hear me sing, my son loves when I sing to him.

8. I don't feel like I am "missing" things that my son does. My husband was pretty upset that he missed the first laugh.

9. Great big belly laughs and little baby giggles.

10. Gummy smiles. That are just for me.

You Capture: Flowers

Over the weekend, we took a trip to the Botanical Gardens. Obviously, there were tons of flowers, but here is a sample from the rose garden and the rock garden.

You Capture: Photographer's Choice

I wasn't going to participate this week since I'm still working on the redesign, but I took this on a trip to the zoo and just couldn't resist.

Where are we?

I'm (slowly) moving over to a new domain. I am also planning flexing some long dormant computer skills and will redesign, so things might look a little hectic around here for a few days. I'll see you on the other side.

Weekly Challenge: Declutter and Reorganize the Kitchen

My kitchen is small. Much smaller than my last kitchen. And it is not set up well at all. It makes it hard for me to cook since I have no counter space and I can't find anything that I need.

My goal this week is to reorganize the kitchen. I'm going to go through all the cabinets and reorganize them in a way that makes sense. I plan on getting rid of items that I don't need and are just taking up space. I also need to clean out my old spices (and the refrigerator). I want my counters as clear as I can possibly make them.

I'm really hoping that I have this done before the weekend, since it is a holiday and I want to be able to relax. This might also be a bigger task than I am thinking and it might have to be stretched out over two weeks, but we'll see.

You Capture: Get Outside

Another challenge that I'm interested in doing is You Capture from I Should Be Folding Laundry. I love taking photos, and I'm hoping that this will help me take some that I wouldn't have thought of on my own.

This week's assignment was to get outside. Today was the perfect day to be outside, and I took this while laying on a blanket in the park this morning.

I've been putting WHAT in my hair?

My newest project? Dumping all my old beauty products, and going with clean versions. After finding the No More Dirty Looks blog and book, I started going through my bathroom. I checked my $20 vegan conditioner on the Skin Deep database, and it scored an 8. I was not liking that at all. For $20 a bottle, I want low risk, not high risk.

Almost all of my hair, skin and make-up products had chemicals that I was not happy about, even though most of them were advertised as "natural". Under the current law, the Food, Drug and Cosmetics Act of 1938, the FDA does not have a lot of regulatory power and cosmetic companies can get away with almost anything. A new bill, the Safe Cosmetics Act of 2010, has just been introduced to congress which would change that. Until this bill is passed (if it is passed), I am going to be strictly reading ingredient labels.

So I'm going to be phasing everything out as we finish what we have. In the past, I've had a lot of issues with sensitive skin that I'm hoping that this helps to clear up (but with my luck, it won't). Either way, I'll feel better knowing that we are not absorbing all these chemicals that have been linked to cancer and are known hormone disruptors.

Here are some interesting articles on the subject:
What's the Story with Cosmetics? And How Will the Safe Cosmetics Act of 2010 Help?
The Safety of Personal Care Products
How to go Green: Natural Skin Care
Five Ways the FDA is Failing to Protect You
The Six Craziest Things in Your Cosmetics
The Safe Cosmetics Act of 2010: What it Means for Cosmetics Companies

Here are some resources:
The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics
Skin Deep Cosmetic Safety Database
The Story of Cosmetics
No More Dirty Looks
BeautyTruth.com

Consider asking your representative to support the Safe Cosmetics Act of 2010.


And finally, here is a petition that I believe is worth signing.

I'm getting my act together

I have a super short attention span. I'm constantly starting new projects, it is one of the reasons that I haven't really focused on this blog yet. There will probably be some big changes in the near future with the layout and even the domain. Like I said before, I need to figure out the best way to get this to work for me, and I haven't quite done that yet, but I hope to soon.

Weekly Challenge: Declutter the Living Room

Every Monday, I'm going to be starting a weekly challenge. That will mean that I will have the weekend to finish up what I probably will have put off all week, I am a procrastinator. I'm going to start with the clutter that seems to follow me around, and I'm starting in the room I spend the most time.

I want my living room clear.

I want to not have to worry that people are coming over and the room is a mess. I want to be able to eat at the table without having to move piles of paper (we don't have an actual dining room, so our table is in the living room). I want everything to have a place, and actually be in it.

And I want to be able to keep it that way, but let's do this one step at a time.

What needs to be done

I've not been very good about updating here. I'm still trying to figure out what I need from this blog. There are so many changes in our lives that I want and need to make, and I'm going to track those changes here. I'm also hoping to use it as a mental release when things start to be too much.

One thing I need to change is the way that we eat. I want to cut out processed food and cut back on prepared meals, breastfeeding a baby with a milk and soy allergy is making that a necessity. Unfortunately, we have been pretty lazy lately and have been going out to eat a lot. Not only is that really difficult with the allergy (more than once I've been assured that a meal was safe, only to find out later that it did in fact have milk in it), it has not been easy on our wallet. We cannot afford to go out to eat every night, so I really need to start doing some meal planning. I can make excuses from here to next Tuesday on why I can't cook, but the simple fact is that I have to. It is really the only way to get the nutrition that I need and know that it was prepared safely. I also want to try to move our food to more organic options, although that will probably be a very slow process.

I really want to simplify our lives. The constant clutter stresses both myself and my husband. I need to figure out exactly what it is that we need and get rid of everything else.

I also need some time to myself to decompress. I really haven't gotten a lot of alone time, mostly because I'm exclusively breastfeeding. I really need to work on making myself a priority. I'm feeling stressed, and that isn't good for anybody. I really want to try to get regular times out with friends as well as some time by myself for exercise, reading, or even just getting fresh air.

Writer's Workshop: Bucket List

One of the "me" things that I plan on doing is Mama Kat's Writer's Workshop. I probably won't participate every week, just when there is something that I find interesting. This writing prompt is actually from a few weeks ago, but I love the idea of an entire list of "me" things.

Write a list of 100 things you want to do before you turn 100. Otherwise known as a “bucket list”.

1. Find out what towns our families came from, and visit them
2. Discover the mysteries of Stonehenge
3. Visit the Neolithic sites of Orkney
4. Island hop on the west coast of Scotland
5. Stay in a cottage on the coast in Wales
6. Have a Guinness in Ireland
7. Take a picture from the top of the Eiffel Tower
8. Shop in Provence
9. Sip sangria in Spain
10. Attend the family reunion in Portugal
11. Tour the Colosseum
12. Pray at Saint Peter's
13. Appreciate the art in Florence
14. Ride a gondola in Venice
15. Swim in Capri
16. Visit the Parthenon
17. Tour the Greek Islands
18. Take a Mediterranean cruise
19. Take a Caribbean cruise
20. Sunbathe in the Bahamas
21. Explore Mayan ruins
22. Climb to Machu Picchu
23. Have sushi in Japan
24. Explore Central Park
25. Pray at the Cathedral of St John the Divine
26. Cruise around Manhattan
27. Search for family at Ellis Island
28. See the Liberty Bell
29. Pahk a cah in Hahvard Yahd
30. Eat lobster in Maine
31. Explore the Smithsonian
32. Take a picture from the Willis Tower Skydeck
33. Celebrate in New Orleans
34. Go dancing in Las Vegas
35. Ride a roller coaster on Santa Monica Pier
36. Take a picture of the Hollywood sign
37. Ride a trolley in San Fransisco
38. Tour the wineries in Napa
39. Visit the Space Needle in Seattle
40. Cruise Alaska
41. Dance under the midnight sun
42. Return to Hawaii
43. Take a road trip cross country
44. Ride the Maid of the Mist
45. Introduce my son to Mickey Mouse
46. Explore Disney World with my son
47. Cross the Kissing Bridge with my husband
48. Explore a castle
49. Walk along the boardwalk at dusk
50. Jog around the reservoir
51. Be a tourist in New York
52. Take vacations with extended family
53. Attend a Six Nations rugby game
54. Go see a FIFA World Cup game which my team is playing
55. Go see a Rugby World Cup game which my team is playing
56. Take a vacation with my girlfriends
57. Take a vacation with my husband
58. Pay off all debt
59. Own a home
60. Go snorkeling
61. Swim with dolphins
62. Sip hot chocolate in a lodge by the fire while waiting for my family to finish skiing
63. Take my son camping
64. Play Robin Hood in the forest with my son
65. Rent a house on the beach
66. Jump waves in the ocean with my son
67. Build sand castles, and sand cars
68. Watch fireworks from a boat
69. Sleep on the beach
70. Go star gazing in a field
71. Record my son with his smash cake on his first birthday
72. Have cotton candy at a baseball game with my son
73. Teach my son how to dance
74. Encourage my son to explore new ideas
75. Be my son's biggest cheerleader
76. Kiss my husband at midnight on New Year's Eve
77. Dance at my son's wedding
78. Celebrate our parents' fiftieth anniversaries
79. Dance with my husband at our fiftieth anniversary
80. See all my grandchildren when they are born
81. See my great-grandchildren
82. Pass along my Great-Grandmother's ring to either my daughter or granddaughter
83. Bring my son to visit my grandmother for her one hundredth birthday
84. Plan regular family nights
85. Appreciate the little moments in life
86. Record and remember the little moments as well as the milestones
87. Steal as many kisses from my baby as he'll let me
88. Play outside with my son
89. Make cookies for Santa with my son
90. Create new holiday traditions with my son and husband
91. Write down the family stories/history so that future generations will know them too
92. Go through old pictures with the people who know what they are while I still can
93. Leave lots of pictures for future generations
94. Laugh every day
95. Learn to forgive and forget
96. Learn to not worry about playing in the dirt
97. Take an anniversary trip every five years
98. Watch the sunrise out of the ocean
99. Watch the sunset into the ocean
100. Every day tell my husband and my son that I love them 

Nothing will be the same...

Three months ago I gave birth to the most perfect baby, and everything changed.

I knew that things would be different, and I knew that adjusting would be hard. I didn't know how different or how hard.

So now I need to make some major changes for me. While I love being home with my son, I need a break every once in a while. Be it finding new hobbies, going out with friends, or just finding some me time, I need to figure out how to fit it in with my new life.

I also need to make some major lifestyle changes for my new family. I want to show my son how to be happy and healthy. In the past few years, I've let myself go, and I don't feel that I am a good example of how to be healthy. I want to get back into shape using a healthy diet and exercise. I also want to streamline our life and finances so that I am able to stay home with my son, and show him that you don't need to spend lots of money to be happy.

Three months ago, everything changed. Now I'm trying to figure out my new life.