Vacation, all I ever wanted...

The topic of vacation continues to come up lately, in part because we've been inundated with advertisements for travel destinations and vacation deals, and in part because we have been planning a vacation for October of 2014 that seems really far off. If there is a vacation fairy, please oh please visit us! A few days on a beach in Mexico sounds divine...

Two fun things.

1. In the car today, "Moves Like Jagger" came on the radio and Sailor says, "Oh hey! That's my jam!" 2. I ate the first lemon cucumber I grew in our little deck garden today and it was delicious!

Weird day.

After spending two hours on hold with the IRS (for someone else), when I was finally connected, the agent was unable to hear me and hung up. I decided that I needed to get out of the house at that point, so Sailor and I headed off to Uwajimaya to pick up Pocari Sweat and maybe a fun Japanese or Korean treat. I am driving my folks' car and stopped at the gas station to fill up, but pulled in behind a truck and didn't realize I was in the diesel bay. A very nice attendant came up and let me know I needed to pull forward after the truck left, but when I tried to restart the car, it made a very unpleasant sound and wouldn't start. I tried again and got the same sound and no start. The attendant said to put it in neutral and he'd push it forward to the correct gas pump, and we both thought maybe it would start after sitting for a few minutes while he filled the tank. It didn't. After a few phone calls and another push over to a parking space, the tow truck driver showed up and asked me to try starting it so he could hear the sound I described to the dispatcher when I called. It turned out the battery was dead and just needed a jump. However, that also meant I needed to go get a new battery if I wanted to drive it again after today, so I headed off to Sears. 3.5 hours, a new battery and alternator later, Matt showed up to meet us and we went to Red Robin to enjoy what was left of the day. We never did make it to Uwajimaya. What did I learn today? If your car won't start and is making a b-r-r-r-r-r-r-r (imagine rolling R) sound, it means your battery is dead. Also, tomorrow there will be treats.

Nothing but t-shirt and undies all day...

My three-year-old regularly passes on wearing pants if he can get away with it (which is most of the time at home). He struts around in a t-shirt and his underwear and does crazy dance moves and karate chops the air. He puts his bare feet and legs on the couch pillows and drinks apple juice from a frog cup and flips through books, looking at the pictures and telling me what the stories are about. He sits cross-legged on the fluffy, red rug and builds Lego mountains or traces the lines in his tracing book or pulls out the fire station set and talks into the handset about the emergency his guys are going to go handle. He puts on his Captain America mask (still with no pants) and informs me that he is going to save the day, or one of many monster or animal masks and charges through the house, insisting I stay out of his way. Clearly, this kid is living the life. Most adults I know wish they had things so good.

Time flies.

I realize it's been over 4 years since the last entry and quite a bit has changed. We had a baby in March of 2010 and my life has become all about being a mom. Having a kid is by far the best thing that has ever happened to me. He's smart, funny, goofy, thoughtful... amazing. I really lucked out with how great this kid is. Two years ago, we bought a condo in a suburb of Portland and a little over a year ago, I was laid off from my job of four years. I've been home with my son since then and can't believe how fast time flies by.

I went back and reread this whole blog from the beginning between yesterday and today. There's some funny stuff and some sad stuff and some stuff I'd forgotten about that made me a bit nostalgic. I'm going to try to pick this writing thing back up and see how it goes.

Post-Christmas Whine

It's the same every year: lots of food, drink, presents and merriment followed by a bloated, melancholy feeling that leads to my post-Christmas whine. Why can't we hibernate for the whole month of January? No holidays after the 1st until the end of May?!?!?! That's five months! Guh. I should have won the lottery by now... Is it 4pm on Friday yet? When is it my turn for a raise? Do I really have to get up and go to work? *whine*

The build up to Christmas high leaves us crashing for a few weeks and inevitably ends in a cold/the flu. My man already has some sort of head and chest gunge with the coughing and sneezing and sniffling... I'm likely a day or three behind as the tickle in my throat is telling of a less than pleasant few days of tissue making a semi-permanent home in my pockets. EmergenC and zinc will become an integral part of breakfast and while my friends are out playing, I'll be laying comatose aside from the occasional nose blowing session.

This year is particularly tough because of the unusual snow and below freezing temperatures that came the week before Christmas and stuck around until the 26th, only to be replaced with dirty streets, 40-something degree temps and an ugly blahness that has washed over the city. To me, the snow was beautiful. And though it caused some folks grief by keeping them indoors for a week, I appreciated the time alone with my sweetie and dog and movies and good food and much needed rest. The normal go-go-go of December was replaced with stay in-stay in-stay in and I loved every minute of it. I suppose I'm just not ready for it to be over.

Reread

I read my paper journal from 4 years ago and can't believe how full of angst I was. How terribly lacking in self confidence I was. How worried about everything I was.

I look at my life now and it seems my worries have become more adult - money, work, when and if I will have babies... all of these things have brought me to one conclusion:

It's time for a beer run. Cheers!

I'm an aunt!

My new nephew, Charlie Oliver Reed, was born today at 7:46pm and came in at 7 lbs and 6 ozs. Now I get to be the cool aunt who lives across the country and takes him to get his first tattoo. Sweet.

I Love Money too

It's a ridiculous show, like pretty much all other "reality" television, but I can't help but watch the train wreck that is I Love Money on VH1. Since I (not proudly) watched the other shows the I Love Money cast were on (Flavor of Love, I Love New York and Rock of Love), I was interested to see what kind of screwed up stuff they'd have these folks do for $250,000. So far, I haven't been disappointed: money booth grab in bikinis (men and women), an american gladiator-style double ended baton fight, a kiss off, and flinging chicken with catapults. I don't know why I like this show, but I can't stop watching.

I'm going to be an aunt soon!

My sister is 8 months pregnant and has been telling me a bit about the lamaze and other classes she and her husband have been going to over the last few weeks. She said they showed the live birth video a few days ago and it made both her and her husband a little queasy. I've seen a few videos of this amazing event and I always cry and feel a bit sick. In fact, I watched three different women give birth in the last 1/2 hour and I started crying during every video! The idea of being pregnant doesn't bother me but the giving birth part scares me shitless. I have anxiety attacks just watching the videos of someone else giving birth and it freaks me out to no end to think of myself doing what they are doing.

In October, we are going to Florida to visit Disney World and my sister, brother-in-law and new nephew. When we get back, I will be going off birth control pills as I am 34 and, if we are going to have kids, we'd like to get started sooner than later. After having a miscarriage last summer, I'm scared of repeating that but the thought of actually giving birth brings me to anxiety-driven tears... so I've been reading about Hypnobabies and water births and anything else I can find about ways to make the process less...anxiety filled. There's some interesting stuff out there...

The heat is making me lazier...if that's possible...

We went to Bullwinkle's last night for Chris's surprise birthday party and had such a fun time! Laser tag, skeeball, and all sorts of other games got the evening going with all-you-can-eat pizza and soda, mini golf, bumper boats and more laser tag to follow. We won a ton of tickets and then the guy working there gave us a bit of a bump up and we won a lava lamp! Woo! All of Chris' friends were really nice and everyone had a blast acting like kids again.

Today is the usual laundry and grocery shopping day and if it weren't for the reprieve from the heat in Matt's parent's basement, I'd be groggy and sweaty and just plain gross feeling. It's at least 10+ degrees cooler in that basement and by the time the movie was done (we watched Half Baked for the Nth time and it's still super funny), I was a little chilly! Crazy! Now, back here at home, it's considerably warmer than that basement but still comfortable inside with the fans pulling a cross breeze through the apartment and bare feet. I need to go up the street for milk and I just don't want to venture out into the sun. We were thinking about going to dodgeball practice today and we just can't seem to find the motivation to do anything but sit and stare at the screens. That's good for writing but not so good for making milk appear in the fridge...

Back from the lake and my back is killing me.

We went out to Lost Lake yesterday and it was a fantastic day. We had a little picnic lunch when we arrived, then rented a rowboat, spent about two hours gliding along the lake and just enjoying the nice weather. Matt rowed most of the time (he's much more coordinated than I am and had been using the rowing machine at the gym so he's had more practice) but for the 15 or 20 minutes that I rowed, I felt like I was doing it wrong. And boy was I right. Today I have a stabbing pain between my shoulder blades and my spine that goes up to my neck. I am such a wuss.

Selling my memories for a pittance...

...leaves me with mixed emotions. On the one hand, garage sales are fun to browse and a great way to make a little extra cash (which I definitely need right now). On the other hand, seeing people look at the treasures, which once held some sort of importance for me, as though they were digging through a dumpster is just... sad and a little painful. Fortunately, I had a side sale of the jewelry I make and got a lot of positive response about it so I ended the sale feeling pretty good about things. Plus, it was fun listening to '50's Hawaiian music (the Reader's Digest Aloha Hawaii 8-track, volume one and two!) and hanging out with Matt. We ordered pizza and enjoyed the sun (he got too much - I stayed in the shade) and made enough to go to the beach tomorrow without feeling like we're blowing our rent money. All in all, it was a good day.

It's weird not having much to say...

I have been so removed from writing that I'm grasping for something of substance to put down here. I feel like I'm second guessing everything I would write as not interesting or not important enough to document... I guess I'm so used to communicating face-to-face about anything of importance to me that it's hard to get back into my own head and let out the inner monologue. I have full, lengthy conversations in my head all the time so it should be easy to translate that to print but everytime I look at the blank page, my mind reflects what I'm looking at and I can't seem to focus on a stream of thought. I'd like to be witty and full of insight about life and being married and having a dog...I'm sure that will come out in time. Until then, I'm going to try to have some adventures that will be fun to write about. Like in the old days... :)

New laptop, same lazy girl

I got a new laptop and I am hoping it will encourage me to get back into writing. We shall see what happens.

At last... my love has come along...

So, things are completely different from the first plan and we are getting married in two days on Friday the 13th. Sweet. Heading out of town on Saturday at 6am for our honeymoon...Disneyworld, here we come!

At this point, I am very, very tired.

My world is dog.

I can't believe how much of our time is spent doing dog stuff now. Puppy Kindergarden every Wednesday for the next four weeks, dog park every day, vet appointments for shots, pet stores for toys, treats and food... Oi! I love the little guy and his constant need for attention has made me appreciate my relationship with M even more (if that's possible!) as our alone time is limited now.

Also, my cd player is starting to crap out and....yes, I know, who even uses cds anymore in the era of the Ipod? Well, I do and I need a new portable cd player. Preferably one that plays mp3s. :D

And also...

Wedding plans have changed almost 100%. The owner of the old venue called me a few weeks ago and said she had some bad news: they are being shut down and their last day of operation is Sept. 9th. So we had to find a new place, new caterer and less expensive bridesmaid dresses to help make up for the cost increase for the venue. Needless to say I was pissed, but now everything is fine and we're having our wedding on October 13th like we wanted in the first place. Ahhhh.

This is our new baby, Malcolm:

What a handful!

It's about time...

...and my abundance thereof. I have a new job coordinating system access set ups for new and current users at one of the biggest insurance companies in the US. It's easier than it sounds. So I've been diligently planning wedding and reception details and we've decided to turn it into a two day event. We wanted to get married on October 13th but, after looking at the calendar, decided to do it on the 14th because it's a Saturday. After a few headaches and several sketches of the table set up for the reception getting thrown in the garbage, I ran a bath ( I do my best thinking while I'm soaking in the tub). Ten minutes later, called for my sweetie and asked what he thought about having the ceremony the night before, on the day we originally wanted anyway. I said there would be no table moving, no "who has a seat and who has to stand" worrying, no rushing to get things rearranged while 200+ people are staring at us waiting for the party to start...no stress! Plus, it would make the ceremony more private - immediate family and close friends only would be invited - and we could have it at a park or down on the waterfront or at the Japanese Gardens... ahhhh. Beautiful. He got right on board with that idea and when we told our families this past weekend at the engagement brunch my parents hosted, they thought it was a great idea.

I can't wait.