Chicks

When I was younger, say, in my earlier twenties, I spent a lot of time being jealous of other women. Even after I lost a bunch of weight, I often didn't feel very confident in my size, and it was difficult for me to interact with "skinny chicks" without hating on them in my head. As if being thinner than me was something they were doing on purpose to be bitches.

Miss Kitten DiVyne

But we all know something like that feeling, right? Hating those biatches who seem to be so freakin' perfect and have it all together, while we feel like hot messes who could stand to lose a few pounds and who probably should have done something cuter with our hair that day.

Even while I was dancing in the burlesque troupe, performing routines in which I ended up in panties and pasties in front of a bar-full of people, I still didn't think I was as thin or in shape as I should have been. And I still spent a lot of time hating other women who I thought were or had what I wanted.

Of course, all this bad juju did was make me a more miserable person than I needed to be, and it didn't change any of the things I didn't like about myself. And after gaining 60 pounds while pregnant, and starting the work of losing it again, I saw myself differently in the pictures from those pre-baby years. I realized, frankly, that I was a hot piece, and that all that energy I'd spent on wanting to be someone else was wasted, because I was that girl, in great shape and cute and dressed up.

On top of that, now that I spend most of my free time with baby and Mister and family, it's so much more important to me to spend the quality time with my girls that I took for granted before. And, along with that, to actually have those quality female relationships that I disdained before, because I was so wrapped up in being jealous of other women.

When I got past my own petty issues, and realized, after experiencing a bit more life, that everyone has similar issues no matter how perfect their life might look on the outside, I saw how many great friendships I'd been missing out on, and what great bonding time I could have been having.

here's a bunch of us gals at LJ's wedding. Loved her dress!

Now, rather than being jealous of my BFF LJ, who has a great career, a beautiful family, and a thriving blog, I am inspired by her. I let her success propel me to make big steps of my own, to get back to my own blogging and keep it active, to take steps to move my career forward in a way that fulfills me, to be as fabulous and happy as I want to be.

Pinterest Baby

I. Haaa-love. Pinterest.

I spend a lot of time there. Pinning. You know.

I've found so many great baby things on Pinterest I think it's time to share some of my internet treasures. If you aren't following me on Pinterest, you should be.

1. Wiley Valentine - Toddler Lunch Tray idea from another super duper blog.
This is one of the coolest, why didn't I think of that, ideas. What a great way to set a toddler up with munchies and let them feed themselves!

2. RuffleButts -- Stinkin' cute clothes for girls and boys.

To be fair, I was aware of this company before Pinterest, but they have so much cute stuff I pretty much had to pin it all. Whether I get around to purchasing any of it before she's too old to wear it is another story.

3. Wanelo.com -- mustache pacifiers

There's actually all kinds of cool random stuff on this site, and it's another great place to go for gifts you'd never thought of before. When I saw these, I gagged on the cuteness. 

4. Cute baby in a guitar t-shirt.

5. Kitsel.com Mod Sunglasses Dress. 

The book nerd in me loves this dress, and so does the Burlesque dancer. It's so nerdy and vintage at once, I must dress my child in this.

6. Delicious Monkey Baby.

I don't know where this baby picture came from, but I have a hard time trying not to eat the screen because he is so freakin' adorable!!

It's on Sunday, people!

It’s Wednesday. 

Mother’s Day is on Sunday. 

You’d think, as a mom, I would have remembered before now that I need to figure out some way to acknowledge my own mom. But I did not. My bestie and fellow mom-blogger LJ put together a nice little post on gift ideas for the upcoming holiday, but I’ve left myself with no time to order any of those adorable things (especially that apron...are you kidding me? LOOVE it!!). And since, if you’re reading this post now, there’s a chance that you have procrastinated on finding a token of appreciation for all of Mom's hard work as well, I thought I would do all of us slackers a favor and compile a list of things to do for mom that can be hastily prepared at the 11^th hour and still come out looking like you remembered this weeks ago.

1.      Buy her a card. This one is easy and you should probably do this even if you did plan ahead and buy her a gift. Anyone can take a few minutes to find a cute card and pen a personal message inside, which lets Mom know that you actually did put a modicum of thought into this thing, rather than letting Hallmark say it for you. If you’re really running that late, and brunch is starting without you and she's opening her gifts and looking at you and wondering why you aren't handing her anything...you can always pretend to go pee and write something in the bathroom. Drink a lot of coffee at brunch to cover for this eventuality.

2.      Make her breakfast in bed. You still have plenty of time to assemble the makings of a grand breakfast feast, and even enough time to shoot out to Target or somewhere and buy a cute little breakfast tray to serve it up on. If you live in the vicinity of a garden, borrow a stem or two and lay them next to the breakfast dish on the tray, or arrange them in a little vase if you’ve got one. Then present the whole lovely display to her with much pomp and circumstance. Just be sure to choose a meal you're reasonably sure you can prepare without burning or poisoning.

www.target.com

3.      Take her out to breakfast. If the mom you’re celebrating doesn’t live in your house, making her breakfast is probably ruled out. But you can always take mom out, for any meal that day really. Brunch is always nice if your mom, like me, isn’t much of a morning person. Now, this might pose a challenge if you’re wanting to take her to a popular eatery, as most places probably filled up with reservations for Mother’s Day a while ago. If you get creative though, you can find a spot that might not be a traditional Mother's Day hot spot, but one that's meaningful for the two of you, or silly, or random, and make some new memories. What's her favorite food? Take her some where that serves it up special. My mom loves Swedish Fish -- perhaps I shall take her to a candy store and make a meal of them!

www.blaircandy.com

4. Get out. Nothing says "I love you, Mom/Mother of my children" better than a whole day, or at least an afternoon, completely to herself. No kids. No one begging for her attention. Just Mom, some Swedish Fish, and the Bravo Network. Maybe a glass of wine. Mmm. Nice.

Party in the Park

Saturday was my nephew Aidan's 5th birthday party. I remember going to his 3rd birthday party when I'd first started dating Shawn, and making semi-jokes about what we would name our kids -- I believe Van was the name we thought of for a boy. So now his parties are a kind of milestone for me, something that I use to mark the time that I've been with Shawn, since it's all been flying by so quickly.

This year, of course, we had a real baby to bring to the party with us (last year too, but she was just a little bundle then, and not as hilarious as she was this year). Being the youngest one there, she garnered quite a bit of attention for herself. And despite being in the sun all afternoon, we managed to keep her from turning into a lobster baby. That SPF 70 baby sunscreen must really do the trick.

I couldn't resist buying her a new summery dress for the occasion. Gotta love the bargains at Old Navy! I absolutely love getting to dress her in actual outfits. So often at home and during the week, she just hangs out in onesies since they're so much easier, and really, she's a baby, she doesn't care. But any kind of social event clearly calls for getting dolled up in our very best.

She loved running around on the open grass, and we eventually took off her sandals so she could go barefoot on the grass, which took some getting used to. She had a blast just wandering the park with either Grammie, below, following her around, or Daddy or one of her aunties and uncles. She even shared one of the birthday cupcakes with me, which was delicious. I must find out where SIL got them from. 

She also spent a lot of time on her butt as she tried to navigate the uneven park terrain. It's so funny to watch babies just plop on their butts over and over again, and get back up and keep on running. I suppose there's a lesson in there somewhere for us big kids, but I won't get too deep in this post. 

Mama's New Toy

Well, this is going to be a short post, because I spent all of tonight playing with my new toy -- a shiney new iPhone 4. No, not the 4S, just the lowly 4, which is still a huge step up from the silly old phone I was using, and I like it very much. I got the white one, because it seemed a bit more fem and less popular than the black one. I'm already super obnoxious, I've downloaded all the best free apps, from Pinterest to Instagram and Voxer and DrawSomething. All the ones you gotta have. I've very excited for the baby to wake up tomorrow so that I can start filling it with pictures of her.

Yep, this was my night.

I just need a pretty new case now, and I'm all set. 

So if you suddenly get a bunch of requests to play DrawSomething or have facetime or whatever, just, bear with me. I may be late to this party, but, you know, I brought wine, so at least that's something. 

Wine of the Night

Tonight's offering is a delightful, slightly sweet, cabernet sauvignon from Yellow Tail, which has become a personal favorite of mine. All the better that it's under $10 a bottle at Safeway, which allowed me to also pick up a bottle of pinot noir for tomorrow. I figured, in my newly begun adventure with wine, I might as well start with the bottom shelf and work my way up. I mean, if you find a $7 bottle of wine that you love, you're stoked, right?

That's a lamp next to the wine, though I'll admit it looks suspiciously like a whip handle.

It's a Super-Sweet Thing!

Oh. My. Gosh. I feel like I've just been handed my key into the Grown-Up and Fabulous Club. Let me explain.

Shawn and I have been planning on moving a few towns over for a while now, to get into a nicer neighborhood and find a place where we will want to stay for a few years. I was lining up apartments to go and tour when a friend of ours casually reminded Shawn that another friend's mother owns a big, beautiful, and uninhabited home on the border of Alamo and Danville. Now, the house has been unoccupied for quite some time, and the plot of land it's sitting on has gotten totally overgrown, the spiders have set up shop, and some bored rich kids broke in at some point and spray-painted some of the walls in the upstairs bedroom.

But have I mentioned that this is a big two-story house in Alamo?

The owner knows Shawn from childhood, and when he mentioned the idea of us living in the top floor unit while also taming the yard, repainting, and repairing the rest of the house, and managing the tenants she is trying to get moved into the in-law unit on the property, she was immediately in love with the idea.

So there you have it. I don't know specifics like what rent we'll work out to pay, or how soon we can start moving in, since some things like fixing the spray paint need to be dealt with first. But let me tell you, I've spent the better part of this evening day-dreaming about how I'm going to decorate the baby's new bedroom. Since her bedding is purple, white, and brown, I'm pondering various combinations of lavender and white. Something like this, perhaps:

(thank you, weedecor.com)

I'm just all aflutter over the idea of having a real house to fix up and decorate, within reason, to make it look nice and get to live there. There is a huge yard with a built in bbq and firepit on the patio; I feel myself morphing into Martha Stewart at the thought of all the amazing gatherings we can host there, and just in time for summer, too. The thought of putting on some overalls and gardening gloves, cutting back all the ivy and tall grass and giving the rooms fresh coats of paint, really making the place shine again and bringing it back to life, has really got me excited. 

The house is steps away from the trail that runs through that part of town, and about a block or so down from the shopping area in town where the Peet's and Safeway etc are located.

And did I mention there's a fireplace? Upstairs? And a washer and dryer, which sounds like small potatoes as far as amazing house amenities, but when you've been living in apartments for the last ten years, that's a big potato. 

Plus, I'm still in the Bay Area and close to my family and friends, and now even closer to the bun of my dreams, LJ, who has been living out that way for a while, and who I desperately want to see more often and drink wine with while the kiddos become besties, just like their mommies. 

I just, I don't even know what to do with myself. I have a feeling my Pinterest is going to be getting about 10 new boards on it tonight!