1/1/11

Happy New Year!

Yes, I have been absent from blogging, yet again! With New Year's comes all those wonderful resolutions just waiting to be broken! But more on that when it isn't so late in the day.

My New Year's Eve was rather mellow. John and I played with one of his Christmas presents - an electronic dartboard (with built in trash-talking feature!). At midnight, we allowed Bella to play with silly string, but that wasn't the best idea I have ever had - it was a pain to get out of her hair and out of my floor!

I hope you had a wonderful New Year's Eve too! Bring it on 2011!!!

Proud New Owner Of...

That's right! I got a Kindle for Mother's Day for being such an awesome mama! I was so excited that I cried! Actual tears of joy streaming down my face. I was a bit embarrassed by my reaction because I hate to seem so materialistic! But John did really good this year.

John knew I was interested in a Kindle after a co-worker brought hers in and I fell in love with it. Then I told him about how I was juggling a hardcopy of the The Luxe, by Anna Godbersen, on the elliptical at the gym, and a girl got on a machine next to me, placed her super slim Kindle on the machine and put her hands on the handles and started booking it on the machine. Meanwhile, I am only using my legs to power the machine because my hands were busy holding this huge (433 pages to be exact!) book open. I knew right then and there that I would need to invest in some kind of a digital reader if I was planning on continuing my quest to be a gym rat.

So thank you to John for always making Mother's Day so special! Hmm, now how am I supposed to top this on Father's Day?

And thank you to my absolutely gorgeous little girl, Bella! Because without her existence, I wouldn't have been one of the lucky celebrated people yesterday.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day! I know, it's early yet, but flowers are starting to arrive at the office (still hoping I get a surprise delivery for myself!).

I know that I promised to post yesterday about my awesomely cool blog award, but I have been busy getting stuff ready for my daughter's Valentine's party at her preschool today. Monday, I promise!

Sunday is going to be an awesome day because 1.) It's actually Valentine's Day and we may watch the eponymous movie. 2.) We purchased a loveseat recliner and it is scheduled to be delivered (how appropriate for a loveseat to be delivered on V-day!) 3.) It is my last day on week two of Phase I. Yay!

If you recall, I had stated that I was going to endure Phase I for the entire month of February. Well, my body is telling me that it needs a banana, and I always answer the calls of my body!

Resolution Time!

January 1, 2010

Happy New Year!

It is that time of year again. Time to make those resolutions with the best of intentions. I think everything from my first post still stands, but the main one I am looking to accomplish before 2011 is to lose weight. Sadly, this holiday season has really kicked my ass and I have gained four effing pounds. So, my total weight loss is only 13 pounds. All that hard work, gone!

Yesterday, I posted that that New Year's eve was my favorite holiday. Although the partying is over and done with, I still love the idea of New Year's day. I love that you can just say goodbye to the year before and chose to start over. Twenty-ten is a nice round number, sound like it will be a nice (NOT round!) year for me. I can, I can, I can!

What are your 2010 New Year's resolutions?

New Year's Eve 2009

It's funny how priorities change and how your social life changes as you get older and have kids. Five years ago, New Year's Eve was my favorite holiday. The clubbing, the partying, the drinking, the countdown to randomly kissing some stranger. Aah yes, that was the best.

Fast forward five years and I am with my daughter at my mom's house watching a marathon of America's Funniest Videos. Pathetic? Maybe. But it doesn't really bother me so much. I have to admit, last year was kind of tough. I just really wanted to go out and be with the holiday obsessed, but this year I am having fun chasing my daughter around the house trying to put a shirt on her as she screams, "But I like being naked, MOM!" (She has a tendency to spit the word "Mom" out like it is an insult.)

So, Happy New Year's to you and yours. However you chose to spend it!

P.S. My daughter and I set a trap of poppers on the front door so that when her Uncle and Auntie come home they will be dancin'.

Christmas 2009

Weird things are still happening with this blog. It looks perfectly fine on my laptop, John's laptop, and my brother's laptop. Yet on my work desktop and my netbook, my posts don't show up on my blog's main page. Wonder what is going on that allows some computers to view my blog properly, and others not to. Anyone have an idea?

Back to life, I had mentioned that I would tell you about my Christmas. This was the first year that John and I made Christmas dinner. It was also the first holiday that my mom didn't have to cook so for her, no matter how mediocre the food was, she truly enjoyed this Christmas.

When I say that John and I made Christmas dinner, your knees should've buckled beneath you from shock! John and I aren't cooks. I have a handful of dishes that I can make without a recipe and John has maybe two handfuls. Don't get me wrong, whatever John makes is always yummy, but we really don't cook.

So, Christmas morning, John and I head to the grocery store (I don't recommend grocery shopping on Christmas - it was insane!). While at the store, I had mentioned to John that it sure would've been nice if one of us knew how to cook a ham. His response? There's no time like now to learn!

Uh, actually, John, there are better times to learn how to cook something new other than Christmas day, but whatever, it's his show. So, there we are on aisle 12 and John calls his mom over in Maryland asking how to bake a ham. His mom gives us some tips and, lo and behold, we have a beautiful, delicious ham!

Among other things that we made: deviled eggs, pigs in a blanket, stuffing with cranberries and water chestnuts, hashbrown casserole, fried chicken and corn on the cob. Have I mentioned that all this food was for four adults and one child?! The food was definitely not your traditional Christmas dinner, but it was stuff that John and I knew how to make.

The result of this hard work? I am happy to report to you that no one got sick from food poisoning and overall, the food was delish!

This holiday season definitely was detrimental to my weight loss goals, but there is always the New Year!

The "Why"

First things first: Welcome to December! I love December because Christmas is coming up as well as my baby's birthday. I also hate December because Christmas is coming up as well as my baby's birthday. Not because I don't like to celebrate these two occasions, but because it is super busy for me and a big expense month. So this is a debt drawback month.

However, I do believe it is all about attitude, so I am now officially getting into the spirit of things. So, again, "Welcome to December!"

My holiday movie suggestion of the week is Love, Actually. I watch this movie every holiday season. I warn you: I am one of those that watches the Sound of Music every year too. So just be careful about how seriously you take my movie suggestions.

The reason that I chose Love, Actually as my movie suggestion of the week is because I am *gettingthisclose* to posting my book on this here blog. My book is a total chick lit book, filled with humor and that all-encompasing emotion of love. I consider the one and only book I have written as my second child, so no novel bashing or I will delete your comments with my blog administrative powers from above!

Before I start posting my book, I figure that I give you a bit of background as to why I wrote a book when the most writing I had done since high school were Christmas cards.

Ok, here goes.

Two years ago I read a book. I hated this book. The reason I bought the book was because I really enjoyed the first book written by the same person(s). I am not going to say who the author(s) are/is because karma might bite me in the ass when everyone else reads my novel.

So I hated this book. I kept rewriting parts of the book in my head to make it more to my liking. The ending was so obnoxious that I mentally rewrote the ending too. I started thinking that I should just write my own book so that I won't have to alter this beautifully packaged and published book.

Write my own book? Hmm, ok. Why not? I shall write my own book.

In February-ish of 2008 I picked up my lap top, opened a word document, centered the first line and typed the words "Chapter 1".

I wrote the first fourteen pages in that moment. This was the longest I had ever written in one sitting. My high school papers were never more than seven pages long, nor were the papers I wrote in my short community college career.

With such great momentum going, I thought my book would be done within the month. Not so much.

Fast forward to December 2008. Washington is hit with some pretty bad snow storms and I am stuck indoors all day. I started and finished the last three books from the Twilight series, but I am still only fourteen pages into my own book that I have titled "Mix Tape", because for all of my creativity I cannot come up with a better title.

I start writing again and the pages just keep coming. By the end of January 2009, I have a completed manuscript.

Ta-da! A 75,000-ish worded novel randomly written by someone who hasn't written a paper since her tinkerings in community college.

There you have it: how I randomly wrote a book.

And now for a couple of disclosures:

1.) Mix Tape is full-on chick lit. If you hate gushy, lovey-dovey (but oh so humerous!) books, then just skip the posts with pieces of my book in it.

2.) Keep in mind that this is just a brain candy piece of work. It will not make you ponder the meaning of life. It is pure fun.

3.) By posting my book on my blog, I am not disagreeing with the literary agents that have rejected me. I am just showing off my Ugly Baby.

Ok, this post is a book in itself. I shall stop now.

Tomorrow, the query letter! Dun, dun, dunnnnnnnn!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Just wanted to say "Happy Turkey Day!" (sorry, it really cracks me up when people call it that)

Unfortunately, I am sick (yet again).

I think it is nature's way of telling me not to over eat on this holiday of gluttony. Eh, I will probably work through the sickness and eat five pounds worth of food anyway.