Saturday, March 30, 2013

Leaving on a Jet Plane


Today's the day! 

The Churches are officially on spring break! The four of us will be boarding an airplane in just a bit (it's Narls and Em's first time flying, may the force be with us) on route to sunny Orlando, Florida for a week of sunshine and warmth.

On the travel itinerary: Disney World! SeaWorld! Shopping, drinking, swimming and general touristy antics. 

Heaven help us.

Friday, March 29, 2013

Playing the These Are A Few of My Favorite Things game a couple days early because of the busy upcoming week, so without further adieu:

My dauther unabashingly eating her chips. No judgement here, girlfran, go on with your hungry self.

Speaking of food, the easiest and yummiest chicken- season, then grill on the Foreman with some red onions. Delicious and healthy.

Narls picking his own books from the Scholastic book orders.
A fierce round of bowling with my favorites.
March's Ipsy bag.
 

April 12th. CANNOT WAIT.

Spring sunshine and my honeygirl- making Monday mornings manageable.
 

The treats we made for Narls' kindergarten bakesale.
My Irish charm bracelet.
 

Afternoons spent at the salon.
 

And gorgeous new hairstyles.
A suprisingly flattering fortune.
 

My and Emerson's current favorite song and inside joke.
 

This man. Forever and always.

Thursday, March 28, 2013

ThrowBack Thursday: My Daughter

 March 30, 2009 - only two days old

Here is a post I wrote on livejournal on March 29, 2009 at 10:12 am:

My daughter was born yesterday. 

 She's breathtakingly beautiful and soft and pink and looks remarkably like her brother did when he was newborn, so much so that her daddy and I feel like we've been taken back in time. It's only when we change her tiny diapers and notice something's missing that we're reminded that this is 2009, not 2007, and this is Emerson, not Narls. 

My labor was relatively easy, and I feel great. Clay and Emerson are sleeping now, him beside me in my hospital bed and her cradled in in my arms, and the three of us will be heading home around 2:27 this afternoon, exactly 24 hours after her birth. She weighs 7lb 2oz  and she's 18.25 inches long. 

She's nursing fine; it's been difficult to keep her awake long enough to eat more than 5-10 minutes at a time, but she's had wet diapers so I'm not concerned. 

My parents brought Narls up to see us yesterday evening and I'm not sure what he thinks of her yet. He told her hi, and gave her a quick touch, but was more interested in all the fun stuff in mommy's room. It's ok; he'll have a lifetime to get to know and love his baby sister. 

Right now she's making little tiny delicious noises in her sleep. I already love her so much. I feel content and peaceful and loved and amazingly lucky.


Not much as changed in four years- I still feel content and peaceful and loved and amazingly lucky. And Narls has grown to love his baby sister. And she him. Very much so, in fact.

Happy birthday, Emerson Grace.  
Thank you for blessing our lives in a way only you could.
 

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

The Peak and The Pit and A Giveaway!

A lot going on today!

The Peak: 
Today is my sweet baby brother's 15th birthday! I have loved this boy like my very own from the minute he was born. Happy birthday, Lucas. I am so very proud of you.


The Pit:
Well possibly the worst. Today I am a meeting with Human Resources to see if will still have a job after 11 years of service. The bank I work for was bought by another bank, and the acquisition will become final after this quarter. We've known about it since late last year, but job status meetings only started yesterday. A few of my coworkers have received notice that they are to be severanced; I hope I won't meet the same fate today, but regardless I am happy to finally know for sure either way. It's been a long few months of rumors and speculation.


And now the fun!
I am taking part in a giveaway, my first one!, with some pretty amazing ladies.  Check out Holly @ Hey, Hollywood, Sara @ Social Sara, and Niki at Glossy Blonde. You could win some pretty cool prizes.  Good luck to you! (And good luck to me too, huh? I'll keep you updated on the work front.)

Monday, March 25, 2013

Epic Gymnastics Birthday Party Was Epic


So this weekend? Pretty much perfect, because we celebrated a very special little girl. My little girl! Who isn't so little anymore. She's FOUR.  If you want to get technical, she won't be four until this Thursday, March 28th, at 2:27 pm, but we celebrated with her party and her girlfriends over the weekend. On her actual birthday, she'll bring cupcakes into her preschool class, and we'll go to one of her favorite restaurants for dinner, but it'll be super low key because Friday the Easter Bunny is coming (he's making a special early delivery because the bunny and I are tight like that) and then we fly to sunny Florida bright and early Saturday morning.  Busy, busy.


But back to this weekend. Clay and Narls had some errands to run, so my girl and I had an extra special lady date filled with shopping and pampering and eating and partying. We hit up Starbucks for an americano and a hot cocoa, then Target for a fancy new birthday dress.


Next I took her to my salon where she got serious big girl treatment, complete with a new hairstyle and a hot pink mani, and we followed this up with a mommy daughter lunch at the OG to get our unlimited soup, salad, and breads on.  We took a bunch of selfies, giggled at our waiter, and talked about things. All sorts of things. I got a look at my future with my daugther, years and years of lunch dates and salon trips and talks, and it makes me deliriously happy. She makes me happy.


THEN IT WAS TIME FOR HER PARTAY. Em changed into her leotard and she and her six best girlfriends (and her brother, we can't forget about him ♥) tumbled, rolled, jumped, and laughed to their hearts' content. I may have even busted out a toe touch or two from my cheerleading days. 


We finished the party with cupcakes and presents and goodie bags filled with everything you'd need for a successful day at the gym: water bottle, headbands, a medal, and a snack. It was a wonderful day and my birthday girl enjoyed every minute of it.


If you're interested in seeing Emerson's past birthday details, just click on any of the three images below.


Thursday, March 21, 2013

ThrowBack Thursday: The Girlfriend Edition


I had a dream about one of my girlfriends last night. She's going through a tough time right now, and in my dream she and I were in Chicago, laughing, dancing, never happier. We've have been to Chicago together before, many moons ago in another life, where we tried like hell to go out dancing but only made it as far as a subway station, her in high leather boots and me in a leopard tank.  Maybe this dream was an extension of that: that time's carefreeness mixed with today's girls women, her still rocking tall boots and me still obsessed with leopard. Or maybe it was simply an indication that everything is going to be ok, and she will be smiling again soon.


That dream has stayed with me all day. I've spent a good portion of the morning reminiscing about the girls in my life and how much they mean to me. Girls who I have known for decades, who have shaped me, who have helped build my past, and who understand and love me. 


I instantly get wary around girls who claim to not like other girls; who say they prefer a man's company to a female's. I don't doubt them, and I don't discount their feelings, but I don't share in their belief that girls are inherently backstabbing drama-prone bitches, either.   You get what you give, girlfriend.


And I learned early on to give.  There was a time when my insecure, starving-for-attention teenaged-self kissed a boy that a very dear friend of mine liked. More than liked- he made up a good portion of her life at that time. I never had feelings for him and I knew she did, but somehow those things didn't matter when he and I had a dance that led to a kiss which resulted in a broken friendship that lasted for many many years. I never saw the boy again but I missed that girl every day; I was overjoyed when she and I reconciled so many years later.


I've made new girlfriends in my adult years, but these old friendships are the ones I come back to time and time again. These are the friendships I know without a doubt will always be in my life, whether we're able to talk every day or only on the holidays, whether we have dinner once month or only see each other once a year.  

I found with new friendships, that the trust just isn't there, and we don't have the time, or energy, or desire to put in that work. So when the drama comes, as it always does in one form or another, there is nothing substantial there to help us weather the storm, and we bail. It becomes like we never knew each other at all, and we're okay with that.


But I am not okay with losing these girls. I'd be losing a piece of myself, my past.  We've been through marriages and divorces, through births and deaths. We've kept each other out late at the bar and then got each other up early for work. We've dabbled in drugs, learned about sex, and dealt with our mothers, together.


I won't be the woman I am today without them, and I hope each and every one of my girls know how much I love them.

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

St Patrick's Weekend Shennanigans

I'm a day late posting my weekend recap, but seriously, the day after St Patrick's Day fell on a Monday. As if Mondays weren't hard enough. I woke up without my husband, my kids were both late for school, I was late for work (shocker, I know), my hair was waddled up in a messy... nest (I couldn't even manage a sockbun), and I wore flats. That really sums up my entire mental state.


But it. was. so. worth. it. Because I am coming off one of the best weekends I've had in a while.  My amazing sister- and brother-in-law kept our kids (I cannot thank you guys enough), and Clay and I continued our tradition - eight years & counting! - of spending St Paddy's weekend at our favorite Irish hotel.

The weekend in pictures:


My favorite things about this weekend: sleeping in, drinking an amazing bloody mary (or four) at noon, hot tubbin', afternoon sex, brownies, etc. And something I'm especially proud of: I have officially made the move away from tacky green garb. St Patrick's weekends of the past have involved boas, blinkies, fishnets, kilts, all worn at the same time. This year? I kept it much more respectable. Well, outside of the hotel room, that is ;)

Sunday, the actual day of St Patrick's, was relatively low key. We left the hotel, but not without stopping to pick up a pregnancy test first - my husband had a vasectomy a couple years ago, but if anyone is going to get knocked up after getting snipped, it's gonna be us.  I had to, because, you guys, my boobs hurt. Like I'm sure I'm pregnant hurt. Thank gawd and baby jesus and man-sized jesus and zeus that I'm not. I have no idea what's going on with the girls, though. Pre-boob-job-jitters, perhaps?


So yeah, negative. We then picked up our sweet kiddos, Clay played in a basketball game, and after we made it home I had my obligatory holiday meltdown complete with tears and a cry of "this was the worst weekend ever!". Melting-down-and-over-reacting is my middle name.

Pretty sure it was nerves about this upcoming week, though. Clay and I have a lot of grown up decisions to make and this weekend was the calm before the storm.  Luckily we run a tight ship, so we'll be fine, probably better than fine when all is said is done, but it doesn't make these decisions any less scary. Or difficult.


Luckily, for all the years we've been celebrating St Patrick's Day, I'm pretty sure we got the luck of the Irish on our side. I'll keep ya posted.

Thursday, March 14, 2013

Champagne Nails


Oh my lawd you guys, I am just getting over the second worst sickness I've ever had in my life. IN.MY.LIFE. The first was the flu I got back in January of this year, the one that caused me to miss celebrating the new year and caused me to miss celebrating my birthday and pretty much made me miserable and wanting to die and then for shits and giggles turned into bronchitis. Apparently this sickness was that sickness's little brother which brought a small scale flu and more bronchitis. Good times, good times.


Luckily I had just painted my nails fun and festively. Because really, if you're going to get sick and look gross and feel worse, you should at least have pretty nails. In fact, your nail beds are probably going to be the only parts of you that aren't screaming out in pain and exhaustion so why not baby them?


And this is the simplest polish tutorial ever: throw on a couple coats of a pretty champagne shade, let dry, then layer a coat or two of a sparkly glitter. Seriously, it's so easy you could probably do it while you're sick.


And if your mind is otherwise occupied with sweet fogs of NyQuil, or perhaps even floating away somewhere on a champagne-induced fluffy cloud, to which I say LUCKY YOU, here are some fabulous champagne-inspired hues to add to your polish collection.