Birthday weekend

Whew! We had SUCH a busy, fantastic weekend.

We spent the morning on Saturday getting ready for the rest of it. Daddy Fuss fixed the car (which ended up being a PITA, but it got done and all is well) and went grocery shopping and ran the have-to errands I hadn't been able to take care of yet. I finished packing and tried to clean up some more so that my mom and Gramma wouldn't have as much mess to deal with. I failed, but it was at least BETTER, so there's that.

We left the house around 3 and drove down to the beach. Over 4th of July we had left my husband's sunglasses at Cherry's mom's house, and Cherry just announced that she is pregnant (!) so I wanted to deliver some maternity clothes for her. We checked into the hotel and ended up in an upgraded room with a view and a little more privacy than originally expected and began to get dressed for our evening out. Our best friends picked us up (there were parking issues at the hotel) and we drove the throwing distance to the restaurant (I was wearing heels and there was a LOT of traffic, so we were lazy and drove instead of walked.) We had an excellent dinner and I got my Espresso Martini (theirs are the BEST thanks to Van Gogh Double Espresso Vodka - yum!)

My cake turned out beautifully and delicious and I will certainly make the ganache topping again some time. Everyone loved the look of the cake, so I was happy that my second attempt turned out so nice.

We had a fun time with our friends - a few things got out of hand, we all drank too much, stayed up too late and the other 2 guys (not my husband) got into an argument that could potentially end up being really awkward in the future. But all in all, things went well and we had fun.

My mom and Gramma cleaned and scrubbed while they watched the kids and also set up the wading pool in the back yard for them. My fridge is spotless for the first time in a year (we had something very sticky spill and it was really a mess in there, but I didn't have the time or energy to deal with it) and and while both of them were exhausted by the time they were done, (my mom reported taking a much-needed nap Sunday afternoon) they all had fun.

The Little Man's face lit up and he practically swam across the floor to see me when we returned. He does good on the cup and bottle, but he misses his Mama Milk, too. He fell asleep in my arms after emptying my full-to-overflowing breast and slept for 2 hours.

We attended a friend's 1-year-old's birthday party on Sunday afternoon. It was fun, though I was a bad mama and forgot sunscreen and the Little Man got a mild sunburn on his back from being exposed while in the wading pool. It's so funny because I was SO good about coating Fuss when she was younger assuming that with her pale parents she would burn easy. Nope. My girl tans. And she tans beautifully. It's sort of amazing. She gets beautiful tan lines from a mild exposure to the sun, even with sunscreen on.

April gave me a bunch of clothes that she has shrunk out of (she looks amazing. I'm somewhat inspired) and I ended up with practically a whole new wardrobe. I had almost no dressy clothes (like nice pants and skirts, etc.) so her work wardrobe really filled in some gaps in mine. I am incredibly grateful!

We had a pleasant and quiet evening at home and my husband made dinner and it was great.

Want to shop

I've been spending a lot of time lately online window shopping. By that I mean I look and I search and I play around, but I don't buy. I'm still at a size that I'd like to slim down and I don't want to go out and buy a bunch of clothes just to do it again in a short time. However, I'm also very aware that my closet is very lacking.

I spend a lot of time looking at outfit ideas that often include
A) Items I can't afford even if I want to (Who would buy a $2000 clutch purse? I don't get it.)
B) Items I can't justify spending money on (like really adorable shoes that I won't wear very often)
C) Items that just aren't all that practical for the life I lead (dresses, dressy skirts, etc. Keep in mind I'm still nursing full-time so I'm lifting my shirt up ever 2-3 hours during the day and I spend a lot of time crawling around on the floor with my kids.)

But a girl can dream , right?

I've lost one jeans size (compared to my pre-pregnancy size) so that's a step in the right direction, and I'm planning to start some exercise (I got the 30 Day Shred DVD for Christmas) within the next week. (I was planning to start Monday, but the combination of the cold weather and a few much earlier than I wanted mornings with the baby and... I WILL start sometime between now and the 1st. I will!) So it's silly to go crazy with the buying...

But I want to SHOP! And I want pretty clothes, not just jeans and t-shirts. But when would I wear them? My reality is that I wear casual, functional, comfortable, washable clothes 7 days a week. I wear somewhat dressy clothes for a few hours on Sunday mornings and I sometimes dress up for an evening out with my husband or girlfriends. (I would say that it would be generous to say that I do this once a month.) And honestly, I am too practical to spend a lot of money on clothes I'm not going to wear.

I'm both talking myself into and out of buying clothes, all in the same post. This is the life I lead, I suppose.

Random thoughts 2 days before Christmas

• I survived my awful headache, and feel a bit better today. I NEED to go see the chiropractor, but I have no idea WHEN that might happen...

• Anyhow, so lots of cleaning to do, but I think I'm done w/ the wrapping. Fuss is contentedly watching Mickey's Christmas Carol and my husband is "working from home" today and the baby slept through the night until 8:30 this morning! (Unfortunately, I was up for 2 hours on my own with a headache/neck ache. But I got to sleep in a tiny bit, so that was helpful.)

• I plan to back one more batch of Snickerdoodle cookies today and then hand out some cookies to our neighbors. I made these great (and simple!) chocolate pretzel things last night, plus my Oatmeal Toffee Lace Cookies. I think I'm over the baking, but I have commitments to keep...

• Last night my MIL called me, standing in front of some "play food" sets at a store. She said, "I gathered from our conversation last night that Fuss is getting a play kitchen for Christmas. Does she need food for it?" Apparently she didn't bother to read the email I sent her WEEKS ago after she asked what the kids would want for Christmas. I spelled out all the big gifts she would be getting for Christmas and listed some ideas for gifts. I practically did her shopping for her. And SHE NEVER READ IT. How hard is it to open an email that is labeled "Gift ideas for Fuss and Little Man" from your DIL? Why do I bother?
  

• I have become interested in the style of Emma Pillsbury from Glee. (I am slow to the bandwagon, but I'm really getting into Glee. I am getting season 1 on DVD for Christmas and I'm psyched. We have been getting it from Netflix and I'm addicted. Anyhow, I got a new haircut with layers like Jayma Mays's hair (I'm not doing the flip, though) and I'm suddenly obsessed with cardigans and pencil skirts. I'm psyched to have $25 worth of coupons/Kohl's cash to spend at Kohl's the week after Christmas. I don't think I want to dress like that all the time, but it's cute and fun and girlie and preppy - all things I like!
  

30 for 30 Challenge

Have you ever wanted to dress really nicely, but discovered that you had neither the wardrobe, nor the body nor the eye to figure it out? I recently came across a Fashion Blog that is fun and amusing and entertaining, etc. It's called Kendi Everyday and she posts pics of her daily outfits, etc. She has way more fashion sense than I do (plus a way better wardrobe and a way WAY better body) and while I'm not in love with every outfit she wears, mostly she has a cute classic-on-the-side-of-funky style which is great. (and who really likes every outfit that a person wears? I don't even like every outfit I wear)

Anyhow, Kendi is doing a thing called 30 for 30 where you take 30 pieces of clothing (including shoes, but not accessories and coats in case your weather requires one) and you can only wear these 30 pieces for the next 30 days. The idea is to learn to use what you have in your closet (to "shop your own closet") and learn to shop outside your own closet (by really knowing what you have and how you can use it) Kendi says, "When you have to get creative with your wardrobe you discover other ways to wear a shirt or skirt, that you might not have thought of."

I love this idea. I don't think I can successfully do it because half my wardrobe doesn't fit yet (plus we're in Florida so over the next 30 days the weather is predicted to fluctuate more than 40 degrees) , but I'm going to work on it a bit, I think. I have been living in my maternity jean shorts and my non-maternity jeans with the occasional skirt or dress for church and my step-brothers' weddings. I throw a t-shirt or tank on top most days and only rarely dip into my nicer tops for the rare occasions I'm going to spend more than an hour with other adults. My clothing has become very boring and really unattractive lately, so I'm going to work on this along with Kendi and whoever else is doing her challenge. My other challenge is, of course, that whatever I wear has to be breast feeding accessible.

Okay, forget "work on it a bit" that I said above. I'm going to try to do this challenge. I'll be posting my list of items on Sunday and begin on Monday to come up with 30 outfits over the next 30 days. My personal challenges include needing breast-feeding accessible outfits, not having many bottoms that fit, having a few events that I have to wear certain things for (such as family pictures and our Disney trip - both during the week of Thanksgiving) and being fashion-challenged in general and having very few accessories to change the feel of a designated outfit. I know this challenge is going to encourage me to find and buy some more accessories. But I'm okay with that.

Wish me luck. I may need it.

7 Quick Takes: Very Random Edition

1. This week Fuss has been driving me bonkers. In no particular order she has dumped an entire salt shaker all over my living room, screamed through half a trip to Target, destroyed one of my eye liners, flooded the hallway and dining room (in separate ways and occasions) and torn apart my living room repeatedly. I could actually do a Quick Takes on the many ways she has tried to drive me to drink this week, but no one wants to read that.

2. I discovered the beauty of the smell of classic Whisk laundry detergent this week, thanks to a tip on the Style Lush Blog. I still can't use it on all of our clothes (specifically the baby's) but I'm using it on our sheets and towels and such and I LOVE it. Everything smells so fresh. I still have half a bottle of generic brand scented fabric softener, so I can't vouch for the idea that classic Snuggle softener makes it even better, but I'm loving the Whisk!

3. I just ran out of Limoncello liquor. I love that stuff and I'm going to have to talk my husband into getting more. It's my favorite liquor - it tastes like sweetened liquid Lemonheads and is delicious in a drink I copied and altered from some restaurant called a Cosmocello. Awesome.

4. We're supposed to get chilly weather here this weekend and I'm psyched. I'm actually going to get to dress the baby in a sleeper for the first time (he gets very warm in just his onesies and a light blanket, so I don't dare cover him even more most days/nights). I can't wait to see how cute he is in this little football sleeper.

5. We're going back to our cash-only budget this month. We've been so bad the last 3 months with the arrival of the baby and my husband's raise at work, etc. But we're getting back on track, so wish me luck!

6. I'm less than 3 weeks away from our Disney trip and I am so excited. Fuss can't wait for the combination of visiting Mickey and hanging out with her cousins. I can't wait to sit back and watch her enjoy it all!

7. I didn't sign up for NaBloPoMo this year, but I'm planning to do the challenge anyhow. I may miss a day or so while we're in Orlando, though, so I didn't want to make the official committment and then blow it. Other than that, I hope to have a daily post - even on the weekends. See you tomorrow!