what I need is all around me

not usually so impulsive!

My BFF, Teri, is running in a 1/2 marathon this weekend in DisneyLand. I didn't find out until Monday, and thought "Gosh, I wish I'd known before." 

Then tonight, Teri and I were texting and it just hit me....WHY DON'T I JUST DRIVE OVER?

I've never been impulsive like that when it comes to travel. I'm one of those people who thinks, plans and by the way, has never driven to Los Angeles alone.

But five minutes after calling her, Teri and I are booked in a hotel across the street from Disney, I'm planning to drive over all by myself and I have no freaking idea what is going to happen.

I cannot tell you how excited I am to go on this adventure. To fly by the seat of my pants. To just "not know" for the weekend. 

Oh, and getting to cheer on my best friend as she runs a half marathon isn't so bad, either!!!!

{ETA:  It helps that I have a husband who is totally on board with my impulsive side. Love love love it!}

{ETA #2: Teri's husband's response to finding out about my trip was "that's the best news ever"...seriously, love these guys!}

the finished product and I am prone to freaking out

We delivered the bags today and they were a HUGE hit.  Filled them with bunches and bunches and bunches of candy and this is how they looked

My colleague in Atlanta asked me to fly east and make some for her tenants, too. Cute!

In less exciting news, I tend to over-react. Actually, oftentimes I'm so afraid that I'll be "that mom" that I avoid taking the kids to the doctor when they probably should go {insert every allergic reaction my children have had that any other parent would have run screaming to the ER that I handled at home with Benadryl}.

That being said, in the middle of the night Anna walked into our room and said, "I'm not really sure, but I think I might be getting sick. I'm not sick now but I might be". Oh, goodie! At 4:15 she came in and asked if she could sleep in our bed because she "needed to snuggle." At 6:30 this morning, she complained that her neck hurt. Thinking she slept on her neck wrong while snuggling, I went and took my shower. By the time I came out, I was thinking meningitis. Because what mother doesn't think that when their kid has a weird neck pain (besides my friend Lindy, that is)? She felt quite warm and her temperature read about 101, but I headed to work anyway. She napped in the morning but Jason said she was quite lethargic upon waking (which is NOT Anna's style). At that point I'd mentioned the fever and neck pain to several moms, all who replied with, "Meningitis?". Adding the lethargy into the mix, I called the pediatrician who was concerned enough to work us in the next 25 minutes.

Anna's temp at the pediatrician was 103.9. Diagnosis? Some bug. Definitely NOT the big "M". Normally I'd be embarassed for rushing her to the doctor for "just a fever", but considering I talked today with someone whose BFF's kid died from menigitis (12 hours from onset of symptoms to death), I don't feel that bad.

Of course she's absolutely fine now. Fever free and fiesty.

So yes, I totally freaked out for nothing. But it seems to me, that's one of the things moms do on occasion and it just proves how much we love our kids.

Right?

more birthday celebrating and other stuff

On Monday our family celebrated Jason's birthday at Oreganos.  As I've said a million times before, the birthday "boy" is allowed to choose the restaurant of his/her choice.

I started the night at the bar by myself, "celebrating" the sale of one of my properties.  Funny thing, I worked for both the buyer and seller, so I basically sold a multi-hundred-million dollar asset to myself.  Go me!

And then we sat down as a family. One of the things we always do at Oreganos is play "What is it?" with Anna. She fashions the pizza dough into something and we have to guess what it is.  This one had us all stumped:

(It's a cup of hot chocolate, with the handle on the right side and three "pieces" of steam above it)

The birthday boy

Crazy Anna

Okay, so birthday is over and moving onto the sale...

Because I work for the new owner and have for quite some time, I wanted to do something with a little "splash" to introduce them to our tenants.  I've done this same Valentine in the past and it's always been a huge hit. It is a TON of work but ultimately, I think my company will look like rock stars, plus it's the kind of work I actually like to do:

30 hand-cut, hand-stamped cards with individual "E"s cut out of transparency, "painted" with glue and then glittered.  A message inside was printed (via computer) gives the details of the new owner and makes the hand-made card look acceptable in a business setting. Awesome. I love them.

The white paper bags were cut with a Martha Stewart "fringe" scissors and I couldn't be happier with the result. A matching glittery heart was traced, cut out and attached to the bottom of the bag.  The bags are filled with valentine-colored raffia pieces and tons and tons and tons of candy. My colleague and I will hand deliver them to everyone tomorrow and while only a few will comment on how cute they are, everyone will love them for the two pounds of candy they hold.

Still plugging away at Project Life and loving it. Still having Lindy over once a week (or more) for dinner and loving that, too. 

So much to find JOY in right now and really loving that!

Ten and 36

Yesterday, Jason and I celebrated 10 years of knowing each other. We forget this milestone almost every year, possibly because it comes a single day before his birthday.  This year, his 36th.

On our way to a very early dinner at a favorite bistro of ours, I realized we'd met exactly 10 years ago. Sweet. We enjoyed a fantastic meal and bottle of wine and spent a little time walking down memory lane.

Then we went to the US Men's soccer match vs. Venezulea at University of Phoenix Stadium. I'd never been to the stadium before, but Jason has (many times)...most recently the night before with Anna watching the Men practice:

And then getting autographs and photos

And hanging out with soccer friends

Our night was only marred by the fact that our trusty Canon Rebel XTi simply "quit" while we were at the game (never fear...Jason is trucking down to Tempe to take it to the most reliable repair shop in the Valley) and we were left only with our phones for cameras. Because we're members of the US Soccer Supporters Club (don't make fun...we're going to get kick ass tickets to the World Cup in Brazil in 2014), we were able to go down on the field after the match.  The match in which the US won in dramatic fashion in "extra time". I even picked up some used athletic tape that was left on the field because I'm weird like that. :-)

This is our favorite shot. Most of you will think it's silly, but Jason and I both adore it

And finally, a shot of my 36-year-old husband. Sigh. Usually I have to say I'm a full five years older than he is. But for these next five weeks, I can honestly claim that he's 36 and I'm 40.

And doesn't he totally look 36? Or maybe 16?

Love it. Love him. Love that at the end of the day, it doesn't really matter because it's been 10 years and we're more in love now than ever.

Happy birthday, baby. I hope 36 is awesome for you!

i can't help it...

I live with two dorks. I love them both more than I could ever imagine. I even love their dorkiness.

Last night, Sam came out to show me this clip from You Tube and I'm sorry, but it's simply the best.

Click here!

Watch til the very end because it's funny til the very end.

I love my dorks.  I can't help it!

she's the "smart" one

Tonight at dinner we were discussing our days, as is the norm.  Sam was talking about some tests he'd taken today which reminded me to ask him about his math teacher, who was pregnant when I met her at Meet the Teacher Night.

Mom:  Hey Say, did your teacher have her baby?

Sam:  Yeah, she had a girl.  They named her Olivia

Mary:  Hey, that's Olivia's name!

No kidding.  That's what she said.  

And she's the "smart" one. 

love him

It's fun having an almost-14-year-old son.  Sam is a lot like me personality-wise and he gets all my weirdness because he shares it. :-)

One of our shared passions is watching tv shows on Netflix. He has introduced me to several great shows, including our latest favorite, How I Met Your Mother. It's stupid and mindless and funny and we love it. Tonight we were watching an episode and I snapped this picture:

This kid doesn't like having his photo taken much anymore, so it's almost impossible to get something blog-worthy.

I love this kid. He makes me totally happy to be his mom!

Our weekend {with lots of pictures!}

Saturday was the big Birthday-asaurus Anna party.  Good times!  Our pink and green dinosaur theme was a huge sucess (and I'm sure that the big dinosaur bounce house had a lot to do wtih it!).  Take a look:

(thanks, mom, for making the cookies)

(and thanks for making the cake, too, mom!)

The dino bouncy house head.  

That's Anna with her longtime friend, Taylor (who we affectionately call T).  And yes, Anna is wearing a shirt to match the theme.

It was a great party...Anna even told me so.  Love when that happens!

And then, there was Sunday.  Which looked like this:

Yup, that's a sick Anna with a glass of broth, a glass of water and a glass of gatorade next to her puke bowl.  It was a long, vomit-filled night (mama's favorite kind) followed by an even longer, fever-filled day. Wherein she couldn't lift her head to drink or eat, so she "stayed in her nest" like a good little bird and was fed by others.  

And then spent some more time in her nest, resting and watching Caillou

Right now she's laying in our bed (where she tends to sleep when she's sick...especially the kind that might result in a huge mess if there isn't someone holding a certain puke bowl), watching more Caillou and complaining that she's hot.  And calling to me to come scratch her back.

So that's what I'm going to do.  Here's to a better day tomorrow!

Monday Randomness

Did you know that when your oven is really dirty and you decide to use the "clean" setting, sometimes you'll have a fire in your oven?  It's true.

Luckily it only lasts a few minutes and then your house just smells bad for the rest of the 4:40 of cleaning time.  Awesome.

Anna and I played a game of Scrabble Junior tonight.  She kicked my butt 20-9.  Go Anna!

And looking at myself from the side, I have to say that I have one awesome haircut.  Still not sure I love it on me, but my stylist (God bless her, she's put up with me for 12 years) really knows how to cut hair. And I'm rocking the "silver, dainty, feminine" earrings I had to buy after getting such a drastic cut, too. (Yes, along with my shirt from work and my pj pants...no one said you had to Dress Up for the internet!)

Weekend in review

A fairly busy weekend for the entire family.  The older kids wrapped up Christmas break with as much laziness as they could possibly muster.  Anna and daddy hit the field for a soccer match and my friend Lindy and I headed down to Mesa to hit our favorite scrapbooking store.

Anna was bummed that her birthday didn't fall on a school day until she realized we could still send in treats.

Cute little tags on tootsie pops (one of those random candies Anna can actually eat) make for cute and easy treats for the class.  Pink and green are the colors for her party, so I snapped a shot of just two ... totally inspired me to do something fun with all the leftovers before the party.

For the whole class:

Far too belatedly, I removed all the snowflakes.  I really hate the job and this weekend was no exception. Unfortunately it's one of those things that just has to get done.

Finally, I received a huge order from ELF cosmetics over the weekend.  ELF is super cheap stuff, but not tested on animals and perfect for someone who wants to continually change it up with regard to make up. I normally am not a huge make up girl but having cut my hair really, really short, I really have no choice. Actually, I could choose to embrace the "butch" look, but that's so not me.  Instead I always go the other way and become extra girly.  Funny how new make up brushes make it easier to apply 5 different eye shadows, eye liners and blush, bronzer and other shiny stuff.  Stuff that keeps you from looking like a old lady butch lesbian (not that there is anything wrong with being a butch lesbian, I'm just not).

Yup, that's 5 new eye shadows, 4 new "shimmers", a blush/bronzer and 11 new brushes (not shown:  3 lipsticks and a a lip gloss).  Total cost:  $35.  LOVE THAT!

Rounded out the day by working on some decorations from Anna's upcoming birthday party.  Good stuff!