The Best Days Of Your Life

Another weekend is gone

2012-02-13T06:15:00.002-04:00

I've had some trouble lately remembering what day is what. I realized a few times today that today was, in fact, Sunday. Since this will be posted tomorrow (Monday), I hope I figure out what day is it by then.

Once again, the weeks, weekend, days have all flown by.

It scares me that I'm less than two weeks away from having a 5 month old child.

There was a storm last night, so this morning I was lucky enough to get to have my car doors frozen shut, scrape off my car, shovel some snow, and drive home. Home, where I couldn't even turn into my parking lot because the plow hadn't been near it. I parked half in a snow bank, then hopped another snowbank to get inside, only to have to leave again, this time getting my car actually stuck and having people have to push me out. It was a relief to finally get back home and have a plowed out space to put my poor car.

But I got to have an awesome low-key Saturday night with E., followed by a random lazy day with B. and a sleeping miss Chloe.

I've felt a little 'off' this week in ways I can't really explain, even to myself. I'm hoping now that it's about to be Monday, that I can get my normal feeling back and get back into some sort of routine of my own.

Something isn't right when you don't feel relaxed when you're relaxing.

I'm making tonight an early night for me.

Tell me about your weekend.

I have a new love for Jake Owen

2012-02-11T15:56:00.002-04:00

It's been such a long time, but I've always been the type to get obsessed with songs. Obsessed, meaning I listen to it 2-3 times a day. Well this song, I listen to more like 5-6 times a day for the past couple of days. I've loved it for awhile and somehow *gasp* forgot to put it on the last cd I made to listen to in the car.

So I made a new cd yesterday specifically to put this song on it.

I'm not into guys with long hair at all, and for some reason Jake Owen just doesn't do a lot for me (hello, Luke Bryan) but I would totally marry him just to have him sing this song to me.

My 25 Questions

2012-02-08T08:29:00.000-04:00

Miss Diva Bee tagged me in this fun little game, so I got started on it and forgot about it. Typical me. Then K. tagged me in one as well, so I remembered and worked on it some more. Now finally Sean Marie tagged me in it as well so I'm going to finally do it. I'm going to cheat, and not tag anyone, since at least three of the people I would tag have already done it, but if you want to do it, pretend I tagged you. Since three people have tagged me, I took out a few questions and left myself with 25 to answer.

weheartit

25 Questions

1. You have one night. What's your ideal way to spend the evening?

Just one night? That's too hard! A night with all my family and friends.

2. One movie you have watched more than a handful of times, why?

So many, but I'll go with Legally Blonde. Because I love Reese Witherspoon, because it's a great story about a girl going after what she wants even though everyone doesn't think she can do it. And that part near the end where she wins the case? Totally gives me goosebumps.

3. What's your go to blog? Ya know, the one you check almost daily?

I just check the ones updated in my reader, but there are some that I'll quickly read before all the others. I'm probably forgetting a few but here are some of my favorites:

- The Dive Bee

- Pampers and Pumps

- A Mad Girls Lovesong

- Everyday Life with All its Craziness

- Loves of Life

- Irish-Italian Blessings

- From Match to Marriage

- Because Nice Matters

- La Esquina do la Estrelita

4. Favorite brand name? Yes, you can only choose one...shoes, clothing, purses, scrap booking items...anything. Name one.

I love that scrapbooking was an option! In which case I love Jolee's. Their stickers are all so great!

5. The day you realized what love is. Why? Who what when?

The day my daughter was born. No other love will ever hit me that hard.

6. Favorite summer time activity? What about winter?

Going to the beach! Man I miss summer! Winter? How about staying in and avoiding it completely? I'm not a fan of winter.

7. Number one thing you hate about weight loss/working out?

I don't worry about weight loss, since I'd like to gain weight. About working out? The fact that I can't seem to do it. I'd love to be in better shape.

8. One day that you will never forget. When and why?

The obvious answer is the day my daughter was born. As of right now I can't think of anything less obvious worth mentioning.

9. Tell me about your very first car. Do you still drive it? Why did you get rid of it?

I do still have my first car. It's a Cavalier, handed down to me by my mom when I graduated college. It was a great car for the first year that I had it, then all of a sudden during the summer of '08 it broke down on me three times. It was okay after that, but now it's basically the deathmobile. I'm just waiting for it to breakdown for good.

10. Who is your favorite Actor or Actress?

Reese Witherspoon because she's so freaking cute. As for actor.. Gerard Butler or Ryan Reynolds.. for the obvious reasons :p

11. What celebrity annoys you the most?

I don't know.. probably the celebrities I try to ignore altogether like the Kardashians or Jersey Shore peeps. If they annoy me, I ignore.

12. If you had a million dollars, how would you spend it?

Pay off my debts, build a house, buy a reliable car, set my daughter up for university, help my family out however I could. A million dollars really doesn't go as far as one would think :p

13. Describe a typical day?

Wake up, feed Chloe and have a coffee. Chloe plays, I do dishes or eat or blog. Sometimes Chloe fusses, sometimes she naps. Rarely we actually go out and run errands or something or other. In the evening I always give her a bath sometime between 7-8:30 and try to have her in bed between 9-10. And that's a typical day.

14. When you were little, what did you want to be when you grew up?

It changed all the time but a few of the things were librarian, artist, writer. I'd still love to be a writer or own a used bookstore so I'm not that far off.

15. If you could change one thing about you, what would it be?

I wish I could get myself to work harder for the things I want and the things I need to do. Stop procrastinating or finding reasons not to do things. Being lazy has something to do with it too.

16. Name something you love that no one else seems to like

Um.. spending money on just about anything. No one I know would look forward to buying something as boring as cleaning products, but I would.

17. What's one item you own that you know you should get rid of but never will?

Well there was a big, ugly, most comfortable chair ever that I've had with me through 5 different moves, but I just got rid of it last week. Besides that... probably just a bunch of old memorabilia-type things I have in a box. Some are so pointless, even to me.

18. What movies could you watch over and over and still love?

Nothing specifically comes to mind. Any feel-good girly romantic movie would probably fit though.

19. Last person you kissed?

Does Chloe count? Otherwise it was E.

20. When was the last time you wrote a letter to someone on paper?

1995? Seriously, I don't know. I have since 1995, I just don't remember.

21. Ever gotten a speeding ticket?

Yep, in 2008. It was late and I just wanted to get home from work. I wasn't going very fast, but I had just driven into school zone (at midnight) so the speed limit had changed but I didn't notice.

22. Do you believe in ghosts?

I don't know.

23. In God?

Yes, but I'm not a religious person at all. I just believe.

24. Can you knit or crochet?

I can't do either, but I want to learn how to crochet.

25. Do you miss anyone right now?

I pretty much always miss someone.

If anyone else has any questions to add, now is the time :)

5 Social Media Pet Peeves

2012-02-07T00:03:00.000-04:00

I'm linking up with Moments that Define Life for Listable Life. These are five things that drive me crazy about social media.

1. People who don't know how to 'Pin'.

There's nothing more annoying than coming across and awesome looking pin on Pinterest and clicking on it to find that the link takes you to all kinds of crazy places. I've had pins take me to just a blog's homepage, instead of the specific post that should've been linked to the pin. I've also once clicked on a pin for some sort of dessert, and was taken to a post about sandwiches or something. It's simple - make sure the thing that you're pinning links back to the place where you found that 'pin' in the first place.

2. The serial tweeter.

Some people have twitter conversations, so they pop up a lot on the main page. That is understandable. But when someone is just tweeting to themselves, a million tweets by the minute, it's just annoying. I follow more than 550 people. You should not be flooding my twitter homepage. Just sayin'.

3. The Facebook on again / off again relationship.

Oh, today you love your boyfriend. Oh, now you hate him? You're broken up. You're back together. He's a scumbag. He's the love of your life. Make up your mind, or at least keep your craziness off facebook. I don't need to hear about every fight you have.

4. 'Come Follow My Blog' bloggers.

I hate having people ask me to follow their blogs. Usually if people have to ask for followers, it's because their blog isn't keeping people there in the first place. Great content doesn't need to beg for followers. If I like you're blog I'll follow it because of that, not because you ask me to. And if you ask, I'm less likely to even give it a chance. Sorry, but that's just the way I am.

5. The people who post a million times a day.

If you have important things to say, I can understand more than one post a day. More than three posts a day? I can't find a reason why you'd need to post four times. Tomorrow is another day, I'm sure the fourth post can wait.

What bothers you about social media?

So long, weekend.

2012-02-06T17:08:00.000-04:00

Holy weekend.

Work went by without a problem. I got home to a happy baby, which quickly turned into baby having a meltdown, and refusing to nap. If I wasn't tired enough from working all day, that almost did me in. It was a bit of a fight to get her to bed, but I finally managed that.

Then I had a visitor. We had an innocent night of playing a little bit of Wii and watching a movie, during which I kept falling asleep. I finally kicked him out a little late. We were supposed to have the entire Saturday together, but mother got sick. Miss C still left for the night, but a lot later than anticipated. Still, waking up in the morning and not having to jump out of bed to feed a baby? So nice.

So we got to spend Sunday together instead. And we spent it taking his daughter to pick up mine, and ended up visiting some of his family, since all of mine was sick. They are all the kind of people I could easily get along with.

He had asked me in the morning, but we got off topic before coming to a definite conclusion, so he ended up asking me again last night. I wasn't expecting it to happen so soon, but it just felt right. And so, as of yesterday, we are officially dating.

I'm a working girl

2012-02-03T14:30:00.000-04:00

For anyone who's keeping score, Chloe's needles went well. As well as poking a baby in the leg with three needles can go. She cried for awhile, but before we even finished the 15 minutes of waiting afterwards, she was smiling again. She seemed fine for the rest of the day too.

Today is my first day back at work. I'm not back full-time, it's just an occasional thing for extra money. I left her in the care of my cousin. I've already checked, and she's fine. She woke up happy shortly after I left, then was down for a nap about 2 hours later. I wasn't a fan of the idea of her waking up to a stranger, but she was fine.

Work is also fine. It's weird that after 5 months of being gone it can feel so normal being back. It's also nice to have a bit of a baby-break, and converse with adults.

Chloe was great through the night. I got her up around 2am, she drank as slow as humanly possible, then she was back to sleep around 3, and slept until I was gone.

There are less than two hours left of work and I'm not sure which I'm more excited for - food, or seeing my baby girl.

My ten minutes

2012-02-02T12:11:00.000-04:00

What do you do when you have just ten minutes of free time? Blog.

Ten minutes, because when my ten minutes are up, I have to wake my pretty little girl, bundle her up, and take her out to be tortured. And by tortured, I mean they're going to stab her in the leg. Three times. With needles. We've done this needle thing once before, and she cried the saddest cries I've ever heard.

She's older now, so she'll be a little more aware of what's going on. I'm worried that she's going to be even more scared than the first time. My poor girl. I think if she realized what was going to happen later today, I would still be more scared than she would be.

As for me? I've been feeling odd today. I can't put my finger on why. Although lately I have been waking up feeling a bit.. nauseous lately when I get up through the night with the baby.

I know what you're thinking, and no, that is definitely not the reason for it. I think it's time to start putting a little more effort into 'me'. Most days it still comes down to making the decision between getting to relax for a few minutes, and getting to cook a half decent meal. It's time to start opting for the decent meal a little more often than I have been. My body is definitely feeling the lack of good food. Starting next grocery day, I'm going to make an effort to be better to myself.

And now? It's time to wake up my pretty baby.

Days on the calendar are flying by

2012-02-01T14:44:00.000-04:00

weheartit

It always feels like something significant should happen to mark the end of a month and the beginning of new month, but nothing ever does. January just slides into February and no one takes much notice.

This year February is beginning with a snow storm. The snow is good for the city, because we have a winter festival every year and it runs much more smoothly if they don't have to make their own snow for the event. But that has nothing to do with this post.

Since it was snowing I cancelled my plans to go to the 'Building Incredible Babies' program. I didn't want to chance the weather getting worse, which it did, and I thought Chloe would still be napping when it started around 1, which she was. She actually napped for about 3.5 hours. I think this may be a record. It's nice in a way, but means she won't take a second nap, and will be ready for bed early tonight.

Had I known she was going to take a marathon nap, I would've done something productive. What, I don't know, but instead I sat on my behind and did a puzzle.

And that's how insignificant my transition from January to February was - just a day of baby napping and doing puzzles. But that way I see it, it's another winter month gone, and another month closer to spring a summer - my favorite time of year.

This is life

2012-01-31T21:47:00.000-04:00

I feel like I've been so busy lately, yet really I haven't done very much.

I am going back to work this week for one shift. I've reached the point in my maternity leave where I'm allowed to earn a little bit of extra money, so I hope to take advantage every once in awhile. It is also a nice excuse to get out of the house and have some adult interaction. This time, my cousin is going to babysit Chloe. I trust her completely, but I'm still worried. I'm sure she'll be fine - we have a nice routine lately - I just hope she doesn't go through her initial being scared of strangers stage. And for that, my cousin is coming tomorrow after work to meet her.

Me and Chloe are attending a program tomorrow called 'Building Incredible Babies'. It's a free thing for mothers with babies 12 months or under, so I figured we'd give it a try. It's every Wednesday. I'm just worried because it starts at 1 and Chloe's normally in the middle of her first nap around then.

And I did mention that I met someone. It's nothing serious, but he's a nice guy, easy to be around, and he has a daughter, so we have that in common.

Besides that, I've just been hanging out with my little girly, my favorite thing to do.

Chloe is a third of a year old

2012-01-30T13:24:00.000-04:00

You've changed and grown up so much lately that I couldn't wait to write all about it, so I'm writing it early. Where to start?

You still have a lot of the same likes and dislikes as you did when you turned three months old. You still love baths, hate the car (but you're getting a bit better with this!) and whine more than you cry. You still talk and smile like crazy, when you want to. You're a big flirt and smile anytime people talk to you. But let's get down to the details.

* Readers, you might want to skip or skim this one. It's going to be kinda long : )

Social Skills

You've become scared of people you don't know. If we're out in public, you'll smile at strangers from your car seat. If we're visiting, and someone you don't know tries to talk to you or hold you before you're used to them, you curl you lip and cry your little eyes out. You didn't do it for Pepe, aunt Laura or Norma, but you did seem unsure for a few minutes. You cried for your great-great aunt Lucille though, and Ashley and Richie when we visited the first week of January, and even though we saw Grannie a few days ago, you cried for her too. You're just a little mama's girl and you're not used to being around other people much. But once you're used to people, you love everyone.

Food and Eating

Finally, the first week of January I started feeding you one more oz in each bottle. You slowly adjusted and now you drink it down great. It's still only 5oz bottles, but we're making our way up. You spit up a lot more often, so maybe it's still too much but you drink it like a champ, sometimes even 6oz if you've slept really long. We changed your bottles to the Playtex VentAire Advanced bottles, since a friend recommended them to us. The change didn't seem to make a difference, but the fast flow nipples have you drinking a little faster, which is good. Sometimes you were a super slow eater before. You were gassy a few different nights after the switch, but I don't know if that was because of the bottles and it doesn't happen much anymore. For a few days you seemed to fill up after only drinking 2-3 oz each time, but the past couple of days you seem to drink you whole bottle and still want more.

Motor Skills?

Your hands are still constantly in your mouth, but now you can grab things and you put those things in your mouth too - blankets, toys, and you even try to hold your bottle to your mouth but you don't know any better and push it away just as much. You grab at toys that are in front of you and now even notice yourself in the mirror on your playmat. I caught you smiling at yourself one day.

You kick a little more in the bath and you seem so excited by it. You hold your head up like a champ now. I just have to support you body and you're fine. Sometimes that big head gets heavy and droops a little but you can always pick it back up. For that reason, you've been able to start playing in your Jolly Jumper. You're still a little unsure of it, but soon I know you'll love it.

You're constantly holding on to you feet now, and they're in your mouth all the time. It's so cute.

Growth

You're still a tiny girl, still too small for most 0-3 month shirts, but you fit in pjs and pants just fine. You almost fit in size 1 shoes, and you're still in size 1 diapers. Sadly, someone gave us a small pack of newborn diapers, and your little behind still fits snugly into those. I forgot to get your exact stats from the doctor, but you're too small. I'm going to call the doctor this week, then I'll update, but you're only a little over 10lbs, which is so little for a four month old. You seem happy and healthy, so I'm not too worried but the doctors are. We need to fatten you up a little.

Sleeping

You sleep pretty great at night most of the time. You almost never sleep for really long stretches anymore, but you usually only get up once so I'm not complaining. I am finally able to get you down for naps. Usually I just have to let you whine for a bit and you fall asleep. If you actually start to cry I'll get you up for a few minutes but usually after that you go to sleep easily. It's nice to finally have some free time while you nap.

You drool like crazy, and have been for over a month now. Maybe there's some teeth on the way, but so far nothing. It's a mess though.

Overall, you're a very happy girl most of the time. You're my little princess and I love having you smile and coo at me everyday.

Silent Sunday: Mommy and Baby

2012-01-29T07:32:00.001-04:00

January 25, 2011

Blogger's Block

2012-01-27T13:25:00.000-04:00

My urge to blog and to read blogs has been thrown to the backseat by, get this, facebook creeping. Yep, I now spend more time looking at pictures, creeping timelines, liking statuses, and the worst one - browsing the local buy and sell group. I hate it, and I'm trying to put a stop to it, but today, once again, I found myself on facebook still an hour after Chloe has been down for her nap. i have to stop this madness!

I'm also having some blogger's block. Like writer's block, except since I don't write these beautiful, inspiring posts like so many do, it's not writer's block. It's blogger's block. Blogger's block: for bloggers who write about their regular day-to-day activities and suddenly find themselves with no actual life to blog about.

If I were to blog about my life right now it would go something like this:

Dear Blog Readers,
Today me and Chloe woke up at 9:30am. I had a coffee and some instant oatmeal, then fed her a bottle, which she didn't finish because I think she's trying to become anorexic. We watched some How I Met Your Mother after breakfast. While Chloe played on her playmat, I used my handman tools (glue gun) to glue a hook back on to a super-cheap photo frame. I thought about hanging those photo frames on the wall, but Chloe got cranky. I put her down for a nap, then facebook creeped for an hour.
Love, Venassa.

Seriously, that is my day. The only part I left out is that somewhere in there I got dressed, and now I'm eating a bowl of cheddar popcorn. This is my life.

But I've been informed that it's against the rules to mention that I may have met someone without giving any details. So I'll make that right and maybe share a few teeny details on Monday.

Have a good weekend :)

Things you might not currently know...

2012-01-26T13:59:00.000-04:00

- I'm guest posting today over at Pocket Full of Pink, featuring a few of my favorite crafts I've blogged about over at VB Creations.

- Yesterday Chloe hit the 4 month mark, and her 4 month update with photos is on its way.

- I watched The Notebook today, and I had forgotten how much I don't like that movie - and just because of the part near the end where the old lady loses her memory once again and freaks out a bit. It's not that part I hate, but the part of the man crying. Hate, hate, hate it.

- I bought a super-cheap little vacuum and it works so much better than sweeping the floors.

- Every apartment in my building got a notice that they had trouble delivering our mail because the boxes don't lock. It's an old building, and I'm pretty sure they've been like that almost forever. The notice gives a number to call their office. I call the number and there are two options: directory list or customer service. I hit customer service and it tells me to call another number. I hit directory list and they want me to have a specific name of a person to contact. So seriously, why give me this useless phone number in the first place, Canada Post?

- Oh, and I may have met someone.

Our Professional Photos

2012-01-24T22:10:00.000-04:00

Last week I wrote about the weekend we spent with my grandfather, when we got our pictures done. I haven't been able to pick which ones I want to order just yet, but I'll share a few here. I think my little princess did good, for being terrified of my cousin and her husband who took the photos.

Maybe tomorrow I'll actually post something. Who knows.

Messy Mom Monday

2012-01-23T10:53:00.000-04:00

I'm linking up with Jess and Brittany today because - well, because I can. It's called Messy Mom Monday, and I am a Mom and things get pretty messy around here. I have been cleaning a lot lately, so I don't have as much to work with as usual, but there's always mess somewhere.

Chloe's room. Since she's still sleeping in my room in her playpen, her room has turned into the "I'll clean it later" and the "Throw this in here" room. This is her crib. I use the mattress for her to sit on and as a backdrop for her monthly photos. Because my furniture is all ugly. That's why the mattress looks like it's lifted at the end - because there's a bunch of junk under it, and as you can see, on top of it.

This is the corner of the room at the foot of Chloe's bed, where all our moving boxes are being stored until I get the courage to take them all out to the trash. Both of our laundry baskets of dirty clothes are in this room, as well as my bin of summer clothes, and a diaper box filled with clothes Chloe grew out of that I want to save. Mess mess mess.

I went on a cleaning rampage a few days ago, so I don't have much mess to show (this will probably be a rare thing!). This is, or was my coffee table when I woke up this morning, since I put some of it away already. Last night's glass of water, two squares of chocolate still out, Chloe's socks and shoes from last night, pizza flyer, remotes, phone, this morning's bottle and last night's after-bath powder and cream.

How messy is your place?

My girl

2012-01-18T22:33:00.000-04:00

This girl - she's just full of surprises.

I have the hardest time to get her to nap. One 45 minute nap during an entire day? Not a rare occurrence. Two naps in one day is a good.

Today? She took three whole naps! And they weren't just 20 minute ordeals. They were over an hour long each. And she went to bed very easily shortly after 9:30. This mama got so much done.

I ate two cooked, not microwaved, meals today.

And then tonight after her bath - she laughed. Really laughed. And not just once, a couple of times. It's officially my favorite sound in the world.

We were up before the sun today and that, combined with all the housework etc. I got done, has me exhausted.

You need to see this.

2012-01-18T15:57:00.000-04:00

Jolly Jumper Fun and a Visit with Grandfather

2012-01-16T17:58:00.001-04:00

Monday holds so much hate for some people, and back in my days of school and Monday to Friday jobs, I felt the same. I can't quite put my finger on why, but Monday has been one of my favorite days lately.

Today, we're visiting my mom then tomorrow finally heading back home, and this time we won't be leaving for awhile.

Our weekend with my grandfather was great. He was so happy to see her. He spent almost every waking minute talking to her or playing with her. I took him with us to get our photos done, so we got him in a few of them. Of course I took a couple of the two of them myself : )

Today was Chloe's first time in her Jolly Jumper. She's loving it so far. It's nice to have a new toy for her to play in.

If you have any handmade projects or recipes you've blogged about lately, link them up at VB Creations.

How was your weekend?

I'd like to introduce you to...

2012-01-14T09:36:00.000-04:00

....my partners, or sponsor swappers. Let's get right to it.

Christina's blog is such an inspiration. She recently showed off her crafting space that she shares with her husband, and even more recently a post about some of the struggles she went through in high school. Her blog is filled with real posts about real life.

Dear Creatives is an amazing blog for people who are creatively-obsessed like myself. There are always great ideas, tutorials and all kinds of great information to soak up - like this Top 10 List of Photography Tips and Tutorials or this tutorial for doing transfers on wood.

'I Know How is Babby Formed' is kind of a Mom blog, but a beautifully written one. I love this post about her daughter waking up through the night, or check out my favorite post Why It's Hard to Be Friends with People with Kids, since I sometimes feel out of place with friends now that I have a baby. Oh and have I mentioned that she's published a book? Too cool.

So go check out my awesome partners, sponsor swappers or whatever you want to call them. Tell them I sent you. You just might find a new blog to fall in love with.

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The end of mini-vacation and back to real life

2012-01-13T09:30:00.006-04:00

I made it home from my vacation, which you probably already assumed. It snowed most of the drive there, then snowed most of the drive back. Fun times for me.

After my oil change, my car had no further issues. Oh, except for the little rock that chipped my windshield. And when I got home, my dashboard and radio lights stopped working. And one of my headlights. When it comes to my car, there's the only good luck we have is that it hasn't died completely yet.

I had a great time on vacation. It's always great to visit with A. and R., even better this time because I was there for almost a week. Usually I can only go for one rushed weekend at a time, due to work. Since A. is a teacher, she was also free the entire time. We got to visit her family, visit with my friend M., visit with A.'s friend and her three adorable kids. My mother's ex-husband (so my ex-step-father) also came down to visit and meet Chloe for the first time. It's been years since I've seen him so it was nice to catch up.

I was sad to leave, but felt better once I got home. I really do love my apartment and for the first time in a really long time I feel 'at home' when I'm home. I'm slowly getting everything in order. I hung more pictures today, organized a little bit more of my room. Someday I might have this place completely set up. If you saw photos of my closets, cupboards and bookshelf, you would understand.

Tomorrow (weather permitting!) me and Chloe are going to stay at my grandfather's for the weekend. He'll be so excited to see us and spend a nice chunk of time with us. Since Chloe's been born I haven't had a chance to stay the night, so our visits have been short. I can't wait.

Hope you guys have a fabulous weekend!

Ps - yesterday, at approximately 12:30am, was the one year anniversary of me finding out this life-changing piece of news!

Sex and the City: Why we love it

2012-01-12T08:30:00.016-04:00

Sex and the City

Or rather, why I love Sex and the City. It is classic. To me, it screams 'girl power'. So many episodes have the ability to just pull me in, no matter how many times I've seen them. I got to thinking about what makes the show so appealing to me and just so damn amazing. What it all boils down to are a few key things that women have a passion for.

Friendship

“No matter who broke your heart, or how long it takes to heal, you’ll never get through it without your friends.” - Carrie Bradshaw

Carrie, Miranda, Samantha and Charlotte are all such incredibly different people in almost every way. Miranda is the sarcastic lawyer. Samantha is the sex-obsessed tell it exactly how it is type. Charlotte is such an innocent-seeming romantic, a dreamer. Carrie is more the glamorous girl-next-door type that you feel like you relate to but can't always figure out why.

With all women being so opposite from one another, they still manage to be such great friends, but even more so - they portray real friendship. They have each other's backs. They gossip, they laugh, and most importantly, they fight. They fight like real friends.

You watch an episode of Sex and the City and you instantly wish you had three best girl friends to go on crazy adventures with, to share your love stories, to go out for cocktails with. Or maybe you're already lucky enough to have that.

Love and Sex

"And we were dressed from head to toe in love... the only label that never goes out of style." - Carrie Bradshaw

Sex and the City is filled with romantic love scenes, steamy sex scenes and lots of hot men.

There's poor Charlotte, where you just want to see her dreams of marriage and children come true. You want to see her happily married and finally starting a family, but that doesn't work out very well for her in the beginning.

There's Miranda and Steve, who at times seem so wrong for each other, but other times seem so perfect. Steve, who seems so much like a lovable puppy dog that you can't help but root for, and feel bad for him no matter what he does.

And Samantha. She's always getting herself into sexy situations, and sometimes there are little teasers - when she's sleeping with a guy and their 'fling' starts to show signs of a real relationship. You never know what's going to happen with Samantha.

Right away they gave us Carrie and Mr. Big. You want to love Mr. Big. You're wanting it to work out for him and Carrie, but he just can't seem to make it work. They throw in Aidan. Gorgeous, sweet Aidan.

Which brings up the age-old question: Aidan or Mr. Big?

Clothes and Shoes

'I've spent $40, 000 on shoes and I have no place to live? I will literally be the old woman who lived in her shoes!' - Carrie Bradshaw

Gorgeous shoes, gorgeous clothes. Glamour. The illusion of such a fabulous life. You just can't watch an episode of Sex and the City without wishing you could get your hands on something one of the girls is wearing, or get to do some crazy exciting thing that they're doing. They give off such a 'glamour vibe' which is such a nice fantasy to live in for awhile.

Especially for someone like me who sometimes spends a day ~~or two~~ wearing pjs, with my hair pulled back in a mess with spit up on my shoulder and baby drool on my sleeve. Sex and the City: happiness on my tv.

Slap that all together with some funny quotes and hilarious situations and you've got a recipe for perfection.

“And there, in the same city where they met as girls, four New York women entered the next phase of their lives dressed head to toe in love. And that’s the one label that never goes out of style.”

Are you a sex and the city fan? And Aidan or Mr. Big fan?

* All images from Google Images

I think clothing is shrinking

2012-01-11T08:29:00.000-04:00

This is me. Or this was me December 2010. Since then I got knocked up, gained almost 40lbs, had a baby and got rid of those 40lbs. I also got rid of my tolerance for clothes that are even a little bit clingy - that shirt included.

As I pulled each new shirt out of storage from when I was pregnant, almost each one bothered me. Ask my mother, I started wearing the same blue striped shirt almost everyday. Finally I got out and bought a few new pieces of clothing.

At one particular store, I previously owned clothing that were size small. This time around, I bought a medium. I didn't bother trying it on because, hey - it was a size medium, where I used to wear extra-small. How could it not fit?

Well, it fits, perfectly, but if it shrinks even in the slightest with washing, it will probably be a little uncomfortable. And I'm finding that this is happening too often since I've started buying new clothes.

With that being said, how it is possible that we are living in a world where I am a barely a size medium, tipping more into the 'large' scale. I am not large. I barely weight 100lbs. Before clothing shrunk so much, I could fit into children's extra-large, so how did I suddenly jump to be almost a size large in women's?

And with that being said, who the hell fits into extra-small? Small children? Because they have their own clothing. Women's clothing should be made to fit real women.

So dear clothing manufacturers - learn how to size clothing properly.

Tutorial, guest posters and the end of vacation

2012-01-09T17:21:00.000-04:00

I'm still on my mini-vacation, but I'm leaving to go home tomorrow. Time just flew by, as it always does. I'll be sad to leave, but it will be nice to get home and back into our own routine. It won't last long, because we're heading up to visit my grandfather this weekend and get family photos taken. Then it's back to real life.

I finally posted the tutorial over at my crafting blog for the decorative letters I made spelling out Chloe's name for her room at our old apartment.

I'm going to be doing a feature on births sometime soon, so I'd love to have some of you take part. I've already emailed a few of you. I'm just looking for a short little paragraph about your birth story. Send me an email if you're interested and I'll give you all the details.

Silent Sunday: Amazon.com giveaway!

2012-01-08T14:22:00.000-04:00

Not so silent, but my friend Haley is giving away a $25 Amazon.com giftcard on her blog. Get over there and enter!

Mini-vacation lives on

2012-01-07T21:24:00.000-04:00

Mini-vacation is going great. The car got me here, and is working just fine. Well, as fine as it usually works.

The Weather Network lied to me the day I left home. It said there would be about 1 cm of snow. There were about 2 cm of snow on the car when I left and it snowed for 3/4 of the trip.

I've been doing a lot of visiting with old friends and family. I got in a little shopping for me and Chloe.

She's finally a bit more adjusted to being in a new place. She's used to it being just me and her, and now there's at least one other person with us almost at all times. She was crabby at first, but she's better now.

It's a really nice mini-vacation so far. I'm not looking forward to going back home.