speed

As much as I would like to start out this entry with the positive notes from yesterday, I must purge the negative first.  Lately I have been having the feeling that everything has been going too well:  The air conditioner hasn't gone out in my car (or apt for that matter), the computer hasn't suddenly stopped running, we are all in good health, the tv and ps3 are still going strong, and I have been able to take care of all my current items on my running list of things to pay for in july/august.  I was looking forward to having some "extra" money for the month!  Nope.  That extra money is going towards the speeding ticket I got in Irving yesterday...

Why was I in Irving?

Last night was Alton's belated birthday celebration with friends!  We went out to Bosses Pizza for dinner- it was compared to Mama's Pizza, but hands down, Mama's is better.  After pizza we went to see the batman movie, which I thought was great and heart-warming.  Yes, heart-warming.  Happy birthday Alton!

Earlier in the day, I laid out by the pool with Amy and did the all important speed cleaning with Meredith!  What is speed cleaning you ask?  I know no one asked because all of you who read this have probably heard my advocation of speed cleaning, but I will divulge anyway.  Speed cleaning can be done alone or with a friend.  So, I first initiate a speed cleaning session via text with the appropriate friend, (in my case, Meredith, because she is always usually up for a good cleaning!), and if they say they are busy the appropriate thing to do would be to continue on with the plan of cleaning, but typically this causes a sigh of relief and a "that was close!" moment.  If they agree to the session, we then usually establish a cleaning timeframe; usually about an hour, maybe an hour and half or more if we have company coming.  My apartment REALLY only gets a good cleaning when we have visitors, but I try to maintain the general chaos between visits with speed cleaning.  We usually decide which room we want to start with first and more often than not start texting a leisurely conversation to postpone the inevitable.  We then establish a timeframe and a room, usually capping it at 20 minutes, because any more than this and you experience the sitting on couch for  a minute to watch the Glee dance dream sequence set to 80's music, thinking those precious 3 minutes of pop are not going to make a huge difference.  They do!  You don't realize how much you can get done in such a short amount of time!  In those 20 minutes you clean as quickly and efficiently as you can, choosing carefully what you can clean that will give the maximum results!  When I was a kid I would pile everything on my bed and race against the clock, pretending it was a time bomb and if I didn't get everything cleared off within a certain amount of time the entire city would be destroyed (or something equally as traumatic to mankind).  I'm not sure why they always trusted me with the safety of the people, but about half way through I usually decided I was ok with not finishing.  Anyway, yet another reason why the timeframes should be short.  After the set timeframe has ended we text each other about the results and praise one another for our accomplishments.  This interlude should be brief, as to not get caught up in each other's self destructive tendencies. We then choose the next room and establish a timeframe, and keep on this until the hour is up.  I usually leave a 10 minute timeframe at the end to rush back through and finish up anything that was missed, or sometimes use that time to do the dreaded sweep/dust chore.  To keep this up between speed cleanings I try to do a nightly 15 minute cleaning before bed, which makes a huge difference!  This method is also great to do on your own, but not as exciting and hard to get motivated.  Good luck with your cleaning endeavors!  To hear about Meredith's never ending battle with domesticity, check out her blog!

Other than cleaning, since I have last updated we have celebrated Alton's birthday as I mentioned, celebrated my grandparent's anniversary, celebrated Meredith and Dan's birthday, got to have a Courtney and Daina day of hanging out like we did in the olden days, (although now there are children in the mix :) ), had a visit from Paul's cousin, had a visit from Paul's friend, and Cameron and her family came to visit for Baby Bennett's baby shower and general TX time- they are moving back to Texas in about a year, by the way!  So excited!  Coming up is Stefan's graduation next weekend, Mom and Dad's anniversary, Paul and my's 5th anniversary, my birthday, and Paul's birthday!  I'm sure I will have more drama to update soon.

Today my plans are to make a master to-do list of all the things I keep putting off, tackle the bedroom, (which I conveniently left out of our speed cleaning session because I dread it), and chat with Staishy about all the family gossip and general goings-ons of our exciting lives!  Love. It.

Happy Anniversary my dearest.  It has gone by so fast, and  I am looking forward to the next 100 years with you! :)

perfect day

It's sad when you haven't posted in so long that that the format has changed (probably multiple times) on the blogging site. :)

To recap this year first:
Alton turned 30, Ada and Parker turned 1, Cameron is on baby #2, Courtney just had baby #2- Tyler, my cousin, Meghan, just had baby #1-Will, My grandparents just celebrated their 60th anniversary, and I made my 1 year at my job!

It's been a over a year since my last post but today was such a perfect day that I felt I must share and break my dry blogging streak.  My perfect day doesn't seem particularly special and was about 30 degrees warmer, hotter than I would have liked, but it just had a ring to it I guess you could say.  I woke up without an alarm at the exact time I was hoping to, sun bathed with Amy by the pool while munching on cherries, (yay summer fruit), and DID NOT end up with a weird tan, dropped by the pharmacy and experienced no line on a saturday, shopped for a couple new shirts for paul and in addition ended up finding new jewelry for myself, got a random discount at one of the stores and used a gift card from Christmas, (thanks santa!), for the other, and then headed to our real goal of the day:  ride the McKinney Ave Trolley!  Up to this point, it has been one of those days that seems like no matter how quickly you are sure that time is going, it isn't.  Time is standing still enough to let you catch up on all the errands you have to run and all the relaxation time you need to recoup from the week.  We headed out without a plan as to what we would do, other than riding trolley, so we ended up driving around Uptown a little bit to get our bearings and find a place to park.  Part of that trek we were actually driving behind the trolley...but there is something fun about seeing the sites in your own city from a trolley instead of your car.  We parked and walked out of the car and right up to a stop, where an approaching trolley was already pulling over as if we had pre-planned the route times.  We rode the whole loop and then ended up getting off somewhere in the middle at an upscale pizza place where we rounded off the meal with *cocktails, mine being a blueberry mojito!  We caught the trolley back to our car, and headed back to our side of the tracks.  The experience was fun and we didn't even seem to mind the heat.  Since then we have had time to nap, do laundry, have leftover pizza, and start a Godzilla marathon, (so when I say we, I mean Paul.  He would like to add they are having a "Fu-zilla" marathon on Crackle if anyone is interested).  Next up: board games and more Godzilla.

*strong

seattle

Here are a fraction of the pictures we took in Seattle! I would have updated sooner but I was not ready to deal with my post-Seattle depression. We had an amazing time visiting the city and the family! : ) By FAR the highlight of the trip was Ada. Isn't she adorable? I realize it doesn't look like we spent much time with Staishy and Sean, but in fact we did- we just didn't document their every move like we did with Ada. We ate: mussels, various/large amounts of/yummy breads, salmon, sushi, blueberry pancakes, clam chowder in a bread bowl, spicy sausage soup, the MOST amazing hotdog with cabbage, onions and cream cheese, (it sounds gross but I promise you it was fulfilling on so many levels... we were in disbelief before we were enlightened), Thai food, oatmeal cookies, surprisingly yummy cinnamon roll, milkshakes, AND anything else left off this list was fulfilled when we went to the mother of all brunches Sunday morning.... and all washed down with lots and lots of tea. What an amazing week o' food and drinkage. Things we did: explore the city, ride ze bus, ate lots of food, went to Pike Place... my personal favorite, got pedicures with Staishy... also my favorite, got coffee/tea and treats, went shopping, went walking, saw movies, visited bookstores and music stores, played lots of games- dominoes, Scrabble, Cranium, and Trivial Pursuit, and primarily adored Ada. Best of ALLLL, was time spent as a family. Yes, this is corny but it was an absolutely wonderful week. Ada was amazing- I got to pre meet her the week before we went to Seattle, and just in the few days I didn't see her I could already tell she had grown stronger and was learning new things. What a beautiful, smart girl that I get to be an Auntie to! Needless to say, it was hard to leave. : ( What is your favorite pic? Also, who wants to go with us on our next trip?!

longest week.

This has been a long week! Work could anticipate my excitement for the weekend, actually making time go backwards... the last three hours specifically. I imagine that my 4 day week coming up will be even longer because soon I will be lying awake with jitters for Seattle! Meredith came to visit this evening and we went out for sushi, coffee, red velvet "whoopi pies", 1/2 Price, and dominos! I say dominos, but after all the food, drink, and booking we only played for about 15 mins until the store closed. We happen to get the room after a group of what I can only imagine must have been demonstrating the latest spoken word or interpretive dance for singles. There was a couple still lingering around basking in the glow of new found love/lust. Tomorrow is the big day! Paulie and I get to meet baby Ada! : ) SO off to bed I go. Yes it is three in the morning. Goofy, pointless post!

yep

Hello all! I am excited to report that Stefan has a new blog! This new bloggy will be chronicling his many adventures in moving, discovering a new city, and generally reuniting as one with me. I expect this will be an exciting read! I can't wait to have him and James 10 mins away! I will indeed be living vicariously through Stefan because I would love nothing more than to move to a new place. :) How exciting!

So yesterday was a little rainy and uneventful, and I wanted nothing more than to run to 1/2 Price and grab some coffee... their chai tea is the best! I mistakenly ordered a "grande" and was scoffed and made fun of... and then was asked... "So what size?" Way to go for ruining my one little excitement of a treat/outing! They were still discussing it when I left. Meredith made a good point in calling them jerks and pointing out that I obviously picked them over Starbucks, which is right across the street! I'm sorry- I didn't realize I had visited Dick's Last Resort! By the way, I have always thought that the ONE thing 1/2 Price was missing was a cafe. Little did I know, there is this amazing 1/2 Price within a mile of my apartment that has an awesome little cafe. I will let my experience slide on the basis that I still love obnoxiously playing dominoes near the fish tank, their chai tea, and heavenly florentines. Ugh, this is what they wanted! I'm still talking about it.

Overall though, the weekend was wonderful! Friday night I celebrated getting through yet another crazy week at work, then did a much needed clean on the apartment. Saturday, mom and dad visited, and then we hung out with Stefan, James, and Amy that night. We ate, drank, laughed, and caught up on the olden days- what more could you ask for? Sunday I basically basked in the realization that I had absolutely nothing planned AND a clean home at that. I got through another Monday today- still waiting on my permanent non-training desk! I learned today that we will be getting a visit from Staishy, Sean, and Ada this week- Lots of love to Sean and his family.

Other news: Paulie has the sniffles... so please send good vibes to him so he can actually see his new niece in a few days!

Pic is of Leila being cute, and pretty much the only one taken our entire weekend in Austin a couple of weeks ago. Sigh... you see where my priorities are.

eek!

It is the weekend! In exactly two weeks we will be in Seattle! In exactly one week I will be packed!

Mom and Dad came over to our side today and we went out for yummy Italian, then 1/2 Price, and baby clothes shopping! Dad and Paul especially enjoyed the errand. : ) Its very hard to restrain from buying everything, and for a minute there it almost went down that path. I have to say, boys clothes are sooo much easier/cuter! When I shopped for Asa I couldn't get enough of those adorable little dinos, choo-choos, and monkeys. But for Ada? Flowers, cupcakes, and glitter. Don't get me wrong... I enjoy all these things equally for a night out on the town, but geez. Guess I should be shopping at Baby Gap for gender neutrals! I managed to get what I think will look freakin' adorable on Parker, (Cameron's baby girl) and Ada!

The plan for tonight:

Hang out with some of my favorites- Stefan and Amy! Even though we aren't dating anymore, we remain close. Update on any shenanigans later... Wow, I really thought Google would have to correct me on that one. Turns out I DO know how to spell shenanigans. Now I'm doubting because it didn't correct a lowercase letter. Speaking of this, now when I text it suggests stupid things that I accidentally added to the dictionary. Instead of "oh", the first thing it suggests is "64". How is this even possible? Poor Amy's name comes up as bmy, then goes through a series of boys, boxes, and cows before it finally suggests her name. Stefan's name on the other hand, comes up first...and capitilized. It doesn't even attempt to spell Staishy's name...but then again most people don't grr.

Thank you everyone for visiting me! : ) If it weren't for these little life experiences my apartment would NEVER get cleaned.

blue eyes!

Hi! Pics as promised for those who want to see an update of Ada! I feel this provides a wide range of her abilities as a cutting edge baby model! hehe. Sorry for the snatching of all your pics guys, but as soon as I can see Ada I will have my own pics! The rest of the family actually flew out this morning to see MY niece but hopefully Auntie Daina and Uncle Paulie will be visiting in a couple of weeks too! One month old already! What they don't tell you is that you pretty much become corny when you become an Aunt. : )

Paul and I are doing well! My new job is going great and always entertaining (which is key). Starting a new job is scary and awkward the first couple of weeks- in fact, just after week one I finished my latest book, "20 ways to Use Your Cell Phone as a Social Escape"...yes twenty full chapters of step-by-step examples as well as testimonies. Its similar to my short story, "20 ways to Use Chapstick as a Social Escape." Good reads. Anyway, I'm liking it so far!

Plans for today: __________

No other news to report: just been playing adult at my new job! : )