It’s my birfday! Woo! 42! You can read all of my thoughts on it here.
Last night I hosted a LuLaRoe party at my house, and my friends bought a bunch of clothes which meant I got some free stuff! Very exciting. I love free stuff.
I went out of my comfort zone with patterned leggings!
And there was yummy food including this UNICORN CHEESECAKE that Stephanie made. Isn’t it dreamy?
Anyway, the rest of the day will consist of work and lunch with Tee and hopefully Chinese delivery for dinner and then a festive adult beverage with my friends later. Yay!
I got this breakfast sandwich maker recently (in an effort to get more protein into my breakfasts) but dang, I burned the heck out of my thumb on it this morning. And just two days after I burned my finger on my mom’s oven. I guess I’m kind a professional chef now, don’t they burn themselves all the time? Nah, I guess they wouldn’t be holding a ziplock bag of ice on their finger and whimpering.
On a more nasal topic, I have been wearing Breathe-Right strips to sleep for at least a decade now because of my sinuses. (If I don’t wear one, I wake up in the middle of the night feeling like I’m suffocating.) However, with old age has come thinner skin, I suppose, and I recently started reacting to the adhesive. (Naturally after I bought a jumbo box at Costco.) I decided to try something different, and last night I wore one of these to sleep, and it only felt mildly extremely weird, and I was able to sleep, and I didn’t have adhesive stuck to my nose all day! Win! Except now I know for sure one side of my nose is roomier than the other because one tube when in easily and the other could only be jammed in about 3/4 of the way.
I didn’t actually order this, but my sister got it for me after she saw on a Facebook comment that I wanted one. (Good sissy!) Unfortunately, it arrived broken, but it’ll be replaced shortly and all of my hard butter woes will be over!
I actually ordered this way back in mid-August, but it was released yesterday and Linus is already a few dozen pages in. It just makes me happy that he wanted a book, even if it is mostly drawings. I also love that he said he didn’t want to read it too much because he didn’t want it to be over too fast.
On a non-Amazon note, I’ve also fallen into the LuLaRoe trap and now own a pair of (black) leggings, a dress, and a skirt. I’ve been burned a few times with weird sizing on a couple of other things (I mean, depending on the item, I’m a L, XL, 2XL, or 3XL), so I’m very cautious to try new stuff. Plus it’s hard to order. You basically have to join a bunch of groups on FB and hope they have the item you want in a pattern you don’t find offensive. But when you find something you like, it’s worth it. For our trip to the UK, I want to bring a bunch of knit stuff that won’t wrinkle and that I can layer.
Okay, back to work so I can pay for all this stuff.
Last week was kind of nuts – the boys were out of school and they were home with me all day. I think we all went a little stir-crazy. Then George went out of town over the weekend (the first time he’s been out of town without one of us since we first started dating) so I got even more quality time with the boys. But not a lot of time to blog.
Here’s what we’ve been up to:
Baking.
Sat through the Yo Kai Watch movie, and paid handsomely for the privilege.
Ziggy did cute things like lie there and chew on a stick.
We had a party while George was gone. The kids finally used the climber! I put up pretty lights!
Miles has crazy hair, Linus and Oliver on the climber.
Took them to the trampoline place.
It’s been really hot here, still. But we did go for another couple of runs.
Wait, did I ever post any pics from when we went bowling with Aunt Tee?
Speaking of, today is Aunt Tee’s birthday! Happy birthday Aunt Tee! We love you!
The Europe post really took it out of me for blogging. Whew. But now I can talk about other stuff.
Like how I went to the gym the day after I got home (so proud of that) and afterwards, stepped off a curb wrong, sprained my foot and shattered my phone screen. Winning!
At least it was just a sprain, but it won me a couple of weeks in a boot that the boys are insanely jealous of. (They call it my robot foot.)
Actually, I haven’t been wearing it much. My foot feels a lot better now. Probably didn’t even need to go to the orthopedist. Oh well. At least now I have a cool robot foot costume.
I also went to a fun costume party for my friends’ birthdays. It was superhero themed. I was Super Ute.
My cape
And from the front.
The fourth was Monday (in case you missed it) and we went to our friend’s house and then watched fireworks. As one does on the fourth of July.
I’ve also been spending a lot of time working on WordCamp NOLA, which is coming up really soon. Ack! If you’re interested, buy a ticket or sponsor us! Please, so I can sleep at night.
Last night I took the boys to meet a coworker for dinner at Pizza Delicious (and yes, it lived up to its name) and then we finally got to check out Crescent Park. There’s this insane bridge you have to cross to get over the railroad tracks. The boys were quite taken with the park when we got to the other side.
Well, I suppose that’s enough for now. Taking the boys to see The BFG this afternoon after camp (Oliver finally finished reading it) so I’d better get some more work done.
It’s been an eventful start to the summer already. Gareth‘s sister and family are in town, which has been really fun for the boys. Rachel has two boys who are nine and twelve, and all of the boys have become fast friends.
There was hanging out at the pub, coloring all of the bricks…
Swimming on Memorial Day…
Taking over the levee last night…
and generally just being goofy. I’ll be sad when they leave at the end of the week! Hopefully we’ll see them again soon, either over on their home turf (the UK) or back here.
I also took Miles to see Angry Birds (terrible, but look, triplets!)
and Linus and I went shopping, where I bought him his very own plant to take care of. (It’s spearmint.) (He liked the smell.)
And some movie nights on the sofa with popcorn.
Fun times! Next week will be camp for the boys, and the week after, I leave for Europe! Eep!
I’m going to have SO MANY LEMONS at the end of the year! Also, my jasmine that I planted last year is growing nicely. I stopped by Home Depot the other day to get some more (trying to cover our fence for privacy) but they didn’t have any. Hmmph.
Orangetheory
Need to get more in that orange zone, yall.
I’m still not dead. I’m starting my third week working out there and my legs definitely feel stronger. I’m not burning as many calories as I think I should be, but I also don’t know if I can work harder without dying. Oh well, keep on keepin’ on.
I do feel really great after the workouts, I have to say. Endorphins are real!
Doing fun stuff for good
Saturday, I’m doing two fun things for a good cause. In the morning, the Pink Bra Run, a 5K to benefit breast cancer. I ordered a hot pink sports bra to decorate (and wear over my clothes, dear god I’m not going to leave the house in just a sports bra) and I’ll be doing it with my girls, so that’ll be fun.
Later, I’m taking the boys across the lake to a crawfish boil to benefit…something good. I should be ashamed that I don’t know exactly what it’s benefitting, but it’s crawfish! And I’ll get to see Ren!
Reading children
I allowed a production company to use the boys’ ultrasound video (that thing is really making the rounds) and since without them, I wouldn’t have an ultrasound video, I decided to spend the check I got on them. But not on video games. Instead, we went to Barnes and Noble and I let them get whatever they wanted without even looking at the prices. Miles picked out a novelization of The Jungle Book (yeah, I know that’s a book, but we flipped through it at the library, and, well, no, not yet), Oliver got The BFG, and Linus wanted Charlotte’s Web.
Also I’m happy with Costco Tires. I got a flat tire right as I pulled into the driveway the other day, and it only cost me $37 to replace it. On the other hand, I got a water bill for 4 times what it normally is, so…sigh.
Linus showing Daddy how to put the spare on
I know there are other things making me happy. My job, for one. Ziggy, also. Yeah, really! Seeing the boys interact with him makes everything else worth it. Wine also makes me happy. Snowballs on the way home from school. Good stuff.
I just haven’t posted anything of substance in a while. Let’s see, what’s been going on?
Well, Ziggy has developed a taste for my shoes. Yesterday I found one of my new $$$ running shoes in the backyard, sans an insole, and chewed up. Sigh. I guess I need to spray that bitter stuff on everything. Ugh. He spent the afternoon at the vet the other day while the living room got painted. It was so cheap, I’m glad to know it’s an option for when I have to be out of the house all day, so he’s not too bored.
Speaking of getting the living room painted…it’s almost done! Bye-bye yellow, hello, soothing gray. I love it.
Before:
Now:
Better, yes? I love it.
I also gave my blog a makeover. New theme! Always fun.
I went on a field trip with Miles the other day. It was pretty cool. They got to learn about a bunch of instruments, then hear the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra play some kid-friendly tunes. Now the boys want to be in a band. YESSSSS! My boy band ambitions for them are coming to fruition at last! Except Oliver said he wants to play the flute. But that’s cool, no reason a boy band can’t have a flute in it.
Learning about the clarinet
This past weekend I attended two Easter Egg hunts. The first was Saturday morning, and it was the NOMB one. It was huge and awesome. It was a miracle that it didn’t rain. So crazy. The weather was supposed to be terrible all week, school was even cancelled on Friday. But it barely even rained. (We were extremely lucky compared to our neighbors on the north shore who got a lot of bad flooding.)
I took a short time-lapse of part of the hunt. I was in the under-1 area, so lots of babies.
Me and Megan. Ziggy ate my ears later. Sigh.
And then yesterday, I took the boys to the neighborhood one. It was at this really cute events place. I’d love to see it all lit up at night!
Last night was the boys’ school fundraiser. I got this in the wine pull. Better than my friend who got a bottle of Yellow Tail. Heh.
So that’s what has been going on. Coming up is a bunch of travel that I’m excited about. A week in Austin next month to meet with one of my teams, and then a longer trip in June to do some recruiting in Spain and volunteering at WordCamp Europe. In August, I’m taking the boys to visit my brother and his family in California, which we’re all really excited about.
We went to a parade on Saturday that takes place within walking distance. My friend’s son Liam marched in it, so of course we embarrassed him thoroughly by screaming his name as he walked by.
I brought my real camera with me yesterday on Ziggy’s walk (and I mostly just ended up taking the same old pics, just better quality.) There are a zillion houses in our neighborhood with cute details like this, but I kind of love the colors on this one.
I honestly am not all that bothered by new year’s resolutions. I pretty much make them and then forget them. And it’s not like I ever make really original resolutions anyway. It’s always, “focus on health” or some other such nonsense.
But it’s not like that’s going to stop me from making them.
So some things I want to focus on in 2016:
Getting back into running. Now this is really all dependent on taking care of my ankle (Achilles tendonitis.) And because that is exacerbated by a lack of flexibility, this year I want to start yoga. So my fitness resolution is to start yoga so I can run without pain again.
Get to a good place, food-wise. I’m not going to say I want to do Weight Watchers or any other kind of diet, but really just take control. Figure out what that means for me. I think that means talking to a nutritionist and working on something that fits my life and my personality.
But let’s face it, I do want to lose weight, and money does motivate me, so I set up a DietBet. Join me! It starts on my birthday, January 9. Maybe it will stop me from overdoing it. Unlikely.
Get our house in order. I mean that literally. I spent too much time in 2015 fantasizing about moving – I do mean fantasizing. We did the research and now we know for sure – we won’t be able to move into a bigger house and stay in our neighborhood unless we win the lottery. And we don’t buy lottery tickets. So this means just doing the projects we’d have to do to sell our house, but not to sell our house. Instead, to make it the home I will want to spend the next 20 years in. That means fixing the floors once and for all. Painting. That kind of thing.
Get rid of stuff. I’ve gotten better about this, and it’s obviously related to the point above this, but I’m ready to purge like crazy.
Cook more. The boys are getting less picky, I got my awesome Instant Pot, and I want to be better about feeding everyone (including myself) more real foods.
There. No numbers. No “I’m going to run X miles, I’m going to lose X pounds.” Just general improvements.
Well, except for my 366 project. That’s a number. A photo a day, every day. Just like I did in 2010, 2011, 2012, and part of 2014. I’m not going to force myself to post all of them in separate posts like I have in the past. I’ll probably post a few at a time every few days. We’ll see.
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2015 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
The Louvre Museum has 8.5 million visitors per year. This blog was viewed about 190,000 times in 2015. If it were an exhibit at the Louvre Museum, it would take about 8 days for that many people to see it.
Ten years ago today, George and I got married. Crazy. I wrote this post for the New Orleans Moms Blog, a letter to our younger selves. Check it out!
But life goes on. We already really celebrated in June, when we went to England, and we’re hoping to have our anniversary dinner on the cruise in a couple of weeks. May as well, we’ll have plenty of babysitters around!
Miles got sick on Friday, then Oliver on Tuesday, and today Linus woke up with a fever. This is the life I couldn’t have predicted ten years ago.
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