Sushi Date

Emberly is a girly-girl. And since we aren't church going folk, I pretty much let her wear her fancy dresses that she gets as gifts anywhere. We were able to dress this one down pulling a tank over it. She really wasn't a fan of the idea, but when I said that I want to photograph her in the outfit for my blog, she forgot about that. Sneaky, sneaky.


I wanted to join her in one of her favorite poses, and so did Bauer:

We went for sushi! And Emberly's favorite time killer is some ap Damon has on his phone for watching old-school cartoons.

And of course, Bauer's patience ran out before Damon was finished all-you-can-eating, so I took him outside for a walk. And snapped his handsome face!


What I wore:

Dress, Target
Necklace, Express
Belt, F21
Shoes, Aldo

What a character

I looked through some old pictures of my daughter, trying to decide how much I think my children resemble each other, and I found this:

This was her response to a cat at my sister-in-law's home on her first birthday. Pretty sure she'd never seen one before.
She's so goofy. She's always making funny faces. Bauer is more serious. His looks are "cute" and "smug." Like when he thought he was getting to come downstairs while his sister had to go to bed. He had this smug look on his face that he's been perfecting since about 6mo old. Well, psyche, he had to go to bed too. Haha. He also has a pissed-off-throaty-yelling face. ;)

Honored

Over the weekend, Kish from Me, Myself & Style bestowed me with a Best Blog Award! How exciting! My first blog related award!

I've just started following more blogs, so I only have a few that I'm pretty familiar with and would like to pass the award along to:
Of course, Me, Myself & Style, I love her cute sense of humor and stories from the future of raising a boy!
Autism is a Trip: I've known this mama for a long time and her perspective is almost guaranteed to make you tear up or fall out laughing.
A Bowl Full of Lemons: I like the inspiration to be more organized, as well as her decorating style because it's different from my own and gives me ideas!
Blacktating: for encouraging women of color to breastfeed and spreading breastfeeding news.
Bluebird Vintage: the What We Wore posts with her entire family dressed in adorable, unique items are just awesome.
Kendie Everyday: inventor of the 30x30 challenge and have-er of a delightful sense of humor.
La Vie Petite: this tiny stylish lady actually went to high school with me, and even being in the same class, I didn't really know her! I just stumbled upon her blog through another one (i seem to have an affinity for Mormon fashion blogs, despite not being Mormon or even particularly modest!) that I follow and I've enjoyed seeing all her sewing prowess and how she deals with the opposite issue from me (shortie versus jolly giant LOL)
Notes She Wrote: I just started following this blog, but I love the concept of sisters all contributing to a blog. 4x the cuteness!
Your's, Mine & Ours: Meredith is just adorable and inspires me to embrace my inner cheapskate (and that's a compliment, I swear!).

Seven Random Facts about me:
1) I was born in Alaska.
2) I knew I would marry Damon when I met him. Psychic and cheesy!
3) At 5'11" I'm still shorter than both my parents.
4) My little sister is even shorter than I, but has bigger feet (ha, ha, cruel universe!).
5) I worked at a box and shook factory for 3-1/2yrs. That's pretty random.
6) I procrastinated on (chickened out of) going to South Africa to model. Lame.
7) I have freckles (I don't think you can tell from my poor quality blog pics, can you?)

Favorite song:
Salt Shaker. That was my jam for the longest. And I'll still break it down if it comes on in the club LOL

Favorite dessert:
Black and Tan from Leatherby's Family Creamery. And pecan pralines. And really any baked good made with plenty of real butter.

What is pissing you off right now:
My daughter's bedtime shenanigans.

When you are upset you:
Get snappy and f-wordy.

Favorite pet:
I had a siamese-mix cat named Angel who was a real character. Most notably he was OCD about cleanliness. he cleaned up around the food bowl. Cleaned up our other kitties' litter mishaps. Did NOT let me go to bed with makeup on.
I also had a white miniature schnauzer who was very protective of me. Unfortunately, he growled at my little brother and sister if they approached me while I was petting him, and eventually bit my little sister in the face when he thought she was trying to get her food. He was adopted by a single, childless woman and felt less threatened there.

Black or White?
Black

Biggest Fear:
Losing a child (any loved one really, but especially one of my children)

Best Feature:
Physically, nose or collar bone. Those are the two that I've never had issues with in my lifetime!

Everyday Attitude:
Optimistic Cynic (I hope for the best, but generally expect the worst)

What is perfection?
My daughter's smile. I'm biased, obviously, but omg, it can really challenge me to be upset with her.

Guilty pleasure?
Okay, this is really gross, but if I don't have any "real" dessert in my house, I've been known to just cream some butter, brown sugar and vanilla together and just eat it. It's really delicious. I think my husband laughing disdainfully at me as I indulge makes it even better.

So, according to the rules, the blogs I mentioned should play along and award 15 more and answer the same questions. But I can't make you (or can I?). And I didn't even really follow the rules since I didn't have 15 blogs, if you wanna make excuses... LOL

DIY Tray Table Makeover

I've finally finished something that I can link up to @ A Bowl Full of Lemons!

We had these rather awful tv tray-tables that my husband just refused to let me donate/throw away. So, I asked if I could paint them. He said yes!
All I did was spray paint them with primer, then the bold burnt orange color I'd chosen, and finally with hi-gloss lacquer. They aren't as perfect looking as I'd imagined, but still soooo much improved.

Old table

After a coat of color

Final result
{next project; new throw pillow covers. I'm tired of that print.}

Falsies

I recently read in a magazine about a woman's mascara-free beauty routine. She simply put falsies on every day. I thought, great idea!! But really, not so great. I tried it, and even after a week of practicing application, I still find it way easier (read: time efficient) to just put mascara on and wash it off at the end of the day. So for me, false lashes will remain for special occasions only.
I know it's really lame that there's no pictoral evidence of this blunder, but this experiment occurred during that dark, shudder-upon-remembering, time that I did not have a functioning camera. Sorry.

Envy

While searching out inspiration for my Pinterest, I kept coming across editorials featuring Arlenis Sosa, a Dominican model. She really makes me wish for browner skin and thicker brows :D
That is all.

Happiness is

We were in the bay area last weekend for a wedding and the spirit of the weekend and the beautiful weather had me reflecting on just how blessed and happy I am.
Happiness is

my daughter wearing my earrings
Happiness is

trying to force my children to be still long enough for a snapshot in the pretty dining room of my long-time coworker and friend after hours of chatting and merriment. Yes, I said merriment.

I'm overwhelmed with gratitude.

The other bib

I'm really into the bib necklaces these days. I like being weighed down with jewelery!
So while I was snapping a bib on the bub so that he wouldn't ruin his clothing while demolishing his red velvet birthday cupcake, I was donning a bib necklace :D

Necklace $12 and vest $16, NY&Co
Top $13 and pant $18, Target
Belt $4, F21
Shoes $45, Aldo
($108)

Belt placement caused some unfortunate flair of the top (or maybe it was my cupcake??), but I'm not expecting LOL

Eating Clean

A follower recently confided that her eating habits are sabotaging her fitness goals and asked me what my daily diet looks like.
First of all, thank you for even thinking I might have the "secret" to getting out of our own ways. But I do not. I've blogged before about how I can go on junk-food benders despite the fact that I do indulge when eating well to avoid feelings of deprivation and doing just that. I don't know why, it's a compulsion of mine. If tasty naughty treats are in the home, I will eat it until it's gone. It's short-sighted really. I know eating well makes me feel better in the long run, but sometimes that immediate gratification of demolishing a batch of rich tasting cookies wins. Some things that help though:
a) keeping junk food out of the house and plenty of "clean" things to snack on (I love low-fat string cheese now that I can have dairy again!)
b) planning meals and snacks so that unhealthy impulse snacking is minimal
c) having something green and a protein at every meal
d) checking labels for sugar content; processed foods are notoriously loaded with sugar. Really, the fewer processed foods you eat, the safer you probably are in general

When I'm good, I'm an angel. When I fall of the wagon, I get a concussion and amnesia and it can take weeks for me to get back into good habits. I really rely on working out to keep gain slow during those times.

Time Flies

I truly, honestly, cannot believe a year has passed already.
Today last year I was pretty doubtful I would be having a baby because it was my due date and what were the odds that I would have TWO babies right on their due date?
But Bauer had received the memo and we've been so blessed since.

I get that teary-eyed, nose-burning sensation just thinking about holding him for the first time.
Happy Birthday my handsome chub-lump!

{i got him that crab romper to represent for Cancers everywhere :D}

Obsessed with Obsessed

I've been watching the A&E series, Obsessed, lately. And I'm always randomly referencing episodes with Damon and he tells me that I'm going to be on the show, for watching the show LOL
The show is about people with anxiety disorders that have manifested themselves into various forms of OCD. The show centers around a more hands-on type therapy called Exposure and Controlled Response, where they expose the patient to their anxiety producing situation and make them experience the anxiety and wait for it to subside, without using their typical compulsions.
I find it absolutely intriguing, because I'm fascinated by the human brain and the extreme ways we can react to trauma. What is it that allows some to recover relatively quickly and unscathed, yet other's minds are fragile and trap them in destructive behavior?
It makes me think about where we draw the line between habit and obsession. It makes me think about how I've responded to life events and examine my own worry-wart quirks.
Sometimes when I leave the kids in the playroom at the gym, Bauer gets pretty upset (damn my broken toe and long absence from the gym that allowed him to develop that!). When he starts to cry and is looking at me in distress, I feel my anxiety level rise (which is something I've been paying attention to since watching the show and seeing the therapists make their patients rate their anxiety on a scale 1-10). But I'm able to ignore my impulse to grab him and go about my workout. He calms down and plays, I work on my fitness.
I get anxious about working out in and of itself. I get very irritable if something is preventing me from working out as planned. And on days I've designated for rest, I get anxious if I feel like i haven't eaten well enough to deserve a rest day and often end up working out once the kids go to bed anyway. But I don't workout for excessive lengths or numbers of times, I do eat nutritiously and it doesn't really get in the way of enjoying my family. So I can still think of myself as a fitness fanatic rather than a compulsive exerciser.
I am also insistent on giving my family hugs and kisses and "I love you"s any time they leave the house. I worry that if I don't, they'll die in horrible accident and I'll have to live without closure and with regret. But not because I caused it per se, but that it's just the ironic way in which I think the universe works.

I think we're probably all a little bit crazy :D

The Family That Sweats Together

I've been asking Damon to do the Shred with me forever. He resisted because a)he's not really into traditional workouts (he prefers to play sports rather than train) and b)it's for chicks.
But yesterday he did it with me! And of course that meant Emberly had to. She usually does it with me if she's around, but "needs" lots of breaks when it's just us. She did the whole thing with her daddy participating too. So Bauer then had no choice but to join us. He got on top of us during the ab sections. He pulled him self up by our sweaty skin when we were in plank position.
The workout wasn't any easier with everyone doing it with me, but it was sure a lot of fun!
I'm moving on to the "Ripped" series this week!

Drunkard

My 11.5mo old son, who seemed to be content with just laying and sitting for the longest, has been getting increasingly bold with his walking attempts. It really just mostly makes me nervous because he frequently bites it. Usually, he's just going a few steps from the ottoman to the sofa, so it's soft and doesn't matter much, but today he was just one step short of making it to a chair outside and fell forward hitting his face pretty good. I thought he'd stick to cruising after that for a while. But he surprised us and took a long, obstacle filled walk from his sister's bed to the hallway this evening when they were getting ready for bed! We cleared most of the chaos from his path and tried to get him to do it again and we captured it on film (the hubby's phone, my camera is still out of commission).
He's pant-less, and missing a shoe and just generally looks inebriated. Awesome.

Being that I've done this before, I know that walking just means more falling, more getting into things, more of me chasing him. But I still can't help but be giddy and excited about it.

Flashback Friday

So, my camera stopped working. One week after the extended warranty expired. Yeah. Really.

So, here's a photo from a night long long ago that I just found because the bff tagged me in it.

{oh, boo, I didn't realize it'd be so tiny...}

I got that top from when I modeled at the grand opening of H&M in downtown San Francisco. Lace, metallic thread, rhinestones, bustle... what else could you want in a top? It's one of the few things I ever "got" from modeling. People think you get tons of free clothes. Maybe the super models do, but in 5yrs of modeling, I only remember 3 occasions where I got free clothes. Plenty of other perks though, admittedly.

One of those weeks

I'm usually such a homebody (mainly because I'm cheap). I get excited about going to the movies in the middle of the day.
But this last week we were all over the place with visitors and my birthday.
And...
I'm exhausted. I have lots of pictures and plenty of things to talk about, I just don't have the mental energy to actually sit down and make my fingers form sentences.
So instead, here's a photo bomb from our first trip to Rehab at the Hard Rock.
















I promise to be better this week. Really, I do.