Have you ever had a crush on a celebrity? I don’t mean…I love Brad Pitt, I mean a female. These days I don’t just envy beautiful woman as I did when I was younger. Oh to be taller, thinner, etc. I find that my celebrity crushes are on women who seem to have it all: children, a happy marriage, an enriching career and oodles of money that allows them to do whatever they want in life.
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I am sure we have all heard the tragic news about Whitney Houston. Before all the controversy that swirled around her, she was simply an amazing singer. I followed Whitney since I was a teenager. Long before the before the videos, songs and movies, she was a model that graced the cover of my Seventeen Magazine. I went on to LOVE everything about her. I grew up on Whitney's music, movies and her magic moments at the Grammy's, Super Bowl and American Music Awards.
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Down time has a new look these days.
Yesterday, I laid in bed for 1.5 hours with my baby. This is what we did.
A WHOLE LOT OF NOTHING.
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Unless you were too busy over the holidays plotting the next move of your own Elf on the Shelf, you may have seen the hysterically funny December blog post, Over Achieving Elf on the Shelf Mommies. After falling off my seat as I was reading it, I decided to post it on my personal FB page. I had friends admitting that they laughed so hard they actually snorted some wine while reading it. Apparently my friends and I are not the only ones who fell for the blog, People I Want to Punch in the Throat. In the past few weeks, the blog has become an overnight success.
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While I have not really followed the series "Sister Wives" on TLC, I have caught enough partial bits of episodes and interviews to know the players, the background of the family and the new trials and tribulations that have cropped up for the Brown Family.
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Some people are naturally shy, some are introverts, and many of us are both. For anyone with these traits, the prospect of networking can seem daunting and even panic-inducing. Whether you are looking for a new job or seeking to expand opportunities through new connections, here I offer some tips for those of us who find networking downright scary.
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Despite the distance between us, my college roommate and I share a lot of life's ups and downs, recipes and just plain funny moments that crop up during the average week. I am lucky to have her=:)
During our recent chat, Kelley told me about a photo that she loved. Not that I am doing that much running these days, but I loved these pictures and this quote. Kelley and I were quite confident that we shared something in common with the author. Enjoy!!
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As Alanis quipped, “Isn’t it ironic?” I learn of the existence of National Simplify Your Life Week for the first time while I am just over 20 weeks pregnant with my first baby. My life seems the opposite of simplified right now. Monthly prenatal appointments, interviewing pediatricians, making sense of maternity leave, and measuring out our one-bedroom apartment to figure out the best way to arrange space for a crib feel anything but simple. I said as much to my husband last night, and his reply surprised me.
“We are doing a lot to simplify our lives right now!” He was mainly referring to our progress in purging unneeded items from the apartment to make space for our baby and its various necessary items. (That’s right, “it”, we don’t know what gender we’re expecting! More on that in another post.) As I looked around at the work we were doing, (presently, rearranging the bedroom) I realized we were aiming to create space. Space seems to me the essence of simplicity. Space between the pieces of furniture in our bedroom. Space in the drawers and closets. Space in my schedule for more naps, prenatal appointments and yoga classes. Space in our budget to take on new responsibilities. Simplifying is often about cutting out what is not needed, respecting our limits (of time, of mind, of physical room) and leaving some “space” around them. I guess we are simplifying!
Chances are you are either on Facebook or have heard about the online social networking site. It is hard to escapes it presence in our lives. I was long ago drawn into the Facebook phenomenon. For over two years I have been checking in religiously on friends and family. In turn I have also offered up my fair share of information, pictures and updates to the Facebook gods.
Admittedly, I was immediately smitten with Facebook. It was intriguing to catch up with old friend, old flames and other wonderful memories of my many previous lives. My personal Facebook Friend base has now grown to over 400 people. That number pales in comparison to my nieces and nephews. Most college kids tout a Friend count of 700 or more. Interestingly, what was built as a tool for youthful college students has been taken over by an "older" demographic.
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Has anyone ever heard of this? 2 of my friends swear by it.
There are lots of gnats around lately...
want to get rid of them?
If you are grilling out or playing or just sitting around in some adirondack chairs-
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Lately I have been driving Hubby crazy with that line. I don't know what it is, but since turning 32 (and actually even a little before then), I have taken the attitude that there are just some things that I should have or do simply because I am a grown up now for Pete's sake.
Take for example, my watch situation. Up until my birthday a couple of weeks ago, I was rocking the same cheap, bland watch every.day. I do have 2 "nice" watches sitting in my jewelry box on my dresser, but the battery is dead in one and the strap is broken on the other, so I have been relegated to my Avon specials out of sheer necessity. So when it came time for me to tell Hubby what I wanted for my birthday (no, he did not actually ask in case you were wondering. but a smart woman should always be prepared in these situations.) I told him what kind of watch I wanted, to which he replied: "But you have a perfectly functional watch now." To which I replied: "Yes, but it's wack. And I'm 32 years old and deserve a decent watch dammit." Apparently he tried to find the watch on his lunch break on my birthday but they didn't have the color I wanted. So I got steak instead. Luckily my good friend observed my sad watch situation and gave me a stylish one as my birthday gift.
Speaking of my dresser. It's much like the dining room situation I recently described. Well, ok, not that bad, but the fact of the matter is that we don't have nearly enough room for our my toiletries, jewelry, makeup, etc., so our dresser is a piled-high disaster. I recently decided that I was getting a vanity for our room to have a proper place to put my stuff. I made my big announcement to Hubby, prefacing it with: "I'm 32 years old and I deserve to have a proper place for my crap dammit." To which he did not reply.
This weekend we were shopping for bath towels (riveting, I know). But we need to replace our towels in a bad way. Let's just say we still have some left from our college days. No lie. Anyway, we went to this awesome housewares store that sells designer goods at discounted prices. I was choosing these plush, thick towels for us to purchase when Hubby aka El Cheapo said: "Do we really need those? What about those ones down there?" and points to the cheapest, thinnest ones available. To which I replied: "I am 32 years old and deserve nice towels dammit." To which he sighed and caved.
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[Cue to 24 theme music and cut to a shot of a disheveled-looking Jack Bauer]
Only, the person who was really disheveled was me (and hubby). This is because at 4am this morning Giggles scurried into our room complaining that her "foot hurths" and offering a 5-minute explanation as to why it hurt and why she couldn't sleep and why she wanted us to wake up. After several minutes of whispered negotiations, Hubby convinced her to go back to bed, only to have her scurry back in about 8 minutes later saying that her bed was "scary." Hubby made her a makeshift bed on the floor next to our bed and she laid there for, oh, 3 seconds before jumping up to use the bathroom, flushing repeatedly, and then give us some more crucial details about why her bed was scary. During this whole escapade, she managed to wake up Chatterbox too. After all of that you would think that Giggles would have slept in. Not a chance, she was up and at 'em at 7am looking for warm milk and Martha.
Hubby is racking his brain trying to figure out why she always runs around to his side of the bed when she wakes up in the middle of the night. I think it's because I'm mean when I'm tired (Justice Jonesie and Justice Ny can attest to this) and the poor dear must know that. And so she steers clear.
Now if I could just fool L'il Buddy into thinking that he shouldn't wake me up during the night, I'd be in business.
Cross posted on http://www.mamalaw.com/.
