Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Reminders

After feeling like I was hitting a wall with who I was and "what" I was becoming as an adult, mother, wife and most importantly a career woman, I've really taken time to reflect on my emotions now that I have received my big promotion.

Sometimes you have to remind yourself that hard work and patience will pay off, but never forget to always BE true AND STAY true to yourself.

Happy Tuesday!




Images via Pinterest

Monday, November 28, 2011

Sangria Is The Shiz!

This year my sister hosted Thanksgiving and I was in full blown Martha Stewart/Pinterest cooking mode by Wednesday night as I was bringing a few things.  I was excited mostly for my first try at Sangria.  Sangria is my friend, I've always loved the Sangria that everyone else makes and, well,  I love wine, so I think we can safely say this was going to be a win win for me.

I turned out amazing and I did tweak the recipe a bit, by doing the following:
1. I made my own Simple Syrup because duh, why pay when I'm pretty sure you have water and sugar in your house to make it yourself

2. I added a whole nother bottle of vino and a shot (and a half) of KetelOne Citroen.  You're welcome.  And no judgies about that either.

3. And yes, you need to use REAL Pomegranate juice (POM), not the cocktail or the cocktail mixed with cranberry that is cheating.  I too took a deep breath when I put an $11 dollar bottle of juice in my cart, but a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do.

4. I used Shiraz instead of Red Zinfandel.  Not a fan of Zinfandels.

5. I transferred to a punch bowl when I got to my sister's house.  It was a much better visual and it made access to the fruit that had been soaking in the Sangria for 12+ hours much easier.

Without further adieu, here is the recipe you've been asking for.  Good luck and enjoy!  It was very easy and I was able to do it all while home alone with my toddler.  I do have a fruit loving girl, so that helped. Applause please!  It will certainly be making a repeat appearance at Christmas this year.  Even my brother-in-law, who is all things Bud Select, drank some!  Go me!  Happy Monday!

Courtesy of www.deepsouthdish.com via Pinterest.

  • 1 (750 ml) bottle of red zinfandel
  • 4 cups of cranberry juice
  • 2 cups of POM Wonderful pomegranate juice
  • 1 cup of orange juice
  • 3/4 cup of simple syrup
  • 1 apple, unpeeled, cored, quarter & sliced thin
  • 1 orange, halved and sliced thin
  • 1 lemon, halved and sliced thin
  • 1/2 cup of fresh cranberries
  • 1/4 cup of pomegranate seeds (tip if you've never done this before it's super messy and word to the wise, you can supposedly buy the seeds.  Did.not.know.that).
  • San Pellegrino sparkling water
Instructions:
Combine all of the ingredients in an extra large storage container, taste and adjust (see this was my queue to add more vino and vodka) flavors to your liking (me likey!). Chill for at least 4 hours or overnight.  Stir before serving and transfer to pitchers or pour by the glass. Use a pair of tongs to extract some of the fruit for each glass, add ice to each glass, and fill glasses, leaving about an inch of free space at the top.  Top each glass off with a splash of Pellegrino (highly recommend) and lightly stir.

Note:  The color of the Sangria comes primarily from the juices, so you can use either red or white.  Use any good wine that you prefer.  Other good choices include Cabernet Saubignon, Merlot, Rioja, Shiraz or Beaujolais.

And if the recipe isn't appealing enough, here are a few pictures of the finished product, before it went into the refrigerator for the night:

 Before I added another bottle of wine and the vodka.

And after...Mmmmmm...nuuummmmmyyyy!

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Thankful For...

My new header!  Yay!  I was ready for something new and different and was contemplating paying someone to do it for me, but I was pretty sure I could save the dinero and do it myself.  Thanks to one little thing that I couldn't do and a little help from my friend Lindsey, I shall present to you...my new header...

So what do you think?  Anything I should do to change or make it better?

Thanks for the input.

Much appreciated.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Much love,
M

Gobble Gobble

From my family to yours, I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Here's to turkey and too much of it, friends, family, games, conversation, laughs and let's not forget the wine!

Thanksgiving, man. Not a good day to be my pants.
-Kevin James


"See" you next week!

Love,
M

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

The Time Has Come My Friends, Wanna Join?

So yeah, working out.  Outside of post-dinner dance parties with Mia and our walks around the subdivision, there is not a whole lot of that going on lately.

Howeeeeeeever, I've been inspired.

I spent most of my junior high, high school and college days playing volleyball.  All year round.  I was always active.  I ran, trained and played volleyball constantly.  Even after college, I coached for 2 years and still played in my own "old lady" leagues.  The last tournament I played in was on a evening league, after work.  I was loosing the competition that I loved so much about the sport.  I was showing up and playing against women with sweat bands on their forehead and wrists and knee pads and elbow pads.  I never was a fan of knee pads.  I always said real volleyball players don't need them if you know how to land/fall correctly.  I was starting to feel old.  All of us were.  When you go from the collegiate level to the adult level of competition, things change.  So I stopped.playing.for.good.

I kept working out and taking care of myself.  I had a lot of injuries in my career and didn't want to feel any results of those injuries, so I kept my muscles strong and active.

Work got busier, life got busier and then I got married.  We worked out together all the time, went on bike rides (however I am still not good on the bike, never was) and focused on taking care of us.  Then we decided to start trying for a baby.  It took us 8 months to get pregnant.  During that time, I still exercised and took yoga.  Throughout my entire pregnancy with the exception of the last 2 months or so I worked out several times a week and continued with yoga.  Then, we became parents in a new house, in a new town.  As soon as I got the green light from my doctor, I went back to the gym.  I started the C25K running program because let's be honest, most of my maternity leave was spent on the couch.  I had a goal.  I wanted to run the St. Patty's Day 5 mile in March.  I ran and I ran and I ran and then race day came.  The Hubs, my sister and I all ran it.  Mia "ran" in the jogging stroller with Daddy.  My sister and I stayed together and motivated each other.  I even cried when I crossed the finish line.  Not a scary, crinkle ugly face cry, but a happy "yay for me" cry!  It was awesome!  It was such an accomplishment.  I ran track & field in high school, but I was a sprinter and a jumper, not a long distance runner.

After that.  I officially fell off of the wagon.  The gym I belonged to was bad.  Too small and too crowded.  The one on my way home from work had old equipment.  I lost my drive.  I still do yoga occasionally at home thanks to Ms. Bethenny Frankel (love her) and do go on walks with Mia.  But that's it.  Better than nothing, but I could be doing more.

We all know how difficult it is to work out and have a family.  It is.  Say it with me.  We know and it's ok to admit it.

There's a certain someone in my blog universe that has had quite a remarkable year.  Katie is a motivation to many and was a motivation to me.  Therefore, I have made a commitment to myself and will be running the 5 mile St. Patty's Day Run for the 2nd time this March and thanks to Lindsay's suggestion I will be running with her and Gina, two other fine females in my blog universe.  Lindsay promised shenanigans afterwards and what girl doesn't like that for a little extra push. I mean it is a St. Patty's Day Run after all.

So thank you ladies!  I guess now I have an excuse to go get a new pair of running shoes because I'm quite sure the training will go much better if I have some pretty new ones!

Monday, November 21, 2011

Why I Want To Package Her Up

This moment in time is amazing!  She's perfect, she's spunky and she needs her Mommy every moment we are together.  She attaches her little self to my leg and just stays there.  She yells for me, if she doesn't see me or can't find me and it's by far the sweetest yell ("Mom, are you?").  She's learning to use the big girl potty all on her own mostly.  She's learning that the sucker after the potty is the best reward.  She's learning that Pull-Ups officially make her a big girl.  I ask her if she's Momma's girl and she'll quickly answer with the most adorable "Yes," every time.  We now have full blown conversations.  She remembers a lot of what we do, names of people in her life and events that are coming up.  She now picks out her own bubble bath when we go to the store and this weekend it was Dora.  So now the bathroom smells like Strawberry Shortcake dolls during bath time instead of babies.

She's now "old" enough to talk about Christmas and get excited about it.  She's now "old" enough to have her own tree in her bedroom.  She's now "old" enough to help Mommy decorate the house next weekend.

She can count, she pretends that she can read and often wants to read a book to Mommy or Daddy.  She even wants to help make pancakes.  She sings along to songs and encourages nightly post-dinner dance parties (yay for cardio). She's outgrowing her crib which likely means a toddler bed may be on the Christmas list.

As hard as some days can be emotionally and physically as she attaches her self to me almost permanently, it's times like these that I need to remember how great these moments are and how wonderful and blessed I am to have her.  Because some day, I'm not going to be so cool and some day she'll leave this house for college and some day she'll leave this house to start her own family.

But for right now I want to package her up and keep her just the way that she is.

Making the decision to have a child is momentous.  It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body.
-Elizabeth Stone

Have a great Turkey week!

Friday, November 18, 2011

Bad Mom/Wife Story #81

I kind of feel like I suck today.  Why, should you ask?  Well, after my promotion and the giddy excited self that I was all of yesterday afternoon, I was hoping to come home to flowers, chocolate or maybe an invite out to dinner.

What I got was..."wanna just have leftovers for dinner."

I was mad.  Pissed really.  Pouted most of the night (and I wonder where my kid gets it).  Fed my child and made my own dinner, drank two glasses of wine and went to bed early.  Left all the parenting, with the exception of dinner and bed time, up to the Hubs for the night.  I needed a time out from mother and wife duties.  I was officially checking out.

I feel like a shit today because of it.

My Hubs is not the romantic type, he does not go out of his way to do anything special and I know that, but sometimes I just hope for the wooing.  Like come home one day to the news that we are going on a date and a sitter has been arranged or come home on a Friday to an awesome family fun day planned for Saturday.  Nope.  Not gonna happen.

I don't want to have to be the one to bring it up...dinner out, date nights, trip to the zoo, etc.  Sometimes I just want him to suggest it.  It's not that I don't think he wants to do it.  He just doesn't want to put forth the effort.  He's a "on the whime" type of planner when it comes to our social calendar.  And some days it drives me bananas.

HOWEVER, at the end of the day I know what I signed up for and I love him for who he is.  But I'm human and a woman (with hormones) and sometimes I just want to feel a little special.

Is that wrong?

Have a lovely weekend lovelies and I'll see you next week!

Thursday, November 17, 2011

Butterflies

So got a call yesterday that my bosses wanted to take me to lunch today.  Well the lunch can't happen because I have a conflict, however I have a meeting with them today at 1:30.

I get along with them well and we are in the beginning stages of a merger and large transition. I'm optimistic it's a good thing, but I'm just curious what.

I've been waiting a long time for a promotion, so maybe that's it or maybe it's not.  Trying not to get too excited, but I'm going off the good feeling I've had since I got the phone call yesterday.  This morning. Butterflies in my tummy. Kind of nervous, a bit anxious and a tad excited.  I should be more "expect the unexpected" because then it won't be such a let down if its not what I'm thinking it is.  You just never know.

I work my butt off and I think I'm pretty good at what I do, so hopefully the hard work will finally pay off and I will be getting the promotion I've been waiting for.  And if not, well...we shall see what happens.

Until then...and on a totally different and lighter note...

Here are a few more of my favorites as of late:












Have a wonderful day!

UPDATE:  I did get a promotion today!  So excited!  Feels good to get rewarded for your hard work every once and a while!

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Wordless (Almost) Wednesday - The Sickies

Hi Lovelies,

Thanks for all the nice comments on Monday's post and on Twitter.  Made me feel better.  You guys are sweet.

Anywho - quick update...the girl is doing much better, but Monday night did not get better than Monday day.  Her temp skyrocketed to 105 right before bed time!!! Yikes.  Holy nervous new mom!  Anyway we had one hour to get her down to 102 per our doctor (well technically a nurse at his exchange, who was great by the way) or it was off to the ER for us.  Luckily we got it down and it continued to drop and by after nap time yesterday her temperature was back to normal.  I had a nice, relaxing cuddle filled day with my girl yesterday.  I'm sure all she needed was her Momma :)

Here's a pic from our cuddlefest yesterday.  I heart her.  A lot.


Have a lovely day!

Monday, November 14, 2011

Why This Day is NOT a Winner (subtitle: My "NOT REAL" Post For Today)

So yeah.  Today stinks.  Last week I had quite the emotional roller coaster going on with some family "stuff" and I dedicated the weekend to rest and family to get me back on track.  This morning.  I felt fantastic.  I slept and rested and got just the right amount of dosage on the family front and went in to this new day with a positive attitude.

Well, then I got an email from our COO.  Our company is merging with another and everything is going down this week and next because why wouldn't you merge the week before and the week of Thankgiving right? Makes perfect sense.   Good news for the company, but timing is questionable. The email consisted of a lot of normal corporate stuff about the merger, but included the announcement of some supervisors.  Two from the new company and one from our existing company.  OMG.  I wanted to vomit.  I keep to myself.  I run a satellite office for our company and have for 4 years.  I like my gig.   I have a staff of 4, including myself and we are perfectly happy that way.  This announcement does not necessarily affect us or our office, but it does affect the company I work for.in.my.opinion.  You know those people that fake their way through life, lie, steal and cheat and yet no one seems to really notice but you.  Yeah, those people.  The ones that one up every one on every thing.  Those people that drive and wear flashy things to prove something (even though they continue to battle financial and expect pity because of it)? Those people that are always sooooo busy, yet can take one week's vacation unpaid to Cabo.  You no likey either?  Well good.  I try to not "go here" because let's be honest it is just not that exciting, but this particular person has been a thorn in my effing side since I met her 8 years ago.  She's bad news.  The only thing I can figure (here comes the major professionalism, ready, set, go) is that she is sleeping with someone or has something on someone because let's be honest what she has done would be grounds for most company's to fire someone of this "nature."  I know more, but I can't type those things.  I just can't bring my fingers to do it.

I let her get to me way more than I should.  But seriously and honestly I'm not sure how much more I can take.  And my company, god love them, but you continue to deal with this madness?

There are bad eggs.  I know that.  I just don't want to have to deal with them on a weekly basis.  That's it.  That's all I'm asking for.

And you know what else?  The traffic by my work currently sucks.big time!!  It took me 30 minutes just to get off of our road (my building is situatuated on a looped street that is currently one way).  All I wanted to do was take a breath and drive real quick to Jimmy John's and get a veggie sandwich and a big Diet Coke, which usually takes all of 10 minutes because they are so freaky fast.

And you know what else? (I'm almost done. Promise).  I got a text that Mia is a running a fever.  It's one of those moments that I hate that I can't be with her when she doesn't feel well.  She's in GREAT hands, but I'm her Momma. Sadz.

For the love.  Can a girl get a redo on this day?

How much longer til I can have a glass of vino?

Thanks for listening.  I do feel better.  Writing, whether anyone cares to read it, always makes me feel better.  So I am thankful for that.

I hope you all are having a GLORIOUS day!

Friday, November 11, 2011

Funk Friday

I'm currently in a funk.  I'm currently in a mood.  I'm currently stressed out.  I'm currently cranky.  And I just don't have much to say that wouldn't bored you to effing tears.

So I will leave you with these, because after all the best cure for anyone's foul mood (outside of wine) is somethin' a little funny.




All images courtesy of Pinterest, of course.

I hope you all have a GREAT and rest filled weekend.

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Wordless Wednesday - PARTAAAAAAY!





















And a BIG thanks to my big sis for the pictures! Muuuuaaaah!

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

It's Tuesday...

I can't stop laughing...

Courtesy of Pinterest

Have a great day!

Monday, November 7, 2011

The Reveal

Well you guys, I got it done.  At 1:00 a.m. on Friday night Saturday morning.  I love it.  I turned out great.  Pretty proud of myself on this one.  And the girl?  Was all over it when she got up, she immediately started filling it with toys.


The party was a success and I'll have more of that to share this week.  I was running around like a crazy person most of Friday night and Saturday trying to get ready (seriously poured myself a cocktail at 2:00 p.m. Saturday cause I needed to chill.the.eff.out).  Thanks so much to my family for coming in to help.  I just don't have enough hands and the Hubs, weeelllllllll he is not much of a helper when it comes to this kind of stuff.  He just stands in the background, he would rather not be in the way I guess??  Haha!  (I can laugh about this now).

I didn't take one picture.  I left that up to both of my sisters (thank the Lord for them) and they pulled through.  They were both all over everywhere taking pictures of the super fun day!  I CAN'T wait to see them!

And on a very random side note, now that Halloween is officially over in my house and all the decorations are  down...I feel a lot of pressure to get my Christmas card pic going.  It seems so early, but I guess it's not.  Geez. Can I get a timeout from the holiday craziness.  It goes too fast.

Have a GREAT week!

Thursday, November 3, 2011

Toy Boxes and Tears

Holy Hormonal!  Not sure if it's the impending days o' fun with Aunt Flo or the impending birthday that is only a few days a way, but I am a basket case the past few days.

Having a baby changes everything, especially your hormones.  Mine....very sensitive.  Never was much of a crier until I had Mia.  Now I cry at commercials and blog posts and songs on the radio and I'm pretty sure I could break out in a massive tear fest if I thought too hard and too long about my girl. Pathetic.  But it's me, so embrace it right?

To the point...

When I was a kid I had a toy box.  Not sure where it came from, but I know I've always had it.  It used to be filled with toys, but then it became a place to put stuff I didn't have any other place for and made home in the back of my closet at my parents house.  It's moved with me and I really haven't given it much attention until Mia came along.  It has yellowed, stained, but the stickers that were put on there still remain.  Even a sticker on the inside from my Dad's company circa 1980s.  It's one of those projects I've been wanting to do since she's been here.  Well Saturday, she has been "here" 2 years and I was bound and determined this year to make it happen.

So last night, after the lil' one hit the crib, the garage, my toy box and my glass of wine had a date.  I sanded and primed and painted for a few hours.  I'm excited for what it will be and how it will make it's way through Mia's life (and I would be lying if I didn't think about how a potential 2nd child could be affected by the fact that his/her sister got Mom's childhood toy box).

So tonight, because I don't have 213 other things to be doing for Mia's party, I will spend a few more hours in the garage (and hopefully with another glass of wine) finishing it.

I'm emotional about it.  It's a piece of my childhood that I'm passing onto my daughter.  What will she be doing with it when she is 33?

Just hope I can manage to finish it with less tears involved.  Who is this sappy woman I've turned into.  Just call me Sensitive Sally.

Happy Thursday!

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Wordless Wednesday - Dino Mia




Of course I have 318 more on my "real" camera.  Hope you and your family had a GREAT Halloween!