O Christmas Tree

Admittedly Christmas has not worked out the way I wanted it to this year. I had grand visions decorations all over the house, present bought early, lots of baking and a beautiful Christmas card to mark our first Christmas as a married couple.

You'd be surprised how much a week filming a DIY reality show, the subsequent clean up and multiple elementary school choir performances can set you back.

Our baking was done on December 1, there is no Christmas card this year and we will be Christmas eve shopping. I'm willing to overlook all of this though because we got the Christmas trees up. And not just one of the trees all of them, including my tree.

I was horrified when Isaac and I first combined our holidays to realize his tree was color coordinated red and gold. Those were the only colors; red and gold. I could not fathom how one could display all the great ornaments out there with only red and gold. I was also very concerned about how a co Christmas would go, if I couldn't display my hodge podge of ornaments collected over the years. Luckily we had an easy fix; two living rooms, two trees. That simple. The TV room tree is Isaacs with red and gold themed ornaments and mine is in the front living room and has been called everything from the quirky tree to the eclectic tree to finally just Amy's tree. That's okay, it's the fun tree!

I love, love Christmas ornaments. I love to give them, to get them and do pick them out when ever traveling so I'll always have a reminder of where I've gone. I've fallen down a couple times, I forgot to get one when I visited Boston and when we were in Aguascalientes Mexico, but I'm trying to be better about remembering.
My favorite thing is to give them though and that's a tradition I've started and actually been able to keep. Each year Isaac and Carolina get a specially selected ornament usually, but not always, marking something that happened that year, or something they like. Even last year when we didn't put up any trees and spent the holiday in Spain new ornaments were handed out. The best part is they get them the day we put the tree up and who doesn't love and early Christmas gift!

We always have fun pulling them out each year, and remembering the things and events they symbolize. I may not be able to get anything, or much at all, done during the holidays but we always get our ornaments, it's the one tradition I have always been able to keep and hope to always be able to continue. Below are some of our favorites!

The first ornament I gave Carolina when she was 5. She loved (and still loves) to color and draw and this seemed to fit her perfectly. The best part is this is still her favorite. She gets so excited when she puts it on the tree.

This is Isaac's ornament for this year. Our first night in Paris we ate at a restaurant on the Champs Elyesse with an amazing view of the Arc De Triomphe and I told him he'd given me the world!

It would not be a proper Moreno family tree without a Doctor Who Ornament! This show has brought so much to our family and is something we love to share, it wouldn't be right to not show it some love on our tree.

I feel like I left my heart in London, but with my double decker bus from Harrods I get to keep a little piece with me!

Our family ornament for this year. I got this way back in October before Bath Crashers so I feel it's a tad incomplete, but this is pretty much us in 2012!

This one was given to me by my friend Julie. She knows with me you can't go wrong with Coca Cola. Julie has actually given me several ornaments that I love. I need to post more of them!

 

 

30 Days of Thankful; Days 7 & 8

Yesterday I was found myself very thankful for some of the small perks I have at my job. One of the best is some flexibility with my schedule. I'm working on training for the Thanksgiving day Turkey Trot and with time change the only way I can get my runs in after work is to leave a little early. I'm very thankful that I have a boss and a job that allows me to move my hours around as need to so a couple days a week I can leave 30-40 minutes early. It's a very small perk, but I know there are many people with jobs or multiple jobs that do not have that flexibility and I feel very grateful for that luxury.

Today I got home feeling not quite 100% so I am thankful for hot tea and flannel pj pants, a new episode of Parks and Recreation and someone to cuddle with on the couch!

30 Days of Thankful: Day 6

It's Election day today so obviously I am thankful to live in a country where I have a chance to make my voice heard.

I'm more thankful for the Election Day tradition started today of having a Kerby Lane breakfast before I go rock the vote.

I'm very thankful for a husband who may not be able to vote, but still genuinely cares about the process and waits in line with me for moral support! :)

I am incredibly thankful this whole mess is over with. 

And finally, I am thankful for the way the votes seem to have been cast and the results we appear to have.

And that is all I plan to say about that!

30 Days of Thankful: Days 4 & 5

So I knew exactly what Day 4 would be early in the day, but never got around to typing it up. I was having such a nice day with Isaac that I never wanted to take a break to blog. I figured enjoying my time with him was more important, doubling up one day is not the end of the world.

Sunday I was reminded of how thankful I am for some hip pain I experienced over a year ago. I had only been running for a few months to train for a 5 mile run and I started having horrible pain in my hip flexor. I was so frustrated that I had finally found an activity I enjoyed and now I was in pain. I got new shoes, tried do some pre run stretches and resting it, but nothing worked. I was dragging my feet on going to the doctor, afraid of what they would say so I kept putting it off. Then one day I saw an article on Twitter about yoga for runners.

I had always made fun of yoga and “yogis” I saw at the gym with their sandals and chai lattes they would come in with, but I was desperate so I found a Sunday Vinyasa Flow class at our gym and gave it a try. 

It was like a switch flipped, almost immediately I began running pain free.  I felt so relieved that I was able to something so simple to help my runs so I branched out and began attending Body Flow class at my gym as well. Body flow is a yoga/Pilates hybrid class choreographed to music. You get the stretch of  yoga mixed with  Pilates and get a really good full body workout. The best part of all of this was not only did I found something I love to do, I also found something I’m good at!  I generally have a pretty easy time attempting new poses and can usually do the "advanced" option.  I’ve never been “good” at any sort of physical activity, but between running and yoga I’ve found 2 things that I enjoy doing and I'm actually good at them!  Well I’m good at yoga, running I do it, I enjoy it most of the time, but I’m far from the fastest or have the far from the most endurance. I’m good at yoga though. I’m much more flexible than I ever thought I could be, my balance is improving, and core muscles are improving.

 It took a few years, but I finally found a workout regimen that works for me, and that I love. I’m so thankful that I didn’t rush to the doctor and got over my hang-ups to give yoga a shot. It’s made me a much stronger person, and I can’t imagine my life without it.

Today, I am so thankful for my extra hour of sleep! Sounds silly, but oh my gosh did I feel well rested this morning! The rested feeling lasted all day, I had my best run in a while, got dinner together while Isaac went to the gym and finished some laundry. I know the euphoria of the extra hour will wear of soon, but I'm thankful for it while I have it!

30 Days of Thankful Day 3: A Fun Saturday

Today, I'm simply thankful for this day. A fun, not stressful day with my family.

The day started when Isaac got up with Carolina at 7:20 in the morning; she's an early riser whether she's had enough sleep or not. I'm a very light sleeper so I'm generally the one that wakes up when I hear our door open and will head downstairs for Disney Channel time. But today she fell into the door or something so Isaac woke up as well and told me to stay in bed, he'd go down. Score!!

A couple hours later we headed to Alamo Drafthouse and saw Wreck it Ralph which was a really fun movie, that we all enjoyed. Throw in a mimosa and bacon scone and you pretty much have the perfect Saturday morning movie experience!

Isaac and Carolina were on an arcade kick once the movie was done and a  Google search led us to Pinballz arcade not too far from down the road. I almost opted out of this trip as I've never been a video game or arcade person. Even as a kid I found them loud and overwhelming and couldn't figure out why I'd spend money on a game that would be over in like 2 minutes. But I went and I'm glad I did. We cheered on Isaac as he owned the Doctor Who pinball game, Isaac and Carolina teamed up on a Simpsons game,  I played one racing game with Isaac and ended by wining a close air hockey game against Carolina. 

A little ski ball!

Isaac cleaning up on Doctor Who Pinball

Daddy daughter Simpson time!

We ran Carolina back to her mom's; she has a birthday party and out of town guests to see the rest of the weekend so we'll see her next weekend. Isaac and I came home and took long, wonderful Saturday naps.

The rest of the evening is for enjoying our beer and catching up on some TV.

I couldn't think of a nicer day and I'm so thankful for this day and all other days I get to spend with my little crew!

Carolina showing off what she got with her tickets!

30 Days of Thankful Day 2

It was a fairly average Friday afternoon at work, lunch was over and the afternoon was dragging when a message popped up in my inbox. It was invitation to go the conference room at 3:30 for Cookie Cake, the reason was just because it was Friday!The invite was sent by the executive assistant but when we got to the conferenece room she mentioned all she had done was send the invite, our boss, well the HR VP had decided we needed a little fun and picked us up a cookie cake at lunch!

The HR VP is one of only 3 males in HR and the only guy in our local HR group. Poor guy, we're 4 high maintenance ladies and he always manages to stay calm, even when a simple question leads to 15 minutes of "I'm so stressed about my wedding, I just want to go on my honeymooon" which totally never happened...just saying hypothetically...

So at 3:30 HR and various executives, accountants, client services people and what not gathered in the conference room and shared a huge cookie cake, just because! When ever anyone asked why we were having cake the answer was "for anything you feel like celebrating"!

It was a good day for cake. This is a rough time of the year up in our part of the building. Annual Enrollment is in full swing leaving HR feeling frazzled and the executives and controllers spend weeks in budget meetings for the next year. Throw in general "here come the holidays" stress and everyone starts to feel overwhelmed.


Anyway, I could say many, many, MANY things about my job and the company I work for but I genuinely work with best people ever and I was thankful for an unexpected few minutes to enjoy a very sweet cookie cake and some non work laughs, and maybe a few work laughs happened too! :)

30 Days of Thankful: Day 1

30 Days of Thankful: Day 1

I went back and forth on doing the 30 days of thankful this year. I believe in being thankful all the time, but I did it last year, so I tossed around other options, but in the end I came back to this one. I’ve been in a funk lately and I need the kick in the pants to see all the great things in my life. I’ve suffered with some post honeymoon blues, as well as a stressful period at work and it feels like October was just a month of disappointments. I have a bad habit of wearing my disappointments longer than I should.  I can’t stop feeling sad that thanks to a rough day at work my birthday was kind of a dud,  we didn’t get to go to the pumpkin patch with Carolina this year and that I missed out on a family event that I had so been looking forward to. I've just felt weighed down by the month.

The last few days, seeing people loose so much from the hurricane has very much put things in perspective, but I felt like I needed a bit of a cleansing so here we go. 

I had a couple things in mind for today, but then I got to work and realized that I'd left my breakfast at home. 

Not too long ago this wouldn't have been an issue for me. I'm not a breakfast eater and haven't been since about 3rd grade. I like breakfast food, just not at breakfast. Generally I have to be up a couple hours before I can stomach any food even though, I do completely understand that breakfast is important. I went years without giving much thought for breakfast save a cup of yogurt here in there when I went on a "healthy streak". Then I met Isaac. Isaac wakes up famished, he needs food almost immediately.  Breakfast is not only his favorite meal of the day, I'm fairly certain he'd find himself in a Sophie's Choice situation if asked to choose between myself or breakfast. 

Isaac likes eggs, every morning. And I mean every morning.  Usually in breakfast taco format. 

I'm not an egg eater, never have been and if I do eat eggs I like them cooked so well they're practically burned. When it comes to eggs Isaac does not take no for an answer, you get a breakfast taco, and you eat it.

 So I started my long sometimes painful journey with breakfast. Some days I've almost hated breakfast, but compromises have been made so now Isaac will pack me my breakfast taco so I can eat it when I'm ready which is normally about 10. 

Today I didn't have my taco, I run out of the house late and forgotten to grab it and I actually missed it. I realized how lucky I am to have someone who cares about me enough to make and pack me a breakfast everyday even when I am sometimes less than grateful. 

I'll never forget a couple years ago when we'd argued the night before but I still was handed my breakfast taco the next day.
"I wasn't going to make you one, but I just couldn't not make you breakfast, no matter how I mad I was"

That's love, and I'm thankful for it."

Today I made do with a Halloween pack of Teddy Grahams from a co workers desk, but I had to admit I missed my breakfast taco. Luckily I'll have it for tomorrow! 

 

Story Behind the Picture: Escargot in Paris

Over the last few weeks I've been wanting to write about our trip, but I keep hitting in a wall. The trip was just so special that I'm having hard time putting it into words. It was an amazing two weeks with mostly just Isaac and I, although in London we got to see friends so that made it even better. It was extremely hard to come back to reality and I still feel a pull in my chest when I look at the photos, so I haven't gone through them too much yet. However,  I ran across one the other day that totally made me laugh out loud and decided to share the story.

So to just look at it, it doesn't seem that interesting. I'm sitting in a restaurant eating something. I appear to be concentrating and I'm wearing a scarf. That does not tell the story though. In the photo I'm eating escargot, I was working to get it on a slice of bread and I am in full blown tears. Just moments before I had been full on sobbing, but was trying to pull it together to eat and not make a scene in a Paris restaurant. Oh and trying to  ignore my husband who was rolling on the floor laughing.

No, none of it was Isaac's fault, this was all on me. I had been cooking for a while and it was a matter of time. It had been a long day that had started in Rome with a walk to the Spanish Steps before trekking back to the airport, then a flight to Paris and then more trekking from Charles De Gaulle Airport to our hotel with a stop in the Gare Du Nord which is maybe my least favorite place in Paris. Flight time is just over 2 hours but counting in trains and subways you're looking at a good 7 hours of travel time. After over a week and a half of our trip I was having a great time, but I was exhausted, lots of early mornings and late nights. I also knew our trip was soon to wind down and I was finding my self feeling incredibly sad about that. I was desperate to return to London but knew once we got there the trip was almost over and I wasn't ready to face that yet. I had already teared up that evening when I saw our economy hotel, which was so stupid seeing as I had picked it out, but it had just looked nicer on the website!

 The final trigger had been the incident just moments before. It was late and we'd finally found a restaurant Isaac deemed acceptable. I was starving and in need of a glass of wine as well.  Isaac had ordered some escargot as an appetizer and this was the first time I had eaten them. I am a bit of a...selective eater, though I've definitely gotten better about it in recent years. I was a little nervous about trying the escargot but I promise, I was not crying about that.

The escargot were served on a silver tray where each had an individual slot and they came with small forks and these little spring loaded tongs that you used to hold the snail while you used the fork to pull the meat out. All of this would simple enough to a normal person with hand eye coordination, but I am notorious for not being able to handle much in the way of utensils past a spoon and fork. You should have seen the first time I at sushi, I'm not sure how any of it made it to my mouth, and 4 years later I still struggle with chopsticks.


I go to try my first escargot and find my self having a hard time getting it out of the shell. Isaac is of the "teach a man to fish" mentality so he kept trying to give me pointers but offered no real assistance. Frustrated,  I finally jammed the little fork as far as I could into the shell and as I pulled it back out the shell altered a bit in the tong and then very loudly (as in the whole restaurant could hear) the tong snapped and the snail flew across the table, across me and on to my brand new purse I'd gotten earlier that day in Rome bringing green garlic sauce with it. It happened both incredibly fast and incredibly slow as in I could see the green sauce trailing across the table, but I couldn't stop the mayhem.  I stared open mouthed and the restaurant fell silent, all eyes on the this exhausted looking, obvious American girl. I started to notice a few of the surprised looks around me, some gentle laughter and  my husband trying to hide that he was about to convulse into laughter. So I did  the most useful thing I could think of; I just burst into tears. I felt like such a goofy American, something I had been trying to not do for almost two weeks with varying degrees of success.

Isaac tried to hide his laughter by taking photos and after about 30 seconds my tears of embarrassment and exhaustion became laughter. It was so ridiculous, I had to laugh, who was I kidding the Parisians would hate me no matter what I did, it's the Parisian way. So I laughed even as I cried and I as Isaac finally helped me in getting the meat out of that damn snail shell even he commented that it was in there pretty good.

Near the end of the meal the woman sitting next to me leaned over when her husband (boyfriend, man toy...?) got up to use the restroom and asked me why I had cried. Embarrassed and knowing there was a language barrier I smiled and said I was just tired and had been embarrassed. She smiled very sweetly and assured me that when she'd come to Paris from (I think she said the Philippines) she'd found Paris very overwhelming too but not to worry. You don't find an abundance of friendly people in Paris and her kindness meant a lot to me.

So that's the story behind my Parisian breakdown, I still feel very silly for crying but hey, at least in the end I can laugh about it! :)

The Halloween Wreath

So last night I started with this steering wheel cover and ended up with a Halloween wreath. Why would I do that? That's a funny story.

Our "wreath" before decorating

Earlier in the day we had stopped in a Michaels. I am kind of a Michaels nut, it has has so much besides just crafty stuff and I can get lost in there going up and down the aisles envisioning the possibilities. Granted, I don't have the time/money/talent to follow through with most of it, but every once in a while seed is planted to blooms into something fun!  Plus I have the Michaels app for my phone so I always have a coupon handy!

That Saturday I had been promising Carolina a trip to Michaels so we could find a Halloween craft or two to do together as well as maybe a few Halloween decor items to add to our small, but growing collection. Now one rule of thumb when shopping for pretty much anything except food is that you don't take Isaac. He's a typical guy who can not comprehend spending money on pretty much anything unless it will fix the house, make a healthy meal or is a protein powder. However, time wasn't on our side Saturday so he offered to come with us to Michaels after we went to see Hotel Transylvania. He promised to be nice.

This promise lasted until 1 minute after we got in the door and I saw a Styrofoam wreath and picked it up commenting that I had wanted to try making my own Halloween wreath this year. Isaac immediately scoffed, used the wreath as a ring toss and placed it on my head.
"I have a steering wheel cover, that is exactly the same as this, make that a wreath. I'm saving you $7, is all I'm saying." I started a comeback, but for some reason stopped and decided to take the challenge.

"Fine, I'll do that. When we get home, I'm going to take that steering wheel cover and make it a very cool Halloween wreath"

Carolina stared at me, mouth agape. I looked over at her and nodded my head as to say
"No worries, kiddo, we'll make this work." She didn't look completely convinced, but agreed to help me with my project.

We began selecting plastic creepy crawlies to go decorate our wreath, and soon we had all found fun decorating pieces we liked. Even Isaac talked me into a framed photo of an old man that turns into a monster as you walk past it. He says it will stay up all year...we'll see.

However, we were having a hard time finding a garland we liked, so Isaac suggested running across the road to Wal Mart and checking out their Halloween selection. I'm not a Wal Mart person at all, but they do usually have a decent well priced holiday section so I agreed to check them out.  We hit jackpot, finding the garland we wanted and a sign to hang across the middle.

We then had some fun with Halloween masks and costumes. I finally convinced Isaac and Carolina that none of the neighbors wanted me to answer the door for trick-or-treaters in a mini skirt and corset top and we headed home to begin turning our house into a Halloween fun house. 

We started our wreath almost as soon as we got home and it went quickly with us simply wrapping the garland around our "steering wheel" base. There was only a quick break for me to run back to Wal Mart when we ran out of garland. It ended up taking us 3 9 foot garlands to wrap the base as well as fill in any small gaps.

I will be very honest and admit that I took the lazy way out during the construction. I had considered pulling out some hot glue, but I was actually able to just tuck the ends into the steering wheel cover and so far it's staying put. The spider I found had a clip so all I had to do was hook it onto the garland, and for the sign I went lazy again and used a pipe cleaner to tie the sign on to the wreath. It's holding for now, but I may end up going back and securing it with some hot glue. I just wasn't in the mood that night to get the glue out and spend the whole time worrying about Carolina burning herself on the gun as she has in the past.  We considered adding a couple other spiders around the side, but felt they made it feel too cluttered so we stayed with just the one! The only thing I forgot was a wreath holder so as soon as I grab one later this week the wreath will go on the door!

 Carolina and I had a great time working together on our wreath and have decided that we will now be making a wreath for every holiday! Next up is Thanksgiving and my head is full of ideas...

finished project!

30 Days to Go!

Today is one month exactly until I get married. I have discovered this to be both a good and a bad thing. On the one hand September 7^thcan not get here fast enough. I can’t wait to marry my best friend and make everything all nice and legal and then leave for 2 weeks in Europe 3 days later. I’m so grateful to have found someone that I love so much and I’m eager to become his wife. 

But here’s the bad thing, I haven’t actually planned any of the wedding, honeymoon is booked, wedding, eh I figured we’d hit the courthouse on the 7^th, have dinner with family and closest friends and jet off to London. This had been the original plan, we have a very limited budget and we decided we’d rather have the trip of lifetime than a large wedding that we  wouldn’t get to enjoy much. Everyone I’ve met who is already married has told me we are doing the smart thing. But it got complicated. 

My mom, desperate to be mother of the bride offered to at least throw us a reception the evening we got married. That seemed easy enough and very thoughtful so we took her up on it and planned a small reception at the house I grew up at with family and close friends. 

Then someone threw out the idea that if we were having a reception there, why not just get married there. My step dad knows a judge, he’d do it for free, and my mom will get the wedding ceremony she wants and Carolina will get to throw out the rose petals she so desperately wishes to spread. 

Well the judge was booked already so in my head that just meant going back to plan A, but plan B was out there and it couldn’t be put back. My mom is so close to getting me a ceremony and she’s not going back.

That opens up new challenges like finding someone to officiate the ceremony and then more disappointments. We don’t want a religious ceremony which doesn’t sit well with my very southern Baptist family. 

Then apparently you need flowers, even though they’ll be dead by the time I’m back from my honeymoon. Then there was the issue of the invitations; 5 weeks out, I’m all for an Evite. This is 2012 all our friends are tech savvy, we’re going low key, I’ll send an Evite. My mother had a heart attack. I’ve since forced her around on that one, but the devout follower of Miss Manners came around kicking and screaming. 

But that’s when the feet dragging procrastination began to set in on my end and today as I got my email from the Knot reminding me I had a month left and gave me a checklist of things to do (what, do they work for my mom) I started to panic and when I calmed down I started to think about my procrastination and why I procrastinate. 

I realized my procrastination comes from fear. When I don’t know what to do or am afraid of what I have to do, my natural default is to do nothing. I do this on many occasions. Isaac is picky about how the dishwasher gets loaded so if I get nervous I'm doing it wrong, I just won't do it. If I have to ask someone a favor I'll put it off hoping they will offer. If I have to send an email to high ranking people at work, I sit on it as long as I can convinced I'll say something wrong.  Let it be known that I do not condone this sort of behavior, but it seems to be what I do so I am trying to understand it. 

I am a people pleaser, I have been my whole life, and the worst thing you can say to me is I have made you disappointed in me or worse mad at me. I sometimes feel like I spend my life desperately hoping to not disappoint anyone. Putting me in this situation where I may disappoint anyone fills me with dread. The kind of dread that feels your head during everything you do and keep you up at night.
 

So many times in the last couple months I’ve asked Isaac if we can go to Vegas. Just go and do it already. He always laughs and gives me a hug and reminds me we have a trip planned and no extra money and that it will be okay. Will it be okay though, my sane half says of course, everything always turns out the way it should in the end, as long as at the end of it I’m married to Isaac it will have worked out. But the worrier in my taunts me with visions of my mother crying, of Carolina crying, of Isaac yelling at me, or worse calling it off and  of myself in a mental institution (well that one is pretty far out there…)

My mom has been pressuring me to send out invites, and I keep putting her off,  but when I finally sat down to at least put together a save the date Evite, I realized I couldn’t send anything out, we don’t even know where we’re getting married. I have to make the decision but if I made that decision I’d be letting someone down.  If I choose to go to the courthouse as planned, I’d disappoint my mom and Carolina who wants very much to be a flower girl and has told me repeatedly a courthouse is not a good enough place to get married. (Easy to say when you’re not paying for it)  and a little part of me agrees, but the part of me that remembers my hotel reservations with a “view” of the Eiffel Tower tells her it’s just fine. If I agree to have the ceremony at my mom’s am I disappointing Isaac by going against what we’d decided and giving in to my parents? If I have a judge or even a friend do the ceremony my family will be aghast, if I have a minister Isaac will be uncomfortable and it’s his wedding too, he gets a say. It’s been all I can think about the last couple days and I’ve spent them in knots.Throw in a stressful period at work and I’m pretty much a basket case. 

But I think we’ve decided that if we can find someone to do the wedding we’ll do it at my moms. There’s been a lot of back and forth today as we hunt for someone, but after lunch with a good friend who reminded me that it’s my wedding several times. I have a good lead and a clearer head.

 I’m trying to pull my head out of the sand and face the fact that I’m going to have to make some decisions and not everyone will like all of them, but it’s my wedding and it really only matters what two of us think about the ceremony and as long as we’re legally married by the end of the day September 7^th then the day will be considered  a success.

The reason we're doing all this!

Help! I'm Trapped in August

I've been wanting to blog more and do more "expressive writing", but I've had a hard time getting started. I happened upon a Twitter feed called  "The Blog Dare" that is being done by Bloggy Mom's. I feel like a bit of a fraud as I'm not actually a mom. Future wicked step mother, but not an official mom. I liked some of their writing prompts though, so I decided to follow along and see which ones strike my creative fancy.

The prompt for August 1 was It's August? Already? and that struck a chord with me. It does seem like just a few weeks ago I was in a jet lag haze after our trip to Spain trying to remember my name and job title and my wedding felt years away. I'm now 33 days from my wedding and 40 days away from my dream honeymoon to Europe.

As few days as that really I still can't get away from the feeling that I am being held hostage by this blight of a month. This month that always feels like it doesn't belong on the calendar with all the other months. I feel extremely guilty saying this, the kiddos birthday is today and she loves August because it's her birthday month. Personally, I don't see why we couldn't just bump her birthday to July and let this month just drop off the calendar. August has always felt like a crowded airport gate. Everyone is ready to go else where but they're stuck in a small area just waiting...waiting.

This August will go even slower, I'm in the home stretch to the wedding and dream honeymoon and it seems the closer I get the further away they seem. I just want to be married and I feel as though August is the big hurdle standing between me and my new last name.

There is plenty going on though to keep me busy, and I know the month will fly. We will celebrate C's birthday next weekend with a dinner, sleepover and then a weekend of whatever she wants to do that I know will include Volente Beach and sushi making as well as anything else she comes up with. Then my wedding shower, procuring the marriage license, finding a wedding dress and any other final details (it's going to be a very small casual wedding), getting any last minute honeymoon clothing items  and then another slew of birthdays.

That and I'll be working furiously to get things set to be out of the office for 2 weeks during out busy part of the year. As well as feeling my way through some new duties that have fallen on me. I'm excited by the new opportunities I now have, but I also feel like all the stress could not have come at a worse time.

No, this August will not be relaxing, and no, I can not believe it's here, but good grief I am ready for it to be over!

Cold Drinks are Magic

Wednesday I learned that sometimes the easiest solution to a bad situation is simple: a change of scenery and a cold beverage. I'm thinking this could work with sticky international situations. When things start to get tense with another county simply take them out for a soda or lemonade, for really sticky situations; skip to the margarita.

The day started out well enough, kids woke up from sleepover fun and began playing together well so I sipped my coffee and watch a little morning TV. My original plan for Wednesday had been the Art Day at Symphony Square, an outside auditorium,  where the kids can hear a performance and then do crafts, have snacks and get close up views of the instruments. We would have then hit up Auditorium Shores for the splash pad and our favorite snow cone place on Barton Springs. I'd also tossed around a trip to Hula Hut or Mozarts and maybe a climb around Mt. Bonnell. A great downtown day, I'd thought.

Cracks had begun to form in my plan on Tuesday though, when after two days in the sun with sun screen both kids were still noticeably pink. I began to rethink another day spent outside. Maybe a movie would be the better way to go and many of the theaters have great free or $1 movie selections during the week so I'd gone to bed mentally thinking that maybe the better way to to go. I just had to talk them out of new releases as my bank account was beginning to appear dangerously low.  Conveniently (and I say that sarcastically), most the free movies start around 10, which means getting there earlier and everyone was playing so well together that morning that I didn't have the heart to interrupt them and try to get everyone dressed, fed and out the door that early. So when they finally came in hungry it was after 9 and those were suddenly out the door as well.  After MUCH bickering an afternoon showing of the Lorax and a picnic at the neighborhood park was decided as the plans for the day after we had breakfast. 

Well that's when a few mishaps outside of our control occurred so it was well after 10 before I took us all to IHOP, my frustration in need of a waffle. Things were looking up, we had decided to have a picnic lunch at the neighborhood park and then go see an afternoon showing of The Lorax at the dollar movie.

After breakfast we returned home and I decided to double check the movie time on the theaters website. There I found out the movie was either sold out or cancelled. I couldn't believe it, what was I supposed to do now? I started to feel overwhelmed, the kids were arguing, I had no idea what to do with the rest of the day. All the fun kid stuff had occurred in the morning and I'd decided to skip those and let the kids play. Now we had nothing. As the arguing grew louder and my brain began to tell me I was a failure, I had my breakdown. I sat in front of my laptop on the floor of my bedroom and sobbed. That's when something snapped and I lost it. I got up and demanded everyone in the car now, we were leaving and I didn't know where we were going, but we couldn't remain in the house. Looking confused/amused the kids filed past me and hussled to the car.

2 minutes into the car ride I began to think clearly through my mania and what I call "Amyia" began to set in. As I drove to a retail area that boast multiple, shops restaurants and movie theater I first thought that we'd go see Ice Age, but then Amyia set in and I started thinking through things. We couldn't go to a movie, I didn't have sweaters for the kids and they were both in tank tops, what if they got cold? We didn't have snacks and I can't really afford movie theater food. I was in a skirt and flip flops, I can't watch a movie in a skirt and flip flops, I need jeans and closed toed shoes for maximum movie theater comfort. What was I doing? My mania floated away and I felt silly. But we were almost to our destination, so we got out and checked the movie times and realized we were too late and too early for the Ice Age sequel and neither of the kids were too interested in that one any way.  Instead we walked over to the Half Price books eager for some air conditioning after 15 minutes in my car with broken air conditioning. The kids each found a Scooby Doo book on the clearance shelf so after we paid Carolina made the best comment all week of "I could really use something cold to drink." That sounded absolutely wonderful so I looked around for the closest place and spotted a Spicey Pickle across the parking lot.  No food, I warned them, just drinks and they agreed as we walked over to what the place that would end up being our salvation!

As we sat in front of our drinks, Coke for me, lemonade for the kids, everything clicked. All the tension went away as we sipped our drinks and  relaxed. We started cracking jokes and Carolina taught Avery a drawing game we'd played in Spain with Malu, Pablo and Lourdes.

One person draws a the head of the person and we pass the paper around and everyone adds something, not seeing anyone elses until the end. Soon we were laughing and drawing people with bird bodies and roller skating legs! We couldn't stay there forever though, so I pulled up my Red Box app and a movie was quickly agreed up for the remainder of the afternoon.

After the movies when nerves once again became a litte frayed we hit up the local park where the girls went on an adventure walk while I read a  and found a new hideout that they were excited to tell me I was not allowed to see, it was for kids only! They loved telling me about their "adventure" and I didn't tell them that they hadn't gone too far, I had been able to hear them the whole time!

The day will not go down as the best ever, but it was a day that helped me learn to roll with the punches a little and taught be that all important lesson that sometimes you just need to get out and get a drink.

It's Kid Week

In about an hour, it's the beginning of Kid Week here at Casa De Moreno. Carolina has spent the last 6 weeks in Spain with grandparents and is now coming to spend a week with us. I have more PTO available then Isaac so I'll be taking a couple days of this week to spend with Carolina and Avery as well. I'm excited, but being me, I'm also a little anxious.
In my head I know it'll be fine, the girls won't be in school or a forced labor camp so they'll have a good time. I've planned swimming, sno cones and art projects, but there's always the what if's. What if they argue all week, what if no one has a good time, what if all goes wrong? What if I find myself chugging a bottle of wine by noon? I'm hoping for the best though, so look for updates this week on best sno cones, lots of water fun and hopefully a day spent going to some of my favorite Austin places. Oh and we'll be celebrating my favorite bi annual event, the Olympics!!
I just have to keep reminding myself; you have to feed kids everyday! :)

Mother's Day

Ah, Mother's Day, the one day of the year where we set aside everything to pay homage to our moms. When I used to work retail I remember the single busiest day I ever remember working was the day before Mother's Day. People were hard core buying Garden Ridge stuff for their moms!

Most years on Mother's Day we pick a restaurant and all meet up for a nice lunch, but this year I thought it would be fun to host a Mother's Day brunch for my mom at our house. Isaac and I talked about how they have us out quite a bit for dinner, and we hardly have them over so Mother's Day seemed like the ideal day.

So tidy even my mom would approve!

After much deliberation we decided to do a late brunch. Basically just breakfast for lunch. Isaac made eggs (obviously), bacon, sausage, and I made French toast. Then like any good child who wore on their mother's last nerve when young, we also made mimosas. Really, booze is what all mom's want for Mother's Day, whether they realize it or not.

Eggs, sausage, french toast and strawberries!

Mimosa with strawberry and ice cube made of orange juice!

Everyone loves Mimosas!

It was a fun afternoon with my mom, step dad, John and my sister Rose. We ate, drank lots and sent my mom home with flowers, a bottle of wine and chocolate covered strawberries!

I'm already planning for next year's Mother's Day brunch, but I think I should up the food ante. Pancakes, crepes, waffles? So many options...


So happy Mother's Day Mom, to the woman who put up with and apparently loved me and my over dramatic, over emotional, smart ass because I watched too many sitcoms, waited until 30 to get married while both her sisters got to throw their daughters weddings and baby showers self.

Mom and John

May Day

Happy May Day everyone!

I admit, I'd never given much thought to May Day before, it's simply the first day of the month.  When the first of the month falls on a work day it's simply a very busy day of the week. I knew that it is more commonly celebrated in Europe for the coming of Spring and  I have of course heard of May Poles and knew that some people celebrated, but those were school children or...people who go to Renaissance Festivals.
People who have numerous reports to run and emails to send don't get to dance around a May pole on May 1st.

I started thinking there was more to it though when I was going through my day planner from Spain (a Christmas gift from Isaac and Carolina) and noticed that May first was shown as a holiday. Isaac has told me that Spain has numerous national holidays so I did a little investigating and May 1 in Spain is El Día Internacional de los Trabajadores or International Day of the the Worker. This fit with all the trending Twitter topics I saw related to May 1 which is apparently celebrated in many place around the world as Labor Day and a national holiday.

While doing my research I found a website called Holiday Insights and since I love calendars and holidays I enjoyed the list of all the holidays of May. A couple of my favorites are listed below.

First of all May is National Barbeque Month, National Hamburger Month and, interestingly National Salad Month. It is also Date Your Mate Month (insert shoulder shrug), and on a serious note Foster Care Month.
 
May houses, among others,  Wildflower Week, Nurses Week, Bicycle Week and Police Officer Week.

Besides May Day, May first is also Mother Goose Day.
May 2 is Brothers and Sisters Day
May 4 is International Tuba day for all you band geeks!
May 6 is No Diet Day which I can certainly get behind
May 8 is No Socks Day, easy enough to do
May 9 is Missing Sock Memorial Day (possibly my favorite named day ever)
May 12 is Birth Mother Day (I get the sentiment but it seems to be a bit redundant for many of us)
May 13 is Leprechaun Day ( a bit late maybe)
May 15 is National Chocolate Chip Day which I fully support
May 18 No Dirty Dishes Day which I guess also makes it Go Out to Eat day!

Those are just a few and my personal favorites. There are of course serious days as well as Mother's Day and you can check them all out here:  http://www.holidayinsights.com/moreholidays/may.htm


My May goals are simpler this month.

1.  Host Mother's Day at our house
2.  Focus on a couple work projects that I need to settle down and get done
3.  Read more for fun. It's something I miss doing and I'm going to try and make myself take   some time to start and here's the catch; finish a book!
4.  Get back on track with my dinner night; I've been a bit hit or miss recently

So hopefully everyone had a lovely May Day or Mother Goose Day if that's more your speed and Happy Brother and Sisters Day a few hours early!