Long time, no see

I’m back. Back to the world of writing. I was gone for a few reasons, the biggest being that I’m pregnant! Hubs and I are expecting our first little baby (besides our furbabies of course) on September 5th and we couldn’t be happier. We found out in early January and during the first trimester everything is supposed to be very hush, hush. Neither Ron or I are very good at keeping happy secrets (about ourselves anyway) and so the news was spilled a little early, but I still felt it wasn’t something to be shared with the internet just yet. Although various posts and pictures (mostly about Special Baby Dinner…more on that in a minute) have hit Facebook, I almost felt like writing about it on the blog was asking for trouble or unnecessary scrutiny. Yet here I am, unable to continue my absence because I keep thinking of things I need to talk write about. Usually these thoughts come to me while walking to my car after a shift at the Bucks or while getting ready for work in the morning, and they’ve been happening so often lately it’s obvious I need to put pen to paper, or fingers to keyboard as it were.

Besides the fact that I didn’t feel ready to talk baby on the blog, I’ve also been been a little psycho at work (3 weeks during March found me working full time at BOTH jobs…let’s not even go there) and adjusting to my schedule while pregnant has taken a little longer than I would have thought. I’m looking forward to the summer when I can wind down on hours at the Bucks and get ready for maternity leave. Until then, I think I’ve at least found a good balance and thanks to scheduling meals and lots of help from the Hubs, I seem to have some of my sanity back (which I think he’s thankful for). One of my favorite things he’s taken on is Special Baby Dinner, or SBD for short. Once a week he makes dinner focused around one ingredient, usually a fruit or vegetable of some kind, which he finds from thebump.com, theknot.com’s sister site for pregos. During each week of your pregnancy, the Bump tells you what size the baby is and gives you a food as a point of reference. Last week the baby was the size of a mango! So Ron takes whatever food the Bump dictates and makes both dinner and dessert from it (let me tell you, the onion dessert was interesting…). It’s really fun and usually we have friends or family come over because there’s always a ton of food. It also gets us to try new recipes we never would have sought out, like a Mango pulled pork recipe from last week or the dessert onion rings I alluded to earlier. It’s also really fun to see the Hubs so excited about the baby’s progress. It reminds me after a long week what it all means for our future and it amps me up, too (even when I’m ready to pass out standing up).

In closing I’ll leave you with the ONLY bump picture I’ve taken. In my defense, the bump is still recent and I have plans for REAL weekly bump progress pictures only I’ve been too lazy busy to get them going. This Thursday marks 20 weeks and I promise weekly bump pics from here on out.

Not the best picture being that I’m wearing all black and in a hotel hallway with crap lighting and my hair has the worst split ends anyone has ever seen (they’re gone, by the way…along with half my hair), but there’s definitely a bump!

Brought to you by a less miserable mess

Hellllloooooo! It’s Wednesday. Time for an update. Halfway through the week. I get to sleep in tomorrow (late day at work) and that is entirely propelling me throughout this day!

1. Happy birthday to my mama-in-law! She is seriously one of (if not THE) greatest people I know. She has been there for me through so much & has helped me with everything from wedding related crapola to fights with the hubs to dealing with my mom’s passing. She is hysterical & a ton of fun, and I love spending time with her. Basically, I hit the in-law jackpot with Ron’s family and I couldn’t be more lucky to call this woman (and the rest of ‘em) my family. HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAMACITA!

2. Sons of Anarchy was 90 minutes last night! Hubs & I were struggling to stay awake because our DVR hates us and didn’t record it so we watched it live at 11:30. Which means it didn’t end until 1am. Then I had to take out the dogs which always wakes me up. Then I watched Glam Fairy from last week while in bed & didn’t end up asleep until 2! Oops! SOA will ALSO be 90 minutes next week AND they didn’t say it was the finale or anything so I am super psyched to get more SOA. I really want to know what happens to Tara after this recent business &&& I’m hoping someone takes down Clay soon…I almost don’t even care who does it anymore.

3. My back hurts much less today then it did yesterday (yay!) although I’m kinda scared I forgot to bring any Advil with me. Pulling double duty with a shift at the Bucks after work yesterday definitely did a number on my sore body, but hopefully my good luck will continue throughout the day and it won’t really hurt.

4. My friend Bianca is a saint. She puts her friends before herself all the time & is constantly doing whatever she can to help someone out. For example, she dropped her car off at my apartment last night so I could use it all day today even though that meant SHE had to find a ride to work. I couldn’t be more thankful as a ride home from Work 1 to Work 2 was looking bleak tonight. I’ll be pretty happy to have my car back, but in the meantime THANK YOU BEE!

5. I practiced my new safe driving this morning and I did really good! I stayed at the speed limit, allowed a good amount of space between myself and the car ahead of me and didn’t eat breakfast/drink coffee (normal everyday occurence) or look at my phone once while on the way there. This is obviously not some grand feat, but I was reallllllly jonesing for a sip of coffee and I held off. Woo, go me!

6. I’ve thought about taking a defensive driving course. Not sure exactly how they work (I know a lot are online) or how much they cost though so research is in process. Let me know if you’ve ever taken one and if you thought it actually helped, beyond the insurance discount anyway.

What’s been going on in your week? Hopefully it’s more like this post and less like my last one!

For your viewing pleasure…

Happy birthday! Love your favorite daughter-in-law

Hump Day Update

Instead of a full on post, I thought I’d share some random things on my mind today. Let me know if any of this is plaguing you or if you have ANY idea what I’m talking about.

1. Constantly throughout the day, I’ve been smelling smoke. Like cigarette smoke. The only weird thing is that I’m in my office at work, no where near a window or any cigarette wielding people. What is up with that? It’s making my nose itchy inside as well. Maybe my sniffer is broken…?
2.  I really like my outfit today, even if my hubs did describe my skirt as “amish chic.” I’m pretty sure the Amish wouldn’t wear a tank top with quite as much cleave as I have exposed, so I don’t think I’ll be mistaken for a horse-and-buggy driver anytime soon.
3. I recently started a new part-time job (more on that later) and need to wear a black polo each day (or white but I sweat and spill too much to wear white while mixing drinks all the time). WHERE TO I FIND POLO SHIRTS FOR WOMEN? And by this shouty question I mean ones that are not expensive. I’m not interested in spending $50 at J.Crew just to get mocha all over it. I managed to find a black shirt with a collar (which is the important part) at Kohl’s, but minus that ONE shirt sold there was nothing to be found at Kohl’s OR Target. How could my good ol’ Tarjay let me down? ***I will say they have some cute things in their new Kirna something majig line right now, it’s one of their “shops.” I had to divert my eyes to avoid spending the money I don’t have.***
4. Today is National Talk Like a Pirate day…wondering if I should try this on customers? Hmm… Also, I wish my sister were around because she’d truly appreciate this. Instead she’s in Australia and it’s already tomorrow there so she missed it.
5. I am recently obsessed with Sons of Anarchy. I watched about 10 seconds of the first season and probably 6 or so episodes of the second season (I know, weird) and I LOVE it. I’ve been thinking about the show all day and can’t WAIT to get home at freaking 11:00 tonight to watch more. That combined with my increased PM caffeine intake has kept me up until 2am the past two nights.
6. I tried to make Bailey’s ice cream last Sunday for Carbomb Floats (I know, awesome). Instead I ended up with really sweet Bailey’s soup. It still tasted okay in the Guinness, but it was more a waste of money than anything else.

That’s all for now. Perhaps I’ll actually be able to formulate an extended thought when I’m not in a food coma from lunch or smelling phantom smoke (AGAIN!). Let me know if you a. love long skirts like me, b. know where to buy them for people that are tiny like moi (5’0 what what), and c. I really really really need your recommendations and/or coupons for black polo shirts under $15. So far it seems I’ll be wearing an XS men’s golf shirt or XXL little boy’s polo. I’ll let you know.

I’ve included a helpful diagram for your convenience in briefly absorbing this post. Enjoy…(and stare at Jax).

P.S. – Did you know they make Bailey’s ice cream? Like in a carton you can buy from the freezer section at Shop Rite? Besides the fact that the whole point was to use the ice cream maker my bridesmaids gave me at my bridal shower, it would have signifcantly improved the floats (and my nerves) had I just bought the damn thing.

Bettering myself…is that really a word?

It’s always been a sore point for me that I didn’t finish college. I’ve probably used every available excuse I could grasp on to, but the reality is I just wasn’t ready. And maybe that was indirectly because of family stuff, but it definitely wasn’t the main cause. Many other 18-year olds may have been able to buckle down and just do it (whoa cheerleading flashback), but thanks to my tendency to bury my head in the sand whenever anything became difficult, I wasn’t one of them. As a freshman in high school, I would have rather contracted bird flu then forgotten a homework assignment (I was literally crushed I wasn’t in any honors classes that year…I didn’t feel that way after taking AP English and trying to tackle calculus, ha). As a freshman in college, you could find me almost anywhere but doing homework or studying. And if I didn’t have my homework? I generally didn’t go to class. I feel as if I’m wasting my mind by not going to school…I know I’m smart. You don’t need a degree to tell you that. Nor do you need school to learn; you can teach yourself plenty. Maybe what I really need is evaluation of what I’ve learned. Maybe if I had a test when I finished a new book or if someone graded my blog posts, I’d feel more validated.

In any case, tonight I’m taking a stop toward erasing that feeling. I’m attending a writing workshop in NYC tonight and currently my stomach feels like a net full of butterflies because a. trains, subways, rush hour traffic and b. ohmygodawritingworkshopin thecitywithrealauthorsandwritersandeverythingandohmygod. I kinda feel like Katy in Mean Girls on her first day of school. I know the first half of the workshop will be a writing exercise and I’m nearly puking on my keyboard at the thought of having to product fiction on the spot and then possibly read or share it with a peer/the class/the successful author running the class (by the way, do people say peer in the real world or was that just in school when you had to have someone correct your work, which I never listened to anyway?). I’m trying not to focus on it and just keep a positive outlook, but I may still spend the ride in coming up with topics to write about because having writer’s block tonight would probably be counterproductive.

 

The class…

…Me

 

Busy B’s…

I’ve been super busy lately…between being jammed at work, the fiance’s birthday, needless obsessing over wedding planning, and taking on a second job, I feel like I haven’t had much time to myself. Even as I speak (write?) I should really be doing other things… But I plan to write regularly from here on out. Some updates on the messiness of my life: 

• I took on a part-time job to supplement my full-time one. I think there’s something wrong with me, mentally. Ever since I was a little kid, I felt the need to fill my schedule, and between gymnastics, cheerleading, dance, trying to have a social life, and oh yeah school! it was never hard to do. Even know when looking at my new schedule at the health club (read: fancy gym) I’ll be working at, I found extra places I could volunteer my time. I always seem to forget that “me time,” as corny as it sounds, needs to be had as well. So from now on I’ll definitely be scheduling some “doing nothing” time as well as getting together with friends. Now that the summer is coming to a close and cold weather will soon be setting in (yay for boots and sweater dresses!) it will be the perfect time for it!
• Fiance and I have been trying something new when it comes to dinners. For his birthday, his sister Jen gave him, in addition to some other fun stuff, a basket full of kitchen gadgets, including a Rachael Ray magazine. Inside the magazine was a tear out recipe book with a shopping list and recipes for each weeknight. The best thing about it is that you use ALL of the ingredients on the shopping list so there are no leftovers that sit in your frig and go bad, only for you to find a month later (you did notice the “hot mess” portion of the title of this blog, right?). While the fiance and I often have good (and lofty) intentions of cooking each night, without a set plan in mind, we’ve resorted to pizza and the quicky fix: ground turkey meat with brown rice or chicken and pasta, take your pick. So this week we’ve been following true to the Rachael Ray plan and have had some amazing dinners! We switched up the rotation a bit to allow for our differing schedules, but the results are the same: fun new recipes that taste amazing! On Monday we had chicken with apples, raisins, and olives over cous cous followed by a spinach and sausage quiche on Tuesday. I was super nervous for last night’s meal, crispy tilapia over homemade creamed corn (seriously?) and it came out amazing! (even if I did double the prep time and possibly cut my finger on the food processer blade – oops!) All of this coming from a girl who used to freak out when her sister hid corn in her mashed potatos (side eye, Chelsea). I’m pretty proud of myself…both on the culinary side and the eating side. I never would have eaten this meals before recently, let alone attempted to make and serve them. I’m also enjoying the satisfaction of cooking meals from scratch with the added bonus of leftovers from lunch!
• Starting Monday, I will be implementing a new workout plan/routine. Obviously, one of the added perks of my new job is a free membership to the gym. I’ve already made one of my infamous lists to figure out what times are best for me to work out and what classes I’ll be able to take (not many. Why do all gyms schedule most of their classes for during the day?!). I’ve installed a weight loss ticker in my signature on theknot.com (don’t judge) and now that I’ve posted it for all of the internet to see, hopefully I’ll hold myself accountable. When I was in high school, I felt great…not because I ate well (unless you count skipping breakfast, eating french fries for lunch and pasta for dinner as well?), but because I was in the gym 5 days a week with my cheerleading team (we won 2nd in the world in case you didn’t know…just saying). I know diet and portion control will account for much of my weight loss and then management, but I think regular exercise will go a long way towards this goal. By changing my lifestyle to eat healthy foods and exercise, I hope to not only lose weight for the wedding and to look good, but I hope to feel good, too. I’m so sick of the yo-yo’ing my body has been doing the past few years!
• Last and certainly not least, we got a new tv! It’s so amazing and incredible and pretty and big and difficult to figure out so I’m afraid to use it (calling Matt Fedor…please come teach us how to use our new tv!) to the fullest extent, but either way, it’s pretty cool and now we should actually be able to use the kinect I bought for the fiance last Christmas (side eye to Ron…) Til tomorrow (maybe tonight?!) internet…

P.S. – See my culinary masterpieces below…Drool on my friends.

Chicken Monday Night

Tilapia Wednesday Night

Chocolate-Banana-Peanut Butter Protein Shake = the shit

Catch Up…

Prettiest diamond ring ever

I love to write and believe that it’s truly cathartic, but many times I have trouble actually getting my ideas down on paper, electronically or otherwise. I often have lots going on in my head, yet the organization needed to formalize my thoughts is daunting and a little too much effort after a 60 hour work week. Perhaps if I still had my own computer it would make it a little easier, but that will have to be a future investment. Anyway, lots of gone on since my last (and first…and only…) post back in October. It’s now March and we seem to have made it through this winter mostly unharmed. There was TONS of snow, okay by me because that also means a whole bunch of paid days off thanks to snow days! I love working at a school! Of course, not to be forgotten is the still very recent flooding of 2011, quite comparable to that of 2010 although this time we had to evacuate our apartment. While it was a good excuse NOT to do laundry or clean, now that we’ve returned to the homestead, it’s very difficult to find clean socks.

A few major happenings:

.~* Christmas! I had the best winter holiday of my life this past Christmas! For once, I was actually able to spend a little money, and not just the day before either! My favorite present received were my Dior glasses from Ronnie and my favorite present given was the Rocky poster from England that almost wasn’t here in time for Christmas morning! I also loved the presents I gave to Ron’s family including a personalized chef’s jacket and picture frame for Mr. B, tartwarmer for Mrs. B, Twilight bookends for Jen, and a mini cupcake maker for Jamie! My favorite part of Christmas 2010, besides my aunt’s lasagna which I look forward to for 364 days of the year, was decorating the apartment with Ron, putting ornaments on our tree, and waking up to Christmas morning in our king-sized bed to open stockings, with all our presents laid out under the tree. Not to mention it was Bruce’s first Christmas! He doesn’t really like snow that much, but he seemed to love his presents and treats from his stocking!

.~* Work life has been great! In November I was promoted from administrative assistant to admissions coordinator, bringing new responsibilities and a nice raise! Since then my finances have evened out a bit and with the help from a part-time job at my cousin’s tanning salon, I should be able to make a nice dent in the debt I managed to rack up (thanks MSU!). Besides the money and better title, I really like my job. I have an amazing supervisor and the description of my position is much more my speed. It’s much nicer to wake up in the morning and not dread coming to work or to feel like I need a full bottle of wine the second I walk through the door. I’m less stressed and much happier

.~* Valentine’s Day! Probably my second favorite holiday after Christmas is Valentine’s Day! Although Ron is sweet to me all year, it’s nice to have an excuse to get dressed up and go out for a nice night. This year, Ron told me far in advance that I would need to leave work a little early on February 15th because he had a surprise night planned. Instead of leaving the 14th unplanned, I took Ron to dinner at Mr. Sushi, our favorite sushi place! Before we left for dinner, I gave him his present: Yankee tickets! Of course, never one to be upped, Ron surprised me with tickets to see Wicked, the show I’ve been dying to see for years! The best part? That was my surprise for the 15th! We had the best time at the show, sharing drinks before hand and afterwards, we cabbed it over to Serendipity, another long-awaited dream of mine! We shared dessert there: frozen hot chocolate and a blackout chocolate sundae cake…so many calories full of goodness! Haha After dessert, we went home which leads me to my last update…

.~* We’re engaged!!! When we got home, Ron told me to wait in the living room because he taught our dog, Bruce, a trick and had to set him up for it. When he came out to get me, he asked, “You said tonight was perfect, right?” Turning the corner into our bedroom, there was a runway of rose petals from the door to the bed, where more rose petals lay in a heart. There were electric tealights scattered around the floor, dressers, and bedframe. After getting down on one knee and making me cry tears of extreme happiness, I said yes and the most beautiful ring in the world was on my finger. We shared a bottle of champagne and called our families and friends. It was truly the happiest moment of my life and I’m so excited to know I will officially be spending the rest of my life with this man. We’ve already looked at venues and narrowed down to our top 3, which we will probably be making a choice on this week! It’s all just so exciting, and I’m sure I’ve already talked it to death with more than 1 person…and we still have 15 months to go!

Hopefully I won’t be as bad when it comes to posting, now that I’ve made the switch from Tumblr and keep a lookout for wedding related posts!