Weekly Recap.

On the blog:

Sunday: Happy Easter.

Monday: Want to make more money? Rent out your textbooks!

Tuesday: The grocery store brings out my serious side.

Thursday: A response to being a musician's wife.

This morning, I decided it was time to switch out my winter clothes for spring clothes.

It's only 29 degrees outside but I figure someone needs to make the first move.

And it's clearly not going to be mother nature.

A huge mess was made before it started looking semi-normal.

The closet was emptied, as were huge bins from underneath the bed and hall closet.

But I'm about to leave and it still looks a little disastrous.

In the same spring spirit -- I'm going to get my first pedicure of this "warm" season.

I'm excited to wear flip-flops... even if it means that today I could possibly get frost bite.

Ouch.

Weekly Recap.

On the blog:

Monday: Weekend Recap.

Tuesday: We always have our deep conversations in the car.

I'm a little sad that I haven't posted in three days.

I left my house on Wednesday morning with an overnight bag, for two nights.

My plan was to stay at my parent's house since Boston was being hit with a "mammoth" storm.

And we all know I can't drive in such weather.

Since I was packing at 5:30 in the morning, for the next three days, I only thought to bring necessities.

Which, apparently, didn't include my computer.

It's way too heavy to carry among all my other bags.

Side note: I had an overnight bag, a shoe bag, a work bag, a lunch bag, and purse bag.

Ahhh!

So... Wednesday it started to snow.

And continued to snow into Thursday morning.

Throughout the day.

Into Thursday night.

And I was crossing my fingers for a snow day on Friday.

But when I didn't get the call before having to leave at 5AM I was super sad.

Luckily, I got the call that it was a snow day before getting onto the highway.

So my dad, who was driving me :), turned around and I spent the next 12 hours,

watching TV in my childhood bedroom, playing with dachshunds, and hanging out with my parents.

Sean, didn't have to work either, and around dinner time he braved the snow (it will still snowing 48 hours later),

and picked me up.

I have to say that I think the weather people sort of got this storm wrong.

On Wednesday they only said 3-6 inches.

By Friday afternoon the numbers were more along the lines of 15-20 inches...

and that was obvious since IT WAS STILL SNOWING.

So anyway, we got home last night and rather than blog,

we ate popcorn and watched DVR.

Big Friday night, I tell ya. :)

Happy Superbowl Sunday.

via.

I've developed a football crush.

via.

We're watching the game, and we don't even know why.

I enjoy seeing people achieve their dreams.

Even if it has to do with sports.

It makes me sad to know that some will go home sad and defeated.

But happy to know that others will feel a sense of pride, enjoyment and fulfillment.

It's bittersweet.

The great fall.

Sometimes really embarrassing things happen to me.

Sometimes really painful, embarrassing things happen to me.

So, I figure... why not blog about them?

Take last week, Thursday to be exact.

It was 6AM. Totally dark, totally frigid.

I was walking to my car, completed bundled, 

carrying 3 bags full of things that I probably didn't need to bring to work.

The ground was apparently covered with black ice.

And I was walking so carefully, so cautiously, so slowly.

I got downstairs, down the hallway, through the "courtyard", down the steps, across the parking lot...

And to the car that was parked RIGHT NEXT TO MY CAR,

and suddenly it happened.

My feet did that sort of "running thing" where they are trying to find balance and safety but the ground seems to be moving on them?

That sort of "two-stepping" that doesn't look fancy, and just makes it harder to stand?

And, then... the worst part.

I completely fell.

And not just a slip or a trip.

I mean a full blown, up in the air, slamming down on my backside so that every inch of my body hit the ground at the same time.

From my head to the heels of my feet.

Nothing caught my fall. 

Not my elbows, not my arms... no part of my body risked itself for another.

via.

So, I just laid there.

Beside the back tires of a Ford Ranger.

On the ground. In the middle of a dark parking lot.

When I realized what happened, I tried to get up...

Shamed and saddened.

Annoyed that no one was there to help, but relieved no one witnessed my fall.

I was no longer carrying my car keys that I originally had in my hands.

I sat up looked around and realized they, too, had landed on the black ice and slid down the hill of the parking lot.

Not being able to stand... 

I did what anyone in my situation would do.

I crawled on my hands and knees... on the black ice... 

in the middle of the dark parking lot.. and retrieved my keys.

Only to drag myself back up the hill, to my car, and drive in traffic to work.

Perfect morning, huh?

Luckily my iPhone survived the fall. 

My can of coke did not.

Yup,

And my back still hurts.

So, I think it's safe to say I'm losing the game between myself and Winter 2013.

Our weekend.

The Patriots just lost.

Like really bad.

I've said before, football isn't for me and I don't really follow it.

But I left our family dinner at half-time and they were winning.

I got home and they were losing by so much.

The fact that they lost today, doesn't change how I went to the stadium for lunch yesterday.

My parents and I went to CBS Scene, where you can "see" the field and watch the game while you eat.

I really only think that's true if you have one of those crazy lenses the paparazzi uses to take photos of Justin Bieber.

Because it was a good distance away.

But each table had a TV and you can watch any show you can imagine:

If it's on CBS.

So we watched Big Bang Theory while we ate.

Pretty sweet.

Saturday night we went to a third anniversary release party for a friend's clothing line: Monogram Apparel.

It was a lot of fun and we were able to see lots of people we haven't seen in some time.

Sean also took his promo shots for his new band.

But more on that later in the week.

Sunday morning, Apollo woke me up at 6AM.

She doesn't quite understand the concept of a weekend.

We spent most of the day "running around" as Sean says.

I call it window shopping, browsing and grocery shopping.

We went to a local bookstore in search of travel books for our next trip.

Made a stop at Home Goods because I'm positive I need throw pillows.

Ended up at Target without any intentions of going there.

But walked out with $50 less.

How does that happen?

And finished our outing at the grocery store.

It's amazing to look down the aisles at the supermarket when every person in view has on a Patriots shirt.

It's a little crazy.

Which brings us to the end of our night, and the end of Sean's weekend since he doesn't have tomorrow off.

We had dinner with family: Mexican night.

Tacos, chili, quesadillas, the works.

It was delicious.

We watched the first game.

The 49's & the Falcons?

Or "I left my heart in San Francisco" & "Welcome to Atlanta where the players play".

That's more like it.

And then we watched the Pats.

Or "Boston, you're my home".

I don't have a clever song lyric for the Ravens.

In Pats nation, I guess they don't really deserve one at this point.

...Or expect it.

Weekly Recap.

On the blog:

Sunday: Movies, Movies, Movies

Monday: Monday Ramblings

Tuesday: It's a sick world we live in these days

Wednesday: Mother Nature tried to kill me

Thursday: Sometimes you need a date in the middle of the week

Happy Saturday!

We're off to a third anniversary release party for our friends clothing line: Monogram Apparel.

This week on the blog:

- Weekend recap

- What's cookin' for dinner?

- Sean's new band!

- Tricks to get out of the door on time in the morning

Stay tuned!

Until then, check out our Facebook page!

Mother Nature tried to kill me.

This morning I was watching the children in my classroom play outside at recess. I normally do this and I don't really give it much thought. Today was slightly different because... it was snowing.

They were running and jumping, leaping and falling, making snow angels and sliding down the slide. The looks on their faces were looks of pure joy. And in lots of ways it makes sense. These kids are little. Some only 3 years old. It's a new experience. It's a fun experience. They may not remember snow from last season. And they certainly have not played in the snow with their friends from this year, yet.

Their screams were full of positive energy and I envied them.

Because on my end... this morning, I thought I was going to die.

Now, I'm not being dramatic. I really, whole-heartily, 100% thought I was done. 

First off, let me say, I hate driving. Hate it. Hate. It. It's not for me.

Add in a snowstorm? Oh.my.god.

I woke up feeling good about myself. Feeling a lot better than yesterday since my antibiotics must have kicked in. I cleaned off my car which isn't fun but the snow was light and fluffy and full of life.

I started driving and that's where it all went wrong.

I realized that the snow wasn't full of life and instead was trying to kill me.

We live in a town that seems to be at the bottom of hills. 

Which means, any direction I go to get out of this town... I need to go uphill. 

I work about 40 minutes from where we live. Which means, I was in for an even longer ride this morning.

I was trying to get uphill and the car had a little trouble. But I just kept on singing Ed Sheeran and hoping for the best. What else could I do?

Then... another hill. A little more slippery... more skids... more thoughts of "hmm... this isn't good".

I had to shut off the radio. You know it's serious when you can't listen to music.

But then... my favorite part. [enter sarcasm]. Going downhill.

I watched for a split second as the cars in front of me slid off the road.

Into ditches and mailboxes.

But I didn't have time to stop completely.
And I couldn't turn around. 

So, I started and immediately slid into someone's driveway. 

My brakes made that awful sound that told me they were working their hardest but couldn't do more. 

I put on my hazards and just stayed still while the cars behind me passed.

Going fast. 

Just because you're in an SUV doesn't mean you need to act big, bad and bold.

I tried again... I began to slide sideways down the hill.

And not that fast slide where you don't have time to think about it.

It was the slow-motion slide where you know exactly what's happening but can't do a thing about it.

I think that one's worse.

I got control of the car and slid into someone else's driveway narrowly missing their mailbox and a huge tree. 

I put on my hazards again and this time just kept them on as I gripped the steering wheel tightly and literally just screamed my head off the rest of the way down.

Not just a metaphorically-speaking scream, either.

I mean I was screaming as if Mother Nature was trying to kidnap me and put me into her white van.

Seriously.

When I finally got to the bottom of the hill, which is pretty freaking long apparently, I did what any married 26 year old would do: I called my mom.

Screaming and irrational.

She told me that I needed to stop crying so my tears wouldn't stop me from seeing,

I quickly told her that I had no tears and that I was just hyperventilating.

After an hour and forty minutes... I got to work. Safely.

Texted Sean to tell him that I was okay.

And decided to reflect on what had just happened.

Here are my thoughts:

1. Perhaps the state of Massachusetts should treat the roads when they know [which they did] a storm is coming. The funds are there, use'em.

2. Maybe, just maybe, the plows that are out on the roads could actually put down their plows rather than drive around with their plows off the ground. Get some snow off the roads?

3. It would probably be a better idea if the salt truck was behind the plow truck.. that way the plow truck didn't remove all the salt the salt truck just released. Right?

I mean, it is New England. So while I should be comfortable driving in the snow... the state should know how to prepare for it.

The end.

It's a sick world we live in these days.

Oh, you're wondering why we've never mentioned we had a child?

Not to worry... these medications are mine.

You may be confused at the sight of all children's medicine labels.

I'm part of the 40% of adults believe it or not, that cannot swallow pills.

Which means when I'm sick... it's a lot of grape flavored chewables and bubblegum liquid meds.

My doctors appointment today was fast. 

Usually they throw me in the room and forget about me.

But today they were on top of their game.

She came right in and said "you know I can't let you leave without a flu shot."

But it wasn't phrased as a question like... "you know...?"

It was a statement.

And I started to have a slight panic attack.

I hate shots.

I went through the exam first for sinuses: I have a sinus infection.

Next for my ears: I have an ear infection.

Next for my throat: I may have strep throat. They have to "grow" it. Whhhhat?

I thought I was in the clear and that she would hopefully forget about the shot.

But apparently, she was on top of her game because as I stood up she asked which arm I preferred.

I told her I didn't think it was necessary but ultimately had to choose my left arm.

I drove to the pharmacy, tearing up and feeling bad for myself.. and my arm.

Only to arrive at CVS to sign my life away.

Honestly. 

If teenagers could stop making meth with children's Sudafed... that'd be great.

I had sign for it in three different places and have my license scanned and put into "the system". 

Is that necessary?

Well apparently, it is.

So, all in all, after the doctors, CVS, and a little love and cuddles from Apollo... 

I'm on the road to recovery and we're waiting for Sean to get home. :)

It's Three Kings Day.

Happy Three Kings Day.

We celebrated with a meal with family.

Christmas is [mostly] put away.

Thank you cards were mailed on Friday.

Laundry is ready to be worn.

The kitchen is stacked with groceries.

Blog posts are scheduled.

[I'm imagining it's going to be some time until I'm back in the swing of things].

I'm as ready as I'll ever be to go back to work.

I'm already missing ABC Family, Harry Potter and naps with Apollo.

Is there ever really enough time?

I'm smiling, but a little sad.

Today marks my last official day of vacation. Two weeks. Literally flew by. 

I don't count Saturday and Sunday because I would have them off anyway.

Most people hear that and say "be glad you got two weeks", "you're lucky". 

And oh, I know.

But I just feel that two weeks at home really shows you how quickly time flies. I'm able to do anything I want. Stay up late. Sleep in until noon. Watch TV. Clean all day. Do laundry. Go out with friends. See my family. Hang out with Apollo. Blog often. Make plans freely. Do nothing. Not think about work. 

I haven't driven my car (with the except of moving it for snow bans) since December 23rd. December twenty-third. Two thousand twelve. Which means I haven't needed to buy gas (I still have a full-tank).

I haven't needed to wake up at 5:15 in the morning, go outside in the frigid cold to start my car 30 minutes before I'm ready to leave, or fight with traffic to get to work on time. 

I haven't needed to leave for work when it's still dark out only to return home when it's already dark out thus eliminating any sense of motivation for me to get out and do something other than work during the day.

I've enjoyed my time. Not to say that I've used my time wisely.

No. No.

I did not.

Had I used my time wisely... it wouldn't still feel like Christmas in here. 

My decorations would be put away and winter decorations would be seen.

Had I used my time wisely... all of the laundry would be done -- jackets, scarves, mittens, blankets and all the other bulky stuff I "save" for the next load would be washed and dried.

Had I used my time wisely... my thank you cards would already be in the mail rather than sitting next to me while I type.

Had I used my time wisely... the kitchen would be organized instead of things thrown in the cabinets and drawers.

Had I used my time wisely... I'd be on book 4 rather than book 1 of Harry Potter.

Had I used my time wisely... we would have food and I would have gone grocery shopping more than once.

But I've enjoyed my time.

I've enjoyed blogging every day. Taking pictures. Being with friends and family. Going out with Sean after dinner. Taking naps with Apollo. Creating a facebook page. Catching up on daytime TV. Watching movie marathons of things I've seen a million times. Dreaming up vacation plans and searching them on google maps. Organizing things halfway only to get bored and leave the piles "for later".

Isn't that what a staycation is all about?

I think so.

And I definitely feel like I succeeded in that.

Today's goal is to finish up the odds and ends of everything I started over the past two weeks. I have 8 hours until Sean gets home from work. 

I'll keep you posted.

Accessorize, organize, prioritize and moisturize.

Last year, I promised myself that I would do four things: accessorize, organize, prioritize and moisturize.

Well. In some ways I think I succeeded and in others, I think there's always more you can do.

1. Accessorize: In general, I think being able to accessorize relies heavily on your ability to organize what you have... in the first place. So, originally I attempted to organize all of my accessories so that I'd be able to see them each morning while getting ready and see if anything matched my clothes.

I bought those 3m hooks for necklaces and earrings (hanging in small pouches). Ideally I would like to 1. invest in more necklaces and 2. invest in an earring holder so they are all visible.

I found pictures on Pinterest of bracelets displayed on a paper towel holder and I thought it was a great idea. So I bought a paper towel holder for this purpose (even though my kitchen paper towels are still floating on the counter and after 11 months still don't have a holder of their own). Turns out, it's not the best idea. Because 1. they mesh together and you can't see what you have and 2. if you want a bracelet at the bottom you have to take them all off. That's way too much work. However, they are still displayed this way because I'm still trying to find something else that works.

What I was able to do was wear a couple of things each day (some more recently than others) but here goes:

I wear my wedding/engagement rings each day, of course.

I got this necklace at the beginning of December as a gift and have been wearing it ever since:

I bought myself a Pandora bracelet around my birthday. I was pretty sure I didn't want it, but a best friend told me I was wrong :)

Turns out she was right, because I do love the thing. I'm currently collecting charms:

And these are my staple earrings I wear each day. I switch off, but I think most of the year was spent in the orange ones:

So all in all, there's much to do but I think I made progress since in 2011 the only jewelry I ever wore were my rings.

2. Organize: There's so much I could show you. But I think organization is such a broad topic I could probably break the post up a bit to not overwhelm. What I will show you today, is how I organized a lot of my beauty products. Sean was always complaining that underneath the bathroom sink was always so crowded and that I needed 'to stop moving his stuff". In his defense he had like 4 things that I always found myself moving around. So I took everything out:

See? So messy. So random. I already had the bins from Target (you can get 5 of them for like $6.99) and I organized them a little differently.

Rather than just have all sorts of everything in all the bins I organized them by: hair, nails, skin, travel, extra (or things we have multiples of thus CHECK HERE before we buy anything new).



I used scrapbooking paper to make the labels and since the boxes were clear and not that nice to look at the paper spruces it all up a bit. Rather than put them back under the sink, I have them out high on top of the washing machine. Ideally, I'd like to hang a shelf on top of the washing machine and have them stacked there rather than directly on top but it's worked so far. And Sean stop complaining that I had so much stuff.

3. Prioritize: I know that we both do this very well. But again, there's always more you can do. We've tried to see family more, spend more time with friends, and obviously more time set aside for each other that doesn't just consist of watching TV. One thing we try to do each week is see our families. We live about 45 minutes away from our parents and on Sundays we try to make the rounds. It's nice to spend time and occasionally we get well-balanced meals out of the visits. :)

With friends, I've tried to set aside time to hang out, meet up or at least talk on the phone. It's nice to even meet for an hour if possible.

4. Moisturize: You can never do this enough. I'll show you my favorites:

1. Jergens Ultra Healing - body lotion

2. Cera Ve - face lotion

3. Sleep Lavendar Chamomile - hand lotion before bed

4. Nivea creme - face lotion [kept in my bag]

5. Cindy Crawford Meaningful Beauty - face lotion before bed

6. Gold Bond ultimate healing - hand lotion

7. Bath and body works, Last Kiss body butter - for anytime

Well, there you have it.

2012 is done. 2013 is here.

And I hope to continue doing all of these things in the new year!

It's a new year!

There's something very refreshing about a new year.

Last night was a low-key night for us. Sean had to work late doing last minute inventory/closing things. 

So I hung out with my family and took pictures and ate food.

I feel like I've been doing a lot of that lately.

And no part of me minds it.

I also tried my first ever, pudding shot and wished I enjoyed the pudding shot as much as I enjoyed the whipped cream.

Finally, Sean got to leave work and hang out with us.

We watched TV, I saw Justin Bieber perform (twice) and we got home two minutes before the ball dropped.

I'd say it was successful and a perfect way to ring in 2013.

Maybe next year this husband of mine will take me to NYC for NYE. :)

...Probably not.

We hosted a football party, what?

We don't like football.
Well, no. Let's not say that.
We are those "jump on the bandwagon" sports fans.
The ones "real fans" hate.

Because when a Boston sports team is doing well... it's hard to get away from them.
These people around here, are crazy fanatics.
Always talking about "Red Sox nation", "Patriots nation", and all that jazz.
So around play-off time, we occasionally figure "if you can't beat'em... join'em".
Or we just forget about it and watch old episodes of Friends... what?

Well, I thought football was winding down... but it's not. Who knew?
Regardless, we had people over yesterday to eat and watch football.
So I figure... that's a football party.

Originally, I had big plans to do it up Pinterest style. But that crap takes time.
And coming off of the holidays, organizing, cleaning... I just didn't have time to make football cake-pops.
Or the expertise to do so.
Maybe one day.

Instead we had traditional foods that [I think] you'd find at a football party at the end of December:

Chili
Ribs
Buffalo chicken wings
Home-made pizzas
Taco dip
Cheese/crackers
Veggie platter (just to make ya feel a little bit better about yourself at the end of the day... "I had a piece of cucumber")
Chocolate chip cookies

We also had a lot of drinks.
A lot.

Thankfully, the Patriots won (unless you're a Miami fan because you're probably upset they didn't even score...) so it meant that our guests weren't upset when leaving. It was also a low-key, and low-level stress game so no one was yelling and becoming agitated. See what sports cause?

Nonetheless, Apollo still spent most of the evening away from everyone and way up high on the kitchen cabinets:

Sean and his brothers forgot the game was even on and spent most of the night playing instruments and playing with auto-tune:

And again we thought it important to take a family photo since Joe and Kim weren't here Christmas day when the last one was taken:

Four people in this photo didn't actually have Patriots shirts to sport and had to borrow them just for picture-taking purposes. Can you guess who?

The game ended at a reasonable hour so there was still time for some games.
We played Big Bang Theory trivia (apparently I don't pay attention to that show as much as I thought I did) and finished the night off with the game, Anomia.

I suggest that game to you.
Buy it.
You'll thank me later.

And because today is today.
I leave you with this:

Happy New Year's Eve!

Yearly Recap: 2012.

Every year it feels as though the year passed quicker than the one before it.

Here's my recap of 2011.

Here's my recap of 2010.

And, now, here's 2012:

January.

We rang in 2012 with family and then with friends. We moved out of Sean's parent's house and into our loft after falling in love with it. We had a horrible experience buying our first set of furniture. We celebrated 6 months being married. We watched the Patriots win. A lot.

February.

I had an asthma attack that landed me in the ER. I forced Sean to take me to Ikea many times to continue furnishing our new place. We watched the Patriots lose the superbowl. We celebrated Valentine's Day with Italian food and I baked way too many cupcakes.

March.

We traveled to Puerto Rico with our parents and stayed in a penthouse condo. I started reading the Hunger Games, became intrigued and made Sean take me to the movie. I really thought we'd win the lottery. We celebrated Sean's birthday (26) and I surprised him with a trip to a shooting range where I realized I really, really, hate guns.

April.

We traveled to Maryland for an anniversary party and on the way back stopped at 6 Flags. We celebrated Easter. I talked about how to be the wife of a musician. We also brought home Apollo and completely fell in love with her.

May.

We became "those people" when we started traveling around town with Apollo riding shotgun. I finished my Montessori training. I reflected on my work. We celebrated Memorial day with family.

June.

I finished another year of teaching. I made summer goals. Apollo became a guest blogger and my new favorite obsession as I spent all my days with her. I traveled to California. I wrote a post about my cousin having a baby. I blogged about Easton's baby shower.

July.

We celebrated the 4th with family. We had a sweet yard sale. I was confused and saddened with the news coming out of Aurora, CO. We were in tornado watches on a number of occasions and I created our tornado stash. We celebrated our one year wedding anniversary in Niagara Falls: one and two.

August.

Apollo graced us with her second post. My cousin had her baby shower and I made a diaper tricycle and some onesie cupcakes. I made some goals for my 26th year of life. We took Apollo on her first vacation to Maine. We attended a wedding, baby Easton was born, I went to an amusement park and finally went for a swim.

  

September.

I went back to work. Sean had surgery and I turned 26. I started taking Zumba and Country Line Dancing. I went to the first wedding without Sean, since he had surgery, and I realized that I don't like doing things without him. I ran a 5K [thru woods and trails] and surprised myself. We went apple picking, baby Lilyana was born, and my obsession with TV became a problem.

October.

Blogging took a back seat to life. I spent a weekend in the Cape with family and met Easton. We did Halloween things and visited Salem. I spent most of my time, energy and money on last minute efforts for the Obama campaign and told you why I was voting for him. We also met Lilyana, attended a wedding and Hurricane Sandy hit us. We had a day off from work and didn't get any trick-or-treaters for Halloween.

November.

I was thrilled when Barack Obama was re-elected. I showed you our new china cabinet. We hosted a couples game night. Breaking Dawn, part 2 was finally released. We hosted Thanksgiving at our place. I went shopping on Black Friday.

December.

I went to Houston for work. The news out of Newtown left the country re-examining... everything. We decorated for Christmas. I hosted a cookie swap. We sent out holiday cards. We celebrated Christmas.

[My original plan was to show one picture of the two of us for each month. You'll notice in May and June, we apparently, only took pictures of Apollo]

2012 was very good to us.

I hope it was good to you, too!

Happy New Year's Eve!