Monday, June 28, 2010

Reflections of a (temporary) single parent


First of all I'd like to give a big "You Are My HERO!" shout out to the single moms I know- you know who you are. God bless you.

I've been a temporary (poser, if you will) single parent for one week and three days now, with 4 more days to go in this stint. Matt gets home on Friday and let me just say, I am reeeeallly looking forward to sleeping in on Saturday. In fact, they'll be lucky if I make it out of bed before lunch. Actually I will because we have friends coming to visit, otherwise I likely would not.

Dramatics aside, I really have had the best week with Madelyn. She has been so awesome and I really think we've bonded. The thing that is most-stressful and draining about being the only parent around is just the stress of knowing you have to do everything yourself. Knowing no one is there to help you. It's tiring just thinking about it. I learned that on the weekends when Madelyn takes her one one-hour nap, I nap too, otherwise I am just worthless for the rest of the day. Entertaining her is surprisingly exhausting, and she is seriously the happiest, most even-keel child.

The stress comes in knowing that when your little one goes to bed, your night is just getting started. Dishes, laundry, dusting, bill paying, etc etc. Not exactly my idea of relaxing, but someone has to do it! It's tough. I'm really lucky that Matt is so involved and is a true participant in all of the household chores and of course, parenting. And that Madelyn has given me lots of hugs and kisses in the past week, because that of course, makes it all worth it :)
This week we'll be entertaining friends and leaving our little monkey with the in-laws for a night so that we can stay out past 8 on the 4th of July (woop woop!). Watch out, Atlanta. If I pass my current one-glass-of-wine limit you may be in for a special treat ;)

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Jenny is the bomb


And I'd like to thank her for this beautiful new family picture :)

A case of mistaken identity

Lately it seems I keep getting mistaken for a 16 year-old high school student instead of a 28 year-old wife and mother. My mom says to enjoy it but I find it rather insulting. I wouldn't mind being told I look 22. I've always had a baby face so it wouldn't shock me. But 16? Honestly.

Example A:
A few weeks ago I was getting a pedicure because I knew once Matt left town I wouldn't be able to, and having my toes done is really just one of my favorite guilty pleasures. Along with massages, reeses peanut butter cup blizzards, and 90210 reruns. Anywhoo... I had a huge rug burn on my shin from playing around with Madelyn, and the lady doing my toes asked where I got it from. I told her I was playing with my little girl. You could have seen the look of shock and awe on her face from the parking lot. She said "ooh, you have a child??" and I said "yep, she's one" at which point she looked at me like I was the leading lady in a bad lifetime movie about high school pregnancy. After a few minutes she asked "how old are you?" to which I answered "28". She said "ooohh my!! I thought you were 16!! You look so so young." Rude.

Example B:
I'm picking a few items up from the alterations place when the lady checking me out notices I'm wearing a wedding ring. She points at my ring not so subtly and says "Oh Wow, you're married?!" Um yeah. Almost three years ago. She continues on "You just get married recently?" (Seriously, when did people get so nosy?!) I answer "No, I've been married for a while. I have a sweet little girl too!" She looks at me like I'm the victim of some disgusting mail-order bride scheme and a look of confusion washes over her face. "You look too young to be married!" to which I reply "I AM TWENTY-EIGHT!"
Her response: "Oh I'm sorry, I thought you were only 16 or 17."

Case closed. I win.

It doesn't help that EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. I try to buy wine at Publix they look at me and my ID like I'm trying to buy booze for the weekend party I'm hosting while my parents are out of town. I've even had the manager called over before. And lets be honest people, if I was in high school I'd probably be buying flavored Smirnoff and Zima from the liquor store, not chardonnay from Publix. Disreguard the fact that the only other things in my shopping cart are animal crackers, a pink sippy cup, and Lysol wipes.

I'm starting to feel like I need to cut my hair short and wear more makeup. Isn't that what you're supposed do when you get older?

Does this happen to anyone but me?

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Summer Lovin

A few things I am loving right now...

1. I don't usually like my food out of an aerosol can (though I do have fond memories of my dad eating spray cheese and crackers growing up. You know what I'm talking about), but this is a not your average spray food. I stumbled upon this invention at Walmart of all places. I hate Walmart but I needed a one-stop shop and I grabbed this on my way out. Enter Batter Blaster. The best invention, literally, since sliced bread. It's 100% organic, made with very few ingredients but including wheat flour, cane sugar, etc. It's low calorie and it makes pancakes without any measuring or mess at all!! Considering pancakes are one of my favorite foods and I love to make them for Madelyn but always hated the mess, this literally makes me smile everytime I open the fridge. We can have pancakes at a moment's notice, whenever we want. I add blueberries, bananas, chocolate for me (have I mentioned I'm on a bit of a chocolate binge lately? It's so hard hard to stop!), etc etc. Love it. Pick one up next time you're out.

2. This face. I Die.

3. With Matt's impending departure I've been beefing up our DVR with mindless entertainment that I wouldn't usually subject him to. The best of which I've discovered is Bethenny Getting Married which follows my favorite person from Real Housewives of NY. She's really funny and slightly neurotic, but she's also a natural foods chef so I always like to see what she's up to in the kitchen. Which leads me to guilty pleasure number two- The Next Food Network Star. Minus the fact that every time I watch this damn show I want to ravage my kitchen because I'm drooling over all the yummy food, it's fun to watch.

4. Avalon Organics lavendar face scrub. After noticing my skin looking a little haggard I started using this and I love it for the smell alone. We'll see if it does anything for my skin.
5. Reese Witherspoon's flawless style and this site which brings you the bargain version of her outfits. Here are a few of my faves that I plan on trying to imitate with items from my own closet. Wish me luck.





Wednesday, June 9, 2010

I have a great ass


Haaahhhaa. I couldn't help but title this post with something that would get your attention ;)

I had to share my new love with you: Mandy Ingber. Sure I have to share her with Jennifer Aniston, but that's a small price to pay for a hard bod.

See, Mandy is Jennifer's yoga teacher and the person Jen (I can call her that) credits with her ridiculously toned body. But she's not your average yoga teacher. She guides you through a yoga hybrid workout where you spend 8 breaths in an intense yoga pose and then follow it with two sets of 8 calisthenic moves and a pulse of 8 at the end. For example you hold a crescent pose which is a deep lunge position for 8 breaths and then go into two sets of 8 lunges plus the pulse of 8 at the end. It's hard. Really hard. Like it was hard to concentrate because my whole body was shaking.

But my favorite part is that when you really start to feel this exercise she starts to go into her mantra to keep you motivated, which from a yoga instructor is usually serious and about meditation, feeling the movements, etc... Mandy says "I do have a mantra, like every other instructor, it's "I have a great ass. I have a great ass".

Hysterical! She's so down to earth and super funny. And she's kicking my flabby ass into shape. Watch out, Jen ;)

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Life

We've been busy little bees around here as you can probably tell from my lack of interesting posts in the past week! All good stuff though. No major disasters, wild animal infestations, or expensive mechanical mishaps.

In the past week.....

- I took a sewing class at Joann Fabrics with my friend Amanda to see if I like sewing enough to possibly buy a machine and persue it as a new hobby. The jury is still out on this one, but it was fun to do something different.

- Madelyn started saying "raaarrrr" when you ask her what a lion says. She still won't say mama but she'll roar. Go figure.
- The Barnes and Noble by our house closed which I am ridiculously upset about. It was the only decent bookstore anywhere near our house and I loved it there. I used to get coffee and read magazines and cookbooks for hours (BM-before Madelyn) and now it's gone. Not cool.

- We are loving the big box we got from our CSA! We've been eating tons of fresh fruit and veggies which is good because for some reason lately I've also been filling up on lots of chocolate. oops.

- Saw Sex and the City with Kristin. It was cute and funny just as expected and I loved the scene with Miranda and Charlotte discussing the uncensored aspects of motherhood. You moms out there know what I'm talking about. Hysterical. It was a bit long at just under 2.5 hours but So nice to have a girl's night.

- I planted sweet basil, cilantro, and rosemary in cute pots on the back deck. It will be nothing short of an act of God if I can keep them alive.

- We had a great decorative painter named Kristen come out to the house and paint two pieces for us. She was super sweet and Super reasonable with her pricing, and he work is just gorgeous. I really wanted a cool mirror for our kitchen so I bought a plain brown one for $25 at TJ Maxx and she turned it into this beauty:





- She also took this old hunter green chair I got when I was 11 (hunter green was all the rage at that time if you remember) and turned her into a gorgeous new off-white antiqued version of her 1993 self. Bellissimo!



- Bought this dress from Target. I'm taking it to get shortened a little bit but otherwise it's sooo cute on. Of course, if I stuffed my bra it would look a whole lot better. Is 28 too old to fake having boobs?

Hope everyone is having a great week!

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Baby fat

Isn't it the best?

I think we should all flaunt our chubby thighs this proudly :)
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