2011: The Year o’ Birthing
As the title (blatantly) suggests, 2011 was The Year o' Birthing. This is further showcased below, as almost every one of my answers is "my baby!" or "giving birth!" or "my cute baby!" and for that I'm sorry. Maybe next year something more interesting will happen (doubtful.)
1. What did you do in 2011 that you'd never done before?
I birthed a baby!
2. Did you keep your new year's resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
No-ish and no. I didn't really make resolutions, but I did have some goals I wanted to achieve and I achieved exactly none of them. I have found I'm just not someone who responds well to people (even myself) telling me what to do. So, one day at a time, no pressure, I'm a delicate flower, etc.
3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
I'm pretty close to myself, so yes.
4. Did anyone close to you die?
Nope.
5. What countries did you visit?
None.
6. What would you like to have in 2012 that you didn't have in 2011?
Last year I said I wanted a new kitchen. I'd still like this. Other than that, I'd like a piece of art. Like real adult art and shit. Also some new clothes.
7. What dates from 2011 will be etched upon your memory, and why?
April 20th. LG's (and my dad's!) birthday. I don't think it will ever NOT amaze me that I was due in mid-May, my water broke April 17th, and LG held on until April 20th. Her timing, it's impeccable.
8. What was your biggest achievement of this year?
Do you want to take a guess?
9. What was your biggest failure?
I don't fail. Failure is for losers.
10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
*I hope she doesn't talk about her birth again*
(Nope.)
11. What was the best thing you bought?
A plane ticket to Austin.
12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
I always call Chris out for being wonderful and awesome, and that was no different this year, however, a special shout-out goes to LG for being the coolest baby. I really dig that chick.
13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
Nobody's. Cool people all around this year.
14. Where did most of your money go?
Mortgage, probably.
15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Other than the obvious BABY!, I was very excited to attend The Blathering and meet some of my people from inside the computer.
16. What song will always remind you of 2011?
This stupid country song Chris likes to play over and over about a dad taking his daughter fishing. WEEP!
17. Compared to this time last year, are you: A) happier or sadder? B) thinner or fatter? C) richer or poorer?
A) Happier.
B) Thinner! Fatter. (Ed. note: I just looked back through pictures from December 2010 and it appears I was actually skinnier than I am now. So! I look 5 months pregnant right now. Tremendous!)
C) Poorer. Daycare's expensive.
18. What do you wish you'd done more of?
I wish I'd gotten more spa treatments.
19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
I wish I'd spent less time feeling like I should want to stay home with LG even though I know I don't want to.
20. How did you spend Christmas?
At home, the three of us, watching 24 hours of A Christmas Story and eating ourselves silly.
21. Did you fall in love with 2011?
No. I mean, it was awesome, but it didn't buy me diamonds or anything.
22. What was your favorite TV program?
Homeland. Are you guys watching this? SO GOOD. Claire Danes, the Emmy is coming for you.
(P.S. Does anyone else wonder if the Showtime parties are at all awkward with Claire Danes and Mary Louise Parker both (likely) in attendance? "Oh, hey, about that Billy Crudup thing, yeah...")
23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
Haters gon' hate. No, I actually don't hate anyone new this year. But hey, there's always next year! 2012: The Year o' Hate.
24. What was the best book you read?
Umm, I read two books this year. One was James Patterson. The other one was better. (Little Chapel on the River.)
25. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Always a day late, I'm loving Florence Welch.
26. What did you want and get?
I wanted a baby and I got one. I also wanted some other thing to work out and it did. (Vague, sorry.)
27. What did you want and not get?
A brand new wardrobe full of clothes that fit perfectly and don't require me to hitch 'em up every three seconds.
28. What was your favorite film of 2011?
Did I...did I even watch a movie this year?
29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
We went to Sonoma for lunch and the champagnery afterwards. 28.
30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
ONE billion dollars. Yeah, same answer every year, but it's true. You know what would be satisfying for NEXT year, though? If we could pay off Chris's school loan and my car.
31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept of 2011?
Jeggings and scarves make the lady.
32. What kept you sane?
Chris, for everything; LG, for when I got all stressed and needed to refocus; champagne, for everything; and Twitter, for parenting, especially during the #midnightfeedingclub. It was always nice to have another poor sap who was awake and feeding a baby at 3am.
33. What political issue stirred you the most?
Hotel sheets.
34. Who did you miss?
I missed LG every weekday from around 9am until I got home at 6pm.
But sometimes I got to take her to work with me and that was fun. We are very important business ladies, see?
("Step into my office."
"Why?"
"Because you're fucking fired!")
35. Who was the best new person you met?
You know who.
36. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2011.
You're doing everything perfectly right.
37. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.
"The party don't start till I walk in." -- Ke$ha
Times, they are a-changing
There used to be a time in my life when the perfect weekend was judged by how much going out and partying I did.
Before heading out to the bars, I'd spend 45 minutes perched on the floor in front of my mirrored closet, drawing the perfect smokey-eye.
I'd painstakingly straighten my hair and pack a smaller bag with all the essentials: Gum, lip gloss, ID, debit card, done and done, let's do this thang.
Then I'd go out, have too many G&Ts, and go to sleep just so, so that my makeup would still be perfect when I woke up to go to hangover brunch the next morning.
Nowadays, the perfect weekend is judged by whether or not I have to put in contacts and put on makeup. Glasses and a bare face all weekend? Then the weekend was a success.
(Of course, you know I still rock the smokey-eye Monday through Friday. Except now I make sure to remove my makeup every night before bed.)
(Oh, and this weekend was a perfect one.)
First world problems
My car unlock clicker do-dad has stopped working and I practically break my thumb every time I try to open my car door. I've tried changing the battery and the problem persists, so that's obviously not the issue. Every morning I walk out to my car, lugging 20 pounds of baby, her bag of stuff, and my bag of stuff and then I sit there while I *click click click* until I finally give up, plop LG and all our shit on the ground, walk around to my side of the car, unlock it manually, then walk back to the passenger side where I practically break my back trying to get her into the backseat. Once I finally get in the driver's seat -- hopefully I haven't banged my head against the car door jamb, as that seems to be happening with regularity these days -- I'm sweating and, due to too much vigorous movement, my pants have practically fallen down...
...Which brings me to this: I have no pants. My jeggings (my beloved jeggings!) are getting droopy, both pairs of my leggings are droopy AND have holes in the butt, and the pants I recently ordered from Old Navy don't fit. And not because they're too big.
I left my travel-sized face wash in the bathroom in Austin. It was Kiehl's and it was FREE and while I didn't love it, it was the only nice travel face wash I ever had and I only got to use it twice before leaving it a tired stupor at the Hyatt at 6am.
The newspaper reprinted last Sunday's crossword puzzle this Sunday and never fixed the mistake. I look forward to very little on Mondays, the crossword puzzle being at the top of the list.
What are your first world problems these days?
We’ll always have the Internet
I went away (alone! without my baby!) to Austin this past weekend to meet some of my Internet besties.
Normally before a trip, I plan! plan! plan!
How am I getting from the airport to the hotel?
How am I checking into the hotel?
I need to buy a new outfit and new shoes!
And most importantly, jewelry! What accessories should I pack OMG now I need to buy something new again!
This trip was not like this. I sat in the airport bar before my flight, reading the newest issue of Better Homes & Gardens, drinking my Ramona-approved Pinot Grigio, knowing that on the other side, someone(s) would pick me up from the airport.
And someone(s) did.
I knew I'd have a place to stay, thanks to people who plan much more in advance than I do and who let me crash in their room.
I didn't have to buy any new clothes, because, well, there was no time and money, but more importantly because when you have the awesome personal stylists I have, they tell you that what you already have is perfect. And they don't lie.
And speaking of those personal stylists, I didn't have to buy any new jewelry, either, because when you room next to them, you just have to show up at their door and ask, "Okay, what am I wearing?" (i.e.: What am I stealing from you for the night?)
The thing about meeting your Internet friends, awesome as it is, is that the time spent is always much, much too short. Brunch is never long enough. A dinner is never long enough. And, it turns out, a weekend (or in my case, less than 36 hours OMG I AM STILL SO TIRED) isn't long enough either.
But lucky for us, because we already know so much about one another, we can totally cut the getting-to-know-you bullshit and dive right into the real-life stuff.
And even though we only see each other once a year, we have the Internet to keep us in touch (daily, hourly) until the next time.
Until next time, LADIES!
Working out the work and workout
I'm in sort of a weird place and it's bothering me, so I'm gonna get all 2007 and write my feelings about it.
I've been back to work for a little over two months and things are fine, truly; nothing to report either way about that. I like my job and it provides stellar healthcare and while I miss my kid (all day, but usually pretty hardcore around 2pm), work is good.
What's NOT good is the working out. From the time LG was about three weeks old, I started working out again, mostly doing the Shred and/or Bethenny's yoga DVD and/or going on walks (LG was silent on our walks! Or, she was silent to ME when I put my music on. Same diff.)
I did this mostly for my sanity, as I'm one of those weirdos who starts to freak out if she doesn't workout. I'm not a hardcore worker-outer, mind you. I just feel better when I DO something.
Anyway, the (re)start of work has put me in this weird place where I want to workout, but I also want to spend time with my child (imagine that) and it's been hard finding the right balance between the two.
See, I get home from work around 6pm and if I go on a quick workout, I can be home around 6:45pm. The problem, though, is that LG goes to bed sometime between 7pm and 7:45pm, which means if I workout, my time with her is very limited.
Not to mention, working out after work causes us to eat dinner around 7:30pm or 8pm and when you go to bed at 9pm, that's too damn late for dinner.
I know the answer is to just drag myself out of bed and workout before work, which is actually when I prefer to workout, but DAMN. I'm tired.
All this whining aside, I've been doing the Couch to 5k program and will be completing it this week. I was a little skeptical of the program; if you'd have told me eight weeks ago I could run three miles straight two months from then, I'd have laughed at you.
But, I started the program to give myself a workout I could complete in 30 minutes and I've done just that.
Regardless, I still feel this pressure to find the time to do what I want to do (workout, hang with LG and Chris) and what I need to do (workout, hang with LG and Chris.) But hey, at least my wants and needs align, right? Could be worse, I suppose.
In other news, I bought jeggings this weekend and they're fabulous. So at least I've got a roof over my head, food on the table in front of the TV, and jeggs.
Ancient accent vlog
Jumping on the bandwagon with the accent vlog.
If you want to play along, then...
Say these words:
Aunt, Route, Wash, Oil, Theater, Iron, Salmon, Caramel, Fire, Water, Sure, Data, Ruin, Crayon, Toilet, New Orleans, Pecan, Both, Again, Probably, Spitting image, Alabama, Lawyer, Coupon, Mayonnaise, Syrup, Pajamas, Caught
And answer these questions:
What is it called when you throw toilet paper on a house?
What is the bug that when you touch it, it curls into a ball?
What is the bubbly carbonated drink called?
What do you call gym shoes?
What do you say to address a group of people?
What do you call the kind of spider that has an oval-shaped body and extremely long legs?
What do you call your grandparents?
What do you call the wheeled contraption in which you carry groceries at the supermarket?
What do you call it when rain falls while the sun is shining?
What is the thing you use to change the TV channel?
Fall into change
It is now (FINALLY) September, which means we've entered my second-favorite month of the year (my birth month, February, is first-favorite.)
This is the month of anniversaries (my parents', mine, my BFF's) and Labor Day (no work!), as well as the official first day of Fall, which, even though September is usually still one of the hottest months here in California, is my favorite season.
September will also, SO HELP ME GOD, bring an end to August: The Month Of Sick. We've all been sick twice (various colds and flus; nothing too serious, except LG had a slight flu and there's nothing more sad than your usually-happy baby all red- and watery-eyed and pitiful.)
It's time to give August the boot and get out of the house FINALLY, so on this long weekend we are -- rain or shine, sore throat or not -- going to Napa to, A) Pick up our wine shipment, and B) Sit out on the patio and enjoy some bubbles.
There are a lot of things I miss about living in San Diego: The quick walk to our favorite bar; the hills along the cliffs, which are far superior for working out than our flat subdivision; and countless restaurants that are not named Chili's or BJ's or (Cr)Applebee's.
But San Diego doesn't have the beautiful wine country, where I'd spend every weekend if money were no object. It doesn't have my nice big house, with my garden in the backyard. And it doesn't have seasons that change, where leaves fall and rain comes, and the hills outside our bedroom window turn bright green.
We met as kids there, but we'll raise our kid here, where changes actually happen. Change can be good, change can be very, very good.
Why don’t you all just…fade away?
I'm going through this phase where everything pisses me off. While I don't usually act super cheery, I am a happy individual, so to be constantly annoyed isn't really that fun. For anyone. Mostly not fun for Chris, who doesn't deserve my mean mugs and hairy dog eyes. Like my mom said the other day, "Why would you be mean to Chris? He's wonderful and never does anything wrong." It's true, he's pretty damn awesome, but we're not here to talk about him and his wonderfulness. We're here to talk about things that are pissing me right the hell off.
Things that are pissing me right the hell off:
- The fact that people don't know I'm pregnant and act accordingly by way of special services. I'm looking at YOU, person who wouldn't let me into my lane on the freeway (even though I had my blinker on, dammit!) I'm PREGNANT, therefore, you should let me in your lane (you also shouldn't cut me off.) Basically, everyone should just KNOW I'm pregnant and do everything in their power to make my life easier.
- The man who tried to cut in front of me in line going through security this morning. Was me handing my purse to the security tech taking too long for you, Mr. Important? Rule: No one jumps in front of me in line. Ever. But especially not when I'm pregnant. (See above.)
- The temp who's been filling in for our office told me this morning I look bigger than I did yesterday. I told her I was the same size as yesterday and then she tried to say something about how maybe it was my shirt. (Like I'm supposed to find a shirt that fits nicely around a giant lump? Psh.)
Why do people say these things to pregnant women? WHY? The only thing people should say to pregnant women is, "You look great!" or "You don't even look pregnant!" or something that's probably a total lie, but whatever; us pregnant women are sensitive little creatures (who'll rip your head off if you say the wrong thing.)
Alright, I feel better now that I've gotten some of this negativity out! Care to share some things that are currently pissing you right the hell off? Do it -- you'll feel better!
Here’s to the next seven*
Thank you for all your fashion help on this post. The general consensus was that brown and black is a-ok and so I went with it (and - a bonus - everything fit!)
Here's the outfit, complete with an orange sweater, natch):
Photo taken outside my very favorite place in Napa, Domaine Carneros.
Since Napa Valley is right in our backyard, it's sort of taken over as our local bar. We try to spend a lot of time there (usually when I'm not pregnant, of course) but have had a hard time finding a place that doesn't do the traditional wine tasting and is close to our house (i.e.: in the city of Napa, as opposed to say, St. Helena, which is still considered Napa Valley but is waaaaay further north.)
Enter Domaine Carneros. I think they do traditional wine tastings and tours, but every time we've gone, we've just sat out on the patio, shared a bottle of bubbly ($26 - a steal!), and admired the views:
When we were there for my birthday, we decided to join their wine club (complete with a shipment of a Holiday Magnum every November - yes please!) and because we were joining the club, our waitress kept bringing out more and more champagnes for us to taste. We'd come there with the intention of having one glass of bubbles, but one quickly turned into...
I didn't have the heart to tell her to stop bringing more champagne, "Because, uhh, I'm actually pregnant," so Chris took one (or three) for the team.
Before Domaine Carneros, though, we headed over to Sonoma for lunch at The Girl and the Fig and then after Domaine Carneros, we came home where I was treated to a feast of lobster tail and steamed mussels. All in all, a fabulous birthday.
(More pictures can be found on my Flickr page.)
*My dad always says life is broken up into seven year cycles - every seven years, you grow and change - and this year begins my forth cycle, which, judging from the obvious I'M GOING TO HAVE A BABY, should be full of change and growth right from the get-go.
I got goalz
Since it's a new year, I thought I'd make some resolutions (or resos, as we call 'em in the biz), although I'm not really resolving to do anything differently, as much as I'm just making a list of stuff to do. So, here are some things to do this year:
1. Read a book a month. Some people I know (Elizabeth, ahem) read hundreds (literally, HUNDREDS) of books a year. This amazes and impresses me, as I think I read, oh, maybe four or five books last year? While I was always reading something, I certainly wasn't burning through the books (clearly.) So this year, I'd like to read a little more. Which means I need to get through the last 60 pages of "Pride and Prejudice" in the next 20-ish days. (Help!)
2. Learn all the capitals to all the countries. I already know all my state capitals, but only a handful of country capitals, so I'd really like to learn them once and for all. I don't really know why, or how it will help me in the future, but I love geography, so I figure this would be kind of fun (or something?) Anyway, I've learned two so far already! Nuuk, Greenland and Yerevan, Armenia. Only 190 (or so) more to go.
3. Expand the garden. This should be an exceptionally fun job, as I'll be about eight months pregnant when it's time to start the garden and it's already completely overrun with weeds, but at least this is my last year of weeding. Next year I can just stick the kid in the garden and let her weed. (That's why people have kids, right? Free labor?)
4. A bunch of house stuff, that I don't even want to put into a list, because it's so overwhelming, but includes re-doing the kitchen on the cheap and buying some final pieces of furniture and art and painting the master bathroom and and and...
5. Unplug. I'm addicted to my phone and I really, really need not be. I'm constantly plugged in throughout the day, so I just need to put the phone away once I get home from work. If I had a nickel for every time Chris asked me, "What's going on in that iPhone world?!" and I answered with, "Looking at pictures of so-and-so's dog..." or "Seeing what who's-a-what's-it is making for dinner..." well, I'd be rich. So, no more Internetting at night. Or at least, less Internetting at night. (Tonight doesn't count!)
Well, that's all, she wrote! What are your goals/resos/to dos this year?
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