Its been awhile

Yes, its been quite a bit since I last posted.  I would try to find an excuse but I cant seem to find one big reason, so basically I have no reason for my absence.  In order to "briefly" catch up on the past few months I will just do some bullet points per month.

July:
- Found out we were expecting our 2nd baby in mid-March
- Work, work, work
- Found out Lakeway was being purchased by a new company.

August:
- Found out (with 2 weeks notice) that I was not being given a new position with the new company and that my last day would be August 31st.
- After living in our house for 5 years finally got our 2 giant trees trimmed (not at a small cost but well worth it), it looked like they cut down an entire forest!
- Logan started working with a new speech therapist, Emily, who he also really likes

September:
- Decided to start my own wedding planning company and tried to figure out a name.
- We took a 10 day trip up north (IL and IN) for a friend of Ian's wedding and to see all our family and let them know about the new baby in person.
- It was a 21 hour car trip (each way) and we discovered that Logan can only drink water and eat cheerios and goldfish on long car tips (found this out the hard way).  We also discovered his car seat is relatively easy to clean (thank god!)

October:
- Found out we (and Lisa) will both be having little girls come 2013.
- Logan was an astronaut again for Halloween (he didnt care at all and it still fit) and didnt really care about the holiday at all.  He wanted nothing to do with the candy but did enjoy seeing all the dogs and cats that were participating in candy passing out.

November:
- Logan is slowly learning more words, he still only knows about 10 or so, but that is progress for us.  He is also babbling a lot more.
- He is consistently using non-verbal gestures to communicate.  He loves to point, nods his head yes and now, and just have a very expressive face.
- We had a very large thanksgiving feast, way too much food, it was fun.
- We "black friday" shopped all night.  We went out at 1030pm, got home at 3am, and then went back out around 10am until around 4pm I think.  We didnt get a ton of stuff but what we did get it was a good deal.
- Found out Logan has a tendency to pull too hard when we are holding his hand and pull his elbow out of socket and that he has croupe.
- Found out that new baby girl is measuring 2 weeks bigger than she should, so most likely we will have another big baby like Logan
- Finally decided on a name for baby girl, Amelia Grace.

Now onto December for a fun Christmas, lots of prep for Amelia (as I am way way way behind, really have done nothing) and many more days of fun with Logan!!

Dinosaur Train Birthday Party Decor

Logan loves the "Dinosaur Train" so we decided it was the perfect theme for his 2nd birthday party.  The house was taken over in lime green, orange, and turquoise with a few dinosaur pals around and it looked amazing!! I have to thank pinterest for this entire party, almost every idea came from there (quite a few came from Annies Eats, she can put together a great party), and I made a board which has a few followers so I thought it was about time (being 3 months later) to post these so I could add it to my board so everyone could see how it turned out.

 

The 3 foot "Buddy" balloon was a big hit, it was about the same size of Logan :)  My favorite decoration was the streamers over the window with the "Happy Birthday Logan!!" banner I made.  I used the Jurassic Park font, which came pretty close to matching the dinosaur train one, plus I knew it was dino related so that was a bonus too.

 

The table looked awesome if you asked me.   We also had the cupcake tower, some dino train talking figures, dino train and solid color tablewear, and the amazing goodie bags I made.  Thats right, I made those bags all on my own using party size brown paper bags, paint, card stock and rubber cement.  Knowing how busy my job always kept me I started these 12 bags in early February to have them completed by June 3rd, and let me tell you, I finished on June 2nd :)

The cupcake tower was perfect!  I found super cute polka dot cupcake liners in matching colors on amazon.com. Lisa made cupcakes toppers, we made Logan a small cake covered in m&ms (since he doesnt like cake but loves m&ms) topped off with Buddy holding up 2 candles.  And we used extra m&ms to put on each cupcake (since I was not very good at guessing how many we needed and got a few too many)

**sorry for the cake picture being sideways, I cant for the life of me figure out how to get it the right way on this darn blog!!**

 

I love, love, love this birthday banner, I just couldnt throw it away after the party so I laminated each one and am going to put them in his bedroom, its just so cute seeing how much he has grown over each month of his first 2 years.  I had it strung together with ribbon to hang it but then I realized that it was becoming very complicated (at least to me) and I had his amazing wire thing from IKEA where I hang his artwork, and it was just soooo much easier.  But if you dont have that you are "in theory" able to do this with ribbon and more patience than I evidently have.

This was the part of the party I thought would be great, but it wasnt, and it was the biggest pain in the bottom EVER!!!  They are supposed to be dinosaur eggs, made from painted personal sized watermelons, seriously how great does that sound.  I think 2 year olds were too young, and I think there would have been ways to make these easier but of course I didnt know that until I was done and wanted to pull out all my hair.  

Since we were dealing with 2 year olds and fruit that I potentially wanted people to eat I went with washable white paint.  Spray paint would have been sooooooo much easier, but then I dont think you would want to eat them.  If you wanted to stay with the washable paint sand the watermelons first.  Each one has about 8 coats of paint and you can still see the watermelon peeping through.  Plus if you hit it with a fingernail (or anything with a shred of force) it would chip.  Also this is June in Texas, we had water activities outside, once you touched a dino egg the white paint came right off :)  

Anyway, once I decided I couldnt paint anymore white paint (mainly because I ran out of time) I used lime green and orange craft paint to paint on the dots.  Again, since I didnt sand the watermelons sometimes even this paint made the white paint came off.  Luckily I only had to do 2 coats of the paint for the dots (which was good since I was doing that on the morning of the party).

They turned out pretty cool looking, and Logan did like them (but had no clue they were dino eggs), but since the paint was coming off nobody took them home so I ended up with 8 personal sized watermelons!  I didnt want anything to do with them by this point, so Mom washed off the paint in the sink (it came right off) and took all 8 home and was going to cut them up and freeze them.  I went by her place a few weeks later and I dont think she had touched them, so in the end I think all 8 went to waste (which was sad) but what can you do, right!

2nd Birthday!!

Yes, I am 2 months behind, I know, I blame work (and Logan), and the olympics (even though thats only been on for a week), and Annie & Jaska, and heck, lets blame the house and the lawn too.  Anyway, I am home sick today (100% Logan's fault) and needed to not sleep for awhile so I thought I would just sit on the couch, drink a yummy homemade banana shake, watch The Easy A and update the blog.  Good idea, right?

So 2 months ago to the day Logan turned 2 and we had his party on the actual bday (since it was a Sunday).  It was a Dinosaur Train bday (a PBS show the he loved).  He still likes it but he had already kinda moved on to Thomas the Train and now onto the movie Cars, but he does still like his dino train.  I am going to do 2 blog posts about the party, this one will be more about Logan and the other post will be about the decorations.  I have become addicted to pinterest (ooh, another thing to blame for this delay) but I made a board about the party prep and I want to link my blog post about the decor back to it, but I didnt think they all needed to see pics of Logan and read about the personal stuff (not that they cant if they just scroll down, but lets not focus on that).

It was a fun day, we had 2 other little girls come over (1 who was about 2 months older and 1 about 2 months younger) both of which were kicking his little bottom with their talking skills (or more so his lack of talking skills) and family.  We blew some bubbles, played in the backyard with water balloons, water tables and a swimming pool, we searched for dinosaur eggs (see decor blog post for that fun!), ate some cupcakes, opened some gifts and just had a good time. 

dad & ana came down and were the 1st to play with logan on his new train table

he doesnt really like cake but loves m&ms, so he got an m&m covered cake, he liked picking them all off and eating them very slowly :)

he found a dinosaur egg!!

 

Just to add one more thing on the list of things Im not good at, I realized about a month ago that I didnt take his 2 year photos, but did I do it then, of course not, and guess what, I still havent!  Perhaps since today is the 2 month point maybe I'll take them later today, we shall see....

Memories Set to Music

I was thinking about how much I love music and how it’s a shame that schools are not putting such a high priority on the arts anymore.  Music is such a wonderful thing, it can completely change your mood when you need a lift, it can bring back memories, and it can just be there with you when you need to escape from all the annoying everyday noises you hear.  I cant imagine not liking music and going a day without hearing it.  But I was thinking about how it can evoke such specific memories and thought I would share some of the artists & songs that do that to me. 

 

Songs (in order of earliest to most current memory)

 

Van Halen – Jump:  I feel like I remember this but I don’t really know if I do or if I just remember us talking about it.  But I know that me, Lisa & Mom would dance and jump to this song when we were younger.

 

David Lee Roth – California Girls:  I just remember watching this video on TV when I was younger with Lisa and that we really liked the song.  So no specific super awesome memory, just remember its one I always liked.

 

Wilson Phillips – Hold On:  Grandma Lach’s house, the spare bedroom.  Me, Lisa & Kim trying to be our own form of Wilson Philips and singing this song together while all sitting together on the bed.  Lisa of course wanted all the main parts so Kim and I were left with the “oohs” and “ahhs” :)  But such great memories of our time spent in Chicago.

 

The Beatles – All songs:  Lisa, Mom & I would sit around the bedroom or we would do this on our trips from Brandon to Miami.  We would play “guess the Beatle” where Lisa & I had to guess who was singing.  It seems so funny now cause its so easy to tell, but it was so much fun.  We do it now to Shawn & Ian and laugh when they get it wrong.  So Mom, thanks for not laughing at us cause we were wrong a lot!

 

Garth Brooks – All of his songs:  6^th grade, the last year we lived in Florida.  I just remember sitting in my bedroom in the apartment (after we had moved out of our home) and listening to his music and just singing as loud as I could, or just laying in bed and taking it all in.  This was my introduction to country music, which I still like, but don’t primarily listen to. 

 

Ty Herndon – Living in A Moment:  I want to say this was actually during our drive from Florida to Indiana (during the move) but I might not be 100% correct on that. If it wasn’t that exact drive it was certainly around the time of the move.  But I remember sitting in the backseat listening to it on my walkman and just staring out the windows and being so sad about leaving.  But that song always made me a little happier so I listened to it a lot in hopes that it would lift my spirits.

 

Pachelbel – Canon in D:  This might not fall exactly in place in my timeline, but its pretty close.  It was 1991 (I googled that), it was from the movie “Father of the Bride”.  Dad took Lisa & I to see it and I just fell in love with weddings and specifically the song.  In the movie she used the song for all her entire wedding party to enter with, and that is also what I did at my wedding.  If any of my brides ever ask me for ceremony song recommendations I tell them to just use Canon in D for the entire processional.  The funny thing is that Julie (my co-worker) and I joke about how often we hear it and that we want it to be played at our funerals (which I have mentioned before, so seriously people, someone better do that for me), but no matter how much we hear it and say we don’t like it, its clear we do because you will always see us swaying to it and it always tends to calm me down a bit (even though at that point of the day its pretty crazy). 

 

Lonestar - Come Crying to Me:  This was the song that Lisa & I shared a love for (one of many but that’s not really the point).  This song we would play in the festiva when Lisa would drive me around (so she had her license, I didn’t yet), we would put in the cassette and roll the windows down (since there was no AC) and just sing it at the top of our lungs.  I still play it if I am having a rough day, and I still sing the chorus at the top of my lungs, but I make sure my windows are up and nobody is watching me :)  I guess I care more now about what people think than I did back then!

 

Papa Vegas – Bombshell:  Spring of senior year (so 1999), sitting up way too late one night trying to start a paper that was due the next morning and I just couldn’t focus on it.  I had so much other stuff on my mind (things of course that didn’t matter but you know how those thoughts are the hardest ones to escape from).  I have never really heard that song again, but if I did, I would probably completely check out from whatever I was doing and be transported back home to my old purple bedroom that was sooo messy sitting at my little desk in the nook :)   As a side note, I did google it today and watched it on youtube, so I guess now I have heard it again!

 

Everclear – Father of Mine:  Senior year again, on my way to take my SATs with TJ, we heard it in the car and I just couldn’t get it out of my head for the rest of the day!  I remember too that during the test I looked up and saw my shadow on the wall and my ears just looked HUGE to me (I had a my hair in a ponytail), for the rest of the test all I could think about was did my ears really look that big in person.  I think I actually stopped wearing ponytails for a few weeks after that!

 

Pearl Jam – Daughter:  This reminds me once again of high school, except this reminds me of two people.  I used to sing this song with Mark Davis, so it really reminds me more of him than anyone else, but it also reminds me so much of TJ due to his infatuation with all things pearl jam.  Funny thing about pearl jam is that I cant listen to them at all now.  There were a few songs of theirs I really did like, but I just cant do it now.

 

Metallica – Garage Inc (album):  Yet another senior year, I would go to TJs house and we would do our math homework (his dad would often help us) and we would listen to this album as we sat in his kitchen.  I vividly remember one day when he started making himself dinner and was cutting up a raw chicken breast on a wooden cutting board and just being freaked out by that, I just don’t think wood is a good cutting board material, still don’t, you will never see me use a wooden cutting board.

 

Fuel – Sunburn: This brings me to my summer either before or after my sophomore year of college, it was a rough year for me and one particular day I got some news that I just didn’t need and I was already close to tears and I played this song in the car and just cried my eyes out.  Then I went and found mom (who was at MC Elementary) and just told her everything cause at that point I just needed my mom.  I always liked that song, and I suppose I still do, but again, just cant listen to it as much cause it tends to remind me of that day and it just wasn’t a great one.  But as low as that day was I think it was the day that I made up my mind to make a change and it was a great change that made a huge impact on my life.  It made me move to Bloomington where I spent more time with Lisa & Chandler, got Annie, met Ian, went back to school, started down this career path (which I now question) and got me to where I am now. 

 

Vanessa Carlton “A Thousand Miles” & Michelle Branch “The Spirit Room”:  These two albums remind me of when Ian & I were dating.  He made some cds for us to listen to as we would take our little road trips, and so many of the songs were for me (as you can imagine Ian’s not the biggest fan of Vanessa Carlton & Michelle Branch).  I just remember us driving around in his little black truck and taking trips around B-Town.

 

Israel Kamakawiwo’ole – Over The Rainbow:  This was very early in my wedding years, this is when I was still attending IU and working with Cathy Teeters (a local florist/wedding coordinator).  It was probably one of the 1^st weddings I ever helped with (I think it was the 2^nd) and it was at the Courtyard Marriott in B-Town.  I had come back at the end of the night to help teardown the wedding and they had this song playing as their last dance, and again, I just knew that I wanted to work with weddings in some aspect, it just made me happy and gave me some internal peace (even though it was like 1am!)

 

Jessica Andrews – Who I Am:  Internship in Florida in spring 2005.  This was just such a grown up point in my life at that time.  I was living alone in Florida, about ready to graduate from college, about ready to get married, knowing that I was most likely going to be moving to Florida to start my career.  Anyway, this song just kinda encompassed what I felt was in store for me, it was a time where I was happy with all my decisions and felt like a lot of stuff was gonna be coming my way and I was proud of myself.

 

Peter Cetera – Glory of Love:  Yes, this is a kick ass song from the Karate Kid 2 Soundtrack!!  I listened to this all the time during my internship as well, I wanted this to be the 1^st dance song at the wedding but Ian did not want it (but man did I try).  Anyway, I just listened to it all the time during those 4 months :)

 

Andrea Boceilli – Con Te Partio:  I heard this song for the 1^st time (that I can at least remember) while working one of my 1^st weddings at Hyatt Coconut Point.  I was standing in the smaller ballroom (sad but I cant remember the name) and it was before the wedding started but the entire room was ready.  I was in the room with Noreen (one of the coolest banquet captains ever) and the DJ was doing a sound check and turned on this song.  I stopped what I was doing and just stood in the middle of the floor and listened to it, at one point I started dancing (or more like swaying).   When it was over I asked him the name and immediately called Ian and told him to find it for our wedding.

 

Linkin Park – Minutes to Midnight Album:  I listened to this the entire 20 hour drive from Naples to Austin when I was moving. I was driving Ian’s truck, with my left food up on the seat, and on my way to Texas and a new experience.  I think it was the 1^st time I ever took a trip like that alone, and again, I was a bit proud of myself and all I had done, and looking forward again to all that was ahead of me!

 

KD Lang – Hallelujah:  She sang this at the opening ceremonies for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.  I had heard the song before, and they play it in one episode of “The West Wing” that always makes me cry, but she just did such an amazing job and I love the Olympics and love the opening ceremonies, I just sat at the screen in awe covered in goosebumps.  It also makes me think about a picture that Ian took of my during this time, I was pregnant with Logan and everyone always wanted to see belly shots, so we took one that night just to send to mom, and she of course emailed it to a few other people, and Dad commented on how appropriate it was that you could see the Olympics on it the background, and how that was so me.  That picture was taken later in the week, it wasn’t during the opening ceremonies, just incase you cared :)

 

Eminem – Stan:  I like Eminem, I listen to him and enjoy some of his songs (not them all) but I had never had a reaction to one like a particular day when I was on my way home from work.  It was dark (so either late or just winter time), I was pregnant with Logan, and I was sitting at the Y at Oak Hill (shocker I know to anyone from Austin).  I had been listening to my iPod and this song came on, but this time I found myself crying.  That’s right, crying to an Eminem song!!!  I blame the hormones, but still, when I think about this it always makes me chuckle a bit.

 

Plumb – In Your Arms:  I’ve actually blogged about this one before (actually it was in the last post I did 2 months ago).  This was a song that I got from Lisa and it came one my iPod one night on my way home from a wedding on a Saturday night.  I am always a little run down after wedding days, plus its usually around midnight, and since Ive had Logan I hate those days cause I really go an entire day without seeing him.  I was already exhausted and feeling bad about not being around all day and then this song came on.  It is a beautiful song but to a mother with a  young child (or really perhaps any mother), it really touches your heart.  I ended up crying almost the entire way home, mainly because I kept listening to it :)  Such a great song, I still turn it on when I am feeling down, probably shouldn’t since it makes me feel worse, but oh well, I know Im a little odd sometimes

 

Michael Franti & Spearhead – Say Hey (I Love You):  Again, I have blogged about this one too.  I was doing dishes and loading them into the dishwasher and Logan was in his adorable white doggie onesie with brown doggie overalls (a clearance purchase from Target) sitting in his bouncy seat right to the dishwasher.  This song was playing on my iPod and I was singing it to Logan and he was kicking his feet and laughing and it just made me melt.

 

To Logan

Not trying to be a debbie downer here today but I think about some somber things, probably more than I should, but that is me. Anyway, I often think about how I would go on living if something ever happened to Logan. I know I would, as many many many people have done, but it just kills me inside to think about it. But sometimes what actually makes me feel even worse (but to be honest, both of these thougths often wake me up at night and keep me up) is what if something happened to me.

I do not worry about Logan not having a great life, he has a daddy that loves him, an abeula that loves him more than all her 4 children, and auntie lisa & uncle shawn that treat him as if he was their own child, and many many many many more family members that would love him forever and give him the life he so deserves. But I think, what if something happened to me when he was this little, how would he ever knew how much I loved him and how much joy he brought to my life. I know he would hear stories and see pictures and read notes on my blog and facebook if he wanted to get an idea, but its not everything. For months (or perhaps 20 months) I have thought about writing a letter to him incase anything did happen. He could read it and know what I really felt and how much he meant to me, but just the idea of writing it brings me to tears and I dont know if I could ever get anything down. A friend of mine said to make a video that way he could see and hear me (and that it might be easier), but all he would see is me crying like a baby :) I do want to write the letter but I just dont know if I will be able to. I guess it doesnt need to be something incredible and beautifully written, it just needs to be my feelings, but it still is a little overwhelming to me.

But one day on my way home from work I heard a song on my iPod that I thought was beautiful and it brought me to tears (I have become a wuss, I know). I actually mentioned it on facebook and few other moms said they also cried and had to stop. But I also hear some songs that are happy and also really encompass my joy and make me think of logan. There are also some songs that I remember hearing and dancing and singing to with Logan. I like music, and want him to like music, and I feel like music is a big part of my day. So I thought until I have the courage (or the words) to write that letter I could document the songs that make me think of him and moments we spent together. I know there are more, but I am going to just start with the 2 that always make me think of him and show my love.

"In My Arms" by Plumb
"Say Hey (I Love You)" by Michael Franti & Spearhead

One song is the sad one that made me cry in the car.

The other is a song that was playing on my iPod when Logan was just learning to laugh. I was doing the dishes and he was in his bouncy seat watching me and when I would sing and come close to him he would smile, laugh and kick his feet. It was great!

Photo Project

I am a fairly organized kind of gal. I like bins to put things in, and excel spreadsheets to track what I need to buy, and shopping lists made in order of the grocery store departments, and thousands of file folders on computers to make it super easy when I need to find something. Not only do I enjoy putting things in the correct place, it also helps when you are short on time cause you can find what you need quickly. But to be very honest, I love organizing things, I am a nerd/dork, and have never tried to hide that fact.

Backtrack to June 2010 (aka when Logan changed my life forever). I was taking tons of pictures of the cutest little guy in the universe with my little canon camera in a pretty blue case. I would take some pictures, then download them into the "Logan" folder on my desktop, and then post them to facebook (in the Logan folder) and also into shutterfly on the Logan shared site. Sometimes I would post them on the blog, but I know I cant fool you all, so Im not going to say that was always part of the process. I would then back the photos up on our portable hard drive and delete them from my desktop. Anyway, it was going well. Pictures were organized and I knew what I was doing. About a month later I got a smart phone with a good camera, and realized that I could take more pictures cause it was easier at times. However, didnt have any clue how to get them off the phone, so this is really where the story goes downhill.

I was slowly taking more and more pictures on my phone (which were just sitting on my phone), then in August my family moved to TX and brought with them more cameras. I dont own those cameras and couldnt put their pictures in my "Logan" folder. So one more obstacle. Cut to Sep/Oct/Nov (dont remember which month) and Ian got us a really fancy camera (a digital SLR) and since it took such great pictures Ian wanted us to use it but have it save the picture as a CR2 instead of a JPG. Dont really know what the difference is other than a CR2 is a higher picture quality. So at this point we had 2 cameras, 2 smart phones, and family cameras all taking pictures of our precious little guy.

Sounds not that bad, well, you have never delt with CR2 files. They are HUGE and you have to have special software on your computer to see them. So for me to download them and try to post them online I had to convert them to a JPG. Ian got me a program to do this, it was not easy. I was back at work. I had no extra time. I stopped downloading the pictures so the memory card on the nice camera filled up. We got a 2nd memory card (so really we had 3 at this point). Then we had no clue what pictures were on which card and the cards would move from camera to camera as they filled up. Since I couldnt convert the pictures easily they all stayed on the cards, but some would be converted and therefore saved on my desktop.

I am getting confused just trying to tell this story. Let me just jump to the current project. I was sick of not knowing where the photos were, of picking up a camera to take a picture to be told the card was full and that I missed the shot. Of just being incredibly disorganized. SO, I decided to do something about it.

I was going to put all of the pictures where they belong, I made a folder for each month of Logans life thus far. It has the month and the year (since he was born on the 3rd it was easy) and what month of his life it was. I then when through each memory card and downloaded all the files onto my desktop. I then had to cross reference to what was already saved, and then discoved we had pictures saved on both our external hard drives and my desktop, and sometimes in multiple folders in each (for example christmas 2010 was found in like 5 places). As I started dumping photos to my desktop I used up all the memory, so I had to stop and delete all duplicate photos and convert any CR2s to JPGs to free up space.

The program I had been using to do the conversion no longer worked (it was a free trial) but Ian found me another one that looked just as confusing. I played around with it for a couple hours and then realized it was actually an easy process, so win #1! So I converted, and deleted duplicates, and cross-checked, and made notes about the status of each memory card, and transfered from the desktop to the external drives, and backed up anything not logan related. And put the holiday photos on my shutterfly account (to share at a later time), and now am at a stopping point until Thursday.

Basically everything is organized that I have. It feels great! I still have to go into each month and better organize by date (since each memory card had different file #s and the phone too) the pictures are not in order in each month. BUT I want to wait until I can get more photos. My goad is on Thursday to copy all the pictures Lisa has of Logan and add them into my folders and I can have even more to save and then post on Shutterfly (which I went in and deleted everything in his share site for a fresh start). By the end of February his photos will be all organized and backup and ready to eternity.

But as I tackled it this project it shocked me at how bad it had gotten. It was a disaster and it consumed me for a few days as I was trying to figure out how to get it all sorted. But its good now and I can go on with my life (ha ha julie).

If you hung in there and read this all good for you, in a few weeks you will be rewarded by seeing all the photos I could find of logan for the past 20 months and marvel at how much he has grown and how he isnt a little baby anymore.

And the award goes to....

Melanie Richardson, for being the worst blogger of 2012!

I am sure I probably no longer have anyone that even bothers to read this blog, so Im just going to look at it as a tool to see and review my past. And that past includes being very busy with work, home and kids (dog & human alike) and I am ok with that. Not happy about it, I would much rather be able to fill everyone in on the crazy things I think about and document it for all time, but I dont have the time. I could post on my blog at home or play with my beyond adorable and incredibly loving son, and I think at this point he is more important. So Logan, if you ever decide to go back and read this blog when you are older (which I hope you do) and think "man, mom was not good at this, didnt she care?" the answer is yes. I care more than you will ever know (until you have a child of your own) and while I wish I could do it all, I can't, but I can prioritze, and I choose you!

Anyway, its been crazy as always. Its the post holiday time which means we are getting lots of calls from people who got engaged. If this applies to you, please just ignore (or forgive) me, but I dont like men who propose over holidays (be it christmas, thanksgiving, new years, valentines day, a birthday, etc). Now, if you got your lady another gift in addition to the ring, then I dont care (as much) but if all you got her was a ring you owe her an additional gift! Propose when she honestly truly doesnt expect it, when she is a bad mood and has nothing to look forward to, not when she is already excited about a current holiday. Dont you want her to remember her engagment story as a compelety seperate story, not one that just rolled into "christmas 2011"? Maybe not, and maybe she doesnt care either, but that has always irked me, even before working in the wedding industry. Ian proposed when I was dreading finals, trying to find an internship, exhausted from hell week and group projects, and just craving yummy food cause I was on a diet. He turned a shitty week into a great one and gave me something to be happy about during finals week. I heard on the radio that people are now hiring "proposal planners", come on, if you cant figure out how to propose to the woman of your dreams in a way she will love, then maybe you should re-think the situation. It doesnt have to be like in the movies, this is real life. One of my brides got proposed to as she was in dirty working around the house clothes as they were doing yard work, not a picture perfect moment, but she didnt care one bit!

Wow, didnt expect that did you? I didnt either, just kinda came out while Im sitting at work. So, what else have I been up to (other than work), I'll recap it below:

• We have made a few little improvements to the house, ok, maybe I should just say we finally have done a little decorating :) We got a new area rug, put up some new pictures & logans artwork, got a new kitchen light fixture, made Logan a toy room, and got a big garage shelf. I still want to paint some rooms, put up some more light fixtures, and do a mosiac tile backsplash in the kitchen (with lisa's help).


• I have gone through about 10 family size boxes of kleenex in less than a month due to freakin cedar! The other day I swear I had a twig in my eye it was itching and hurting so much. I was trying to fish out the twig with my nails & a wet q-tip, which suprisingly enough, didnt help the situation.


• I am now going to start eating a teaspoon of Texas honey every morning because its supposed to help with allergies, and Ian isnt having any problems and he puts it in his cereal, so maybe it works. I did it the other morning, its not the best feeling in your throat, feels a little icky, but dude, if it will keep my from this hell next year (or later this year when its something other than cedar) I dont care how funny it feels.


• Annie is turning 10 on Saturday, its freakin crazy that she is that old. We are throwing her a bday party on the 29th, hopefully I will post pictures, but you know my track record...


• I have organized my iPod, its is almost perfect now. All the songs have the correct information (no greatest hits albums) and the correct album cover. Now I am going to help Travis learn how to do this as well, he doesnt know how much fun cool stuff he is about to learn!!!


• I have gone back to dark brown hair. I was really liking the red, but when I did red on top of red it was almost purple, and I figured I couldnt do that again, I would look like a clown. So back to brown I went. Im sure in a few months it will change again :)


• I somehow managed to lose a full size sippy cup. How does one lose something so big????

I think thats enough about me, how bout an update on Logan:

• He is the cutest little boy EVER. This is not a biased opinion, it is FACT!!!


• He is still not talking (takes after his mom on this one), but he is making tons of noises. I am trying to not get concerned that at 19 months old he isnt talking. I have heard many stories from other mothers and they tell me not to be, but I just have a little tiny bit of doubt that I cant get rid of. He is a big fan of "mamamamam" but not just towards me, everything is "mamamamam". He also loves to say "tickatickaticka" is so stinkin cute.


• He loves trains! Thomas or Dinosaur Train, he doesnt care, he just loves trains. He was pushing them around last night and was kinda saying "choo choo"


• He LOVES the Dinosaur Train (a show on PBS), its hands down his favorite. I have a feeling his 2nd birthday will be dinosaur train themed. He could spend all day sitting on his bottom watching that show if we let him.


• He loves to run and push things. He especially loves to push things right into his mama's feet (which she doesnt love so much). But it is so much fun to just sit around and watch him run and play.


• He is a sleeper. They say at school he is their best sleeper (no surprise there). The problem is he goes to bed with me (so around 10, 10:30 or 11) and then he doesnt want to wake up in the morning. I know he should go to bed earlier but then I wouldnt be able to see him. So I try to let him sleep as much as possible in the morning and then he takes his full 2.5 hour nap at school. I think he will survive, might have some bags under his eyes sometimes, but he doesnt worry about those :)


• He is not really an eater. He loves mac n cheese, raspberries, blueberries, mandarin oranges, fruit & veggie melts (the gerber treat), and those fruit & veggie pureed pouches. He sometimes really likes beans (baked, garbonzo, black), luncheon meat, fig newtons (if his dad doesnt eat them all first), spaghetti. He is pretty picky (again, not surprising). He does love himself some chocolate milk, thats for sure!


• He has a bit of a temper and doesnt really have any patience. Lisa thinks this is a sign of him being spoiled, could be, or it could just be that I am his mother and he is taking a bit after me. Either way, he can sometimes make me want to scream but then he always ends up smiling at me and I just melt.


• When I enter a room he is in, could be that Im coming home from being gone 12+ hours, or that I left for 1 minute, when he sees me he waves and gives me the biggest, cutest, most heart warming smile ever, and no matter how crummy I might be feeling I know that I am loved and needed. However, when he does this when I know I am about to leave him for 12 hours to go to work, it makes that trip even tougher than it was already going to be.

Well, those post will probably take up the entire page, so I think I'll wrap it up (as interesting as it is). I'll try to do better (again, you have heard this many times and history isnt in my favor), but maybe one day I can change!

Anyawy, I hope everyone had a great holiday and is looking forward to a great 2012!!!

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Joy In Pictures Holiday

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1st REAL Halloween

Technically last year was Logan's 1st halloween, but he was so little that he didnt really do much, so this year is his official 1st. Ian got him an official NASA Astronaut outfit when we were at the space center in FL, Ian wore his NASA hat when we went trick or treating, but since he was taking pictures you would never know, so now its down in writing for the rest of time :)

It was a busy day, we started off Pam with a'La Vie doing a photo session with us again. We should have those pictures in a few weeks. We met her at Zilker Park but Logan wasnt quite having it. We think she got some good ones but we shall see, we might have to do take 2. He just doesnt want us to hold his hand or tell him what to do anymore, and he certainly has a temper!! So we did that, then went to Sams Club to buy some fruit and have lunch and then came home and relaxed. I relaxed a little too much and fell asleep (as logan was also napping) and we woke up a little later than we should have to get to the costume parade at his school. We got there just in time for it to start, but he was still sleepy and it was so crazy there, he was just not a happy camper.

After that we went home to chill for another 2 hours or so and then Mom, Eric & Nessa came over for trick or treating. Eric & Nessa passed out candy in the driveway while we took Logan out. He had SO much fun, he was running free and yelling and laughing, he had a blast. But if we tried to touch him to lead in the right direction (not in the street) he would just throw himself on the ground :) Anyway, he had fun and his outfit was quite a hit, everyone kept telling us how cute and one of the parents who were at school parade stopped by the house to get candy with their kiddos and recognized Logan cause they said they couldnt stop talking about how cute he was at the parade :)

So here are some pictures of the parade & trick or treating!

Thanks Julie!

My amazing fellow catering manager (thats right, fellow, not my assistant), the wind beneath my wings, sent me an email this morning with the following quote to lift my spirits (which have been down recently). I have decided it is going to be my life, but especially work, motto. Its PERFECT!!!

"Before you diagnose yourself with depression or low self-esteem, first make sure you are not, in fact, just surrounded by assholes.”

Oh, how I love my Julie :)

Where are you fall?

I changed my blog in hopes that fall will get the hint and head to texas. Maybe i should have actually updated it to a rainy background (since we are in severe need of that) but i feel like the cooler temperatures would help everything. It has been far too hot here for far too long, the couple days of temps in the 90s were great, but they didnt last. im not asking for 60s or 70s, high 80s would be fabulous. So this is my note to fall and my desperate plee for it to arrive, hopefully much sooner than later.

Observations from a Flight Attendant

Hold on, I’m not “just a flight attendant” I must be a doctor, that sounds better. But know what, I’m not a doctor either, I’m not that special, I just I’m just a catering manager, oh well! Either way, I am an observed (and commenter) of lots of things, so here are just a few of my recent thoughts.

1) Being manipulative and aggressive might get you farther in life, but it also creates a lot more enemies, so take your pick.
2) People really don’t know how to drive, its quite scary and probably best not to think about.
3) Toddlers put things in weird places, my advice is to not turn anything on without looking inside first, who knows what might in there.
4) When the traffic light turns green that means go. What that entails is taking your foot off the brake, moving it to the gas pedal and then actually applying pressure so the car will move at more than a mere crawl. I realize it will coast and that’s great, but don’t all have time to coast through life.
5) When you hire someone to a do a job let them do a job. Trust their expertise, if you don’t then why did you hire them in the first place?!?!?
6) When you have an expired car registration sticker, no front license plate, no insurance card, and have a lead foot, its very nerve racking when a cop follows you 45 minutes to work, very nerve racking….
7) Toddlers and dogs are very good judges or character and react the same to the same people, its quite funny.
8) Canon in D will be played at my funeral, its best to just accept it now and since its in writing I expect SOMEONE to hold to this request.
9) Tagging along with #8, my death will either be caused from weddings or from me flipping someone off while driving. I realize I could probably control the latter but its tough.
10) It is not necessary to make employees at social functions wear all black; the name tag, walkie-talkie, running around and looking like crap, usually give them away.
11) Its never too late to stop or start being nice. If you stop all the good stuff you ever said will be forgotten and if you genuinely start, all the bad things you said (given the nature of the comments & actions of course) can be moved past
12) If you ask someone something and they either say no or tell you what the policy is, its really not polite to ignore them or ask for an exception “just for you”. Tell you what, its ok to ask for an exception, but if they say no, don’t argue with them. You are most likely not the only one asking for an exception and its best to come to terms with that.
13) If you schedule an appointment with someone that means you have reserved a specific time. Lets say 11am for example. That means at 11am they are prepared to meet with you and have blocked that time and structured their day around it, that means you show up between 10:55am and 11:05am. If you arrive substantially early or late it is not polite and don’t be surprised when the person can no longer meet with you. Just because I am not a doctor doesn’t mean that you can treat me differently and not expect me to have the same policies.
14) Ceremony rehearsals are pointless if you are not going to listen.
15) Are you able to go into a grocery store or restaurant or retail shop and demand a discount, no, thats right, no, so please accept that other truth about life and assume that all businesses are the same!

Thats all I can think of right now, I think I might try to make this a daily (but who I am really kidding) so maybe a weekly thing. You will eitehr get to truly experience what goes on in my brain and see my crazy life or you will discover how working in the hospitality industry has made me bitter and not very hospitable :)

27 Weddings

As you most are well aware, I like weddings. Sometimes I dont like them as much (like right now) but generally conversations or movies or pictures about weddings tend to make me happy. One of my more favorite wedding movies is "27 Dresses" and I was thinking about it the other day and thougth to myself, I should do a blog post about my past 27 weddings or if I've done that many in 2011. So I went into my work email folders to see how many I had in my "past weddings" folder (this was last week). I had already deleted the weddings from Jan & Feb, but since March 5th I have done exactly 27 weddings, how freakin crazy!

Now I have to do this post today because I have a wedding tomorrow and will no longer be at 27, so here goes (while Im sitting at work waiting for their 8pm rehearsal to start anyway). Actually, let me 1st say, I thought to myself "27 weddings, that doesnt seem that bad" but then I thought about the fact that since March 5th there has only been 23 weekends and to be honest, weddings are exhausting. If you thin 27 weddings is nothing you have never delt with a bride for over a year planning her dream day or been the one left to pull it all together and deal with her bridesmaids, mothers, friends, etc...

So here is my recap of my past 27 weddings

3/5 - indian wedding for 300 ppl, 3 day celebration
3/12 - another wedding for 300 ppl, very young bride & groom but super nice
3/19 - super great couple and parents of the bride, they were very much in love, the groom kept kissing the brides forehead :)
3/26 - super normal & easy wedding, need more like this one
4/1 - beautiful bride and her navy groom, so nice and such great photos
4/16 - older couple, she was a dancer, fun night for everyone
4/20 - i think the date says it all (it was a wednesday if you are curious)
4/23 - groom was very active in this one, he was an engineer, i dont have the best track record with engineer grooms
4/30 - was supposed to be 300 ppl, ended up being 150 :( they were from england and got married the day after kate & william, i was really hoping to see hats but sadly enough didnt see any
5/6 - beautiful wedding & couple, mom was a little emotional
5/7 - super down to earth and easy going, the bride looked super cute & kinda retro, loved it!
5/14 - this one started out shaky, dad wasnt my biggest fan, but i won him over and he danced the night away
5/20 - i looked up at one point to see the pregnant bride all alone eating at the head table, but she didnt care so thats all that matters
5/21 - one of my favorite families (on both sides), beautiful wedding, but the band was 2 hours late and didnt even give a crap, this was a long night!!
5/28 - loved them and found out at the reception the brides family was from Carmel, IN
5/29 - no words
6/4 - another 300 person one, didnt meet bride until wedding day, super easy going groom, but did burgundy velvet linens in june?
6/11 - another super great family, bride & groom both went to college on sports scholarships, you could tell by their guests, a fun night!
6/17 - the mother of the groom owned her own party supply store and dabbled in wedding planning
6/25 - a nice quiet wedding, expect when i had to repremand the bride & groom right before intros for bringing in outside liquor!!
7/2 - another beautiful bride & her man in uniform, they had a marachi band!
7/8 - another older couple, had 6 kids between the 2 of them, one of the girls did flips down the aisle after the ceremony, i loved this wedding, i even gave them a nickname "Kendy"
7/9 - got a 1 day bug and paid for it for about 3 weeks
7/15 - another dad who wasnt my biggest fan but loved me at the end, had casino tables at the wedding, a 1st for me
7/16 - 36 extra guests showed up, 259 guests drank enough for 340 guests, it was a fun night :)
7/28 - one of my all time favorites ever, i bet she is even reading this now!!!
7/30 - this bride should have been a wedding coordinator, i think she might even be more organized than i am

technically these are # 28 and #29, but i am just going to include them since it took me too long to write this post

8/5 - 3rd of 4 daughters to get married, they knew the drill and put their own little twists in it too
8/6 - one of my favorite moms, i dont think ill ever forget this one. the dad died unexpectly a few weeks before the wedding but they went on with the show. it was a beautiful and emotional day. she always made me laugh, called me "my melanie" by the end

that leads up to #30 tomorrow, but you dont get to hear about it because its not done yet! and in honor of this blog post, i did watch the movie yesterday as i attempted to have a day off.

here is to weddings!

Family Photo Attempt

Anyone that knows us at all knows that ian & i both hate pictures and have maybe 2 or 3 of us over the past 10 years. So I really wanted to try and get one from logan's bday party, we didnt get it so we tried a few days later. It was really a sad attempt but Im sure you will get a chuckle from them...








I just love that last photo, he is just the cutest little boy, it just makes me melt!!