My Sexy Back

We are coming up on the year mark since I joined a gym. And well, there's not really all that much to update.

 

Which kills me from the core of my soul.

 

The core that needs to do some more crunches and planks.

 

I feel like I've tried it all in the past year... just in an attempt to lose a measly five pounds. (Or seven, once those two magically appeared in early July.) I have routinely gone to the gym a few times a week. I've tried swimming laps. I've tried going full speed on the elliptical. I've tried a trainer who only wanted to work on leg and arm exercises while I pleaded to  him to teach me something to lose weight and focus on my core. I've gone gluten free for a week here and there. I've done a month of Herbalife shakes. I've said "fuck it" several times and eaten an entire tray of brownies over the course of a few days. And given into my occasional cravings of drinking a nice cold Coke. I've contemplated giving up my gym membership. I've thought about switching to another.

 

Puff and I even got into a tiff over it when, on a date night no less, he mentioned that I needed to get a personal trainer someplace other than my current gym. I was down with that... until he told me we can only afford me to see the trainer once a week and that I would then need to do what they teach me on my own the rest of the week.

 

::smack my head on a brick wall::

 

Obviously if I could do this on my own then I wouldn't be sitting here, a year later, bitching about how I've not been able to lose any weight. I need a trainer... a real one. One that makes me sweat and curse them and hate them. One that pushes me past the point where I want to just quit and call it a day because I've broken a teensy weensy sweat. Or because there's nothing good on the TV at the gym to watch to distract me. Nope... the will power just isn't there.

 

Crazy, right? For a girl who is as hard headed and stubborn as I am... you would think that wouldn't be a problem.

 

So... it's back to the drawing board on this one. Here's hoping I come up with something here soon. I need to get my sexy back. Stat.

Style for Miles

It's no secret that shopping for Bimmer is pretty much my favorite thing ever. How can you not just absolutely love baby clothes?!? I especially love them more now that she is a toddler, since I can dress her as a little person. As opposed to a baby. So, here is a smattering of some things I have bought or things I have been eyeing to get us from October thru April. I feel pretty confident there will be more things purchased around Christmas as well. Because I can't help myself. And I am not apologetic about it in the least!

 

Carter's

Mini Boden

Mini Boden

Carter's

Carter's

Carter's

Carter's

Gap

Gap

Toms

Mini Boden

Hanna Andersson

Hanna Andersson

Hanna Andersson

Osh Kosh

Osh Kosh (I found a similar shirt for myself at J.Crew Factory)

Osh Kosh

Osh Kosh (Think I like polka dots this season?)

Osh Kosh

Carter's

Carter's

Toms

Old Navy

Old Navy

Old Navy

 

 

Yup - I am obsessed with dressing this little person.

 



 

Selling the Bungalow?

A few months ago, Puff and I fell in love with a house we saw for sale on one of our favorite streets in town.

 

 

 

Listed at $319,000 it sounds insanely pricey for what it is (a 4 bedroom/2 bath house) however, our neighborhood is (to put it mildly) overpriced. So getting into a street where houses routinely go for $400-$600k at that price seemed too good to be true. In fact, at first, it was. The house was under contract. We moped about it for awhile. Then, a week or so later, I randomly noticed it was back on the MLS. I drove past. The "under contract" sign was down. We called our real estate agent (our old neighbor) and we had a showing that night.

 

 

 

It was nice. But just that... nice. The upstairs bedrooms had the roof slant going on (which doesn't bother me) but they had placed the closets very strangely, and so the two upstairs bedrooms basically had zero storage space. And no attic storage space at all. I wasn't about to drop over $300,000 on a house with less storage than The Bungalow. Just didn't really make much sense.

 

But the showing got our wheels turning.

 

And just like that, we decided we needed to get The Bungalow ready to sell. Which meant updating a few things...

 

 

 

So we dropped a pretty penny that we had been waiting to do once I got my bonus and finished painting the rest of the gold walls in the house (wrapping up our master bedroom, office, and laundry) and a few miscellaneous things, like that closet and our medicine cabinet.

 

 

 

It also gave me an excuse to attempt a bit of a gallery wall in our office.

 

 

 

You have no idea how badly this hurt my OCD to figure this out.

 

 

 

One of them is just a smidge off, but it's barely noticeable at most angles, so I've tried to let it go.

 

Right... so now that The Bungalow is at least painted, what now???

 

Well, nothing. School has since started and there haven't been any new houses in our neighborhood put up for sale that meet our bed/bath/size/price criteria. We have the agent looking and she has given us an estimate on what she thinks we should sell our house for. We aren't in the mood to move for the sake of moving - which means we won't be selling our house without having another house ready for us to move into. Which means that if the perfect house comes available, we are going to have to stage/list/contract our house ASAP in order to even be able to be considered for another contract on another house. The sun/moon/alien spacecraft will all have to align perfectly.

 

And since stuff then got us bogged down with the FIL being ill and travel and work obligations, the longer we sit on the idea, the more we are back to wanting to just add on to our own house. I figure a final decision will be made in the spring. But for now, we are enjoying the new colors and I'm enjoying being able to start thinking about my next interior design projects... either recovering the chair in our living room or making over Bimmer's room to a big girl room.

 

Lots to come in the next year, hopefully. Right after we make up our minds about a second baby. Amongst other things.

28 Month Update

 

* I am pretty convinced Bimmer now knows just about anything and everything she will ever need to know. She is constantly busting out with new and random things, like recognizing a seahorse and a badger. She can officially sing all the words to certain songs. And she has started to use the word "probably." Like when she sees Puff's car in the driveway and she's all like, "Daddy is probably inside." She likes the word "already" too. She also has started to say "I love you" more often and tells me that I am her friend. Love!

 

* She has started to let us know when she is happy or when things make her happy. One afternoon, she told me "Doggie jammies and a big, heavy bottle make me happy." Well - then let's get on that! (And have a nap!) She also sometimes tells us that she is giggling - as if we didn't already notice. Although I have realized that sometimes when I am taking her photo, instead of having her say "cheese" (which yields a typical toddler goofy face - which Puff has yet to outgrow) that I tell her to "give me giggles" and she will actually laugh. Makes picture taking a lot easier!

 

* We have had a bit of a regression in the biting area. She just has such a temper and I hate it because I think she has gotten some of that naturally from me. I try not to get too frustrated in front of her, but I know that at age 2, it's hard to control that anyway. We are discussing with the teachers and the new director at her school for some options.

 

* She has started to assert her opinion and independence a little bit more in the area of her clothing. I'm OK with the wanting to put on her pants by herself. She actually can do it herself, for the most part, so that's fine. She also usually only insists when it's her pajamas, so we have more time to take at that point anyway. She definitely is very indecisive on which bow she wants to wear and sometimes throws a fit if I pick out one she doesn't like. So I have to convince her that it matches. Such a little fashion diva... just like her daddy!

 

* She likes to tell me that I have been a "bad mommy" and then when I ask why she always says, "You make a mess." And then she likes to wipe off my kisses and have me pretend cry. Then she says "I make it all better" and gives me a hug and a kiss. And she tells me that she won't wipe off my kisses anymore. She gets super excited when she can see that we are doing/wearing/acting like her. She will say "You wear glasses like me, Mommy!" and just giggle. Or she will say "I eat pizza like you, Daddy!" I love that she is noticing these things and that she still thinks it's cool to be like us! She has also been super with saying "Thanks" when you do something for her, without prompting. I hope to continue to raise a polite little girl.

 

* As much as I hate to admit it, the past month or so, I have been letting the TV babysit much more than I want to. Puff has been working crazy hours and I have been playing single parent a lot, so I am having to make the house run at the same time that I am keeping her. She has started to watch "Thomas & Friends" a lot more often, and "Paw Patrol." I don't mind so much since they aren't totally mindless. I think she is definitely learning some things from the few shows she does watch. Hey... gotta make myself feel better about this somehow!

 

* Out of no where, while we were in Hilton Head, she busted out with saying her full name... which is a mouthful. I love that she puts such a southern accent on her middle name. I suppose she is my southern belle! (Although if you ask her where she's from, she says "The Baby Patch.")

Find Your Euphoria

As I'm sure you are well aware by now, Puff and I like to attend approximately 290,435 events a year. So when I was awarded some free tickets to a food festival in Greenville, we promptly scheduled a late late night with our babysitter, hit the road and checked out Euphoria.

 

 

 

I have heard about it for years and even contemplated suggesting it as a trip with my parents, until I realized how expensive the tickets were! We attended the Friday night "Taste of the South" and the price on the tickets was $125 each! Cue the yikes!!! Definitely not going to be something we ever attend on our own dime! Especially since going into it, I was skeptical about whether or not I would even eat anything, since I'm a super picky eater.

 

Look at me wearing my wedges and trying to make it the Fall of Sexy Mom!

 

 

At least it was a good excuse for us to get sexed up for a date night out!

 

 

 

I was definitely right that I was too picky of an eater to enjoy the food much. Puff raved about a tomato pie and some sort of brisket concoction. I was able to enjoy some mac & cheese, a caramel pecan tart, and a candied bacon brownie. I ran into a few people I knew, which was awkward, because we didn't want to chit-chat on our monthly date night! That's our time!

 

 

I was pleasantly surprised by the band that evening. They were Sixwire Band and they were pretty awesome... playing mash-ups of lots of classic rock songs from Kansas to Foreigner to Poco. Puff and I lounged for a long time listening and chatting and people watching. In all, it was a sweet and fun date night. I doubt we'll run to this festival ever again, but it will have to hold us off for awhile since our next date night isn't scheduled until November!

So Long, Cappy (Updated)

It has been awhile since I stopped and thought a few minutes about how I wanted to word my Facebook status. This morning was one of those days:

Where has the time gone? Can't believe tonight is Jeter's last game at Yankee Stadium. Thanks for a great 20 years, Cappy.

I don't want to blame Puff, but I'm going to anyway. He is definitely the culprit for my lack of following sports these days. I used to follow pro baseball, football, and basketball almost religiously. I haven't watched an actual MLB game in years. But that doesn't mean that I am not still a fan at heart.

I've been a Yankees fan since 1996.

I fully admit to becoming a fan because a of a cute guy named Pete in my freshman Spanish class. He was a die-hard fan. I wanted an excuse to talk to him. Then I saw Derek Jeter and I was sold. They were going to be my baseball team. Forever, til the day I die. And they have been my team for the last 18 years - never wavering.

I am NOT, under any circumstance, a fair weather fan.

I get that a lot of people don't like the Yankees. (Just like they don't like my beloved Dallas Cowboys.) But I like to think that true sports fans can respect another true fan. Our teams don't have to match up - but our sports values do. So go ahead and like your Packers and your Patriots and your Clemson Tigers. I will judge you for your choices in life, but I will simultaneously respect you for your dedication.

Derek Jeter turned out to be a pretty decent player over the years. And a pretty class act too. And there aren't too many athletes like that these days. I loved this article I found this morning on ESPN...

http://espn.go.com/blog/jayson-stark/post/_/id/952/ten-astounding-derek-jeter-numbers?src=mobile

So while I won't be able to spend $9000 for a seat behind the dugout on the first base line (because, yes, that's what they are going for on StubHub according to an article I read yesterday) to see Jeter play tonight, I am rooting for him from home. I hate that I was never able to actually see him play in Yankee Stadium. But I have seen him play 3 times, and I suppose that's better than nothing.

So, thanks for the memories, Cappy. I seriously can't believe it's been 20 years. I promise to still be a Yankees fan... but it will never be the same again.

UPDATED 9/26:

I don't think it hit me until late yesterday just how much I really am going to miss Derek Jeter playing the game. I'm the girl who makes fun of people who mourn the death of celebrities whom they never really talked about, yet I was getting teary-eyed watching a Billy Crystal tribute to Jeter on Sportscenter while I was at the gym! There have been two athletes I have admired for as long as I can remember: Troy Aikman and Derek Jeter. Both high class guys, good teammates, who aren't in the spotlight for the wrong reasons.

In my nostalgia and frenzy to watch every bit of video and read every article I could about Jeter yesterday, I stumbled across this ad that I had seen before, but never really watched. Yesterday, I watched it. And it gave me chills.

 

Since last night's game wasn't on here, I taped Sportscenter to catch the highlights. I think I'm going to need to wait until tonight to watch it. And to read any articles about it. I think it's going to hit me harder than I ever thought possible. I know he has a few more games to play, but last night was it.

 

His last time in pinstripes. ::sigh::

Rushing to HHI

As the summer wrapped up, all I wanted was to have just one more trip away. And since I'm nothing but a "yes mom" when it comes to granting Bimmer's travel wishes, I knew a quick trip to the beach was all my baby girl needed to be happy to say goodbye to summer. Hilton Head Island, SC, was the winner!

 

First things first, here's where we ate:

1) The Cottage - Located in historic Bluffton (before you get to the island) it was a great quick and easy stop before hitting up the outlet malls, without having to eat at a chain

2) Roastfish & Cornbread - Not your typical touristy restaurant (in fact, we were the only tourists there) with a more southern, soul food kind of vibe. I wasn't in love - Puff was

3) Salty Dog Cafe - Yes, it's super touristy, but we got there early and had no wait (a perk of traveling in shoulder season) and I loved my blackened shrimp with au gratin potatoes

4) Fiesta Fresh - My assistant was raving about this place. The food was defintely fresh, but my quesadilla was bland. Didn't live up to the hype for me.

5) Sweet Carolina Cupcakes - We stumbled upon this one afternoon and they had giant pink cupcakes that Bimmer insisted on eating. I didn't stop her. We maybe fought over whose it was.

 

 

Outside of eating, it really was the most perfect, relaxing, family beach vacation we have had. We spent every day at the beach or in the pool... even after dinner one night! I drank pina coladas and we took a 3 hour nap one afternoon. We bought Salty Dog and Piggly Wiggly t-shirts (yes, one for each of us) and visited the lighthouse at Harbor Town. Isn't that a must-see when in HHI?

 

 

 

Bimmer grew up on us a little bit over the trip... she busted out by saying her full name one day, out of the blue. And her name is a mouthful! It's pretty much the cutest thing ever. Or well, isn't everything she does the cutest thing ever?

 

 

 

I hate that the summer is wrapping up. We have actually had a night or two recently where wearing jeans was kinda maybe possible. I know October is just around the corner and we will be super busy with life and all the fun things that fall brings to us here in SC. I'm just so happy that all of us were able to take this quick little getaway... just us... as a family.

 

 

 

They are my world. Even if it sometimes feels like I have two children.