Wordless Wednesday: Aquarium Edition

4th of July (just a week or 3 late)

I wish I could say that I grew up with some great tradition for our nation's birthday, but I honestly can't. As a kid it was always a party, obviously, but nothing specific. It always involved sparklers and watching fireworks from a balcony (thanks to the sick NYC skyline view I was lucky enough to have). As a teenager/young adult, it meant day-drinking on the beach, and night-partying anywhere there were fireworks and booze. Sick times, but not exactly something to write home about.
My hope is that I can make this different for the Goose. I'd love to create years of memories and tradition that he'll always look back on. Unfortunately, this year couldn't be the start of such grand traditions because of poor timing. M had to work and had no way to get out of it. And other family and friends weren't really around to make anything big out of the holiday. So me and the Goose hit up one of my closest friends "poolhouse" (aka her parent's waterfront casa with a pool). We kept it simple (no drinkies, no sparklers) but had an overall great day. Though I wish the Goose could've, just for one time, ditched his early bedtime so he could've seen the fireworks. We weren't even close to making it, but I was still so sad that he didn't get the firework "tradition" part of his first Fourth. Next year I'm going to consider pumping him full of sugar to keep him up if need be, haha. Just kidding. Maybe.
Anywho, here's some pics from the day. Almost all of which are of the Goose. Doing nothing.

had to represent mom's homeplace, and where the party was

"Aunt" Mimi and Pheobe, aka Fierce Pheobe.
All I hear when I see this pic is the theme song from MTV's Rob & Big

"Well let me tell you something 'bout my beessst frieeend"

"Aunt" Kimmy

He's absolutely obsessed with the red handle on this wagon

super blurry (must.buy.proper.landcape.lens). I wish the NYC skyline was  showing on camera like in person

Oh, and remember in this post when I told you I made this cake:

via Glorious Treats

Well, here's how it turned out:

A little burned, but overall I impressed myself and it was delish. And all it took was a little-a-this:

don't mind the mess disaster

The Goose helped by napping

Perhaps my american flag cake could be our Fourth of July tradition?

Missing the Goose and Fill in the Blank Friday

It's been a whole week since I posted, sorry folks. Things have gotten seriously crazy around here. With M's surgery looming, we got to doing a lot of things around the house. And now that he's had the surgery, I'm lucky that I've had time to eat and sleep, let alone anything much more. Turns out what we thought would be a quick 45 min/1hr surgery ended up being an insanely complicated 4.5 hour surgery and he's pretty incapacitated. As in can't do anything by himself (we're talking bathroom stuff here people). Needless to say, M's my first priority right now and THANK God for moms and mom-in-laws. The Goose is on his third night sleeping away from home and I miss him more than I ever imagined, despite the fact that I've seen him each of these days (Wednesday I was able to share my favorite morning wake up time with him before we left, yesterday JoNanna brought him by for a visit, and today I went and picked him up to bring him home, and Meema came over shortly after to pick him up to go to her house). He's been such a trooper. Both moms report smiles and laughter, despite the fact that he's working on a tooth and sporting a low grade fever. He truly is the happiest baby and I miss him so, so much. I even wussed it up and cried tonight when he was leaving. This is the most amount of time I've ever spent away from him (never more than 12 hours), and the fact that it's been three days of it is truly killing me. But M and I decided that tomorrow,  no matter how hard it's going to be, we want the Goose home for bedtime at the very least. It all falls on me, but I can't go another day without those giggles and smiles, or his sweet milk breath, or his newly learned favorite - kisses. Hopefully, M is feeling better than he has been (supposedly the first 48 are the worst), and I can give both my boys attention enough to handle it all. Fingers crossed.

And now, on to the not-depressing stuff.
Head on over to The Little Things We Do and link up with Lauren.

1.   One of my happiest moments ever was      the day we got engaged. Because it was a complete and utter surprise and it was such an out of body experience. I was not expecting it at all, and all of my family was there to share it. You probably think I'm a d-bag for choosing this moment over my wedding day or the day the Goose was born, but I think the sheer surprise of it all made it such a different feeling. They're two different categories to me.

2.  Summer is wedding season and weddings are   my favorite. I seriously love weddings. Lame ones. horrible ones. awesome ones. meaningful ones. They're all so full of promise and love, no matter the relationship, the couple or the whereabouts.

3.  This summer     is seriously fleeting. Ummm, June? July?...where did you go?

4.  My summer food of choice has been  bananas. Cuz the Goose started eating 'em and we both love 'em.

5.  My summer uniform has been     my favorite pair of khaki shorts and any tank or T, and of course, the rainbows.

6.  If I could spend the entire summer in one location I would choose     home. See here for why I love home so much (just prepare to read a bit)

7.  My summer anthem is     MMBop, hansen (don't hate). Because it reminds me of all the summer nights I spent dancing away and being absolutely, drunkenly, ridiculous and out of control with my friends. You kinda have to be as awesome as us to understand the love that is MMbop. jealous? Bahaha.

Have a great weekend lovies!


Oh and PS, there's only 10 days left to get your votes in for The Goose for the Gerber Generation challenge...do it, do it!

Fill in the Blank Friday

It's been crazy busy here...

But I'm linking up today with Lauren at The Little Things We do...

1.   I am a (morning, evening, middle of the day person)       depends on the task. I could be any of them.

2.  My favorite Pandora stations are    would you hate me if i said I don't listen to Pandora? But my bet would be some Bruce (springsteen, that is. Mah boy)

3.  3 of my "must-have" songs for a road trip playlist are     again, some Bruce. Prob some john hiatt, some kol and a ton of others. Love me classic rock. Asking for only 3 must have songs is insanely impossible.

4.  My favorite pattern is   right now, chevron. otherwise a good stripe.

5.  My favorite perfume is     chance - chanel. I'm totally not into designers and girliness, but this scent is so sweet and pretty. I get compliments all the time.

6.  Rules are      good and bad, depending on the circumstance.  .

7.  My most overused phrase or punctuation is    the three dots... I think they're called elipses (sp?), as portrayed in my first two sentences (and I swear, I didn't add them after  I saw this question) 

Have a good weekend!

Commuter Chronicles

Click here for some background

Today's experience wasn't a shenanigan, as per the usual. To cut to the point, I think I may have spotted the tallest man on earth, or at least the man with the longest legs in the world. I kid-you-not that this man's legs were absolutely the tallest things I have ever seen short (punny, haha) of buildings and trees. I swear. I am not even exaggerating - not even a little bitty bit. And let me tell you, I'm no shorty. So this isn't a case of  "wow, that 6 foot man is soooo, like, tall". I'm 5' 9", which isn't ginormous, but I'm pretty sure I'm standing taller than the national average for the womanfolk. I'm also surrounded by some pretty tall fellas, so it's not like my height alone is the judging factor. Too many of my friends tower over me on a regular basis. Most of the men in my family start at 6 feet and go up from there. My sis-in-law's husband is something like 6'5", and his brother is 6'7" or more (one day I'll provide wedding pics of my sis-in-law's to show you the hilarity of those two standing next to my husband and his brother).
So consider it true when I say this guy had legs taller than a mofo'n giraffe's (okay, taller than giraffe's legs is crazy and not true, but taller than a good amount of woman, yes). Want proof???? Okay, here's your proof!

No, no pic. That's creepy. I try not to get caught secretly taking pics of people's legs I don't know.

My proof is that his belt, which was cinched around his miniscule waist, was higher than the top of my boobs!!! Now, my boobs (I will shamefully admit) are no spring chickens. Pregnancy and now 9 months of pumping have surely sucked the life out of them, leaving them a little "low" to put it nicely. But the girls are also pretty darn big and I happen to be a big fan of the secret that is Victorias. You better bet my trusty pushup keeps 'em up nice and high. So when I say that his belt was higher than the top of the girls, that means we're looking at roughly 5 feet of nothin' but legs.
Maybe I'm crazy, but isn't this just a tad bit freakish? I'm sorry Mr. Giraffe Legs, but I surely cannot be the first person to make this observation.
And if all this freak talk isn't mean-girl enough for you, all I kept thinking was "I bet his fingers and toes are g-effin-rossly long and freakish too"

Add another point to that handbasket that I'll be riding into hell...

Fill in the Blank Friday

Happy Friday! Somehow this short week seemed pretty long, but I'm ready for the weekend. Mainly because I don't have much of anything going on and I'm hoping I can talk myself into getting a ton of pics uploaded and posted. We've had a lot going on lately (all boring stuff, but I never promised this blog would be exciting) and I'm looking forward to sharing. 

M's birthday is on Monday, and he's away for a good friend's bachelor party this weekend, so the Goose and I will be thinking up some good stuff to celebrate his first b-day as a daddy. If I'm good, I'll be snapping away anything fun and letting you all know about it.

 

Now it's time for the Friday ritual - Fill in the Blank Friday. Go ahead on over to Lauren's place, The Little Things We Do and join the fun.

 

 

1.   My plans this summer include       Hitting up the beach tons, attending some parties and weddings, working on my photog skills, and playing nurse to M after his surgery in two weeks (nothing too serious, but he'll be on crutches for a whole month! And right around the time we're predicting the Goose will start toddling around - it should be interesting for me)

2.  The best summer I ever had was    I couldn't pick just one. I've had great ones as a single lady (oh oh oh, oh oh oh, oh-oh-oh oh, oh oh oh), and me and M met on a sweet summer night. I've gotten married in the summer, and it was only last summer that I was all swelled up in love watching little feet kick my belly from the inside. Summer in general is my favorite - it would be like picking a favorite child (although I do have one, considering, er, I only have one)

3.  Summer is     my whole life. I love the beach, I live by it, I enjoy it so so so much. If I didn't love NY and it's sarcasm so much, I'd definitely be somewhere in the sun, pretending it was summer year round.

4.  My favorite summer food is   fresh seafood. Not that you can't get that during the winter if you want, but it's just not the same.

5.  The best way to quench a summer thirst is with     a Twisted Tea. That my friends, it LITRALLY the taste of summer.

6.  My summer uniform consists of       Long flowy dresses and a pair of Rainbows.

7.  The best thing about summer is      everything.  The sun, the weather (I even love me a good heatwave here and there), the parties, the beach, the food. Summer = happiness.

 

 

 

Enjoy your weekend all!

 

PS - Don't think I forgot to remind you to vote for the Goose. College scholarship people!

Michael in Long Beach, or ID#154137

(The site is often very slow. If you're having problems, I suggest letting it load, leave the page and revisiting it a few minutes later - thank you, thank you, thank you!)

Baptism Invites

I'm hoping to get a lot of my Baptism details posted this week and I figured I'd start with where it all begins - the invites. I DIY'ed them and I'm pretty darn proud.
I have to first tell you that I've done invites and cards and whatnot many times before on my own. It's fairly easy and fun, in my eyes. Another creative outlet. Here's the noteworthy part - I don't know how to use Photoshop, Illustrator or whatever else you would traditionally use to make any type of paper product. I honestly don't even know all the names of the programs you could use. Think I'm crazy? That's okay, I know I am. I use a lot of manipulation between MS Powerpoint and Word...and sometimes the very basic program of Paint that comes with even the simplest of computers. I've gotten very proficient with these programs and I gets da job done...I think. My invites are never fancy and I try not to involve too many intricate details or colors (the printer I use is pretty basic), so my process seems to work for me. I'm sure there are those of you who are thinking "what the eff?" or snorting at my not-even-beginner style of creating, but it works for me and I hope to change it all soon anyway.
Moving on...
I wanted something very simple and clean with the Goose's picture on it (cuz I'd put his damn gorgeous face on everything I could if it were acceptable). I picked out the cutest picture that I thought would be fitting for the invite (I wasn't 100% happy with the pic, but it was the best one I had at the time). I used blue in the invite because, let's face it, how could you not include blue for a boy's christening? Green worked with it nicely and to be honest, beachy blues and greens always seem to work so well together. They're a constant scheme in our lives (our wedding, our home) and the restaurant we were having his party at afterwards is beachy and driftwood paneled - it just seemed obvious. I slapped it all together with some of my go-to fonts and voila! Goose's baptism invite! And voila! Here it is...

I apologize that you can't read the info well or hardly at all. Doesn't matter, you don't need to be that much up in my bid-ness anyway.

To finish off the final product I placed them four on a page in Word, printed them out on cardstock (I got a shitton back when I was wedding planning/creating, don't remember where from) and cut them on the paper cutter. I had already ordered two 50-per-pack of these envelopes from Amazon (hello 2 day free shipping!) for about $11 each, since we had a little less than 100 invites to send out (and this was a "small" party - don't ask). Once all the envelopes were stuffed, I printed out labels with our friends' and families' addresses on each, along with one containing our return address and then out they went (of course they had stamps, duh).

In total, I spent about $22 for almost 100 invites for the Goose's baptism (cardstock was free since we already had it on hand and I thought I would be a nice momma and not charge for my hard work). Pretty impressive considering something similar (a photo invite that's predesigned) in that amount would run us about $80 + tax and shipping. Stamps would be the same for each and the price of them PISE me off, so let's not go there. (pise? anyone get the reference? No? Click here. bahaha.)

I am truly doubtful, but if there's anyone else out there who lacks the skills in Photoshop or Illustrator or those other proper programs, but is interested/curious in how I do what I do and wants to know how, just comment below and I'd be happy to drive you crazy explaining how I do it.

And if you're willing to offer any advice for attaining skills in the cool-kid programs, also feel free to do so.

Wordless Wednesday

Mostly wordless (we both know I'm incapable of containing my mouth/thoughts). Below are some pics of the cutest boy alive having a blast at the beach. Enjoy.

I cant EVEN...with that little top lip!

It's official, he's a beach baby (as if he had a choice)

Oh and dont forget to vote for Sir Cuteness there above:

http://apps.facebook.com/gerberphotosearch/entry/154137/michael.aspx