I'm outta here

Hi Everyone,

I'm moving. Well, I've already moved. I started a new blog because it was time for a name change (come to the new blog to see why). Join me over at: My Life in SoRo

Hope you come along.

In praise of Sissy

I know I am getting a little heavy on the "love" posts but I just can't help myself. There is so much fabulous stuff out there in this crazy world that deserves to be praise. Today, I am here to spread the love that is Sissy Spacek. I fell in love with her when I first watched Coal Miner's Daughter at my friend's grandparent's house when I was younger. She was so spunky and had Loretta down. Then there was Carrie and all kinds of other fabulous roles. Not to mention her voice. Youtube her and you'll hear all kinds of things she's recorded.

Here she is in all her fabulous glory. So gorgeous, right?

Ginger love

The other day somebody referred to me as a redhead. It's happened a couple of times before. I'm always a little shocked because I have never really considered myself a redhead. When I was little my hair was super blonde. As I got older it went more of a strawberry blonde. I of course, like many women, have dyed my hair many colours over the years so at certain points in my life I have been super red. Now it is back to it's natural colour which I guess has some red in it, but I consider it more brownish blonde. But a redhead? I don't know. I'm super flattered. I love redheads and being included in their company is a real compliment.

How can you not love the gingers?

Friday Love List

It's Friday so here we go again. 5 things I am currently loving.

The new Kate Spade Owl Bag. So cute.




People of Walmart. Hilarious. You have to visit this site. As Erin put it "It's like a white trash zoo". Thanks lady.


Sasha Ruffle Boot from Payless. Tried these on yesterday and can't stop thinking about them. Must go back.



My new cell phone. It's an LG Rumor. Perfect for texting.



Mad Men. I came to this late, I admit. But I just finished Season One and it was fabulous. So many unexpected storylines. Peggy preggers, did not see that coming! I can't wait to start Season Two. It's impossible to watch this show and not wish you were Joan Holloway. I dare you to try.

Drapes vs. Squares

For those of you who love John Waters like I do, you'll get the reference. Everyone else, let's just say it's all about the Poor vs. the Rich. Even though I have a good job and live in a nice house I still can't help but feel like a Drape in certain situations. On Sunday, D and I took Stevie to one of our favourite parks. It just happens to be in the Lindenlea area, essentially, Rockcliffe - the ultra rich part of Ottawa. There's always lots of kids and the play structures are great. The one drawback is the parents. The rich, snooty, parents. They talk about their vacation homes and how they have just done a complete reno on the homes because they "just needed a change". Living overseas and what countries their nannies are from ("we have a great live in Filipino at home with us" - I shit you not, he actually said that). It's totally a lifestyle I cannot relate to. Would I like it? Hell yes! Maybe minus the nanny though. Anyway, as all the like minded parents stood around talking about this stuff, Darrell and I (with our tattoos exposed and ratty weekend park clothes) played with Stevie and had a great time. And you know what, I didn't notice any of the other parents interacting as much with their kids. That's right folks, just because you have money doesn't mean you have everything.

And as far as drapes and squares go, I would take Wanda



over Alison



any day!

In search of a hat

I have been on the hunt for a hat. In my head I can picture it perfectly but I can never seem to find it in stores or even articulate exactly what it is I am looking for. Until today. Thank you Scott Schuman:



If anyone knows where I can find this exact hat, please let me know.

Friday Love List

It's back, an all new Friday list of things I love. This week's edition is all about the web.

Here is a list of things I am currently loving on the web:

1. Awkward Family Photos.com. Their motto is "Spreading the Awkwardness". This site is so fabulous. If you feel like you are having a bad day or just need a laugh, go here immediately.

2. Spencer Tweedy.com. Spencer Tweedy is Jeff Tweedy of Wilco's 13 year old son. This is his blog. This blog is fun to read because he talks about regular kid stuff but also gives us a glimpse into the life of being a kid with a rock star dad. His tales of being on the road touring with Wilco are funny. So is the photo of him on their stop in San Fran:



3. Making it Lovely. This is Nicole Blach's web site. For anyone who lives in Oak Park, IL you will know her as the owner of Pink Loves Brown. Her and her husband are in the midst of an ongoing transformation of the home and Nicole updates us on the progress on her site. What they have accomplished is amazing. They both have fabulous taste. My favourite are her style posts, and finding out how things are going with their new family member, baby Eleanor who just turn 3 months. Check this site out for lots of fashion and home style inspiration.

4. The Sartorialist. This is Scott Schuman's blog about fashionable people. It's like people watching all over the world and they are always dress so fabulous. Great for style tips and just fun to look at in general. Scott has a new book out as well for those of you who would prefer a paper copy of the site.

5. The Perry Bible Fellowship. Hilarious comics that will have you laughing all day long. Check it out:



Other cool things to check out:

Design *Sponge, Young House Love, The Girls, Passive Aggressive Notes.com

I could go on forever.

Anna Sui

I love her. How can you not? Her clothes are totally speaking to me right now and I wish I had an endless supply of cash so I could go Anna Sui crazy. I can't be alone, right? I would love any of these outfits for fall. Check it out:

Friday Love List

Since it's Friday I figured I would share with all of you a list of things I am currently lovin' on. These appear in no particular order.

1. Those Darlins. I can't get enough of their catchy tunes. They just release a full length album, get it here

















2. Boots. I feel like I can't get enough of boots, even though it's summer. Boots with a jean skirt is where it's at for me right now. In particular, my new Frye boots.



















3. My Milk Toof: Check this blog out. You will fall in love with the adventures of ickle and Lardee.




4.
Naked Grape Wine Spritzers - pour these babies over ice, such a nice summer treat!





5. The fact that my baby girl is being a serious mamma's girl these days. It feels great to be so in demand.





Happy Friday everyone!

Not so bad after all.

Now that I look at these photos, her bangs are not as bad as I made them seem.

Ken Paves, I am not.

Stevie has always been a baby with long hair. She came out of the womb even rocking a serious shag style hair cut. Crazy hair is her thing. At least it was. D and I decided it was time for a cut. It was getting all stringy and would always go in her mouth when she eats which resulted in it always needing to be washed. At first I was totally against it and said we would just get some clips for it and tie it back. However, she hates clips and always rips them out so that was a no go. Finally I caved in. Knowing she wouldn't sit through the experience of having it done by a professional, I decided to do it myself.

Can I cut hair? No. Should I have taken this on? Probably not. But I did and there was no going back. The body turned out fine, she's got a wave to her hair so even if it's a little uneven it looks okay. I actually took off a lot of hair and she now has a bob. It’s cute though and suits her. We called her "Darla" all weekend because she kind of looked like Darla from the Little Rascals. I didn't bother with the bangs because we thought maybe it was time to grow them out.

Of course I can't leave well enough alone and I decided to cut her bangs as well since they were in her face. Cutting bangs is pretty hard, especially when it's on someone who is only a year and a half. At first they seemed even, then her hair dried and I realised they weren't. So I cut some more, and some more. Now she looks like Emo Phillips. Okay it's not that bad but still. I told D that uneven bangs are in right now. Right? I haven't taken a picture of her yet with these new bangs and I feel like I should spare her the humiliation of being older and seeing what her Mom did to her. Or spare myself of having to hear about it over and over again.


But I have to admit, crazy bangs and all, Miss Stevie is still the cutest girl around! Don't you agree?

Of course this is a shot without the nouveau bangs so you might not want to be so quick to agree with me yet!

Want to shatter your self esteem?

I've got a sure fire way to do it. Go try on bathing suits. Man oh man, why did I do this? I'll tell you why, those stupid Old Navy commercials, that's why. I got sucked in with idea of buying some new pieces that I can mix and match. New tankini tops and cute bottoms that could be interchangeable. The problem is I am not a mannequin nor do I have a perfect mannequin body. But still, I pressed on. I took probably, 4 different styles into the change room and barely got past the first one. The problem is I have a long torso and as a result, tops are usually short on me. So all of the Old Navy tankini tops were too short and revealed the baby roadmap that I now have on my belly. For those not in the know, by baby road map I mean, pregnancy stretch marks. Then the little boy short bottoms looked horrible with my short legs. Not to mention the fact that I am like Casper even in August so in May, my skin is practically transparent it's so white.

Defeated, I left the change room with the desire to eat a whole pizza. See this is what this shit does to me. Shouldn't it be the opposite? Shouldn't I want to exercise until my legs fall off? Well, I didn’t eat a whole pizza. And I have been exercising actually, but that's not going to change my short legs or long torso. Or get rid of the stretch marks.

The problem right now is I'd still like a new bathing suit. The one I have is great but it's nice to have more than one. Maybe I should have tried on one of the one pieces. I could always go back this weekend. Did I really just say that?

WTF???

I find lately there are so many things that leave me thinking What the F#ck? Here's a small list of what I mean:

1. Why drunk girls insist on kissing other girls purely to turn on the guys they are with. What happened to girls kissing girls because that's what they are into?

2. Mushrooms. They are gross. I know they are supposed to be good for you but come on, they taste like dirt.

3. Lindsay Lohan's current choices. Mean girls was a good career choice. She was so cute in that and poised to be a big star. Now she's selling her own line of leggings and spray tan. Spray tan, really? She's done.

4. Two and a half men. Why does this show stay on the air and something like Arrested Development can't?

5. Battery operated kids toys. Why must all of the toys that Stevie gets require so many batteries? It's annoying. I'm only buying wooden from now on.

6. The snow in my front yard. It gets limited sun in the day and so I just know it's not going to melt until late June.

7. Ann Coulter. Why does anyone let this woman speak?

8. Taxes on feminine hygiene products. Hello, it's not like we have a choice, we do have to use them. The least they can do for us in not charge taxes!!!

9. Calls from payphones costing 50 cents now. It was hard enough to find 25 cents now I need 50! I know, I know, why don't I just use my cell phone. Well sometimes I forget to charge it or my baby hides it on me.

10. The fact that Kingston has an Urban Outfitters and we don't. Come on, there are way more people in Ottawa than Kingston, let us have one here already!!

I could go on all day. But I won't because then you will think WTF? doesn't she have anything better to do. The answer is, yes.

Can't stop the cuteness

I can't believe that this little bunny is turning into this little girl.






It's really crazy how fast it all goes. Over a year already. Stevie is so funny now. I always found her to be a hilarious newborn. Probably because of all of the hair that she had (still does). She just seemed funnier than other babies. I don't mean funnier looking either, I mean comical. Now she's even more hilarious though. It's so fun when their personalities start to come out and you get a glimpse of what they are going to be like.

This motherhood stuff is crazy. I look at her and can't believe she grew inside me. It's kind of gross and bizarre when you think about it. But also, cool and the neatest thing ever. Even though I feel like the same person the whole experience has changed me so much. For the better, I think.

Anyway, I was just looking at old photos of little Miss Stevie and I couldn't believe how much she has changed. Thought I would share.

How about you??

I could survive for 41 seconds chained to a bunk bed with a velociraptor

Happy St. Patty's Day

Big Hugs to my Grandad today on this Irish holiday. Hope everyone is getting out there and enjoying some green beer tonight. I know I won't be. Anyway, I wanted to share with you the most hilarious thing that I heard all day.

This is from an e-mail I received from CCR today:

"I just went to loblaws and bought everyone some green cupcakes and a box of lucky charms for today. Ghetto fest. The Irish are complainin' about the charms...I should have just dumped some raw potatoes on the table."

Love her.

It's been crazy

Work has been so crazy and I know I have been neglecting the blog. Sorry. I just haven't had a chance to post. But my friend sent me this little photo and I had to share it with everyone since it made me laugh. Anyone else feeling like this?





Have a great weekend!!

32 years young

I think 32 is going to be a good year for me.

Let's Get Physical

Had my first Cardio/Circuit Training/Core Workout class at lunch today. IT KICKED MY ASS!!! And the ass of my colleague (and boss) as well. But it was awesome. I know I will be so sore tomorrow, like the kind of sore where you can't even answer the phone your arms are hurting so much, but it's worth it.

I really needed to do something to get me motivated to start getting healthy and this is perfect. Twice a week for an hour at lunch time. So great because I wasn't motivated enough to do any of my tapes when I got home from work. It's too hard. I want to spend time with Mrs. Boss and hang out until she has to go to bed and I am not about to jazzercise it up at 8:30 or 9:00 at night. I just can't.

So this is a start, and even though right now I can feel my arms starting to stiffen up and all I want to do is eat a giant piece of cake, I'm motivated and I am going to stick with it.

Thanks Fug ladies

So this has been a bit of a hard week. Too much bad news that has been hard to digest. Anyway, it's Friday and I want to go into the weekend in good spirits. Enter the Fug girls. Love, love, love Go Fug Yourself. If you need a laugh please check out the latest Courtney Love addition. I hope it makes your day as much as it did mine.

Happy weekend.

Holiday, celebrate!!

Christmas was great this year. We had a fabulous time on our first Christmas in our new home. This year, we decided not to make the trip to Burlington and Toronto and instead stayed home to relax. It was so great to not have to travel. We of course missed our families and would have loved to see all the little ones (big ones too) but honestly, it was so relaxing that I definitely would not have changed a thing.

Little Miss was spoiled as usual and had a wonderful time playing with all of her gifts. She was more excited this year than last year but we expected that because really how excited can you be at 1 1/2 months old? So, it was cool to watch her try everything out and dance around to the Phil Spector Christmas album. We ate lots and watched so many movies. Took naps and walks in the neighbourhood. It was really special and I'm glad I had lots of holiday time off to enjoy it.

Here’s some photos so you can experience the joy as well.

No one said it would be easy.

Being a parent that is. It's not like I thought it would be easy either. Sometimes it is though. Sometimes everything goes smoothly and you feel like a real pro. Those times are great. But really, the hard times aren't even that bad. Pretty much every day with my little bunny is fabulous. But sometimes you can't help but feel like you are messing things up. Like this first child is the experiment to see how things are really supposed to be done so that by the time the second rolls around it's a lot easier. Habits that you have unfortunately created now with this one won't happen with the second because you will know better, right?

I admit, there are probably some things that I should have pushed a little more at this point (like sleeping in her crib) but my child is happy and that's what's important, right? So what if I subscribe to the gypsy style of parenting (I'm not that bad, really), I love my baby and she knows it and I think that's really what matters. Basically since the day I found out I was expecting everything has been about her. That's the way I think it should be. Obviously not at the expense of me or my relationship with my Husband but really you can't help but make everything about her.

Now that I am back at work and have some time to think I have vowed to start taking better care of myself. For me but also for Miss Stevie too because she needs a momma who is healthy and happy with who she is. One of the first steps to this is recognising that I am a good mom. One of the things I noticed about having kids is that there instantly are a million judgements about how things should be done. How you feed them, how you put them to sleep, what they wear, play with, etc. It can be exhausting and also a little challenging. It creates a bit of a paranoia that you will never be good enough at it and that something will always go wrong. Some of that is self inflicted though. I mean someone may make a comment to you that is totally innocent but then you internalise that to the point where you feel like you were being judged when really that was not the intent. I for sure have done this and it has made me question myself. But you know what? I'm a great mom to Stevie and so now I am making a promise not to second guess myself. Yes, something's might not work for others, and yes, I could for sure do things differently but we've got to do what works right?

In life things are always changing so I look at this parenting process as an on-going learning opportunity that presents many challenges and a whole lot more victories. And if in the very least, I love her with all my heart things should work out. And if they don't I'll just blame it on her Dad!

Cake Wrecks

One of my favourite blogs to check out is cakewrecks. I can't get enough of these horrible/awesome cakes. It even has me paying special attention at the grocery store, desperate to spot a masterpiece of my own. Anyway, since I am new to this blog there are lots of great cakes that I have missed but I came upon this one today and just had to share.

Can you believe that? How much money would something like that even cost? And why in the world would you want this in the first place? It is kind of genius though, right?