Beware the angry pilgrim

I realize this weekend was beautiful - bright sunshine, warm temperatures, soft breezes. Just a couple of picture perfect indian summer days. I also realize that, this being November, many people took advantage of the great weather and put up their outdoor Christmas lights. I can understand the motivation - this is northern Illinois, after all. This kind of weather cannot last and we are more likely to have snow this coming weekend and all subsequent weekends than to have a repeat of this past weekend. I get it. However, just because you have your Christmas lights up already does not mean you need to turn them on.

You have been warned.

12 Days of Christmas

Now that Christmas is over, let's recap our 12 Days of Christmas, shall we?

12 trips to Target.
11 sleepless nights.
10 hours to Branson.
9 people eating.
8 “new brand” horses.
7 attempts at wrapping.
6 doctors’ appointments.
5 hours of crying.
4 Christmas trees.
3 ears infected.
2 sick kids.
. . . and a Mommy with a crick in her neck!

How was your Christmas?

30-Year-Old Pin-Up Star

I'm 30 today. Hooray! Honestly, I love my birthday - I love birthdays in general, but I'm mature enough to admit that my birthday is the best. I used to feel . . . bad? guilty? disappointed? . . . about making a bigger deal over my birthday than anybody else did. Don't get me wrong - my parents are awesome about recognizing the anniversary of our births (with a few exceptions - you know what I mean, mom!). But it's my birthday. I'm the most excited.

And 30 - a milestone. I understand a lot of people have a tough time with 30. BJ wasn't too fond of the event. But, I'm really not so worried about that number. I'm married to an awesomely handsome partner and my best friend, I have my dream home (even if we have a mega-mortgage and all the upkeep that comes with it), I have a beautiful daughter with another kiddo on the way, I'm further along in my career than I thought I'd be, and - shoot! - I think I'm cuter now than I ever have been. What's to worry about? "Thirty" does sound weird, though. I mean, come on - I've had 10 years to get used to hearing "twenty- ". Of course it sounds weird!

A few months back, my bellydance gals had the fabulous idea to go as a group to a Pin-Up Workshop at g boutique. It was "taught" by our favorite burlesque dancer, Michelle L'Amour and promised to be an awesome time. Now, when we planned this I wasn't pregnant and didn't have faith that I would be. But, I thought it would be a hysterical, fabulous way to celebrate my 30th birthday. A gift to me! So yesterday, I spent the morning getting my hair styled a la 1943 with a few girlfriends, lunch and noodling around downtown Naperville, then zipping off to the city with the rest of the crew for our photo session.

Ladies - you absolutely must do this in your lifetime! It was sooo much fun. First, who doesn't like to be treated like a beautiful model? We had a professional make-up artist, a professional photographer (all women), our choice of gorgeous unmentionables to wear, wine, munchies, and lots of giggling. Best birthday present ever. And it really was for me - I know BJ will enjoy the photos, but he's a man. Pretty easy to please along those lines. I felt sexy, I felt like "Look at me - I'm on the eve of my 30th birthday, I'm hot, and I'm four months pregnant!"

I can't wait to get the pictures.

Holiday Wrap-Up

It's the New Year, I'm back to work, and I'm sorely behind. Instead of a
long post about how delightful our holiday was, here's a by-the-numbers run
down:

104 - BJ's temperature the 2 days before returning to work
103 - Zoe's temperature the 3 days before Christmas
87 - packages Zoe opened
46 - rounds of Guitar Hero (1, 2, 3, 80's)
16 - salt dough ornaments cut, baked, painted, glittered, varnished,
ribboned
12 - family members around the dinner table
10 - Christmas presents ordered on etsy.com
9.5 - pounds of spiral cut, honey-glazed ham
8 - dozen cookie balls dipped in chocolate
5, er 6 - dozen cookies baked
3 - days before Christmas I didn't have to work
3 - antibiotics Zoe consumed over the holiday
2 - exhausted, dizzy parents
1 - flaming napkin threatening the house
1 - satiated, overtired, gleeful toddler

Salt Dough Ornaments

Since we were already on a crafting kick, I got it in my head to make salt dough ornaments with Zoë. I remember having a few on the tree as a kid, but we never made them, despite my mother being Martha Stewart. Well, a kinder, gentler Martha Stewart. Anyway, I tracked down a recipe online and figured if Zoë likes to play with Play-Dough, she’ll love this. I was so right!



We gave the finished ornaments to everyone at our Christmas celebration. It's just too bad I couldn't seem to get pictures of the finished product . . .

2 Days until Christmas

. . . and all the wrapping is done.

Alleluia.

My Favorite Things

For a few months now I’ve wanted to add some other “feature” to this site. A regular update on some theme that would kind of serve as a snapshot of our lives even when I had nothing really to “say.” I just couldn’t come up with a good idea. Then dooce went and overhauled her site and added this nifty “Daily Style” section. And being a really good copycat, I thought, “That’s just what I’m looking for!” But, I don’t think I’m so surrounded by style, or even a strong aesthetic, that people are clamoring to see. That’s where holiday inspiration (and Oprah) came in – what about some of my favorite things? I could regularly post a photo of a “favorite thing” – something I bought, or made, or experienced, or use, or whatever. And while sometimes friends and family are interested in the coolness that is me, it is really a cool way to track who I am. After all, that’s what this website is about – logging who we are and what’s happening for posterity.
I can’t promise it will be daily. And, ideally, I won’t be posting here in my main content space. But, until I can get the new site to work, here are a few of my favorite things this week.

Arts and crafts time. Zoë is finally getting old enough to really enjoy craftiness. And while introducing a 20-month-old to bottles of glitter may be a mistake, she’s helped remind me how much I love these things that I long ago, foolishly, cast aside as “childish.”

My Santa advent calendar. We got this as a housewarming gift before our first Christmas as a married couple. I’ve always liked hanging the little ornaments each day, but, like most things these days, experiencing it through the eyes of my toddler makes it all the more magical.

Anyone who knows us knows that our Christmas tree is dominated by Hallmark’s collectible Star Wars ornaments. And the more lights and sounds they have, the better. This is one of this year’s additions. You have no idea how cool it is. It plays the Star Wars theme. Zoë thinks the whole tree is “neat” (her word), but she has to have me play this one daily.
I’m so excited about these necklaces. I was thrilled when I found the beads for them, even more stoked when I found these adorable toggle closures. But the finished product is even better than I expected. I look forward to giving them, but kind of wish I didn’t have to.

Winter is nearly here

It's been colder this week, below freezing some mornings, and I'm faced with the harsh reality that winter is almost here. Granted, we've been kind of lucky temperature-wise. Must be all that global warming. But I think it's that much harder because it is only now getting cold. I got complacent.

Today was icky - gray, slightly rainy, cold. But BJ got productive and (with Zoe in toe) headed outside to winterize the roses and bring in the hoses. (Such rhyming!) He had our little girl toddle into the house bearing this:



The last rose of the season. They really stayed in bloom forever and this one is a beauty. All yellow and sunny, it just reminds me of warmer, brighter days. They will come again. Besides, now I can gear up for the holidays! While I was at the mall today I tried to point out Santa to Zoe. She was a bit oblivious - distracted by the mall milieu. I will have to bring her out to meet him before long. She can get freaked out like every other 2 year old.

At last . . . "Powerhouse"

Sometimes its the easy tasks that take the longest time to accomplish.

Powerhouse from Kate L on Vimeo

In other news, got an awesome jump on my Christmas shopping today. Thank goodness for half-days at work. Robyn and I kit Kohl's after lunch today - there are always deals to be had there, but I don't usually have the patience. Having a friend with me really helped me stick with it. To top it off, we got a set of new silverware. Woo hoo! It doesn't get much more exciting in suburbia, does it?

A Halloween Happening

Tomorrow is the big day! It’s pretty exciting around here because this is Zoë’s real first Halloween. She understands dressing up, she loves seeing other kids in costume, she likes the funny decorations, she calls out every cat, bat, pumpkin, and witch that we see . . . it is a lot more fun. And Halloween is probably my favorite holiday (it would be Christmas, but there aren’t all the fun costumes).

On Sunday, we got our kids together (Ella, Lizzie, Foster and Zoë) and hit Naperville’s Halloween Happening. I had no idea what a big deal this was until we got there, but the kids had a blast. They had games, bounce-houses, everyone had their costumes on, and lots of candy. To top it off, it was a beautiful fall day. Oh yeah – and I got interviewed by Comcast (who helped host the event)!

Yes, of course I dressed up – same as last year. You’ll notice our whole crew (and yes, I was the only adult who played along, although Aideen swears she would have had she not left her costume in her classroom) went with the Wizard of Oz theme. It was hard to tell that Ella and Zoë were witches instead of munchkins, but either worked. I’ve never seen such a cute cast of characters.

Plus, I got a taste of what it would be like to work as a character at Disney. If – and I mean if – I ever do that again, I’ll have to do a little more research on my character. I had countless little girls coming up to me, “Glinda! You’re so beautiful!” and such. I’m not used to having to respond to that!

Happy Memorial Day

By far, the coolest, most well-thought entry in Naperville’s parade today.

Happy Valentine's Day!