wheeled wednesday

Today, Liam and I had plans to go to the Navasota area looking for bluebonnets with my mom.

We wanted to take pictures of little handsome.

Not so bright, and not so early this morning, we decided to leave off until tomorrow, in hopes that the ground would be drier, the breeze would be warmer and the sky would be clearer.

Instead, we got picked up by Grandma Nancy and headed out to lunch and then ran over to the Toys R Us at Katy Mills (far and away superior to the TRU in Sugar Land). Upon walking in, we browsed through the new section of outdoor toys and loaded up our cart with a Little Tykes Bubble Mower, a watering can and a Handy Manny Wagon. Liam was ENAMORED of the wagon from the first time he laid eyes on it. 

He threw a fit in the shopping cart because he wanted to get down and play with it. He was not satiated until we paid and he was able to walk out to the car, his wagon in tow. However, upon realizing we intended to put him in the car, he threw another fit and was only pacified by our letting him have his wagon in the back with him.

He clutched it the whole. way. home.

When we got home, we let the puppies outside, put together the bubble mower, I changed into the best pants in the history of the world, and we headed out to play.

 After we'd gotten nice and hot and sweaty, we came in, got out of our wet clothes and settled down to play with our wagon...

... which goes everywhere we go. 

Including the couch.

Hope y'all have fun plans for your Wednesday evening...

this is ours:

`

birthdays i love: cory

Today is a good day.

Today is this dude's birthday:

He happens to be mine and Zach's best friend. He also happens to be Liam's Godfather.

He is the best there is. 

The absolute best friend, the absolute best Godfather. 

We're so lucky to have him in our lives!

We love you, Cory!

brain dump for a busy few days

• Yesterday was looooooong. I got up at 6 and didn't crawl into bed until around 2:45. I'm still grumpy/tired. No, not the best idea. 
• I was up late because I was working on a painting. I don't know where I'm going to hang it, or how I'm going to frame it, but I'm fairly pleased with the way it came out. I'd have preferred the colors to be a little more muted, a little more dank, but I also didn't want to wash the whole thing with a lot of Payne's Grey and end up with a hot mess. Cause I could have. I am hoping it's giving off a kind of "once upon a midnight dreary.." vibe. I wish y'all could see the iridescent medium I applied over the moon. Love it.
• Liam is being picked up by my mom tomorrow and they're going to take her puppy to Zach the Vet. Since we don't *ahem* GO to the Vet, it'll be interesting to see how Liam likes going to see his daddy at work. 
• Mom's taking Liam because I want to clean. I cannot, can NOT clean my house thoroughly enough for my taste while Liam is home. I have to have him out of the house so I can focus completely on what I'm doing and not have to have one ear and eye on Liam at all times. 
• When i clean, I turn off the TV, open all the windows and listen to music very, very, very loudly. It keeps me moving quickly and keeps my spirits up. I put my CDs in the Blu-Ray player and let them play on the surround sound. I also get out the iPod & dock from Liam's room. Tomorrow, I think it's going to be Audioslave, Queen of the Damned and The Essential Michael Jackson-- skipping the Jackson 5 stuff, though. Believe me, when nobody's around, I can belt out Smooth Criminal and P.Y.T. like nobody's business. 

• I'm also thinking about letting Mom take Liam to work with her on Tuesday morning. Zach and I need to get outside and do yard work. Like now. We've got massive weeds and they need to not be in my yard anymore. Getting Liam out of the house will allow us to get outside and get work done without worrying about where he is or what he's doing.
• We're in "make the house presentable" mode because our friend Ryan is coming over for dinner on Tuesday. I'm excited. We got to be friends our senior year of high school. We were lab partners in physics and did a lot of traveling with the band. When he came to A&M for grad school, it was lots of fun to have him around. (Ryan's modeling the CD below)... BONUS points to anyone who knows where the photo was taken, too. 

• Zach's cooking Tuesday night. I love showing off my husband's cooking skills. He's trying to decide if he wants to grill steaks or shrimp or if he wants to do his homemade chicken piccata. I'm leaving the menu up to him. I should throw dinner parties and just let him do the cooking/planning. I'll just clean and make pretty. Yes.
• I'm still trying to settle on dessert. I can't decide. I won't make Oreo Ice Cream Dessert for anyone but the Cory. You just gotta hope you can grab a slice when he's in town some time.
• WITH THAT. Zach has retreated into the bathroom for his old fashioned razor date and I'm going to hoof it into the baby's playroom for a workout. I skipped ONE day and I'm feeling like a fat, lazy slob. Lord have mercy, can you believe that came out of my mouth!?

birthdays i love: trevor

Today is this dude's birthday:

He's pretty much the bomb.com. 

Also one of the people who made college wonderfully fun. 

You can tell how much fun he is, can't you?

Happy Birthday Trevor, dear!

Come home soon, TX is tired of sharing you with CA!

unreLENTing.

I've never "given up" anything for Lent. 

It's not something we really do.

But I really, really love the sentiment. 

Chatting online with a few other girls, there were discussions about Lent and how people approach it. I really connected with somebody who said that their pastor didn't focus on GIVING UP something, but instead suggested challenging yourself and making yourself a better person during Lent. 

So, that's what I've decided to do. 

I am CHALLENGING myself to make myself better.

I'm working out daily.

Yes. 

Scrape yourself up off the floor. CORY.

(We love you and miss you. Come see us. I'll make you Oreo Ice Cream Desert so we can totally blow what I'm about to write. For serious. I need BFF time!)

I eat a healthy breakfast (read, whole wheat cereal), and a big lunch. I'm not drinking any soda at home. I allow myself one small snack a day. I eat a small/moderate dinner (not because I don't want to eat dinner, I don't feel like it. Working out at around 3:30 leaves me with zero appetite for the rest of the day. Love it!) I make sure at least one of my meals has veggies. IF I drink a soda during the day, I am not allowed any iced tea lemonade at home. I drink water all day long. I alternate between two workout DVDs. 

Now, don't judge.

Or do, I don't care.

I alternate between these two: 

My Tae Bo has an extra workout on it called the Ultimate Fat Burner or something and that's the one I'm doing now, because I'm not advanced enough to do the 90 minute workout (yesh!). I will say, in the beginning, I had to stop a couple of times and catch my breath. 

I love the Carmen Electra DVD. In fact, I swear by it. I have all 4 of the Aerobic Striptease DVDs, but I don't even pay attention to the other 3. This one is won-der-ful. I love it. I look forward to doing it, and it's not because of Carmen, but because of the guy she has actually DOING the work, Michael Carson. He is fan-freaking-tastic. I am just doing the 30 minute workout until I feel like it's getting easy, then I'll add on the quick <10 minute sections targeting legs, bum and abs.

Before we got married, I did the Carmen DVD every night for about... oh, two months before the wedding? Maybe not even that much and my results were pretty fantastic: 

I'm thrilled to say that after 13 days of really making an effort, I am truly seeing results. Seeing the results has me so enthusiastic about maintaining my current pattern. I am not even tempted to use Liam not napping as an excuse to lay off my workout. 

I'm pretty proud of myself. 

NEXT?

My next project is to start doing something during nap time. I do my workout as soon as I put Liam down. This takes between 35 and 45 minutes. When I'm done, I've been plopping on the couch in front of my computer until he wakes up. NOT a very productive use of my time. I think I'm going to start doing a different thing each day of the week during nap time. Things like, reading my Kindle, painting (watercolors), working with my pastels, writing, cleaning... ANYTHING besides sit on my bum and do nothing. And something that doesn't cost money. That'd be nice. 

What are YOU doing for Lent?

Are you challenging yourself?

{images: Carmen, Billy}

私は日本を愛して

日本

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Original Price > $700

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Purchased from Bergdorf Goodman, I have been the only owner. 

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SOLD!

1. ModCloth The Good Life Romper 

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4. Calvin Klein Cross Back Dress

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7. 7 for All Mankind Jeans

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8. Tano Yellow Handbag

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9. Burberry Patent Espadrille Sandals

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