At this point in time

So... I just turned 29.  I had this bright idea that I was going to do a photo journal for my last year in the 20's.  Kinda like how people are snapping daily photos of themselves for the year 2011.  Actually, it's pretty much exactly like that.  I also had planned on blogging a little bit everyday, a little bit about what I did and what went on around me - so that I will never forget all the exciting (and boring) things I did this year before I join my friends in the 30's club.

I know - a far-fetched idea, right?  If I can't even keep up with blogging at least once a month, how in the world am I going to do it daily?  On Day Four of my 29th year - I have already epically failed.  This is my first blog... and I forgot to take a picture yesterday.  Bummer.  But alas, this doesn't mean that the rest of the year is doomed.

I have pretty much celebrated my birthday at least three times now.  Friday night, J and I went to P & L's house (at the very last minute) for some cake and an awesome time.  But that's nothing new.  Pretty much whenever Jon and I go to see my best friend, I always know I'm gonna have an awesome time.  Afterwards, we went to Sonia's house for a quick hello (I think we showed up at about 1:30am, talk about being fashionably late) and caught up with some more friends.  Getting home at 4am on my birthday made me feel young again - I certainly know I'm not going to be able to do this for much longer!

On Easter Sunday, the four of us were at my parent's house for an Easter/Birthday lunch.  We had ham and a bunch of other stuff, yummy!  My sister found a Mickey cake online a couple days before and posted it on her wall, wishing me a happy birthday.  I told her I wanted that cake for my birthday so she took on the challenge and tried her hand at it.  Here's the original cake and my sister's attempt.  Not too shabby for her very first attempt at anything even remotely close to this.  Notice my daughter in the background in the second picture, she looks absolutely thrilled, although I'm not too sure why....

          

Since we celebrated my birthday with my family on Easter Sunday, my son thought it was my birthday still (or all over again, or whatever) so he kept giving me hugs and kisses saying "Happy Birthday, Mommy!"  It was adorable and it made my heart melt, but after like the 10th or 15th time, I had to tell him that my birthday was over now.  He replied with "No Mommy!  You're still 29.  Your birthday's not over until you're 30!"  Yes, totally adorable and I laughed.... Logan didn't know just how right he was.  I've heard horror stories from friends about turning 30.  So if I follow in their footsteps, I suppose I'll want to stop celebrating my birthday at 30.

On Monday (yesterday), J and I went out for a late birthday dinner with the kids to a Japanese place.  It was one of these places where they cook at this big table/grill in front of you.  Certainly a nice way to keep the kids (especially Logan) occupied.  It was fun and the food was delish!  Over the Easter weekend, restaurant.com was having a big sale on restaurant coupons so I bought 4 of them at $2 each for a $25 coupon to the same Japanese place.  J and I are definitely going back!!!  And we may bring some friends :)

One of my goals this year is to chronicle what I've done, what I want to do and other things at this point in time.  So here goes Edition #1.....

At this point in time, the food I have been craving most lately (for the last two weeks or so) is salad with grape tomatoes, croutons and Catalina w/Honey dressing.  I've also been craving pizza, Vietnamese food (I'm going to get a huge Vietnamese fix this weekend, thanks to L & P's *another* late birthday dinner! Yum!), and dark chocolate.

I am still working at A Finishing Touch.  I am the manager of the web/marketing department and I am loving it.  My job involves a wide variety of responsibilities so my job isn't the same boring routine everyday.  I am right smack in the middle of developing a brand new website for the company - it is about 80% complete, so I am getting very excited about it going live very soon!

My daily routine involves getting up at 7am to get the kids off to school by 7:45am then get myself ready for work.  I'm usually out the door by 8:20 armed with a HUGE travel mug filled with coffee.  Hey P, guess what - it's pink!  It's the biggest one in the house, lol.  I'm off at 5 which means I don't get to Logan's daycare until 5:45pm (yes, it's a 45-minute commute, ugh).  Logan and I are usually home at 6.  Dinner is usually either ready or almost ready (which is extremely nice) when I get home.  When I have to fend for myself, I just pop something in the microwave.  After/during dinner, I have about two hours to deal with everything that goes on around me.  The kids are in bed at 8pm which leaves me a couple hours of "quiet" time with J and TV/movies. 

I'm still driving that pos grey Ford Fusion.  It wasn't my first choice when my ex and I bought it and I got it in the divorce so hey, guess I'm stuck with it for now...It's only 5 years old so it's got some good years left on it.

My favorite TV shows at this moment are The Biggest Loser, No Ordinary Family, True Blood, Breaking Bad, V, How I Met Your Mother, SH*T My Dad Says, Outsourced, Shark Tank and The Big Bang Theory - in no particular order.  I make it a point to DVR these shows every week.

I still love to watch movies.  I left Netflix in protest over their rising prices and no access to instant watch movies (Closed Captioning is severely lacking).  I moved to Blockbuster a while ago and I think it's OK.  It's not great, but the best feature is that I can drive to a physical Blockbuster location and swap in my mailed movies for a movie in the store.  I do this at least once a week for at least 2 movies at a time.  We are definitely getting more access to movies this way and we finish them faster.  I would probably want to go back to Netflix but not until they provide more closed captioning on their instant watch movies.

Rebecca is in 3rd grade and Logan is in Pre-K.  Both are doing well in school.  Logan started daycare back in January.  At first he was afraid and didn't like it, but now he likes it and sometimes gets upset when he has to leave.

My favorite hobby at this point seems to be TV, internet and sleeping.  Not much but when you're working lots, taking care of the house and everybody/everything in it can be exhausting.

At this point in time, I'm content with my life.  I have not just one, but two best friends I care for very dearly.  They're the best.  I have a job I enjoy.  I have two wonderful kids (although they give me grief at times).  Compared to others who are going through incredible hardships, I can't really complain.

I just made my very first cake pop two weeks ago.  They turned out pretty good for my first attempt.  I am definitely going to be experimenting with different designs.

                

Speaking of Mickey Mouse (or looking at it), the four of us took a trip to Orlando in March for Spring Break.  We took the kids to Universal Studios where we hit both parks in the same day.  Then for the next three days, we went to Disney World.  I had a blast and will definitely go back again!  The Disney Cruise line will be loading their ships at the Galveston port in 2012.  Disney will only be there for 12 weeks - you can bet I'll definitely try my best to get us on one of those cruises!  Can't wait!  The best part is that since Disney is a family-oriented company, they are very well aware that maybe Mommy will need some adult time, so they have childcare and kids events.  The parents can go off and explore the islands and do other stuff.  That's definitely awesome.

Until tomrorow (or maybe in 6 months).....