Blogging PSA

The gorgeous and fabulous "Not Just a Pretty Face" posted this tutorial, and it was TOO good not to share.  I'm even pasting it word for word.  Bow down to her, not me - I'm lazy.


I get some amazing, wonderful comments.  But often, they come from someone who doesn't have a blog.  Or if they do, and I want to give a private response, I can't.  I've been asked for advice on various things, and never have a way to get back in touch with the reader!  So if you have your email address attached to your account...I can respond to each and every one of you :)


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If you're like me- I get e-mail notifications when someone replies to a blog entry of mine. Usually, I'll read the e-mail, delete it and then come back to my blog later and reply to everyone in the comment section myself...

I couldn't figure out an easier way- but then realized...what if they never come back to read the comment I left for them!?! SAD DAY!! I love hearing from you guys and want to answer you ASAP. Here's how you can fix that!

For the longest time I didn't add my e-mail address to my profile- just because I didn't want anyone to have it. Uh. Why? I dunno. I guess I thought it'd be "safer" that way. But it's just e-mail. If I notice something not from blogger, I'll delete. Bye-bye-bye spam/possible virus.

Anyway- if you all will follow these steps below, and add your e-mail address, the blogger you leave a comment for can respond back directly to YOU and it'll come to your e-mail.

Something so small makes me so happy...

Go to your dashboard.
Click on Edit Profile (next to your picture).
Add an email address.
Click the check mark to make it visible.
THAT'S IT! COMMENT AWAY!!

OOTD - my new uniform

My new go-to uniform - skinny jeans and a boyfriend blazer with a camisole.  I live in this.

One of the most disappointing pair of jeans I've ever bought.  But none others were clean so I wore them anyway.  The Gap Always Skinny distressed.

I've said this before, but I really thought I'd hate this cami when I bought it for a random party with the theme "Neon/Space!", but I've found it to be incredibly versatile.

Jeans: Gap.  Blazer: Forever21.  Blouse: Target.  Flats: Forever21.  Clutch: NY&Company

Operation: 5K was a success

Tonight, Tyler and I went for a run together.  Its something that we did back in highschool, but haven't done much in the past few years, and its a pastime that I love sharing with him.


I ran Cross Country all four years in highschool, and loved every minute of it.  I definitely wasn't the best on the team, hell I think I only ran one Varsity race in spite of being Captain, but I really loved it.  I can't find my times right now, but I'm fairly certain that my PR was 20:20 for the 5K.


I have three very close friends I met while planning my wedding, the FIFs, and we all talked about getting into running.  One of them found a 5K in the neighborhood next to mine, and so we all signed up with our husbands.  


The race was last Saturday, and it ended up being a huge disaster.  It was organized by lazy suburban PTA moms who had no idea what the hell they were doing.  One husband wasn't registered, my name had been crossed off and my tee and number were given away, and we waited in like for over 40 minutes.  It was ridiculous.


Finally, the time came to get on the starting line.  I'd gone into this as a joke.  I haven't run a 5K in 8 years.  Since then, I took up (and quit) smoking, gained 40 pounds, and only recently started heavily working out again. I expected to come in last, and was completely okay with that.  But when I crossed that starting line, I realized that I really really wanted to do well, and pushed myself.  I found myself passing people, and obviously some people passed me, but I could not get enough of the adrenaline.


About half a mile left to go, and my lungs completely closed on me.  I felt like I was getting a quarter of the air I should.  But I pulled out my best sprint, and crossed the finish line.  I was super amped to get a medal, until I found out that everyone got one, ha.  


We got our results the next day, and I came in 10th in my age group.  Now my time?  Ha, that was a pathetic 30:32.  With a godawful 9:50 mile average.  But, for 8 years...I am pretty proud of myself :) And my goal is to knock 2 minutes off my time in every subsequent race this summer.


Tyler did great too.  And I came in before him, which shouldn't matter, but still made my day :)  We are doing quite a few more races this summer, and I am really looking forward to training with Tyler.  I joke about us becoming a running family, but the truth is that I've always dreamed about running a marathon, and having the love of my life supporting me in what used to be a huge passion of mine...well, I see great things in our future.


This is after the race, so obviously we look terrible.  But we are so, incredibly happy :)

And whats a picture without a fluffy white dog jumping in?

Oh HAI dogs!

So remember how I bragged about our fabulous new fence?


On Friday, I stayed home from work.  After the gym in the morning, I took a book and an ice cold Diet Coke outside to enjoy the yard, and let the girls play.  After a bit, they were just laying in the grass, enjoying the sunshine, and I decided to leave the back door open to let them enjoy the day while I went to take a shower.


When I came back downstairs, I was immediately met by muddy paw prints, all over the  hardwood floors on the main level.  And one, very dirty dog, covered in mud.  


I could immediately picture how this happened.  The girls favorite pasttime is this:





Which is probably them rubbing in rabbit feces, but it still looks cute.  


However, it resulted in Kimchi looking like this:

Holly, however, remained perfectly clean.  Is it any wonder we refer to them as the Princess and the Monster?

So, Mommy spent her glorious Friday afternoon off work bathing Kimchi and then scrubbing and mopping the floors.  Kimchi hates being wet after baths, and spent a good 20 minutes frantically trying to dry her ears.





Momma's babies.

I'm going to be a godmother :)

I have talked before about how incredibly lucky I am that one of my neighbors has quickly become one of my closest friends.  Even our husbands get along, and the four of us have a fabulous time together.


They took Tyler and I out to dinner last Friday for a celebration.  And, while I didn't get a picture of the four of us, I did get a cute one of Donna and I:

They took us to Rio Grande, which is a favorite of all four of us, and we had a fabulous time.  The cause for celebration?


They asked Tyler and I to be godparents to their two beautiful daughters. 


I am still blown away by what an honor it is.  They have become such close friends in such a close period of time.  Donna was pregnant while both our homes were being built, and by the time we moved in, their oldest daughter was 2.5 months old.  We have gotten to watch her grow up to a beautiful 2 year old, and I've loved being a part of their life.  Since Donna had her second beautiful daughter, its been an even more amazing experience.


A week ago, I started making Chicken Tequila Burgers for dinner, when I discovered that our oven was broken.  I asked Donna to use hers, and insisted on feeding her and her husband Michael as well.  While cooking, we all spent some time chatting, and then it was time for them to put their oldest to bed.


Tyler had been holding Abigail, their month old infant.  She was perfectly content in his arms.  She started to fuss a bit, and I suggested he burp her, since Donna had fed her recently.  Tyler was giving butterfly taps on her back, and when I tried to tell him that he could burp her harder, he got nervous and handed her over to me.  As he did, and I took her in my arms, she vomited all over me.  Instantly, I had vomit in my hair, down my shirt and down my legs.  We were in shock at what just came out of the littlest baby, and were laughing at the situation, and then realized that we needed to clean her up.


Then began a discussion - we couldn't change her on the hard kitchen tile.  We couldn't change her on the carpet.  So, we decided on my lap, since I was already dirty.  I stretched out, and unzipped her onesie.  And then we discovered...a poop blowout.  Tyler and I just kept laughing - Donna and Michael were probably upstairs reading Goodnight  Moon or singing a lullaby (or more likely a Cult song, knowing them!) and we were elbows deep in body fluids.  


At this point, we decided to pull out a clean trashbag, and change her on top of that, on the carpet, to keep it clean.  We used her burp cloths to clean her up and put on a fresh diaper.  Tyler picked her up, now a happy and coo-y little thing, and I hopelessly blotted at my shirt, legs, and hair.


At that moment, Donna and Michael walked down, and we began to tell them what happened.


And you know what?  That was one of the best nights I've had in months.  Tyler and I will absolutely be able to handle everything God sends our way.  And we will be fabulous parents.  And we will get puked on sometimes, and we will go through it together.


A random story, but one that I can't wait to tell Abigail as she gets older.  I can't wait to be a part of her life, and see her grow up, just like her sister.


Tyler and I are loving sharing our faith right now.  We enjoy going to church together.  We skipped it once a few weeks ago, and both felt horrible - not because of Catholic guilt, but because we missed it.  I realized just how much one hour on Sunday morning really adds to my week - it starts everything off on the right foot.  I love learning more each week about my religion, and I'm so incredibly honored to have the spiritual life of two precious little girls entrusted to Tyler and I.


I will always do my best to make sure that the two of them come to know Catholicism.  And I can't wait to teach them all the stories and fables, and everything that I know, that makes me have faith.  My Godmother is still a huge influence in my life, and if I do half the job that she has done...it will be plenty.


I am a VERY lucky woman.

No escaping now!

The yard, that is. Cuz Tyler and I finally got a fence!


Our next door neighbors and I realized we wanted the exact same thing, and so we decided to go in on it together and split our joining wall.  We talked to six companies for estimates.  Five of them came in around the same number.  And one, who said he was cutting us a deal since he's building a deck for a friend, quoted us about three times higher than everyone else.  I thought for sure he was joking.  For that price, I would expect diamond nails and golden planks.  We ended up with a WONDERFUL company.  For anyone in the DC metro area, please contact Fairfax Fence for an estimate!  Jaime and his wife are incredibly responsive, fair, and nice to work with.  


In order to get approved with the HOA, we had to submit pictures, plats, signatures of neighbors, the whole shebang.  To ensure no chance of rejection, I included pictures such as this:

And I think it looks even better!

They used Cedar pickets, and the smell of cedar in our yard is amazing.  The next morning, I sat out there with the dogs, and was in complete heaven.

Its also been neat to be able to finally sit and plan out how our yard will be set up - patios, gardens, etc.  We are really pleased with the amount of space we have to work with!

Last Saturday, we had three other couples over, who brought their dogs, making it 7 total, and they all had a complete ball.  The neighbor's dog was getting jealous, so I had the neighbor send him over to play - when you've got 7 dogs, whats 8?!  I anticipate many more doggie play dates as the summer goes on :)

Take Two

Its been over a month since my last blog post.  I thought many times over the last month about just shutting this down.  I'm still not sure how long I'll keep with it, and I can't make promises about how often I'll post.

I got in over my head.  I started blogging for me, and posted more of the types of posts that my readers responded too, particularly outfits of the day and recipes.  I also tried to include big things in my life since my family seemed to appreciate those.  But along the way, I got a little bigger than I'd intended to be with people I know, and I became very uncomfortable finding out certain people who had been reading.  I'm very aware that anything that goes on the internet is public knowledge, but when I found out how my life was being discussed, I took the comments personally.

Since I can't censor who reads this and when, I'll likely just be more guarded in the future.  And I LIKE shopping and I LIKE baking, and so I've decided that I'll keep posting as I was.  

So, blogging, take two.  

And, since I think all posts need a picture, and its now been two years since they were taken, here are one of Tyler's and my engagement pictures.  Hard to believe this summer we will have been married for two years!