Desperately Seeking Sheepdogs

My baby want hasn't exactly died down since writing it down last week. However, I've thought of more constructive ways to deal with it- looking at baby animals. Pets are generally easier to rear than babies (although I have had experiences contrary to that last statement) so the appeal is greater on the furrier mammal's side. Lately I've been dreaming about sheepdogs specifically. Because who the hell wouldn't want visions of this guy in their head?

Get a load of that mofo!

I've grown up with animals. Starting with hamsters and iguanas, guinea pigs, parrots, chinchillas, and eventually cats and dogs. I loved them so much my list of things I wanted to be when I grew up were as follows-
1. Veterinarian
2. Princess Jasmine
Yes, I wanted to cater to animals more than live a lavish life of princesshood and genies.

I can't recall NOT having a pet of some sort in my entire existence, so when I'm without one I feel a bit off. I must be loving a fur baby in some way or another. I've been getting little fixes here and there from my friend Colleen's broad of felines, mostly Stella because she is a feline of Amanda caliber, meaning she can roll with my cuckoo.

If you've never nuzzled the voluptuous belly of this creature you haven't seen Nirvana.
But even though Stella can satiate me at times and even though Jack has no problem keeping me busy, I feel the internal pullings of pet ownership. Right now we're leaning towards a cat in the future and eventually if house ownership is under our belts, one of these brain meltingly cute specimens-

"Come play with us. Forever...and ever...and ever..."
"OK!"

Oy vey...those perky little ears and wise eyes.

Also an expectable form of dog.

What's the Muse Du Jour?

It's the Muse of the Day.

And that is Karen O my friends! With her talents ranging from perfectly composed dance tracks to hauntingly beautiful solo work, she's a rock star for women who have been thirsting for somebody different since Debra Harry.





with Muse of the Day alum Zooey Deschanel.



And one of my favorite tracks off of the Where The Wild Things Are (which is a whole 'notha post...) soundtrack which she produced-

Picks Of The Day: Episode-14...ish...?

Last night Greg asked me if "we have everything ready for Ixtapa". I took this as an opportunity and ran with it like any women desperate for a new pair of shoes would.
"What do you mean by everything?"
"Well, like clothes and...."
He had caught himself in the fatal mistake. NEVER ask me if we have "proper clothes" for any event. I'm such a clothes and shoes hound that as soon as a sentence like "do we have all the clothes we need" is dropped, you'll feel as though you were teleported smack dab in the middle of Target. I work THAT fast. Well, at least I used to. I'm trying to spiff up the spending habits, which I've been very good at for awhile, but the inclination is still there. This is a hard trait to banish in one year. Nevertheless, I feel we're prepared except for my needing a bathing suit. BUT, just for funsies, if I had a never ending budget here's some things I rather fancy-







Bit of a teensy picture, but you may get the idea.




And of course some music magic-

This was probably the most optimistic album I owned my senior year.

Blast From The Past

My uncle sent me a picture on Facebook that I felt needed to be shared...



Yep, that is yours truly as a very boyish looking baby! Get a load of my mom's bangs! The girls with me are two of my beloved cousins Jennifer and Jessica, who are pretty much the sisters I never had. We all grew up together and still hang out frequently. I love this picture.

Bridget Jones-ing for some change

The woman of this posts title (if you haven't seen it before let me recap) wants to take a step up in her life and transform herself from a "spinster who will eventually be alone and eaten by dogs" into a woman with a quality boyfriend, good outlook and body sans 20 lbs. She documented all of this in her trusty diary. Well, I've decided to sort of use her idea. I'm not in need of a man, so the only part I can really feel Bridget on is the weight loss. And keeping track of it...on here.

I plan on shaping this shit up. I've been very negligent on my body's behalf. I've been eating far to much crap, exercising far too little, and becoming increasingly irritable and touchy at the fact that I'm avoiding jeans like the plague due to the dreaded "muffin top". So I've decided to nip this in the bud and shape up in time for our upcoming trip to Ixtapa Mexico, and maintain that into the horizon. I don't want to crash diet or swallow a tapeworm. I'm not into gimmicks or starvation. I'm going to do this the old fashioned way- eat less, exercise more.

So welcome to the newest segment of this blog- Operation Get My Skinny Jeans Back.

Starting off-

Height- 5'7''
Starting Weight- 140 lbs. (this is an estimate of the last time I weighed myself which may have been a couple weeks ago, I don't keep a scale in my house, all weighing will come in after visits to the in-laws as they have a scale).
Goal Weight- 130-120 lbs.
Targets- Arms (tone up), abs, ass, thighs.
Weaknesses- Chipotle, Wendy's, baked goods, soda (specifically of the Pepsi variety), salty food, food in general.
Strengths- I'm a good swimmer (I swam competitively for four years in high school) so I'll likely jump back into that as the heat rises. Supportive people around me. I've recently got into drinking lots of water (21 years to get to, but hey...they didn't build Rome in a day).
Exercise Plans- Pilates, tons of ab targeted exercises, more cardio, less carbs (this will be tough since I'm a self proclaimed carb junkie, I could eat mountains of spaghetti a day if you let me), promote a more vegetarian lifestyle in myself, cook more vegetarian friendly meals.

This isn't turning into a weight loss blog. This is merely another aspect of my life which I plan on documenting so I can see change and have it motivate me. I'll be posting progression pictures when I get to them (hopefully starting tonight when the husband gets home as I suck at self photography). That is all!

2

Dear Jack,
Today you are two. That is 720 days of waking me up, pulling my hair, asking for more milk, blowing raspberries to taunt me, laughing at everything and nothing, crying over everything and nothing, screaming at everything and everything, surprising me, pissing me off and pissing on me, giving me ambition, inspiration, hope. You grow up quickly little sir. Two years ago I held you in my arms and thought "what a tiny little world". That world is expanding. That world is quick now, running, keeping me on my toes, keeping my eyes open. That world is more expressive than I can capture in any picture, write down in any sentence.
They say "wait for the terrible two's!" But today you woke up sweet as can be. You even allowed me to cuddle you for a couple minutes as you played with my hair. This is not a common occurrence (and perhaps I have DJ Lance to thank for captivating you for long enough to let me enjoy it). You didn't whine or scream at anything trivial. Maybe this is the calm before the storm. But they say a lot of things.
You are more than a lot of things. You are Jack. And I couldn't imagine any other world I'd rather be around.

We love you,
Mom

Right now you seem to really love this song. I think it's very appropriate. So here you go my raspberry blower, my moon watcher, song singer, panda kisser.



Also, Happy Birthday to my little brother Mitchell, who two years ago turned 14 and all he got was a lousy nephew ;). I couldn't think of anybody better to share a birthday with Jack. You are the best brother and uncle anybody could ask for!

I Heart My Mother-In-Law

Sunday we headed on over to the in-law's for a dinner and cake. My mother-in-law wanted us to open one of Jack's birthday presents early-








It was a kick in the nostalgia pants as I had a little set like this when I was Jack's age (only mine were plastic, I believe). I couldn't be more tickled with this little dinner set and am looking forward to keeping them as a little heirloom for future kids (?) or grandkids (???).