The Post Where I Share My Deepest, Darkest Secrets

Ok so maybe these secrets aren't deep or dark. In fact, they aren't really secrets at all but more just random facts about me - but didn't that title make it sound like it was going to be interesting?

I would venture to say that most people have the impression that I am super-organized and a type-A personality. This is mostly true, but I have some funny tendencies that are quite the contradiction to this personality type.

1. I don't check my voicemail. Of course I check it at work but on my cell phone - not so much. It drives uncommon husband nuts because I usually let it build up to around 8 messages before I empty it out. I honestly just think it's a waste of time, hardly anyone says more than "call me back" and I'd rather just look at the missed call and call them back. (With the exception of my sister who leaves hilarious messages in different voices or sings crazy songs to me)

2. I misplace semi-important (or very important) papers. It's a running joke in our house that if you have an important paper I will loose it but ask me for a receipt for something stupid like pretzels and I can produce it quickly. I attribute this to the fact that I don't have a desk or the space to get organized with all of my papers but that is probably just an excuse. Currently I can't find my husband's passport which we might need for an upcoming trip ... oops!

3. I let all of my electronics die before charging them. My phone, Blackberry, camera, etc ... always just completely die before I charge them.

4. I don't put gas in my car until the gas light comes on. I just don't feel like it so I wait until it's absolutely necessary. What can I say? I walk on the wild side.

5. I procrastinate things sometimes to the point of letting them completely stress me out. It's usually not big things either, I just build them up in my head and then when I finally get them done I feel annoyed that I didn't just do it sooner and save myself the stress.

6. I don't back up my laptop on a regular basis. This is bad.bad.bad. I am married to an IT consultant, I have seen countless people loose all of their files, and I have no excuse. I am going to start doing this asap (or in a few weeks)

That's all I can think of for now, I am sure I have many many more though. What are your secrets?

Mish Mash

I have a whole mish mash of things in my mind to blog about. Don't you love the word mish mash? Is it a word? It sounds like something I'd say but I've never seen it in print. I like it.

Anyway, here's what is bouncing around my head today.

I want a blog makeover. I am playing with the idea of a redesign and fresh look. I found a designer who does awesome custom layouts for really low prices but I have been SO disciplined about not spending money that I don't think I should do it. I can't really justify it in my mind and that's saying a lot because I can justify just about anything. hmmm ...

My best friend from college is having a baby tomorrow. To say that I am excited for her is an understatement. I just ordered a couple of new photography props in preparation for my day trip to Miami next weekend - sooooo excited to meet him!

I really want this book. I can't wait until next year when we are in our new house and I can order some large canvases of our favorite family photos. I want to make my home a gallery of beautiful images and memories. I want to order the book right now but I am being disciplined. Stupid discipline.

We might or might not be going on a BIG trip in the next few months. I'm praying that we are going because a vacation would be amazing right now but if not now, next summer.

The end.

God's Special Gift to Me

This is one of my favorite times of year. All of the flowering trees are in full bloom around town and I LOVE it! As much as I joke about crazy Betty, she has taught me some wonderful things and one thing I am particularly thankful for if her knowledge of flowers and plants. Not only has she taught me the names of almost all of the flowering trees around town, she has shown me where the most magnificent trees are located and taught me to appreciate the beauty of something many people just pass by in their daily routine. I love them all - Orchid trees, Jacarandas, Bottle Brush Trees and Royal Poincianas, but my favorite is the Gold Tree. They are all over downtown and before I stopped to pay attention I never even noticed how beautiful they are. There's even one directly across the street from my house and when I walk out my front door, it's the first thing I see. It feels like a special gift from God just for me. During this season I feel especially lucky to live here. (the photo above is not my own, I thought about taking one with my camera phone today but opted for driving over taking photos out the window)

Fashion Weekend

I have been playing dress up with Addison lately. I realized I have all of these adorable outfits that I save for weekends and she's going to outgrow them if I don't start putting her in them every day! The funny thing is that every time I put her in something I want to take her picture. These days, she is always on the move and wants to grab my camera. I set her down across the room and run to the other side so I can start snapping.

For every picture I get like this ...

I get a bunch like this ...





She is such a little busy body these days!

To shoe or not to shoe

Crazy Betty came over for dinner last night. She was having withdrawals from Addison because she was out of town last weekend and wasn't able to do her usual Friday afternoon party crashing at my house (ok, so Friday's aren't really a party but it is her favorite day to swoop in and she does not like it when I have other plans on that day). Anyway, it was a very pleasant evening and I was reminded again how lucky we are to be be in the same city. Not many children have an active 80 year old great-grandmother who can get down on the floor and play. The only "crazy" spots of the evening were when Betty brought up shoes & Coca-cola.

First the shoes - She thinks I am a delinquent mother because Addison does not have a "sturdy" pair of shoes. She'd love nothing more than to take her down to Stride Right and put her in a pair of white, hard-soled, high-top shoes. There are a million opinions on when to put a baby in shoes and what kind of shoes to buy. New research trends towards the soft-soled Pedipeds, but there's still a lot of people who believe in the hard soles. My pediatrician recommends waiting until she starts walking but did advise that I might want to humor my grandmother and let her buy the "old school" shoes and let her think Addison wears them. He has obviously not met Betty - she would totally go to daycare to check and make sure she was wearing them. My feeling is that she has her whole life to wear shoes. Why not let the girl have a full year of bare feet & socks? I am going to stick it out another couple of months even if it causes heartache and grief for Betty.

The other funny part of the night was when she spotted a Coke Zero bottle on my dining table. "Who drinks Coke?" she asked. "I do" I replied. "I hope you don't drink it often, you know there's a lot of controversy about that. In fact, someone in our family had a problem with that" she said with a raised eyebrow. I have no idea what she's talking about - a problem? Like an addiction to Coca-cola? Oh Betty ...

Happy Friday

Just like her mommy

I took some pictures over Easter weekend and just remembered these - I put Addison down in the grass and she did not want her feet to touch. She kept her balance the whole time with her feet up - it was so cute! I guess she's going to more of an indoor girl like her mommy.


In other news - she's sleeping until after 6 am now! Whoo hoo! We finally made it to sleeping through the night and to a decent hour of the morning. I hesitate to even write this because who knows what she'll be doing next week.

Couponing - week one

Well, last week was my first foray into couponing and it was fun! It was not as difficult as I had always perceived it to be. I was nowhere near as successful as the lady who is always on the Today show getting groceries for almost free but I did get some free stuff! Everything in the photo below was completely free!! I also saved $38.00 at Publix on groceries using coupons and BOGO deals, $6.00 at Target and a lot at CVS! The biggest secret I've learned so far is stacking coupons - you can use a store and a manufacturer's coupon together on the same item. I have also learned you have to buy two newspapers and save all of the coupons, you never know when you'll need them. I don't think I'll have as big savings/successes this week - mostly because the sale items don't look like the things I need but we'll see. If nothing else, I've found another hobby (as if I needed something else to do)

Waking Up Is Hard To Do

Especially when your 9 month old decides her new wake-up time is 4:30. For the past week it has been fluctuating between 4:45 and 6:00 but this morning she decided to take it up a notch and was ready for action at 4:30. It seems as though her sleep patterns change slightly every few weeks and I can't wait for this phase to be over. I feel sleepy, oh so sleepy.

Confirmation that I am a nerd

I have been trying to figure out the secret to couponing for a couple of months now. I watched the Coupon Mom on the Today show - she did something crazy like purchased $100 worth of groceries for $2.95 and I wanted to know how. Well, I am still not there but I have been diligent about grabbing BOGO deals and using coupons whenever possible. This weekend I was reading Heather's post and she mentioned couponing and I decided to try and take it up a notch. With some tips from her and this fabulous site, I am trying out the whole "CVS ECB" thing. I made my lists, plotted the order of my transactions and clipped my coupons - today I will go and give it a try. I think it will take a few weeks of saving the coupons from the paper for this to start snowballing but I'm going to try it for a month and see how it goes. My husband is convinced I am going to get a bunch of stuff we won't use. My response was - "someone will use it and it will be FREE (or almost)". He replied that next month we'll have 5 bottles of shampoo for red hair stockpiled under the bathroom sink. hehe ... let's hope not, otherwise PLRH & Gropius will have some goodies coming their way :)

Clipping and plotting


My little helper (I gave her a paper to play with but she preferred going after my coupons at every chance she thought she could get past me)

You can take my house but don't touch the mall

We were watching the Today Show's coverage of the flooding in the Northeast last week. It's tragic stuff- almost hard to comprehend that amount of water flowing through streets and neighborhoods. They showed footage of a mall that is halfway underwater and I cried out in dismay, "Oh my gosh, not the mall! Can you believe all of those clothes are just ruined?"

My husband thought this was hilarious. He replied "You see homes, neighborhoods and cars underwater but you don't get upset until you see the mall?" I reflected upon this for a moment ... logic tells me I should care more about the house but the mall! All of my friends live there - Lilly, Tory, Louise, Coco & Ann. hehe
(I am not trying to make light of the flooding situation, my heart goes out to those who are dealing with this)

A Magical Evening

I think my child is the most photographed baby in the world. It's hard not to take pictures all of the time - she has so many cute outfits, expressions and occasions. She's changing so quickly! She started crawling on all fours this past weekend. She's been scooting and rocking around for weeks but on Friday she just got up and crawled! Not only am I taking her picture all of the time, but we have another photographer in the family as well and on Saturday night the light turned magical, Addison was adorable, and all of the pieces came together for some amazing photos! I feel blessed to have these pictures, so many photographers are never in the pics because they are always behind the camera. We might also have another budding photographer in the family - my sister is getting better and better at taking over once I set things up too. She took the family photo I posted yesterday.

Here Comes Peter Cotton Tail

We had such a wonderful Easter weekend! Easter is such a meaningful holiday, I am so thankful for God's love. My family came to visit and I can't even begin to tell you how happy my heart was to have them here. They arrived Friday afternoon and despite my efforts to keep Addison awake so she could play with everyone a little extra, she fell asleep early (6:30!) - I think she knew what I was up to. Saturday was amazing, we took pictures, played, went in the pool, had dinner at my grandmother's house and just enjoyed a beautiful together. We kept Addison up past her bedtime and that made for an interesting night & morning today but as long as she had her Nana, Papa & Aunt around, she was on her very best behavior! She must have known that Nana brought her a monogrammed Easter basket of goodies ;) The only bad thing about Easter was that it was only one day - I have 3 dresses I wanted Addison to wear and not enough days for them all!