the buble party

last night, my mom and i saw this stunning man perform. stunning in the average and every man sort of way. stunning none-the-less. while the average age in our car was 41, i wager that the mean age at the concert was more along the lines of 64.5. what a shocker! i had expected mostly college-aged girls in short skirts, boobie tops, and ugg boots prancing around hoping to get backstage. instead, there were more over-middle-aged couples there than at the early bird special at mcl cafeteria. conservative people with no sense of excitement and adventure, chocked full of fear of public dancing and of showing any emotion. the cougar in front of me, clad in leopard print no less, touched up her mascara and eye-liner instead of enjoying the opening act. oh, and the group of v.i.p.'s in the suite behind us stood up only between michael saying goodbye and the encore, i think because they thought it was finally time to go. poor rich people forced to see michael buble sing to them. their lives are rough! okay, enough about all the old people. back to the buble.

the concert was simply fantastic. he is just one of those people that was blessed with far too much raw talent. i would venture to say that he is the most talented person i've ever witnessed doing anything. his shows aren't these elaborate productions of lights, choreography, and wardrobe changes. he simply sings and does little else for two hours while thousands of people gawk at him. my husband though has ruined all types of concerts for me forever. instead of simply enjoying the joy that is buble, i was awestruck with the lcd screens that were moving across the back stage. they were crisp, they were clear, they were probably quite expensive. oh yeah, i paid a hundred bucks to watch that guy sing instead of wonder how they suspended the panels. again, back to the buble.

the buble was great. i highly recommend anyone getting him to play at your wedding and inviting me. or i guess you could just see him in concert for yourself. he's the frank sinatra of our generation with a little twist of crazy and weird thrown in. plus, you get to hang out with a very different crowd of people that you're probably normally use too. the buble's concerts are quite the cocktail of interest.

communication is key

i can't wait to see who this little person becomes. it is just so incredibly fascinating to watch him grow up so quickly and suddenly be so assertive in what he wants. i can constantly see him wondering about what's going on around him and imagining all the crazy things he could do. i only wish he could tell me his thoughts instead of falling on the ground flailing his arms and legs until i realize he just wants a drink of lemonade.

utilizing the living room

it's called a living room, yet we do no living in it. at this point, it's more of a walkway between the front door and the office. a very large portion of the large amount of square footage we claimed to have needed, yet this portion never gets used. until this weekend.

congratulations living room. we are using you for all things living. the contents of our entire upstairs are currently residing in this room as there are now two men banging incessantly on the floor above putting in our new carpet. yeeeee! giddy screams! while this has absolutely no impact on your life, my life will be infinitely better knowing that the previous owners' filth will be completely gone from my upstairs living spaces and i can walk confidently across its terrain. oh carpet men. i love you.

a second round

a few weeks ago, i apologized for the lack of posting and made up some lame excuse about how nothing exciting was really going on and how i guess i was just busy with the mundane day-to-day stuff. i'm sure this is partially true, because i am frequently and currently drowning in the day-to-day. but there's also another reason for the hiatus. i had news to share that made all the silly stories feel unworthy to write about. news that i just wasn't ready to share until today.

i feel like i'm screaming, "ATTENTION WORLD" almost as loud as oprah scream-announces her guests.

this little family is growing! come january, we will be welcoming another little bundle of joy. yes. january. another stupid winter baby. the stupid part correlates with the winter part, not another baby part. i was built for the summer. i can stand outside in 80+ weather and enjoy every moment of sweating my guts out. but winter. blah. i just want to hibernate. sleep, eat, sleep, wear clothing directly out of the dryer, eat, sleep. add a baby to that, and i think the sleep part might be a little affected. but i'll sacrifice. we've waited for this to happen for a long while and it did. we finally heard the heart beat last week. it was strong and the doctor said things looked good!

so now you know why i've been ignoring sharing my life with you. it's because everything we do reminds me of the fact that i'm pregnant and stories are hard to tell without mentioning it. every restaurant we've gone to is because "baby" is craving it. every weekend away has been emphasized by sharing our news with family and friends. every activity we have done has been thwarted by me wanting to vomit my brains out. and oh the cute-cute stories of finn telling me he doesn't want a baby brother OR a baby sister. or how he pokes me in the belly button and screams "baby"in public. or how he sees babies in strollers and gets so giddy that i know he'll eventually come around to wanting one of his own. or how we've been working on his new room so he can move across the hallway into a big boy bed. oh, the things that i can tell you now. i'm so excited you know.

finally, we can cross number 16 off the list.

it's a beautiful day

oh sweet bliss. i woke up today certain that it was going to be amazing and so far it has proved to be that way. minus, of course, the poop that brody left us on the floor overnight. but other than that, amazing. finn and i walked to the park to meet josh for a picnic lunch. a picnic lunch that i packed, with sandwiches that i made and fruit that i chopped up and vegetables that gave us all the nutrients we needed. i was so impressed with my picnic making skills. i felt like a good wife and mother. toot! toot! on my own tiny little horn.

finn enjoyed the entire ride over there in his big boy wagon. i'm not sure at what point this happened, but i have a kid. a kid that i don't fear will fall headfirst into the concrete while riding his little red wagon. the first couple times, i made josh walk right along side finn for fear he may try to throw himself out. oh, but the joy on that little boys face the first couple times. he was just so happy to get to experience something new and different from his stroller. he beamed the entire time.

now, however, he gives me this.

he's too cool to even sit up or smile or look around or anything. he just lounged the entire way there. on the way back home, the sun kept getting in his poor little eyes, to which he would scream, "EYES! EYES! MOMMYYYYYY!" i put my sunglasses on him and he nearly fell asleep. oh to be a kid again. would someone please pull me around so i can take a nap?

be prepared to be terrified

i'm not sure how else to say this, but i think my child has a connection to ghosts. ghosts in the form of cats. how scary is that? this all started with what i think is a pet cemetery in the backyard. the previous owners (i feel like i always say that in a derogatory fashion) had not just one, but many many many cats based on the smell of the house when we first moved in. can you tell just one cat is too many for me? sorry cat lovers. then, there was this creepy little area in the backyard. a little half circle lined with bricks with nothing growing in it. just a mound of dirt. a mound of dirt which i assume is covering up the dead bodies of their previous fifteen cats.

well. i think they still live here. in the spirit i mean. i have sort of wondered when brody runs upstairs quickly and barks in the corners of rooms at seemingly nothing. yes, i believe my dog too is clairvoyant. but my fears were realized when finn started saying, "meow!" first thing every morning for the last week. yesterday, i finally asked him, "where is the kitty?" and he pointed immediately to the corner of the room and shouted "MEOW!" with his toothy grin. then he traced a path across the room until the ghost kitty got to the door, at which point he said, "meow out!" that's finn talk for open the door. shivers just shot up my spine just remembering it. i'm terrified of a dead house cat. seriously. terrified. should i have someone come bless my house and sprinkle holy water in finn's room to keep the ghost cats out?

oh. and do not google ghost cats then hit the images button at the top of the screen. my fears were just enhanced by the overwhelming amount of crazy people that believe that this is possible and have taken pictures of ghost cats. also, do not google "can babies see ghosts?" because, ooooh boy. there are tons more crazy people that believe that too.

oh the lessons we learn

there are many things i have learned since i started gardening this year. oh my. it is hard work. had i known this, i may not have scoffed at the prices at the farmer's market and taken my lazy butt there every wednesday to support their efforts. my limbs are shaking right now from crouching down over my tiny little vegetables, as i quietly prayed over them and willed them to grow strong and savory. i just wish i knew a few things before i started it.

1. why on earth did i not draw a map of what was in my garden? i have absolutely no idea what things are, what the empty spaces are (i.e. what isn't growing), if it is a weed or the real thing. dearest me, next year, i will not rely on the placement of the flimsy seed bags to tell me what's where, as they are now all over the yard in tiny, wet paper pieces. i might invest in something like this for next spring. seriously, i have no idea what basil and parsley look like outside of a spice jar. i had to google it and i'm still not sure i pulled the right thing.

2. weed every day. do not, i repeat DO NOT, forget about weeding. i had tackled it all about two weeks ago, then i got busy with the new york trip. plus, it was raining every other day, so i hadn't worried about even go out there to water. then, my garden turned into this.
i'm pretty sure the wild grass was restricting the growth of everything else. i guess the fertilizer works wonders on weeds, but does diddly squat on jalapeño peppers.

3. do not turn your back, even for 1 second, on the ginormous spider you just spotted mere inches from your current location. it will be gone in an instant, leaving you to wonder the rest of the time where that sucker went and if it is going to crawl up on you and bite you and you'll die instantly and no one will find you because the weeds are so high and your decomposing body will become fertilizer but then no one will eat the vegetables because they are human-fertilized produce. sigh. it could happen.

4. seeing how my hard work is starting to pay off does connect me with the earth a little and make me excited to see what succeeds in this tiny little plot in my backyard. so far, i see tiny baby radishes and cilantro out the wazoo. that alone is enough to get me a little addicted to this whole thing. and weeding. it's a workout. so i'm buffing up and staying fit while doing it. bonus!

we got to be a part of it

i surprised him. i surprised the crap out of him. the day before left for new york city last saturday, which happened to be friday, we were out to dinner with my family and i handed josh a early birthday present. inside we the following: new york cheddar chips, a card that said "josh turns 30 TODAY", and a frommer's guide to nyc with broadway tickets inside. oh, and the card had the today show logo on it to make a little more sense. it took poor old josh til the tourist guide to understand that he was leaving the very next day for a birthday vacation. a SURPRISE birthday vacation. i nearly peed myself with the excitement of waiting until moments before leaving to tell him. the best part, everyone else in the family was is on it. including my dad who was watching finn while we were gone. the same dad who still said, "wait, i thought you were going to chicago?" moments after the reveal. oh dave, it must be since you're nearing 60 that your brain cells are failing you. i'm glad to have accidentally surprised him as well.

needless to say, my breath was taken away by new york city. there is something about the bustle and charm and other-worldliness that makes me forget the stench of urine and piles of trash lining the streets. ah, new york. we spent most of our time just wandering the streets pretending to know which direction we were going, even though 90 percent of the time we would get the next street and turn 180 degrees and head back. lots of unnecessary exercise. which is good since my gym membership hasn't been used in about 4 weeks. and without finn. bliss. do you know how good it is to wake up at 8am without the sound of a child screaming for you to wake up? just the fact that you can relaxingly reacquaint yourself with the world after 9 full hours of dream-slumber makes all the difference in the world. single people and those without children, relish in that liberty. oh, i missed him, don't get me wrong. but i didn't miss the work. not one little bit.

we ate. we went to a couple broadway shows. we ate. we went to a museum. we ate so much more. we shopped. we had dessert. it was the perfect 4 day vacation from the day-to-day and dieting. i highly recommend it. i think i'm going to write about a couple of the restaurants soon. it needs that much attention. for now though, here's a few of the pictures. the very few pictures. why is it that we nearly always face our camera at our little one and never at ourselves or the rest of the world? oh, duh. because he's so darn cute.