Tis the season...

December 7th - December 13th

BEST

Tis the season to have crazy fun at your neighbor's holiday party while G'ma and Pop babysit the Babyhead and mommas and dadas eat, drink and sing their hearts out.  Sing? Oh yes...I said sing.  As co-planner with Fabulous Neighbor Laura for their holiday party on Saturday night I suggested some tasty treats we could make and activities for the guest to take part in if they felt compelled to do so. One of these activities was Karaoke Caroling...hook up the mic and let the fa la, la, la, la's loose. I knew it would be a big hit.

What I didn't expect was that it would be a big hit with me! To the point where I didn't let go of the mic for several hours and by the next morning I had practically lost my voice.  What I also didn't expect was that the karaoke wasn't just your average night of tipsy singing...this was a competition!  The culprit is called "Lipz" on Xbox, where it pits singer vs. singer.  Game on my friends!  

After way too many holiday cocktails I can't tell you what song it was, but I won a round and was crowned a "Hit Maker" by my new friend the Xbox.  This is the title they give you if you score over a cool 3 million points during your song.  Those who were there will remember it for the rest of their lives...or maybe not because they might have had as many holiday cocktails as I did.

WORST

Tis the season to be the busiest momma ever! This year is not just about present shopping, tree decorating, and card writing...it is all about planning a trip and wedding for 20 people in Costa Rica!  The TO DO lists are endless and for every item I cross off a different item is added. Oh and did I mention we are also planning another event for even more people here in LA to celebrate the Costa Rica wedding? Yes that too...so trying to be a good little party planner I decided to send out Save The Dates just to give our party people the heads up (and to buy myself a little more time!)

But here is what happens when you try to do a million things at one time...you make a mistake.  And sometimes I forget that I am human and therefore am prone to making mistakes so when they happen it is meltdown time.  I ordered the Save the Dates custom made online awhile ago and then spent the last month addressing, stamping, and labeling them in order to send them out before we left on our trip.  As I was putting the last few stamps on I noticed that there was a misspelled word on our custom printed message.  

Now I have never claimed to be the world's best speller. In fact I am the werst. But I couldn't believe that I hadn't caught my typo before I confirmed my order and now I have 150 Save the Dates that I am sending to all our friends and family that shows what a harrible speller I am.  Meltdown time commencing.  It took me three days to get over the blow. I decided to still send them out to a few people who would probably think the typo was funny.  As I started to go through them...a light from above beamed down on me and angelic voices sang a harmonious chord...there was only 40 Save the Dates with the misspelling on them!!! The rest were perfect.  I had know idea how it happened, but I didn't care...it was a holiday-way-too-busy-for-her-own-good-humbling miracle!

Ya win some and lose some

November 23rd- November 29th 

Happy Thanksgiving

BEST 

"I'll make the turkey."  As soon as I said it I instantly became nervous.  Why did I say that? I have never cooked a turkey before in my life and as a witness to the many experiences the other women in my family have had with cooking the turkey on Thanksgiving...I knew I was in over my head.  There is so much pressure being the Turkey cooker.  It is the star of the show and if you mess it up, people will remember, oh yes they remember.  Then you become the bad Turkey cooker.

Enter stage right "Google search: How to cook a turkey."  Which also lead to "How to thaw a turkey" and "How to brine a turkey." After gaining some courage through my conversations with our friend Melissa, who's family was attending our T-Day dinner, I went to the store to buy the frozen bird. The smallest one they had was 15 lbs, way more than what we needed but it was go time.

 

I brought the sucker home and had to clear out the fridge so I could wedge it in there to thaw.  I was pretty nervous about the thawing process because most of the research online mentioned that improper thawing could basically breed bacteria and give all your turkey eating guests salmonella.  The next morning my little bird felt nice and soft, but I knew some of those 15 lbs were still probably a little icy.  So into a sink full of water it went to finish off the thawing.  

6 hours till dinner it was time to step it up. Feeling very fancy pants I began to brine my turkey.  Which is really just a culinary term for soaking the bird in salt, herbs, lemon, orange, onion and water. After a nice long soak and the preheated oven ready to go, the turkey found a new home in a cozy little roasting pan.  So far, so good...could this be too easy? I guess the hardest part it the actual cooking part so I shouldn't get too confident.  Into the oven you go my little turkey!

Every hour I opened up the oven and gave little turkey a rinse in our delicious brine water.  Ding! Four and half hours later it was time to whip out the thermometer and check the temperature inside to make sure we cooked off all those nasty little dinner ruining bacteria.  I have to say the outside looked picture perfect. Golden brown and juicy. If I had to pose for Norman Rockwell I could have.  And when the thermometer showed we had a perfect internal temperature I was on my way to a home run.  Of course the ultimate test is how does my first little turkey taste?  I can proudly say...just as good as it looked. I thought about snapping a picture to capture the moment...and as I write this I wish I would have, but I didn't.  Except the one I have locked away in my mind along with the confidence that...yes I can cook a turkey.

Worst

We are just about to be launched into the craziest shopping time of the year.  Consumers are attacked from all directions by businesses competing for their money. Sales, discounts, and coupons oh my!  One of the newest tactics for these businesses is rewards programs.  Stores offer you "reward points" for every dollar you spend with them.  Which helps us consumers rationalize spending more money because we just get more points and therefore more rewards.  

Babies R Us is now a staple in my life...one stop shopping for all the Babyhead supplies we need to stock up on.  So when BRU began a rewards program not too long ago I signed up hoping to get a little something back for my continual bulk purchases of diapers and formula. So the day finally arrived when the magical envelope came in the mail from BRU with all my fabulous "rewards."  Here is what I received:

-Earn $5 for every $150 spent from Dec 12th to Dec 25th...5 bucks for every 150? That doesn't even cover the tax, or the amount of gas it would cost me to drive out there and spend $150.

-Buy 9 Value boxes of Pampers and get the 10th free...mind you Value boxes have like 100 diapers in them and already cost around $45.  So why would I spend 400 bucks on diapers just to save 45? And where on earth would I store 1,000 diapers?

-Member shopping Night on Dec 10th 8 pm -11 pm save 20% on one item but excludes diapers and formula... I guess this would be worth it if you were buying a big ticket item like a stroller or car seat, but the last thing I want to do between 8pm and 11 pm is be at BRU with crowds of bargain shopping parents.  You couldn't give your "Members" just a whole day? Just 3 hours...really?

Be wary my friends.  Even though these rewards programs are free... the cost of aggravation from reading through your "rewards points" and asking why these businesses think we are all a big bunch of suckers...comes at a high price.

Good Intentions

November 16th - November 22nd

BEST

When I became pregnant I spent 9 months planning, reading, browsing, researching, conversing, about what kind of mom I wanted to be.  Among the day dreams of nursing in the glow of sunlight sitting in the rocker in my perfect baby room, starring lovingly into my baby's eyes as he gazes back and wraps his little fingers around mine, was making pure, organic, home-made baby food. And here we are almost 9 months later...nursing in the sunlight turned into just barely surviving 6 months of being hooked up to a pump like a cow, mother and baby gazing at each other turned into figuring out how to change a diaper with one hand because you have to use the other one to pin him down so he won't crawl off the changing table, and home-made baby food turned into one disastrous attempt which ended up in dirtying two pots and every slicer, dicer, blender thing I have in my kitchen.  Guns and Roses had it right...welcome to the jungle!

So I picked up the pieces of my broken day dreams and headed to Whole Foods to see what mooshed up food in a jar they had to offer my Babyhead.  Thank God for Earth's Best...totally organic baby food, each ingredient label reading "organic sweet potatoes, water" or "organic winter squash, water" etc. It put my guilty-momma heart at ease that I was not up to doing the task myself.  So the refrigerator shelf got stocked with many, many little jars and a little tummy got full of yummy, good baby food.

Then my Fabulous Neighbor Laura saved her William Sonoma catalog for me with a page rabbit-eared.  "Beaba Babycook."  European baby food maker finally sold in the US.  Reading through the description I became very excited...steam basket, yes...self timer, yes...powerful blender, yes...all in one counter top device...YESSSSS!!!  This is exactly what I need to bring the momma day dream of home-made baby food alive.  4 weeks later (because everything takes longer with a baby)  I finally made it to WillSo to purchase the Babycook. 2 weeks later I actually took it out of the box.  And a few days later I actually tried it. Now my life is changed forever. It is the best thing a new mom could have in her kitchen.  The first time Tavian tried my home-made yams, cooked and blended with love just for him, his eyes lit up and he opened his toothy little mouth waiting for more.  Like a little bird being fed by a momma bird. Dear Beaba Babycook...I heart you!

WORST

Saturday night used to be incredible dinners at new, hip restaurants. Saturday night used to be fun bars and lots of dancing to the latest releases.  Saturday night used to be hitting a great wine bar before seeing the next Oscar nominated movie.  Saturday night used to be ordering in our favorite pizza, cuddling on the couch, and not even giving it a second thought to start a movie after 9:30.  Saturday night used to be just the two of us...Eli and me.

Saturday night is now Eli, me, and the buzz of the baby monitor while our beautiful son is sleeping.  Saturday night is now eating left over delivered Thai food and being too tired to have even a semi-stimulating conversation.  Saturday night is now only being able to watch one episode of The Office on the TiVo because some how it is already 9:00 and we have to get ready for bed soon. If this sounds like complaining, I'm not (well maybe a little) it's just that life has changed in so many ways with the Babyhead and sometimes it is hard for me to realize it.

This particular Saturday night Tavian and I were sitting in our living room with Fabulous Neighbor Laura and she mentioned she didn't really have any plans for the evening.  Thinking she would be great company to help me pass the time until Eli came home I offered to make us all dinner and maybe we can see if there is anything good on PayPer View.  She kinda laughed and said "No, I mean why don't I babysit and you and Eli can go out."  It took me a second to realize that yes, we actually could leave the house on a Saturday night!  I called Eli and he was excited for the opportunity too.  He would head home soon, I would get Tavian in the bath and into bed, Laura would come over and listen to the baby monitor buzz while we went to a movie.

The sudden shock of being able to go out numbed our ability to realize that there is no way you can go out on a Saturday night at 8:00 and expect to not sit in the very front row of a movie you might not want to see, but it was the earliest one playing.  We stood at the movie theater counter debating on whether we should try to stay up to see a 10:00 movie, but just thinking about it made us tired.  I made a few calls to other theaters near by...same story everything sold out until 10:00.  Defeated we decided to just head home.

We needed to drown our sorrows, but couldn't risk a hangover so we opted for chocolate milkshakes.  We headed toward Cold Stone to get the real deal, instead of our usual non-fat frozen yogurt.  As I was sampling the gingerbread ice cream, Eli order his milk shake only to be slapped in the face with a "sorry our blenders are broken we can't make milk shakes."  Two strikes for our "night out" and we promptly headed home to the buzz of the baby monitor before we ran into strike number 3.

Feeling grateful

November 9th-November 15th

His name is Bret Anthony.  But I have been calling him Bretski for so long that he should think about officially changing it.  He is our very funny and very good friend...who we get a chance to see every 6 months or so.  Because when you are a very funny and wonderful person your social calender is usually full, as is Bretski's.  On this particular visit he showed up with an amazing story involving a friend's weird brother, a junked out car that was towed, and a mysterious backpack which resulted in him now owning a very expensive and professional looking camera. He brought it along to visit Mr. Tavian Babyhead and used us as test subjects to learn about his new treasure.  So not only did we get a very fun afternoon with our favorite Bretski, but we got some pretty good pics out of it too.  Thank you dearest Bretski...to a new mom adorable photos of her little baby are better than diamonds!

BEST

We had an incident...there were crocodile tears, but they quickly turned to...

Scrunchy-Nose-Smiley-Face!

Imagine Bruce Willis is saying this a la Look Who's Talking...

"Can I help you? I am trying to crawl here."

"Yes I agree...this IS my good side."

"Did you say bottle? No seriously..."

"I got places to go people!"

"Ahhhhh bath time. Bathe me, bathe meeee!"

"No photos please, this is a private bath session."

"Momma, bottle, jammies...this is the Babyhead life."

Best thing to do with a self-timed camera shot

Our fore mentioned dear friend Bret Anthony has developed the next hottest trend since blogging.  You have to check out his website "SelfTimerJump" to get the full explanation, but it is fun, fun, fun!  Oh and do not skip the video demonstration!!! This is such a great tradition to start with your friends and family.  We'll be setting our timers on our upcoming trip to Costa Rica for sure!

WORST

In an attempt to get through a very early morning I flipped on the news as I was watching Tavain crawl around in search of something to chew on.  I was feeling a little grouchy and a little sorry for myself due to lack of sleep from our too early wake up that morning, but as I watched the news I realized how petty I was being.  The segment was covering a community in the Eastern San Fernando Valley that was completely demolished by the fires.  The journalist went on to describe how more than 500 homes were completely destroyed as the cameraman panned around the street they were standing on.  It looked like a scene out of a epic movie, but it was real.  Real homes, real people.  Real ashes of people's treasured possessions. Real fears of what they are all going to do? Where to they sleep, eat, shower, play, cry, love, live?  Although my heart ached for those who had been affected by the fires, I felt very lucky.  I might be tired, but I only have to try and imagine what it would feel like to lose everything, to lose not just a house, but a home.  Please keep these people in your thoughts and prayers as well as the brave men and women in the fire, police, and emergency services who are doing there best to stop this horrible tragedy.

Bitter Sweet

November 2nd - November 8th

BEST

Barak Obama WINS!

WORST

Prop 8 Passes

BTW...not only did CA voters decided to pass Prop 8 the majority voted against Prop 4.  So even though gay people can't get married, 14 year old girls can get as many abortions as they want without their parents or legal guardian ever knowing. Mind you Prop 4 was not about parental consent, but just to require notification. As a Pro-Choice supporter I don't believe that Prop 4 is about restricting a woman's right to choose, but a child's right to choose.

Rant and Rave

October 26th - November 1st

BEST

It almost didn't happen.  I believe the word is ironic.  When everyday for the last 6 months have been sunny and beautiful and then the one day we plan a specific event outside the weather becomes an issue.  Yes it rains in LA. Which is why at 3:00 pm on Saturday Jasmine Star and I were in a slightly panicked phone conversation.  At 3:30 Eli, Tavian, and I were supposed to meet her outside to have a family photo shoot and after all our preparation and planning...it was raining.  So it almost didn't happen, but we decided to go for it!  And thank the heavens we did.

I know this is so cliche but I don't know a better way to say it.  A picture is worth a thousand words, and I want to let these pictures do tall the talking. Not only do they express why our shoot with Jasmine is this week's "best," but they also say a little something about how talented and amazing the photographer is...oh and she also happens to be a fabulous friend too.

Click here to read Jasmine's blog about our shoot and a slide show of the pictures.

WORST

I know that many people have been worried about the issue of taxes because of the election.  But what some people might not realize is that whether or not your taxes go up the governement needs money to function, and also now to pay off the massive national debt...oh and don't forget the bail out... with tax payer money. The money has to come from some where and it happens to be from the taxes we pay.  The big issue seems to be, who should pay more? If you make more should you pay more?  But this is really a trick question because the reality is The Man will get his money no matter what. So even if your taxes don't go up, instead traffic fines will go up, and those weird fees listed on your phone bill will go up...or in the example I witnessed this week, parking meters will go up.  Now any parking meter in the Brentwood area is $2.00 for 1 hour. Come on people! I might as well valet, at least I usually have dollars bills on me as opposed to 16 quarters!! So let's say our taxes don't go up...honestly whoop-di-do cause now I am paying $75 for a parking ticket cause I could only dig up $1.15 in change which only gave me 23 min on the meter which therefore expired.

Best week ever...oh wait.

Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me...happy biiiirthday dear meeee-eee, 

happy birthday to me!

October 19th-October 25th

Best "Human Car Wash"

My dear momma friend Natalia also had a birthday this week so we treated ourselves to a day of relaxation and beyond delicious greek food.  Our destinations were Burke Williams in Santa Monica and Taverna Tony's in Malibu. At the spa we each had the "Hunter's Retreat" spa treatment and basically it was like a human car wash. I laid down on a message table that was surrounded by a shower head for every part of your body. And as warm water soothed my whole body I was scrubbed, rubbed, and suds-ed. Heavenly and much needed.

Best Birthday Breakfast with Babyhead

At The New York Bagel Company...where else!

Best Surprise Birthday Mani/Pedi from Auntie Rachelle

Best Birthday visit to the Duck Park!

Best Momma Birthday ever!

Best ladies night out at a cooking class

The gals gathered.  It was a cute west Hollywood bungalow transformed into a cooking haven.  We diced, wrapped, sauteed, joked, laughed, winked, and of course ate and drank till our bellies were as happy as we were. Highlights...fresh squeezed lemon whisky sours, stuffed grape leaves, creamy pumpkin martinis, and proscuitto wrapped figs with blue cheese.

Worst

This week I was sure I was going to have too many "Bests" to mention. Not only cause of the big 2-8- bday, but also because I was scheduled to have LASIK surgery this week.  The excitement of having the ability to see without glasses or contacts is something that only a fellow blind-as-a-bat-for-most-of-my-life person can truly understand. It is life changing. 

I was so excited all week knowing that never again will I need my glasses to see an alarm clock that reads 4:32 am. Never again having to paddle in because the last wave that took me out, also took out one of my contacts.  Never again will I frantically search for my glasses as Eli tells me to "come quick, this is really funny" when watching AFV, right as I took out my contacts...and once I shove my glasses on my face to watch he says "oh, you missed it." Never again...

So why dearest CB is this under your "worst" this week?  Because despite all my excitement the one thing that can trump that feeling is pain. When I went for my consultation at the Jules Stein Eye Institute I was assured there would be no pain during the surgery, just some pressure.  And if you listen to the radio, you hear adds all the time abut people getting LASIK and how easy and painless it was.  Well, I took the bait my friends. 

Actually they were right, during the surgery they give you numbing drops so you don't feel any pain.  But what happens when those numbing drops wear off?  The worst burning in my eyes I have ever felt and you cannot touch or rub your eyes AT ALL. You must just sit and live through the burning until the pain meds and Tylenol PM you just took kicks in (which takes about 45 min) and you can be knocked out for the next 6 hours.

Almost as bad as the burning, is the battle with your natural instincts to protect your eyes. Since sight is very important to our basic survival, we have major alarm bells that goes off whenever something funky happens to our eyes.  Even though the surgery itself only lasted about 15 min, the entire time I was laying there my brain was freaking out trying to get my body to protect my precious eyes.  Sending signals to my arms to reach up and yank out those clamps that hold your eyelids open. Signals to my legs to get up and flee from the surgery room.  All systems code red...code red!! I tried to breathe deep and fight these insticts but it was very, very intense.  So when I was escorted out to the car where Eli was waiting to take me home, as he closed the door I burst into tears.  Partly because of the burning and partly because I was freaking out!  There was a moment when I regreted doing the surgery, but a few days and a great recovery later, when I opened Tavian's door to check on him peacefully sleeping and could do it standing from across the room...glasses and contact free...I knew it was worth it.

Surprises

Life is full of surprises. What else can I say...

October 12th to October 18th

BEST

I have the feeling that I will call Tavian "Babyhead" long after he stops being a baby and is growing into a little boy, an awkward teenager, a young man, an actual adult, etc. There are some days when I have to consionusly tell myslef to say Tavian instead of Babyhead because he will start to think that my favorite nickname for him is his actual name. But once you start saying it you can't stop, it just makes me smile...Babyhead, Babyhead, Babyhead!

This week, however, I witnessed an event that slapped me in the face with a cold hand of reality that babies grow up and grow up fast. No matter what you call them.  This event was a little thing called crawling. Yes, a human's first attempt at becoming independently mobile.  Tay has been up on his hands and knees rocking back and forth for several weeks. Then he graduated to a flopping type motion which actual gave him the ability to move form point A to point B. But this week he actually put one hand out, one knee up, the other hand out, the other knee up.  Then he got distracted by Mom's gasping, squealing, and clapping so he stopped.

Another grown up moment for Babyhea-oh I mean Tavian was actually something we have been working on for awhile. Holding his own bottle. I have not been shy about the fact that I am jealous of our friend's Natalia and Wyatt. When it is Wyatt's meal time Natalia simply hands over the bottle and you couldn't pry it out of his hands if you tried. Since Wyatt is only 5 weeks older than Tavian I figured we were on our way to bring good little bottle holding eaters. After a few days of holding his hands to the bottle with my hands as he eats...I finally took a deep breath and let go of the bottle. And he did it! For about 2 minutes Tavian held his own bottle.  Good job Babyhead...I love you soooo much!

WORST

"I really miss baking." I said this to Rachelle the other day during a conversation about nutritionists, dieting, working out, and trying to get back to my pre-baby weight.  I love to bake. Mix up all the ingredients, add in some TLC, fill the house with yummy smells, and then soothe your soul with something warm, soft, gooey,moist,sweet, and delicious.  However, having a whole batch of baked goods for only you and your loved one to eat does not help with the waistline issues. And even worse is how tired and soar I am from working out gets totally trumped.

Later I was on the Obama website looking for local events to volunteer for...and came across the posting "Need donations for Obama Bake Sale fundraiser."  I didn't even think twice before I strapped Tavian in the stroller and trotted out the door to the local market to get my ingredients for the best cupcakes that fundraiser will ever see (or taste!)  Then I came up with a great idea...red velvet cupcakes, but make them "blue velvet" in honor of our democratic color.  I pictured biting in to the delicious little cake revealing a deep blue color topped with classic white cream cheese frosting.  At the store I had trouble finding individual blue food coloring...they only had packs of four primary colors. So I figured I would use the blue one and then if I needed to I can mix red and green for blue...or is it mix green an

d yellow? Shoot I should have paid more attention in 2nd grade art class...oh well I'll figure it out.

So here is a little lesson for the rest of you bakers out there...adding blue to chocolate cake batter does not make blue batter. And then mixing red and green food coloring and then adding it to the batter, does not make blue batter either. And to this day I still do not know how to make blue cake batter. I DO however know how to make "poo green" cake batter. And when I say "poo green" I mean the exact same shade that I see (and smell) everyday in Mr. Babyhead's diapers. I also now know how to turn tasty cupcakes into something completely unappetizing purely because of the unsightly color. I am so sorry Obama...your fundraising cupcakes went right into the garbage

Good People

"The good people sleep much better at night than the bad people. Of course, the bad people enjoy the waking hours much more." - Woody Allen

October 5th-October 11th

BEST

Saturday night. The baby just went to sleep.  Sitting on the couch. The phone rings.  It is Natalie, Sue Jean, and Lisa.  There was no choice in the matter, when the WC girls call it is time to throw on something cute and grab the lip gloss as you skip out the door.

On our drive over to Bev Hil we indulged in an old school mix CD and no joke when Sue Jean heard that beloved chorus of "can I get a toot, toot, can I get a beep, beep" she said she wanted to cry.  We did our best car dancing as we pulled up to Lucky Fish where we filled our tummies with tuna and some special they had with yellowtail, parmesan, and truffle oil. I would eat anything with truffle oil on it...seriously anything. 

Once our soy sauce dishes were empty and our cucumber martinis drained, we headed out to a spot down the block that Nat said had a very fun piano bar. Although I do give the musician props for busting out the jazz flute to accompany his piano playing...what Nat failed to mention was that the place was the HOT spot for Bev Hil's hippest over 50 crowd.  We promptly left.

Back to our hood where we rolled up to a little joint called Liquid Kitty. Very dark and loud inside, but one taste from any of there creative martinis (served in extra large glasses) makes it worth a short stop.  I sipped on one called Almost Blue and was a crisp, refreshing mixture of blueberry and other things...but most importantly blueberry. Sue Jean had the second runner up which was a Key Lime Martini, wait I just drooled a little remembering the taste.  

The night ended with after an hour or so of dancing our tushies off at The Arsenal.  Of course the four of us were the first ones on the dance floor, but it started to get filled up and by the time the DJ played Thriller it was way too crowded to bust out my MJ moves. Which was my sign that it was time to get going...oh and it was 1 AM!!  Funny thing is that as my wonderful girlies walked me to the mommy mobile and we hugged our goodbyes, they did not head home to put there pretty heads to bed like I so desperately needed to do, no they scooted themselves into another bar. Ahhh to be young...

BEST Conversation - My treasured and beautiful friend Rachelle Wood told me a fabulous story this week.  She is a hottite hotness model and had a casting for a print job for Paige Premium Denim.  As she is a real woman, she always dreads going on auditions for jeans because the sample size they have the models try on is usually a 0-2...and Rachelle is slightly bigger.  So she goes to the appointment and discovers that the designer Paige Adams-Geller herself is there for the casting.  

Rachelle takes the jeans to try on already dreading the awkward conversation she will have to have explaining that the sample size doesn't fit.  But as she slips the jeans on they fit her perfectly! She told me she was shocked because the other girls she saw waiting for the audition would be swimming in them. When Rachelle came out, Paige was so impressed on how well the jeans fit her. Rachelle explained she was a little surprised because normally sample sizes are too small for her. Then Paige says "I always make my sample sizes 27 or 28...don't you know my story?" Click here to find out what it is...trust me it is worth the time.  Now I can't wait to go buy my first pair of Paige Premium Jeans because I know I am supporting a company that advocates for women to have a healthier body image.

WORST

Finding a babysitter for my precious Babyhead is very stressful and so far unsuccessful.  I was given a good recommendation to try out this service called SitterCity. So I go on to the site, sign up, pay up, and start my search.  I found several good candidates and began the emailing  ping pong game.   After almost 4 weeks I finally had two interviews. The first girl was sweet, a little naive, but had good experience. However her schedule wasn't ideal, but I was willing to make it work. The second interview was even better. She was very nice, had a completely open schedule, and had just helped a new mom take care of a her first baby for three months.  During the interview I wanted to make sure that they were comfortable with doing some vacuuming, bottle washing, toy cleaning, etc. while Tavian was taking a nap.  

I guess I am just from the school of thought that if I am paying someone per hour that they would actually be working during that time. So if the baby was sleeping they could still be productive.  I wasn't looking for someone to clean my house, just willing to do some baby related chores. My first interviewee was fine with it, but the second girly was a little hesitant. I reassured her that I wasn't looking for an assistant, and she seemed to better understand what I was asking of her.  I told them both I would just check their references and get back to them.

A few hours later the second girl saved me the time, when she actually emailed me and said she wouldn't be flexible on doing the chores I had mentioned and felt it was better to be honest up front. As much as I appreciated the honesty, I was confused as to what she expected to be doing while Tavian was sleeping. I guess I wouldn't be flexible with paying someone to catch up on Paris Hilton's be my BFF for two hours until nap time was over. 

Disappointed I decided to go with my first interviewee who was actually me second choice. So I called her references. My first call revealed that her only fault with the babysitter was that she spends too much time texting and talking on her BB while she is with the kids...oh and a few times she was over 45 mins late and didn't call.   Ughhhhh well I would have problems with those things too!

Hard to believe in such a big city that no only is a good man hard to find...but so is a good babysitter! The search never ends ladies, you just change what you are looking for.

Day for Night dreams

September 28th to October 4th

WORST

It is 10:32 pm. I finally make it into bed, thank GOD I made it before 11!  Have to get up for the gym at 6:30 am and if there are few sleep interruptions from the Babyhead then I should be in good shape.  But as I so desperately want to drift off to Dreamland my very busy Momma-brian starts to run.  Now all I can do is go through all the things I need to try and get done then worry about the fact that I remember now...but will I remember in the morning? Is there something important that I am forgetting? What about all those emails I have piling up in my inbox? What about all the unfinished projects? What about the laundry? Oh yeah, and what about my child? Am I giving him enough attention? Am I feeding him the right foods? Why does he seem to smile and laugh more with Eli then with me? Does he know how much I love him?  What about that baby food maker I wanted to get? What about his college fund?  What if we start one and then loose all the money because of our country's financial crisis? (Then I started worrying about what would happen if McCain won...don't even get me started.)

Look at the clock...12:05 am. ugh. Look at the clock...1:45 am UGH!  I really, really need to sleep, why can't I shut down?  I know some of you have probably gone through the same situation. But when you become a parent the desperation and frustration doubles because even if you don't sleep the baby needs you to on your A-game...and if you try to explain to him that Momma didn't get much sleep last night and could we please take it easy today, he will just look at you and blow slobber bubbles.

I didn't fall asleep until 3 am only to wake up a few hours later to start another busy day...definitely the worst!!

BEST

Eli and I have been working on creating our own little business...a t-shirt company to be exact. Yes, in my attempt to bring home the bacon and cook it too I decided to create a fun, simple line of t-shirts for the whole family.  Our little project of love is called Symbolik.

Being a first time small business owner I have been feeling my way through the fog of becoming a legitimate business owner. I actually HAD to because I want to sell at the local farmer's market and they are being all fancy-pants requiring seller's permits and tax ID numbers. So I did what every 21st century small time entrepreneur is doing and went to LegalZoom. Let's just say LegalZoom and I have had a love-hate relationship.  Forming the LLC was a breeze, but I went ahead and paid for them to set up all my other needs like State Tax ID, Seller's Permit, and Business License because I am a very busy mommalicious.

They said it was all going to take about 30 days...but 2 months later I still have not received my seller's permit, which I need to get my business license, which I need to open a business bank account, which I need to order my inventory, etc.  In the meantime the summer is slipping away and so are my CFM crowds. 

After several phone calls to "Customer Service" for my-so-called-friend LegalZoom I discovered that somehow some application wasn't completed so they couldn't process the permit.  But why wasn't I notified that I needed finish the application? I don't know Ma'am...So what can I do now to get the permit as quick as possible? File it yourself I suppose, you can go on the Board of Equalization website and get the application...You mean all this time I could have gone to the website and filed it myself? Yes Ma'am...So what was I paying you for? To fill out the application for you based of the questionnaire you should have completed and sent to us...But the questions on the questionnaire are the same ones on the application? Yes Ma'am...So I was paying you to copy my answers onto another piece of paper and then mail it for me...Um, yes.

As I was driving down to the local BOE office to turn in my seller's permit application that I filled out MYSELF I was thinking about how this was for sure this week's blog WORST. I have been waiting for 2 months for a little piece of paper to get Symbolik going  when all I had to do was go online, fill it out, and drive it over...BOOM 2 hours later seller's permit in hand.  But as I walked out of the office building a deep feeling of excitement came over me...it really sunk in that I was going to have my own little business.  

All the mini daydreams of watching families and expecting couples ooo-ing over my fun designs under the shade of a canopy adorned by a banner with my logo confidently reading SYMBOLIK down on Gretna Green Way during a warm Sunday afternoon as other CFM shoppers fill their bags with organic goodies...was about to come true. 

I let my old friend LegalZoom off the hook a little bit, I probably could have done a little research over the past 2 months and figured it out myself instead of damning the institution and the Man for keeping a working girl down.  I drove home with the yellow piece of paper beautifully titled California Seller's Permit sitting next to me...and felt such a wave of pride, excitement, accomplishment, hope, and relief!

Summer lovin'... happened so fast

Where has the summer gone?  Eli and I have been asking ourselves this question a lot lately.  Well for 1) we had a baby and for 2) we had a baby. But in these last few remaining weeks we are trying to soak up the last few remaining days of sunshine and warm weather...oh wait we live in LA.

September 22nd to September 28th.

WORST

Here we are. A very happy looking family enjoying a day at the beach.

We went with our friends Natalia, Mike, and Wyatt...take the babies to the beach day.  It was actually Tavian and Wyatt's first trip to the beach ever!  Natalia and I have been been talking about taking this trip for months and finally at the END of the summer we made it.  It was actually a very nice day, not too hot, but a little windy...which turned out to be very relaxing as the ocean breeze poured over us.  After lugging all the gear out to the shoreline we set up camp and sat down to enjoy a picnic. We slathered our babies in sunscreen, little hats, and I even brought a baby tent for them to hang out in... all to protect their precious, brand new skin from sun damage. What you might not see in this picture is that since momma was so worried about protecting all the baby skin, she forgot about her own.  Which was so inanely stupid since I have been obsessed about putting sunscreen on my pale skin for most of my life.  I can get sunburned driving to the Valley on a sunny day, it happens so fast...let alone sitting out on the beach for several hours without a spritz of sunscreen. So if you were to see the same picture a few hours later the woman on the left would somewhat resemble a lobster.  

BEST

Two wedding weekends in a row. Eli cringes, but I smile with excitement.  Being apart of a day that two people will remember for the rest of their lives is such an honor.  I can't describe the feeling of watching our friends stare into each other's eyes as they share in their first dance as man and wife.  The energy of love is simply overwhelming, which is why I have to break open the tissues. 

In the beginning of the year two fabulous people moved into our building, Unit 105.  Russ and Laura immediately threw a great house warming party and generously invited the inhabitants of the other 8 units to attend.  Very pregnant I waddled myself down and introduced myself to the tall, raven haired cutie (actually that describes Russ too, but I mean Laura.)  I couldn't stay long, but I left very excited because I knew that we would be great friends.  6 months and one Babyhead later, our dear neighbors tied the knot and invited us to be there.  

The wedding was intimate, beautiful, fun and classy. They stood under a gazebo elegantly decorated with 

white flowers back dropped by a shoreline view of Palos Verdes.  Laura's gorgeous white dress was even more striking as she stood next to her bridesmaids dressed in perfect little black dresses.  Over all the color scheme was black and white...opposites beautifully complimenting each other. Just like Laura and Russ.  The groom delivered one of the best speeches I have ever heard regarding his love and excitement to spend the rest of his life with his best friend. Followed by Laura choking back her tears to recite her very sincere vows to 

spend the rest of her life with her best friend.  

Dinner was delish, and they started it off right during cocktail hour serving fabulous appetizers like "Surf and Turf" (slices of grilled prawn and filet nestled between two hinged chopsticks that you can easily grab and gobble down in one amazing bite.) The champaign flowed and the laughter was never ending.  With a "let's boogie" from the groom we all made our way to the dance floor.  We watched a great slideshow with images of Russ and Laura over the years growing up and falling in love. Leading into the infamous first dance, very sweet and romantic...only to be followed by the theme song from "Ghost Busters"as requested by the groom. More dancing, drinking, smiling, kissing, loving and by 11:00 this momma was happily exhausted.  Just in time to toss a handful of fresh white rose petals over the love birds and they escaped into their limo...and into the summer night.

Rocky Mountain High

I find myself constantly looking at the sky when I am in Colorado. It is just so darn big, blue, and beautiful! I never really noticed this when I was growing up there, but realized it after living in LA for awhile, which can feel sky-less sometimes. My trip to Denver last week was no different and not only did I get to enjoy the great wide open, but experienced many other highs and one big low!

September 15th - September 22nd

BEST

Taking Mr. Tavian Babyhead to visit the family in good ol' Wheat Ridge was very important. He met his Great Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles, Cousins, for the first time, and had some QT with Grandma and Grandpa Bright. We also stayed in my dearest friend Linda's house which was so welcoming. Even though she had to run her family restaurant all weekend (the amazing Mexico City Cafe) we enjoyed our mornings together waking up to baby smiles and taking turns getting coffee. But as blissful as all that sounds, surprisingly it is not this weeks BEST.  

The best and greatest was seeing all my Whittier College girls at Erin Hurley's fabulous wedding.  And if I had to narrow it down even more I would say the highlights happened on the dance floor during the reception. Maybe it was because there was uncontrollable laughter for hours mixed in with unbelievable dance moves fueled by mojitos, white wine, and vodka sodas. Maybe it was because Tavian was sleeping soundly in the hotel room with Grandma and Grandpa watching over him, so Momma could freely break out the MJ moves to Billy Jean and Beat it.  Maybe it was the love that we all felt for our beautiful friend Er Bear as we watched her dance with her new hubby.  And maybe it was because I was surrounded by amazing, talented, diverse, intelligent, and gorgeous women that I am honored and proud to call my friends...as we all shook our booties in a circle singing "I ain't no holla back girl" at the top of our lungs.

The amazing Jasmine Star took some great photos of the event, click and enjoy.

WORST

Flying to Denver was Tavian's third airplane ride in the 6 months that he has been out in the world.  The trip to Seattle at three months was nerve racking, but flawless thanks to my Baby Sherpa Sue Jean who was on our same flight.  Next to NYC, but this time Dad was in tow and we made it just fine.  Going out to Denver International Airport was just fine too, so this traveling Momma's confidence was very high as we made it through security all by ourselves and readied to board the plane for home.  The key to all past flights was that I had an extra seat next to me and Tay could have his own seat in his infant carrier.  When I checked in I was informed that the only extra seat on our flight was in the very last row, and the airline-check-er-in lady said she blocked off the seat for us.  As we boarded and I felt my biceps burning from carrying the baby in one arm and the massive diaper bag in another, I apologized to every person I bumped into allllllll the way back to row 32. I squeezed his baby carrier in the seat next to the window and let out a sigh of relief as I sat down next to him.  Even though the last row of seats don't recline and we would be scrunched in there, we were on our way home.

  Suddenly I hear "Miss! Miss! You are going to have to move that baby seat."  This was from the woman who was sitting in the middle seat and the man standing next to her nodding in agreement had the aisle seat of row 32...which meant the baby and I had to share the window seat. As we pow-wowed with the flight attendant the doom set in. This was a full flight, no extra seat. I fearfully watched as she took my baby carrier away to stow in a closet at the front of the plane. I looked at Babyhead, and he looked at me...so innocent and unaware of how unhappy he was going to be.  

We made it about 30 mins.  Tavian is becoming so active and mobile that he does not like to be held for very long. Who can blame him? The world is new and needs to be discovered.  So the fussiness began which I was able to control with silly faces and teether toys. But then he got tired. We have all been there...when you are just so overly tired that you can't get to sleep and frustration sets in and we toss and turn.  This is what the little man was going through, but his translation was in the form of screams and cries.  Yes, we had a totally meltdown. Yes, I was the mother with the screaming child on the plane. Yes, I was panicking and sweating. Yes, I can see all you people glaring at me. And yes, I apologized to the woman in front of me who finally whipped her head around and gave me those salty looks...Lawry's.  

This went on for almost 3o mins when I finally forced the people in my row to get up so I could walk around and try to calm him down.  But basically it was too late and he needed to just cry himself to sleep...which he did, on my shoulder, and a man staring at us gave me the thumbs up.  As the beverage cart passed I told the flight attendant that if anyone in the last five rows wanted a drink it was on me.  No one took me up on the offer, but as I returned to my seat oh-so-careful not to wake Tay up, everyone around me said how sweet it was for me to want to do that.  Nothing like free alcohol and a sleeping baby to make people look nicely at you again.

Finding time.

With a 6 month old baby you would think that I have enough on my hands, why on earth would I want to start a blog? Who has the time? Well, as most new mothers might admit, taking care of our amazing, cute, and growing creations day in and day out...you start to feel a little out of touch with the world.  This is my attempt to reconnect, to get the cob webs out of my mommy brain and get the creative juices flowing once again. Plus it is a great tool to update everyone on the latest and greatest Tavian Makai moments by posting pictures and video links.

What about this "Best and Worst"thing?  Basically I thought just blogging about our daily lives would be LAME! Haven't you ever gone through your day and thought "Wow that is the best ___ever" or "Ew that is the worst ___ eve?" Me too!!  So this is my blog theme, best and worst moments, places, people, foods, experiences, you-name-it of each week. Perhaps it will even encourage you to take a little time and reflect on your week!

September 7th - September 14th

BEST

I had my first caffeinated beverage in over a year! Now I was never a big coffee drinker and I never NEEDED it to get through the day. Coffee was always more of a treat so when I became 

pregnant it was no biggie to give it up. However, there have been many-a-mornings after a rough night with the babyhead that a nice hot cup of Joe would have

 been very helpful.  So the other morning I strapped Tay into the infant carrier and marched down to Coffee Bean. We ordered a small hazelnut non-fat latte and on the way home I sipped the creamy, warm, sweet beverage knowing the very soon I was going to get the kick of caffeine that would help make this momma's day a little more productive.

WORST

Meeting up with my friend Natalie rarely leads to a "worst" moment. But the other night we met at the local-too-trendy-for-its-own-good coffee house The Coral Tree Cafe.  As we started to catch up on our week we paused to place our order which included one very delicious looking chocolate cupcake. When it was brought to our table we eagerly plunged our forks into the dark frosting covered in chocolate curls.  But then tragedy struck upon the first taste...it was one of the worst cupcakes I ever had.  Which in my book is a crime that should have some sort of punishment associated with it...like forcing the baker to eat every one of those dry, bland, over-frosted monstrosities.