Sweet Emotion

Shirt...prepare to be stained!

Worst Awkward Fashion Stage

Lunching outside with Babyhead I noticed that his shirt looked rather dingy. Well, that’s putting it lightly, especially if you say “dingy” with an English accent, the shirt was flat out stained. This was not shocking because bibs have become evil in Tavian’s world, but I was a little embarrassed about my failing laundry skills.

Going through his toddler wardrobe later I discovered many more badly stained items, pants that started to look more like leggings, and shirts that revealed his baby belly bottom. The thrill of going shopping for Tay’s new clothes put the trip at the top of my To Do list.

When I was pregnant I loved looking for baby clothes, especially shoes and things that looked like “real” clothes (not jumpers with teddy bears and ducks all over them.) Little man clothes. Now, clothes for Taivan is about ease, comfort, and colors that hide stains. Target and Old Navy are currently my best friends because I just can’t pay $30 for a toddler t-shirt I know will be covered in sand, drool, and apple sauce by the end of the day.

However, the thrill of shopping turned into a chill after a few trips. You see dear Blog, Tavian does not fall into the typical sizing for his age range. Not surprising considering I remember my mom constantly altering my clothes growing up, everything was either too short or too wide...karma, I roll my eyes at you.

But Tavian is right in between two sizes, pants are either too short or too big in the waist, shirts too tight or too baggy. After many purchases and returns I discovered these sweat pants with elastic at the waist and ankles. Yes, just like the ones you see senior citizens sporting on their mall walks. But their genius because they are tight enough not to fall down and he doesn’t trip over the legs...because they are elastic-ed to his ankles.

Oh dearest son, thank goodness you are adorable enough to over power your elastic sweat pants and baggy stained shirts. That doesn’t mean I don’t feel a little guilty every morning dressing you in such awkward outfits. If “lame” was in your vocabulary I know you would be scolding me about your wardrobe.

Playing at the park in his new trip/saggy free sweat pants

Worst/Best Movie

Becoming a mother completely changed my viewing capacity. Anything that has to do with children is a kazillion times more impact-full. I didn’t get why everyone loved Slumdog Millionaire, love story my tush! It was about the horrible living conditions, trauma, and abuse of three innocent children. The other night I saw A.I. on TV and I don’t remember crying that hard back in 2001.

But you don’t have to be a parent to be shocked, shattered, and sobbing while watching the movie Precious. Just ask the guy next to me, I bet he wasn’t counting on gasping and sniffing his way through this movie. Or anyone in the theater for that matter as we all collectively held our breath and cried out “oh no!” scene after heart breaking scene. No seriously, everyone in the sold out theater.

But a movie can only be this awful if it is only that good. Really, really good. The performances were just outstanding, some of the best I have seen in a long time. I personally don’t want to pay money to feel so disturbed for a whole night. Eli and I came home and immediately went into Tavian’s room to watch him sleep, so peaceful, so innocent. If anything I commend this film for being so moving, a slap in the face to make you grateful for what you have and a reminder that things could be worse. But if it’s a night of carefree entertainment you are looking for...skip this one.

Best Trick or Treater

I can justify blogging about Halloween three weeks after the fact because we just ate the last of our trick or treat candy. I say “our” because it really was quite the collaborative effort between the three of us to gather our bag of sweet booty.

Dressed as Evil Knievel Tavian set out to go on a walk with Momma and Dad. But this time we were telling him to go into stores and strange homes with a little bucket to collect candy. How very strange! But we only showed him a few times how to trick or treat before Babyhead had it down cold! I gave him the little paper pail, he would walk up, wait for the bowl of candy to be presented, select a piece, put it in his pail, walk back to Momma and hand it over.

At first I didn’t think we would be out for very long, that he would lose interest. But as the sky got darker, the houses got creepier, and the kids got crazier, we all got into the spirit of trick or treating. Eli and I would cheer when Tavian brought back the good stuff like Snickers or Starbursts and encourage him to try harder when he brought back Tootsie Rolls. After covering four whole blocks we loaded up Evil Knievel and headed home to celebrate our hard work with a Heresy's PB Cup...or two. Holding the little paper bag full of candy I was genuinely proud of Babyhead and his new found talent for taking candy from strangers. As if he had just won the Nobel Peace Prize, but he didn’t he just brought me handfuls of delicious candy, which is just as awesome!

Click here to see more photos!

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Bogle Merlot

73% Cacao Belgian Dark Chocolate Covered Almonds

Seriously Seedy & Nutty Wafers

Villa Italia Grapefruit Soda

Panko Covered Tilapia Filets

Soy & Flaxseed Tortilla Chips

The Love

Best 29th Rock Star Birthday Party

The 29th birthday party is a tricky one. You could either show your rising maturirty level with a classy wine and cheese party or you can give one last shot at a good theme party and make all your friends dress up in costumes. I choose the latter which lead to the Rockstar Party.

I have to say I am very proud of all my friends who got into the groove, swiped on the eyeliner, pulled on the leather pants, and let the hairspray fly. We fueled our rocker bodies with champagne and a spread based on food demands of real rockers, such as Jay Z’s desire for PBJ, Taylor Swift’s need for Kraft Mac n’ Cheese, Frank Sinatra’s request for jump shrimp cocktail, and Brittany Spear’s must have Pop Tarts. Guitar Hero was hooked up so everyone could warm up their guitar moves and rocker attitudes. Babyhead was very entertained by us all and Momma let him stay up late but denied his grabs for her champagne glass.

Bedtime was our cue to take the party to a whole new level...and a new location. The party appropriately continued at The Gas Lite karaoke bar. I took note of the stares at my pink curly mohawk, but didn’t care as we gathered around our reserved booth to pick our songs. I think everyone was just jealous that they didn’t have on shredded pleather leggings and glittery scarves tied around their heads.

I so L-O-V-E all my dearest friends for showing up to give me B-day wishes and endure the craziness of a karaoke bar. Our last performance of “Living on a Prayer” had the whole bar dancing and singing their best “Whoooooaaaaa-ooooooh”s into their air mics. Thank you to everyone who came to rock with me, it was a very fitting night to kick off my last year as a 20 something. Next year be prepared to get your wine and cheese on.

To see more rockin' Rock Star Party pics click here

Worst Computer Meltdown

The very wise and talented (and good looking) Mr. J. Timberlake once sang “where is the love?” Just a week after I blogged my praises for all things Mac and the devastation I would feel if anything happened to my little lap topper...something happened. I was in denial for a few days, hoping that maybe if I restarted my computer enough eventually everything on my desktop would come back. This was my technical analysis.

When I caved in and went to the Apple store the Genius Bar guy coldly gave me his analysis. “Your hard drive is dead, you need to be replace it but you will lose all of your data.” Gasp! “Data?” My beloved iTunes playlists, photos of Babyhead’s first day on this earth, slaved over websites, newly scanned paperless home office, my data base of design and DIY ideas, digitally preserved copies of my Grandmother’s hand written recipes, creative future blog ideas...are not JUST data sir!! It was then he told me I had to choose one thing to save from my computer, because he might only have one chance at saving something and I had to choose right then...but all I could think was “where is the love?”

Thank god I was in shock cause I might have started crying right in front of unsympathetic Apple store guy. Finally he said I could take it to a data recovery specialist but it could cost thousands of dollars. I said if there was a chance to save anything I will take it. I spent the next four hours still in shock wandering the earth, like I was homeless...I had lost my digital home. I tried to find some perspective, to empathize with people who really have lost everything in devastating fires or hurricanes. Situations where there are no specialist to take your life so it can be recovered.

The next day I asked my computer genius friend what I should do and he recommended a company called Computech to help my with my data recovery. And it was there...at Computech where I found the love (and it didn’t cost thousands of dollars.) My techy friend sat across the counter from me starring at my lap topper and assured me hope was not lost. Three days later they called and said my Mac had pulled through...a full recovery!

Where is the love? Well for the most part it is in your family, friends, and how you interact with the rest of the world. But in this technical age forms of our love are stored on a hard drive. So show your hard working machine some love and always back up your “data.”