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.