Weekend in Crosslake

On Friday, Andi and I drove up North to Crosslake, Minnesota to check out a cabin we're intersted in renting for the summer. Ideally, we'd like to buy a cabin up North sometime in the future, so we thought we'd 'test drive' one this summer and see what areas we like and what are some of our 'must have's.' The cabin Andi found for us to possibly rent this summer was definitely nice - oh my gosh. It's nicer than some people's houses! Here's a few photos of the cabin:

Outside Cabin (lake side)

Drive way / Covered Patio

Upstairs Living Room (windows look out to lake)

1 of 3 finished bedrooms

Master bath w/ hot tub, shower + washer/dryer

Kitchen / upstairs living room

Downstairs living room / walk-out patio

Chloe lounging by the fireplace
(she loved it!)

The cabin is sooo nice...almost too nice. I almost worry that we'd ruin it except none of us are all that crazy. There's a cute little covered patio outside and a wrap-around deck for many beers to be drank. The cabin sits right on the water...so close you could almost throw a stone in it from the patio. Also, it's on a private lake so the boat traffic would be minimal. Perfect really ... except it is 2 1/2 hours away from the Cities. And with summer weekend traffic it could be more depending on the time we leave. Also, the cabin's for sale so it could sell at any time and we'd be out w/ 30 days notice.

We also looked at another cabin today (Sunday) on Gilbert Lake near Brainerd. It's a half hour closer to the Cities and near our friends John and Carna but not as nice as the one above. It was nice enough though, and more in line with what we envisioned a summer cabin to be. More quaint if you will. Andi's going to do some price checking this week and see what our options are. The good news .... we'll have a cabin this summer! It's going to be a fun summer for sure.

While we were up in Crosslake this weekend, Andi rented a snowmobile to cruise around on Saturday. I'd never been snowmobiling before so I was a little nervous at first. Andi got a nice helmet for me to wear so I stayed nice and warm all bundled up in my winter gear. The sled also had heated seats and handlebars so that helped for sure! We started out on the Paul Bunyon Trail which was straight and fairly easy, then rode some trails near Backus and Hackensack.

Sporting my rockin' helmet Andi got me!

Ready for a day of snowmobiling

A few photos of us and the beautiful backcountry!

Andi did a great job guiding us around all the trails

In all, we rode about a 100 miles ... which turns out was about 40 miles too long. At around hour four, my behind started to hurt and I started to get cold. I said to Andi "I don't want to do this anymore" and unfortunately we were about 40 miles away from town. It started to go downhill from there. It plain sucked. There was nothing we could do but keep riding as it got darker and colder. Finally we arrived back into town around 6pm. I didn't even complain when we drove over a frozen lake (one of the scariest things ever in my opinion) only because I desperately wanted to be done. Then we were back in the car, driving back to our warm cabin and all was good again. We ordered pizza and sat by the fire all night. Such a good weekend to reconnect again.

Time flies when you're, well, working.

Oh my gosh. I blinked and this week was over. Sorry I've been neglecting you, friends!

Here's what's happening in my bubble this week:

ONE: Whirlwind week at work. February was a busy month around campus and it seems like March is following suit. Thank the Lord for vacation coming up in two short weeks! I'm getting ready to launch a national Earth Week promotion for all 500+ accounts across the country and it's been a very enjoyable and tedious process to put together. That project alone is sucking up my evenings ... which is usually when I blog ... which gets back to why blogging has been an epic FAIL since Sunday.

TWO: My friend Laura kindly nominated me for a Beautiful Blogger Award! I'll whip up some sort of post this weekend with more details on this neat little award. Very cool!

THREE: This is the first in 7 weekends I get to spend time with my husband. His weekend work commitments are FINALLY over so we're planning to 'test drive' our summer cabin for a little weekend up North. I am so excited I can barely stand it. Andi rented a snowmobile for a few hours on Saturday for us to tool around the Paul Bunyan Trails near Cross Lake. Having never been on a snowmobile before, I'm a little bit nervous so here's hoping Andi goes easy on me!

FOUR: I quickly realized this week that we leave for Hawaii in two weeks. TWO WEEKS! I haven't exactly lost those 5 pounds I hoped to and my skin is as pale as every other Minnesotan around this state. In fact, for the first time in, well, ever I think my makeup is actually too dark for my face. Usually a little tanning bed action a couple times a month can mantain my 'usual color' but not this winter. I desperately need to carve out some time for Catch A Tan stat.

FIVE: And just because I feel like saying it ... I really want to have a baby. I'm out of the closet again. Probably won't happen of course because well, you need two to tango, but I'm just going on record as saying. PS. yesterday I woke to the sound of a baby crying. I swear to you. Except, um, there was NO BABY. I think it's my subconscious telling me it's time. What do you think?


That is all.

The nerve

What started out as a wonderful day yesterday, ended with me wondering what nerve somepeople have.

Yesterday afternoon I went to my friend Val's church to volunteer for Kids Against Hunger. We worked together in an assembly line with dozens of others packing meals for malnourished children in Haiti. In an hour's time, our group packed neary 24,000 meals. What a moving experience - I left feeling great knowing we'd helped those less fortunate.

Afterwards, I raced downtown to pick up my friend Ellie. We then headed to Uptown Minneapolis to watch the last portion of the pond hockey championships Andi's company was producing. The event was fantastic! Hundreds of spectators turned out and everyone was gushing about Andi's level of execution. I was so proud of him!

Following the event, Ellie and I headed back to my car to get ready for the event after party. We were bundled up in snow/outdoor gear and wanted to freshen up for the party. As we approached my car, I noticed the back seat was laying flat in my car. We both looked at each other puzzled and wondered if it was like that before. Seemed strange, but I didn't think much of it. We got into my car and I reached for my GPS which was sitting in the center part of the car. I'm not such a great downtown Minneapolis driver so we used the GPS earlier to naviagate from downtown to uptown. I noticed the GPS wasn't there and asked Ellie if it was under her feet or on her seat. We both got out of the vehicle and searched around. Then I noticed my Oakley sunglasses (my very favorite pair) were missing too. Now things felt fishy. I popped the trunk to see if anything was missing from there (remember - my back seat was laying down when I got to the car and you can access my car's trunk from the back seat laying down.  Nothing was missing except a silver briefcase of Andi's he'd had engraved with his company's name.

Now I knew something was wrong. My car had been broken into while we were at the championship - just across the street!! Panicking and feeling violated, I wanted to call Andi but couldn't bother him because he was wrapping up his event. Ellie called her boyfriend Derrick (also working the event) who told us to find the park police and file a police report. Luckily, they were sitting across the street at the event site. I explained the situation to the policeman and he wrote a report. "I know you know," he said, "but I'm going to tell you anyway. Never leave items out in plain site. You're asking for someone to break in." I know this. And how stupid for me to leave the GPS sitting out. Lesson learned. Now I want my stuff back.

I always keep a bunch of stuff in my car. Throughout the night I remembered more and more things stolen from my vehicle:

My very favorite pair of Oakley sunglasses - $200
Andi's GPS + charger - $250
Blackberry phone charger - $25
Work's iPod 32G Touch - $269
My iPod 32G (classic style) - $225
Oakley perscription eyeglasses - $200
My brand new Canon Camera (just got for Christmas) + case - $250
Chico reusable bag - $5
Andi's Oakley sling bag - $150
Andi's stainless steel briefcase - $150
Jeans, my favorite pair - $100
Long sleeve shirt - $10
New purple Scarf - $20
Heels - $30
Makeup - $30
Hairspray - $20
My sense of security - Priceless

Total = $1,937 in stolen goods

.... and that's just the items I can pinpoint that are gone. A few things that fry my nerves:

ONE: I'm just sick that my brand new camera is gone. It was my Christmas present from Andi. And I almost didn't bring it with yesterday - it was on the charger and I grabbed it at the last minute.

TWO: I now have to go out and buy all new makeup and brushes. How annoying is that?

THREE: My wallet and brand new Oakley sunglasses were missed by the little perps, and I'm so relieved. I got the shades from Andi for my birthday last week and they were stuffed in the driver's side door. I'd shoved my wallet underneath my driver's seat between the seat and driver's door. I am SO lucky they missed it.

FOUR: I'm so mad at myself for having such a small town mentality. How stupid am I for leaving that GPS out in the open. It was a crime of opportunity and I played right in. How frustrating!

I can't help but think - why do things like this happen? I suppose God has a plan and I should learn from this life lesson. To all of you out there - be careful and guard your things! What a crappy ending to a great day.

Reflection

I had a stark revelation on February 14 (the day after my birthday): I'm sliding down a very slippery slope to being 30. Only 359 more days until that very moment. Almost being 30 has made me reflect on where I thought my 20's would take me. It's funny how you think life will turn out when you're in college ... and what different ways life really unfolds. Here's what I thought my life would be like:

DREAM: I wanted to marry someone who was smart, attractive, funny and driven. Someone who would be my best friend and the loving, supportive father of my children.
ACTUAL: I met a man who surpassed these characteristics by a long shot. Sometimes I'll be driving in my car or washing the dishes and a wave comes over me - I am the luckiest woman in the world. I can't believe I'm married to Andi. He chose ME.

DREAM: I hoped I'd work in marketing, specifically for Red Bull Energy Drink.
ACTUAL: Dream accomplished. And little did I know, that very dream would lead me to my husband. Sure I've moved on since then and my current job isn't exactly what I thought I'd be doing 7 years later, but I make the most of every experience.

DREAM: By 30, I thought I'd be married with 2.5 kids, a beautiful house and a cute little dog. The American dream - in living color.
ACTUAL: I'm almost there. I have the picture perfect life - minus the babies - but with God on my side, I'll be a mom soon enough. It's crazy how early I thought I'd have a baby (by 25 for sure!) and here I am, almost 30 and without. I do know good things come to those who wait.

There are a few things that've happened to me in my 20's that I never dreamed about, but have positively changed who I am today:

I've discovered a love of travel.
I've lived by myself, in a state without my friends or family.
I own a pair of boots - without heels. Actually two.
I've learned to be adventurous. Even if I'm scared. And only because my husband makes me.
I've developed a love for the environment. Someday, I'd like to put my passion to good use and help others live more sustainably.

I'm excited to see what the next 11 months will bring. I want to brainstorm a list of things to accomplish in the next 300 days. Time is ticking on my 29th year. Soon, I'll be embarking on a new decade of dreams and aspirations and I want to be ready.

Currently in February

Current Books: I've fallen a bit behind on my Daily Bible the last week, but I'm pretty proud of myself overall for staying on top of this 2010 resolution. One of my spiritual goals has been to learn more about God and develop a deeper faith and I really think that's happening - which I'm super proud of myself for accomplishing. I can't believe how many instances there's been mention of something from the Bible in my daily life (whether at church or in conversation with others) and I've actually know what it referred to. The craziest part is, I never really noticed being out of the loop before. It's a wonderful feeling to strengthen my faith and love for the Lord.

Also purchased Taking Charge of Your Fertility this month. I warned Andi when I ordered it from http://www.amazon.com/ that a book was arriving in the mail and he shouldn't have a heart attack when he saw the book title. "I'm only educating myself," I said, "don't worry!" Many eye rolls have ensued this month as I've read through the book but I've really enjoyed the content so far. I find the facts and overall information on reproductivity very interesting, but it's a little frustrating to read about charting your cycles without the use of birth control when I'm still on The Pill. I'm not at the point where I can implement what I'm learning. Self, have patience.

Current Playlist: I'm slow when it comes to music; I've mentioned this before and every month I'm reminded of this as I try to recount my current music playlist. I discovered the Avett Brothers recently which I really like. I also really like Michael Buble lately.

Current Guilty Pleasure:  We've had these iced Valentine's cookies at work the last few weeks and they were really good! This month I was also really craving chocolate everything (which is sooo unlike me)!

Current Color: Always my fav, black.

Current Drink: I've been making my own iced coffee at home with Starbucks VIA. Pretty tasty :)

Current Food: I'm really proud of Andi and I for eating more organic foods. It's not so difficult to purchase those types of foods now that we're shopping in the right places. My favorite food lately? KIND bars

Current Favorite Shows: Loving Big Love, CSI, 48 Hours Mystery, and of course How I Met Your Mother

Current Wishlist: Good thoughts to surround a few of my nearest and dearest - friend Julie on bedrest, wishing relaxation and a growing, healthy baby inside of her. Also for my two cousins - fertility and one who's already expecting.

Current Needs: To lose a few pounds and look smokin' in my bikini!

Current Triumphs: The national Earth Week programming I've worked on the last few months. We're ready to roll it out this week and it'll be very rewarding to see all our thoughts, ideas and hard work come to fruition.

Current Bane Of My Existence: The weather. Ready for springtime to arrive.

Current Celebrity Crush: I've had hair envy lately -- all celebrities with long, flowing locks

Current Indulgence: I had a few weekends at home lately. It's been nice to spend time cleaning my house or painting my fingernails. I'll take more of that anytime :)

Current Blessing: I'm really proud of Andi's work with his new company. I never doubted him for a moment, but I'm impressed with how successful he's become so quickly. We're truly blessed with God's good graces and I only pray the good work will continue.

Current Slang: I don't know ... I veto this one!

Current Outfit: Sweatpants and a long-sleeve tee. My fav.

Current Excitement: Andi's parents bought us John Mayer concert tickets for our birthdays. The concert's coming up on March 2. Can't wait for this date night w/ JM!

Current Mood: A little overwhelmed. Lots of projects my plate at work right now. Just need time to plug through 'em.

Current Link: http://www.uncommongoods.com/  A neat store with lots of sustainable gift options and neat decorating stuff for home.

7 Quick Takes - Florida Style

ONE Not that I'm complaining, but it would have been nice if it was a smidge bit warmer during my time in Florida this week. I thought 50 and sun was nice until I saw the weather report for this weekend -- 70's and sun sounds so much better.

TWO In other news, I had a great meeting with our sustainability manager today and our presentation went very well. Had a chance to tour around University of South Florida as well. Always nice to see other accounts and gain inspiration from other marketing managers. Tomorrow's another presentation, this time about marketing. I've given this presentation a few gazillion times so should be no sweat.

THREE The 'healthy eating' notion went OK today. I didn't drink as much water I as I hoped (only 1 water bottle's worth) and had more caffeine than probably necessary but needed it to keep me energized throughout the presentation! Ate a piece of toast for breakfast and some fruit, a salad for lunch and a quesadilla for dinner. Could have done better; could have been worse. There's always tomorrow.

FOUR Thinking about starting to work out again (don't tell Andi!). Can't decide whether joining a gym would be beneficial (would I really go?). Maybe it'd be worth it just for yoga. Or maybe I'll just buy some sessions at a yoga studio and skip the gym all together. Too much processing ... a decision for another day.

FIVE Still not digging the Olympics (sorry Linds). Is it over yet? I feel like I'm left out of the secret that is the Olympics. That's all people are talking about; all that's in the newspapers, tv, etc. Did I just miss something? Can't catch the spirit of it all, I guess.

SIX Thank the Lord for my sweet-talkin' husband!! Found out today he's secured a free pontoon for us to use this summer. Now to find a cabin to rent for the summer months and we'll be set! Our last summer (hopefully!) without a kiddo will be one to remember. Mark your calendars now to come visit us in Minnesota!

SEVEN What are you giving up for Lent? I'm not Catholic, so I never really give up anything but always think it's interesting to see what pledges people decide to make. I saw on another blog today that someone was giving up blogging which suprised me. I've become pretty addicted to sharing my thoughts with all of you...not sure if I could do it. Anyone else giving up someting interesting?

Today it begins

Why is it when you select a date on the calendar and remind yourself for days that on [INSERT DATE HERE], I will start eating healthy and lose those few pesky pounds that have been hanging around, and the day finally arrives (despite failed attempts of wishing that date never does come) you find yourself STARVING all day long and lingering on every last thought, aroma and feeling of food? Oh food, how you play mind games with me....

Today is exactly one month until our Maui trip. Today marks the day in which I MUST begin to lose the five or so pounds I've packed on this winter. I've been going through one of those periods in life where I feel like I MUST eat everything on my plate - even when I'm stuffed to the gils - because I somehow feel like I'll never eat anything as good as the meal in which I'm consuming (and it's not even that great but I still.keep.eating until I'm miserable). Do you ever have those times? It's like Old Man Winter telling you to fatten up because layers and layers of clothing will hide that extra buttermilk biscuit that tastes so damn good right about now.

And yet, my brain knows I need to fit into a bikini in 30 days. I'll kick myself for not losing those few measly pounds when I had the chance every single time I look at our Maui vacation photos. I must do better.

This week I'm traveling for work which will be hard for me to tame my appetite. Something about staying in hotels for work without my own means of transportation or control over my daily agenda gives me the same anxiety that I DON'T KNOW WHEN I'LL BE ABLE TO EAT AGAIN which never fails to trick my brain into stuffing myself silly at work dinners.

I tried to set myself up for success. I brought a water bottle along to refill instead of drinking so much Diet Coke. And I stuffed a few granola bars into my work bag to curve off hunger strikes. I can do this. At the end of these 30 days, I'll be laying on a sunny beach, in a bikini, with my love. It's all worth it to a woman.

Sunny Florida ... here I come!

This?

or this?

Hallelujah! I'm heading to warmth!
I'm in Tampa for the week for work. 50's and sun. Yes please!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Yesterday, while Andi and I were out celebrating my birthday, we saw someone selling 'Valintimes Day' gifts on top of their van in Minneapolis. It doesn't get much better than this. 

What did we do exactly for my birthday / Valentine's Day celebration?
We woke up early and went to breakfast at Porter & Frye's Restaurant in downtown Minneapolis. Then Andi treated us to massages and a morning of relaxation at Ivy Spa. I had the most amazing massage then we laid around the whirpool and read books and relaxed in the sauna.

As part of Valentine's Day, I wanted to take pictures of things around town that spell our last name and frame the letters. So we spent all afternoon walking around Minneapolis and St. Paul neighborhoods taking photos of letters in street signs, theatre marquees and Minnesota landmarks. For lunch, we stopped into a neopolitan pizza shop in Northeast Minneapolis, then got ice cream on St. Paul's Grand Ave. We had a great day spending time together laughing, smiling, holding hands and celebrating my birthday.

When it started to get dark, we stopped by Mississippi Market to grab some fresh produce and came home to make a steak dinner. I opened my birthday gifts from Andi - he was (as always) so generous!

Keen winter boots

Warm socks

Mittens

... and stunning Oakley shades

Wonder what my birthday presents would be like if we live somewhere tropical???

I couldn't have asked for a better birthday celebration. A wonderful day with my husband = the perfect day to me. Thanks everyone for all the birthday wishes!

29

Today is my 29th birthday!
More to come re: my awesome day with Andi. In the meantime ... one of my birthday presents. A video montage!


Heathers Birthday Video - 29 Years Old from Andi Dickson on Vimeo.

WTF?!

Ahhh! So I finally got around to updating my passport with my new last name about a month ago. First, I was kinda peeved that I had to pay another $100 to get a completely new passport because my maiden name passport was over 1 year old. For the record, it was 1 year and 1 month old. And I still had to fork over $100 for a new one.  Whatever.

After being nagged by Andi for months to update it (Hurry! What if we want to go on a last minute travel deal and we can't because you don't have a current passport!) I went to the Post Office to get a new photo taken and send off my old passport book. I was suprised when I arrived that I had to send in our original marriage license w/ the stamp on it into the National Passport Office but was promised it'd be returned to me along with my old passport (in case I wanted to collect my travel stamps, etc). Reluctantly, I handed the marriage license over to the USPS worker who violently STAPLED our marriage license to my old passport. I cringed. So much for preserving our marriage license's condition.

Cut to today when there's a USPS envelope in our mailbox. Oh good! My new passport arrived. I ripped open the envelope and pulled out the paperwork. My new passport's in there and looks fine, but no marriage licenese or old passport book. WTF?!?! So I dialed the toll-free National Passport Office number on the paperwork enclosed. Ring, ring ... I'm sorry, your call could not be completed. WTF?!?!? I called about seventeen bazillion times more and same thing.

Now I'm panicking. I'm missing our marriage license, which I'm sure I can get a new one by paying for another one from someplace (courthouse?) but that'll cost me more money. And then there's the whole thing about driving downtown, finding a place to park, finding the office where I'm suppose to get the new marriage license, waiting in line for like 45 minutes, and then talking to some worker who is moving slow as mollases and barely speaks English. Sorry, but it's true. Then I get another marriage license (that I paid for twice now!) but it's not the original one we got married with; it's a duplicate which just plain sucks. For real, where do I even get a new marriage license? Anyone know?

Super angry at the National Passport Office right now. Fix your damn phone number so I can talk to live person. LIKE NOW.

Now that's good marketing!

Last night Andi came home with two pints of ice cream.

Haagen-Dazs coffee-flavored ice cream

And this new Haagen-Dazs ice cream called FIVE - which is all-natural and made only of 5 ingedients: milk, cream, eggs, sugar and coffee

We curled up on the couch, ripped off the tops of each container and dived in, switching pints mid-bite just like we always do.

Me: This new FIVE brand is so creamy and good. It tastes way better than the regular kind.

We switch pints again so we can taste the difference.

Andi: Mmm, this is good. It's better for us too because it doesn't have all those extra ingredients. Let's read the labels and compare. Mine has milk, cream, eggs, sugar and coffee. What's yours say?

I flipped around the regular container and read the ingredients: milk, cream, eggs, sugar and coffee.

Wow, we were duped. Apparently, milk, cream, eggs, sugar + flavoring is how you make ice cream.

Two marketers by trade took the bait. Now that's good marketing!

A few randoms for Tuesday ...

So ok, the pulled pork sandwiches I made last night- disgusting. I don't know what went wrong with them - I don't think I left them enough time to cook in the crock pot so Andi had to take over the cooking to pull it all together (I tried, right?) Since the meat wasn't done, Andi finished the meat on the skillet on the stove and then put a slice of American cheese on top of the bun. I'm not sure how to describe it, but it tasted like a fish sandwich from elementary school. And yes, it was suppose to be pulled pork. An epic fail on my meal planning but I'm still trudging forward. My groceries arrive today from Coborn's Delivers so we should have fresh salad, veggies and well, just plain OPTIONS for dinner tonight. Yay! Love, love, love that delivery service.

Andi's been making a big effort to come home and hang out at night which has made me so, so happy. Lately he's been home between 5:30pm and 6pm so we've really had the chance to spend time together, eat dinner together and catch up on our day. It makes a WORLD of difference to me and how I feel about our relationship. I really appreciate that he's been making that effort even though I know he's got a lot of work on his plate. Thank you honey!

Speaking of Andi, he's mentioned babies 3 times in the last 2 days. Not that I'm counting or anything! Love that he's talking about our future babies. For those of you keeping me to my promise, I'm still trying not to bring up the baby topic anymore and so far I'm holding true to my word.

I watch the Today Show every morning when I get ready for work. Despite the risk of getting virtual rocks thrown at me, I'm going out on a limb to say I HATE THE OLYMPICS. I am sooo not excited for all the coverage to start this weekend. I guess I'm not really that into sports and watching all day coverage is not my idea of good tv. And now there'll be nothing else on but olympic coverage especially on the Today Show (see I'm coming back to it, you were wondering where this was going I know) every single morning. Not excited.

Guess that's all for today.
Thanks for hanging out in my bubble.

Menu Planning 101

I'm pretty proud of myself for taking charge of our eating style around our home. If you'll remember, Andi and I made a commitment a few months back to eat more healthy foods, organic foods as well as meats produced in a more sustainable way. I've also taken the advice of my dietitan friend Laura to set a goal of at least 3 meals a week so Andi and I can focus on more homemade meals vs. eating what's most convenient.

The last few weeks I've purchased all my groceries from http://www.cobornsdelivers.com/ which helps me search for and purchase the groceries I need and not a lot of bad-for-you foods we don't. I've also been searching recipes online at http://www.allrecipes.com/ which helps me find recipes that use ingredients already in our cupboards.

This new system is really working for us, although I have to say, I've spent waaay more on groceries than I have in years! It's nice to have food in the cupboards though and as cheesy as it sounds, it makes me feel so good when Andi has all his favorite snacks to eat.

Here's what I have in store for this week:

Monday - BBQ Pulled Pork Sandwiches

Tuesday - Broccoli Chicken Divan

Wednesday - Butternut Squash Ravioli

Thursday - Beef Stew

Friday - take-out

Saturday (my birthday and our Valentine's Day celebration!) - steak

Sunday - leftovers

I'm becomming quite the little wifey, right?

I'm on time-out

Andi got a few phone calls from his friends this weekend wondering if we were having a baby. I guess all my joking about new tv = new baby spread like wildfire. And while I initially thought it was funny, I think it got a little out control. To set the record straight - we're not pregnant and not trying. I think I need to put all the baby talk on hold - it's starting to make everyone a little uneasy.

I honestly don't know why I'm so obsessed with this topic. I seriously think about nothing else. It's just that I've wanted to be a mom for so many years and that day is finally coming my way. When most of my friends and family in similar age are parents already, are pregnant or about to be, it's hard not to be jealous and wishful that it was me. And I'm so overjoyed for them, please don't think I'm not, but it hurts my heart to watch from the sidelines.

This entire topic is like a double-edge sword. I'm so interested in pregnancy and babies that I want to share my thoughts with basically anyone who'll listen. Yet sharing my thoughts and dreams leaves me feeling exposed like I'm crazy for wanting a baby. I feel happiest when I'm reading fertility books and talking with friends, family and all of you about babies, but it's also contributing to my overarching obsession with all of this. While I thought talking to Andi about babies is helping him 'warm up to the idea' of having our own, it might be doing the opposite. Today I looked into his face when I was telling him a fun fact about reproductive systems I recently read, and he seemed completely overwhelmed. I think it's time to put all this on hold.

So, I'm hereby challenging myself: stop counting down the minutes until we're ready to have a baby. Focus on being married and enjoying our life today. This is going to be really hard for me, but I need to wait for Andi to settle in with the idea of parenthood and let's face it, he's just not there yet. You're all holding me to this! I promise not to talk about babies anymore. No more wife/husband trades for electronics = babies! I'm on baby time-out.

Running out of time

I may be a little bit screwed when it comes to planning this Valentine's Day. For these reasons I've neglected to devote any time or thought to the holiday this year:

1) Andi has to work on Valentine's Day at one of the pond hockey tournament he's producing (um, are those over yet?) so he arranged it so we could spend time together on my birthday - the day before Valentine's Day (because, uh, that's not optional). Because it's my birthday and I'm sliding all planning responsibilites over to him, I haven't even thought about how we'll celebrate Valentine's Day. Will it be part of my birthday celebration? Eh, that kinda stinks but there's really no other option.

2) I decided a few weeks ago that Andi really deserved a massage for Valentine's Day. He's been working like 76 million days straight and doing quite a bit of manual labor for these pond hockey tournaments every weekend. A relaxing, soothing massage = perfect gift. I suggested we do this on my birthday and that'd really kill two birds with one stone for celebrating and gift giving. Except he won't confirm if we're really going there on my birthday making it absolutely impossible for me to rely on that as a gift giving opportunity. When I ask him about it, he acts all coy-like and says I better come up with another idea.

So this brings me to you. Have any great gift giving ideas for me for Valentine's Day?

Confession Time

I better set the record straight for those of you who might not know my sense of humor (or lack there of). It's time I confess a few things:

You know I'm just teasing about the whole baby thing, right? I mean, sure I CAN'T WAIT until the day Andi and I finally take the plunge to parenthood but ya'll know I would wait until both my husband and I are in that place. I tease Andi about having a baby all the time - mostly because it's fun to watch him squirm and it's my way of 'warming him up to the subject' if you will. Please know I would never make a life decision like that without him on board. And no, I don't think a 42" flat screen tv = baby green light.

Speaking of the 42" tv ... it's actually growing on me. Ok, not so much yesterday when I couldn't figure out how to turn it on and I had to call Andi at work to walk me through it. But seriously check this out - you'd have to be blind as a freaking bat to not be about to see this thing. Damn, it's big and clear. Feel like Amelia is right in my livingroom!

To illustrate this point, I've placed Chloe on top of the DVR box to demonstrate the size of the tv. Now you see what I mean? Wow, huge. 

*No dogs were harmed in the shooting of this photo.
Although, she wasn't happy about participating.

You made your bed

This is the post where I get EXCITED.
For what you ask?



This.

Know why?


This.

That's right. Last night, Andi came home with this gigantic 42" flat screen tv for our living room. And remember, I wrote about what kind of deal would be required if he made this purchase. Yippe for little babies!!

ps, think we should have a Super Bowl party? We now own a massive tv for watching the Colts kick the crap out of the Saints!