being 30something

the ones worth keeping.

At the end of the day, when it comes down to it, all we really want is to be close to somebody. So this thing where we all keep our distance and pretend not to care about each other, it's usually a load of bull. So we pick and choose who we want to remain close to, and once we've chosen those people, we tend to stick close by. No matter how much we hurt them. The people that are still with you at the end of the day, those are the ones worth keeping. (Grey's Anatomy, Season 3, episode 10)

Becky & I met years ago (8 years? 9 years?) through work. We emailed about inventory levels, purchase orders, and lead times. We emailed about the customer service manager that she thought was email-cute. We emailed about the boy that was super cute. We emailed about marrying the boy. We emailed about the baby with the boy. We emailed about life, loves, kids, work, weight, grey's, family, friends, hopes, dreams...pretty much every.little.thing.

Somewhere along the line, we even actually met. Still, I can probably count the number of times that we've been face-to-face on one hand.

She is the Christina to my Meredith. She is my person. She stands by me through dark & twisty, through bright & shiny, and through everything in between. We talk at least 5 days per week, and email virtually every day. 

Last weekend...I went to visit. And it was good. It was ordinary-life-wine-dinner-kids-chatting-laughing-secrets-sharing good.

For that....and for her....I am very grateful. 

work + play = tired girl.

I spent last thurs-sat in Boston - work & play (with a whole lotta driving mixed in). 

Thurs & Fri were spent at the Natural Products Expo East tradeshow. Where I carried my camera everywhere, and took literally 2 photos. Just wasn't feeling it. The show was great, as usual....a bit smaller than last year thanks to the economy, but still busy. I'm thankful that the naturals industry is still holding it's own. Some faves from the show...

near & dear - Depth Body. This is actually the first tradeshow that Depth has exhibited at. They've grown & merged with Mineral Fusion cosmetics. (by the way, Depth is no longer exclusive to Whole Foods...so ask for it at your local natural products store. you can also buy online here.)

True Body. Simply good. 

Attune Wellness bars

Peas of Mind baked fries 

Separate post on the "play" side of the weekend coming soon. 

university of....somewhere.

Hope at a college that she won't be attending...after 30 minutes on campus, she declared Berkeley "way too big & scary"...and that was before we walked down Telegraph.

"Where is Hope going to college?" 

That is the question that I am asked as least 4x per week...and sometimes even multiple times in a day. It's understandable. She is, after all, a Senior in high school. It's that time. I get it. And I appreciate the interest, and the insight that often accompanies that question. But let me make it very clear here, for all the internet (or at least a dozen or so blog readers) to hear...

We don't know.

We're still looking. Still researching. Still having panic attacks about the financial side (me). Still planning college visits. Still stressing about deadlines. So, while we're doing all of that...

1. Please stop trying to convince me (us) that the college in your hometown, current town, or dream town is THE best. I love that you all want Hope to be close to you, and want her to wear your alma mater's colors. And we really appreciate the information about colleges that we might otherwise overlook. However. She (we) are not basing this decision on "where ____ went." 

2. College is about academics...and so much more. It's about Hope living away from home for the very first time. It's about finding a place that she is comfortable, but challenged. It's about adventure and learning. 

3. We may get it wrong. Hope may start at one school, and end at another. She may go to 1, 2, 3 or 7 schools over the next 4 years (hopefully not 7, but you get the point).  This is an important decision, but I'm trying to remind her that it is not THE decision that shapes her entire future. We make lots of decisions that shape our future. Some big. Some small. This is one of many. If she goes to U of X and hates it the first year? She'll transfer, and it won't be the end of the world (or her life). It will be okay.

4. A wise friend (Hi Deb!) reminded me that I should be careful not to make EVERY conversation this year about college. This is an exciting year, and Hope has LOTS going on. So, we'll talk about school, soccer, work, clothes, college, gossip girl, good choices, dinner plans, boys, friends, and everything else...all part of the journey this year. 

Lecture over....

Happy Birthday Dad!

even though he shoots with a Nikon...I still love him.

I think that even my Dad would admit that we've gotten closer as we've both gotten older. We just relate to each other better now. And today...I wish that I could wish him a Happy Birthday in person. 

Happy Birthday Dad! I love you! 

in search of the great (or any) pumpkin

I'm still on the baking kick. I blame this week's choice on May, who posted this recipe from Margie...who really got me in the mood for Pumpkin Chocolate Chip muffins. I ended up printing the recipe from Slashfood (1. b/c I wanted to use whole wheat flour and 2. I was too lazy to do the math to reduce Margie's recipe (and trust me, the Potato Doughnut Incident is etched in my memory from childhood, so I am paranoid about reducing recipes)). Anyway, I made a mental note to pick up some canned pumpkin at the grocery store. Grocery store #1: hmmm....that's strange, they're out of pumpkin. Grocery store #2: seriously? they're out of pumpkin, too?? Grocery store #3: what the h**l?? was there a pumpkin recall? 

Thinking that there must have been some sort of recall, I decided that organic pumpkin was the way to go...so I stopped in at Healthy Living and picked up 2 cans of pumpkin. On sale, even! When I got home, I was curious about the lack of pumpkin-ness going on...so I googled. Uhm, apparently there is a bona fide pumpkin shortage this year b/c of the cool, wet summer. You can bet that I'll be back at HL tomorrow, buying more pumpkin! 

 (by the way, the muffins are delicious)

The rest of the weekend...

1 - Soccer & Football. Had to bust out the fleece & blankets for the soccer game. It was chilly!! 

2 - Movies. Saw Love Happens. Cute (predictable). Also watched 17 Again on pay-per-view. While it's embarrassing to say that a Zac Efron movie made me think...this one did. How many of you have the guts to say that you would do it differently? I think that so often, we say "oh! I wouldn't change a thing!" b/c we fear that it discredits our life/family right now. I'll put it out there...I would do SO MUCH differently if I was 17 again!

3 - Shopping. Yes, again!  Bought some cute dressy jeans, a ruffled white shirt, and a long brown sweater. Did a little happy dance in the dressing room for reasons that will stay between me, Becky, and May. 

4 - Cooking. The muffins, of course. Chicken Pot Pie w/Puff Pastry for dinner tonight. Made Baked Ziti for dinner tomorrow night. Oh, and plan to have spinach & egg for breakfast every day this week...because of the bagel market guy who said "would you like the spinach IN the egg?" the other day, and completely changed the way that I look at spinach & egg. No, it was really that good.

I'm traveling this week, but also trying to blog more...so I think I'll post some coming attractions. Maybe that will keep me motivated to write? We'll see.

*tune in tomorrow for a special birthday wishes post

*sometime this week - reasons why you should stop asking me where my daughter is going to college

*somewhat related - the care & keeping of teenagers (alternate title - even though they'll need therapy...)

*and Grey's! I've been doing a little revisiting of Season 5 in prep for the season premiere that I will miss on Thursday (thank god for the DVR!)

Honestly, that will probably be all this week b/c I head out on Thursday for a tradeshow in Boston, and some quality time with Becky. 

be good.

channeling my inner Martha (or Julia. or Betty. or someone.)

So, a few weeks ago (or more...I lose track) Colleen, Lori, and I went to see Julie & Julia. Cute movie. At some point during the movie, I had the fleeting thought that I like to cook. Then I remembered that I rarely have time to cook, and went back to my stand-by menu rotation (tacos, pasta, asian chicken, tri-tip). I did pull out several issues of Cooking Light, Everyday Food, and Rachel Ray the next time that I did menu planning (which I do every week before I go grocery shopping)....but in the midst of school, work, soccer, football, gym time, and fatigue...the stand-by menu rotation won. Hey, at least I was still cooking, right?

Then Stephanie sent an email about a brownie recipe from a cooking blog. I thought about that recipe for days...and then finally made it last weekend. Excellent. I browsed that blog a little more, and found this recipe for salted butterscotch blondies. Oh my were those good! With a few of those blondies still left in the pan, I decided that I was on a roll with baking and went in search of a cupcake recipe...decided on a chocolate cupcake with peanut butter buttercream icing (to which Hope said "what is it with you & peanut butter?). Unfortunately, I didn't have the ingredients on hand (despite having purchased my 4th can of baking powder b/c I never, ever remember to check if I have it!). So I settled on a simple vanilla cupcake with buttercream frosting (from the joy of baking site). Simple? Yes. Delicious? Most definitely. True confession: I think that this is the first time in my entire life that I have made cupcakes from scratch! At dinner tonight, Austin said "Mom, I'm loving all this baking!" How's that for motivation? 

Just to prove that I haven't totally abandoned cooking for meals...tonight we had Ravioli w/Apples & Walnuts from the latest issue of Real Simple (bought the magazine & tried the recipe after Barb mentioned it on her blog...thanks friend!). 

What cooking &/or baking blogs do you love? 

retail therapy

(arrrgghhh! i had this post all typed up, and then POOF! it was gone)

I've been on a bit of a shopping bender lately. I actually don't shop for myself very often (with the exception of scrapbooking supplies)....so this spending spree is unusual. It all started on the way to Boston. We stopped at the state liquor store in NH (tax free!) and I found this fun wine that I'd read about...so I bought a few bottles...

Also picked up some Bailey's Creme Caramel and restocked the liquor cabinet with Amaretto. Yum! 

Our next stop was Target (b/c remember...we don't have one!!)...I picked up a couple of cute fall tops...

Then we were off to Boston (see previous post)...in between sight-seeing & eating, we shopped (why not!?). I stopped at Crate & Barrel to buy a few salad plates, extra bowls, and a cute green coffee mug (you can never have too many coffee mugs)...

I spotted this gorgeous laptop bag at Franklin Covey - on clearance even! - but said that I'd think about it. Well, I was still thinking about it when we got home, so I called the store & had them ship it to me (which they did...w/o even charging me for the shipping!)...

Hope & I also stopped at Sephora (bought a clearanced giftset of lotions & left...Sephora feels too much like work!), then bought a few things at Gilly Hicks (no photos b/c really? do you need to see my underwear? and for the love of pete, MOM, do not click the Gilly link. just don't.)

I was in search of kick-*ss jeans, and tried on about 194 different ones...liked these Lucky Brand jeans, but the store was out of my size...pondered some True Religion...then decided that I needed to spend more time at the gym before I made that investment. So, true to the cause, I bought these...

 

They're supposed to help tone your legs & butt while you walk (Reebok Easy Tone). I think they fall into the category of "can't hurt, might help"...let's hope so! 

Speaking of shoes...I need a new pair for an upcoming trip to Boston (work), and Becky (my "person"...ala Meredith & Christina) told me that I can't wear "vermont shoes"...which eliminates every pair of Keen, Merrell & Simple shoes that I own. So I ordered these...

and now I'm going to SAVE before this post disappears again! 

a weekend in boston...

Boston is only a 4 hour drive from our house. That might seem like a hike to some...but we live in a state where you have drive half that distance to get to a Target (technically, we can now drive 1/2 an hour, then take a ferry, but still...). So, Boston doesn't really seem like it's that far away....

it was windy (and a bit chilly)... 

and rather crowded with tourists...

we walked the trail for a mile (or two), then...

Austin was kind enough to give Hope a lift when she got tired of walking.

on day 2, we headed for Public Alley 905, in search of...

yummy cupcakes (found 'em). 

and shopped until these two said "the end." 

an elephant never forgets...to pick a winner!

congrats Jen Peters!

(I'll email you with details) 

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

20

Timestamp: 2009-09-08 10:53:38 UTC

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THANK YOU to everyone for stopping by - not only am I thrilled that you're helping spread the word about Ella, but I'm totally psyched to check out so many new blogs!! 

welcome ella!

I hope you've had a chance to check out Ella Publishing by now...it's definitely a "must visit" stop for scrapbookers (especially those who were fans of a certain uncomplicated magazine). This week marks the grand-opening Ellabration...there will be lots of fun, and of course, giveaways! I've gotten a peek at the first round of ebooks, and they're a-maz-ing. Want one for yourself? Here's the deal - go to the Ella site, and add the blog button to your own blog, then come back here & link me - I'll draw a name Tuesday am for a free ebook download. Sound good?

More Ella news later...right now I'm headed out in search of breakfast...blogging from Boston today :)

be good!