Per my post last Friday, I'm really trying to do this more.  So, here I am!  

First of all, thanks to everyone who shared my little corner of the blogosphere for others to read.  I started it more for myself, kind of like a journal for our family, and for myself.  To see that others enjoy reading what I write makes me oh so very happy!  So, THANK YOU!!!

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So, as we age, there are things about us that are changing.  Obviously.  Especially if we have had a kid here or there.  Or three.  My feet grew a whole size after I had Snip.   A whole freaking size.  And yes, I had bought a shit-ton of shoes the fall before he was born, before I knew I was pregnant.  Also, I'm pretty sure I lose 1/4 of my hair every day.  Hormones.  I have wrinkles an lines on my forehead and near my mouth and eyes.  I'm really ok with those.  They show that I've had a great life this far with lots of "SHUT UP!"s (imagine eyes opening wide and forehead squishing up) and "WTF!?s" (imagine eyes squinting together and forehead wrinkling down), "O.M.G."s (imagine jaw dropping and eyebrows raising), and lots of laughter.  Lots of it.  I don't mind the wrinkles, lines, clumps of hair that I lose every day in the shower, the wider hips, the bigger feet.  I don't even mind the age spots because they remind me of my mom and my grandma, as they each had and have them on their arms and I just find them beautiful. 

What I do mind, is waking up at the ripe old age of 36 to find a volcano about to erupt on my face.  Or, for me, it's usually my chin.  Oh, wait, you're unfamiliar with volcanoes?  Well, let me enlighten you.

(PS, please note that this is clearly a combination of a "WTF?", "SHUT UP!", and "OMG.")

Look. at. the size. of. it.

WTH?  Seriously?  Mountain.  Volcano.  Crater.  Meteor.  Planet.  It has it's own heartbeat.  Whatever you chose to call it, you know what it is.  Pimple.  Zit.  But this was one of those ones that is just sort of flat, but so painful.  Ugh.  Awesome.  

DO.

NOT.

TOUCH.

please go away.
 I mean, really, I'm 36.  I dealt with this when I was 15. I paid my dues to the God's of Acne.  I don't need you around now, 20 years later.

go away.

So there's that.  

On Saturday one of my BFF's and I took a little road trip to the outlets to shop till we dropped.  Literally, my feet felt like they'd fall off by the time we jumped into the car at the end of the day.  My phone tracked 9,000 some steps.  It was fun to shop with my BFF's daughter, who will be 11 (WHAT?) in September.  She is such a good girl.  My friend is such an amazing mom!  It was fun to see the girly stuff she picked.  I also learned that I would def. suck as the mom of a girl.  #1, everything I picked out and said "Oh, look, Bren, this is so cute!" she'd just look at me like "Aunt Jenn, you are so old."  I mean, I felt like an old lady.  #2, I would be in so much trouble if I had a little girl.  It's easy to shop for S, S, and P.  Find a soccer shirt?  A football shirt?  Some jeans?  A button down?  Good to go.  But the colors and the patterns...the little stars and the coral and the navy and the pink and the gold and the silver and the mix and match and the bright colors and the greys and the stripes and the polka dots...wowza, I'd be in some serious trouble.  How do you moms of daughters not go into debt?!

The boys are set to go for the first days of school, except for their backpacks.  Pretty pumped about being done so early, as I'm usually busting my ass the weekend before school.  We met my cousin and her kids for a super late dinner at Ruby Tuesday (hello salad bar!) and laughed until we hurt.  I tried really hard to walk around to get my phone to 10,000 steps, and I may or may not have made a fool of myself dancing to and from the salad bar with my phone, but I only made it to 9,898.  I know, I should have run around my house when I got home, but I figure that the times I was walking around and didn't have it on me, I totally walked at least 10,000 steps!  The only thing I bought were these adorable pj pants.  Because I love birds, pink and navy.



Snail as Big Ben




Sunday we took a trip to Lowes to pick out our backsplash for our kitchen reno that is happening THIS WEEK!  I have gone back and forth and back and forth.  I was totally convinced for a long time that I was going to go with straight white subway tile.  But the more I thought about it, with our granite, which is mostly creamy white with black, grey, red, and sliver throughout, and painting our cabinets antique white later, I thought the white subway tiles would have been too much white.  So, I found this.  Eeek!!  So excited!!!  I think with this being between the white-ish counters and the white-ish cabinets, it will be perfect!!!