my scramblings & ramblings
Ronni: I use a curling iron.
Aidan: Yes, you twist your hair up and pull it out and then there’s a curl!
Ronni: That’s right. You’re so smart!
Aidan: I eat a lot of Smarties, that’s why.
(Originally published at Anywhere Is…)
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Today, Aidan and I were talking about Dora, school, stuff like that. I also like to talk to him to see what kinds of things he knows and is learning. Today, I asked him about things that begin with T. He said the usual. Toys, stuff like that. I told him that “tiny” begins with T, which he took and ran with.
Ronni: What are some tiny things?
Aidan: Jerry from Tom and Jerry is tiny.
Ronni: That’s right. What else is tiny?
Aidan: When I was in your tummy being a baby, I was a teeny tiny dot.
How adorable is that? 
(Originally published at Anywhere Is…)
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And I’ve been SO busy, I haven’t even had time to make lists of the stuff I need to do before and for the trip. I’m hoping that Saturday, after my hair appointment, I can come home and square things away. I’m supposed to work late tomorrow night, so that’s out. Eeek. However, my paycheck next week will be very nice! I’m purposely waiting until near the end of the trip to do the bulk of my souvenir shopping. (Don’t worry, Rosa, I haven’t forgotten about your Alice pin!)
I think I’ll get it together, though. I am almost done with all the shopping I need to do. I’d like to get another memory card for at least one of the cameras (although we’ll have at least three cameras total!), I got some cute new shirts and a pair of shorts (for $5!), a new necklace, and some earrings. I am so happy we have an Aeropostale downtown now. SO HAPPY! Hmm… I want to get more sunscreen, although I do have a can of nice spray on stuff. It’s a few years old, though, so I don’t know if it’ll still be any good. I do NOT want to get burned!
Here are some things I need to do:
– clear off memory cards
– recharge camera batteries
– buy sunscreen
– load and recharge iPod
– sync iPhone (although I tend to do this every night anyway)
– choose a bag to carry around the park
– gather up Disney stuff (confirmations, Disney dollars, Magical Express tags, ears, etc.)
– PACK!!!!
Yes, EARS! Melissa and Eli bought us the bride and groom ears! I’m so happy about that! Adam looks SO cute in his. I’m sure I’ll look cute, too.
I’m so very excited to be going to Disney World. I have the Wishes song on my iPhone as my default ringtone.
Tonight, I talked to little Aidan on the phone. He and his dad were on speaker, and Aidan was getting tired and a little bit grouchy. Anyway, he was trying to say he wasn’t sleepy.
Aidan: I’m not sleepy. I’m like an owl.
Ronni: Aw, he’s a night owl.
Chris: Yes, just like his mommy. Aidan, are you nocturnal?
Aidan: Yes, that means I wake up in the night.
Chris: Do you hibernate?
Aidan: No, I’m not a bear!
He’s so freakin’ smart. I miss him so much. Earlier this week, I mailed him a package full of cool stuff, and he got it today. He said he likes everything in there. Among the things I put in the package:
– butterfly bath bomb from Lush
– 2 shirts from Old Navy (he said he LOVES them and can’t wait to wear them!)
– sour gummy worms
– fruit snacks
– blue self-stick notes in the shape of an A
Schawk! is still going well. Fourth quarter officially starts this weekend, though, so they’re already asking people to do overtime. I can’t this week–I’ll be preparing for Disney World. But soon enough, I’ll be working 10 hour days and Saturdays too, probably. I’ll be loving my paychecks as a result of all that work. It’s a decent place to work. But I am glad tomorrow is Friday. This week was a bit tiring.
Hmm, what else? I want to get it all out while I’m here, because I don’t know if I’ll have time to blog again before I go!!!
OH, I know. Check this out:
See the big giraffe? Yeah, I TOTALLY want it. I went up to it in the store today and hugged it. So cute.
Oh, I know. Yesterday, I went and saw Romney at her job. She works a BLOCK from me. Takes me like, 2 minutes to walk there. She’s SO CUTE. I adore her.
OK, I need to go because I’m typing like crap and losing my train of thought, AND I am getting sleepy. Plus Crookshanks just plopped his big butt on my lap. Please forgive any typos. I’ll try to blog tomorrow or Saturday, if I have some time. But for now… good night!
(Originally published at Anywhere Is…)
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I had a fun Labor Day weekend. My friend from college, who I’ll refer to as friendAdam, came into town and crashed at our pad. I don’t have pictures of him to post at his request, but we had a great time. It had been about 10 years (at least) since I’d last seen him, and we spent hours catching up. He also had a goal to eat his way through Chicago, and Adam and I, naturally, had to tag along.
The first place we went to eat was Hot Doug’s.
Here I am enjoying a Chicago-style hot dog and a regular ole corn dog.
For dinner, we went to Arturo’s, a 24 Mexican food joint, and I had a tostada. It was amazing. I woke up craving it for breakfast the next morning. After Arturo’s, we went to Margie’s Candies, where I had my Swiss chocolate sundae…
…with the warm chocolate marshmallow sauce. 
Mmmmm. That’s another thing I often crave for breakfast.
The next day, we went to Weber Grill where I had filet mignon and a baked potato, and a passion fruit mango margarita on the rocks.
We walked down Michigan Avenue:
Here is one of the funny dresses along Michigan Ave. It’s made out of Coke and other pop cans.
We also went to Millennium Park. Cloud Gate never gets old for me.
That night, we’d attempted to go to Martini Park for dinner, but they had a $10 cover for the boys (I was free!) and the live band there was WAYYYY too loud. We then tried to go to Lou Malnotti’s for pizza, but seriously, a touristy place during Labor Day weekend… not a good idea. There was a 50 minute wait. So we went home and partied with the neighbors. When the hunger got to us, we headed to Pie Eyed. Adam was VERY happy about numerous things.
The next day, we went to friendAdam’s cousin’s for a cookout/party which was a lot of fun, and Monday night, we finally made it to Martini Park. friendAdam had been talking about this place and their chocolate chip cookie dough won tons ALL weekend, and we finally got some:
We also had Kobe beef sliders, pulled pork sliders, macaroni and cheese sticks, and home made donuts.
It was a great weekend!
Today, Aidan officially started kindergarten! I talked to him last night and he was very excited. Apparently, there are FIVE Aidans in his class. FIVE. *hits self on head*
Before his big trip, he went to Phoenix with his dad and Matt. Chris sent me some of the pictures.
Monday, I start my assignment at Ambrosi. I’m excited and nervous. I know I’ll get back into the working all day flow again, but it’s still kinda crazy. Then soon after that is Disney! Woooo!
I popped into the library today to pick up Breaking Dawn, and I also got Anybody Out There by Marian Keyes (it’s a reread–I just reread Rachel’s Holiday for the first time in years and fell in love with the Walsh sisters all over again), Suite Scarlett by Maureen Johnson, Wuthering Heights, a couple of Disney World travel guides, and a couple of other books. YAY books.
And today was a good mail day. Rosa sent me a really CUTE ampersand tee-shirt. She’s so good to me! ♥
Who watched ANTM last night? I’m looking forward to this season, and for now, I am on team JOCLYN, ISIS, and ELINA. We’ll see how things pan out, yes?
I suppose that’s it for now. Adam wants to watch the last two episodes of Arrested Development with me. We have all three seasons on DVD.
(Originally published at Anywhere Is…)
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ETA: Professional wedding photos are up here! They look amazing.
Today, Aidan headed back to Ohio to spend the rest of the summer with my mom. After that, he will go on a trip to Phoenix with his dad, and then he starts kindergarten. Seems like yesterday he was moving in for the summer. I keep expecting to hear him calling for me and asking for more Froot Loops or something like that.
The good-bye was painless. He’s excited about the rest of his summer adventures and I’m excited for him. I’ll miss him though. He has the cutest little cheeks and ears; I’ll miss nibbling on them whenever I have the chance. This morning, he woke up with his face and hands covered in marker. I’m pretty sure he purposefully colored his hands for some crazy reason. Thank GOD he used watercolor markers, not Sharpies!
I woke up at about 2 or 3 am with crazy allergy symptoms. The back of my throat was EXTRA itchy, and I was sneezing up a storm. I took an allergy pill this morning knowing it would pretty much render me useless all day.
I spent the day reading and napping. Adam spent the day doing mad loads of laundry. He heard that I wanted to put up a clothesline, and he went ahead and did it for me. So tomorrow, I plan to do the towels and let them line dry. There’s nothing like line dried linens. They smell amazing.
Today, Paws contacted me about finalizing Helena’s adoption. As if there was going to be any doubt! That little kitty had my heart the first moment I saw her. She eats like a little piggy, I’m worried that she’ll get fat. She’s adorable, though. Cuddly as all bananas, and she follows me everywhere. When I’m in bed, she lies either on my legs, at my feet, or right beside me. And she loves to be rubbed under her chin. She’s an awesome cat. We’re up on the adoption site, by the way. We’re picture #17 under the July 11th week.
I’ve been tweaking my site for the past few days, adding little things to the sidebar, adding new pages, and playing with the CSS a bit. I’m happy with how it’s evolving.
Tomorrow, it’ll be a week that Adam and I have been married. It’s been amazing. He brought me breakfast in bed twice already, he does all the cooking and kitchen cleaning; basically he takes amazing care of me. I like this life.
I’ve been feeling extra blessed lately. I am not sure if I’m just starting to relax, or if the meds are helping me. It’s probably a combination of many things. Almost all the big milestones in my life are finished (all I have left is finding full-time work), and I’m finding myself sleeping entire days away because of all the tension and adrenaline leaking out of my body. I’ve been so tightly wound the last few years, it feels weird to kind of relax and enjoy life. Adam helps me, though.
Here are things I’m happy about:
01. Being married to Adam. ♥
02. Aidan getting to enjoy a good rest of the summer with more people who love him.
03. Discovering good music (Kerli, M.I.A.)
04. Getting my hands on a rare Japanese New Kids on the Block CD called More Hangin’ Tough. This CD has versions of I’ll Be Loving You Forever and You Got It (The Right Stuff) that I only heard on the radio and could never find in the stores. I’ve been looking for these versions for years and I finally found this CD on eBay. The CD came straight from Japan, and I’m so excited to finally have it.
05. A cute little cat named Helena.
06. Living in a cool city.
07. Getting better at finding my way around said city. (Cas told me that she’s impressed at how well I get around now, and she is impressed that I give directions to people).
08. Doctors who care more about seeing to her patient’s health than making a profit; discounts when you self-pay at the doctor’s office.
09. Friends who take amazing wedding pictures and share them all with me!
10. Tang! Yummy! 😛
So, I got out all the scrapbooking stuff, and yesterday, I finally got my pictures from Snapfish. I didn’t grumble at the very late delivery and processing. The photos have been prepaid for years, and the shipping was free. All I had to pay was $1.32 for more than 100 prints. And it’s not like I’d have had time to work on the scrapbook last week anyway. Plus I needed adhesives. BUT now the pictures are here, I don’t have any work assignments lined up for the next few weeks, so I’m going to work on my scrapbooks. One will be an Aidan book and one will be a general scrapbook of the past few years. Plus a wedding book, but I’m still waiting for pictures so that I can order all the prints at once. Hoping for another free shipping Snapfish code soon!.
I guess that’s all for now. I had other stuff, but I can’t think of it at the moment. I’m thirsty, which always happens right before bed. Not good, seeing as my bladder is tiny and overactive as it is. But either way, I’ll be up, so I might as well not be thirsty. Good night!
(Originally published at Anywhere Is…)
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