I Am Happiest When…

Intentional Happiness

Bad Mommy Moments !!! Momalom !!!

♥ I’m home with Aidan, Adam, and the cats, and we’re all simply relaxing and being together.
♥ Helena is lying on my legs and purring and purring.
♥ I’m at Disney World.
♥ I have a huge pile of books I can’t wait to read, and not being able to decide which one to start with first.
♥ I’m laughing my head off over the most ridiculous stuff.
♥ Aidan is cracking up at something on YouTube or something I said.
♥ It’s Saturday morning and I don’t have to get up early.
♥ It’s payday and rent’s not due.
♥ I’m getting a hug.
♥ I discover a song that gives me chills from the inside out because it’s so good. (Last song that did that for me was Run by Air.)
♥ I look through my Flickr photostream and remember how blessed and lucky I am to have all those memories, and the opportunities to make more.

Since most of the snow is gone, I no longer hyperventilate when I go outside. Friday, I wore pink to work, and I wore my hair in two braids. I’m starting to feel closer to myself, and I know that as the days keep getting longer and the Equinox approaches, I’ll only get better. Just… please Baby Jesus, don’t let us have another blizzard. Or any more days when the temperature drops below 25F. I’ll be able to (sorta) tolerate the rest of the winter if those two things are in place.

121 days until the Summer Solstice!

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Aidan Meets an Idol (Picture)

For Christmas, Adam got Aidan an mp3 player, and he loaded it with all sorts of songs he thought Aidan would like. This gift has been a HIT. Aidan needs music when he’s going to sleep, and the mp3 player is perfect.

Adam loaded up a LOT of music, and Aidan took to it right away. Especially the songs by “Weird Al” Yankovic. He goes around singing the songs, and he listens to them over and over.

This morning, we woke up very early and headed out to Naperville for Anderson’s Bookshop’s 9th Annual Children’s Literature Breakfast. One of the keynote speakers was none other than “Weird Al” Yankovic.

Aidan and "Weird Al" Yankovic

Aidan got all shy and cute around him. He was speechless, but he had the biggest grin on his face. It was awesome. πŸ™‚

It’s things like this that make living in Chicago pretty darn cool.

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General Life Update

You know what makes me sad? How QUICKLY weekends fly by. At least I got the full two days this time around, though. Last weekend, I worked on Saturday from 10am-5pm. It’s hard enough to work on a Saturday, but to do it for seven hours made it even harder. I’m really glad I get overtime, and it was kind of nice to be in the proofreader’s area by myself. I could sing all I wanted without worrying about anyone hearing me and subsequently running from the building with bleeding ears. Friday, I worked from 9am-930pm. My brain was officially fried by the time I got home that night.

I won the book Slice of Cherry (and other cool stuff) from Dia Reeves. And I held off on reading it forever, partially because I knew it would be out there and I wanted to be in the right frame of mind to read it. Partially because I knew I’d enjoy it and sometimes I like to make myself really wait until I dive into something I know I’ll like. Cause the anticipation can be as much fun as the actual activity, right?

I started reading it today, and I’m almost done. Folks, this is not a small book. It’s 500 pages. And I have 52 pages left. I will finish it tonight. I am enjoying it highly. HIGHLY. Dia is an ace author, and I love her snarkiness. She is seriously talented. And kinda twisted. In a good way. Add her to my list of authors who inspire me muchly.

I am so eager for spring, especially the part of spring where the rain and grey and 50F days stop and the sun shines and the trees are blossoming and flowers are everywhere. I am so eager for that. In Chicago, I’m typically wearing my pea coat all through April and most of May. The weather usually doesn’t get warm enough for short sleeves (at least for me–I run cold) until early or mid June.

The temperature when I left work Thursday morning was -5F. Right now? It’s 43F. Hard to believe that what I thought was so cold just a couple months ago seems like a HEATWAVE now. The sun’s been out, and the snow’s been melting like crazy. The Bobcats have been everywhere cleaning up the slushy stuff from the streets. Maybe I’ll be able to actually cross the bridge without walking in the street tomorrow morning!

For some reason, ever since I updated WordPress, some of my Flickr pictures are not showing up on my posts. I don’t know if this is a Flickr thing or a WP thing, but I do know that it is annoying me. (update: Someone else posted the same thing on the Flickr Help forums. It’s a Flickr thing.)

In other random news, I’ve been relaxer-free for almost two years now. That’s the longest I’ve gone without a relaxer since I was 12 years old. I’ve straightened my hair a couple times since then (blow out and flat iron), mostly to see the length, but also to make it so I can smash it under a hat in this cold weather. Funnily enough, I’ll see a picture of me with the straight, long hair and feel prettier, although there are times I’ll look at a picture with my curls and think HOLY CRAP, MY HAIR IS COOL! I guess I’m still not done transitioning.

Still adjusting to life as a (often more than) full-time office worker again. I miss midday yoga so badly. A couple weeks ago, I tried a restorative candlelight class and absolutely loved it. I haven’t been back though because it’s Sunday nights from 7:30-9pm. Usually around that time, I’m bathing and reading and winding down for the night. Seems like a good time to do the yoga right? Except it would be better if I didn’t have to go out to do it. We’ll see how it is in the summer, though. I think it’ll be much easier for me to deal with the late evening classes. My body misses yoga. Very much. I feel like I need to take a vigorous class just to get my chakras all back in balance. Then a restorative class to recover!

One thing I need for sure (in addition to yoga) is a massage. I have vouchers for THREE of them. I think I will schedule one for this week. 6:30p.m. Wednesday. The place is a hop, skip, and jump away from my office. I can leave work and go straight to an hour of bliss.

And then Thursday, I am taking 1/2 day off work because Aidan’s flying in! πŸ˜€ Did I mention that he texts now? Today, he got ahold of his dad’s phone and we texted back and forth. It was so cute. Can you imagine any of us texting at age 8? Technology is crazy. Aidan’s never known a world without cell phones. Or iPods. Or CDs. Or computers, DVD Players, cable TV.

Gah, I cannot wait to see him!!!

I’m seriously considering buying a new DSLR. I am looking at the Canon Rebel XS. I don’t need any of the super, duper fancy $2000 ones. It’s just that my current one was acting buggy when we were at Disney, and there are some dust particles in it that I have to Photoshop out of every picture that has blue sky in the background. I don’t want to go out on me when I am taking pictures of something important. Also, the difference between my Canon pix and the point and shoot pix are off the charts. I would miss not having a DSLR. I’ve had my XT for nearly four years now. It’s gone with me on many, many trips. It has served me well.

My book to buy list is a mile long. And I was toying with the idea of buying a The North Face coat. Maybe next winter, though. I have also had it in the back of my mind to get Amazon Prime again, but I can’t bring myself to spend the money just yet. I haven’t shopped much at all since Disney World, to be honest. Groceries is where the bulk of my expenditure has been going, and even that’s notout of control. Oh yea, I did need a new tire right before that big blizzard hit. But as far as leisure spending? Not so much lately. I feel awfully disciplined. And also goal-minded. That camera isn’t going to buy itself, you know?

I should get to bed. As usual, those last precious hours every Sunday night speed by. Time for a long work week ahead–but I possibly have a massage to look forward to Wednesday evening, and I DEFINITELY have Aidan to look forward to this weekend. Not to mention temperatures that are not sucktastically cold!

So, with that said… good night all! πŸ™‚

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I’ve Got The Winter Time Blues :(

I’m sure you’ve all heard about the big blizzard that hit quite a bit of the country last week. There were many names for it. Blizzaster. Snowcapolypse. Whatever. I’m having a much harder time with winter as a result of it.

My dislike of cold weather started my first quarter at Ohio State, in January of 1994. Treks to class averaged 10-12 minutes of walking from the dorm to the classroom building, then all the way across campus to a lecture hall. Didn’t help that my first class of the day was math, and it started at 8:30am. I don’t like mornings, and I was completely unprepared for the cold cutting through my pants, my coat. (I was unprepared in many ways for that first quarter of college, but that’s a completely different blog post.)

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