For our fifth anniversary, we wanted to do something special, just the two of us. After a flurry of last-minute planning, we ended up booking a weekend in New York City. The last time Pete and I visited New York was for my 30th birthday. I was pregnant, but most people didn't know yet. I woke up on my birthday at 5AM to watch the Royal Wedding, then we hopped on a plane to the big city.

This time was different. We packed Eli up to spend the weekend with his grandparents, and since this is the longest we've been away from him, there was a fair bit of anxiety on our part. I made Eli a countdown calendar so he could see how many days remained until we got back. I'm pretty sure he didn't give a hoot about us going away - it was a little vacation for him, too.

On Friday we were up at some ungodly hour to fly to New York. We got there midmorning, dropped our bags at the hotel, and spent the next couple of hours grabbing takeout and wandering to Central Park to eat. Once we'd checked in and gotten cleaned up and organized, we headed to Brooklyn where we spent some time wandering around the neighbourhoods before walking over the Brooklyn Bridge back to Manhattan. The weather was perfect and the sunset? Come onnn. Like something out of a movie. We finished up the evening with pizza at Lombardi's (so good) and dessert and champagne back at the hotel.

Saturday, we slept in a little, lingered over some breakfast, and spent the morning doing some shopping. We visited the New York Public Library (you know, "the" library) in the afternoon and then headed to Central Park for a run - this has been on my bucket list for ages. Saturday night was dinner at a French bistro followed by Les Miserables on Broadway, probably my favourite show ever.

On Sunday we had to leave our hotel midmorning to get back to the airport, so we didn't get a chance for more than breakfast and a quick walk to say goodbye to one of our favourite cities. We got home to see that Eli had been a superstar the whole time we were gone. Nothing like that first hug at the airport after a couple days away to reinforce how much you love your little man.

It was a perfect little getaway for us and just the thing to celebrate five big years as Smug Marrieds.






In case you're interested in places to sleep and eat...

We stayed at the Sofitel
We ate dinners at Lombardi's and Un Deux Trois
Breakfast at Gaby is not to be missed!

1. My little boy is three months old today. He's officially an infant now, making the big upgrade from newborn status. Happy three months, Eli! Want to hear something freaky? I don't remember being pregnant. I mean, I remember it, but having the big belly, waddling around, the feeling of toting a fat, writhing, kicking watermelon 24/7 - I don't remember what any of that felt like. Is blocking out those memories nature's way of trying to trick me into wanting another baby? Don't get your hopes up. STFU, ovaries.



2. Yesterday's big accomplishment was organizing the cutlery drawer. I don't have a before picture, because it was a veritable orgy of utensils. I took everything out and put all the orphan knives, forks, and spoons elsewhere, so now everything in this drawer matches and we have backups in case of emergency. I don't know what kind of emergency requires a spoon, and I don't know when we'd get to the point where all 16 spoons are dirty, but there you go. I bought the clear plastic organizer at Stokes this week for 50% off - it would also work for organizing makeup, jewelry, craft supplies, and so on. Now when I open the drawer I don't have heart palpitations. I just need to do this to the rest of the kitchen.

3. Eli made Valentines for his grandparents, aunts and uncles. I found them, surprise surprise, on Pinterest. I forgot to take pictures of Eli's masterpiece but here's the inspiration:

Photos via Pinterest courtesy of this blog

Have you ever tried to create paint handprints of a three month old? It's rull fun. See, babies don't understand you when you say "Flatten your hand out and press it on the paper!" They just want to make fists and rub paint all over their faces, clothes, and rug. Babies suck at crafts.

4. So far I haven't made any progress on my February resolution, which is to try a new way of working out. The closest I've come is giving the side-eye to the rowing machines at the gym. Feel free to throw your suggestions my way. Is there a class I should try taking or a video you'd recommend? Or even just a routine you've seen online that looks good?

Please don't say Zumba. I tried Zumba once and I will eat cat feces before I attempt Zumba again.

5. Even though I'm doing the SAHM thing these days, I probably look forward to Fridays even more than I do when I'm at work. I love having Pete home for a couple days and getting to hang out as a family. This weekend we'll be doing a little shopping, having a birthday visit and lunch with Pete's dad who turned 60 this week, and catching up on some stuff around the house. Nothing too crazy planned, just a nice cozy weekend with my boys. Happy Friday, kids!

I used to get excited about things like Caribbean vacations, ponies, long weekends jam packed with parties, and Coach bags.

These days, two of the things I'm most excited for I'm also the most embarrassed about, and yet I'm posting about them on the Internet. Because I'm JUST. SO. EXCITED!

Thing #1: The Weekend with No Plans

This coming weekend, I have no plans (see what I did there, with the foreshadowing from the line above?) Correction: I have plans, and they revolve around things like cleaning the house, organizing the nursery closet, planting some new flowers in my flower boxes, getting an oil change, maybe doing a craft, making some lasagna, watching TV, walking the dog...basically, leaving the house as little as possible and not doing anything remotely exciting.

I don't know if this is considered "nesting". I call it "getting my shit together". Whatever it is, is it sad that I'm looking forward to doing it? Please don't feel compelled to answer.

Thing #2: The Home Organization Binder


A few weeks ago, this post inspired me to check out the Just Mommies Home Organization Plan (yeah, I know, the name "Just Mommies" is gag worthy and if the word "mommy" was taken out of circulation rightthissecond it would still be eons too late). But trust me: This plan is awesome. It assigns you daily, weekly, and monthly tasks to keep your home clean and organized, and there are regular catch-up days in case you do let some of your tasks slide. Right now, we operate on a let-it-go-until-we-can't-stand-it cleaning schedule, where there are dog fur tumbleweeds rolling across the floor and we've both been going commando for a week because there's no clean underwear left. This plan has you completing a few items every day, so your house is in a constant state of niceness, and nothing gets out of hand.

Some people can just keep their houses spotless with apparently zero effort. I am not one of those people. I enjoy cleaning, but I need a checklist to keep me on task and to help me keep track of what's done and what's left to do - to-do lists are a huge part of my job and now, I guess, my personal life. Hold me.

So I'm taking it one step further and started putting together a home organization binder. I KNOW, RIGHT? WHO AM I. This binder will keep track of my cleaning schedules, menu planning for the coming weeks, grocery lists, monthly calendars with important dates that are coming up (car inspections and maintenance, birthdays, anniversaries, appointments), Christmas shopping/card lists, mailing addresses, etc.

And for the past several months we've already gotten into the habit of saving all our receipts, bills, bank statements, and so on, all organized into folders with labels like House, Baby, Cars, Bank, and so on.

The thought of having an organized and clean house, never sending a late birthday card again, and not having to scrounge around for dinner ingredients at 7:00 PM and then saying "F it" and getting Swiss Chalet delivered makes me bounce up and down in my chair and clap my hands with uncharacteristic housewifey glee.

I don't know if this is just a temporary phase, a desperate attempt to get my ass in gear before the baby arrives and everything goes to hell in a handbasket, or if the unimaginable Best Thing Ever has happened and I am actually becoming Martha Stewart without the prison record. Only time will tell.

How do you stay organized at home? Do you have a 'system' for staying on top of things - what works for you? 

Confession: every Friday morning when I wake up and go downstairs I sing Rebecca Black to the dog. "Seven AM, waking up in the morning. Gotta be fresh, gotta go downstairs." He stares at me. Sometimes he barks at me, which I interpret as "I loooove your singing, especially THIS PARTICULAR SONG!" so I sing louder and louder as his barks get sharper and more agitated. We're pretty much best friends.

Speaking of Rory, here he is now. Eight months old and as handsome as ever:



This weekend is my parents' birthday. Same birthday, yep. It makes it very easy to remember but financially sucky as it's always nicer when birthday gifts are spread out over the course of the year. Four out of five people in my immediate family have their birthdays within a four-week span.

I'll be heading to New Brunswick No Funswick after work to celebrate birthdays with my family, a shopping trip with my sister tomorrow, and who knows what other fun and frivolity. On Sunday Peter and I are heading to New Glasgow so I can meet my little niece Madelyn for the first time. She's five days old today. I'm a bit scared to hold her. I'm also hoping to get to see "Something Borrowed" this weekend and might attempt baking brown bread.

What are you up to this weekend?

Happy Friday!

When I was in elementary school, I'd get what I called "Sunday headaches". Nine out of 10 Sunday afternoons I'd have a headache that was more often than not accompanied by an upset stomach. My parents had a weekly ritual of going for a Sunday drive with us after lunch, and I assumed my Sunday ailment was carsickness, even though I never got carsick during any other car ride. I'd sprawl out in the back seat, kick the seat, and whine about wanting to go home.

Finally, someone had a brainwave and deduced that my Sunday headaches were stress-related, caused by me freaking out about having to go back to school on Monday morning after the weekend. The prospect of the weekend ending was so devastating to me that I'd get physically ill, week after week. I didn't even particularly dislike school. I just enjoyed the weekends so much that the idea of them coming to an end was enough to make me sick.

Lately I've been experiencing Sunday sickness again, and I'm not talking about hangovers. By the time I've shifted out of work mode, it's generally Sunday morning and I'm thinking, Oh shit. Back to the grind tomorrow.

Then the symptoms start. A little headache. A little indigestion. I start watching the clock...ten more hours until I need to go to bed...nine hours...eight hours...

I add more and more items to my Sunday to-do list. Gotta get one more thing done! Need to clean the bathroom! Should take advantage of the nice weather!

I'm working, cleaning, doing errands and basically panicking for the latter half of Sunday until I fall into bed feeling more exhausted and less rested than I did at the end of the work week, and totally unprepared for Monday morning's craziness. Don't get me wrong--I'm not a 9-to-5er and I'm completely OK with getting work stuff done in evenings and on weekends; in fact, that's when I am often most productive. And what sucks more than coming home from a full workday and having to get groceries, clean the bathroom, or do a mountain of laundry? At the same time, I can recognize when I need a time-out.

For example, yesterday started off splendidly...brunch with Peter, kickboxing class...but quickly went apeshit when I spent six hours working on a strategic plan for a client, doing laundry, and trying to plan my upcoming work week, all the while doing that annoying clock-watching and trying to cram in one more task. At 10:00 p.m. I collapsed into bed totally zonked and sad about how I'd spent the latter part of my day. I got a lot done, sure, and I was happy about my progress. But I felt like I needed another day to recover.

This has got to stop! From now on, I'm taking back Sunday. Sunday is supposed to be a day of rest, after all. It shouldn't be a day of stressing and rushing around and to-do lists WITH ALLOTTED TIMES FOR EACH TASK (have I mentioned I'm anal?) That's disgusting.

New Sunday Rules:

1. I will not do anything work-related on the laptop on Sunday between the hours of 12 noon and 9:00 p.m. If I want to work on something in the morning or do a last-minute email check later in the evening, that's OK...but that's it.
2. I will not venture into a mall or grocery store on Sunday.
3. I will spend a maximum of two hours on chores--be it housecleaning, baking, or errands.

This coming weekend is going to be deemed Weekend of Fun and Frolic. I'm making zero plans and I don't even care if I get out of my sweatpants for two whole days. I might even boycott showers. The point of a weekend is to relax, refresh, and above all, not work. This weekend, I will be enjoying a full day of not working. Sunday is going to be my new favourite day of the week.

I've been stupid busy this past week, which doesn't leave a lot of time for blog posts, or anything else for that matter. Fortunately this weekend has given me a little bit of catch-up time, and I was able to do things like shower and wash my hair, eat a meal sitting down without dropping food into my computer keyboard, and go outside during daylight hours.

I have a pretty ambitious to-do list before the weekend ends roughly five hours from now: go for a run, eat dinner, practice driving a standard (we have to wait until the mall parking lot empties out for that one), play Scrabble and have some drinky poos, and maybe read some of The Almost Moon before bed.

Here are a couple pics from our day out today: lots of walking around the city, errands, lunch at the Mongolie Grill, and a visit to the Ideal Home Show. The weather this weekend was springy and awesome. If we get any more snow this spring, I will absolutely, 100%, cry.




spraypainted in Shubie Park



I fell in love with this guy, oh so pretty :)



H2B had a bit of a bromance happening with the little black pony

Why was today so sweet? Let me count the ways:

1. I started off the day with a 4.3-ish mile run. AWESOME. I love running in the morning, both because it gets it out of the way nice and early and frees up my schedule for the rest of the day, and because it gives me such a nice burst of energy that lasts a while and a sense of accomplishment that stays with me all day long.

2. When I was in the shower post-run, H2B went to Starbucks and bought me my grande coffee with nonfat milk and Splenda. He's trained really well.

3. Megan and I went to see Confessions of a Shopaholic--mediocre film made much better by the fact that a) it's buy one ticket for regular price, get the second for $1.99 weekend at Empire and b) it meant we had Kid's Packs for lunch.

4. Went to Michael's, saw the wedding invitation DIY options, and was able to relax a little.

5. Painted two new acrylics. I'm a shitty painter, but I'm really liking these two. They're a set and I'm very happy with the end result. Clueless was on while I painted which was a great little blast from the past.

6. Cinnamon buns are baking as I speak so the apartment smells all domestic and cinnamony.

7. Next up is dinner and drinkypoos at Moxie's with H2B, Adam, and Heather. Super pumped for that (I'm starving and have been sneaking bites of raw cinnamon bun dough for the past hour.) I plan to get shittered and foolish. After that we'll either head downtown or back here for some Guitar Hero. Either option sounds equally appealing.

I'm feeling 100% better today compared to earlier this week, when I was all funky and down. I love Saturdays like this where I'm productive but don't head into the weekend with a ton of plans. Best day I've had in a long time.

<3