Word Vomit-Conversation With A Tree Hugging Hippie

Happy Monday. At the end of my last Word Vomit Post, I opened up this series for submissions, and have enjoyed reading the results. It is so refreshing to feel that I am not alone in my suffering. That others out there also share my disease. 

Here is a story from one of my fellow sufferers. Sarah Bluestar:

--- So there I was, a college student at a trade school, which is known for being super touchy-feely and overall pretty woo woo, ya know. So I had a TA who was, beyond being brilliant at what he taught, and probably the most knowledgeable guy in Utah on the particular subject. The epitome of a tree-hugging hippie. 

Source

A Letter of Concern -Dear Cousin

Dear Cousin in Arizona,

I was so excited to get your text about your new baby being born! It was so exciting that I didn't even mind that it came at 12:45am. 

My excitement quickly ended however when I received a response text from someone else. And realized it was a group text.

Word Vomit-My Trip To The Motherland

Recently I took a trip to the Motherland, the place where my Father was born, where many people who share my culture live, or return to, to attend college, and/or raise their families. I personally cannot live there. I need to live in California, because If I moved to the Motherland I would literally dry up like a fish in the desert. However I do enjoy visiting there often, to see my friends and family, to shop, and to feel like I am not the only one in the world like me.

It's OK to Wait and Wish

It's OK 

...that I never really got "baby hungry" again after LG was born.

...that I just wanted my kids to be born close together because I liked being close in age to my siblings.

...that The Rookie convinced me months ago, that we should wait until the baby is born to find out if it is a boy or a girl.

...that he changed his mind a couple weeks later. But it was too late because I was already on board.

...that every time we have an ultra sound, we tell the Ultrasound Tech not to let us know the gender. Then we both sit there with our eyes glued to the screen, hoping that we will accidently see a gender discerning body part.

A Necklace And Some Dreams.

Last year I attended an A-Maz-Ing Mini Blog Conference called Elevate. At the conference, I received a swag bag with several awesome parting gifts in it.  One of which was this sweet necklace from Brag About It.

How fitting, I'm bragging about it.

When I first saw it, I thought it was lovely, but the hot air balloon didn't quite speak to me.  Maybe if it was a dolphin, or a lemon, or a starfish, or a star, or any number of other tchotchki type images that I have come to love over the years.  But I wasn't quite in love with it.  My first thought was to gift it to someone. But then I began thinking about Hot Air Balloons.

I remembered The Rookie describing to me what Sonoma County California was like.  (He lived there in College.)  And that he really wanted to take me there and take me up in a hot air balloon.

Source

This got me thinking about how he has dreams for us too.  I sometimes throw myself a pitty party when I think about all of the things that I want to do.  The places I want to visit, the things I want to see, the "what ifs", and  "I wishes", and it gets me pretty bummed.

Blog Launch Party Giveaway

Photo by my friend Mac

Well Party People, today is the last day of the Blog Launch Party. In honor of Awards Season, here is my acceptance speech.

First I would like to thank my readers and followers. You guys are awesome. Thank you for reading and following, and commenting on my Blog. You have no idea how much it means to me, but it really means a great deal. I like you almost as much as I like Pinterest.

I want to thank my Husband for supporting my Blogging habit, even though he sometimes reads my Blog, and then uses the things I write, to tease me. 

I want to thank my friends and family for telling me that I am funny, even when most of the time they don't laugh at my jokes in person. I would like to thank my experienced Blogger friends for answering all my questions, and for telling me that they like my post ideas, even though my ideas are often awkward and/or offensive.

I want like to thank my cable guy for figuring out that the reason things weren't working properly that time, was because my neighbor's cable guy spliced our line, thus robbing us, and causing signal complications. You're the best Alfonzo.

I'd like to thank my sister for her encouragement, and for being willing to edit my posts for me when I needed her to. Oh and also for helping me figure out my Blog name, and for taking photos for me. And for reading my posts and pretending to laugh at the jokes in front of me, so I could build up my confidence.  

I want to thank my Mom for always encouraging me in whatever I want to pursue, and for teaching me that I have abilities above what I perceive in myself.

Finally, I would like my Little Giant for allowing me to fill my Facebook and Instagram with pictures of him. Even though, after these past 30 days of straight posting, he is so sick of getting his picture taken, that he refuses to smile, or look at me when I have the camera out.

Now, On to the giveaway!

As stated in the Blog Party Banner which has been on my page for the past 30 days, all new GFC Followers are automatically entered in a giveaway which takes place today 1/13/13!

(When you read this next part could you please read it to yourself in the announcers voice from The Price Is Right? I would really appreciate it, because that's how I was thinking it when I wrote it.)

So here it is. One Lucky new Google Friend Connect Follower is about to win their choice of either...

1. A $20 gift card to any store or restaurant they wish! Amazon, Itunes, Zoolilly, Target, McDonalds... (just kidding, well OK, not really). Whatever store they want! 

(Still reading in the Announcer's voice? Good)

or...

2. Two months of Free Large add space on this here Blog! This will only be appealing to other bloggers but that's OK!

I know what I would choose! Lets see what they will choose.

(Do you like how I didn't mention what the giveaway was for until right now? Yeah that wasn't some elaborate scheme or anything, it was because I had no clue what I was going to give away until this morning. How do you like them apples?)

And the winner is...

Leisure M.

Congratulations! I just sent you an email on how to claim your Prize! 

If you do not respond to the email within 5 days I will keep the gift card for myself and buy Pancakes, because that's what I'm into right now. 

Or...I guess I will pick another winner. 

5 days Leisure M, so get on it and claim your prize!

Disclaimer: Should the winner go for the gift card option, whichever store they chose must have giftcards available for purchase either online, or in the Southern California area.

The Best Bad Day Ever

It was 10:39, I was Sca-rambling to get Little Giant in a sweatshirt, and get him out the door so we could go walking with our friends before I got too tired and cancelled. I was starving, and knowing that McDonalds had already stopped serving breakfast for the day (yeah, I'm not letting that one go for a while, sorry peeps), I quickly inhaled a granola bar, and packed a couple oranges and headed out. I picked up my good friend Angelina and we went to the park and did a couple laps around the duck pond with our kids in my new double jogging stroller.

Angie was walking fast, trying to shake off the very last of her baby weight.  I was walking as fast as I could with all this baby belly weight to carry. But we were both determined to get out and get walkin'.

Once upon a time, I used to run. I love running. But as soon as August hit with 100+ degree weather, and my morning sickness set in, I was done runnin'. A while ago, my doctor told me to exercise, and that yoga was not enough, so I should try to walk. Yeah, that didn't make me walk.

And then when Kim Kardashian got pregnant, I was reading about it online on some gossipy news website, and I started clicking on all the other celebrity pregnancy stories on the page.  I accidently clicked on the collection of pregnant celebrities who have posed nude on magazine covers over the last 20 years. (Yeah, if you are pregnant, don't do that.) So that made me actually start walking.

McDonalds Writes Back

I received the following response to my Letter of Concern to McDonalds. This post will make more sense if you read that post first.

Source

McDonalds.CustomerCare@us.mcd.com
to me

Hello TWIT:

It's OK

Photo by Dawn Altier Photography

It's OK...

...that I just started my third trimester, and I am having intense Braxton Hicks Contractions + serious back pain all day long.

...that my Dr. told me to limit my on-my-feet-activity to 4-6 hours per day. And that now I have to go to physical therapy. And all manner of other instructions that are equally inhibiting.

Once upon a time in Mexico

(No not the movie, although that movie is completely hilarious)

Once upon a time in Mexico, The Rookie and I went to a flea market/indoor swap-meet to buy a few things. I love Turquoise jewelry, and instantly fell in love with this necklace when I saw it. But the vendor wanted way to much for it.

A Letter of Concern-McDonalds Breakfast

Dear McDonalds,

Lets talk about your breakfast for a moment shall we? First of all, your pancakes are amazing. I don't know what you put in them, bits of fluffy clouds, unicorn tears, crack maybe? But whatever it is, it is amazing, and they are delicious.

There is only one problem with them, and that is that they are not available after 10:30am. Do you know what it is like to pull into a McDonalds drive thru at 10:38am, and the realize you are too late for pancakes, and have to pull out of the drive thru to go find a Jack In The Box where they serve breakfast all day?

There are some neighborhoods where you have to drive for miles to find the Jack In The Box. You even pass another McDonalds on the way. But if someone wants breakfast, they are going to get breakfast. And my friends, there are days when I just want breakfast.

You know if this is the only good business decision they ever made, it would still make them billions of dollars, because they are literally stealing your breakfast customers, and it's all your fault.

Didn't you see the movie Big Daddy?

Sorry about the language here peeps.

"Dear Lord, Thank you for Social Distortion".

It was one of those days....

One of those days when you are barely hanging on, fighting to put one foot in front of the other. One where the stress of all you are doing feels like it is literally killing you, and you don't know if you are going to even make it home. You know, one of those days.

My sister and I own a small business. A Baking company. (Well really a baked goods decorating company. I know what you're thinking, and I don't love baking. But I do love decorating. My sister and I are artists, and we see cake, and frosting, and chocolate as an art medium. So I endure the baking part to get to the decorating part.) Anyway, we have a business, and a few amazing loyal customers, and we often have a booth at local craft boutiques.

This is my sister and I, on a much better day, at a much more amazing boutique.
See the McDonalds Breakfast in the background? Yeah, it was a much better day.

"Mexican Pizza"

As you know, I don't love to cook by any means, I cook because I love my husband, and the other people I cook for. But I will share this recipe with you, because it is one of the few things that I kind of enjoy making.

So, here you go.

In the early 90's Seven Layer Dips were huge.  It was like the cool thing to have at your grunge rager or something.  One day, my sister came home from spanish class with this recipe for what was called "Mexican Pizza".  

Word Vomit-Blind in one eye

I was recently attending a football game with my Father-in-law.  I love that man.  He introduces me as his daughter.  I love that.  In fact if my husband turns out to be just like his dad, I won't mind at all.

When my father-in-law was just a boy, his brother shot him in the eye with a Bee-bee Gun.  Just like in the movie A Christmas Story the mother warns the boy.  "You'll shoot your eye out!"  

Best Line Ever-The Greater Good

Original Photo Credit

This Best Line Ever comes to us from Disney/Pixar's 
The Incredibles. 

Hey, when you have a little boy, sometimes you have to find genius in cartoons. And this line is pure Genius.

Boots, Skinnies, and The first Rookieism

Don't you just love Boots and Skinny Jeans?  I do. I wore them a couple times recently.

I wore this outfit to brunch with my Mom and Sisters.

The Top is from O'Neill, it is not Maternity, just flowy enough to cover this bump...for now. The jeggings are from Forever21 (Also not maternity) I also wore them here. The Boots are from Target. The necklace is from Forever21.

The Love Letter

A while back I was looking for an old photo of my husband and instead, I found an old love letter.

And it changed our marriage.

We had been married for six years, and we had been through several difficult trials together.  He had always been a support to me, and loved me through every difficult thing we had been through together.

But now he was going through something tough, and it was my turn.  He was under a lot of stress at work, (Who knew being a rookie Firefighter would be so difficult?) and he would come home grumpy a lot.