Welcome Amelia Renee!

Amelia Renee

January 22, 2016

8lbs 1oz 

20.5"

Happy 3rd Birthday Roxie!

Happy Birthday to the cutest little pony in the world! 

This February Miss Roxie turned 3 and had the most fabulous My Little Pony party anyone could have dreamed up. Each party guest got to make a beautiful pony tail out of ribbon and a t-shirt with felt pony eyes. We also each got a lovely pair of sparkly wings to complete our pony look. E and I absolutely love our pony shirts, in fact we liked them so much that I came home and stitched the eyes on.

Tearing into her first present!

New leggings!

Look mom, a pony castle!

Could the birthday girl be any cuter?

Oooo a bubble maker!

Getting bunny ears, with a belly full of rainbow cake.

In addition to the awesome shirt/tail/wing ensemble, Roxie's Auntie W decorated the whole apartment with rainbows and pomanders, including a rainbow photobooth with props. We had pizza, pasta, cupcakes and a beautiful rainbow cake from one of Roxie's other faux aunties. 

I could not have imagined a more perfect pony party for such a special little girl, and E and I are so happy to be part of her life as she grows up.

Insure-Me-Woes

Like most people my age, 26 brings with it not just another year, but also the loss of... dun dun dun! Insurance! Health insurance, dental insurance, vision insurance, they're all goooooone! And just for me, my student loans and car insurance also happen to come due this month, because when it rains it pours people.

Putting aside the major suck that is going to be forking over the contents of my bank account for insurance every month, losing coverage also means I have to cram all the fun and scintillating medical procedures I don't really want to have into the next two weeks.

Since continuing my current coverage through cobra isn't an option, unless I want to pay triple individual rates, it looks like I will not be buying a separate dental or vision plan. That makes vision and dental stuff top priority to get done before I lose my coverage.

Thus far, my to do list is:

• An eye exam - No changes, all good
• Order backup glasses - Still need to do, and quickly!
• Dental cleaning - Check!
• Oral surgery consultation - Done!
• Gum graft surgery - Ugh. Next week.
• Apply for Health Insurance - Don't have any words for this one. I still haven't done it yet although I've done all the pre-work. 

 

Genetically, people on my sperm donor's side of the family have crappy mouths.  They have genetically sucky gums in the front, genetically missing teeth and a whole host of other weird dental stuff. Luckily, I've escaped almost everything. I've never had a cavity and my teeth are great, but it's become apparent that the bastard gave me his shitty gums in One tiny spot. Literally just one teensy spot while the rest are perfect. I have to have a little graft to fix it and it looks like I'll be squeezing it in just under the wire, literally days before my coverage ends. Even with the coverage I'm sure I'll still be out at least a grand, but it's better than owing the whole bill.

Now I just need to decide which insurance plan I want. It's all unnecessarily complicated - Co-payments? Deductibles? Out of Pocket Max? Do I want an HMO? A PPO? Ugh. It's all so much more expensive than it should be, and it seems that no matter how I slice it, I'll end up paying either upfront, ie month to month, or in the end, with a deductible. I've got to get a better handle on what each plan means.

Happy Birthday to me, 26 Years

For being the shortest month, February is always one of our busy ones. It's part of our three month line up of "holidays" - my birthday, Valentine's Day, our Anniversary, and E's birthday. This year, even though E was really too busy to think much about anything, he still managed to make me feel special and loved on my birthday.

He started off the day by making one of my favorite breakfasts - Belgian waffles, bacon and cheese eggs. He prepped the night before and did a beautiful job, everything came out delicious. I usually do all of the cooking in our family since I love to cook, but I could definitely get used to E making yummy things. We spent the day relaxing together and finished off the night with a phenomenal dinner at my favorite steak house, Mastro's. Mastro's is definitely our splurge restaurant, the steaks are so soft and buttery and the generous sides complement them perfectly.

Mastro's <3 br="" yum="">

To top off this birthday with a little glam, E got me the most gorgeous earrings that arrived a couple days after my birthday. They're sparkly diamond cluster studs with brilliant diamond sunburst jackets so I can wear the centers casually and the whole set for more classy events. I'm absolutely in love with them and he could not have done better.

And if I thought my birthday couldn't get any better, I had a fun and tasty dinner with a family friend at BJ's and  E and I had a third birthday dinner with my mother-in-law, step-father-in-law and another family friend.   Although I'm sure all this delicious food isn't helping my waistline, I could not feel more loved and appreciated by E and our families and friends.

E, I love you so much. Thank you for making my birthday so special. I can't wait to spend the next 74 with you.

Happy Birthday, Halloween and a trip!

It's been another few weeks and I somehow built up more unpublished posts in my post graveyard. Nothing too exciting has been going on so there hasn't been anything really post worthy. I mean, I carved an owl into a pumpkin and a squirrel ate it's face off, and I got a teeny little mole/blood vessel that exploded and bled like a horror movie while I was shopping at old navy, but neither event was really deserving of it's own post. So, today I'm blogging about birthdays, halloween and my upcoming trip to visit my friend E!

Today, my little sister is celebrating her 22nd birthday with her new(ish) boyfriend, who happens to share her birthday, in Vegas! It's all very exciting since it's her first time there and her first time taking a trip with a boy. Cue the OOOooooOOoooOOooo. This one is actually very nice, quite cute, and they appear to be smitten with each other. A very big happy birthday to L and J, I really hope they have a fabulous time!

E and I haven't celebrated Halloween since the twins we used to babysit moved out of state. We're in that funny in-between space where you're too old to celebrate alone but don't have kids to trick or treat with yet.  This year, I'm actually going out to be out of town visiting my friend El over Halloween! El lives in Boise with her husband and son and I haven't had a chance to visit them since they moved out there. I'm really excited to spend some real time with them and see their house for the first time in person, since I'm sure pictures don't do it justice. El has been dealing with a nasty broken arm which makes it tough to lift her son, so I'm also looking forward to helping out and playing with her little boy.

I leave on the 30th and will be gone till the 6th, so while I'm having a fabulous time with El, I'm unfortunately going to miss my Titos Tacos election night ritual with E. We usually buy a couple boxes of tacos and camp out in front of the TV while the states report, but I'll be in there air when the first numbers start coming in. I've already voted so I don't need to be there to vote, so I'm hoping my plane gets in on time so I can maybe catch the results with E when he picks me up.  This is such an important election and there's so much at stake, I really hope the country pulls through and makes the right decision.

With that said, I wish everyone a safe and Happy Halloween filled with fabulous costumes and tons of candy :)

Death Star Pumpkin!(Source)

Happy Birthday E!

Happy 27th Birthday to my wonderful husband, E! 

This year, in addition to a good portion of a new wardrobe, E got two birthday dinners and his own personal magic show, put on by his step dad G. G, who used to be a magician and has recently gotten back into magic, put on a show for E's 4th birthday and used to use E as his magician's assistant. However, as a child, there was always one trick that E refused to help with: the guillotine. Since E is now an adult and knows how most of the tricks work, he decided to go ahead and help with the big chop. I had a moment where I was ready to say thanksbutnothanks! Get your head out of there! But miraculously, E survived. G is going to be performing in an official theater next month so we're going to have to go and see him again.

E getting his head chopped off

Once again it seems like the year has flown by, and all of a sudden E is almost thirty and it's almost time to replace his car and our plans for the future are almost happening and all of our almosts are creeping up faster than we could have ever expected! It's exciting and maybe a little bit scary, but hopefully we'll be in a different place together by E's next birthday.

Over the past year, E seems to have grown up overnight. Gone are the blonde locks and smooth face he's had since childhood, now he just "looks" like an adult. It's weird but it feels appropriate, given everything we're hoping to accomplish in the next year.

About this time last year, E at 26 years old

E at 27, all grown up!

 Look out grownupville, here we come!

Happy Birthday Little Lady

Happy First Birthday to my sweet puppy, Milou! We found our little girl in June 2011, when she was about 11 weeks old, but of course it feels like she's always been here.  She really makes E and I feel like a family instead of just a couple since she's our first baby together.

3 Months

12 Months

   

We couldn't ask for a better puppy and are going to be ordering her a new memory foam bed as her birthday present :) Happy Birthday Milou!

25 Years

Although this is a little belated, I figured I'd post it anyway since I have so many unpublished entries in my blog graveyard. 

So this past February 5th was my 25th birthday. It's hard to believe that I've hit that quarter of a century milestone when I feel both so much older and so much younger. Twenty five? That's it? Most days I feel about 35, ready for a different stage in life. But then I think wow, twenty five, I'm already a quarter of the way (if I'm lucky) through my life. Only three more of these to go and I don't know if that will be enough. E and I are now closer to 30 than we are 20 and there's so much I want to accomplish before that next milestone rushes up and catches us unawares.

I woke up on my birthday and took care of my sweet Haji. It seems no matter what that cat did, how many shoes he peed in or nights he spent hours stubbornly scratching at basement door in the middle of the night, I could never be anything less than exasperated and amused with him. It hurts even more that losing him was so intimately tied with such an aging milestone, as if I have to embark on the next phase of life and I can't take him with me. After he died, my mom told me she thought his passing signaled the end of my childhood, although I think she was just trying to get in a dig about applying to medical school. I always thought that he too would make it to twenty five, even though in hindsight it was clear he wasn't doing well this past year. If I'd been asked though, I would have never said he'd be gone before his sixteenth birthday.  Missing him feels like not being able to catch my breath around the heaviness in my chest.

After Haji was settled comfortably in his heated bed (at least he had it good right up until the end), I met a friend from out of town for a wonderful and unexpected meal at one of my favorite breakfast places, The Griddle. We got delicious, and massive, cinnamon pancakes which I highly recommend you try with at least one-three other people to help you, and spent the morning catching up on the last few years.  Aside from my wedding, I hadn't seen her since high school and it was wonderful to see how we still clicked even though we're at different places in our lives.

Recess Time Pancakes

Unlike most of my birthdays where I planned every last detail myself, this birthday I left entirely up to E. Although he leaned a little heavily on his mom, he planned a lovely dinner in the Marina and we had an intimate dinner with family and friends. There was, of course, a few things that didn't go quite right. Overly generous C let me order our shared steak rarer than he would eat, there an unnecessary bout of squabbling over who was supposed to be contributing to the bill, but everything sorted itself out in the end. More importantly, I got spend time with E, my awesome friends and my favorite little person ever, Roxie, who took great pleasure in pointing out all the boats on the water and candles in the restaurant.

It was impossible to not have a wonderful birthday evening with such good company. 

BJ's Birthday Party Drunkfest

Late Saturday night, E and I piled Pony and E's friend D into our car and drove out to Granada Hills where we met M and C, the parents of the ever adorable Roxie, for E's friend BJ's birthday party. Phew, that's a lot of letters. We knew going into the party that it was going to be an epic night of drinking, so M and I put on our best tolerant faces and let the boys loose. As I'm sure I've mentioned before, E is a huuuuge lightweight and one beer is usually enough to give him a nice buzz. He doesn't normally drink so once a year or so I become the designated driver for a night of debauchery. This one definitely took the cake though!

M looking capital H.O.T. hot! Photo C/O M's phone

Not being a drinker, the first thing E did was break the cardinal rule of boozing "Beer before liquor, never been sicker". I don't drink so I can't speak to the validity of this statement, but he did get really wasted really fast. The entire group from E's bachelor party was there so D made them summer camp awesome matching shirts to commemorate their night of strip clubbing.

Panda, stranger, and E drinking Irish Car Bombs. Photo C/O Panda

Since no party is complete without a pinata, BJ's friends brought a Booziata filled with little travel sized bottles of hard alcohol. I'm fairly certain that E has only had hard alcohol once before years ago so the party was a whole new ballgame.

E with the Booziata. Photo C/O Panda

The booziata was tied to the slats of the backyard gazebo and the party goers were blindfolded with an overshirt so they could swing drunkenly at the moving transformer with its shot glass shoulder pads. I was fairly sure the fan was going to become a casualty but it miraculously survived. We couldn't say the same for the pool stick bat, that broke in half and went sailing across the pool during the first attempt.

E with his loot. Photos C/O Panda

After a couple beers, an Irish Car Bomb or two and a couple of those shiny little bottles, E was loudly oogling one of the girls who was drunkenly swinging her ass in his face and pole dancing. I think it was the 50 proof apple vodka that he downed in just a few minutes though it was tough to tell, it could have been any one of those pictured above. 

Beer Pong, an Olympic sport. Photo C/O Panda

Generally, E is a very lovable drunk who hollars about how much he loves me in between swigs. His very infrequent boozing doesn't bother me much as long as he's safe and keeps his hands to himself though the girl in the red dress' behind and E passing out on the kitchen floor did test the limits of my patience. 

Bodily restraining E from falling over/making a fool of himself/falling in the pool. Photo C/O Panda

After E, J, D and C bonded over their drunkenness, there was a couple hours or so of drunk rock band which was most amusing to watch. E was by far the drunkest acting one there even though others had consumed comparable amounts of alcohol. One girl even threw up so E was regulated to singing since motor coordination isn't a strong suit of the inebriated.

Pony standing over passed out E. Photo C/O Panda

Ultimately, the boys had a fantastic time and M and I kept careful watch to make sure they didn't get into too much trouble.  We even got enough food and water into E to prevent a hang over and everyone was presentable at breakfast the next morning despite getting home around 3am.

The 40 Dollar Steak Crew, AKA E's Bachelor Party Crew. Photo C/O Panda

There's a Pony in my House

This weekend we played host to J aka Pony, my twin brother from another mother. We lived two houses away from each other and officially met when I was two and he was three, two diaper clad babes looking to learn the mysteries of the potty. His mom used to only allow health food in the house so when he overheard my parents trying to bribe me onto the pot with M&M's he jumped on the opportunity to score some candy and promptly potty trained himself.

(Source)

We may not share the same blood but he's been as close as or more so than my biological siblings and people were convinced we were going to get married. We were convinced for most of our lives too until I realized at about 12 that you couldn't marry your siblings and since Pony was obviously my brother, that just wasn't going to fly. Instead, he was the best man/man of honor at my wedding to E, who we met when I was 7, J was 8 and E was 9.

E, S and J <3

I would do anything for those two, for the boys they once were and the men they've become. I'm very fortunate to have married such a wonderful childhood friend since the relationship between J and I is deep and enduring, and someone who hadn't grown up with us would likely misunderstand our bond. One of these days I'll post some footage of our home movies, we have a great one of my four year old self scolding a boy for taking my Pony's toy. We have each other's backs, twin style, and we wouldn't have it any other way.

Since my grandpa passed away, I have slowly adopted J's grandpa as my own.  He's an incredible man who has lived a fascinating life and this weekend he turned 90 years old. To celebrate, Pony came into town along with scores of other relatives for a luncheon honoring grandpa. Pony's mother, P, had requested a few hours of my time to help with a video project of grandpa's life.

Baby Grandpa

This quickly turned into a massive undertaking that involved me spending every evening at her house working feverishly on sound editing. I'd go to work in the morning, come home to kiss E and Milou, and then head to P's house. When it got closer to the party, E joined me and again we were in front of her computer all night, sometimes until 3am. We finished just in the nick of time the night before the party and the movie debuted Thursday afternoon at the luncheon. There wasn't a dry eye in the house, Pony and I were sitting in the back crying into our napkins and the biggest praise was from Grandpa who thanked E and I profusely for our efforts.

Pony and family including grandpa and two of his brothers in the front

After the party, the rest of the weekend was a whirlwind. We visited with family, went to Six Flags where it was way too hot, went to a friend's birthday party and paid a visit to the Natural History Museum and the Science Center. More food than our stomaches could hold was consumed with P planning every meal at a different restaurant and I'm pretty sure I'm going to need a weekend to recover from the visit.

Happy 15th Birthday Haji

Oh my god, I can NOT believe that my Haji Baba is 15 years old. It feels like only a short time ago that I was picking him out of a litter in the back of a dress shop. He was a one of a kind kitten who has grown into the most unique cat, my constant, loyal companion. He is the first animal that was adopted to be mine and he will always be my baby no matter how old and grumpy he gets.

Happy Birthday Haji, my incorrigible, brilliant, beautiful boy. My heart is not complete without you and I will love you for forever. 

<3 <3 <3

Happy Birthday E!

Happy 26th Birthday E!

(E dancing in a hotel room at my 18th birthday party)

Today marks E's 26th year of life! That also means that I've kissed him from ages 16-26, which is kind of mind boggling.  Since E made breakfast in bed for me on my birthday, he wanted a special breakfast to start his day as well. I wasn't able to wake up before him since we have some minor construction going on here that ended up waking us both up, but I was able to whip up some delicious chocolate chip pancakes in my nightgown sans glasses. Not bad if I do say so myself, though I'm not sure our construction workers appreciated the unkempt view.