Soccer Mom

The high school soccer season starts tomorrow. That means really long days for our teen. Some away games don't get home until close to midnight. It's a grueling schedule, really. So I do my soccer mom duty and make him some power breakfasts he can eat on his drive to school. Eric wanted me to take a picture of them, because he was impressed with the consistency this year. I am getter better at rolling. Go Bruins!

My new faves

A long time ago, I wrote a post about some of my favorite things. Didn't Oprah get this topic started? Here is my latest 2011 version:

Roku for starters. I mean...that little box is amazing. Jace can watch unlimited episodes of Family Guy, I can watch all the weird indie-films I love, and Eric can watch his old school westerns and surf movies.

Real Simple Magazine. This cute magazing always gets my nesting juices going.

Pandora Quick Mix. We downloaded the Pandora player which streams the music much faster and in CD quality. We always have it on. I also have it on my BB to entertain me during long waits at airports or for some hiking mojo.

Go-Gurt. This one is for Jace. What a fantastic teen snack. He eats a box every few days. Since it's frozen, it takes him twice as long to eat it. And since his goal is to consume as much food in 15min as possible, this snack keeps the refridgerator fuller a little longer.

My apple slicer. Love this fruit...but sometimes I just want perfectly symmetrical slices. Oh, I also have the mango slicer, but that gadget leaves behind too much fruit. I am a master as mango slicing anyway.

My 2 can't live without makeup products by Benefit. Confessions of a Concealaholic and Dallas.

My new Sirius Sportster deck for my car. I programmed it with my favorite artists, so it alerts me whenever they are playing on other channels, so I won't miss out. Way cool.

Scunci no-slip hairbands. My mop puts these to the test day in and out. I finally can really get the hair out of my eyes.

My weekend yin/yang yoga class. I look forward to these 2 hrs every week. All my other activities are jealous.

This one is an oldy, but it's one of my all time goodies. My Philosophy skincare products I have used for years! On a Clear Day keeps my adult-o-acne down and Everyday Hope keeps me looking in my early 30s.

I realize that this list is rather superficial and uninteresting to most. That's why they are MY favorite things!

It came back.

I returned yesterday from a sunshiney, 85 degree week in Miami. I got a nice little tan, too. I was expecting to come back to the pretty spring days that we've been getting. Nope. This morning I woke up to 10 degrees. It's back. Winter. Oh joy.

Well, since I locked in the house to stay warm. There's no better time to do our taxes and plan our next vacation.

January entry of StepMothers Milk: Kind of annoyed

I have a few close friends my age that married older men with children. Some of their stepkids are young, under 6, and some are older teenagers, like mine. So this is a shout to them...Courtney, Anne, Jenn, and Sheri. The job of stepmommy is not an easy one. I never know where I stand, I rarely get to call the shots, and I am third in line for any relaxation on the sofa. This chapter of stepmommy finds me alone with my stepson for several days while my husband is off getting some "him-time". I like to call it my "annoy-time". I suppose I am one of the lucky ones who has a stepchild who likes me. He wants to stay home with me, follow me around the house, and talk to me for hours about car exhausts, cat behavior, and Family Guy interpretations. He's a curious guy with lots of questions about ...well just about everything. Today, he wanted to know what was worse than a felony and then wanted to know the definition of "irony". What tha?! At one point today, he sat on the couch and watched me paint trim. "Izzy, you better do a good job at that." "Izzy, you are leaving parts of the wood exposed." "Izzy, do you even know what you are doing?"....and that went on and on. (insert internal screaming and hair pulling).
Ok. I am done venting. This is very good training for an infant one day. I am sure I will look back one day and think about how nice it was to have an engaged teenager in our house.

Way back in 2010

Michele...I liked your post! I am going to copy you.

2010 was nuts and I can't believe all that it encompassed. There were so many difficult times and so many wonderful times that I need to write this down so I don't forget. Let's start with the difficult times. My stepson had probably the most emotionally struggling year of his life which created some of the biggest fights, unmeasurable stress, worry, tears shed at home. This really tested the strength of my new marriage. But we stuck together as a family and rode out the storm. We finally have entered the light at the end of his dark tunnel with hope for his future and well-being.

Ok, enough of the bad stuff. The incredible stuff was this....

• I began a new position at my company and celebrated 10 years of employment with 9 weeks of vacation time.
• My husband built our new bedroom and I got to decorate!
• My sister moved an hour from me.
• I fell in love with my new sport, SUP.
• I paid off my car.
• I got hooked on acupuncture and Yin yoga.
• I watched my brother get married.
• I lost weight, gained weight, lost weight again.
• I tried to start a new family (sorry Jace).
• I become an advanced pilates student.
• I saw old friends and made new ones.
• I celebrated a milestone birthday.
• And finally there was all the TRAVEL!!! I went to Georgia 2 times, Virginia, Texas 3 times, California 4 times, Canada 2 times, Idaho, Arizona 2 times, Colorado, Maine like 6 times, Florida, Massachusetts, Illinois 2 times, Hawaii, and Mexico. Yes, I have rediculous amounts of frequent flier miles (which would be useless if my husband wasn't also in love with travelling....I suppose the first class cabin helps, right Eric?).

I am curious to what 2011 will be like.

My 35th Birthday present was Baja Sur

The best birthday I have ever had. (click on the slideshow for full view)

35th birthday and 35 reasons why I love him

1His strength
2He holds my hand
3He keeps me healthy
4He pushes me
5He has feelings
6He gets shy
7His sense of adventure
8He is also a middle child
9He loves all music
10He can fix his own car
11He studies waves and stars
12He does laundry
13His tan skin
14He doesn't want to stay up late
15He is humble
16He is a caregiver
17He doesn't like beets
18He wants romance
19He can always make me laugh
20He is a scientist
21He chops wood
22He is a father
23He plays with my hair
24His perfect feet
25His dimples
26His love of my cooking
27His coffee
28His values
29How he cuddles the cats
30His silent sleeping
31His arms
32How he swims
33His love of travel
34His attention to detail
35His 35th birthday present to me...thank you, my love.