Me, on Me.

I've seen this quote around a lot lately. I think it's a good one. We all need to be reminded of this sometimes. My friend Alexis joked that her sign would say "panic and stay in bed all day." I loved that because that's exactly how I feel sometimes. Ok, a lot of times.

But I like this sign because it makes life sound so simple. Just stay calm and keep going. It doesn't say fix the problem right this second or beat up on yourself because you're not perfect. Just relax and keep putting one foot in front of the other. Sometimes that's all you can do.

Lately, I've had a lot of people tell me that they wish they were as laid-back as me. Seriously? Me? Laid-back? I've never thought of myself as that way, but the more I think about it, the more I can see why I come off that way to other people.

I'm really good at freaking out. I'm really good at panicking and feeling overwhelmed. I even deal with a mean case of PMDD every few weeks that really sucks the life out of me. I have my issues.

But I also think that I am very good at just doing what I need to do. I try not to bug other people. If there's something I can do, I'll do it. If I see something that needs to be done, I'll do it. And for the most part, I don't complain about things and I try not to be drama. I'd say I'm very self-sufficient and that I am capable of a lot of things. I'm also pretty good at talking myself into things--- telling myself that someone's got to do it, or that it's not that big of a deal, or that if so and so can do it so can I.

I also think I've changed a lot since I had Sonnet. I love the Little Thing to death, but it's no secret that letting a baby into my super-organized world shook me up a bit. All of a sudden, things were out of whack, I was never alone, and I felt lost everyday. Happy and in love with my girlie, but still wondering what the heck I was supposed to do to entertain a little person ALL DAY LONG EVERY DAY.

I finally just decided that I was going to relax. She's only going to be little once and time goes so fast. I figured that if I just let things go and let myself sit and enjoy her, then things would work out somehow.

She doesn't want to poop in the potty yet? Oh well. She'll learn. She still wants a bottle a couple times a day? At least she's eating better and I know she's getting enough nutrition. She cries sometimes? Well, that's normal. She wants to pull everything out of every drawer in my room? You know what, it's just stuff. I'll pick it up later. She can't sit still for 5 seconds? Well, I admire her energy and curiosity.

I can't constantly worry about her. If she wants to eat, she'll eat. If she's tired, she'll sleep. I just do what I can to guide her, but I definitely take the laid-back approach to parenting. Nate and I are good people with high expectations. We're good examples to her and we require her to have basic good manners and learn new stuff everyday. But beyond that, she's just a kid! And that's OK.

I just shrug my shoulders a lot and remind myself that things aren't that big of a deal. Before I know it, she'll be old and gone-- so why not just be calm and enjoy being a mom? Why not let her sleep in my bed once in a while or eat an ice cream cone before dinner or go to the park just because she said "park please, Mommy?" Why scream at her or expect her to be a certain way or try to make her grow up too fast?

The world isn't all that great of a place and there's plenty of time left in her life for her to face reality...for her to have to do things she doesn't want to do... for her to conform. For now, I just want her to be a kid. And I just want to be her mom. And I don't want to worry about it.

I guess I got off on a tangent, but point is, that if you tell yourself that you're a calm person, it's easier to actually be a calm person. Not that brain power really does much against those super cloudy days I have from time to time, but for the most part--- I believe that when we decide to be something, and then go out and try to be it, well, then we are it.

I feel proud of myself because I don't let stuff ruffle my feathers. I don't make my problems other people's problems. I just go about my life and try to live it on my own terms. I try to keep calm and carry on. I try to be laid-back. And I think it's working. And I'm so much happier because of it.

And the rambling continues...

It's 12:30 AM and I am finishing up the display for our stake relief society meeting on Saturday (we did a ward service project at Shade Tree Shelter and since I was gone during the actual project, I volunteered to make the display with all our pictures from the event. Each relief society in our stake was asked to do a special service project during the summer and all the wards are bringing a display to put up in the gym during the general RS broadcast/dinner that we have this weekend).

I'm also making invitations for a "bambino shower" that I'm throwing for my friend. She's having a girl in a few weeks and this poor, adorable woman has been through a lot in the past few months, so we decided she needed a FIESTA! Besides, who doesn't love Mexican food, margaritas (virgin, of course) and a little salsa music? It'll be great fun and I think it's a clever idea, if I do say so myself.

And I'm filling out my application for my personalized license plate. I decided on a firefighter plate (according to Nate, cops won't pull you over as much if you have a PF plate. Not that I speed... much... and not that I get pulled over a lot (knock on wood-- last time was 5 years ago and I was in the company car- whoops!), but any little bit helps. Besides, I like to be different and so I might as well get a plate that not everyone else can get. I want it to say "LUVN8." I like that one best. I love Nate and of course he loves me enough to buy me my beautiful car, so it fits. :) I get so excited over such weird little things.

Anyways...

Moral of the story is, that I am obviously not a morning person. I am a night owl through and through. No matter how little I slept the night/day before, I can always stay up late. I swear my "happy juices" kick in at night and I get a burst of energy. I get so much done at night. I've always been that way. In college, I took classes that started after 10:00am so I could stay up late and then sleep in until 9:30. When my roommates were in bed and there were no boys knocking on my door (hey, I used to be a babe!), then I could study and get all my reading and writing done in peace. It was quite effective.

I'm still that way-- even more so now, I think. Once the house is picked up and my little darling is in bed, I finally have time ALONE to do what I want to do. Sometimes that includes watching a movie and ironing all the laundry. Sometimes it means blogging. Sometimes it means scrubbing toilets or finishing up a good book. Point is that it's my PRIME TIME and I like that I have the freedom to run my life on the schedule I want.

Of course, the caveat is that you can't bug me before 10AM because chances are I'm still in bed. So, all those early morning playgroups and exercise classes--- yeah, not so much my thing. But hey, my laundry is done and my house is clean and my baby likes to sleep in too--- so life is good. It's just different around here.

I've been reminded lately of how un-social I am. I mean, I like friends and I like to do fun things, but I am one of those people who is entirely comfortable being alone. I've always been pretty independent and self-sufficient and I've always felt good having solitude. I'm not a hermit, but I am sort of a loner. And I like it that way. I mean, I try to be social-- and I think I'm really nice-- but I wonder if sometimes people think I'm weird or stand-off-ish because I just don't "bond" well with other people. I have a couple really great friends who have seen me at my best and worst and as long as they're around to call me once in a while or go to lunch, then I feel pretty satisfied. I wonder if I'm weird. Nate keeps telling me to branch out. And since I have a kid now who will no doubt want to have friends over to play someday soon, I better get to know some other moms and be prepared to buddy-up at PTA meetings. Little by little, I guess.

In other news, I talked Nate into putting new wood on my stairs so that I could paint the treads black and put wallpaper on the risers. Once I showed him the price difference between this project and re-carpeting the stairs, he decided my crazy idea wasn't so crazy after all. So, today, he hacked away at the old stairs, and put the wood in for the new ones. Seriously, was that so hard? OK, yes, it was a bigger project than I imagined, but he's always looking for stuff to do on his days off anyways. I was doing him a favor. Yes, I'm crazy. Yes, the stairs will probably be slippery and I'm sure we'll all konk (sp?) our heads at some point, but just think--- if something spills or the dog decides to barf on the fourth step AGAIN, I can just wipe it up! No more disgusting black marks on my ugly white carpet. Pictures forthcoming...

And then-- I know, I'm always up to something. And how retarded is it to blog about this, but--- I got some new bling! :) I took the diamond out of my engagement ring and had it put into a new setting. The original ring I got was just sterling silver because it saved a whole bunch of money and I knew I would change my mind in a few years (because hello, that's what I do). And besides, no one can tell the difference anyway. As long as my finger didn't turn green, I had no need for platinum (i mean, not that i wouldn't love it, but I've got my priorities, and i wanted the bedford desk from pottery barn more than i wanted precious metal on my finger).

And as I predicted, I've really been wanting a new style of ring for a while and I finally found the band I liked. It's thick and wide and weird, but I love it. It's sterling silver too-- but now it has my original rock in it. And I LOVE it. L.O.V.E. I'm as giddy about it as I was when I got my original ring the night Nate proposed. Ha ha. What a strange person I am. Is that totally weird to change your wedding ring 4.5 years into your marriage?

What's funny to me is that the new setting I really wanted reminds me a lot of my mom's engagement ring. And no offense to the mama, but I always wanted something very different than her. Hello, Ophelia complex or whatever they call it. But lately, I've started to realize how much more alike I am to my mom than I ever thought. She's still way cuter and trendier and more friendly than me, but I painted my house red just like she did, I could exist on chips and salsa like her, and now I picked a ring very similar to hers. Of course, those are stupid examples, but the point is that even when we try not to, I think we all end up just like our mothers. And I think that's a good thing. It is in my case anyway.

Speaking of the mom, look at these cute little timers I found today. I get the lemon and my mom gets the strawberry (pretend you're surprised, mamacita). She has this kitchen timer that is possessed! The thing will just randomly go off in the drawer, but when you actually set it expecting it to tell you when to take the cookies out or whatever- it suddenly becomes mute. After several batches of burned (or burnt?) cookies and one failed exorcism, I put myself on a quest to find her a new timer. And this one it perfect because that woman has been obsessed with all things strawberry for 25 years. I love random little finds like this.

Alright, back to my late night projects.

Good night, world.

Blah Blah Blah...

I never feel like I have anything interesting to blog about. But, I know you all missed me so much, so here's a smattering of random photos from the last few days...

My friend/mother-in-law and I had a play date today. :) We went to the fabric store, the craft store and to lunch. Sonnet had fun staring at Gramma (she wasn't in a hugging mood, but she was excited to see her) and I bought stuff I don't need. Ha ha. :) Actually, I didn't go too crazy. But I did get some super cute red and black fabric (I know, big surprise on the color combo) and the pattern for this little poof/ottoman/beanbag thing. I'm so excited to make it!

Then, I found this crazy little vinyl tree that you see below. Gramma had a 40% off coupon so the cute little thing cost me $7 and it was just what I wanted for that space. I saw in a magazine this crazy cute red kitchen and she had painted flowers on her island. Of course, I don't paint, but I wanted to copy, so vinyl was my answer. I had plans to cut out flowers on the Cricut, but then I saw this and I just love it! (It's even flocked!) :) It's mostly covered when my bar stools are there, but I love random little touches like this...

For me, decorating is all about feeling happy in your space. I have so many little things in my house that make me smile-- like the black and white knobs with the Eiffel Tower on them that I put on my china hutch--- or the little candle holder/chandelier that I found for $4 at Pier One and hung over my bathtub--- or the sheer blue curtains in my bedroom--- or the metallic silver throw pillow on my bed--- or the vinyl polka dots in Sonnet's room... it's a few bucks here and there and it just makes my house feel like my house. For me, it's worth it.

Anyways, I think my crazy tree will become one of my new favorites. (I'm thinking about painting my baseboard on the island black. Any thoughts on that?)



This is a little magnet board I made for my friend's birthday. I think it turned out cute! I'd hang it in my house, so hopefully she likes it too. A little scrap metal, some fabric, and some glue turns out to be a cute present. Who knew?


Sonnet had a Toys R Us gift card, so last Saturday we took her there and just let her pick out whatever she wanted. She fell in love with this pink umbrella and carried it all over the store. She calls it her "yella." I tried to talk her into a more unique toy, but she was bent on bringing this home. So, we did. And that yella has not left her sight in 3 days!!! She takes it in the car, she takes it in the grocery store, she even slept with it on her bed last night. ha ha! :) Two year olds. Seriously. What goes on in those little minds?

She also picked out this little Dora pop-up tent. She calls it her "house" and she's been putting stuff in it like a light, a pillow, and some toys. Tonight she convinced Daddy to hang out with her inside, and she thought it was so funny to see him all scrunched up in there.

And then she got this little baby doll. It came in one of those car-seat things and she's been carrying it around a lot. She was never really into dolls before, but now she's gotten a little more "mothering" in her. She takes care of her baby, tries to feed it a bottle, and even put it to bed with her favorite pink blanket tonight. I love listening to her talk to it, because she says to the doll the same things I say to her. It's a good illustration of my parenting habits. :) We'll see what she does when she gets mad at the doll. :)


Sonnet's new favorite word is "mine." I guess it comes with the terrible twos-- and I suppose it'll get annoying after a while, but I like that she is asserting her independence and that she tries to take ownership of things. She's very concerned with who stuff belongs to-- 'that's mommy's shoe' or 'that's Blaze's ball' or 'that's Daddy's phone'--- I like that she realizes that things belong to different people and that we should respect other people's stuff. But I also like that she understands that some things belong to her and that she has a place in this world too. It's just so fascinating to watch her change and learn.

Today was my grandma's 78th birthday! My aunt had a party for her and it was nice to be with the family. My grandma is so funny and cute and Southern- I just love her! I sure miss my grandpa a lot, but I'm glad that my grandma is healthy and that she's still around to be part of my life.

Baron posed for me. :) Isn't he a cutie!!!

This was Sonnet's pose. I got the camera out and she said "say cheese" and did this. ???

And here she is with her crazy hair after a shower. Love that little face!

Anyways, like I said, nothing interesting to blog about...

Night.

An old favorite.

Woke up this morning with
a terrific urge to lie in bed all day
and read. Fought against it for a minute.

Then looked out the window at the rain.
And gave over. Put myself entirely
in the keep of this rainy morning.

Would I live my life over again?
Make the same unforgivable mistakes?
Yes, given half a chance. Yes.

-Raymond Carver

Oh my gosh!!! :)

Click here for the NEW official NEW MOON trailer just released tonight!

"Catching Fire"

OH MY GOSH! IT'S 3:30 IN THE MORNING AND I JUST FINISHED THE SEQUEL TO THE HUNGER GAMES. THERE WAS NO WAY I WAS GOING TO BED ONCE I GOT STARTED ON THIS BOOK. IT WAS JUST AS GREAT AS THE FIRST ONE! SO SUSPENSEFUL AND GUT-WRENCHING AND ENTERTAINING. I LOVED IT! IT WILL BE PURE TORTURE WAITING FOR THE FINAL BOOK IN THE TRILOGY TO COME OUT.

AND I AM SO ROOTING FOR PEETA.

Showered...

Today we had a baby shower for my S-i-L, Lisa and her new baby girl Brooke. Lisa and Greg (Nate's brother) have four older kids and little Brooke-y is a sweet new addition to their family. Since it's been 10 years since Lisa has had a girl, we figured she needed a party and an excuse to make people buy cute little girl clothes for her! She got lots of cute things, the food was wonderful, and baby Brooke slept through the whole thing. Perfect! :)

I made the invites:

Lisa and her two older girls:

Picture of pictures of Brooke. I didn't actually take a picture of the baby- dumb, I know.


I made some letters for Brooke's nursery:

The "R" is my favorite:

I made a diaper cake too:

The End.

Maybe I have too much time on my hands...

I decided that I want to get a personalized lisence plate for my car.

I used to hate them, but lately I've been thinking that it might be fun.

But it has to be GOOD if I'm gonna pay the annual fee to own it, so I need some advice.

I've got a few ideas- some lame, some I like- but if you have any suggestions, please throw them in!

On a standard NV plate you can have 7 letters.

On the NV professional firefighter plate (which I think I might want) you get 5 letters.

I originally wanted: BOOKWRM but it was taken.

Here are a few of the ones I've thought of:


(When I met Nate, he had a best friend named Nate and to distinguish between the two, I called my Nate "Hot Nate" cause I thought he was so cute. :) Now, we're married, but I still use the nickname for him.)

The thing is that it has to make sense to everyone, not just me. I HATE when I see a personalized plate, but it's something that no one can figure out. What's the point?

Anyways, if this is all too corny-- feel free to shoot me down. Or if you have a brilliant suggestion that totally fits me, let me know! :)

I Got Wheels!

Nate and I have only had one car for over 2 years now.

When we moved to St. George, we realized that we didn't really use his car because he only worked a mile from home and he rode his motorcycle most days- plus he could use the company car when he needed it.

So we sold his car and just shared my Jeep.

When we moved back to Vegas and Nate was in the academy, he would carpool with a buddy of his that lives just down the street, so every other day and in the evenings Sonnet and I had a car. With a little planning it worked just fine.

Then, we decided to sell our Jeep to my brother, and Nate started working 24 or 72 hour shifts which meant that Sonnet and I were stranded at home most days.

It's not that big of a deal, but once in a while we would go stir crazy and we missed out on a lot of activities because we didn't have a way to get there.

But, I didn't want to buy a car just to buy a car. I wasn't willing to spend the money until we were in a position to buy what we wanted.

Nate went to the car auction with a dealer friend of ours about two months ago and got a KILLER deal on a truck. (Seriously, when we got our loan at the credit union, they couldn't believe that we were asking for such a small amount of money because the truck appraised for over $20,000!) Yay for deals!

Anyways, not that I don't love driving Nate's big truck (ha ha), but today it was my turn!

We went car shopping and I came home with the most beautiful little sedan ever made (in my price range anyways). :)

I got a 2009 Nissan Sentra-- black! Precisely what I wanted!

I fell in love with theses cars about 6 months ago when I rented a car for a long road trip and they gave me a Sentra. I was so sad to give it back when the week was over because I loved it so much. I could drive it just like my Jeep-- I never felt like I was in a small car. Plus, they have tons of room, good power, good gas mileage, and I just LOVE the way they look.

So, we spent 4 hours at the dealer today (poor Sonnet was an angel) negotiating with them over price. I knew what I wanted to spend and I was not going to budge. I have no problem telling people no-- especially pushy sales people-- so Nate just let me do the talking.

They tried to sell me all sorts of crap-- but in the end, they gave me the $2000 dollar rebate I wanted and they "just happened" to find some places where they could trim the fat and give me the price I wanted. Oh, how I love being stubborn. :)

So, anyways, Sonnet and I are no longer stranded and you can bet we will be cruising all over the place now. Yay!!! How happy I am?

(stock photos-- but this is what mine looks like)

This one is mine. Don't mind the messy garage or the super bad photo. It was dark by the time I got home, so this is the best I could do.

I know, light interior and a 2 year old? But with a dark exterior and this heat, I wanted a light interior. And let's be honest, Sonnet will destroy it no matter what color it is. I have good intentions to be very vigilant about cleaning... :)

Keeping Sonnet entertained at the dealership...

We bought a car! She got to ring the bell!!!

Mr. Nate

Nate had to teach a class to some fourth graders about fire safety. He showed them all his gear, took them out to climb on the engine, and even had them crawling around the room while a fake smoke detector went off. Cute! :)