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Is there anything better than sitting on a fairly quiet beach with a stack of magazines, the sound of the waves crashing in one ear, and requisite summer music like Bob Marley, The Beach Boys, and Dave Matthews playing on your I-pod in the other ear?
And the only thing that got sunburned are my kneecaps...heaven forbid I ever actually get my entire glow-in-the-dark, deathly-pale body completely covered in sunscreen...
who spent the last few days building this 6" tall picket fence in our front yard...
turns the big 2-9 today...last year of his twenties and then he'll finally be joining me in the thirties.
We're headed down south a bit to stay at the beach tonight...looking forward to dinner and drinks at the Chart House and long walks in the sand.
Happy Birthday Sean! :)
of summer...Sean and Mac will both be back at school Tuesday after Labor Day...I'm so sad when I think about that...I have a love/hate relationship the beginning of the school year.
Feeling a little better than yesterday...a good friend shared with me that she's pregnant this evening, but she and her husband have been trying for awhile and we've commiserated about all the feelings involved over many loooong phone calls, so it gives me a bit of hope. In a way it was a relief to me, because she crossed my mind several times while we were in the two week wait after July's artificial insemination, I really didn't want to have to tell her, if & when, that I was pregnant...I've been on the other side of the coin now about 16 times in the 28 months we've been trying (Sean and I actually added it up a few weeks ago and now have tallied the latest) and I know all too well that feeling of happiness mixed with your own heartache...I HATE the thought of causing that for anyone.
Oh well...happy thoughts...almost done with the re-organization odyssey...the photo's a peek at where I moved my patterned paper to...of course I couldn't deal with the thought of the ugly, yet function paper holders front and center, so my husband extraordinaire whipped me up this little facade box that I've tacked little bits & pieces to.
So, back to this last week...lots of to-do's...a birthday to celebrate...an overnight trip to the beach...an annual street fair...good stuff...good stuff. :)
So, here's the update...the card catalog is in and there's still 26 drawers to fill...I've organized individual alphabet letters in baskets, stamps by category, and a plethora of other crafting necessities. It has, however, set off the inevitable chain reaction of tasks.
Oh...
typing this post was interrupted by my sister's (whom I have very little contact with) hesitant phone call to tell me she's 12 weeks pregnant...and about an about an hour of crying "why us?"...so yeah, that's great for her and her husband and all, but Sean and I can't take much more...between friends and family--my dad, Sean's brother and now my sister...which we're all happy for...our hearts just cannot take much more...
Back to re-arranging I guess...
So, remember how I got this back in June? Well, it's been sitting in my garage ever since then...but late last night I got that look in my eye...the dangerous one...the one that sends me down to our bedroom to drag Sean away from brushing his teeth all the while asking him, "You love me, right?"...he knows that's trouble...especially when he walks in the studio and sees the measuring tape laying out...it's game over...I want to re-organize.
So I have a call into our neighbor down the street asking for help carrying the monstrosity up our stairs and I've already been pulling out drawers to fill them and make colorful, stamped labels...oh the joy!
So, this will be my weekend...hopefully the organizational ideas will flow and everything will come out smoothly...since the arrival of the card catalog will surely start an epic chain of events in this little studio of mine.
I'll keep you updated. :)
Turns out there were about 650 photos...been playing with them on & off all day...and made a big order from Costco's photo center to pick up tonight.
So the re-cap of our six days...
Thursday: Drove up to San Francisco, stayed with my cousin Ali in her hilltop apartment between the Castro and Noe Valley...had a great italian dinner at the same restaurant we ate at in June and had a slumber party Mac has been looking forward to for weeks
Friday: Had a late breakfast at Dottie's since it's the best food ever, wandered around Union Square, took Mac down Lombard Street, went to Ghiradelli Square and found some other little shops in downtown and Berkeley that I'd wanted to visit
Saturday: Spent a lazy day with our friends Monique & Matt--hanging out at their pool, grocery shopping, & exercising. We spent the night with Monique and I scrapping at Stamper's Warehouse and Matt & Sean being brave enough to take Mac to Boomers (a miniature golf & arcade place he LOVES)
Sunday: Golden Gate Bridge--we packed a picnic and walked the bridge, spent the late afternoon at the Exploratorium
Monday: Drove down to Half Moon Bay to have a GREAT visit with Lisa and her family, Moriah & Alex...the three of us had soooo much fun with them and probably way overstayed our welcome hanging out till just past 11pm
Tuesday: Made a gorgeous drive on PCH from Half Moon Bay to Monterey, went to the aquarium, found a great antique mall on Cannery Row to hunt through, stayed in our new favorite ocean front hotel, walked down to the jetty in the bay and saw all the seals hanging out on the rocks--so cool, had an amazing dinner at the Chart House, and took full advantage of the hotel's rooftop hot tub that was right outside our room
Wednesday: Reluctantly left the hotel, took PCH home (as discussed in yesterday's post) with a stop in Santa Barbara for dinner and wandering
And here's a little of what we got on film...
we've been home for about an hour after our once-in-a-lifetime drive drive down Pacific Coast Highway from Monterey today.
I say "once" because Sean claims he'll never drive it again...poor guy is still trying to recover from his white-knuckled, fog-enraptured drive through Big Sur with it's relentless hair-pin turns and a wife nervously giggling because she could catch glimpses of what was surely the thousand foot sheer drop to the ocean below. Sean is scared of heights...I'm petrified about water...suffice it to say, it was a blast. :)
Now back safe and sound at my desk not far above sea level and a dozen miles inland... I'm busy dumping HUNDREDS of photos from the last six days and eating a little of the chocolate that we got here...
Off to unpack...a lot...hopefully I'll have lots of photos to share tomorrow...
Nothing much to say...
Need to get down the suitcases down and start packing...
Got a new toy today...a video Ipod...that way Mac can inherit my old one...working hard to get him addicted to music...trying to raise him up right :)
Been meaning to share this...
A photo of our front yard last summer as we finished it
and now this summer...
What a difference a year makes, huh?
Last night I was happy and it felt really good.
If there's something to be said for this whole painful infertility journey, it's that when I'm happy I truly feel it...I count my blessings as much as I can and take in the good stuff.
So, last night we went to see this the Pacific Symphony perform Holst's, "The Planets" along with NASA footage on big screens in the amphitheater. I bought the tickets a couple of months ago when they first went on sale and it's been nice to have it to look forward to this past week. Sean and I packed up a picnic complete with pastries he bought yesterday morning and cheap pink champagne...and we had a great night...and not just because I was buzzed...okay ever so slightly a little bit drunk :).
Seriously though, it was good times...and good times are good...and that's about as profound as I'm going to get this Sunday afternoon. :)
Since Mac goes to Bryce's on Wednesday nights Sean and I decided to take advantage of our freedom by heading down to Laguna Beach for the afternoon & visit the Sawdust Festival...we had a great time having some lunch, wandering through some downtown shops, and the festival itself...
Art for the Soul is such an amazing store...I could have spent waaaayyy too much $$$ in there...so much cool jewelry...I couldn't resist one bracelet though. The little bird paintings were my favorite from the festival...I thought about buying one, but couldn't quite find away to justify the $95 price tag...of course what I'd really LOVE is just to be able to paint something like that...oh to dream...
The following things made me feel better today...
--exercise...did some extra to try to get some endorphins going...work away the doldrums
--wearing the shoes Sean surprised me with yesterday...I couldn't quite get into the whole Crocs thing, but when I saw that they had Mary Jane Crocs I was sold
--got grocery shopping done and having the house filled with all kinds of things to eat
--making a big pot of vegetable beef soup and having it for dinner with a little grilled cheese sandwich
--scrapbooking a little...haven't actually done it yet, but I plan to in a few minutes
--deciding that we'll wait till September try again...I thought about what everybody said, "You can always go on vacation" & it occurred to me that actually, no, we can't. It's time together just the three of us...going places, seeing things, & making memories that won't happen any other time. We haven't gone anywhere with Mac for a couple of years except for Oregon last Christmas. I want this trip for him...& I just want some fun...because soon, hopefully soon, getting away won't be so easy. :)
why I love Sean more than ever today...our 7th wedding anniversary...
1) He is one of the hardest working people I have ever met...he loves his job and he loves doing things for his friends and family
2) He's pretty darn patient with me
3) He's always affectionate
4) This morning he gave me a little blue box with this in it :)
5) He's a great step-father to Mac and just pretty wonderful with children altogether
6) He's easy-going...which works as a nice opposite to my often high-strung nature
7) He humors me...whatever my mind comes up with, he'll make happen...yet another example of this is this crazy little project...
After some peg board, hooks, and leftover green paint...our downstairs coat closet is now my organized purse heaven...here's my completely obscene collection of bags...in my defense (if there is any after sharing this photo) this has been building since high school and none of them are over $40...except one I got in Ireland...so it's not that crazy, right? Okay, yeah, it is...but I'm just a sucker for cute colors and patterns.
Anyways...getting back on topic...because of the forementioned reasons and dozens of others...I am damn lucky to be married to this incredible guy...
and I can't wait for many more happy anniversaries with him. :)
Mac's not out of summer school yet, but Sean is...as of yesterday. I have him ALL day, EVERY day for the next month. :)
Yesterday morning we decided to go see a movie...just because we could...because Sean was on summer vacation. Of course, he'll probably be ready and waiting for work to start sometime next week...he can only take so much free time. In the meantime, there's all kinds of fun to be had...like on the driveway with buckets of water.
There's nothing else to terribly exciting going on...just the seemingly endless waiting game...Monday cannot get here fast enough...I'm feeling guilty because tomorrow is our 7th anniversary, but waiting for Monday's blood test is just about completely overshadowing it in my mind. We haven't come up with any plans for tomorrow, but either way I need to relax and enjoy the day...Monday will be here soon enough, right?
I've been having a few violent mood swings lately...not that I'm actually violent...just happy one minute...kind of psycho and altogether grumpy the next. I guess there's one thing that it might be...but I'm trying hard to not counting my chicken before they hatch...besides it would be just my luck that I wouldn't end up with a pregnancy to blame them on...instead I'm just crazy. :)
So, anyways...the other violent swings would be in productivity...nothing one day...everything the next. Got my desk cleaned off this morning..and along with it half a dozen other things that were waiting to be done.
And it's August (so says the calendar I got all organized for the month)...where does all this time go? Seriously...
Oh and speaking of things that are done...pirate party photos...nothing too astounding...there's Mac's little cupcake celebration at school on Friday...then various photos from Saturday...my mother came ALL decked out as Captain Crazy Jane...Mac got a new bike from her...some of the games were pin the pirate on the map and a cannon ball water balloon toss...painting treasure chests and a pinata...all kinds of fun memories...
