Mirror, Mirror On The Wall

The best mirror is an old friend.

                                         ~George Herbert

When I talk to people about old friends, most of them refer immediately to college friends.  For whatever reason though, I walked away from college with a only a handful of great friends (and my husband-yay!). Was I sitting in my dorm room studying my years away-sure wasn't.  During my freshman year, I was lucky enough to meet two great friends who lived across the hall, and we are all still very close today.  I was part of an awesome sorority...I met and became good friends with a lot of them, but like I said, other than a few...I, yet again, am outside the box on this one. 

The majority of my old friends are from high school.  Not the norm, I know.  Some even from as far back as elementary and middle school.  And it's not just one or two people, there are over 10 of us who all still remain in close contact and go out of our ways to get together whenever we can.  I know it seems strange (as we get told this all the time), but there is just something about all of us that 'clicked' back then and still continues to 'click' today.

~A mix of high school and college~

~High School Girls~

And with Thanksgiving right around the corner,

I can't tell you how much I'm anticipating spending time my lifelong girls.

They are kind, they are caring, they are passionate about everything they do in their lives.
They are successful businesswomen, they are stay-at-home-moms. 
They are always there if there is a problem,
they are always there to laugh and share a good glass of wine.
We laugh, we cry, we have moments together we will never forget.

I can't help but think how grateful I am to have such an amazing circle of friends.

And not only do I have these awesome 'old' friends...but I have also been so fortunate to make such fantastic new friends in our travels over the past few years.  From teacher friends, to my UOP girls, to all the TV-land girls I've been lucky enough to meet through TOH, to friends through mutual friends...

you have all had such a great impact on my life!



~The college '6-pack'~

Thank you girls for giving me so many reasons to smile when I look in that mirror.



Perfect.

I love gifts.  Buying, wrapping, giving, awaiting, receiving, opening.  Love them.  But despite my love for gifts in general, it has been a long time since I have felt this crazy about something.  So much so that this was supposed to be my Christmas gift, but I couldn't wait that long and needed to have it in my hands as soon as humanly possible.  And after three and a half weeks of waiting by the door like a puppy waiting for someone to come home, I saw the mailwoman place the package in the mailbox today and could not get out that door fast enough.  They're here.

Shiny.  Silver.  One-of-a-kind.  The Little Love Charmer from Tina Steinberg.  The girls' fingerprint impressions are on one side of each of the charms and their names are inscripted on the other.  They are simple, unordinary, and timeless.  And as Kelle Hampton (my inspiration for doing these) said in her blog, 'I keep finding myself reaching up and grasping them, rubbing my fingers along those sweet impressions.'  Ditto.  I love that I literally have my girls hanging so close to my heart no matter how far apart we may be.  In this girl's world, it's pretty much the perfect gift. 

All Sorts of Awesomeness

Five years.  A typical married couple would usually plan to do something unique or special on their five year anniversary.  Enter the Wells'.  We are by far, are not your typical couple.  We do things, and people say 'Really?'  'Why?'  'Are you kidding?'...it's natural, we're used to it.  There is just something about us that inclines us to be a little 'out there' and different from the norm.  One and only example that we will dive into...our baby shower for Bug...there were girls, guys, and children, there was wine, there was beer...it was more like a picnic/party than a shower and in our opinion, the best thing ever.  That's how we roll.  Who wants to sit inside on a beautiful summer day (minus your other half) for 2-3 hours watching some prego open random gifts while you make small talk with strangers while you're stone-sober?!?!  Not either of us.  Not fun.  So, needless to say, we like things that are a little outside the box.

Bug's Baby Shower...August 2007

 

Friday night.  Our 5 year wedding anniversary.  A big deal.  Of course.  In that event, one of our maid of honors (yes, we had 2...like I said, we do things a little crazy and I had 2 maids of honor!)....decided that she was making the 5 hour trip to come down to stay with us in hopes that we would go out to celebrate and she would stay with the girls.  Wrong.  There is no way that I am going to let my super-best-friend drive that long only for us to up and leave her to go out and not spend time with her.  Do I trust her to stay with the girls...absolutely...not a fear in my mind.  As a matter of fact, she would probably be better with them than I am.  She is amazingly fantastic with them and I have never seen Monkey cling to anyone like she did to her.  So that is beside the fact.  But I could not rationalize the idea to get up and leave her by herself while TOH and I go out on the town, despite her wants.  Soooo...to make a long story short, she arrived Friday afternoon, and after many bottles of wine, lots of food, and lots of laughs and happy tears, she arrived back home in Pennsylvania Sunday evening and we could not have had a better weekend.  She was such an important part of our wedding day 5 years ago, and she was that much of an addition to our 5-year anniversary as well.  We may make it a tradition that she join us every 5 years :) 

We would not have had it any other way.  And in addition to it all, our good friends Dan and Corey welcomed their new addition, Emerson Elizabeth, this weekend and we could not be more thrilled!  It was definitely a weekend to remember!

Mama Needs a New Pair of Shoes

It's time.  Time for this mama to make some cash again.  And tomorrow is the day!  Now that TOH is home in the evenings, I have been throwing around the idea of doing some tutoring, and after finally getting motivated (which is definitely one of my shortcomings!) I have landed my first gig.  I'm really looking forward to it and excited to get started.  It will give me a little 'down-time' from the girls a few hours a week, TOH will get some dad/daughter bonding time, I will get the chance to use that 'teacher' part of my brain that I haven't used in awhile, and best of all, mama gets some extra 'fun' spending money to use at my leisure...all sorts of wonderful.

1+3=13

Yes, one plus three make four, but in our house last night, our one-year-old and three-year-old were more like 13-year-olds.  Scenario:  Bug decided she wanted nothing to do with dinner, and after sitting there for over 30 minutes, we let her get down...but instead of letting her have free reign around the house like she wanted, she had to go to her room and stay there until bedtime (which was only like 15 minutes...we're not that horrible!).  This was the first time we ever tried this approach, and after seeing the end result, we probably won't be trying to make it a 'punishment' again anytime soon. 
So, of course when Monkey was done eating, she headed straight for 'the bedroom' and they were quiet as they could be for those 15 minutes.  Quiet is never good, right?  Well, when we go back to check on them, they have closed the door, pulled out a sleeping bag from the closet, got out all their stuffed animals, and everyone (including both girls) were zipped up in the bag pretending they were sleeping.  It was the cutest thing/hilarious/and all my irritation over the dinner situation instantly disappeared.  It was like they were two teenage girls hiding in their room secretly trying to call a boy and not get caught.  And yet again, would have taken a picture, but I was too busy lying on the floor enjoying their 'sleepover' with them to run and grab the camera. 
They be small, but they've got some pretty awesome ideas in those little heads!

Princesses, Presents, & Picture Taking

That's what we've been up to for the past week, along with playing at the park, swimming at the local indoor pool, and celebrating Christmas two months early!  Last Friday, Bug and I had girls night out with her little friend, Addie as we went to see her first Princess show...Disney on Ice.  I never thought I would say I was looking forward to anything "on Ice..."  (other than beer!) but this was 100% Bug at the moment, so off we went.  To say she loved it more than anything is an understatement.  She raised both of her arms in the air when she first saw them and yelled "HOOORRAAAAYYY" for at least three minutes...picture her crossing the finish line of her first marathon~that is exactly what she looked like (only gorgeous in her cute little black dress, of course!)  But because I was (secretly) just as excited as she was, I forgot to take my camera with us, so zero pictures...guess we're just going to have to go back next year :)
The weekend kept getting better, as TOH's parents came down to visit and bring the girls their Christmas present a tad early (once November/Snow-for-the-next-6-months arrives in Erie, no one is able to leave that place!)..they got them this awesome new table and chairs which the girls absolutely love!  It's perfect for them! 

The girls had a blast with Grandma and Grandpa "Hiya"...yep, that's what they call them.  And I love it :)   

Yes, Monkey's shirt says Major Trouble...very fitting...

Example A

But the fact that at 16 months, she is showing interest in the potty,

does make me VERY happy!

And while Monkey is playing with the potty, and finally getting a little more interested in books...

(yes, we even broke out the Christmas pajamas...)

Bug has taken up an interest in picture-taking...she took this one all on her own!

Not bad, huh?

So, that's the latest...fall has finally in all ways arrived...there will be lots of playing in leaves this weekend, enjoying some homemade corn chowder, and of course, good laughs with these two little munchkins!

I've Tried, I Really Have

There aren't many places out there that I don't enjoy shopping at.  It doesn't matter where, when, or how, give me some cash and watch out.  But today, I think I have finally put one on the list.  I am not going to reveal the name of this 'place' as my point here is not to discourage other people from spending their money there (or even spending our money, because my husband is happy to go there, as he is able to deal with all of the following examples I am about to list)...but rather this is just a personal venting session for me and yet another post for me to come back to when I think it would be a good idea to possibly return there again (as frequent readers know I do this a lot).

I usually do my shopping at one store.  But there are three things that take me into this other store a few times a year:  their holiday scented candles, their store-brand salsa, and their generic 'Advil' (which works just as well as Advil for less than half the price).  Random, right? 
So, today was one of those days.  Every time I go there, I have to give myself a pep-talk...."It's going to be better this time, it's not going to be that busy at this time of day,"  etc.  I get the girls all loaded into the cart and I start to push.  The stupid cart starts squeeking and I am nearly breaking my right wrist to push it.  But if you've ever seen my load the girls in the cart, you know that once their in, I am not switching to a new cart.  Off we go.  This happens EVERY time I am there.  I don't think there is one working cart in that entire store. 
Moving on.  As I am trying to work my P.O.S. cart through the aisles, which is another huge issue I have due to the fact that the aisles aren't wide enough to get past other customers or see them when you are turning the corner...they have now decided to put extra displays at the ends of the aisles to make carting around nearly impossible.  I am starting to get a bit fired up.  Have already crashed my cart into two others and I'm only in the 3rd aisle. 
Oh...forgot to mention the produce that I picked up back at the beginning.  Rotten.  Disguisting.  Guess we're eating jarred fruit this week.

And as I am crashing my cart into person after person, I am kindly apologizing and smiling.  You would think they would smile back,  or laugh with me as they hear my cart and see me struggling to get around....uh, no.  Nothing.  They either throw me dirty looks and with their eyes say 'get the hell out of my way' or they are so clueless and talking on their cell phone that they don't even notice they are in the way.  At this point, I think I had smoke coming out of my nose and ears so I decided to jump ship.  I got my necessary items and will return to my 'store of choice' for my leftover items tomorrow. 

I don't want to not like this store.  As I said at the top, I was not born to not like shopping.  But after many chances, and these same exact scenarios occuring each time, I am sadly left with no other choice in order for me to keep my sanity.  At first I thought it was just me and my bad luck, but even I don't have that much bad luck.  But not to worry, TOH will back in a few weeks to pick up Christmas-scented candles and some salsa while I stay back at home...happy :)

Go Ahead...Laugh Away

It is well deserved.  I know this.  But here is something that brought me great joy today.

After the cable guy left...sadly disconnecting our bunch-of-crap 'extended' cable, I turned on the television expecting to find only 25 lonely channels...

However, not only do we have a few more than 25, we (for some unknown reason...which I am not going to ask!) have one of my most embarrasing, yet favorite:  The Soap Channel.  Go on...chuckle, giggle, roll the eyes :)  I can honestly say I really do only keep up with one actual 'soap' on tv these days...my mom and college roommate have watched it since high school/scheduled college classes around it (I kid you not)...and it's not a cheesy one where people use magic to make things come back alive or where dead people suddenly are back on the show again.  It's GH and it's not all that bad.  ANYWAY...aside from my one guilty pleasure (at times...as I am not addicted, I swear)...the Soap Channel is one of my favorites for this reason only...continuous reruns of my most-watched shows of the past.  Those being:  The OC, One Tree Hill, and the best of all time...90210. 

I'm out there, this I know.  But Kelly, Donna, and Brenda are some good company to have around on rainy, cold winter days!

For the Record

Anxious.
It has been brought to my attention that I obviously do not (or now, did not) know the appropriate meaning of this word. 
In a previous post, I used this word to explain how I felt about TOH being home with us for the majority of our days now.  I had originally used the word in (what I had hoped to be) a positive way.  But I guess it didn't come out as planned, and for that, I take the word back and replace it with the one I wanted to. 
Ecstatic.

Love you dawg :)