Grace's Birthday BBQ

We celebrated Grace's 2nd birthday with a family BBQ last weekend. Lots of family was able to attend, eat hot dogs, and visit with the birthday girl. All in all it was a fantastic time!

Events like this continue to leave me amazed with the way John's and my family just adore Grace. They shower her in gifts and affection every chance they get. As her mom if makes me very happy to see the kind of love she receives, to know that family thinks of her often. So a big thank you to all of the family for making my little girl feel so cherished and loved the last two years!

Side note: I have more pictures from the party that I'll eventually post on my flickr account. My computer is running very slowly these days (might have something to do with being 5 years old), and I'm also just kind of dragging this week. Hopefully, I'll snap out of whatever funk I've been in soon to give family the rest of the pictures. Thanks to all those who are being so patient in the meantime! 

24 Months

Grace is officially two as of today! We don't have any big plans for the day; we'll just see where it takes us. I did give Grace her first pedicure today so she'd have "pretty pink toes" like mommy. Of course giving a pedicure to a two year old is like putting a pig at the dinner table and expecting it to have good manners. It's just not going to happen. But we both had fun, despite the nail polish going everywhere.

Happy birthday Grace!

My New Wheels

Check out the fancy new toy I got myself! I've wanted a jogging stroller for a very long time but always felt like it was too much of an extravagance to justify. Recently though, my desire to start running again outweighed those guilty feelings, and I hit the purchase button on a well-reviewed model made by Schwinn. It has a couple nice features like a front wheel that pivots when you're just walking around town or locks for serious running; it also has a tiny speaker with a cable jack so Grace can listen to music if the view is less than thrilling or the run is a long one (certainly not a problem yet).

Grace and I took the stroller on its maiden jog this morning. After almost three years away from running I certainly wasn't setting any speed records--a little old lady with a walker could have made me eat her dust--but it was great just to get out and move around. When I finished with my jog Grace got a chance to sample some of Baker park's fantastic playgrounds; the one we were at today had pretend dinosaur fossils! It was such a nice morning that I could definitely see this becoming a regular part of our weekdays, which is a good thing since exercise will help greatly with tackling my elephant.

One thing that became clear as soon as I started jogging though is that I need new running shoes, pronto. I warned John this stroller might come with a couple other expenses, like shoes, but I didn't expect it to be so evident so quickly. Shin splints were a problem for me when I was younger (and lighter), and I know I'll need to be especially careful as I get back into running to prevent injuries from worn down shoes or doing too much too soon. All that cautionary stuff aside, I'm so excited to have found a way to work something I loved from my pre-baby life into my time with Grace now.

My Elephant

How do you eat an elephant?

One bite at a time.

I've been thinking about that saying a lot recently in conjunction to weight loss. My weight has been a big point of struggle and frustration for me the last two years. I've tried a number of times to lose the extra weight I picked up during/after the pregnancy, but there was so much personal junk I was sorting through that I just don't think I was in a good place to make it happen. Now feels like the right time though, and since I'm the kind of person who likes visuals, especially weird ones, I came up with a literal elephant to eat:

I've got about 75lbs to lose, so I've divided my elephant into weighted parts. For example, the trunk, which is where I plan to start, represents 5lbs. For every pound I lose I get to take a "bite" out of my elephant until there's nothing left but a grassy plain. I got a head start this past week and am about halfway finished with the trunk already.

I'll update my progress on the elephant from time to time, but this is no small feat which means I don't expect to reach my goal in just a few months. I'm probably looking at a timeline of a year's worth of work (unless I hit a plateau in which case it will take even longer). But that's what makes this undertaking an elephant to me. My hope is that focusing on small parts and then seeing how those parts work towards the larger goal will keep me from quitting when the task seems overwhelming.

Of course any support friends and family want to send my way as I work on taking down this elephant would be greatly appreciated. :)

"Where's Gracie's Keys?"

Grace: (hand rooting around in the key bowl) Where's Gracie's keys?

(pulls out a set of keys and walks to John)

Grace: These Daddy's keys.

John: Thank you.

(walks back to the key bowl)

Grace: Where's Gracie's keys?

(pulls out a set of keys and walks to me)

Grace: These Mommy's keys.

Me: Thank you.

(walks back to key bowl and pulls out a third set of keys)

Grace: Whose keys?

Me: Those are Toby's keys.

(walks to dog and sets keys down next to him.)

Grace: These Toby's keys. Thank you. Good boy.

(Soon we're all hunting around the house for Grace's missing keys as she becomes more upset.)

John: Why are we looking for these? We don't have to do this you know.

(Several minutes of hunting go by while Grace continues to go back to the key bowl in hopes her keys will reappear there.)

John: Grace...your keys are in your purse.


I live with the world's tiniest adult woman.

Grace's Room In Progress

As promised I have progress pictures of Grace's room! With the new dresser put together and the motivation of sharing room photos I got brave enough to tackle those scary clothing piles. So without further adieu here is a progress peak of Grace's new room.

I'm really happy with how the roman shade turned out! It was a lot of work but is far superior to a beach towel closed into the window. The painting over the dresser is one I purchased several years ago from an artist on Etsy. It hasn't really fit with any of the rooms in the house and was thrilled when I realized it would work perfectly in Grace's new room.

There are still some items on my to-do list for this room like replace the light fixture after having it centered on the window, bring in more artwork, create a cozy reading spot for Grace, and build/buy an attractive cover for the ugly baseboard heater. I'm not in any huge rush to accomplish these things though; without them this room is still a million times better than where we started.

Impulse Purchase

Just ordered this pillow for Grace's room. I'm usually not an impulse decor purchaser, but this looked fun and I'm trying not to be so hard on myself about spending a small amount of money on the occasional decorative piece. Those fun little items usually seem to be what complete a room after all.

Now I'm off to assemble some recently purchased Swedish furniture! Hex key anyone?