Dance like no one's watching - Project 365

The rain was coming down in a steady, melodic drizzle.

Storms are a rare sight to see around here, and oh, how I love a good rain. I pulled a blanket around my shoulders and stepped outside with Savannah, and we huddled together, warm in our little cocoon.

But since she's 3, cuddling only lasts for so long, and she popped out and inched her way towards the edge, where the roof stopped and the sky began. At first she just put out a hand, tentatively, and then shrieked and pulled it back when the rain splashed and ran down her arm.

That's wet, Mama, she informed me.

She did it again. Her hand, and then a shoe. She stuck out her tongue to catch a drop, and her curly hair straightened into wet strands.

And then she was dancing in the rain.

Pure abandon. Such joy. Such freedom.

I wish I could dance like that.

We had a wonderful, simple Easter. Wonderful because of Jesus.

Wonderful, also, because our friends, who know that we have no family in the area and always take us under their wing, invited us over for a mid-afternoon lunch. Followed by an Easter Egg Hunt that lasted about 1 minute and 4 seconds. Those kids are fast.

Thank you, Sara, for hosting Project 365.

Happy Monday!

10 on the 10th: The call of the carbs

In addition to ramping up my exercise routine a little these past two weeks, I've been trying - TRYING - to eat better. Because what good is it to burn off all those calories if you're just going to pack them back on again in one fatal swoop of cheesecake?

So I've been doing a sort of pseudo-version of the South Beach Diet - pseudo because I haven't really been following it to the letter, but rather I'm using it as sort of a guideline. (And if that right there doesn't sound like some sort of loophole for cheating, I don't know what does).

Suffice it to say that I have had my fair share of chicken, spinach, ricotta cheese, and broccoli these past few weeks. And while I love all of these, sometimes a girl just needs a piece of bread, you know?

Meredith is hosting her 10 on the 10th carnival today. And I immediately knew what my 10 things were going to be this month....

The foods that I cannot eat, the ones on the bad carb list, but the ones that are just so good. Not necessarily my favorite foods ever, but since I am deprived right now, these are the ones that popped into my head. And they are sounding mighty good.

• 1. Mashed Potatoes. Last week I made myself some mashed cauliflower to try and quiet my potato cravings. And while they weren't terrible, they aren't mashed potatoes. Not by a long shot. It's futile to even try and pretend.

• 2. Cinnamon Streusel Apple Pie. Sometimes I make this without the crust, which cuts down on the carbs, and ostensibly, the guilt. You should see Savannah put this away - the girl knows something good when she sees it.

• 3. A baked potato from Pappadeaux. If you have never had the pleasure of eating one of these, imagine the biggest potato you have ever seen, topped with butter, sour cream, cheese, bacon (real bacon, crisp and crumbly), and chives. Heaven.

• 4. A slice of fresh-from-the-oven Marbled Rye Bread. This is the only yeast bread that I have ever successfully made, which might explain why it's my favorite.

• 5. Pizza. I'm not picky - any kind will do, but my favorite is veggie with some spicy green chile.

• 6. My Grandma's Hash Brown Casserole. Full of cheese, and french onion dip, and other sinful things that have the audacity to go straight to my hips.

• 7. Chocolate Revel Bars. I think the name says it all.

• 8. German Chocolate Cheesecake. Click on this link - click now. You won't regret it.

• 9. Chips and salsa. We used to buy chips. I would tell myself that they were for my hubby's lunches that he would take to work, and then give myself strict instructions to stay away from them.

Do you know how hard it is to resist the call of an already-open bag of chips?

So yeah. We don't buy chips anymore.

• 10. A big plate of Mexican food. Beans and rice. Enchiladas, or maybe a tostada. Or maybe both.

Should I be embarrassed that some form of potatoes made 3 of these 10 spots?

Mer, thank you so much for hosting!

Needed: New Personal Trainer

I sat down to write this post just now while Savannah was eating lunch, thinking I could steal a couple of minutes without her noticing.

Um, right. She came zipping over 2 seconds later and said, "Mama! You want to exercise with me?"

I'm thinking about firing her as my personal trainer...seriously, this girl doesn't let up.

Very fitting, I suppose, seeing as how I am trying to do a wrap-up post for Linda's 2 week 5x30 challenge. And I have to say I owe most of my success to Savannah for pushing me every day, because let's face it - most of the time it's much easier to find something more fun to do, like clean the bathrooms.

So I've made a little progress. My Tae-bo kicks, while nowhere near my head, are a little higher than they were. I can make it through the whole thing without collapsing in a heap like I did on the first day. And in my book that is some serious success.

Out of the two weeks (not counting weekends), I missed one day. Last Friday was crazy, I can't remember what was going on, but I just couldn't make it work. But the rest of the time I was able to fit in at least an hour workout.

I usually hate every second while I'm doing it, but I feel incredible afterwards. Funny how it's the exact opposite when I cave and eat chocolate...I feel incredible while popping them in my mouth, and then horrible after. A combination of the sugar rush and the guilt, I suppose. Hmmm.

So part of my motiviation for this has been an upcoming trip at the end of April. Savannah and I will be going to Missouri to visit my grandparents, and so I have set a little weight loss goal for myself. Now, they could care less what I look like, but it just gives me something to shoot for, and I've figured out that I do so much better with a short-term goal in place.

Linda has promised to come back next week with another challenge....bring it on!

Project 365, Week 14 - A princess and her bling-bling

We were invited to a birthday party at our neighbor's house last night. Specifically, a party for their 6 year old girl. Which meant that there was an entire passel of other 6 year old party-goers there with her.

I say this with the upmost degree of love, because Savannah has a good deal of the Drama Queen in her, too - but who knew that putting multiple 6 year olds together for a party -and a sleep over - could create such drama?

I think Ricardo is scarred for life - I can totally see him banning all sleep-overs for Savannah for the next 20 years.

I personally have never been a huge fan of the sleep-over, even when I was young, but I suppose I'll have to deal with it sooner or later. Is 6 the age when this is supposed to start happening? I don't know. But I DO know that there will be a limit to the guests - 2, I think. Not 13. I'm learning some extremely valuable lessons from my neighbor.

The theme was a princess tea party, and the hostess passed out tiaras and necklaces, earrings and gigantic rings to all the girls, and they all fluttered around in their shiny and bedazzled princess dresses.

Ricardo taught Savannah a new word: bling-bling. As in, "Look at my bling-bling - it's bigger than my hand!"

Savannah insisted that I was a princess too. Who am I to argue? Apparently I'm a princess with slightly crooked glasses. I'll blame it on the way Savannah was smashed into the side of my face.

Other pictures from our week:

Like a good blogger, I forgot to take an "after" picture of my sparkling clean fridge. But it's done! And oh, it's beautiful.

This is what I received in the mail that totally made my entire week - I helped Lisa out with her blog, and she was sweet enough to send me this package of goodies. Believe me, I wasted no time in getting to Starbucks for a Skinny Cinnamon Dolce. Lisa, thank you!

Thanks to Sara for hosting Project 365.

Now I'm off to take my Sunday afternoon nap.

I'm sure these curtains will make a comeback someday...

So here is a little story of what happens when a rare organizational fit comes over you.

You venture into the deep dark corners of the closet in your spare bedroom/office/workout room. And you start going through all of the many drawers, throwing things away and then moving the remaining junk to various other places throughout the house.

Then a month later, when your friend Rachel hosts a Baby Photo Carnival, and you go to that closet to look for all your old baby pictures, you remember that you moved them. But you can't remember to where.

And that, sweet invisible friends, is why I have no baby pictures of myself today. They are here somewhere, but I'll be darned if I know where.

So these are all I have, not baby pictures, but definitely from long ago and far away, and from a time when orange and green were obviously THE colors to decorate with.

I love this one, in all of it's 1980's blurriness, because of the awesome curtains and carpet in the background - tell me those aren't some pretty sweet drapes. And I also love it because some of my favorite memories are of my dad playing his ukulele while we all fought for a spot on his lap.






This is my hubby when he was about 2 years old, somewhere in Mexico. See, this is why I need to have a baby boy - so he can look just like his daddy. I can hardly stand the cuteness.

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And I have to throw in a couple of Savannah. Was she really ever this tiny?

Rachel, thank you for hosting this - be sure to drop by her place where the Baby Picture Party is happening!