All ready for Christmas

How awesome is this chunky unicorn?

She's got one special spot on my tree!

Dress rehearsal of her new outfits!

The dress is for seeing Santa.

And I quote, "Momma, Santa's gonna be 'cited to see me!"

This one is just pure innocent childhood magic!

Trying on Shoes

This is the proper way to do it, right?!

My sis had several pairs for her try on and only made it through the first ones.

Last week a real testament to me not freaking out.  In the past 7 days I've had two crying jags because my man and I cannot communicate with each other.  Most of it is me, because I'm an emotional robot and I can't say what I really mean.  He's not a mind reader so the whole thing just ends badly.  I need to work on not relating sex as love and he's going to try an read me a bit better.

Work has a lot to do with it as well.  It's been very slow since the transition but I'm trying to get used to it.  Wednesday I spent 5 hours driving to spend 5 min taking photos of a hail damaged boat.  At least I was able to stop at the good cheese shop, butcher shop and bakery.  I kinda feel like a 50's housewife typing all of that ;)  It's all a new learning process and can be a lot to take in when you have nothing to work on.

On a positive note, all the Christmas decor was up on Tuesday and my house is very festivus!  I even have space to add some more small items AND I'm going to glitter up some things I bought last year. Not every fiber of my being is shiny from glitter so I'm going to add more!  GLITTER ALL THE CHRISTMAS THINGS!

Game Day

Double fisting before the game

Because we are just that damn cute!

He was worried we weren't close enough.

2nd Row, 30 yd line, Vikings side

I am officially hooked on attending NFL games.  I cannot wait to get tickets for next year and make my first pilgrimage to Lambeau!  We had a fantastic time, despite some rude assholes next to me and in front of us.  One guy kept saying he was "from LA and that's how they act!"  What a cop out.  He really rubbed me the wrong way.  Also, who harasses the kicker.  Come on!

Wordless Wednesday

This kid!  Her mom had just done her nails.  

Per Boo "One hand pink one hand purple, just like Auntie Libby!"

This week's mani, all colors chosen by my man.  

He's a good picker!

A boring weekend

People this child will be the death of her momma!  She was an angel at DQ then was incarnated by the devil at Toys R Us and hugged a public toilet basin.  My sister had to use bribery of a new toy to get her out of the store and to stop her demonic ways.  I had bought the same stroller for Christmas, but it's an easy return.  Baby Bingo is a Cabbage Patch Kid dressed as a a flamingo.  I think she might be saying baby Mingo, but other times it's Baby Bingo.

This kid loves some sparkles (sprinkles)

Her new stroller and baby bingo

My man and I went over to visit my sis and her family on Saturday.  That kid entertained us the whole time because she had just eaten some of my birthday cake.  Kids on a sugar high are hysterical.  She could not get enough of my man and him tickling her, hilarious!  She would also fall on purpose and crack herself up!  She loves to make people laugh and really has it down.  The highlight is when my sis asked her to tell us about her fit the night before.  Poor lil boo hung her head down and said "No Mommy, I don't want to."  She knew how naughty she had been!

After we came home we camped out on the couch for the rest of the weekend, minus my massive food prep Sunday afternoon.  Lots of football and cheesy popcorn was had by all.  I made some cookies with new caramel filled chocolate chips.  Holy crap are they some tasty lil treats. 

Happy Birthday to me

Not much has changed since this photo was taken 30 something years ago.











My man did good with this cake.  It was marble which isn't my favorite, but the taste more than made up for it!













My gift!  That light is the greatest best thing ever for an at home nail girl like myself.  It's just so amazing and fast and just the best!  Seriously go buy yourself one.














My anniversary orchid, how gorgeous is it!!!

My birthday was amazing!  I couldn't have asked for a better gift.  My man JOINED PINTEREST so he could view my "Gifts to buy for me" board.  THEN he went to the Sally's website and had his credit declined.  He had to log in and verify that it wasn't a fraudulent charge!  I find the whole thing just simply adorable.  I've never had anyone go to such great lengths to make me happy.  

Our dinner was even more amazing.  We tried out Acqua in Forest Lake and I am going to find any reason to go there again.  Lobster mac and cheese, calamari, lobster bisque and garlic shrimp and scallops.  It was a party in my mouth!  I have to go back just to try the desserts, we had cake waiting but I was so tempted to get creme brûlée anyways.  Ah Mah Zing!  If you are local, run to this eatery ASAP!

How to ruin an anniversary

Impromptu babysitting

She's not tired at all . . .

Celebrating my 1 yr anniversary didn't exactly go as planned.  On Thursday night we went out to dinner and had a lovely meal, came home and he started to fall asleep on the couch.  That was not the romance I had planned or really expected.  Eventually we went to bed with barely a kiss.

I laid in bed and let my brain spiral out of control.  I moved myself to the couch and cried for nearly 2.5 hours.  I worked myself up and started having a panic attack.  I woke up my man and sobbed for another hour.  I gushed out all kinds of crap and of course made him cry too.  Waking someone up to make them cry is not an ideal anniversary present.  I need to work on expressing my feelings in a much more constructive manner and he needs to do the same.

Overall it boils down to me feeling very unappreciated, him not acknowledging all I do and me needing a lot more attention.  We are both workaholics, we enjoy feeling needed by our peers and management.  Right now is his time to shine and he's doing a great job, but working 10+ hours a day is not cool with me.  I stay home all day and do training and other boring things.  When he gets home I want someone to talk to, to pay attention to me; not sit on his computer and get all riled up over stupid mistakes his India team makes.  Plus working at that level complete exhausts him and by the time he finally logs off he's 2 min from falling into a deep sleep.

We've pinky promised to really work on these issues.  Every 2-4 months I have this breakdown and feel awful, leading him to feel awful and we have a really rough 24-48 hours.  I ended up not sleeping for nearly 36 hours and was just crabby all day, which to me, really ruined our anniversary.  It'll be memorable but not for what I wanted.  He did get me a really cute card and the most beautiful orchid.  It's just perfect and shows how much he really does listen!

What really made me feel good was his mom and sis in law.  On Saturday we went crafting and at the first stop they both mentioned how good I've been for my man.  His divorce was rough and he privatized the whole ordeal.  His family was super worried about how he'd handle it.  I've turned him around and brought back his positive side.  Per their words, it's obvious how happy I make him.  His mom expressed how worried she was when I said I was stubborn because so is my man.  Neither of us likes being bossed around, BUT what she didn't know was my art of compromise.  Our issues are less about fighting and more about needing to be expressive.

I thought I had ruined our anniversary, but in reality I think I made it better.  After my outbursts he's always more attentive and loving and I'm pretty fragile, both things we need to do more often.  This Thursday is my birthday and I cannot wait to celebrate with him.  We have reservations at a new nice seafood restaurant and I finally get my present.  He's been teasing me with this for a weeks now!  I know it will live up to it's hype!