Really, an award?

Before I get into this post I wanted to share my excitement that I received my first blog award!!!!  Yaaay!  I’d like to thank the academy…..um, I mean Karen at Diapers, Dishes, Lessons & Homework for honoring me with the Stylish Blogger Award!
 

Apparently this award comes with some rules:

(1)               Thank the person who awarded you

(2)               Share 7 things about yourself

(3)               Pay it forward to new blogs you’ve discovered

Here are 7 things about me:

1.  I’m an excel-a-holic. I have spreadsheets for everything!

2.  I love to cook.  Every other year for Christmas Eve we host a huge family dinner for 20 people

3.  I’ve visited over 113 cities in 16 countries

4.  I can make 3 different sounds at the same time

5.  I can be crafty, especially with party planning

6.  When I was a kid I wanted to be a marine biologist, but ended up an accountant….go figure

7.  I have a huge pet peeve of people who eat loudly (slurp, etc). It is disgusting & drives me insane.

The next part is kind of tough since I’m brand new to the blogging world and can’t give back to who gave it to me.....so here goes.  These are some cool blogs I’ve come across in the last month.

 

1.  Work Wife Mom Life

2.  Our Italian Kitchen

3.  D Is For Dinner

4.  Confessions From A Working Mom

5.  Baby Meets City

Turkey Week!

The week started off with me still not feeling so great, but happy that I had the week off from work.  M-W I ran errands, did some shopping and tried to clean up the house a bit.  Thursday (thanksgiving) we went over to my in-laws to eat.  A refused to try turkey or the fixings and instead ate some good ‘ole chicken nuggets. He had a great time playing with his cousins.

We’re not black Friday shoppers, but this year we decided to check out some stuff online.  It’s always better to shop in your pj’s right?  We found a great deal on a new tv for our bedroom and decided it would be our (early) birthday gifts to each other.  Black Friday is also my decorating day.  I actually started a little the day before, but on Friday I completely decorated the house, with the exception of our tree which we have to go get this weekend.  A was in complete awe when he woke up from his nap and entered “Santa Land”, as he calls it.  It warmed my heart to watch his smiling face take in all of the decorations and lights.

Saturday I went on a cooking frenzy!  I made hot dog nuggets and apple pear cinnamon sauce for A as well as a London broil and butternut squash for myself and H.  I’ve started a little tradition of taking pictures of A holding Christmas lights in the dark.  Saturday  night I took our 2010 pictures and I’m surprised A cooperated.  The below 2 pictures represent the two sides of him….the sweet angelic boy and the crazy toddler monster.  LOL

Sunday I went to visit my mom with A and had a nice time playing at the park and having lunch. Then later in the day I ordered all of the photo gifts I made for people as well as our Christmas card.  I cannot believe the deal I got!  I spent $80 but saved $220!!!  Insane. 

I am thankful for so many things in my life.  My family, friends, health, my job……  But what I am most thankful for this year is the ability to remember the good stuff even when life is hard, the continuous opportunity to see the magic in the moment and all the people who support, encourage and inspire me.

My Sick Day

Sick day???  What is that??  One of the downfalls of my position is that it’s very hard to take a sick day and go completely off the grid for a day….especially close to year-end.  Last Thursday night I started to not feel well and by Friday morning I was in full blown sickness including a lost voice.  But apparently the work must go on, so I worked the entire day from my couch, with the exception of the 2 hr break to go to the dr’s and get medicine.  It’s a terrible cycle to be sick and then not be able to take the proper time off to get well, so it all just continues.  Sigh….  

The End is Near…

…of teething that is.  Last night my son complained that his cheek hurt.  I immediately though maybe his 2^nd year molars were finally here.  I tell my husband to look in his mouth and the reply I get is “I see some swelling but no tooth”.  Well of course I don’t believe him so I look for myself and to my surprise I see that BOTH of his bottom 2^nd molars are half way in!  Wohooo!!  This means only 2 more to go and we’re done with teething (until the next baby of course!)

The Great Holiday Picture Meltdown

 

We went this morning to have A’s Christmas pictures taken.  You had though I asked him to sit in a pit of snakes the way he reacted.  He refused to sit or even stand and I had to end up playing a game with him to get a semi-half decent picture. Needless to say it wasn’t the most enjoyable photo experience of the past 2 ½ years…..  Oh and Santa, well that was another meltdown in itself.  We didn’t even attempt a picture there….I hightailed it out of Santa’s Workshop real fast.

But I'm glad it's over so that now I can use the couple good pictures we got along with some other ones I've taken to make and order our Christmas cards.  For the first time last year I got our cards through Shutterfly and just loved them.  They have so many designs to choose from and creating them is super easy.

My favorite cards Shutterfly offers is the folded cards.  I’m leaning towards the “Red Snowflakes“ Christmas card for this year, but already I'm finding it hard to choose a design because I love them all.  I also make a photo calendar for each coming year so it's time to get started on creating a new one for 2011. They have some pretty cool photo gifts (like the photo ornaments) that I’m thinking will be great gifts for the grandparents this year.

If you want to get your own 50 free cards go here <---

Working Mother Media Worklife Congress

The other week I attended a 2 day conference in NYC with two of my coworers for the Working Mother Media WorkLife Congress.  I was selected to attend due to my roles at work as a leader of our “Working Parents Network”.  It is an organization of employees who are driven to improve the work/life balance of all employees at my company through policy changes & programs.  I’ve been a part of this network for a few years now and it’s something I am very proud to be involved in. 

The conference itself was quite eye opening (and a little depressing) to see what other companies are offering for working mothers (and dads too) that my own company does not.  It showcased the “Top 100 Best Companies to Work for as a Working Mom” and held workshops about what they are doing to make the work/life balance a little easier. 

At the Gala dinner they even announced women from each of the top 100 Best Companies that were named “Working Mother of the Year”.  As I sat there and watched the awards I thought to myself, how cool would it be to win that award someday?!

One of the goals of our Working Parents Network is to get my company onto this list of Top 100 Best Companies.  We were the first Advertising Agency to ever attend this conference (we were a sponsor too) and the President of Working Mother Media personally came up to our table and expressed how excited she was to see us there. 

I am more motivated than ever to convince management that we need to implement a flexible working arrangement and better maternity leave policy.  Maybe if we offered more flexibility we wouldn’t see so many people quitting……. My colleagues and I have already started drafting up a business plan for a flexible working policy that we plan to take to Management in a month or so.

I think I’m going to need some luck for this one!!

 

Wordless Wednesday

Missing You

It’s hard to believe it’s been 9 years since we lost my husband’s best friend.

Although you weren’t there for our wedding or to share in our joy when our son was born I’d like to think that you have been with us through it all. It saddens us to think that we won’t be sharing BBQ’s at each other’s houses or watch our children play together, but it makes us feel a little bit better to know that you are up there watching over us.

Not a day goes by that we don’t miss you xoxo

 

A Happy Halloween Makes for a Cranky Monday

What a difference a year makes!  Last year trick or treating consisted of collecting candy out of the candy bowls around grandma & grandpa’s living room, dumping his full bucket out on the floor & doing it all over again.  This year we went trick or treating for real

After a bit of complaining, and even a full on temper tantrum when I put his costume on, off we went.  I was expecting to go to one house and then pack it in, but once we got past the first couple houses his mood suddenly changed.  A was racing his buddy (our neighbor who went with us) to each door to be the first one to knock, yelling “trick or treat’ before anyone even came to the door and making sure to say thank you (when prompted of course).  About an hour later I came back with a smiling happy 2 year old and a load of goodies!!  Which of course mom & dad will eat since A doesn’t like candy (I know, I have a weird kid).

I am so glad that Halloween fell on a Sunday this year so that I could experience this with my son without having to take a day off from work.  He had such a blast that he asked the following morning if he could do it again!

You would think that all the walking around would lead to a sleepy toddler, but no such luck.  A gave me such a hard time going to bed and then kept getting up every couple hours wanting to be snuggled.  So needless to say we were all a bit cranky Monday morning.  I just hope he’s not getting sick again…..