Chicago Mama Spot

A Benefactor Blogger and Conan O'Brien

Oh Mama Spot, I'm sorry I've been ignoring you.  It's just that I've been so disorganized busy the past few days that by the time I start to think about posting and reading blogs, I look at the clock and it's too late.

Internet, you suck me in and waste my time. 

I've talked about this before, but many people with ADD have this problem with hyper focusing.  When I find something I'm interested in, I can become absorbed for days on end.  Usually, that means everything else slides. 

Can you imagine me pregnant?  Yes, I knew just about every product out there.

Can you imagine me going through infertility treatments?  Thankfully, at the time I didn't have a real job or I might have been fired.

When Sweet Pea's little head became a little flat (well, pretty flat), I don't think I left an internet stone unturned.  Luckily, I listened to my pediatrician and just left it alone.  Her head is just fine now.

You get the picture, I'm a bit of a pit bull when I get on to something. 

Since Sweet Pea is not one to be ignored, I tend to do most of my obsessing time-wasting hyperfocusing during naptime and the wee hours of the day. 

So, what's been keeping me so occupied that I've ignored my mama spot? 

Early Monday morning, I had a little insomnia.  I hadn't really had a chance to catch up on reading blogs, so I went through my bloglines and caught up.  As usual, I kept finding interesting links to other blogs in the ones I was reading.  I linked here somehow even though I wasn't subscribed.  I'm a sucker for the newborns, so I was reading all about this adorable little guy making his entrance a little sooner than expected.  YanowhatImean is a Chicago mama too and I always enjoy the Chicago stories.

Then, I got to this post.  Daddy-O loves Conan.  Many a night, I'm trying to sleep through him cracking up at some Conan skit.  I knew Conan was coming to Chicago, but never really thought about getting tickets.  Even though it was 4:30 am, I almost woke Daddy-O up to ask if he would give up his first softball game of the year to see Conan.  Lucky for him I realized he never remembers the discussions we have when I wake him up from a dead sleep.  So, I commented on the post and told Yano that I thought I'd want the tickets, but had to wait to make sure.  Daddy-O was so excited, but we were pretty sure that some blogger who'd never met me had probably already found someone.  We had to wait for the email back to find out whether or not someone else had beaten us to the tickets.

We were in.  A few hours later, we got the confirmation email that NBC had sent Yano for Thursday's taping. 

How awesome is that.  Not the Conan part, even though that sounds fun.  Someone who's never met me, did such a nice thing for me. 

It so nice that blogging got me such a great perk.  As a SAHM, it doesn't feel the same buying Daddy-O gifts or tickets to a big game.  Since technically, he's the one bringing in the money, it just isn't the same.  So, it's fun for me to be able to surprise him with something he couldn't get on his own.  When I asked him if he'd give up his game for Conan, he looked at me with just a little pity and said "those tickets are impossible to get."  Not if you know the right blogger.

So, I have spent a good portion of the last few days trying to find out how early we need to get there.  Having a confirmation doesn't guarantee tickets because they distribute more confirmations than there are available seats.  I guess to plan for no-shows.  It's been pretty hard to find the information.  There are the die-hard fans out there who say you have to be there at the crack of dawn and then, there is the official information that says that you have to be there by 3:15 pm, but that many times people line up much earlier. 

I have been on myspace and livejournal a lot the past few days.  I've heard many virtual shrieks from people who made it into the front row or touched Conan's hand.  I'm still not sure when we need to be there.  John C Reilly is the guest and is probably not the star of the week.  So, that may affect the line.  Also, the weather is looking very nasty.  Rainy all day, with temperatures in the low 50s (real-feel in the 40s).  All the waiting is outside.

I've also spent a lot of time trying to figure out babysitting for us.  The person who normally does it for us during the day can't do it and Daddy-O's dad can only do it until around 4:00 pm.  Tomorrow, I'll be begging my sister.  It sounds like the taping is usually over by 6:30 or so at the latest, so won't have to worry about putting her to sleep or anything.  The cousins always have a great time together, so hopefully that will be our solution.

Once again, the night is speeding by, so I'll have to post about my other time-consuming, time-wasters later.

Again, many, many thanks to Yano for being so generous.  I will post all the details as soon as I can.

Look for me on Conan tonight.

Girls Night Out and Belly Holes

It must seem like all I ever do is go out because it seems I have a lot of posts about drinking champagne.  I really don't go out very much, I swear!

But, I did have a great meal out at a top Chicago restaurant, X/O

I admit to having a delicious pomegranite margarita - really only to celebrate Cinco de Mayo.  I also did have a flight, plus one of champagne.  Very enjoyable evening with a few women I don't know that well and one I know and love.  Unfortunately, sometimes with two pregnant women, the slight slurring becomes a little more noticeable than it would if everyone had a few cocktails.  I had so few that I will even be fine tomorrow morning, but you know when you're around completely sober, pregnant people, you can feel a little self-concious.

Here's what I have for tonight's post:

Sweet Pea calls her belly button her "Belly Hole."  I'm not sure where she learned this, but she says it a lot while trying to peer over her big baby belly to see it.  It's one of the first things she's said where I just have no idea where she got it. 

Getting out of a rut

I am being punished for drinking too much champagne.  I must have compromised my immune system because I caught Sweet Pea's cold.  I am grumpy with a cold.  Luckily for Sweet Pea, today was Papa's day to watch her, so she still had fun.

Isn't it amazing how the weather tricks you into thinking it's getting close to summer.  It's supposed to be cloudy, rainy, and not too warm for the next week.  I was just starting to enjoy my umbrella drinks - it's just not the same when you drinking one while you eat chili.  Of course, I'm laying off while I recover from my cold.

We're in kind of rut over here.  Not summer, not winter.  We're doing the same old classes that we've been doing.  They're fun, but I'm looking for something new.  There's a little toddler soccer class that sounds fun.  The parents get to do it with the kids.  I've always thought it would be fun to join a women's soccer league.  Okay, you're more likely to find me sitting on the couch watching tivo.  But, it sounds fun. 

One of those little ADD symptoms that I have is THINKING that everything sounds fun.  In the past day, I've literally looked at:

Cooking classes here
Mandarin classes here
Soccer classes here
Midnight Yoga here
Knitting here
Flamenco (yes, Flamenco - doesn't it look fun?) here

I mean, what am I thinking?  I spend so much time looking and then I never do any of them.  Maybe this summer, I'll get away from my tivo.   That's one of the mixed blessings of living in a city with lots to do.  If you don't do any of it, you feel a little like you're wasting it.  What looks the most interesting?  I think I'll try to pick one (instead of my usual - jump in with both feet - pick two or three, overcommit and end up doing nothing!)

There I am at my class recital!  We had our honeymoon in Spain and loved the flamenco.  I thought it would be a little corny, but it wasn't, it was fantastic.

Neighbor date

So much has transpired in neighbor-land.  Yesterday when we were out on the swingset, Neighbor asked if we wanted to come over for drinks tonight.  Yay!  We're in.  Actually, I was totally normal.  Not too high school.  We had a great time.  I didn't drink too much out of nervousness and we got home at a relatively early hour - not too early, not too late.  They had us and three doors down neighbors over.  It was nice enough that we could sit on the deck.  We had a lot to talk about and there wasn't too much of that uncomfortable "I don't know what to say next" feeling.  Three doors down neighbor and her husband seem really nice too.  She seems almost like the mayor of Bucktown because she knows everything about everyone around here.  We got all kinds of good dirt history on the whole neighborhood. 

Now that we're getting in on things, I'm lstarting to love the suburban feel of the new place.  Hopefully, we don't blow it.  Daddy-O can get a little fed up with the whole scene, so hopefully he stays nice.

Way off topic, we re-stained our deck and so, Charlie couldn't go up the stairs outside until the paint dried.  She wouldn't even come up on the inside from the basement to the first floor.  What is up with that dog?  I can kind of understand the open steps.  It's a little scary when you can see through them (even though Sweet Pea has no problem), but the basement stairs???  They're solid wood.  This dog - she is going to drive me crazy.  On a positive note, after the stain dried, she did go up the stairs near the garage.  There are five or six of them and they are open.  We've had then covered with old rugs, but thought we'd try it without.  She did it.  Baby steps, right?

Happy Weekend!

Impressing the Neighbors

I've managed to start to define my image in the new neighborhood.  NOT in the "isn't she fun, funny, cute, interesting and always put together" way I was hoping.  More in the "did you hear about our crazy neighbor" sort of way.

I started slow, but built up steam as the day went by.  To get you through this very long post, let me just say that by the end of the day, I was yelling profanity in my backyard loud enough that Daddy-O probably heard me in Florida.  How's that for a teaser?  (I've mentioned this before, but I just want to re-iterate, I'm not a cusser.  No, really.  I'm one of those people who says "yikes" or "dang.") 

My mom came to visit this morning.  She was traveling and didn't get home until late last night.  When I talked to my sister late Thursday, she wasn't even positive mom would come.  Sweet Pea's been sleeping pretty late most mornings.  She woke up this morning at around 5 am soaking wet.  It was all my fault.  She was giggling so hard drinking the water coming from the faucet in the bathtub that I couldn't tell her no.  Plus, I had to get it on video.  So, I changed her and we both went back to sleep. 

What seemed like just minutes later, I was jolted awake by the doorbell.  It was 9:15 and my mom was at the door.  I still can't believe we slept that late.  Since Daddy-O is out of town, I'm free to give in to my night owl tendencies and I've been staying up unpacking all the boxes in the basement (okay blogging and reading blogs too). 

My mom and I are really close, so it's not like I needed to have a clean house and be dressed and ready to go.  But, I was a little thrown.  I was so sound asleep that I had that shaky, jolted awake feeling.  So, I woke up Sweet Pea and a few minutes later, my sister and my niece were at the door.  We'd planned on just hanging out at my house all day with the kids.

So, I'm in my sweats with a big t-shirt, no bra, old glasses, uncombed hair - sort of at the bottom of my range of put togetherness.  I was in one of those states where you can't really figure out what to do next.  Finally, I figured out that Charlie probably needed to go outside since she hadn't been out since about 9 pm the night before.  I walked out the door, looked over and there was Neighbor on her deck looking like maybe she'd been up a little longer than me and had probably even showered. So what did I do in my still confused state?  The logical thing - dart back inside and hope she hadn't seen me. 

Am I in high school? 

I ran back upstairs and put my contacts in, combed my hair, added a little makeup and changed clothes into the only thing I could find.  On a sidenote, it is so hard to figure out what to wear in this weather.  It's hot and humid, but too early to wear anything too summery.  My choice?  A pair of khaki pants - not quite capris, not full length, and sort of wide all the way down.  I've had them since college and that's inching close to 20 years ago.  I matched those with a t-shirt that I bought from Target yesterday.  I need some clothes so badly.  I don't think I have ever been as continuously out of style as I am now. 

It was the best I could do given the weather so I was ready to face the neighborhood.  As soon as I walked downstairs, my sister (who knows about my Neighbor crush) told me that Neighbor had left a few seconds after I went upstairs.  It turns out this was a really good thing. 

Jump forward an hour or so . . .

We were all outside playing on the swingset.  The girls were having a good time, but could not have been more filthy.  Sweet Pea looked like a mechanic she had so much dirt smeared on her face and hands - which contrasted nicely with the 15-20 bows she had in her hair (why she wanted every single bow we own in her hair, I don't know.  But, if that's what makes her happy - who am I to stomp on her fashion sense?  She'd just have to check out my pants to know I might not be an expert.

All of the sudden, Charlie starts going crazy.  Then, we see her with a bird in her mouth.  Then, it gets away.  Charlie is on the hunt.  She flushes the bird out of the bushes and almost gets it again. She's circling the bushes and this poor bird keeps trying to get away, but can't get off the ground.  She keeps catching it, but it keeps flapping out of her mouth. 

I am freaking out.  I am yelling at the top of my lungs for Charlie to stop.  I can't remember exactly what I was saying, but I know it was loud (really loud), hysterical, and frantic.  I'd run toward her and then when she'd almost catch the bird, I'd run back to the swingset.  So, not only did I sound like I was insane.   I looked it too.  My mom was trying to be the voice of reason.  She kept telling me that "Charlie's a bird dog (a Lab).  Of course, she wants to catch the bird."   

At the height of hysteria, the last thing you want is for someone to try to reason with you, especially to tell you that what is freaking you out is totally normal. 

Oh, okay.  As long as it's just normal,  I'll let her catch it, toy with it for a while, eat it and then, come lick Sweet Pea's face with her blood-soaked mouth? 

She's a city dog!  Doesn't she know that?  She can't even manage to go up a flight of stairs because she's too scared.  She's not supposed to be able to actually catch a bird.  Sure, Charlie, knock yourself out trying to catch one.  Get nice and tired so you don't bug us while we're trying to eat.  But, don't actually catch one because I'm not a hunter.  And, you're a CITY dog.

In defense of my hysterical drama queen reaction to this - - -

• I really hate birds. 
• Since Daddy-O is out of town, he wouldn't be able to help me clean up Charlie's blood soaked fur. 
• Charlie is already sending me over the edge because her neuroses are making double the work for me.
• The last few weeks of late night unpacking, insomnia and my night owl hours since Daddy-O went out of town have made me tired.  When I get tired, I get a little emotional, a little dramatic, and sometimes, a little hysterical. 

So, this bird hunting thing was just about more than I could take.  About the third time I went scurrying back to the swingset because I couldn't watch what was happening and because Charlie was paying ZERO attention to my hysterical commands, I yelled at the top lungs . . .

F***!

My sister and my mom were laughing so hard that they could hardly control themselves.  Their whole bodies were shaking.  The two of them can cuss like sailors, so they always think it's funny when I cuss.  In my obviously fragile state, they weren't quite sure how I'd react to them laughing, but they just couldn't keep it in.  Lucky for them, I could almost see the humor in the whole thing pretty early on.

Meanwhile, Cousin and Sweet Pea (who loves birds beyond belief) are just staring at the whole thing with their mouths open. 

Finally, my mom grabbed the leash from me and managed to clip it onto Charlie and drag her away. 

I'll tell you, this is mother's love.  She hates birds more than anyone I know.  She's the oldest of four girls and her sisters will tell you she was kind of mean.  The only thing they could do to get even with her when they were young was to chase her around with dead birds.  A few years ago, a bird got inside of her car somehow while she was out of town and she made my stepdad drive an hour and a half to come get it out.  You never would have known it though.  She just marched over and took charge.

It's about this time that I realize that I have been yelling at the TOP OF MY LUNGS.  Not just yelling, but yelling F*** at the TOP OF MY LUNGS.  In front of the neighbors . . . oh god.  Okay, in front of my daughter and my three year old niece, too.  But, in front of the neighbors.  My sister helpfully pointed out that it might have sounded like I was beating the dog if you couldn't see what was going on. 

Thank goodness Neighbor was gone when the whole thing happened.  She came back about a half hour later and I fell all over myself telling her what happened.  I wanted to get my side of the story out before she heard it from one of the other neighbors.  I can only imagine them telling her how her new next door neighbor yells and screams and cusses at her dog at the top of her lungs.  After a few times through, the story would start to get embellished and pretty soon the whole neighborhood would know me as the crazy new neighbor who beats my dog, cusses at my sweet mom, and keeps my sister locked up in the basement. 

Again, am I in high school that I'm so obsessing about what people are thinking about me?  Logically, I know that everyone has much better things to do.  But, when I saw Neighbor's next door neighbors talking to her a little while later, I was pretty sure I could see them making the crazy sign and pointing in my direction.  Plus, they were sitting on their deck which is kind of hidden behind Neighbor's deck, so I'm pretty sure they heard the whole thing.

Do you think I might just be so bored that I'm creating drama? 

Tomorrow, I'll thrill you with my blinds open, blinds closed dilemma. 

Neighbors

In person, I'm probably not the friendliest person you'll ever meet.  It's not that I don't want to be, I've just never been great at small talk.  I'm pretty shy until I feel comfortable with someone.  I'm better once I get to know someone well enough to talk more in-depth.  On a sidenote, I thought I'd be so much better once I had a baby because I'd have something in common with a lot of women, but it's still hard.

Well, our new neighborhood is very friendly!  I love it.  But at the same time, I kind of miss the anonymity I had in my old neighborhood (just six blocks away, but really different).  We knew people, but our yard was fenced in and we just didn't see people too often. 

Totally different experience over here.  I think I've mentioned that our next door neighbors are a couple with a two and a half year old daughter. 

The wife is probably in her 30s and pretty attractive.  I haven't met her husband yet.  I think he's been traveling.  She is good friends with a woman who lives two houses north.  So, her friend lives three houses from me.  We all have decks off the back of our houses and we can look right at each other's yards and decks.   So, now that it's nice out, every time I go outside, I'm doing a lot of waving.  It's actually really nice and I'd love it if we became friends.  Neighbor and Three Doors Down spend a lot of time talking back and forth on their decks.  Yesterday when I took the dog out, Three Doors Down Husband was out on the deck talking on the phone.  When he saw me, he gave me a huge smile and a wave.  I almost feel like I'm living in the suburbs. 

We have a lot of windows facing Neighbor.  In the kitchen we don't have any window coverings.  In the den, we have them, but haven't really closed them.  So, I feel a little like I'm living in a fishbowl.  Our house is longer than Neighbors.  So, if she's on her deck with her little girl, she's almost even with our den.   It's odd to feel like someone might see what you're doing.  I wonder if she thinks all I do is let Sweet Pea watch Dora.  I'm sure the last thing, she's interested in is what I'm doing. 

Neighbor always looks really put together.  I've always wanted to be that person.  Right now, I'm just not.  I've actually been sort of primping before I go outside to do anything.  This weather isn't helping me achieve that casual, yet put together look that will make Neighbor want to be best friends with me.  It's too warm for jeans and too early for summer-wear.  Plus, now that I've FINALLY lost my baby weight, my summer clothes from 3 years ago are not so hip.  I wish the weather would cooperate when I'm trying to pick up a mom friend.

This afternoon while Sweet Pea was napping, I showered and put on my best "warm spring day out in the yard" outfit just in case Neighbor was out.  She wasn't.  So, I wasted a lot of naptime showering for nothing. 

I don't know if I can take all this social stress!  It's hard work always being presentable and ready to be friendly.  Who knew having nice neighbors would complicate my life so much?  So far, we've only talked over the fence and in the alley.  Hopefully, once we meet in person, it will be much less awkward.  Eventually, I'm sure I'll be back to taking the dog out in the morning with bedhead wearing whatever. 

What if she's a blogger or a blog reader?  I wonder if she could guess that I'm talking about her by reading my blog.  Now, that would be awkward.  I can't think about it or I'll never get to sleep.  I need to be well-rested so I can look decent taking the trash out!

Cubs Win

Cubs Win 5-1!  Love beating those Cardinals (sorry Carol).  Beat the Cardinals, lost my purse.  Why did I bring a purse anyway?  I never bring a purse to games.  I'm so used to carrying a diaper bag, I thought a purse was the least I could bring.  Luckily, I had my driver's license in my pocket, so all I lost was my keys, my Am Ex and some lip gloss.

The game was fun and freezing and wonderful.  Daddy-O and I have had such great times with the Cubs.  We met at a Cubs Rooftop party.  Our first date was a Cubs game.  Our rehearsal kicked off at the Budweiser building with a game for our wedding party.  It reminds me of how much I love him.

Sparkling Clean River Water Anyone?

Happy St Patrick's Day!

The Chicago River is greener than normal on St. Patricks Day.  Here's a little history from the VERY serious Friends of the Chicago River:

Who dyes the River green on St. Patricks Day?
A pipefitters union has been dyeing the River green since the early 1960s. They use fluorescein dye, a chemical (how harmless is debatable) which is used scientifically for tests in moving water. It is a time-honored tradition in Chicago, and more people probably view the Chicago River on this day than on any other day. Friends thinks it's great that the River gets so much attention on St. Patty's Day, but we also think that dying the River gives the impression that it is lifeless and artificial. Friends doesn't think that the River is just a decoration for an annual holiday -- it's a natural resource in the heart of Chicago, full of life and potential.

If you've forgotten the origins of St. Patrick's Day (because of all the green beer), here's a quick referesher.  Can someone explain to me how this become a big drinking holiday?

I am one of the millions of people who claim Irish descent.  My Grandma Hattie thought she was descended from Irish Royalty.  Mmmm, hmmm, bow to the queen.  She was a tad on the eccentric side and I think just liked to push my Grandpa Tolly's buttons - she liked talking about how he was from peasant Swedish stock.

Speaking of toasts, my brackets are looking pretty good.  March Madness Update:  473,508 out of a lot.  82% of my picks are correct.  I'm sure I'll be moving up after today's action.  I might even move into the 200,000s.

Off to watch some basketball.  Poor neglected Sweet Pea.

A beautiful day in the neighborhood . . .

With everything going on the past few days, I haven't had a chance to really think about the new house.  We closed on Friday and move on the March 24th.  That is so SOON.  I'm still feeling mixed about it, mainly because I love our house so much. 

But, the new place definitely has it's advantages.  The beautiful weather on Saturday was a perfect day to break in the swingset.  So, I pulled out Sweet Pea's tricycle and strapped her in.  I put the leash on Charlie - who didn't know what to do with herself she was so excited.  (I don't usually walk her since we have a yard with a little pea gravel area for pottying.)  The three of us headed out bound for the new Casa de Mama Spot with Daddy-O planning to come by a little later.

Our new house is almost a mile away - only about eight city blocks.  After Charlie got over the excitement of being outside of our yard and stopped pulling my arm off, the walk was really fun.  I'm not one of those moms who takes a lot of winter walks.  So, it's been a while since the three of us have been out

Sweet Pea loved riding the trike.  She still can't quite reach the pedals, so I had to push her.  Nothing has ever been as much fun as being eye level with Charlie as she tooled along.  She spent the first ten minutes laughing her head off because they were so close to each other. 

It felt so good to be outside and not be cold.  I felt like quite the urban mama walking around the city with my two girls.

We pulled up to our house just as a couple walked by with their dog.  I was struggling trying to unlock the gate with Sweet Pea rolling away and Charlie trying to sniff the other dog.  So, get this, they are sooooo neighborly, so friendly.  This doesn't really happen in our neighborhood unless you're wearing colors. 

They asked lots of nice questions, tell me they live three houses down, and then, invited us to cookout with them and our next door neighbors this summer.  Ok, it's not a solid date and not until summer.  But, how nice is that?  On Friday, Daddy-O met our next door neighbor and her 2 1/2 year old daughter. We haven't met her husband yet, but she seemed really nice.  We haven't even moved in yet and we have potential couple friends for us and a friend for Sweet Pea.  Things are looking up.

Now for the other news . . . my dog . . . she is an oddball.

She's afraid of random things.  She's claustrophobic.  Are other dogs claustrophobic?  A few years ago she slipped going up the stairs from our yard to the kitchen door and then refused to go up them again.   I was working at the dog training place at the time and the owner told me to not feed her inside  - to just put her food at the top of the stairs and eventually (and she was thinking maybe she'd miss a meal), she'd choose food over her fear.  It didn't work.  She stood at the bottom of the stairs crying and every time she'd try to go up the stairs, her little legs would just shake like crazy.  After a day and a half, I gave up.  I couldn't take it - she could just go through the basement door.  She wouldn't go up those stairs for 9 months. One day, she just went up them like she'd never had a problem.  We've had no stair problems since.

Well, our new house has stairs, lots of them.  To go from the front of the house to the back, you go down along the side of the house and then, up a set of wooden stairs that you can see through.  No go.  Charlie wouldn't go beyond the first step.  Okay, no problem.  We could just go through house.  No, same thing and the stairs going up to the front door aren't even scary.

So, we had to walk all the way around through the alley to the garage and into the backyard.  Once we got in, she had a great time in the yard running around chasing tennis balls.  But, I'm telling you, if she can't figure out those stairs, I don't know what I'll do.  Why does my dog need to be crazy?

I swear she overthinks things, just like me.  Don't think about the stairs, Charlie.  Just go.

Fast forward to summer

What a beautiful day in Chicago!  My car told me the temperature was 61 degrees.  A day like today is a taste of what's to come - warm weather. Ahhhhh. . . summer.  Here's what the warm weather will bring:

Icy, refreshing, summer drinks

Mojito for One

• 12 fresh mint leaves
• 1 tsp sugar
• 2 oz. Bacardi Limon rum
• 1 oz. fresh lime juice
• club soda
• crushed ice

Place the mint leaves in a tall glass and crush the leaves with the sugar to release their oil. Add the Bacardi Limon and lime juice and mix. Top off with club soda and ice. Smile and savor. :)

Farmer's Markets
This is the year that I'm really going to take advantage of them.  Lots of fresh meals for my lucky family.  I swear.  I'm going to use the stuff I buy, too.  I swear.

Baseball at Wrigley Field (I hate to admit it,but probably Cellular Sox Park too)

Even though it already looks like the Cubs are out of contention, it's always fun.  I can't wait to buy my opening day scorecard and little pencil. 

We took Sweet Pea to both Sox and Cubs games last year and I have to say, the Sox are set up for the kids.  My mom's a Cubs fan and my dad is a Sox fan, so I feel justified in going to both parks.

Relaxing outside with a cold beer and food fresh off the grill

Mmmmm.  I can't wait to grill up all those healthy vegetables I get at the farmer's market.   Doesn't a cold beer taste so good on a hot summer night?

 No More Bulky Winter Clothes!!!

I am alway so tired of my winter clothes, especially sweaters - I love packing them up.  Summer  clothes are so much easier and usually cuter and summer shoes win hands down.    

I have to say, I didn't truly appreciate losing the bulky clothes until I had Sweet Pea.  I CAN NOT wait to not have to bundle that kid up.  It better happen soon, too.  Her winter coat is getting pretty small and I'm not buying another one until next year! 

Ok, time to stop the fantasizing.  It's only March 11.  We have a long way to go and it's supposed to be 35 by Tuesday.