WW - Birthday!

Well, we all know me, and we know this won't be wordless.

BUT, how could I not post pictures from my 34th birthday (which was only a week ago tomorrow)?

We met friends at The Cheesecake Factory for lunch.

I just LOVE when I get to be a "lady who lunches".
Who knew July 30th also happens to be National Cheesecake Day?

(which means 1/2 off your cheesecake!)

Forget the cheesecake - this "lady" was all about the whipped cream and sprinkles!

And dinner at RI-famous Twin Oaks - the BEST lobstah (lobster) salad EVAH!
And . . . the sterling silver beads whose quest took on a life of its own, including many hours of retail research. Wanna know about sterling silver beads, mm size, necklace lengh, where (and where not) to purchase - just ask me or my wonderful husband!
(mine are graduated 10mm-16mm and I'm in love with them!)

Out of about 7 shots, the best family pic we got documenting the occasion!

My 34th birthday was fabulous.

I am truly blessed.

And my amazing husband already knows he just may have backed himself into a corner being that next year is really the "special" birthday! It's gonna be hard to outdo just how wonderful my day and weekend were!

I could not ask for a more wonderful family or group of friends.

More to come (including a close-up of my gorgeous necklace) . . .

Natural Talent

Yesterday was my 34th birthday.

Despite a raging sinus infection, I rallied (everyone knows you can't be sick on your birthday!), and The Mad Hatter and I met some friends for lunch at the Cheesecake Factory

(sidebar: how ironic that MY birthday happens to fall on National Cheesecake Day and I landed there for lunch by the sheer fate of not having much of an appetite and wanting a killer salad?)

After a wonderful lunch, my girlfriend and I decided to brave the mall with the kiddos.

MH loves to visit "Barnyard Kids" aka Pottery Barn Kids - it's an absolute must (er, bribe I hold over her head) every time we visit the mall.

I decided that first, I was going to treat myself to a little gift (or 3) at Sephora. Pottery Barn happens to be right across the way and the natives were getting restless, so my friend told me to take my time finishing up and meet her over there.

When I walked in, this is what I found!

(Yes, I am loving my new camera and the fact that I can shoot in color, vivid color, sepia, black and white, and all kinds of other cool effects)

I'm kinda thinkin' my girl is a shoo-in for the next Barnyard Kids (er, PBK) catalog!

Maybe it's time for an agent?

WW2 - The epitome of Fall

WW - Girlfriends!

I finally found my MIA camera, and was excited to find these pictures I'd forgetten I'd taken! MH and her girlfriends - she is already learning the importance of having "her girls" as she calls them!

And yes, that makes THREE of them who own "the giraffe dress"!

Meme with a Twist!

We all know how I love memes (ME! ME! ME!). The lovely Sandy at Just for Fun (you can also find her here too!) tagged me for this one, and it is different than any other meme I've seen before.

The rules are as follows: choose the sixth photo from your sixth album and post it with a brief description and/or the story behind it.

Well, I'm going to use my Picasa albums, 6th from the top of the list, and I have a gazillion pictures since DH gave me my fabulous birthday gift! Here's what I've got for you (PS this was lots of fun, I started typing up this post before I had any idea what I was going to get!):

Oooh! I love this one! My favorite pictures tend to be ones where MH is not staring right at the camera and I can catch her natural beauty without trying, or getting a funny face! I remember this day so clearly - it was a Sunday, on the way down to the beach this summer. There is a gorgeous spot I have always loved - a clearing where you can see the Jamestown Bridge, lots of water, and boats - so picturesque. We had the "special" camera with us, and DH pulled the car over (as I've said we should do a gazillion times over the years). Finally I not only had pictures of one of my favorite views here in RI, but I got to take them in such high quality AND with my beautiful little girl and handsome husband in many of them. We seriously must have shot at least 150 pictures in less than 10 minutes - it was just so easy to keep snapping! This one was taken right before we were getting back in the car.

Turns out, I was extra glad we chose that day to stop. There was a backup getting into the beach parking lot because it was full - they were letting in cars in one at a time, only when another car left and freed up a spot. I spent the time viewing my fabulous photos on the camera!

I can't recall, but I think I'm supposed to tag 6 people (I'm going with it - 6th album, 6th photo):

Liza @ Life With a Diva and a Princess
Beth @ Little Princess Chronicles
Candy @ Everyone Has A Story to Tell. This Is Ours.
Beth @ A Real Anti-Supermom
Lisa @ Life With Our Little Ladies
The Mrs. @ One Fabulous Mom

I can't wait to see your pictures and hear your stories!

Wordless Wednesday

Well, ALMOST wordless. Anyone who knows me knows that I have a sweet tooth like no other. If my metabolism and exercise ability would cooperate, I would happily eat dessert for breakfast, lunch, and dinner (and of course a few snacks in between).

Last week I had the opportunity to be a "lady who lunches", as my good friend N was moving out of the country (forever!) the following day AND it was my close friend T's birthday. You could say the gathering was quite bittersweet.

The dessert, on the other hand was not - it was as perfectly sweet as could be!

Yep, I'm that girl who grabs her camera and snaps shots of the beautifully presented goodies because I just know that at some point I will have a use for them.

Like to remind myself why my waistband is feeling a bit snug.

I present to you:


Molten Chocolate Heart with Raspberry Sorbet

Ultimate Banana Split (definitely not mine, as I hate bananas!)

Hot Fudge Brownie Sundae

The desserts were fabulous of course, but our friendship is the sweetest thing of all.

N - I'm missing you!
T - glad we got to celebrate again last night!

Anyone drooling yet???

Not such a bad day after all . . .

As I should well know by now, the days you expect to be the worst often end up surprising you.

As soon as I hit publish on yesterday's entry, and the Mad Hatter gave me such a heartfelt and unprompted apology, my day did a complete 180.

And of course I edited my post to note that.

And I would like to thank all of you for your kind comments that made me feel like I'm doing something right as a mom to have such a wonderful little girl.

From the moment she apologized, she was the sweet little girl who makes me smile ear to ear and feel lucky that I get to be her mommy.

I went to massage therapy.

It was great, not torturous as I normally find it to be.

I need to open my mouth and be honest more often when the therapist is hurting me - it really helps. What a concept!

My cleaning lady came and gave me sparkling bathrooms and a clean kitchen floor (please don't judge - we must remember that I am out of commission and there are only so many things Daddy can keep up with around here. Even with her help, I still feel like things are never perfect around here!).

My mom, MH, and I went to the beach, where it was an absolutely glorious day.

We got to enjoy watching this:

MH loves to play with her friend B, who just turned 5 and is absolutely gorgeous (not to mention the daughter of one of Mommy's best friends).

And this: The hole that our friend S dug was almost as deep as MH is tall!

And we had our first frozen novelties from the beach snack bar. Yes, that is supposed to be Dora, and this Mommy even got a matching one. MH exclaimed to everyone that we were twins! By the time she was done, she was one big sweet, melty, sticky mess - the only way to be if you're gonna eat pops on the beach!

MH spent some quality time with my Godparents, Uncle A. and Auntie S.

Last summer MH refused to talk to Uncle A., but spent the whole summer telling everyone else "Uncle A. sad.", while refusing to understand that he was sad because she wouldn't give him the time of day.

One day, she actually pointed to an area far away and said "You go sit over dere.". And he did.

Auntie S. and Uncle A. retired last year and moved to Florida. However, they are home in RI and renting a place for the summer, so we are lucky to get to spend some time with them.

Yesterday, I got to watch Uncle A. love her the way he would love his own grandchild if he had one.

And she was a completely different girl - within the first 5 minutes on the beach, they were off on an a-venture walk to look for crabs in the rocks at the end of the beach. They swam together, played together, and I'm pretty sure he had just as much fun as she did - if not more.

My back was hurting me, I cried a little at the fact that Uncle A. stepped in to jump in the waves when MH requested that I join her and couldn't, but mostly I reveled in the fact that I am quite lucky to have the life I have.

Back pain or not, I was at the beach. With good friends and wonderful family.

Back pain or not, I got to giggle as I watched the new SMALLER size bathing suit I bought for MH still fall off of her non-existent little tush.

Back pain or not, my day was wonderful - the exact opposite of what I was expecting when I woke up.

Oh, and in case you were wondering?

My fantabulous new Cutco kitchen shears should be here sometime in the next week or so.

Wordless Wednesday

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday

This weekend we went to a luau themed birthday party. Here's my little hula girl!







What a fabulous taste of summer!

Let's Show Some Love for Poppy

The Mad Hatter always does!

Father's Day Fun, a few days late

Our father's day plans to head to the beach were sadly ruined by rain. How dare that Mother Nature rain on our parade (yep, bad pun intended). Hubby really wanted to hit the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale, and while braving it with back pain and a very active Mad Hatter wasn't first on the list of activities I'd have chosen, it was Father's Day after all, so of course I was ready to comply.

Hubby took his shower, and then MH proceeded to throw a fit. One that assured me a trip to the mall in either of our conditions was not a wise idea, and that into bed for a nap was the only place she would be going. I told Hubs I hoped he didn't mind, but that he knew better, and to go enjoy a little time on his own. We had plans to visit the IL's and have dinner at my parents' house later anyways. No biggie. Sad not to spend the day together as planned, but we do what is necessary to get by, and a tired, tantruming MH is no-one's idea of a good time.

Poor DH - he didn't find much at the sale, and came home to Raving Lunatic Mommy, who had spent 2 hours dealing with a highly defiant and quite stubborn MH. An MH who got herself so riled up she showed me who was boss - by screaming so much she threw up all over her bed. NICE.

Once everyone calmed down and Mommy had a nap, the world was better. We jetted off to the IL's for a quick visit, then on to my parents' house for a DELICIOUS steak dinner. Mom really pulled out the stops on the great steaks, sweet corn - the works. By this time, MH was being fairly charming, no doubt largely due to the fact that Uncle DKR had come down for dinner, and had brought along Shay the dog.

Uncle DKR lives about an hour away and is incredibly successful at his highly demanding job, so we are lucky if we get to see him every few weeks. He and the Mad Hatter have a very special relationship, to put it lightly. After dinner, we had some great fun with the camera:

Sadly, all good fun must come to an end, and unfortunately this ending was abrupt. I watched in what seemed like slo-mo eternity as she fell backwards over the arm of the couch and I screamed in horror. I thought for sure she was about to crack her head open on the ceramic tile (and we couldn't see because she went out of our line of vision). The MH is amazing enough to have only hurt "right here" (her foot), although that didn't stop incessant hysterics on her part. It took some time, but we finally convinced her that while we didn't have our trusty frozen Cinderella (which she doesn't hold on the boo-boo as intended, just touches to where it hurts and tells us Cinderella made her feel better), Frozen Nemo would work just as well. Since she was more interested in examining Frozen Nemo, we were pretty sure she was okay.

Then it was time for some fun family shots:

Myself, DKR, Dogs Shay and Cassidy, and the rest of the fam . . .

DKR, Hubby, Sweetheart, MH, Shay, and Poppy

And would you believe I never knew how to use the timer on my camera? Shocking, I'm sure. With a little work on Hubby's part, we got the camera propped and timed, and got a couple of decent shots - we'll have to work on getting better at that stuff!

I'm sure I said it that day, but I'm putting it here for the world (or at least the people I am lucky enough to have read my blog) to see: Hubby, I couldn't ask for a better partner in life or a better dad for our daughter. We are both so lucky to have you.

And Dad, you are an amazing support to me and the best Poppy the MH could ever ask for.

Of course, I can't leave out Uncle DKR - the best doggie daddy ever!

We love you bunches!

MH hearts Sweetheart

You might remember me blogging about The Mad Hatter's special bond with Sweetheart - she would have been content to hang out like this all afternoon yesterday!

Thanks for a fabulous first day at the beach Sweetheart - we can't wait for the rest of the summer!

Beauty and the Beach

And so begins our beach season . . . I've never seen the MH take such a liking (ok, LOVE) to the camera! When she started with the hands on the hips and I started to giggle uncontrollably, the rest was history. The little ham just kept going, making sure I got her best side (which, clearly is all of them).

We should all be so comfortable in our own skins!

Momma rights got me braggin'!