Why I order in...

Today was a beautiful day! We got out of work a bit early, and I got to get my nails painted with my friends Ilene and Erica, picked up Owen and Ilene watched him so I could go to the gym since Adam is out of town...We were having the best time and decided that we should go out to dinner. Now the story to follow may not seem like that big of a deal for those of you who have normal dining experiences, but for Ilene and I, this seems to be the norm. What you are probably thinking is maybe you guys are just difficult, but we aren't, in fact for being out with 2, usually 3 children we are the most laid back, easy customers around!!!! We feel bad for asking for drink refills or for extra dressing, and we leave huge tips because Owen and Andrew tend to make a bit of a mess!!!!!! The evening was shaping up to be great, we went to outback which usually has a line out the door, were seated immediately, we were very excited and up walks the waiter...Owen had been playing with his crayons and as any normal 16 month old would, had dropped a couple

waiter: "you might just want to give him one a time" in a very condescending, rude voice...

I just kind of laughed it off, then he asks if we have been there in a while, neither of us had but knew what was in store if we said no, so we said yes, he proceeded to tell us everything he would tell someone who said no, and at a snails pace...5 minutes later I learned that the sides that come with the meal can be substituted for something else....we order 2 diet cokes, a milk an a fruit punch, seems easy enough, roughly 10 minutes later our waiter returns with 2 waters and a fruit punch, and then says "id advise you to not give him the fruit punch till the chocolate milk comes out"we didnt order chocolate milk..... I then tell him that we needed 2 diet cokes and a milk, to which he seems shocked and almost mad, Ilene asks for roumalade sauce about 4 times... he comes back with 2 diet cokes, no milk and no roumalade... she asks for it again, he answers as though this is the first time he hears it...5 minutes later he returns with marmalade and a milk, she asks for the roumalade and tells him she knew she told him she didnt know how to pronounce it, and he asks if its ok if he brings it in a big bowl, but then proceeds to tell us what other size bowls there are after we said whichever is fine....5 minutes later the roumalade comes, we havent ordered our food and he tells us to enjoy and walks away...we erupt in laughter because we cant believe this is whats happening, meanwhile the 2 boys across from us are laughing as well and tell us that we dont even know what were in for, they proceed to tell us about the "worst dining experience they have ever encountered" he lost their order, told them he would comp a meal and then didnt comp it, and basically left them unattended for 40 minute periods of time, multiple times, all while seeming completely out of it like he had with us... they left a note saying they werent mean but they werent tipping and left...meanwhile 15 minutes has passed and our waiter starts to walk by, Ilene catches him and asks if we can order to which he replied "oh well I was in the bathroom" and then takes our order : chicken on the barbie with a salad, kids mac and cheese..salmon with mashed potatoes and chicken fingers with mashed potatoes...a very easy order! He stands there for what seems like an eternity and then reads it back and its WRONG! If you dont think this is ridiculous, you might as well stop reading, but we started laughing so hard because it seriously felt like we were about to be on candid camera, this man had the slowest, most aggravating voice and he seemed like he was high as a kite the entire time to give you a brief description, he also was in his 30's if youre picturing some young kid...so then he leaves he comes back about 10 minutes later with a drink for me and then realizes Ilene's drink is empty, he then stands there watching a table of girls shuffle in and as he pours half of my drink into Ilenes cup watches them with glazed over eyes, Ilene returns and we drink our half filled glasses of diet coke, ate and then decided someone had to know about this...we talked to the manager and she ended up giving us our whole meal free, she told us time and time again that we didnt even need to explain that she totally understood and the look on her face seemed like this was about the 10th time she had dealt with him that night...

We laughed so hard as we walked out and wanted to tell the people in his section to ask to be moved, honestly I think he is costing Outback money and they may be better off with one less server for the night... this is why I do not think I will be dining out at all for a while...surprisingly enough this was one of the most relaxing dining out experiences I have had in a while, but I guess it is when you let your wild child baby take ranch dressing and swirl it around on the table to keep him occupied for a while:)

Dear Friday..I hate you

Dear Friday,

Since I was a young girl, I have always loved you. When Monday came I wanted nothing to do with it, I only looked forward to being with you, I guess you could say you were my one true love as far as weekdays were concerned. But lately Friday I feel like you have something against me. My love affair with Saturday has been going on for quite some time and I thought knew about this, I told you what to expect from the beginning, I never lead you on...I told you this was strictly a work relationship and that my heart truly belonged to Saturday, so why the sudden vendetta? I mean really, after the workday I had you decide that I need a speeding ticket? And to top it off I was given the ticket by a cop who obviously has no compassion for a crying, sick baby in the backseat and a very kind, apologetic me...and for the record cop, dont try to engage in small talk after giving me a $136.00 ticket...

I am sick of your false promises, I only have eyes for Saturday now, no longer will I look forward to you at the start of the week, I know what you will bring when you come along and Im through with you.

Not affectionately yours,

Shahrzad

Oh insecurity!

Sometimes I have very ridiculous feelings of insecurity... Im not skinny enough or pretty enough...I cant keep my house clean....my clothes arent stylish enough....my house isnt cute enough...I am not the best mom in the world...I'm not fun anymore...I could be better at my job...why can't I get everything done that I need or want to get done...you get the idea? Well yesterday I felt that way, I was in a funk. So I called my friend Lindsay and we decided to go out to lunch and get pedicures and it was EXACTLY what I needed! We had the best time! We went out to mexican and then decided to go shopping.... we got lots of cute things for the babes, they are going to be very well dressed for the summer...we tried on rompers at The Limited, and I literally fell on the floor laughing, it might have been because Lindsay said "oh ya know we're just rompin around" while wearing a romper, by the way the girl can pull off a romper! I have decided I want to live in Ann Taylor tshirts, they are so soft and wonderful, but I would have to spend my entire paycheck buying them in every color, 25 bucks for a tshirt, seriously? We admied beautiful rings, then got mani/pedis while eating chocolate, it was wonderful! Then we had pizza and made cocktails and sat and talked and laughed a lot...It really was one of the most fun days I have had in a while, all my insecurities went away for a short time.... maybe its that I have pretty nails and toes, but I think it may be from knowing that Im not the only one out there who feels this way and knowing that I have fabulous friends out there like her... Thanks Lindsay and maybe when Vada and Owen are older Greg and Adam will teach them thriller and have them perform it for us:)

Its my party and I'll cry if I want to...and cry he did...

Happy Birthday Owen!!!

This past weekend we celebrated our sweet baby turning one year old...I cant think of a better thing to celebrate!!!

It is hard to believe that we were celebrating him entering into the world just a year ago, I feel like he has always been here!

I had lots of family come into town...My stepmom arrived Thursday, it was so wonderful having her here, I love Eshi... She stayed home with Owen to celebrate his big day, I know Owen loved being with his Oma so much...

My aunts, cousin and little sister arrived on Friday and Saturday... I love having my family around, they make me happy and are so much fun, they make me feel comforted and they love Owen so much! My aunts are really the greatest aunts around, I couldn't ask for a better family!

My sweet friend Lindsay was wonderful enough to let us have the party at her house, as 30 people wouldnt exactly fit inside my apartment..

We had lots of yummy food and everyone seemed to have a great time...

Owen HATED his cake, but had a great time smashing it all around, until it got all over him....

After he had a mini meltdown and had a bath we got him dressed and let him play outside on the deck with his friends...

After the party we went to one of my favorite places, the Village grill, to celebrate my wonderful Aunt Terri's birthday, (she and Owen were born on the same day) Owen was our entertainment and my aunt offered to pay me $100 bucks to roll down a very steep hill, looking back on it I totally should have done it!

Sunday my aunts left and Tuesday my stepmom left, I miss them all a lot, its hard being so far away from all of them here, can't wait until he summertime as we will be traveling a lot to see them all...

Adam took Owen out of town this weekend to go see his Grandma, so I am just staying home and sleeping, deep cleaning and getting some good girl time in...Hope you all have a fabulous weekend!

oh weekend how I love thee... let me count the ways...

Is it really already Sunday night? I wish I had just one more day! This weekend has been a wonderful one, I got a lot accomplished...though I will be honest, I ate horribly and I didnt work out ONCE, but it was totally WORTH it!!!

Friday night I decided to take Owen on a mommy/baby date... we went to the mall because he needed some new clothes (its still a shopping diet if it isnt for me right?) the weather has been sooo warm here and all I bought was pants since we were having such a cold winter. Then we sat down to have some dinner... is he not the cutest date there ever was? I will admit that I tried to look around for some things for me, but I just am not loving anything I have seen recently, at least nothing in the Roanoke mall...

We went to target to meet my friend Heather on a secret mission for our friend Ilene's baby shower... we got her some super cute shelves and some really cute baskets for her baby room, she had no idea, which made it even more fun...Owen loved being pushed around by sweet Riley, isnt she so beautiful! Looking at this picture makes me sad, he looks like such a little boy:( I really had to leave target because if I would have stayed any longer Ilene and Kayden would have had everything in target, I was in that kind of mood, do any of you get like that?

By the time we got home, Owen was tuckered out, but I wasnt, I went on a mad cleaning spree! It felt good though to get everything in order so I wouldnt have to do much for the rest of the weekend, I dont know who I was kidding though because the next day my living room looked like a tornado hit it again...

I picked up Ilene and Heather and I coordinated for her to drop off the goods so her husband could set them up while we were eating lunch and surprise Ilene when we got back, it was so much fun... I am reeeaally horrible at keeping secrets, so it was killing me... lunch was so fun, and I was baaaad, I had a fried green tomato BLT followed by a slice of death by chocolate cake, but I didn't eat the whole things by myself, so that doesn't count right? Ilene is just the mose beautiful pregnant woman ever, isn't she? She was so precious and embarrassed we were celebrating her, but she deserves it, she is a wonderful friend, I couldnt ask for a better best friend than her!

After we ate we went to Ilene's to see the surprise, she loved it, we were so excited, and little Kayden's room looks so precious, she is the most awesome nursery decorator, everything is so precious and put together... then we hung out and enjoyed the beautiful weather!

I got home and took a walk with Owen to visit Lindsay... it had been forever since I had seen her and I missed her, plus Owen loves Vada, its alway so cute to watch them together... here is one of their promo shots for their dance troupe "cute on command"...blurry but its hard to get these cuties to sit still!

Then Adam and I went on our first date since I had Owen, it was so much fun, I would show you a picture but I have bags like youve neva seen! We ate mexican and then I got a manicure while he went and read books at barnes and noble, he is now obsessed with his "theory of music" book and reads it to Owen, its actually really cute...

Today we went to lunch with Ilene and helped her organize the last of Kayden's clothes... I also discovered the magic that is a diet sprite with extra ice from sonic, it was Heaven in a cup... we also went to Target and decided to completely change our bathrooms, what do you think? I dont know about it yet... I was going for shabby chic, but I dont know if its too grandma?(sorry for the crappy iphone pics, Adam wont let me take the nikon with me) It was fun to hang out and talk...

While Owen and I were over there, Adam was at home putting up Owen's wall decal I have been wanting for forever... I have a little bit of an owl obsession ever since I purchased his dwellstudio owl sheets and changing pad cover, and this went perfectly, Adam took Owen grocery shopping with him so he could get a nap, because for the life of me I cant get that baby to take one here, any help out there? While they were gone, I organized and cleaned his room... here are a few pics of his room, Adam is so excited to use his camera and get a 360 shot of them room, so when he does that I will post it... we still need to fill up the shelves, I need inspiration... I am trying to get everything nice and together as we are having lots of company in the next couple weeks to celebrate Owen's first birthday...so shocking to me, I cant believe this time last year he was still in my belly... Now it's off to bed, Im pretty tired, I hope you all had a fabulous weekend!!!!

Christastic

I struggled with an introduction to this post, because really there are so many good things I could say about the lady pictured above with me... but this wasnt always the case with us.. 11 years ago we were sworn enemies...why? Because I loved the boys, and I happened to fancy her boyfriend. Many months later, and an evil death stare in our high school halls I arrived to the first day of crew to find out she was behind me in our boat and being very, very nervous...but we soon became friends, and from there it was history. If your friends with Christen, youre a very lucky person, I consider myself to be one of the luckiest to have her as one of my best friends! She will back you up if you are in a fight with someone, (she has a chair, watch out) she is an excellent bird watcher, but most of all she is a wonderful friend and an even better momma!!! I loved spending time with her and her beautiful boy Holden, she is such a loving, caring mom. She is so sweet and nurturing to Holden, it warmed my heart to see her with that precious boy, because if anyone should be a mom its Christen...Owen was fascinated by him, he would just look at me and smile when I was holding him, that is when he wasnt trying to grab or eat him...

We had such a fun time, shopping, watching gilmore girls and EATING... there was lots of bad food and cupcakes all weekend, but it was too much fun to count calories, and anytime there is a wild wings involved the diet has to be nonexistent in my eyes...

I love Christen... we can drive around and listen to old songs together (well mainly Vroom and just one song peter vest, because when we were teenagers we would drive around and sing it all night) gossip and read blogs and just be silly girls... she is content to sit at home and watch gilmore girls and eat pizza, she didnt get mad when my son broke her lamp (if you cant fix it, tell me well buy you a new one) shes just plain fantastic and I love her dearly!

We will hopefully be making more trips to visit her and the bebe soon, as I dont think I can go long without seeing her anymore, its probably a good thing that we dont live close to each other as we would both be broke from shopping too much!

So my new years resolution was to lose weight... since Christmas I have lost 16 pounds, but in the past couple of weeks my weight loss has been on a stand still, I haven't gained any but I haven't lost any and I have been having major body image issues!!! My friend Lindsay and I have been going to the gym and going to classes 4 times a week most weeks, 2 of these are at 5:45 a.m. on the weekdays... we do body pump and cycling and the classes are totally intense! I have been feeling like I am getting much stronger and I generally feel better, but I just wish the scale would show all the hard work I have been doing. I was in body pump class on Thursday morning and I looked around felt like I was the biggest girl in there... it was even worse that I basically had to stare at myself in the mirror the whole time, I usually watch the instructor but she was like a competitive cheerleader on crack and kept making crazy faces while singing the songs and it made me uncomfortable. Also, am I the only one out there that when the teacher says something about form that they think he/she is talking directly to them???

I have heard great things about body step, sotwo weekend ago we attempted it and at one point just stopped and started laughing hysterically, that class has to be the hardest class I have ever been too... they were jumping in the air off the step things, and like doing tap dance and salsa moves, yelling about how they were hot... it was a bit insane, but now we have a goal to be pros at it and wear shiny leotards and leggings and bust out some body step moves!

This morning I got sick of it...I was determined to not be this size anymore, to have all the baby weight gone and I decided I was going to be a crazy workout fiend and I was going to eat so much better, I even went and did the elliptical after 55 minutes of body pump... I also considered going to body vive, which looks like crazy aerobics.. lots of side shuffles and hip moves I feel like I would never be able to do, but the very fact that I considered it, told me that my commitment was coming back... then I got home and had 2 packs of 100 calorie grasshoppers and realized hmmm could this be why my weight has plateaued? I have since put down the grasshoppers and gave myself a break, after all on Friday I went through the drive through and just got myself a diet coke and resisted the urge for some delicious french fries, my weakness, the most delicious thing ever known to man. I will lose 15 more pounds, I will!!!!!

For now I will get through the week and try to be so down on myself.. I will be good all week long and I will go to the gym at least 4 times, that way this weekend when I go to visit one of my very best friends, Christen I wont feel so bad... after all we are going to be making some delicious pioneer woman recipes and perhaps I will burn some calories after I go on a marathon of kissing this gorgeous baby's cheeks, I mean wouldnt you want to too???



For now, I will embrace these last few pounds, and appreciate that the reason I have them is because I brought this beautiful little angel in the world... doesnt he remind you of teddy rupskin here????