What I read

 Not that good:



Amazing:



I've been on a feminist kick lately.  I read Bossypants first.  Personally, I feel like every twenty-something year old girl needs to read this book.  It's funny, she's honest, I can relate to Tina Fey.  I've read a sample of Amy Poehler's new book Yes Please and I already know I'm going to love it.  I wish I was friends with these two women.


Lena and I on the other hand do not click.  I trudged through her book, she seems fake, I can't relate to Lena.  She grew up in New York City, had liberal artist parents, and went to private schools and sleep away camps for the rich and famous.  She had some good moments that I highlighted and shook my head in recognition to, but for the most part, I just can't relate.

Tina, on the other hand, grew up in a small town, had staunch conservative parents, and is constantly wanting to please everyone around her, yet still try to stand on her own.  Yeah, that I can wrap my mind around.

So, girls of a twenty-something age,  now that I am almost a ripe 29, my greatest advice is READ READ READ and LEARN LEARN LEARN and then APPLY APPLY APPLY.  Try to learn as much as you can from people wildly more successful than you and apply it to your own life.  Maybe something will stick.  

Goals for Halloween

Make this for baby girl:
























Make this chili:



 
Beer chili




Watch this:

Or This:

Last but not least, hand out candy to the two kids in Houston who will not be at Friday night football in Texas.

Sunday Inspiration

Words of Wisdom






Must Read:
 

Our True Home



Laugh out Loud

Dreamers anonymous

I have the dreamer disease.  I like to think of ways to change the world or improve my life and never really go all the way. 

There are so many things that I love to do and want to do, I just don't go 100%.  That's a problem.  I will do them here and there and never really master them.  Everything from photography to playing the ukulele to running to writing.  In the words of the classic philosopher, Homer *ahem* Simpson, "...just go in every day and do it really half-assed - that's the American way."

I hate to say it, but I do MANY things half-assed.  That's a problem.  I think it's time to get down to the business of doing just a few things really well.  I'm hoping I'm not the only person with this problem.  I have a feeling many of us run around trying to look busier than we really are, when in fact, we are just running around doing a lot of things half...well you get the picture.   

I found an old high school acquaintance on Twitter.  He wrote a book.  It shook me.  Here is a person who is DEFINITELY not just sitting around dreaming, he's DOING.  I think that's pretty amazing.

So, it's time to focus in and start doing some things really, really well.

 

       

Sunday Inspiration

Words of wisdom:

 

Must Read:

On being 16... 

Must Watch, use subtitles.

 

 

Love letter to a late night host

Dear Jimmy Fallon,
     You may not know this, but you have been with my husband and me through every stage of our relationship.  We fell in love over Fever Pitch, we watched you late at night after coming home from the bar with our friends, and now you are here for the best stage of all. 

     When I think back of these early days with our baby, I'm not going to be thinking about being exhausted at night, trying to keep my eyes open in order to feed her.  I'm going to be thinking about laughing and watching you with with her in my arms.

     I was able to spend some time every night watching you, laughing with her.  I can't help but think of all the other late night moms in my same position.

    So, thank you Jimmy Fallon.  Thanks for being one more marker in my mind of what these early days and nights with her were like.  I'll never forget it.





     

Sunday Inspiration

Words of Wisdom:

Must Watch:

Laugh out Loud:

Real

Diana Lee Simonis was born August 27, 2014.  She was approximately 3 months early.  We spent approximately 4 weeks in the NICU.  That moment in our lives is something that I will visit and talk about at a later date.  Right now the emotions and commotion from NICU life is too close to the surface to accurately and coherently depict. 

Now, we are home.  I have been a mother for about 6 weeks now.  I don't know if I will ever get used to being called "mother" "mom" "mama." It seems foreign, or too big, right now.  I'm assuming it's something I will grow into.

Because D was born so early, she is quarantined at our home.  We can't go to any public areas or around large groups for fear of catching some sort of virus.  So because she is quarantined, I am quarantined, and I'm restless.

John goes off to work at 6:45am, and Diana and I are stuck at home to binge watch Gilmore Girls.  My heart for Diana bursts every time I look at her and she peers at me through her doe eyes and she pets my neck with her little hand that splays out like a tiny starfish.  I love her, but I'm also restless.

It's hard to be cooped up for weeks on end with a roommate who can't talk, who demands constant attention, and has minimal facial movements beside the occasional gas smile and grimace.  It's hard.  Right now I'm missing my other kids who talk back to me and more often than not smell like feet.  I miss my 7th graders.  I miss my work.   

I can't take this time for granted though, because even though I feel too small for the word "mother" right now, I know it's important work.  It's important to be here when she cries and to cradle her when she sleeps.  I'm not just binge watching Gilmore Girls, I'm loving and getting to know my girl.  This time will pass, and it will pass too quickly.  I will look back and miss her tiny starfish hands and her fuzzy head.  And I will remember our little time in quarantine where we cried and cradled and loved.