in addition to my full-time job and my 'job' as a mom - which i do take very seriously - i also do some freelance writing and layout/design work. since my degree is in communications and i've been writing for just about as long as i can remember, i thought taking on some freelance work would be fun and exciting, since i don't do much creative writing in my current position. well, for the most part, it IS fun except when i try to cram it in along with all of the other things that i have to get done.
right now (yes, as we speak...err, type) i'm attempting to work on a newsletter and write copy/photoshop some photos/design a eye-catching layout. all the while while it's 2am and i'm serving in church later today (in a few hours -- which means i can't shut off the alarm and put the pillow over my head and stay home) and i've got to get this newsletter done by the end of the weekend.
but instead of buckling down and working on it, i surfed the web in between writing copy (although i did find some great blogs to add to my blogroll) and tuned in to some fun shows on E!, the Style network and Bravo that I hadn't seen for awhile. well, I didn't actually mean to tune in...but they were on in the background, and my attention just got sucked to the tv and away from the laptop not more than a foot from my face. it's mazing how sometimes when you are under the gun and trying to get something done, you deep down don't want to be doing it after all and will find any other thing that can possibly divert your attention. not sure if that's a universal thing or just a me thing (adult add, anyone?!) but i remember being the same way in college -- i'd have an exam to study for or a paper to finish and instead of doing the project at hand, my roomies and i would sit up and talk or i'd make sure i took breaks every half hour or so to do something 'important' like clean up the kitchen, paint my hails, or call a friend.
and now, as it gets later and later, and as the tv selection gets worse and worse, i'm faced with the decision that i know i must make. if i continue to tune in to the show that just came on -- an infomercial on some dancing/weightloss video being hawked by a scary christina aguilera look-alike -- i know that bad karma will get me, in the form of my daughter waking up at 4am and totally wrecking any hope of sleep! instead of being a distraction waiting to happen like i normally am, i think i'm ready to allow a nice fluffy pillow and soft blanket distract me from it all. nite-nite!
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Friday, August 29, 2008
can't believe it's over already :(
just as much as i was looking forward to vacation, i'm now bumming just as much that it's over. for the past few years -- actually, since morgan was born -- i've taken long weekends off, but we haven't gone anywhere for a week since she was born, and i had forgotten the sheer joy of not having to worry about a schedule or being anywhere at a given time....heck, aside from that, let's not forget the joy of not having to wear footwear that resembled anything other than a flip-flop for a week!
i also never realized just how much *STUFF* you could actually pack into an suv for a week-long trip! as i mentioned in my last entry, the days of just piling a few things into a suitcase and not giving any forethought to what you're taking are long gone now that morgan's here -- but it was a great learning experience because now i know that i won't need to take nearly as many toys or clothes on vacation next summer. i figured it was better to be prepared than to need something and not have it -- but i also found out that morgan was so exhausted by the end of a day spent swimming, building sand castles, eating ice cream on the boardwalk, riding kiddie rides and hitting the outlets with mommy that the last thing she wanted to do when she got back to the beach house was play with her toys.
undoubtedly one of the best parts of the whole week was the afternoon of the first day we arrived. we decided to just walk along the boardwalk and take in all the sights then walk on the beach for awhile. when morgan saw the sand and the waves, her eyes grew huge and the biggest smile spread across her face. "my beach! my beach!," she exclaimed, amazed by what appeared to be the world's largest sandbox beneath her tiny toes. she was a bit daunted at first by the sound of the waves crashing against the shoreline, but as she stood staring out to sea and held mommy's hand on one side and daddy's on the other and we helped her jump high over the approaching waves as we counted 1...2...3...jump!!, she loved it and couldn't wait to come back the next day, shouting "beach, i'm coming!" and running toward the sand.
when i was anticipating my vacation and thought about the fact that i wouldn't be able to lie on the beach and relax and read like i had done before morgan, i was a bit upset....but honestly, i had so much fun running after her as her little legs carried her down from our perch under our umbrella to the shoreline that i didn't even miss it. we crafted sandcastles from the plastic molds that we brought with us (and kept sending poor daddy back to fetch water to make the sand just the right consistency!) and we buried our legs and toes so they were hidden below the sandy surface. i chased after her with our videocamera, watching her as she helped daddy launch a kite on the beach at dusk. and she and i split a hot dog and a coke that we got from a beach vendor....hmmm, does eating sand count as fiber?? (and yes, i know that i'm a quasi-vegetarian and a hot dog is off limits; i also know that a two year-old shouldn't be making a diet of processed meat and soda....but this was vacation, after all).
i was also pleasantly surprised at how well morgan adapted to our new home-away-from-home. i thought she might be homesick for some toy she forgot to bring or for 'mam-mam', my mom whom she loves dearly and will choose anytime over daddy and mommy. she loved our house and explored each room as soon as we arrived, and she quickly learned what our house looked like, pointing to it as we approached it each afternoon after a long day at the beach or an evening of fun and exclaiming, "my house, my house!" (yeah, she is at that great age where she thinks everything is hers). she even made sure to say good night to the beach and the sand and the seagulls and the moon and the boardwalk each evening when we headed for home, eagerly anticipating the next day.
and now, after being back at our real home for almost a week, it's a bittersweet feeling to look back and reminisce about our week together. after all, it was morgan's first trip to the beach and the first week that the three of us spent together without the distractions of phones, computers, work concerns, daycare, and TV (ok, we cheated a little bit on that one....but it was only on for about an hour a day, when we watched Curious George in the morning!). unfortunately, we're now back into the swing of real life and i miss having her all to my self....but i'll always have great memories of our first true vacation as a family!
i also never realized just how much *STUFF* you could actually pack into an suv for a week-long trip! as i mentioned in my last entry, the days of just piling a few things into a suitcase and not giving any forethought to what you're taking are long gone now that morgan's here -- but it was a great learning experience because now i know that i won't need to take nearly as many toys or clothes on vacation next summer. i figured it was better to be prepared than to need something and not have it -- but i also found out that morgan was so exhausted by the end of a day spent swimming, building sand castles, eating ice cream on the boardwalk, riding kiddie rides and hitting the outlets with mommy that the last thing she wanted to do when she got back to the beach house was play with her toys.
undoubtedly one of the best parts of the whole week was the afternoon of the first day we arrived. we decided to just walk along the boardwalk and take in all the sights then walk on the beach for awhile. when morgan saw the sand and the waves, her eyes grew huge and the biggest smile spread across her face. "my beach! my beach!," she exclaimed, amazed by what appeared to be the world's largest sandbox beneath her tiny toes. she was a bit daunted at first by the sound of the waves crashing against the shoreline, but as she stood staring out to sea and held mommy's hand on one side and daddy's on the other and we helped her jump high over the approaching waves as we counted 1...2...3...jump!!, she loved it and couldn't wait to come back the next day, shouting "beach, i'm coming!" and running toward the sand.
when i was anticipating my vacation and thought about the fact that i wouldn't be able to lie on the beach and relax and read like i had done before morgan, i was a bit upset....but honestly, i had so much fun running after her as her little legs carried her down from our perch under our umbrella to the shoreline that i didn't even miss it. we crafted sandcastles from the plastic molds that we brought with us (and kept sending poor daddy back to fetch water to make the sand just the right consistency!) and we buried our legs and toes so they were hidden below the sandy surface. i chased after her with our videocamera, watching her as she helped daddy launch a kite on the beach at dusk. and she and i split a hot dog and a coke that we got from a beach vendor....hmmm, does eating sand count as fiber?? (and yes, i know that i'm a quasi-vegetarian and a hot dog is off limits; i also know that a two year-old shouldn't be making a diet of processed meat and soda....but this was vacation, after all).
i was also pleasantly surprised at how well morgan adapted to our new home-away-from-home. i thought she might be homesick for some toy she forgot to bring or for 'mam-mam', my mom whom she loves dearly and will choose anytime over daddy and mommy. she loved our house and explored each room as soon as we arrived, and she quickly learned what our house looked like, pointing to it as we approached it each afternoon after a long day at the beach or an evening of fun and exclaiming, "my house, my house!" (yeah, she is at that great age where she thinks everything is hers). she even made sure to say good night to the beach and the sand and the seagulls and the moon and the boardwalk each evening when we headed for home, eagerly anticipating the next day.
and now, after being back at our real home for almost a week, it's a bittersweet feeling to look back and reminisce about our week together. after all, it was morgan's first trip to the beach and the first week that the three of us spent together without the distractions of phones, computers, work concerns, daycare, and TV (ok, we cheated a little bit on that one....but it was only on for about an hour a day, when we watched Curious George in the morning!). unfortunately, we're now back into the swing of real life and i miss having her all to my self....but i'll always have great memories of our first true vacation as a family!
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
vacation - and fall - are just around the corner
well, i've been eagerly anticipating this week for most of the summer, and it's finally here! yes, this is the week that my family and i leave for vacation. i'm especially excited because it will be morgan's first time ever at the beach and i hope she loves it as much as i think she will. she loves to swim, and one of her fave things to do at home is sit in her sandbox and throw sand everywhere and make a mess -- which are the two things she'll get to do a lot of next week and will hopefully love at the beach.
there's always so much pre-planning to do before vacation, though, and even more than i ever realized now that we have a child. no more grabbing a few pair of shorts, flip flops, tossing everything in a small suitcase and heading out the door -- nope, we now have to make sure we have beach umbrellas (so morgan doesn't burn in the sun), sand pails and toys for the beach (to build the perfect sandcastle and hopefully keep her from wanting to constantly eat sand or run head-on into the ocean), spf 70 in spray form (again, the no-burn thing -- a red screaming child at the beach isn't my idea of fun), a backpack to hold all of her gear at the beach (so that i can hold onto her, along with the beach chairs, umbrellas, blankets, cooler, toys, and all the other assorted stuff that will be weighing us down as we trod onto the sand). hell, i even found a site online that has vacation checklists that you can print out -- since we've never done a full-fledged vacation with a child (and yes, since i'm a control freak...) i wanted to make sure that we have all our bases covered and i'm not forgetting something vital. after all, i don't want to scar my daughter for life because i forgot to pack her fave juice boxes to drink on the beach.
her clothes have been washed and set aside for a week, and i'm finishing up the last of the laundry tonight...so now it's time to grab her toys and find that ones to take that either (a) aren't going to cause a meltdown if we happen to lose them while we're there, or (b) don't have so many pieces to them that they'll get scattered throughout the beach house we're staying in, or (c) don't require batteries to operate that will inevitably go dead while we're there, or (d) aren't so cumbersome that they'll take up valuable packing space, or (e) won't cause a meltdown because she can't play with them during the 24 hours between the time they're packed and the time we arrive at the beach. so once i narrow down that list (unfortunately, i didn't locate a list on the 'net for selecting the perfect toys to take on vacation), i will hopefully have one less thing to worry about.
as much as i love this time of the year and look forward to it each summer, there's always a melancholy sadness that goes along with it for me. summer is my favorite time of year, without a doubt -- i hate winter, hate snow and ice (even though it is quite beautiful), don't like to be cold, don't participate in winter sports because i don't like to be cold (and i live in the northeast, where we get actual winters and school delays and closings), yada yada. problem is, right after summer is over, fall is quickly ushered in, and that means winter isn't far behind. in my mind, once vacation is over, it's all downhill from there because cold weather will soon be on its way....and along with it, snow, ice, and darkness when i get up and when i leave my office at the end of the day.
even though i'm a glass-is-half-full kinda gal, this is one thing that's always gotten me down as long as i can remember in my adult life. i've always fought to stay positive after i get home from vacation, but i don't totally succeed. sure, this year will be fun because morgan will be more into halloween and we'll have so much fun picking out our costume and dressing up. the chancellor at the college where i work has an awesome halloween party for faculty and staff at her home and i look forward each year to dressing up and having a great time. and fall is no doubt very beautiful where i live, and morgan and i will have a great time jumping in the piles of leaves and picking out pumpkins, and we might even attempt a corn maze this year, which was hard to do in a stoller last fall. but that dark cloud of impending winter still permeates my thoughts and bums me out. i'll try more than ever to not let it interfere with enjoying all the great moments of the season with my husband and daughter that i possibly can....and who knows, maybe i'll even find a checklist online that will tell me all i need to do to have the perfect winter!! if you have any ideas to keep me bright and sunny instead of cold and dreary, do share :)
there's always so much pre-planning to do before vacation, though, and even more than i ever realized now that we have a child. no more grabbing a few pair of shorts, flip flops, tossing everything in a small suitcase and heading out the door -- nope, we now have to make sure we have beach umbrellas (so morgan doesn't burn in the sun), sand pails and toys for the beach (to build the perfect sandcastle and hopefully keep her from wanting to constantly eat sand or run head-on into the ocean), spf 70 in spray form (again, the no-burn thing -- a red screaming child at the beach isn't my idea of fun), a backpack to hold all of her gear at the beach (so that i can hold onto her, along with the beach chairs, umbrellas, blankets, cooler, toys, and all the other assorted stuff that will be weighing us down as we trod onto the sand). hell, i even found a site online that has vacation checklists that you can print out -- since we've never done a full-fledged vacation with a child (and yes, since i'm a control freak...) i wanted to make sure that we have all our bases covered and i'm not forgetting something vital. after all, i don't want to scar my daughter for life because i forgot to pack her fave juice boxes to drink on the beach.
her clothes have been washed and set aside for a week, and i'm finishing up the last of the laundry tonight...so now it's time to grab her toys and find that ones to take that either (a) aren't going to cause a meltdown if we happen to lose them while we're there, or (b) don't have so many pieces to them that they'll get scattered throughout the beach house we're staying in, or (c) don't require batteries to operate that will inevitably go dead while we're there, or (d) aren't so cumbersome that they'll take up valuable packing space, or (e) won't cause a meltdown because she can't play with them during the 24 hours between the time they're packed and the time we arrive at the beach. so once i narrow down that list (unfortunately, i didn't locate a list on the 'net for selecting the perfect toys to take on vacation), i will hopefully have one less thing to worry about.
as much as i love this time of the year and look forward to it each summer, there's always a melancholy sadness that goes along with it for me. summer is my favorite time of year, without a doubt -- i hate winter, hate snow and ice (even though it is quite beautiful), don't like to be cold, don't participate in winter sports because i don't like to be cold (and i live in the northeast, where we get actual winters and school delays and closings), yada yada. problem is, right after summer is over, fall is quickly ushered in, and that means winter isn't far behind. in my mind, once vacation is over, it's all downhill from there because cold weather will soon be on its way....and along with it, snow, ice, and darkness when i get up and when i leave my office at the end of the day.
even though i'm a glass-is-half-full kinda gal, this is one thing that's always gotten me down as long as i can remember in my adult life. i've always fought to stay positive after i get home from vacation, but i don't totally succeed. sure, this year will be fun because morgan will be more into halloween and we'll have so much fun picking out our costume and dressing up. the chancellor at the college where i work has an awesome halloween party for faculty and staff at her home and i look forward each year to dressing up and having a great time. and fall is no doubt very beautiful where i live, and morgan and i will have a great time jumping in the piles of leaves and picking out pumpkins, and we might even attempt a corn maze this year, which was hard to do in a stoller last fall. but that dark cloud of impending winter still permeates my thoughts and bums me out. i'll try more than ever to not let it interfere with enjoying all the great moments of the season with my husband and daughter that i possibly can....and who knows, maybe i'll even find a checklist online that will tell me all i need to do to have the perfect winter!! if you have any ideas to keep me bright and sunny instead of cold and dreary, do share :)
Friday, August 8, 2008
blogging with good intentions
although i love writing entries in here, i (obviously!!) don't write them often enough. it seems like everyday life often gets in the way of just taking a few minutes out of my day to be creative and reflect on my thoughts.
unfortunately, with a two-year old, most of my reflective thoughts come at inopportune times to write about them: the solitude of my 20-minute commute to work each morning (OK, i use solitude really loosely here...for me, solitude is having my radio blaring, listening to either my favorite morning show or whatever CD i pop in that gets me awake and ready to hit the day running), washing dishes and loading the dishwasher after my daughter's gone to bed, in the shower as the water pulses down my back and i'm waking up. you get the picture -- i get inspired whenever my laptop happens not to be around. i'm a techno-geek and all, but i still haven't figured out how to write a blog entry from my phone -- which is probably a good thing, given that i was texting someone a few weeks ago as i went through a drive-thru for a cup of coffee and now have a nice scratch on the side of my door to show for it! guess that shows what too much multitasking will get me.
i get these great thoughts of what to write about....last week, on my way to the office, i decided that i just had to tell about my daughter experiencing her sandbox for the very first time....but by the time i parked my car, grabbed a cup of coffee, shot the bull for a minute with my co-workers, checked my e-mail and listened to my voice messages, any thoughts i had about making a new blog entry were quickly replaced by what donor i was visiting that day and how many phone calls i had to return. this morning, too, i had every good intention of talking about Dork's struggle that he's going through this week and how i'm trying to be a supportive wife from 100 miles away (he is away on business all week....and he's trying to quit smoking). however, i had to review a proposal that was on my desk, answer a few e-mails to people i'm planning on visiting in maryland next week, and look up some info i needed for a 10am meeting and my computer wouldn't cooperate. after doing that, writing a blog was the furtherest thing from my mind.
and now, even as i sit at my desk finishing my lunch and enjoying a few minutes of computer surfing before i try to overcome my writer's block and finish the three reports i have to do by the end of the day, i don't feel very reflective and contemplative....but i do know that just when i least expect it this weekend, i'll have a great idea for my next blog entry rush through my mind. unfortunately, you'll probably never get to read it!!!
unfortunately, with a two-year old, most of my reflective thoughts come at inopportune times to write about them: the solitude of my 20-minute commute to work each morning (OK, i use solitude really loosely here...for me, solitude is having my radio blaring, listening to either my favorite morning show or whatever CD i pop in that gets me awake and ready to hit the day running), washing dishes and loading the dishwasher after my daughter's gone to bed, in the shower as the water pulses down my back and i'm waking up. you get the picture -- i get inspired whenever my laptop happens not to be around. i'm a techno-geek and all, but i still haven't figured out how to write a blog entry from my phone -- which is probably a good thing, given that i was texting someone a few weeks ago as i went through a drive-thru for a cup of coffee and now have a nice scratch on the side of my door to show for it! guess that shows what too much multitasking will get me.
i get these great thoughts of what to write about....last week, on my way to the office, i decided that i just had to tell about my daughter experiencing her sandbox for the very first time....but by the time i parked my car, grabbed a cup of coffee, shot the bull for a minute with my co-workers, checked my e-mail and listened to my voice messages, any thoughts i had about making a new blog entry were quickly replaced by what donor i was visiting that day and how many phone calls i had to return. this morning, too, i had every good intention of talking about Dork's struggle that he's going through this week and how i'm trying to be a supportive wife from 100 miles away (he is away on business all week....and he's trying to quit smoking). however, i had to review a proposal that was on my desk, answer a few e-mails to people i'm planning on visiting in maryland next week, and look up some info i needed for a 10am meeting and my computer wouldn't cooperate. after doing that, writing a blog was the furtherest thing from my mind.
and now, even as i sit at my desk finishing my lunch and enjoying a few minutes of computer surfing before i try to overcome my writer's block and finish the three reports i have to do by the end of the day, i don't feel very reflective and contemplative....but i do know that just when i least expect it this weekend, i'll have a great idea for my next blog entry rush through my mind. unfortunately, you'll probably never get to read it!!!
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