Last Week of Summer

This is the third blog post I've started this week. My goal is to finish this one and actually post it.

This week has been pretty full.

Monday, I crossed one of the items off "my list" by having photos done of Amelia. A friend from church is a photographer, and while I haven't seen the finished products yet, he showed me a couple of shots on the playback screen of his camera and they were totally cute. Amelia was pretty pleasant through the process, so I'm hoping the pictures turn out well.

Tuesday, I went to the school one last time before I go back tomorrow for the real thing. I was able to get a good bit accomplished, so I consider it time well spent.

Yesterday, Amelia and I had a lazy morning and stayed in our PJs until almost noon. I had wanted to take her swimming one more time, but thunderclouds were looming overhead all afternoon, so we strolled through a shopping center instead. It never did rain, though, and Darryl was able to take her swimming and I went to dinner with my friend Sabrina.

Today, Amelia and I went to see my cousin Vicky at her office, and then we spent my $100 Georgia Teacher Gift Card. My big item was a heavy-duty electric pencil sharpener. (Exciting, I know.) I've also decided to bring back good ol' journal writing in my regular English classes this year, and I found 70-page composition notebooks at Walmart for 5 cent each, so I bought 75 of them. Thank goodness the cashier scanned only one and took my word that I had 75 of them. :) Seriously, y'all, that was a BARGAIN! I was practically giddy. The rest of my card went to pens, pencils, index cards, and other little necessity items.

The rest of the day was spent playing, napping, and just hanging out. I'm going to confess that I held Amelia every minute she was napping.

I'm probably going to sound like a big sap here, but I think I may have a harder time taking Amelia to daycare tomorrow than I did the very first time I took her after my maternity leave. It's like my mom said on the phone tonight...it's like Amelia is a person now. Now I'm taking my daughter who loves to crawl, stop, then look back at me and laugh. I'm taking back my baby who likes to fiddle with my necklace charm as she falls to sleep and play peek-a-boo endlessly. In many ways, I'm looking forward to going back to work and seeing my friends and getting back in the classroom. But I'm definitely going to miss the luxury of time I've had with my girl.

Shopping and Stuff

I've been a bit negligent on the blog front because y'all, not much is going on. Let me give you the rundown on what "not much" looks like in our household:

Wednesday, I did a little shopping for me. Yep, I did. I need some school clothes every year to get me excited about going back to school. (It didn't work.) After shopping the mall for two hours and going to all my favorite stores, guess where I had the most success? Target. That's right.

Thursday, I had to take care of some personal maintenance (meaning I had my hair cut and my eyebrows waxed--poor Amelia is going to be especially blessed in the eyebrow department because her dad and I both have healthy eyebrows). I also worked most of the day at school while Amelia spent some time in daycare.

Friday, I became obsessed with finding Amelia a pair of shoes. Amelia has pretty wide feet, so that means the cheap shoes at Target do not fit. After doing much research (seriously, MUCH research) on mommy boards and such, I discovered a brand called Pedipeds and bought her a pair. They're adorable. I see how this could quickly become an obsession because I'm already thinking about her second pair.

Yesterday was pretty uneventful. I shopped a little more (sue me), and Amelia and I had a bit of a "bedtime showdown" last night that is a blog post in itself. I'll go ahead and tell you the score: Amelia-1, Her Mother-0.

But she's cute.

The Weekend, Heat, and Other Stuff

This past weekend, we went to Florida again. Darryl needed to do more work at his dad's (his dad probably kept every used checkbook and every bank statement since the mid-80s--lots of shredding to do!).

On Saturday, my dad's brothers and sister and their spouses came over for a cookout. This was the first time they had seen Amelia, so it was a big event. I could kick myself now for not getting more pictures, but I did get a good one of Amelia with her Great Uncle Joe:

Sunday, I was able to take Amelia swimming with her Aunt Ashley and cousins Madison and Avery. Amelia loves the pool!

Afterwards, she had even more fun by swinging in her swing at Nana and Papa's house.



As for me...I played Guitar Hero for the first time ever this weekend. I loved it--definitely my kind of game. It's probably good I don't have it at the house.

Mr. Benny's dog (and now Ashley's dog) Lily loves my niece Avery's bouncy seat probably more than Avery herself. Any time we couldn't find Lily, she was usually curled up asleep here. Forgive the wicked eyes...I couldn't fix them on my computer. Oh, you can see just a tiny bit of the "to be shredded" pile behind her.


In other unrelated stuff...it is so HOT here. I had been getting up in the mornings and walking with Amelia, but it has been in the high 70s by 7:30. The other day, I had decided to walk in the evening, but at 8:00 (still light outside), it was 90 degrees! Ugh!

This, too, is completely unrelated and random, but I've mentioned before how much I like Diane Sawyer and Robin Roberts. If you like them too--or even remotely like them--you should pick up the latest Ladies' Home Journal. (I had to buy it immediately when I saw them on the cover.) There is a wonderful interview with them about their friendship through Roberts's cancer--apparently they are extremely close friends in "real life." I think I loved this article so much because it is such a positive picture of female friendship. Women often have the reputation for being catty and jealous--and in my opinion this reputation is often earned--but here are two women who have tremendous respect and gratitude for each other. (And Sawyer is a hoot, too.) It made me even more sure that I want to have them over for chips and salsa and board games. :)

And on the school front...yesterday, Amelia had a somewhat impromptu day at daycare so I could start working on stuff for school. I'm not sure why I do this, but every year I have all these ideas of how I could reinvent the wheel, and then I get overwhelmed by reinventing the wheel. My American Lit class is pretty straightforward--it is taught chronologically. However, I'm thinking of teaching my 10th graders' class with a more thematic approach. This is requiring a bit more thought than I have energy for, however.

I know this post is rambling, but I figured I would just cram all my thoughts into one long one instead of dividing it into several. Anyway...

Cute Amelia Pics...Just Because

Pureed sweet potatoes with chicken must be delish!!




I love this smile!

Amelia likes playing with her new farm animals...

BUT they aren't as fun as the TV remote!!!!

Baking and More Baking

Today was Amelia's daycare day. (And no, I wasn't one of "those" mothers who take sick children to daycare...Amelia appears to be fine.) I decided to make this a "me day." Did I want to shop? No. Did I want to nap? Well, kind of. But really what I wanted to do was bake a couple of things from my new cookbook, Dorie Greenspan's Baking: From My Home to Yours. We're heading to Florida again this weekend, and I wanted to take a couple of things that both adults and kids might enjoy.

The first recipe I tried was "Chewy, Chunky Blondies," a delicious combination of butterscotch, chocolate, coconut, and walnuts in a cookie dough-ish batter. I do think I baked them just a hair too long (I blame it on the fact that the blondies didn't do what they were supposed to--pull away from the sides of the pan--to indicate their doneness), but they are still pretty good, especially with a scoop of ice cream.



Later, I made just good old-fashioned chocolate chip cookies (from the same cookbook). I love chocolate chip cookies (seriously, who doesn't?), and I always like to try new recipes for them. These are good, a bit thinner than I like my cookies, and I think I prefer a sweeter chocolate than the bittersweet chocolate the recipe calls for, but that's just a personal preference. The cookies still taste really good, though, and I would make both these recipes again.

I also made stuffed bell peppers for dinner. And picked Amelia up from daycare, fed her, and rocked her to sleep. And I did laundry.

I'm every woman. I know. :)

Now I'm tired.

(I would like to add that Darryl did help feed her--it took two attempts because she was CRANKY the first time--and he also bathed her and tried to rock her to sleep. That, too, took two attempts. I just wanted to clarify that my husband wasn't just sitting on the couch, eating bonbons while I was being every woman.)

My Big, Fat Waffle House Wedding

I had heard about this on a local radio station, but Kim sent me a link to the pics. Scroll to the bottom to watch the slide show!

"Nana's" Departure, School, Cold, Grouchiness...

My mom left yesterday. Amelia and I had a lot of fun with her while she was here. It also gave me a bit of a break. I've already discussed the night out that Darryl and I had, but it was also nice to take a shower every morning without feeling rushed.

I realize I need to start thinking about school. To inspire me, I've bought a few English-teaching-related books. I just need some fresh ideas in teaching old stuff, you know?

I think I'm getting a cold or a sinus/allergy thing. Runny nose yesterday, sore throat today. I hope it passes quickly. Amelia had something similar earlier this week, but she seems to be over it. When I called Sunday morning to check on how the night went with Amelia and my mom, my mom said, "Well, she has a runny nose this morning, but I promise I didn't do anything to make her sick!" Anyway, she was better the next day. I hope I am, too.

Speaking of Amelia...she has been a bit grouchy the past couple of days. Not sure what's going on there. Teething, maybe? (Surely this girl is going to get a tooth SOMETIME.) Change in routine? Not feeling 100% because of the runny nose thing? All of the above?

So that's the excitement going on here...

Our Getaway!!

Because my mom was in town and insisted she could take care of Amelia for 24 hours by herself, we took advantage of the opportunity to have a night to ourselves! Going to a nice restaurant! Staying in a hotel! Having a full night's sleep! Woohoo!

First, let me say that Amelia, who turned 8 months old yesterday, decided to accomplish the major milestone of pulling up to a standing position by herself about 45 minutes after we left the house:

Figures.

Anyway, our first stop was the new World of Coke museum. We just wanted something to do that was "different" and that wouldn't kill the whole afternoon. I guess the museum is worth a visit; it kept us entertained. And the kids there seemed to enjoy it a great deal. However, if any of you had been to the old one...I think the old one was better. To me, one of the cool things about the old museum was the coke that shot in the air from one side of the room to the other in the tasting exhibit. The new one doesn't do that. :( That made me sad.

After the museum we got settled in our hotel room at Twelve, which is located at Atlantic Station. Twelve is a fairly new hotel that really markets its "modern" decor. We actually had a suite (all Twelve has is suites), and it probably would have been really great for a week's stay; the kitchenette featured new, stainless steel appliances and the furniture was really modern. The TVs were flat screens. However, what struck us most about the decor was how it just felt unfinished...bare concrete in places, a wooden ceiling that still had the builders' notes written in pencil on the wood. Interesting. Oh, and our room featured a spectacular view of the really strange Roman-like arch in the middle of it all, which apparently is the Millennium Gateway of Atlanta. Whatever. Here's Darryl looking at the Millennium Gateway from our balcony. Is it me, or is that arch just a bit out of place?
Last night we had a wonderful, fabulous dinner at The Capital Grille in Buckhead. We have been there a few times before and have enjoyed it, but I think last night's dinner was the best yet. I swear I have never been this full after dinner, not even after Thanksgiving. We started out with prosciutto-wrapped mozzarella with tomatoes. Holy cow. There are no words to describe it. Simple, but good. Then we shared a crock of French onion soup. Even if you are not a big French onion soup person, you might like theirs. It is hands-down the best I've ever tasted. I was already feeling full by this point, but we went on with our entrees; I had the beef filet and Darryl had the Delmonico ribeye. Again, delicious. I ate probably half of mine, though, because I wanted dessert, which was coconut cream pie. I love coconut cream pie, period, but this was fabulous. The crust was wonderful; my guess is that it possibly had some cake mix in the crust--which may sound weird--but it tasted very similar to the crust on the cream cheese bars I make, and that crust has cake mix in it. Anyway...I thought I was going to have to be fork-lifted out of the restaurant. (Also, is it just me, but when you eat a lot at a restaurant--like A LOT--do you almost feel as though you need to say to the waiter, "I don't normally eat like this" or "I haven't eaten anything all day." I don't say these things, but I really, really want to.)

After eating that delicious dinner, we walked around Atlantic Station for a while. The walk did absolutely nothing in making us feel less miserably full, however.

But of course, this morning (and I'd like to add that my eyes popped open at 6:30 on the morning I had an opportunity to sleep in!), we ate breakfast. We went to Silver Skillet, which is this old diner-style restaurant that is known for its good hearty breakfasts. The fare is pretty standard, but it was delicious, too. (I know... you may be marveling over the fact that we could even hold food at this point.)

Then we came home. It was wonderful to have some "us time," and we hope to do it again soon. And, of course we were happy to see our girl when we returned!

Friday, Friday

My mom flew up yesterday and is here for a few days for an Amelia fix. So far, we're having a big time. The perk for me--aside from getting to visit with my mother--is I get some relief with some Amelia-related tasks. Just to clarify...I don't mind those tasks, but I also don't mind getting a break from time to time. I took a 2-hour nap this afternoon. Heavenly.

And that's about it for now...

Book Notes: The Tenth Circle by Jodi Picoult

Last night I finished The Tenth Circle by Jodi Picoult. This was the second book I've read by her (I can't remember the title of the previous one and I'm too lazy too look it up...that's how much I liked it; it wasn't My Sister's Keeper or Nineteen Minutes), and here's the deal: something about her books annoys me. I do remember that with the first book, the plot was often hokey in parts; with The Tenth Circle, I was completely annoyed with the ending. I'm not one who has to have endings tied up in a neat bow; however, this book left too much up in the air at the end.

I did record the Lifetime movie of this starring Kelly Preston, but I've yet to watch it.

As the mother of a daughter, I did learn one lesson from this book: When a teenage Amelia says she's going to some friend's house to spend the night, I am so calling that friend's mother to confirm. The girl in this story was up to a lot of shenanigans, y'all.

My next book on the list is Atonement, a book I began last summer but ended up stopping because school started. Tim hails it as one of the best books he's ever read, and I think Max and Jen like it too, so I have higher hopes for this one.

Weekend wrap-up...wait, it's Tuesday already?

Wow. It's Tuesday? Why can't time fly this quickly during the school year?

Anyway...

Our weekend with our friends ended nicely. Kim ("Theatre Director") and her daughter were kind enough to look after Amelia so we could go out and have a good meal with just the grown-ups. I have to admit it was nice to have a meal without having to entertain Amelia with a pack of crackers. :) The food was good, too...steak, creamed spinach, molten lava cake for dessert. Delicious. On a food note, if I told you everything I ate this past weekend, you would be in awe. Oddly enough, I was down one pound this week. Go figure.

On Sunday, Darryl and I drove around a few neighborhoods we liked and just looked at houses from the outside and picked up a few fliers to get an idea of what certain prices will get you in a house. All this did was make me want to sell our house. I do love our house (with the exception of our heinous laundry "closet"), but we are quickly outgrowing it. The thought of getting it ready to sell exhausts me.

In "almost" news...I almost joined a baking blog ring that is devoted to baking through the cookbook Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan. Then I decided that while that may sound fun right now, those crunch grading situations I often find myself in would leave little time for making tarts and pies. I did buy the book, though, because it looks like a good book to have on the shelf anyway. If you have ever been in my kitchen, you might have noticed that I have a bit of an obsession with cookbooks.

Yay for Nicole K. and Keith U. on their baby daughter. I have mixed feeling about the name Sunday, but as far as celeb couples go, I like these two...tons more than I like Brangelina. :) (That one's for you, Kristy!)

Yep, that's it.

First Fourth!

Amelia had a very festive 4th of July. Our friends Damian and Rebecca came to visit from Baton Rouge, and we've been having lots of fun.

We watched the fireworks. (Please forgive the blurry picture. And the "Do Not Enter" sign. This was my best attempt to capture both Amelia AND some kind of firework in the background.)


Today, Rebecca and I took Amelia to a 4th of July parade. This was pretty much Amelia's expression the entire time.

Here's a pic of Rebecca and Amelia, just because.

And here's a pic of Amelia and Darryl cutting up at Hudson Grille, where we had lunch today. Quite frankly, I'm putting up this pic so you can see Amelia's cute red white and blue outfit.


HAPPY 4th of July!!

Just Playing Around

On pins and needles

I like how the world's focus has turned to France, where Angelina is expected to give birth--to twins!!--any day now.

Could I get a show of hands? Does anyone care? (Not to minimize the excitement of the arrival of the child, but I swear...)

Randomness

--I had a little "me" time today. I had a doctor's appointment this morning, so Amelia was in daycare for a few hours. After my appointment, I ran a few errands and had a child-free lunch with my husband.
--Amelia is kind of crawling. She's doing what I like to call the "soldier crawl," where she keeps her belly on the ground but moves her arms and legs toward her desired destination. Too cute!
--Is anyone watching The Bachelorette? I confess: I am. I am because 1) Summer TV is pitiful and I'm desperate for something to watch, and 2) I typically do watch The Bachelorette because unlike the "bachelors," the "bachelorettes" usually make an attempt to have a relationship with the person instead of breaking up three days later. You know what I've decided is a problem with these shows (aside from finding a potential mate for life on a TV show)? The stupid fantasy dates. When, in the real world, does a couple drive a luxury sports car to a deserted restaurant where the girl wears diamonds and a fancy dress? Or when, in the real world, does the girl get to treat the guy to a day at the baseball field playing with the pros? Who wouldn't get along in those circumstances? I say put 'em in a clunker of a car that breaks down in the pouring rain in an area that is out of cell phone range. That would test their compatibility, yes?
--You must check out my friend Kristy's latest post about her niece's baby shower. Hilarious!