Dinning Dilemma

I am having a "Dinning Room Dilemma." I bought the table from Pottery Barn all by itself, and having been searching all over town for the "perfect chairs" to match...that didn't happen! I finally gave in the other day and bought these 3--2 the same and 1 different to go on one side of the table. On the other, there will be a dark espresso colored bench. Now, I think I actually like the wicker looking one better, and would like to take one of the other ones back. What do you think?
My idea is 2 wicker ones, the dark one in the middle, and the bench on the other side. Please excuse the the mess in the background; I had to assemble the chairs on my own--now that was fun! I also need to decorate this area and get some curtains up. I'll post the finishing product in the near future; any advice?

"Ms. Party Poops!"

" This blows, when is my birthday!?"
Fake smile
Get me the hell out of here MOM!

Salem went to her first birthday party the other evening at our friend Levi's house. He turned one and could even hold up one finger when people asked how old he was...talk about advanced! Even though she was dressed to the "T" for the occasion-(Gymboree Sweet Shop outfit that has ice cream cones on it with her matching ice cream cone Robeez!), she did not like the party one bit. There was TOO much going on for her and it was so goddamn loud, that she kept plugging her ears.

She also wanted all the attention, and wasn't getting it; for obvious reasons. I wonder how her 1st birthday will pan out. I can't believe it's sneaking up on me so fast. I better get to planning. So much to do, so little time.

You are NOTHING in THIS WORLD WITHOUT....

AN ASS.
Coming from a person who USED to have THE LARGEST "ba donky donk" on the face of this earth, I can't believe I am saying such a thing. When I HAD an ass, back in the day, I hated every living day of it. You know, people making rude comments, guys grabbing it for no apparent reason out at the bars--it just got SO much attention and I HATED IT. Now, I have the COMPLETE OPPOSITE problem. I have the "SAGGY ASS SYNDROME." I got rid of my voluptuous J-Lo ass, and traded it in for a god awful, old lady, saggy, long and large, lookin' THING. It is terrible. Salem is in swimming lessons right now, as you all know, and I couldn't take another day of wearing my "Tri" one piece; so I went bathing suit shopping today. The "Y" took the winter bubble down around the pool, so I wanted to be able to get a nice tan going on my white ass, albino body. It was a trip to Target that I will NEVER forget. First off, they just don't make bikinis like they used to. A women's LARGE, would fit Salem, I swear. Where in the hell do they come up with sizing these days? I made TWO purchases, only because I couldn't figure out which one looked better over they other---none of them fit right. They are so god damn small, that I think they are made to only fit ONE butt cheek; instead of two. My ass hangs out of them all over the place, and it isn't pretty. Some chicks out there can pull showing some ass off; but not me. Since the day Salem was born, the booty went South on me. I look like an old woman. The nice thing about it is that I feel that I fit in better with the YMCA crowd now. I would say that I am probably THE youngest person that works out there, and the average age is probably 60. I do have to say that I am jealous of a few of the 60 year old women there because they do pull off a bathing suit better than me--BITCHES. THE MOST embarrassing part about it all is that the pool is right in the center of the gym (but outside), so everyone can see you from inside strutting your stuff in a bikini. OH MY GOD. Anyways, I could go on and on about this for ever, but I think I'll go have another glass of wine instead. Here are my purchases from this evening:

LOVE BEAR

HAPPY BIRTHDAY UNCLE STEVE!!!

Today is my brothers 30th birthday and Salem wanted to wish him a good one! Have a great weekend friends!

Moving Around

OH MY GOD....Salem has started crawling people! I am in some serious trouble. She has also added some words to her vocabulary to include: Lilly, hello, wa-wa, ba-ba, baby, and still her favorite-DADA!! Do you think the kid could say something with a "Mmmm" sound to it? Heck NO. All day long I'll say Mama and she'll say Dada immediately after. I swear she's doing it just to piss me off! Yesterday morning, she was sitting in her high chair having breakfast when the phone rang and she said "hello." She ALWAYS sees me yacking away on the phone and her Nana calls her every day to talk to her. I bought her her own play cellphone and she will always pick it up and hold it to her ear--just waiting for someone on that other line to say something to her don't you know!

YO, YO, YO, What up!?

Lets see here. Our household goods arrived. My parents came to visit. They left. Andrew's parents arrived. They just left. Life has been out of control! We had a great time with all the grandparents taking turns visiting. Salem is still kicking ass and taking names at her swimming lessons twice a week. She absolutely loves it and HIGHLY recommend it to anyone with a little one(s). This week we focused in on dunking. I was scared to death to do it the first time, and then I couldn't get enough.--I know, it sounds bad. Salem seemed to enjoy it (most of the time), so I kept doing it over, and over, and over,--do you get it? She never cried; just drank water here and there...no biggy! I even dunked her with her floating on her back( which is more difficult for them). What else? We've been trying to get the house "put together" as much as we can. It is such a never ending process. Some days, you just want to pull your hair out because you feel like you're not getting anywhere. Anyways, I took Salem on a walk the other evening, only to find her asleep with her hat sitting like this on her head. That little face just makes my heart melt every time I look at her. She is my sweet doll baby! She starts on table foods tomorrow and has been spending her days saying "Dada" NON-STOP!

Cutting Teeth

Salem's 2 middle bottom teeth broke through last night. Other than chewing on EVERYTHING in sight, she has been handling it quite well. I had to do some yard work the other day, and didn't know what in the heck to do with her, so I thought I would try putting her in her pack 'n play to see what she would do. NOTE: Salem despises her pack 'n play and has never wanted anything to do with it ever since the day we brought her home from the hospital. I have tried to get her to sleep in it multiple times, and she just screams her little head off. I still, to this day, can't figure out why that is. Surprisingly, she did just fine playing in it outside the other evening so I could get a few things taken care of. She is my little angel--with a scratch on her nose!

Strike a Pose

"Mommy, I'm striking a pose for the camera!"

Salem started swim lessons today and she LOVED being in the water! Today was her first day in an actual pool. She is the youngest in her class and was one of the best students; I wouldn't expect anything less of her! She blew a few bubbles and it was mostly centered around getting the children comfortable in the water. She swallowed a bunch, but it didn't seem to phase her. It appeared that she almost got fulfillment out of drinking such nasty junk. As of right now, there is a huge bubble up around the pool (indoors), and they will be taking it down towards the middle of the month..so she'll get a taste of both. My camera kept fogging up indoors, so I took a couple photos of her in her bikini in the tub when we got home from lessons! Take a look at the belly..my god!

Chum, Parents & Race for the Cure

Ah, this past week was Crazy, but fun all at the same time. I think I should just get used to that saying because I think from here on out, that is going to be the story of my life...."Crazy, but fun!"

So, on Wednesday, my parents flew in from Tucson and stayed with us until early this morning. We had such a great time with them and Salem got spoiled, spoiled, spoiled by Nana Midge and Papa Don....you have no idea. She would barely cry and the words..."Ohhhh, don't cry baby, I'll buy you whatever you want!", started flowing out! And it worked, of course. Thanks again Mom for coming out here and spending time with us and ESPECIALLY Salem. She loves her Nana and wanted 100% of my Mom's attention the entire time. She would constantly make these funny noises just to get Nana to look her way, and then she would just laugh, and laugh. I promise to take pictures of her sporting all of her new outfits!

We were also greeted, the same day, with the arrival of our dear friend, Rodger. We were able to have dinner 2 nights with him and catch up. We miss our close Alaskan friends and are grateful to be a little closer to everyone now. They missed me crossing the finish line( because I was fast as shit..duh!), so I snuck up behind them looking for me and my Mom snapped this gross shot of me sweating like no other..wanna smell my pit!?

Lets see, on Saturday, I participated in the 10th Annual San Antonio Race for the Cure. I ran my fastest time to this day--23:40 for a 5k. That is a pretty good time for someone who enjoys running, but isn't really a "runner"--if you know what I mean. I never in my life ran track and didn't even train until about 2 yrs. ago; on and off and having a baby in between. Moving on, this is something that I take very seriously and hold close to my heart (Race for the Cure). My Aunt Jan is a breast cancer survivor and recently found out (within this past week), that she has relapsed. I get all emotional just typing about it. I will also be doing a Tri for the Cure (Triathlon) coming up next month in her name. It is time to get my ass into shape people! I am back at the 4:30 am workout routine. Speaking of, I better hit the sack so I can roll myself out of bed within the next few hours to do so.

Don't look at my legs... I am in desperate need of a tan!

No, Andrew didn't run it with the baby on his back. Tons of people there thought he was going to do so and made all sorts of comments. Are they that stupid?

Hope you all had a great weekend!