tripping the light fantastic

Growing Up Too Fast

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 05:39:28 GMT

Josie is getting so big. We went to the doctor today for her 4 month visit. She weighs 16 pounds 7 ounces, which puts her at 95th percentile for weight. This is about two pounds heavier than Ethan when he was 4 months old. She is 25 3/4 inches long which puts her at 90th percentile for height. She's about to grow out of her 3-6 month clothes. She also has two teeth already! Ethan didn't get teeth until he was almost 6 months. So far she is hitting the growing milestones earlier than Ethan, but hitting the movement milestones a little later. She just learned how to roll over a little over a week ago, while Ethan rolled over when he was 2 months old. She is a pro at it already though. She really wants to sit up by herself too. It's funny when she's reclined in the bath or her car seat and she's trying her hardest to sit up.

I love the expression on her face in this picture and all the yummy fat rolls.

Ethan said he wanted to "hold it" meaning hold Josie. She is half his size already. He weighs about 30 pounds.

Halloween

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 04:51:16 GMT

I just wanted to post pictures of my cute kids in costumes. Seriously, I almost couldn't handle how cute they were. I'm not sure the pictures of Ethan in his tiger costume do him justice. He didn't want to put it on, so we bribed him with candy and made him put it on. Surprisingly, once we were outside trick-or-treating he didn't take the hood off or anything. We did around 10 houses. He got scared by our neighbors across the street because they dress up with masks and stuff. Other than that, he had fun. He forgot to say "Trick or treat" most of the time, but said "Thank you" every time. He liked giving out candy too. We always have a lot of trick-or-treaters because we live pretty close to an apartment complex. There was one weird/funny group of trick-or-treaters. They were 3 teenage boys and they had a guitar and a laptop. They played music on the laptop and one of them played along on the guitar and they sang a song. They said they were Halloween caroling. I thought it was a pretty awesome reason to give teenagers some candy. :)

The cutest tiger ever. His LSU uncle Jeff should love him in this.

This is probably the best picture of Brandon and Josie we have. She's an adorable bumblebee. Someone called her a butterfly, but seriously it's black and yellow stripes.

The next pictures are for kid size comparisons.

This is Ethan at his first Halloween. He's around 5 1/2 months old. He can sit up by himself.

This is Josie in the same outfit. She is 3 1/2 months old and hasn't rolled over yet. They look the same size. Also, I didn't realize how much they looked alike until we were doing the face recognition thing that Picasa just started. We had it go through all of our pictures and find people. When the pictures are just thumbnails of their faces I have a hard time knowing whether it's Ethan or Josie.

Life Update

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 05:15:38 GMT

I haven't posted in over 3 months, I wonder why. :) Oh yeah, I have a fat little baby and a super active two-year-old. Josie is 3 1/2 months old now. We just got her baptized on Saturday, little Noa's birthday! The priest, whose name is Josef (he's German) kept forgetting her name, which we thought was weird. He remembered the other baby's name (Hailey Virginia) getting baptized at the same time, but forgot hers. He had even made a comment about it when we met with him. Anyway, we chose Josephine for the Joseph thing Brandon has on his side of the family (his middle name, his dad's name, his grandpa's name) and because I've always liked Josie. Elizabeth is for my great-grandma Helen Elizabeth.

Josie is a pretty good baby. She was a lot fussier when she was a newborn; she wanted to be held all the time. Now she's pretty content to sit in her bouncy seat or lay under her activity gym. She's not sleeping very good right now, but she has slept through the night twice (not consecutively and not in a while). She's also a chunky little thing. She weighs 15 1/2 pounds and has fat rolls on her legs. She's moving into the next sizes of clothes faster than Ethan ever did. We think she'll start rolling over any day. Overall, she's pretty awesome.

Ethan really loves her too. He always wants to know where she is and gives her hugs and kisses all the time. He has had a few issues. Lately he says "No feed Josie either" when I am about to feed her. I'm guessing because he knows he doesn't have my full attention and won't get it until after I feed her. For several weeks after she was born he chewed on his fingers, which was really kind of gross. We think it was a nervous habit. Thankfully, he's stopped doing that. He also has some serious separation anxiety going on right now. He cries when one of us leaves to go to the store or something and is worried when he doesn't see me right away. He'll be watching TV or playing in the back room and realize I'm not in there and say "Mommy, Josie" in a scared voice. The other day I had a really bad headache and so I went to take a nap after Brandon got home and he was crying for me even though he knew I was just in the bedroom. Of course, this doesn't stop him from running away or wandering off in stores when we go shopping. He refuses to sit in the cart now, so it takes me twice as long to get half as much stuff as it did before. Ethan is definitely a two-year-old.

He's saying some really funny stuff now though. The other day I was picking up some of his toys and he pats me on the back and says, "Good boy Mommy." My sister wanted him to sit on her lap so she could put on his shoes and he said, "Sit in the Melanie chair." He also adds the word "either" to things he says even when there's not an alternative. "No watch Sesame Street either." "No go to Wal-Mart either." If you then ask him what he wants to do he'll say "Go to Target." :) He does say thank you or thanks at the appropriate times. He'll also say bless you when someone sneezes. He doesn't quite get please yet though.

He still really likes the alphabet, and knows all the sounds the letters make and can name a word or two for every letter. His new obsession is shapes. He knows them all and has several wood puzzles with shapes. If he wants a certain puzzle, he asks for it by naming all shapes in it in order. "Want circle square octagon oval pentagon triangle rectangle puzzle." He does this to ask for certain DVDs to watch too. He names all the characters on the cover instead of the title. "Watch Thomas James Percy and Emily." This can get a little annoying when he says it 40 times in a row. Another thing he is very into right now is Thomas the train. He knows their names, their colors, their numbers, and the theme song. It's funny when he sings it. We know what he's trying to say, but most people would understand maybe 3 words of it. The TV show is not very entertaining. I actually enjoy watching Sesame Street and Super Why, but Thomas is pretty boring and very British (sorry Zo). Ethan loves it though. I know way more about those trains than I want to.

Here are a few favorite pictures:

You can see a few of the fat rolls on her legs.

Josie and I at the State Fair. I love the little ears on her hoodie.

Ethan at the Arboretum. He tried to bite several pumpkins.

Family picture at my cousin's wedding. Look how skinny Brandon is! It's crazy.

Space: The Final Frontier :)

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 05:03:57 GMT

We recorded Ethan in his big boy room for Zowie's biological clock. :)

Try not to notice the hugely pregnant woman with the high voice. :)

From Ethan 52 - Big Boy Room

Here's Ethan climbing onto his big boy bed. If the headboard looks familiar, it's the one I had in our old apartment, except it's been refinished by Grandma Cece and Uncle Jeff.

From Ethan 52 - Big Boy Room

You can see the window seat in Ethan's room. The cushion is currently covered by the flat sheet from his bedding since he doesn't really use sheets yet. The pillow on the left goes with his bedding and the other two pillows are from other space bedding sets. His little white table and chairs are from Ikea. I keep rethinking the white as Ethan gets more enthusiastic with markers and crayons.

From Ethan 52 - Big Boy Room

He has a new bookcase in the corner. We still need to move some of the stuff from the nursery onto it. You can also see the little stepstool he uses to get on the bed.

From Ethan 52 - Big Boy Room

Old dresser that Brandon had forever and a night stand being used to hold diapers. And, of course, he needed space toys to go in the space room, at least according to Cece and Pa-pa.

From Ethan 52 - Big Boy Room

Close-up of the comforter, made by Olive Kids.

From Ethan 52 - Big Boy Room

Close-up of the pillow sham. The other one is currently hanging on the wall above the headboard. I'm not real fond of it being there, but until we find something else, it will work.

From Ethan 52 - Big Boy Room

Close-up of window seat and pillows.

From Ethan 52 - Big Boy Room

The toy box my dad made Ethan, complete with fleur de lis and stars (for the Saints and unfortunately the Cowboys). The stars go well with the theme now though. The pictures hanging above the toy box are actually wall stickers I found at the dollar store put in dollar store frames. Cheap and awesome. :)

From Ethan 52 - Big Boy Room

Close-up of the robot pictures by Ethan's bed. These are also dollar store wall stickers in dollar store frames.

From Ethan 52 - Big Boy Room

Close-up of the awesome painting that made me want to do a space room in the first place. I bought it at Target. It still has poor Pluto as a planet.

From Ethan 52 - Big Boy Room

Lamp with rocket ship wood cut-out that Brandon's mom made and painted to match the bedding.

From Ethan 52 - Big Boy Room

Close-up of bookcase.

12 Days and Counting (probably TMI)

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 04:21:01 GMT

I am so ready to have this baby. I am now 37 weeks which is considered full-term. I'm sick of wearing the stupid support hose for the varicose veins. I'm sick of having heartburn every day. I'm sick of having to pee 20 times a a day (this is probably not even hyperbole). I am very ready not to be a hot, sweaty mess all the time. Being 9 months pregnant in the middle of a serious heat wave sucks total ass. The only place I am comfortable in our house during the day is our living room. I can sit on the couch with the air conditioning vent blowing directly on me and the fan on super high. Even then, I usually wake up sweating when I take a nap. Everywhere else in the house, I start sweating after a few minutes. Going outside of the house without sweat dripping down my face is pretty much out of the question. Seriously, I am looking forward to having surgery and being in the hospital. I know I will probably throw up a few times because of the anesthesia. I will have no privacy. I will have to eat a liquid diet for a little while. I will be in some pain and the first few days of breastfeeding kind of suck, but it'll be better than this. Especially since I'll have the baby, which pretty much makes up for everything.

My C-section is scheduled for Tuesday, July 7 at 2:30 p.m. unless someone else goes into labor before that so we can move up the time. It's going to be awesome. :)

I had considered trying for a VBAC (vaginal birth after Caesarean), but we ultimately decided it wasn't worth the risk. The main reason I was wanting to do the VBAC was so I could pick up Ethan. Plus, the more C-sections you have, the more dangerous future pregnancies may be. The primary reason not to try the VBAC is because of the 1% chance of uterine rupture. It is small, but usually results in the baby having some serious problems. My doctor was actually really good about not trying to influence me either way. I finally asked her what she would do. She said that she has been around long enough to see a rupture and it's just not worth it to go through the entire pregnancy and have that happen. She had a C-section with her daughter and would schedule one again. I told her why I was thinking about it and she said women with vaginal births can have just as long a recovery time if they have tearing and stuff. Since I didn't have any problems with my previous C-section, I decided to go ahead and schedule another one.

I've been trying to buy stuff that I'll need for when the baby is here. We have most of the stuff we need since we're just going to re-use the crib, bouncer, etc. that Ethan used.

My sister bought me this for my birthday. It says on the website that you can start wearing it in the hospital but since I didn't wear my own clothes until I left last time, I probably won't start using it until I get home. Kristen, I'll have to tell you if it works.
Brandon's parents came for Father's Day so I was able to go nursing bra shopping without Ethan. I think I will probably be wearing my old ones for the most part, but the sleep bra I had is not really wearable anymore, so I bought 3 new ones. These are very comfortable and require no thinking in the middle of the night. Also, you can't really buy day bras until you have the baby and know how big you will be.
I also bought this because the lady at the store said they had several moms try it and it saves about 2 ounces, especially in the beginning. You basically get a bottle without having to pump.
I also bought a new Brest Friend since the foam in my old one was starting to disintegrate.

Finally, in case y'all were wondering, this is what I look like 37 weeks pregnant. I took these pictures this morning.

Kind of blurry side view.

Front view.

Side view from about a month ago, pre-haircut and much smaller stomach.

Now I just have to wait and try not to die from the heat.

Birthday pics

Thu, 21 May 2009 20:34:19 GMT

We just put up pictures from Ethan's birthday on Picasa. We're waiting for Brandon's mom to put up her pictures too. Most of the ones we took were of the cookies and cake I made. :)

The cookies were a hot new project on Craftster for a few days. Yay! Also on the Craftster homepage if you click on the Memorial Day crafts, you will see a picture of my picnic cake from last summer.

Ethan had a ton of fun at his birthday party. We had three other kids here (all kids of people from Brandon's office), ages 3, 2, and 1. Ethan and the 2-year-old girl played the most together. It's so cool that he plays with other kids now. They also look a lot alike for not being related at all, same hair color, eye color, etc. She's the little girl in the pictures from the party. We didn't get pictures of the other kids.

I was super happy that Ethan seems to like the present we gave him a lot. We got him a toy shopping cart with play food. I have been wanting him to have one since before Christmas. I'm also glad he likes it because it's seen as more of a "girl" toy. He has also been noticing babies (real and toy) a lot more lately and I would love to get him a doll. As of now, the only thing he lets ride in the toy shopping cart seat is Elmo. :)

New Ethan Developments: One thing I was super anxious about was moving Ethan out of his crib and the nursery into his big boy bed and room. He never tried to climb out of the crib and he actually wanted us to put him in there just to play. We moved the bed in our guest room (Ethan's new room) against the wall when Brandon's parents were still here and put ABC sheets and a bed rail on it. We kind of took apart the crib (our pediatrician's suggestion) and gave Ethan a little step stool so he could get in the big bed easier. His first night in the new bed was Monday. He went right to sleep with no problems. I thought nap time the next day might be different, but again he went right to sleep. Brandon and I are so happy that he likes his new bed. We thought he might try to come out of the room, etc., but he seems to accept the new bed as being just like his crib.

Something else he learned to do after his birthday party weekend is spell and say his name. We have been spelling his name out for a while, with the book I made him and with alphabet magnets and such. I was putting him in his car seat to go to the playground and he started saying E-T-H-A-N, Ethan. Seriously, he's the best kid ever, at least until I have two best kids. :)

"Time Square can't shine as bright as you"

Sun, 05 Apr 2009 04:22:15 GMT

This post can also be titled "Ethan is awesome." :)

Ethan is starting to talk more though he still doesn't say a lot. He loves letters and numbers. He can say the whole alphabet and count to 10. Some of the letters and numbers aren't quite clear, but we know what he's trying to say. The letter O is still his favorite; when he gets to it he gets louder and draws it out more. I'm guessing he likes them so much because of Sesame Street. He gets super excited when the letter and number of the day come on. I'm planning to do a Sesame Street birthday party for him, with a big Elmo cake, and maybe letter and number sugar cookies. It will probably be on May 17 if anyone wants to come. He also likes Wheel of Fortune (it has letters and clapping, what more could he want?). Brandon was a big Sesame Street kid who would say only letters and I apparently watched Wheel of Fortune a lot, so I'd say he's our kid. :)

Along with the alphabet, he has also started singing songs. One of his favorites is "Hey There Delilah." I have it on a mix cd and on the way home from Mardi Gras, he started singing part of the chorus. Instead of "Oh what you do to me" Ethan says "Ohhhh me" and he sings the Ohohoh part at the end too. When we get in the car he points at the CD player and says "Oh Me, Oh Me" until I play it. :) We have also taught him to like Jason Mraz. The first song on his latest album, "Make it Mine," has clapping in the middle and Ethan claps along. He also sings the EIEIEO part of "Old McDonald" and something close to "Row Row Row Your Boat." One song he can actually sing most of the words to is "C is for Cookie." We have a little music player book thing that plays that song and he knows how to make it play over and over.

One of his newest favorite words is apple. Anything that can be eaten and remotely looks like an apple is also an apple. We have oranges and apples in our fridge, both called apples. When we call an orange an orange, he insists "apple." :) The other day we ate at a Mexican restaurant and he called a jalapeno an apple. So far the only fruit that isn't an apple is a "nana."

Other funny stuff he does: He can reach into the silverware drawer and get out all the silverware. He loves getting out the spoons. We find spoons all over the house. The other day he had objects from 5 different rooms in his room, which included pillows, mixing bowls, trashcans, and toys. He loves cups with straws. If you get a drink with a straw, you better be willing to give him some or have one for him too. We bring a straw cup with us to restaurants now and fill it with water so he won't go nuts. He loves being in his crib. He will pull and push me to get up and follow him to put him in it. He'll stay in there for long periods of time just playing with his blankets and talking to himself. It worries me a little since we're planning to move him out of it after his birthday.

Ethan saying the letters that I wrote down the sidewalk.

Ethan sitting by our neighbor's flowers. The only reason he is sitting still and smiling at the same time is because I was getting him to count to ten.

New Year's meme.

Thu, 08 Jan 2009 05:48:57 GMT

As per Zo's request.

1. What did you do in 2008 that you'd never done before?
Had a miscarriage. Went to San Francisco (thanks for the awesome second wedding Kristen).  Took a baby to Mardi Gras. Got paid to make cake.

2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I didn’t really make any last year. This year the only one I’m concerned about is making sure we don’t compare #2 to Ethan too much. I don’t want to be all these expectations on him/her to be like Ethan. I think that’s one reason Jeff doesn’t get along with Brandon’s parents very well. I think this will be easier if #2 is a girl, but either way, it’s something I will have to tell myself.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Brent (one of Brandon’s work friends) and his wife had a boy in January; we’re going to the birthday party next weekend. Brandon’s band friend Joey LaHatte had a baby girl, and his crazy friend Jessica from A&M had a boy.

4. Did anyone close to you die?
No.

5. What countries did you visit?
Seriously this question will just be USA forever. I did go to California though, besides just Louisiana and Texas again.

6. What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008?
Healthy new baby. A potty-trained Ethan would be nice too. J

7. What date from 2008 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
I’ll remember the miscarriage, Jen’s announcement and Kristen’s wedding, but the exact dates kind of escape me. I’ll remember Ethan’s first birthday party, which was on May 3, but I doubt I’ll remember that next year.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Being pretty good at the cake decorating thing. Breastfeeding for a year; I cried when I decided to give it up since it meant Ethan was a little more grown up.

9. What was your biggest failure?
Not doing anything about the library thing.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
I had the miscarriage in July. I was mostly disappointed that I wasn’t pregnant anymore. I got pregnant the first month we decided to try again, and I was only 6 weeks along. I went to the doctor and they couldn’t find the pregnancy on the ultrasound. They sent me to get blood tests done and that night I started bleeding. It just felt like a normal period. I hadn’t had any pregnancy symptoms (a clue something was wrong) so it didn’t quite feel real yet. About a month ago, I had some bleeding with this pregnancy and was seriously freaked out about it. This was when I was 9 weeks, had been dealing with the morning sickness, had told everyone, had seen the pregnancy on the ultrasound, and was generally in love with the baby already. I started bleeding a little bit, with no pain on Tuesday evening. I called my doctor and she said some light bleeding in the first trimester is okay, but to come in the next day. So that night, I prayed, cried and worried until I could call her office. They had an appointment around noon. At about 10 a.m. I called Brandon at work and told him I couldn’t wait anymore. We went to my doctor’s office and they let us come in right away. Everything turned out to be fine with the baby; she said there was some blood behind the placenta that was working itself out (maybe from implantation or something). We were thankful and relieved. This pregnancy seems harder than with Ethan (nausea, etc.), but will totally be worth it.

11. What was the best thing you bought?
Cake classes and cake decorating stuff. It was fun doing stuff for just me. Here are some pics of the latest.

Thanksgiving cake for Brandon's office lunch.

Christmas cupcakes I made for a kid's birthday at daycare.

Shelli's graduation cake.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
Brandon is seriously awesome about being understanding of the hormonal pregnant lady. He’s sort of fourth on the list now, but he’s great about it. Also my doctor and her office were great about seeing us right away. Also, she’s a new doctor, though it’s the same practice. My old one quit to spend more time with her family right after the miscarriage.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
Some of the older kids at story time don’t act as well as they should or their parents should make them; but I hesitate to say anything as my kid isn’t that old yet.

14. Where did most of your money go?
Just regular bills; food.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
I get excited about Ethan learning new things. He knows most of his letters now, though he can only say a few of them. I don’t know why he’s so interested in letters (Sesame Street maybe?), but he loves them. O is his favorite and one of the letters he can say. He’ll point out Os everywhere we go. I got excited about going to San Francisco and seeing everybody at the wedding.

16. What song will always remind you of 2008?

“Fuzzy Wuzzy Was a Bear.” It’s the first song on a CD of kid music I got at the dollar store. Ethan loves it. If you ever ride in our car, you will definitely hear it too.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
i. happier or sadder? Pretty much the same level of happy.
ii. thinner or fatter? Fatter; at least I can blame it on being pregnant now. J

iii. richer or poorer? Poorer, stupid economy.

18. What do you wish you'd done more of?

Reading. Crafting.

19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
Sleeping. I’ve been taking a nap when Ethan does pretty much since the beginning of this pregnancy. I’d like to use the time to do stuff, but when I don’t take a nap, I feel kind of crappy.

20. How will you be spending Christmas?
We actually stayed at home with no guests for Christmas. Brandon’s parents came the Saturday after, and mine came for New Year’s. We wrapped presents for Ethan on Christmas Eve while watching A Christmas Story. On Christmas Day, we went to church, had pancakes for lunch after we got back, opened presents after Ethan’s nap, and had turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, and rolls for dinner.

21. Did you fall in love in 2008?
I’m in love with the idea of the new baby, though I don’t really know his/her personality yet.

22. How many one-night stands?
None.

23. What was your favorite TV program?
We love Big Bang Theory. It’s hilarious and has an awesome theme song that Ethan dances to. I also liked Eli Stone and Pushing Daisies, but it looks like both are being cancelled.

24. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
No.

25. What was the best book you read?
I really liked The Spymaster’s Lady by Joanna Bourne. It’s a great smart romance novel. You can tell when the characters are speaking another language even when it’s all written in English just by the way she orders the words. I would even suggest it to Kristen, even though I know you don’t have any love for the genre. :)

26. What was your greatest musical discovery?
I still love Jason Mraz. I haven’t discovered anything new.

27. What did you want and get?
Being pregnant.

28. What did you want and not get?
A fancy stand mixer. In the scheme of what we need to spend money on, it’s low on the list.

29. What was your favorite film of this year?
I think we may have only seen one movie in the theater this year, so Dark Knight it is.

30. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
Twenty-seven. I didn’t really remember what we did. Brandon remembers that we were fighting with Wal-Mart to give him the advertised deal on his PS3.

31. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Having more girlfriends/mom friends to talk to.

32. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2007?
Jeans and t-shirts, and now maternity. Not much of a style.

33. What kept you sane?
Brandon and Ethan.

34. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Can’t think of anybody new.

35. What political issue stirred you the most?

I did vote this year, but I wasn’t stirred too much.

36. Who did you miss?
The Clique, Breanne, my family.

37. Who was the best new person you met?
Miss Linda, Ethan’s Gymboree teacher. She’s the best.

38. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2008:
Put your baby/toddler on a nap schedule. I will definitely try doing this earlier with #2. Ethan is so easy to put down for a nap now. I used to rock him and all sorts of other stuff that took a long time. Now after he eats lunch, I put him in his crib and I’m done.

Ficklet #2

Thu, 04 Dec 2008 03:26:43 GMT

So, my dad kind of outed me to my friend from high school, who then outed me on Facebook. I was going to wait until after the second doctor's appointment, but anyway, we are expecting Ficklet #2. I am about 8 weeks along, and due July 12, so we could have an anniversary baby. A few of y'all know that I had a miscarriage in July (at 6 weeks gestation), so we are super excited about this. The nausea super sucks right now, but other than that, I'm doing fine. :)

Cake!!

Sun, 09 Nov 2008 04:53:25 GMT

I realized that I haven't posted pictures of a lot of the cakes I've made. So unless you stalk me on Craftster, you won't have seen them. Most of these I made for my cake classes. I'll start with the most recent.

Halloween Cupcakes!! I made these for Brandon's office and for us to eat. I gave some to neighbors. I made pumpkins, mummies, vampires, werewolves, aliens, and Frankenstein's monsters. Here's the link for more info.

Tiered cake for my final cake class. The roses are made out of fondant. They took forever. More pics.

Baby bug cake I made for a baby shower. I got paid for this one. Before they knew the baby was a girl they called it "Bug."

Flip flop cake for a going away party. I also got paid to make this one.

Gift box cake I made for a cake class. It's covered with fondant. I think a square cake is easier to cover than a round one.

Daisy cake I made for a cake class. The daisies are made out of gumpaste. The fondant drape was added to cover an ugly fondant area.

Bluebonnet cake I made to bring to my grandparents' lake house for my grandpa's birthday. I figured out how to make the bluebonnets out of royal icing myself.

Finale cake for my second cake class. This pic is kind of blurry because it got really washed out if I used the flash. It is covered in royal icing flowers. More details in the same post as the bluebonnet cake.

Jiffy pupcakes. I made these for Mel's birthday to look like her dog.

Also, this isn't cake, but here's a pic of the jewelry set I made for Jen.

Meme (basically I go on about Ethan for a long time)

Fri, 07 Nov 2008 06:35:16 GMT

High School? College? Working?

Really, none of the above. I work at home, being Ethan’s mama. This is the first job I’ve had where I feel happy 99.9% of the time and I actually feel like I am doing a pretty good job. I love staying at home. I just could not handle it if someone else got to be the one that picked Ethan up when he falls, or was there when he did something for the first time. Some days are hard. Stupid Daylight Saving Time messed up Ethan’s schedule so he’s been getting up an hour earlier than he should, so he’s cranky until after his nap. I miss seeing and talking to people other than an 18-month-old whose vocabulary consists of 5 words (that we understand). One thing I loved about grad school was just talking to all the other people who had a lot of the same interests. I have met a lot more of our neighbors, but none of them are really people I can have deep conversations with. I need to find a playgroup or something for him, but it’s hard for me to just walk up and talk to other moms. I do get out a couple days a week. We go to story time at the library and the playground next to it on Tuesdays and Gymboree on Wednesdays.

What do you want to be if you're not already working as it?

I sometimes feel like a hypocrite still saying I want to do the librarian thing when I haven’t made any effort to accomplish that goal. I still think that’s what I will want to do when I’m not a stay-at-home mom anymore. I did want to do the editor thing (like Cara), but when I tried to find a job doing that, it didn’t work out too well.

Also, like Cara, I am into crafty things. The cake decorating thing is fun. I don’t know if I’d want to do it full-time, but I love doing what I have time for right now. I have gotten paid to make some cakes, which is nice. I like finding new things to make for Ethan. I look on Craftster and other sites all the time. Right now, I want to make him a snake, a chalk mat, and an advent calendar. I don’t think I’d ever want to do a business type of thing for this stuff, but crafting is fun.

Relationship with your parents?

This question will be so boring compared to everyone else. I have a great relationship with my parents. I talk to my mom a lot and she comes to visit whenever she can. She has to travel to Austin and other places in Texas for her job, so whenever there is a stop in Dallas, she comes on Friday and stays the weekend. I don’t talk to my dad as much, mostly because he does not like to talk on the phone. Though, he actually just got a cell phone (seriously, this is amazing), but I think he mostly wanted it for emergency type things. They have always been supportive.

Any kids?

Ethan. Seriously, the best thing I have ever done in my life. I’m glad other people think he’s perfect too. I love that you can see his personality so much now. He is the opposite of me (and Brandon) in that he loves being outside. If he’s whiny, I tell him we’re going outside and he’ll be at the door waiting or finding my shoes. He loves Sesame Street (one of the things I feel guilty about is letting him watch TV). Elmo is one of the 5 words he says (along with mama, dada, up, and nana [banana]). He also does a cute thing where he imitates Cookie Monster. We have it on video, but haven’t put it on the internet yet. He loves books (which I am sooooo happy about). For a while, he would only sit still for touch and feel books, now he’s into lift the flap and anything with Sesame Street characters. Lately, he’s been into climbing on things. He learned how to climb onto the kitchen chairs to get stuff off the table and climb onto the couches. Tonight, he climbed onto his Lego table. He is a little shy around new people, but will smile at them forever. He loves to open the refrigerator and “help” do the laundry. I could go on and on forever.

Brothers or sisters?

Melanie is 26 and we have always been pretty close. She lives an hour away and comes to see us basically every weekend. She is the tomboy to my girly girl. She is a successful physical therapist and crazy athletic (who I am jealous of because she now wears a size 4). Eric is 20 (Brandon thinks he should still be 12, the age he was when Brandon met him). He goes to Angelo State University. I mostly talk to him when he wants my help with an English paper. J

Any pets?

The turtles, who Brandon keeps threatening to kill since he feeds them and cleans their tank. Mel has a dog that comes with her every weekend, but she stays outside unless it is too cold or raining. Maybe someday I will let go of my OCD issues enough to get a dog, but not anytime soon. I would really prefer a cat, but I’m allergic.

Dating anyone at the moment?

Brandon and I have been married for 4 years and together for 8 ½ (we are old).

Religion, do ya dig it?

Yeah, still a practicing Catholic. Though we usually don’t make it to church for Holy Days of Obligations, we go every Sunday. Right now, we don’t get as much out of church as we used to because we sit in the cry room with a toddler who just wants to run around, but we think it’s important to go. I don’t pray as much as I did when I was in high school and college, and I try to work on that.

Something everyone loves that you hate:

This is hard. Umm, I don’t like Nicholas Cage and don’t understand why people think he should be in action movies. I don’t like sour candy at all, and I don’t like things that are sweet when they should be salty (putting pineapple on pizza, for example). Something else I’m not a fan of is the Leapfrog reading system where the kid points to a word to hear it while he’s reading. This just seems like a way for parents to be uninvolved and for kids to take the lazy way out and not try sounding out the words.

Something everyone hates that you love:

Hate and love are too strong. I love reading romance novels, but a lot of other people like those too. Wal-Mart? I like candy Sweethearts and black licorice, which most people don’t like.

Something a lot of people are into you're indifferent about:

I’ll agree with Kristen and Cara, politics. I did vote on Tuesday, but it doesn’t interest me a lot. Also, designer things. I really don’t care about having a designer purse or clothes.

Something different about your online self and your real life self?

I have more friends online. I talk to Breanne on the phone every few months, but other than that I don’t really talk to anyone besides Brandon, Ethan and my family.

What are or were you teased about most in high school? Or are you the one doing the teasing?

Definitely not the one doing the teasing. Probably just being a general nerd. I was teased more in elementary and junior high, but not to a great extent. I was quiet and people left me alone for the most part. It was more like I was left out for not doing things like getting drunk and driving around town. Though I still feel awkward around the “popular” girls. One of them asked to be my Facebook friend today, so that’s kind of weird.

Craftster Awesomeness!

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 05:07:17 GMT

Since I did the Memorial Day cupcakes, I've been making other cakes using similar methods. Brandon's boss asked me to make a cake for his wife's birthday, which was the day after mine. So that week, I made two cakes. I used mine as a practice for the one I was getting paid to make.

This is the one I made for his wife. Here's the link if you want to read more about both cakes.

After I made this cake, Brandon's boss thought it would be great if I could make a cake for the HGA picnic the following week. The minute I thought about picnic and cake, I wanted to put ants carrying off food on the cake.

This was my ants at a picnic cake. Everyone loved it. Everything on the cake is edible and made with a combination of cake, candy, and lots and lots of buttercream frosting. I posted this to Craftster, where I post everything I make. They just chose it as one of their featured projects. There's a link to it from the main page of Craftster. This is super awesome.

Here's a screen shot where you can see one of my little ants. Here's the link to the whole post if you want to know how I made it or want to see more pics.

Since I'm posting these, I'll talk about my other projects on Craftster too. I talked about the cupcakes, which are on Craftster, but I have also sewn a lot of other stuff. They're posted from newest to oldest.

Butterfly quilt I made for Joey and Ginny's (Brandon's band friends) new baby. I finished this while we were in New Orleans for the Fourth of July.

Felt name book for Ethan.

Ethan's appliqued birthday onesie. I'm not including a link to this post since I didn't say much about it.

Ethan's birthday cakes. The reason I got into the cake decorating thing in the first place.

Puppy baby blanket for Brandon's friend Jessica's baby.

Baby blocks for Ethan.

Dragon for Ethan. I think I talked about this on the New Year's meme.

Taggie blanket for Ethan.

I didn't realize how many things I've made until I posted these all together. I also put some jewelry I made for my mom up on Craftster, but I didn't feel like including the picture.

Memorial Day goes well with cake

Tue, 27 May 2008 20:37:52 GMT

For Memorial Day, our neighborhood association had a picnic. We were supposed to bring a side dish. I decided that this would be a perfect reason to make more cake. :) For those of you that look at our picasa web album, I made lots of cake for Ethan's birthday. I took the Wilton course 1 class to learn some things and wanted to take the next course, but there weren't enough people. The people at Brandon's office were enjoying my cake class since I sent the cake I made every week with him to work. As long as I was going to make cake for Memorial Day, Brandon said I should make some for his office too.

This is how I ended up making 24 cupcakes and 50 mini cupcakes this weekend.

I saw someone make these on craftster, so I decided this was the perfect opportunity to try it.

Here's all the cupcakes.

Putting petals on sunflowers.

Close-up of the petally goodness.

Making bumblebees.

Close-up of the mini cupcakes.

Close-up of a big sunflower.

Close-up of purple flower.

The big cupcakes were made from a vanilla cake mix made into a cinnamon swirl cake with a 1/2 cup of sugar, 1/2 cup of brown sugar, and a tablespoon of cinnamon. The mini cupcakes were rainbow chip. The frosting was buttercream (1 stick of margarine, 2 tablespoons of milk, 4 cups of powdered sugar, 1 tablespoon of Wilton meringue powder, and Wilton food coloring). The flower centers were made with Oreos, mini Oreos, Nilla wafers, and mini Nillas. The bees and ladybugs were made with red and yellow M&Ms and some leftover chocolate frosting in a tub made a little darker with food coloring. These cupcakes are apparently from book called Hello, Cupcake. I think I might need that book. :)

I Choo Choo Choose You!!

Thu, 14 Feb 2008 18:10:44 GMT

Happy Valentine's Day!

Nine-month-old Ethan now has six teeth, four on top and two on bottom. He started grinding them together, which the doctor said was normal, but freaks everyone else out. :) He has gotten brave a few times and stood by himself for a few seconds before grabbing back on to something. We're trying to use some baby sign language. I think he recognizes the sign "drink" which we use when we give him juice. He had fun at Mardi Gras, even though he slept through several parades. He's so much fun.

New Year's meme.

Thu, 03 Jan 2008 05:15:39 GMT

1. What did you do in 2007 that you'd never done before?
Had a baby, which included major surgery. Saw a live enactment of the ending scene of Dirty Dancing. :) Quit my job. Made a dragon.

2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I think the only resolution I had was to be less stressed out as I was going nuts at the teaching job. I should eat better and exercise, but meh.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Besides myself, Ann, my best friend from high school had her third baby, Miles. And I know Jackie too. I know three other people who are pregnant right now too, all friends through Brandon.

4. Did anyone close to you die?
No.

5. What countries did you visit?
USA, woo. I barely left the state except to go to New Orleans in October.

6. What would you like to have in 2008 that you lacked in 2007?
Some work toward my new goal of being a librarian someday. Another baby. :)

7. What date from 2007 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
May 11, obviously. I should really type up a birth story.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Making it through teaching until Easter. Still breastfeeding at soon to be eight months.

9. What was your biggest failure?
Quitting the teaching job at Easter.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
The only things were pregnancy related. About a week before my c-section, I had a horrible rash on my hands that itched like hell. By the time I got in to see a dermatologist it had pretty much gone away, but she said it was probably stress-related. The c-section pain was manageable most of the time, except for the first night home when I went to sleep in bed, but it hurt too much too sit and Ethan was crying his head off.

11. What was the best thing you bought?
I got into going to consignment sales for baby stuff and found the entire set of Beatrix Potter books for $5.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
Brandon kept me from having a complete breakdown when I was teaching and was super understanding about all the crying. My mom was great after Ethan was born. We both cried when she left.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
Some of the nurses at the hospital. They kept pressuring us to supplement with formula when we were there. It was very confusing, especially since we were first time parents. Thankfully, the lactation consultants were great. Also, the people at the dealership where my sister bought her car. They were seriously the hugest asses I’ve ever seen. They made her cry. Mel never cries.

14. Where did most of your money go?
Hospital bills, baby stuff, mortgage, etc.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Ethan smiling, Ethan laughing, Ethan crawling, Ethan sleeping through the night, seeing everyone at Dave and Jen’s wedding.

16. What song will always remind you of 2007?

“Come on Eileen” by Save Ferris because of Paul, Don, and Jonathan dancing at the wedding.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
i. happier or sadder? Happier; no more teaching, plus baby.
ii. thinner or fatter? Thinner, but I was pregnant last year.

iii. richer or poorer? Poorer, one income.

18. What do you wish you'd done more of?

Reading. For some reason, I feel guiltier when I goof off to read than other things like the internet or TV.

19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
Stressing out about school.

20. How will you be spending Christmas?
We went to my house in Nazareth. The Hand grandparents came from Colorado and my brother and sister were there, of course. We spent the day opening presents, eating, and playing Mexican train dominoes.

21. Did you fall in love in 2007?
Yes, with my sweet little baby.

22. How many one-night stands?
None.

23. What was your favorite TV program?
I will definitely miss Veronica Mars and I love How I Met Your Mother. The slap bet is legend ….wait for it….ary. The best new shows I like are Notes from the Underbelly and Jon and Kate Plus 8. We originally watched Notes when it premiered thinking it would be a cheesy pregnancy show, but it is very funny. Jon and Kate is so cute. You can watch it just for Mady, the drama queen.

24. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
No.

25. What was the best book you read?
I remember reading Shopaholic and Baby really fast, but I would have to say Is Your Mama a Llama?. It has the cutest pictures and great rhyming text.

EDIT: Dude! I totally forgot about Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Seriously, the best Harry Potter book ever. I cried about Dobby, though.

26. What was your greatest musical discovery?
That “The Wheels on the Bus” can make a baby calm down when riding in the backseat.

27. What did you want and get?
Healthy, happy baby.

28. What did you want and not get?
Teaching certification.

29. What was your favorite film of this year?
We really didn’t see many movies this year, so I’ll go with Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

30. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
Twenty-six. I was at home with Ethan watching TV during the day. Brandon gave me a birthday CD, a shredder, and earrings to match my Mother’s Day necklace.

31. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Brandon’s job sucking less.

32. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2007?
Maternity, then t-shirts and jeans. Mama casual.

33. What kept you sane?
Brandon, my mom, caffeine.

34. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
I’ll go with Sendhil Ramamurthy, the guy who plays Mohinder on Heroes.

35. What political issue stirred you the most?

I am kind of out of the loop where politics are concerned.

36. Who did you miss?
The Clique, Breanne, my family.

37. Who was the best new person you met?
Ethan Gabriel Fick!!!

38. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2007:
Sometimes the best thing for your baby really is to let him cry it out.

What everyone wants for Christmas this year.

Tue, 25 Dec 2007 03:18:19 GMT

For anyone who didn't get our Christmas card this year, here's the cutest little Santa ever. :)

Merry Christmas!!

Happy Halloween!

Thu, 01 Nov 2007 04:51:46 GMT

Most Kissable Baby

Wed, 24 Oct 2007 19:33:34 GMT

So I entered Ethan in a baby contest, but it's decided by people voting online. If you would like to vote, his picture is on this page. They have the larger sized pictures in a gallery, but this is the voting page.

http://www.1061kissfm.com/pages/contests/baby/vote_group_3.html

As an added incentive, here's my new favorite picture.

Baby in a suitcase!

My Boys :)

Thu, 13 Sep 2007 22:48:17 GMT

This is my new favorite picture:

We went to the doctor yesterday for Ethan's 4 month check-up. He had to get four shots. :( He now weighs 14 pounds and 9 ounces and is 26 1/2 inches long. He is in the 50th percentile for weight but the 90th percentile for height. He really is the best baby ever. He has such a happy personality and smiles all the time. Now we are getting him to giggle more, which is seriously the best sound I've ever heard. He rolls over constantly so we think he'll be an early crawler. I can't wait to see what new things he does every day, but at the same time I miss the sweet little baby he used to be. He'll be so much bigger when some of y'all get to meet him for the first time at the wedding, but he'll still be super cute. Everybody should have an Ethan, they're great. :)

Lechnerd on Jeopardy

Fri, 08 Jun 2007 15:56:54 GMT

I've been watching Jeopardy almost every day since I'm usually feeding or holding Ethan when it's on. Yesterday when they were introducing the contestants, I thought the middle girl looked very familiar. Then they said her name, "Susan Mitchell, a graduate student from College Station, TX." She's one of the other two Susans who lived in Lechner. She won yesterday, so she'll be on again today. There's a picture of her on the show's website. Maybe I'll post again about something more important soon. :)

Baby Shower Pictures

Tue, 13 Mar 2007 04:49:32 GMT

I just wanted to post to say thanks to everybody who drove in to come to the baby shower. Brandon and I thought it was fun and enjoyed seeing everybody. I thought the games would end up being super cheesy, but Mel did a pretty good job of making them fun. Thanks for all the cute baby stuff.

We uploaded the pictures of the shower, the nursery, and putting the turtle baby in all the new stuff we got. :) We're weird. The link to those pictures is: http://picasaweb.google.com/brandonfick .

Baby shower and pictures

Wed, 03 Jan 2007 01:59:53 GMT

On the way home from Austin, we were talking about when we could have a baby shower. It was fun seeing everybody at New Year's, so hopefully a lot of people could come. I'd like to have it either March 10 or 11, since that is the weekend before my spring break and I could have a week to play with all the baby stuff. :) Technically, I think my sister would be the hostess, but it would be at our house so we have enough room. Brandon and I were thinking that it would be great if people could come and spend the weekend in Dallas. We could go out to eat (Fogo de Chao maybe?) and other fun stuff. I hope this is early enough notice, but let us know if that is a bad weekend.

For anyone who wasn't at New Year's or didn't see the 20 week ultrasound pictures, here they are. The first one is what the doctor called "alien baby head," the second one is Aggie Ficklet, and the third is of tiny baby feet. We didn't find out the sex of the baby and aren't planning on finding out before the baby's born. I've been feeling the baby move, which is exciting.

"She said it was faith that kept all these good things coming our way..."

Fri, 02 Jun 2006 21:40:28 GMT

I met Amy Tan!!!! Well, maybe met isn't exactly the right word, but I stood like two feet away from her while she signed my books. Her talk was really great, even though I had read most of the stuff she said before in her book, The Opposite of Fate, which is composed of essays she wrote about her life. She was funnier and less serious than I expected. She brought her tiny Yorkshire terrier with her in a Louis Vuitton bag. She quoted The Wizard of Oz at the beginning by saying, "Pay no attention to the little dog." Hee. It was so great to be able to hear her speak in person.

Before I left for the talk, I was considering what books to bring for autographs. I knew they would probably have books on sale if I wanted those, or I could bring the ones I own. I decided to bring The Opposite of Fate and my old copy of The Joy Luck Club. Brandon was saying since I love the book so much I could buy a better copy of it, but I decided I wanted her to sign my old paperback copy with pictures from the movie on it. I bought it at Half Price Books after I read "Half and Half" (one of the stories in it) in an anthology from my American literature after the Civil War class in my junior year at A&M. This book stayed with me so much that I remembered it when I had to write my first long college paper for my American romance class, a class that greatly influenced my decision to get a master's in English. This paper became my writing sample for my application to graduate school. I read it again as part of my Asian American literature class in grad school, which I took because I wanted to read more stuff like The Joy Luck Club and Amy Tan's other books. I didn't want her to sign a brand new copy, I wanted her to sign the old paperback that had passages underlined in pencil and things written in the margins. A new copy just wouldn't mean as much.

Amy Tan signed my book!!!

I also bought two books before the talk, which I felt justified in buying since I didn't have them yet. I bought both of her children's books, Sagwa, The Chinese Siamese Cat and The Moon Lady (pretty much the same story as in The Joy Luck Club). I got her to sign Sagwa too, but just with her name, so it can be my kid's book someday. :)

Both of the children's books are beautifully illustrated. The Sagwa story is so cute.

Anyway, mostly I just wanted to gloat to everyone that I met Amy Tan!!!

Super Update

Tue, 30 May 2006 07:18:24 GMT

I haven’t posted in forever, so nothing new there. J I think I’ll update

bullet style.

I got laid off a couple of weeks ago and only felt happy about it. I wouldn’t have been so happy to lose my job if I hadn’t hated it to begin with. They laid off about 15 people. My friend Merritt was also laid off and was as happy as I was. She had gone to part-time with another job at Half Price Books because she hated it. She applied to grad school and was waiting to find out if she got some assistance. She found out after we got laid off that she did, so she’ll go to Loyola in Chicago in the fall. I guess some people might have actually liked working there, so I feel bad for them. I also feel bad for the people still working there since they must be seriously overworked. I was also happy because I was going to quit as soon as I found something else, so being laid off meant I didn’t have to deal with that.
I was trying to find a different job because I’m going to be taking classes at night from 6-9 p.m. for alternative teacher certification. They last through June and July and I should hopefully be hired by the beginning of the school year. I’ve applied for jobs at Michaels and Half Price Books (a different one than Merritt’s); jobs that will be fun with nice discounts. I haven’t heard anything yet.
I have become a master gardener. Okay, so this isn’t really true, but look at my African violet. It is awesome. Just don’t look at the plants on our porch. J
I got my wisdom teeth out and it was awful. Seriously, it sucks. I didn’t react well to the shots they gave me. They said it had epinephrine in it or something and since I was nervous it made me throw up; three times at the dentist’s office, two times after I was at home. They had given me pills to make me sleepy before I threw up, but they didn’t really work so I was pretty much awake when they took the teeth out. If I had to do it over again, I would definitely go for the total knockout even though it costs twice as much. After I got home, Brandon took care of me; making me take the pills and getting me a trash can to throw up in. Lucky him. I slept on the couch for a few days and didn’t get dressed for about 5 days. I also slept most of the day. I was up for a few hours before Brandon got home and then went to sleep when he did. My cheeks swelled somewhat, but not horribly. The only bruising was under my chin where you couldn’t really see it. The only upsides to this were that the pain pills they gave me were pretty nice and I lost weight because I didn’t really eat much.
I’ve been reading a lot lately, and was listening to audio books a lot when I was still working, since working didn’t require my whole concentration, or much at all. Most of these books have been romance novels because I love them. I’ll try to have a book update soon about what I read/listened to. I found a hilarious website about romance novels called Smart Bitches, Trashy Books. Even if you don’t want to read anything about romance novels, you should at least read their cover snark. So funny.
I’ll have to picture spam y’all with some more jewelry soon too. I made a lot for my mom’s birthday recently.
I’m planning to go see Amy Tan speak on Thursday, June 1. If anybody else wants to come, feel free to visit.

That’s about it for now.

TV and meme goodness

Mon, 09 Jan 2006 06:14:23 GMT

Because basically all we do in our free time is watch TV, I was at a loss this week when most of the shows were in reruns. Brandon had his billion video games to play, so I watched Veronica Mars that we downloaded this summer, but I had only watched the first few episodes of the first season.

I wanted to watch it because I heard good things about it and also because it was created by Rob Thomas, who I discovered when TAing for Mrs. Van Riper in Adolescent Lit. I loved his book, Rats Saw God. After reading it I also learned that he created it the short-lived TV show Cupid that I remember loving.

Anyway, I watched the rest of the first season this week and the first 6 episodes of season two today. I love this show. It’s tying closely with Grey’s Anatomy now. I seriously want Veronica and Logan to get together. They keep teasing me with it. Duncan is so boring and blah. Logan is much better. He is my new high school boy crush, even though he’s really born in 1982. Everyone should go rent the first season now.

On to the meme. I wanna be a cool kid too.

1. What did you do in 2005 that you'd never done before?

I was unemployed, not in school, and got a real job.

2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I didn’t make any last year that I remember. This year I’m going to try to keep doing the losing weight thing and get more sleep during the week, so maybe I’m not so tired at work.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
My friend Ann from high school back in February.

4. Did anyone close to you die?
Brandon’s great-aunt Helen before Thanksgiving.

5. What countries did you visit?
None.

6. What would you like to have in 2006 that you lacked in 2005?
A better job.

7. What date from 2005 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
September 29, the day Brandon got shot at. Also the day I signed the papers for my job.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Getting a real job by myself, even though I kinda hate it. Figuring out what I want to do with my life even though it will take at least two years.

9. What was your biggest failure?
Not keeping up with people (and their birthdays) very well. Sorry guys.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
I had a UTI that seriously hurt, but nothing else really.

11. What was the best thing you bought?
Totally has to be the car, though Brandon was the one who negotiated.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
Brandon's, for putting up with me when I was jobless for four months.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
I agree with Kara’s assessment of people who blamed the people who stayed for the hurricane.

14. Where did most of your money go?
Car, rent, beads. J

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Lots of TV: Carrie winning American Idol, watching Lost, etc.

16. What song will always remind you of 2005?
Green Day – Boulevard of Broken Dreams; it’s on all the time.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
i. happier or sadder? Happier, I think solely because I no longer have to write papers.

ii. thinner or fatter? Thinner!!

iii. richer or poorer? Richer, we both have jobs.

18. What do you wish you'd done more of?
Talking to friends, posting, beading, reading.

19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
Whining about not having a job, and then having one that sucks.

20. How will you be spending Christmas?
We went to my house. Eric gave me and Mel joint presents of the first season of Lois and Clark and the Disney Scene It game, so we watched about 7 hours of the show and played 3 or 4 games of Scene It. We also played Mario Party every night. It was pretty fun.

21. Did you fall in love in 2005?
I fell in love with Grey’s Anatomy, does that count? J Also, been in love almost 6 years. We’re awesome.

22. How many one-night stands?
None.

23. What was your favorite TV program?
Totally Grey’s Anatomy. I love Cristina. She’s my girl crush.

24. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
Nope.

25. What was the best book you read?
Hmm…I’ll say Ruth Hall by Fanny Fern, back in grad school, but I also read lots of great romance novels. I’ve decided to be less guilty about reading them. I read the good ones. J Seriously, my new favorite author (Eloisa James) is an English professor who writes on the side. How awesome is that?

26. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Jason Mraz is awesome. His lyrics are smart and funny.

27. What did you want and get?
A new car, a sewing machine for Christmas so I can hem pants for my short legs.

28. What did you want and not get?
A fulfilling job.

29. What was your favorite film of this year?
Umm…Harry Potter, I guess.

30. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
No idea, got my yearly birthday CD because Brandon loves me. I was 24.

31. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Knowing what I want to do with my life.

32. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2005?
Business casual, with the teaching and then the trying to get a job, and having a job.

33. What kept you sane?
Brandon, beading, TV.

34. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Sandra Oh, the aforementioned Cristina.

35. What political issue stirred you the most?
The hurricane stuff, I guess.

36. Who did you miss?
The clique! and Cara and Zowie, who are also pretty much the clique, and Breanne, and my family.

37. Who was the best new person you met?
jenbarbiedoll11 is awesome, but I’m also glad I met Merritt and Michelle at work. They keep me from going too crazy.

38. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2005:
Don’t take a job that you think will be boring just because you want one and think everything else will make up for it.