Vancouver

The Olympics start in 17 days.
I am looking at airline tickets to Vancouver.
Only problem is the Olympics will be long gone by the time I get there at the end of April for a work meeting.

That's ok - I love you Vancouver. Last time I was there I was really tired. Had no idea but I was pregnant.
Can't wait to take M and push her all over the city in her stroller. Glad I'll have a bit more energy when I visit this time!

have you heard of cross fit tribe?

Last night at dinner I learned about Crossfit Tribe. Read about it here.

I borrowed this quote from their blog:
“Discipline is the ability to do what needs to be done...
even when you don’t feel like doing it.” - Mark Sanborn

San Antonio

36 hours in San Antonio

0 margaritas
0 chips

:)

beautiful and fit in 2010

One of the Vogue blogs posted "Resolutions from the Pro's."

My fit and beautiful New Year will include:

Vibraderm (sp?) at Midwest Medical Aesthetics -- did it the first time this year and my skin felt so good and so smooth.

Yoga every Wed at 5:45 am with my Lifetime Fitness peeps.

Sweaty step class and core strength on Tuesday nights.

I am NOT resolving to eat less chocolate. Never works anyway.

Aqua Tots II at Blue Valley Rec Center. Managing an energetic toddler in the water is way more work than above mentioned step or yoga classes.

legal - ease

Thank you Carolyn, for spending my money. Your post on your favorite office supplies left me $50 poorer. BUT -- I'm excited for the papaya legal pads -- will lighten the many conference calls I have.

madness behind the method

Tracy Anderson is a publicity genius -- her studio and workouts are in every magazine. And now on Regis and Kelly.
Helps if you train people like Gwyneth Paltrow and Madonna, I'm sure.
I've purchased Tracy's dvd's and they were mediocre. She really doesn't "teach" at all -- she just does the routines and you are on your own to follow her. When she does cue, she's way late. She does have some terrific music though -- and there's no better motivation than good tunes.

marshmallow willpower

Oh, The Temptation from Steve V on Vimeo.

Hillarious

thanks Joanna for sharing

must be January

Yesterday morning I walked into my office and found my W-2 and two boxes of Girl Scout cookies I ordered from my bosses twin girls.

Both seem to be good and bad news.

soon fern shopping

So I am in search of a Boston Fern. I've never had a green thumb, or been a big fan of ferns.

But I understand they help counter the off-gas and create healthier air. Critical in my house with a baby and with Mr. Right's asthma.

decade wish lists

Seems I was just typing "I can't believe tomorrow is December" and blink, it's mid-January. I'm way too late for resolutions.
I've been thinking about the new decade though.
2000 - 2009 was rough. Ended this past year with horrible economy and unemployment rate. Got started with 9/11. In between there was Katrina and the asian tsunami.
I'm optimistic for this decade. For me, for my little girl, for my family and for everybody.
The Huffington Post listed 12 things that became obsolete this decade.
Classified ads
Landline phones
Fax machines
Dial up internet
Encyclopedias
CDs
Film
Yellow pages & address books
Catalogs
Wires
Hand written letters

I'm hoping to send more hand-written notes (not letters, but notes) in 2010. And my mailbox is awfully full of the supposed obsolete catalogs.
I wonder what will no longer be here in 2020?
I hope:
Time Warner Cable's horrific customer service
Sprint's current horrific customer service
Flight delays
Conference calls (boring ones anyway)
other time-wasters

What I hope we have that's new:

low-calorie chocolate (GOOD chocolate)

low-calorie frozen custard (I"m thinking Sheridan's or Culver's)

more independent restaurants: like the Gareltts' Blue Stem here in KC and Pure Food and Wine in NYC

higher paying jobs that require less work

more Meryl Streep movies

more Norah Ephron screenplays (stage or movie, fine)

no more hunger, domestic violence, child abuse, stupid people

Chinese and Indians realize the value of a baby girl

Ok, so if we can have a couple of those last ones, I'll give up chocolate. Happily.

chocolate in the shower

My mom also contributed to my very Merry Christmas -- gave me these yunmmy shower gels by Philosophy -- Peppermint hot cocoa and Fudge Cake. Nothing like lathering up a chocolate scent in a warm shower on a cold day. I really like these, they don't leave any lingering perfumy scent on your body, just smell great while you're using them.

gifts from Mr Right

I'm way late in posting this, but Mr Right out-did himself as Santa this year.
I opened gift after gift. Felt like a little girl getting everything I wanted!
Calvin Klein layering tanks in black and white from Bloomingdales
A beautiful black bra from Bloomingdales
Beautiful bras in red, red lace and black w/ white polka dots; matching panties too - from Victoria's Secret. (I don't know when they started carrying 34DD, but thank you!).
Trapp Candles! The big size in Pear, Pink Grapefruit, Lemongrass and Macintosh.
Aveda lotion and hand creme
A dozen pair of Thor-lo running socks
Darling polka-dot dishes from Prydes in Westport
Pink grapefruit dish soap from William Sonoma (plus a huge refill)
Two bottles of Veuve Clicquot
Scrubby exfoliating peppermint stuff that I love
And I don't even think that was all. What a wonderful Christmas morning!
I've always said the gifts are a small part of the holiday, and I love giving them more than getting them. But it was nice, I must admit, to be spoiled this way.

SATC 2

So everyone is excited about the "Sex and the City 2" movie trailer.

I did like the first movie, really just for the clothes the gals wore and the NYC scenes. Big was a weak jerk (even the fabulous closet he built doesn't make up for it).

But you have to read this hilarious post on The Lil Bee -- a blog I recently found and am really enjoying!

She is so right -- Samantha IS Blanche!

yummy brunch

On Christmas morning, I made Mr Right brunch. Eggs benedict but with beef tenderloin and corn bread. No hollandaise sauce. Not my favorite, but I think he really liked it.
Accompanied by Vueve Clicquot. THAT was my favorite. :)

Got the inspiration here.

resolution solution

no resolutions.

This is really hard for me. But I have a planner pad full of goals and projects and I don't need any more lists. I need more check marks on the lists I do have.

I was thinking today that in 2010 I will turn 45. Halfway to 50. Geez.

I saw Meryl Streep in "It's Complicated" yesterday. I was so looking forward to it; Meryl inspires me. She is amazing and yet she keeps getting better.

There is a scene in the movie where she is picking tomatoes in her beautiful garden and arguing with her ex-husband, Alec Baldwin (I think the character's name is Jake). I couldn't tell you what she said to him, because I was looking at the beautiful garden. It was amazing.

I'm sure Hollywood has a high-end nursery bring in beautiful plants and set them down right before the shooting. Still, it was gorgeous -- Kale, Swiss chard, tomatoes, lots of things I didn't recognize.

I'd like to have a garden like that before I'm 50.

The problem is, I don't really like gardening. I hate yard work. I know there's a lesson here about "enjoying the journey" but I just want the garden. I'd prefer to pay someone else to do it. Am I getting shallow? Aren't you supposed to be more drawn to gardening as you age?

Anyway, besides the garden, Meryl Streep is her typical amazing self. She's 60, and makes 60 look good.

So in the spring I'll be half-way to 50. What can I be doing now that I am close to being the "best self" that Meryl clearly is?

I think I want to learn to speak French.

Spanish would be easier, I took it in hs and college. And it would be more useful. But French is so beautiful.

Johnson County Community College has this great deal with Rosetta Stone -- you can take all the Rosetta Stone language courses for 10 weeks for $99. I'm going to try Spanish, French and Italian. At the end of the 10 weeks, I may buy the Rosetta Stone that I suck the least at.

Who knows, maybe I will be billingual at 50.

Run Forrest Run

I'm starting to love running.

I've always really hated it.

Teaching exercise classes for years created what I call "cardio-induced ADD." I have to have my mind busy.

I went Christmas eve before company and felt so good all day.
I went last night at 9:00 pm. Because I knew I'd sleep better.

I don't wantto curse this with a New Year's resolution, but I hope to do more running in 2010.
Benefits of Running - read here.

New York memories

One of my favorite memories of 2009 will be this trip to New York that Mr. Right gave me for an anniversary gift.
My one-year old sat through a 90 minute show and was mesmerized by the Rockettes.
I emailed abbey (who I've never met) and she recommended a fabulous raw food restaurant, Pure Food and Wine. We loved it. Creative cooking to say the least. And we were lucky enough to meet the owner, she happened to be in the restaurant that night.
"Love, Loss and What I Wore" might have been my favorite part of this trip. Rita Wilson is charming and funny and I want to be her. (Not just because she's married to Tom Hanks.) Kristen Chenowith was darling, and the mother-daughter duo of Rhea Perlman and Lucy DeVito made me want to have another baby and name her Lucy.
I want to go back to New York. Now. Even though it's cold and snowy.

Christmas Eve menu & Proscuitto Fig Tart

Last night Mr Right and I bought a Costco membership so we could get a few things for our company on Christmas Eve. Love the prices at Costco. Between the time we purchased the membership and got into the car, four different people tried to pitch us to upgrade to the Executive Membership for another $50. Ick. Felt like I needed a shower. Hate upselling.

After we got home, neither of us wanted to go back out so we sent Super Nanny to do battle at the grocery store. Now we are ready for company.

Christmas Eve menu:

appetizer: Proscuitto Fig Tart
Beef Tenderloin
Roasted brussel sprouts and parsnips
Garlicky parmesan cauliflower -- They used to try to fake mashed potatoes with this; I find people enjoy it more if you just call it what it is - cauliflower. Almost anything tastes good with garlic and parmesan cheese.
Cheese Tortellini with pesto and red peppers
Mac & cheese for kids (and probably some grown-ups)
Mr Right's famous cilantro-lime sweet potatoes
dessert: a small cake from Andres, chocolate-covered almonds from Andres, killer cupcakes from Cupcake Ala Mode.
Yumm.
I can't wait.

You HAVE to try the Proscuitto Fig Tart. Get a refrigerator pie crust and roll it on a cookie sheet. Spread spreadable cream cheese on it. Top with Fig preserves. (Sometimes I buy a can of figs, drain them, and stir them into the preserves for extra figgy-ness.) Turn up the edges of the pie crust, make your way around the tart. Then take extra-thin sliced proscuitto and twirl each piece. Put the twirled slices on the tart from the center outward -- like spokes on a bicycle wheel. Bake according to pie crust instructions. Yumm.

so true...

"There is in every true woman's heart, a spark of heavenly fire, which lies dormant in the broad daylight of prosperity, but which kindles up and beams and blazes in the dark hour of adversity."
Washington Irving

Darling Cookie Cutters

Darling Cookie Cutters