some things I love today

today I love. . . .

Sharing art with my daughter. Watching her observe, interpret and create. it's magical!

The cool, fall weather that is starting to happen. So in love.

Kitschy big eyed paintings from the 60's and 70's.I recently found one in a nearby thrift shop and I have the biggest crush on it!

Chocolate coffee. normally not one of my fave flavors, but I'm lovin it today.

Homeschooling my kid. So glad we decided to go this route. I love being there and being a part of her learning process.

I'm addicted to taking photos with my cell phone.

These are a few of the recent cell phone pics that I've taken. my slr is off at the shop.I still have my fuji,a couple Holgas, and a gazillion polaroid cams. I'm not sure what the appeal is of my cell phone camera, but i'm addicted to it!

today I am in love with. . . .

1. Family time
2. Iced Coffee
3. Home decorating projects
4. Bjork
5. Kokeshi dolls
6. Headbands
7. Harajuku Lovers Lil' Angel perfume
8. Little Miss Lila, the cutest chi in the world
9. The color pink
10. Sunshine

carny loooove

I'm a sucker for a good carnival. I met the prettiest boy when I was seventeen. He worked for the carnival and I almost ran away with him. I've always wondered how it would have turned out if I did.
a few snaps from my first, of hopefully many carnivals this season.

girls day out

Today was one of those magically wonderful days for me and Jillian.

We went downtown New Haven for a children's film fest. It was a bunch of short, indie kid's films, and the unifying theme was 'using your imagination'. There was a live puppet show beforehand. Jillian and I both really enjoyed it. She was craking up through the whole thing. Afterwards we went to Starbucks and had our drinks inside. This thrilled Jillian, because we usually just drive through. And after that we went to an art supply store down there and I bought her some watercolor pencils. After dinner tonight we sat together on the floor and drew pictures of hearts and flowers with her new pencils.

So it's not that we did anything so out of the ordinary, but for some reason it was just a special day. The kind I hope she looks back on fondly when she's all grown up. I get really weepy thinking about how these days are slipping by. I cant believe how quickly six years have passed. I try really hard to remind myself every single day how insanely lucky I am.

Hello again me, it's me.

Wow. So it's been quite a while since I've updated this thing. I guess it's easy to let it slide when there's not too many people really reading,(Christina, you're probably the only one! <3), but this is something I wanted to do for myself, sooo, I'm back.

Things here at home have been good. Nick and I are doing really well, trying to move past everything that's happened over the last year. Jillian and I completed our very first year of homeschooling, and it was a success!! It was fun, exciting, hard, stressful,CRAZY,wonderful, tiring. . . at times I thought my head might explode if I didn't get five minutes to myself, but in the end it worked out well, and I really feel like it's the right choice for us at this time. We're still going to take it year by year, but as far as first grade goes, we're going to give it another whirl.

So lately we've just been hanging out, enjoying some free time, going to the beach when the weather is nice.We also spend a lot of time in thrift stores finding things for the house that we can purchase and then bring home and revamp. Jillian is developing quite an eye for design, and will often point something out to me and say "mom, this will look really cool if we bring it home and spray paint it pink. we should buy it.". I love her so much. <3 <3 <3 <3

Nick and I are still making sure to make time to spend alone together. Yesterday was a lovely day. He got out of work early and he and Jillian and I went to a nearby pond to feed the ducks and swans and take some pictures. Here are a few snaps from the day:








So overall things have been good. I can't complain. we are in a better pace than we were last year at this time, and that's something. Life is good.

christmas

Christmas this year was lovely. Truley, one of our best ever,I think.Just very relaxing and laid back.
On Christmas Eve evening we went to church. Jillian was in the pageant.She chose to be an angel this year (she was a sheep last year). It was very cute.
Afterwards we went to my mom's for food, drink, and presents.Kim and Sam came over, as well as Stacy and her husband and kids.
On christmas morning my mom and brother came over for breakfast. I've always wanted to do a big Christmas morning breakfast, and I'm so glad I finally did it this year. Definitely a new tradition.I made a french toast souffle,eggs,sausage,cinnamon rolls,toast.I think everything ame out pretty good. I was a bit proud of myself. ;)
After breakfast my mom and brother went home, and Nick and Jillian and I just spent the rest of the day relaxing and being together.Something we rarely get to do considering Nick's work schedule. It was really nice to have that much needed, well deserved family time.
I have a few pics to upload, but honestly, I didn't take that many this year. I was too relaxed to worry about running around and capturing every moment on film the way I normally do.
So now it's back to business as usual. It's always kind of sad after Christmas, but I'm ready to get back into our normal swing of things I suppose.

First snow.

Getting ready for Christmas. . . . .

Our Thanksgiving

life, etc.

So it's been a bit since I've updated. I've been online a lot less in general lately, due to the power cord for my laptop being broken.I've also still been really busy with homeschooling, carting Jillian around to classes, trying to work the random hours here and there to bring in some type of cash, etc. And then there's me and Nick. And our relationship, which we are trying to work out and make better, and well, it's a lot of damn work. For the past five or so years we just kind of go our seperate ways at night. I do my thing, he does his, and now we've been spending time together, which is nice, but takes some getting used to. Sunday is one of "our" nights, where after Jillian is asleep we sit around together, drink wine, and watch True Blood. Definitely one of the highlights of the week. So, yeah, it's nice, but like I said, different.
Other than that, there's not much that's really been going on. I've been trying to take Jillian on as many autumnal activities as I can.We've been pumpkin picking, hayriding, fall festivaling. Fall is my favorite. <3

Soooooo, things have been kind of crazy here. Nick and I have been having a lot of problems, and it finally got to a point where things had to either change, or end, and we've decided to change. I won't get into all the details, just because I don't feel like thinking about all of it, I will just say that things now are better than they have been in a long, long time. Maybe better than they have been ever. We've been together for a long time, and we've put each other through a whole lot of shit, but at the end of the day, we do love each other and value our family, and though we've tried to make changes before, this time feels different. It feels right.

Other than that, life has been a whirlwind of homeschooling and playdates. Today Samantha and her daughter and stacy and her kids came over. Everyone had a good time, but my floor is now a sticky mess of melted popcicles, and there is paint on ym kitchen chairs. =/

Jillian's classes start up this week, so we'll be constantly on the go. I am wondering how we are going to have time to get anything done at home, as we are kind of struggling even now, but I'm sure we'll manage.

My really good news of the week - last night I was trying on clothes, old clothes that no longer fit, and guess what? They fit again! Thank you weight watchers! I feel really great about finally doing something to get my body on the way to being how I want it to be.

So all in all things are pretty good. Still just trying nto to think too much and take it one day a a time.

homeschooling/VanGogh,& dead hermit crabs.

So we've succesfully completed our first official week of homeschooling. It went really well. Jillian is loving it so far. It is a lot of work though. Between the research and the prep, and then actually doing the lessons. when I think of twelve years of this, I already start feeling tired. Not that I am sure that we're going to be doing it for that long. One year at a time.

On Thursday we went to The Yale University Art Gallery to view the Van Gogh exhibit. Starry Night and Cypresses. I'm not a big Van Gogh fan, but I must say Cypresses is really gorgeous in person. Jillian loved them both. However, she was a bit dissapointed because I guess I didn't do a good job of explaining to her what exactly an art exhibit entails. She thought that Vincent VanGogh would actually be there, on stage, incorporating his paintings into some sort of performance. she still managed to have a good time though. we weren't able to take pictures of those two pieces that were there on loan, but we were able to snap some shots of other things around the gallery.


Jillian appreciating a Monet.

She found this sculpture incredible funny. She just stood there, looking up at it and laughing.

After the gallery we went and had lunch at Atticus. It was a good day.

In other news, one of Jillian's hermit crabs died. :( she was really upset about it. she made us have a funeral and bury it. She said "Delilah was a good crab. She was always sweet and kind, and she never pinched us". :(
Her other crab, Daphne was looking kind of lonely in the cage all by herself, so I took Jillian to the pet store the next day, and we brought home Sweetberry. It's been a few days, and Jillian seems to be slowly getting over it.

what I've been up to

So after having been without internet access for a bit over a week, I am back, and can no longer deny the fact that I am a complete internet addict. Seriously. I think this point was driven home when my brother found me parked outside of my mom's house, desperately trying to get on their wireless connection.I would have just gone inside, but my mom and I were not speaking at the time. How inconvenient! He showed up at my house a couple days later and gave me some money to pay down some of our enormous Comcast bill so that they would turn us back on, so here I am.

Since getting back from Atlantic City we've mostly just been hanging out and relaxing. Our schedule, like everyone else's, gets hectic in the fall, so I've been trying to take advantage of the last couple of weeks of freedom, before all the running around starts again.

Tomorrow is our first "official" day of homeschooling. we are both really excited. And then over the course of the next couple of weeks all of the classes start. Dance, science class, nature explorers,Sunday school, ice skating, soccer. Oh my.

I'm really excited about the new season of tv starting up. I plan to watch:

• Grey's Anatomy
• Dirty sexy money
• Private Practice
• Deal or no Deal
• 90210
• America's Next Top Model

and I also want to give Pushing Daisies and Lipstick Jungle a try. Not to metion all of the wonderfully mind numbing mtv reality shows that I so love. Yes, I'm addicted to tv too.

I finally found a book club that I think I really love. I went with my friend Stacy on Friday night to cafe atlantique in Milford, and we met two of the other women from the book club. I had a really great time. I got to be out of the house, drink wine, talk to adults for hours without interuption. Heavenly. And stacy and I split a blt panini and a chocolate banana crepe. Foods that don't really fit into my weight watchers plan, but totally worth it. Speaking of weight watchers, ,my last weigh in was on Friday afternoon, and I am down 51.4 pounds! Yay me. I'm excited. It is kind of scary to think that I've lost that much weight and am still fat, but, I guess there's nothing I can do about that. I have to just keep thinking forward. I am starting to see my high cheek bones, which, if you didn't know me prior to the last five years or so you would never even know I had. That's a good sign, right??

we're back!

So Jillian and my mom and I spent the last four days in Atlantic City. We had a really great time! We didn't stop doing stuff the whole time we were there, and I am exhausted. I love being on vacation, but I'm always happy to come home. Jillian, on the other hand, who is way more of a rockstar than I could ever hope to be, was begging to stay for a few more days and do more fun things.

We did do a lot in four days though. We arrived on Tuesday evening, got settled in the hotel and then hit the boardwalk. We had dinner at The Hardrock Cafe. The highlight of this dinner for me was the kaluha colada

Yummy.
I think my mom enjoyed her pina colada as well.


After dinner we went over to the Steel pier on the boardwalk and let Jillian ride a few rides, play games, make some sand art. She had a wonderful time.



The next day we got up, had breakfast and did a little shopping.

So many bags and hats, so little time.

Then we decided to hit the beach.



My mom and I hung out on the beach and got some sun, while Jillian made friends and sand castles. She's used to Connecticut beaches, so the huge waves were a big hit with her.

Later that night we had dinner at The Rainforest Cafe.


Jillian was in complete awe of the mechanical animals they have there. I don't think she really believed me when I told her that no, they are not REALLY real.

The next morning we grabbed breakfast at this cool little 50's diner type place. The food was so delicious. I probably gained back half of the weight I've lost on this little adventure.



Then we went to Storybook Land. My mom used to take me and my brother to somewhere similar when we were kids (Storybook Forrest), and those trips are soemthing that I always remembered. I think Jillian loved it as much as I always did.




Later that night we saw this place on the boardwalk and of course, we had to stop in and pick up a few delectable delights.





On Friday we made a last minute decision to go on a dolphin watch before we headed home. It was a two hour cruise, and we did see dolphins, quite a few actually, but I wasn't able to get any really good shots of them. Jillian had a wonderful time untill she got seasick and vomited all over herself. :(



I don't know why I'm making that weird face. :/

So the trip was a great success. It was nice getting away with just the girls. It made me extremely grateful to have my daughter, and my mom.
I'll end with one of my favorite pics from the trip. Jillian enjoying the view from our hotel room: