Tag Archives: style

Wearing my Birthday Shoes

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22

What year will my birthday be just another day?  Not this year!  Today I’m a whopping 27.  It’s only 8 am and my Facebook and Phone are blowing up – thanks friends and family for all the wishes!  Not to single out anyone, but every year, my fave radio girl, Pebbles, from Boston’s Jamn 94.5 writes on my wall wishing me a happy birthday.  I feel like a kid getting a celebrity’s autograph every year she sends me birthday wishes.  I love that she takes time out of her busy morning talk show to send me a happy birthday wish…

Jamn Pebbles Birthday Wish

And although I think it should be a national law that nobody should work on their birthday, I am at work today.  I took a quick break from designing the last floor (of 18) on my first solo project (woot woot) to share in my birthday glory.  And when I walked into my office this morning… I was greeted with this lovely display…
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And in the card?  A gift certificate from my office mate to the nail salon.  Yay!  I now have big plans to text my girl Erin tonight to make a manicure date!  And as if that wasn’t enough… I came back to my desk an hour later and found these with a card…
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From all my coworkers in the Plumbing Dept.  Awe.  So sweet.  We have to find an impromptu vase for them, so they’re in the kitchen water pitcher until I can bring them home.  And I just love all the ‘wishes’ from the card.  My fave has to be Bobby’s… because it comes from a guy.. and a young 20 something guy at that.  For him to know EXACTLY what a new mommy needs (sleep) is really sweet :)
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Oh and did I mention that I’m rocking my Birthday Shoes?  Yep.  New shoes have been on my radar for the past few weeks and I found the perfect – not too pricey – pair the other weekend at the outlets..and Vinay got them for my Birthday (in addition to the architectural boat cruise he took me on the other weekend).  So, I’m sporting them today…eat your heart out, Dorthy.
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Teal is the new red, by the way.

Off to get my work done… looking forward to a birthday lunch with my coworker (father of 3.. he’s great for parenting advice and chit chat.), and then home to celebrate with the family.  I have big plans to order out tonight – a night I don’t have to cook dinner is quite a treat for a working mommy…looking forward to it! And if Avery cooperates, hubby and I might be able to watch a movie after Avery goes to bed.  Oh and I can’t forget, my Grandma sent me $20 with my birthday card… so I need to think of how to wisely spend that….on myself of coarse :)

How do you celebrate your birthday?  Do you take the day off and relax?  Do you spend it at work and cooking dinner like any other day? How should I spend my birthday money? Maybe add it to my nail salon gift certificate and get a mani-pedi?

Cloth Diapering Making Financial Sense

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Hi Everyone – Every since I started following Fen’s blog, I’ve been curious why she chose cloth diapers and how the whole thing works…. and being the super-mommy she is, Fen didn’t just answer my question, she wrote a guest blog for everyone! Oh and I couldn’t let Fen show me up, so I wrote her a guest blog about finding baby steals on Craigslist here.  And now I’ll hand it off to Fen…

Thanks Meghan for letting me be a guest on your blog :)

I can’t say I’m an expert at cloth diapering… just an expert at how I cloth diaper. haha.

The primary reason I chose to cloth diaper was… of course, finances. It saves us money. Based on our initial investment of $230 of 24 diapers, we save about $300 the first year. And if continue diapering the 2nd year, we save $500. If course, with future children, it is all savings. I came up with these numbers based on the diapers that I purchased (not big name brand), the average number of changes my baby needs, and the average cost per disposable diaper. Our water bill went up about $10/month but that includes bathing baby and the baby’s normal laundry (which had to be done almost everyday in the beginning). If we split that up, the washing of the diapers was probably about $3. I didn’t notice much of a change in our normal utilities.

I am amazed that I had all these diapers sitting there and they were not destroyed by the Caleb.

If you’re considering cloth diapering, here are some pros/cons.

PROS:

  • saves money
  • no chemicals on baby’s bum
  • less rashes
  • better for the environment
  • looks super cute
  • less stinky (to me anyways)

CONS:

  • bulkier than disposables so baby will need one size up in onuses/pants.
  • makes traveling more challenging. I use disposables if I know we will be out for more than 2 hours. It takes up space in the diaper bag.
  • you must use a free and clear detergent
  • you must use a cloth friendly diaper rash cream (but can use regular creams if using a diaper liner, see below).

MYTH BUSTER – Most people are against cloth diapering because they think that they’ll touch more poop. That is not true. I don’t touch more poop than if I were to use disposable diapers. I use a disposable diaper liner to line the diaper. If there’s poop, I throw the liner with the poop in the toilet. If it is just pee, I wash and reuse the liner. I can probably get a good 2 to 3 uses from one liner. There are cloth liners also but I prefer to be able to flush it. Plus, it’s cheap enough.

You can see more of how I cloth diaper on my blog.

FIT in 40: The Home Stretch

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7

7 days.  I can’t believe I only have a week left of my FIT in 40 health kick.   After 33 days of watching what I eat, and working out as much as I can, I feel better about myself.  I got a compliment today at work – someone asked if I did Atkins or something, since I looked so thin.  I was flattered, and proud to say it was just due to hard work and dedication.

That definitely added to my confidence level -which, by the way, has gone way up after a day of shopping for a bathing suit!  I tried on 3 suits, and the second was the winner.  It’s not polka dot, but I felt pretty good in it.  I’m actually excited to wear it on vacation…

Here’s an update on my progress:

  • Day: 33
  • Days to Go: 7
  • Weight Loss: 3lbs-ish. The weight loss was never a goal… but it’s nice to know I chipped a few numbers off the scale – especially since the number on the scale is a lot less than pre-Avery!
  • Daily Calorie Net: 1400-ish. I haven’t been logging calories every day, but I do say no to lots of things (chips, sweets, etc) and make sure my portion size isn’t crazy.
  • Guilty Pleasures: I had a soft serve ice cream over the weekend… but I shared it… so it wasn’t that bad :)
  • Exercise Frequency: 4-5 times/wk.  I try to squeeze in at least 15-20 minutes at home with Avery – the weather hasn’t been cooperating, but when it does, we will do more strolling.
  • Bikini Confidence: 8 out of 10.  I’m actually excited to wear it instead of freaked out.
  • Motivational Picture: Here it is – the ‘goal’ bikini.  I’ll share pictures of me in it when we get back from vacation, but for now, here’s an image of it all by it’s lonesome.

Does it look familliar?  It looks like the ‘petite’ option from my last post. I decided on the bikini because it works best with my body type and I think I’ll wear my stretch marks proudly :)

 

How is your bathing suit confidence?  Are you getting in shape for summer?  What are your secrets to a beach-ready body?