(Originally posted 07/02/2011)
Unfortunately for me...holiday weekends feel like any other weekend except more people than usual are bragging about fun weekend adventures they have planned.
You really feel it come a holiday weekend and you work retail. The retail world never stops. Ever.
The last few days my internet has been on the fritz. Yes, Comcast, you really do care...pshh.
I spent a good chunk of my day attempting to paint the trim in our bedroom. This seemed like an easy enough feat to accomplish.
Tape edges. Paint (even bought the 2-in-one save me time kinda paint).
Ha.
Apparently my $30 one coat paint was not up to the challenge of painting old trim. Three coats later it looks alright. But now I have to go back and touch up the zillions of spots that the paint leaked under the taped edges. Oh yes. And I still have to go around the door, the closet, and the window. Three times each, I guess. To do this the doors need to come down (and get painted) and so does the window pains and blinds. That sounds like a day off project. It wouldn't be so bad if I didn't still have the ENTIRE house's trim left to paint. I could cry. I almost did, actually.I might price out white molding or any molding. This is too much.
In other news...
I totally scored an antique looking rocking horse at the Goodwill yesterday for $7!! This will be amazing with a bit of cosmetic changes for our someday child!!! I am pretty seriously excited for this pony!!
<3
(Originally posted 06/29/2011)
The dinner turned out better than planned. I should post the recipes. Maybe tomorrow.
You asked for it. These are pictures of our house...they are old (if you can even count them as old) we took them when we were looking at it the first time.
 Hallway looking into the living room.  Dining room into the kitchen...office is beyond.  Living room looking into dining room...4 season porch is beyond. It needs some cosmetic work and we have already begun. Oddly enough I don't seem to have a picture of the outside of the house. It's a blue rambler. Pretty typical looking.
<3
(Originally posted 06/27/2011)
Can you believe it is nearly July already? Time seriously goes too quick.
Kyle is driving quite a distance this week everyday to stay home. I couldn't be happier!
Tonight I am making a dinner that I found in my July issue of SELF. Buttermilk oven fried chicken and roasted potato salad with sweet corn and cider vinegar. These are supposed to be at least some-what healthy and I am so excited to get some ingredients!
I will let you know how it turns out!!
<3
(Originally posted 06/23/2011)
I follow p!nk on twitter and she recently posted a link to a letter she wrote. I wanted to share it, it has an amazing message.
"Important Note From P!nkTo whomever cares:
We are absolutely blissed out in love over here! To our fans and friends all over the world, thank you for all of the prayers and well wishes throughout this time in our life! Carey is a natural, (I knew he would be) and I finally found out what love really means. Don't worry, I'm not writing an album full of sappy lullabies. Not yet, anyways?
In the interest of full disclosure: (AND BECAUSE I TELL IT LIKE I SEE IT)
Due to the unsettling, surprisingly aggressive and unsafe measures that the paparazzi seem to be willing to go to in order to secure that "first shot" of our daughter--stalking us, chasing us in cars and sitting outside of our home all day and all night, as new parents Carey and I decided that we would release personal photos of our Willow, and donate all of the money to charity.
We will be donating the money to children's' charities, among them one of our favorites, the Ronald McDonald House, an organization that houses and cares for the families of sick children so they can be together during treatment, as well as Autism Speaks.
Like any parents, we believe our little girl deserves the right to have privacy and be protected, but unfortunately, this media climate doesn't seem to provide for that. I feel so grateful that after many years of hard work, music and motorcycles have elevated both Carey and me to such a place that the public has supported us in building our life and lifestyle together. We recognize that celebrity has its upsides and downsides and do our best to manage just being people without hiring stylists and bodyguards before one of us goes to the store to buy some milk. I've seen some photos of myself that make me smile and some that make me less smiley. But you see, it's one thing to harass and stalk us, the adults, the celebrity that signed up for this life, but children should be protected and safe. There should be a clear distinction between us.
In EVERY other country that I recall, children's faces are blurred out in magazine photos. Why is USA the only country that continues to financially incentivize intrusive paparazzi behavior to capitalize on photos of babies, infants and children? Why is this acceptable to any of us? Why is this even legal? These are questions I ask myself as a new parent. Why are celebrities/public figures having to seek restraining orders to keep strange grown men with still and video cameras from sitting perched outside of their children's pre-schools and elementary schools, preying on little innocent kids? After all, if a stranger was sitting outside of a school taking photographs of random little girls and boys, wouldn't he be arrested? Or, at least in Philadelphia, he would have to face a more primal sort of recourse. But because it's the child of a celebrity, somehow it's okay? I'm just not sure what is wrong with us as a society, that we do more than tolerate this, but our appetite for it seems insatiable. We buy these pictures. We buy these magazines that publish these paparazzi pictures. WHERE DOES IT STOP?
Here's the bottom line: we don't want you to take our little girl's picture. We don't want you to one day follow our little girl home from school. We don't want our little girl's picture in a magazine or on a blog. If you take or publish her picture, it is against our wishes, and without our consent as parents, as people.
Carey and I are new parents. We know we have so much to learn in our new role and are thankful for the family and friends around us. Not a day goes by that we are not grateful to the universe and to our fans and friends who believe in us--and to our foes, too (our best teachers)--for the incredibly interesting privileged lives we get to live each day. But this is about our daughter who just got here. In the face of camera lenses as long as my arm and flashbulbs as bright as the sun, Willow is powerless. All she has to protect her is us. But that's not all she has; she has you.
To anyone out there that buys a magazine, or goes onto a website to look at pictures of other people's children, may you at least think for a second about what you may inadvertently be supporting. We are so appreciative that people are interested in seeing our daughter. We WANT to share our joys with you, but as parents (and new parents), we should be able to govern these decisions, shouldn't we? And to be clear, I'm speaking directly to these "stolen" photographs--paparazzi photos.
So when you see our middle fingers up in all of our pictures, now you know the motivation. It's all we can do to stop images of a newborn baby from being printed without our consent. Can you imagine a world where they would blur out our middle finger to protect a "consumer" over blurring out an innocent child to protect their integrity and privacy?
Thank you for letting me say my piece. Do I expect this letter to change the world? No. But if it plants a seed of awareness, if a politician or an activist or a legislator or a teacher or police officer is prompted to even think about it--let alone engage, I have done my part on behalf of my daughter. Not surprising that lesson one from me to my daughter is to let one's voice be heard.
I've never shied away from a controversial opinion because of the fear of bad press. My music and my fans and I connect year after year because I talk TO them and, man, do they so beautifully talk TO me. This is such a meaningful dialogue in my life. To all of my friends out there, I love you and I appreciate your help with this, and this happy little family cannot wait to visit your countries again and play music and rejoice in all the beauty that we share and have shared together all over the world.
We'll call it a playdate!!!!! Xoxoxoxoxooxoxox
Love,
the new parents--learning as we go.
? kisses, besos.
P.S. baby poop really isn't as bad as all the guys out there think. Careys' already been pooed on, and he's still breathing. Ahhhhh, ain't love grand?" - (http://www.pinkspage.com/us/news/important-note-pnk) <3
(Originally posted 06/22/2011)
I was just randomly thinking of things that I want to accomplish this fall/winter. I know it is way too early to even think about it...but it came up in my mind so I thought I would share.
Learn how to cook.
Learn how to knit or crochet.
Get caught up on my scrapbooks.
Finish Christmas shopping super early.
That's the plan. Hopefully I can accomplish it!! Besides that it would really be nice to get our main level done by then too. I guess I have some busy weekends ahead of me!!
<3
(Originally posted 06/21/2011)
I took it back 9 years on my way to work today, rocking out to Blink 182 with the sunroof open. It was fantastic.
Today marks summer. It is supposed to be the longest day of the year. I am not sure if it really was but my day at work was pretty close. I don't think the official days that seasons start matter when you live in Minnesota. We all know summer starts in June and goes through August. Then it's fall until November. After that we all brace ourselves for winter. This is typically from December to April. Yes. My math leaves only May for Spring. That sounds about right. Although summer is not really much warmer than spring.
My mailman seemingly didn't go to work today as my mail didn't get picked up. I really wanted my Netflix to go out today. I put it out 45 min before the earliest I have ever seen him come...Kyle called him the Failman. I am pretty sure that comment made my day.
If you haven't and wanted to catch up on my blogger blog...please do so soon. I plan on deleting the old blog. No need to have both open.
<3
(Originally posted 06/20/2011)
I was watching the Nate Burkus show this morning and he had the coupon divas on. These ladies somehow manage to get tons of things for nearly free...mostly groceries. I have to say I was impressed. I can only wish that I had the time and energy to devote to couponing...I don't think their jobs were ever discussed. There is no way they work. They had binders full of coupons, all organized. But one thing did bother me. One of the ladies was saying that vendor coupons are like cash and retailers don't always understand that. She claims that you can use as many as you want...and if I understood what she was saying correct, she claims...if there is a buy one get one free deal at a store and you have two coupons you get both for free. I work retail and have worked at several places...this logic makes no sense to me. From my understanding you can only use ONE vendor coupon per item and you HAVE to follow the specifications on the coupon. One of the most common specifications is that you can only use one. If retailers do not follow the "rules" exactly the vendor does not pay. How they know what was actually purchased is beyond me...this is just my understanding. That is where I think her story falls out.
Off topic. I just read in my hammock for about an hour. Bliss.
Back to work tomorrow.
<3
(Originally posted 06/19/2011)
This is our four day weekend together...and guess what? So far we have been totally productive! The highlight? We built a fire pit! It is sooo pretty too!
We got the hammock that you see and a couple lime green adirondack chairs! The yard is really coming along nice. We are going to make s'mores tonight, just the two of us.
We also mowed, fixed my car (Yes, the new one), went out to eat a couple times, saw X-Men First Class (do see!), and hit the mall. Now we are going to relax and soak up the last 24 hours we have until we go back to the real world.
I wonder what this means exactly...
We have a four day weekend (on day 3 today) and we both actually feel like it is a vacation even though it is very normal weekend things we are doing. My guess? We both work too hard and don't get to spend enough time together.
And so what if we made cookie dough just to eat the batter and are having those s'mores for dessert? This is our vacation!
<3
(Originally posted 06/18/2011)
Sorry I have been so insanely busy I haven't had time to blog! To make it up to you there will be at LEAST one a day for the week!
Wednesday night I went to the Speak Now 2011 concert. I have an almost freakish obsession with Taylor Swift and have been for years. You can't help who you are! haha. It was AMAZING!!! We had pretty fantastic seats which made it even more fun. I went with my friend, Steph. It was her first concert and she also had a blast. I also went to the Fearless tour about a year and a half ago. It was also tons of fun but our seats were not so fun.
Taylor Swift really puts on a show. There were even acrobats doing all sorts of tricks hanging from the ceiling. If you want to see more pictures, they are on my Facebook page.
We even left with a tee, light stick, and a bracelet. Yes. We went all out. hahaha!
<3
(Originally posted 06/14/2011)
I got a mani/pedi this afternoon. I don't normally splurge on such a pointless luxury, I can paint my own nails just fine. But my feet were looking a bit...well...gross. Long hours in tennis shoes day after day...they get a bit icky. Since I am going to a concert tomorrow and wearing open-toed shoes I thought it would be a good idea. You know, in case someone like me sees me feet (I don't mean me...I mean someone who may judge!). I also decided to go with the manicure since places usually give you a deal if you get both. So TWO FLIPPIN HOURS LATER my nails were done. These people took so long it was unreal. I was bored to death. It's not like they were simply being detailed...no. They were just being slow. I can't describe it. I have never had it take so long, ever. They kept hurting me too...if I get any infection from this place I will be so angry! So once I paid I learned that they do NOT give you a break when you get both done. Awesome. They didn't even attempt too talk to me which made it awkward...well except to harass me about my crappy nails and telling me I don't take care of them. Funny. I had awesome nails until I got acrylics. Three times total...and not even continuously. Besides that, my job is a death sentence to my poor nails. To top that off...I dried them for 4 dryer cycles, they say at least 2 to dry. Then I babied them for an hour. We are talking touching NOTHING. Then I realized I had bumped them (right about that hour point) aaaanddd gouged. I ran my finger ever so lightly on the top of a nail and it smuged like...well like almost but not quite dried paint would. Seriously. Almost two hours of dry time and they were still wet. I am afraid to even touch them now. I am sure I will wake up and they will be all textured from sleeping (you know, from touching your hair or blankets for an extended time). Trust me. I can do that kind of quality all on my own. No more manicures for me. Oh, heck no. I quit. In other news...TAYLOR SWIFT tomorrow night! I could scream like a kid...and I even get to hang out with a bunch tomorrow night I am sure! And...Kyle comes home Thursday and we get a 4 day weekend together. I am beyond stoked for this.
<3
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