If I wasn't blonde before, I sure am now

I did my first errands living in our new suburban neighborhood today. I can tell it's going to take me awhile before I can turn off my GPS when I go anywhere. I only traveled within a 5 to 6 mile radius, but everything looked the same and I really never had a clue where the heck I was.

I went to Jewel-Osco to get some necessities, including some steak (because it looked irresistible, and I decided I deserved it). I've obviously never visited this particular Jewel before, so I was a little lost at first where to find anything. I saw a women wearing a landyard with those little buttons all over it talking to another shopper, so I waited to ask her where I would find dairy products. After the other shopper thanked her for her help, I said 'excuse me if you're not busy, do you think you could point me to where I would find cheese?' She looked at me very confused, paused, and replied, 'I'm sorry, what?' ............. That's when it hit me: she was NOT an employee. I was able to laugh and explained I was confused because of her landyard; turns out she's a school teacher! She complimented me on my dress, and after parting ways I turned down the next isle, only to find the cheese and dairy jackpot! Whoops.

Reagan was with me of course, although sleeping most of the grocery portion of the trip. At the register she woke up and was smiling at me while we waited in line. I went to the front of the cart to start unloading things, and the little old lady behind me started coo-ing at her and tickling her toes. To my complete surprise, Reagan put out her bottom lip and burst into tears. She's always been very friendly with strangers. I said this to the women, and upon reflection I realize this probably made her feel 10 times worse than she did already for making a baby cry. The women must have apologized to me 5 times and now I realize I probably guilted her into it... Whoops again. Total fail.

My next destination was to Gymboree. I had purchased some clothes for Reagan there a few weeks ago only to notice once I got home that I bought EVERYTHING in the wrong size. I exchanged the items (they were even having a sale this time!) with the intention of only purchasing what I was getting back for my returns. After picking everything out I saw an adorable white headband with a purple tulle bow for $4 by the register. She was already wearing a headband but I loosely threw it over her head to check that it fit, and decided that for 4 bucks I'd get it. Once I was home I wanted to try on some of the clothes to double check they fit her right. Everything was perfect... except the damn headband! It was huge. Whoops... AGAIN! No idea how I didn't see that the first time.

I have the car because of the errands, so I still have to pick up Charles from the studio in 45 minutes... Hoping I don't have any more blonde moments between now and then! :-/

Reagan hanging out watching me blog... she has no idea her mom is a ditz.

Last day

Tomorrow (my birthday) is officially the first day of autumn (random fact: the new season doesn't start til 10pm tomorrow!). My parents considered naming me Autumn, but then decided to go on a Biblical naming-streak, and named all 8 of us after characters in the Bible. Plus my mom's name is Gail Ann, and said she always wanted a "full name" growing up, so I got to be Abigail Ann. I'm officially rambling already.

As it turns out, I am apparently hosting thanksgiving at our new house this year. The first potential problem I can see is that we don't even have a table. Yup, not even barstools for the breakfast counter. Secondly I am used to cooking for two, so cooking for 6+ is already making me slightly uneasy. I guess that's still relatively far off so maybe I should stop worrying and assume its all going to take care of itself! Or maybe I should invite my mother as well and hope that she helps me make sense of the mayhem.

Next month my friend Sammone is coming up from St. Louis with our friend Meghan (aka Richard, cause yeah, she's a dick), and I'm seriously so excited. I saw them when I was in St. Louis over Labor Day weekend, and we went out for some martinis and I laughed so hard I almost peed my pants at the bar. I'm also excited that Sammone is bringing me some of her gorgeous paintings!! When I was at her house she had some abstract ones with liquid silver paint that were stunning, and she's making me some look-alikes! Above are a few of her sold paintings that I ripped off facebook. :) I really dig the purple lips. Purple is just my ultimate favorite color. In high school she did an amazing black and white portrait of me that my grandma keeps at her house now. She is so friggin' talented.

So coming around full circle, I've decided that although I'm going to ignore the fact that tomorrow is my official birth date, I am going to hold off until the girls get here and celebrate with them instead of waiting until next year, again. Sammone and I were both preggo on our 21st birthday's so we need to make up for that finally! Richard is still single and racking up mountains of student loans in art school, but our celebration couldn't be complete without her madness.

Glad I've given myself something to look forward to; it colors everything differently in the present went you have something in the future to be excited about.

Sorry For Neglecting You...

I've been a wee bit busy :-)

But I felt like writing today, gotta get it out of my system!

Quick update:

We moved into a house in the burbs! :) It's in a cute little community and its a cute little house! I loooove it compared to our condo!

Reagan is almost 5 months now, and in about a month I'm going to introduce solid foods! This also means I am going to be going back to work again and I can't lie that I'm a little bit nervous... Even being home all day I am CONSTANTLY busy! I'm cleaning, doing laundry, taking care of the baby, organizing our home, coordinating the family, making dinner... and sometimes I don't even have time to take care of myself. I forget to shower or eat or both some days. How the hell am I going to continue taking care of the family, myself, the house, AND work? I also really don't want to stick Reagan in daycare. What is the point of having a kid if somebody else raises them for you while you go to work? There's gotta be a balance, I just need to find it.

Also on that same note, I get the impression from certain people sometimes that they think I must have it easy, like I must do nothing and lay around all day eating bon-bons and playing with my cute baby. Let me tell you that is NOT true and it REALLY PISSES ME OFF. Okay got that off my chest. Moving on.

After moving we have zero left in our savings, it's going to take us a bit to get back in the clear! I am DYING to do some fall shopping, but I have to hold myself back until our heads are above water again. I want to get new things for the house and I want to buy new cloths and I want to go to the spa! I want I want I want!!! I need to reel myself in and stop feeling so selfish. Charles's dad had a second heart attack this week and we don't even have the gas to drive to see him in the hospital, or afford for him to take a day off of work. I know that this is really hard on him, and I hate that there isn't anything I can do to help the situation.

I've been stressing so much about moving and money that I didn't realize until yesterday that my birthday is on Wednesday! I have NOTHING planned, no money to spend on going out, Charles works, and no friends to celebrate it with.. This year will be the 3rd year in a row that I haven't celebrated my birthday. Should I be depressed? Maybe it's just a sign that I'm a grown-up now. I've decided that I'm going to ignore my birthday for now so I don't feel upset about it and promise to celebrate next year...but that's the same things I've said the last 2 years.

This year has just FLOWN by anyway.. I can't believe it's already September!

September has always been my favorite month of the year for many reasons. Obviously, it's my birthday month. The grass is still green but the trees are vibrant hot shades of yellow, orange and red, and the air has such a deliciously refreshing scent with a hint of that cozy campfire smell. Also it has the BEST weather all year; its not too hot, not too cold, and I can wear boots again and cute layers. I'm a little on the skinny side, so I love sporting the layered-look because I don't look so much like a crack addict (I'm not exaggerating).

Speaking of skinny, I am REALLY missing my baby weight! I've lost ALL of it and then some :-/ I know other mothers out there probably want to slap me for saying this, but I've always struggled with my weight. I have been accused of having an eating disorder since I was in middle school because no matter how many burgers I eat, I still end up looking like Olive Oil. It's just in my genes. I never minded it that much until I got to experience having some curves during and right after pregnancy... I haven't even been exercising and I swear every time I step on a scale I've lost another 5lbs! Not sure what to do since I am an avid heath-nut and I LOVE vegetables, so I don't want to switch my snacking to unhealthy fatty foods or nutritionally empty sweets.

Topic change!

I think I want to seriously update my blog. I mean like a complete overhaul. I haven't been satisfied with it from the start but I don't know how to do all that fancy stuff. I want a custom back ground, header, and I want a newer/better title! I just don't have the time to figure it all out. I'm going to have to experiment I guess!

Another topic change!

So this entire post turned into more of a vent than an update. I didn't even realize that I need to vent until I started writing. I can't wait til everything calms down and things aren't so hectic. These past 2 (maybe 3?) months have been some of the hardest. Anything that could have gone wrong, did. And every time I thought, 'well it can't get any worse than this,' it did. But we did move finally so maybe that's a sign things are getting better again.

Well I have to get back to my duties... there's laundry to be done and it's after 5pm and I'm still in my PJ's. Plus Reagan is babbling saying "baaa ba baa ba ba baaaaa ba ba BA!" on the floor which means she wants my attention. I love my life, I love my life, I love my life *clicking my ruby red slippers*