Black and Blue and Disney

First...a funny story.....Grace gave me a black eye. Yep, my right eye is swollen and black. I leaned down to give her a kiss at the exact moment she sat up to give me a hug. Her head and my cheekbone met. Man, it hurt. And now I am walking around with my first black eye. Ouch!!

But on a fun topic...

Last week, I spent the entire week in Florida. 4 days in Disney for a meeting planner's conference and 2 days in Tampa for site visits. No pics from Tampa but there are a ton of cute ones (and hysterical stories to go with them) from Disney. Here are the best:

This is the Disney Beach and Yacht Resort (well, the Beach side anyways). Gorgeous property, even if it did take 15 minutes to walk from our room to the meeting space.

What's a trip to Disney without seeing Mickey and Minnie?! Love them.

Meeting (plastic) Cinderella. I even managed to talk her into sending Grace a postcard from her castle. Very cool and Grace was so excited to hear from the princess herself! And seriously, how fun is it to hang out with Disney characters while drinking a beer?!

The last night of the conference was a Pirate Party, complete with a visit from Capt Jack Sparrow. WOW---he was damn good looking. As you can tell from these last few pics, we had a blast at the party!!!

Time Travel

So I have been MIA for pretty much the entire month of July with the exception of a few days here and there. But I am back now....until October anyway.

Really, only the last 2 weeks have been any fun. Fun might not be the right word for it all.....interesting, thought-provoking, crazy. Those are better words.


And so we take a little trip to last Wednesday...............

I got home from a work trip late Tuesday night. Wednesday I went to the office knowing that my best friend from HS (we shall call her A) was arriving sometime during the day with her 2 kiddos.....we shall call them M and K. M is 6 weeks younger than Grace (read: 3 years old) and K is almost 2. Adorable kids.......in pictures.



Within 20 minutes of them arriving, 2 toys were broken, Play-Doh was ground into my carpet, and at least one cup of water was spilled on the table. Honestly, that was okay; I figured it was all the excitement of the kids seeing each other again (its been a year or so) and they would settle down after a few hours had passed. HAHA---nope. Didnt happen.



Bedtime took 3 hours........apparently, M and K watch a movie, read 4,297 boks with Mom and then, since they wont stop crying, Mom just lets them play downstairs until they crash on the couch. We have a rule in our house that Grace sleeps in her bed, not in Mom and Dad's bed. Well, that night, I moved her to our bed cause the other two insisted on playing with the dollhouse, all 9,275 stuffed anumals they could find, and even slamming the doors for fun. Into my bed went Grace! And she fell right asleep. M and K were awake downstairs until 11 pm.

The next day I thought would be better. Kind of was. We had a bunch of friends from HS over that we havent seen in 10 years. One of them is famous!!! So cool. SO that was fun, except the house was a mess after a party. No biggie.

Friday was okay....during the day. Once the kiddos were in bed (not quite as dramatic as the night before actually!), A, Hubby, and I sat around with a few bottles of wine and chatted. It was great. Talking about old friends, new friends, kids, plans, etc. At about 2 AM, I realized that if I went to bed, I was never going to be awake for the cab at 5 am; I was leaving to go to a conference in Orlando bright and early on Saturday morning. So I convinced Hubby to stay awake with me until 4ish; I figured then I could get in the shower and get ready to go no problem. Good theory.

Long story short.....the wine hit A pretty hard all of the sudden and walking was a foreign concept to her. I went outside and when I came back in, she was passed out on the floor. So Hubby and I moved her to the couch in the family room. Just imagine me holding her under her arms and Hubby holding her legs across the house. Kind of funny actually.

And then came Saturday morning. I was on a plane to Florida. Hubby was awake at 7:30AM with all 3 toddlers. A was still past out on the couch. All day long, Hubby was alone with the 3 toddlers. A was passed out. All day long. When she wasnt, she was throwing up. The kids were running wild through the house. Almost a week later, I can still see the madness that was my house.......soap crayon drawings on the toilets, Play-Doh in the carpet (again!), the broken umbrella on Grace's new picnic table. Yep, madness.

Halfway through Saturday, A realized she locked her car keys in the car. She called her husband in PA and he drove to DC with her parents to rescue her. Yep, she was in such bad shape he had to drive 5 hours to pick her up and take care of his kids that Hubby had been dealing with all day long.

And when she went home, she took my house key with her.

That is last week's story.

Final thoughts: My kid is the best behaved kid in the world and I am not ashamed to say that in the blog-os-sphere. Oh, and one kid is plenty for me, thanks. :)

Yep, I am still alive!

My travels are almost over.....and I cant wait.

This week, I am in Orlando at a conference for meeting planners. Now that is one job I would not want to do. I would never want to plan a meeting for a bunch of professional meeting planners. All in all, the conference was great and I had a blast. Now that was due to all the laughs over the random things this particular group of people do (or dont do!). More stories later on that when I have more time to post.

Today I am off to Tampa for site visits of the convention center and hotels. Normally, it would be no big deal but this time, I just want to get it over with. I am tired of traveling, tired of only getting phone calls with the Hubby and Grace (I miss hugs!), and I am sick of spending all my time with people I work with. They are great people; I just prefer my family!!!

More later (including pics!) but now I have to pack up the computer and find my car to Tampa!!!

MIA

Yes, I know. I havent posted in a week and you all (Allie and Bri in particular) keep asking to see the new hair. Here it is: pic of me and my sister from last weekend.

For the last 3 days, I have been traveling. And for the next three days, one of my best friends from HS is coming to visit. And then for the following 5 days, I will be in FL for a work trip.

Again, I cannot wait until August!!!! Finally some time at home.

Hair Cut

So, I made the appointment (it's tomorrow morning) and I have a gift card to pay for it! YEA! Expensive hair cut and my dad is paying....arent those the best!?

Since I completely trust my hair guy, Don, I am ready to let him make a change in this hair of mine. So......which cut do you like best??

Remember, my hair is wavy (not the cool, beachy-look wavy...the annoying wavy); cut must be long enough to pull off my face during conferences; easy to manage is a must too.

My Hat is Off To You

Just want to take a moment to be in awe of all the stay at home and work at home moms out there.

Friday and Monday I worked from home.

And I am exhausted! Trying to figure out how to send 4.295 emails and read contracts while entertaining a 3 year old is more tiring that commuting and balancing the office stuff and home stuff.

I need a nap!

Hermit Crabs Come To My House to Die!

Last summer, we got Grace her first hermit crab. She named him Me. Me died 5 days later.

2 weeks ago, I brought another hermit crab home from VA Beach named Me2. We lost him. Seriously. We took him out to play with him and forgot that he was on the floor. 30 minutes later, he was gone and even a search of the entire house didnt recover him. That is until I almost stepped on him over Fourth of July weekend. He finally crawled out of his shell and died on the carpet. Fantastic!

My parents went to VA Beach last week on vacation. And being good grandparents, they bought Grace another hermit crab. We all took bets that he would last 4 days in my house. Well, my mom brought him over last night at 6 pm. Then we all went out to dinner (the Crab Shack, ironic huh?). At 9:30 after Grace was asleep and I was doing that late night cleaning, I decided to get Tubby's (that was what Grace decided to call this third hermit crab) cage, he was dead. DEAD. AFTER 3 1/2 HOURS. HE WAS DEAD.

And what was the first thing Grace asked about this morning? Tubby. I told her that he was at the beach. Guess this afternoon's outing will be to a pet store in search of Tubby2!

Working At Home

Day care is on vacation this week.

After some re-arranging of work schedules, Hubby and I have figured out a way that one of us can work from home each day to be here with Grace. Sounds fantastic, huh?

Not so much.

Friday, I was home with her. I got some work done but not nearly as much as I had hoped. And Monday (tomorrow) will be the same; Mommy home and Daddy at work.

I used to work at home twice a week when Grace was an infant and I loved it. I was there for naptime and for times when she wanted to be held and cuddled. I was there to watch her learn to eat with utensils.

Now that she is Little Miss Independent, it is harder to work at home when she is here. I dont want to be that mom who plops her kid in front of the tv for an entire day of Disney-movie-watching but I havent found another solution quite yet. Play-doh works for 10 minutes....until she demands that I, too, make bright orange pancakes to feed to her dolls. And coloring is the same thing; just not that much fun to do alone. She is at that age where she will play by herself for 15 minutes or so but then she either needs another activity or needs a playmate (and in this house, I am it!).

But I still need to clock 40 hours this week. I have a ton of things to do. And the next few weeks I am on the road more than I am home.

Ahhh, the age-old question: how does this working mommy balance it all? Why is it that everything these days comes down to that unanswerable question?

The LONG weekend

UPDATE: Pictures from the Fourth party at L's blog. Go there and then come back here!

I survived the long weekend.

Yes, there was a question on whether or not that would happen.

Thursday and Friday was Buffet-fest 07. And man, it rocked. It wasnt 100 degrees outside, we had the perfect setup, and no one melted when the rain soaked us during the show. One of the best Buffett shows I have ever seen.

And then the egg fight. Oh the eggs. Saturday morning I had 12 eggs sitting nicely in my fridge. By the end of the evening, only 1 egg remained. I could tell you the story but Allie has already written it out so well on her blog that you just HAVE to go there to get the details. Basically, it involves eggs being thrown, eggs on my carpet, and a boy being slapped.....by me!! HAHAHAHA!

The 4th went by with pooltime, pina coladas, hot dogs on the grill, fireworks, and no cops. Usually the boys in blue show up to tell us to put away the fireworks bought out out of state. But not this year!!!!

And now, the day care vacation has started and Hubby and I are taking alternate days off to hang with Grace at home. Oh, and we are still paying for day care....its paid vaca and all!

Happy Birthday America!!!!!

And thank you to all the troops who are protecting our freedom at home and abroad.

Horses and Bourbon

This morning, I am leaving for Louisville KY. Another work trip. Only 3 more this month after I get home from this one!!!

Anyways.....

Crazy weekend at the house. I will tell all sorts of stories when I return tomorrow. Until then......check out the Buffett show recap (the last post on June 30)!

Bye--off to the airport.