happiness...

First of all, I found my black cardigan. I know. Thank you for your concern. Somehow, it managed to jump into the dry cleaning pile… even though it has spent it’s entire life being thrown haphazardly in the washing machine and *shudder* dried on high heat in the dryer with the rest of my normal clothes. Today, I am $4 more broke (broker? No, that can’t be right…) and my sweater feels just the same as if I had washed it in the washer. Sigh.

The other great thing is that, I have been smitten with this photo ever since I took it last weekend at the park. So, along comes the “I heart faces” photo challenge for April and the theme? Happiness. Pure, innocent, unbridled, hysterical happiness. It’s perfect, and I am honored to join the party…

wish us luck!!!

um...hello, easiest thing in the world!

seriously, i can be a real dunce every now and then. i was just yesterday whining and bemoaning about not having a clue how to make collages for my bloggity blog and like an angel from heaven, kevinandamanda had this little gem today waiting for me on my google reader (not really for me since i just religiously stalk her awesome blog and she doesn't know i exist, but still) about sites she has bookmarked and there she was explaining about the simple little collages you can make all lickety split in picnik which is exactly what i was looking for and off i went to check it out and in like seriously 20 seconds, i had whipped up this little nugget...

which i know is only 2 pictures and ones i have posted already at that, but i am at work right now (um...yikes?) and that's all i could scrape up on this here computer and gawd, i am just so darned EXCITED about this! they have a lot of options and even more if you upgrade (naturally) and you want to hear the stupidest thing? i totally have used picnik before and never knew that i could make collages there.

dunce hat.

dur.

i love this.

p.s. the shark rashgaurd. i die. i wish it still fit him, little rolly polly lovebug....

good morning.

this is the face i wake up to every day...the face that belongs to my favorite boy, who loves bananas and pears and his momma. i am the luckiest.

 i'm linking this pic (my first ever link up!) up with a very cool new photo challenge at Love, Luci . it's celebrating All Things Babies and i am very excited to participate!!

our easter sunday was wonderful. full of spring cleaning, baseball watching and, after winter that seemed never-ending, finally getting a chance to check on the progress of my day lilies (pitiful) and relax in the sun. ben, my poor, sweet december baby with skin the color of an aspirin didn't quite know what to do with the warm weather and had to be soothed with frozen washcloths on his little cheeks after 20 minutes in the shade led to a meltdown of epic proportions...BUT it was awesome. and i was thankful. and blessed.

it's a SUPER busy week. we have our annual cinco de mayo party this weekend and i haven't prepped a stinkin' thing. i have lists a mile long with nary a checkmark on them and not the first clue how i think i am actually going to pull this off. i am very lucky to have two of my besties flying in to help squeeze limes and change diapers (not at the same time, thankfully) but my blogging might fall a little to the wayside for the next few days...not to worry...i got ben a sombrero and the post-party pics and recipes will be a plenty! stay tuned! and keep your fingers crossed for a sunny, sunny day saturday!

cell phone pic obsession

i don’t have a fancy iphone. i’m jonesing for one more and more every day, but right now i get along just fine with my trusty little LG flip. i always swore i would NOT be one of “those” mothers constantly with their phones in their baby’s faces, wasting ‘real time’ in lieu of getting the ‘perfect’ shot to text to my entire address book…but i kind of am. the truth is, and it’s been said a million ways and will remain true until the end of time, you just can’t even begin to fathom how much you will love your little person until you are holding them in your arms! i have some manic need to record every moment of his life because he is so precious and perfect and wonderful that no other being will ever come close and dammit! these boogers, this meltdown, this perfect smile must be documented! but i don’t chase him around with my phone(like he’s running laps already or something) just to pic spam all of my friends and family…the truth is, i do it for selfish reasons. i could stare at him 24 hours a day and i need this arsenal of pictures to flip through when he is away from me at daycare...and sometimes there's just no time to grab the canon, adjust the settings, wrestle with the neck strap, focus the lens and hope for the best...i can't chance missing a single thing and moving off the couch isn't an option when you've got this sweet little warm, squishy bundle of love totally snoozed out on your chest.

every single moment in time frozen is a piece of my heart. the most pure and true part of my soul... and looking back through all the moments i have captured with my dumb, cheap phone since the day he was born makes my heart just BURST and never fails to bring tears to my eyes. they aren’t all spiffy and edited, most of them aren’t even in focus, but they are his real life and witnessing his life unfold right in front of my eyes absolutely takes my breath away.

holy crap. i love this little guy so much!

so while i am bitching and moaning and pining for a fancy iphone, i am immeasurably thankful for the shitty LG that i have….because really, just look at this little boy and share a few of the days of his little life so far…have you ever seen such perfection?

it was a rough weekend. ben is going on 2 weeks with his first cold (thanks, daycare. you’re awesome.) which he so generously shared with me. the hubs, having finally shaken his annual sinus infection, came down with a nasty bout of food poisoning friday night and, in between running back and forth to the bathroom (i’ll spare you the details, but suffice it to say there was some EXTREME elimination going on), was up shivering under 3 comforters with a temp of 102 till 6am saturday morning. just a tip: it's not advisable to leave your leftover chinese on the floor of your car on the warmest day of the year so far till it's 10:30am and you remember oh yeah, my leftover chinese is on the floor of the car and it's the warmest day of the year so far but i think i'll eat it anyway.

*blink*blink*

obviously the monkey and i made a quick escape to the guest bedroom and i felt horribly guilty for not being able to take care of my husband while he was sicker than i have ever seen him. so basically, it’s like a GD infirmary in our house, all of us with the same cough, carrying on with our phlegm, the smell of cherry halls drops permeating the air. i think we are all over the hump though, so keep on thinkin’ those healthy thoughts!

oh! and happy spring! it’s about freakin’ time! bring on the asparagus and snap peas, bare feet and butterflies!! and my little boy gets to experience it all for the first time! he doesn't know that trees are supposed to have leaves on them, that grass is actually green and not brown or what the sun feels like on your face when you fall asleep on an adirondack chair on a saturday afternoon....he is in for such a treat! the days are about to get a whole lot sweeter!

a 15 pound leprachaun...

happy st. pat's, people!
the monkey looked more handsome than ever this morning, heading out to school all spiffed up in his green! it was all i could do not to just gobble him whole! how i stand the cuteness on a daily basis is beyond me.

i mean seriously. have you ever?

i'm working on my photography....clearly, this shot does not showcase my efforts. i splurged on a DSLR for christmas and even got a fancy lens (50mm f/1.8) to use since i think i am too good for a kit lens (i'm not. obviously.) and instead of instantly turning into some annie-lebowitz-ish prodigy the second i took off the lens cap  like i expected, i am still taking the same shitty quality of pictures that i was with my old camera....imagine that? i even got a fancy camera strap cover from  shey b ....obviously the cuter you look while shooting, the better your pictures will come out. i mean, duh.

i get so discouraged. my main problem is lighting. lighting and my lack of a fancy editing program...see how i did that? i blamed it on the lighting. sweet.

anyway, spring is almost here. the bitter, unrelenting fridgid bitch that was winter '10-'11 is 3 days away from being nothing but a painful memory and i am feeling inspired to dust off my two peas lessons and give this thing the old college try...there are so many gorgeous blogs out there full of amazing photography and it really lights a fire under me (and makes me want to punch something out of jealousy)....i have a decent camera, a fun lens and the most beautiful subject in my little monkey.....

if anybody has any tips on how the hell to shoot indoors (so we don't freeze to death) without using that horrible flash while working with a  pitiful amount of natural light and not winding up with a dark, grainy mess, please feel free to share....

in the meantime, bottoms up with your green beer there and have a safe and happy st. pat's!