Fall is in full swing...

It's that time of the year. Time for sweaters and pumpkin spice lattes. Time for football games and rain boots.

It's fall.

I've never been one to particularly care for one season over the other. I guess I'd have to choose summer being a summer baby and all. But fall holds a special place in my heart with Carlee's birthday so close to Halloween. Once the Halloween decorations come out in the stores, I can't help but think of Carlee's birthday. And the stores start displaying them earlier and earlier...was it August this year?

This fall has been a good one so far with Carlee starting school and the festivities that comes along with that. Carlee's first school event was a harvest festival where they had a food, games, bounce house, pony rides, face painting, balloon animals, petting zoo, live music, etc.

We started the night off right with popcorn and a sno cone...

Carlee found her sunflower she had made with her picture.

She got excited to pet the bunny in the petting zoo.

Here she is dancing to some country music...

Carlee had been shy for the majority of the night but that ended quickly when she saw the dessert table. She had no problem leaving me on a hay bale so she can run off to grab a cookie. (She's her mother's daughter.) Apparently, she's a eat-the-middle-only Oreo eater.

We had a great time seeing her teacher and other faculty as well as her friends and their families. A great start to a great season! And its only just begun...

What would I do without my kid!?

I surely wouldn't have anything to blog about.

I also wouldn't have my daily entertainment that is Carlee.

Playing naked while wearing a crown, veil, and stunna shades. Yep, that's how she rolls.

"I need to tell you a secret..."

That is what my little girl tells me all the time. Then she'll walk up to me and whisper in my ear ..."I love you." Melts.my.heart.

Look at that face! How can she not melt your heart!? I took the picture just a couple of hours before she woke up with a fever and threw up all over me. She wasn't so sweet and peaceful looking then, but I love her all the same.

How did I ever get like that?

Anyone who knows me knows I've lost a good amount of weight over the last 11 months. I've been embarrassed to say how much weight I've lost because that means I have to acknowledge that I was X lbs heavier. But being heavier wasn't exactly something I could keep a secret. So I've decided to own up and accept the amount of weight I've lost. Don't get me wrong...I'm proud of what I've accomplished. I've definitely been working hard to get where I'm at. I've just been ashamed of myself for gaining weight in the first place. 

But since I'm not going to ever go to that place again, I'm willing to share what I consider an embarrassing picture. A "before" and "after" if you will...

 Before: Taken February 2009 (I love the picture of Carlee though)

 After: Taken August 2010

According to the jerkoff at LA Fitness I could still lose 15 more lbs. Ok, maybe he was just doing his job and giving me my goal in order to reach the ideal BMI for my age and height. But then he had to throw in the comment that I could do that in 2 months. Ok buddy. Sure thing.

Tonight I'll be going to the gym...hopefully I can prove him right.

First Day

  Can you tell she was excited? Yesterday was the first day of preschool. I don't know who was more excited...Carlee or myself? She's only ever been watched by family and can be shy and clingy at times, so I was nervous as well. 

Goofing Around

We like to goof off whenever possible. This is what we do in our free time.

I'll let the pictures speak for themselves...

"Vacation" Recap

(I seriously need to spend more time thinking of creative post titles. Oh well)

I had a week off from work recently! Woohoo! You know how people always come back from vacation saying they need a vacation from their vacation? Well, I had that vacation after a vacation since I didn't go anywhere to begin with. I didn't have to spend time packing, making different arrangements, travel with a toddler, etc. Although getting to a tropical destination would have been nice.

I had originally planned to head to Texas during my week off. Definitely not the tropical paradise I would have preferred but visiting my best friend comes in a close second. But my Texas travel plans were nixed when my bestie told me she would be flying in ON MY BIRTHDAY! (That's another post) So we decided I could cancel my August plan to come out there and wait for her birthday in October.

So with the little one off with her grandparents at the river and no work, I began my week with no responsibilities! (Warning: This may very well be my most boring post)

Monday: Ok I lied..my vacation didn't start until after Monday because I had to go into work. But I did get to sleep in since I didn't have to get up and take the peanut anywhere. I also went to the gym after work. Again, nothing exciting or unusual, but it was weird not getting the little one from kid's club. I definitely felt like I was missing something all week.

Tuesday: Slept in, went to a new gym (hey, I'm single. I thought maybe I'd meet someone if I changed up the scenery). Laid out by the pool and read a book. I thoroughly enjoyed that. Later, had dinner with friends then a late night gym sesh with K-Rod (at another new gym). My goal for the week was to go to the gym everyday but two-a-day kicked my butt.

Wednesday: Repeat of Tuesday, but change dinner with friends for Wine Night with K-Rod after the gym. After going to the gym 5 times in 3 days, I was ready for a glass of wine and girl talk. K-Rod said she wasn't planning on closing the place down and reminded me she had work in the morning. I told her she forgot who she was talking to...the lightweight who is in bed by 10pm everynight. But clearly I forgot who I was going with. Miss Party herself. Of course we didn't have just one glass and we damn near closed the place down. I didn't mind because I didn't have work the next day. The whole night I was amazed at how many people were out. I kept thinking "Don't these people work?" I thought that same thing when I was at the gym and its crowded at 10am. Crowded bar or not, we had fun. Some guy told me I looked like I was married. Um...is that a compliment or not? Definitely not a pick up line.

Thursday: Definitely slept in and skipped the gym due to the previous night. I met up with K-Rod on her lunch break. She was hurting that day. hee hee. After lunch I got a call that my baby girl missed me and wanted me to come pick her up. I gladly obliged. There went my "no responsibilities" but I didn't care. I still had no work! We went home for a nap then over to Grandma's to visit since Grandma missed her too.

Friday: Back to reality (somewhat). Woke up on Carlee's time, did our normal Friday routine. Then Friday night her and I had a little date night. We headed to Brea Fest to check out the festivities. There was food, drinks, live music, and "kidsville". We spent time in the kid's area getting a balloon animal, decorating a cookie, standing in a loooong line for face painting only for nature to call when we get near the front. So no face painting for us. We called it a night shortly after that. There was only so much food we could eat and people watching to do. 

The rest of the weekend consisted of normal weekend activities...gym, stop by grandma's, birthday party, naps. Oh and I did get to sneak off to the movies too!


Monday came all too quick. Back to reality.


(I tried to upload a few pictures b/c blog posts are always 100% better with pictures, but I was having problems. So I decided to post without the pictures. I don't have the patience today. See, I told you it would be a boring post. Hopefully I'll have more excitement in my life soon!)