An Update

I didn't realize until I logged on today that it has been nearly a year since my last post.  Looks like I'm off the list for blogger of the year, then.

Much has happened, most notably that I had a baby.

He was born on Valentine's Day and is quite lovely, even if he doesn't sleep much.

Some Random Pictures

Here is Miss E eating pizza at Central Market a few weeks ago. 

I know I'm her mom and I'm biased but come on.  So cute, right?

Garden fresh, bitches!  This salad was made exclusively from 

vegetables harvested from the Chez Jones Effect garden and includes

romaine lettuce, some teeny tiny carrots and one cherry tomato.

The Aviation cocktail I made as a part of Engagementversary 2011.

The gorgeous lavender color doesn't really come across in the iPhone pic,

but The Hubs took some actual photos of dinner prep that I'll post soon.

Blurgh!

It has been a Blurgh! couple of weeks.  I don't know, I've just been mopey and down-the-dumps. Overwhelmed. And exhausted.  Just really, really tired.

There's not a whole heck of a lot to be done about this, as I:

• Work full-time. They want me to show up!  Every day!  ALL day! And like, do stuff!  Gah. 
• Have an engaging, delightful and energy-draining toddler.
• Try to exercise regularly and make at least semi-healthy, homemade food.  Because, you know, you want to do that.  Plus regular exercise really beats back the crazy in my head and keeps me on a somewhat even-er keel.  
• Try to give some basic care and feeding to my relationship with The Hubs.  Finding the sweet spot on that spectrum between having a cocktail and a hot meal ready at 6:00 sharp and grunging around in sweatpants is harder than you'd think.
• Attempt to have, you know, a social life.
• Continue to fail miserably at general home upkeep, laundry, cleaning, grocery shopping, dog walking and other domestic chores (Thanks to the lovely Beatriz, though, I can maintain the illusion for a few hours on Thursday afternoons and sometimes even Friday mornings.  Sometimes).

Everyone I know has some permutation of these responsibilities/issues/joys/pains/whatever-you-want-to-call it.  And everyone I know gets a little wiped out, a little overwhelmed, a little freaked out on occasion.  Why, in the past 36 hours I have both been talked down off the ledge by a good friend and, I think, helped another one at least not lean out the window quiiiiite so far.

I don't think there's a magic bullet except for taking a deep breath, having a good cry, kvetching with friends and a glass of white wine or six.   As my wise, ledge-talking-off friend S said, it's OK to have a little pity party for yourself.  Because then you can get over it and carry on.

I don't think there's a magic bullet.  But if there is, someone please let me know, for the love of all that is holy.  

Carry on.

Rain, Rain, Hooray, Hooray!

Wow!  It's a gully-washing frog-drowner out there today.  Though it made my morning commute a little dicey, it's so great to get a good soaking.  Especially since it probably won't rain again until sometime in October.

View from my parking garage.

I was very grateful this morning to be able to park in a parking garage, and even more grateful for the architects who had the foresight to connect said parking garage to the building with a covered walkway. Way to think it through, architects!

It's been a busy and emotionally exhausting week.  We have been working on moving things out of The Hubs' mom's house, and it was the first time we've been back since she passed away in October.  I'm not even sure what to say about that, but moving furniture, going through mementos and other special items all on top of the general busy-ness of life has seemed very exhausting.

Because of that, my workout routine has fallen to the wayside.  I got up yesterday to do my weights workout, but about half-way through I realized I just wasn't into it.  So I dragged my mat out onto the deck and did some yoga instead.  I was sitting there trying to be calm and centered thinking, "I should totally be calm and centered!  That would be really awesome if I could be calm and centered."  I don't think it worked. 

Meanwhile, I'm trying to eat healthy but with limited success.  Check out my super-healthy smoothie, though:

Pre-blend.

Post-blend.  Love that VitaMix!

That was frozen bananas, blueberries, almond milk, a scoop of whey protein powder and a handful of spinach.  It didn't look pretty, but it tasted awesome and kept me full until lunch.

Of course, today I had a Coke Zero and a Luna Bar for breakfast.  Just trying to keep balance in the universe.

Glad To Be A Mama Day

Well, Mother's Day was fun!  I got up early and went for jog in the neighborhood with Tucker Dog, my little dog baby.   Later in the morning, we went over to my parents' house for mimosas and burgers on the grill.  They've done a bunch of work on the garden and house, and it was fun to see all the updates.  After sleeping off all the delicious food and drink, it was time to go to the pool!

Miss E looks like a rock star in this photo, and my Dad and I are her bodyguards.

The fam.

The pool.

Swimming is hard work! Sometimes you just need a snuggle.

The Last Few Weeks

Where does the time go?  The last couple of weeks have just flown by.  I can't believe it's May already.  It got hot for a while there but today we've got perfect, sunny spring weather.  And!  I saw a puppy when I walked over to a nearby cafe for a post-lunch coffee (decaf of course--I don't live on the edge, people).  Sun, grass and a puppy?  Come on.  It was a nice pick-me-up.

Easter weekend was really fun this year.  We re-created an old family tradition.  When I was a kid, we'd go out to the Ranch with family friends and have this epic Easter egg hunt.  This year, we reconnected with those friends, only it was our kids doing the hunting.  It was such fun to see old friends and new faces and have such familiar good times.  The weather was perfect, the kids were adorable and the food was delicious.  Here's hoping it becomes Easter Tradition v2.0 from now on!

Little cuties in their Easter dresses, digging into the Easter baskets.

Found one!

EEEEE-gg!  Where AAAAA-re youoooooo?

Like my Easter crown?

The aftermath.

Otherwise, work has ramped up so my days have been busy, which keeps the evenings pretty quiet and low-key, except for all the commitments we chronically have (Moms/Dads nights out, book club, board meetings, dinners with family, etc.).  It's all fun and great stuff but it does keep us from, say, having a semi-regular date night.  It also keeps us good and worn out--but I really do mean that in a good way.  Boredom is the enemy!

I've been running a bit more consistently, until my long run last weekend in which I think I gave myself tendinitis in my foot, so I've been off it this week.  Instead, I've gotten back into doing my weight workouts in the garage.  While I was being "forced" to do them by our trainer, I moaned and groaned enough, but I actually found myself enjoying them this week.  Which is awesome: it's a lot easier to get up before dawn to work out if you don't mind doing it.  

I am looking forward to the weekend and to Mother's Day!

Sunday Funday

This morning I woke up to a house without electricity.  As it turns out, I need electricity for literally EVERYTHING.   I kept flipping on light switches while the power was out--nothing will make you feel stupider.

I happened to wake up before Miss E and realized breakfast was going to be a problem (smoothie?  no. toaster waffle? no. arrgh stupid modern-day dependence).  I decided we'd pop down the hill to Russell's bakery to get breakfast....forgetting that I'd put my car in the garage the night before and couldn't get the garage door up without power.  #firstworldproblems.

So we grabbed the handy-dandy Bob stroller (seriously, one of the top 10 inventions ever) and walked.  Which, let's be honest, we should have been doing anyway because it's really not that far.  After a chocolate croissant for Miss E and a bran muffin for me (what was that about not eating so many carbs?  Hm), we headed over to the Perry Park playground to burn off the sugar rush.

Due to the power outage, I hadn't been able to get up in the morning to do my planned Brazil Butt Lift workout.  Full disclosure:  I hadn't been able to get up to the my planned Brazil Butt Lift workout well before I discovered we were power-less.  But I made up for it during Miss E's nap, in which I completed the classic "Bum Bum" as well as nearly two-thirds of the "Tummy Tuck" workout before I completely collapsed.

As a person who has worked out for most of her life, I feel I have encountered most exercises out there that are accessible to the masses.  I've done your step aerobics, core classes, stairmaster, elliptical, spinning, yoga, pilates, capoeira...my point here is that if it's out there, I've probably done it.  But these ab exercises that ol' Leandro throws at you in the Tummy Tuck...well, I've just never encountered anything like it.  It's unbelievable.  There are reverse crunch twists (yeah, give that a try). There are bicycle crunches. There are plank pushups and side planks.  It's killer, is the point.  One of these days, I'll get through the whole thing.

The Hubs got home from his trip to the coast in the late afternoon, all sunburned and exhausted and we were so happy to see him.  Miss E was a little mad at first but she warmed right up, and by the time I got back from Randall's with the evening's libations they were sitting in the rocker reading Maisy At Home--signs that all is right with the world.

For dinner, I made Fish Algiers from the Moosewood Cookbook.  I used HEB frozen cod (which was a little meh but a fraction of the cost of the fresh stuff).  You put the fish in a baking dish and cover it with thinly sliced tomatoes.  Then you pour over a marinade of cumin, cayenne, olive oil and lemon juice and bake it.  It was real good.  I forgot to take a picture.

To go along with it, I made the Marinated Zucchini from the same cookbook:  zucchini rounds sauteed in olive oil with garlic, then scattered with fresh basil from the garden and red wine vinegar.  It's just about my favorite way to prepare zukes.  I also had these Sister Schubert's rolls--the frozen kind where you just bake as many as you want--and they were really good.  Not quite as good as homemade but closer than you'd expect for something from the freezer aisle.  We had a nice chilled bottle of sauvignon blanc and strawberries for dessert.

 I love my deck, ya'll

Miss E, of course, was having none of it.  She had leftover Mandola's pizza and a roll with her milk.  I'm just hoping to lead by example, at this point.  And how, you ask, were we able to enjoy a lovely Sunday evening dining al fresco with a 2 1/2 year old?

I live with a monkey.

You jump, I sit and drink wine.  Aw yeah.