the interruption ... if you would give me just a second of your time!
Yeah, it's me.
Hi!
I know, I seriously HATE HATE HATE those type of "goodbye, see-ya, I'm moving on, come follow me here" type of posts that people do when they are leaving one blogging platform for another. That's why I never did one. I did move my main blog over to Blogspot. No huge reason, really, I just had that one as a "family and friends that know me in real life" type blog and it just got to be too much to run that one and this one.
So as much as I love LOVE Vox, this one just was kept on the back burner for too long, and something had to give. I mean, I haven't posted a real post here since the beginning of March, for goodness sakes. But, I have had a few of you contact me recently wondering what was up and where I was (thanks for that, I feel so loved!)
So if any others of you still care, are still reading, even still have me in their neighborhoods, if you're interested you can find me here:
and
Two More Seconds! is my family/friends/catch all life blog. Kinda like what I had here. Plum Pear Apple is my new venture, I'm selling kids Superhero Capes that I custom make. It's keeping me incredibly busy but it's going really good so far. So, you're welcome to come visit me at either of those places. I still love comments. :)
Oh, also, I still read all of you on a regular basis, I'm just a HORRIBLE commenter lately, so I promise to try to be better at that, if you promise to try too!
xo, Erin
For Pregnancy Flashback Friday
So I was very blessed in that I had a pretty awesome pregnancy. I not once got "morning" sickness, I didn't have to wear maternity clothes until well past 20+ weeks, I was put on a strict "one-milkshake-a-day" diet by my ObGyn because I wasn't gaining enough weight (for real!), I didn't have ligament pains or Braxton Hicks contractions or any of that. I didn't even get one stretch mark. Don't hate me too much, please.
But what I did get were cankles. Seriously fat, ugly swollen Shrek feet. For reals. It didn't help that the last trimester of my pregnancy was June-July-August in Southern California -- it was SO hot the summer of 2006, too. It also didn't help that I was on my feet most of my days at work. My feet were so swollen some days that I would look down at them literally expecting to see my skin cracking open at the seams. I was "dentable" -- my coworkers got a great laugh out of poking in my foot with as much pressure as they could -- and then taking bets on how long it would take the dent to subside. Sometimes it was 30 or more minutes. It was gross, uncomfortable, painful ... and a little freakish.
At work I first got special clearance to wear flat shoes (otherwise we were encouraged to wear heels). Then I got clearance to wear my flat Crocs. Then I got further clearance to wear my flip-flops, because my feet were to swollen to fit into my clog-Crocs. THEN my feet got too fat to fit into my beloved Rainbows and so I resorted to wearing slippers around my desk area ... and going barefoot when I was teaching a class. I also kept a bucket of ice water under my desk and would soak my feet during down time. People would come by my desk from all over the building to see the freaky swollen feet girl.
Here's a picture of my feet, when I was about 6 months pregnant (not too much swelling yet, pretty close to normal)
And here's a picture when I was about 8 months pregnant, on my last day of work. (Sorry for the crappy picture quality)
After I quit work I spent the last month of my pregnancy out on our deck with my feet immersed in a cooler filled with ice and water with a constant stream of water from the hose pouring in. I would sit out there and read, play on the internet, and take naps. I got an awesome tan from about ankle (cankle) up.
A little while ago I posted about me becoming a volunteer at the Sundance Film Festival this year (well, technically next year, since it's in January '08). I'm getting more and more excited about it. I only signed up to be part-time, which is committing to a minimum of five 4-hour shifts - but with the unlimited possibility to pick up more.
I have thoroughly read and signed my volunteer agreement and release form:
My past few tries at bread baking have been reasonably successful and I can't begin to tell you the joy this brings me. I think there is nothing that I enjoy more than homemade bread fresh out of the oven. My mom is a wizz with yeast, but for years my attempts have all failed. Every holiday her yeast rolls are the staple food and there would be hell to pay with my grandfather and my cousin if those yummy serving sized babies didn't make their way to the table. This past Christmas I made her walk me through every minute detail of the process and in the end the rolls were my creation. I came home to bake bread for my big holiday dinner with Bonnie and it wasn't as good as having my mother's watchful eye, but it was edible and delightful all the same. I haven't made any attempts since then, though since Friday I've been having a monster craving from being in a Foley's Bakery shop. (mm...foley's...) So, tonight as Bonnie left for work I started in on some whole wheat bread. I just took it out of the oven and sliced that steaming first bit off, slathered it in Cabot Creamery butter and savored every little bite.
I'm contemplating driving to the hospital to share the bready goodness with my girlfriend. It would be the thoghtful thing to do, but alas it's nearly bedtime on a school night and the temperature has dropped quite a bit since this afternoon. Perhaps I could store it in the freezer til I see her on Wednesday? Oh the moral dilemmas I have...
Who was your first celebrity crush?
Submitted by Glory.
I still stand by that I was the first person to love Leonardo DiCaprio. I loved him when he was short and greasy and wearing flannel on Growing Pains. Damn he was a hot 12 year old...
Though, I must say, I'm almost ashamed to admit it today. I have mixed feelings about his worldly popularity.
It's easier to list my cleaning products than to think of 5 things you don't know about me. Thanks for the idea, Jaime!
Nighttime face wash. I brush my teeth, I wash my hands, I take out my contacts and I get a steaming hot washcloth all lathered up with this stuff.
Morning (in the shower) face wash. I joke about the biggest problem with this being sure to not rinse the exfoliating "rocks" into your eyes. And more than once I've rubbed them out of my nostrils midday. But my face feels softer and generally cleaner. I use the blemish control version. I have used the standard version, but it doesn't keep my breakouts as low as the salicylic acid version. Ahhh salicylic acid....
This is my conditioner. I'm currently on the hunt for the perfect shampoo, so I can't share that with you. I love the lavender smell of this. I love that it's organic. I love that it's relatively inexpensive ($5-6?).
What I need in a shampoo: something that won't leave my scalp dry, itchy or flaky. Something that won't leave my hair greasy, stringy, or flat. Something that won't strip out any "color enhancing" I might or might not do. Preferrably something natural and/or organic. Jaime, shall I try yours? I do have a $25 coupon to the new whole foods....
Bonnie totally got my hooked on the "all in one" almond castile soap. I use it for body wash, but apparently I could use it to wash my hair, my dishes, perhaps even my car?? My biggest challenge is to keep from drinking it- it smells so delicious! For a short time I was finishing up a bottle of Body Shop Satsuma citrus body wash and if Bonnie was using the almond stuff at the same time it was like we were making some sort of fancy dessert in the shower. Yum.
I'm just such a sucker for Aveeno. When I get out of the shower I lather myself all up in this stuff. I like how it's not greasy, it rubs in easily. It doesn't have a grandma smell and it doesnt' leave me feeling sticky. Again, quite affordable.
When I'm all done getting clean I top myself off with a little 'brown black' thickening, lenghtening mascara. I feel naked without it. It's my only every day makeup staple (I think I get the love for mascara from my mom- it's her only staple as well) Though when I'm feeling fancy I do get out my liner wind up 'pencil' and my liquid/gel shadow.
I know the sold out, but I still love Tom's. My mom used it the other day when she was here, and apparently it's an acquired taste. I don't remember because I prefer it now. *knock on wood* 27 years and cavity free....
When I first discoverd this back in college I described it as "eating Girl Scouts..." Um...that was inaccurate- more like eating Girl Scout COOKIES. I'm a hardcore chapstick addict. I'll try other products here and there, but I always come back to the 'girls in green' for my lip mosturizing satisfaction.
Our family friend, Nancy, has been battling breast cancer. She has worked for my dad at his various businesses for 16 years and has loved me almost like the granddaughter she never had. She's the sweetest woman with the shiniest, most positive outlook. I think it's her crassness that I love the most about her though. It was about 5 years ago that she was first diagnosed. She had a single massectomy (which we all joked about for the last 5 years because she is a seriously busty little old lady- but now only uni-ly busty) and went through a few bouts of chemo, but came out easily on top. Maybe a little more than a year ago she was having all this pain in her shoulder and back. It was her chiropractor who, after months of failed adjustments, finally said 'wait- this might be your cancer.'
Sure enough, it was in her lungs, in her spine, it seemed like- you name it, it had spread there. She's been out of work for months, receiving radiation and chemo and fading away to half her size. A few weeks before Thanksgiving she went to the hospital after days unable to get out of bed or eat or drink. They hooked her up to an IV and this woman who has never doubted winning this batter was convinced she was dying. The doctors put her on steroids and it activated her appetite. When I saw her at Thanksgiving she was up and around and all about the house. Steroids are a beautiful thing apparently. She came back to work bit by bit the next week and was going along well, but my dad said she got a cold the week before last and it really knocked her out. They had taken her off the steroids just before that and my dad was convinced that the steroids were just a cover. Covering the deterioration that was really going on inside her. He told her to stay home and Monday she went to have some more tests and scans done. Her results came back on Thursday and my dad didn't hear from her and he convinced himself that the news was bad- that this would be Nancy's last Christmas.
Well, the tests did come back, but the news is actually amazing. Somehow, the cancer is nowhere to be found. Her lungs looked cloudy, but it turned out that was from her cold. I'm going to go see her today and I think it's going to be all I can do to not burst into tears. This, my friends, is the real Christmas Miracle.
Happy Halloween, all! I have had a total of about 10 trick-or-treaters so far. All less than 3 feet tall and quite scrumtious.
Now, for a scary story...
My parents came down on Sunday to celebrate my birthday with me. I had told my dad all I wanted for my birthday was for him to come with his chainsaw to take care of some wayward limbs that were threatening to fall on my car this winter (I'm very gun shy of my tree since I had two separate limb falling incidents over the summer- there's no telling what it would do with the weight of the snow!) Somehow they safely made it in the ridiculous nor'easter of a windstorm that was this past weekend in New England. So, he did as I requested- took them off, trimmed them down and my mom and I hauled off the scraps to their van and to my wood pile while he installed my new outside lights (okay, so there were TWO things I wanted for my birthday...) We finished all of that, he put the chainsaw away and we came inside to eat lunch.
We were sitting in the living room chatting while the lasagna finished baking and all of a sudden there was the loudest bang in the whole name of bangs. Pictures came flying off the wall and we sat there stunned, staring at each other. I thought it sounded like thunder, but the pictures fell, so maybe it was an earthquake? My dad got up and looked out the window to see that one of my giant pine trees had fall INTO MY HOUSE!!
We raced outside to see:
Why do my trees keep falling???
Luckily this story has a happy ending. Because not only did the tree hit my house without remotely hurting a thing, my dad was here with his chainsaw to immediately take care of it...AND this week is yard waste pick-up!!! So, I've got a huge pile of pine limbs sitting out by the road waiting patiently for the removal mice to take it all away. If it had to happen, it couldn't have happened more perfectly, in my opinion.
(Notice, how as soon as he cut off the stump the groun immediately slapped back down into place? Earth is crazy stuff!)
