The Quiet Life of Violet

We Enjoyed

        Our First Christmas

 

family cuddles -

(Roman in his cute Christmas clothes and Dustin at home with his boy and his lady in his arms. If the only thing I ever accomplish in my lifetime is this, I will go down in history as the luckiest woman who ever lived.)

decorations -

(beautiful vintage Christmas bulbs from Auntie Pam made the decorations so meaningful.  I always tell myself that I'm going to decorate earlier next year so I can enjoy the sparkle a bit longer.)

friends  and christmas eve -

( + wine, whiskey, giggles, laughs, apple-cranberry bake, holiday ice cream and Nacho Libre. We are so lucky to ahev such great people as friends.)

christmas morning -

(Lots of usable baby gift from Santa, clothes and THE BEST CAMERA EVER for me & clothes and a bike that I HUNG IN MY CLOSET BY A BELT for Dustin. I managed getting that thing home, in the house and suspended in mid-air with only one leg. LEGIT.)

visiting family -

(My parents made tamales that were amazing. Got to hang out with my siblings for a bit and watched some of Forgetting Sarah Marshall... um.. sex scenes on Christmas Morning, anyone? Awkward. Then off to Dustin's parent's house. A delicious dinner that filled me to the brim. We stayed 'till the sun set and I literally passed out on their couch and slept all cuddled up with the pups. I was SO tired. The definition of bliss is a sleeping baby, loving family and cozy dogs under the blanket. Oh, add to that the homemade cheesecake that I ate on the way home. Yes.)

 

back where we belong -

        good night.
(or good morning...)

Saturday... Hatterday?

Nothing cool or funny rhymes with Saturday, at least off the top of my head. Hehe! It's been quiet around these parts, I know, but we've been in full Holiday-swing with Christmas in less than a week away. I swear, with running a home and taking care of my perfect, sweet, amazing little guy, there aren't many times in a day where I can sneak away and blog. The Typepad app (for my iPhone) suuuucks (you hear that Typepad?!), so it's hard for me to find a few hours to park myself in from=nt of my bohemeth of a laptop and indulge in post-writing, but that's okay. I actually love the fact that I'm choosing to put my Husband, baby and home first - it's all part of the quiet life that I've dreamed of for so long!

On Saturday afternoon, my In-Laws came out and the five of us packed into the Vanager and made our way to one of our favorite healthy burger places in Berkeley. There was some sort of Holiday Faire going on, so the parking situation was even worse than normal. I got all feed-me cranky, but once my MASSIVE salad was ready and my blood sugar was a little more stable, I was a happy camper.

This salad could seriously feed 3 people
I think someone is ready to start eating real food...

After we had our super-delicious meal, we all piled back in and headed home. Grandpa got to spend a little more time with Mr. Squidsters before he left and Grandma stayed to babysit for us because we had a triple-date with Matt and Natty and our friends Mike and Marquita (Mar-keet-uh).

I had the luxury of taking my sweet-ass time to get ready for the evening and then Bubby and I headed out to pick up M&N. Traffic SUCKED, but that's to be expected the weekend before Christmas in the San Francisco area, right?

We met up at Dave and Busters (Bub and I had never been) for an evening of food, drinks and adult Chuck E.Cheese-like games. Oh dear. Verdict: Dave and Busters can keep it. It was a bust. The food was decent -- think bad Applebee's -- but they forgot to add Dustin's meal, so he got his salad as the rest of us were finishing up. Poor guy. Our waiter suuuucked and didn't understand the concept of checking in on us periodically or splitting the bill, so we gave him our cards and he charged us for each other's meals. It was the icing on our dinner's turd.

After stashing our left-overs in the icy car, Dustin and Matt raced back in with two minutes to spare without having to pay some nonsense cover charge, as it was almost 10pm. We bought credits for the games and then made our way into the Mid-way/game room with high hopes. Those machines are rigged! The claw machines were a joke -- I would have had more luck removing a stuffed animal by farting than using the claw. Seriously sad. Most of the games (skee-ball, basketball, coin toss machines, etc..) gave out tickets and it was fun "winning" , but it was kind of over priced and was populated by  -dressed chicks and douchy-bros with waaaaaay too much cologne.  OH! Not only were there hos-and bros, but the kids! Who the hell has their kids out at 11:00 pm at night like that? It blew my mind. Maybe I'm missing something and being too judge-y, but I feel that a kid needs to be at home in their bed sleeping, not dragged around in a stroller, bleary eyed and hunched over while Mom nurses a cocktail. I found myself wishing we were all at some quiet lounge with drinks in hand and good conversation on our lips, but instead it was a lot of  "ding-ding-ding-ding!" and noisy game loops.

Come 10:30, Dustin and I were tired. Seriously? Long gone are the 4am bedtimes of yesterday. We're old people now! I kind of love it, though, this life of ours. I love my stay-at-home-mom title, broken sleep schedule and wedding band on my finger. I love the middle of the night bottles and quick cuddles and stinky dirty diapers at 9 am. I love the morning breath and Dustin's dirty socks and the mail man that walks by out  window each day. I appreciate so much that I don't have to go on dates and hit up bars in search of the man and life that I dream of - I've got mine and I couldn't be any happier.

Best part of the night? Cashing in our tickets for cheap kazoos and the concert M&N and Bub and I put on on the ride home.

 

Don't judge - we were old and tired.

Our Weekend

 

 

The Perfect Song Fell Into My Lap

 

 

Also, I've updated my playlist.
It's full of songs that I'm totally loving right now!

 

 

Enjoy!

 

Pray Really Hard & Send Good Thoughts!

Hi guys!

I know that I normally post my 1,300 Things Guest Post on Sundays, BUT today I'm in need of your prayers and good thoughts! My sweet (as pie) friend Amber (and Chris!) is having her embryo transfer today (she's doing I.V.F.). She sadly experienced her third miscarriage last May and has struggled with infertility issues for the past thirty-four months.  Let's ask the big man upstairs to bless them with their own little Squid (or Squidette!), and that shes has a smooth and perfect procedure today.

I know that everyone has their own problems and struggles and things that fill their day, but I'm asking you to take one and a half minutes right this second and send her the best, most positive, wonderful, drool and diaper filled thoughts you've got, okay?

Amber,

I'm so excited for you, my friend! Just know that things are happening as they're meant to... sit back and let your little egg babies work their magic! I know the next two weeks will be full of hope and will be absolutely terrifying at the same time, but I know that you've got the (she) balls to get through whatever is coming your way. Lean on Chris, the man that loves you to pieces, and don't let the doubt and worry put out the hope-spark of the family that you know you're meant to have. We're all rooting for you and what ever happens at the end of these next two weeks, well we'll all either celebrate with you or cry with you, but the point is we're with you, my dear!

So much love,
Violet, Dustin and Mr. Squid

 

p.s.~ I'm thinking that after your three miscarriages, it's only right that you have triplets!!! Teehee!

1,300 Things To Be Thankful For -- Lacy Young

See previous weeks HERE.

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I'm Lacy from lacylike.com. I'm a Health Coach, Lifestyle & Inspiration Blogger. Glass half full, happy gal. I support women to live empowered w/o guilt, calorie counting & deprivation.  My health coaching site is lacyyoung.com  If you're sick and tired of being sick and tired stop in and say hello!  I live in California with my wonderful Husband, Cliff and we share our home with two pretty little kitties, Ned and The Hinge. Life is good!

Find me here:

Blog: LacyLike
Yoga Studio:  Breathe
Twitter: LacyAnnYoung

 _________

 

301. Summer!  Parties where I get to dress up like a clown and spend time outside.


302. Happy Tummy Hot Tea (sipping it now as I write so naturally it comes to mind) :)

303. Tunes. Mumford and Sons, Adele, Peter Bjorn and John, Foster and The People 

304. Love. The real kind. 

305. Conversations on the couch facing my love, feet to feet.  Talks that last for hours on end.  

306. Dangly earrings, yoga pants, tank tops and flip flops... my daily "uniform"

307. Total delight in the little details of life... drinking from jars and sitting on the patio.


308. Text messaging with my Mema.  It's so cool to see her I love you's and send them to her too.  I love it when she writes LOL!  She's so savvy.

309. Drawers, closets, my studio and anything else that needs organizing!  Organizing makes me hap, hap, happy!

310. My new 40 buck juicer and amazing green juice.  I keep telling everyone that I ate 2 pears, 5 celery stalks, 2 cucumbers and three hand fulls of spinach for lunch! 


311. Today.  Just oh so thankful to be right here, right now... writing to you and this opportunity to practice gratitude.  

312. Laughter.  Is there anything better to pull you right into yourself!?

313. wine!  The red kind. and that the wine opener smiles at me.


314. Interweb.  The people I've met as a part of this great connectedness we all share. 

315. Smell... the way fresh cut grass smells, just before and after a rain, the way Cliff smells and Ned's belly.  The smell of baking anything and coffee (even though I don't drink it, I LOVE the way it smells).

316.  All things green.  Wheatgrass growing in the window = love.  The fresh basil that is everywhere right now.


317. Movies.  Good ones.  Always get me feeling deeply and inspire me.  Just caught Benjamin Button on TV the other day.  Sigh.  How I love that story.

318. Hiking.  My five fingers shoes.  The way the trail feels under foot. 

319. Mimosas + girlfriends.  Our Stitch and Bitch nights.  Sweet elixir for the soul.

320. Road trips. Getaway days in my Smart Car and how it always gets us there and leaves money to spare on amazing food or beverage.

321. Long arm photos.  ALL. TIME. FAVORITE.  Documenting the moments of life through camera or phone.  

322. Ned, Always Ned.  Animals (and babies, right Vi!) smooth the edges of life and remind us about the magic and power of love.


323.  Beginnings, middles and endings of health coaching sessions.  Watching someone grow and unfold before my eyes is tremendous inspiration.

324.  Trees.  Being near them. In them. Under them.  Pure magic. 

325.  This amazing life.  Where I've been, where I am and where I'm headed.  Here's to a big bright tomorrow and 13,000 things to be thankful for!

 
Thank you, lovely Lacy! Just in case you guys haven't checked out her blog, Miss Lacy is wonderful and soothing and taught me how to do yoga with one leg (she has two, but she created this whole adaptive yoga routine just for me). We live about an hour from one another and we met through our friend Leigh-Ann - who is from Canada, go figure! It's a small world after all.

                                                                          [April 2010]

                            [Lacy, Leigh-Ann and yours truly. May 2011]

Eeepp! I'm glad to see that I'm not the only one who enjoys drinking out of jars (number 307)... In fact, it's confession time - This is my favorite cup:


It's a 32 ounce Kerr/Mason jar that my Mom brought me flowers in a few Thanksgivings ago. It's been my favorite cup ever since. It's got a narrow rim which is awesome for keeping little sneaky flitty bugs and floating lint and dust out of my water while I'm sleeping. I love it so much and it's far superior to any plastic or "regular" glass cup, even though it gets large amounts of  "cup sweat" when I drink anything super icy out of it. You know what cup sweat is, right?

Hope your weekend was cup-sweat-a-licious and full of fun!

xo,
Violet