party like it's 1999

Whew. What a Saturday. I need another Saturday just to recover from today. Yikes.

Despite the fact that I haven't been to any kind of shower/party in probably 8 months, today I had TWO!! What are the chances, right? So now I'm home, safe and sound, savoring the sweet silence (okay, so I'm half-watching Animal Planet, but it's relatively silent) and solitude. Let's review the day, shall we?

As a co-hostess for Mollyanne's shower, I got up bright and early to prepare a fruit pizza. Despite a few close calls, it turned out beautifully (note: never try a new recipe for the first time for a high-profile event!! Practice first!!) and I only had about twelve thousand pounds of fruit leftover to turn into a fruit salad. Apparently I have no concept of how much fruit can fit on a fruit pizza and I slightly over-bought...but no matter, everyone loves a fruit salad!

The shower was at Robin's sickeningly beautiful house and was, as expected, absolutely lovely. We opted to keep it simple and classy and stayed away from too much baby-ness...Mollyanne's had 4 showers in the past two weeks and probably doesn't need a sea of pastel blue and green to remind her that she's about to birth a baby boy!! With our yummy brunch food (the shower was at 10:30 am) and Robin's funky dishes, I thought it turned out really nicely.

We had a good turn out of people (and their gifts) and I had a really good time. Lots of ladies brought their babies, so there was plenty of good baby-holding to be had. That's always exciting for me! Here I am with the guest of honor.

I left Robin's around 1:30 and drove home (35 minutes). I had a little over an hour before I needed to leave to drive to another side of town for my next shower, so I spent my time curling my hair. I decided mid-first-shower that I was sick of my straight, flat hair that badly needs to be cut. I want crazy gypsy hair. So I found some curling irons and spent some quality time in my bathroom. It turned out pretty good, although most of the curl fell out rather quickly. Oh well.

My next shower was a lingerie shower/bachelorette party for my friend Sarah. It was a nice mix of church and college friends, and there were some surprisingly scandalous gifts! Sarah's sister hosted the party and there was plenty of delicious food and cosmopolitans to enjoy.

After presents and games at Sarah's house, we went downtown to the Speakeasy (love it) for some dinner and drinks. Most of us were stuffed (several of us had attended both showers...equaling WAY too much party food!) but we found room for some tapas and cocktails. I had a delicious Mocha Nut martini and spanakopita...yum! I had fun sitting with Mollie, who was reunited with the Sangria Martini of her dreams, and was slightly happy about the situation.

I love the Speakeasy, and especially love hanging out there with fun girls. And what's better reason to celebrate is there than for a friend's upcoming nuptials??

Here I am with Sarah...we chose to remove most of our...um...male-body-part-themed jewelry for the trip downtown. Most of it, anyway. ;)

The day and night were fun, but being constantly surrounded by people is draining! I was happy to come home, shower, and lounge on the couch. I haven't seen Matt all day, sadly. He has been hanging out with his brother and some friends and they're still going strong. I could have gone to hang out with them after I left downtown, but the thought of MORE people was a little much and I opted to just come on home and chill. Tomorrow we have a big day at Vineyard with the Children's Open House, but hopefully I'll get some time tomorrow afternoon to hang out with Mattie and rest a bit.

And the countdown is on: only ONE MORE WEEK until we leave on our cruise!! Yippeeee!! However, I'm already dreading the part where we leave Lola with friends for the week. A week without my baby???? I just don't know if I can do it.

rollin'

A few weekends ago I made one of my lifelong dreams come true. You know, sometimes you can wish and hope and beg and drop 'subtle' hints for only so long before you just go on and get something for your own self. This was one of those situations. I have been whining about wanting Rollerblades for years. I think Matt thought it was just another of my whiny fake-wants...ya know, like wanting a unicorn or pygmy elephant. You know...like, they're cute and everything, but what would you really do with one? [side note: I still want the pygmy elephant, it's just slightly harder to obtain] So despite "ROLLERBLADES" appearing on every single Christmas and birthday wish list since he's known me, he still hasn't thought I'm serious about wanting some. I can't blame him, really...I mean, I'm not really the most athletic girl you've ever met. Most of my attempts at athleticism last for approximately 30 seconds and end as soon as I start sweating (I hate sweating).

But I really did want Rollerblades. I've never had any. My brother got some when we were little and he would never let me use them and so I never got to try. And I just knew I would be so awesome at it, WAY better than Jake was.

So maybe I am twenty-six. Maybe I'm slightly out of shape and way past my athletic prime, if I ever even had one of those. But dangit, I really wanted Rollerblades.

Enter my current passion for yardsaling. (I'm really tempted to spell that 'yardsailing', because how cool would it be if you could sail from yard to yard?) A few weekends ago, lo and behold, at an impromptu stop at a yard sale while on our way to the park, I found ROLLERBLADES. Hello, mother lode. Come to your new mommy. They had a few different pairs (it was a church yard sale), none of which fit me, but I'm not about to let a tiny thing like size stand in the way of my dreams. I picked out the pretty red-and-black pair, handed over my $5, and skated on towards a happier and more fulfilled future. Or rather...shuffled as I held on to Matt for dear life. Have I mentioned I've never even tried Rollerblading before? And they didn't have a helmet or knee or elbow pads for sale, so there's precious little between me and the pavement.

Anyway, in the weeks since I've used them as much as I can, which amounts to about 4 big shindigs. I can't use them unless Matt is with me because a) it took me two week to figure out how to STOP, b) our driveway is a hill and I didn't have the skills to traverse it alone, c) I COULDN'T STOP, and d) the dang things KILL my feet...I'll estimate they're about two sizes too small. Ouch. A girl can only take so much. But since Sunday I've learned how to stop (thank you online video tutorials) and gotten a little more confident in my skills.

Tonight we went over to this little street about a quarter mile from our neighborhood. It's this area that has been cleared as though they're going to build a neighborhood, but nothing has actually been built. So there are just lots of deserted streets with dead ends and cul-de-sacs and no cars whizzing by or neighbors gawking. Basically, it's perfect. And here's what it looks like when you teach a 26 year old girl and her 1 year old dog a few new tricks...

This here is what we in the business call the "t-stop." It's called that because...your feet (blades) make a T when you do it. And it makes you stop. Brilliant, really.

And this is like a waterskiing/dogsledding hybrid and I really do think it should be a competitive sport. Anyone want to join me in starting a league?

Basically you can summarize this as: Erika + Rollerblades = LUV

You think if I keep it up until Christmas I can convince someone to get me some blades that actually FIT???

millionaire in the making

It's been a fabulous weekend. I had an inkling it would be, since late Wednesday I got a voicemail from Stine requesting lodging for she and the husband at the Bates Motel for the weekend. If there's anything better than house guests in general, it would have to be when James & Kristina are the house guests. Good times have been had more than once when it's the Boothes and Bateses. Side note: approximately three weeks after Matt and I got married, the Boothes moved in with us for a little over a week. It was the best thing ever. They were between apartments and needed a place to stay and that was one fun week. As I recall, we watched lots of Man Vs. Wild, several documentaries about pygmy elephants, and drank fruity beverages...but anyways.

They were in town for a wedding James was in so they had several wedding events to attend, but in between we had time for some hanging out and laughs. Stine and I spent Saturday morning/afternoon going to yard sales and the flea market. You see, I've been wanting to make a present for my sisters' birthday (which was...umm...a few weeks ago...). I had seen something for sale in a shop downtown a few weeks ago which I thought was FABULOUS and perfect, but one of those things I figured I could make myself for a fraction of the cost. All it would require was some poking around at yard sales and a little craftiness. Stine is much craftier than I, so together I knew we could make this thing fabulous. AND WE DID. I would put pics up, but on the off chance my sister or any of her friends see my blog, I want to wait until I actually give it to her. But if you're really curious, I'll be happy to email you some pics and details, just ask.

After we made The Gift, I decided that this could be my ticket to stay-at-home-momhood and becoming a millionaire. I mean, this is a super cute and customizable gift that works as home/office decor. I can so see myself getting rich off this. We shall see, though. :) But I've got lots of plans for when that does happen...

First off, we will buy a bocce ball set. Matt & I played this game last night over at his parents' house and it was FUN! Neither of us had ever played before, and in general I'm not much a fan of any backyard sports...mainly because I tend to suck at such things. And I don't really enjoy doing things I'm terrible at. But I decided to be a sport and try bocce ball, and it was so much fun!! I had a good run of beginner's luck, which didn't hurt my attitude any, but it really seemed to be the kind of game that didn't really depend on how athletic you were...so I liked that.

That's Matt and his brother Steve contemplating their next move (and scratching mosquito bites). We had a lot of fun hanging out with his family and some other friends for the evening. We also got about a million mosquito bites. I guess that's one of the hazards of playing bocce ball! We finished off the night back at our house with the Boothes and Catherine, enjoying pina coladas and discussing the finer points of blogging and Google Analytics. And looking at pictures of strange and bizarre weddings. Yikes.

Today has been a relaxing and productive Sunday-- church followed by lunching at Barberitos and picking up some gifts at Target. We spent the last hour or so working on our continuing efforts to erradicate the ants from our yard. It doesn't seem like a fair fight, since there are millions of them and only two of us. But then again, they don't have poison. Mwah ha ha. Anyway, I do have high hopes that one day I will be able to take two steps onto the lawn and not be swarmed by fire ants. It's a dream I'm clinging to.

Well now Matt's running around doing all sorts of athletic things, so I better join in. I think my Rollerblades might be calling my name. Then again, it could be the ants.

the new ride

You had to see this one coming. I mean, Matt and I are moving up in the world. We're going places. We bought the house, have our dog, workin on getting a kid...we've got jobs, going on a sweet vacay next month...we're livin the good life. All we need is white picket fence and we'll be set.

A white picket fence. For our YARD. Our beast of a yard. Our larger-than-life yard. Our yard that seems to need entirely too much mowing. It's like as soon as you finish mowing, it's time to start again. That's how long it takes to mow the whole thing. I am hardly even exaggerating.

And as fun as mowing is (I really do enjoy it...when I'm in the mood), it's just been too much. It takes HOURS. And it's HOT outside. And for some unknown reason it's been RAINING all the time, which makes the FRICKIN GRASS GROW. I hate to sound ungrateful for the rain, but seriously. One of us needs to quit our jobs and be a stay-at-home-mower. If I could get benefits with that, I'd do it.

Or.....

Or maybe it's time to take [yet another] family 'heirloom' off Matt's parents' hands. Us buying a house has been like winning the jackpot for basically Matt's whole extended family: Look!! People to take all our old stuff!! Now we can buy newer stuff!! And hey-- we take it, cause we need it!! That's how we got our mower in the first place-- hand me down!!

But look what rolled in to Statham today.

Oh yeah. If you're wondering is that a top-of-the-line Snapper Model X5somethingortheother?? then I would have to say no, probably not. Maybe it was in like year 245 B.C. or something, but not now. But if you, like me, are wondering is that a lawmower that someone put tricycle handles on? then I would have to say...that's where all the signs are pointing. Go figure.

Giggle as you may (or maybe you're turning green with envy! You should be!), that puppy is one sweet ride and it got the job done. We got off to a bit of a rough start (naturally I didn't even give Mattie a try...this was all me tonight) and my deepest apologies go out to about 15 feet of our front yard that are now completely barren of life (who knew that putting the blade on the lowest setting would actually not make it look like a golf course?)...I hope that some day grass will grow there again...but please no one come visit us anytime soon because you might laugh.

Maybe Matt had a point when he suggested I do my "learning" in the back yard. Whatever, I thrive under pressure. After that minor detail got adjusted, it was smooth sailing. And by "smooth", I actually mean incredibly bouncy. The seat, if you can call it that, is not exactly what I'd call cushy. Or stable. Or well-balanced. And our yard isn't exactly level. The combination of these things did, however, make for a very exciting thrill ride-- it was pretty much like being at Six Flags on one of the old wooden roller coasters. Pretty much.

So that's the new ride. And if there was ever any chance of Matt's car getting a spot in the garage, I'm pretty sure it's gone now. Although we did purchase a garage shelf today!! I can't wait to get it set up and organized. Here's Matt putting it together...ladies, please wipe the drool off your keyboards. I know...the sight of a man reading directions while putting something together is a bit overwhelming for me, too.

So in theory I should have a lot more time on my hands now, since mowing won't take up every waking hour of my weekends. But don't worry-- I have a way to fill that time. It's another blog for another day (mainly because we keep forgetting to take pictures), but I can whet your appetite with one word:

Rollerblades.