The Hunt is On

This weekend Josh and I went on a date. And during this date we made two purchases. (See below).

Running shoes. Because I'm doing that now. I've been running for the past weekish. And my body hurt everywhere. And then Josh said that maybe I should trash my old (5 year old, physically falling apart) shoes and get some new ones. And lo and behold here they are. And you know what? I didn't feel the need to take 4 Advil after my run tonight. I daresay that is an improvement.

More Importantly:

We purchased leather chairs. A pair of leather chairs. And now I hear Etsy calling my name for some uber stylish throw pillows to go along with them.

Fun times. I kind of like being an adult.

disclaimer: the aforementioned statement about being an adult is in no way shape or form an opening for all of the horrible karma or luck or heavenly beatdown to rain upon me. I'm just sayin': right now, adulthood = not so bad.

New Print

It's been awhile since I've been able to go out and take pictures (of anything! not just of Juliana...) and I've been getting the itch to put up a new print in the Hello Birdie shop. I found this as I was perusing my long lost laptop files tonight.

I imagine that if I fell asleep in this field that I would awake find a unicorn quietly grazing in the sunlit meadow.

Behold!

Ok. Fine... Cheesy. But still....

She's up in the shop. Go take a look!

Change of Heart

I am not a fan of Halloween, friends. People watch scary movies and jump out of dark corners and those cackling robotic witches at Home Depot are always....cackling... and smoldering randomly.

Most of my recollections of Halloween include dressing up in a costume that my mother worked tirelessly on, only to have her hand me my winter coat to put over it because traditionally, the first snow always seemed to fall on Halloween night.

So I would get all dressed up in a winter coat so I could traipse through our neighborhood gathering candy, and inevitably we would stop at the local doctor's humble abode....where he gave out apples. And then on to the dentist's house...who gave out toothbrushes. And then we would go home. We lived on a nice street with people who had terrible taste in Halloween offerings.

The first time I was stood up on a date happened to be on Halloween. I was all dressed up and ready to go! (Can you imagine? I mean really? How many times does the door bell ring on Halloween? I think about 11:00 I completely gave up and just set the candy bowl outside.)

And the first time I ever saw my husband (then boyfriend) absolutely fume was on a Halloween night, after he got his first speeding ticket. (Hi honey!)

Which, he was not the boy to stand me up, obviously.

But this year was different. This year, someone at our house was excited about Halloween. This year, Juliana knew about Halloween.

We spent several weeks deciding what she was going to be: a princess? too boring. a fairy? too typical. A unicorn? maybe. A dog! Yes. Indeed. A dog.

Although, if you were to ask Juliana, she was a pink princess flying poodle fairy puppydog.

As long as you're happy sweet pea.

In the end, she was a pink poodle. And adorably snuggly pink poodle. And on cue, she would howl at the full moon if you asked her nicely.

And despite the fact that she has to have ungodly amounts of dental work done, we let her eat as much candy as she could stomach (and then brushed her teeth for the next hour). And she loved it! (the Halloween-ing, not the brushing).

I might have to consider dressing up next year, you know...to get into the spirit and all. But the first person that jumps out of a dark corner will no longer live by the mantra "I have no regrets!"

And you know that it's you "no regrets" kind of people who would do just that very thing.

Early Morning Casualty

Juliana is a girly girl. She loves all things pink. And purple is in a close second these days.

From the beginning of her existence Josh has worked hard to find things that she will play with or participate in that border on the non-girly side. It's been a rough road for him but he is unmoved in his devotion to not have one of those girls.

I had chalked up his efforts as a lost cause long ago. Josh, just embrace the pink!

That was until last night. Juliana and her father came to a crossroads: Juliana sat (under the watchful eye of her dad) in the living room "fixing" her pink butterfly lawn chair with a shiny set of real live tools. Hammer, screwdriver, pliers....all with pink handles. They were both in sheer heaven.

Josh made a huge leap last night in his quest for a tomboy, but he has always urged Juliana to be comfortable around the sworn enemy of girly-girls. Bugs.
Bugs. And Spiders. And Slugs. Oh My!

So this morning when we walked out the front door and Juliana spied a lone roly poly, she immediately picked it up.
Oh. ehem. Rescued it, rather.
She was insistent that her new found friend accompany her in the car, to keep her company on the way to school.
We went over a few ground rules for having a roly poly in the car:

Don't drop him!
Mom! It's a girl!
Oh. Well then. Don't drop her!
Don't try to unroll her.
Don't' squish her between your fingers.
Why would I want to hurt my friend?
Indeed. You wouldn't. So, no squishing.
And lastly: If she is going to ride in my car, she needs a name.
Holly.

We had to make an emergency pit stop in the CareNow parking lot (less than a mile from the house) because Juilana dropped Holly The Roly Poly. But fear not! Holly was found, happily making her way along the side of the floor mat.

Juliana asked me, in all seriousness, if I would take Holly to work with me, since she might get stepped on at school. I suggested that Holly might like a nice patch of dirt in a flower bed somewhere, since my office tends to be a little boring, especially for a world traveling roly poly.
And just as Juliana consented to the patch of dirt idea...
there.
.
.
goes.
.
.
Holly.

We were both positive that she fell into Juliana's car seat, but upon close inspection of the area, there was no Holly to be found. Holly's name was called out. Jackets were lifted and gently shaken. Hooolllll-lllllyyyy! Where arrrre you?
Upon closer inspection of the entire car, it was determined that Holly had indeed fallen into Juliana's car seat. And then Juliana might have sat on her.

And so dear readers, let it be known that Holly the World Traveling Roly Poly is enjoying a nice blade of grass next to a lovely iris in the Patch of Dirt in the Sky.

Juliana, the bug loving girly-girl, accepts your sympathies with deepest gratitude.

Feeling Rather Capricious

Synonyms: whimsical, mercurial

Usage: My capricious nature has become quite evident these days, as I am unable to decide whether I should take a jaunt to Portland for self-discovery, a trip to Belize for Jesus, or rather, just stay home and study.

I take the GRE in approximately a month and a half.
But don't think for a minute that I didn't google "cheap flights to Portland"
.
.
.
You can get there and back for just over three-hundred bones. I wanted to make a witty comment as to what a stellar deal I feel as thought I had found. Sadly one of the synonyms for inexpensive is "cheapo".

Really?

It's been a stressful week, apparently

I'm about to just launch into a full blown panic attack.

I'm not too terribly sure what make my brain engage once I looked at my calender this afternoon, but, ehem, I have less than two months to prep for the GRE.

Less than two months.

Now, typically I'm not one of those "prepped" kind of people. I'm more of a wing it kind of person when it comes to standardized testing. But this is grad school. And I've heard that the GRE will kick. your. ass.

I am in no way shape or form prepared for an ass-kicking.

I am also apparently in need of a paper bag.

Chompers

Let me just begin by saying that I am on the verge of a full blown, three-year-old strong tantrum. Complete with banging fists and kicking legs. And definitely lots of screaming and crying.
I've continually told Juliana how these displays of the three year old psyche are just not very pretty. Not lady-like.
But, I also told her that if she brushes her teeth everyday (which she does) and she lets me brush her teeth everyday (and I do) and she doesn't eat too many sweets (we don't let her, because we're mean like that), that her teeth will grow healthy and strong.
(Insert cheezy smile)

Well, it was all for nothing. Or at least that's how it feels right now.

Juliana had her three year dentist check up today. And oh my dear goodness. The wrath of God has come upon us in a very financially straining/no dental insurance kind of way.
And so I'm left rocking myself back and forth in a corner and muttering things like "no, you may not have gummy bears! ever."

In our defense, the dentist said that Juliana's problems with her teeth were not caused by sweets/poor oral hygiene. darn straight they weren't.
Rather, they were caused in the womb (because that makes me feel loads better) And that between her heart and her allergies, the poor girl just got stuck with weak teeth (yay, for a lifetime of dental bills!)

All in all, she has cavities on her four back molars (conveniently located close to all that nasty allergy/sinus mess). Oh, and yeah, they will just need to fill those. No biggie!

Oh. Well. But wait. Did her cardiologist mention having her on an antibiotic for her heart? Oh, no? Hmm. Well we will have to get in touch with them about that. Because frankly, in this case, with her heart and all, we will probably need to have her sedated-to minimize the risk of infection to the heart-and yeah, no worries, they do that over at the Children's Hospital here in town. And it will only be approximately....oh wait...you don't have dental insurance?
Well, that sucks because oral surgeons are hex-pen-sive.

I know people who don't take their children to the dentist. ever. I know people who say "oh they're just baby teeth! they're going to fall out anyway!" I know people who ....

And it's just not fair! We did everything right. We brushed. We rinsed. We Brushed MORE. We ate not-sweets. We drank lots of water and just a little juice. She's never had a coke. She doesn't drink Gatorade (that stuff is loaded with sugar, in case you were unawares).

ORAL SURGERY? Are you effing serious?

Juliana is just so proud of herself. And I am proud of her too. (So, so very proud) She sat in all the different chairs just like a champ. She let them take x-rays. She didn't squirm or cry or fuss or anything. She was perfect. And she received so many compliments. And my heart was so swollen with pride for her.

And it's just not fair to have such a perfect child who has, under no wrong-doing of our own, weak teeth.