Hugs are better than drugs and when treats learn to fly…Or just another day with a 5 year old...

So I’m sure you’re thinking, that’s a whole lot of randomness for one day. Well that about sums up my last 24 hours or so. I’ll start at the beginning. Last night around 7ish, thinking I was in the clear and my 5 year old, Denver, was snoozing, I snuck off to wash my face and tweeze my eyebrows. I came out of my bedroom about 20 minutes later and was surprised to see my stealthy little guy kicked back on the couch in front of the Millionaire Matchmaker. “Mom, I need to talk to you. Come really close. I had a really bad dream and it was about a girl at school who took drugs.” Ok, umm, you’re 5 and a half, how do you know about drugs? So I asked him what the drugs looked like and who took them. “Oh I don’t know mom, it wasn’t my school and there was just this boy who saw this other girl take them out of her backpack. But anyway, can I pleeease start out in your bed?” (This starting out in our bed seems to be the new phase every night.) Well the drug talk was not one that I was super prepared to have with my kindergartener so I gave him the basics; Drugs are very bad for you, it is like drinking poison from under the sink, they will make you very sick and they will make you crazy. Just say no to drugs, never ever take drugs and tell me or dad if anybody talks to you about drugs. Then for good measure I threw in the phrase that still haunts me from my childhood “hugs are better than drugs.” I can still hear my dad saying it to me every day before school, every night before bed and then as a teenager, every time I was heading to a party, work or a friend’s house. It obviously worked though because all these years later, it is still reverberating in my head. I’ll be sure to remind Denver of this on a daily basis now that “drugs” is a word that he knows. Please, please, please don’t let him come home tomorrow and ask me what sex is. That is a talk that I am most definitely not ready to have.

So sweet when they're sleeping

 

Moving on to this afternoon…I navigated the craziness that is the school car line (more about that later) and picked up my little guy from school. Everything was going fine. In fact, it was going great! I got a lollipop for Denver as a treat after school and after finishing more than half of it, he decided he was going to “save” it. The he pulled out his lunch box and brought out the cookies that he never ate at lunch. “Denver, you’re not having cookies and a lollipop before dinner” (too much sugar and he turns into Philip, the kid that Mike Myers played on SNL who is tied to the jungle gym and tempted with candy by Nicole Kidman).

My mother doesn't let me have sugar

 

Well hello Mr. Hyde! He refused to hand me the lollipop or the cookies. Now remember, I’m driving as this craziness ensues.

Me: Give me the Oreo’s Denver…

D: No! I want them!

Me: You better give them to me right now or else...

D: No way! I want them!

Me: You already had a lolly and you’re not having any other sweets before dinner.

D: Fine! (and then he threw them at me)

Well, here’s another little childhood flashback (throwback Thursday anyone?) that came full circle today…I took the Oreos and calmly threw them out the window. My most shining parenting moment? I think not. Well things really hit the fan after that. Some of the craziness that came out of his mouth after that included “I don’t like you...You’re a meanie...I don’t like you anymore” and so on. It's a good thing I have thick skin. Then he proceeded to throw his lunchbox and mittens at me (still driving!) Well, the mature parent that I am, I calmly replied with “I’ll show you how mean I can be” and I threw the lolly out the window too. Now I’m working with two counts of littering so I almost hate to admit these things online but cookies and candy are biodegradable…right?

So that was my day. How was yours?

What I'm loving this week

Here are my favorites for this week. Things and products I love, cool things to do, places to visit, etc. Let me know what you think!

·         Superbowl Sunday is only a few days away. I’m not a football fan in the least but I’m always SUPER excited for the Superbowl food! My two MUST HAVE dips for Superbowl Sunday are Buffalo Chicken dip served with tortilla chips, celery & carrots and the Chipped Beef Dill dip served in a rye bread bowl. Always big crowd pleasers and easy to make. My favorite Buffalo dip can be found at Skinny Taste. I love Gina’s recipes and don’t let the low cal tagline fool you. These recipes are all amazing and even my whole milk drinking, full fat mayo & fatty rib eye eating husband enjoys every recipe that I find on Gina’s website. She actually has an entire section of football recipes if you’re looking for ideas for Sunday. The dill dip can be found at All Recipes. Not a low cal recipe but you can use low fat mayo and sour cream if you want to. I’ll be bringing these two dips to the party we’re attending and I can’t wait to see what else people bring!

·         My favorite splurge for this week is the Country Mega Ticket that SPAC is offering for this summer! There are two price points, one for inside and one for lawn. The Mega Ticket will get you in to 4 different Country shows this summer at SPAC (my fave summer entertainment venue!) including Brad Paisley, Rascal Flatts, Jason Aldean & Luke Bryan. I’m excited that SPAC & Live Nation will be offering this awesome package and I think I know what I’ll be surprising my husband with for Valentine’s Day!

·         I’m looking forward to Friday night at the local “Paint & Sip”. A bunch of girlfriends are going for a Birthday party for a few of my friends and I’m really looking forward to a girl’s night out! An artist will instruct us step-by-step on how to paint the piece “Pink Heels”, a painting of pink cowboy boots! Wine & Beer are available for purchase and I know I’ll be ready for a couple glasses of wine tomorrow night after coming off of the crazy full moon week we just had.

·         Saturday is my favorite winter event in the area where I live~ Chowderfest! Local restaurants & caterers offer different chowder samplings, which are voted on. This turns into a really fun day out which includes stopping for a hot toddy, ducking into local boutiques and filling up on different types of chowder. Usually we do this sans child but this year we’ll be bringing the little guy with us now that he's a little older and the temps aren't supposed to be sub-zero. One of my favorite local mom bloggers (mamatoga) has put together a family guide to Chowderfest, which will be super helpful in navigating this normally crowded event.

·         This weather has been CRAZY lately. Below zero temps, then 50 degrees and raining and now back down in the 20’s. All this crazy weather does a number on my dry skin. My absolute MUST-HAVE products which are fantastic for dry skin include Josie Maran Argan cleansing oil & Argan oil moisturizer. And for my body I’m loving the Barlean’s organic coconut oil (I originally bought to put in my smoothies and cook with!), which I’m slathering all over my dry skin (and so are my husband and son!) 

 

·         My favorite new product that I’ve recently tried is the Dr. Jart Water Fuse Smart Gel BB Cream. I had been dying to try a bb cream after hearing so much hype about the product. But first of all, I needed to find out what the heck a bb cream was?! I stopped off to Sephora (to replenish my Josie Maran supply) and asked for some help in understanding this mysterious product that has been all over the place lately. According to allure.com, bb creams are “like tinted moisturizers on steroids. In addition to hydrating and evening out skin tones, BB creams also treat the skin with antioxidants or other anti-aging ingredients, plus offer broad-spectrum SPF “. In a nutshell, I love this product! I normally have dry skin and use Argan oil with a tinted moisturizer on top for light coverage. The Dr. Jart is like a one stop shop. I use it over my Argan oil (after the oil has been absorbed) and it makes my skin hydrated and luminous. I don’t like the look of heavy foundations but this just evens things out slightly more than a tinted moisturizer. It seems to fill in wrinkles and the best part is that it contains a broad spectrum SPF 30. One of my friends even asked me what I was doing differently and said I looked younger! Bonus!              

That’s all for this week’s favorite things but I’ll be posting more each week. Make a new bloggers day and leave a comment. I would love to know what you think.

It's about time...

So here I am, finally starting a blog like I’ve wanted to for what seems like forever. Now here’s the question, what do I start blogging about first? My intent is for this to be a lifestyle blog where I write about everything in my life. My day to day life as a working mom on the go & on the town, my family, things and places I love and all the stuff in between, including using this as an outlet for my snarky side ;) Twitter just does not allow enough characters to really convey everything that I want to say. Here is where I’ll share my story, daily musings, advice & humor...Now that I have reached my thirties, I felt like it was time to share everything that I laugh about, cry about and obsess over with all of my friends..A cathartic outlet if you will...It was that or pay a fortune on therapy...

So who am I, you may ask? Well the short version is: mom, wife, occasional domestic goddess, real estate agent, sister, friend, aunt, professional volunteer & amateur blogger...I am fun, hardworking, fiercely loyal, crafty, resourceful, resilient and very type A. I'm excited to share my story with you all...The laughs, the tears, past and present. Although things might not be exactly where I thought they would be at 31, I wake up every day thankful for all the blessings that I do have in my life. My adorable son, my husband, pets, my healthy & happy family (which includes 7 younger siblings), a roof over my head (even though it is located in the middle of nowhere), great friends & a great career.

So now that I’ve gotten the obligatory intro post out there, get ready! And by all means, please let me know what you think by leaving a comment. Cheers to the good life!