7 QT - It's Almost March!

1)

Tomorrow is the first weekend of March!  Can you believe it?  I just heard we could be getting 18 inches of snow on Monday!  My parents will be coming home from Florida this weekend, and after a month of wonderful warm weather, they need to see some snow {insert evil cackle here}.

2)

You know what else happens in March?  BABY TIME!  While this still feels like the longest pregnancy ever, this 3rd trimester has been very kind to me.  

Here I am blurry at 2 days shy of 37 weeks, accentuating for Grace's pleasure:

Rocking our school's polo shirt because it's casual Friday.

Still no baby name decisions!!!  Help!

3) 

I got a FitBit for my birthday and it's very cool.  

It's a bracelet that tracks your steps, activity minutes, calories, sleep, and flights of stairs climbed.  Yesterday was the first day I wore it all day, and I got 10, 225 steps in.  But, I know I actually did about 1500 more than that because I walked on the treadmill, and the FitBit didn't calculate my mileage accurately.  I'm assuming it's because it's hard to track mileage when you're technically standing in one spot??  It is a great motivator to increase my activity, and I made a couple extra trips to the front office and water cooler just to see my step count go up.

4)

So many posts to read this week via Jen's 7 in 7 challenge.  Here's some good ones:

Stacy had her baby!

Caitlin discusses becoming a working mom.

Rachel's Downton recap.

Sarah celebrated one year of blogging!

Katie explains how she got crunchy (so interesting).

Mary prays for her kid's friends.

And Cari sent me this, which is just awesomeness to the nth degree:

5)

So a few weeks ago, I was feeling pretty stressed out and down in the dumps and just blah.  You know the feeling, right?  Anyway, I started upping my Vitamin D dose (using these drops) and truly started feeling so much better, even my husband noticed.  A coincidence?  I think not.  

When I'm not pregnant I take these, but since I already get Vitamin D in my prenatals, I am just upping the dosage with the drops right now.

6)

I think I might ask the Easter Bunny for this book this year, after reading a review in a health magazine.  I was so good at drinking smoothies before I got pregnancy, and then was really turned off by them during the first trimester and never got back on board.

7)

I'm already talking about Easter and I haven't even mentioned Lent!  Some years I am so motivated during Lent, but I think this Lent is going to be all about painful laboring, recovering, breastfeeding and pumping (yuck!), and sleepless nights.  Don't make me give up chocolate too!  I'm always looking for an out :)

Honestly though, instead of giving something up, I am going to try to include one significant prayerful thing each day - meaning more than grace and morning/bedtime prayers.  I think I am being called to focus on small steps this year and live my vocation more joyfully.  What about you?

Happy 1st Weekend in March!!

The Big Purse Dump

This is my winter purse:

It's okay, but a little "cutesier" than I envisioned when I ordered it online.  I can't wait to go back to my Spring purse:

Easter 2013

Here's what's inside.  Related: I am so embarrassed.

The Categories

1) Paper Stuff:

Napkins, a to-be-delivered birthday card, an appointment card, some bday gift cards, receipts and coupons.

 2) The Essentials:

Wallet, phone,car/home keys, husband's spare car remote, work keys.

 3) Jewelry, or I Can't Believe I Have So Many of These in My Purse:

In my defense, I take my jewelry off after work, on my way to the gym and put it in my purse.
But, I'm guilty as charged for not taking it out of said purse for a looooong time.  Which comes in handy when I am running late one morning and can accessorize in the car.

4) Randoms or What is That Doing in There?:

This is where it gets real...real embarrassing.  I have an empty bottle of prenatals to remind me to buy more, a broken pair of sunglasses for the same reason, a leftover chicken finger from J-P's meal at a restaurant that he said he'd eat at home and we both forgot about, and a prescription eye ointment from when pink eye spread through my boys.

Tea from Mary, Tums for pregnancy heartburn, Tic Tacs for a treat, anti-anxiety meds that I hope I don't need but a "pill in the pocket" calms my nerves, tweezers for grooming on the go, a heart stone J-P gave me, and a coupon book for date nights!

 5) The Pretties:

Multiple lip lotions in the same shade, eye drops, mascara that I do not like but I do not like naked lashes even more, and hand gel that smells like Autumn.

 6) The Holies:

A beautiful rosary bracelet from Trendy Traditions and a magnet from my parish.

 Wow, I'm glad that's over and I now have a clean and organized purse with a lot less jewelry in it!  Go see Kendra Kendra and Krew for more!

Wordless Wednesday: A Birthday Celebration!!

35 Things

John-Paul and I are having birthdays today!!  He loves to tell people that he was my favorite birthday present, and he's 100% right :)

We'll be partying with him tonight, so for now, may I present 35 random facts about moi (because I'm cough35nowcough), interspersed with pictures from Sunday, which was the day we celebrated mon anniversaire.

1. I still feel like I'm about 27 or 28.

2. But I tell people I'm 29, and have trained my children to do likewise.

3. I laugh at potty humor alongside my boys.

4. I don't have any gray hairs, that I know of, but maybe my hairdresser is just really generous with the highlights.

5. I listen to pop/hip-hop/rap music.

6. My favorite time of day is naptime.  Unfortunately, working gets in the way.

7. Bedtime is at 9:30, if I'm not already asleep on the couch before then.  And I have to sleep with a sound machine playing white noise and a pillow between my knees.

8. My husband is only 33, and I hate feeling 2 years older than him until his next birthday.  Not that he rubs it in or anything ;)

9. I'm still afraid of the dark.

10. I enjoy fast food french fries more than an adult woman should.

11. Sometimes I put myself in timeouts.

12. I read Hollywood gossip magazines any chance I get.  Which is every time I work out on the treadmill or elliptical at the gym.

13. J.T. is my crush.  But only for his talent.

14. I have way too many boy band songs on my iPod.

15. I blush and/or tear up pretty much every day.

16. When I get sick, I still want my Mom.

17. I look at all my kids and think "How did we get here???"

18. I pretend to treat the kids with ice cream or pancakes for dinner, but we all know who really wants the treat.

19. I try to be the teacher's pet in my group aerobics classes.  Once a brown-noser, always a brown-noser.

20. I don't always finish my vegetables and I kinda hate leftovers.

21. I don't like end or corner pieces of anything.

22. I don't really understand the stock market and investing.  Yet I have an accounting degree and an MBA, so embarrassing.

23. I love getting presents, like this amazing package that Mary sent me (and she didn't even know it was my birthday, what great timing!!!!)

She really should start a business called Pregnancy Packages or Birth Boxes or Smile Piles or something much much better than that, because this gift was perfection with a capital p.

24. Trader Joe's is my favorite :)  

25. My other favorite is what's in this little brown bag...

26. I love my bloggy friends, or as I should say, my friends.  You guys make me smile every day.

27. This also makes me smile (see #13):

28. My day is ALWAYS better if I can get to Mass or Adoration or say the Rosary - yet I still find excuses not to.

29. My favorite meal is Chicken Cordon Bleu with rice and pea pods (especially when Phil makes it once a year for me!):

30. I do not drink milk or orange juice.  

31. Completely related, my Mom made us drink both every day.  (Love ya Mom!)

32. I've been paying into Social Security (aka working) since I was 12.  That's what having a family business will do to a kid.

33. I always think I prefer to stay home at night, but on the occasions I do go out, I dare say I enjoy it.

34. Pedicures are such a welcomed treat, no matter what the reason or season.  Made even better when shared with a good friend who gives it as a birthday gift!

35. I can't wait to meet this baby!!!!  But y'all already knew that :)