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So much for enjoying that slow pace.  I left the house this morning at 5:45 and returned just short of 12 hours later.  It was a long day.  Happily I don’t have to be in early tomorrow because I don’t think I can catch up on sleep overnight.  The decor in my office still leaves a little something to be desired.  Everyone else in the office seems to find my makeshift desk incredibly amusing, lots of gentle ribbing.  It is gentle and it is just ribbing, right?  Hopefully the permanent one will show up soon.  I’ve forgotten one woman’s name.  I was hoping that I’d overhear someone saying it but it’s been a couple of days now and no luck.  I’m thinking I’m going to have to swallow my pride a little and ask someone.  Other than that, I’d say things are going pretty well.  

I found some fabric for the house that would make a good curtain for the back door.  The cheapo blinds that have been up there since we moved in need to come down BUT the only idea I can come up with as a replacement is a little roman shade.  The problem is that I don’t feel like making a roman shade.  Maybe I’m just too tired to think about it.  I’m a few minutes away from thinking that just taping some fabric up over the window is a good idea.  

There’s nothing on tv tonight (well, except for the convention) so I’m going to read this month’s issue of Better Homes and Gardens that showed up in my mailbox yesterday.  I think it was a gift from our mail carrier.  It has no mailing label on it so it wasn’t delivered to the wrong address, anyway, what’s that they say?  Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth?  Maybe I’ll find some inspiration in there.

Well that’s about it for tonight.  I’m going to eat the last lemon bar.  Mmm… lemon bars.    

Life seems to be moving at a good pace right now.  I’m enjoying the relaxed feeling of evenings where there are no pressing deadlines.  There’s plenty that I could be doing but I’m going to soak up a few more of these evenings first.  I’m also really happy that we haven’t had to turn the AC on in a while.  I suppose it’s no surprise then that I have also started making sure that there’s always a pitcher of sweet tea in the fridge.  It’s not blazing hot but a nice glass of iced tea certainly doesn’t hurt.  

I’m not particularly happy about the fact that Chase is dealing with some cold and/or teething issues at the moment.  For the last couple of days no amount of sleep gets her to a point where she’s rested enough to be her usual pleasant self.  She seems a little better tonight, her nose is running less but at dinner she clutched the side of her jaw as she bit down on her animal crackers.  There’s definitely something going on back there.  I haven’t asked around but I’m guessing that at 20 months we’re probably within the range of two year molars.  

I’m running out of court appropriate clothes already.  I didn’t really expect to be spending so much time with the attorney in court.  I’m a frugal girl at heart and it’s really hard for me to reconcile with the fact that I’ll never find a good deal on clothes again.  Since having Chase my body is what I can only describe as fat-skinny.  It simply is not the same as it was before in ways that I could never have imagined.  Even though my stomach has no muscle tone and is a little tub of jelly that slides down onto the mattress if I lie on my side, it only fits into the tiniest of pants.  So tiny that you can’t find them just anywhere you have to pay full price for them at stores where other tiny people shop.  I can’t just run in and grab a pair of pants anywhere anymore and grappling with this realization still hurts.  The girls… well that’s another and equally crazy story.  I come to this realization every couple of months.  Today I thought I’d pop into a couple of places to see if I cold find any deals.  I didn’t find anything and now I feel bad about being stupid and wasting time especially since Chase was less than enthused about the outing (to compensate her she demanded to wear footies home over her socks.  I might have to steal the look.)  Any way, against my better judgment I may make a trip to Arundel Mills tomorrow to return the low rise khakis I bought by accident.  You can’t wear low rise pants like real pants… not pretty, they must go back.  

I’m not even going in tomorrow and they’ve already started.  I think I’m all ready though.  Aside from having a really killer bag I’m pretty much all set.  I hit Arundel Mills this weekend with Erin.  There were plenty of good deals there.  I try to stay out of that place because every time I go I get totally crazed by shopping.  When we hot home my legs were hurting but I was happy.  Chase was happy because she got a new pair of shoes at the Stride Rite outlet.  They have a lot of cute stuff there and the associates can still size a baby for a shoe just like the regular store.  She’s been wearing them non stop and telling anyone who will listen about her new shoes.  Her feet were bigger than I thought.  She’s wearing a size 8 already my little sasquatch.  

Chase did a little painting this weekend too.  Back to school time is a great time to pick up cheap supplies so I stocked up on a bunch of different things.  It was hard to choose between regular paint, watercolors, finger paints and gel paint.  So I opted for finger paints and decided some time later that there’s no reason to not use a brush with finger paints so that they can do double duty.  It turns out that Chase doesn’t like to finger paint.  She just can’t warp her mind around willingly getting paint on your fingers.  

She really likes painting so I took a picture of her looking very proud of herself.  At first I thought what a slob I am with the pillow case hanging over the chair but this way you can see the pillow case I used to make a little nighty this evening.  I bought some trim off the spool at JoAnn’s today to pretty it up a little.  I used a coupon on it and it’s a good thing because putting 10 bucks worth of trim on a one dollar pillow case would kind of defeat the purpose.  Pictures of that project to follow.  

Where were you?  Can you believe that four years have passed since Ben and I were married?  It seems like just yesterday.  We never really do much to commemorate the day but you know what that sweet man I married did this year?  He arranged for Chase to have dinner next door while we enjoyed dinner… alone at a restaurant and it was all a surprise to boot.  I can’t tell you how lovely it was.  When he finally told me where we were going I was both pleased and excited to learn that our reservations were at The Bicycle.  If we lived in Federal Hill I think we would adopt this place as our neighborhood bistro.  It would be our Donna’s.  The atmosphere and service were both great.  I think that and the fact that we had consumed an entire bottle of wine and complimentary champagne all contributed to a tip in excess of 20%.  It was a wonderful dinner all around.  I ordered the opposite of my first choice.  I’ve found the George Costanza theory of success to be really useful in these situations, it doesn’t disappoint.  My instinct said order the ribeye so I got the crabcakes instead and they were tasty.  About that bottle of wine.  They have several selections on the menu at $18 bucks a bottle, a real steal if you were planning to each order a glass at 7 bucks a pop.  

Back to the real matter at hand tho.  Happy anniversary dear, I hug you, I kiss you, I love you.

Oh, and don’t forget to take a moment to commemorate that awesome hurricane that came through the same day.

Ta-da!  Last week at Ikea I was very close to buying a play tent.  Very close, dangerously close.  I didn’t buy it though and remembered this tutorial and thought I’d give it a try.  This is a highly modified version of that one because I had neither sufficient grommets nor plastic rings on hand.  Instead of the rings I sewed casings for the poles and didn’t add flaps so the tent is three sided.  I wanted it to look something like this 300 dollar job but mine’s not quite as slick.  300 bucks can you believe that??  Anyway, it’s surprisingly sturdy and the kiddies seem to like it.  

I wish I could get the pictures into the order of her discovery but Wordpress hates me so you’ll have to use your imagination and if you want to see them full size, you have to click on the pictures twice.  I know, I know sorry.  Oh, and that coat and those red boots?  Kid to Kid Consignments.  I didn’t get what I was looking for but that coat?  The price tag sure does say $5.99 I can only imagine what it cost retail at Baby Gap.  The boots are brand new, never worn and cost only $3.99!  I bought all that and still came out ahead by not spending three hundred bucks on a play tent.

We have a whole mishmash of doll related toys all of a sudden.  First I found a doll chair at the thrift store.  

Then I found a desk that probably belonged to a doll at some point too.  

And well, once we had a desk and a chair, I thought, what better time for a doll bed?  Chase likes to tuck baby in. 

Chase has just started to get into this kind of play and I’m trying to encourage it.  I’m having trouble waiting for her birthday and christmas for the big gift ideas I have on my list.  

I’m also feeling like I never have a handle on all the toys.  I feel like I need to constantly have new stuff in rotation or she’s bored with what we’ve got.  At the same time I never feel like I can get rid of anything because she might be interested in it again at some point.  Now we have all this stuff.  Some of it really needs to go.  I’m thinking I might just schedule a goodwill pick up.  That always motivates me to get stuff together.  That and we have two extra office chairs in the basement.  Oh, and here’s a random picture of Chase I took because I am in love with her big girl jeans.  

Are you watching project runway?  This past week’s show was great.  I feel like the first couple of weeks are always lousy and I can never remember the people who get voted off by the end of the season.  The show just starts off with too many but now it’s getting good.  This week’s episode had some of the best commentary by the judges AND contestants.  There were some real gems in there.  Oh, and Jerrell, Jerrell!  What?!  I need to watch the episode again just to see that outfit.  I’m sure it was well tailored, constructed and a whole lot better than anything I could do but conceptually, not so much.

I’ve been working on a couple of projects and doing a little sewing.  You never know when inspiration will strike so I always like to keep supplies on hand like… heavy weight artist’s canvas, leather weight needles and vintage sheets… stay tuned!   

Before I begin I’d just like to say that in spite of what I’m about to write I urge you to stay out of this place.  If that warning isn’t enough I want you to imagine me screaming DANGER! DANGER! every time you see something you think that you might want to buy.  I must say that Ikea with a friend is more fun than being on your own even if it doubles the number of toddlers in tow.  Fast forward to the end of the trip and you would see that at the checkout one was in full blown tears and the other was running around in circles like a madman.  To this very moment I have no idea what my total was I gave the lady my card, we stuffed everything back in the cart and were out of there as fast as our little feet could carry us.  But it was good fun and I’d do it all over again tomorrow if I thought my wallet could handle it.  

We found cool stuff like

half price!   

and these clips which I’m told are indespensible

Did I mention that my friend is an enabler awesome person?  : )  The kids had a great time.  I guess most kids have a great time an Ikea because there were tons of them there.  I actually think we actually crashed a playgroup.  

Believe it or not though, Ikea was my second outing of the day.  I had a second interview earlier in the morning and you’ll be pleased to know that I am now gainfully employed.  I’m pretty happy about it because it’s a part tim gig.  I’ve been back and forth over whether I’m ready or not to go to work but I’m actually starting to feel pretty excited about it and particularly about this job because it just seems cool.  I have a lot of things to write about they’re starting to get backed up while I spend time watching movies and television.  This is the best break ever!  In my notebook… tonight’s episode of project runway, cylburn arboretum, big girl beds, my latest thrift store finds and finally.. some pictures! 

It’s been almost a week since I wrote the bar.  It sucked… I don’t care what anybody tells you.  I’m sure it’s an individual experience but I just cannot imagine a world where this exam could have sucked any less.  I say I don’t care what anybody tells you because the day after the exam there was an email in my inbox directed to 2 and 3L students describing the bar exam that began something along the lines of half of the things she’d heard about the exam weren’t even true.  That’s baloney.  The bar exam was everything my friends promised it would be and then some.  

For example, at some point during the second half of the essay writing day I actually thought for a moment that the ink from the pen I was using was disappearing behind the words as I wrote.  On day two, I bubbled in my answer to multiple choice question number 200.  Then there was blackness and the next thing I remember the proctor was asking me if I was done and I was thinking I probably should have looked that over.  It was grueling and I was tired just like everyone said I would be.  I don’t know if the woman that wrote that email had super powers, was in denial or still drunk from her post exam partying but I can’t imagine why she so overtly played down the exam.  I can understand not getting people all worked up about it but it really came off as if the exam is a breeze and I can confirm for you right now… that it is most certainly not.  

The two days following the exam I think my body experience some kind of shock or withdrawal I had headaches and fatigue and felt generally crappy but everything seems back to normal now and I have been enjoying my freedom.  I haven’t charged my camera battery in a while but I have a few pictures from the last couple of days that I’ll try to post later.  I have to ease back into the swing of things here.  No more excuses.  It’s almost enough to drive you right back into school… almost.  I mean honestly, who doesn’t like excuses?

Have you made reservations yet?  If it’s in the budget, the restaurant week price just can’t be beat.  Considering that it’s not cheap to go out for a couple of plates of microwaved slop at (insert name of big box restaurant here) I think it’s worth it to shell out an extra 20 for a really nice meal. There are a ton of fabulous restaurants participating this year but I had to think practically knowing that we’d be a party of three.  I decided around 3 on Saturday that we should go out to dinner.  We all got shined up for our 6 o’clock reservation at Pisces at the Hyatt in the Inner Harbor.  Early reservations are a good idea if little ones are tagging along, the place wasn’t packed until we were on our way out the door.

I’m more of a neighborhood restaurant type of a gal myself but a hotel restaurant seemed like a good choice in this case.  A hotel restaurant works well for fine dining with a baby because they a) see tourists in all manner of disarray and are used to serving families, if even only on occasion, traveling together; b) you’re less likely to play second fiddle to regulars, in my opinion everyone is more likely to be on equal footing at a hotel restaurant; c) this particular choice was on the top floor of the hotel meaning that we had a view of the whole harbor including boats, helicopters and trucks driving by below.  The trip included not one but two awesome rides in a glass elevator as well as a walk around the inner harbor complete with bridges and waterfalls just to get there.  

All of that and we still weren’t convinced that Chase would sit still through the whole meal.  It wasn’t easy but we managed.  The staff was really accommodating.   When Chase really liked the dried cherries on Ben’s salad, the waiter brought a little dish out just for her.  The food was really good.  I had a delicious cream of crap soup to start and glazed chilean sea bass as my entree.  I like ordering fish when we eat out because it always tastes way better than when I make it at home.  I think Ben shies away from ordering fish out because he thinks it WILL taste like I made it at home and then always realizes he’s made the wrong choice.  All in all it was a lot of fun.  It would be fun to do a date night soon but in the meantime I’ll take my gourmet where I can get it and you should too.  Just don’t forget to call ahead for restaurant week reservations.  I heard people complaining that you had to call ahead to get the restaurant week prices.  Oh, and I caught a look at the regular menu on the way out the door… ouch, good deal is an understatement.  

That’s all the stands between me and certain failure.  I know, you think I’ll do fine but seriously… I am getting some pitiful scores on my practice questions.  Pitiful is even a bit of an understatement.  I shouldn’t even be posting right now, I should be taking my 40 lashes and getting back to the books because the set I just did was so bad.  BUT I haven’t been around for a few days and I’m starting to feel a little withdrawal. 

Here’s a quick rundown of what’s going on here.   The sweetpeas I planted started blooming but now everything outside has been fried crispy by the recent heat wave.  Our best efforts to water and tend the garden didn’t save everything.  

We’ve been doing some fun projects inside to keep us cool and busy.  Yesterday we picked up some craft supplies on the cheap at Target and made pipe cleaner bangles.  They also had some of those little Schleich animals on clearance so we got a random assortment of those.  Chase loooves the little animals.  They’ve been keeping her pretty busy and since now we have way too many of them I devised a plan for storing them.  I picked up a cheap zippered pencil case with a clear zippered pocket on the front.  That way we can store the animals in the big pocket with one in the smaller front pocket so everyone can tell what’s inside.  It’s not terribly sophisticated or attractive but I think it might work and it’s cheap, did I mention cheap?

So I took this picture because it pretty much includes everything we’ve done over the last couple of days.  The pipecleaner bangles, a bouquet of grasses that Chase picked, a poor, sad, lone stem of a potted palm that was once glorious that I snipped at the last second and rooted in a cup of water and recently repotted in soil as an experiment, and the butterfly that Chase decorated today.  The butterfly had a head and pipecleaner antennae… had.  

I took Chase to the library there and we decimated their collection of insect books.  We brought home an Eyewitness DVD about butterflies too.  Butterflies and insects in general are big around here lately– each of them in turn referred to as fly.  We found a praying mantis living in our front garden on Monday and today we found a big cricket in the back.  It was so cool but I think it tried to attack me and bite my face, the mantis that is.  I try to keep it together for Chase’s sake and not fly into hysterics at the drop of a bug hat but I’ll smash a bug that attacks my face without hesitation.  I still marvel how everything about the library is free, the librarian’s time and expertise, the books, the videos and right now they have a nice collection of original artwork from children’s literature on display.  Last but not least, Chase says adios singing ‘don’t fence me in.’  It’s not even a gate for her it’s a gate for the dogs but she wasn’t hearing any of that.