Five questions...

Tagged by my friend Jennifer from work (who has a very cool knitting blog, BTW - if you are into knitting... or even if you're not... check it out!).

The Rules: Rules are posted at the beginning. At the end of the post, the player tags 5 people and posts their names. Then the player goes to each of the “named” people’s blogs and leaves a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged and asking them to read your blog. If you’ve been tagged, you do the same, letting the person who tagged you know when you’ve posted your answer. They, in turn, answer the following questions. Here we go!

1. What was I doing 10 years ago? Ah, the summer before my senior year of college... one of the best summers of my life. Living on campus as a summer RA, taking a couple of classes, working at Breugger's Bagels, spending Saturdays going down the shore with Brandao... and likely spending way too much time frequenting The Palm Grill, Bennigans, and some of Morristown's other fine drinking establishments. I could go on, but I won't (some things are better left in the past).

2. What are 5 things on my to-do list today? Well, today is almost over, but the following items were on my to-do list (warning: these are rather boring): release official numbers for August to sales/executives, participate in weekly PR call, work on 2008 accomplishments for next week's review, complete a vacation request form (yay!), route latest white paper to SVP for review.

3. Snacks I enjoy: Ice cream, Hershey kisses, pretzels, pineapple, chocolate chip cookies

4. Places I’ve lived: California, New York, New Jersey

5. Things I would do if I were a billionaire: Pay off my mortgage and all of my other bills. Pay of my parents' mortgage, my brother's mortgage, my grandparents' mortgage. Spend more time with Baby H. Visit my friends more often. Go on vacation. Donate all of my clothes to charity and start from scratch.

Okay, so I too lazy to tag you on your blog, but I know the five people I want to complete this - Hubby, Brandao, MomofDom, Terri and Debby. (And Huxy, if you had a blog, I would tag you too!)

Thank you for being a friend...

Sad news... Estelle Getty passed away today.

The Golden Girls has always been one of my favorite shows - I remember watching The Golden Girls and Empty Nest in junior high when I used to babysit for the boy down the street. In college, my friends and I would talk about which Golden Girl best represented each of us (I would always get voted "Dorothy"). And when I was on maternity leave, I would watch the show every morning on Lifetime.

The Golden Girls wouldn't have been the same without Sophia. She always cracked me up: "Picture it, Sicily, 1922..."

Goodbye Sophia, we'll miss you.

This and that.

* I am absolutely exhausted from bootcamp this morning. We met at the local high school track and ran laps, did (tons) of pushups, bleacher work, walking lunges and shuffles - and followed it up with a couple hundred sit-ups/crunches. Someone is going to be sore tomorrow...

* Baby H is the cutest kid ever. He spent the afternoon at my mom's house today - when I picked him up, he was dancing around her living room. Then we went to the grocery store, where he said "hi" to pretty much every person he saw.

* So, Red Robin recently added a nutrition information calculator to its Web site. If you are watching your weight and want to eat at Red Robin, I highly recommend that you do not check out the site (sometimes, you are better off not knowing). My favorite grilled chicken sandwich (hold the guac AND the mayo) and fries? Over 1100 freaking calories! I decided not to eat there this weekend...

* Over the past week, we celebrated the birthdays of 4 of the 5 most important people in my life (Baby H's birthday is in February). So happy belated birthday to my hubby (7/11), my mom (7/15), my brother (7/16) and my dad (7/17). May this year be the best ever...

* We took Baby H to the Great Escape last weekend - his first amusement park trip. We weren't sure how he would like it, and my worst fears were realized when hubby and Baby H got off the first ride and Baby H was crying his eyes out (or so I thought). Turns out that the real reason he was crying is because the ride had ended. We ended up going on every single ride in the park that he could ride, even the little roller coaster. He is definitely our child - hubby and I are both huge roller coaster fans.

* Okay. now I am really tired. Going to watch some Jon & Kate Plus 8, then off to bed.

God Bless America...

And God bless 4th of July sales!

My mom and I went to the mall yesterday and scored some great deals. My favorites:

* A suit at NY&Co (needed one for work). Jacket was 70% off, pants were 50% off. Plus I had one of those $30 off a $75 puchase. Ended up with both pieces, plus two shirts (one dressy, one casual) for $55. I should really check my receipt to see how much I saved.

* Nine pairs of socks at Baby Gap for Baby H for $6.21 (their clearance is an extra 25% off this weekend). These are my favorite baby socks in the whole wide world.

* Osh Kosh B'Gosh summer separates for the baby (two pairs of shorts and two shortalls for next year) for $2.37/apiece at JC Penney.

Shopping makes me very happy. Shopping for sales? Even better!

Checking in.

Sorry that I have been MIA. I just haven't had too much to talk about. Between work, family and trying to squeeze in some "me time" before 6:30 AM or after 8:00 PM on occasion, I am spent.

Just a couple of comments:

* I have been thinking a lot about her and her lately. Debby and Laura - I am keeping Billy in my prayers, and wishing for a speedy and safe return home.

* Baby H is great. His vocabulary is continuing to expand, with "banana" and "thank you" being the latest additions. He loves playing outside, especially with his water table. And the kid has rhythm (unlike his mommy and daddy) - every time he hears music, he just has to dance. In addition to swaying from side to side, he has also added some hand movements, turns and a move that I like to call "the penguin" to his repertoire. Hubby and I have to get it on video.

* On the self-improvement front, I just finished a 6-week Bootcamp Challenge class. Although waking up at 5:00 AM to work out has been tough, the results were worth it. In addition to losing 7 pounds, I lost 3.5% body fat and 7 inches. I also improved my mile-run time from 11:03 to 8:42, and can now do 36 pushups at a stretch (up from a paltry 12 just six weeks ago). And... I finally fit into a pair of pre-pregnancy jeans! I already signed up for the next session - hopefully I will be able to get into all of my pre-pregnancy clothes then.

* Hubby and I celebrated our 9 year (!) anniversary of our first date over Memorial Day weekend. It's crazy to think that we have been together for almost a decade. He is not only the love of my life, but my best friend as well. (Thanks Terri and Darren!)

Mother's Day

First of all, Happy Mother's Day to all of the moms out there. It's funny, this is my second "official" Mother's Day, but even before having Baby H, the pups always bought me a card and some flowers (thoughtful dogs, they are). So whether your "kids" are children, pets, or houseplants, hope that your day was happy.

I always thought that my first Mother's Day would be my best, but Baby H, hubby and the pups set out to prove me wrong. On Friday, I went to a Mother's Day party at H's school. It was very cute, and it was nice to chat with all of the moms that I usually only see in passing on a day-to-day basis. Baby H made me the cutest gift - it was his footprint in a frame, with a quote that said:

From his first words and his attempts to talk,
To his first steps and his attempts to walk,
You'll watch him grow and be his biggest fan,
Sharing each moment, like only a mother can.

On Saturday, we went to the Albany Tulip Festival. It was really, really crowded (I think that hubby stood in line to use the bathroom for 20 minutes), but we got to hear the Spin Doctors play, H got to see horses and sheep (his favorite!), and of course, there were the tulips:









Today was pretty low-key... which was perfect. We went to my mom's for breakfast, then hubby did all sorts of yardwork while I finished cleaning the house and ran errands with Baby H. Hubby grilled for dinner, and now we are just relaxing.

I am hoping to update our family site soon, so stay tuned!

A tough choice.

Parents are faced with countless decisions:

* Bottle-feeding or breast-feeding?
* Cloth diapering or disposables?
* Stay at home or daycare?
* Co-sleeping or crib?
* Vaccinate or wait?
* Bloods or crips?

Check this out. Good Lord - some people shouldn't be allowed to reproduce.

(P.S. My view? I will totally let Baby H choose his own gang when he is old enough... probably kindergarten. Although, I am leaning toward the Bloods in honor of my Nana and Papa's last name (Blood) - gotta represent...)