Gym, take 2.

Heeeeelllooo guns of steel

A few days ago I wrote about my love affair with soup. The title really should have read "My Love Affair with Pizza." I know it sounds silly, but hips don't lie, people. It doesn't help that my diet consists of mac and cheese (only the spiral kind, please) chicken fingers, Cheerios, peanut butter and fluff, Dunkin Donuts lattes, and yes... pizza. I mean, my last blog was about a pizzeria for Pete's sake. The inevitable has happened... it's almost March which means Spring is right around the corner, and thanks to the bathing suit display that welcomed me at my weekly trip to Target, I find myself feeling a wee bit anxious. I just barely took down my Christmas decorations a couple weeks ago, and they're already pushing BBQ equipment and sand buckets down our throats.

Anyway, after my Target binge, I took the boys to the beloved gym. I have been using all kinds of reasons why I stopped going a few months back, but in all honestly, maaaaan, I am just so damn tired! My days go like this:

• Roll (literally) out of bed.
• Stumble towards my trusty Keurig.
• Cook, clean, do laundry, pay bills, food shop, run errands, entertain children, prevent said children from falling off furniture, watch 345 episodes of Max and Ruby, clean up numerous forms of bodily and non-bodily fluids, read for 20 minutes a day just like Nick Jr. tells me, make sure all animals are cared for... (that's just the first half of the day before Ollie's nap time)
• Re-visit trusty Keurig.
• And finally... go to my other job, which requires a perky personality and 6 to 7 hours of standing on my feet.

I am not complaining by any means, I knew raising two kids was not going to be a cakewalk, but the time has come (yet again) for me to do a lil somethin somethin for myself. So, I went to the gym to sweat it out and I feel great! It gave me energy to get through the usually hectic dinner, baths, and night time routine. I remember when I was going regularly last summer, it felt so good to be doing something for myself... just one hour a day of not having to be Super-Mommy. My clothes fit better, I had more energy, and felt more confidant than ever. I long to feel that way again. I know I am not fat by any means, but I'm sure all mothers can relate when I say it's an internal desire to feel better about yourself, as well as the obvious benefits of looking better.

Pics to come as soon as I get the nerve to show the Before photo. :)

Cooking every night is for the birds.

Yesterday I went out to eat twice. Yes, I know, I'm a foodie. Either that or someone (ahem) needs to go food shopping. When I got home from brunch with my girlfriends it had actually been about 3 hours since I had eaten, so I asked Nathan what he wanted for dinner and he happily replied, "Pizza." Ben looked a little frazzled from an afternoon inside the house with the boys, so I suggested we get some wine to replace the bottle I had brought to the BYOB earlier. After hitting the liquor store and finagling the cashier to give me the online sale price for my wine, we decided to go to Toccanelli's Pizzeria in Maple Shade, which happens to be yup, a BYOB. We actually didn't get to open the bottle, though, because we were too busy keeping Nathan from joining in on the 21st birthday party that was sitting next to us, and distracting Ollie from running up to another table and demanding a slice of pizza because he was hungry. Have I mentioned that we hardly ever bring the boys out to eat because it usually ends up in half eaten meals and heartburn? It's virtually impossible to actually relax and eat when your children are climbing under the table, eating food off the floor, or starting a food fight with each other. This dinner was starting to look like it was going to be another bust, but lo and behold, when the pizza and salad came out, Ollie was happily eating and Nathan was busy playing with some St. Patrick's Day decorations above the booth. Whatever works, right?We made it through the whole dinner without too many issues and got to enjoy a family dinner out. Score! I should add that the pizza is absolutely delicious... we got a large pie, half plain, and half prosciutto and spinach for $14.95 and a large salad for $9.50, which could feed 3-4 (Ben and I ate the whole thing, since we're salad junkies.) $25 for dinner out for a family of 4 is a great deal, plus we could have enjoyed some wine and not been charged an arm and a leg for a bottle. What cash-strapped parent doesnt love a good deal? I highly recommend this restaurant for yummy pizza and family time... no clean-up involved! Saweet!

Oh, and Nathan never did eat his pizza even though he requested it earlier... go figure.

If it Look Likes a Duck.

As I was getting all sentimental just now about my friends, my boys were getting into their usual mischievious activities.

Nathan: "Mom, look what Oliver did!! He got pee-pee on the chair!" He points to his little Ikea lounger in Oliver's bedroom.

Me: "Well, Oliver has a diaper on, how did he pee on the chair? Did you pee on the chair?!"

Nathan, looking at me very seriously, "No, Mom, You know I go pee in the potty. Oliver did this."

Meanwhile, Oliver has a diaper on and Nathan is running around with no undies or pants on... hmmm... I am still trying to figure out this phenomenon.

I shouldn't be shocked that 3 year olds can fib, but try explaining logic to mine. I guess this is one argument I am not winning.

Sex in the City, Philly Edition

My besties and I have had a long standing tradition for over 10 years now. No matter how busy we are with work and now husbands and kids, we always get together for each other's birthdays (minus Jaime since she is a birthday scrooge haha) Lauren, Jaime, and I go all the back to '89, we used to go "Teen Night" at the Y (my dad always thought I was at a cheer leading tourney hehe) play basketball, softball, and cheer leading together, and be boy crazy (I have plenty of old notes to prove it). Jenn and I have been friends since freshmen year of high school (1996) and together we were partners in crime... sometimes literally, but I won't divulge too much. ;)

Yesterday was Laur's 27th birthday and we went to Cochon BYOB, off South Street in Philadelphia. The restaurant was very cute and cozy with a relaxed atmosphere and friendly service. The only downside was the lack of parking due to the mounds of melting snow taking up excess space. We came prepared with a bottle of champagne and my favorite wine of the moment, Montpellier.

I just love getting together with these girls and always have. Girls night or in this case, Brunch, is absolutely essential for any successful relationship in life, be it significant other, children, or work. Women need a safe place to talk about everyday occurrences no matter how insignificant they may seem, and believe me, we talk about everything under the sun. Yesterday's topics of interest included: Teething, baths (for baby and mom), diaper and non-diaper bags, coffee, Lent, Church, weddings, how we like our eggs cooked, plastic surgery, Facebook (of course), and plenty of others that I can't recall due to the champagne buzz I was catching at 2 in the afternoon.

My girlfriends are the only ones (besides Ben, of course) that I feel I can truly be myself around. I have done some very random and idiotic things in our days as being friends, and haven't felt embarrassed or judged. It's hard to explain how wonderful it is to be able to just sit and laugh about nothing at all, or to reminisce about when we were kids and growing up. Our stories have evolved from notes about cute boys and annoying teachers to cute kids and annoying spouses. I am so happy to have them in my life, and being an only child, feel blessed that my boys have aunts in their lives. They really are the sisters I never had, and being that they are probably the only ones that are reading this, haha.... I guess I should just say, thanks for being my friends, and I love you.

Scene from an Italian Restaurant

I just got home from a busy Friday night of bar tending. Fortunately for me, I happen to actually love serving drinks, so the shifts always go by quickly. I serve dozens of people on any given night, and tonight was no different, but one couple stands out in my mind. The man had told me earlier in the night that it was a "very special night" for them, but it was very busy and I didn't get a chance to ask them what they were celebrating. When it finally calmed down after their dinner, she giddily showed me her ring finger and said, "This is what we are celebrating!" It was a beautiful diamond ring! She told me he had put it on the strawberry on their dessert when she was in the restroom. I said, "Wow, congratulations! Did you just get engaged?" The man just chuckled and said, "Well, we did... a long time ago." It turns out they were celebrating 31 years together and he had proposed to her the same way, with the ring on a strawberry! It was so sweet and they seemed so happy and in love, like two teenagers in a summer romance. Think Sandy and Danny Zuko or Noah Calhoun and Allie Hamilton. Or that celebrity power couple, Ben and Vicki Goldwasser.

Ahhh, so much love in the air at Carrabbas. ;) I'm glad that I had all relatively happy people tonight, because nothing puts a damper on my "break" from the kiddos like a grumpy drunk!

Oh Holey Day.

It's 10am and I am having all kinds of dilemmas. First, my one Ugg boot went missing. Then, it was my cell phone. Both boys denied any kind of wrong doing, how unlike them.

I will allow myself only a couple random postings a day, so today the first random thought from me is... why is it that every pair of socks I own have holes in them?! It's bad enough that most of the time they don't even match (always cute when I go to play places that don't allow shoes) but now, at least one sock of every mismatched pair has a hole in it. It's not even in the heel, where I could at least hide it from other matchy matchy sock moms, they're in the toes! It just irks me because I bought a 6 pack of black socks for work from Target, only a couple weeks ago, and those are the culprits. Hmm... do they sell steel-toe socks?

I guess I will be (reluctantly) taking the boys back to Target today to buy a different brand of sock. Nothing like pushing around a 100 lb cart filled with 60 lbs of kids to get your juices flowing in the morning...

Happy Valentine's Day (again)

This morning as I was laying in bed, sleepily aware that Ben just walked out the door to work, I hear footsteps running upstairs. That can't be a good sign. (we don't have an upstairs, other than a finished attic which we hardly ever use) We do have an old computer upstairs that Nathan has been playing games on recently, so I figured that's what he was doing. I went to get Ollie from his crib and was very excited when he looked at me and said clear as day, "It's a bat," as he was pointing to a little baseball bat on the wall. At almost 17 months, I didn't think he was talking as much as Nathan was at his age, but he is picking up words left and right, including his favorite saying "ut-oh" that actually sounds more like "a-hole".

Anyway, Nathan walked in and had something behind his back. He gives it to Oliver and smiles lovingly, "Surprise! Happy Valentine's Day, Oliver! I love you." and gives him a hug and a kiss. Last week when we were printing out Valentine's Day cards for his classmates, I told him he should give one to Oliver, and he remembered.

Oh, be still my heart.