I did something today that I haven't done in a long time.  I bought myself new clothes.

It seems like a mish-mash of things but I wanted pieces to compliment other things I already own.  And since I'm tattooed, I need to wear long sleeves at work. That means I need a lot of cardigans and cute sweaters.  I also want to hit up some thrift stores and add even more to my wardrobe and not break the bank.

I felt so guilty pushing that buy button but it needed to be done.  I spend so much on clothes for A and toys for the dog (that she destroys in 4 seconds), that I very rarely spend money on myself. 

I also sent a check to the Boston PD for parking tickets that totaled more than those clothes up there.  Barf.  Talk about retail therapy.

I grew up in Montana, in a small town, with this as my backyard.

After being kicked out of my house at 17, I moved to California for a year to be a nanny.  After that year was over and not entirely loving California, I hopped on a plane with three suitcases and made my way to Boston.

I left everything behind.  Friends, family, memories, my home.  I had never even set foot in this state before I moved here and didn't know a single person.

The first year was hell.  But after that first year I started to meet people and gain friendships.  I started going on adventures and doing things that would never be possible if I had stayed in Montana. I'm one of those people who have a few close friends and some acquaintances.  I was quite shy before I moved her and had to open up a lot.

I cherish my friendships that I do have.  I want to be supportive of them, happy for them, cry with them and laugh, all while going through this crazy adventure.  Do I make mistakes sometimes in my friendships?  Of course, I'm not perfect.  Friendships take effort, just like any other relationship and with everyone being so busy in life, it's hard to make time for everyone. 


Last year I had a falling out with one of my friends.  She was one of my first friends in Massachusetts.  She graciously let me live with her after my year of nannying was done.  I was there when she got engaged, was a part of her wedding, was there for the birth of her son, and then it was all gone. 

Out of the blue about a week ago she e-mailed me and we went and grabbed dinner on Saturday night.  I was a little apprehensive, but dinner was lovely.  We got caught up on each other's lives, laughed a bit, and things just flowed like they used to. I'm hoping we can put the past behind us and move forward because I do value her friendship and I hope she values mine.

Lazy Sunday.  I guess shark week is uninteresting to her.  I'm about ready to cut somebody if I don't get some Dr. Pepper in my veins so I may walk over to the corner store and grab one.  That requires me to actually get off the couch though.  Decisions Decisions.

Last night during our catch up session of watching Mad Men, I decided to jump in the shower before it got to late.  (Blasphemy, I know).  When I came out of the shower, Matt was sitting on the couch with a few tears in his eyes.  Apparently the episode hit him hard.  It had to do with Don and Betty sitting down with their kids and telling them about their impending divorce.


As we were going to bed he started talking about A and how he wished he could spend more time with him which then led to a discussion about wanting to make the time we have with him extra special.  I agreed with him to a point, but coming from a divorced family, I know what it's like when one parent tries to "out do" the other parent.

I try to make A's time with us special, just as I would any other child.  But I don't want those special times to be every single day he's with us because the novelty is going to wear off and I will be broke.  We take him to the movies, bowling, the beach, out to dinner, the library, museums, and then some weekends we have days where we stay at home and play with toys or hang around the house.

Matt thinks A is sad when he comes to our house and he thinks it's his fault.  For instance, last weekend on our quest to get an air conditioner, we stopped at Best Buy.  They had these remote controlled helicopters that A thought were the coolest things ever. We did not end up buying him one and as soon as we got back to the car he was mopey.  He told us that "every day is a bad day."  I took this as him being upset about not getting a toy but I guess Matt took it more to heart.  He feels guilty only getting to spend a limited amount of time with him when he wants to spend more and that guilt translates into wanting to do all these extravagant things for him.

I think this is a subject that a lot of parents who share custody of children can relate to, and maybe even ones who don't.  I, personally, think we just need to keep doing what were doing.  I don't want A to think that every weekend is going to be some sort of spectacle and have that be the only reason he wants to come see us.  It's a fine line.

You know that point in a relationship when you first start seeing someone or are newly dating.  You anxiously await every text message or phone call, so much so that you sometimes stare at your phone all day long. I had butterflies everytime his name would pop up.  We would send each other good morning and good night texts every single day.

And then we moved in together and that all went down the tube.

Now our texts consists of, "how much did the dog poop today?", "what's for dinner?", "huh?", "what are you working this week?".  It's all very romantic. I figured this would happen, the honeymoon stage is over and now we are just going through the daily grind. 

Sometimes he surprises me though and I wake up to this:

"I know you're sleeping but I just wanted to say I love you.  When you get up, listen to I Don't Mind by Defeater.  It reminds me of how I feel about you <3".

And then I remind myself that it's all worth it. Even the texts about dog poop.

This is Emma and her new friend, Blue, whom we met at our little doggie park yesterday.  I usually take her there more than a few times during the week to let her run and sniff and do dog things.

Blue was there yesterday and they chased each other around, her being a wee bit faster than his rolly-polly self.

I was watching a show called Pit Boss over the weekend and I learned that had we been living in Denver, both Emma and Blue would not be allowed to live there.  I've traveled pretty extensively throughout the United States, hitting up about 40 of them.  I have yet to make it to Colorado yet but the visions I have at that place tend to lean towards crunchy, granola, outdoorsy types.  The scenery is similar to Montana, where I was born and raised, and is breathtaking. 

Denver has banned pitbulls in the city.  If they know that you own one, they will come into your house, take your dog and kill it.  Pit Boss showed very graphic images of dozens of pitbulls, dead, piled on top of each other.  Typing that out makes me sick to my stomach. The thought of that happening to my precious Emma is horrifying.  They would probably have to take me first before I would let them get my dog.

This breed has gotten such a horrible reputation throughout the media.  Some of the tragic stories are indeed true, but some of them are not.  News stations have put out stories about pitbulls attacking people, when in fact, it wasn't a pitbull but they knew attaching the pitubll name to the dog would attract more viewers.  I know not to trust everything that the media puts out there but some people don't.  Some people eat up every word and start hating on an animal that they may know nothing about. 

I, admittedly, hadn't spent that much time with a pitbull until I owned one.  I believe that most dog behavior stems from how they are raised.  That's not to say that I am naive enough to think that Emma would never hurt anyone.  I don't think she would do it intentionally but I am still very aware of her and her surroundings.  I would never in my wildest dreams leave her alone with a baby, just like I wouldn't leave a chihuahua alone with a baby.  People need to have common sense about raising dogs and any dog has the potential to hurt someone.

Anyways, I wish more people could realize what a delightful breed pitbulls can be.  Emma is extremely loving, snuggly and so incredibly cute.  She would lick someone to death before hurting them.  I signed the Animal Bill of Rights and sent it to my legislation.  I'm not normally one to do that but I felt that I had to do something. The stories of families being affected throughout Denver have been on my mind and that's the least I could do.

Two posts in one day, this is what happens when I don't go to work.

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We were going a little stir crazy in the house so we walked down to a little beach close-by.  I think the river is actually the Mystic River but I have yet to see the movie that corresponds to that title so I have no idea what it means

Disgusting, sweaty bangs.  Matt called this my "new myspace pic".  I think he's right!

It's still too hot to move so we've been lounging around the apartment trying to stay cool.  We went on a mission yesterday to try and find an a/c but they were sold out, unless we wanted to spend $500 on one.  No thanks!  We bought a fan and that's cooled things down to a comfortable 85 degrees. 

These pics are from our beach adventure last weekend.  A is boogie boarding with his sled.  We keep it classy in this family. 

Emma is such a water dog, it's a little weird.  Most pitbulls don't like the water but anytime she sees water, she practically belly jumps into it.  We are lucky that there are good beaches within a 10 minute drive.

Back to watching the Harry Potter marathon.  I still haven't seen the new one and am not very happy about it!

It is 91 degrees inside my apartment.  Let me repeat that.  91 DEGREES. 

We do have an a/c in the bedroom so we can sleep comfortably but most of the action in the house is not in the bedroom so hanging out in there is a tad boring. In turn, I'm sweating my balls off in the kitchen and living room.


The heat also turns me into a slug.  I can barely move, the dog can barely move, A can barely move.  Chores will just have to wait until mother nature decides to stop being pissed off.

My eyes are glazing over at work.  I needed to talk about something other than deeds and condominiums before I fall asleep, so I'll talk about my switch to being vegan.  I don't think I've ever talked about it here, or much in real life for that matter.

The thought of eating animals for my own satisfaction just started to bug me.  I watched documentaries and read books and the more I researched, the more disgusted I became.  Some scenes during these documentaries were too much for me to handle and what I read made me sick.  I would never push my beliefs on someone but I do encourage people to research for themselves and make their own decisions.  I'm of the belief that if people were able to see into the slaughterhouses and factory farms, a lot more of us would not be eating animals.

I went vegan about a year and a half ago and was vegetarian before that.  I love animals, which was one of my main points in becoming vegan.  I usually like animals better than people.  I cry when sad commercials come on tv about animal shelters.  I had a complete breakdown one day driving on Storrow and realizing that baby ducks were being hit and killed by cars. 

At this point in time I also started dating Matt, who was vegan.  Becoming vegan by myself would have been a chore because I don't like cooking but Matt came to my rescue and loves cooking.   Even if I wasn't vegan, I would be eating vegan because that's what he cooks. 

An upside of being vegan is that I'm now at my lowest weight that I can ever remember being.  I didn't need to lose weight per se, but it certainly makes me happier.  I'm about 23 pounds lighter than when I first started dating Matt. Before dating him I was stuck at a certain number on the scale and no matter what I did, the scale didn't budge (going to McDonalds probably didn't help). 

Enough about that, onto the food.  When you tell people you are vegan they (a) look at you like you have 5 heads and (b) assume you eat only lettuce.  To help ease the fears of many and make them realize that you can eat normal food, you just use different ingredients, I've compiled a list of my must have's: 
(Being near a Whole Foods is a lifesaver by the way)

Almond milk is a great alternative to Soy milk.  I try to limit my soy due to the estrogen levels and Almond milk tastes much better to me.  I go through a half gallon of the chocolate milk like it's going out of style.  It's that good. We use the original for cooking and the vanilla in cereal and iced coffee. I used to be a huge milk drinker but I don't really miss it that much, along with a lot of things.

Vegan options have come a long way in just a few short years.  Since becoming vegan, Daiya has introduced it's diary free cheese.  I don't know what we would do without this cheese.  We use it on everything.  From wraps, burgers, lasagna, pizza, mac n' cheese, eggplant parm, tacos, you name it.

They introduced a new flavor, Pepperjack, but it tasted like dirt.  It might have just been a bad batch but I'm going to wait a bit longer to try it again.

My old roommate use to eat this next product on bread. By itself.  It would always make me wonder about her but after I tried it, I knew why.  It's delicious!  It's an egg-free "mayonnaise" called Vegenaise.  Dare I say it might be better than the real thing and great for people who are skeeved out by mayonnaise.

For butter we use the Earth Balance brand.  You can normally find this in conventional grocery stores as well and tastes very similar, if not better, than butter.

I'm not a hater of the fake meat products, though I know some vegans are.  Some people wonder why you would want to eat fake meat if you don't eat real meat.  Simple.  Fake meat doesn't kill animals.  We eat a good amount of chicken patties in wraps and on buns.  My favorite brand are Boca.  (Some of their products contain egg whites so we do have to check, but mostly we find ones that are vegan)

 We also do pulled "pork" sandwhiches from time to time:

 

And these vegan black pepper "steaks" are probably one of my most favorite meals.  I annoy Matt with how much I want to eat them with some rice and asparagus.  Drool. 

We eat a lot of Chipotle burrito's too.

 As far as desserts go, the possibilities are endless. Ice cream, carrot cake, whoopie pies, lemon bars, cookies, and of course, oreos. 

I think that might be my longest post ever and now I'm hungry. 

What a nice weekend.  Lot's of time spent at the ocean, playing with the pup and letting A "boogie board", going to see dinosaur bones, catching up on Mad Men and Breaking Bad, and not doing homework (heh).

 Friday we went to the science museum since it was free.  It's astronomical in price otherwise and being that A is only 5, he hasn't really grasped most of the information yet.  We did buy tickets to see Waking the Dinosaur in 3-D which we all enjoyed.  We looked around and A geeked out over how BIG the dinosaurs were. He was scared of this moose,

and he also learned how much blood was contained in his body.

On Saturday A, Emma and I hit the beach with friends which I do have pictures of but my work computer is not recognizing my thumb drive, so those will have to come later. We didn't have a boogie board for A to use so we improvised and used his sled. He had fun and both him and the dog were worn out. My friend took him for a bit after the beach and he stayed and played the Wii with her husband and became a Jedi Master. It was nice for me to get a break and clean, do laundry, homework, nap and watch some tv.






It was such a nice weekend, the weather was gorgeous and reminds me why I love summer and can't stand the thought that winter will be here all too soon. (shudder).

Time for the breakfast of champions.  I eat this way to much during the week.  Sigh.

I thought my bosses were going to be in court this morning but I was wrong, seeing as how I walked into a blast of a/c.  Why do people insist on cranking the air when it's beautiful outside?  I work on one of the nicest streets in the city.  I just want to open the windows and hear the birds chirping and people walking, along with the honks and sirens thrown in. They are leaving for court around 11 so maybe I'll blast the windows open then and take off my winter parka.

In other news, I also got mistaken for a teacher today. Are teachers allowed to have sleeves these days?  I think the kid who thought I was "Ms. Eliot" wanted to crawl in a hole though after I politely told him, I am in fact, not Ms. Eliot. I would be a cool teacher though.

Tonight, we are planning on taking the boy to go see dinosaur bones as he puts it. Tomorrow I might take him to the beach to "rip some waves".  This kid, the phrases he uses sometimes kill me.

Some things I'm enjoying as of late:

-When I go to take Emma out in morning and she's still a little sleepy.  She trudges down the stairs and then streeeetttcchhhhessss as we go on our walk.  It's pretty adorable, I love sleepy puppies.

- Date nights.  Matt and I are trying to do a date night at least once a week.  Last night we took Emma to the park and cozied up in the air conditioned bedroom to start Breaking Bad. I'm already impressed and I've watched one episode.

-Going to meet Matt's new nephew on Monday!  He was born premature and is such a little peanut.  Can't wait to hold him <3

- Catching up with friends. Everyone is so busy these days it's nice to chat for awhile.

-Matt finding this website with offers for free stuff to do around Boston for kids on Fridays.  I think we may head to the Science museum this week.

-Finding old pictures that are just waiting to be scrapbooked.  I'm itching for them to come in the mail

and just because:

I love real blogs.  Ones that show the not so glamorous side of kids, relationships, work, life, whatever.

I like reading fluff blogs too, but seeing that other people struggle with issues makes me feel normal and not so out of touch.  All & Sundry posted about how her and her husband mishandled some parenting moments. It just made me appreciate her blog even more, nevermind the fact that I have so been there.

This weekend didn't have all pretty moments.  It was hot, I was irritated and I snapped more than I should have. 

I felt trapped.  Matt works every. single. weekend. and after awhile it gets extremely old.  He takes Fridays off to be with A, and then I have him on Saturday.  Sometimes I resent it and then I feel horribly guilty for thinking that way. It puts pressure on our relationship and then we snap at each other.

We've talked about going to couple's counseling and I just feel so defeated but I know I shouldn't.  Our relationship isn't normal. We were thrust into being a family.  There was no chance to just be us and unless you've been there, it's hard to understand. 

Matt and I want to be together, get married, have our own children and we need a solid base for that.  It would be easier to just give up and move on with my life .  I remember during our brief split that someone said I don't deserve to have to live like this, I deserve to travel and be in a relationship without the burden of someone else's child.  That statement really stuck with me.  Am I really settling in my life to be with Matt?  I don't believe so. 

We just have to work twice as hard at our relationship but I think it's worth it.  I know Matt does too and that's all that matters.

A became a big brother on Thursday to a little boy.  Matt and I are both a little worried that his behavior may take a nose dive but we have expected a little bit of that.  He's been an only child for 5 years and now he's going to have to share his mom, something I'm sure a lot of kids have issues with. 

I hate the term "broken home" and we are trying to instill in A that he has two families that both love him very much.  We have had our issues dealing with his mom but the past few months have actually been sort of pleasant.  We really just want what's best for A and I'm wondering if that's finally starting to be realized.

Coincidentally I just turned on the tv and a documentary type program about the smoking baby is on.  I guess we are doing okay after all, no smoking babies for us.

At work, I torture myself by looking at condo's I want to buy.  A girl can dream, right?  I'm putting my dreams into action though and I'm going to start saving so that hopefully in 1-2 years we can put down a down-payment.

Housing prices are extremely low right now and I don't want to miss this opportunity. Some talking head said prices could be low for the next 4-6 years but I don't think I want to wait that long. We want to buy something in the city but need to be within walking distance to the train and close to the highway for easier pick-ups and drop-offs with A. South Boston would be perfect.

With people paying $60,000 just for a parking space in Boston, we know we need to save our pennies.  Our rent is over $1100 so ideally we would like to purchase something that would keep our mortgage in that range.  Ideally in a few years we will also be making more money so it could go up some. We don't want to stretch ourselves too thing though and have no money for incidentals or anything fun.

It's been fun looking though and drooling.  I love the old charm that a lot of these condo's have.  They were built in the 1900's so the moldings, built-ins are all stuff I squeel over. Going to set-up my "buy a condo" fund now.

Sometimes I feel so extremely inadequate after reading other people's blogs.

That probably makes me really lame.  I don't think anybody even reads this thing, let alone follows it.  I liked it that way because I wanted to maintain some sense or privacy but after reading all of these fun,  young blogs, I kind of want that too. 

They all have cute babies.  Cute husbands.  Perfect clothes.  Cute apartments. 

I have zero of that.  I have a cute kid who's not mine, a cute boyfriend, clothes and an apartment but don't have the access to a money train to get either of them cute.  I do have a cute dog though so points scored there!


I wonder how it's done.

I think the first thing I would need to do is quit my job.  Most of the awesome blogs I read appear to be stay-at-home mom's and while that rocks for them, is not feasible for me.  Unless we don't want to eat or have a car or an apartment.

Maybe I need to get myself a button and link to other blogs.  I also need to become more of a commenter.  I'm notorious for reading and running. 

Or I just need a more interesting life. 

Although I don't have a cute baby, or husband, or the perfect clothes, my life is pretty sweet.  I'm working hard for what I want and I will eventually have all of those things.  By then, people may not read blogs anymore but that's okay.

Back to work after my very nice, relaxing, long weekend.

Friday, my bosses let us go early so I jumped on the train and met my boys at the theater to see Cars 2.  $38 later we were sitting in the seats with our 3-D glasses on.  $38!  I love going to the movies so so much but cripes, I don't know if we can afford to go as often as we like. The movie was good, a little darker than the first but Adrian seemed to like it. 

Saturday we attended Matt's Grandmothers 80th birthday party!  She's quite the hoot and her house is near the ocean on the south shore.  His family was there (minus our new nephew, squee).  They had a kiddie pool out, bubbles, chalk, water balloons, and everybody seemed to have a good time.  I got some insanely cute pictures of the kids but in the interest of not wanting to put their faces on the internet, I won't.

Sunday, Matt worked and I puttered around the house.

Monday we both had the day off and took full advantage.  We took Emma to a local park/lake thing and walked the trails.  She saw the lake and started running full force and belly flopped in the water.  It was pretty adorable.  She swam more than I've seen her swim before, I think her confidence level is building.  I also think it was easier to swim there than at the ocean.  As we walked around the lake, anytime she saw a good chance to swim, she did. We came home and cleaned and then headed over to our friend's condo across the waterfront from downtown Boston and watched the fireworks on the roof deck.

Yesterday I did more puttering and napping.  It was hard for me to get up this morning and go back to work.  Short week though, and dinner and drinks tomorrow with some old co-workers, which should be fun.  Can't wait to hear the latest horror stories from my previous place of employment.

Three years ago I heard of the Casey Anthony case.  A beautiful little girl, Caylee, was found dead and her mother was the one accused.

I've been watching the trial for the past 40-some-odd days, even through the jury selection process.  I'm work in law and I find the court and legal system very fascinating.  I wanted to hear the evidence for myself.  I streamed the trial in the background while I was at work and watched when I had more down time.  I shed some tears, the testimony, pictures, it was all so real and raw.  The crime is unthinkable.

The jury started deliberations yesterday and it was just announced that a verdict had been reached. A wave of adrenaline rushed through me as I'm sitting on my couch.  I have no ties to this case but after following it closely for so long, I feel for her family. I want justice to be done for that beautiful little girl and as much as I didn't want to believe it, I believe Casey was her killer.

In about a half an hour we will know her fate.

ETA:  I'm shocked.  She was found not guilty on all three counts relating to the death of Caylee.  I really can't believe it. 

I'm home today, not because I am sick but because she is sick.

 We crate her at night and she usually does very well.  Every once in awhile I hear a little whine but this morning I heard some very audible whines. 

It was before 6, I jump out of bed and can smell poop as soon as I open the bedroom door.  I lift up the blanket and there is my little princess with diarrhea e.v.e.r.y.w.h.e.r.e.  I rush her outside and once we come back inside I start the clean-up.  Oh my lord.

I was dry heaving all over the bathroom. Ick. Ick. Ick.  Emma then proceeded to vomit on the floor and of course we are out of paper towels. 

I took the day off.  With a morning like that, I can't imagine what the day would bring.  I also want to make sure Emma is okay and isn't really sick.  I think she ate something funny.  She is now sleeping on the couch with her little feets in the air.  Ahhhhh, dogs.

In my relationship, I am not the cook.  I've never really enjoyed cooking.  The prep time, the mess, and frankly, my food usually doesn't turn out that great.  Since going vegan it's gone downhill.  Matt is an excellent cook and I always feel like my food would be compared to his and there is no comparison.

Matt has had a case of the grumbles lately about me not cooking.  We both work full time so cooking doesn't fall on either party as their responsibility. But, I've decided in the interest of being a good girlfriend, I will cook once a week.  It may not be pretty, it may not be good but at least I will have tried.

I may "chicken" sandwiches on Sunday, you can't really mess those up, and I felt proud of myself.  Vegan cooking is no easy task and Matt makes it look so easy-and good.

My employers are season ticket holders for the Red Sox.  They have tickets for every single home game and usually give them away to clients, brokers, and so on.  I was chatting with Matt last week trying to figure out if they ever let their paralegals go to the game.  Much to my surprise, on Tuesday afternoon, my boss comes over and kind of whispers, "Would you like to go to the game tonight"?.

Tuesday night was the night Matt had to work until 10:30 pm.  Of course!  I called him in a hurry to see if he could get out early, fake sick, quit, whatever.  You don't pass up these seats. 

He managed to weasel out of work and we enoyed the game, sitting 6 rows back from the dirt.  I've been to numerous games but something about sitting so close made the game that much better.  You could hear the crack of the bat and not even see the ball flying because it happened so fast.

Even though we lost by 1 run, the game was still awesome. 

With my design inspiration came a new addiction.  I had heard rumblings around of this thing called Pinterest but never checked it out.

I have now checked it out and IT'S AMAZING. It's pretty thing after pretty thing with a whole lot of inspiration.  I already need a bigger apartment to fit all the DIY stuff I want to do. And now I need a baby and a wedding so I can start getting my creativity out!  Baby shouldn't happen for a few more years but that wedding could come anytime now.  (As Matt is rolling his eyes)

Kate and I took our boys to go see Bridesmaids last night.  We laughed so much when we saw it we knew we had to take them. 

I think I laughed harder the second time.  Definitely buying that movie when it comes out.

When I got home though it just so happened that my friend asked me to be her bridesmaid! She got engaged about a month ago and I've been wondering if she was going to ask me, I won't lie.  We have been friends since 7th grade.

She is getting married in Montana next August and since she lives in Las Vegas, her shower and bachelorette party will probably be there.  I'm going to start saving my pennies.  I want to take Matt to Montana so he can see where I grew up, not to mention the fact it is absolutely gorgeous.  This will give us a good excuse. 

I'm getting the design bug again after picking up Adrian's big boy bed.  We wanted this bed frame for him but IKEA discontinued it and now only makes it in white.  It was justmy luck though that I went on Craigslist and found it there! 

Picked it up last night, love it! He doesn't know we bought him one so I hope he likes his surprise.  We are going to take him to pick out his special sheets this weekend.  I'm going to do a plain red comforter because I hate hate hate the cartooney stuff.  I want to do navy blue horizontal striped curtains, a wall ledge to put his books in, and the 8 cube expedit bookcase from IKEA.  We bought a calendar that has vintage superhero prints that I want to hang in his room as well.  It's coming together, slowly but surely. 

Puerto Rico was awesome.  I think that could be said for any vacation though.  I love exploring new places, taking pictures, and spending quality time with the boy.

*We explored Old San Juan with it's awesome architecture
*Had fun (sometimes not so fun) finding vegan food we could eat.  I must say, all the food we did eat was phenomenal.
*Took many naps
*Kayaked to a BioBay and watched the water turn a turquoise blue due to dinoflagylites
*Ordered room service and at dinner in our big fluffy bed

*Rented a car for the first time in a different country
*Swam in some really warm water, it was heavenly
*Played with extremely cute puppies in a local pet shop
*Hiked through the rainforest and swam by the waterfalls
*Missed Adrian and the puppy (who is currently having a crazy dream on the couch, legs flying all over the place)

Back to reality.  I do love my schedules though. Tomorrow we are hopefully picking up a big boy (!!) bed for Adrian.  He's 5 so it's about time, hah. 

My last week has been spent in Puerto Rico.  Our flights home are tomorrow and while I'm sad my vacationing is ending, I miss my puppy so much I want to get home now.  Screw flying!  More posts with pictures to come after I sort through my stack of mail that's looming and return to "normal" life.

What a fun and busy weekend this has been.  Makes me remember why I love warm weather and Summer.  Friday night after work, Matt, Adrian and I met up with my friends Kate and Michael and their dog Josie.  We went to the park which is right by the water overlooking Boston.  It was so nice out.  We let the dogs play and Emma got to swim for the first time!

She was a little hesitant and stood like this in the water for awhile but after seeing Josie swim around she started moving her little paws.  It was all over after that.  She ran and swam and played for a few hours and loved it. 

We went over to Kate's house for dinner and I had mentioned to Adrian previously that they had a Wii.  He was jumping out of skin and as soon as we walked in the door he was hooked.  We don't own any video game system so he is obviously a very deprived 5 year old boy ;).  We ate yummy Mexican food, relaxed and had some laughs. 

Saturday, I went to a wedding of one of my old co-workers.  It was up in Gloucester, such an amazing location.  I didn't take any pictures because I didn't want to haul my camera around but overlooking the cliffs to the ocean was quite the site. 

Saturday morning I woke up to donuts and this:

I must complain rather loudly because my cute boyfriend brought it home for me.  Ever since going vegan, the only thing I really missed are iced coffee from DD. I could have them often but bringing my own milk just seems like too much work, hah.  I soaked it all up though.  After dropping Adrian off with his Mom I went and had a picnic at the lake with my friend Brit and her baby Logan.  He doesn't look like a baby anymore, he looks like he's ready for Kindergarten.  He's gotten SO big!  It was fun catching up, I don't get to see her often enough. 

While I was out Matt painted the living room so to keep Emma away from destroying everything we took her back to the ocean with Josie, we all layed on the grass and chatted and enjoyed a few hours out in the sun.

Today I think my friend and I are going to get lunch, pedicures, and see the movie Bridesmaids.  I work tomorrow and then we are off to Puerto Rico for vacation.  Crazy Crazy. 

School is complete and dare I say I'm a tad bored?! I don't know what to do with myself.  I'm not stressed and I actually have my nights and weekends to do what I want. 

Some other things I'm enjoying:

My job (I love the feeling of not dreading going to work)
My dog (could she be any cuter? I think not)
My boyfriend (he cooks me dinner every night, I owe him big)
Vacation time (we leave on vacation next week. Eep!)

Some things I'm not enjoying:
This weather (seriously, it's almost June and we have not 80 degrees yet, c'mon Boston)
How much my dog is costing me (little buggers sure do need a lot of shots and other things)

This week is pretty tame for us.  Working during the week, potential girls night on Friday and going to "hike" on Sunday with my friend and her baby.  Also have Monday off so I'll probably go get my toes and hands done and start packing.  I really haven't planned for us to do anything on this vacation which is weird but Matt told me last night that we are not allowed to use our phones and it's going to be "us" time.  That's all well and good but I'm leaving our dog for the first time and I'm already having anxiety about it. I'm such a wuss.

I think Adrian enjoyed his party but my day was rough.  It didn't help that I was pmsing and wanting to rip everyone's heads off but his party was fun for him. He ate cake, spent time with family, got some cool presents, played outside and went bowling.

He's 5, he probably doesn't give a rats ass about decorations and themes and invites and blah.  Matt and I were not in the best of moods together and trying to put on a happy face was difficult, but I did it. Matt and I have been feeling disconnected lately, or at least I have. With our opposite schedules and commitments, it's so hard to get time together.  I got my feelings out, I have no issues there, and I think we both are on the same page again.  I'm needy, I admit it.

The weather this week in Boston is horrendous.  If I wanted to live in Seattle I would have moved to Seattle.  The dog's going crazy, I'm going crazy and I'm ready for some sun!  Countdown to vacation has begun though.

It's a very special little boys 5th birthday today.  Matt and I are will not see him due to it falling during his mother's time but we are still thinking of him.

We are celebrating by having a small party for him on Saturday.  Even though this parenting situation is not normal, we try to remind him that he has so many more people that love him and as an added bonus gets to have two birthday parties.

I wasn't there 5 years ago when he was born, obviously, but I vividly remember the first time I met him.  We were going apple picking and he was walking up the street by my old apartment in Mission Hill.  He looked like a little mini Matt, adorable as ever.

He transformed my life into something I was not prepared for.  He completely flipped my relationship with Matt on it's head.  It was no longer just us making mistakes in our journey, we had to think of him. I was transformed from being a single, careless girl into someone who no longer had that luxury.  He pushes me to make this life we have even better. We are no longer careless, or try not to be.  We think of our future and what we can do so he grows up to be a well adjusted, happy little boy.

So to Adrian, I say, I love you.  Our relationship is different than anyone else you have in your life and I hope you know that even though you are not my biological child, I would do anything for you.  You make me laugh all the time with your quirky responses in which you sound like an adult.  We do this all for you buddy. 

\

Since my own mother is on the other side of the country, I'm celebrating today with myself.  I called her to wish her a Happy Mother's Day she said "you too".  She retracted that statement and then said, "Well maybe half a Mother's Day".

Being a step-mom is tricky.  I guess I'm technically not one yet because Matt and I are not married but is marriage the only thing that makes someone a step-mom?  I've been in Adrian's life for almost two years and take on the duty of "mom" every week when he is with us.

Matt didn't say anything to me this morning so I'm not exactly sure when we cross that line over into celebrating this day.  There sure as hell isn't a manual for this whole step-mom gig.

Either way, I think Mom's of all situations deserve to be celebrated no matter how they came to be.

The first few days at my new job having been going well. I get to ride this beauty up to the fifth floor. It's an old style elevator where you manually have to open and close the doors and you can see the floors as you pass them by. For some reason it makes me happy.

I do not enjoy being the new person or having to learn everything. I would rather fast forward a month to where I kind of have things down but I can't. This office is really laid back though so I get a lot of down time where I try to look busy. My lunch breaks are being enjoyed though, who would not love to go explore Boston one hour a day. I'll never grow tired of this city.

Tomorrow is my last day of work at my current job and while I'm a little sad, I am extremely glad to be down. 

I had my exit interview today and gave my company constructive criticism.  I gave my boss glowing reviews and told them they what I though about one particular manager who is miserable all the time, condescending and rude to her employees.  I've had the pleasure of sitting right next to her and how she talks to me and it has been extremely hard for me to sit there while she is so mean to people.  Apparently the HR lady took my exit interview, flipped my words around and will now be speaking to my boss tomorrow.  What in the hell?  I had nothing bad to say about my boss, my boss is not the problem, this other manager is.  Nobody likes her, nobody.  Except for the HR lady. She also had the balls to tell me I may be sad at work because of my home life.  Excuse me?! No, I'm sad at work because the work environment sucks and they don't see it. I'm half tempted to write another note about how misconstruing my words is total bullshit so please don't. 

Another girl also gave her two weeks and she works for the other manager.  She also doesn't have another job lined up.  What should that tell them?  That she's so completely miserable she will quit her job in this job market and throw caution to the wind. I applaud her and think more people need to speak up but they probably won't.

Tomorrow our sweet stinker Emma is getting fixed.  It's something that we feel strongly about and needs to be done but I can't help but worry.  I hope she does okay. 

It's funny how things eventually work themselves out.  I never heard back from that job I had two interviews with.  I followed up once and then nothing.  I'm also not the type to hound someone, if they want me then they'll let me know.  I decided not to apply for jobs before my vacation in June but last week at my job made me feel differently. 

I woke up and went into work each morning depressed.  Work was taking it's toll on me, and I started to hate it.  I don't want to be the type of person to ever hate work.  I realize that, especially in this economy, you get what you can take and sometimes that means working at someplace that doesn't leave you happy.  I went home and decided to be proactive about the situation instead of just complaining and started applying more places.

Thursday I received an email wanting me resume in a different format, and after I re-sent it there was a whirlwind of e-mails and I had an interview set up for yesterday.  I went to the interview, talked a bit with the girl who's leaving the position due to a move,  and then talked to the attorney.  It was the easiest interview ever.  No real questions, he made a statement that I seemed "smart" from my e-mails and on top of things (hahahah) and then he offered me the job. I'm still a little shocked.

I start in a week, I'll be making a bit more than I am now but they pay salary.  My hours are 9-5 with an hour lunch.  The office is located on one of the nicest shopping streets in Boston, close to the Common and everything else you could possibly want.  It seems like it's going to be great.  I need a less stressful environment where management actually appreciates the hard work I do and doesn't make rules on how to sit in chairs.

This is it, this is what I was waiting for.  I try to believe that things happen for a reason which is what I told myself after the other job disappointment and now I could not be happier for this opportunity.

I'm supposed to be at my friends bridal shower right now but I'm sick, again. It's frustrating to say the least. I've been sick for about two weeks now and I thought I was getting better but yesterday morning I woke up feeling awful again. I annoy myself with how much I'm coughing so I really didn't want to attend the shower and be hacking up my lungs all over the place.

On Friday, since I was feeling better, Matt and I went out on a real date. It was amazing.  I felt almost giddy, like it was one of our first dates.  We also went to dinner at the place we went for our second date.  After dinner we heading over to Fenway to watch the game.  The Sox were ahead, and then we fell behind and most people left but in the 7-8 innings we came back.  We still lost by 1 but it was definitely a good game to attend. My friend who's having the bridal shower today was actually at the game and her and her fiancee sat a few rows behind us.  I didn't know they were going to be there so it was a nice surprise when I saw them walking up the stairs.

I feel like Spring is finally on it's way though, and the trees on our street are finally starting to bud.I'm so excited to be done with the cold weather.

 

I can't believe how fast that weekend went.  I blinked and it was over.  At least the sickness seems to be leaving our house, thank you. 

Had a low key weekend.  Emma seems to have boundless amounts of energy and even though we take her for approximately 18 walks a day, she still is energetic.  My friend invited me with her dog to a place called The Fells which is a huge open field with lot's of doggies running around. There are trails and a lake too.  It sounded like the perfect opportunity for Emma to go run so we went.  It was kind of crazy walking up to the field because there was sooo many dogs, almost intimidating. I was a little hesitant to let Emma off the least because I didn't want her running away but it's almost more dangerous keeping her on.  I let her off and she ran and played for hours! She played so well with all of the other dogs, I was a proud dog mama.  She went over to people and they would all pet her and tell her how pretty she was, of course!  At one point a dog the size of my hand came over and Emma started sniffing her.  I didn't want her to sniff too hard because this dog could have probably fit in her mouth but she did great, just sniffed and that was it. We also walked on the trails a bit and dipped her paws in the water.  I think she enjoyed it just as much, or more, than I did.

She was conked out for the better part of last night and I even had to wake her up this morning to take her out.  I think I might make this a weekly thing because she just has so much energy that needs to be let out.

I can't wait for this week to be over.  On Tuesday morning I woke up feeling like I had been run over by a bus.  I called out of work hoping this would be a one day sickness.  Matt was also home from work and was in such a great mood all day!  (that's sarcasm)  Needless to say I didn't really get much resting done.  Wednesday I toughed it out and tried to go to work.  I had to be in court which made it a little easier.  Wednesday night was accounting and to my surprise I got a 73.5 on my test.  I wanted to jump up and down in class because I was so excited but I refrained.  I'm definitely not totally understanding it but I think I might be on my way there.

This morning I woke up still feeling gross but tried to go to work, but it didn't turn out so good.  I only had 4 hours of sick time left which leaves me with a dilemma.  I'm obviously sick, hacking up my lungs, sneezing, eyes watering all over my cubicle yet I'm expected to work?  It doesn't make sense.  I'd rather take the 8 hours of pay and just stay home, which I'm sure my co-workers would appreciate as well.  One of the girls in our small department is also on vacation this week so I feel bad having to be out but I'm really not adding any sort of value when I'm there. We will see how tomorrow goes.  I'm trying to rest and while my eyelids are burning they are so tired, my body just won't sleep.  

On top of all of this my lovely boyfriend has been driving me up a wall. :)  It would be nice if he tried to pick up some slack while I'm sick.  He had an appointment to get tattooed over two hours away tonight and while I agree, tattoos are life threatening, I probably would have re-scheduled.  Leaving your sick girlfriend at home to deal with a 4 year old and crazy dog when she can barely move off the couch is probably not the greatest decision ever. 

I hope he doesn't expect me to actually be in a good mood tomorrow.

If I thought I was busy before, I was mistaken.  Holy cow, this dog has taken over our lives.  There were a few days there where I wondered if we had made a mistake getting her.  She's so much work and I didn't know if we were up for it.  Not because we didn't want her but because of time.  I won't give up on her though and the mere thought of giving her away broke my heart.  It's only been a week and we are all adjusting and learning.  It's a process and one that we elected to go through. Between working full time, going to school, having a kid, having a long commute, having a relationship, an apartment and also having a moment to myself...my days are definitely full. She's worth it though. 

 

Now it's Saturday night and I'm sitting at home by myself, for the second night in a row.  Matt and I had planned a movie night for last night but then he found out that his friends' band, one that he used to play in, was having their last show so he went to that.  We moved movie night until tonight and then he got a text around 8 that Slapshot was playing in Providence so he hopped in the car and headed down. Emma and I are snuggled on the couch watching bad t.v.  There is nothing on.