It's Okay Thursday

Linking up, as always, with Neely and Amber!

Hey, it's okay...

-to not understand the Pumpkin Spice Latte attraction.

-and now it's okay to worry you wrote that same sentence last week.

-to blog after a 14 hour day. Incoherence makes for some good laughs! :)

-to get super excited when you come home from work and your husband took out the trash AND did the dishes. Without being asked. He's a good man, that David. :)

-to be really excited to see your sister for the first time in 6 weeks on Friday!

-to want to cook a delish meal, usually from a recipe pinned on Pinterest, but never ever remember all the ingredients.

-to be inseparable from your Erin Condren Planner. WHAT was my life before that handy dandy notebook? (little Blues Clues reference for you there. Get that? wink wink)

-to blog and drink wine. YAY!

-to really wish you could go to Blissdom but be a responsible person and wait until next year.

-to be really embarrassed that your husband is dressing as Justin Beiber for Halloween. Omg. Thank God I'm not going with him. Weird.

-to be way too old for the bars in your town.

-to think you'd enjoy going to fun bars with your blog friends. They always look like they have so much fun with cute drinks, cute outfits and fun places to go! The forest just doesn't offer those same options. (ha!)

-to be eating dinner at 9:30 pm when you swore up and down you would remember your dinner at work tonight. Fail.

-to be ready for summer...281 days until DISNEY!! :)

-to really want to decorate your house more for holidays. But I won't because I'd just spend more and more time each day yanking things out of Trace's mouth. Maybe next year.

-to be looking forward to Thanksgiving and Christmas. <3

It's Okay Thursday

Linking up with my pals Neely and Amber again this week!

It's really okay...

...to take advantage of the Vera Bradley $30 tote sale! Happy Fall to ME!!

...to figure out a craft you do well, say for example rag wreathes, and proceed to make TONS of them. If ain't broke, don't fix it.

...to really hate a lot of movies people think are fantastic.

...to not be able to stand Angelina Jolie. Like AT ALL.

...to be over the moon excited that your dad got transferred to a frack pad 10 minutes away! He's been 2 hours away for a month and we haven't seen him. Now he's at the frack pad closest to us and gets to live at home! For good!! WOOP.

...to spend a good portion of the day thinking about Disney World. It's a sickness.

...to not let your dog sleep in your bed anymore since she got sprayed by a skunk two weeks ago. She's been bathed many times and groomed but still. Ew.

...to think your blog and twitter friends are some of the truest you've ever had. For real.

...to be excited for Rory to start preschool. A year from now.

...to also have NO CLUE which preschool to send her too. And to be nervous about it now. After our daycare experience...ugh. We need to find a teacher who will love Rory.

...to really want to go outlet shopping on Friday. By myself. With lots of coffee. And a pedicure. But I only want to buy things for the kids! haha

Well? What's okay with you this week? Link up!

It's Okay Thursday

This post is brought to you by the Letter C. Specifically Cheerios and Crayola Crayons, both of which are occupying my children long enough for me to blog. ;)

Linking up with Neely and Amber again for it's okay Thursdays. xoxo

Hey It's Okay...

to change chiropractors because you don't like your current one's personal life. Shady.

to let Rory potty train herself.

to forget to pack a spare leotard and tights for her dance class during potty training. Oops.

to really really really hate Facebook but not delete it.

to be obsessed with the 10th anniversary of September 11th documentaries. I'm so fascinated and horrified at the same time.

to need a pedicure crazy bad but not want to spend the money. Because you are CHEAP.

to fill up shopping carts online with kids fall clothes and never order any of it.

to actually enjoy some of the toddler shows on Disney Junior.

On that same note, it's okay to leave your radio on Kids Place Live when the kids aren't in the car because you enjoy the DJs.

to want to change your style completely but have no idea where to start.

And what's it okay for you? Link up!

Hey, It's Okay.

Linking up with my girls Neely and Amber again this week for It's Okay Thursday. Oh how I love this one!

It's okay...

to stalk your Fed-Ex tracking number for your Erin Condren planner. I need it. I'm obsessed with organizing my life more and I need a good planner! Pronto.

to think your new car smells like Windex.

to forget to buy an air freshener to fix said smell. Oops.

to watch Sex and the City episodes over and over. And Gilmore Girls. And Top Chef. And Oprah.

to have 3 cups of coffee in one day. Hey, K cups are only 5 cals and skim milk is well, skim! :)

to be totally exhausted from work this week. Yawn.

to find your dog horribly annoying one minute and beyond adorable the next.

to keep your phone in your office so you won't tweet during dance class.

to make a menu for each week and be lucky to actually get 3 of those meals made.

to need to do laundry so bad but have no energy to do it!

to be really ridiculously excited about going to the STEELERS GAME this weekend!! WOOP!

Well, what's okay with you this week? :)

Hey, It's Okay. #2

Linking up with Neely and Amber again this week. :)

It's Okay...

To eat great all day and the ruin it with some Oreos before bed. It happens.

To get super excited when the Disney Channel plays classic movies like Beauty and the Beast. Good stuff!

To shop online for the kids' fall clothes but never actually buy any of it. I will, just not today. :)

To be crazy excited about your new blog design!

To leave Trace in his pajamas until the last possible second because he looks so cute in them. Like a little old man.

To need a Mommy Break some days. Nothing wrong with a couple hours to yourself.

To be excited and dreading the start of the dance year all at the same time.

To be considering starting a side business...

To already be counting down the days until Disney! 315!

To wish you lived closer than 2 hours away from a Target. Geez.

To some days contemplate moving with the kids and Dave to somewhere else entirely.

To never be able to do the above because you could never be away from your mom and dad. :)

What I'm Loving

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What I'm Loving...

That Pretty Little Liars is back on. True story, I googled the plot so I already know who A is. But I have to tell you, I have NO CLUE how they are getting there! The writers are doing a really good job. For real.

Grilling. We're grilling again tonight! That's what summer is all about.

Hanging out at my Aunt Barb's gorgeous pool. The kids are total fish. Pictures tomorrow. Honestly, swimming is the happiest I've ever seen Trace.

Watching Rory play with her dollhouse. She makes the dolls talk to each other now. She's playing like a kid, not just a baby. Use that imagination, Rosie!

The Tony Awards were on Sunday! In case you aren't a total nerd like I am, here's the best part...

Oh how I love Sutton Foster.

Fresh produce. MMMMMM! I'm making garlic green beans tonight with fresh green beans. This time of year is the best for cooking!

That this weekend Dave and I are going to DC. We got a rocking deal on a hotel via Hotwire. $99 a night for the Capital Hilton!! We're doing the Smithsonian, the National Zoo, all the monuments of course. Can't wait!

What are you loving?? Link up!

Baby Bumps of the PAST.

No, I am not pregnant. Nor do I want to be! I am very very very happy and satisfied with our decision to have 2 children and for me to have a tubal during my c-section. Just to clear that up! :)

Shell over at Things I Can't Say is hosting a "Rockin' the Baby Bump" Picture link up today. I love looking at these pictures now so I thought I'd play along. And to all my blog friends who haven't had kids yet...this is what you have to look forward to! ;)


37 weeks pregnant with Rory. We had a dance competition three weeks before Rory was due. I was GINORMOUS. She weighed 9 lbs, 7 oz when she was born.


34 weeks pregnant with Trace...even huger! He also was almost 10 lbs. With my second, I felt like I had a bump immediately. (And I definitely "showed" sooner!) Trace's bump was straight out front and Rory's was much more round. That's pretty obvious in the above pictures, I think. ha!

Oh being pregnant is an adventure. Not my favorite thing in the world, to be honest. I LOVE my kids and would have done anything to get them here, but man I'm glad I don't have to be pregnant anymore. My body just doesn't handle it well. You know how some women look their most beautiful, healthy and happy when they are pregnant? I'm the exact opposite. No amount of healthy eating, working out, walking, water, vitamins could make me feel "vibrant and glowing" during pregnancy. I'd do it all again to get Ro and Trace but MAN I'm glad I'm done! :)

PYHO: Moms vs Dads

Last night, Dave took the kids to Wal-Mart and McDonalds. A good, relatively easy Daddy date. I was working (HARD) and I got a text about 7:00. It said "Taking two kids to wal-mart and mcdonalds is too much for me. I have a headache."

I burst out laughing. I assumed he was being funny.

He wasn't.

He really was at his wit's end. When I got home, he was laying on the couch, looking like he'd been hit by a truck.

Again I laughed. We have a good natured marriage, so it's perfectly fine for me to get a little chuckle out of his desperation. (And to all the Undercoffers reading this...this just proves that I am not the only dramatic person in this marriage! hehe ;))

He told me he can't do it again. He said that it was too hectic, he forgot the diaper bag in the car, the kids were crying, Wal-Mart was busy...etc etc etc.

I laughed because I do it every day. I run all my errands with both kids in tow. THEN I take them to work with me for two hours until he gets home. He is in charge from 4:30 until 7:30 Monday thru Thursday. And Dave is a GREAT dad. He knows what and when to feed the kids, how to do baths, how/what to take swimming, all the important stuff. But he gets so flustered!

Is that the difference between Moms and Dads?

I am slower to get flustered because I just have to do it? If the roles were reversed, would our reactions be reversed? Since the day Rory was born, I've been full time mom, full time business owner. My job is hard. Being a mom at the same time has made it even harder. I look at it like this: if I let a little frustration at all the steps it takes to get to Wal-Mart deter me, I'd never get out of the house. We just get up and do it every day because it must be done. If I don't load up the kids and go grocery shopping, we'd never have food in the house.

I am thankful every day that Dave is the type of Dad who jumps in and takes care of the kids while I work. I know it's not his favorite thing in the world and he would definitely rather be golfing. We have gone rounds about the fact that weekends are for family, not for golfing every Saturday and/or Sunday. To me, the more time we spend together, the better. I've had to come to terms with the fact that Dave craves time to himself. (Perhaps as a result of having very little alone time with five brothers and sisters?) It's a balancing act, much like getting two kids to Wal-Mart and fed is a balancing act. It's a learning process and one that will never actually be over. Running a family will never be smooth.

Smooth rides are boring. Bring on the bumps.

Girl Talk Hop: What Do You Want to Do??

I am so late to the party this week, but I am still here! Join in at Girl Talk for this great blog hop.

Today's questions...
1. What did you want to be when you grew up?
I waffled back and forth. In 4th-6th grade, I want to be a pediatric oncologist. This is when my Grammie was battling cancer and ultimately passed away. I wanted to help kids! This changed, obviously. The real desire of my heart was ALWAYS in dance. I wanted to be a Rockette but I never reached the minimum height. That dream became a dream to teach dance.

2. Did you go to school/get training to become that? If not what did you go to school/get training for?
I did and I didn't. My major at Allegheny was Theatre, which is of course 100% applicable to dance. I took a TON of dance classes at the same time, but it was not my major.
I have SO MUCH dance training. I started dancing at age 3 and never stopped. I have had at least one dance recital a year since then. I am certified in teaching ballet through the Cecchetti method of training. I've taken classes on teaching every style of dance as well. I really can't list it all here. (haha)

3. Are you currently using your degree/training now?
I sure am! Every day!

Which is good, because I'd really cry every month paying my loans if I wasn't.


4. If you could do it all again would you do it the same or would you want to be something different?
No way! I LOVE MY JOB. It's beyond stressful but it has made me into an independent person. My parents don't run my business. I DO! I do it all, bookwork, managing, website, all of it. Without that part of my life, I wouldn't be half as strong and self sufficient woman I am now.