Saturday, August 18, 2012

A Day in the Life

I think day in the life posts are so fun. It's a good way to remember what life really was like from day to day. Today, Friday, was a typical day for me.

3:20 am I wake up because I cannot sleep any longer due to working night shift. I embrace it and use the time to myself and to get a few things done.

3:30 get up and finally watch a show I've had DVRed for awhile and watch it in peace without interruption.

4:00 I get excited for an open day, but soon realize we have lots to do still before school starts. I begin to organize my day by making a To Do List. I also take all of my girls school papers, cheerleading papers, and my work schedule and fill everything in on my planner and Google calendar in my phone. I check emails and fill in other dates of things like a meeting for work, a required training class to volunteer at Riley's school for the upcoming year, first PTO meeting, etc.

5:00 I also organize, gather, and make copies of papers to later drop off at school. A few years ago I made a family binder. It's just a regular 2 inch binder with pocket sections in it for each member of our family. It hold important documents like our marriage license, birth certificates, immunization forms, etc. It has saved me so much time because now I don't have to search everywhere because all important things are in one place.

5:30 I look at our bills and pay some online, make notes of the ones that need to be paid other ways, and make our budget for the rest of the month.

5:45 I sneak into the girls room to grab their laundry without waking them up and throw a load in the washer.

6:00 Take a shower without interruption (the little things in life). Get myself dressed and ready for the day.

6:45  Change the load of laundry and put a new load in. Start to pick up the kitchen and the string of toys and little pink things that litter the floors.

7:15 Hub is up for work. He gets ready and we talk about what all is going on for the day and where everyone needs to be. He leaves for work.

8:00 I'm already tired again and sit down, watch some morning tv and read some blogs, search on Pinterest, and drink a cup of gasoline coffee. I bought these new Keurig coffee cups and it definitely was dark roast with more kick than espresso. I decide that I really need to cut coffee out of my life slowly.

8:30 Breakfast is started. I put some slices of bacon on the griddle, slice some kiwi, heat up some waffles from the day before, rinse some grapes, and make some scrambled eggs. As things are cooking I empty the dishwasher and load it again.

9:00 I wake the girls up to eat breakfast. They are reluctant, but come into the kitchen with their blankets in tow. Riley tells me she is not hungry and doesn't want to eat anything at all that I made for breakfast.We have a long discussion about how this is what we are having and that we are not going to eat anything else  until lunch time which is in a few hours. She takes a couple bites and we move on.

9:30 The girls get in the bathtub. We get dressed and I braid their hair after much deliberation of their hairstyle for the day. I am only expecting this to get worse as they age, but enjoy it, because I used to dream about having little girls and would fix my baby doll's hair, and now I have real babies of my own.

10:15 We finally make it out the door to go school shoe shopping.

10:30 We arrive at shoe store number one. I quickly become aggravated because every shoe I or the girls like they do not have in their size. Riley asks for those Sketcher ballerina shoes.  I explain to her at least 10 times that she is not allowed to wear those to school and that she must pick something else. I chase Raigan up and down the isles and curse advertisement and swear that Riley is never allowed to watch tv again. Raigan continues to dart and giggle. It's definitely time to leave.

10:50 Before entering the mall the girls and I have a talk about the appropriate way to act in a store. We also talk about how it's disrespectful to continue to ask for something when a parent has already told them no multiple times. I contemplate taking the stroller in or just chasing the girls down myself and decide the later would be easier. We look at lots of shoe stores and not many have large selection of toddler sizes. The girls finally choose a pair and we stop by Claire's to find a 9x11 inch pouch, open at the top, and with a long strap that Riley needs as one of her supplies. Crazy specific, but we find this cute owl one.

12:00 We drop papers off to the school office.

12:15  Off to Target we head to find the rest of our school supplies we need and a different backpack, because the owl one we have does not fit folders or notebooks. Boo.

1:00 We are back home and have lunch. They requests eating cinnamon rolls for lunch and  I oblige and offer them fruits and veggies on the side.

1:30 My dad arrives to sit with the girls during nap time so I can go to a hair appointment. Raigan is down for a nap and Riley is in her room and plays quietly. I head out to the salon. I talk to my husband about our shopping experience and whatever else while he is on his lunch break.

2:00 I get to the salon and it's my lucky day because they have free Greater's Ice Cream for all their clients. I indulged in a container of chocolate chocolate chip, get my hair done, cut, and feel like a new woman.

4:00 I get back home. Raigan is still napping and Riley gets dressed for cheerleading practice.

5:00 We head to the gym for cheerleading.

5:15 Hub gets to the gym to pick Raigan up so I can coach without supervising a toddler at the same time. The girls do a fabulous job at the gym and we make big progress in our routine for our first competition in October. I'm exhausted.

7:10 Practice is over and we head home.

7:30 We get home and eat dinner my dad had made for us in the crock-pot, so wonderful of him.


I do not get everything done on my To Do List, but it's not the end of the world. I will try again tomorrow because I can do a lot, but I cannot due it all. I end the day and call it a success.









Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Phases

I love summertime. It's by far my favorite time of the year. I was built for sunshine, warm days, and water. I love that the sun is up when I get up and lingers well into bedtime.



With that being said though, I am kind of welcoming the start of the school year and the season of oranges and reds. I desperately need some routine and consistency in my life right now. I hope school schedules will regulate that a little more. Right now each week is different and each day has it's own routine that never mimics the one before.


Cheerleading and football season is in full swing and will most likely dominate our lives for the next 2 months, but it's so fun. It's so fun because both of my girls are cheering this year and it's really special to see the progress they have already made in the few weeks since we've started.


 With the start of the school year, I've been giving a lot of thought to food. I want to be better at planning our meals, something I get on and and fall off the bandwagon often. I want to use Sundays as a day to get all of our food bought and plan for the week. I want to have breakfast ideas, after school snacks, and easy, quick dinner ideas. I'm on the Pinterest hunt for those things.




I tend to look at our life in phases and a few phase will begin next week. I don't have it all figured out yet and everything ready, because who knew how much work went into send a little one to school for a few hours a day, but I'm really excited for it and all the fun and new experiences it's going to bring. Riley has this about me poster that I'm pretty excited to help her fill out for the first day of school. It brings back so many memories of my childhood and I'm so blessed to be remembering mine with these little girls. 

Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Otto's for Sunday Brunch

This Sunday my homies and I went out for a Sunday Brunch at Otto's in Mainstrasse Village. My homies being my husband and two daughters. It's a cafe, or a bar, or something; but they have killer brunch on Sundays. Their website can be found here.


If I had to describe this place in one word.... hmm, I couldn't. Home-y, artsy, quaint, southern friendly- like you're in the south. I mean they do serve Shrimp n Grits for dinner after all. I love Shrimp n Grits. I was meant to live in a big Georgia mansion in another lifetime, except I don't believe in other lifetimes, but you know, I can still use the saying.



If only my wiggly worm would stay still for 5 seconds for my camera to auto focus, this would be my ultimate favorite picture. It's still pretty up there on the list though.


We had a good time and kids were civilized halfway into my Strawberry Cheesecake French Toast, so I'd call it a win for a restaurant outing.



The french toast was unreals. It should defiantly make it to the Food Network in my opinion.They also served fresh peach sangria that made the meal perfect. As my side I got a potato cake full of creamy potato and peppers. 


Hub and the girls got Belgian Waffles topped with strawberries and blueberries and that crispy little tart is a piece of goetta. Although I love food, I can't consider myself a foodie because I couldn't tell you what makes a waffle Belgian as appose to a regular ole' waffle. One day I'll learn all the secrets. 


We love to go to and contribute to small businesses around the city. That being said, we of course occasion Cracker Barrel and IHop from time to time, but there is just something you can get from these places that you can't get from the big chains. I would definitly suggest it as one of my little gems in our city to visit.

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Washington Park

When I was in high school, I used to know exactly who I was. I was a minority, but I knew exactly what my plan was in life. I knew my morals, and interests, and was totally comfortable with the person I was. It's weird how things change in different seasons for people. Now that I've achieved a good majority of those goals I set for myself in high school and my interests have changed I'm not really sure what's next. Do I think we will live in the suburbs? Or even in the same city? Who knows. The endless opportunities of the future excites me though. We can do anything and go anywhere really. We have been talking a little more about selling our home and getting an apartment downtown and living an urban lifestyle for a little while. When we were downtown at Washington Park it validated a little bit more of why we would want our family to have this life experience.

The city of Cincinnati has been throwing money into projects around left and right. There are so many new things and renovations happening and the city is definitely showing  more and more promise.

I have loved being downtown ever since I was little. I have memories of my mom taking me to Newberrys and getting photos in a photo booth. We would visit these Christian bookstores and I always enjoyed being down there. I would beg my parents every Christmas to take me down to see the Christmas train display at Cinergy, now Duke Energy, a family tradition of my own families now. We would go to Riverfront Stadium to see the Reds play and play at Sawyer Poinit. I have even had two jobs downtown and loved the hustle bustle of it all.

I love that a lot of my girls childhood memories are the same as mine and involve the city.

Washington Park:

The backdrop of this park is Music Hall, it's beautifully amazing. 





The park has fountains that are lit with colors and sometimes coordinates to classical music that you can choose on an app on your phone. I have not experienced it, but it sounds fantastically futuristic. You can read about it in an article found here.




You can somewhat see a stage in the center background of this photo. This is where they play music and have movies projected on the weekends in a huge field of beautiful green grass.








When we first arrived at the park Riley was really hesitant to get wet because she had on one of her favorite shirts, but I packed her a change of clothes and she agreed to have fun. Silly girl, it is crazy how much she is like me. It didn't take long before she was running through the fountains and laughing with new friends.





The girls are so funny because usually I'm packed with everything when we go out, but since we kind of impromtly went to this park the only I threw in my bag was my camera and a change of clothes for them in case they did get in the water. They promptly asked when we got there where their bathing suits were and what snacks and food I brought. I'm not always super prepared I guess, but I'm glad my kids think of me to be.


An even cooler part about the park trumps your average park is the amazing backdrop to this park. That's the Kroger building in the background and beautiful apartment buildings of Over the Rhine. The city is definitely shaping up nicely. 






The play structures at this new park are pretty impressive too. They have boats, castles, and AstroTurf mounds my girls pretended to the queens of.













I give this park a 10/10 and would suggest anyone to visit. http://washingtonpark.org/ has information about events and things at the park.

Related Posts with Thumbnails