The day began, as it does every day lately, with a little boy standing next to the bed at 6am saying “nice sleeps?” and wanting to crawl in next to us. But being that it was Mother’s Day and I specifically asked to sleep in for “my day”, N.C. took the kid upstairs to watch TV while I grabbed another couple of hours of sleep. Note to younger me: someday 8:30 am will be considered sleeping in.

For “brunch”, I had a typical weekend breakfast of eggs, bacon, hashbrowns & diet coke while watching Despicable Me with my family. No one threw a tantrum the entire time, and Despicable Me is actually pretty cute. Note to younger me: Someday you’ll watch cartoons a million times and beg for something you haven’t seen, even if you previously loved it.

They went and got some milk at some point too. Jackson valiantly fought this gallon of milk for 5 minutes.

While Jackson napped, I watched 127 Hours (it was good. I probably shouldn’t have watched it on Mother’s Day, but it was good), and when the movie was over, I took a leisurely 45 minutes to shower and get dressed. Note to younger me: enjoy those 45 minute showers. Someday they will be a luxury.

For a late lunch, I decided to try my luck by requesting sushi & ice cream. Despite a couple of ants-in-the-pants moments, Jackson did a great job of behaving at the practically empty restaurant (sushi restaurant at 3:30 is apparently not the happening place on Mother’s Day. Who knew?). We didn’t even have to inhale our food, instead taking our time eating. And then we all got ice cream. Note to younger me: enjoy those lazy, drawn out meals. Someday you’ll be lucky if you get 20 minutes for your dinner.

Everyone needed to burn off some energy, so we went with the dog and the kid to an open field, where they ran around for about an hour, chasing birds (the dog), tennis balls (the kid), and generally being wild (everyone). We left covered in dirt & burrs, but with a solidly worn out crew. Note to younger me: any ideas you may have had about adulthood being cleaner & fancier than childhood? Yeah, not so much.

By the time we got home, it was meltdown central. I passed bath duty off on N.C. and mindlessly chopped stuff for our dinner (I find chopping to be therapeutically repetitive), but went down to do the nighttime ritual before long. Jackson was crazy tired, so we shortened everything up & before long it was time for “nigh nigh mommy.” With the lights off, the soft gray of a hazy twilight outside softened the room while I sang songs, asked Jackson to tell me about our day, rubbed his back & combed my fingers through his curls. Then it was “one more rockabye bayybeee mommy?,” and little arms around my neck, and “kisses make mommy HAPPY!,” and “I lub you mommy.” And I sat with a little boy in my lap, in that soft gray light, and smiled at how perfect a Mother’s Day it had been.

Note to younger me: This will someday be a perfect day. There won’t be gifts wrapped with a bow, or fancy celebrations, and you will think a day like this is the best gift ever.You have SO much to look forward to is what I’m saying.

Life seems to be moving at breakneck speed lately, leaving me just trying to hold on until we’re out of this busy period. Which, sadly, leaves me little energy for blogging at the moment (I know, so sad). My brain just seems to crash out at the end of the day…

There’s a lot of great stuff coming up though. Today I’m taking the day off so N.C. and I can spend some time together to celebrate Mother’s Day (trying on the actual day hasn’t worked in my previous two attempts, so we’re trying it this way). I plan on eating my way up and down the coast, and trying to ignore any thoughts of work.

Then, in a few weeks, N.C. & I will celebrate our anniversary. We’re trying to find a little mini-vacation to go on for a day or two (made possible by my mom’s desire to come out and see us spend time with Jackson). It’ll be something small, within driving distance, but it’ll be nice to have even a little bit of time to celebrate.

Of course, the week after that is my annual trip to New York. It’s for BEA, THE tradeshow in the US for book publishing. This is part of why I’m so crazed at work, we’re trying to wrap up all the final planning that comes with trade shows. It all culminates in an 8 day trip to New York, something I both love and dread at the same time. Being that it’s a business trip, and a trade show at that, I’m gonna be exhausted a good portion of the time. And of course, I hate leaving the kid and the husband for so long (seriously, 8 days is way too long). BUT, the trade off for the hard work and distance is a little bit of down time in the city, a chance to catch up with old and new friends, and, of course, the opportunity to stuff my face. Yeah, I basically eat my way through the city.

That being said, if any of you are in New York, (or are going to be there for BEA, BlogWorld, or the Book Bloggers Convention), I’d love to meet up and say hi. Even if it’s just for drinks or a bagel!

After THAT? Well, after that, I think things should slow back down from breakneck busy to normal busy. Now let’s just hope I can keep up the pace until then!

One of the earliest things I found on Pinterest  was this fun little makeup display:

I’ve been obsessed with it since then, because I think it would address some of my problems with my makeup (namely, that it either gets buried in my one little drawer to the point that I only every use the two things that are right up front or that it either spreads out all over my limited counter space driving my husband crazy and running the risk of being grabbed by two year old hands).

So, I put it on my 2012 To Do List and went merrily along my way, hoping I’d find some time to get to it during the year, despite my less than crafty tendencies.

THEN.

Last week, N.C. called me downstairs. It was the night before we were going to celebrate his birthday and he asked me if I could come help him with something. I sort of assumed he wanted my input on what he was going to wear, or a restaurant he had found that he wanted me to look at. Instead, as I came into the room, this is what I saw:

Sorry for the offcenter image, it was either that or lay down across my entire counter to get it straight on. I love y’all, but not that much.

That’s right. For HIS birthday, N.C. had made ME a gift. The thing I’ve been wanting for-evah. I was SO touched, and so excited to get it filled (this isn’t quite everything. He did an admirable job of picking out my makeup and applying magnets to them, but he missed a few. It’s fuller now).

I’ve been using it a little over a week now, and I LOVE it. It’s so easy to have all my makeup right there–it’s away from prying toddler hands, but out of the black hole of a drawer. I’m not scrounging for my brushes, or digging digging digging for that one little tiny eyeliner, because BOOM, they’re right there. And, as a bonus, because I can SEE all my makeup, I’m actually using more of my makeup–I’m pulling out the colors I forgot I had, or trying the sparkly stuff I never could find. It’s awesome.

So, yay to checking off a 2012 To-Do item, courtesy of an amazingly thoughtful husband. And even bigger yay to a husband who decided that for his birthday, he wanted to do something nice for me—you can’t win much more than that!

P.S. Logistics: it’s been varnished to try and help with any humidity, but we also have our sink/counter area separate from our shower area. I’m not sure if the paper would hold up great in a humid bathroom over the long term, but the varnish will probably help anything we might face.

It’s Friday, and here in San Diego the sun is shining, the sky is a brilliant blue, and the trees are blooming.

I’m reminded how lucky I am to have landed in this little corner of the world, a place where my daily quota for sunshine is almost always met, where I see the ocean every day on my commute, and where, if I’m honest, it pains me to think of ever leaving. We may someday–the cost may be too high, the distances from family too great, the opportunities too limited–but for now, I look up into the blue and am glad to be home.

The problem with getting sick two weeks before Christmas is that the to-do list still stares you down even as you’re hacking up a lung.

So everything becomes a choice:

Sleep or get the Christmas tree (if not, it’ll have to wait another week)? Rest or decorate the Christmas tree? Keep your germ addled self home or finish the last of the Christmas shopping for the gifts that HAVE to ship this week? (sorry other shoppers. I tried to not breath on anything or touch what I wasn’t buying). Wrap said gifts or nap? Finish Christmas cards or lay on the couch coughing so hard you won’t need an ab workout all week?

I mean, all things being equal, I’d rather be sick two weeks before Christmas than ON Christmas (we’ve done that before. It’s miserable). And it does serve to really focus your attention on the things that NEED to get done in the holiday craziness. But sadly, that NEED list does exist, and there’s a timeline on everything on them, so you figure out what can wait until you feel more human, and what can’t. Christmas cards? Can wait. Gifts that have to ship this week? Can’t.

What was I saying about being a grownup again?