My, my - what a weekend we have had here in casa de Mangiaracina. Ed, James and Lucy did a great job to make sure my 34th birthday was special...and it was! Friday was the actual day and I was treated like a Queen. James was happy... Lucy was playful...Daddy worked from home so I could treat myself to a mani/pedi...I received some fabulous gifts (2 pairs of shoes, 2 Minions and a massage gift certificate) and was treated to a delicious dinner with a yummy margarita and ice cream in Clifton at Peterson's (family favorite!)!! It was a great day filled with smiles and love - exactly what I wanted. :)
James even surprised Mommy by spending some quality time in his bouncy chair which up until now, he hated!!
The fun continued on Saturday despite the gloomy weather. We packed up the kid and headed into Old Town Alexandria for lunch and a stroll. One of my favorite DC restaurants, Pizzeria Paradiso, now has a location on King Street in Old Town so of course we had to indulge. And to my excitement, our favorite Dogfish Head beer, Black and Blue, was on tap - Yeah!! After lunch, we walked around, did some shopping, got some more ice cream (this time at Pop's Old Fashioned Ice Cream) and then headed home to spend some quality time with our Lucy girl.
Yesterday was a little more low key. We needed the rest after the "get up and go" days we had had which are more rare these days. :) Plus, our little man is battling some tummy issues so he had a rough night which meant that Mommy and Daddy had a rough night. But we powered through and enjoyed a wonderful dinner at Sweetwater Tavern with Grandma and Grandpa Q.
So there you have it. Turning 34 was pretty awesome and I'd like to thank my boys, my Lucy and my parent's for making it so special.
It is the eve of my 34th birthday and if you know me, you know that I love an eve. Christmas Eve...New Year's Eve...Thanksgiving Eve. I know ~ there is no Thanksgiving Eve, but really, the day before any holiday is technically an eve. Hence my birthday eve. It's crazy to think that I am turning 34 tomorrow...especially since it feels like I was a kid just yesterday.
My God - look at that hair. And we wonder where James gets all his locks! I digress...
So tomorrow I turn 34 which is 1 year away from my quote/unquote "scary age" of 35. I remember watching an episode of Sex and the City back when I was in my 20's and Carrie was turning 35. It seemed so far away and now, it is a mere 366 days away. I do have to admit, though, that 35 doesn't seem so scary anymore making tomorrow's birthday feel like a walk in the park. Especially since I will be spending the day with my little guy. The plan is simple - shopping in the morning, Pinkberry in the afternoon and dinner with Daddy at night. Not too shabby.
I know that I mentioned a while back that Lucy loves her brother and some of you probably rolled your eyes. I mean, how much could a puppy love an infant? Well, here is proof!!
My heart melts every time I watch this video - which has been close to 57 times already!! We are so lucky that our little girl is so good to our little man. We can't wait to see their friendship develop more over the coming years. :)
I knew there were many side effects of pregnancy. Morning sickness. Stretch marks. Mood swings. I had them all and I was happy to see them go away once James made his debut into the world. Well, there is another lovely side effect that plagues new Moms after they give birth - one that I was hoping to avoid. Bigger feet.
What is this? I know that swelling happens...believe me I know.
But I thought that after the baby is out the swelling goes down. Apparently not. I mean, don't get me wrong...my feet are back to a normal size, but not my pre-pregnancy normal size. My size 8 foot is now a half a size larger rendering my beautiful shoe collection useless. Boo.
During a nap this week, I took the opportunity to try on every single pairs of shoes in my arsenal. I'm happy to say that some made the cut - more than I thought.
Sadly though, some did not. In some cases, it was a good thing. I had been holding on to some kicks that needed to be kicked to the curb a long time ago. But for others, it was a sad day. I know that these lovelies will make someone else very happy since I decided to donate them rather them toss them in a landfill.
So what does this mean? Well, it means it is time to go shopping again. There is lots of space in my closet that needs to be filled with the latest and greatest shoe trends, so forgive me if this post is short, but I got to get my big feet to DSW right now!
They seem to have changed now that James is here. What once seemed so important ~ now not so much. I no longer feel the need to get a pedicure on a weekly basis. And Ed doesn't feel the need to rush out to Best Buy to purchase the newest DVD to hit the market.
The same goes for the gifts that Ed and I give each other for special occasions like our anniversary which we celebrated yesterday. Since we are on a tighter budget these days, we decided to put a price cap on our gifts this year. In keeping with tradition, we decided to get each other gifts made of cotton - and under $25.
I was lavished with a beautiful and comfortable spa robe - made of cotton.
Ed received a cotton T-shirt with his favorite Big Bang Theory/Sheldon Cooper saying "Bazinga!"
Since my gifting was so silly, I decided to do something special to highlight our life together over the past two years of marriage and the almost six years of being together. I can't take all the credit for it – I got the idea from my favorite DIY blog YoungHouseLove.com. I just thought it was so clever so I decided to give it a whirl.
I love that it highlights all of the important milestones that we've hit in our relationship. Plus it's another way to dress up the somewhat bare walls in our house. :)
We'll be able to "do it up" on our anniversary in future years ~ we do still need to get to Ireland and Scotland to go on that honeymoon that was foiled by that darn volcano. But in the mean time, we'll stick to the little things that make us happy.
Today is our second wedding anniversary and it is so hard to believe that we have been married 2 whole years already. I can still remember the day that we met like it was yesterday. And here we are, years later, living in a different state...in our new home...with our Lucy girl...and our new baby boy. So much has happened ~ so much that we are grateful for.
So in honor of our second anniversary, we wanted to put together a photo timeline of our wonderful life together. Now, if I had more than 7 minutes to put this together before James starts fussing, you would see a custom made video with music and photos, but since I only have 6 and counting minutes, we all have to settle for good old fashioned photography. :)
This is the first photograph that we ever took together. We were at my cousin Julie's engagement party up in Connecticut. We had just met each other the week before and I conned Ed into coming to the party by saying that I didn't have a ride (which was not true at all!).
Shortly after we met, it was time for my 10-year high school reunion down in VA so we made the trek down. Not only did we attend the event, it was the first time Ed got to meet Mom and Dad Q.
Every summer, my family rents the same house (thank you Sheila!) at Bethany Beach and this was taken on Ed's first of many trips with us. He had just bought me that green hoodie on the Ocean City boardwalk since there was a chill in the air.
On the anniversary of our first meeting, we decided to celebrate in style and spent the weekend in New York City. We stayed in a great hotel on the Upper West Side and toured all the sites (including Lincoln Center, Gray's Papaya and H&H Bagel). We also went to see the Putnum County Spelling Bee which was still on Broadway at the time. It was a GREAT first anniversary trip.
We attended many weddings in the Fall of 2007 (Frascatore, Elmore, Seigal and Green to name a few) and had the opportunity to take in the sites of Los Angeles when out in CA for the Elmore wedding. We had a blast at the Chinese Theatre, seeing all the movie stars' names in the Hollywood Walk of Fame and visiting Universal Studios. The only thing we couldn't seem to get close to or even find for a snapshot was the darn Hollywood sign!!
In the summer of 2008 we went on the first of 2 trips to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic.
Next up was Ed's 30th birthday party and his surprise BBQ party in the park. And I'm proud to say that I actually pulled off the surprise!
And then the big moment...OUR ENGAGEMENT!!!! We were at Bethany Beach with the family and you can read about the whole thing here.
We continued our tradition of visiting NYC each Christmas to see the tree...
... and took a trip out east to see the lighthouse at Montauk Point.
Lucy entered our lives in the Summer of 2009 and things never were the same!
After an amazing engagement photo session with our awesome photographer (Milimeter Photography)...
...and 2 wonderful engagement parties...
...it was time for the BIG DAY!!!
And what a great day it was. :)
There are so many more photos and highlights that I didn't mention, but the baby is stirring so it's time to go. Here's to many more anniversaries and memories as we tackle this life together!! Love You Bubs!!
One of the perks of using an AMEX card to buy all the everyday things you need for a baby is that you rack up tons and tons of Membership Reward points that you can put towards stuff that you actually want to buy. Ed and I experienced this today when we realized that we had enough points to cash in on something that caught our eye a while back.
What is it you ask?
Well, we are not quite ready to divulge since we do not yet have it in hand. But it is something for the house (and not baby related) and is something that I/we have had our eyes on for some time now. It's all part of our plan to make our house more functional by using every bit of space we have.
Some clues:
It is going in our living room.
It is from my most favorite furniture store on the planet.
It will make our living space that much more user friendly.
As soon as we have it up and running, we'll let you in on the details. In the meantime, we'll be out buying diapers and formula to rack up enough points to purchase the beautiful chair that is meant to go with it!
We had a great time celebrating James' first Easter holiday yesterday. Typically we are up in NY with Ed's family, but since James is still a tiny munchkin with no vaccinations, we decided to stay close to home and celebrate with Grandma and Grandpa Q.
The morning started off with a visit from the Easter Bunny. Looks like Mr. Bunny was very generous this year to both James and Lucy. James' basket was filled with all kinds of books and toys while Lucy was treated to a bunny doll that is as big as she is!
The Easter surprises continued when we arrived at the Grandparent's house. Looks like the Easter Bunny visited that household as well! James was treated not only to a bunny basket with goodies including bunny ears (he's so embarrassed about that pic!), but also a MEGA Blocks wagon filled with books and toys. He's one lucky guy!!
It was a lovely day spent with not only family, but good friends the Iovino's. They were in town visiting their son who is in dental school in DC so it was really great to spend time with them.
