I love you San Francisco!

Occasionally I get to go to cool places besides Portland, OR or Louisville, KY for my job and this week was one of those weeks.  I spent two days in San Francisco, which is a place I really had wanted to see and had never gotten a chance to.  Fortunately, I had some time to play in addition to attending the Crowdsourcing conference... more to come on that later.

Here is what I did while I was there, to kick off some of my bucket list.  (Which doesn't actually exist, but if it did, these things might be on it.)

Four Touristy San Francisco Expeditions

1. LAZY Sea Lions on Pier 39.  Yes, it was super touristy down there, but when you think San Francisco- you think Sea Lions and Fisherman's Wharf.

2. Selfie on Golden Gate Bridge.  Totally harrowing experience.  The mix of tourists and bicyclists was not a good one.  Bridge was breathtaking though- especially when the fog started rolling in.

3. Irish Coffee at Buena Vista Cafe.  If you think this isn't a big deal- read the story: http://www.thebuenavista.com/home/irishcoffee.html

 4. Authentic Chinese Food at Hong Kong Lounge. I had never even heard of half the dishes I tried- but I tried and enjoyed them all.  Of course what food don't I like besides mayo.

I really wish I could have taken Alex.  He wouldn't have been down with the Chinese food or Irish coffee, but I would have loved to have taken him on a street car, to the Aquarium on the Bay, and to the Exploratorium.

This is a short blog post today.  I took the red-eye back last night and I have to say I am going to beat the little man to bed.  

Have a great weekend all!

Big Plans

So this weekend started at Day 19 of the July goals and things are going okay.  Some of the fitness goals have fallen to the wayside during doctor induced rest period and a battery issue with my Fitbit put an end to the trackable 10,000 steps for two days, but I continue to be hopeful!  I think for August, I am going to have fewer goals!  I'm losing track.

One of my goals for the month was to take Alex to the aquarium, and since I am leaving for the West Coast this afternoon, I figured we would have what my mom would call a "Big Day."  

Alex woke up early and commenced with the morning Bubble Guppies viewing.  My plan for the morning involved waffles from iHop, because Alex loves the iHop.  Unfortunately, Alex decided he wanted waffles cooked at home, which was absolutely not going to happen.  I have a waffle iron,  can cook waffles at home, but i was not about to make a big mess in a very clean kitchen when at iHop you can have delicious pancakes + extra crispy hashbrowns.

So Alex threw a fit.  He wanted waffles at home.  So I told him we had "Big Plans" today and we need to get our iHop waffles to kick things off... so he told me "I DON'T WANT BIG PLANS, I WANT LITTLE PLANS."

The morning didn't exactly kick off smooth.  We made it to the iHop though- and the day was pretty calm from there.

We took Alex to the new SeaLife Aquarium at Concord Mills.  It was definitely a good time for Alex to get out of the house for the morning, but it wasn't a great value for the money.  I am pretty sure that you can catch all the stuff they were showing within 10 feet of the ocean shore.  Alex likes fish though- so he had a good time.  We also took a pretty cute picture in front of the eels. Gross.

Next, we took little man for his very first Build a Bear experience. He built a SPIDERBEAR, appropriately named Spidey.  Mommy and Daddy also had Alex assist in creating Build A Bears for us, I have a sweet bunny, Daddy made a Darth Vader shark, named "Shark Vader."

Following Build a Bear, we went to my favorite part of the day, naptime and then we commenced to my other activity - called Lazy Afternoon. 

My goal for the aquarium wasn't about the aquarium, exactly, but rather an effort to make a conscious effort to spend time with Aex that isn't routine chores on the weekends - stuff like grocery shopping, working in the yard etc.  Things that can legitimately be called having fun.

For the month of August, I have scheduled a "staycation" so Alex and I can really spend some time just hanging out.

Crystal Light and Painting

One of the things I LOVE to do is go to one of those wine and painting studios with my girls.  It is a great way to spend the afternoon and is something different than just going out for drinks.  Although drinks are involved.

I discovered during the course of doing these that I actually did enjoy painting.  Now, I am not one for actual artistic talent, and I am not claiming to have found any, but I do find that it is relaxing.  Much more relaxing than say, cleaning up the kitchen for the thousandth time.

A few weeks (or maybe months) ago, I bought some of the stuff to try this out at home.  Advantages- it doesn't cost as much, don't have to have a babysitter, and don't have to worry about driving home.  Disadvantage - No actual instruction.

Original Cool Artwork

Because I lack creative vision, I took a picture of one of the paintings at my favorite studio - Painting with a Twist.  It happens to hang in the bathroom.  The original is to the left.

A few things I learned during my first experience.  

1. There is a reason why children are not allowed.  Alex walked right in the door and tried to stick his hand in the acrylic paint.  No bueno.

2. Quality of brushes matters.  I tried for the cheap-o ten pack.  Unfortunately, they shed all over my painting.  Also, in the original painting, the grass was made by flicking the brush across the bottom.  The hair on these brushes was super coarse- there was no flicking about to happen.

Kristen Version

3. Shape of brushes matters. I bought all square brushes- this painting was much better suited for round.

4. I don't know shit about the color wheel.  If I had, I would have been able to figure out how to make brown.  Since I didn't- my tree is gray.

5.  The paint I used was super thick.  I'm going to try to water it down a little bit for the next run.  It also took forever to dry, so I had to sit for at least a quarter of the time I painted blow drying it.

All in all, my painting didn't turn out that bad.  I'm glad I did it. And I did it without wine, because per my goals, I am still logging my calories, and since I had a poptart for breakfast, I was already tapped out. 

Goals Update

So I had to go to the 15 minute clinic on Saturday because I wasn't feeling well and the NP put me on an antibiotic and told me not to run because it can increase the risk of torn tendons.  I am now on running hiatus for a week and unable to complete ab challenge.  Alex has also not been doing his homework because I have felt that it was more important to play outside since they weather has been nice and it is summer.  Will try to be better about it this week.

For those wondering about his poor rib- he hasn't mentioned it.  It is like it never happened to him.  I'm trying to get him to take it easy and that is such a foreign concept to him I might as well have asked him to fly to the moon.

Best of Intentions

So you might have been able to tell from my previous posts that I was attempting to start July with a new perspective, some fresh goals, and some new energy. I was ready to start the day on Monday, back to work, with new, cute outfits, and some new motivation.

Unfortunately, life happened.

Alex, my little man, was rough-housing in the garage with his two best girlfriends on Sunday when he fell on his back following a handstand attempt.

So then three hours in the emergency room commenced, complete with x-ray and fractured rib diagnosis.  

Here's Alex looking pitiful.  Interestingly, enough, I told him to look pitiful for the picture, because he was already asking to go swimming by the time we made it to the ER.

Anyway, following the broken rib diagnosis, the doctor let me know that Alex needed to stay home from daycare the following day for "observation".

And so my day of "working from home" commenced.

It started by having to take Alex into my office to get my computer.  He is very popular with my co-workers and actually played really nicely in my cubicle while I did some e-mails and approved some things that are easier approved while on the corporate network.  Supermom is on the move.

Until it was time to leave.  Commence screaming temper tantrum.. "DON'T TAKE ME HOME MOMMY!  DON'T TAKE ME HOME!!"  Supermom was obviously taking him home to let Alligators slowly eat him from the toes up.

So I get home and try to work, which is actually relatively easy until I have to get on the phone.  It is like radar.  When I get on the phone for work, Alex has every problem on the planet.  I have experienced random vomiting, temper tantrums, bathroom issues.  You name it- it has happened while on a conference call.

I have some strategies.

1. SLEEP THERAPY -  schedule calls for naptime.  Not always possible and subject to Alex not wanting to take a nap.  But when it works- best possible solution.

2. THE GOLDFISH INTERVENTION -  Distract with snack time. Sometimes this works like a charm.  Sometimes leads to a fit because the provided snack was not what was on his mind or he finishes it quickly and wants to move onto gummy bears.  Which isn't allowed.

3. OLD FASHIONED BRIBERY - Because Christmas and Alex's birthday are so close together, we usually save some presents to pull out throughout the year so each one gets plenty of attention.  I have been known to pull them out in time for calls.  This one works pretty well unless the toy in question is hard to put together, or if he wants to play with it with mommy, etc. etc.

I don't know if I have cracked the code. 

For all of the other working parents out there- how do you distract the little ones while working from home?

Goals for July

On a recent plane ride back from Austin, TX, I sat and carefully crafted a list of goals for the month of July, which theoretically I am going to follow religiously for the month. 

As is typically for me, it was carefully crafted on the back of a Marriott bill, but surely that is as valid as the other great works of literature that have their beginnings on the backs of napkins.  

Here is the verdict:

Fitness

1. Download 30 Day Fitness Challenge App.  Complete 30 day ab challenge.

2. Log all food in MyFitness Pal.

3. Complete FitBit goal of 10,000 steps daily.

4. Download Couch to 5K App.  Follow three day per week training time.

I decided to have all of my fitness goals easily tracked via apps.  Mostly because I carry my phone everywhere and looking at the apps makes me feel guilty enough to actually do the workouts.

Job/Professional

1. Update LinkedIn Profile

2. Blog 2 times per week.

Extracurricular

1. Paint 2 paintings. 

2. Take Alex to the aquarium.

3. Do Alex's "homework" on weeknights.

Financial

1. Don't spend any money outside of necessities during the month of July.

2. Cancel US Airways Mastercard - get a cashback credit card.

The financial targets were driven by two factors.  1. I realized I had three new purses that hadn't been carried yet and a quantity of unworn clothing.  Seems like a good time to cut back.  I'm cancelling my US Airways Mastercard because they charged me 60,000 miles for my small child to travel one way to FL, a grand total of an hour and 15 minute flight.  If I want to travel, I will buy a ticket.  Jerks.

Progress so far is mixed on Day 6.

For the fitness goals- I have done the ab challenge every day, logged all my food, and met my step goal, but am short one day on the Couch to 5K app.

I have not updated my LinkedIn profile yet, but I did update my blog twice.  On the last day of the week.  No judgement.

No extracurricular activities have been completed.  I also haven't met any of the financial targets.  For those, however, I have the rest of the month.

New Year, New Blog

So I am re-starting my blog this July.  I'm trying to experiment with various creative outlets, provide content to the World Wide Web and in general make some kind of literary impact on the world.

The first time I started up this blog, the entire premise was that I was going to post all of these exciting projects that I was working on that I had discovered on Pinterest, reflections on the joys of motherhood, and the occasional missive on working motherhood.

That was a goal started prior to my baby boy's first birthday.  He is now three and a half, I had four blog posts to my name, and no projects whatsoever in the works for publishing.

And so the inspiration for the new blog was inspired... like all of the mothers I know- I am strapped for time. I work all day, come home and by the time the family is fed, baths are given and bedtime arrives- there is zero time for anything else.  

So how do I achieve some kind of balance?  I mean, I spend all this time on Pinterest while the water boils- when do I get a chance to actually do any of the projects?  When will I cook all of the healthy meals that they are advocating?  When will I actually go to the gym and figure out  how to do all of these exercises.  

I don't actually have any answers.  I traveled 13 days last month for work and another 4 for vacation.  It is hard to have the perfect home when you aren't actually present?

This blog is my shot at sharing my journey.