Today, I come to you from the comfort of my living room for the first time, ever! My hard work last month paid off. As it turns out the whole goal of making more money was to get to spend it! Welcome home MacBook Pro, you will be well loved.

I haven't stopped working in over three weeks, which is great but jeez I'm tired. All the forces of natural graphic design selection have pointed to me and said, "Alleluia! She is the one you need!" I've done work for regular clients, new clients, and rush clients. Just when I don't think it can get any crazier I open my email and BAM a new project DUE RIGHT NOW. I have a huge laundry list of project to finish this morning and more deadlines for the afternoon and some for tomorrow. The dogs are the only thing keeping me sane man!

(AND! My first anniversary is coming up, can anyone toss out a unique gift idea? I believe the theme is paper?)

Tonight we are hitting the streets for a Soul Train themed party. Above is a sampling of Thomas' ensemble, below is mine. You may want to dim your monitor before scrolling down to look at my outfit. Imagine the hottest pink, multiply it by 10, then add flowers in hunter orange. It is so bright that if you stare at it for 30 seconds and then look at a blank wall you will see the image of Jesus or your eyes may just fall out of your head. I. AM. SO. EXCITED.

I feel like I've been really busy recently but I don't know what I've been really busy doing. I haven't been taking photos, I haven't been blogging, maybe I've been working? I'm not sure. How does that happen? The days go by, I feel busy and accomplished but none of the things I like to do are done. I did though find these two gems sitting in my iPhoto stash. I took them last week but I think I neglected to go through my photos.





So now I'm off for a haircut and to get Thomas' watch fixed. (Well, not fixed, but get a link removed from the band. A few weeks ago I took it to the jeweler to have it made a little bigger and I thought adding two links would be better than just one. It's not.)

About a week and a half ago we were riding in the car on our way to Los Angeles, the radio was tuned to its usual NPR. Thomas was driving so my thoughts were drifting back and forth from radio to imagination as I watched the Orange County scenery coast by. A report came on talking about teens who use a native Mexican plant as a hallucinogenic. I perked up a little when I heard the plant name, Salvia. "We have that," I say quietly.

Thomas jerks his head toward me with such force the rest of his body and the car follow in turn. "We do?," he asks nearly veering off the freeway.

Sadly, honey, it's not the right variety. It flowers.

Me: I talked to our friends and they're coming over.

Thomas: When?

Me: Tonight, so you can play Wii.

Thomas: I'm sick of the Wii.

Me: Um, it's a little to soon for you to be saying that with how much time and money we put toward getting the Wii.

Thomas: No, no. I'm tired of it, but that doesn't mean you have to stop playing it. It's really aimed at the casual gamer you know.

Me: I hate to tell you, but you've become a casual gamer.

Thomas: DO NOT INSULT ME!

Situation 1: I picked up my iPhone to put it in the microwave rather than the mashed potatoes I intended to heat only narrowly noticing my mistake.

OR

Situation 2: Thomas striding into the kitchen to let me know he's hungry but instead proclaiming, "I'm pregnant!"

Here it is Monday again. We're all having a rough time getting started. The weekend went by too quickly and I don't think we've had enough time to recover. Friday started with a fun night of baking, drinking and playing Wii. Well, the guys played Wii while Jane and I talked about everything from unnecessary vodka packaging to Jazzercise moves. Jane says I no longer look like a marionette but rather a Rockette! Sadly I am a tiny bit too tall to be in the famous Rockette lineup, but I'm sure if I let them know I was available they'd change the height requirements just to let me perform.

Saturday was busy, Thomas and I ran errands where I tried to convince him I need one of these. My efforts have not been successful. But we did see the Matrix or maybe it was part of the Trench Coat Mafia, not sure. This guy was in a full-length black trench-coat. Did I mention it was an absolutely perfect 72 and sunny? I guess that's why I like going to Fry's with Thomas - for the ever-exciting people watching. We moved on and had sushi for lunch. Later we met up with a group of friends for a crazy night of cocktails and dinner.

On Sunday things didn't slow down. I got up for 8:15 am Jazzercise and even stayed for a second class immediately following the first. (I got overly excited because on Saturday I fit into a pair of pants that had been obscenely tight in previous months.) I came home to a recumbent Thomas so I decided to snuggle in and work on my knitting. I've been working on the Manos del Uruguay Four Seasons Throw.



Block 3 is really throwing me for a loop (pun intended). I don't normally make many mistakes on my knitting but thanks to Thomas tying me to a chair and propping my eyes open with toothpicks just to get me to watch a TV show he likes, I got all out of order on my rows. I was marking down that I had finished rows three ahead of where I currently was! It's his fault. I know it.

Even after minor defeat I was still feeling crafty and decided to haul out my summer skirt project. A few weeks ago I bought the Amy Butler Barcelona Skirt pattern from Sowing Sisters along with a cute fabric by Kitty Yoshida.



The pattern is a lot of pieces but it was a lot of fun to sew. It's fully lined with muslin and nearly done. I just have to stitch the hems. I hope to wear it on Wednesday, I know all my knitter friends will be so (sew?) excited about it! I wish I could sit down and finish it right now, but my Monday morning list of things to do is long, but I know I will power through it all because this charmer greeted me when I let the dogs out this morning.

While selecting which potato chips we would buy:

Me: Ooh, let's get the "Chipotle Chili Barbeque."

Thomas: But they're organic!

Me: Buying organic is a negative to you?

Thomas: Naturally.

Here's the guys playing our new Nintendo Wii, slippers and all.





P.S. - I rearranged the living room furniture for optimal game play.

Do you see that? 90? That is some seriously hot weather for coastal San Diego. We consider 75 to be a hot day. The weather is supposed to be 72 and sunny, no more and no less. We can tell the difference between 72 and 75 without even looking at a thermometer so when it hits these kind of temperatures everyone in town is grumpy and falling over from heat exhaustion. Not to mention the air is so dry that the inside of my nose feels like someone buzzed it out with a Dremel then went back in with some sandpaper and then rounded it out by stuffing cotton balls down my throat. It's 8% humidity. My lips feel like they are going to fall off. I live one, ONE! mile from the gigantic Pacific Ocean. How is 8% even physically possible?

My poor Henry looks like he's going to spontaneously catch on fire, his blood boiling when he even so much as looks outside. He just keeps wandering from room to room, glaring at us with each pass, looking for the coldest possible spot to stay until the sun sets. For a little reprieve I gave him a cool bath, something he doesn't like at all. But we sat him down and explained that after Mommy takes away all your dignity and scrubs every inch of your body with strawberry scented shampoo, you will feel better. He still did not agree but finally after we threatened some timeout without treats, food or water he pathetically relented by putting his ears down, holding his breath and hopping in the bath all the while choking back tears. Because I'm just that mean.

But then what do you know? Post bath we had a new, non-glaring, happy, energized Henry. He said, "Wow! Aside from all this water you poured in my ears, I feel great! It's a beautiful day and I'm happy to be alive!"



So for the next thirty seconds he played and chased Lola all around the house and yard. Until suddenly he was hot again. Because not even something with more fur than Jennifer Lopez can stay cool and wet when it's negative humidity.

My lazy Lola, here in a variety of soppy posses. I wish I could fall back to sleep this easily.

Do you ever sit there on a Friday wishing for it to be time to have a beer? Well today we had beer o'clock at 2! We hadn't eaten anything since breakfast so I totally made us some cracked out fried egg, bacon and cheddar sandwiches to chow down after our beers. Such a healthy routine before Jazzercise. Love it!

Thomas in the kitchen: Hon! The freezer's making a really weird noise!

Me: What? What's wrong with it?

I approach closer.

Me: Oh... No, hon. That's the washing machine running.

For the first time ever we started our taxes. Together. We have been through many tax seasons in our relationship but this is the first one that we have any rights over what the other person is doing. This is the first tax season we are married filing jointly. Save us all. If there's anything Thomas and I are stubborn about it's money. What's mine is mine and what's his is his, or mine, depending how desperate I act. Not really. We have separate bank accounts, divided retirement savings plans and just generally no say in what the other is doing with the money they earn. We like it, no, prefer it that way. So when we had to file through all my bank accounts last night to determine my home office deduction, I think I would have rather ripped out each fingernail with a pair of pliers -- then moved on to my teeth.

None too good at domestic chores my friend Sue and I were lamenting the piles of laundry taking over our respective bedrooms. We decided the only way to motivate ourselves was to get it out in the open and host a showdown. Over on her blog Sue covered the introductions:

Who's laundry pile is larger - the DINK or the WMOO?

In my finest boxing emcee voice...

"In this corner at 6'2" tall...she's a lean mean design machine. Her favorite reasons for avoiding the laundry are: gardening, stalking people on social networking websites, and fixing tea for her husband!"

"In the opposite corner at 5' 2 1/4"...she's the school secretary and wiper of butts. Her favorite reasons for avoiding the laundry are: reading Elmo books, watching Elmo television, and changing poopie diapers."

LET'S GET READY TO RUMBLE!

My dad had another round of brain surgery yesterday. Since flowers didn't seem right, we sent him a Craftsman baseball cap and some new tools as a get well gift. I picked some pink sweet peas from my garden as a get well bouquet but since he lives about 3,000 miles away they are going to stay on my table and I can think about him every time I admire them. Get well soon Daddy!

Yesterday was my 29th birthday. For the first time ever, I was not looking forward to a birthday. I love birthdays, especially when their mine, but the thought of turning 29 made me taste some vomit in the back of my mouth. I began making all sorts of concessions to avoid the fact that the day was approaching. I told Thomas not to get me a card, I didn't care if he got me a gift, I just wanted to go out to dinner. But as the day crept up on me I slowly got more and more excited. A gift from my parents arrived, cards came in the mail.

I was surfing around the net one afternoon and came across Dooce's style post about a fabulous Angela Adams handbag. Not only was the bag so cool but it was also on sale! I quietly sent an email to my beloved saying, "If you really haven't picked anything for me yet, I might like one of these..." A few days passed and Thomas grumbled something about not supporting my "ridiculous habits."

And then, voila! A new handbag, just for me!



I love it. I quickly swapped everything into it and then proceeded to carry it around on my shoulder while still wearing my bathrobe. Ridiculous? I think not!