Back To Me

Crickets chirping

So!  What's new with you?

(silence)

Great!  So glad to hear it!  Nothing new here of course.  It's not like I left you all hanging while my family was uprooted and in the middle of a lawsuit, surrounded by construction and noxious fumes or anything.

Obviously there was/is a lot going on and I hate to be THAT person but a lot of it I can't publicly talk about.  I KNOW, right?  Beat me with a wet noodle.  But dude, if you wanna  strike up a phone chat I will be more than happy to spill it, expletives and adjectives flying.

To bring everyone up to speed, I have decided bullet points and pictures would be the best way to do it.  And away we go!

• After moving two or three (!!) more times, we are finally settled, as of November 29th.  I will post pictures as soon as we are totally unpacked because it's the most perfect place ever in the history of the world.  We love it beyond all reason.  It's about time if I do say so myself.
• Theo is 21 months old and chatting up a storm, cracking us up every single day.  Here is a Halloween picture to demonstrate the cuteness:
  He was a 'choo choo train' conductor and, as you can see, was jazzed about that fun sized Kit Kat bar.
• I  was lucky enough to meet and hang with Jen who stayed at our house last weekend.  Lady friend flew in from the 'Burgh so I give her mad props.  I will go into further detail as to WHY she was here in another post but you can see her photos from the trip here and be totally jealous of all the fun we had (Santa CON 2009 in the hizzouse!).  I had never met her before in my life and it was like we had been best friends for years.  Related: would you all be hip on signing a petition I'm drawing up to have her pack her family up and move here?  Specifically on our street?  Great thanks.
• I'm pregnant!
• Just kidding.
• 2010 can't come fast enough because I am SO DONE with 2009.  And from what I hear others feel the same.
• Another picture? Don't mind if I do!  Here is the best family shot we could manage with a squirmy kid (notice my Death Grip around his waist.  Don't worry, no internal bleeding was reported):
• I'm already planning my kid's SECOND BIRTHDAY so if I have moments when I just pass out and am unresponsive?  That's why.

I have felt so lonely lately without hearing from you so please, fill me in.  While I've been gone, what have YOU been up to?  Any new moves?  Babies in bellies?  Rings on fingers?  Hit me with it!

(Oh, as an aside, if you want to exchange Christmas cards and I don't already have your addy, shoot me an email.  I need fun stuff on our fridge!)

 

My new baby

I've been going CRAZEE ever since March wanting to tell you what I've been cookin' up and now I finally CAN!  So of course I'm all nervous and excited and happy and twitchy but that's to be expected, right?  So okay.  I started a new site.  But not just any site!  A site that was needed to fill a void on the old interweb. 

Here is it in a nutshell:

Live Well Spend Well originated out of selfishness.  I would read review blog after review blog with the hopes of finding some great products at reasonable prices, but everything was too spendy.  If there did happen to be drugstore options they were few and far between.  I also wanted to know how I could eat better and cook at home without having to be a gourmet chef with three hours to spend in the kitchen every night.  Ideally, I wanted one stop shopping where I could find everything in a single location.  This led to our Master Plan, where our goal is to have 90% of everything reviewed priced at $15 or less, and a Splurge Worthy section priced $50 and under.  I know with the economy the way it is people are cutting back on expenses, and yet we all want to feel good about ourselves inside and out.  Our hope is that this new site gives those on a budget a place to go to learn about fabulous beauty products and healthy living without feeling they need to spend and arm and a leg to get there.

Right?  RIGHT?  And I have partnered with some of my favorite people, Katie from pseudostoops and Kori from Two Adults One Brown Baby.  I am embracing the role of resident skin and hair care expert, Katie will be all about the healthy eating and fitness tips, and Kori is playing with make-up and helping us all look good.  I also need to sing Jen's praises, as she donated her fantastic blog design services for this endeavor.  Check her out if you ever want a make-over.  She's great to work with and comes up with fabu stuff, as you will see.

We will also have periodic giveaways from awesome sponsors so it seriously can't get any better.  In fact, we have some fun stuff going on right now to kick off our first week in town.  I'd love for you to bip on over, take a look around and let us know what you think.  We're on twitter too so please, come and join the party.  As we like to say, feeling fabulous inside and out shouldn't have to cost a fortune! (And I TOLD you I wasn't pregnant!)

Newbie!

My best friend finally started a blog!  She's doing it to find a community to help her make her goal weight and to be accountable to the world at large.  So please, go give her a warm welcome to The Internet.  It can be a scary place sometimes :-)

onetime-oneplace.blogspot.com

Verklempt

I'm giddy as a school girl (and honestly, I haven't felt like this since the day I found out I was pregnant) because all but one (my sister-in-law) of my very favorite ladies are able to come to the baby shower my best friend is throwing!

Pseudostoops, Melinda, Holly, Maggie, Dawn, Summer, and Tracy will be there.  Still waiting to hear from this lady but she just had a baby three weeks ago, so while my fingers are crossed that she can come AND bring her new son, it is totally understandable if she can't.

I'm so blessed to have the friends and support system that I do.  It's truly amazing.

So yipee!  And Internet, I wish you all lived around here so you could come too.  Because without you, I'd be lost during this pregnancy.  Big hormonal hugs and kisses to you all!

That's a thinker.

A mighty big thanks to Child's Play X2 for nominating me. It's quite unexpected and, I've got to admit, pretty damn cool.

You see, he nominated me because he thinks I'm nice.

NICE!

I question weather or not he has read every post, but hey, that's not up to me to crack down on. And he admires my passion for animal rescue. That I can't argue with. I appreciate the recognition, and I am returning the favor by nominating blogs that make ME think.

1). Sundry. It's a little disturbing how much I love this woman. She is such a fabulous writer. Not only does she cuss, but she's funny and thought-provoking too! She's not afraid to tackle difficult subjects and I like that. She sounds like a really cool person and I like to think we may be friends in 'real' life if we lived close by.

2). Sticky Note To Self. This is my friend Dawn. Her blog posts (when she has time!) are always amazing. She talks about trying to be Green, what it's like to be a mom to a three year old (um, the CUTEST three year old I might add), running an animal rescue, and everything else in between. If you're not reading her, you should. And that's not me being biased.

3). Andi Mae. I'm friends with her through our blogs and MAN do I wish I knew her in real life! I've told her how I can always 'hear' her smiling though her posts and it's so true. Andi is crafty, spiritual, loving, friendly and a fabulous wife and mother (with another on the way in a week or two!). Reading her blog always makes me want to be a better person. She inspires me to craft and enjoy the simple things in life. Sometimes I need reminding.

I'm really sure there are more--every blog I read touches me in some way, shape or form. But these are the ones I wanted to honor with The Thinking Bloggers Award. Pass it on!

Goody Bag Luvin'

So here it is, in all its glory:

From left to right:

--Bippity scrubbing thing that cleans like a mo' fo'.
--Clinique samples that are amazing, especially the eye make-up remover
--Clinique make-up bag
--My favorite Earl Gray tea.
--Pig bookmark. Because pigs are awesome.
--Trader Joe's salad dressing which is a drop of Heaven.
--Livestrong bracelet
--People magazine. Duh.
--Three of my favorite recipes.
--Cascade: cleans dishes like nobody's business.
--A Young At Heart business card to represent that I was sending her a YAH magnet for her fridge.
--Overnight chapstick. Seriously, I can't go to bed without it. If I forget, it's not a pretty sight.
--Revlon tweezers. I am obsessed with cultivating my eyebrows and those are the sharpest ones I have found. No waxing for me. These babies do the job.

Tune in next year where the winner gets a NEW CAR! (snort!)

It's A Blog!

Today marks the First Blogoversary for Back To Me! In those 365 days, I have:

--posted 190 times
--received 715 comments
--had 18,531 page views
--averaged between 75-100 hits a day (though it concerns me that I get more hits when my life is in the crapper, but I digress. . . .)

Pretty hearty start, I think, to this whole blogging thing. I have made some fabulous friends, both in 3-D and on-line, and feel purty darn lucky. You guys are the best. And! Because of my deep appreciation and gratitude, I have a goody bag! For you! If my camera weren't acting so wonky I'd post a picture of the bag in all its secretive glory, but I can't. So you'll just have to trust me that I put in some mighty fine stuff, all of which represent me and the things I love. To be elegible to win, you need to comment. Not just any comment, a special one. You have to answer this question to be put in the hat:

"What do you like/not like about this blog? What can I do to make it better? Add something? Get rid of something? Content changes? What, tell me!"

I'm here for you, so I want to make it worth your while. Any and all feedback is appreciated. I'll leave comments open through the end of Friday and then I will pick a winner. But just remember, you're all winners to me.

Good luck, and have some cake for me. My blog is on a diet.

Public Service Announcement

My blog's first birthday (READ: Major Milestone) is coming up in a little less than two months. This means you do not have a lot of shopping days left so you better get crackin'.

Another notch in the bedpost

I went on another blind date Thursday.  This time it was with Melinda!  We had an absolutley wonderful time (on my part at least.  If she didn't have a good time she's a damn good faker.) and it's amazing how much more we have in common than I initially thought from her blog.  We had a very high-brow conversation about celebrity marriages and People Magazine vs. Us Weekly, and the importance of a good song that will make you cry.  You are all so jealous I can tell, and  you should be.  Because Melinda is the hippest new mommy blogger you could ever hope to meet.  Talk nice and maybe she'll grant you that pleasure (she just had a baby, afterall.  She needs adult interaction) :-)