The Prep

*Clean out car and car seats (no week old Cheerios or pirates' booty from April allowed!)
*Pack mondo bag for all 4 of us, try to make it all fit in one bag
*clean house so when we return exhausted, we can crash, not clean (re-visit idea of cleaning lady... Oh how I need you!!!!)
*Empty garbages, an 80 degree house that smells like week old diapers is NO BUENO
*Kiss big, spoiled pup: sad she can't come with us, set thermostat to keep DIVA comfy
*Write out, scratch out, re-write packing lists: panic over forgetting something
* Sit, chill, and enjoy a beer... Anything forgotten (other than baby bear or Lukey's B) can be replaced, the only thing that matters is time with my babies.



*** See you there! ***

Trip highlights and photos to follow as soon as we can figure out how to fit all of our crap into our car :)

Fridays suck

Why is it that one crappy day can just bury you in black rain clouds? I wonder what would happen if I didn't take pride in what I do for a living? What if I could give a sh!t? Then what?

I wish others could appreciate what I do...

Anyway, in the words of Bob Marley, " One good thing about music, when it hits you, you feel no pain."


Tomorrow is another day and I am bigger than what I'm feeling.

Vacation Next Week!

So we are headed out for our yearly 1 week vacation as of this Sat and we are so excited! Matt & I have both been totally checked out at work for the past few days and are starting the daunting task of packing... We're still trying to figure out how we are going to get 2 kids, 2 car seats, a tandem stroller, a cooler full of a weeks worth of food, toys, clothing, beach toys and ourselves into our Toyota Camry!!

Our itinerary:

** Sat night into Sun morning: Head to Vacaville and spend the night at Grandpa's new house :)
** Sun morning: climb back into the car and drive from Vacaville to Marina (right outside of Monterrey)
** Sun night: Spend the night at hotel on the beach in Marina, play in the sand and enjoy some seafood
** Monday morning: pack everything back into the car and head up to Pacific Grove to our beach house on Lover's Point

** Monday night: Dinner at our favorite restaurant in Pacific Grove, Fishwife

** Tuesday morning: Spend the morning / afternoon @ the Monterrey Bay Aquarium

** Tuesday afternoon: Lunch at the Fish Hopper and then back to the beach house for a nap!

** Weds: Play on the beach and enjoy some relaxing kiddo time :)
** Thurs Morning: Going to attempt a hike at spectacular Point Lobos; we'll see how far we can get with 2 kids!


** Thurs afternoon: Pack everything up and head back home... Boo!

The girls from work

Why I love them:

* They put up with so much crap and always seem to have time to listen to all of mine
* They are CRAZY hilarious and make work so much more do-able
* The stories that we tell are Hollywood worthy
* They are the most sarcastic, and loving chics I've ever met and I love them for that
* Not even stand up comedians can hold a candle to the speedy comebacks and jabs that fly out so effortlessly
* They have my back 100% as I do theirs and we are the most solid of teams

** I couldn't ask for better chics to work with, and I couldn't get better friends **

I'm in LOVE

Just got back from Best Buy with a new baby! We've been without a computer or internet access at home for almost a year, and to have it again is a beautiful thing. It's fast, it's red, and ended up being $100 less than when we originally decided on buying it 6 months ago. By the way, wireless internet is the Sh!t!!!!! My kids are inhaling edamame and soy sauce while watching "Fast and the Furious, Tokyo Drift" and I'm blogging... How behind the times was I?

Monster to Flea

Funny how facing down a fear and coming to terms with it makes it almost inconsequential.

Now 3 months post discharge of our BK, we are 40 points shy of a 700 credit score, just like that. Crazy, huh? I've been spending a lunch a week at work correcting mistakes on our credit reports and disputing errors with the 3 bureaus and I've managed to FINALLY get everything to report correctly. Funny how trying to convince banks to report your account as included in your BK is ten times harder and time consuming than the actual BK.

We've been saving the equivalent of our mortgage payment plus some every month, and have built up enough to be at peace with leaving this house and heading forward on our journey. I will be sad the day we lock the door for the last time, but losing the house doesn't mean we lose our memories....