Big Girl Sick

This week brought a pretty rough day for Sophia - sick with a temperature and bad cold. And while I felt really badly for her, she was just too cute to resist. It was the first time she was sick as a "big girl." At 21 months, she laid on the couch with her sippy water, her favorite friend Pablo and her blanket and watched Backyardigans while sniffling.


The good news is that it was a 24-hour bug and she is back to her rambunctious self.

And, in other news, we finally picked out tile for our master bathroom (which has been plain cement and not functional for two years now!) The goal is to get the bathroom up and running by the Grandparents Crawford visit in early March!

Tim Mahoo?

Soo... a couple weeks ago, Michelle's eyes lit up and her cheeks glowed as she commented to me that a local Twin Cities musician was coming to Puerto Vallarta to play at one of the night clubs. I thought to myself, "Tim Mahoo-who?" But she seemed in utter crush of this mysterious music man, so I said to myself again, "Hmmm ... after free babysitting, Soph's free haircut, enchiladas upon demand and so many other special things she does for us, who am I to deny her the joy of going to sing and dance to the magical musicals of Tony Mahoney (or whatever his name is)." So we went. First to dinner at Pipi's where a giant margarita made even me excited about this late-night musical entertainment (yes, any live music that requires I be out of bed at 11 pm is really just silly!)


Or so I thought. We saw Tim Mahoney (apparently not Tim Mahoo-who? nor Tony Mahoney - excuuuuuse me!) sing a few songs ...



... then danced the night away to Cities musician GB Leighton as well!


Home at 2:30 am (after convincing Michelle it was absolutely time to go home!) Seriously, unless I'm working a wedding or answering late-night emails, I haven't seen 2:30 roll around in ages!

A Quick Trim

Near the end of January, Sophia got her first hair trim by Michelle! Just a little snip here and there to take care of that unruly mess on the top of her pretty head! Hee hee!



It's very handy having a cousin who grew up in a salon!

Birthday #2 and #3

My birthday came and went without much fanfare (just the way I like it!) Seriously, I don't really like celebrating birthdays; I don't feel old or hate telling people my age, I guess I just like to hang out with my family and relax - aaah, relax . . .something that we don't get to do on non-birthday days!!! This year my birthday was the day after a wedding, so in addition to being a bit older and decrepit, I was also exhausted! So we literally laid around the house, I blew out candles on a cupcake, played with Soph (i.e. stuck stickers all over our faces) and just chilled (watching Twilight, of course).



We made up for my not-so-exciting day with over-the-top-excitement for Pablo's birthday less than a week later! We took a quick weekend tour around the world . . . first stopping in New York, seeing the sights and chomping on an awesome deli sandwich . . .



Then it was off to Venice for a walk along the canals and through St. Mark's Plaza and to listen to the yodeling of the gondola singers.





Then we raced off to Paris where we feasted on crepes and checked out some very speedy cars (and I mean Pablo really checked out the cars!)





Alright, so we weren't so much jet-setting as we were wandering the hotels in Vegas, but did I have you going for a moment at least? (Until you saw the show banners hanging off the Venetian buildings? Haha!)

We made our way over to the Bellagio where I was fascinated with the lobby ceiling art! It was literally one of the prettiest things I've ever seen!



We spent the early evening listening to the dueling pianos - sooo much fun!


The night of Pablo's birthday, we went to see O by Cirque du Soleil! (It was kind of the whole point of our trip!)




After the AMAZING show inside the Bellagio theater, we wandered outside to catch the fountain performance which was actually much more stunning and romantic than I anticipated (so I only took one picture - a blurry one - and then just stood and took it all in for a couple minutes!)



The next morning, we headed home to spend Sunday afternoon with Sophia! Happy Birthday to Us (and thanks Chelle for watching Soph so we could jet-set! Haha!)

Birthday #1

January brings many birthdays for our group - Michelle on the 6th, me on the 11th and Pablo on the 16th - each exactly 5 days apart! Last month we celebrated Michelle's bday with a dinner with a few friends at Banana Cantina! A few pics from the celebration! Happy birthday Michelada!



This one was taken by Doryan's 7-year-old . . . hence the blur!

Christmas in PV

We flew back to Vallarta on New Year's Eve morning - left Milwaukee at 5:30 am and were home around 2:30 pm. We had planned to have our own little Christmas celebration at home with Michelle who was flying in later that day and open some presents that we bought for Soph in Mexico and didn't want to bring all the way home to Wisconsin! So we rushed home, flew to the grocery store, did some on-the-fly cooking and then settled down around the tree for snacks, a late Christmas and fun!

Soph was quite a helper (as usual) in the kitchen! First helping to grate the cheese.


Then deciding it would just be easier to eat the cheese whole.


And when the taco dip base was spread, well, her little hands were busy.


Anyone notice a couple finger marks?



Once Michelle arrived, we snacked and opened presents.

Then Soph opened more presents.



Then she opened her adorable plastic kitchen - about half her size - but in approximately 30 parts and 20 stickers to assemble. Goodness, do these people not realize we had slept 4 hours, flown through 2 countries, driven home, cooked and only now we learn we need to assemble as well?
So I take a try - going right for the booklet of instructions.


I failed. Pablo took a stab at it sans instructions.


He failed.
The kitchen remained in parts and we distracted Soph with her brand new bike!!!





And so we spent New Year's Eve, celebrating a late Christmas with our little Mexico family and in bed waaay before midnight!

The next morning, we played and played.

After a complete night's rest, the kitchen pieces magically snapped together and we played kitchen.


We played more kitchen.


And more kitchen.



And so went our New Year's Day. Kitchen, kitchen, kitchen.

For those of you who missed my Christmas in Wisconsin blog (due to my silly blogging ways, go here.)

My 2010

Happy New Year! We are back in Puerto Vallarta after three wonderful weeks - first a quick vacation (more like a near-five-year-later-honeymoon) in the Bahamas, and then two weeks at home with the fam and snow! I have lots of photos to post (which I'll work on later this week) but before we are out of January and in to February, I wanted to share with everyone my resolution for 2010 (mostly because I'm going to need to be reminded of it often!)

Now, I am a big fan of making resolutions I don't keep - like most people, I think. I set lofty goals for myself and work hard to try to keep them for about a month. Maybe two. Three tops. Then, quite frankly, its April and the thrill of New Year and its resulting resolutions has long worn off and I'm living in survival mode to get through the spring wedding season.

And this year may have been the same, except I've come up with the Resolution of Resolutions if I do say so myself. Of course, before I came to rest on my promise to myself in 2010, I considered nearly every commitment out there - exercising daily, going on a diet that lasts longer than a month, supressing my workalohism and making time for myself, promising to work on that novel I've always wanted to write, etc. I even contemplated being a vegetarian for a year. That lasted an hour or two until I opened the fridge and saw bacon. My goals of vegetarianism quite quickly drifted off into an early 2010 sunset.

What I'd really love to achieve in 2010 (and yes, this is where things take a more serious, solemn turn) is a so-called-normal-life, if that exists for someone with our business. I'd love to not get up, spend all day, go to bed and dream about what we are doing/planning/working on/dreaming up/fretting over in future weddings. I'd love to not work from sun up until sun down on weddings. I'd love to have time to go downtown and actually walk through PV's shops. I'd love to take Sophia to swimming lessons. I'd love to read a book. I'd love to shut my computer off at the end of a work day and know I don't have to turn it on again as soon as my baby is in bed and continue working. (Sniff, sniff. Poor ole me.) But I also know that this is a fact of life in our business, and I am appreciative and thankful every single day that we actually have jobs. So while I'd love less work, I don't want to complain about it and I don't want to wish it away. My point, you ask? In my thought process for 2010 resolutions, I can't resolute to work less when so many people are suffering from not having work.

So what could I possibly set as a goal for myself that wouldn't become a frivilous fad or seem an unappreciative response to having been so blessed in our work... And then it struck me. As Pablo would so eloquently say, "Duh." (Yes, he says "Duh" to me in my weaker moments.)

We have been so blessed, in this last year and the years prior. And so I decided this year, 2010, is the year to dedicate myself to being thankful and letting my daily actions reflect how blessed we have been.

As an adult, I have had a favorite Bible passage that guides me (or perhaps it is my mom's voice as she repeated this phrase to me when I was a child that followed me into adulthood), but either way, it has always been a part of the way I think and would like to act. I find myself using it when I pray, I find myself asking for help in achieving it as I drive to every wedding day not knowing what we may face in the day ahead. I find myself using it as my mantra when standing in line at the grocery store or driving in traffic or irritated with the pizza man. I'm certainly not all that great at following it, but thus, my resolution . . . to become better.

So here goes...

Matthew 5:16.
Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.

So this year folks, I will try harder than ever. I will slow down. I will smile at people more. I won't cut in front of people in traffic just because I'm in a hurry (or at least I promise not to more than once a day). . . it is Mexico, after all; cutting in front of other cars isn't considered rude, remember? I won't swear, even the words that aren't the worst ones. I will prioritize. I will take time for devotion in order to fuel my resolution. I will do my best to act like a Christian in the moments when it feels hardest to do so. I will let my light shine in the hopes that someone may notice and connect the dots.

(And I'm really really hoping that the heat from my light may melt a few pounds off my thighs at the same time . . . but that may be asking for just a little too much in the area of blessings.)

Happy New Year!


xoxo