F it. I'm going. I registered.

See you in N'awlins bitches. Hey I need a room mate.

Meal Planning

I am really fascinated by how different people plan (or don't plan) their weekly dinners. I was impressed by how Lauren did meal planning by knocking out two months' worth of recipes and lists on Google Docs. My sister also has some crazy Google Docs system where she has revolving lists of recipes and ingredients or something like that. I realize I should know more about it because she has explained the moving parts to me lots of times but man, it just sounds complex. But way to go Alicia! Thumbs up!

I enjoy asking people about their meal planning. Last time I saw my friend Tiffiny, I asked about her family meals and got to hear her method. She has subscribed to Rachel Ray's cooking magazine since it came out and saved one or two recipes per issue. She has all these recipes in a binder that her husband organized into tabs like "chicken" and "beef" and whatnot. I love it and I love even more that her husband made an organized binder for it.

Holly blogs about her meal planning regularly and I love how she even takes pictures of her fridge and the salad production line. I learned about Paleo eating through her and briefly tried eating that way as well as a weekly shopping/recipe system. Turns out that Paleo wasn't for our family but it was fun to give it a try. One thing I will say in Paleo's support is it eliminates many of the major food allergens. Since finding out I am allergic to soy, I've cut it out entirely (as Paleo does) and I have really noticed a difference.

Then there's Erica, my gourmet friend, who is always making these amazing recipes and posting pictures of her successes and that one turd bread thing - which could maybe have been a failure but her daughter (also named Anna) liked it so well, there. I don't know how she finds the inspiration but I love it. Also, she did a CSA box so is basically my hero.

For some reason, having a written or electronic grocery list and recipe plan really doesn't work out for me. I take Anna shopping with me and following a list doesn't always work. Some shopping trips are relaxed and then some are a bit stressful and need to be done more quickly.

The way I get our family fed throughout the week is kind of random. I just pick out things at the store that speak to me. Once I have them home, I think of what  combination I might like to eat them in and then I Google that combination of ingredients. It works out pretty well. Last week I found a great recipe for shrimp asparagus fried rice (seriously, make fried rice at home! It's so good!) and today I'm trying this baked chicken yam thing. Of course, since I don't shop ahead of time for the recipes, I usually have to omit ingredients or substitute. I didn't have green onions for the fried rice (would have been nice) and today I don't have chili adobo for the chicken. I used chili powder instead and tinkered with some of the other ingredients. I guess this would drive some people crazy and it clearly wouldn't work for baking. But for me, I get to try different recipes and not have to plan too far ahead.

How do you meal plan?

Before and After

Linda posted such a fun blog the other day! And no, I don't know her to be on a first name basis but I love her blog and well, there you go. I thought it was fun to see her before and after - I decided to do one myself.

So here I am before my little touch-ups:

And here I am after:

Here are my trusty products:

And that's that. Looking at the before and after, it's clear that I'm not doing as good a job on my under eye circles as I'd like to be doing. I get plenty of sleep so I think it's just the way my face looks. I got restalyn once and that was helpful but also $700 worth of helpful and I don't throw money around like that anymore. Maybe I should revisit my own dark eye circle solution post or just spend a little more time on that area. Or maybe, MAYBE I will just say F it because I look awesome. Awesome I say!

I am still applying makeup pretty much every day, even when I just go to the park or Ross. I feel a little more presentable that way and also I enjoy that little bit of prep time. And we know what happened last time I went out bare face. Okay, it's your turn to post a before and after pic.

The Worst Part of Trying

I KNEW it would be highly unlikely to get pregnant the week after the IUD came out. But that's the hardest thing about trying to get pregnant - every cycle is full of potential. Are my breasts a little sore? Is that twinge a cramp or my body responding to a new life? Was I supposed to get my period two days ago? Am I? Am I? Am I?

I do have a little bit more restraint this time around. I thought I had missed my period by a few days but instead of running out and buying a horde of pregnancy tests, I decided to wait a week. Besides, I haven't even been charting my cycle so everything was guessing. I'm glad I didn't waste the money because my period did come, probably right on time. Now I have an app on my phone that tracks my cycle so that will be helpful in the coming months.

I'm actually glad that it didn't happen this time. We're taking the family (Anna & assorted grandparents) on a cruise to Alaska in August and you can't get on if you're 24 weeks pregnant or more. I forgot that your # of weeks begins at your last period and not the date of conception so it would have been dangerously close. Now we will be safe for boarding for sure. Also, we have decided to take a spur of the moment trip at the end of April so I wouldn't even mind missing another month or two. I felt pretty nauseous from weeks 9 - 14 or so last time and it would not be fun to feel that way while flying around for 2 weeks with a toddler.

So even though I was reasonably sure I couldn't get pregnant and it would be pretty inconvenient if I were, I couldn't help but wonder and hope. I kept thinking about the new addition to the family. I had a strange thing happen too - Anna and I were at TJ Maxx where I was unsuccessfully trying to get Uri some new socks. Anna kept running off towards the toys (I wasn't smart enough to plant her directly in a cart). At one point, she said "I want to look at the chewy toys. I want to get one for when the new baby comes." I have no idea where she got this. We haven't talked to her about getting pregnant - maybe it was a show she watched. But of course, that got me thinking. Maybe she has some kind of message from the universe! It's a sign!

Ugh. That's the thing about trying to get pregnant. Everything could be some kind of a sign and every month when your period comes - it's a let down. Holy cow. Last time I endured this for 5 months. We'll see how long it goes on this time.

Beach

We had cold, rainy weather this weekend. Saturday got a little cagey because there was no way to escape and let Anna run around outside for a little bit. I realize how much we need that fresh air to balance out the day. There was a chance of rain on Sunday but when we woke up, it was sunny (although cold) and we decided to take advantage while we could and get out to the beach.

It was brisk outside but the waves were large from the storm and everything was so blue. All the sand was slightly wet - perfect for sand creations.

Anna and I combed the beach for shells and rocks to decorate Mt. Dino with and then we spent time finding "pops" - little seaweed pods that sometimes pop when you squeeze them. The beach was almost empty except for some joggers and the occasional person walking their dog. It was so peaceful. I looked over at Uri and said, "we've been living in the same place (blocks from the sand) since July, how come it's only recently that we've been coming to the beach so often?" He replied: "I guess because you were working." But it was Sunday, so still, something must have changed. Uri thought that it might have to do with the fact that we've been making it a habit again. The more I go during the week, the more we are used to it so we just have the routine of packing up and getting there. I think that's part of it.

Also, since I'm not working, I get a lot of the busywork and errands done during the week, leaving us with more free time on the weekends. But also I think it's because now, more than ever, I'm able to just be. I'm not striving to be more, make more, get more done. Many days the house is messy and my car is always full of sand. But I know that these years when Anna is small are so limited and the days that seem long at times will be over too soon. With this in mind, I head to the beach. I never feel sorry that I went, no matter the weather or crowds. The beach is a place where I come back to my center and I can see it doing that for Anna too. There are so many reasons to hate on LA but damn, I love this place.

Community

The great comment experiment has been going on for some time now. I took down comments to see what it would be like and also because I was sick of hearing from my persistent troll. During the time I had comments down, I still visited the blogs of my friends and left comments there. Some friends sent me emails or Facebook messages regarding my blog posts. My sister told me she had only been leaving comments to let me know she was reading so didn't really miss the comment feature.

I can't say I missed comments all that much because I still heard from people. But what I realize is that being a blogger is being part of a community. Since I don't participate in Twitter, this blog and Instagram are my ways to connect to my other webby moms. This has been even more important for me since quitting work. It seems like every day I'm telling Uri or my sister a story about something I've read on a blog. I connect so strongly with all of your blog stories - I feel so close to all of you and some of you who I've never even met. Some who've never even left me a comment or sent me a message. I still read because I love the stories and your lives are a part of mine. Your stories color how I go about my day and decipher the world around me. My life is so much richer because of this community.

I decided that comments are going back up. Of course, this means that silly people can still come by and say rude things but I guess that's the price of having a public blog. And you know what I have to say about that:

and

So anyway - comments, they're back. No big thing either way. I just wanted to jump back in and play with everyone else. One other thing I'd like to do this year is attend the Blathering again. I'm so up in the air about it though because I really hope to be pregnant by then and man, I can't think of many worse places for pregnant Erica than New Orleans. The last time I was there outside of work was during college when a friend and I partied until the dawn every single night for a week - culminating in Mardi Gras. Kind of hard to top. So meh. If not this year, you'll see me there again. Mark my words. (And by "there" I mean the Blathering and maybe New Orleans too actually.)

Reluctant Extroverts

As a business major in college, I took a slew of personality tests. It was for my Management class - we were always trying to figure out what type of worker we were and how to work on teams with different people and such. Besides the fact that me and one other girl were outliers from the rest of the class on every single test (should have told me something about going into business, duh), not much I learned was entirely surprising. I remember being an ENTJ on the Myers Briggs - and the capital E is for Extrovert. None of my friends would question that I'm an extrovert. I'm pretty much the group clown in my circle of sorority friends and always one of the louder people at a gathering. Or maybe that's the wine.

What's strange though, is how hard it is for me to get over the hump and leave the house to actually DO something or see people. Also, meeting new people is super not fun for me, although I force myself through it. I remember practically having a panic attack at a business mixer when I was in sales. I guess anyone could argue that business mixers really suck but a lot of times I don't even want to do fun things like go out to dinner. That 311 song "Don't Stay Home" always comes to mind...

Life could slip away in absent minded numbness
I'm only sayin this 'cuz I wish for the best
when you always stay in self-incarceration
I think it's such a shame

Don't stay home this time, no don't stay home, oh
if he don't have to he don't want to
don't stay home this time no don't say no

Profound, I know.

That song plays in the back of my head a lot, even though it's been YEARS since I've rocked out to 311.  Don't lie, you know you listened to them too. I even adapted the lyrics for "All Mixed Up" to a song about sorority rush my sophomore year. The rest of the house wasn't as enthusiastic about my work but not to worry, I made a huge door size poster of it to decorate our room. Ha ha ha. Remember posters? Lord we had a poster for everything those days. My favorite one is kind of unmentionable but my close second favorite was one that said "We Love Oreo Cheesecake" to celebrate our awesome recurring dessert. Wow, I'm really digressing here. Okay.

So anyway, if it were up to the majority of me (as opposed to the teeny part of me that knows it's best to get out and live life), I would never get dressed and subsequently turn into a complete hermit. So of course, Anna exhibits these same tendencies but with the intensity of a VERY STRONG WILLED 2 YEAR OLD. See yesterday's post about how the child will not go to Disneyland. This morning I had a great idea that we would become members of the LA Zoo! She was cool with going to the zoo in theory, but as soon as I was finished getting dressed, she was back to her stack of books and really not wanting to leave the house. I had to bribe her with gummy worms to get her into the car. (Yes I resort to bribing with candy, sue me.)

Of course, once we actually got to the zoo it was all kinds of fun except for the traumatic howler monkeys. But man, getting her out somewhere? Tough. I can understand.

having a great time at the world of birds show

this one is for unemployed lawyer mom - I get the look too

So much for that whole Disneyland gig

I thought today would be a nice day to go to Disneyland. Anna, however, has other plans:

I must read all the things

So, here I am, getting computer chores done while Anna "reads" all her books. Oh well. She really enjoys her reading time - I am often hard pressed to get her to go anywhere, like a park or um, Disneyland. The only place I can consistently get her to leave the house at all for is Sparky's Frozen Yogurt. It's really quite cute actually - she enjoys having her chocolate and vanilla fro yo and talking to the proprietor, who goes by Sparky. So I'm guessing that will be our big activity today. Cheaper than Disneyland at least.

Oh, and I have an update from my crime fighting post. An LAPD detective actually called me the very next day after I left a message! Wow! He took all my information and did say that my case was interesting because of the cell phone thing. Unfortunately, he did say it would probably take 2 weeks for my paperwork to move from the station where I made a report to his office but oh well. I feel like I've done everything that I could.

So that's the haps around here. Oh! And for those of you that don't know me on Facebook, here are some fun pictures I took at the beach last week - 2 with Instagram and one with regular because I wasn't sure if I could crop with Instagram. Enjoy.

lifeguard station 27

waves

God Bless America

Goodbye Little Buddy

Big day today folks, officially removed the Paraguard IUD. It was a LOT less painful coming out than going in. Besides the normal advice that I should be doing kegels (blah, I know), I got some fun pregnancy advice. The doctor told me I should start taking a prenatal vitamin again (blah) as well as folic acid. She also told me that my husband should stop sitting in hot tubs and saunas. So there, at least Uri will have to change ONE thing about his life. But then once I'm pregs, he's home free of course. Sigh. Guys, they have such the easy part of this whole mess. The hot tub thing was really a big point this doctor was making because she went on to tell me that once you roast all the little swimmers, it takes three months for the supply to build back up again. (Bad news for us since we have a hot tub and Uri was just in it a few days ago.) But it's so weird for me to think that something that simple can kill all that sperm. If that were true, why wouldn't guys just go in the hot tub once a week instead of us ladies having to deal with birth control? Anyways, just a thought.

So wow - here we go again. The getting pregnant roller coaster! Although this time I won't be such a freak about it. Last time I remember actually buying pregnancy tests in bulk because I was using them so much. Hilarious. I was actually trying to find out BEFORE I missed a period. Ha ha ha. I don't think I'll be so crazy about it this time. And actually, I think that will add a lot to the fun. It won't be all so scary and first-timey. I am an OLD PRO, right? My loins are up for this!

Last time it took us five months - it will be interesting to see how long this takes. One thing for certain is that we won't um, be trying as many times. Uri had this big idea that once a day was the optimum trying amount last time. Not gonna happen this time folks. Not gonna happen. Here we go!

Citizen on Patrol

Today started as a typical Monday; picking up after the weekend's mess, laundry, some TV for Anna, just a mellow day. I was in the middle of a blog post on how I look forward to Mondays after the craziness of the weekend when my phone rang - the third call from a number I didn't recognize. I answered and found out that someone was trying to use my credit card number, address and strangely, my cell phone number to purchase some wholesale clothing from a store here in LA - putting the order in online and then picking up from the warehouse. That sent my day in a different direction.

Turns out, someone has been using my credit card for two weeks at a couple local home depots and with this clothing purchase would have added up to about $10K in fraudulent activity on my card. Of course, I called and reported that to my credit card and the charges will be reversed. Both Uri and I have new cards coming tomorrow. Normally, this whole thing would have ended there. Credit card numbers are stolen all the time and I'm not paying for any of the charges.

But the fact that they had my address and my cell phone number was really bugging me. Especially because it's a brand new cell phone number - one I haven't even had for two months. I really doubt that any internet credit card schemes are that sophisticated. I knew this had to come from someone who I gave the information to or who stole it from me directly. Luckily, the woman at the wholesale clothing store has been very helpful. She had caller ID so we have the cell phone number of the person who tried to make the clothing purchase. She even called them back to verify it was the same person.

I also called the two Home Depots and talked to their loss prevention departments. They are going to research the transactions and pull the video footage. Interestingly, the person was buying large amounts of copper. Makes sense I guess, copper is probably easy to resell or recycle. A large concern I have is that this is a person could have taken my credit card information from the card in my wallet - someone who has been in my home. I doubt this happened because the contractor our home owner's association uses is pretty legit - but he has other guys he hires. We have had a few of workers in our home in the past few months. I really hope that's not it. We did have a storage unit delivery last month and that company knew my credit information, as well as my address and phone number. Also, the two home depots are kind of close to the storage unit place. So that's my best bet right now.

I went down to the police station and filed a report. They gave me the number for the commerce crimes department and I've left two messages. I am not feeling hopeful that the LAPD is going to be all over this. This city is huge and I'm sure they have other problems. I just feel like I have so many clues and it wouldn't be that tough of a case to solve. I'd like to have the case closed to that I can figure out how this person got all my information. I know I give my information like name, credit card and address out on a lot of things I buy online but I'm really careful with my cell phone number. And the fact that all these purchases are local here in LA, it just seems a little more low tech than someone breaking into the Amazon.com database or something.

There is a small part of me that feels guilty for reporting this at all. I mean, I'm not out a cent because my credit card company protects me from stuff like that. So I'm going after this person that is probably stealing because they don't have enough money. Or I don't know, maybe they are a total creep and deserve it. I guess it's not up to me. Stealing is not okay even when it's a little guy stealing from big guys like the credit card company and Home Depot. My big hope is that they try to pick up some more copper from one of the two Home Depots and get nailed by Home Depot loss prevention. But since I canceled my credit card, that game is up. Man though, it was so simple to cart off thousands of dollars of copper, I wouldn't be surprised if they try it again with someone else's information. Who knows, maybe they have been doing this for years. I do hold out a little hope that maybe the LAPD will call me back and take my case but I'm not holding my breath.

So that's my day! My very first time in a police station filing a report. I will say that filing a police report was not unpleasant and the officer I worked with was very nice. So that's one thing. We'll see if anyone follows up.

Sad Gums

I dug up an old picture with my braces & messed up gums. Too lazy to even take it out of the album. Also, bangs.

Me Time Loving

The last time in my life I can remember dealing with recurring boredom was back when I was single and living alone. Times were especially dull around 8:00 am on Saturday before Ross opened - this was usually when I'd call my friend Diana because she lived in New York - 3 hours ahead. I surely couldn't call any of my West coast 20-something friends before 10:00 on a weekend. Sunday nights were another tough time. The fun of the weekend over, just wasting time before work began again on Monday. I guess I should mention that I didn't have television, which is I guess what some people would do to fill up those empty hours.

Once I was with Uri, our weekends were always busy. We were either jetting off somewhere or hitting up restaurants, bars, the beach, the hot tub. If I ever got any downtime, I'd visit with girlfriends or hunt for treasures at Ross. (I sure used to love Ross.) Life was a whirlwind of travel and entertainment.

Then we had Anna, and everything changed - especially that first year. We had lots of time at home but there was no downtime. When Anna did decide to nap, there would be so much to do as well as trying to catch up on sleep myself. Life was a blur of pumping, sleeping and working.

Clearly, my life is so different now. I've had a few people ask me how things are going as a SAHM and what I'm going to do to get some "me time". And lord - I feel like my whole LIFE is me time now. I wake up at a reasonable time, get all my chores done throughout the day, and have about 2 hours to myself every afternoon while Anna takes a nap - this is typically when I power through chores. Things are pretty peachy! Anna has been a surprisingly great companion for running errands, although they take longer and have a different flavor than before with an occasional screaming fit just for fun. I just break tasks and errands up into smaller components than I would if I was alone and I add in some breaks like going to the park or blowing bubbles. The pace is pretty nice. Of course, there are times in the day when I feel frustrated but that would be the same if I were at work.

What I've come to realize is how happy I feel just putzing around the house. When I think back to when I'd take a personal day from work - I'd usually spend that time getting things done at home. It makes me feel good to live in a clean and organized place and now that I'm home so much of the day, it's easy to achieve that. Of course, everything can't be as ship shape as it would be before a (messy) husband and a (messy) child, but I'm okay with that. I feel like if I can at least have the house picked up, that the day is a winner; however, I've been able to achieve more than that recently and I'm feeling like an ace. This week I cleaned out two closets - winning. Seriously, cleaning out closets makes me feel so awesome!

I am just so friggin' glad I made this decision. Each day is a true gift and I am lucky to have a chance to experience it.

One of Anna's Masterpieces

The Move That Wasn't

Elizabeth made a little comment in her backyard furniture post that brought up an  issue I've been thinking a lot about. She wrote about neighborhood happy hours in her front yard on Friday afternoons. GAH! How do I get that? That's exactly what I want and exactly how I grew up. It's the thing I've been searching for. The closest I've personally come is when I was in my early 20's and living in Silverlake in East LA. I lived in an old 1930's apartment building with mostly studios filled with other young and hip women. We all looked out for each other and one time we even had a building party where everyone opened their doors and served different drinks. It was as awesome as it sounds.

Now we live in Venice Beach in the West part of Los Angeles. Our home is beautiful and I love it, but the demographics in our little gated community skew oldster. Most of the units are occupied by the original owners and these places were built in the 1980's. Don't get me wrong, our neighbors are super nice and they plan little get-togethers for everyone to come to but um, well, it's not really people with young families unless you count their grandkids. 

I have other problems with where we live;  the public schools. We're currently a part of LAUSD and meh, the district is a well known mess. Looking at a lifetime of private school for two kids is horrendous. There are so many better things to do with that money, especially with me not working. Also, Uri's company was acquired by Intel last year. He spends a lot of time traveling to see customers but also a lot of time traveling to Intel campuses - the three main ones are in Portland, OR, Phoenix, AZ and San Jose, CA.

Lately, our big idea was to move to Portland. Housing is ridiculously affordable and also we could live the dream of the 1890's. (Holy cow that video is hilarious.) I started mapping out the area and salivating over the types of places we could rent for so much cheaper than we pay now. There are some neighborhoods that are referred to as "Intel Country Clubs" and I thought we could find other similar families with engineer dads and at home moms. I kept telling myself the weather would be tough but that I could deal. However, I started to realize how much I count on the few hours a day that Anna and I go play outside at a park. Earlier this week, we were enjoying some park time on a slightly windy day. It was do-able but I felt a little chilly. It was 60 outside. I thought it would be smart to check the Portland weather on my phone as a comparison. 40 and rainy/snowy... all week. Ugh dude. I don't know. That put a chink in our plans. Then Uri said he couldn't imagine living there more than 2 years and I was like oh hell no. I am not doing all this work (and yes I am the one that would power the move) for 2 years in a place. Plus, once we moved to a low cost of living town, it would be so hard to buck back up and live in an expensive place again if we had to.

I don't have to tell you how thrilled my mom was to hear that we're staying put for now. Plus, we really love our place. We live on this private lagoon that is a habitat for migrating birds. It's really cool. I keep planning to take some artsy pictures but here is a phone picture right now as I'm sitting here... this is our back patio:

Yup, that's a waterfall on the right. Plus we love the layout of our place. It's a fun place to chill for a bit. Even though this isn't the neighborhood of our dreams, I'm close to lots of friends and family which will come in handy when we have baby #2 hopefully end of this year or beginning of next.

So for now, we don't live in our dream neighborhood.  We do think we'll eventually leave LA. It's just not the right place to be for Uri - the Silicon Valley beckons us. I don't know if I'll be able to find that neighborhood happy hour thing Elizabeth has there... but I'll keep trying.

PSA: My Best Beauty Tip

Hello Friends. I know you all come to this blog for the plethora of useful tips as well as mundane blathering. Today I reward your loyal readership with my best beauty tip which is also a general health tip as well as something mundane.

Allow me to present to you one of my money profile pictures from my online dating days circa late 2004:

I know. En fuego, right? I used this because I was in prime physical form and also having fun! At a club! You can see how certain assets may have helped me get lots of dates. Well, those assets may be quite depleted now but I have one feature that has dramatically improved since this time, and it's my gums:




So anyway. I want to tell you that I am not naturally blessed with good teeth and gums. I knocked out my front teeth as a toddler and had to wear two little fake teeth until my god-awful permanent teeth came in. They had a space you could fit your finger between and poked out - actual buck teeth. Yeah, I got teased. I also had a big overbite. I had to wear braces for 8 years and that just destroyed my gums. Red, puffy, encroaching on the teeth. I should go dig up an old picture for you guys because it was that bad.

Even after the braces/retainer debacle was over (well into college with the retainers), my gums had a hard time recovering. I didn't floss since you can't with braces and I never got into the habit. Each time I went to the dentist for a cleaning, it was a painful, bloody mess. Horrible. They always told me I had pockets and such but I would just deal with the pain and then forget about it afterward.

But a few years ago, I decided to change all that. I got a Sonicare toothbrush and that helped a lot. But no, it takes FLOSSING like it's no one's business. I now floss twice a day with Butlerweave GUM floss (best floss ever) and then I rinse my mouth out with saltwater. Not sure why but that's what the hygienist told me to do. It sucks and it's boring but it really makes a difference. Lately my gums have actually become pink instead of red - well, in the front at least. I thought the whole pink gums things was unattainable for me - but if I can do it, anyone can. In Vegas this past weekend, my sister was amazed at my gums. (She has always had good gums, lucky.)



But it's not only looks and fear of horrible pain at the dentist that keeps me going. I'm trying to keep these suckers for the long haul. I'm pretty sure I'm going to live well into my 90's judging by my grandmothers so it's the least I can do. I still have a ways to go. My back gums are still kind of red and puffy because it's harder to floss there. But I will fight you Gingivitis! You shall fear me!

Anyway, this is my really long-winded flossing PSA. Seriously, you can do it. And if you already do (like my sister) congratulations and keep it up!