My mom gave it to me for my birthday, and made me promise not to use it to pay bills, buy groceries, or add to savings. She said I have to go out and spend it on something.
So now I have to figure out what that is.
What do I need most? Probably new clothes. Don’t laugh, I’m serious. I am a woman that hates to shop (I know, *gasp*) so I am usually in desperate need of new clothes.
What do I want most? I’m not sure. Hmm. There are still some things left on our registry to buy, but I don’t think any of them are particularly fun.
What to buy, what to buy…
Tonight, while watching the Olympics, I made quite the observation.
The runners were preparing for the women’s 100m final, and at first, I was admiring their physiques. And, of course, wondering how they come to look like that (with muscles bigger than some men) without some sort of steroids or human growth hormones. But I know they’re tested, so until I hear otherwise, I give them all the benefit of the doubt.
Then it just hit me. None of these ladies have boobs. (Don’t ask me about my train of thought. I have no idea.)
They may be able to run as fast as lightning, but boobs? None to speak of.
And then it dawned on me. This is why they can run like lightning. You’re not going to see some lady out there with her DDs running the 100m in 10.78 seconds.
Laugh now, but I know there are ladies out there who know what I’m talking about. You know who you are.
As a wife, that is.
I had a really nice day. Got up around 9:00 this morning and relaxed around the house while Michael took a quick trip to the gym (no way in hell was I going to the gym on my birthday).
When he got back (with surprise flowers, awww), we headed out for a long bike ride. We rode on the canal path all the way down into the city. Once down there, we got off the path for a little bit to go and get ice cream (well, actually frozen custard–sooo much better than regular ol’ ice cream). Then we got back on the path to head back home. All in all, it was a 28-mile ride. Since we had ridden the entire 14 miles toward the city with wind blowing against us, the ride was a little more tiring than it might normally have been. Of course, going the 14 miles back home was a little easier, thank god.
Once we showered and cleaned up, we decided to go for an early dinner at this small restaurant in the village. On the way there, I called my granddad to wish him a happy birthday (yes, we share a birthday–I love it). It’s an annual ritual and it’s fun. He always manages to put some kind of pressure on me for something. A couple years ago, he asked, in his thick southern drawl: “You got any news?” (His way of asking me if we were engaged yet. We weren’t.) This year, it was: “Is there a little one on the way?” Oh, Granddad… you don’t ease into conversation, do you? :) I told him no, and he said, “Well, what are you waiting for?!”
The restaurant has nice outdoor seating, and since the day was absolutely perfect (mid-70 degree temperatures), we decided to take advantage and spend more time outside. We had never actually eaten at this restaurant before–we had only been there for drinks–so we were excited to try it.
Good food! It’s a casual menu… burgers, sandwiches, etc. We both ordered the pulled pork and were amazed at the portion size. The sandwich came out open faced, and there was so much pork on either side of the roll that we actually couldn’t even put the sandwich together and eat it like that. We ended up eating them open faced with a fork and knife. We each only ate half of our sandwiches and packed up the other halves to take home. Next time, we’ll probably only order one and share it! But it was delicious… good BBQ sauce, which I think really makes or breaks pulled pork.
After that, we went home and took Tess for a short walk (our legs were still tired from our ride). Then we spent a quiet night at home and just relaxed. We watched Michael Phelps make Olympic history by winning his 8th gold.
The day was low key, but it was exactly how I like it. If I was going to pick a perfect way to spend a Saturday, this would have been it. Happy 26th Birthday to me.
I had my final Course I class last night. I got my certificate of completion (woohoo!) and it was a lot of fun. I’m glad I took the course, and actually already signed up for Course II, which begins in September (how could I not–with the deals and the coupon I got for taking Course I, it’s only $12.50 for the four classes!).
Last night, we started by practicing sweet peas, ribbons, leaves, and vines. Then it was on to making roses and decorating our final cakes.
My stiff consistency icing wasn’t cooperating with me last night. It was extremely hot in our classroom for some reason, and although the consistency was technically correct, my instructor said I would have benefited from putting a little extra shortening in my frosting–it would have made it just a little bit creamier. So unfortunately, my roses aren’t as nice as they should have been. I was having a hell of a time getting it to pipe out correctly. And then it wasn’t sticking to itself properly–ugh! Frustration. In reality, my practice roses that we made last week looked better than these final roses… but oh well.
I am extremely happy with my final cake. I used the “running the spatula under hot water” trick, which definitely helped me get the base layer of icing much, MUCH more smooth than the last couple of times. No cracking!
The colors aren’t exactly what I was imagining. The orange is nice. I was hoping that the pink (technically Wilton’s “Rose” color) was going to be a little deeper pink, but it’s still pretty. I am going to completely call foul on Wilton’s “Leaf Green,” however. That shit looks nothing like leaf green. That is NEON. Leaves? Not quite… I’d say it’s more appropriate for making SLIME. But I digress. I still used it on my cake since I didn’t have any other green option at that moment.
I’m taking the cake to my mom’s tonight for a BBQ with a bunch of my family members. Tomorrow is my birthday, so I guess it’s technically serving as my birthday cake, too. I made my own birthday cake, what the hell?! :)
Here are a few photos:
I just noticed in this final picture that from this angle, my polka dots on the top of the cake look like little hills. Whoops! I didn’t even notice it when I was finishing my cake at home last night. Now that the icing has crusted over a little bit, I’ll have to “tap them down” before I present the cake as final to my friends and family.
Overall, Course I was a definite success! On to Course II…
Every once in a while in life, something comes along and smacks you in the face. You know, just to give you some perspective.
This happened to me yesterday. A seemingly random couple of clicks landed me on a blog that I have since been unable to get out of my head.
I was on The Knot message boards, killing a little bit of time reading random posts, and then I clicked on the blog link in Michelle‘s signature. I skimmed back through a couple of posts and found a link to the blog of Matt Logelin. In her post, Michelle had mentioned that the blog made people cry. She had been talking about infertility and tragedy in her post. About the blog, I thought–maybe someone who lost a child?
I clicked on the link to Matt and started reading some of the most recent posts. At first, I thought–there is no way I can read this blog–his writing style is certainly unique (I got used to it). My second thought was that I could not understand what happened. He had pictures up of a beautiful, seemingly healthy baby girl… why is this guy’s blog so sad? “Life and Death in 27 hours”–what does this mean? Then I started to notice that there was not a mommy ever pictured with the baby. All the pictures were of Matt and his daughter.
Upon further exploration, I saw a link up on the top right that said, “If you’ve never been here before.” I clicked on it and proceeded to read a fairly short recap (Matt’s writing is definitely succinct) of his tremendously horrific story.
Matt’s daughter was born prematurely on March 24.
A short 27 hours later, on March 25, his absolutely beautiful wife, Liz, died suddenly of a pulmonary embolism.
Mere minutes before she was supposed to hold their daughter for the first time.
Uhh, yeah. I’ll give you a minute to wipe your tears.
I mean, seriously. There is not much that is more sad than a story like that.
I keep asking myself what is so special about this guy, Matt. Why has his story affected me so deeply? He’s not the first man to ever lose his wife and have to raise a child (or children) on his own. But I guess it is the manner in which he lost her that makes this story especially sad. It was supposed to be the happiest time of their lives. Instead, it turned into some mess of emotions. The happiest times and the worst of times… all rolled into one.
Shortly after his daughter’s birth and his wife’s death, a grandmother of another baby in the NICU actually told Matt he should give his baby up for adoption. And in reality, he really could have done that. But he didn’t. Every day, he gets up and works through his pain to care for his beautiful baby girl. And although it’s what he should be doing as a father, I still can’t help but feel admiration for him.
If I didn’t just completely ruin your day, you should check out his blog. Is it depressing? Hell yes. But at the same time, it is truly uplifting. An example of how life truly does go on. With the end of a life, came the beginning of a life. It’s an odd thing. And reading it–crying and smiling simultaneously–I think it’s possible to catch just a glimpse of the emotional rollercoaster he is riding every day.
I’ve read through two months of his posts (and a few other random ones here and there) since discovering his blog, and it’s been humbling to “watch” his grief process. Good days, bad days… they are all there on the blog. His writing is so simple, yet so deep… and you can feel his raw emotions through reading.
I just think it is an amazing, amazing story. And I wanted to share.
About
I'm Heather. I'm 33 and have been married to Michael for seven years. Together, we have two beautiful little girls we love more than anything, and a miniature dachshund who drives us crazy. I'm a full-time working mom who has very little time for my own "stuff" these days, like home improvement, cooking/baking, cake decorating, and photography. Despite the team not making the playoffs since 1999, I'm STILL a Buffalo Bills fan, which I think speaks to my loyalty AND sense of humor. I can't wait to pick up the pace with travel again some day... you know, when we're done being ruled by tiny fists. Welcome to my blog.
