UNREAL

when we bought this house we bought it for the "bones." i wanted to live in UP (brandon did too even though he won't admit it) and we couldn't afford much in the size we needed. so, we bought a house with the floorplan and location that we loved but needed some TLC (not too much this time) but we could be lived in quite comfortably until we fixed things up the way we like them.

first things first...brandon (the guy LOVES demolition) HAD to get rid of all the trees. the back yard had a HUGE pine tree that created so much shade, grass could not grow. so, the trees went within the first month of living here. one by one, brandon has removed the stumps (on his own). but the BEAST in the back yard proved to be too much even for BP to handle.

i don't know how he does it, but he got some guys who were working down the street on a new neighborhood to agree to come take out our BEAST stump.

here's a play by play...













no doubt, that stump was a true BEAST! i bet you're wondering what we did with it...

he sleeps in the crib!

last night, for the first time, da chubbas slept in his crib. that sounds weird. i know. you are thinking, where has he been sleeping for the last 5 months?? he has a cradle. and he just likes being cozy and squished up so i left him in the cradle forever. plus, the cradle is easy to drag around the house if i want him to sleep somewhere else.

but i figured it was time to transition him. so, he slept in his crib. and he loved it. today i went in to take a picture of how cute he looked in there but he woke up as soon as he heard me. so cute! (check out his faux-hawk)

if you want to join

the private weightloss/exercise blog...

readers are required to:

think i'm funny
learn the secret password
never reveal the secret password to anyone else (including husbands)

stalkers invited too... just send an email to

annagr8@aol.com

note: all weightloss blog posts have now been moved to the new blog so if you want to know more, you have to email me to see the deets

first, let me thank my parents for making me...

oh, wait, first i should thank Diet Coke and Zingers for nominating me. i mean, it's just such an honor to be NOMINATED. and i mean, winning, that was such a pipe dream...but it really DID happen. YOU LIKE ME, YOU REALLY LIKE ME. wait, did i even win? or am i just a runner up? i don't know. but seriously...

now i guess it's my turn to pick three winners of the BLOG-E award. and these winners can either give awards on their blogs or NOT.

and the "E" awards go to...

#1
my sister, kjrsten for her music widget. sometimes i open her blog and leave it open just to hear her tunes. thanks kjrst! love ya sis!!

#2
The Sartorialist because i love his art! his fashion inspires me! and he's a freakin genius.

and #3
I Pray to Gouda because she is my idol and she doesn't even know it.

thank you, thank you. now go and see.

What's the "SKINNY"

it's my new blog...the exercise/weight loss blog...

http://www.whatsthefat.blogspot.com/

but it's only for other weightloss bloggers....so email me if you want to read it.

layers are "in"

a couple weeks ago, isla gets out of the tub and disappears. this is not unusual since she knows i will be bathing macrae, she goes into her room to dress herself and play. however, on this particular day she emerged from her room wearing all the clothes in her drawer. well, almost. she was wearing 5 shirts, pants and a skirt. i could NOT pursuade her to take any clothes off. she was proud of her choice in clothing. so, i let it be. this went on for a few days.... then there was the day we went to the mall with my mom. she was layered in a couple shirts, a dress, and pants. hey, at least they all came from the same "line" at gymboree...so, it matched. but my mom asked me why i let her dress homeless. homeless? she's was wearing all gymboree...

after a week of this "layering thing" i noticed her drawers were always empty and her clothes were piled up in the laundry basket. so, i found some new ways of pursuading her to take a few articles off before we would leave the house. okay, and i realize this is MY fault! i layer all the time...it's in style...

well, today, she dresses herself in just two layers. and as she is asking me to button up the shirt on top, she says to me, "mom, i will wear this shirt and it will be awesome!"

look what i have created... ...very awesome!

flabby flat butt runs this

i started my day with a really healthy breakfast: flax seed frozen waffle, 2 TBS lowfat cottage cheese, 1/4 cup blueberries with splenda, and 2 crushed pecans on top. it's my delicious and healthy way i try to start my day...most of the time. however, 2 hours later i ate a huge peanut butter/chocolate rice krispie "square" and i put that in quotes because that's what they are called. right? they are supposed to be squares. but mine was more of well...a rectangle. a ginormous rectangle. okay, it was at least 6 inches long and probably 2 1/2 inches wide. not a square. not even a small rectangle. it was huge. and it was delicious!! i enjoyed it with (of course) a diet coke. all the while wearing my running gear...in hopes of a run later.

so after that snack, i HAD to run today! i have been running 4 to 4 1/2 miles consistently. so i thought today i would go for 5. and just see how it goes. i started out with a route in mind. it's the typical "U.P. Loop" and anyone from here knows the loop i'm talking about because it runs on 4 of the main streets in our little community. BUT (i should say BUTT) i was wearing my grey knee length spandex. gulp. very NOT pretty! and usually i run at night so i don't worry about what i look like. i think about comfort. however, today it was still light out...and i started thinking...if i run the "loop" i am sure to be seen by people i know. i hate showing up at church and having someone say "hey, i saw you running yesterday." it's so embarrasing on so many levels. not only am i a SLOW runner (more of a fast walking pace) i am also NOT concerned with looking cute. i know it sounds stupid. but flabby, flat, booty ain't pretty in knee length spandex. okay? so i veered off course. i decided to run the Chambers Bay Soundview Trail. THIS TRAIL IS NO JOKE. let me just say, the entrance to this trail reads: WARNING. Difficult (grades in excess of 10%)
also, it is 3.8 miles long. it is loopy and hilly. and the last time i did this trail was about 3 months ago. i WALKED it AND i still had to rest about 4 times on the final ascension. not to mention, that my house is 1 mile away from this trail and last time, i drove there. so, today's run includes more than a mile for warm up and cool down ontop of the 3.8 mile loop. BUT it is gorgeous! it loops around a beautiful links golf course constructed ontop of the sand pit we used to sneek into back in high school. AND it has a perfect view of the train bridge we used to jump from as well as the best view in town of what's left of the conveyor belt where Kevin Adams told me that he loved me and tried to kiss me (even though my boyfriend at the time was his best friend). so, as i was running today my ipod was playing Jane Says and Say Hello to Heaven...and i nearly forgot about the treacherous hills that were as hard to run DOWN as they were to run UP. because i was reminiscing on some old times! beautiful!

but now i'm tired!