Retail Therapy

So. I often find myself starting sentences with SO. So I've been in a funk lately. Maybe it's the lack of sun, tired of the same routine everyday, or the fact that I've been eating more junk lately (pause to take sip of throwback Pepsi with the REAL sugar.) All I know is that I want to get out of the doldrums.

Today I am off to a good start. I went to therapy. Retail therapy. Spa facial, pedicure, and shopping. The pampering was wonderful, but the shopping was fantastic. I went to the Clothes Mentor. It's full of used clothes; NICE used clothes... and purses. I wanted a new purse. I was sick of Target bags and cheap knockoffs, plus my closet was full of them. I spent a ridiculous amount of time looking at a wall full of Guess, Fossil and Relic bags. Then the sales girl walks past and mentions that near the front they have a collection of designer bags. She assures me that they only accept the best and research each bag to guarantee authenticity; NO KNOCK OFF'S! I am intrigued. I'm definitely not the kind of girl that will spend hundreds of dollars on a purse. But could I spend considerably less on something gently used? Ummm.... probably.

I walk to the front and immediately my eye is drawn to a canvas bag with a bizarre pattern. It is practically screaming 'Nina BUY me! I BELONG on your shoulder!' It is roomy, has little metal feet (I love that) and looks like it has never been used. price tag is $65. I have a 25% off coupon in my pocket. I do not care about brand or if it's real or not. It just feels nice. So I bought it. Once I had the bag home I hopped online to do the obligatory research. It's Dooney & Burke, and it's authentic. Somebody paid a lot more than I did at one time (thank you, who ever you are). Is this the kind of purse that can change my life? Of course not. But it's certainly changed my mood today. And probably tomorrow, too. Gotta love a little retail therapy. Eureka!

PS, the pattern is Giraffe

PSS, I can't wait to hear my sister say something like 'OMG that is the UGLIEST purse I have ever seen!'

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Putting the Artsy back in ArtsyNina

I used to be pretty Artsy. I was always crafting, creating, making or fixing something. These days? Not so much. But a girl like me needs a creative outlet, or she gets into t-r-o-u-b-l-e. I think that I have channeled all of that unused artsiness into the kitchen. I was grocery shopping the other day and the cashier says 'Wow, you eat really healthy and must cook often'. I replied (with glee) 'YES! Yes I love to cook and I'm trying to eat healthier!'

I've been doing menu plans (5 days at a time) and trying to incorporate all of the random cupboard items into the meals, too. Now THAT takes some creative genius! No prepackaged crap in this house; most everything is made from scratch or close to it.

SO today's artsy endeavor started with breakfast for baby and I. Plain old pancakes sounded a little boring - and not nearly healthy enough - so what goodies can I sneak in? Apples and cinnamon and wheat germ!



They were delicious, but that was just the beginning of my Sunday cooking adventure. I was inspired after reading Super Baby Food and decided to make 2 batches of belgian waffles to freeze for breakfasts. To the first batch I added blueberries and wheat germ, to the second I added quick cooking oats, shredded apple and cinnamon. I cut them into quarters, let cool and loaded into freezer bags. Then I put cottage cheese in icecube trays and froze it for perfect baby sized portions. Freezing it serves two purposes; Tom won't eat it all and it won't expire before I use it.
For lunch I pulled out the food processor to whip up a veggie dip since I had gorgonzola cheese leftover from Christmas. I figured I better use it before it molds beyond recognition. Cream cheese, gorgonzola, worcestershire, chives and a splash of milk to get to the perfect consistency - celery and toasted bagel bites for dipping.
Then I tackled dinner. Pork chops seasoned with salt & pepper, topped with onions, apples and a sprinkling of brown sugar. Bake for an hour at 375. I thought it turned out horribly bland but Tom apparently liked it because he ate it all (including my serving)!
Geez - after reading all of that, I realize that I was a cookin' fool! I also did 4 loads of laundry, grocery shopped, vacuumed and chased a 12 month old. Oh, and we squeezed in some 'adult time' while the kid was napping. Damn, I really am a domestic goddess.

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Finding the right camera.

Camera shopping stresses me out. I had lost my tried and true Canon Powershot SD450 5MP Digital Elph Camera with 3x Optical Zoom and needed to replace it STAT; my boy's first birthday is right around the corner! I have a few friends with wonderful DSLR cameras and thought that I might want something of that caliber. But who can afford it?! Well, after a visit to National Camera Exchange we left with a Nikon Coolpix P90 12.1MP Digital Camera with 24x Wide Angle Optical Vibration Reduction (VR) Zoom and 3 inch Tilt LCD. It was impressive. It was labelled a 'prosumer' camera; more manual settings and control but not an SLR. It had unreal 24X zoom and adjustable everything. I wanted to love it.

But I didn't. I couldn't get a good picture of Jack. It was maddening. I experimented with Auto mode and all of the presets. Then I ventured into the unknown and began to adjust ISO, aperture, shutter speed, etc. Still no decent baby pics. I loved the zoom. I loved the macro. It took beautiful pics outside. BUT I WANTED PICTURES OF MY BABY! So I returned it.

Having the fancy camera helped to to narrow down what I really want in a camera right now. Would I love a dslr? Absolutely! But I don't have the time to learn it. Is crazy zoom important to me? Not really. I just want something I can point and shoot. Really.

This is what I found, and so far I love it. Yah, it's only been 2 days, but true love happens in an instant ;)

Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS3 10MP Digital Camera with 12x Wide Angle MEGA Optical Image Stabilized Zoom and 3 inch LCD (Blue)

Here are some quick pics with the lumix...

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Diet is not in my Vocabulary.

Everyone knows losing weight is tough. I know it. I've lived it before. But, in typical Nina optimistic fashion, I didn't think losing my baby weight would take this long.

After counting countless calories, I have learned that my downfall is dairy. Cream cheese, sour cream, vanilla creamer, butter, cheese, mayonnaise (err... wait, color is right, ingredients - wrong) are in just about everything I want to eat. What would life be like without them? I don't intend to find out. *sorry mom*

But today I compressed my bottom into pre-preg size pants and wore them with some success. And by 'some success' I mean that I did not bust any seams. Hip Hip Hooray!

But I need motivation and support to keep going. I think I need these magnets for the Fridge. Jesus says 'YOU'RE BODY IS A TEMPLE. FILL IT WITH SALAD.'

Dieting with Jesus, because That Ass Needs a Miracle

(it seriously says that)

Blue Q Dieting With Jesus Magnet Set

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Date Nite/Wild Game Recap

As we were driving downtown to Rockbottom Brewery there was discussion in the car about What To Listen To. I was in a particularly good mood (and maybe, possibly, slightly buzzed) and said 'Babe, whatever you want sounds good to me!' Tom then flashes an evil grin my way and proceeds to fiddle with the stereo. A good beat starts and I do not recognize the song. I listen through the first set of lyrics and burst out laughing at the chorus:

With My Beer-Tinted Glasses

I'm Ready To Bitty Battle

I'm Hungry Like The Wolf

But I'll End Up Tending Cattle

Cause You're Pretty When I'm Drunk

(You're Pretty When I'm Drunk)

And I'm Pretty F*#kin' Drunk

Umm YEAH, Thomas, GREAT DATE SONG. *smiles* Anywhoo, here we are at the beginning of the evening. Nice cheesy grin, huh?

Navigating Downtown Minneapolis sucks. We found parking and then made our way to the restaurant in sub-zero temps. It was a brisk couple of blocks! Ahhh, thank goodness for booze to to warm us up from the inside out.

Dinner passed quickly and before we knew it game time was right around the corner. Tom kept the Jetta floored (it barely wants to go 70 mph, silly diesel) and we got to our seats a few minutes into the first period. Chicago had already scored. Bastards.


The game that we witnessed was awful. Chicago kept scoring. Like 5 freakin' times. We manage to tap the puck into the net ONCE. The only thing entertaining me was mediocre margaritas and making fun of people. At the beginning of the third period we decided to get the heck outta there. I woke up this morning and hopped online to check the final score, just to see how badly it ended. The headline at wild.com said BEST COMEBACK EVER. And apparently it was. And apparently I missed it! The Minnesota Wild won in overtime, 6-5.

The End.

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Wild Game Tonight!

What does a girl wear to an arena of 17,000 screaming Minnesota Wild Fans?

A Wild jersey, you might think. Sadly, the 2 items I have on hand are pre-Baby, and must have shrunk over the last 18 months (err... yah! that's it!). SO, my next choices are my tried and true Minnesota Northstars hoodie. (which actually looks nothing like this, but I couldn't find a pic)...

or my super cool Slapshot tee. Only the best hockey movie EVER. I have a feeling I'll get a comment or two from the peeps at the game.....

During the course of writing I've decided that SLAPSHOT wins. And maybe the Wild will too!

-On a quick side note. Sometimes when I get home from work, Tom tells me that I smell like a Nascar pit crew. Nice. I LOVE MY JOB I LOVE MY JOB I LOVE MY JOB.

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My Netflix Love Affair

I had a Best Buy gift card burning a hole in my pocket after Christmas and a broken DVD player in the livingroom. Fate? I sure think so.

The Mr. and I loaded the kidlet in the old, dirty 'burban and went electronics shopping. We strolled right past the row of cheap, unimpressive DVD players and instead stood mesmerized in front of the Blu-Ray player and HDTv showing Cars (you know, that super cute Pixar flick).

And then the rep told us about the Instant Netflix function built into the Blu-Ray player.

Living without cable, and thoroughly tired of our DVD collection, we had been kicking around the idea of joining Netflix. Learning that I could download just about anything (movies, documentaries, tv shows, etc.) to my livingroom television sealed the deal. I want that damn thing! We bought it (and the Blu-ray Cars, ha!) and signed up for Nexflix minutes after setting everything up at home.

I AM IN LOVE. This instant Netflix business is awesome. Plenty of Clint Eastwood, Paul Newman, Monty Python, Elmo, and cheesy horror films. Just tonight I watched Muppets in Space. Is there anything better?

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Artsy is Back!

Ahh how I have missed this creative outlet; a place to babble and share my adventures and mishaps with anyone who cares to listen. I had fun in those early days on that washed-up social networking site. And the current site that is all the rage just doesn't offer the same kind of environment. Who likes 'notes' anyways? Sheesh.

So here I am. The Captain is alseep and the Mr. is getting ready for work. The Shadow is following The Mr. like he always does; he really is Man's Best Friend. Things are good and I feel certain that the adventure of our lives is right around the corner! But until that all unfolds I have several topics that I plan on blogging about in the near future.

Some possible titles:

Why Wearing Flannel Pants and My Boyfriend's Dingy White T-shirts Around the House May Not Be Sexy

Calories In/Calories Out: So Simple Yet So Impossible

My Baby Is Part Tornado

BECAUSE I'M A MOTHER; My Mom's Favorite Explanation for Every Childhood Question

My Kitchen Has Rules: Know Them, Live Them, OR ELSE.

Ron Bacardi, I am SO OVER YOU. (Helloooo Mr. Reisling)

That's a good start, don't you think?

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