Aruba 2008

Last week, we came back from our family vacation in Aruba. We have been about 5 or 6 times before, and we always go with my husband's family - his parents, brother and sister-in-law, and usually an aunt and uncle too. (I'm one of those lucky folks who actually enjoys my in-laws quite a bit!)


These are the moments I relish the most on vacation.



We had a grown-up night out with my brother- and sister-in-law. It was a blast and completely silly; after a delish dinner we hit a piano bar. We said "one drink"...I think we left after about 6.


You get to take pictures like this, that you never have time for at home...



The coconut flan finale to family dinner out presented with great flourish by O.

We took O on a submarine ride, which was truly cool - shipwrecks and coral reefs and lots of sea life he's never seen. Down 130 feet and you get the "wow"...



Our last big dinner night out pooped out our little party girl.


Mmm. Happy.

I have been really lame.

I'm sorry, blog. I haven't been paying attention to you, ignored you on vacation, and just haven't kept you up to date with my goings-on.

What's happened in these last two+ weeks since the election? Hmm.

I've been trying to get that free agent thing moving. Working with some very lovely folks and meeting new people. Feeling lucky even though much money isn't coming in yet. I have faith for that. It will happen. More to come soon.

I got myself on facebook. Yeah, yeah, it's about time.

I am on Twitter. Trying to figure out how to have it feed into the blog. Which should be easy enough, I think.

I submitted some articles to a site I'm working with, travelingmom.com. I'll let you know when they get posted.

I met a great gal named Beth who owns rolemommy.com. Check out the site...she has a great sense of humor and if you're a mom, you'll pretty much always relate to where she's coming from.

Oh yeah, and we went to Aruba! Okay, I'll do a separate post with lots of pics on that tomorrow.

Forgive me.

Hi, I'm a New Mom and I Bought a Bikini

Someone needs to smack me or send me to a 12-step program.

Let's start with the premise I love a good deal. I LOVE a good deal. On anything. It's like a high for me. (Vices could be worse, right?)

So I stumbled across this new site that has designer sales, and some of them are just fantastic, killer deals. I signed up for the email...thinking, okay, we're on a budget at the moment because we're still recuperating from the reno. But they have kids' stuff, accessories...everything. I'll behave and be very selective if I purchase.

So a few days ago, I got a sale alert, and I bought a Syla swimsuit--a two-piece tie bikini. The one on the right. Except like a deep coral color (actually, the color I want to paint my front door). I figure, oddly enough, the tie bikinis usually work on me because you can adjust them, as I am somewhat short-waisted and it doesn't "cut" into any tummy or hip, since you tie it. Two pieces with fasteners never work because they are never tight enough under my chest based on my "size".

It's small. Let me explain...it fits, I chose the right size. It's just a small bathing suit. It didn't look that small on the model.

But then, the model doesn't have my tush. And probably hasn't had two kids.

I suppose it will provide sufficient inspiration for our upcoming vacation in Aruba. I guess I know what I need to work on.