Corgan's First Haircut

Baby Girl has had her official first haircut :(  She did great, and so did I.  I didn't shed a tear, which I really thought I would.  Corgan has never had much hair, and at 18 months, she still hasn't produced much.  The only place on her head that has ever really grown hair is her forehead.  Her bangs were insane!  I kept trying to get her to let me use a bow, or a headband, but she wouldn't have it.  Then I would try to sweep them to the side so that they weren't in her eyes, but she inherited my hair.  It is so wispy and slinky that you can't get it to do what you want. Plus, she likes to slap her head and pull all her bangs forward.  Goofy kid.

Here is the best 'before' pic I can find:

Here is the best video! That's her Grandma squishing her cheeks.

Here is a series of uber-cute pictures showing the final results.  It's impossible to get her to stand still long enough to get a good picture.

 

And here is a picture of Stuart being...well...Stuart...

Trip to Houston: Ikea or Bust!

Okay, last one about Houston, I promise.  On our way out of the city, we stopped by Ikea.  I had never been there, and some friends of our absolutely love the place. We had to go.  Can I say weird?  You walk through this huge maze of furniture and rooms and you don't see a single employee.  As someone who worked retail management, that is just bizarre!  Granted, you don't really need help at Ikea, but it's still weird.

While we were there I planned 'Number 2's' nursery (and no, we're not pregnant).  We've known since we had Corgan that the second nursery would be a monkey theme, because that's what Stuart really wanted for the first one, but I vetoed it.  I found the perfect brown/grey crib:

And then this dresser for the room. It's the same style as the crib, but we would get blue for the boy or keep the grey/brown for the girl:

And Dada would need a comfy chair to nap in:

The room would be painted white on bottom and a pale yellow on top, then our good friend offered to paint us a mural in the nursery. I'm thinking a big tree above the crib with a monkey hanging off of it.  So cute!

We also found the desks that we are to get for the downstairs office:

I found the unit I'm going to put under our TV in the living room once we hang the TV:

Stuart found out that it was Haley, in Ikea, with the candlestick:

And, Stuart finally found his feet!

Trip to Houston: Barenaked Ladies Concert

Our first date was 7 years ago, and I remember it sooooo well.  Stuart picked me up at my apartment to go to dinner at Zio's and then to a Rampage hockey game. He was driving his blue, Scion TC, he walked me out to the car, opened the door, and let me in.  He got in the driver's side and turned on the car.  The music started, and I casually said, "Ooh. I love this song." He then squealed, gave me a huge hug, and said, "I love you!" Granted, the "I love you" was not a legitimate declaration of his feelings, but only a reaction to the fact that someone else in his generation loved the Barenaked Ladies.

We found out at that moment that we are both huge fans of this quirky, Canadian rock group.  These people are awesome!  What other band makes sure to record one song per album while 'in the buff?' What other band creates an entire song about aluminum? What other band could pull off the lyrics "Gotta get in tune with Sailor Moon/ Cause that cartoon has got the boom anime babes/ that make me think the wrong thing?"

Fast forward 7 years, to our 5 year wedding anniversary, and you find us at a concert for Barenaked Ladies in The Woodlands, Houston!  Woo hoo!  Our trip planning began when we found the concert date and venue online.  They never come to Texas, so we knew we had to go.  Here lies the adventure that is BNL: Houston.

What concert is complete without a giant beer for each of us? You also get to see the freebee we picked up for Corgan.  She calls is her 'Happy' because of the smiley face.  Cuteness!

Here is a great shot of the uber-drunk lady who kept trying to get the crowd to stand up and dance.  This is her during the first few songs of the first opening band (there were two before the real opening band).  Then, mysteriously, she and her date/husband/friend disappeared before BNL took the stage.  What's up with that?

Here is our view from the stage :)  We were in the 16th row and right next to one of the jumbo-trons.  Yes, that is Barenaked Ladies, and yes, they are wearing tennis whites.  Did I not mention these guys rock?!?

The 'opening' band was Blues Traveler, and they were amazing.  Here is a pic of John Popper on the jumbo-tron.  That man is crazy-good at the harmonica!

I heard their song 'Boomerang' for the first time at this concert and it made me cry.  I already know that I'm going to use it as part of a High School graduation gift for Corgan.  Here are some of the lyrics:

Despite the pretty dress and curls
You don’t throw like other girls
You follow through

But I’ll come on back
Cause I know
Though you meant to let me go
I could always be your boomerang
I’ll come on back
You will see
That all you said got through to me
And I would like to be your boomerang

If you don't get it, that's fine. It all makes sense to me, and I love the sentiment. I'm not sure I should be thinking about a high school graduation, though.  Makes me feel old, and makes me feel like time is flying too fast.  She's only 18 months!

 

Great shot of John Popper playing harmonica along with one of the Barenaked Ladies' songs.  Talk about a great moment!

One of the best concerts I've ever been (not that there has been tons), and I would totally go see them again and again and again.  So much fun!!!

Trip to Houston: Dinner at Jasper's

On our second night, we went out for our official '5 year anniversary' dinner at Jasper's.  This place was the coolest! It's a concept restaurant from Kent Rathbun (don't know who he is, but he must be good.) The decor was amazing, and since we had reservations we got to skip the 45 minutes line in less than 30 seconds.  Pretty neat.  We had a seat near the kitchen, which in this place is a good thing.  Have you ever watched Kitchen Nightmares? This restaurant is NEVER going to be on that show!  Everything was immaculate and people were working like a well oiled machine.

Here's a peak at some of the items on the menu.  I'm fairly certain I would've ordered and eaten everything on the menu if I could've. 

No dinner is complete without wine, so we ordered a bottle of Dona Paula Cabernet Sauvignon. Soooo good.  Stuart did a wine tasting on it, and got pretty close to the description on the label.  It was fun to watch the 'master' at work.

 

For the salad I ordered the tomato and asparagus salad.  It has sliced tomato, fresh asparagus, red onion, blue cheese, and red onion, and it was drizzled with a roasted shallot and black pepper vinaigrette.   It was one of those courses that ended way to soon.

We both ordered the special of the evening (even though the menu looked fantastic).  It was a grilled fillet topped with two grilled jumbo shrimp on top of a crab cake with crawfish.  On side side was some sweet corn crusted zucchini fries and the whole thing was drizzled with mushroom and wine sauce. I gained another 5 pounds just writing that description.

Even though we were way too full, we ordered dessert: a french silk pie with an Oreo crust. Our waiter even had the kitchen add 'Happy Anniversary' for us.  So sweet!

We had such a great evening, and we were completely stuffed by the end of the night.  Us wild and crazy kids then heading out to finish the rest of our anniversary evening: back to the hotel to watch 'Scrubs' on Netflix. All-in-all, a great evening!

Don't forget to head over to my sales page to buy some homemade glassware! Click here.

Trip to Houston: Buc-ee's

On our way to Houston, Stuart insisted that we stop at Buc-ee's. What's the big deal, people? It's a gas station. Oh, wait....that was what I said BEFORE I visited Buc-ee's.  Now, I'm a complete convert. OMG is this place cool!

First of all, it's completely huge! You can't tell from the highway, but this place is massive! The line in front of the store was so long that we parked on one of the side lots.  Yes, we got to pick which side lot.

Inside, the place went on and on and on.  This isn't supposed to be a picture of a stranger's backside. It's supposed to give you an idea of the size of the place. I'm standing in the middle and shooting towards one end.  Freakin' huge!

We got to sample some of their famous Beaver Nuggets.   No, they are not like Rocky Mountain Oysters, they are more like good Sugar Pops cereal. We picked up a bag for my Dad and a bag for Stuart's sister. Definitely sinful.

I've never seen a gas station that had so many prepared foods.  They had a full deli counter, jerky station, fudge station, marinated whole chickens stuffed with rice, etc. It went on forever!!!!

Oh, you could buy your camo, hunting knives, 100-gallon crab boilers, deer guards for cars, home accessories, children's toys, and Buc-ee's paraphernalia.

For lunch (since we had to eat at Buc-ee's), we ordered on a computer screen and got our perfect hot dogs, chicken salad sandwich, homemade potato chips, and tater tots.  Mmmmmm, healthy.

What a way to start a vacation!!!

Need new glassware? Buy some today! Click here.

Trip to Houston: Leaving the Baby

This past weekend, Stuart and I celebrated our 5 year anniversary with a trip to Houston.  We bought concert tickets to one of our favorite bands, arranged for an amazingly sinful meal at a 4.5-star restaraunt, and met up with one of my middle school gal pals to go shopping. However, before all the out-of-town fun, we had to leave Baby Girl with her Grandma and Papa.  Can I tell you how heart wrenching that is? This was the first time that we've left her for an extended length of time.  She'd had a couple of sleepovers with them to get used to staying away from home, but we'd never gone out of town without her before.

We weren't even out of the sub-division before I looked at Stuart and said, "The guilt factor is setting in..."  We put on our brave faces, and kept driving.  Dad was true to his word, and we shortly had a picture of our Little One enjoying her morning snack:

My biggest concern was her naptime.  She's been giving the daycare a tough time about going down for naps.  She even skipped her nap completely once last week and 'read' instead.  This is the picture that Dad took of her napping (without flash) to prove that she was out.  Dad is a little goofy...

Mom got a few new toys for Corgan so that they had some fun things to do over the weekend. One of them was the water table that she is supposed to stand next to and play with.  She insisted on getting in! She would never be satisfied without being in the water.

Dinner time was healthy :) Steamed carrots, bananas, chicken, and potatoes.  Happily my parents got her to enjoy mashed potatoes, so I'm glad to add that into her diet.  Hopefully it will help with her stool. (If you missed those blogs, you're lucky.)

On the second day I got this jewel of a photo titled 'Bed Head After Nap.'  You could also call it 'Stink Eye' or 'Quit Taking So Many Dang Pictures!'

Of course there was tons of reading time...

And she loved it when Gigi and Ogi (my grandparents) came over for dinner.  She loves it when Gigi gives her berzerts!

On the last day, the parents took her down to the park in their neighborhood.  She had a blast! There were swings, and slides, and rocking bugs!

All in all, I don't know who was more tired; Corgan or my parents.  They all had a great time, but I missed her like crazy. Check back in to read my blog this week, and I'll share all about our Houston trip. Stay tuned for Buc-ees' and Barenaked Ladies!