36. My new hobby

I have found a new hobby (#36).  Although it's not creative or active type hobby, it's right up my alley -- travel related without traveling (with 2 kids you can't always hop on a plane and go somewhere new unfortunately).  I am now participating in Postcrossing.  The main idea is to exchange postcards with others around the world.  I send a postcard to someone in one country, they register the card on-line when they receive it and then I get put into the queue for someone in another country to send me a card.  Right now, I can send up to 5 postcards at one time. I'm signed up on Postcrossing.com; I've sent 8 cards so far (3 have been registered) to the Netherlands (ironic that it was my first one given Emile's parents are from there), Germany (2 cards), Russia, Belarus, Macau, Poland, and the United Kingdom.  Now I'm just waiting for my first 3 cards to arrive.  I can't wait to see whether they come from.

I finally got do a spa package (#38).  I've signed up for Living Social in which I get daily emails of great deals around the Raleigh area.  One happened to be 50% off a spa package.  I bought in back in May but didn't get a chance to use it until this past weekend.  Now that Claire takes a bottle well from Emile, I could spend a few hours away without having to worry.  It was so relaxing!  Massage, facial, manicure, haircut and style.  So worth it!  The masseuse was wonderful.  I hadn't gotten a facial since I lived in SoCal.

While Emile's parents, Aunt and Uncle were visiting, we finally got a chance to eat lunch at The Pit in downtown Raleigh (#90).  Their main cuisine in North Carolina barbecue.  It was wonderful!  Definitely the best barbecue place I've been since moving here.  I like NC barbecue better even than Memphis barbecue.  That weekend, I also tried a new wine, Conte Priola Pinot Grigio (#99).  It's one of Emile's favorites.  It was a littler on the drier side for me though.  I usually prefer mine to be a little more fruity.

Last month, Emile and I also had a date night in which Kinsey watched the girls while we went to dinner and a movie (#43).  We went to our favorite sushi restaurant which we hadn't been to in awhile.  Then we went to see The Inception -- absolutely fabulous movie!  One of the best I've seen in awhile.  It actually had me thinking for days trying to analyze it.  I think it's one of those I'm going to have to watch a few times -- there were so many parts that could have gone multiple ways that I need to think about it again.

I finished reading another book (#59) -- The Red Queen by Philippa Gregory.  My favorite author!  It was a great book although the ending was a bit abrupt for my taste.  I'm already ready for her next book.

59. A New Book and Wine among other things

I finished another book recently (#59) - The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson.  I'm impressed with my friends who are able to read a book a week.  With the two girls and work keeping me busy, I'm lucky if I get one book read a month!  This one took me a little while to get into but I ended up really enjoying it.  The last 200 pages went very quickly.  Now I'm reading Cleopatra's Daughter.  In addition, Emile got me a Kindle for my birthday so my next book will be a e-book!

I finally got a chance to get a massage this past weekend (#27).  I had bought an hour and half massage at Massage Envy through Living Social months ago.  Now that Claire takes a bottle easily from others, I finally felt I could step away for my massage.  I used to love getting massages but this time, I actually got restless and was ready for it to be over with.  I think an hour and half massage is 30 minutes too long.  Next time, I'll stick with an hour.  But don't get me wrong, it was still fabulous and great to get some me time.

I tried another new wine this month -- Barefoot Riesling (#99).  It was very crispy and fruity.  Definitely one I would get again.

56. Potty Trained Natalie

We've been busy lately!  About two weeks ago, we started potty training Natalie (#56).  We decided to try the 3-day potty training method with her since the laid back approach was not working with her even though she wants to sit on the potty -- I think she just needed to know the feeling of letting it out when sitting there. So we put her in underwear as of 13 days ago and she hasn't gone back to diapers since. She even wore them right away during nap and bedtime. The first 48 hours were the toughest -- for her and us. But she didn't have any accidents at nap or bedtime for the first few days and only a 3 or 4 since. She had one day of regression last Friday but since then she's had only two accidents. We're so proud of her. She's such a big girl! She picked out her own underwear to start with (in combination with the ones Oma got her) and of course, they were Disney Princesses.

I've also tried two new wines in the last week (#99) - Crane Lake Petite Shirah and Middle Sister Drama Queen Pinot Grigio.  I really need to take the wine class so I can try to explain better the tastes.  But overall, I thought both were very good.  I really like Shirahs though.  One of my favorite types of red wine.

99. Trying new wines

 

We are at my parents for the 4th of July weekend.  Now that Claire is sleeping through the night, I've started having a glass of wine again with dinner occassionally.  This weekend, I tried Cavit Pinot Grigio and Bella Sera Pinot Grigio (#99).  Both were really good, although I preferred the Cavit. 

59. Book #3 - The Other Queen

My favorite author by far!  I love all Phililppa Gregory's books (of course first getting hooked with The Other Boleyn Girl).  This book (#59) was as great as to the others.  I've read a number of books on Queen Elizabeth but only one other one on Mary, Queen of Scots.  I loved Gregory's perspective for the book -- she tells the story from three sides, Mary's, George's (Mary's guard when Mary is imprisoned by Queen Elizabeth), and Bess's (George's wife).  I'm ready for another book to come out by Gregory -- only have to wait till August!

62. Financial Planner and Book #2

88. Baked a Blueberry Pie

I made my first blueberry pie (#88) this weekend.  And I have to say, it's pretty darn good!  It doesn't exactly look like the photo but it still turned out well.  Emile got me a baking book for Christmas that I'm starting to make my way through:

The pie crust didn't turn out like the gravel texture it was supposed to before rolling it out but it still worked.  It's amazing that 4 pints of blueberries cook down to fit into a pie pan.  On to the next baking dish!

76. Crunches for 30 Days

Last night I completed my 30th day of crunches (#76).  I'm hoping by doing it that much I'll have not gotten into a good routine and will keep it up in the long run.  I definitely can tell a difference in my abs although they still have a long way to go after my second c-section.

Last night I also got together with some friends for a "Mom's Night In" where we meet up at someone's house to hang out (#42).  We used to play board games during these get togethers but have pretty much dropped it for just socializing.  I had a great time and enjoyed seeing everyone.  I'm already looking forward to the next one which will be at my house in July.

74. Participate in a charity run/walk

59. Finished "Breaking Dawn"

I finished reading the 4th Twilight book -- Breaking Down.  It was really good.  The best one of the four in the series.  I'm disappointed that its the last book.

78. Finished decorating our bedroom

I'm finally finished decorating our bed room.  I had a few decorations left to get and we just put up the picture frame of our girls (black and white photos from when they were newborns, 6 mo. and 1 year old -- Claire's 6 mo. and 1 year photo are still to come which is why there is nothing there right now).  The sketch of the sunflowers was made by my husband's aunt about 21 years ago.  That was our focal point for choosing the decorations.  I was going to put a plant to the right of the dresser but the room doesn't get enough direct sunlight and our cats usually attack most plants so I decided against it.

So I have 1 done for challenge #78.  I'm working on finishing up the girls bathroom next.  I only need to paint one of the walls a light pink -- still working on finding the right color.

54. Pregnancy with Claire Book

I have finally completed my pregnancy with Claire photo book (#54).  I took a belly photo of myself (using my tripod) every week for my entire pregnancy and blogged about how I felt each week:  http://oursecondlittleone.blogspot.com/.  As with my pregnancy with Natalie blog, I converted my blog posts and belly photos into a photo book as a keepsake.  Some day I'll give it to Claire.  I'm so glad to have this done.  I had been dealing with problems with the on-line program that the company finally fixed after months of going back and forth on emails. 

I've also started doing 50 crunches each night (#76) since starting this blog.  I'm also working on completing the 30 Day Shred (#72).  I haven't been able to do it every day in a row but I'm aiming more at completing 30 days of it within a month and half to accomodate having 2 children.  Both of these will help me get closer to getting back to my pre-pregnancy weight (#28) which I'm almost at (only 10 lbs to go).

1. The Start of My 101

I've seen a few friends with these lists and I think it's a great idea.  I like to check things off of a list.  I think this will be a great way to motivate me to do some of the things I've been wanting to do but haven't yet gotten around to doing.  I plan to post updates to this blog as I make my way through my 101 challenges in 1001 days.

My first completion -- #1. start a 101 Challenge