Tat2

Melissa finished my tattoo today! It took 4 and 1/2 hours, making it a 8 hour total piece of art. It was worth every second. I'm so incredibly happy with how it came out and can't wait to see it healed. At the risk of being a Braggy McBraggerson, I think it's the most beautiful tattoo ever.

Apparently tomorrow, Dan and I are headed to Melissa and Scott's for what is being dubbed Family Art Sunday and we're all going to paint. It should be a fun day. Even though I usually just paint for my own enjoyment, it'll be awesome to get pointers from people as talented as Melissa and Dan.

"I would never do that"

I think we've all been in a situation where we've witnessed some questionable choices by parents. Maybe a parent overreacted with their discipline and spanked when you wouldn't (if you spank, I'm not judging one way or the other), or - more commonly - let a behavior go uncorrected. One time at the zoo, I saw a parent straddle their small child on the canopy on top of the stroller. I thought about saying something about the safety of the situation, but decided it wasn't my place. Sure enough, 4 minutes later, kiddo got wicked excited over a giraffe and down went both toddler and stroller. That was a moment when I thought "I would never do that." Last night, I had another of those moments.

After a delicious dinner of sushi and some sake (not on the meal plan, but I'm not one to turn down my husband for a dinner date), Dan and I headed to the mall. We made a pit stop, and when I left the ladies' room, I found Mr. Kingston trying repeatedly to stuff a $1 bill into a vending machine. As I was waiting, a family approached the restrooms. A little bitty girl was racing toward the men's room and her father scooped her up and took her in with him while the girl's mother took her older brother into the women's room.

Thanks to the vending machine being as equally stubborn as my husband and refusing to take his dollar, we were still outside when the little girl and her dad exited the restroom. The girl said, "Mama" and pointed to the ladies' room and then the father scooted her toward the ladies' room and said "yep, she's in there, go find your momma." Uh, what? I would never do that. The kid was like 18 months old, toddling off to find her mom alone (the restrooms at this mall don't have doors, just a twisted pathway in so you can't look into them), so I grabbed her hand and escorted her in and told her that we were going to wait for her mommy. She didn't resist me or even seem to acknowledge that I was completely unknown to her. It dawned on me in that moment that this father had just allowed a complete stranger (as friendly looking as I am) to take his child into a public restroom. WTF?! I would never do that.

I had to wait with the girl for about a minute for her mother to exit the stall with her brother and when she saw me there holding her daughter's hand, the look on her face was one of complete shock. She asked if the girl had wandered in alone and I replied, "not exactly" and walked out. She didn't thank me, but I have a feeling I'd be pretty speechless in a moment like that, too. Outside the restroom, I told Dan (who was STILL trying to feed his dollar into the machine - you have to admire his determination) that I would buy him a soda and we were leaving. He asked why, because he already had a dollar "invested" and I whispered, "because that father just let a complete stranger take his kid into a bathroom and the mom doesn't look too happy, so I'd prefer not to be here for that." Seriously, if Dan had done something like that, I'd be completely livid, and I had no desire to see whatever would ensue when Momma Bear confronted Daddy Dumb-Dumb.

I'm kind of still a little shocked, when I think about it. I feel thankful that I was there instead of some kid-diddling predator lurking in the second-to-last stall. At the same time, I wonder if I did the right thing or if I overreacted. But I feel confident that I would feel worse today if I'd watched a baby girl wander through that doorway alone. It's eerie to think that maybe the soda machine didn't take Dan's dollar right away for a reason - that I was supposed to be there. Okay, maybe that's going too far. Perhaps I'm way over-thinking all of it. But I do know for sure that never in a million years would I ever do that.

Any great moments in bad parenting you've witnessed?

Sweet Hearts

One thing on my agenda this weekend is to bake and decorate Valentine's Day cookies. Dan and I don't actually celebrate the holiday, but it does provide an excellent opportunity to hone my cookie decorating skills. Since I'm not a hearts-n-bows girl, I surfed Etsy and some of my favorite blogs for inspiration. Here are some of my favorite Valentine's Day sugar cookies from around the web.

These sweet little animals come with love from TS Cookies


I love that not only are these cookies from Crumbs not the typical red and pink, but the piping detail is awesome.


Though her shop on Etsy is currently down because Bridget is booked (hurray!), I always look to Bake at 350 for inspiration. I love her Love Stamps.


I also love this Sealed With a Kiss collection from A Dozen Eggs


So I've got a lot of cute inspiration, just have to figure out what I want to do. Anyone else have ideas for sweet but unexpected Valentine's Day cookies?

Car cake

Last night, I had the pleasure of not having to grocery shop alone. I can't stand going alone. Since he used to always work or attend school in the evening, I was left to do all the grocery shopping myself. Now that he's home in the evenings, he's joined me and it's a lot nicer. As a bonus, I have someone to carry groceries. In case I'd forgotten, I was reminded of his sweet tooth last night as I was in the baking product aisle. A sweet little conversation ensued:

Dan: Ooooh, cake mix is on sale!

Me: I have 4 boxes of cake mix at home

Dan: But you know what's good? Cherry chip cake with funfetti frosting
(shocker!)

Me: Do you want me to make you a cake?

Dan: I like cake

Me: I know you do. If I make you a cake, you have to take it to work. We're not leaving a whole cake around for us to eat.

Dan: I won't leave it at home, but I'm not taking it to work.

Me: What are you going to do with it then?

Dan: Leave it in the car to eat when I'm hungry.

Me: Oh, really? How long are you going to leave it there?

Dan: Uh... a week

Needless to say, I did not buy or make a car cake last night.

Meal Plan Monday Jan. 25

This week's meal plan is based around using the 8.5 tons of mozzarella I have left over from the jewelry party's pizzas. I way over-bought on everything but the crusts, so that's all I'll have to pick up. Thankfully it's low-fat cheese, so I'm not too worried about the detriment to our health. So this week's meal plan is as follows:

Monday: Mini Boboli pizzas and salad (chipping away at that cheese supply)
Tuesday: Chicken Parmesan and asparagus (more cheese gone)
Wednesday: Turkey Stuffed Peppers (this week is starting to look Italian-y)
Thursday: More Boboli pizza (hopefully, we'll be using the last of the cheese)
Friday: I'm hopefully meeting up with Mrs. ESPN for dinner and drinks, so Mr. K can fend for himself

Thursday used to be our traditional Wine and Office night, and we usually had pizza to go along with it. Then we got away from the pizza (we kept the wine and Office, of course) when we started trying to conserve cash. But this Thursday, it's coming back with mini Bobolis. Thankfully, I have a husband who loves pizza and doesn't mind a meal repeat. To keep me from being bored with pizza, I'm going to make an olive, feta, and basil pizza tonight and then I'll have a pepperoni, pepper, and mushroom pizza on Thursday. Yum!!

Our weekend in Tucson was fun. We weren't able to get there too early on Saturday because Dan was on call and had to do a job. But we were there in time for dinner and a night of Scattergories. It was a nice time, full of laughs, good steaks, and my mom's yummy ice box cake. Sunday, Dan had to leave early to do more on-call jobs, and I stayed to spend time with my parents and to see my cousin and her baby (briefly). Then we all met about halfway in Casa Grande to have dinner and watch the NFC championship game (darn Vikings! I was rooting for you, Brett).

Today marks one year since Dan asked me to marry him after making dinner together and while dancing in our pajamas in the living room. I'm reminded what a wonderful year 2009 was for us and how much 2010 and the many years ahead have in store for us. Happy "Yes" Anniversary to us!

Blingy

Last night's Premier Designs jewelry party was a lot of fun! We had wine, delicious food, and most of my favorite girls from my office were able to make it, despite my "bad" directions and the never-ending rain. I totally wish I'd taken pictures because the food was awesome, if I do say so myself. I made a really tasty bacony (I used turkey), ranchy cheese ball, mini Boboli pizzas (the kalamata olive, feta and basil was the favorite), and apple streusel cheesecake bars. I had taken Paisley and Clover to Petsmart's day camp because Paisley isn't so friendly and Clover isn't house broken and I thought it'd be more enjoyable for everyone. As it turns out, the girls wanted to meet Paisley and Clover, so I texted Dan and he picked them up from Petsmart and brought them home. Paisley was great! No barking at all, she curled up and sat with my friend Laura, and she did her "You're on Fire!!" stop, drop, and roll trick. All in all, it was a fun evening!

Today, we're headed to Tucson to celebrate my dad's birthday. He's requested a game night, so it should be a fun family evening. It'll be nice to hang out with my parents and husband and be silly. After a long week, it sounds very refreshing. I have a cousin in town from Tulsa, and I believe plans are in the works to see her and her children, including her new baby, Aiden.

We've also made some new decisions. Ireland is being scrapped. For now. While in the midst of my excitement due to cheap air fare, I managed to forget some of our financial obligations. Whoops. Dan brought me back to Earth quickly with that one. We've had a number of discussions about our plans for the next year and decided that we'll plan a very exciting and fun 3 or 4-day weekend, probably to Napa Valley. It's less pricey and we won't have to account for Dan missing a whole week of work in our saving. We have a plan geared toward saving and paying things off and we'll be high-interest debt-free by about July. Our rent is going to go down even more when we resign our lease, so that will only help with our efforts. Basically, Paisley's hospitalization was a substantial set-back, and we've decided that there are things we want more than a pricey trip to Ireland that we feel would make us just as happy, particularly in the long-run. So I feel silly for getting all ahead of myself and practically choosing our Dublin hotel, but I'm excited about our current plan for better financial health.

What is everyone up to this weekend?

So I found my new project

I found a new party to plan! After my jewelry party on Friday, that is. My coworker is having a baby boy at the end of April. I'm so excited for her. It's going to be interesting because this is her first baby and I think she's a tad on the naive side. She's been fortunate enough to not have morning sickness, so I'm not sure she knows what she's in for. Not that I do, but ya know. The girl says she's going to "train" her baby to be on a schedule. So that's where I'm coming from in saying she's naive. Anyway, we're all very excited for her and I want to head up the shower planning. I looked at her registry, and she and her husband have picked out super cute monkey room decor. So I figured that'd be a cute theme to run with. Look at this cute coordinating stuff I found on Amazon!! Napkins, stickers, and plates, oh my!

Wilton even has a cute monkey cake pan - I think it's time to sign up for my class so I can practice.

I think it would all come together very nicely. I'm loving the color scheme, as it's not the typical baby shower blue.

And speaking of projects, I'm happy to report that Mr. Kingston is taking up painting again. He treated himself to some new art supplies at Michael's and is planning to use some of his old skateboards as canvases. I'm so glad that he finally has time to pursue his creative interests. He's so talented, but hasn't had the time or energy to draw or paint in quite a while. Quitting the second jab has had many benefits, and I think this is by far my personal favorite.

Meal Plan Monday Jan. 18

In an effort to reduce the temptation to eat not-so-good choices and to streamline my grocery shopping, I'm instating Meal Plan Mondays. I'll be posting what we'll eat for dinners Monday through Friday. Maybe something I post will sound good and spark an idea for your own dinner plan. And if you have any suggestions for me, I'd love to hear them. Please feel free to share ideas or recipes.

So here's what we're eating this week:

Monday: Turkey kielbasa with sauerkraut, steamed broccoli and sweet potatoes.
Tuesday: Baked chicken with fresh green beans and wild brown rice
Wednesday: Broiled steak, sauteed asparagus, spinach salad
Thursday: Whole wheat spaghetti with fresh veggies (mushrooms, zucchini, bell peppers, onion, squash)
Friday: Leftover spaghetti

Just as an FYI, my lunches generally consist of leftovers from the night before. On Thursday this week, I may not have leftovers, so I'll make a big spinach salad and have a sandwich or something. Breakfast is tricky - I crave carbs in the morning and I know it. I try to eat fat-free cottage cheese and fruit for a snack (when I'm being good, which I haven't lately). I have a huge tub of protein powder left from my boot camp days, so I'm going to have shakes this week for my early morning meal.

So hopefully this will help me not only stay accountable, but keep me from looking in the fridge and wondering what's for dinner. It's all been decided :) I promise not to beat myself up if I slip, but I have a goal of sticking to my meal plan and I don't want to let myself down. I need to remember that if I do slip early in the day, the rest of the day is not a waste. I didn't want to make a weight loss goal, but I'd love to get down a size or two, and I'm not going to forget that goal. Healthy consistent eating is the first step.

Anyone else care to share their meal plan? Leave a link in the comments. Have a great week!

Tattoo Phase 1

Last night, our tattoo artist, Melissa, started on my large rib tattoo. Melissa and her boyfriend Scott (one of our groomsman) gave us each a tattoo session as a wedding gift, so this has been in the works for quite a while. The design is three gerber daisies connected through some scroll line work. Gerber daisies are my favorite flower and the first flowers Dan ever gave me (for my birthday). I always think of him when I see them. One of the daisies is purple because I had purple roses in my wedding bouquet. So it's not a blatant "I <3 Dan" tattoo, but it's symbolic to us. I sat for 3 and 1/2 hours and have about 2 and 1/2 more to finish the color and shading. Melissa started with the line work.
Some parts were far more painful than others, but it wasn't nearly as bad as I feared overall. When she finished the line work and I hadn't yet passed out (cuz I'm tough!) she started filling in the color. She finished the yellow and purple flowers. Once I heal, I'll go back in two weeks and she'll layer in more color in the purple daisy for more depth. Hopefully, I'll only need one more session and she'll be able to finish the pink flower, leaves, and grey shading.

I'm so excited - it's going to look awesome when it's finished. I already love it!

Wow, 3 months!

Today marks 3 months of marriage for me and Dan. It's been a wonderful three months, and I can't decide if I feel like it's been that long or longer. Ah well. As long as they're happy months, right? We've done a lot in the last month: the gingerbread house contest, celebrated Christmas with our families, our New Year's Eve pot roast at home, and our weekend with the in-laws last week. Probably the busiest month of marriage we'll have in our first year.

We've made a couple decisions, too. We've decided to stay in the apartment and work toward saving for our trip to Ireland. Hopefully, we'll be going in October for our anniversary/Dan's birthday. Even with Paisley's recent medical bills and a couple other small set-backs, we decided that Ireland is important to us. We didn't take a honeymoon, so that's our big trip, the big reward for our first year of marriage. I'm actually really excited to start planning and have enlisted the help of some traveling friends to recommend places to go and things to see. If anyone has any advice on our Ireland trip, please feel free to share!

I'm excited for today - it's tattoo day! I'll be back with pictures later.

Happy Saturday, and welcome SITS Sharefest readers!