I am happy

Oh so, happy because Melissa and Jen (one of my awesome new Twitter friends and fellow Sister in Shrinkage) presented me with this lovely award! Thank you, hookers!!!! MWAH!

As always, there are instructions:

1. Copy the image and display it on your blog.
2. List 10 things that make you happy.
3. Try to do at least one of them today.
4. Pass on the award to 10 bloggers who brighten your day.

So here are the 10 things that make me happy!

1. My children. Each and everyday I marvel at their existence. They both have amazing personalities and are truly a miracle.
2. My husband. He spends his weeks in Houston working hard so we can have an amazing life. I don't think I tell him enough how much I appreciate him.
3. My brand new iPhone. It's amazing. I pretty much make out with it all the time.
4. The Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans. I cannot begin to describe the fulfillment I get from that site. Not only am I improving myself on a daily basis, but I'm watching so many other women do the same. It's a haven for support and love.
5. Food. Yes, food makes me happy. Not necessarily the consumption, but the discovery of new recipes and healthier options. I love sharing my knowledge with others, especially my children.
6. Seeing my children make good choices. With food, with friends, with life. It validates me. It makes me feel like my husband and I are doing something really right. Really important.
7. Running. I love to run. I love to workout. It makes me happy because 1 year ago, I didn't have this love, and I certainly wasn't this happy.
8. My friends. I have some of the best friends in the whole wide world and web.
9. My new end tables. We just got them, and they make me SO happy.
10. Cuckoo clocks. I love them. They are complicated, and beautiful, and they have a little bird who jumps out and tweets at you. How could you not be happy with one of those hanging around? If I could only teach that little bird how to wash the dishes, we'd be golden.

And here are 10 bloggers I'd like to present with the Happy Award, because they make me happy:

1. Lisa
2. Amanda
3. April
4. Brooke
5. Nancy
6. Ann
7. Kirsten
8. Tiffany
9. Audrey
10. Karena

You totally need to visit all of them right now, because they will make you happy, too!

real life adventures - Atlanta, Georgia style, part 2

Remember a couple weeks ago when I was in Atlanta? Well, this post has turned into Atlanta, part 2!

Before we left for Tennessee, we still had half a day to kick around in Atlanta, so the kids and I headed downtown. We parked and walked through the Olympic park, which is so beautiful. A huge green space with playgrounds, nice cozy nooks for sitting and relaxing, and beautiful reflection pools. There was also a splash pad that was crazy-busy, and my kids were disappointed that we didn't get to try it out!







After we walked around the park, I asked BJ was he most wanted to do, and he chose visiting Georgia's state capitol building. It's hard to miss the beautiful golden dome in the Atlanta skyline, and with his thirst for knowledge and love for history, it was sure to be an adventure!

We headed off on foot for the capitol building, and saw some sites along the way.

I loved these red doors so much. If there hadn't been construction on the sidewalk in front of them, I would have gotten closer and taken lots more shots of them.




Looking up at the inside of the dome

We learned that the dome is covered in gold leaf and it has to be replaced every 30-35 years. If you were to take all the gold off and wad it up, it would be the size of a soccer ball and weigh 900 ounces. BJ wanted to know how much it would be worth, and the guide told him about 35,000 bucks!

The architecture was amazing!


At the end of the tour, we were taken inside the General Assembly Room for some Q&A. Of course, BJ peppered our guide with questions about the architecture, the chandelier, and whether or not the legislators ate lunch at their wooden desks. Oh, and he also asked if they used the 2 fireplaces in the room (which they don't anymore).

After the tour, we grabbed lunch at Ted's (Turner) Montana Grill and it was fabulous! An awesome restaurant with a wonderful twist on Eco-Friendliness. Think drinking straws made out of recycled materials! As a matter of fact, the restaurant is 99% plastic free! All this, plus they had amazingly huge picture windows and great natural lighting.

After lunch, we walked back to our rental car and headed to the airport to pick up daddy. He was flying in to meet up with us for the Tennesee leg of our trip.

Click here to read Part 1 of our Atlanta trip!

Stay tuned for more from our trip. We did alot of really fun, family friendly things in Tennessee!

You can see the complete set of photos from the trip here!

Déjà vu

Tonight I had a battle of the wills with BJ and I won. Strangely enough, it was over green beans, which he usually loves. It ended badly, with BJ going to be at 6:30 with no dessert.

Can you say stubborn? Seriously stubborn, that boy.

Sort of reminds me of this time. Except now he's 5, and daddy wasn't here to polish off the bottle of vodka with me. And who am I kidding? There was no vodka. Only Twitter to fill the time I'd normally be spending with BJ. Sigh.

Kids and Food

So last night I was scanning Tivo'd episodes of Oprah and came across on from earlier this week on children and eating. I've been interested in this topic since I was pregnant with BJ. I was one of those die-hard, do-it-or-die-trying breast feeders. I was (thankfully) successful and continued to pump for the entire first year after going back to work when BJ was 7 weeks old. Now I'm not that crazy breastfeeding-is-the-only-way woman that likes to make people feel like they're doing a disservice to their child if they choose a different route. It's different for everyone and I respect that.

When BJ started eating baby food, I felt compelled to start him off on what I thought was the right foot for a lifetime of good eating habits. I made some of my own organic baby food, but mostly fed him store bought organic and all natural foods. As he progressed into real foods, my fridge and pantry started resembling the shelves of Whole Foods. I wasn't an organic snob by any means, we still went to restaurants and ate at other people's homes, but I tried to make sure he was getting good, natural products at home.

Today when I shop, I buy regular stuff if there isn't an all-natural or organic option, but I refuse to buy anything made with high fructose corn syrup (HFCS). That stuff is just terrible. Not to mention hydrogenated oils of any kind. I can't believe that food manufacturers actually put that shit in our foods and we eat it. Did you realize that every single brand of ketchup on the market, except Heinz organic, and 90% of jellies and jams are now sweetened with HFCS? It's in granola bars (yep, thought those were healthy!) oatmeal, teddy grahams, peanut butter, pancake syrup. EVERYTHING. When did this happen?

So back to the whole Oprah show. The gist of the show was that today's kids aren't getting what they need in their diets. There are too many choices these days, mostly junky choices, and fruits and veggies have gone by the wayside. Dr. Mahmet Oz (LOVE that man!) was on the show and confirmed that studies show that 1 in 5 children from this generation will develop type 2 diabetes. That number jumps to 1 in 4 for black children and 2 in 4 for Hispanic kids. It's also predicted that our children are the first generation of kids that actually have a shorter life expectancy than their parents. All I can say is SHOCKING.

Special guest on the show was Jessica Seinfeld (yes, Jerry's wife!). She has a brand new cookbook out (that she developed herself!!!) called Deceptively Delicious. Let me tell you, I've heard of the method she uses which is putting steamed and pureed veggies into everyday recipes (heck, I use apple sauce in all of my muffin, cake and brownie recipes instead of oil), but she takes it to a whole new level. Simply amazing and inspiring. I've already ordered my copy of the cookbook from Amazon and can hardly wait to get my hands on it!!

Jessica also has a special section on Oprah's site with recipes, a message board, and I even think she has a blog! So I guess my point is to check it out. I'm very excited about it and wanted to share. Heck, I've already told Lisa and my husband about it, and luckily Lisa had the episode saved too. After she watched it she called me back to tell me how much she liked it too.

So check it out on oprah.com and see what you think. Get back to me and let me know if you're as excited as I am.