Curiouser and curiouser.

I think the most curious aspect of Audra's Curious George birthday party is why I failed to get any pictures after weeks worth of preparation.

No big deal, though. One of the things I've been trying to do this year is let the little stuff go.

LET IT GO! LET IT GO! CAN'T HOLD IT BACK ANYMOOOOOOORE.*

You're welcome for that. And this.

Anyway, as you well know, I love planning parties for my kids. And friends. And anyone else who will let me. If event planning didn't require evenings and weekends, I'd be all over that job. But I am a detail-oriented control freak, and while that often results in nice-looking parties, it also results in anxiety and crazy making (for me and those who love me and especially those who live with me).

So. Even though I love it, it sometimes stresses me out. And that's stupid because birthdays are fun and parties are fun and no one cares about the exact angle of the drink bucket except me and I am honestly a bit of a whackadoodle. So I'm pushing myself to stop and walk away if party planning moves from love to stress.

I would say I did a pretty good job of that at this party. Almost everyone showed up before I was ready for them, which was no big deal. They wanted to help and I let them. In fact, the party started without me even realizing it, which is ultimately why I didn't get any pictures. It was just easy and fun and exactly what a kids birthday celebration should be.

I mean, I would have LIKED some pictures of everything looking perfect. But I guess if I had to choose I would rather just enjoy myself and my family and my friends and the ice cream sundae bar.

Because that happened, and it was glorious.

Unlike Audra's reaction to her party and everyone in attendance. Although her lack of reaction is sort of glorious in its own special way. 

It was fun. It was cute. Everyone crammed merrily into my tiny house and I got next to no pictures and my eye only twitched anxiously for a few seconds over the crooked drink bucket.

I'm breezy like that.

But I did try to recreate just a bit the next day. A tiny bit. I mean, it would be a real shame if Audra didn't have pictures of her second birthday party! Nevermind the fact that she isn't in any of them.

*Calvin's birthday is in two weeks. Guess what kind of party he's having?

Brain dump.

After having taken most of the summer off from blogging — excluding some lazy posts consisting solely of cute pictures of my kids — you'd better believe I have a few things to throw your way.

It's list time, yo.

(Anyone else follow that up with some sort of 90s "doot doot doot doot, doot doot doot" beat? No? Yeah, me neither.)

1. I've found the perfect shoe. Made by Aerosoles. I don't know if this makes me an old lady or if this makes me brilliant because it is both perfect AND comfortable, but I don't really care. It took me a couple of years, but I am finally wearing an inexpensive wedge sandal that fits my wide foot and goes with everything.

I really I hope I have the same luck when I begin my upcoming search for tall, flat, cognac leather boots. The mere thought of this search stresses me out. Darn you, bunions.*

2. One of the downfalls to our new schedule is going to be TV. In that neither of us will be able to watch whatever we want on it. I've only had to share the remote 1-2 evenings a week for the past decade, so this every night business is going to take some getting used to. Nate is currently engrossed in Breaking Bad; I am obsessed with Downton Abbey. Neither of us has interest in the other. Luckily, we share an affinity for Friday Night Lights, which we've just gotten back into after kind of forgetting about it. But what are we going to do this fall? Nate doesn't want to watch Law & Order: SVU or Grey's Anatomy (oh, Lexie!) and I don't want to watch Monday Night Football or Hell's Kitchen. I suppose we could create some sort of TV watching schedule. Or, you know, turn off the tv and talk to each other.

Eh. Probably the schedule.

3. You should make this salad. It appears to make a TON (truly, I wasn't sure how I was going to mix it, even in my enormous mixing bowl) but turns out after you go back for seconds, thirds, and sevenths, there's really not that much left.

4. I have an odd fascination with colored pants right now. I feel like I want some, but I also feel like they would look horrible on me. And that I'd never wear them because of the horribleness. I am typically pretty willing to take a chance on new trends (see: capri pants, spring 1999), yet I am waffling a bit on this one. But how cute would a pair of pink or red cropped pants be with a jean jacket and black flats? HMMM.

Stay tuned. And if I do show up anywhere wearing pink or red pants, please be kind despite the almost certain horribleness. Points should always be given for fashion bravery, friends. Always. Unless we're talking Chloe Sevigny, who is not so much brave as she is blind. At least I assume that's the case, as there's really no other explanation.

5. Guess who's coming back to town? Guess who has tickets to see him? And guess who didn't have to call her husband to see if he could request time off work so she could go because starting Monday he will be home in the evening?!

I feel like that wasn't a very difficult quiz, but the answers are 1) Joshua Radin 2) Me (and my friend Barbara) and 2) Me

What are the odds I'll have pinkeye again? (Probably pretty good seeing as I'll soon have two germy daycare kids.)

6. I ordered a headband from this Etsy shop for Audra. It. Is. ADORABLE. Moms of girls, take note.

7. You may or may not know this about me, but I hate the Olympics. I have always hated the Olympics. The Olympics get in the way of regular television programming and I am a creature of habit so that annoys me.** Also, I don't like sports. But I've found myself somewhat fascinated by them this year. Either Nate has them on or I put them on for Calvin (because I feel marginally better about him watching people achieve athletic glory over yet another episode of Jake and the Neverland Pirates), and then I walk by just as someone sticks a perfect landing or does 8,000 summersaults into a pool and then I kind of can't stop watching. Plus, those female gymnasts are incredible. So incredible that I may have cried a little bit watching them.

I guess maybe I don't really hate the Olympics. Which is a pretty major revelation after 33 years of thinking I do.

8. Nate and I cleaned out our basement two weekends ago in anticipation of our upcoming garage sale. Not entirely sure how we could possibly have enough stuff crammed into our meager 1,200 square feet to warrant an annual garage sale, but we do. I guess it could be all the shopping? Or all the kids? Anyway, if you need random unused baby crap (bottle warmer), picture frames of various shapes and sizes, copious amounts of toddler boys clothing, three martini glasses, nursing textbooks, a grandma-esque glider, a bag full of miscellaneous chargers, a camera that requires film, my 15-year-old college TV set, or really cute Pottery Barn Kids circus crib bedding, let me know. Also, our basement is now really organized and significantly closer to being bug free. I won't tell you how many times I screamed and yelled for Nate (or, more pathetically, Calvin) to squish something, but it was an embarrassing amount. Hundred-year-old houses have waaaay too many basement nooks and crannies and I'm pretty sure some of the insects we found down there were big enough to eat my baby.

I feel itchy.

9. This will surprise no one, I'm sure, but I've already started thinking about Audra's birthday party. First of all, I am a spaz. Second of all, there is no reasonable explanation for her being closer to one than she is to birth. None. Except some sort of time travel. Because I just had her. Like last week or something. Despite the fact that she is eating crackers and babbling and scooting backwards under things. Which I'm choosing to ignore for the moment because it makes me want to cry.

So, her birthday party. I have a few ideas in mind. And just enough time to be dangerous. Now that I have two kids and two parties to throw, I may as well make Etsy my homepage...

10. I finally signed up for Spotify. Why I didn't do this sooner, I do not know. Especially when Facebook has made it pretty clear that everyone but me is using it. And you know Facebook wouldn't lie. In fact, Facebook is dedicated to publicly exposing every little idiotic thing you do...like listen to the Dawson's Creek soundtrack on Spotify. Thank heavens for the "private session" option, which I have only recently discovered. 

Now, off to see if the Felicity soundtrack is available. My friend Gordon assures me it is.

*Aerosoles alone probably don't make me an old lady. Aerosoles and bunions, however, probably do.
**Just in case you couldn't tell from item #2 that I have a slight tv addiction.

Hooked.

Throughout the course of our relationship, a few things have happened that one or the other of us will never live down. For example, the time Nate tried to fix our kitchen cabinet using string. Or the time I fell down in the mall parking lot and ended up with a lost flip flop, a sprained thumb, ripped jeans, and two bloody knees.

Yep, Nate and I were MFEO.*

One of the more memorable stories involved me leaving town with both sets of our keys. Halfway to Iowa, Nate called me in a panic because he couldn't find his car keys anywhere, and asked if I may have picked them up accidentally. I searched my purse and told him he was clearly insane to think I had them and he needed to look harder. Thirty seconds after chewing him out, I found them in the bottom of my purse. Whoops. Too embarrassed to admit I'd been wrong, I hid them in the side of the couch once I returned home a few days later and then "found" them for him.

Marriage is nothing if not built on honesty, trust, and the occasional face-saving move involving neither honesty nor trust.

Since then we've had our share of lost key incidents and we've become somewhat notorious for misplacing them. For Christmas one year, Nate's parents got us each a ginormous (like 5") wooden initial key ring so there'd never be any confusion as to whose keys were whose. Alas, those were not practical for everyday use, so we had to come up with an alternate plan.

Enter Anthropologie. Have you ever spent time in that store's hardware section? Holy mother of all that is pretty and overpriced. If you are a lover of fake vintage stuff (because, let's face it, real vintage stuff is rarely a good choice for utilitarian items) and kitsch like I am, this is the "hardware store" for you.

Nate and I were shopping there one day (he's a good husband) and he ran across these adorable alphabet hooks. We purchased an A and an N, thinking we'd hang them by the door and that would take care of that.

But I am a complicated creature and like to make small projects into giant ones that take too long and sometimes never get done. Just ask the half-finished Mickey Mouse balloon and ribbon birthday wreath I made for Calvin's party, which has been sitting in our basement since April. So instead of merely hanging the two hooks on the wall, I decided to buy a shadow box, take out the glass, cover the backing in cute bird fabric, set the two hooks on it, and then leave it, unfinished, on the dining room table for two months.

Thankfully my husband took it upon himself to finish this project for me, and when I came home the other day it was hanging next to the door. A sweet little shadow box housing an A and an N, ready and waiting to keep our keys (and the two of us) organized.

Of course I've only remembered to actually put my keys on the hooks twice since then, but you know. Baby steps and all that.


*Made for each other. Seriously, didn't you ever see Sleepless in Seattle?