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.

Do (did) they know it's (was) Christmastime at all (you know, back in 2009)?

I hate that song. But it seems appropriate here, since I haven't posted any pictures of my kid's first Christmas (er, first three Christmases), and I'm sure you're wondering whether we skipped it altogether this (uh, last) year.

We did not. I am just lazy and would rather post short quips about mildly offensive Gap emails than sit down and sort through the hundreds of pictures taken at a major holiday. But a good mommy blogger would do that (and there's nothing I want more than to become a good mommy blogger...ideally so good that I can quit my job and write sarcastic, long-winded blog posts about whatever pops into my tired mommy brain and make money doing so), so I now offer you many, many pictures proving that we did, indeed, know it was Christmas, and we celebrated accordingly.

In this instance, "accordingly" means Calvin was spoiled rotten by his grandparents and aunts/uncles. He is now the proud owner of many cool new toys, many cute new outfits, and enough Bears and Vikings (and Twins, and Wild) gear to get him through the next few seasons of confusion over which teams he actually supports.

McLaughlin Family Christmas:











Our Family Christmas:











Breyer Family Christmas: