A picture of you and your friends

Day 3 - a 'picture' of me and my friends - so I have visuals for you but also want to paint a brief 'picture' for you of my friends!

This is J-Ro and myself at YW's camp. She's an amazing mother of 4 and full of competition! We have a great time teasing each other and trying to manipulate each other.  I'm always shocked at her energy and how much she can accomplish, she is a true partier and such a fun person! As mentioned in a previous post, I'm really grateful for my friendship with Jenny because she's helped me become more social - I feel more myself around her and getting back into being silly and having fun has helped me be a better wife and mother.  She's such an example to me.

Kels-o is my friend inlaw (you know, how a sister inlaw becomes an automatic Sister?!)  She married Hugh's and my friend Warren and moved countries for him (from the States). Before I even met her, I wanted to be friends.  She's got mad cooking/baking skills and is always sharing her goodies with us.  Kelsey keeps me laughing with the little details she notices, and she keeps me on my toes (as I'm always trying to be aware of my little details that may be dorky).

Patricia, my dear friend from YW's and the good ol' high school days.  I don't know how we've been so lucky, but we've basically been adopted into Patricia's amazing family - we love them!

Sad to report, Patricia left Canada in high school so we've had to keep most of our contacts long distance, but that's what amazes me about our friendship, we've actually stayed in touch!  Patricia has two amazing (and Brilliant children) and is the most talented person (and her kids get to benefit from the funnest things because of her mad skills).  Patricia has the ability to teach herself anything (guitar, professional cake decorating to name a few) and become a true expert in it!  I've accepted that I can't compare, but I'm always being blown away and feel motivated by her example to be a better Mom myself!

Oh, Lonnie Mae aka Lou-lou (that's her self given nickname that I love). This is my Mexican Cousin - who I truly believe is the most loved person by everyone in my extended family.  To those who 'know' her, they probably would be surprised that once you break through her shy exterior she is the most wild, hilarious and interesting person they will ever meet!  I feel lucky that I've been able to know the true Lonnie instead of the shy girl - my childhood and teenage years are full of the funnest times dancing and singing (btw, she has a truly killer voice!!!) Everytime I'm with Lonnie, we get back into our usual silly interaction of singing and dancing (almost without fail!) Lonnie has a talent to make me laugh and feel happy. I love her!

Two birds with one stone. Here are Lesley (righty-tighty) and Eryn (lefty lucy) at my bridal shower.  Again, amazing friends - that's what we are supposed to surround ourselves with right? Well, I've been successful! I've known Lesley my whole life and always loved her and her family - and we seem to be on the same track as we got married months apart and then our first babies are 2 wks apart.  Lesley's super talented at making people feel comfortable and shows true interest and love for everyone!   Now, Eryn (my E.T. -eternal twin) I was so shocked to discover how similar Eryn and I are - We would say the same things, think the same way and have strange similarities.  I miss Eryn, and truly haven't talked with her for months, but I had to include her on this list!

Beautiful Wendy (Patricia's Mom) is one of my best friends! She and Eric, as I mentioned before have been so good to our family.  My children look to her as another grandma/nana and she's forever spoiling them.  Everyone feels loved around Wendy - she has a huge heart and is forever going 'all out' serving others.  She's such a beautiful woman inside and out!  Wendy is also an amazing cook/baker... and her sweets are out of this world - they seriously blow my mind, I never knew things could taste so good!!!

Serena and Kim - Roomies extraordinaire!  These two are probably the hardest to write about as we have so many good memories and times together and HOW can someone sum that up? Serena is a giver - she shared all her clothes with me (often dressing me and making sure I looked decent before leaving the house) and she even shared her room and bed with me for months (I know that sounds weird, but it was like a sleepover every night).  Serena always had all the boys inlove with her (actually, so did Kim) and she is a lady who speaks her mind, which is so funny.  Serena was the first to get married and have babies (her babies are gorgeous!) and I'm sad she lives far away, but whenever we get together we just 'pick up' from where we left off!

Kim is another true partier - she seems to make friends so easily and everyone loves her.  She and her hubby Mark are always doing something interesting (and I try not to be a stick in the mud anymore).  She is a creative person with great humor and although we too have a great distance between us (she lives in NY) we've stayed close over the years and I feel like she's one of the few people I can share anything with.  She's supported me through so much and stands as a great example to me.

I love my friends, and I have so many people that I am so grateful to have in my life. I'm truly blessed!

The meaning behind " T*Dot... the love story continues...

Strange Blog name, I know. I've always struggled with making up nicknames or email addresses (back when i didn't just use my actual name) So the T*Dot, became my nickname back in 2003/2004ish when I worked at a Golf Course - my friend and coworker Ethan was asking about my email address...  I was super embarrassed to tell him the truth (lovin_guys@hotmail.com which is no longer in use) so I told him I really needed to create a new one and he helped me... with tdotj and he always called me tdot from that point on - and i liked it  (it was much better than some of the other nicknames i've had ie.wolverine)
... the remainder of my blog name... the love story continues.... I decided on that part of the title because I'm forever sharing my "love story" (the story about how Hugh and I finally made it to husband and wife) and although I love our story of the beginning, I have high expectations for the future and have been loving every minute of every day... so really, for me, to write about my life is really writing about a cheesy love story (the kind they should make movies about)  ---- what can I say, I'm super happy and super inlove and super lucky!

30 Day Blog Challenge!

Hey there! Okay, I'm impressed if you still check my blog - obviously blogging isn't a natural thing for me and I really struggle to come up with things to blog about - SOOOOO I'm going to start the 30 day blog challenge that I saw on Kelsey & Warren's blog! Maybe this will keep things interesting?
Day 1-15 interesting facts about yourself
Day 2-The meaning behind your Blog name
Day 3-A picture of you and your friends
Day 4-A habit that you wish you didn't have
Day 5-A picture of somewhere you've been to
Day 6-Favorite super hero and why
Day 7-A picture of someone/something that has the biggest impact on you
Day 8-Short term goals for this month and when you'll accomplish them
Day 9-Something you're proud of in the past few days
Day 10-Songs you listen to when you're bored, happy, sad, mad, hyped
Day 11-A picture of you and your family
Day 12- Put your ipod or shuffle on-first 10 songs that play
Day 13- Someone you would want to switch lives with for one day and why
Day 14- Plans/dreams/goals you have
Day 15-Nicknames you have and why you have them
Day 16-Someone you see yourself marrying or being with in the future
Day 17- A picture of something that makes you happy
Day 18- Something you crave for a lot
Day 19-What I would find in your bag
Day 20- Your favorite song
Day 21- A funny childhood memory
Day 22- The places you have lived
Day 23- Your favorite author/writer/poet
Day 24- A dream you had in the last month
Day 25- Your dream vacation spot
Day 26- Something/ Someone that has inspired you to do better or make a change recently
Day 27- How do you spend your leisure time
Day 28- A picture of your pet if you have one, if not a pet you would like to own
Day 29- Something you would like to do before you die
Day 30- A Favorite Quote

First things first, let's get all my interesting facts on the table - or at least 15 of them!
1. I can make gross 'tooting' sounds with my hand against my eye (you know, like how guys can do under their armpits? It's charming....)
2. I like to try to be original, and to be a prankster... when I worked at Rogers Video I used the label maker to make my own label which I put on my rearview mirror - my Mom (days later) brought to my attention that I called myself the "original pranster" - definitely not cool!
3. I LOVED Elvis - listened to him, watched most of his movies and biographies... and everyone knew that I loved him.... and that's probably what got me to stop liking him.... Elvis overload! Everyone got me Elvis items and crammed my life with Elvis until it became too much... now I barely listen to him.
4. I struggle with whistling - it's something I really wish I could do, but ever since I can remember whistling has been extremely difficult - I can't get a tune.. just one high pitch note ... as a child the only way I could get a whistling sound out was by curling my tongue outside of my mouth, biting down on it and blowing (my bangs fluttering around from it)
5. I married my best friend - but only after dating him twice and fighting my feelings for him (there IS a thin line between love and hate) Finally, after his mission, he asked me to stay and not go on my mission and proposed!
6. I was called to the Toronto East Spanish speaking mission - my cousin/best friend Lonnie was called to the same mission (minus the language) and we recieved our calls on the same day (all forces combined against me staying and marrying my husband)
7. I've always wanted a large family! I LOVE large families, I always wanted my parents to have more kids, and I was so happy to marry into the O'Briens family with 9 children!!!  Before I started having kids I would say that I wanted a minimum of 6 kids.... but after having two, I know that alot more details will determine the size of our family!
8. I prefer cooking over baking.
9. When I bake, I prefer looking at a recipe and using it just as a guideline to lead me to create whatever comes to mind!
10.I love Swings!
11.I LOVE dancing!
12. My parents and Hugh's parents are some of my favorite people in the whole world!
13. I love to drive... in high school I would offer rides to anyone, just so I'd have the excuse to drive around
14. I'm a boring person - I'm perfectly happy staying at home  most of the time and think it's exciting enough to watch a movie.
15. I love playing basketball... but prefer it to be co-ed (I don't really like the way most girls play)

Hi Pastrami, Nice to meet you!

MB has quite the imagination - I'm not sure if the things she does is usual for a 2 yr old (almost 3 already!!) but regardless she keeps me laughing and entertained all the time!
One of her "things" is to pretend to be a character and we have to call her by her new name all the time, and she WILL correct us and even feed us our lines.... example....  "come and eat"-me  "no, say, come and eat Pablo"-MB "okay, come and eat Pablo" -me     
Yes, I give in to her feeding me my lines because I have learned that doing anything else is destructive!
So I thought I would share some of the interesting characters she pretends to be..
Pablo (he's a penquin that hates the cold)
Diego (Dora's cousin, and when she's Diego, I'm ALWAYS Dora and I need to remember my name too)
Baby Clayton (yes, neither Baby or Clayton will suffice)
Princess (sometimes baby princess, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Mermaid, and others I can't think of)
Dino (T-rex or Triceratops are the usual variations)
Woody, Buzz (Lightyear)
My favorite was this Sunday, she was "Prince Charming"... on the way home from church she kept trying to convince me (the queen) to marry her, and why wouldn't I? She's Prince Charming!!! But I resisted, as it would make Daddy sad, because I'm already married to him!
When we got home, she told Daddy "I'm Prince Charming"... he misunderstood "Hi Pastrami, nice to meet you"... but she didn't catch on and so now whenever she pretends to be Prince Charming Hugh just calls her Pastrami (maybe not as funny as I write it, but it keeps me laughing... I just don't have the knack for story telling...... errrrr..... now I have to go)

Party Life

Since I got married nearly 4 years ago, Hugh and I have lived a sort-of quiet, anti-social life.  I struggled with this change especially since I was so used to always being around people and doing something!  But I guess I also thought it was romantic, because we just both loved being together, and so although I wanted to hang out with my friends too, I loved that there wasn't anyone else we needed to see.
Hugh was a homebody and liked "quiet time" - those who know him probably just laughed - really nothing about Hugh is quiet... most of the time he is away from work (including his lunch hour at work) is filled with music (loud music if it's allowed!)  But to sum up how we've spent our time together in evenings and weekends - movies, strolling the mall, dates, the Medium series and now the Star Trek Voyager series!

Hugh was the first to branch out, which totally made me jealous - after ignoring and not hanging out with friends for 3 years there were no friends to hang out with. Luckily I still kept intouch with my former roomies Kim & Serena long distance - but when he had his Jam sessions, Bro's Night and Nerd nights I was always left feeling like a loner with nothing to do (pathetic huh?!)
Hugh encouraged me to hang out with friends and although I insisted that people didn't really like me much and that the friends I did have wouldn't want to hang out with me when their hubbies were home, he kept making suggestions and offering to make sacrifices so I could try to have a social life. (sweet guy huh!!)

Finally, things got moving.  My friend Lesley moved back to Calgary in the summer and she was always the social butterfly - so I third wheeled it and started in on some girls nights - it totally revitalized me! But then she moved... back to solo-Tress...

Basketball on Wed. Nights reached out to me too... but didn't really meet my social needs as I was playing with married men and was the only girl.... UNTIL my friend Jenny agreed to play (maybe only 3 times, but still it was super fun!)

Jenny is incredible - energetic and always doing something it seems! I don't know how she can do with with 4 kids, but it's been so fun getting 'in the loop' and getting to know the other ladies in the ward!
Seriously, I feel so lucky - i'm in the best ward ever!  The women I'm surrounded with are such examples to me and hanging out with them energizes me so much!.... is this getting cheezy? sorry - the point is (of this huge long story) - it is SO important to have good friends - no matter what age you are!  i got so used to thinking that it only mattered back before I was married and had to be bombarded with 'peer pressure' all the time, but truly surrounding myself with good people now is such a blessing and I'm sad that I didn't put the effort forward to do that over the last few years.

From the Mouth of Babes

I had the worse day on Tuesday! MB woke me up at 5am, Baby C woke me up a few others times through the night, Hubby H (hehe) kept me up late (as per usual!)... boiling down to one tired and GRUMPY mom!
This was probably the grumpiest I've ever been with my child or even in my life, i'm not sure... but I stayed up with her so that Hugh could sleep, and tried surviving but was definitely lacking many needful 'mom qualities'!
I felt like every few seconds I was snapping at her - don't touch my face! -stop whining, do you need to go back to bed?! - quiet! if you wake up daddy and the baby you are going to be in trouble!
I'm ashamed to say that I pushed it too far, but this child brought me to repent when she bowed her head and starting praying "Heavenly Father , *sigh*, thank you for this day, and thank you for it, help me be good and happy, name of Jesus Jesus Christ, amen"
What can a Mom do after that? I felt awful, but grateful for the sweet spirit Heavenly Father sent to me, to help me, to teach me!

My Angel!

Proud Moments

I have the most amazing Husband! We take turns doing lessons for our children every Monday (Family Home Evening Night) and this Monday he was incredible! I felt so proud - and I know he enjoyed it so much!
So his topic - Teeth - he got all excited and then disappeared downstairs for a while.  Here's what he came up with:

He's so talented, and MB loved every minute of germ killing :)  I'm a happy mama and proud wife!