Strange Fascinations

One of the great things about blogs is seeing ordinary everyday life. I love it when my favorite bloggers show us their house, inside their bag, make up bag, closet etc. Perhaps it's a strange fascination. Or more likely it has to do with my incurable type A obsession with organizing and a vain hope that someone has a secret to a gorgeous, perfectly organized closet besides space and money. Le sigh...Anyway, in this vein and because this was a photo of the day prompt last week here is my bag...I go back and forth between carrying a diaper bag (on weekends) and my work bag during the week. On the occasion I go somewhere besides work sans baby I switch to a purse but for the day to day office grind I use this oversized purse/briefcase so I can carry everything from my wallet and lip gloss to files, lap top, and pad folio.

The bag itself is from Target on sale for $29.99. And inside:

mechanical pencil and a pen

reading glasses

bag of "lady things"

lip gloss

red lip tint

powder

lip stick

wallet

lotion

camera

blackberry

water bottle

sun glasses

business cards

flash drive

bill I need to pay

Erin Condren life planner

work file for campaign I am working on that I have been taking home to work on at night

yogurt, my mid-morning snack

leftovers for lunch

empty bottles for pumping

3 broken watches to take to the jewelry store to be repaired

pump parts

What is in your bag?

7 months

Little Miss Margot,

Oh my goodness you are already 7 months old. I just can't believe how fast this past month went. It seems like just the other day I was writing your 6 month post and here I am writing your 7 month post a week late.

Margot you are such a joy! You are so funny. You love to talk and squeal and sing. You always seem to be excited about something. You bounce all around and waive your arms in frantic excitement. You are always making us laugh. This month you have started to move. You still can't exactly crawl but you do scoot backwards quite effectively. You also roll over from side to side. You grab at everything!

You love to play with your toys especially Gerald, Sally your new bird and your owls. But your favorite toy this month is your baby piano which you pound with glee. You still love to eat and have started eating larger chunks of food.

You have two sharp little teeth which you use to chomp on anything in site. You have always loved baths but now that you have learned to splash you really love your baths. You have really been excited to sing along with Mommy's silly songs this month especially our monkey song.

"Oh you are a monkey...a funny, funny little monkey, a monkey you are.

oh you are not a hippopotamus...rhinoceros, okapi or gazelle

no...you are a monkey...a funny, funny, margot monkey you are.

oh you are not a giraffe,..a lion, tiger or hyena

no you are a monkey. a funny funny little monkey.. you are"

You are such a happy little monkey and we love you to pieces!

Love Mommy and Daddy

7 months

weight: 17lbs

height: 25 inche?

size: 6-9months, 9months, 9-12 months

Life Lately

I feel like I say this all of the time...but...we have been so busy! The last several weeks have been really exciting but last week was pretty horrible. I felt like it was all we could do to plough through and get to the other side. However, we had a great weekend. This week is a big one for Chris. It began with Chris' first Father's Day on Sunday, then yesterday Chris officially became the newest Associate at a firm here in Eugene. So yeah it's been a bit crazy around here.

Three weeks ago Chris' was offered an amazing position in a local plaintiffs firm. It's a firm that Chris' has admired for a while. They had been referring cases to him for the past year and the partner is someone Chris' has a lot of respect for. This new job will be a lot of work but it will also be more money for us and a lot less stress for Chris. I am so proud of my husband. He has worked so hard to complete law school, start his own practice, learn new areas of law, learn to run a business and so much more. This weekend was all about getting him ready and celebrating this new phase. Plus we all got presents! Starting with little Miss Margot. Chris picked this toy out just for her and she just loves it!

I bought this delightful summer hat, because really sometimes a girl just needs a big hat to wear with her oversized sun glasses.

 Margot agrees!

 Happy Fathers Day to both Chris and my Dad

My handsome husband in his gorgeous new suit in front of his new truck all ready for his first day.

Chris spends this week in Medford at their southern Oregon office so I am flying solo with little miss. So far so good thanks to my Mom feeding me breakfast yesterday, my Dad and Step-mom feeding me dinner and my sister coming over tonight. It really does take a village.

Then and Now

I just had the very strange experience of reading a letter I wrote to my 26 year old self at the age of 16. This appears to have been an assignment in my honors lit class. I imagine the point of this exercise was to share my aspirations for the future as well as my perspective of high school. What did I learn from my 16 year old self? I was a brat! Oh my gosh. I was actually rather mortified to read what I wrote/thought/wanted for my life. Thank God I'm no longer 16!

Here's where I wanted to be at age 26:
-married to someone rich and looks like a young Robert Redford
-living in New York City
-writing for a magazine

While I will still admit that young Robert Redford was very attractive I would so much rather be married to my own husband--thank you very much. As for New York City and writing for a magazine I can happily say that I'm very glad neither of those two aspirations came to fruition.

As much as my current life may have horrified my 16 year old self I am very happy with it. I suppose that is the real take away--I am happy to be sitting in my little 70's ranch house in west Eugene with my husband and daughter relaxing at home on a Saturday night and quietly celebrating some recent good news.

Tuesday Night Dinner

This is a staple dinner for us. I call it clean out the fridge fried rice. It has all the merits of a good weeknight dinner: it's fast, cheap, easy, healthy and uses whatever ingredients you have on hand. I have been making this dish with some regularity since college. However, it's fair to say it's evolved a bit over the years.

As I mentioned you can make this with whatever you have on hand. However, this is a general guide.

Clean out the fridge fried rice

2 cups cooked leftover brown rice*
1 Tb fresh ginger (or 1 tsp ground ginger)
2 cloves garlic chopped
1 Tb vegetable oil
1 tsp sesame oil
1/2 onion, chopped
1 cup of whatever veggies you have on hand, chopped (here I used mushrooms and carrots)
1 cup frozen green peas thawed out
1/2 cup frozen corn thawed out
1 small can of sliced water chestnuts
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1-3 Tb soy sauce to taste
Chinese chili garlic sauce

Heat oil in skillet to medium. Add onion and veggies (if raw) and cook 2-3 minutes. Add garlic and ginger and sesame oil. Cook 1 minute. Add peas and corn and rice. Cook 2-3 minutes to fry rice. Add water chestnuts. Pour beaten egg over rice. Cook stirring until egg is cooked. Season to taste with soy sauce. And serve with chili sauce of choice.

May Photo a Day

This is a few days late. However, I am really enjoying this photo project. It's fun to look back at the random pictures we end up taking. It has become a funny record of our month.

 Peace: playing with Margot and Bernsie her elephant

 Skyline: in our neighborhood during an evening walk

 Something I wore today: grey pencil skirt, black silk blouse and cardigan

 Fun: playing in our Johnny jump up--thank you Grampa Lamb for such a nice present!

 Birds: on Margot's curtains

 Me: in one of my favorite skirts and wearing all of my pearls at once

(it was a stressfull day, I felt the need for LOTS of pearls)

 Someone who inspires me: my sister Jessica (holding miss Margot)

 A smell I love: cilantro, topping homemade chicken coconut soup

 Something I do everyday: make a to do list

 Favorite word: as an eternal optimist a word I use all of the time

 Kitchen: farmers market veggies soon to be baby food

 Something that makes me happy: making Margot's baby food

 Mum: my first mother's day

 grass: ...

 Love: Margot loves her daddy

 what I'm reading: my June book club book

 Snack: actually dinner

 something I made: pasta with peas and prosciutto

 a favorite place: Margot having a play date at one of our favorite places, the park

 something I can't live without: my little family

(even when Miss Margot is being a grumpy pants!)

 Where I stand: under this beautiful ceiling in the University Admin building where I had a meeting

 Pink: Miss Margot's fetching pink jumper!

 Technology: one of the many ways I boycott it, my paper planner

 Something new: beautiful Mother's day present

 12 o'clock: just chillin' at home

 Something sweet: Margot loves her new piano

 The weather today: and my beautiful flowers

something beautiful: Margot wearing my 1st easter dress from 1985!