(Big) Girls Day Out

Caitlin & I just got back from a wonderful afternoon, just Mommy & Caitlin. It's been quite a while since she & I have spent some quality time and we decided, that with the beautiful weather, we should head downtown to hang out. We started with lunch @ Starbuck's (and yes, Caitlin chose to go there), where Caitlin had Greek yogurt w/ honey and granola & a blueberry muffin. I had one of Starbuck's English muffin sandwiches (they are SOOO good) & a green tea
Frappuccino. From there, we took a short jet down the interstate to the light rail station where we hopped the train to Union Station and walked the block and a half to Tattered Cover. A little birdie told Ben that I needed new reads, so he obliged with a gift card for me, for Mother's Day. I snatched up another Jodi Picoult book (yes, I believe I'm addicted) and Three Cups of Tea, the latest issues of Real Simple magazine and treated Caitlin to two new chapters books (my 5 1/2 year old is reading chapter books-*gasp*). Not quite ready to end our day out, we went further into LoDo in search of some ice cream. We happened upon Gellazzi, a local joint that serves up wonderfully homemade & fresh gelato. Caitlin had a mixture of soy chocolate and raspberry while I enjoyed a piccolo cup of wildberry. We sat alfresco, enjoying our treat and the wonderful sunshine & gentle breeze. With our bellies full, we began our very leisurely walk back to the light rail station. Caitlin stopped to pose with some buffaloes and dance among the squares. Once on the train, we read a chapter in one of her newest books and enjoyed the sights on the ride home. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and hope to have many more days out together. It is so fun to have someone to do "big girl" things with even though she's growing up too darn fast!


Caitlin dances on one of the "squares".


Enjoying her soy chocolate & fresh raspberry gelato.


On the light rail, heading downtown for an afternoon of fun with Mommy!


Sitting in a "grown up" chair at Starbuck's.

Who Am I?

A pictorial look (a meme of sorts) at me, as a person. I highly encourage all of my blogging buddies to set aside a few minutes to do this. It made me think of the little things that celebrate and define who I am outside of a basic job description.

Detail-oriented and organized.
I'm not as anal as I used to be, BC (before children), but I'd still like for everything to have a place.


Bibliophile
I just love to read! This is my personal shelf in our "cabinet library" but only represents a fraction of what I've actually read. I just wish I had more time to indulge in my favorite pastime.

Library Lover
I love and support (with overdue fines) our local libraries. I love to find new libraries while out driving and making an impromptu stop. I always manage to find something special that I love about each library.

Happily Married
It's taken me 7 years to really, truly believe this with the inter-most part of my heart. It's been a rough journey, but I finally feel like I am with who I am destined to be with!

An Eeyore Freak
I adore Eeyore! He is me, as a Disney character. I, not only, have clothing, but a snowglobe, cross stitch picture, a watch and many other oddities in Eeyore.

And finally...a crusader for the cause. The site up on my MacBook is Gabriel's Life, a site for those suffering with hydrocephalus. I have given myself, endlessly, to making sure that everything that can be done for Cara is being done. I am currently trying to organize a support group for parents and children with hydrocephalus in my area.

Before I forgot, thanks to Judy, once again, for this idea!

What does your DNA say?

This was a very interesting test. I read my results and a lot of them were right on. Here's a sampling:

You are practical and pay attention to the details that others tend to miss.
Even when problems present themselves, deep down you know you will overcome these challenges.
You're not one to force your positions on a group, and you tend to be fair in evaluating different options.
You are an independent thinker and don't get too worried about how others might perceive you—you are not self-conscious about being the active, engaged person that you are.

Wow, that's me...that's totally me, it's scary!
Thanks Lauren for the link!

The final results

Okay, before you all start freaking out...let me just say that this is NOT how my hair is going to look 90% of the time. It's just that I can't wash it right now. Here's what took place. I went to Rumours, my favorite salon here in town 'cause the stylists know there stuff, and talked with one of the girls. We must've spent 20 minutes talking about my options. Did I just want to give my hair some texture and a little bit more funkiness? How about learning techniques involving lots of styling products and time (which I don't have)? What about a body wave for some body and loose curls that I could blow straight? Doing this would allow me more styling options without too much fussiness. A body wave, I was told, would make it easier to achieve the "straight style" that I wanted 'cause I'd already have the body. On the days that I didn't feel like doing anything though, I wouldn't be stuck with a horrible cut. How could I lose? So, I sat down for my first perm in about oh, 13 years or so. Kinda scary but, I trusted Katy, my stylist. She promised that I wouldn't look like a french poodle!

So, here's the final result--not blown straight. Right now, it is a tad bit "wild" but it will calm down some once I can wash it and style it (Sunday night). Truth be told, I finally look like my girls, more like Cara than Caitlin, of course. Maybe now, I won't get the "Are they both really yours?" or "Are you the nanny?" comments. I know, I know, fake curls are supposedly are their way out but these are not curls, it's waves, honestly! This really isn't a good picture but I don't have any other way of taking a picture of myself at the moment. I promise to post more, after I can wash it! Have faith, it will look great!

This is what my hair would look like, blown straight (minus the tiara 'cause I don't have that kind of bling bling).

It's time to get bold and start caring about how I look again. I might even try a headband like Lauren suggested. Now, to get nominated for TLC's What Not to Wear...

Wanted: New Hairstyle

My hair is beginning to drive me nuts. I mean, seriously, who wants to look like the Flying Nun on a daily basis. Granted, I am not talented when it comes to styling products. The most that I can manage is a blow drier and maybe some gel-like stuff. Anyway, after spending 15 minutes attempting to "style" my hair, this is what I got...

Why do I even bother, really? So, I'm in the market for a new look. Here are some styles that I'm thinking about, let me know which one you think would look best. I am willing to get some body in my hair via curls, etc. I'm getting kind of sick of my pin straight, limp hair.

1. Not quite that short, probably done over my ears.


2. Not too much of a stretch from what I have but I imagine I'll need some body in order for it too look like this.


3. This is pretty close to my "normal" style, but again, this chick has a lot more body to her hair. I would have mine come down over my ears.


4. Totally curly. Probably not as "poofy" on the top and longer on the sides.


5. None of these

What do you guys think?

What's been going down...

This is going to be pretty hard for me to blog about, but those of you that know me know that I am an open book and will share just about anything with anyone. So, here goes...if I ramble on, please forgive me!
So--most of you know that my husband and I are separated and were trying to decide how to proceed from there. Well, last weekend (that's another post in and of itself) solidified our decision to go full force and get divorced. This has been hard for me to swallow because I wasn't ready to totally give up and now, I am feeling a loss of the man that was my husband, even if we do end up being good friends (which is what I hope & pray for)after all is said and done. Originally, we were going to attempt to handle things ourselves, saving lots of money, by proceeding pro se. Well, I'm not exactly sure what changed this, but, I think that right now, we are both working to obtain counsel. I am hoping to be accepted as a pro bono case (shouldn't be too hard considering that I have no income)within the next month thru a legal aid program in my county. In the meantime, I am attempting to make heads or tails out of the mounds of paperwork necessary to file. I am beginning to see why lots of people go to the expense of hiring an attorney. I am finding myself asking "What do I put here?" or "What does THAT mean?" That being said, I am hoping that I can find someone to at least help me complete all of the paperwork and perhaps, too, represent my interests and those of the girls at the hearing. Like I was saying earlier, this hasn't been easy for me to accept. Never in a million years would I have looked into a crystal ball 6 years ago and saw this for my future. I thought that I would be one of those blistfully happy people living the good old American Dream. I am reading a wonderful book given to me by my counselor about how to survive the lost of a love. No, it doesn't deal with death or anything morbid like that but rather that it's okay to feel the way that I do and that I'm going to be okay, at the same time. I have learned that I don't always have to be strong, that I can show that I'm hurt, upset, anger, scared, etc.
Okay, that's the first half of what's happened lately. Here is the second part...
With the separation came the crumbling of my financial situation as I have been struggling for months (some harder than others) to find a job that will support myself and my daughters. Try as I might to make creditors understand my situation and cut me some slack, some have been better about it than others. One in particular has gone to a total extreme. **let this be a lesson to everyone to ALWAYS read the small print** One creditor, who will reman nameless, has decided that since I cannot pay them and they don't have a kind or sincere bone in their collective body, that they will take me to court to file a judgement against me regarding my past due account. It wasn't totally out of the blue because said creditor had been calling for weeks offering me payment plans and such but, honestly, I did not expect the phone call that came on Thursday. It was from the legal office that represents the creditor to inform me that a claim had been filed against me and that I had until the 23rd of this month to pay $1500 plus commit to a monthly payment or else. Basically, if I didn't pay them ASAP, they would give my case to the legal team (lawyers) to proceed with getting a court order for me to pay them. Words like "wage garnishment, severe penalties, covering their lawyer fees" were spilling out of this guy's mouth. This of course freaked me out. I don't have that kind of money, frankly, who does? I'm not proud of the thoughts that were going through my mind that led to an emergency counseling session to help me sort everything out. My counselor is a wonderful, patient woman who listened to me, allowed me to cry and then, got on the phone to get me some help. I have since learned what could happen if a judgment is issued against me (not as worse as I feared) and also that, I am going to be okay! Bad things happen to good people sometimes, but I firmly believe that this is happening for a reason and that I'm going to come out of everything better for it.
I guess that wraps up probably the longest post you've ever read. Thanks for reading!