The Wild Things Are.: May 2009

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Thursday, May 21, 2009

What I am working on today...

Not much time to blog this week... Too busy! Here are a couple of images I was working on this afternoon...

One from a project for Autumn's school:

And one from this weekend's wedding:

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Jamie, your Mother's Day card was more perfect than you even realized! : ) Copied from a Messenger conversation I had with my Mom this morning:

Mom: I don't twitter, so tell me if you ever put anything on there I need to see. Do you have the same friends on there?
Kori: No, it's not really friends exactly, it's people following us. It's just a lot like Facebook, but with only status updates, and you make them every couple of hours.
Kori: I don't really like it, but everyone else is doing it, so we are too.
Mom: If they all jumped off a bridge, would you?
Mom: I'm supposed to say that, by the way. It's a mother's job.
Kori: If it meant booking more weddings, then odds are good. Besides, it kind of sounds like fun to jump off a bridge.
Kori: Is there a bungee cord involved? Or at least some deep water underneath?
Mom: Big rocks and no bungee cord. Just a big splat.
Kori: Who made up that rule?
Mom: Otherwise, it wouldn't make any sense in the saying.
Mom: "If all your friends went bungee jumping and had a great time, would you do it too?"
Mom: It's just not the same.
Kori: I think it makes great sense. We're all jumping off bridges, and having a blast. Way better than your version.
Mom: We must really be wanting to put off our work to have this conversation.
Kori: Hmmm...
Mom: I guess I could at least go and put some clothes in the dryer.
Kori: I guess I could go Photoshop some wedding pictures.
Kori: *sigh
Mom: *sigh
Kori: Well have fun with the laundry!
Mom: Thanks! And I'm sure you'll have a dandy time photoshopping.
Kori: Love you! Bye!
Mom: Love you too!

Thursday, May 14, 2009

Bathing Beauty

This Morning

It's just as I suspected.

I am officially the Queen of All Things Awesome, courtesy of being nominated by my lovely little sister, Jamie. : )

It appears that these are my duties as Queen:

List 7 things that make me Awe-Summm
Pass the award onto 7 bloggers that I love
Tag those bloggers to let them know they are now Queens too (and link back to the Queen who tagged you)

First up, the 7 Things that Make Me Awe-Summm (even though it is driving me bananas that Awesome is spelled all wonky)
1. I can name all 23 helping verbs. Thank you, Mrs. Murphy.
2. I can stand on my head.
3. My fried rice rivals Shogun's. Seriously. It's awesome. Man, I kind of want some right now!
4. I have an ongoing project involving random acts of strangeness that puzzles and amuses all who discover it. Also I know the words to an impressive array of obscure rap songs. I guess this is two things. Oh well.
5. I have the coolest family ever. I really do.
6. I have seen every single episode of Seinfeld. Twice. And I've been to the mythical apartment building where Jerry allegedly lived, plus I have eaten at their official diner. If only I could go on Kramer's reality tour...
7. My two goals in life are to become a surgeon and to win an Oscar. Winning an Oscar for playing a surgeon in a critically acclaimed film that grosses millions worldwide would be an acceptable satisfaction of both.

So there you go! 7 Things That Make Me Awesome. (I just couldn't stand to spell it that other way again!!!) Now onto my next task as Queen, to list my 7 sub-queens who are also Awesome. Here goes!

1. My mama, who doesn't have a blog, but is awesome nonetheless.
2. My lovely sister JamieGray, the one who suckered me into this queen business in the first place.
3. My cousin Lisa, who is awesome even though she deserted us and moved to Connecticut.
4. My incredible, selfless, beautiful friend Jennifer, who is an inspiration to all of those she comes into contact with.
5. My also-inspirational gym buddy and fellow power mommy/wedding warrior Brooke.
6. My still long-lost (as we have yet to actually schedule a lunch date, but should in the nearest possible future) friend Jessica, who is a wonderful wife, mommy and nurse with an incredibly positive attitude that makes me smile. She also has a new cute puppy!
7. My prego friend Kara, who puts up with me no matter how crazy I am, and who is willing to sing Karaoke or dance like a maniac at every opportunity. She also doesn't have a blog, but is way cool anyway!
8. I know there is not supposed to be a number 8, but just for good measure, I decided to throw in my dad. He can be the King of ALLL Things Awe-Summm!

Now, don't fret, my 7 Queenly friends. I know you are all busy, and I don't expect you to feel compelled to re-post this unless you just really want to, but know that I think you are the best nonetheless! Dad, on the other hand, shall be required to repost this, complete with his custom badge (see above) as soon as possible.

Please note: I have many other lovely ladies who I consider worthy of this honor, some of whom were listed on my sister's page, so I tried not to duplicate them, and others who did not happen to randomly pop into my head as I typed this, but who I think are amazing as well.

Maybe it would do us all good to think about 7 or so reasons why we're awesome, pat ourselves on the back, and then go about the rest of our day with a little extra smile with a fresh reminder that we can, in fact, name all 23 helping verbs.

Hope everyone has an Awesome day! : )

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Here Comes the Sun!

After the recent deluge of rain, we have finally had a few afternoons of sun, and we are making the most of every minute of it!

Attack of the Lawn Ninja

Snails

Autumn is truly her mother's daughter. The child is obsessed with all living creatures, especially the slimy ones. She is particularly fond of snails!

Norah loves her Daddy!

Brother + Sister

Monday, May 11, 2009

Reality Check!!!

I have always been a big believer that you don't have to get fat just because you have a baby. While this sounds great in theory, in practice, it can be a little difficult, especially once you're talking about having baby #2 (or3)! All was going well for a while. I had been doing pretty good with my gym time, and the weight was melting off quite nicely. Then it just stopped. I hit a plateau, as they say.

Well, I was actually kind of okay with this, because I realize that I'm not really fat or anything, and with all of the energy it takes to run a business, keep a house and chase after 3 kids, I just didn't have any left over to worry about losing 17 more pounds. Then I looked at the calendar and realized that it was May 7. Only 2 months till Jamie's wedding, and only 2 months until my goal to have lost all the baby fat!!!

There's that saying, "nine months on, nine months off." As in, it takes 9 months to put on the baby weight, so you it should take about 9 months to get rid of it! Well, Norah will be 9 months old in July, coincidentally the same month that Jamie is getting married on the beach! This made July a perfect goal for me, but if I am going to get there, it is time to get serious, people.

Part of that getting serious was having a reality check. I have always been very embarassed and secretive about how much I actually weigh. I think this goes back to when I was in early high school, to my friends Rachel and Melissa.

One day, they were weighing themselves in Rachel's bathroom, and they pestered me to weigh myself too. Well, they both got on and weighed somewhere in the vicinity of 112 pounds each. I knew how much I weighed, and I REALLY did not want to play this game, but they bugged me and manhandled me until I finally relented and got on the scale. It said 136. They then proceeded to crack up hysterically and ponder aloud how on earth I could weigh so much. This moment stands out as my first ever real moment of shame about my weight. There would be many to follow.

Ever since then, I have avoided telling pretty much anyone how much I actually weighed. My sister knew the truth, but that was about it. I had taken great pains to see that Jason never even knew. Well, somehow, on May 7, I decided I had enough. I asked him to guess how much I weighed. He, realizing this to be a trick question under normal circumstances, refused to give me any kind of realistic answer. Then I told him it was 147, and felt very free all of a sudden. You might say a weight was lifted off me. ; )

Then I went to Wal-Mart, bought some posterboard, made a chart, and hung it up in the middle of the kitchen. It has my current weight on it, along with my goal weight and date, and spots for me to fill in my progress along the way:

I also decided to take a cue from the inspiring blog of my long-lost friend Jessica and post my stats and goals over to the right of my blog. I have decided to follow her lead and go public with my plan. I am hoping this will help me get serious about losing the rest of this baby weight! I want my old clothes to fit again so bad, and I want to feel good about myself again. Not just okay (I feel okay now), but good. Really good. Great, even. I miss the feeling of my thighs not touching!

A few comments, particularly directed at my mother, who is convinced that I am starving myself any time I lose half a pound (only kidding, love you Mom!)

1. Yes, I am still breastfeeding, and I am aware that I need to take in plenty of healthy calories to make good milk for Norah.
2. I will be aiming to eat about 2000 calories a day.
3. I will be working out 3-4 times per week.
4. I know it is shallow to want my thighs not to touch, but I will only be in my 20's once, and I figure I might as well enjoy it while I'm here!

Now if I can just manage to get somewhere close to an "After" by July 7, we'll be in business! Wish me luck...

By Request: Brad Pitt

Okay, now this is just not fair.

And just for good measure... here's Angie too!

I love how normal humans all look like aliens when you do this to their faces, but Brad and Angelina? They just get hotter. Go figure!

Thursday, May 7, 2009

Why did Jason and I watch almost this WHOLE thing before realizing it was awful and simultaneously bursting into laughter?

Hey! Feel like wasting time? Want to watch a YouTube video that sounds like it might be interesting, but turns out to be incredibly long and boring? Then click HERE! : )