May
18
My mother, the best mommy there ever was, gave me two amazing gifts for passing the Bar Exam. The first was a brand new DSLR camera, and an even better one than the one I was planning to buy for myself someday. I am now the very proud owner of a Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi. And so far, I loooove it! Thank you so much Mommy! I love you!
The second gift was a date night for Josh and I. We have been so broke that we haven’t had a night out without Eleanor in nine months. So, my mom gave us some cash and stayed with Eleanor for the evening on Saturday night.
It was strange at first to leave the house together without Eleanor, but really nice not to have to worry about bringing a stocked diaper bag, snacks in my purse, and toys to distract her. And it was very nice to go out to a movie. We haven’t been to a movie since the aforementioned date nine months ago. We saw Star Trek and loved it. It was soooo much fun! I highly recommend it. We filled ourselves with candy, a six dollar small popcorn, and a bucket-sized soda!
After the movie we went to dinner at an Italian restaurant next to the theater. We sat outside because the weather was so nice. Here are some pictures via my shiny new camera.
The camera is so nice with so many fantastic megapixels that I suddenly noticed that I have wrinkles. And at the ripe old age of 27. I blame Eleanor for the smile lines and the Bar Exam for the furrowed brow lines.
After dinner we headed over to Menchie’s (where else) for dessert.
The parking lot had pretty lights strung up that we never noticed before because we’ve only been in the daylight.
Did I mention that I love my new camera?!
May
07
I realize that it’s been awhile since I let everyone in on the world of Eleanor. So I thought I’d let you know what she was up to by showing you a few of her favorite things.
Apples: She’s crazy about apples. She’ll eat a whole apple at snack time and then ask for more.
Noodles: She loves any and all noodles, with pretty much any sauce. I think her favorite noodle is penne. She calls them noo-doos.
Menchie’s: She doesn’t specifically ask for it but when we are there, she is in love with her mango sorbet and throws a little fit when we tell her she’s all done and it’s time to go.
Elmo: I can’t possibly describe how much she loves Elmo. She is completely obsessed. We have two Elmo books and she makes me read them to her all day long. And she wants to watch Sesame Street all day. I let her watch it at her lunch time, but she asks for it the rest of the day. She points to the screen and says “Melmo,” “Melmo.” She also has a newfound love for Abby Cadabby. Those of you without children might not know who she is. She’s a newer character on Sesame street, a very cute pink and purple fairy. Eleanor also asks for Abby and prounounces it perfectly. When I bought her the Elmo doll at Target she saw an Abby in the bin and demanded to have Abby also. I tried to make her pick one, but she wouldn’t let go of either so we took both home.
Curious George: Her love for George at least equals her love for Elmo. I let her watch an episode while she eats breakfast and sometimes one while I make dinner. It is just about the only thing that can cause her to sit still for more than a minute at a time. She also repeatedly asks for George throughout the day and lately has been asking for her George doll to sleep with her at nap time.
Sand: Aaah sand, of course the sand. Too bad I can’t handle the eating it anymore. We’re taking a hiatus from our trips to the park, hopefully she’ll get over the impulse soon.
Bath Time: Her favorite time of the day. When she hears the bath running she gets super excited and tries to jump in with her clothes on. She whines when we take her to her room to get undressed. When she’s in she likes practicing her swimming moves that she doesn’t want to do in the pool. She also loves to eat her bath crayons, play with her bath frog that ribbits, and name her bath letters (she knows the names of a few, but I don’t think she really recognizes them).
Apr
24
A new Menchie’s opened just down the street from us last weekend. You know how much we love Menchie’s, so we were pretty excited about it and decided to check it out Sunday afternoon.
The place was packed. And, by the way, I don’t really think men should be allowed to wear shorts. It just looks wrong.
The yogurt bar has this beautiful green glass circle backsplash. I would love something like that in my future kitchen.
It was very hot out. Eleanor couldn’t wait to get some sweet Mango sorbet to cool her off.
Notice the crotch that sidled into my shot below. That crotch, well the guy attached to it, handed us coupons for free yogurt on our next visit for coming in opening weekend. Super sweet!
So as not to sabotage my diet we got the fat free yogurt and walked. I figured it would about even out in the calories ingested and burnt. The walk is only about three-quarters of a mile each way, not too bad, although it was way too hot for that on Sunday afternoon. We decided that from now on we will go after dinner.
Eleanor rode in her stroller on the way there, but insisted on walking back. She made it about halfway when we decided she was slowing us down too much with her stopping to inspect every piece of trash, flower, or grassy lawn.
