Barf this is cheesey! Anyway, I love Jake so much. I snagged him from at least 4 girls who were in love with him and without even blinking. *rubbing hands together evil-ly* he was definitely the one doing the courting, so I guess I got lucky. Yay for 5 years of knowing my soul-mate!

ps maid of honor, woohooo! I'm so excited.

Labels: jake, my love for jake

all pics courtesy of my jake

sifting through raggedy old coats. i am cool with the overpriced vintage clothes on ebay/etsy, because it is a huge adventure to find something pretty and in good condition.

in the basement vault, there are a bunch of local food vendors. we had gourmet grilled cheese sandwiches and soup. i love sandwiches and soup.

i only bought a gift for a friend, but my favorite thing about fleas are just browsing the old stuff. i love to see things that i had growing up. jake and i showed each other rotary phones, pencil sharpeners, chairs, lunchboxes, clothes and dishes the we had in our childhood homes. it's fun to remember.

then we went to the ballet. are you curious why i still don't do my hair even when i'm doing something fancy? it's because i only like doing other people's hair. like my client who plays the flute for the NYC ballet. he got us amazing tickets to sleeping beauty. we were front row so i got to see down in the orchestra pit. it was fun to watch him wail on the flute during his solos. pretty talented...

the lincoln center theaters are so beautiful. i love my birthday date.

sleeping beauty was so great! it was pretty cool being so close that we could hear their point shoes shuffling about the stage. during the performance i realized that i weigh more than everyone on the stage. combined. haha.

Labels: ballet, birthdays, flea, jake, jake's love for me

i'm icing my swolen hand right now. because hot temper and clumsy do not mix. also, because i guess im a little daintier than i thought i was. i'm not sure how detailed this post will be because of my hurty hand. probably still pretty detailed, because i over achieve a lot.

anyway, we are back from brazil! yay! i loved it there. really, i loved it.

ok, i'm really trying to think of a way to organize this information, but it's not coming to me. so this might be a ramble. hhmmm, i guess i'll just start out with the first few days, which were spent in copacabana.

copacabana lived up to it's reputation, which is a good and bad thing, i guess. the good is that it boasts one of the most beautiful beaches in the world. the bad is that it is known for it's crappy restaurants and poor service. i say skip copacabana altogether and stay in ipanema if you are going to rio. too many people told me that, and i wish i'd listened. it worked out though because the hotel and staff was wonderful, and we had a great stay for those few days. i was glad in the end that we were dividing up our trip between three places.

random things about rio (my point of view)

~let me see that thong. seriously, i felt uncomfortable because i was NOT wearing a thong swimsuit. every woman wears them on the beach. cellulite, muffin top and saddle bags unite in rio, and dont forget your tho-tho-tho-tho-thong.

~compared to the U.S. 90% of rio seems to be a very healthy size. i didn't see as many rail thin people there as i see every day in NY, but on the contrary, the only people i saw who were obese, were from the states as well....and from my eaves-dropping skills i found they were from my home state of tennessee. all day and all night there are people out jogging, roller blading, biking and skate boarding. it seems to be for health/fun and not to be skinny. again, everone looked healthy, meaning athletic and many with a booty. i am always interested in the health and fitness of people around the world.

~think of the craziest driver you have ever seen in your life. for you new yorkers, that is probably a cab driver...well NY craziest driver equals the way the elderly drive in Rio. DO NOT for a second think about crossing the street unless the light allows you to. or i swear to you, you will die. jake was almost killed by an eighty year old going mach 50.

~you have to hale a bus! or they wont stop! and they have bus workers that hale them for you! we took a few buses and spent the majority of the ride on two wheels. please refer to my previous squiggle.

~at first i thought there was this miracle brazilian breed of dogs that dont poop, but would you believe it? EVERYONE cleans up after their pups. everyone. many of them just quickly sneak a news paper underneath their bums when they start to doody, and then an easy toss. this year for christmas, i want all my neighbors to read this. and to obey it.
~most of the tourists seemed to be brazilians. i have never been the quiet one, but rio shut me up. i had to resort to weird public dancing and singing made-up songs about Pao De Queijo/Suco De Maracuja just to get some attention. otherwise i was the shy, frightened tourist who didn't understand anyone. which, to me, is a fate worse than death. do we all agree that drawing the wrong kind of attention is better than no attention at all? ok, phewww.

Labels: brazil, jake, vacation

Labels: clients, hair, jake

He told this story yesterday, so here are the pictures of our super hero-selves shooting ice out of our feet. I really love how the drawings turned out. I wouldn't mind if my hair really looked like that. I am very thankful, however, that my mouth is in the center of my face.

Labels: jake, shooting ice out of my feet, super heroes

Because we are good at wearing sunglasses while driving and looking serious.

.While on the way to see our Pippy.

2009 2008

Labels: bebe, jake, piper jane, sunglasses

I couldn't post these pictures with the ones taken from our camera because the difference in quality is just too great. Katie and Cameron came to see Piper on Saturday with us. They whipped out their camera for a little photo sesh and voila! Not that it's any of my business, but these two will be great parents some day. Cameron is so doting and Katie is as gentle as they come. They laughed and listened to us tell about Pippy's many quirks and habits. Instead of getting awkward when Piper reached right for my jugular with her sharp claws, Cameron snapped a phote!

Sorry about how many there are, I love them all!!

We are a happy Fam-i-ly
*even when we are thrown up on* This looks like Piper is trying to share her frogs with Katie, but dont let her sweetness fool you, it is only for the picture. Trust me.
My little chupi loves to watch movies on this dvd player. She will pull it closer and closer until it is on top of her face. Sometimes that isn't close enough, that's when she puts her mouth on it.
Here is a bit of Piper's obsession with her bum. She is so curious of what goes on down there. I love this picture so much because you can't see her trach/tubes. She could almost be any little kid, except for the glowing toe and wire coming out of her sock....close enough. I'm allowed to dream.It only looks like I'm constantly dressing Piper in "off the shoulder" clothing. She can't help having the most narrow shoulders in the world.
Ummm, speaks for itself.Walking back from the village. Minor puking episode.
Don't let your kids see what goes on in the village, they might fake sick. It is toy central. Every toy you can imagine. (look behind us) P.S. Just when you think Katie couldn't get any cooler, she likes Gossip Girl...just like me. I love all of the pictures so much. They are about as acurate as you can get to Piper's true personality (except for the sharing).

Labels: Family, friends, jake, monkey frog, piper jane

I love jake so so so so much. I love being married to him. I love the last two years of marriage. And I love the next infinity years together.

For our anniversary, we decided that I would plan the day and Jake would plan the night. We started out the day with full body massages at Super Magic Fingers. I was really afraid of the name of this place. We weren't sure what they meant by "magic'' fingers, but thankfully there were no lasers or lightening bolts coming out of them. In fact, I was shocked that it was beautiful inside, peaceful, quiet, smelled wonderful and most importantly the massages were amazing. Here I am walking in. A bit nervous. After the massages we ate lunch at Shake Shack, which was a zoo, but worth it. Their 'Shroom burger is a vegetarian force to be reckoned with. We didn't take any pictures there because we didn't get seats and sat on a bench.

Then we went to Crumb Bakeshop for some anniversary cupcakes. I love this place.

I swear, the cupcakes are much larger in real life. I couldn't finish mine. That NEVER happens. Also, their green tea was the best I've had.
Jake got the brownie cupcake with hot chocolate to drink. Like a little kid. He is so cute.
Jake then told me that we were going home to pack because we would be staying at a hotel at rockefeller plaza. He took me ice skating, something I have wanted to do with him ever since we started dating 4 years ago. Seriously, it's been not so casually suggested by me over 50 times.

I'm a much better ice skater than I remember. I've decided not to go pro only because I'd rather be a rockette.

Here is Jake taking a breather. I think this picture is darling. Him, with his hands in his pocks, relaxing with his little skates on....

We then ate a delicious dinner at Fireside where we "kindled our senses". This place was delicious. Jake had chicken and I had butternut squash soup.

The whole day was blissful and romantisized.

*We are still at the hotel because Jake wont stop sleeping.

Labels: basically pigging out, cupcakes, Family, jake, my love for jake

So, we dropped Becca off and went straight to see our Pip. We didn't stay long because we were so tired from waking up early, plus can you believe what a weird work out snowboarding is? I'm so sore today! And Jake has a migraine so he stayed home from church to sleep it off and I stayed home to watch him creepily rubbing my hands together and breathing hard. Plus my knees and bum are black and blue.

Poor Piper's skin is so dry and cracking. She hates having lotion put on her face and when I try she makes herself throw up! I had to sneak it in anyway because her skin is so red and irritated. The whole manipulative vomiting is a little dramatic for my taste, if you don't mind cutting it out, Piper.

Cute lil Pippy

Labels: birdie, Family, friends, jake, piper jane, snowboarding

We drove up to Blythedale so we could dress Piper up like an elf and give her presents. She loved strangling her chicken dog chew toy like I knew she would. Once again, Piper was spoiled by us, her aunts uncles and grandmas AND random donors. It is so nice of people to donate lovelies to children in hospitals. Whoever you are, you are making people smile by your charity and love. We went to Atlanta so we could dress up like sharks at the aquarium. We had an amazing time (as you can see by the video of me and my sisters below). If you haven't been to the Atlanta aquarium, you simply must. It's the biggest in THE WORLD! There is a Whale Shark tank that is six and a half million gallons of water. That is a S***load. hahahaha

We stopped by Olympic park so I could pretend to be this guy....

We took an afterhours tour of CNN so we could pretend to be news anchors.....My brother-in-law is a writer for CNN. What a cool job right?

Isn't a news room exactly like you picture it?

For some reason, we only have pictures of ourselves. We spent a lot of family time, I promise. How else do you think we could choreograph that sweet dance in the video below and win the talent competition? Jake says he hasn't uploaded them yet, and I am just stealing these from whence he has uploaded. Wait til you see Kate and Meg, they killed me with cuteness.

Labels: atlanta, chicken, Family, holiday, jake, piper jane, playing dress up

Piper loves her dad so much that I couldn't even get a picture of her yesterday without her looking at him. Here are a few of her looking completely smitten.

This is something we have in common.

Labels: Family, jake, piper jane, piper loves her dad

Here we are! Volunteering our socks off! Wasn't it a beautiful day? we weren't able to see him....

Or her......
Or her.....
Or her.
I couldn't get enough of it. We were there all day and we still went home and watched the WHOLE thing on DVR. I already knew that Paula Radcliffe won, but I had to see if it was as close as last year. She finished 2 minutes faster than the second place runner. That is amazing. She lead the entire race. This woman is incredibly inspiring to me. She works so hard and endures mountains of pain to do what she does. She has run 10 marathons and won 8 of them. She holds 4 of the 5 fastest women's marathon in history. Not to mention many awards and other world records.

After watching the race, I realized that this is my thing. I love running, watching running and talking about it. Even though I do not perform at an elite level like these women, watching them made me want to be awesome. It was such a great experience to be there.

The (corny) end.

Labels: i have a crush, jake, marathon, running