slackin' off

so my last post was on monday? wow...i'm slackin' off, huh? well, it's been a busier week this week. tuesday taylor was home with me and we invited meredith and her new puppy to come play with kai (and us) for the day-it was fun. her (the puppy) ears are so big for her head that when she comes running, it's like a pair of ears with legs are after you!!! =) wednesday: tay and i had a play date with one of my teacher friends, lesli and her 2 kids. we went to their house in dallas to swim in their pool. after swimming we went to -where else but- mcdonald's for lunch. tay ate really well: all her chicken nuggets, a healthy dose of fries and even some of *my* sandwich! gotta keep those meaty thighs fed, you know?! =) today tay's at school...giving mommy a chance to "do her thing". already did some stuff for school (yes, i have my "oh it's so jonelle" to-do list for summer). been lazing around the first half of summer but now it's time to crank it in gear around the house. jonathan and i are almost done painting (yes julie, painting again) our bedroom. need to get taylor's bedroom in shape (bought really cool stuff for her room from ikea) and work on our front porch bed. it's getting so overgrown and weathered looking. there's weeds and dead plants in there, the mulch and soil's washed out...it's starting to look straight up ghetto. ok, random thought approaching: the a/c repair guy is in my upstairs hall area going up to the attic and i just noticed that he's wearing these cute slip on booties! how considerate!!! to prevent his shoes from soiling the carpet. oh, ok. on his way back down the attic ladder. his booties are off now...in his back pocket. let's see if he puts 'em back on...nope! jerk! uh-oh...he's exhaling in exasperation. better go see what's up. peace.

ipod obsessed

before jonathan bought me my ipod i wasn't overly fanatical about music. i mean, i liked music and was downloading songs here and there but nothing on the scale that i am currently at. it's like i can't help myself...it's so darn easy. just click on itunes and there you go...songs to search for, discover and relive...daily. *love* it. or, you could also have help from your younger brother like i did. =) stac and i swapped songs between our ipods. he was able to dump his playlist (like several hundred songs) onto my desktop and he loaded mine onto his ipod. still haven't been able to go through all of his songs, but i'm currently at 745 songs (and still downloading every couple days...hee, hee).

i'll have you know that my ipod selection is very ecclectic, like my music taste. it really depends on the mood i'm in. got myself some hip hop, rap, hawaiian, alternative, pop, oldies, soul, classical, reggae, rock, soundtracks, funk, opera, r&b and of course some kiddie ones for tay. oh, and i can't forget about my token country songs. yes, i have a few...can't live in texas and not have at least a few country songs! meredith will tell you though...i'm *very* picky about which country songs make it on my ipod (not much of a country fan, but some catch my ear).

my range becomes evident when i have my ipod on "shuffle songs". one minute i'm listening to some sap love song and then...enter hypnogaja, with their full on grunge rock song, "voodoo baby". one time i had my ipod on shuffle in my classroom after school and my principal walked in when dr. dre and snoop dogg was rapping about "the f*%kin' next episode". oops. {imagine me scrambling towards my ipod to forward it to the next song} and before you guys wonder-yes, my classroom door was closed and it wasn't blasting.

i don't go anywhere without my ipod. my motto has become: ipod. don't leave home without it. jonathan says i've become permanently attached to it. =) did i say i love my ipod? go out and get one and you'll see what i'm talking about. dangerously addictive. =)

*oh, and currently rockin' out to: love will keep us together by captain and tenille

totally bummed

yes, the dallas area is utterly disappointed with the way things played out last night. despite the guys' strong performance in the first half, the hope of a W began to slowly slip away as the game went on. blah...i feel like eeyore today.


*rockin' out to: chasing cars-snow patrol

confucius says...

"It does not matter how slowly you go so long as you do not stop."

ain't that the truth RUTH! took taylor outside on her bike for the first time on father's day. we did a lot of stop and go-the go mostly due to mommy's or daddy's pushing her feet on the pedals. still working on the pedaling concept, she is hooked on braking instead. =) i'm sure it's easier for her little feet to push downward instead of forward like jonathan and i were telling her to. she did manage to get it a few times, but nothing consistent to where she would be rolling along. time to "throw back" to my chinese ancestors to help me keep a patient mind..."in time, grasshopper". ; ) anybody got advice to help me teach her how to pedal? jonathan and i are open to anything...like *wide* open. =)

tv: my guilty pleasure

anybody ever see the show, what about brian on abc? love, love, *love* that show. totally cracks me up. music's awesome. got a grey's anatomy feel to it-you know, light and funny one minute and then serious another. it's not on the air right now because of summer, but i've been able to catch up by watching downloaded episodes. didn't think i'd like rosanna arquette, but i do. she plays a great character. totally diggin' matthew davis (from legally blonde and blue crush) as adam and the italian dude as rosanna arquette's *much younger* husband (cori, you need to check him out. remember...in san antonio?!?!). the best thing about that show is how all the characters are in different stages of their lives yet they all hang out. you get to see all the problems/situations they encounter and are either able to immediately identify with one of them or something reminds you of when you were in that stage in your life. cool. definitely creating a season pass on my tivo for that show to add to my las vegas, grey's anatomy, how i met your mother and er passes. uh-huh...tv junkie. with my work schedule during the school year I couldn't ever do it without tivo, that's for sure. sooo, what's your guilty pleasure?

wakin' up early tomorrow: going with meredith to pick up her puppy from the breeder in west texas. can't remember the town's name, but it's a 4 hour drive there. definitely bringing my ipod along. leaving at 4am so that we can get there and return before all the lovely dallas friday traffic starts. hope your friday's a good one!!!

the ham

*someone* became a little ham when we went to have our pictures taken on our birthday. it's funny...jonathan and i see so many personality traits in her behavior, some indicative of what she'll be like in college (in which we shudder). we're hoping she'll calm down a bit, but as of right now, taylor has "a streak" and shows signs of becoming *that* girl at a party. you know, the one who isn't afraid to let herself have fun in front of others, who might jump up on a table and start dancing. oh my, the free spirit.

HRH, Princess Taylor

*really* getting into the princess thing now that she's got even more props. ahh, the drama. {puts the back of my wrist to my forehead and throws my head back} we've got more tiaras to choose from than ever before, clip on earrings to wear and leave on to go to mcdonald's for lunch and she's even using the word "majesty" (ok, so she has absolutely no clue what that word means, but at least she knows it has something to do with her being royal!). my princess tay... {shaking head and smiling at her picture}

birthday and pooled out

Had a fantastic day yesterday! Tay's birthday party went well and everyone seemed to have a good time. One downer: the splash area of the pool was closed because of the drought we're having. It was a bummer, but the kids looked like they still had lots of fun in the kiddie pool with all the toys I brought to try to compensate for the main attraction being closed. Uncle Steve's water gun contribution was a big hit, thanks for bringing it! Guests snacked on cheese pizza, veggie sticks and watermelon and then it was "chocolate cake with dora on it" time. Taylor did a great job blowing out her candles! She opened presents after cake and got some really wonderful gifts. After everyone left, I threw myself in the pool with exasperation: it's hard work being the mommy at your 3 year old's birthday party!!! Got to hang out with Uncle Steve and cousins for another hour before cleaning up and taking everything home. Good times... =)

Sharing some pics from the big day:

Taylor had neighbor friends, school friends and family at her party.

Daddy getting Taylor with a water gun and havin' fun!!!

Aunty Meredith helping Mommy get the cake ready

Making a wish!


Uncle Steve, Aunty Suki, Naomi and Jonathan gave Taylor this big girl Dora bike that she just *had* to check out before it was time to open presents

dustbustered

looking through my latest posts, i guess it's radically different when i'm on vacation and when i'm in school or taking a class. this last week i've been taking a class in highland park and i have not posted once! busy, busy, busy. geez. today was the last day, so i'll get back on my vacation blog schedule. =) about to head over to the neighbors to watch sopranos. before we watch the finale, we agreed that we had to rewatch the scene from the previous episode we affectionately refer to as "when the guy gets dustbustered". yes, as in the hand held vacuum. i won't go into details, but for those of you not familiar with the show the sopranos, it's centered around a man who is the boss of the new jersey italian mob. the show does an amazing job of capturing mob-like behaviors and mannerisms. take the most fatal and brutal thing that they do, add a dustbuster in the mix and viola...the dude gets dustbustered. jason, cori, jonathan and i couldn't help but break out laughing because a man who's practically a senior citizen is the one doin' the dustbustin'. before you think we're all morbid for laughing as someone was getting "whacked"...that's not why we were laughing. not only was it an unexpected event, but it came from a character that doesn't really exert much energy when "doing a deed"...not to mention seeing all the dust that poofed up in the air as the vacuum collided with the dude's head-have to say, it was pretty funny...

ok. gotta get going. have the last of the party bags to put together and i'm off to the neighbors. big day tomorrow: tay's birthday party with 8 of her friends (and their parents) and our family at the splash park in our neighborhood. she's so excited!!!

happy birthday tay tay!

today is taylor's 3rd birthday. wow. can't believe she's a let you know what she thinks- remembering trival info like mine and jonathan's favorite colors-communicating/internalizing feelings-retaining people's names she just met-fully potty trained-package of THREE. i let her open one present after breakfast (above)...it was from uncle stacy and aunty jenny. perfect. she's *totally* into everything princess (it'll be a nice segway to the ballerina thing). aunty anna and uncle kona also got tay a ballerina inspired gift: a pink leotard and tutu with birthday confetti between the layers of tulle. cute!

after "lazing" around this morning (by my mental schedule, we have about 30 minutes left), we're going to get dressed and head out to have our annual birthday pictures taken, aunty meredith's taking us out to lunch (like she has since tay's been born-she's awesome about working in some "mommy-had-to-birth-you" appreciation on tay's birthday like that!) and we'll get our birthday cupcake and desserts-daddy's chocolate mousse and mommy's creme brulee-for tonight's little family celebration (tay's real bday party has always been a few days later on the weekend). tay's birthday party with friends will actually be next weekend at the neighborhood splash park...she's looking forward to it. keeps asking for chocolate birthday cake and purple presents. don't know where the purple present thing came from, but she's so eloquently articulated her desires, it's hard not to oblige! and, for those of you who know my daughter well, she's requested a dora theme AGAIN. when i proposed other cartoon characters or themes, she unwaveringly stated: "no mama, i like *dora*." =)