We got to Hawaii about 5pm ( here) but about Midnight our time yesterday and we were SO tired. We basically stopped and had dinner then came to the room and went to bed!
It was some much needed sleep. We had an interesting flight because Charo was on it! I had no idea who she was but Erik recognized her as being famous. Her husband and 24 ( or so) year old son were on the flight too and her son was sitting with us. She was hilarious and kept coming over and kissing him and checking on him, bringing him food etc. When we first boarded she came over and introduced him to Erik and I and told us basically to be friendly and don't let him be lonely, which was kind of hilar adn really embarrassed her son. He told me she just started working for United( the airline ) and that was why she knew everyone etc. I believed him! ha finally as we talked for a few hours he said she was an "entertainer" and I realized Erik was right, she was famous. I said " you told us she works for united" and he was all "I did ?" well I just lie about her all the time out of habit basically.
Anyway it was crazy and fun. He was SUPER nice.
It is very pretty here and the flowers are amazing! We are kind of missing the boy but trying not to think of it too much. I got a video of him yesterday eating dinner with my bro , and Dave got him to eat corn on the cob! Super impressive. Maybe he will have good eating habits when we pick him up after all!
It is only like 9am here ( we have been up since 5) so all we have done is check out the beach and go grocery shopping! I will post some pics later today perhaps!
Aloha!

This post is a little different from our normal tutorials but if you don't need it now, you are likely to need it one day. I am in the process of navigating a hard drive crash and stupidly, I had not backed up since January!
BUT I had been regularly synching my iPhone and iPad and they acted as data back up for me.
If you have things on your phones or ipads that you want to transfer to your computers OR you just wanted to back up all the data on your phone or iPad you can do that with software.

The one I use is called PHONEVIEW. It only works with macs and is $20. I have used it countless times over the years.

I'd you have a windows computer the you can try TOUCHCOPY.

I am sure you guys probably go to the Zoo often with your kids, but we have been a total of 3 times so far, and today was  one of those times! We joined Cory & Walkybear for a day of sweating and pulling a wagon  up and down hills while buying $7 ice cream  animal sightings and enrichment.

It became apparent how unprepared I was, and next time I will DEF. do better. Read on for my tips if you are into that sort of thing! I am blogging this so I will remember next time!


First off, Stroller or Wagon? Probably depends on the kid, but since we had 2 kids we thought the wagon was a good option. This wagon in particular is  the bomb! It has a collapsible shade canopy, it folds flat for your trunk, and has a cargo area for purse/diaper bag. Everybody and their momma asked us about this Wagon when we were there! Shout out to @juliebray for recommending it to me.


After checking on Amazon for a link, it appears that my wagon is actually a "Garden Wagon" which is about half the price and folds better than the one advertised for kids. Just search "fold wagon" on amazon and check it out for yourself. We have this one.

Anywho.....

1. Mistake #1- Bringing a purse. There are many times when you have to park your ride and go elsewhere , but who wants to leave their stuff unattended? Next time I will bring a BACKPACK ( i feel like after watching Dora 47 times a day that word should be capitalized)
2.  Mistake #2 - Bringing a big camera. I brought my fancy camera cause I just knew that the zoo was gonna be a great photo op! Not so much.... Mostly I just worried about it getting stolen and took pics and video with the iphone because that was easier. Next zoo trip I will be leaving that bad boy at home.
3. Mistake #3 - Buying Zoo food and drink. No one checked my bag for snacks so I guess it's legal to bring your own. Certainly cheaper! Next time I will bring all my own snacks and drinks, for myself as well as the boy.
4. Mistake #4 - Tennis Shoes.. although I was comfortable, I could not get them on and off easily for the playground for kids that required you to be shoe-less. 
5. Mistake #5 - I only brought a $20 bill. I didn't know what I would need but the token machine for the train ride would not break a 20 so there was no train ride for our boys and I think they would have really loved that!

This joker right here had Obvi had about as much as he could stand,..... of the kids & the heat.. and I totally understood!

So.. I mentioned earlier about the groupon and stylist. I have had lots of events lately that  I do not have the clothes for because I so rarely need cute outfits , and honestly spent more time buying clothes in size 2 or 3T and toys for the past year that my closet has suffered. All of the work stuff has inspired me to get more serious about my overall "look" .. so I snatched up the groupon for $50 for  a 2 hour closet audit with the stylist and then she picks out outfits with shoes and jewelry and make syou several cute looks and takes pics and gives you a "look book" of outfits in what you already own. I hate trying on clothes so that was some work but I learned a lot!

• start with a good foundation ( underwear).  I finally resolved to get fitted for bras this year which I have never done in my life, and in addition got a good strapless bra that can be configured to different style shirts, and some shapewear. I can not believe I am buying/wearing shapewear, but overall your look is much sleeker and it helps push down my gut. She actually told me I should be wearing a cami under everything.
• She gave some nice honest feedback and told me what didn't look good on me and why, which clothes I should pitch and which ones I should keep. 
• She pointed out some basic things my wardrobe is missing,for instance some pewter or silver sandals. (Anybody know of a cute pair?)
• She suggested belting some things which I never would have thought of or would normally do
• and she made a pile of things that need altering and is putting me in touch with a person who does great alterations. 

 My fav outfit:
 and this is a cotton one piece that I loved because it is comfy with pockets but I did not feel like it was flattering and she suggested belting it and gave me a couple of jewelry options to help with that.

Obvi the blog has been falling behind lately.. and that is OK. I have had a lot on my plate and had to choose where to put my time and attention and I am also trying to transition from blogging just because or blogging because I want to.. so 
Here is what has been going on over here lately:

• Pred's games! It is play off time for the predators hockey team and we have been going to lots of games!
• redecorating our living room. I painted and sold most of our old stuff on Craigslist and am waiting on some new furniture to come in. I also sewed some new curtains. Once it is all done I will post some pics!
• Cooking! Trying to cook more often and more healthy meals. Y'all know I have food hoodoo and thanks to @paulburns watched the food documentary " Forks before Knives" .. excellent and highly educational. It is sad really how uneducated the American population is on our food and how it relates to health. 
• Computer issues. My computer started freezing between every action, right around the same time I switched internet providers. Really regret changing from AT&T to Comcast. Grrrr
• Working.My.Butt.Off. I finally tackled my fear of public speaking to be on a panel of mom inventors for the Brentwood Chamber of Commerce last week. 
• Still working on the ikid ipad case development. Developing any product from scratch is HARD. The design take s awhile , then finding a manufacturer, then trying to make prototypes. Right now we are trying different compositions of foam to find just the right one. 
• Working with a graphics expert to design the packaging for the ilatch. packaging in the retail world is a big deal so I have been working VERY hard to get just the right look. That means professional pics of the new design UPC codes, etc. 
• Filming the ilatch demo video with a professional videographer. Y'all! Acting ain't for me! No matter how passionate I feel about my products, having to remember lines, while having good posture and trying to remember to smile while I talk and stuff over and over again is hard work. Literally sweating when I do those segments! 
• running. I am still doing the couch to 5K thing the other day, and recently someone asked me what race I was training for... and I was taken aback! I am not training for any race, just trying to get more healthy and fit. Tricky business since running makes me eat more than I ever have in my life! Also kind of disheartening when I look down after 2 miles and its says i have only burned 280 calories.. for REALZ? That is like 1 drink or 1 cadburry egg! yikes.
• Sinus infection. Oh how I miss perfume. I battled a sinus infection for about 2 weeks and I think it is finally over. Trying not to take antibiotics for every thing that comes up, but it was not easy.
• I bought a groupon for a stylist to come over and do a closet audit. That deserves its own post and will get one!
• Preparing for our big trip in 2 weeks! Erik and I are going to Hawaii. I call it my swan song because we want to have another baby soon and leaving 2 kids behind is gonna be a lot harder than leaving 1 so we wanted to take one great trip together, just us before we try for a new little griza. 
• socializing! We have Jgro's baby shower this weekend! It will be Derby themed since its derby weekend! My birthday was last week , so we had some outings for that. sean & mary over for dinner one night. CoCo came to visit for a few days.. etc.
• Concerts! Death Cab in Louisville 2 weeks ago, Counting Crows Saturday Night!
• Buying gifts for various birthdays, weddings and babies. I am WAY behind on this and it has been driving me crazy so I finally sat down, googled registries and have been working on that stuff!
• 
  

Weight : 35lbs ( or more)
Height: 36 inches
Shoes: Size 9
Clothes : 3T-4T

My boy turned 21 months yesterday! Wowsa these past few months have been flying by!

This month has been full of new discoveries that make me very happy! Still not tons of talking, but he can communicate very well with his shrieks and squeals.
New things:
- He has learned how to use a spoon. PRAISE JESUS. This is such a big deal to me because it means he can feed himself the yogurt that he requests 18 times a day. One day I just handed him a bowl and a spoon and said " Get after it buddy, mommy is cooking" and ... he did just that. Now he only wants to feed himself. Its super messy, but I still let him roll with it. Today we had a lunch date for Japanese, and he fed himself Miso soup. He was super proud, and ended up wearing about it half of it.

- He has learned to give kisses and high fives upon command. His daddy is a very good teacher and taught him those tricks and he loves to perform them.

- He enjoys "helping" and mimicking these days. He wants to throw trash away, help me wipe down whatever I am cleaning, take laundry to the laundry room etc. Today I was taking apart the vacuum to empty it and he totally put all the pieces back in place. Not tight enough but he knew where they went which I thought was impressive.

- he has started napping anywhere from 2-3 hours a day at 1pm. I LOVE this phase!!

Basically, even though he is not talking a ton it is very clear that he knows what is going on, and understands what we say. All you mommas with babies who have been talking since 9 mos might take that for granted ! Dang it is good to know what is going on in that head of his. Still can't wait for him to talk more.

He plays SO hard these days. He wants to be outside most of the time, where he plays in the sandbox, draws with chalk, digs in the dirt, chases the dogs and occasionally in the water hose. I bought a water table today and he has really enjoyed that. Trouble with all this outside time is that he is a maniac when I am trying to put his sunscreen on and he refuses to wear a hat. We had a battle about it today where he ripped it off, and i put in on over and over again, and then i would just hold it on his head while he SCREAMED to the top of his lungs. Fun stuff. He is so pale though that it wrecks me , him wanting to be outside all the time b.c. i never have a clear picture of how well I applied that sunscreen.

Food. hmm still a joke here. I would say that 70% of his intake consists of yogurt. He screeches for it so I just mix in pureed veggies or fruit so that I know he is getting what he needs. He enjoys ritz crackers quite a bit, and recently requested some garlic that i roasted for bread, which I let him try and he LOVED?? so he ate some straight up roasted garlic for a snack one day.

He is so in love with Ralphie these days. They do everything together and he also has a recent obsession with wrestling... poor Ralphie. I keep catching him trying to sit on him, bite him, tackle him etc. Ralph is a good sport. To make it up to the poor pup, Peebs sneaks him food.

Diapers are a real issue. I need a size 6 to fit his waist, but the crotch is so long and still sometimes they are coming undone. Thinking of trying some pull ups to see if this helps. I really miss cloth diapers. Disposables smell so bad and that garbage bag from his pail weights 800lbs!

Discipline/ Tantrums:
These are better than they used to be. Recently his daddy was off for a few days and it became very clear that he saves a lot of his drama for his momma. He never whines and carries on so much for Erik. He still goes to time out if he gets too off course and if that does not work, he takes some alone time in his crib till he calms down.

Over all he is in a fun place, and makes me laugh ALOT these days. I am so thankful for the longer naps and glimpses of independance because that makes me less worried about getting pregnant ( trying this summer) if he will be able to do some things for himself.

It is hard to believe that I am even typing this post, ME the girl who took band in high school to avoid PE. The girl who swore that running is only necessary if someone had snatched my purse....
But alas, here I sit, 4 days away from my 33rd birthday telling y'all about how I keep having to grow up. 
What started as a fitness train before our big trip to Hawaii has become a HABIT. A habit that makes me feel good about myself, makes me believe in myself ( because if I can do THIS , I can do anything) ... check back tomorrow and see if that is true after my speech.... but seriously.. it has oddly empowered me and I am kind of in to it. It was a chore in the beginning... and now it is something that most days I look forward to.
Once I started running more frequently and I was so proud of myself, I thought DANG that feels good.. to accomplish something I did not want to or did not think I could do.  Then I started doing some other stuff I don't like to do, or kept putting off.. and I have been a machine of productiveness!
 So anyway, back to the running, I thought I would talk about a few things that have helped me because I have had lots of tweets about what apps I am using etc.


Iphone Apps:




  Map My Run - I use this simply to keep up with my route and time and pace etc. It has an option for voice over to give you prompts as well.
RunKeeper - I like how this maps my runs and keeps a running list of the dates, times and milage for me.
Get Running is my Couch to 5K app. I am not so worried about running a 5K etc as I just enjoyed having a coach. There is a woman who will speak every now and then and tell you to run or to walk and how much time you have left etc so that you can go from walking to running and from running just a minute or 2 to running lots of minutes. This app has been a great discovery for me as I realize now that working out is not what I hate, I hate not knowing what to do, and having a coach on my iPhone is awesome!




I also just realized that the Nike+ Gps app is meant to replace the Nike Sensor but records data  the same way so I downloaded it but have yet to use it.


Next Up.. PLAYLIST! I do not know how peeps run without music!
Here it Goes Again - OK GO
Bombs Over Bagdad - OutKast
Party Rock Anthem - LMFAO
Run This Town - Jay-Z
Stronger - Kanye West
Who Knew - Eminem
Down - 311
Crank That - Soulja Boy 


and because running makes me SOOOO hungry, like all day I can't eat enough to stay full.. which really kills the get in shape part of this, SO I have been researching foods that stay with you and this recipe is Runner's Fuel, full of protein and fiber for slow digestion!


Still working on the work out wardrobe. Do you guys have suggestions of cool apps, outfits that you like, playlists, etc? Please leave comments and let me know! I am a newbie! Thanks!

This week's tip is pretty dang simple... but there are some real newbies out there so I am trying to cover all range of tips from Beginners to Advanced iPhone fanatics...






There are lots of times when I need to take a picture of the actual screen on my iPhone.. sometimes it is to show my wallpaper or sometimes to show a text message or email.. whatever it is, you can take a picture of that and add it to your camera roll by doing this :


Press the power button ( sleep/wake button) and the home button at the same time! It's a great trick! Enjoy!

 I don't think I ever did an official announcement, but I did not make it past round 1 in the Wal-mart competition. Thank you all so much for voting for me! I really appreciate it.  
Now if you could be so kind as to PRAY for me on Thursday. I am speaking at a Women's Business Lunch thingy and will be on a panel of mom inventors for questions and WOWSA do I have stage fright. 
So most of my free time this week will be spent preparing for that! Yikers! 

 Just some quick bullet points for a Friday, because I am sort of behind in the game of life and need to spend all my time on my work stuff today.

• Courtney H ( CoCo) is on town and we spent all day yesterday running errands and shopping about. I also got my 1st Gel manicure. I will let you guys know what I think after a few days or weeks. I am kind of nervous about the idea of committing to return to the salon to have the polish removed.
• I think my boy has allergies, as his nose runs like a faucet when we go outside and he might even cough some. BUT the 3 of us all have cold/allergy symptoms right now so maybe we have a cold? either way BLHEK
• I was planning a cook out this weekend at my house, and have always been kind of " the more the merrier" type but little did I know that my friends and cubs had something planned for my birthday that night and the more I planned, the more they STRESSED, so they finally came clean and told me to STOP inviting people for them to have to turn around and un-invite LOL. With @coryholder at the planning helm , I am very excited. That girl does not know how to do things 2nd rate. This takes place Saturday so stay tuned.
• I keep forgetting to tell you guys that I did NOT win the competition for Wal-Mart Shelf space.sadz. BUT i have to say it was a good experience and got me lots of exposure ( 3 TV spots). Thank you all so much for voting and I am sorry for drowning you all in business related tweets etc for so many weeks.
• I am still running! I can not even believe that I am saying that. Truth be told, I think Bubs kind of tricked me by buying those expensive running shoes when we were in Mobile. After that I was basically committed and could not get out of it. I am pretty proud of myself though. Still doing the couch to 5K app. I can tell you that running makes me hungry like a WILD BEAST. 
• Also I think I have mildly touched on the fact that I am redecorating our Living Room. I will do a big reveal on that when it is all done (read:months later). Gotta wait for furniture to come in etc but some stuff has been trickling in and I am uber excited about the new coffee table ( those baskets have been replaced since taking this picture. They were from our old table).

Bubs and I took off for a quick 24 hour getaway to Louisville this weekend. I love Louisville and concerts at The Palace because it is a beautiful Venue. We stayed at an awesome hotel called The Seelbach and it was a block from all the action and the concert. 
We ate at this neat place ( below) called The Pub and it was the first time I have ever tried Cider Beer. Our waitress kept trying to talk me into it and brought samples, but I opted against it as it tasted just like apple juice and that could be dangerous.






I have never been front row to anything, and BOY was it awesome. I love Death Cab so much so being front row for them in particular was the Bees Knees. They had an orchestra and it was really pretty. I thought it was interesting that all of its members were completely black outfits.. not to detract from their music I guess... 
After the show, we ate at another pub called Ri Ras and had some amazing calamari & mussels.


Big shout out to my SIL Julie and her BF Rico who kept peebs for us while we were away. An overnight babysitting gig is a big deal and we sure did appreciate it! He enjoyed his time with them and did not seem to miss us. She sent lots of pics and video and he seemed to just go about his normal life, which made me proud! 

Sometimes, especially with kids, photo opps just come quickly and unexpectedly. This is the perfect time to use this feature.




For Weeks I have been trying to just press the camera to open the app, with no luck. Finally, I resorted to (gasp) reading the instructions. 
Turns out, you need to swipe the little camera icon UPWARDS to open the app!
Give it a try!

I hosted our Easter brunch this year which I hope to make a tradition. I NEVER have any professional or grown up gatherings over here. Generally I say "Come Over! If you are hungry bring food too!" ha I am just not much of a cook, and I hate being isolated in the kitchen working when it's social hour. 
But for this, I do want it to be yearly and awesome so I planned all week. Menu, Sticky notes on which dish got what etc. It was a great time to use my wedding dishes. When I got married I had no idea what I would do with all that fancy stuff, and funny how much I love it and use it now. I also, never register for any crystal when we got married for the same reason, and regret that now. I have been shopping around for crystal tea glasses and bought these from Macy's recently in a set of 8 for $35.




I actually cooked which was major! but it went well! I tried that grits and greens casserole from My Chiquaqua Bites blog and it was amazing!
Erik freshly juiced oranges for Mimoasa and I printed some Easter Water bottle labels from pinterest.
Family Easter Shot. For some reason this outfit looked so much better in my head than it looked on my body! High wasted stuff is just not for me I think, and I was so busy that morning that I forgot to put on my contrasting coral jewelry!
Bro (my BIL), Shauna and Chloe
Easter Egg Hunt time! Chloe and Nicholas enjoyed it and Peebs could have cared less.

We had some friends from Tampa in  town that weekend and we all had a great time. Their little boy Nicholas is about 6 months older than Peebs and was so sweet and well mannered.
All in all it was a great weekend!

It has been a while since I did an app review so lets have one! 


I downloaded Magic Sorter a few weeks or months ago when it was FREE for the day and I read about it online somewhere. My boy has loved shaped sorting for a while now. 
I showed him this app 2 days ago, not thinking he would be able to navigate the iPad but would know the shapes and he really shocked me. He was VERY interested in it and learned super quickly how to move those shapes around. 
I was also pretty surprised and impressed with his patience and dedication when he would guess right but his shape would slide away. He just sat there going back to it over and over till it worked. 
He also somehow realized how to restart the game once he was done. He would skip the celebration song of completing the board and go straight to playing. 




Anyway, official review would be like this:


This app is :
Educational
great graphics
great sound effects
several choices 
good for teaching patience and perseverance


The app itself looks kind of boring so don't let the app cover art fool you, its really fantastic! $1.99 in the app store and worth every penny! CLICK HERE to download in iTunes.















**Please ignore the obnoxious cheering in the background. I am his momma..... **