Swoon

Clive Owen is in town and was having lunch two blocks from my office.  I love him and hope I can see him on the street while he is in town filming a movie.  I LOVE that Ann Arbor has become so popular to film movies in.  I think there are three currently being filmed here.  It's fun to see celebrities walking around town!

Planning for Christmas...Early!

Halloween just finished and I know we're still weeks away from Thanksgiving, but I've been giving a lot of thought to Christmas this year already.  I absolutely love buying gifts for my friends and family and take pride in find the "perfect" gift.  Having an energetic toddler and trying to shop for more than a few minutes does not mix, and with Mike's very unpredictible schedule, I rarely get time to shop for non-essentials or Griffin related items.  This is especially true right now with Mike's schedule, so I will be doing what I can this year.

While I will be buying some gifts this year, I am also striving to incorporate as many handcrafted, sentimental and non-commercial items as possible.  It might be easier to shop online and pick out gifts quickly, but I want those who receive these items to know that I was thinking just of them while creating it just for them. 

I have an especially great gift to some members of my family and I can't wait to share it with them!  It's an idea I've been playing around with for three or four years now, but have finally figured out a good way to implement it. 

Movies I Have to Watch

There are a few movies that I absolutely have to watch if I see they are on t.v.  These include off the top of my head:

Footloose
Sixteen Candles
Sabrina (the Julia Ormond / Harrison Ford version)
Lorenzo's Oil
Pretty in Pink
The Notebook
A Christmas Story
The Fugitive

Randomness

I'm taking a little inspiration from the Simple Woman's Day Book below:

Outside my window... beautiful vibrant fall leaves

I am thinking... I should really start on all of those homemade presents for Christmas

I am thankful for... being able to get Griffin his H1N1 shot

I am wearing... gray cuffed pants, navy short sleeved sweater and ballet flats

I am remembering... some fun childhood memories of me and my brother

I am going... to Old Navy tomorrow to pick up $2 Halloween costumes to put in a play dress up area for Griffin

I am reading... Handle With Care by Jodi Picoult

I am hoping... the snow won't come early this year, I am enjoying Fall wall too much

On my mind... looking forward to visiting family in Fargo over Thanksgiving

Noticing that... our office bought WAY too much Halloween candy, we have about 20 bags left around here

Pondering these words... "A baby is born with a need to be loved - and never outgrows it."  Welcome to the world Oakley John.  I can't wait to meet you!

From the kitchen... Apple Crisp (this weekend)

Around the house... installing new doorknobs in the basement

Test Post - Pictures

3 Years

Today Mike and I are celebrating our 3rd anniversary. The suggested anniversary present for the 3rd year is leather, is that because the last year was supposed to have been rough? The last year has been filled with lots of changes for us. Griffin celebrated his 1st birthday and has quickly made the transition into toddlerhood. Mike graduated medical school and started working (and working, and working) a total of 3 jobs. We moved into a bigger house. Certainly not all of the changes were easy, but I wouldn't say they were rough either. In fact, I'd definitely say the 3rd year of marriage was much easier than the 2nd. Of course, the 2nd probably had something to do with throwing an infant into the mix!

We are very lucky to have Mike's parents in town this week, which we will take full advantage of by going out for a little date tonight.

Happy Anniversary, Mike. Thank you for working so hard to lay the foundation for our future, enduring sleep deprivation and the loss of any amount of personal time in order to allow us family time together around your crazy schedule. We only have a few more months of this until we can settle into a much easier routine. I looked ahead and next year's present is fruit and flowers - perhaps this next year will be "peachy".

No Spend October

I've been inspired by a few other blogs and have decided to enlist a month of "No Spending" for October. That is, no spending on non-essentials or pre-budgeted items. No ordering out lunch because I forgot to bring one or running to Starbucks for a peppermint mocha in the afternoon. The only items that will go outside that rule are a winter coat, hat, mittens and boots for Griffin because I haven't bought any, and he will need them before the month is up.

In the spirit of not being wasteful I'm going to start working on some projects around the house that I've been planning to do forever, but haven't had the time or energy to do. First on the list is filling in quite a few blanks in Griffin's baby book. Thank goodness I've documented his milestones on his blog (and a huge reason why I use descriptors like last night, or this morning, or last Sunday) so I can look back and get the dates right. I have entire room for my hobbies, and haven't spent more than an hour in there since we moved in, which is absolutely shameful.

So here we go, day 1 of the "No Spend October", we'll see how it goes.