Hilary

Challenge!

So, back in February, I decided that I was going to do the February Photo-A-Day challenge on Instagram. It was pretty fun and motivated me to take a snap everyday. When the end of the month drew near, I decided I would continue on and found a March Photo-A-Day challenge. From there, I was inspired to try to do a photo a day for a whole year. I set up a tumblr site specifically dedicated to this journey. Since February, I take a snap, add a filter and upload it to Instagram and to tumblr. The challenges I’ve been using I came across from another website called The Idea Room. It’s a great site with lots of interesting DIY, crafts, and other just fun stuffs to read and pass time.

Being the Type A, proper prior planner that I am, I was steadily checking the website for the June Photo Challenge as May started to dwindle away. I didn’t see anything, didn’t see anything, didn’t see anything. The evening of May 31st started it’s descent into memory. Still nothing on the site, so
I decided to make my own.

(image)

For those of you unfamiliar with the Photo A Day Challenge, I’ve provided you with a list of prompts or suggestions for each day of the month. On the designated day, you snap a photo of the suggestion or a photo of your interpretation of the suggestion and post it to Instagram. You can add a caption to your photo, as well as the hashtag #hilarywithonel so we can keep up with you. If you input #hilarywithonel in the Instagram search box, you’ll be able to see what others have already posted. It’s only the third day of the month, so it’s not too late if you want to join in the fun.

As it turns out, the owner of The Idea Room suffered a peroneal tendon injury, hence the delay on the post. What’s up with bloggers and tendon injuries?!

IN: ON: June 4, 2013 TAGS: 30 day, activities, instagram, photography, photos, pinterest BY: Hilary

Thanks, Pixar!

(image)

“Just keep swimming, just keep swimming,” sang the little blue tang as she helped her clownfish friend navigate some troubled waters, both literal and figurative.

I find that refrain popping in and out of my head as summer revs up, school winds down and life continues to fling me around like the Scrambler at a carnival. So, summer is upon us. The girls have one more full day and then three half days (what’s the point?) before they are sprung from the constraints of the three R’s. In years past, I have had them going to camps, playdates, visits to relatives, and enough arts and craps projects to wallpaper my fridge, my parents fridge, and my in-laws fridge. All of that was a run up to our family trip to the beach at the end of August, effectively bringing the summer season to a close.

This year, while they are doing camps, it’s considerably dialed back. There are a few camps here and there, mostly some half day type things. There will be playdates, but nothing’s been planned or penciled in the calendar. I’m going to try to just take it one day at a time. Emphasis on “try”. I like having a plan, but sometiems, the plan has to be to let go of the plan. For instance, last week, I was trying to get them from school, home for a snack, back out for tutoring and then across town for swim practice. The car was stuffed, eerily reminiscent of previous trips up 95 headed for the beach. The came out of tutoring, the baby started fussing, and then a headache bloomed right at the back of my head. A headache? That’s about as rare as a Big Foot sighting. Clearly, my bod was telling me to back off. And guess what? I did.

Guess what else? The world didn’t end either.

So, I’m letting go of the plan.

Today, I was in the pool, freestyling my way up and down and up and down, when Dory’s sing-song advice popped in my head again. I had just inhaled a snootful of pool water. My instructor had once said that everyone gets water up their nose. “Sure it burns for like 10 seconds,” she went on, “but you just blow it out and keep going.” I was tempted to just put my feet down, but I kept on swimming. I won’t get better or stronger or get more endurance if I don’t keep swimming.

As I moved through the water, I enjoyed the feeling of my muscles working, of my body propelling forward. And I thought,” Just keep swimming.” If you have visited any of the Mom-centric websites or parenting magazines lately, your bound to find articles touting things like “How to Survive the Summer” or “9 Tricks to Keep Kids Entertained This Summer” and so forth. I see the titles, but I’ve given up on reading them because the tips and tricks give me more stress than actually being at home with the kids. Don’t even get me started on the summer themed Pinterest boards.

My kids always have an eye to the future, as in “What’re we gonna do next?”. Used to be I never had anything but a faceful of exasperation, but now, I know what we’re gonna do.

Just keep swimming.

IN: ON: May 30, 2013 TAGS: activities, raising girls, summer BY: Hilary

Get That Lady a Towel

I go to the Y at least four times a week. I am for five, but I too, am just a mere mortal. I have been doing my time on the elliptical, pumping a few weights, and doing a few planks. I hit the pool twice a week and have really enjoyed the work that goes into propelling myself down and back in the lane. Not to break my own arm patting myself on the back, but I’m pretty proud of myself for taking the lessons and being committed to suiting up fairly regularly. Swimming has been really good for me, both physically and mentally.

What hasn’t been good for me, however, is the ladies locker room. I’ve talked about this before, several times, in fact, but it bears repeating.

Given my propensity towards less than stellar body image, it’s a surprise that I’m pretty cavalier when it comes to the locker rooms and showers at the gym. Honestly, I don’t really think about it. I’m there to hose off, dry off and get on with my day. There just happen to be a motley crue of women of varying ethnictities, ages, and body types walking around like they’re in their own private homes. At our last gym, the showers were in fact communal showers. It was a large room, dotted with shower heads. There were two stalls with doors towards the entrance, but the cleanliness of those was debatable. For the most part, ladies came into the shower, showered up and went to get dressed. At my current gym, there are shower stalls, but instead of a door, there is a billowy curtain that you can drag across. In my mind, this curtain is more for decoration because 1) none of them close all the way, 2) anyone walking by — either to or from the pool via the locker room proper — causes a breeze that pushes the curtain onto your showering body or away from its purpose of shielding your showering body.

I definitely exercise some modesty and decorum when it comes to dressing, undressing and entering/exiting the showers. In the communal shower, I never, never, never engaged someone in conversation and if repeatedly chatted up by someone, I looked in their eyes, keeping my answers brief and to the point.

The locker room at my current gym is very reminiscent of dorm life, what with the number of people coming in and out, the hair dryers buzzing in the background and so on. Most ladies wrap a towel around themselves, grab their toilette gear and shower up. There are a few that go totally “bucket nekkid”, and hey, good for them. After inadvertently casting my eyes upon a woman so wrinkled, I wanted to run up to her with a hot iron, I quickly learned to focus my eyes on where the ceiling meets the wall or the wall meets the floor.

The showers are clean, though you will see random wads of hair on the floor and just yesterday, I did see enough hair stuck to the wall of the shower stall, it looked like a trompe l’oeil. It’s definitely not my shower at home, so I’m super careful not to lean up against any walls or curtains. And I absolutely, positively wear some shower shoes. I’ve got a pair of flip flops that I keep in my gym bag for this express purpose. They are gym shower shoes. That’s it. And I wear them every.single.time. No shoes? Not likely, since they stay in the bag, but in the off chance that they weren’t there, well then, sorry, John Q. Public. You’re going have to deal with my funk until I can get home.

Sadly, I am in the minority when it comes to this particular matter. Scads of women roll through that place barefoot.

(source)

On top of that, some of the older ladies leave the curtain open so they can continue their conversations while scrubbing up (and down. and parts in between). I don’t want to see your version of Royal Dancer as you try to get your bar of Dial between your first and second toes.

In the locker room, there’s tile floor in the “wet areas” (toilets, shower, pool area) and there’s carpet in the “dry areas” (lockers, ingress and egress, hair dryer stations). Both the wet and dry areas are clean, but not so clean that I’d pad around with nothing protecting my feet. *shudder*. Again, I’m in the minority here.

Who knows what kind of germ-fest is going on around there. Sure, you want to wash all parts possible in the shower. So, balance on one flip flopped foot and scrub the other. Switch. Repeat as necessary. What’s the point of scrubbing your feet, and then walking out across the tiles and floor barefoot? You’re just picking that junk right back up (and maybe a few other things, too).

*blech* and don’t even get me started about dropping the soap or, God forbid, your towel on the floor.

Yesterday, several women and I were finishing up our toilette, jostling for space on the benches that run in front of the lockers. The seniors water fitness class had just let out and about a dozen blue-hairs came in various states of undress. I’m pretty sure one woman just left the pool, stripped down in front of the swimsuit water extractor machine to wring out her suit and then strolled on over to her locker. She had her hair twisted up in a towel and save that, she was naked. I know, we’re in the locker room, but she was all Lady Godiva up in that camp and there were too many of us for her to be taking up real estate for that foolishness. She must have felt a little cramped herself, because she pulled a stunt that sent ladies, young and old, careening to the corners of the room.

She opened her locker and as she twisted the lock, she let her bathing suit slip from her fingers. Then she BENT OVER AT THE WAIST (hello, she’s naked) to pick it up.

I am now blind in one eye and I can’t see out the other.

IN: ON: May 22, 2013 TAGS: funny stuff, germs, life, working out BY: Hilary

That Time V Turned One

(hgd photography)

I read once that the first birthday party is really for the parents. After spending any time on Pinterest searching kids birthday parties, there is a crap ton of information that supports that claim. From the decorations to the themes, to the party favors and the food, some of these One Year celebrations are enough to qualify for a reality show of their own. Did anyone else see the Marie Antoinette First Birthday? You think I’m making this up, but truly, it’s real. Kudos to the mom who created such a féte; it’s really something to behold.

When Mo and Co each turned one, we kept it simple. Family came over. We ate, we sang, we let the girls eat cake. So, too, this is what we did with V. My parents came, my brother, my father-in-law, and V’s godparents. We had burgers, and chicken, my grandmother’s potato salad, and cupcakes that I did not make. I know! Shut the front door on that one, but yes, I decided to forgo getting all Betty Crocker and let Pearl’s Cupcakes do the heavy lifting on this one. We had home made iced tea and cold beers. It was a perfect summer meal on an overcast and slightly rainy early summer day. We sang the song and the girls helped V blow out her candle. I made vodka tonics for the grown ups, while my brother made drunken gummy bears for me and him to share. We ate. We laughed. We talked. The girls disappeared to watch TV while V napped. We ate again. We laughed some more. We talked even more. The party came to its natural end, and everyone was sufficiently sated with fellowship, food, and fun. The girls reappeared, looking for dinner and trying to stave off bedtime. So we ate again and laughed some more.

After even had returned safely home, after the girls had been bathed, pj’ed and dropped in their beds, the house was quiet again. The Hubs thanked me for pulling together such a nice time for our family. I know it was V’s birthday, but I think with those simple words, I’m pretty sure I got the gift.

IN: ON: May 20, 2013 TAGS: birthday, etsy, my girls, photography, photos, pinterest BY: Hilary

Keeping It Real

*disclaimer* My children are not bullies. They are not being bullied. I am fully aware of what is going on at their respective schools and with their respective classmates. There is nothing to be aghast about. I’m giving you an abbreviated version of a conversation that I thought was funny. No child had their feelings hurt in the making of this post. ** By the way, that last line was sarcasm.

The other day, the girls were talking about how to resolve differneces on the plyaground. Mo was telling me about a child who likes to play with her and several other little girls, but has a tendency to dominate the playing, trying to change the game and boss the others around.

(image)

“Tell her that if she’s going to do that, she can’t play with you all any more,” I told her.

“Well, we can’t tell people they can’t play with us. The princicapl said so,” she replied.

So, I said, “Then tell her that whatever it is you guys are playing, she’s welcome to play, but if she doesn’t like it, then she should play something else.”

“Maybe. . ” Mo said, which is basically her way of saying, “Yeah, I’m going to pretend that you didn’t said anything and just do what I want to do.

Co decided to offer her take on how to handle the situation. “You know, Mo,” she began, “when I was have a problem with Suzy Q (not her real name), I just tell her that I don’t like how she’s treating me and then I walk away from her.”

At this, I looked up from what I was doing because, 1) I noticed she used present tense, and 2) Co had just gone to a birthday party for Suzy Q not that long ago.

“Wait a second,” I said. “You and Suzy Q are still having an issue? I thought you guys were friends.”

“Nope. We’re not friends.”

“But you begged me to let you go to her party.”

Co gave me a full body eye roll, which for her fun-size five year old frame is pretty huge. “Mom. I don’t really like Suzy Q, but I really, really like birthday parties.”

Oh boy.

IN: ON: May 17, 2013 TAGS: life, motherhood, my girls BY: Hilary

False Start

(image)

I have started to write this post three times already today and am just not getting it done. I started to write about how 42% of mother’s have Pinterest related stress, but once I wrote that statistics, I thought, “I can believe it.” Then there wasn’t much else to say.

I thought I’d write about my current challenge on this photo-a-day thing I’m working on, but it came off as really whiney and an invite to a Hilary With One L pity party. That got scrapped immediately.

Then, I thought I’d do a Mother’s Day recap, complete with the blow-by-blow of my day, my meal (which I failed to snap a photo of), my gifts and so forth. It was a good idea until my conscience sidelined me with thoughts of “Fake-booking” and “Insta-glamming”. This is a thing now you know, creating these utopian images and status updates for Facebook and Instagram that portray you in a nothing but a rainbow dappled light. I know for some folks, what you see is really what you get — the kids getting along nicely, a chef style meal prepared at home, a fantastic outfit for a fantastic date or ladies’ night out. Other times, what you see couldn’t possibly exist anywhere but on the pages of Pinterest or Tumblr — the kids getting along nicely, a chef style meal prepared at home, a fantastic outfit for a fantastic date or ladies’ night out.

I kid, sort of.

delete. delete. delete.

I thought I’d write about what I know. True story: I know a little bit about a whole lot. That post was just a bag of crazy with a dash of no direction thrown in for flavor.

I looked at the date and realized that May is just about half-way over. Huh! The girls will be getting out of school for the summer in three weeks.

Holy crap-cakes.

I mean, I know they get out the first week of June. I’ve got it written down. When I looked at a calendar and saw that’s about three weeks, okay four weeks, away, as the young kids like to say, “Shit just got real.” Three weeks! That’s gonna happen real, real soon. For all my previous proper prior planning, I ain’t got nothing this time around.

Again, I kid. Sort of.

I’ve got some things lined up, but it’s no where near the activity filled fun-fest that was last summer. Maybe that’s a good thing. Maybe instead of being constantly involved in this, that and the other, we’ll just keep it fast and loose. They’ll do a few camps here and there, those 9 to 12 type of deals, as well as VBS. After that, who knows. Maybe we’ll hit the zoo. Maybe we’ll do the fountains at the mall. I’m even toying with a day trip to Chick’s Beach for old time’s sake, though the last time I did a baby at the beach, I only had two kids and at least half a dozen other mom’s in my playgroup to run interference.

In my head, I hope our summer will be kind of lazy. I see us going to the pool and the library. I see the girls running through the sprinkler and learning to ride their bikes (finally). I see faces smeared with popsicle juice and arms slick with bubble solution. I see skinned knees and legs dotted with mosquito bites. I’m seeing walks around the neighborhood, catching fireflies in a washed out pasta jar, and lots of chalk drawings crawling across our driveway. There will be barefeet, sunkissed faces, and halos of pool scented hair. There will be trips for ice cream, trips to the mall, trips to the museum. Friends will come over. Bedtime may even be pushed back.

Who knows, maybe some of that will happen. Maybe none of it will happen. I’m pretty sure if my girls got a hold of that list, they’d do it all on the first day — before lunch — and then ask, “Now what can we do?”

This time, I’m not kidding.

Guess I better get planning.

IN: ON: May 13, 2013 TAGS: activities, motherhood, my girls BY: Hilary

recipes

Recipe Friday: Mother’s Day Edition

To all the mothers, grandmothers, godmothers, aunts, like-a-mothers and company, have a very happy Mother’s Day.

My kids are sticklers for giving gifts on the designated day that gifts are supposed to be given. So, I have no pictures of their Mother’s Day artwork as they are guarding it fervently until Sunday morning. Instead, I leave you with this note from a little girl named Emma, whose card has been dubbed “The Best Mother’s Day Card Of All Time” by the Huffington Post.

It is pretty awesome.


(image)

She loves her mom more than chocolate, and even more than mustaches! If this mom ever doubted her parenting skills, she can totally rest easy! And the use of that colorful language, hey, young Emma did preface it with an apology. Let her mother worry about where she learned it after Mother’s Day has passed.

To my own mom, if it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t know of Andreas Vollenweider, would have never conducted a French Fry taste test between McDonald’s, Burger King and Wendy’s (McD’s was the clear winner), or would have known how to give the stanky eye-brow. You’re gifts keep on giving and they have served me well.

Here’s to you, Mom. Thank you and I love you never seem like enough, but I’ll keep saying it. I’d planned to post a recipe that you often served during my chilhood, but Lung Yan’s Chinese Restaurant doesn’t have an online menu.

Just kidding. . .they really do.

XOXO! Happy Mother’s Day, y’all.

IN: recipes ON: May 12, 2013 TAGS: baking, cooking, food, holidays, motherhood, om nom nom, pinterest, recipes, spring BY: Hilary

Previous 1 … 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 … 98 Next