As perfect as a weekend can be without Harry Potter

Friday

Madeline and I started the morning by taking a refugee friend to the doctor and dropped off medicine to another family.

We spent the rest of the morning at Half Price Books and I scored Jenga for just $1 in the clearance section.

We met Joe downtown at Starbucks for a buy one, share one holiday drinks. Madeline got a hot chocolate mustache which I didn't wipe off for hours.

We walked over to Mass Ave Toys. It's pretty much colorful heaven to us.

(If you've never been there, please promise me you'll go. I just blogged about it tonight because I love it so.)

We spent way too long at the store and then sped over to The Children's Museum even though it was 4:30 p.m. and they were only open for 30 more minutes. 

Madeline wore her cowboy hat on the last two carousel rides and walked out with Rex in the End of the Day parade. The super-duper staff went crazy over her hat.

And then I remembered just how much I love living in Indianapolis.

We put Madeline to bed at 7 p.m.

Janna stopped by to just pick something up but Jenga lured her further in and so she stayed much longer.

We woke Madeline up at 10 p.m. because Peter's plane landed at 10:40 p.m. 

We met him as he walked off the concourse and dished out hugs and kisses. Then we went back to my parents' house for a midnight party with a Papa John's delivery.

Because we're a family that likes to party and then experience 3 a.m heartburn.

We watched You Tube videos and Pawn Stars and my dad baked chocolate chip cookies.

Madeline fell asleep at 1:30 a.m.

Saturday

Madeline woke up at 6 a.m. to which I groggily said, "For realz, child?"

We decided to spend the morning reading at a neighborhood coffee shop. On our way, we waved to our friends who were eating in the neighborhood bagel shop.

In the narrow shop, we ordered the SoBro brew.

I finished reading "The Hole in Our Gospel." My copy is completely marked up and the pages are dog-eared but now my heart is pretty ruffled too.

While leaving, we ran into another friend and talked in the cold about high school proms and my love for Leona Lewis and "Bleeding Love."

And then I remembered how much I love living in small-town Broad Ripple.

On our way home, Joe dropped me off at Janna's house. 

We ate homemade soup and oyster crackers and talked for hours while her cat totally freaked me out.

Then I walked home and I remembered how much I love living three streets over from family.

Joe and I watched America's Test Kitchen on PBS and for the thousandth time, I dreamed of being Chris Kimball's personal taster and wishing my TV was scratch-and-sniff.

That night, we met my family at Cancun, my family's favorite restaurant, and celebrated Peter being home and my aunt's birthday.

We ate the best chips and salsa and my dad sketched out dream plans for our house on napkins. It will probably never happen but dreaming is just the best, isn't it?

Madeline sat on Peter's lap the entire night.

My aunt allowed the servers to sing "Happy Birthday" in Spanish and place a huge sombrero on her head just to make Madeline bust out laughing.

And then I remembered again just how much I love my family.

Sunday

We went to church and watched baptisms. I cried happy, sweet tears.

Forget what I said about dreaming. Baptisms are the best.

And I remembered just how much I love our church.

On our way home, we stopped by Cancun to pick up more chips and salsa to eat with our leftovers.

We watched football all day long while I did a jigsaw puzzle.

Jets vs. Texans. Pats vs. Colts. (Sad tears.) Eagles vs. Giants.

I only left the house again for a Starbucks run to get our last drinks.

(I love buying local like Monon Coffee Company and Hubbard and Cravens but I'm also a sucker for free drinks.)

The only thing missing from the weekend was Harry Potter. I call myself a fan but it's Sunday night and I still haven't seen it. My priorities must be totally messed up.

But other than the omission of the teenage wizard, this weekend was perfection on a stick.

Nap Time in Naptown: Mass Ave Toys

On Friday afternoon, Madeline and I met Joe at the Starbucks on Mass Avenue to get some buy one, share one holiday drinks.

(Let me take this moment to say two things directly to Starbucks. #1: Buy one, share one was awesome. Thank you. #2: Your caramel brulee latte is what I think manna tastes like in a cup.)

Anyways, once Joe went back to work, Madeline and I walked across the street to Mass Ave Toys.

And then I wondered why we have a Children's Museum membership when Madeline could just visit here once a week and be equally thrilled.

Seriously, is this not the place that appeared in your dreams as a child?

It pretty much goes without saying they pick the best toys. North American Bear Company. HABA. Kushies. Gymnic.

Madeline's favorite toys came from Mass Ave, including Rody. If you don't know this adorable horse, you might be depriving your child of a complete childhood.

Just kidding. Kinda.

While I was there last week, I picked up a couple of these beautiful prints. They're from England and I'm so excited to put them up the toy room. And since they're just $5 each, it's about the cheapest, coolest art possible.

But I really want to mention their customer service because every time I visit the store, I'm super impressed by the staff. Their employees are extremely helpful and truly know the items on the shelves.

I asked for ideas for a Christmas gift for my brand-spankin' new nephew and BAM! I was nailed with nine different possibilities that I wanted to scoop up in my arms and then flee for home.

If you need a kid birthday gift but are unsure what to buy, this is the store for you. 

Or if you want to spend an hour watching your child float blissfully from one toy to another, this is also the store for you.

And the Starbucks across the street ain't bad either.

Mass Ave Toys

409 Massachusetts Avenue, Indianapolis

317.955.8697

Monday - Saturday: 10 a.m. - 9 p.m.
Sunday: noon - 6 p.m.

Surprise, surprise

Recently, I've been surprising myself. Here's a run-down of some of the actions and thoughts that have me wondering (in a Ben Stiller/Zoolander tiny voice), "Who am I?" 

1. No McDonald's diet Cokes since Nov. 8

For realz, this one actually shocks me because my love for McDonald's diet Coke in a styrofoam cup is a little too well-known. Several friends have actually texted me after ordering one, just to let me know they were thinking of me. 

Kinda pathetic but I'll admit, I was a little touched every time.

You may wonder why it's been since November 8. That's because that was the day Katy at Thought for Food totally busted my bubble. She wrote an awful, awful, awful post, titled "The Scoop on Sweets, Part One: The Fake Stuff." 

And by awful, I mean that she convinced me to not consume huge quantities of diet Coke. Like the quantity served in my favorite ginormous, red and yellow styrofoam cup.

Now you might be thinking, "Why should I listen to Katy? She doesn't even spell her name right."

Let me just say I understand why that could concern you but this lady knows her stuff. It's an enlightening read. (And when have I ever told you something was enlightening? Oh that's right. It's because I usually only read People.com)

Which is the perfect intro to number 2...

2. My excitement for William and Kate

I seriously got giddy when I read the engagement news on People.com. In full disclosure, I've always been fascinated by the British Royal Family, the running joke of my high school senior English class was how much I loved Prince William (which was a totally untrue but long story) and I can distinctly remember watching "Quantum Leap" when the ticker tape scrolled by with news of Princess Diana's accident. 

Also? I may or may not still have a VHS taped labeled "Princess Di's Funeral" because my mom believes in taping all the life's major events.

But I am still surprised at how excited I am over the engagement. 

I've Wiki'd every person within a 50-mile radius of Princess Di's entry.

All the thousands of news stories aren't enough to quench my thirst for knowledge. (How did he really propose? Why isn't there any details on how they met at St. Andrews? And, for crying out loud, why, oh why can't I pull off a simple blue dress and black pumps like her? Is it because my stomach and ankles have never been flat or skinny?)

And when the knock-offs of that gorgeous ring are available, I'd be happy to turn my finger green just to wear something like it.

3. Christmas music now playing

That's right. I started listening to Christmas music on November 1. As in the day after Halloween.

I've never listened to Christmas music this early and while I'm surprised I'm doing  it, I'm not ashamed. It's been great.

I've been listening to the Chris Tomlin: Holiday station on Pandora and it's only let me down once. 

It was an unfortunate version of "The First Noel" by Mark Schultz.

But I kept my calm, gave it thumbs down and moved on. I'm forgiving like that.

4. My friends are Kroger pharmacists

I've been making going to a lot of doctor appointments for our refugee friends. This has led to a lot of subsequent trips to the pharmacy. 

The staff at the Nora Kroger now knows Madeline and me by name. They see us coming and have candy and patience waiting. 

After one particularly exasperating prescription and after experiencing unreal kindness from the pharmacist and techs, I almost blurted out, "I love you." 

Because it's true. I love the staff at the Nora Kroger.

Plus, one of the pharmacists is on billboards around the city and I now think I have a celebrity friend.

(Is my life pathetic?)

Non-surprising happenings: Uncle Peter

Peter flies home tomorrow night. We haven't seen him since August. 

We're all excited but Madeline is over the moon. 

No, really. I'm just happy she's sleeping tonight because this might be bigger than Christmas Eve in her eyes.

She's asked to wear her Minnie Mouse costume to the airport since Peter hasn't seen her in it yet and I have to agree with her logic. 

I'm also just really used to the stares we get when we go out in public since she never wears clothes from her closet.

And finally, I just realized yesterday that I haven't experienced life since 2007 because somehow I missed this gem of a You Tube video.

Seriously, if you call yourself a friend of mine, then why did it take me three years (and my mom who shared it) to watch this video?

Happy weekend, y'all.

Green, red and extreme happiness

This week, we were able to go see VeggieTales LIVE! at our church. 

Madeline might not like cucumbers or tomatoes on her plate but she's got a lot of love for that Larry and Bob.

It was a great show during which Madeline turned to me about a dozen times, threw her arms around my neck and exclaimed, "Oh thank you, Mommy!"

If you go to Northview Church anytime soon, you might find my heart in a puddle in row five.

I didn't get any photos of her during the show because the dancing and arm waving and singing and non-stop thank you's were slightly distracting. 

At the end of the show, I snapped this shot. Bob and Larry just left the stage, gold streamers just showered the crowd and I think she wasn't sure if she should be happy or sad.

It's so tough being a kid.

We won the tickets in a Facebook contest and they included a chance to meet Bob and Larry afterward.

If it were possible for a young child to spontaneously combust from excitement, it probably would have happened during those 20 minutes in line.

They were a long 20 minutes.

But on the bright side, I now declare it a fact that children cannot explode on their own.

Meeting Larry and Bob was extremely exciting for Madeline.

In her defense, it would probably be like me meeting Judge Judy.

Phone pictures: Fall 2010 edition

The quality is pretty bad in all of these but the memories aren't.

Playing in the leaves never gets old when you're this young.

Madeline and Daddy from Katie @ Heart Gone Walking on Vimeo.

Just Madeline in her usual grocery shopping get-up.

How to know if you're leaving a park opening ceremony: 

Did you leave carrying big scissors? 

Then yes.

P.S. If you live near Zionsville, 

you should check out Elm Street Green.

It's Joe's latest (nearly) finished project and it's pretty awesome.

Yo, yo, yo, here's the dealio

If you're wondering why I just got all hip-hop on you, I'm wondering the same thing myself.

It's just how I'm rolling tonight.

I've had a blog post rolling around in my head all weekend. It's started with this, "Blogging is so wickedly cool and weird at the same time and I wish everyone could understand it, even if they don't want to do it."

Ever since I birthed a little human, quit my job and started spending half of my life in a house without a dishwasher (aka spending a LOT of time in the kitchen), I've loved discovering the world of blogging. 

Among all the other things it's given me, the list includes:

• connecting me with people, even on the days I never leave my house,
• introducing me to really fabulous people that I would probably never have connected with in real life,
• showing me perspectives on life that are drastically different from me but learning that is really REALLY is a good thing (most of the time).

But, sometimes, reading blogs has flaws. Among other things, that list includes:

• viewing super glossy, perfect photos that make me question if my house is actually a dry creek bed with its omnipresent crumbs,
• learning most people are wholly devoted to some thing worthwhile like HOME BIRTH! SUPER HEALTHY EATING! HOMESCHOOLING! BUYING LOCAL AND HANDMADE! while my only passions appear to be People magazine and gushing about how cute my child is.

And sometimes I feel like I don't fit in with blogging because I don't have a niche and, hello, I'm random.

I've been known to spend a morning slaving away on homemade muffins stuffed with whole wheat, wheat germ, almond butter and flaxseed meal. And then make a box of Kraft mac and cheese for lunch.

I totally support and believe in the huge benefits of breastfeeding but when my milk flipped me the peace sign and walked out after nine months, Madeline drank formula. Don't tell me that was wrong because it meant my child wasn't hungry anymore.

I love me some Etsy and the whimsy boutiques that dot my neighborhood but I don't buy much. Groceries, gas and bills keep insisting to have the money instead and my addiction to McDonald's diet Cokes in the styrofoam cups requires a steady budget line too.

I could flip through home magazines and click through design blogs all day long but I've hated the color of my dining room for four years. I still don't have any ideas on what to choose. (Help. Me. Please.)

But I won't stop blogging because out of all of these things, blogging has given me a voice. A writing voice I didn't know I had before.

Press releases didn't allow much room for a sarcastic tone and I've never had a place where I could write about laundry week, poop on the floor and Project Runway and have people say they can't wait to read more.

I guess the photos and stories on the world's most adorable child don't hurt either.

Glitter Girl

It's 9 p.m. and I'm exhausted. It was one of those days when I know I tried to do too much.

How do I know?

Because instead of cooking a sweet corn casserole for our small group Mexican dinner, I grabbed take-out guacamole from La Piedad.

Nothing says "nurturing stay-at-home mother" like two Styrofoam bowls and three grease-soaked white chip bags thrown in a generic plastic "Thank you! Thank you!" sack.

Domesticity FAIL.

But Madeline has her special way to let me know through all the chaos that I thought defined today, the most important things are still most important.

She was overtired tonight (something I didn't really believe existed until I had my own kid). She was weepy and upset about waking up in her car seat when we pulled up to our house after small group.

She cried while I dressed her in PJ's and tearfully begged me to sleep with her. I promised to lie down just until after she was asleep.

As we cuddled together, I realized how much I needed that moment. A few precious minutes to breathe her in, smell her hair and hold one small hand and one small foot.

While fighting the inevitable drowsiness, she whispered over and over, "I love you too, I love you too" even though I didn't say it first.

She is the glitter in my life and I thank God for her.