Good coffee

This morning I have a ladybug in the foam of my latte.

Latte Art

Visiting a new cafe this morning because the normal one is closed (not sure why). The new place put an awesome smiling sun in my latte this am.

iTunes

I received a $25 iTunes gift card for my birthday. I've been wondering what i want to purchase. Pretty sure it'll be songs that would be good for working out to.

I was reviewing my big case of music CDs and realized that except for about 2 discs i haven't purchased anything in about 5 years, nor listened to anything out of that case in about 3. I actually want to listen to most of it again too. I think i've swung out of my Indie phase and back into alternative. For example listening to Disturbed suddenly seems appealing again. Not that i'll cross of Sufjan Stevens off my list but he's a little too mellow for what i've been wanting lately.

In general my taste is pretty diverse, i'll listen to country just as readily as hip-hop (i'm probably a little more picky about what hip-hop than anything else).

What songs do you like working out to?

Affairs - An Opinion

I don't normally don’t state my opinion about what celebrities are doing but Jon & Kate of (Jon & Kate Plus 8 fame) has brought up an intense subject, that was sparked from a Facebook Status and subsequent comments. The story goes that Jon had an affair and now the couple is wondering if they'll stay together. A majority of the people who commented thought that Kate caused the affair.

Let me state clearly i have watched about 3 episodes and do not like Kate for her over all personality that she projects on the show. Kate comes across as being the ultimate control freak. Controlling to the point that she treats her husband like another child who knows nothing.

However having a bitch for a wife DOES NOT justify the husband having an affair!

I hold Jon responsible for his actions. He could have grown a pair and sought out healthy ways to correct the unhappy marriage. Instead he chose to seek comfort from a source that lead him to the path of the affair. I'll give him reasonable doubt that he was not seeking an affair at first that the relationship evolved to that. Regardless thought, he ultimately chose to sleep with another woman, it did not accidently happen.

Now, i do hold Kate responsible for her part of making the marriage an unhappy one. She definitely contributive to the status of their marriage.

I just refuse to buy the stereo-type that if the husband strays it's the entire wife's fault.

Naming Matching - it's fun, go play. The names are based on the fact that a lot of design businesses use a color and an animal for their name.

Sunshiny Day

Not sure how it shows on your screen but these are royal purple irises. Are they not beautiful? Not sure I've seen this exact color before.

Cured from Baby Brain

All the events of last night put me off the obsessive path of "Do I want a baby soon?" the answer is again firmly back to "No."

Hubby tried to go to bed early last night at 9 and wanted to take Nitro with him. They were not gone 5 minutes before M. was yelling at nitro to get out of the bedroom. I'm thinking he ate something fast but oh no no no. Nitro had peed all over the bed and blankets, amazingly missed the pillows. It was our last set of clean good sheets and we only have one down comforter (which i'm hoping we can save tonight at the laundry mat). So, we had to strip the living room chairs of their sheet covers for bed covering and amazingly our 1 big blanket was big enough.

By 9:30 M.'s in bed, dogs are in crates, i'm in the living room trying to get my blood pressure down then Z gives us 5 minutes of barking followed by 5 minutes of silence. Over the last 3 weeks or so she's become increasingly inconsolable when put in the crate. Even with a Kong toy filled with treats and peanut butter she'd rather bark. I have just typed and erased about 2 paragraphs worth of dog rant material but this post isn't that story so i'll spare you. I gave up and went to bed at 10 (Z thankfully stopped shortly there after).

10:30, M.'s phone goes off and by some amazement he's asleep (insomnia issues) but i wasn't and chose to ignore it thinking if it was real important they'd call again. They called again. Turned out it was M.I.L. checking in because she'd just arrived back from Italy and after quizzing her boys they'd reported not hearing from us after our arrival back from TX. I wasn't sure if she was calling to tell us they were safe or if she was checking to make sure we were safe. She lets me go after she realizes she woke us.

THEN the up stairs baby starts to cry and cry and scream and then choke on his crying and then cry some more. This went on for about 30 minutes and i had to explain to hubby that sometimes babies have to cry them selves to sleep. I also thought it was good retribution from the upstairs neighbors for us having a dog that barks any time she's put in her crate.

So after all that i got to sleep around 11 and after all that i'm really not ready for a kid.

i realize that to some getting to bed at 11 is reasonable but we get up at 5:30 and i function best on 7-8 hours of sleep. Sleep is another thing that would change if i had a kid... yeah, no kids.

Babies on the Brain

The topic of babies seems to be in every conversation* i have. I guess it's natural considering my husband and i have been married almost 3 years and we're both on the downhill side to 30.

I realize that we're not in a place to have a baby. If tomorrow i found out i was pregnant my first reaction would be dread followed by a nap induced from the overwhelm of emotions. But still my mind can't seem to let it rest.

Should we have one let alone three?
Should we not go down that road at all?
What about all the responsibility?
What about all the things that change?
How much more will i love my children if i know the love i have for my niece?

My brain can get pretty obsessive about something once it's latched on to a topic and can't come to a firm conclusion. If the options are pretty endless then it will loop around and around thinking of all the different possibilities. As it has now seems to be doing with this topic.

I keep telling my self that we have nothing to decide for another couple of years. That if we're having them then being pregnant with the first at 28 is completely acceptable.

Do you hear that brain? You can let it go for now!

*friends, family & co-workers have had this conversation with me this past month.

On Our Way

Its 5am on my 26th birthday and I'm blogging from the airport. For the next few days I will be soaking up Texas rays (wearing SPF 60).

Possible New Camera

I currently have a Canon Power Shot A630 and enjoy it. It's small and fits easily into my purse for those short notice shots. The best thing about the camera is the swivel view screen. I heart that feature!

I've had lots of issues with low light situations with out using the flash. It's annoying when 50% of the time the shaky hand icon comes on screen. The camera does allow for manual change of the ISO and shutter speed but then i run into the issue of grainy shots and digitally grain does not look good. I'm not above saying it's user error half the time but even if with help from my photographer husband it's hard getting good shots in low light.

The other downer is that the zoom while it is 4x optical & digital, it's still pretty lame. When I move into the digital zoom the screen goes pixilated and makes it very difficult to know if the shot is still good.

I'm looking to get the Canon Power Shot SX10 IS - it's bigger but has 20x optical zoom and an image stabilizer system which i'm hoping will correct for the formally mentioned problems. Thinking that i'd keep the A360 in my purse but take the SX10 for when i know i'm headed to big events - party, ocean, aquariums/zoo - things like that.

Anyone have any experience with the Canon SX10?