Matt's new job...

For some of you, this might be new news, so sorry if I haven't had a chance to tell you myself. It all happened pretty fast. Matt was unhappy at his job (for a few reasons). So when he was approached by this other company, he decided to do an hour meet n greet during his lunch to get more info about the company and the game they're working on...after the meeting he was intrigued and decided to go back for a full on interview. After he came back from the interivew, he was super excited about the game, company and the people he met, especially the guy that would be his new boss. So shortly afterwards he got an offer and the rest is history!

So now he's into week #4 into the new job and LOVING it. After his first day, he came home saying it was the best first day he had ever had. Then after the first week, the same comment. And now if you ask him, I am sure he would say it has been a great month. The things that were issues at the other company, aren't issues at the new company and he is LOVING his new boss. In fact, I am starting to sense a little bro-mance going on! lol. I got a chance to meet his boss and all he did was rave about Matt, so I guess it goes both ways. So, long story short (never) he loves his new job and I have a feeling we'll be sticking around Baltimore for possibly the next 2 years.

p.s. the new company is called Firaxis.

Happy Halloween!

This was the first year Ripley went Trick or Treating and she had a blast! She got the hang of it really quick and had so much fun walking from door to door with with her bucket of candy. She was non-stop smiles, it was awesome to watch. Here are a few pics below, Matt and I made her costume. And to think, I don't even know how to sew!

Jumping for Joy!

Today we got wonderful news in the mail. National City Bank, our second mortgage company, has decided to release the loan we owe them from the sale of our FL home. This is HUGE for us. We no longer owe money on a house we don't own, not to mention on a house we already lost a lot of money on! I cried out of pure happiness after I read the letter. It's finally over. Yippee!!

Pumpkin Patch Time

Well, it's officially Fall (has been for a while) and we're loving it. Maryland is such a beautiful state, I will definitely be encouraging people to visit next year in October, I just can't get over it! All the trees and hills and colors, it's amazing. So far we've been to a couple farms with pumpkin patches and activities for children. Ripley's had a lot of fun, as you can see from some of these pic's.

Ripley Update

Ripley will be 18 months old on Oct. 15th, she's a toddler now! We no longer have a "baby" :( Despite being sad she is growing so fast, she is becoming more and more fun! She got a late start on walking, but is managing to get around quite well now. No more crawling. And she is starting to talk more too. Still does a ton of babble which sounds like a completely different language and is fun to imitate, but she's starting to pick up more sounds and words and is FINALLY saying Momma, which took forever, unlike Dadda.

Speaking of Dadda, she is so in love with him, its adorable to watch. How excited she gets when he comes home from work and how often she just wants him to hold her and how she loves to give him hugs & kisses on a regular. Totally cute. She's defintiely becoming a Daddy's girl, which I'm actually OK with. We get to spend so much time together, its nice to see her having such a strong bond with Matt too.

So what else? She's in a music class now, which involves a lot of singing, some movement, playing with instruments, etc...she loves it. And we've become pretty involved with the MOMS club I joined, which is helping us stay busy throughout the week. We do anyhthing from playdates at people's homes, to library visits to hanging at a park. It's been such a great way for us to meet other stay at home moms and children for Ripley to be around. So things are good. Here she is below playing in the grocery store at the library. Doesn't she look so big in these pics!?

Maryland, an expensive place to live!

Ok, time to vent. Why is Maryland so expensive? From utilities, to food, to registering your car, it's all so expensive. A driver's license costs $45.00. Matt had to pay $90 since he drives a car and a motorcycle. Then you have to pay to get your car inspected, which costs 59-79, depending on where you take it. And to get my Maryland plates, it cost me $278! Man, does all of that add up!

We got spoiled living in Austin, that's for sure. It's a lot more affordable than East Cost livin, plus NO STATE TAX, which was also the case in FL, so when you go back to paying state tax, it hurts a bit. Oh well, that's my main complaint. Otherwise, we really like the area we're in. It's pretty, very family friendly and we've met a lot of great people so far. So I guess things could be worse : )

Even more GREEN...

After buying recycle able grocery bags, I started to get the "itch", the green itch! I decided I wanted to become more educated in this whole going green campaign you see every where. So what did I do? I bought a book appropriately titled "The Green Book". Easy enough, right? Well, it turns out, it IS pretty easy. To go green, I mean. This book clues you in to little things you can do in your everyday life to make it better for the environment. Our environment now and our environment for our kids, their kids, and so on.

So you think I'm a tree hugger now, right? Well, no I'm not. To tell you the truth, I haven't even started to recycle yet at our home (I know, I know), but I'm getting the info I need and bins, etc....so hopefully soon we'll be in recycle mode. There are other things I'm doing and since they're so easy, I thought I would share a few with you:

1) Turn off the water while you brush your teeth.
2) Don't ask for ATM receipts.
3) Take shorter showers.
4) Unplug cell phone chargers once phone is charged.
5) Recycle.

There are a ton others, but I won't go on and on and on....so check out the book (or any green book for that matter) and start making a change. Even if they're small little changes, cause they make a difference (wow, can I be any cheesier?).

Our House is SOLD!!!

Well, I'm excited to report....we finally sold our house in Florida!!!! It only took us 11 months. A house that is in great condition, move-in ready, professionally painted, in a good neighborhood, with a bigger lot than most of the other homes, took us 11 months to sell. What a pain! So stressful dealing with the banks and all the damn paperwork and collection calls, not to mention paying for utilities and the yard to be kept up for a house we don't even live in. As you can imagine, it was a nightmare.

So were obviously super happy and feel like a weight has been lifted from our shoulders, but unfortunately the entire weight hasn't been lifted just yet. We still owe the 2nd mortgage company the remaining portion of their loan. So now we have to deal with that part of this mess, but at least we're moving in the right direction.
Woo-hoo!!!!!!!!!!

Happy Birthday Mom

Today is Mom's birthday, so I thought I would post a picture in rememberance of her. Though, in this picture we are in the "happiest place on earth" you wouldn't know it from this shot. But I love it anyway. We miss you Mom!

Ripley's 1st Kiss

A few days ago we had a pool playdate with Berkeley who lives down the street. We wanted to get a picture of Berkeley & Ripley together, so his Mom told him to go over and give Ripley a kiss and surprisingly enough, he did! And we got it on camera...isn't this the most adorable picture you've ever seen?

A Greener Me

In the attempts to become more "green", today I decided to buy some reusable grocery bags from our favorite store.....Wegman's. With the amount of times I'm at the grocery store in one week (way more than anyone possibly should be), I accumulate a lot of plastic bags. So I decided to do my part and purchase the bags I normally walk right past, while thinking to myself "maybe I should get some of those". To my surprise, they're only a $1.00 (I excepted them to be more expensive) and they actually do hold a lot of groceries. So I bought 4 and am quite happy with myself, hence this post you're reading. Now if I could just remember to bring them with me when I go to the store, then I would really be doing my part : ) Ah, baby steps.

p.s. I got this picture from google. lol.

Trip No. 2 - Chicago

Above: Sarah and I at her shower.

So less than a week after we returned from Naples, Ripley and I were off again on another trip, this time to Chicago to surprise my very good friend, Sarah, for her bachelorette party and bridal shower weekend. As always with visiting Chicago, our trip was jam-packed with places to go and people to see. Friday during the day I took Ripley downtown to the law firm I used to work at so I could say hello to some old friends and have everyone meet Ripley. It was great to see everyone again. I haven't been back since I moved which will be 3 years in Sept....Wow. So it was crazy to walk the halls again, but so nice to see friendly faces.

That night was Sarah's bach. party, which was OH so much fun! We surprised her with me at Lauren's house before the festivities began. I just walked out with Ripley in my arms and she saw me and ran over and we both started to hug and cry. It was great moment. It was so good to see her and all my other girlfriends, all 5 of us back together for the weekend = a lot of laughs & a lot of drinking. All I can say is we are not 21 anymore, but its fun to act like we are sometimes : ) Can't wait for the wedding next month...I'll be flying solo without hubby or baby, watch out!

Above: we took a ton of pictures us trying to get everyone to look at the same camera without having a terrible expression on their face or closing their eyes and this is the best shot that came out. As you can see, we still need to work on it. ha!

On Saturday Matt's Mom came to the city and we spent the day with Ripley walking around, having lunch and going to the park. The weather was awesome and so was the company. Ripley misses you, Mema!

And last, but not least..Sunday, after Sarah's bridal shower, Ripley and I headed to the south burbs to visit family, which was such a nice end to our trip. Ripley had a blast with all the attention she got from everyone. And as always, it was so nice to be around family. It makes me sad we can't see each other more often. And I hated that Matt missed out on it all, unfortunately he was stuck working during this trip. Hopefully our next Chicago trip will be all 3 of us.

Below: Ripley attacking poor little Evan with some hugs & kisses that were definitely not very well received. Sorry Ev, "what my baby wants, my baby gets!" - ha, what movie?

Trip No. 1 - Naples, FL

Ripley and I went to Florida to visit family. This was the first time my Dad's side of the family got to meet Ripley, so that was fun. We went to my Dad's pool a couple times, but to my surprise, Ripley was a little clingy in the pool with me. My Dad got her a blow up floaty device and everything, but she wanted nothing to do with it. She wouldn't sit in it and if we put it by her, she pushed it away. So Joanne (Step-Mom) and I took turns holding her instead.

Funny/gross story from our travels: During the flight on the way home, Ripley went #2 in a very big way. I got a strong whiff of something oh so wrong and see Ripley's face turning red and doing the grunt thing and start to prepare myself for the joys of changing her on the airplane. So after the grunting ends, I lean over to get her out of her car seat and notice "it" is actually seeping out of her diaper up onto her shirt & pants and also on the car seat, NAST. Next I realize I forgot to pack an extra onsie and have nothing to change her into. Ugh. I had one available for the ride there, but didn't ended up needing it and on the way home I forgot to pack it and of course that was the time I needed it. Go figure. So I take her in the bathroom and start to change her on top of the toilet cover and as I'm doing this the cover comes lose and is now moving around while I'm trying to handle her with one hand and wipe her with the other. At this point she starts to cry a little while she is sliding around with legs up in the air and after many, many, many wipes she is finally clean and before I can get the new diaper into place she starts to pee all over the seat, changing cover, herself, etc....what a mess! I was in there FOREVER....the flight attendants asked me if I was OK at one point. So after I clean up mess #2, I had to try and salvage her shirt by cleaning it in the sink, otherwise she was only going to be in her diaper, since her pants were anything but salvageable. Thankfully, I brought a blanket with and after putting her now wet shirt back on her, I wrapped her bottom half in the blanket so it wasn't obvious she just pooped herself, even though I am sure the smell probably made most of the plane well aware it and for the rest of the flight she sat in her car seat wrapped in the blanket with a slight stench still lurking from the part of the car seat that was too hard to clean during the flight. Oh the joys of changing your child on an airplane! Since we travel so much, I have done this many times, but never has it been such an event, so I thought I would share with everyone : )

Some pictures from our trip below....sorry no kodak moments from her pooping extravaganza!

3 days & counting....

The Sex & the City Movie opens this Friday and ever since I moved to Maryland, I've been on the prowl to find some Ladies to go see it with. Thankfully, my mission has been successful and on Saturday I'll be going with 2 thirty-somethings, like myself. I can't wait! I have done my best not to watch any spoilers, cause I really want to see it without already knowing the whole movie. My guess is I may be disappointed, because I think I have built it up too much, but hopefully it will live up to my expectations (man, I need a life!).

Carrie & Big are supposed to get married and in the previews, they try and act like maybe they don't. Well, if they don't....I will be pissed. I mean COME ON already. If you weren't going to marry Mr. Big, then you should have never let Aidan go!!! I loved Aidan. Aidan was my favorite, but at the same time, its hard to resist Big and that smile. Ahhh, cosmo anyone?

Movie Review (no spoilers): Ok, so I saw the movie and I'm happy to say I was not disappointed. It was really good. I felt like they covered a lot of ground with each character. Of course I do have some critiques, but can't discuss them now until some of you have seen the movie. Also, be forewarned, it's an emotional movie....and not just at one part, there are several possible tear-jerking moments. The movie made me miss my girlfriends so much! You take away the fashion, the city and the sex and you're left with 4 woman that share really true friendships for life. Each woman having their own personality to bring to the table. Not many are able to say they have that, but thankfully I am one of the lucky ones. Miss you all! xoxo

BFF's Forever

Well we already know Lauren and I are BFF's forever, but now so are our kids. Or will they end up in love and married instead? One can only hope! Lauren and Evan came to visit last weekend and we had such an amazing time. Her and I got to spend a lot of quality time together and with the kids, it made it even better. Ripley was all about Evan and Evan....well he was all about his balloon, his pimp cane (a stick that makes noise and has a giraffe on the end of it) or anything NOT Ripley. Lol.

Ripley is loud & proud (she likes to yell when she's excited, which is often) and unfortunately, that made Evan cry (she did the same to Max, my other "nephew"). But thankfully by the 2nd day it seemed Evan got used to her screeching and was able to handle her, for the most part. We got a lot of cute pictures of them together, although we didn't get any of Lauren and I together. I guess that's what happens when you have kids. Plus, I am trying to recover from a bad haircut, so there's my excuse :)

Happy Birthday Baby Girl!

Today Ripley turned 1! Its crazy how fast the time went by and even crazier at how much has happened in just the past year. She has lived in 3 states since the time she was born and has racked up quite the travel miles, I think we counted about 10 fights total in one year! She's quite the jet setter.

So besides liking to travel, she's into crawling lately. She actually first started to crawl right after we moved here, just over 3 weeks ago. So now she's a pro, crawling every where and getting pretty fast and totally tormenting the dog, poor Amingo! He constantly has to run from his bed and hide from her, I actually caught him in a new spot (below) the other day. I'm not sure what will happen once she starts walking, all I hope is that Amingo is faster than she is!

So earlier this month my family came to visit and we had an early celebration for Ripley's birthday, which was a lot of fun. It was so great to be able to share her with them and Ripley just loved all of the attention. Then today, for her actual birthday we had a group of Mom's and their kids who live in the neighborhood come over for a lunch playdate to celebrate. We just moved here less than a month ago and Ripley and I already have friends, how great is that? The Mom's are super friendly and Ripley had a blast being around all the kids. And its so great that all of them are just a few doors down, really convenient. Here they are below right before they all sang happy birthday to her, it was super cute.

So again, HAPPY BIRTHDAY Ripley!

Top Chef - Chicago

Top Chef is in Chicago this season, gotta love it!! And the first episode starts off in my absolute favorite spot for deep dish pizza....Pizzeria Uno! Watching that episode made me want a piece of deep dish pizza sooo bad, I can't even tell you! No one makes pizza like Chicago, that's for sure! And if you happen to hit a Pizzeria Uno in another area, (like Florida), all I can say is it's not the same. So if you haven't been to the original location on Ohio Street (not to get confused with Due on Wabash) it's a MUST. I highly recommend the spinach & mushroom, but no matter what toppings you get, I am sure you won't be disappointed! It's lovely yummy goodness!

p.s. Is it just me or is the faux hawk getting played out? Don't get me wrong, it's a cute cut, but I think it's a Top Chef requirement these days! (The SNL skit was hilarious!)

From Traveling to Packing to Moving...

Unfortunately with this move we had to pack ourselves, rather than having them do the packing for us, which happened with our last move. Let me just tell you, if you get the chance, have THEM pack it for you, it's definitely the way to go! Thankfully, a lot of our stuff was already packed from the FL house, since we left a lot of our furniture there and decorations, which all arrived in Austin last month, so we just kept that stuff packed, which helped out a lot, but it's not easy trying to pack a house (even just half of it) when you have an 11 month old baby. Why she doesn't want to sit in her pack n play and watch us pack for 8 hours is beyond me, but thankfully after a week of packing, we all got thru it. I am SOO done with moving you can't even understand! All I have to say is we better LOVE Baltimore and Baltimore better love us! ; )

As you can see, Ripley had a blast playing with the boxes!

East Coast Here We Come!

After much consideration over 3 offers in 3 different cities, Matt accepted an offer on Monday for a company just North of Baltimore, MD, so it looks like we'll be East Coasters very soon. We're very excited the interview process is over and we finally know where our new home will be! We expect to move within the next 30 days or so, but first we have to go out there to find a place to live, then come back and deal with all the "fun" stuff that involves moving out of state. Ugh.

A fun fact to report - today I looked up flights from Chicago to Baltimore and was very excited to see the flight is only 2 hours and the prices were under $200, so hopefully this means we'll be seeing friends & family more often : )

To check out the company Matt will be working for, click on Big Huge Games. To hear about the game he's working on, click on RPG on the left side of the screen. To see the work environment click on Jobs, inside BHG. To see his new co-workers go to About, Our Team. To see where he will eat lunch, go to....haha ; )

Happy Valentine's Day!

Where to next?

So as most of you know, Matt got laid off about a month ago. During that month he's had a ton of phone interviews and several on-site interviews, which is great, but unfortunately out of all of those interviews, none of them have been here in Austin. So we're really bummed, since it looks like just after being here for 4 months, we'll be moving again. Having to deal with packing & the actual move is one thing, but leaving a place you really like that fits a lot of what you're looking for in a city is another issue all together. It's an unfortunate turn of events, to say the least.

So where will we be moving you ask? Your guess is a good as mine! Our new destination is yet to be decided. It looks like the East Coast may be the area we end up (back to cold weather, blah), but it's not for certain just yet. Matt currently has an offer for a job in Albany, NY. And he just got back Friday night from an interview with a company just North of Baltimore, MD which went really well. He also has a few other companies in different cities interested in him (Seattle, Dallas & Chicago), but those are in the early stages of the interview process. Since we need to accept an job offer soon, it's definitely crunch time! We hope to have a decision made in the next week, so I'll be sure to keep everyone posted. It's definitely been a roller coaster for us lately, especially for Matt. He has been traveling a lot and doing all day interviews, I don't know how he does it, but I'm sure glad he's hanging in there. Stay tuned...xoxo

A date...a REAL date!

On Saturday night Matt and I went out without Ripley, on an actual date! This was the second time we've been out on a date since she was born and she is about to be 9 months old. How sad is that!? This is one of those downsides of not living close to family. We're hoping as she gets older and we meet more people in the area, our baby-sitter options will start to increase (let's hope so anyway, for the sake of our sanity!).

So I know you are dying to know what we did and who made our date happen, so I'll go ahead and end the suspense. We went to see a movie at the Alamo Drafthouse, which is a theater very close to our house which has a full menu of food & drinks (a wide beer selection & even margarita's) for you to enjoy while you sit back and watch a movie. For those of you familiar with the Brew N View in Chicago, it's even better than that, because you don't need to leave your seat, servers come to you instead! You write down your order on a piece of paper so there's not a bunch of talking involved and the server comes around and fills your request. It's a great way to enjoy a movie! Especially when it's the first movie you've seen in a theater since your baby was born!

We saw I Am Legend with Will Smith. I didn't realize how scary it would be - not monster type scary, but jumpy type scary. I screamed more than once and grabbed onto Matt while in the theater, thankfully it was very loud so only the guy next to me probably heard. There were a few parts of the movie that didn't make complete sense, but if you overlook those I would say it was a pretty good movie. Great to see in the theater. Kinda similar to the movie 28 Days (similar plot), but not creepy & gruesome like that and shot different too. 28 Days is definitely a better film, so don't think I am saying the 2 are on the same playing field, just trying to give you an idea of what the movie is like. If you see both films, I think you'll understand what I'm trying to say, otherwise I probably don't make much sense. ; )

So we had a great time on our date, it felt so GOOD to get out without the baby and feel like real adults. It was much needed. And our friend Megan is the one who made it all possible. So a big THANK YOU to her for offering to take care of Ripley for us and to Jason who kept her company while doing so. You both ROCK!!!

Jason & Megan "rocking" it out.

TV Talk

I have to rave about my favorite tv shows these days.

So let me know if you watch these and share my enthusiasm!

1) The Office - I started watching this series late in the game, so I'm currently watching the earlier seasons on dvd, plus watching the current ones on TV. This show makes me laugh so hard I'm in tears! The characters are hilarious. It's one of those shows that makes you embarrassed for the characters, so I could see how some might not be into it, but has me laughing all the time. Dwight and Michael are probably the funniest, but I have to say I definitely have a crush on Jim (Matt knows this and in return tells me he's into Pam). 2) Project Runway - "Either you're in or you're OUT!" Matt hates reality TV, but this show he'll actually watch with me (shhhh). We love seeing the designs they come up with and I love the personalities and drama, of course! As for this season....our favorites are Victorya and Rami for their designs. As for personality, well Christian is entertaining to me, of course Matt can't stand him. And we both are soooo sick of Ricky crying!!! I believe he's cried in EVERY episode. I can't wait until his final cry when they vote him off. And who just doesn't love Tim Gunn? I heard he wasn't going to be on this season due to his new show, but it looks like that was false info. "Make it work people".

3) Jon & Kate Plus 8 - This show might not be very well known, so here's the scoop... Jon & Kate are the parents and the "8", well that stands for their children, all EIGHT of them! This couple had trouble getting pregnant and decided to go the fertility drug route and had twin girls. Then, three years later they decided to have "one" more and ended up with SIX more instead! 3 girls & 3 boys. The show is about the craziness of their lives with having 8 kids and I just can't get enough of it. I love watching the kids interacting with each other and I love watching Jon & Kate dealing with all the mayhem. All the screaming and fighting (the sextuplets are 3 yrs old) is hectic and may be enough for people to turn off the tv, but I love it. Plus, it makes me realize how easy I have it, just having one! So incase you wanna check it out, its on TLC on Monday nights. As you probably guessed from the description, you either have to be a Mom to appreciate this show or really like kids.

And coming back soon.....LOST, can't wait! Though the show has had its ups and downs, I'm still hanging on and interested for what's next. Matt, on the other hand has given up after the 2nd season, so I'm on my own with this one.

Baby Contest

AND THE WINNER IS......PICTURE #1 without a doubt, EVERYONE picked that picture! Thanks to everyone who played along and voted, some people we're able to submit their vote on my blog, but sent me an email instead. I'll be sure to keep you posted if I get any calls from Regis or Kelly : )

My Dad called me this morning telling me about a baby contest I should enter Ripley in to try and win 125k towards her college education, so I figured....why not? But I need your help choosing the picture I should submit, cause you can only send in one! And....I need to submit it TONIGHT. So please vote for your favorite picture below by clicking on "Comments". When voting, keep in mind it looks like they are cropping the pictures to mainly only display the face, so I don't think the body of her will be shown (if that helps you pick).

L) Picure #1 R) Picture #2


L) Picture #3 (I will fix the red eye on this one) R) Picture #4