If farmers markets are for hippies

Then you better just call me a hippie.

Ok I'm kidding. Please don't. Please! My husband may never come home if he hears that. But I do love me some farmers markets!

William and I decided we'd go to the Monterey farmers market today to get his teachers some flowers. It's teacher appreciation week - gotta do something right? I told Casey we were going and she was quick to say she wanted to join, so after I got my workout in I went and got William and met her downtown. We walked up and down the street for a little bit, ate a random dinner (William had a quesadilla, I had some sort of Mediterranean wrap, and Casey had a gyro) shared a cupcake then went on our flower hunt.

In my head I envisioned a cute little bouquet in some sort of small vase. Most of the flowers for sale were tall (albeit beautiful!) so I thought I was going to have to change my plan. Then I saw Casey eyeing some pretty little things. I don't know flower names very well, but I later learned they are sweet peas :)

The salesman (florist? Flower guy?) said they were $2 a bunch or 2 for $5. I tried to remember my vision of small little bouquets and looked at his bundles. I thought 3 bundles would make a perfect bouquet so I said I needed 15. (4 teachers X 3 bundles = 12. 3 leftover? Shucks) He said he'd give me the whole bucket for $20 - I don't even know which of us got the better deal, and I didn't really care. There's something about carrying fresh fragrant flowers wrapped in newspaper through downtown.

After we bought the flowers I found some handwoven gift bags made out of plant leaves. The lady tried explaining to me what they're made of and how 'green' they are which is when I realized I'm not 100% hippie - I really didn't care a lick about those details I just loved the bags!

Once our bellies were full (and William's stroller more full) we headed home. That's where I realized my little vision of bouquets was really better suited for one bundle rather than 3. Now what to do with the other 12+ bundles?

So I may not be the most frugal farmers market shopper, and $50 may have burned its way through my wallet, but my house now smells of sweet peas in almost every room. I'll call it a win.

My New Schedule

With tax season behind us, and Austin's 2 month training looming, my boss called me into her office before Disneyland to ask me if I'd like to work fewer hours for May and June.  She started to explain her thought process, saying she assumes it's hard for me to drive to Monterey then Salinas for work, then Monterey then Seaside back home (in case you're not looking at a map, Seaside is in between so I back track if I do drop off/pick up and it's an hour commute)  She also knows I've been trying to be disciplined in working out and she assumed it'd be hard to do all of that.

But she didn't really need to spend much time explaining because I don't think the words "less hours" were even off her tongue before I jumped and said "sign me up!".  She was a little taken back by my enthusiasm and then said, "well, if you like it we could probably work it out for you to do it in July too..." to which I again jumped and said "sign me up!".  In the end, we agreed upon an end date of August 15.  So, as of May 1 and until August 15 I am no longer a "full time working mom".

Don't get too excited.  I just reduced it by 8 hours a week so I'm still getting plenty of work hours in there, but leaving early is amazing.  Monday-Thursday I leave at 3:30 and Friday I leave at 3:00.  I have to admit - it feels very weird leaving while everyone else is sitting there working and I do have feelings of guilt and laziness.  But once I'm on the other side of the office door those feelings seem to disappear and are replaced with a sense of freedom.  

I think I was a bit overzealous in my idea of how much time 1.5 hours is, though.  Because the reduced hours hadn't even begun when I had already created a list a mile long of what I'd do with my time.

Of course I'd work out.  And maybe get groceries.  And car washes.  And gas.  And maybe do laundry.  And clean the house.  And go walk on the beach in pretty days.  And go shopping.

And so far all I've managed to do in that time is work out.  But I've also picked William up a little early and enjoyed not making him be at school longer than any of his classmates.  So, it's still a win.

It does make me a little more stressed at work because I feel like I need to get the same amount of work done in 80% of the time, but I think I'll adjust and find a good balance.  And - like I said - the feelings escape me once I'm out the door.  I'm a free woman.

Before working at my current job I always assumed work was an all-or-nothing type field.  I never thought there would be the chance to slow down and breathe during slower times then pick it back up when things get more hectic.  I don't know if I've mentioned it enough over the last year, but I'm pretty thankful for the job God had lined up for me and the coworkers He provided.  He's pretty amazing.

Dare I go there?

I have neeeevvvveeeer pegged myself as a runner. Never.

Except in elementary school when I loved being on the relay teams. And running the short runs. If it weren't for darn Rachel Allen (who had trees for legs) I would have won every time.

But that was ages ago right? I'm certainly not in the physical shape of people I think of as runners. And I'm nearing the end of my 20's. who picks up running now? It's too late. My glory days as a runner ended the last time I handed Rachel the baton in 5th grade. That's ok, it ended on a high note as we crushed our competition.

Or maybe it doesn't have to end there?

A couple of months ago some friends pitched the idea of doing a mud run and they're so persuasive and enthusiastic that I thought 'sure, why not?'. Turns out I LOVED it. And got 5th place among all females according to the race results. Not bad I'd say.

Then last week I got a call from a coworker:
Her:Hey, have you been working out?
Me: uhhhh no. I need to. Bad. Starting today.
Her: oh good, wanna run the last leg of our marathon relay? Leigh backed out.
Me: when?
Her:uh...Sunday...

Oh sure. 5 days away, hadnt worked out in what turned out to be 3 weeks, and hadn't run 5 miles straight in...wow, a really long time. The mud run was 5 miles but you get to stop and crawl through mud and do pushups and Situps...you get breaks. 5 miles straight? Sure. Who wouldn't want me as a teammate?

Well, turns out I loved it! I was sick most of the week so I couldn't work out like I would have hoped but I still did decently well I think - and now just wish I could do it again and do even better.

Ahh, the runners curse. The drive to beat yourself.

And now 2 of my relay teammates are trying to get me to run a half marathon in August. In my mind there's an insurmountable leap from 5 miles to 13.1. Then again, there's a pretty big leap from 0 to 5 too and I made that one right?

Yikes. Still undecided, but something tells me no one debates a half marathon this long and then decides no. So wish me luck???? Or wish me out of my momentary lapse in judgment please!

Character Recap

Even though William doesn't have a definite favorite, his all-knowing mommy can tell you that he had very selective preference of characters and he had special love for some surprising characters.

Our first morning we had breakfast at Mickey's Surf's Up cafe. Character breakfasts are expensive and after I reserved 2 I started to think I was over doing it. But once I saw William's face the first time he saw them come out I knew we made a great choice. Pluto, daisy, Mickey, Minnie, and stitch were present at the breakfast and while I fully expected Mickey to be the front runner, it was Pluto and daisy who stole the show for him. He had a COMPLETE crush on daisy and was enamored with Pluto. I wish I had taken the pictures with my phone that morning, ill have to post them later - but his face when daisy came to hug him was like a boy with his first crush. It was amazing.

I was also glad we did the character breakfasts because I was surprised by how little interaction there was inside the park. Maybe I was expecting Mickey to accompany us on every ride? I don't know. We did see a lot and get autographs from plenty, but in my mind we were going to have a lot more one on one time :)

William was excited as expected at the presence of lightening McQueen (who William swore was actually lightening's girlfriend, not McQueen himself) and our beloved mater. But he seemed even more excited to see Red- the fire truck who plays a small role in cars.

Another surprising twist was his adoration for tinker bell and Ariel. We met 6 princesses and we only saw Tinkerbell on a float in the parade, but his preference was clear. He even turned 2 princesses away for pictures, then took one with jasmine clearly just to humor me. But he loooooooved Ariel and asked for her for days. The plus side: I got to watch The little mermaid monday night :)

Leading up to our trip his favorite movies (scratch that: his only movies) were Cars and Toy Story. Mickey Mouse clubhouse is always good too but I don't count that as a movie. Anyway, I always thought cars outranked Toy Story but I think that changed this weekend. Either that or it's now an even race. There are 2 pretty awesome interactive Toy Story rides at the park which helped fuel his love. For any toy story buffs, there is one game when you play buzz lightyear's helper and defeat zurg (his enemy), then a second where you ride through a carnival type scene and play various games like shooting arrows to pop virtual balloons, throwing pies at plates, etc. It's a 4D game and you play along with all the characters. It was probably my favorite ride, and when we left there William was even more obsessed with his new toy story toys.

He had a buzz lightyear figurine (which we sadly lost) that he showed to all the princesses and took on all our rides. Then when we lost that one his second favorite was zurg. He showed zurg to the toy story characters when we met them (just Buzz and Woody) and they played with him pretty well. William made the cutest shooting noise ("peoum peoum peoum") and buzz and woody pretended to be shot. Buzz asked to hold zurg and pretended to throw him over the bridge...luckily William didn't burst into tears :) he later recanted the story saying 'I shot buzz with zurg! Then buzz tried to throw zurg over the balcony but its ok mommy he was just playing with me'.

So...while I thought William's favorites would rank like this:
Mickey
Mater
Lightening
Goofy
Woody
Then a trail of others, I think it actually went

Pluto
Buzz
Red
Mater
Daisy
Ariel
And a trail of others

Maybe it was the shock factor? After all, he KNEW we'd see Mickey. No one ever told him to expect to hug a princess or play with buzz lightyear!

Wow

I'm not going to take the time to check, but I'm thinking this is the longest dry-spell in my little blog's history.  And while it seems like forever since I wrote, it also seems like just yesterday tax season was beginning - and it was just one head spin after another for 2.5 months.  

But I'm back.  That's what matters right?

I've been thinking for days about how to re-introduce myself to my blog, and also how to capture the essence of our family vacation...it's not an easy task that's for sure.

You may or may not remember, but when I was 6 months pregnant with William I went to a conference for work in Orlando.  I blogged about my excitement for weeks leading up to it and even though I was unable to ride any rides, I was alone, and my conference didn't end until 5pm I still spent $50 to go to Disneyworld for 3 hours.  Why?  Because Disney is my mecca.  

When I wrote about it almost 4 years ago I probably explained my personal history with Disney so I don't need to go TOO far into my history, the exciting part for me is that it's not just my distant memories of Disney on Ice with my dad and mom, but now it's my very fresh memories of introducing my son to the wonderful world of Disney.

It was fantastic.  It was amazing.  It was perfect.

The weather was absolutely wonderful (tipped over 90 once or twice which is too hot in my book but I kind of glazed over that part and pretended it was still 85).  Blue skies, bright sun, nice breeze - it was gorgeous.  Our hotel was right across the street so we could see the ferris wheel from our balcony and we only had to walk half of a mile to get to the entrance.

I'll write more in days to come about specific details and stories from the trip, but the best part for me was seeing it all through William's eyes.  His young perspective was incredible.  While Austin and I were looking at the maps of the two parks trying to plan out how we could tackle the course and see it all William was happily in Heaven with one little piece of the pie.  If Disneyland were no more than just Cars Land (or Toy Story pier, or toontown - you get the idea) he would have been just as pleased.  He didn't need it ALL for it to be magical - seeing one character was magic enough and the rest was just more and more icing. And who doesn't love icing?

His favorite
Whenever we ask him who his favorite character was, or what his favorite ride was, his answer changes - and I love that. I love that he has no real favorite because each time he thinks back he thinks of something different. We rode so many rides, saw so many characters and made so many wonderful memories. I've been wanting a special family vacation for a long time and I'm so thankful we got to go to Disneyland. And while he may not have a distinct favorite moment, I do:
Watching the World of Color light/water show on our first night.

Now we're back home but not quite life as usual - dada left this morning for Arizona. So while our Disney countdown is over now we have a new countdown. 55 days til we pick dada up at the airport! Good thing we love counting :)

More on Disney to come, I promise...

Things My Son Says

Things William has said over the last few weeks that have melted my heart:

~sees me wearing a dress: "Are you my princess mommy?"

~a few hours after church on Sunday he pauses from playing: "Jesus didn't do anything wrong but he died on a cross"

~on his way home from school with dada: "home is my favorite"

~at dinner one night right as we sat down: "it's my turn to pray"

~one night when I turned my computer on to work from home: "I don't want you to work I want you to read me books"

~on our way to dinner one night: "mommy you're beautiful"

What a sweet sweet bear!!!!

(P.s. hi. I'm alive)

Sometimes you have to laugh

I'm not laughing yet. But I think one day I will, so I'm hoping today you will.

So - in the world of tax season, our firm will file somewhere around 5,000 returns. I'm not sure how many preparers we have or how many I'll do, but that gives you an idea of the volume. I've already finished some for clients whose names ill never remember.

But then there are clients I'm just dying to forget.

I had a group of 10 or so returns for a new client and I had it set in my head that I was going to own that group of returns and knock them out of the park. I owned them...that's for sure. Knocked out of the park is pretty far off though unfortunately. Let's say it was a 'learning experience' (ahem: I sucked) Luckily, in the world of tax season at a firm like this no client lasts too long. At western union if I messed up the return that was it - that was the return. Here it should be like out of sight out of mine, moving on, dead and gone. Unfortunately, this one is just haunting me. (Let's call him bob. And bob is abrasive)

I have another client who has been a client at our firm for decades who just happens to be affiliated with the group I mentioned. So when he asked me to deliver his return in person so he could meet me I was flattered, but instantly nervous because I knew I'd be going into the building of the company/ies I so badly wanted to forget.

I know you're not laughing yet...just wait. I'm painting a picture.

So, as I'm telling my boss that I'm delivering a return to this person she says 'oh, great! I have 2 to take to "bob" today but don't have time can you take them?' So not only am I going to have to step foot in the building, I have to actually talk to the guy. Gets better by the minute.

I drink some water, convince myself he'll be fine, and get on my way. I'm mentally pumping myself up in the car. Client #1 really likes me. He thinks I do a good job. He wants to tell me all about this company he helped build. He likes me. I am good at my job.

I get there, park, grab the insanely large pile of goodies which our assembly department did a fantastic job of making beautiful, and I get out of the car.

I apparently forgot I parked right by the curb. I always park by curbs! I like to park by curbs! How did I trip on the curb???

Not sure how, but I am sure that I did because all I remember seeing after my eyes saw the curb was tax returns strewn across the parking lot. I didn't just trip. I didn't even just fall. I dove across the parking lot, dragging my knees and hand as I apparently threw returns 10 feet in front of me.

No one saw me, but I almost wonder if it would have been better if they had? I had to pick myself up, dust off my knees, grab the returns and go inside as if nothing happened.

Never knew tax accounting came with battle wounds, emotional and physical. Better luck next time!