Moving weekend!

This weekend we are MOVING out of our large, open, modern condo in the suburbs to a teeny little Denver house. I'm super excited to have all hard wood floors and the perfect location (not to mention fenced in yard for the pup and babe) but this is what I'm going to miss most about this place.

Trust me- my closet is even bigger than it looks. And this weekend? Will be moving all of that into a closet about 1/3 of the size. EEEEk.


So major advice is needed. Small closet ladies- what do you do?? How am I going to fit my 40 plus shoes in there? Plus everything else? And the whole only have spring clothes in there in the spring, summer clothes in there in the summer? That doesnt work for CO. Here it can go (as it did last week) from -15 to 70 in three days. And a spring day? Can start out as a cool 25 in the morning and be 80 by afternoon, and back to 30 at night. Same with summer. 90 during the day can easily be 50 at night so I can't just keep my dresses for summer in there etc. Plus I wear my dresses in the middle of the winter!!

Any advice? Anyone?

They say 1 in four deaths are caused by cancer?

Well I'm beginning to think that statistic is wrong. Why is that? I haven't had many close people die to me, but the ones that have or are dying? Cancer.

Close friend in high school, he died my senior year, his freshman year in high school. Of brain cancer.

Then there was Drew's grandma. Died 4th of July two summers ago, ovarian cancer.

And now both of my grandma's. Grandma in Sweden has days/week or so left. Stomach cancer.

Grandma in North Carolina. Breast and brain cancer. On her last days as well.

Both of my grandmas at the same time. I'm having a very hard time dealing with it, especially being far away from both of them right now.

So this 1 out of 4 statistic? I'm starting to think it's way off.

New Obsession...

Brothers and Sisters. I'm just annoyed it took me almost 5 years to get into it. And now I've watched seasons one through three on netflix and just starting season 4.

What's not to love?
Family drama? Check (sorta same dynamics as my family since my dad always worked out of the country and so it was almost always my mom and us 5 kids)
Hot brother? Check
Scandals? Check
And the biggest bonus of all?
Hot sexy politician. Huuuuge check.
I have a thing for men in power. I do. In high school? I was that girl with a crush on not one, but two of my teachers. A sexy english teacher and a cute/nerdy and YOUNG history teacher. Needless to say I Aced those classes.

But politicians? Oh my. So much hotness. I was a political science major and found my american politics prof to be Oh so dreamy (this is the class I took when I was in my 2nd and 3rd trimester (of pregnancy, not college) and turns out I aced his classes also. Sad that for me hot teachers always equaled a better grade.

Anywaaaay- I always get so sidetracked, especially when day dreaming about sexy politicians.

But this guy? Make this show a billion times better and I'm SUPER pissed that I've heard he only lasts through season 4.

Gaah look at those dimples?

And oooh my look what I found. My heart Might have stopped for a second when i saw this picture.

That smoldering look? I don't even have words.

Do you have any unusual celeb crushes who make you go weak at the knees?

Yes, my child asks for happy hour

But it's not as bad as it sounds.

Yesterday Jasper and I were enjoying some swing time at the park when he loudly announces " Mamma, can we please nicely go to happy hour after we leave the park?"

Without thinking I replied " Well sure, we can go get a drink since you asked so nicely"

It wasn't until I got some weird looks/evil glares from the moms around us that I realized that happy hour for most means a drink after work. The happy hour my three year old was referring to was SONICS happy hour. There is one across the street from one of our regular parks and we will occasionally head to sonics during happy hour for strawberry limeades.

As we were leaving I made sure to loudly say "Okay Jasper let's head to SONICS happy hour" so the other moms wouldn't have near heart attacks for thinking I was giving my three year old shots of SoCo and lime.

Things that come out of my three year olds mouth:

"I can't say that those fings (things), my teef (teeth) aren't big enough yet"

Whaaat?

That's Jasper's new phrase. When we were praying the other night about my very sick grandmothers, one in North Carolina and one in Sweden, and Drew's grandpa who just fell down and broke hip hip and I asked Jasper if he wanted to say Amen. His exact words were " I can't say Amen, my teef (teeth) aren't big nuff yet" He cracks me up Every Single Day

Last night drew stayed at the new house so he could paint, but I had a ton to do at the condo so Jasper and o stayed there. I wanted to pack some stuff up in jaspers closet so I put him to bed in our bedroom, plus I like to have him sleep in our bed whenever drew is gone. When I finally crawled into bed, Jasper was sprawled out right in the middle. I gently picked him and moved him to drews side of the bed. He was out cold. Or so I thought. After I tucked him in and kissed his slightly chubby cheek I heard him mumble 'you're my person' and my heart melted.

We have decided...

that we are Not suburb people. At least not this point in our lives.

When we discovered during thanksgiving break of our 2nd year of college that we were going to be parents we freaked a bit. And I don't feel guilty saying that. I think any 19 and 20 year olds would. I think we probably handled it better than a lot of people our age would.

Within a month we came back to DU (where we were going to college, but we were on break back in IA) packed up our dorm rooms (yes, Jasper was conceived in a dorm room...probably halloween night) and had moved into a 'married student housing' apartment at Northern Iowa. I didn't want to go back to DU pregnant. I didn't want to be pregnant 10 hours away from my mom. Plus, being the pregnant chick in a dorm room? No thanks. My other main reason was that I would be moving back to IA during the summer anyway, and really didn't want to go to a doctor in Denver my entire pregnancy and then back to IA in June, with all new doctors and deliver in July. So we transferred back for a semester.

After Jasper was born and we were heading back to DU so at least Drew could finish there ( amazing business school) I decided that 'right' thing to do was move far away from DU and into the burbs. I thought to be a good mom I had to get as far away from a college campus as possible and do all the 'typical mom' stuff, like mom groups, and play dates and all that jazz. But the thing it took me a while to realize is that 1- those things don't make you a good mom, and 2 you can do all those things in the city also.

 I think 21 year old me felt that I had a lot to prove to everyone else. I felt I had to prove that just because I was 21, and Jasper obviously wasn't planned,that I could still be a good mom. But you know what? I'm a damn good mom. ANd I have been right from the start. Being a young mom doesn't make me a bad mom. Just like being a 35 year old first time mom doesn't make you Any more prepared (okay, maybe financially) or better at it.

I felt, probably rightly so, that I was being judged by everyone. Hell I STILL feel like I'm being a judge. Not only am I a 24 year old with a soon to be 4 year old, but I also happen to look like I'm about 16. But this need to prove to everyone else that I'm a good mom? Disappeared a long time ago.

Wanna know how I Know I'm a good mom?

I could list a billion little reasons about how so far I have raised a kind, sweet, talented, smart, curious, healthy, even bilingual little boy. And about how loving is, and randomly comes up to me and says "Mom, you're my person in the whole world" (I tell him he's my favorite person, but he forgets the word favorite) completely out of the blue. Or about how 'organic' I have turned him, because he always asks if his fruit is 'gorganic' before eating it. And about how he thinks fruit is better than candy and will randomly ask for ' an apple, a pear and an orange' for dinner.

But those aren't even the things that matter.

I know I'm a good mom, because He. Is. My. Whole. World. There is nothing I wouldn't do for him, and I know, that without a doubt, He knows this.

And wow this has gotten so sidetracked. But basically I started this blog post to say that in three weeks we will no longer be suburbianites. We will officially be residents of Denver. And we will be able to walk to Drew's work. And restaurants. And top rated schools. And WHOLE FOODS.

Can you tell I'm excited??

Outfits 13-15

 Same dress different shoes.  This is Such a comfy outfit, loose dress and sweater tights. One of my favs.
Paired with what Jasper calls my 'pippi' shoes. If you grew up watching Pippi Langstrump (or pippi longstocking as you Americans like to call her :) you might know what he is talking about.

 Entire outfit (above) is from Forever 21. Didn't realize it till I was writing it down right now, that's kind of embarrassing.

 I liked the tights/pippi shoes combo so much I decided to throw on another loose shirt the next day.
Shirt:GinaTricot, Sweden
Tights/Shoes: Forever 21

 I sort of have a thing for knee high/over the knee socks. Like have a major crush on them. I decided to try them with out boots and kiiiinda love it! What do ya think? Too much?

Another short  dress/tunic. I've been quite scandalous this week apparently!
Tunic:H&M Stockholm
Belt:Forever 21
Socks:GAP
Shoes:Forever 21

Outfits 10-12

This firs one is quite blah, but its my standard errand running outfit- jeans, a tee and a super comfy cardigan

Jeans:GAP
Converse:GAP
T-Shirt:Gap
Cardigan: Forever 21

 I'm So not a 'shirt tuck in(er)'  type of girl, but I figured I would give it a go.

 Jeans:GAP
Shirt:Forever 21
Cardigan: Cubus, another favorite Swedish store.

 This dress is a little short for non tights- but I figured what the hell. If I wanna show my legs, I'll do it. And the little looks I was getting from the moms at Jasper's playgroup? I don't criticize you for wearing sweatpants and SCRUNCHIES in your hair for every playgroup, so please don't give me dirty looks because you think my dress might be a little short kay?

Dress: Forever 21
Boots:Charlotte Rousse

Rook and wine

Might have fulfilled a fantasy of drews: coming home to his wife cooking him a delicious meal in high heels and not much else

Finished product. Garlic/feta/sourceam sauce over pasta. Soooo good!

We didn't celebrate valentines day till last night. This past weekend was also our 6 year anniversary, but now that we are married I guess we will be celebrating a new date! Our night consisted of me making drew dinner, some wine and our favorite game rook. Then for fun we downloaded the iPhone kammasutra app. That was quite fun and I recommend it if you have the iPhone and want to have some fun with your significant other.... For some reason I can only upload one picture from my iPhone per post, anyone know how to fix that? Anyway, for vday drew got me a deluxe pedicure and an hour massage! Can't wait to go get pampered. My poor body needs it badly after all this painting I've been doing. And we only have two rooms done!

The last few days have been insane since getting back from Iowa. We got the keys to the house we will be renting and as one of my valentine presents, drew got me a cleaning service to deep clean the new place so I wouldn't have to. That might not sound very romantic to some but I cant think of a better present! I was there for part of the time they were cleaning and it felt soooo weird, I'm not used to someone else doing that! I went and bought them lunch to make myself feel better. But they were making 30 an hour, which was more than fair I think. Then yesterday I spent 9 hrs tsping the walls and started painting. 6 hrs of painting and only got a bedroom done. Depressing but it will look so much better w crisp white walls! Can't wait to show you all the finished product!

Playing catch up- outfits 7, 8 & 9

This weekend we made the quickest trip to Iowa Ever. We drove down (over?) Friday night after Drew got off work. It's a ten hour drive and we pulled in to my moms house at 5:30 AM. Looong night! Jasper normally sleeps the whole night through when we drive at night, but for some reason he woke up this time at midnight and stayed awake till 5:30! But at least he was an angel. We have traveled so much since he was 6 weeks old that his car seat is No stranger to him.

The reason for the quick trip was a friends wedding. Drew has been friend with the groom since preschool, and him and his bride (who is only 20!) have been together for 5-6 years and now have a beautiful 5 month old baby. It was a very fun night. Drew's dad came along to the reception to tag team along with Jasper so we got lots of dancing in (with And with out Jasper) and got to catch up with all of our friends. 

Skirt- Old Navy

Shoes:Forever 21

Dress/Tunic: GinaTricot, Stockholm

Cardigan:Forever 21

I put this outfit on not thinking I was going to like it, but I ended up almost loving it!

Shirt: Forever 21

Skirt: jcrew

Boots:Charlotte Rousse

Hat: Forever 21

My first pair of jeggings. That I bought over two years ago in Sweden, because apparently Europe is just a tad bit ahead of fashion in my opinion. I bought them there, wore them the whole 6 months I was there and came home and closeted them. I wore them out once or twice and got some looks, and stupidly I let that stop me. But now that they are becoming popularish here I feel comfortable enough to wear them again so I had to include them in my 30 for 30.

Why yes that is a booty shot, had to do it cuz I feel like they are a big seller for the jeggings.

Shirt: Forever 21

Jeggings: Vera Moda, Karlstad, Sweden

Converse: Super Target

And seeing these pictures makes me realize how dirty that mirror is! Eek! 

A boy and his bird.

One morning, in the spring of 09, we were playing at our local park in Karlstad, Sweden.

Jasper encountered a bird he decided he had to play with. Here is his story. The picture kind of speak for themselves.

                               He was sitting in this swing when he first spotted the bird.

He followed him through bushes

He followed him through parking lots

He followed this bird around for at Least 20 minutes while Drew followed us taking pictures. When he could get too far behind, the bird would turn around and look at him. Stop. Wait for him. Then hop along once Jasper got too close. The whole time I felt bad for the bird because I thought he couldn't fly- but he was just messing with Jasper! After about 20 minutes the bird decided to fly away, leaving a very sad boy behind. Seriously one of the funnies things I've ever seen.

Day 6! And a delicious dinner.

I've technically done outfit 7 and 8 but those pictures are on my other memory card so they will have to wait till tomorrow.

Jasper wanted in the pictures also, plus we kind of match!

For some reason these tights are looking purple in the pictures, but they are most definitely navy blue.

Dress: GinaTricot, Stockholm

Tights:I think Vera Wang
Shoes:Forever 21

The back of this dress is a little longer, which is nice for all the bending this mamma does!



On a none clothes note. This was last night's dinner. I wanted to use these yummy looking potatoes I had just picked up at Whole Foods but didn't have a sauce or sauce recipe. So I looked into my fridge and threw together what turned out to be an Amazing sauce! I was quite proud of myself, I usually at least look at recipes,even if I substitute an ingredient or don't measure out the correct amounts. So to whipp up a great meal w/o any recipe is quite an accomplishment for me.

The sauce consisted of butter, chopped garlic, some seasonings (can't even remember now, just threw some in off of my spice rack) and some squeezed lemon. Agh mouth watering now just describing it.

**I know I labeled this meal healthy, which it isn't exactly, but it was served with a side of salad AND every ingredient used was organic, so that's healthy enough for me **