Mary, Mary quite contrary.......

I love to garden.....in fact, I've had a garden pretty much ever since I moved out of my mom's house. When I lived in rental houses and apartments, my garden was 5 gallon buckets lined up with tomatoes and snap peas growing out of them. But, when Brian moved in, he (being my hero and all) built me my first REAL garden. I love it! I've grown several different things in it, but this year, we're pretty much sticking to what we know. Tomatoes (of the pear variety), cucumber, strawberries, spinich and chives. We also planted carrots, but they didn't seem to work for us this year. Maybe we'll try them again next year.

We've also got some pretty beautiful flowers this year as well. It's so fun to watch things grow and become more beautiful as the year progresses!

Welfare Brat by Mary Childers

I just finished reading this book. It was pretty good. It told the story of the author's upbringing as a child in very poor family. She was raised by her single mother in the Bronx with her 6 siblings. It was interesting to read about what this family had to do in the face of poverty and what the author had to do as a child who was almost as helpless as she was poor. It also talks about her mother's bad decisions that affect her children negatively. It was heart wrenching and heart warming at the same time. A pretty good read to end this graveyard rotation!

Daddy Daughter Day

Today as I slept (I worked last night and again tonight!) Brian and Tayler shared what we in our family call Daddy Daughter Day. (There are also Mommy Daughter Days--I'll post one of those later!)

These days occur when either parent has a day alone with Tayler and we decide to do a few special things just to celebrate how much we love our little sweetie.

Today, Brian and Tayler went to lunch at Applebees, bought a new little barbie, a new shirt, AND went to get Tayler's hair trimmed.

A day of pure heaven for a 4 year old! Brian took her to a place called "Monkey Doos" to get her haircut. It's a salon that caters to children. We've had her hair trimmed here a few times and she loves it! Not only does she get to sit in a cool car instead of a

barbers chair, she also gets to watch Disney movies and they style her hair afterward and of all things, put sparkle spray in it! She just loves going there, and always leaves looking and feeling like a million bucks! Unfortunately, Dad forgot the camera at the actual appointment, BUT I took a few shots when they got home.

Bring on the RSVP's!

What are these you ask? Why, these are the first two RSVP cards for our wedding! They came in the mail today! Oh my gosh.......this makes it so real!!!

I <3 Summer-time clothes!

I'm usually rather hesitant about shopping online becuase I feel that I need to try everything on before commiting to a purchase, but tonight I decided to take the plunge! My friend Kelly has had some pretty good luck shopping on at http://www.oldnavy.com/ for herself and for her kids so I decided to give it a try. I've been keeping an eye out for a summer dress that I can wear to my bridal shower that is coming up next month. When I saw this, I thought it would be just perfect! And only $20!

But, of course I couldn't stop there! They are having a huge sale on all of their clothing. So, I peeked around for something that my lil' tater tot would like and......this little summer dress came along and I could resist. She's going to be a little princess in it!

Although Tayler would be tickled pink to only wear dresses the rest of her life, I do sometimes have to buy her other stuff....like shorts, which she really avoids wearing at all cost. BUT, I figured that with a girly, cute little top, she'd be more excited about wearing her new shorts.....and that's when I found this.......

I am just tickled about all of my finds! I can't wait until they all come in the mail (only $5 shipping by the way!) And don't worry.....I didn't forget about Brian. Yesterday, I ordered him something online too. Not nearly as sweet and fun to buy as the stuff for Tayler and I, but he'll look just as cute in it!!! He'll look great in it at the Mariners vs. Toronto game we're going to next weekend. Hopefully it will arrive in time!
So, after all of the anxiety I've always felt about online clothes shopping, I feel pretty good about these purchases. I only paid a teeny amount of money to have the items shipped, AND if I don't like something, it can be returned to the store.

You found that where?????

My sweet friend Kelly (wedding photos previously posted) called me tonight from the airport in Maui. Her and her new hubby were waiting to board their flight home from their honeymoon, but she had some time to kill and decided to give me a ring. So, we were chatting about her trip and she was telling me about all of the fun things they'd done all week(Brian and I are going there and staying in the same hotel in September for our honeymoon). Then she remembered the story to beat all stories......evidently she'd decided to wade out into the beautiful blue ocean with her husband a few days earlier. Harmless, right? Not this day. A huge wave came out of no where and knocked her (as she put it) "ass over tea kettle" up onto the shore. She told me that her bikini bottoms had about 1/2 of the sand from the Pacific Ocean in them once she got her wits about her. She told her husband that the sand was making her outfit quite uncomfortable, to the point she even considered taking them off in the water and shaking them out....but decided against it when she pictured another wave coming and knocking her again onto the shore, but this time, sans bottoms. So, the decided to make the 30 minute drive back to their hotel. Once back, she couldn't get into the shower soon enough....she got out of her bottoms, rinsed them, and began cleaning herself of all of that sand when she heard "clink..clink.clink". She looked down and saw a piece of coral that had evidently been lodged in her rear. No wonder she'd been uncomfortable! That thing had bedded itself where the sun don't shine!!! She told me that although she is fully aware that the Hawaiian Visitors Bureau would most certainly frown upon it, she's keeping the piece of coral. She feels as though she's earned it!! Ahh, I love that girl!!!

My sweet baby.....

So, as I mentioned in my previous post, I'm working my looooooooooong weekend. On these weekends, Tayler goes to her mom's house on Friday morning, then my mom babysits her on Saturday while her mom works, then we pick her back up on Monday morning. Well, there's no doubt that our house is quieter on these weekends, it also lacks some sunshine and a lot of sweetness.

I called my mom when I woke up for work to ask her how things with Tayler went. She told me all about their day swimming at the park, the friends Tayler made, and all of the adorable little quips that came out of my baby girls mouth. She never ceases to amaze me and crack me up. I'm missing her today and just can't wait until Monday when her and I can share one of our "mommy & daughter days".