Show Us Where You Live Friday-Children's Rooms

This is my 3rd entry into Kelly's Korner Blog Carnival. She is featuring "Show Us Where You Live Friday". This week is "Children's Rooms".

You can see my posts about my living room and dining room here.

We bought this house in November of 2005. We knew that the previous owner did not have the same umm, taste, as us. We were ok with that and accepted the many projects that were ahead of us. The biggest project in the house was Angry Toddler's room. It was covered in wall to wall wallpaper. It took Angry Husband, Stacey, and I several days to get rid of this wallpaper. Angry Husband had to re-texture all the walls too. It was awful.

Here are some "before" pictures. This was how the room looked when we did the home inspection.




Since 2005, we are on our third room remodel. Angry Toddler started off in his crib, then a toddler bed, and now his "big boy" twin bed. We are currently going with a "dinosaur theme". Angry Husband does not like it. He wants to re-do the entire room into some kind of camouflage theme. I think this may include skateboards, or something. I told him that he can wait next year when Angry Toddler turns "5".

Here are some pictures of his room when he was in the crib. He climbed out of the crib at about 18 months, and was completely out at about 20 months. We then converted the crib into a toddler bed. He was in the toddler bed from January of 2007 to January of 2008.

The changing table converted to a normal dresser. It was made by Bonavita. We got it from a local baby store. It was very sturdy and I loved his baby furniture store. The shelves are from Pottery Barn.

The crib and the armoire were also made from Bonavita. The bedding is from Pottery Barn Kids. It is from the "Super Saurus collection", which is retired. I bought it on e-bay.

Here is Angry Toddler's room as it currently stands. I took these pictures last week.

The bed is from the Pottery Barn Kids Camp Collection. The rug and bedding are from Pottery Barn Kids Retired "Super Saurus" collection. We had a lot of accessories to match the bed when he was in the crib. I found the twin size bedding and the rug on e-bay. The window valance and the clock above the bed are also from e-bay. I found a seller to custom make them to match the bedding. It's been so long that I don't know the seller anymore. The bean bag is the oversized anywhere bean bag from Pottery Barn Kids.

The dresser is from the Pottery Barn Kids Camp Collection as well. The wood dinosaurs were made by one of my mom's friends. The television is a 32" Insignia with a built-in DVD player. Angry Husband installs home theaters for a living. He's been waiting for a very long time to install a TV in Angry Toddler's room. He mounted it in March. Angry Toddler received the Guitar World Tour set for his birthday last week. Notice that you don't see an XBOX or any cords for the TV? Angry Husband put the XBOX and all of its accessories in our master bedroom closet which is adjacent to Angry Toddler's room. If we want to shut down the XBOX, we just go in our room and unplug it. That happens a lot.

This is Angry Toddler's closet. The opening is very wide and very tall. It goes from floor to ceiling. We hated the doors that were originally on it. We didn't realize that it was a custom size though. We had to special order the new doors from Lowe's. We are still debating whether or not to remove the doors and put a curtain up or something similar.

This photo wasn't taken recently. It was taken a little over two years ago. Angry Husband installed this closet management system from The Container Store. It is part of their Elfa System. It looked great when it was all put together. We slowly started taking it apart when Angry Toddler was CLIMBING it. We had to move his dresser into the closet to block him from climbing it. Of course now he has no interest in the closet. Most of his clothes are in the dresser drawers and bed storage drawers. I often forget about the clothes hanging in the closet. It's probably because he has WAY too many clothes. Notice the lovely pink carpeting. That was changed in 2007.

I hope you enjoyed touring Angry Toddler's room. I know that there was a lot of pictures to go through. I felt that it was a better tour to show how it evolved.

Angry Toddler's Birthday Party

Last Tuesday was Angry Toddler's 4th Birthday. We had his party the Saturday before. We had it at The Little Gym, which my BFF, Stacey, owns. I gave Angry Toddler several options on places to have his party, he picked The Little Gym. I choose to go with a skateboard theme, because I'm all about the themes.

I choose to go with this invite. Kim from bubsiedesigns on Etsy made it for me. She is fabulous and was great working with me and my ADD.


I had Kristin from Meringue Bake Shop do cupcakes for the event. She made her Groovy ones which are tie dye and she put awesome skateboards on them (which the kids fought over).



The kids were able to have some free play in the gym, along with some directed activities from the instructors. They had a great time and really burned off some energy.

Mr. and Mrs. Angry Toddler chose to have meltdowns while everyone played.

The kids then had some light snacks of Uncrustables, fruit, and vegetables. It was a nice break from pizza. Most of the birthday parties I've been too have included pizza. Sometimes, ok most of the time, pizza is a bit overwhelming for small kids. Plus what I served seemed to be a lot cheaper too...bonus!



And after snacks, it was time for CUPCAKES!!!! Everyone raved about the fantastic cupcakes from Kristin!





It turned out to be a great party. It was nice to have it at The Little Gym. It started at an exact time and ended prompty. We were out of there in two hours.

We did have another BBQ later that night...

I'm glad that the birthday season is now over and I can relax. I get so stressed out about planning Angry Toddler's birthday parties.

Laguna Hills Memorial Day 5K Race Report

On Monday, I did the Laguna Hills Memorial Day 5K with my running pal, Monique. They also had a 1/2 Marathon going on at the same time. I worked the night before, and forgot to put in to leave early. Ooops, epic fail! I was lucky and got to leave at 1:30am, which put me in bed at 2:15ish. I had to wake up at 5:45am which equals good times.

Monique and I parked in the parking structure near the race start. We both got strange looks on our faces. Why? Because the structure was completely empty. We've done this race several years. It is usually a huge race. We gathered ourselves and headed to the starting area. I immediately noticed that there was a very small amount of people there. I immediately told Monique, "LA Marathon". This is the first year that they hosted the LA Marathon on Memorial Day. I know that there was several protests about this change of date for the Marathon.

I wore my Nike Tempo Shorts, a Nike LiveSTRONG dri-FIT tank, a lululemon sports bra, and my pink Asics GT 2130's (discontinued for the GT 2140's) for the race. I'm thinking pink is going to my signature race color. It works for me. Note to self: must buy more PINK!

Had to have the Angry Julie full-body picture..

Our official pre-race photo. We do it every race.

Overall the run went pretty well. My Garmin dropped at 1.75 miles. It lost satellite signal. I was able to track the time but I lost my pace time and my total mileage. At least I got it off the format that it was stuck on for 2 weeks. I also used a new sunscreen. I've used it before during running. I had no problems with it. Of course, at Mile 3, at the very end..I got the pouring down my face, into my eyes, burning sensation. That was good times, standing over the trash can pouring water on my face.

My finish time was not as great as I wanted. Sigh. I did PR by 14 seconds from my last race, earlier in May. I ran this race last year at 35:15, this year my time was 32:01. That's got to be some kind of improvement, right? After the race, we walked around the Expo. They had all kinds of goodies for us to buy. We also had to have some photo opportunities with the Orange County Sheriff's Department.

Some Recent Purchases

I've been doing some shopping this week. Cause you know that I'm a shopper.

On Friday, I went to the Nordstrom Half-Yearly Sale with my mom. We go to all of Nordstrom's sales. I love shopping for shoes there. A girl can't have too many pairs of shoes, right?

These are the shoes that I got:

Fergie's Guno in Black. I'm going to take these to BlogHer, so watch out for me walking around in these fabulous shoes. They make me very tall. I'm not usually a heels type of person. My mom made me walk all around the shoe department before we purchased them.


and these, Ed Hardy tie dye low rise shoes. I love my Ed Hardy slip-ons. They are a staple of my daily wardrobe. This will be my third pair of Ed Hardy shoes. I'm not too keen on their flashy clothing, but I do like their accessories.


I also got some black cargo pants and a Lucky jeans top. Nordstrom is my favorite department store. I can always find something there to buy.

Today, I went to Border's Books to get some new reading material. My reading well has been very dry lately. I go to the bookstore about once a week and never seen to find anything to buy. That's probably why I've spent some much time on the Internet. I also subscribe to like 20 magazines.

I got the following books. These should keep me busy for at least a week. Seriously, not joking. I read fast.

The Middle Place by Kelly Corrigan
Comfort Food by Kate Jacobs
The Girls from Ames by Jeffrey Zaslow

Oh, and I got some new running socks too, plus a Nike tank top. I wore the tank top for my race today. Stay tuned for my race report!

Show Us Where You Live Friday-DINING ROOMS

Kelly from Kelly's Korner has been sponsoring a blogger carnival every Friday called "Show Us Where You Live Friday". I love looking at everyone's homes. I get a sneak peep into everyone's lives. It's also amazing how much people participate in the carnival.

I live in a pretty small house. We don't have a formal dining room. Even if we had a formal dining room, we would probably not use it. So this is what we have. It works for us. Angry Husband hates the table and wants a square one. I think the round table is perfect for the space though. I always win.

This is the full view showing the table. We got rid of the buffet a few months ago. Angry Husband had turned it into a salt water fish tank stand. The curtains are from Pottery Barn. The table is a Mexican Rustic Pine design. The cushions are upholstered to match our family room furniture.

The chandelier is from Lowes. It was in their special order catalog. We are quite fancy in the Angry Household (not). The metal wall decoration was purchased at the Junior League of Orange County's Christmas Company a few years ago.

This mirror is from Z Gallery, a local store here at the mall. We love it. It's the perfect size. It used to hang over our buffet. Notice how the mirror is positioned? Yep, you can see the television in the family room if you are seated against the wall.

The last photo is to showcase our wood floors. We have them throughout most of our house. They are distressed. I love them. When we moved into this house, it had wall to wall carpeting. The carpeting was PINK. Yikes! That was the first thing that went.

This is an afterthought. I see that many people are posting BEFORE photos of their rooms before they redid them, etc. I had to dive into my old photo account to find the photos. I'm adding two photos here. I will continue to do this throughout the home tour series.




I hope that everyone enjoyed the tour of my tiny dining room. I can't wait to see yours..

How The Economy Hit Me This Weekend

Saturday was a great day, a bit chaotic, but still great. It was Angry Toddler's birthday party. We all slept in that morning, which was fabulous by the way. Angry Husband did some birthday errands for me, without me nagging (very unusual). Jen from The BLAH BLAH BLAHger came over and took some pictures (a whole other fabulous post later this week) while Angry Husband was gone. We then headed to The Little Gym for Angry Toddler's birthday party.

After Angry Toddler's birthday party we came home and had a BBQ. One of my longtime friends couldn't come to Angry Toddler's birthday because her kids had baseball. I totally understand because I know that this will be my future. We are trying to enjoy our Saturday's now because we know in the upcoming years it will be filled with sports activities and birthday parties. It was really great catching up with my friend. BUT, my mom kept interrupting us. She is quite nosey. Gee, I wonder where I get it from. My friend, Lisa, and I decided to go to a local Mexican restaurant for a margarita so we could have a little vent session without ours moms listening to every word. You would think we were sixteen or something, not women in our early thirties with children. We chatted and drank our $9 margaritas, and went back to my car to go back to my house.

Right away, Lisa noticed that her keys and sunglasses were missing from my car. She told me that she set them on top of her center console since her purse was small and they wouldn't fit. We looked all over my car for the keys and glasses. My car tends to eat things sometimes. We then went back in the restaurant and looked around for her stuff. We even left our information in case they found the keys. We just finally figured that I must have left my car accidentally unlocked and someone came in and took Lisa's keys and sunglasses. We returned home and had to tell our story. I don't think anyone really believed us at first. It's not like we went out and got wasted. We had to call Lisa's sister to meet us to get her second set of car keys. That was not fun. I felt really bad for Lisa because her car keys, house keys, work keys, and storage unit keys were on that key chain. Plus her sunglasses were gone too.

I went on with my usual busy week. I worked the rest of the weekend, took Angry Toddler to his annual doctor's appointment, etc. Last night I had a Junior League meeting at a restaurant, which I hate..blah. When I came out of the restaurant, I noticed some bird poop on my driver's side door of my car. It was near the door handle. I just happened to catch the door lock, and that's when I got mad, really mad. I saw that my door lock was completely punched in. I then realized that my car had not been left unlocked on Saturday night, it was broken into. My friend, Lisa, was at the Nine Inch Nails/Jane's Addiction concert so I left her a voicemail about what I discovered.

I came home and showed Angry Husband my door lock. He said it looks like someone took a flat head screwdriver and hit it with a hammer or something to pop the lock. I really think that this idiot (aka criminal, suspect, dirtbag) thought that the keys were to my car. They are not smart. I think they (dirtbag) were trying to steal my car. My ignition was intact though, thankfully.

I made a police report this morning with the local police department. They were very nice. I told them that the ONLY reason I was making this report was because I would have to file an insurance claim. I know it's going to be very expensive to fix the lock. I actually wish they would have just broken the window, it would have been cheaper. I know, I'm bad. The police employees agreed with me, they think the criminal was trying to take my car. Ironically, my police id badge was sitting in the cup holder right below where the keys were. Maybe they saw it and got scared away, who knows...

I usually don't talk much about my job. But I will give you a little paragraph right here. With the current economy right now, crime is out of control. Property crimes including commercial burglaries, residential burglaries, vehicle burglaries, stolen vehicles, and theft are on the rise. They are getting very bold. I make sure all my doors and windows are secured. I do not leave anything in my car. Try to not leave things in plain site i.e. bags, briefcases, etc. They will smash a window just to take a duffle bag out of your back seat. It may only have your gym clothes, but it could have a laptop computer. If you are a renter, please get renter's insurance. It is very cheap and worth if it.

I called AAA this morning and filed my insurance claim. I have to pay the $250 deductible to get my lock fixed. One more thing in my life I don't want to do.

Oh and the photo above, my official CSI photo for the police report. Their CSI was busy. I took my own photos and forwarded them to the officer. Apparently I take CSI photos on my days off now too.

MomDot's Blog Link-A-Thon

Today I am participating in MomDot's Blog Link-A-Thon. I think it's a great way to get to check out more blogs. I can't wait to click on all the links!!

1. Lori@Not Always Charming

2. Fairy Blog Mother

3. Crazy Adventures in Parenting

4. Engineer a Debt Free Life

5. Sweet ‘n’ Sassy Girls

6. Good Golly Miss Blondie

7. SavvySuzie

8. For The Love of Baby!

9. Tammy@lovemy2dogs

10. Blessings Abound

11. Coupons, Deals and More

12. Hairstyles For Girls

13. Stacie @ The Divine Miss Mommy

14. A latte in the morning

15. KiddiesCorner Deals

16. 3 Kids and Us | Mom Blog

17. The Ohana Mama

18. Coupon Queens of Laurel Run

19. Today’s Journey

20. Eve @ Confessions of a Housewife

21. My Charmed Life

22. Laurie@DoubleBugs

23. Lisa @ Final Score boys3 girls2

24. New Sue Review

25. Suzanne Calling

26. Just For Me…and You

27. Time Slides By

28. Babes and Kids

29. Declutter a Little Each Day

30. Grocery Savings for Real Families

31. Life Starring Ellie and Eve

32. So Cute Crafts

33. Brea’s Mommy

34. Are Muffins Just Ugly Cupcakes

35. It’s A Beauty Filled Life

36. The crazy suburban mom

37. Donna’s World

38. Momma’s Gone Over the Wall

39. Mommy’s Quiet Time

40. Joyce (Saving My Cents)

41. My Trendy Tykes

42. The Not-So-Blog

43. Confessions From HouseholdSix

44. SiPPyCuPSand FiNGerPriNTS

45. Jennifer@CouponMommie

46. Shasta @ Crackers&Chaos

47. Giftfully Simple

48. Just For Fun

49. Digital Mommy

50. Me And Craig

51. Parenting Princesses

52. Shan@Last Shreds Of Sanity

53. Inside My Head

54. Petit

55. My Love Lucy

56. FreckleBox personalized gift

57. Baby Lulu Dress

58. Blog 4 Mom

59. 3 Garnets & 2 Sapphires

60. Jolly Mom

61. My Life My Journey

62. Maman And Gourmand

63. Jess - Life @ 30

64. The POSHpreneur

65. A Blog of Goodies

66. Christy aka The Write Gal

67. LookWhatMomFound

68. Peanut Butter & Smelly’s Dad

69. Lucy

70. Angry Julie Monday

71. The Mogul Mom Blog

72. Angela

73. Deal-ectible Mommies

74. Christy’s Creations

75. Lisa

76. Courtney@Booksnboys

77. Wannabe Supermom

78. Thre Craft Momma

79. Internet Toddler

80. Jennifer@Life is a Sandcastle

81. Kristen of La Dolce Vita

82. Cranberry Fries

83. Toni @ The Mud Bug

84. The Mom Buzz

85. Tricia @Nightowl Mama

86. Frugal Mommy of 2 Girls

87. Mommy Cracked

88. EclecticBird

89. Mama Mentor

90. Moomettesgram’s Musings

91. Moomette’s Magnificents Reviews

92. Moomettesgram’s Favorite Recipes

93. Diaries of a Domestic Goddess

94. Go Graham Go!

95. NerdFamily Things

96. NerdFamily Blog

97. Making Money Keeping Money

98. NerdFamily Food

99. Flying Giggles & Lollipops

100. Gena @ Morris Bunch

101. Crystal @ Simply Being Mommy

102. A Kindred Spirit’s Thoughts

103. Two Of A Kind, Working On A Full House

104. D-Lo’s Lounge

105. Free Sample Freak

106. What Mommies Need

107. Mom of 2 Boys, Wife of 1

108. icefairy’s Treasure Chest

109. Cheaper Than Therapy

110. Therapeutic Reviews & Giveaways

111. Lily Bean Designs

112. Dirty Diaper Laundry

113. Dance Momma

114. JamericanSpice

115. Mombalance

116. A Pocket Full Of Buttons

117. Ordinary and Awesome

118. Reviews and Giveaways

119. Subjective Beauty

120. Tales From A Shopaholic Mommy

121. Mommiemayhem

122. IE Mommy

123. Nikki @ Blasian Baby Notes

124. Amber Woodward

125. Grammy Janet’s Place

126. Outnumbered 3 to 1

127. ShimmerMeBlue

128. Dev’s Favorite Giveaways

129. Joyful Money Saving

130. 1stopmom

131. A Modern Mama

132. PourSomeSugarOnMe

133. Fancast

134. Lollipop Baby

135. Lola & Ben

136. idoby2celebrants

137. Sue Jackson

138. Cackleberry Kids

139. Gifts By The Stars

140. Jemma

141. Handmade Kids

142. Ollie Rose

143. Babasfarmlife

144. Banquet Manager

145. Monkey’s Momma

146. This Mom Can Shop

147. EcoLabel Fundraising

148. Divine Chaos

149. baby kakes ink alphabet onesie

150. tee from recycle me

151. Elizabeth @ Suzy Q Homemaker

152. marla mandell bread (5/17)

153. ozone socks 5/15

154. Belly Bumps to Baby Hugs

155. Hip T

156. ThenComes Baby

157. Homemade Gourmet

158. Fresh Pure and Simple

159. MomDot Mom Blogs

160. MomDot Mom Reviews

161. Bloggers Give Charity

162. Organic Baby Resource

163. Potamus Prefers

164. The Army Wife

165. Through Hazel Eyes

166. Frugal Rhode Island Mama

167. Just Jingle

168. And Twins make 5!

169. Frugal Plus

170. Christie

171. What Happened To My House?

172. Miracles on Mama Street

173. Heck Of A Bunch

174. Blog Designs by Susan

175. mommy23monkeys

176. Hanna

177. Got Kids Need Valium

178. Womb At The INNSANE

179. Katie & Kimble Blog

180. Kim @ Adventures SAHM

181. The Frugalicious Mommy

182. Penny Pinching Diva

183. Another day. Another thought or two

184. Beauty4Moms

185. Nikki @evilflu.com

186. Little Miss Julia

187. Mrs Zeee

188. Cheryl

189. Frazzle Dazzle SuperMom

190. Florida Mealtime Savers

191. Inspiration Station

192. Mommy’s Kitchen

193. Saving with MamaNordy

194. Saving SAHM Sanity

195. A Little Piece Of Perfect

196. Nodin’s Nest

197. Lil Miss Eco

198. Laryn Strickland

199. HeatherMama

200. The Gerber Babies Blog

201. WhateverSuccess

202. Women Who Win

203. Kat @ The Burb Blog

204. Happy Healthy Families

205. Sweeps4Bloggers

206. dramaqueensmum

207. The Mom Trap

208. Multitasking Mama

209. Mama Michies Musings

210. Little People Wealth

211. Belly Beyond

212. Kim Kihega

213. Mom Fuse

214. Juanita

215. Adopt a Do

216. On the Refriderator Door

217. Christine

218. Little Diva

219. My Household Junk

220. I’m Here….Really

221. Brittany@The Greer 5

222. mary

223. Nicole @ Nicole’s Nickels

224. Lori Newman

225. Kris @ NSQSA

226. Debb

227. Shawn Ann’s World

228. Peke Moe -NZ made baby sleep sacks

229. A Simple Kinda LIfe

230. Sweet Serendipity

231. Bouncing Off The Walls

232. Jane Loedding

233. Msbuildingupdabenjamins

234. Msbuildingupdabenjamins

235. Msbuildingupdabenjamins

236. Musings from Me

237. Veronnica

238. The Adventures of Miss V

239. Mudd Kids

240. Mom Most Traveled family travel

241. Relishing the Dirt

242. Good, True and Beautiful

243. Deb @ Frugal Living and Having Fun

244. The Last Blog on Earth

245. A Wrestling Addicted Mommy

246. Rae

247. kimert@diaries of a coach’s wife

248. Dore’s Diaries

249. Blog by Donna

250. Lisette

251. Pillaging With Buffie

252. Mom of Faith

253. GODSOWN

254. flutterbyechronicles

255. shelley

256. Life In A House Of Blue

257. kristen

258. Alex the Fey Thriller Series

259. MamaCheaps!

260. Donalacasa

261. A Jewish Journey

262. Anissa @ Our Chaotic Life

263. BethinNC

264. Stuttering Shell

265. Don’t Blink

266. Life is Sweet

267. Lisa

268. Sue@Stay At Home Mom

269. m.e (cathie)

270. Run DMT

271. Princess Ratbag

272. Michelle G

273. CF Mama @ Nathan’s Fight

274. Moody Mama Says

275. Laurie Ann

276. Cooking During Stolen Moments

277. A Simple Walk

278. Vanessa

279. middleagedmom

280. Ramblings Of A Wannabe Writer

281. Oh My Baby

282. Fordcast Sunny

283. Lisa Miller

284. Stacie @ The Divine Miss Mommy

285. Bibs & Cribs {very cute stuff}

286. My Lil’ Budget Book

287. Misadventures in Baby Raising

288. My Mommy Said

289. Milk & Honey Mommy

290. Milk and Honey Mommy

291. Amy O’Neal

292. Parenting Children

293. A Girl And Her Life

294. MarieLynn Boutique Blog

295. Born Fabulous Boutique Blog

296. The Pitter Patter Boutique

297. Stephanie Deese

298. Brea’s Baby Boutique Blog

299. digiscrapping.net - Heather Manning

300. Kids Activities Blog

301. Two Little Whales Cloth Diapers & More

302. 3 boys & a dog

303. Karen ~Georgia Angel

304. JenniferB @ my not so hurried life

305. Shannon Blogs Here

306. A Virtuous Woman

307. Secrets of a Southern Kitchen

308. Dreamer

309. Lollipop Book Club

310. Mommie Daze Virtual Baby Shower

311. Heck Of A Bunch

312. MomSaves4U

313. Barely Domestic Mama

314. Emilie @ Baby Loving Mama

315. Professional Family Manager

316. Kathleen

317. Coaching The Family

318. Frugal Creativity

319. Easy Being Green

320. Dandelion Bubbles

321. Shelly aka The Attic Girl

322. Foxtoybox-Discovery Toys

323. Ashley @ Beauty4Moms

324. Colleen - Mommy Always Wins

325. Playground for Parents

326. World of Discovery

327. Kati @ Country Girl City Life

329. A Little Bit Nutty

330. Mahayla’s Mommy

332. If I Could Escape . . .

333. The Shopping Mama

20 Minutes of Free Therapy

I had my morning phone call with my BFF, Stacey, this morning. We do this every weekday morning before/after preschool drop off. We vent about work, husbands, and our mothers.  We need this phone call to get through our day. We call it our free therapy.  We understand each other. We understand the issues we each have in our lives.

I vented about Disneyland yesterday. Which was supposed to be a nice birthday treat for Angry Toddler, turned into Birthday Hell. 

She vented about work and dance classes.  I understand.

And an I was drinking my 24 oz. Monster Energy throughout this entire phone call. I really really needed a 24 oz. today.

Do you have a daily ritual? Do you have to get your coffee? Check your e-mail?

Happy 4th Birthday Angry Toddler

Today is Angry Toddler's 4th Birthday. It's been quite the long road already with him. We had a rough start and I think we are finally on track. With a 36 week c-section (due to my gallbladder problems), a one week NICU stay, bronchitis, asthma, febrile seizures, and everything else along the way. He's finally 4!

Right after his birth!

Little NICU Baby!

5 Months Old!

One Year Old!

2 Years old!

3 Years Old!

4 Years Old!

BlogCrush: OC Blogger and Twitter Meet-Up

Almost two weeks ago, we had an Orange County Blogger and Twitter meet-up at the Veggie Grill at the Irvine Spectrum. Suzanne Broughton from Alive in Wonderland and MomCrush organized this fabulous event for everyone.

I've been a total slacker, ok I admit I forgot to post about the meet-up. I have way too much going on in my life right now and I tend to get a little forgetful sometimes. I arrived at the Veggie Grill with my BFF, Stacey. I'm not a big fan of vegetarian food so I chose to abstain from the eats at The Veggie Grill. Everyone said that the food was delicious. I still refrained. I did get an ice tea. I had to go and borrow, ok perhaps I took several packets of Sweet'N Low from the neighboring Chipotle.

I was able to talk to several people whom I've been commenting with, tweeting with, etc. It was really great to meet everyone. Unfortunately I did not get to spend some one on one time with everyone there. We needed to arrange it speed dating like or something, with a time frame. I feel that if I made maybe 5 great new connections with the people there, I was successful. There are going to be more events in the future, so I can catch up with everyone there.

Kristin from Meringue Bake Shop also provided some fabulous margarita cupcakes. Perhaps, I had two of them that night. I loved her decorations on them.

Here's a list of everyone that attended (in no particular order):

Suzanne: www.suzannebroughton.com

Marcy of The Glamorous Life: http://marcywrites.com/

Dana and Jeff Sipper: http://sipperphotography.com/blog/

Elaina of Restore: http://elainaavalos.blogspot.com/

Kristin from Meringue Bake Shop: http://meringuebakeshop.blogspot.com/

Stacey of OC Food Mommy: http://ocfoodiemommy.blogspot.com/

Roxanne of Me and My Monster: http://themomblog.freedomblogging.com/author/rhack/

Aracely of Day Tripping Mom: http://daytrippingmom.blogspot.com/

Jeff from OC Metroblogging: http://oc.metblogs.com/

Kara of Eli's Lids: http://elislids.blogspot.com/

Sara of Ducks and Pucks: http://www.ducksandpucks.com/DUCKSandPUCKS/SKS_BLOG.html

Jen from Tiny Oranges: http://www.tinyoranges.com/

Kirsten of Wright Creativity: http://wrightcreativity.com/

Debbie from Peace Love and Momminess: http://peaceloveandmomminess.com/

Martha from Melody Gibbons: http://melodygibbons.com/

Sandra of TolduOC: http://tolduso.wordpress.com/

Suzanne of Twenty Four at Heart: http://www.TwentyFourAtHeart.com/twenty_four_at_heart/

Becky from Happy Hour Mom: http://happyhourmom.blogspot.com/

Tracy from Tracy Clark: http://www.traceyclark.com/blog

Lorna of Calif Lorna: http://califlorna.com/mission-accomplished-202

I can't wait to see everyone at our next meet-up!!!

Blogger Award

I was so excited to hear that I got an award. One Fabulous Mom crowned me with this fabulous-ness. I'm supposed to name three things that make me awesome!

1. I'm totally Type-A. When I commit to something, I tend to totally over-do it. If I have a theme, I go out of control with it.

2. I pass my addictions onto others. I've probably gotten at least 3 people addicted to drinking Monster Energy Drinks in the past month.

3. I'm a role model and inspire people. I've had several people whom have told me that all of my talk about running has made them want to start running. I would not say that I was an experienced runner. It's easy to run, it's free, and why not. I'm trying to do a little more running lately. I'm attempting to lower my 5K time, plus trying to decide on whether or not to train for a half marathon.

I'm going to now pass the crown over to three other bloggers that I love. I read their blogs daily!

Danica from Chic Runner. She's a runner too. She inspires me to start training for the half marathon that I've been debating on!

Jen from the BLAH BLAH BLAHger. We've really connected the past few months. We live within miles of each other. We have a common friend who lives in a completely different state. Jen inspired me to complete all of those un-finished projects in our house. Plus, she recently took some awesome photos of Angry Toddler and little ole' me.

Kristin from Meringue Bake Shop. Meringue Bake Shop is a business and a blog. Kristin is a fabulous cupcake baker. I've used her baking services 3 times already since I've met her. She works a regular 9-5 job full-time and then spends her nights making fabulous works of art. She's broadening her business and recently starting selling her cakes in a local yogurt shop.

These ladies are all AWESOME and I was happy to give them this award!

Birthday Busy-Ness

Angry Toddler is turning 4 next week. We are having his birthday party on Saturday. We are then having a BBQ after the birthday party. So it's like 2 parties. We are having the BBQ for the baseball crowd. People who have kids in sports (baseball, etc.).

Then Monday, I'm going to bring treats and gift bags to Angry Toddler's school for his birthday. Yes, I'm that mom..

Tuesday, Angry Husband and I are taking Angry Toddler to Disneyland for his birthday. He gets in free, but we have Season Passes. So he will get a gift certificate to spend there on really expensive things that we don't want to spend our money on.

I have so much to do. Angry Husband keeps asking if I've made lists, ordered food, etc. I'm getting there, slowly.

First thing I had to do today was wrap the presents. I know that Angry Toddler will be around me most of the time until his party on Saturday. This was my only chance to get things wrapped.

Looking at his gifts, you would think he was turning 14 and not 4. Angry Toddler is turning into quite the gamer lately. It's Angry Husband rubbing off on him. Really, he didn't have a choice, it's genetic.

I captured this on video a few weeks ago. He was quite annoyed that I was interrupting to him. Notice the eye rubbing, he was soo tired. Yet, he kept on playing. Quite the gamer in training.



And the skateboard stuff..well he's been begging for a skateboard, ever since we attended this event. I'm going to dedicate Angry Toddler's skateboard obsession to Ed aka RockDaMullet. He truly inspired it!

San Clemente Beach Trail, A Breezy Run

This is the second time that I've ran the San Clemente Beach Trail. It's a little over 5 miles if you run/walk/jog it both ways. I ran it with my friend, Pesha, and her adorable daughter, Charlie. We loaded Charlie up in my Bob Revolution Stroller, and went our way. Note to self, must add air to tires in stroller. It works much better with pumped up tired.

The beginning of the trail was a bit crowded. There are some boot camps that utilize the trail for their programs, and the women were stretching or finishing their cool downs. There were all kinds of strollers parked around the area. It was a bit congested, almost like the 91 Freeway during traffic time. I did roll my eyes a little. Pesha and my BFF, Stacey, know about my little contention with San Clemente and the "mommy crowd". I like to call it a little cult that they have on their "Island of SC". Ironically, I was wearing a USC Football hat to run in, totally not planned, yet a very bad hair day.

We started trotting on the trail. Every few minutes, Pesha would be waving to someone or another. Why, because she knows everyone. Just like, Stacey, they know everyone. I had to giggle about this, just a little. We passed all kinds of people, and I had to comment, as usual. I like to provide my commentary to Pesha while running. It keeps us entertained, and perhaps a little distracted from what we were actually doing, running. I laughed at the mommies with normal strollers trying to run. I don't get it..."I want to say hon, I know you have a brand new baby and you are trying to get fit..but really the $700 stroller was meant for the mall, not off-roading." Then there were the guys running with their shirts off. A bit bold, I may say. Some men just need to keep their shirts on. I understand that you may have the abs to take the shirt off, but sometimes along with the abs comes a little, um manscaping. I'm sorry but I get really creeped out by the over-abundance of chest hair on men, and/or even worse, weird chest hair patterns. Like when the chest hair starts creeping over to the shoulder area. Not so appealing.

While we were running we were provided with a gorgeous view. It makes things a lot easier. We discussed children, husbands, married, fitness, you name it. That's why I like to run with friends. It makes everything easier. Plus you get can some free therapy.

We finished the trail and a very nice breeze came along. Perfect for wicking off that sweat. Yes, people, Angry Julie sweats. I can't always be perfect. Charlie was begging to go on the swings. We obliged. The poor girl was trapped in a stroller for 5 miles, and had to hear all of our ranting.

I asked one of the many "mommies" near by to take our picture. Mostly to show my husband some proof, that yes, I actually went for a trail run today. Plus, why not. The day was beautiful. The "mommy" asked if something about Charlie being in the swing, and if she was ok. Pesha and I both did some type of shrug with our shoulders, and said she will be fine. Seasoned parents we are. The kid will be fine. Just take our picture. Why? Because the parents are never in the pictures, always the kids. The parents are too busy taking the pictures.

Pesha is on some of tennis addiction right now. But she has agreed that it's kinda good to do this Beach Trail Run. I think we are going to try and do it more frequently if children, sickness, maids, bank deposits, surgeries, car accidents, or anything else doesn't get in the way.