Christmas in Vilaland

I just put Charlotte to bed for the night and Eric is out buying an LCD TV that is seriously discounted, so I have a few moments to blog about our Christmas.

Charlotte made Christmas amazing this year. It is so much fun celebrating with a new baby! She loved looking at all of her beautifully wrapped presents and once they were opened, she loved putting them right in her mouth. The look on her face as we opened everything for her was so precious - she was full of wonder, glee, and a touch of confusion because she didn't know what she wanted to play with the most. Eric and I didn't buy her very much, but her grandparents (mainly my mom) went a bit over the top with gifts. I think I'm going to have to ask them not to buy so much next year because there's no way she needs everything she got. But, since this was her first Christmas, I guess it's ok.

On Christmas Eve my mom and stepfather cooked our traditional feast: prime rib, mashed potatoes, and asparagus. The only difference was that this year they invited their neighbors, Robbie and Charlie (Robbie is the girl), over. They were quite the trip - very Texan to say the least. Here are a few conversation highlights from the evening:

"We would have been on time, but Robbie shot a 10 point deer and we've spent all day guttin' it."

"Yeah, I was in Vietnam. We were killing communists and lovin' every minute of it."

"Ellen Degenerate. She's a dike, 'ya know."

I was at a loss for words most of the evening. I told my mom that next year we should just stick to a family dinner.

One last thing. Eric and I saw Dreamgirls today. I was not disappointed - it was wonderful, and Jennifer Hudson should win a Golden Globe and an Oscar for her performance. I do have a question though. They showed a clip on Oprah of a love scene between Effie (Jennifer Hudson) and Curtis (Jaime Fox), but that scene was missing from the version I saw today. Did they decide to cut it, or is there a special version for more conservative states? I'm just wondering because I felt like that scene was needed to establish a relationship between the two. If you've seen the movie, please let me know if that scene was in or out.

Well, that's all for now. I've got to try and find a place to put all of Charlotte's new things. Hope your Christmas was wonderful.

Merry Christmas

Have a wonderful Christmas!!

Happy 6 Month Birthday

Happy 6 month birthday to the best thing that has ever happened to me!!! She's grown so much. I remember the days when she was swimming in newborn size clothing, now she fits perfectly in her 6 month outfits - right on schedule.

Small Revelation

What I miss most about New York (aside from my friends of course) is the unexpected. I miss waking up each day and knowing that anything could happen. Ordinary days were plentiful, but there was always the possibility of something different happening. Perhaps you would be offered tickets to Letterman while walking down the street, or maybe receive a pass to a movie screening, or literally bump into a celebrity. Maybe CSI would be filming on your street, or your church was being used as a holding/catering center for a film. All of these things were possible, and in deed did happen.

Interesting things just don't happen like that in San Antonio. I've heard about a few Eva Longoria and Tony Parker sightings, and once George Strait came to the drive through of Bill Millers Barbeque while I was working, but overall, things here are more predictable. That's not a bad thing, it's just different from what I became use to.

When I Grow Up I Want to Be

This afternoon I was going through a box of stuff from my childhood that my mom saved for me. In it I found a book called "School Days". Inside there are pages for each year of school with places to paste a school picture and write about the highlights of the year. There is also a section titled "When I Grow Up I Want to Be" where professions are listed with boxes to the left of them. You could check as many professions as you wanted. Unfortunately, my book doesn't go past 5th grade, and the last time I filled out that section was in the 2nd grade. Apparently I wanted to be a lot of things. Here they are:

astronaut
Actor
Artist
Doctor
Mother
Nurse
Teacher
Actress
Singer
Model
Attorney
Secretary
Writer

Handwritten in the 'other' category: Vet, Seqtery.

Isn't that funny? I wanted to be an actor AND and actress. I'm not sure what a Seqtery is, but I have been a secretary. All in all, I have been a large number of my desired professions. I've been an actress, artist (in the musical sense), mother, teacher, singer, and secretary, and if you count blogging, a writer too! I don't think I have a career in modeling, and it's far too late to become an astronaut (although I'd go on a commercial flight to space anytime), and I have no desire any longer to be a doctor, veterinarian, nurse, or attorney. So, my dreams have come true. Yeah life!

Cute Pictures

Since all of my babies are sleeping right now (Charlotte and 2 cats - Chester and Henry), I thought I'd post some more pictures of Charlotte. It seems that many of you can't get enough of her, and for good reason. So, here goes.

Being Green

Al Gore was on Oprah yesterday talking about global warming. I haven't seen "An Inconvenient Truth" yet, but I can see that we are heading for a serious catastrophe in the relatively near future if we don't do something soon and start taking care of our environment. That being said, I'm having a hard time living a green life in San Antonio. It was much easier in New York.

Recycling is the law in New York, and it was very convenient to recycle. All I had to do was walk down the hallway of my apartment building and put all my recyclables in neat plastic bins that were provided for us. Now, we pay $20 a month for garbage collection that doesn't offer any kind of recycling. Trust me, I called and asked them about this and they said that they do have recycling available in some areas (not ours) but that it costs more per month. So, I asked them what we should do if we wanted to recycle, and she said she would send me a list of drop off locations. Fine. The only problem is that all of these locations are halfway across town and each center recycles different things. I would have to go one place for paper, another for plastic, and yet another for aluminum. How inconvenient is that? (but I guess that's the point)

It was also much easier being green with regard to transportation in New York. This reason is obvious, and I don't think I need to say much more here. Instead of using public transportation to get around, I now own an SUV. I wanted to get a small car, but when I saw the huge monsters on the street here, I decided it would be smarter to get something that stood a chance were it ever to get in an accident with one of those monsters. So, we have a Mazda Tribute, on the smaller side of SUV's, but still an SUV.

Those are just two main reasons why I'm having a hard time being green in San Antonio (I keep thinking of Kermit). I could say more, but I keep getting pleasantly distracted by Charlotte. All I can say is, at least we have plans to plant trees this weekend!

Eating Solids

Charlotte is eating solids! She loves rice cereal mixed with a little applesauce and applesauce all by itself. Her first reaction to 'real' food was adorable. She looked kind of shocked at first, until she realized it tasted pretty good. Now she happily opens her mouth to eat. I even came up with a mealtime song so she knows what is about to happen. Whenever I sing it, her legs and arms start going in all directions.

The only downside to this - her poop is thicker and smellier. Yuck!