Christina puts the babies to bed

V Day

So, it's Valentine's Day, the day that teenagers all over the world look forward to with great excitement or the day that they dread with so much disdain that they want to crawl into a hole and just die. Of course which one totally depends on whether or not they have a "Valentine". It is such a dumb thing to me, but I too remember how my entire world was based on whether or not I received a grand gesture of "love" (in front of the whole school of course), on Valentine's Day.

Balloons and roses, candy and cards. And for those in committed relationships, there was expensive jewelry and video game consoles. Oh yes. If you had a boyfriend on Valentine's Day and he didn't spend at least $200 on you, let's just say that you'd have to make excuses to all of your friends about why your boyfriend couldn't get you what he really wanted to get you. It wasn't that he didn't love you, oh no, it wasn't that he didn't want to get you a gold name plated necklace covered in diamonds (remember when those were popular?), but it was because he just had to pay for his new car or some other random excuse.

When I think about the weird things that teenagers feel pressured about, it makes me feel like I'm looking back into the twilight zone. Why did a rose or a balloon mean so much? Why did it matter if Valentine's Day came and went without a boy declaring his undying love for you?

Now I'm married and have two children. I love the three of them and am extremely happy in my home and in my life. I don't want to sweep Valentine's Day under the rug or anything, but I have to say that I really don't understand the hype that some people put on this silly day. I guess it is nice that there is one day out of the year that makes my husband feel obligated to romance me. But honestly I'd much rather him romance me on Mother's Day by showing and telling me what a great Mom I am. I'd like flowers and a dinner and all around "best husband behavior" on that day in May when restaurants are booked solid with families and the flowers have just started blooming, ready for purchase at your local garden center (perfect timing).

I'll take wining and dining (trade the wine for Amstel Light please) any time of the year if we decide to make it special. I don't need red roses that cost a gazillion times more today, when he could just buy them for me any ol' day for a much more reasonable price.

Maybe this is partly because I feel like Valentine's Day (if it means anything at all) is about both people - the man and the woman. I don't know why or when I started to feel like this, but I don't think Valentine's Day is about the guy spoiling the girl. I feel like it is about each person showing the other person how much they care. I feel special when Nik comes home with flowers or sends them to me on V day, but I also feel like I need and should do something for him. It is his day too. So, wouldn't it be more romantic if he just bought me flowers on a random Tuesday and I cooked him his favorite dinner, light some candles and put on a cute dress on, say, a Friday night in June? That would be special. Not on a night when we are both trying to make it special because the calendar tells us so.

Am I a hater? Or does anyone else see where I'm coming from?

Music spot

So I feel like talking about music, so let's talk about music. What songs are you loving right now? What songs are you hating?

I absolutely love this song - Christina Perry "Jar of Hearts". Great music, great lyrics. "You're gonna catch a cold, from the ice that's in your soul" Wow. BURN. Love it.



Some of my other favorites right now are:

"Secrets" by One Republic, also has great music (at least the chorus has awesome music) and the lyrics are pretty interesting as well. I get goose bumps when I listen to the chorus.



I love Taylor Swift and her new(ish) song, "Back to December". It really makes me want to see her in concert. She is going to be in my area too, but by the time I found out about it, everything was sold out. Totally sucks. Plus, Nik wouldn't dare go with me, so that wouldn't be much fun anyway.



This Bruno Mars song "Grenade" is pretty good.



I love Britney, but her new song is only eeeehhhh. What do you think?
(Sorry, no video for this one).


I also love Lady Gaga, but as for her new song, "Born this way", the first time I heard it, I thought it was awful. It sounded like a complete mess because the music in the beginning doesn't seem to mesh with the lyrics. Then the song just started to annoy me because Lady Gaga had to say "I was born this way" like 85 times. Just like almost everyone else listening to this song, I realized by the time it was over, that it sounded very Madonna-esk. Then, it dawned on me that it sounded a lot like "Express Yourself". When I heard both songs compared on the radio, the similarities were very obvious. Oddly, ever since then, the more I hear the song, the more I like it. I'm not sure why, although the fact that she says "I was born this way" a million times still annoys me. Here it is (no video though).



When I first heard Black Eyed Peas "The Time", I was thrown back by their use of the song that I have always known from Dirty Dancing. But, the club-like music is just so awesome that I couldn't help loving this song. I seriously want to just blast it and dance around the living room.



And speaking of Black Eye Peas, although it is old, I just love their song "Rock your body". When Nik and I saw them in concert, we had never heard this song and it totally stood out from all of the other unknown tracks. Fergie sang the chorus though, unlike the album version which is edited (auto tune). I liked the live version much better, but still can't get enough of the song. And I know this is ridiculously cheesy of me, but when I give Christina a bath, I can't help but sing "wash that body. come on come on. wash that body (wash that body). wash that body. come on come on. wash.that.body" LOL, yes, every.single.time. Am I a dork or what?



Last, but not least, I must talk about Kesha -or should I say Ke$ha (to quote my Mom, "Doesn't she have a dollar sign in her name or something?"). I am super excited to go to her concert on my actual birthday, the big 3-0 by the way (and no, I'm not getting old, thank you very much).

I loved "tik tok" when it first came out, "blah blah blah" and although I didn't find "your love is my drug" all that exciting, Ke$ha quickly became a "must hear" for me. When "take it off" came out, I just about went crazy over it. "We R who we R" is great too, but damn, "take it off" is just awesome. That is the song that made me want to see her in concert.



Her new CD is pretty weird, especially "cannibal". The lyrics to that song are awful honestly, way too over the top and make me gag. BUT - the music behind the lyrics is great and after hearing the song a few times, I can manage to get over my disgust for the lyrics. In fact, I find myself wanting to hear that song first whenever the CD is on.



The newest single, "blow" is growing on me as well. It is very good. I'm not as excited about it as I was "take it off", but I am excited that it is her newest single and looking forward to hearing her perform it live.

Picture post

Just some pictures of my two favorite girls (from the last couple of months): and a video!

Basketball, Football, Tennis oh my!

Santa brought Christina a basketball hoop set for Christmas. I also got Nik an adult version (aka, the real thing). So we have been playing a lot of basketball lately. In fact, we have been playing a lot of sports in general since we all now have tennis rackets and balls, CC has a soccer ball, we have all sorts of bats, and we have a couple of footballs (standard size and junior for Christina).

But, by "playing sports", I mean that we basically run around with the equipment, shoot some hoops, or hit tennis balls against the wall (in our house!). The way I figure it is that if we can get all excited about sports in the winter, even if we aren't actually playing the games, we are going to have an awesome spring once the weather warms up. Afterall, a two year old needs lots of practice before she can actually play the game.

So it is official, no excuses, we will not be sitting in front of the tv all spring/summer! Not only can we play basketball, tennis, soccer, or a number of other outdoor sports, but Christina has her brand new swing set to play on, a motorized car, and her new Dora bike. Now all we need is warmer weather . . .

Luckily we escaped the bitter cold by moving to Georgia, but we haven't escaped winter completely. I feel bad for those of you still in New Jersey experiencing what seems like endless snowfall. Sorry guys!