Rambling..

The Santa Ana's are here this weekend. It's like summer again. The temperature is in the 80's, the sky is clear blue and the wind is warm. Everything is dry, dry, dry. It is a lazy weekend for us which is a nice change. Last weekend was our birthday extravaganza here at the Manriquez house. Both Gia and her daddy celebrated birthdays. I have a two year old!...and a husband who is getting closer to forty than comfort will allow. It's a funny thing, getting older. Anyway, Gia's birthday party was a smashing success. With three of her friends we, ate cake and ice cream, opened presents and pushed a pinata around (I finally took scissors and bludgeoned the thing until it opened). Gia wanted cake the instant her guests arrived...she's a true Manriquez. The next day we celebrated Dave's birthday by having brunch with friends.
I think the birthday extravaganza weekend will become a tradition in the Manriquez home. It has to be fine tuned, but it will be an annual weekend nothin' but fun and celebration. With Halloween, Gia's birthday and Dave's birthday all within a week of each other I've come the realization that I need to start planning for this time of year in, like, September. Being that I'm into the handmade and want to make all Halloween costumes, birthday presents, banners and goody bags, I can save none of it for the last minute.
After our birthday festivities of the weekend, I was feeling truly motivated to start blogging, finish some of my projects and once again hit the gym. The plan was to stay at home on Monday so that I could figure out a way to be both super productive and take care of the two year old...a challenge that still perplexes me. One of my favorite blogs is at soulemama.com. I love her site, her store, her flicka page, her non profit that she opened last week, but I have no idea how she does it! She has three kids with one more on the way (due this month), she home schools, hand makes everything, and takes amazing photographs daily. Did I mention she wrote a book and her second book will be out soon? How? But I digress...Monday. Motivated. Viscously attacked by a giant bee. Well, I didn't actually see the stinging beast, but I just know it was hideous. My right hand was stung as I was climbing on a playset at the park (so much for staying home), and within hours it was the size of Connecticut. Okay, maybe not Connecticut, but you could probably see it from an airplane, it was that swollen. My hand is apparently famous at my doctors office where I went the next day. I couldn't put my fingers together, much less make a fist, as for crafting anything, forget about it. Do you know how hard it is to change a poopy diaper with one left hand? I am happy to report that today I can actually type with both hands. And so I'll try again, this week, to learn to be productive and a mother to a toddler. Dave just got home from an afternoon surf and has lunch for us. Gia's running around in her diaper, excited about the chips Dave brought home, and all is well. It's time to go.