tifi

I hate insurance companies. That is all.

We live for the weekends. While Saturday is usually spent taking care of errands and doing household stuff, Sundays are usually outing days. In the past few weeks we’ve:

• gone bike riding (ok, the kids rode, I walked the dog)
• gotten dressed up and had a tea party
• visited our favorite park for hours and hours

Being from NYC, I’m definitely of the mindset that you don’t have to pay for something in order to have fun. As a child, I enjoyed some of the world’s best museums, music, theatre, and dance for absolutely free. Yesterday, I turned a regular errand into something fun. Bebe and I went to the recycling center and I let him help. He enjoys being picked up and peering into things like bins, or over counters, etc. While we were there, a train was passing nearby, and so he got to see the railroad crossing arms go down, which he had never seen before, and thought was fascinating. The kids are interested in seeing how voting is done, so when I go to vote this week, I will take them with me. You don’t have to have gobs of money, travel far, or even spend lots of time to have fun. You just have to look around. And you don’t have to be patient, a supermom, or even social to make any of this happen. Trust me, I am none of the above. So without further ado I present “Weeekend at Tifi’s”:

I was dressed up for the tea party too, you’ll just have to take my word for it, hehe.

I pretty much forced Girlie to wear her hair out one day. She actually liked it!

Peep ZB’s steeze in that pic! Haha. He said he just made it up. Uh huh.

A rare photo of all of us together.

Something about these shoes always inspires me to take a picture.

The kids are playing in a little sand pit here, ick. I think public sandpits are gross.

My husband is a grown up kid.

I have my shoe loves, Luis has his.

Someday, I’ll have a DSLR and be able to take fabulous shots. Until then, I make it work.

Girlie strikes a diva pose while I…look like I hurt my back? LOL.

Mommy’s little (not quite) stairsteps, hehe.

The end!

What a week! Started out with a sick baby, ended up with a sick husband. Got good news and hung out with a friend. Chose a (new) candidate. Talked about embargos, small business, dictatorships, and sling mud (kid speak for mudslinging) with my five and seven year olds. How cool is that? Had more clean laundry than dirty. Sleeping in tomorrow. Ahhhh.

The good:

I got a 98 on the aide’s exam I took last week to become a library aide.

The bad:

I don’t have the experience working with children that is needed for the position. In the state of Texas, raising your own children does not count. Seriously.

The in between: BUT, the application is “open” which means I can edit it continuously for a year. The proctor giving the exam said you can volunteer in the classroom (I usually work for the staff at the kids’ school, not volunteer in the classroom), become a sub, go on a field trip with your kid, even, and add that. Woot!

The good: I’m finally holding an open house for the mother’s support group I’m helping to charter here.

The bad: I am sooooo nervous about it. I hope Yolanda can come down and help me!

The good: This one also has to do with a new gig, but I’m not going to dish until I learn more.

Gotta love payless for that. Check out my new shoes…

Perfect way to incorporate two trends I love, but would probably never wear on my body: bold color, and patent. And these are really cute in person, I swear.

It’s been a while so…

The day I had that interview out in Austin, Luis took us to one of his favorite burrito places. I had a delicious veggie burrito on wheat. Yum!

February in Texas means park weather some days.

We found ourselves in beautiful downtown Georgetown one day. One of the best things about Texas, IMO, is all the beautiful county courthouses.

Bebe’s either waving or throwing goldfish at some sleeping ducks here. We had to leave soon after b/c the ducks got a little too close for comfort wanting food, hehe.

Luis has been threatening to cut Bebe’s hair off if I didn’t do something to it. I like it fluffy and chunky, but whatever. It’s funny to see how many reactions we’ve gotten over his new look from people we know and at places we regularly go.

Oh! ZB has a valentine! He asked a little girl in his class to be his valentine, and she said yes. *sniff*

Corpus Christi, can’t our school go paperless?? Is it really necessary that I fill out or sign at least two forms plus throw out 5-10 pieces of paper a day from the school?? At least our student sign in/sign out/volunteer log has gone paperless. The school district just replaced every single computer older than three years old yet they can’t figure out a way to cut the (on average) 1 1/2 bags of garbage I fill a month with school paper? It’s mind boggling, frustrating, and terrifying. Me thinks I should bring this up at the next pta meeting.

In case you didn’t know, whenever Girlie sees an outfit or accessories she likes, she says “That’s so fashion!” Over the past year or so, I really feel like I’ve come into my own fashion wise (I think I say that every year, but hey, fashion evolves, right?). I really know what I like, what looks good, and what is comfortable but stylish to me. Best of all, all of my purchases have been inexpensive as I think I have a shopping gene that prevents me from buying things full price. So, here’s my little list of “must haves”, the things that get worn often and that I never feel self conscious, silly, or frumpy in:

Dark denim pencil skirt -This skirt is so versatile and I treat it the same as jeans. I can wear it very casually with flat sandals, or do a cute wedge or heeled sandal to kick it up a notch.

Oversized, but not sloppy cardigan - Just bought a grey one on clearance and have already worn it lots!

Black v-neck sweater-I resisted buying sweaters for years and years. A part of me always thinks of a sweater as this big bulky uncomfortable thing that you just want to take off, but it’s not like that at all. My sweater possesses the three “S”. It’s simple, stylish, and sophisticated.

Trainers-The best pairs are stylish, yet uber comfortable. I’ve had luck with those by Privo and Michelle K. These are perfect for pick up, drop off, park days with the kids, and anything where I’ll have to stand or walk a lot.

3/4 sleeve raglan tops - I just realized that I’ve been buying the same style of shirt from the Gap over, and over, and over for years now! These cover my arms, the good ones have a nice length, and they’re supersoft.

Black tank top - prevents me from showing an obscene amount of cleavage when paired with another top or dress, and it’s good on it’s own.

Dark denim bootcut jeans - OK, I’ve actually been wearing these for 10+ years, but have recently (2 years ago) stopped wearing Gap jeans in favor of Levis 525s and don’t laugh, a pair called “secretly slender” jeans from JCP. I stopped wearing Gap jeans b/c I just find that they stretch out way too much. I don’t wear a belt, so I need jeans that can stay up without me constantly having to pull at the waist. Plus, $70 for Gap jeans? Who the hell does Gap think they are with these prices, exactly?

Dresses - Still the most comfortable and easy thing for me to wear, I recently picked up what I think is *the most* comfortable dress from the Gap outlet. For $30, I bought two.

This photo is classic “me”. I’m wearing one of the above mentioned outlet dresses in navy, a black tank underneath, a bright necklace, b/c I need to have color somewhere, over the top “of course they’re fake!” studs, and sunglasses (always bought super cheap b/c they have to be replaced often) b/c I’m trying to not have a ton of wrinkles around my eyes!

Items I’m thinking of adding to my wardrobe:

“Skinny” jeans - The problem here is that I really don’t like the way the hem falls (they look better on, I swear). I like to have jeans practically dragging on the floor, and the cut of skinny jeans makes my foot feel all exposed in a weird way. Plus, I would probably never wear boots over jeans, and I rarely wear ballet flats.

A wide belt - I’m having a hard time finding one I like that doesn’t just make me bulge in the wrong places. Any ideas?

“Tory Burch” ballet flats - These are just everywhere now. I mean, one day I was dropping Girlie off and there was a kindergartener with a fly bright green patent pair on! What say you?

Click over to flickr for notes. The library is having a book sale next weekend, can’t wait!