In the mood…

My doting* husband got me an iPad for my birthday on March 2nd. Then thankfully, my brilliant* eldest son (17) noticed that we were within a week or so of the NEW iPad2 coming out so he talked my handsome* husband into returning it so I could order the brand new one. It is due to arrive in just a few days. I ordered it online at 1:00 a.m. Friday, March 11th. And yes, I had to set my alarm for that. For someone who is all about instant gratification, I am quite amazed at my newfound ability to wait patiently. Well, the Earthquake/Tsunami in Japan helped put things in perspective, for crying out loud.

My adorable* youngest son (15) was quick to tell me his opinions on which color I should order (iPad & nifty foldable magnetic cover), whether or not I should get it engraved, and which games he will most definitely enjoy playing on it when it arrives. Sweet* husband is suggesting I create a sign-in sheet so they can all have their rightful turns using it. Um, get in line gentleman. Every manchild for himself. Good luck getting it away from me. I’ve never owned my own laptop, and although I have an embarrassingly torrid love affair going on with my iPhone 4, I have a feeling my new iPad2 will get ALL of my attention (short as that span can be at times!). I probably would have held off from the iPad craze but then Martha Stewart had to go and show that hot fudge dripping in high-res video on the cover of her new digital magazine issue. And I. heart. magazines.
I’ve missed blogging, bloggers, twitter, and creativity in general.

I’m in the mood again.

*doting might be stretching it a tad, let’s just say that after almost 22 years of marriage and at least 10 years of the lame old married people’s vow of, “let’s not buy each other anything,” he scored major points with this one! His 50th is coming up in December (I am not nearly THAT old btw), so perhaps he is setting the stage, but either way, I’m fine with it. The other *adjectives are strategically placed to encourage these family members to keep gifting me iTunes gift cards because there are a LOT of digital magazines out now!! Plus, I think the iPad is worth purchasing just so I can slip it into this amazing accessory from Happy Owl Studios They’re also giving away an iPad2! Just enter by April 15th, 2011

Have you been tempted by the iPad? Do you own one? Are your kids and husband wonderful* like mine? Do you like chocolate? In other words, comments encouraged 🙂

Inspiration ~ Blog It Forward

Welcome! Today is my turn to share what inspires me. I’m one of 300 bloggers participating in a “blogger mash up” called Blog It Forward, created by Victoria at sfgirlbybay

Paris

I define Inspiration as anything that makes me feel creative, motivated, and even hopeful. Click on any of the photos for a larger (better quality) version.

Books

My 80 year old father-in-law

Fresh Lists

Treasure Hunting

Hiking with friends (John Muir Trail-I'm on the left)

Olives

Just kidding about the olives. I just added that to gross my husband out.

The teachers and students at HTHNC

High Tech High North County

A spa visit (La Costa)

refresh, relax, dream

Movies

Yes, I enjoyed The Hurt Locker, but I really watch movies for the design and fashion. Shallow but true.

Magazines

Kids at play

Nature

My marathon man

Visiting with friends

My two teenagers, for so many reasons, but two of which are their creativity and their wonderful way with kids.

Zach

Corey (& Emma)

Downtime

Check out Sumanam’s blog from yesterday and Surviving Green for tomorrow. Check here for a full schedule of the fun and INSPIRING Blog It Forward participants. Thank you for visiting and even more for leaving a comment!

Laura

I married royalty

Today is Valentine’s Day and I feel I must share a little something about the love of my life.

I have the best husband on the planet. I know this is true because we’ve been married for almost 21 years and I still think that about him. I’ve loved him from the beginning but after we had two boys and I got to see what kind of dad he is (and he is. the. best. kind.) then I was doubly smitten.

His name is Michael. He doesn’t really mind what anyone calls him, Michael, Mike, Mikey, Robby (his college buddies still call him that sometimes) etc. but  I always call him Michael. He’s such a great man. I’ve always joked that if somebody doesn’t like Michael then they’re probably an  *% – #!*$.

I didn’t get roses or fancy gifts for Valentine’s Day today but we got rid of the kids we made sure our teens had other arrangements and we’ve had a lovely day-doing chores. I’m serious. I could do anything with him-he’s fun to be around. Over the past years he’s certainly given me some very thoughtful gifts, but the best kind are like what he did for me on Friday. He came home early from his hard work day to make sure I had a sparkling clean car (inside & out) before my girls’ night out event (Cupcakes and Cleavage-I’ll be posting about that soon). He does so many loving & caring things like that for me. But mostly, he puts up with me and I sure appreciate that (have I mentioned that I can be a bit of a handful?).

Like many “old married couples,” we’ve gotten into the BAD habit of agreeing not to get each other gifts. I know, it’s terrible. But after all these years I truly value the daily loving things he does for me just as much-maybe more. Why does he stick around with me? I think he loves me a bunch too (this, of course, makes him even more likeable). I may not be the best Suzy Homemaker, but he knows I value him and I’m forever telling him how cute, smart, sexy, funny, he is. He is all those things to me and more. I made him take that quiz in the back of the book The heart of the five Love Languages (no, this is not a sponsored post) . It turns out he was “Quality Time.” Honestly, I never would have guessed that, but when I really looked back at our marriage I realized that was spot on. I was “Words of Affirmation” and something else, I can’t remember. Too bad ‘cuz he’s not real good at that but he is constantly showing me his love with “Acts of Service” which I’m learning to appreciate now. They didn’t have one titled “She’s a pain in the butt sometimes however I love that kind of thing in my spouse.” If they did, I think his quiz results would have been more towards that.

Please don’t think everything’s always been perfect between us. Oh good heavens, no. I’m afraid if I had to give advice to young marrieds  it would be this: You may actually hate each other sometimes but stick it out. Again, I know this sounds shocking to young love birds, but it’s important to note. Of course you have to be friends first. I don’t mean you have to be  friends before you fall in love… just lovers who also happen to be friends. That’s pretty important and that’s us.

Happy Valentine’s Day to my Prince.

Isn’t he a cutie?

He has varied interests

I love my man

p.s. note the lovely 70’s details of our kitchen and our house was built in the 80’s (we’ve made SOME improvements since that pic)!

p.p.s. too bad my hair looks like straw there-not sure what was up with that (see, it’s always about me :-). St. George Marathon 2007

“So how’s your new blog going?”

Ah, yes, well.

It’s been almost two weeks since I launched this little blog so I thought I’d share a little bit about how it’s going:

First, the bad news…

1. Our internet is sketchy at best – sometimes out for days at a time.

2. My perfectionist tendencies have reared their ugly head (s?). As in, if I haven’t learned how to post something exactly just so, I don’t do it at all.

3. I don’t own a laptop. Waaaa?-you say. Am I the ONLY laptopless (oh my, that sounds nasty) blogger?

4. I get so frustrated since I still can’t figure out things like how to use my cool downloaded font, create a blog button, pop a photo onto the side bar, and on and on.

Okay, enough with the downers. Here’s the good stuff…

1. Jennifer (a Twitter friend) reminded me that I only need to post if I have something to say. The great news is that I have plenty to say (and plenty of pics to share) but I just need to be patient with the learning curve that comes with creating a new blog.

2. My son has a gorgeous laptop, that he will, on occasion, loan to me.

3. I’ve definitely learned some new blog related stuff over these two weeks, such as:

a) I can embed a link, well, not always where I want it, but still (see Mentions on my sidebar)

b) When Theresa (another Twitter friend)

asked us San Diego gals if we had “blog buttons” for the San Diego GNO site, I actually knew what those were. I just don’t know how to make one yet.
c) I learned how to change my Gravatar (the little pic that goes next to my name when I comment on my own or another’s blog). Well, actually, my teenager helped me do that.
d) I can now do a pingback/trackback with the best of them. Sort of. Not really.
e) I managed to create a “custom header” with my own photo. Ok, again, the other teenager helped me do that.
4. I’ve trained myself to stop checking the blog stats page one thousand times a day (my crappy internet helps with that). I’ve learned that not a a lot of folks look at my ABOUT page-hmmm.
5. Some wonderful friends, family, and just random folk have left comments on my posts.
6. Nichole from littlebrownpen welcomed me to the blogosphere on Twitter-that was very exciting indeed.
7. I made it into the awesome blog it forward that Victoria from sfgirlbybay is hosting. Here’s the schedule Check it out, it’s so, well, inspiring! My post date is March 23rd.
6. And BEST OF ALL, Holly Becker from decor8 mentioned MY blog on her haus maus blog. Wowie KAzowie for sure.

What inspires you?

This neat Blog It Forward concept/option was presented by Victoria over at her oh so lovely website { sfgirlbybay }

Her question was What inspires you most?*

She received such a quick & huge (300 bloggers) response though that she had to close it soon after she suggested it.

I made the list but since some of you may not have heard of it in time to join in the fun, please feel free to link your post to mine when the sharing begins sometime around February 10th.

So start thinking about her question* and begin to draft your own post/photos to share.

I’d love to see what inspires you and of course I’ll be sharing mine here on my blog as part of sfgirlbybay ‘s “blog mash up.”

p.s. that sweet blog it forward badge was created by {creaturecomforts}

100 things about me (or 76)

1. I spent a lot of time in Paris.
2. I have a rotten memory, which makes #1 less exciting.
3. I own several grammar books but still can’t get it right. I know this because my mother in law continues to correct me. It’s ok, I want her to. I need welcome any grammar corrections.
4. I’m a pretty darn good speller though.
5. I’ve been married for over 20 years and I still like him.
6. My maiden name is Brasfield so I love that my married name is Robinson-as in, here’s to you…
7. I was born in Brigham City, Utah
8. I grew up in Seattle
9. My husband  qualified for and ran the Boston Marathon.
10. If I had to choose a six word epitaph it would be: Was a friend to many children.
11. I met my husband at the University of Colorado, Boulder
12. I hiked a bunch of the John Muir Trail with 2 friends over 3 years-with a very heavy backpack. Yes, we saw bears.
13. We saw naked hikers on the John Muir Trail. Two good-looking guys in their 20’s. We giggled a lot that day. It also makes the bear sightings in #10 less exciting.
14. I used to be a flight attendant for Pan American airlines-and then for Delta when they bought Pan Am.
15. I don’t care for snakes, or spiders, or any bugs really. Or rodents. Or…
16. My coffee drink of choice? A sugar-free vanilla latte. Thanks for asking.
17. I often think about becoming a vegetarian or a vegan or maybe a raw foodie, or at the very least a locavore. So far, none of those attempts have stuck.
18. I don’t spend much time on Facebook anymore. I’m addicted to Twitter now.
19. I was a vegetarian for two years and then I got pregnant, which made me want steaks and bacon.
20. I’m a terrible gift giver.
21. I love getting thoughtful gifts.
22. My Dad’s been a Chief of Police and an elected Sheriff.
23. I love fresh starts. I love fresh starts.
24. We have 6 pets. We used to have an amazing bird named Tweety. He/she talked up a storm and barked liked a dog and mewed like a, well, you know.
25. It bugs me when people misspell things-see #4.
26. We spent two weeks in Hawaii for our honeymoon. I wish I could go back-go back to being skinny, young, and tan. Nah, just healthy and in shape and less frumpy would be lovely.
27. My Mom’s just about the sweetest woman on the planet. I truly enjoy her company.  My Mom’s also the reason for #34.
28. When we got married in 1989, we had 4 sets of parents between us. They all attended and they were all kind to one another.
29. I will teach myself anything I want to learn. Case in point-my new blog. Big learning curve here.
30. I’m grateful for my two amazing teenage boys-aka my I.T. guys. I like them for other reasons too.
31. I still love my pink Blackberry Curve.
32. We live 18 miles from the ocean but it takes 30 minutes to get there.
33. It’s hard to imagine a world without chocolate. Or my family. Ok, family first.
34. Kids like me. See #10.
35. We used to run a little home school called Robinson Ranch.
36. We picked this huge ol’ ranch style home (4400 sq feet) on 2 acres because of #35.
37. Our home has a 5 foot wide 100 foot long hallway. It was great for indoor big wheel riding.
38. Sometimes our property looks like Sanford & Son. Sometimes not.
39. My friend ran the Paris Marathon on her 40th birthday. I went too.
40. I finished NaNoWriMo this year. It was my first attempt.
41. My “book” sucks.
42. I’m tired of being the queen of frump. I’m working on that.
43. We were going to name our boys Max & Noah. We went with Zachary & Corey. It was the 90’s. Our girl name choice was Annabelle Rose. Never used that one.
44. I love having only boys. I would have preferred 4 but 2 is grand as well.
45. I love being a family of four. It feels just right.
46. I tried snowboarding once. I’ve never been so colorfully bruised in my life.
47. I’m pretty creative…when I get around to it.
48. My husband says I have time management issues. He could be right.
49. I hate it when people are late.
50. I like that our landscape zone is described as Mediterranean.
51. Some of the things we used to teach at our school (besides the 3R’s): bread baking, Shakespeare, poker, Carlsbad 5k training, how to be a polite guest in someone’s home-this one was cute with the under 5 crowd.
52. I need sunshine. That’s why #8 is no longer an option.
53. My husband and sons surprised me with a pink bike a few Christmases ago. I still love it.
54. I craved root beer floats and chips & salsa when I was pregnant. Both times. After giving birth each time I got over the root beer floats.
55. I’m a bunch of pounds overweight. See #42.
56. I have some very dear friends. They continue to love me no matter how long it takes me to return their phone calls, emails, and texts.
57. I wish my boys were little again.
58. Our boys are teenagers now. I like this stage too.
59. When my husband and I argue-it’s usually my fault. Okay, always.
60. Being near the ocean calms me.
61. Hiking in the back country builds character.
62. Peeing (etc.) in the backcountry takes getting used to.
63. When I was a kid my Dad got me to go over to Henry Kissinger and get his autograph.
64. I’ve served the likes of Mick Jaeger and David Bowie. See #14.
65. I truly wish all humans could get the love and attention they offer on Extreme Home Makeover. And the new house.
66. I could eat sushi most days. And mexican food.
67. I love and respect my Dad a bunch. I miss him and wish he lived closer like my Mom does now. I think I’m a lot like him, well, and my mom. I guess that’s how that all works out usually.
68. Over the years we’ve had three senior relatives live in our home. I have a deep appreciation for caregivers.
69. I don’t like discussing politics or religion. That usually doesn’t end up well.
70. I eat various goodies while watching The Biggest Loser. See #’s 33, 54, 66 and 42.
71. We’ve been to a chocolate/wine tasting event. I would strongly suggest that.
72. I try to be polite and kind to everyone. And smile to those around me.
73. I believe my Twitter friends are some of the most interesting and amazing folks.
74. I always mean well but sometimes that’s just not enough so I’m working on that too.
75. I wish we had better internet service so I could upload the cool photo I picked out for this brand new blog of mine.
76. I’m late for church-gotta go. Well, this is just for now, but still. See #48.

Have you done the “100 things about me thing”-or something like it? Let me know so I can go check it out.