Chatterbox

My child will NOT.STOP.TALKING. Brian and I are finding it exhausting!! I love that she now talks because we can understand her wants and needs but OH MY GOSH. I have a headache.

Ella Words II

Ella's - 

Favorite Phrase: "What are you doin?" - she says this EVERY FIVE MINUTES!!

Favorite Movies: "Beas" (Beauty and the Beast) and "Tinkbell" (Tinkerbell)

What she did today: "played pidano" (played piano at school field trip to local music studio)

When we hit heads tonight: "Mommy we bunk a head" and she kissed my boo boo (it hurt!)

 

She wanted to call Elimee (my sister, Emily) and Mimi (my Mom) tonight. She actually had conversations with both of them (talked about playing pidano, watching TV, wanting more milk). Impressive!

Tutus and Ball Caps

Gah I Love This Girl!

  

These Boots Are Made For Walkin'

Don't even ask...she is such a girlie girl and loves all my boots!

Roxy Gal

You like Ella's new over ear Roxy headphones?  They had been sitting under my desk in my sample stash for about a year from when I was the headphones buyer. I thought they were cute and would fit her big noggin.

 

Me from A to Z

I follow A LOT of blogs these days and came across a few who were participating in the A to Z post. Well, I thought I'd join the blogging community on this one.

So here we go...

A. Age: 29. The dreaded 30 is 7 months away. Don't remind me and I shouldn't remind myself. Next...

B. Bed Size: Queen. A King is in the near future.

C. Chore you dislike: Cleaning up Ella's toys. It's time for another round of charity giving and me starting the "for every new toy gained, an old toy goes to someone less fortunate" promise I made to myself when I had children. She's too spoiled.

D. Dogs: A pug named Otis. He's smelly.

E. Essential start to your day: Nothing is essential about it. It involves: waking up, take shower, put on clothes, go downstairs and make Ella's breakfast (usually pears and milk), take it upstairs, get her clothes, wake her up, pull her out of crib along with 5 blankets, Elmo, Ernie, Abbey Caddaby, and Cookie Monster, take her to our bed, turn on PBS, give her pears and milk, put on makeup, dry hair, straighten hair, finish getting dressed, get Ella dressed, everyone goes downstairs, fight about what shoes Ella will wear, feed Otis, fight about which jacket she's going to wear, put on my coat, laptop bag on back, purse (and sometimes gym bag) on shoulder, Ella's hand in hand, sometimes Mommy Elmo goes too along with milk and breakfast, we head down 20+ stairs with all this crap, lug our way to street parking in front of our city home, pack up the car, and we're finally on our way....this is all in about an hour because I choose to sleep in and rush.

F. Favorite color: Blues and purples.

G. Gold or silver: Both but I always have on my angel necklace my Mom gave me, David Yurman bracelet Brian gave me, and my wedding rings...all silver. They never come off.

H. Height: 5'6.

I. Instruments you play(ed): I took piano lessons because my Mom made me.

J. Job Title. My current position as a Consumer Electronics Vendor Manager and Buyer at Amazon.com is the toughest and most challenging position I have ever had yet very rewarding (aka promotion last Fall).Yes, I complain when it stresses me out but without the experience, I would be of little value in the real world.

K. Kids: 1 beautiful blue eyed, blonde little girl named Ella Grace.

L. Lucky number: 11

M. Month: December. We get to celebrate my favorite time of year and be with our family, even if it's only for a few days.

N. Nicknames: LP (my Dad named me this), Priscilla Snurd Kelley (My Pop Pop named me this), La (my best friend Julie's husband, Chris, named me this)...I'm sure they're more.

O. Overnight hospital stays: Only when Ella was born. I despise hospitals.

P. Pet peeves: Organization and cleanliness. Nothing is more unappealing than a messy, dirty house, desk, car, etc...You have to respect the things you own. I need to work on my car...and the house. I've become less OCD about this but I'm still disgusted by dirtiness.

Q. Quote from a movie: "No one leaves Baby in a corner" - Dirty Dancing. "See you later, Joben" - I Love You Man.

R. Righty or lefty: LEFTY!!!

S. Siblings: 1 sister. 1 brother. We're all very different. I'm more Type A, Em is the free bird who wants to make everyone happy and help everyone (why she's a nurse), Phillip is very artsy and musically inclined like my Mom. He's so smart he doesn't know what to do with those brains.

T. Time you wake up: anywhere from 6:30-7:30...depends on the day.

U. Underwear: Yes. Hanky Panky's are the best invention.

V. Vegetables you don't like: Peas, peas, and more peas. A mean babysitter tortured me as a child. I won't forget.

W. What makes you run late: Me, my child, and sometimes Brian if we all ride together.

X. X-rays you've had: Teeth, MRI for back, baby ultrasounds...do those count?

Y. Yummy food you make: I don't cook. I REPEAT...I don't cook. I do make my Gran's cheesecake and it's pretty good.

Z. Zoo animal favorites: Meerkats and giraffes.

Tag, you're it!

Girls, Girls, Girls

Wailea

The tsunami did not stop us from a much needed vacation to Maui. We arrived Saturday and boy, I cannot believe it's been over 4 years since we were last there. It was very relaxing - every day was absolutely perfect, the water was chilly but felt great after being in the hot sun, and we had amazing dinners and tasty drinks. I enjoyed several morning jogs along the water and resorts while Brian continued his triathlon training - running the island and he rented a bike and trekked up the side of one of the mountains.

Upon arrival, we were greeted with a lei for me and beads for Brian along with a yummy Hawaiian punch to cool us off a bit. Next stop...the bar for lunch. My first drink was a Lava Flow. So awesome!

 

View from our room

 What we woke up to

View of our beach

Part of our beach

 

Dinner at Nick's Fish Market at our hotel, The Fairmont Kea Lani. I had a yummy mahi mahi and Brian had lobster. My dessert was so good - bananas foster - yet so huge I couldn't eat it all!

 Before we headed to Lahaini for dinner at Kimo's. 

I didn't take any pictures, but this town was so cool. It was an eclectic beach town that reminded me of a glorified Key West. I would love to go back and spend more time checking out everything - think lots of shops, art galleries, restaurants, and as Brian said "a lot of jewelry stores." There were! We had really good Mai Tai's and then swordfish for me and mahi mahi for Brian.

 Some pictures I took on my walk one morning.

 

 I loved this tree.

 View of the Grand Wailea and Four Seasons hotels.

 Parts of our hotel. It was so pretty. My pictures don't do justice.

 These pictures don't do the size of the waves justice, but they were huge. We had some strong winds in the afternoons. On Tuesday night, we headed to Mama's Fish House, which was about a 30 minute drive from our resort. This was a view from the beach in front of the restaurant and these waves were definitely a surfer's paradise.

 Such an amazing dinner. Brian had a local fish - I believe it was called Opah. I had a coconut crusted mahi mahi stuffed with lobster and crab meat. It was delicious! We also had the best sashimi. We had a trio and each were paired with a different sea salt. So yummy!

 Brian's boo boo from body surfing.

 

 

 More pics from our room our last day

 Last day on beach.

And, last pic of our resort I took:( Wish we were still there as we came back to rain and cold (imagine that).