'30 before 30' #4: ITMillennial.com is born

So, I love to write. And blogging is one of the best ways to do that, because you have the potential to acquire quite an audience, for free (or very low cost).  Starting this blog has been a great outlet, particularly to keep in touch with and provide updates to friends and family.  So I wondered, could this become a popular "Mom Blog" out there?

The answer I quickly discovered was no.  In order to spend enough time with a blog that it becomes even marginally popular, it has to be part of (or at least related to) your full-time job.  And being a Mommy is my part-time night job, so it just wasn't going to work.

But my full-time job is IT management.  Hmm.... IT management....

With some inspiration and encouragement from Pete, I introduce: ITMillennial.com.  I'm going to give it a good try for a year.  See if I stick with it and if it gains any traction.  But I'm pretty pumped.  So I'll continue to have Saying Our Nevers for family and friends, and IT Millennial will be more anonymous and professional.

If you'd like to join me on my IT Millennial journey, there are three different ways to do that:

1. Subscribe to the RSS feed
2. Follow ITMillennial in Twitter
3. "Like" the IT Millennial Facebook page

I'd love to have you there.  :)

Top 5 things to do with a toddler in St. Joe / Benton Harbor

Being on maternity leave these past six weeks has not only given me a chance to bond with our new baby, but also to spend lots of time with our first child, which has proven to be a very fun and special time.  We've done all kinds of things around town, and have naturally come to a list of our favorites.

1. Parks
   Cost: Free
   Location: Many scattered throughout St. Joseph
   Conveniently, my maternity leave occurred during a time of year that generally has decent weather.  That's given both Pete and me the chance to accompany Caroline to the Lincoln Elementary School playground and the Tiny Tots park quite a bit.


2. Library
   Cost: Free
   Location: 500 Market Street, St. Joe
   I think the last thing Caroline is concerned about while at the library is finding a book.  She plays with the puzzles, builds with blocks, plays with the train set, studies the beach wall mural... and then, maybe, picks out a book.  That part is usually my job.


3. Silver Beach Carousel
   Cost: Depends on # of rides. We typically do 7 rides for $10
   Location: 333 Broad Street, St. Joe
   After just a single trip to the Silver Beach Carousel, there became rarely a day in which Caroline doesn't ask to go bye-bye to ride the "neigh's."  She loves it, and since I accompany her, I don't need to purchase tokens for myself.


4. Curious Kids' Museum
   Cost: $6/person June thru Labor Day weekend. $4/person non-summer days
   Location: 415 Lake Boulevard, St. Joe
   The increased summertime entrance fee is the downside to living in a touristy location, in addition to the fact that it's usually packed in the summer as well.  But in the non-summer months, it's great.  Caroline loves the volcano slide, the apple orchard exhibit, and the Toddle Farm.


5. Celebration Cinema
   Cost: $6/person for first matinee. It only gets worse after that...
   Location: 1468 Cinema Way, Benton Harbor
   Caroline enjoyed seeing a movie in the theatre for the most part, but not enough to justify us doing this very often.  Not until she gets older anyway.

Am I missing anything?  Do you have any other fun places to go with your toddler in the St. Joseph / Benton Harbor area?

'30 before 30' #12: The front flower bed is weed-free

Where do the weeds end and the plants begin?

Wow... hardly anything left...

After three days of weeding the front flower bed, it's finally weed-free.

Yes, three days to take a jungle of weeds down to what now feels like a puny amount of plants.  Those weeds were thick, lush, and green!  Hopefully the vegetation remaining -- that we intentionally planted -- will now have more resources for themselves and will grow faster (like weeds, perhaps).

This small project really made me realize that I could have a complete '30 before 30: yard edition' project.  There's so very much to do out there, with no end in sight.  Ugh.

But successes are successes and should be celebrated.  '30 before 30' project objective #12: Complete!

The pros and cons of Mom Blogs

My Mom told me about a lovely blog she reads called The Gypsy Mama, so I decided to begin reading it as well.  The writer recently had a baby, and blogs a lot about various motherly escapades, so I knew I would relate to her topics.  (I particularly enjoyed her recent post about her 8 weeks of maternity leave.)

But today's Gypsy Mama post almost made me swear off Mom Blogs forever.  Oh yes, it's absolutely gorgeous -- gorgeous subject matter, incredibly well-written, that tugs at the heart strings and carries a very worthwhile message.  There's absolutely nothing wrong with it whatsoever.  It's truly lovely.

However, while today the Gypsy Mama wrote about how beautiful her unexpected time was with her sons in the middle of the night, I recalled my own night last night when my 2-year-old kept getting up out of bed (over and over and over and over and over) and how angry and frustrated and not beautiful I was dealing with the whole thing.  Bedtime is bedtime, not lets-get-back-out-of-bed-for-fun time.  And trying to deal with this from 2:30 - 6:00am tries my patience to the limit.

So then comes the wave of guilt.  The Gypsy Mama can see God in her children's middle-of-the-night visits.  All I see is a 2-year-old keeping me from getting a solid three hours of sleep in between the newborn's feedings.  I'm a terrible mother.  What's wrong with me.  Poor Caroline deserves better.  And so on.  All you mothers out there know the drill.  Like we need any help feeling guilty, at any point, ever.

That's the risk one Mom takes in reading other Moms' blogs, I suppose.  There are moments of absolute understanding and connection, those "Wow, other kids do that crazy stuff too?" moments.  But then there are also those "Wow, that person is a waaay better Mom than me" moments, and those we will have to fight to keep us from feeling guilty, because it isn't worth it.

But I had a hard time with that today.

Kindred spirits

"Kindred spirits are not so scarce as I used to think. It's splendid to find out there are so many of them in the world."
— L.M. Montgomery (Anne of Green Gables)

After graduating from college, it can be difficult to make good friends — really good friends with which you feel a special connection.  But it can happen, and two of mine got married this weekend, to each other.

Besides simply enjoying their company this weekend, I had a wonderfully memorable time at their wedding, because it was no ordinary event.  The wedding and reception were very carefully constructed by both of them, the entire event being filled with their favorite things.  They truly immersed us in their lives for a full day, showing us what they love and share as a couple, like:

• Playing Rock Band together instead of having a first dance
• Serving their favorite foods for dinner (no, Chipotle didn't cater, but tacos were still enjoyed by all)
• Putting a lot of work into the centerpieces, composing them of books and toys that not only told us what entertains them, but also entertained us through the evening

I've never been to a wedding that was so carefully planned by the bride and groom to include so many favorite details from their lives.  This was no generic event.  This was a full day-in-the-life of these two beautiful people.

In that way, being there for their wedding made me even happier.  Seeing and experiencing these tidbits with them all day, recognizing each favorite and sharing stories with other guests as I enjoyed each one, made the day even more special than it already was.  They put their love into each detail, and it was felt by all of us.

So to my two kindred spirits, thank you for sharing your lives with me, not only this weekend but for the past several years.  My heart aches as you move away, but now there's another city on my list that is a "must-visit" in the near future.  I'll add it next to London.  (My kindred spirits are global!)

Can't get enough

Over at WBEZ 91.5, author and filmmaker Amy Krouse Rosenthal has a lovely blog designed to inspire reflection, creativity, and connection with the people around us.  Last Thursday, she posted six things she just can't get enough of lately.  That made me think -- what can't I seem to get enough of this week?

1. Thunderstorms and the relaxing tapping of rain on the windows
2. Sleep (although I must say, I wouldn't consider myself sleep deprived anymore. Pete, G, and I have worked out a good system between the three of us for nighttime sleep)
3. Glee on Netflix
4. Watching Caroline and Pete communicate using sign language
5. Merciless elimination of weeds

What is it that you can't get enough of?

'30 before 30' project

I'm turning 29 this month.

Now, I'm not going into a tirade about how I'm so sad to see the approach of 30, because quite honestly, I haven't felt like a 20-something for a couple years now.  I don't know, there's something about having kids that very quickly steals the I'm-the-king-of-the-world feeling right out of you.  Maybe it's getting your stomach sliced open twice, leaving a permanent muffin top decorated with a lovely scar.  Or maybe it's getting puked on, and peed on, and kicked, and climbed.  It might also be activities like cleaning up poop after an accident during bathtime, or 4am wake-up calls, or temper tantrum reconnaissance.

Whatever it is, that 20-something happy-go-lucky I'll-do-whatever-I-want-thank-you-very-much feeling slipped out of my grasp awhile ago, so at least that isn't looming over my head anymore.

However, there is still the fact that next year, my age will start with the number 3 and not 2, and that in and of itself makes next year's birthday a bigger deal than some, at least in my head.

Enter the "30 before 30" project.

Celine Novenario started her own (the first? the official?) 30 before 30 project, creating a list of 30 things she wants to do before she turns 30.  Her list is ridiculously ambitious, so she's clearly single and childless, but nevertheless, her project was inspiring.  So I decided to create my own list to complete within the next 12 months.  It isn't nearly as impressive as Novenario's, but it will be appropriately challenging for a mother of two who works outside the home full-time.

And hopefully, working toward these goals will result in some entertaining escapades, or at least some good stories to share.

In no particular order, The List:

1. Learn a new piano piece.  Really master it.  Some good options are Grieg's piano concerto in A minor (2nd movement), Rachmaninoff's prelude in G major, or Debussy's "Reflets dans l'eau."
2. Complete the Couch-to-5K running plan
3. Take Hip Hop dance lessons
4. Fully develop my blogging persona.  Specifically an overarching theme, voice, and design.
5. Find a new hairstyle I like that's not a ponytail.  Preferably one that is (almost) as easy as a ponytail.
6. Spring clean my house.  Note: Doesn't actually have to occur in the Spring.
7. Read a total of ten books from TIME's Top 100 list.  That means reading six more.
8. Get all dressed up and have a fancy, romantic date with my husband
9. Complete Pimsleur Italian I
10. Clean off Nan's desk in the corner and make it a proper writing space
11. Buy new lingerie that is hot, hot, hot
12. Weed the front flower bed and keep it weedless
13. Go clothes shopping once per season (a total of four shopping trips)
14. Finally read the manual for my camera, learn how to take better pictures, and then take more pictures
15. Buy a pair of TOMS
16. Open savings accounts and Roth IRAs for our kids
17. Take my mom and sister to a live musical, like the good ol' days.  Right now, I've got my eye on Beauty and the Beast in December 2011.
18. Get down to my pre-kids weight.  (That means losing ten pounds.)
19. (Re-)Learn ten constellations, including how and when to find them, and their stories
20. Bake cookies with my oldest daughter
21. Have a Glee marathon / sleepover with my sister.  Be sure to sing along as much as possible, with mouthfuls of Hot Cheetos
22. Go geocaching
23. Release a book into the wild
24. Walk / Run / Bike for charity
25. Take my lunch to work four times a week for a month (in the hopes of establishing a good habit)
26. Update our very outdated household monthly budget
27. Mail at least one greeting card to a family member or friend every month
28. Get another family photo taken
29. Visit my family (Mom, Dad, siblings) more than I do now.  And 'more than I do now' means more than four times a year... (which is pathetic, since they only live 45 minutes away)
30. Take in tasty treats to work for my 30th