Sometimes Mondays require acrobatics.
And coffee, lots of coffee.
Elf on the Shelf 2017 – Day 18
Tag: coffee
Project Life 365 – Day 60 – You Today
After a long night plagued by bizarre dreams and a few sleepwalking episodes (or rather, sleep-bolting-up-in-bed-and-scaring-the-shit-out-of-myself episodes, including one where I actually sat up and turned on my bedside lamp before waking up completely), this was pretty much me today…
Three cups of coffee couldn’t even get me up to full speed, folks, and that’s a rarity. But I survived, and it actually ended up being a pretty productive day.
Let’s just hope tonight is a bit more restful.
Project Life 365 – Day 56 – Good Morning
Nobody does mornings like Electra…
Happy Mother’s Day!
After the last few busy weeks and weekends full of writing assignments and photo shoots and hours up on hours of photo processing, I have to admit, I’ve been looking forward to Mother’s Day. I figured, if nothing else, it would give me one whole day where I had a good excuse to just lie around and be lazy if I wanted.
Too bad Cadence and Electra weren’t in on the plans. They both woke up early and loudly this morning, so I made the coffee a little stronger than usual. 🙂
All in all, it was a really good day. My folks gave us tickets to the afternoon Husker baseball game, so Steven, Cadence and I headed out to cheer them on. Cadence is absolutely obsessed with baseball. She loves watching games at home on TV with her Daddy, and always has a blast when we head out to the ballpark. Steven can’t wait to take her to her first Mets game in June (though technically, she attended one in utero with the Kennedy clan when we visited NY back in the summer of 2009). Her latest thing is making sure she hugs all the baseball statues that line the sidewalk in front of Haymarket Park…
The ticket takers at the gate were cracking up when she had to run and hug the very last ball before she’d even enter the ballpark, and then make sure she hugged them again and told them “Bye bye” on our way out.
Crazy girl.
After the game, we just spent some time hanging out and lounging at home. Of course, I couldn’t keep my hands off the newborn photos I took yesterday, and managed to get enough processed to post the official Sneak Peek on Facebook before I head to bed.
And after an evening watching Celebrity Apprentice (Aubrey O’Day finally got fired tonight, which was the best Mother’s Day gift EVER!) and The Killing and eating some Indian food with my hubby, I am one happy girl. 🙂
To my four FABULOUS mothers, and all the other mothers out there, I hope you all had a wonderful day!
Excavation 2012 – Day #27 – A Damn Fine Cup of Coffee Deserves a Damn Fine Mug
Call me crazy, but I think coffee tastes better when you’re drinking it out of a favorite mug. I’m particular about my mugs. Almost as particular as I am about my pens. I’ve always had a helluva time trying to buy a mug that I liked. I used to scour stores and thrift shops, looking for my very own Holy Grail of coffee mugs.
See, there are a whole lot details to consider when you’re trying to find your ideal mug. First, you have to like the overall appearance–the size, the shape, the color or design. Too big and it’s cumbersome. Too small and you’re going to feel like you’re doing coffee shots instead of being able to sit back and enjoy a cup. Plus, it’s gotta feel good in your hand. Not too heavy, not too fragile, and no weird curves or indentations near the lip that might cause any sort of mid-sip malfunction.
As far as the design goes, you have to choose something that speaks to you, something that fits your personality and makes a statement. No cutesy, frilly, flowery, delicate mugs for me thanks. I need something sleek, something eccentric and unique, something simple yet something that can wake me up and make me smile. I just need something different.
I looked for years, but never found anything that I loved, until I found these….
I first found these mugs when Steven and I got engaged and started shopping around for dinnerware to add to our registry. I fell in love immediately. There were dozens of different designs on the dinner plates and salad plates and mugs, depicting scenes from classic Americana–everything from bumper cars and the moon landing to the Brooklyn Bridge and Rosie the Riveter. Steven fell in love the minute he saw the aliens.
While we could have narrowed it down to one or two of our favorite designs so we would have a complete matching set, we thought it would be more fun to order as many different scenes as we could to mix and match. That way, no one could ever steal someone else’s plate at one of our dinner parties. And what better way to get the kids to clean their plates than to see what picture is hidden under the food?
Um, and did I mention the aliens?
Of course a lot of our friends and family thought we were crazy when we decided to order them, but we didn’t care. They’re totally us.
And even better, the mugs turned out to be exactly what I’d been searching for. Not too big. Not too small. A sleek, simple shape that fits perfectly in my big hands. And the best part is, I’ve got a mug that pretty much fits my every mood–the cows for when I’m feeling mellow, the aliens for when I’m feeling strange, Einstein for when I’m needing a little extra brainpower, my Rosie mug for the days I feel like kicking ass and taking names, and many, many more.
And, since I’ve finally found my ultimate mugs, and bought enough of them to last me forever (unless I go on some crazy mug-breaking spree), it’s time to get rid of the mugs I never use that are cluttering up my cabinet…
Frosty is the first to go. While I love Frosty the Snowman, can sing the entire song, and have watched the movie every Christmas since I can remember, I’m not really fond of this mug. It’s too big and a bit top heavy. Never a good combination.
And next…
This mug I bought in college for no other reason than I had just bought a coffee maker for my dorm room and the mug was marked down to $.50 in a bargain bin at CVS. When you’re a poor college student, you can’t be choosy. Faced with either buying a more expensive mug or actually buying coffee to brew in my new coffeepot, I chose the coffee. In spite of the ugly flowers and the curved lip that caused several coffee-related mishaps over the years, I still believe I chose wisely. Now though, this mug is headed for retirement.
One mug that we will be keeping in our collection is this one…
I love this mug and it has earned a solid 2nd place on my Favorite Mug List. Steven got his mug as a gift when we worked for the City of Casa Grande and we both love it. Not only is it just a good size and shape, we are also both addicted to those hiliarioius De-Motivational Posters you see floating around on the internet. And if you can’t actually have one of the posters hanging in your office, you can always get away with having one on your coffee mug.
Makes me laugh every time. 🙂
365 Project – Day 285 – Morning People and Everyone Else
I am not a morning person, well at least, I’m not a person who can jump right out of bed and expected to be completely coherent or conscious of her surroundings until I’ve spent at least 15 minutes in the upright position, and had a couple sips of coffee. Really, what can people expect from a girl who got nailed with a double dose of anti-morning genes?
My birthfather Shawn is the most agreeable zombie you’ll ever want to meet in the mornings. For a good half-hour or more after he wakes, he sees the world through a thick fog and half-open eyes, moving slowly and with unsteady gait of one of The Walking Dead. If you try to have a conversation with him before he is fully-caffeinated, you can get him to agree to pretty much anything you ask.
Chocolate pie a la mode with rainbow sprinkles and a cherry on top for breakfast?
Sure.
Can we flood the backyard and have a two-on-two mud volleyball tournament just for fun?
Why not?
And how about dying our hair black and purple and head to a Rockies game?
Great idea! Let’s go buy some hair dye!
Once he finishes that coffee though, all bets are off, so it’s best to try and get as much in as you can before he’s fully-conscious.
An early morning with my birthmom, on the other hand, is like playing that old Operation game by Hasbro. Move slowly, precisely, quietly, and with great care and everything will be all right.
But, just one false move and…
Sorry. Game over. Better luck next time.
Momma Dawn is just one of those people that needs a little space in the morning. Set up a decent perimeter, give her a half hour and a nice tall Monster drink and all is right with the world. But come at her first thing with a barrage of questions or demands without giving her time to shake the sleep off and you better know at least some basic Karate moves or be wearing a bulletproof vest to defend yourself from a retaliatory attack.
I like to think that I fall somewhere in between my parents’ two extremes.
While I definitely move a bit slower and more clumsily in the mornings, I certainly do not automatically agree with any suggestion thrown my way. In fact, I tend to just ignore anyone who starts asking me to make decisions before I’ve had at least a half cup of coffee. And while I might throw the occasional glassy-eyed glare at anyone in the room who is bouncing around like Tigger on a sugar high, I usually don’t lash out unless the people around me are going out of their way to provoke a reaction, and well, at that point, they deserve it.
So obviously, my daughter did not inherit her up-in-and-instant-and-ready-to-go-go-go attitude from me. This one, my friends, is aaaaaaaallllll from Daddy, and I’m sure that any of you who know Steven will agree…
Did you notice the overly dramatic fake wailing toward the end, when Cadence was trying to convince me that she’d hurt her foot…no her head? Yeah, there are days when I’m pretty sure we have a soap opera star in the making around here, but hey, at least she’s entertaining.
Tonight’s 365 Project entry is dedicated to all the Not-So Morning People, like me. God grant us the serenity.
Lori Romano 