Friday Favorites

As some of you regular readers around here may know, the girls over at Shootin' the Poop are some of my best blogging friends. And they tagged me for a meme a long time ago. And now I can't find it or remember what it was. So in honor of MK, Nicole, Erin and Andrea I'm going to do my own Friday Favorites. I love to see what shows up on their favorites radar, many of which I already love myself, and others that I am excited to check out.

I love my new MomAgenda planner. I have a place where I can write down everything in our busy schedule, it can go with me when I need to plan things out and there is plenty of room for to-do lists and menu planning. The bound agenda books are a little more than I would want to spend, so I actually got the refill for the executive portfolio. It is spiral bound and has the same pages with w flexible plastic cover, and is half the price.


One of the toys that I LOVE, love and LURRVE is Geotrax by Fisher Price. It is the best train set for little boys (and their mamas). The tracks are easy for Jack to snap together and they are so sturdy, my brutus of a baby has to take at least two swings to get it knocked down and apart. We have quite a collection and I love to put together the elevation tracks and make ramps and spirals and bridges. My favorite part is that all the tracks pieces are just the right size to go together. I know this sounds odd, but if you have ever tried to arrange some Thomas track, either wooden or "Take Along" then you know what I'm talking about. If you build a length of track and curve it around to meet another section, Geos will line up just right and connect without any odd angles or pulling. And, course, Jack loves that the trains go by themselves. He gets to operate the remote control and make them stop and go and make train whooshing sounds.


I now carry a small, delicate, feminine purse instead of a giant, luggage-like diaper bag. It fits only the essentials, wallet, keys, camera, phone, and I get to step out of "mom mode" sometimes with it. The Vera Bradley bags are adorable and feminine.


My husband and I recently signed up for Amazon Prime and it is changing the way we shop. There is an upfront fee, but then all shipping is free two-day shipping. It makes it so easy to just click over to anything you want, but don't feel like leaving the house to buy. You need more mac and cheese or paper towels? Just click over and it's here in two days. Need some father's day presents but can't stand the thought of dragging the kids through stores? Just click and buy!



Click over to Shootin' the Poop today to see today's Favorites!



Thanks for being such good sports for Meme Week (er, uh, two weeks, whatever). Now that I'm caught up, feel free to tag me with new memes as they come through the blogosphere.

Up for next week: we finally finished the third season of BSG, I have a lot to say about this kind of lame season and who I think is and is not a cylon. Also, I think I may be ready for a digital SLR camera, I need some input.

My Hometown

I saw this post over at Hola, Isabel where she told us all what she loves about living in Seattle. I loved it and have changed it a little for myself.

I have lived in Maryland my whole life. In fact, I have lived within a 50 mile radius of where I grew up (give or take). And while I would love to see other places, this will always be home. I have roots here, family, friends. Perhaps in another life I would live somewhere else, but not this one.

My favorite places in Maryland:

My favorite restaurant: Schmankerl Stube
Be sure to order the pork shank, or the Kasse Schnitsel, or Sauerbraten. You have to have the spatzel and bread dumplings, and in-house made desserts. And drink a hefe-weisen for me.

Mt favorite vacation spot: Ocean City
For the last few years we have been taking family vacations to OC and it is a great place to watch the kids play and grow up right before my eyes. My husband and I have loved to stay for weekends in the off season when there aren't any crowds, but all our favorite places to eat are still open. We have stayed here and here and love to eat here and here and here and we drive up and shop here.

My favorite local vineyard: Linganore Winecellers
When the weather gets warm they have wine tastings on the weekends with live music, plenty of room to picnic and food vendors. It is a great place to set up for the day and enjoy all the wonderful wines and hang out with friends.

My favorite place to shop: Prime Outlets Hagerstown
I always find good bargains here, I especially love the Eddie Bauer outlet, Gap outlet and Carter's. You never know what kind of things you will find on sale.

My favorite place to take the kids: Catoctin Zoo
I took the kids here once and Jack has been asking to go back. It is a great alternative to going to one of the big metropolitan zoos in Baltimore or DC since I'm not yet ready to tackle such a long car ride, and a long day at one of those zoos. The Catoctin Zoo has a lot of exotic animals you wouldn't expect to see here, lions and tigers (and bears!).

May favorite places to go without the kids: Can I list ANYTHING AT ALL? I mean, I like just about anything without kids. But, seriously, I love to eat here, or shop here and here, or gosh, I actually can't think of anything else. We've got to get out more.

My favorite weekend getaway: Deep Creek Lake
We have stayed here once or twice before kids and one of these days we will go back, again, without kids. It is a great place to ski in the winter, but I'd be happy just to hang out and enjoy the quiet.

My favorite parks: Great for a family day trips: Cunningham Falls and Washington Monument State Park.

My favorite place to camp: Assateague Island
My husband swears he won't go back to camp there because of all the sand and we got stuck in a huge hurricane-like storm. But I loved it and would go back. You can build fires right on the beach! And have the beach to yourself!

Things You Don't Know About Me

Today's meme comes from frannie over at the t family syndicate. She tagged me for this meme ages ago and I hesitated with that one. It is a loong one with 70 questions to answer, and I'm pretty lazy, so I think it would take a long time. Plus, some questions are boring, some are too controversial and, you know, there's the laziness.

So, instead I will share with you things you don't know about me.

As a kid, I played soccer for many, many years, however, now I have no athletic ability whatsoever. It is even debatable as to whether I had any then.

My husband thought I was a snob the first time I met him. I do not recall this meeting at all (because I was so stuck up!), although I have heard him describe the encounter many times.

I LOVE calendars and planning and writing plans and scheduling things in advance. This may have been the part about being a teacher I liked the best. I really like planning units and lessons and penciling them into my plan book. (Now the following through with the plans? That is a different story).

I was a teacher in another life.

I don't know what I will be when I grow up. I want to do something fun and challenging and ideally something that involves writing and/or taking pictures of my kids. Cause those are the things I like to do most. If only I could get paid to blog, that would be a dream come true. Even easier would be if I got paid to read blogs. Anyone know where I can sign up for that?

Sarah is now sleeping through the night. That's not really something about me, but I wanted to brag a little by working it into the conversation.

I played World of Warcraft for a long time, but I don't have the time anymore to play. It was the perfect thing to occupy two parents of one child who needed something to do in the evenings after said child went to bed. But now, we just don't have the time. I miss it sometimes, we had a lot of real-life and in-game friends who played, but now it seems like a lot of people have moved on. (I am really looking forward to this, although it won't be out until at least next year.)


So, there you have it. You know me a little better now, and I have knocked out another meme! For my loyal readers (MK), there will be at least two more to come...one of which will be on Friday!

Why I Blog

I have a place to write.

I am keeping a journal of my children as they grow. And of myself as their mother.
I can keep in touch with people who live far away, so they can see what is going on in our lives and how the kids are growing.
I share adorable pictures of my angels.
I learn more about photography and I get inspiration for photographing my favortie subjects.
I can write about things I wouldn't normally share with people in a real-live conversation.
I have met, virtually, some amazing bloggers, writers, photographers, moms and women in the blogosphere.




Thanks for the meme, Colleen at Madison Mom, and Christina at Momology!

Real Moms

Real moms eat the mushy, drooly cracker rejected from the toddler because it's easier than finding a place to set it until you can get to a trash can.

Real moms find sippy cups with solidified milk in them. Or fuzzy juice. And we just throw them in the dishwasher so we can have another cup in the rotation. (Also, real moms just throw away a sippy cup if it has clearly been over 10 months since it was lost. And real moms know it has been 10 months because the cup was in a bag that hadn't been unpacked from the trip to the beach last year.)

Real moms have to hear the most dreaded sentence: "I put my poopies on your window," and then deal with it without hurting anyone. (Thank goodness it was only the window and some trim that is easily washed off!)

Real moms: doing the family's dirty work, so we only live in minimal filth.



I was tagged for this a long time ago by the beautiful bloggess Jenny over at Mama Drama. Her take on this meme was so good, she used pictures and fancy editing and everything. Take a look here. I have seen this one go around the blogosphere once or twice and there is even a Real Mom Truths blog now!