After a VERY long day being all alone with my son and Moe the mut........I turned on my sons favorite movie, put the dog outside, and poured myslef a large glass of ice water. (Praying THIS would be the time Jesus assended apon me and turned it into WINE!) I then tried to relax by turning on my computer and entering my social outlet of FaceBook. While chatting with a long lost friend I get interupted.....

"Mommy......I poop on my leg"
"Excuse me!?!"
"I poop on my leg"
"Did the dog take a crap in the house?! Where were you sitting!? Let me see you leg!!"
As I checked out his little 2 year old calf I notice sadly...this is NOT dog poop. But I wonder.......
"How did this get on your leg?!"
"I don't know!?!" As he says these words he lifts his arms up in question as I then make my discovery.....
"GAVIN LOUIS.......WHY IS THERE POOP IN YOUR HAND?!?!?!?!"
"I don't know!?"

Lesson for the day......teach children that poop is not a toy. What the hell am I saying. The lesson is that life is CRAZY and moms only get to relax when we are all ALONE (preferably with wine or cake!)

Everyone is a little wackadoo.....WHO CARES!!!

I am in LOVE with organization.....I've been making lists since I was a kid. One of my absolute favorite things to do.....hold your laughter for a later time please....Is to first make a list. Then as I accomplish each item on my list, I get to cross it off with a cheerful, bright and colorful Sharpie marker! No other brand...has to be a Sharpie. I have 3 mason jars filled with every color you can imagine! Why a mason jar.....because on a daily or sometimes hourly basis I can look at a mini rainbow with all of their bright colors and it makes me happy!

Our dog has his own room, yes he shares it with the recycling, but he has his own shelf with his own things that are neatly labeled with the word MOE and followed by a paw print drawn on by yours truely with what else....a Sharpie!:)

My garden.....organized. The veggies themselves are in neat rows with cute little labels! I have my tools, watering cans, notes on plants.......all in the same convinient area to my little baby garden. I even have shoes.....these are my gardening shoes. Serious! They sit quietly by the back door and remind me to check on my little veggie creation! They are a bright coral color and aren't THAT cute for everyday life....but for gardening they are FABULOUS! And guess what...they make me happy! These things probably...actually I'm sure.... sound crazy to most of you! Shouldn't we all have something a bit on the odd side that makes life fun!?!

The point of all of this.....1.) I'm a bit of a wackadoo 2.) Who cares what other people think...be proud of the person that you are. 3.) Do what makes YOU happy!

And now I'm going to give you the quote of the day.....brace yourselves.....from one of my hubbies favorite movies Van Wilder....."you can't take life too seriously, you'll never get out alive!" Right!?!

Good morning sunshine.....

The morning chores are over.....it's a cloudy and dreary Friday and I'm working on getting the day started. The kid and the dog are happily wrestling on the living room rug. Screams of delight are mixed with screams of "No MoeMoe","Get off MoeMoe", and then "Come here MoeMoe".
But then comes the dreaded silence. To someone who is NOT a parent you would think that silence is a blessing.....they have obviously never heard the phrase, "the calm before the storm".

In comes my son.... with one giant tear and one giant scratch, centimeters from his right eye. The dog follows looking as if he KNOWS he is in trouble! The dog, trying to make up for his mistake, starts licking my kid like he's some ginormous lollipop that you would get on the boardwalks of Atlantic City!

I started yelling at the dog to "get off of him" and I pull the kid up on my lap to safety.

Then to much surprise I noticed......a damp tushed, completely naked from the waist down, little boy with the largest grin I have ever seen, that says to me so sweetly, "go potty!?" (let your imagination run WILD!)




Good Morning! Your day has now Officially started!

My favorite Lunch of the week...

So I'm a chubbie girl to start and NOW being knocked up I am doing everything in my power to not become OBESE! I found this salad in my FAVORITE cookbook, Barefoot Contessa Family Style by Ina Garten. Its a recipe for a simple and delicious salad for my fellow foodies out there. Here it goes.....

ARUGULA WITH PARMESAN

(this serves 6, but I make the dressing in advance and use it as I make an individual salad)

1/2 pound fresh arugula

Lemon Vinaigrette

1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (2 lemons)

1/2 good olive oil

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/4 pound chunk of very good parmesan cheese

Toss dressing into prepared arugula and place on individual plates. Then with a sharp knife or peeler shave Parmesan into large shards and place them on arugula!

How easy is that! So yummy after a hot morning outside with the bambinos! FABULOUS! You can pair it with almost anything or eat it by itself with a glass of VINO or if you were me have an iced H2O! Enjoy!

Game on...

My son......there are so many things to say I could never decide where to start!

Well how about at the top.....of his head I mean. Gavin Louis was born with some ridiculously bad hair ( I can say that, I'm a professional) The rascally head of hair was passed down from his FATHER's side! (I'm not claiming it) It was stick straight, lifeless, and THIN.......

The most annoying thing about it...as a stylist to the stars...I was full of shame. It seemed as if it couldn't be fixed. I have a shaved head of a husband and now a precious baby boy who will HAVE to shave his head to hide the mess that I couldn't fix! People (aka my father-in-law) would always say..."Isn't this your job?! To fix things like this!?" I could have stangled him for saying that which he said quite often. But he was right! I should be able to fix this! It made me feel like a failure....my career might as well end! I obviously have lost my talent. Nevermind my high end clients in the city, the fashion shows, training at the Vidal Sassoon Academy. It was all worthless......my son was to have permanant bedhead! And it is ALL my fault.

But then......out of the blue I noticed something! NEW GROWTH!!!! Do you know what this means!?! His hair is getting thicker!!!!! Praise Jesus! My prayers were being answered! But then....more hair grew in....and more hair! Until.....guess what!?!?!?! He wasn't born with fathers hair........it was MY head of hair, which is NOT fabulous by any way, shape or form, BUT its better then his fathers!

So to my fellow friends and family. I wish to show you photos from Gavin's first REAL fashion forward haircut! I can even put product in it!

May he be blessed with many more years of great hair! Well until his fathers side DOES kick in and he loses it all by the age of 25! Until then....Cheers!

Funk remover....

There are days......days that things don't go as you would expect.....or nasty negative people get in your way.....or something bad actually happens......Okay I'm not a Downer Debbie. My point is, you have to figure a way to get out of your funk...normally I would open my favorite bottle of VINO or possibly pop a presciption drug.....but since being preggers, people tend to frown upon that.....SO.....I turn to music. Luckily my Rock Star of a child LOVES it when I blast my favorie tunes and we sing and dance with our air guitars!

I have found my "tune" for the year! Especially with the times that many people are going through I feel like it could help anyone....PLUS it has special meaning to me as it is from my first trip to Broadway......has anyone heard of a little musical called......RENT!?!

I urge you to check it out, your Ipods will thank you...and maybe YOU could have the glass of VINO for me...and just sit back, listen and take in the words of Mimi!

Another Day

(Rent Motion Picture Soundtrack)

The heart may freeze or it can burn

The pain will ease if I can learn

there is no future, there is no past

I live this moment as my last

Theres only us, theres only this

forget regret or life is yours to miss

no other road, no other way

NO DAY BUT TODAY

Theres only us, only tonight

we must let go to know whats right

no other coarse, no other way

NO DAY BUT TODAY

I CAN'T CONTROL my DESTINY

I TRUST my SOUL

MY ONLY GOAL IS JUST TO BE.....

Theres only now, theres only here

begin to look or live in fear

no other path, no other way

NO DAY BUT TODAY

See my little cutie pie.......this is Moe. He came into our lives last summer when we moved to the St. Louis area. We realized we were ready for this. We have a house here, a fenced in yard, and a little boy who would LOVE to have his first family pet. We thought that the timing couldn't be better.

We drove out to the sticks of Missouri to find our little "cockapoo". The reason for the long road trip!?! My cheap husband who refused to pay full price for a "high end" breed of dog. Well.......

When they say you get what you pay for....we did. As Moe has grown we have found that he is NOT a sweet little cockapoo....he is a (let me see if I get this right) part Poodle, King Charles Spaniel, Cocker Spaniel, and a bit of Golden Retreiver....aka a MUT!!!!!

Along with the Moe the Mut title....we have found that our little 20lbs of pride and joy also enjoys eating and SWALLOWING beer cans, birds, mice, outdoor extension cords, metal john deere tractors, and lastly and most recent......cute little pink and pearl blackberry cell phones.......I have said this before. If you need to get ahold of me please don't try that number......who knows what will happen!

It will be a year this month. That Moe has been a member of this family. And I will force myself to throw a mini family party for the precious and annoying pup of mine! Maybe a party hat, maybe a doggie treat, a few photos. And then we will toast to the next year of his life....because I swear this dog will NEVER die.....

(But seriously....the dog IS a member of our family, and he brings the chaos that I always desire (I'm a bit crazy I know) he is loving, and freak'n cute! But I can honestly say this now......."He is the LAST Dog I will EVER own!")

Coffee (one of my first posts, but has earned the right for a come back)

When.....did this black muck that used to remind me of liquid tar become my favorite tasty treat!

When I brought to life a little boy named Gavin....THAT is the precise moment! I could never touch the stuff before....I always feared it would destroy my beautiful set of pearly whites that my parents spent so much $$ on! Damage my all natural body, (even though shots of tequilla were acceptable) Or the fear that I would one day be one of "those people" who couldn't start their day without it!

The day has come! I Am An ADDICT! This tasty treat is very understanding to your needs, its almost as if it loves you back......is it hot outside!? put it on ice! had a bad morning!?! slip some baileys in it....the kids will never notice! It is the perfect reason to get friends together......and its the best way to keep a girl regular! What more could I ask for!

So YES......I am officially announcing that I, Jami Nicole am an organic, fair trade, vanilla cafe latte with skim milk ADDICT! And damn proud of it!! I am now raising my mug of yummy goodness and toasting to what helps me wake up to the Fabulous woman that I need to be! Cheers!