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Ramblings
03.09.12

A birthday dinner and new priorities

YEA!!!  It’s the weekend!!!  And it’s not just any weekend my friends.  It’s my birthday weekend!  My official birthday is on Sunday which means the partying started tonight and (if I have anything to do with it) will continue on until Monday.  My darling friends took me out for dinner tonight to celebrate.  Girl friends are the BEST therapy, aren’t they!?  Oh my gosh.  We laughed all night long.  I am grateful everyday for all of the amazing girl friends I have in my life.  They mean the world to me and honestly, I don’t know what I’d do without them.  They make life FUN.  
They were all giving me grief about this picture – knowing it would show up on the blog.  One friend said she tried on four pairs of jeans.  Another friend wants me to point out that she is about to pop with baby #3 (on my right side if you are looking straight on in the purple shirt – she looks so good you actually might not have even noticed.)  I had a major wardrobe malfunction and had to borrow Ann’s coat.  We laughed for 20 minutes about it.  It was quite the photo shoot!  We took a few pictures (like always because optionality is key) and then I told them all to cross their fingers because they know that I’m just going to pick the picture I look best in.  ;)  I know.  They’re so lucky to have me, right!?  The reality is, they all look amazing all of the time.  
{Love you guys!  Thanks for such a fun night.  And Shari, you were missed!}
A look back on past birthday dinner pics.  This is becoming a bit of a tradition and I quite like traditions.  :)
2011 – we were missing a few friends this year.

2010 – guess I probably should point out that I’m about to pop with baby #3 because I’m sure you couldn’t tell, right?  Oh you could?  What gave it away?  My see through shirt with my pants pulled up over my larger than life stomach!?  Seriously, what was I thinking wearing that shirt!?  What was I thinking getting a picture in that stage of the game?  And what am I thinking blogging this picture yet again?  
Tradition I guess.
 2009

It’s really late because we couldn’t stop chatting tonight so my Fashion Friday jean post will have to wait until some time next week.  I started working on it this afternoon when Kole was napping and then I got a call from our landscape architect and I spent the next two hours dealing with new house stuff.  Thank goodness my girls can fend for themselves a lot of the time because designing this house has been a huge time commitment and I don’t see that changing any time soon!  I am the busiest I have ever been right now (there is a lot of other stuff I’m dealing with regarding my little man but that is a post for another day!) so I’m warning you all that my posting schedule may be a bit more sporadic.  Fashion Friday may pop up on a Tuesday – or not at all since most days lately I am running around in gym clothes and a pony tail.  The only time I can handle new house stuff is during Kole’s nap and late after the kids go to bed which is also my only time to work on projects and to blog.  :(  I have to prioritize.

Here is a run down of my priorities right now – in the order I’m prioritizing them…

Family/Life obligations
New House
Blog
Basic Hygiene 
Cooking
So see!  It’s not all bad.  I am prioritizing posting over washing my hair and cooking.  Although you all know how I feel about those two things so maybe that’s really not saying much after all.  ;)  
My mom knows that I am stretched to the limit and calls me all the time to make sure I’m taking care of myself.  Our conversations always sound the same:

“How are you holding up!?  How is Kole?  Oh I wish I could be there to help more with him!  You have GOT to take care of yourself Erin.  If the mom goes down, everyone goes down.  Are you getting enough sleep?  Don’t stay up too late blogging!  I don’t want to see that your post time is after midnight again!  You’re going to get sick.  Did I tell you that if the mom goes down, everyone goes down?”

“Yeah mom.  You mentioned that…”

Once a mom, always a mom.  :)  I guess I’m going to have to start tweaking my “post time.”  ;)  
Anyway, thanks for understanding.  Thanks for reading.  Thanks for helping to make blogging such a great outlet for me.  Because right now, even though I don’t have time for this little outlet, I sure need it!
Have a great weekend everyone!  Do a birthday dance for me!  
:)
xoxo, Erin
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48 thoughts on “A birthday dinner and new priorities”

  2. Okay I must be misunderstand you because none of the women standing on your right look like they are going to pop a button, much less a baby. It’s very late and my eyes might be a bit tired, but they ain’t THAT tired. WHICH ONE is “about to pop with baby #3” ???

    Love the new background color, by the way.

    So what’s up with Cole? You’ve got me curious.

    So happy about the new house! I had a friend who had a house built once, and although it’s very rewarding, it was very HARD. Every last detail had to be decided by her, right down to what kind of screws they use in the various doors and cabinets and cupboards. In one word, well two: exhausting and overwhelming. That is how she described it. But, the result….was so worth it. SO worth it!

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  3. Happy Birthday Erin. I hope your day is blessed with much happiness and love!! Take time to do what is most important in life. Trust me, Your blog friends will be here waiting to read about all your new adventures. With with drawls…LOL.
    Have a great birthday weekend
    :)

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  6. Happy Birthday Weekend Erin !! Pace yourself & do what you need to do. Sometimes moms have too full of a plate! ok, also tell your friend by looking at that picture you can’t even tell she’s pregnant!

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  7. Happy Birthday! What a wonderful tradition of getting together with a beautiful group of women! Prego, really? She sure doesn’t look it! Totally understand needing some time off…your family and YOU certainly come first. Hope everything is okay with Kole!

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  9. Happy Birthday Erin! LOVE your priority list…too funny, I just made a priority list also! How weird is that? It’s taped inside my kitchen drawer because its sort of embarrassing-but your mom is right! I have to write “drink water”, “exercise” etc, on my list just to remind myself that if I don’t everything else will fall apart.

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  11. Happy birthday Erin. Have a wonderful birthday weekend.

    And what’s going on with Kole? I wrote a post on Wed on my blog about things going on with my little man. I wonder if yours is similar? :)

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  12. Happy Birthday Erin!!{mine is March 20} So nice to be able to get together with your girlfriends…they are the best aren’t they? Your Mom sounds just like mine, I guess we are all alike!:O) Have an awesome birthday weekend! ENJOY! -Susan

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  14. Happy Birthday beautiful! You are doing a fine job Erin! We all understand if you can’t blog. We will miss you but we understand. Don’t get down on yourself if you can’t post for a couple of days. It’s ok!!! We promise. Hope all is well with Kole. Don’t leave us hanging like that. Again, happy birthday. I hope you celebrate with a Cadbury egg. Because I will for you! Stephanie

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  16. Happy Birthday week! BTW, I totally love the time stamp on this post. Good for you to get it done before midnight! ;)

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  17. I swear every time I eliminate something from my to do list three new things pop up on it!!

    You know you could schedule your posts and then mom will never know what time you REALLY stayed up to ;)

    Seriously though, she is right. If mom goes down…

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  23. Oh your mom – love her. I can so relate. Happy happy Birthday. Hope you have a wonderful weekend and the celebration just continues on.

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  25. Happy Birthday Erin! It sounds like you’ve had a wonderful kickoff to your Birthday weekend. Hope that the rest of it is just as great.

    By the way, you can remove the time stamp from your blog posts if you’d like. When you open up blogger, go to the settings tab at the top, then select the Formatting tab under that. The 4th option down is the Timestamp Format. You can change it there to read just the date if you’re like. Then you’re mama can’t tell if you’ve been up past midnight, haha

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  27. Happy, happy birthday, Erin!

    And PS – my mom and I have the EXACT same conversations, particularly about the ‘mom goes down, everyone goes down,’ except she uses her favorite ‘mom has to put the oxygen mask on first’ analogy. No worries – I am 100% certain we will be having those same conversations in about 25 years… : ) Have a great weekend!

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  28. Thanks for the birthday wishes everyone!!

    Amanda – Thanks for the great tip! I didn’t know you could do that.

    And so funny about the post time! HA! I didn’t try to do that but we can pretend I did. ;)

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  29. Last night was SO fun, Erin!!! Girl time is such great therapy and I really needed it last night as well. OH, and a big THANK YOU for honoring my request and letting all your sweet blog readers know that I am 3 weeks away from having baby #3 (somehow it makes me feel better about my thunder thighs in that picture- though can I really blame that on pregnancy?). :)I hope you have a FABULOUS birthday weekend. Love you!

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  30. Happy Birthday! Looks like such a fun group of girls. :) Oh, and just write your posts whenever and schedule them to post during Kole’s naptime the following day. Then, your mom will never know! (Unless, of course, she reads the comments on your blog!)

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  31. Happy Birthday and i love you posted this at 11:59pm! Oh, i have a 16 month old little boy and i think this is sure to be the end of me! He has been walking about 2 months now and wont listen to anything i say… As soon as i say “no” he throws a fit! Life is grand!

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  34. Oh my goodness Erin!! I knew it! You have the same birthday as my daughter! She will be 15 on Sunday. Another Pisces, of course I like you! We’re having a big party for her with all the family. I hope you enjoy your day too and have a great time with your friends! We’ll be thinking of you as well, up here in Vancouver! Happy day!

    Love,

    Wendy from Vancouver, Canada

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  37. Happy Birthday Weekend Erin!

    That is funny your mom pays attention to the time that your post goes up. If my mom did that, she would die. :)

    I need to utilize the scheduled post feature, it’s just that I worry it wouldn’t go up when I think it would.

    I hope your birthday is so fun!

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  38. Oh thanks so much everyone!!

    Wendy – happy birthday to your daughter! Hope you have a great time celebrating! She must be fabulous — us Pisces all are! ;)

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  44. Happy Birthday! Don’t stress too much about blog frequency. I only post about once a week, if that, and I don’t even have kids and I’m definitely not building a house. Being fully present in my life is just too much fun. Your mom gives some really good advice. Don’t be afraid to hire help with laundry, dishes, cleaning, errands, childcare, etc. I help busy women like you everyday with that kind of stuff and they tell me their quality of life is so much better with a little help.

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  45. Oh man it kills me that I’m not going to be in your bday dinner tradition picture anymore!!!! :(

    I hope you are having a great birthday weekend.

    Miss you. xoxo

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  46. happy Birthday to you Erin. What a great way to start the celebrations then with a group of friends. I hope you’ve been spoilt rotten by your family.

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  47. I hope you had a fun BIRTHDAY weekend. You are such a doll! I hope you WILL prioritize and blog what’s important, and that’s about family and your kids. Someday you won’t care about all the other stuff. It’s the family journaling that you will love the most. Love you!

    Reply

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