New Life.

Today I am grateful for new life.

woah.

that's deep.

I'm just talking about a t-shirt.

apparently i felt the need to be all ominous and pro-lifeish.

excuse me while i take a moment to laugh about the idea of "me" and "pro-life" being in the same sentence.

ANYWAY.

new life. to an old t-shirt. because i took an old large t-shirt and turned it into a tank top.

Don't you just fucking love the internet? It's seriously just full of all these fun crafty people who have nothing better to do with their lives than to figure out how to make cool shit and then put instructions on the internet so that you can make cool shit too. Love it.

My dad gave me a t-shirt a few years back. well, more like 6 or 7 years back now. It was really big, but he didn't get it for the size. on the front it said "Issues? You bet your sweet ass I have issues!" Isn't he a wonderful father?

actually he really is because I fucking love this shirt. I used it as a night shirt for awhile. or have thrown it on to do around the house stuff when i didn't want to get my good clothes dirty...but it sort of just ended up sitting in my dresser for a long time because it didn't really fit well. I kept seeing all kinds of pins on pinterest for remaking old tshirts into things, but i've been kind of skeptical because i don't sew. AT ALL. because today I stumbled across one that specifically said "no sew" and i gave it a read.

SO SIMPLE. seriously. my mind was blown.

I'm sorry now that I didn't take any pictures of the process to share here. but you can find the instructions here. Now I've turned this t-shirt into a tank-top that i'll get much more use out of. I already wore it today for yoga. heck yes. I'm so grateful that just a few cuts with a pair of scissors brought this tshirt back into my life again. heck yes, internet. heck yes.

of course, no i see a potential trip to goodwill for a handful of extra large tshirts happening in my future. I may or may not be grateful for this later.

Thanks for reading!
Lana

The Shat.

Today I am grateful for The Shat.

or William Shatner, if you will.

Why?

because he's fucking William Shatner.

a.k.a. JAMES T. KIRK.

and he's beautiful.

yup.

I just needed to share this with you.

It was a cumpulsion. you're welcome, by the way.

Thanks for reading!
Lana

Movie Marathons.

Today I am grateful for mini-movie marathons.

they don't get to happen at this house very often.

EXCUSE ME.

movie marathons that don't consist of Dora the Explorer, Super Hero Squad, or The Wonder Pets don't get to happen around here very often.

at all.

The Marsh and I try to watch movies together on occasion. sometimes if the movie isn't rated too bad we can watch it in the evening when the babes are playing. sometimes we know it's something they shouldn't watch so we wait for them to go to bed.

This would be fine if our kids went to bed at the time normal toddlers went to bed, at say 8:00pm or so. But my kids stay up until 9:30 ish. and then between going potty and brushing their teeth and getting a bedtime story in...it's more like 10:15ish before The Marsh and I can even think about starting a movie. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining about my kids bedtimes. if I wanted them to get in bed earlier I would make it happen. but seeing how I stay at home most days with them, i would prefer it if they didn't wake up at 6:00am. which is exactly what would happen if they went to be early. I would rather they went to bed a little bit later and slept until 8:00am any day of the week. but it does make starting a movie hard to do when The Marsh has to get up early in the morning for work.

even worse is that The Marsh and I like to watch TV series that we get on disks through netflix sometimes. and if there are only two episodes on a disk that's not so bad. but sometimes there are 3! and that movie marathon just ain't happening that late at night. Oh I know what you're thinking..why not just watch the episodes on different days? well, have you ever seen True Blood? That show ALWAYS ends on a cliff hanger. ALWAYS. and when you know that you can just click a little button and get the next episode, you do it. it's fucking addicting.

Last night The Marsh and I were too tired to keep pressing next episode, however, and ended up having once episode left on one disk. well, we also happened to get the next disk in the mail today with an additional 3 episodes. AHHH. so many to watch.

BUT!!! today is thursday. and everyone loves thursdays! so after getting the babes dropped off at my mom's for the night, we came home, made some dinner, and popped it the movies. Four episodes and three brandies later, things are pretty awesome in this house. I can't believe we managed to watch four episodes in one night! at we were done by 11:00pm! MADNESS!!

I'm grateful that The Marsh didn't have to work late tonight so this was possible. and I'm grateful for all the fun and laughter that came with this movie marathon. The Marsh and I haven't been able to see each other a whole lot lately, so this was more than just a movie marathon for us, it was taking a few hours to spend time together that didn't consist of cleaning, or laundry, or shopping, or paying bills. and I'm always grateful for a few hours of down time with my husband.

I'm also always grateful for a few hours of watching Alexander Skarsgard and Stephen Moyer..if you know what i mean.

Thanks for reading!
Lana

Settled.

Today I am grateful to be settled.

with my husband.

and my babes.

in this house that we own.

Sure eveything isn't perfect yet. the wall are white. no pictures are hung up. even though we've lived here for like two years. there are still things that need to be done.

but there is no rush.

we're here.

My brother and his girlfriend are currently in the process of getting their first apartment together. and while all of this is exciting and I'm happy for them, there are stressful elements to it. how much rent can they afford? what town do they live in? how do they split the bills? do they need a large kitchen or is a small one okay? what color should things be? headboard? no headboard?

it sounds exhausting.

but then again, i have two toddlers.

i'm always exhausted.

the point is, however, that i've put in my time playing the apartment game. although i was EXTREMELY LUCKY and played the game for alot less years than most people. I'm very grateful to have owned my own home at 22. but i still had an apartment. and i still remember moving into my first one. and sleeping with The Marsh on a twin size mattress that was sitting on the floor because neither one of us owned a larger bed. and not owning a kitchen table for weeks. and our couch was my grandmama's loveseat from 1984. those were the days, right?

well actually. they kind of were. but for different reasons. personal and private The Marsh and Alana pre-marriage and babies reasons.

but I wouldn't go back now for anything. I enjoy knowing my forseeable future. it makes my soul happy. being so settled. and i'm always grateful for that.

Thanks for reading!
Lana

Cookie Monster.

Today I am grateful for Oreo Cookies.

why?

because of this.

amazing, right? If you don't think so, you probably shouldn't be reading this blog. because i think you are a horrible person.

anyway. I'm so grateful that there are companies and brands out there who are willing to take a stand against homophobia. although i'm a little bit disgusted that in this day and age every brand and company and person doesn't just support gay pride or gay marriage because it's just another part of life. I'm also a little bit disgusted by the intense amount of hate that Oreo is now recieving due to this picture. families saying they will never by oreos again. and I'm just like "good. more oreos for me!"

my favorite response to all the crazy oreo hate?

I'm still laughing.

so thank you oreo. for making me proud of you. and for making me laugh at homophobes.

my life day is complete.

Thanks for reading!
Lana

Rainy Days and Mondays.

Today I am grateful for rainy days and mondays.

who's grateful for that??

aren't they always suppose to get you down? nope. not this girl.

not that today was super exciting or anything. actually it was just the opposite. it's lack of excitement is what seems to have made it all the more perfect. the last few weeks have been busy around here. and The Marsh has been working alot of overtime. and after getting back from Boston yesterday there still wasn't much time for relaxing because we took the babies down to the waterfront to see the fireworks in town. but today there was none of that.

It was nice and quiet. I would go so far as to call it boring, but it wasn't really boring. The Marsh was home with the babes and me today. he made french toast and bacon. we watched star wars. i spent an unhealthy amount of time on pintrest while he played The Lord of the Rings video game with our son. It was dark and rainy so for the first time in a week the house wasn't so hot i wanted to kill myself. The Marsh  made chili. the babes didn't go completely stir crazy having to be couped up all day. i drank three cups of coffee. and barely made it out of my pajamas. (yoga pants for life.) I read. The Marsh made his grocery list for the week. and did laundry. (yes. he did all the important things in the house today. i'm aware of this.)

now my babes have gone to my in-laws for the night. so my house is even quieter than usual. seriously. how can anyone not be grateful for a day like today. everyone loves a good lazy day, right? well. at least one person does. this girl right here. rainy days and mondays. beautiful.

i'm also always grateful for The Carpenters. and you should be too.

Thanks for reading!
Lana

Mama's Night Out.

Today I am grateful for my extremely fun night out last night.

Today, is my best friend Kristy's birthday. she also happens to be leaving for London tomorrow morning. so last night she had a big shindig in Boston as a combined birthday/going away party. I was lucky enough that The Marsh has the weekend off from work, so I kissed him and the babies goodbye for the night and headed out to the train station.

I met up with my Rachel, whom has been friends with Kristy since they were in high school, and she kept me company during the 2 and a half hour train ride. I'm grateful for that as well, as far as cool people go, Rachel is definately at the top.

Kristy and her boyfriend, Ken, just recently moved in together so it was also very exciting to see their new place for the first time. We ate some amazing cheese and drank a couple bottles of wine before we even made it out of the apartment. Then we met up with a bunch more people, i think there was a group of 13 of us? We went to the Sunset Cantina, which is basically a tequila bar. It was also amazing..I even managed to get the birthday girl to do a couple shots. The whole night was fantastic.

at one point during the night some chicks in pink shirts were going around the bar handing out free shots for some liquor they were selling. The alcohol turned out to be pretty gross (but hey, it was free) but they also were handing out these awesome cheap ass pink sunglasses for free as well. They actually totally made the night.

and then this happened with ken and rachel. we're total bad asses.



I literally woke up at 4:00 this morning like "what the hell is on my face?" because i actually wore them to sleep last night. yes. i am that cool.

We all had breakfast and coffee together this morning before Rachel and I grabbed the train back home. I was just a really great mini-trip over all and i was so thankful to see Kristy before she headed off to Europe for six weeks. It really was the perfect mama's night out.

I'm also grateful in advance for her safe flight and arrival. just in case the higher power up there just happens to be paying attention.

Thanks for reading!

Lana