Happy mother's day to me and all the wonderful mothers in my life!

I was concerned that I wouldn't have any mother's day at all, knowing that I had to work full days both Saturday and Sunday. I was completely bummed. But Stephen said "leave it to me", and that was that. I wasn't allowed to ask questions or know any details whatsoever. I could tell that he was boasting with pride for his plans, so I knew it had to be good.

Finally I found out Saturday morning. He helped me get up and get ready (including watching the baby while I took a long shower!), and told me that a bunch of my favorite moms were meeting me to get mani/pedis, and then we would all come back here to play with our kids and have a full brunch, which the dads were making and serving. WOW!!!!

So I met with my mom (who drove all the way from Vancouver just to surprise me), Stephen's mom (also my godmother; double bonus), Jen (who has shared motherhood with me from the very beginning), Jen's mother-in-law, and one of my best friends and also a mother, Sarah.

And to top it off, a toast with mimosas. From Stephen: "To mothers and diapers, both of which have to deal with all of our shit!"

I thought I wouldn't have any mother's day at all. No way. I had the best mother's day EVER! And I officially have the best husband in the world (Sorry girls, I think this wins the prize!).

To all of the mothers who are in my life: I hope you had an excellent day, but more importantly I hope that you know how important you are and how much you influence and inspire everyone around you every day of the year. I would not be the mother that I am without learning love and compassion from my mom, wisdom and faith from my grandmother, patience and calm from my godmother/mother-in-law, and how to still be myself and have fun in life from my girlfriends. And thank you to Stephen, because without your support I would not survive motherhood. Period. Thank you to all.

I honestly don't know why she was upset. Probably because I stopped giving her food to take the picture.
Does this really need explanation?

OK, something must have been REALLY funny! Road rage in its early stages

Soprano diva

Yesterday was the biggest event in my choral experience. Hands down. Exciting, thrilling, intense. A complete extravaganza!

4 choirs and 1 orchestra together in one performance. We all had our chances to perform separately, and then we performed Poulenc's Gloria all together - 200 voices and a full 40 piece orchestra. Incredible.

Even better was the venue. Benaroya Hall in Seattle. You know that fancy concert hall in downtown Seattle? Yup, that's the one!

I was so grateful for those to come, and sad for those that couldn't be there. But everyone that saw our performance completely raved about it. My BFF Dawn and my mom even got Jen and me flowers - I felt like such a star!

No experience like this comes without pictures:

Pictures of the 3 of us - Jen, Stephen and me

Concert program

Seattle Bach Choir on stage at Benaroya

Before leaving for the concert

Erin go bragh

Top o' the mornin' to you, me darlin'!

Yes, it's the day of the year that Irish around the world celebrate, and a few million non-Irish, too! (After all, everyone is Irish on March 17th!). Yes, it's St Patrick's Day!

Out of all of the craic (pronounced "crack", meaning "fun") that I could be having today, I've settled with having a nice Irish dinner at home with family. So I'm making a corned beef, cabbage, and Guinness stew-like dish (I obviously haven't thought of a creative name for the dish yet) and we will have a pint of good ol' Guinness along side. I've had plenty of years going out and having quite a few pints, dressing up in all green and dancing a few Irish jigs.

No matter how different every year's celebration is, one thing remains the same. I reminisce about my time in Ireland. 4 months going to school in Limerick and traveling around the country. I was so excited about having St Patrick's Day in Ireland, but it wound up being a different day than I had planned. It was during the foot and mouth outbreak in the British Isles. And the Irish, who were rightfully terrified of their agriculture being affected, had shut down many of the tourist spots all around the country. Including the parade in Dublin, and tons of St Patrick's Day activities. So we celebrated in the native Irish style - pup hopping! And man, was that a night. That was the night that I lost my camera - dangit. I don't even remember how many places that we went to.

By the way... an interesting article on the meaning behind Erin_go_bragh .

Some pictures to share from my Irish experience - forgive the blurriness - I really want to go through my favorites and scan them all to get good copies. But this is what I have for now.

The best pint of Guinness in the world - at the Sky Bar at the top of the Guinness Factory. Straight from the source, baby - it's amazing!

I love the turtle Guinness ads - just for me!

Cheesy and traditional but so much fun (but not for those who have a fear of heights; the grass you see is 3 stories below) - Kissing the Blarney stone!

One of the most spectacular places that I got to visit - both in beauty and history - the Rock of Cashel

Me overlooking the northern portion of the Cliffs of Moher

I'm having so much fun reminiscing about Ireland that I might share more stories and pictures, we'll see! =)

Triple birthdays

What an incredible weekend. All of the running around and long hours working on Friday totally paid off, as the party Saturday was a total success. It still wouldn't have happened without the help of Stephen, my mom and Val though - thanks guys! Hey, even supermom has to have help!

Catherine was great, as always. She had fun with the other kids there and liked being the star of the show whenever possible. The funniest moment of the day was when Auntie Val sat on the floor with a plate full of food - Catherine went over to her, eyeballing the food and looked up at her auntie with an expectant, pleading look. Val wasn't about to give in. Catherine brought a balloon to her. Val took it, thanked her, and Catherine upped the puppy dog look. It became really clear that she was trying to trade the balloon for some food. Val still didn't give in. So Catherine brought her a toy. Still no luck making a trade. She brought her a present off of the table - even her precious Elly. She was trying hard to trade for some of the food on Auntie Val's plate! We were all cracking up so much! Then I went to get her own snack so she would leave Auntie Val alone. ;)

I loved that so many people came. At the one point that everyone was there - around the time we did presents and cake - there was so many people that there were people hanging out on our front porch. Thank GOD for good weather that day. I felt bad though - I'm the kind of hostess that wants everyone to be taken care of and having a good time. So when there wasn't enough room for everyone in the main room I felt like saying "hold on, let me knock down a wall to make more room!" But everyone seemed understanding. It was a great day.

Once I get more pictures loaded I'll share the really good ones. My dad takes great pictures of his grandbaby, and naturally took the one at the top of the post! She's so gorgeous!

Happy birthday to all 3 of us! Yeah!

How I spent my birthday

6am - Woken up by either my sick husband grumbling and moving around or my baby crying - both happened around the same time, so I'm not sure which really woke me up.

7am - Drop off baby at grandma's

7:15am - Shopping, round 1 - Fred Meyer to get groceries for massive food I get to prepare for tomorrow's party
- Ooo... Easter candy already. Chocolate for breakfast - yummy. I'm allowed, it's my birthday.
- Stop for coffee on the way out - not my regular skinny latte today, caramel machiato instead - I'm allowed, it's my birthday.

8:30am - Arrive back at home, load groceries into refrigerator

8:35am - Grimace at my long to-do list

9am - straighten up as much as I can, begin baking cupcakes and hardboiling eggs

10am - Stephen stumbles out of bed and finds me cleaning the bathroom. I tell him that I got him some OJ to help him get better and tell him that his to do list is on the table. He thinks I'm kidding... I wasn't kidding.

10:30am - Put the last cupcakes in the oven and take a shower

11am - Run out the door to do errands and round 2 of shopping, an hour later than I wanted to

11:15am - Visit my favorite party store, get party stuff and order balloons for tomorrow AM

12pm - Linens n' Things (I bought some new serving trays! Wahoo!) and Target

1pm - Swing into work just in time, and told as I walk through the door that a meeting I'm in is about to start... and I'm wished happy birthday about 4 times before I'm there more than 5 minutes

3pm - Still at work, learn that we get free t-shirts, gourmet cupcakes, and our bonuses all in one day!

5:30pm - I get to go home early - wahoo!

6:15pm - Shopping, round 3 - quick stop at Safeway on the way home

6:30pm - Panic because I left my purse at the store

6:40pm - Whew! Picked up my purse - nothing missing! Now if I could only find my brain...

6:45pm - Finally home... just in time to be able to dress my baby in PJs and rock her to sleep

7pm - Clean, straighten, move furniture, fill party favor bags, feed sick husband and convince him to go back to bed

9pm - Begin to cook

11:30pm - Give up thinking that I'll be able finish all the prep cooking that I wanted to tonight

Midnight - Crash in bed

Whew! What a day!

Party pictures

Pictures from the birthday party, as promised. =)

She was so excited about presents!

Playing with grandma Trudy and her new blocks

I was so proud of myself and the cakes I decorated. I'm such an amateur, but I managed to make a super cute princess hat cake and cute cupcakes!

The classic, traditional shot of the one year old covered in cake.

I found this great pink beach ball that says "It's fun to be one". So cute - and Catherine had so much fun with it!
The adorable birthday girl.

She may be a whole year old, but she still makes the best faces!

Birthday girl

"BG" = baby girl, beautiful girl, big girl... and yesterday it was BIRTHDAY GIRL!

It was a wonderful day. I couldn't have asked it to get any better. There was a little bit where I was stressing with the amount that needed to be done. As the guests started rolling in, I was still in the kitchen making food. I put my mom and sis straight to work (thanks again for the help, girls!). Stephen was a wonderful host and took care of the guests and Catherine in the meantime. And in the end the cakes were decorated, the food turned out great, and we had ourselves a wonderful party.

I was so overjoyed of everyone that was there. All of her grandparents, MY grandparents (WOW was that special), Auntie Val, Auntie Jenny and Uncle Phil, cousin Toby, friends Lynn and Steph, and even Uncle JJ was able to stop by. We definitely had a full house! Everyone seemed to have a wonderful time, which probably was the best part of the whole day.

Catherine was a doll. She was a little overwhelmed at first with all the people, but she settled down and had a total ball. She had a bunch of energy thanks to adhering to her nap schedule that morning (thank GOD!), and outlasted many of the party guests. You go, little girl! She was pretty patient during opening the presents and absolutely loved the cool toys she got (and mommy loved all of the cute girly clothes!). And of course she loved the cake that we let her dive into, as per tradition. Until her bath that evening she still had frosting in her hair, all around her neck, in her ears, up her nose and up and down her arms.

I will post some pictures tomorrow. I don't have access to them now because I'm at work. So... more to come.

For now... my baby is one. The nickname that has stuck with her is "BG" - for quite a while it has stood for baby girl. Now she's one. I think it now needs to stand for big girl.

Holiday, holy-day, ho-ho-ho-day

What? Christmas is over? No way!

But that does bring us to a rather overdue Christmas update. It was Catherine's first Christmas! Oh boy did she enjoy herself. Lots of family visits, lots of fun, lots of toys. Do I mean toys that Santa brought? Not necessarily. I was very thankful for our family going easy on gifts for her. But she did like what she got. But her favorite toys? The ribbons. Silly girl.
I'm going to miss out on fun stories unless I start at the beginning.

We got to visit with most of her godfamily the Friday before Christmas. Her godmother, Camille, was in town and we managed to squeeze our busy schedules together and met at the mall for lunch and shopping with Nancy and Greg (two of Catherine's gRodparents) and Katie, Camille's little sis, who we have now determined is her god-aunt. We had lunch at the Rainforest-Cafe . If you haven't been there, it's an uber-elaborate, over the top stimulation, part zoo, part theme park, part restaurant. It's the only place that I know of where the directions to the bathroom include "around the elephant and under the rainbow". Catherine had so much fun watching the gorillas dance and the fish in the aquariums... oh, and her gRodfather Greg, too. They had so much fun together. Time with her godmother Camille is never long enough, but I am so glad that I got to see such a dear friend.

Christmas Eve morning we took a short road trip to visit Stephen's dad and his girlfriend Lynn for brunch and presents. I had fun dressing Catherine up in a pretty Christmas dress that Camilly and Nancy got for her. It was a little big on her, but it was so cute and pretty that I couldn't pass it up. Catherine and Toby had a lot of fun running around at brunch, but were hard to contain once we got to his dad's house. They can be such troublemakers, but it doesn't help being in a house that is so clean and has breakable stuff EVERYwhere. Regardless, we had a lot of fun.

I meant to go to the midnight mass that night, which normally I love going to. But I was SO tired. Man, am I bad Catholic! But I was sure that God would forgive me choosing rest and sanity as my primary priority.

Christmas day! Yeah! In the morning we went to Jen and Phil's. After the traditional picture on the stairs (when they were kids, they weren't allowed to come downstairs to open presents until everyone was awake and gathered on the stairs for a picture), we dove into the pile of presents. Stephen had a test of patience when he opened a present that was a Wii box - but no Wii! We told him that Phil managed to get the box from a friend at work. Wow, was he mad. Luckily for us he took it in stride. And this part of the story has a happy ending anyways.


Christmas dinner at our place went very well. We had to get super creative in rearranging the furniture in our main room so that everyone would fit. Check out my creative paper plate settings!
After the food was cleared we pushed aside the table and made room for more presents! Stephen and I were so greatful for all of our gifts, and also thankful that the gifts we gave were well received. But the star of the evening: Stephen's Wii. We finally got a chance to grant his wish (he's been bugging me about it for over a year now), and it has been worth it. It really is worth all of the hype. I've even had a chance to play a little on it, and it's awesome!

The day after Christmas Stephen got to spend time with one of his best friends, Matt, who is also Catherine's godfather. They got a chance to be just boys in the afternoon, but then Matt got to spend some quality time with Catherine in the evening. The most entertaining thing was Catherine's reaction to the Vancils' tiny energetic dog. She was terrified of him and would run away, but then curiousity would get the better of her and she would chase after him, who would take that as an invitation to play so he would chase her and then she would run away.... again and again. It was hilarious! I am kicking myself for not having our camera with us that night.

More visits with family rounded out the week. We visited Stephen's extended family in Salem, Oregon, and then stopped by to see my family in Vancouver on the way home. Fun was had by all.

But needless to say, after all of this, I could use a break. Well, no rest for the weary!

We hope that everyone had a wonderful holiday filled with fun and love. Cheers to 2008!

Tis the season

What a wonderful weekend to welcome December and open the holiday season! Two big traditions took place: the Payne family annual trek to cut down our Christmas trees, and the 8th annual girls holiday gathering.

Saturday was our trek up to the mountain. We packed the car and truck with everything we needed: snow gear, snowshoes, axe and saw, food and warm drinks. It's a long drive down to the Gifford-Pinchot-National-Forest and then up until we hit snow. Cute pictures of our little snow bunny all bundled up were a must!
















My girlfriends and I have been getting together every Christmas since my junior year at PLU. At the time we were all living in the same apartment complex: me, Heather and Lori in one apartment, and directly across from us were Hilary, Christine, and Keleigh. This was 8 years ago. Since then, all of us but one have gotten married, 2 have had kids, some of us have gone on to further our eduction, and all of us have busy lives. Often times the holiday party is the only time that all 6 of us can get together.

The gathering has changed from year to year. One year Jenny Chase joined us (she was living with Lori at the time), a couple of years ago Heather's mom was there, and this year my mom joined the party. But some things never change: food, present exchange, stockings, and great girlfriend company. We rotate who hosts, and this year I got to host! I love playing hostess! We had brunch food - quite yummy if I do say so myself. And after presents and stockings we sat and chatted and caught up from lost time. Refueling our girl time until next year.
=)

From the concert to Black Friday

The concert went really well. I felt such a sense of accomplishment and peace being able to sing with a group again. Rehearsals are different, but rewarding as well. When you perform it's the end result of a lot of blood, sweat and tears. And this music was very challenging for us. Up until that morning I still didn't feel confident about wrapping my lips around some of the fast-paced French. But I think it sounded pretty good. I haven't written about this yet because a lot of our family couldn't make it, which made me pretty bummed. I felt like I worked so hard - and to sing it for who? Well, it won't be the last concert.

I've spent much of the week either getting ready for Thanksgiving, studying for an exam I have on Tuesday, or doing Christmas crafty things for a bazaar at my work (for which I am one part excited, one part "what the hell was I thinking?").

Did I mention that Catherine took her first steps on Thursday? WOW!!!!

Friday morning... oh, Friday morning. You know those insane people that are out in the dark, bundled up because it's below freezing, fighting for a parking spot at the mall... and all for some silly little discounts? Yeah, I'm one of those crazy people. The tradition has been going on for years with my mom and sister. Though it varies from year to year. Now it's a treat when we can all do it together. This year found us in separate cities. Instead of rushing into a store together, each with our lists and our coffee and splitting up to cover the most ground in the least time, this year we called each other checking in.

Mom: "Good morning, early bird shopper! Where are you at?"
Brie: "I'm fighting for a parking spot between Michael's and Target. Where are you?"
Mom: "I just finished at JCPenny's and I'm dragging my huge bag down the mall to Sears."
Brie: "Oh! I saw in the ads that they had an adorable outfit for Catherine there for 60%off!!! I hope I can find it in her size by the time that I get there."
Mom: "Well let me know if you can't, and I'll get it for her."
Brie: "Great! Thanks! I'm going to go clean Michael's out of everything they have and I'll call you back!"
Mom: "Talk with you soon! Love you, bye!"
Brie: "Love you, bye!"

Etc, etc, etc. (Suddenly Yul-Brynner's voice echoes through my head). It was fun. I shopped until I dropped... or rather shopped until I had to go home to finish studying. Before I had to go to work. Ugh... long day! Ugh... long week!

Full of Thanksgiving

Such a true title - with many meanings.

Full of food from yesterday's feast. We went down to my mom's for the holiday. It was a smaller gathering than previous years, but good company all the same. And the food - yummy! The turkey was moist and flavorful - not surprising since my mom made it. I tried my first ever attempt at soup - I made roasted squash soup. Quite an experience, and it turned out great - I was so proud of myself! My veggie casserole wasn't as great - I really felt like it was missing something, but I have no idea what. I'll have to try it out again sometime.

Also full of plenty of things to be thankful for. A great family, lots of support, jobs and a roof over our head. Even with all the changes that we've experienced over this last year, we still have many great things gong on.

And the best thing of all to be thankful for - the thing that topped off everything yesterday: We went over to Jason's and my sister's house for dessert and I was playing with Catherine. I sat her down on the step that leads to their living room, and she stood up and walked to me. That's right - SHE TOOK HER FIRST STEPS. With great balance and full of intention, she took 3 or 4 steps to me. Yeah!!!

Too cool...

More about the concert and everything else later. I need to study a bit more before having to run off to work.