so fletcher is 22 months old and we FINALLY took him out on the boat. so sad because he really, really loved it. he loved going fast. and pointing out all the buoys. and seeing all the planes fly over the lake. we will definitely be taking the boat out more often.
fletcher has been in summer camp since school let out in may. yes, he is only 21 months old and yes, he is in a real school already. this past year, he was in the 1 year old program and he really loved it there and we did, too. the school is so nurturing and the classes are small - there were only 8 kids in his class with 3-4 teachers on any given day. can't beat that. this coming year, he will be in the 2 year old class - i think 15 kids total. summer camp is now in session. or was in session. this week is an off week and he'll be back at camp next week - all day long. this will be the first time he will be away 5 days/week. he has so much more fun being in camp than being home with me. we run errands, go to the pool, have play dates, etc. but it's hard to do things all day long like they do in camp. we've been to the zoo, the children's museum, we go to the park, i even created a craft box for fletcher and it's filled with finger paints, crayons, those little felt twisty things that bend into shapes. we've done it all. today is only tuesday! tomorrow we are planning to spend the morning at the pool and then possibly hang out with lilah + aiden and go back to the children's museum since we are members. we really need to get our visits in. :)
when andy came home from work this evening, he cut the grass. fletcher loves to watch. he likes andy to carry him while he (andy) is mowing. fletcher imitates the sound of the mower. however, he is terrified of the weed wacker and runs for cover.
here is he sitting on the front porch while andy was cutting the grass:
we spent 4 days at the beach. will write about that later.
here's a pic of fletcher running on the beach, may 10th:
this is a quick entry and only because i was just reminded of this issue.
do you ever go to someone's blog and try to leave a comment and get that little "word authentification" message? it looks like this:
i swear they make those things almost impossible to read. i totally understand why you have to do it, i just can't stand how difficult it can be to leave stupid message, especially after i have typed out a long, thoughtful comment. because i don't have patience, if i get 1 "wrong answer," i skip the whole thing and i don't leave a comment. sad, huh?
this past sunday, we went to a crawfish boil at andy's cousin's house. it was fun. i don't eat crawfish, but i do like to partake in the potatoes + corn on the cobb, mmmmmm.
these particular cousin's of andy's are really nice people. good people. however, they have a photo of their kids hanging in the living room that you can see right when you first walk in and there is something very "flowers-in-the-attic" about the photo. if you've read those books or have seen the movie, you know what i mean and i don't have to explain. totally freaks me out to the point where i feel like i run past the photo so i don't have to look at it. problem is, you can see the photo from the kitchen, as you walk out of the bathroom and if you're in the living room. it's like the kid's eyes are following you around.
so yeah, crawfish - i still remember going to my very first crawfish boil, it was about 9 years ago, right after i moved to new orleans. i don't think i ever even heard of crawfish in new york. no, i take that back...i heard of crayfish. and when i say heard, i mean exactly that, as i had never actually seen / knew someone that had seen / knew someone that had eaten crayfish/crawfish.
so flashback to 9 years ago...
the scene: a parking lot at tenet's baptist hospital, it was employee appreciation day and a local crawfish seller had been hired to cater the event.
i walked with my group of co-workers to the parking lot and saw groups of people gathered at picnic tables covered with red+white gingham plastic tableclothes. in the rear of the parking lot was a very large boat looking thing (that i later found out is called a pirogue) filled with red loster looking specimens. but much, much smaller than lobster. mean looking little suckers. at the time, i wasn't familar with crawfish eating etiquette and i probably was staring at my co-wokers with a look of awe as i saw them pile anywhere from 3-5 pounds of crawfish onto a large plastic tray. yep, that's how much each person eats. of course, 3-5 pounds of whole crawfish only yields about 8 ounces of actual meat. ok, more than that. 9 ounces. from what i have witnessed, it's a lot of work - eating crawfish. some people suck the heads. some stick their pinky finger deep into the bowels of the crawfish body to really get the meat and some just snap + eat. it's interesting to watch people eat crawfish because each person has their own way of eating, a system if you will. snap, eat, dig, suck. over and over again. and this goes on for hours.
you know what the funny thing is? watching people clean their fingers when they are finished eating. or watching someone try to crack open a beer with slimy fingers. or trying to open a door. or forgetting that they ate crawfish hours ago and they scratch their eyes (the spices are usually still on the hands and it burns).
so that's my first crawfish experience.yes, i went to the concert almost 2 months ago.
here are some pics that i was finally able to get uploaded into an album. more to come; i've only gone through 1/2 of them.
michael bublé concert pics
i hate, hate, hate shopping for a bathing suit. i especially hate trying one on in the store because i always fel so fat and the lighting always seems so bad. anyway, i found an inexpensive 2 piece at old navy! i had to get something practical... (1)black because well, i always wear black. and also because with an 18 month old, you need something that won't show the fruit punch spills on you. (2)halter top - so when you're in the water and your child tries to pull down your top, you'll be somewhat ok.
i am posting a pic of myself in the suit. this is more motivation for me to get my butt to the gym more often. i will post another pic in a month and we'll see if i've made any progress in the working out dept.
Before:
After:
that's how long it's been since i last posted. why you ask? i've been busy. then i was sick. and now i'm busy again.
on feb 26th, we went to the michael buble concert and i have to say, it was pretty freakin awesome. i took o ver 100 pictures, but haven't had a chance to go through them because i promised myself i can look at the pics once i finish 2 specific work-related projects; once of which involves getting my new website up + running. and if you've ever done a web-site, you know it's a lot of work. i will share 1 pic here and post the others when i can:
so yeah, it looks like we were sitting pretty close, huh? because we were. we got really, really lucky. here's how it went down:
the day before valentine's day:
me: "sweetie, don't forget tomorrow is valentine's day and i will be disappointed if you don't get me at least a card."
you see, andy forgot mother's day. my very first mother's day and nothing, not even a card. when i had asked him about mother's day a week after the big day, i said, "can i ask you what happened with mother's day and why i didn't at least get a card?"
he replied with, "honestly, you're not my mother and i didn't even think of you."
yes, it really hurt my feelings. anyway, i got over that whole mother's day 2007 debacle.
wait...there's more to how we got our tickets, but i have to go run out...more later.
otherwise, what's the point, right? i always hate when people say that expression. my grandmother says it to me all of the time.
G'MA: "Mary, why do you always have to have your cake and eat it, too?"
She has said this on numerous occasions and these have been my responses:
"Uh, because cake is meant to be eaten."
"What do you want me to do, STARE at it?"
"If it's in front of me, I'm eating it. Period."
"If I don't take it and eat it, someone else will. And I want it."
Of course, she wasn't actually referring to REAL cake.
Anyway, here are pics from my b-day cake (last night). It's the same cake we had for our wedding and fletcher's b-day. Yummy white chocolate strawberry shortcake. Made with real strawberry slices. Yummy goodness. From Flour Power
No Fletcher, it's not your b-day...
And...this was my lunch today. I am not kidding. I just ate this for lunch and enjoyed every yummy bite.
i don't normally tell people when it's my birthday because i don't like fishing for a, "happy birthday." if people remember, great. if not, great.
it's not officially my b-day for another hour, but i am up doing some work (putting together an etsy shop :) and i can't stop thinking about the birthday cake that i really, really, really, really hope andy gets me for my b-day. i am sooooo looking forward to this cake; it's the same cake we had for our wedding and it's so friggin' good. white chocolate strawberry shortcake from flour power. it has to be from flour power, anything else is unacceptable. i don't normally make bitchy statements or demands like that, but if you had a flour power cake, you would know what i am talking about. pure goodness.
so, i am 33. that's young. i am young. i still tell people i am 29. i will always be celebrating my 29th birthday. even when i am 40. well, that's hoping i can still pass for 29. maybe i can't pass now and no one has told me because they are being too nice? great, now i am going to go to bed with a complex about being 29/33.
here's a pic i just took using the camera on my mac, do i look older than 29? 33? i need someone objective.
**keeping fingers crossed for cake tomorrow**
it looked like it was going to rain; it was damp + over-cast. the sun finally came out + it warmed up. we ended up taking fletcher to the zoo for about an hour.
fletcher on the carousel:
photos by: mary carstens, click on photo to enlarge:
there's nothing better than getting an email from a past client who wants to chat with you about ideas because, they say, they respect your work. i mean, how awesome is that?
this particular client was married 2 years ago and i designed their wedding invitations and programs. they were a really cool couple (and i'm not just saying that) because well, they were extremely easy to work with. not whiney. they didn't bring their wedding planner to every meeting. they didn't send me 1007 emails. they were simply nice + easy.
anyway, blake is a foodie blogger. he likes to cook for his wife, bridget. he likes to blog. he seems full of fresh ideas. he has an idea in the works that i can't share just now, but definitely check out his site.
i've been wanting to move away from new orleans for a while now. i can honestly say that i hate it here. i know, hate is strong word. that's how i feel. other than andy's parents, who i love to death, there is nothing here that i like. the public schools are beyond bad. the criminal system is beyond broken. the police force employs a bunch of buffoons, who really, don't seem to care about the citizens. you can call the police, but they won't come. i know this from personal experience - on more than 1 occasion. i've had to call the police numerous times because of an old neighbor and they never came out. i've had my car stolen twice and that was a joke. on more than 1 occasion, a tulane student had my car blocked in the driveway and i couldn't get out to take my son, who was sick, to the doctor. i called the police to help. another joke.
i'm sure our politicians lack of ethics isn't new news to you, either. the recovery process is completely lacking. you can't even drive down a street in new orleans without hitting a huge pot hole. and you have to drive everywhere because the sidewalks aren't conducive to walking. some streets don't even have sidewalks and you have to walk in the street. what kind of a city doesn't have sidewalks, right? the scary thing is: walking in the street. the drivers like to try to hit you. you can't trust them and i'll de damned if i am going to take a 16month old for a walk by myself. yeah, there's the park. oh, did you hear that a jogger was killed at 3pm in the afternoon because someone was driving in the park and ran over him?
it really sucks. we live in a nice neighborhood and even still, i'm scared to go walking alone. there have been a rash of home burglaries lately and the thugs around this city don't even think twice about shooting you. they don't value life. they aren't afraid of the police or incarceration because chances are, they won't be put in jail. it's terrible.
a few weeks ago, in a nice neighborhood, a father was in his driveway with his baby and as soon as he got the baby out of the carseat and was holding him, 2 men went up to him to rob him at gunpoint. they put the gun to the baby's head. who does that? sick people. teen-agers. that's who is mostly committing crime in new orleans, teen-agers. they don't understand or care about consequences. i don't want my son growing up in a world like this. it's sheltering. he can't even go out to play. he will never be able to ride his bike, alone, on our sidewalk. he will never be able to go out and play man-hunt in our neighborhood. or have a stupid lemonade stand - maybe only girls do that? in this city, if he had a lemonade stand, chances are, he will get held up at gun-point for his money.
so i was reading the news today. there was an article about how the city of new orleans has some new weapons to help battle the crime. it included a photo with the mayor of new orleans and the police chief of new orleans. this photo REALLY has sent me over the edge and has only solidified my decision to leave new orleans.
i saw this and immediately felt like we are in a third world country, pic of Mayor Nagin + Chief Riley from the Times-Picayune:
the really sick part of living in new orleans are the expenses. it's not cheap. i don't like to talk about money, but i'm going to be candid, here. on top of our mortgage, we pay an additional $15,000/year for flood, homeowner's and taxes. our tax bill was just lowered by $3500, and that's only because the assessors finally did an over-haul of the many years of corruption within the assessors office. and only because of public out-cry. they didn't take it upon themselves to do that. i wouldn't mind paying the high insurance + taxes if there was something to show for it. if we didn't have to send our son to private school. private schools cost $13,000/year. Add to that the expensive electric + gas bills ($300+/month), high car insurance rates, the maintenance and wear on your car because the streets are so bad, the stress of dealing with the incompetent workers at the stores, even grocery shopping can give you head ache.
it's not worth it, living in new orleans.
Well, we just got back from Park City, Utah. We had a fun ski trip. I feel like I need a vacation from that vacation; I am exhausted.
These are Fletcher's first pair of snow boots and they are for sale. They won't fit him the next time we see snow.
Fletcher wore these 1 time. As in 1 day. For about 1 hour. He hated the snow.
Basically, brand new.
LL Bean, size 5, will sell for $10 plus $3 shipping. Email me: mary@paperandinkstudio.com if interested. Will accept payment via PayPal only.
wow! this is a momentous occasion. i bought this rug before andy + were married, back in 2004. 2004! i never, ever opened it. i didn't even remember what it looked like. it was bought for our other house, but it never was opened + laid down. we've been living in this house since late 2006 and just TODAY, i decided to open it and put it in the dining room. claire (my mother-in-law) is, i'm sure, jumping for joy. she's been on me to get this thing down and out of my hallway.
opening it it up:
VIOLA:
i finally got my haircut. i got it cut short and layered so i cannot put it in a ponytail. i seemed to be ending my days with my hair in a ponytail lately. or letting it go curly and i got so sick of it.
i'm not sure what i think of it so far...
fletcher is obsessed with the vacuum. apparently, vacuum obsession is going around (right, sandra?). all he wants to do is drag this thing around the house. or bring it to one of us to drag around the house while we chase him and make a noise like we are actually vacuuming.
click to enlarge:
well aidan gill...you can take your 500 toddler's heirloom haircut and shove it um, you know where.
i took fletcher to aveda and paid a whopping 22 bucks to get his haircut AND they gave me a lock from the first snip AND they graciously let me take pics.
aidan gill...geesh, you would think it was Vidal Sassoon himself cutting hair with a price like that!
fletcher was a good boy over the weekend. for the most part, he was pretty tolerant with the mask. now as day 4 is here, he is not tolerant and wants to get away from the mask. he's a pic from saturday while still in the tolerant phase:
and he actually was holding it up himself!
i know this might sound cheesy: fletcher is growing up so quickly and it's making me really sad. it seemed like just yesterday when we brought him home from the hospital and i can't believe how big and mature he is getting and how much he is changing. he no longer looks like a baby. i never in a million years would have thought i would have a blog about family and even be talking about a child. i always hated kids and never wanted to have any, let alone be married. how things change...i love having a family and i absolutely love having fletcher. kids really do change your life.
he's one of me + fletch:
