Adventures of Janet

Restocks and Used Up stuff

Recently, I noticed I have run out of a lot of stuff so I figured I would post about it and what I rebought.

First up is my favorite micellar water, I love using this at night to remove any grime before I wash my face. I have tried other brands and they all honestly seem the same but I am attached to this brand because my German friend from many years ago used to send me this from Europe before it was sold here in the US and so I have this emotionally attachment to it.

I found this big bottle at Costco, I think it was originally $16 but then they went on clearance for $5 a bottle!!!! And I obviously hoarded, each time I would go to Costco I would buy 1 or 2 and so I have a year or two supply. I just love the applicator so I just need to push down with a cotton ball and it fills up with the water for easy use.

This was a supposed dupe for that other famous brand that I can’t think of the name but I bought these because these went on clearance at Costco for $7, 2 for $7!!!! That is hard to pass up. I typically use Palmers Cocoa Butter but when I saw these I got 3 packs and have finally run out. I don’t see any change to my skin but the smell is ok and now that I am out I will go back to my usual stuff.

Dr. Bronner’s is my favorite to use to wash my makeup brushes. I buy the big bulk size at Costco and then use this smaller bottle to make it easier to pour on my cleaning mat to wash. The bottle was getting gross so I bought a new one to use to refill

I feel like a typical Latina using my Pond’s cream, I use it as my daily moisturizer. The smell reminds me of my grandparents and my mom so I enjoy using it a lot. The kids use it too and everyone has their own. I have implemented the importance of skincare and a routine for my 2 oldest. My oldest has a 4 step skincare routine and my middle has a 3 step routine, both of them use this as moisturizer. I figure once my oldest gets a little older I will take him somewhere to really access his skin to get him the right products. I sometimes feel weird saying this out loud like really a skincare routine for a 7 year old, but it really starts young. His 3 step routine consists of a cleanser to wash his face (cetaphil for his baby skin,) moisturizer (pond’s,) and SPF (aveeno baby.) I haven’t found a moisturizer/spf combo for him yet since his skin is still sensitive but he enjoys his routine in the mornings and at night it is just 2 steps. It helps that Dan’s skincare routine is like a million steps so the kids see that and know it’s normal to take care of your skin.

Estee Lauder skincare products are a favorite between me and Dan. We buy the big version of this serum even though I internally cringe because every time we open it the air gets in and thats not good but when I did the math and the saw how often the bottle gets opened, the big version really is the best size for the both of us. I obviously have way too much time on my hands sometimes and view things like a science experiment, notepad and all. Anyways, I have been using Advanced Night Repair since I was 18!!!!! It was a huge investment at the time for me and I would internally cringe handing over my money to get a new bottle every couple of months but I do see how much it has helped. It is also the only serum (so far) that hasn’t made my skin breakout in terrible blemishes and zits. When I started dating Dan I started him on a skincare routine and created a monster but he also loves this product. I can’t tell you how many times he has been complimented on his skin and told he looks way younger than he is, I take full credit but obviously he does it all. I just introduced him to the stuff.

While this is super expensive (to me but worth it) if you sign up for the Estée Lauder emails on their site you can always get it on sale, my personally favorite is when they have a 30% off but more often than not you will get at least 20% off. And on top of that they sometimes give you deluxe samples and a free gift! AND sometimes, they give you full size products when you spend a certain amount so we have gotten our favorite eye cream for free multiple times thanks to their site.

This was a free gift from Estee Lauder site after spending a certain amount, like $35 I think

I guess I should preface this as I LOVE Selena Gomez, she can do no wrong in my eyes. So anything Rare beauty will always be amazing to me. I ran out of this mist and since Sephora was having their 20% off sale I rebought another one. I use this before and after makeup application. If I really admit it to myself I don’t really see a difference between this and my $3 ELF one except the smell, but loyalty is always first and foremost.

I love the smell of this face wash, but don’t really see a big difference between this and any other one I would buy at Target. I did get this for free thanks to Dan’s spending at Kiehl’s so that is really nice. I don’t think I would spend the regular price of $38 for this but when they offer it for free after spending a certain amount then yes, I will gladly take it.

Mental Health #2

Last week was the start of my spring blues, it was especially hard this time around and I can’t quite put a finger on why. I knew it too as soon as the weekend ended like waking up from a nightmare I was left gasping and starting a panic attack in the morning and as I hid in my closet so the kids couldn’t see I pulled myself together the best I could but sometimes your best isn’t enough.

My oldest doesn’t really ask for too much so when he asked for Starbucks before school I agreed since he had standardized testing that day and I remember how much I hated those. I order his drink and meal and then turn to look at him and see plaque on his teeth letting me know that he didn’t brush his teeth and who knows why but I started to cry in the middle of the Starbucks line (we were in the drive through line so not that dramatic.) I also don’t ask much from my kids because I know the pressures are hard and they are just kids but I seriously just ask for them to brush their teeth and for my oldest to not get lower than a C in school and my middle to keep his hands to himself since he is always getting in trouble for that but no my oldest just couldn’t brush his teeth and it led me to bawling my eyes out. He felt terrible and I felt even worse. Thank God it was busy and the line moved super slow so I thought I had composed myself enough and I even put on sunglasses to hide my eyes but I thought they would just hand me my order and scan my phone to pay but I guess the lady just saw I was not ok. She asked me if I was alright and I said yes and that I would be fine later in the day, she was honestly the kindest person about everything and refused to let me pay for the order and wished me a good day and then I cried again how embarrassing it all was and how people are just so kind to me that I always feel like I don’t deserve it. My oldest was silent the whole time and then asked to be taken home so he could brush his teeth and when we were driving back to school he apologized for lying and would just brush his teeth when I ask. Once home I emailed Starbucks while I was still crying lolol explaining how amazing their worker was and how I truly appreciated the kindness they showed me.

The week was just so hard mentally for me and I don’t know what triggered it, probably nothing and just being in my head too much but even my other 2 boys were unusually well behaved and listened and neither one got in trouble in their classes.

On Friday, Dan took me to Herbies on the Park for a date and while I still wasn’t myself he really babied me and did most of the talking. When I was halfway done with my drink I must have grabbed it wrong and it slipped and the whole thing shattered on the ground with the glass breaking into a million pieces. I was once again about to cry not from embarrassment but because I knew one of the workers would have to clean it and I always feel bad making them work more than they should, but it was like they knew exactly what to do. The bartender asked what I was drinking and immediately made me another one, the waitress came and helped clean up the big pieces while the bus boy swept everything up and in mere minutes it was like nothing happened. They all gave me beautiful smiles and told me it happens all the time and what almost led me to have another anxiety attack was prevented by again kindness that I was not expecting. We stayed until last call then went to watch some live music nearby. I also emailed Herbies to let them know how much their staff was appreciated and how fast they worked to make things better.

Then on Saturday, my friend Gloria had made a plan for the guys to play golf on the simulator while the girls played purse bingo. It was a lot of fun with the food being delicious and of course bingo is always fun. In the last round I just knew I was going to win. It is a weird feeling knowing because the feeling has never lied to me and I have felt it with every competition and really with anything I really want in life it is like the world aligns itself to give it to me. So there I just need I 22 to win which is one of my favorite numbers since it is the day me and Dan got married and I knew the Is were red balls so when she just finished calling I 23 (another one I needed) and saw she had another red ball I was like yes that is I 22 and boom she called it and I yelled BINGO and won a purse!!!! It was very exciting and what a way to end the bad week.

This week has been much better! The kids are back to their usual antics, aka, I received an email that my oldest is missing 2 assignments in class and got a phone call from my middle’s school that he was a distraction in class that day. Scott has been doing great with his speech therapy and that has really made me happy and so with everything looking up I don’t have any sad thoughts.

I am really thankful though to Dan and my oldest son. Dan, for always being so patient with me and picking up exactly where I mentally leave off like he picks up the kids from school or will make dinner for us and wash the dishes, do the laundry, etc. My oldest, for also being my ride or die in life. When I am troubled he knows what to say and knows how to make me feel better. He gossips to me all about his school happenings and keeps me in the constant loop of his life. He pulls me out of my overthinking by telling me of his new hobbies or information on the stuff he is currently into. I enjoy going on drives and he always ask to go with me to listen to music and explore new neighborhoods. Where friends can be flaky or just not there because they are human too and have their own problems I am happy I have my close family to always be there for me.

And I just can’t believe how wonderful strangers have been to me. Random acts of kindness mean so much and when I was telling my oldest this, he stopped me and said, mom, you do this all the time, you always help people no matter what and even all my friends always say how nice you are and that you are always around if I need anything. That made me cry too because sometimes I feel like I am not around my oldest as much as I want to be, I have the other 2 kids I need to watch and drive around too but I always feel guilty for not being around him more often. We do have special hangouts but you know how it is always feeling guilty no matter what.

Mid March-Mid April Happenings

I feel like time just keeps whizzing by, this is what has been happening…..

It was freezing the day of St Patrick’s but of course that didn’t stop us. We still went to St Paul and enjoyed the activities there

One of the restaurants had a neat set up in their patio. They also gave away some Wild Hockey stuff

The parade was a lot smaller than prior years but with the weather it makes sense

We enjoyed some corned beef and cabbage at the St Paul Grille. It was delicious and hope to make this a yearly tradition!

They ran out go green beer this year!!! So this was from the last batch of very light green beer at the bar

I have always loved this quote from J.R.R. Tolkien

House destroyed but the kids just love building train tracks and cities

Dan was out of town and took the kids to Red Lobster

Ahhh Lollapaloolza performers were released and can’t wait to go again this year

I die at this because there is something about the French passion that never ceases to amaze me and love that they used my favorite BTS member on their posters

Feeling old and having to cover my grays

My friend Camille moved to MN so we celebrated with $1 Oysters from Whole Foods and Champagne

Logan aged out but since the workers knew him they let him pick up some eggs which was so nice to have Scott have someone to teach him what to do

A new restaurant opened up in St Paul, Taste of Rondo, and if you know me you know my love for the Rondo neighborhood. They opened this up where the neighborhood used to be and it was so tasty, of course I had to take my friend Camille with us too

Chicken was very juicy and the seasoning was soooo good

I don’t own any Swatch watches but this collab is very interesting. I do love me some Magritte so I am still debating buying this for myself

After shopping for more Nespresso pods we stopped by Nordstrom for their tea and smoothie

I never did stop loving an arm party. I own so much jewelry but bracelets are definitely a favorite

I was clearly feeling my outfit this day lololol

Organizing letters to make friendship bracelets for my upcoming Taylor Swift concert to pass out

Found a super cute Strawberry cardigan. Strawberries are my favorite and we have a strawberry fest in a nearby suburb that I will be attending so this will be perfect

Logan has been obsessed with search and finds recently

Some girl gave Logan this necklace and others have been giving him money and we are both left confused. He says he tries saying no and to give it back but they get upset with him so he just keeps them. He said he would be making them bracelets too so he doesn’t feel like he owes any of them anything and they understand he just wants to be friends with them

Went to a favorite, Cafe Astoria, with Dan and Scott. I really enjoyed this croissant sandwich!

Met up with a friend at another favorite Cafe Latte, we split this salad and a pizza

Love that Scott is finally enjoying the Nightmare Before Christmas, it is a favorite for everyone in our household so he was the last to convert lolol

Logan’s new baseball cleats! Baseball season for him finally starts this Sunday!!

Dan took Logan to see a Twins game, both enjoyed it thanks to our friend Bill who gave them the tickets

New Fried Chicken place at the stadium, stole a piece from our friend Bill that is the husband of our friend Rebecca. He really is so nice to us

Got our Pizza from Pizza Luce, split it amongst the girls and it was really good

From left to right- Rebecca, me, Gloria, Jen, and Hana. It was super hot this day!

This Truly frozen berry drink was very tasty

Took Scott to a lot of parks that one week we were in the 70s and 80s degree weather

Ice Cream is always a good idea after the park

So far Spring has been great to us! Wish the weather was more consistent but it wouldn’t be Minnesota without all the up and down

Random Thoughts #8

-I always have conflicted feelings toward fast fashion sites. They are great in the sense they bring affordable clothes to the masses but the cost is always greater like terrible working conditions and even child labor that eats at me. How do people get past this or do you just not and buy at only stores that aren’t fast fashion. But really anywhere from Shein, Forever 21, Amazon, H&M, Target, etc are all fast fashion and with good prices it is hard to say no. So far the places I buy everyday clothes for myself consist of Amazon and Costco (more fast fashion.) In reality, if I really think about it me losing weight would be best for this mentality because then I would be able to wear my old clothes that are super cute and great quality. Ugh, another push to eat better and work out. It will take me weeks to convince myself but I am sure once I go to my first class I will like it.

I must admit that even though fast fashion is not very good I do like the feeling of someone else aka millions having or wearing the same thing as me. For growing up to feeling weird and never normal seeing someone wear the same thing as me always made me feel “normal.” Where some people might feel embarrassed in wearing the same thing as others I love it and if I am not feeling shy I love asking that person to take a picture with me. I will never forget my senior prom where I was just released from the mental hospital for a day, my mom had bought me a dress and had it altered to fit me and walking in and seeing 14 other girls in the exact same dress and some in the same dress but in different colors, I loved it! I died of excitement, I gathered as many girls in the dress as I could to take a picture with me and I often look at it and smile because feeling so out of it and knowing what everyone was saying about me at the time it felt so nice that no matter how crazy I felt I was indeed a normal girl just like them wearing the same thing as them and laughing how awesome it was we all had the same taste. I know my mom bought it but she tried and little did she know her getting this dress really made my night.

-I feel really touched when people I have met briefly reach out to me to invite to something and want to hang out with me

-I don’t know if it is because I grew up with 3 brothers but I never understood the saying “why don’t you grow a set of balls.” I remember clearly when we would get into physical fights and even though it was a cheap shot but I had enough of getting punched and seeing blood that I would kick or punch their balls and watch then bend over in pain and cry and I would run away laughing to hide. They would also kick me on my vagina too so don’t feel bad for them but when they would kick me I never bent over or cried. It hurt a lot sure but the pain was tolerable and I always hated the thought that people would think balls are stronger than a vagina. I would never want a pair of balls if it was going to make me weak like that and cry in front of my kid sister

-Have you seen that Ben Affleck movie The Accountant? The scene where he listens to loud music in a room with flashing lights always hits me. I remember hating so many things and getting to the point where I couldn’t even function if something like that happened to me. I hated feeling so weak and powerless and remember locking myself in a closet to do exactly what he did, put on heavy metal music with the function strobe light on from a flashlight my brother had while eating off a white plate. I trained myself to tolerate everything that made me feel weak. Now I tolerate it all. I still hate eating off white plates but endure it because can’t waste food. Strobe lights are fun now and heavy metal isn’t so bad once I dissect the lyrics and understand. I remember working at a call center and people being surprised I could listen to the fax machine noise for over a minute and not find it bothersome. Or when people would click a pen to try to annoy me only to realize I actually like that noise and would click along with them. I don’t know why I would torture myself when I was younger but I am thankful to little Janet because I was able to tolerate so much doing that stuff to myself back then.

-I die thinking about how my mom has so many different plates in her house but always, I mean always, serves me on the whitest plate in the house. She knows I hate white plates so much but of course to not get yelled at or made to feel bad I eat whatever is served on it. One of my brothers is actually really considerate and has white plates but when I come over I noticed he has a white plate with flowers on it and that is just my plate. Logan tried to take it one time and my brother made it a point to tell him that it is just my plate and I was really touched by that because he is the one that shows the least emotions out of my 3 brothers but he got me a special plate to eat comfortably when I visit.

-I have always been a teacher’s pet and have loved almost all my teachers but there is one I really despised. He was very sexist and racist and I will never forget him in my memory. It all started when he made us go around the room and say where are family was from, everything was fine until it was my turn. I said my family is from Mexico and we were first generation born in Chicago, he stopped me and asked if that is all I was (his wording already offended me but obviously I wasn’t going to say anything) and I told him yes. He kept asking and then he finally said “no, you are Filipino right.” I said no, I am Mexican. We went back and forth with him saying I was Filipino and me explaining that my family goes back generations to Mexico and we have even fought in all the wars in Mexico and that while my best friend is Filipina I am not. He said I needed to look at my ancestry tree and just when I was about to snap the school bell rang. I met up with my 2 friends in class in the hallway and they all agreed he was being weird about it and just towards me. He made the year miserable for me, I still got an A because my work and test grades were always perfect but ugh his snide remarks were the worst. I did slowly get my revenge by accidentally spilling his coffee, by tripping and staining his coat with ink that I had no use in carrying but was, by accidentally stepping on his glasses when he dropped them, etc. The best was the following year when he got fired for having relations with a student and I loved that I was in the hallway as he was being escorted out and I flicked him off with my middle finger. I even remember sticking out my tongue at him and it felt great.

-I think I am in the minority but I don’t like flour tortillas. I LOVE corn tortillas!!! I think it has to do with my grandma having her own tortilla factory in Mexico and growing up with the corn/maize smell and waking up to the roosters and feeding the chickens. She won so many awards for having such great testing tortillas and I vividly remember her telling me the whole process of making a corn tortilla and then her telling me eating flour tortillas are just to make people fat LOLOLOLOL! I don’t remember her logic in this but every time I ate/eat flour tortillas I can hear her voice whispering you are going to get fat Janet. So the taste and memory make it for me to not love flour tortillas, even my mother rarely uses flour tortillas and when she can’t find any corn tortillas she will just make her own. This is not to say I won’t eat flour tortillas because I will, just that I prefer corn tortillas.

-My mom didn’t have the best upbringing so when she had us kids her parents doted on us until they died when I was 5 and 6 years old. My grandmother was really rough around the edges but my grandpa was the epitome of being the best grandad. I was clearly his favorite because I was a splitting image of my mother and my brothers hated that but accepted I was the queen when we visited them in Mexico, I got spoiled with everything. I was really happy around him and never left his side. I remember they also owned a sugar cane field and when the workers would come back with the sugar cane, they would peel a special one for me and I got to enjoy it first before my cousins and brothers. My grandpa always gave me his too so I got double the sugar cane. He always had my little bananas and coke in bottles ready for me and he would tell me so many stories of our history. When he passed away I cried so much and miss him so much to this day. I don’t remember my grandma too much, but definitely remember my grandpa and I certainly haven’t cried that much during a funeral since he died but it is crazy to think how impactful someone can be even at such a young age.

-We booked for Paris and Amsterdam this summer and I am super excited!!! I love going to our yearly Europe trips and can’t believe we will be celebrating our 10 year wedding anniversary this summer!

-I often wonder if my mom was ever truly happy. I know she has a ton of regrets but I do hope somewhere in between everything she was able to find some happiness. I think this is exactly why I live my life at times quite recklessly, I fear living in regret and I always ask myself will this give me long term happiness or more regret. I thankfully, don’t have any regrets and I am quite proud of that, that even though I have made a million mistakes I have owned them and learned from all of them and am still learning. Selfishly, my own happiness is even being put over almost everyone. Of course, the exception being my kids, but those moments I just bask in their happiness and it makes everything worth it

-Baseball season is upon us and I am so excited!!! It is my favorite sport and I love everything about it. When I was younger I dreamed of working for the Chicago White Sox as a physical therapist but sadly I didn’t follow through that dream. I still adore the sport and get super excited watching it. I often wonder how and why I love the sport so much when you really think about it, it has tons of data and numbers and I hate math but just the simple beauty of the sport gets me. At face value baseball can be quite boring, but once you really look at the stats and deeper into the numbers it becomes so interesting. It is definitely a sport of data, history, and magic moments. It doesn’t really have that “star power,” the rings, the many politics which is something I appreciate when I just want to watch a sport. I enjoy watching all sports but something about baseball really gets me. I really love how much Logan is enjoying playing the sport too. We just signed him up for another year of baseball and baseball camp in the summer and he is super excited. They don’t do much at this age since it is still coach pitch but ahhh I can’t wait! I especially love how much he loves watching a game of baseball and see myself taking him to more Minnesota Twins games this year. I thought for sure he would think watching a baseball game would be boring since again I am fully aware how much people think that but he surprises me all the time and asks all the data questions which shocked me and I was only too excited to explain what the OBP, ERA, SLG means. How he watches the pitchers and sees the true beauty of the game. I tried to take my oldest to games, but he didn’t really care for the game or the sport lol and I get that so when I do take the boys I just give him money and he walks around, makes friends, enjoys the free stuff and comes backs with all the goods which I also love and what also makes baseball games fun because they have something for everyone. He always tells me how much fun he had at the game and I laugh because he didn’t really watch the game but did eat, drink, and socialize with everyone which really makes me appreciate how he can make anything fun for himself.

Spring Break 2023

We originally wanted to go to LA for spring break but seeing how hard it is right now with Scott being so antsy we decided to go to Chicago and visit family instead.

There will be a lot of food pictures because I love food

Got welcomed home by my mom with one of my favorite dishes

The following day met up with my besties for Dim Sum

My favorite museum in Chicago, the Art Institute will forever hold a special place in my heart. Can you believe I have been a member since 16 years old!! I just love this place so much

Took my oldest to see the new Dali exhibit they have here until June

We then walked around the modern art wing and explored it

I die at Dylan’s descriptions of art, he loves going to the art museum and certainly appreciates it but while we usually stay on the older art side this was a rare time he wanted to see the modern art. He said “Mom, modern art is nice and all because of all the colors but it is too complicated, too out there. I don’t like thinking when I look at something, I don’t like all the different meanings, it is a poem and I don’t like poetry.” LOLOLOL I finally realized why he always chose the older art and stuff like the Impressionist period is where he stops wanting to explore art. He loves the older ceramics and I love that even though I feel like we share a lot of interests he is his own person and has his own likes. I laughed so much when we were walking around the modern wing and he kept mentioning how he sees why Logan likes Modern Art, “it is just like him, crazy and you can never take him for face value like all this art.” Him and Logan are certainly different and I never realized their art interests were their personalities too. Dylan likes to be straight to the point, he loves the Renaissance period and the soft colors of the Monets while Logan is very much out there, he loves it all and doesn’t stick to one period, he hops around like a bunny and gravitates to which has the brightest colors.

Walking around the museum, my favorite thing was listening to Dylan’s commentary. He described this one as a person growing up and going through their many stages of life and personalities. We apparently all have different faces and this is why he said he is so wary of people, he never knows which face he is getting and this makes me think how true that is for him. He has a couple of true friends but many acquaintances, doesn’t trust anyone really and really just likes to hang out by himself if he had a choice

Dylan said Logan would have loved this one

I always love looking at this Picasso he did during his Blue Period. This is one of Dylan’s favorite modern art because he said it is easy to see this guy is sad and depressed and out of luck.

This is one of my favorite rooms in the Modern Art Wing but the shades were down and we couldn’t see the beautiful skyline.

I always love this beautiful wall of Georgia O’Keefe’s clouds

Met up with my best friend since 2nd grade for some sushi

Checked out a new Japanese place with another bestie

I normally don’t like octopus but this was the most tender octopus I have ever had in my life, so so good

Then I dragged her to another favorite haunt of mine. The Hopleaf has a very special place in my heart and so happy to have found it early in my twenties to really enjoy it

Morning cuddles with my 6am wakeup call baby

Logan loves dinosaurs and he especially loves Sue at The Field Museum

These headless statues are always fascinating and are meant to signify “brainless organisms acting on command, worshipping on command and hating on command.” Very intense.

My brother teaching Logan how to draw Venom. He is also an artist and was so nice to see them bond over a share interest

Went to the brewery down the block from my brothers house

Took the 2 littles to the Shedd Aquarium, Dylan was hanging out with my mom this day

Afterwards went to get my favorite bubble tea place

Met up with my beloved college bestie, Moira

Went to my favorite Mexican restaurant in the city, me and Moira had so many drunken after college party times here. So many great memories.

Met up with our old Minnesota friends that moved to a suburb in Chicago. Logan and their daughter both think they are going to get married and it is so cute. They are both so quirky and eccentric and it was so cute to see them talk and interact with each other because they both were on the same thinking wave length which is very rare for Logan to have someone understand him.

It was great to be back in Chicago and see a lot of my favorite people and places! I will be heading there again in the summer and can’t wait!

St. Patrick’s Day

I always love celebrating every holiday and I am super excited to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day this year. Growing up in Chicago I was spoiled with watching the river get dyed then going bar hopping with friends. It was always a fun and wild day and memories that live on forever.

Last year, was the first one I spent celebrating in Minnesota and it was a lot of fun! I am excited to celebrate it again this year with some close friends.

This is me last year in the St Paul parade. There was a great group called the O’Anybodies and they invited people to join them and walk with them. It was a lot of fun!

This is me sometime in college in Chicago. I don’t remember much just that it was my hipster phase so had to be undergrad.

Again, invited to be in the parade by some random float that was passing out t-shirts. This was the Northside parade

This is some bar in Chicago, my hair looks normal so this was sometime after undergrad or during grad school. There is even an orb in the picture that decided to pose with us!

This year, I didn’t buy too many things for St. Patrick’s Day and weather is suppose to be cold 😦 but I did get a couple of new things.

Mostly everything is from Target except the earrings that I got from Marshalls. The head pieces and necklace are for the kids.

My oldest wanted to be festive too so I got him a hoodie and a new hat. His favorite color is green so he loves St. Patrick’s Day because of it.

He loves his Carnhartt gear so when they released some things for St Patrick’s Day I knew I had to get him some

I hope the weather isn’t too bad tomorrow and praying we don’t freeze! I will be in St Paul for the parade and maybe bar hop if weather is decent.

Galentine’s Day and Valentine’s Day

Hope everyone that enjoys celebrating these days had a blast! I love all holidays so I was excited to celebrate with my friends and Dan.

Here is what I did…..

Traditionally Galentine’s Day is February 13, but with our busy schedules we decided to celebrate a couple of days early. This year our friend Becca planned and man did she find some great spots!

Our first stop was a new to us Mexican restaurant called Colita This place had some amazing drinks and food. We each choose one food dish and shared it amongst the four of us.

Ugh, these churros were to die for!! They now haunt my dreams and can’t wait to eat them again

We then went to Lucky’s 13 to play some Bingo, sadly we didn’t win but for $1 a card no real damage done. Again, our friend Becca organized such a fun night out for us!

Our friend Jen gifted us these cute headbands so of course we put them on right away and snapped some pictures

Later on in the week our friend Hana, organized a fun movie night out with some more friends

We went to see Magic Mike and now our planning our Vegas trip jk but not really lolol

Valentine’s Day of course was special like always, Dan spoiled me with my favorite things.

We went out to one of my favorite restaurants but service was just completely off this night. What should have been an hour/hour and a half meal was a 3 hour ordeal. The food took forever to come and they just got greedy and overbooked the place. They have a small kitchen so it was shocking to see so many people fulling knowing they wouldn’t be able to handle it. Food was delicious as always, but Dan was so annoyed he said we wouldn’t be coming back for awhile or ever. Obviously, I will be coming back because the food is just so good but ugh their service is pretty bad and wish they would work on that but I know they won’t.

Logan got to create an animal Valentine’s Day box for class and he made a stingray. It was super cute!

Scott got to pass out some valentines too in his toddler class and his were a hit!

Dan’s gift to me, my favorite chocolates and a NY Yankee Pandora charm for my bracelet. I finally have all of my favorite baseball teams and love that he completed my missing charm.

Dylan got me some cute pink Vans to match his grey ones. I always wonder why the boys love getting me shoes. I do find it cute they know me well enough to always get me flat shoes and the theme is always pink or gold shoes.

My mother in law got us some of our favorite pizzas and chocolates delivered, she really is the best

The chocolate she sent, I love See’s Candies so much

Logie got me some cute new sandals for the summer in my favorite color! He also made me an elaborate card that I have already laminated and will treasure it forever

Hope everyone had a great Valentine’s Day!

Love….

I often think how hard it must be to grow up now in this generation. Thank God I didn’t have social media growing up because Dear Lord would it have been terrible. Even college snaps would have haunted me for years. I sometimes forget how hard it is to just be living and trying to find yourself. I hope people are able to love themselves and think of themselves more often than comparing themselves to others and not being happy with what they already have in life.

I always found it weird but in retrospect I guess it wasn’t weird how when a guy would break up with me I would cry and cry during the breakup and put on a real big show but then the next morning be ok with it and delete them from my phone and Facebook. Easily move on, then months later I would see them somewhere since I would just ditch that friend group they belonged to and find a new one and when we would cross paths more than a handful of times the guys would say how surprised they were I never called them or never tried to reach out to them to get back together. This is why I say my perspective is very off at times because if they broke up with me and if they were waiting for me to call why didn’t they just call or try to find me. Once someone breaks up with me or ends a relationship I cry it out right then and there and move on. I have always lived with the idea that tomorrow is a new day and in a world of billions of people no need to dwell on one person. So then I think I must be an amazing actress to make them think they were the one and they had something over me to come to them to beg them to stay. I don’t know, either way, I am all about just worrying about myself and moving on. I try to instill the same thought process to the kids, if you fall out of like or love with someone breakup, be kind, but end it. Don’t cheat! Take it day by day and your person will come.

Before meeting Dan I was perfectly happy being by myself or dating losers in the meantime knowing nothing would come out of it, one foot out the door was always my MO, but it is weird when you meet the one. I went around thinking and believing no one was made for me because if I am being honest I am a HUGE handful. I have been in multiple mental hospitals and saw too many psych wards so I can only imagine how dealing with me even as friend can be too much. How I met and married Dan sometimes still surprises me. Like, not to say I don’t feel like I deserve this but who would have ever thought little Janet would get married and be genuinely happy. Not me!

He seems to curb my crazy and I sometimes even say sorry which again is so hard for me say. I think of my dad yelling at us to never say sorry and to not just be an idiot and do something stupid. “Sorry never gets you anywhere Janet so just use your brain next time and don’t speak.” Sometimes I am just waiting for the ball to drop and Dan to wake up and see the ugly that is within me and just leave. He claims he won’t and I have shown him many sides of Janet but still you never know and I pray that day never happens because I hate to admit it but just as much as he is obsessed with me I am of him.

I am shocked though how easy this relationship feels compared to my past relationships. It is easy as breathing and our arguments are just me being bored and provoking him to snap but he has caught on and instead just plays along but doesn’t really rile himself up anymore so it has become boring. He has somehow been able to predict when I want a fight and will distract me with talking about a trip, a memory, a funny story and then later I seethe I didn’t get the argument I wanted but then giggle that this was much better and then I go back to being annoyed because how dare someone predict me, the nerve! His gentle touches really reel in my crazy and this is why I think he constantly holds my hand. Almost like if I don’t hold it I will drown and I hate being that dependent on something so trivial. I should just accept everything and embrace the happiness but that seems too easy and growing up in what felt like a battle everyday this calmness throws me off.

Some pictures and memories of my Dan since we moved to Minnesota

Bringing Logan home and loving the new addition to our family

Dan always one to spend one on one time with the kids and bringing them to their favorite types of things

Another favorite thing of his, stadium tours! Here, we are at the MN Vikings stadium and we all enjoyed it a lot

Always planning the best things and enjoying our vacations. Here we are having dinner inside the Eiffel Tower

In London, enjoying another stadium tour. This time for his beloved Chelsea team, I thought this stadium was beautiful!

This one was for me, whenever we travel we either go to a professional sports game or tour a stadium. I loved Ken Griffey Jr growing up and going to this stadium tour and seeing his memorabilia in Seattle was an all time favorite thing we did. Dan, again did a great job planning and I even got to sit on the benches inside the dugout!

Scott’s birth. This one was really intimate since it was during COVID so it was just me and Dan. I thought it would be hard not having my family or many visits to the doctor but in fact Dan made everything easy for me. He changed the baby, bathed him, helped me with my own bath and bathroom, he did so much and I am so grateful to him.

He went out of his way to get this tandem bike for family bike rides. Logan knows how to ride his bike really well but on longer trips it is easier to have the tandem bike so he doesn’t get worn out. Scott, will be using this soon!

Always my partner for dressing up at parties. This was at a Kentucky Derby party

I love how he is always down for my random tours and things I want to see. He didn’t really have a want to see the Rome Catacombs but of course for me he did and of course he always carries my bag when traveling filled with sunblock, water, and an umbrella.

I die at this because I always make him hold my food for display so I can remember how it looked like before I ate something

Always in a good mood even though I drag him to a million events during the holidays

A surprise candlelight concert he brought me to, always the romantic

Another Kentucky Derby party, I swear in my head he is always the best dressed

For someone who isn’t big on sweets he never says no to me when I ask to share something

This goes down as one of my favorite things Dan has ever done for me. When we went to Venice he found a mask making class and we got to design and paint our own mask. Dan, is not a big arts person, doesn’t really like to craft or decorate much even though he is really good at it, but he is always so supportive. He booked this class and fully immersed himself in it and I absolutely loved it! I had a great time decorating my own mask and it is one of my favorite souvenirs ever but what I really loved is how much Dan got into something that is a passion of mine. He was smiling the whole time and pretty chatty with the teacher and just really enjoyed himself

Again the amount of random things this man does for me never ceases to amaze me. He gets pretty bad motion sickness so I never thought he would book us an architecture boat tour but he did and it was amazing! He loved it and I loved being able to enjoy something I grew up with, with him

Our good friend, Becca, hosted an Oktoberfest party and of course he dressed up in theme happily with me

One of our many Halloween costumes this year, Ferris Bueller and Sloan from one of our favorite 80s film, Ferris Bueller’s Day off

Even though I didn’t get much love growing up I am making up for it now and hope everyone finds their person. Breakups are so hard but I always think that it was meant to happen. This pain was put here so we could grow from it and become stronger. I hope everyone finds their love either within themselves and if they have that already then with share it with someone else. I am very lucky I have always had that self love but finding someone to share it with is MAGIC

January 2023

What an exciting January this has been! Here are some of the things I did this month……

The winter always has me doing origami and Logan insisted on making more stars so we folded away to add more to our collection. Logan loves adding these to envelopes or gifts he gives so we always need a good stock

So pricey I had to walk out with it at Mall of America because I refused to waste money. Thank goodness no one caught me and I didn’t get in trouble.

Tried cross country skiing with my friends

It was so hard!!!! Here I am with my friend Becca, she is really good at CC Skiing and they were so nice to wait for me to catch up with them. Hope to go again soon.

Lunch afterwards had us drinking at 1pm some delicious cocktails. Love the Rudy Martini and it is so good!!

Growing up in Chicago I loved Geoffrey Baer. He is on our public broadcasting station there and his show was always a highlight. I remember when I would volunteer to pick up the calls while fundraising for PBS/TPT I would always freak out when him or Rick Steves were on the show. When I waitressed at a Lebanese restaurant in Chicago he would come in and was always so kind. He really showed the best of Chicago and so happy he was finally acknowledged and got his well earned Emmy.

Disney online had an amazing sale and stocked up on Christmas ears for a hopeful Christmas trip I plan to take this upcoming winter 2023.

This King Arthur carousel headpiece was just too pretty to pass up and can’t wait to wear it

Logan has gone almost every weekend to our Minnesota History Center. They have a new Sherlock Holmes exhibit and he is obsessed! I love how my love for museums has definitely been passed down to at least one of my kids.

My friends and I went to the MN Ice Maze. For $50 a couple it was a tad too pricey in my opinion but we still had fun

The temperatures out were pretty moderate and we enjoyed being out and about

Of course we always get a burger if it is on the menu, this one was delicious!

The second restaurant of the night we got a cheese board and more drinks

Dylan insisted on going to Cafe Latte so we had a great lunch just me and him. We both love cheesecake so we had to get a mango/raspberry cheesecake with a latte and hot chocolate

I stuffed some red envelopes to pass out to my friends and of course Logan also stuffed some to give to his friends. We added some money to his and I bought some lottery tickets for mine.

Experienced snow shoeing for the first time and had a blast!

It was a candlelight trail and so pretty

We played Bingo and ate some good food after we snow shoed

Again, if you are in Minnesota you must check out the Landmark Center. IT IS AMAZING!!! They offer so many free programs and my kids always love them

I teared up seeing all the beautiful dances and feeling so connected to my culture

We even got passports! Next week they will be hosting an event for the Philippines!! I am so excited for that one

Of course I had to get a tamale from the vendors selling them and it was very good

Again their outfits were just so beautiful and loved all the dances they performed

Went to a K Pop drag dinner show with my friend. This burger may look good but it was not

Thankfully, the entertainment was amazing and we had a great time

Took Logan to a Minnesota Twins baseball clinic. He had a blast!

They had players stop by to say hi to the kids and help out. I found that to be a great touch because the kids really liked seeing them there.

Then we headed over to Twinsfest (annual baseball event to get people and fans excited for the upcoming season)

They had a cute miniature golf set up and Logan got a hole in one!!! In my head I call Logan my “golden boy” he is just naturally good at so many things and it always amazes me. I don’t tell him this out loud though because I don’t want him to a big head but even Dylan will admit he is always surprised how fast and good Logan is at learning something. He isn’t the best but he just naturally gets stuff and I hope that is a quality that sticks with him for life

Of course we had to get a picture with the Twins mascot and the St Paul Saints mascot

They had free face painting and me and Logan love face painting! Logan was initially hesitant on getting one but then I said I would get one and he warmed up to it. I can tell he is like me and doesn’t love when people (strangers) touch him but he loves art so when he saw I got one and they did it fast he wanted one too. We then had to take a picture and show it off to everyone lolol

They had the new Minnesota Twins uniforms on display and Logan wanted to take a picture with his favorite one. Never in a million years as a Chicago White Sox fan did I think I would root for the Twins but alas here I am and honestly love both the White Sox and Twins. Logan is becoming such a big fan of baseball and I want to nurture that so much. I always hear about how boring baseball can be but I love it. I love the rhythm of the game, I love how easy it is to pick it up (I still get confused on football and hockey,) I love how timeless the sport is, and most of all I love the connection baseball makes me feel to the history of America. I always enjoy when Spring hits and opening day and the long season ahead I have of baseball. I love seeing all the stats and appreciating a great play or home run and taking my kids to the games. Ahhhh I just love baseball so much!

They even let the fans go to the lockers rooms and we just loved it! We took a lot of pictures in here and it was one of our favorite spots.

The following day, I went with my friends to a sauna event. It was hosted at The Market in Minneapolis and it was so much fun! The market itself had a lot of different food vendors and if I were a better blogger I would have taken way more pictures but I am not so I just took pictures of what I ate lol

I had so much fun with my friends just sitting and enjoying the saunas

Here I am with Becca and Gloria, cooling off and enjoying the bonfire

After our 1.5 hours in and out saunas it was time for a drink. this was their signature drink of the event and again if I was better I would remember the name but I don’t. I do remember it was very good and made with gin.

Sadly this Korean Chicken was dry and so was the kimchi

Another outing with Dylan for some bubble tea

And finally some Mexican food with Dan and Scott

January just flew by and I am so thankful I have some great friends to get me out of my normal box and introducing me to so many fun winter events. I never thought I would be cross country skiing or snow shoeing but this month I tried both and really enjoyed it! February has some fun things in the book and of course Valentine’s Day and I can’t wait for all the stuff it holds.

Valentine’s Day Prep

Ahhhhh I love Valentine’s Day!!! It is, I think my favorite Hallmark holiday ever! I never understood why people didn’t like it. I didn’t have my first Valentine until I was 18 but even before that I was my own Valentine. I would always write myself love letters the night before to wake up to it in the morning acting surprised and loving the cute poem or phrases I would write and think of to myself. Once I had money (age 8) from working (money from gardening and shoveling snow) I would even go as far to buy myself a cute teddy bear or chocolates and leave it my dresser to eat them when I got home from school smiling away knowing that even though I didn’t technically have a Valentine I would always have myself and my own love to give.

Although side thought, this led to people calling me narcissistic, conceited, and full of myself because I was and am truly obsessed with myself. I was always content just with my own things so I was always confused why someone else would be mad at me for just loving myself and not caring whether someone else felt the same way. I always think it is a great perk to have Dan and the boys but at the end of the day I still write my own love letter to myself and also encourage the boys to write themselves love letters on Valentine’s Day. Something so simple like what do you love most about yourself or what makes you feel special or happy about yourself makes them see that what matters most is their own opinions about themselves. I have never felt that someone else should have that “power” to control what makes us happy. It is pretty selfish to put ourselves first but if we don’t do it then who will. Balance is key and I hope when they find someone to be their equal they will see that loving the other person is as easy as loving themselves and vice versa. I do also encourage the boys to write Valentine’s to each other and remind them that their sibling bond is the strongest and as long as they have each other that is what matters.

Anyway, it is my very favorite and I like to go all out now that I have my boys. Dan has always spoiled me and the same, I love leaving little notes everywhere for him to find and of course chocolates but for my sons I especially like to go all out. Pink and red everywhere, heart shape waffles, heart shape sandwiches, heart shape everything! I love even more Logan’s birthday is February 18 super close to Valentine’s Day so I spoil him the most. He absolutely loves Valentine’s Day and loves wearing hearts and red for the month. I am always surprised how much he loves holidays as much as me and if there is a theme to something we make sure to dress up. This is especially nice since Dan and Dylan aren’t as intense about holidays like me so I don’t feel alone in celebrating with Logan.

Here are some of the things that are getting me excited for Valentine’s Day