the adventures of raquel & reed :)

it's been almost a week, and I'm sorry dear blogger friends. It's not my fault, Adam has taken my laptop hostage for video games knowing that when school starts (32 days for those with no Saturday classes), it will be ganked back for my use and he'll be banished back to the x-box.

he lives a hard life :)

Other exciting news that kept me from blogging, I joined the gym this week! 

 All my Starbucks ladies work out and take classes at French Riviera Spa and I figured the motivation of meeting people and taking classes with friends would help me get off my ass!

However, mama duty calls over working out tonight. I went to a hip hop class on Tuesday and worked out on my own yesterday so the first week of membership isn't a total waste but tonight's Zumba class with Molly & Robyn was put off due to the level 5 meltdown reed was having over not having shoes on, the adventures of his Thomas train and Elmo doll and the general state of affairs. I figured neither reed nor the child care center would appreciate me dropping him off in that state.

Before I get any further, Happy Birthday Heather :)

My dear (& only mom-) friend, Heather, is celebrating her 87th birthday today and reed & I took her out for a Brother Juniper's breakfast this morning.

It's SO Yummy :)

 In the other adventures of Raquel & Reed....

 pretty pretty Toffee Nut Latte from Cafe Eclectic.

Reed had the special treat of chocolate milk. Unfortunately, it was so special that he inhaled it and I didn't get a picture :(

And tomorrow we're going to see Heather, Buck and Theodore and their chickens! These are about three months old, but chickens don't change that much.

Reed & Rocky (after me) the Chicken.

And then we get a visit for dinner and movies from Aunt Ellie (who reed's been asking about all week!)

reed's first birthday with Aunt Ellie :)

I used the above picture because, if anyone can believe it, Reed's turning two on Sunday!

Before I freak out that my baby is growing up, it's Thursday which means Adam is at his weekly d&d game and I get to snuggle up with Police Women of Memphis and make my grocery list for the week.

thanks for playing, friends.

Crazy about Babies

it's eleven o'clock at night. for the average early twenty-something, that's not too late but it's definitely hovering around my bedtime. particularly when reed went to bed at 8pm.

so why am i awake? 

that's not really the question. the question is, why am i awake and going through my Baby Names iPhone app like its the latest E!Online breaking story about Bristol Palin taking back her semi-porn star baby daddy (it's like crack to me).

Lately, it seems like I'm surrounded by babies. our friend Liz just had a baby (baby max from this earlier post), my brother & sister-in-law are having my sweet little nephew in September, I just watched the Glee episode where Quinn has her sweet little girl and random teeny tiny babies have been stalking me. I swear, everywhere I go from Target to Starbucks to the grocery store, there are teeny tiny babies. 

my ovaries shout at me at the sight of them. Adam gives me a scared look and then tries to sleep on the couch. 

It's not rational, I know. It's definitely not the time to have another baby. And the therapist that I should probably be going to thrice-monthly would say that this is likely a reaction to the fact that reed's about to turn two and is definitely not my little baby anymore.

 sweet baby reed only one day old :)

And if I'm being honest, getting reed through potty (eeesssh i hate that word) training, learning to share, counting in the seven languages that kids now are supposed to learn or forever be banished to the short bus and everything else that comes with the terrible two's (which Adam still goes through occasionally at the tender age of 27) is more than enough for me with school and maintaining some semblance of sanity. 

but i don't care. I want another one. NOW. Girl, Boy, I don't care (ok, most of the time I want all boys). I want to pick out names again, decorate another nursery, go to obstetrician appointments and see sonograms, give birth and breastfeed again.

Moving on from my insanity to the baby name app.

Both Raquel & Reed are falling in popularity trends over the last two years, thankfully.

The top boy and girl names of 2009 are Jacob & Isabella, for all you twilight fans (Edward is also rising in popularity trends and I much prefer it over Jacob).

Since mine and little man's names start with R, I had the idea to name a possible daughter with an A name like Adam's. My favorite two names, Avery and Addison, are sadly way too popular now.

BUT.

When I looked up Addison, the name means "daughter of Adam" and I'm sold.

 This has gone on long enough, though, and citizens of Memphis and readers of this blog, don't worry. Reed's going to be an only child for a while.

but seriously, keep those babies away from me.

Wedding Wednesday: Tales of a DIY-Bride

i'm starting a weekly segment in my blog called Wedding Wednesday. I refuse to explain this further. So if you hate the wedding talk, avoid me on Wednesdays (but hey, at least you know when to avoid now).

this week, I bought some jars from Target for candy at the wedding, did some more shopping on Etsy for decor and did some looking around for musicians for our ceremony music. All exciting :)

however, the big wedding thing of the week is....(drum roll, please)....INVITATIONS! 

I'm beyond excited, inviting people to our wedding makes it real.

as you might have guessed from the title, my (okay, OUR) invitations were one of the DIY projects that I've tackled as a bride. before anyone worries, no one is receiving hand-written, crayon invitations. 

I went to Michael's, who sells a collection from Brides Magazine, and went over to my lovely sister-in-law, Dara's, (well my brother, David, lives there too but whatever, he's out of town) and used her printer to print out my invitations, response cards and address labels.

I'm a little biased but I think they look great. And I couldn't have done it without my new sister (& bridesmaid) help! So thanks Dara!

 the invitations kit :)

David & Dara (just to give the readers a visual!)

Oh and you can't see him but my little baby nephew, Luke, is in the picture too (in Dara's belly :)

More Wedding Updates Next Wednesday!

my first movie review of The Twilight Saga: Eclipse

I know it's a few weeks after the release but to me, that's just less pressure. I know now that no one is going to google Eclipse reviews and stumble across my little blog expecting Roger Ebert. But alas, the review.

I saw Eclipse opening night at the 12:04 a.m. showing with my dear friend Molly, along with tons of Paradiso Prostitots in Team Edward & Team Jacob shirts and lots of Twilight Moms. I had a calmer experience this afternoon at the earliest showing at the Malco Forest Hill with my favorite sister-in-law, Dara, and feel like I can adequately review the movie.

(As a note, while the movie has been out for a while and anyone who watches the movies has read the books, I'm still going to attempt to make this a spoiler-free review).

For those who don't know, Eclipse is the third installment of the Twilight Saga (based off the books by Stephanie Meyer) and it jumps right in with our heroine and the heaviest breathing girl in Forks, Washington, Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart), and her vampire boyfriend, Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson), in an attempt to break the record for most marriage proposals in under 10 minutes. 

Edward & Bella.

The plot thickens when it's revealed that Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner), Bella's werewolf former best friend who happens to be in love with her, is still upset that Bella chose to be with Edward and wants to be a vampire too. And further when previous vampire villain Victoria (Bryce Dallas Howard) returns, building an army of uber strong vampire newborns to take Bella down.

 

My official opinion: I loved it. And not just because Pattinson's Edward Cullen makes me weak in the knees. 

While I don't think even the hardest of Twi-hards (a label i refuse to wear myself) is laboring under any delusions that any of the Twilight Saga films are being reviewed by the Academy, Eclipse definitely blew past the expectations that Twilight and New Moon had inspired.

But it wasn't perfect.

I know it's explained in the book, but I'm with Edward on this one: "Doesn't he own a shirt?" Aside from the lack of clothing, Lautner's Jacob had one too many one-liners for me. But the fourteen year olds loved it, so what do i know?

Ok, this one I want to preface with I love Anna Kendrick. I do, really. And I always want her role increased in these movies. However, the way screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg went about this is giving her the valedictorian speech. May I just say that if Jessica (Kendrick) is the best and brightest that Forks High School has to offer, the town should be worried.

I LOVED the casting change of Bryce Dallas Howard as Victoria.

Brilliant casting aside, I have a note for director David Slade. The camera doesn't actually already have to be moving all the time. The fight scene was nearly perfect but it would've been a lot better if I wasn't reaching for the Dramamine. 

the main attraction and source of most conflict (Team Edward vs. Team Jacob anyone?) throughout the film is the werewolf-human-vampire love triangle. without revealing everything, in this scenario, neither of the gentle-monsters are bad guys and Bella is beyond ridiculous. The final Bella & Edward scene almost makes up for her being so ridiculous though :)

Official Movie Grade: B+

And the award goes to...

i'm so excited, my infant blog was given an award! granted, it's from a friend of mine that I've known since the sixth grade. Hi Amanda, thanks dear :)

As everyone who has ever seen or read Spiderman knows, with great power comes great responsibility and that means there are rules that come with accepting this award, according to Amanda's blog:

Numero Uno: Thank the Person Who Gave You the Award.

thanks for indulging my blog Amanda, I can't wait to see you when you get back to Memphis!

Numero Dos: Share Seven Things About Yourself.

I want to write non-fiction books for a living.

My favorite color is green.

I love birthdays.

I'm addicted to coffee.

And the ghirardelli brownies that Ellie makes :)

I've always wanted to try stand-up comedy (but I think I'm a different kind of funny).

I want reed to grow up on the east coast, but still a little bit in the south.

Numero Tres- Pass the Award Along to 15 Other Bloggers Who You've Recently Discovered and You Think Are Fantastic.

Okay Amanda cheated on this too and I'm new to the blogging world so I'm going to pick as many as I can:

The Broke-Ass Bride

Your's Truly (Sending the award back to my girl Amanda)
Rauwolf Family

Buckadore

Chicago Girl...by way of Memphis

Life in South Carolina 

The Beans

I Love Memphis
Etsy Wedding

and lastly: Contact the Bloggers and Tell Them About the Award!

And now I'm off to help my dear friend Nathan move a couch...I wonder if he has any idea that the little upper body strength that I have comes from lifting a thirty pound toddler exclusively with my left arm?

The "Ah-Hah!" Moment in Wedding Planning

I have just had a wedding planning epiphany. I've been trying for the last two months to plan a wedding that would be representative of Adam & I as a couple as well as make everyone in our known universe happy.

as most people would expect, that's actually impossible.

actually, in addition to attempting to include everyone we've ever met as to not hurt feelings, i was also trying to make this wedding way more fabulous than either of us actually wanted it because, for some reason probably explained by high school insecurities, i wanted to impress these people. and, ladies and gentlemen, as Carrie Bradshaw has always preached, fabulous comes with a hefty price tag.

so how does my wonderful epiphany translate into wedding planning?

well I'm not spilling all the beans because I want to leave some intrigue but here are a few things Adam and I decided tonight while he played x-box live and i had a mini anxiety attack:

1. We're Cutting the Guest List. it's not the prettiest one on the list and I'm still torn about it. but if I'm honest with myself, I never thought I'd get married in front of 150 people and if it were entirely up to Adam, we'd be getting married in a field alone somewhere. Sadly, our extended families are huge and our parents would be deeply offended (and rightly so) if they weren't there and that means that some of our friends won't be invited. we're not crazy about it, but a few things had to give. 

2. We're Changing the Venue (again). this will be the third venue. i know, enough already, right? I'm not giving it away because I won't put the deposit down until tomorrow but I will say that it's not in the boonies and I'm very excited about it, despite earlier hesitation.

3. I'm Not Trying to Impress Anyone Anymore. This one says "I" and not "we" for a reason. anyone that knows Adam knows that that's pretty much the last of his worries. don't get me wrong, I do want to have a nice ceremony and reception and let our friends and family know that we're glad and excited for them to be there to celebrate with us. but we aren't Rockefellers and I'd like to stop putting up the pretense.

4. I'm Getting Back to Making the Wedding about Me & Adam. (this one's pretty self-explanatory).

that's essentially much all the big stuff.

so now I'm going back to buying wedding stuff on Etsy, tomorrow I'm booking the new(est) ceremony & reception venue and the invitations are going out by the end of next week. 

thanks for indulging this lastest wedding rant, faithful blog friends. I sincerely hope it will be the last.

but please don't hold me to that :)

It's Just Another Manic Monday

hello blog friends, happy Monday morning. hopefully everyone in Memphis survived the trek to wherever they're going without a boat after our wonderful flash flood warning. I'm blogging from the fabulous Starbucks Poplar Prescott so I can have free wifi and sneak a peak at my handsome man while the little man is at school.  We had a busy weekend and I must warn you that I'm sleep deprived and thus it's likely this will be more rambling and less coherent thoughts.

the Hinson-Miranda family weekend in snap shots:

Raquel & Reed date at Memphis Pizza Cafe (reed's enjoying a potato chip and wearing my sunglasses)

  a visit with our precious baby cousin Natalie (and my baby cousins Anna & Megan and Aunt Nora)

 the post-birth baby shower of our friends Liz & Rocky for sweet little baby max.

Midnight talks, Target, pizza, swimming & a movie with Aunt Ellie :)

babies were the theme of this weekend.

and now I have a Mama day, as I don't have to work while reed is at school. I had grand plans of getting a lot done but the downpour is putting the kibosh on those dreams. however, the most exciting part of the day will be meeting for a cake tasting with Ms. Karen Mulford, our adorable and tiny friend, who is also making our wedding cakes :) She's so creative and everything I've tasted of hers has been delish.

wedding plans are slightly coming along, I'm still not wild about the size of the wedding but when I think about not having all of our friends and families there...well, I'm not wild about that either. I guess the side of me that has panic attacks when I spend more than $5 can't justify spending tons of money on what is essentially a party.

then again, the side of me that turns into a giggling girl someone calls me "the bride" hates the part of me that just called my fabulous and important wedding a party. (Friends quote from Monica: "Honey, I love you but if you call our wedding a party again, you might not get invited")

I've gotta get out of this coffee house for a few hours. Friends, have a great Monday.

Oh and for my ladies, Hot Irish Guy just came in, winked at me and called me lass :)

this mama's thoughts on Teen Mom

well at least a few people have read the first post, probably due in large part to me linking it to my facebook page. i doubt i'll post twice in a row most days but my entire apartment is clean (like Haire sisters clean) for once and sweet baby reed is taking a nap (side note: what do moms do once their kids stop napping? is that where the need for pharmaceuticals kicks in?)

but alas, that's another tangent. I was thinking about the MTV shows 16 & Pregnant and Teen Mom and how critics are blaming shows like these for the rise in teen pregnancy for the first time in over a decade. Their argument being that babies having babies is being glamorized and can lead to a reality television career if you time it right. personally, i think most of the girls who participate in documentary-style shows like these are just hoping to show other teenagers that it's hard to be a parent and it's even harder if you're not ready.

I know for me, being reed's mama is the best job in the world...but that doesn't mean it isn't work sometimes.

But what are your thoughts?

To sway more people to my brand of guilty pleasures, here are the mamas of Teen Mom:

Amber & Leah.
Amber is a pretty good mom, at least she has the right ideas and wants the best for her little Leah, at any rate. Her propensity for the phrase no more, as opposed to any more was more than a little irritating the whole season (but she's struggling to get the childcare to get her GED so I'm cutting her slack from my grammar criticism) and she had the awful tendency to beat up on her sometimes-fiance, Gary (whose grammar and general ability to speak coherently was often up for debate). But she got out on her own, found a job, a house and provides for Leah....it's nothing a little English class and domestic counseling wouldn't help, right?

Maci & Bentley.
Maci is far and away my favorite on Teen Mom. My fellow Tennessee girl (& aspiring writer), just down I-40 in Chattanooga, is a good, sweet mama to her little guy (who's just 2 months younger than reed) despite her off-again fiance/baby daddy, Ryan, who never seems to want to grow up and help. But from what i hear in US Weekly Maci has moved on to greener pastures. If only Maci wasn't so famous, I'd invite her and Bentley over for a play date :)

Farrah & Sophia.

Farrah is the most single of the mama's (though Maci and Amber's relationship status changed more in the first season than the kids had pediatrician appointments) as her baby daddy has never been featured in the show. turns out, he died in a freak car accident after sweet girl Sophia was born. Farrah partied too much and used the "I'm not just a mom, I'm a teenager too" line about forty seven too many times for my liking but she seemed to be shaping up towards the end of the season.

Catelynn & Tyler.
You may notice there's no baby in this picture. Catelynn & Tyler, easily the best and most functional couple on either show (despite the fact that they're step-siblings), gave their daughter, Carly, up for adoption- the only parents on the first season of 16 & Pregnant to do so- just days after she was born. They struggled with it quite a bit during the first season of Teen Mom but ended the show by getting engaged. Sadly, in the previews for next season, it looks like they're hitting rough patches.

like clockwork, the almost-hubby is home from work :) until next time...

starting something new

hello all.

i'm starting this blog with the low expectations that not many people will end up reading it. not out of being self deprecating but because who has the time? especially when there are tons of blogs out there telling people what insane thing some cracked out celebrity is doing. i use that as an example because that stuff is a guilty pleasure of mine.

but anyways, about me. well there's the under 1200 character synopsis in my profile section and the title clues you in to at least two things. I'm a mother and I live in Memphis (Tennessee). I'm also a college student, returning to majoring in journalism and public relations. and no, I don't know what i'm going to do with that degree but I do enjoy the school work. My fiance Adam is wonderful. He works his butt off to bring home the bacon so I can go to school and take care of little man reed. i have great girlfriends, my little guy has lots of aunts that love him tons. but enough words about all
these fab people. after all, a picture is worth a thousand of them, right?


my little love :)

Adam. LOVE him.

my dearest elspeth. (we're thugs for life, apparently)

my lady loves (minus ronni, sadly). Memphis Sex & the City
Alison, my soul mate :)

my life is can be pretty hectic with school, baby reed, attempting to be a housewife, still having some sanity for myself and i've added being an amateur wedding planner to the list in the last few months. but i'm a pretty lucky lady in this young life and I hope you enjoy my ramblings :)