up, down and all around. <pics>

it’s been an emotional roller coaster ’round these parts lately and i’m at the end of my figurative rope at the moment.

here’s me releasing a much-needed scream of frustration: AARRGGGGGGGGGGgggggggggHHHHHHHHHHH AYYYYYYYIIIIIIIIIIIII

something like that.

so.   let’s  quickly rewind to my birthday – that was a great day.  it started with my favorite tea and a muffin from coffee bean thanks to my lovely husband. then i (kind of) had to work, but really that day was kind of awesome because i was being filmed for a reality tv show and (sort of) living out my 15 seconds of fame fantasy.   maybe i wil end up on the cutting room floor, maybe you will see my giant forehead and freckles on a teevee screen near you.    maybe maybe maybe.   when i arrived at "the office" that day, there was a mega-pack of mini-cupcakes from akasha waiting for me, courtesy of our new business partner (jenny).   so sweet of her!   i think i stuffed three – four of them in my face within an hour.   so that was cool   and then i snuck out of "the office" early and i went to sushi dinner with aaron and joaquin and we stuffed our faces with delicious fishes, some wine and such.   then we came home and i had MORE desserts in the form of WHOOPIE pies – chocolate and carrot cake – from locali.      then maybe some wine?   probably.  it was a good birthday.   aaron gave me the gift of a spa day (to which my brother & sister-in-law later contributed to).   so at some point in the near future, i will be taking myself to the spa to have a massage, pedi and facial.   I NEED THIS SO BADLY.  i can’t wait.  maybe there was more, i just remember it being a fantastic day and i was very happy and felt very blessed.   i also remember thinking, WHOA i’m 37 now.  and i have a 6-month old baby.    LIFE IS GOOD. also, my bro & sis-in-law cooked me a customized fancy delcious meal on friday of my birthday week and fed me more desserts.  it was a good time.

[ps.  i know i am being cryptic on the details of the reality tv show, but i will explain more once it’s aired.  probably.   the show is "the pitch" and it will air on amc after "mad men" sometime in april.  that is all.  for now]

so:  last week my 17-year-old niece, frankie, arrived on sunday (the 10th).  she stayed with my MIL the entire week.   the problem with this is that right now, our primary (and only) "daycare" is my MIL.   since MIL was entertaining franks the entire week, we didn’t really have her at our disposal like we usually do.   HOWEVER, I was having a particularly busy week a) because work is now crazy busy and b) because i wanted to finish 1,000,567 things before my brother and his girlfriend arrived on 3/13.   it was stressful because not only was i trying to squish in a week’s worth of work into two days, but we had less support than usual + aaron was busier than usual.  he booked another teevee show (his 2nd this year !  whoop!) and had a table read for it right when my brother + girlfriend arrived (ranon + liz).    craziness.

the SAME DAY ranon + liz arrived, tony + hai were in town on their way back from palm springs to MN.  so on 3/13 the following friends were in town:  frankie, ranon, liz,  tony, hai.   everyone decided to meet at our place so we added:   my mother in law, two brothers in law, aaron and joaquin.   and then we all went out to dinner.  what?   yes.     it actually went pretty well.  but hi, it was A LOT all at once.  plus i was very busy with work all day because OF COURSE i didn’t finish a week’s worth of work in two days.  OF COURSE NOT, CHILD!

the next day was even crazier because we scheduled MIL to watch JRB for the eveing so we could have an adult night out with ranon, liz & frankie (even though frankie has a year before official adult status).   but the day was hectic and then the drive to the valley was a nightmare so we were running late for our coveted reservation at our favorite restaurant, ink, and risked losing our spot due to the 15-minute grace period.    joaquin cried THE ENTIRE TIME, and we were in the car for an hour.   it sucked hard.    but once we dropped him off, we all sighed deeply, called and pushed back our reservation slightly, drove to the restaurant, and then proceeded to have an amazing culinary experience.  oh yah, and i sucked down a nice fat glass of wine.      then it was all good in the hood.

friday we went to the parish with ranon, liz and joaquin and it was quite nice.   the highlight was watching aaron, ranon and liz do "sherry luge" shots with the bones leftover from the bone marrow dish.    uhhhh yeah.   

saturday, ranon & liz headed to SF so aaron and i relaxed a bit, then had a happy hour dining experience with heather, brian, john and harper (age 2), who were in the neighborhood to run the LA marathon the next day.   it was mostly nice, but joaquin’s threshold for public dining has a finite limit.   luckily we were at an easy happy hour spot across the street and we just mosied home when he declared he was DOOOOOOOONE.

:sigh:

so. then.  i think we planned to take sunday off, but i actually had to get work done that had been neglected.  so i worked. 

monday was insane insanity and i don’t even want to relive it – but basically, aaron’s mom went back to MN with frankie on friday, so not only were we without a regular sitter most of the week of the 11th, we were also without care this entire week.       long story short:   i’ve been working full -time and ALSO mommying full-time and i’m just plain exhausted.  i had a breakdown today because aaron came down with some sort of illness yesterday and i had to present a 90-minute debrief to an entire room full of people via webex today.  luckily, i was able to bring joaquin over to jenny’s house where her nanny watched him while i presented in her bedroom.   the presentation went well, but i was a hot mess in real life. 

and now our babysitter is back so liana and i are going to "work" tomorrow by brainstorming for a meeting next week while we get some god damn pedicures.

i feel better now that all of that is out.

so thanks.

check this out for a peek into the latest & greatest JRB adventures

my little buddy!
:

eating peas makes JRB a happy boy!

first swim!
<img src="http://smile.webshots.com/images/d3e7f90795c9f59fc6ab3c3e448cbc35b8516c18051249b3ec60eed0af766137/jpg/800×600&#8243; width=”350″ height=”350″ alt=”” />
 
TWO TEETH!   (the first one arrived on my birthday)

Big boy status!  Sitting tall!  
(so proud)

if the pics don’t work – you can find them here:   http://instagram.com/rubiquity

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