The Fabulous Life of Stefanie

Something you may not know about me is that I love to take surveys; I take them online for reward points to get magazines and Starbucks cards, but even if someone calls my "unlisted" number for a survey I will sure as shit talk to them. Maybe because it was my first job (telesurveyor - not to be confused with those terrible telemarketers), or maybe it is the sociologist in me who loves to gather data. Anyways, the point is, for most surveys I am now entering another age range to click. That's right, no longer will I be lumped in with people in their twenties, I am now thrown in the back of those in their forties. Yikes! But hey, such is life, that whole getting older thing, and I really. truly believe that a woman in her thirties is a hell of a lot more content than one in her twenties, so I assume it just keeps getting better. I feel so much more confident in my skin, with my voice, in my talents and even in my shortcomings. Although I still feel devastated when people...

Well, well, well here we are. 46 days. 7 Saturdays. 2 course dress rehearsals. Then it is GO TIME. Training is going great. Can I say that? It's my third marathon so I have something to compare to but this is like no other. This is Boston . I am running for charity and life is totally different then the first and second time I set out for 26.2 (because it always is, isn't it?). I have a baby who sleeps in my bed and wakes up a lot to nurse or cuddle or play pat-a-cake on my forehead at 2am. I put in a lot of time in the office and at night after the girls are asleep building my career. I have fundraisers to attend, beers to drink, friends to enjoy, a husband to cherish. I am tired. I am sore. I have thirteen other things I should be doing right now. But here I am and I am doing it and putting, ahem, my best foot forward. BUT I really truly trust in my training. I get out there and get the miles under my feet every Saturday. I make it to the Pilates class by run club host...

Happy Thanksgiving! I feel like this year, as with all the recent years, I have a lot to be thankful for. Between the awesome fella that I married and this little lady we are raising, there is so much joy, love and laughter in our lives; even if there are tears, stresses and worries in between, the balance is definitely in our favor. Last year I managed to blog every single day in November about what I was thankful for and it made for an awesome perspective that entire month. I loved looking over the old posts and seeing that I remain thankful for so many of those things that are still a part of my life, and thinking about all the good stuff that has happened this year to add to my list! Without further ado, the top five things I am thankful for this year. 1. Our new house:  Buying a home to call our own has been a goal of ours for many years and this is the year that we made it a reality. It was an awful, stressful, nearly financially crippling experience but we made it out ...

This past weekend we hosted a little "open house" to show off our new home and have an excuse to get our friends over and stuff them with food. The open house idea was awesome because people stopped in when they could and didn't feel obligated to be there at a certain time or stick around if they had other stuff to do; it also meant people were in and out all day and night, which was kind of great.  We have so many wonderful friends and getting to spend a little time with everyone and show them our home was so great. I am starting to realize that we have a lot of littles in our circle too because there was a constant flow of them too! Maddie had a blast showing her friends her room and doing "art crafts" with them. People brought over so much delicious food, lovely presents and sweet gifts for Maddie and we could not be more thankful! Our home feels so warmed and I already can't wait to host another get-together! Here are a few pictures from...

 Today I am thankful that I live in the city of Boston, in my opinion, one of the greatest cities in the world and indisputably home to the best baseball team of 2013. Today we attended the Red Sox rolling rally to celebrate their win in the World Series. It is a tradition for our teams who have won championships (a common occurrence here) to get on Duck Boats and roll around the city and into the Charles River, giving everyone a chance to come out and see the team and celebrate. I have never been able to attend one, but since this was Maddie's first World Series win in her lifetime, we made sure we were there.  We got up nice and early, put on our Red Sox best and went down to the Boston Common to partake in the festivities. Our dear friend Mary met up with us and we found a perfect place near the parade route with a bunch of grass, trees and police officers positioned around for Maddie to chat with. This kid loves a man in uniform......

Well, here we are, just a few days until I run a marathon . YIKES! It seems like just February that I was freaking out about how to run a half marathon and swearing that it would be physically impossible for me to ever do a full; oh wait, that was this February! Oh how time flies/the craziness of life makes it seem a total blur when you're having fun. I am a mix of excited, nervous and anxious but very thankful that my marathon experienced husband will be by my side for the whole thing, and my AIL (that is Jane's new title, here on out) will be there at the end with her decades of nursing experience/cooking. I know I won't be fast, I probably won't be pretty and I definitely won't be walking normal for a while but it is going to be my race and I am going to run it! On to other topics before I throw up on my desk... Last night I went to a spin class with a friend who I don't see enough (that covers most my friends these days, darn you busy lives!) and it ...

Here we are ladies and gents, the final week(s) until Baby O'Shea makes her world debut! I have so much running through my head as I wait for this little one to join us, and I am feeling a cross between impatient, unprepared and pure bliss at what is to come. The hardest thing about all of this, for me, has been that my "due date" is really just a shot in the dark as to when I may have her - a point in the middle of four weeks that I could go into labor. As an obsessive planner, list-writer and type A extraordinaire this really has been the hardest part for me. I mean, if I just knew that she would begin her descent on 11/26 after I wake up from a restful 8 hours of sleep with my Mom here from Reno and my maternity leave started I could be so much more prepared, right? Nope, not really. But it doesn't stop me from wishing I knew. Since I don't know, I have taken to thinking that I am going into labor most all of the time, but this morning was the first time that I...

Yesterday my four favorite ladies feted me and Baby O'Shea with a gorgeous baby shower. Everything was perfect and so perfectly me - lots of pink, owls, yummy eats and cupcakes from my favorite place - what more could a prego lady ask for? Nothing! But I did get more - I got to see some really wonderful women who made me and this little (er, not so little lately) bump in my belly feel like a million bucks and showered with love and gifts (so, so many precious gifts). I am so thankful for the ladies that came and it really meant so much to me to see these women who have seen me through so many phases of my life - work friends past and present, NOLA volunteer friends, friends I have inherited from Matty and his life before me - who all had one thing in common: they are all true, dear friends to me and made me feel so grateful to have them as I move closer to this new phase in my life. When I got home last night and sat on the nursery floor with Matty showing him all the new clothes,...

I used to loooooathe going to Home Depot, mostly because it meant that my parents were dragging me there before asking me to slave, er work with them all day doing some ridiculous project like staining the flipping porch, including the underneath where all the spiders lived, on a beautiful summer day when I would rather have been doing anything else at all. Anything. Home Depot mostly made me feel dread, all hardware stores did really, even if they happened to have the added perk of free popcorn or a hot dog cart because, let's face it, one hot dog ain't gonna erase an afternoon of being under the porch with a paintbrush and a black widow in your hair. But now....sorry if you think I am going to say how much I love Home Depot and that I decided to do the baby's room in a lovely bright orange and don't even mind that the Watertown store doesn't have a snack bar (because I do) but...I don't hate it! Last night I was even glad to be there, which was probably due t...

I am sitting at our new desk in our guest room of our new home. The desk faces the window that overlooks our new street; I see trees and the neighbors, the baby kittens that live next door and the lawn that someone mowed while we were at work yesterday. I see my husband working on his bike, involved in his work and never the wiser that I am admiring him from inside. I cannot wait to watch this man be a father to our baby, to celebrate being my husband for a year in September, and to spend the rest of my days loving him. He really is the most amazing dude ever, seriously. The baby is growing bigger and more livelier in my tummy. Matty can feel her kicks and stretches and somersaults. She still lets me eat spicy food and sleep comfortably, but my back and stomach are no longer options at this point. Next week will mark my third trimester. Next weekend my bestie will come up from NoHo and we will hang out and shop for girlie things together and gossip and laugh. We will be joined by other...

What can I say, I really love post-its. We sent this to my Mommy to remind her that she'll be making pancakes for me this time next year. Kidding Mom! Finding out we are pregnant has been the single most exciting thing to happen to the two of us since getting engaged, but we actually had to think about this announcement and how/when/who to tell. At first it was just ours to share, only we knew that there is this little person growing inside of me, and we could look at each other and know that we had this awesome secret between us. The thing is though, I hate secrets. I hate surprises. I love blabbing about things, especially exciting things. This whole intimate husband and wife secret thing was not going to last. I love you my dear husband, but I got a mouth on me, and he knows that. The obvious first person for me to tell was my Mommy, the woman who carried and birthed me and has been my closest confidant for 28 (then, now 29) years. So I called her and we chatted and, since she w...

I am sitting at home watching the Oscars in my husband's long underwear surrounded by pizza and wings and a big fat cat. Glam, I know! Honestly though, I am so happy to be at home relaxing; I haven't had any down time since I got home from San Diego on Wednesday and I really needed a night on the couch...and since it fell on a celeb holiday, it's even better! San Diego was awesome; it was so wonderful to spend time with such a large percentage of my family and to be warm and outside in the sun . I posted all the pics on my Facebook if you are so compelled to take a peek. I got home Wednesday night and went right back to work on Thursday, which usually is rough but since I have such awesome co-workers it was totally smooth and without any chaos! It was also good to go right back because I would have spent the whole day laying on the couch crying about how much I miss my Mommy and being at work didn't give me that opportunity, though I did spend most of Wednesday night ...

Home means the hills, home means the sage and pine...and also a crap ton of snow that I was trying to avoid. Yep, I left freezing Boston for Reno, where the highs were hitting the 60's and flew right into a snow storm and Facebook posts from home about the Spring-like weather. Not cool Mother Nature, not cool. I take back all of the defending of you that I did earlier this winter. All of it. The thing about snow in Reno versus snow in Boston is that Reno snow actually messes up my plans; I can't just hop on the T and grumble about the two block walk to my destination, no, here in Reno people actually have to drive long distances past flipped over cars and risk not getting to pass between here and Sacramento when Donner Pass closes and have to shovel their own sidewalks. I have become so spoiled in my big city that I almost forgot all about these legitimate reasons to hate the snow. However, since I am little miss sunshine, I have found the silver lining and am enjoying my time...

Ah 30, that big looming number. I remember when 30 seemed really old. Like, people that were 30 were real adults that had things I could not be anywhere near attaining (careers, consistent bed times, spouses ). And then I was 25 and 30 was what a lot of my friends were or were close to being, and then another year or so passed and my friends were in their 40s and 50s. And now, at the ripe old age of 28 and three quarters, I even have people I call my friends that are in their 30s and 40s and 50s and 60s and 70s, I even have a friend in her 80s. Really, I do. And I love them. I love to listen to what their lives were like at my age, and how they view things that I love (Facebook, volunteering, children, celebrity gossip). They really, truly awe me and I find myself thinking about what I will be like when I am their age. Take, for instance, my friend Sister Mary Catherine of the Sisters of St. Joseph . The other night I got together with some of the women that I participated in a Communi...

Oof, my head. Yep, I am feeling a wee (LOT) bit hungover today. Still. At 7pm. Whoops! Last night Craig and I pulled off a pretty epic surprise for his dear girlfriend, and my dear friend Emilia's birthday. Both of her parents were there, who I love and was happy to catch up with, as well as our nearest and dearest. Amy even came up from NoHo and we had a sleepover! It was awesome. I definitely drank too much on an empty stomach and am very thankful for my husband for getting me home safe despite my insistence on wearing cowgirl boots on the ice (thanks again, babe). I think I have been taking my new motto "drinking for two" a little too serious, and I may need to start climbing up the slope to sobriety as the begin date for Operation Make Baby grows nearer. Maybe after this beer. Hey - you don't have to stop drinking for 9 months, so quit judging! I find myself handling this new goal the same way I do most everything: lots of reading, researching and talking to my fr...

Twas the morning be fore Thanksgiving, and all through the office...yeah no one is really doing much stirring since we are all getting ready for this afternoon's luncheon where we get to serve our clients a big Thanksgiving meal and then after we have everything cleaned up and the clients on their way, we get to sit down and break bread together. Then we leave, by 1pm, yessss! This year I feel that I have so, so much to be thankful for and I am excited to be spending Thanksgiving morning watching the Macy's Parade with my new husband before heading down the the Cape to share a meal with my father-in-law and his wife. We are going to stay down there a couple of nights since they have the most comfortable bed I have ever slept in as well as the cutest rottweiler I have ever seen. Amy will also be down on the Cape with her family, so I get to see one of my besties too! It will be an awesome, sweatpants inducing weekend for sure. I thought I would take some time this morning during...

Today is the first day since I got married that I have been sad for longer than three or four minutes. It has only been a few hours, but in comparison, I totally feel like I have the blues. Life is still wonderful, blessed and exciting; that has not changed. But I am coming down off of my happy honeymoon cloud and addressing the things that I chose not to address so I could enjoy the bliss of wedding and honeymoon time. The things that I decided to wait on also waited on me. I am sad because two of my close friends are not friends anymore and I feel as though I watched it happen and I wish I could have said or done more. I have learned a very valuable lesson: if someone is doing something that is upsetting someone, including yourself, it is important to say something so that they know they are doing something not okay. They may or may not change their ways, but at least you can feel good about the fact that you said something and you tried to be a part of the solution. I am vowing to b...