The Fabulous Life of Stefanie

It takes a lot to rattle me. Blame the career path, working in a prison doing therapy face-to-face with convicted sex offenders right out of grad school to helping federal inmates get their lives together after long incarcerations, not to mention the part-time stint with the coroner's office. Blame the childhood of drug and alcohol use around me, the death of my father, the millions of people in and out, the moving here and there. Blame the punk rock scene I grew up in, always aware of racism, sexism and classism and always looking for a way to smash the systems that made the world less awesome. I would say that there is not much to make me sit down and say holy shit , but today, I did. I had bile come up into my throat as though something terrible was happening to me (because something terrible was happening to the world). Yet I forced myself to watch every second of the video showing a man being shot dead with his girlfriend and child in the car because I can't just look awa...

This weekend was a quintessential summer in New England kind of weekend. Fun you can only find when you live in an amazing city with all the things to do for kiddos and yet are just a quick drive to some of the most beautiful beaches on the East Coast.beach. Add in good morning run weather, BBQ with friends, and you've got all the good things. The girls and I visited the Kite Festival at Ronan Park Saturday, which I cannot believe we were at with a tiny new Annie just last year . Maddie flew her kite like a champ after some help from the kite expert/volunteer who was gracious and led me back from a crisis when I could not figure out how to get the kite in the air. Maddie got that kite allllll the way up until the string ran out. We slid down the grassy hill on potato sacks, had a hot dog care of our local police station and indulged in a little self-face painting with Dot Art . We are already looking forward to next year's! Sunday morning we set our alarm for ...

On Maddie's last day of school she brought home a summer reading list, and while many would recoil at another thing to get done, and over the summer no less, I jumped with joy that Maddie and I had another reason for our favorite date: going to our local library.  The ladies and I try and go once or twice a month to stock up on new books, see what programs are going on and let Annie throw someone else's board books all over the ground, but since it is summer and dinnertimes and bedtimes aren't such a huge deal I wanted to try and make it a weekly event that just Maddie and I do together for a little one-on-one time while Annie gets some floor play and cuddles from Daddy.  So last night Maddie put on her unicorn helmet, grabbed her scooter and off we went, stopping to say hi to some friends in the neighborhood, gawk at the ice cream truck that I wasn't prepared/stocked with cash to indulge in and chat about the life and times of my favorite four year old. We knew ...

The best part of Maddie starting preschool last fall is definitely the love that she now has for school, added to her already instilled love to learn and socialize that seems to have developed immediately out of the womb but the second best part? Summer vacay, y'all! No dragging the kid out of bed at 6:00! No more rushing to get everyone dressed, fed, teeth brushed, packed, and out the door at exactly 7:15. Not that the grown ups get to stop doing that but to take away the stress of doing it for the kiddo for a few months...hell to the yes. When you have a baby up at 4:55, one grown up running,  and one 4 year old who literally has to be dragged out of bed in the mornings, things can be, well chaotic. Couple that with my need to make sure beds are made and toys are picked up (I cannot leave a messy house, it will haunt me all day), I get in about 3 miles of walking around the house before I actually walk to the train for the day. But not after next  week, suckers! Sorry, I...

Hey guys! I feel like I am getting into the swing of things lately with work being a little less hectic and making it a priority to spend a little time in the evening after the girls go to bed doing something a little productive (like blogging or finally finishing up Annie's baby book!).  Usually I just want to fall into a heap onto the couch while browsing Instagram and half watching Netflix when really I should be doing some PT stretches and exercises, putting out clothes for the morning and maybe even moving allll the way to the husband's side of the couch for some uninterrupted snuggling. This week, though, I need to make it a point to get up and go to bed before I fall asleep on the couch. Not sure if this will help me feel less exhausted but I am willing to try anything because the tired struggle is real. I am in a pretty bad pattern of always falling asleep on the couch because it just seems so much easier than getting up and moving into my bed. So awful, I know, but a...

Even though this weekend went from bare legs outside on Saturday to an extra couple of layers this morning, I am completely dreaming of summertime. We got a few new pieces of furniture pieces for the back porch and took the entire grill and lounge set up for a test drive this weekend and I want MORE. The other night I thought it would be fun to go around the dinner table and let everyone choose a couple of items for our summer bucket list since I am usually the one who makes/hijacks all the planning fun. Here is what we came up with: Maddie chose the roller coaster park (Six Flags, which my uncle awesomely got us season passes to so this will be happening quite a few times) and water slides (also something that Six Flags has, so two birds - one stone!). Matt wants beach, beach and more beach which will be fulfilled by a week in Maine with my AIL at The Cottages near Wells and hopefully many weekend trips to our local favorite beaches. Mama chose a weekend in Mystic, CT to g...

You guys. A LOT has happened since we last spoke. Some good, some great, some awful, but we made it. Seems pretty obvious to still be standing but there have been a few times in the past three weeks where I had to just pat myself on the back for the lack of laying down and giving up. It has been insanity , but cheers to the sunshine outside and the summer vacation request on my desk and all that exciting stuff to come. However, let's give it up for the last few weeks, shall we? I ran the marathon. Excuse me, the Marathon . As in Boston. And it was a PR and I raised over $7,500 for Boston Cares. It was amazing and fun and inspiring and I am still thinking about what a blur it was after all those months of training. I am beyond honored to have done it and so proud of all my friends and strangers who chased the unicorn that day. Then, my Mom was here, so we got to hang out with her, which is always awesome, especially for those girls of mine who think that Gramma is just the cat...