With deepest thanks and honor.

Thank you for your sacrifice for my sake.

Lila Lunes:Screaming & Sharing

Hello big eyes!

Q. So what's new with Lila?
A. Lila has found her voice. Her super-loud, outside-but-uses-it-inside voice. Girlfriend loves to scream. And loudly. I'm trying so hard not to laugh when she does it... and I even have tried to scream louder than her... she jut SCREAMS even louder... then of course, laughs hysterically.

I can safely say that we're definitely seeing Miss Lila's personality shine through...

 Q. Does Lila like to swim?
A. Yes, but more importantly she loves crawling in and out of her pool over and over and over and over again.

Q. What else is Lila all about doing?
A. Giving. Lila's a giver. She loves to hand her toys (found objects) to you. She also does this over and over again. :) Here she is offering me her phone.

Random Friday Thoughts.

• I am currently addicted to string cheese. Lila, Ferg and I share a stick a day. (I figure a small amount of cheese won't kill Ferg. I mean, she drinks Mexico shower water and she's still alive.)
  

• I found it shocking that Willie Nelson cut off his braids (or pigtails). See here.

• Chocolate covered raisins CAN be considered a serving of fruit since they contain shrunken grapes. (So says me.)

• I am not in any hurry to watch Sex and the City 2. I would, however, like to see a slideshow of the fashion included. I can't find any links except for this.

• When making deviled eggs this Memorial Day weekend add a tablespoon and a half (minimum) of horseradish to your yolk mixture. You won't regret it. I guarantee it.

• Apparently the 2010 Hurricane Season ain't lookin' good for the Gulf of Mexico. I'm telling you, the inhabitants of that area need to move inland... or start building with concrete. Article here. Hurricane season start June 1 for all of us who have to worry about such things. (Cringe.)

• Best sunscreens to use? See here. Both of the baby sunscreens I use on Lila were rated terrible. (See here.) Lovely.  Parenting certainly seems to be trail and error.

• I'm not sure what I think about headwear like this. Nicole Richie can rock it, but who else?

Talk amongst yourselves.

Ferg Friday

All this talk about Lila turning one year old and we've nearly forgotten that Señorita Fergie Lupita will be turning the big THREE this year. Yep, the day after Lila on June 22nd.

Happy almost-birthday-Ferginator.

Welcome to my car. In Cabo. In May.

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I'll let you know how it goes.

We caved. We're official 68 and 70 years old. We bought memory foam pillows.

Here's the reason for the purchase: C.'s pancake pillow is seriously as thick as a sock. I've been encouraging him to get a new pillow for a while now. So, last week after he had been complaining about neck discomfort (lol) and after he had used a memory foam pillow on a recent trip,  I bought him one.

He liked it.

Then, as it turns out, I started liking his pillow.

Last night was night numero uno with my pillow. (Those Spanish classes are coming in handy, no? "Numero uno"? You still following?)

Anywho - last night was the FIRST night that I've slept with less than THREE pillows in YEARS. Shocking. And, I slept well.

So far, I give it a very promising one and a half thumbs up. (Figure that out.)

Tonight?

We're getting glasses of red wine, placing them on our pillows and jumping on them. If the wine doesn't spill, I'm going to go ahead and revise this post and give the pillows TWO full thumbs up.

Stay tuned.

Now this is cute.

A baby-sling for little ones and their dolls. Awesome.

$10 on Etsy. See here.

I'm done with Oprah.

I confess that I DVR Oprah (and Ellen) simultaneously.

Here's why: Oprah would ONCE-IN-A-WHILE air an episode that was worth watching. Nowadays (I love using that word), I tend to think that Oprah's well... boring... and full of herself.

I mean, they might as well change her studio seating to include an elevated golden throne for you-know-who.

I get it. She's incredibly intelligent, savvy and well-spoken. And, she's entrepreneurial and kind and seemingly awesome.

But she's stuffy.

And I'm ready for her to go. Thank goodness she gave us a year-long warning.

And, I'm sick of her skypeing with everyone. It feels contrived to watch Oprah talk to a big T.V. monitor all the time. Creepy.


So, all that to say: I'm done. Bye Oprah! I wish you all the best.

I'm ready to talk about LOST.

I needed a couple of days to process.

I'm ready now.

Let's specifically talk about the last episode. Were you pleasantly surprised and emotionally fulfilled? Or were you annoyed and frustrated?

Did you get closure?

What questions do you still have?

Talk to me, yo.

(Craig - you have to comment, too. You don't get out of this one.)

I tried it and it worked.

I love eggs. It's true.
However, I NEVER boil them the same way. (Nor do I always remember to shave both legs.)

Moving on.

Now I've got a rock-solid recipe that actually works.

"Works?"

"Really, Kylee? It's that difficult to boil eggs?"

Yes.

If your final goal is to have a cooked egg that peels EASILY, then this is the way to go.

Thank you, Real Simple.

Best egg-boiling recipe ever HERE.

I don't knit, but I wish I did.

How GORGEOUS is this?

And how cool are these?

More amazing knitted items here.
(Thanks C.)

Lila Lunes:11 months28 days until the big ONE.

Aside from the fact that Lila is forward-aging more quickly than Benjamin Button aged backwards and it's kind of wigging me out, all is well.

If I had to sum up my sweetie pie at this moment I'd say: BUSY. Lila is go, go, go, go, GO. GO NOW.

She's not walking yet, but don't think that stops her. She has far more to do than you and I combined.

Q. Anything new with Lila?
A. Yes. In fact, she's grinding her teeth now. She's been doing it for about 4 days now.

These are her teeth: one and a half on the top, two on the bottom.

Yes, she's grinding 3.5 teeth.

Q. Is this tooth-grinding normal?
A. Um, I guess so. It's actually called, "bruxism" (for both adults and children) and it's normal at this age when the wee ones are teething.  The sound, though? It's excruciating. Nails on chalkboard.

Q. Is there anything you can do to make it go away?
A. Is there anything we can do to make Spencer and Heidi go away? Exactly.

Nope.

We just have to wait it out.

Q. So is Lila growing?
A. Absolutely. However, she's still under 20 lbs. In fact, she's 18.4 lbs at this point. Slow and steady wins the prize. (Or whatever...)


Q. Is she still crying in the car?
A. NO! My sister bought us this AWESOME mirror and it's great. Why? Because she can see out of the front winshield AND she can see herself in it. I love it. I wish I would have bought it, oh, I don't know - SIX months ago. ($17.99 on amazon and it doesn't matter if you have a back headrest or not, it can tether to the little tether thing on the back of your seat. It works perfectly in the middle of my Jeep Grand Cherokee.)

I took a boat load of pictures this week with the new camera. Ready? (Oh, and no. Lila doesn't wear shirts unless she's in public. We figure she can be as unencumbered here as possible. And, I refuse to turn on my air until June 1st.)

MexMo: I sort of covet this.

An old, coral-ish, orange-ish colored bronco.

I almost flagged the guy down and asked him if he wanted to switch cars then and there. On the spot.

Suh-weet.

FORMSPRING QUESTION: If the name "Two Pretzels" had been taken, what would you have called your blog?

There could only be one name. It was always meant to be, Two Pretzels. No substitute.

ask me whatever you'd like - CLICK HERE!

FORMSPRING QUESTION: Sniff. My favorite smell on earth is lilacs. What's yours?

Mashed potatoes. And, baby after a bath.

ask me whatever you'd like - CLICK HERE!

FORMSPRING QUESTION: Besides The Lionel, who is your celebrity boyfriend?

Hugh Jackman. I love him.

And I sort of have a crush on Will Schuster from Glee... I know, I know...

ask me whatever you'd like - CLICK HERE!

FORMSPRING QUESTION: What is your number-one grammar pet peeve? (Can be spoken or written. Go.)

"She don't have a new trailer."

I absolutely LOATHE when people say, "don't" instead of "doesn't."

ask me whatever you'd like - CLICK HERE!

I am so excited for tomorrow's LOST finale I can't stand it.

And so help me, if it all ends up being heaven versus hell, good versus evil, jack versus ben, I'm going to lose it.

What do YOU think is going to happen?

Painter, I am not.

So last weekend when Craig was out of town I decided to paint him a picture.

One picture turned into four.

Here they are.

You can click to make larger, if you so desire. :)

I painted the backgrounds with a brush and finger painted the letters. (My favorite part. We should all finger paint more often.)

Our room is really dark (as it should be) and quite honestly, I didn't think to turn on the overhead light when I took this.

Then I was too lazy to go and re-take the photo. 

So here it is, for better or worse.

No, I'm categorically not a cat person, but I like LOST

(Wrestling Kitties, for some reason I imagine your cats are awesome. Better than any other cats I'd ever meet. Seriously.)

At least 64%

If I had to guess, I'd bet that at least 64% of the working world has wasted enjoyed playing pacman on google for more than 20 minutes today.

Happy 30 years, pacman.

(eleven months old today)

I know that today isn't a Monday, therefore it's not really a, "Lila-update" day.

But the countdown is on. Lila is almost one year old.

(Gasp.)

Notice: Friday's post will be a bit late...

Please check back frequently.

Until then, enjoy this photo of Ferg taken just minutes before bedtime on Thursday night.


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My current addiction.

My version of Caprese salad.

Tomatoes. Sliced.

Firm tofu. Cubed.

Fresh basil. (de mi jardinm, from my garden)

Avocado. Cubed, or whatever.

Buffalo mozzerella. Cubed, or whatever.

Extra virgin olive oil.

Balsalmic vinegar.

Cavender's greek seasoning.

Yum. Omg. YUM.

It's done. I didn't think twice.

THANK YOU all for voting on the VERY important question of, "Which summer purse should I buy?"

As it turns out, 52 of you voted...

 And...

...I decided...

...to go with...

Greenie!

Here's why I love this one:

1.) I love that it's cotton.
2.) I love the bows on both sides.
3.) I love that it's fresh and clean and green.
4.) I love that it was the lowest priced bag. HA!

If you'd like your own greenie, you can find it here at THIS etsy shop for $35. If you'll note, she'll make any style in any color...

If you're interested in the other bags for yourself, I shall now offer you their URLs.

$48. Available here.

$40. Available here. I LOVE this one.

$40. Available here.

$48. Available here.

$38. Available here.

THANKS again for your input.

You all clearly have good fashion sense. :)

A picture/review of greenie will be forthcoming... maybe. (The bag's seller is in Thailand. I'm having it shipped to San Diego then imported down to Cabo. Will it show up? Perhaps I need to make a poll about that...)

FORMSPRING QUESTION: Do you have a nickname? If so, what is it?

Yep.

Ky. (Nickname since I was a kid.)
Kiwi. (From my cousins.)
Kyleekins. (From my Dad.)

ask me whatever you'd like - CLICK HERE!

FORMSPRING QUESTION: After several years in MX, how's your Spanish? Would you say you are fluent?

Funny you should ask, I'm starting Spanish classes next Wednesday.

I would say that I can handle myself. And, I can understand a LOT more than people think I can.

However, I"m afraid that Lila's Spanish will be better than mine therefore classes are a must.

Just need some assistance con mi verbos.

ask me whatever you'd like - CLICK HERE!

FORMSPRING QUESTION: What kind of work did you do prior to moving to MX?

Marketing!

ask me whatever you'd like - CLICK HERE!

Please rephrase that. Please?

I was recently on the phone with someone I work with and he said, "Yeah, we really appreciate your guy's* business..."

*Um yes. He actually pronounced it, "Yer guys is" business.

Oh boy.

I can't stand that.

I'm not a grammar snob, but really? "Yer guys is"?

What is this? Summer camp? You five-years-old?

Time is running out. I'm buying the summer purse tomorrow.

Thus far, 45 of you have voted in my little, "Mama needs a new summer purse" poll - THANK YOU! If you still haven't voted - please, take 14 seconds out of your day and do so. (Click here to vote.)

The results as of Tuesday, May 18th - 3:06 p.m. MT are:

This is the one that's winning with 12 votes.

And this is the runner-up, with 9 votes.

VOTE immediately!
(That was awfully bossy, wasn't it? Can you tell I played alone a lot as a child?)

I'll rephrase that: please vote immediately!

And, if you're really daring - comment on why you chose what you did.
I'd love to hear your reasoning.

I shall be purchasing the weener (misspelling intended) tomorrow (Wed.) evening.

VOTE HERE!

Is Facebook getting creepy?

What with all this connecting of users to websites and websites to users and users to preferences and privacy issues and apologies  - it's all a bit much these days for the average Facebook user who just wants to post pictures and look at the photos of others.

I ran across this article: World's Largest Social Network: The Open Web, in last Friday's New York Times (doesn't that make me sound well read?), and it has had me thinking...

In an effort to bring people closer together [and make gobs of money], Facebook may have managed to close people off from the rest of the interweb.

It appears that more people are spending time solely on Facebook than on Al Gore's actual interweb as a whole. Meaning: several years ago when Facebook was exclusively for college students, the rest of the world would, "socially network" via email and blogs and actual websites.

(I love how old that computer is.)

Now, we just log on to Facebook, write one-sentence exchanges on one another's walls, and log off. (Yeah right, as if we ever really log off. We're always connected. That's a whole other post.)

Yeah, we may be more connected to [random] people [that we may or may not care to be connected to], but we've developed a slight case of tunnel vision.

Now, there's a potential argument to be made that we should probably be socially networking face-to-face, and I hear you and I get it. But that's not always possible... say for example if you live in Mexico and your besties live in the continental United States. (I don't know anyone who lives in Alaska or Hawaii, or Puerto Rico for that matter.)

Also - is Facebook making us lazy? Instead of seeking out interesting content online, are we relying to much on our just-as-informed (or un-informed) "friends" to recommend or "like" something that we should read?

This quote caught my eye:

“Information is becoming less of a destination that we seek online,” says Anthony J. Rotolo, assistant professor of practice in the School of Information Studies at Syracuse University. “Instead we are expecting it to come to us in a social stream.”

In the Facebook stream, friends, not search engines, are the trusted sources.
“Just because someone belongs to your social network, it doesn’t make them a good source,” Professor Rotolo says. “But there’s a natural inclination to assume that a person possesses reliable information because it’s person-to-person.”

Oh and get this: apparently since the viral popularity of Facebook, BLOGGING has seen a drastic drop.

Susan Herring, professor of information science at Indiana University, sees it this way: “What the statistics point to is a rise in Facebook, a decline in blogging, and before that, a decline in personal Web pages. The trend is clear, she said — Facebook is displacing these other forms of online publication. 

What?
Gasp?
How can this be?

I cannot even imagine a world without blogging. (Ignore the melodrama of that statement.) But really, this makes me sad.

We don't even have time to maintain blogs because we're too busy liking and disliking Cousin Louise's status update that she's in line at the grocery store and she forgot her non-paper grocery bags in her trunk?

Hmmm....

--

What are your thoughts on Facebook? Is it the root of all evil? Or is it a tool for good?

I refuse to let my blog go the way of the newspaper.

FORMSPRING QUESTION: What was your major in college? Are you working in that field now?

Communications.

I am the global marketing director (lol) of our real estate company.

(A while back my sister and I, the VP of the company, decided that if we put the word, "global" in front of our titles on our business cards it would look THAT much better. The VP of Resort Sales was on board, too.)

ask me whatever you'd like - CLICK HERE!

FORMSPRING QUESTION: Do you REALLY think Ellen wears Covergirl makeup? I don't.

Great question.

And no.

And Sarah Jessica Parker doesn't use Garnier Nutrise.

ask me whatever you'd like - CLICK HERE!

Another reason why I love Ferg

So, Lila tossed her bread overboard from her highchair tonight. Ferg has since acquired it and has proceeded to carry it around and hide it all night long.

Here it is on my bed.

Notice she's not taking her eyes off of it.

She doesn't trust me.


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Happy anniversary, twopretzels.com.

(Um, why didn't I think of this sooner? A birthday DOUGHNUT?!)

I find it quite ironic that according to about.com the appropriate way to celebrate my blog's four-year-anniversary would be to either gift me fruit or flowers (traditional) or appliances (modern). (Did you read that Craig? Buy me a Dyson. Or a bouquet of happy flowers. Or a papaya.)

I love this blog. YAY! Four years! So much has changed since that fateful day in 2006... Now, 3,510 posts later - here we are!

I could get sentimental, but I shan't.

I shall just say that I felt VERY good about comparing last year's google analytics web stats to this year's google analytics web stats. I'm growing. THANK YOU for reading and THANK YOU for telling your friends to read.

Page visits are up 12% over last year and Mondays continue to be the most popular visiting day. (Is this because of Lila Lunes? I believe so... She's a cutie, isn't she? Maybe I WILL continue with Lila Lunes after all...)

I know that the tone of the 'ole blog has changed drastically this past year - more baby stuff, less random stuff. To be honest, I've struggled with this change. For some reason I thought that I'd be able to write as I wrote pre-baby and pre-parenting. You know, the same frequency and the same topics.

Um.

I was wrong.

My priorities have shifted and have become maybe less universal and bit more concentrated - however, ya'll have stuck with me. THANKS!

If I could hug you for reading (and commenting!), I would. (Ask anyone who knows me. I'm a hugger.)

Thank you so much for visiting and thank you for reading.

With lots of blogger love,
kb

P.S. As tradition has dictated, I must link to my first-ever post. Yay.

Lila Lunes:Still 10 months old...

Q. How's Lila?
A. Funny. As I'm writing this on Sunday afternoon she's been "singing" in her crib for close to an hour. I think she's too excited to sleep and is ready for her Daddy to come home.

Q. Where was Craig?
A. Craig was in L.A.-la land from Thursday to Sunday visiting his best friend. It was his first time away from Lila since her birth and it was our first-ever girls' weekend. We had a really great time - however, I don't think I want to be a single-parent. It's hard to sleep in when you're the only one in charge. (So it seems, Ferg is not the best co-parent.)

Q. How often does Lila sleep at this point?
A. Oh, we're a lucky family. Lila goes to bed around 8 pm and gets up around 8:30 am. She naps at 10 until 11. Then, usually from 2 until 4. Then it all repeats. We have learned that she does not function well if she a.) skips a nap or b.) get to bed too late.

igotanewcameraandiloveit!!!

My dear sweet husband got sick of hearing me complain about my point and shoot and kindly and thoughtfully bought me my first SLR for Mother's Day!

It's gorgeous. And I am so excited.

I got it today and I love it already. I have a lot to learn, but I trust he'll be a good teacher - he can put that photography minor to work with me.

Picture #1 from this camera...

I'm so excited.

And, I have a super-cute model.