Babysitter's Club: Life at 18 Months with a Tongue

I was putting this post together and picking out my favorite photos when I realized that they all feature Jordyn and her tongue. She and her tongue hanging out on the giraffe, she and her tongue reading Eclipse, she and her tongue just being cute.

But I digress.

I babysat for my favorite toddler weekend before last. Now, you should be pleased to know that she was already fed by the time I arrived. Her mom wasn't too keen on my whole new pricing plan after our last "incident". Fine by me, more time to play and watch YO GABBA GABBA.

Do you have a toddler? Do you know what Nobbin is? If not, you need to call up your local cable provider and order today. Why couldn't Yo Gabba Gabba be on when I was a toddler? Not that I don't just take it upon myself to enjoy it now and I probably would've been way too crazy about it and would've never learned to read or write and then HSCOOC wouldn't exist and OMG that would be the worst thing ever. Again, I digress. Hey, BFFs, remember these guys?

The Aquabats? YEAH THEY ARE ON YO GABBA GABBA. Hey, BFFs, remember Nathanial who likes to dance from The Soup? YEAH THAT WAS ON YO GABBA GABBA. Do you see what I MEAN??? Best show ever. Next to Gossip Girl. And Lost. So anyways, I had requested Stacy DVR some episodes of YGG for Jordyn and I to enjoy and boy, did we. We danced along with those kids all over the living room.

Afterwards, we were pretty pooped and so we took a seat on the couch. This is when Jordyn pulled out my mac book and told me "we need to talk".

I have to admit, I got pretty nervous. I was thinking, 'Ok, she could be pulling up her Facebook page to show me some boy from daycare and his current status update OR she could be pulling up the New Moon trailer since we haven't watched it together yet (but like 1,000,000 times on our own).' But do you know what she pulled up? THIS BLOG. Yeah, she went to her favorites and clicked on Heart Shaped Cut-Outs of Cheese. I was flattered we were on her favorites but knew I was about to get an ear full.

For the most part, she had very nice things to say. She liked the way I posted about our first experience together, she liked looking at the photos but she did not like the fact that I posted photos of her trying to stab me with a plastic fork. She asked me if I remembered having to eat baby food and I said "Oh, don't even go there, sister." To which she replied, "I'm just saying, maybe you could cut me a little slack."

Fair enough, little J, fair enough. I told her I was sorry, that sometimes I just write for humor and forget that little people have feelings too. Before I knew it, we were BFFs again and that is when I remembered that I brought Eclipse for us to discuss for our book club. Oh yeah, we are in a book club now together, I forgot to tell you. Hopefully, she'll be more active than her mom was in our last one (kidding, Stace, I love you!) So we discussed the third installment of the Twilight series, Team Jacob vs. Team Edward. I totally can tell she has the hots for Jacob. Look how googly-eyed she is here when I brought him up.

Afterwards, I asked her if she wanted to head to Don't Tell Mama to sing on the piano. She was all about it. So we got all ready and then just as we were putting on her shoes while sitting on the counter (TOTALLY SAFE, DON'T EVEN WORRY ABOUT IT), we hit a giggle fest...

So then we decided just to ride the giraffe instead.

I know, SO adorable. Great times, as always, just the girls hanging out on a Saturday night. This time was even more exciting since we recently found out that little Jordyn Love is going to be a BIG SISTER!!

Congrats, Stacy. So happy you're bringing another one into this world. If we're lucky, BH2 will be just like her/his big sister. With better eating habits. KIDDING, JOJO!

The Party That Almost Killed Me

Remember when I wrote about going out on a Wednesday night? How it was hard? And Club Monster Katie comes out in like 2.5 drinks? Well, I decided to take another crack at it week before last. Yes, the alcohol has FINALLY worn off and I can now bring myself to tell you that Zappos sure knows how to throw one helluva party.


It's a Thursday night. Zappos is throwing their 10 year Anniversary/Vendor Appreciation/OMGAmazonJustBoughtUsLet'sCelebrate Party. The agency I work out is just buzzing about it while wristbands were floating around. I had already planned on going since my friend Chris was going to be in town and if we're not karaokeing (but we, I mean he) then we are drinking. Somewhere. A lot. And then I got my little hands on a few wristbands and then I called Anika and now we're really going at this full force. On a Thursday.


Anika and I arrive at Encore. I've never been here before. It's red. We get up to XS and walk in the party. Right off the bat, you can tell that just as Zappos handles business and customer service skills, they take their partying just as seriously. This is a million dollar party. There are giant hamster like balls in the pool that FOLKS, that's people just like you and me, are floating around in. PEOPLE ARE WALKING ON WATER (or at least attempting to).

I can't believe my eyes, get me a drink.

Well, kids, this is where the night went wrong. Anika and I go to the center bar at the pool. This is an OPEN BAR OF ANYTHING YOUR LITTLE ALCOHOLIC SELF CAN DREAM OF. We arrived to the party at approx. 10:15 p.m. I did not get to order my drink until 10:56 p.m. so you can imagine, when I did finally get the opportunity, that I was like "Um, can I get a jagerbomb (Jersey!) and two mojitos FOR MYSELF, thanks!" Anika substituted those mojitos for champagne and before I know it we're here.
Yes, that is Chris' head looking like it exploded in to a ray of glorious club lights.
The next day, I got to work and puked. Two days later I came down with bronchitis because I think my body shut down from trying to process the leftover alcohol.

An Update from PA

Hello my loves. My apologies for my absence, I'm sure you've all been so concerned. Or not.

Either way, I was near death last week with a wicked case of bronchitis and then took off to visit Beppee (aka the g'ma) with Pep on Thursday and (this might surprise you), there was no Internet there.

I'm waiting to board a plane right now to head back west but some upcoming posts (my goal is to get them all up this week) include:

• Those Zappos People Sure Can Throw a Party
• Jordyn Love: Life at 18 Months
• Pep and Kate Go to Pittsburgh

Lots of photos and lots of things to say so stay tuned :)

A Photo Shoot With Sir Gordon & The Pillows Pep Made Me

I found this fabric at JoAnn's when I was looking for something to protect my sling for my broke-ass arm back after my very serious* injury in March. I fell in love with it immediately and turned to my mom like 'What kind of magic can you work with this?'

3 months later, I received these lovely pillows.

I was SO excited that I wanted to post them on HSCOOC so I needed to take photos. My dog is quite the HAM (not sure if you're aware) and I just can't resist his face so here I am to share it with you. Thanks, Pep for the pillows. Gord hasn't even picked one up in his mouth yet so he either really likes them or thinks they're too girly for his taste.

*not very serious at all, really.

Taste Tester

Have you known me for very long? If so, how many foods have you witnessed me trying for the first time? How many did I like? If you have not known me very long (or at all), please read this to have a better understanding of this post.

Now, be prepared to have your mind BLOWN.

I went to dinner at PF Changs last night for SSFS. Some of my girls were there to eat, some were there just to witness (Lobo). I didn't overthink it, I just went in and looked at the menu without reading the small print and went to town.

I tried not one, not two, not three but FOUR new things last night.

Chicken Lettuce Wraps...I'd heard the hype, and am now a believer. Pretty delicious.

Crispy Honey Shrimp....delicious.

Chang's Spicy Chicken....definitely my favorite of the evening

And Double Pan Fried Noodles with Vegetables....not my favorite but hey, 3 out of 4 ain't bad.

I've come a long way but no, I am still not interested in trying a bite of your hamburger. Thanks, though.

PB&J

I made PB&Js for a date last night and I wanted to share this with you because I think everyone should know how to make a proper PB&J and let me just tell you, I make a KILLER PB&J.

This really shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone but I take this very seriously. It's pretty much an art form in my world. So next time you have a craving for a PB&J, I want you to follow this recipe, OK? It's pretty life changing. You'll be thinking, "did my mother not love me enough because my sandwiches were never this good as a child."

Ok, here goes:

Bread = Wonder Whole Wheat White (so much for my Aunt Karen's 'the whiter the bread, the sooner you're dead' theory!)

Peanut Butter = Skippy Honey Roasted Nut (it's a smooth, not a chunky)

And last but certainly not least, Jelly = Smucker's Strawberry Preserves.

You can thank me later.

Let Me Tell You About Going Out On A Wednesday Night

It is hard. I know from the photo above, we make it look so easy.

You're sitting at home, you've already done your normal after-work routine (i.e. feed and walk the dog, make dinner, watch SYTYCD while laid up on the couch) and then all of a sudden you have to GO PUT A DRESS ON and touch up your make-up when usually in about an hour, you'd be hitting the sack.

How do I get myself into these situations? You see, working in the very glamorous (see: NOT) world of PR, you get invites to any and every event ever. You can imagine that in Vegas, this means there is always something going on. Well I got an invite from Las Vegas Magazine about two weeks ago about this Singles Event at LAX. See, hosted bar = sold. So I sent the invite to Anika asking if she wanted to be my date and of course, she was on board.

Then all of a sudden, July 22 rolls around and the last thing I want to do is get all dolled up to go out way past my bedtime on a Wednesday night. BUT we did it. We pre-partied with Gordon at my place and then headed down to The Strip. We get to the Luxor, after almost getting lost because who the f goes to the Luxor, and of course, there is a CRAZY line outside of LAX. It takes Anika and I like 15 minutes to figure out how to by-pass the line. We eventually do and walk into the club. But, oh wait, IT ISN'T EVEN OPEN YET. Here I am, at 10:40 p.m. ready to pass out and a place hasn't even opened it's doors for the evening yet. Luckily, Noir Bar dropped its exclusivity and we were welcomed inside. This bar is actually really swanky and cool, it's got a great vibe to it, all tucked away. So we get our first free drink HOLY CRAP THIS IS SO STRONG and before I know it, we're rapping along to Wyclef Jean sitting in our plush leather chairs and I'm saying "DO YOU WANT TO GO DANCE????"

Yeah, here I am, Club Monster Katie, out on a Wednesday night doing JT's version of The Single Ladies dance without a care in the world.

Funny how it comes back so easily.


Today was rough though, stopped at Sbux and added shot. 'Cause yeah, the evening was like that.