Yeah.. I was so bad ass... heehee

Some of you may or may not know that I did TaeKwonDo several years back. I’m mean WAAAAAY back. Put it this way.. I stopped going my Senior Year of High School because of a disagreement about my priorities with the school owner. Yeah… It wasn’t nice. Needless to say.. I’ve missed it. It was a big part of my life… I took classes for darn near 12 years, got my 2nd degree black belt, and wasn’t afraid of anything… well.. almost…

Fast forward a few years later. I was married, and moved to the desert with hubby. We took Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu together… and I hated it. I stuck with it for a while, but didn’t really like it. I honestly don’t like anyone else on top of me but my hubby.. but that’s something I’m not going to get into here LOL…. What!?!?!?! This is a family blog… sorta…

Well when we were in Japan, he took Judo classes, and I took off for the gym to go work out. I wasn’t even going to try.

Well the other day, I went to lunch with a friend of mine, and saw that a new TKD school had opened up right next to the restaurant. YAAY! something close to home! I decided that I must check it out in the near future. Well, The near future was 2 days later. I was set to go to lunch with my friend and another friend who was in town visiting. Same restaurant. I was supposed to leave early to get some things from the store before lunch, and naturally, the girls would not listen, forcing us to leave 30 min too late. So, I drove straight to lunch. The place didn’t open till 11, it was 1035. Great… So I check the door at the TKD school.. It’s open… YIKES. I sit down with the owner and chat about this and that. We find out we have a ton in common. We’re both 1/2 Japanese… He’s from San Francisco, I’m from Sacramento, We both went to Catholic School most of our lives, He IS a twin, and I have twins … and there was more.. but I can’t remember right now… Anyway.. We talked about getting the girls set up, what the classes would be like, and how much they’d cost. I was really surprised how affordable their classes would be. I mentioned that I took TaeKwonDo long ago too, and how much I loved it. He actually convinced me.. if I could find my black belt certificates… to come in and have him evaluate me and see if he could bring me in to his school as a black belt. I had to think about it. Well, I did… all evening…

Daddy and I have talked several times about getting the girls into something. Whether it be Dance, Martial Arts or something else. This just seemed to kinda come together. Anyway… I was curious… I searched for my certificates. I really wanted to see how I would do now… 14 years later… Yeah, I said it.. It’s been 14 years since the day that I stopped going to TaeKwonDo.

Well, Wednesday morning, I went back in, and had my eval done. He was actually impressed. I still have most of my technique, I still have some speed, and I still have some strength. I have a lot to work on. The awesome thing is.. he agreed to bring me in as a black belt if I signed on. Well, Wednesday night, was the girls’ first class and tonight is mine. Yes.. I signed on.. For the next 6 months, I’m going to see what it’s like to be a Black Belt again… I’m very excited, and a little nervous! It’s been so long since I’ve sparred with anyone.. I really don’t want to get my ass kicked… LOL

This time, I’m not in it for the trophies, or the tournaments, or the medals. Well, not right now at least… I AM in it for the fitness, and to remember all those techniques and be able to help my girls as they grow into it. Monkey See seemed to really enjoy it, Monkey Do says she liked the kicking and punching, but that’s it. Well, I’m going to give her some time… and if she really doesn’t get into it, we’ll move on to something else… but for now.. we’re doing this… and I couldn’t be more excited.

If you’re in Jacksonville, NC, you have to come check it out.. The new school is Tiger Rock TaeKwonDo at 1250 Western Blvd, Ste N6… It’s in the same shopping center as Michaels, Old Navy & Marshalls.

***UPDATE: I didn’t get to take class last Friday. I made it over there, and it was testing day! I will start my classes this Friday Apr 16! YAAY!

Wow. The last update is in January eh?? Well, there’s been a whole lot going on since January. Let’s see. In March, I went to Austin, TX for a conference called SXSW. That was a whole lotta fun and excitement. It was a week away, my first trip ever away from the girls, and it was 5 days. I was having a hard time with it. Luckily, there’s this thing called the internet… and Skype… I made it a point to come back and video chat with them (and hubby) every night.

In April, I was asked to be on a panel of 12 Challengers for the EA SPORTS Active 30 day challenge. I went to beautiful Santa Barbara, CA for the filming & kickoff of the 30 Day Challenge. I met and learned from Bob Greene.. He was pretty amazing…

The day after I got home from that trip, we moved to North Carolina. It wasn’t a quick move either. We drove across the whole damn country. We had just barely missed every natural disaster that could’ve been thrown at us. I’m not going to tell the entire story all over again.. You can read it all here. The good news is that we made it to our destination safe and sound despite a few major hiccups along the way.

Since we moved to NC, I’ve been to NYC and Chicago for a couple of different events, and possibly have another event planned for Las Vegas… We’ll have to see about that one though. The girls have turned 4. We’ve been to the beach several times, and hopefully will several times more. We’ve been to the “big city” a.k.a. Raleigh 2 times now, shopped at the outlet stores one time more than that. and I’ve been blogging giveaways and product reviews left and right. Not to mention, now I have to worry about HURRICANES! Sheesh… Living on the East Coast sure has it’s beauties, but I’m a little leery about dealing with those things… It was different in Japan… Here.. not so much fun..

Yes, it’s been a very busy 8 months… and the rest of the year is going to fly by just as quickly, if not faster. Feel free to subscribe to my RSS, or add me to you reader… I promise, I’ll take you on a whirlwind ride with me…

Oh, and be forewarned… I may blurt out certain words on this blog that I wouldn’t normally say on my other site, or on Twitter.. so just be prepared.. I’m definitely using this blog to let my hair down

And one more thing… the pictures on the top right hand side of my blog are mine. I took them, and if anyone tries to steal them… there will be hell to pay!

Thank you..

Just this week, Mommy Brain Reports has been awarded the honor of being a part of Walmart.com’s Money Saving Moms! My profile and links will be up on Walmart.com in the next week or so, but the work has already started! 
I’m going to be  making videos and showing my readers more and more ways to budget better, and make more informed choices when they shop! I’ll still be doing reviews, and giving away a lot of really cool things. 

Be sure to check out ElevenMoms, and see some of the other moms that I get the honor and privilege of working with!

A couple of weeks ago, I came across the blog Sacramento Snapshots, written by Julissa Ortiz of Good Day Sacramento. I looked around, checked out her site, and left her a couple of comments… Well, she wrote back to me! She invited me to be on GDS with her, promoting my review blog! Ho-ly cow! YES! I’m currently scheduled to appear on July 24th… Ooooh I’m getting nervous! I hope this all goes well.. 

Now for the fun stuff… I have to find things to review live on the air! She’s going to be bringing a camera crew to my house, and we’re going to be reviewing things in my kitchen!!! I’m so excited! 

So… who knows what I can review? I’ve got a couple of things, but I really need an array of things… ranging from toddler gear, to mommy and daddy gear… household stuff… you know.. the works… 

So, I found a contest on another blog that told us to write about what Motherhood is to me… Well, I missed the deadline for the contest, but I thought it was a great idea to write about anyway.

When I was without children, Daddy and I were having so much fun with our lives. We married, lived in a little desert town called Twenty nine Palms, CA… although, there were waaaaay more than just twenty nine palm trees there. We worked, and had fun on the weekends. Then we got word that his next duty station was going to be in Okinawa, Japan. Imagine that! I actually get to go to where my relatives are from. Well, half of them anyway. He was given the choice of one year alone, or three years with me… When he called to tell me this, it was a no-brainer. Of course I wanted to fly across the Pacific Ocean to JAPAN! DUH!

The three years we spend in Okinawa were some of the best times. We were almost never home, except when we HAD to be there. We went out all the time to explore the island. We even picked up SCUBA diving. Talk about a whole new world… It was amazing! Yes, I miss it…

When we got home, I found out I was pregnant… When I saw that little “Pregnant” on my digital pregnancy test … of course it was a digital test.. I’m a techie.. i don’t believe in using things that aren’t digital.. I was flooded with all kinds of feelings. I was excited, happy, scared, worried, and much, much more… What person isn’t when they find out they’re pregnant with their first child. Oh.. and it wasn’t until I was 22 weeks along and 2 weeks after we purchased enough furniture and baby gear for one baby, that we found out that there were two babies in there. All those feelings I had when I found out I was even pregnant came flooding back again. I think I cried for the entire Ultrasound. I honestly can’t remember completely since it was such a shocker. The rest of my pregnancy, I could only think about eating right, exercising, and keeping these two little turkeys baking for as long as possible!

Once I got into my 3rd trimester, I was going to an ultrasound every week. When I went in for my 37 week checkup, I was told that there was no reason to keep them in there. They were at a very healthy size, and everything was fully developed. They scheduled me for a C-Section for the following Friday.. I was going to be 38 weeks on that day. All those feelings came back again… I know.. I was an emotion fountain. I thought I still had 2 weeks to go. I still hadn’t felt any contractions, or anything. I guess they were just content to be in there! I had no idea what one more week of “Freedom” was.

On the morning of July 15th, we arrived at the hospital to be greeted by Meemaw & Peepaw, and Great Grandma. I walked back to the triage area where I was hooked up to all kinds of monitors, and was introduced to every person on the team. It was awesome.. I’d never really had such a big deal made over little ol’ me.. Well.. I guess I was pretty big at this point *teehee*… Anyway, I was excited.. I wasn’t even thinking ahead about the sleepless nights, the crying, or fussing. I just wanted to see what my beautiful babies were going to look like, to hold them in my arms, and to kiss their beautiful cheeks. I didn’t even freak out when they stuck that needle in my back for the spinal… My perfectly good back.. It’s not like I was hurting from contractions or anything that made me think this pain would be better than contraction pain. No.. I had a big needle stuck in my perfectly painless back… and it was all worth it.

Once I heard that Monkey See was born, and I heard her first cry, I knew that every little bit of pain, every doctor’s appointment, every tank of gas was totally worth it. Then I was told that Monkey Do was out, and crying, and I just wanted to be a momma. Their mommy… Unfortunately, I was still strapped down, and wide open.. I didn’t actually get to see the girls for a few hours. They wheeled me to recovery, and the girls were in the NICU for a little bit. Around 3:30 pm, I finally got to see Monkey See. They wheeled her in to my room in her little clear bassinet. She was so tiny! Monkey Do was still in the NICU. She was having trouble keeping her body temp up, so they had her under some lamps. They did finally bring her in a little bit later. She was so small too… I couldn’t believe that these 2 6 pound babies were inside of me… Talk about an instant 12 pound weight loss…
The first few nights in the hospital were so hard. Not just because of lack of sleep, but because they kept coming in and waking us all up to check on us all. They were constantly taking the girls’ temps, and checking their hearts, and oh yeah.. drawing blood. My poor babies were little baby pincushions. I seriously wanted to just tell them to leave them alone. But I knew that everything they did was just to make sure we were all going to go home healthy.

That first day out of the hospital was so scary. Even just driving home was spooky. Daddy did a great job getting us home safely! Thank you Daddy! The rest of the last two years is a complete blur. I remember the first time we bathed them. I remember the first time they rolled over. I remember the first time they sat up, crawled, walked, ran, laughed, and said “I Love You.” There are so many firsts that I have been able to see with them and I’ve loved being a part of each one of them. Yes, times have been difficult, and frustrating… But Motherhood is just something that is more rewarding than I could ever imagine. I’ve been told that being a Mommy is one of the most thank-less jobs. Well, yes, I can see it. I don’t get thank you’s for just changing a diaper, or serving a meal, or making sure a bag is packed, but, I don’t really need to. Sure, it’d be nice to hear it someday, when they’re older and understand a little more about what goes into planning a day, but it’s not required. I get a special Thank You every time they run up to me and throw their arms around my neck for a big squeezy hug and when they just look at me and smile. I get a Thank You every time they just say “I Love You Mommy”, or show me their funny face that’s covered in popsicle, or chocolate. Some day, when they graduate from college, they’ll know why they got all A’s on their report cards… And Daddy helped too!

I don’t think I could sum it up better than: I absolutely believe I was put here on this planet to be a Mommy to my two girls!

Last night was our 3rd date night since the girls were born and let me tell you.. it was amazing! We were given some money as an anniversary present last year to go to Il Fornaio, and we just never made the time to go out. Finally, we decided to just go. I made reservations online, and that was it. Meemaw & Peepaw came over to watch the girls for us, and they even brought pizza for them… well, among other treats. We knew the girls were just going to have a blast, so we didn’t worry about anything. We got all dressed up for dinner, and off we went.

The reservation was for 530pm. We got there a little early, but they seated us right away. We were actually very lucky and were seated in the Piazza. The sun was still up, so we got to see the sunset through dinner. We were greeted by our server, Christopher, and given some freshly baked bread… and I mean fresh! It was still steaming! He asked if we knew what we wanted to drink. I wasn’t sure since I knew I wanted wine, but had no clue what I wanted for dinner.. and you know the wine you pick really depends on what you eat for dinner. So, we picked an appetizer and thought about the meal a little bit longer. When he came back, he answered our questions, and ended up basically picking our meals, and then my wine for us. I’m always so indecisive when it comes to a menu with so many good choices.

For an appetizer we got Rustichella ~Housemade flat bread topped with goat cheese, mozzarella, tomatoes, red onion, kalamata olives, basil, oregano; baked in the wood-fired oven, and it was so good. I did get wine early on, a Chardonnay that was so good. Not too long after, our entrees came, and they just looked and smelled delicious. When I first tasted my chicken, I was in heaven. I ordered the Pollo Toscano ~Rotisserie chicken seasoned with rosemary; served with saute´ed vegetables and mashed potatoes. It was so good, I can not even begin to describe it. Daddy got the Tagliata Chianina ~ Beef tenderloin grilled rare and sliced, balsamic vinegar and green peppercorn sauce; served with organic saute´ed spinach, roasted Yukon Gold potatoes and uccelletta cannellini beans. I tried his meal too and it was outstanding. The staff there didn’t hover over us, but rather came to check on us a few times, and they were always the right times. They made sure everything was good, and asked us if we needed anything. They offered more bread, tea, wine, etc. We were just in awe at how well they took care of us. When we were finished with our meal, Christopher offered dessert. We were curious as to what they had, so we accepted. He brought out this table with 8 different desserts on it. We ended up getting a plate that had a mix of the Crespelle con Vaniglia ~Crepes filled with apples and grappa infused pastry cream; vanilla gelato and caramel sauce, Tiramisu ~Lady fingers, rum, zabaione, Galbani mascarpone cheese, espresso, cocoa powder and the Rosina al Cioccolato ~ Chocolate mousse, fresh raspberries and sponge cake soaked with Triple Sec; served with orange crème anglaise. We thought we had ordered it just for the taste, but we ended up eating the whole plate.. We received our check after our dessert plate was cleared, and we were pleasantly surprised! We had thought we were going to go over our gift, but we actually didn’t. The service and the food was beyond exceptional, and the price was very reasonable. We left our payment and tip and left the restaurant. On the way out, Daddy stopped one of the Dining Room Managers and told him how much we enjoyed our experience, and he promised he’d pass the word on to Christopher.

As we walked out to the front, we noticed how busy the restaurant was. There were so many people waiting to be seated, the dining room was full, and noisy now. It was so different from when we arrived. The reason I note this is because we never noticed. We didn’t hear anything where we were seated. The outstanding service and attention to detail was not hindered. We really felt like we were the only people there. It was the best dinner we’ve had in a very long time. We will most definitely return to the Il Fornaio in Sacramento for another date night. We hope to be able to bring more of our family there as well!

After Dinner, we decided to walk around Old Sacramento for a little bit. We walked in and out of a few stores, had a good time talking and just enjoying the atmosphere. We stopped in at Sacramento Sweets to pick up some Caramel Corn, English Toffee, and Chocolate Dipped Red Vines for my parents as a small token of our thanks for gifting us the opportunity to go out, just the two of us.