Aidan Angel

It seems I have begun to update the blog on Monday mornings while I'm in my interiors class. That's right... American Domestic Interiors since 1850. Yes, I know I'm a nerd... but lets not dwell on that fact.

Last week I went to my mom & dad's house so they could watch the baby while I worked on my thesis. I managed to get a short chapter done...only 39 more pages to go to meet the 50 page min requirement and a month and half to do it.

Oh well...on to more fun things... Valentines Day! Mr. F outdid himself!! I came in from driving back to Philly and there were beautiful tulips and stargazers on the table in a nice vase! Then he made a phenomenal dinner of steak and a cajun seafood pasta! we had steamed mussels, scallops and even a crab salad! I made chocolate covered strawberries and my parents had given us a nice bottle of wine. We even broke out the silver candle sticks and cloth napkins! It was the most romantic evening just mr. f, me ...and the Little Man! :)

While we were home I also took Aidan to get his picture taken because a photography studio was having a great promotion. after getting some great shots, we put him in gold lame angle wings for a valentine's day pic! oh the blackmail potential!! this is a shot that will be brought out on occasions like his first date. mr. f declared there is NO WAY he would have allowed his son to be dressed up like that, but he wasnt there! :) enjoy! :)

Saint Valentine's Day

Today is Saint Valentine's Day and I'm feeling all kinds of things about the day...
1. Its true meaning has been lost to the over commercialization, making it a "Hallmark Holiday" so I've included the true story below
2. For many years I longed for a romantic Valentine's Day and last year was the BEST day I could have ever hoped for. Mr. F came to my house and made me dinner and we stayed in with a good bottle of wine. It sure beat going out to an over priced dinner and was WAY more romantic. Not to mention the beautiful pink tulips (not red roses!! boy does he know me! :) he brought to me. We've decided to make it a tradition and we're planning another night in this year; I'm sooo excited!
3. Every year on Valentine's Day, my maternal Grandfather sends me a card. There are only 3 girl cousins, including me (and a ton of boys!) so it always makes me feel so special that my grandfather makes such an effort to let the girls know he loves them. Perhaps the best part is he always writes SWAK (sealed with a kiss) across the envelope
4. I dont care how cheesy it is, but for the first time in my life I dont long for a special day for romance... I am finally at a point in my life where I am completely happy and know that Valentine's day is not just for romance, it is a celebration of all types of love, the love for my husband, the love for my son, the love for my family and the love for my friends.

I hope everyone has a wonderful day and feels love today and everyday throughout the year because to the world you may be one person, but to one person you may be the world!
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(http://www.americancatholic.org/Features/ValentinesDay/origins.asp)

The Origins of St. Valentine’s Day

A quick quiz: St. Valentine was:

a) a priest in the Roman Empire who helped persecuted Christians during the reign of Claudius II, was thrown in jail and later beheaded on Feb. 14.

b) a Catholic bishop of Terni who was beheaded, also during the reign of Claudius II.

c) someone who secretly married couples when marriage was forbidden, or suffered in Africa, or wrote letters to his jailer's daughter, and was probably beheaded.

d) all, some, or possibly none of the above.

If you guessed d), give yourself a box of chocolates. Although the mid-February holiday celebrating love and lovers remains wildly popular, the confusion over its origins led the Catholic Church, in 1969, to drop St. Valentine's Day from the Roman calendar of official, worldwide Catholic feasts. (Those highly sought-after days are reserved for saints with more clear historical record. After all, the saints are real individuals for us to imitate.) Some parishes, however, observe the feast of St. Valentine.

The roots of St. Valentine's Day lie in the ancient Roman festival of Lupercalia, which was celebrated on Feb. 15. For 800 years the Romans had dedicated this day to the god Lupercus. On Lupercalia, a young man would draw the name of a young woman in a lottery and would then keep the woman as a sexual companion for the year.

Pope Gelasius I was, understandably, less than thrilled with this custom. So he changed the lottery to have both young men and women draw the names of saints whom they would then emulate for the year (a change that no doubt disappointed a few young men). Instead of Lupercus, the patron of the feast became Valentine. For Roman men, the day continued to be an occasion to seek the affections of women, and it became a tradition to give out handwritten messages of admiration that included Valentine's name.

There was also a conventional belief in Europe during the Middle Ages that birds chose their partners in the middle of February. Thus the day was dedicated to love, and people observed it by writing love letters and sending small gifts to their beloved. Legend has it that Charles, duke of Orleans, sent the first real Valentine card to his wife in 1415, when he was imprisoned in the Tower of London. (He, however, was not beheaded, and died a half-century later of old age.)

a case of the great mondays

This past weekend was great, with so little on the schedule and a good deal of things accomplished, I actually am not minding the fact that its Monday and I'm in class for 3 hours learning about domestic kitchens and plumbing of the 1850's...wow, it MUST have been a great weekend! lol

Friday we were in bed by 10pm. Mr. F was straight up exhausted from his OB/GYN rotations. Saturday morning we had pancakes and banana strawberry smoothies. I LOVE weekend breakfasts because we always have a delicious breakfast and Mr. F usually makes omlettes or I make pancakes. Aidan was also a delight and actually slept through breakfast and then played on his playmat or napped until 3pm so we BOTH got homework done! Aidan is growing up so fast and we fall more and more in love with him every day. Each day he does new things that make life so exciting and fun; most recently he's started to play by himself. Oh sure we read books and sing songs, but he really loves his play mat with the bird that sings songs above him and will now play for 30 min at a time! I'm slowly but surely getting more time back!

Saturday night we went to a great neighborhood chinese restaurant with our friends mike and becky and then had delicious peanut butter chocolate pie for dessert! I'm so glad I didnt give birth in the summer! I am loving the bulky sweaters of winter:) hehe

Sunday was a great day for thesis productivity as I met with members of the church I'm using as a case study. I'm soooo excited because they have tons of information and pictures which they recently digitized. JACKPOT!! My thesis has to be at least 50 pages including images and charts etc.... so you know, more images = less writing for me (and at this point I just need to finish it so I can graduate...I'm not usually so lazy, but a baby makes things tough!) Aidan and I went grocery shopping (another big chore done for the week!) and Mr. F made it to the gym! Then for dinner we had leftovers and Aidan slept the whole time! It was so nice to eat with both hands, instead of holding the baby with one and eating with the other!

The only negative to report of the whole weekend was our noisy neighbor. And by noisy neighbor I mean our neighbor who has RIDICULOUSLY LOUD SEX several times an hour every hour for days on end. At first it was funny, now its just offensive. I'm so thankful Aidan is too young to be aware of the noises coming from our neighbor's apartment because I'm not ready to explain the birds and bees quite yet!

case of the mondays

So here I am, back in class on Monday morning, post Super bowl excitement, thinking about the mounds of work that must get done for school, the four loads of laundry that need to be folded and remarking how ridiculous it is that I feel accomplished for simply remembering to mail out the netflix this morning on my way to class. Oh how life has changed!! :)

This weekend was alot of fun and midly productive considering I got a grocery run in and the laundry done. The bathroom might get cleaned in the next decade and the vacuuming sometime in the next century... but none of that matters much because I got to spend alot of fun time with the Little Man and Mr. F. I also got to enjoy lunch with 2 of my good friends from college and hit up Naked Chocolate (a divine chocolate/sweet shop)with some lovely ladies (the large stuffed dark forest cupcake was amazing, it just needed a side of milk!).

Now here is the lesson I'm struggling to learn: prioritize, make a list and consider it a successful day if you get half done. And most importantly, enjoy the fleeting time spent with friends, my husband, and my son. The laundry will always be there, but the opportunity to enjoy the most important people in my life will not be. I'd rather be 80 yrs old and remember singing songs with Aidan than thinking my house was immaculate and knowing I missed out on the important things.