I’m on my way…

Yesterday I posted my list of thirty things that I would like to accomplish/experience before I turn thirty. Number 17 is to take a Dance/ Hip hop lessen. By coincidence my best friend Holly e-mailed me yesterday about a Summer Hip Hop Cardio class that she had signed up for. This morning I immediately went on the website and signed up.

The classes will be on Thursdays from June 7th – August 15th at Born 2 Dance in Vienna. At first I was a bit worried about signing up for a summer class because I’m guaranteed to miss a few sessions due to vacations. However, their website put me at ease because they allow you to make up for a missed session any time before the August 15th end date. Another neat thing is that I am able to make up the class with one of the following other classes:

Exotic Dance
Break Dance
Zumba
Pilates
Workout classes (i.e. Belly Dance Workout, Salsa Aerobics, Bollywood Workout, etc.)

I’m really looking forward to trying something new and the best part is that I’m doing it with Holly… Guaranteed girl time each week!

Do you think that an appearance on my FAVORITE show could be in my future…

Thirty By Thirty

Here is my Thirty by Thirty (in no order)

1. Get Married
2. Become a Home Owner
3. Take Emma to Disney World
4. Go Scuba Diving
5. Become a Certified Meeting Professional (CMP)
6. Go on a Winery Tour
7. Get a Dog
8. Take a Cooking Class
9. Run a 5K
10. Plant a Vegetable Garden
11. Take a Photography Class
12. Spend a Minimum of 4 days Hiking and Camping with Matt
13. Take Emma Camping
14. Cook a Full Thanksgiving Dinner
15. Do a Family Photo Session and use the Picture for a Photo Holiday Card
16. Go to Europe with Matt
17. Take Dance Lessons… Maybe HipHop???
18. Give up Fruit Snacks… this will be a HARD one for me
19. Take a Family Vacation with another Family
20. Enlarge a Photograph that I’ve Taken and display as artwork in my home
21. Become a Government Employee… One can dream
22. Find a cheap & hideous piece of furniture to refinish/reupholster & make it BEAUTIFUL
23. Create a Fitness Goal and stick to it
24. Redesign and decorate an entire home… on a budget
25. Get my Event Planning Business up & running 26. Become active in the PTA
27. Give Emma a brother or sister
28. Become organized enough to scrapbook
29. Cook at Home for a full Month... another SUPER Hard one
30. Go two months without buying clothes

Fancy Nancy Tea Party

Emma’s 6^th Birthday Party is tomorrow!!

It is so hard to believe that I am a mother of a six year old. How did that happen? I feel like just yesterday I was getting ready for her 1^st birthday.

As many of you know I’m obsessed with the need to throw Emma an elaborate party every year. I’m sure that I have this need because by nature I’m a planner! My need to plan could almost be classified as a fault. Back to Emma’s party though… two years ago my little four year looked up to me while at her Pirate Party and stated, “Okay, next year I want a circus party and when I turn six I want an all girls party.” Apparently she is a planner as well…

So by request, Emma will be having a “girls only” Birthday party this year. We have invited five of Emma’s friends to join us for a tea party. This is not your ordinary tea party however… it is a FANCY NANCY tea party!!!

Here is the game plan for the party:

Emma’s party will consist of a lot of fuchsia (a fancy word for purple) and Magenta (a fancy word for hot pink). I’ve had so much fun planning her party. I’ve picked out lots of pink and purple Ribbons, Streamers, balloons, flowers, fingernail polish, fancy food and colorful Cupcakes. As all our little Fancy Nancy's arrive we will read some of the Fancy Nancy Books. Next all of the girls will Design their Tiaras and put on their jewels at a dress up station. After the girls are all dressed up they will go to Charm School, where they will learn to curtsy, to walk with proper posture with books on their heads, to drink with their pinkie fingers lifted and learn some fancy vocabulary and French words. Then they will be escorted into the Posh Pampering Salon for their manicures and make-up which will consist of Finger nail Polish and lip gloss. Finally they will head to the Fancy Café for some yummy food and Colorful cupcakes The girls will be going home with a Fancy Nancy Book and other fancy accessories.

Picture forthcoming!

To Paint or not to paint...

As I mentioned on an earlier post Matt and I have put an offer on a short sale in Annandale.

Being the planner that I am I’ve already started looking for some design ideas and I’ve come across the most amazing/inspiring blog Young House Love. John and Sherry bought their 50-year old ranch home in Richmond and began working their magic on it. I’ve decided that I really like their design style and I LOVE the fact that they go into so much detail when writing about their own DIY home projects. Matt and I are planning on tackling most of the renovation projects on our own once we get the house and I will keep you updated on here…

In our (fingers crossed) soon to be home there is a HUGE brick fireplace in the den off the kitchen. The space is a room which will be utilized a lot and the idea of having this huge dark wall is a bit of a turn off for me…

John and Sherry had the same predicament with their property. See their before and after picks bellow.

Before den…

After Den...

It’s hard to believe this is the same room. They had another dark brick fireplace in the living room that received an equally stunning makeover.

Here is the living room fireplace before...

Living room after...

Now for the big question… if we get the house should we paint the fireplace??? We will have to completely paint the house before move in because there were smokers living there previously… THOUGHTS?

Few more Spring Break Photos

Spring Break Fun…

Last week was spring break!

Early in Emma’s Kindergarten year I decided that I wanted to take her spring break off. I thought that it was important to spend a week with just her and to just get away from all of our usual craziness. And believe me the beginning of 2010 has been particularly crazy in the Fleming/Park household so the week away was MUCH needed and could not have come at a better time!!!

Emma and I decided to spend our break in Savannah, GA. I was born in Savannah and have wonderful friends and family there so it was the logical place to visit. On Saturday we packed up the car and said good bye to Matt and Virginia for the week.

My mom had rented out the lower level of a historic row house in downtown Savannah for the month of March so we decided to join her for the final week of her rental. The house was across the street from Forsyth Park and Emma and I were able to start each day with a walk to a little café to get coffee and a bagel and we ate at the playground! This was a big change from the usual waking up at 5 a.m. to get to work.

My sister-in-law and niece also had spring break the same week and live in Savannah. We were able to spend time with them daily and the girls were able to take part in some special activities together. Bellow are two highlights:

Horse and Carriage Tour through Downtown Savannah- We had a private tour that came and picked the girls up from the house where we were staying. We decided to keep the girls in the dark and surprise them. When they walked outside and found the horse and carriage waiting they were so excited!ere even able to sit up front with the driver.

Tea- Savannah is the home of a number of tea rooms. We decided to take the girls to the Whimsical Tea Cup. Right when you walk in there is a dresser full of dress up clothes for the girls and books to keep the little ones occupied.

The girls had “Children’s Tea” complete with pink hot coco (warmed strawberry milk). The tea gave me some great ideas for Emma’s upcoming birthday party which will be a Fancy Nancy Tea Party. Here is a link detailing the various places to enjoy tea in Savannah. http://www.savannahmagazine.com/articles/tea-time-savannah-style

For me the highlights were family time, food and some special shopping that I will discuss in more detail in the coming months ;-)

Here are some of the great places where we ate though:

Forsyth park Café - Breakfast each morning

The Mansion - Sunday Brunch

Local 11 Ten - Half price bottles of wine on Monday Nights

Café Zeum - Jepson Center

WANG’s - Yummy Chinese food

Casa de Fleming- Yes, that would be my brother’s house. I think that I ended up eating there 4 nights.

I'm Back!!!

So It’s been a while…

Since last November there have been a number of changes in the Fleming-Park household...

CHRISTMAS…

I discovered that I am what Matt lovingly refers to as a “Christmaszilla.” I have to admit that I did go a little over the top with everything this Christmas… gifts, decorating and the need to host a PERFECT Christmas Eve dinner.

It ended up being a wonderful Christmas! Thanks to homegoods (my favorite store) the house was decorated beautifully and thanks to on-line shopping I was able to get all of the gifts for family and friends. How did people shop for Christmas before the internet… this is a huge mystery to me!

Matt’s mother and Brother Brian were in town for the holidays. They came over on Christmas Eve for dinner which ended up being the highlight of the season for me. It was so important to have both my family and Matt’s there to share in the holiday. As I looked around the table I was happy to know that this would be the first of many Christmas Eve dinners that we would all share as a family.

On Christmas Day after opening presents at home we went over to Matt’s Aunt’s house in Fairfax for a wonderful lunch and some more family time.

Home Purchasing…

Matt and I started looking at homes in January. We have an amazing realtor from PENFED and actually put an offer on the second house that we looked at.

The house is a 5 bedroom 2.5 bath in Annandale one street outside the beltway. It is a short sale so while the owners have accepted the offer we are still waiting to hear back from the bank… this process is going to take a while but we are in a great position with the house we are renting and not in a huge rush.

Emma…

I cannot believe it but in 8 days Emma will be 6! How did I become the mother of a six year old. Time has just flown by and Emma is turning into a young lady before my eyes!!! Last week she lost her first tooth. She was so brave and had Matt pull it out for her! Here she is with her new smile…

Emma has also kept me very busy this year! Between events at school, Daisy’s, ballet, soccer and play dates our plate is full! I feel like we are constantly running from one activity to the next but it is completely worth it to see her interacting and having fun with all of her friends. She even had her first sleepover last Saturday… It was just with her “cousin” Shay (really Matt’s Cousin) who is 7. But still a huge milestone for her. She felt like such a big girl!

For her birthday we are going to have 5 little girls from her school over for a “Fancy Nancy” Birthday party. Emma’s loves the Fancy Nancy books http://fancynancybooks.com/ and she is looking forward to a super FANCY tea party.