Miscellaneous Tuesday?

A few bits of randomness for you today:

First, Nate and I scurried down to the Lake on Sunday night for an unplanned photo shoot. The sunset was just too pretty and we had to try and make it before it was completely dark [which isn't until 5:00 these days, whoo hoo! We are making progress towards Spring, I tell you].

So here are some of my favorite shots from that night. If we look disgustingly cold it's because we are, plain and simple:




















Now I know you Southern Belles from Missouri got some snow today, and I'm quite proud of my old city for representing some winter weather. But seriously, who wants to come up here and experience stupid amounts of snow at all times? Any takers?

Well, actually, we are having some Missouri visitors this weekend [hi, Hannah and Michael!] and we are totally planning on skiing one day while they are here. It's going to be so much fun and very entertaining, since Hannah and I aren't exactly skiing pros. I hope I can take my camera for some pictures without falling on top of it. Hmmmm.....

Also, I've been working like a madwoman on our 2008 everyday album. I'm happy to say that I'm caught up through October....after about 10 pages of the marathon:) I figured I'd show you a few random pages just for fun. I like making albums for myself because then I can use digital scrapbooking products from sites like Two Peas and Jen Wilson, without worrying about copyright stuff. I'm pretty sure if I used their stuff for my little business I'd be breaking the law, so 'personal use only' it is. Here are some random pages for your viewing pleasure:














And finally, I tried on a potential bridesmaid dress for Lindsey's wedding today. I forced Nate to come and take pictures, which ended up being quite yellow from the horrible florescent lighting, but the dress is still adorable. Ours will technically be black and probably strapless, but you get the idea. I was a bit worried about this shorter tea length, considering I'll probably be the gargantuan bridesmaid amongst other petite dolls, but I kind of like the above-the-knee look. I was just used to all tea lengths being right past the knee or even a little longer, to the calf. What do you think? Never mind the fact that this sample is way too big and I cannot even pretend to fill out the top, okay?




Here is the strapless version. Why are models always posing with such odd postures?

Eek! I cannot wait for wedding season. And dress weather. And sunshine. And....you get it by now, right?

And now I'm hosting all of my photos on Flickr, so I think you can just click on any of my pictures in this post and it will take you to my account. Have a look around if you would like, there are more shots from our Milwaukee photo shoot I didn't include here....but pretty much all of the others have appeared on this blog before. Maybe someday I'll be a blogger who only posts one or two pictures each post but for now I tend to get a little crazy with multiples. Must be the bigger pictures or something.

Attack of R-squared

Warning: this post might be completely repulsive to some readers. Actually, it's quite horrid for me as well but I just have to get it out there. I'm not sure why but it seems blog-worthy. It's possible that this story has been overly dramatized for your viewing pleasure, so don't say I didn't warn you.

Henry is a male dog. However, Henry is the most asexual, gentle, meek dog you will ever meet. He is quite literally afraid of his own shadow and practically tremors when a stranger enters the room. He has never humped an object in the three plus years of his being [although Nate claims he partially humped his pink bear doll when he was a puppy, but I cannot believe that statement.] He is not aggressive and I'm pretty sure his testosterone levels are astoundingly low because no 'alpha male' dog could be my cuddle buddy quite like Henry. Such a lover, this one.

Which is why Friday night might have scarred me for life. I shrieked and clasped my hand over my eyes multiple times in disbelief.

Henry's red rocket made it's first real appearance....not once, not twice, but at least three times that night. I will from here on out refer to this awful sight as R-squared, for 'red rocket.' I do not need to explain, do I?

My baby, my innocent little baby, let it all hang out. And why, do you ask? Why would he do this to his mother? He might has well star in an X rated doggy film because I can't look at him the same way anymore. I blame it all on his new toy: The Lamb.



You see this lamb had instantaneous power over Henry. Usually, Henry sniffs a new toy with caution before licking it to death. But with Lambie [that is his nickname, duh] Henry pounced immediately and hasn't let her out of his sight since their first encounter. He licks her, caresses her, and stares at her with adoration. Lambie is officially disgusting and full of dirty dog slobber but Henry loves her despite the caked-on filth. They have a strange love, those two.


So anyway, on Friday night we were just chilling as a family like we usually do when all of a sudden Nate and I had a fantastic idea. We were going to teach Henry how to 'roll over' just because that is one command he's never understood. We tried and tried and tried, treats were had, many gestures were made, and yet Henry refused to do the deed. He got quite frustrated with us and VOILA....out came the first R-squared.

ACK! WHATTHEHECKISTHAT, NATE? I screamed. I watched as the smile fell from Nate's face and he took two steps back from Henry. Yes, that's right....Nate literally backed away from Henry as if the R-squared could cause physical injuries. And then just as quickly as it appeared, the horrendous site vanished. Whew, we hoped it was gone forever.

But then Henry began playing with Lambie and sure enough, our eyes were forced to avert yet again.

"No, Henry. NOOOOOOOO!"


My angel! Tarnished forever. Now granted, he didn't actually do anything with the R-squared but that is probably because of his parents' high-pitched screams. Nothing like loud noises to really kill the mood, right Henry?

In any case, don't you just love when dogs use their paws as hands?







And so I ask you, dear readers....have you seen this little treat on your own male dogs? Does it disgust you like it does me? Maybe it's just because I never had to deal with something like this before. I can honestly say I've never seen his R-squared for more than a millisecond and I hoped I'd never have to deal with such a tragedy. If it starts happening more often I might grow immune to the R-squared negative reaction. I suppose I'm just in denial. I like to think of Henry as pure and incapable of anything sexual and yet, he's obviously rebelling against my authority.

I cannot wait to have kids and even better, teenagers!


Until then, Henry has lost photographic privileges and I turned to a new subject. I'm sure you won't mind:




This is a subject that will not disappoint me in life. And it cannot surprise me with an X-rated organ...and thus, it can comfort me in my time of need.

But if I'm honest, red wine lacks cuddling skills and Henry is certainly king in that sense. In fact, I think I'm over the emotional torture already.

Come here, little guy. Just keep your R-squared tucked away from now into eternity.

Eighteen degrees, yo.

We are experiencing a true heat wave, you guys. Last week the highs topped out below zero. I think one day it got up to -7 degrees....for the freaking HIGH. I was minorly depressed and had to sing mantras to myself repeatedly, like: "I will not look at real estate in Hawaii, I will be content with this miserableness."

And then, today it got up to 18 degrees [above zero!]. It felt like a heat wave, I am not joking. Now normally I run once on a given weekend and yesterday I just so happened to run six miles on the gym treadmill. That has been my norm lately since the treadmills there have their own televisions embedded into them! It's like paradise. I get to watch the following shows without hearing Nate yell obscenities about 'crap on TV": ANTM, Real Housewives of Orange County/Atlanta/New York, Split Ends, Bad Girls Club, The City, The Real World, and unlimited wedding shows of all varieties. It's like my own little slice of heaven and thus, I can stand running in place for an hour or more. Yep, I've officially become a hamster on a wheel, so sue me.

So anyway, since I had my little TV fling at the gym yesterday I was NOT planning on running again today. That would be just plain ridiculous, right? But you see, I had about 4-5 cups of coffee this morning and when I do that I need to run....or risk seeing double all day long, jumping around, acting like a general fool. I had the energy, it was sunny, and relatively warm. I just had to do it.

So I geared up in my new pimped out running attire I received for Christmas. I pulled out this new....device that I thought might be a cowl neck turtleneck thingy. You know, like a dicky? But only for running. I thought it was made to pull over your head and then keep your neck warm while you run. But THEN I really smartened up and discovered that this dicky was actually designed to pull up over my chin and nose to make a mask! My very own running mask I never knew I had! It was meant to be. See?
Don't I look like a mighty Ninja?



I got dressed and decided to do the proper thing, and take some pictures. Never a better time to test out my self-timer, right?







Then I was off to run a planned 6-8 miles or so. I logged 8 a few weekends ago when it was 25 degrees outside, so 18 couldn't be much worse, right? WRONG. I immediately regretted this decision.

You see, my running tights are pretty pimp and all but the frigid wind cut right through those suckers. My butt cheeks were numb within five minutes. Since I was running on crunchy, packed snow the cold seeped through my shoes and socks and made my toes lose all feeling within 10 minutes. This was not good.

The face mask/dicky thingy was awesome but all it really did was trap my snot inside thus rubbing it all over my face. Pretty disgusting, I know, but I feel like I must tell you this so you understand winter running. You know, just in case you thought running in 18 degree weather was painless.

I decided to call it quits after a measly 3 miles all in the name of saving my toes. And when I returned indoors I noticed that there were actual icicles in my eyelashes. I thought only hard core runners boasted those beauties!


You have no idea how many shots I took trying to zoom in on my own eyelashes. It was no easy feat but you can definitely see them on my hat at least.



Hi, pores!! Hi frozen sweaty pores!!


After a warm shower my circulation recovered and I was, in fact, able to keep all of my appendages on my body. I'm pretty sure I'll stick to my guns and say that 25 degrees [above zero] is my absolute limit for outdoor running. That is, of course, unless I chug lots of coffee again. Then anything is possible.


And what good would this post be without a Henry shot? Sunshine and snow make for some pretty good light cause this one isn't even edited.


Geesh, lots of posting for me this weekend. It's like I've met my quota for the whole week in just two days:)

Updates galore

So if you haven't come out from behind Google Reader you should do so now.


I completely overhauled my blog. I wanted my images to be bigger now that I have a shiny new camera that takes shiny new pictures. But that meant I had to delete all of my fun right column tabs....including my blog links. I haven't decided if they will go back up somewhere because I like this new cleaner look. Thanks to Andrea for mentioning this new template because it was exactly what I needed [once I sucked it up and said goodbye to my old layout, that is].

I added 'Our Story' post below to be a tab at the top of this blog. I also added a bookshelf tab because I'm a nerd and like to read a lot. I've always wanted tabs at the top of my blog so I'm a happy camper right now.

There are some columns at the bottom of my blog, as well. But mostly this blog is going to be all about big fatty pictures. You won't mind, will you?

Beneath the 'Our Story' post you'll find the newest Henry pictures I took this weekend, complete with Photoshop fun. I get a little addicted sometimes.

And since I had to completely ditch the old blog layout, I made a new header as well. That is actual frost that adheres itself to our family room windows. It's pretty but a little frightening as well, no? You can imagine our heating bills are a little ridiculous right now but at least we can take pretty pictures of the whole mess, right?

So have a look around and let me know if the pictures are way too big for smaller laptop screens. I tried to pick a size that would minimize the need to scroll over but who knows if I guessed correctly.

Enjoy!

Our Story

Hi, I'm Julia Goolia and you are reading my blog. You say you want to learn more about me? Perfect. Let's chat, but first let's get one thing straight: I'm long-winded and show you way too many pictures in a single post. You've been warned.

The Goolias, November 2015:


I'm a small town mid-Missouri girl who moved to The Big City (St. Louis) for college. There I became a sorority girl who also managed to be a psychotic perfectionist, determined to get straight A's and over-achieve her way through Physical Therapy school. I like to be an oxymoron sometimes. Masters Degrees are not always fueled by an equal amount of hours bonging beers and using multi-colored highlighters in the library, but somehow it worked for me! Because really, I've always been a big nerd just pretending to be cool. Always will be, too.

I also met my handsome-fraternity-boy-husband, Nate, at college. He is a nerdy-but-fun person, like me! We started dating when we were mere babes, at age 21---ah, the glory days. We thank the Lord that our college years came well before social media. You are welcome for that one, dear internet/family/offspring/pride.

Once I had successfully nabbed my diamond ring from said Frat Boy, we had one of the best days of our lives at our wedding in 2007. Seriously, it was awesome, if I do say so myself. I'm an ex-Knottie and Nestie, so you may have found me through a haze of lacy wedding gown/red brick pictures floating on the internet. Look familiar?




Nate then convinced me to move to Wisconsin with him so that he could pursue his doctorate in Physical Therapy in his home state. So that meant I got to be the primary breadwinner for our newlywed family for a bit, while Nate kept his head in the books (and not keg-standing this time). I started this blog in 2007 after our big move as a way to stay connected with friends and family back home in Missouri. Little did I know that I'd continue writing here in my beloved corner of the internet for many more years, through many more....transitions;).

First came posts and pictures of our 'first born', a wimpy but adorable Cockapoo named Henry. We ran a lot back then and I'm not even sure what else I blogged about. I'm too afraid to dig through the archives. May the force be with you if you choose to take that route. Note: there are no links in this paragraph;)


Then came my first pregnancy (lots of blogging! belly pics! etc!). Pre-Eclampsia and a marathon induction started my my venture into motherhood, with Truman's birth in March 2010. He was a fat, sweet, fairly easy baby but he never slept much. I don't think I cared since I was so enamored with our new son. We are still pretty much obsessed with Truman, in fact. His sensitivity, cautious soul, and right sided dimple are all too much to bear sometimes. He's our rule-following first born and I've thought 'This is my favorite age YET' with each stage Truman has given us as parents. He is seriously an awesome kid.






Then came a surprise second pregnancy in 2011 that ended in miscarriage discovered at nine weeks, but the baby stopped growing at six weeks. The process that followed this heartbreaking ultrasound was painful, extremely drawn out, and finally resulted in hemorrhaging four weeks after the missed miscarriage diagnosis. Then I switched OBs and received the D&C I needed so badly, seven weeks after we found out we were losing the baby at that first ultrasound. Those seven weeks were the longest, darkest of my life. But somehow we all pulled through and came out with added humility, a sense of patience, and surprising strength on the other side of losing Wren. It absolutely changed me.



A few months later, I got pregnant for the third time and subsequently became a total mental case throughout my pregnancy. I mean, she *did* give us a heart attack with a 'threatened miscarriage' in the first trimester, and we were told this baby probably wouldn't make it when I started bleeding heavily at six weeks. But! We welcomed our little fighter girl, Cecelia, in May 2012 and have thoroughly enjoyed her antics (again, no sleeping as a baby! Never!) ever since. Our little ginger-headed spitfire can light up a room with her smile and she sure knows how to make us laugh, while we wonder what we ever did to deserve this little spunky sass pot. She has more personality in her big blue eyes than I have in my entire body, and I fear for our lives when she is a teenager. She is such an awesome kid (sense a theme here?).







We bought our first house during Cecelia's pregnancy, too, in February 2012. It's a wonderful home built in 1925 but it needed lots of cosmetic updates when we took the keys. Therefore, 2012 is the year known as 'buy a new house, do a ton of DIY renovations, and have a second kid' for us. Good times. I have no idea how I found the energy to paint every square foot of the interior when I was seven months pregnant but decorating and DIY projects have always been my thing. I have a Pinterest problem and am probably a part of the 'Pinterest problem' in social media, too. I can't help it, promise.



Kids rooms: my favorite area to decorate!


Things were settling into a routine after those big transitions. I was down to working just three days per week, Nate was working full time, and the house project list became incredibly small (ie just the super expensive/boring stuff remains). Our two kids were both sleeping fairly well, finally, and things felt balanced. I wanted another baby but wasn't sure I could convince Nate to embrace the chaos of the first year all over again. That sweet concept of 'balance' is a difficult one to willingly relinquish, so why mess with a good thing when you have it?

I weaned Cecelia at sixteen months, began waiting for my first cycle, and a few weeks later in November 2013 I got a shockingly dark positive pregnancy test. Surprise! My fourth pregnancy was thankfully uneventful aside from being three days overdue with our boy (i.e. going crazy at the very end. Legit crazy). Porter arrived in July 2014 and he's awesome, too. He's been proving that he is his own person from day one with being overdue, then weaning himself at six months, not crawling until a year...you know, maddening things like that. Then after his first birthday he started crawling, pulling to stand, and basically began running all over the place and he seriously won't stop talking/keeps up with the big kids like it's nothing. I cannot get enough of this little guy and we couldn't ever imagine our lives without this little surprise/secretly wanted baby.






What else can I tell you about me?

I secretly love gangsta rap along with techno music, as a result of my mid-MO roots combined with an amazing semester abroad in Madrid, Spain. Sometimes I like to drive my mini-van and pretend to be hard while singing every lyric to Gin and Juice. I know, I'm not sure who I'm fooling, either.

I'm a retired jock (high school basketball and volleyball 'star', depending on whether you talk to my parents about this one or the general public) who still prefers sports bras, yoga pants, and zero makeup to the fancy counter parts of underwire, jeans, and a prettied-up face. A fashion blogger, I am not.

I'm a Type A perfectionist who likes to compartmentalize, plan, and make lists...but who also has a flare for the creative side of things, mostly when it comes to crafting and decorating. I strive to be zen and super laid back as I also balance my first-born, over-achieving neuroses. No small feat, my friends. I am absolutely a hot mess sometimes.

I truly love my job as a part-time Physical Therapist, where I work in the home care setting. I enjoy helping other people, the flexibility and autonomy of my job, using the healthcare part of my brain, and I really really like working just three days per week. It's a great balance for me to switch between a SAHM and working mom throughout the work week. How many times can I use the word 'balance' in one post?

I'm powered by black coffee in the mornings and red wine in the evenings, usually not in reverse order. I am a mom who runs (mother runner?), usually while pushing a massive double jogging stroller. I will partake in the occasional half-marathon for that whole 'setting a goal and achieving it' thing. I've done one full marathon pre-kids and have no desire to train for another anytime soon. Halves are my fave, though. No double strollers allowed.

I love my kids more than I could ever properly capture in words. Maybe that is why I'm so long winded---because I can't ever seem to get the stories just right. And I want to remember all.of.the.stories, momnesia be damned! Truman and Cecelia truly take my breath away in those 'time stopping' moments of parenting, when it all seems too beautiful to be true. They entertain us, make us feel pride like we've never known, and provide for countless blog posts as a mommy blogger;) I also love my cherished 'me time', and the peace and quiet that sleeping children provide. Little kid years are no joke, man, but they are still wonderfully exhausting in the best way possible. I wouldn't trade it for the world.

I try not to take myself too seriously because life is short, time flies, and it's a lot of fun if you don't get wrapped up into other people's expectations. Nobody is perfect and none of us really have a clue what we are doing, anyway. Let's enjoy the chaos and find the humor (ie make fun of ourselves) wherever we can!

I'm nothing special since there are about 40 million other mommy-bloggers clogging your internet these days, but I've been blogging for nearly EIGHT years now. Same domain, same blog, same blogger with a little different priorities/new family members. I realize that blogging is sort of 'out' these days but here I am, plugging along in the name of copying and pasting a lot of my posts directly into our family photo albums. I blog for me but I definitely enjoy the connections we make through social media. So I kind of blog for you, too (the pressure!).

So, hi, that's more than you could have ever wanted to know about little old me and my sweet family. I hope you'll stick around to read more of my ramblings!

Just playing around...

Big pictures, what? I'm still working on it...hold your horses. I know if your computer screen isn't huge then the entire lay out is messed up. I'll be back!