moving on... Once again, I will be closing this blog and, with it, another chapter of my life. I've looked back over the past few months of writing and realized, quite frankly, how utterly bad and uninspired it has been. That is not the intent of my journaling and it never has been. I've come to the conclusion that I must shut down and rebuild from scratch. I will be creating another site, hopefully more meaningful and inspired and for those of you who wish to follow along, just send me an email and I will pass on the new address.

I will not attempt to end this on any sort of magical and brilliantly worded note. Just know that my morningcoke, eveningzin days are over. I no longer grab my coke from my very own fridge in the morning. Instead, I struggle with saying no to a morning Mountain Dew from the vending machine in the breakroom. And my evenings are no longer spent unwinding with a glass of white zin, but instead with the joys and struggles of getting my children to eat, go potty and unwind before their final bedtime destinations. That is my life right now. I struggle, yes; I'm exhausted by it, yes; but I also fail sometimes to appreciate the beauty of it. My new goal will be to recognize that beauty, to embrace the inspiration of my not-always-perfect-but-yet-so-wonderful life.

Thanks for reading and most of all, thanks for appreciating the sometimes very inconsequential words I've written.

brand new tooth and potty training... We actually had nothing to do all weekend. It was probably a good thing because the little Nickster was a big crab on Saturday. It was pretty frusterating because it seemed nothing made him happy all day. But his mood was explained Sunday morning when I felt the beginnings of his first little tooth protruding through. Sunday he was happier and the day went much smoother.

We also began Saturday morning donning Macy in her "big girl panties". I'm proud to say she made it through the whole weekend with only a couple accidents. Even when we were out and about shopping she told us she had to go. Hopefully she'll keep up the good work at Ms. Connie's this week.

Last week was quiet at work. I worked out each day at lunch with the exception of Wednesday when I attended a "Lunch and Learn" on Managing Stress. They also catered these huge sub sandwiches and I outdid myself by actually eating a whole sub myself. The boss was gone to her vacation in the British West Indies. She came back glowing this morning saying it was the most beautiful place she's seen (and she's seen a few places) I'm looking forward to things being back to normal this week.

Last Tuesday I took Macy, Nicky and Truman to Mike's softball game. All the kids were little angels and the weather was actually tolerable, too. But, alas, "Mid Life Crisis" lost in a big way.

And I must also say that Nicky is officially sitting up all by himself these days. He turned 6 months on the 13th, which was also Truman's 6th birthday... A week of progress for the kids, wouldn't you say.

Yesterday Mike and I cashed in his father's day gift and attended the Ranger/Blue Jays game in Arlington. It was a hot/humid day, of course, and after viewing the first two innings in our assigned seats, we set off to find some shade. It wasn't hard and we watched the rest of the game in shaded comfort. The stadium was beautiful and we had a great time. Rangers won 9-10 and I even caught a small, minute glimpse of us on ESPN Sportscenter last night.

After the game we went to the West End to eat. Little did we know that there was a big street festival going on with lots of booths of food. I think it was "Taste of Dallas" or something like that. Although all the food looked so authetic and delicious, we really needed to get in some air conditioning and relax. We decided on Gators where I had some delicious fajitas and Mike had the Coconut Shrimp.

Macy and Nicholas hung out at the Hootens' pool all day and both slept sooooo good last night.

recap... I feel like all I ever do is recap! Although this time I have a good excuse because I was in Nebraska from June 24th to July 3.

The traveling on Friday was pretty typical. At about hour 10 we all began to go a little crazy from bing in the car so long. But the kids, even for being so little, did so good. It was so nice to get to mom's house, eat and relax and see my sister, Monti and her family who were in from California.

Saturday we had a Miriovsky family photo session in Omaha followed by lunch and returned to mom's just in time to change and get ready for my friend Tracey's wedding at 4:30. On the way to the reception we stopped by an old hang-out of ours (Patty's Pub). We were only able to spend about 45 minutes at the reception but I did get to catch up with some old friends and co-workers. Then it was back to mom's where the whole Gregory clan had assembled.

On Sunday we attended Mike's parents' 50th Anniversary party in Omaha. It started out with dinner at Farmer Browns and then a reception at Mike's sister's. My mom and John were invited, too, and they were nice enough to take Nicky home before the reception. That made it a little more relaxing and fun for us and allowed Nicky some good, quality Grandma Sandy time.

Monday I had lunch with my mom and sister's at the Green Gateau, then we shopped. It was nice. I don't remember the last time it was just the four of us with no kids! Mike took my kids to have lunch with his former secretary. That night, we had the Boldt family photo shoot at the farm in Sterling. Besides being very hot and windy, they turned out well and it was good to be all together again.

Tuesday Mike golfed and I took the kids to Grandma Gregory's for the afternoon. Got my hair blonded that evening... I'm still kinda getting used to it.

Wednesday we packed up and headed to Omaha to spend the rest of the trip at Mike's sisters. That afternoon Mike, Macy and I went to the Henry Dorley Zoo with Grandpa Jim, Art, Amanda, Matt, Ben. I had forgotten what a phenomenal zoo that is! I just wish it wasn't sooooo hot! That evening we ate at Caniglia's. I had a very disappointing prime rib.

Thursday Macy and I slept in until 10:00! Mike golfed again. That afternoon we spent at Mike's parents and ate pork roast and dumplings that evening. This was one of Mike's favorite meals growning up. Pretty good and very filling!

Friday afternoon we went to Lake Manawa with Mike's sisters and their families. It was a beautiful day. That night we headed to Lincoln, picked up Levi and went downtown for a belated 21st birthday bar crawl for Levi. My other brother and sister were there as well as a cousin and aunt. My best friend, Nicole, was there and as always, it was great to see and talk to her. Another very good friend, Jen, and her husband also showed but, unfortunately, could only hang out for a short time because of a previous engagement. We had a good time for the most part - despite some minor annoyances which I won't get into. For the main part, I just wanted Levi to have a good time. I think he did. We had a great conversation after we left the bar. I realized what a smart and special guy he is. He thinks outside the box, questions things and is struggling with things that he really should be struggling with right now instead of just accepting status quo. I'm beyond proud of him.

Saturday morning, after a huge breakfast thanks to Mary Ann, we packed up, swung by Mike's parents' to say goodbye and headed down the interstate towards Kansas City. We stopped there to spend the night with my cousin, Sharla, and her family in their awesome new house. Unfortunately, her 2-year-old daughter wasn't feeling very good and was asleep when we got there. But she did come down long enough to play in the little pool a bit with Macy. It was so good to see them all and we left happy and refreshed the next morning.

As for me, the trip did a lot more for me than previous trips. It helped me realize how precious and important my mom, sisters and brothers are. It gave me some insight as to how I want to live and what I want to surround myself with. I've realized that there are things that I just don't have to accept in my life and there are things that are worth keeping intact. It's really hard for me to put into words right now. Maybe someday soon I will be inspired more to write about it but for now I'm happy with the fact that in my own mind, I've figured some things out. I've made some decisions and those things make me feel good and happy and relieved.