Saucy Secrets

Well today is THE day.

It's my SITS Featured Blogger day! Whoo-hoo-yahoo and all that stuff! Exciting times my friends. See that cute button on the side-bar? That's where you'll find tons, I mean tons of wonderful bloggers, who share the love by visiting and commenting on blogs that they discover by joining the Secret Is In The Sauce community.

Too bad it comes at a time when my time for blogging is at an all time low and I am often too tired to even yawn. I'll have to admit that lately I've resorted to posting pictures of my shoes and wardrobe again. You'll notice if you pop around a bit that I have somewhat of an addictive personality, especially when it comes to shoes and shopping.

But enough excuses in my pre-amble...

WELCOME to my blog.

I'm Karen, wife to one, mother of two, and as my tag line says, I'm living in the burbs and trying to stay urban. Which is kinda hard to do when you're driving around in a minivan - parking spots in the city are not exactly minivan friendly. And from the title of my blog, I do like to drink preferably alcohol, although lately it's mostly coffee to stay awake!

I started this blog on Mother's Day 2005, about 5 months into my maternity leave with baby #2. I was still pretty amazed that I was a mother of two, as we had a number of difficult years dealing with infertility. In actual fact, I had made the decision to be a SAHM for a bit, and subsequently decided to capture the time and life's precious moments via this thing called a blog. I didn't even know that you could share it - I just wanted to write for myself, so that one day I would have something to look back at and remember the little things that I knew I would forget. Little did I know how important this vehicle would become to me in a very short time.

And here we are coming up to 5 years later, and boy, oh boy have things changed. My kids are no longer babies. After doing the work-from-home thing for a couple of years, I took the huge leap back into the corporate working world. Yup, as of 8 weeks ago, I'm a career gal again. Finding the balance is tough and it will take me a little while yet to really get the hang of it.

This blog, and more importantly, the community that I found through my voice here, has helped me tremendously, especially this past year. 2009 has had to be my most difficult year to date. I lost my beloved father to cancer in January. I had some health issues (gall bladders and knee sprains will forever be associated with hitting my mid-40s) that made me fear that I would not be able keep up with my beloved hip-hop aerobics class. (But fear not, I have hit the Bodyjam classes again with a vengeance). And a highlight of my year was attending the ultimate blogger fest - I rocked BlogHer 2009 Chicago in July and would do it again in a heartbeat.

So let me take you on a tour of my more recent favourite posts. It's been hard to choose, as at last count I have about 629 in total...sheesh. I guess I like to write, eh?

First up, a post about the dynamics between my boy and girl... and how sibling love lasts a lifetime, as I've seen through my mother's eyes.

Next, a memorable afternoon at the ballet.

And then, a more recent post about getting back up and moving on ...

And finally, as added bonus, just so you don't think I always write like a Hallmark card, a little ditty about man boobs.

Thanks again for stopping by my little abode in the blog world. I hope you stick around for a while, and better yet, come back for more. I can't wait to read your comments and visit you right back.

Cheers!