Snow Baby

Give thanks

What a wonderful way to give thanks for everything to spend it with friends and family over wonderful food.

This year, Big Sister brought her roommate, and her roommate's friend, home for Thanksgiving. They are both German exchange students here for the semester. They wanted to experience "a real American holiday." And do you know what? Me too.

For the past several years we had been getting further and further away from what I always loved about Thanksgiving. The cooking, the hustle, bustle and laughing in the kitchen with friends and family as the meal was prepared, the NYC parade on TV...it had been slowly disappearing and it made me sad. All we did was run from house to house, in a frenzy, to visit everyone. So to do a Thanksgiving meal here was right up my alley.

As the day got closer I thought of a couple friends that might not have a place to go so I invited them along as well. One was a "tentative yes" as she had been due to have her baby girl the Sunday before.*

Everyone came, the food was delightful, the conversation and entertainment by the little ones was so fun. And while the space we used to seat everyone was incomplete, it didn't feel that way when we all sat down together. It was wonderful.

Later that evening, after an exceptionally long nap by CiBaby (must have been all of the excitement and turkey at lunch), we headed over to Auntie and Uncle Horsey's house to play games and have dinner with the family.

It was a wonderful day, the "Germans" as T-Daddy loves to refer to them, enjoyed themselves, and we all had a great time.

*Apparently my cooking was so good that it started labor for R...and baby A was born a couple of days later.

Retail Therapy

Being a Stay At Home Mom (SAHM) is a tough, but rewarding, job. Just like any job, a vacation from the every day is the ticket to refreshment. A lot of women find retail therapy a quick trip from reality to a happier place. Not me. I hopped a plane Friday morning to my retail therapy and worked in my friend's store!

What could be as nice as sitting in Business Class when you don't want to spend a whole lot of airline miles? An open row of seats! I was able to spread out and work on our Christmas cards and not have to worry about a fellow passenger looking over my shoulder or bumping my elbow while I was writing.

This trip started out much better than the last. The plane was not only not late, it was actually early. Unheard of. This time instead of arriving at 1:30 AM PST, I arrived at 11:30 AM and we drove straight into the hills...to cut down a Christmas tree! I came prepared for the trip as I was wearing jeans, long-sleeve t-shirt, sweater (did I mention it was unseasonably warm while I was there?!?) and my freshly polished hiking clogs...well, almost prepared...although I was able to scale the hills really without a problem.

After finding the perfect tree, we headed back to the city. Completely starved we stopped at a roadside stand for one of the best hot dogs I've had in a long time and some sodas. We talked about the craziness of life while watching the traffic whiz by...all at a leisurely pace. It was lovely. Once back at the store we worked a bit, closed up shop and went to a wonderful Indian restaurant where, due to the unseasonably warm weather, we sat outside, had delicious food, drank wine* and talked.

Then it was time to turn in. We drove back to my lovely sanctuary of an apartment, chatted with my wonderful hosts and I was met with the following...a menagerie of breakfast food/snacks, beverages, tea, a tea kettle and a brand new microwave. It was divine.

After an uninterrupted night of sleep I woke up early Saturday morning, 4:30 AM**, checked email on my snazzy new phone, did more work on our Christmas cards and got ready for a day at the store. The bonus was that the store was closed that day so we could set up all of the gorgeous wears that Mme hand picks for E&F.

We unpacked, moved, merchandised, sparkled and decorated our tushes off, all while having lots of laughs and a good helping of Peets. Must. Have. Caffeine. Once fully glittered, we headed over to Rick & Ann's for a quiet dinner of homemade mac & cheese...with a side of spinach. mmmmm

Sunday was the big day...the Champagne Holiday Open House! Everything looked great, including the very happy shoppers.

To top it off, there was a trunk show of beautiful Me & Ro jewelry. drool

Once the customers left we closed the doors, turned off the lights and made our way up to the glorious Claremont Hotel where cocktails, food and a gorgeous sunset awaited us.

Monday was a quiet day. While the store was open, it normally isn't on Mondays, making it easier to get a lot of restocking and organizing done. I even completed a couple of transactions all on my own!

Once the day was over, C & B and I went to meet S & T at the Imperial Tea Court. The atmosphere was great, the tea divine, the food delectable and company...well, need I say? It was a wonderful ending to the day.

Tuesday was wrap up day. Sad to say. Mme and I had a wonderful breakfast over at Bette's Oceanview Diner, again, chatting about the craziness of life. I had my last cup of store made Peets (for awhile), stuffed my carry-on as tightly as I could, grabbed an avocado shake (I know it sounds odd, but it was wonderful if you like avocado!) and headed for the airport. We both decided that it was much easier last time when I had to bolt for the door in order the catch my plane. This time we got to linger making it so much harder to leave.

As luck would have it, this was the view I had on the way back as well.

While I love being a wife/mother/daughter/niece/etc...sometimes it's just nice to be "me."

*At least I had wine. Mme had a cocktail and B, I believe, had a beer.

**Not intentional, I swear to you.

CiBaby stats

Two days shy of 1 year ago, CiBaby visited her wonderful pediatrician for the first time. At that time she was weighing in at 20 pounds 10 ounces and was 29 inches tall...putting her in the 10th-15th percentile for other children her age. And her muscle tone was very poor.

Today, after months of eating well and lots of love, she is super strong, 28 pounds 8 ounces, 34.5 inches tall, which puts her in the 50th percentile!

Way to grow my darling!

I'm a winner!!!

I just won this* great print on my friend Jo-Ann's blog**. Woot!!! this totally made my day!

*I chose the second print as it more appropriate for our house.
**Pumpkin Petunia has a great selection of holiday cards and stationary, check them out!

On the ball

I actually feel like I'm sort of on the ball this year, in regards to the Holidays anyway. I'm participating a couple of cookie exchanges, so that will help out the baking. I've started crafting my gifts...and...I've ordered and received the picture cards we are sending out this year!

I'm so excited about the last thing. I'm normally SO slow about getting this done and a lot of times they end up with "Happy New Year" or some other later holiday (MLK Jr Day, Presidents' Day, Valentine's and sometimes even "Happy St. Patty's Day!" ugh) inscribed. But not this year! I'm packing my cards, address list, pick up some lovely labels at Ellington & French and during down time I will sit in my apartment and address our cards. My goals is to have them reach people the day after Thanksgiving.*

It really is the little things in life, isn't it?

*But please, don't hold me to it.

You know your parents are old when...

they call your Handy Manny* thermal lunch bag a "lunch pail"** or "lunch box."***

Poor CiBaby.

*CiBaby picked this out all by herself. No doubt all those trips to Menard's, Home Depot and Lowe's had anything to do with it.
**T-Daddy
***Me

The end of one and the beginning of another

The mail is finally not flooded with countless candidate flyers...but now starts the holiday catalogs. Oy. Never do I put out more paper recycling than this time of year. Seriously, who needs 8+ Pottery Barn catalogs in the span of 2-3 months? Sure, I love to get ideas from them, but com'mon people!

Disconcerting

I don't know about you, but those car-carrying semi trucks freak me out. Do they really have the cars on securely? They're practically hanging off the back! Well, today on our way back from our playdate there was one of those trucks, parked in the turn lane and the driver was up on top, situating a car, ramp down and everything! This does not do a lot for my confidence in those trucks.

All before 8:30 AM

This morning we were fed, I made a batch of Turkish yogurt* and a batch of laundry detergent...all before the ripe hour of 8:30 AM.** I think this Domestic Goddess is done for the day.

Now it's off for a fun filled day...playdate, lunch, coffee and game night. Whew!

*I will let you know how it turned out.
**You really can get a lot done when you wake up at 5:00 AM, willingly or not.

Pound of the Month Club

CiBaby is a member.

Today we went to the Pediatrician, as we've been battling illness for a couple weeks now. T-Daddy went this morning and was diagnosed with Bronchitis, and as CiBaby had a lot of the same symptoms we brought her in as well.*

While we were there CiBaby got on an accurate scale** and now weighs in at 29 pounds! When we brought her home she was weighing in at around 17.25 lbs...so that's almost a pound a month. Now, if I could just take that off, I'd be a happy camper!

*She does NOT have Bronchitis, the Ped thinks it's a sinus infection. Phew!
**Ours isn't completely accurate, but for weighing suitcases it's just fine. ;-)

Please stay tuned...

It's been a crazy + illness filled couple of weeks so this oh-so exciting blog has taken a back seat. The thought of blogging in chronological order was paralyzing. So in an effort to get what I wanted up along with all of the new happenings it's going to be all over the place with randomly/post dated entries. Please bear with me, and check around often. :-)