She Likes Purple

My Five Favorite Books of 2013

(Warning: some spoilers below) 

At first I didn't think I had read enough books in 2013 to create a "best of" list. Then I thought, well, it's not as if there's some sort of book police lurking in the shadows. So, here I go.

1. Wild

I wrote an official review here, but to sum up: this was my favorite book of the year. It was inspiring and gritty, honest and incredible. I enjoyed both the flashback sections and her raw descriptions of the hike itself. I wanted to strap a backpack on and hit a (much shorter/less treacherous) trail after finishing it, and I also wanted to write the author a thank-you note. 

(I didn't do either, but maybe I should have.)

2. Me Before You

I didn't know a thing about this book (other than that a few of my favorite peopled loved it), so it was refreshing to dive into a story completely blind. The dialogue and main character reminded me a little of Marian Keyes' books (good thing, she's one of my favorites), though the underlying plot points and the ending were in a league their own. It was just beautiful, quite honestly.

I didn't know what I expected from the end -- would it end this way or that way or another way altogether, I wondered while reading -- and when I got to the very last page, I sighed through my sobs. It would end that way, and it was perfect.

3. Eleanor & Park (with Fangirl being a close runner-up to it)

I love John Green and really loved The Fault in Our Stars (review of the latter here) and Eleanor & Park certainly reminded me of John Green, with both books' flawed teen characters falling awkwardly but naturally in love. I liked E&P better, though. The dialogue felt a little more natural, and I loved both characters just so, so much. It reminded me of my own first love.

I thought the ending was perfect, too. Damn, I love a perfect ending. (Not a happy ending and it's not that this ending isn't happy, it's just that I love when an ending feels completely true to the rest of the story that came before it.)

Fangirl (another from Rainbow Rowell) is a bit lighter and about college-aged kids vs high-school ones, and I enjoyed it almost as much.

4. The Snow Child

Elizabeth sent me this book for my birthday last year (thank you, E!), and I put off reading it for a while. The first few pages never grabbed me, after I tried them a few times. I finally read it over the summer and was blown away. What a beautiful book. (The saying should be "never judge a book by its first three pages.") 

5. The Rules of Inheritance

A memoir of grief, written by a woman who lost both her mother and father by the age of 25. I highlighted passage after passage, devouring the way she strung words together. (About her time in New York, for college: "In those early days I swayed under the weight of the buildings towering above me. The ribbons of people on the sidewalk pulled me to and fro, and I learned quickly to just give myself over to it all.") As much as her story was inspiring and relatable and raw, I was equally inspired to just write more. Her writing made me want to write.

While I'm lucky enough to have both my parents alive and well and just a phone call away, I lost my dad on a daily basis at the age of nine, when he left our family to immediately start a new one. That's not an extraordinary event, happens every day, but it literally wasn't until I read this book that I really understood that so many of my feelings over the last twenty-odd years were feelings of grief. Grieving for a dad and family I'd simply never have.

Another author I want to write a thank you note to. Maybe I'll write more of those in 2014.

What was your favorite book this year?

My 2013

(2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, and 2012. Inspired all these years by Linda) 

1. What did you do in 2013 that you'd never done before? 

Saw the Constitution, took a solo trip with Kyle (make that two!), ate biscuits in South Carolina, helped throw my company's tenth anniversary party, visited the Hoover Dam, hosted (an incredible) Friendsgiving, read 25+ books for pleasure, paid off Mike's student loans (!!!!!!), took a weekend trip to Possum Kingdom, celebrated being friends with Natalie for over 20 years, watched my son walk down the aisle as a ring bearer in a beautiful wedding, made braised short ribs, saw Mumford & Sons in concert, dined Outstanding in the Field, took Kyle on a cable car, greeted a day with yoga on the beach, drank a Boulevard Wheat in the city its brewed in, saw my mom's childhood home, started a nostalgia wall, hung out in the same room as Connie Britton and Kyle Chandler, saw "Once" on Broadway, took Kyle to his first baseball game, saw the White House, ate at Commander's Palace, drove Skyline, and so much more.

2. Did you keep your new year's resolutions, and will you make more for next year? 

I nerdily counted up how much I accomplished last year, based off last year's to-do list, and it was over 50%. That's not mouth-on-the-floor impressive, but it ain't too shabby either. I'll even pat myself on the back for it.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?

Jen and A'Dell

4. Did anyone close to you die?

Not close to me, I can't quite claim that, but one of the writers I worked with during my time at Smart Pop Books -- Ned Vizzini -- died a few days ago, and it's actually hit me rather hard. I worked with him, albeit briefly, but I also got to meet him when I went to Comic-Con in 2011. He was gracious, kind, so funny, and just this positive presence in a sea of chaos that week.

He'll be missed.

5. What countries did you visit?

No new countries, other than my own, but I did see four new states (Virginia, Maryland, Kansas, South Carolina), and six I'd already been to (California, Missouri, Nevada, Oklahoma, Louisiana, New York). 

6. What would you like to have in 2014 that you didn't have in 2013? 

A few more exhales, more relaxation, more belly laughs, more work-outs, less debt.

7. What dates from 2013 will be etched upon your memory, and why? 

Early in 2013 I booked a trip to California for Kyle and me, so most of the year October 12th was etched in my memory as the day we were starting our adventure. 

8. What was your biggest achievement of this year?

Last year I mentioned my promotion, so this year's might feel a bit small in comparison, but I read 25 books in 2013. (Actually 27!) That's nothing to some readers, but it's the most I've read in a single year since college, maybe longer than that. I'm so proud I finally met this goal, years after making it. Just goes to show, sometimes things take a little longer than you expected, but don't go giving up on them because of that.

9. What was your biggest failure?

Oh boy, I felt like a physical failure this year. I wanted to get in shape once and for all (after years of the scale going up and down and up and down) (and up and down) and I didn't. I just didn't. It was a busy, stressful, somewhat difficult year and I shelved most of my fitness goals. I hope I can right the ship in 2014.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?

I got the flu/pneumonia/an upper respiratory infection this December and duddddes, that sucked. The rest of the family got it too and we simultaneously had an ice storm. Let's never speak of that weekend again.

11. What was the best thing you bought?

Our Ninja blender, our king-sized mattress, a few plane tickets, and our new car (a Prius; what that car has done to our gas bill is a thing of beauty).

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?

I am so grateful to have incredible people in my circle. People who are giving, tolerant, kind, funny, smart, and so much more. I'm a lucky lady for the people I get to call my people.

All that said, I got to see my stepmom for an entire week this year (it's been a while since that happened), and she was so wonderful with Kyle (and with me and with my sister and my nephew). She loves us like her own, though she's no longer with my dad. Family you choose and who choose you back. That deserves celebration.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?

Walter White? Well, him and a few people in my Facebook feed. 

14. Where did most your money go?

If you added it all up I bet taxes, Kyle, our mortgage, and then our car. Being a grown-up is expensive.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?

Late summer and fall were jam-packed with adventures, starting with a quick trip to Vegas, then a Mumford & Sons concert, then a Kansas City trip with my mom and sister, then celebrating Mike's birthday, then a Charleston trip with the internet, then a week-long California trip with my favorite four year old, then a once-in-a-lifetime experience dining Outstanding in the Field, then celebrating Halloween with the cutest astronaut there's ever been.

It was like a three-month period of excitement. I needed a long nap after it was all over, and my wallet needed a break too.

16. What song will always remind you of 2012?

Fall Out Boy's "My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark." It might not be your indie song of choice, but it was Kyle's favorite song of the year. I bet I played it 200 times, maybe more. I'm going to insist we play it at his wedding, and I bet he rolls his eyes so hard at me, they fall right out of his head. 

I'm going to miss age four.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you: a) happier or sadder? b) thinner or fatter? c) richer or poorer?

Happier: Clawing to happier
Thinner: Clawing to thinner 
Richer: Richer, in the right ways

18. What do you wish you'd done more of?

Always the same (when will I learn): work out, go to bed at a reasonable hour, go to yoga more often, bite my tongue when harsh words are on it, smile, breathe, enjoy life. 

19. What do you wish you'd done less of?

All the opposites of #18. 

20. How did you spend Christmas?

We woke up at 7am on the dot, opened gifts (a lot of Legos and Hot Wheels in our house!) and then packed up and headed down to New Braunfels with Mike's parents to celebrate the holiday with Mike's sister and her family. We opened more gifts upon arrival and then relaxed before a delicious steak and shrimp and mashed potato dinner. There was champagne too. 

I ended the night reading my new Kindle in bed. 

It was warm and wonderful.

21. Did you fall in love in 2013?

I fell in love with the biscuits in Charleston (what a place), Boulevard Wheat, Breaking Bad, reading (again), age four (before age four-and-a-half gave me a run for my money), Raylan Givens, Washington DC, and the Smitten Kitchen's braised short ribs.

22. What was your favorite TV program?

Justified, Breaking Bad, The Good Wife, and all those crappy Bravo reality shows that let me zone out for an hour or twenty. 

23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?

Nah. 

24. What was the best book you read?

Incredibly tough choice, but I think I'd say Wild (which was ironically the first book I read this year).

"It seemed like a long time and also it seemed like my trip had just begun, like I was only now digging into whatever it was I was out here to do."

I couldn't relate to the exact experiences of the author, but could I ever relate to what it feels like to be broken and what it feels like to heal yourself, one painful step at a time. What it feels like to be alone and scared and then to dig deep to find whatever courage is needed to keep going. What it feels like to make absolutely awful choices and then to make better and better ones until you forgive yourself.

I just absolutely loved it, and I'm so glad I read it.

Honorable mentions: The Rules of Inheritance, Eleanor & Park, The Snow Child, and Me Before You

25. What was your greatest musical discovery?

I sucked at discovering new music this year, so, hey! What new music did you discover?

26. What did you want and get?

Time with my sister (two trips!), solo trips with Kyle (two of those too!), a trip with Mike (DC in the springtime!), a new bed (king-sized baby!), a new car, and a Friendsgiving dinner at my house. 

27. What did you want and not get?

There will always be something.

28. What was your favorite film of 2013?

I try to go with my gut when I answer these "favorite of" questions so The Way, Way Back and Gravity. I also loved End of Watch, though that's from 2012.

And, I fought the crowds to see Catching Fire on opening night and wasn't disappointed. 

29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?

I turned 31 way back in early January, and the Aggies won the Cotton Bowl (just for me, I like to think). We had friends over to watch the game and ordered pizza and drank beer to celebrate. 

30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?

I've been saying winning lottery ticket for years now, and I'd never turn one of those down. But, also, I think if I could have set more boundaries between work and home, that would have made for a more satisfying year. I brought a lot of work stress home with me, and my boys just deserve better than that.

31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept of 2013?

"Buying a lot of cute shoes until she figures out how to get to the gym regularly."

32. What kept you sane?

Mike, reading, writing, Natalie, baking, champagne, a clean house, talks with great girlfriends, weekends away, that little boy of mine who has the best laugh in all the world.

33. What political issue stirred you the most?

I think until all 50 states allow all consenting adults to marry, my answer will be marriage equality.  

34. Who did you miss?

If you don't live in driving distance, I miss you. (Same answer as the last two years.)

35. Who was the best new person you met?

There are a few new authors of mine that I think really high of, but also the parents of the other players on Kyle's soccer team. They're just really decent people, and I'm glad to share the sidelines with them for so much of the year.  

36. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2013.

Some people are going to find what you do (whatever you do) absolute crap. They're going to make fun of you and roll their eyes and think they can do better. They'll try to make you feel small because they feel small (or maybe just because they suck) and they can really ruin your day or your mood or your confidence if you let them.

Never let them.

Happy 2014 to you and you and you.  

What to do in Charleston: Eat at Husk, Whatever You Do

One day, when I rate cities based on the food I enjoyed while visiting, Charleston is going to fall near the tippy-top of my list. My goodness, the chefs in that city know how to make 1) biscuits 2) Bloody Marys 3) bacon and DID I MENTION BISCUITS?

But the best meal of my entire trip was my last meal. Husk. Caitlin and I made a reservation on a whim, and it was the perfect way to cap the perfect weekend. It was also one of the best meals I've probably ever had.

(Side note: I say that a lot when I have brunch or lunch at pricey restaurants. Same experience at a discount! Mark my words.)

The menu changes often, so I'm told, but try that biscuit breakfast sandwich if you know what's good for you. Also try the coffee. And the Bloody Mary. Maybe everything else on the menu too. 

It was a casual dining room with a delicious menu and impeccable service. I can't recommend this place enough.

One of the best weekends of my year

I can't imagine finishing the year without writing about a trip I took in September, a trip to Kansas City to celebrate my sweet mom's 65th birthday. (Feel free to gush over how good she looks in the comments. I totally agree with you.)

We'd been planning this trip for years, no exaggeration, which is actually the way I prefer to plan most trips. (I randomly call Natalie to talk about our 2018 Friendiversary. I'm thinking Nashville or San Diego.) My mom was raised in Kansas City, and I'd never been. A milestone birthday felt like the perfect excuse to pack a bag, get in the car, and celebrate my favorite lady.

There was one glorious, perfect catch to all the fun we had planned for so long. My sister was coming too, but my mom had absolutely no idea. See, we planned and plotted and lied and schemed and then LIED SOME MORE because my mom's one true wish was having the three of us together and we couldn't give her that gift without making her sweat a little for it. We told my mom that my sister had a very pressing work deadline, and it was around her own birthday and her husband had big plans to celebrate and she just couldn't possibly make it, no matter how happy it would have made my mom to have us all together. LIES ALL LIES. She bought a plane ticket and met us in Kansas City, and the surprise was a highlight of my entire life.

(It was so very difficult to drive eight hours to KC with my mom, without ruining this huge surprise. I deserve a trophy.)

We stayed at the lovely and delightful Southmoreland on the Plaza in Kansas City (side note: I'd recommend this place to anyone, anytime, it was so absolutely perfect and charming and also in walking distance from the town's plaza) and they happen to have a fun happy hour every afternoon around 4:30pm or so. I convinced my mom to sit outside on the deck around that time on the day we arrived, knowing Rachel was on her way from the airport (my texts to Rachel were all a lot like this: "WHERE ARE YOU, ARE YOU CLOSE, HOW CLOSE?" "I'm two miles closer than when you texted two minutes ago." I was excited, what can I say!). Anyway, I told my mom the staff was going to bring our wine after it chilled, and then I plotted with the staff to have Rachel deliver the wine herself, as soon as she arrived.

I didn't want my mom to see Rachel walk out, so I tried to distract her with very interesting conversation. Unfortunately, I couldn't think of any interesting conversation TOPICS, very bad timing on my brain's part, so I brought up the one topic I knew my mom would be willing to engage in: PRINCESS DIANA. Seriously, the only person my mom loves more than Adam Levine is Princess Diana. "So, how old were Diana's boys when she died?" This is a very strange quesiton for anyone to ask ANYONE on a girl's weekend, but my mom didn't bat an eye. She answered, quickly, as Rachel walked out with our wine.

(I can now say with much confidence that I can con my mom into anything because I was acting so ridiculous and so sketchy and going in and out and taking phone calls and texting and blaming it all on "oh, gosh, I have to take this work call INSIDE, AWAY FROM YOU" and TALKING ABOUT PRINCESS DIANA'S DEATH and she had absolutely no idea anything was up. She didn't suspect a thing. My sweet mom.)

Oh, it was so wonderful.

We've had our times, the three of us. Crying, screaming, clawing, angry times. We've hated and hurt, and I often wondered if there would be anything on the other side of all that dark stuff. Would we ever sit around a table, just us three, sharing drinks and smiles and laughs and love? This trip was our answer. We would. 

It was perfect. 

(Okay, the Aggies lost to Alabama while we were there -- I teared up at the dinner table and my mother and sister lost like half the respect they had for me -- so we'll call the weekend as near to perfect as you can possibly get when your football team loses a huge game.)

I think we need to do this again, just the three of us. Maybe for my 35th birthday, which is in three short years.

I better start planning.

November + December Goals

September's and October's (and looks like November's) goals were to survive September and October (and November). Success! 

I thought I'd make one giant goals list to see me through the end of the year (since December is tomorrow anyway). I love to-do lists, even if I'm the worst at finishing most of them. 

1. Get a couple baby blankets embroidered that were bought for newborns who are no longer newborns
2. Host a Friendsgiving
3. Cook a few more cookbook recipes 
4. Read six more books (eek)
5. Go horseback riding
6. Get my passport updated
7. Pay off Mike's student loans 
8. Finish my nostalgia wall
9. Figure out a storage solution for my shoes
10. Go to one barre class
11. Volunteer
12. Print and frame Kyle's awesome soccer photo
13. Print and send holiday cards
14. Make a photo book for someone special
15. Start my 2013 photo book
16. Get new sheets and a new comforter for our new bed (!!!)
17. Host some ladies for my birthday, for a champagne-themed afternoon
18. Send some overdue thank-you notes
19. Book Kyle's birthday party venue (never having it at our too small house in February again)
20. Look at Christmas lights
21. Let's aim for one yoga class
22. Two more best of Big D restaurants 
23. Look into a writing class of some kind
24. Look into violin lessons 
25. Decorate the house for Christmas 

What are you up to as we say goodbye to 2013?

Seven Quick Takes: Mice, Pre-K, Ninjas, Etc.

1. We've needed a new blender for a while. In fact we needed a new blender, bought a new blender, and then almost immediately needed a new blender again. 

So, I came home Friday and there was a new blender on my kitchen counter. Unfortunately, when you're married and you share a joint bank account and you know the status of that joint bank account, surprise splurges make you first go "Wow, THANK YOU!" and then immediately go "But I literally know we can't afford that." 

Enter Costco and their Costco-sized sales. Turns out, we could afford it, and now we can make smoothies for everyone in something like 10 seconds.

Oh, we got a Ninja, in case you need a new blender too.

2. So, hey, we also caught a mouse in our kitchen this past weekend. I know, so gross, but it was the most adorable rodent I've ever seen. (Maybe he heard about the smoothies?)

Kyle and I would have preferred to domesticate the cute thing, but Mike ushered us into the car, drove us to a nearby (but not too nearby) creek, and forced us to let him loose. Then I deep-cleaned the kitchen.

Also, whoa, does wildlife really like our house. In the last year, we've had a bird fly into our living room (and then up our stairs!), a squirrel camp out on our back porch, another bird make a nest on our front porch, multiple bunnies declare home to be under our backyard shed, a rat scurried around in our garage, and let's not forget Fred. Now this.

3. I have a new blog banner! Thanks to Ashley from Little Leaf Design, for making the process so stress-free and easy. I updated a few sidebar things to match. 

4. I've been contracted to use The Prowl (a new social media site) for a few weeks, but I'm under no obligation to talk, write, tweet, or otherwise promote it. Just use! Except...it's great. I love the Ask & Answer section of the site. You can pose fashion, beauty, home, and kid-related "help me find it" questions and your followers can make useful suggestion and comments. (For instance, I really need a new face cleanser. Care to help?)

5. I have so many books on my to-read list, I could read for years and never run out of material (not to mention, I have a handful of books left on Elizabeth's best of 2012 list to get through this year), but I'm always interested in what others are reading (and loving). So, do tell, what's your favorite book of the moment?

You can see what I've read so far this year on my 2013 to-do list.

6. Every September I get blue. It happens each year. What the entire world feels mid-February, I feel all of September. I wish I knew why, but at least I can now anticipate the dip in emotions, and I hope to treat it with healthy eating, yoga, and some fun plans on the calendar. 

If I'm guessing, I'd say it's because while I love fall, September in Texas is just more summer. It's supposed to be fall but it never is, and actual fall is two weeks long, mid-November, and I'm sad for it to end before it begins. I want pumpkins and football and prepping for Halloween but I don't want to do any of those things WHILE STILL SWEATING. 

Is it just me, am I alone in getting the September Blues?

7. Kyle started Pre-K this week. He just moved from one building at his school to another, and he's with most of the same kids he's been with since he was six months old, so the transition wasn't too big of a deal. But, he has to wear a uniform and he has his own locker and desk, and it's the absolute last stop between daycare and Officially Going to School. While it seems a little weird to be proud of someone for just naturally progressing, I'm still so proud of him. Of who he's becoming, more than anything. He's a beautiful, bright, sunny kid who I feel so fortunate to know, let alone get to be the mother of.

I dropped him off Monday and he was absolutely fine and he waved me away with practically an eye-roll as if to say, "You can go now, mom." I walked back to my car, weepy, because he has become one of the "big kids" (what all the other kids in his school call the Pre-K kids), and everyone says it because it's true, that time just goes so damn fast.

I don't know how we even handle the speed of it sometimes.

July Goals Revisited + August Goals

I kind of feel like a badass this month. I crossed a lot off. Not everything, but it's not really about perfection, is it?

I should also add that "rearend someone" wasn't even on the list but I still totally DID that! Go ahead and put overachiever on my next business card. (Oh, and I'm fine, car is...not. Life is so very life-ish sometimes.)

The one difficult part of all my lists this year has been finding the motivation to work-out. Maybe you've noticed, probably not, since my lists aren't all that interesting. This month I'd really really really like to try and find that motivation and get back to working out. It's a big theme of the rest of the year for me. Wish me sweaty, gym luck. 

July Goals Revisited

1. Read three books (1. Where'd You Go Bernadette)
2. Make these chocolate glazed muffins
3. Host Heather for dinner
4. Try out two more restaurants on D Magazine's best-of lists (1. Company Cafe 2. Hattie's)
5. Go out of town twice: once with my ladies and once with my family
6. Go back to A'Dell's awesome community pool at least once 
7. Finish Kyle's swim lessons (he passed! he got a cheesy certificate that I love to pieces)
8. Finish my vacation box 
9. Get back to yoga
10. Try this wine spritzer
11. Work-out every day this month, but we're defining working out loosely and in whatever way makes me feel okay/proud at the end of the day
12. Re-hang living room pictures (oh, and re-buy a few living room pictures)
13. Hang at least one more photo on my nostalgia wall
14. See one movie in the theater (Saw two! 1. The Way Way Back 2. Despicable Me 2)
15. Buy frames for two prints to hang by our doorway
16. Make a photo book of our beach trip
17. Print our DC prints
18. Make s'mores
19. Make one recipe from Gwyneth Paltrow's IT'S ALL GOOD cookbook
20. Send a couple gifts that are gathering dust
21. Write Wendy Davis a thank-you note (inspired by a dear friend)
22. Clean out Kyle's closets

August Goals

1. Hang more frames on our nostalgia wall
2. Clean out the pantry
3. Go to IKEA for shelves and living room frames
4. Make a dentist appt for Kyle
5. Participate in restaurant week!
6. Finish Snow Child and Eleanor & Park
7. Make those donut muffins AND one recipe from IT'S ALL GOOD 
8. I've been saying this for ages but start the Couch to 5K program (I signed up for a 5K in September as motivation!)
9. Yoga
10. Get a new blog banner
11. Go on a double date
12. Reschedule with Heather for dinner
13. Start thinking about a shoe storage solution (shelves?)
14. Go to a barre class
15. One magazine recipe
16. Re-read a chapter of the Bible
17. One pool visit
18. Clean out Kyle's toys
19. Print out Puerto Rico pictures
20. Start my 2010 photo book organization (I'm determined to make yearbooks for 2009 and 2010 so we can officially have a book each of Kyle's years.)
21. Pay off a medical bill that's been in payments for a while

Things to Do in Texas: Camp/Stay in an Air-Conditioned Cabin at Possum Kingdom Lake

I've been wanting to visit Big Bend for years. It's in Texas, but it's something like nine hours away from us. (Texas is just too big, my goodness.) Anyway, that's...a lot of hours in the car. That also makes it tough to get away for a weekend without taking time off work. Hey! We're here for three hours! Time to go now. When I was lamenting how unfair geography is, Mike told me to pick a place (much) closer to home for a weekend away, so I picked Possum Kingdom. 

Possum Kingdom is a glorious two hours away instead of nine, but it's also a place I'd never been, and I really love adding new pins to our wall map.

We originally planned to camp, but then we laughed at ourselves because camping in July in Texas is a really stupid decision. We instead stayed at the Hideaway Cabins, and it was a great, centrally located place. The cabins were clean and spacious and the staff could not have been nicer. I can't imagine ever going back and not staying there again. Really recommend.

We hiked nearby trails both mornings. Oh boy, the trails were awesome. If you like hiking, I'd recommend Possum Kingdom for the trails alone. Kyle was a freaking champ for both hikes and the one Saturday morning was long and hot. I don't know if I've ever been more proud of him, quite honestly. 

Oh, and we all enjoyed a three-hour nap after our Saturday morning hike. Hikes, you're my favorite.

We also made s'mores, swam at the lake, grilled dinner, introduced Kyle to Friends in our cabin's living room, drove around to explore and spotted ELEVEN deer (Kyle kept count), and just had a really wonderful weekend. And we brought Molly. It helped her forgive us for at least some of the trips we've taken in the last few years without her. 

Some pictures of our weekend:

Kyle cried when we had to leave, it was that nice of a weekend. The kind of weekend you hope to have when you plan for it.

Things to Do in Texas: Hike at Mineral Wells Park

This is a branch of my What To Do posts because I'd like to collect our cool advenutres from around our state into one series, so I can link to it whenever people ask, "But what on earth is there to do in Texas besides eat barbecue and ride horses?" 

I also hope this inspires me to get my family out to do more things in our pretty big, pretty great state. Especially this time of year when "STAY INSIDE AND WEEP" is all we really want to do. 

So, about a month ago, we took Kyle an hour outside of Fort Worth to hike around Mineral Wells state park. Kyle wasn't sure what hiking was, when we told him that's what we were going to do with our day, but he did like that I packed cookies for our post-hike picnic. 

Once we got there, though, parked the car and hit the trail, Kyle said (adorably), "Oh! Hiking is just exploring." Explore we did.

We hope to camp one day (the camp grounds seemed really nice), but it was a great way to test out the park, to see how Kyle would do on the trails, and he was a champ. 

If you're anywhere near DFW, or if you're in the area for whatever reason, I really recommend the fairly short drive to see the park. It's a great one.

Washington, DC: Part Three (Finally!)

We went to DC over two months ago, and I'm sure you've been DYING for this third and final recap of our trip. Constantly refreshing your browser, calling in sick to work. Wouldn't doubt any of it. 

When we last left off (and here's the first part, just in case), we had just stayed the night in Virginia and were heading back toward the city with a few quick stops along Skyline Drive (where we saw snow!) and where Mike also belted out both Spice Girls and Taylor Swift on our road trip but never tell him I told you. He'd deny both.

We were heading toward Caitlin, have I told you this yet? That we planned a night at her house because 1) I adore her and 2) She mentioned I could sit on her couch and drink champagne. Really, she shouldn't have mentioned either if she didn't want me to plan MY ENTIRE TRIP AROUND DOING JUST THAT because couches and champagne are two of my favorite things. Throw in Tim Riggins, and I really may have moved in with her.

This is what our guest room looked like upon arrival so forget all about Tim Riggins (Kidding! Never forget Rigs!) because this may be the nicest guest room I've ever stayed in.

I should also say this is the third trip I've told Mike we're hanging out with people he's never met before (the second trip I forced him to do this over night in the person's house) and it's (THANKFULLY) the third trip that has ended with new friendships and people he absolutely loves. (First trip, second trip.) He loved Caitlin and Zach, absolutely loved them, and asks about them so adorably often, I hate that geography is the way geography so annoyingly is.  

Zach made us such a delicious dinner, and we drank champagne and then played Cards Against Humanity and we cry-laughed and just enjoyed vacation. I love that feeling. Good food, good drinks, good company, and no reason in the world to get up early the next morning. Other than the THREE delicious drinks Caitlin had waiting for us:

 

Really, it was like we hung out with them every weekend, it genuinely felt that way. After breakfast, we headed back to the mall with them since we had missed a lot of the monuments earlier in the week and also because they're awesome hosts. 

Hey, could like all ONE HUNDRED of you get out of our vacation photos, please? (The mall was SO crowded.)

I don't have a photo of the Vietnam Memorial, but what an incredibly special experience it was to walk through that particular monument. You stepped onto the path for it and everyone (as you can see from these pictures, there were a lot of people) instantly got silent. It was as if we all knew what we were in the prescence of. So many names. So much loss. It was incredibly powerful.

This was the World War II Memorial, and this is where Caitlin and I decided to sing the state song and where Zach and Mike stopped loving us as much as they had up to that point.

We also got a peek at the cherry blossoms (a few trees had bloomed but most had not).

We ended the afternoon having pizza and beers at Red Rocks (delicious!) before saying goodbye to Caitlin and Zach. It makes me sad just typing that because you make friends on the internet and you never really know when you'll see them again. (I'm lucky that I know I'll get to see Caitlin this October in Charleston but when will the four of us get to share pizza and beer again? I hate that some of the best people you'll ever meet live so damn far away.) 

From Caitlin and Zach's, we drove to Mike's uncle's house (who lives in the same town! Perfect, right?). We had dinner and ghost tour plans, which is the first time I've ever typed that particular sentence.

Mike's uncle is his dad's brother (the dad of Mike's cousin who got married in Colorado when we took that epic family road trip back in 2011) and it was wonderful to see him again. We don't get to see him often, and it was so nice to be with family for part of the trip. It felt, I don't know, like vacationing with a little piece of home. 

We had dinner at Eamonn's and it was seriously delicious. SO GOOD. It's a small joint, so we had to cram into a table with strangers, but good food is worth that, you know? Whatever it takes, just feed me delicious, can't-have-elsewhere food. Then, we did a haunted tour of Alexandria, which was also rich with history (and I always love that). 

Like, hey! That's George Washington's city house. 

The next day, Mike's uncle, aunt, and cousin treated us to a day trip to Annapolis and when they surprised us with this, my first thought was NEW STATE! I'LL GET TO VISIT A NEW STATE! And I should probably strive to be less lame one day. That day is not today.

We walked around the adorable town square, shopped a little, and eventually ended up at Cantler's for a delicious blue crab feast for dinner.

Post-crab feast!

Mike grew up in a big, booming family, and I did not. It's not even that my small family made me want a big family because we've made the intentional choice to only have one child, but for whatever reason I love being around family: mine, his, yours, whatever. I just didn't have it as often growing up, tons of relatives in one place, so there's something really special about sitting on a couch in a room filled with people related to you (by blood, marriage, or circumstance) and just talking, catching up, connecting. It's one of my favorite activities in all the world, late-night talking with people who you have a history with, and I loved that our vacation (our incredible vacation) included that. Thank you to Mike's family for having us.

The next day, we had quite a few hours to kill before going to the airport, so we headed back to the mall to try and get into the National Archives, one of the places I really wanted to visit. If I was rating "must-do" activities in DC, seeing the Constitution was near the tippy-top. 

It took us about an hour to get in, and there were absolutely no photographs allowed inside, but it was such a highlight of the trip. I cried as we circled the room to get to the Constitution. Of course I did. The Constitution, people! Honestly, I kept looking at Mike like he was dead inside for not crying.

There was a guard who was being asked the most ridiculous questions by tourists ("HOW MANY PEOPLE TRY TO STEAL IT?") and we made eye contact, as I wiped a tear away, and he smiled at me. It was as if he truly got what I was feeling, as if all those hours of standing by this beautiful document, fielding ridiculous questions from people who were actually asking about Nicolas Cage movies, and he still appreciated what he was guarding. It was a really nice moment.

From the National Archives, we wanted food, and there was one place we hadn't gotten to on our trip yet that I really wanted to try: Founding Farmers. We got in with a short wait, and had a delicious last lunch in DC.

We're going to gloss right over the part where I unfortunately made Mike's uncle take us to the wrong airport and instead focus on the part where we STILL somehow managed to get on an earlier, non-stop flight (after backtracking to the right airport) and made it home before bedtime where Kyle hugged us each for five straight minutes.

DC was perfect, it really was, and it was probably one of my favorite trips to date. Get there quickly, if you haven't already been.

Texas is growing on me

We now have In-N-Out Burger, Trader Joe's, and these views an hour-long plane ride away.

(It's not the Carribean or anything, I know, but it's not half-bad either.)

Okay, so we likely always had these views an hour-long plane ride away, but I had never hopped on a plane with my kid to see them before this past weekend.

Hard to tell if Kyle enjoyed things, though.

We traveled down to Port Aransas for our niece's first birthday. Even though the celebration fell on Father's Day, Mike already had a motorcycle race planned (with his dad) out of town, so I decided spending the holiday with the rest of his family was the next best thing to celebrating with him.

Kyle's four, but it was actually our first flight just the two of us, and I couldn't have asked for a better, more smoother flight experience on the way down (we'll ignore the flight experience on the way back, when American Airlines told us we couldn't get on an earlier flight unless we paid $75/each). On the way down, though, the lovely AA worker waived our baggage fees and let us jump the security line. Oh, airline companies, why do you have to keep us on our toes! Anyway, Kyle was a champ for all the traveling. I don't know how a four year old can channel such patience, but he was a total inspiration to me on the trip. 

It was a quick weekend away (we were gone from Friday morning to Sunday evening), but it was just what we needed. It felt like a real vacation with sandy feet and sun-kissed skin and reading on the porch of our beach house and early bedtimes (and very early mornings, which was less vacation-y than I would have preferred KYLE) even though we were gone less than three days.

I hope Kyle remembers this mini-vacation, holding hands while we walked to the beach each morning and building sandcastles and splashing in the ocean. I hope he remembers slathering sunscreen on his tiny legs and cannon-balling in the community pool, but I'll remember for us both, if he doesn't.

The only thing better than the trip itself was the company, which is the best truth of all the best trips, isn't it? Doesn't matter where we go, not really, just who we go with.

June Goals + May Goals Revisited

May Goals 

1. Yoga. Seriously.
2. Finish The Great Gatsby
3. Eat a cupcake in New York
4. Make baked ziti
5. Lose 5 lbs
6. Start the Couch to 5K 
7. Finish Kyle's thank-you notes (I finished half of them; the other half should be done by his fifth birthday)
8. Send off two thank-you packages
9. Make my vacation box (I bought the box! Does that count for anything?...)
10. Dance to our song for our wedding anniversary
11. Eat at one new restaurant (this is quite an easy one, but done!) 
12. Start the research on hiring the right person to turn some of Kyle's best baby clothes into a quilt. (Could that be you?)
13. Make vegan strawberry cupcakes

June Goals

1. Go to yoga three times.
2. Take a flight, just Kyle and me.
3. Make one recipe from Gwyneth Paltrow's IT'S ALL GOOD cookbook.
4. Finish my tenth book of the year!
5. Seriously finish Kyle's thank-you notes (sorry to everyone who still needs one!)
6. Send a couple already-bought gifts to some friends
7. Make my vacation box
8. Hang a couple things on our nostalgia wall
9. Go on another family hike
10. Read another of Elizabeth's best of 2012 books
11. Find someone to make Kyle's baby clothes quilt
12. Find the closest/best barre studio

May was pretty nutty, getting ready for a busy, somewhat-stressful work trip (and then going on said work trip), and June is turning out a little weird and wacky too. How is this year flying by so quickly? Slow down, time. Slow. Down.

The Great Gatsby Book & Movie Review

*Spoilers about both ahead...

The Book

I hated The Great Gatsby in high school. In hindsight, I can't really pin-point why because I remembered almost nothing about it, but I do remember we had to examine the book first to last page and it just wore me out. All that symbolism is a lot for a 15 year old to truck through, especially when some of that symbolism (while no doubt intentional and important) annoyed me more than intrigued me. Okay, okay, I'm sure Gatsby dropped the clock in Nick's house because it symbolized the passage of time and not because he's just rather klutzy. Can we move on please?

Anyway, I did get to re-read it kind of wonderfully with a fresh slate. I remembered bits and pieces but not the twists and turns, and certainly not the ending, so it was like I was reading it for the first time.

One chapter in, and I have to hilariously say that it kind of reminded me of an episode of the Real Housewives. So much wealth and mid-afternoon cocktails while lazily spread out on a couch, complaining about privileged lives. But, even then, you can't deny this book is beautifully, nearly perfectly written. It's the kind of book you highlight passage after passage in because words are woven together the way words were meant to be woven together. 

So, ultimately, I liked it a helluva lot more than I did in high school. Perhaps you can just appreciate such a well-written book at my age more than you can as a teenager and perhaps because there was no homework that came after reading it (thank everything), I could just...read it. Whatever the reason, I'm glad I re-read it.

But, oh man, did I hate nearly every single character in this book. These were terrible people, just terrible, and not terrible in the way I usually like my characters--terribly flawed but so terribly human that you relate to them and end up incredibly fond of them. Terrible as in, YOU ARE TERRIBLE, JUMP OFF A CLIFF. 

All of them! Even Gatsby, who I suspect you aren't supposed to find terrible, I found terrible because he thought that a woman who couldn't love him penniless was worth all he went through to win her back. He was in love with a coward and he wasn't even in love with her despite that, he was in love with her without realizing it, and that made him infuriating to me.

Most of the characters were disgustingly rich and disgustingly terrible and disgustingly lazy and also disgustingly drunk most of the book, and I would have hated almost all of them if I had somehow turned up at a party with them. In short, it was a beautiful book about truly terrible people. I have been known to like a sad ending, though, and this book certainly had that. 

Still, let's talk about some of my favorite lines in it:

"There are only the pursued, the pursuing, the busy, and the tired." 

"It occurred to me that there was no difference between men, in intelligence or race, so profound as the difference between the sick and the well."

The last, perfect line: "So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past."

The movie

Well, the movie stayed pretty damn true to the book, didn't it? The words literally appeared on the screen and entire scenes were played out exactly as written. For that, I liked it. It came to life as I had read it, quite honestly, and I only had very small issues with it, including:

1. Leo did a great job, honestly. To me, he's far more attractive in movies than in pictures, and I almost always buy him in a role more than I think I will because he's just better on the screen. (Hello, The Departed, one of my favorite movies of all time.) But he still felt a litttttle old for this role. He's not that much older than the character (6 years), but he felt much older, for some reason. 
2. Speaking of, Daisy was dark-haired in the book (right?) and I think Carey would have looked even better dark-haired in the movie, so why the blonde choice, producers?
3. The ending! One of my favorite parts of the book was how Nick tried desparately to get people to attend the funeral (going into the city to visit Winebrenner, even) and everyone disregarded him. Then, Gatsby's father showed up, and it was this sadly poetic look at how Gatsby built his life around people who didn't matter and abandoned the people who did. I wish they would have showed that scene as written.

At the end of the movie, though, I thought the same things I thought at the end of the book. Such terrible, selfish, bored people. 

I don't know if all this means I ultimately loved it or still hated it.

Probably a little of both.

Cookbook Recommendation: Joy the Baker Cookbook

In the past, I'd write this kind of thing over at Food Lush (I miss that place) but this is my only space to ramble these days, so lucky you.

I made a goal this year to cook one recipe a week from all the cookbooks I currently own, and let me just say that was a stupid goal. I edited the goal (my goals, my rules) to cook 30 recipes from my cookbooks anytime over the year. Just whenever. At my owwwwwn pace. I love making my own rules.

(I'll make a 10-recipe feast in December, for sure.)

Anyway, I'm seven recipes down. (You are BLOWN away by the time I spend in my own kitchen, aren't you?) And I noticed five of those recipes are from the Joy the Baker Cookbook. Guys, you really need this cookbook in your life. 

Every single thing I've made has been delicious and that's a pretty good track record. Mike raves! Mike is kind of picky and hates about 50% of the things I make. (He eats them all! He just requests I don't add any of those things to the regular rotation.) (I glare at him a lot.)

I made this goal to see what cookbooks I really love (since I paid money for all of them) and this is one I'm so glad I own. 

It's also like 75% chocolate, which is an excellent percentage in my book. 

Washington, DC: Part Two

After spending a couple days in Dupont Circle, exploring the city, oohing and ahhing at every building along the mall, figuring out the Metro, and drinking wine in our hotel bed at 8pm, it was time to head out of town.

Mike likes exploring cities, but I knew he'd love the drive through Virginia (26th state for me!), to Shenandoah National Park where we spent the night in a hilltop B&B in Luray. I surprised him with this night away, and it was such a wonderful way to break up our trip.

Before we headed out of town, though, we stopped for lunch at Ben's Chili Bowl. 

What a place! You have to go here when/if you visit DC, for the history, the pictures lining the walls, the wait staff, the food. I had a veggie hot dog (just okay, but that's to be expected) but the veggie chili was good and Mike said the non-veggie hot dog and chili was some of the best he's ever had. 

Oh, and we also stopped at the Air & Space Museum at Dulles on our way out of town. It was here I missed Kyle so terribly because I knew he would have loved the hell out of that place. It was very cool and any person who has ever loved an airplane should stop here. (It's free!) 

Then we officially hit the road. 

Some of my favorite memories with Mike are memories in a car, on a long stretch of road between a great place we're leaving and a great place we're heading to. We talk, sometimes we don't, we sing to the radio (listening to Mike jam to Taylor Swift AND the Spice Girls was a highlight of this particular trip), we swap favorite Kyle stories, we stop for stupid pictures along the way. Oh, Mike, thanks for always taking the wheel when we hit the road. For letting me put my feet on the dash and read magazines and take pictures out the passenger window while forgetting to tell you where to turn next, so we always have to turn around once during a trip. You gently roll your eyes at me, and I fall in love with you all over again. You are a wonderful travel partner, and I really don't thank you enough for that. 

Once in Luray, we stayed at Once Upon a Mountain, a three-bedroom hilltop B&B and it was such a charming place. I picked this place through Google, Yelp!, and Trip Advisor alone. It didn't disappoint (except for one teeny thing I'll mention below).

I picked the best-rated room (the Queen's Suite), and it turned out the innkeeper was out of town during our visit and the other rooms were vacant, so we basically had the entire place to ourselves. That was a treat. 

The non-treat and one downside of the place was that stinkbugs are apparently very popular in Virginia, and especially in the more naturey parts of Virginia, and extra especially inside our B&B. This didn't bother Mike at all. He scooped them up as he found them and tossed them outside. THIS BOTHERED ME QUITE A LOT. At one point, I thought I saw one flying toward my head and when I told Mike this (LOUDLY), he said, "Oh no, they don't fly. Must have been a moth." Then he went to get a drink refill, and I Googled the hell out of "stink bugs fly" and when he got back 15 seconds later I said (AGAIN, LOUDLY) "They do TOO fly! Google says they can totally fly!"

"Yeah, I know they can, I just didn't think you'd Google it that quickly."

He both lies about bugs and underestimates my Google skills. 

We still had a great night, and I'd stay there again (stink bugs and all) but perhaps armed with some very strong bug spray of some kind next time around.

The next day, before heading out of town to stay with Caitlin (!!!!) for the night, we stopped at the Luray Caverns (very cool, although very similar to some caverns we've been to a few times before near San Antonio) and drove about 30 miles of Skyline Drive. 

(There was still snow on the ground!)

Virginia, you weren't too shabby at all. Other than your stink bugs but we have cockroaches, so I'm not talking too badly about you behind your back or anything.  

Next up: A few days/nights in Alexandria, a day trip to Annapolis, more monuments, and a lot of champagne with one of my favorite bloggers.

May Goals + April Goals Revisited

April was INSANE, guys. Like the insanest. May is shaping up to be more of the same, seeing as it's nearly mid-May and I'm just now posting this.

Anyway, this list is much sadder than March's. Let's hope for better things in May. And June. And other months too.

April Goals Revisited

1. Start my 30-Day Shred Challenge (I did start it and then immediately abandoned it; need to rethink this one)
2. Let's ease back into yoga and say: just get your butt to yoga at least once (I'm so red)
3. Finish at least one book (I finished four! I feel like that should earn me a trophy or something)
4. Buy a pair of eyeglasses (maybe even two) (BUT THEY HAVEN'T ARRIVED YET)
5. Go to the dermatologist
6. Send a bottle of champagne to someone
7. Leave the state!
8. Finish up the Pinterest challenge (just one left!) 
9. Make baked ziti
10. Set a date for my champagne dinner
11. Lose 5 lbs
12. Send those thank-you notes! (I sent some!)
13. Re-hang our photos over the couch
14. Take two neighborhood walks
15. Eat/make five vegan dishes/meals (One!)
16. No snacking after 9:30pm

May Goals 

1. Yoga. Seriously.
2. Finish The Great Gatsby
3. Eat a cupcake in New York
4. Make baked ziti
5. Lose 5 lbs
6. Start the Couch to 5K 
7. Finish Kyle's thank-you notes (a mere THREE MONTHS late)
8. Send off two thank-you packages
9. Make my vacation box
10. Dance to our song for our wedding anniversary
11. Eat at one new restaurant (this is quite an easy one, but done!) 
12. Start the research on hiring the right person to turn some of Kyle's best baby clothes into a quilt. (Could that be you?)
13. Make vegan strawberry cupcakes

I'm heading to New York this month for a work trip, a work trip that has required months and months of preparing for, and will be one of those go-go-go trips. A few fun meals, but mostly exhaustion and meetings and signings and more meetings and panels and walking and more signings. I'm tired already. 

So, I made my goals nice and easy this month. 

Patience with myself until at least mid-June is necessary.

April Goals + March Goals Revisited

Another month has come and gone. This year! It's flying by faster than usual, isn't it? Oh, annoying. (Except when sitting in traffic or trying to coerce Kyle to the car. Time slows waaaaay down then.)

March Goals, Revisited

1. Seriously, with the two books
2. Buy a pair of Kendra Scott earrings
3. Hang our frames! (But, siiiiigh, they're all wrong. We have to re-do things.)
4. Create a viewfinder for Kyle
5. Spraypaint something
6. Set a date for my champagne-inspired dinner
7. Go on a weekend trip with Natalie, to celebrate being friends for 20 years
8. Make baked ziti 
9. Yes, seriously, with the eye appointment 
10. Go to five yoga classes (I really need to figure fitness out this year before it's no longer this year)
11. Thirty-one emails to Kyle
12. Finish Kyle's letter book 
13. Watch Argo and Zero Dark Thirty 
14. Host an Easter brunch and egg hunt
15. Send out (belated) thank-you notes for Kyle's birthday

Not too shabby, right? I actually feel good about how I did this month. If I could just figure out how to read more and work out more (I think it has SOMETHING to do with getting off the couch or turning off the TV, but I can't be entirely sure), I'd be golden.

April Goals

1. Start my 30-Day Shred Challenge 
2. Let's ease back into yoga and say: just get your butt to yoga at least once
3. Finish at least one book
4. Buy a pair of eyeglasses (maybe even two)
5. Go to the dermatologist
6. Send a bottle of champagne to someone
7. Leave the state!
8. Finish up the Pinterest challenge (just one left!) 
9. Make baked ziti
10. Set a date for my champagne dinner
11. Lose 5 lbs
12. Send those thank-you notes! 
13. Re-hang our photos over the couch
14. Take two neighborhood walks
15. Eat/make five vegan dishes/meals
16. No snacking after 9:30pm

What's on your April to-do list?

Email to Kyle, 3/13/13

I nearly emailed Kyle yesterday about the Veronica Mars movie (!!!), like the awesome mother I am. The restraint I showed was really impressive (to myself). Instead, I share this moment:

Tonight we were making wishes on dandelions and you wished for dinosaurs and then got mad when they didn't just appear. Uh. I guess we need to talk about what wishes are. And maybe what dinosaurs are too.

(Not from the dandelion wishing, of course, but from a kite-flying afternoon a couple weeks ago.) 

Fun Things

Some super fun things: 

1. I got a Target gift card for my birthday (thank you, in-laws!) and instead of spending it on laundry detergent or groceries, I bought this purse. I really love it, and I would really love to link to it but where my love for Target is mighty, my love for Target's website is NONEXISTANT, OMG IT'S THE WORST.

2. After I passed on seeing Mumford & Sons when they came to Dallas a few years ago -- when tickets were something like $25, of course -- I swore I wouldn't make that mistake again. Anywhere in the state! I'll go anywhere in the state to see them, I swore! Or one state north, turns out. They'll be in Guthrie, Okla. this September and Mike and I are going. The concert is part of their small Gentleman of the Road series. I'm extremely excited, even if it seems like we might have to camp since hotels in the area are all sold out. I'm trying to convince Mike to buy a tent big enough to house a comfortable armchair. He has not stopped rolling his eyes at this idea since.

3. A couple years ago, I was in San Diego for Comic-Con and I got in a day early for set-up. There was no air-conditioning in the convention center that day and I was so tired when I left that I basically stumbled into the Hopping Pig to kill time before dinner. (Here's a whole list of my San Diego dining highlights!) I ordered a Lagunitas IPA because the brewery is in the town my stepmom and brother live. But, I loved it! Since then, I try an IPA every now and then and more so over the last couple months. I told my co-worker this, and she brought me a couple bottles last week, after a tough, stressful week. We've worked together for almost six years, and I would be such a mess without her. I would say that even if she didn't bring me beers.

4. Natalie and I are headed to College Station later this month, to celebrate being friends for 20 years. I get sappy when I think of Natalie because, well, it's Natalie. She's known me two-thirds of my life and there is really no one who has seen me through so much and still come out the other side to like me, except my mother. I don't know quite how to articulate what it's like to have a friend for so long, through so much, except to say that at some point she (thankfully) became a certainty. She'll be in my life forever. So, we toast that truth in our college town next month, over greasy potatoes and cheap drinks and, lamely but wonderfully, sleeping in. Twenty years! 

5. Mike and I were planning an Alaskan trip this year. A dream trip! But, siiiiigh, dream trips are not free. We just couldn't afford it. So, we swapped our tickets for a closer-to-home, much more affordable DC trip. We're still really excited about it. I've only been for work and something tells me the convention center isn't top of the must-see DC list. We have a lot of wonderful people offering us great tips, but if there's a must-try restaurant or an off-the-beaten path suggestion you think we should absolutley know about, let me have it! I love travel spreadsheets. Let me add your picks to this one. 

6. My mom turns 65 this year (she looks at least a decade younger, I know) and we've decided to take a girl's trip to Kansas City to celebrate. This is where she's from, and a place I've never been, so I can't wait to go. I can't wait to see where my mom grew up, where she went to school, and to just see this lovely new place through her eyes. I think there will be a bottle of champagne (or a couple cold beers; she's into beer lately) and a lot of good conversation in store for us. And a new map pin for me! 

7. I'm hosting a champagne-inspired dinner sometime in the next two months, and I'm excited to invite some of my favorite ladies to my house for a dinner with a bubbly theme. Here's my Pinterest board, but are there any recipes that really need to make this menu?

March Goals + February Goals Revisited

February was kind of tough for me, although I'm not entirely sure why. (I think it's just kind of a tough month in general.) I found myself saying a lot of harsh words under my breath this month, and my stress levels were kind of high. So, my goals list is a little sad. (Good news! I'm already dominating March's.)

At first, I had all these excuses listed beside the goals I didn't complete but, gah, that's annoying. So, without further navel-gazing:

February Goals, Revisited

1. Make that eye appointment 
2. Two Pinterest projects (more on those)
3. Read two books 
4. Throw Kyle a fourth birthday party (look!)
5. Go to five yoga classes 
6. Make 5 cookbook recipes 
7. Buy those frames!
8. Finish 30 days of Whole 30
9. Run a 5K
10. Email Kyle 28 times
11. Look into Rangers and Aggies tickets for the spring/fall 
12. Work on Kyle's letter book 
13. Create books from Christmas for my mom and sister (not on my 2013 goal list but a new goal all the same)
14. Send my brother a care package 

March Goals

1. Seriously, with the two books
2. Buy a pair of Kendra Scott earrings
3. Hang our frames!
4. Create a viewfinder for Kyle
5. Spraypaint something
6. Set a date for my champagne-inspired dinner
7. Go on a weekend trip with Natalie, to celebrate being friends for 20 years
8. Make baked ziti
9. Yes, seriously, with the eye appointment 
10. Go to five yoga classes
11. Thirty-one emails to Kyle
12. Finish Kyle's letter book 
13. Watch Argo and Zero Dark Thirty 
14. Host an Easter brunch and egg hunt
15. Send out (belated) thank-you notes for Kyle's birthday

What are you up to this month?