She Likes Purple

ATX Festival: Take Two

Last year, I went to the ATX Television Festival--a festival created, you guessed it, to celebrate all things TV--and when I told people that's where I was headed for the weekend, I heard this a lot: A TV festival? I take it these people don't watch fan videos of their favorite TV couples on YouTube in their spare time and that's cool, takes all kinds, but perhaps these people shouldn't get a hold of my internet search history. 

It was an amazing weekend, so much fun that I snatched up my ticket for this year while I was still there last year. (Helped that I was practically a stone's throw from Chris Lowell while purchasing. Sure, I'll come back and gaze at the likes of you for a few days.)

This year, I took my mom with me because apparently being passionate about fictional characters is an inherited trait. We booked our tickets ages ago but we waited to book our hotel because we didn't realize that the DAMN X-GAMES were going to be the same weekend. In the same city. As soon as we realized this, our choice of lodging became a stupidly epxensive (but awesomely located) hotel or a slightly less stupidly expensive (but still awesomely located) AirBnB condo. We opted for the latter. 

We arrived in Austin around 5:30pm on a Thursday afternoon a few weeks ago, and had to pull our suitcases blocks to our place because so many of the roads were closed because of those X-Games. In Texas. In June. It was hot. 

When we finally pulled our suitcases to the front door of the condo we rented, the owner was waiting for us. A 32-year-old and her 65-year-old mother, sweating profusely. He said, "You're not here for the X-Games, are you?"

I don't know what about ME says "not in town for the X-Games" but it apparently says it very loudly. 

After we relaxed at our condo for a bit, we walked to dinner at Bess, a place I'd been dying to try for ages (despite the music on the restaurant's website, WHY DOES THIS STILL HAPPEN?) because I heard the food was good and also because befriending Sandra Bullock, who owns the place, through witty dinner banter is on my life list. 

Sandy was unfortunately not there, but we did split a bottle of wine, the burger, and then the beignets. All were amazing, just outstanding from start to finish. It was one of those delightful meals where the food and company and service were all effortless and enjoyable. And it was in walking distance from where we stayed. 

Let's back up a bit, though, because when I say the X-Games were in town, I don't think you quite understand just how close we were to the actual X-Games. 

So, good news, bad news. Good news! That ramp was only there Thursday, clearing up the traffic and road closures for most of our time in town. Bad news! The ramp was gone by Friday morning because they spent all Thursday night taking it apart with hammers and other tools that are not found on a white noise machine. 

We woke up Friday morning exhausted. 

Thankfully Austin has coffee. And Diet Coke. And more coffee.

We stayed just a few blocks from the festival's central hotel (the Intercontinental), where registration and a handful of the panels were held. In fact, everything is a quick, easy walk from the next place (all the panels, screenings, and other events were held either at that hotel, the State Theater, or the Alamo Drafthouse). It's one of the things I love most about the festival. Both years have felt small and cozy, almost exclusive, and that's half because I still don't think people realize just how awesome this festival is and half because the organizers are simply amazing and have figured out how to maintain that feeling.

Our first panel was Orange is the New Black.

We got to screen the season two premiere before the panel. I haven't watched the rest of the season yet but only because I've become a bit obsessed with MTV's Catfish. I can't stop watching when there's a new episode on my DVR, no matter the episode's premise, though I do want to shake each and every person on the show and ask, "HAVE YOU HEARD OF GOOGLE."

Anyway, sorry to get sidetracked, from there we basically camped out at the Alamo for the Bates Motel, Revenge, and Justified panels. My ticket to the festival was $99 and I think I would have paid that to watch that many awesome TV shows on a big, movie theater screen with beer and queso, but I also got to listen to writers, producers, and actors talk about their shows. Basically, the festival became worth it two hours into it, no exaggeration.

After the Friday panels, my mom and I drove to the San Jose Hotel (a favorite!), to watch an outdoor screening of Friday Night Lights.

It was such a cool experience, watching my absolute favorite show on a big screen with dozens of other fans (and some of the cast, including Tyra and Grandma Saracen!), but we got there at 6pm in order to get a parking spot and a place to put our folding chairs and the screening didn't start until 9:30pm. We were so tired, and though, again, it was really cool once the show started, I'll likely skip the screening next year if they have it. 

My mom and I slept in the next morning, thank everything, and then had breakfast at the Intercontinental before one of my favorite panels of the weekend: An Assistant's Tale. Such an impressive group of ladies, talking about their start as writers and casting directors and producers. I could have listened to them talk for hours.

From there, we nabbed a front-row spot at the Everwood reunion panel, and it was another of my favorites. The cast oozed appreciation and love for the show, and they showed clips and cast messages and behind-the-scenes video.

Chris Pratt FaceTimed in the middle of the panel. I mean, TICKET PRICE WORTH IT, SERIOUSLY.

After that, we headed to the Parenthood panel. We had heard rumors all weekend about so-and-so showing up here or Tim Riggins showing up there, so when there was a Lauren Graham and Peter Krause rumor swirling around, I kind of ignored it. BURNED ME TWICE ALREADY, TV FESTIVAL RUMOR SPREADERS. 

But then:

I'm going to put an unpopular opinion out there: I love Sarah Braverman more than Lorelai Gilmore. She's my favorite part of Parenthood. She's a far more realistic, relatable character (for me), and it was a treat to be in the same room as her. 

After that, I don't think I could have handled much more excitement (and I wasn't feeling great that evening), so we turned in early.

Sunday, our main goal was the Roswell reunion panel, and that was so much fun. 

Honestly, the weekend just flew by, it was relaxing and so much fun. I got to spend some quality time with my mom, while watching a lot of TV in Austin. All such wonderful things.

One last thing I love about this festival is the people who attend it. I felt like I became friends with strangers, in such a short amount of time, by just standing in lines and talking TV with them. No one shoved to the front or was rude or was anything other than cool, TV-loving people. I bought my ticket for next year while still there because it's now a place I just want to be every year. 

(And, hey! Tickets are already on sale for next year. You should be there too.) 

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.

A belated Blathering recap

I've written about the Blathering before (a blogging/social media meet-up that happens once a year in a different city), which is why I was in Charleston earlier this month. This was my fourth Blathering, and every year has been more good than bad for me. That's enough to keep me organizing, keep me coming back. Often a lot more good than bad. I mean, why else do it? It can't be perfect, it can't be stress- or drama-free, but it has to be mostly enjoyable right? I agree. 

This year, though?

This year was practically perfect. 95% good to the 5% bad, and the bad really only consisted of giant palmetto bugs (THOSE ARE ROACHES, NO MATTER HOW CUTE A NAME YOU GIVE THEM, SOUTH CAROLINA) and the weekend having to end. Oh, and the one time I dropped a tray of food in the hotel parking lot. Oops! 

I don't know if it was the desperate need for a girl's weekend away, the charming city of Charleston, the smaller group this year, all of us being at the same hotel, the more casual events, all those biscuits I ate. (Damn, SC, you know how to make a biscuit.) A combination, I'd guess. It was just a really lovely weekend.

I've had a stressful year. So stressful that I got a little weepy on Saturday night while lying in bed with my roommates. Caitlin gave me a hug, while I sat there and sniffled, and I think I unloaded on two trusted friends like that because Charleston was the exact opposite of all those stressful feelings. It was the exhale to so many tightly-wound days, the warm hug to feeling misunderstood so often. It was laughter and relaxation, two things I don't think you can ever have too much of and two things I'm having to really seek out these days. Every time I laughed, I wanted to keep laughing. I stayed up until 2am (MULTIPLE NIGHTS, OMG, I'm still so tired almost a month later) because I couldn't get enough laughter. I couldn't get enough of these ladies. I was ready to get home, always am, but I could have had a week with this group and still felt warm and happy and content. 

We're heading to Seattle next (no dates chosen yet) and I hope you can make it. 

Thank everything for people with good cameras and the ability to use them

Kyle's soccer coach's wife took this picture at his first game of the season. He had just scored a goal, turned and pointed right at Mike. She thought we'd want to have it.

She was right.

Las Vegas, 2013 Edition

I have a theory. Okay, it's less of a theory than just a two-sentence opinion. I think you either love Vegas or you hate Vegas. You either can't wait to plan your next trip to the Strip or you would be fine never again seeing that much neon. 

Mike and I live firmly in the first camp.

It's not that I don't get why some might hate it. It's A Lot and it's dirty and it can be expensive (meals, more than anything else) and if you don't gamble, you have to walk through miles of casino to get to things you might actually enjoy (like expensive meals!) and, wow, is everything so spread out, your feet will hurt like hell on DAY ONE. No matter what you actually do that day.

Not to mention it's like 113 degrees half the year. 

Or all the people in ill-fitting clothes. I swear, 75% of people wearing ill-fitting clothes in this world are wearing them in Vegas.

But, it's just a place we love. We do like to gamble, we love so many of the meals we've had there, we love all the lights and attractions and people watching (best people watching, like ever) and every show we've seen has been incredible and, oh, bottomless mimosa buffets are my jam. We like it! It's our kind of place.

We took my in-laws early last month for a quick, three-night, four-day visit, and I haven't shared anything about that trip here yet.  

It was a low-key trip (see: traveling with my in-laws), and there was not a single night we were in bed later than 11pm or a single morning we were up later than 8am (one morning was 6:30am!), but we still had so much fun.

Lame adult fun but fun nonetheless.

We got in at 8:45am on Saturday morning, so we had our rental car (more on that later) and were at our hotel, checking our bags, by 10am. We went straight to The Buffet at Wynn, what we heard was the best buffet in Vegas. It was an hour wait, so I was hoping the buffet would offer back rubs or free drinks or SOMETHING but, no. Still! It was delicious! Better than the Bellagio, where we usually hit up the buffet at least once, but the Bellagio (if memory serves) is a little cheaper.

After that, we walked around a few more hotels before going back to our hotel (the Monte Carlo, which is where we'll stay from here until forever because it's affordable, nice, and centrally located) for naps. You may ask what we had done so far that day to warrant a nap, and I will say NAPS ARE ALWAYS A GOOD IDEA. 

After naps, we got fancied up (see: took showers) for Zarkana at Aria.

We've seen three Cirque du Soleil shows (O, Zumanity, and this one), and Zarkana might actually be my favorite. Just incredible.

We had Fat Burger for dinner after the show. Life was good.

The next morning we got up and entered a poker tournament at our hotel (a one-table poker tournament, so basically a home game) and after that we . . . uh . . . I kind of don't remember. It's been over a month! This is why you write blog recaps of your trips immediately upon returning home, kids. 

Oh! I remember now. We went to downtown Las Vegas, to visit the Golden Nugget, one of our favorite plates to play craps and poker. And the people watching just gets better down there.

Side note: Probably a good time to talk about why we sometimes rent a car in Vegas. Yes, cabs are a plenty and you can walk, but cabs add up (the Strip traffic is bananas and it can take 15 minutes to go a couple blocks), and we like to go from one end of the Strip to the other and that's something like five entire miles. Doable but in the summer, it's also horrible. And! We like to get off the Strip. We go downtown at least once a trip and, as you'll see, we also get out of town to visit some surrounding sites. Our car was affordable (something like $120 for the four days we were there, and we split that in half with Mike's parents). 

That night we splurged on a delicious dinner at Stack (the Country Potato Gratin was a life changer). Our waiter's name was Kyle and, as I often do in this situation, I excitedly announced, "What a great name! That's my son's name." "Huh." The waiter was not my spirit animal, let's just say.

The next day we headed out of town to visit the Valley of Fire. Mike and I went way back in 2004, and we had good memories, so we thought his parents would enjoy it too. 

It was still beautiful. But, guys, so hot. Like the surface of the sun. We ended up hiking about a mile and it felt like a marathon.

After that, we drove a couple hours to the Hoover Dam. We were told we might see Big Horn Sheep on the drive, so I basically made everyone do nothing but look for Big Horn Sheep on the drive because that's just not an animal you see every day. We didn't see any but, truth be told, I don't think my road trip companions were as committed as I was. I heard a lot of unnnecessary chatting.

The Hoover Dam was great, incredible of course, but I do have to admit that my favorite part of the visit was making Mike stand in Arizona while I stood in Nevada. (Same novelty I enjoyed at the Four Corners.) 

We got back to the Strip and headed out for an exhausted, late dinner. We went to the Burger Bar, a place we'd been way back in 2009, and it was better than I remembered. 

That night Mike played craps while I read in bed. I know, you're totally embarassed by my antics. 

We had a lot of our last day to hang out, since our flight wasn't until the evening. We got up insanely early to be one of the first at Mon Ami Gabi, one of my Vegas favorites, and it didn't disappoint. I couldn't bring myself to order a mimosa or Bloody Mary at 7:30am, apparently that's just TOO early for me, but next time! I'm coming for you, breakfast drinks.

We played in another poker tournament that morning, and then I spent two straight hours winning money at nickel poker (and then another 10 minutes losing those winnings; DAMN YOU GAMBLING), before we grabbed a very late lunch and then headed to the airport.

Oh, Vegas. I can't quit you. I'm already thinking about my next trip to see you. (We think December 2014!)

Belated high-fives

As I mentioned in my last post, Mike was out of town last week. He was gone Monday through Friday and while I missed him like mad and Kyle missed him like mad and life is just nicer when he's around, I wouldn't call our week without him impossible. Tiring, sure, but a lot of weeks are tiring, even when it's not just me solely in charge. I commute, Kyle is four (he's kind of on high-volume most of the time), and work for us both has been stressful lately, so we have tiring down.

But, our week flying solo was a lot, it was a lot of rushing around, a lot of dropping balls, a lot of collapsing in bed as soon as Kyle was asleep. I felt like high-fiving all single moms after Mike returned home, and not because it was such a hard week but because life is a lot, it's always a lot, and when you're juggling a lot on your own, you deserve high-fives. You do. You deserve all the high-fives, in fact, and then a Carribean vacation.

My dad left when I was nine and a couple years after that, my mom, sister, and I headed to Texas without him to start a new and more financially feasible life, and we each gave my mom hell in very specific and different ways until we moved out (my sister gave her school hell and I gave her boy hell, for those curious).

My mom and I used to butt heads a lot, especially in high school, especially after my sister moved out. I remember when I got accepted to college, she and I were in a huge, silent fight. We hadn't talked in days, but I called to tell her the news and she forgave me on the spot. We celebrated by going to Boston Market, something we loved to do together back then.

I imagine it was a lot for her, to work full-time and raise me, a boy-obsessed, self-destructive silly girl who stopped meeting her potential the day she turned 15. She probably wanted to come home and have a glass of wine at the end of the day without me pouting around the house, whining that LIFE IS HORRIBLE, BUY ME JEANS AND ALSO GIVE ME MONEY. 

I was a normal teenager (I think?), but she deserved better, a break from me every now and then that she never really got because life is a lot and she was always in charge.

Parenthood opens up all these truths to you, and some of these truths are that our parents were wrong, they could and should have done better, and some of these truths are that our parents did the very best they could possibly do and they deserved better than we gave them in return. It surprises me which past memories fall into which category. 

One truth that's separated itself from the rest for me, though, is that my mom was a single mom, and not just some of the year but most of the year. Life is a lot and it was always up to her to handle it, and I don't remember her enjoying a glass of wine at the end of any day. Man, I bet she needed it. 

So, it's not that a week without Mike is impossible, it's that a week without Mike reminds me that my mom was (and is) a badass and she deserved a few high-fives for getting my sister and I safely to adulthood all on her own. She didn't get them then, but I'm giving them to her now. 

Mom, next time, the wine is on me. 

Things to To in Texas: Visit Revolver Brewery

My ladies and I had a girls weekend this past weekend many weeks ago because I can't get my act together to post regularly these days, but we headed closed to home, just an hour away. We stayed in Granbury, TX, which is a 10-minute drive from Revolver Brewery.

We headed to the brewery Saturday afternoon (after pedicures!) and while mid-July in Texas is never ideal for outdoor activities, it was SUCH a fun brewery that I'd recommend it to anyone, any time of year. 

It had so much to do, to pass an afternoon: take a tour, listen to live music (they have a schedule of who's playing on their website), play in water tables and on playgrounds (if you're a kid or if you've REALLY enjoyed the beer), eat some local food. You could also taste beer, which I assume is why some of you would go.

The Blood & Honey, a wheat beer, is what the brewery is known for, and it was so much better than I remembered when I tried it at a local restaurant, but I preferred the High Brass, a blonde ale. 

So, if you're in or passing through Granbury anytime soon, swing by this brewery. I'm already planning my return trip.

Four years later, and we finally win at fireworks

We moved into our house four years ago, right around July Fourth, and that first year I vaguely remember watching a few fireworks from our porch, where I didn't enjoy them as much I prayed my way through that they wouldn't wake up then-five-months-old Kyle.

I don't remember being able to see the fireworks too clearly, or at least I assume that I couldn't see them too clearly, because the next year we piled into the car and headed to the big, open field and festival our town throws in honor of the holiday and where we could (or so we thought) better see the fireworks show. 

The year after that, we drove a couple blocks and watched them from a big, open parking lot because we got a late start.

Last year, we headed back to the festival. 

This year, Kyle was a little timid about the whole thing, though. He doesn't particularly like loud noises (who can blame him? I find loud noises rather annoying), and he didn't seem all that excited about going to the festival just to listen to loud noises, no matter how many bounce houses we promised him. We invited my mom and Mike's parents and some friends over and told everyone we'd just play it by ear, either pile in the car and head to the festival or try to see some of the higher fireworks from our backyard. In the meantime, I made festive sangria (possibly the best sangria I've ever had; make this TODAY) and Mike bought sparklers and poppers to keep everyone entertained. (Kyle doesn't like loud noises, but he absolutely loved those poppers. So much so that Mike had to go out and buy more the next day. I don't understand four year olds either.)

Sangria. Seriously, so good.

For whatever reason -- those vagueish memories from 2009? our own unimpressive intelligence? -- we just assumed our backyard wasn't the best place to see them, and that we'd certainly make DO, if we had to, but it wasn't ideal or anything.

But we did end up staying home and BOY were we wrong about our backyard. We're idiots, basically.

We can see our town's fireworks show PERFECTLY. PER. FECT. LY. We had fold-up chairs and blankets and drinks and it was the best July Fourth holiday I can honestly remember. The festival is fun, but walking into our backyard without any of the crowds or parking hassles is WAY more fun. Like so much more fun we're never going to the festival again, sorry town festival! 

After the show, we even lit and released some lanterns we'd purchased a few months ago, inspired by our trip to Puerto Rico (minus the almost-burning-buildings-down part, that wasn't very inspiring). My particular lantern ripped pre-flight, but I will not read too much into THAT or what it might mean for my wishes. 

It was a wonderful night, and Kyle did great with the noise. He kept saying, "It's not THAT loud!" It was such a perfect holiday, and the rest of the weekend was great too. 

I hope yours was equally wonderful. 

Also, next year, fireworks watching in our yard. You're invited. 

 

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.

Weekend Snapshots

It was one of the good ones.

 

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.

What To Do in New Orleans: Eat at Commander's Palace

In April, a cowoker got married in Lafayette, Louisiana so another coworker and I made a weekend of it by spending a couple days in New Orleans beforehand. I had been to New Orleans before (here, here, and here), but she had not. Oh, we had such a wonderful time. We mixed the local traditions (drinking a lot) with our particular personalities (enjoying naps and relaxing in bed with a book). Example: We shared a bottle of champagne for breakfast one day (WITH ORANGE JUICE, OF COURSE) but were reading in bed by 10pm. 

Anyway, one thing I love about Adrienne (the lady I traveled with) is that really all we both care about when traveling (or just plain living) is where we're going to eat our next best meal. We had both wanted to try Commander's Palace and thought lunch might be the best way to do it.

We were both right.

The meal wasn't just incredible, the entire dining experience was. We expected this meal would be a splurge, but for a cocktail, a split appetizer, an full entree, and a split dessert, we each paid $50. That's not exactly affordable to do too often, but it was more than worth it for the meal we had.

I had:

A French 75 (probably the BEST French 75 I've ever had)
Spicy Shrimp Remoulade
Crawfish Grilled Cheese 
Strawberry Shortcake

Everything was delicious (the soup that accompanied the grilled cheese wasn't life-changing, I feel I should admit), but I do want to spotlight two particular things. The French 75 really was the most delicious cocktail I've ever had. It's how cocktails are supposed to taste, I'd say. Also, the strawberry shortcake was so good, it actually became one of my new favorite desserts right on the spot.

Honestly, if you're going to New Orleans without an agenda and with any meals free to fill, you need to head to Commander's Palace. You won't regret it.

(Adrienne and me in the French Quarter!)

Watching Them Grow

One thing they don't tell you, at least one thing they didn't tell me, is that watching your kids grow up with other great kids is one of the most adorable things around. A'Dell, how did this happen, anyway?

(March 2010; April 2013)

Seven Quick (Jumping Back Into Blogging) Takes

I have vacation recaps to write and Pinterest projects to share and suggestions for where to eat in both DC and New Orleans, and I hope I get to all those posts before 2014. In the meantime, let's dust off this blog. Seven quick (okay, not quick at all) takes...

1. Last week (wait, week before last...April you are so nuts), Molly's eyes swelled up and got a little goopy. At first, we thought it was just allergies, but then we realized she had also stopped eating and wouldn't take a treat. (Molly is like her mother. She will always take a treat.) Turns out, she had a severely abscessed tooth that had infected her nasal passages and was causing her eyes to swell. She is, thankfully, nearly good as new after a round of antibiotics and pain killers and shouldn't need surgery. Phew!

It really sucked, though, during the time we weren't quite sure what was wrong with her. Molly is usually fairly healthy. I mean, she's given us a scare or two before, sure, but it had been awhile. It was this weird wake-up call that our girl is nearly 10 and she's not exactly facing more years ahead of her than are behind her. 

When the vet went over our options with Mike, she mentioned that if the antibiotics didn't work, surgery to remove the tooth would be necessary and it would be expensive (MANY THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS EXPENSIVE). We don't have a budget item for Very Expensive Pet Surgeries, but when Mike talked to me about it, it was just a given we'd figure it out. She's our girl.

She's a dog, yes, but she's also Molly. Molly! I've loved her for as long as I've loved Mike. While she can be pretty irritating on a day-to-day basis (she's the neediest living thing in my house), this was a reminder that she is absolutely part of our family. 

Again, she's feeling much better. She probably wishes she had pulled these shenanigans years ago because we've been giving her cheese on a nightly basis, and we don't protest at all when she worms her away into our bed at night. 

So many of my friends (online and off) sent out love to her, after I mentioned what was going on, and it meant the absolute world to me. Seriously, thank you so much if you were one of those people sending warm thoughts to our girl.

She's doing so much better, she's practically skipping.

2. Have I talked yet about Justified? Well, I fell down a Justified-sized hole on Amazon Prime a few weeks ago and basically watched the entire series in something like two weeks. You'd be disgusted if you weren't so impressed, right? (Or maybe you're just disgusted...)

At first I was hesitant to start this show because I was (foolishly) led to believe there are no love stories, and I'm a girl who really prefers her TV shows to have a love story or two. But, 1) there totally are and 2) who really cares when Timothy Olyphant is wearing that cowboy hat so well throughout the series.

I'm all caught up in time...to wait a year for the next season! Cable TV seasons routinely break my heart.

3. I hesitate to declare this here because I've been doing it for a WHOPPING two days, but I've finally started my 30-Day Shred Challenge. That would be 30-straight days of doing (level 1, I'm not insane) the 30-Day Shred. This is such a quick and effective work-out, and a few Twitter friends are tackling the challenge with me. Want to join us?

4. I read this beautiful post about Holly's grandmother who recently passed away, and besides being reminded that Holly talks about love and family and nostalgia better than anyone, I was also struck that I won't ever be able to write a similar post about either of my biological grandmothers. 

This makes me sad, on a basic that-kind-of-stings level, but right after that thought struck me, it occurred to me that Kyle will be able to write something that heartfelt one day (if writing becomes one of his things) about either of his grandmothers. Kyle is such a lucky boy, for a million reasons, but the relationship he has with both of his grandmas (Nana and Mia, as he calls them) is near the tippy-top of the list. I've said this before and I'll say it dozens more times, but the fact that he has this beautiful, special, unconditional thing with them both, something I never had, is one of my favorite ways we're rewriting history together.

5. This feels like a very silly thing to mention, but I am trying to fill a list here. I made some small edits to this site all on my very own, so I'm basically a web designer now (ha). I added new social media buttons, new "top post" pictures (right-hand sidebar), new links, etc. Just messing around a little bit, but enjoy if you...enjoy sidebar badges and those kinds of things. 

6. We're debating taking Kyle camping for the first time this year. We need to make this decision pretty much immediately because Texas is going to get really hot in about two weeks. We'd just drive up to Oklahoma for the night, no big deal, and I think Kyle would love it. I mean, he's in such a fun stage, where everything new is So! Much! Fun! Mike really likes camping, too, and I really like when they do outdoorsy stuff together and leave me in peace to read, so it kind of works out for all of us. Last time Mike and I went camping, there was a burn ban, so we "camped" while eating dinner in nearby restaurants. That felt a little fraudy. Anyway, I'll keep you posted on our camping plans as I'm sure you're on the edge of your "WILL THEY CAMP?" seats. 

7. Speaking of Kyle, age four has been a lot of fun so far. I loved age two (so much), and still loved age three (though will readily admit that, oh boy, do you have to pay attention when parenting a three year old--they will take a mile if you give them half a centimeter), so I was a little nervous about age four. But, regardless how hard age four can be (friends start to mightily influence other four year olds, unfortunately, wiping away ALL MY HARD PARENTING WORK IN ONE AFTERNOON), the age is just so HILARIOUS. He says the funniest damn things. He has said in the course of a week, "Slip me some skin, Mommy," and "Oh phooey! Phooey is my new word, Mommy." He spells words and can read a little bit and I'm amazed anew that I get to hang out with this kid. He's my son! It's very delightful every time I remember that.

I've figured out that babies just aren't my jam. I love babies! I especially love snuggling your babies and just...passing them back to you when they show the slightest sign of being unhappy about something. But toddlers? Then kids? Oh yeah. They're my speed. 

I remember when Kyle was between one and two, maybe 15-16 months or so, and the weekends were kind of brutal. One, Mike worked weekends back then so it was just my boy and me, filling up two straight days, and I'd be so relieved by Sunday evening, which is a hard thing to confess. I was just so exhausted and he wasn't quite talking yet but he needed EVERYTHING and I couldn't sit until he went to bed. Now, we watch The Voice and he helps me cook and he makes me laugh EVERY SINGLE DAY and he asks me questions about geography and dinosaurs and stuff I really like answering. So much better than angry pointing, like he did back when.

Anyway, the other day he was looking at a picture of my mom and me from when I was in college and if there's ever a picture of me that he's not in, he assumes he was in my tummy. "Is that when I was in your belly?" "No, actually, that was before you were in my belly. That was even before I knew daddy!" He did not understand. He looked at me like I was nuts. Before him? BEFORE? No such thing. He finally said, "Oh, I must have been sleeping."

He walked off, cool kid that he is, with his hands in his pockets, and I thought to myself: I'm just so glad you showed up.

I'm so glad we're here.

Easter 2013

Easter is one of my favorite holidays, which I know may sound a little strange. I'm not a very religious person, but I do believe deeply in a few things and one of those things is the power of the people I love to make me feel wholer. 

I had a house full of those people this morning, and I felt it very good.

Including these little dudes, who dominated our egg hunt AND our confetti egg stash. 

We thought it might storm during our brunch and egg hunt. Sometimes Texas can surprise you in the best, most sunshiney ways.

I hope your day was just as warm, literally or otherwise.

***

Oh, and these beer biscuits that were on our Easter menu were DELICIOUS and you should make them immediately. 

Friendiversary

When we were 11, I made Natalie buy best friend necklaces. Like, all the time. You know, the really cool yin-yang-type necklaces that turned your skin green ten seconds after you put one on. I made her buy about a million of them.

It's not easy to be friends with me, but this lady has it down. She's been doing it for 20 years. 

Good, bad, really good, really bad. She's been there. And even when she wasn't there, she was there. Maybe especially then.

In college, I was having big issues with another friend. I was sad about it, so I called Natalie. When I got engaged at 5am, I called Natalie. (Fine, Mike made me wait a couple hours, so it was more like 7am.) On my honeymoon, when Mike was snorkeling and I was bored of my (really not fit for beach-reading) book, I called Natalie. When I found out I was pregnant, I called Natalie. 

She hated the term "friendiversary" that I said about a million times over the weekend. She hated it but laughed while hating it. I like to think that while Natalie and I are so very different, we always find a way to laugh. I like to think that's our language. 

When Natalie and I were in middle school, we lived just blocks apart. We'd walk to each other's houses, nearly every day, through our neighbors' yard. Over the course of four years, we created a ditch in that yard. We walked so often through it, we changed it.

This is Natalie's friendship, in a nutshell. It's changed me. 

Twenty years. Man, that's a long time to be so lucky.

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?

Seven Quick (January Seventh) Takes

1. Phew, we're through Christmas and New Year's and my birthday and we can finally stop eating, am I right? Well, I can stop eating. I'm sure you have enough will power to have stopped already. (Show-off.) Anyway, the Biggest Blogging Loser starts today, so I start my own new year too. I'm loosely doing the Whole30. I say "loosely" because I have a few (work and personal) dinner commitments I can't/refuse to cancel or suffer through drinking water at and also because I won't beat myself up over missteps or allow myself to go hungry rather than eating something non-Whole30 compliant. I'm going to try my best, I'll say, and I'm mostly just trying to use this month as a tool to become re-aware of what I eat after (so many) months of getting disconnected with that.

A couple things I'm giving up for the duration of the Biggest Blogging Loser, though, are alcohol and chocolate. I know! That's 12 long weeks without a glass of something or a slice of something, but I think I enjoyed my fair share of both over the holidays and this will be a good re-focus for me on fruits and vegetables and healthy dishes.

I was texting Holly tonight about eating wholer--and I hope she's okay if I share this--but she said to me "don't let anyone police you." This is just what I needed to hear. You put intentions out on the internet and you can feel (maybe just me?) that the internet then gets a say in those goals. So, I'm repeating those smart words to myself over and over. It's really empowering.

I'm doing my best! We'll see how it goes.

Anyway, here's my January menu, if you care to see it. (By the way, I love this template I found for 2013 monthly calendars. Maybe you'll like it too.)

(Click to enlarge!)

2. I've somehow managed to watch a ton of movies over the last couple weeks and while I'd like to sit down and write out thoughtful movie reviews for each, I never seem to have the time, so I'll quickly recap a few:

Go see Silver Linings Playbook. Oh, it's so refreshingly good! I found it funny and heartwarming and dark and romantic. Bradley Cooper just owned his particular character and Jennifer Lawrence was perfect, too, although I felt she had less to prove. She's done small, independent films and she's done The Hunger Games but she's just good, you know? You don't doubt this girl can act, and I now don't doubt that about Bradley Cooper, either. So, if you're looking for a (likely-to-be-nominated) movie to see in this particular awards' season, see this one. (Although I haven't seen some of the other awards' contenders, so maybe take actual critics' recommendations now that I think about it.)

So, I had heard a lot of buzz about The Cabin in the Woods for a while now, and I had been wanting to see it. I finally convinced Mike to watch it (with my sister and her husband) over the holidays and, wow, what am I missing? The twist was kind of in the trailer, so as not to be all that shocking. Anything beyond the trailer was...not good. It was ridiculous. It was campy but not funny (which I was told it would be!). I just didn't get the appeal, and neither did the three other people I watched it with. 

We also watched Lawless over the holidays and I really enjoyed it. Sure, it's kind of violent but I can't imagine you'd go into a movie about outlaw bootleggers and be surprised by that. For the violence, you also get a healthy dose of Tom Hardy, so go ahead and give it a try.

3. This is the point in the year where I go from Holiday Mania! to Planning My Child's Birthday Party! and somehow I'm always surprised by this. It's like the holidays are a buffer for the weird feelings that Kyle turning a year older bring, and now that the holidays are over, I can properly feel all of them. I try never to let myself get too sad because I have a healthy, awesome kid. I wouldn't trade that for anything. But it's still weird, you know? He's nearly four! I sometimes just can't reconcile that. Anyway, he is nearly four and we're throwing him a dinosaur birthday party (although who knows WHERE yet because we have a very small house and he has a February birthday--one of the few notoriously cold months in Texas--meaning we can't just let the birthday guests run loose in the yard and that always makes our at-home parties feel super cramped and chaotic, but we'll figure SOMETHING out) and he is very excited about it, and I'm very excited about it, too. Four! I just don't know.

4. For Christmas, I bought myself Young House Love, and while I know they are a Very Big Blog (which bring Very Big Blog Opinions), I mainly like this book because I'm a home decor idiot. I'm bad at DIY and bad at decorating and bad at thinking of ideas while looking at my ugly walls. They broke down ideas and simple fixes all in one easy-to-reference place, and they also made it easy for me to show Mike "THIS! I WANT OUR HOUSE TO LOOK LIKE THIS!" and he understood what I meant without me fumbling through blog archives or Pinterest boards to show him photos. He's become re-inspired around our house (in part because of the things I've shown him from the book, I'd be willing to wager) and it makes it fun to dream up Home Fixes together. I love this book, really I do, and I'd recommend it to you, if you're anything like me.

5. Oh, hey, my college team won their bowl game, and I got to watch them do just that at my birthday party Friday night. That was a lot of fun.

We had a house full of Aggies, and it was a lot of fun to high-five and cheer together. I recommend watching your team win with friends, drinks, and snacks. (I just invented game-watching parties, didn't I? You're welcome!) 

6. One my favorite birthday gifts was a gift card to Target. I don't really understand people who don't like getting (or giving) gift cards. You're telling me I get a piece of plastic and can buy WHATEVER I WANT from one of my favorite places with it? THANK YOU, THAT IS FABULOUS, GIVE ME THAT GIFT ALWAYS. I don't want to buy groceries or things for Kyle or anything I would already pick up at a trip to Target with this gift card. I want to get something fun and something just for me. I've been looking at a necklace for ages (that of course isn't online since the Target website is THE WORST), but if it's still there at my next trip to Target, I'm getting it. What would YOU buy if you couldn't spend it on groceries or household things or anything you'd have to buy anyway?

7. I've been trying to think of a seventh thing for too long and it's time to head to bed, so let's just end by saying I have a super stressful week at work and I'm back to cooking and working out (I'm exhausted just thinking of getting to Saturday morning) so please diffuse the stress with some fun things. What are you most looking forward to this week? 

A Week of Holiday-ish Activities

Refresher: My sister, brother-in-law, and nephew will be in Texas the week of Christmas. Instead of a month of activities, I'm going easy on myself (and my wallet) and putting together a week of activities while they're here. Subject to change the week of, of course, since kids are notoriously predictable in their unpredictability.

1. Make bead ornaments. (Maybe they can make a handful for friends, other cousins, etc.?)

2. Make and decorate Christmas cookies. I thought it might be fun for the kids to make some extras and...bring them somewhere to give to...some people. Yeah, I've clearly thought this kind act through.

3. Take a train ride! 

4. Let the kids color paper lanterns and then release them in our backyard. I'm about to make it a Tangled-themed Christmas! 

5. Candy cane hunt (stolen from Elizabeth who stole it from Jen)

6. Hot chocolate bar and then a movie (stolen from A'Dell; I have no original ideas)

7. Even though it'll be after Christmas, I'd like to take the boys to Barnes & Noble or the Target sale aisles and let them pick out an ornament or holidy book each. It can be the thing that reminds them of the Christmas they got to spend together since I'm not sure when it'll happen next.

Bonus! Paint pinecones. I kind of think if it's nice enough to hang outside at all that week, we should toss the kids in the front yard and paint pinecones.

There you have it! So much easier to pick seven activities than 25. 

Girl's Night

I bought some high, high heels a while ago (I'd link to that post if I weren't typing this from my phone) and told Kristie how impulsive and ridiculous such a purchase was. I work in a casual office. I grocery shop, go to three-year-old soccer games, and blog in my spare time. None of these activities require high, high heels.

She's a great friend, though, that lady. She organized a "wear your fanciest shoes" girl's night out, where cocktails and dessert were also encouraged.

I was really tired a couple hours before leaving. I also have a scratchy, kinda sore throat. I thought that sitting on my couch sounded so much better than high, high heels and even dessert with good friends. I was wrong, thankfully.

It was a good decision, the shoes, the friends, the night. Lesson: try to say yes more to shoes, to friends, to dessert.

(Oh, we also saw The Bachelor's Jake at our restaurant. I can add him to my Dallas-area reality star spotting list, which also includes David Archuleta.)