Small Hiatus

Pardon our hiatus. But we are stuck with pretty views, enjoying time with friends and family, and some babies that don't want to sleep on vacation. So between cups of coffee, holding babies (and adult bevs), and lugging stuff to the beach and back from the beach there's not much blogging time! 

Happy Wednesday! 

The Housewife and The Single Gal

Pre-Vacation Housewife Nonsense

This post will be complete nonsense, as listed in the title. Feel free to stop reading here. Turtle had to go out of town this week for a few days and doesn't land until oh about 8:30 pm Friday night. The night before we leave for a week long vacation. The night before I have to run 10 miles with the Single Gal BEFORE we leave for vacation. Y'all poor Single Gal had a meet up with some concrete sidewalk on our night run this week. She's a bit pitiful with some scrapped up hands, knees and ankle. I can tell you she trips very gracefully and hopefully no one on the four lane road at 7pm noticed. I mean, they totes probably did but what can we do.

#1 is really taking it to me this week because she's going on almost 30 days without a nap. Please let her nap a few days at the beach! For all that is holy it is my vacation too. This is how it will go though, and I will be seriously pissed because we all know I just can't let it go that she doesn't nap. Even if we wear her ass out sometimes she won't take a nap. Labor Day weekend I took her to the pool to swim and she basically swims without a swimming aid while we are in the pool with/near her. She was so tired she asked me if she could wear her "swimmie." If that punk is asking me to put her swimmie on she is tired. TIRED folks. So I take her home and guess what? No nap. I realize I should be over it by now but I'm not. So y'all get over that. If she would just listen to me more I would be happier. She won't nap, fine. But I don't want to ask her forty thousand times to put her panties on after she gets off the potty.

Can we also talk about her imaginary play? I adore her imaginary play. However, there is a Mommy My Little Pony (a big one) and four small My Little Ponies. Do I even need to tell you what the "Mommy Pony" says to the small ponies? Oh just about everything that comes out of my mouth. I can only hope she's not saying anything the preschool teachers can construe as terrible home life problems.

#1 playing: "Okay little ponies, Mommy pony says you need to eat your dinner. If you don't eat your dinner she will be VERY upset."

On the bright side, the Single Gal and I have solidified our driving arrangements for the beach. Turtle will drive 3 Putt's car with one twin and we will drive the van with #1 and the other twin. The Single Gal better be sure we leave with Garth's Greatest Hits double disc album. Happy, Happy, Happy.

I have a good amount of things to get done between now and Friday night. I'm not sure how it's all going to be done. Turtle already tried to call me this morning and virtually micro-manage the packing and list making. I am an excellent list maker......just maybe not always 100% in executing the list timely. I bring a big game when packing for vacation though. I pack the car/tell Turtle where to put things. I am going to see how light I can pack for everyone. I know the clothes will be few because I have an OCD laundry issue, as in I have to run a load of laundry every day. I can't explain it.

I know nothing will matter when I hear the waves of the ocean, feel the breeze, smell that salt air, put my feet in the sand and visit with our family. Oh and Little A is staying 45 minutes away during the same time so we will get to see her maybe two days as well.

Vacation Re-Cap Part II

Saturday started innocently enough.  It took us a while to get up, get ready, pack up all our shit, and take a 10 minute cab ride to our new hotel.  I grabbed this room off Jetsetter and I was pretty in love with this venue. We stayed at The Hudson -- seriously right by Central Park.  You know how sometimes you worry that it won't really look like it does online when you actually see it in person? Well, this place looked just as amazing!  Just spend most of your time in the city or the lobby and bar areas -- because your room is tiny. 

Entrance @ The Hudson Hotel NYC

Lobby @ The Hudson Hotel NYC

Also -- while I was checking in I asked the guy at the front desk for a brunch recommendation.  He did not steer us wrong.  He sent us to the very trendy looking East Village area from what I can tell when I Google this place.  Peels  is apparently the place to be for Brunch.  It was so beautiful inside and so delicious.  They aren't playing around with those biscuits.  And that's saying a lot coming from this southern girl.  I want to go every weekend!  

source for pic here

Anyway, down to the nitty gritty of Saturday....because some people just can't handle Vegas New York. 

Blogger and practically part of my family Lindsey (read here) read about my dilemma of being stood up for the rest of my weekend.  Even Little A was going to come back into the city from Long Island to watch the game with me if she could.  Lindsey hooks me up with B {total stranger to me} as a good friend of hers that she hasn't seen in a while that just moved to NYC.  B seems nice.  So nice that he texted me and was willing to take out a complete stranger to watch hours of football.  

Long story short Little A and her husband didn't end up going to Long Island. So we went to brunch. And then they went along with me and B to watch the game. 

I truly don't know what I was thinking that day. Brunch before The Big Game is apparently the equivalent of a Roofie. I bet no one admits to inadvertently doing this to themselves.  Except for me.  It was just too much. Last full day of vacay, SEC championship, and the joy of Saturday Brunch.  Pounding 4 cocktails with champagne and vodka over the course of the meal and racing back to change for the big game where buckets of beer went round and many shots were taken and no dinner was ever eaten. {ewps}  

When one makes numerous rookie mistakes like this things are bound to happen that you didn't plan. Like blacking out at halftime. {That's right. The best and most exciting game UGA plays in years and I have no idea what happened. Seriously. Can't tell you a thing about it}.  So the short and legal version of that night was - B was super fun.  We all apparently went back to the hotel bar {The Lodge} and had even more fun later that night.   

I meant to be a great tourist and to conquer my fear of wandering around NYC alone.  I meant to look chic while cruising MOMA. Get fresh air in the park and hop around Columbus Circle.  Except Sunday morning found The Single Gal blocks from her hotel throwing up in B's bathroom.  And later begging Air Tran to let her stand by for an earlier flight. OK. Maybe it wasn't that dramatic. They listed me no probs, I finally managed to eat a $10 sandwich and I was able to leave early.   And while nothing feels better than coming home it really was a great trip.  It was expensive and accompanied by the worst hangover I have had in years but in the end, I wouldn't change a thing .


Love you. Mean it. 
~the single gal~

Where I Talk About Embracing Poverty and Adventure in NYC

So.....I leave tomorrow. Yay for getting up at 4 a.m. No seriously, I'm ok with that part.  

The part I am NOT ok with...TDH had the nerve to cancel on me {real talk}!  When someone says to me, "I'll make it happen. Buy the ticket" I take that to be pretty damn suggestive of a 100% commitment.  Even more of an insult? Waiting until less than 7 days before to actually cancel.  Are there any grownups left in this universe to date? Is it too much to get some general courtesy between two people?   As a result earlier this week I was stuck scrambling to find a hotel room and now I'm taking suggestions for my weekend time alone in NYC.  I was going to crash in Long Island with Little A's in-law familia but I felt like I was imposing.  And it was super last minute.  And y'all know it would kill me to feel like I was being rude or freeloading.  So, I just decided that I was going to get a hotel and spend some time {and an exorbitant amount of money} in the city alone.  

Am I terrified that I will get lost and die? Absolutely.  But my hotel is pretty close to Central Park and MOMA and surely I can find a coffee shop in between if I need to kill more time before checking in to my room for Saturday.  I refuse to let it ruin my last vacation of 2012.  Little A may come back into the city Saturday to stay with me and watch football but if not, someone at least find me a good Thai place where I can order  dinner to take back and eat in my bed. 

And if all that fails there's always vodka.  Lots of vodka. 

{More news -- I'm clearly in an emotional cul de sac. Discuss.} 

So off I go to embrace poverty, adventure in NYC, and ponder the emotional cul de sac. 

Love you. Mean it. 

~the single gal~

Monday Obsessions

Go ahead and take that shocked look off your face -- almost 3 Single Gal blogs in a row.  I'm trying to come back to life and be a good blogging partner to The Housewife who has really been putting in a lot of work here lately. {Thank you Housewife!} 

First, I want to be very up front {upfront? one word? two? discuss.} about the fact that I realize I am late to the "OhMyGoshJohnGreenIsAmazingAndPerfect" YA Party.  My friend Em has been praising his genius for, well, a really long time and I just now picked up "The Fault In Our Stars" this past week.  It's about two kids with cancer.  And they fall in love. And I haven't finished but it's so beautifully written.  And I am basically scared to keep reading because I know I'll walk around the house crying for days. I can just feel it. {not that I can even say I haven't been doing a lot of that lately but whatev} Anyway, I haven't even finished it and I am obsessed.  

I am also obsessed with the mere thought of my upcoming vacation with The Housewife.  It seems like everyone on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram is all "Oh, look at my awesome view from our condo." or "Leaving for the beach all next week." Well people.  It will finally be my turn in several weeks.  I'm trying not to hate everyone already on their vacations, but it's really hard for me not to. 

So, in the meantime, I'll just have to look at beach pictures on Pinterest like these: 

One other thing -- I am ridiculously obsessed with the song "Some Nights" by Fun.  The beat makes me happy. I'm not sure why.  But I'm not questioning it, that's for sure.  It's straight up on repeat in my car for always right now. 

What is everyone reading these days? I will obviously need some more books since I will have plenty of time to read during my week long beach trip. 

Love you. Mean it. 

~the single gal~

There's No Place Like Home

Well.........we're baaaack. As I get older my tolerance for vacation-y things is less and less and I get homesick. Homesick for my own car, my own stocked refrigerator and the freedom of being alone in my own space. We did have a wonderful time and #1 traveled well. The Single Gal's company always makes me feel better on a family trip as well but sadly she was back here...thankfully reachable by phone/email/text/twitter when we needed to communicate. Turtle didn't join me until later in the week and #1 was making me a little weary by that time. #1 loved the water and made leaps and bounds in her swimming confidence.

Happy 4th of July (and I guess her name is not so secret anymore)

So while part of me was wishing I had some ruby slippers to get home quicker than I did (had some weather delays) #1 was completely exhausted by 10:30 and I had had Turtle take her crib down and put up a twin bed while we were gone. Turtle and I were tired ourselves and really kicking ourselves on the way home that we decided it would be a "good idea" to start this bed transition last night. But it worked out because she didn't even move an inch after I tucked her in and got done cuddling her. And I hope I'm not jinxing myself here but so far today's nap was pretty uneventful. She didn't get out of bed once. I'm sure tonight will be a different story but for now I will pull a Charlie Sheen and declare this #winning.

This is not the best but as I'm hardly ever photographed with her, here you go.

I hope y'all enjoyed your Holiday! We are glad to be back to our regularly scheduled programming around here and have plenty more baby prep to get done....on top of unpacking.

The Housewife

Dress to Impress. And eat some protein for goodness sake.

Hi. I hope the Single Gal kept you entertained while the Housewife family was on vacation. Everything was wonderful with a few minor annoying details. Good news is #1 started walking while we were away. I mean, I guess it's good news. Someone asked me about it and I said, "Well either she's chasing me around the house or I'm chasing her."

We vacationed with Turtle's entire family and we had decent weather for most of the week. The only storm cloud seemed to be that certain family members didn't think we feed #1 enough protein and her pajamas were too small. I JUST bought her new 9 month pajamas people. I can't help that she is a little long for them in the feet and legs. I will take you to the baby store and show you the 12 month size that frankly looks like it's meant for a small giant. They are way too long for #1 right now. While I realize these comments were meant with love in their hearts I did get tired of the protein question by the 5th time it was mentioned. AGAIN. Over and over. Then the comment "I guess there are vegetarian babies out there" comes out.  Look, #1 just won't eat a lot of meat right now and generally the pediatricians say they get most of their proteins from the formula/milk. I'm not worried about it. Peace protein.

LOVED the beach. LOVED it. 

Back to the point of this post. The first birthday party is quickly approaching and I promised a sneak peak of the birthday girls attire. Again, it's not perfect but it's not too shabby for someone who didn't know how to sew a button on anything before making it. For real. Before I started sewing I mentally made a list of all the things I knew how to do. I can cut the grass, blow the driveway off, weed eat, and drive a five speed. (Obviously I can do more than that but I was thinking more of the "life skills" that I have.) I figured I was more suited to learn how to run a tractor than figure out how to use a sewing machine. But now I can sew. I clearly need to acquire more "housewife" like skills.

Ignore my dirty front door. 

There you have it. And can I get any shout outs for it not being pink??? I think the birds are darling. It reverses to polk a dots. She will probably have to wear some little white bloomers under it because the hem is a little shorter than I would like in the back but that's okay.

The sewing machine repair man called yesterday. Looks like it will cost more than what my vintage machine is worth to get it in good working order. Please send donations for a new sewing machine.

The Housewife

What Happens In Punta Cana...Stays in Punta Cana*

I thought this week would never arrive!! Wednesday this Single Gal is leaving to spend 4 nights and 5 days in tropical paradise.  All drinks included. All food included.   Fun also included. 

Hopefully I will just have to sit by the pool and glance at a cabana boy who will automatically know exactly what I want and bring it to me as soon as humanly possible.  I can't wait to be on an airplane with Little A for our big trip for R&R. I am in desperate need of this vacation. It is starting to make me physically sick to listen to my phone ring incessantly at work and then come home to a giant "to do" list.   The only thing on the "to do" list this week involves having a pina colada for breakfast. 

Note to self. Stay away from the casino. 

Anyway, in honor of my trip I thought I'd do a small montage of my some photos that should make you sufficiently jealous and some words of wisdom from Kenny (F*ing) Powers and The Hangover (if you make it down to the asterisk).

 "Once again I'm with the hottest chick in town, buyin' the most expensive fashions, dinin' in the fanciest food places, riding around on goddamn jet skis. Rainin' trim. Hallucinogens. Jet skis again. Throwin' heat. And getting laid."

-Kenny Powers

*"Except for herpes. That shit'll come back with you."

-love you. mean it.

the single gal