Bits and Pieces
It's been a long time. Didya miss me?
I missed you.
I'm not going to try to give you a play by play of the last month and a half, but I would like to share some highlights if that's ok.
We had a good Halloween. Went to a party at Elliott's and David's the week before Halloween - dressed as a dead gangster and his ghoulfiend. Which was basically our recylced 1920s costumes with a bit of zhuzhing.
Pro tip: zombie contacts take any costume up a notch.
We never did really decorate the outside this year. Mostly just because I was so tired from recovering from Covid (fully recovered BTW, even my sense of smell is back). But we did have a few more trick or treaters than last year and the neighbors still complimented Boris so it was definitely still a win.
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This is where I start to sound like a baby. You've been warned.
I have always enjoyed celebrating my birthday all month long, but now I have to share my birthday month with someone. Which I don't have as much of a problem with as that may have initially sounded.
I love celebrating Rob. I love showering him with all the things he has missed out on before we met. And even though I threw together a little birthday shindig for him literally last minute, it turned out to be pretty great.
PS thanks to everyone that came to help celebrate.
I did feel bad that I hadn't planned anything in advance - I didn't even bake him a cake - but I believe he felt the love none the less. Also special thanks to Chase for taking over the cooking responsibilities that night.
The problem is I didn't stop celebrating him, even though I jokingly told him the day after his birthday that the rest of the month was mine.
Because the next weekend we went to Oklahoma to meet his step-mother and other family members. Mickey is a gracious host, her home is gorgeous, and we had a lovely weekend. But it was definitely a Rob weekend.
Then the following weekend we were in our nation's capital to see Genesis in concert. And even though it was my birthday weekend and was supposed to be all about me because I was giving up my birthday weekend, it still really felt it was more heavily weighted to Rob. Which probably isn't really fair because we did all things I wanted to do (he wanted to do them too) and I have no real reason to say it was more his weekend than mine other than it was once again not my first choice for a vacation (and yet I was the one that picked it).
That said, I really enjoyed our time in DC. We couldn't have asked for a better location for our hotel, we walked everywhere, it was cold but sunny. We went to 4 Smithsonian museums (the National Portrait Gallery, Air and Space, American History, and Natural Science). We even spent one whole day doing a double decker bus tour and went to the Lincoln Memorial and walked around. And of course there was the concert - our hotel was literally across the street which made leaving very quick and easy. And now I can add Genesis to the short but distinguished list of concerts I have been to.
I don't regret going to DC, I really did like it.
I just miss my beach time this year. I know, poor Suzanne. Whining once again because her great vacation wasn't "exactly" where she wanted it to be. I'm a brat. At least I am self-aware, right?
So we got back the day before my birthday and I realized I had never actually planned anything for my own birthday. Again.
I enjoy celebrating my birthday. I always have. And for several years I had been planning to have a 1950s themed cocktail party for my 50th. But then Covid happened. And I could have tried to do it this year but we just didn't have a free weekend for it.
So instead I had a delicious meal with a few friends at my favorite restaurant (and the added bonus of introducing my new friend Mere to Lupe Tortilla). And Magan even brought me a cake! It was still a lovely birthday, just more low key than I prefer.
Hello - have we met?
Also Magan took me to tea at Edith's French Bistro and it was fabulous. I highly recommend. Thanks Magan!
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We enjoyed Thanksgiving at home - all of our boys were here, Savreet, and Chase. It was nice having a full table. I love the dining room and we don't eat in there nearly often enough.
We also went to Enchant Christmas at Fair Park and while the lights that were working were really pretty, please note that I said the lights that were working. Also, if you go, plan to spend an hour just to park.
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And here we are in December. The house is mostly decorated - we need some tweaking here and there but the heavy lifting is done. I decided since I wasn't having my 1950s cocktail party that we should have a Mid Century Christmas party so that's coming up soon. Elliott came over this weekend to help me add a few MCM touches to the decor and not to brag but...we nailed it. I'm really excited about it.
So excited that I think I have ordered half a dozen dresses and I keep shopping. The first one already came in and wasn't exactly what I was hoping for. Hopefully one of these others will work. Hell, hopefully they get here before the party!
PS - why haven't you RSVPd yet?
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So that's the nutshell of my life right now. Work could be busier. oh! Rob got a new job so please send him all the successful vibes you can. He just started on Monday - he's very excited about it. It's the same industry but a slightly different side of it - I know he's looking forward to learning something new and being challenged. And I'm just happy he's happy.
And in case you wanted a Mister Manfred update, he's about to turn 1! I can't believe our little man is so grown up. He seems to have maxed out on his height, now he's filling out more (around 55 pounds now!). He seems to have forgotten most of what he learned at Dogwarts but that's mostly our fault because we aren't consistently reminding him of what he's learned.
He's very good at SIT though.
We also had a little scare this week. A couple of days ago he fell into the pool! I was sitting at my desk working and I heard kind of a high pitched whine coming from the backyard and my initial fear was he caught a bunny. But I looked out the window and he was just crying and clinging to the side of the pool! So I ran over to the tanning ledge which was closest egress for him and coaxed him until he was able to get himself out.
To be clear, I would have jumped in if he was in true distress but he just needed to be reminded that he can swim. And I need him to remember that he can swim and get himself out in case it ever happens again.
Also he was immediately fine the moment he got out of the pool and ran around doing zoomies for a few minutes.
And then he went to the edge of the pool to get a drink of water and nearly fell in.
Yes, he has easy access to TWO full bowls of water in the house. But I guess you just can't beat the taste of pool water. Weirdo.
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It's Chanukah!
You may remember last year that I convinced Rob to celebrate Chanuka last year. Even though he hadn't done it in years and neither one of us is religious.
So last year we looked up traditional Chanukah gifts and found a random list that has no basis in anything but seemed like a good starting point guide for us.
But in an effort to not blow our budgets, this year we are doing Chanukah gifts from 5 and below.
It's just something fun to do. Tonight is night #5 so we are more than halfway through and I think we've both done pretty well so far.
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And finally I would like to take a moment for gratitude since I didn't do my daily November posts.
No matter how whiny I may get, I hope anyone that reads this or knows me understands that I am fully aware of how lucky I am. I am so grateful for the life I have. I have a wonderful man that loves me in spite of my crazy. I am a lucky mom that has some really incredible kids. I have friends that are family to me. We all have our health. We both have good jobs. In spite of covid, we have managed to travel 3 times this year. If my life were to stay the status quo for the rest of my life, I would still be luckier and happier than I ever dreamed possible.
That doesn't mean I won't still want to continue updating our house. Or that I'm going to quit planning our wedding. I'm still going to covet pretty and shiny things. But that should never be an indicator of dissatisfaction with what I have.
So if you are still reading along, and even if I don't talk to you on the daily, please know that I love you and I am so glad you are a part of my life. And I definitely miss you and wish we talked more.
#stilllucky #infinitelybetter #luckygirl #gratefulheart #halloween #thanksgiving #merrychristmukah #Chanukah #Christmas