Are You Ready????

The shopping's done, the wrapping's done. I think I'm ready! Although the hubby pointed out a very depressing thought-- by this time next week it will be long over. Seems like such a to-do for such a finite period of time, doesn't it?

The girls have been, well, a bit rowdy. I thought Elf on a Shelf would help with the impishness, but not so much. I keep telling V there is still hope IF she can curb the obnoxiousness. This is what she has asked Santa for (with a bit of coaching from Mom):


Post Edit: the above is the Strawberry Villa by Le Toy Van from Amazon (I hope Santa knows V would love it-- hopefully his elves can recreate it) :). I wonder if she will get it. I think Santa may take pity on her.

I just got done finishing up some French macarons we bought last weekend. How have I gone so long without eating these??? My friend told me about a local bakery called Cup.cake that sells them, and I bought 1/2 doz chocolate peppermint last weekend. So delish.



If you haven't tried them, they are like a cross between a brownie and cookie sandwiching a light cream filling. Cup.cake's Facebook page tells you what kind they have every day. If you are a regular blog reader, you most likely have seen various posts about macarons especially from Miss Emily Martin (aka The Black Apple). I think I avoided them for so long because I thought they tasted like meringues. Can't wait to order some for a birthday party! They will be so pretty and tasty.

And speaking of The Black Apple, look! An early Christmas present for me!


It was on sale at Urban Outfitters for 50% off, and I snatched it up for $9.90. Score! It was the last one. My non-crafting, non-blogging friend looked at me like I was nuts when I found the sole copy. She thought I was buying it for the girls. Looked at me even nuttier when I said they would not be touching it, and it would be kept safe and sound in my craft room.

I've been collecting all my home decorating ideas for the new house on Pinterest. Have you all heard of Pinterest? I'm slightly obsessed. Psssst...you can follow me if you wish! I have been finding myself liking the mixture between vintage and modern. But someone PLEASE talk me off the wallpaper ledge! I love it so, and I know it's "in", but I have a feeling I will hate myself later for it. But just LOOK at this wallpaper!


Le sigh.

Anyway, have a wonderful short week leading up to the holidays. :) I'll be back soon. xo

AZ

So I got to get away for a nice 4-day excursion to see my girlfriend in Phoenix! What a lovely break from routine and from the horrrrrible weather we were having in Michigan. My hubby was so great, and my parents were around one of the days to assist, so that was nice of them. But to him, "piece of cake". He's a good one!!!!

Highlights of the trip (please note most of these things center around food):

• Ross: a pair of sassy Etienne Aigner shoes for $20?? Shut the front door!
  
• Sweet Tomatoes: I am sure people who have these restaurants take them for granted. Do you KNOW how hard it is to find a good salad bar in the Detroit area???? I could have stayed here all day.
  
• Ginger Lychee Mojitos and eel & avocado rolls at Sushi Roku = yumz.
• The Desert Botanical Gardens:

• The Crazies: Loves me some zombie-types AND Timothy Olyphant (who is now, consequentially, officially on my top 5 laminated card). A winning combination.

• Smeeks: been wanting to visit here ever since Nie Nie's post and even MORE after seeing her more recent post (featuring Heather's sweet birthday banner)!
• 
• 

• QCumberz: got an awesome little strawberry creamer and these sweet arse AZ postcards:

• The Parlor Pizzeria: was an old beauty salon turned super cool pizza parlor! Even have the original chairs up at the bar. Our fave was the funghi (truffle oil & mushrooms) with added bacon!

• And finally, the best part, my FF:

Annnnnnnnnnnnd Scene!

So you guys are all right. I have received emails (thanks Denise, Theresa, and Michelle) making sure everything was A-Ok. It is! I promise. :) Just getting caught up with LIFE. Feeling disorganized and unmotivated is not a great combo. I feel a little like Jessie Spano on pep pills (except I'm not really scared...).

But I got a grrrrrrreat little pick-me-up from Alli yesterday. She sent me a postcard from Greece.


On the back, there was a little dialogue that went something like this:

-Woman on left: "oh yeah, check out my ruffle."
-Man on left: "She and her stupid ruffle. No one ever admires my man stockings."
-Woman in center: "why can't I have a ruffle like that?"
-Man in center: "What a ruffle *dreamy sigh* Anyone want to change partners?"
-Children: "How long do we have to stand here awkwardly?"
-Couple on right: "What the hell are we doing here? Dear God, please let Vesuvius erupt and put an end to our misery."
AND SCENE

I giggled all day about the ruffle. Snort.

We decided at the beginning of the summer that we weren't doing a vacation this season. The girls are horrid in the car, they don't sleep well in other locations, and it's just not fun with them. V has to be shadowed all the time, and Q is, well, three. And wherever we go, we'd need at LEAST two rooms and even that's difficult because the girls totally wake each other up. I know, I know. Woe is us.

Anyway, two weeks ago, we'd had it and decided we needed to make a break for it. I still have NO IDEA how we got it, but we found a vacant cottage only 1 hr 10 min from our house. Right on Lake Huron. It was reallllly fun. The water was freezing, and the temps were only in the 60s, but both girls had their own room, and so did we. They slept GREAT and were perfect in the car. We so needed a break. Only bad side is I ate my weight in s'mores and Ashby's ice cream.


That's about all. I've been party planning my Twilight Screening event for next weekend. Seriously, this is going to be the mother of all Twilight parties. I'm making up games and designing the party favors as we speak! Here's a little taste of one of the favors...Ryan said he is officially scared of my dorkiness. HA!!! I found small bottles of body glitter at Michael's-- 6 for $2.00! They were in the princess birthday favor section, so they needed new labels:


Happy Hump Day!!!

Another Edition of Me Likey/Me No Likey

♥I am IN LOVE with the Black Apple’s pinback display and her new original. The latter needs to be placed in Vivian’s nursery tout de suite. Delia reminds me of V a bit. I'm goin' for it at her next shop update for reals. I'm not optimistic, but one can hope.-Ugh. They are RE-MAKING Let the Right One In!!! WTF??? I am so upset. I received the book and DVD from my bro and SIL for my b-day, and I made my parents watch it. They really liked it too! We agreed that the setting being in Sweden makes the film.


♥Speaking of Sweden—I wanna go to there. Like now. Denmark and Norway too. Like a Scandinavian travel bonanza. Think anyone would miss me if I just took off??? I can dream, no? I just want to tuck my sweater into my pants without persecution. Is that too much to ask?

-UGH. I hate politics. And politicians suck. I want Sarah frigging Palin to GOOOOO AWAYYYYYYYYY. Anonymous comments supporting her will promptly be deleted. If you are going to stick up for her, you must face the embarrassment of everyone knowing exactly who you are. And speaking of crappy politicians, something happened in the way of a corrupt government official in the municipality for which I work. This totally SU-HUCKS because this guy has ALWAYS been shady, and it reflects poorly on our city, which, in my opinion, is a GREAT city with some wonderful people in it. Shame what some people will do for the almighty buck.

♥On a whim, Ryan ordered the book "When You Were Small" by Sara O' Leary for Q. I didn't even know, however, I had heard about it. It's lovely. He done good. My favorite page (and Q's for that matter): "When you were small we let you sleep in one of my slippers. The left one. you used a fuzzy wash cloth for a blanket and a tea bag for a pillow."

Sometimes, I Feel Kinda Cool

Most of the time, I don't. But Ryan pointed out the article in the NY Times this weekend about hip Toronto hotels. We stayed at the Drake Hotel in 2005 when we visited, and it was pretttttty nifty. I was PG with Quinn and didn't feel all that well, and now I wish I would have appreciated it more.

Next time we go to Toronto, I want to stay at the Gladstone Hotel. Specifically in the Teen Queen room (right up my alley).

It had me at Ralph Macchio.

Saturday's Mail

On Saturday, I received some mail that got me excited about baby stuff again. One was Pottery Barn Baby. I usually don’t like PB Kids because it seems slightly unimaginative for the price, BUT I really do like what they are doing with silhouettes and birds and dotty fabrics.

Next, my Cookie Magazine, which I always like, but I often find myself rolling my eyes at some of the articles. Case in point is this article about a boy who wanted to (and was allowed to) wear a pink embroidered sundress to preschool. Ok, wait a sec until I can climb onto my soapbox…there. Here’s where the eye rolling comes into play. I am not an uptight mother with gender roles, so that isn’t the issue. My whole thing is that kids are kids, not mini adults. I do not want to teach my child that they can do or say whatever they want whenever they want. There is a fine line between this and encouraging independent thinking. It should be also stated that I am not going to be one of those parents who let my kid wear orange pajama bottoms, a tutu, and a purple shirt out of the house. I don’t care if I have to strap them down and force them into regular clothes, tough sh*t. I’M the mom, YOU’RE the kid. Ok, off my soapbox. Hope I didn’t offend anyone.

I do love Cookie for their love of Etsy and vintagey things. Found this article on nesting. And also their Family Paris Travel Guide is loverly. Although France was stressful enough for the two of us alone, so I don’t know how people do it with kids in tow, but more power to ‘em. Loved this picture of a carousel in the courtyard of a Paris hotel. Sigh.

The Xmas Train

I CANNOT believe everyone is already on the Xmas train. In reality, it IS November 8th, and that doesn’t seem too early, but I guess I’m just in disbelief that it’s already November 8th, fer cryin’ out loud. I do have to agree with Jennifer that there are many things about Michaels that I do not love, but LOOK AT THE NEW MARTHA THINGS! I am all about the beautiful faux bois (aka woodgrain) ribbon. I just like to bust out my limited French skills on y’all-- faux bois literally translates to “fake wood”). Mmmmm…Christmas.

So last weekend I was out of town visiting my sweet friend, Lizard, and her family since last Wednesday, but I am back. We saw some movies-- The Devil Wears Prada (as horrid as I thought it would be), Knocked Up (my 2nd time seeing it), and a GREAT ONE, Gone Baby Gone (directed by Ben Affleck). I'd be curious to hear if anyone else has seen it. My parents think Casey Affleck made the wrong decision at the end, I do not. I'm very surprised that this movie wasn't hyped more because it was very good-- Morgan Freeman and Ed Harris as well as his real life wife, Amy Madigan, were in it.

I've decided I would not be a good southerner. No offense to anyone reading from the south-- I am just too high-strung to handle it. We went to a fun Antique/Collectible show at the local expo center, The Metrolina (I just like saying it). Didn't buy anything because there were dealer prices, not flea market prices which I'm used to, but it was fun to look anyway. My friend found a nice and cheap mantle shelf for her fireplace.
I have to also show you some paintings Lizzie made for her son's nursery. It's of their three doggies (one of which had to be put to sleep a few months back). I really love the colors. She's a very good artist!

C'mon Kids, Get Your Sugar ON

That's right, kiddies, the Girl Land household is giving out FULL SIZE candy bars this Halloween. I'm obviously pulling out all the stops so I can get more than 10 stinkin' trick-or-treaters on my dead end street. Tell your friends!!! Ryan thinks they'll be mostly gone before Halloween, but I disagree. I can justify eating 10 snack size bars in a row, but to eat a full size candy bar???? To shame! That's my screwed up sense of logic for you.

The first year we had the house, I decorated with corn stalks, pumpkins out the wazoo, mums, pumpkin lights, and blared spooky sound effects out the window. I was unaware that kids just don't come down our street. Walter (my single dude neighbor across the street with the cutest Corgi, Goebel) and I used to sit in our respective enclosed porches and occasionally exchange the sheepish nod. He decks his house out with a fake graveyard and owls in the trees. Now I sit inside with the door cracked open and yell, "HOLD ON!" if they knock one too many times. I got a little lazy with my decorating this year. I'm waiting for my peach and greyish black pumpkins to get stolen (my white ones spouted legs and walked away last year). But I still did do the lights. whooooo. hoooooo.

We had one dude in our neighborhood growing up who did the full-size Snickers. Dr. Boulter. He was (wait for it) a dentist. Good career builder, Dr. B!

Anywho, hit another cider mill this weekend. Sixty degree weather=much better cider mill weather than 90 degree weather. T'was fun except neither Q nor myself drank any cider (unpasteurized). Although I eat/drink everything else I'm not supposed to while PG (deli meat, nutrasweet, caffeine, soft cheese-- all in moderation)-- I know, EVIL MOM. But something about the floaties on the bottom of the cider carton make it seem just so much more, I dunno, bacteria-filled. Another example of my screwed up logic. Hope everyone else's weekends were lovely!

I have only one more work day, then I am off with my friend to an Urban Planning conference upstate where Ryan and Q will join me Friday. The colors should be at their peak. We used to stay at the most BEAUTIFUL B&B B.Q. (Before Quinn) called the Wellington Inn. Seriously, if anyone is traveling to Traverse City, I'd highly recommend it and get the tour. This couple has taken painstaking measures to restore the home back to its original state looking for photographs and clues to show them how each room looked back in the day. And Barb is the best cook! Mmmm!

Ok, kids, off to bed. Ciao for now!

I'm BAAAAAACCCKKKK

We had a lovely stay in the Twin Cities! Check out what we did (brace yourself for the boringness and notice how the whole trip revolves around food).



Thursday: Checked into our hotel, Chambers. They couldn’t find our reservation even though I provided them with my confirmation email and confirmation number therefore we got an upgraded room (that cost $565/night!!!). God bless incompetent computerized reservation systems. In the lobby, they had an art vending machine. You put $$ in, and get a lil' piece of art! That night, we ate at Chambers Kitchen. I was drooling over the lovely drinks like ginger margaritas and cucumber mint cocktail, but alas, no could do.

Friday: Ate breakfast at Hell’s Kitchen. Oona told me they have great homemade peanut butter. YUM, did they (we bought 3 jars)! Ryan got a bloody mary made with beer instead of vodka and said it was the best bloody mary he’s ever had (I’m not a bloody mary fan myself). Went to Crafty Planet, and I met Rebecca. She’s so cute. We were at DUCF together, but I never got a chance to meet her. Didn’t buy much though because I was feeling uninspired, but it was so great to see all those lovely Japanese import fabrics in person! Then went to Patina and bought a few things for Q. Then went to the Walker Art Center and sculpture garden. At night, ate at Cosmos with some friends of my hubby’s sister. Great food! Although, my pregnancy upchuck reflex kicked in a bit with the palette cleanser (a shot of carrot ginger juice with a ball of “exploding coconut” which tasted like an eyeball). Everything else was tres magnifique though—our waiter was great and resembled Andy Dick. I’m sure he’d love to hear that.

Saturday: Ate at Town Talk Diner—Ryan got awesome steak and eggs. Went to I Like You, another indie shop, and saw many cutie pie wares from The Glitter Workshop. Drove to the burbs for my friend’s wedding and then to the reception near the Mall of America. At the reception, we sat with some random people who were from St. Paul but kept referring to Minneapolis as “Murderapolis”. Let me tell you that downtown Minneapolis looked like Pleasantville to us. Ryan said he would love to drive them down to Detroit and just leave them somewhere. They’d poop their pants. Now, we LOVE downtown Detroit—such great restaurants, museums, theaters-- but people from out of town freak out. They also were so kind to suggest going to a chain restaurant near the Mall of America as well as to a local Renaissance Festival for fun (we have one in the Detroit area too; I'm sure the MN one is equally as sucky). I just nodded and smiled politely.

Sunday: Ate at Hell’s Kitchen again! Had THE MOST amazing ham, pear, and fontina sandwich ever. Ryan got their Mahnomin Porridge which was also super tasty. I may try to recreate both things. Went back to the burbs to hubby’s sis’ friends’ house. Met their kids and played Pretty Pretty Princess and Life and ate fresh baked cookies. Fun, rainy afternoon stuff. For dinner, went to Ike’s for just a burger. We were sick of eating out by this point. Weird joint. Lots of drunk Vikings and Packers fans about too.

Monday: Back to Detroit! Thanks for listening to my synopsis. If you were my mother, you’d say, “Are you done yet? It’s like I’m listening to a story about a dream you had!” xo

Lazy Gertie

I'm feeling so lazy! We went to my parent's house over the weekend-- Ryan and I were supposed to go to my 14 year high school reunion (don't ask) which was just tailgating before the homecoming football game, but I chickened out THEN Ryan couldn't go anyway and ended up dropping me and Q off at my parent's house and heading to Beaners to utilize their wi-fi and do some emergency brief-correcting for work. I am sure I would have known everyone there (I only graduated with 130 some kids), but none of my friend friends were going, and maybe if I were feeling hotter and thinner and not so "mom-like" (how shallow), I would have gone. Off topic, Beaners is changing their name to The Big B due to the um, racial connotation. Just a lil' tidbit for you.


Ok, so to the lazy part. I got like 9 to 10 hours of sleep each night I was there. Last night I went to bed at 9:30. This thing in my gut is sapping my energy. I haven't had energy to blog or to craft-- nothin! I have, however, watch a lot of movies and tv shows like The Descent (scary!), Prison Break (suspenseful!), How I Met Your Mother (funny!), and Big Bang Theory (stupid!). Never too lazy to sit in front of the boob tube.


More weekend stuff-- Saturday, we met friends at a pub for 2 buck draft beers and of course I did not partake. The kids ran amok (speaking of this, see below). Saturday night, my mom and I whipped Ry and my Dad's arses in Sequence. That sentence sounded less dorky in my head. Sunday, we went out to a farm and had cider and donuts.



More sleep is in the future (mmmmmmmm). I can't believe it's already here! Our Q-free vacation in the Twin Cities for my friend, Lisa's, wedding. Thanks so much to my new friends in the St. Paul Craft Mafia for telling me what's what. Especially Oona from Run Amok. I love her name, I love her Etsy shop name, and I love her stuff. And she seems so sweet! I'm so excited to shop Crafty Planet, I could almost pee my pants. Ryan has a tight lunch and dinner schedule with reservations in place. We're staying at a pretty hip hotel, so that's nifty too.


So I'm sure there won't be much action this week, but I promise to get on the blog writin'/craft makin' stick as soon as I get back. But for now, Lazy Gertie is going to go watch Tivo'ed Prison Break.

Red Shoes

Every now and again, the hubby and I take a day off sans Q (she goes to daycare) during the work week to hang out. Today, we took a 45 minute drive to Ann Arbor. The point of the trip was to visit the lovely Red Shoes store to speak with Catherine. I feel a little bad because I bounded in there at 10:10 am feeling really kind of nervous and wound up, and she had been at this fun Sally Jean trunk show at another AA store until late the night before. I think I didn't stop talking, and I may have been hurting her brain. But she is interested in some of my wares, so I will post the info if and when they are all ready and in her shop!

During our lil' meeting, Ryan went to a cool coffee shop called Cafe Felix. Very Parisian! Afterwards, we went into a couple of shops at Kerrytown, bought Q some owl pj's at Keedo, checked out some cool (eek, but not cheap) vintage finds at Found, and ate at wonderful Zingerman's. Ryan had the matzoball soup and whitefish salad sandwich. I had the creamy tomato soup and chicken salad with Nueske applewood smoked bacon (love me some cholesterol!). My beloved foody wannabe hubby also purchased a bottle of Blenheim Extra Spicy Ginger Ale (bleh) to drink with lunch and dropped like $110 in the Zingerman's store on a bottle each of olive oil, balsamic vinegar and garum colituro (translation: anchovy oil DOUBLE BLEH).

We then saw 2 Days in Paris directed, written, produced, etc. by the beautiful Julie Delpy. I very much enjoyed the movie. She's one of those women that has unconventional looks (ie she's not plastic looking), but she will ALWAYS be lovely and beautiful in my book-- like Isabella Rossellini. And I also love (1) that she and Adam Goldberg used to date, and she still is close enough with him (not unlike her character, Marion) to put him in her movie and (2) that this is the 7th film in which she's starred with her real-life father (5th with her mother). Oh! And there is also a scene in which Adam Goldberg sends a group of American Bush-tee wearing "DaVinci Codebreakers" on a wild goosechase to find the Louvre. Classic. God, I really hated that book.

For another time though... Bon soir, mes amis!!!

...And The Livin' Is Easy

I was supposed to be working this weekend, but I was playing instead! We went up north to a cottage on one "Budd Lake" and had a very nice time. Still trying to figure out how Q got a tan with 50 SPF on, and her pasty mother got nada with only 15 on. The kid has her father's skin tone for sure.