I’m all up on you, ‘cuz you representin’ California
When I booked our flights to California for the last full week in August, I was unwittingly booking summer’s last hurrah, it seems. Never was that more evident than the day after we returned to Seattle when the rains returned as well. Going back to work on Monday after nine full days off, half of them spent in sunny California barely connected to the real world, felt a lot like the first day of school. Which is to say, kind of a drag.
But my time off from work, and our time in California with family and friends, was absolutely fabulous, and now that I’m a few days removed from one of the worst flight experiences of my life, it was totally worth the work of flying solo with a 20-month-old not content to just sit nicely on my lap for two hours. (Imagine that.)
Our flight TO San Francisco, however, was downright delightful. Despite a minor pre-flight freakout over a broken zipper on the car seat bag (don’t ask — Roth may have to kill you), we breezed through security, had just enough time for a diaper change, snack and drink purchase (tip: toddlers LOVE Raisinets!), and stroller gate check before early boarding had begun. I asked if there were any bulkhead seats available, and for $10 I was able to upgrade my already dirt cheap seat to the third row with about a foot of extra legroom and FREE snacks. (God, I love Virgin America.) I’d primed Rowan for his usual midday nap, including the consumption of many carbs at breakfast, but he was more interested in pointing out all the TRUCKS! and BOATS! (um, he tends to get his various vehicles confused when excited) before takeoff. We got lucky, and no one sat in the middle seat, so for some of the flight, Rowan did. About midway through, I became the newest member of the Mile-High Diaper Change Club, but after that, he slumbered on my lap until we landed. See? Delightful! Even with the poop!
So, I can laugh about this now, but I almost lost my ever-loving mind over the installation of the car seat upon airport pickup. Let’s just say, there were many expletives, and I ripped my fingernails and knuckles to shit trying to get the LATCH system to work. If I ever write a book about motherhood, that experience alone deserves its own chapter. (And perhaps, at least several hours of therapy.) The only thing missing from that scene was when I threw the car seat across the parking lot in utter frustration. (That didn’t happen, but I was thisclose to punctuating the story as such.)
The rest of the trip was without incident, thankfully. On Thursday, I picked up my grandma (Rowan’s great), and we took him to see the GOATS! at Avila Valley Barn. Turns out, Ro’s not such a fan of goats, or any other barnyard animal, actually. I think he had enough by the time a rooster crowed right in his face. “All done, all done.” All was forgiven a few minutes later when he got to sit atop a tractor, though. Lesson learned: Rowan’s into vehicles, not smelly farm animals. Duly noted.
On the way home, we stopped by the ramp entrance to Grover Beach and let Rowan sink his toes in the sand. This is officially my most favorite photo of him.
This visit home felt different than previous visits, maybe because Rowan is coming into his own as an actual person. (As opposed to a slightly amorphous blob of baby, I guess.) It was less about babyproofing sharp corners and taping up the cupboards and more about spending quality time with his grandparents. He’s still too young to remember all that spicy linguica sausage he ate straight from the oak-pit barbecue in my mom’s backyard, or that my stepdad made him a clubhouse out of a large cardboard box, but these events feel significant to me. And with each visit, I think Rowan will start to form the faint flicker (I automatically typed that as flickr at first!) of fondness for these people who love him more than he can ever understand.
My dad has probably spent the least amount of time with Rowan out of all the grandparents, so it was very important to me that we see him, in some way, shape or form. My dad’s health has been up and down this year, and I’ve just had this sense of urgency to spend time with him under the heading of “You Never Know.” We were able to meet up with him and my stepmom in Monterey for a overnight sojourn before heading back to the airport on Sunday. My dad specifically picked a hotel with a pool, thinking Rowan might enjoy that, and hoo boy, did he ever! It was his first time, actually, and the kid had zero fear getting into the water. I had to physically hold him back from just jumping off the steps. Lesson learned: Get this boy into swim lessons, STAT.
(Also, avert your eyes from the lady in the background there. I wonder if it’s possible to Photoshop in a boob job, or something. Yowza.)
On Sunday, we went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, a place that holds such vivid memories for me as a kid. It was definitely a full-circle kind of moment, taking Rowan there and seeing some of the same exhibits I marveled at many moons ago. It was quite magical, actually.
After we got home, my dad sent me an e-mail about the visit, and I want to share part of it.
I felt a connection to Rowan and he to me (when he allowed it). I know as he gets older he will know who I am. Like we talked about, he is very thoughtful and pensive at times already. Things are going on his young brain he doesn’t quite comprehend, ie. the daydream stare! That’s a good thing. Sure wish we had more time to do more things, but those times will come.
Yes, Dad, they will.
***
When we got home late Sunday, I was exhausted. As I mentioned, our flight home was … challenging. Lesson learned: Never again book an evening flight home with a toddler, OMG. (Imagine what it would be like to fly home with a button-pushing obsessed, Pringles-crushing, thrashing baby alligator on your lap. It was sort of like that.) I mean, the whole trip was challenging in that I was solely (outside of a couple hours wherein my stepdad watched Rowan so my mom and I could get pedicures) responsible for taking care of him. It’s just exhausting, doing it ALL, and I know Roth understands, as he’s done it more times than I have. Still, it was nice to open up my laptop and find this tiny note inside from Roth.
I very much needed to read that.
Posted on September 1, 2010 | Category: Uncategorized | 10 Comments
We need a holiday
Rowan’s daycare is on holiday this week, which means, I’m on holiday this week, too. Originally, we planned to take our first full-fledged family vacation this week, perhaps a very long road trip through Idaho and to Yellowstone, or maybe a loop down to the places in Northern California I never managed to visit in the 25 years I lived there. But plans change, and instead of a memory card full of vacation photos, we have a new kitchen. Upgrade, I think. We’ll go on that road trip another day.
This week is part staycation. I was home with Rowan today and yesterday, and in two days, we managed to meet up for a playdate with Erin and her two adorable daughters at the Seattle Children’s Museum, take the world’s most expensive elevator ride up to the top of the Space Needle (something I’d never done in the five years I’ve lived here — it was pretty awesome, thanks to stellar weather), lunch with Roth, splash around in the wading pool at Greenlake, and bond in ways that made me think I could be good at this stay-at-home mom gig, if given the opportunity. Or, rather, if we had unlimited resources to fill our days with these types of kid-friendly activities. Heh.
This week is also part whirlwind trip down to California to see my family. Tomorrow I fly solo (again) with Rowan down to San Francisco (on the world’s cheapest airfare score — $33 each way, huzzah!) where we will meet up with my mom, drive down to the Central Coast, spend a few days there, doing all the things I miss from back home (Thursday Night Farmers’ Market!). Then it’s back up to the Bay Area on Saturday to meet up with my dad and take Rowan to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, a place I used to love visiting when I was a kid, and home on Sunday evening.
And, I’m purposely leaving my laptop behind. See you on the other side of the week!
Posted on August 24, 2010 | Category: Uncategorized | 8 Comments
Expectation of expecting
I’ve been composing this post in my head for many months now. Every time I try to write it, it doesn’t make sense, the words get jumbled, my meaning lost. But, here goes.
***
Confession: I miss being pregnant.
Don’t misunderstand, though. I am absolutely not ready to have another baby. Not even close. I don’t miss the barfing, the swelling, the constant peeing. NO.
Clarification: I miss the EXCITEMENT of being pregnant.
A close colleague (and friend) of mine is going to become a dad for the first time very (VERY!) soon. For the last several months, we’ve talked almost exclusively (outside of weekly Bachelor/ette recaps) about this impending change in his and his wife’s life. Another women in our office is due with her first child around the same time, and we’ve frequently engaged in copy room conversations about pregnancy, breastfeeding, and daycare, too. I’ve tried very hard not to come across as too pushy or preachy when it comes to the doling out of advice (assvice?), but I’m sure I’ve crossed the line a few times. (So hard not to interject your two cents!) It’s satisfying to be able to look back on my own experience, still somewhat fresh, and relay the good, the bad, and the downright scary — and to know that I survived it all.
So, I’ve also caught myself feeling a little envious.
This is weird, right?
Hear me out: You only go through the experience of having your first baby once. The first ultrasound. The first heartbeats. The first kicks. Everything is a first. And it’s just SO EXCITING. Terrifying, too, but mostly, having a baby for the first time is one of the single, most thrilling events in a person’s life. For someone like me, someone who thrives on the anticipation of an event more so than the actual event itself, sometimes I wish I could go back in time and relive the nine months preceding Rowan’s birth.
God, that still sounds awful, as if I’m disappointed in the end result of my first pregnancy. That’s not the case AT ALL. It’s just that, I can’t remember with any sort of clarity what it feels like to be pregnant. I wish there was some accurate way to describe the sensation of your baby kicking you from the inside. It’s just … magical. Sometimes, I long for that.
Sometimes, I long for that sooner than later.
But then, my 20-month-old son kicks me (HARD!) in the ovary (from the outside), and I think, “Nah, I’m good right now.”
Posted on August 19, 2010 | Category: Uncategorized | 11 Comments
Jon Stewart: I want to thank the organizers for hosting this in Central Florida in August. It allows us to experience the actual conditions on Dagobah.*
I’ve just returned from five days in Orlando, exhibiting with my company at Star Wars Celebration V (more on that in a bit), but I just as well could’ve been on an entirely different planet, what with the HUMIDITY FROM HELL and all. I’d been warned (primarily by Roth, who spent his formative years in Florida — it should be noted that he much prefers living in Seattle) that nothing can prepare an outsider for the muggy slap in the face that is Orlando in August, and everyone was right. It was GROSS, and not unlike what I imagine the apocalyptic death blast scene in Terminator 2 to feel like. Thankfully, I never had to spend more than a few minutes at a time outside, but still, those few minutes were enough for me to know that I would never, ever choose to live anywhere but on the West Coast. Seriously, how do you people handle the humidity?
But enough about the weather! You want to hear about all the Star Wars nerdery I saw, right?
(I’m fully aware that maybe 3% of my readers actually care about Star Wars, but I can’t not write something about the experience. It was all too weird and awesome not to.)
I’m still trying to understand the psychology of what goes on at a convention like this. That a seemingly sane person — a mother, a father, maybe even your neighbor or co-worker — could become so obsessed with a movie franchise. In the four days I spent at SWCV — now an annual event for the most ardent of fans — I met some of the nicest, most respectful people of any trade show I’ve ever been to. And yet, you can’t ignore the fact that these people standing across from you are wearing dark capes, elaborate face makeup, creepy contacts lenses, and wielding replicated weaponry — all while talking about this imaginary thing called The Force. Under any other circumstance, this freakish display of fandom could be classified as certifiably crazy. I thought I’d be thinking (and tweeting) snarky comments the whole time, but after a day or so, it didn’t seem so weird anymore. Mostly, I was in awe that so many people (30,000 or so attended the event) are still so into this decades-old phenomenon.
It’s easy to make fun of Star Wars fans (or fans of any other “nerdy” pop culture property) — and in fact, our booth neighbors thought that was a good way to sell more of their cheap-ass cell phone cases; man, I really wanted to neck-punch one guy when he started yelling ridiculous limericks about “being a real man” at passersby — and yes, I, too, have laughed at Triumph the Insult Comic Dog making fun of “nerds built from parts of lesser nerds,” but I think I get it. It’s really just about being accepted, of surrounding yourself with like-minded people, of meeting up with old friends and making new ones, and celebrating a common interest. Really, it’s not that different than a blogging convention. Ahem.
So yes, there were gads of people dressed up in costume (why so many half-naked Slave Leias, ladies, why?), I hung out at the Hoth Ice Bar and cuddled up next to a Wampa, I bought a burrito from the Tatooine Tortilla Traders, and I imbibed in the VIP area of a party hosted by the 501st Legion (where I spotted Seth Green!). Basically, I drank the Star Wars Kool-Aid this weekend, and it was quite tasty. Would I ever attend an event like this on my own? Uh, probably not. Still, it was a good time.
(More pictures coming to my Flickr page soon.)
***
Related, sort of: Have you ever heard the Patton Oswalt bit about Star Wars? HILARIOUS. (Warning: Earmuffs for the kids.)
*From the Main Event on Saturday: Jon Stewart v. George Lucas. (Which was really great, too!)
Posted on August 16, 2010 | Category: Uncategorized | 4 Comments
Dream kitchen
Having just (and finally — I may be one of the last among my peers) seen Inception, I can’t help but wonder if last week was all a dream.
We started the weekend in a space that looked like this:
There was some of this:
And this:
There was also some aimless, dream-like wandering around a Home Depot within a Lowe’s within a Home Depot, with nary a helpful employee to be found. I do believe we may have bled some money at each of those places. But it was worth it because the end result was this:
And this:
Leo’s got nothing on this dream team:
***
Quite frankly, I am still in shock that our kitchen remodel was completed in ONE WEEK. Other than unpacking a few boxes and putting stuff away, our kitchen is DONE. And it turned out better than I could’ve imagined. Roth, his dad, his cousin, and one really, really patient family friend who happened to be a contractor banged it out in record time, and with minimal drama. (Pretty sure I caused the small amount of drama with the mini tantrum I threw in Home Depot over the guys’ choice of baseboards, but whatever. It doesn’t matter now because the kitchen looks fabulous.) And, we managed to stay (mostly) on budget, too.
Now you see why I’m pinching myself. I need a totem! Oh right – it’s this dishwasher. I swear, there is no sound sweeter than the quiet hum of a dishwasher doing its thing. LOVE.
***
For those of you interested in the details:
Sink, IKEA (I can’t find it on their site anymore!)
Faucet, Banbury by Moen from Home Depot
Granite counters, Butterfly Green from Brazil
Dishwasher, Whirlpool from Sears
Cabinets, custom-made by Stu
Stove, vintage Wedgewood circa 1950s from Roth’s parents
Flooring, Terraza Gray/Brown vinyl tile by Armstrong from Lowe’s
Paint, Maple Cream by Valspar from Lowe’s
Posted on August 10, 2010 | Category: Uncategorized | 23 Comments
Kitchen confidential
The kitchen remodel is humming along quite nicely. (THANK GOD.) Three days in, and we have new plumbing (unforeseen, but not a tragic development in our plan), additional electrical outlets (including a switch for under-cabinet lighting, fancy!), new drywall (with insulation to replace the wadded-up 1988 newspaper insulation that previously existed behind the old drywall), and a gas line for the stove. Our house is in complete shambles — our fridge is in the living room, there are wine glasses in our bedroom, a ladder in Rowan’s closet (which is also the portal to the crawl space) — but I’m pleased as punch that everything is going so well, so far. I’ve decided not to upload any in-progress photos (boring), but I will definitely post some before and after, of course. (SOON!)
Another potentially crazy-making aspect to this remodel project is the fact that there are currently FOUR additional people staying at our house. I feel I need to remind you that we have ONE bathroom. But, surprisingly, having so many extra bodies around — two of which are sleeping in a camper in the driveway, one of which is on a foam pad in the living room, and another in a tent in the backyard (yes, really) — hasn’t been nearly as stressful as I imagined it might be. (Probably was smart of me to not take all week off from work.) Because we have no stove at the moment, we’ve been barbecuing our dinners. Breakfast is toast or waffles (with the waffle iron), and lunch is sandwiches on the panini grill. I think if we were going to be without a kitchen for longer than a week, makeshift meal-making would get old real quick, but it’s not so bad. (Ask me again in a couple more days.)
I was also worried about Rowan being home from daycare during the remodel, thinking he’d be in the way, but he’s been having a total blast with his grandma. When they arrived Friday night, he was a bit scared of their “TRUCK!” as it backed into our driveway, its diesel engine rattling our tiny house. But after everyone settled in, Rowan turned on the toddler charm, and it has been in hyperdrive ever since. Truly, he has been an absolute joy, so proud to share with his grandparents everything he knows — which is a lot! He’s getting attention from everyone, including Roth’s 15-year-old cousin Imanuel who happily entertains him with his (very impressive) juggling skills on command. He’s going to bed a lot later and getting dirtier and stickier than normal, but he’s having the best time. I’m so happy he gets to spend this week with his grandparents. (And he’ll see his other grandparents at the end of the month, too!)
And, with grandma in town, looks like we might be able to squeeze in a movie at the theater, too! Finally going to see Inception. Can’t wait!
Posted on August 3, 2010 | Category: Uncategorized | 1 Comment
I know what I know would not fill a thimble*
Hoo boy, the last two weeks really got away from me there. I intended to blog every day, and every day slipped from my sweaty grip and crashed to the bed in a heap of exhaustion. Oh wait, that was me crashing to the bed each night, steam sputtering from my ears. I just haven’t made time for blogging, what with work amping up to Warp Speed (still very much in Star Wars mode), preparing for our kitchen remodel next week, and dealing with the ups and downs of a toddler very much on the train to Terrible Twosville. Basically, life is a little bit crazy right now, and blogging is very much on the back burner. But, here is what’s what.
***
Roth’s parents arrive Friday, and Saturday we’ll begin kitchen demo. All of the big ticket items (dishwasher, garbage disposal, sink, flooring, countertop) have been purchased, and now we just need to decide on paint. We narrowed it down to two different yellows, but I don’t love either after seeing them on the wall, so I’m going to try a third (called Belgian Waffle, how appropriate for a kitchen), and hope it works like a charm. Everything else, though, is in place for the remodel, and by the end of next week, we shall be cooking with gas. Literally! So exciting!
***
So, Rowan. He is now 19 months old. And oh, what a simultaneously terrific and terrible age he is. I’m constantly amazed at how fast he’s learning and acutely observing his surroundings. The world is like a living, breathing set of flash cards right now — everything he knows must be pointed out and repeated until it has been acknowledged by one of the parental units. “Car, car, car?” “Yes, that is a car.” “Yeah.” (Or, alternatively, until we give in and give him what he wants. “Cracker, cracker, cracker?”) He can hear the hum of a plane overhead from inside the house, the bark of a dog down the street. He’s like a sponge, just soaking everything in.
He’s not really stringing his fairly extensive list of vocabulary into sentences just yet, but recently he started demanding that I “get it.” As in, pick up that thing I dropped and cannot reach, which usually happens when we’re driving, and I also cannot reach said object of his desire. *Insert inconsolable toddler here.* It’s a little off putting, to have your not-yet-2-year-old tell you what to do, but we’re working on manners. I think he’s finally figured out when to say “thank you,” which is music to my ears, let me tell you. Next up: please, m’am, and sir. (Kidding about the last two. Kind of.)
He’s also quite aware of his, ahem, bodily functions, and now that he can say “burp,” “fart,” and “poop,” never again can someone in this house get away with the slightest indiscretion, as Rowan is sure to announce it after it happens, and then laugh about it. Oh, he’s definitely a boy.
I’m breaking a cardinal rule now by talking about Rowan’s stellar sleeping habits as of late, but I can’t resist. I feel like we’ve earned his early and easy bedtime routine after many months of stuh-ruggling to get him to sleep at a reasonable hour without tears and tantrums. Truly, it was like a flip was switched. After a couple nights of letting him “cry it out” (five minutes, tops, of pitiful whining), he started going into his crib with nary a complaint. It’s … AMAZING. And, I’m sure by me announcing it, tonight will be a different story.
As Rowan is getting older, he is also developing quite a mind of his own. He has opinions and feelings! He wants to wander into the street, or into the neighbor’s yard, which almost always results in the highly evolved Boneless Toddler Defense Mechanism of going limp when he’s plucked from somewhere he’s not supposed to be. He’s suddenly picky, refusing to eat foods he loved the week before. I mean, even mashed potatoes, which made me wonder if indeed this child was my own. And the tantrums, they are epic in proportion, but over the littlest injustices.
I know this is just a phase we have to get through, but sometimes it can be so frustrating, testing every last fiber of my being.
It’s a good thing he’s cute, is all I’m saying.
***
We’ve started watching Breaking Bad, a series recommended to me by a co-worker, and so far I love it. I mentioned this on Twitter, but it’s as if Weeds and Dexter got together and had a bastard lovechild. It’s totally sick and twisted — definitely my kind of show. I can’t wait to get the next disc from Netflix.
***
Getting me through my twice-daily commute is Broken Bells‘ self-titled album. I fell in love with “The High Road” on the radio and promptly snatched up the entire album for just $5 from Amazon. Turns out, the lead singer is also the lead singer from The Shins, which explains why I was drawn to his new side project with Danger Mouse. My absolute favorite song is the last track, called “The Mall & Misery.” Check out a live performance here. So, so good.
*From “The Mall & Misery.”
Posted on July 28, 2010 | Category: Uncategorized | 15 Comments
Kerri: Will you be going (Han) solo?*
Summer’s typically a quiet time in the book publishing industry, specifically the entire month of August when all of Europe takes a month-long holiday, but as of last week, my month of August is looking like it’s going to the busiest on record. Not only are we remodeling the kitchen (and throwing a party the weekend after), I’m now going to Orlando the week after for five days to (wo)man a booth at — wait for it — Star Wars Celebration V, a fan conference where my company is promoting one of its latest (and greatest!) Star Wars-licensed books. I’m simultaneously thrilled and terrified to be attending such an iconic event. This is the kind of conference where fans dress up as Storm Troopers and Wookiees — in sweltering Florida humidity, no less. It’s going to be UH-MAZING.
Then, after one regular ‘ol week at home and work, I’m flying down to California with Rowan to see my family for a few days. This is in lieu of the grand family vacation to Yellowstone we’d been planning earlier in the year before the kitchen remodel was a go. I managed to score $33 per way seats during Virgin America’s recent one-day sale (I KNOW!), so I snatched them up, and toward the end of August, Ro and I will spend a long weekend on the Central Coast, hopefully relaxing as much as a toddler will allow. Roth’s not going this time, and instead will take his precious few vacation days while his parents are in town for the remodel.
Somewhere in the midst of all that craziness, I’m supposed to be coordinating a bi-annual catalog, training a new hire, and launching a Web site. So yeah, August is going to be NUTS.
***
I didn’t mean for an entire week to pass between posts, but somehow last week really got away from me. I don’t have much to say here today (am tired and sore from weekend yard chores), but if you need a fix, check out my guest post today over at Dutch Blitz. Angella recruited a few of her friends from the PNW to sub for her during her summer vacation to the PNW, and I jumped at the chance! You can read about the conclusion of our mortgage mess — something I decided not to write about here — there.
*This is what I love about Kerri. I tell her I’m going to a Star Wars conference for work, and she asks me if I’m going (Han) solo. HA!
Posted on July 19, 2010 | Category: Uncategorized | 4 Comments
I like you, Portland
When we decided we wanted to move from California to Seattle (gosh, more than five years ago now!), we had set our sights only on the Emerald City. There was no short list of consolation cities we were considering for post-wedding cohabitation. We’d visited Seattle once before making the decision, and sort of miraculously, we were able to make it happen, and fast. I don’t regret choosing Seattle at all, but now that I’ve had the chance to visit most of the Pacific Northwest, I can’t help but wonder if we would be just as happy anywhere else within the upper left-hand corner of the country.
I think this every time I visit Portland. Certainly, it doesn’t hurt that one of my best friends lives there, but truly, I just love the vibe of Portland. It’s like Seattle in some ways, but more laid back, a little smaller, a bit warmer. Roth and I often talk about the next three, five, 10 years, and where we want to end up. I don’t know if we’ll stay in Seattle forever, but I do know that I like Portland.
A lot.
***
I’ve decided to take a week off from recapping our CSA. With my being in Portland this past weekend, and some unforeseeable vegetable wilt thanks to crazy-high temps last week, I don’t have any fresh ideas to share — and sadly, I had to throw out an entire head of butter lettuce. I hang my own head in shame. But it’ll be back next week!
Posted on July 13, 2010 | Category: Uncategorized | 8 Comments
Boy of summer
Nothing says summer like a drippy ice cream, a green garden hose, and no pants.
Rowan’s ready.
***
I’d been planning a low-key overnight visit to Portland to hang out with Kerri for a couple weeks now, but the other night, my sleepy plans sort of exploded with the last-minute addition of Jennie suddenly in town, too, visiting a friend. Add Andrea to the mix, and now we’ve got ourselves a girls’ weekend, including shopping, movie-viewing, hotel staying, and Sunday brunching.
Color me excited!
Posted on July 10, 2010 | Category: Saturday Snapshot | 6 Comments
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