Happenings

Last weekend my friend Heather came to visit me. We've been friends for almost six years, when she was my bright-eyed and helpful intern at Wake. We've forged a bestie-ship ever since and have driven back and forth across many miles for visits and catch up sessions. Recently, she moved to Nashville from Connecticut putting her back in road trip distance. She came over to meet the kiddo and we had a fun weekend of catching up on each other's lives, creating secret Pinterest boards, eating Camino pastries and turning our teeth purple with a few bottles of wine.





On Monday, I met my friend Megan - who I originally met over Twitter and who is from my husband's hometown - at Mellow Mushroom for lunch. She was in town to do some shopping and we had a chance to catch up and let our little boys get to know each other. Bo was quite taken with Henry, but I'm not sure the admiration was mutual.



On Thursday, I went and got my hairs did. If I somehow find myself in a situation with an excessive amount of discretionary income, I will go get my hair done on a near-weekly basis. (At least just shampoo and blow-dried.) It is probably one of my favorite experiences in life. Over the last year, I have been going darker and darker and have now officially crossed over into the world of brunettes.



My experience at the hair salon included a brush with fame. While she was putting color on my hair, my stylist happened to mention that a regular client of hers who is a NASCAR driver, was going to be coming in with a film crew to be taped having his hair cut as part of a "Day in the Life" documentary.

Well then.

(I honestly didn't know who this guy was except that he had happened to be on Duck Dynansty this morning. So there's that.)



I kept getting nervous he'd talk to me and I'd be that awkward person who said something really stupid on camera but luckily, the only time he talked to me the film crew had stepped away. I was still that totally awkward person who said something really stupid though.

This week, the kiddo has not been in a great mood. I'm wondering if there are pearly whites waiting to bust through his little gums. I guess that would make me rather pissy too. It's tough to see him in a bad mood, because he's usually such a pleasant little guy. This picture pains me - the little furrowed brow! Woe is me!



Being a baby seems like it's really hard sometimes.

On Friday, we had friends over for dinner. Matt made baby back ribs and I made Barefoot Contessa cosmopolitans. And some other food stuff, but the cosmos were really my pride and joy.



Yesterday, I went to Teri's house to trade life skills. I helped her organize her email inboxes and come up with some systems to manage incoming mail and she taught me how to blow-dry my hair holding a round brush. Pretty sure we both left each other's company feeling ready to take on the world anew. Clean inboxes and a good blow out are some pretty huge life skills.

Also, her dog usually shuns me because I almost always my own dog or tiny baby in tow. This time, we were best buds. Although this picture indicates otherwise.



Last night, we had dinner with my sister-in-law, her boyfriend and his kids at East Coast Wings. It occurred to me since Bo is sitting up on his own on the floor, that he could now up in a high chair. I plopped him in one and immediately felt tears come to my eyes to see how grown up he looked.

The same thing happened today when I realized he could hold his bottle on his own. I am pretty sure this is how people end up with a half a dozen kids when you mourn every stage of babyhood passing.



And the next thing I know, it's Sunday night again! These weeks really do go by so fast, and having our month carved out into every other week on/off work schedules makes the month fly by. I'm sure the ER work schedule would drive some people crazy - and granted, it's not the greatest at the holidays - but I really love our non-traditional schedule. It's so great to have him home on random weekdays and we try to make the most of his time off from work.

Weekend Update

Holy cow, this was a crazy busy weekend. At least busy by new standards which is "events that require me to blow dry my hair and/or wear pants with a button." This weekend that was THREE events.

Friday, Bo and I drove down to Charlotte for my sister's birthday part. Charlotte is the perfect road trip distance for us right now - Bo's on a 3 hour feeding schedule and it takes me almost 2 hours to get to my sister's house. I try to time long distance drives with when he naps best, so that meant I got down to Katie's before she was home from school.

We made ourselves at home while we waited.

We had dinner and some playtime with Aunt Katie, and then Bo went down for bed right before the party started. (Perfect timing!) The party was fun and it was great to meet a lot of the friends I've heard Katie talk about before, although I could have done without being referred to as "older Claffey." We stayed up way too late - after the guests left and Dylan and I cleaned up the kitchen, I briefly considered just hanging out for another 30 minutes or so for Bo's middle of the night feeding. (I didn't and he gifted me by sleeping for an extra 2 hours past his usual wake up time!) I was sleepy when the Bo alarm went off for real in the morning, but it was worth the trip to celebrate my baby sister's birthday!

When I got back to Winston, Matt's sister Micah met me at home for a Bo hand off. She had mentioned she wanted to some playtime with the Bo, and somehow Matt convinced her to babysit while we tailgated and went to the Wake game. Sister in law to the rescue! I'm not sure she knew she was signing up for a full day with the Biscuit, but she was a total trooper. Hopefully he paid her in smiles and giggles, since I know there was at least one outfit change that occurred.

Our tailgate - the last one of the year! - was super fun. It was a perfect fall day - just a little crisp, but warm in the sun. Ever since we did our low country boil at the beach, we had talked about doing one for a tailgate. It worked out great - and it was lots of fun standing around the table eating together. Usually people are all over the place at our tailgates - someone is grilling, other people are playing washers or cornhole, the girls are usually sitting in chairs and chatting. We realized we rarely eat together and it was a nice change of pace.

I also brought back my new favorite fall drink that I had in Charlottesville - the snakebite! Half cider and half beer. I love cider but I get so overdone on the sugar... and I'm not a big fan of beer anymore. This is the perfect half and half.

And for once... we had a winning team! A solid win for the Deacons. About time!

We came home from the tailgate and crashed hard. I put the baby to bed while Matt made pizza and I think we both got to bed around 9:30. I'd blame parenthood for our exciting Saturday nights, but I think we've always crashed early after tailgates. Standing around in the sun eating and drinking will take it out of you!

Finally, on Sunday morning, we met up with Anne and Locke for breakfast at Mary's Gourmet Diner. That's on our Dining in the Dash list, so I'll have to save my thoughts on that for a separate post. Bo came with us for that and was in pretty good spirits, despite the long wait eating up most of his precious "alert time" and running into what needed to be the next nap time!

I wrapped up Sunday night with a great dance trance class led by Anne. It's funny how much I used to dread Sunday nights... and now, they are just like any other day. In one way, it is kind of weird how the weekends don't feel different than any other day. There's no sleeping in on Saturday mornings or staying out late on Friday. (Well apparently there is, but there is major payback to the piper when that is done.) But on the other hand, it's an amazingly great feeling not to have the Sunday night dread. I love going to bed on Sundays knowing that my little alarm clock will certainly wake me up bright and early, but the first thing on our agenda will be to do tummy time (for Bo) and coffee time (for Mom.)

It was a super fun weekend, but busy busy busy. The next few days will be much more laid back, which means getting Bo back on a good nap schedule and getting me back into yoga pants! (It's all about balance, of course.)

Walking in Memphis

Has anyone ever visited Memphis and not had that song stuck in their head all day?

Matt and I went to Memphis this weekend! It was our first weekend away from the kiddo and when we left that morning, I had such mixed emotions. My stomach was churning with sadness to say good-bye, even though I knew he was in great hands with my mom. But I was also really excited to have an entire weekend to hang out with Matt – not to mention the uninterrupted nights of sleep that awaited me for the first time in 10 weeks!

One of my friends from high school, Karl, was getting married this weekend. When he first told me the date, I wasn’t certain we’d be able to go but promised him I’d try. Karl sang at my wedding and has been one of my closest friends for almost half my life, so I really wanted to be there. Bo arriving a few weeks early definitely made it easier and about a month ago Matt and I decided to go for it and buy our plane tickets. We sort of figured the first time away from him was going to be super hard whether he was 10 weeks old or 10 months old. And with my mom enthusiastically agreeing to baby-sit, off we went!

We arrived in Memphis around mid-day on Friday and went off in search of the world famous Rendezvous barbecue. It was delicious (dry-rubbed pork ribs) but as a NC loyalist, if I had to choose one kind of pork BBQ to eat the rest of my life, I’m still choosing pulled with a vinegar sauce.

After lunch we just wandered around the area of our hotel (Union Ave/Beale St) since our room wasn’t ready yet. Once we could check in, we pulled the blinds shut and did what any couple would do being away from their new baby for the first time ever.

Took a three hour nap.

It was glorious and gave us the energy we needed to go out that night. I had made dinner reservations based solely on a location/rating filter on Yelp at a place called Flight Wine Bar. The idea sounded intriguing to me – the whole menu was based on the concept of flights, like flights of wine. So you could have a salad flight – a trio of mini salads – or an appetizer flight, dessert flight and even the entrees were available as flights. (You could also have them regular size, which is why I picked the restaurant because Matt’s not a huge fan of tapas.) We both ended up doing entrée flights – I had the seafood entrée which consisted of a mini lobster thermidor, a scallop with a fried quail egg on top of polenta and a small bowl of shrimp and grits. Matt had a flight with a small bison filet, a piece of halibut and the lobster thermidor. It. Was. Amazing. It was the perfect amount of food – I was full but not uncomfortable (which definitely would have happened had we allowed the waiter to convince us that we needed the dessert flight too). And it was delicious. If you’re ever (walking) in Memphis, go go go.

After dinner, we headed back to the hotel to meet my high school bestie Krissy who had just arrived, spent some time catching up with her over a glass (or two) of wine and then headed back out to a bar on Beale St to meet up with the wedding party after their rehearsal. It was like a mini high school reunion, where I got to catch up with so many of my favorites who I rarely get to see. This is one of my last HS friends to get married, so I realized this was the last time I may get to see a lot of these people in one place together save for maybe some reunions. I’ve known Karl since we were 14 and have been close with his whole family throughout the years, so it was awesome to get to see all of them – parents, siblings and even cousins who I’ve met through the years. Karl’s mom describes our friendship like this: “They went to the Valentine’s Dance freshmen year and Meggy wore red shoes.” This is about accurate, but what she doesn’t mention is my footwear made his very-preppy sister a little dubious about my judgment. (In all fairness to Jen, my high school year included many questionable fashion choices. Think skater jeans and baby doll t-shirts. Every bad fashion choice of the mid-90s.) Anyways! We managed to remain close all through high school, college and living in DC post college, and I fell head over heels with his future bride when I first met her a few years ago. There’s nothing like knowing your friends are marrying people who bring out the best in them, and this is definitely one of those cases.

Valentine’s Day, 1997. Witness the hint of red shoes peeking out from the dress. Stellar.

After Karl and I had been friends for about a year, his sister forgave my fashion faux paus and got me a job at the coffee shop she worked at. Making early morning runs to Wegman to buy food for the day at the coffee shop cemented the beginning of our friendship. We worked together at the coffee shop and then on a canal boat together for 3 years, and eventually I followed her to Hopkins for grad school and we were roommates together in DC. She and her husband moved out to Seattle a few years ago, and it pains me that they live so far away – especially now that they have the cutest little boy who I would FINALLY get to meet that weekend.  When Jen and I first saw each other at the bar, there was some hugging and crying and some “omg we’re mommies now!!!!” as part of our reunion. Totally normal.  (Poor, poor, wonderful, patient Matt.)

Karl, Krissy, me & Matt  (I stole many of these photos from lovely Krissy, who actually brought a camera out with her that night.)

My Jennay (and an obnoxiously large beer. Oops)

Me, Janet (Karl’s mom) & Kris

The next day we set out to explore Memphis and took the Main St trolley down to a cute area called South Main District. We saw a crowd standing outside a restaurant and figured it must be good, so we added our names to the wait. It was called the Arcade Restaurant and turned out to be the oldest restaurant in Memphis. It was diner food, nothing spectacular and there were probably better & more interesting options around. Oh well! After our lunch, our plans to explore by foot were foiled by a heavy downpour so we got on the trolley and headed back to our hotel. Matt went off in search of a place to watch Wake football and Krissy & I grabbed some lattes (chai latte 2 pumps pumpkin, of course!) and went back to the hotel to catch up on the last year or so of our life. Our timing was perfect, because we also got back to the hotel in time to meet Jen & Ryan’s little boy, Harlan. I love meeting my friends’ children. It’s like you immediately love this tiny little person, because they are extension of someone else you love. It’s the best. And Harlan (10 months old) was a drooly, smiley, wiggly little charmer.

Then after another brief nap, it was time for the wedding. The wedding was at the Memphis Zoo! Fortunately, even though it was rainy and chilly at the outdoor amphitheater where the ceremony was held, a pashmina and a glass of champagne before heading into the ceremony did the trick.

Staying warm at the ceremony

And the ceremony was absolutely beautiful. I don’t exactly know where we were – I think maybe the amphitheater is used for seal performances? But it was rustic and warm and cozy, despite the rain and chilly night. The ceremony – performed by Karl’s brother-in-law (and Jen’s husband) Ryan, was personal and sweet and touching. And I have never seen the groom happier in his entire life.

The reception was (thankfully) indoors and shared a glass wall with the polar bear exhibit. All weddings should have a polar bear exhibit.

The reception was just a few hours long, and after stuffing ourselves with Memphis-style hor d’ourevers like (more!) barbecue and mini fried green tomato sandwiches and sweet potato bisque, we made our way back to the tram to head home. Except instead of heading home, I got a text from the ceremony officiant himself telling me the location of the after party. So… off we went! Here is where Matt is smarter than I am: when you have the opportunity to sleep for 8+ hours in a hotel room and you are returning home to a small infant, you should take it. Except it was, as I said before, one of the last times I felt like I’d see so many of my high school friends in one place and I wanted to soak up every last moment with them. I did and I can’t say I regret it – even though the alarm going off for our flight was brutal the next morning. But my heart feels happy and full when I think of those extra few hours I spent getting to catch up and talk to old friends. There is just something special about being with the people who have known you for so long. I formed such strong bonds with these people in high school, that even though I haven’t talked to many of them in years and our only connections have been “liking” each other’s lives through Facebook – we picked right back up where we left off. 

So despite the absolute exhaustion I created for myself Sunday for our travel back and missing my little guy like crazy – thank goodness for FaceTime – it was a great weekend away and I’m so very glad we were able to be there.

Although, I have to say I am a little disappointed I did not see the ghost of Elvis on Union Ave.

Mother’s Day

Not only did I get spoiled rotten at my baby shower this weekend, but I also had the pleasure of some extra hanging out time with two of my favorite women – my mom & my sis.  After the shower, we came back to my house to relax…

And to organize…. (Insert small panic attack because I don’t have a place to put all these goodies yet!)

And then we went to dinner at Mozelle’s Bistro.  It is one of my favorite places to eat in Winston & my sister had never been yet.  I didn’t make a reservation but we were fortunate enough to grab the last open table on the small front patio.  My mom had the tomato pie, which is usually my go to… she loved it but not the cheese grits that came with it.  Who doesn’t love cheese grits?  For shame!  Katie had the scallops plate which she loved and I did a 3-veggie plate with asparagus, collards and mac & cheese.  Their collards will make a grown man cry, y’all.  They are so, so good.

On Sunday morning (Mother’s Day!), we had a leisurely breakfast at Camino Bakery.

Scones and coffee, anyone?

And then Mom & Kates had to head back down to Charlotte to go the airport.  I just spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning up and then went to my favorite Sunday night combo class of body pump/dance trance.   I was walking in the door of the gym when a teenage boy, holding the door open for me, looked at me and said “Happy Mother’s Day!”  I was so surprised for a second and then realized…

Oh yea, I am going to be a Mom!  Or I am a Mom.  Or something mind-boggling like that!

And not just to this guy, which of course I already counted….

(And yes he is wearing baby socks.  He has a bad habit of pacing around 5 am but he doesn’t really need to go out… but of course, since I am already practicing for motherhood I wake up at the first sound of him getting up and lay there in bed wondering if I should let him “walk it out” and put himself back to bed, or get up.)

Anyways!  Motherhood!  While it’s occurred to me that I am going to have a baby, it’s not really occurred to me that I am going to be someone’s mom.  Wow.  What a huge, life-altering change lies before me.  Katie and I always agree that we are blessed with the greatest mom ever.  I don’t know how we got so lucky, and how she makes it seem to easy to be a mom.  As kids, she had a perfect balance of being a loving, supporting presence but also inciting enough fear in us to make us stay in time out when told or clean our rooms when told.   As grown-ups, she gives us the perfect balance of friendship and support but also authority and expertise when we need to feel certain we’re cooking the pork tenderloin to perfection or handling the job interview the right way.  How do you hone that type of balance?  Is it just genetics or is my mom going to slip an owner’s manual to kiddo raising when I come home from the hospital to tell me how she did it all?

I sure hope it’s the latter, and if so – can I have that manual early so I can start studying now, Mom?

Happy Mother’s Day, to the best Mom ever.  If I can be half the mom you are to this little kiddo, I think I’ll be alright.  (But please know your number is on speed dial and I intend to use it often.)  We love you!

Weekend Scenes

I have mixed emotions about using my iPhone camera so much.  On the one hand, I love that I can capture the little day by day moments of my life that I definitely wouldn’t bust out my big camera for.  On the other hand, I’m less likely to get out my big camera when I’ve got my little camera phone handy.  These are the things I like awake and think about at night. I know, I know – first world problems.

Oh what a fun weekend.  It was jam-packed as usual with friends, food, babies, gym time, Buddy snuggles and naps.

Friday, I went out to lunch with my friend Denise and met her little boy Sam for the first time.  He is just a little 6 week old bean and napped peacefully the whole time we ate our lunch and chatted about strollers, FMLA, bosses, Chi Omega and wine.  Denise and I were sorority sisters at Wake, and she and her husband just moved back here in July for residency so it’s been fun reconnecting with her since they have returned.  And Mozelle’s was perfection as usual – I’ve never had a single bad plate of food there.  (I’ve had some subpar service experience, BUT the food has always been awesome.)  This time I had a tomato pie and creamy succotash.  I didn’t even know if I liked succotash but if there’s a place that could convince anyone to like it, it would be Mozelle’s.

After lunch, I went and ran some errands before meeting Anne over Akanksha’s to meet baby Ayanna for the first time.  (2 days old!)  We ended up snuggling so long we missed Body Pump, so we went and did our own weight lifting session in the free weight room before heading up for Dance Trance, which Anne was teaching.  Matt was working, so Anne and I continued our Friday night with pizza and salads at The Loop. 

Saturday morning I met Lauren and baby Jeffery at campus for a long walk through Reynolda Gardens, Graylyn and Buena Vista.  It was an absolute perfect morning for a walk – we have been spoiled rotten by this March weather.  Lauren and I hadn’t seen each other since our coffee date back in December so we had much to catch up. It never fails to amaze me how much farther I will walk or run if I can chatter away while I’m doing it.

After our walk, I was feeling pretty motivated so I rolled up my sleeves (just kidding! already short sleeves! it’s 80 out!) and did a legit cleaning of our house.  I am kind of obsessed with a Christmas present I got from my mom this year – my Shark steam cleaner.  I really, really, really hate cleaning floors.  I will avoid it until I start to notice that my floor looks like the dressing room of a Walmart – which between the dog and my messy cooking style is about 3-4 days. Then I will finally drag out the vacuum and the Swiffer, mop or whatever contraption I’m attempting to use to restore cleanliness.  This little baby is the best of both worlds – first you vacuum and then you pop the little cloth cover on and switches it to steam and you listen to purr while it steam cleans your floor.  When it’s done, for about 5 minutes, I actually do have floors that I would eat off of.  (Whatever, product review mid-blog post?  It’s my blog and I’ll ramble if I want to.  Too bad I couldn’t get Shark to sponsor this post though!)

When I realized it was St Patrick’s Day and I was not going to be partaking in any green beverages, I convinced Matt to swing me by McDonald’s so I could try a Shamrock Shake for the first time.  (Official review: Meh.  Stick to Cookout Mint Shakes if you’re craving a green shake.)  On the plus side though, no hangover!  We joined the Glenns for a little shamrock pre-gaming (Car Bombs for everyone who isn’t pregnant!) and then went over to our friend Dave and Kathleen’s for homemade pasta.  Very delicious. Very Irish.  (Kathleen did point out her sauces made the dish look like the Irish flag!  Well played!) 

I did not get any corned beef and cabbage and soda bread this year, and I’m still smarting over that.  I need to check if HT is putting the corned beef on sale this week post St Patty’s Day because oh how I crave that salty, quasi rubbery, stringy delicious meat.  (The Irish are not known for their culinary affairs, ya’ll.  It’s just tradition.)  I did, however, find another great St Patrick’s Day clearance item – I was visiting Babies R Us to do a little product research and hyperventilating over stuffocation when I saw those 2 cute onesies on the clearance rack.  I couldn’t resist!  Although I had to stop and count on my fingers to figure out that I’d have a 7 month old by next March!  (OMG!)

Sunday morning I had a relaxing morning on my porch with a chai and a pupdog – I have finally figured out that it is a good investment for me to buy the Chai from Harris Teeter and make it at home.  I always talk myself out of buying the $4 carton (and $3 almond milk) because it’s so expensive (my reasoning.)  Then I did the math and realized I can make 5 chai’s out of those 2 cartons making them $1.50 each instead of $4 at the ‘bux.  Oh.  Hey, math major.  (And um, yeah, I reuse my cups from Sbx because I think chai tastes better out of a paper cup.  Quirk.)

Buddy helped me in the afternoon to clean out the future baby room and put some goodies up on eBay (if anyone would like some never-even-taken-out-of-the-box Pottery Barn curtain rods….now is the time to bid!).  We sold the mattress and frame recently on Craigslist so the room is quite empty and starting to look ready for the next thing.  Which is a crib.  Which is still kind of surreal and crazy to me.  A crib.  (And a baby in that crib.  Yea, this is all not really quite sinking in yet, still.)

Then it was back off to the gym for my favorite combo -  Body Pump followed by Dance Trance.  It’s tough to knock out those 2 classes back to back but I always feel like I can kick butt afterwards – and that I can skip the gym for a day or two afterwards too.  After dinner, us dance trancer girls scooted back to the house where Matt had prepared pizzas and salad and was watching the basketball games with the boys (and Zoey!).  It was still pretty warm even as the sun was going down, so we got to enjoy our meal al fresco on the porch again.  It is definitely my favorite room in the house and I love that it’s already been warm enough for us to use it!

And then, just like that, Sunday night was setting, the weekend was ending and it was time to do Monday all over.  The days are long, but the weeks are short.