More Page-A-Day Prompts

I love my Happiness Project calendar – the stack of pages I tear off to respond to later is growing ever larger, but my absolute favorite pages from it are the “questions to ask yourself” pages.  It’s a journal fanatic's dream come true.  (I forgot to take a picture of the calendar page this time, but the questions are there anyways.)

What was the nicest compliment you've ever received?

I had a hard time answering this - not because people have never said nice things about me, but because “words of affirmation” are totally my love language so I've tucked away a lot of nice things in my heart and I feel kind of funny sharing them.  One of the most meaningful compliments I’ve ever received was the toast Matt gave me at our rehearsal dinner.  I carry a copy of it in my wallet and pull it out to reread from time to time and it never fails to uplift me.   

What are your five favorite things about your neighborhood?

1. My House - can this count?  I love my house.  Since it's in my neighborhood, I'm counting it.

2. The walking path that runs through the middle of it and the sidewalks all around it.

3. My porch - okay I'm cheating a bit since this is part of my house.  But I love sitting on my porch ... and I can't wait for us to finish the fence around our backyard for even more privacy!  It feels like a retreat back there.

4. Our next door neighbor - we have a really nice next door neighbor.  He and Matt get along great, and he was absolutely amazing when it came to helping Matt build the porch - invested a huge amount of time alongside Matt teaching him how to do it.  He's also the type who will loan you his lawn mower or bring you an extra slice of pie he's made.  His niceness makes up for the fact that his son has thrown water balloons at me on more than one occasion.

5. It feels safe.  I've lived in Baltimore - I can appreciate feeling safe in a neighborhood.

What type of activities energize you?

Dance trance, strength training, writing, going on a long walk or run with a good friend, taking everything out of a cluttered space and reorganizing it, organizing a task or project with an Excel spreadsheet, making a to do list.

And now here is a gratuitous Buddy picture for your viewing enjoyment.  Because a blog post without a picture is just a glorified version of my diary.

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!

Spoiled

There’s no other way to describe how I feel after the wonderful baby shower thrown for me by my girlfriends in NC!  It was a perfect day with so many thoughtful, sweet details – the little bowties on the onesies for a garland, the mini foods brunch (tiny pancakes!), the rum punch & bucket of Izzes (yes, we know which ones were for me)… and of course, the wonderful guests who came to shower me and Baby Boy with love.  I don’t know if this baby knows how lucky he is to already be so loved, but he will soon!  I don’t think I can really do justice to explain how grateful I feel to be surrounded by such loving friends and family as I’ve gone through my pregnancy and especially today, with so many of them there present (or sending their thoughts!), so I’ll just turn it over to some photos.  Thank you, Anne & Kate, for being such amazing hostesses!

The cake was made by my friend Abbie, who also did my mom’s retirement apple cupcakes and Matt’s 30th birthday cake. 

I loved that there was such a mix of people from all different parts of my life there – my mom & sister, and mom-in-law and sister-in-law, Winos, residency friends, friends from my current job & my former job, dance trance friends and internet-turned-real-life friends.  It is a testament to the wonderful women I surround myself with that they all seemed to mix and get along so great!  (Or else it’s a testament to Anne’s rum punch.  Either are viable theories.)

Hostesses (and sisters) Anne & Kate

Me & cute Teri

My co-worker bestie & sanity keeper, Susan

Winos Jenny & Emily, who drove from Raleigh to be there

Sister-in-law Micah & sister Katie – the future Aunties

Thank you for everyone who made this day so special and have helped me get ready for Baby Boy’s arrival! 

Dining in the Dash: Spring House Restaurant

One of the many things I love about living in Winston-Salem is the restaurants.  For a small city, we have so many amazing options for eating out. And as our downtown continues to go through this revitalization process, there seem to be more and more wonderful places to choose from!

So of course that means we end up trying something new every time we go, right?  Of course not.  Like the townies we are, Matt and I had gotten in the habit of going to the same places over and over again.  After discussing this with Anne and finding that she and Locke were doing the same thing, we came up with a plan to make ourselves a list of places that we would try over the next year instead of going back to the same stand-by.  The only criteria was that at least one of us had never been or both of us hadn't been in over a year. And thus, our new project - Dining in the Dash - was born!

Here is the list we came up with:

• Kitchen Roselli
• The Screaming Rooster
• Goat Lady Dairy
• the Taco Truck
• Sweet Potatoes
• Breakfast Of Course
• Bernadin’s
• Meridian
• Old Salem Tavern
• King’s Crab Shack
• New Town Bistro
• Muddy Creek Café
• Winston-Salem Prime
• Spring House Restaurant
• Lexington BBQ
• Hillbilly Hideaway

Of course, Anne has beaten me to the punch with her dining review but I'm going to go ahead and post about it anyways.

The first place we picked was the Spring House.  I had heard about this new place a few months ago via Twitter and then from my friend Teri who raved about their mojitos. I'd read it was a former mansion from the "Millionaire Row" - the downtown 5th street area that was where the turn-of-century big shots had built huge estates - but which was now mostly converted to office spaces.  I love when old spaces are renovated to capture their original charm so I was excited to see what the renovations looked like.

It did not disappoint at all.  The setting is downright charming.  We lucked out with a warm spring night and the front doors of both dining rooms and the library bar were flung open on to a bright green lawn, a patio with more outdoor seating and a small collection of benches around a fountain where I could imagine comfortably waiting for our table with a glass of wine in hand.  (Fortunately we didn't have to wait since we had a reservation.)

The menu was fun and interesting, with lots of creative dishes that provided a twist on what I'd describe as maybe upscale home cooking.  I had the pork tenderloin saltimbocca and Matt had the chicken fried chicken.  (It came with a waffle.  He was pretty smitten.)  My pork dish was delicious and very tender, with an delicious smoky spoonbread for the side.  It didn't knock my socks off so I'd probably try another dish next time I went, but I definitely wasn't disappointed by it either.  I ended with a almond apple crisp that I generously passed around to share with the table, even though I could have easily hogged the whole thing myself!

One of the major features of the menu was their cocktail selections, which of course I didn't partake in, but would easily make me come back for another visit in a few months.  I would have gotten the drink Anne had - the twisted brown trucker.  It looked every bit as pretty as the description sounded and she gave it a thumbs up.  There's a couple different things that would bring me back to try this again: they offer a tasting menu which I think would be a great way to try many of the unique dishes they offer and the first Wednesday of every month has cooking classes.  Both of these are going on my to-do list... but I better wait until I get through our other places to try first.

I thought Anne summarized it well when she said it was on the pricier side if you did appetizers, drinks and dinner but definitely worth it for a nicer meal.  It would also be a great place to come for drinks and appetizers on the patio or the charming library bar.  We'll definitely be back!

Hometown Shower

Other than my walk down memory lane, the real reason for my trip home was a baby shower being thrown for me and Baby Boy Cline by my mom’s friends.  The party was thrown by three of my mom’s friends from school – Abbie, Pat and Melissa.  It included them as well as some of her other teacher friends, my “hood mommas”, my Aunt Patty, and two other friends of my mom I have known since childhood. 

Hood mommas – I should explain that one.  I grew up in one of those neighborhoods with tons of kids running around, where you rode your bike up and down the street to friend’s houses and were just as likely to eat dinner at a neighbor’s house as your own.  We played neighborhood-wide games of capture the flag and flashlight tag and each of my neighborhood friends’ moms were as in charge of me as my own mom.  Little did I know then that the friendships that the Moms all had with each other was as important – if not more – as the one their kids had.  Now that I’m getting close to the stage of having my own kiddo and I call up my friends-with-babies every other day to ask advice about sleep books, registry items and “is this normal” pregnancy questions, I can completely understand the importance of those friendships that formed as they were co-raising their kids together.  I absolutely love that the “hood moms” friendships have endured through their kids growing up and moving out, through each of them actually moving from the neighborhood and more.  I think about my friends who have babies now and I wonder what it would say about the test of our friendship if I am one day at their child’s baby shower.  I hope so!  (And can you imagine the types of baby shower gifts we’ll be giving 30 years from now?  Hopefully we’ll still be giving “Goodnight Moon” and “Brown Bear, Brown Bear.”)

Anyways!  It was an absolutely lovely shower.  One of my mom’s friend’s from school brought her 8-month old baby which provided a very welcome distraction for the shower guests as I tackled one of my greatest fears: opening presents in front of a crowd.  (Is it just me?  I get clammy and nervous and I rush through it awkwardly.  At least at my wedding showers I could have champagne to help me through it!)

But look, is this kiddo not adorable?

Baby Boy got spoiled rotten at this shower.  Since it was thrown by teachers, I thought it very appropriate that they requested everyone bring a favorite kid’s book so his library got a huge jumpstart!  There were so many of my favorites from childhood that I got to revisit – and some new ones that I am sure I will get very well acquainted with.  We also got squared away with some much needed essentials like the Ergo, video monitor, swaddlers, bottles….oh and of course, clothes!  Buying baby clothes is pretty much everyone’s kryptonite, isn’t it?  It is darn near impossible to resist the siren song of a 0-3 month onesie, I am learning.  This little boy is going to be one well-read, well-dressed baby when he gets here!

It was a beautiful shower and I was so very grateful for all the ladies who came to it – those who have known me since I myself was a baby and those who I just met recently but who have been great friends to the Grandma-to-be and were equally as excited to celebrate with her.  This little baby (and his momma) are already so well taken care of!

Hometown

Who said you can’t go home?*  I can always go home.  I’m a total homebody.  I love visiting my hometown and I especially love Pittsford in the spring.  There is such a happy light feeling about upstate New York when it starts shedding its winter coat around May (or sometimes June) and it’s my very favorite time to be there.  I haven’t been home since last June (!!!) for my sister’s wedding and I was already lamenting that this trip was going to be in an fly-in-Friday-morning, fly-out-Sunday-morning type of visit.  Too, too quick. 

(And I won’t bother to waste a whole blog post on how in-Friday-morning turned into in-to Buffalo-Friday-afternoon, but I will go on record to say that air travel lately has just become absurd.  Is there any other industry where you pay so very much money and get such poor delivery on promises and services?  Whatever… moving on… I made it home and so did my bag.  So there’s that.)

Pittsford!  In the spring!  It’s very beautiful.  My mom and I went into the village on Saturday morning for a coffee date and a hair appointment and since we were early for the hair appointment we just wandered around the canal area.  I was snapping pictures of my favorite sites - the boat I used to work on, the coffee shop I used to work at, the grain mill that had been reconverted to an office and my mom said to me “You really like visiting Pittsford don’t you?”  I do and I know not everyone in the world has the sense of contentment and peace that I have when I return to the place I grew up and I feel fortunate that my hometown memories are happy ones.

I worked as a deckhand on this boat, the Sam Patch, for two summers with one of my best friends, Jen.  It was the greatest summer job ever.  We rode up and down the canal every day doing lunch and dinner cruises and private parties. Jen and I were in charge of tying the boat up when we got to the locks for the ride up, serving meals, bartending, jumping down in the hold to find another bottle of wine or refill the snack bar, answering questions about the history of the Erie Canal, selling memorabilia and even occasionally – when Captain Rick wanted to come down and mingle with the passengers – driving.  (And if you have never been in a canal lock before, it is truly a marvel of engineering… a legitimate water elevator!) One of my favorite memories was working on the boat was on a 4th of July cruise when we took the boat from the canal down the Genesee River into downtown Rochester, and Jen and I climbed up on the roof to watch the fireworks.  We got great tans (a great job benefit when you’re an 18 year old girl), amazing tips on some especially boozey dinner cruises, learned how to tie knots and most important of all, our boss – Eric – imparted to us that he trusted us wholly as he often left Jen and I in charge of closing up the boat at night, running the credit card slips, calculating our tips, restocking merchandise and placing food orders for the next day.  Jen and I are both the type who completely thrive under being put in charge and to be so young but have that kind of responsibility – I think we both took for granted what it said that our boss thought about us but I look back on it now and I’m amazed at what he trusted a pair of 18 year olds to handle.  I’ve had few bosses since then that have empowered employees the way he did his staff.

I’m writing all this now because I found out a week before I went home that Eric had died unexpectedly.  He was very young – in his mid 40s – and he had a preteen daughter (who I used to babysit.)  Jen and I texted back and forth when we found out, expressing our shock and our sadness. Whenever I’ve gone home and visited the canal dock, I’ve seen Eric bustling around getting ready for the next cruise to go out and inevitably he’ll ask him if I’m home to stay and if I want to work a shift on the boat.  (I always do and yet I never had time!)  I kept half-expecting him to jump out of the ticket office while I was down there snapping pictures, but the canal cruise season hadn’t started yet and the dock was quiet.  He was a good man, and I’m sad for his family to learn of his passing.  He’s worked tirelessly for the non-profit that runs the canal boat for over a decade now, and I know the organization is going to be impacted by losing him too.  Very sad.

I actually intended to write this whole post about my trip home, but I sort of transgressed when I started writing about my trip down to the canal and little mental good-bye to my boss and a piece of my teenage years.  I think it’s probably better to end on that note and continue on with a second installment later to write about the real reason for my trip home, which was the beautiful baby shower my mom’s friends threw for me.

Oh and by the way, I googled it and to the best of my knowledge it looks like Thomas Wolfe said you can’t go home.  And Mr. Wolfe, I just want you to know that Jennifer Nettles, Bon Jovi and I whole-heartedly disagree with you.

Nashville Country Music Half Marathon {Spectator Perspective}

Drive 440 miles.  Run (or watch your friends run) 13 miles.  Drive another 440 miles.

When you describe it like that...

Yea, it actually is kind of crazy.  But amazingly, when you're with good friends something as crazy as driving 14 hours road trip to run 13 miles does actually become fun.  Or in my case, watching good friends run the 13 miles - even MORE fun.

Somewhere around Christmas both Matt and Anne got it in their heads they wanted to run a half marathon. Anne picked out the Nashville Country Music Half - proclaiming she needed music at every mile to keep her motivated - and Matt decided while we were visiting Nashville at Christmas that that one would suit him too.  Soon after, Locke signed up, our friends Rick and Stephanie joined in, then Anne convinced her sister Jane and boyfriend Nick to join.  A few weeks later, I convinced Heather - who had told me one of her 2012 goals was to run a half marathon - to sign up for this one and she got her friend Anna on board.  THEN I learned one of my high school besties, Tamara, was running it too.

I had my hands full as super fan - that's 10 runners if you don't feel like counting.  I've never been to a half as a spectator before and it was a really cool experience.  I was glad I'm enough of a compulsive planner that I had mapped out ahead of time where I was going to park and wait for the runners, because I had picked out a spot that allowed me to get to see everyone at mile 3 and then walk about 5 minutes to get to mile 10.  My mom was a huge help by watching their chip times from the computer at home and texting me when to expect people so I could know when to look - because I totally underestimated what 35,000 runners streaming by would like look.  (Hint: a tidal wave of sweaty, grimacing faces.)

I couldn't believe every time I actually found one of my runners in that mess but I was so proud to see each one go by!  My parents have always been loyal spectators to my events - even driving down from Baltimore to surprise me and Jamie when we ran our half and my Dad jumped in for a few minutes at mile 11 with me - and I felt like I got to "pay it forward" a little bit by being there on the sidewalk for all my runners.

Pre-race 6 am smiles: Locke, Jane, Nick, Anne & Matt

My friend Tamara sent me this video her Dad took – he was filming sporadically throughout the run and I literally was standing at mile 10 and went “who is this guy running backwards filming?” before my brain immediately clicked in and recognized him – as my best friend from high school’s Dad!  I keep laughing when I watch this video because right around 30 seconds my little voice in the wind is yelling “Tamaaaara!” and we saw each other for approximately 10 seconds but it was a joyful 10 second reunion!

They all did so amazing. For everyone but Rick, it was their FIRST half marathon!  And it was not an easy course - some brutal hills and the April day ended up being near sweltering by the time the race finished  It was fun to bear witness to each of my friends and my husband accomplishing something that they could now check off their bucket list.

Besides the race, we have a great time in Nashville on our short tip.  We went out to dinner Friday night with the whole crew at a cute place called Cabana's where we got our own little private booth and the runners pre-gamed with pasta and lots of water.  It was the first time I'd seen Heather since she moved to CT a year ago!  We were happy to be reunited, even for a brief dinner and a high five at mile 3.

On Saturday, the runners crashed for naps afterward (the BEST feeling) and then we headed back downtown for dinner at Bosco's Brewery (which was really good!) and then we even found a little bit of energy reserve to go out downtown and find ourselves a spot in a Honky Tonk.  When in Nashville, right?  Not bad for a crew of post-racers and a preggo.... although I can't say anyone felt an extra inclination to do some two stepping or even walk to another bar once we got situated in our first one.

Post-race 7pm smiles: Anne, Matt, Locke, Nick, Jane, Steph & Rick

Then we woke up Sunday and headed on back home to the Dash, and just like that an event that was 4 months in the making was over!  Congrats, runners!  (Who is ready to sign up for another????)