Last (work) Trip of the Year

At least that is the plan today.

I'm in Washington DC tonight, heading home tomorrow - another quick one-night adventure. We got to town around 4:00, to the hotel by 4:30, work out from 5:00 to 6:00, dinner at 7:00. We are on the club floor - which I thought was a fancy way of saying "ground level", but actually means the floor with the "club", or room with snacks in the evening and breakfast at night.

We decided to skip room service and went to the Jamieson Grille, which is the hotel restaurant, but the only decent place to eat within a 10 mile radius (according to Google maps). It was pretty tasty. I had mussels and a chopped salad and a glass of red wine. The three sips of the red wine were VERY good and exactly what I needed (truth, I needed about three glasses, but beggars can't be choosers). I'm now back in the room, getting ready for bed and hoping I sleep...

Wish me luck!

Singstar is "Toxic"

Remember when I was boasting about Melinda and I beating the boys at Singstar? Well, I think all the fanfare went to our heads, because Friday night, they beat us.

Yes, we lost, not by much, but we lost. It was close throughout the competition, but in the end a Britney Spears song was our downfall...Toxic ...don't know how the boys hit all those high notes ;)

Fire Fire

With Natalie's new found love of fire trucks, my mom thought it would be fun to take her to a fire station. And it just so happens that my cousin, my mom's niece, is a fire fighter and was going to posted at the fire house close to our house.

Natalie had a great time climbing inside the fire truck and wearing my cousin's hat and playing with the stuffed animals. Grandma then took her for a hamburger - a great day!

Jinx

I'm going to say it...and hopefully not jinx it...but Phil is on his way home!!

Finally!!

He will only make it about half way today, and then have about 6 or so more hours to drive tomorrow, but let's all keep our fingers crossed that the two-week-mark will be the end of his trip and he actually makes it home.

I think Natalie and I might try and make a key lime pie for his welcome home / birthday celebration. She, maybe even more than me (is that possible), has missed him so much! When she would be on a walk during the day and see a truck like his, she would yell "wait, Dada, wait" while it drove past. Last night, she picked up the phone and demanded we call Dada, then talked to him for a while. When I thought she was done, I took the phone so I could talk to him and she pulled it out of my hand - smacking herself in the face. She wasn't upset over the knock to the head, she was more upset about me telling daddy we would call him later. She cried "daddy phone now".

So, we will see who is more excited to see him.

And on this same topic, someone at work told me that I "can't complain about him being out of town because I have traveled so much this year." For the record, anytime we are apart I can complain - if it is me traveling or him. It sucks no matter what so in my eyes it doesn't matter and I complain equally when either one of us is gone! But, because I'm a numbers gal and I like balance, I went back and did some calculations - by the end of this month I will have traveled (not including the January trip where she was with me or half and Phil was with me for the other half) 36 nights. Phil has had two long trips (Australia and Colorado) and so we are about equal...except I beat him by a few nights I think.

Yum

With the last of the red tomatoes from the garden, Natalie and I had a really tasty pasta dinner.

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Swimming makes us tired

Natalie and I went swimming last night and she slept so good that I'm considering putting a pool in our backyard.

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31...

Well, it might just be another Columbus Day for everyone else, but today is my birthday. My birthday which started with a doctors visit, a glucose test (blood draw and sugary sweet orange drink), and a flu shot. Great way to start off, right? Well it only got better from there.

In lieu of working, I decided to take some vacation time so I could run errands and get some stuff done around the house. I went to the grocery store, Home Depot, Kohl's, and TJ Maxx all by 1:00. After that I worked on some projects around the house and now I'm going to put away some clean clothes. Very exciting birthday! Isn't it funny that birthdays used to be so exciting - the party, the gifts, the friends and now it seems like they just aren't the same.

Tonight, Natalie and I will be heading back to my parents house for dinner and dessert. Hopefully Phil will be home later this week or next, hopefully!

Relax

Last week (after I returned from Minnesota) we were lucky enough to have dinner at Stella with one of our favorite families. After a good dinner and great conversation, Phil basically invited us over to their house for a drink (sparkling water for me, beer for him). They graciously agreed and we drove straight to their house, quickly so they couldn't call and change their minds.

When we got there they broke out the game Singstar. Now, Melinda has been talking about how much fun this game is for a while, but it is essentially a karaoke game and that freaks me out. I mean, I can't drink and EVERYONE knows that karaoke is more fun when you are drinking. Well, I can admit I was wrong, because it was SO SO SO much fun and I can't wait for the next time we invite ourselves over for another Singstar battle. Oh, just for the record, Melinda and I beat the boys.

While we were there, Kai changed into his pjs and Melinda offered a pair of pjs to Natalie so they could both be more comfortable. The pair Natalie got were blue and had fire trucks all over them. She LOVES them, which might be an understatement of her feelings. We washed them and I had them by my purse so I could return them to Melinda, Natalie saw them and all she wanted to do was wear them! She starts making the fire truck noise and tries to put them on. It is so cute! So cute, in fact, that I've let her wear them a few more times.

Here is a photo of her relaxing the other morning, in her favorite pjs, on mom's bed.

Happy Birthday to my Hunny

Happy Birthday Phil!

This year there will be no celebrating together, remember last year - what a gift, Phil is stuck in Colorado for his birthday. He was able to get out and golf today and although he said he missed having the "regulars" with him to play, it was still a nice treat all the same.

Selfishly, I'm hoping he will be home for my birthday (or tomorrow?? please...) and I told him that if he made if home for my birthday we could share the celebration and he can pick what is for dinner. I'm a good wife :)

Recent Adventures

First, I'll start with wine...as any good story should. About two weeks ago Natalie and I decided to take a walk to the new liquor store in our neighborhood. So, yes, I loaded my toddler into her stroller, gave her a cup of milk and water and my pregnant belly and I walked her to the liquor store. At least I wasn't drinking while I was doing it, so that makes it better, right?

It is a really nice store with a great selection of wines and we ended up buying so much (over two boxes) that Phil had to come and pick us up...which I predicted and arranged in advance :) When we got home Natalie helped me put all the bottles away and then proceeded to have a great time playing in the box.

Next subject is Minnesota...

I just returned from another trip to Minnesota, and although it was a short two-night trip, it is still a pain to leave my babies. Some of the good things about Minnesota are, the group of friends I get to hang out with while I'm there, dinner out at nice places (Bar La Grassa was tasty), working out after work (weird that I would put that as a good thing...), fancy water waiting for me in my hotel room, and the wake up coffee I get every morning (it is decaf, but still a nice way to greet the morning).

Just when I returned from my business trip, Phil had to go out of town on his own business trip. He is stuck in Colorado for who knows how long (even missing his birthday today...booo hooo). Because he is out of town, Natalie and I have been spending a LOT of time with my parents. It is nice to have two extra people to help entertain her and let's be honest, no one beats Grandma. We traveled to the cabin last weekend and had a great time. The only exception to the great time we were having was when I fell up the stairs! I scrapped up my arm, wrist and bruised my shin pretty good (still have a welt and it HURTS!).

With my arm in a gauze wrap most of the weekend I was set to still have a good time.

We went on a walk at night with Natalie leading the way with her flashlight. (Side bar - Phil taught her the Flash Light game, where she has to find one of us with the flashlight and then kiss whoever she finds - when she is 15 and playing this game, I'll remind him it was his idea). We played with the old Safari toys and race cars and Natalie spent a lot of quality porch time cleaning her dishes (yes these are all toys my brothers and I played with growing up and Natalie LOVES them).

On our way home on Sunday we stopped at the outlet stores to check out the deals on baby boy outfits (nothing great), but while there we couldn't pass up the opportunity to play on the swings, slides and 50 cent rides. Natalie had a blast and her favorites were the "ride little pony", merry-go-round and tonka truck.

Once we got home, Natalie had a snack and convinced me that the twenty minute nap she had in the car would be a long enough nap for the day. So, we vacuumed and mopped the kitchen, put some toys away, dug through the boxes of her clothes looking for anything white the baby boy can wear, got the Halloween decorations out of storage and did a load of laundry, all before packing up the car and heading to Grandpa's house for dinner. Natalie lost the sleep battle and was asleep in her car seat before we left our street. She even slept through a trip into Target for milk.

We've been keeping busy and tonight will be no exception. We are planning a trip to either the library or to Home Depot, both of which are on the way to Grandma's house...guess we will go there too :)

Here are some photos I snagged from my mom's camera, just because

Enjoying the swings - which she loves

In her pretty dress (a steal for $3)

With daddy

Wearing one of my old dresses - so sweet!!