A day in the life...Me & Martha

With March right around the corner, so is one of my favorite times of the year...Spring (and my birthday month!) The days are getting longer, the sun seems to be shining a little brighter and the temps have been getting up to and over the 40 degree mark. I've been playing nurse to my little patient who got his tonsils out last week, and with all the extra time at home and warm weather on the brain, I was able to rid our house of all the Winter decor and Spring has officially sprung in our house! Now all we need to do is dye Easter eggs...Speaking of good things...




 

 In between running in to help Denver when he rang his little bell and Spring cleaning/decorating, I managed to squeeze in a little light reading to help inspire me. Don't get me wrong, I love Martha Stewart Living but reading Martha's monthly calendar gives me major anxiety...She has trainer on there 4 times a week. Personal trainer? Horse trainer? It doesn't say. I was so proud of myself that I made it to spin class two weeks ago and then got myself to boot camp at 5:15 this morning. On March 2nd, she's going to quickly open the beehives & check their supply/health, March 7th, cut quince & apple branches, March 14th is my personal fave: Remove storm windows, wash and store & switch to screens (by herself?!). In between touching up the paint on the house trim on March 22nd and baking babka on March 30th, Martha will be gold-leafing eggs for Easter. A day in the life. Seriously Martha? You're not fooling me. I'm on to you. Although you sure do have a way of making an over-committed overachiever feel like a slacker. And another thing, I know you purposely add too much of or leave out an ingredient so that none of your recipes ever come out as perfect as they do in the magazine or on TV. But I still love you.

I won't give you my whole monthly calendar (it wouldn't be nearly as ambitious as Martha's) but here are some snippets from a (few) day(s) in my life from this past week/Staycation:

2/20 School Break-Family Trip to Stratton, 35 mph winds but we drove an hour so no chance of leaving. Milestone of the day~Denver's 1st black diamond

2/21 Office with Denver to drop off contracts, library, Chipotle, cut off all food/water after midnight (cue Denver "I'm thirsty, I'm hungry, I'm hungry, hungry, hungry...")

2/22 Report to Hospital at 10am (Denver is starving at this point-poor guy), Adenoid Surgery scheduled for noon (surprise! they decide to take the tonsils too, which means an extra week of recovery), head home & administer pain medication every 4-6 hours (I wish Martha had a pull-out chart to keep track of this. This would be a good thing)

2/23 Spend day with little buddy (see above about cleaning/decorating), all the popsicles you can eat. Friends stop by to visit with gogurt, Uno, legos, gatorade and hard cider (yeah!) After Denver goes to bed, I pop by the SPAC Dallas Winter Ball briefly Yeehaw!

2/24 Almost the same as 2/23 except evening activites include: making soup for the week, making pasta for dinner, watching the Oscars, drinking Oscar inspired cocktails, tweeting like I think I'm on E's Fashion Police

2/25 My mom stayed with Denver from 9-12:30. In this time: commuted 30 min to office, worked, dealt with the work craziness that only a full moon can bring on, stopped by to pick up Denver's school work, grocery store for dinner supplies, drove 30 minutes home. More hanging out at home, working from home, made chicken curry which was wayyyy too spicy (shoot!)

2/26 5:15am Bootcamp, all emails answered by 7:15am,  worked on event that I am co-chairing for duration of the morning, changed channel for Denver 40 times while alternating popsicles, gogurt & applesauce. Looked at the mess that has accumulated in less than 24 hours (ugh how?), heated up leftover soup and made basil oil out of the basil that had about a day left before expiring (see below)

On the agenda for the rest of the week? Work, WCR lunch event, Saratoga Paint & Sip, Denver's School Art Show, finalize event invites & mail them, guest spot on the radio on Saturday, open house on Sunday...

No trainer, no trimming, no bees, no gold leaf, no windows, but after writing it all down, I'm exhausted (maybe that's the boot camp exhaustion kicking in). No wonder I haven't had time for any new posts lately ;) Until next time...



My Martha moment of the day
 


 

 
 

Welcome to your 30's

Sunday morning I woke up extra early (for a Sunday) to get ready to head out to a conference, followed by work, followed by an early evening meeting. Long day to say the least. Not exactly feeling 100% myself due to what my dad likes to call the “phenomenon of hormones,” I attempted to find something chic and professional to wear (and something I might add that would cover my crazy bloat going on that day). After I raged through my closet for a good 10 minutes (which went something like this: Tim!!! Where are my black big corduroy’s?!?! Why are they not in this closet?!?! Why doesn’t anything fit?! Where are my tights? I have no dress shoes from this season!! Ugh, I got this dress after I had Denver! It’s SO old! I can’t wear those; my butt won’t fit into them! And so on…) I settled on an old dress that I got about 5 years ago. Not feeling all that chic, and now running 10 minutes behind schedule, my mood was a bit cloudy as I threw my ingredients into the smoothie maker, kissed my little guy and flew out the door.

I took a deep cleansing breath as I pulled out of the driveway. You can do this! Face the day! Your dress isn’t too tight, you have time to stop for a Starbucks after all and the sun is shining! Shining so bright that it illuminated something that would have been better left in the dark. As I checked my makeup in the rearview mirror to make sure everything went on correctly in my crazy state of mind earlier, I noticed a little something gleaming in the harsh early morning winter sunlight. A long, thin, blond hair on the bottom of my chin, like one of Rapunzel's long strands of hair. Was this a cruel joke? I have never even had to wax above my lip yet and now I have Rapunzel’s braid swinging off my chin? Am I going to turn into one of those women that you see with a long hair growing off their face and you wonder do they know about it? And if so, why don't they yank it out? At the next red light, I immediately texted three friends (the ones I knew would be up before 8am on a Sunday) about this new revelation. Instantly, one of my girlfriends texted back welcome to your 30’s, I have a big black one that grows every month and I have to pluck it out each and every month. Talk about a morning going from bad to worse…And to think that before this, the only bad hair I had to worry about was on my head. Without any tweezers on hand in the car, I did what anyone would do and seized that nasty little thing with my fingernails and yanked. Out it came in one piece! I’m really hoping that it doesn’t decide to make a visit next month too…
 

Speaking of the 30’s, that is not the only difference that I have noticed since I turned 30 almost two years ago. I have to admit, I’m not feeling like I look like my old (young!) youthful self. More like a tired, old sea hag on some days. The perma bags never seem to completely disappear anymore and it takes quite a bit of Laura Mercier concealer to look somewhat rested in the morning. There is a line on my forehead that appears even deeper the day after indulging in too much wine. And speaking of wine, you just don’t bounce back the next day the way you used to after indulging a little. Weight loss in your 30’s no longer involves just skipping a meal or two and losing 5 lbs. Now I can sweat at the gym 5 days a week, count my points all day long and maybe shed a pound and a half. Meanwhile, my husband is eating rib eyes and hot fudge sundaes and staying the same all the time. It's midnight as I write this and he's actually eating right now. I think he’s been the same weight since high school. Ugh.

 

So for all of you lucky ladies who are approaching your 30’s, beware of what’s in store. And for my girls living in the thick of it with me, high fives all around.

Just so you don’t think that this post is too much of a downer, I’ll give you a couple good things about the 30’s too.

·         I am finally old enough that people take me seriously at work. No longer am I “that young girl”

·         I'm married with a kindergartner and we own our house

·         I’m old enough that I’ve had a career (with the same company) for 10 years

·         A sense of confidence that you don’t have in your 20’s

How about you? What’s your favorite and least favorite part about getting older? Be honest. No judgment here.

 

 

A few of my favorite things this week

Here are the things, events & people that are topping my favorite's list this week!

         I saw a story about the “Hug Lady” this morning on the Today show and it warmed my heart. This sweet 81 year old woman attends every single deployment and homecoming with one purpose: to hug every soldier going to or returning from war. Elizabeth Laird, known as "The Hug Lady," by the soldiers at Fort Hood, has been greeting soldiers flying through Fort Hood’s Robert Grey Airfield since 2003. What a sweet story about an amazing woman who is a shining example of how a seemingly small act of kindness can spread and influence so many.


 

      Mom’s Day Off at Bromley Mountain in Vermont is Friday February 8^th and I am SO looking forward to hitting the slopes! A $15 donation to the SouthwesternVermont Regional Cancer Center gets you an all day lift ticket. Do good & have fun! Just show a picture of your child when purchasing your ticket. Or, in my case, show your actual child! My son and I will both be playing hooky tomorrow and skiing for the day. We’ve got a big storm brewing and it should make for some great conditions!

12-14 inches is coming!

 

Love!

Mint is perfect for Spring!

      I absolutely love the new Kendra Scott Tropic Chic Collection. I have a major Kendra Scott jewelry obsession and I love the new funky earring shapes and the new warm weather colors. Loving the turquoise, coral, mint and especially cobalt blue. I’m pinning tons of Cobalt blue lately. My new favorite color for Spring/Summer 2013! If you order online, Kendra Scott is offering FREE shipping before Valentine's Day!

 



 

      I picked up a sample of the Boscia Luminizing BlackMask about a month ago from Sephora. I’ve been using it once a week for 4 weeks now and this is such a cool product! The mask offers detoxifying, purifying, and brightening results. You slather on a thick layer and let it dry and then carefully peel it off.  The mask strips away dead skin, impurities and excess oil and you can see it all on the dried mask after you peel it off! I especially love that this product is formulated without Parabens, Phthalates, GMO’s or Synthetic dyes & fragrances.  

 

 

That's all for today but I'll be back with more of my favorites next week!

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We were painting and sipping...

Out of the 8 girls who were planning on going to the Saratoga Paint & Sip party this past Friday, at least 3 asked if it was going to be paint by numbers. None of us are skilled artists by any means (even though I WAS an art history major in college) and we weren’t sure what to expect. I don't think I've ever actually painted on a canvas before. We got a little held up next door at the Henry Street Tap Room beforehand, as their smoked cheddar, bacon Wagyu burger and whisky cocktails got us a little distracted on the time. When we made it over to the studio (a few minutes late), we were greeted by the owner, a transplant to Saratoga by way of New Orleans and her artist of the evening. We grabbed our aprons, our paint and our wine and took a seat. The painting of the night entitled “pink heels” was a pair of cowboy boots & a hat sitting on a chair. One of my most festive girlfriends brought favors for the evening including pink bandannas and pink cowboy boot cookies. So adorable and totally got us into the spirit of the evening!

Here is the piece that the artist painted that we were basing our paintings on. Image c/o Saratoga Paint & Sip.

The artist (wearing an awesome pair of funky cowboy boots!) stepped up on the platform and told us that we could use whatever colors that we wanted and she would walk us through step by step on what to do. Well let me tell you, step by step was easier for some than for others. She recommended that we use a light color to first outline our boots, the chair and the hat. Then we could go back over the colors with the actual colors that we wanted our boots, etc to be. Thank goodness the artist was so helpful and nice as she walked around to answer questions and offer help when needed. This girl had the patience of a saint! Some of us had giant boots and no room for the hat, some of us had skinny boots on a massive chair. She taught us that we could make new lines and didn’t have to commit to the first lines that we drew. Same with the colors. She taught us that we could add colors to blend or bring in more lightness or darkness. It’s a good thing too! My first attempt looked more like Priscilla Queen of the Desert than Rodeo Queen.



My first attempt looked like something these girls would wear

 

Time flew by and the two hours felt like two minutes. The artist kept us on task so that we would actually walk out with a finished painting. All the while, the girl talk and laughter was at an all time high as we chatted about husbands, boyfriends, kids, life. The owner walked around and offered us more wine and chatted with us about how she ended up in Saratoga and came to open this awesome little studio.

 

When the clock struck 9pm, we signed our paintings, signed the wall and cashed out our drink tabs. Everything about that night made me excited to come back and experience it again! I've actually already signed up for another evening at the end of the month and I’m debating hosting my own birthday soiree there! Definitely one of my new favorite places and I’m raving about it to all of my friends and family.

Our masterpieces!

 

My finished painting!

Denver's version