I'm just a girl, I mean mom

*Only three days left to vote for Sofia - help her to finish strong!  Click the link, click 'vote for me', type the phrase, then click 'submit my vote.'  Easy peasy!  Thank you!


Dinner with the work people went well.  By that I mean, I made it through without spilling anything on myself, I didn't say anything I shouldn't have and I actually made eye contact without shaking!  But more than than that, I got to dress up!  Of course, I'm a bad blogger because I didn't get a picture of my outfit but I was really happy with it - I even got to wear heels!  I wore my dyed jeans, a ruffly tank top and a cute jacket over it.  I so rarely get to dress up anymore and as I dressed Sofia in her cute ruffly socks and sparkly shoes, I was positively giddy!  


Now here's where I become a girl and I whine:  Drew didn't even notice my outfit.  I was so happy to have found a cute shirt that I could nurse in, I was wearing jeans that fit, I even put on makeup so that I could be Wifey Extraordinaire and make him proud and he didn't say one word!  I was so hurt!  He says he said something in the car but I either blacked out in that precise moment or he said it with his mind.  Either way, I don't remember.  I've just been in such a funk over my wardrobe and when I found something that made me look cute, it just stung that much more that my own husband didn't even notice.  


However, we got to the restaurant and everyone made such a fuss over the baby and how cute she was that I was too proud to be upset anymore.


Now here's where I become a mom and I rant:  Dinner was at six.  Sofia usually goes to bed between seven and eight and I knew we were on a timeclock.  She does well until she doesn't and I was hoping to get out of the restaurant without too much incident.  


But the last of our party took forever to arrive.  I kept looking around, willing him to get there so we could get started with dinner, the baby growing squirm-ier by the second.  We were on our way to a meltdown and there was nothing I could do to speed dinner along.


Homeboy didn't arrive until almost 7:30 and by the time we got our entrees and finished it nearly nine.  The restaurant was a teeny hole in the wall so when I got up to walk around with the baby, it was a short trip.  Nursing her was another story.  I have zero problems nursing in public but the tables in the hole in the wall restaurant were also teeny and I was seated across from Drew's boss - about six inches away.  Our plates were practically touching so I wasn't about to whip it out at the table.  I'm a ninja nurser - when I nurse in public you can hardly tell I'm doing it, but even I'm not that good.  So I went to another part of the teeny restaurant to nurse her but that trick didn't phase her.  She knew I was trying to put her to sleep and she was like, yeah I don't think so.  Let's squirm and squeal and make sure everyone is looking at me!


We finally left and I was really steamed.  I felt like I was the only one who was sensitive to the baby's bedtime, that everyone else was taking their sweet time, lingering over their meals and wine while I was shoveling my food in as quick as possible.  However, it was really a no-win situation because I sort of had to meet the boss and the work people, we couldn't have gotten a sitter, and it had to be after work.  That didn't stop me from being pissed that we kept the baby out past her bedtime.  I felt like a bad mother and it made me realize that our nights of going out to dinner are quickly coming to an end.  


Oh well - I fulfilled my duty, I play Wifey and now I can get back to what I'd really rather be doing: playing with my baby.  Check it out!

Sorry for the poor quality - it was dim in the room and I

hastily grabbed my camera, but it was too cute not to share!

My kind of camping

*You can vote once a day for Sofia!  Click this link, click 'vote for me', then type the words in red, then click 'submit my vote.'  Thank you!*

Now this is my kind of camping!

And we get to wear our fleece feetie pajamas!

I don't have to do laundry, I don't have to cook, there's no dog to shed all over my life, I have floor space to put the baby down and she can't go far - this is heaven!  

We've been in Reading for a couple of days now and I'm super encouraged - I can totally see myself living here!  The hotel is within walking distance of the town's main street and it's so super cute!  Drew has been staying here for several weeks now so the hotel staff knows him pretty well and they knew we were coming.  They all ooohed and aaahed over the baby and everyone has been so nice in welcoming us!  It's very Small Town USA, like leaving your doors unlocked, although I don't know if you can really do that - it just seems that way.  We picked up a costume for Sofia and the shops on the main street are having a Halloween party on Thursday and I'm really excited to participate!  

I really like shops that used to be houses and the main street in lined with them.

We went exploring on Monday but most of the shops were closed.

Also, haute doesn't have an accent.  Just sayin.

There's even a hippie shop!

I've already found two yoga studios too!

And the shopping!  I am loving the no sales tax on clothes!  We have done so much work at Carter's and I've already gotten Sofia two more feetie pajamas - it's a sickness.  Plus, they had coupons for an extra 25% so really how can you blame me!  

Okay, but tonight is the real deal.  We're having dinner with Drew's boss so I have to be on.  I have to be Wifey Extraordinaire and I'm on the verge of vomiting just thinking about it.  Meeting strangers rarely goes well because I get flustered and it just goes downhill from there.  As much as I try to make a smooth first impression, something always happens.  Like yesterday.

Tuesday I got to meet the amazing gaw-jus Katie from Loves of Life.  We met at the Philadelphia Premium Outlets, halfway-ish for both of us.  Of course, the baby had a minor wig-out right before we left, which meant I was flustered, grabbing stuff as we headed out the door, which meant I was running late going to place I'd never been, driving for the first time in a new city.  Good job Desiree.

I got there fifteen minutes late and met Katie in the parking lot.  She is gaw-jus y'all!  Eyelashes to die for!!  And of course her little girl was adorable!  We started chatting right away, which is the beautiful thing about blogging - you have a foundation for conversation which makes things a little easier.  We headed for the Starbucks because I hadn't eaten and I was sure she could hear my stomach growling.  I ordered and grabbed for my wallet.

It wasn't there.

I was standing there, making a fabulous first impression, digging in all the pockets of my diaper bag, not finding my wallet, digging, feeling my face get hot, digging, knowing that it's not there, digging anyway, good god she's going to think I'm such a tool, and Katie graciously stepped in and got my coffee and banana bread for me.  

I am just not good at this.

Thankfully, she brushed it off and we continued walking around, talking.  She's really easy to talk to and super down to earth.  She struck me as one of those people with nothing to hide and it was refreshing.  She's got beautiful clear eyes and when she talked about her husband and her baby, the love and happiness just floated off of her.  I'm so happy she made the field trip for me!

And I found my stupid wallet - it was in my coat in the car, where I'd put it when I took Drew to work that morning.  I'm such a tool.

I'm just hoping I can keep it together long enough that Drew's boss thinks I'm more like Katie and less like me.  Here's hoping!

Vote for Sofia!

A few weeks ago, on a whim I entered Sofia into a parents.com photo contest and I just got an email that she's a finalist!!  How cool is that!

I used one of her weekly pictures and they chose her!

Of course, as her mother, I'm not at all surprised.

Won't you please take just a few seconds to vote for my baby?  Click this link and cast your vote.  I don't know if you have to register but if you do, please just do it this once?  For my baby?  Pretty please with sugar on top?  

And then would you share it with your friends?  I'm checking back tomorrow to see if you can vote once a day and it closes on the 30th so I won't bug you too much with it.  It would be so cool if she won! 

Thank you so much!

Oh yeah, it's high tech up in here

Would you believe I'm doing this from my seat in first class at 37,000 feet? How cool is that?! Of course it just took me forever to type that because I'm using Drew's iPad and I hate these high tech new fangled thinga-mabobbers you kids have these days. 


 We're off to explore our new city for the week! Drew was going to be gone for a pretty long stretch and when he suggested we come up, of course I jumped. Getting upgraded never hurts either, amiright? So, while he's off working Sofia and I are going exploring and I plan to do WORK at these places that don't charge tax on clothes! 


 Have a wonderful weekend and I'll be back on Monday with my first impressions! 

 

The internet made me do it

Reason 812 Why I Love The Internet/Blogging:  It inspires me.  I look at things I see on the web, done by normal people just like me and it makes me think I could do it.  I see people make mistakes, laugh it off, try again and have beautiful successes and it takes away my fear.  I get all bold and empowered and I tell myself that I can paint furniture, I can reupholster a seat - it even makes me just delusional enough to think I can cook!


Did I ever tell you we have a peach tree?  Drew knows I love peaches and one day last summer he came home with a peach tree just for me!  So sweet right!  Then my friend Stacie posted a recipe for a peach crisp and I was all hey! I have a peach tree!  I can do this!  

The ones on the left were from the tree, the ones on the right

were mutant peaches from the store.  

Stacie's recipe is on the left and I used strawberries instead of blueberries and

I also made The Pioneer Woman's cobbler on the right.

Stacie's was waaaay better!

Then, my bestie Ryan wrote about how he made The Pioneer Woman's pot roast in his Fretch oven and I was like hey!  I have a Fretch oven!  I can do this!

This is merely proof that I did it.  If you want step by step instructions

with gorgeous pictures, go to Ryan's blog.  

But I did it!  I even made mashed potatoes from scratch for Sunday dinner!

Well, I did it again, only this time it wasn't food.  I was on Better After one day and she wrote about a girl who had made over an old pair of jeans.  I was like hey!  I have old jeans!  I can do this!  But this wasn't cooking, it was sewing!!  Remember when I was so scared of my sewing machine?  Well, that hasn't completely gone away even though I've used it a handful of times.  But I went to the girl's blog, studied up and figured I had nothing to lose.  I didn't wear the jeans anyway so if I messed them up, it wasn't that big a deal.  Then I also remembered that my old standby, Young House Love, did a post on dyeing things so between the two of them I figured I could do it.  These are regular people doing regular things so I have nothing to be afraid of.

Exhibit A:  Fake Seven jeans from Ebay.

All the details are right, but the denim is really cheap.  

I was so pissed when I received them because they were all 

"Authentic Seven Jeans!" and I paid the Authentic Seven price - serves me right.

But I never wore them because the wash made them look so bad and so fake.

Perfect for experimental sewing and dyeing.

This is the side you want to sew.  I turned them inside out, eyballed it and started sewing.

I only took one picture because I was pretty sure it wasn't going to work.

Very first pass with the sewing machine.

Boot cut on the left, skinny-ish on the right.

I did the other leg and then came the dye.

They don't sell it anywhere in Dallas, so I got mine from Amazon.

Amazon has everything.

At the last minute, I threw in another pair of my jeans.

I didn't sew these, but the wash was a little light and dated.

I studied the YHL tutorial, even using a paint stick like they did.

Her tutorial wasn't clear about stirring until the salt was dissolved and I 

stirred forever and it really wasn't dissolving, so I dumped it in the washer and prayed.

Then we played while I prayed to the baby Jesus that I didn't just ruin my washer.

I set the cycle on heavy duty and did an extra rinse just like Sherry said.  When the cycle was over, I took the jeans out with my eyes closed because I was convinced that my washer was going to be a mess of dye and the jeans would be the exact same.  Then we left the house, something about distancing myself from the (theoretical) mess.  But I had to get the jeans out sometime.  I had to see what I'd done.

It worked!!!  I dyed my jeans and now I have two more pairs of jeans in my rotation, which is a godsend because while I'm loving breastfeeding, it's sucking the pounds off and all my clothes hang on me - I look like a hobo.  But look at my jeans!

Because we all love a good before and after.

I put some wedge heels on so they didn't bunch at the bottom because

I'm not confident enough to attempt hemming.

The difference on the other jeans is a little more difficult 

to pick up on camera.

They have a bluish, grayish color and it's way more uniform 

and looks much nicer.

It's like I have two new pairs of jeans!

And yes, they have crystals and stitching on the ass which is one

of the other reasons why I last wore these in 2006.  But since 

I'm scrawny now, they have to come out of retirement and the new color

makes them a little more palatable.

Oh, and my washer is completely fine.  I wiped off the door and the rubber ring before I did another load and I said many Hail Marys when I was putting the clothes in, but they came out just fine.  Therefore, iDye is my new favorite toy.  The other dyes you have to dump in the sink, stir constantly, you run the risk of your sink getting stained and it's just a mess.  iDye is totally easy to use and I'm already scoping out my next project.  I'm thinking about this t-shirt pillow.  Instead of just one color, what if you did a bunch of different tones in the same color family for the rosettes?  I saw this one and I was like hey!  I have a bunch of t-shirts!  I could do this!

Please god don't let me come across a sky-diving or make-your-own bungee cord tutorial.  With enough wine, I just might do it.

Baby style

I like fashion and by fashion I mean, I enjoy looking cute and I get upset when I don't.  My style is sleek and simple and I've found that it extends to my baby as well.  I don't care for all the baby fuss when it comes to clothes.  Case in point:  I will not ever dress my child like this.

"Whoever did this to me is getting cut."

Remember how I got more clothes than God at my baby showers?  And how her closet and drawers are stuffed with clothes?  I had each drawer sorted by size and we're into her six months stuff now *sniff* so I went ahead and put away the spring/summer/too small stuff and I came across some.....interesting baby clothes.

Now I consider myself a pretty laid back mom.  I think I have a pretty good handle on my thoughts and philosophies regarding how I want to raise my child and I definitely want her to have the confidence to be her own person.  But as long as *I'm* dressing her, there will be some rules.

No tutus or labels.  I may piss off the giant-flower-tutu contingent of moms out there because I'm depriving my daughter but rest assured, I will fill her closet with tutus if she should ever ask for them.  Until then, these have to go.

I will pass on outfits that have credit cards on them shouting

'high maintenance.'  It's not that kind of party.

Plus, the tutu doesn't even go all the way around.

Even though this one has a full tutu, 'candy girl'

sounds just sexual enough to make me uncomfortable.

This one is sorta cute, but it loses by default because it'll

be too cold by the time Sofia can fit into it. *Darn.*

I know it's just a onesie, but I'd rather not label her this early.

Besides, it's unfair to her - what if she turns out to be a kind, quiet yoga kid?

Nope, not wearing this one either.

While I don't mind Paul Frank per se, this one 

creeps me out nonetheless.

No unfortunate designs. When designing clothes, first there's the sketch.  Someone has to approve the sketch, saying 'that would look cute in real life!  Let's make one and see!' Then they make the sample, saying 'oh that does look cute!  Let's make a bunch and see if stores will sell them!'  Then the stores look at the samples and say 'oh, these are cute!  Let's buy a bunch and sell them to our customers!'  Then people buy them saying 'oh this will look darling on my baby!'

So after all those steps, can someone please tell me how I came to be in possession of a pair of anus pants?!

I don't agree with designs on the butt anyway, for anyone.

I never understood that whole 'Juicy' phase, where people everywhere

invited total strangers to think about their juicy butts.

But HOW did the baby clothes designers let this one slide!?

No designer labels.  No one needs to know who made your outfit or where you got it.  Besides being a little pretentious, it's so mundane.  I don't need my handbag to scream COACH, GUCCI, LOUIS V.  I go for good materials and good workmanship over a loud label.  The same goes for my clothes.  I could never get behind that trend in jeans where they put all kinds of crap on the pockets, like glitters and crystals and white stitching all over the place. 

Foul.  Just foul.

 Give me a pair of dark, well made, crystal-free jeans any day.  You can keep your Ed Hardy nonsense - I'm not 12.  But this isn't about me, it's about my baby.

In case the stitching and designs have blinded you, this is a 

Dereon onesie - you know, Beyonce's label?

I don't even know where this came from.

Thanks but no thanks.

My baby will look like a baby.  I don't have any pictures of inappropriate clothes because thank God, Sofia doesn't have any.  But she will not wear anything that makes her look like she's older than she is.  There will be no fast babies in this house.

Now, feetie pajamas?  I loooooove feetie pajamas and 

I'm so happy it's finally getting cool enough to wear them!

Sofia has eight pair of feetie pajamas, which is kind of silly.

I'm so grateful that I've had the privilege of going more than six months without needing to buy Sofia clothes.  Anything I've purchased her was because I wanted to (like those feetie pajamas.)  But now that I get to start buying things for her I'm scoping out the stores I like.

I have several multi piece sets from Vitamins Baby and I love them.  They are so sweet and delicate and I love dressing the baby in them, but I don't know where they came from.  Every time we go out, I look for them but I haven't had much luck.  I'm also in love with Tea Collection.  Their baby girl clothes are so flippin cute I could die! But the prices make me choke!  Why the eff are cute kid's clothes so expensive!?  It's not like they're going to wear them for years and years!  Same thing with Mini Boden.  I'm going to start stalking the consignment stores.

As for the other clothes, I don't know what to do with them.  Do I put them on Ebay -Weird baby clothes for sale?  Do I give them to Goodwill?  I hate the idea of another little girl wearing something that says 'Drama Queen' on it.  I don't want to perpetuate this idea that it's okay for girls to be crazy, yet throwing them away seems excessive and wasteful.

Where exactly is the Purgatory for weird baby clothes?

Quiet on the home front

It's been quiet around here.  Not that nothing has been happening, because life is still happening.  The world is still turning but I haven't been feeling the compulsion to write like I normally do.  After I thought about it for a quick second, I realized it's because I don't have any drama anymore.


Me.


No. More. Drama.


I never thought I would get to this place.  Monday, Drew and I celebrated two years of being married.  My parents came in town to babysit and we went to a ridiculously decadent dinner that lasted three hours.  We had oysters, champagne, wine, amazing food and I didn't have to wear a nursing bra.  Do you know how major that is?  It was like we were on a date - we only briefly talked about the baby and the night couldn't have been more perfect.


Do you know where we were last year?


I was in a hotel - by myself.  We'd gotten into an AWFUL fight, I left, he locked me out and it was very iffy if our marriage was going to see another day - like, for real for real.  Don't bother looking for that post - I didn't write about it because there is such a thing as too much drama.  I'm only talking about it now because I'm in awe of how far we've come.


Getting married was drama.  Trying to get pregnant was drama.  God KNOWS the pregnancy was drama.  But now?


It's quiet.


Well, not really - I have the baby in the Ergo on my chest and she's babbling and cooing and grabbing my cheeks.  


But other than that, it's quiet.  


Not to say that we don't have our flare-ups but they die down just as quickly as they start.  The baby is amazingly easy and I haven't had any meltdowns recently.


The house is still on the market - the first two weeks we had lots of interest, but nothing since then.  Drew is traveling back and forth until it sells but we're about to enter the holiday season and the real estate market is about to grind to a halt, so the travel is going to be our life for a while.  It's not a shock and I'm thankful that I'm pretty well used to it.


What I'm trying to say is - I think I have blogger's block!  Writing is what kept me from climbing the walls and going postal when the world was upside down.  But things have righted themselves and I find myself staring at my blog, fingers poised over the keyboard, and nothing comes.


That's the challenge when you're a life blogger.  If your life isn't blog-worthy, what are you supposed to write?  I don't have a house to re-do.  I sure as HELL can't cook so being a food blogger is all the way out.  I'm certainly not a mommy blogger - I will not be telling you about the time I danced with glee because my daughter pooped. (I really did that.  She hadn't pooped for days and I was starting to get worried.  When she finally did, I was that mom who got happy over her kid's poop.  I'm not proud of it.)  Well, I guess I just wrote about that.  Shit.  I'm not funny on purpose and I'm certainly not snarky.  It's not a good color on me. 


So, here I am.  Thankful for my outlet but wondering what to do now that it's no longer the outlet it used to be.  I don't know where to go from here.  I'm looking for what feels right, so if over the next few posts I crank out something that's truly awful, please bear with me and I apologize in advance.  I'm in a new race and I have yet to hit my rhythm.


You thought I was going to say stride, didn't you?

Just keep livin'

My parents are in town for the weekend and I'm so excited, I just can't hide it.  My dad is verry set in his ways and isn't that fond of traveling anymore, but my magical baby can draw him from his comfy home.  It's so good to see them and I'm going to soak them up and the baby is going to have some Grandma and Grandpa time!


Because they're here, Drew and I are going to a real-live grown-up dinner Saturday night for our wedding anniversary.  We made it two years!  Seriously, I can't believe it because the first year was so freakin HARD.  So many MANY times I wasn't sure we were going to make it.  But we did and we are celebrating 24 months of survival, I mean, wedded bliss.  We've got nowhere to go but up, people!


So, I'm going to take these next few days and just live.  I'm going to be in the moment, not take pictures of the moment, not try to remember the moment in fun and witty ways for blog content later, I'm going to just be.  And I'm really excited about that.


Have a wonderful weekend and I'll see you soon!

You must not know about me

*You guys!  My very first guest post ever is up!  Go read it and leave Carolyn a little love note because she's all married up now and we love marriage and we love Carolyn!*

I'm probably going to jinx myself, but the baby is back on her routine and has a somewhat predictable bedtime now!  It's a beautiful thing, as I can count on me-time with increasing frequency.  *Please baby gods, don't smite me.*


With this new-found nighttime freedom, I've been making friends!  Okay, fine, just one but we've totally hit if off!  Meet my new bestie Ryan!  We first met in the comments of another blog (who needs no traffic from me) on a post regarding breastfeeding in public and y'all know how quickly those can get ugly!  What's a guy doing in the middle of a boobie fight, you might ask?  I know, me too so I read what he had to say and was thoroughly impressed.  What I liked best is how he put that blogger in her place when she got a little out of hand.  So impressed that I went to his blog to tell him how cool I thought he was, and what do I find?  A kindred spirit!  His 'about me' page called out to me!  Photography!  Hates needles (holla if ya hear me!!!) Jason Bateman!  


Side note:  Did y'all know I have a thing for Jason Bateman?  Because I totally do and I'm so very happy that Arrested Development is coming back!


I did what any normal blogger/stalker would do and started reading all his posts, drooling over the pretty pictures (I want my pictures to look like that when my blog grows up), agreeing with his viewpoints, laughing over his wit, getting a lump in my throat over his honesty, and basically falling in blogger-love.


While we were on vacation, I was checking on him and the boobie fight got a little stupid and so I put up a quick comment sticking up for him.  I would have said more but I try to keep the thuggery confined to my own blog.  So, while I kept it cool on the other blog, what I really wanted to do was go all True Blood magister on they asses.

Ryan - 1:38 - that's for you, boo.

I may do a follow-up post with my thoughts about breastfeeding in public, but honestly there's so much noise about that on the internet, I don't know how adding my voice to the fray will do anything.  

Besides, all I really wanted to do was put up that video for Ryan.

Because I will break out the Magister for my friends.

The rest of Rio

We were on vacation for ten days and the thought of recounting every little bit hurts my head.  Besides, at the rate I'm going it's going to be Christmas before I'm through so what say we wrap this up with a bunch of pictures?  That's all anyone really cares about, right?  Right.

See, I let her get in the water!  It just took me a few days to get 

comfortable with the idea.

We got a tour guide for our sightseeing and he took us to 

the Selaron steps where we met the artist himself!

He was enamored with the baby and signed some of his tiles for her!

The statue of the Christ was amazing!

It was crazy windy that day but definitely worth the trip!

We also went to one of the oldest churches in Rio that was an actual working monastery.

I took this picture while they were having Mass and totally got in trouble.

We spent time at the flying saucer museum and while we didn't go in,

the views were so beautiful!

At the Parque da Cidade with Sugar Loaf Mountain in the background.

Goofing off with Rafa, our amazing tour guide

Rafa was so sweet and knowledgeable and I was really bummed that we

only got to spend a couple of days with him - it was like hanging out

with a great friend who knows all the best restaurants!

Plus, he was a really good sport.  We were punchy from having eaten everything in sight

that day so this video may be dumb to you but it makes me laugh every single time.  Not safe for work due to a curse word at the end.

Shopping in Rio was a bust.  Not only was everything really expensive, they were

going into summer and I couldn't justify spending that much money on things I'd 

only be able to wear for a month or so.  Can you believe these shoes were about $100US?!

They weren't even that cute!  The bottom is the layaway price.

Rio loves babies!  Yes, I told Drew to take a picture of me in the family bathroom

because I was so impressed.  No matter where we were there were changing tables.

You have no idea how awesome that is until you have to change your baby

on a disgusting bathroom floor.

They even had teeny tiny toilets!  

Yes, I made him take this picture.

I'm a mom now, toilets for babies excite me.

Our hotel was full the last two days of our visit so we moved to 

La Maison which was so very very chic.

I'd never stayed in a boutique hotel before and it was nice!

The owner and his wife were so sweet and we met a couple from Kansas City there!

With only five rooms, we laughed at how small the world can be sometimes.

We also went to the botanic garden, with their giant Amazon trees.

By this time, my camera was full so we were taking pictures with 

Drew's phone and playing with Hipstamatic. 

They had a huge orchid display - I had no idea there were 

that many varieties of orchids.

It was a full vacation, yet we didn't feel rushed or that we missed anything.  The people in Rio were super friendly and almost everywhere we went they made kissy faces at the baby or told us how cute she was.  There were even special checkout lines at the mall for people with strollers!  Even though I was really upset that I didn't speak Portuguese, no one was rude about it and I finally gave up and just started speaking Spanish.  I was surprised at how frustrated I was - I so desperately didn't want to come across as the ugly American.  But everyone was so nice about it and as long as we tried and said please and thank you in Portuguese, it was all good.

And!  AND!  We didn't fight!  Not once!  Do you know how major that is?!  Of all the trips we've taken, this was the very first time we didn't tussle!  Not at all!  We may be getting the hang of this marriage thing after all.

Look at my baby.