Weekend roundup

Now that the other is off my chest, let us cleanse the palate with some sweetness and light, shall we?


Thanksgiving weekend turned out to be the one of the better ones on record, certainly a massive improvement over last year.  Again, it was just the two of us but this time we really cherished it, knowing hoping that this will be the last holiday season that it's just us.  I didn't get a picture of the meal this time but as usual, it was fantastic.  We shared a nice meal, had civilized, even funny conversation and all was well.


After we ate, we decided to tackle the crib.  Well, Drew was the engineer and I carried a watermelon, I mean, screwed some stuff in.  Wait, that does fit!  I am carrying a watermelon!  My wit astounds even me sometimes.


Anyway,  assembling the crib went off without too many hitches.  There was the obligatory swearing by Drew as he put one side on the wrong way, the obligatory eye-rolling by me because why do you have to be so dramatic, just take the screws out and put it back the right way, gah.  So what I'm saying is, all was well.

I'm Maya, I'll be playing the part of the poor neglected animal

who is going to lay in the spot where the crib is supposed to go,

thereby subtly conveying my despair at being dethroned from 

my rightful spot as Queen of the House.

Can you please help me put this together?

I can't be the only one doing this, if the kid gets hurt in the crib

I have to be able to blame you too!

And yet somehow, we did it.

Okay, we're all set for the kid, bring her on!

What?  You need more stuff?  

And yes, this is the Young House Love crib.  I'm a Young House-aholic, I told you.  But seriously, the way I see it we're having a kid, not re-inventing the wheel.  If someone you trust has gone before you and done something that worked for them, why wouldn't you do the same and save yourself the headache?  They're eco-concious, frugal, stylish and they've already done exhaustive research so I'm cool with following in those footsteps.  It certainly helps to navigate the minefield/racket that is baby stuff.

We also ventured into baby stores for the first time in our lives.  That was an experience!  Since we didn't register when we got married, registering for baby stuff was brand new.  We got a crash course in all things baby while I was able to cross off the non-essentials, although it was still overwhelming and I was ready to go after only a short time.  But that was more because I wore the wrong shoes - my wardrobe is rapidly dwindling to 'items that don't make me cry when I wear them because they hurt my feet/belly/boobs so bad.'  I got some great nursery ideas though!

Taking clandestine pictures in the baby store.

I love this pattern so much!

This one was really sweet too.

Little punch of color, but I don't know if that will be too much.

Now, here's the funny thing.  Supposedly, crib bumpers are no bueno - they cause a suffocation hazard.  And you're not supposed to put anything in cribs like pillows or blankets of any kind, again because of suffocation hazards.  So, that leaves a fitted crib sheet and crib skirt for decor.  I can make a crib skirt and crib sheets are like, five bucks but they want you to drop $500 or more on these bedding sets!  It's a racket!  The pictures I took are strictly for inspiration - I'm not spending that kind of money on stuff you're not even supposed to have!  However, I am getting excited about the other stuff for the nursery, like curtains, rugs, art and a glider!  I want a big plush gliding chair where I will nurse, sing lullabies, read books and bond.  However it is quite difficult to find a glider that doesn't look like a glider.

Not this

More like this, but less country

I'm still fleshing out what I want the nursery to look like but I have some ideas and once the holidays are over, it'll be full-steam ahead.  I'm especially excited about a wall mural that I'm going to attempt and I'm seriously hoping it doesn't come out lame.  But enough baby stuff, time for the reeee-mix!

Our anniversary remix was so much fun!  We stayed downtown at the same hotel where we spent our wedding night.  They even offered us the same room we had on our wedding night but we ended up taking the suite with the Jacuzzi tub - where I sat on the edge and dangled my feet because I didn't want to hard-boil my baby.  Drew looked comfortable though!

Said Jacuzzi tub.

I sat on the far ledge and hung out with my hubs.

Where the magic happened.  And by magic, I mean

I watched tv while Drew played Words With Friends.

It was hawt!

We even had a little living room!  We briefly brainstormed

how we might get that loveseat and those lamps to our house

with no one noticing.  We couldn't come up with anything.

Grainy picture of us outside the hotel.

I had to crop it like crazy because the bellman stood

fifty feet away to take the picture.

Drew being silly

Dinner near the arena was wonderful!

I asked the server to make me something fun and non-alcoholic

so I could feel like a grown-up.

Do we look fake?  I feel like we look fake.

Kinda pose-y, I don't know, I'm not sure.

The game was so much fun too!  We had fantastic seats, third from the glass!

Even though Dallas won, I wasn't pleased with all the fighting and I told them so.

I yelled at them to stop that nonsense and get back to the game.  They didn't listen.

We came back to the hotel and played a game of chess in the lobby.  Even though Drew still won, I held my own!  It was such a great night and I really enjoyed spending time with my husband.  It's times like those that I know we made the right choice in each other and we're going to be just fine.

Saturday morning we went to brunch, picked up the dog and went back home so I could hang out with GEM!!!!!  She is one of my first blog friends and one of the first 'strangers' who read my blog from the very beginning.  I found her for the first time when I was researching natural hair and I think I commented on her blog, then she commented on mine, then I went through her archives, she stayed with me because I had no archives, then she gave me her personal email, then she had mine, then we became friends on Facebook, until finally last week I got her number!!  She said she was coming to Dallas and I immediately fired off an all-caps email that was a lot of EEEEEEEEEE!!!! OMG!!!!!! EEEEEEEE!!! :-) :-) :-)

And then I had a crisis moment as soon as I hit send - what if she didn't like me?  What if she thought I wasn't as interesting as my writing?  What she takes one look at me and changes her mind?  I was nervous y'all.

But there she was, parked outside my house as we came home from brunch!  I'm a bad hostess - I wasn't there to greet my guest.  However, I sought to make it up to her by cooking!

I wanted to do something for her as a thank you for coming up to Dallas but since I'm not crafty like that, the next best thing is to fill her belly!  So, I put aside my anxiety and got to making a vegan casserole for her that she had seconds of!!  That is how awesome she is!  She had seconds of the dish I cooked for her!  Such class!

And for the record, she is just as beautiful in person, just as funny, way more gracious and sweet and so freakin awesome (she has gorgeous skin and flawless eyebrows and fabulous hair too!)  We talked and talked just like we'd known each other forever, and it was sooooooo much fun!  I loved having her in my house and I loved cooking for her and I love that she knew exactly how much I care about her to cook for her (because you know I'm not putting myself through that for just anybody - and then she had seconds!)  It was so great!

The veggie casserole that I was able to whip up thanks to the 

$50,000 I spent at the grocery store to stock my fridge - all vegan for my girl Gem!

This was me showing restraint.

I wanted to plop her on the sofa and make her stay all night

so we could talk and laugh and I could try to make something

else for her to eat.

But I let her go home to her husband - you're welcome Crabby!

She's one of the few blog friends I've made that have turned into real-life friends (shout-out to my girls Cori, HT and Kristina!!) and I'm so thankful for you all.  It was such an honor to have her hang out with us for the short time that she was in Dallas and seriously you have to read what else happened to her on her trip - only you, chick!  I've lived here forever and never have I petted a chinchilla coat - and that is why you're awesome!

It was a great weekend and it took me a day or so to get back into the swing of things.  Which is ironic because tomorrow I'm only working half a day because Friday morning I'm on a plane!

We're going on a baby-moon!