It Be the Month of Blustering (or, "March Date")

Things be busy here at the Dread Pirate household (I'm covering for a co-worker for a month in addition to my regular job, my parents are visiting for a week, we've got a contractor installing new windows and fixing a water damaged wall).  All your typical yada-yada-yada to explain the blog neglect.

In the midst of it all, Hubs and I had our Christmas date for the month of March.  The theme for this month?  I got him a gift certificate for Home Depot, with the promise that we could go for as long as he wanted and that I had to act interested yet not over opinionated over anything he wanted to look at.  The in-laws babysat, we got Starbucks before hand, and we managed to hit two different Home Depots in order to hunt down some special lights we needed.  But the best part came after.

We got to go on a dinner and a movie night for the first time in, literally, years.  Yes, plural.  We sat at a sushi bar, eating incredible grilled hamachi cheek and pretending we were in our early 20s again (i.e. did sake bombs).  We sobered up during the movie, Friends with Kids (entertaining 1st half, then sads set in as we realized that eventually we will know people of our generation who get divorced, all wrapped up with a cheezy ending).  The plus side?  We got home at about 9:30pm!  Couple that with the fact that we actually had beer on St. Patrick's Day, and we call that a win.  Either way, for a little while, we felt like these crazy kids back in 2007, complete with the cocktail in the pic.  [Fun fact for you San Franciscans -- I'm pretty sure this photo is from Bubble Lounge, back when it was cool and we lived in LA and just didn't know any better.] 

Five years is not a long period of time, unless you think about how much has actually happened since then.  A proposal, a cross-state move, a marriage, buying a home, having a baby, illness.  The first real grey hairs and wrinkles have invaded these two kids.  They drink less, travel less, sleep in never.  But they also get to play every single day, sing and laugh more than ever, and work a lot harder.  I'm proud of how far they've come, but I love when they get to resurface to play, if only for an evening.

Words from My Wee Bairn (or, "Things HD Says")

So, we've been getting a lot of comments from folks about the kid lately.  Comments that infer people believe she's a year or two older that she actually is.  I'm still trying to figure out if this means people are blown away by her brilliance or they just think my itty bitty (who isn't two until June) looks like a preschooler.  She's not big, but she is pretty tall and has a lot of hair for her age.  So it's a toss up either way.

I'll leave it to you, dear readers.  Here's some photos courtesy of one of the moms at HD's daycare, along with a list of the most recent HD-isms.

• "See-ta-tay-toh" = sweet potato.  As in, "Go restowant for see-ta-tay-toh fies!" 
• "Sah Fasis-sko" = San Francisco.  She has a book of SF sites, and she loves to bring it with us when we go up to the City.  We did Fishermen's Wharf yesterday, and I can definitely attest that my baby is a city girl through and through.  
• "I want need."  No seriously.  She says "need" like it's the objective noun.  Full stop.
•  She constantly requests "The Harper Song," which in actuality is I've Just Seen a Face by The Beatles.  This is at times shortened to "ha-song" when she's getting frustrated that I won't sing it for the 14th time before 6:45am.  
• "I can't wait to go to school."  So I made up a really stupid little ditty for HD when she was a tiny baby, and I still sing it for her.  This example is one of the lines from the song, and she says it at random.  Perfectly enunciated, which is hilarious.  She thinks school at this point means daycare. 
• "Uh oh, mangoes!"  She heard the sing-song "uh, oohhh Spaghetti-os" bit from her father, and tried saying it somewhat unsuccessfully (I swear it sounds like "uh oh, bagels").  For whatever reason, she switched the saying to mirror her favorite fruit.  Cracks me up.
• Finally, we have The Mantra.  When HD does one of her toddler freakouts and she's in instant tears, either Hubs or I will say "Relaaaaax."  And she finishes the mantra as follows: "Relaaaaax.  Chill OUT.  Caaamm dowwwn.  Be cool, bay-bee.  Das right!"   And it instantly stops her tears, which is awesome.  

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Portrait Finale! (or, "End of Photo Project")

Ta da!  End of the month = end of the photo project.  Here's what happened this past week:

• a fave photo of you -- this is probably the coolest spontaneous shot that our wedding photog took nearly 3 years ago.  It's up on our dining room wall, one of the prominently displayed wedding shots in our house.  Soooo much more "us" than all the posed line-up pics that were taken outside the church!
• where you work -- "the largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization in the United States."  This is my extremely battered membership card.  Represent!!
• your shoes -- I actually wore heels to work that day, but since I walk over a mile between the train station and the office I brought my new Tieks (pictured) along.  Hubs's company gave out gift certificates for these shoes as gifts at the corporate holiday party.  SCORE.
• inside your bathroom cabinet -- not room for much other than some toothbrushes (inc. the mini one for HD)
• green -- my brother and I had a blast on Saturday taking HD to the park and local library.  Green swing set, green trees, green jacket.  Seemed right to me!
• night -- this former LA girl is still a sucker for the Oscars, despite the fact that I never have time to see more than 1-2 of the nominated flicks anymore.  I think my obsession is less about the speeches and clothes...and more about the fact that I'm pretty excellent at making Oscar picks (it's all about knowing the Academy's politics, which I'm a bit ashamed to say isn't hard to pick up).  Guess what I did all Sunday night after HD went to bed?
• something you ate -- second time this topic was on the monthly list.  This is one of my favorite home desserts: vanilla ice cream, lots of chocolate sauce, and dry roasted peanuts sprinkled on top.  The perfect salty-sweet, and still good even if the IC and syrup are low fat :)
• money -- in an effort to pretend I have some, here's a glimpse at my wallet.
• something you're listening to -- this was today's shot.  And I was extremely tempted to put in a pic of HD screaming with gumdrop sized tears and snot obscuring her face.  Let's just say that teething incisors makes for a pint-sized drama queen.  But I spared myself the agony of trying to get that shot, and focused on my refuge (iPod) instead.  Play on, Zeppelin.

Have I mentioned my recent obsession with the older model of Fisher Price Little People recently?  These are the ones that any person who was a kid in the 60s-90s will remember.  Apparently they were deemed a choking hazard after 40 years in production, and the new models are a but more...rotund.  I scooped up some of the oldies on eBay and HD is IN LOVE.

Portraits of a February, Thriceover (or, "Photo Project 3")

Welcome to another glimpse into daily life of the DP Mama!  We have photos from my once a day photo project at the ready, for Sunday Feb 12 - Monday Feb 20.  Let's have at it.  Explanations and daily topics are below the photos.  Please excuse the haphazard formatting.

• Inside Your Closet - a close up of some of my fave items.  You didn't really expect to get a full shot of my bedroom's designated disaster space, did you?
• Blue - HD, wearing blue henley and cardigan.  Whenever we put either of these items on her, she insists that she's "blue like Toodee."
• Heart - apropos topic, as it was Valentine's Day.  Hubs and I have never gone out on V-Day, not even in our dating days.  We've always stayed in to cook together.  We made sea scallops with bacon and spinach...the heart is the bacon bits :)
• Phone - HD's Fisher Price phone, courtesy of the Grand Admiral Madre.  It was hanging out in her room next to her fairy door.  [Sidenote, HD loves to knock on this door and try to ask her resident fairy, Elizabeth, to come out.  I've explained to her that Elizabeth is nocturnal, so HD inevitably whispers "sleeping" whenever Elizabeth does not appear during the day to the knocking.]
• Something New - Hubs and I decided that our big present to each other for the holidays would be to attempt some decorating in our bedroom.  You know, make it a space that isn't a haven for baby toys and story books with a bed in the middle.  So all the pillows in the photo below are new-ish, but the headboard is all of a week old.  West Elm is my fave, and totally affordable when they have sales and you cash out credit card points to get gift certificates to the store!
• Time - best depicted by my always full calendar work planner.
• Drink - on Saturday, Hubs went out with a friend.  Once HD was asleep, I enjoyed a bit of scotch.  Nom.
• Something You Hate to Do - potty training.  HD's totally cool with using her potty, but she's still not so adept at always telling us when she has to (but she's getting there!).  Which means to avoid accidents, we basically take her into the bathroom every chance we get.  DP Mama's lower back is not loving sitting on that cold tile to read Green Eggs & Ham for the 12th time that afternoon.
• Something You Ate - who says Panda Express doesn't have healthy options?

Portraits Revisited (or, "Photo Project 2")

And for week 2 of my one photo a day month...Here are the daily topics from Sunday, Feb 5 (kind of) through Saturday, Feb 11:

- 10am (I forgot to take the photo last Sunday!  Which would have probably been a pic of HD on the potty, so you're welcome on being spared that sight. You have Monday morning at my desk in the office instead.)
- dinner (awesome Hubs made a pizza with pine nuts when I wasn't feeling well.  And yes, he made the pizza.  No frozen ingredients whatsoever.  My hero.)
- button (courtesy of my cardigan and coat)
- sun (another make up pic from the next day. I was home with a sick HD on Wed so I snapped this shot of a building near my office on Thurs)
- front door (Hubs was home with sick HD this day,  and they came to meet me when I arrived home.  Nothing makes a working woman happier than that.)
- self portrait (note the tired/stressed tension in facial lines.  I was once an actress, but that's hard to fake with such accuracy unless you're Meryl.)
- makes you happy (napping kid definitely qualifies)

In case you can't tell, I'm having tons of fun playing with the photo effects, playing up various colors and lighting and faux old-timey qualities.  That's it for this week! More to come...

A Romantical Tradewind (or, "February's Date...with the Kid")

Remember the Christmas gift for Hubs?  The one pre-planned date a month deal?  Well, February's date was a doozy.  Mostly because we opted to bring the kid along, as it was a day excursion.

We drove out to the coast to the Fitzgerald Marine Reserve.  It's this gorgeous expanse next to the Pacific with a rocky coast that's perfect for tide pooling.  And the weather!  It was a crazily beautiful day in the mid 60s, wild with sunshine.  Tide was lowest at 2:38pm that day, so we got there after her nap, about 3:10pm.  Kid had on her ladybug rainboots and was all set to go charging into the ocean.  She adores the beach, so how could we not bring her along?

Winter in CA?  Yeah, it's not just like this in the movies.

We had a blast charging over the sand, chasing gulls, and gazing up at the bluffs.  We had to teach HD to be extra-super-insanely gentle with every creature we came across.  There were anemones, hermit crabs, barnacles, and seaweed everywhere.  HD had a fabulous time quoting every book/tv show she'd ever heard regarding sea life, insisting that there were octopi in the pools, etc.  It was definitely perfect (FREE) entertainment for a kid, but roping in our ball of energy wasn't the easiest task.  After close to an hour of romping and "HD-BE-GENTLE-touch-it-niiiiiiiice" we were off to the car for a snack and the drive back.

HD admires her "lagybug" boots.

Sandbluffs make her seem even teenier.

Hubs is wearing his best date face.

From there, we went out to eat.  Since salt air gives you a case of the starves and all.  We hit up Jack's Prime, a neighborhood place that's your basic upscale burger joint.  This place is genius, y'all.  To quote ...myself (I wrote a Yelp review on the place), "Love and hearts and puppies and cuddles abound."  Jack's obviously strives to be a family place (smart idea, considering the area demographic)!  It was hopping on a Saturday eve, but we were seated after a mere 10 minute wait.  Huge booth, instant crayons & coloring sheet, local craft brew (delectable Full Boar Scotch Ale for interested parties) for the parents and a superfast served kid's plate  ofwhite meat chicken fingers & crazy fresh fruit plate.  And the juiciest burger I have feasted upon in a long while, besides my precious In'n'Out.  It was such good food and service, I made a point of telling the manager how much I appreciated having a swell local resto to which we could bring our toddler.  [Y'all like my awkward I'm-not-ending-a-sentence-with-a-preposition bit?  You can't ever unteach an English major...]

Daddy, you can't expect me to pose when there are fries to be had.

Back home to wind the kid down for bed and for us to snuggle up to watch Sherlock (grab on Netflix Watch Instantly; it's a fun miniseries).  A perfect Family Date Day, although next month we're definitely taking off for some adults only time.

Portraits of a Certain Nature (or, "Photo Project 1")

I'm going forth with a photo challenge that I found on Pinterest. One photo for every day of February and each day is assigned a specific topic. I have to take them on my phone.  Since I'm Android rather than phone I'm using my really fun Vignette app to edit the pics. I'll post each week of this month. 

Enjoy the following snippets of my life.  From Feb 1 - Feb 4.

We have, totally not in order:
- my view today (from my cubicle at work)
- words (my current read)
- hands (HD's & mine)
- a stranger (from our day at the beach, more to come)