Catching up

Friday night was fun, but you see, I wasn't able to hang as late as I thought. Reasons? I was tired from working/momming all week. I'd had too much wine while getting ready for the evening with Ms. Lindsay in her swanky "King Suite" at the Clarion Inn. Oh, and I'm old. Like really, really old.

But it was great to gab (loudly) and laugh (even more loudly) and to just generally hang out with the ladies without a husband or a kid in sight.

Here's Mags stuffing a napkin in to her shirt. I know there was a reason she was doing this, but damned if I can remember.

Here's Karla stuffing a French fry into her nose. I think she learned this skill in finishing school.

Here's Lindsay with that "I'm really quite drunk but still very adorable" look on her face, and to her left, Patty.

Here are Bookhart, Jaye, and Jaye's patient friend from out of town, Emily.

And here's a way-too-up-close photo of me that Karla took when I could've sworn she was taking a picture of my cleavage. Damn, I look like an old trannie.

Lindsay and I left before the party changed venues (see Karla's entry), and Jaye and Emily were nice enough to drive our drunk asses back to the Clarion. And what did we do? We had the t.u.d. (totally unnecessary drink). That's right, we felt like we just HAD to dive into the wine we hadn't finished while getting ready. So we continued to chat and imbibe until I saw Lindsay literally falling asleep sitting up, and stumbled back to my own room (across the hall). I've apparently forgotten how to pack, because I had nothing to sleep in, so I just put my t-shirt on that I'd worn to work all day and slept in that.

The next day, head banging, I woke up at around 10am. It was dark and cold in my room, but I just felt too lousy to go back to sleep. So I got up to get dressed and discovered that I'd packed a shirt to wear, but no pants. (What is WRONG with me?! Wait, don't answer that...) So after putting on my dirty pants from the day before, I packed up my crap, and knocked on Lin's door. She'd showered, was having coffee, and was watching trashy t.v. Shortly thereafter, we walked next door to have some Dim Sum, which pretty much hit the spot.

Next I went home. Showered. Did some laundry. Napped. Packed another bag, and left for my mom's house. It was raining like a bitch when I left (of course), but thankfully stopped during my drive. In fact, it cleared off nicely, and I was able to watch The Geej demonstrate her tricycle riding skills. I even got inspired and took my very dusty, unused bike out for a spin as well. You gotta love the Huffy Cruiser.

Looking ahead to a busy week at work, a doctor's appointment, and frenzied preparations for Mr. Wonderful's visit (he's bringing his oldest with him) and The Geej's big birthday party this weekend. Yikes.

More soon, kittens.

Oklahoma is OK!

So I got here after an hour delay at ABIA, and guess what:

I brought the sunshine with me. So, it's been sunny. And green. And--most importantly--not humid AT all. Yay m!

Apparently, I am some sort of weather goddess. That is SO cool

More soon. I swear. Right now? Too drunk to post.

Updateafragalistic.

1) The Geej is going commando tonight. It's my first night of trying out the sleeping without the Pull-Up thing. She's dry 99.5% of the time in the mornings, so I figure we may as well try it out. I can't BELIEVE my baby is getting so big.


2) Speaking of, I had a nice Mother's Day. At first, The Geej was in a shitty mood--acting SO two, and pitching a fit at every turn. But then, I made her get back in her bed and tell me when she was ready to "Get up and be happy." And lo and behold, after a few minutes, she got up, and the rest of the day was bliss.


3) After a Saturday morning playdate with Mama Malcontent's young casanova, then Dah came to town, and I was suddenly free to go to Home Depot and do some more garden supply shopping. See, here's the thing: I thought a few weeks ago, "You know, I should really clean out that little bed around the oak in my back yard, and plant something." Well, nearly $300 and many dirty, sweaty hours later, I'm almost finished totally refurbishing my beds and building an entirely new bed to boot. I gardened my arse off on Saturday afternoon, and quickly discovered that I needed at least 3 more bags of mulch. And a new rake. And some other stuff. So even though I'm nearly done, I'm not totally done. When I am, I'll post pictures (but I don't have "before" shots, so prepare to be underwhelmed).


4) After gardening, I got ready for a Big Swanky Party!! Remember a few moons ago when I told ya'll I finally met the lady in town who shares my (fairly unusual) first and last names? Well, long story short, she was beginning a publishing venture that deals with local and sustainable foods, and I happen to work at a company who's got a HUGE focus in that arena, so she asked if I could connect her with some folks "inside" with whom she could build a business partnership. I did, and--next thing I know--I'm being invited to VIP events at mansions in Westlake. Wow.


5) Went to said VIP event that was hosted by Paula. Paula is the "Paula" from this. So there was plenty of that flowing throughout the evening. But you know what? There wasn't much food. And all I'd had to eat was a small Schlotsky's veggie sammich at like 11:30. Then I'd worked out in the hot sun for 3 hours. Then started drinking this:

PAULA’S LEMONADE
This one is so good, it sneaks up on you.

1 part Paula’s Texas Lemon Liqueur

1 part vodka

1 part club soda

Generous squeeze of fresh lemon juice

Mix ingredients and serve over ice.

That's from the website, and they even ADMIT that it sneaks up on you. Boy, did it ever. I was fine (really, I was), until I got into the shuttle to take me back to my car. Then WHOA--I was seriously fucked up. Thank god I had a more sober companion with me to help me out. She had to drive my car, pull over along MoPac to let me hurl, then help me inside once home so that I could curl up with my toilet and nice, cold ceramic bathroom tile. This was all before 10pm, mind you. See: THAT'S what happens when you don't get out much!!


6) Woke up this morning at 7:30. And you know what? I felt fine--absolutely fine. I didn't LOOK great, but I was totally okay. I think getting all that shit outta me, then getting a decent night's sleep certainly helped. Thank goodness I felt okay, b/c it was Mother's Day, my mom was here, and The Geej was being more than a handful.


7) Went shopping at Whole Foods and dropped $144 in 45 minutes.


8) Mom took me to pick up my car at my friend's house (embarassing), then The Geej, friend and I all went to lunch here. Holy crap, people, it was SO damn good! I'd heard and read good things about this place, but just hadn't gone yet. But after today's yumminess and lovely service, I'll be back. Plus, the table next to us ordered the ceviche, and it looked amazing. I wanna eat it. Soon. PLEASE try this place. They're in one of those mysterious "kiss of death" locations that seems like it's awesome, but whatever goes there always fails. They serve breakfast on the weekends, are kid-friendly, have outdoor seating, and a full bar. Go!! Now!! Save them (they were barely busy at during lunch time today)!


9) Came back home and took a righteous nap with The Geej and Earl.


10) Got up and finished planting the rest of my plants and spreading the rest of the mulch I had. And then we watered. I say "we" on purpose. You see, I recently purchased this for The Geej

I know! Isn't it cute?! The gloves say "Little Farmer" on them. Anyway, she's been "helping" me out with my whole Operation Flowerbeds project.


11) I've decided I hate Lindsay Lowhore more than I do Paris Hilton. But I still hate TobyFuckingKeith the most. He's releasing an album this week called "Big Dog Daddy." I can't WAIT to get it!!


12) Melatonin works. Good night!

Don't let the name fool you.

I'm not a big red wine drinker. Occasionally, I'll have a glass. Or maybe two if I really like it. But, for the most part, red wines just don't do it for me, and I don't really know why.

I have a little wine rack that has had about 5 bottles of red wine sitting in it the birthday party I threw for myself last year. That was last JANUARY, mind you. Well, last night I found myself craving a glass of red wine (which is an odd occurrence to begin with), so I just grabbed the first bottle that my hand hit. It was called Lengs & Cooter Victor Shiraz, 2003, South Austrailia. Personally, I don't think I ever would've bought a wine that had the word "cooter" on the label, but to whatever unknown party guest brought this bad boy into my life, can I just say, "Thank you." SO good. So smooth. Wow, what a wonderful, full, complex wine. I didn't just like it, I loved it. I had 2 glasses last night and then polished off the bottle tonight with my dinner. I highly, highly recommend it.

Speaking of wine, I got this catalogue in the mail yesterday, and I pretty much want everything in it. I've never been to the Napa Valley, but man I'd like to some day.

In other big news: I finally got all of my Christmas stuff taken down and put away this weekend. Everything that is except the damn tree. It's so big, I need help to get it taken down and shoved back in it's box. What in the hell was I thinking buying a 9' tree?

In which my blogger guilt gets the best of me.

I shouldn't be posting. I have nothing interesting to say (so what else is new, right?), and I'm dog tired. But alas, I haven't posted since Friday, and that one was one of those "hey check this link out" posts that's really no better than a mass e-mail so here you have it: a lame-a-licious post covered in guilt.

Friday night was a blast. Thanks to all of youse blogging bitches for the gathering. I wish we could do that more often, because really, seeing ya'll face-to-face was a treat. What was it that drunk-ass Puerto Rican/Norwegian guy said at the Carousel? "You're like 'Sex in the City', Austin style...but older." Oh, and something I learned: Do not, under ANY circumstances think you're tough enough to follow Finlandia from Opal's with bad Chardonnay at the Carousel. Because you're not tough enough. No one is.

Saturday I experienced the bliss that is the shrimp chili relleno at Matt's. Don't let anyone tell you that a sauce featuring walnuts and raisins isn't tasty, cuz it is. Very much so. That lunch was pretty much all I accomplished on Saturday, so I'd say the day was a whopping success.

Sunday, ran errands and did laundry like a mad woman, trying to make up for my slacker-ness on Saturday.

And today? Stayed home from work with a sick toddler. She wasn't running a fever or anything but my GOD the snot. It was endless. There were two raging rivers of it, one out of each nostril. And she was coughing like an old trucker. And then there were the weepy eyes. I tried like hell to participate in a 10am conference call I'd scheduled, but when she came waltzing into the room while I was on the phone trying to be all business-like and presented me with a tower of Legos while loudly singing "Happy Birthday," I knew I should throw in the towel. Malcontent Mama met us for nourishment at Luby's, and later The Geej and I went on a nice walk to enjoy the afternoon, but other than that, we stuck close to home.

So tomorrow's the only day I'm actually going into the office this week (The Geej's school is closed on Wednesday), then heading out to my mom's on Wednesday afternoon/evening for Thanksgiving. My mom's two sisters, brother, their respective spouses and a couple of cousins will be there, so it'll be a houseful. One Aunt/Uncle combo is bringing their boat so we can go explore Lake LBJ. Another Aunt/Uncle combo is bringing their kick ass dog Missy, with whom The Geej has a major infatuation. I'll be bringing the items from the ever-expanding shopping list my mom keeps e-mailing me. And the Xanax. I'll be bringing some of that too.

Booze and burglary just don't mix.

A word of advice from your good buddy Karla May:

Next time you're liquored up, and you're hankering for more hooch but the stores are already closed, I don't recommend that you do this. I really, really don't.

One week down...

It's been a week since I got back to Austin from Russia. Just one week. It feels like so much longer than that.

I look at my baby's pictures every day. I've watched the video I made of her--20 minutes of watching her and listening to me saying, "Who's the pretty baby...hello sweet girl...hi..."--at least 10 times. I pray for her every night. I pray that someone is looking after her, caring for her, that she's staying healthy and strong and that, on some level, she knows that I'm coming back. One week has gone by which means I'm one week closer to going back to get her. I don't know how I'm going to handle at least five more weeks away from her. This separation and waiting part just sucks.

Christmas has, thankfully, come and gone. I've never been a huge fan of Christmas. It was never a big deal in my family because a) I was on only child so there wasn't a whole lot of hoopla going on and b) since my parents divorced when I was seven, Christmas always seemed to mean trying to figure out which parent I was supposed to be with and who was going to shuttle me where and at what time. Then, a couple of years ago, my father died right before Christmas. And this Christmas was the first without my stepfather. Plus, I'm nearly 6,000 miles away from my sweet baby. So Christmas. Not really very crazy about it.

This year, I went over to my work friend Francesca's apartment for Christmas Eve. She's the only person I know whose kitchen is smaller than mine, but she managed to whoop up one hell of a feast: Dungeness crab with homemade curry aioli, asparagus, horseradish mashed potatoes, an enormous salad, and toast points with triple cream Brie and fig spread. All followed by a slice of Yule Log. Yum. Then we proceeded to drink a LOT of wine and champagne and watch three movies. I ended up crashing there due to my copious consumption of the grape, and waking up with a banging headache at 7:15 am Christmas Day. Went home. Took a shower, brushed the moss off my teeth, and got back into bed. Woke up some time later, and Francesca and I went to see Wes Anderson's latest, "Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou" at the Alamo Drafthouse where we soothed our hangovers with mimosas and popcorn.

The only Christmas gift I asked for (and got) was from my Mother: a large silver locket that I put some of The Geej's hair in. (I snipped it off with some fingernail clippers and stashed it in a Ziploc while the orphanage staff weren't looking.) It is something I will treasure for the rest of my life.

As bleak as my Christmas sounds, it was really okay. The weather was beautiful. I didn't have to travel. I didn't spend a lot of money I don't have on gifts for people. But for the rest of you, I hope your holiday was filled with family, great gifts and trouble-free travel. Next year, Christmas is going to rock because my daughter will be here, and it will be all about her.

God bless.