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May 21 "Crazy Hair!"For the past few weeks I've been feeling like I want to do something 'different' with my hair. I still want it long, but I feel like I need a fresher look. The long hair is nice because I can pull it back, away from my face. This is particularly important right now with the kid since he loves to pull hair. It is just easy to pull it back. I definitely don't want 'a mom cut'. I also still have it in my mind that it would be really cool to have long flying braids when I am training or someday when I test for an advanced belt in kajukenbo. This despite the fact that my hair in braids is actually not very good while training because it starts to come undone easily near my face and the next thing you know I have a rats nest of hair after an hour of training. This won't work during a multiple attacker siutation where inevitably there is a dog pile and you are fighting and clawing your way out from a pile of people. But I am still growing out my hair a little bit. It needs to be longer to achieve the flying braid vision, misguided as it may be.
Anyway, so about a month ago I told Roger, I think I want to do something crazy with my hair (i.e. a wild hair color). It isn't like I am having meetings with clients in E. Wa or other, more conservative locations. I'm not really a professional right now. It seemed like the time was right to try something a little crazy with my hair color. After mentioning it once, Rog was totally into the concept and would periodically come into the room and say "you should do something CRAZY with you hair". After a couple of days of this, it became a running joke in the house. But despite my desire to do something 'different', I didn't really have a vision. So I called my stylist and made an appointment a month out so that I would have time to figure it out. Well, my appointment is on Saturday and I still don't have a very clear vision of what I want to do. I told her generally what I wanted: some chunky highlights in the front and some other highlights in the underside of my hair so you can see them when I put my hair up in a ponytail. I decided I don't want full color. I've had a hard time thinking about what color to do and what might look ok. I've narrowed it down to either blonde or a brightish red. Specifically what, I can't say. I know I'll just pick something out when I get there. And thankfully, this kind of vibe is exactly the kind of thing my stylist likes to do so she was psyched when I told her (nice to have a stylist who is also your friend and won't give you bullshit advice. I like that she is frank and can tell me "that'll look like shit" if indeed it will look like shit). So, we'll see how it goes. I'll have something different this weekend, at least. Who knows. I may return with pink, green, or blue hair :) Doubtful, but I could probably be convinced. I may not end up with "CRAZY" but it'll be a change of pace. May 20 Sick AgainDang it, we are sick again. I'm pretty bummed out about it. We were just sick a month ago. We got back from TX and I immediately got sniffly. I thought perhaps it was allergies because so many new things started blooming this week. I didn't feel bad last week, just congested, so this supported my allergy hypothesis. Also, I kept listening to the kid's breathing and he wasn't getting congested, so this all but confirmed my allergy suspicions. But, on Saturday I decided to take a Claritin before going to the Cheese Festival and by late morning I realized it wasn't working. Clue 2--by mid-afternoon Saturday I developed a small cough. Sunday morning, the kid woke up with a face full of snot. Confirmed. Sick mom and sick child. Aaarrgghhh! I hate being sick. I hate being sick while caring for a sick kid. We were miserable yesterday. Yesterday I let him play 'nurse forever' because I couldn't really cope with the crying and fussing. All I wanted to do was lay on the bed or couch. I am positive we got it from the disgusting hacking woman who sat behind us on the plane ride down to TX. Man, planes are so disgusting. I try not to think about how unsanitary the air is on the plane--the plane just circulates sick air. Blah! By the time we get better we'll have to get on a plane again for our trip to Arizona. Watch us get sick after we get back from that trip too. Who's a grumpy bear? My CrewYoung Linc and Roostie--
2gether 4 eva
May 16 I smell like FennelMy B.O. smells like fennel or celery or something kind of earthy and different. I kept telling Roger on the plane ride down to TX, "I smell celery". Then the odor starting hitting strong when we were in San Antonio. I kept thinking "what is that smell?!?" Then I got a whiff of my pit and realized it was me. It took me about a day to figure out why my sweat smells different. I've been taking Fenugreek on and off since I got sick to increase my milk production. Duh. That's why I smell like a cross between fennel, anise, and celery. Some online research indicates that your sweat and urine can smell like curry or maple syrup if you ingest Fenugreek. I don't smell those things, I smell celery and fennel (a smell I don't actually care for). I forgot about the smell until this afternoon. Today I ran some errands around town and ended up at Magnuson. I started sweating up a storm and I started smelling that fennel smell again. See what happens when you are a stay at home mom? You forget to apply deodorant every day, start running around town in the heat, and the stinkfest begins. To be honest, my new B.O. smell is better than the old B.O. smell. I just don't recognize my own natural fragrance. Gotta remember the deodorant with this heat! At least a hint of power fresh masks the fennel a little bit. May 14 chatty cabbieWhenever I take a cab, I like chatting with the cabbie. I make an initial effort. You can usually tell pretty quick whether they are interested in conversation with their fare. Sometimes you can get good scoop about the city you are in by making small talk. Other times you meet real characters. We rode lots of cabs in San Antonio. Some of the best interactions:
Cabbie 1:
Me: "Where can I get the best taco in town?"
Cabbie: "My mom's house"
This guy also told us where we could likely buy some Spurs tix online.
Cabbie 2:
We get in the car and the kid is screaming. He asks "you want me to stop at the store so you can get some milk?" WTF? Later as we are approaching the hotel-"People cannot drive for shit here in San Antonio" (he says while making an abrupt turn and drives through a parking lot to avoid having to wait at a red light). This guy was a real piece of work.
Cabbie 3: As we are leaving the AT&T Center I realize our driver is wearing two pairs of glasses (oh no!). Bifocals on top of his glasses. At one point in the conversation the guy says: "last time I picked up a fare from the game I got rear ended. The passengers hit their heads on the back of my seat." (I'm thinking "eeeek!" as I watch this guy try to drive with two pairs of glasses). He was knowledgeable though. He knew a lot about the history of the city and its sights. He did not, however, know where our hotel was without a little help.
Cabbie 4: Drove a Prius (in TX no less!)
This guy was pretty awesome. First hybrid taxi in San Antonio. He was happy to talk about his experience with the hybrid. He said he got ridiculed 2 years ago when he initially bought the hybrid "This is Texas afterall". Who's laughing now? Interesting anecdote-there are a lot of oil execs in TX (obviously). He shared that he has had to pick up at a refinery and they either 1) laugh at him or 2) joke that they can't let their bosses see them in the hybrid. May 13 SA summaryThe San Antonio trip was fun. Though, now that I am home, I feel like I've been there/done that and don't really need to go back to San Antonio anytime soon.
What we did
We did the main sights--the Riverwalk, the mercado, The Alamo, and the added bonus of a Spurs playoff game. There wasn't much else I wanted to do in San Antonio. We ate Tex-Mex, participated in wedding activities, and wandered around and did the tourist thing. Unfortunately we did not get to eat BBQ or chicken fried steak. We didn't get to go to the one restaurant/panaderia I wanted to go to because it was a madhouse on Mother's Day. Other than that, we mostly did everything we intended to do while there.
My Seattle sensibilities has this to say about San Antonio:
The Food/The Drink The Tex-Mex we had was really good. The taco with poblano chilis and cheese was my favorite, the gordita made with corn instead of flour a close second. That said, Tex-Mex is not as good as the Mexican food I know and love. I'm biased. I had the best margarita ever at La Fogata (where the rehearsal dinner was). Rog had 2.5 margies and was totally trashed. If I wasn't nursing the kid, I would have drank too much. But, due to a snafu where Linc's lunchpail with 1/2 his food, his bottle and pumped milk was left on the jetway at the San Antonio airport, I pretty much had to nurse him most of the trip. Which sucked because I was careful and planned out the whole milk situation prior to going down there so that I could booze it at the wedding. Good thing the milk supply keeps flowing, regardless of presence of bottle or pre-pumped milk. It just meant I couldn't be a boozer during the wedding festivities. I drank the least amount at a wedding that I ever have (since being of drinking age). All I consumed was 1 glass of champagne, a half a glass of wine, and half of a margarita. I know. It was a travesty ;) That said, I don't need booze to have a good time. It was a nice wedding. Downtown San Antonio Downtown San Antonio is a very depressing place. Although the Riverwalk was interesting and full of restaurants and people, the downtown was totally sad and deserted. The Riverwalk was a little too touristy and fake feeling from my perspective, but it was a nice city amenity, for sure. A pleasant place to walk and much cooler than the city streets. The Riverwalk was full of activity, clean, helpful guides positioned at strategic locations to help you around, very pedestrian friendly (the same cannot be said for the ADA access, which you notice with a stroller). We did most of our walks along the Riverwalk since our hotel was situated along it. It is weird, but the Riverwalk is actually below street level. You have to walk down stairs to get to it. The downtown streets, on the other hand, were a total mess. Whole blocks were boarded up and vacant. Most of the downtown blocks were empty and lifeless. You wouldn't know this if you spent all your time on the Riverwalk. There was little pedestrian traffic away from the tourist draws (except around the Greyhound bus station). We did one walk along downtown streets and it was a real travesty--trash blowing in the wind, no street life, dirty sidewalks, etc. That is partly what happens when you move the draw and activity away from the street and put it below street level at the Riverwalk. I felt really sad about how awful the downtown was. The wedding The wedding was lovely. It was great to see Sasha and his new bride, Emily. They both looked so happy and I am so glad Sashie has found a lovely woman who is nice and not crazy like some of his past chicks. The wedding was at the Southwest School of Art and Design. It was on the Riverwalk. The ceremony was outside and the wedding was inside (AC!). I was not prepared for the amount of country music at the wedding though. I don't know why I wasn't, given that it was Texas, but I didn't dance too much seeing as I am a music snob and don't know how to dance to country music. Sasha and Emily take dance lessons and you could tell. They did all the fancy dance moves on the dance floor and looked very elegant. Emily's mom made her dress, which is super cool, and Sasha wore some kick ass cowboy boots. Gotta love it. And, Sasha had a groom's cake! I haven't been to a wedding with a groom's cake! We just saw the wedding episode on Top Chef where there was a groom's cake. The only other time I've really seen one was in the movie Steel Magnolias (the armadillo red velvet cake). It was a great trip. I'm really glad we went. The kid was awesome on the trip. We totally had him off his schedule and he was a real champ. We purposefully kept him on West Coast time so that he could stay up later, and it worked. He was in good spirits for the duration of the trip, was a good boy on the plane, slept through the night, and took good naps in the afternoon. He's been a real pill today (he used up all the good juju for the week) but that is ok, because he was a superstar in San Antonio. May 08 Deep in the Heart of TexasWe head out to San Antonio tomorrow morning and I am PSYCHED! You might be asking yourself, why is she psyched to go to Texas? Well...
If only the getting there was easier. Why is it such a`pain in the butt to fly to other parts of the country from Seattle (West Coast cities being the exception)?
May 07 Millet. Not just for birds. You can eat it too!I've been making Linc's food for the past few weeks and it is a lot of fun. I am learning tons about the nutritional value and digestibility of various foods. I've made a variety of fruits and veggies for the kid (pears, plums, mango, sweet potato, yam, acorn squash, golden beet, etc) and it is surprisingly easy to do once you get in the right mind set. I've even prepared vegetables I've never purchased or tried making before, such as golden beets. It is cheaper than buying baby food jars (which range between 0.60 to $1 a jar) and this way I know what he is eating (no preservatives or fillers) and can be certain it will be tasty. Also, I can offer him a wider variety of foods if I make it. You can't find plums or beets in the baby food section of your grocery store! I freeze half (or more) of what I make so that we will have a range of food for Linc at our disposal. I even purchased his veggies at the PCC and it is still cheaper than buying the jar food. I have the time to make his food since I am home, and so I figured this would be a good thing to do. Gotta keep the brain stimulated and finances in check. Thankfully, the kid is a good eater and will eat just about anything we offer to him (plain cauliflower being the exception). I really want him to be an adventurous eater, not picky like I was as a kid.
In an effort to find a nutritious alternative to rice cereal for Lincoln, I decided to start making his breakfast cereal as well. Apparently, rice cereal really isn't that healthy for the kid--it is mostly filler food fortified with iron. Good for introducing solids, but not much in the way of nutrition. He's still getting most of his nutrients from breastmilk, but it doesn't hurt to make sure what we are feeding him is nutritious. Using this book as a guide, I went out and bought a variety of grains including millet, quinoa, spelt, wheat berries, and sweet brown rice. With the exception of the rice, these are all grains I have never purchased before. I didn't even know what most of the grains were supposed to look like. I felt like a total granola hippie when I selected my grains from the bulk bins at PCC. I even walked to the PCC with Linc in the Ergocarrier and brought my own canvas bag for the groceries. My evolution into a true Seattlelite is complete!
 I find myself laughing at who I have become. A year ago I would have never expected myself to buy spelt, let alone use it to make my kid something to eat. This weekend I toasted some millet and today I prepared and fed millet to the kid. I had some too. I have to sample everything I make. You know what? Millet is pretty tasty! It kind of tastes like MaltOMeal to me (which I also really like). Toasting it made it have a nice nutty flavor. There are two ways you can prepare it-grind the millet up and cook it like you'd prepare any other hot cereal or else you can cook the toasted millet pearls like you would cook up rice and then blend it up for the kid (at least for his age, later I won't have to blend it). I tried the hot cereal method today. I added a dash of cinnamon, pinch of salt, and breastmilk in Linc's cereal and he seemed to like it. I could tell he thought the texture was a little weird, but he ate it. I'm sure I'll get better at preparing it over time. Next, I am going to make a 5 grain cereal with the grains I purchased. I am also going to try giving him oatmeal and see how he likes it. I probably should have started with the oatmeal first, seeing how much easier it is, but oh well. I started with the more challenging stuff first. It isn't even that challenging. It just takes time. I've got that right now, so I'm making wholesome cereals for my kid. |
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