Happy Halloween!

A very safe and happy Halloween from my family to yours!
XOXO

Girl Talk Thursday- Ideal Lunchdate

So this week's Girl Talk Thursday's topic is all about the who, the what, the where of an ideal lunchdate. I know a bit about this topic because lunch is my favorite meal of the day. I love its potential to go in many different directions; it is a meal which options the consumption of breakfast, brunch or dinner, and it is perfectly acceptable to wash down this meal with a cool/warm/frosty, alcoholic/non-alcoholic, caffeinated/decaffeinated beverage of your choosing. I also am quite the expert at "lunching" since I birthed two children that I refuse to drag out to a restaurant past 5 pm.

So let's start with the 'who". Or in this case the "who-wouldn't" be there. Now, I love my children dearly and would give my life to keep them safe and happy. That being said, if we're talking fantasy, ideal lunchdates they do not make. At this point in my life, the idea of sitting in a fabulous restaurant, you know one of those that has won a Michelin star or two, by myself, sounds like sheer bliss.

I'd start by ordering an appetizer, something small, salty, and ladylike while sipping on a Kir-Royale. I'd like to try what the chef has recommended for me based on his knowledge of my likes and dislikes (did I mention he looks like Don Draper and I look like Joan Holloway from Mad Men, and I'm wearing a fabulous dress that perfectly accentuates my curves with matching gloves, and my hair is perfectly coiffed, with the perfect shade of lipstick and I'm wearing really sexy undergarments and...oh, sorry wrong fantasy).

Oh, yeah, so the food...A beautifully assembled antipasto platter, brought to the table by a handsome waiter (here we go again...), ok just a waiter, with a glass of wine perfectly suited to bring out the depths and aromas of the cheeses. And the bread, oh the bread! Piping hot, served with olive oil and fresh cracked black pepper hand cranked by that hot lil' waiter.

The main course would be wild mushroom risotto with black truffle shavings (as I've never tried truffles before, but am dying to) and yet a another wine to compliment the "umami" of the dish. And for dessert, a vanilla bean creme-brulee with fresh berries.

Once finished with my meal, about 2 hrs later, I'd dab my still-perfectly lined lips with a starched white napkin, and reach into my Hermes Birkin Bag for my AmEx black card, before heading out the door into the street to flag down my driver with a perfectly manicured finger.

And that, my dear is how I rock a fantasy lunchdate. I mean, can't you just see it now?

Wordless Wednesday

Last two weeks, photographically...

knoxvillepixie + chantelligence + margaritas= good times...

And the rest of my hiatus:


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Busy...

I've been very busy lately, if you define busy as any of the following:

-Driving through 3 states and a total of 9 hrs with a 4-yr-old and 16-month-old in tow.
-Staying the night in a hotel in Virginia [ALONE} with said chitlins.
-Visiting my dear Mom and sweet Dad for 6 days.
-Visiting my dear Whole Foods and sweet Trader Joes for a few hours.
-Trying to find things to occupy self and children during 5 straight days of rain at dear Mom and sweet Dad's house.
-Putting on my makeup-artist hat to adorn dear Mom + friend in MAC cosmetics and faux-eyelashes. (Can you say fierce???)
-Visiting Baltimore Aquarium with youngest 25lb infant ON BACK because Aquarium doesn't allow strollers (huh?).
-Meeting a sweet, sweet twitter friend I've never met before at a Mexican restaurant in a strange town only to find that she was lovely, just lovely...And taking down a few margaritas. P.S.-KnowMeLoveMe, I adore you.
-Driving another 10+ hrs straight with chitlins and Mom in tow, only to be pulled over in Staunton, VA (don't pronounce the "U") by the douche-bag po-po.(*#@^!)
-Getting home to loads of laundry, preschool drop-off and piles of mail to file.
-Waking up Tuesday to a horrendous and disgusting stomach bug, leaving my Mom to take care of my kids and animals, ALL DAY. While I slept. ALL.DAY.
-Waking up, feeling just well enough to "work".
-Hitting up Fresh Market for their 3 for $10 pumpkin special and experiencing a pumpkin avalanche when attempting to take a photo so people will think we made it to a real pumpkin patch this year.
-Helping Hubs pack for his weekend out of town.
-Running out to pick up Hubs car he left at airport.
-Drinking wine, eating yummy cheese, smoked fish, fresh avocado and Italian cured meats.
-Hitting up Sam's Club at 9 am on a Saturday (yeah, it is as bad as it sounds; frigging heinous).
-Attempting to have a nice relaxing morning at a coffee shop only to scurry out of there for fear we, (um, my kids), were irritating the other patrons.
-Stopping by the liquor store to buy wine for the B.Y.O.B. party I'd R.S.V.P.'d to weeks earlier and to grab a hostess-gift, and spending more time with my child arching her back in protest as I tried to place her in the stroller.
-Pick up car, $700+ dollars, 4-tires and 2 hrs later.
-Get all cuted-up for said party.
-Get kids up from nap and drag them to adult-party.
-Chase after kids at said party for a polite 2+ hrs.
-Attempt to feed kids dinner and put them to bed.
-Fall asleep snoring with down comforter snuggling up with Mom on couch, only to find that every time I drift into slumber, she wakes me to inform me I am falling asleep.
-Wake at 6 am to find eldest screaming, "MOMMY!!!!"
-Invite her into my bed with Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on t.v. in hopes she will fall back asleep.
-Plan fails miserably.
-Spend 3+ hrs scrubbing toilets, vacuuming floors, skype-ing with my sweet, sweet, niece and her dear, dear parents (XOXO).
-Eat dinner.
-Bathe.
-Say goodbye to my sweet Mom holding back tears.
-Say hello to my sweet Husband, holding back tears.

Oh yeah, and just to pour even more salt into these frazzled wounds, I woke up at 5:50 this morning to find that my computer is suffering from a horrendous virus; I fear it maybe the highly-feared H1N1...'cause it is a "National Emergency", you know.

XOXO

Ten Years

Ten years ago, looked a little something like this:




Ten years ago, I was lonely.
Ten years ago, I went to a party with a friend I rarely hung out with.
Ten years ago, I was tired of the same useless chit-chat.
Ten years ago, I went outside with my cup of keg beer and sat on the trunk of a car.
Ten years ago, you walked over to me.
Ten years ago, I was shocked when you asked if you could sit down and join me on the trunk of that car.
Ten years ago, you offered to give me a ride home when my friends wanted to leave.
Ten years ago, we sat in your car talking when the sun came up.
Ten years ago, you kissed me for the first time.
Ten years ago, I knew I was going to fall in love with you.
Ten years ago, I knew it would be unlike anything I'd ever experienced before.
Ten years ago, I had no idea of the joy that was in store.
Ten years ago, you held my hand for the first time.
And in the last ten years, you've never let it go.

Thank you for the last ten years...

Wordless Wednesday

Girl Talk Thursday-My favorite scents

So for this week's Girl Talk Thursday posts, I am going to share my love of scents or fragrance rather as I give you a tour of my life and memories from a fragrance perspective. So here goes:

1. Poison by Christian Dior: This is probably my earliest perfume memory. This was a fragrance my mom used growing up on her special occassion date nights with my dad. This fragrance was always wafting through the house as my brother and I inhaled Kraft Macaroni and Cheese and our "goody plates" of celery filled with peanut butter and carrots.

2. Liz Claiborne Perfume and Anais Anais by Cacharel: Not sure which one of these came next, but suffice it to say these were the first perfumes I actually owned. To this day, both of these scents smell like Miami circa 1988, or more specifically, a pair of Guess? jeans with zippered ankles, an I.D. metal button-down shirt, and a pair of high-top L.A. Gears (with rhinestones, of course).

3. Escape by Clavin Klein: I wore this fragrance about 8th or 9th grade-ish and wore it a lot. It's amazing how I could never, ever rock this scent again without being transformed into a braces-wearing, insecure pre-adolscent. The shit still reeks of it.

4. Bath and Body Works "Freesia", "Juniper Breeze" and "Flowering Herbs": sometime after I ditched the "Escape" for good, I discoved my temporary replacement for a cologne and jumped right into the shower gel, body lotion, and body spray combo. I dabbled in different scents through the years, (I spent one rare cold Miami winter rockin the Sun-Ripened-Raspberry variety), but I always seemed to come back to these old standbys.

5. The Body Shop Body Oils: Juba, Vanilla, and (GASP!) Patchouli: Once in high school and throughout college, I decided I was more of a body oil kinda gal and yes, embarrassingly, I experimented with the patchouli (hey it went well with my flannel shirts and burgundy Dr. Martens), but the Juba and Vanilla I have gone back to and back to over the years and I still wear them sometimes today. They are a classic as far as I'm concerned.

6. Dolce and Gabbana "Pour Femme" and "Light Blue": These were the 2 fragrances I wore on my quest for employment once I graduated from college. To me now, they smell like an underpayed, overworked, and overqualified twenty-something struggling to do whatever it takes to make her way in her newfound career, even if the jobs were sometimes incredibly degrading.

7. Angel by Therry Mugler: I discovered this shortly after relocating to TN and getting my first job out of school that I truly enjoyed. I still really love this fragrance and if you are familiar with it, you know you can always spot someone who's wearing it. It is an incredibly unique fragrance that I simply adore. Come to think of it, this might be next on my Christmas List.

8. Bobbi Brown's "Beach": I wore this fragrance when working for Bobbi Brown and wore it all throughout my pregnancy with my first daughter, Annabelle. This is a happy, sunny fragrance that instantly makes you feel like you're relaxing on a beach somewhere, slathering suntan lotion on your glistening legs while reaching for a frozen girlie-drink in an oversized hat.

9. Keihls Original Musk: I started wearing this one after Annabelle was born and I officially became a SAHM. This was a very different fragrance for me, as I'm not typically a musk-kinda-gal. But there's just something about this one...

10. L.A.M.B. by Gwen Stefani: This one has been my signature everyday perfume for the last couple of years and I am in love with it. It's not too sweet, not too floral, and not too musk-y. Its perfect for me and I always get complements on it. I think this one will continue to be mine for quite a long time...

So that's my fragrance history...What's yours?