pa-jammy
Posted on time! Woot!
It’s been a hell of a week – George got robbed half a block from our house at 8:45 in the evening last weekend (he’s okay, just battered and bruised – nothing broken), plus lots of other random crap. I’m happy to say that I’ll be on a cruise ship with a friend for the next week. The boys only have one week of school before spring break, and I think we all just need a break.
I wrote a post about how the fires in Los Angeles affected my family. I don’t really want to rehash it here, but in a nutshell, my brother and his family are safe, but they lost their home in Altadena.
Jenny and I set up a GoFundMe for them.
They were on the news on Saturday.
I do want to post about my birthday celebrations that happened the weekend before, because they were excellent, but I’m not quite in the mood yet.
2025 can suck it.
We got home a week ago from our second-ever family vacation (I mean, that was only the five of us, not the entire extended family.) We were originally going to go to the Pacific Northwest, but uncertainties around the costs of car insurance for teenage drivers and because our mortgage went up a LOT thanks to stupid *$#%& homeowner’s insurance, we opted to save a bit of money and go to New York instead.
Why New York? I mean, why not? The boys had only been once before, and loved it, and I love it, and George loves it. And I was able to get a good deal on our plane tickets, thanks to Southwest miles. (Not to be confused with Southwest Miles, which is Miles in New Mexico.) (Sorry, dumb joke.) (You know what, I’m not sorry.)
We stayed in a fantastic hotel, one I highly recommend, the Life Hotel. It was small, so not overwhelming, and the rooms were absolutely adorable (but not tiny.) And I mean, two big hotel rooms for five nights in NYC is going to be a lot of money no matter what, but for what it was, it was quite reasonable. (And it’s the former home of Life magazine. Pretty cool!)
So, on to what we did:
Arrived in the late afternoon. After a taxi ride to the hotel (did you know that even the minivan taxis can’t really accommodate a family of five? George and the boys had to sit four across in the back seat. Yeesh.) we unpacked and rested for a little bit before going to find some dinner.
We ate Detroit-style pizza, as one does in New York. (Look, it was somewhere we’d eaten in 2019 and so it was an easy decision.) On the way, we went into the lobby of the Empire State Building, and then we passed a Paris St Germain shop (Miles’s team) so had to peruse the goods there before heading to dinner. We took the subway to a nerd store for George, then we walked around some more and headed back to the hotel to sleep.
TIP: You won’t spend more than $34 per person riding the subway/bus if you tap to pay with your phone. And we took the subway (and buses) a lot. I put my Apple card on the boys’ phones so I wouldn’t have to tap them in at every station, and we ended up hitting the cap on Monday.
We went to visit my company’s office space. It was gorgeous! There were free snacks and lovely views and a weird vibrating chair.
Then we walked to a store that sold vintage soccer jerseys, and after that, headed to the 9/11 memorial. (We were going to take the Staten Island ferry there and back, but decided against it when we learned we’d have to wait an hour for a ferry back.) Ate some lunch, then I made them go with me to the Peloton store so I could get a shirt for my classes.
So it turns out, I have a really terrible sense of direction in Manhattan, because I was constantly getting us lost. I cursed Google Maps many, many times, and used the compass app on my phone a lot. And we retraced our steps frequently. And don’t tell the others, but once we stayed on the bus a bit too long and had to backtrack.
We rested for a bit, then took a shorter ferry over to Brooklyn, then went to Grimaldi’s for pizza.
It was a long and exhausting day so I was about to drop by the time we got back to the hotel.
(Did I mention the heat was worse in NYC than in New Orleans? It was so draining – at least in New Orleans, we hibernate when it’s this hot. We don’t walk miles around a city.)
In the morning, we met up with Erica and her family at Bryant Park. I finally got to meet her son!! (and her husband, who I know I hadn’t met before, but it felt like it, you know?) We had some food and hung out, then went across the street to the library (not the huge one with the lions, but the building across the street) where there’s a terrace on the 7th floor that was perfect for 2 year olds to run around and grown ups to chat (and teenagers to lounge, sulkily.)
After saying goodbye, we went to the Natural History Museum, which was of course fabulous. Sitting in the Planetarium for a show saved us, but we nevertheless only lasted a couple of hours there, because we were all still pretty wiped from the day before. We did eat an overpriced lunch there, where we had…pizza. (Among other things.) We took the bus back to the hotel (stopping at the PSG store again as well as the Apple Store) and chilled until dinner.
Did I mention the amount of ice cream the boys ate? It was a lot. They’re big soft serve fans, and basically wanted to get a cone any time we passed a truck, which was often.
Dinner was takeout pizza from a really adorable place near the hotel where everyone was delightful. After this, George and I vowed no more pizza.
My first Peloton class!
After, we took the subway to Brooklyn to meet Madi and her boyfriend Aaron at a cute little cafe. Madison used to be so shy and now she is almost THIRTY which I cannot handle and it was such a delight to hang out with them. And I was happy to see a part of Brooklyn I hadn’t been to.
We decided to go to the Transit Museum after, because it wasn’t too far away. It was an unexpected delight! It wasn’t huge, but the lower floor was an old platform that was filled with old train cars. We had a lot of fun critiquing them, and sitting a lot.
The boys and I went to Rockefeller Center after that to go to Oliver’s team store as well as another vintage soccer shirt store, and I had banana pudding, so even though we got lost a bunch, it was worth it.
We went back to the hotel for a while, then George really wanted to go to a diner, so we went to the Tick Tock diner that turned out to be in the lobby of the hotel we’d stayed in for our fifth anniversary trip, so it wasn’t our first time eating there. The breakfast fiends were in heaven.
My second Peloton class!
Afterwards, I went to Mood and I was VERY PROUD of myself for being decisive and just buying two gorgeous pieces of fabric and then getting the hell out.
The boys and George were sitting in Bryant Park again, so I met up with them and we went to the Intrepid, which was George’s big ask of the trip. (And after I went to two Peloton classes, I couldn’t exactly say no, not that I would have.)
We spent several hours there. George was in heaven. It was pretty good, but I had my backpack and it was very heavy and I kind of wish I’d dropped it off at the hotel before we went, but I survived.
We walked around Central Park a bit after that and then went back to the hotel.
Our hotel was in Koreatown, so we found a ramen place around the corner and had delicious soup for dinner. It was the boys’ first time having “real” ramen, and they all enjoyed it.
Sadly, time to go home. I went for a nice peaceful walk by myself because it was FINALLY not sweltering. I also went into the Harry Potter store but did not buy anything because I’m not about to put another dime in that evil woman’s wallet, but it was fun to look around anyway.
And then it was time to head to the airport. In an Uber this time.
And then we came home and picked up Ziggy and all was well with the world.
December! Gotta finish this so I can do my year-end recap, which in retrospect seems kind of silly after writing the monthly recaps but whatever.
The boys turned 16! They had friends over a couple of nights before, and we went to the bonfire, as usual. We had steaks for dinner on their actual birthday.
I got to see my friend Zandy for the first time since 2019!
Their big gift was Saints tickets, which we went to (and this time, they won, woo!)
Ziggy was cute, duh.
Soccer was played. They actually won a game! Twice!
Took them shopping individually. I only had to have sushi twice!
Christmas was nice. We did the usual Christmas Eve traditions (steak dinner, eggnog daiquiri for me, read TNBC, took the stocking pic. My sister and fam came to Baton Rouge for Christmas, so we went there on Christmas Day.
The next day, they came to New Orleans and we went to Christmas fest. I ice skated!
Later in the week, I went to Baton Rouge alone to help my mom and Larry after she had a procedure on her hand. I don’t want to talk about it.
Lots of driving happened.
Then it was New Year’s Eve and Miles and I watched the fireworks on the levee!
Other random things: my car broke down, pretty decorations, our friend’s birthday party, moms blog Christmas party, camellias bloomed, Oliver made an island, advent calendars, hooray! etc.
Oops, I forgot to do this. My bad.
November was kind of slow? I can’t even remember what happened.
Not necessarily in this order…
I had dinner with Kristie and her sister and Ren!
We went to Baton Rouge for the LSU game.
I got my hair did.
There was soccer.
The boys got their learner’s permits.
George and I had our 18th anniversary.
Thanksgiving happened.
I was driven around a lot.
Ziggy was cute.
And now it’s December! Where has 2023 gone?
In 1991, if 16 year-old Pam wasn’t listening to INXS, she was listening to Achtung Baby. If I hear any songs from it now, it instantly transports me back (in a good way.) So back in March when I saw that U2 was playing the album in its entirety in Las Vegas, I texted Kristina and joked “we should go to this” and to absolutely no one’s surprise, she said “okay!”
So I spent the past weekend in Las Vegas (and a little bit of Los Angeles) with Kiki and Mike, where we saw U2 in concert at (the?) Sphere.
For some reason, flights to Las Vegas were super expensive, but both Mike and I have brothers in Los Angeles, so we decided it would be better to fly to L.A. and drive to Vegas. Road trip!
So I flew to Burbank (closer to my brother’s) on Thursday afternoon, then we surprised Ellie at UCLA. I think she was surprised, anyway. Turns out she has tracking on me on her phone. Hmm.
We had dinner, then went to her teeny tiny dorm room where I got to see the quilt I made her in its home!
The next morning, I had breakfast with Evan and Jennifer, then Kiki and Mike picked me up for the trip to Vegas. It was cool to drive through the desert – I’ve never seen one up close before!
We arrived at our hotel at around 4, and it took us a while to get checked in and to finally find our rooms (these hotels are massive!) and then it was time to get ready for dinner.
The dinner was incredible, we went to Picasso at the Bellagio. Lots of pics on my Instagram post:
The next morning, we got overpriced coffee from Starbucks, and then I met up with my friend Lisa, who lives in Vegas. We hung out for a while in my room, then after she left, Kiki and Mike and I went and grabbed lunch and then went in search of merch. The lines were stupid, but I was able to get my brother and I shirts.
After that, Kiki and I had an appointment at Lip Lab, which I was very excited about. I was finally going to get the perfect brick red (NO PINK) lipstick!
It was so fun to watch the technician mix the colors. Like an artist with a palette! And she nailed the color perfectly. Then I tried a bright pink that I would normally never wear, but she said suited me. I did not buy that one. But I did get a sheer balm in the same color as my lipstick. And Kiki got two lipsticks. One was so perfect I gasped when I saw it on her.
We also got to name our lipsticks, and they engraved them on the cases. I don’t really have any pictures of the lipstick on, but trust me, it’s perfect.
After that, we went to the pool for an hour and drank extremely overpriced (but delicious) cocktails (are you sensing a theme?) and then it was time to get ready for the show!
So I guess this is the real point of this post. Well. It was incredible.
We ate a bit and had a drink when we got inside (all very good) and then it was time to find our seats. We knew we were in a good section, right in the middle near the front, but we had no idea how good they were going to be. We were in row 16, but row 16 was really just four from the front. The general admission area was between us and the stage, but it wasn’t that big. We were close. And right smack in the middle.
A DJ played a bunch of 90s songs to get all the old people in the mood and then the show started, and honestly, I don’t know what else to say besides it was visually incredible. Just beautiful. The graphics were so crisp and beautiful and jaw-dropping.
I took a lot of pictures and videos.
After the show, I was exhausted, so I went back to my room pretty soon getting back, then the next morning we packed up for the drive back to L.A. And then I came home yesterday after staying at my brother’s again.
So that’s it! A wonderful trip with my best friend seeing an amazing show, AND I got to see my niece. What else can you ask for?
June was a busy month! So let’s get to it.
It started with a trip to California for my niece Eleanor’s high school graduation. Just me, not the boys or George.
We went to UCLA (that’s where Ellie is going in the fall) and walked around (after having In and Out for lunch.)
Before the trip, my brother said, “bring hiking shoes.” I said, “do I look like the type of person to own hiking shoes?” so it was in my sneakers that he tried to kill me the next day. We hiked up to Echo Park on an extremely damp and foggy and misty day, on a very narrow trail, and I was 100% convinced that only one of us at most was going to make it down to the bottom in one piece. Thank god I was wrong. I wouldn’t have wanted to mess up Ellie’s graduation week.
I’m not kidding, it was grueling (at least to me, someone who lives in a very flat place) and even my brother said later that he was nervous for me. Sheesh. Here are a bunch of random pics, including none of the view because you couldn’t see anything! But, in spite of that, I felt very accomplished, and it was nice to spend time with my brother. (Don’t tell him I said that.)
I googled this hike to get some info about it, and if I’d read “The majority of the trail is along the side of the mountain with some narrow switchbacks – it may be difficult for those that have trouble with heights” (emphasis mine) then maybe I would have rethought this decision. This is a good post that has pictures of, wow, what it might have looked like had I been able to see anything! It’s fine, it’s fine. Probably best that I couldn’t see how far I would have plummeted to my death.
The rest of the trip was hanging out with family, eating, going to Paper Source, Ellie’s graduation, going back to UCLA, seeing Pawnee City Hall, shopping at Mood, and basically spending a lot of time in electric cars.
I was really excited to give Ellie her graduation gift, a quilt I made for her in UCLA colors. I hope it keeps her warm and cozy while she’s at college. Sniff, sniff. She was just a tiny baby, I can’t believe she’s off to college.
Okay, so then I went home, and the day after I got back, George left for his long-awaited trip to the UK. He was going to be gone for two weeks, and little did he know that I had big plans while he was gone. Kiki came to visit and while she was here, we redid his bathroom downstairs. It’s so much better! (Of course I posted a ton more pictures and details here.)
He came home last week, and since then, life has gotten significantly quieter (that’s good.) Oh, I made this (Selwyn by Cashmerette) shirt early in the month, but I haven’t been able to get a good picture of it, so after a few glasses of wine, my friends stuck me in a bathtub to get some.
hee hee
The boys are finishing up driver’s ed today, so expect the July recap to be full of danger and intrigue!
Okay, seriously, April went by way too fast. What did we doooooo?
Easter! Mom and Larry came over. I made a delicious chocolate cake and other things. And we got a family pic.
I donated blood, and while I ended up with bruising on both arms (my veins aren’t as hearty as you would expect from me) I also got a cool t-shirt.
And then a few days later, I got another flower tattoo. This one was for Kiki. I told her she could pick, and she chose a hibiscus because it reminded her of her mom, as they had them growing at their house when she was growing up.
Artistry by Mecca at Hell or High Water here in New Orleans. I highly recommend her and her shop.
Less fun, the boys kicked a hole in the wall and I covered it with a sheet of whiteboard:
Lots of soccer, but it also ended this month. Yay! There were goals scored by my children, which was nice to see. We went to a tournament in Lafayette. They didn’t totally suck! I made friends with a five year old. It was delightful.
After a real shitshow of a game on the north shore, we had dinner with my cousin Rob and his wife. It was so great to see them! So great.
Ziggy was cute, yet again.
What else? The boys got obsessed with basketball, I made another bunny for a grieving little brother, I got new shoes, I sewed some things, George and I had tacos, I made breakfast pizza for dinner. I started a three month rotation with the tumblr support team, and I’m loving it.
And now it’s May and this month the boys will finish their freshman year, I’m going to Rotterdam, and birthdays will be celebrated. But I won’t have to watch any soccer games!
March was obviously kind of low-key, because I haven’t felt the need to post anything since the monthly picture.
Today they had their 15 year well visits, and I was excited to see how tall they were. I assumed Oliver and I were the same height, 5’10”.
I was right and wrong. We are the same height, but we are 5’9″.
This has shaken me to my core. I’m actually fine with getting older and shrinking. I am not okay with the idea that I was never 5’10”. So we’re going to go with shrinking. It’s fine.
And Miles and Linus are only half and a quarter inch behind Oliver, and they’re all within a pound in weight, which is wild. I don’t think they’ve ever been this similar since they were born! (I was going to look to see how long they were at birth, and apparently this is not documented anywhere. Not on this blog, not in my medical records, not in any emails. Nowhere. Huh.)
My sister to the rescue: Her nephews were 16.5, 17, and 17 inches long. Which means, yes, they are (relatively) closer in height and weight now than they were at birth. Wild.
And boy, is it true that they just stretch out like taffy at this age. In the past two years, Linus gained almost 9 inches in height but less than a pound in weight. Crazy.
So let’s see, what else happened in May?
Let’s see. Ziggy was cute. No change there.
Oliver and Linus got haircuts. Zzz.
I made a pretty skirt! Oh that’s nice. It’s the Upton skirt by Cashmerette, this floral embroidered mesh came from Joann’s, of all places. I used a pale pink satin for the underlayer. (Thank you Ren for the runway photo from the hotel hallway.)
The most exciting part of the month was going up to Natchitoches for my 30th high school reunion. (Yes, I graduated at the tender age of 7.)
It was so much fun. Really nice to reconnect with friends I haven’t seen in a while. Bittersweet, though, because this is when the boys would be getting their acceptance letters if they’d applied. I mean, obviously I’m glad they’re not leaving me, but it’s hard not to want the same experience I had, when it was so life-changingly wonderful. And the new dorms are very nice.
There was lots of soccer too. A tournament in Baton Rouge where Oliver got the only goal for their team all weekend. Then another game last weekend where Oliver got the only goal. This weekend is another tournament, but I guess you’ll have to wait for the next monthly update to hear about it!
I also made a stuffed bunny for a mom in the neighborhood who lost her baby daughter earlier this year. I felt honored that she trusted me with the task. It came out cute, I think. She was happy, which is the important thing.
The jasmine is blooming, which is the only good thing about spring. Well, and daylight savings time (ending? beginning? I can never remember.) but I need to get a new grill because the one we had fell apart.
I read a good book, I recommend it.
I got to have lunch with a work friend.
The boys ate a lot of saltines.
Stephanie chopped off her hair for St. Baldrick’s. Tragically, I forgot to wear my giant medal.
24 years after graduating from LSU with a friggin general studies degree, I paid off my student loans! Wheeee!
And yeah, that’s about it.
Oh, except starting on April 3, I will be on a new team at work for three months, working on Tumblr support. I’m very excited for the change of scenery!
Better late than never, I suppose. I barely posted at all last year, a mere 28 times! And 12 of those were monthly pics, so only 16 other posts? Actually that is more than I would have thought. Anyhoo, I’m going to try to post more in 2023. (For context, in 2014 I posted 342 times.)
January
We were in the middle of that Omicron wave so my birthday was low key. Obviously that’s the only important day in January. But it was a lovely day anyway, sitting outside with friends and drinking margaritas and eating king cake.
Also I got a new sewing machine. Love.
February
I took an amazing jeans making class from the inimitable Lladybird. It wasn’t just the sewing tips but also the camaraderie from other sewists and just being around happy people that was so lovely.
Mardi Gras. Parades came back!
March
Technically Mardi Gras Day was in March.
I found a really cute video of Miles that I could watch one million times in a row.
I visited Kiki after her mom passed away. I was happy to see her, but not happy why.
April
I went to visit Kiki again to help with her mom’s memorial celebration. We cooked a lot of fancy food.
The boys went to a dance.
May
The boys finished 8th grade, and had their last day at Lycee Francais. The end of an era!
Oh, and they all got Covid, one by one. George and I did not, somehow.
June
We got a new oven.
July
We went to Virginia! I stayed with Kiki, the boys went to Camp Aunt Jenny, and we all had a great time. (Kiki and I also went to NYC.)
August
The boys started high school. And competitive soccer again.
I got a tattoo.
September
My brother and Ellie came to town.
I made a coat, it’s beautiful.
October
I gave out candy on Halloween for the first time. (with Steph)
November
Went to Denver for my first work trip since January 2020.
Got another tattoo.
December
Took another sewing workshop with Lauren.
My babies turned 15.
We went to the Dominican Republic.
I did sew a lot this year, but I didn’t always blog about it. Here are some more things I made:
It was a bigger year for quilts than I would have thought!
At 6am on Christmas morning, we got on a flight to the Dominican Republic and met up with 12 other family members for a vacation.
I could go through what we did every day, but really it was “put on bathing suit, go to breakfast, sit by pool, get a mojito, go to lunch, go in ocean, get a pina colada, go back to pool, go to dinner, go to bed” with a few random activities sprinkled in.
My brother and niece were in town and we took the 7th bench picture. Or sixth, if you choose not to count last year’s curb pic. I’m not sure if I do or not.
2022:
If you look at the previous pictures, you might ask yourself if that’s the same bench as in previous years. LSU apparently rearranged the furniture a little, because they seemed to have moved the bench over about six feet to the right and removed the tree that was on the right side in all the pics (that’s now the shrubbery behind Linus and Ellie.)
We determined that this is the old location of the bench, you can see that the concrete is a bit lighter where it was:
Irritatingly, the children would not help us move the solid concrete bench so we could more accurately recreate the old photos. Jerks.
Here are the previous bench pics. Watch everyone get smaller!
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