I never want the monthly pic to be the only thing I post on my blog, but it looks like October went by without anything else, so I am going to make up for that now. Buckle in.
Just kidding, it hasn’t been that eventful.
Let’s see, the last thing I posted about was my new coat, which I have had several opportunities to wear. Which brings us to topic #1, my first work trip since January 2020. Automattic has gotten very very large since our last Grand Meetup in late 2019, so they decided to have smaller division meetups instead. So I spent last week with almost 500 of my colleagues in Denver.
It was so nice to see them, but quite bittersweet not to see my other coworkers and friends who I might never see in person again! Don’t really like to think about that.
A truly random assortment of pics:
Let’s see, what else? Oliver went to homecoming, his brothers did not.
I made a hoodie dress. It’s exquisitely cozy.
I got another tattoo! Well, actually, I got two more since I last posted about tattoos. I hadn’t get posted about the one I got in August. I had been wanting one of star jasmine, because I love it, but I don’t really know a tattoo artist in New Orleans whose style I really wanted. Until someone I know posted a picture of a tattoo she’d gotten by Mecca at Hell or High Water Tattoo, and I immediately booked an appointment.
The inspiration/tattoo:
And I loved it so much I went back for a magnolia.
And I love that so much I made an appointment for my birthday, but I won’t spoil what I’m getting.
Everyone is asking “are you doing a sleeve” and I am a dorky middle aged soccer mom, I’m just getting flowers I like without much of a plan.
Speaking of flowers, the camellias started blooming again.
Ziggy remains cute.
Halloween was fun because I got to give out candy for the first time ever. I made a shirt to wear.
Well, I guess that’s it? School soccer has started, but the first two games happened while I was in Denver, so I’m looking forward to seeing them play this weekend. Linus scored a goal at their first game!
You’re looking at the three newest members of the Ben Franklin JV soccer team! Okay, it’s not that much of an achievement since no one gets cut BUT STILL I can be a proud mom, can’t I?
I also realized I haven’t posted since last month’s picture, which is shameful but also, there hasn’t been much to post about because life has generally revolved around, well, soccer tryouts. And starting next week, games and practices. But I’ll be out of town for my first work meetup since January 2020! Pretty excited about that.
Whoops this is supposed to be about the boys, not me. Well. They turn 15 in a month, and ain’t that a kick in the head?
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!
The boys joined a competitive team again, but not the same one they played on a few years ago. They’re probably the youngest players on the team (it’s for kids born in 2006 and 2007 and they’re right at the end of 2007) but they seem to be holding their own.
That said, the team only won 1 of 3 games this weekend. But they had fun. It was hot. Very hot. I was kind of sick all weekend. It was close-ish to Baton Rouge so we were able to spend Saturday night at Grandee and Larry’s instead of going all the way back to New Orleans, which is good because they had a game at 8pm Saturday and then another one at noon on Sunday.
I was happy to pull out my camera and fancy big lens I got just before the pandemic. The night game was challenging, but I got a few neat pics. In the last game, they all played at the same time, so it was fun getting pics with all three in the shot. (Linus is 12, Oliver is 17, Miles is 22.)
Technically, according to Louisiana law, they could start driver’s ed now.
:hyperventilating:
I mean, for obvious reasons, that will not be happening just yet (are the reasons obvious? well, okay they are: these are my babies; they can’t possibly be that old yet; is louisiana insane?; drivers ed for three is going to cost a fortune; these are my sweet little baby bunnies) so maybe we’ll look into it later, but I am most definitely not ready for that yet.
We (the boys and I) got home yesterday from ten days in Virginia and I’d better write it all down before I forget. The beginning of our trip already feels like a lifetime ago (but like, a really fun lifetime.)
We arrived after an early flight at around lunchtime on Saturday the 9th. Kiki picked us up, and we headed to my sister’s house to drop the boys off for their first day of Camp Aunt Jenny. She made shirts. After lots of hugs and pictures, Kiki and I left to go have lunch at a Mexican-Indian restaurant. (Yum!)
Then we got to go back to give hugs and goodbyes again because I left my wallet at my sister’s. (Convenient!)
After shopping for a lot of booze and food, we headed to Kiki’s house and got ready for Camp Kiki. I made shirts. We had a very fancy Wagyu steak for dinner. It was sublime. Also Maxie is very cute.
We loaded up Kiki and Mike’s car Sunday morning and drove a couple of hours to an amazing airbnb in Charlottesville. On the way, we stopped at winery #1, Early Mountain. We drank wine and ate delicious food, including this couscous that I need to figure out how to recreate. It was incredible.
The airbnb was amazing – very clean, well stocked, and with a huge pool, hot tub, and a gorgeous view. Perfect place for Camp Kiki!
Day 2 in Charlottesville:
Kiki went for a walk, then hit a few wineries before spending the afternoon in the pool. Everything was delicious and the scenery everywhere was stunning. We made s’mores around the firepit later and saw lots of fireflies, which was exciting for me.
The next day, Kiki’s friend Jess arrived, yay! That day we hit up a winery and a brewery, had more delicious food, more pool time and then some rousing rounds of Shithead.
Wednesday was the day for lunch at Pippin Hill, which was just breathtakingly gorgeous. We also hit a cidery afterwards, where I got to see apple trees and a cute dog.
Sadly, Wednesday was our last night there. And of course that’s when I discovered a friend lives less than ten minutes away from where we were staying. Isn’t that always the way?
But I couldn’t be too sad because the next phase of Camp Kiki was a trip to New York City!
We got back to Woodbridge Thursday afternoon, did a shitload of laundry, and repacked for the trip to NYC.
Friday morning, we hopped on a train like the fun-loving globetrotters we are.
After a few hours we arrived at Penn Station, and then made our way to our hotel (not before having some lunch and wine.) The hotel was adorable. It’s called the Library Hotel and see if you can guess what the theme of it is.
After relaxing, we headed out to dinner at a wine bar, and then to a play. The play was the main reason we went to NYC. One of the stars is Noah Reid from Schitt’s Creek and maybe you don’t know this about me but I am a little obsessed with Schitt’s Creek. Surprise! I was supposed to go in May but because SOME CHILDREN I WON’T MENTION got covid, I had to cancel that trip. So I’m glad I got to see it finally. Even if it was…weird.
The wine bar we went to was fancy (like us) and we had some delicious wine and food before heading to the theater. Our seats were very good, and it was neat to see Patrick Noah Reid up close.
We were only there for one night, but we made the most of our morning before the train back to DC. We walked down to the Union Square Greenmarket, which was very cool. And then wandered around for a while. Kiki was THE VERY BEST FRIEND EVER and agreed to let me go to Mood. Yay! I tried to be as fast as possible, but I get decision paralysis at smaller places than this, but I went in with just one goal (some cotton poplin) and I made it out with just that. Whew!
Afterwards, we got our stuff from the hotel and I cursed my sandals for reactivating my Achilles tendinitis, but it was worth it. We hobbled our way back to the train station, and, well, the rest of the day was fairly uneventful.
I mean, we’ve done so much already, wouldn’t you think our trip was almost over by now? It’s only Saturday at this point and we didn’t go home until Tuesday!
Sunday, we went and retrieved my offspring from my sister’s house. They had stayed up until 2am because my sister had promised them middle of the night ihop, so they were pretty tired, but we had a baseball game to go to!
Mike and Kiki have season tickets to the Nationals so that’s how we spent Sunday. We ate delicious food, drank delicious things (including a bloody mary with a raw oyster on top), and were good luck charms for the Nats, who won for the first time in a little while. Yay us! It was overcast, too, which was nice.
We were all pretty exhausted after that.
Monday was our last full day, boo! We took the boys to see the new Thor movie, which was fun. And then we picked up some dinner, and saw a rainbow, and packed up our stuff, and watched the Home Run Derby.
Tuesday morning we went home. Everyone (except us, apparently) is getting covid and it sucks. But it was nice to see Ziggy again and to sleep in my own bed. The end.
Well, summer has officially begin. We’re in it now. What’s happened since the last update? Every minor in the house has had covid, but no adults. I got my booster when the first one had it, so fingers crossed I’ll avoid it for now. I know it’s going to get me eventually, but I’d prefer it wait until we get back from Virginia.
The boys had their eighth grade promotion ceremony, which was very sweet. There was a huge party after, that was fun. (Still, no covid.) There was an end of the year night at the City Park amusement park. Fortunately, the timing of those all worked out with the sicknesses.
My dear friend Mary Catherine moved away, so we had to take one last picture of the boys with Millie. (I mean, until we go visit.)
They’ve grown a bit.
Oliver had a treadmill accident the day we joined Planet Fitness. Then later that evening I had the brilliant idea to cut garlic with a mandolin. (Don’t.)
We got a new oven, the old one finally conked out. Getting rid of the shitty Samsung appliances one at a time. (New fridge was last month.)
The new stovetop is induction, though, which means I had to replace almost all of my pots and pans. But it’s worth it because it boils a pot of cold water in under three minutes!
Other things I recommend are freezy pop bags to freeze margaritas in and the PhotoScan app so I can scan a bunch of pictures in no time.
I guess that’s about it! The boys have a kind of orientation week at their high school this week, and they’ve been going to futsal (indoor soccer) once a week, too.
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