I just want to document the trip to London Kiki and I went on. Our first trip together I think since 2000 or so. Pre-blog!
I had a conference for work (the same one I went to last summer) and so the plan was for her to meet me afterwards and we would stay on for another several days.
The trip didn’t start out promisingly – I was supposed to arrive the day before the conference so I could get some sleep beforehand, but my flights were an unholy mess and I didn’t arrive until the morning of the conference, and I was a wreck. I’d had to get a hotel room in Miami for a few hours during the day just so I could get some sleep. A little. But otherwise I’d been awake for two and a half days on maybe 5 hours of sleep total. Whatever it was, it wasn’t enough. But I made it through, got to see my coworkers, had a great conference.
Karen and I went into London together, then met Kiki at Paddington. We had lunch at a cute pub near the station. I had bangers and mash. Yum.
After lunch, Karen went to her hostel and Kiki and I found our airbnb, which was fantastic. It was across the street from Battersea Power Station, and even though it was south of the river, it was quite convenient and easy to get around from.
That evening, we got some groceries and stayed in, since Kiki was pretty tired.
Saturday
Took a walk to Camden. Went to see a play with Ewan McGregor (play was meh, but we breathed the same air as him so it was worth it.) Had dinner at a Michelin star restaurant. Forced Karen to come meet us one more time.
Sunday
Walked across the river, stopped by our old flat, met a friend for tea at Liberty. Bought some fabric. Bought some shoes because my feet were killing me.
Monday
Took boat to Greenwhich, explored the o2, took gondola across river. had lunch at Seven Dials Market (featuring the cheese conveyer belt), went to bookbinding store (thank you Kiki!)
Tuesday
Went to Kensington, walked a bunch, did pedal boats, got lunch at Harrod’s, ate at park, Kiki let me go back to book store (THANKS KIKI!) Dinner at Dishoom.
Wednesday (home)
Borough Market, ate a bunch. Walked around a bit, went to airport.
And some more pictures from various days (I can’t remember which, exactly. I know I could figure it out, but if I don’t finish this now, I never will.)
Hopefully it won’t be 20+ years before we do this again!
I will not say the past three months flew by, because they didn’t. They passed at a reasonable speed. I feel like I’ve been away for a long time, and I’m actually ready to go back. Or, at least, I’m not sad to be going back. No matter how much one might love one’s job, not working is still infinitely better. Especially if you’re still getting paid.
(Background: we get 3 months off paid every five years. My last sabbatical was Dec 2018-March 2019.)
First, we went to Baton Rouge where I discovered how good I am at golf and we had dinner with my aunt.
Then, I took a short trip to Canada to hang out with friends. We went to Schitt’s Creek!
My flights were all forked up getting home, but I got to spend a night with Kiki in Virginia!
Which made me a bit late taking the boys’ 200th monthly pic, but we got there.
Then I spent some time getting the boys’ car from their grandparents. (They very generously gave it to them.) I had to transfer the title, get it towed to a mechanic, etc etc.) And now I don’t have to drive to school to pick them up every afternoon! Yay!
I got another tattoo.
I spent some time with Kiki in Virginia. We went to a little town called Sperryville and went on a foggy hike and ate at a fancy restaurant.
Then we went on a quick trip to Chicago to see Pulp (again.)
There was a hurricane threat, and then I went to Florida with my mom and stepdad. I drove a U-Haul. I got to experience The Villages as well as see their new house. And sit on a lot of sofas.
I organized and got rid of stuff and did other random things around the house.
I made things. I got an iPad so I could learn to draw. Still working on that, but there are lots of fun Procreate tutorials out there.
I took the boys to an LSU game for an early birthday present (courtesy of Grandee and Larry)
I saw Johnny Marr in concert with friends.
I snuggled my friend’s new baby.
The boys started in another vaccine trial. I saw friends. I went on walks. Ziggy was cute. I made ice cream. Got a heated jacket for soccer. I sent 200 postcards.I early voted.
Okay okay last year I did pretty good on the monthly recap posts. This year, not so much. But we just wrapped up Q1 so let’s see if I can handle quarterly posts instead.
This is all very out of order.
I made lasagna, we had king cake, we went and got pizza for my birthday (a bit early), then I got a tattoo and dinner with Jen on my actual birthday. Kiki gave me this beautiful pot. I love it.
A lot of driving happened. I don’t hate being chauffeured around.
Random things like, we went to the zoo, it got cold enough to freeze, Grandee and Larry came to watch soccer, we watched the boys’ and girls’ school teams in the state finals, we, uh, went to costco, the jasmine is blooming!, I hung a bunch of pictures, I made a quilt, I cut my hair off, our house turned 20 (well, with us in it.)
Kiki came to visit!!! We had dinner with Ren.
Mardi Gras happened! I covered a jacket in sequin patches.
My friend Erin was in town so we got to hang out and went to the insectarium/aquarium.
Took the boys driving a bunch to practice before they started the driving portion of their driver’s ed class.
Then I went on my the second trip of the month! Also to see Kiki and go to a show!
I flew to DC Friday, and we went to a Caps game.
Hung out with Maxie and I tried on $80k worth of jewelry on Saturday. We went to some thrift stores to finish off our costumes, and Kiki bought me this Friends Christmas sweatshirt. Later that evening we heard about Matthew Perry. 😦
Sunday, Kiki and I drove to Silver Spring to go see a concert and spent the night at a hotel there. Then I flew home the next day. A short but super fun trip. I hate not knowing when we’ll see each other again. Hmmph.
I did get to see lots of fall colors, which was neat.
And then yesterday was Halloween. I handed out candy, but not many kids came. Mark my words, next year I’m going to get full-sized candy bars. I’m going to be one of those houses. Don’t let me forget.
The downstairs bathroom is was awful. For 19 years, we’ve lived with hideous peeling wallpaper, an ugly pedestal sink with a faucet that leaks, ugly oak trim, unpatched holes, etc, etc.
George is the primary user of that bathroom, since it’s right by his cave, but it’s also used by anyone who comes over, which is just embarrassing.
So George went to the UK for two weeks, and I decided I was going to renovate it as a surprise.
Kiki came to visit and help. I could not have done it without her.
The adorable garbage can and toothbrush cup are from Home Goods
The medicine cabinet is from Costco (a few years ago)
Shower curtain(s) are from Target (I recut and hemmed the one in front of the shelf)
We also removed one of the shelves from the nook behind the tub so George can hang his clothes there instead of from the shower curtain (the closets in this house leave much to be desired.)
The vanity was definitely the trickiest part. First of all, it was very heavy. Steph and I got it from Home Depot and we needed five teenage boys to help us get it off the truck and into the house. One of the doors was extremely broken (they’re supposed to be sending me a new one.) And then our friend Darrell installed it, which involved removing part of the baseboard which was much harder than expected. Suffice it to say, we will never remove the vanity.
But for the most part, it went smoothly. And I could not be happier with the results.
***
Okay, I wrote most of the post before George came home, but last night he did. I was worried he’d be underwhelmed or not surprised (it’s hard to hide these things when we have cameras inside and outside) but he had no clue and he was very surprised and pleased! Yay!
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.
The last time I posted about the random little goings on in life was three months ago, so I guess it’s time for another quarterly recap of my extremely exciting life.
I visited Kiki twice. Her mom passed away in mid-March, and luckily I already had a flight booked for two days later, so I was able to be with her and hang out and help her go through stuff and get rid of stuff and drink wine for a few days. And then I went back again last weekend to help with the memorial celebration she had at her house. We did a lot of gardening and cooking. Everything we made was from Mastering the Art of French Cooking, and I would be lying if I didn’t say I was cursing Julia Child’s name by the end of the weekend. But everything we made turned out well. It was pretty cool, actually. Kristina’s mom was a really amazing, adventurous, well-traveled woman who journaled everything, including her dinner party menus from the 1960s on, so we made dishes she frequently made for those dinners.
(If you’re interested, we made Orange Bavarian Cream, Cheese Puffs, Legumes a la Grecque, Salmon Mousse, Cheese Tartlettes, and Liver and Cheese Tartlettes.)
The spread of food.
Since this is my blog, I can brag that I made the tartlette shells and the cheese puffs (and helped with the other stuff.)
We also did some gardening and I learned how to spread mulch, which is good because I need to mulch our gardens.
Speaking of gardens, kind of, we got a rain barrel from a local organization yesterday, which is exciting because I’ve been on the wait list for a year. It’s sad, though, because in that year, I got a different rain barrel so I couldn’t put this rain barrel in a prominent spot. It’s behind the house, which is a shame because LOOK HOW CUTE:
Oh, and also plant-related, Kiki sent me these beautiful flowers!
Okay, well that about covers the last 72 hours. What else? Hmm.
I guess it’s exciting, if a little sad, that the boys decided on a high school for next year, and it’s not the school they’ve been at for the past 11 years. (They could have chosen to stay there, but they did not.) On the bright side, it’s one of the top public high schools in the country, and a lot of their friends are going there as well. But a lot are staying, so it’s tough either way. At least since their classes are in English, I can help with homework now! Wait, hold on. That’s not a good thing. Heh.
I suppose I already blogged about the boys’ school dance and making jeans, but I also made another quilt for funsies (it lives on the couch, mostly under Ziggy):
And also this one for my friend Heather (I realize if you’re not a Saints fan it’s pretty ugly, but she and her fiance like it, so that’s all that matters.
I also made a red dress for her wedding this weekend, but I’ll save those pics for later.
Oh well I guess Mardi Gras also happened and we didn’t get Covid, so yay! It was pretty fun. We put the house float back up (and added a Rose Apothecary!) and Steph and I dressed up as Moiras on Mardi Gras day and I went to a parade and got a shoe and we saw our house float on a float, so all in all, it was good.
Okay. I think that’s it for real. Coming up: 8th grade graduation! A wedding! A new fridge! Summer! Another trip to Virginia! Camp Aunt Jenny! Quinceanera! Graduation parties! Bugs! Heat! Humidity!
I kept meaning to post this month, but couldn’t really make myself do it (aside from the quilt post.) But now I am feeling more up to it.
Starting with my birthday, which I was kind of not excited about (which is VERY SAD because I love birthdays so much) because the weather was supposed to be gross, and omicron was in full force so we couldn’t go anywhere and I couldn’t do anything and I was just sad. And I was supposed to go visit Kiki, but thanks to omicron, we decided it was best to postpone it.
But it ended up being a lovely day! I did a live Peloton class (alas, no birthday shout-out but lots of high fives), the boys gave me cards they made that made me cry, and Oliver made me scrambled eggs. Then my friends Jen and Aimee came over and the weather was lovely and Jen brought me a bananas foster king cake and half a gallon of frozen margarita and we sat outside and gave ourselves diabetes but it was just so nice to sit and chat with friends.
George gave me a vacuum sealer to go with my sous vide he gave me for Christmas, and while it may not sound like the most romantic gift ever, it was very appreciated. I mean, who hasn’t always wanted a vacuum sealer? It is very fun. And Kiki gave me a subscription to NYT cooking and some fun goodies to open.
And I spent the day making a cake from scratch, then ordering a ton of Chinese food for dinner, and all in all, it was a lovely birthday.
Cards and cake and vacuum-sealed king cake!
Other notable things in January…
I got an new sewing machine! I am in love. It’s fairly basic, feature-wise (just a straight-stitch machine) but it’s so powerful and FAST and sews through multiple layers of canvas and denim like it’s NOTHING. And it was so nice to use when quilting the quilt I made for Kiki.
Hey, gorgeous!
Which brings me to the quilt I made for Kiki, that’s quilt number 3 if you’re counting. I wanted to send her comfort and coziness so I made it out of flannel. I wanted to do shades of blue, and kind of ombre, so I cut long strips and sewed them together into one big long roll, then cut them into roughly 70″ lengths, then sewed them together! Simple, but I like the way it turned out. Until I realized I really had to hand sew the binding because of the solid colors, and then I hated myself for making it so big, but you know what, Kiki’s worth it, and it only ended up taking a couple of evenings to finish up.
I just am not really into making clothes right now but I had fun making a few wristlets and a little pouch. It’s the Yarrow Wristlet pattern from Noodlehead. It was just challenging enough to be fun, but not, like, torturously hard.
Why yes, that is Schitt’s Creek fabric on the inside of the black and white one. As if I’d go a whole post without mentioning it! (Got it from Spoonflower.)
Oh, and the boys got their booster shots for the vaccine trial! Yay! That was a relief, because they also started back at soccer this week. Oh, and they took a test to maybe go to a different high school next year but I’m not quite ready to think about that just yet.
Boosted!
So yeah, that’s about it for January. I am supposedly going to visit Kiki in mid-March now. Next month I am going to a jeans-making workshop that I’m very excited about (despite what I said earlier about sewing clothes) and of course Mardi Gras is coming up, and the house float is going back up, and we might be adding to it, so hopefully everyone stays healthy and we can have a nice February! And March!
P.S. This is random but pork tenderloin cooked with a sous vide is revelatory.
Kiki came to visit and, as usual, we got a lot of little things done around the house to make everything a bit more pleasant. And also ate yummy things.
Replacing the blinds
The blinds in my sewing room/bedroom have been up for 14 years. If you don’t believe me, believe this blog post from November 2007. (Why wouldn’t you believe me?) They were basically destroyed, so it was time.
One thing I haven’t taken down are those flags. Probably about time.
I also had to change out the curtain rod brackets because the blinds stick out so much, and I put up some hooks to serve as curtain hold-backs.
Medicine cabinet
This one involved a lot of cursing. Removed the plate glass mirror and put up a medicine cabinet. Yay more storage! Feel free to nose around in my medicine cabinet. Nothing interesting there. I wish I had a better “before” picture than a selfie from a dress I made. Alas.
Picture rail
Kiki was dismayed by the lack of artwork above the TV. I am still waiting to hang stuff after we painted. (Okay, that was like four years ago.)
Another part of the project involves getting a print (a drawing of our house) framed that’s been sitting on my mantle for six months. That’ll go next to the house numbers. I might need to move the house numbers, because I keep thinking it’s a clock and that it’s 8:14. (It’s usually not. Well, just twice a day.) Not sure what else I’ll put up there. Oh, and that ledge was repurposed from the nursery as well. And I hung the bracket upside down first. Fun!
New curtain rod/hemmed curtains
The curtains behind the sofa have always been too long, and I should be embarrassed by how long it took me to realize I could just hem them. I do sew, sometimes, you know. I also needed to replace the cheap curtain rod that sagged in the middle and sometimes fell down.
Oops, I went a tad too short. Oh well! Also our sofa is way wrinklier than it was six years ago! But also there’s a cute doggie that wasn’t there before, so it’s all worth it. (Look how unchewed my ottoman was in the first pic. Sigh.)
We also hung some artwork in my office. (Yes obviously I am still obsessed.)
Speaking of, I also got this Christmas ornament. I posed it in front of our Mardi Gras house float (it was in a book!)
And I think that’s the majority of the projects. (I won’t take a picture of the under sink organization in the kitchen, though it is nice.)
Yummy things we ate and drank:
Homemade pizza (crust by King Arthur, sauce by Smitten Kitchen), this winter squash bake from Smitten Kitchen, a pavlova from the San Lorenzo, my Italian margarita, and Kiki at the taco place (mmm margaritas.) Not pictured: the amazing hummuses from Saba.
While I’ve been posting a ton, it’s just been the daily photos, really. So I haven’t posted updates or anything. So let me get all caught up on that.
I posted about Lisbon already…
Kristina came to visit! We were chatting on the phone and I was expressing my stress about being overwhelmed by the mess that is my house. I didn’t even know where to start with getting it organized and decluttered. I swear this wasn’t my plan, but within hours she had booked a week-long trip to visit and help me out. I took some time off work, and we organized and cleaned and ate delicious food and also took a road trip with the boys!
The road trip was to Alexandria for Linus’s archery tournament, and then we drove another hour to Natchitoches because why not? We were so close!
Linus did really well in the archery tournament, especially considering he had only practiced a few times. He got the third highest score from his school!
I’ve signed the boys up for summer camp at LSMSA, which I’m very excited about. Less exciting is the thought of making the 8 hour round trip twice in a week.
Coming soon: Posts on my new wardrobe (like, the furniture, not clothes) and the Mardi Gras dress I made.
So I’ve already blogged about the two days we spent in NYC as well as the fun we had getting to Virginia. But most of our trip was actually IN Virginia and we did a lot there, so I need to post about that now!
So uh let’s see. We arrived in Virginia Thursday night and were all pretty exhausted. Dinner. Wine. Sleep.
Friday we walked to Chipotle for lunch. Then we got ready to go our first professional soccer game. The boys were very excited. We went to Audi Field to watch DC United play New England something. I can’t remember. The boys got free scarves! The sunset from the stadium was gorgeous. Anyway, ultimately the game ended in 2-2 but we didn’t mind because it was exciting.
Outside the stadium
In front of the field – check out Miles’s new “smile”.
Beautiful sunset view. Look, the Washington Monument!
Linus
Miles
Ollo
Saturday, the boys and I drove to my sister’s in Clifton. It’s about half an hour from Kiki’s, and it’s a pretty drive if you take the shorter (I think) route but it’s also windy and hilly so I prefer to take the boring highway route. I know, it’s bad but what can I say?
Man, for someone who is going to be giving a talk on Making Blogging a Habit in three weeks, I’m not doing a stellar job, am I?
Well, I’m here to remedy that with a little recap of my trip to Las Vegas. It was Kristina’s 40th birthday trip, and I flew there Saturday morning to meet up with Kristina, Mike, and a few other couples that they’re friends with. (I joked that I was the 9th wheel, but I really never felt like it.)
I arrived early Saturday afternoon after a couple of thankfully uneventful flights. Got to the hotel and rested for a few minutes while I waited for Kristina to get back from another casino. The rooms at the Aria had automated lights and curtains, but I found the system somewhat buggy. I was just sitting there relaxing, and the TV and lights went off and the curtains closed. Oooookay. I guess they were trying to tell me to get out of there.
The view was nice, though…
Basically, we ate a lot. Had lunch at a Mexican place in the Aria that had delicious pineapple margaritas. Then dinner at Bazaar Meat, where we ate a lot of amazing, um, meat. And Bill and Whitman surprised us by driving in from Los Angeles!
An olive, and an “olive”.
Fancy mixed drink. Or witch’s brew.
Cotton candy around a bit of foie gras.
Kiki and Whitman. Surprise!
Whitman with his dad and uncle
Dessert!
That’s where we ate.
Meat! Before we ate it.
Sunday we had breakfast, then the ladies went to the spa. I didn’t get any treatments, but relaxed in the jacuzzi, steam room, and sauna. I also hung out in a “salt room” that was supposed to improve my upper respiratory system, or something. Whatever. It was chill.
That evening, we went to Ka, a Cirque du Soleil show. It was crazy. The set was immense. So fancy. After that, we ate at Yardbird, where I ate the most delicious fried chicken I’ve ever had in my entire life. Holy cow (or chicken.) So good.
Some more random photos from my trip…
Made it home last night without too much travel drama. Just a little bit.
pyjammy dot blog 
