pa-jammy
Nine years ago today, Ziggy, the best dog in the whole world*, came to live with us. We guessed he was around 1 when we got him, so in our house, at least, today he is ten years old. A whole decade! And yet he is still my little baby puppy. Funny how that happens.
*except when he pees on things inside the house
Here’s to ten more years! At least!
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.
Ziggy was cute, as usual.
On to Q2!
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?
Well that was a busy and fun month!
Started off quiet. I finally tested negative for Covid. I made a shirt.
Went to Los Angeles and Vegas, but I already posted about that. (But here are a few highlight pics anyway…)
The day after I got home, the boys and I went to a Pelicans game, because tickets were super cheap.
Not a whole lot happened for a while. I made that moto jacket.
Ziggy was cute.
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. 😦
Saturday night we went to a Halloween party. Our costumes were awesome.
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.
Why did August take fifteen times longer than any other month? Maybe because it was so friggin hot? Apparently record-breakingly so? It feels like the first was a million years ago.
It started with another tattoo. This one is all of the birth months of everyone in my family.
Those are the flowers for February, May, July, August, October, and December, covering everyone in my immediate family. It was thoughtful of them to limit themselves to six of the twelve months.
And everyone better appreciate it, because I had to lay on my stomach for hours and also that part of the arm is very sensitive! It’s like the soft underbelly of your forearm. It hurt a lot. It was neat, though, because I let the artist draw directly on my arm instead of stenciling it from a digital drawing.
Okay, well, after that…
The boys started sophomore year of high school, but you knew that already.
Evan and Ellie came to visit, and I made her take a lot of pictures with me.
I sewed a bunch, actually. The Lawrence top and dress and skirt, and a purse!
I went to an advance screening of a movie, donated blood, and bought some 90s jeans.
And, as usual, Ziggy was really freaking cute.
Am looking forward to September, as it involves a trip to Dublin! My first time going to Ireland! And also, hopefully, cooler weather.
How’d that happen? And I haven’t blogged in forever. So let’s see, how was January?
Lots of king cake, yum.
Lots of working on our house float, which is SO AWESOME I COULD DIE. (It’s not at my house, it’s at Chris and Stephanie’s house, and oh my lord it is so good. I want to do a complete post just on the house (also it will be getting more finishing touches) but here’s one that I haven’t posted on my Instagram:
So good. So good. And the Today Show camera people came by yesterday to film it, so you might see it there!
This is all leading up to Mardi Gras day, when we will be outside being the Krewe of Moiras, all dressed up and handing out very special throws. (Or tossing them from several feet away. Safely.) Follow #kreweofmoiras on Instagram so you can see how obsessed we all are with Schitt’s Creek. (A lot.)
I also spent a night in Baton Rouge this week to help my mom who had shoulder surgery. It was weird to be away from the boys. It’s been so long. I kind of missed them?!?!
This is kind of sad. I just looked through the pictures on my phone to see what I’ve been doing for the last three weeks, and it’s all photos from working on the house float and Ziggy. I’d say I need to get out more but that’s definitely not true.
Okay, here are a few. Got my new AirPod Pros for working at Automattic for 7 years! (Which was back in November but they took a while since they’re custom.)
Yeah I did the Bernie meme, and it got more likes on Instagram than any other post ever. Yeesh.
My contribution to the house float has been lots and lots and lots of paper roses.
Chilly weekend nights = firepit and Ziggy staring adoringly at George.
So yeah, I guess that’s it for now. Tomorrow is the monthly picture, and after that I’m hoping to have a post all about the house float.
Pre-Christmas:
Our tradition of me taking each of the boys shopping and out to eat individually looked a little different this year. We weren’t going to leisurely peruse stores for gifts, and we weren’t going to be eating inside any restaurants. But we still had fun.
Miles and I hit Target and then Five Guys. Is there anything more depressing than eating burgers on a gray, cold day at an outdoor table next to the parking lot and a busy commercial thoroughfare? I guess there is but I don’t want to hear about it. At least the burgers were delicious and Miles wasn’t complaining.
Oliver and I had a similar journey, but his requested meal was Popeye’s, so we had no choice but to bring our chicken sandwiches home. I was not sad about that. There are no photos of this jaunt.
Linus and I went to have brunch at Tartine, which has a lovely outside patio. One could say he lucked out. They have the most delicious baked eggs in brioche, which I can never not get. Yum.
Christmas Eve was pretty quiet. We had some incredibly delicious steaks that Kristina and Mike sent us. I was terrified of overcooking them, so maybe I went in the opposite direction (well, not for me – there’s no such thing as undercooking a steak to me) but no one complained.
Drool.
Steak is our traditional Christmas Eve dinner, and we were able to partake in most of our other Christmas Eve traditions as well. Like…making the boys put on their Christmas stockings to show how much they’ve grown.
(I made them sit in front of the fire. Hee hee)
The first time I made them do this, they were much smaller.)
And we read The Night Before Christmas…
No one got a very good night’s sleep that night. The smoke detector right outside the bedrooms started chirping at 4am. Delightful! It took me forever to get back to sleep. At least the boys let me sleep until 7. Zzzz.
Presents!
The boys got a gaming PC, or rather, all of the parts to build one. George put it together with their help later that day. They were surprised and thrilled with that gift. I got a giant Ziggy blanket (among other things) so I can’t complain. (Also a big pack of my very favorite socks from Kiki, which may sound lame was is absolutely not.)
Our oven broke sometime earlier this month, I can’t even remember when, so I decided I’d get a ham and cook it in my instant pot. That plan didn’t go well, so I gave the ham away and decided to do a charcuterie board instead on this gorgeous board that Steph MADE me! She MADE this! Isn’t it gorgeous?!?!
I was able to heat up the bread on the grill, which I might always do now. It was so good.
And that was about it for Christmas. It was quiet, but it was good.
Five years ago, a coworker dropped off this dog at our house and our family became complete.
Some pics from just the last few months of our sweet Zig Zig, who is loving quarantine.
My sweet boys at the bus stop.
An exquisite loaf of sourdough bread that I made for Thanksgiving. Recipe here.
Grandee and Larry came for Thanksgiving. We had zero vegetables.
Ziggy has been cute, as usual. We got our Christmas tree up!
Random leftover photos. Finally got the fabric for my cape! I was going to make it over Thanksgiving break, but I didn’t have the pattern yet. But it’s coming soon! Also the delicious beet salad I made. I like making things that are yummy.
Now it’s December 2 and the boys will be 13 in two days and I cannot believe it.
Same old, same old.
Lots and lots of work.
Sewing:
Made myself another Artists Box Top out of the Liberty lawn I bought in May. Cotton lawn is by far my favorite fabric in the world. So light but crisp and easy to sew and doesn’t wrinkle horribly. Perfect for summer. Also I’m rather proud of this one because I made my own facings instead of trying to use bias tape, which I’ve never been able to find a good tutorial for using it on a v-neck.
I also made George another button down shirt for Father’s Day. I couldn’t find any more Doctor Who fabric, but I found this one covered in cocktails at a local sewing store. (I had to make an appointment to shop. I felt v important.)
And I made myself this Holyoke sundress from Cashmerette. The top ended up a little big, and I’m not super comfortable with my arms out like this, but I’ll get over it when the temp is 100. This one is made out of a linen/rayon blend.
Baking:
Bagels that looked funky but tasted good.
Dinner rolls that look and taste amazing.
Beignets from scratch!
The boys and I ate at a restaurant for the first time since March! We went to Tartine, which friends of our own. It was delightful and the food was delicious and nice to feel sorta normal.
Premier League games started up again, so now it’s even harder to get the boys to focus on summer reading.
And when they’re not watching soccer or avoiding reading, they’re playing Minecraft with their cousins, which warms my heart.
My cilantro is practically thriving.
And Ziggy is as ridiculously cute as ever. He got a new collar! And I got a lick to the face!
Until next time….
pyjammy dot blog 