I forgot to finish my Napa story!  Where is my mind?  (Cue The Pixies, obviously.)

*     *     *     *     *

After the drive from San Francisco to Napa, we rolled into our delightful accommodations and were all -- now what? We were all that kind of tired where your eyes are burning and you think you're hungry and you barely know your name.

Ellen went to exercise (she is SO GOOD).  Nancy took a nap (she is SO SMART).  That left Mandy and I looking at one another with our crazy, tired eyeballs.

The conversation went something like this.  I don't remember who said what, because Mandy and I are basically brain twins, so it doesn't matter.

One of us:  What should we do?

The other one:  I don't know.

One:  Should we take naps?

[silence]

One:  I kind of want to explore.  You know, get the lay of the land.

The other:  Yeah!  Me, too.

One:  Find stuff.  See where downtown is.

In unison:  Totally.  Let's go.

*     *     *     *     *

We toured downtown Napa (cute!) and found Oxbow Market.

Oxbow Market is an industrial building converted into an open marketplace filled with outstanding gourmet food vendors, restaurants, and the like.  I could basically live there.

We walked in and saw an Italian restaurant, with a bar.  And I instantly could not believe that we HADN'T HAD ANY WINE YET.

So, we fixed that.

We decided that a selection of deliciousness from Oxbow would make a great dinner for us at the hotel.  Meats and cheeses!  Breads and olives!  Yes!  (Seems logical, but we were so tired, this was a pretty big idea for us.)

Rather than have too much fun without our friends, we drank our wine and then responsibly head back to the hotel, but not before stopping at the grocery store to buy (obviously) Diet Coke and water for our rooms.

And then we had this conversation:

Me:  You know, this is exactly what Morris (my dad) did every time we went somewhere.  Left us in the hotel to rest and then went off to "get the lay of the land."

Mandy:  Um, that's exactly what Chuck (her dad) did, too.  "Just gotta scope it out."

Me:  We are turning into our dads.

Mandy:  We are turning into our dads.

[smiles and silence]

*     *     *     *     *

If taking a 40th birthday trip to Napa didn't make us feel like real grown up adult type people, turning into Morris and Chuck certainly did.  And we really couldn't be happier.

Hope you are delighted with your own adulthood today.

Talk soon,
Heather

sawyer with a chance of meatballs

We went out to dinner the other night.  On, like a Tuesday.  We are wild.

We love Rocco's.  Most importantly, Jack loves it, and has since he was three.  When a three year old loves a restaurant that has a full bar and does not have a playground, it's a little bit like winning the lottery.

But ... would Sawyer like it?

OF COURSE Sawyer liked it.  He is perhaps the most agreeable person I know.  

He is also, lately, the hungriest person I know.  Cute little agreeable hungry men must be my type, because it's the best thing ever.

Sawyer ate:  the entire (small, round) loaf of sourdough provided to the table, his entire kid's menu order of cheese ravioli (with Alfredo sauce, because we need to fatten him up, which is a horrible hardship, isn't it?), and at least one of Jack's meatballs.  

He was pretty psyched about it.

We may need to find a restaurant with a full bar, no playground, and like, unlimited kids refills on ravioli and meatballs.

Side note:  I am not ever permitted to sit next to a dish of Alfredo sauce again.  Ever, ever, ever.  Because Alfredo sauce is AMAZING.

Hope you get to choose your favorite sauce today.

Talk soon,

Heather

Napa, Part One: The Sappy Stuff

I moved from DC to San Francisco in 1998.  It was the high point of the "dot com boom."  

People talked a lot about angel money.  CEOs were like, babies. Corporate Foosball table ownership soared.

I worked for Burson-Marsteller, one of the big PR firm greats.  I did brand marketing.  One of my clients was Evite.  (They had a Foosball table AND a baby CEO.)

I lived in Nob Hill and walked to work in the Financial District because it was downhill the entire way.  I took the cable car home, because it was uphill the entire way and because, CABLE CARS.

I had not been to San Francisco since I left in 2000.  I went back last month.  I hadn't left my heart there, per se.  But a piece of it?  Yes.

Oooh, a plane trip without a baby.  That was nice, dude.

*    *     *     *     * 

We all moved to Lewiston, Maine in 1993.  They lived in Page.  I lived in Parker.  I think we all met at the orientation clambake.

(Yes.  We had an orientation clambake.  Bates is a divinely preppy place.)

None of us had gone to, like, Andover or Choate, so we didn't have automatic groups of pedigreed instafriends.  But, we found one another pretty quickly and have been friends ever since.

We realized that we've been friends now for longer than we haven't been friends.  (I love that.)

We decided to take a trip to Napa for our collective fortieth birthdays, all of which happen in 2015-ish.

I wouldn't say that I left part of my heart in Lewiston, per se.  But I did leave part of my heart wherever these ladies are.

And yes, the next post will have annoyingly gratuitous pictures of wine.  Just had to get the sappy stuff said first.

Hope you annoy someone with your unbridaled sentiment today.

Talk soon,

Heather

the modern dad

Durel was on board with the idea of me taking a 40th Girls Weekend trip.  I mean, he wasn't doing back flips about it.  But he understands that I rarely see my three besties since they live in New England.  They come to visit me pretty regularly, which we super mega appreciate, but it was definitely my turn to get on a plane to spend some quality time with them.

Forty may be the new thirty, but it's still a big deal.  (Ahem, for the record, I am still in the throes of my 30's until the end of the year.)  So, we decided to go big.  We've done New York (which may or may not have involved dancing on a bar in the Meat Packing District when that was cool, and yes, that was a real time and a real thing.)  We've done DC (which may have involved drunk Metro riding, which is kind of inevitable). 

Anyway, last weekend, I gallivanted around Napa Valley with three of my best friends for life.

I'll get to that later, because I can't tell that story without telling *this* one first.

*     *     *     *     *

Pretty much as soon as I was out of Central Time Zone, daycare called.  Sawyer had a fever.  And was cranky and miserable, which he is generally NOT.  

Enter:  SuperDad.

Durel left work to pick him up and managed to get him into see the pediatrician, like, instantaneously.  He was diagnosed with a nasty ear infection in one year -- behind the tubes!  (I did not know that was a thing and WHAT THE HELL, TUBES?!)  

So, Durel's weekend went like this:

-- Antibiotics, both oral and ear drops?  Check.  

-- Nebulizing the little guy because he's still a little wheezy from the RSV (WHAT THE HELL, RSV?!)

-- Saline spray into the tiny nose for the massive boogers (The ratio on size for baby boogers to baby noses is way off.  WAY off.)

-- Probiotics into the tiny digestive system for the massive antibiotics  (No comment.)

-- Fever reducer because his fever would not quit (WHAT THE HELL, FEVER?!)

-- Wrangling a five year old (who only wants to play Star Wars Angry Birds and/or watch Odd Squad)

So, he pretty much had a great time.

My father-in-law (who is truly amazing) was there to assist.  It was the Two Men and a Jack and a Sick Baby show.  They did a wonderful job.  There was red wine in the evenings and March Madness on TV and general madness all day long.

Thanks, Durel.  You are SuperDad and a modern dad and an awesome dad.

Here's what I got of the weekend via text.  This is good stuff, people.

Teeth:  6 and 2 more visibly on the way.  Woah.

Jazz hands for lobster ravioli.  As we do.

Yup.  Awesome.

Hope you appreciate both your spouse and the power of antibiotics today.

Talk soon,

Heather

this is one

We had a tiny little party for Sawyer.  We invited some close friends and their kiddos.  We had donuts and breakfast tacos, and maybe a mimosa here or there.

Jack held court on his new playset in the backyard the way only a five year old big brother with a new playset can.

Sawyer was the object of unbridled affection from two of his buddies.

And he got awesome presents.

Haircut time!  Look at those flowing locks!
(Not to be outdone by his flowing nostrils.
What's up cold and flu season?)

It was perfect.  And yes, I had favor boxes.  And yes, there was a theme (Dr. Seuss).  But I did NOT overthink it, overplan it, or over stress it.

We are all learning all the time, aren't we?

Hope some cuties give you the eye today.

Talk soon,
Heather