Taking a leap

May 16, 2012 //

Devin and I headed downtown this past Friday evening to pick up my race packet for the River Bank Run. With the thousands of people running this year’s race, the streets were pretty chaotic. So we found a parking garage within a reasonable distance and walked over with the rest of the crowds.

Despite the craziness, it was a great night. Sunny, warm and filled with city sounds. After we’d grabbed the stuff and were headed back to the car, it seemed a terrible to waste an opportunity to spend the evening downtown. So we called Scott and asked him to meet us there to go out for dinner. And then we waited for Daddy to arrive. With the traffic and the parking, it took him a while. Never fear, though. The boy found a way to entertain himself.

Greenery

April 16, 2012 //

Lucy hasn’t even been gone a month. It feels weird not having her around. She had what they call presence. Torties, in fact, are known for being very sassy cats. She definitely lived up to her “breed.”

As I was telling my mom tonight on the phone, I sometimes feel a bit guilty at how much easier my life is now that she’s gone. Before we found out she had cancer, she was already a high-maintenance kitty. She had digestive issues from kittenhood (she created some very impressive farts when we first got her…VERY impressive) and was eventually diagnosed with irritable bowel disorder and pancreatitis. She’s had numerous visits to the emergency hospital and the vet for episodes and was taking three medications a day.

To make matters worse, she seemed to court danger. She would eat anything that had a string attached, which inevitably set off a bout of pancreatitis, which is what precipitated the majority of those vet trips. Just over a year ago she chewed up and swallowed one of a stretchy cord attached to one of those Rudolph noses that people wear at Christmastime. She ended up in the ER and almost had to have surgery. She pooped it out, luckily, but she was one sick kitty for a couple of days. So the rule in the house was to hide everything with a string. She ate through the mini blind cords, the string that pulled Batman up into Devin’s batcave and my iPhone earbud cord. Seriously. She chewed up the cord and spit it back out into tiny pieces.

And? She would eat ANY greenery that came into our house. No flower or plant was safe from her. I once put a daisy in a vase when she wasn’t looking and stuck it up on the mantle above the fireplace and I came down in the morning to find all of the petals gone. She even ate my fake flowers. I kid you not. They were plastic and had to taste pretty gross compared to the real thing. But she was a goof. A total and complete goof.

So Dev and I were walking Juliette past an empty lot yesterday. It was bursting with dandelions. Happy, sunny dandelions. So we started picking. I loved the little bouquet we came up with. It made me smile. But it also made me a little bit sad. I’d honestly give up the flowers if we could have Miss Sassy Pants back.

March in April

April 10, 2012 //

This morning there were snowflakes in the air. Tiny ones. Drifting aimlessly and harmlessly. But still. Snow.

So let’s flash back to the warmer weather of March, since I skipped that month altogether. Ups and downs. Ups: blackberries, birthdays, books written by friends and hikes in some very atypical early spring weather. Downs: losing our Lucy. I wasn’t ready to say goodbye. But are we ever?

Sneaking one in before February ends

February 27, 2012 //

The snow days this year have fallen on Fridays. All two of them. Friday is a nice day for working from home…and entertaining a 7-year-old. Last year we whipped up some Star Wars pretzels during one of our days off. This year we turned to the over-ripe bananas on the counter for inspiration. Banana cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. The frosting was so good I was licking the spoon and Dev was saying, “Mom, I’m going to tell Dad you’re using bad table manners.” Little killjoy.

We started by grabbing some soap suds from the sink and having fun with them.

He’s gotten pretty good with the egg-crackin’ thing.

I threw this one in there because he’s wearing his hoodie backward and that’s not atypical for him. He’s always pushing the fashion envelope!

Well, hello 2012!

January 21, 2012 //

Well, I’m finally getting to a post in 2012. Yikes! And in December I only had a single entry. What’s my world coming to? I realized not long ago that my online life has changed pretty dramatically over the past couple of years. My two places to be used to be my blog and Flickr. I was obsessed with Flickr. I met so many awesome people on that site. And then there’s been a steady march of new places on the web. Facebook. Twitter. Ning. Pinterest. Yadayadayada. How is a person supposed to split themselves into so many different pieces?

I’m finding myself gravitating to different spots now. Facebook mostly. I suppose because I can see what my friends are up to. (Even though I complain about the shallowness of it all. Do I really know what they’re up to from a two-sentence post?) Twitter is still a good spot, but I can’t seem to keep up. The updates on Facebook are every 5 minutes or so. Twitter dishes them up every .5 seconds. I’m way too slow to handle that. Plus, I’m deep into the launch of a social intranet at my workplace, adding yet another online destination and cutting into any time I would have somewhere else.

I can’t seem to give up this blog, though. Even if I can’t seem to post regularly, it’s still my place. I’ve had this domain since 1998 and I started blogging on it in 2000. Maybe I can get better at the posting in the near future. I’ll pepper this one with photos from a recent playdate we had. Kids and parents. With two of Devin’s oldest pals. With the high ISO and the low grain, I went documentary-style with most of my processing. If you can’t beat the grain, embrace it!

Random Thanksgiving post in the middle of December

December 13, 2011 //

Because that’s the way I roll.

We made a pie. Apple. It was tasty. And the kiddo has some serious nutmeg-grating skillz.

At Grandma’s house we took a nice walk with the dog after dinner. The light was lovely. The boy was good company.

Adventures in the city

November 13, 2011 //

The kiddo had Friday off from school so I got the bright idea to take a trip to Chicago. We signed up for a membership to the Field Museum when we visited in April and I thought it would be a good time to check out the whale exhibit. (Which was indeed very cool.) So here’s our 24-hour recap.

We headed over on Friday morning and spent four hours pounding the marble in the museum before checking in at the hotel and heading out for dinner at Goose Island Brewery, via the subway, which elicited a lot of smiles. I had some tasty hummus, but he pronounced his mac ‘n cheese less than special. Then we visited a bookstore to pick up something for the night’s story time and had a relaxing evening in the very comfy bed, with five fluffy pillows each, at the JW Marriott.

Saturday morning we got up early. So early that I advised him that bath time would be better at that point since the restaurants wouldn’t be open for breakfast yet. (As you can see by the pic below, the bath tub was REALLY deep.) The concierge pointed us to Wildberry, which turned out to be my kind of place. Pancakes, crepes and french toast galore. Dev ordered the oreo s’more pancakes and then complained that there was too much chocolate and claimed that all of a sudden he didn’t like marshmallow fluff. Harrumph. Breakfast is my favorite meal out and I don’t see how he can be such a breakfast scrooge. I wolfed down my wildberry french toast and helped him out with his a bit. Because that’s what moms are for.

Then we headed across the street to Millennium Park. It was a perfect morning. The sun was beautiful and the fall leaves are still on many of the trees right now. Dev wanted to visit Cloud Gate since he doesn’t really member the couple of other times he’s been to see it. And what 7-year-old can resist hamming it up in front of a gigantic bean-shaped mirror? Afterward we hopped on the el for another requested “train ride.” We had no destination. We just headed to Belmont on the brown line and then crossed over and took the red line back downtown. He refused to sit and was happy as a clam standing and holding the bar and adjusting his balance as needed.

Our plan was to stop at the Lego store next, but we got to the mall early so we walked over to the river. The bridge was going up for boat traffic. I had to laugh since I lived in the city for five years and never saw the bridge go up. That took a good 10 to 15 minutes of observation and then we returned to the mall to discover that the Lego store was gone. Gone! My phone informed me that, luckily, it hadn’t moved very far. Just down the street. So we walked back to the hotel (with lots of grumbling from the kiddo) to check out, then took a cab to the mall (to avoid further grumbling).

After that it was a carriage ride and a trip to the Hershey’s store. Their sundaes, by the way, pale in comparison to Ghirardelli’s, but he was heavily swayed by branding and the big G lost out due to obscurity in the childhood lexicon. He’s agreed, however, to visit the competition next time because he was underwhelmed by his ice cream concoction. (Once again, I ended up finishing it.)

So there you have our Chicago adventure. We went back to the hotel and grabbed our luggage and car, then headed out of town to Grandma’s house for the night. Now we’re back home and relaxing before another week of work and school.

He loves Sue

Check-in treats

Let’s do this in order, shall we?

November 3, 2011 //

I have some lovely Halloween pics of our own little Harry Potter, but we went to the Meijer Gardens the day before and I just can’t bring myself to post out of order. I’m crazy like that.

We’d gotten free passes months ago and they were about to expire. Sunday turned out to be a lovely day to explore everything, including ginormous pumpkins and bear sculptures. We had ourselves a dandy time.

We took on the maze again…and won!

October 24, 2011 //

This weekend was a wonderful demonstration of why I love fall. It’s my absolute favorite season. The sun was shining, the temps were nice and the sky was blue, blue, blue.

Although we were fresh off of a high-energy birthday party, Dev and I spontaneously decided to head to the pumpkin patch. We came across Schwallier’s when he was two or three and it’s been my favorite ever since. (Although they’re starting to charge for more of the activities now. Two dollars to climb on hay bales? Sheesh!)

We visited Schwallier’s with Kevin and Chloe last year. (And Scott, who turned us down this year in favor of a plumbing project. Crazy man!) Between the five of us, we managed to get lost in the corn maze and stumble back out the entrance instead of the exit we were aiming for. So when Devin finished petting bunnies and goats and asked if we could do it again this year, I hesitated slightly. Then I threw down the $10 and we went for it.

And this year we triumphed! Without the help of the 3D glasses, mind you. You were supposed to peer through them at the map and find your way. I’m the impatient sort, though. We stood gawking at that thing for a while and I just said, “Never mind that map. Let’s just walk!” (I was also so impatient that I talked the kid into skipping the “clues” that were scattered around and meant to be fun for people his age. I’m such a mean mom.)

But we did it! And it was fun. So much fun that I decided to give the cow train a shot too, even though I’d initially told him he’d have to ride alone. I got a ticket for myself and we both settled into our “cows” and off we went on a bumpy, speedy ride.

Afterward came the apples, donuts and cider, of course. Although we managed to leave without pumpkins.

See what I mean about fall? How can you not love it?

Seven years

October 18, 2011 //

This photograph makes me smile and also makes me pine for Devin’s younger days. It seemed like a great way to start out this post.

I know myself well enough to realize that with tomorrow’s busyness, I’m not likely to find the time to put this together. So I’m going to celebrate Devin Day one day early.

Seven years ago, on Oct. 19, Devin flew into Detroit on a Northwest Airlines plane. It was one of those moments you don’t ever think is going to happen. We waited six months from the completion of our forms to the day he arrived. And although that seemed like forever, most international adoption takes a lot longer. We were so lucky that things went so smoothly and so quickly. Except for the part where the passengers disembark from the plane and go through customs. That part took A VERY LONG TIME.

Every time the frosted-glass doors would open, the three waiting families and their entourages would stand on our tiptoes and search for babies, but instead it was always the other passengers streaming out. And we’d sigh collectively and go back to nervously biting our fingernails. (OK. It was me doing the nail biting. I’m not sure what everyone else was doing because I was totally focused on the doors.)

When A VERY LONG TIME finally came to an end, the whole mob rushed forward and I couldn’t see the babies at all. So I was confusedly walking in the wrong direction and Scott had to steer me over to where Gail was holding Devin. And there he was. So tiny and adorable.

I love remembering that day. Even the part where I put his diaper on backward.

And I love when we came home and set him down on the floor and he took off at an army crawl at an amazingly fast pace. It was kind of an indicator of what to expect. When walking commenced, it was basically a few steps and then he was running. Always moving. Always on his way somewhere. Always curious and going after what he wants.

I also love that we have this day every year. We celebrate his birthday, but we also get an extra day where we celebrate our family’s seven years of togetherness.

The Meadows

October 11, 2011 //

I always wondered what Las Vegas translated to.

To me, it translates to kind of otherworldly. It was my second visit there and both have been for business. I never had it on my personal travel agenda. And I think I had a pretty good instinct about that. I’m just not the Vegas target audience. Glitz. Glam. Extravagance. Meh.

That said, the hotel room was gorgeous and I learned a LOT of stuff during the conference. I was in control of the remote for four nights in a row and the pillows were amazingly fluffy.

Now for the photos:

I was booked into a suite, but pretty much stayed in the bedroom/bathroom area. I never used the “living room” or the kitchen. I did venture out onto the terrace a couple of times, but being terrified of heights (and being on the 50th floor), that didn’t last long.

Dev wanted a souvenir. He was very specific about his request. (He got the lion, by the way.)

I’m always taking mirror shots in hotel rooms. Why stop now?

The place where I bought the stuffed lion had a couple of real ones too. Devin actually called me when I was standing beneath them. Perfect timing.

During my quick souvenir excursion, I happened to choose the same time to walk The Strip as the Occupy protestors did.

Chewie!

The last night of the conference there was a closing party, which included a photo booth for snapping some avatar pics. The makeup artist kind of went to town. I had to laugh when I got back to my room and saw my eyes!

I’m in the holiday spirit

October 10, 2011 //