I'm Alive in Well in Texas

So just so you know, I haven't dropped off the face of the earth. On Wednesday, Sofia and I flew to Austin, Texas to visit our best friends. It's been an *actual* vacation for us and I'm having such a good time.

Yesterday, we drove a few hours south to San Antonio, to a kick ass resort. It's situated on extensive grounds & is incredibly family oriented with multiple pools, activities, a lazy river, etc. It's really like a vacation, for the most part. I mean, it's the kind of sticky, humid hot that one only experiences in the south and Sofia is her usual high maintenance self, so it could never be a real vacation, but it's been great. I actually had a margarita poolside yesterday and let me tell you, it's been YEARS since I did that.

Lots of things to do, Sea World today (complete with feeding dolphins and lunch with Shamu), girl bonding time for all, room service and ,multiple bottles of wine. What more could one want? The accents are cute too. Sometimes, I forget where I am and then I talk to someone or overhear a conversation and hear the drawl. It's actually quite charming.

I've talked to Steve a few times and the boys are doing great. I miss them terribly, but apparently not enough to make me homesick...yet. :) We're back to Austin tomorrow, then Sunday - home.

The girls within minutes of getting to Austin. Sofia was into Bella's dress up stuff within mock speed.



Sofia enjoying the water area at Sea World today.



Shamu showing off.

Let's Look at The Bright Side, Ok?

Ok, I am going to take a note from my friend Jen and try to turn this frown upside down by looking at the bright side of things.

1. David said "My shoe" today. This is huge, using 2 words together.

2. While my company is doing more layoffs this week, I haven't heard anything about our office. *fingers crossed* Being the assistant to the head HR person for the company puts me enviable/horrible the position of hearing all the things that I should not hear with regards to this stuff. I assume I'll know in advance if something is brewing with my position, but you can never tell.

3. Someone from playgroup complimented me on my photography today. This was a person who definitely had an artsy vibe, so that made me feel good.

4. I seem to be making more friends here. I am going to keep this as a positive because even if we do move back, it's only 20 minutes away and new friends are always welcome.

5. The boys seemed to thrive on playing with a bunch of boys in their age group. I always feel they got the shit end of the stick in this regard, but today I am feeling good.

6. I have lots of things to look forward to in the coming months. The boys' birthday, Sofia's birthday, a trip to Disneyland and a trip to Austin to visit my best friend in the whole world. You can slap me now. I shouldn't even be complaining about anything!

7. No one is sick this week.

8. The rain has stopped and the weather is glorious again.

9. I've written more in the last 6 months than I have in the last 5 years and that is so therapeutic for me.

10. We are going to Costco this afternoon with the boys. I love Costco and can't wait to get there.

11. I'm continuing to lose weight, although the rate has slowed a bit due to my high stress level and those damn Rold Gold Cheese pretzels that somehow keep managing to end up in my cart every time I go to Target!

Ok, I think 11 things is enough to turn this frown upside down. Onward and upward!

P.S. It may be temporary, but *this* is where I live right now. It doesn't get much better than this.

Let Me Entertain You

So, dinner party = success.

Houseful of kids (6 under 5) was off-the-charts chaotic, but ever so worth it.

Using Macaroni Grill as the caterer was a splendid idea (if I do say so myself) and would highly recommend it. Did I mention that they deliver for $20? Sweet. The delivery lady was about as sweet as could be and even offered to stay and set up for me. After a nice tip for her, we sent her off on her way to watch the sunset down the street.

The cost of the meal was no worse if we had taken everyone out to dinner or if I'd attempted to buy all the food and ingredients myself. We had chicken marsala for the entree, bread and their house salad. I also ordered chicken nuggets for the kids and for anyone who has had "chicken nuggets" at Macaroni Grill knows this equates to huge pieces of chicken cooked in thick batter. We had enough chicken nuggets to feed an army!! I sent most of the leftovers to my sister in law's today, to feed my children and her 3 hungry boys. We also had my shrimp/veggie dip and a bunch of munchies (mini quiches, courtesy of Costco.)

I managed to stay pretty focused on my "sobriety" for the evening. (I have taken to calling my Weight Watchers sobriety, mostly because I've been watching too much Sober House and it's the only word that snaps me into line when something like cheddar pretzels or guacamole beckons to me. ) I do consider myself a food addict, so it works for me. Can't risk my sobriety, I tell myself and surprisingly, it has worked. I did not count points for the dinner party, but for anyone who entertains regularly knows, overeating is usually a moot point. Over drinking, on the other hand..

I balanced things out by eating mostly zero points or low points food yesterday and am feeling pretty good about things.

Highlight of the evening? One of the blowhard husbands telling me I needed to up my water intake to 50-80 oz a day as this is what worked for him when training for Iron Man. I'm fairly sure that borders on water-poisoning levels, but will have to check on that.

~ Listening to Sofia run around the room, saying "I'm Jewish!" and giggling, for no apparent reason. We're going to file this with the I Have No Idea/Champagne comment. We are not Jewish and I 'm perplexed as to why she would run around saying this like a manic little diva AND think it was hilarious to boot.

~ Aforementioned blowhard husbands chiming in when we were talking about how different my twins look with "What about their genitals? Are they different too?" Exqueeze me?

He made a few other very inappropriate and/or homophobic references which has led me to believe that he, himself, is gay. I am intrigued at people who live a double life, in this day and age, but my gut is telling he may be one of them. In addition to the homophobic comments, he made many other comments, asserting his masculinity. Yep. Pretty sure on that one.

All the kids got along quite well, so that was great. Three girls can be a recipe for disaster, with someone always feeling left out, but fortunately, this was not the case.

Quite an enjoyable evening and I'm proud that I attempted to beyond my comfort zone.

The boys playing chase around the table

Prep & Vinaigrette

So, I'm trying my bestestest to get my act together for my dinner party on Saturday.

I ordered an entree (Chicken marsala and pasta), bread and salad from Macaroni Grill. They even deliver. Sweet.

Am I embaressed that I'm not preparing the meal? Mmmm...sort of, but not really. Honestly, if there was ever a time to play the 3 kids card, this is it.

I just returned from Trader Joe's where I bought some appetizery stuff and dessert, wine and beverages. (Again, a gift card. From Christmas. Came in handy)

I'm making this Flavor Craver shrimp dip that is *to die for* but can't buy the shrimp (fresh) until Friday.

I'm thinking this is coming together, thank goodness. That said, is it wrong that I'm secretly hoping one of the couples' flakes? (don't answer that) The mom is a heavy hitter with Genenetech, regularly travels to Singapore and I haven't heard back from her for a while to confirm that she's coming. She may be in Singapore for all I know. I love her to death, but am seriously wondering how I'm going to handle all these people and manage the kids. Steve tends to lean towards being useless in these situations (prefering to socialize - it's his gift) as much as he promises to be in "charge" of the kids.

Ah, well. There will be 6 kids total (including mine) and 6 adults, so I'm sure chaos will ensue no matter how much planning I put into it.

I'd like to share my current favorite obsession from Trader Joe's. Their fat free soy sesame vinaigrette. It's 1 pt per serving (2TBL) and trust me on this one, DELISH. I am extremely particular about my salad dressing (especially fat free) and you would never now this was fat free unless someone told you. It has that great combo of tangy and sweet that goes so well with most chicken salads. (I've gone out to lunch twice this week and brought a bottle in my purse - You know mommy's on Weight Watchers when she is carrying salad dressing in her purse)

It's also great for marinades. It is always out of stock, so that's usually a good sign. Today, I bought three. :)

Here is a photo. It's currently found in the vegetable area, but used to be next to their tuna (which is also the bomb, by the way) so who knows where they'll move it next.

Old Friends

Sofia and I went to visit my friends in San Francisco yesterday. This is my former best friend, maid of honor (and I hers), her husband and their 3 mo old baby. I say former because the 2 of us got engaged at the same time (along with a 3rd friend) and it literally became a females-gone-crazy situation a la "Bride Wars." It's a really long story (albeit kind of a good one) so I'll spare you the details for another day, but I swore that after the wedding we would never be close again.

It's been 5 years and we see each other rarely. I occasionally feel bad about this, but then I remember all the shenanigans she pulled. As she has just had given birth to her first child, I've started to feel traces of guilt for distancing myself from her and dare I say, pangs of missing her.

Just driving through her the neighborhood in Noe Valley, I was flooded with memories of many evenings spent at a local bar there 10-12 years ago. What use to be called "The Rover" - a working class, Irish pub with plumbers, electricians and city workers glued to its bar stools is now called "Bliss Bar" and serves martinis and girlie drinks. The neighborhood was just starting to gentrify 10 years ago, it is now complete in its transformation. Upscale shops, boutiques, restaurants and businesses line the streets. It is a yippy (yuppie hippy) paradise.

But I digress.

It was really nice to catch up. I'm not sure if my newfound warm and fuzzies are due to the fact that she's "one of the club" now or if I'm just starved for some girl time, but it was actually quite nice to catch up and soak in some new baby goodness.

Being a typical 3.75 yr old and gregarious by nature, my daughter has no concept of censoring what she says at any given moment. I know you all have been there. My friends live in a studio apartment in a trendy, high rent area. Sofia's first question upon sitting on the couch was "Where are the rest of the rooms, mommy?"

"Where does the baby sleep?" "Where's the baby's room?" "Where's the baby's toys?" continued the line of questioning.

We ended up eating dinner there and when we were done, my daughter asked what they had for dessert. Then, she wanted a snack. By the time we left, she had managed to finagle an apple, Hershey's kisses, a fig bar and a bunch of honey roasted peanuts from my unsuspecting friends.

I am pretty sure they thought her constant snack seeking was cute, but I do believe "Bottomless pit" was used at one point.

Note to self: Need to work on manners with S. and bring more snacks when going for visits.

Girls Just Want To Have Fun

Friendship

Do you remember who your best friend was when you were 3.5? I don't. I mean, I sort of do, in the murky recesses of my brain, but it seems like a dream. That was the year I was taken away from my mother, so mostly I remember being with my brother and my cousin.

I wonder if the girls will remember these times they spend together. I suppose if they didn't live cross country from each other, there'd be a chance they'd grow up together, but for now, there's always air travel and new memories to look forward to.

Good times...



Girls just want to have fuh-uhn...

So today we went on a tour of Austin via Duck Adventures. It was really fun and interesting, although not sure the girls kind of lost interest towards the end. Austin is certainly scenic, eclectic and fun, everything that people had told me it would be.

The girls have been playing dress up for most of the day, it's really fun to watch them together. My BFF and I have been playing catch up, which of course just reminds me how much I miss having her around. Honestly, I don't have a female friend like that who I talk to every day anymore and I miss it. But whaddyagonnado? Austin is just a plane ride away...

Sofia slept in this morning (her and Bella slept together, thank god) and took a nice, loooooong nap, so she's been much more pleasant to be around today. My friend went to a meeting for a volunteer group she is working with and I'm about to have a Mike's Hard Lemonade, awaiting take-out from Macaroni Grill while the girls watch a Dora movie. Good times. (Sidenote - you know you are a mommy when you think this is something that qualifies as "good times.")

The twins' 1st peer birthday party!

Today was yet again, hot. Still, it was a smidge cooler - well, not really cooler, but breezier - than yesterday, so hopefully tomorrow will be even cooler.

We went to a 1st birthday party for a friend of mine with twins. I believe there were 4 sets of twins there, which is always fun. Even met a fellow member of the 3 under 3 club, which is always a treat. It's a very exclusive club, dontcha know.

The boys spent most of the time climbing all over the little kid picnic table or (in Sofia's case) pilfering food and beverages. I'm learning more and more that it really is better to have 3 adults when going out to things like this (like Baby Loves Disco last week). You really do need 1 adult per kid. Of course, Steve is MIA half the time, so that's part of the problem. With William walking, it literally is like needing to be in 3 places at once. Definitely getting more challenging.

THANK GOD Dianna is coming with us to Disneyland. Despite how stressful it is going to be, I am very much looking forward to it.

Sofia is still using the potty, stayed dry all day. I am so happy with her, hope it keeps up. I did have to throw away a half filled sticker chart to show her I meant business when she misbehaved repeatedly today. I know it was due to major sugar and lack of sleep, but she was throwing things and acting like a crazy person. Making mental note - sugar intake, watch closely.

Weather gods, if you are listening? Please send some fog this way. I'm done with the heat.