catchup & mustardiness

well, hello, it’s been a while. we’ve been living in a hotel for over a week (our house is having some major plumbing work done) and it’s kinda thrown our schedules out of whack. momjeanz hasn’t had very much of my attention. and that’s ok. it’s been good to put more effort and attention towards personal relationships. we’ve been as busy as always and our staycation has had some perks that life in our own house doesn’t provide: no cooking or cleaning!

here’s what we’ve been up to:

darla came with us to see deep sea diver + antlers + the shins. she had a good time rolling down the lawn. after the first antlers song darla ran forward, cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted “I RESPECT YOU” at the stage. it was pretty awesome.

the complimentary breakfast here is cray cray! every day is a delicate dance of bargaining with darla to eat more fruit and yogurt so she can earn a donut. it’s been working. i love breakfast buffets!

i had a ladydate to see feist, who is currently being backed by mountain man. oh my word, it was an amazing show. AND everyone on stage was in prairie costume sooooo i pretended, in my head, that they were all a part of a covered wagon caravan making their way across the country and had stopped to give an impromptu performance. take me with you to oregon!!

we took in a free performance of Robin Hood at schiller park. darla made friends with anyone who had a dog that was in our immediate vicinity.

we took a bike ride up to whetstone and rode through the rose gardens.

for the weekend we hit up the park street festival which helped us spend almost the entire day outside on saturday. bounce castles, food trucks, live music and snow cones = hours of entertainment.

some daddy-led art projects on old ocean charts.

…and just a few more mommy + daughter shots at the park of roses

any other moment of last week not pictured you can just assume was spent at the pool – either hotel or grandview – or at one of the two restaurants adjacent to the hotel.

hopefully, we’ll be back in our house by the week’s end. we’ll keep ya posted.

pun. blog pun!

31May2012

and back again

Posted in i dig music, Kiddie Hangouts, let me let me update ya by ElaineMarie

and now we’ve been having a few (somewhat) relaxing days getting adjusted back to real life. mike is taking classes in florida for the week so darla and i have spent the majority of our time by the pool.

or on the bike.

or biking to the pool.

you get the picture.

darla was very excited about her floaties. she put them on and immediately exclaimed “everybody wearing floaties is cool!” complete with thumbs-up arm motion. she was equally excited that the pool has spongebob popsicles. she adopted some spongebob-like facial expressions while eating:

timing is everything in photography, i guess. i’m going to be in trouble for that one someday.

upon returning from the pool darla received some mail from grandma and grandpa wright

i got to jig in some flannel last night to Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros.

the flannel would have been a great idea except LC moved the show indoors. so then flannel became a sweaty idea. but i didn’t care. Carly and i grooved and shook our hair anyway.

after the show “Mr. Sharpe” was outside getting mobbed. I tried to get him to bless my bike but as previously mentioned, he was in a mob.

also, that giant balloon lamp WAS NOT filled with candy or glitter.

sigh.

30May2012

there

Posted in let me let me update ya, Travels by ElaineMarie

i’ve been pretty bad at removing myself from life to snap photos as of late. i don’t think it’s altogether a bad thing. here’s the very few pics i managed to get in DC:

as you can see, we did lots of walking. it was the only time i would stop and think “hey, i should get a picture of this.”

for a weekend it felt like we had our feet firmly planted in two different places. DC still feels like home. maybe it was because we got to hang with a bajillion of our friends and it felt like old times. i miss everyone so much.

thanks to everyone for the hangtime this weekend. we loved every minute of it. except darla, who says meeting the penguin at the yogurt shop was her favorite part of the weekend. that picture is the truth proof.

weekending: trio edition

our weekend probably resembled yours: cook-outs, backyard play, gathering with friends and fam. and of course mother’s day fun.

in addition to all the fun stuff, i feel like my productivity level has gone through the roof now that there’s an extra pair of hands. i guess it’s like that, huh?

just a bit of it:

the circus came to town = free parking. $12 cotton candy. whomp whomp.

kid friendly backyard cookouts

yes.

yes, please.

and our mother’s day dinner photo op. this is the best we could do, but that’s all right with me.

7May2012

weekending

Posted in let me let me update ya by ElaineMarie

exciting news: this was our last week without our salty sailor. he’s coming home in days. DAYZ!

we had a picnic and books on the front porch

had lots of citrus-centric foods and made use of our citrus stash

made good use of the arcade games in the laundromat. is that a kill screen, darla? look out billy mitchell.

(yes, laundromat. i’m not going into the basement until further notice)

spent the wash cycle playing scrabble at Luck Bros.

this is it, the last of just-us-gals weekends for a while. there might be some extra co-sleeping this week until papa comes home. troof.

30Apr2012

weekending

Posted in let me let me update ya, love and happiness by ElaineMarie

the majority of our weekend was just some one on one time. that’s ok because we did lots of gnarly adventures, mainly breaking in Madame RuJu. here’s some of it:

using the swings in new ways

running to dinner in a light shower and entertaining other patrons with a costumed dance number

“planting” flowers at the park for her grandmas

climbing rocks and taking hikes

now, our biggest victory of the weekend was discovering an amazing bakery by our house. it’s so amazing that i am going to be selfish and not reveal the name or location. ok, i won’t do that. we stopped into the french loaf for the first time and WOW. just wow. go there. you’ll see what i mean.

darla testing the product

and getting down to business

loved the real china plates and cute stamped furniture

27Apr2012

in the indiana

Posted in let me let me update ya, Travels by ElaineMarie

just a few pics of indiana stuff last week. darla sure loves spending time with her grandparents.

nap time with grandpa

baking with grandma

pink skies

balance beam on garden plots

and of course treats for willow

and just a little bit of normal life back here at home:

24Apr2012

where you been, momjeanz?

Posted in i dig music, let me let me update ya by ElaineMarie

it’s taken a few days to get back in the swing of life at our little chateau. you know what’s worse than a hangover? a birth hangover. but unlike a real hangover, a birth hangover is worth it.

but anyway,

i’ve been feeling pretty stressed about all that I have to get done now that we’re back after being a way for what feels like an entire month. it was pretty rough around here for about a day and 1/2 and then i opened this mysterious package that had been waiting for us on the doorstep when we got back (i just forgot about it for a day)

annnnnd it made everything turn around. seriously.

thank you, dear friends! you are EXCELLENT.

JUST LOOK AT THAT! the girl dressed as dorothy, stern look of american determination fixed on her face, eating an apple and waving the flag by our deertick poster. the only way it could get any MORE patriotic was if there was a pitchfork or something in there.

oh and it makes for a good peek-a-boo prop as well.

thank you, again, friends. you have no idea how this turned our week around. our day turned into a park-going, bike purchasing, errand running day of excellent proportions.

29Mar2012

I packed my bags last night pre-flight

Posted in let me let me update ya, Travels by ElaineMarie

i’m sitting here with a to-do list of which only about half will get done by the time we have to get on the plane for california tomorrow morning.

yeah, that’s right. once i said that in my brain i thought “the hell with it, i’m going to california tomorrow! i don’t have to do it if i don’t wanna.” so i went downstairs and made myself a cocktail instead.

here’s to 10 days with friends, and sunshine and new scenery. annnnnd here’s to putting things off for a good reason. clink. clink. i just cheersed myself. and made up the word cheersed. see i’ve been so much more productive after this drink.

ps. cali friends we’re so excited to squeeze you. columbus friends we’re excited to squeeze you when we get back, too. oh gosh, and everyone everywhere else we’ll be excited to see you and squeeze you when we get to see and squeeze you. there. did i cover everyone? no one offended? good. ‘night y’all!

26Mar2012

weekend 80s.milkshake

Posted in let me let me update ya by ElaineMarie

my saturday consisted of this:

my sunday then brought me this:

our weekend was so excellent. our week is starting off the same way. i guess i should go to party dressed as krystle carrington in a backwoods cabin with a minotaur every weekend. the lovey dovey, easy breezy attitude exuded from both us wruckers girls is a testament that sometimes we do need a few days apart.