New Favorites - 2016 edition

I thought I'd share a few things that made this year better, easier, more interesting... (in no particular order, and I'm sure I'm forgetting lots of things, but my 40 yo brain is a sieve...)

1) Red Thread Good Cold Brew Coffee: 
I discovered this by accident on our trip to the Hamptons this summer. In Sag Harbor, where we hadn't been since 2011, there is a little shop (near the new Jayson Home summer outpost) called Sylvester & Co. (a "modern general store" owned by interior designer Lynda Sylvester).  I stopped in since I saw the sign for coffee and it was amazing.  They serve it hot and iced in their café and while I prefer the latter, I'm still enjoying it this winter hot.  By some strange coincidence, her other shop is in Savannah, so we went there as well the very next month. (FYI: she just announced she is closing her Savannah store)  Thankfully, you can order the beans or cold brew concentrate (which I highly recommend) online from her site.  My fave is Dreamy Decaf (which has a bit of chocolate in it).  I'm considering investing in her retail expansion.  Exciting times for this cool company! Bye bye Starbucks...

2) Lavender ice cream from Leopold's Ice Cream:
This is a seasonal flavor from the famous Leopold's in Savannah, GA, where they've been making ice cream since 1919.  I can't even explain how good it is.  Just trust me.  You can order their ice cream online, but only when in season (which is April and September for lavender).

3) Hamilton (the Broadway show, the PBS documentary, the soundtrack, the mixed tape, the legend)
When I was in NYC in last summer, Hamilton was still in previews and the President was in town taking it in (we went to Larry David's Fish in the Dark).  Watching it debut at the White House in 2009 is worth the view.  It wasn't really a cultural phenomenon yet, though since several of my friends from college went the high school with Lin-Manual Miranda, I'd been following it for awhile on social media.  The show has recently now opened in Chicago (with a new cast), and soon will also be in London and San Fran, but if you want to hear the original NY cast, check out the soundtrack, which is amazing.  I also highly recommend the Mixed Tape (which is other artists singing some of the songs), which if there was ever something that actually improved on the original...  Both are labeled "explicit", so if you want to listen (perhaps in the car) with kids, which gets me through some days and they also love, you can buy the edited versions. It is a such an inspiring show, and for a history buff, it's great to see so many people interested in it.  It actually got me excited about and prompted me to ask my mother more about our ancestor, Johann Daniel Miesse, who fought in Washington's army.

4) My VanMommy (aka the Honda Odyssey, aka Mr. Blue)
I've already sung its praises and five months (and nearly 10K miles!) in, I'm still a fan. Ugh, recalls...

5) Odd Mom Out
I don't otherwise do Bravo and I don't do reality TV.  But I do do this scripted comedy, which has been picked up for a third season.  It's amazing and hilarious and if you aren't watching it, you are seriously missing out.  I think you can stream all the episodes online. It got me through getting called up for jury duty and sitting around waiting out the day to make my whopping 30 bucks.

6) Out on the boat
My dad is an odd duck. He got a power boat about the time I went away to college (convenient, right?) which he almost never takes out, and since we aren't up north that much in the summer, we don't get out much either.  Well, we spent a lot more time up this summer to see my step-father, and made sure to rectify that this year and the kids had an absolute blast.

7) Last Chance/Nordstrom Rack
I've never been a big Nordstrom shopper (though I love their café), but I finally started hitting the Rack (especially for kids' stuff, Tea, Peek, Boden, Hanna, et al) and now it's like an addiction.  I got M a $300 silk Oscar de la Renta dress there for $40.  We also just got only their second Last Chance Store in the country (so maybe like the next to last chance), where I scored a J. McLaughlin dress for myself for $10. This is part of how I support my Tory Burch clothing addiction, while still being financially prudent.

8) The Inside Track...
Patagonia is one of the only brands where a name label will conspicuously grace my children.  Mine don't advertise for free people, but I make an exception for them.  They donated all $10 million of their Black Friday sales to environmental charities. Typically, I shop their great sales and get all we need, but now a friend of mine from high school is working there as a designer (after cutting her teeth at Lands End), so I am lucky to have access to generously shared discount codes for 40% off.  Let me know if you need one.

9) Bon Iver's 22, a million
Another new Bon Iver album, this one for my 40th birthday. My high school (in podunk nowhere) also somehow produced two-time Grammy winner Justin Vernon (who I didn't know then, as he was four years behind me).

10) 23 and me
My mom's been a busy bee researching our ancestry for several years now (prompted by her retirement to care for my late grandmother), but I decided to spring for a DNA ancestry and health analysis on 23 and me, to see what came back. Because at the end, you know I'm just a numbers person.  Thrilling, right?

11) Wellesley Women of the World
About the time my gen on the Bump boards moved, imploded, or whatever, sometime after the twins were born, I moved on and then happened to accidentally come across all the Wellesley boards on FB, which very happily took their place.  Between familiar faces from the Bump (hi ladies!) and from my college days, it felt like home. I have a complicated relationship with the place (I went back for the first time in several years the day before the election), and it's been one hell of a year to be an alum, but as I like to keep the drama to a minimum and need smart, honest, compassionate women by my side, I'd have a hard time finding a better place to land.

12) Last but not least, The Man Repeller (aka Leandra Medine Cohen) who I didn't follow previously, recently very sadly lost her first pregnancy (from a WTF IVF break) in her 14th week, and her post(s) about it since are definitely worth the read.  This is an especially hard time of year to experience loss (and be dealing with infertility generally).  It's been six whole long years already since I lost my first.  My how the time passes.

Turning Five

The kids turned five last week and we made it through their crazy last week of school with programs and colds galore.  Then we headed into the city for our annual birthday trip to visit the doctor and stay over to enjoy the city during the holidays (we usually make it in for staycations a handful of times a year otherwise). We were healthy enough to make it up to Zoolights, which we missed last year, though I think the cab and bus rides were the highlights for them.

They also just went to the eye doctor for the first time (in preparation for kinder) and they are looking great and so far thankfully have their daddy's great eyes (I had glasses starting in elementary school and it was downhill myopia hell from there until I got LASIK surgery in 2007).  

The pediatrician has them steady on their super tall and skinny growth curves.

Alistair

Five years: 40.6# 45.75" (50th%, 94th%) BMI: 13.67/2.81%

Four years: 36#, 42.5”(52^nd%, 91^st%) BMI: 14/4.6%

Marielle

Five years: 40.6# 45" (57th%, 91st%)

BMI: 14.09/16.32%

Four years: 36.2# 42.25” (61st%, 93^rd%) BMI: 15.7/14.3%

This is the only time of year we do anything approaching matching outfits...

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Catching Up

So I've totally bombed on the blog this year, like nearly a complete epic fail.  So four months later...  I tried to post about the Hamptons (and separately about their two show houses), but that didn't happen (too many photos and it blew up).  Then we went to Savannah/Hilton Head Island for our tenth anniversary/my 40th, which was hot and amazing.  And I went to Boston for another long weekend, which was cold but great.  The election, and nada... oh well.

My OB/gyne finally managed to talk me into getting my BRCA 1&2 testing done, (since my sister had a young and rare reproductive cancer dx) which I had been putting off, since my other sister was negative.  It ended up only costing me a few hundred bucks, and I'm negative for both, which is obviously fantastic given the prospective treatment plan (double mastectomy-oophorectomy).  Unfortunately for me, they found that I have a different genetic mutation (MUTYH), that triples my risk of developing colon cancer (which is what ultimately killed my grandmother five years ago at 94), which sucks pretty badly.  So in addition to turning 40 and getting another mammogram (which is still awful, but came back fine), I also have to add getting regular colonoscopies (and I already got my first, which thank goodness, was also fine). 

Ironically, much worse than actually turning 40, are the health screeners that will hopefully get me through a few more decades.  Colonoscopies themselves are no biggie, but you have to fast and then slam 32 ounces of what tastes like really bad cough syrup the day before to clean you out, so that's pretty awful.  And how are mammograms still so horrible, like someone somewhere (likely a woman) can't devise something that isn't a torture device?

The kids are doing great and getting huge.  Like I'm going to have two four-foot-tall kindergartners soon enough.  They turn five in five more days. OMG.  So we have... they are in two different schools crazy holidays, parties, birthdays, Christmas, no-break, and up to 40 4-5 year olds for their jumpy house party come January.  And I'm supposed to be starting a new work project, I volunteered and was elected to be VP of his school's PTA, and trying to figure out how we are going to get out of this frozen tundra for a bit.  Thankfully, I put the kibosh on our regular India trip this year.  I just can't deal with being gone for weeks and feeling like death at this time of year on top of everything else.

We finally got around to getting new pics done for holiday cards (better late than never), but we got our first snow storm that day, so we were forced inside his studio.  They are somehow ridiculously more photogenic than either of their parents.

Thankfully, my step father has made it through his chemo, radiation, and now surgery for his cancer as well as can be expected.  Praying for clear scans and as much time as possible for him.

New Schools and Year

It's been a hot and busy summer around here, so I've been off the blogs.  Living and loving real life.  Lots to update:

Marielle has already started at a new school, a local Catholic elementary, as it offers preschool for the same odd partial day that her brother will be in school.  It's her third and last year of preschool, though she'd be ready for kindergarten, if only she were a wee bit older.  It is also likely where she'd stay if we were living here and going private for elementary, but our public schools are crazy top notch (all their schools and others they could attend made this and all lists, which is another reason why we still haven't moved, our district is now amazeballs), so she is likely just going to the one down the street next fall.  This serious little girl is so big and just had to have her cardigan on and buttoned.  She just slays me sometimes.  You should have seen her dance recital, a total pro.

Alistair starts this week at yet another new preschool for his last year, the school district's, after I decided to get him assessed last spring.  He's always been a little slower than his sister (walking six plus months later, potty training a year later, etc.), though not behind his boy cousins, but she is a speedy one, so we weren't that concerned.  He's always been a leftie and sensitive (to sounds, bright light, temperature, feelings in general, etc.), and has had more trouble writing (switching back and forth/ambidexterous, less overall dexterity) and dealing with transitions.  I'd heard good things about the preschool, so we decided to give it a try.  They don't have stringent qualifications if they think they can benefit from help, so even though he has done fine in his other schools, we are hoping that some occupation therapy and extra help will get him really rocking and rolling to begin the all day kindergarten down the street arm in arm with his sister next fall.  He's also taking the bus, so that will be another exciting adventure.  My big brave boy is so excited!

After I put him on the bus, I felt jittery and thought I was really losing it (it's his first ride alone, but his third year of school).  But then I realized later when it didn't subside that I'd mistakenly had some caffeine, which totally wigs me out.  There should be some sort of disability program for mothers with low caffeine and alcohol tolerances like I have. 

My step-father's prognosis is sadly pretty grim.  He is doing well with his regimen of weekly chemo and daily radiation, but his surgery in a month or so to remove what they can of the very large tumor will be very debilitating and long term survival rates are low.  He is continuing to work as long as he can, as he wants to/can, and we are all just taking it as well as we can and we are spending lots of extra time up north to visit.

We just got back from visiting the Hamptons via NYC and Pittsburgh to beach it up and spend some time with my sister and her boyfriend (now officially fiancé, wedding date pending).  Lots of great fun, but enough for its own several posts...someday.

I've already completed a whole new project with my former CMO for the same client as the last.  And we have another international one for them on deck.  Working from home, on my own schedule, making bank with no overhead, using my brain and skills, not selling anything or abusing my social networks. Life is beautiful, so I'm riding this gravy train as long as it lasts.

We finally decided that we are in fact taking a trip sans twins for our tenth anniversary and my 40th birthday next month.  My mom will be busy travelling for her 50th high school reunion (though thankfully for us, my dad was opting out), so my dad and step-mother are coming down and taking on the kids for a long weekend, so we can get away.  We went back and forth about how far we were comfortable going (a few hour direct flight) and for how long (a few days) and also where (since we've been most everywhere within that proximity), but we settled on Savannah, since we've both never been and it's supposed to be fun.  We had such a great time with just an overnight away last year for DH's 40th, you'd think we'd do it more.  We can't wait!!

My New Bigger Blue Beast

Well, we finally did it... 

We bought a minivan! (and no that's not a pregnancy announcement, we are still a happy family of 4)

We've been mulling it over for a few years, but for the first time in my life I had both a new completely paid for car (which is marvelous and I highly recommend) and not much income of my own (which I don't).  But I got tired of my transportation life being more difficult than it needed to be schlepping kids in/out of an SUV, and that always costs money, so hello amazing minivan convenience features and trading one not-quite-big-enough-now blue beast for another bigger blue beast.

Power sliding doors, lower entry, the rear DVD, all that seating and cargo room.  Ahh...  We decided on a certified 2015 Odyssey, which is when they added many new features beyond just fourth generation Odyssey, and with almost no miles, so I'll be driving it for likely forever.  It has so many cameras and sensors, it's like an NSA vehicle.

The word is Honda is overhauling the model for 2017. It's really big driving around alone, but it is so much more spacious than my old SUV, for the same/better gas mileage, it is worth it since I usually have little ones in tow.  Once they were hitting their heads standing in the back (hello 44+") and other cars with their doors, it was time.

Love love my new blue beast so much, we've put several thousand miles on it the last few weeks driving it everywhere (more on our travels later...).

I talk to so many SUV moms who can't imagine/fight like death making the shift, but let me tell you as someone who fell for SUVs when I got my first one 20 years ago, it is nicer than both my Lexus and my Volvo.  Seriously.  I didn't care for either of my previous Hondas, but the Odyssey has won me over.  Be not afraid!

The Emperor of all Maladies

I feel bad I don't take the time to document all the normal happenings here anymore.  Just the great and the awful and I don't know if that is good or bad. 

We have been quite fortunate the last few years and we know it, but this week my dear step father has been diagnosed with cancer of his esophagus.  He has a PET scan tomorrow to determine if it has spread and if so, how much and where.  He is still waiting for his ultrasound.  

He is only 63 and otherwise in good health and has been counting down to joining my mother in retirement.  He is still a nurse at a Mayo Clinic hospital and so will have access to wonderful care, but we are hoping it was caught soon enough for his prognosis to be good.

Praying for David 🙏🏼

P.S. His scan was clear of metastasis!  On to a plan for chemo/radiation/surgery.

Heading back to the Hamptons

Happy May Day!  Five years ago today, we found out we were pregnant with the twins.  Do the years ever fly?!

Though this year marks 20 years since my first summer living in Hyannis Port on Cape Cod, we've decided we are headed back to the Hamptons this August.  We had my MIL here last year, so I did my Hamptons tour sans family, and our last summer beach trip was to the Cape and Nantucket in 2014.  We haven't all been to the Hamptons together since 2013, when the kids were just wee ones (and my forehead was still intact), and now back we go...

Some fun things I'm looking forward to this year...  Taking the kids all the way out to Montauk, a quaint fishing village turned hipster hangout and more importantly home to the Hampton's lighthouse.  Visiting a fave from my old hood, Jayson Home and Garden's first pop up store in Sag Harbor, as well as Coastal Living's Hamptons showhouse in Bridgehampton (Trad Home's Hamptons Designer Showhouse is in Sag Harbor this year).  Ice cream, ocean sand, lobster rolls, and lots of sun (crossing fingers)...

What may be one of the prettiest houses in East Hampton (snapped last summer)

Last time I had my feet in the sand (FWB, FL over New Year's.)

Making the bacon, in our new kitchen

After I finished my full time on-site seven week project in December (my first since the twins, after several false starts), I didn't have any short term plans to return to work, as I had turned down a project extension and another FT job offer.  But then my old CMO (a fellow twin parent and a super nice guy) gave me a shout last month and wanted to know if I could help him out with a project for another former colleague (who I coincidentally helped hire in our last job together and is now running a dept. for a major multinational out of Munich..).  He's a professor at Kellogg now, after being let go a week into his relocation to Switzerland (crazy people, I tell you), but he also does projects on the side. It was a sweet deal, so I was in.  Making (what I assume is) his obscene billable rate (he's Harvard Econ BA/MIT MBA/former McKinsey and has almost 20 years on me) and working bits here and there from home over a few weeks (even if it was spring break)?  Yes please.

Now we are all done with that and my kitchen nearly is too.  We still have to paint and install the new lighting and decide on a stove, but all the cabinets, farmhouse sink, quartz counters, fridge, beadboard, and tile backsplash (the big stuff) are all up and in.  It was in the planning stages since we moved in ten years ago and I could count the active reno in months and years, which I don't necessarily recommend, though it has actually been less disruptive, which was kind of the point.  But this room is truly a testament to my patience, when in doubt...

I have always loved arabesque tiles (that's the shape) and while these mosaics (at under 2"/ea) were smaller than most, I decided they would work in our decidedly smallish space.  They are porcelain with glass iridescent ones mixed in and the colors tie together our new stainless appliances, our slightly off-white cabs and counters, and our blue grey textiles.  Kinda exotic (I fell in love with tiles traveling in Portugal), and kinda beachy. Perfection, finally.

More pics when we are done, now on to the master bath...

If you like this, check out that...

Happy Friyay!  It's almost Spring and daylight savings time!!

One of my most love/hate things about being a parent is managing my kids' stuff.  Of course the shopping part is fun (and a bit of a competitive sport for me), but then you have to manage all of it and get rid of all the clothes, shoes, toys, books, gear, accessories etc. as they outgrow them (not so much fun).  And with same sized boy/girl twins (and no plans for more, and similar aged cousins) there are really no such thing as hand me downs in our family (and as third of four girls, I can appreciate this is good for them, bad for me), so its often one (season) and done.  I also find I tend to buy more gendered things for the purposes of keeping track of whose is whose than I would if we'd had singletons. Oh well.

I've gotten to the point though, where I am fairly tired of buying/dealing with crappy stuff, even it is free with all my BR card rebates or easy because it's at Target (though a Marimekko collab is coming next month!) I've found investing in better stuff (even if it means I want to resell, i.e. more work, rather than give away) is a better investment, as buying on sale (and reselling) means things end up being almost free (and not crap, win/win).

I have a long abiding live for Garnet Hill, which is a catalog based company headquartered in rural New Hampshire.  I first came across them when I lived in Boston in the 90s and the salad dressing heiress/family I babysat for always had their catalogs around (though I wasn't the key target audience back then), so I'd look at them when I wasn't working or studying.  They have great stuff in their own brand (clothing and home), but they carry other great brands too, like Patagonia.  I could just use whether a store carries Patagonia as a barometer of whether they are my kind of store.  I've been wearing them since the 80s (thank you hippie dad, and preppy mom). I especially love Garnet Hill's swimsuits, dresses, leggings, backpacks, bedding, rugs, all in amazing fabrics. They have ridiculous sales (including their sales of the day), as do these all... (Pro tip: if you let something sit in your shopping bag for a bit, they may send you a free shipping email, good for multiple purchases.)

If you like Mini Boden, check out Little Joules...  Both are British and kind of eerily similar (Joules just slightly predates Boden), but I find Joules a little more my taste sometimes (they carry men/women/kids/baby).

If you like H&M, check out Zara...  This isn't really a revelation, as they are both somewhat ubiquitous "fast fashion", the first Swedish and the latter Spanish, but H&M has many more stores in the US.  We finally just got a Zara at our closest local mall.  Their girls' clothes are much nicer than H&M.  I also think of these stores in tandem as I discovered both while in Europe in 2001 before either had crossed the pond.  I mean that jacket, OMG.  We have the most gorgeous dresses from them.

If you like Tea Collection, check out Peek Kids...  Peek recently opened (and then sadly closed) three stores in our area, but they have a good website (they are also based in San Francisco), though I prefer not buy clothes online if I can help it (another reason why I can't live in a retail desert).  I'm not a fan of clothes (kids or otherwise) with lots of words (which they do) or branding (you want me to pay you to advertise, not this one), but they do have amazing Liberty of London print fabrics (more Brit love).

If you like Hanna Andersson, check out Polarn O. Pyret (or POP for short)...  I just discovered this Swedish company when we had our getaway in Minneapolis recently (they are at the Galleria in Edina).  I started talking to the saleswoman about the similarity and apparently the real Hanna Andersson once worked at POP and then left to start her own company (and you can tell).  They've been around since the 70s, but have just recently opened a couple of US stores (also in NYC and MA (Chestnut Hill, of course)).

If you like Skip Hop (zoo), check out Beatrix NY...  I discovered Beatrix (among others) at my favorite kids' store in Osterville, MA, Pocket Full of Posies.  We got them crazy cheap tablet cases there (which we finally filled last Christmas).

Happy Shopping!  Happy Weekend!

Starting 2016

I haven't been much of a blogger lately, but I have been slogging it out for awhile.  I'm entering my seventh year, though it has been much quieter around here since the kids were born.  It says something about my corporate job (and infertility too, I suppose), that the bulk of my nearly 600 posts came in those early years.  This outlet still holds a place for me that my other social media outlets don't and can't.  Facebook is not a blog (repeat after me) and neither is Pinterest or even Instagram.  And since I'm not selling anything over here (or anywhere), I have a little bit of a different take on each.

I'm finally getting around to reading "Quiet", which is amazing so far.  (Introverts unite!)  And looking forward to finishing it, so I can start on "When Breath Becomes Air" (you can read about it more on Cup of Jo and in the NYT) and then "We Should All Be Feminists" and "Between the World and Me".  One of my goals this year is to read more books...and actually finish them.  I've long been the queen of leaving books unfinished, and being on all the time for two busy preschoolers surely doesn't help.

The kids are doing great and we're all keeping busy.  We've done all sorts of classes over the years, but now we are trying to settle into a sport (dance for her since last fall, t-ball for him) and an instrument (piano for them both), though we'll mix it up come summer (tennis, soccer?).  We took a trip to the ENT to have Alistair's tonsils looked at and it turns out they are fine.  We are finally kicking whatever virus(es) have been plaguing us for the last few months.  Round and around it/they went...

If you aren't watching the last season of Downton Abbey, the last episode highlights that (spoiler alert!) having an incompetent cervix/infertility and cerclages are not new things.  And that others have had to move all the way to Boston to find themselves... I'm really going to miss that show (and yes I cheated and already watched the entire UK season online.).  Waiting for new Master of None and House of Cards (thank God for Netflix).

We just marked a decade in our house (and me in the burbs, the same amount of time I spent in Boston and Chicago combined), which means I've just now eclipsed even my childhood home for my longest tenured abode.  And we are finally almost done with the things we wanted to do here.  And in a few short months, it will be our tenth anniversary and my 40th birthday, which is all kind of crazy to think about.  So milestones and goals abound...

I still need to put together a post on our warm and wet holiday roadtrip to Nashville and NW Florida, so stay tuned!