New Year's Weekend

Another four day weekend! My in-laws are in town and they accompanied Luke to the TV station to film his promo for his NYE gig at La Cantera.

The resort just underwent a huge makeover and has a spa complex opening soon that I'm gonna have to explore. For you. You're welcome.

Pat and John watched the girls and I accompanied Luke to La Cantera - he dropped me off across the parkway at the mall (ostensibly to return a pair of shoes) while he loaded in his gear and had soundcheck. I went to Sephora to redeem a mascara voucher, bought a ridiculous patchwork rabbit fur purse from Jasmine, a super sweet salesperson I always chat with, and was caught bread-handed at the Bistro with a carb-bomb dessert by Luke. Nabbed! Anyway, solo mall-wandering plus mini date was just divine. 

photo by Mike Gomez

And then! The next day Pat and John treated us to a night at the new Hotel Emma. The lobby is full of wonderful little nooks ('microenvironments'*, Luke tells me). I bought the current issue of Lucky Peach at grocer/coffee/eatery Larder and we read here for a bit.

*reminded me of an interesting book from a while ago with a discussion of the prospect versus refuge concept that I think about all the time.

I've decided to become a hat-wearer.

The rooms are so beautiful and beautifully appointed. Even the toiletries smelled fabulous - I find myself today reaallly wanting a $36 bottle of body wash. The hotel has a signature scent that I brought home in the form of a candle from the most curated and lovely hotel gift shop I've ever been in. The lighting, the sheets, the aroma, the brass fixtures, the heavy curtains, the margaritas upon check-in -  the atmosphere was so sumptuous and sensuous. Ooo la la!

Too many superlatives sound suspicious but the shower did have the highest water pressure ever.

I'm going to wear hats because I don't brush my hair, which is both true and not a surprise to anyone.

Dinner at Supper, the hotel restaurant. On the way to our table I saw the kitchen-adjacent chef's table was unoccupied and asked to be seated there.

We faced the grill and looked directly into the kitchen.

We ordered too many dishes anyway but the sous chef brought us small plates of many more. Our server was delightful, the wine was delicious*, and we laughed and talked and ate too much and it was wonderful.

*simultaneously the most expensive bottle of wine I've had and the cheapest one on the menu

A weekend in San Antonio -- it's a getaway I heartily recommend!

In the morning we ran into friends on their way to brunch at our destination so we had fun catching up. During the meal Pat sent a photo of Josie where she Turned Into A Little Kid. She's looked like a baby to me until this moment. Bittersweet. And now we're calling her Bam Bam, although I realize now we meant Pebbles.

We spent Saturday and Sunday around the house and binge-watching Making A Murderer, an experience that threatens to send me down an Internet rabbit hole for weeks. I'm equal parts outraged and mystified.

The long weekend was so restorative in terms of time away as a couple and home time with the fam, and I was able to cook a lot. The grocery planning, the trip to the store where Clem sings "Oh My Darling Clementine" at the top of her lungs, the cooking - I love the entire process. I made pork tenderloin with cranberry sauce, broiled steak, roasted Italian sausages Luke claimed were 'the best ever', roasted a lot of veggies, tried out ATK's paleo chicken wings, made my favorite sausage and squash sheet pan supper, whipped up baked custard in the blender (very similar to this), and a flourless chocolate cake because I had twelve bars of bittersweet chocolate in the pantry. Eight more to go. I need to work more fish and shellfish into our meals ... but, ugh, fish.

I'm off to a pretty good start with my January goals: one weekend of meal prep, finished Carrie Brownstein's memoir, one date with Luke, 1.5 days of weekday vacation scheduled to de-clutter the house. I'm following along with Apartment Therapy's January Cure.

 Happy 2016!