A Little Bit of Everything in Chicago

When we received our save the date for Matt and Adrianna's September 15th wedding, I thought perfect!

Perfect time to meet my sister's baby, due two weeks before.

Perfect time for the girls to spend time with their Michigan family.

Perfect time for my annual BBL treatment.

Perfect for a once-in-a-lifetime dining experience at Alinea.

Phone calls, appointments, arrangements were made. Mike snapped up tickets for the Kitchen Table experience at Alinea when made available July 15th.

Isla Jane was born September 1st. And she is perfect.

But first, logistics. Luke flew to Chicago on Sunday for the bachelor trip in an RV in northern Michigan. I had two in-town vacation days - I finished up work, took the girls swimming, got a $25 pedicure, and ate a very memorable pizza at the Nordstrom bistro - spicy sausage, broccoli rabe, drizzled with a balsamic reduction. Stealing those ideas for the next pizza night.

On Wednesday I met my dad at the airport parking lot where he left his car. My dad and I drove with the girls and met my in-laws outside of Chicago. Off they went to Kalamazoo with the girls in the backseat, Clem showing off her newfound skill of farting on demand. (I TOOTED! dissolves in laughter. It's terrible). My dad and I drove to my sister and brother-in-law's condo to meet the baby. Luke joined us a bit later, filthy from the road. My mom and dad flew back to STL the next day. That night Luke and I walked from our hotel to a sushi place in Old Town - the weather was perfect. WHEW.

In the morning we had brunch and went to Quenby's office for BBL treatments. Unfortunately, the pre-procedure photos revealed that I have developed melasma and am not a candidate anymore. (I plan to do another non-contraindicated laser treatment in the future). Luke had his procedure (photos below.) Zap zap zap!

With Mike and Eric outside Alinea.

I learned about Alinea from the Netflix series Chef's Table. It was absolutely thrilling and enthralling and I loved every minute of it!

This floral arrangement hung over the table obstructing the view...

Water was poured over the vessel and the dry ice vapors smelled divine. Then it was removed so we could see each other and into the kitchen.

Here I am, giddy.

I didn't take many pictures of the food because 1) they would turn out terribly and 2) I wanted to be in the moment. This is one of the dessert courses, a balloon filled with helium. Both the balloon and ribbon are edible. I knew I would enjoy the presentation of the food but had no idea the food would be so delicious, which it was... I anticipated my palate would be too unsophisticated or the menu unpalatable (fish eyeballs! bone marrow everything! thymus!) - I was pleasantly surprised that nothing was too exotic (brains! Which I wouldn't eat because #prions). We ended the night with drinks at Boca next door.

I utterly loved it and recommend it to anyone who loves food, pageantry, process, fanaticism, and frivolity. I can't wait to watch the Alinea episode again.

Postscript: Luke ordered a pizza three hours later.

I spent Friday morning with my sister and Isla and headed to Michigan Avenue for a pre-wedding hairdo and shopping. I walked back to the hotel, a sunny, slightly-too-warm walk in one of my favorite cities.

Wedding time! It too was perfect. Insider tip: have a bunch of professional dancers as guests at your wedding!

Saturday morning: Luke and I drove to Michigan, listening to the National. We spent the day with his family; here C has drawn some of her cousins and aunts and uncles:

On the drive home the girls watched Charlotte's Web (the song "Mother Earth and Father Time" makes me cry every time I hear it [how very special are we / with just a moment to be... SOB] and Lady and the Tramp during which I realized Peggy Lee voiced Peg AND Darling and the same actress voiced Lady and Merryweather from Sleeping Beauty. And Aunt Sarah is Flora? Did the Disney Studio only employ about 12 actors?!




Ah, post BBL! A few hours:

The next day. Freckles darkening and sloughing. I'll post an after later -- it's remarkable. No freckles, much diminished redness, and such even tone. Bae looks good, y'all.

Baby snuggles! World class dining! Family time! Couple time! Me time! Friend time! It was the perfect trip.

What's Making Me Happy This Week

// When I realized I warn the girls [to hush, to turn off the lights, to tidy up] "Daddy's coming!" precisely in the style of The Wire:

// I'm going to re-watch The Wire someday but first is Transparent (season 4 debuted on Friday!), Orange is the New Black, ten more episodes of Season 2 of Outlander... so much good TV! Not to mention movies. Still haven't seen Wonder Woman! Lady Gaga's Five Foot Two! I listened to Pop Culture Happy Hour's fall movie preview and I'm eager to see The Florida Project -- the director's earlier work Tangerine was so great (and shot on an iPhone!)

// Speaking of Outlander, it's an average show but so fun to watch. I watch an episode then listen to the podcast by the show runner and staff discussing each episode. Sometimes he brings on the writer of the episode, the producer, or the costume designer who is his wife. I enjoy hearing about the process - adapting the novels, casting, shooting locations, what's real versus CGI.

// I loved this essay.

// Eating foraged foods for the first time. Amanda and I attended a FoodRoof fundraiser that included a pop up by soon-to-open Bulrush restaurant. Atop the corn soup is a croquette made of acorns!

// Looks like fall, feels like summer: a visit to Carondelet Park for the Strange Folk Festival on a very hot Sunday afternoon.

"Take a pitcher of my jumping!"

Lately

Josie's Language is Developing So Much and It Makes Me So Happy

Facetiming with Daddy:

Luke: Hi girls!

Josie: [deadpan; Clem was downstairs] There's only one girl here.


Earth Science

Luke to Clementine, watching Bambi for the first time: Is Bambi going to be safe from the fire in the river?

Clem: No, there are sharks.

Josie: SHARKS LIVE IN SALTWATER! (Then she mumbled to herself for assurance, sharks live in saltwater.... I fink sharks live in saltwater...)



Princess Movies > Sports

Me: I'm going to find you a new swim coach now that Miss Alyssa went to college.

Clem: A coach? Like Cinderella?




Prodigal Pascal One of Clementine's birthday presents was a plastic figurine of Rapunzel's chameleon sidekick Pascal. He was lost promptly because of his small size. Sometimes I ask the girls where he's gone and lately Josie says: I think he went back to Tangled. Me: Back to the movie? Yes. I ordered a new Pascal and Luke and I are plotting his re-discovery. I'm hoping the girls will be beside themselves with his reappearance - delighting them is the highlight of our lives - but likely they will be nonchalant.

Wolves & Polo

On Friday night I had dinner with friends at Katie's and when I came home C was not quite asleep. "Mommy!" she said as I tiptoed up the stairs. Eventually she wheedled her way into my room which I protest against but secretly love the snuggles.

Saturday: Weights and an 85 minute yoga class. We stopped home briefly and then set out for the picnit that C had been requesting for days. I was going to drive by Faust Park until I found a drive-through nearby but I spotted food trucks there. We spread out the blanket, the girls surveyed the numerous birfday parties nearby (can we go? They got ballooms! [balloons]), and we shared sliders. (Josie and I shared sliders. Clem ate a bun or two.)

Carousel rides.

Knowing C would be hungry and having a little time to spare, we went through the McDonald's drive-through for a 10 piece nugget meal. (Meal doesn't really feel like the right word). I asked for a extra container and divided the nuggets before presenting them to the backseat dwellers for whom parity is everything.

These were the only sunglasses I had in the car; wore them all day.

The big event! I saw that Get Gorgeous was going to be at a polo event benefitting the Endangered Wolf Center and the event description included several kid activities and an entry fee of only $25. Horses! Botox! Facepainting! The name of the event: Wolves & Polo. To the point.

Having never been to a polo event before or having any idea what the venue was like, I opted to put the girls in the stroller which is leviathan but useful. It was so hot - so hot - and nice to stash my mom bag full of mom stuff in the bottom of it. Also, restraining the girls is always a plus.

This kind gentleman picked up us in a golf cart.

The view from the golf cart.

I made a beeline for the Get Gorgeous van because once the girls caught sight of the petting zoo and bounce house time was ticking. Botox at the polo match - fancy!

Facepainting.

Meeting the Endangered Wolf Center mascot. I was worried that C would be terrified of all the wolf pictures everywhere (thanks, Beauty and the Beast) but as you can see I'm taking this photo as she is sprinting toward the mascot. Who, she told me later, was "just a costume."

We will definitely have to check out the EWC, especially the Wine and Cheese Howl in which participants howl to get the wolves to howl back. (I think Luke will be really good at this - he's a very talented mimic.)

Petting zoo.

Bounce house eclipsed everything. The polo horses were passingly interesting to them but it could have been elephant ballet and they wouldn't have cared -- they love a bounce house.

Italian ices. It was blazingly hot and I had a lemon one and I don't think anything has ever tasted as good.

After another round in the bounce house it was time to go - everyone was hot and tired. I pushed the double stroller across the bumpy (non-playing) field, past the horse trailers (there were so many horses there), to the van, buckled each weary-whiny girl into her car seat, collapsed the stroller and heaved it into the van. Call me Sisyphus. I bathed the girls as soon as we got home to remove the layers of sunscreen and dust and llama-dander and they zonked out in their pajamas watching Aladdin.

Sunday: gym time, brunch with friends sans kids (eggs en cocotte with spinach and lardons of bacon larger than Jolly Ranchers - delicious!), a stop by the library to pick up a couple more Jim Harrison books (I'm enjoying the novellas of Legends of the Fall so much), getting ready for the week, Sleeping Beauty ballet on YouTube. (We've been watching ballets for a long time; I was searching the blog for posts about it and I can't believe all this was not quite 18 months ago!)

I saw the first wave of pumpkin paraphernalia in the grocery store today - this summer is drawing to a close. I have a few more summer things I want to do before these warm weeks pass... have a great one everybody!

What's Making Me Happy - Late Summer Edition

// "Look, Mommy, a mask!" Pretzels wif no spwinkles from the poolside concession.

// Clem was reciting The Gruffalo's Child and when she paused and I prompted her with the next line, she howled and said, "no, I was just getting my breath ready!"


// Dinner on the grill.

// Dessert on the grill!

// Dives.

// "I wanna take a picture wif Jenny."

// Lincoln in the Bardo as an audiobook. For your daily dose of devastation. This production features 166 narrators but the majority is performed by Nick Offerman, David Sedaris, and the author. I loved it.