A sweet memory!

It's pouring rain out and I just took out Guinness the dog for the evening.

A loathed task if there ever was one.

Just kidding I love you so much Guinness and all of the things we do together that involve picking up after you!!!!

I grabbed an older jacket I don't wear much at all except for skiing, apparently.

I found this receipt in the pocket from the last ski trip i chaperoned...yikes, I need to get back out there to maintain my perpetual-beginner level of ability!

Even though the thought of giving up most of my semester break weekends was tough, I always loved going on that trip and I miss those days.

Here's to a hopefully healthy weekend folks.

xoxo, natty

Squirming.

As seen in yesterday's picture, our little one is such a busy-body and wouldn't even stay facing forward and strapped-into a shopping cart. I even tried to make it tighter.

We were at Target, which is a good place to be, as I'm sure I'm not the only one who has that opinion. We were running errands which I don't like to do after school since the afternoons {heck, the days} are so rushed anyway but sometimes that just has to happen. I choose this Target that's a bit further out rather than the one that's directly on our way home because it's less crowded and there's a Babies-R-Us right next to it and I can get the jars of baby food that the little one likes {& are cheaper than the pouches}. We keep meaning to make our own but life/busy days.

And, just like that, it's almost the weekend again, funny how that always happens. Have a good one folks!
xoxo, natty ♥

Brunch is for jerks.

We met some family for brunch this morning; the meal began with cinnamon donuts and that's not a bad thing at all!

Have a good Sunday folks!
xoxo, natty ♥

My kinda night.

As is the norm, tonight was spent at home.

This weekend we will watch some Patriots' football and probably eat a lot. 

And try to stay warm; brrrrrr!

An easy read.

I started my new "book" on Tuesday's snow day and am over half-way; I recommend it if you at all like Amy Poehler.

And the weekend is just about here on a breath of FRIGID air. It's seriously cold and dry here, but beautiful and sunny and the days are getting a bit lighter each day now.

Here's to Thursday.

Back!

We returned home early this morning after an uneventful red-eye flight. I'm definitely grateful to be on the ground!

 

Baby Hanna was super happy to find a brand new chair with her name on it and just her size; thank you Grandma and Zaide for this wonderful gift!

We rested all day and are trying to get into the mood of a work week. Ha!

Woodland creatures.

Hanna Lu had a great day with her grandparents today. Mom got some time to herself too.

 

We're getting on a plane very late tonight; wish us good and safe travels!

Another leg of the journey.

Baby and I traversed to Arizona today for a 36 hour layover before heading home to Maryland. We already miss our California family dearly but are looking forward to our next visit.

She eschews Skymall for more high brow in-air reading.

It's really nice to have this time after a short flight to hang out before a longer flight LATE tomorrow night. And, going from Arizona to the east coast versus California to the east coast makes a pleasant difference. Have a great weekend folks!

Coffee drinker.

This is Zee Zee.

 

I got caught off guard this morning when I was lounging and enjoying baby's morning nap. May we all be so quick to take advantage of life's opportunities, even if you shouldn't really be drinking caffeine because it's not good for dogs.

Not too slow Sunday.

So our baby handled her late night quite well, putting on a little show for our friends and then even sleeping in a bit this morning...what a flexible young thing!

We're getting ready for the week and contemplating going to the Washington D.C. Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' {what a mouthful!} {free music and lights!} annual Festival of Lights, though it could certainly get tabled for another night this week since I have a day where I don't need to go into work {it's mid-terms and we always get one day where we don't need to proctor}. 

And, I'm mentally packing before I begin to actually pack for our big trip...we leave at the end of the week and are so excited to visit with family and loved ones!
xoxo, natty ♥

Who thought that was a good idea?

We have dinner plans with friends tonight and are going to keep our baby up late to socialize...this is big news around here when bedtime is usually six PM!

In other news, she and I went to the mall today to make some returns and who in the world made me think it was a reasonable plan to head in that direction this close to Christmas? It made me grateful for our family and the intangibles we have, and, honestly, for online shopping.

See ya on the flip side of a baby staying up late!
xoxo, natty ♥

Playing!

I had a doctor's appointment this afternoon {the doctor on a Friday afternoon...boo} so Michael and baby boo hung out in the waiting room.

She was very happy, needless to say.

Have a great weekend folks!!!
xoxo, natty ♥

Gears.

Today was Thursday and alluvasudden it's almost the weekend and another week has gone by. We need to get into some serious Navidad planning over here, gift-wise, and maybe even pack a bit before the buy-ness of next week takes over and we can't get off of that roller coaster. I also have a bit of arts & crafts with our baby I'd like to attempt in the next few days, but we'll see if that can happen.

Here's to the week, as quickly or slowly as it's going for you!
xoxo, natty ♥

Work and play.

Michael and I took turns today watching our baby while the other one went and did work in one of our building's common spaces {me} or played soccer {not me}. Meanwhile, I did not step a foot outside into the grey day until the fire alarm went off a bit after the babe's bedtime earlier tonight. A walk down 14 flights of stairs and half an hour later, we were all back upstairs and ready for bed {baby} and some TV {parents}.

Here's to a great week!
xoxo, natty ♥

Almost finished!

I started reading "The Goldfinch" a few weeks ago, almost.

 

It's really good and riveting and I've been staying up late getting further and further into the book {& I'm definitely feeling it at work during the day} because I have a time limit on this thing since I have it checked out from the library as an ebook - which is my recent favorite way to read books. Except for the whole time limit thing. I don't have another good book lined up which is a positive thing since I have a ton of grading coming up in the next two weeks although I'm number 2,334,353 on the library ebook waiting list for Amy Poehler's book and I'm looking forward to that one. 

Also, are you watching Peter Pan tonight? I watched the first part of The Sound of Music last year but never finished it and since we don't have a DVR right now it's tonight or nothing so we'll see if we can make it up that late...even though I've been staying up the same amount reading but reading is a better excuse.

One more day.

It's our last day of this mini-vacation before the blast of mid-terms at school and the holidays.
Our goals? Time with friends and a bit of preparation for the week ahead!
xoxo, natty ♥

Let's go see some lights.

On tonight's agenda?
Zoolights! For our child who will be up way past her bedtime and who probably won't even notice the lights, but it's a very pleasant day and a nice way to get out. Hope you're weekend's going well!
xoxo, natty ♥

A lesser version.

Perusing the market this morning I came across this:

I've been curious about tur-duck-ens for quite a while and I still am, I'm not letting this discourage my interest because I think that this is a mere shade of what it could be.

In other culinary news, White Chicken Chili and football were on today's agenda and both made for quite a lovely afternoon. We're taking care of some errandy stuff this week before heading north to Pennsylvania for some Thanksgiving love.
xoxo, natty ♥

How do you spell relief?

V-A-C-A-T-I-O-N. 

For reasons unbeknownst-to but ever so appreciated by me, our school gives us an entire week off for Thanksgiving. It's so crazy how time flies this time of year anyway but this whole week just seems to add to it. We have two weeks of classes when we return, then a week of mid-terms and then it's hasta luego until 2015. 

For now, I'm celebrating the weekend with this hound.

And looking forward to getting a driver's license, cooking, eating, resting, and rejuvenating our home in the next week.

Be well y'all!
xoxo, natty ♥

Good fortune.

As seen in yesterday's post, we got very lucky with kind coworkers and a bit lot of warm clothes for little babe...working in my school is such a nice thing for a new parent because there are tons of young families and things get passed around here and there.

We also just got a coat for babe-o {an actual new purchase} because we kept getting scolded by our daycare lady for Hanna's fleece coat not being enough in the recent weather...I just washed and dried it but haven't gotten it out of the dryer yet so hopefully the washing was OK and didn't ruin it or anything.

In other banal news, there was a raffle at school today for a fundraiser and we didn't win {womp womp}, then there was another raffle for pie put on by the parent association and I again didn't win {womp womp womp womp}. Raffles are my only approved form of gambling and I totally love a good raffle and the best part of today's disappointment is that though the parent association was raffling off pies, they still brought in a slew for us teachers to snack on during the day - everyone's a winner!!

Let's get to the good better side of Friday and have a great weekend!
xoxo, natty ♥