Month: December 2014

Red lips to the rescue!

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Modern Mrs. Darcy has a post up on Simplicity, productivity, and the personal uniform.  Yup, I’ve got that.  I’m a fan.

[Hi to any MMD readers who clicked over from my comment!  Thanks for taking a look around!]

My personal uniform remains, but I’ve been feeling a little frumptastic lately.  This is because I don’t usually add the completer piece unless I’m going out.  The baby would destroy my necklaces.  Why put on a scarf or a jacket if it is just going to get covered in spitup and flung food?

Let’s just say, I feel all of those What Not to Wear contributors who scoffed at Stacy and Clinton for saying they should wear nicer blouses.  Yes, I use burp cloths.  But did you know that kids can aim past the cloth?  Or I might not have one in reach?  There is a reason that my uniform is washer-friendly.

I also need to rethink my makeup regime.  I feel like it is all wiped off by mid-morning.  I’m not loving my hair lately.  I’ve got those bald spots and wisps thanks to the postpartum hair loss.  And all of this rain and humidity does not cute hair make.

Sum it all up to say that I’m not feeling super cute most days.  And this is not the best place to not feel cute.  The women here, they know how to work it.

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Enter the red lip!

I’ve been loving Boots Botanics lip gloss.  Mine is cherry, but I can’t seem to find it anywhere for a link.  It doesn’t pass the kiss test, but it adds a punch of color without getting peely, chappy, and flaky later like so many lip products I find.  (I know this is reading like a giant advertisement, but nothing sponsored here; I just like the product.)

I’ve got it right by the door and it is now a part of my going-out-the-door routine.  Shoes, strap on baby, jacket, red lip.  It’s not a salon blowout or a stain-free shirt, but it always helps me feel a little more put together.

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Yes, those are mirror smudges from a certain toddler.  And, wow, taking mirror selfies is crazy awkward.  I kind of can’t believe I’m sharing this with all of you.  Please, be gentle.

Do you have a fave lip gloss?  Any special thing you add to feel polished?

Da Media . . . for Kidz

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Ah, da media.  (Picture saying this like Ali G.  Clip is a bit NSFW, it is Ali G after all.  Do not click if references to elephants boning on the National Geographic channel offend you.)

Like many of you probably do, I feel very conflicted about screen time for my kids.  It seems that no screen time is the ideal experience.  But I watched TV growing up, and I think I turned out OK.  I don’t remember what I was doing at age two, but a little older, my sister and I lived for Saturday morning cartoons.  There was plenty of Sesame Street and Mister Rogers in there.  And I remember occasions when we would watch a movie, rewind it, and immediately watch it again.  Of course, we did plenty of other things besides TV.  But I certainly don’t remember my mom obsessing about TV as much.  (I may have blocked it out; I do that sometimes.)

Besides thinking that surely some screen time can’t hurt, I worry that I could be missing a useful tool.  I thought of this again when reading Hanna Rosin’s piece, The Touch-Screen Generation.  The article is from last year and is pretty long, but it has some interesting thoughts, particularly on games for touch screens.  We don’t have an iPad or similar, but I think about uses for the computer.  Henry and I read books about kangaroos and we can instantly look up videos of kangaroos on YouTube.  How cool is that??  We’ve also looked at Harrier Jets, bees, frogs eating flies, and caterpillars becoming butterflies.  When I was a kid, we’d just have to wait and hope Mister Rogers covered it.

These videos are definitely the exception rather than the rule.  I try to avoid videos because Henry becomes a shrieking rage monster when he has to stop watching, and the few minutes of downtime are not worth the aftermath.  At the moment we watch one twenty-minute Winnie the Pooh episode per day and a movie on Fridays.  The Pooh is used to entice him inside from the playground for lunch (I can’t just scoop him up because I’m wearing Mac) and to allow me to feed the baby without Henry trying to tackle me.

I have no idea how this compares to most people.  Should I care?  I don’t want to, but this is an issue where it is easy to feel judged, no matter what you do.  Rosin’s article notes that experts tend to view an hour of screen time as a zero sum game, meaning one hour of TV is one hour of time not spent interacting with parents.  But that isn’t really the way the world works.  There are many hours in the day, and I know that the kids get plenty of interaction, playtime, and downtime.

But.  I’m sure I’ll always feel uneasy.  I feel like I have to justify myself, like I’m justifying to you now.  And it will only get harder as they get older.  The general approach is avoidance, but I’m hoping for memories like making popcorn and watching a movie together.  Watching football on Saturdays.  And I don’t want to just bury my head in the sand thinking about apps and games.  Sigh, one step at a time.

What’s your screen approach?  Any apps or programming you recommend? 

 

So what do you do with all that turkey . . . ?

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We had a great Thanksgiving.  I have a lot for which to be grateful.  I’m always thankful for my family and friends, here and back home.  I’m also thankful for many things in Rome.  We’ve met many wonderful people.  We are living in a great place with friendly neighbors, elevators big enough to fit the double stroller, and a playground outside the front door.  There is much to be thankful for indeed.

I’m thankful we got to share a traditional Thanksgiving meal with friends here.  And Thanksgiving meal means leftovers!  I don’t get sick of these.  Here’s what we did:

Slate recommends a Thanksgiving burrito.  We didn’t go that far, but we did start off with plain heated leftovers.  Our issue was that we ran out of turkey much earlier than I would have liked.  After some calculations, I decided that a 10-15 pound bird would be good.  I did tell James that “on the low end of that range should be enough.”  Apparently there was some miscommunication, and he came home with a 9.5 pounder.  I can only blame myself for lack of clarity.  (I mostly blame James.)

So we moved on to other things.  Behold, our french toast casserole sweet potato souffle.  For this one, I soaked leftover french bread with milk, eggs, cinnamon, and vanilla overnight (loosely following this, but with way less milk and egg), and baked in the morning with a topping of sweet potato souffle.  Our souffle topping is very similar to the one on the french toast so it worked.  Oh, did it work.  This was a definite winner.

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We also did chili mac and cheese.   Step one: make chili.  Step two:  place it over heated macaroni and cheese casserole.  And voila!

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Even though we were working with a turkey deficit, we did make turkey soup.  Kind of followed this recipe.  (Many of these recipes are called turkey carcass soup.  I know that is exactly what it is, but I wouldn’t mind a little gloss on it.)  I browned sausage and then sauteed the veggies in the sausage grease.  As the recipe suggests, I added a dollop of leftover mashed potatoes.  Now that I’m getting sniffly, this one has been particularly awesome.

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What about you?  What have you been eating?  Any exotic leftover traditions?

The height of fanciness . . . let’s talk utility vests

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Once upon a time when talking about Roman fashion, I promised you more on what you really wanted.  You’ve been patient.  And now the wait is over, my friends.  That’s right, it is time to talk utility vests, the wardrobe essential for Roman men of a certain age.  Or any age really.  Because when asking yourself whether your outfit would be better if you added a utility vest, I hope the answer is always a resounding heck YES.

James collected all of these photos on a single commute.  Not a to-the-office-and-back-commute.  Just on a one way trip.  Granted, the photography leaves something to be desired, but when you are asking your husband to pap random Italian dudes with a cellphone, you take what you can get.  (Thank you, James.  Mmmmwah!)

So let’s get to it.  But why the birds you ask?  Or you will ask once you see these amazeballs utility-vests-in-the-wild photos.  I put a bird on it to protect the fabulous.  #putabirdonit  (I admit that pixelated faces would have been way cooler, but my photo editing skillz are only so advanced.)

Exhibit A.  Here, we have a pretty standard example of the utility vest.  Sleeveless.  Many pockets.  Probably for handkerchiefs and Parmesan.  Or whatever it is Italian dudes carry around with them.

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Exhibit B.  Did I make you look twice?  Yes, that is a different dude.  But don’t think that all utility vests have to be dark.  You can have fun with color!

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Like sand!

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Or even red!  This is actually the only red vest I’ve ever seen.  Maybe because this gent is of a much younger demographic than most utility vest wearers.  At age 40, you probably have to hand in all of your brightly colored vests.

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Here’s another youngin.  As you can see, it is never too early to vest up.

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I adore the quilting on this one.  (This is 100% not sarcastic.  I’ve been seeing some really cool quilted puffer coats as well.)  So it is good to know that you have both everyday vest and dressy vest options.  #dressyvest

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I only barely edited this photo.  That dude is killing it from a street style perspective.

And thus concludes this utility vest roundup.  The next time you’re in Rome, don’t be surprised that many of the men look like they are about to go fishing.  I’m dying to know how this became a fashion staple.  Where do they find them?  I’ve never actually seen one in stores.  And do you have one vest or a whole closet of vests for all occasions?  Inquiring minds need to know!!

#vestupson #vestlife #vestsFTW

Munich on my mind

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Ya’ll, we are heading to Munich and Nuremberg soon!  I’m very excited.  There is still a lot to do.  I need to get to work on a game plan and picking restaurants.  But I’m stoked.  Things I am excited about, in no particular order:

The Christkindlmarkts  A main reason for the trip.

Gluhwein  I’ve tried making my own mulled wine at home, but it is never as good.

Gebrannte Mandeln Those sweet, street almonds are my jam.

Seeing Henry’s face at BMW Welt

Seeing Henry’s face on the planes and trains

German beer  I heart wine.  And I’m giving Italian beers a shot.  But I’m pretty excited for some German beer.

Seeing if I remember any German  I did a year of study abroad in Germany, but this was ages ago.  My German was never that great, but I got around.  Now with Italian, I get frustrated because I feel like I can say all these things in German.  Time to put my money where my mouth is . . .

I am less excited about:

The Cold  Although you’d never know it by looking at the Romans wearing sweaters, scarves, and puffer coats, we’ve been enjoying temps in the 60s here still.  Munich, not so much.  It will probably be closer to the 30s.  I think it does make the Christmas markets special when it is actually cold, but we’ll have to be prepared.  As long as it doesn’t rain, I promise not to whine too much.  The forecast calls for “ice pellets” on one day.  Gulp.

Sharing a hotel room  We looked at some airbnb, but eventually opted for a hotel that claims they will give us two cribs and that they will both fit in our room.  This could be interesting.

Anyone been to Munich lately?  Any recommendations??

Lessons from a (failed) NaNoWriMo

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At the start of November, I proudly announced that I would be participating in National Novel Writing Month, a project where you endeavor to write 50,000 words in a month.

And like the last time I announced a goal to all of you, I failed.  I blew it.  Instead of 50K, I clocked in at just over 10,000 words.

So why did this happen?  Why can’t I carry through?  I promise, I’m not usually like this.  Get off my back, internets!!  Sorry, sorry, just feeling a little defensive.  But I do have some thoughts and things to try differently next time.

If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail

Without heeding my boy, Benjamin Franklin, I did not put together a writing schedule.  The first day (a weekend), I cranked out more than 2000 words.  This will be easy, I thought!  Look at me go!  I’ll just spend a little less time surfing the internet each day, and I’ll be fine, teehee!

Well.  It got harder.  The words did not just magically flow from my fingers.  And I realized that (hopefully) two hours of nap was not enough time for me to eat lunch, respond to a few emails, draft a blog post, and write 1700 words.

So to make it work I would have to (A) cut back on my blog posting, something I did not want to do, or (B) carve out time in the morning or evening to write.  Option B should have been palatable, but I just couldn’t stomach it.  I realized . . .

I’m still fighting feeling too scheduled

I wrote before that my favorite thing about being SAH is the breathing room.  I don’t feel rushed all the time.  Before, it was get Henry up at this time, feed him and dress him and spend time for X minutes, and get him out the door or James would get stuck in traffic.

Now I enjoy the flexibility.  I like feeding Mac and knowing we can just stare at each other.  Granted, there are other interruptions *cough* Henry *cough* but the time just feels different to me.

I absolutely could have made time in the morning or evening and still had plenty of time to stare at Mac.  I just didn’t want to.  I’m rebelling against schedules.  The pendulum was very far in the scheduled direction previously and now I am enjoying being way in the other direction.  I’ll get back to the middle eventually.

Mornings with Mac are still unpredictable, but they are getting better.  In the not too distant future, I’d like to have mornings where I get up, exercise, and spend some time writing before the kids get up.  And when I do, I’d like to . . .

Focus on writing time and not word count

NaNoWriMo picks 50,000 words as “a difficult but doable goal, even for people with full-time jobs and children.”  The idea is that you write words without focusing on your inner critic.  A crappy first draft is better than no first draft.

And I get that.  I agree that there is value in silencing your inner critic.  But I felt like I was writing just to get words out.  Flinging them onto the page to meet a tally.  I’d like to spend a little more time.

The word count also made me discouraged.  Once I got behind, it started to feel impossible to catch up.  I’d like to try more of the Jerry Seinfeld approach on motivation.  Don’t break the chain.   Eventually, I’d like to have a daily writing goal, even if it is just for 15 minutes.  That doesn’t sound like much, but it adds up to more than 90 hours a year.

So we’ll see.  I’m not there yet.  Maybe I’ll try NaNoWriMo again.  Maybe not.  I didn’t get into the Berlin marathon like I hoped (sad face), but at least you guys won’t have to hear about failed running goals anytime soon.  Right now I’m going to just keep trying to blog every weekday.  This seems to be a good goal for me for now.

Did you NaNoWriMo?  How’d it go?