Here...

Ahem.

I'm long overdue for a post. Believe me, I know.

But you know what it's like when you just feel like you have nothing to say? Like you've shared the most mundane details of your life for so long and so people must know all there is to know about you? I have felt myself withdrawing from this blog and other social media for a little while now, and I really have no good reason for it. It's not like I suddenly discovered an overwhelming sense of privacy. And there's nothing scary/hard/embarrassing going on in our lives. 

It's just that I don't feel very relevant right now. It's like I turned 30 and automatically became too old to be cool. (I'm obviously joking except not really.) I know I'll snap out of it. This space and community has meant too much to me for too long to disappear entirely. But I may be a little quieter than usual. 

Until Stella gets her groove back, here are some things you should know:

-- I finished my Whole30. I think I mentioned that I was doing a "lazy" Whole30, which meant that I disregarded rules I didn't feel like following. Gum being the main thing. I had also been taking Plexus Slim for about three months before I started (I swear I'll never, ever try to sell you anything -- pinky promise!), which has some stevia or something in it, and I didn't quit that. And I know I ate salad dressings/meats/sauces that had hidden no-nos in them, but I very rarely deliberately cheated. I just operated under the working rule that if it looked fine and wasn't obviously non-Paleo, I'd allow it. I dropped about 12 pounds, which was necessary.

-- I am FREAKING OUT about the fact that Lauren and I are headed to New York in ten days. In the best way.

-- I was in Charleston for work this past weekend and have decided that I want to move there. As long as everyone I know moves there, too. Who's with me?

-- I'm utterly smitten with this sweetheart.

She's been extra funny and sweet lately. I just want to bottle it all up and save it for the days when I want to pull my hair out. :)

So anyway, I just wanted to let you all know that I'm still here in my little corner of northeast Texas doing my thing -- loving life and my family and Paleo cookies. 

Taylor and other things... AGAIN.

Just felt like dropping in and saying hi for no good reason. None at all.

Life has been calm and quiet-ish lately, though we did drive about 24 hours over three days to get to Missouri and back to Texas for Micah's family reunion last weekend. It was about as nuts as it sounds. Grace was sort of a bear on the trip there (which we did in one day) but was an angel on the trip back. And we had fun seeing Micah's aunts and uncles and cousins for the first time in several years. But I am henceforth boycotting any road trips longer than three hours for next six months. My mama heart can't take any more.

I'd say that Grace is, like, 90% potty-trained, which is kind of insane. Everyone says you have to let kids do it on their own timetable, and that has been very, very true for her. We're still doing Pull-Ups during nap time and at night, but she's sporting her Frozen underwear the rest of the time with very few accidents. Hallelujah and amen.

I'm going to see Taylor Swift in concert this weekend. Again! And I'm as excited as I was the first time around. Even more, actually, because I know how amazing she is live. There will be dancing and singing and red lipstick and fun with my best friend.

Speaking of my best friend. We booked a girls' trip to New York for November, and I am giddy. Like, SO FREAKING EXCITED. She has never been, and I'm always aching for that city. We've started making a "We Must See/Eat These Things" list, and here's what's on it for me.

– St. Patrick's Cathedral (since it was covered in scaffolding the last time I went)
– Stroll through Greenwich Village/Chelsea and eat/shop at Chelsea Market
– Serendipity for frozen hot chocolate (touristy, I know, but I've never tried it)
– Macaroons and/or gourmet donuts
– Spice Market for dinner
– Dinner on a rooftop

I just love that you can always experience something new in New York, no matter how many times you visit. We're staying at New York Palace, and I will very much be imagining myself into Gossip Girl the entire trip. (It's apparently where much of the show was filmed.) So that's exciting.

I'm on Day 12 of another Whole30. Ha. I know I crashed and burned on Whole30 #3, but it feels good this time, and I don't have any events coming up to tempt me. I've been a bit looser with the rules this time but have not had any legitimate, "Screw it all, I'm eating chips and queso today!" moments. And I made Paleo deviled eggs last night, and they are amazing. I'm fairly certain they'll be my go-to breakfast from now on. Which is just so weird.

So that's what's up.

P.S. Gracie is still cute.

{No. 13} Sleep Under the Stars...

While we were in Destin, I was sitting outside on the patio and looking out into the night sky, full of stars, and it hit me that I could totally sleep out there and cross number 13 off my 30 Before 30 list.

So we dragged down a mattress from one of the extra bunk beds, and I grabbed a couple of blankets, and I went for it. Micah wasn't interested in joining me (weenie!), so I had to go it alone. Which made actually falling asleep nearly impossible because every little noise became a rat and/or serial killer.

But I eventually closed my eyes, listened to the sounds of the waves rolling in, and fell asleep.

And then I woke up to this.

Glorious, right?

To be honest, it was some of the best sleep I've ever had. (And apparently Gracie woke up in the middle of the night and ended up in bed with Micah, and I completely missed that.)

Does this also count as camping? I say yes.

D.C.: Georgetown, Washington Harbor, the Smithsonian, and the White House

If you missed my recap of our first day in D.C., you can find it here. 

Our second day in D.C. was probably my favorite. It was also the busiest, and we were worn out by the end of it.

We slept in until nearly nine, which was glorious. After we got up and ready, we grabbed a quick breakfast to-go at a bakery near our hotel. Chocolate croissants for the win!

Our first stop was Georgetown. Y'all, this was my favorite spot in D.C.

The whole area is just adorable and homey and full of fun shops and restaurants. Unfortunately, there is very little metro access there. So we took the Circulator bus over, which was a breeze.

We weren't planning on eating again so soon after breakfast, but we spotted Georgtown Cupcake and decided we could make room for a treat.

I ended up with the Salted Caramel, and Faith got the seasonal Lavender Early Grey Teacake. Both were really phenomenal, which was surprising, as I had heard that Georgetown Cupcake was overrated. I've had many a cupcake in my day, and I can tell you that these were very, very good. Worth a stop if you're in the area, particularly if there's not a long line.

After we stuffed ourselves, we got off M street and headed toward Georgetown University. I adored the quiet little spots we found on the way there. And then the university, itself...

Just breathtakingly gorgeous. With trendy college students lazily lounging on the lawn studying. We popped a squat in the grass and took a selfie. Ha.

Next, we headed to Washington Harbor. We took a semi-shady (but still fun) walk adjacent to a canal to get down to the water. (On the way, some CrossFit enthusiasts stopped and tried to recruit us. #nothankyou)

This area was cute, but definitely more touristy. We ended up at a table outside at Tony & Joe's for lunch, and it was decent. Sequoia, just next door, looked much better and had tables that were up above the walkway, but we just weren't feeling brunch.

After we ate, we wanted to head over to the National Mall to check out a museum or two, but we didn't feel like messing with the bus, so we just called an Uber. So easy and cheaper than a cab.

Our first stop was the National Museum of American History. I can't believe this, but I have ZERO pictures from our time there. I definitely took a few, but they were all so dark, they're not even worth posting. We did geek out when we saw Dorothy's ruby red slippers, but to be honest, we were in and out of there in less than an hour. Very cool, and worth a stop, but neither of us are prone to dawdling.

After we finished there, we went to the National Air and Space Museum.

Y'all, this place was cool.

As soon as you walk in, you're inundated with actual planes and missiles hanging from the very tall ceiling.

 

There were just too many cool exhibits to share here. If you've only got time for one museum, I'd definitely recommend this one over the American History museum, particularly if you're at all into planes and/or space travel. Next time, I'd like to see the American Museum of Natural History.

After we finished up the museums, were were spent. We found a shady spot on the mall and sprawled out for a rest.

I think that if I had stopped talking for more than five seconds, Faith may have actually fallen asleep.

We finally got the energy to get going again and grabbed the metro back to our hotel. We grabbed a snack and a glass of wine, took quick showers, and got dressed for dinner. Our reservations weren't until 7, though, and we were both so sore, so we spotted a little massage parlor near our hotel and squeezed in a quick, 20-minute chair massage. Best idea ever.

For the trip to the downtown area, we decided to take the bus. We walked down to the White House and took obligatory pictures.

The last time I was in D.C., there was only one fence in front, so you could stick your camera between the bars and get an actual picture of the White House. Now there are two, so pictures really sort of suck.

Our dinner reservation was at Old Ebbitt Grill.

It's one of those quintessential places in D.C. that's not at all worth the hype in my opinion. The atmosphere there was busy and fun, and it's so very old school. But the food was only mediocre, and the service wasn't great. If you really want to eat near the White House, I'd strongly suggest the restaurants at the W and Occidental hotels or Cafe du Parc nearby. They have excellent patios and were significantly less crowded.

We actually grabbed dessert at Cafe du Parc. I had had the most incredible caramel popcorn ice cream dessert there on my last trip, and I was hoping they still had it on the menu. They didn't, but we shared the french macaroon ice cream sandwich (!), and it was every bit as delicious as it sounds.

After dessert, we were planning on grabbing the subway back to the hotel, but we missed the last train by 2 minutes. Our feet were so sore and tired, but we figured we could make the trip back to the hotel. It was less than a mile, after all. We ended up walking past a pretty happening nightlife area, which was very... entertaining. Lots of bros with popped collars and girls in four-inch stilettos. Not at all our scene.

Nope. Faith and I made it back to our hotel before 10:00 and were asleep by 11:00. That's what going crazy looks like for two moms of toddlers who are old ladies at heart. :)

D.C.: Day One

You all know how much I love to travel. There's just something magical about walking the streets of a new city and finding adventure in unexpected places. I'm addicted to the way it makes me feel.

As was expected, my sister-in-law and I had an incredible time exploring D.C. together. We were perfect travel partners because we have similar interests and dispositions, and we share a passion for eating delicious food. Ha.

We found cheap flights on Virgin (around $100 round trip per person), and I had credit card points saved up, so we splurged on an upgraded suite at Hotel Palomar, which was phenomenal. The hotel is fairly modern and new-looking, and the rooms are beautifully decorated and comfortable. It's located in Dupont Circle, which we found to be a great home base, as it had a metro stop (crucial) and felt much more homey than the downtown area did, though it was still jam-packed with fun restaurants and coffee shops.

We covered a lot of things in three days, so I'm going to start with Day One.

{Day One:  Dupont Circle, Capitol Tour, and National Monuments}

Our flight took off at 7:15 a.m. from Dallas, which meant we were up early. But that gave us almost a full day in D.C., which ended up working out perfectly.

We arrived in D.C. around 10:45 and decided to just take the metro into town. We bought SmarTrip passes, which were so convenient, as they can be used for the metro, the bus, and the Circulator bus.

We got to the hotel, and our room wasn't ready, so we stashed our bags with the bellhop and headed out to find food. The guy checking us in had recommended GBD (Golden Brown Delicious), and it sounded intriguing and close. When we got there and discovered that the menu basically consisted of fried chicken and fresh donuts, we were sold.

The food was incredible. So incredible that I was too busy shoving it into my mouth to remember to take pictures. We shared a meal of fried chicken, creme fraiche biscuits (I died), french fries, pimento mac and cheese, and donuts (I got hot cinnamon, and Faith got lemon curd). It was all as heavenly as it sounds.

We rushed back to the metro after we finished eating to make it to our 2:00 tour of the Capitol. We went through our House representative and were so glad we did. It was just us and our representative's intern, and he was excellent.

Everything was (obviously) so historically significant. The outside and inside of the rotunda were under construction and covered with scaffolding (why does this always happen to me??), but there was still so much beauty to be found in the architecture.

We left feeling incredibly patriotic and proud to be Americans.

We finished around 4:00, and our dinner reservation wasn't until 5:30, so we took some time to walk around the national mall and see what else we could find.

Just across from the Capitol are the Supreme Court and the Library of Congress.

Arguing at the Supreme Court would probably be the pinnacle of any attorney's career, so I snapped a picture.

And then we grabbed a bench in front of the Library of Congress and rested for a little while.

We were starting to feel the early flight, but we powered on and headed to Founding Farmers for dinner. This place was recommended highly by a lot of blogs and reviews of D.C. And the food was delicious, for sure.

We had the brie farm bread to start. I can't even talk about how good this was.

Then I went with the ham and peas mac and cheese (yummy), and Faith got the prime rib, which also looked tasty. Dessert for me was the strawberry rhubarb crisp, and Faith had the blue ribbon apple pie. Both were amazing, but the apple pie was really amazing.

After we finished eating, we headed to Union Station for the Old Town Trolley tour of the monuments. More on the tour, itself, in a second, but first I should mention that Union Station is worth seeing. It's huge and pretty and filled with shops, etc. We really enjoyed walking through it.

With respect to the tour, we opted for the nighttime version because it fit in the schedule better and because we had heard that seeing the monuments by moonlight was incredible. We were not disappointed.

While the tour only includes stops at a few of the monuments, the "trolley" (it's totally a bus) goes past a lot of them, so we got a good big-picture look at D.C.

The first stop at the FDR Memorial gave us an incredible view of the Washington Monument across the water.

I'm not very skilled at nighttime photography (I was really wishing I had a tripod), but you get the idea. Gorgeous.

The Marine Corps. Memorial was incredibly touching.

And the Lincoln Memorial was . . . on another level.

I can't describe it, but I'll just say that if you're ever in D.C., go see the Lincoln Memorial at night. Just do it.

The tour finished around 10:30, and we were spent. Like totally and completely done. So we caught the metro back to the hotel and crashed.

Day two coming up . . .

Stuff and Things...

// Daydreaming of D.C.  My sister-in-law decided a month or so back that we needed a girls' weekend in a bad way. We found the only free weekend we had in the next four months and then set out to figure out where we could go on the cheap. We found roundtrip flights on Virgin from Dallas to D.C. for $100 apiece (insane.), so we decided to go for it, and we are officially heading to our nation's capital next weekend! 

If you've got any tips or suggestions for us, we are all ears. For now, we're planning on a moonlit tour through the national mall to see all the monuments and memorials, exploring Georgetown, checking out a Smithsonian museum or two, touring the Capitol (we had to contact our state representative to pull this one off!), and sneaking a glimpse of the White House. We're also going to see the Arlington National Cemetery, the National Cathedral, and stuff our faces with delicious food (and cupcakes!). I can't even tell you how excited I am.

// Party planning.  Gracie's actual birthday was last Friday, but we're having her party this weekend because last week was just insane with work. We're doing a super simple donut and PJs party, which I hope will be a hit with my donut-loving kid. I've done basically zero to prep, and I'm praying it'll all come together on Saturday.

// Getting my ish together.  I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that I've been eating like crap, so I decided to do a Whole5 to get myself on track. (I didn't want to commit to the full 30 days just because when I finish I tend to go off the rails a bit.) Last week was amazing, and I'll definitely be doing that again.

// Wearing kimonos and cowboy boots. Y'all, I can't get enough kimonos in my life right now. Bring me ALLTHEKIMONOS.

And these ridiculously expensive cowboy boots are probably my favorite thing in my closet right now. I love that, in Texas, I can get away with wearing these bad boys all summer long.

// Staring at this face.

Why does she look fourteen? I cannot even.

What stuff and/or things do you have going on? Link up with Kristin and Joey and tell us!

Our next vacation...

... is unfortunately not to the Outer Banks.

When my most recent hearing got pushed back a bit, I checked the weather for North Carolina for late November, and it was cooler than I'd like for a beach trip. So we're saving that trip for later and will probably take Gracie with us.

Instead, we decided that we would head to...

... Austin, Texas!

I know, I know... it's a little anti-climactic given how much I love to travel that we're only heading south about three hours.

But I really wanted to stay somewhere nice and relaxing without breaking the bank, and the only way to do that was to nix the airfare costs so that we could splurge on the hotel.

And splurge we will.

We're staying at the Travaasa, which is a spa resort located just outside of Austin. We upgraded to a canyon room, which is supposed to have incredible views of the Texas Hill Country, so I'll be excited to share pictures with y'all.

But what I'm really excited about is exploring this cool city in a way I haven't done before. I've been to Austin several times for work and then once for my sister-in-law's bachelorette party. But none of the trips was longer than a day, and I was always there for very specific purposes, so I never really got to see more than the airport, my firm's conference room, or 6th Street. 

We don't have anything really planned out yet, but there are a few things we might try and do/see/eat while we're there. Most of these involve delicious food. (Spoiler alert: I will be throwing the Paleo guidelines to the wind this weekend. Expect many pictures of really unhealthy food on my Instagram.)

Donuts at Round Rock Donuts (we've had these; they're amazing)

Donuts at Gordough's

Franklin BBQ

Dinner at Oasis

See the bats fly on S. Congress

Breakfast tacos

Hike Mount Bonnell

Check out a Texas winery

Lunch at a food truck

Enjoy some live music

Black's BBQ in Lockhart

Sugar Mama's Bakeshop

If I'm missing something significant or if these things are lame, please let me know. We're really open to doing anything. It's crazy that Texas is so big that I have lived here my whole life and still haven't even scratched the surface.

New York: Day Three

Remember that time I went to New York with my mom and blogged about the first two days but completely forgot to post about the last one?  Yeah, me either. ;)

In case you've forgotten where we've been so far, go here to read about Day One (Greenwich Village, Chelsea, and the High Line) and here to read about Day Two (9/11 memorial, the financial district, Little Italy/Chinatown, tea at the Plaza, WICKED!).

{Day Three: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Central Park, and Rockefeller Center} 

The only thing my mom felt really strongly about doing in New York was going to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  Art is her thing (though it is definitely not mine), and I wanted to be sure we'd have plenty of time to see everything she wanted to see.  So on our last full day in New York, we got up and had more bagels, and then headed straight to the museum.  I adored the stroll through the upper east side -- the buildings were beautiful (as to be expected), and everything was bright and cheery.

When we got to the steps at the entrance to the Met, I had to stop and snap a touristy picture of Mom.

... and then I did the same thing once we got to the Monet water lily paintings, which were her favorite.

Since I'm not super artsy, most of what we saw was completely lost on me. But I did really love the Van Goghs...

... and the Faberge...

... and the Louis Comfort Tiffany stained glass.

For lunch, Mom grabbed a hot dog and I got a gyro from the street vendors at the Met entrance, and we ate on the steps like true tourists.  There was a live band playing for tips, and we had such a great time soaking up the sunshine and listening to the music.

After lunch, it was time to head to Central Park.  If you're new around here, you probably wouldn't know that strolling through Central Park (again) is the very first item on my 30 Before 30 list.

Crossing it off was so wonderful, as Central Park is one of my favorite places on the planet.  I can't explain why, but it just feels magical to me.  So we spent a lot of time there and covered a lot of ground.

(Belvedere Castle)

Our next stop was St. Patrick's Cathedral, which I had been dreaming of seeing again since my first trip to NYC.  Unfortunately, the entire thing, outside and in, was covered in scaffolding for restoration.  It was such a letdown, especially I had been telling my mom how beautiful it was.  But we saw it, scaffolding and all, and it worked out perfectly because our roundabout trek there ended up taking us through some fun, little, quiet places.

(Grand Central Station)

(Taking a much needed Starbucks break)

Plus, as we were headed back down 5th Avenue, we spotted the signs directing tourists to the Observation Deck at the top of Rockefeller Center.  This was something I had put on our "hope we can do while we're in NY" list, and we had the time, so we decided to go up.

I'm not sure why I envisioned that we'd just hop on an elevator at our leisure and head straight to the top of one of the tallest buildings in New York without a hitch, but I highly underestimated what a tourist trap the whole thing was.  First, we waited in line to buy tickets (for a certain time, which meant we had to sit around and kill time for 20 minutes).  Then, we waited in line to go up a couple of floors to the real line, where we sat for about 45 minutes, zigzagging through various videos about NBC and Rockefeller Center.  Then, just as we got to the front of the line to head up the elevator to the top, two guides came out and told us that they'd be issuing refunds for everyone because the visibility from the top was down to nothing because of the rain but that we could still go up anyway if we wanted to.

Awesome.

Since we were leaving the next morning, I told my mom that I wanted to go ahead and go up.  Because why not?

So we did.

And it was totally worth it.

Granted, we had to elbow our way to a window so we could get a peek (the majority of the "deck" was enclosed, and the rain made going outside unpleasant (although I did it!).  But whatever.  It was amazing to see the city from this perspective.  (My mom probably doesn't agree since she's afraid of heights, but she was such a good sport about it anyway.)

After the Rockefeller Center debacle, we were seriously spent.  We headed back to the hotel for a final afternoon nap (glorious, by the way).  For dinner, I had hoped we could score a last-minute reservation somewhere delicious, so I surveyed my Facebook friends for a recommendation.  Unfortunately, everything that was suggested was booked, so we ended up at a casual (but LOUD) Thai place by our hotel.  It was good, but not great.  But the fabulous company made up for the mediocre food. :)

After the utter failure at Times Square the night before, we had planned on going back so that my Mom could see it all a little better.  But she looked at me during dinner and just said, "I wouldn't be sad if we just went back to the hotel and had a quiet night in, but I'll go back if you want to!"  I had never heard more beautiful words in my life, so we packed it up, hightailed it back to the hotel, and fell asleep almost as soon as our heads hit the pillow.

As we were getting all of our stuff gathered to head to the airport the next morning, I started feeling all sappy about what a blessing it was to have been able to spend so much uninterrupted time with my sweet mom.  It had been a long time since we had traveled together, and I had forgotten how much fun we have.

I love you so much, Mom, and this trip meant the world to me.  Thanks so much for coming along and for making such incredible memories with me.  I can't wait to go back in ten years with Gracie and show her the magic of our New York.