A Birthday Recap

I had a pretty awesome (and extended) 26th birthday this year.

On Thursday I drove to Albuquerque to pick up my sisters.  I get really anxious meeting people at the airport (who knows why) but I was super excited to see them walking into the terminal.  We drove home, lounged around, and walked Cypress.  It was really cool to see Santa Fe through their eyes; since I've been here for 3 months I've gotten pretty used to the scenery and sort of take it for granted at this point.  When I came home from a walk they had pretty much conked out with jet lag so we napped, snacked, watched 30 Rock and had some drinks.

Friday and Saturday were spent hanging out and checking out downtown Santa Fe, along with Netflix and lots of yummy food.  We also visited my dad's alma mater, which Ashleen hadn't seen yet.  My dad's stories about the College of Santa Fe (now the Santa Fe College of Art and Design) were a huge reason why I wanted to come here when Rob decided to be a Hotshot.

On Saturday my sisters were kind enough to take me to P.F. Chang's for a birthday dinner because, as you all should know by now, I love me some Chang.  We even got all dressed up because we're awesome like that.

In the next photo I'm wearing Ashleen's hair extensions.  I totally think they work.

As we were getting on the highway to go to Albuquerque, a cop pulled up next to us and told us we were getting a flat tire.  To my (happy) surprise, I didn't freak out or cry at all but very calmly called our 24/7 roadside assistance program through our insurance (thank goodness we sprang for that).  I think we definitely looked like stereotypes when the guy finally came because we were all three in dresses, standing on the side of the road completely oblivious as to what to do with a flat tire.

Apparently I had driven over a bolt at some point because it was firmly lodged into my tire.  

In accordance with our stereotyped selves, Ashleen and I totally asked the mechanic, and the bolt was not supposed to be there.

Anyway we got the donut on the car, rented a car from the airport, and made our way to Albuquerque to ride the Chang.  It was a lot of fun and the food was delish, as always.

They left early in the morning on my birthday to head back home and I miss them already.  I had a lot of fun having fun and bullshitting with each other and it was a welcome distraction from the stress of fire season.

Later that day I ran errands and got the house ready for Robbie to come home. Natalie came over and took me to a yummy lunch at the Coyote Cafe to keep ourselves busy.  While there we found out that though the boys were home by 1 or 2, they had to work until 6, which was a bummer but a few hours doesn't really make that much of a difference when you've waited 14 days.  

Finally at around 6:15pm Robbie came home.  And it was awesome.  I had missed him so much, and the last few days before he got home had been rough on me in a few ways.  Mostly my stomach was in absolute turmoil from Wednesday until this morning and I couldn't eat without feeling crazy nausea.  What can I say, things are just easier when he's home.

Anyway Rob has 3 days off, so we're having an abbreviated birthday week.  I'm sad that he'll have to go back out so soon (most likely as soon as they go back to work) but I'm really thinking and hoping that it'll get easier each time. 

I hope you all had a good weekend, and thanks for the sweet birthday messages you left on my last post.  You're all amazing!

Lately.

Man, I've really let my blog slide in terms of regular posting.  These last two weeks I pretty much gave up everything extraneous (including Jillian Michaels, shame face) to focus on my mental health while Rob was away.  Call it excuses but I'm doing a lot better, and dammit you gotta do what works.

I had a real turning point last weekend where I stopped worrying about Rob leaving me or preferring to be working with fire than home with me.  There was nothing specific that initiated it but rather a combination of things--more time with fire wives, therapy, Rob calling and texting more often, etc. One of the biggest factors was that the fire wives and I made a sort of unofficial agreement according to which we can't talk about whose husband called and whose didn't (unless there is some news that all of us should know).  We realized that talking about it was just making each of us resentful and there really was no need for it.  I still fall into the pit of worry every now and then but for the most part I keep reminding myself that he loves me, and if he didn't love me he probably wouldn't have been stupid enough to marry me, and that's all I can go on.

Anyway just like the first breakthrough at the beginning of this fire call I know that my mind could easily slip back into old ways if Rob doesn't call, or if he does call and is exhausted, or for any number of reasons.  All I can do is take it a day at a time, I suppose.

This week all in all has been pretty mellow.  On Thursday my sisters arrived in Albuquerque and will be here until Sunday (which, coincidentally, is my birthday and the day that Rob's due home) and it's been so awesome showing them around.  My little sister in particular hasn't spent much time out west, so it's fun to see everything as new and exciting all over again.  The timing of their visit couldn't have been more perfect, quite frankly!

Today we're going to check out downtown, visit my dad's alma mater, and eat some yummy food.  I think tomorrow they're taking me to Albuquerque to ride the Chang, about which I am pretty damn excited.  I'm even going to wear my new dress because I'm awesome like that.

Anyway I believe that's all the news that's fit to print.  I'm feeling really awesome and lucky this week and I hope you are too.

Sisters' Weekend

First of all, as always, thank you guys for your sweet comments on my last post.  I know that sometimes I can be incessantly whiny when it comes to my husband so your tolerance is much appreciated.

This weekend was a much-needed respite from my few days of loneliness. On Thursday and Friday I sat in on a class for work, and I'm not sure why but I have a terrible time focusing in an LVC (online class) so I tend to get easily distracted by Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.  I made it though and got a lot of good information.

Also, I drew some shower art on one of our breaks so that Robbie would have something fun to see when he comes home.

Finally the class ended on Friday, just in time for my sister Ashleen and my niece to arrive at my door.  I stuffed my niece full of icing-covered brownies (like a good aunt should) and we were off on our way to my mother's house, who was watching Brielle for the weekend, to meet up with Megan.

My sister Megan, as most of you know, has an adorable little studio in Boston that I rather enjoy visiting when 1) I want to see her and/or 2) want a taste of city life.  Now that my niece is older and it's easier for Ashleen to leave her with family for extended periods, we've been trying to hang out at Megan's and enjoy time together.

On the first day we went to IKEA and holy schnikees you guys, why didn't anyone tell me how amazing it is?! I wanted every goofy little room setup we saw.  The most exciting part of the trip, however, was that I found a new table for Robbie and I.  Our current table is a hand-me-down, is ugly, and is rather big and obnoxious to transport.  We thought it'd be perfect to buy one at IKEA since the boxes are compact and easy to move.  I don't have a picture of the table but you can see it here.

By far the strangest development of the day, though, was the temperature. If you don't live in the Northeast, let me stress to you that it never gets into the 60s in January.  Honestly I think this has literally happened one other time in my life.

And though 60 degrees feels pretty cold in August, let me tell you that it feels downright tropical in January.

Anyway that night we went out to a little restaurant called Davoli's and got yummy drinks and delicious food.  My dad had texted us earlier asking us casually where we were going, and used that information to call the restaurant and pay for our meal.  How sweet is that, right?! I love my dad.

Also, check out how much of a classy bitch I am.

 

I know, I know, pictures aren't all the same width.

On Sunday we did lots of shopping which was bad for my bank account but great for my closet.  I just love H&M, as a side note. 

Ashleen and I got back to my house late, made dinner and crashed with my niece.  She left early this morning for work and I've been sitting in on yet another class, in between folding laundry, closet-purging and trying on a few of my new outfits:

Birds on belted dresses? Ironic "vintage" sweatshirts? I'm such a hipster.

Anyway, it was a lovely weekend spent with two of my very favorite people.  I'm really going to miss them when I leave for Santa Fe, especially because Ashleen hates planes and likely won't be in a hurry to come visit me.

I'm leaving for the airport in about an hour to pick up my husband.  He did very well at Fire Camp and made a few new friends, just as I expected him to, but he is more than ready to come home.  He told me it felt a lot like Basic training and he feels like he's been away from home for months.  I wholeheartedly concur.

Well friends, I hope you had a lovely weekend and an even better week ahead.

Family Weekend

This weekend I took a trip to Boston to take my dad out to dinner with my sisters in celebration for his 60th birthday.  I may not talk about it a lot but my sisters and I are really close with my dad (and each other) so it was wonderful to spend time with them.

We took my dad to a wicked nice restaurant with deeeelicious steaks and yummy drinks.  We had an absolute blast talking about my and my sisters' burgeoning prostitution business (inside joke) as well as more serious topics.  No matter what we're doing it warms my heart to spend time with four of my favorite people in the world.

 

After dinner we walked back to my sister Megan's apartment.  We watched "It's a Wonderful Life," but really my dad watched it and my sisters and I took silly pictures of ourselves using my iPad and Megan's Mac Book. If you're friends with me on Instagram (I'm tomakelovestay, by the way!) you probably saw your feed inundated with the images I'm sharing below (and I'm sorry for the poor quality...my iPad camera is iffy at best).

This morning my dad took us out to breakfast, where we had more yummy drinks (mimosas, margaritas, bloody marys, oh my!).

As a side note, my niece Brielle (who was babysat by my mother while we went to Boston) has officially decided that she will call Rob "Uncle Robbit," which is just adorable.

How was your weekend?

Holiday & Weekend Bits and Pieces

1. Our Thanksgiving was absolutely wonderful.  It was weird to think that this may (fingers crossed) very well be our last Thanksgiving in Maine for a few years, but I think we made the best out of it.  Rob and I spent the actual holiday with my family, since we will be with his for Christmas morning (gotta love married people holidays, eh?).  My dad was extra careful not to contaminate any of my Thanksgiving food with nasty stuffing or contaminated butter, and I didn't get sick so...win! My cousin and her five children, who moved to South Carolina last year just after our wedding, surprised the whole family by driving up in a blinding snowstorm.  We had a blast seeing them again and seeing how much her kids had grown.  I used to change these kids' diapers and now they're in high school - I feel so old!  Anyway after spending the day in my dad's house, full of love and family, we drove to Rob's parents' for more of the same.  We watched "The Tree of Life" with Rob's mom, dad, and grandmother but were extremely disappointed.  Has anyone seen this movie, and if so, did it make you want to tear your eyes out in boredom as well?

2. On Friday Rob, Megan and I all babysat our niece, Brielle.  She's two years old and as such can be quite a handful, but a damn cute one.  We watched a hell of a lot of "Dora the Explorer" on Netflix and spent some time rummaging through Auntie Keke's (that's me) purse.  What's hilarious is that though we've always called Rob "Uncle Robbie" around Brielle, she randomly started to call him "Robbit." We've never called him Robert so I don't know where she gets it from, but it's pretty cute when she yells at him from the other room, "Robbit! Come here!" Ah, kids. She also is rather fond of "Depess" (Cypress) and managed to get her to "sit" by screaming "SIT DOWN" in her face.

3. I think I'm getting sick. And when I get sick I get whiny. Whine whine whine.

4. Rob and I are planning a trip to Florida in December and I am so excited about it.  Rob has two moms and one of them lives in a town sort of near Orlando.  We're going down on the 17th to visit her and spend a ton of time on the beach.  Rob's not much of a tourist attraction guy so he mostly wants to beach it and maybe do some hiking together.  Regardless, it won't be 20 degrees outside so I'll be happy.

5. Megan and I are also planning a trip to New York City in February!  In 6th grade I started writing to a penpal who lived in Israel, and we've talked ever since (though now on Facebook instead of letters).  She's going to be in New York in February and I figured it'd be a great chance to visit her and to see the Big Apple with my older sister.  After dinner with my "penpal," Megan and I are going to see a play (we really wanted to see the Book of Mormon but it was going to cost around $720 for the two of us...so it'll probably be Avenue Q), visit 30 Rock and go ice skating!

6. Rob and I are gearing up for some big changes over the next six months (no, we aren't preparing to get pregnant) and we've been talking about it excitedly for the last few weeks.  We should know more by the time the new year rolls around so hopefully I'll have something to share then.

7. I had a dream last night that my sister let my niece swim in the Hudson River, and treated me like an overprotective aunt when I was freaking out about it.

How has your weekend been so far?