The kids are in bed. The kitchen is clean. Backpacks are ready for the next day. And it's finally time for Hubby & I to chill. We plunk ourselves into bed, grab the remote, turn on the tv...and then it starts.
On Mondays and Tuesdays (24 and RH nights), we're good because we both like those shows (ok, I'm almost certain that I'm in trouble for divulging that little tidbit). But, any other day of the week it's a battle as to who gets to choose what to watch. Usually whoever wins agrees to flip to the loser's show during commercial breaks. But neither is us is 100% happy in that situation. Tonight I had to badger and lobby to convince him that we had to watch Top Chef. But I know that little "favor" is gonna come back to bite me smack in the middle of NBA Playoff season. Do y'all have a tv-sharing system that works?
Oh and we're committed tv junkies, so don't bother suggesting that we do something cerebral like read or play Scrabble. Because, really who are we kidding?
It never ceases to amaze me how major companies get themselves into trouble by making mistakes that, one would think, are easily avoidable. It all goes back to basic principle that there is a right way and a wrong way to do things. The case du jour is the fatal faux pas that toy company Ty made in creating dolls in the (not-so) likeness of the Obama girls. learly done as a ploy to capitalize on the popularity of the newly-crowned First Daughters, the company recently released the "Marvelous Malia" and "Sweet Sasha" dolls as part of their Ty Girlz collection of plush dolls - and get this - without even bothering to request permission from the Obama family. Um, hello? Anyone home at Ty? Did you think the Obamas would not notice?
It's safe to say that I had a blast last week. We had tons of family and friends come to town and stay with us for Inauguration and boy did we get our celebration on. The weekend began with the girls' weekly ballet class and SIL and her family driving up from Atlanta to spend some time with us. What a treat! Chatterbox and Giggles were beside themselves with excitment at having their big cousins to play with. We all braved the cold weather (it was freezing!) and took the Metro downtown to the National Mall and the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, where the kids reveled in display upon display of dinosaurs. We topped the night off with Blazy's Pepperoni Lasagna and hit the hay. Sunday began with a kids' birthday party and then Hubby, his friend and I headed to a reception hosted by the Young Elected Officials Network and the Chestnut Law Firm, that we were invited to by Justice Jonesie. It was fun! We met lots of movers and shakers, caught up with old friends and enjoyed hors d'oeuvres, an open bar and good music. It was great hanging out with Justice Jonesie and her friend K again - good times. SIL was a doll and took the kids to Port Discovery during the day so that we could attend the reception. That night we tucked the kids into bed and left them in the loving care of my dad and stepmom who arrived that morning to help my sister move to the area (talk about a hectic few days). All the grown folks headed to an Inauguration Jam where we met up with my ladies' crew from lawschool. At that point, hubby and I had officially gone out more than we had in the past several months combined...
The next day was our "Party Like A BarackStar" Obama Brunch. We had tons of yummy food and tons of wonderful guests. My best friend Danielle and her friend drove down from Toronto and arrived in the wee hours of the morning. I do have to shout out the stars of the brunch: my friend Danielle's ham & cheese quiche (heavenly!); my Dijon-Tarragon-Chive Salmon; and...our Inauguration cheescake courtesy of Eli's Cheesecake in Chicago!!
In case you haven't heard of this marvelous cakery, Eli's Cheescake is a famous Chicagoan institution, well-known for its delicious cheescakes and succulent steaks. Eli's had the honor of making dessert at the Commander-In-Chief's Ball at the National Building Museum in D.C. for President Obama's inauguration - a 500 pound apple cheesecake! Eli's was generous enough to send me a complimentary (slightly smaller!) version of the cheesecake for my Obama Brunch. How rockin' is that? Feeling left out? Not to worry, you can order your very own Inaugural Cheesecake from Eli's here (really, is it ever a not a good time to eat cheesecake?)
But I digress. After the brunch (and an impromptu emergency trip to the pediatrician) we went to the Young & Powerful for Obama Black Tie & Awards Gala. It was fun getting all dressed up in our tuxes and gowns for the evening. We had a good time at the ball and afterwards, inexplicably ended up in our car stuck in the White House roadblock, unable to get out. By the time we made it home it was after 3:00am and no sooner did I rest my head on my pillow did I need to get up, layer up, and trek down to the Mall for to watch the swearing-in ceremony with 2 million of my closest friends. Ironically enough, we drove all the way into town in Danielle's car at 5am with no problem and even managed to park in a parking garage. We walked through the closed highway tunnel and by dawn we were on the National Mall, making our way as close as possible to a big screen. We ended up at the jumbo-tron that was 2nd from the U.S. Capitol Building! Great location. The ceremony was awesome and being in that crowd, waving our flags with millions of emotional folks was an experience I will never forget. We trekked back to our car (it took THREE HOURS) in the freezing cold. By the time I got home I was ready to collapse; which I did, and didn't wake up until the next day.
Which is precisely when I realized that my cell phone was in Danielle's car. And the car was already back in Toronto.
All in all, the week was great. Michelle looked hot to death in her lemongrass ensemble and President Obama is the leader of the free world. Last week will be a hard one to top.
I went to the Victoria's Secret semi annual sale as I usually do to stock up on underwear etc. I bought for the first time thigh high panty-hose - not the ones that you wear with a garter, the other ones. Anyway, I figured that I would start bringing sexy back by dressing a little more on the daring side on a regular basis. I know folks who wear these under-garments on a reg and figured so could I - I mean, why not, I'm grown! Anyway, I put them on and left for work; as I'm walking down the front stairs of my house, I fell the left one slipping a little. I don't give it much thought. As I get to work and walking up the stairs, I feel that left one slipping some more. I walk down the hall....guess what, it's at my knees. All I could do is laugh at myself - nothing more. I didn't feel embarrassed at all. In fact, I just didn't care much. I thought - oh well, not quite ready to bring sexy back - maybe I've got to start a little smaller first and make my way to sexy. I'll let you know how that goes.
Ha! Made you look. Not that type of planning - vacation planning. It's time for us (read: me) to map out our family vacations for the year. I've got to figure out just the right combination of vacation factors: location, mode of transport, lodging, activities, etc. that will work for our budget, vacation time, and kids. As of right now I am toying with a trip to Disney. Now I've always said that I would never go until the kids were at least 5 years old+ but the 40% off promotion I got in the mail is looking mighty tempting. We could also combine a trip to Disney with a visit to the grandparents in Miami and drive up to Orlando, so that makes it even more appealing. But am I crazy to contemplate a major themepark with 3 young ones? I'm sure that if we make a stop in Miami we could convince a Grandma to come with us for backup...Are there even rides for preschoolers at Disney? It's been so long since I've gone.
Our second option is the Outer Banks. I'm excited about that one - the beach!! And a vacation home that will fit us all comfortably. And the beach!! Since North Carolina is withing reasonable driving distance, it's just a matter of finding a decent home for a decent price. We went to the Hamptons when Chatterbox was 1 - the day after her 1st birthday, actually - and we had a blast.
And with temperatures like the ones we're experiencing now, I am totally dreaming about summer.
Every morning it's a race to get out of the house and on our way to work on time. Since hubby and I carpool, things are that much more complicated because both of us need to ready at the same time. Throw in 2 girls who need to be readied to go to school, and a baby who could care less about our "morning schedule" (i.e. I'm hungry. NOW.) and each morning is the definition of chaos. One morning, as hubby and I were bickering about who-was-ready-before-who the day before, I said "I was on time. We always leave at 8:23am." Which he, of course, disagreed with. Anyway, since then I have been silently (ok, not so silently) keeping track of the time of when we walk out the door and sure enough, it's been 8:23am pretty consistently. Random, no? Fast forward to today at work when a co-worker of mine arrived into the office later than usual and with that flustered "I still have my parent hat on, don't ask me any work-related questions" look (you know the one). I instinctively said to him "One of those mornings, huh?" And he said "Yeah. If we are not on the highway by 8:35am, our morning is shot." And so I giggled to myself knowing that there was another family that had their "do-or-die" time for the morning rush.
And since I am writing this post about 1 hour and 45 minutes past my bedtime (Hello? Real Housewives was on tonight) it's a safe bet that tomorrow morning I will be dying.
Even though it's January, it feels like the holiday season isn't over just yet. That's because week after next is Presidential Inauguration 2009. Family and friends are coming to town, there are events to plan and attend, food to cook and outfits to buy. I already know that whole long weekend is gonna be crazy hectic. But a lot of fun. We have friends coming in all the way from Canada to Florida. What I am looking forward to the most (um, besides a positive shift in the political leadership of our country) is getting all dressed up and going out to party! We have babysitters already lined up and I just can't wait. Seems like so long (ok, since November) since I've been out on the town. As for the actual Inauguration events (swearing-in, parade, etc.) I do plan on attending in some capacity though I have absolutely no idea how it will all work out logistically given the ONE AND A HALF MILLION PEOPLE that have the same plans. But hey, it's a once-in-a-lifetime experience that I'll remember for years to come so the chaos will be worth it. Right?
Actually, now that I think about it, the streets of DC on January 20th will have nothing on the everday chaos in my house, so I'm good.
My computer is dead. Seriously. It just didn't turn on one day last week. WTH? But, whatever, I'm over it. I have been wanting to get a laptop anyway so it's all good. I am a bit sad about the photos that I had on my harddrive though. Luckily most of our photo uploading was done on hubby's computer (yes, we each have our own - he is a software engineer and is very serious when it comes to his pc) Anyway, I was going through some photos on his computer last night and found pics from when we went to the wedding of one of my best friends from college back in October, so I thought I'd share. Her husband is from Pakistan and so they had two ceremonies - a Pakistani one and an American one.
Day 1: The glam girls ready to party.
The Fergies: Party of 5
The Happy Couple
The Bride, L'il Buddy (knocked out), and Me
Day 2: Giggles enjoying the festivities.
Chatterbox doing the same.
The bride and the gals. They kept saying the bride was "like a princess!" And she was.
Giggles ran onto the dance floor during the bouquet toss and started busting a move. It was hilarious. She was like "What? Isn't time to dance yet?" It was great.
Still dancing...The single ladies waited patiently while she got her groove on.
Day 3: Time to go home. Chatterbox made out with a bouquet.
So did Giggles, but obviously she was more into the gummy worms.
It was a beautiful wedding and a great time. The girls really remember every detail and often talk about Auntie's "Meeting" - for some reason the word "wedding" just won't stick. And I suppose on many levels it was a meeting; a meeting of the hearts. Awww, aren't I the romantic?
Mamalaw is a group blog about three moms and wives who just happen to be lawyers too. We have seven kids between us which means that we have no shortage of funny stories, touching moments, reasons to rant and the occasional kernel of parenting wisdom. In our "spare time," we founded MamaLaw Media Group and the social media conference, Blogalicious Weekend. Read more here.
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The Fergie Household: Week of 3/22
Monday: Cracker Meal Fried Fish, Mashed Potatoes and Cheesy Broccoli
Day 1: The glam girls ready to party.
The Bride, L'il Buddy (knocked out), and Me
Day 2: Giggles enjoying the festivities.
The bride and the gals. They kept saying the bride was "like a princess!" And she was.
Giggles ran onto the dance floor during the bouquet toss and started busting a move. It was hilarious. She was like "What? Isn't time to dance yet?" It was great.
Day 3: Time to go home. Chatterbox made out with a bouquet.
So did Giggles, but obviously she was more into the gummy worms.
Mamalaw is a group blog about three moms and wives who just happen to be lawyers too. We have seven kids between us which means that we have no shortage of funny stories, touching moments, reasons to rant and the occasional kernel of parenting wisdom. In our "spare time," we founded 
