La Petite Chic

The Weekend in Photos

Great friends, great wine and great weather:

 

Run-in with Andy the wine boy, part deux:

   

A fabulous husband who makes me laugh:

 

New pumps:

 

New boots:

 

New floors to replace the above ugly carpet (to be installed by us in a few weeks):

 

A sweet nose kiss from my baby:

 

And a yummy homemade chicken pot pie, inspired by Ashley's post and autumn:

What were you all up to this weekend?

For Better or For Worse

Thirty-nine years ago, the first man walked on the moon.  Woodstock was attended by hundreds of thousands of hippies.  The first draft lottery was held since WWII.  But most important to me, thirty-nine years ago today, my parents were married.  My mom just celebrated her 56th birthday last month and my dad will celebrate his in December.  Go ahead, I'll wait while you do the math. 

For those counting, yes, that means my parents were 17 and 16 when they got married.  They had just entered their senior year of high school and were completely in love, and no, my mom wasn't pregnant!  In reality, getting married that young wasn't all that unusual in 1969.  I remember pouring over my mom's old yearbooks as a little girl and her pointing out which of her friends had also gotten married that year.

After the wedding, they moved in with my dad's parents and as my mom tells it, living with her in-laws for the first year of marriage was a challenge!  Though my dad was offered a full football scholarship for college, he turned it down as he was now a married man and had to enter the workforce once they graduated from high school.  And that draft lottery held for Vietnam?  Just a year after they graduated, my dad was notified that his draft number was 27 (out of 365!).  Knowing that he would definitely get called since it was such a low number, my dad decided to volunteer instead.  His luck took a turn for the better though, when A-M (according to last name) of his platoon was sent to Vietnam and N-Z was sent to West Point to be Military Police.  He was probably never happier to be a Sloan!  Still, I can't even imagine the stress that put on my parents in the very early years of my marriage, but like always, they persevered.

My parents have so many heartwarming and hilarious stories from their 39 years of marriage, but one of my favorites actually happened during their first year of marriage.  It was their senior year of high school and they were having their senior portraits done.  In my mom's version of the story, the photographer was a very sweet, yet blatantly gay man.  As they still do today, the girls wore drapes for their senior formal portrait.  As the photographer helped my mom arrange the drape over her shoulders, out of nowhere, my dad came running over and punched the photographer in the face for "getting fresh" with my mom!  My dad swears to this day that the photographer was trying to grope her!Whatever the case, the photographer refused to shoot my dad's portrait, thus his name is featured in the back of the yearbook with the caption "No picture available" under it.  And my poor mom?  Her senior portrait shows her with a tear-streaked face and puffy eyes from crying!  And Jon wonders where I get my jealous streak from...

Jon and I got married at the same church, the same altar, as my parents.  Fittingly, my parent's marriage has truly been the best example for me in my own marriage.  I've learned that it's full of ups and downs.  Sometimes you absolutely want to smack your husband (or wife) in the head, while at other times, you want to smother him in kisses.  There are times when he embarrasses you and there are times when he makes you swell with pride.  There are arguments and disagreements and then there are times when you couldn't feel any more united.  Marriage takes work and dedication and most importantly, a sense of humor!

Thanks, Mom and Dad, for showing me how to be a good wife and how to have a successful marriage.  Congratulations on celebrating your 39th wedding anniversary!

Well, That Didn't Last Long

Ummm, yeah...so about that birthday money?

This knocked on my computer screen today and begged me to free it from the Old Navy warehouse: 

   

Would you have been able to say no to that?  Not only is it my favorite shade of green (and oh, how impractical a shade of green it is!), it is also available in petite sizes, something you can't find in the Old Navy stores.  My wee arms and torso thank you, OldNavy.com, for thinking of the petite girls out there who want coats that hit their arms and legs in the right places.

It's available in four shades (mine is called Green Envy) and is completely affordable at just $89.50.  And if you're anything like me and refuse to make an online purchase before scouring Google for discount coupons, you can get $10 off $75, plus free shipping by entering the code SHOPNSAVE at checkout by tomorrow (9/25).  You know you want to.

All I Ever Wanted

Jon and I had only been dating about a month before my 23rd birthday.  As such, we celebrated it quietly and inexpensively as any new couple might.  One thing I might not have mentioned about Jon, save for his apple pie baking skills, is that he is a fabulous chef.  I tend to cook most of our meals now, only because he's in grad school twice a week, but the boy really can cook.

On that first birthday together, he made me my favorite pasta dish, rigatoni a la vodka, from scratch.  It's a dish I first had while at college in Richmond, at the amazing Pasta Luna*, and he knew how much I craved it.  His version was absolutely delicious and tasted much like the original, but wouldn't you know, he hasn't made it for me since that first birthday.

He was planning on finally making it for me again for my birthday on Sunday, but by the time we got back from our weekend at Penn State, neither of us wanted to push a cart through the grocery store to pick up the ingredients.  Thus, my birthday dinner ended up being spinach dip and chicken wings, devoured in front of the t.v. to catch the football game! 

Despite not getting my homemade rigatoni a la vodka, Jon did spoil me rotten in an effort to soften the blow of entering my late twenties (thank you, Daddy Dan, for considering it mid-twenties, but I think SLynnRo may be right).  Not only did he get me the SpookyTown cruise ship for my collection, he also bought me not one, but two Coach bags!  Okay, so I've known about them for a month or so since I picked them out, but still, two whole bags! 

The first is a black leather Lunch Tote (what an odd name!) which I'll be using as my everyday fall/winter bag.  The shape fits perfectly on my frame, the straps stay on my shoulders, it has pockets a plenty and most importantly, it holds all my crap!  I like it because it's simple and timeless and it doesn't have the loud Coach logo emblazened across it.  Since I haven't had time to take a picture, here's one I found on Ebay:

 

He even bought me the most darling Coach houndstooth scarf to tie on it. 

The second bag is a Heritage Swingpack in a tasteful mono print in tan with turquoise accents.  He bought it specifically with all of our travels in mind because, as he put it, my little Burberry pack is "looking ratty".  I think not, but who am I to turn down a new travel bag?!  I couldn't find the exact color combination online, but here is one in pink...just imagine mine with turquoise accents!  It's the perfect bag to take on day trips while on cruises or vacation.

 

Oh, and in addition to all the gifts, Jon baked me a homemade apple pie which we ate at the tailgate on Sunday.  He even brought candles for me to blow out, but unfortunately, the wind wouldn't cooperate and I only managed to blow out one because the wind kept extinguishing them as soon as they were lit.  He's an awesome hubs :)

Speaking of awesome, I got the best birthday package in the mail from Jon's parents yesterday.  Inside I found a gorgeous J.Crew cardigan, a Gap sweater in my favorite shade of green, a handy monogramed notebook for my purse (great for writing down blog ideas on the go!) and best of all, a Halloween candle holder with a spooky witch standing in front of a huge full moon.  I'll be sure to take a picture of it when I post my Halloween photos.  Coming from Bethlehem, PA, there were, of course, Halloween Peeps and Tastykakes in the package too!

My parents, knowing me all too well, gave me cash which I'm trying to hold onto for at least a week.  Money tends to burn a hole in my pocket.  I have several ideas of what I might like to spend my money on, but haven't made any decisions yet.  The front runners so far are a fixed 50mm lens for my camera, a new pair of tall, leather boots, or some nice clothes to add to my fall wardrobe.  Or I could save it to pay for my $1,400 do-over root canal, which is going down next Tuesday, though that would barely make a dent in the bill.  Ugh, do you all have any better suggestions?

*Please, if you live anywhere near Richmond, Virginia, get your hiney to Pasta Luna.  Best Italian ever!

Here's Looking at You, 27

I've been stubborn since the womb.  My actual due date was August 31st, my paternal grandpa's birthday.  I still hadn't budged three weeks later, so they decided to induce my mom around 6:00 AM on September 21st.  She told everyone that I would be here by noon.  I had different plans.  At 10:40 PM, I finally decided to give the outside world a try at all of 23 centimeters and 7 pounds 12 ounces. God bless my mother!  It's hard enough being 9 months pregnant in the throes of summer; just imagine how awful it must have been to go 3 whole weeks over your due date!  By that point, my poor skin was dry and cracked from the amniotic fluid drying up and I swear that's the reason for my sensitive skin today.

My mom had to use fertility drugs in order to get pregnant with my sister, so when she found out that she was pregnant with me the day before my sister's first birthday, my parents were a little shocked to say the least.  I would venture to say that I've been surprising them ever since.  There's the time I came home from softball practice and announced that I was the team's new catcher (my mom refused to come to those first few games because she swore her tiny girl would hurt) or the time when I came home with a trumpet and announced that I was now taking band (thankfully for their ears, I switched to alto sax) or most importantly, the time when I came home for the weekend and announced that I met the man I was going to marry (and that I did two years later).

I've always been a picky girl and apparently that can be traced back to infancy too.  Disposable diapers?  Not for this tush!  My mom used to get furious with my dad because he never wanted to clean the cloth diapers and would try to sneak them into the trash.  Dad, I probably would have done the same thing!  When I was switched from breast milk to formula, that didn't sit well with my sensitive stomach so I had to be fed the more expensive soy milk.  Funny, my stomach is still super sensitive and milk hasn't touched these lips since I was four!  Have I mentioned I don't like change?

I have just about two hours left of being 26 and as is customary on each of my birthdays, I'm sad that I'm getting older.  Is 27 considered mid-twenties or late twenties?  Please don't answer that!  I have a feeling that 27 is going to be an amazing year though, so I can't really be too sad.  Jon and I will move from our condo and buy our first house this year.  We'll celebrate our 3rd (!) anniversary this year.  And the thing I'm most excited about, we'll start trying for our first baby this year!  How can I not look forward to being 27?  Happy birthday, indeed!

Guess Where I Am?

For my honey, go PSU!!

Dental Woes

I've written about my fear of the dentist before (actually, almost precisely one year ago!).  I wouldn't go so far as to call it a phobia, though there is such a thing as dentophobia, but I do suffer from involuntary shakes the moment I sit the chair.  I would say that any fear that causes a physical reaction is pretty darn bad. 

It must run in the family as my normally stoic father turns into a howling child (seriously) the moment any dental procedure other than a cleaning is administered to his teeth.  My mom stopped going to the dentist with him after the time he yelled so loud during his appointment he scared a little boy in the waiting room.  That's okay, pops, I get you!! 

So anyway, where I'm going with all of this?  Right.  During our anniversarymoon, I noticed a large lump on my gum, right above where I had a root canal 6 years ago, of which the crown was replaced several months ago.  The lump wasn't painful and it's not like I would have been able to do anything for it in Mexico, save drinking lots of tequila to numb it.  I called my dentist early this week and they were able to squeeze me in on Wednesday to take a look at it.

Well, folks, the prognosis is not good.  The lump is actually an abyss, which was caused by an infection in the tooth that has the root canal.  Apparently, when I had my root canal, all of the dead nerve was not removed and it has now become infected.  Meaning this girl just won a free pass to another root canal!!  Sweet!

Also, you know how I mentioned that I just had the crown replaced?  The very expensive crown that used up most of my allotted dental expenditure for the year?  Well, my dentist is fairly certain that it can be saved.  Dude, I want a guaran-fucking-tee that it can be saved so that I won't be out $1,000!  That's the hardwood floors we've been planning on installing right there!

I have my consultation with the special endodentist on Tuesday morning and he should be able to tell me a little more.  I honestly don't know why I always seem to be inflicted with dental issues because my dental hygiene is good!  Really, I swear, the dentist always tells me so!  The only way this could be worse is if I were Kristabella and had to deal with all of this with a horrible dentist.  Poor thing.

The Secret to Staying Married?

Surprise your wife with the piece they've been coveting from their beloved Spooky Town!  I came home late from a long day of work yesterday to find Jon in the kitchen unloading the dishwasher.  (Points for Jon!)

I started to help, but since we were planning on going for a run he told me that he would take care of it and to go in the bedroom and get dressed.  I walked in our room and noticed that he had placed the dresses I bought this weekend on our bed to be hung up.  (Double points for Jon!)

I picked them up and was silently oohing and ahhing over them when I suddenly noticed a big, shiny box on the bed.  It was a Spooky Town box!

I squealed, threw the dresses down and ran over to Jon's side of the bed to pick it up.  I ran back out to the kitchen with it and exclaimed, "Jonny, guess what I found?!?!"  He said, "My god, it took you long enough to notice it!"  (5 trillion points for Jon!)

The husband?  Knows how to make me happy.  He started a tradition two years ago of buying me a Spooky Town piece for my birthday so he decided to continue the tradition this year even though I was already over my birthday budget. I've been wanting this piece ever since I noticed it in Michael's last month and told Jon I just had to have it for my birthday.  It's a cruise ship, for god's sake!  We got engaged on a cruise ship and go on a cruise every year so how could we not buy it?!?

Such a good man I've got!  I started decorating for Halloween this weekend (I usually wait until my birthday, but I just couldn't hold out for another week) so I'll be sure to post pictures once everything is up and running!

How much do I love you all?

Apparently a lot because I put together this completely embarrassing video montage of me in Mexico just for you!  I cringe every time I watch it!

The first clip is me dancing at the pool and the second two are of me dancing at the nightclub (notice how I'm dancing alone in all of these!).  I'm blaming the margaritas.  The last is of me right after I accidentally ate a habanero pepper and everyone, including the busboy, thought it was so hilarious.  I thought it was an innocent little jalepeno!

Jon didn't believe me about just how hot the pepper actually was until last night when I wikipediaed it and discovered that the habenero is ranked as "Exceptionally Hot" on the Scoville scale.  No wonder my mouth was burning!!

P.S.  I really don't think my voice is normally that high pitched and whiny, I swear it was the pepper's effects on me!  Enjoy, y'all!

Second Anniversarymoon Recap (with pics!)

We've been back for a week now so I figured I should probably get around to writing the anniversarymoon recap before I forget everything!  Where to begin, though?!

First, I have to say that it was quite awesome to go to a foreign country where I actually can speak a bit of the language.  I was a few credits shy from minoring in Spanish in college (changed my mind after the Spanish composition class!), so I know enough to get around.  In fact, by day two, I was able to order my margarita oro en las rocas con sal (Gold [the good stuff] margarita on the rocks with salt for all of your French majors) without missing a beat. Señor Bloom would be proud.   

The resort itself was absolutely gorgeous.  I was a little concerned that I wouldn't be completely thrilled with it because it doesn't actually have beach access, and I'm the type of girl who will pick the beach over a pool any day.  However, it does have a lagoon with imported sand so it's kind of a faux beach and that was enough for me.  The lagoon was actually kind of ideal because I didn't have to freak out about getting attacked by any sea creatures!  The only sea life in the lagoon were friendly fish and teeny-tiny hermit crabs and I'm totally comfortable swimming with them.  We left our snorkeling/scuba gear at home, but we borrowed the resort's snorkeling gear to go out one morning and saw some really beautiful tropical fish, including a gorgeous angel fish.  Unfortunately, Jon forgot his waterproof camera case at home, so we didn't get any snorkeling pictures this time. 

I think the best thing about our resort was the staff.  It's like it was their personal mission to keep you properly sloshed from sun up until sun down.  Since it was all-inclusive, I embraced the opportunity to try all sorts of crazy drinks that I normally wouldn't get because I don't want to pay for it, but by the end of the week I was back to just drinking my favorite, the margarita.  Even the cheap tequila was good there, but the bars all had the top shelf stuff too so that's what Jon and I were drinking!  We spent a lot of time at the swim-up bar in the pool because that's where most of the activities took place.  I'm proud to announce that Jon won the Iron Man competition and I won the Miss Mexico competition...the competitions consisted of ridiculous events like chugging syrupy-sweet grenadine laced Sprite and singing competitions, respectively.

As you probably know, travelers to Mexico are often advised not to drink the water.  Our resort actually didn't even give you an option.  All of the water they use is bottled so I wasn't too worried about getting sick.  And I didn't get sick, minus the one day where I had too many shots at the pool and felt ill at night!  However, Jon got Montezuma's Revenge and spent a good deal of time in the bathroom.  Fortunately, it only lasted two days and he was able to enjoy most of our anniversarymoon.

The only downer on our trip was when we visited the Mayan ruins at Tulum.  The actual ruins were very cool.  I'm such a history nerd and love to visit anything ancient and imagine what it would have been like to live there.  The bad part came when our tour bus dropped us off at a tourist trap souvenir shop on our way back to the resort.  Jon and I are used to these sorts of things and it seems to be the same everywhere.  I'm convinced that the tour guide must get some sort of kickback for dropping his bus full of tourists off at a remote shop full of overpriced souvenirs.  This tour guide actually locked us off the bus though and we were left to mill about a store run by "authentic" Mayans, as he referred to them, for 45 minutes.

We were standing outside, waiting for the 45 minute stop to be up, when we noticed a skinny, fleabitten mutt laying in the corner under a covered patio.  It came over to us and of course I almost cried right then there at the shape the dog was in.  You could count every rib and could see the outline of her spine.  You could tell the dog had puppies at one point and she was obviously now starving.  She was such a sweetheart, rolling over on her back for a belly rub and just gravitating to anyone who showed her any sort of attention.  It was finally time for us to leave, and as I was walking down the aisle of the bus back to my seat, I happened to notice one of the "authentic" Mayans walking over to the dog, who had since gone back to the patio.  As the Mayan walked, he was slowly removing his leather belt and looking over his shoulder to us on the bus to see if we were watching.

My stomach dropped because I knew exactly what he was going to do.  And Jon knew exactly what I was going to do.  I ran off the bus, ignoring Jon's calls for me to come back and hurried to catch up with the man, where he had chased the dog behind the back of the store.  I caught up just in time to hear the terrible yelps of the dog as he hit her.  The guy disappeared farther behind the store and I couldn't get the dog to come to me.  I don't blame her, as I wouldn't trust any person either if I had just been whipped.  I walked back to the front of the store and proceeded to chew out our tour guide.  I reminded him that this little stop to the tourist trap was not a resort approved stop and that he should think twice about bringing a group of animal-loving Americans to a store that openly abuses animals.

I don't care if I came off as a bitch because if there is one thing I won't tolerate, it's animal cruelty.  As fate would have it, a few days later, we met a Mexican man at our resort who runs a local animal sanctuary.  He brings the rescued animals, including iguanas and birds, to the resort and charges a fee to take a picture with the animals and all proceeds benefit the sanctuary.  I told him about what we had witnessed and he was planning on paying the shop a visit and hopefully rescuing the dog.  I pray that it happened.  As added measure, I also complained to our resort and they were going to look into at least the part of the tour guide dropping us off at that ridiculous store.  I completely embarrassed Jon, but as I always remind him, he was well aware of my passion for animals before he married me!

Despite that ugly incident, the anniversarymoon was so, so amazing. I can't believe that two years of marriage have already passed us by.  It just keeps getting better and better and it's sometimes hard to imagine that we'll ever be happier than we are now, but I know it'll happen.  I love him and our life; being "we" with him makes me a happy girl.  And now, enough of the sap, here are some pictures!

The view from our balcony:

 

Overlooking the lagoon:

 

One of the many wild iguanas running around:

 

I took this at 4:00 AM, after being awakened by my throbbing lips, please excuse the bedhead:

 

And a close-up (incidentally, that morning, I googled 'swollen, sunburned lips' and this was one of the first places I was directed! our lips looked identical!) Honest to god, they were much bigger in person, just ask Jon:

 

Me in front of a Mayan ruin:

  

Jon at the pool bar:

 

Professional photo in front of the lagoon:

 

And a kiss at sunset:

 

Also, I'm working on getting some hilarious video uploaded, some of which include me dancing drunk at the pool and eating habeñero peppers.  I won't tell you if they both occurred at the same time, you'll have to see for yourself :)