My Personal Stylist

While I was putting the breakfast dishes away this morning, Caitlin swished into the room to show me the ensemble that she had put together for the day: a blue tunic-style shirt with colorful butterflies all over with a pair of berry colored yoga pants that exactly matched the berry in some of the butterflies in the top. The items were bought separately, so the matching thing was a coincidence. But, Caitlin, with her eye for style and color, knew a good thing when she saw it. Impressed by her choices, I asked her to help me pick out my clothes for the day. I picked out the jeans, and she picked out a top. She was so excited to help me pick out my clothes! It was such a treat to see her consider her options and, with the confidence of a experienced fashionista, decisively select the top.

The Other Daughter's Dress

My dear husband took the older daughter out to get her Christmas dress while I was home with a terrible cold. They bring it back and it is lovely, it is twirly, it will match her sisters AND it is dry-clean only. Awesome.

The Dress

I mentioned to my dear husband that I was going to have to take the girls shopping for a few new pairs of warm pants for winter. A guilty look suddenly came over his face. "What???" I ask. And he confesses, "I took Caitlin shopping for a Christmas dress yesterday." More guilty looks. "It is polyester." He knows I hate polyester. "Caitlin loves it."

When I saw the dress, I knew what he meant. Caitlin had to have picked out this dress. It was red with puffed sleeves and the skirt was ruffled and embroidered to within an inch of its life. And it had crinoline underneath. And, the coupe de grace, it had a matching doll's dress. OMG. It is a polyester nightmare to be sure, but it is Caitlin's polyester nightmare. And she looks like a princess in it.

I guess it could be worse. It could be dry-clean only.

Perfect Day

Today was about as perfect as a day could get. We started by going to the Baltimore Farmers Market and getting the most AMAZING apples. We picked up some honeycrisps that were just slightly smaller than Caitlin's head and, oh, so sweet and tasty. We got wonderful fresh veggies including shallots, garlic, broccoli, chard, as well as eggs and some meats for Jeff. Then we had breakfast at the City Cafe. Coconut lattes are the best way to start the day. After we unpacked all the food, we went on a family bike ride to Lake Elkhorn. We stopped at the Sewell's Orchard Fall Festival and did the moonbounce. Then, to top it all off, Amanda came over to babysit while Jeff and I finally had a calm and relaxing meal at Le Bistro Blanc where everything was quite literally wonderful. Ok, can we do this day over and over again?

Smiley Pancakes

Caitlin was helping me make pancakes this morning. She was in charge of chocolate chip distribution. Her first few pancakes were very liberally sprinkled, but then she made one that touched my heart. She made a smiley face pancake, because I sometimes make smiley faces for her and Gwen. I can't help but think that one day she'll be making smiley face pancakes for her own little girls because that the way her mommy did it when she was little.

True story: Last night Jeff and I were having dinner when we were greeted by the restaurant owner. After he left I told Jeff that I think he owns the incredible motorcycle we saw out front. I joked with him, "I can just tell, I'm psychic." Jeff put his fingers to his head and said "OK, what number am I thinking of?" and I immediately answered, "pi". The look on his face froze, except for his eyes which stared at me shocked. Yep, I guessed right. I'm not really psychic, I just know my husband really, really well.

No Shopping Challenge

I have decided to give myself a challenge. No clothes/shoes/accessory shopping for one whole year. I told my husband about this and, after he quite laughing (and that took a while), he asked what he should give up. Well, my jaw practically hit the floor. Usually, this sort of thing is not my husband's cup of tea. Even better was the challenge he came up with. He is going to give up take-out containers. Naturally, we completely forgot when we went out to dinner tonight. So, we decided the terms would be this: He get three free passes just to get in the swing of things. Then, for every takeout container that he gets, he pays a $5 penalty to the Sierra Club. Sometimes, I just think my husband is the coolest.