Time Out

Until this weekend, the longest I have ever been away from my son has been about 18 hours.  So my long weekend was a test, but it was AMAZING.

Melanie, one of my best friends from college, moved to Boston to go to law school and stuck around almost 7 years.  Sometime "before October" (thanks for pinning that down, Mel) she is moving back to Texas.  I'm thrilled to have her closer, but I have LOVED getting to visit Boston several times while she was there. Back in March I booked a "farewell tour" and went out this weekend.  Since I took only one picture, lets revisit the weekend in list format, shall we?

1. "June" doesn't mean "hot" everywhere.  I am thankful for the black sweater I threw in my bag at the last minute.  I wore it every day over every thing, whether it matched or not.

2. While I'm a morning person and no stranger to 6am, FLYING at 6am means that I need to get up about 4, which is too early for this morning person.  Oh, and 4am Boston time is really like 3am Austin time.  Note to self.

3. Not sure American runs on Dunkin, but Boston sure does.  And I sure did when I bought a cup at 4:45am.

4. Boston likes their bacon.  Almost every meal involved bacon.

5.  It's easy to "state hop" in New England.  We did a day trip to Newport, RI and had a fabulous time. 

6.  Boston sea food is way better than Texas sea food (duh).

7. Massage + facial + mani + pedi = heaven

8. Melanie drinks strong cocktails.

And on some more serious notes:

9.  Long term friendships are amazing.  I am so lucky to have several really fantastic girlfriends who have known me for years.  Melanie, thank you for your hospitality yet again.  I feel like a Boston insider at this point.

10. My husband can't be beat.  He encouraged me to go on the trip, took 1.5 days off of work so I could spend some time in Boston, and told me they "missed me but were doing great" every time I would call.  I don't think I could have enjoyed myself like I did if I hadn't heard those words.  Rob, thank you for helping me break out of the mom rut every once in awhile.  I love you.

Finally, here is a pic of me at The Breakers.  Nice back yard, eh?

Vacation

(This post is not about bathrooms.  At least I don't expect to talk about bathrooms when starting to write it.  You're welcome).

Now that I'm officially to the point in pregnancy where an airline could require a doctors note to let me on the plane, my mind is responding by overwhelming desires to travel.  Overseas.  Karma, I tell you.

Rob and I were lucky enough to get to spend two glorious weeks in Europe in January.  I tell you what, if you want to do London/Rome/Florence/Paris with 1/8th the normal amount of tourists, January is a great time to do it.  It was cold to two people from Texas, but not even close to miserable.  And I can't think of a single thing where we didn't just walk right in.  For those of you who have tried to go to the Uffizi Gallery in Florence in the summer, its almost unheard of.

The deal was our "once in a lifetime trip," then we start trying for a bebe.  Who knew that plan would work out so well?  So TECHNICALLY Rob lived up to his end of the bargain, but that hasn't stopped me from wanting to go somewhere else.  

So now I'm having "cravings" of particular locations.  Today it was of the street/park right outside of Buckingham Palace.  I was ready to BE there.  Yesterday it was an adorable restaurant in Paris where we had dinner one night.  A couple of weeks ago it was going back to Oxford. 

I keep trying to eat my way out of these travel cravings-- mostly though Nutella, which I ate on everything for 2 weeks.  Hot Belgian waffles?  Check.  Crepes?  Check.  Croissants?  Check.  It still tastes just as good, but isn't taking away the travel cravings.

I don't think our "once in a lifetime" trip can be so "once in a lifetime" after all.  Hopefully Drew will love to travel!