Wild To Child

When I arrived home from work yesterday, our babysitter was sitting in our living room. To my surprise, my wonderful husband had arranged for us to go out to dinner sans children, which couldn't have come at a better time. He made reservations at Branzino, a restaurant which previously employed chef Ashley Merriman, a contestant on the most recent season of Top Chef. Once we arrived, we realized that she was no longer employed there, but the food was still amazing and the service was flawless. Proof that the food on Top Chef is every bit as wonderful as it looks!

I had Roasted Cauliflower Soup, Gnocchi (which included rabbit, mushrooms, and ruby chard), and for dessert...cannoli. While the rabbit meat could not hold a candle to the rabbit my grandmother makes, it's safe to say that it was one of the best dinners I have ever had. The only thing I didn't care for was the Heirloom Beet salad that Evan ordered. But to be fair...I never liked beets to begin with. He also had Duck Confit as his main course and Poached Pear Sorbet as dessert...each sample equally delicious.

For all you wine lovers like myself, they have a great selection...even featuring some from my old stomping grounds out in the Walla Walla Valley!

For all of you from and visiting Seattle I completely recommend giving their food a try! Here is their website for more information:

http://www.branzinoseattle.com/

I watch too much TV for the following reasons (in no particular order):

Ugly Betty
Community
The Office
Desperate Housewives
Big Love
Entourage
Survivor
Intervention
Family Guy
Cold Case
30 Rock
Judge Judy
Modern Family
The Soup

Thank the good Lord for DVRs and bedtime!

Since our big move to Eastern Washington and back again, we have downsized considerably in space. So much in fact, that it is impossible to go anywhere in our town home and not hear a crying child...three out of five times they aren't even my kids! It's been really tough going from a 1500 square foot home into a 900 square foot town home in a complex.

The biggest mistake we made in choosing a place was not getting one with three bedrooms. I figured putting the girls together was the obvious answer, because they are both girls and we could save money at the same time. Needless to say, the girls each occupy a bedroom and Evan and I have been sleeping downstairs in the living room! I miss, miss, MISS having a garage, and a big yard, and the luxury of not hearing your neighbors walk up and down their stairs. The upside to our home now is that it does have a TINY (I mean super small...like a 10 foot square) yard, rent is pretty cheap, and they let us move in immediately. Now I know why.....

The moral of the story is...I will never try to get a one year old and a three year old to share bedroom again. Never. Ever. EVER.

Now that the New Year is upon us and our lives have settled down a little, it's time to start this blog back up again. Don't worry, I don't have any bad ass resolutions to share. Mine are never original, I always end up with "lose weight", "less coffee", or "no soda", etc. I can't even think of something obscure or unoriginal. I thought about dropping the celebrity gossip, but I haven't kept up on it anyway because I've been so busy....so that one is eliminated. When I found out that a Jonas brother had gotten married recently, I died a little inside.

Between work and...well...work my spare time has been diminished to nearly none. I leave for work early and get home late. After eating dinner and playing with the kids for about an hour, it's time to put them to bed. By then the exhaustion has set in and I'm virtually useless anyway. Long story short...I don't need to make a resolution because...I don't have time...I'm too lazy...and I like who I am already. This year I'm going to continue being the best person I can be....and try not to lose my sense of humor...because then who would make the monkeys dance???

As if you haven't read enough lately of all the "changes" that have been going on in our lives right now...just to have me pull a complete 180. I got a call the other day from a friend who told me she got me an interview at the company she works for in downtown Seattle. So I made the long drive back yesterday morning, showered, changed, and went to the interview. Of course, I dazzled them with my sparkling personality and not even 5 minutes after I left the parking garage, my friend texted me to let me know that the job was mine...if I wanted it.

SO, now we aren't moving...or technically we are moving back-since most of our stuff is in Eastern Washington already. Of course the timing couldn't have been worse-now Evan and the girls are staying with my parents and I am going to be couch crashing until we find a new place in the Seattle area! Stressful? You bet! But it's just WAY too good of an opportunity to pass up...especially in today's job market.

In other news...Noel is growing like a weed. In the 6 days I had gone without seeing her, she has three new teeth, a new mess of hair, and she said her first word (on Saturday)! Which was "mama" by the way. I cried when I found out that was her first word...for more that one reason. Not only was I not there...but her first word was mama...as if she missed me. Scarlet's first word was "dada", and he wasn't there for hers either. I haven't felt this guilty in my life...already knowing that I'm going to be missing a lot more because of other responsibilities. I know I'm stepping up for the greater good...but it weighs heavy on my heart every day.

I know this will pay off in the long run though. Evan is still going to be staying at home with them, although it's not the conventional home...it's becoming more popular. Househusbands of Hollywood...right?