My Dallas Weekend

This weekend has a long time comin'.

We drove right after work to Dallas, stopping at the Rib Crib for some delicious barbecue. We pulled up to our swanky hotel.

We went to bed feeling fancy in our room and ordered room service for breakfast. Well, not that fancy because we split one breakfast between us.

The next day, I had a knife skills class. Baller!

We had sushi for lunch. Don't murder me: I had shrimp tempura. And lots of edamame.

We shopped at a gigantic mall (four floors and an ice skating rink). Where I decided to chop off all my hair. So fun!

Then we went to our date night cooking class. And learned how to be fancy.

And not cook raw scallops. Even Gordon Ramsey would be impressed.

The next day, we woke up and went straight for IKEA, our favorite furniture store. We had fun playing house and thinking about redesigning kitchens and all the things we "need" but can't fit in our little car.

We hit the outlets, so we could shop for great deals on nice clothes. Bryan stocked up on professor shirts for the fall. I got Brooke some cute things from JCrew for her birthday. And of course, a few things for the baby. Most of the time, I was wishing I was back to my size 4 and could buy up everything. Le sigh.

The drive back was nice. We enjoyed talking about philosophy and recycling and prayer and the baby and the fall semester. I like road trips with Bryan. He really is an awesome companion.

We spent the remainder of the weekend sleeping for 11 hours at a time (we still got it!), chopping veggies with our new knives and new skills, napping, watching all the tv we missed, napping some more. And making some creme brulee.

We do our weekends right.

Boom.

Booyah. I booked my Christmas tickets already!

Yesterday, my favorite airline to fly to Florida Allegiant Air opened up dates for the holidays. This year, we're spending Christmas with my family in Florida, and those tickets can be super pricy.

Unless you book NOW.

I got all three tickets (that's right, lap baby) for $450, round trip. Which left me plenty of room in our travel budget to buy seats in the first row of the plane (baller!) and three checked bags.

My plan: arrive to the airport, check everything, only carry the baby, diaper bag and purse with iPads. It should make flying with an infant easy when you have the first row on the plane and nothing to carry. Apparently strollers and carseats fly free, but we will wait until then to decide what we want to do.

I'm curious how much of this plan will be reality in six months.

I want a pic of my baby just like this.

All I know is that baby will get to meet and spend Christmas with all of the Manders, his great grandparents, all my cousins and most importantly: Mickey Mouse.

That's right: baby is having his first trip to Disney World. We haven't been yet this year, and in all of our time together, Bryan and I haven't let a year go by without a trip to Disney World. And we won't let a baby stop that.

Especially when we'll have aunts and grandparents to hold him while we ride Space Mountain and Aerosmith's Rockin' Roller Coaster.

Miniature Happiness

It's definitely the little things in life.

Like fresh watermelon. And eating it with my eyes closed thinking about vacation

Fruit is good for you. Watermelon is one of the best. Especially when you're pregnant.

Vacation is good for you. Anticipating it is just as good.

DC was OSM

I'm back to work, and Bryan's about to pick me up for lunch. Wanted to share a pic or two from the trip. Which was FABULOUS.

Spontaneity

I was pleasantly surprised that I didn't get red squiggly lines as I typed spontaneity. My instincts on spelling were correct: what?! Awesome.

Yet another reason I love Google Reader: blog deals. As I was perusing my feeds last night, I saw an ad for a hotel in downtown Philly advertising a Snow Package Deal: 50% off rooms for tonight and tomorrow night. I immediately called them and got a room.

It's perfect because #1 I love hotels: you have to have fun with a whirlpool and someone else making your bed, #2 We have a Friday night show with our Philly comedy improv group (late night partying), #3 My genius husband is presenting two of his papers on Friday and Saturday in the city, and he'll get some extra sleep (and less stress) without the (snow) traffic into Philly.

MORAL(S) OF THE STORY: Follow blogs from your local area. And then spontaneously do something.