04 Apr 2013
by wifemothereventplanner
in I need to tell you about this right now
Tags: Cars, DC, Easter, Holiday, humor, Life, Monument, Museums, Photography, Smithsonian, Traffic, travel, Trip, Vacation, Washington DC
We took a quick trip to DC after Easter – literally. As in we cleaned up, packed leftovers, said goodbye to our family and hit the road.
My husband and I have both been to DC often, but just for work. From train to conference room to train. This was an all out tourist trip.
We landed in the capital at the stroke of 11pm. After miles and miles and miles of traffic, here’s what we saw heading into our hotel. Pretty friggin cool.
For the next two days we traveled by trolley, monument to monument, museum to museum.
It was cherry blossom festival time but a late snow meant no blooming trees (actually there were a couple but we couldn’t see them with all the Japanese tourists surrounding them. True story).
This is Julia Child’s kitchen. Recreated spoon by spoon at the Smithsonian. This was my favorite monument in all of DC. Cluttered. Utilitarian. Completely unMartha. It was awesome.
Thanks Easter bunny.
05 Mar 2013
by wifemothereventplanner
in Brave New World
Tags: America, Asia, Beach, Europe, Family, Hawaii, Holiday, Hotels, humor, Kids, Life, Peru, Pool, transportation, travel, Tropics, Vacation
I have a problem.
A Tripadvisor problem.
It happens every year.
At about this time, my mind and body starts craving/dreaming/needing a vacation. Somewhere different. Preferably to a place where trains are called metros and where you can stay in a flat instead of an apartment. Or maybe a tropical turquoise retreat where I can drink from a coconut and lay on beach.
A place where I can be Vacation Mom and Vacation Wife. The one that doesn’t worry and nag and yell and order. The one that lets you buy obscenely pricey gum from the gift shop and stay up until you feel like falling asleep. The one that doesn’t care if anyone has brushed their teeth or combed their hair. She’s awesome. I miss her.
But in order to transform into this groovy, go-with-the-flow chick we need to get the hell out of dodge first.
And in order to do that we need to find a place to go.
And every time we find a place I am compelled to that damn website to check out the reviews.
It never ends well for me.
Everyone has an opinion, and I read every last one.
MaryS from Wichita thinks the rooms at a certain resort in Puerto Rico aren’t clean enough.
George from New Jersey didn’t like any of the restaurants but loved the pool at his hotel in Hawaii.
clevergirl8 from Texas loved Peru but had a horrible time with customs at the airport.
I try to focus on just the positive. You can’t make everyone happy, I say to myself.
But then I toss and turn and doubt. And doubt.
Are people just really really picky?
I realize that I could never have been one of those people backpacking through Europe or Asia or Idaho. I need research. Data. Background. I need to know that others have gone before me and had a good time. Or not.
So we’ll make our plans for vacation and it’ll be very exciting, but deep down I’ll be thinking about MikeP from Albany, who thought Dublin was beautiful except for the hotel concierge who was a bit grumpy the whole time.
I give Tripadvisor.com 3 out of 5 stars. Lots of consumer information which usually results in the firm knowledge that no matter where you are going or what you are doing – it could have been better somewhere else.
21 Feb 2013
by wifemothereventplanner
in I need to tell you about this right now
Tags: Car, Driving, highway, humor, Life, Nature, Photography, travel, Vacation, Vermont
I’ve never done an all nighter. Not even in college. So, last Saturday night, well into my 40s, I did it. We had 3 short days to enjoy in Vermont and my daughter had a dance she couldn’t miss. So around midnight, we loaded up the kids and left. In 6 hours we’d be having breakfast in our favorite spot in town.
My husband drove. We had coffee. We had snacks. We were on our way.
I fell asleep before we hit the highway.
To be fair, I did get up a few times. So it wasn’t a deep sleep. Does that count?
Here I am waking up at 2am…
And then 5am…
And 6:30am…(apparently I slept thru an accident that set us back an hour)
And then I woke up to this…
And this…
Totally worth the lack of sleep (on my husband’s part).
04 Oct 2012
by wifemothereventplanner
in I need to tell you about this right now
Tags: bedtimes, Cars, european adventure, Family, Grandparents, Honesty, humor, indian parents, Life, media consumption, Photography, travel, Truth, Vacation
My sister and my parents watched my babies while we went on our European adventure.
We knew to expect the usual. We expected my daughter to go phone crazy. We knew our boy would ignore all bedtimes. There would be no “chores” – I put that in quotes because they hardly exist when we’re around.
We knew they’d get away with a certain amount of stuff, and you know what, that was fine.
We should have known better.
Our girl is not the real issue. Yes there’s ridiculous amounts of social media consumption – but whatever. The boy. He needs to be watched. All the time. 24/7.
A few years ago we left them with my parents for a weekend. When we came back my mother told me about what a great host my son was. As soon as we left, he took them (my very traditional, old-fashioned Indian parents), on a tour of all the alcohol at our house. “Here’s the beer, here’s the wine…” etc.
There was another time when a good friend of mine called the house and he answered and told her that my husband and I were in the other room having an argument. Awesome.
So we should have known better.
Quick back ground: a couple of years ago my car was stolen. It was traumatic, scary, etc. but we got over it. We decided not to tell my already paranoid mother and instead told her that I got a new car. End of story.
Guess what bedtime tale he told her, in gory detail, while we were away?
Sigh.
I asked him why he felt the need to talk about that and he said,”I was bored.”
Sigh.
I would be angry if he wasn’t so darn cute.
01 Oct 2012
by wifemothereventplanner
in I need to tell you about this right now
Tags: End of Vacation, Europe, France, humor, Life, Paris, Photography, School, travel, Vacation, work
Back to work.
Back to errands.
Back to dishes, laundry, cooking, cleaning, homework, picking-up/dropping-off, conference calls, deadlines, bills.
Back to being behind on sending out birthday cards, birthday gifts, calling my mom, touching base with friends, making the kids practice piano, eating right, calling my mom, cleaning out my closet.
Back to fake butter, fake cream, the opposite of a flaky croissant, coffee without espresso, no crepes in sight.
I’m going to bed.
Here’s some pictures of my happy place.
30 Sep 2012
by wifemothereventplanner
in Brave New World
Tags: chit chat, dream country, Europe, mona lisa, Notre Dame, Paris, parisians, Photography, social butterfly, The Louvre, travel, Vacation
No. Most of the Parisians we ran into did not speak English. But who needs the international language of business and entertainment when you have this…
That is not a postcard – that is photo taken on my prehistoric iPhone. Notre Dame. I swear to you that it was cloudy and rainy that day when we left our hotel. By the time we hoofed it to the cathedral the clouds opened up and the sun came out. On cue. That happened a lot there. Even the cloudy days seemed staged and moody.
We had heard all the cranky Parisian legends – “they hate Americans, they are completely unfriendly, etc.”
We didn’t get that. This may be because I’ve lived in NYC and my husband was raised there. People are busy. They live in a city overrun by tourists. Everyday they have to go to work, make a living, have a life, while we wander around the city with our cameras out asking for directions to the Louvre. Are waiters super nice and helpful? No. So what. Once you realize that it’s not directed at you – it’s directed at everybody – you’re fine.
I’ve told you before that my husband isn’t exactly a social butterfly, so he felt right at home with the frowning faces. No one running over to you in a store, no one trying to make small talk with you in the hotel lobby – it was like his dream country. Leave them alone. They leave you alone.
Don’t get me wrong, we met plenty of friendly people, most of them traveling to Paris like us.
But who needs chit chat when you live in a place this beautiful?
Notre Dame, circa 9/23/12, it turns 850 years old next year. Doesn’t look a day over 721.
Shots from outside and around the Louvre – and we didn’t ask one single Parisian for directions.
The Mona Lisa madness I wrote about earlier…Sacré bleu! J’en ai marre!
29 Sep 2012
by wifemothereventplanner
in Brave New World
Tags: arch de triumph, Eiffel Tower, Europe, France, Fun, new york city transit, Paris, Photography, st germain des pres, travel, Vacation
That was a fun 6 days. I’m sorry about the blog silence – but I was distracted.
It’s hard not to churn out clichés and cheesy narrative when you talk about Paris. Every little street is picture worthy – every cafe looks like you’ve seen it in a movie. We stayed at a small boutique hotel in the 6th district and took the Metro everywhere. Sometimes having a husband who grew up with the New York City transit system really helps. We did all the usual touristy things – went to all the museums, all the monuments (although every building looks like a monument) – we ate all the decadent food and drank some amazing wine. I would kill for one of the corner shops that liters the city in my neighborhood – one that looks like a Bodega but sells fresh bread and cheap (but good) wine.
And the people. Oh the people. Everyone looks chic and sophisticated – even the kids. The people watching is well worth the transatlantic trip – and to my husband’s credit – he let me go crazy.
I can’t go through the whole trip in one post – so I’ll take a few days to let it all out.
Here’s some of the 780 (yikes) photos we took! Can you say “un touriste”. Apologies for the A typical photos of the Eiffel Tower and the Arch – but in person, standing underneath them - it was a surreal, dream-like experience.
This was our district – our arrondissement – in St. Germain-des-Pres
On the Batobus (boat on the Seine) – hopping on and off to see the sites
Below needs no explanation – although it did need 300 pictures. I’ll only share one with you. You’re welcome.
In the Metro (the 4) – pretending to be a Parisian (except for the constant photo taking)
Arch de Triumph at 7pm. We also have 7:15pm, 7:19pm, 7:22pm, etc.
To be continued….
20 Sep 2012
by wifemothereventplanner
in I need to tell you about this right now
Tags: fall catalog, Furniture, Hardware, home, Life, Photography, Restore, Shopping, sociological views, Vacation
When I sit down to write this blog – usually very late into the night or very early in the morning – I debate about the things I want to tell you. Do I share my political and sociological views? Do I tell you an amusing (to me) story about my kiddies or husband? Do I use it as a pulpit to voice my very strong opinions on restaurants not buttering toast anymore (an outrage!)?
I do have stories of my semi-twisted childhood to share – and other stories of how I’m making a semi-twisted childhood for my own kids – but then something silly happens. And I need to let you know. Immediately.
Yesterday I went to go get the mail. And hilarity ensued. Not really.
We are very fortunate to have good neighbors – I’ve heard plenty of horror stories to know that. As I’m getting the mail, I ran into our fantastic retired neighbor walking her dog. She stopped to chat – I have a ton in common with retired folks. Mentally I’m half way there.
As we chatted, I opened the mailbox. The only thing we’d gotten is our Restoration Hardware Fall catalog. She stopped talking. ”Is that a magazine?”, she asked. Um. Nope. It’s a home good store…”I’ve never seen a catalog so thick. It’s like a dictionary!” She was horrified. “Isn’t that awful how they waste paper.” “I’m shocked that in this day and age of going green stores still waste their money on that.” I clutched the book harder and harder as she talked. I was nodding the whole time, giving her the appearance of solidarity. We laughed about the craziness of it all and I told her I was just as shocked.
But inside. Deep inside. I loved the catalog. I wished it were twice as thick. Killing twice as many trees.
We said our goodbyes and I quickly went back inside to flip through every inch of that evil thing.
This is why I can’t write about national and global issues. When I sit down and think about the things you need to know – stuff like this climbs right to the top. I have very smart friends and family who tell me they could never write a blog – too much work. To them I say, behold. A post about…a very thick catalog. I’m pretty sure a monkey could do this.
Here’s the culprit that derailed what would have been a very smart and intellectual post. Not.
*please note that the Ikea catalogs are thicker, but smaller in overall size.
19 Sep 2012
by wifemothereventplanner
in I need to tell you about this right now
Tags: afternoon siesta, Beach, Braids, Family, going home, Hair, humor, Jamaica, Life, Photography, travel, Vacation
I was cleaning out some pictures last night and found this beauty. Had to share. I’m all about the share. This is from a trip we took to Jamaica over 8 years ago – my baby was 6 months, my girl was 5.
Let me set the scene.
It was day 3 into the trip. Every time we went to the beach, really nice, really pushy women would ask to braid our hair. I’d always politely decline. My girl was desperate to get it done. She wanted those beads in her hair. She had visions of going home with a new, exotic look.
This particular day, we had already hit the beach and the pool and were taking an afternoon siesta (yes, I know, wrong country, wrong language). The baby and I fell into a deep, vacation induced nap. When I woke up there was a note from my husband,” went to grab a snack with Kera. Back soon.”
45 minutes and $100 US dollars later – this is who showed up at the hotel room.
Since I had just woken up from my vacation nap and was looking forward to a vacation cocktail before dinner – I ignored the fact that my husband had been completely bamboozled by both my girl and the nice ladies on the beach. I had visions of the ladies back in their homes, laughing, hard.
I let it all go and grabbed my camera to take this picture of my little Jamaican cutie on our balcony.
5 minutes after this picture was taken she made us take out all the braids – they were too tight and itchy. The end.
Happy Vacation mon!
16 Sep 2012
by wifemothereventplanner
in I need to tell you about this right now
Tags: Blogging, cheese bread, food, humor, kim kardashian, Life, Passport, random conversation, reading logs, Restaurants, rotten bananas, School, Teachers, travel, tv, Vacation, wine cheese
Everyone’s got some sort of sneezy, snorty, itchy-eyed allergy ridden cold
School’s in full swing, 2 back-to-school nights down, reading logs are already being ignored. Back to normal.
My blogging hasn’t gotten enough love from me, cause I’m tired! Sorry. No more excuses. Back to the everyday blog – starting tomorrow.
Did I tell you that I’m leaving for Paris at the end of the week. The trip of my dreams. A present from my man for my 40th. Did I also tell you that I realized my passport was expired during a random conversation in bed the other night. It’s been fun. The only thing that is sustaining me is traveling to a place where my completely black wardrobe will fit right in. Wine. Cheese. Bread. Black clothes. I may never come back.
Kim Kardashian is always eating on “Keeping Up With The Kardashians”.
Boardwalk Empire starts tonight. I’m excited until I remember that Jimmy was killed off. What’s really left for me?
Am I the only one that gets bit by bugs the nano second I step outside? I’ve been using more Calamine Lotion than moisturizer.
I have 22 almost rotten bananas in my freezer. I see my husband roll his eyes every time he opens the freezer. How many more bananas will it take to drive him bananas? Which one will be the banana that broke his back? Is that a banana in your freezer or are you just nuts?
I saw the woman who does my pedicures in a shoe store – it was an awkward encounter, I don’t know why.
Tomorrow’s blog will be full of humor, intelligence and brilliance! Just kiddin’ – it’ll be more of this shit.
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