Fly Away Home

One of the few perks of my job, besides a steady paycheck of course, is the amount of paid time off that we receive that is of course if you are ever able to find the time to take off. I used 3 of those precious days this week to spend time visiting my dear college friend Sarah and the newest edition to her family little miss Layla Hadlee. Sarah is married with 3 children under the age of 4 so many of my co-horts questioned why I chose to spend my vacation time in a house full of children in Minnesota in the dead of winter. On the surface I would agree with them as my idea of a fun Saturday night includes online shopping, Panda Express takeout, and a Real Housewives of Beverly Hills marathon because let's face it Beverly Hills is by far the best in the franchise. In reality, I actually love going to visit her because despite her taking on all the responsibilities of both adulthood and parenthood she has not lost her propensity to have ridiculous amounts of fun plus her children are adorable baby face angels. More importantly, when I visit I get to be part of the type of family that I always wished I had growing up but will never be able to create on my own. I feel at home.

Sarah drove an hour to the airport to pick me up amid having a sick child at home, a hungry 10 week old and a 2 year old in the back seat who is still having difficulty adjusting to no longer being the baby in the family. She still managed to have a fully entertaining adult conversation with me all while filling me in on the plans for my stay. The driving purpose of my visit was to see her baby as I had missed the customary newborn visit for her other two children. That evening I finally got to hold Layla because she was crying and I thought that picking her up would be a positive thing. I of course with zero baby experience made the situation worse as she began to scream the longer I held her. I have since learned that babies have a series of cries. These include the hungry cry, change me cry, I'm hot cry, I'm cold cry, I've lost my binky cry, It's too loud in here cry, There's a stranger holding me cry, I want more attention cry, and my personal favorite, I'm crying because I feel like it. Sarah of course knew each cry and didn't criticize me for not knowing what to do. I eventually got a smile out of her by clapping to the musical stylings of Katy Perry so I guess the trip wasn't a total loss.

While I was there I also had the pleasure of meeting some friends of theirs a couple with two children that were relatively new to town named Jonas and Katie. They of course turned out to be as cool as you would imagine a couple named Jonas and Katie would be which is much cooler than I will ever be. They both dressed like hipsters but not ironically which is a feat in itself and were very kind to me the strange single chocolate lady hanging around their friend's house. Sarah watches their two children a few days a week meaning there are actually hours a day that she cares for 5 children on her own. Let me tell you after witnessing that it indeed takes a level of multitasking I didn't know existed. Katie stopped by one day on her lunch hour to breastfeed her baby which also happened to be feeding time for Sarah's baby. There I sat relaxing in a recliner watching Kim and Kourtney Take Miami while Katie and Sarah draped in trendy breastfeeding blankets fed their children while discussing our incomprehension of Scott Disick's fashion choices and Rob Kardashian's rapid weight gain after getting dumped by Rita Ora.

It was in that moment that I realized how insignificant my life must seem in comparison. I know that comparing yourself to others is a suicide mission at best but how on earth do I measure up to that? The answer is I don't. I could have easily regaled them with my stories of online dating disasters and my obsession with Michael Kors spring line as a desperate attempt to seem relevant but I revelled in the fact that they too were reality tv junkies and for a moment I felt like we had more in common than not even if my feelings are completely delusional. Truth be told it is refreshing to see couples with children who still actually like each other. I see a lot of couples who stay together even though they're miserable and I can understand that because hey it's probably alot cheaper to stay together than give it a go on your own but honestly what is the cost of being unhappy and is it worth it? Sarah and her husband face quite a challenge everyday in raising 3 children but they work at it and more importantly they work together. He is actually capable of watching all 3 girls by himself and it surprises me how many woman would never dream of leaving their children alone with their fathers and that speaks volumes about their choices in mates. Yeah, I said it.

Other highlights of the trip included a girls night at the movie theatre to see Safe Haven complete with a $5 popcorn and soda special, a dance party in the living room with two adorable princesses, and a little me time watching Chelsea Lately in front of the fireplace while browsing my Nordstrom's mobile app. Heaven. They dropped me off at the airport were I enjoyed some Chick fil-a in my terminal and got close to finishing my copy of Mindy Kaling's book while sipping on ginger ale at 20,000 feet in the air. As a side note, how does any one ever truly enjoy anything at 20,000 feet in the air? I have to bring a book and eat a snack just to take my mind off the fact that I am hurdling through the air and some ungodly speed and sitting next to a possible serial killer who somehow made it through security to visit his mother in Topeka. In reality I'm sure the guy wasn't a serial killer but he spent the entire time on his laptop typing something in Mandarin which just means he's much smarter than me apparently to smart to even say hello. Rude much?

I'm back at home now and appropriately dreading going back to work in the morning. These are the times when I wish that I was in Sarah's position when my job would entail raising children instead of monitoring adult children who throw hissy fits muddled with curse words but then I remember that she spent an entire day making pita bread from scratch for gyros night and I become content with a life where I can choose to go without food for a week in order to spend that money on a dress I just had to have. I may or may not have actually done that last week.....  

This week's obsession is this Micro-tweed jacket I found at J.Crew. I fell in love with it when I first spotted it in their February catalog but then I had the pleasure of trying it on at the store yesterday and now I am full on obsessed. The color is goregous and there are so many options with this piece that it may actually be worth paying retail value but I somehow found enough self control not to purchase it and instead wait for a sale. Remember the Eliza J dress I obsessed about last blog? Well it has sold out online so I am patiently waiting a call from a Norstrom's in Bellevue, WA in hopes that they have my size in their store so I can pay full price and have it shipped to me. I know, I know I shouldn't pay full price but this just may be worth it, at least that's what I'll tell myself when I authorize the charge to my debit card.