Summer vacation

What? It’s the middle of September and it’s been nearly a month since I posted despite my pledges and here I am talking about vacation. Oh well. That’s life these days.

I’ve been up to my eyeballs in work and little Miss P is keeping us busy, too. She’s cutting teeth (which brings sometimes fever and colds and broken sleep), suffered a couple weeks’ worth of diahrea and has taken to waking up for the day around 5:30. But she’s just as delicious and amazing as ever.

By summer’s end, we had gotten to Connecticut, Pennsylvania and upstate. Here are some photographic highlights.

The working world

It’s been four weeks now that I’ve been back in the working world. The adult world. The land of normalcy. It has not been easy. The pressure and stress of getting to work on time, home on time, doing good work at the office, leaving Parker at home, the balance and rhythm of it all—no, not easy.

But as my mantra has been since Parker was born: one day at a time.

And with that, it is getting easier. Parker is doing wonderfully with our nanny. They clearly love each other and it’s so reassuring knowing that Parker is having a good day, every day, while I’m at the office.

She’s starting to notice everything. Her feet and Milo are her current obsessions.

She’s nearly sleeping through the night. I’m going to give up the “dream feed”—when I wake her to nurse at 11:30pm, the idea being that it will sate her until dawn—and in a few weeks when she reaches six months, I’ll hopefully also stop pumping in the middle of the night. When she and I are both going to bed and waking up at normal hours, without any middle-of-the-night sessions, it will be a whole new ballgame.

And then I can take up with some of my old habits. Namely, exercising and writing.

I’ve been at my pre-pregnancy weight for months now. Which is great, but somewhat meaningless. Your body just changes when you have a baby. My belly is droopy and crepey and unless I invest in pilates or barre classes to tighten that shit up, which I don’t see myself doing, it might just stay like that. Forever. I’m trying to wean myself from my truck driver diet, but I’m also trying to enjoy it while I’m still breastfeeding and can get away with such gluttony. But I figure if I can get back to the gym and yoga in the meantime, so I can start feeling strong again, I will be halfway there.

And I want to write about all of these experiences! NY Mag is doing some great writing about pregnancy and parenthood these days. I have a book proposal that I started a year ago and needs a shot of love or risks withering on the vine. But I have yet to find any substantial chunk of time to focus on it. In time, in time…right??

I’m also excited to date my husband again. He has been my rock these past few months and I am in awe of how my love for him keeps growing. Like, how did he happen to me? How was he not taken already? He’s a dreamboat. He makes me feel reassured, normal, optimistic, safe and comforted about everything. I love just being with him, and it’s been fun watching The Wire, Mad Men and House of Cards during these long, cold winter months. But I’m hoping to get out on the town with him a little more—dinners, drinks and romantic times, oh yes.

It’s feeling a bit like a new dawn. Other parents say we're entering a golden period with Parker. From 5-12 months, or 6-8, depending who you ask. But the promise of even more fun and sweetness sounds pretty great. 

Working out and working it

So this is it. My last few days of maternity leave. In fact, I’ve already started work. There’s a new business pitch at my agency, and I’m working remotely on it… which sort of sucks, but is also a good way to ease my head back into things.

It actually works according to my (Type A) plan of gradually moving from full-time mommy’ing to more autonomous moments. For example, the past couple of months, I was spending $20 every other week to attend a breastfeeding support group. On Sunday night, I put that money toward… Zumba. Classic. I felt like a bit of a chump, paying twenty bucks for Zumba, but it was my first workout in five months—and without even realizing it, it was a super smart one to begin, what with all the gyrating hips and lady bits—and worth every penny. I also started a mommy yoga class. Unfortunately, I only found it this past week, but it’s been brilliant having Parker in all her cuteness there at the head of my yoga mat, surrounded by other moms and babies—pretty perfect.

And tonight, our new nanny (Hallelujah! It was no small feat finding a nanny who we loved enough for Parker, but we did it) will come over in the evening so Andrew and I can go out to a soirée. Funny how these little things—a workout, a Friday night date—are now big triumphs. I'll even do my hair and makeup.

In the meantime, little miss peanut continues to delight us with her smile and her sweetness. She’s such an awesome little human being. Such a gift.

When the quotidian is sublime

It was a good week. Just a typical, nothing outrageous, week, but it was brilliant.

Work is super enjoyable and not stressful at the moment. Do you realize what a big difference it makes when you're not constantly rushing to and from the office, preparing for meetings and presentations, worried if what you're producing is good enough? Of course you do - we all do it, all the time. Thankfully, my job has been so manageable lately - the perfect balance of business. And I'm loving my colleagues. And we're temporarily working in Soho, which makes coming and going every day, not to mention the lunch options (I'm currently obsessed with Birdbath), a joy.

I'm back at yoga once or twice a week and have time to read.

There were two great meals out this week: At Sfoglia and Waverly Inn. They're both so charming and cozy, and absolutely delicious, I want to move right in.

The former was a brilliant solo date, where I took myself out for a meal before going to see Michael Pollan, my hero, the reason I haven't eaten red meat in 15 years (!) now, at the 92Y. I get panicky when I don't have reading material so I went to the fabulous Kitchen Arts  & Letters beforehand and chose Molly Wizenberg's new memoir, only to discover when I got to the Y that we got a free copy of Cooked - woohoo!

The latter was a brilliant date-date with my man. He made reservations for dinner and got tickets to see John Wesley Harding's Cabinet of Wonders at City Winery. Just for fun.
 
It was the second Saturday night in a row that we went into the city for a night of it, last weekend being my friend's lovely wedding, where we had fun, dancing and laughing with old friends. (And took note, since our wedding is now less than a month away!)

In fact, this past week also included a tasting with our caterer...

... and we're trying to wrap up all loose ends, final details and backup plans.

I even had time to finish a freelance assignment.

And Andrew ran the Brooklyn Half Marathon, so I met him out at the finish line in Coney Island. He's a champ - made the whole thing look easy.

I am so mindful right now of how much I'm enjoying the pace and contents of life. So my question is: what is the secret? How do I hold onto this feeling of awareness, appreciation and balance? I know work is going to pick up. That stress will come as the wedding gets closer. That I'll simply wake up one morning, less aware, more ambivalent. How do we preserve the days of fulfillment and always draw strength and inspiration from them?

First, London

So though it's been in the back of my mind, my trip to Paris has been on the books for months. And then a couple weeks ago, a project came up for me to work on in the London office. So I came to Europe a few days early to work, but, as always, it's been a joy. I'm really enjoying my job right now and, well, what's not to love about hotel living in the world's best cities? 

The weather has been lovely and springy. The sun has been shining, but I'm still wearing a coat.

Today was officially a holiday in the UK so I took the early part of the day to walk around and get a little fix of London.

I went down to the Tate Modern to see the new Matisse: Cut outs exhibition. But what I really enjoyed was the Richard Hamilton one.

But what I've really enjoyed is just being at the hotel. In the morning and evenings, sitting in the Great Northern Hotel's restaurant for flavorful and uber rich food and the amazing staff has made me so happy. 

Oh yeah. And then there's that naughty little pantry with cake and cookies and bonbons for the taking.

And I walked by Hummingbird Bakery and naturally had to try it. It was delicious.

I was intending to save myself for Paris. But London got the best of me.

Flush with spring

I know Paris enjoyed an early, warm spring, filled with blooming flowerbeds and trees. And just as I was leaving New York on Monday, I felt a pang, knowing the glimpse of daffodils, forsythia and dogwoods that were coming into their own there would be petering out by the time I return in 10 days.

But so it goes. Here I am in London, where the sun is shining and I have a few days' work before training down to my beloved. Hooray for spring break in Paris! Can you believe it's been 16 months since I've visited? Over three years since I moved home to New York? Five and a half years since the prospect of living in the City of Light entered my radar?? It just makes me think (again): life is amazing. Time passes so quickly, and yet you look back on everything that has happened, all that has changed, things you never dreamed would happen... and they do.

I write this, just shy of two months from my wedding. Five years ago, I thought I might meet a French pastry chef in Paris and be resigned to eating eggy brioche and fruity tarts for the rest of my life. Instead, I have a midwestern man with the sweetest soul with whom I'm building what keeps promising to be a most beautiful ever after. (For the record, he loves splitting all those brioche, tarts, pain au chocolat, muffins, cakes, croissants, doughnuts, you name it, with me... a win-win.)

Our wedding plans are pretty well established. Most vendors are secured, decisions made, just a few details remain to be worked out. It's going to be a fun but casual, (hopefully) sophisticated party that sets the tone for our life together.

And life together has been wonderful so far. It's great to be in love and even better to know you're blessed. I love our apartment (before and after photos coming soon, I swear). I'm loving my job. I've had a girls' weekend in Miami, visits from my family, good health, good meals and, finally, good weather. As the saying goes, life is good!

I hope for you, too, wherever you are, in whatever state the daffodils and dogwoods are. Thank you for sticking with me when I blog so sporadically. Life has a way of getting away from me back in New York, but I'm excited and inspired to capture everything these next few weeks. Bis! xo

London is lovely at the holidays

I was lucky enough to spend a few days in London for work last week. 

While I didn’t have any food adventures, I did my fair share of ogling.

But the best part about being there was the Christmas decorations. 

I hope you're enjoying the holiday spirit wherever in the world you are!