vegas, part 1

So last week was the first of two trips to Vegas this month for John and I to shop for shoes for Fall/Winter 07. Although the current winter has really just gotten fully underway here in beautiful Kansas (let's be real - we're FREEZING OUR ARSES OFF here), it's already time to shop for shoes for next winter. The trip was challenging to say the least. It was our first time to have one of our children with us, which we knew would make things more difficult...and would make things take longer than usual...and would make us more tired than we usually are. All of that I was prepared for. What I wasn't prepared for was to be greeted by this on the 7th floor of the Venetian Hotel (the WSA trade show is in several locations, one of them being the Venetian):

"I'm sorry Ma'am. No kids allowed."

"We called before we came and got approval to bring him because he's a nursing infant under the age of one. They told us we just needed to sign a release of liability form."

"Can I see your form?"

"Well, I don't have one. When we checked in at registration no one said anything to us about needing a form."

"Then I'll need you to go to the 34th floor and get a signed form before I can admit you on this floor."

So Vance and I trekked up to the 34th floor while John went to an appointment with Camper. When I got there, I received some disturbing news from the woman in charge of this particular section of the show.

The long and short of it -- I was told that no children under 16 were allowed in the show and that the rule was printed on all the promotional material for the show. She didn't seem to care that I'd talked with someone at the 1-800 number who told me all I had to do was sign a release of liability form. She said there was no release of liability form, that whoever we talked with was mistaken and that she would lose her job if she allowed me to take my child into the show.

I asked her (nicely, of course) if she and the people in charge of the WSA show cared about small businesses. She responded, "Of course we do, small businesses are the backbone of this show." I proceeded to tell her that my husband and I owned a small shoe store, that we were the only buyers, and that we didn't travel all the way to Vegas with our 5-month-old son to be told that we weren't going to be able to attend the show. After about 10 minutes of going back-and-forth, I think she realized that I was not going to just quietly leave and that we were going to need to find a solution to our "problem." In the end, her staff found out that one of the exhibitors didn't show up, so they offered to give us a key to the room to use as a homebase: one of us could stay with our child while the other went to appointments with vendors and then we could switch off. It was far from ideal, but it appeared it was the only option they were going to give us. It pretty much defeated the entire purpose of our coming together -- to view the lines together, to get feedback from one another, to bounce ideas off one another and to be able to make decisions TOGETHER -- but we realized if we were going to get anything done on this trip we were going to have to make the best of it. The upside: Vance got to take naps on a bed instead of in a baby carrier on my back, which did make for a more peaceful trip under the circumstances.

Other things we learned from mishaps on this trip:
1. Waking up at 4:15am is not early enough for a 6:20am flight out of KCI. John and I have already flown twice recently with Vance and have thoroughly enjoyed the preboarding luxury given to parents of small children. Not this morning though as I think we were the last people on the plane. The upside: the flight was only half full, so even though we had to squeeze Vance and his car seat down the teeny-tiny aisle of the plane, we all got to sit together.

2. Going through airport security with young children -- specifically a baby -- is REALLY fun. I'm talking serious fun people. Not only do you get to perform all the typical exercises of airport security routine: making sure you remembered to remove the nail file from your purse, observing the 3-1-1 rule for liquids (for those of you who have not recently flown and are not up-to-speed on airline regulations all your liquids that are carried on board must now be 3 ounces or less in 1 bag that is 1 quart or less in size, and removing your shoes, but you also get the privilege of removing your adorable, sleeping (remember it's 6am) babe from it's car seat and sending both seat and stroller through the tiny X-ray machine while at the same time trying to perform the aforementioned rituals all in under 1 minute so as to KEEP THE LINE MOVING PLEASE. After getting Vance snuggled back in his car seat, I was feeling pretty good about how smoothly the airport screening had gone. While putting my shoes back on, I was jolted out of my smug reverie by a slight crash. I spun around to find that my son's car seat had fallen off the stroller WITH HIM IN IT. The upside: he wasn't hurt, only slightly disoriented. We hadn't even boarded the plane and this trip was already off to an exciting start.

3. Use caution when getting into an unfamiliar shower in a hotel or you could slip and fall on your arse. The upside: it made for some much-needed laughter after the day we'd had..."I'm sorry sir, you won't be able to bring that wheelchair into the show. No children under 16 are allowed and no adults under the age of 30 in a wheelchair."

4. When nursing your son, don't stand up too quickly to answer the door of the hotel room or you might pop a button off your dress that would make it difficult to walk around the rest of the day and people not to stare at parts of your body you don't want them staring at. The upside: suites in the Venetian Hotel come equipped with several amenities. My particular favorite this day: a sewing kit.

I'll share the trends for fall/winter 2007 in another post. Stay tuned for Vegas, Part 2 next week.

local news

Does anyone agree with me that the local news is horrible? Tonight, after watching the Golden Globes and before I located the remote, I caught two small segments of "news" that pretty much sums up what the local stations think is newsworthy around here. I don't think I've ever watched a full half hour segment of the local news, so I'm certainly no expert, but from the few moments I've seen here and there I'm convinced that every news story comes from two main topics: crime and the weather.

The first several stories of tonight all had to do with some type of crime or tragedy, or a tragic crime -- two young boys who had been kidnapped, a teenage girl who had been hit by a truck, another young girl who was an accomplice to a murder. All these stories were shared in the first two minutes. I don't understand why the people who decide what stories get on the local news think that the people of Kansas City want to hear about this stuff. It seems to be all about sensationalism to me and I'm repulsed by it. Why can't they find some positive stories to talk about? There must be hundreds of people all over KC who do great things for other people every day. I want to hear those stories.

And then the pendulum swung to the other side of the coin of horrible journalism. Just before turning off the TV, we saw a clip about the ice and sleet that have been falling on KC the past few days. They actually showed a woman scraping ice off her car and flashed her name on the screen with the title "Ice Scraper" underneath it. WHAT?!? Is this for real? What idiot approved giving this unsuspecting woman the title of "Ice Scraper?" Is catching a woman on video scraping ice off her car seriously newsworthy? "Oh my goodnes John, will you look at that. That woman is scraping ice off of her car. That's fascinating. How does she do it?" C'mon people.

So is it just KC, or is the local news this bad in every city?

the best week of 2007...already?

This was probably one of the best weeks I've had in a long time. Nothing mind-blowing happened, but just lots of little things that added up to a great week.

Monday, I worked all day at the store -- something I haven't done in a long time. But this guy had not had two days off in a row (except for New Year's Eve and New Year's Day) for a very long time. We're talking months. Fortunately, Vance is not eating as frequently, so I'm able to work a full day if John brings him to the store for one feeding. Now, most people might not think starting off the week with a full day of work would be a start to a great week. Well, it is for me because when I work on stuff for the store it's either during the kids naptime (when they nap at the same time), or at night after they've gone to bed. The weeks I have to work on stuff several nights in a row are the weeks I dislike owning our own business. It's not that I dislike working on stuff for the business, it's that I dislike mostly having to do it in the "free time" I have apart from the kids, which means I don't get to do other things I want to like read (books, magazines or blogs), knit, sew, and other stuff that's relaxing. So, having a full day at the store to work on all the things I have to do at home normally, is a GREAT start to the week for me. Plus, the added bonus is my husband gets a day to hang with the kids and enjoy their hugs, smiles and giggles. The only bummer part about Monday is what I missed. Right after we sat down to dinner, John said, "So, Vance rolled over today." Of course he did. I've been coaxing him for weeks to roll over, I should not be surprised that he chose the day I was out of the house to do this for the first time. Oh well, he did it again after dinner.


Wednesday, I went out for coffee with Hannah. Again, this may not sound like an event to boast of a stellar week, but I can't even remember the last time I went out for coffee with a friend...without my children in tow. It was wonderful. Hannah and I talked for three hours I think and it honestly felt like 45 minutes. We closed down LatteLand (they were very nice not to kick us out, but we got the hint when we noticed lights flickering out). We talked about our respective stints of living and travelling abroad and how we would both like to get back to Europe again some day whether to travel or to live for some time. I thoroughly enjoyed learning new things about Hannah. This may sound cheesy, but ideas were sparked in me from that conversation that had been dormant for some time. It was good for my soul.

And Friday. Oh Friday. Our amazing friends, Jeff and Sarah, offered to watch our kiddos so we could have a date night. A what? A date night? What's that? (Basically from this post you're learning that I don't get out much). On our way out the door, Jeff demanded he take a picture of us (see, even he knew what a momentous occasion this was):


and then said, "If you're home before midnight, I'll be disappointed." My response was, "Jeff, if we're not home by midnight, you need to call the police because something is very wrong." OK, I didn't really say that, but I figured he was going to be disappointed. So, we ate the most delectable meal at 1924 Main -- arguably the best restaurant in Kansas City. Their menu changes every week of the year and you an choose the prie fixe option for a 3-course meal of a starter, main course and dessert.

John chose:
Black mussels with chorizo, smoked fennel, orange segments and basil aioli
Grilled swordfish with brandade potatoes, oyster mushrooms and manila cream butter
Chocolate espresso pot de creme with biscotti and port soaked cherries

I chose:
Herbed goat cheese ravioli with braised lamb broth and crispy fennel
Grilled strip steak with blue cheese potatoes, balsamic marinated portabellas and cabernet sauce
the pot de creme as well.

Is your mouth watering yet? John and I kept saying, "It has to be wrong to be enjoying a meal this much." If I were to ever win the lottery (which I don't play so I'll probably never win), I think the thing that might change most about my life is that I would eat out at nice restaurant A LOT MORE. I love eating out at restaurants with chefs who know how to prepare food. Added bonus: the couple that owns the place are the nicest people AND they're our neighbors.

After dinner, we checked out the newly renovated President Hotel (to scout out the grounds for a stay sometime in the future?) and then went around the corner to JP's wine bar and coffeehouse because we couldn't go home yet. I was daring and tried an after dinner coffee drink which had Grey Goose vodka, Godiva chocolate and something else. Very disappointing. Too strong (the alcohol, not the coffee) and just all-around not what I was hoping. So, I asked our waiter if he could just bring me a Chai instead. I know...boring, but hey, it's what I wanted. And let me tell you, it was probably the best Chai I ever tasted. Not to mention, it was HUGE. The mug it came it was the size of a bucket. I drank the whole thing, so I definitely got my $3.50 worth.

But better than the delectable meal and fabulous Chai was the fact that I had nearly four, uninterrupted hours ALONE with my husband to talk about anything but the store. It was the perfect end to a great week. Now, if I can just take time to do things like this every week, 2007 will be a banner year.

mkm 2.5

Dear Margot,
You turned two-and-a-half today. Thirty months old. I've wanted to write you a letter every month on your "birthdate" (an idea I got from another mommy-blogger), but for more reasons than I care to admit, I've never succeeded in accomplishing that goal. Well, it's 2007 and times are a changin' (hopefully).

This past month has been a super-fun one with you. Your new thing is dancing and you do it all the time. Sometime in November we watched Center Stage and ever since then, all you want to do is dance. Prior to seeing the movie, you loved music and would jump up-and-down when listening to Coldplay or Death Cab for Cutie or any number of the other bands your father has in rotation in our stereo. But this movie was a definite turning point. Now, it's all about being a ballerina. After the first viewing, you studied the photos on the back of the DVD case and then proceeded to imitate the poses you saw in the photos. During the second viewing, you spent most of the movie hopping around trying to mimic what they were doing on screen. For the next two weeks, immediately after you woke up (and every hour after that) you would say, "I wanna dance" and would ask us to turn on the music. You would dance around the living room like a ballerina, placing your arms carefully in position, up on your "tippy toes", alternating between a look of intense concentration and a beaming smile. Aside from our parental bias, I think others would agree that you look pretty darn good for a two-year-old...sorry, two-AND-A-HALF-year old. Your father and I had so much fun watching your dance routines that when I saw a pink tutu at our favorite children's clothing store, I knew that's what we would be giving you for Christmas. You also received a pink leotard and tights for Christmas and spent most of Christmas day dancing around the house in the complete get-up. I think you've worn it at least once every day since Christmas and whenever anyone asks you what you got for Christmas, you exclaim with a big grin on your face, "I got a tutu. It's pink."




Other than dancing, you are very into your little brother. You love to hug him and kiss him and very much wish you could pick him up and throw him over your shoulder to burp him and can't quite seem to understand why we won't let you. And although we tell you at least 10 times a day to not lean all your weight on Vance, you haven't quite grasped that concept yet. But honestly, I'd rather have to keep reminding you not to smother him than for you to ignore him and be totally uninterested in him. When you wake up in the morning, or from a nap, one of the first things you say is, "Where's Vance?" You're also very protective of him, and have burst into tears and protested several times this past month when you see someone you don't know saying "hi" to him or holding him. People have reacted quite strangely to this, but we know it's just your way of watching out for your little brother.




When you're not playing with Vance, you can usually be found playing in your room. This is a new development, just in the last week or so. I think it's because you've figured out how to turn on the CD player yourself and can now listen to your "Margot" CD over and over and over. You seem to be really enjoy having some time to yourself up there and I must admit it's been refreshing for me. But today when you were playing up there by yourself, I got a little sad because I realized this is just the beginning of what is sure to be many years of you wanting to differentiate yourself from me. My mind was flashing forward to your teenage years when you'll be listening to different music (that I also can't stand) in your room and wanting nothing to do with me. I know our job as parents is to raise you to become your own person and to pursue your own dreams and I certainly want you to do that, but today I got a small glimpse of how hard that is going to be at times. So for now, I'm going to enjoy the times you ask me to turn the music on so you can dance, and for the times that you turn it on yourself, don't be surprised if I sneak in your room to just watch you play.

I love you,
--Mama

oh boy!...comments

I had no idea posting about a college football game would provoke more comments on my blog than any other post to date. Wow, maybe I need to change my focus...

thirty-and-a-half

Two days ago I turned thirty-and-a-half. Do you remember the days when half-birthdays were a big deal?

"How old are you?"

"I'm 7 and a half."

Somehow, 30 and a half just doesn't have the same ring to it. I think the main reason I still acknowledge my half-birthday is because it is also my stepdad's birthday. I'm sure some people might think it's silly to acknowledge half-birthdays and I can understand that. If you celebrate a half-birthday, why not a quarter-birthday? Or an eighth-birthday? It could get a little ridiculous. I do know a family who celebrates half-birthdays with their kids. They don't throw a party for them, but rather take the day as an opportunity for some special one-on-one time with their kids. I absolutely LOVE birthdays, and have felt for some time that everyone should get a birthWEEK to celebrate. I could get into this half-birthday celebration concept.

Speaking of half-birthdays...Margot turned 2 1/2 today, but more about that in another post.

oh boy-se state!

(that may be the cheesiest blog post title ever)
Did anyone else see the Fiesta Bowl tonight? WOW. Probably one of the best college football games I've ever seen. Seriously. Before tonight, I had never heard of Jared Zabransky, but if you'd seen me cheering for him in the final seconds of regulation when he completed a pass on fourth-and-18 for a touchdown to send the game into overtime, you might've mistaken me for his mother...or a Boise State fan at the very least.

I wanted to share my excitement with someone (my husband went to bed early to recover from the New Year's Eve party we attended), so I called my friend, Jeff. It ended up that he was asleep too (recovering from the same party). He sounded so confused that I would be calling him at 11:30pm to celebrate the outcome of a college football game, so I told him "goodnight" and decided to just share my joy with the anonymous blogworld instead. If you saw the game, you know what I'm talking about. If you didn't, you can read the story here.

So, Boise State is now 13-0. The only other undefeated team is Ohio State, but unfortunately these two teams won't have a chance to go head-to-head for the National Title because of the messed-up BCS bowl system. I won't go there though because I don't have an opinion about it.

Happy New Year!