Home Sweet Home

The wide open spaces of Eastern Washington. 

My sister just did a blog post about our recent trip back to K-Town, with a more complete version of what actually happened and better pictures since she actually had a functioning camera. (#goodtimeshadbyall)

http://randekka.blogspot.com/2012/03/its-raining-men.html

Inquiring Minds Want to Know

To set the record straight, no I am not pregnant. Apparently the rumor mill has been churning and the outfit I wore to church today didn't help matters. Multiple people asked if I was expecting, so looks like I better lay off the brownies and make my sartorial decisions more wisely in the future. :)

Rolling Five Deep

That's how it goes when you're a Dockum sister.  

The sisters' weekend was officially a success. In addition to doing last minute prep for Nan's baby shower, we stuck to tradition by staying up til the wee hours and engaging in some of our favorite K-Town activities. Namely cheap pedicures, chatting, and eating. Some of our tried-and-true haunts included China Cafe (spicy noodles), Baskin Robbins (31 flavors!!), and Taco John's (best Mexi-Fries in the world, people).

The baby shower turned out really well and we had a great time seeing old friends. My favorite parts of the day were getting the grand tour of Nan's cute nursery, our baseball trivia game, and hanging out afterwards with Nan's best friend from college, now a perinatologist at OHSU (on whom we've all developed a girl crush).  The food was also yummy and the decorations turned out nicely, thanks to the creative ideas we found courtesy of others via Pinterest. In the process, we also discovered some of our own budding crafting skills. Kira and Bekka made the bunting and I taped those pennants together like nobody's business. A shout out to Kaylee for salvaging the cupcake decorating from impending ruin under my amateurish efforts. It's a skill I'd like to develop.

There's nothing like being with your family, and particularly, sisters, to regroup and recharge.
(L to R: Mom, Kaylee, Nanette, Bekka, Kira, yours truly)

As an extra bonus, I got to spend a few hours with a dear friend of mine who moved to WA last year. I flew into Spokane, and when I found out my mom would be late picking me up, she graciously agreed to come get me and we spent a wonderful afternoon at her house catching up. Thank you Heather!!

Back to my Roots

I leave next Thursday for a long weekend in WA with my sisters.  Sans children.  As I mentioned in an earlier post, we'll be throwing a baby shower for my oldest sister, who's expecting her first baby next month. I usually go home and keep my fingers crossed that I don't see anyone that I know, but this will be an event filled with familiar faces.

Including this one: My niece Harper, the budding diva. Poor Lucy will be devastated that she won't get to see Harper, her online entertainment source and fashion mentor. I got this picture yesterday in a text and died over the leopard lady coat. 

The accompanying message: "Heading to story time. Overdressed?"

My response: "Perhaps. Unless story time is at the Ritz."

Bekka: "She insisted on the leopard coat." 

Can't wait for some quality time with my best girlfriends, big and small.

MythBusters

Here's the link to an article a friend of mine just wrote about common mommy myths. She's a natural writer and it made me laugh out loud multiple times. She keeps it real with her apt observations, quick wit, and wry humor. But while it's honest, you don't come away feeling like motherhood is a drag. Way to go A on being a published writer, you have a bright future ahead!


http://www.amomknows.com/2012/02/mommy-myths-heres-the-real-story/

Confession: Contrary to the article and the experience of most moms I've talked to, I only do three, maybe four loads of laundry a week. I must be doing something wrong. Or I have a high tolerance for letting my kids re-wear clothes. If there are no visual stains on it, it's still clean, right? Undies are the exception, of course.

What's a common mommy myth you've observed?
Whether or not you have kids, fess up: What's the thing you swear/swore your kids will "never" do?

What We're Up to Today

Making these S'mores brownies to bring to a baby shower luncheon. 

They were easy to whip up, but really hard to cut because of the gooey marshmallows. To be honest, they ended up looking nice in the pan, but came out as mangled blobs and tasted only so-so. Oh well, better luck next time. That's what I get for taking an untested recipe to a social event. Thanks, ladies, for humoring my remedial cooking efforts.

I have another party this week and am not taking any chances. I'll be bringing this tried and true beauty:

BHG's award-winning Marbleous Chocolate-Peanut Butter Cake with Salted Caramel Glaze. 

The glaze alone is lick-it-up-by-the-spoonfuls delicious. I also spent part of today menu planning and compiling a grocery list to get all the necessary ingredients to redeem myself from today's sub par culinary effort.

 Finally, I ordered, picked up, addressed, and mailed out these invitations for my big sis's baby shower next month. This little guy will be Nanette's first, so all the Dockum sisters are converging in our hometown to host the social event of the season in Eastern Washington. Nan's a huge baseball fan in general, and of the old-school Yankees in particular, so we decided on a classy vintage baseball theme. If you're wondering, no, I did not spontaneously acquire fabulous design skills. This invitation is brought to you by the creative geniuses at Etsy. It was the first time I've ordered anything from there and was pleasantly surprised. Since we sorely lack the creativity gene and are generally crafting impaired, the sisters also have a communal Pinterest board going to collect fun baby shower ideas. So if you have a board, I'll be scouring it for inspiration. Favorite pin of the week: No sew bunting for a concessions-style refreshment table.

P.S. Thanks to N and her mad Photoshop skills for blurring out any identifying any information about the shower, so as to deter any crazy blogstalkers from crashing the party.  Hopefully you still get the effect. 

Diamanche en France

Our second day in Paris was a Sunday and I wanted to attend mass at Notre Dame. A very cool cultural experience and the service was a lovely, dignified affair. Sadly, a raging case of jet lag caused me to keep dozing off. It didn't help that the service was also incredibly long with long periods of standing...and in Latin. Suffice to say, we didn't make it through the whole thing and had to get up and walk around so I'd stay awake.

 Yes, I was that person who took a picture during a religious ceremony. Bad, bad American tourist!

Andy and I returned to the flat and decided to explore the Latin Quarter on the Left Bank with Andy's mom and brother. Here's one of the fresh air markets like you see in many big cities. I could get used to meandering around a city, admiring the alluring produce, and picking up pieces of dinner along the way, couldn't you? 

Not long into our walk, with our guidebooks still in our bags, we happened to turn the corner and see this architectural beauty at the top of the hill. 

 Not knowing what it was, but anxious to explore, we discovered that it was the Pantheon. Patterned after the Roman Pantheon and formerly a church, it's now a shrine to French secular society/history and the burial place of many French luminaries, as well as the home of Focault's pendulum.

 Next door - St. Etienne du Mont. A lovely little church with a purple door (you knew I couldn't resist) that friends said was their favorite in Paris. Sadly, it was closed to tourists on Sunday.

 We continued on past the Sorbonne, down to the gorgeous Luxembourg Gardens. Definitely one of my favorite places in the city. We spent many a happy hour there strolling and people watching. I also went jogging there one morning and felt oh-so-French as I sweated with the locals. Above is the Luxembourg Palace where the French Senate meets.

 Pete and Andy sporting their best goober faces. Classic.

 A grotto in the church St. Sulpice (you might recognize the name from The DaVinci Code). I particularly enjoyed the large murals, specifically the one of Jacob wrestling the angel. A place where the combination of beauty, art, and faith made me stop and ponder.

Back across the Seine to the Ile de la Cité and the Conciergerie, where prisoners were held during the French Revolution to await their appointment with Madame La Guillotine. Its most famous prisoner: Marie Antoinette.

 Funny story: We actually got locked in Marie Antoinette's cell after an active toddler pushed the door shut. We'd been walking behind him the whole time and could tell that his parents were stressed about keeping him contained. They were mortified when this happened, but people were very nice about it and just laughed at the irony. They alerted a worker and you can imagine the key he brought to unlock the door. Yep: A huge old iron one on an enormous keyring, just like they would have used in Marie's time.

 No SUVs here.

 Home again, home again, jiggity jig. The heavy wooden door to our flat at 16 Rue Budé.

 In for the evening. We relaxed and prepared a delicious dinner of omlettes (with meat, tomatoes, and the cheese recommended by the fromager), baguettes, and fruit.

 Andy working his magic in the tiny kitchen. He makes a mean omlette. No joke, the man has skills.

Our first beautiful French pastry. Annette adores raspberries and this one was lovely, but looked better than it tasted. I am happy to report that wasn't the case for pastries in general.

We spent a pleasant evening talking and planning our trip to northern France the next day. Chatting with Andy's family is always fun, no matter where we are. After sifting through multiple French train schedules and travel books/websites, we came up with an itinerary. The consensus: Early bedtime and a 5:30 a.m. wake up call in order to catch the 7:07 a.m. train to Normandy.