Friday, Sheff came home with his Valentine’s box from school – the weekend before, Sheff and I went traipsing around town finding stuff to make his box.  It was his favorite – those Italian plumbers we all know and love – The Mario Bros!  Check out how great it turned out – we were proud!

Saturday I met up with my sister for some shopping and a late birthday lunch.  We hadn’t hung out in the longest time, and pretty much spent the entire day out.  We got some lunch at Beef O’Brady’s in Helena and some margs, and it was perfect.  We shared the steak nachos and the spinach dip – and both were delicious.

Sunday we got up, did our Valentine’s swap and headed to Dunkin for some hearts doughnuts and the pink velvet macchiato.  Neither B nor I liked the macchiato much, but the doughnuts were amazing.  For dinner B had gotten filets and twice-baked potatoes and the “nice” bottle of wine (nice meaning cost more than like $15, but not much more), and we had a nice Valentine’s dinner.  We followed that up with watching Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel before bed.  A rare steak and true crime = definitely the way to my heart.

But the real fun of Sunday was Sheff’s bball team being in the playoffs!  They were the number 1 seed going into the tournament – and had an undefeated regular season at 8-0.  When I tell you that sports mom anxiety is real, oh it is real.  I wasn’t hungry, my heart rate was above 100 the whole time – it was insane.   But they won their first game, so I  could breathe for an hour.  The sweet coaches handed out individual trophies and medals with the kids names on them for their undefeated season, and after that, we headed out to find food.  Bennett is the only one that really ate – I think Sheff was really feeling the nerves, and I definitely was.  Sheff was not on his A-game, and even attempted a shot at the wrong goal (luckily he missed, but only barely).  But the eeked out the win in the championship game and are 2021 Hoover Kindergarten champs!  It was really fun to watch them all come together and pull it out.  I don’t know if basketball is in Sheff’s future, but this season sure was fun.

 

We are supposed to be getting some freezing rain today – schools were canceled today and will most likely be canceled tomorrow.  B and I had taken the day off work for Mardi Gras, but at this point seems pretty useless, so I’ll end up working anyway.  I hope you guys had a great weekend and are staying safe and warm!

(linking up with Jana and Steph for SUYB)

 

The Last Flight- Julie Clark // Two women on the run have a chance meeting in an airport and a way out of their situations.  This book was a little difficult to get into, but halfway through, the story started to gain some traction.  It was a back and forth telling of the story between the two women – and you only truly find out what happened once you get to the epilogue.  I really really liked this one.

The Wife Upstairs – Rachel Hawkins //   Apparently it was a re-telling of Jane Eyre, but real talk, I’m not super big on reading the classics, so I had no idea what to expect.  I had no idea who to trust, or what was going to happen, and I love books like that.  Especially since it was set in Alabama, in a town that is close to where I live.  I loved all the references to the neighborhoods that I’m familiar with.  It made it just that much more fun to read.

Such a Fun Age – Kiley Reid // Another book Nadine told me to stick with, and I’m glad I listened to her once again.  This one took me a minute to get into, but once I did, it was a pretty quick and easy read.    A little bit of race relations in this one, as well as trying to figure out your path in life.  Definitely liked it, and really really loved Emira.

Punching the Air – Ibi Zoboi, Yusef Salaam // Written in collaboration with Yusef, one of the exonerated five, it pulled from Salaam’s experience.  The book is written in verse, and goes through Amal’s experience about being in the wrong place at the wrong time – and being sent to a juvenile detention center.  The verse is incredibly effective as you get that more personal feel to the book.  This takes no time to read, but is definitely an important read.

The Vanishing Half – Brit Bennett // The characters in this book are ones you will fall in love with immediately.  I don’t even have the words to say how much I really enjoyed it.  It was a slow burn for me – I have picked it up about three times, but when I was finally able to sink into it, I’m mad for waiting so long.  An absolutely beautiful story written by someone who writes even more beautifully.

 

 

I am really bad with makeup and beauty products – as in, I don’t want to spend any money on them, and I suck at applying any and all makeup.  It’s not my forte- never has been.  I usually stick to an everyday makeup look – and if I’m going out out (LOL), I will usually just do a super quick swipe of darker eye shadow or a red lip.  These are just a few of my favorites that I keep coming back to:

L.A. Girl Lip Plumper:  I can’t tell you how much I love this stuff.  It’s under $5, and I pretty much use it every day.  Just one swipe in the morning, and I swear I can tell my lips are plumper all day.  I especially love the tint – no need for extra lipstick after!

St. Ives Blackhead Clearing Cleanser:  I use this about twice a week, when I feel like my face needs a good scrub.  I’ve seen where people are “canceling” St.  Ives, but I’m not sure why – I’ve always loved their face scrubs, and this one smells so good.  Also coming in hot at under $5!

Method Body Wash- Pure Peace: The scent on this stuff is amazing.  It is honestly the only body wash that I have repurchased more than once.  Usually, I’m quick to bounce around trying different ones, but I’m pretty stuck on this one.  And under $7!!

Maybelline Master Strobing Stick: If you’re waking up and looking all dead alien, swipe a little of this on those cheekbones, and it’s an instant fix to the alien look.  They have two shades – I use the Medium Nude Glow, but they also have a pinker color if you prefer. It comes in at just under $8.

Kristin Ess The One Purple Shampoo: I wasn’t sure if this one should be included on the “drug store” post, since I’ve only ever seen it at Target, but you can get it in the beauty section so on it goes.  It’s only $12, and one of the cheaper purple shampoos I’ve found.  My stylist wants me to use it once a week to tone the brassy, so this bottle probably lasts about three months or longer.

L’oreal Brow Stylist Prep and Shape Pro Brow Kit: For some reason, this is really hard to find, especially in the darker shade, but this is my holy grail for filling in and shaping my eyebrows.  I’m bad at makeup, but am the worst at doing my eyebrows.  This kit takes all the hard work out of it.

What are some of your favorite cheapie products?  I’m always on the look-out!!

 

 

Last week was awful – I saw a bunch of people just not having a great week.  So we decided to combat that week with a trip to our most favorite place: New Orleans!

I worked until about 2 on Friday and headed down that way – Sheff and B left a little bit earlier just to get down there earlier.  B had planned on staying a few extra days, so we ended up going separately.  I got down there around 730, and we went straight to Liuzza’s for dinner.  I got a delicious sauteed shrimp po-boy, a giant frosted Abita Amber and some fries.  We stopped on the way to the hotel for some wine – and called it a pretty early night!

Saturday morning, we got up and headed to one of my favorite spots in New Orleans – Bywater Bakery!  They have these amazing breakfast go-cups, and they have a ton of delicious king cakes.  We bought the chantilly one – and OMG, so good.  We had to sneak some pieces after breakfast.

After breakfast, we headed over to St. Charles to see some of the house floats!  Obviously, because of Covid, the Mardi Gras parades are not rolling – so the beautiful, lovely people of New Orleans took matters into their own hands.  Some people hired the same studio that designs the floats to give their house themes, and some people did their own damn thing!  Our favorites were Dino-Gras and the circus.  There was even a mystical krewe of unicorns house, and it was pink and beautiful.

 After walking around and checking out these houses – we were in need of sustenance.  We stopped by Bourree for king cake daiquiris!  It was so so delicious!  We went back to the hotel, and went on a walk through the Quarter.  We ended up walking 6.5 miles that day!

After our walk, we went back to the hotel to watch the AU basketball game – unfortunately, they were playing the #2 team in the country, and ended up getting beat.  So that sucked – but B went over to Lucy’s Retired Surfer Bar for some dinner for Sheff and some drinks for the adults.  We got the guac app to tide us over before dinner, and their guacamole was amazing.  Luckily, that night, we had lined up a babysitter with our favorite people (if you’re in NOLA and need childcare, PLEASE let me know.  These people are absolutely amazing, and we 100% trust them.) so mom and dad could have a date night.  We actually met up with my girl Lindsey at Lola for tapas and sangria.  Everything we had there was SOOO good – I’d definitely go back there to eat.  We ended the night at Bayou Beer Garden and headed home.  They are still under Phase 1, so all the bars close at 11 so we were back at a reasonable hour.

The next morning, we headed to The Vintage for beignets and mimosas.  Sheffield was really wanting some beignets, so we finally indulged him and let him have a crap ton of sugar for breakfast.  We walked around Magazine Street just to take in one last afternoon of NOLA before heading back.  Sheff and I left around 1100, got home, ordered a million and seven pizzas and binged Camp Cretaceous on Netflix.  I’m telling you, that is one kid’s show I’m 1000% invested in.  It’s so good!!

Hope you had a great weekend and a good start to the week!!

Usually, when I come to this space, it’s to share something happy or something cool that I’m digging at the moment.  I’ve occasionally talked about my struggles with body image, but even that is very rare.  I like to use this space as a sort of photo diary – especially with a growing kid.  It’s fun to document all of his birthdays, all of his firsts and have them compacted into this little corner on the internet.

But then I remember that sometimes, I just want to come here to write.  Sometimes it’s hard to just keep all those feelings and emotions bottled up.  I’m sure the majority of people are feeling this right now, but I am just  burned the fuck out.

I read an article this week on how this pandemic is changing the mental health – specifically for millennial mothers – which I happen to be.  (I still fervently believe there should be a separate group for those of us that didn’t have cell phones until the latter years of high school/into college, but for now, I will identify with that term.)  I know that I am lucky to have an involved spouse, and that we pretty much split the child care and household chores down the middle – but sometimes just the thought that I have to get up, get Sheffield in the shower, get breakfast ready, get myself ready for the day (which now is just making sure I have all my computer parts where they need to be) – drive him to school,  work all day, pick him up at 2:45, come back home, make sure he’s sufficiently entertained (sometimes this solely consists of time on his pad or a PBS show or two), make dinner, get him ready for bed, get him in bed, finish up whatever chores need done around the house – try to fit in a shower or something resembling one – then get myself in bed.  Just to get up and do it all again the next morning.

Most days, I will use my “lunch hour” to work out – so I don’t take that time away from Sheffield when he does get home – but even that is getting tiresome.  I have suffered from extreme burn out from my job for quite awhile now – I’ve learned how to deal with that, but what I struggle with is just those thoughts in the morning- what am I working toward?  Is there any sort of light at the end of the tunnel?  Will they ever create a laundry-doing robot??

There’s a line from Bruce Springsteen’s Dancing in the Dark  that I always think about when I get in this burn-out mode:  I ain’t nothing but tired. Man I’m just tired and bored with myself.   I’m sure we’re all there to some extent with Covid fatigue and basically just living the same days over and over again – but how in the world do you get yourself out of this funk – this seemingly never-ending cycle of crap?

I don’t really have any other options other than to just chug along – keeping status quo until something gives.  Someone please reach out and tell me I’m not alone in all of these feelings?