Yes, that is my light fixture protruding out of the wall, revealing sticky tape as the source for mounting.

Really?! Sticky tape? You used sticky tape to mount a light fixture? A light fixture that is placed directly above someone’s head? Someone who is likely to be under that fixture 2x a day, assuming that the least they do is brush their teeth in the morning and night? Sticky tape? Really?! Sticky tape you claim to be “mounting tape,” for the purpose of which is to mount things like poster board? Sticky tape to mount a fixture made of glass and mirror? Glass that just sits like a waffling bowl in the fixture not secured to anything? A fixture that has 2 really hot halogen bulbs that do no less than blind you the minute the unsecured frosted glass tips out of the falling fixture? Really?! Sticky tape to mount a fixture that if by chance does fall, will be hanging by a thread of sorts? A thread laced with electrical current that is now dangling over the head of a person using water for every day sanitary purposes?  Really?! Sticky tape? Sticky tape?! For a light fixture?!

My faith in humanity has been crushed right before my blinded-by-halogen-bulbs eyes.

PS-the fixture on the left fell 3 weeks later, revealing…sticky tape. Points for consistency.

Myself being my mini me, my daughter. It’s a weird feeling, knowing that you created a little person, a spawn of yourself. People tell me all the time that my daughter looks exactly like me. I don’t see it because I don’t think it’s possible to know your face the way other people do. You can’t be objective about your own characteristics or even of those of your child, whose face you know by heart. You’re too close to the situation (actually, you aren’t even too close to the situation, the situation being your face, you ARE the situation). But nonetheless, it’s a weird feeling to know that people see you walking with your spawn and they see the resemblance, knowing that person is “yours”. And not just in looks. When my daughter makes certain facial expressions, statements, mannerisms or does certain actions, people always say, “She is SO your daughter.”

Slowly, I’m starting to get worried about raising this little mini me. I’ve heard all the stories of what I was like as a toddler and kid. Tantrums. Moody (especially when hungry…Hangry – that’s for you A.R.). Sensitive. Whatever, you’d be sensitive too if you had terrible eczema on your legs and your sister used to call your legs “eggy leggies”. And I remember what I was like as a teenager (you get no specifics on that one in case one day I want to work for the government and I need my rep in tact). And I was even one of the “good” kids. Like so many adults, I have a respect for my parents that wasn’t possible to have as a kid. I know a little about what is in store for me now. So it’s all well and good that my daughter looks like me and acts like me. But…

I just might be turning into an adult, slowly but surely. This is evidenced by the fact that I can no longer bring myself to watch Vampire Diaries (my sister is devastated), despite the fact that Ian Somerhalder is in my Top 5 (and so is Nina Dobrev…she’s just in a different Top 5). I seriously thought the show was fabulous the first couple of seasons and I looked forward to it. But I can’t do it anymore. Something inside of me has changed. It just may be a bit of maturity creeping in. I was wondering when it would happen. At 35, it was bound to happen. For me, it presented itself with the disappearance of CW shows on my TiVo. I know for others it presents itself in other forms. If I ever switch from cafe mochas to lattes or even straight espresso, I think we can officially call me a mature adult. But until then, I’m still just showing signs.

Back to Ian (because why not?!). He actually made an appearance in the Top 5 back when he appeared in Life as a House. Simultaneously, Hayden Christensen made his appearance. His ranking maintained for awhile because of the resurgence of Star Wars. And like most girls born in the 70’s, I grew up loving Star Wars. But it was Hayden’s presence in Life as a House coupled with the fact that the soundtrack included a Guster song (as well as the dog’s name being Guster) that did me in. Hayden has since been replaced by Kyle Chandler, or Coach Taylor as he is lovingly known to us FNL fans. Now, Kyle actually caught my eye when he played the bomb squad guy in an episode of Grey’s Anatomy (another show I just abandoned mid-season this year). Spoiler Alert: He blew up. It was super emotional.

So the current standings are:
1. Christian Bale – I mean, I really could just stop after that. Yes, he’s got anger management issues, but I’m not going for personality here, this is purely physical – which should help put my husband at ease.
2. Ian Somerhalder – I know he’s a little “pretty”.
3. Justin Timberlake – Of course. The best part about him being in the Top 5 is I have dreams about him all the time. In a sense, I’ve already hooked up with him, so we could call it a day.
4. Kyle Chandler – Coach.
5. Brad Pitt/George Clooney – Now, here’s where it gets tricky. Brad was the original Top 5, he started the Top 5 and he was #1-#5. This was circa 1991, classic Thelma and Louise. So I feel he deserves an honorary spot. That being said, I need the sophistication of a salt ‘n pepper gentleman for diversity; and since Sean Connery was just pushing it, I decided George Clooney should be granted the spot. This was motivated by another dream I had where he was obsessed with me. So essentially, he is in the Top 5 and Brad just holds an honorary place.

So as you can see, I’m showing signs of maturity as we speak.

 

If you’ve been reading my posts, you know that I’m into my kids learning different dialects, the way other parents are into their kids learning to play an instrument or sport. (Click here for background).

The other day, in the car, my daughter said, “My two friends fighted over the book at school.”
I replied with, “We say ‘fought’ in that sentence.”
Her reply, “Oh, so like ‘fart’ without the ‘R’, they foughted.”

…and we have Boston.

My brother-in-law (“B”) asked for a little more clarification as to what a Blue Ribbon Wife is. He got the “first place” concept but needed me to use it in a sentence (or, as I am doing, in a post). A Blue Ribbon Wife is defined by many characteristics which will come up at some point throughout the blog both physical and non-physical; but mostly defined by her actions. See below:

My husband and son share a birthday; but since my son is still young and gets a party with a cake, I let my husband pick the cake we celebrate with at home. It’s the same every year: grocery store-bought chocolate cake with white frosting. So as a BRW (putting in the effort and thought), I decided I was going to make the cake this year, the night before. I wish to G-d (oh, I’m Jewish, btw) I had taken a picture of what ensued that night I made the cake. But not only does this show you what it looked like (the second or third cake is the best representation), but this commercial came on literally 10 minutes after my debacle: Cool Whip Frosting Commercial

So that didn’t work out. The next morning, which was the birthdays, I ran to the grocery store. Now, I know that the chocolate cake/white frosting combo is just particular enough that most stores don’t carry more than one (if even that) ready to purchase.

Tonight while watching Aladdin, my daughter told me that she is going to start calling the monkey (aka Abu), “Aboot”…in honor of Canada.

So just in case you actually want some helpful information from me (I mean, I can’t imagine why, but let’s make sure we keep “Blue Ribbon” status and don’t slip into “Thanks for Participating”), I have some information on what we did for our weekend trip to Vancouver. Note: We did everything with 2 kids (ages 5.5 and 3)

We live in the Seattle area, so we were able to drive up on a Thursday afternoon (about 140 miles, 2.5 hours depending on how long the border wait is). We drove into the southern part of the city right at rush hour and got stuck in major traffic at the George Massey Tunnel (where 5 lanes of traffic merged to 1). As my grandpa used to say while driving in Southern California, “3 doesn’t go into 1.” I imagine he would agree that 5 doesn’t go into 1 either. So check your timing if you are driving.

We stayed that the Westin Grand Vancouver Downtown. The Westin Bayshore is also supposed to be great because it’s walkable to Stanley Park. But the Westin Grand ended up being perfect because it was walkable to the shops, restaurants, ice arena, Yaletown and ferries (all discussed below). The concierge at the Westin Grand was wonderful. She was super nice to the kids and every time we asked for suggestions she gave us directions, different options and made reservations for us. I was a little obsessed with how she used her mascara to really make her eyes pop.

Thursday Night:
Dinner at Italian Kitchen (on Alberni St, near the high end shopping and walkable from the hotel).  They took us to a table upstairs and immediately I assumed we were being put out of the way because we are a traveling circus. Turns out the majority of the seating is upstairs. (I don’t jump to conclusions…ever.) It was good, they also had a kids menu. Other restaurants suggested to us by the same restaurant group and in the same area are: Coast and Black + Blue.

Friday:
Drove to Stanley Park. Got to the miniature train parking 20 minutes before it opened to get a spot, it filled quickly. Rode the train, did an Easter egg hunt. We happened to be there Easter weekend and the majority of us happen to be Jewish. But in the way Jews love Christmas carols (which, btw, I don’t) this Jew LOVES Easter egg hunts.  Carols do not yield chocolate, Easter egg hunts often do.
Then walked to the Vancouver Aquarium. It was super crowded, so things were hard to see for the kids. We were there on Good Friday so obviously I suggest going on an off day if possible to avoid crowds.
Drove within the park to Prospect Point for lunch and view.
Drove through the rest of the park just to check it out.
Back to hotel, parked car, walked through Yaletown (we didn’t spend any time there but it looks like a fun area to walk around, shop and eat, maybe without kids) to the ferry docks to catch either the False Creek Ferry or Aquabus to Granville Island.

The ferries were definitely a must, but they are enclosed so it was hard to see out the windows and the ride is pretty short. But it’s an easy way to get to different places and the kids liked it (personally, it felt a little like taking a boat to Alcatraz or Riker’s but that feeling was only confirmed when we entered the Kids’ Market, see below). We didn’t get to Science World but heard that’s a fun place to be when it’s raining outside and the ferries stop right there.

Granville Island was pretty cool. It had a public market that was a bit easier to navigate than Pike Place in Seattle. We walked to the Kid’s Market and I pretty much had an anxiety attack the moment we stepped foot in there. I would say it was super tight, tons of crap everywhere, kids running around, overstimulation and really nothing fun, except I kind of blacked out when we entered and I don’t seem to remember a thing…none of those things…I’m trying to never remember any of those things. The kids got some cute balloon animals made. Immediately after, we bribed the kids so we could leave. Everyone says to go so don’t let me sway you, I don’t remember any of it, maybe we had fun.

We ate at Edible Canada and though it’s doesn’t look kid-friendly, if your kids are pretty well-behaved (HA! If you just nodded your head and said, “yes, they are,” you crack me up!) it’s a nice place and has a small kids menu. We were motivated to eat there for 2 reasons, 1. the Granville Brewery was tiny and packed and 2. They were showing the Kansas/Michigan March Madness game on TV. The menu is limited but the food was tasty. And there’s always a burger as a go-to.

Saturday:
Capilano Suspension Bridge – this was my favorite part of the trip. The treetops adventure was super cool, we felt like we were walking around the Ewok village from Star Wars. The Nature walk was beautiful and easy. The Cliff Walk was a little scary for me but we did it and I’m so glad because it was stunning.

We went back to Stanley Park to eat at Teahouse. It’s right near the water so the view was wonderful. Not the best family restaurant, but it was quaint and cute and had some delish brunch.

We took a break and gave the 3 year old a nap.

The weather was beautiful all weekend and I’m a huge sucker for sunsets, so we wanted to go somewhere for dinner where we could watch a sunset. The concierge suggested Boathouse Restaurant at English Bay where we had a table at the window. Definitely a family-friendly place and the food was good. Well, I’m going to say it was good but when you end with this:

…anything you ate previously doesn’t count.
Other suggestions around there: Milestones, Cactus Club Cafe. You can walk across the street to the beach and hang out.

Sunday:
We are fans of the show Once Upon A Time and some of the scenes are filmed in Steveston which is in the Southern suburb of Richmond (and on our way out of town). It was cute. It’s a fishing village and you can walk down to the marina where they sell the fish right off the boat. There were a bunch of restaurants, ice cream places, coffee places (including Starbucks, but I was so worried there wouldn’t be one and I couldn’t check on my phone because of international rates that I jumped the gun and got it earlier) and a big playground. We got donuts from Outpost Mini Donuts.

Then we headed out (through the George Massey Tunnel which was completely clear on a Sunday afternoon, although it was Easter).

Some other suggestions given to me that we didn’t do but might be good for a longer trip or if the weather is bad:
Canucks Game (we missed the boat on this one because it turns out the Colorado Avalanche were playing the weekend we were there and my husband is from CO. The arena was 3 blocks from our hotel)
Hillcrest Indoor Pool
Watermania
Robson Street Shopping
Grouse Mountain
Whistler
Rent bikes and ride along the Sea Wall (Stanley Park, Kitsilano Park)
Restaurants:
Earl’s  and Joey’s (we have in Washington)
Hy’s Steakhouse