Welcome to 2011!!! Today is the last day in January, 2011. So far, it's been a stellar year. Quick update before we get back into the thick of it!
I become a MOM on 10 Dec 2010 - best day of my life thus far. We welcomed our daughter, Yeats Valentine Owen, 7 lbs 13 oz, 21 inches long. She already rules my heart...the queen of my heart, if you want to follow an 80's ballad. :) Her name has caused quite a lot of questions and confusion - how is the name pronounced (Yay-ts, not Yee-ts!), where does it come from, are you really into Valentines Day (uhhh, hell, and no)...and on and on. Yeats: was named after my long-time favorite poet, W.B. Yeats, who I first fell in love with before I could even drive a car. He was an Irish freedom fighter, a Noble Prize winner, and for as long I can remember, his poetry has captivated me. Yeats was the first female name I thought of when we found out we were pregnant, and I always had it in my back pocket - I could just never really imagine, if we had a girl (the sex was a surprise), naming HER anything else. thankfully, Jeff loved it as well, especially b/c it had sentimental value for me. Valentine: is a male Italian first name in my family, going back to the 1800s. I saw it in a family tree several years ago, and thought, wow - how beautiful is that?! I knew it would never work, as it did in Europe and back in the day, with a son, so I knew if we had a girl, we had to use it for a middle name. And thus - Yeats Valentine.
After we became PARENTS (AHHH!), we took really no time at all getting back into the kick of things, and were out and about with Yeats within 2 weeks of her birth. I know a lot of women experience the "baby blues" - I luckily did not in the least, and have been, and am in great spirits :) I am thankful not to be pregnant anymore! The dogs...probably had the baby blues a little, as they had for so long been the SCENE in our house, and suddenly they are slightly relegated to second fiddle, but not too badly, so let's not start playing violins for them, ok? ;)
I had sashimi for the first time in 10 months a week ago... IT WAS HEAVEN! Is that sad? That heaven is raw fish? I mean, it's a little sad, but whatever. It was a great moment, as that's one of my favorite things in the world!!! It was a magical reunion, between me and the raw fish. It's amazing the things you miss/want when you can't have them. I'm sure women in Japan don't take a hiatus from a main staple in their diets while they're pregnant - we Americans are so precautionary. ;-) I was also reunited with a MARTINI this past Saturday...sadly, I was buzzed 1/2 way through it. YEAH, imagine that! I didn't finish it b/c we were headed to Obelisk for dinner and I knew they had a fantastic wine menu...Wine comes first!
We just started seriously collecting wine for our wine collection. Hooooow fuuuun is thiiiis!? We joined the NY Times wine club - which was a first step in starting what will be a sizeable collection as we go forward. I am a HUGE wine lover, but prefer to drink GOOD wine - I mean, at some point, you have to move on from $8-10 bottles of drinkables to something NICE. If I am a snob for saying that, that's fine - I AM a wine snob, it is what it is. We are at that point! I have a wine journal and have been inputting information about the wines we like (and occassionally wines we thought we'd like, and didn't), so that we can let that guide future choices - it's a pretty helpful method. I am a fan of kick-you-in-the-face reds, the kind of reds that white wine drinkers can't drink b/c they're "too red." I also like really steel-fermented whites, really crisp whites that go well with a view of the ocean. If you have any suggestions - LET ME KNOW!
Being home with my sweet, sweet girl the last few months has been unreal - so rewarding, never a dull moment, occassionally overwhelming, definitely not stress-free, and different - very DIFFERENT from working 50+ hours a week in a stressful, client-facing, office environment. It is so strange and different to go from doing everything for yourself, of living a life that revolves around you, your husband, your family - all independent and self-sufficient people and things - to having this little person who is ABSOLUTELY and totally dependent on YOU. As in, you cannot leave this little person for a second...whoa. More than ever, I realize that having a baby is something you have to want 110 percent, and to be READY for. And when those two things are the case, it is THE most rewarding experience you can ever have... I feel SO blessed, and am shocked that I went into having the baby thinking, there is no way in hell I could stay home full time and be with the baby and not work, and now...I am truly struggling with going back to work. I feel like I am in this dream, where I have this incredible person who I am MADLY in love with, and I cannot imagine NOT spending my days with her - missing things she's doing, missing being the one that comforts her when she needs love... I'm really struggling with it, and thankfully, we are figuring out next steps without the pressure of me HAVING to go back to work from a financial standpoint. It's a choice we are going to make, and so, we'll see. In the meantime, I have another month for me to spend wholly being with my precious girl, and I am loving every second. :)
So, we did dinner at Obelisk on Sat night. Obelisk is a casual-looking, upscale Italian restaurant in Dupont in DC. We enjoyed it, but probably wouldn't go back as it wasn't an EXPERIENCE. I always think the best restaurants don't just sell food, they have an ambiance that makes you want to return, educated & interested staff, an experienced and well read sommelier, and exceptional food. Trends, cheese, processed, and stuffy need not apply. Obelisk was...very simplistic inside - we dressed up, and while you can NEVER be overdressed, we definitely out-dressed almost everyone there. For a meal that's $400, seriously, I don't want to wear jeans, and a cashmere sweater. Let's get the class on, kids. So, that's a minus. That being said, I think what they're going for is that casual ease that's found at many of Italy's best restaurants - where you're there for the food and wine, and not for posh decor and chandeliers. Point taken, and I'm moving on. The food was excellent. Suckling pig stuffed with mushrooms and sage, yes, yes. 1999 Brunello di Montalcino!? YES, YES. I had the branzino, with cockles, and brussell sprouts for my entree, and it was GOOD, not great. Jeff got Kobe beef, which was phenominal. We had a LOVELY evening, but for that money, I want the full monty, so we'll prob go somewhere else next time.
I'll be getting back into this on the reg ;) from here on out, so stayed tuned - more to come, and thanks for your patience!! xoxoxo
