Miracle Diet

We've gotten a little lax lately. Here's what my kids have eaten thus far on vacation:

Thursday 

Lunch

Oliver: Buttered spaghetti with cheese, milk, white chocolate bread pudding with caramel sauce vanilla ice cream and a maraschino cherry.

Maggie: Milk, white chocolate bread pudding with caramel sauce and vanilla ice cream.

Dinner 

Oliver: Three bites of strawberry shortcake, purple lollipop, milk.

Maggie: strawberry shortcake, pasta with red sauce, purple lollipop, milk.

Friday

Breakfast

Oliver: Orange juice, three roasted nuts.

Maggie: Three lemon yogurts, 2 bites scrambled egg, one strawberry.

Snack

Oliver: 3 apricots, 4 pecans.

Maggie: 6 pecans.

Lunch

Oliver: Bread and butter, hot fudge sundae, milk.

Maggie: 2 bites quesadilla, hot fudge sundae, milk. 

Dinner

Oliver: Peanut butter cookie, milk.

Maggie: Three bites cheese and spinach crepe, peanut butter cookie, milk.

Apparently, if you follow this diet exactly you will have more energy than you ever thought possible.  You will feel so good, in fact, you will hop everywhere you go. 

Road Trip!

We've been talking up our family road trip to Avila Beach to the kids for a while.  Today, after about 4 hours on Hwy. 101 Oliver asked, "does road tip mean I have to sit in my car seat all day?" Well, yes actually, it does.  But it also means junk food, sing alongs, you-touched-my-toy fights, and:

Funny face contests (competing against me is useless).

Trains that last forever.

The relief at finally arriving.

And, in our case, a little hula-hooping to rid ourselves of the road.

Today is the Mister's birthday—38 and he's still got it

A thing I like

Our guesthouse.  If you ever find yourself in San Luis Obispo and you are a sucker for great style, huge bathtubs, and a TV-free evening every once in a while, this is your place. I walked into what I thought was the lobby (what is, actually, the lobby) and it was a painting studio.  And there's our host, wiping paint off her hands to hand us the key. Plus the beds are amazing.  The Mister is snoring right next to me as I write just to prove it.

  

I'm in a fog

My street on a typical summer day

In my defense, it was 50 DEGREES in San Francisco this past weekend, with the gray sky lurking overhead like a bad conscious. No wonder I was so crabby. Much better now, thank you very much. The sun is out, at least in Menlo Park, and yesterday, after seeking out the sun (see # 17 here) in Marin, we played Tinker Toys and Oliver kept telling me my propeller building was "really kewl" and, I don't know, everything that seemed to be crumbling down, was suddenly ok again. Tender, but ok. And that's how life is when you are a stressed-out, exhausted mom who was pretty moody to begin with, I guess.

Oh, and Italy is back on. A family-free week in Venice on a canal with nothing but my camera, my laptop, and a pair of cute but comfortable walking shoes (any suggestions for this holiest of grails?). I plan to write three novels and a really funny collection of essays. As my friend Brooks said, "A week is nothing in adult time but it's an eternity in mom-time."

I miss my kids already. Funny how that works.

A thing I like

Mint. Right before I write three novels and a collection of essays, I am going to organize and manage my finances and make everything ok by using the computer and this website. Phew! I read about it at Decorno (I heart Decorno).