Tailgating Tips from Broke-O

Unless you live under a rock (and by that I mean giant boulder), you know that it is full-on football season! In this house, that means football is the soundtrack to my life on Thursdays, Saturdays, Sundays and Mondays. Four. Whole. Days. I like football! But, I also like… reality TV. So, this also means that I only have 3 precious days where I can control the television and catch up as quickly as possible on my really important shows like the Kardashians, Sister Wives, 19 Kids and Counting, etc. The husband does admittedly watch a few shows WITH me, which I appreciate. But this further complicates things, as we also only have those limited time slots to squeeze in Nashville, Chicago Fire, Parenthood, and Modern Family. As you can see, our TV schedule gets booked up pretty quickly! Luckily, Baby G likes all of these shows too so we “let” him stay up and watch them with us. He drives a tough bargain but you know, we want to be the cool parents.

So, when we’re not watching football with TV shows wedged in between (PS ask me if you need suggestions for your own TV viewing or summaries of this season’s events –maternity leave has really solidified my commitment to Scott Disick), we do actually leave the house and GO to the football games. As many of you know, we are loyal University of Washington alum and love supporting Husky Football! This year, the season has been extra eventful for us since we did a little thing called have a baby in the middle of it. That said, we did miss 2 games, but are proud to be back at it. Now, we have the best accessory of all – a teeny tiny Dawg Fan, Gavin! Obviously, we have had to adjust our tailgate tactics slightly to accommodate this little Husky. Here are my expert (that is a very loose term) tips for tailgating with a Mini:

      Hydrate: the diaper bag is also a PERFECT holder for a bottle of wine. Fits like a glove into those side pockets! Think of it like this – pack bottles for baby and a bottle for you. Everyone will be happy. (Be sure to buy a screw top bottle of wine - easier for travel!) Likewise, beer cans slide nicely into the ERGObaby front pack (check out this new cute gray one) when the babe is still small. The husband easily packed 2 in there + our son. We don’t consider any of this inappropriate. Space efficiency is dire when it comes to tailgating, so you do what you must.

Pack in advance: You will need to bring a minimum of a million more things with you for the babe, so I suggest packing your bag in advance to ensure you get all the necessities. Then, you can go back and eliminate some of the nonsense stuff you threw in there and lighten your load. Like don’t bring the whole lip gloss collection, but more like your top 2 favorites (this Chanel is my #1 right now). Oh did I say the baby needs a lot? You know what I mean.

Speaking of packing, bring someone to carry all that stuff: You must have a pack horse… aka husband… aka personal assistant? Whatever. Whoever. This cannot be done alone! Basically, one person takes the little Dawg and one person takes everything else. Teamwork at its prime.
     

Make a plan: What they say is true. You’re a little less spontaneous when you have a tiny human in tow. Personally, this is not a negative for me. I literally despise spontaneity. Ask the husband – he really appreciate this about me. Not. I can’t help it! I just really dislike spur of the moment plans and disorganization of any sort. So, I’m happy to make a plan and stick to it. And make sure everyone else does too. Let’s just say no one listened to me the first time around, and we learned the hard way this is necessary. Miles later and 2 sore backs and 4 sore feet, we realized we had overdone it just a tad.  I was even more disappointed when those guys who ride the bikes with the little carriages on the back told me it was going to cost $30 for a ride to our car! Even in my desperation, I couldn’t give a guy on a bike with a boombox thirty bucks. So, I suggest making a (flexible) timeline for your day with a general idea of where you want to be when. Share the plan with the packhorse and your day is smooth sailing.
      

       Last, remember layers: This is a tricky time of year with the weather, so dress in layers to be prepared. When in doubt, wear more. Some of my favorite cold weather tricks are tights under jeans or leggings, slipper socks inside my boots, handwarmers in my pockets and my shoes, don't be afraid of faux fur (for anyone! Check out gap.com for my vest and variations of Baby G's fuzzy bear suit) and obviously bring a blanket for your bleacher seats! For convenience purposes, you should definitely have a cross body bag too. This Rebecca Minkoff is perfect and just came out in great new colors. I love the soft grey - amazing neutral. (Can't get in time for football season - remember to ask Santa!) Remember – only 2 lip glosses in there, though. After all, you need room for the tickets! May the best team (and best dressed tailgater) win!

      

PS: A quick plug - I recently added a "subscribe" box to my blog and would love for you to do so. I value all of you fashionistas and want to make sure you are updated, pronto, with the happenings on here. Thanks for following my antics! I promise to keep 'em coming. 

See you at the patch.

Fall is in full swing around here! I’m sure you are all rejoicing in the fact that you could take your sweaters and boots out of storage like I am. Gavin was a fabulous assistant, and rode around in his little ERGObaby pack while I did my semi annual closet project. It took a little longer, but with his help, the closets have been switched in this house! Summer went upstairs and down came the cozy and cuddly fall/winter wardrobe, complete with scarves and booties. Speaking of – how do you store your scarves? May I suggest this little miracle worker? One of my fellow mommy friends discovered it during one of her Amazon Prime shopping sprees while she too was on maternity leave. (We have since both agreed that Prime is dangerous when you stay at home! I also ordered a shoe organizer but in my hurry to satisfy my starvation to shop I failed to realize it was way too large for any closet I have! But another perk of Prime is free returns... so the cycle continues.) Anyways, my scarves were previously folded into a useless bin and now, I can see them all at once! Even better, this actually doesn’t fit in my closet, so it must be housed in the husband’s… it just allows me to spread out even more and control every possible inch of square footage in this house.

A perfect place to wear your favorite scarf and other fall clothes is… you guessed it… the pumpkin patch! I realize this is not an original idea – I have seen tons of your adorable photos and everyone's patch looks have been so cute! My patch outfit this year was pretty basic; it wasn’t very cold, so I didn’t have the opportunity to bust out a scarf or hat, but I was pleased that I could wear my Hunters. These are definitely a staple for all wardrobes, especially a Washingtonian. I promise they are worth the $$! You can spot them at pumpkin patches, football games, and I know they will be making appearances at Christmas tree farms in a couple of months! If you don’t have your own pair yet, check them out here – pick your fave color and they will be on your doorstep by the end of the week. Don't forget a pair of liners too! You can thank me later. (Read one of my first blog posts ever here, when I first purchased my Hunters 4 years ago- oh the memories!) 

If you need a basic scarf to wear with everything, including your Hunters, the tissue weight cashmere-wool blend ones by Nordstrom are my favorite. They last forever and so it is no wonder I own multiple colors - check out the rainbow of offerings here. I have my eye on the bordeaux (Nordstrom online calls it "dark purple") one on the left. 

Someone who did get excited about his patch look was… the husband. I’m not really sure who’s style he was channeling; all I know is he wore his chambray shirt with a Carhartt vest – and you know how I feel about the C word.

He wasn’t hard to beat, but cutest boy at the patch was a tie between Gavin in his pumpkin hat and our friend Wyatt in his own kids size Hunter boots. See, they are a must-have for the little tikes too!

Back to the patch. There we were, major new-bees. This is another one of those first-time-parent moments. I suppose most people will become parents and will have… experienced a pumpkin patch before. Not us. See, we prefer to get our pumpkins at the grocery store. We are all about the convenience. We never carve them either. We go through this same anti-attitude at Christmas and Easter too. This was the first year we dyed Easter eggs and it was almost a bust when I only had balsamic vinegar instead of regular (and I thought it would be ok to use – good thing I was corrected). Christmas is another time of year where we really reign in the field trips and stick to Safeway and its peers. In 4 years of Christmas tree shopping, at least we have diversified our purchases amongst 4 different grocery stores. Last year, we really patted ourselves on the back when we went to the small, local gourmet grocery store. We felt that was practically the farm and were extra pleased when they offered to give the (probably month-old tree) a fresh cut! However, like always, by the time we woke up on Christmas morning, we pulled our presents out from beneath a very dead tree. Whomp whomp. 

The husband wanted to do our usual lame routine this year, and even suggested we take photos of Gavin at the STORE, pretending it was a pumpkin patch! I have to admit – at first, I agreed. But then I had this strange guilt that our 1 month old would surely remember his first Halloween picking a pumpkin in a parking lot while his parents filled their cart with meat and produce and I couldn’t get past it. It took a lot of convincing, but I finally convinced the husband to accompany us to the pumpkin patch. I received a few choice comments, especially when I gave the wrong directions, there was no parking, blah blah blah. As if he plans everything to a tee? I think not. He also insisted on driving the truck versus the Prius so he would “feel less lame.” He was definitely feeling a little less lame a few minutes later, when he happily snacked on hot roasted corn on the cob and fresh kettle corn. Such treats are not available at the local grocer, I assured him. There was also a little petting zoo; this didn’t really impress either of us (especially because I can see a duck any old time and they are not a favored animal in this Husky home), but it was an added element that again is not featured when you shop at Safeway.

So, if you need it, here are the top 5 reasons you should pumpkin patch it within the next week or so:

• ·      You will have a reason to bust out your Hunters for their 2013 season debut
•       Take your pick from traditional, minis (you know I love them!), sugar pumpkins, ghost pumpkins, yellow pumpkins… shop til you drop!
• ·      The best patches have yummy snacks that literally taste like fall
• ·      It will get you at of the house long enough to miss almost an entire football game (Wives and girlfriends everywhere: rejoice! Even us football fans can use a break.)
• ·      Your new social media profile picture will be way cuter with a real pumpkin patch in the background instead of a parking lot with shopping carts

Mommyhood... so far...

Fashionistas! I am thrilled to introduce you to my new mini (male) fashion plate… Gavin Patrick! The punctual little man arrived on his due date (9-11-13) – the very best day the husband and I have ever had - and has been entertaining us ever since. We love everything about him, and of course, I especially love dressing the little peanut. Styling the tiniest of outfits is a daily joy! Just as we do, babies can really dress for occasions. Also, as we do, they may wear multiple outfits in a day.

Actually, I don’t know why people say that babies don’t need that many clothes. I heard over and over “Oh, he’ll never wear that” and “They really don’t need that much when they are little.” This is a lie. Don’t listen! And I’m not just saying that because I love changing his clothes and making new looks; he’s like a real doll! (Selecting the outfits for his newborn photo shoot brought me back to my glory days of personal styling at Nordstrom - this was just for a very tiny customer! Note the teensy white collared shirt below... can't even stand it) I’m telling you the truth, because unless you want to do six loads of laundry per day, your baby needs a lot of clothes. I don’t have time to be the maid and the mommy, so I would rather the babe has a complete wardrobe than spend my very limited free time (drinking champagne) in the laundry room.

Though he is just a month old, we have had several important outings. Most, obviously, are retail destinations. They are warm, dry, flat, lovely places to walk that have great eye candy as well. We have frequented Nordstrom (multiple locations), Target and other favorites. I loved shopping before, but I have to admit, it is a whole new high to shop with a fabulous stroller and a darling baby inside. Plus, there is great storage for your purchases!

However, the stroller situation does add an extra challenge to the regular shopping trip, and even an experienced shopper like me has a steep learning curve with this apparatus. This is no new handbag that one can easily toss your wallet in and move on – it is a whole endeavor with pieces, parts, clicks and manual labor!

My first time out with the Bugaboo (details featured here – it really is a great stroller), I patted myself on the back after I unloaded it from the back of the Prius, assembled the 2 parts together, and loaded in the baby. We rolled into Nordstrom where we enjoyed a luxurious afternoon – I had been away for 2 weeks and it felt oh so good to be back. I should have known the whole thing was too good to be true. Back to the parking lot, and all hell broke loose. As the wind nearly blew me over, I could not get the top part off the stroller base. After a frantic call to the husband where he basically told me to push the button in (genius, I know), the stroller was back in 2 pieces. Success! Again, I spoke to soon. Now, I cannot get the base to fold down. I call the husband again, and this time he says “I don’t really know how to explain it.” NOT the right answer. So, I threw the whole thing standing straight up in the car and raced home, instructing him to meet me in the driveway for a serious tutorial.

Two weeks later, I am capable of locking and loading the stroller. This is still not a smooth process, but at least I can see out my rearview mirror because the thing folds down. Anyways, I asked the husband (see the rare sighting of him above in our first formal family photo - he looks so sweet but wait 'til you see what he does next) to please put the stroller in the car for me one morning. While I appreciated him completing this task, I did not appreciate when he came back inside and sheepishly said, “Um, I can fix it for you later, but I think that maybe when you went on your walk yesterday you might have rolled the stroller through some dog poop” (all while avoiding eye contact). “What!” I shrieked. “You think I’m suppose to go meet my girlfriends at Nordstrom for lunch with dog poop all over the wheel?” Not to worry – he assured me that it was dry. And he would hose it off. Later. As in like the next day. Unacceptable! I let him know I would take care of it myself. And I think I added in one of those sweet phrases like, “since I have to do everything around here.” You know, one of those signature ones that really reflects what a nice person I am. 

As I prepared for this disgusting duty, I remembered that I don’t know how to use the hose. I know this because this summer I drenched my pregnant self while attempting to water the husband’s pepper garden (which never actually yielded a pepper I got to taste, so clearly that was time well spent of mine). So, knowing that I don’t have the time or patience to learn to use the hose properly, I decided to use something I’m more familiar with – bottled water. I took a bottle of water out to the car, opened the trunk and gingerly set the aforementioned poop wheel out the edge of the back. Then, I proceeded to dump a whole bottle of water on it. Realizing I needed a little more “umph,” I grabbed a wad of paper towels and another bottle of water. It was nearly clean, except for some remnants in the grooves. Not wanting to leave the job incomplete, I resourcefully located a twig in the yard and finished the job. And, I still had half of the second water bottle. Not too shabby! Another opportunity for this new mommy to pat herself on the back.

These are the adventures in mommyhood so far… I really do like the stroller (how cute does it look here? this was from our dog-poop-free walk today in the fabulous fall weather), but I do recommend that people practice before going out in public. Luckily, Gavin just enjoys the ride (in his cute outfits), and doesn’t notice the obstacles his mother endures. But, as us fashionistas know, it pains to be beautiful. And in this case, this beast of a stroller can just be a pain. But, this sweet face in this sweet set of wheels is worth it! Happy strolling, fashionistas.