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. 

It's almost time for baby! (and fall fashion, too!)

The last time I wrote, the fashionista in me rejoiced as I realized one more department in Nordstrom would now be MINE to shop… a whole other area to learn and conquer was at my fingertips, as shopping for a baby BOY commenced. What a shopping spree it has been! (Some of my favies are stacked up on the left - who can resist chevron and sweaters?!) Now, we are days away from meeting this little guy, and I am proud to report his sweet mint-colored dresser has drawers filled to the top; his closet has multiple rods featuring tiny hangers that are nearly as cute as the clothes; and finally, his shoe collection rivals… well of course not mine, but maybe the husband’s (I can't wait until he fits into these!).

Speaking of the husband, he has been a real champ these last 39 weeks; though I have undoubtedly tortured him with my “hound dog” sense of smell (isn’t that an affectionate term he dubbed months ago?) and the Antarctic environment I have insisted on keeping in every joint environment (the car, house etc all must be kept at sub-zero temperatures, which leads him to freeze while I sweat), he has taken it in stride – volunteering to eat his smelly burritos on another floor of the house, tolerating goosebumps, and more.  He even custom-built a crib for the baby, and it only took him a few weeks to do it! (That’s my positive spin on “You have known this baby was coming for 8 months and you waited until the very last minute to build his crib.” And that sentence is the positive spin on the relentless nagging I did all summer that featured 4-letter words. Oh, the joys of marriage. Enough said.)

So, as you can see, the dad to be has been preparing too. So much so, he took himself to the mall a couple of weeks ago and had a little shopping spree of his own. I didn’t even know he knew where the mall WAS, since his entire wardrobe has been hand delivered to him for the last 5 plus years by the gifted personal shopper he is lucky to call his wife. But, miracles do happen, and off he went, to a MALL on a WEEKEND! (This was obviously before football season started.) And what does he come home with? His own “delivery outfit.” He tells me he needed a hospital wardrobe too…. Convenient that mine will feature a used robe with a hideous print, and he will be rocking brand new Nike Frees and Under Armour pants (running pants no less - ironic for him) – which he made sure to tell me are “sterile.” He also picked up a few new t shirts and a striped sweater/sweatshirt type number (probably because he will be cold).  Spoiler alert – you may see the t-shirt featured in a future post or photo featuring a little special surprise he added on…

Don’t fret though, fashionistas – I did extensive research on the all-important post-natal wardrobe, and picked up a few things for yours truly as well.  Actually, I dedicated a whole day to this project, and am pretty pleased with the results; I’ll let you know how it turns out! I must admit, especially after a long, hot summer, I’m looking forward to my mostly-black, Mary-Kate Olsen-esque loose look – convenient that we are descending into fall, which you know equals yummy chunky sweaters (this one is awesome and on sale now!) and leggings as well. I have to thank the babe for timing his arrival during such prime season for hiding the unwanted “extra love” that may be lingering.  I can tell this kid is already going to be a charmer! He knows what women want! (Speaking of - here is the link to the all black baby bag we will be wearing with our cute fall wardrobe and boots.)

So besides our 2 apparently perfect wardrobes, I read we should also bring some snacks to the hospital – not really sure why, but I do what the cute pregnant girl blogs say.  Thinking that would be a good job for the husband, he went off to the store about 9pm one night and came home with some milky ways for himself. First of all, I have tried explaining that milky ways are indeed the grossest chocolate candy there is. Who likes them? Second, he will be washing them down with those little 5 hour energy drinks he calls “5 hour booyas.” Whatever – he did pick up the luna bars and trail mix I requested.  I also texted him saying I wanted some chicken – to eat that evening. Not fried. Not fast food. But just some form of cooked chicken.  This was odd, as I am not a huge meat eater, but this pregnancy has made me a little more carnivorous. I have developed a disgusting addiction to French fries, but never requested a protein. Lucky for both of us Safeway still had warm roast chickens! I didn’t really want a WHOLE roast chicken, but the husband does not come home empty handed!

All in all, we will be waltzing into the hospital any day now looking like we are going on a week’s vacation. Between our mini cooler (featuring scented washcloths and individual champagnes), tote bag of food, and each of our own “overnight” bags (we all know I packed for more than 1 night!), this will be quite the sight. Wish us luck!