Memorial Day Weekend

So about a year-and-a-half ago, a few of Jordan's buddies were coming out to visit for a long weekend of skiing. To make things a little less expensive for our friends, we're usually able to borrow a couple of ski medallions, which are transferrable ski passes for unlimited skiing and riding with no blackout dates to six mountains in Colorado - aka a medallion is to a skier/snowboarder as a Golden Ticket was to Charlie Bucket. Unfortunately we weren't able to obtain any medallions for the weekend, but a friend who works at a really nice resort in Breck suggested we sit through a 90-minute timeshare presentation and in exchange we would receive two free ski passes, no purchase necessary. Okay, perfect.

Or not.

South Park aired an episode a while ago called "Asspen," and it's still one of my favorite episodes ever. It's so funny. If you're not a South Park enthusiast like myself, the episode is about the boys and their parents vacationing in Aspen for "free" because they saw an ad that if they sit through a 30-minute timeshare presentation they could stay the weekend for free. The parents sit through the presentation and repeatedly refuse to buy, but then they're told the presentation is actually a lunch. So they sit through the lunch and ask to leave halfway through when they're suddenly told to look at the other side of their place cards, which reveal a prize to use an exclusive chairlift. So they're finally excited to be out skiing and thinking they're going to be skiing an exclusive part of the mountain when suddenly their chairlift takes them straight back to the presentation room. They try to leave the room only to be held at gunpoint by police officers, who evidently work for the timeshare company as well, and find out everyone in authority, including the President of the United States, works for the timeshare company. Finally, the parents are forced to buy a timeshare, but by the time they're done signing, the weekend is over. It's ridiculous and hilarious -- and so. freaking. true.

HELLO.

Jordan and I totally got South Parked.

The presentation was supposed to be only 90 minutes, but our friend who suggested the idea said they usually only last an hour. A whopping four-and-a-half hours later, Jordan and I finally met our buddy for a drink -- as the proud owners of a "Breckenridge Grand Vacations: Timeshare Experience" holder. Dead serious.

But even though we didn't intend on buying anything, we did get a lot for what we paid: in addition to the two free ski passes, we also got an entire weekend at the resort, two more activities of our choice (ski passes, round of golf, spa services, etc.), a $50 gift certificate to one of their restaurants, free use of their underground, heated parking garages for a year (Breck charges $20 to park in their lots during the season), free day use of their resorts for a year (including gyms, game rooms, locker rooms, ski storage, indoor and outdoor heated pools, indoor and outdoor hot tubs, etc.), and the big ticket: a one week "Dream Vacation" (literally what they call it) at one of their timeshare resorts anywhere in the world for the timeshare price of $200-400 (yes, for the entire week) - and that's really what sold us. We knew we were going to start trying to get pregnant, but c'mon. It was November 2012 - we had plenty of time before June 1, 2014.

No, actually we didn't.

Wednesday, May 14th, I remembered our "Dream Vacation" and realized we had of course run out of time. I checked their website for resort availability, and there was practically nothing available at such short notice, so we didn't have much of a choice other than to book the week in CO. The resort available was one of the nicest resorts in Breck, which was awesome---but we booked knowing fully well we wouldn't even get to enjoy half of the week due to work.

AHHHHH.

But we did manage to get up there by Thursday afternoon, and we had a lovely, relaxing weekend. (Although I wanted to slap myself when upon checking in, the concierge said, "Mrs. Anderson, we're so overjoyed you're staying here, but we're also wondering why you chose to have your Dream Vacation with us when you could have gone anywhere in the world." Yeah---thanks, buddy.) We met up for dinner one night with my girlfriend Keri, who I was dying to visit with since I had only seen her once for 10 minutes after she had gotten back from Sochi (yes, she was in the Olympics!), we saw our friends who recently moved to Silverthorne and saw their adorable place (the guys also went golfing at an awesome course), and we took Sydney for her first dip in a pool. It wasn't anything super extravagant, and the weather was a little chilly, but the resort and suite were so nice and it was so much fun to just to cozy up with our little family in the mountains. Can't complain about that, right?

Hope you all had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend. I heard/saw on Facebook how gorgeous the weather was in Minnesota, and with so many pictures of cabins/lakes posted, I can't say I wasn't a tiny bit homesick!

These two. <3

More Bumbo chair action, omg

Our Friday morning...working in the suite. :-/

Keri's Olympian ring - SO BALLER!

Caught Jordan watching TV like this...I wonder where Sydney gets it from? ;-)

Sleeping on the drive home...vacation is tiring!

Back home - these two must've had so much fun that I caught them looking at mountain properties

'Real' Food

Kinda. If you call mushy rice paste that smells like vomit real food, then yes, Sydney has started dabbling in real food.

Solids overwhelm me. There are just so many damn choices out there, each claiming to be the best, and she's my first child so clearly I have to give her only the best, right?

Rice cereal - do I give her regular rice cereal or brown rice cereal? Brown rice is always better than white rice for adults, so is that the same for babies? Organic or regular? DHA and probiotics added or just regular? There are literally five billion different versions and types of rice cereal at Babies 'R Us. After leaving the store overwhelmed and empty-handed, I did some quick research and finally settled on Happy Bellies Brown Rice Cereal with DHA, Choline, Pre and Probiotics. (I'm fairly certain the baby industry is just making shit up to make moms feel more assured - the more words added in a label, the safer/better it is for your baby. Well played, Happy Bellies.)

Sydney was not a fan. Not only did she look like she didn't really like the taste, but she was bored! So bored she fell into a deep sleep after maybe three small spoonfuls.

I tried waking her up a few times, but she was slumped over like a little puddle and couldn't be bothered with waking up. So I gave up and let her pass out with Dad.

After a few more attempts with Happy Bellies, I was getting she didn't really dig the 'flavor' (hey, girl, I feel you). I was at the grocery store and randomly picked up a small container of Gerber Rice Cereal with DHA and Probiotics, and she seems to like the taste much better.

I've only given her cereal a handful of times and don't really deem it necessary right now since she's been sleeping throughout the night for nearly two-and-a-half months now on just breastmilk, but our pediatrician said we could start giving her cereal at around five months and start introducing her to other foods. I wonder when she can have avocado... ;-)

Updates

Summer is finally here, which means my diet now consists of avocados on top of avocados on top of Doritos. I LOVE avocados (and, separately, Doritos). I could be the third competing female in that Subway avocado commercial (if you don't know what I'm talking about, you need to click here NOW). The irony that is my life is I'm allergic to avocados. My mouth gets really itchy and depending on how much I've had starts to kind of swell---but whatever because those are small prices to pay for that subtle yet complex flavor of summer. And last summer, in the midst of my pregnancy cravings, I created the best avocado summer salad EVER.

Or not because I soon learned it's actually a super common recipe, lol. Of course---I watch a few episodes of MasterChef and suddenly I think I'm the next Gordon Ramsey. To be fair to myself, I only started like avocados about a year ago, so I'm a little new to the scene. Here's my 'recipe' for this simple yet delicious salad. (I feel I'm offending you even typing out these 'directions.')

INGREDIENTS

1. avocado
2. cherry tomatoes
3. feta cheese
4. salt & pepper

DIRECTIONS

1. Slice avocado into cubes.
2. Halve or quarter cherry tomatoes.
3. Mix together with feta cheese crumbles.
4. Sprinkle with salt & pepper.
5. Add some balsamic vinegar if you want to get crazy (YOLO).

I mean, I'm probably going to start my own food blog soon.

And if my food blogging career doesn't take off, it's okay because I got a new job to fall back on! Kind of. Returning to work after maternity leave was a little weird, and knowing I was going to have to tell my director and CEO I wouldn't be able to travel anymore didn't make it any easier. With Jordan's new job, he has been traveling much more than either him or I expected, which meant someone (Mommy) needed to be home with Sydney. (Did I discuss this? Last December Jordan left his employer after nearly 11 years for a senior sales position with a competitor. ELEVEN YEARS! He's like a martian.) Anyway, I'm absolutely the most awkward person when it comes to life these kinds of conversations at work, so I was incredibly nervous because I knew what a tough position I was about to put both my superiors in, and I hate letting people down. Plus, I was devastated. My company is actually fairly small at headquarters - we have a rather large system (over 250 franchisees with over 600 open and operating units worldwide), but we're a small corporate office, which translates to small budgets, and I knew they wouldn't be able to keep me on staff in addition to hiring someone to open retail locations and do site visits across the US. I loved the company, I loved my boss, I loved my co-workers, I loved our CEO... Was I really willing to give up a co-worker that brings flowers to all the women in the office just because? A boss who bought Sydney's coming home outfit from the hospital? A CEO that delivered delicious fried cheese curds to my desk while I was pregnant? A receptionist who manually picks out all the pink Starbursts in the candy dish just for me?!?

But I had to. Simply put, Jordan's job is more important than mine was, so I finally grew a pair and had the difficult conversation. And I cried. Cried talking to my boss about it, cried again talking to our CEO about it, cried again during our follow-up meeting. I'm like the poster child for the complete opposite of the empowered working woman.

But you know what? Shame on me for not realizing how truly wonderful my company is because their reactions were so amazing (which perpetuated the crying for sure). They were really disappointed to let me go but so incredibly supportive and understanding -- and even told me they wanted to do everything they could to keep me, which was flattering and felt so good to know I was so valued. They asked if I'd be open to doing consulting work on a contractual basis, which I had never even considered that to be an option. I took some time to weigh my options and ultimately decided it could be an awesome opportunity, so here I am, all self-employed and loving it. The best part is that I'm able to create my own schedule and work in my own environment; the flexibility it's afforded me has been a dream!

Anyway, shortly after my meltdown at the office it was Mother's Day, and I was premature in thinking it was summer because this happened. All damn day, and all day the next day.

Mother's Day in Colorado was a blustery, cold and snowy day, but I actually couldn't have been happier because it gave us the excuse to do exactly what I wanted without feeling guilty: curl up on the couch and soak in all the baby snuggles that I could get. The day started off like your typical Mother's Day...with a Mexican birthday present.

Jordan and Sydney took me to my favorite breakfast establishment, Snooze, and I got to bundle my little bear up in her tiny little winter clothes for the last time. My little doll.

We spent the rest of the day cuddling and playing inside and staying warm. It was absolutely perfect. Gracias to my sweet husband and my sweet baby for making my first Mother's Day so wonderful!!

All for now, clearly way more to come, but enjoy these pictures.

Bossing me around while I organized and cleaned her closet

Back at the pediatrician's office...ugh

Couldn't bear to bring her back to daycare, so she came with to the office :)

And she was so good!

My sweet husband

Bumbo Chair!!

Some women dream about holding their baby for the first time. Others are anxious about their first word. Most are excited about their first steps. But me? I've been busy counting down the minutes for the perfect time to get pregnant, have a baby, buy a Bumbo chair, and put said baby in said Bumbo chair.

AND THE TIME IS NOW WAS SEVEN WEEKS AGO.

Don't worry. I'm not going to make a post about every new item Sydney is playing with or using, but I have to about the Bumbo because I'm obsessed with them. Ever since I first saw them years ago, I've always thought they were the cutest things ever and couldn't wait to put my future baby in one (yes, seriously). Maybe it's because they're like a gumball and so perfectly round and squat in stature (which is why I love smart cars), or maybe it's because the little leg holes are so funny, or maybe it's because of the way most babies look while sitting in them. Regardless of the reason, the Bumbo chair was literally the first thing on our baby registry. A stroller? No. A car seat? Not yet. Just a little round chair.

I thought I was maybe a little premature when I decided to put Sydney in there (I was not), but it was a risk I was willing to take for the greater good of the millions of adorable baby pictures I inevitably would take of Sydney. But she was ready!

Clearly, this was the most important development of my child's life thus far, and I needed to document every. single. second of it.