Sugared Harpy

The site is super hacked….I’m working on things. Sorry!

I interrupt this blorrrggghy silence to bring you this post today. Exciting! Or not, but here we are. So, I was driving the other day with the family and I noticed a KFC sign that says:

“We say Merry Christmas”

And I was peeved. Peeved because recently a person in my life was going on and on about how they just didn’t understand why schools now say “winter break” instead of Christmas, etc. etc. blah and yuck waronchristmaspants.

And here’s my take: Why does it piss some Christians off so much to be nice to kids? Little kids who aren’t Christian don’t deserve to be outcast or simply ignored at school? Why does it bother you to be kind and welcoming and open to them?

Be nice to people, it’s kind of what your teacher told you to do. Quit worrying about everyone else and just uphold your own traditions. The nice ones, please.

And I hope all of YOU had a nice Chanukah, are going to have a nice Christmas, or a just really great cup of tea and some cookies.

I just learned this morning that throwing up from morning/afternoon/night sickness will also cause you to pee a little.

Posting is light; I’m too busy being sexy over here. Urrrrrrgh.

*Annnnnd, now I have a raging cold.

We got married, it was wonderful! Then we were home for a very busy week and the next week we were off to Seattle and San Juan Island for our honeymoon.

Which was amazing and perfect and holy shit y’all, skip the warm beach and head to the Pacific Northwest. I work in art and I swear I’ve never said the words, “Beautiful,” so many times in my life. It’s simply stunning up there.

We had such a good time, and packed in so much goodness with plenty of calm, good relaxation and the best sleep we’ve ever had into seven days. I want to share this with you if you ever decide to go, so you have awesome times yourself. None of these are paid or encouraged reviews or recommendations, just our experiences as they were and what I feel like sharing.

Our itinerary:
Saturday morning, fly into Seattle
Sunday morning, drive to Anacortes, WA and take kick ass ferry to Friday Harbor, WA
Sunday through Wednesday, Friday Harbor
Wednesday, ferry to Orcas Island then ferry and drive back to Seattle
Wednesday through Saturday, Seattle

What we actually did in those places:
Day 1
Flew into Seattle on Halloween, checked into the Mayflower Park Hotel, missed our kids then got over it and googled to find the best damn clam chowder place around, Pike Place Chowder. Go, it’s really quite yummy and pretty close to what I make at home. Score! You want the one in Post Alley at the Pike Place Market, that’s the one you want to go to since it’s in the market and the people watching is good stuff.

That night we went on a ghost tour of Seattle (being Halloween and all) through Spooked in Seattle. So much fun on a night where we weren’t sure what to do in a city we were unfamiliar with. We got to see people dressed up everywhere and a great architectural tour of the city. What! Yes, ghost tours are really often great architectural and historical tours. The ghost part is definitely the least of it for most people.

Note, Seattle skews kind of young. Like it’s a city of seemingly 20somethings. And there was clearly a Halloween costume standard for young women: white and black tights, fluffy petticoat, pigtails.

Day 2
We ate…somewhere….with more chowder. I can’t remember. Bah.

We then drove from Seattle to Anacortes to catch the 2:40pm ferry. It takes about ninety minutes to get to Anacortes and then in the off season like we went in, you can get there fairly close to departure and still get on. I hear in the peak season, you need to be there no less than an hour to two hours early and in line.

The ferry ride? Beautiful.

It is totally a highlight of this area is this awesome, relaxing mode of travel. I have no idea if you feel that way when you live here, but for tourists is wonderful.

We landed in Friday Harbor, Washington on the island of San Juan. Again, gorgeous. Ridiculously gorgeous. Our hotel was Friday Harbor House.

Go there. Today. That above is the view from our room. I tell you what, we have never slept so good and we love our house and our own bed. This room is super comfortable, modern, and has a real bed. It’s small, the rooms are simply silent from other guest noise, and we loved to crack open the balcony door at night and have a little air and a little noise from the harbor. Slept so good. We loved being in Friday Harbor. Loved it. LOVED IT. We fell in love with the entire place.

That night, we ate at Downriggers, as suggested to us by the awesome staff of Friday Harbor House. It was a tiny walk from our hotel to the restaurant and the place was really lovely. We ordered Halibut. People, here is where I make you sad. What you are eating in the Midwest is not fish. I don’t know what it is anymore, but it’s not fish. I normally love salmon and tuna and sushi and eat fish all the time, but kind of hate white fish. It’s boring and fishy tasting. Okay, I don’t hate but it’s never exciting so why pick it? Let me tell you, it’s because it’s not fish. Pacific Northwest has FISH. Did you know white fish is buttery, substantial, and like a real food you would order because it’s fucking awesome and not because you think you should because it’s a *lighter* choice. Oh my god. This halibut at Downriggers made us both groan, “mmmmmmm.” It was amazing. Thank you, Downriggers. Oh my god, thank you. You have good dessert, too.

After dinner, we walked to the local market and I tell you what, I fell in love with that market too. It’s small, had tons of local and organic foods, limited choices (I like that, a huge display of crackers makes be buy zero boxes of crackers), and it was just set up beautifully. And then we walked back to our hotel and our oh so comfy room.

We learned a few things in those two days.
1) Fresh fish is awesome. We’re crying in the Midwest again.
2) We love being in walking cities.
3) I may have a sensitivity to nightshade plants, which are also my favorite foods: tomatoes, peppers, and potatoes.
4) This:

The rest of the honeymoon to come soon!

We just had the most amazing, beautiful, happy, lovely, fun wedding anyone could ask for. I have a new husband, a new daughter, and a family that can’t be beat. I can’t wait to see Raquita’s pictures…she’s so talented and it’s such a joy to watch her work.

Thank you, thank you, thank you. We are so very, very blessed.

I’m second guessing lots o’ wedding details but one of those was shoes. I like my shoes I picked, the red ones. They are classic and lovely.

And after some time in them, kind of hurty. I knew I’d be kicking them off after the ceremony was over to dance but didn’t want flip flops.

I bought THESE for dancing…

and continuing to look fabulous.

We are booked for our honeymoon after the wedding and you know, it makes me so happy I get all misty eyed.

I will share with you the details in the future, when it’s all over. But we are going here:

I can’t wait to spend that time with my soon to be husband in this amazing place.

I had my first makeup trial a few weeks ago and people, I hated it. I HATE IT. I rarely wear makeup anyway, so to have a makeup artist slather orangey foundation all over my face and left a LINE at the neck and then tell me she lightened it up for me since I had said I hate foundation was quite bothersome.

When I said that I really wasn’t too happy with the foundation part she said that she could put the foundation down to my dress to eliminate the line.

NO.

I felt gunked up, with too much mascara that made my eyes stick together when I blinked, and I really felt crazy looking. Now, I’m sure in pictures the eyes would have looked great, but that foundation was killing me. I am not using this makeup artist, even though she was very sweet and nice. I can’t do it.

Even if there was great application with no orange or a line, the thickness of liquid foundation slays me. I’m too sensitive or something. I FEEEEEEL it on my face. Just like nail polish on my fingers feels like they are wrapped in plastic wrap, I hate it all.

I did what any smart girl would do, I went to Sephora. The grand mecca of makeup help and spending your money. I went to the sales people and told them this:

“I am getting married, but I am not a makeup person. I rarely wear it but I don’t want to look washed out on my wedding day in the pictures. I HATE FOUNDATION TO MY CORE AND CAN FEEL IT ON MY SKIN. Is there anything that can provide blotchy reducing coverage without me ever feeling it? Does this exist? Also, help in general is needed.”

People, they helped me. Immediately I was directed to Smashbox and other varieties of tinted moisturizers for trying out. My favorite and the one I bought was Smashbox. I CANNOT FEEL IT on my skin. It’s like moisturizer and just is…gone after you put it on. But your red ass blotchy face? Looks pretty damn good. Good enough for pictures and now I won’t have to wash my face all off in the middle of the ceremony for feeling like I was wearing a sticky skin colored mask.

I also ended up buying my usual Philosophy Hope in a Bottle, Philosophy Microdelivery face wash, and an Urban Decay Lip Primer that helps keep your lip color on. I tried it out last night under a long wear lip stain thingy during dinner out with my very favorite people and it lasted throughout dinner. A keeper!

I’m glad we had this important talk.

Today at Target, I bought these boots:

Daniel looked very uncomfortable as I was trying them on. Then, I was like yes, I’m buying them. I’m tired of walking through giant puddles at school and getting my feets wet. Daniel was suddenly very, very uncomfortable! I was like, WHAT???

Are they ugly?
NO.

Are they just wrong?
NO.

What is it?

Seriously, what is it?

Turns out, they are too “sexy” for his mama to wear!

Goodness.

(A true email just sent out)

Subject: Best Choice Thrive program and my son’s reaction

Dear Principal 1 and Principal 2,

My son, Brett, attended the Best Choice Thrive program today and came home very upset and personally offended. It seems the program felt to him that sex before marriage was not only a negative, but was possibly the worst thing one could do for their life, health, and safety. He also cited examples presented in which someone had sex before marriage and then joined a gang, or that sex with a smoker could kill you. In addition, he felt quite offended to hear the program administrators say that teenage parents only ever have a horrible life and that when he asked, was told, no, there are no other outcomes. This was offending to him because his parents, his father and I, were teenage parents and his father is a police officer encouraged to go for detective and I am a college art history instructor. Brett lives the alternate outcome, he knows he was chosen and is loved and his family is successful in society. He came home angry and upset to the point of tears. He felt like his and his brother’s presence were considered horrible and a problem by this program. He felt he was being told that sex is scary and dangerous until marriage, when apparently and magically, all physical and emotional concerns go away.

I understand the base concerns the program was trying to address, sex while young/unprepared can be harmful but the “before marriage” angle is generally a religious one. In addition, teenage pregnancy and parenting IS harder and I would not encourage it. However, I would never have given permission for him to be given scare tactics and misinformation. Our children deserve to be educated and protected with honesty.

Please allow Brett to stop attending the Best Choice Thrive program immediately.

All my best,
Melissa