Out and About

The girls and I have been couped up in the house a lot the last few days and this afternoon the effects were starting to take a toll on us. I knew it was time to get out when I started quoting lines from Sage's book Bad Dog Marley like, "I can't take it anymore!" So I took Sage and Clare to a peaceful place where you can sit on rocks and watch as water trickles down into a quiet pond. Oh the peace that flowed over me as we stood there in front of the water, with Pottery Barn on my right and White House Black Market just down the hall. Whoever came up with putting a pond in the middle of this mall was a genius. You can totally trick your kid into thinking this is a fun field trip for them but really this is about you getting away from the toys that seem to multiply on their own, the messes that never go away and the Easter in the Garden book that was so poorly written but you have to keep reading it out of fear that saying no might turn your child away from reading for the REST OF THEIR LIVES!

Sorry about that, I only had one cup of coffee today.

Let me just clarify one thing: I'm not a big spender. I can spend hours going from store to store and not buy one thing and be completely content with the experience. For me, I think it's more about just looking at something fresh and new--along with the possibility of finding something utterly wonderful at such a great discount and getting to tell Brent how much money I saved so that he should have to practically thank me for buying it.

One note I have to make, on the way in I noticed some construction for a new store going on and when I looked to see what store it would be, it literally took my breath away. Anthropologie.
YEAAAAA! (Brent just read this and is right now saying "Oh no!") This is my favorite store ever and it's now coming to Omaha. I can hardly contain myself!

Okay, back to our day. So after the mall we headed across the road to what I believe is an oasis in the pesticide ridden, bland produce we eat these days, Whole Foods. The food is so wonderful there that it actually makes me feel giddy just to look at it. It seems to also have the same affect on Sage and Clare as well. Sage ate tons of broccoli exclaiming "this is so delicious!" and Clare was smiling and bouncing around as happy as could be...oh wait, she's always like that. Well anyway, after we had our dinner there we headed to the produce section so I could get some fruits and veggies to puree for Clare. Sage saw a stack of nectarines and took off running to them yelling "I love apples!" I wasn't planning on getting any "apples" so I kept going but when I turned around to call for Sage I saw something that has put a resolve in me to get her out more. The girl was licking the nectarines. That's right, tongue sticking out, going from one to the next, in between saying "Mmm, I LOVE apples." Mortified, I ran back and quickly got her to stop, telling her that licking nectarines...I mean apples...oh whatever, is NOT something we do in public. Then I tried to bag up as many wet nectarines that I could find.

I probably just taught her that if she wants something at the store all she has to do is lick it up real good.