first mother's day

despite the evidence (and the fact that we both look smashing in ray bans)



most days i still have a hard time believing that i'm a mother, so it was nice to have an actual holiday to help me wrap my brain around it.

wonderful things happened all weekend long. on friday violet gave me her present. as a mother now, i'm putting vanity aside and posting this awful photo of me so that you can appreciate my girl's budding talent in the art of 80s puffy paint.



on saturday a gift arrived from kevin's momma - thanks linden!



have you tried chocolate-dipped pineapple? seems weird, right? but it's amazing! the only one who didn't appreciate this gift was petey, who worked himself into a panic barking at the balloon. i'm sure many bad things happened to him when he was a stray on the mean streets, but i can't imagine any of them involved foil balloons.

on sunday we met my parents and sister in newport beach for brunch. i could tell the story of how i had a petey-style panic attack when we arrived at the restaurant to find that the "patio" was actually indoors, with tight tables populated by proper folks sitting in silence as violet readied her fists for table-banging, but why would i want to look like an asshole on my own blog? the restaurant had a single unisex stall for all of its patrons, and the only place for breastfeeding, given that we were a good mile from the car, was a park bench on the shopper-crowded main drag. but as luck would have it, violet used her indoor squawk throughout the three-course meal, and in the name of mother's day, i gave a peep show on the street.

we exchanged cards and gifts all around, but the biggest hit was the curly ribbon on the present that poppy gave to violet. apparently my dad had been eying a dress at a del mar baby boutique, but when he returned and asked the clerk for it, he discovered the pricetag was $250. "some french designer," my dad said as i had visions of poopy footprints on chanel silk. thank god he bought an adorable summery two-piece instead, and with accoutrement that kept the munchie busy on the long ride home.





the buttercream on my whole weekend happened on saturday, when my sweet husband planned an outing to mother-daughter hotspot, the grove, because he wanted to take me shopping. we were going to eat at the farmer's market, but when violet fell asleep in the carseat and we couldn't get parking close enough to carry the heavy thing, we ended up detouring to the village idiot - and were surprised to be seated less than an hour from kentucky derby post time! the race time slipped our minds this year, as it had once before when we were likewise preoccupied, exactly five years ago, with planning our wedding. we had been combing venues in santa ynez and stopped for a beer at a random dive bar in solvang, only to find it filled with enthusiastic race fans, as was the village idiot on saturday.

a bowl of mussels and heavenly "garlic mops" later, we were watching animal kingdom cross the finish line and relishing our luck as we shared an old favorite - derby day - with violet for the first time. the moment was the perfect reminder that life is both forever changed yet somehow still the same, plus one.