We need a vacation already

Wow.  It's been 10 weeks since I've given birth and I've maybe had a cumulative 16 hours without Desmond: a few hours here and there for yoga (more about that later), my study group, and 1 dinner with friends.  Otherwise, he is always within 50 feet of me.  I don't mean for it to sound like such a horrible thing...I love spending time with Desmond and getting to know him, but I have no guilt in wanting my alone time.  I 100% believe in the mantra "if mommy's happy, the family's happy."  There are so many articles out there about "mommy guilt" and I have tons of friends who feel badly about letting their baby cry and cry because they were so frustrated or they feel badly that they're not giving their kid the best food or clothes or classes.  I am at peace with any mommy guilt I have and am committed to making sure that I'm content and as stress-free as possible by doing some of the following things (list is definitely not exhaustive):

Things that make my day better:

I love sitting at bookstores and reading their magazines for free (my BFF Kaip does this as well...I don't feel bad if I buy a drink there).

A lot of people don't like flan, but I was raised with it.  The creamy custard against my tongue makes me so very happy.  

This is from one of my favorite ballets: Giselle.  The Willis, the wood spirits, hop across the stage in parallel lines, all in perfect arabesques.  The sight of it gives me chills it's so beautiful.

Hugh Laurie plays House MD on the series of the same name on Fox.  I have a huge crush on him.

 Spas make me feel like I'm fancier than I really am.  

This is such a geeky, guilty pleasure.  Dune is probably one of the best sci-fi/fantasy series ever.  

I LOVE dancing.  Love it.  This was in Colombia where guys actually take dance classes for real if they can't dance.  Dancing is such an integral part of Hispanic culture (for the most part)...if you don't have any rhythm, you're socially screwed.

Today was tough.  Desmond has decided these last two weeks that he is only going to poop every other day and sometimes once every 3 days.  He spends 75% of his waking hours fussing because he's trying to poop.  It's really taxing having to spend the majority of my day carrying him and bouncing up and down to help him calm down.  Two days ago, my neighbor Rosie came over to say hi.  She wanted to hold Desmond, so I happily handed him over.  She kept on looking at me and asked if I wanted to sit down.  I said that I was OK.  She then says, "Scarlett, you're bouncing up and down."  I was still bouncing as if I were holding Desmond.

It pains me so much that he's in so much discomfort, but when 630 rolls around and Billy comes home, handing Desmond over is such a relief.  Billy is totally understanding about it; even though he works full time and is the main provider for our household, he knows that night time is my time to do what I need to do to keep me sane and happy.  Since I take Desmond with me to most of my meetings and classes, I combine taking care of him with work, whereas it's not possible for Billy to do that when he constantly has to talk to parents on the phone or when he's in an environment where every warble Desmond utters is heard throughout the space.  So, to make a long sob story short, I need a vacation already.

A year ago, Billy and I took a vacation to beautiful Louisiana.  Before I went last October, I had always thought of New Orleans as this super seedy, dirty place with weird Cajun food and drunk, naked people.  However, Bill was super enamored with the place and spoke very highly of it.  As I was researching vacations for "girl getaways," I came across an article extolling the small town of Breaux Bridge, Louisiana.

The bridge to the entrance of Breaux Bridge.

I looked it up online, told Billy about how quaint it seemed and we booked the tickets that night.  We spent a wonderful night and a whole day in Breaux Bridge, where we ate a Cafe Des Amis and Chez Jacqueline's and drank delicious Abita Brewery Beers.

Jacqueline and her husband Vaughn at Chez Jacqueline's, where we waited for about a half hour for our food to come out but it was worth every minute for the great-tasting breakfast and conversation.

Mmmmmm....

We then drove down to New Orleans, stopping by the Tabasco plant on the way down.

They really do have Tabasco-flavored vanilla ice cream.  It was quite good.

New Orleans is a gastronomic heaven.  I LOVED everything that I ate there, from the jambalaya at Mother's to the gumbo at Jacques-Imo's to the chicken at Popeye's.  However, what I most crave from New Orleans is the cocktails at Cure.  Most who know me know that I don't like "fruity boat drinks".  I'm a scotch neat kind of girl.  I like microbrews and wine, but I love a nice small glass of Scotch.  So, when Billy told me that he wanted to take me to this really cool place where the bartenders were like chemists and made the most amazing drinks, I kind of scoffed at him.  Sounded like some sort of chi chi yuppie hangout where silly girls drank concoctions that were similar to Mike's hard lemonade or fancy shirley temples and guys pretended to be like Don Draper from Mad Men.  

HOWEVER, as soon as our bartender whipped up and invented my own special drink (I told her I was feeling really happy, in a rosy sort of way...and she made me my very own drink with rose water in it), I fell in love.  I could spend hours telling you about the drinks she made me (I think I had 3 or 4) and they were quite possibly the best drinks I've had in my entire life.  It's that good.

The Cure building.  Cure is situated in sort of an out-of-the-way part of New Orleans in a kind of residential neighborhood.

The liquor wall behind the bar contains some of the most obscure bottles of liquor.  This is me with my first rose drink.  Delicious and look at the pretty glass. 

 This was our lovely bartender who kept on making us delicious drinks.  I think we were the last ones there.  

Tulane University's Business School is one of the schools that Billy is applying to for his MBA.  As an undergraduate, Billy spent a semester at New Orleans University.  His brother Dan completed his undergraduate and masters degrees at Tulane.  Billy goes to New Orleans probably 1-2 times a year for the past few years now.  He really loves it and after having been, my original assessment of New Orleans (and Louisiana) has drastically changed.  I LOVE it there and if we end up moving there, I'd be so happy (and fat).  

Wow, I just digressed A LOT.  Point of this blog post is that I can't wait to go on another vacation...hopefully, we'll get good news from Tulane and be able to fly down there (Billy on their dime) for the prospective student social that they throw for the students who received offers of admission.  Until then, I'll make do with watching True Blood.