My Second Stitch Fix

I posted earlier about my really horrible experience with Stitch Fix.  I did a lot of complaining about it in various places around the internet, and Stitch Fix kindly offered to waive the fee should I decide to try a second Stitch Fix box.  So with nothing to lose, I decided to go ahead and try it again.  I was very specific on my profile as to what I wanted and didn't want...well as specific as one can be in 200 characters.  The second time around, I was much more pleased with what my stylist picked for me (Hi Talleda!).  She stuck to my Pinterest board and even looked around my blog for tips on what I would like, ie not zippered hot pants.

Item number one was this cute black and white striped skirt at $68.  I really liked the look, but it was a little too tight around my mom pooch that my husband lovingly insists I don't have.  So overall opinion was was cute but too small.

The second item I wasn't sure about when I pulled it out of the box.  I'm not a fan of the short and wide look that for some reason is popular.  But when I tried this sweater on, I really liked the elbow patches, that you can't see here, and I liked how it was longer in back.  Johnny gave it two thumbs up, so this one is a go.  $64 by the way.

This second sweater I was really excited about because I've had an Aztec print sweater on my "to buy" list for awhile now.  I think the fit is great and the print is cute.  Johnny is not a fan of this sweater and does not understand why it has so much extra fabric on the top.  I told him I wouldn't make him wear it.  So this one was another go, $78.

This next one was a little too much plaid, even for me.  The fit of this pea coat was actually pretty good, and I liked the quilted lining, but for $148, I didn't feel that the quality of the wool was high enough.  I would rather spend more money on something a little more timeless and a little higher quality.  So negatory to the pea coat.

I love love loved this navy, cream and red infinity scarf!  You can't tell from the picture, but it's kind of patterned after a striped flour sack.  Super soft and super cute.  Good choice for $34.

My Horrible Stitch Fix

I was so looking forward to getting my first Stitch Fix box, but so disappointed when it finally came.  First of all, I told them that I had a nickel allergy and couldn't wear any nickel jewelry.  So it's a good thing they sent me a necklace made of nickel. Perfect.

Then I also told them that I had a bachelorette party coming up.  So they sent me this outfit for that.

Hmm.  Exactly what I wanted for my maternity/Grease bachelorette party.

Then they decided that I needed something to make me feel really good about being well-endowed.  Something that is short and wide and had horizontal stripes right across the chest. It's also perfect how it's almost the same color as my skin.  And the short, flared mom jeans were just icing on the cake.

Boo Stitch Fix!

Not a Toy for Little Girls

Last night I had some girlfriends over for a rousing round of the highly skilled game, Bunco.  Much fun was had by all, but while I was dividing up the cash prizes to the winners, I heard Lila start screaming upstairs.  I knew she had gotten out of bed to go to the bathroom, so I assumed she was screaming about something totally unimportant like a bug or her pants being on the wrong way.  I continued with my awards, but the screaming got much worse and more hysterical, so I started to head upstairs.  I quickly noticed Lila standing in my bedroom doorway with blood running down her thumb.

Of course I immediately picked her up, ran her into the bathroom, and started cleaning her up and figuring out what happened.  Amidst her sobs she looked at me and said, "Dat is not a toy for yiddle girls!" I noticed that she was gesturing to Johnny's razor. Ah yes, no that is not a toy for little girls.

The sobs continued, but I got the bleeding to stop and convinced her to put a Band-aid on it. I might add here that all my friends are still downstairs, putting this party on the list of "parties where Rachel's kids get really sick/hurt in the middle of the party" like this one.  Anywho, I get Lila, who is still crying, into her bed.  She starts to calm down and then immediately grows hysterical.  "I can't suck my thumb!" Oh crap.  She's hurt her sucking thumb. 

 "Can you suck your other thumb?"

 "No!!!!!"  Hysterical Sob "Go away!"

"You want me to go away?"

"No! I want the owie to go away!"

"Oh honey, I'm sorry.  It will go away soon."

"But I want God to heal it now!!!"

"I promise it will feel better in the morning."

Pause. "Dat is not a toy for yiddle girls."

"Nope."

Lila Talks About Death

Lila: (While on a walk) I think that's the cross that Jesus died on.

Rachel: Ummm no, Jesus died a long time ago...and not on that cross.

Lila: And then he went up to Heaven.

Rachel: That's right, and when you die, you'll go up to Heaven with him.  And Mommy and Daddy and Olive.

Lila: We're all going to go to Heaven.

Rachel: But we're not going to die for a long time because you don't die until you get old or if you're really sick or if there's an accident.

Lila: (Matter-of-factly) I'm going to die when I have a potty accident.
Rachel: Oh no no no no! That's not what I meant.

Clarity

So Lila is basically potty trained, except that at naps and bedtime she still wears a diaper.  I thought I should start moving her toward being totally potty trained, so I told her before naptime today that if she went all through naptime without tinkling in her diaper she could have some M&M's.  To this she responded, "Do we really have M&M's?"  Once I responded that I was not lying to her and that we did indeed have M&M's, she became extremely excited to earn them.

I knew that Lila was awake from her nap because I heard her knocking on her door and asking, "Elsa?"  I went up to get her out, and right when I opened the door I quickly smelled the delightful smell of a dirty diaper.  Lila had a huge smile on her face, and exclaimed, "Mom! I didn't tinkle! I can have M&M's!"  I confusedly said, "But Lila, you pooped."  The smile got even bigger, and she replied, "I know! I didn't tinkle!"

It's Like Climbing a Tree

Johnny went in to get Lila up from her nap a few days ago.  When he walked into the room, he couldn't find her.  After calling her name, Lila drew the curtains to her closet and revealed that she had spent the entire nap time on top of some Rubber Made containers filled with old clothes.  When Johnny asked her why she was on top of them she responded, "I can't get down."

The Return of the Hutsons

Johnny and I graduated from Wheaton College outside of Chicago over five years ago.  And aside from a short jaunt back to Wheaton for his sister's graduation, we haven't been back to Chicago since we packed up the Uhaul and skee-daddled to Philadelphia.  We wanted to get away for a weekend this winter, so we decided to revisit the town of our glory days.  We dropped off the kiddos at my parents', hopped on a plane, and arrived to this:

Ahhh beautiful.  Just as I remember it.  Freezing cold, wet feet, wind-burned face...the place I could not get out of fast enough.  It all came back to me.  Time seems to smooth over the truth.  I exaggerate.  The weather actually wasn't as horrible as it could have been.  The snow stopped right after we got there, and the temp stayed in the 30s and 40s.  Lovely.

One thing I love about Johnny that you might not know about him is that he is really good at planning vacations.  Exceptionally good.  He does all the research and finds great activities and restaurants that you might not normally come across.  This is good for me because even after living in Philadelphia for two years, I'm completely terrified of and stressed out by public transportation and I also tend to just want to eat at Chili's all the time.  He's the ying to my stay-in-the-hotel-and-watch-TLC-yang.

So one of the first things that we did upon arrival was go to The Driehaus Museum downtown.  It's an old mansion that has been turned into a museum.  It was gorgeous, and the tour was really interesting.

Instead of refurnishing the upstairs bedrooms, they made them into exhibit spaces.  Right now they have an exhibit on Louis Comfort Tiffany's stained glass.  All of his famous lamps and such.  It was really impressive.  I definitely recommend this museum especially if you've already done the Art Institute and the Field Museum.  You should also join the Army because they give you free admission if you do.

After the museum we scurried on over to Lou Malnati's, one of our favorite deep dish pizza places.  Just delicious.

After pizza we made the first of THREE attempts to go to the Christkindlmarkt (yes I spelled that correctly).  We went here every year in college and never had a problem getting in or walking around.  I don't know if the cat's out of the bag or what, but it was so extremely crowded that we couldn't even elbow our way into the "open air" much less buy anything.  It was insane.  I'm all about traditions until they're a pain in the butt, so we took a bad selfie and called it a day.

Ok so this day is going to seem really long because it was.  We took the 6:30 am flight, which gave us a large amount of time to fill.  So after attempt number one at the Christmas market, we hopped on the train to the suburbs and reunited with WHEATON! I threatened Johnny that I was going to say hi to all the students we passed in order to help us look like we still fit in.

We visited the student center, said hi to one of my old professors, bought some Wheaton paraphernalia for the bebbies, explored the fancy shmancy new science building, and then realized that we had nothing else to do on campus.  We were going to meet one of my old high school students and his roommates for dinner, but we had something like two hours to kill.  So we decided to do something we could have never done in college: drink alcohol in downtown Wheaton!  The mulled wine was delicious.

We decided to have a bit more relaxing day on Saturday.  We ate breakfast at a place called Pittsfield's, tucked inside of an old Gilded Age high rise.  The mimosas were a good start to the day.  In college, I had always wanted to go to Shedd Aquarium, but never did (ie I was waaay too cheap back then), so we Ubered on over there.  It was great! Definitely a must see if you're heading to Chicago.  They have Baluga whales and those sharks that look like they have a saw for a nose and jelly fish and 4D movies and cute penguins.  The only thing I don't recommend is the live show.  They had people playing violins in the water and whales swimming and Frosty the Snowman and it was just a total mess.

That night we ate at Farmhouse, THE best restaurant I have been to in a long time.  They had a fabulously fun drink selection and the most delicious cheese curds in existence.  I would seriously have eaten them until I died right there...which wouldn't have taken very long I'm sure.

Sunday morning we woke up and had cappuccinos and croissants at one of our favorite Philly-based coffee shops, La Colombe.  We were then thirty minutes late to a church service at a tiny little PCA church called Cityview.  It was nice to be back in a city-based church that had such a heart for the people around it.  I definitely miss that aspect of our lives in Philadelphia.

After a tasty brunch at Yolk (did you know you can make quinoa just like oatmeal?) and another attempt at the Christkindlmarkt (I'm sure the girls will forget about our promise to bring back an ornament) and a nap at the hotel, we ventured out to the Chicago Cultural Center which used to be the Chicago Public Library.  I remember accidentally wandering in here in college looking for the library.  They have more amazing Tiffany stained glass, particularly this huge Tiffany glass dome.  Johnny and I have already figured out where we're going to have our next wedding.

That night we had tickets to go see a comedy show at Second City, so we stopped for an early dinner at The Purple Pig.  They don't take reservations, and we were lucky to sneak in at the bar.  They bill themselves as "cheese, swine, and wine," so basically all things that are good.  We got some wine and a charcuterie platter and all was well in the world.

Second City was super fun.  We got to see a lot of talented people perform, and we're saving our programs so that in ten years when they're on SNL we can say that we helped them get there,  You're welcome, comedians.

Aside from the 6:20am flight we had Monday morning to leave Chicago, we had a wonderful time.  I absolutely recommend everything we did, save the violin/dolphin show.  The only thing that has really changed about Chicago is that it's easier to navigate now that we have these new fangled smart phones.  Using the Uber app to get rides was amazingly easy and cheap, and we never had to wander around hoping we would find a coffee shop other than Starbucks.  There are seriously 17 of them within walking distance of each other.

I will say that coming home from vacations is a lot easier when you have this waiting for you.