The St Patrick's Weekend that Wasn't

St Patrick's Day was upon us, and my husband & I were ready with suitcases full of green for our annual weekend away at our favorite hotel. Our friend Andy flew in from Baltimore for the festivities and my bestest and her boyfriend were primed and ready.

 

 

Friday night was spectacular. Well, what I can remember.

 

The only things that are really clear are shots, shots, shots, shots, shots, shots, and waking up in my room (ok, the bathroom floor of my room). Everything between those two points is extremely fuzzy. 

 

But I woke up feeling great, partook in the old Irish hangover remedy of a bloody mary and a scottish egg, and was ready to tackle the day (and especially the night) until my mother in law called.

 

Emerson is sick.

Imagine a huge record player coming to a scratching halt. 

 

So Andy, Clay, and I load up the SUV, bid farewell to Jen & Paul, drive the hour to my mother in law's, pick up the kids, then drive the two hours home. Andy gets a room nearby because he doesn't want to catch the plague, and the four disillusioned Churches spend their Saturday night much differently than envisioned.

 

Sunday morning, Em woke up like this:

 

Our pediatrician met us at his office, and both kids were diagnosed with strep, sinus infections, and ear infections. Em even had a strain of scarlet fever just to keep things super interesting. 

 

We paid $85 for some super strong antibiotics and by Tuesday our girl was feeling better.

 

Much better, clearly.

 

And that was our St Pat's weekend.

Never a dull moment.

St Patrick's Weekend Shennanigans

I'm a day late posting my weekend recap, but seriously, the day after St Patrick's Day fell on a Monday. As if Mondays weren't hard enough. I woke up without my husband, my kids were both late for school, I was late for work (shocker, I know), my hair was waddled up in a messy... nest (I couldn't even manage a sockbun), and I wore flats. That really sums up my entire mental state.

But it. was. so. worth. it. Because I am coming off one of the best weekends I've had in a while.  My amazing sister- and brother-in-law kept our kids (I cannot thank you guys enough), and Clay and I continued our tradition - eight years & counting! - of spending St Paddy's weekend at our favorite Irish hotel.

The weekend in pictures:

My favorite things about this weekend: sleeping in, drinking an amazing bloody mary (or four) at noon, hot tubbin', afternoon sex, brownies, etc. And something I'm especially proud of: I have officially made the move away from tacky green garb. St Patrick's weekends of the past have involved boas, blinkies, fishnets, kilts, all worn at the same time. This year? I kept it much more respectable. Well, outside of the hotel room, that is ;)

Sunday, the actual day of St Patrick's, was relatively low key. We left the hotel, but not without stopping to pick up a pregnancy test first - my husband had a vasectomy a couple years ago, but if anyone is going to get knocked up after getting snipped, it's gonna be us.  I had to, because, you guys, my boobs hurt. Like I'm sure I'm pregnant hurt. Thank gawd and baby jesus and man-sized jesus and zeus that I'm not. I have no idea what's going on with the girls, though. Pre-boob-job-jitters, perhaps?

So yeah, negative. We then picked up our sweet kiddos, Clay played in a basketball game, and after we made it home I had my obligatory holiday meltdown complete with tears and a cry of "this was the worst weekend ever!". Melting-down-and-over-reacting is my middle name.

Pretty sure it was nerves about this upcoming week, though. Clay and I have a lot of grown up decisions to make and this weekend was the calm before the storm.  Luckily we run a tight ship, so we'll be fine, probably better than fine when all is said is done, but it doesn't make these decisions any less scary. Or difficult.

Luckily, for all the years we've been celebrating St Patrick's Day, I'm pretty sure we got the luck of the Irish on our side. I'll keep ya posted.

Irish Champagne

Happy Monday, Friends. The Churches had an extremely lazy weekend. My kids weren't feeling 100% so we spent a good portion of the weekend lying around, watching movies. I may have cried multiple times during Tangled, incase you were wondering about my state of mind. 

Remember how I mentioned in my last post that I was partaking in a 2-week alcohol-free detox? Well, that lasted exactly five days. See, for the last few year Clay and I have been going away for St Patrick's Day weekend to an Irish hotel in an Irish city a few hours from where we live, and it's a celebration. A straight up par-tay.  

I thought if I took a break from my evening bottle glass of wine, I'd be more apt to fully and completely enjoy it when we were reunited during St Patty's weekend. You know, along the same lines of how you don't eat all day when you know you're going to amazing place for dinner that evening. That.

 

But I'm a mom of two young children who works full time and yoga only gets me so far. Whine. Wine.  You get it. 

So, yeah, wine was had. And champagne! And in the spirit of St Patrick's Day, Irish Champagne. Which is basically a mojito but with champagne in place of the rum. It's Irish because of the mint. Hey, if McDonald's can add mint to shit and call it a shamrock, then I can too.

The recipe for one glass is super simple: break up four whole mint leaves into a champagne glass.  Add 2 tbsp lime juice (or the juice of one whole lime if you happen to have one) and 1 tsp powered sugar, then muddle the mixture.  Add 2 oz champagne and 2 oz cream soda. Typically I would of used club soda, but the liquor store near my house was out of club so I subbed cream. And it was delicious; not sure I'll go back to club.

Enjoy!

DIY Distractions: St Patrick's Day Garland

We had another snow day today. I think it's our third in just as many weeks. Basically all my kids and I have done is watch movies and cuddle under the covers. We're still in our pajamas, as a matter of fact.  It's 3:24 in the afternoon. I ain't even mad.

The only time we really even moved is to gather some artsy stuff from the supply closet. They colored and I did this simple St Patrick's Day garland. In all honesty this craft is a distraction to all that's swirling around in my head. Some of it I can talk about: the boobs I mentioned the other day (thanks for your support by the way; it truly means the world to me) and we just booked a Disney vacay for the first week in April, have I mentioned that? It'll be my family's first! Any tips???  And then there are some things I don't want to talk about yet. Mainly in fear of jinxing them. You know how that is- you mention it out loud, it becomes real, you decide you might really want it, then it doesn't materialize and your heart is broken. So, yeah. Distraction. And since I'm too lazy to walk to the fridge for wine, crafting it is.

I'm not exaggerating when I say this is the easiest craft in the world. Gather up some green-ish scraps of fabric and a length of twine and you're good.

Fold the fabric exactly in half, then cut into 2-1/2 inch wide by 4 inch long rectangles (I used 15).

 

Take your folded rectangle, and fold it width-wise; cut out a notch, then unfold the width.

Now unfold at the length crease, add a couple dabs of hot glue, and refold over the twine. Add a couple more dabs of glue at the bottom of each rectangle's notch. Continue adding your rectangles about an inch apart.

And that's it. Told you it was easy.

Do this craft: it's perfect to spice up your St Patrick's Day life, and it's perfect to distract yourself from all that may be dancing around in your head.

Linking up at Rainbows & Honeysuckle's Craft Yourself Crazy Link Party.

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33 days...

It's never too early to start thinking about one's St Patrick's Day outfits.

St Patrick's Day, Doherty Style

I briefly mentioned in yesterday's post that Clay and I go away to celebrate St Patrick's Day (we actually celebrate the entire weekend). We have an amazing group of friends who go too and this is our seventh year celebrating at the Doherty Hotel, which is located in an Irish town about two hours from our house. The entire town celebrates and it is one green celebration the entire weekend. It's something both Clay and I look forward to each year.

We load up the kiddos and they stay with Clay's mom for the weekend.  It's nice because she doesn't live too far from the hotel where Clay and I stay.  And both Narls and Emerson have an absolute blast staying with her.

 Only an hour into our mini Irish vacation and the drinking had commenced.

 Only two drinks in and I started with the self-portraits.

 My favorite part of the weekend? Hanging out with Clayton <3

St Patty's Day Rainbow Cupcakes

Clay and I go away every St Patrick's weekend and our children stay with their grandma. This year Narls is particularly excited about the prospect of "finding a leprechaun" at grandma's house, which led to us talking about the leprechaun's pot of gold and how it's supposed to be found at the end of a rainbow.

Coincidentally enough it was slightly sprinkling as we were talking, so both he and Em spent a good portion of the morning looking outside in hopes of spotting a rainbow.  No luck.  But, being the resourceful mama that I am, I whipped them up some of their own little rainbows (in the form of cupcakes).

They were clearly pleased as evident by the complete lack of crumbs.

 

And the enormous smiles.