Right before the kids and I took off for our road trip, I got an email that said “Boston Red Sox Invite You to a Game at Fenway Park” in the subject line. I almost, almost deleted it, since obviously it must be spam. I am so very glad I didn’t.

I have no idea how I ended up on a list of “thought leaders” in New England, but because they stumbled over my blog somehow the marketing department for the Red Sox invited me and my family up to the park for a tour, a game and a focus group to talk about what would make us more likely to come back.

The whole thing was so professional, I almost cringe at the fact I even there. I wore flip flops and brought my four year old. No one else had their kid there (I asked! They said beforehand it was OK!) and he was kind of…a four year old. There was an agenda and a white board and notepads.  It was a small group. There was a seat marked with my name and blog name on a printed and branded place marker. They had individual bottles of Perrier for us while we chatted about family events at Fenway and their Kid Nation program. Perrier is way above my class level. It was 90 degrees and my Spanx were the only thing keeping me from literally melting into a puddle on the floor, but there I was, unable to shut up. I ramble when I’m nervous (shocking, I’m sure) and in the moment my brain seemed to think all my ideas were BRILLIANT. Gah. Gaaaaaaaaah.

Luckily I must not have totally embarrassed myself, since they sent a follow up email and invited us back to the Futures at Fenway event coming up in July. At the focus group we discussed in detail what sort of things we’d like to see at a family day event…and then POOF! Turns out that event is ALREADY SCHEDULED. And has been for the past eight years. I probably should have known about that already. Oops?

The real best part of the whole thing was the ballpark tour. I’m not the world’s greatest Red Sox fan (and if you are, feel free to hate me for being invited to this thing when you weren’t), but I am a huge nut about history and Fenway is all about history. Getting to walk around the park when it was empty, visit all the fancy and private levels, see the framed jerseys going all the way back to the very first one with actual red socks printed on it…it was amazing. Especially because I got to bring E and Evan. I choked up a little just editing my photos from the day – they don’t get to spend a lot of time together doing father-son stuff, but what can be a better memory than Evan’s first trip to Fenway? Magical, for real.

Look at that empty, empty field!

There are vintage-style and exposed brick signs everywhere in the park. I love the way they make it FEEL like a historic place.

Some of the fancy memorabilia in the uber-swanky season ticket holder club.

So, so, so, SO many food choices in the park.

I had to bribe him with one of those smooshed pennies to sit next to Wally.

The view from on the field.

Discussing batting practice.

Hello Rockies. Sorry not sorry you lost this game!

Watching the actual game (we only got to stay a few innings)

Delivered right to my seat, hot and delicious

I’m a little obsessed with the way the light-up boards for the scores and stats all use green backgrounds, so they match the rest of the stadium. Plus the graphics have fake drop-shadows, so they look just like the old hand-operated score board (That they still use! There are guys in there!)

PACKED stadium on a Tuesday night!

Goodnight Fenway! See you again soon!

We’re expecting a little snow in New England, and by a little snow I mean enough snow that they’ve already started canceling stuff in preparation for Winter Storm Nemo*. You have to remember I live in Connecticut, not Northern Virginia, so snow on its own isn’t something anyone cares about. We got 2 inches on Tuesday and the news called it “no accumulation”. In NoVa, they would have dismissed school early and shut down the government.

I went to elementary and middle school in Massachusetts, where a foot of snow was barely enough to get a 2 hour delay. In the 6th grade, I composed the following poem and wrote it on the chalkboard of my history class the day before a huge storm:

Tomorrow when the blizzard hits,
We at the school shall meet.
For we all know, it never snows
On Dorothy Swanbeck’s street.

(For the record, I Googled to see if I could possibly be remembering that correctly and Ms. Swanbeck totally was the school superintendent back then. I don’t remember a single teacher’s name from that year, but I’ll remember her’s forever.)

We did indeed meet at the school the next day.

I’m no stranger to New England snow storms, is what I’m saying. I’m also lucky enough to live in a town with its own utility company, which means we don’t have to rely on the horribly unreliable Connecticut Light & Power to keep the lights and heat on. (My power company, Norwich Public Utilities, has been known to tweet exact locations and numbers of outages with updates on power restoration in the middle of a hurricane. I heart them.) I’m optimistic this will be an adventure instead of a nightmare and viewing the whole thing in a very Little House In The Big Woods manner – WWCID? (What Would Caroline Ingalls Do?) Stock up on firewood! Get out the candles! Find extra blankets! Get out my knitting! Make sure I have plenty of hot chocolate and peppermint schnapps!

The only thing making me a teeny tiny bit nervous is E’s crazy work schedule. He doesn’t get any days off for another…uh…forever, basically, so all house issues and snow-removal issues are my problem. He wrote down directions for how to use the snow blower, but they might as well be in Greek, plus also it would mean leaving the kids alone in the house so maybe not the best idea. Let’s just hope things melt and/or he gets home by school on Tuesday morning.

Anyway! *clap-clap* As of right now it’s not snowing, raining, icing or sleeting. The kids are tired from a busy day at school so we’ll have an easy bedtime tonight. I’m going to make a big bowl of popcorn and top it with Parmesan cheese for dinner, followed by a handful of chocolate caramels oops, those are gone. They were delicious. We have all our snow gear ready and I’m as prepared as I can be. This is not the first time it has ever snowed in Connecticut and I doubt it will be the last. My camera battery and my iPhone are charged, so I will Instagram the crap out of very important news like “Look! Snow!” and “ZOMG! More snow!”  BRING IT, NEMO.

*While I was writing this I got a text message that Ledyard Public Schools are already cancelled, which mean no preschool for Evan. Also, SRSLY, they named the storm Nemo, because a tropical fish with a gimpy fin is MY first thought when I picture a historic blizzard.

Friday morning update 8:51 am: It’s snowing! It started about an hour ago but has slowed down. We’re not supposed to get the real accumulation until tonight. Also, E has to go to work today but should be home before the worst of it hits so I won’t need to do the snow blowing on my own. You KNOW things look dire when the US Navy says “You guys can just stay home”. 

I am thankful that E was able to come home this weekend. I am thankful for sleeping in. I am thankful for the beautiful weather. I am thankful for apple donuts and fresh cider. I am thankful we live in New England, where things like “steam-powered cider press”es exist.

Happy Monday! Only five days until another weekend!

Eastern Connecticut is a black hole for a lot of things – chain restaurants, free public beaches, Anthropologies – but this time of year I am totally in love with everything about it. TOTALLY. I drive around on my regular every day errands literally GASPING at how gorgeous the trees are. Out loud. GASP. And just when I think I’ve found the most spectacular, fall postcard worthy stretch of road I round a corner and IT’S EVEN MORE GORGEOUS HOLY CRAP I CAN’T EVEN. Throw in trips to do photo-shooty fall-type things with my children in plaid shirts and tiny overalls and it’s a miracle I don’t pee my pants with excitement. Or maybe that’s why I’m wearing black pants.

Of course, my blissful land of red and oranges and yellows and pumpkins and caramel apples and chicken pot pie lasts for approximately two weeks (IF WE’RE LUCKY and it doesn’t rain for all of October). The rest of fall is cold and dreary and brown, and I reserve my right to complain about it on the daily right up until we get our first real snow of the winter and/or/usually at the same time Christmas. Then everything is AMAZING and GORGEOUS and A FAIRYLAND OF MAGICALNESS for exactly the amount of time it takes for the snow plow to come and spew dirty slush all over the place. After that it’s just one long stretch of misery until spring shows up in April (or May, more likely) when all the flowers bloom and I once again remember why I love New England.

I never said it was a HEALTHY relationship, but it’s one I don’t plan to get out of any time soon.

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I got new glasses this week, for the first time in years. My old ones were thin and gold and half-rimless and totally considered fashionable when I bought them, if that gives you an idea of how long it has been. I bought two pairs from the place that did my exam and then asked them for my prescription. Because I am SMART, I also looked up what exactly one needs to order glasses from the interwebs BEFORE I asked for it, to make sure I got all the parts I needed.

Turns out – SURPRISE! – they don’t actually give you all the information you need! Because they are jerks and want you to be forced to buy their $350 Tory Burch frames! The woman who was helping me wrote down the extra number I needed in teeny tiny letters at the bottom of the page and whispered “You can take this anywhere. THEY will know what it means” as if she was giving me the secret recipe for Coca-Cola instead of just the distance between my eyeballs. When I said I was planning to get a zillion pairs of $6 frames from the internet (thanks to a fantastic tip from Swistle) she got all scoldy and mean and told me I was wasting my money because those cheap glasses would probably break after two weeks anyway. To which I say YES, EXACTLY, which is why they are SIX DOLLARS. But with two grabby little kids I am just as likely to break my $350 Tory Burch glasses (yeah, they got me) and I don’t see you offering to replace them out of the kindness of your heart.

Besides, I am finally getting used to seeing things again. It’s kind of nice and I don’t want a pair of broken glasses to ruin that.

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I want to write about how I am surviving some temporary single parenting LIKE A CHAMP – not only am I keeping the kids alive, I’m cooking dinner from scratch! Knitting things! The house isn’t a disaster! I have put away folded laundry! TWICE! – but that would be tempting fate just a little too much and I have TOO MANY DAYS left before I get my husband back, so that is all I will say about that.

Post-script: I HADN’T EVEN SCHEDULED this post yet and shit started to fall apart. I will NEVER LEARN.