The worst perfect gift

I know she didn't do it on purpose. But still, I feel as though all the wind has been knocked out of my sails.

After a bad day at work, I spent the entire walk home dragging my "mommy" persona up from the self-pitying depths of my spirit. Bee is always so happy to see me when I come home, how can show her any less enthusiasm?

I am proud to say that I managed to pull myself together and walked in the door with a big smile. I was rewarded by Bee's usual excitement and happy chatter about her day.

And then she showed me the Valentine's Day present her babysitter had brought her. A doctor's kit: perfect for caring for sick dollies and teddy bears. The very thing she had been wishing for.

What the babysitter had no way of knowing was that hidden away on a shelf in my bedroom, is another doctor's kit, one that I had specially ordered and was saving as Bee's Valentine's day gift from me.

Oh, jealousy.

Vanities

Five little things that make my life happy:

My morning cup of tea: Harney and Son Cinnamon Spice. I honestly don't know whether I could start my work day without it.

A natural lip gloss that I can share with Bee: Korres lip butter. You should hear her smack her lips when I let her swipe a little bit.

My iPod: a constant soundtrack for all that city walking. And that way no one knows how much 70s music I actually listen to.

Peanut M&Ms: my current addiction of choice. I really, really cannot stop eating them.

My Mom's daily email, telling me all about life at home.

I don't know how to pronounce it

but I have a new love:

Stracciatella ice.

It's mostly ice cream, yet somehow similar to gelato, filled with soft little bits of chocolate and if you put chocolate sprinkles on top, well, you can hear accordians playing and envision the picturesque canals of Venice. It's heavenly.

I really cannot buy it again. I have singlehandedly eaten the entire carton.

Guilty Pleasures

Magazine subscriptions. I think I subscribe to eight different magazines. 

The guiltiest pleasure of the lot is US Weekly.  US Weekly magazine is a dumbed down version of People magazine, which is already pretty dumb in its own right. 

I like to compare US Weekly to a McDonald's value meal--you get the same thing every time, it's cheap, tastes great, although it makes you feel a little bit sick when you're done.  Since I've all but given up Mc Donalds (don't watch Supersize me, just don't) US Weekly is my weekly junk fix.

Despite the lingering bad taste, I keep going back, week after week. I think it is the brightly colored pictures and gossip-y language written on a third grade reading level.  After a long day at the office, I don't want to puzzle out some postmodern novel, I just want to retreat to some lowbrow entertainment.  

I just got home a few minutes ago and it is well after 9 pm--the very rare work night out that I do my best to avoid.  (There is no dinner, meeting, or reception that is more important to me than after work cuddle time and Play Doh creation with Bee. But as it was my event, I had to attend.)  

I'm tired and off to bed with Oprah magazine.  David will probably be reading the Economist. Hopefully his intellectual pursuits will balance out my mental laziness.

Craving

I could never grow tired of ice cream.  

My favorite is mint chocolate chip, the bright green kind, mind you, covered, and I mean covered with rainbow sprinkles.  (I used to call them jimmies but most people north of the Mason-Dixon line have no idea what that means, so, sprinkles it is.) For the perfect ice cream archetype, mint chocolate chip ice cream-sprinkles combination should be precariously firmly stacked on top of a sugar cone (the brittle pseudo waffle cones with the sharp point at the bottom).  

In Europe, mint chocolate chip ice cream is a weak imitation of the American kind. The chips are slivers, the ice cream is a pale mint color as opposed to bright green dye. It's disappointing so I usually order something else.  However, you know what Europe has that America does not? Gelato!  Think ice cream that doesn't melt as quickly with a more intense flavor.  Hazelnut gelato is nothing short of a revelation.

In Germany, where my sister lives, everything is expensive with the exception of the lowly ice cream cone.  One scoop still only costs one Euro.  David and I visited her in May. The last morning of our vacation I spent a perfect thirty minutes sitting in the sunny town square, eating a chocolate ice cream cone and reading American Vogue, while Bee napped in her stroller.  That was heaven.  

Tonight I had vanilla frozen yogurt topped with a few pieces of extra dark (85%) chocolate.  My plan was to melt the chocolate and pour it over the yogurt, but the chocolate was too dark to melt. So, I broke it into pieces and enjoyed it as a topping.  Ice cream is one treat I could never give up.

Guilty pleasure

Frozen peanut butter M&Ms. Because they're peanut butter and frozen and really, really, tasty that way.