Vacation Withdrawal

Oh how looooong the week back from vacation can seem!  We had a dynamite trip to Dave’s home state of Michigan, and it’s hard to get back in the groove after having so much relaxation and entertainment wrapped up into 10 days—what with older cousins entertaining our kids non-stop, jumping off of boats into crystalline lakes, running down mind-blowingly huge sand dunes and having time with friends and family, not to mention fireworks and a ladies-night jaunt to see Magic Mike (awesome and not at all squicky sitting next to your MIL through that one!).

If you haven’t made a trip to Northern Michigan, you must.  We visited Sleeping Bear Dunes and Glen Lake and it was ah-mazing.  On our way back to the Detroit area, we had fly-by BLTs with Shana, Mike and their gorgeous family.  It was sooo good to see them.  With five babies and about 1,700 miles between us, real-time visits have been heartbreakingly non-existent. 

Raines, Henry and Leo picked up right where they left off while Pax and Baby Alex made fast friends and wrestling buddies.

Another highlight of the trip was receiving this beautiful, sentimental silhouette bracelet from my in-laws for my birthday.  I have a serious silhouette fetish, and the fact that Beeba gave it to Grandma upon the birth of my husband so many years ago makes it crazy precious to me even though, as it happens, I am not speaking to said husband this evening <plbt!>.  I’ve been wearing it everyday since, and I found two options for getting silhouette charms with my boys’ names and b-days to add on to it.  Of course, I love the idea of custom, solid gold silhouette charms from Love and Victory, but at $400 a pop, that may prove a bit over-the-top.  These $33 gold fill Etsy charms seem pretty perfect, too.

In other news, I picked up a few of these adorable hair ties at a shop in Glen Lake.  I have thick, long hair, and while I’ve been liking the hold of Goody’s new silicone hairbands, they really pull and rip my hair when I take them out.  These babies are a little decorative, have great hold, are seriously lightweight an don't pull a bit.

My favorite backpack is my Baggu Backpack in Coral—I love that it’s inexpensive and washable—but now it comes in a navy dot print, too, and I’m considering adding a dot print Duck Bag (pictured) to my Baggu collection.  Also can’t recommend their zipper bag sets highly enough for compartmentalizing diapering stuff, make-up, etc. in great colors and fun prints.  I keep diapers, wipes, changing pad and fresh clothes in the small and medium and use the large one as a shoe bag for gym and travel.

Also, I don't know why I've never mentioned this one before, but my vacay MVP was my very favorite lazy razor, aka, the Gillette Venus and Olay Razor.  I don't know what it is about that extra step of lathering my gams, but it's a major deterrent to shaving for me, and OMG does the Venus 3-in-1 make shaving quick.  I love it in summer, when I’m in the water or at least in shorts or a skirt almost everyday.  And Mamas, it is one handy toiletry item during those first crazy months of motherhood, when you’re lucky to wash your hair once a week, let alone shave your legs.

Now reading: A Lady Cyclist's Guide to Kashgar: A Novel.  A distinctly, and refreshingly, nice counterpoint to my marathon reading of the Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy : ).

Have a great weekend!  Hope your vacations are just starting, Mamas!

– M.