rocky mountain hi(gh)

my first order of business is to inform you that sallee and i rode our bikes for 60 miles on saturday, in three hours and 18 minutes, which we both agreed was a) a personal best and b) a miracle.

in other words, baby birthing and poor training and every other obstacle aside, not only did the little red riding hood not kill us, but we killed it.

and, as usual, it was totally awesome. mostly because the little red riding hood means hours of pedaling and talking and singing john denver with sallee, which i could do every day of the week and not get sick of it. the weather was also perfect, the rest stops were well-stocked with chocolate and red vines and peanut butter sandwiches and delicious diet coke and, in a stroke of amazing luck, emdawg was at the finish line. that's two out of three times she has met us at the finish line of this ride. and that is friendship. plus, we got crowns.

i think i have mentioned before that the little red riding hood totally changed my life when we first did it four years ago and it was really fun to be back and to think about doing that ride for years to come, some day soon with our own little girls in tow. (we figure baby claire can do 18 miles by the time she is two years old. right?)

and, as if that wasn't enough, i managed to squeeze in a few other things during my 50 hours in utah.

like, lunch at greek souvlaki and dinner at mazza with the grandparents and uncle john. some of my most favorite food.

and a bonfire and s'mores with some of my favorite grown-ups and one of my favorite babies, kyle, who is not a baby anymore at all, but who is running around and saying words and generally slaying with his adorable-ness. holly and evan taught him how to say my name ("fwancie!") and my heart almost melted.

plus, for my other main event, i got to meet ms. claire and snuggle her and sing to her and change her diaper and feed her bottles and tell her about all the things we are going to do together and see her be blessed and then eat delicious pulled pork and eclairs (get it?) and homemade root beer to celebrate. oh, and don't worry, sallee and i wore the same dress to the blessing. great minds and all of that.

and then, almost as soon as i got there, it was time to go home. this happened when i picked up claire to say good-bye.



i felt the same way.

f your information

did i mention that sallee had her baby? ms. claire elisabeth joined us about five weeks ago and, in my grand tradition of never finishing anything on time, i just mailed off her blanket last week. to be perfectly frank, i think baby claire could have managed the hand-stitching better herself, but i was otherwise delighted with the result.




did i mention that i signed a lease for a new house? after a year of attic-squatting i figured it was time to move on. emily h. and i will be co-habitating starting july 3rd, and i am thrilled. please come hang out in our enormous backyard any time you would like.


did i mention that doobie has officially landed in d.c.? our plans for his summer in the capital include the zoo, a road trip to richmond and starting "battlestar galactica" over from the beginning.



did i mention that katie and smack and i watched "glee" on tuesday and then katie gave us ridiculous hair styles and i laughed until i had to pee?








just thought you might like to know.

... then comes the baby in the baby carriage

i was back in new york this weekend (i know, right? cry a river about my jet-setting life. except really it is more of a bus-setting life, so i still deserve a smidgen of pity, right?). it was another weekend of celebration, this time in honor of this blessed event:





since jane is one of my favorite people i can only assume that her baby is going to be one of the best around, and i am pretty stoked for him to get here.

it was a great lovely shower, the only un-unlovely part being the (rain) shower outside. bad weather meant not much galavanting around the city this time, but i did manage to meet ben and wendell for a cup of tea, hit up the new upper west side apple store with suvi, get a gang of old friends together for dinner and score brunch with ABK in brooklyn, so i didn't do too badly, if i do say so myself.

and i do.

babylove

for the sole purpose of tooting my own horn, i share with you that i have, up until now, been instrumental in the eternal unions of three-- count them, three!-- couples. (dear karma: it's cool. take your time.)

that makes me three for three. which i would say is a pretty good average, especially considering we are talking about that fickle and enigmatic mistress, love.

since i've had so much success nudging adults in the right direction, i decided to line up baby kyle and baby natalie and see if my skill transfers to smaller people. if this baby engagement-style photo is any indication, i would say the answer is yes.




i am also just going to put it out there that baby natalie totally came onto kyle, lunging towards him and trying to eat his shirt (what a flirt!), while baby kyle seemed a little more unsure about the whole process. and then he started to cry.

so, it looks like baby-land parallels adult-land in all kinds of ways.

red letter

it was a pretty big day for me and the interweb, as i received my first hater comment on the blog, from none other than "anonymous." hello, big time!

the dad-man came to the defense of my honor, but also offered a characteristically well-thought and well-worded defense of periods of denial and reflection across all religious traditions. i must agree that periods of physical denial, such as the monthly fast in which i, as a mormon, participate, when undertaken in the proper spirit and frame of mind, with reverence and a goal of drawing closer to God, are effective and valid and sacred. and i certainly don't mean to demean that. but, it also remains the case that i do better when i am trying to add real virtues instead of just take away vices.

with that said, continuing discussion of the non-insulting (and non-anonymous) variety is certainly welcome, but i am going to move on to a less controversial topic: babies!

that's right. i met joelle and baby natalie for a little dinner tonight, and may i just say that baby natalie is sitting up and smiling and generally turning into the gosh-darndest cutest baby in the world, as you can plainly see here.

i think even "anonymous" will have to agree with me on this one.

{also, two unrelated questions. one: do they make non-reflective spectacles? because i could be totally into that. two: did anyone else watch "the bachelor" finale tonight? seriously, what the heck was that?}

a day in the life

do you ever get to the end of a day and say, "man! where did the day go?" well, here is where my friday went.

8:30 a.m.: breakfast with ryan and miaken (unheard of, i know. but i am willing to get out of bed early for good food and even better company. also for a chance to be famous, since miaken was shooting a documentary.)




11 a.m.: proofing, proofing and more proofing.




12:45 p.m.: christmas baby stops by the office. fawning ensues.




2:30 p.m.: hurrah for half-day fridays!




3:00 p.m. afternoon delight.




3:45 p.m. baby natalie gets some baby legs. (are baby leg warmers the cutest things ever? why yes, they are!)






4:30 p.m.: arrested development in bed. also known as: heaven.




6:40 p.m.: dinner.



7:10 p.m.: in the car.




8:20 p.m.: ryan and steve performing stand-up at wiseguys.










{a word about these two. they are engaged, to be married that is, and it is all thanks to me. no question about this one. me, me and all me. they have already agreed to name their first-born daughter frances, which seems only fair, since the only thing i got out of the rilo kiley concert where i introduced them was a confiscated fork.}

10:45 p.m.: chili's. also known as: the only thing in utah open that late. also the scene of some impressive eating by travis.





and then home.

where does your day go?

hi, i'm earth. have we met?

to read this here blog lately, one might make the (incorrect) assumption that i am baby crazy. i assure you that such is not the case. as it happens, i have never been one for the blanket adoration of all babies because, frankly, there are some babies i just don't like. (and i won't name any names, so don't even try to get me to spill. all right, fine. i will admit that suri cruise sort of gives me the creeps. but she's probably not a real baby anyway.)

on the other hand, there are some special babies who i adore very much and want to see all the time. and brand new baby natalie is one of them. probably because she belongs to such a special friend.

when joelle told me she was pregnant, i could not wait for that baby to come. i wanted to talk about the baby all the time: was it a girl or a boy? was the baby kicking? what names were joelle and her husband thinking about? would she call me as soon as the baby came? could the baby call me auntie fran? i bought the baby all my favorite "frances the badger" books and planned all the fun things we would do together once she got here.

and then, the miracle.

joelle was willing to stay my friend through the onset of this most unexpected and unfamiliar baby craziness.

and then, the second miracle.

miss natalie elizabeth joined us here.



she is small and perfect and has all her fingers and all her toes and squints her eyes when she sleeps and stretches out her long skinny legs and has beautiful dark hair and will snuggle into your bosoms and stay there while you talk about how tiny and adorable she is.

now that natalie and i have met and bonded, the next order of business is to introduce her to my other object of baby lust, baby kyle, so they can meet and fall in baby love (or lust. however babies roll) and then they will never be able to leave me because of their endless debt of gratitude.

i have also decided that i would be cool with not having babies of my own, as long as my friends keep doing such a good job. pressure's on, people. hop to it.