Melissa's 30 birthday revisited

Remember 3 months ago when I blogged...More from Mexico soon...notice that it never happened?

My life has been a series of better late than never most recently, so humor me because I couldn't let one of the most fabulous weeks of my life pass without recognition.

Mexico City...here's' to you.

Anthropology Museum
I am my father's child.

I want to read every inscription, watch every video, and sit and absorb the history.

But I'm cheap and time never permits, so Dana and I split a head set and while one tuned in, the other read any English plaque available.
Noelle, who was pregnant and had been here 113 times, took a nap outside and worked on her tan.

Behold, the bowl that human organs were tossed into after sacrifices and mashed for chiefs to drink. The Aztecs REALLY should have read the Book of Mormon. Dana and I noted lots of...what's the word...hostility, throughout the museum. Pretty soon, it started affecting us.Just happened to be March 17th and even though I was far from my Irish husband, I still had to give a shout out to his, and my children's, heritage by wearing my I (green 4 leaf clover) Ireland t shirt. and accessorize with my golden flip flops that complimented my first pedicure ever. Note the color I chose shortly before departing for Mexico...Senorita Rosacita.After so much history we had to introduce Dana to the MOST DELICIOUS CHIX QUESADILLA'S EVER! First we had to push through the crowd of police men, then fight for the best table, I mean seats, on the street corner. 1st class all the way.
Teotihuacan
Took me 10 minutes to learn how to say it, but in English it means the pyramids of the Sun and Moon.
Because it was my birthday trip, the weather provided us a very authentic day, complete with a blazing sun and cloudless day. I soon labeled the day "Under the Aztec Sun"So we all laced up our Nike's, layered on SPF 70, slid on the shades and got to climbing. We made the pregnant one carry the backpack of water. We started climbing (it was mega steep) until a little security guard directed us to the stairs.Somewhere along the way the fear of this....conjured up some major nausea in Stacy and she bailed out.

The view from the Sun pyramid was amazing even half way up.Dana and I finally hit the summit of the Sun, just in time to take this pic of the moon in the background and meet a group of teens from Iowa. I liked them until they told me it was 25 degrees in Iowa and snowing. Teenagers are such downers. But they couldn't kill my spirit too long because I WAS IN MEXICO CLIMBING ANCIENT PYRAMIDS! Wahooo.
(don't judge me Melanie, the air was thin up there and I hadn't changed a poopy diaper in days. A little celebration was in the cards) on the way down we met back up with Stacy and Noelle ...

and things got a little tribal. Yes, I was the instigator or all things cheezy, but if you're going to walk like an Egyptian, it might as well be on a pyramid. Right?

What can I say, I was inspired by the environment. Very organic.
I climbed the pyramid of the moon alone. Had a few moments to myself to marvel at my surroundings, but not too long as I soon felt dizzy from the effects of dehydration, altitude, and heat. I loved it...so authentic!That afternoon would bring a insane ride through the city with Victor in an attempt to reach the pewter store after I experience the flip side of buyers remorse...need more pewter remorse, which included getting lost in some areas that my native Mexico City driver described as scary and driving backwards, through traffic, on a 3 lane highway. Later that night included another stop at the quesadillas stand and a movie at the VIP theater (think leather recliners and waiters bringing you Ben and Jerry's while your attempt to not fall asleep after a day of climbing pyramids and surviving Mexico taxi rides).

Taxco - My Birthday

My final day in Mexico began with a 2 hour drive to a city reminiscent of an Italian coastal city. It's spelled Taxco but sounds like Costco (just by it's name, I knew it would be fabulous). After passing many flower stands in the middle of no where (oh how I wish US customs would allow plants across the border...my arms would have been filled with roses that cost $3 a dozen) and a roaming donkey or two, we descended back into the insanity/traffic that can only be found in a Mexican city.Now I've never been claustrophobic before, but this city almost pushed me over the edge. Walls of silver and walls of people. I needed one of those monkey backpacks for Noelle to hold the leash so we didn't separated. Roaming fees made cellphones obsolete. After hours of searching and heckling, I had hit my wall, reached my max, found my limit and sat down for some birthday flan at this beautiful roof top restaurant in the piatsa.
This is my "I'm 30. I'm tired. I miss my babies. I miss English. I miss public bathrooms with toilets that have lids and you don't have to pay 3 pesos for 2 squares of toilet paper. I miss brushing my teeth with faucet water" face.

The flight home will not be mentioned as it takes away from the utopia of the trip. Let's just say the word "Delta" conjures up vicious/malicious memories that I chose to never revisit and will not journal about so that memories of that trip home will be lost from history/die with me.

Thank you Noelle, Dana, and Stacy for a week I'll never forget.
Can't wait to see what trouble we get into next time.

Just what I needed

No, I'm not dead. Just mentally. The last few weeks have been bananas and I'll slowly update you post by post. But for now, a short list will have to do for ya.

Visited my new state of Iowa - check
Found a house - check
Went to the beach - check
Packed and cleaned every inch of Birmingham - check
Said goodbye to my husband for 6 plus weeks - check
Took a nap in Chattanooga - check
There, you now know that the past few weeks were in fact...bananas.

But in the midst of all the bananas, I had a few moments of rejuvenation, one being a going away girls get together which proved to be just what I need to keep me going and remind me that you never really say goodbye to true friends.

Heaven is a crepe made by Chelsea...my PIC...partner in culinary.

1st take a moment to appreciate the sheer talent.Second...attack!3rd Savor.Yes, they were that good.

And after you've filled your belly's with french goodness, take a few hours to laugh 'til you cry with the finest ladies Alabama has to offer. Sweet Home Alabama!

Rosemary's Babies

Catching up on vitamin D down at Rosemary Beach on 30A.

Today I really was going to get into the ocean until I caught this fellow just off shore.

Kill joy.

That is a 10 pound jellyfish, I swear. It took me three trips hauling it out of the ocean.

I wish Adam was willing to keep these on because I would have bought them instantly.

More from the gulf later.

An entertaining form of curing diaper rash

It's just more fun this way...

Multi tasking is the name of the game.

Time outdoors - check

Running off excess energy - check

Air on bum - check

Making mom laugh AND be grateful for a privacy fence- check

It's a win win situation.

Adventures in Gastrointestinal Contamination

Aka Food Poisoning

No, this is not a post about Mexico. Mexico was very kind to me in the culinary department.

Last night I woke up to darkness and the sounds of Shannon vomiting on the freshly steamed clean carpet. Always gotta run to mom and pass the toilet on the way.

1st thought - Ewww

2nd thought - I guess we aren't going to church in a few hours.

3rd thought - Wahoo. Do you know how much I can accomplish with Adam in nursery? Thank you notes, angry letters to Delta, moping, oh and scripture study.

I forgot that Heavenly Father can read thoughts.

During my 3rd clean up a mere 2 hours later, my knees went weak, head dizzy, stomach churning. Dropped the clean sheets, ran to Steve, gave him a 3 second synopsis of current events and ran to the bathroom for one of many trips to cleanse my body of food poisoning from one of my favorite restaurants who had given me a free birthday entree.

No, no Mexican gas station quesadilla stand with a senorita flattening dough with her bare hands,nor the tamale street cart, nor this guy smearing sun warmed mayo and cheese on corn plucked from that dirty bucket, nor the fruit vendor lady slicing figs with her pocket knifenor Mexico's finer eating establishements, like Thai Gardens with valet parking and a tasters menu to die for

Look at how grown up I look. I was attempting to look like the 30 year old I would soon be but really this pic was taken in between laughing so hard my side hurt and realizing that we were the loudest people in the fancy shmancy restaurant. I was just too excited about the food to care.

...nothing in Mexico gave me food poisoning, just your standard American FDA regulated restaurant.

My life makes NO sense.

ok maybe this was a little about Mexico

How to Survive your 30th Birthday, part 1

I didn't want to do it 10 years ago, and I sure as heck didn't want to do it now. I had been pulled kicking and scream into my 20's and now I was positive that a mid life crisis was just around the corner as I neared turning 30.

So I did what any self respecting mother of 2 would do. I snuck out early one Sunday morning and boarded a plane bound for another country; all in search of the girl I once was before all this turning 20 or 30 biz.

At first I would get envious glares when I mentioned I was stressed about getting my life if order before heading to Mexico. I'm sure leisurely walks on the beach sipping a pureed fruity beverage were part of their vision. But, when I added that I was visiting Mexico City, the looks morphed into looks of "Why on earth would you go there?"

I'll tell you why...this lady.

Noelle

My bud since I was 13 and the day my mother told me to be nice to the new Philippine family who had moved into our tiny branch and I immediately envisioned a little girl who didn't speak English and would follow me around like a lost puppy. But when she said, "What's up chick," I knew everything would be OK. In fact, it was better than OK. I had just met a girl with a heart as big as the world she travels and what would a 30 birthday be without her and my other girls who helped me survive high school.

Mexico City 2010

This is my "this is insane and I'm LOVING it" face!After surviving customs and re-centering with pot roast, Monday became my official first day in Mexico.

The morning began with offending the maid by starting to unload the dishwasher and making the kids breakfast, followed by the family (and the rest of Mexico - it was a national holiday = no school or work) venturing out to Xochimilco, or Mexico's version of a lazy day on the river/canals.

Remember, everything about Mexico is insane, then kicked up a notch. How we paddled around the canals = our boat's "horse power".

The Mexican version of a gondola.

I'm a huge fan of the reality show "No Reservation" which just happened to feature the Mexico City episode on the plane ride down. Coincidence? One place highlighted were these very canals, but more specifically...the island of the dolls. Legend has it that a young girl drowned and a local, who was haunted by her, hung dolls in the trees to calm her down. The result = scary tourist spot.

The actual island was 5 hours by boat, and since there were NO bathrooms available, we settled for this little tribute on trees along the way. It was enough to both scare and satisfy any desire I had.

Forgot food, toys, flowers, or music...no problem.They'll pull up, or jump, onto your boat and get crackin', even if you didn't ask them to...or even if you specifically requested them not to. Noelle had told me the corn, slathered in sun-warmed mayo, dripped with lime, then sprinkled with cheese and chili's was a must.
I excitedly devoured it while saying a prayer that this would not be the beginning of the end of my trip. We've all heard the horror stories of eating at a 5 star restaurant in Mexico then spending the rest of the trip in the bathroom. But Noelle had survived, right?I spent the next 8 hours asking, "Would I be sick by now?" 8 hours later I was still A OK, so we jaunted over to the quesadilla vendor for the HANDS DOWN BEST CHICKEN QUESADILLAS EVER.

Aside from them being yummy to the max, they were $1. Let's just say I frequented this little joint several evenings over the course of my stay. What a day!