My alarm (a foreign sound I’ve only heard a handful of times in the last 4+ months) went off bright and early this morning. I set it for just early enough to wash my face, brush my teeth, curl my hair, pump… and walk in the door at NBC Tower by 8am. I proceeded to spend some very necessary time in the makeup room– my face not going on as quickly as before following my makeup hiatus.
Not surprisingly, my parking pass had not yet been activated— and when I walked in, not only was someone at my desk (leaving me with no place to sit), but my dresses that I left on my desk were MIA. Welcome back to me! The rest of the day, however, went as well as could be expected given the grim subject matter. It was nice to see everyone and nice to get back into the swing of things. I really am blessed with some awesome coworkers.
Surprisingly, there were no tears when I left for work– leaving my little munchkin for the first time. While I was sad to see my blissful summer with Arabella come to an end, I’m not one to get emotional. Plus, how could I be sad when I knew my daughter was going to have a monumental day?? You see, today was the first Steelers game of the season. My husband is NOT happy about my working Sundays because he has been watching the Steelers at Durkins for almost 20 years. Not one to break his streak, he was planning to do what any (ir)rational new father would— and take his daughter to Durkin’s. If I was an uptight mom I would have been furious. But honestly, the only thing I was furious about was the fact that I couldn’t be a fly on the wall to observe the inevitable hilarity that was about to ensue. Fittingly, this trip to Durkin’s was Jarmon’s first time taking Arabella out of the house on his own. Luckily he has a whole family of helpers there… check out these awesome pics 🖤💛
Arabella and Jarmon were both all smiles when I got home, so I guess neither of them was too traumatized. (Note to self: Need to start plotting how to make my daughter hate football 🤔)
Anyway- Like any new mom will tell you, after work snuggles are even better than regular snuggles. I got home just in time to steal some snuggles, feed Arabella and get her to bed.
I made Jarmon eat the leftover ravioli from Friday night for dinner (my first of hopefully many efforts to waste less food). I made a chopped salad for myself. If only I had stopped there. At the grocery store yesterday I somehow noticed mug cookies. I had heard of mug cookies before (recipes that tell you how to make a single serve cookie in a mug in the microwave), but I didn’t know there were mixes you could buy to make mug cookies on demand. Not only were there multiples brands, but the variety was seemingly endless. With my pregnancy sweet tooth still going strong, I caved and picked up a box of chocolate chip. A fresh, hot chocolate chip cookie in 1:10 flat? Yes, please! Drizzled with chocolate icing? Even better! The fact that said cookie mix sat on my counter for 24 hours before being tried took some pretty impressive willpower. I wish I could say it was worth the wait. It seriously tasted like it came from an Easy Bake Oven (and I would know, because my husband bought me an Easy Bake Oven for Christmas the year we met— another story for another day). The cookie itself was dry and tasteless. The chocolate frosting was less drizzle, more blob. The expectation versus reality gap was vast.
I wish I could say the unimpressive appearance stopped me from eating it! The reality is that even the worst chocolate chip cookie is still pretty darn good.
Trina Orlando 