Nicole Tasker Woods

I was at work for 2 days, then they sent us home again.

They gave us today off, can you believe it!?

I don’t know what to do with myself with an unexpected 3-day weekend.

I think the movies is in order. What better way to spend an indulgent, relaxing day then in a movie theatre? I haven’t been to the movies in such a long time, despite working in the film industry. I think I will see Django Unchained. Ryan already saw it so the only way I’ll see it myself is if I go to the theatre myself. The more I talk about it, the more excited I get. I might even splurge on popcorn and some candy do, why the heck not? I was able to get to the gym 1 out of 7 days this week, that means I get popcorn right?

I have been off from work since Friday afternoon, December 21st! Just insane. I don’t know how I am going to function back on the freeway as I join the masses going back to work. I will admit, I got A LOT accomplished in my 11 days away from the office. I managed to hit up the spa for a few hours, go to the mall for some indulgent clothes shopping (though I was unable to find anything just yet to splurge on), and then got some doctor’s visits out of the way.

But today I will get into the office, click OFF my out-of-office messages on my email & voicemail, spend an hour filing my emails and stock-up my bottles of water from our department shared stash down the hall.

As much as I may bitch, moan, complain and whine about it – I really do love my job. I have a lot of responsibility and my superiors even seek my opinion on big decisions. I like being a part of this all-women department – even though I do dislike the amount of gift-giving and thank-you-card writing. If I worked in a group with a bunch of men, there would be no gifts, maybe just flowers on our special day – and definitely no thank-you cards.

But as I mentioned a few days ago, my birthday is just around the corner, so that’s the next big “thing” to look forward to.

Is anyone else worried about entering the year 2013? It looks like 365 unlucky days if you ask me. Ok, so I may be feeling a little pessimistic at the moment. The only thing keeping me from going off the ledge is my 31st birthday is in 25 days and I do love a good celebrate-me-day. And, since it is on a Thursday, I can surely stretch it until Monday morning. You just wait and see.

Ryan is the assistant coach for the Simi Valley boys varsity soccer team. Last night was the very first game that Aidan & I went to watch. By the time I got home from work, bundled up the Big A and headed to the field, we caught the last 30 minutes of the game. The weather was pretty frigid, so I didn’t mind braving it for half an hour.

Aidan thought the bleachers were so fun. He had a truck in one hand and a school bus in the other – I kept feeding him cheeze-its throughout the game – he was happy as a clam!

When someone scored a goal and everyone cheered, Aidan got a huge smile on his face and clapped his hands as well. I kept telling him Dad was on the field and he’d say “Dadda! Dadda!”

After the game, we walked down to the field where Aidan ran into Ryan’s arms and laid is head on his shoulder. It was such a great night.

I can not believe I made it to December 14th with all my hair!

I can not believe I didn’t gain a million pounds from eating at my desk and working through lunch for 6 weeks straight!

I can not believe I have time to hold my son!

I really don’t like to talk about my work on my blog because this site is my own personal bubble where I can be silly (or try to be funny) and post videos and pictures of my son and dog without being judged. Because if you all don’t like it, what do I care?!

Well, I will say this about my job – it’s been a bear for the last two months and I can not believe that movie about a short guy with furry feet is finally out there in the world.

Since Monday of this week, I actually get home at a decent hour every night and don’t have to sit with eyes glued on my phone checking on emails, holding my breath against the next issue that’s bound to rise up. I finally have extra time to spend with the Big A – I forgot how good it feels to hold him and feel his wonderful baby weight on my shoulder.

I’m also choosing to not talk about the tragedy that happened in Connecticut last week. In our house, with our wonderful 18 month old son running around with a smile on his face, that tragedy is something we push from our minds and avoid discussing. All I can do is look at my perfect little family and be so grateful.

Miss you Sophie – XOXOX

Our 7th wedding anniversary was Monday, October 1st. I can’t believe I’ve been married for that long! It’s even more unbelievable that I have known Ryan for 10 years. Insane!

To celebrate our anniversary on Monday night, the three of us when to Five Guys for a cheeseburger (Aidan had a hot dog). It was a nice outing, sharing the special occasion with our son. We didn’t need a fancy meal, just one another.

Tonight, the Big A will spend some quality time with his Grammy & Pop Pop while we go out to dinner and a movie – a true date night – just the two of us. We haven’t enjoyed something like that in quite some time.

As much as I enjoy getting away for a few hours of adult time, I still look forward to returning to our family dynamic.

Looking back on all the other ways we celebrated our anniversary in the past, I don’t know how we felt complete returning to an empty home. Even after a long, expensive dinner at Ruth’s Chris or Mastros or the Melting Pot – how did we survive without having the A-man toddling around the living room? It’s like life before Cali…how did we ever do it? I could never be truly happy without the monster and our sweet baby boy.

This is the last way I want to go out
A scream that’s a whisper
The haunting sensation
That I may never hold your hand again

There’s always the chance – a second guess
Over 12 hours of flight
That all the memories I’ve been re-living
Will remain just that – a whisper
An inaudible voice inside my head

It’s another 8 hours
Before I get off this plane and pick you up
Hug & squeeze you longer than you’d like
I never had these thoughts before
Didn’t worry about a water landing

Now that you’re in the world
I can’t even listen to 3eb’s ballad while boarding
Gotta go to that happy place while we wait for take off

I’ve been on this vacation for a long time
16 days is a lifetime to a 14 month old

Will you remember my face?
Will you call for me by name?
Will you lift up your arms to be picked up?
Will my biggest fear be realized as you shy away?

I just have to wait
Wait for the flight to safely land
Wait to see your face
Just wait

After this Italian vacation, I foresee a lot of salads and exercising in the not so distant future once I get settled back in Los Angeles. Even though we walked an average of 7 miles per day (I have the pedometer – aka – fitbit to prove it) I still believe that I ate my weight in carbs at every single meal. Yikes!

If you are planning a trip to Italy, I highly recommend a few days in Rome proper where you can enjoy the millions of restaurants and gelato bars on ever corner – as well as the never-ending nightlife of the city streets that never seem to sleep.

I also recommend the bread and wine in Tuscany – the chianti was great – as well as the olive oil and balsalmic vinegar – just divine!

The Cinque Terre was very unique. If you are interested in being in a beach town, this is definitely the place to go.

Wherever you end up, always start your meals with a 1/2 liter of wine (red or white) it doesn’t matter the brand, you can’t go wrong and you won’t go broke.

Try every different kind of pasta dish available on the menu, but after you think you’ve had them all, stick with your favorite. It is very interesting how the cooking styles differ from Rome to Sienna to Tuscany to Florence. So it’s OK to repeat a dish in these various regions because it will never taste the same.

Pasta – My all time favorite pasta meal was the homemade spaghetti with Tuscan meat sauce at the Alla Corte di Bacco in the town of Ambra (a few kilometers from the Tuscan castle we were staying in). This restaurant also had the best white wine – whatever it was – served in a 1/2 liter bottle.

Appetizer – The best pre-dinner food was the bruschetta in Rome at some tiny restaurant in an alley way. They toasted the bread perfectly and had the right amount of seasoning on the tomatoes to make it perfect.

Bread – Tuscan bread was my favorite. It had a denser, milkier texture than all the other regions.

Gelato – I can’t say I had a favorite spot for ice cream, every gelato bar had the super dark chocolate (fondente) that I love and I would pair it with coconut or mint or vanilla – whatever my fancy. I do like lemon gelato, but it tends to be a bit tart everywhere you go.

With this vacation finally at its end, I can look forward to my normal, every-day life of driving the California freeways to/from work and spending every available moment that I can with the Big A – the best son anyone could ever ask for.

Once I am back in the swing of things at work and home, I will pick up the blog again (probably about the A-man) – so until then, ‘Ciao!’

Today was our fianl full day in Tuscany. We traveled by train at 8:43am from Bucine (neighboring town) to Florence where we did some more exploring of the local street shops and churches. We took some more photos and then grabbed lunch at a spot that Carolyn has always eaten at in her past trips to Italy.

We headed back to Bucine at 4:22pm and were so tired from our full day of walking around the city of Florence. But I feel like we got the good out of it.

Tomorrow morning, we will leisurely get out of bed, load up the car and head back to Rome, which is about a 3 hour drive. At the Rome airport, we will drop off the car, check into the Hilton Hotel (which is literally connected to the airport) and then train into the city for one last dinner in Italy.

Today it rained from the wee hours of the morning until late in the evening. If any of you know me at all, you know how much I hate – hate – hate the rain. The wet weather always makes my back hurt and gives me a headache – and of course my clothes get all wet, my hair never holds up – it’s just bad all around. But I sucked it up, put on a hooded jacket and a smile on my face.

We were supposed to rent scooters today and drive around the city, but due to the incliment weather, we decided to travel by car.

Frankly, I can’t even remember the name of the town we went to. We did taste-test some excellent olive oil and balsalmic vinegar, and then I had a glass of the local chianti, which was pretty good.

Then after lunch, Clark decided he would drive the car back to our hotel. I won’t go into too much detail, but let’s just say it was a long drive home.