Mama Friendly Review - The Tasting Room

Now that I'm a mama I'm always aware of how baby/mama/family friendly public places are -- especially restaurants. So after getting kicked out of Hopleaf last week I was a bit hesitant to bring Jo with me to The Tasting Room last night. One of the ladies I was meeting called ahead of time and made sure it was ok, but there was a part of me that didn't believe her. As I walked in with Jo strapped to me I was half expecting to be told, "No children," again. But sure enough, there was no problem at all. Jo was even on her best behavior.

First of all, The Tasting Room has a parking lot, which is amazing. I don't want to have to scour the streets looking for parking with a baby on board. It was 6pm on a Wednesday so the place wasn't crowded at all, which meant that it wasn't too loud. The food we ordered (small plates) was easy to eat with one hand. And no one blinked when Jo was squealing (with delight of course). If they did I certainly didn't see it. 

The only down side was that the sink in the bathroom didn't have a stopper so I couldn't really warm up the bottle I had brought with. Jo did just fine with cold milk. Not a huge deal at all.

My grade: B

Getting my groove back

After months of feeling like I've been flailing around, I think I'm finally in the swing of things. It feels good. I'm used to running around in a bunch of different directions. I thrive on that. During my pregnancy I couldn't do this. I certainly couldn't balance everything once Jo was born. I could barely handle just being a mama for quite a while.

But now I think I've found my groove. Don't get me wrong, it's still hard. Being a mama is one of the hardest things I've ever done, and so is trying to balance being a mama and being a woman/artist/wife/friend at the same time. But I'm happy. I'm having fun. I feel good. I wish I had more time to do it all, but I'll take the time that I have. 

Here's what I'm up to:

Lilla Barn - I'm so proud of the work that my mama, sister, and I have put in to get this shop up and running on Etsy. I'm still working away. I love picking out new fabrics (you should see my stash) and I have a pile of sewing projects I can't wait to tackle.

Akvavit - This is my theatre company. We do Nordic theatre. It's awesome. Things are really cooking this year. We have a new website about to launch, a new expanded artistic ensemble, and lots of productions happening this year. I'm up to my elbows in grant writing, which I'm actually enjoying, and I'm cast in the summer production of Kokkola. Rock and roll!

Other things - So I'm working on this side project. Actually it is very much in the *idea* phase. It was born one night at my ladies-reading-ladies book club. It involves Alan Rickman. And awesomeness. More info soon.

Nick and I are getting our place ready to sell. Anyone want a 2bedroom/1bath in Andersonville?

And yes, I'm still working at GasPedal and SocialMedia.org, but from home. I love this job.

I still find time to walk to the Swedish Bakery almost every day for a treat. Yay!

Confession

One thing I love to do is pick my hair. I look for split ends and pick them apart or clip them off. I look for gray hairs and I pluck them. Picking my hair is one of my guilty pleasures.

It drives all of my family members crazy. My mama hates it. My sisters hate it. Nick hates it. I'm sure Jo would hate it, but she's just a baby. Maybe she'll love doing it too?

Anyway, I don't have a lot of time on my hands without Jo or something else to do. I've found that the few hours I have after Jo goes down for the night are like gold. By the time I'm done working on our Etsy shop or my theatre company or the show that I'm in I then do laundry or take a shower or pick up a little or eat. Then it's usually late. But I always take a few minutes before bed to pick my hair. I shut the bathroom door. It's a few minutes all to myself and it's awesome.