Things that make me happy

Because you just can't help but smile, when you round the corner, and see Big Ben....
on a clear blue sky London day...

...or after a stupendous evening.

Smart & Sushi

Best Cocktail of My Entire Life

In between my Tuesday late afternoon meeting and meeting the fam for Indian dinner, I stopped by the exquisite Brown's Hotel in Mayfair for a cocktail.  Best mixology I've ever encountered! - see below photo of the counter along the bar of potions and mists to make these tasty chic and tres cher cocktails.

In anticipation of a lovely dinner ahead, I enjoyed The Indian Touch, a sparkler composed of fresh mottled raspberries with gomme syrup and cardamom seed infused Brockman's gin topped with fine French champagne. ($25- ahem)

I can't say I've ever had a memorable cocktail before.  This totally qualifies!  The bartender took good care of me - I think because at the crowded bar, I was the one who was savoring every sip, every moment.

Long distance train travel? Why, yes, I'd love to!

A wonderful article in this week's WaPo travel section extolled the virtues of long distance train travel.   This particular article highlighted the writer's trip on the DC-Chicago line Capitol Limited, and then from Chicago to San Francisco on the California Zephyr, through the glorious Rockies!  There's also the Empire Builder that takes a northern route to Seattle across the Dakotas.  Wow.  I am enchanted.  Check out the breathtaking photo gallery.

I love train travel.  Even on my regular trip to NYC a few times a year, I just stare out the window mostly at industrial NJ along the I-95 corridor, but also across the Chesapeake and its tributaries as we race through Maryland.  It's a short-trip, about 3 hours, but I always feel relaxed after a train ride.

Last summer, I took Dear Daughter to NYC by train.  She was dying to see the "snack car," which i think she imagined like a DC-subway car filled with all the goldfish crackers and granola bars you could ever want.  I've been tempted to take her on a longer train trip to Burlington, Vermont or even Montreal, Canada.  It's still in my sights, though I haven't worked out all the details. On one of my trips, I sat next to a guy who had taken his teenage son on a train trip to Chicago to visit family.  Tempting.

And these long-distance more exotic trips across the country or down the west coast sound even more magical.  The Coast Starlight (Seattle, Portland, Los Angeles). The Lakeshore Limited (NYC, Boston, Albany, Chicago).   Amtrak Cascades (Vancouver, Seattle, Portland, Eugene, Salem). I'm blissed out by the routes alone.  Forty-hours on a train?  Perhaps it would lose its allure quicker than I think - for me, let alone a nearly-8 (!) year old.  But I imagine a panoramic window seat, lots of card games, a few books, an iPad, and a iPod Genius soundtrack would while away the time just fine.

What's holding me back? I haven't worked out the logistics, and silly as it may sound I can't figure out what we are doing when we get to our destination, or how we get back....Not rocket science, I know, but still puzzling me for the moment.

Book here.  All aboard!

Most Pink. Bakerloo Line, London

Can you find La Nouvelle Observatrice?

Most Awesome Kid on the Planet. Southbank, London

More London photos to be posted in due course....

Perfect

I've made such progress...but oh, can I relate!  Thank you, Nick Galifianakis (my total crush).

Parenting. Tricky, tricky.

Why I LOVE Carolyn Hax....

"The child's needs have to be paramount--yet no child can be expected to be in complete control of all decisions, because what child is ready for that? Parents have to be in charge -and- leave no fingerprints. Tricky. "

This particular response took place during today's Live Chat on WaPo regarding a young son's declaration of "being a girl inside." Carolyn answered with such a thoughtful and moving sentiment, "I would give him a hug and say I love him, it's going to be okay, we'll figure this out together."  I mean, how simple and profound is this?   

And yet, this, as well as the first tenet can be applied to so often when parenting.  Kids want us to be in charge.  They need us to be in charge.  And yes, their needs are paramount.  But guiding them firmly through to adulthood, and leaving barely a trace of your hand, is such a delicate art.

I'd like to post both of these sentiments someplace I could read them everyday, as I practice the art of mothering my awesome kid.