I’m still recovering from my Blogher Adventures, I must admit. I’m This week has been made up of day of dizzying tiredness, followed by a day of relative normalness where I thought I was recovered, only to be followed by a day of dizzying tiredness.

If you can have jetlag from flying within your time zone, then I have it.

So, that is my excuse for this very disjointed post of random bits and pieces of life.

First of all, I have a confession. I have a guilty conscience and I must purge it to find recovery.

I parked here at the Galleria today:

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My self-justifications were as follows:

a) TECHNICALLY, I still have a small child. I’m not QUITE sure what constitutes a small child, but she’s still shorter than Jen from The Little Couple (whom I’m assuming isn’t allowed to ride any rides at any theme park), so that’s my justification.

b) It was starting to sprinkle raining.

c) There were TWO open spots. I only took up one.

However, despite my justifications above, I still find myself feeling guilty for parking in the special spot.

Maybe it’s because we’ve just advanced beyond the stroller-at-the-mall stage. Maybe my conscience is berating me that if you don’t have to lug a stroller in and out, you don’t deserve special treatment.

But the problem is that the sign is too vague. Most of these spots are only reserved for pregnant women (I remember parking in one of the preggers-only spots THE WEEK that I found out I was pregnant with Ali – and sticking out my stomach and putting my hand on my back as I walked into the store, so as to illustrate that I fully deserved my reserved spot.)

At any rate, this situation begs the question:

What constitutes a small child?

Or, more appropriately, at what point do you no longer deserve prime parking?

Secondly, since it has been a total of (gasp) SEVEN days since I have had Ali on my blog, so I figure I’m due a mini-mommy-story, right?

My friend Christen is relatively new to Birmingham, and she asked for a list of places that she needed to experience that are unique Birmingham cuisine. And for our lunch yesterday, she chose Chez Lu Lu, one of mine and Chris’ favorite haunts while we were dating.

And it is a very datey-feeling restaurant, as Ali and Luke discovered:

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They had a lovely time getting to know each other better, perched atop their luxurious pillow seat.

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But, thank goodness, Alil kept a tight grip on the pillow of acceptable-space-between-two-people-while-they-are-dating.

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And, luckily, Luke is a real gentleman. He didn’t even attempt to steal her sippy cup.

And lastly, I MUST share with you this advertisement that was on the Coke machine when Ali and I stopped by work yesterday:IMG_1754

I personally don’t think that “Cemetery” and “Cookbook” Should EVER be used in the same sentence. Especially with a title like “A Taste of Yesterday.”

But, since it was, I just have to go there. Don’t hate me.

“Add a dash of cremated Oliver, followed by a pinch of buried Matilda. . . stir with a pall bearer rod, pour into a casket, and bake on LOW in the crematorium for 1 hour. Once baked, sprinkle heavily with a topping of cakey-dead-people-makeup. Serves Six, but most likely none, as there will be no appetites left.”

20 thoughts on “Parking, Dating, and Baking the Deceased.

  1. Bleccch.

    How funny you did the pregnant mama walk so early on! (So did I.) I justified it with a "what are they gonna do? make me take a pregnancy test?" mentality.

    Ali and Luke are way cute. My hubby took me to Chez Lulu for Valentine's our first year of dating. He ordered QUAIL, which grossed me out to no end. He's lucky he got another date.

  2. Am I terrible for thinking that I don't think anything is wrong with the title or the uh recipe at the end? I don't even feel bad about not putting Stellans name across my avatar (sp) on Twitter. I am just a terrible person.

  3. As someone who is pregnant quite often and has a few little ones I can honestly say that I don't blame you one bit for parking there. However; IF I had been the momma who had to walk a half mile pregnant or with several littles, because you parked there, that would be a different story. :)

  4. The parking issue is once you no longer have to hassle with a stroller. I hope Ali has a chaperon on all her dates for the time being and I do not trust boys. Lastly, I am pretty sure I will not be buying the cookbook.

  5. I didn't know the Galleria had those special spaces, I could've used one last week, where are they?
    We had a great time at Chez Lu Lu and the food was delicious!
    I couldn't stop laughing at the cemetery cookbook, who comes up with stuff like that?!

  6. If it makes you feel any better, I still park in the "reserved for parents with small children" spaces even if I just have Abby with me, and she's five. Until they put an age or height requirement on them, I think it's allowed.

  7. Okay, because all my family is from Chilton County I can say that this is absolutely NOT out of the ordinary for that county. Too funny! I think I would have to buy it just for the title.

    And too funny about you doing the pregnant walk so early on. But, you had to start practicing for the real thing!

  8. I've only seen special pregnant spaces, but none for small children. I could sure use that one, well at leat for the last 2 years.

  9. I just parked in my first 'Expectant Mother' parking on Monday! It was thrilling, though I did feel a little guilty since I'm only 12 weeks. Haha! But it was at a little baby boutique and they had 3 of these spots with no takers. So I was justified. Haha!

  10. As the wife of a funeral director, I can only wonder if they include any "secret ingrediants" required for their recipes :)

  11. Oh my! I definitely agree with you on cookbook and cemetery not being together. Very strange.

    The little ones are so adorable!

  12. I am with Natalie. If there was still a space for me, you are golden. Otherwise, well… I might "gift" you with my version of a few small children to justify the spot. :)
    We have several "big kid" labels with our brood: potty trained, walking, speaking in full sentences, and going to school. Since you can't answer "yes" for all these as they relate to Ali, today you get a pass. Julie

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