How Mad Men Can Help Us Fight Pleasure Extinction. Save the Sybarites!

Would you like a drink shaken by this lovely man right around cocktail hour, otherwise known as the witching hour between the time children arrive home from school and dinnertime? 

Reading the recent Slate Article titled Bring Back Cocktail Hour For Working Parents, which focused a lot on how couples with children greet each other at the end of a long day, I got to thinking. Babies and bar carts don't exactly mix -- according to most of us anyway -- but once the kids get a bit older and the frenzy dies down ever so slightly, a frazzled parent or two can imagine finding the time to bring back cocktail hour. 

photo credit: Flickr

In my reverie I remembered a wonderful book in my collection, Endangered Pleasures, In Defense of Naps, Bacon, Martinis, Profanity and Other Indulgences, (love that title!) probably purchased at a time like this when I was wondering when or if I'd ever get to feeling like an adult again. The irony that I was newly knee-deep in the most adult endeavor of my life, parenthood, was not lost on me. 

My husband was probably the model for this illustration. 

How many of us secretly envied Don Draper of Mad Men when he chided his son to man up and go to bed alone, even though Bobby lingered in his plaid pajamas cowering at the bottom of the staircase, wishing someone would come put him to bed? For the hawkish, over indulgent parents of the 21st century we are constantly being told we are, this is an inevitable, envious return to days gone by. My husband and I like to chuckle at his memories of being the one to mix martinis for his grandmothers guests when he was seven. I guess he could have been the kid on the book cover above!

We need to reclaim adulthood and the line between our selves and our spawn. Who's with me? Let's start by gifting ourselves with an adult rite of passage:

First.
The bar cart. What else could make one feel more unwaveringly adult? Push the kids' toys out of the way and set one up.

Restoration Hardware's bar cart (no longer available, but not because I bought it). 

Second.
Book yourself cocktail mixing class by Derek Brown of The Columbia Room & The Passenger Bar in DC. If you can book them before they're sold out. Or for inspiration see Revae Schneider's Chicago-based Femme du Coupe, a self-proclaimed bespoke cocktails and bar styling service.

Derek Brown serving up cocktails at The Columbia Room. 

The Passenger Bar, DC.

Third.
Check out Taryn Cox's indulgent, almost frothy in its fantasy web site The Wife, written by a modern woman with throwback taste. Just tongue-in-cheek enough to be fun, and with the domestic stylings only a perfectionist could love.

Fourth.
Reference this article as you shake off winter and set your sights on summer (okay, spring first). Then put your feet up and mix a little indulgence into your day to day!

Image: MintLoveSocialClub.com

Alight Into Nature!

Today we went to a nearby local park to get away from confined spaces full of coughing people. Our daughter's immunity issue was the perfect reason to take in the freshness of natural surroundings.

We skipped rocks, found the perfect walking sticks, intimidated Canadian Geese who were munching on the grass, played with the ice that had formed on the water in a tiny decorative fountain, jumped over thick, gnarly tree roots, and discovered a tree called a sweet gum that looked like it was made of corrugated cardboard.

We marveled at the stark beauty of bare trees and low winter sunshine. My husband was inspired to photograph the trees for use in future paintings. I am so excited to see the spark of an intention to paint again, because he is a amazingly talented painter!

Our daughters rolled sideways downhill not worried about Goose droppings, peeling off layers of sweaters and coats among the giggles.

Then my husband said to me: "Let's meet here in 30 years and watch our grandchildren play." We agreed it was a gold star moment -- i.e. one to never forget.