updates.

I have not posted in SO long, I feel so guilty. And there is simply no excuse. I don’t even know where to begin. Here we go…

• Only 10 weeks left of being pregnant. I’m getting pretty big and sleep is starting to become a challenge. Overall, the pregnancy has been a breeze. I feel SO lucky! One small blip (at least I’m hoping it’s small), is that my white blood cell count has been elevated for the past month or so. Usually, a high WBC count would indicate some kind of infection, but I feel fine and have no signs of infection. It’s got the doctors stumped and me a little worried. They are sending my results to a hematologist this week to see if they have any useful insights.  
• We had Thanksgiving at my mom’s house this year. It was delicious and tons of fun. I absolutely LOVE Thanksgiving.
•  This week is my golden birthday; I turn 30 on the 30^th. I decided I’m going to have a much bigger celebration next year for my 31^st, since the pregnancy has really put a damper on my drinking.
• The nursery is coming along nicely. I’ve never put so much thought and effort into decorating a room. But it’s worth it – it’s looking great!  I want her to feel welcomed and have a nice space. Plus, it gives me something to focus on rather than freaking out about the upcoming delivery incessantly.
• We bought a car – finally! As some of you know, neither of us had “kid friendly” vehicles. I drove a 2 door Honda (not ideal for schlepping a car seat in and out) and Derek drove a 2 door Toyota Tacoma truck.  After a long and thorough search, we ended up with the perfect vehicle for us! Now we just need to sell Derek’s truck!
• Recently someone asked me if I was going to stay home with my baby. When I said that the baby would be going into daycare after 6 months, this person proceeded to tell me what a bad idea it was because I’m going to miss so much. Gee, I never thought of that. Thanks. I’ll just crawl into a hole and cry myself to sleep.
•  We started Wednesday Night Dinners a few weeks ago, and it’s been awesome! I LOVE eating.

omg.

96 days until we have a baby! Ok, probably not exactly 96 days, but 96 days until my due date. It’s getting so close I can barely stand it! I hope she’s doing ok. I’m so excited to meet her.

books.

While I really did enjoy the novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin, it took me a really long time to get through (basically all summer). I think it was hard because the vernacular was challenging. In some parts I literally had to say the words out-loud to figure out what they were saying. Because I spent so much time getting through that book, I feel like I haven’t read as many books this year. And then today I went to add a few books to my 2011 booklog and I was pleasantly surprised. I don’t mean to pat myself on the back, but I’ve read quite a few books this year! Way to go KB.

On a somewhat related note, I started reading Sarum today (which is supposed to be quite the saga) and I’m a little scared. The story begins with the last ice age. Who starts a story with the ice age and works their way up to 20^th century England? Talk about intense. I’ll keep you posted on how it goes.

fall fun.

Sunday evening we had the perfect fall evening with my sister and brother in law. We carved pumpkins, drank apple cider and ate soup! Can you guess which pumpkin is mine, Derek’s, Stan’s and Ale’s?

i’m THAT lamo.

I distinctly remember when the Fugees came out with the song “Killing me Softly”. I think it was the summer between 7^th and 8^th grade and I LOVED it (like play-it-on-repeat “loved it”).  Every time it came on the radio, every adult would say “oh, this version is not nearly as good as the original”. Unfailingly. And I’d roll my eyes and think, “You’re so lame. That version is so old school, you don’t know anything.”

Someone has made the unfortunate decision to remake the movie “Footloose”. I haven’t seen it, but based on the LAME movie trailer, I can pretty much guarantee that it pales in comparison to the original version. And there you have it. I’ve become one of THOSE people. Old.  It reminds me of the day I made a causal reference to the movie “Clueless” and my stepsister (who is only 8 or 9 years younger than me) looked at me with a complete blank stare. She’d never seen “Clueless”. Excuse me? Isn’t that a classic? That’s like saying you’ve never seen “The Sound of Music”. Just call me the lame, old lady.

On a completely unrelated note, I just realized that my last two posts have been about movie trailers. I think this is a sign I’m watching too much TV, or I need to buck up for DVR.

bloody mary.

I’m a pretty grounded person.  I don’t harbor a ton of childish or illogical fears (clowns, witches, vampires, monsters, etc). My fears center around life and how it will unfold. I’m scared of becoming old, helpless, lonely and irrelevant. I’m fearful that my loved ones will get sick. I’m nervous I won’t be a good mom. You get the gist.

That being said, I have a completely irrational fear of looking into mirrors in the dark. I know it’s ridiculous. To this day, I still avoid looking at a mirror when the lights are out. I attribute this fear to two events in my childhood. 1) My cousins used to try to “reach” their dead brother by locking themselves (and me) in the bathroom, turning off the lights and calling his name. 2) The kids in my elementary school were obsessed with Bloody Mary. The older kids would turn off the lights in the bathroom when the younger kids were in there and would start chanting “bloody mary” (3x of course). Ummmm….scary? I think so.

This irrational fear has recently resurfaced because there is a movie trailer on tv with two little girls saying “bloody mary” in the mirror, and then a dark figure appears. OMG.  I’m freaking out just thinking about it. PLEASE make it stop!!

nursery.

I’m thinking along these lines for our nursery! Coral and white (not so much the fake dog in the corner) and a big white tree decal (see photo below). It’s so exciting!

ewww.

This is SO gross to me. I hope you aren’t eating at any of the RED flagged places!

tickled pink.

We had an ultrasound today and….drum roll please….. it’s a girl! Even more importantly, she appears to be healthy and is on track developmentally. She was super active and was moving around a lot. Oh, she’s also a thumb sucker! We’re so excited!

my first rodeo.

This weekend, we went to the mobile food rodeo and it was pretty awesome!  15 of Seattle’s favorite food trucks (plus a few from Portland), all grouped together in one location! YUMMY and CONVENIENT? Yes please! I do have to say that the event was poorly organized, but once I got past that part and focused on the food, I had a great time! I think BigFood wins my vote for the best truck (although we only tried 3 or 4 trucks…we got full). Rumor has it that West Seattle will be hosting a similar event in a few weeks – the mobile chowdown. I’m looking forward to trying Marination and Skillet (Marination wasn’t at the rodeo and Skillet ran out of food 2 hours into the event – really lame). Anyways, if you’re curious about the mobile food truck craze, you should check it out!

not bakers.

So, Derek and I have been craving cookies. Last weekend, he made some. Nothing fancy, just chocolate chip cookies. We got the recipe from one of our cookbooks. They tasted so bad, we threw them all away. Seriously.

So, yesterday I tried to redeem us. I just used the recipe from the back of the chocolate chip bag. They don’t taste horrible, but they are the ugliest cookies I’ve ever seen in my life. I almost can’t eat them because they are so visually unappealing.

Why can’t we make a decent batch of cookies?!?!? This is not rocket science, it’s not like we’re trying to bake a chocolate souffle or anything tricky. And it’s not like we’re new to the kitchen. I guess we’re just not bakers.

 

alaska cruise.

As you know, I go to Alaska a lot. I’d say I’ve spent a decent amount of time in Alaska. So when Derek told me he wanted to go on an Alaska cruise, I was a tad hesitant. I spend so much time in Alaska, and I just wasn’t sure it would feel like a vacation. BUT, I rarely go to southeast Alaska (I spend most of my time in the interior) and have never cruised Alaska. So, I agreed.

It was AMAZING and it far exceeded my expectations. Honest Abe. Calling all Seattleites, if you’re looking for a scenic, beautiful, relaxing, easy vacation, you really should consider a roundtrip Seattle Alaska cruise. No joke, at 11am we were in our house, and by 1pm we were admiring Seattle from our stateroom balcony. It’s unlike any cruise I’ve ever done before – VERY DIFFERENT from a warm weather cruise. In fact, Derek said it was his favorite cruise ever (and he’s been on 5 or 6 cruises). I won’t bore you with all the details but I do have a few tips:

1) I know it’s impossible to predict, but PRAY for nice weather! It makes a big difference in the amount of scenery you’ll see from the ship.

2) For a scenic cruising destination like Alaska, you really need to buck up for the balcony room. You won’t be sorry. Every morning we’d order room service coffee and pastries and sit out on our balcony and enjoy the views. It was amazing. We must have seen 30 whales from our balcony and glaciers galore! Trust me on this one.

3) If possible, choose an itinerary that includes Glacier Bay National Park. There is limited entry into Glacier Bay so not everybody gets to go there.

4) Choose excursions that you couldn’t/wouldn’t do normally. For example, we did a helicopter glacier landing in Skagway and it was one of the coolest things I’ve EVER done. In another port, we went fishing. It was fun, but I’ve been salmon fishing before. For someone else, salmon fishing may be super exotic and a once in a lifetime opportunity. Choose something amazing and spend your money there.

5) Eat in the dining rooms. The buffet is ok, but the dining room is MUCH better. Also, spend the extra money and experience a couple of the specialty restaurants. Yes, I know that you don’t have to, but in my opinion it’s worth it.

Here are a few photos for your viewing pleasure!

what a great year!

This weekend marked our one year wedding anniversary. It’s a weird thing. I didn’t except married life to feel much different (after all we’d  been dating for more than a decade) but I was mistaken. It’s better than I could have ever imagined. We’ve had such a great year. A few of the highlights: our unforgettable honeymoon to Greece, moving to Alki, getting pregnant, our cruise, the list goes on and on! I am so lucky. And I know it. And I’m thankful every day for my loving husband and the life we share together.

In the spirit of celebrating our wedding anniversary, I thought I’d share some photos. Our talented wedding photographer Jennifer Tai has featured our wedding on her website. The gallery is called “summer garden wedding at Hidden Meadows”.

hello 2nd trimester!

Friday marked the first day of the second trimester! I’m pretty darn excited for a couple reasons. First of all, this means my chances of miscarriage are significantly reduced. I was surprisingly cautious the first few weeks not to get too excited for fear I would be hugely disappointed. I loosened up quite a bit after we saw the heartbeat at 8 weeks via ultrasound. Now, I’m fully allowing myself to get excited (telling everyone, surfing the web for cute baby stuff, etc). The second reason I’m really excited to move into the second trimester is that I’m hoping my morning sickness will start to subside. It’s been pretty awful. I’m consistently puking 1-2 times every morning followed by a few hours of gut wrenching nausea. It’s not fun. I try not to whine about it too much, because I know nobody likes hearing about it. They say that women start to feel less tired and less nauseous around this time.  BRING IT ON, I’M READY! The third reason I’m excited is that we only have 6 months until we get to meet Baby Boots! Hooray!

baby boots.

Meet the newest member of our family – baby boots! Yep, I’M PREGNANT!! WOO-HOO!! He/she is 13 weeks old. We are so excited!

I’m sure I’ve alienated any readers that I once had, since I’ve not posted in months! I hope you’ll forgive me. I stopped blogging because being pregnant has completely monopolized my thoughts, and thus posting about anything else felt like a complete lie. And we decided we wouldn’t tell anyone until 13 or 14 weeks. Also, being a walking zombie hasn’t helped the blogging cause at all – I’ve spent most of the last 3 months sleeping. I’ll post more about the pregnancy tomorrow!

updates.

I can’t believe it’s been 20 days since I’ve posted. OMG! Where does the time go?! You’d think that with all the time that’s passed, I’d have something really cool to say. But, for some reason I don’t. Looking at my calendar, here’s what I’ve been up to…

-          I went to a wedding.

-          I went to Alaska for a week.

-          I went to a graduation party.

-          I had dinner/drinks with friends 5 times.

-          I went to a Mariner’s game.

I think that’s about it. Hope everyone is doing well!

finally.

I never thought it would ACTUALLY end. But it did. Oprah is actually off the air. In the past, I think I may have given the impression that I “hate” her. I don’t. I’m just really bored with her – same show different year. I feel the same way about political commercials during an election year. Boring. Played out. And a little predictable.

What WILL all those faithful, crazed Oprah fans do without her?!?! Maybe they’ll actually think for themselves.

guilty pleasure.

Tonight I made Mac & Cheese. Out of a box. With a side of sweet pickles.

For some reason it just makes me laugh.

three things that bug me…

1)      The volume level on commercials. Why do they increase the volume so much on commercials? It’s so irritating!

2)      Segways. Why don’t people just get electric wheelchairs?

3)      The Mariner’s alternate jersey. It looks so weird.

the enchantments.

This July we are hiking the Enchantments! We entered the lottery and we won! Well, my sister Stan actually won, but the permit is good for all 6 of us.  The Enchantment Lakes are located near Levenworth in the central cascades and are a high alpine basin full of lakes, granite formations and breathtaking views. This hike is commonly touted as the most beautiful and scenic in Washington State.  It’s been on our list for a few years and, we’re finally taking the plunge (umm…not getting any younger!).  It’s about 18 miles and the highest elevation point is 7,800 feet…which doesn’t sound too bad until you hear that at one point in the hike there is a 2,200 foot elevation gain in ¾ of a mile. It’s basically like climbing a tree with a heavy backpack on. (Why am I doing this again?!?)  We will take 3 nights and 4 days to complete the hike and we’ll have to pack everything in and out. I’m sure this is no surprise to anyone, but I’m mostly concerned about food. I’m going to have to be able to carry in all the food I want for 4 days (on top of clothes, sleeping bag, cooking stuff, tent, etc), and I’m nervous I’m not going to have enough to eat! I’m not sure how I feel about trail mix and dehydrated food. Eww. If anyone has any favorites or advice let me know.