Morning photos

Our bedroom gets some decent light in the morning, and Ashley was sleepy after her feeding, so it seemed like a good opportunity to take a few quick shots.  I adjusted the blinds so that we weren’t getting any direct light on the bed and we snapped away.

Hiccuping Baby

This baby hiccuped a lot when it was in Mommy's tummy, so it wasn't a surprise when she had a particularly loud (and cute) bout of the hiccups today. What was surprising is that her hiccups didn't seem to wake her:

She does also hiccup when she's awake:

Baby meets the animals

On Monday we finally said goodbye to Hartford Hospital, our home for the previous four days.

Besides being Ashley's homecoming, this was Ashley's first car ride and her first encounter with the animals who she'll likely terrorize for the first few years of her life.

She didn't mind the car seat and just slept the whole way home.

Tyson was rather indifferent to her presence.

The cat eyed her with suspicion from her perch at the top of the stairs.

Babies = Knitwear

In addition to bringing out the hidden knitter within me, babies-to-be seem to have the same effect on others.

Check out the beautiful hand knit blankets and hats that Christopher's mom and her friends knit for our little one:


Being a knitting newbie I am still at the stage where I couldn't bear to part with something I've worked on for so long. We are very lucky to have such generous friends and family and be able to enjoy the fruits of their labors!

More Sewing!

This weekend I sewed these super cute onesie dresses. Since I am a beginner sewer they took me longer than 10 minutes each, but I was very pleased with the results. And only costing $3 each, you can't beat the price!

I think they will be great for the summertime when it's too hot to dress the baby in anything more than a onesie, but you want something a little nicer for the baby to wear than just underwear...

Can't wait to make more!

Nesting Phase 3 - Knitting

My mom was a big knitter when I was growing up, but to be completely truthful I was never into homemade knitwear. She knit me these great sweaters and outfits, but I'm not sure if I didn't like them because they were too scratchy or because none of my friends wore homemade clothes and I didn't want to stand out.

At the grade school I went to we had to wear a uniform, with a traditional school cardigan - you know the one, a solid color body with two stripes in a contrasting color at the elbow of the left sleeve. Instead of buying me one from the school campus store, my mom decided to knit mine. But she took certain, um, liberties, with the design. So instead of having the stripes on my left elbow they were on my right. And instead of having buttons mind had a zipper. Anyways, one day a teacher noticed this and told me I couldn't wear that cardigan anymore (I guess the purpose of having a uniform is that everyone is wearing the same thing, so my sweater somewhat deviated from that). I was so embarrassed - I went home in tears. The next day, armed with a permission slip from my mom, I went straight to the campus store first thing in the morning and bought myself a brand-new school-issued cardigan. Relief!
Anyways, I'm not sure if it's my decreased mobility or the pregnancy hormones, but I was recently struck by the desire to start a knitting project of my own. So I took on this beginner project of a baby blanket (I did the garter stitch version). Only a few days into it I was having such a good time knitting that I ordered more yarn to make another (to try the seed stitch version)! I have also heard that it's good to have an "early labor project" to help distract from the contractions, so I am hoping that knitting could be that for me. We'll see...

Unlike the sewing projects I have been working on I really like the portability of knitting. You don't need to set up a machine, iron & ironing board, pins, thread, bobbins, etc. so I can just veg on the couch and knit while watching TV. And because you just have yarn and knitting needles, it's easy to sit down and knit a few rows if you have a few minutes to spare, instead of hauling out all your sewing stuff and then putting it away. I guess that's why people that are really into sewing/quilting have a dedicated room for it...

I'll do my best to keep my enjoyment of knitting from embarrassing my pre-teen with my wares, but I do think little kids wearing chunky homemade knit sweaters look super cute, so I have hopes of trying something like that next. Maybe knit a hoodie (like this one) in time for the cooler weather in the fall... We'll see if I have time for any knitting at all once the baby arrives!!

Nesting Phase 2 - Cooking/Stockpiling Food

Both Christopher and I grew up in households with large chest freezers stocked with food. It was especially handy in his house with 2 growing teenage boys. From the stories my mother-in-law has told me, it was nearly impossible to keep food in the house, and that was with regular shopping trips to Costco!

So when I told Christopher that I wanted to get an upright freezer for our basement, he was all for it. My plan was to prepare and freeze meals for when the baby came and we were too tired/busy to cook and also use it to store breastmilk for when I went back to work. And we were both pleasantly surprised when we discovered a separate circuit in our basement labeled "Freezer" so no rewiring was involved - score!

I thought it would be a good idea to take an inventory of what we had in our freezer to make sure that it all gets consumed and nothing ends up with really bad freezer burn. With a chest freezer it's alot easier for things to get "lost" in the bottom, but I love our upright. The shelves help to keep things organized and since most things are at eye level it's easy to find what you're looking for. Here is a list of what we have:

1 x chicken parisienne
3 x beef stroganoff
2 x continental beef
1 x lemony flank steak
2 x Chinese style satay beef3 x Chinese beef stew
3 x Woodland Park Italian Beef
1 x turkey meatloaf
13 x homemade hamburger patties
3 bags of Chinese dumplings
1 x porkchops a l'orange
2 x BBQ spareqibs
2 x cottage pie
1 x Chinese style curry chicken
3 x spicy penne with sausage & peppers
5 x manicotti
2 x cheesy chicken bundles
1 x meatless spaghetti sauce
5 x spaghetti sauce with meat
1 x honey pecan chicken
2 x Hawaiian chicken
3 x Colorado style beef enchiladas
2 bags of chocolate chip "lactation cookies"
2 bags of bacon & cheese potatoes
2 bags of chocolate chip muffins (Christopher's latest addiction)
plus store-bought frozen pizzas, ravioli, pierogies

Each homemade "meal" is portioned into either a serving for 2 or more, depending on what it is. So by my count we should have enough food for over a month without needing to buy/make anything. The freezer is pretty stocked - do you think we have enough?

Nesting Phase 1 - Sewing

The idea of 'nesting' seemed so funny to me, but I suppose all creatures go through some sort of preparation phase when expecting a little one. Looking back, I think I kicked off the nest-preparation phase of my pregnancy with some sewing projects.

After I finished the bird mobile hand-sewing project I decided to challenge myself with some sewing-machine projects. Now keep in mind that I am most certainly a beginner sewer and that I only ever use 1 stitch type on my machine and still struggle to sew a straight seam. Since we purchased the machine for the Christmas Cape project back in 2008, I have only used it to hem the occasional pair of pants. And I only attempt this for inexpensive pants that if I ruin I won't be heartbroken - expensive/designer clothes still go to the seamstress for hemming (and I'm ok with paying for this since I don't have alot of clothes in this category anyways).

As it turns out, there are quite a few projects that even a beginner sewer can tackle. The key is to look for ones with no (or minimal) stitching that is visible on the outside. Besides, babies can't tell if your seams are straight anyways, right? :) And after I finished the first one I had the confidence (and extra fabric) to try making other things and it just snowballed from there!

Here is what I've sewn so far (notice how everything is with the same fabric!!):

Changing Pad Cover & Basket Liners

Crinkle Tag Blanket

Soft Blocks

Laundry Hamper
(to make this I purchased a perfectly good laundry hamper from Target, spray painted the frame white and used the fabric part as a "pattern" for my sewing)

Burp Cloths

Nursery Pics

I had alot of fun putting together this nursery for our little one - I hope she likes it. And I hope the doctor is right and that she's a girl, otherwise it's back to the drawing board!

Craigslist FTW

Babies change so quickly that they outgrow their stuff pretty fast. So it seems only logical to try and save some money by picking up a few items secondhand on Craigslist. Here is what we've scored so far:

• Diaper Champ by Baby Trend (original not the new Deluxe since it gets better reviews on Amazon)
• Fisher Price Papasan Infant Swing (one that can be plugged in as well as runs on batteries - tough to find!)
• Bumbo Seat + Tray
• Fisher Price Rainforest Bouncer Seat

Overall we paid around 1/3 the cost we would have spent if we had purchased these items brand new!

Infant & Child CPR

At each of the pre-natal classes I have attended the instructor has recommended taking an infant & child CPR class. I didn't really take this to heart because I figured that I could just call 911 if there is an emergency. Plus on TV people do CPR all the time and I figured if I needed to I could just "wing-it" or try to remember the CPR training that I had during my Red Cross swimming lessons 20 years ago. Ok, perhaps not the best idea...

Yesterday there was a last-minute cancellation in a CPR course that we were on the waiting list for, so fortunately both Christopher and I were able to take advantage of the open spots. The class was hosted by a local children's store and the attendees were all parents or grandparents of young children, plus us - the expectant couple. It was taught by American Heart Association certified instructors, took 3 hours, and covered adult, child, & infant CPR & choking. The class was very hands-on and gave us plenty of opportunity to practice on the mannequins provided. The steps are very easy to do and can really make the difference between life & death.

During the class some of the others shared stories of a family member requiring CPR, or a time when their child had choked on something, and they were really eye-opening. We learned that over their lifetime, every kid can and will find a way to choke on something (food, toys, etc.). Part of this has to do with their anatomy and how their throats are still developing. Combine that with their natural curiosity and desire to put everything in their mouth and choking is inevitable.

When we left the class both Christopher and I felt that it was the best thing we have done so far to prepare for the baby. I'm really glad we took the time to do it and I would highly recommend it for anyone.

Early!

All the people I know that are expecting babies around this time have been having them early. One little girl arrived 3 days early, another little boy 13 days early, and a friend due in May already knows she will be induced 2 weeks early. It has just hit me like a ton of bricks that this kiddo could show up anytime now!

So do I feel ready? Well although our nursery is all set and we've taken our pre-natal classes, I can still list a few things that I want/need to do:

• pack our bags for the hospital
• launder the baby's linens & clothes
• vacuum the nursery
  
• sterilize bottles
• make space in our kitchen cupboard for the bottle sterilizer, bottles, drying rack, etc.
  
• find "homes" for the bouncer seat & infant swing (why is baby stuff so huge?!?)
• attend a child & infant CPR course (I have been having a really hard time finding these classes)
• sew a tag blanket with the leftover material I have from my nursery basket liner project
  
• have dinner at Red Lobster - I am a sucker for those Cheddar Bay biscuits!
• watch Alice in Wonderland in 3D
• attend my 3 remaining pre-natal yoga classes
  

And beyond this list - does anyone ever really feel fully and completely prepared to become a parent for the first time?

Tick-tock, the countdown is on!

B. Smith

I'm sure everyone has received a phone call where the caller had the correct number, but was asking for someone else, but never have I experienced such a case of mistaken identity!

Our phone number, at some point used to belong to someone else named B. Smith. No problem - I understand that numbers get recycled over time. We figured this out pretty quickly when we were getting calls for B. Smith from various organizations, typically asking for donations.

Now for the longest time I have just been giving my phone number to have the cashier at Petco look up our rewards card number because I was generally too lazy to dig out the rewards tag on my keychain. But it wasn't until I looked at my receipt the other day that I noticed that it said B. Smith! So, B. Smith not only had our phone number at one point, but also had a pet that she purchased items for at Petco, and was a member of their rewards club. All this time when I have just been giving my phone number, my rewards purchases were being credited to her account!

Back when I was ordering takeout sushi, the restaurant I frequent tracks your order by phone number. Again, when I picked up my order the receipt showed my phone number and also read B. Smith! So not only does B. Smith have a pet (like we do) but she also orders takeout from my favorite sushi place (like I do).

Then just last week, we ordered some takeout Chinese food (we are trying to collect and sample several takeout/delivery options in the area for when the baby arrives), again our receipt read B. Smith!!

So far we have learned that B. Smith supported a variety of charities, shopped at Macy's (with a Macy's credit card), had a pet, and likes to order takeout sushi and Chinese food upon occasion. Where will she turn up next?

Open to the Opposite

Someone had told me that when you are pregnant you're not supposed to eat eggs with soft yolks. I don't eat a ton of eggs anyways, but when I do I tend to enjoy them with runny yolks - over easy or soft boiled for the most part.

Christopher prefers his eggs scrambled, so I took this as an opportunity to learn how to perfect the art of scrambling an egg. What I discovered in my research is that I had been doing everything exactly wrong.

When scrambling eggs in the past, I used to break them and mix them up in a bowl with a little bit of milk before putting them in the hot pan. Then I tossed them around for a minute or so and dumped them on the plate.

The scrambled egg recipe I found that I liked the most was from Gordon Ramsay: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dU_B3QNu_Ks

Following his recipe, you don't break the eggs until AFTER they are in the pan, and you cook them slowly over LOW heat, adding the cream at the end. Who knew?!?

Since uncovering this secret to the perfect scrambled egg I have to say that I have enjoyed them much more than I have in the past. And Christopher gave the recipe a thumbs up too. So if you make scrambled eggs the way I used to, try doing the opposite and see what you think!

Playing Fair

This is probably pretty odd, but I often think about how some times and numbers are used far less than others.

For example, it is social convention to have events or meetings start on the hour or half hour. TV shows, sporting events - even movies tend to start on the 5's at the very least. This being the case, there are so many times of the day that are underutilized. When was the last time you asked someone to meet you for coffee at 8:03pm? Or that you scheduled a conference call for 47 minutes? (And yes, my Outlook calendar does allow this!)

In an attempt to "share the love" amongst the underutilized times of the day I try to use unusual times whenever I can. I don't do it with work because I don't want people to think that I'm a weirdo, but I'll do things like set my alarm clock for 7:27am.

I also wonder about things like: one day will the zero button on the microwave will wear out, if I keep cooking things for 1:00, 2:00, or 3:00 minutes? It's always a crapshoot when I need to select how long to nuke things for, so I'll just pick oddball times like 1:23 minutes, or 99 seconds in hopes of "preserving" the longevity of the zero button and letting some other numbers get some glory.

Baby Prep - Online Shopping

Dearest Baby,

I don't know anything about being a parent and having not met you it's hard for me to judge what you are going to like/want/need since everybody and every baby is different.

Over the past months I have talked to/read the blogs of new moms and done hours of online research and review reading. I hope my careful selection of only the most highly rated items on Amazon, Babies R Us, and various other websites for you makes me somewhat of a good parent!

Love,
Your mommy-to-be

Crying Wolf

The other night I awoke to a painful leg cramp in my right calf. Pre-pregnancy I had only experienced this once before - maybe sometime back in 2002? Yes, it was that memorable :)

I have read that leg cramps are common amongst those in their third trimester. So far I have experienced two and am not looking forward to any more.

Every time I have had a leg cramp (even pre-pregnancy) it has been at night while I'm sleeping - is that weird? It totally catches me off guard. The twitching of my calf muscle sort of rouses me from my slumber and then before I am fully aware of what is going on - the muscle seizes up.

The first time I had one a few weeks ago I woke up screeching in pain. Poor Christopher - he woke up right away and thought I was going into labor! At least this time I had the good sense to say "LEG CRAMP!" so he didn't freak out quite so much.

A labor of love...

Don't worry, this isn't a gruesome birth/delivery story. Not yet anyways...


I recently finished working on this hand-sewn mobile for the nursery. In total it probably took me 30-35 hrs, but I am happy with how it turned out. It was nice to have something to work on while Christopher watched football on Sundays (and Mondays, some Thursdays, a couple Saturdays, and one Friday too - tee hee!). The idea & pattern came from here.

Balancing it took some patience, but I figure that's just a taste of what's in store for me as a mother-to-be. Definitely a labor of love :)

Nothing like pregnancy hormones to bring out the inner-crafter in you!

So that's how you train a dog...

My dog Tyson knows some commands and some words. I'll be the first to admit, I could probably teach him a whole bunch more, but I have just grown complacent and enjoy spending time with him.

Here are the words he knows (some better than others):

• sit
• down/lie down
  
• stand
• stay
• come
  
• off
• OK!
  
• out (as in drop whatever is in your mouth - obviously more effective with some items than others)
• ah ah (kind of like no)
  
• walk
• bang! (as in "bang your dead" and he flops over and plays dead)
  
• bed (as in "go to your bed")
  
• ball
• Bango (the cat's name)
• cat
  
• Nancy
• Christopher
• cookie
• treat
• whoops!

Yes that's right - he knows the word "whoops". I was definitely the one responsible for teaching him this word.

Whenever I am cooking or eating in the kitchen and drop something or make a mistake, I just blurt out "whoops!". The first time it happened if Tyson was in the kitchen he probably came running over and I let him eat/lick up whatever had hit the floor. If he wasn't in the room at the time I probably called him to come over to enjoy the fruits of my clumsiness.

And now, whenever I happen to say "whoops!" he comes running, often with this cute look on his face as if to say "what did you do, where is my snack" :) Sometimes the "whoops" isn't as good as others. It's not particularly interesting when I knock my recipe book to the ground, but it can get pretty good and those are probably the times that give him all the positive reinforcement that he needs to remember the word. See - dog training is easy!

Earning his keep

Our dog Tyson has a thing for paper and tissues. I'm not sure what it is, but he loves to raid the wastepaper basket when we're forgetful enough to leave the bathroom door open. I can't even count the number of used Kleenexes he has eaten in his lifespan!

This being the case, Tyson is very active on walks after a fair bit of snow has melted away, uncovering various paper-litter type treasures. As we walk down the street he and I both keep a keen eye out for any potential targets - he tries to make a dive for them and my job is to pre-empt him either verbally by giving the command "off" or my tugging on his leash. When I fail and he has gotten ahold of his bounty, *sometimes* I can get him to spit it out by saying "out", but if it's particularly good, it's basically a lost cause at this point and I just tell him that he's a "bad dog".

The other evening we were out for our evening walk, which just happened to be after a major thaw. As usual Tyson was snuffling the ground for interesting treats and I saw that he was fiddling around with what looked like a piece of paper. I said "out" and he dropped it (mustn't have been particularly tasty). I stepped closer to inspect what he had been intrigued with and it was a $20 bill! One good thing about Tyson is that he is half golden retriever, so he is very gentle with his mouth. The bill was in perfect condition (save for being a completely soaked, so we pocketed it and brought it home to dry out).

Good doggy!

Does Newman deliver our mail?

Christopher has this theory about our mail delivery person. He thinks they take 1 day a week off - usually Wednesdays.

On any standard mail-delivery day we typically get something delivered to our mailbox. It's true that most pieces of mail we receive are junk mail, but it's still mail nonetheless. However we have been noticing that sometimes a day will go by where I don't see the mail delivery truck at all from my office window, the dog doesn't bark at the mailman making a delivery to our house or either of the houses next to us, and we don't receive any mail.

And then the next day we notice a few extra pieces of mail in our box, as if 2 days worth of mail is now being delivered at once. Of course this is just speculation on our part, but it is suspicious. I guess I could ask our neighbors if they also did not receive any mail on the same day.

I don't know why we care so much, it's not like we ever receive anything all that important via mail. I guess we are just fascinated that someone could be so bold as to skip out on an entire day's work. And if our mail delivery person is playing hooky, I hope they are at least doing something fun!

I just realized...

that at this stage in my pregnancy, 26 weeks along, that I weigh the same as I did by the time I finished my MBA.

Wow. Can you say "emotional eater"?

It was definitely a stressful year and with all the assignments/tests/readings the excuses for not exercising were plentiful. I know that I have the bad habit of soothing myself with "treats" and boy did I need them that year!

Anyways, after I graduated the weight just came right off so I was lucky. I don't even think I even had to consciously try - I just fell back into my old eating and exercise habits and things returned to normal. I think most of it was gone by the end of the summer. Let's hope that losing this baby weight goes the same way!

Getting Rid of Stuff + Free Stuff + Helping Others

It doesn't take much to make me happy during these cold and dreary January days. The highlight of my day was a trip to Pollo Tropical to exchange Christopher's clunky old pre-paid cell phone for two free sandwiches as part of their Helping Handhelds Campaign.

The combination of three things I love:

• getting rid of old stuff that we don't use anymore - and I don't mean tossing it into a landfill
• getting free stuff - especially free 'stuff' that can be consumed and doesn't end up as stuff that I will eventually have the burden of getting rid of at some future date
• helping others :)

Christmas Comes Early!

During their last visit back in October, Christopher's parents generously gave us our Christmas present early - a brand new snowblower! Last year Christopher was out of commission for about a week after injuring his back shoveling snow. He even slept on the living room floor one night! This year, being pregnant I wouldn't be able to help out so the snowblower really was a great gift.

This morning it was like Christmas at our house :)

We are still recovering from our jet lag, so both Christopher and I were wide awake and out of bed at 5:45am this morning - not normal for us at all! And this morning we were greeted by a healthy snowfall which had accumulated over the early hours.

Like a kid on Christmas morning Christopher was eagerly awaiting a decent hour before he could open his gift - in this case fire up the brand-new snowblower. He sat by the window and anxiously awaited signs of the first neighbor outside with their snowblower and then quickly dressed to join in the fun!

Movie Selection Methodology

The other night Christopher and I were at Blockbuster trying to pick out a Blu-ray to watch that evening. We had already gone out for dinner, but hadn't yet walked the dog. It was probably around 9 - 9:30pm when we were standing in front of the shelves of movies trying to decide which one to bring home with us.

We both happened to be in a particularly indecisive mood which is rare for us, and we were getting a little tired (so sad I know - we're getting old!). So we decided on a very objective method for selecting our movie for the evening - the runtime.

We quickly scoured the back covers of all the boxes:

• The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - 166 min, forget that!
• Watchmen - 163 min, not much better, does anyone make movies under 2.5 hrs these days?!?
  
• Milk - 129 min, getting there...
• Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist - 90 min, we have a winner!!!

I'm sure we'll revert to this system again in a pinch - it actually worked out quite well for us this evening. Not only did it help us pick out a movie quickly, but I was able to stay awake for the whole thing so I didn't have to waste the next morning watching the ending I so often miss :)

Gloucester Wedding

This past weekend Christopher and I went to a beautiful outdoor wedding in Gloucester, Massachusetts. Since Hurricane Bill was scheduled to pass through the area, we were worried about the fate of their ceremony. As luck would have it, the main portion of the storm passed while out at sea and never came inland, so the ceremony was able to proceed outside as planned and the guests treated the some amazing white caps and crashing waves.

Brooklyn Wildlife

While out for dinner in Park Slope last night we came across some cute wildlife in the city:

So cute!

Dunder Mifflin & Architectural Salvage

This past weekend we made a trip to Scranton, PA. The main objective of our adventure was to pick up an old 5-panel door from an architectural salvage warehouse. But a close second was to check out the home of the Dunder Mifflin Paper Company.

Architectural salvage... basically this is a fancy way of saying building supply junkyard. It was our first time. We were completely & utterly overwhelmed by:

1. the volume of *stuff* they had
2. the way that everything was sort of organized, yet still seemed like a mess
3. the variety interesting things in the inventory - there were from a HUGE marble mantle-type thing at least 15ft tall and must have weighed a TON, to a real boar's head

Scranton... as avid watchers of The Office I have to admit that the town is pretty much exactly how they portray it in the show. To me the town had the feeling of a modern day ghost town. In the 1900s Scranton was a booming iron ore and coal mining town, but that is long gone and without an industry to replace it.

You can't really blame them for trying to take advantage of The Office popularity. We saw signs for a $35 "The Office" walking tour which takes you to locations referenced in the show. While wandering around the downtown we walked to the Radisson Lackawana Station Hotel. This is the location where Dwight gave his Salesman of the Year speech. While that episode was really funny, the hotel was, well - just a hotel.

Needles

Over the past 3 weeks I have been receiving physical therapy for tendinitis that developed in my right wrist. I'm not sure what brought it on, but it either had to do with my new workstation in my home office, or mowing the lawn. Christopher is usually responsible for cutting the grass, but since we had been spending our weekends away from home for the past month and a half, I have been filling in.

Today at my session my doctor suggested we try a round of acupuncture in addition to the electrode and ultrasound treatments I was receiving. We only did 3 points and the first two I didn't even feel as she put them in. The 3rd one felt like a tiny pin prick, but when the needles came out there wasn't any blood or anything.

Evening Dog Walk

One thing about working from my home office is that it makes me really want to get out of the house at the end of the day. Not leaving the house to commute to an office, if I haven't gone outside all day I feel rather cagey by the evening. Sometime I have time around lunchtime to take Tyson for a errand-walk to the center of town, to do some banking, drop off/pick up a book from the library, etc.

But other days when I'm too busy to get away during the workday after I'm finished working I need to leave the house to just de-compress and relax. That way, when I come back home I can enjoy my evening. Today was one of those days, so after work I grabbed Tyson's leash and we headed over to the Reservoir #6 just around the corner from our house. There is a 3.7 mile trail around the perimeter of the reservoir and it was so beautiful and serene, the perfect way to finish my day.

Here are some pics from our walk that I snapped with my Blackberry:

These ducks hopped into the water and swam off as soon as we got close to them. They had no intention of being Tyson's dinner! He was watched them intently as they paddled away.

Blog-Block

I've been shamefully neglecting my blog for the past 4 months. Not that I post very often, but after I skip a few weeks of updates then it just seems to become an insurmountable task to go back and update it with all the things that have happened since my last update. But this means it gets more and more out of date.

So I've decided to just skip ahead to today and post about current events, and hopefully this will motivate me to fill in the gaps. My apologies to my faithful readers (all 3 of them - lol) for my hiatus. Be sure to check out my older posts to find out what we've been up to since April :)

Twilight

After reading rave reviews from friends about the Twilight series, I decided to grab a copy from our local library.

I never got into the whole Buffy the Vampire Slayer scene, so I was skeptical. I mean really - how much would I enjoy a teen vampire romance novel? ALOT apparently!

After the first book I was hooked. I read it in about 2-3 days. Didn't do much else that weekend. I quickly placed holds on the remaining 3 books at the library. But like an addict, I couldn't just sit around and wait for my next fix. I needed to DO something to make it happen.

I scoured the online catalogs of the surrounding libraries that have reciprocal agreements with our town. I found a copy on the shelf, but it was 8:15pm and the library closed at 8pm. I came *this close* to breaking down and going to Barnes & Noble to buy it, but in a moment of strength refrained (luckily a new episode of Gossip Girl was on that evening).

Was I embarrassed when I went to pick up the book at the library the next day and a girl that couldn't have been much older than 13 asked me if I had seen the movie yet? YES! But I felt a little better about myself when the librarian told me that she had read all 4 books over her last vacation.

I am now in the middle of the fourth and final book. I have put my life on hold for this series - unable to do anything else until I have finished it. Laundry is piling up. The fridge is barren. My in-laws are coming for a visit this weekend so I need to finish the book tonight so I can have some time in the evenings to prepare for their visit.

I have yet to see the movie, but I doubt it will live up to my high expectations. Plus I am a little scared to watch it on my own - even though I know everything that happens, I would still prefer to wait for Christopher to come home on the weekend to watch it with me, just in case I have some vampire-filled nightmares.

Don't knock it till you've tried it

I think we all grew up saying "EEEEEWW GROSS" at the mere mention of anchovies on pizza.

But I had never tried them, so how did I know? In my defense, every other kid I met shared the same impression so how could they all be wrong?

Well - kids are kids and peer pressure is a fierce thing.

The other night I decided to give the anchovies-on-pizza thing a try. And you know what? I actually liked it!

Conference Call Funny

A funny exchange had me laughing out loud
during a conference call yesterday. Good thing my phone was on mute!

Scenario: a question was raised about a preceding slide in the presentation

Presenter: What slide are you referring to?
Meeting Attendee: Slide number 27 in the presentation. It's the one with a picture of a river on it.
Presenter: It's a fjord actually.

LOL - this totally cracked me up. Even today, a whole day later I can't help but smile to myself when I think about it!

Philadelphia

This week I went to Philly to visit a potential customer. I had connected through the PHL several times before, but had never been to the city as a final destination.

I drove in and made good time so I had a couple of hours to check out the downtown area. I went to Reading Terminal Market grab a bite to eat (not a cheesesteak, but a yummy roast pork sandwich with greens & sharp provolone from DiNic's) and then from there walked over to check out the Liberty Bell & Independence Hall.

Brooklyn: a Study in Minimalism

This past weekend we moved Christopher into his apartment in Brooklyn. It's a small studio, rented to us by a very nice musician who is on tour for the next 3 months.

The apartment is the perfect size for Christopher and has a comfortable amount of space for a week's worth of clothes, frozen food from BJ's (Costco-equivalent), and the Xbox + games. But moving in there it really made us think about all the "stuff" we have back home. From ski/golf equipment stashed in our attic, to bookshelves filled with paperbacks, and textbooks from our student days. We have even gotten into the habit of buying things like shampoo & deodorant in multiple quantities from Amazon for cost savings

But this suburban style of living - where we can park our car steps from our front door, and we think nothing of buying 4 cases of soda when it's on sale, along with buying jumbo packs of paper towel & toilet paper is definitely not conducive to city living - especially in NYC.

I find it pretty cleansing to have a clean space. Sometimes when I go into our attic and am surrounded by all the clutter it makes my pulse race. And I know that my closet is definitely in need of a good spring cleaning. But when I think about giving/throwing away my stuff, I can't help but feel a little protective... What is it about "stuff", especially the stuff we don't use, that we're so attached to?

Energy Efficiency

Wintertime in New England, living in a home built in 1916, certainly raises some questions about our energy efficiency. We use heating oil to heat our home, and natural gas for our hot water. Since the price of oil is way lower than it was last winter, we turned our focus towards our natural gas consumption.

I dug out the folder containing our past Connecticut Natural Gas bills and whipped up this chart using my good friend Excel:

Christopher and I are always looking for ways to improve the energy efficiency of our home. From what this chart indicates, it would appear that our gas consumption is significantly lower during the summer months. So, we're gonna look into an insulation blanket for our hot water tank (new in August 2007) since they are relatively inexpensive and we already insulated our pipes last year.

As a side note - I am feeling a mixture of pride in the geekiness of my analysis combined with embarassment of the fact that I am proud. And I did this whole thing on a Friday night to boot - definitely a sign that I'm getting old, or that I need a hobby!

Ski Weekend

The timing couldn't have been better really. I was asked to visit a customer in Denver the week before Christopher was scheduled to start his new job. So we decided to buy a flight for him on points and do some skiing over the weekend.

We hit up Arapahoe Basin, Keystone & Copper. We didn't have any new snow while we were there, but enjoyed beautiful weather. Is it wrong to show up to business meeting with a goggle-tan?

Craigslist Miracle!

It's funny how fast your life can change sometimes...

On Thursday evening the phone rings - a guy wants to phone interview Christopher for a job he had applied to a week and a half ago. At the end of the call they set up a time to meet in person the next day. Friday Christopher heads into Brooklyn for the interview and comes home with a job offer. Friday evening I scout out a few sublets and send some e-mails to set up appointments to view them. Saturday morning we head into to Brooklyn together and secure a very nice furnished apartment in Park Slope, only a 9-minute walk to the office.

Both the job and the apartment were found via Craigslist. It's a Craigslist Miracle!

I know that Christopher wants to come home to CT for most weekends, but I am super excited about having a pied-a-terre in NY. I am always looking for excuses to go into the city and visit friends, and now that I'll have a place to stay it makes it super convenient! Plus the owner loves dogs, so he's cool with Tyson coming for the weekend. Springtime in the city - I can't wait!

While waiting for Christopher to arrive back home on Friday evening I whipped up this sign with some scissors and blank printer paper. I'm pretty proud of my craftiness:

Sales Sirens Call

Everywhere I turn there seem to be really great sales on home decor stuff. I've been trying to be good about my spending, but sometimes I crack when faced with really deep discounts.

For awhile I've been thinking about a new area rug for our living room area. When I came across a large 9x12' rug on sale online at Pottery Barn for 70% off I couldn't resist. But not being able to see it in person I was somewhat hesitant...

Old Rug

New Rug

It has taken a couple of days to grow on me, but I am really happy with the new rug. And the old one looks pretty good in our dining room, so it's has a home in the next room :)

Which rug do you prefer - old or new?

Clementines - the devil's fruit

I have a canker sore. It is driving me crazy. I have been grumpy and irritable for 2 days now. Eating (which I love) is so painful - it's like torture to me.

In doing some research in what causes these blasted things, I headed to my trusty friend Wikipedia. I learned that the exact cause of them is unknown, but included in the list of factors that provoke them is citrus.

I guess the 3-5 clementines/day I have been eating for the past month were a bad idea. Who knew? I've been addicted to them. They are so sweet and easy to eat. And I thought fruit was supposed to be good for you?!?

Ugh - learning lessons the hard way sucks...

AT Addict

Since it has been such a cold and snowy winter for us, I have been spending alot of time indoors. During my time at home, I have had lots of time to ponder my surroundings and daydream about different decorating options.

And what better place to research my ideas than online! This is where I have found my latest obsession: Apartment Therapy! I know I don't live in an apartment, but I just love the style and freshness of their designs. Plus, all the DIY options and budget-friendly solutions are perfect for my frugal nature.

When I first discovered the site I was completely overwhelmed. It has so many interesting posts that I loved that I felt like I needed to read it all. But after about a week of checking it non-stop, I am finally down to only checking it 5 times a day!

Bugger!

Last Saturday I was being lazy and didn't want to leave the warm comfy coziness of my bed on such a frosty winter morning. I decided to curl up under the covers and read my new Emily Giffin book. I only had around 30 pages to go, so my plan was to finish the book and then I would start my day.

After reading around 10 pages, I reached this point:

Have you ever seen such a thing? And right at the end of the book too! It wasn't just the next page either, all the rest of the pages continued on from 247 until the very last page in the book.

Fortunately a copy was on the shelf at our local public library, so Christopher and I raced off to nab it. That sure motivated me to get out of bed in a hurry!

...baby it's cold outside!

For his birthday last month Christopher's parents gave him a Blu-ray player. Since it's been so cold and snowy the past few weeks we've been hibernating inside, putting the BD Player through its paces and simultaneously exhausting the available Blu-ray discs at our local Blockbuster.

Here's what we've rented over the past month:

• Get Smart
• Wanted
• Tropic Thunder
• Ocean's 13
• Pineapple Express
• Iron Man
• Hellboy II: The Golden Army
• Kung Fu Panda
• Step Brothers
• Ghost Town
• Night at the Museum

Wow - we have never rented so many movies in such a short period of time before. Every time we returned one we would pick up another - vicious cycle. I think we need to take a bit of a break now to wait for some new releases. Good thing we didn't make it to the theatre much in 2008!

Admitted!

Today I accompanied Christopher to the Richard D. Tulisano Courthouse for his Connecticut Bar Admission Ceremony.

It was actually very nice to be part of this smaller ceremony instead of the main one held for the passers of the July 2008 CT Bar Exam, which took place back in November. While that ceremony would have had over 600 participants, there were only 24 attorneys being admitted on this day.

The ceremony took place in a small courtroom and we were allowed to take pictures afterwards. The judge was also really nice and let people take pictures with her. I got to sit in the jury box to watch Christopher take his oath and to snap some pics to remember this special occasion.

It has been a long four years of JD & LLM school, but you're done now and I couldn't be more proud. Congratulations Attorney Schwartz!