My birthday was July 30th, and since I figured I probably wouldn’t be up for a party, I asked Jer if we could have a mini getaway the next weekend instead. We booked a nice (nicer than what we usually get anyway. Remember, we met at a Knight’s Inn) hotel in Pasadena for a Saturday night. I deemed the entire weekend a Staycation, though.

Friday night at home we watched This is The End, which I thought was hilarious. I always like that group of people’s movies though.

Saturday morning, I made us delicious blueberry pancakes.

Pancakes are a pretty regular weekend thing in our house but the blueberries made them extra staycation-y.
We finished packing and drove out to Pasadena. Our first stop was Real Food Daily, a vegan place we’ve been meaning to check out. I had a burrito and Jer had a reuben. Classsssic Jer. He loves his reubens. The food was really good, but pretty expensive. But hey! Staycation!

For dessert we went to KindKreme, a vegan ice cream place that was awesome!! I got a maple tamarind shake. Yummm. Jer got butter…something. Not butterscotch. His was great too. They make all the ice cream there, and it is awesome.

 

We checked into our hotel and took a nap in the big fluffy bed.

 We walked around downtown for a couple hours, checked our a couple stores (including the Container Store, which made me want to organize EVERYTHING) and then had a late dinner at All India Cafe. This place was AWESOME! We got a vegetarian combo meal for two. For $35 we got samosas, three entrees, a side, rice, bread, and dessert. And it was all delicious. We were a little overwhelmed when they brought out all the food.

But then we ate ALL of it.

We went back to the hotel, watched some TV, and went to sleep. On Sunday, we checked out the little farmer’s market down the street and got some delicious almond-based hummus– habanero, jalapeno cilantro, and chipotle flavored, to bring home.

I was a little stressed out before we went, thinking we needed to make it SO SPECIAL since it is likely our last trip together before the baby gets here, but when I told Jer this he told me not to stress– that it’s just a little birthday getaway. Since I was trying not to put so much pressure on it, and because it was so laid back, it was a really nice, relaxing time! And of course, it was mostly food and sleeping. Perfect for a pregnant woman. And in general, we are both fans of both of those things.

On Saturday, the 6th, we had close to 40 of our friends and family members over to our house for a baby shower. We were worried it would be a little crazy, and it was, but it was also really fun. Even though there were so many people there, I actually felt like I had some time to talk to everyone, at least for a little bit.

We and our baby are so lucky to have so many great people in our lives! Our friends Diana, Justin, and Suzanna were especially helpful in making it all happen, and my sister-in-law, Shannon, and my in-laws, Marc and Terry went above and beyond to help with it all too!

 

I was so excited the night after the shower that I couldn’t go back to sleep when I woke up at 1:30am. I got up and opened all our gifts and started going through them! People were so generous!

The next day we used gift cards we received to order the crib, changing table, and some other items. I am so excited for them to get here and to set it all up!

We’ve had a busy summer so far, and it’s only going to get busier! I haven’t taken a lot of pictures, but here’s a little of what we’ve been up to.

In the middle of May, we met our friends Ellie, Alex, Nicole, and Nick, who live in Phoenix in San Diego and went to the San Diego Zoo. It was great! I think my favorite animals were the polar bears, but this guy was so relaxed, I wanted to take a picture of him lounging.

Jer was disappointed there weren’t penguins, but he was happy to see the giraffes. He relates to them because he’s so tall!

We walked around for at least six hours and by the end of the day my feet and legs were so tired! We all went back to our hotel rooms and passed out before 10pm.

The first week of June, we went to DC to see our friends Michael and Aliya get married. It was a fun wedding, and I enjoyed showing off my bump in a fancy dress (that I got from my sister-in-law, Shannon).

It was funny, trying to slow dance, my belly got in the way and I had to turn sideways. The next day, we hung out with my mom and step-dad, who drove up from West Virginia, which was great. My mommy got to feel the baby move! On Saturday, we hung out with our friends Danielle, Daniel, and Wes, and then on Sunday we came home. It was a quick but fun trip.

Luckily, we had that Monday off. Jer was supposed to have jury duty and I had my glucose tolerance test. The test wasn’t as bad as a lot of people say, and then we got to spend the rest of the day hanging out. There’s a drugstore with an old fashioned soda fountain downtown in the town where we live but it’s always closed on Saturdays, so we decided to check it out. It was so cute! It felt like we were on a date in the 1950’s.

Now we have a couple of weekends to get the nursery painted and ready, then our baby shower, and then other things pretty much every weekend for the rest of summer!

I had a great Mommy-To-Be weekend!

I ended up getting my present from Jared early because I was complaining last week about how I needed a body pillow and then announced that I was going to Target to get one. He had been planning to get me one for like a week for my Mother’s Day gift, so he went with me and I got it early. It’s the Boppy Total Body Pillow and I was a little skeptical at first because it has mixed reviews. I decided to try it for a night or two and see how it went. That was a week ago and I love it. I get up in the middle of the night so much less because my shoulders and hips aren’t hurting from sleeping on my side! It’s great.

So yesterday we had dinner at Jared’s parents’ house. His dad made us delicious Gardein chicken with marinara and Daiya cheese, baked potatoes, and lots of other yummy food. The mommies in the family got presents and everyone was so generous and got stuff for me, even though I haven’t yet experienced the sleepless nights or hours of trying to comfort a crying baby, hehe. It was nice. 🙂 I got some great food and bath products, a candle, and from my sister-in-law’s family, a pretty teacup and flowers and some great prenatal and postpartum tea! It was nice to celebrate the moms who helped turn my husband into who he is and who are so good at making me feel like I am part of the family, too.

Last night, I went to see Cloud Cult with a friend. A man walking by said, “Soon, huh?” and I was like, “Uh, not really. Four months.” My belly really has grown a lot in the last week, though. Here’s a picture from the weekly belly shot series:

Today Jared and I had a nice lunch at our favorite vegan grocery store, Viva La Vegan. I called my mom, my grandma, and my nana and chatted for a while. Maybe the best part of the weekend, though, has been continuing to feel little kicks! It’s so fun! It’s so hard to believe, and so exciting, that this time next year we will have an 8 month old to celebrate with!

I know it’s been a while since I updated this blog, but this is what we’ve been up to!

Due September 25th! So excited!

My friend Julia over at Julie Do It All has been organizing her friends to do challenges for the last few months. In November, it was the Aqua Adventure, in which we tried to drink 64 oz. of water a day. I didn’t do it all the days, but it was great to be more hydrated than usual. In December, we did a Yoga Challenge and I actually did 31 days of yoga in a row! I got to pick this month’s challenge, and decided to dub it The Get Your S@*t Together Challenge. We’re trying to organize one thing every day for the month of January.

I’d already been on an organizing kick that started when putting away wedding presents. Here are a few things I did then:

Crazy how much better dividers made it look.

The buckets and baskets are from Dollar Tree.

This isn’t really organizing, but I love how happy this cabinet looks now with our new Fiestaware!

So far for the January challenge, I’ve organized my desk drawer, our holiday decorations, our pantry, and lots of other things. The tea and vitamin cabinet is the only think I’ve taken pics of so far.

I’m really enjoying these challenges and having more time to spend working on our house.

Here’s what I read in 2012:

Empire of Illusion by Chris Hedges

A student recommended this book to me and it was really interesting. It was pretty depressing but had a hopeful ending. If you’re interested in social and political commentary and thinking critical about popular culture, I recommend it.

 

Offbeat Bride by Ariel Meadow Stallings

This book and the Offbeat Bride website were so helpful in wedding planning.

 A Practical Wedding by Meg Keene

The same with this book and site.

To the Wedding by John Berger

This book is sad, but beautiful. It is beautifully written and reminded me a bit of Milan Kundera, one of my favorite authors. It’s a fantastic story about the power of love.

A Visit From the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan

I loved this novel. It’s about punk and growing up and all kinds of things. I really liked the way the author used time and the way the characters’ stories were connected but still separate.

Bossypants by Tina Fey

This book is hilarious! I cracked up reading parts of it and it was really cool to learn more about the improv comedy scene and how it can be a challenging scene for women comedians.

Beginner’s Guide to Community-Based Arts by Keith Knight and Mat Schwarzman

This one was also recommended by a student. It tells the stories of several community-based arts projects through illustrations and text. Cool!

Damned by Chuck Palahniuk

This is the first book by Chuck Palahniuk I’ve read and  I’ve heard it’s not as good as some of his others, but I enjoyed it. The ending did seem kind of rushed and weird though.

Fifty Shades of Grey by EL James 

I wanted to see what the hype was about so I read the first book and was not impressed. It is pretty poorly written. Oh well.

The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger 

I read this book on our honeymoon and I LOVED it. It is sooo romantic but still such a good story. I got so sucked into the characters I kept thinking about it even after I was done reading it.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8 Comics- Volumes 1-3

I read the first three volumes in this series and enjoyed them. I’m currently on volume 4. The dialogue is written so well and sounds so much like things the characters would say on the show that I can hear them saying it when I read it.

 

Sputnik Sweetheart by Haruki Murakami 

I love everything I’ve read by Haruki Murakami and this was no exception. This wasn’t as explicit with the magical part of magical realism as some of his other books, but still a love story meets detective story like he often does.

What did you read last year?

We went to Ojai, CA from December 29th-January 1st.

Saturday was a lazy day, waking up, doing laundry, and then leaving in the afternoon. When we got to Ojai, it was time for dinner so we stopped at The Farmer and The Cook, a cool restaurant where they grow a lot of their own produce for the food. The decor was cute and it was nice to sit and relax.

On Sunday, we started the day at a place called Hip Vegan Cafe. I had a bbq seitan burger and Jer had a reuben.

We walked around for a little bit, and found the awesome farmer’s market, went wine tasting, and then went back to the hotel for naps. That night we went to a bar called Barrel 33 for some drinks and then spent the evening enjoying some bad tv since we don’t have cable at home.

Monday, New Year’s Eve, we went to the Ojai Coffee Roasting Company, then back to Hip for lunch. We walked through a big park, and then to a really cool outdoor bookstore called Bart’s Books. It was like a maze– books everywhere. I could have spent hours there. After our afternoon nap, we had a dinner of way too much sushi.

The place we had planned to go to celebrate that evening was closed, so we went to a bar called The Hub that had a live band playing. It was fun– not too crowded, and there were free New Years favors.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy 2013!

We had an AMAZING time at our wedding! Thank you so much for sharing it with us! It was so wonderful to spend time with friends and family from around the world! Here are a few highlights.

 

We spent a week in Kauai, Hawaii after the wedding and had a great time! We hiked to Secret Beach, went to the National Tropical Botanical Gardens, snorkeled, ate tropical veggie dogs, and went on a 6 hour rafting trip.

Since getting back from Hawaii, we’ve been settling back into work and daily life, enjoying our wedding gifts, and enjoying being married! The wedding was perfect, but it is nice to not be planning it anymore. Thank you again for all of your love and support as we made this commitment!