Wednesday, February 29, 2012

makes me smile

stay golden

a nose in need deserves Puffs indeed

today at work I had my first crying outburst in my pregnancy.
I woke up every two hours last night
{i know, i know, good baby practice}
due to a cold/cough/runny nose and poor Charlie didn't get much sleep either.
I had left my favorite "sickie" treat at work the day before...my glorious Puffs plus lotion Kleenex.
I do not buy these fancy tissues on a regular basis so they will be extra special
when I am feeling extra crummy.
Anywho, I had a -near-empty box sitting on my desk for most of the morning.
I had to run an errand in another part of the hotel and when I got back to my desk
my precious box of Puffs were GONE.
GONE.BABY.GONE
You can imagine my distress in thinking one of my colleagues made-off with my precious box of tissues.
I have to be honest, I felt slightly like Smeagol from Lord of the Rings looking for his
"Precious"
I was looking all over the office, asking my co-workers if they had seen my Puffs.
Finally, I gave up and succumbed to my tears.
Then, what do I see when I wandered dejectedly into our copy room?
My Puffs, sitting right on top of the trash can.
Someone probably thought the box was empty on my desk and threw it away.
Oh my goodness!
I was like the woman in the Bible who found her lost coin after searching all over her house!
Of course I felt pretty silly for breaking out the waterworks but sometimes you just gotta cry...
ya 'mean?

Sunday, February 26, 2012

thinking about maternity pics...

gotta take 'em soon!
hopefully with the blue bonnets ;)

Thursday, February 23, 2012

adventures in baby-wearing

our doula Amanda Moore sent this to me in an email
about a workshop for new dads...
cracked me up!

happy as the sun

i love this sweet picture
{even if it looks like baby is chowing down on mama's neck}
i can't wait to hold my little babe

(Photo by Keith Davis Young)


Saturday, February 18, 2012

Old Town - Fun Place

For our last day in San Deigo we visited Old Town
{i feel like the belly is getting bigger every day now}
and made some new friends

Lunch time at Crazee Burger...
my turkey burger was yumm-o!

  
fianlly we drove out to La Jolla beach and watched the insane surfer dudes
riding the waves with 60 degree weather going on
to finish off the wonderful week
we went out for a steak dinner and had to get our desserts to-go
my Omni San Diego comrades gave us a warm send off
their awesome service has made this our favorite Omni we've ever visited!

"Non sibi sed patriae"

so Crepes seem to be a trend with us
and while Charlie sticks to our usual favorites (nutella and strawberries)
I tried my first breakfast crepe...hands down, awesome!
eggs,
sausage
bacon
i was full until 3 o'clock
The main excursion was to the USS Midway 
since my dad was in the Navy I was particularly excited about this part of our trip.
there's so much that goes on inside these huge ships and every sailor has his duties.
it also seems like everything is jumbo-sized!
here is Charlie's size 13 foot next to one of the links attached to a 40,000 lbs. anchor.
Charlie said it best,
"there's not much that make my feet look small"
Charlie trying his hand at few knots
scoping out some of the jr.officer's bunks.
a demonstration of prisoner deterioration in the ship's brig
and finally we made it to the flight deck.
a former Navy sailor gave a quick talk on the basic checks
a pilot and a plan have to go through before a safe take off can occur.
All of the details are dizzying and even more so when you consider planes have to be take off under
all kinds of inclement weather and sea conditions.
Our hats go off to all the Navy guys out there!
I love the Navy's motto
"Non sibi sed patriae"
i.e.
"Honor, Courage, Commitment"
It was an awesome day!

Friday, February 17, 2012

...and the adventure continues

we spent a few hours this morning saying good-bye to
LA and visited the Disney Concert Theater
grabbed some Crepes for breakfast
and made our way to the filming site for
The Office (Scranton Business Park)
We were thrilled to see Dwight's Trans-Am parked right in front of the building

{Charlie scaled a telephone pole to get this shot...let me add, no tetanus shots were given that day}
Soon we were on the road and ready to make the 2 hour trek to our prized destination...
Joshua Tree!
Along the way we saw the classic California burger joint
and voila!
LUNCH!
Charlie has done such an amazing job planning all of our activities
and never leaves any of the details to chance.
Earlier this morning he called the Joshua Tree information center to find out about the weather
tourist flow, etc.
We found out the park had gotten 6 inches of snow last night and all of the hiking trails were closed.
However, all of the main driving roads were open and safe to drive on.
He called back twice and spoke to two different guys at the park who confirmed this.
Although the trails being closed was a bummer we were OK because for some reason
my left foot has been hurting like crazy and I would pretty much be
dead weight on the trail.
Driving around the park was a perfect alternative
LA to Joshua Tree is a 3 hour drive. When we were 40 minutes from the park we called to get details on what to do upon arrival.
The woman who answered apologized and said that none of the roads were open due to the snow.
When Charlie let her know about his earlier conversations, she apologized but said the snow
had not melted enough over the course of the day.
SAY WHAT!?!
{"Man, I bought binoculars for Joshua Tree
...I'm glad I didn't buy the $120 pair"
~ Charlie}
At this point, with great disappointment, we turned Southwest to begin the 2.5 hours drive to San Diego. 

After turning around we spotted this hilarious salon.
{"WHOOP, Hair it is!" ~ Charlie}
It rivals 'Curl up and Dye' salon in DeBerry/Elysian Fields, Tx.
and 'Braids n' Fades' in Houston, TX
I would like to take a moment and commend my husband on his amazing reaction
to this disappointing Joshua Tree news.
He was definitely let down but stayed positive and studied our map to find a scenic
route to San Diego so we could at least experience some mountainous vistas
and catch a glimpse the Salton Sea. 
Highway 74 over the Santa Rosa Mountains
Salton Sea in the distance.
Life above the snow line
I wish I could have his wonderful attitude of gratitute but more times than not
I usually have to pout for a little while before I get over disappointing news.
But we made lemonade out of lemons and enjoyed the rest of the drive into San Diego.
And the Omni hooked it up with a corner suite...
chocolate covered strawberries... 
and amazing views of the bay... 
we took a quick dip in their beautiful heated pool
{me and that boom-bang-thang of a belly}
and then called it a night!
We're pooped!!

Thursday, February 16, 2012

Another day in LA

Charlie has learned how important it is to not let this pregnant woman get too hungry...
it's not a pretty or pleasant sight.
Luckily, it seems like there's fun places to eat around every corner.
For lunch we sampled Pancho's mexican food.
it was such a cool place and very scrumptious!
Charlie imitating the Pancho's face
the decor was fun too!
{26 weeks and 1 day}
After lunch we headed over to Hermosa beach.
Our next stop along the way was Torrance, CA. Home of Louis Zamperini, the Torrance Tornado.
Louie is the subject of the NYTimes bestseller Unbroken, a book about his life as a collegiate track star at U.S.C. an Olympian competing in the 1936 Berlin Olympics and a WWII POW (Japan 2+ years). While in Louie's home town we visited his childhood home, the elementary school he went attended, and the track and football stadium which bears his name.
For Charlie, visiting this house was like when I got to tour Anne Frank's house in Amsterdam.
It's moving to actually stand at the starting point of your personal hero's journey.

Another nice surprise was scoring a pair of Clippers tickets!
The Clip's played the Washington Wizards at LA's Staples Center
...I have never seen so many slam dunks in one game.
The seats were awesome
{thanks eBay}
and the Clippers won!
It was a great first basketball game for bebe Lloyd!