My Life, As Told Between (Baby Cakes') Naps

January:  Had yearly physical.  Decided to go off the pill in anticipation of trying for a baby in 3 months (after the marathon and our trip to Italy).  Anticipated it could take a year or more to be successful.

February:  Ran the Pasadena marathon, for the first time, with some new friends from my running group.  Got a decent time.  Due to the small crowds and the design of the route, T was able to meet me and cheer me on much more often than at the LA marathon.

March:  Ran the Los Angeles marathon.  New Stadium to Sea route was awesome and I set a personal record, but I was weirdly tired and felt like crying.  The reason would become clear next month.

April:  Found out I was pregnant!  And then went to Italy at the height of my morning sickness.  Still managed to have a great time with T.

May:  Went to Sedona on my sixth annual Quad trip.  Flight arrived late Friday night, drove two hours through the desert and mountains to get there, and was only there until Sunday afternoon, but hanging out with the Quad is always worth it.

June:  Turned 32.  Low key celebration with T.  Didn’t feel like making a big deal this year.  Feeling fat.

July:  Found out we’re having a boy.  Would have been happy with either, but slightly relieved in light of parental pressure (on my side) for a boy.

August:  Pregnancy pains set in.  Not a happy camper.

September:  Finally in the third trimester.  Went to amazing shower thrown by my sisters in San Jose!  Got kick-*ss deal on used glider/ottoman on Craigslist.

October:  Entering Stay Puft territory.  Wedding ring no longer fits.

November:  Attended, and was touched by, shower thrown by co-workers.  Hosted our first Thanksgiving since I wasn’t able to travel.  Had T’s family over and ordered a meal from Marie Callendar’s.  Turned out pretty well considering the minimal effort we were able to put in.

December:  Had Little Man!  Hosted my family and T’s family for Christmas.  Exhausting  but so wonderful to have all of our loved ones in the same place – and to have them meet Baby J.

Most exciting year to date!

This is totally random, but I came across this super cute transformation of an old television entertainment unit into a play kitchen and just had to share.  How much would we have loved this as kids?

This has not been a good week for me.  I’m so glad it’s almost done!  I made a mistake at work (which was relatively minor in the grand scheme of things, but no one likes mistakes) and have been struggling with a project that is taking too long and going nowhere.  I messed up with my baby shower.  On top of that, I belatedly realized it’s planned for the weekend of our 2 year anniversary so we’ll be spending our anniversary traveling.  I got mad at T for something relatively minor, causing him to (very sweetly) cut his bowling game short and rush home because he knows I tend to stew over things and make them worse if left unattended.  I still feel guilty about it.  I had my doctor’s appointment and found out I’ve gained more weight than I thought, although that explains why I’ve been feeling so awkward and uncomfortable lately.  My back hurts, my knuckles have swollen so I had to take my wedding band off (although the engagment ring, which was always kind of big, still fits), and I can’t concentrate on anything these days. 

I feel better getting that off my chest.  Hopefully next week will be better!

T:  Hey, do we have any plans this weekend?

Me:  I was thinking I’d really like to go to Home Depo to rent a carpet cleaner.  And maybe we can check out some rocker/gliders for the nursery?

T:  The fun never ends around here, does it? =)

Me:  I love how Alfie’s always ready to go for a walk.  It’s so cute how excited he gets.

T:  Yeah.  The getting-ready heirarchy at our house definitely goes – Alfie, me, you.  Alfie’s always got his coat on and is halfway out the door.

Me:  I think I get ready to go pretty quickly.  I’d say it’s Alfie, me, then you.

T:  Well, you have perfected the no-makeup, couldn’t care less look, but I still think I get ready faster.

Me:  “No-makeup, couldn’t care less look?”  You do still want to be married, right?

T:  No, no, it’s a compliment.  I said you perfected it!

Me (to cashier):  I’ll have the soup and sandwich combo with the mediterranean sandwich and the broccoli cheese soup.  Oh, and can I have a small order of mac and cheese?  And a mango smoothie?

T (to cashier):…and everything else on the top shelf?

Me (to T):  You’re not funny.

these are your favorite shoes:

These wedges, while a little ugly, are so, so comfortable I have to resist wearing them every day.  They’re tall enough so that my pants don’t drag the floor, but seriously feel like I’m walking on a cloud.  Or fluffy sheep.  Or a cloud of fluffy sheep.

I couldn’t resist and bought a pair in brown suede when then went on sale recently.  And I’ve just realized they come in grey leather…

T surprised me with flowers yesterday and my favorite cupcake today (red velvet from Yummy Cupcakes) to celebrate the four year anniversary of our first date.  I was going to write a post about how absolutely amazing T is and how he makes each day better than the last, but he’s so much better at expressing things like that than I am, so instead, I’ll just direct you to this awesome post I stumbled across that sums it up perfectly.

2000 –  Ushered in the New Year in Vegas, decided to go to law school, visited Hawaii for the first time with K, J, and C, ended a friendship, graduated college, moved back home to San Jose, applied to law schools, got a job as a paralegal at an immigration law firm, taught LSAT classes in SF, Palo Alto and Berkeley on the side.

2001 – Loss a dear friend in a plane crash, visited law schools, flew to England with L to visit old friends and old haunts, got accepted at HLS, moved to Boston, met lots of wonderful people, struggled through contracts, watched in disbelief as the towers fell.

2002 – Finished my first year of law school, explored the north east, showed off Boston to visiting friends, enjoyed too many afternoon teas at the Peninsula and chocolate buffets at Le Meridian, moved to DC for a summer internship, moved back home for another internship in SF, went to Rosarita with M, C and K.

2003 – Discovered pilates and weight watchers, toured England and Scotland with M and K, flew cross country interviewing at law firms, accepted an offer in NY, finished my second year of law school, moved to NY for the summer, ate too much, gained tons of weight, was wined and dined by my law firm, did a little work, accepted a job offer in NY and then regretted it.

2004 – Celebrated the new year with friends in SF, brunched weekly at Johnny D’s, celebrated mardi gras in New Orleans with C, A and S, traveled to Prague, Vienna, and Germany with L and M, graduated law school, moved home to San Jose, visited Hawaii for the second time with L, reluctantly studied for the NY bar, received a serendipitous offer for a job in LA, took the CA bar, took a post-bar trip to Australia and Vietnam with C, moved down to LA, started working as a lawyer.

2005 – Spent Memorial Day weekend in Cabo with C, C and M, celebrated mine and K’s birthdays in Vegas on what would be dubbed the first annual Quad trip, dressed up as a “Business Brownie” for Halloween, visited C in Oregon, went to my first and only country concert, joined a running group, flew to England to celebrate the end of 2005 and the beginning of 2006 with K and R.

2006 – Met my perfect match, ran my first (and second) marathon, spent another Memorial Day weekend in Cabo with C, C and M, went to Tahoe for the second annual Quad trip, took several fun trips up north, dressed up with friends as eski-hos for Halloween, got a new job, moved in with T, took a cruise to the Caribbeans with T, spent my first Thanksgiving with T at my family’s house in San Jose, spent my first Christmas in Fresno with T’s family.

2007 – Ran another marathon, drove to Santa Barbara for the third annual Quad trip, went house-hunting, bought a condo, got engaged, flew to Hawaii for a wedding, dressed up as a sailor for Halloween, went to Disneyland with my new soon-to-be family for Christmas.

2008 – Discovered a hidden crafty streak and DYI-ed everything for the wedding, ran my fourth marathon, researched and met with wedding vendors, took pilates classes, read way to many wedding blogs, got the best dog ever, tasted wine in Mendocino on the fourth annual Quad trip, had the best bridal shower/bachelorette party, took dance lessons, got married to the best husband ever, went to Maui for our honeymoon.

2009 – Attended weddings in Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York and Hawaii, went back to Cabo for the fifth annual Quad trip, tried to cook more, celebrated our one year anniversary, learned of my middle sister’s engagement and witnessed my youngest sister’s engagement at Thanksgiving, enjoyed every minute of my life with my family and friends.

We got a tree this year and have been trying to decorate it with meaningful ornaments that remind us of something – a trip, an inside joke, etc.  These s’more ornaments aren’t particularly meaningful (other than indicating my love of s’mores and all things desserty), but I love them.  I first spotted them on a friend’s tree last year and have been keeping an eye out for them ever since.  Unfortuntely, I can’t seem to find them in any stores.  So cute though!

Can’t believe 2009 is ending already! November just flew by. I threw a birthday party for T’s 30th’s in early November. Inspired by the recent pizza-making party we went to, I threw a panini-making party. We bought tons of breads, meats, toppings, and cheeses. I prepared some appetizers (bacon wrapped dates, crab rangoon, and stuffed mushrooms), T grilled up some steaks and we had friends make their own paninis. I’d also prepared some crepes so we had crepes and ice cream cake for dessert. As usual, we bought way too much food and had leftovers from the party all week. I’d originally wanted to host a nice sit down dinner, but when the guest list started growing, I realized my plans were exceeding my limited cooking abilities. In fact, I almost failed to pull the panini party off, but fortunately several of T’s friends are excellent cooks and, more importantly, arrived early enough to help get everything ready.

The next day, we headed out to Disneyland to take advantage of their free-on-your-birthday promotion. It was fun, but exhausting. I don’t know how parents are able to spend all day with their kids running around that place – we were tired by 5pm and had to head home!

The following week we were off to Maui for my friend K’s wedding. It was such a great trip. T and I rented a three bedroom condo we shared with friends who were also attending the wedding. The wedding itself was perfect. Small and intimate on a golf course overlooking the ocean. The weather was beautiful the entire time we were there, we relived part of our honeymoon by laying by at the Westin’s pool, went snorkling at Molokini and Turtle Town, got massages, drove to the top of Haliakala, ate plenty of shaved ice at an amazing shaved ice place, and went to the Feast of LeLe, the best luau on the island.

Got back late Wednesday night and drove up to San Jose bright and early Thanksgiving day, with a stop in Fresno to pick up Alfie from T’s mom (who was dog-sitting for us). My parents and sisters went all out on dinner and totally outdid themselves this year. Delicious turkey, broccoli and cauliflower sides, home made buns, stuffed mushrooms, pumpkin cake, etc. In fact, my parents spent the entire weekend preparing all of our favorite dishes. We both came back 5 pounds heavier.

The best part came at the end of Thanksgiving dinner, when my littlest sister’s boyfriend proposed to her in front of the entire family. It was so sweet. My mom brought out a brown package at the end of dinner and told L someone had left it for her on the porch. Staring suspiciously at her boyfriend, she opened the package only to find another box inside it, and another, and another…we all started staring suspiciously at H at that point. But the boxes kept getting smaller and smaller and soon it was too small to contain an engagement ring. He denied any knowledge the entire time. At the end, she got to a tiny box with a note in it, he got down on one knee, pulled a ring out of his pocket and proposed. We were all in tears, it was so sweet! So now we have two weddings in the family to look forward to! Can’t wait! I love weddings.

Needless to say, all to this eating has been horrible on my diet and my running. I’d gotten up to a comfortable 18 miles before we left for Hawaii, didn’t run much in the subsequent weeks, and had to struggle through a 14 mile run yesterday. Hopefully, I’ll get back in shape soon. I’m really looking forward to this marathon and the new route, so I’d hate not to be ready for it!

What a great weekend! My friend M was visiting from New York, so on Friday, we all went to dinner at Il Fornaio in Santa Monica. M was in town to visit her nieces and to see her friend C, who is also currently living in New York, performing at a Jazz show.  Funny story about C – I had met her on a flight to NY (I was visiting, she was moving there), we started chatting, realized we had friends in common, and I introduced her to M. She and M have been good friends ever since!

Saturday, I went for a nice 8 mile rule with the Leggers, introduced M to the wonders of Green Monster Smoothies, had crepes at our local farmer’s market, and made pumpkin cookies for a Halloween party later that night.  We didn’t leave for the party until 7pm, so T and I waited around for trick-or -treaters.  Aside from our adorable neighbor, we didn’t get a single trick-or-treater in our condo complex, so T took matters into his own hands and took Alfie (semi-decked out for Halloween) and the candy out to hunt them down.  I think having the dog made it less creepy.  =)

After T got rid of most of the candy, we headed off to the Halloween party, thrown by T’s friends.  They love to cook and have an amazing kitchen, so they threw a pizza-making party. It was awesome! They prepared the dough and tons of toppings and we each got to make personal pizzas.  What a brilliant idea!  We stayed too late eating, playing Taboo and beer pong, and karaoking with the Magic Mic.

Sunday, T had a softball game, then we took M to In-N-Out where we introduced her to animal style fries.  We topped the weekend off with Cirque du Soleil’s new show in Santa Monica, Kooza.  It was an amazing show, but I have to admit, now that I’ve seen several shows, Cirque’s lost a bit of its magic.  I think Quidam, the first one I ever saw, will always be my favorite.

Oh, and in between it all, I devoured the recently-released and eagerly-awaited twelfth book in the Wheel of Time series, which I think officially makes me a nerdy 12 year old boy.  =)

Here’s the Halloween goblin we carved this weekend!  Isn’t he a cutie?

Threadless is one of my favorite sites.  I don’t generally wear t-shirts, so I never actually buy anything, but I love their whimsical designs. 

Cake Wrecks, which features funny – and sometimes amazing – cakes is another favorite site.  So imagine my delight when I discovered that Cake Wrecks featured cakes inspired by Threadless designs this weekend!  The one below is based on a design I’ve mentioned before and adore.  (More amazing Threadcakes here.)

Sorry for the lack of posts.  It’s been a busy month.  To start, T organized a fantastic dinner with friends at C&O, followed by drinks at Glow, a lovely outdoor bar in Marina del Rey, to celebrate my 31st birthday this month.  I got some wholly unexpected but totally awesome gifts. 

The following weekend, T’s mom and his aunt visited on their drive down to San Clemente for their niece and nephews’ (T’s triplet cousins) high school graduation.

This past weekend, we went to a super-cute picnic wedding, complete with fun picnic games like a 3-legged race and an egg relay.  Since the bride was one of T’s best friends from college, we had several of T’s college friends staying over at our place as well as tons of guests hanging out the entire weekend.  It made for a fun, but tiring, weekend.  Sadly, I was inevitably the first to call it a night – although I should mention I’m at least two years older than they are! 

Also visited the korean taco truck for the first time – and on a day they were giving out free tacos for a promotion at that!  Yay for free yummy food! (Updated to add: They were parked in front of Westwood Brew Co., so after lunch we drove through UCLA and reminisced about how easy college was compared to real life.) 

Looked at some houses for sale.  Since housing prices are at record lows, it’s tempting, but we still can’t really afford a house we want in a location we want, so for now, it remains a pipe dream.

In between all this, I’ve been trying to figure out how to make our condo more homey.  We had an interior designer, recommended by a friend of ours, come by and consult with us for an hour, which was surprisingly helpful.  I’m hunting for some pieces she recommended and trying to schedule a date to have some of our rooms painted (the task of choosing paint colors was a large part of this month’s activities).

I wish I could get married again just so I have a reason to buy these awesome wedding cake toppers…

Available here.

I’ve been on a major geeky reading spree lately, devouring Brandon Sanderson’s fantasy novels.  I’d stumbled upon his work because he was selected to finish the Wheel of Time series after the author’s death.  (The WoT series, by the way, is one of T’s favorite series and something he suckered me into reading last year.  I still don’t know how he managed to do it.  After all, he’d already informed me only the first 5 books of the, currently, 11 book series were any good and the remaining 6 books should be read only to see how the series unfolds.  We both hope the next 3 books, which are supposed to conclude the series, make this long journey worthwhile.  I’m optimistic given how much I’ve liked Sanderson’s books to date.)

When not obsessively reading, I’ve been trying to figure out how to decorate our place.  I’m beginning to realize I have absolutely no eye, or patience, for design (esp. when I have to accomodate T’s taste too) and I fear our place looks just as sterile now as it did when we moved in last year.  So, if any of you happen to be aspiring interior designers who’d love to decorate our place for free, let me know!

Next month’s update may be marginally more interesting as T and I are going to SF for a wedding next weekend and then I’m heading to Cabo for my annual Quad trip.  =)

I finally found the motivation to do a long run by myself on Saturday!  T and his partner met up with me around the first mile of my run (which happens to cross through T’s patrol area), so I stopped and chatted for a bit.  I managed to do the other 9 miles at a relatively constant (if slow) pace, although, unfortunately, my ankle started bothering me so I only did 10 rather than the 11 miles I had planned

Later that night, we had our friends S and K over for dinner.  I made hoisin-honey pork riblets, which are super easy and delicious, with white rice and green beans.  For dessert, S made fantastic chocolate chip, oatmeal, walnut, coconut cookies.  I love dinner parties, especially dinner parties where the guests bring fabulous desserts!  =)

Sunday, I met up with T and his softball team at Piknic, our local restaurant, for brunch after their big game (as it started pretty early in the morning, I slept through the actual game).  It was great getting to know the members of the team better. It’s a community team, so they’re all essentially our neighbors.  After brunch, and a short nap, we headed out to the Will Rogers State Park for a real picnic with Alfie and our friends L and E.  It was a beautiful day for a picnic and a relaxing way to spend a Sunday.  We had wine and an assortment of bread and cheese, fruit and other munchies.  They tossed the frisbee around while I tried to keep Alfie from jumping into the mix.

That night we saw Monsters v. Aliens in 3D.  I, naturally, loved it.  It was the perfect way to top off a great weekend.

Oops. Long story short, I (very uncharacteristically!) got extremely upset and vocal with my cable provider today for something. I (very surprisingly) got them to rectify the problem …only to realize afterwards that it was mostly our fault.

Now I feel guilty. T doesn’t seem as concerned.

Not much to report. I’ve been trying to ramp up my exercise (only marginally succesful in that endeavor) and to cook more often (again, marginal success). Went on a 9 mile run this weekend which involved a few hills. When I’m in decent shape, I can tackle the run and do a couple of extra miles easily. This weekend, it was a bit of a struggle to just finish the 9 miles. At least it’s a step in the rest direction!

As for the cooking, I’ve tried a couple of different dishes recently. I made a chicken marsala dish that was unspectacular to say the least, probably due to my failing to find marsala and having to settle for beaujolais. I also made braised beef and mushrooms last night that, according to T anyways, was good. I thought it was too beefy. T points out that I have a habit of making dishes or ordering meals featuring items I know I don’t like – like beef – which just happen to sound good at the time. Unfortunately, the dish serves 12 so T’s going to be eating a lot of braised beef this next week!