22 weeks

If I look a little tired...why yes, yes I am! Even though this week is a busy one, I decided I had to take a few minutes to snap a photo and document the 22 week mark because this is when the baby's flutters have turned into kicks! Or punches.. i'm not sure which, but the first time I felt it, it was THRILLING. My heart raced, and I was all, 'well, HELLO!' It felt like what those cartoon heartbeats look like when they are trying to thump out of the chest...a very soft thump that I can feel both inside my body and with my hand, too. The baby is moving around a lot more this week, and feeling her move is making me more aware of her and I am sort of falling in love.

mint, pastels, and neon

Do you need some eye candy?

I am so tired that everything on my face aches, as if I fell face-first into a cement pavement, but I made it to Wednesday! I am celebrating the little victories. Yesterday was the first day of spring, but it wasn't until this morning when it truly smelled like that earthy, blossomy air. Rusty smelled it too. The warmer weather fills me with hope and makes me feel fondness towards pastel colors and color combinations that catch you by surprise. For your viewing pleasure, here are three of my favorite color trends for spring 2012 off the runway. It makes my eyes feel lighter and I'm inspired to eat some sherbert while lounging by the pool in a silky tent dress.

From Left: Diane von Furstenberg, Vera Wang, Tibi

From Left: Preen, Prada, 3.1 Phillip Lim

From Left: Nanette Lepore, Rag & Bone, Peter Som

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berry-filled birthday breakfast

Sometimes love may have something to do with getting up before the sun to celebrate with a birthday breakfast. It was our dear friend Laura's birthday today and some ladies got together with some berry-full treats to start her day off righttt. We got to feast on crepe cake, scones, sausages, stawberries with vanilla rum cream, and time with each other. I'm sharing these pictures because pictures of strawberries and such for breakfast can help put you in a good mood.

That's 20 crepes in there, that's right, TWENTY.


Good morning Simonee


Birthday girl and birthday girl husband sporting her school spirit


I could live in there


These scones were soo good...


light 'em up


what if every breakfast looked like this?


27!


lovely lady


birthday girl with psalm, who is thinking about helping


strawberry white chocolate marscapone crepe cake... and again.. TWENTY.


the ladies with our 6:30 am faces (minus ms. amanda:( )

Happy birthday laura!

this week will/will not be terrible...

The week has barely started and I’m having fits of anxiety because work has gotten extremely busy and I shall not elaborate here, but will share that yesterday was the kind of morning where I had to take deep whiffs of a chamomile tea bag to calm down and did some angry eating through most of a box of wheat thins. Rather than more venting, like I am prone to do, I decided that really the best way to stop feeling upset is to mediate on the things that I am grateful for. I have found that gratitude is usually one of the best remedies for things like this.

Things I’m grateful for:

1.I’m grateful for my husband… who listens to my rants and frustrations and does things like wash the dishes and pick up dinners for us. I’m also grateful for his chest, which is the best place to smoosh my face in when I’m feeling bad.

2.I’m grateful for my family…I think it tremendously helps maintain the sanity of a person to know that people exist who love you unconditionally.

3. I’m grateful for my friends…who offer sweet and encouraging words when I need them. They teach me of what ‘growing up’ and ‘doing life’ together is all about.

4.I’m grateful for the people who are genuinely happy for us that we are pregnant. It still surprises me for some reason how glad people are for us that we are expecting a little one. It makes me feel loved and it makes me remember that this is truly a wonderful gift.

5. I’m grateful for Rusty… even though sometimes he is bad and runs away and tries to eat other dog’s poops. He still makes me smile unexpectedly and petting a furry animal from time to time can be very therapeutic.

6. I’m grateful for all and any prayers that are prayed for me, my life, our family.

7. I’m grateful that even a quick 15-20 minute walk can refresh me. I’m extremely relieved that it is no longer seemingly cold and dark all the time.

8.I’m grateful for my health. I am doing a happy dance about the fact that the crazy congestion spell I was having has mostly passed, that I’m not constipated, and that I haven’t been sick.

9. I’m grateful for my faith. I’m grateful that I believe in redemption, transformative grace, and hope.

10. I’m grateful for a job. No matter how stressful it gets and no matter how tired I am, I am quick to remember that many people don’t have a job even though they really want one.

11. I’m grateful for podcasts. The day would be so much harder to get through without them. It reminds me of a world outside of my cubicle and it keeps my brain moving. There are so many good ones, but this week I find myself repeatedly going with the New Yorker’s Fiction podcasts.

12. And as sleepy and tired as I am, I am grateful for today. At least, here I am, trying to be!

Have a relaxing weekend!

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Friday, it is so good to see you! The husband is out of town this weekend so Rusty and I will be fending for ourselves. The plan is to lay low - probably working as many hours as I can stand, getting some sun, and crossing things off my to-do list. Here are some fun links from around the web:


1. I might make a quick stop at Sephora this weekend to try these products: 1) Yves Saint Laurent Mascara Volume Effet Faux Cils in Electric Blue, yes, BLUE! 2) Nars Velvet Matte Lip Pencil 3) Philosophy Hope in a Jar

2. The Hatch Collection. It's definitely out of my price range, but a great concept...

3. Gap and DVF get together

4. I love this Emilia Ikat Zigzag Maxi Dress !

5. MEAL PLANNING TIPS- so important

6. If you like your libations with a little music, check out this site called Drinkify. You type in a song or an artist, and it generates a cocktail or drink that is a good pairing with the tunes.

7. Plastic surgery on dogs? This is horrifying.

8. a great (and inexpensive) idea for bringing color to a room without painting.

9. 'Don't wait until you know who you are to make things.'

10. To go with the sunny and happy weather we're getting these days, check out the artist, Kishi Bashi. Here is one of his songs, Bright Whites. Sidenote: he records out of Norfolk, VA!

things i'm loving right now

left to right, top to bottom:
1, For the dining room 2, i like imagining my baby girl wearing this 3, love this. if they had it in my size, i'd want to wear it. 4, i could probably live in this dress 5, both comfy and good for work 6, i'm on the lookout for a good summer wedge 7, the cutest, softest-looking bunny i ever did see 8, a print for the nursery 9, so pretty, and i would use it as a diaper/carry-all bag

baby mamas

(Sorry for the crappy photo quality)

Here are a couple of baby mamas at 5 months and 9 months. My friend Julia is going to meet her little girl any day now!

I thought I was getting big, but looking at this picture makes me realize 9 months is still far away and I still have a lot of growing to do... In the meanwhile, it is so nice to have friends to talk to and ask questions from who have already gone through what I'm going through!

some thoughts on maternity clothes...

If you haven't noticed already, this season's major statement is COLOR: color blocks, pastel, monochrome, graded... and I can be all about that. I'm not always the biggest fan of wearing pastel pink but I found myself admiring this blouse from Tobi because 1) it combines color blocking and pastel in a refreshing way and 2) it's loose and flowy, meaning room for my growing bump. I'm finding the loose blouse + blazer/ cardigan combo is the most comfortable and appropriate for work, which is an important revelation because I spend the majority of my time there.

So I've been keeping my eye out for outfits that will harbor the swell in a neat, compact, and stylish way. There are lots of options out there, but usually I end up gawking at the prices long enough to walk away. It seems the label of 'maternity' drives prices up so I decided I was going to have to start looking elsewhere. I'm finding that as long as you keep a few things in mind - where the waistline falls, buying a size up, sweating, etc. - you can find clothes wear outside of the maternity section. Among others, I came across some nifty (and a little more affordable) finds at forever21. They are loving on some maxi and/or flowy dresses this season and I say, let's do it. Here are some that I think can definitely work for a mama with growing belly:

From left to right: 1) floating feather maxi dress ($24.80) 2) textured maxi dress ($29.80) 3) polka dotted dress ($27.80) 4) striped slub henley dress ($19.80) 5) balinese smock dress ($22.80) 6) colorblock maxi dress ($29.80)

friends, a wedding, and the sea..

We had a lovely weekend with family in Virginia Beach and a wonderful time at our friend's wedding in Kitty Hawk. It was great fun celebrating such a happy time with friends and here's to wishing Meghan and Kevin the best kind of start to their marriage.

Also, I was so happy to see that daylight lasted until 7:30PM today. I'm looking forward to a week of warmer weather and a few more hours of daylight!

Happy weekend!

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I am excited that the weekend is finally here. We are heading out of town for some time with K.'s family in Virginia Beach and then down to OBX for our friends' wedding. I know it's not officially summer or even spring yet, but the recent random days of warm weather and the thought of being near the ocean this weekend has me all excited for the season to change! Hope you all have a lovely weekend, don't forget about the time change, and here are some fun links from around the web:

1. I absolutely love this list of 50 All-Time Favorite New Uses for Old Things. Genius!


2. Check out these photos of extreme sidewalk chalk, it's trippy...


3. It is good to hear some good news about progress being made on this front.


4. I would love to take a vacation in a yurt! (remember this post?) And to Big Sur? YES PLEASE.


5. The perfect tea kettle.


6. I don't know if my bump will fit into it by the time summer comes around, but I'm still daydreaming about wearing this dress when it gets hot.


7. How neat are these black and white photos of skateboarders in the 1960's in NYC?


8. I drink chocolate almond milk almost every single morning. One of these days, I'll try this recipe and do it up homemade.


9. This super easy pasta recipe looks like the go-to dish when I'm hankering after no-fuss Italian.


10. I love M. Ward and I love this cover: Rave on!

The home of Borge Mogensen

I adore these photos of Borge Mogensen's home. Mogensen is a world-renown Danish furniture designer and his home is such a great reflection of what I admire about modern Danish design. I love love how the functionality blends in perfectly with the natural elements of wood and light.

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can't stop thinking about....the battleship at black sheep

The other day, we finally got around to trying the battleship sub at The Black Sheep. The Black Sheep is one of my favorite restaurants in Richmond - every time I go there, they do not disappoint! We were excited to try these subs because we've heard good things and also, they are gigantic. If you remember, these subs was on Food Network's Man vs. Food, and got some of its notoriety that way.

Pictured here is the CSS Manassas: Fried rainbow trout fillet, topped with chopped romaine, radish, green onion, tomato & cajun tartar sauce, loaded into a toasted french baguette.

It was so. gosh. dang. good. It's glory in a baguette!

I can't wait to try their other ones. But even with it's size, it's a little pricey, because it's $18 or $19 for the full-sized sub and $12 for the half. I only wish they had smaller versions so I could go pick some up on a whim!

20 weeks and big news!

So we are 20 WEEKS now (halfway through!) and we had a very important ultrasound at the doctor's appointment this morning...

Not only did they take tons of pictures of the baby and all the baby parts, not only did we get to see the heart, the brain, the arm, the leg, and all that amazingness, but we also found out that...




...ITS A GIRL!!




And we are pretty darn excited about it..



Baby girl, i can't wait to meet you!

- At 5 months -

Pros: saying hello to baby bump every morning; little baby flutters
Cons: still having to go to the bathroom ALL THE TIME
Currently craving: red meat & sweets; peaches & nectarines
Outlook on the coming of baby: can't wait to hold her
Feelings about husband: it is so much fun going through all of this with him.

Have a great weekend!

My sister is visiting this weekend, hooray! Yes, I have to work this weekend and yes, I bought a pint of Edy's Peanut Butter Cup ice cream on the way home because it was just that kind of week, but I say anyways, hail to the weekend! Here are some links to check out from around the web:

1. These 'slutty brownies' look like death-by-chocolate. Would you dare?

2. This a great site to check out if you are wondering what you should read next.

3. Interesting insight into the 10 laws of productivity.

4. Mint mania, anyone?

5. Spring fever has me eyeballing this pink blazer.

6. I'm still waiting for the day when I'm going to sit down and make one of these cool bracelets.

7. Smoothielove.

8. Thinking happy thoughts about refurbishing and repainting old furniture.

9. Lovely print. With stripes!

10. Keep moving.

my favorite pretend grown-up drink

Lorina's Pink Citrus Lemonade is one of my favorite things to drink these days. Pregnant and sad that you can't partake in the bubbly? Try this, it's better.