Maybe... a Baby!

It has been a while... but I am back! I guess I needed a big reason to come back, and we got one, a baby on the way!

I am 13 weeks, due November 22nd, and we are just thrilled to be expecting! And pretty happy to be out of the 1st trimester now, everything is looking great with this little bambino. At our ultrasound yesterday, the baby was measuring about 3 inches, and we could see the little one bouncing all around! It is really such a surreal experience. The u/s tech said that she was about 80%+ sure of the gender at this point, but I will save that information until she is more like 100% sure :)

I have been dealing with sickness since about 7 weeks, blech. But I think it does seem to be getting a little better each day, or maybe I am just wishful thinking. Food is my new enemy, i can't wait until eating doesn't feel like such a chore.

We have an exciting 6 months ahead of us, and we could not be more excited for the journey this little one will take us on!

xo

Yes, I Did

I voted today :)

On my drive to my polling place this morning, I was literally overcome with emotion as I saw a woman on the side of the street outside of a polling place holding a "No on 8" poster. I was so proud of her. She is out there in the last hours trying to educate as many people as she could about this hate filled proposition. I can only hope and pray that people vote this hateful prop down. It would be such a disaster if it would pass. Read WeezerMonkey's entry on this hateful prop, your eyes will be opened.

After my 30-minute wait, I stepped up to the little kiosk, punched a few dots, and got my sticker :) I am so not a political person, but this is such an important election.

I feel good about the candidate I voted for, and I feel good about the direction that I am hoping this country is heading with a new President. I voted for hope and change for the future of this country. Whoever should win the election tonight, I pray for his strength and courage, to get our country out of this mess.

I stopped on the way home for a free coffee at Starbucks, of course :)

Just when you thought it was safe...

to take me off of your readers, here i am :) haha!

this wont be another post about how i am such a bad blogger, and i got so busy, blah blah blah... (whoops)

things are going great in my life right now, i cannot complain one bit. i finished school, and i am now a certified make-up artist. this may seem a random choice for people who don't know me as well, but is probably less of a surprise for those who are close. i have been in a place of transition in my career over the past year or so. after we sold our internet company, i felt totally displaced, and couldn't find any motivation to go back to what i was doing, which was public relations. i did it for many years, and i would like to believe that i got quite good at doing it, however, i always felt like i was faking it, like it wasn't what i was supposed to be doing. i just couldn't shake the feeling. since graduation from college becoming a make-up artist was something i had always thought about doing, but never had the courage to go for it. until now. i feel so lucky to be able to do this, and to have such an amazingly supportive husband who wants me to follow my passion for this, and is so encouraging :) so that's the update on my life, and where i have been, and hopefully i can update a little more regularly going forward!

i hope everyone is doing well :)
xoxo

Sticky-Icky

First off, thanks for all the positive comments on my return, you gals are so sweet!!

Yesterday, I managed to spill an entire glass of coca-cola on my laptop... UGH. It happened SO fast. I should have known, I am somewhat of a clumsy person, and I should really know better than to bring a sugary beverage anywhere near any type of electronics. I immediately ran into the office to get the external hard drive to back everything up, in the event that the computer crashed. I have been meaning to back all my pictures up, but have been too lazy to do it, its amazing what a state of panic will get you to do. Other than some sticky keys, the enter key in particular, all seems okay.

The Olympics are wreaking havoc on my sleep patterns lately! I am totally obsessed, especially with the gymnastics, and have been staying up way past my usual bedtime to watch our gals tumble. I was so happy when Shawn Johnson won the gold last night, she so deserved it. And Michael Phelps, well what can you say? It was such fun to watch him win all those gold medals. I will miss the action when the games are over, but i will be happy to get back to bed at a reasonable hour, especially since I am starting school next week... more on that in a post to come :)

xo

Remember Me, Me, Me?

Wow, February was my last post. This is embarrassing.

Well, the truth is that I got sidetracked, and then didn't know where to pick up. This spring into summer has been pretty crazy for us. We sold our condo (YAY!) It was a stressful process as we had a terrible buyer who made our life hell during the process. And we bought a house. All within a 2 month time frame. It was stressful, and it was FUN! And totally worth it, because we are in a house that we truly love and appreciate each day. We loved our condo, but it was time to expand a little, stretch our legs, get a little grass under our toes. And while it was a bit of a transition going from city living to slightly a more suburban neighborhood, we just love it.

We also added a new member to our little family... Introducing... Riley! He has been the sweetest little addition, and we love having a dog.

(Yeah, I know, the t-shirt, I don't usually dress him in doggie clothes, he just has a t-shirt for when he gets cold :)

So upon the urging of my mother, who pesters me just about every time I speak with her about getting back on the blog, here I am.

I have been keeping up with all of my favorite blogs (although my commenting sadly has slowed to a hault due to my google reader...) and I caught a tag and little note from my friend Paved with Good Intentions telling me to get back up and posting! So that is where I will start!

1. Last Movie I Saw In A Movie Theater?
The Dark Knight – good, but sorta over-rated…

2. What Book Are You Reading?
Harvesting the Heart, Jodi Picoult

3. Favorite Board Game?
Scrabble

4. Favorite Magazine?
InStyle

5. Favorite Smells?
Clean laundry

6. Favorite Sounds?
Cold Play’s new cd

7. Worst Feeling In The World?
Hmmmm… feeling like you have failed someone, or yourself

8. First Thing You Think of When You Wake?
I’m still sleepy!

9. Favorite Fast Food Place?
McDonald's, classic and classy

10. Future Child’s Name?
No idea yet

11. Finish This Statement—“If I Had a Lot of Money,"
Sam and I would travel the world, by private jet of course so we could bring Riley along!

12. Do You Drive fast?
Nope

13. Do You Sleep With a Stuffed Animal?
No, not a stuffed animal, but a blankie (so embarrassing)

14. Storms—cool or scary?
Cool

15. What Was Your First Car?
Ford Explorer

16. Favorite Drink?
Alcoholic would be a Molokai Breeze, which was a staple on our honeymoon, Mmmmmmmm. Non-alcoholic would probably be classic Coke.

17. Finish This Statement—“If I Had the Time, I Would…"
I don’t really feel all that pressed for time lately.

18. Do You Eat the Stems on Broccoli?
Sometimes.

19. If You could Dye your Hair Any Other Color, What Would It Be?
I don’t even know what my natural color is at this point… sad.

20. Name All the Different Cities In Which You Have Lived -
Wayzata, Malibu, Florence, Westwood, Brentwood, Encino

21. Favorite Sport to Watch?
Basketball

22. One Nice Thing About The Person Who Sent This To You -
I love getting recipe ideas from her blog!

23. What’s Under Your Bed?
Nothing, bed goes all the way to the floor.

24. Would You Like to Be Born As Yourself Again?
Yeah, I think so.

25. Morning Person or Night Owl?
A mix I would say…

26. Over Easy or Sunny Side Up?
Scrambled, although, I am not a huge fan of eggs.

27. Favorite Place to Relax?
In our new pool!

28. Favorite Ice Cream Flavor?
Ben & Jerrys Cherry Garcia

Hopefully my next post will be in a more timely fashion.

xoxo

Ooops I did it again...

I slacked on my blog... (I still love Brit)

A LOT has happened in the past few weeks, but a las, I have been too busy and too lazy to blog about it!  Where to begin... I'll try to sum it up in highs and one big low...

High - my dear friend Julia had her baby! YAY!  Emma Katharine was born on January 31st and she is just too precious for words!  S and I are heading up to San Francisco next weekend to meet her, finally!  I am so excited, I cannot wait to hold that little baby!  

High - we had dinner with our friends Kate & Mark at The Penthouse in the Huntley Hotel in Santa Monica.  We always have a great time with K&M, and this time was no exception!  The food was very good, it is a steak-house-esque type of place with great atmosphere.  The restaurant is located on the top floor, and has floor to ceiling windows with great views of Santa Monica and the ocean.  One tip, when you make your reservations, request a table by the windows.  

High - I finally got my hair cut (like my friend Kidultery, we like to wait 6 months in between cuts!) and colored.  If anyone is looking for a great hair cut, Kate (of "our friends Kate & Mark") is a FABulous stylist who works in the Juan Juan salon in Brentwood.  She is seriously amazing! 

 

Low - my childhood cat Stuart passed away on Monday morning.  He was 16 and a half, and the sweetest little cat there ever was.  I flew to Colorado last week to help take care of him, and I was so lucky to get the chance to spend a few more days with him.  He lived a long and great life, and we will really miss him so much.  

Happy (belated) Valentine's Day!  Yesterday my sweet and thoughtful husband sent me these...To me, they look like beautiful art!  I am very lucky, he knows how much I love fresh flowers, and he always sends the best ones!  

And very lucky for me, he also knows how much I love shoes, another piece of beautiful art...

I have had my eyes on these for a little while now!  

Craft...

Last Saturday, completely out of the blue my husband said to me, "Baby, I am going to take you to a fancy dinner tonight, we are going to Craft!"  I was ecstatic!  What a sweet, romantic little surprise!  I am a huge fan of Bravo's Top Chef, and especially a fan of Tom Colicchio, the shows host, and have been wanting to visit his new LA post Craft since it opened in Century City last year.  We first sampled the chef's food at his NYC restaurant, Craft.  We loved it!  It is sort of an upscale steak house type place, where you order your protein, starch and vegetables all a la cart.  He serves the food in little roasting dishes, which is so much fun.  

When we were in Las Vegas last summer for the Michael Buble concert, which was held at the MGM Grand, we had dinner at Craft Las Vegas, also located in the MGM Grand.  I actually have pretty amazing photographic evidence of this evening... You see, right after we sat down, and woman came over and offered to take our picture, and we happily posed away... 

When she came back right before dessert, she handed us this:  

Which opened into this: 

Please notice the lion super-imposed into our photo, and the location/date stamp.  And this my friends, is why I LOVE Vegas!  HA!  So cheesy I can barely stand it!  I insisted we buy it, if for no other reason than I didn't want this just floating around if we didn't buy it. 

So we headed over to Century City to try Craft LA, I am sort of a Craft groupie at this point... 

The style and decor of the place were very similar to NY and LV, I guess, if it ain't broke...  

We had to wait a minute or two to be seated, so we sat in the bar and had a cocktail.  I was a little disappointed in their cocktail list.  One of my favorite things is the signature cocktail list, and this one was limited and strange.  They did have a list of flavored vodkas, so I tried blueberry with 7-Up.  The drink was tasty enough, but it was served in a tall clear glass with ice and a straw. Hmpf.  So plain.  I think a little sprig of mint, or some real blueberries would have been nice.  I suppose this might be a tad nit-picky, but oh well.  

When we were seated, we perused the menu and everything looked good!  Double edged sword.  I started with the endive, bacon and candied pecan salad, which was delicious!  The bitterness of the endive paired with the smoky bacon and sweet pecans was amazing.  I sort of could hear Tom Colicchio saying that was his intention, in my head.  S had a mixed green salad, which was equally yum.  We shared two entrees - the prawns and the roasted chicken.  For sides, we had pureed potatoes for moi, and fingerling potatoes for him.  So GOOD.  The portions were a little on the small side, but it was all so tasty!  

For dessert, we had caramel roasted apples with vanilla ice cream and coconut sorbet, which were both very good!

I have photos of the food - but stupid blogger is not allowing me to add them properly!  Does the photo uploading process of blogger annoy anyone else?  Is there something I am missing? It uploads them upside down, all at the top, and they are nearly impossible to move around the page.  I will leave you with this shot that the valet took... sorry that my husband's head is cut off...