I'm officially 4 months preggers

Well hello there, I am 18 weeks today yet I just took my week 17 photo, naughty girl! I had a busy week and I promise not to wait until the day before to take it again...see New Year's promise in action. I ran tons of errands today despite the drizzling rain. I spent awhile in Target, my fave store and I bought a dry erase calendar which is all filled out and hanging on the fridge door *most viewed spot in our house*. I also bought a roll of adorable cabinet liner so I can pretty-fy the linen closet and make room for bebe's toiletries and items. I would love to buy new towels as our old ones are frayed from being caught on my wedding ring :( I did resist temptation and stuck to my budget. I am feeling a bit deprived at the moment because I am out of my fave soap however at $18 per bar I am making the sacrifice for bebe's savings. I am using a grapefruit body gel I picked up and it does the job but my skin doesn't feel as supple as the Bliss Lemon+Sage Soap Slab.

Hopefully one of my kindhearted pals will gift me with a Nordstrom or Sephora gift card so I can stock up.
So 17 weeks photo, not my favorite. I seem to be looking worse each week but I am much too tired from yoga to fix my hair up and put on makeup. I did a wardrobe change to show off my large tummy but I don't think it shows it any clearer. Oh well, I will look dazzling in a few days :)

I can't believe the little one is merely the size and weight of an onion! Sheesh. I honestly have only gained 8 pounds since August.

Changing the subject, my darling hubby has completed yet another masterpiece that I must share, I love how it's inspired by the 1960's Hanna Barbera look.

He says I'm the girl creature but I've never been short in my life, I will admit to a unibrow and large feet however. At least he is bestowing a cactus bouquet upon me. My bff, Aimee and her *now teenage* son is  coming by on New Years so that will be exciting. :) Tomorrow we are finally seeing Avatar, not too keen on seeing it but I succomb to peer pressure, everyone I know raves about it.

I'm in love with a robot

I found the raddest art prints at this website

Invisible Creature

Love for the nursery

Genius iphone cupcakes

Resolutions, Smechalutions!

I keep thinking about all the genuine promises I would like to keep throughout the new year. The past year had many obstacles and bad luck so I have the best intentions to have a better year. I am at the peak of my life, in the most awesome marriage ever, going on my 4th year living in this house, estatic to be expecting our first child and I'm at a mature time in my life. However, I have many things to work on a daily basis. I definitely want to actually learn French which is something I have talked about for the last 10 years. I have books, podcasts and computer programs that I haven't given serious time to learn. I really love the idea of raising a bilingual child but I have to be able to speak the languages too. I also want to dedicate myself to improving our house before the baby is born. We have a leaky garage roof that must be repaired for the baby's safety and since we are planning to have the bebe shower in our backyard we have many projects to finish before we even start the nursery. Our yard has been neglected, we need to paint the deck and fencing. I also want to be a better friend. I really have a reputation of being bossy and high maintenance, I would like to change that. I come off as snobby to my friends and I want to change that false perception. I catch myself waiting for others to finish speaking so I can talk about myself and that is a habit I need to work on. I also would like to stay in contact with my friends and family more often. I tend to get out of returning calls or letting my phone go to voicemail. I think I can accomplish change in my life because I'm motivated by this beautiful boy or girl in my belly. I prayed so hard for God to give us a child and I feel like I owe it to them to be a better person. I know I'm an extremely awesome person but I can be more patient, listen more, try not to judge others and prioritize us over the instant fun. I love to socialize but there is too many times I see my friends or other bloggers homes and see how much time and energy they put into making their houses rad and I complain that our house doesn't compare. I need to stop the comparing and whining and make our house bebe friendly and a place I feel happiest.

Things to Do *for the house*
1. Repair Garage roof
2. Paint Garage Deck
3. Have air/heat system serviced
4. DIY fireplace project
5. Make space for bebe things *give to Goodwill*
6. Remove popcorn from office ceiling
7. Plant grass/flowers and prune garden
8. Buy new stove/exhaust fan

Things to Do *for my well-being*
1. Call family and friends more often *just to check in*
2. Not have silly arguments with my Mom
3. Try to listen more to others rather than mentally judge
4. Make less negative statements *my hubby doesn't like when I do that*
5. Create a weekly schedule of things to do *no procrastinating*
6. Learn French
7. Take Max to the dog park/walks more often
8. Appreciate every day and don't get caught up in planning

I am sure if I take each goal step-by-step I will be able to accomplish them fairly easily. I am very capable of change and I like a challenge. I don't want to make resolutions because I feel like those are made to be broken. These are my promises to our baby and myself.

Post Christmas Laziness

Christmas was just lovely. We went to Antz Mom's house and I was keeping my fingers crossed that she would cook. Lucky me, she made yummy lasagna. She gave me a pink housecoat 

Antz got $20, just what he wanted.

Mum-in-law, Maria got a Swarovski elephant to add to her collection

Antz sister and nephew

After laughing my ass off from seeing pictures of Antz and his sister when they were little, we went home to meet Story and Chris. We then went to Downtown LA to see Sherlock Holmes at the new LA Live Cinemas. I thought it would be cool to check out the new complex but it was crowded and although Antz and I were able to buy tickets, it sold out before Story & Chris could. Boo! So we met my friends Nicolette and her bf Ale and went to Glendale to see it at the Mann and met our friend George. We got tickets *no problems* and grabbed a bite. Sherlock Holmes was very good, very Guy Ritchie signature. I love Mark Strong *he played the villan*. Robert Downey Jr was excellent and Jude Law was OK. So good times all around. Antz sister Debra got us a preggo journal but we already have one so I'm going to exchange it for this guy

I am hoping to find this at Borders to give it a quick skim thru, most of my baby books are not as helpful as they seem. I bought What to Expect When Expecting so long ago, I had to buy a revised version twice! I am super mega stoked because I just found out our best friends got us something from our baby registry

Can't wait for the bebe to use these on dark nights as a nightlight. YAY!

Happy Christmas Eve!

I have so much to be happy about today. I received my new hard drive yesterday and I spent a great deal of today uploading programs and files back on my laptop. So it looks like it will be a Merry Christmas indeed. Everything *well most of it* is back and it seems to be running nicely. I'm almost afraid I'll jinx things, I can never be too careful with this fickle Dell. Oh well, I have everything and I upgraded to Microsoft Office 2007 but my Dell Dock has gone missing. We are spending the evening on our respective laptops happily doing nothing while I do laundry and Antz is cooking dinner. A Christmas Story is playing in the background of course. I still need to put together my playlists on itunes and upload all my bjork CDs but I am grateful to have a working computer. We saw Twilight: New Moon last night. It was just as ridiculous as we expected, can't complain too much, it was a free movie and it had an awesome Thom Yorke song in it but I did spend a greal deal of time rolling my eyes at the teen abs and overly dramatic snogging. Tomorrow we are going to visit Antz Mom and then Sherlock Holmes with Story & Chris. I am hoping Antz Mom cooks something delicious tomorrow. I am starting my New Year's Resolutions list soon, so far my biggest resolution is to finish crotching my hat, be on time for every appointment and save every month for the 2012 London Olympics. Maybe I'll add blog more routinely, I don't know yet.

Winter is here in Los Angeles

It is so cold in my house. Every single leaf on the plum tree in front of our house has fallen off. It has been windy and freezing. We took week 16 pics last night but I don't love them like the other weeks.

Well, it was cold and I wasn't in a photogenic mood. I am mega bummed because yesterday my laptop died. Dell is sending me a new hard drive but I won't get it until Monday which is torture for me. I am borrowing Antz computer in the meantime but he has the next 4 days off and with 1 computer it's going to be a very miserable Christmas. Tonight we are going to see Twilight: New Moon and on Friday we are seeing Sherlock Holmes with Story and Chris so that will occupy my time for a while. I am thinking of starting a crafts project but I'm not sure what. We finally sent out our Holiday cards and we are getting great feedback. Next year I want to work in improving my penmanship, I wasn't so keen on addressing the cards. We received our first official bebe gift from our friends *who recently got married and bought a house* Natalie and Vinny. It's a Christmas tree hand print ornament. I can't wait to use it next year which means I have to buy the pink tree for sure.

I'm not sure if I'm going to yoga tonight because the movie starts at 9 and it's cutting it too close. Maybe I'll go next Monday. I hope my computer gets fixed soon because I feel like my right hand has been cut off. When I get the new hard drive it will be set back to factory settings so I will lose all my programs and files. Luckily I backed most of everything on my external hard drive but I am worried I won't be able to reinstall Microsoft Office. It's also very time consuming to set up everything again. Antz feels guilty when he wants to use his computer because I have nothing to do. We ended up going to bed at 9:30 last night out of sheer boredom. Goes to show how much I rely on my computer for entertainment. Boo!

Film Locations Tour

I am surprised we made it to 8 locations in 4 hours. I was the only one excited to see the houses but Antz had fun playing photographer while my Mom and her pug, Ching, slept most of the drive. Our first stop, Long Beach

Donnie Darko House

This is the house the Darko family live in, an airplane engine falls into Donnie's bedroom and kills him, eventually. Across the street is the massively beautiful Tudor that is Patrick Swayze's character, Jim Cunningham's residence which Donnie burns down and child pornography is found. Great movie!

 

 

 Ferris Bueller’s Day Off house

I was mega excited to see this house. It feels so iconic. I've seen this movie at least one hundred times. I was happy to see it in it's orginal condition but it did look a bit shabby compared to being on the same street as the other two enormous houses. Super bummed that cars were parked in the circular driveway. There's a pic from 1986 so you can see how well preserved it looks. Cameron's house is in Illinois and was recently on the market for $1.65 million, Ferrari not included.

Mr. & Mrs. Smith house

All decked out for Christmas. This house is located in Pasadena on the most beautiful tree-lined street.

Yours, Mine & Ours House (1968)

The 1893 Victorian from a movie in the late 60's starring Lucille Ball and Henry Fonda. They are both widows whom get married and have a total of 18 children plus a new baby on the way. The original Duggar's. The house is amazing in person.

We also saw the house from the TV show Mama's Family and the first McDonald's in California. What an interesting day, we are now off to a party in Bel Air with my Mom.

Wow, I'm a total genuis! Well, not really

I told you I would post the results of my Mom's drum shoot. I am quite pleased with the photos.

We took over 250 shots and I finally used the bigger lens, which I love! This is my Mom's kickass American Apparel outfit and she borrowed my moccasins and earrings. Poor thing was burning up in the sun wearing all black. I think for a novice I did pretty good. My Mom loves the pics and we rocked out to the Triplets of Bellville soundtrack during the shoot, one of my favorites. Tomorrow I am really excited because we are going on a Film Locations tour!

Last Christmas I gave you my heart

Ahh, Wham! the good ole' days. So yesterday was quite eventful. My Mommy came into town and I took her to her other house to drop off her car and we went to Little Tokyo. She wants me to take pictures of her playing her drums for an upcoming music convention. She went kicking and screaming because she had never been there and I assured her that she would love it. So we looked around and she did like it  but the first shop was overpriced. I find it totally hilarious that while shopping for clothes in Little Tokyo my Mom ended up at American Apparel. She loved it in there, she bought really cute harem pants and a hoodie and a tie-dye scarf. Tres Chic! So today is photo shoot day. Her drums do look incredible so now all I have to do is her hair & make-up. After an exhausting shopping spree, well my Mom actually bought me a circle scarf so score, we rushed home to meet Antz so we can leave for Newport Beach to see the Holiday Boat Show. What a nightmare, we left at 5pm and didn't arrive until after 7pm. I could tell Antz was quite frustrated as we couldn't find any parking so we missed a lot of the boats but eventually we just parked in a red zone and hoped noone would notice. We saw about a half an hour of the boat parade. To add to our frustrations, I charged the Nikon battery that morning and forgot to put the battery back in the camera. Luckily we have a back up battery but it was brand new so it only had about 10 minutes of charge. We walked around Balboa Island for awhile, my Mom had a frozen banana, of course and Antz and I got corn dogs and fries. We got home at 11pm. We were all tired but I had a good time. My Mom tried to use the new Bebe sounds headsets to listen to bebe's heartbeat unsuccessfully. Hopefully in the next weeks we'll hear better but right now my tummy sounds like a barren cave.

Here are some pics from the Boat Parade

Anthropologie is making me crazy by putting stuff on sale when I have to save for nursery furniture. Here are some goodies

We've all seen it but of course I want it so bad, the infamous Blueprint magazine Pink tree

I also love this wreath

Sigh, maybe next year, just have to convince my husband we are having a pink Christmas.
I'll post Mom pics later. We're seeing 2012 tonight! Also, I finally think I have conquered my Nikon. I somehow captured Lola in a rare posing moment. I think it's pretty badass.

Playing Photographer

I finally stopped procrastinating as I was fast approaching the deadline to my 15th week. Here are my top 3

The backdrop was from our Holiday Card photo shoot. The concept was to blow glitter confetti at each other but it turned out to be a logicistical nightmare. We then tried to throw the confetti but between the timer and Antz being an overzealous confetti thrower, it didn't quite come out as I planned. These are the best of the bunch, note how I tend to open my mouth, I couldn't stop laughing at Antz throws.

This is our winner, I love the confetti in the one with his eyes closed. This one is almost perfect except Antz threw the confetti too high so you can hardly see them but I love our faces. We used the Nikon and literally after 100 takes, Antz wasn't so keen on sweeping star confetti anymore. He is going to photoshop more in *married to a genuis*.

So I'm loving the new camera but still have many features to learn. Here is one of the pre-confetti shots, I felt too elfish in that hat and the grey wasn't popping against the background. This is my Mr. Ed impression.

I will post the final card when Antz has them printed this Thursday. Later Skaters!