Cravings...

So you may think I am referring to food cravings but I'm not. I've got nursery cravings! I was up late last night checking out babycenter forums and everyone in my June Birth club seems to already have most of their nursery furniture. Arrgh, I thought we were on schedule but I am ready to no longer see that office/storage room and see our daughter's room. Now that I bought the curtains and the rug, I've got a taste of the shopping bug. I am craving this jewel

I don't know if it will fit the french door but I love it! This weekend is exciting because Antz is removing the popcorn which has been a huge obstacle in transforming my room. We also had good responses from last night Antz put our Ikea Klippan couch on craigslist for $60. I think it may be gone by tomorrow. Hmmm what shall I spend that $60 on? :) I found a great price for a Flip camcorder on Amazon for $154.99 *regular price is $199.99* so I am waiting until we get our tax refund to get it.
Antz Mom came by to hem our too-long curtains. She has a sewing maching that pre-dates WWII but it works look a dream. I knew she was a talented seamstress but she completely blew me away. She hemmed the curtains better than Pottery Barn did. We used the orange thread leftover from my goldfish Halloween costume and it matched perfectly. I tried to learn as much as I could but I would need a ton of practice.

It took her about an hour to hem both panels. I can't wait to see them hanging in the room after we paint.
You know what's bumming me out today, I haven't spoken a single bonjour since New Years. I should be studying and on my way to having a conversation in French by June. I need a tutor so badly. I can't think of a single French person who can teach me. Maybe I'll start listening to my Learn French podcast every night.
Oh bon!

I am beyond tired but it's worth it!

It was a long, arduous journey to Thousand Oaks but I got my Dream Menagerie rug for the nursery!

I feel like I've been driving non stop for the last 4 days. Yesterday was Ash Wednesday and I drove to my Mom's house in LA to pick her up so we could go to Saint Andrew's Church for mass and I needed to drop off a check to pay for the christening. Let me backtrack a little bit. Yesterday morning our lovely cat Lola threw her daily tantrum to wake up us at 7 am to feed her so Antz gave in and got up. He got the brillant idea to make Olivia's mobile with felt dolls of us, the pets and a heart. Next thing I know he was working on the bebe's mobile for 3 hours, he ended up working from home. I can't wait to see the finished mobile!!

Antz, heart and Me, I helped sew a little bit but he did the marjority of them. He's working on Lola and Max now. I accidentally closed my dresser drawer on my ring finger and I watched in slow motion / horror my diamond pop out of the setting. Luckily I saw right where the diamond landed and I found the original paperwork from 8 years ago when Antz bought it. While in tears, I went to Zales and boo-hooed to the salewoman. She told me it was under warranty but because I hadn't come in every 6 months for maintenence it was no longer covered. :( Lame! She has to send it to the repair person and it will take 2 whole weeks to be repaired and possibly cost $130! That's the bad news, the good news is, the setting had been loose from years of knocking my ring against every surface so getting it repaired may have been a wise choice. I hope they clean it while they are at it, long overdue. So today I drove to Playa del Rey to pick up Aimee and we drove all the way to Anthropologie in Thousand Oaks for my rug. We are in love with the Oaks mall but it is like 45 minutes away.

I am still bummed the rug is so flat and has to be dry cleaned but I couldn't be happier that I got it without having to pay shipping and I no longer have to worry about it selling out. I ended up having lunch with my Mom since I was on that side of town and she offered to treat me at Jerry's Deli. I have never been so happy because last night after I dropped my Mom off at home from church, Antz and I went to Sunland *pretty far* to drop off a sample to be tested for asbestos. Today I got an email saying there was no asbestos found in the sample so we are green lit to remove the popcorn :) I am going out to Apple Valley with my Mom on Saturday while Antz tackles the popcorn alone. I would love for him to paint the room while I'll be out of town with the pets but there's only so much he can do in one day. I think it will be fine for me to be home while he paints because we are using Benjamin Moore Natura low VOC paint. I have made a decision that I will forgo having professional pictures at the delivery in lieu of buying a Flip camcorder and a printer. I would much rather spend the money on professional portraits when she is 3 months and has that bebe adorableness. I still need to recruit someone to film the labor because Antz is now my doula so I don't want him to be distracted. I am thinking of asking Leslie but it depends on my due date.

The madness now begins

Well I declare, my prayers have been answered and Antz received his bonus early this year and it was actually more than I expected which is mega awetastic. I literally did a freeze frame fist in the air jump when I saw our online bank statement. Nevertheless, that doesn't leave me in the clear in my bebe shower vs garage repair dilemma. I am still waiting for the guy next door to give us a quote. I know he's going to give me a huge number because he wants to install a pitch on the roof to drain the rainwater and he'll use water pressure inside the garage to get rid of the mold on the wood beams. I would be super stoked if he would be under $3k but that is wishful thinking. I am coming to my senses and I shaved $400 off the shower budget *by removing 6 people from the guest list* because we must buy a new stove. I had a great deal at Home Depot but sadly the price went up by $100. We're going to look in the store and see what they have in stock so maybe we'll find something less than $400 because we have to get an exhaust fan, installation and a warranty. So yesterday was pretty busy, we met with David *the guy who's fixing my neighbors roof* and he quoted us $500 to remove the popcorn ceiling. No way Jose! That is $150 more than my budget allows. My friend Connie said her dad may be able to help us remove it but we have to send in samples of the roof to test for asbestos first. I am hoping we only spend $300 on the popcorn because we have to buy more paint to do the ceiling and the crown molding. So back to yesterday, we saw David and then went to Pasadena to Pottery Barn kids to check out curtains. Of course the ones I wanted were all sold out *my luck* but they did have 2 panels in the right color but the wrong size. They are 96" and I need 84", so hopefully Antz Mom will be able to hem them for us. Luckily because I have a gift registry I saved about $12 on the curtains.

We chose a burnt orange for the curtains. The wall will be painted beige and the 2 walls are a chocolate brown. Our palette is Earthy tones. We did worry it looked too masculine so we looked at pink curtains too.

We liked this milky pink but I wanted grommets and we feel the orange is stronger and will keep the nursery looking modern rather than trendy. Maybe later when she's a toddler we'll go for the pink but for now her bedding is orange and many of the paintings in her decor will have orange in them. I did find a pink bedding set on sale that I love.

Skip Hop Floral Vine Bedding Set total score for a 5 piece set $199! I just have to keep reminding myself not to go overboard with pink. I did buy a pink Malfi today but it's justified because the store I planned to buy it from sold out and I found it for way less on Amazon so Antz gave me the ok to buy it.

How cute is this guy? I'm using him and his soon-to-be purchased friend as bookends

So after Pottery Barn we stopped by Giggle *my favorite bebe store* which is right next door and drooled over everything. Then we went to the Grove too check out the Dream Menagerie rug at Anthropologie but of course it was sold out. I can order it online but it's backordered until 3/1. I am completely sold on the rug but Antz still thinks we can find a better one for $300. I'll wait until March to buy it. This doorknob was asking me to buy him but we need to measure the door to see if it's the right size

We checked out Jack & Janie, the most adorable clothing store ever! We really want to buy Olivia this dress for her first Easter.

We browsed a bunch of shops and took some cute pics.

I bought the yummiest grilled cheese sandwich and shoestring fries ever! Too bad I ate them too fast to take a pic. So when we got home I had a bone-headed moment. I was telling Anthony the shipping for the glider and the bassinet were so high at Giggle $264 and he sent me a link of the manufacturer's website where the shipping was only $129. A light bulb went off in my head because not only am I saving a ton on shipping but by buying it from the place the makes it, if anything goes wrong, I am under warranty. Sheesh, the icing on the cake is there are more color options for the lumbar pillow on the Monte Design site but now I can't choose between orange and pink!

I know the orange would tie into the curtains, the paintings and the bedding but what happens when I change the bedding to the pink set? I wish they sold the pillow separately. :( So, here's what the room looks like presently.

It looks like an entire house worth of things in these boxes. We have no clue where to put all this stuff. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that by the end of April the room will transform into this, the question is pink or orange?

Valentine's Day

Love day was pretty sweet. We went to Leslie & Stephen's for yummy brunch. Their house is so incredible.

After that we met Story, Chris, George, Tom & Jess at the movies and saw Wolfman. I feel like I've been going nonstop since last Wednesday. This week I need to take it easy. Antz has today off for Pres day and I have acupuncture at 1. Aimee wants me to look at apartments later. I got an invitation to tour the abandoned hospital but Antz isn't comfortable we me going with bebe. This morning the guy who is working on my neighbor's house came by to take a look at the popcorn ceiling. He quoted us $500 and still hasn't told us how much to repair our garage roof. There's no way we can spend that much on the ceiling. I think we'll look on craigslist for someone in the $150 range.

Our daughter now has Godparents :)

So yesterday we got stood up by the contractor who is working on my neighbors roof to give us a quote on our garage :( We picked up Antz Mom and went to Olvera Street in downtown LA. We ate at a popular place called Cielito Lindo but let me say I am not a fan!

I think this dress is adorable, I didn't buy it because it had a stain!

Antz & his Mommy

We looked around for christening favors and a rosary but no luck. The place is too touristy to find anything authentic. I did buy a necklace for the baby called an "eye" which is supposed to protect her from illness. I love superstitious folk lore. Then we went to Huntington Memorial hospital to show Antz Mom. I bought the year of the tiger charm I saw at the gift shop.

We went to St. Andrew's and while I was showing Antz Mom the church I bumped into Lucy *she works in the Pastoral Center* and she remembered me from when I registered back in October. So I went to the PC and there was a young guy working the office and he couldn't find my application! :( Lame. So I filled out a new app and Monday I have to call them and see if they found my original application. But at least I was able to update her name and the godparents. I also found out the next baptism class is April 15th.

We finally made it to the art show and our friend Leslie is curating. There was a guy who wanted to make Antz painting into prints. I was so proud of his piece. I entered a raffle and I won a lovely Valentines bouquet of roses. I gave it to my MIL, I'm not a fan of roses. So I was brimming with anticipation and I couldn't hold it in any longer so Antz and I decided to ask Leslie and Stephen to be Liv's Godparents. Leslie was super happy and she kept saying, I'm family now!

Leslie's exhibit for the show Ex-Voto Design

Antz lovely robots

The most exciting part of yesterday *besides our new Godparents* was after we dropped off Antz Mom home, I drove by this abandoned hospital I've heard about from my friend Matthew. It is in East LA not too far from downtown and it has been abandoned since 1990. At first I was sort of bummed because there was a light on in front and I wasn't getting a spooky vibe and Antz wasn't into it at all but then we drove on in the parking lot and saw people were inside and I saw Matthew's sister. We introduced ourselves and she said if we wanted to we could come back on Monday and take a tour!! How rad is that! Antz doesn't want to *he said he doesn't want our bebe to get haunted* but I am so intrigued. Maybe Aimee will go with me.

Super creepy, I was all ghostbusters!!

We are going to the padrinos house today for Valentine's Day brunch.