lxforever

I REALLY wanted to/meant to update here about:

-Last Thursday, which was AWESOME – half day of work at home, then DT to have lunch with Diana/then watch Carrie compete/then dinner w/ Kristin…what a great day! I even got up on a balance beam (note: never again until I am unpregnant)
-last WEEKEND which was the AMAZING baby shower Jenny, my mom, my aunt Connie and my aunt Jane hosted…it was seriously over the top wonderful. I felt extremely lucky and this baby will be very loved. We are very lucky people.

But then this week was a whole bunch of disasters and terribleness and there’s a very scary manhunt happening in Boston and it seems ridiculous to gloat about my life right now. Maybe later?

So…hang in there, everyone. I’m so sorry, Boston.

“Always the one who has to drag her down / maybe you’ll get what you want this time around / The trick is to keep breathing”

—Garbage, The Trick Is To Keep Breathing

“Don’t lose the dreams inside your head / they’ll only be there until you’re dead”

—Dave Matthews Band, You Never Know

aaaaaah what an AWESOME weekend!! I really, really wanted to do an epic Weekend Update/EOTW but things keep getting away from me and so here goes the fast-dash version (better than nothing!):

FRIDAY was the Garbage concert with Jeff. SpecTACular!!! We dined at the Loon Cafe beforehand, where I enjoyed a decent burger, excellent cantaloupe, and mediocre-to-great PINK lemonade (for Jeff!), and we watched the snow swirl around outside. Snow! It was during this very conversation that I made the most important and shocking and amusing discovery of the weekend, nay, of my life?! JEFF HIMSELF had a WEBSITE back in 1998. Oh Yes. I am not even making this up. I cannot BELIEVE I did not know this until now…come on man!!! It was a geocities site and it followed the McGwire/Sosa Home Run battle (of course he was a McG fan while I was a Sosa one…ha), and he also posted random Smashing Pumpkins lyrics (!!!). OMG!!!!!! As if I needed a reason to love this funny man more…

Off to the concert, the venue was down the street. A man tried to get frisked at the same time as me, oops, and we laughed. Concert!!! The VENUE was pretty sweet. We snagged some stools, very good call since after standing for 3+ hours on Wednesday my legs were broken, I am weak…yay seating. Mill City Nights. Anyway. The opening band sucked but they promised us that Garbage would bring a great show. And damn, did they EVER!!! After a quick catchup with Misty (hi!), the show began in earnest. OMG. They played pretty much every.single.song I could ever dream of…!!! AND they played Trick Is To Keep Breathing, which is Jeff’s DREAM so he was over the moon (he got SO excited when it started), they played a ton off v2.0, and Shirley did a lot of hilarious chatting with the audience which was adorable…OMG. They played for like 2 hours straight. 18 songs. Seriously an amazing show. I am so so so happy we got to go!!! YES!!!

Home and high off the concert (note: not really), into bed, and then…

SATURDAY we were up early – way too early after a late night! – for our babycare class. It was at the hospital we will deliver at and it was a super nice place. I also just like hospitals (well as long as I am there for a good reason, that is). Lots of people doing their business savings lives, you know. Anyway. The class was GREAT and the instructor was really funny, practical and smart. I thoroughly enjoyed her. “It’s cool!” “Can I write that?” LOL. We did a great job learning baby basics and bundling up the plastic, nonmoving fake babydoll. Hmmmmm.

Off to the grocery store then home where the rest of the day was spent GLORIOUSLY on the couch watching TV, reading, and playing games. I was feeling ill and Jeff was feeling tired so this was MANDATED (of course, after a little cleaning). It was seriously HEAVEN. I have not done that in a long time. I should do more of it now, in fact, while I still can…seriously. Hmmmm. Anyway. We ordered pizza and stayed in and lazed around. HEAVENLY for sure.

OK now Jeff is coming to pick me up so I gotta finish. SUNDAY I got up and did some stuff…can’t remember. Cleaned up a bit? Made cards? IDK. I was semi-productive. Went shopping for Jenny’s birthday gift and other things. BOOM! Then swimming. Swimming was wonderful and felt SO good, if tiring with 50m lanes. But it was a real treat. Banged out a good 1200 then a Blizzard. Yeah! in the SUN! Hooray! Then home where I undertook a massive cookingfest…two meals frozen, pieow! And then to hang out with JEFF who had organized the house, pictures, and a few things in the nursery. GOOD JOB JEFF! He even hung up my Dad’s pic, awwww.

OK that’s all I have time for but what a great weekend!!!! Adios amigos!

I’m listening to the latest Garbage album in preparation for the concert tonight and it prompted me to go back and reread some entries from May 2012 ( = when I first heard/got the album). That, combined with a long chat with my friend Anna today, who’s struggling so much after losing her daughter in December, and with the rain/snow/grayness outside has combined to make me feel very, very grateful and very, very lucky for what I have. So lucky. I have it so, so good.

Happy birthday Connie and Sarah L!

“When I was 11 I was collecting baseball cards and jumping off the roof.”

—Jeff, 4/1/13, after watching the entrepreneur soaps girl on Shark Tank

“The dangers of showing / The dangers of showing”

—The Joy Formidable, The Everchanging Spectrum Of A Lie

“This childish heart won’t wait / It dances keeps me awake to think on, to think on / You’re the greatest light, the greatest shade / It means that I can be happy for you, happy for you”

—The Joy Formidable, The Greatest Light Is The Greatest Shade

So last night we continued our spring concert tour and went to The Joy Formidable at First Ave. This is of course a band Jeff discovered, he is so good. It was completely intense and fantastic, but at one point I found it so intense I almost passed out so had to take a little water breather (in hindsight, it was simple dehydration, good note for Friday, which is our next concert, which is GARBAGE – also cool). But a really really cool show. The opener Kitten was really cool too, I loved it, the 17yo singer was a little frightening in her talent/movements but way impressive. Great show, super music, beautiful lights, well worth the exhaustion (who knew standing for 3.5 hours would be so rough! I guess w/ a near 30 extra lbs that’s what happens huh)!

Now it is Thursday and we are all worried about North Korea. Well not really. But a little bit.

It’s finally feeling warm out and that is really cool (well not cool but you know)!

Jenny came to visit and it was wonderful!! She got us the cutest little rattle/outfit too. I just love it. Well it’s not for us, it’s for our daughter, but still. Adorable!

OH yeah it’s not the third, it’s the fourth…day late/dollar short etc. Whatevs! BUT it is the third trimester…super wacky. Time is flying. It’s quite amazing.

What else is new…I don’t know, probably a lot. BUT I started this entry awhile ago so now I’m just going to end it and it’s going to suck. Whatever! It’s better than nothing!

OH yeah I’m really happy 🙂 so that’s good :). Yay spring.

Sayonara!

“You’re growing a human being!”

—my boss

Always a good reminder. EVEN BETTER: Jeff’s pep talks!

Here’s what’s been going on:
-Lots of Homeland watching. Obsessed. Thus it led to a dream about Jenny’s exboyfriend, Stephie, black puffy jackets, the FBI, Jenny being in the FBI, all of us being in Paris, and going to Sacre Coeur.
-(OH how I want to go to Europe!)
-giving Diana financial ASSVICE
-meeting up with Kelly to talk BABIES!
-back to lots of eating. LOTS. OMG. Have I not grown enough?! It seems no food is ever enough…until it’s too much, and I throw up. I feel like a teenage boy and a bulimic all at once (JK I only puked twice last week).
-Jenny is coming to visit tomorrow!!!! YAY!!!
-my Grandma offered to loan me the bassinet all of her kids (including my 65-year-old dad, 66-year-old uncle, etc.) slept in…it is so cute of her that I almost can’t laugh…but I do.
-it’s been so sunny and WARM (40ish) and I’ve been taking advantage by talking walks along the Mississippi. Such a thrill to see moving water on the asphalt (no, seriously!)!
-Beautiful cherry red giant rising full moon last night. Wonder.
-Lots of kicking!

Wonder. Compassion. Imagination.

YES!

ETA: Oh yeah I’m 31.5+ now.

NO I am not going to tell anyone what names we are considering, but I will say this, I’ve done some Google searches for some of the first/middles we’ve considered, and basically anyone with those names was born in the early 1900s/1910s and is now deceased. FYI/interesting!

“Never doubt that you’re the one / and you can have your dream!”

—Karate Kid / Joe “Bean” Esposito

“Oh come child / come and rescue me / ’cause you have seen some unbelievable things”

—Cat Power

It’s no longer March 4th/March Forth but I thought I’d use that anyway. It is MARCH! Beware the Ides of March, in like a lion, etc. etc. I am so over March and so over winter. I think last year’s early spring spoiled me completely (remember when I was in my backyard in my swimsuit in mid-March?! WTF/awesome!!!). We just have a lot of snow still, and we are forecast to stay below the 30s for the next several days or so. L to the AME. But…someday, it will be spring. Hah!

Anyway I come here today with a nervewracking but important idea in mind: The Truth! It is getting increasingly difficult to update lxforever/keep up with EOT(X)s without divulging this information, and though I am still superstitious(knock wood!)/paranoid(who actually reads here?!), and still don’t know if I’ll ever share this on stupid Facebook/etc., and ALSO don’t intend to violate my daughter’s privacy the way many ‘internet parents’ seem to do this way/these days, I do value recording things in some fashion, and so here it is: I am pregnant. Jeff and I are expecting a baby in late June. We feel extremely lucky and grateful and hopeful. What a wonderful world this could be.

Obviously…I have seen some terrible things happen in the past year and so I’m very much of the mindset “I’ll believe it when I see it”, but at the same time…I’m a planner. I have to plan. And she’s kicking away like a champ, and that is really reassuring. So I will continue to hope that all goes as well as it possibly can and trust in tricky tricky Nature. Or whatever.

Ummmm…so again, I don’t know who reads here, but if it’s who I expect, you all already KNOW THIS ALREADY, so, yay! And if you are a creep and didn’t know (ha!), now you do, I guess. And please still refrain from posting anything on various Social Media Networks if you will please (y’know, ’cause you all care so darn much about ME and MY LIFE…ha! JK/not really). I spent a good 5-6 weeks in Jan/Feb freaking out and scared that this was not going to work out, but now I just have to wait and trust the process, which we are doing (Jeff is great at this, I am not – he has seriously been so, so incredibly amazing, I am incredibly lucky to have him), and I’m feeling 1000000000000x times better than I was a mere month or so ago. YAY, again. And so now it’s time to plan this hopeful reality for real.

This is all to say that a really cool carseat is set to be shipped to us today and I’m really, dorkily, pathetically excited about it ;).

ANYWAY! That is that. Now maybe I can actually write here without being super sneaky. (That is, if I publish this at all…….we’ll see.) Also I’ve been busy doing baby-researching things (almost all of the info-needed thanks to CHRISTIE who is a GODSEND) and work-doing things so less time to write. Also I am very paranoid, as mentioned. So, yeah.

Yesterday we attended a Caspian concert!!! It was AMAZING, so immersive and so beautiful, and they get so darn into it, they are sweating buckets by the end. They played Sycamore(?) to close, and all five of them ended up on the drums. It was SUPER INTENSE and awesome and I wish I could see them do that again and again. They were very humble and grateful for all of the fans who showed up – super cute. And Jeff was just over the moon to see his current favorite band AGAIN and this time doing a full concert (vs. tiny opener). OMG. So terrific. I had never been to 7th Street Entry either and it is quite perfect for something like this. Intimate and grungy. Great, great night! We also dined at Ginger Hop before, with yet another fantastic server. (Seriously, do they pay their servers really well or what?! They are super.) We have two more concerts coming up in April too. Spring of concerts!! But I do think Caspian was the highlight, you really need to check them out. NOW.

Last weekend we took a few days off to do some house reorganization and baby-life-preparing. We spent all day Friday putting together a giant wardrobe thing that I LOVE (so much good space saved in our tiny house! I have my own little closet in our ROOM now – yeah!!!), but was a HUGE beast and totally tired us out. Whew. Good thing I didn’t work out that day! Getting old man. It kind of sucks. Anyway. We are trying to sell my old bed at which point we can start putting together other (baby) furniture…woohoo! Then when Jenny comes to visit she can sleep in the crib. JK. 😉 Anyway, very productive and very good. Now bring us spring, Earth!

Pregnancy is sort of scary (duh, as I imagine parenting to be…we’ll see). Amazing, and so exciting, but scary. You spend the first few months excited but hesitant to expect too much, in case things don’t work out…then it looks like they might. There’s a list of things you should and shouldn’t do, which makes sense and isn’t too tricky. At 20 weeks, they give you a sheet with signs of preterm labor that you should be watching for – scary and intense, but making it seem more real. At 24 weeks, you register for the hospital stay, and at 28, they ask you to start doing kick counts every day. Slowly over time your responsibility (and the sense of reality!) increases, which I suppose is a very good, if tiny, preparation for the parenting part. And while this is something I’ve been wanting my whole life, and we couldn’t feel more lucky or excited to be here, it’s daunting. But it will be the thrill of a lifetime to learn it all alongside our daughter.

Happy Pi Day tomorrow / happy anniversary tomorrow to my parents!

ETA: And today is a perfectly symmetrical (almost) day, 3-13-13! BOOM!
ETA2: I also finally updated the link to Diana’s blog in the sidebar. You should check it out (hoping this forces her to update).

Hello people.

I am BACK!!!

I really needed a reboot of sorts. I don’t know that that means more blogging, but it definitely means more happiness!

Here are some great things that have happened:
1. I started sleeping. Who knows if it will last but it makes me SO. HAPPY. !!!!!!!!
2. I went to Chicago to see Jenny and Hakan. Well, WE went. It was an AMAZING weekend and much, much needed. Seriously one of my favorite weekends/mini-vacays ever. We all just hung out, watched Shark Tank (ha!), walked around Michigan Ave, went out to eat/ate a lot of amazing food, saw Andrea, and went to the hockey game with Andrea and Amit. YEAH!!! SUPER cold but super fun. I want to relive it over and over. What a fun time. We also slept a lot, which I needed too. AND hung out with the kitties…so cute! I loved waking up and seeing them (well, and Jenny/Hakan/Jeff, ha ha).
3. We got an amazing chair. It now sits in the middle of our living room. I put it together. YES I DID.
4. I finally made my first successful casserole yesterday (“hotdish”, sorry, I’m not native enough for that yet). Spinach quinoa chicken. BOOM! It was really cool/good.
5. Christie is a genius and shares her smartness with me willingly and anytime. THANK GOD FOR THAT!!!

And more.

This weekend was fantastic also. Here is a quick WEEKEND RECAP:
FRIDAY was a great evening. I got in a quick workout while watching SCANDAL (wait let me back up, Thursday was great too, I came home and ate and sat on the couch and watched Grey’s live. Loved it! OK anyway.). Friday. Jeff came home earlier than expected YAY!!! I made us mac and cheese and broccoli while Jeff worked out at 9:30 PM. I also made us a floor plan, using graph paper like any good architect’s daughter. Thanks Dad! Watched some Friends, ate dinner, went to bed. Good times! Jeff was home!

SATURDAY I got up and went to yoga. It was a very relaxing class. I then hurried home to shower up so we could meet Erik at his place in Woodbury and go to lunch for his birthday. His place was really cool! We heard stories about “Kathy” and I am STILL laughing about that. Thinking about it just makes me laugh to tears. OMG I have to meet this woman. We went to Akita for all you can eat sushi/etc. AMAZING! The service was awful but the food was delightful. I would like to do that again sometime, when I have more menu-freedom to work with.

We had a great time together as the three of us are wont to do, then Jeff and I headed out. To IKEA! POANG! We got a lot of ideas for our busy little brains and trolled around the displays. Excelente.

Then to the grocer’s! We ran into Seth. He was looking good! Then we got our shopping DONE and went home and unloaded. Jeff got to work and I got to putting together the POANG. Success! I wasn’t born into a family of artists/engineers for nothing! Sat in the chair and loved it. Made myself an egg sandwich and had a Cadbury egg. EGGS. Jeff got done with work, put together the ottoman, and declared he was never leaving that chair. He was mostly right. It’s pretty swell. Finally…to bed!

SUNDAY I got up and cleaned up and stretched, the usual. Off to meet Kristin for brunch at Colossal Cafe. What a find! She is so smart. She brought me a coat and snacks. I brought her nothing. We enjoyed runny eggs (I made do) on sourdough and lots of good conversation and chatter. She will be a politician one day! Then tea at the bistro to continue. Perfect choice. What a great morning it was!

I had to test something for work then went to the U to swim. Somehow got my own lane even though I parked a zillion miles away/was late and enjoyed a solid, long swim. PERFECT. (Although an annoying old man DOVE into my lane even though there were two other COMPLETELY OPEN ones – WTF? It made me angry with entitled old white men, sorry.) Home and plotted our household with Jeff. Did a little cleaning and food prep. Had a LONG phone call with Katy, which was great and long overdue. HOORAY. Then got to cooking where I made my successful casserole (thanks to Katy for the advice). YEAH. It was super yummy. Ate that and watched some Oscars. Slightly offensive but the stage was beautiful. Jeff sat in the chair ;). I dinked around and went to bed a bit early and slept well again. I am so happy! I thank our fan and having an extra pillow in the bed – sorry Hug.

Anyway it was a great weekend. Gotta dash but had to share. Hope you all are well!

ETA: OMG. Just realized in a few years I might get to play dollhouse again. OMG!!!!!!!!

Happy hearts’ day, all!

There are so many things I want to write about but alas, it’s just not quite right for this blog right now. Good things, mind you, just things not meant for lxforever, at least not yet or now, I don’t think. So that is part of my quietness (along with busy worklife/life-life).

However! This week has been better each and every day and I am so thankful for that. Yesterday was a thrill and a half (yay 13s!) and today is a fun holiday and tomorrow is time to see JENNY! Yay. Lots of goodness ahead.

I have to go eat but I wanted to post…from my secret heart(s) to yours!

What a perfectly wonderful day!!!