From Clackamas to Conan

Some time last year I was browsing iTunes when a familiar name caught my eye & I did a double take. Diane Birch?! It was the same girl I went to elementary school with. She lived down the street, and I still remember her 5th grade birthday party that featured fancy food that I had never seen, including fruit meringues that her mother had made (the same ones that I tried to replicate afterwards, but failed--do you remember umma?). Anyways, she's been on everything from Letterman to Conan to Ellen (which airs tomorrow). Here's her recent video of my favorite song, Valentino... I remember that she played piano by ear, but I don't remember her voice being this good.

Oh Tsao Wedding

This weekend was the much anticipated wedding of Jen & Dave in SF!

Friday:
Lunch at Kokkari--DELICIOUS greek food. Then a mini-shower for Jen. Cookies by Esther Choe Lee. Aren't they adorable?? (She's booked for Rebecca's Dohl!)
My sister-in-law knows her man.
You know when you attend a shower with moms/aunts/grandmas and you think it has to be all kosher? This was NOT one of those showers. Haha:). Hope you had fun Jen.

Saturday:

My mom w/baby

Getting ready to leave for the Saturday night wedding. Saturday evening weddings are a splendid idea. Me & the baby in our faux furs. She had hers first, I admit.
My adorable niece the flower girl. Love her expression!

Joey officiated again. I think he's improved from wedding #1 to wedding #3, bc I don't remember this many people coming up to me to tell me how much they enjoyed the homily. Yes, I'm a proud wife.

The bride! She looked beautiful in her shimmery dress w/rosette detailing and her birdcage veil. Tres chic!

Jen singing "Lucky I'm in Love" to her hubby at the reception

Congrats Jen & Dave! I think you're soaking it up in Bali as we speak!

Sunday:

It was a jam-packed weekend with lots of family time...

laughter...and girl-bonding time. Michele--wish you lived on the west coast w/the rest of the cousins!!

The sad thing about coming home?? I miss my family even more....=(

Meow & Forever

My friend over at Meow and Forever got married a few weeks ago! It was at La Jolla Scripps Forum, which was just a few yards from the beach. We had so much fun Haeli! Congrats to you & Malcolm:)

Fiber, roughage, & all that good stuff

I like brown rice and Kashi cereals. Joey, not so much. I used to sneak lovingly make a 1/2 brown rice, 1/2 white rice mixture....but there was no point bc Joey wouldn't eat it. So I only cooked white rice.

Until very recently. He attended a conference meeting & came home with The full plate diet. All of a sudden, I am now getting requests to cook only brown rice. And buy only high fiber foods.

Who are you & what have you done with my husband?

My grocery list now includes: Lentils, beans, avocado, broccoli, artichokes, cauliflower, quinoa, sweet potato, whole grain bread/cereal/etc, almond butter + flaxseed, potatoes, bananas, oranges, among other things.

It's been good, everything we grew up hearing from our parents about the NEWSTART way, but in an easy-to-read format.

The basic premise? Eat fiber. Every day. 40 grams of it. No calorie counting.

So far, so good. Especially Trader Joe's 3 Minute Brown rice.

Supermom

My husband just informed me that he's going out of town next week for a Pastor's Conference. I am slightly panicky. Just me & the baby & working full-time?

It startles me how much our parents did & how much I complain for no reason. We have it so easy nowadays. My supermom:

Anyone up for dinner next week? On me @ my place?

8 Month Update

Dare I say it?

It's getting easier. My baby is growing up.

Why don't they just pop out of the womb at the 7-month stage?? That's when the good times roll. She's getting to be so curious about the world around her. Here she is on Valentine's Day. (Joey booked us a food tour of Pasadena.)

Sampled olive oils & balsamic vinegars. Did you know you can drink olive oil?

Tried Nepalese food for the first time.

Then went back for Mexican tortas. We finished off with chocolate, grapefruit gelato, homemade soap, & flower tea...
They took us through parts of Old Town I've never seen.

Baby's all toured out

The eating continued...we picked up dessert

Then headed over to The Counter for this mama's birthday dinner

Trifecta of greasy perfection: fries, sweet potato fries, and onion strings. So bad but so good.
We obviously didn't know what to do at a build-your-own burger place, bc Joey's veggie burger was about 8 inches high. I forgot to ask how he got it into his mouth.

It was a good birthday week (or two!)

Baby in her Floppy Seat....p.s. my husband can't every just 'buy' something. No, he has to research deals, coupons, read all the reviews, then order the best rated item at the cheapest site. I'm pretty much the exact opposite.

Did I mention it's gotten easier? Although she was sick for pretty much all of February, she's sleeping 10-12 hours at night now. Thank you BABY!
I'm officially obsessed. I love her so freaking much.

7 Month Update

I love being her mommy. Sad to say that I didn't realize I enjoyed motherhood until I was back at work full-time. It's busy & hectic at times, but I wouldn't trade it for anything. Especially when you come home to smiles like this one.
Presently she's recovering from roseola (high fever, vomiting, all-over rash). It is really sad caring for a sick infant. I watched my normally energetic, independent baby turn into a lethargic, clingy one. And instead of crying/whining [on Day 1 of being sick], she cried out "umma umma" all day. It was sad, but exciting at the same time.
Waiting at urgent care
Another weird/positive thing that came out of baby being sick? Joey was home on a Saturday. (Thank you church for loaning daddy to us on Sabbath. We really needed him.) Joey didn't know what to do with himself, because he usually has plans/meetings/dinners or we have people over almost every week. It hit me that we hadn't spent a Sabbath alone together since 2007 in Andrews. I know it may another 3 years before we get to spend Sabbath together as a family, but I was thankful that even a sick baby could bring about something good.