for six years

we have been married.

i picked well. b is the best.

he got me this with Lexis Points

it took this picture of the flowers he got me

and of the baby we made.

i am blissed and blessed.

e

lent

i have been a christian for as long as i can remember. growing up in a mainstream run-of-the-mill somewhat-if-not-completely-and-sometimes-extremely-conservative non-denominationalish evangelical church (more on this to come - hizzah! to full disclosure) i never fully grasped lenten practices. perhaps they were too tied to a letergical way of showing one's faith ((which was out of fashion for the whole of the 90's in run-of-the-mill churches)) or perhaps i went into a daze whenever fasting came up in church (this is the most likely option - as i don't like pain and there was much of the non-religious to divert my attention during sunday school - read: friends and boys). ho.hum.

so, this year i want to take part in lent. i want to be a good steward of the time leading up to easter. i want to take part in the mourning season in preperation for the spring. and i want your help in figuring out what to do. but, before you get all foolhardy and make suggestions like: give up t.v. (yeah, right... i'm in the throws of a very torrid affair with the gilmore girls, don't mess - i'm nursing) or give up alcohol (a prerequisit to my lenten fast is that it not interfere with any social events - example:: you: "erin, why are you turning down the lovely overly salted margarita, you love super salty super taquillay margaritas??" me: {very piously} "oh, i've given up alcohol for lent" you: {internal monologue} "what a pious b****h turning down my super salty super taquillay marg. she thinks she's just so awesome." {out loud} "that's fine. good for you." ... you see what i mean, not a good way to go.). i want to give something up that would occur daily, but not otherwise motivated by weight-loss goals and would inevitably posture me towards easter. i'd actually love for the practice to be non-food related. all this to say, please share with me some of your ideas or past positive experiences of lent.

un-piously yours,
erin

oh, and since today was ash wednesday i was remembering a day in college when my besties and i decided to get smudged (not the offical term). this is what i recall: 1. our dress: two of the three of us wore overalls. {p.s. i heard they're coming back. hmm.} 2. the delicious adrenaline rush of the unfamiliar service - when do i get up? when do i sit down? how do i take communion? do i need to cross myself with holy water? ... delicious confusion 3. but, mostly i recall being in awe of how barren the church walls were in comparison to the last time i had visited, there was a sense of acknowledged emptiness and a longing to be filled - i guess that's what i want while i wait for ressurection sunday.

confessions of a maternityjeanaholic

hello.

I'd like to believe that AtI is a safe place (p.s. i just decided, right this instant, to give my blog a shortened title - makes me feel fancy). A place where honesty is held as the highest virtue. Where people can feel at home to be themselves - no gimics, no trite answers, no spin... well maybe a little bit of spin - i love spin. so, i need to come clean; the truth needs to be told. Here it is :: 3 months out & i am still wearing maternity jeans (there will be NO picture of this phenomenon, sorry). Reasons are two-fold: 1. up until recently no other jeans fit, 2. in case you hadn't heard i got wicked stretch-marks (not happy) and what i call "hard jeans" hurt like hot iron pokers into tender flesh. So, what is the cure? I've asked around to no avail. However, today I may have found an answer - DISCOUNT SHOES!!!! two-thirds off and one-hundred percent awesome::

$13

$15

$11

bought these last month from j.crew's online final sale. it has taken me 2.5 winters to get snow boots. lame, i know. but, i got a great deal on them
$35

also, since i was photographing my purchases i thought i'd put in a plug for my favorite store: LUSH. I got this shampoo today, I'm hoping against hope that it puts a little more platinum in my blond.

fyi: $8.50

so, after a little smidge of retail-therapy i'm feeling okay with wearing pantalones de maternidad for the foreseeable future. Another confession - they are the most comfortable pants I've ever worn (except they are starting to sag ... ugh) and when I first put them on 9 months ago I said outloud "I'm not sure I'll ever wear anything else ever again!"

here's to eating my words,
erin

blog addendum #1:

newsflash - one of east coast besties Melissa K got engaged this weekend. Em and I got the pleasure of her company today. I got some good coversation & a latte, Em got a snuggle & nap in Miss-Lissa's arms. Here is a pic of the lady showing off her amazing engagement ring (props to fiance Odoi for picking it out). I kind of want one. Sleep with one eye open Melissa!

blog addendum #2:

Em is back in the bowl - not so happy about it. Mommy is mean. :)

blog addendum #3:

the little girl loves her momma. so much that she now cries when i leave the room, don't look her in the eye while she's awake (like to talk to another person or read an email or blink), and if i talk while nursing ... blood curdling screams. em demands that if you are in her presence you must act as if no one else exists - i try to take it as a sign of love. funny side note: if i am the one to put her asleep she can be cranky-cranky tired with red eyes and big yawns, but if she can make contact with my open eyes she will fight to stay awake. though, the minute i close my eyes but keep "looking" at her she will follow suit and go to sleep. silly baby.

i kind of crazy about her too.

I am a delinquent blogger. you must forgive me.

holly said the best way to get blogging again is to just jump back on the horse. so here's my proverbial jump (stolen from her blog) :: A photo- journal/journey to my inner-most self. I love photo mosaics & Flickr & answering personal questions, so here it goes...



Here's how you do it:
a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
b. Using only the first page, pick an image.
c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd’s mosaic maker.

The Questions:
1. What is your first name?
2. What is your favorite food?
3. What high school did you go to?
4. What is your favorite color?
5. Who is your celebrity crush?
6. Favorite drink?
7. Dream vacation?
8. Favorite dessert?
9. What you want to be when you grow up?
10. What do you love most in life?
11. One Word to describe you.
12. Your flickr name. (or if you're not a member of Flickr, do your blog name or email name or something like that)

here are the links to the flickr pages of the pictures in my mosaic

1. LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION!, 2. ah, se a magali visse essa foto..., 3. Bald Eagle, 4. Wasn't There Supposed To Be Another One?, 5. Reese Witherspoon 2, 6. Rootbeer Float, 7. Sunset over River Seine, 8. 20080716 52 Cremé Brulle, 9. Day 106 - I am a librarian, 10. Family Portrait, 11. New Mom and Baby - Quilled People, 12. Are we negotiating? Always.

An Unavoidable Update

We are officially 3 days overdue people! Baby girl Emelyne will come at her own sweet time. You should know that I have a habit of speaking for her as if I can hear all her thoughts. At the beginning of the pregnancy I would tell B that I didn't know what she was saying because she only spoke Japanese - well, now she's fluent in English a bit sassy and wiser than her months. She says things like "dad, this is just the beginning of you needing to exercise more patience than me" and "I really need apple fritters and organic milk" (she was very into watermelon this summer). My mom came into town a week ago to prepare for Emmie's arrival. We've been having fun doing crafts, going shopping, watching crime scene dramas, and today we're celebrating Mom's birthday by seeing a movie-musical, eating donuts (emelyne....) and taking a long-hopefully-labor-inducing walk. We're hoping that Em comes today - but she may come tomorrow or the next day. The doctors assure me that she will come sometime before the beginning of next week - either of her own will of the will of a petocin drip (those of you taken to praying can pray for a more natural birth situation in the next 6 days).


In other newsworthy news an official announcement - We're coming back to California in Summer '09. That's right friends - we're comin' home! B accepted a job from Cali-based trial law firm Quinn Emanuel. We're pretty stoked, though we'll miss New England and our dear dear friends here.

In preparation for our move I'm doing lots of research on real estate websites like Zillow & Redfin (beware - these sites are major time vacuums). We plan to live somewhere in the East Bay (see map below - Contra Costa County is most likely).



When baby comes we promise more updates and of course pictures!

Duely yours,
erin