Naturally Optimistic

The other day - I got a $21 parking ticket for being at a meter "too long." Not being at an "expired" meter (as I am diligent in setting my cell phone alarm and plugging the damn thing. [pauses to set cell phone alarm] So on the ticket it says there had been 'complaints' that I had been at that meter too long? WTF? I have no where to park! Since my building that I work in is under major construction I have to park on the street and the meters are one-hour meters but I keep plugging them. Have been doing this for a month with no problem. I think because this particular meter was close to the front door (hallelujah!) the contractors (who are working here and hogging up the basement parking AND the close meters) got irritated and "complained" to Lovely Rita the Meter Maid. Anyway - whatever. I moved my car. I found a spot that had NO METER (score!) due to a hotel recently completed and parked there happily for two days without paying a cent. Then I we...

Just a regular ol' hump day. I had a busy day yesterday - worked on admin stuff in the morning, did some editing of GOD ROCKS in the afternoon. Ran a bunch of errands after work involving buy oodles of baby gifts, trying to find some maternity clothes that 1) fit me and 2) didn't make me look like an elephant, Target shopping, grocery shopping, eating a dinner WAY too late in the evening and attempting (and failing) at finishing my sister's b-day present. I was sore last night - I think it was too much time on my feet and too much running around and my pelvis was moving or shifting or something (and not in THAT way) and I did too much. So I slept in this morning and finished Kathy's b-day present (yay!) and talked with Sam on the phone and putzed around the house. Now I'm here in my new maternity jeans (ooh la la - this pair though, actually is more stylish than the hand-me-downs from my sister - a fake "zipper' area and actual pockets! Whohoo. They're ...

Our neighbor's house is a nice house. By "nice" I mean structurally sound, nice siding, etc. However, since I moved in (it was vacant when I moved in and boy don't I wish for those days!) a renter has moved in (friend of the owner's I guess). This guy is older (60's?) and I think works at a little bar in our neighborhood. He's always doing "weird" things like refinishing boats and cars in his garage (the smell! Ugh! I thought at first he was cooking meth!!...not that I actually know what that would smell like but I have a decent imagination.). There is a crappy old boat in front of his garage in the alley that he's "working on" (not in the past couple of years but still...); for the longest time there was a Saturn back there missing a hood and a quarter panel, etc. Now there's also a semi-cab (I think?) back there? Anyway - the thing is there's a lot of JUNK. Our entertainment center, which we left on the sidewalk with a big...

Since this picture was taken on my birthday LAST YEAR in Vegas....quite a few things have happened: (from left) Sarah H - has an amazingly successful and incredible high-end wedding photography career that she built from scratch in L.A. Allison (my sis-in-law) - is one year closer to completing her Master's and about to start her journey into that unknown & mysterious land called motherhood (I can't wait for the news of her pregnancy - I'm hoping it's soon!) Heather - rode her bike (again!) from San Francisco to Los Angeles and is now training for the LA Marathon!! Sudhara - is engaged to the lovely Mr. Alex. Steve & I will be there for the nuptials in March! Me - well, I've had a big year: got married, quit my job, started a new company and am expecting our first child! Whew! Kathy (my sister) - had TRIPLETS!!! TRIPLETS for crying out loud. And they are adorable! Samantha - super-mom to two already gorgeous (ridiculous, really) daughters gave birth to numbe...

Saturday was my birthday. It was exactly the kind of day I was looking for... Well, actually the whole weekend was nice. Friday night we went to "movies in the park" with our neighbors Dustin & Anna (hi Anna!). The show was THE WIZARD OF OZ which I haven't seen in a million years. It was very fun - and packed! The weather was great, I brought a much-needed chair this time and it was a lot of fun. Saturday I slept in (til almost 9 - whohooo!). Steve walked to Johnson's (our local bakery) for some breakfast treats and then I spent a couple hours sewing while he ran some mysterious "errands." When he got home I had presents to open! He bought me a lovely new 2nd Sigg bottle (for extra water when I go to work, juice for lunch or whatever) and I LOVE it. He also bought me a fancy schmancy heavy duty bike lock for my bike (finally! yay!) and a new backpack! Whohooo! It's like a normal "back-to-school" backpack but it's exactly what I needed....

Samantha had her baby last night - a girl, 1lb, 11oz. All I know so far is that she came out kicking & screaming even though she's a tiny thing. Hopefully I'll get more details later today. Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers.

Two years ago today my sweetie asked me to marry him. What a difference a couple of years makes!

Frankly, I just think I look kind of fat....

The last day of vacation was truly not relaxing. Up at 5am Dusseldorf time (11pm CDT), ate a lovely buffet breakfast - we ate a lot because hey - you never know when you're traveling when you'll be able to eat again! (that's how it feels sometimes anyway). Left for the airport at 7am. Checked in and got WORLD BUSINESS CLASS again - whohoo! We were told we could wait for our flight in the AirFrance club lounge - but it wasn't in our terminal so we skipped it. But oooh la ti dah! We felt very important. ha. Our flight was delayed (!!!) because although they FIXED our plane they neglected to clean it and empty the toilets...what? *sigh* Upon boarding we were given vouchers from Northwest for 2000 bonus miles plus a $10 airport voucher...which was nice because we were going to have 7 or 8 hours to kill in Detroit. The flight was good - filled with a lot of fancy foods (we actually kind of like the coach food better than the fancy-pants business class food but oh well - we d...

Peder and Sarah had their baby this morning - a baby girl - Aurelia Ryan! One week and 5 days (I think) past the due date. I'm sure Sarah & Peder are over the moon to welcome their new family member. I think Aurelia was making to make her debut, as a Virgo . :) Well, on the cusp anyway.... CONGRATULATIONS!

My friend Sam is 26 weeks pregnant (with her 3rd girl). She has been having problems with swelling fingers & numbness in her hands in the past few weeks and in the last couple days have felt as though someone is punching her in the stomach throughout the night. She had a doctor's appointment this morning and an ultrasound....she called me with the update. She's in the hospital. She has been diagnosed with pre-eclampsia (I looked it up, many spellings...) and it's fairly severe. The pain in her "stomach" was actually her liver swelling. She has been admitted to the hospital and they are injecting her with steroids fast and furious to help develop Baby S's lungs. More than likely Baby S will be delivered by C-section within the next 24 hours. 14 weeks early. Approx 2 lbs. Please keep Samantha & her family in your thoughts and prayers. She's a strong woman and no doubt the little one she's carrying has the same fire & determination. A few extr...

We had to get up at 3am on Wednesday to leave their house by 4-4:15am or so so we could make it to the airport by 5-5:15 or so so we could leave at 7am. Ugh. I was so tired. I was also super surprised that all of our stuff fit into our two suitcases. Whew. Bertil & Maud drove us to the airport and waited with us through checking in. Then we said farewell. It was weird and a little sad...it was so nice to visit them and spend some quality time with them, but at the same time I was really looking forward to getting home too. Our flight from Stockholm to Dusseldorf was uneventful. I think I slept for most of it which was nice, although I could've used MORE sleep. Always. We got to Dusseldorf before 9am and we had to go out and then re-check in at the Northwest counter. But the Northwest counter wasn't open yet so we just hung around and waited until it was. We were the first ones in line because really? There was no place else to go. We checked in and proceeded to the gate. We...

Our last day in Sweden was extremely pleasant. It didn't rain (which was nice) and we had an easy going day. Not a lot of running around and not NEARLY as much walking as the day before. We slept in (sort of) and once again Bertil made us some delicious (Swedish) pancakes. Bertil & Maud then asked us what we really wanted to do - and I said - I REALLY want to go to some royal gardens. So off to Drottningholm Palace we went! Drottningholm Palace is where the royal family currently lives (there are 10 or 11 palaces throughout Sweden, I believe. Most of them in the south). This palace is on a (drivable) island not too far from Stockholm's city center. It took us maybe 20-30 minutes to drive to. The palace was built in the 1760s (if memory serves) by a Queen and has been partially "updated" over the years. Some rooms we saw were more of the original style (Baroque) while others had been updated (Roccoco). It was nice to get a glimpse inside although we could take n...

While checking my (pathetic. meager.) blogstats tonight, I came across that as a referral. Yes, someone got to my site by searching for "Amonia & Jello." That is very weird.

and EEEEEEEK! 20 WEEKS TODAY! That's half-way, my friends. Holy crap!

Well, the Chick Pea has taken up gymnastics, it seems. There was a lot of crazy activity this weekend. I could even feel certain leaps and tumbles on the outside. Steve was able to feel a couple too although he is skeptical that that is what he felt! ha. Nope, that's it honey!! I think it just makes it more and more real and scary to him. Yeah, tell me about it! Chick Pea is very fond of mint chocolate chip ice cream....or at least that makes him/her do absolute summersaults within!

So I have a party planned for tonight. A Wrap Party for GOD ROCKS. It's to be an outside affair - the grill will be going, a fire was planned for our awesome firepit, etc... Of course today is overcast, about 55 degrees and there is now a FIRE BAN in Duluth which means we cannot have a fire in our fire pit. POOEY. I'm such a great party planner. Hmph. Now I better go & hurriedly clean the house as apparently the party will be moving inside. Too bad the dessert I planned for was 'smores! Doh.

On Monday morning we got up and headed into Gamla Stan - the Old City of Stockholm. I will admit - this was my favorite place in Stockholm. I love the tiny narrow cobblestone streets, the shops & cafes in small alleyways, the sense of history and past and the bustling nature of it yet today. First we went to the harbor to watch some of the tall ships depart. We saw a few on their way out with their sails down - quite impressive! The harbor was busy with so many of these ships that it made me think of what it must've looked like a hundred or two hundred years ago. That made me happy. There were hundreds of spectators all along the harbor watching these ships. I'm sure when this was how it looked every day, no one even noticed. Funny how that works, isn't it? Then we were off to the Royal Palace to witness the changing of the guards. This palace is no longer the residence of the royal family but only a place where they have their offices & do administrative work. It i...

I just got a parking ticket, dammit.

On Sunday we just wanted an easy day with little or no driving. We were sick of being in the car, ready for some more alone time and wanted to explore a nature reserve in Segeltorp (the suburb where we were staying). We slept in, Bertil made (Swedish) pancakes for breakfast and we went for a walk. The nature reserve is very large and is filled with trails for x-country skiing (Sweden is a country that LOVES their x-country skiing - wow)/hiking and horses. It was extremely reminiscent of Minnesota, don't you think? We didn't have a good trail map and we sort of didn't know where we were for a while and we came out at a place that was sort of in the direction we thought we were going in but not really...and after 3 hours I was pooped and ready to call it a day. Oh and of course it rained on us, again. We found the "city center" and called Bertil & Maud and told them we'd be heading over to.... THE LARGEST IKEA IN THE WORLD. What can I say? It was awesome an...

On Saturday we all decided that it was time to head south to Stockholm. Steve & I were looking forward to having a few days to explore the capital city and also get back to the land of less light at night! We knew it would be a long day - and we tried to prepare mentally. A lot of driving...a lot of stopping at various places of interest and for coffee...more coffee, more driving and finally back to home base. We stopped at Stenegården for lunch. This was in a very charming and beautiful little town called Järvsö. Stenegården is an old farm which now houses shops & a restaurant. We had a buffet lunch which was quite yummy. I particularly enjoyed the lingonberry juice (sort of a theme developing for me over there - like cranberry juice but a wee bit less bitter - just as healthy though!). I also picked up a couple of gift items. Back in the car we drove through beautiful rolling hills and forests. It was quite lovely. The forests there are so full of rocks, it's unbelievable...