Holiday Cards 2011

These went out much later than usual this year, but I had way too much on my plate and I feel lucky they went out at all!

Without further ado...

Front -photography by Michelle
Message reads: And I think to myself what a wonderful world.

Inside - yes, the dogs make the card every year.

Back - ultra sound picture with a little announcement! I hope people actually look at the back...

Front of the envelope

Back of the envelope

Since we got our 50 cards for free from Shutterfly, I decided to splurge on red envelopes. I make the wrap around labels myself using full page label paper and my paper cutter. We could have used more than 50 cards, but when I was ordering my husband said not to, so I didn't. I won't be listening to him next year!

I'm really happy with how they turned out!

Oh, and as a side note, even though we celebrate Christmas, I always like our cards to say Happy Holidays because we send them to a few people who aren't Christian and I know I would feel kind of weird getting a Hanukkah or Kwanzaa card in the mail.

Happy Birthday Mom!

I love you so much and hope you have a wonderful day!

My mom with Santa - in the 60s, obviously. 

Doesn't this picture remind you of that movie A Christmas Story??

24 weeks

Sorry I'm late with this post. This week was totally nuts. I'm glad it's over, but I can't believe there only one more week until Christmas. I need another month!

I've been getting a lot more comments from strangers lately, which is cool. It's nice to know that I look pregnant and not just fat. Many people also guess that it's a boy just by looking at me. I'm not sure how they know that (I think they're just lucky guessers), but it's always fun to tell them they're right.

The nursery is really moving along. My husband is putting up the third coat of primer right this minute, then hopefully he and his dad will paint tomorrow. After careful consideration (an so much flip flopping on my part) we decided to go with Benjamin Moore's Polar Ice. It wasn't one of the two choices we had originally thought we liked, but after it dried, it was our favorite. We still like Summer Shower, but it has those cool green tones in it and our artist friend Jackie pointed out that Polar Ice is a warmer color. Also, when I held up both paint chips to the living room walls (Benjamin Moore Vintage Charm), Polar Ice was much more complimentary. After the paint is done, my husband is going to put up crown molding and trim around the closet. Then, we'll paint the frame of the closet white (it's a goldish color now), and then we can start putting furniture in! I'm so happy things are moving along.

My husband's grandma sent us the money for the stroller yesterday, so I went ahead and ordered it right away. It said it would ship on Monday, but I got an email this morning saying it shipped today! She's coming over for Christmas Eve, so she'll be able to see what her money went towards. I'm so excited, I can't wait to get it set up!!

I have been doing the majority of my Christmas shopping online this year because I just can't bear the crowds and lines. I have everything done except for a couple of photo books that I still need to work on. Shutterfly says if you order by 4pm pacific on 12/18, you'll get it by the 24th (standard shipping). I'm really hoping they're right, because it would not be cool if they were late. The reason I've waited so long to do those is that most of our pictures are on our desk top in the office and it's currently inaccessible. Tonight, we should be able to put some of that stuff in the nursery closet and the rest in the garage so we can have that room back. I also need to get it back to normal because my cousin Cameron is coming for a quick visit on Monday. As of now, we can't see the bed that's in there, but hopefully it will be ready for guests in a couple of days.

I'm been feeling pretty good lately, my only complaint is the lower back pain. If I'm standing too long or doing any sort of repeated bending, it hurts pretty badly. I'm going to get back to yoga now that I have some time off and hopefully that will help.

Oh, I almost forgot! The shirt in my photos this week is from Shade Maternity (they have regular clothes, too), a store I heard about from Mandy (the OMG mom). She tweeted a 40% off discount code, so I bought this shirt because I thought it would be cute for the holidays. I love it! I actually took the belt off after the photos, changed into my favorite pair of brown boots, and put a big slouchy cardigan on over it.

Don't forget to check in at Hellobee every once in a while! My baby shower inspiration post went up yesterday and many more are coming. Stop by and say hello!

I'm a BEE!

The first blog I ever read (well, as least the first one I can ever remember reading that I actually knew was a blog) was Weddingbee. It's an amazing site where all different women, and even a couple men, blog about planning their weddings. When I was planning my wedding, I used to keep the site open as a tab on my browser and refresh it any time I had a free minute to look at new posts. It is an incredible resource for any bride, but I especially loved it because so many women had amazing DIY ideas and inspiration that I totally stole... ahem... borrowed for my own wedding.
After our wedding, I started reading the personal blogs of ladies whose weddings I followed and through comments and twitter, became sort of online friends with some of them. It has been amazing to have this new support system over the last couple of years and I'm so grateful for the community that Wedingbee creates between it's bloggers and readers. The only bee I've met in real life is Cathy, aka Mrs. Penquin, who is now WB's editor in chief! She's an absolute doll and we had such a great time at waterbar in San Francisco this summer. She was actually the first person to see us after we became pregnant, though we didn't know it yet.

I had always wondered if the creator of Weddingbee, Bee Kim, or Mrs. Bee, was going to start a parenting site. People were always buzzing about it on the WB boards and twitter and I anxiously awaited the day when she would launch one. Well, that day has come and I am SO incredibly excited to be a part of the first generation of Mama Bees to blog for Hellobee!

I am Mrs. Tic Tac Toe!

Read my very first post on Hellobee here!

Paint! Finally!

After many weekends of work, my husband finally finished flattening the walls in the baby room. He also installed  new insulation in the attic, which is accessed through the baby room closet, so our house will be toasty warm (and nice and cool in the summer) just in time for baby's arrival.

So... colors. About a month ago, we went down to a local paint shop that carries Benjamin Moore paint. I like their selection of colors the best, but their prices are quite high, so we just wanted to get swatches there and then take them to Home Depot to be color matched.

After debating and consulting friends, we settled on Glass Slipper, Polar Ice, Summer Shower, and Lily White (from House Beautiful Magazine) all by Benjamin Moore. Then, I headed to Home Depot to get some little $3 sample jars so we could paint swatches on the wall.

The room isn't primed yet, and it will take several coats of primer and paint because the plaster used to skim the walls sucks up the paint like a sponge, but here's an idea of what the colors would look like on the walls.

I wore a heavy duty mask, so as not to inhale paint fumes. Sexy, huh?

We painted little abbreviations of the colors under each swatch so we'd remember which was which.

Watch out!

Ok, so here they are. From left: Summer Shower, Lily White, Glass Slipper, and Polar Ice.

And the verdict? We ruled out Glass Slipper right away because it was much too gray. Polar Ice was next to go because it was too dark. Now, we're left with Summer Shower and Lily White. We both keep going back and forth between those two. They're very different, but we like something about both of them. We have to decide soon, though, because we're hoping to get it painted before Christmas (oh please oh please).

So, what do you think?

Here a picture of just those two without flash.

Wow, you can barely see Lily White in this one... maybe that's a sign?

Tell me what you think. And we don't have time to go get more samples, so it has to be one of these.

#WEverb11: Favor

For #WEverb11, I've decided to only write about the prompts that really strike a chord with me, to alleviate a bit of pressure. Today's prompt is:

What was your favorite month of 2011? Why did it beat out all 11 other months?


This one is tough, but really forced me to think carefully and that's why I like it. So many amazing things happened this year, but my favorite month was probably May.


In May, I did my first round of clomid and we got our BFP! I'll never forget that morning when I screamed and made my husband get out of bed to come see. He thought I had seen a spider in the bathroom and was annoyed at first, until he realized why I was freaking out. 


That weekend, I was in my good friend Laura's wedding.

The next day, my husband and I celebrated our second anniversary at a really fancy restaurant.

We talked about our baby and just had an amazing night. We were so happy and in love. I'll treasure that memory forever.


Why would I consider May my favorite month if it's also the same month we lost our first pregnancy? Because we made it though stronger than ever. When it happened, we both called in sick, I cried for an hour, and then we went out to breakfast. I didn't sink into severe depression, I held my head up and leaned on my husband and we found strength in each other. These are the things that bind us together. These are the experiences that shape us as human beings. 


This is the month I also nailed my demo lesson for my new job. The school I applied to is one I've wanted to teach at since I was in high school, but I never thought I'd be good enough. Once I realized that I wowed them in the demo lesson, I found a confidence I never knew I had. It was empowering and a little scary. And as you know, I got the job!


My favorite month isn't the month where everything went my way, but it's the month where I believe I grew the most this year. I'll never forget the things that happened that month and I'm glad about that. I don't want to forget the hard times, I want to remember, learn, and grow.

Cupcakes Giveaway Winner!

I completely forgot to select a winner for a dozen mini cupcakes from Crumbs! Please forgive me and my pregnancy brain!!

The winner is...

JEN from Living a Brighter Life!

Congratulations to her and thanks to all of you for your sweet comments.

Since I hate leaving a post without a picture, here's the new tiny stockings I got at Crate and Barrel. Two for the dogs, and one for the baby!

Cute, right?

Happy Weekend!