whats up with the wonky eye? too much plastic surgery kim!!

winter wonderland

i woke up this morning to the sound of rain, which quickly turned into snow! oliver and i ran out to play before i went to work, where the snow of course turned back into rain. i love the snow - even though i've been craving the warmer weather that we've been having. i just wish it would stick. other than that, i'm completely over the winter.
jack and i went to lowes, as i said, and spent quite a long time picking out paint. jack sometimes surprises me with how indecisive he is. or maybe he just really wanted the RIGHT color. we also couldn't agree on the color for the living room. finally we went for a fantastic blue for the nursery (aptly named slumber) and a very neutral, light beige for the living room.
i think we may even try to start painting this coming week, since he has quite a few mornings off.
i received the most amazing book in the mail today: a facsimile of lewis carroll's handwritten, personally illustrated first version of alice in wonderland (alice's adventures underground). its giving me great ideas for my next tattoo....
i've been working hard on organizing all my figures for work to present to my committee. hopefully they'll agree i've done enough work to graduate very soon. my goal is to be out of the lab and writing by the end of march. its lofty - considering i have been having some trouble focusing lately. but i think it can be done. i'm just worried about trying to answer questions while i'm any later than 6 months pregnant - i haven't had too much of the pregnant brain yet, but i'd imagine its only going to get worse.
Shawn and I are planning on getting out this weekend (no, really we are!) to see Lore at gallery5, which features a friend from high school. i've been wanting to get out and see something like this that gallery5 tends to do every once in awhile, so i'm happy to actually be doing it. it will be nice to get out as well.
i've been browsing ikea's website again and i think i've found some doable options for the baby room. i'm still disappointed hey don't have those curtains but these would def work:

more red than i was thinking, but i think its more gender neutral which makes me happy. and those textiles will be great for making something else....
ok.enough being distracted. off to do some real work.

yummy soup

i'm finally getting over my cold-mainly thanks to the copious amounts of soup i ate in the beginning of the week. my wonderful sister-in-law even loaded her five children into the car just to bring me her special "feelin the healin" soup. brave woman. so i'm finally starting to feel back to normal.
i'm very excited because jack and i went to lowes to buy paint. jack has a week coming up soon that he'll be able to paint which is fantastic because i'm antsy to do some redecorating. not just the nursery but our room, the living room,the other back room, even the hall (yes, i am redoing the great wall of family photos...a little less intense hopefully). i also bought some seed starters - i'm planning corn, lettuce, and peas this year - along with some more peppers, cucumbers and attempting the tomatoes again. so thats our valentines day - lowes, viva mexico (best mexican! i would venture to say better than el toro loco), jack washed my car (and shoo it needed it! he was actually afraid i had diseases festering in the carpet) - it was lovely.
as for the nursery, it seems like i'm going to have to find curtains as well as bedding. i've checked every ikea on the east coast and i think they've discontinued them. and they didn't have the fabric i liked either. i want this space to be gender neutral but its a lot harder to do that than i figured. so much so that i actually yelled at the fetus "be a girl!". how terrible! please don't judge. but if its a boy...i hope he likes britney and lady gaga because we're going to see both in the next few months. i feel its important to expose children to culture at a young age.
we're starting to get bridal and wedding pictures back which i'm very excited about framing. i need to be on the look out for frame sales, or start hitting up the thrift stores - anyone want to make a trip with me? i also need to find a good place to do enlargements.
sunday we went to one of jenny's sewing classes. i made a tiny cute pin cushion! it was fun and i learned A LOT! i learned how to thread my machine properly - not my mom's ghetto version, and a fancy "rocket ship" knot making trick. i've been kind of slack on the sewing lately and this has inspired me - thank you so much jenny!!
this week i'll be going through all the baby stuff kate has sent over. i feel like i've sprouted a belly overnight, so i may have to start digging into some maternity stuff. we also have birthing group and nancy this week - so hopefully the baby is in a good position to listen to. next month we get to find out what it is - incredible!!

tv: normally i have no interest in the show dancing with the stars but this season lil'kim is on! i love lil'kim! shawn and i love her so much we used to drive everywhere in his little white cabrio convertible(the mallow - short for marshmallow) with a life size cardboard cutout of kim in the back seat. buckled in. and we'd make whoever else was riding sit next to her. i can't remember what he ended up doing with her, but those were good times. so needless to say, i'll be rooting for kim.
i've been busy (yea!!) so i've actually missed lost this past week, and two weeks of desperate housewives. i've been catching up on nip/tuck on hulu - this season has not been a disappointment. i also think i'm going to register for dvds for my baby shower so i'll have something to do at 2 am. i'm thinking bones, dexter, the tudors.

ahhchoo

yuck. so i have terrible cold, i actually stayed home from work. which is probably good b/c my one attempt at leaving the house today was disastrous. i feel like i've been sick more this winter than any, but i think i feel like that every year. i should have seen this coming, as the kid i was sitting next to in class in thursday did nothing but breathe on me in between sucking up his snot. i tried to turn as far away from him as possible and even put my shirt over my mouth so i wouldn't breathe his air, but it obviously still got to me. he would turn wherever i turned and lean forward when i did - it was literally like he was trying to get me sick. gross. people should really stay home when they're sick. really.
so shawn and i went to ikea yesterday. i wouldn't say it was a total waste, but they didn't have the curtains i really wanted (which of course you can't order online or through the catalogue), but i have plenty of time. and h&m was kind of a bust too - they had very little by way of maternity stuff, and even their baby stuff was slim pickins. of course i still managed to find something. i always do.
so lately i've been trying to find a job - or a post doc. normally after getting a PhD, people continue on to a post doc, which is basically another 2-3 years of "school". you are in charge of yourself, but still working in someone else's lab. i hadn't really planned on doing this, until i got pregnant. if i can find a nice mentor, i can have a couple months off when the baby is born, work from home, and also have a more flexible schedule once i get back into the lab. and luckily for me, the cancer center has grants available to post docs that they are having problems getting rid of (so i should have a pretty good chance of getting). now i just have to find a lab. there is a guy who works in molecular immunology (allergies and such) of which i have NO experience, but there is a lot of research opportunities in cancer immunotherapy. this would basically be looking at cancer as a group of bad cells that your immune system has not been able to attack, and boosting your immune system against them as therapy. to me, this seems extremely interesting and not a bad way to go for a couple of years. i'd have a lot of learning to do - but thats what those two months off are for right? so heres hoping. oh and i have to graduate. but having this position before graduating would basically be a free pass to getting my degree.

in gossip - omg what the hell is going on with chris brown and rihanna?! Shawn told me he hit her b/c she gave him herpes. drama!

all by myself....

when i wasn't pregnant and i could drink, i never really wanted to go out. i was quite content to sit at home and watch tv, read a book, whatever. so now that i can't drink i'm dying to go out. and not go out to drink (although i miss that too), but just get out of my house, talk to someone other than the dogs and jack. i just want to hang! (do i sound desperate here?) i just find myself to be really bored. i don't even mind being at work until 6 or 7 because i dread going home. part of it is that jack has been working late a lot, so he's not even home when i get home. part of it is that i have this lame routine: walk in the door, let the dogs out, turn on judge judy (or mathis or joe brown), let the dogs in, feed the dogs, watch judge judy, eat dinner (i'm usually so apathetic i won't even cook), watch whatever else is on, let the dogs out, get ready for bed, read, go to bed. every single nite! lame!!! and i get tired, so i don't really want to hang out late, just hang out for a little while - dinner, breakfast on the weekends, sewing party, book club, i don't care!!
anyhoo. enough self loathing. here are some things that i love: 2 new blogs (well, new to me) angry chicken and soule momma (thanks jenny). i think these people have the most creative ideas, so i like to steal them. and from them i found this blog.
and from that i went to etsy and bought this for the nursery:
which is all handcut out of rice paper. i wanted to buy like eight of these, but figured that may be overdoing it. i'm also off to ikea this weekend to buy some other stuff for the nursery and hit up h&m for baby and maternity clothes. of course, i'm scared to buy maternity clothes b/c i have no idea how big i may get or what sizes i should buy or how to gauge what i think i may need. luckily i don't have to buy much b/c kate sent over a huge tub of maternity stuff (including some really nice designer maternity jeans). yea kate for having five kids before me! espec. b/c we're getting basically everything else from her as well.
our farmer friend bridge mentioned that blueberries grow beautifully in va and would do great in our backyard. so in honor of the blueberry, i think i'll plant some this year. he said there's a great place in afton called edible landscaping that delivers, but i'd kind of like to make the trip up there this spring to check everything out and enjoy the drive. plus i told him we would plant the placenta underneath.
i'm slowly figuring out how to use my new phone. i didn't think it would take me this long but it is. i want to look into the apps for it - i know it doesn't have nearly as many as the iphone but it def. has some. but it is slightly frustrating when i can't figure out how to answer a call. lord help me if i need to dial 911.
this made me super excited:seriously this is classic kelly(bitch) and donna(moron)! ooh i can't wait!! and the other good news is that the britney concert is 99.9% on. i was very nervous that she was going to cancel - i mean we have really good seats! but it looks like its all good and me, the blueberry and shawn will be shaking our booties in march.

1 trimester down...

this morning i woke up to an icy fog surrounding our neighborhood. although it wasn't snow, it still made me happy to drive down the street through a tunnel of iced branches. now if it would just snow damnit.
i am officially through with my first trimester! yea! and with no sickness, aside from the occasional headaches, i'm sure this baby will find some other form of punishment for this pregnancy. and although i haven't had any major cravings ( i mean, i always want pizza and taco bell), i definitely discovered a major aversion to fresh fish. i'm not really showing -i just look really bloated and my pants don't fit -i'm down to three pair of jeans. the ones i'm currently wearing are tight enough that i'm afraid the button will shoot off at any moment, ricochet off my computer screen and hit malissa in the ear. although, i'd have to be sitting in a very odd position for that to happen. it would probably just discretely fall into my lap. my new pregnancy issue is being tired. and not like, man i could use some caffeine tired - like i will fall down right here and go to sleep on the nasty floor in the lab i am so tired. i have never felt like this except when i used to stay up for days driving to the beach and back. and even then i don't think i was this tired. and the problem is - its hits about 2:00 but by the time i get home, i'm pretty wide awake again and can't get to sleep until 10. and i have no problem going to bed at 7, i just can't! oh and no chance for a nap - there is nowhere to lay down at work. i'm also feeling really lazy, having not been to the gym aside from two day this past month. i just can't get motivated!too bad they don't have the pool built yet. i could definitely motivate myself to do some water aerobics.
shawn found this lamp:
that totally goes with my idea for the nursery. it's a little girly but, hey shawn likes it. i'm still on a search for bedding or fabric b/c jenny was nice enough to offer to make me bedding. but i still can't find anything i'm dying to have. the search continues...hope i don't run out of time!
i ordered all my ingredients for my organic pregnancy tea: hibiscus flowers, red raspberry leaf, lemon balm, alfalpha, spearmint, nettle, and oatstraw. normally i like to order bulk herbs and teas from mountain rose herbs but i find that they are ALWAYS out of stock of what i want. so i found this place that had everything i wanted, was pretty cheap and the shipping and handling wasn't outrageous (like mt rose is). i also ordered some tummy butter to get my scar ready for some major stretching. its smells really good - like honey and lavender and i look all slicked up and shiny- que sexy!
oh! i read twilight on saturday and i have one word...swoon! seriously edward! now i must see the movie b/c r. patz makes it so much better. and i must continue reading the series - anyone have it so i can borrow? i don't know why i've waited so long!
i think i'm going to try to make my own pizza dough. any recipe suggestions? i keep having a craving (let's not call it that...) for mary angela's pizza but jack refuses to go there and their delivery is never as good as eating there so i want to try to recreate it at home. or someone can just go with me. i'm down for the place across the river too. or prontos or the place on harrison. i'm not picky really. i just want pizza! but instead tonite i'm making spring rolls....

fun with color

i was watching the dutchess with keira knightly ( i find her lack of chest slightly disturbing) and fell in love with the colors in the costumes and set decoration. all the light blues, creams and browns and i thought - that's a pretty neutral color palate that i could do in the nursery. why i'm already planning the decoration of the nursery is beyond me. we have like 6 months. and i'm definitely not doing anything anytime soon b/c we have to paint. the walls right now are a horrible flesh tone. which, i will admit, i picked out (with jack's help) but i really hate. it makes me want to throw up a little. ANYWAY. so i decided that i will def. do the walls blue. the room has two windows and is probably the brightest room in the house, so the blue will be nice. unfortunately (for jack) i want the same blue as we have in the living room which means we (he'll) have to repaint the living room. that i think will be a nice neutral taupe and i have a chocolate brown that i may do on one or two of the walls. i say "i" like i'm actually going to paint. i'll tape.
back to the baby's room. blue walls. like the blue in her dress in the opening scene, before she marries the duke. my dilemma now is that any sort of matching crib set that i have found is WAY girly and i hate. i actually hate everything i've seen and will probably end up with white. but i've now been inspired by this:
it's a mirror i found at anthropologie. a little girly but i'm really into the colors - of which there are many. its just more fun and not as dreary as what i originally envisioned. the problem with it is its like 400$. so i won't be getting the mirror for the room. but i did find:

at ikea. way cheaper and still the same color idea. i guess i'm going away from matchy matchy and just trying to keep the same idea throughout the room. thoughts? too much? with blue walls? the thing is, we aren't going to have much furniture and what we do have is mostly being given to us so i feel ok spending a little on making the room look nice and evenif it is a little busy.
one other baby related topic: amy from alchemy has a little bit of baby fever it seems (not in that way), but she has started to carry some more eco-baby things - clothes and diaper bags which is awesome for me! and the more research she does, the more she can tell me about great products that she may not be carrying but are eco-conscious or organic or what have you like these bottles. so she's saving me some time. thanks amy!
in more exciting news: Jack and i are FINALLY getting our christmas presents! these phones are pretty much similar to iphones but we won't have to switch to AT&T. they have a pretty good camera and the internet is fast. and they have powerpoint, Microsoft office and a pdf reader on them so i may actually do some work on them. riiight. so i'll probably be playing with my phone all weekend...
if i can tear myself away from twilight! ok so i haven't really been that interested in reading the series, even though everyone i know loves it and it seems right up my alley - i love vampire stories. i just never really go that stoked about it. but my friend sarah (long lost glad to have back friend) lent me her copy and i plan to read it this weekend. so i should be pretty busy with non work related things. oh and we're going to see slumdog millionaire. it will be a good, busy weekend!