Autumnal Equinox

It's official- fall is here! The equinox happens just twice a year and is actuallly not a day but one moment in time when the day and night are nearly equal in length. The latin base for the word equinox actually means equal night.

Technically the equinox occurs tonight at 8:09 pm PST but tomorrow will be the first complete day of fall which is why your calendars might say the 23rd. I'm done lecturing now, I hope you took notes.

As I'm not surrounded by the changing leaves I looked for a little fall inspiration on vimeo. I am never disappointed.

Autumn Glory from Paul Frederick on Vimeo.

Leaves

How silently they tumble down
And come to rest upon the ground
To lay a carpet, rich and rare,
Beneath the trees without a care,
Content to sleep, their work well done,
Colors gleaming in the sun.

At other times, they wildly fly
Until they nearly reach the sky.
Twisting, turning through the air
Till all the trees stand stark and bare.
Exhausted, drop to earth below
To wait, like children, for the snow.

by Elsie N. Brady

Tomorrow I'll have a recipe up for Pumpkin Pecan Cookies with Brown Sugar Frosting to celebrate the new season.

Are you ready for fall?

To grandmother's house we go!

My parents are just the tiniest bit excited about Peanut's arrival. The plan was/is that they would have the Peanut during the week while we are at work.

So my mom started planning the nursery immediately. Actually, thats not exactly true. You see those adorable posters above the crib? Those were purchased in San Francisco for the nursery. The day I announced my pregnancy my mom pulled them out of the closet and the nursery transformation started.

She pulled them out of the closet because she already had them!!



This entire nursery was completed by my fourth month. It was once a den, guest room and computer room. The furniture was moved out and the walls repainted.

Years ago this was my room.



We found these baskets in white at Home Goods and my mom painted them to match the room.



FYI: the baby's name is NOT Stanley. If you have a Stanley or are married to a Stanley understand that it's not a bad name... it's just not our name.

My parents (and everyone else) were/are getting a bit anxious to hear the name of the baby. We're 99% sure of it but I worry that at the last minute I'll change my mind so I haven't commited.

On a trip to Sacramento we were walking thru a shop when my dad noticed a basket of name plates. They weren't hanging in alpha order like you usually see, they were just thrown in a basket. So my dad announced that whatever name he pulled out would be the name of the baby.

They have been calling him Stanley ever since.



I think you've seen this before but I can tell you more about the pictures. They come from a children's book line called Rip Squeak and were originally owned by a husband (illustrator) and wife (author) team.

We fell in love with the stories and illustrations.



Apparently there is a family discussion about whether this is a dinosaur or a dragon.

I'd like to put it to a vote. What says the blogosphere?



I dream about holding a warm baby, fresh out of the bath and wrapped up in a soft towel.



We're getting so close!

At least we know that my parents have a nursery ready. We, on the other hand, have very little ready. I have my big shower on October 2nd and I'll be shopping and finishing the nursery after that.



Until the Peanut comes Gingerbread will make sure and take care of grandma and grandpa's nursery. She is pretty darn sure it's all for her anyways.

Forget the birds and the bees

Parental Discretion Advised!



This is the book to have. Printed in 1975 and apparently my brother's book, this resurfaced and I just couldn't see it thrown away.

I'm going to show you some of the pictures from the book. I am not going to show you all of the pictures because I don't want to get banned from blogger. :)



"Try not to be embarassed. These changes happen to everyone."



"But first a word from your hormones..."

This part talks about your lively hormones, what hormones are and what they do.



"Puberty is pretty much the same the whole world over."

This is the portion of the book where I started to laugh hysterically. They tackle "the world's most embarassing questions" and believe me... there are a lot of embarassing questions.



"You and your breasts, the beginning of a beautiful friendship."



"Breasts, like women, come in all shapes and sizes."

I'd say that mine used to fall in line with lady #5 but then I had the lumpectomy and they now fall in the direction of lady #4 and I'm thinking after Peanut is born they I'll have one in it's original state (due to radiation) and the other in the state of perhaps lady #2.

And you know I'll tell you all about it because I am learning that what filter I had is just wearing away.



On top of the embarassing questions they talk about things like body odor and pimples. Can't leave those out.



Bwahahaha! A little story for you. Once when I was little, my mom and I were browsing thru a jewelry store when I spotted an Italian horn pendant like this.

I pointed and very loudly announced Sperm!

And then we left the store.

Apparently it's also called Cornicello and is some type of protectional charm. I still think it looks like a sperm.



I'm telling you, the best parts aren't even posted.

I'm so glad I don't have to think about these things for a long, long time. If you do, I'd be happy to send you over some more visual aids. Heh.

My Surprise Virtual Baby Shower

Where do I even start? I guess the only way to start is to explain that some of my best friends are people I've never even met in real life. Some would say I may never meet some of these friends but I refuse to believe it.

To be honest, it doesn't even matter if we ever see each other face to face because these ladies know me. They get me and my weirdness and my obsession with food and my rambling. They don't care when I talk about peeing my pants or nipple leaks. They laughed and cringed and sometimes cried when I told them about the muffin top diagnosing me with cancer. They don't even mind me gushing about B.



Knowing all this about them I shouldn't be surprised with what they have done. Oh but I was soooo surprised. It started when I got up at 1 am and clicked onto Blondiensc's blog to see how the new mama-to-be was doing.

Only I was confused because a picture of me was on her blog. A picture of me being a weirdo :) I kept reading something about a surprise virtual baby shower and I still couldn't quite comprehend what the heck was going on. Eventually it began to sink in and I felt like a kid on Christmas.

I eventually went back to sleep and woke up about 5 hours later just itching to get on the computer. B was really cuddly and he was having his morning bonding with baby (I'll tell you all about that later) so I tried to be still as long as humanly possible.

I still had no idea the extent of this virtual shower. Apparently Jana, Sasha and Becky got together to plan this surprise baby shower for me and there were sooooo many lovely ladies who participated. They wrote kind words about me and shared advice and stories that will stay with me forever.



They made me laugh and cry. They are actually showering me with gifts and love and it's so overwhelming I could just burst. This baby, this Peanut of ours, is coming into such a wonderful world. He is so completely loved and we are so lucky to have pieces of all of you surrounding us.

All of these lovely ladies have written wonderful posts about welcoming the Peanut but also about how children change your life. They are a very varied and unique group of women. I love them dearly and I just know that when you go visit them, you'll be just as hooked. Go see how witty and wise and talented these women are.

Sugar, Spice and a little bit of Life

Lemonade Makin' Mama

Farmgirl Paints

Stop Her She's Knitting

Mimi Rickets

Crumbs

Rural Revival

Buckeroomama

Thoughts and Whatnots

Cottage Girl

Blondiensc

Flat Creek Farm

Traveling Longhorns

Kitchen with Kids

Come Sit By My Fire

Thank you, my dearest of friends, for all that you have done for me. Thank you also to everyone who commented on their posts, I love your advice and thoughts. I could go on for days about what this meant to me but I don't ever think I could really capture this feeling into words.

I will never, ever forget this. I'm still reeling. I'm floating on cloud 9 and floating is really very hard for a woman this pregnant to do.

Maternity Sneak Peek

I'm not sure if you knew this already but I'm just the tiniest bit excited about being pregnant. It all started with the chemo-fied eggs and then it just grew and grew. OK, it actually all started with marrying the man of my dreams. Hmmm, that's not quite right because in all honesty B wasn't at all the man I had dreamt of. Does that sound bad? I will say that B is the perfect man for me. He is my most favoritest person in the whole wide world and I couldn't wish for a better man than him. ~hang on people, I feel a lot of rambling coming on~

The truth is that I have always looked forward to being pregnant. I've always thought about what it would be like to be carrying this baby.

I don't ever think about labor thankyouverymuch. I plan on thinking about it as little as humanly possible until it's actually happening. In fact, I think that's enough of even talking about it. I'm pretty sure the stork is just going to deliver my baby one night and I'll wake in the morning with a sweet little baby boy in my arms and washboard abs.

Not that I've ever had washboard abs... but I'm sure I will after the baby is here. Right? Right. One can dream.

I can't remember now if I had a point to this post.

Oh yes! The picture! I knew after the engagement shoot (that was actually less than a year ago- how weird is that?) that I would also have Adrienne do a maternity shoot if/when I got pregnant. She has now documented 3 life-changing events in our lives :)

She is sooo incredibly patient. I email her with these ideas and I show up with all these props and she is always so enthusiastic! We just did the shoot on Wednesday and she sent me the above picture already and I love it. I'm a bit shocked at how big that belly is but I love it still. I'm sure it's just the horizontal stripes that make me look so big in the middle.

I can't wait to see the rest of them and when I do you just know I'll be sharing them with you... as I always do.

So go check out Adrienne Gunde- the bestest photographer ever!

Just some reasons why I love Whole Foods

These pictures are all from the Whole Foods in Tustin. They were actually taken a while ago and it makes me laugh because I think that at this point I can have what is in only one of the pictures.

This Whole foods is amazing and I'll likely take you back here again. They even have clothing and small "restaurants" or counters as well as an adults only wine and beer tasting area.

I thought their candy apples were just gorgeous.



Oh wait, we're back at the candy coutner. They have everything. They even have vegan chocolates.



The chocolate combinations run from classic to really food forward. Is that a term? Kinda like fashion forward? Yanno, cutting edge?



I die over the smell of fresh baked bread. This is right next to the chocolate.



Next to the bread is the cheese area. The trifecta: chocolate, bread and cheese.

In this section they'll also have meats like salami and proscuitto.



Wandering through this section was the reason why we ended up with our Proscuitto, Manchego and Strawberry Crostinis. I would love one right now.



So many different types of cheeses. In fact, one of my very favorite things about Whole Foods are the knowledgeable staff. We just tell the person behind the counter what we'd like and s/he will offer suggestions and tell us the background of the cheese or what not. It's amazing.



Oh the beer section goes on and on. This isn't even half of it. Unique options for beer lovers like B.



This is called the Dawn section. I'll be hitting this up for the holidays.



For those of you who get grossed out by the sight of raw meat, my apologies.

It's just that we don't often see this variety of meats at a grocery store. They have an entire lamb section.



Honey, how about buffalo rib-eye's tonight for dinner?

The thing about Whole Foods for us is that it's inspiring. We walk thru and think of a million things to make. The ingredients are so varied, such high quality and sometimes so unique you can't help but want to plan out meals.

That just doesn't happen at Ralphs. At least not to me.



B and I both agreed that someday we would like to be rich enough to stop into Whole Foods and pick up groceries for dinner... whenever we want.

We go here for special ingredients or for celebration dinners. Believe me, it could easily be less expensive to go to a 5 star fine dining restaurant than it would be to let B just get everything he wants for a fancy meal at home.

The man needs to be under close supervision in this place.



They have an awesome variety of whole and fabricated fish and seafood.



Last but not least is their amazing produce section. I love these organic multi-colored carrots.

They are building a Whole Foods right by my parents house and I'll have to go in and stick to just the produce section!

Have you been to one before?

Chocolate dreams

I'm currently having technical difficulties. My computer is working at the speed of...of molasses in January. Not that I've ever seen molasses in January. In fact, I've never even seen fresh molasses. I assume it runs very slow in January as compared to it's normal speed. Not that I know what it's normal speed is.

~sigh~ Are you still here?

~sigh~ Me too.

I'm going to bed now but in the morning I'll take you on a little tour of Whole Foods. I'm sure some of you are already fans.

For now I'll leave you with the above picture of their chocolate counter... and I'll drift off to sleep dreaming of chocolates... and of winning the lottery so I can try each and every one of them.