Bump Update - Week 26

Really quick post this week. Things are all good here. I've been reading a ton, trying to catch up on my reading challenge of 70 books for the year. I'm at 58... last year my challenge was to get to 60. I may have to settle for a final count of 65... fingers crossed! I'm working on Visitation Street by Ivy Pochoda right now.

I'm listening to The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling and I'm hoping to get my hands on Let's Explore Diabetes With Owls by David Sedaris. 

I refuse to read his books because while they would still be enjoyable, listening to him read his essays takes it to a whole different level of hilarity.

We went to see Hunger Games: Catching Fire in the theater. It was worth it, good theater movie. I was surprised how much I had forgotten from the books... that being said, I liked each book less and less as the series went on so I really shouldn't be too surprised. 

I've been trying to swim about every other day and that's going well. Makes me feel a bit like I did when I was really into running. My bathing suit is starting to protest my belly's growing size. I'm hoping Ed will let me know before it pops right off of me. Ed's been keeping active as well. He was cleared to try riding his bike a bit and has been testing that out. Small steps, but it's hugely freeing. He's added in occupational therapy to his scheduled therapies so we're out and about a little more. 

We were up to some other shenanigans this week but I'm going to save them for next week's big holiday post. That's about all for now!

Bump time! 

How far along? 26 Weeks

How Big Is Baby? A 14 inch hot house cucumber - I eat these all the time... imagining something that large goofing around in my belly is pretty freaky. When I imagine baby, it's much smaller. So hard to fathom.

Sleep: I'm feeling a bit more of my size when I attempt to turn over in bed. I'm getting a great upper body workout using our bed frame to hoist myself from side to side.

Best moment this week: I'm holding off on this section until next week's post to include in our Turkey Day recap! 

Movement: Baby likes to make a statement. If we're watching something scary it's like baby knows and will try to freak out right at the perfect time to scare the bejesus out of me. Baby has Ed's sense of humor apparently! 

Symptoms: Heartburn, as usual. Tailbone pain comes and goes. I travel with pillows now and I've set up a throne on the couch that involves multiple pillows. It's a bit ridiculous looking but it's getting the job done.

Food cravings/aversions: Pickles and the smell of mole or enchilada sauce are on my no go list. Craving wise? I'm still eating pretty much anything. I was desperate for strawberry cheesecake ice cream this week. Thank goodness for a sale on ice cream :) 

Gender: Can we talk about how adorable all baby clothing is? Boy or girl, we're looking at the most irresistible striped, colorful, patterned craziness and I just do not know what to do with myself! Damn you black friday temptations! Especially Old Navy. You just don't know what you do to me, sale section.

Belly Button in or out? In... but it's starting to get a little freaky. When I'm on my back and try to roll from side to side, it sooooorta pops out. Eeep!

What I miss: Not bumping into things. I'm constantly underestimating my belly and knocking into doorways, chairs, the fridge door, etc.

What I am looking forward to: Heading over to see Dad & Debbie for Thanksgiving! Which means decorating the apartment for Christmas will be close behind. 

Funny moment of the week: Apparently pregnancy has made me very defensive. Ed did a normal 'scare' where he snapped my book shut, startling me. I nearly punched him out. He was pretty shocked how angry I got and I came down pretty quick, but I felt a bit like Amy Poehler on Ellen... she does not like to be scared:

Labor Signs: nope

Weekly Wisdom: It really isn't worth it to beat yourself up when you forget things or say the wrong word or rerun your mistakes over and over in your head. Just sucks the life and joy right out of you. When that rerun reel starts, try your best to wiggle your toes, recognize it's happening, let it go and move on to the next thought.  

Milestones: I've passed the 100 days left mark! 100 still seems like a good deal of days so I'm not feeling any pressure, but when I start thinking it's only a couple months, that gets me a little keyed up. 

And your weekly dose of my crazy-haired, sweet niece: 

Finds

Once again I'm delaying that post about our vacation - a great deal of the pictures are on Ed's computer so I've got to wait until he returns home. My memory is sadly deficient, I hardly know what he's got on there now and it's only been a couple weeks!

Instead I wanted a write about a couple things really catching my attention.

To Read: Rapture Practice by Aaron Hartzler

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15790822-rapture-practice

This memoir of a life in a highly religious family is riveting. Maybe it wouldn't be if I grew up in that, but I find this kind of story so interesting. Add to that Hartzler's realization that he is gay, and it makes for some really gut twisting moments where you just want to reach through the pages and help this poor conflicted kid. 

GoodReads teases it with: "Aaron Hartzler grew up gay in a home where he was taught that at any moment Jesus might come down in the twinkling of an eye, and scoop his whole family up to Heaven." 

I think that's a bit misleading, because he doesn't come to understand his feelings about being gay until pretty far into the book and that statement glosses over the challenges of his life separate of sexuality. We're talking the music he listens to, movies, friends, clothes, obedience to his parents... everything is touched by his family's beliefs. The circular logic of why we should trust in God's plan is seemingly so inescapable, and then to be bolstered by a community that preaches holding others accountable for straying from the path. I devoured this book in two days thanks to it being highly conversational and because it just grabbed onto my heart.

To Watch: Stand Up Guys

It really pains me that the reviews of this movie are bad. I didn't bother reading them post-watching. This movie was wonderful. Of course you might think it's going to be good because of the cast, and yes, that helps, but what is really great about it, is how it revolves around the characters and not the action. Some may lose interesting because it's a little slow, but that's one of the things I loved. It's a movie about great old crooks, being great old crooks. They move slow, have aches and complaints, are still funny and don't miraculously turn into younger men who do crazy stunts via special effects or unbelievable lines via crazy scripts (re: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and any actor that's granted Aaron Sorkin's fast paced zingers). 

Secondary recommendation: Warm Bodies

Both Stand Up Guys and Warm Bodies have amazing soundtracks... Left me ranting and raving to Ed about what good choices were made.

To Hear: Elise LeGrow "Weed & Wine"

This song is my current favorite background music for making dinner, along with those aforementioned soundtracks. It reminds me of "Dreamsome" by Shelby Lynne which was in Bridget Jones' Diary, but with a bit more body. Speaking of body, I've no idea what the deal is with the wine bath in the video, so, just take the song on it's own regardless of the video. 

Fingers crossed I get pictures up from our vacation in the next post!

"Duck, Magnum, Duck!"

It was a pretty quiet weekend round these parts. We needed some recovery time post Seattle adventures. We both got back on track with training routines and enjoyed some much needed sleeping in time. I realized I hadn't posted anything on Valentine's day about what we did, but once again we stayed in and had a nice meal together. Of course, Ed bought me another gorgeous bouquet. He never really goes for straight roses because I usually swoon over the ones with some variety of color and flora. But I gotta say, the rarity of these makes receiving them now much sweeter. Thaaaaanks Ed :)

Rosie approves with her mouth. Ugh.

We hit up some of our favorite local places, including the goodwill where we thought we scored a jackpot with a new cat toy. Rosie loves hollow toys with a ball to push around so this one below looked perfect. The design on the box showed a racetrack set up... but unfortunately, it was missing a connector piece. So here we have an almost loop with two dead ends sealed up by Ed with wine corks and tape. Rosie enjoys pushing the ball against the dead ends almost as much as she enjoys chewing on the tape.

We almost made our way over to this giant media store near us, Rasputin Music & Books. This place, is incredible. If you miss the days of Tower Records or were a sucker for the movie Empire Records, this is the place for you. They had everything. I was amazed at how big it was inside. Of course we spent a good while going through everything and you won't believe what I found....

Yes. It is the actual movie soundtrack. Some of you may not know how much I LOVE this movie. But it ranks among my tops, and I may or may not know all the lines. And songs. Which are epic in their terribleness and that just makes me adore them even more. This movie inspired massive crushes on Jim Carrey, Jeff Goldblum and Damon Wayans.

 

And I was determined to grow up and look like Geena Davis. You can hate, but I'm so happy I can't stand it. I want to put on some negligee a blonde wig and get some take out sushi and sing along!

This is the look.

Oh, OH, I can even tie this back to my L.A. visit with Ck! Remember Angelyne???

On a less embarassing note, I also bought my very first new record! We have a ton from my Dad and I've purchased some used from the library and good will, but this was my first new record. I love Nellie McKay and I love Doris Day so I thought this was a perfect album to put on while I'm making dinner in the evenings.

Ed also found something to suit his tastes a little better, and it sounds pretty good on our tiny little stereo set-up if I do say so myself.

All in all, a quiet, nice weekend. This week we're looking forward to (wait for it!) ballroom dancing classes! Yes we can all thank Ed in advance for the hilarious stories bound to come out of that adventure. This weekend is also the chowder cook off down in Santa Cruz so we may make a trip out for that.... I'll keep you posted!

"Oh reckless abandon, like no one's watching you"

Such a fantastic weekend.

Lately Ed and I have been discussing our plans for leaving CA more and more, trying to work out the details, and in the process, trying to appreciate what we have out here more. We've made up a short list of things we want to experience before we go and this weekend we checked one off the list:

• Visit Tomales Bay and eat fresh oysters

I'd been there once before with Dad and Debbie and had an amazing time. Well, mostly. The ride home was pretty miserable because of a combination of eating waaaaaay too many large oysters and the curviest roads I have ever been on. Horrible. Never, ever, order large oysters. They are bigger than you can even imagine. Medium is plenty for fanatics and small is good for most. But other than getting in over my head tummy-space wise, that first visit was fantastic. The oysters were salty and delicious and it's just a beautiful area, muddy, beachy, hilly... It's hard to pinpoint what makes it so invigorating.

The weather really cooperated, so much so that we left with a bit of a sunburn. The sun was bright, there was a cool breeze and you could smell the eucalyptus trees all over. Add the smell of all the grills and - so, so many hot pots! - and the brine, it was heavenly.

Man these guys had a ton of meats on their grill, and I don't think they ever stopped grilling the whole time.

We made it through about 50 oysters, with maybe 20 of them cooked? We were surrounded mostly by families and hipster gatherings who looked to be around our age. The young crowd came stocked: Champagne, olives, clementines, cheeses, prosciutto, fancy olive oils and balsamics. We were not quite as thoroughly packed, but our Triscuts, hummus, hot sauces, and olives were just as good! I mean, we brought organic lemons from our upstairs neighbor so... boom! We can hipster it up too ya'll. Many of the families were grilling up tons of different meats and using hot pots and piling toppings on the oysters. Everything looked and smelled delicious.

We remembered gloves! I thought so many people were going to impale themselves...

Post-grill, pre-opening...

Post-grill and pre-gullet :)

Nothing beats raw and fresh!

View of the farm

Ed testing to see how far he can get before the mud eats him whole

There isn't much more to add other than we drove up, ate, drove home on the 1 along the coast and had an incredible day. It just really framed why we love being out here so much. It's hard being away from friends and family, but living in California is such a dream when we finally get out there and enjoy it.

Pull-off on the 1 on the way home, in Marin Headlands

Looking towards S.F. and home

This past weekend was also packed with movies: Ted, Pitch Perfect and Mama. None totally disappointed, and one left me with solid nightmares to haunt my middle of the night bathroom trips. If Ed wasn't here at night, I'd be living with all the lights on... probably all the time. Although the ending of Mama was terrible, everything up until the last 5 minutes made for a fantastically scary movie. I can't get enough of Guillermo del Toro. If I haven't recommended you all read his The Strain trilogy written with Chuck Hogan, then I will say it again - it's creepy as hell. Rumor is it might be a show on FX soon so read up now!

Speaking of reading I finished two more books:
Where'd You Go Bernadette by Maria Semple
The Last Kind Words by Tom Piccirilli
I'll try to do a write up of these later, but for now I'll leave you with this: Where'd You Go Bernadette is on my top 10 favorite reads right now.

Everything else is going well. Running is... going. I'm trying to get my time down but it's really fighting me. At least I'm getting out and doing it regularly, that's all I can ask for, keeping up with my measly 11-13 miles per week. Ed's workin' away, poor guy didn't even get today off. Next weekend I have a dentist appointment and I'm getting my first crown. I am terrified. Terrified. The weekend after that brings us February! The best month ever. I'm really looking forward to my birthday this year... just feels like a big one. :) That's all for now folks!

S.F. within sight!

"One step closer"

That weekend flew by toooo fast. I think for the rest of the month I'll probably follow the policy of skipping the prompts(clarification - skipping the prompts on the weekends). I spend so much time in front of the computer during the week that I need to set some boundaries for the weekends.

We had a big race this weekend, Summit Rock. Supposed to do a 10k, but with my knee all messed up from our move here in August well... we opted for the 5k. And thank GOD we did. It was... brutal. The inclines were ridiculous. How anyone ran up those mountain sides I'll never know. I came in 6th for my age group. I know, not exactly bragging rights but it's cool to have a number! Running down the hills was amazing. I always joke with Ed that running down a hill makes me feel like a character in a video game getting a power-up. These power-ups were huge. I felt like a real runner. Wind whipping my hair around, me bounding down the mountain side. In one supremely cheesy moment (I couldn't resist!), I turned to Ed (who was using his momentum to practice some Parkour on some nearby trees) and told him, "It's like Twilight! We're just like Edward and Bella in the woods!" Ed was less amused than I was about that.

A freezing, foggy morning in the south bay. There should have been mountains dead ahead of us, but looks like the fog had something to say about that.

Still a good turnout of some very cold runners.

Pretty little pond and fountain area behind the start line

Look, can you see that guy in the blue shirt? He's so far below us, and maybe only one and a half bends in the path ahead of us.

After coming home for a quick shower, I started in on finishing my cookie boxes. I think this was the largest batch ever. All the cookies came together surprisingly well. I never know what they look like when they get to people so here's hoping they make it in one piece. And still taste decent. Sometimes I wonder if I'm that friend that not only posts gross food pictures and adds obnoxious hashtags like yum/num/nummy/nom/tasty/delicious etc. but also is that friend who cooks or sends you food and is like YOU'RE WELCOME and the food turns out to be terrible. :-/ That being said, I hope those of you that receive a box know I put lots of love into my cookies and am just using them as a way to say thanks for being a great friend and I'm grateful you're in my life. Whether you eat the cookies or toss them or hashtag an Instagram pic of them, it matters little, as long as you get the thought behind them. :)

Baking all those cookies really got me in the spirit so we drove out and picked a tree from a lot this year. I really missed the experience of cutting down our own tree but... I do not miss the 4 months of poison oak covering my legs, back, stomach and arms, that followed that lovely excursion. I told Ed we'll definitely need to cut down our own trees in the coming years, but only when we're back on the east coast with the MUCH more manageable poison ivy. The tree is perfect. I'm still in love with the straw and red ornaments I bought last year. Reminds me of all my Christmases at Omi's and Mom's. To me, there is nothing lovelier than a simple tree with soft white lights, red ornaments and little European straw doodads. I can't wait to put a couple presents under the tree!

Sunday we decided to use up our Groupons and went bowling! I love bowling when I'm surrounded by people who suck. And technically we were surrounded by people who sucked.... they were just between the ages of 4-7 and had bumper edges up so they still knocked down pins. The rate at which I either toss the ball straight into the gutter or directly past any pins at all is pretty high, so it can be demoralizing hearing everyone else knocking things down.... even when they are doing so in a tutu. Just one beer later I felt a little better and was able to enjoy the games more. I even beat Ed! I'll take 1 out of 3. Heck, I even broke 100 on one of the games. Clearly, I'm a pro.

Ed was a big sweetie and surprised me after bowling, with a trip to the movies. And what did I finally get to see? Twilight! I told him he must have been feeling drawn to it more now after our vampire-speeds dash through the forest the day before. He firmly disagreed. :) I was pleasantly surprised with the movie, and I only laughed out loud (at it and not with it) twice. I think that's a new record. Although, can I just say, in that montage of the actors in the end credits? Why on earth did you put Taylor Lautner in there fully clothed? Huge waste of one last shirtless moment.

All in all, a great weekend. Now, back to trying to power thru the rest of my books for the year. Depressingly, I'm about 10 books from my 60 books in a year goal. I know 50 books is awesome, but... I want that 60! Augh. I have 4 books I'm working on right now I'm sure I'll finish in the next couple of days so... maybe I can pull it off???

"Lock the doors, lower the blinds, fire up the smoke machine and put on your heels!"

A good solo weekend is never a bad thing. Ed was out in San Antonio with his friend having a man's weekend away so, I decided I was going to eat all the food that Ed doesn't particularly enjoy and see the movies Ed isn't interesting in seeing. Of course I have a couple other Carly-activities I'm throwing in just for kicks, like doing my nails and taking a nice long bath and lighting a bunch of candles and incense, and reading anywhere and everywhere, but those things I can do pretty much any day of the week while I'm home alone. This is going to be a huge lists post so... prepare yourself!

Movies

1. W/E 

This was pretty terrible. Half of it was bad acting, half was a terrible script. One character's whole backstory was given by one of the supporting actresses, addressing a lead with something like, 'Hey Sotheby's most accomplished researcher on Wallace Simpson, how are you today?!' Such painfully forced exposition. I was weirded out by how every woman seemed to be doing some copycat of Madonna herself. The costumes and jewelry were astoundingly beautiful, but you really can't enjoy it because the whole thing looks like an extended music video from 1994. Think, her Truth or Dare mating with the "Take a Bow" video. 

2. Magic Mike

I can't even critique this. We all know why we watched this movie and why we choose to watch it again, and it has nothing to do with any words from a review.

3. Brave

Not entirely relevant: I'm a sucker for red hair (this may have been brought up before and will be brought up many times again). It's a daily battle to not color my hair. So, I already love this character and as I told Lizzy, I think this is the most beautiful Disney movie I've ever seen. And the whole mother-daughter story? Definitely made me tear up, missing my own Mom :)

4. Margaret

 I so disliked this movie. I don't think I understood the message... people are good? bad? complicated? forced to do things by the Gods? Whatever. Now this movie, I was mad I sat through.

5. Young Adult

I strangely loved this movie. I usually loathe movies that are awkward and uncomfortable for humor's sake (i.e. Meet the Parents) but this movie was awkward in a very human way. I wouldn't say this is a 'funny' movie. It's hard to watch, and kind of sad, but because she's so unable to comprehend life and other people, I found it really interesting.

6. The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

Mom and Ken told me to watch this and I loved it. Made me laugh and tear up. It's generally nothing new, but it's refreshing to see a bunch of actors that have been playing a limited range of roles lately, get a chance to open up into other things. This movie just made me happy.

Books

I also squeezed in a huge amount of reading. Can we talk about my reading? It's been out of control lately. I can't go to the library without checking out at least 5 novels. I'm surrounded by piles of them right now. Let me list what I've got on tap:

1. Giving Up the Ghost by Eric Nuzum (non-fiction, memoir, paranormal)
2. Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? by Jeanette Winterson (non-fiction, memoir, LGBT)
3. When It Happens To You by Molly Ringwald (yep, that Molly Ringwald!) (Short stories, fiction, contemporary)
4. Stay Awake by Dan Chaon (short stories, horror, thriller)
5. Wild by Cheryl Strayed (non-fiction, memoir, travel)
6. Eat the City by Robin Shulman (non-fiction, history, New York, food)
7. Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott (Writer's guide, non-fiction, memoir)
8. Stay Close by Harlan Coben (Suspense)
9. The Forgetting Tree by Tatjana Soli (fiction, contemporary)
10. The Righteous Mind by Jonathan Haidt (non-fiction, politics, religion, philosophy,psychology, sociology)
11. The World Without You Joshua Henkin (fiction, contemporary, death, family)
12. A Partial History of Lost Causes by Jennifer duBois (historical and contemporary fiction)
13. Dance With Dragons by George R.R. Martin (fantasy, epic, adventure) Side note: it seems I will never finish this series. Le sigh.
14. thru 22. A series of writer guides, handbooks and general inspiration for authors.

I recently finished reading This Is How You Lose Her, which was... worth reading but required Urban Dictionary and a Spanish translation aid to really get it. I don't know if I agree with the hype surrounding it, but I'm not sorry I read it. I also read the two books of short stories, When It Happens To You  and Stay Awake . The Chaon book started strong and FREAKED ME OUT. Check out this passage:

"He can remember the way the child would slip barefoot through rooms, slinking, sneaking, watching, Gene had thought, always watching him.

It is a memory he has almost succeeded in forgetting, a memory he hates and mistrusts. He was drinking heavily at the time, and he knows that alcohol grotesquely distorted his perceptions. But now that it has been dislodged, that old feeling moves through him like a breath of smoke. Back then, it had seemed to him that Mandy had turned DJ against him, that DJ had in some strange way almost physically transformed into something that wasn't Gene's real son. Gene can remember how, sometimes, he would be sitting on the couch, watching TV, and he'd get a funny feeling. He'd turn his head and DJ would be at the edge of the room, with his bony spine hunched and his long neck craned, staring with those strangely oversize eyes."

I turned around so fast to make sure that child was not behind me when I read that. I even did it just now after typing. In fact, I just went around the apartment and turned on all the lights. It is a terrible choice of book to read for a weekend when you're home alone, but I really cannot resist a good opportunity to scare myself.

I never did make it out to see Twilight sadly... the longer I wait the more I think I'll just see it through Redbox. I did take some time to write. Those of you who know me remember that I used to journal somewhat obsessively. I really dropped off with that habit as soon as I finished college. In the past year and a half, I've written only about 100 pages. I found a prompt-a-day plan for December that is meant for blogs generally (named Reverb12) but I started it in my journal. It felt really good to put actual pen to paper again. I'll take pen and paper or typewriter over laptops any day of the week. I plan on posting a couple of the entries on here on other days of the week when I find them appropriate, but still leaving my big recap post for Monday mornings. So check back for more regular (and SHORTER) updates! :)