Guess who I met today? Introducing Izzy

Such is so teeny (5lbs) and so so sweet. She slept in my arms for a couple of hours in between feeding.  I love her little noises and facial expressions.

first time holding her. She's wide awake and staring at me. 

she slept on me for awhile and then tried to wake up both times I tried to put her down lol

Baby Izzy is here, and off I go!

Baby Izzy was born this morning a wee 5 pounds and 19 inches long! I missed her birth, but I get her entire life to spoil and love on her. I can't wait!! I am leaving tomorrow after yoga and um...a trip for Indian food (Thanks Kiki for suggesting;)) and then I'm off for WV.  Have I packed? Of course not.  Well, I have all my mom's crap in the car.  She stayed with us LAST SUMMER and left a bunch of her stuff at my house. I moved it three hours the opposite direction from her house, and now I get to finally get rid of it.
I have made plans with my dad to make some vinyl record coasters, and we'll try to make some other crafts too.  While a big chunk of me feel so incredibly guilty for melting vinyl records (even if they are my uncles ska records with ridiculous names and pictures) I have had lots of fun making bowls.

I have decided to decorate Izzy's nursery.  My friend's are generally super busy people and interior decoration for a second child--not a priority. I however have time and energy on my hands and as a present and a surprise I am re-doing their guest room.  I am NOT painting or doing anything drastic, but I bought bedding, painted wooden letters to her name, strung some paper cranes into mobiles (I love them!! Thanks Mona) and I also got some decals for the walls.  I'm really excited to get there and clean and decorate. Hopefully the color of the room doesn't clash terribly with everything I've picked out and in the end it will look like an appropriately adorable nursery.  btw, this is a suprise but since my friend is currently in the hospital I really doubt she's perusing my blog to see what her presents are going to be lol.

I wore a new bra today. I'm getting used to it. It's...different. I don't want to say it is bad or good. It is, at times not terribly comfortable. I don't think I've got the settings correct.  Im going to wear my new sports bra to yoga tomorrow and see how that goes.

I will post pictures of the baby (with parental permission) and her nursery when I'm done decorating.  Fun stuff!

I'm a stereotype...a bra fitting adventure

I went bra shopping today. It is official...I am a stereotype.  I too, like millions of others was wearing the wrong size bra.  Are you?

note: I'm not disclosing my bra size in here...just that I was way off on the cup size and the band was too big.

First, I had been measured before at a Lane Bryant and they were really off on my cup size. They old me my band was smaller than I was wearing, but since the bands didn't fit with the cup I was wearing I just went BACK to wearing a completely wrong size.

This morning I went to http://www.bra-la-la.com/ Bra la la with my new friend Kristen who I met through my meetup group. We didn't have to make an appointment, but since we arrived right after the store opened we were the only people there.  Our kind hostess of sorts took us to individual rooms and told us to strip to our bras.  The then took a measuring tape, and the rib cage and around the largest part of my bust. She then went and grabbed some from the back for me to try on.  The first one I tried was a molded cup 't-shirt' bra.  If I go back I'll get it. I am embarrassed to admit, but I never knew that the metal bit from the under-wire was supposed to lay flat on the chest. She came in after I tried on each bra to check the fit and discuss what I liked/didn't like about each one.  In the end I got 3 regular bras and 1 sports bra.  I am annoyed that I bought a couple of bras in Oregon because I'm almost certain I will NEVER want to wear one of my old misfitting bras AGAIN.

One of the problems that I had been having was the band riding up in the back--I wasn't wearing a tight enough band.  Another problem, the metal on the front didn't lay flat, cup wasn't big enough.  Spillage? not a big enough cup size.  Plus, the wash it all you have to do is put it in the sink and swish it around in warm water. Don't wash them in the washer...ever and NEVER dry them in a dryer.

Big girls generally don't generally get pretty lingerie.  Maybe because my mother wasn't girlie, and is a hippy but I taught HER about bras, not the other way around. I had never had matching bra/undies set before and it made me feel so pretty. Not only pretty, but having a proper fitting bra doesn't make the girls look bigger, like I thought it would.  Holding them in the right way makes them look smaller and supports your shoulders and back better.  I think my back will thank me.

I shared my epxeriences with some girls in an online group I'm in, and I was surprised with their responses.  one girl went so far to say that she doesn't want to get professionally fitted, and knows she doesn't wear the right size but doesn't want to be told she's a bigger size than she is.  First, you look like you've lost 10 pounds when you wear a bra that fits.  Second, you feel soooo much better in a bra that fits and third, guys tend to like big breasts. No seriously, they are addicted to them because they don't have them.  Don't be embarrassed, get a bra that fits and lets your girls be liberated.

I can read patterns, successes, failures and pretties

I have been crocheting on and off for more than a decade but it wasn't until now that I made something more than a scarf reading a pattern.  2 patterns and 4 hats later, I had a success!! 

me rocking the headphones and a side view

(Second pattern, second attempt--win!)

I really wanted a slouchy beret, and it took forever it seems to get one! Here is where the pattern came from--Thanks Julie!

http://www.gleefulthings.com/blog/?p=640&cpage=1#comment-3986

I attempted to follow a similar pattern and got this hat...

NOT a slouchy beret:( (first pattern, second attempt)

I also had the misfortune of ending up with this atrocious mess of a hat the first time I attempted to follow the first pattern. It was big enough to fit my cat in. Thankfully I managed to pull it apart and reused the yarn.  

My friend took this picture during our skype conversation to show how awful my first hat was, and how tiny my second hat (on top) was in comparison.  Hilarious....On that note, I LOVE skype! I had an hour long conversation with my friend in WV, and when we were on vacation we chatted in real time with our friends in Germany.  

My husband was quite crafty yesterday too and did lots of little things around the house including putting up a lovely metal branch I picked up at my favorite store, velcro for our remotes (awesome idea) and hooks so I could hang up my awesome stained glass.  

Stained glass my friend's mom made

remote + wall + velcro = win!

This now lives on my wall. 

My awesome friend Mariette came to visit and we did some shopping, coloring and made some jewelery holders out of picture frames.  I'll post pictures after I hang them.  

This week I head out to WV for the birth of my friend's daughter. I'm really excited to spend time with my friends, and see a beautiful baby girl.  I'll post some pictures of her and my surprise present for her mother next week.  I'll be gone for awhile, but thanks to the awesome internet, I hope to keep you updated!  

Thank you to everyone that read my last post about my grandmother.  It was awesome to see the comments that my family posted on facebook, and here.  We don't have to keep our memories in our heads. We can share them and help others remember as well.  

I love spring, and love how early it comes in Maryland.  Even though Newton has tried to eat them, I still got flowers...They are so pretty and bright!

Spring...NOT
snow!

Oh yeah...it SNOWED in Oregon when we were visiting a nearby town. It was this insane and intense downpour of huge snow flakes, followed by just chilly weather.

13 memories (edited since I remembered more!)

I met my stepfather on my first birthday, my parents married when I was 3. I never knew my biological father, and my step father has functionally always been my father in every way except genetically.  In fact, both my brother and I have forgotten that my step-dad isn’t our biological father and called him in doctors offices asking him about his medical history.  Woops...
When I was little I didn’t know what to call our grandparents. I had lived with my maternal grandmother, and knew her since birth so I didn't have a problem calling her grandma. I distinctly remember my mother telling me that they had talked to my paternal grandparents and asked if we could call them ‘grandma and grandpa’.  It simplified our lives a lot since ‘ummm’ isn’t really a name.  It was this discussion that made me feel fully integrated into the family.
My grandmother really was a wonderful woman.  She was a Harvard educated doctor (in a time where there were very few female doctors), a mother of seven amazing people, and a myriad of other things that I don’t have time to list.  
My grandmother passed away in early 1993 when I had just turned 9. We were living in New York at the time, about 3 hours away from our extended family. She had been sick for awhile with a rare type of cancer that had gone into remission and had come back stronger and, ultimately, took her life. I remember my father explaining to me how she’d turned herself into a guinea pig, taking experimental drugs, knowing she would die, but hoping to help others after her.  She was such a brave woman. I feel fortunate to have known her and regret that my children won't have the opportunity. I don't have many memories of her, since I was young, but I'd like to share ten of them.

1. She taught me how to put my underwear on correctly. I know--classy memory, right? Girl panties didn't have pictures on the back like the boys, and at 5 or 6 I was apt to get confused. She told that the tag always went on the left side. I'm left handed so I never forgot this lesson. I admit that when faced with undies with side tags I still, to this day, remember this lesson.
2. I remember her chastising us for beating the crap out of the piano right after it had been tuned. We basically would pound the keys and pretend it was music.  We inherited that piano after her death and I remembered her whenever we played it. I fondly remember her playing what, at the time looked like an extremely difficult version of "Mary had a Little Lamb" since it involved more than 3 note and *gasp* two hands! I was probably around 5 at the time and was just learning to read music. I liked the pictures in the book.
3. She had an amazing garden and used to kneel on this foam board that looked like the kick board you'd use in a pool. I remember her kneeling wearing gloves tending the garden. I believe she was wearing a big floppy hat. I wished I'd stayed to help her longer.
4. In my dads family there is a running joke that my grandmother never washed homegrown produce well enough so there was always a bug in the salad...the joke--definitely based on reality. I’m pretty sure I remember finding the bug. When I was visiting my aunt Ellen, there was a bug in her homegrown salad as well. It made me smile.
5. We drove to the nursery in the Subaru. Just the two of us. I'm not sure why it was just us. It was a beautiful day, very sunny and perfect.  I remember there was a crack across the corner of the windshield, and I asked her about it. She explained how something had hit the windshield and the crack had spread.  I remember walking around the nursery with her.
6. My grandparents built a house in Maine which I absolutely adore. It was supposed to be their retirement home, but my grandmother sadly wasn’t able to live there long.  I have a couple of memories of her there.  First going to Mass with her.  She was wearing a scarf on her head to cover the fact that she had no hair because of the chemo.
7. I remember her scarves really well.  I think of her whenever I see someone wearing a handkerchief on their head.  Another Maine memory was my grandfather, also a doctor, drawing blood and taking me to the hospital with him.  this was when she was in remission.  I remember exactly where she was sitting in the living room.
8. I remember dinners in the old farmhouse that my dad grew up in.  You could see into the basement through the floorboards. There was a round circular table, she was sitting at the far side...I just remember looking down at the basement.
9. Amazing ginger snap cookies. No seriously--best ginger snap cookies ever. We still get them every year since the awesome woman that was the family housekeeper makes and ships them out, all of the way from England
10.  My grandmother would type out and mail family updates a couple of times a year.  After she passed away we inherited the computer, and I learned how to type on it, play crystal quest and love apple computers.
note:
Writing this made me remember a couple of more memories.
11. my grandmother made everyone in the family these amazing knitted sweaters. I didn't get one (it's okay, it would fit me 20 years later!) but she made me the most adorable mittens with bears on the back. My cousin apparently wasn't happy when she used her to size them, but they weren't given to her. I remember my grandma explaining why wool was such a great material to make clothing out of, including that you could get it wet and still be warm. I thought it was just itchy.
12. One of my favorite memories, that I can't believe I forgot was about eating fruit salad. We were sitting on the screen porch eating it, and I found a watermelon seed. She had claimed to have removed them all, and when I pointed it out she said that, since I found it, it was good luck. It was cute.
13. She called me handsome. When I pointed out that I thought that was a term for boys, she said that girls could be handsome too. Thanks grandma:)


-------------------------

My memories are vague, sometimes odd and spotty. My aunt named her daughter after my grandma, and now every time I see her write on facebook about her daughter, I think of her and these few memories that I have.  Maybe now that I’ve written these down I’ll remember more.  

If you are a relative--what are your memories of grandma?
If you aren’t a relative--how do you keep the memories of people you have lost alive?


Sorry I’ve been awful at posting during the last week.  I went to a fondue meetup last night that was fun, and am having some people over tomorrow for another crafting meetup. In honor of the holiday, we are going to make some cookies and perhaps dye some of them green.  I don’t think that peanut butter cookies are good green though.
I will post some new pictures soon!!

home!

I am home! Our house didn't burn down while we were gone and aside from finding out that the litter hadn't been changed, water added to their bowl and dishes put away, the house was in pretty good condition.  I'm glad that I put food/water upstairs so that I knew that they would always have water.  Jetlag is going to kick my butt for a couple of days with day light savings ending(?) tomorrow night.  4 hours off...yeah, this will be fun! I'm generally really good at figuring out what time it is--even on the west coast I was still on east coast time.

I am in shock at the tragedy in Japan. I'm not sure where to start.   My prayers, thoughts, condolences go out to everyone affected by the earthquake and tsunami's over the last few days.  Have you been to Japan? What is your favorite part of Japanese culture/food etc.

Oh no Mr. Bill!!

A year ago my husband found a Mr. Bill doll at a Cracker Barrel and decided that it would be the perfect present for my mother in law.  We didn't expect how much fun this present would be.  We had it wrapped and headed to the airport with it in our carry on...where we were stopped.  The airport security guy called his supervisor over, and we told him what it was.  The man, in his 40's immediately said 'oh no, Mr. Bill needs to be irradiated!" and sent him through the x-ray machine again, and swiped him for explosives. It was fun. Probably the first time I've ever said that about air port security.
This year we started a 'find Mr. Bill' game, and he has shown up in some interesting places.
First the hubby kicked it off by putting him upside down in a bowl of water for my mother in law to find.  Next,  he showed up here...

Here's a close up

Next....

Oh yes, that is a medieval ax....
Two days ago my mother in law started telling my husband to look for Mr. Bill.  He couldn't find him ANYWHERE.  Maybe it was because we wrapped him up to give him to hubby for his birthday...mwahahahah

Hilarity

I love Oregon! I didn't bring my camera on our walk the other night, but it was a beautiful crisp night.  The neighbors cat, who looks just like my in-laws cat followed us for a couple of blocks asking to be pet.  Today is my husband's birthday, and we are planning some fun adventures.

An Oregonian Pictorial

We arrived safely Friday night after two long flights. It would have been much more comfortable if the planes were tiny...but whatever--we are here!  I thought I would put some pictures up of yesterday's adventures. We went to McKay Cottage for breakfast (AMAZING!) and then visited an indoor market where we bought a ton of beads, an alpaca blanket, an adorable hat for me, and played with the most friendly reptiles on the planet. I really wanted to bring the one named 'Red' home.  Enjoy!

Like father like son

Fire pits make good pictures

Kimmie and Fresia

Breakfast! I could only eat one pancake since I ordered some eggs too, but everyone else enjoyed eating the rest!

This is my favorite picture! This women and her family had an awesome booth of reptiles. She was wearing this lovely snake, that loved to wrap around her and decided to play peek a boo with her hair.  She was a beautiful model!

Red the Iguana decided to take a nap under my father-in-law's beard.  No seriously, his eyes were closed

Red and the little snake

Aaron and the little snake

Love:)

I borrowed Kimmie's GingerAle for the picture...Aaron decided not to cooperate (what's new)

We had an amazing time, and I realized now that I should have included myself in more picture, but I was busy having fun!!!

The solution...

The solution to this is three words: We have neighbors....

We live in a townhouse...our neighbors probably have the same fan/light combo with the same remote.  When they point it towards us, they turn our light and fan on as well as theirs.
Oddly simple solution is a really weird problem.  Now I just have to work up the guts to talk to our neighbors.  The funny thing is when they kept turning our fan on one night, my husband turned the remote towards their wall and flickered it a couple of times.  I think they got the message since we haven't really had a problem since then.

Did any one guess correctly?

My house is haunted!

More precisely, my fan is possessed.  Okay, I'm going to give you the back story and then see if any of you, readers can figure out exactly what is happening.   I will post the answer in my next blog entry, so keep tuned.

A couple of months ago we moved into this beautiful 3 story town home.  Our room is large with high ceilings and a light/fan combo with a remote control.  Sometimes when we come home the fan is running, even though we didn't turn it on.  At night the fan will randomly turn on.  Once, at 3 am the light came on while we were sleeping.  

What do you think is causing our ghostly visits?


In other news, our trash is collected on Tuesday and Fridays.  It is Wednesday.  My neighbors put out 3 bags of poorly tied trash on a windy Wednesday.  Anyone want to gander a guess as to what happens next? Yeah, utter chaos across the parking lot.  One trash ripped open and all the contents slowly (or at times rather rapidly) across our parking spaces, under or on cars, in people's bushes.  It is disgusting.  To make it even worse...I think these neighbors put their trash out on the wrong day because they left on vacation or something. I'm annoyed.

Remember the girl that I met at my meetup on Monday? Well today she went to yoga class with me.  She was able to use one of my makeup classes that I had, since I had been sick.  It was fabulous! I had a great time and it is nice to have someone that is closer to my age there anyways. It doesn't feel as good to be the most flexible person in class when you are also the youngest *sigh.*  It certainly takes away from the gloating rights.

Two days until we leave for vacation, and I still haven't packed.  I pulled out our suitcase today and have been making some lists, but I'm pretty sure that I'll be doing the chicken with its head cut off routine on Friday morning.  That reminds me...I need to go move laundry along.