So I'm sitting in my office (tangent- i started working again one/two days a week as a consultant) and catch the tail-end of a conversation happening in the office across from me in which Colleague A made reference about a "porn deal" our office was inheriting next year. Colleague B got defensive and clarified that it was not a "porn deal" but in fact an "adult toy company" deal. A friendly (and detailed) debate then ensued regarding what we would classify as porn verses entertainment. The conversation ended when Colleague A conceded to Colleague B and said, "look, I was just making a a reference to the deal itself, but thank you for correcting me. I have nothing against the deal; shoot, I'd rather be in business selling that stuff than cigarettes or something."

And who said commercial banking is boring?

Christmas Cousins (and appeasing Magga)

My mother-in-law really wanted a photo with all her grandkids in Christmas attire. So, before we all made our way out to the Mission Inn in Riverside to see the lights, we gathered the kiddos and Amelia took a few shots. Lola's eyes are closed in most of them (thanks to a blinding camera flash) and Lucy kept trying to make a break for it. Good times.

From Left to Right: Lucy, "Magga," Monroe, Hudson, Sloan, "Krappa," and Lola

In the end, Magga got her photo. :)

I heart NYC

Warning: lots of words ahead. (This is really for me...just to remember)

Kenny surprised me last week with a quick getaway to NYC! I could add a whole row of "!" and it still wouldn't convey the extent of my excitement. This is the last month where I can technically fly before Baby #2, and I really had been wanting a trip before this baby comes and my body becomes soley a food source for a year+. My attentive husband took note (although I may have dropped quite a few not-so-subtle hints) and booked the trip! He is the BEST.

So, before I forget, I wanted to jot down all we did and saw in bullet form style. I'll add photots and elaborate on my favorite moments later.

Thursday:

• After meeting up with some cousins at Vince's Spaghetti, we dropped off our girl at Magga's (aka grandma's) house. Vacation officially began.
• Started missing Sweet Dee IMMEDIATELY. Seriously, as soon as the car pulled away my heart ached. Thanks to instagram and texts, I was repeatedly assured that she was having a BLAST with her grandparents, aunties, uncles, and cousins. I'm so glad Kenny's family took such great care of her. I still missed her a ton, though.
• Packed for the trip

Friday:

• Flew from LAX to JFK via Virgin America. Note to self: bring your own food when flying this airline.
• Took a cab to our hotel in Chelsea (which was FREEEEE!!!!! - the hotel, not the cab). My window would not roll up all the way which made for a chilly 40 minute ride. Also, our driver, while chatty, barely spoke above a mumbled whisper. I understood NOTHING that he said.
• Checked in, dropped our bags off, bundled up, grabbed a map and ventured out.
• 1st stop, Luke's in the east Village for seafood rolls and lobster bisque.
• 2nd stop: Rockefeller Center (to see the tree of course) and the surrounding blocks
• 3rd stop: Times Square and Broadway. Lots of people.
• then back to the hotel. asleep around 3:00am

Saturday:

• Free, easy breakfast at the hotel
• trekked back up to Broadway to pick up theater tickets
• Made a trip out to Brooklyn, took the wrong subway and got to see A LOT of Brooklyn. And did a LOT of walking.
• Shopped a bit for the Girl. Bought nothing.
• enjoyed the view of Manhattan from under the Brooklyn Bridge.
• Took LOTS of photos.
• waited and froze in the line for Grimaldi's; subsequently enjoyed some much needed hot chocolate with some very yummy pizza
• Back to Manhattan, Soho specifically, for shopping at Topshop/Topman and surrounding stores. Window shopped along Prince. Actual purchases: none. (Note: shopping isn't so fun at 5+ months prego. It's the "fat" stage. Yuk. And my sympathetic husband didn't want to buy anything if I wasn't - despite my protests. our only souvenirs our our memories, photos, and a few extra pounds. Or a LOT of extra pounds.)
• Went back to the East Village. Stopped at two Momfuku restaurants (Noodle Bar and another one I can't remember) and then indulged in some crack pie and cereal milk at Momofuku's Milk Bar (a third location). Kenny wanted more of it the next day.
• Dinner at Mary's Fish Camp in the West Village. Our "splurge" dinner. Worth it.
• Back to the hotel to soak our tired and cold feet and legs in a hot bath and sleep.

Sunday:

• free breakfast
• remembered to dress really, REALLY warmly.
• Made our way up toward Julliard, saw the Manhattan LDS temple, and ventured into Central Park
• Strolled through the lower half of the park, stopping at a few street performers, cozied up on a bench in the Mall with a bag of warm, honey-roasted almonds and finally just relaxed and took it all in.
• Made our way out of the park, stopped in at FAO Schwartz (again, for our Girl. Again, bought nothing), and strolled down Madison Avenue and 5th Ave.
• Lunched at Shake Shack. The line was long (although not as long as Grimaldi's), but somehow we managed to cut most of it and fill up on standard American food. Good, but over hyped in our opinion.
• Saw The Adams Family on Broadway.
• Took in Times Square during the day time. Again, there were lots of people.
• Stopped at the Muji store still seeking souvenirs. Purchased none.
• Decided right then was as good a time as any to head up the Empire State building and take in the view. Husband laughed at my fear of heights repeatedly as I braved getting near the fence to look down.
• Attempted to hit up Hampton Chutney for dinner, but it closed at 9pm. We were too late.
• Ultimately had dinner back in Soho at Cafe Habana. So, so good.
• Went back uptown and, on a whim, stopped at Bryant Park. LOVED IT. It was all decked out for Christmas complete with another skating rink, the pop-up stores were mostly still open, and it wasn't too crowded.
• Noticed a very big, very beautiful building nearby and went to take a look. it was (to my delight) the NYC Public Library. The nerd in me rejoiced and took photos. Had it been opened (our timing wasn't great) I'm pretty sure we would have spent a lot more time here.
• Back to the hotel to pack up and sleep.

Monday:

• early morning walk to the High Line park.
• doughnuts at the Doughnut Plant. Creme Brulee and Tres Leche. Delicious.
• Back to Bryant Park for breakfast and a last good look at the city.
• back to the hotel in Chelsea to grab our bags and make our way to the Airtrain via the subway.
• Endured a delay of takeoff due to a leaky faucet in one of the plane's bathrooms. Not so Awesome.
• Returned home to a rainy Los Angeles.
• Cursed LA traffic and the lack of good public transportation.
• Grabbed a quick dinner and enjoyed our last moments of couple-time.
• Picked up our girl. it was a happy reunion for all. She couldn't decide who to hug and so went from one of us to the other and then back again. Repeat.
• Arrived home, unpacked, and curled up on the couch as a family in the glow of our Christmas lights and watched Charlie Brown's Christmas until is was well past Sweet Dee's bedtime. We read some books and all went to bed.

The end.

(PS – I may or may not be pretty tired today. Also, our Sweet Dee – who woke up at a mean 6:ooam today – may have had a hard time with Kenny leaving for work. That’s not normal for her and it broke my heart a little; however, I’m glad to know she missed us.)

Family Photos - Thanksgiving 2011

Guess what?! My family actually has a decent photo! Of all of us! I think the last one we got was at my wedding. 8+ years ago. Sometime after Thanksgiving dinner and before the turkey coma set in, we ventured out across the street into the cold for some impromptu family photos. Huge thanks to cousin Tyson for taking these! Needless to say, my mom is pretty stoked to have a photo with all of us in it WITH all our eyes open.

I grabbed a few of the parents. Awwww....


My Dad turned 50 the day after Thanksgiving. However, he's still very much a kid at heart. He's not a huge fan of being photographed (that's a huge understatement), but he obliged. However he did have us do a few goofy poses...as the next few demonstrate.


Kenny looks extra "fabulous" in this one.
Lola loved this part.
And we allowed ourselves to be photographed with half our members in a tree.
And while we were there, we figured why not burn off some of that Thanksgiving dinner and play at the park for a bit.
Ryan demonstrates a proper "planking" photo.
Lola loves the seesaw - with whomever will take her on it.

And of course, what kid doesn't love being swung in the air?


I do wish that I had pulled her pant cuffs back down at some point, but oh well.
After photos we returned to our extended family to find this dude watching us from the window. Best photo of the session, in my opinion.
Happy Thanksgiving! Happy 50th, Dad! oh, and congrats to my two sisters who both got their braces off yesterday - one week after family photos. :)

Park Days

I found myself at the park one day WITH a decent camera. That calls for a blog post.

Rose...
Diego...

Miranda...

The crew (at least on this day)...
And this may have been right before I let her get pegged by the swings. She literally flipped upon collision. I was hoping it would teach her not to keep running in front of the swings, but I'm thinking she didn't even know what hit her. I won't elaborate, but it was a bad hit. For both the hitter and my little hittee. Tears for both parties. Bad mommy.
And, of course, Sweet Dee.



"Peek-a-boo Mom!" (It's not cute in the traditional sense, but I love when she does that scrunched up face.)

The End.

PS - for records' sake, these were taken right after she had two vaccination shots. It was the last day she was herself, i.e. happy, chill, not-sick. Seriously, I'm going on my 11th straight day of sickness with her and I'm ready to shoot myself. I needed these photos to remind me of "the good times." Fingers crossed we'll get there again real soon.

Halloween 2011 - Lola

First things first - THANK YOU all for the congratulatory comments! We're excited and hopeful and trying to enjoy our remaining time as a family of three. We don't yet know the gender (and are still debating if we will find out this time). Any guesses? Lola's been really into baby dolls lately and I'm using it as an opportunity to prep her on proper behavior around real babies. So far, she's a natural nurturer and I'm confident she's going to make a great big sister.

Speaking of Lola...

Here's the Halloween photos of Sweet Dee...she was a Candy Corn if you couldn't tell. Thecostume was really easy (no pattern even) and I LOVED how it turned out. Fortunately, there were a few parties we attended so the costume got a lot of use.

The first event was our nephew, Sloan's, birthday party - a costume bash appropriately. These first two photos were (of course) taken by Sloan's mom, Amelia Lyon. Below, Lola and her cousin, Lucy, share a balloon. I love that Lola has a cousin just 12 days older than her. The two girls are so much fun together, and Lucy is the funniest girl I've met. Lola's really lucky to have her.
(PS, Nicole and I have a pretty good themed costume idea for these two for next year. It's gonna be awesome.)

Then Halloween - the actual day - came. And by dinner time, I was ready to trade Lola for a Jack O Lantern, straight up. She was NOT a fun girl. But, for the sake of the holiday, we joined up with the Lyons anyway for some pumpkin carving and trick or treating.

Lola didn't care much for the pumpkins. Of course. I was super bummed.
But Hudson and his dad were much more enthusiastic about the project, and so it was still fun.

And then came trick or treating. An HOUR after her bedtime on what had already been a rough day. I braced myself for the worst and planned on doing two or three houses, max. And then the girl totally redeemed herself. She was excited, and, well, adorable the whole time. We ended up doing way more homes that I planned on, just because it was the first time all day she was any fun. She laughed at every house and every other trick or treater. She was sure to wave "Bye" to everyone she saw and sprinted (which looks so funny with her short legs and ghetto booty) to each house.

In short...It was a great day.

Halloween 2011 - Jill

I'm still waiting for a photo from Amelia to post the only good photo of Lola's halloween costume. I pinned/instagramed/facebooked a screen shot of it, so when I do post it here it will hardly be a surprise. Oh well.

Kenny and I actually dressed up this year. A little.

Kenny donned this hat for his baker costume (modeled below by me)...

While I wore this little ditty...

Bun's been baking 18.5 weeks now and should be ready April 3rd. :)

(Cannot begin to say how many people didn't "get it." Including my mother-in-law.) :)