Thanksgiving Walk

This was one of our best Thanksgivings ever. Dinner was easy and fun. We were in a hotel, so someone else vacuumed and made our beds. (The hotel staff were SO acommodating; I can't say enough good things about them.)

AND - we got to take a walk along the embarcadero that evening. This is what we saw:

It was chilly, so we bundled Eden up in a huge, soft blanket we found in the hotel closet and tucked her snug into her new jogging stroller (thank you, Stella!). "No pictures, Mommy!" she said.

These were all taken with our inexpensive Sony 8.1 megapixel Cybershot, and then cropped and autocorrected for contrast in Photoshop. I love that camera.

An Unconventional Thanksgiving

Given the atrocities taking place at our house (since we were supposed to host Thanksgiving this year) Mom and I opted to go for easy, and we had Thanksgiving dinner -- the five of us -- at Claim Jumper this year.

It was packed! Who knew so many people had the same idea? And it was tasty, too!

We forgot to take pictures during dinner, and decided to try for a family self-portrait outside, afterward.

MUCH better than boring ol' posed shots, I think! It was a really fun day (don't you think, Mom?)  ;)

.halloween.

the sun has set
just barely
and the sky is pitch black
save a bright orange glow
on the horizon

the stars burn white
beside
the silver moon

first family night
of fetching candy from
nearly strangers
all beneath
that silver moon

she shouts
this is so fun!
as she trips down driveways
bare arms flying in the night

purple. fairy. princess.

and over her shoulder
a THANK YOU!! flies
through the night
a heartfelt afterthought
bringing chuckles and smiles
at her beautiful honey voice

so small
so sweet

carefully pronouncing the given phrase
for requesting treats
just as she was told
probably by her teacher

following the rules with
gleeful abandon
even down to the flashlight

small hands in big hands
giggles

and yawns

this purple fairy princess

so precious

Happy Mother's Day!

Shower Shots

Erinn and Dieter, the consummate hosts.

(Note their freshly-painted red wall under their kitchen cabinets - tre chic!)

The moms - or, now, - the Grandmas!! Aren't they beautiful.
This is the quilt that my mom made for Eden - elephants! It is soooo cute.
Grandma and Grandpa Wilburn
This is me in my new favorite position - reclining on a gorgeous and incredibly comfy glider from Erinn and Dieter. Eden is going to have lots of feedings, song singing, story reading, and just plain cuddling in this chair!
Little Baby Eden will be here soon!! And her mommy is so excited!!!

Thank you, Erinn, for such a special day, and for all the little (and big!) things you did to make me feel like a princess.

Our Anniversary

This past weekend we celebrated our ninth anniversary, which is this Thursday. We had a wonderful, fabulous, perfect day. After we got home from church, Nate made us grilled cheese sandwiches and fruit while I sat down and rested. Then we took a long, glorious nap on our wonderful, glorious mattress. I haven't slept that great in weeks. We both woke up at the same time, too, which I love. It was like we were on vacation. I swear, that new mattress is as good as if not better than any hotel mattress I've ever slept on.

Anyhow, after our wonderful nap we putzed around the house a bit and then got dressed up a little bit and went to dinner at a new, modern Italian restaurant in Liberty Station (the old Naval Training Center). The restaurant, Solare, is small but beautifully decorated, somewhat casual, and has really, really good food. We had an excellent appetizer of fresh mozarella, fried on one side, with avocado, shrimp, watercress and a mango chutney. Oh, it was so good, and so fun to eat! We felt like we were on top chef or something. Next, we each had a salad and then for the main course I had porcini mushroom raviolis with a sage butter sauce, and Nathan had potato dumplings (like ravioli, only made with potato) with a sausage filling and sage butter sauce. Then, off to Cheesecake Factory for take-home desert and a movie.

The maitre d' happened to be the head of marketing, so Nate struck up a conversation with her about possibly playing jazz there. On our way out we asked her to take a picture of us for our anniversary and she took us to the chef's table in the wine room and snapped a few shots.

It was a really laid-back way to spend an anniversary, but it was a perfect, perfect day. I am so glad we are married. We both are. ;)

My Non-Work Shower

Last Saturday was my non-work shower, the one Erinn did for us. It was a hot, hot, day, but that didn't matter because I actually went to a salon to have them wash and dry my hair. Oh, my, how wonderful was that. (And it was curly for three days afterward. I need a hairstylist.)

I also got a pedicure - one of those fancy kinds with the hot wax. I wasn't sure that was going to be a good idea with my feet so swollen these days, but it actually made them less swollen. I suppose the heat increased the blood flow and helped get all the old blood out of them. (Maybe I'm fighting nature to always try and cool them down; maybe I should be heating them up.)

Those of you who know (and love, right?) me would have laughed to see how girly I've become. Well, you wouldn't laugh at that as much as how much I'm enjoying it. Erinn bought me a brand new outfit, jewelry and all, for the shower, so I was super cute in this bright pink shirt with white flowers on it. It was the only time in my life I've ever walked into a pedicure and said, "I need some nail polish to match my outfit." hee hee hee hee hee

Okay, enough with the salon. On to the shower! Erinn was amazing. It was like Disneyland, something cute and neat everywhere you look. There was a baby shower flag in the yard, the banister was decorated, a name tag table, dollies and stuffed animals everywhere, two storyboards with pictures of my swelling belly and Eden's 4D pictures, drink menus, a decorated cake table....the list goes on and on. Everywhere my eyes landed there was something to look at.

I walked into the hallway and there was Erinn, Dieter, Debby, and my mom, all in pink (well, except for Dieter). I was hugging one of them, and this cute little stuffed elephant caught my eye. "Oh, my goodness!" I kept saying -- because I couldn't think of anything else to say! Then, OH MY GOODNESS, I realized that the cute little pink elephant was sitting on my dream glider!!!! OH MY GOODNESS, OH MY GOODNESS. All I could think about was that I was actually, really, truly going to be sitting in that rocker, holding and rocking my little girl in our own little house, really, truly. It wasn't just a nifty thought; it was really true! I was speechless and not sure how to thank Erinn and Dieter. They had done so much for me already.

I felt like a princess the rest of the day. Everyone gave me such beautiful, beautiful things, and it was fun to see everyone who came. Suzy Brown was there. I'm not sure I've seen her since our wedding ('though I've seen her husband, Bruce). Bethany from church came, even though our relationship is new and she'll be moving soon. Joan and Lois came - they are so funny together. I miss them. The Carle/Ward contingent was there, as was Aunt Virginia. Chrystal, Michelle, Patty from CBC... May even came; she just had little Zane 4 weeks ago but he was a good little baby and just slept or ate. She looks great. I hope I feel as great as she looked 4 weeks after!

Erinn and Dieter even drove the glider down to our place after all was said and done. It was a long day for me, and I'm sure even longer for them. I can never thank them enough with words; I hope they know how wonderful the day was and how special they made me feel!

Erinn and mom took pictures so hopefully they'll send a few my way so I can post them here. Just wait 'till you see the adorable elephant quilt that mom made!!!

Thank you, all, for everything!!!

My Work Shower

Well, here are some shots from my work shower. It was such a neat day! It was a hard day when I woke up that morning - Nate was still gone, and it was just a hard morning. But my spirits were lifted to see all the sweet things De Anna did for me, and all the people that came - it really touched me how many people were there. The room was really cute, too, with fresh flowers and balloons. De Anna did a great job. And we got a lot of really cute things for Eden, too.

I took all the presents home and left them in Eden's room (along with the mylar balloon boquet) so that when Nate came home he could have a little party of his own. We had a lot of fun moving around the furniture this weekend and going through all the stuff. Nate put all the clothes in the dresser. He kept holding things up and saying, "Oh, this is so cute!" He had not seen any of the new stuff or hand-me-downs yet. We're going to have to change Eden's outfit every few hours just so she has a chance to wear everything!

My non-work shower is this weekend - I can't wait!! Erinn is throwing that party, so I'm sure it will be a lot of fun. She took me shopping today to buy me something new to wear - isn't that the sweetest thing? And I'm going to go get my hair done and a pedicure that morning before I go. Isn't that decadent??? I normally would never pay someone to wash and blow dry my hair, but I get so tired out doing it myself that this is a super-special treat. Anyway, it should be a fun day. I'm really looking forward to it.

And then, after the showers are over, we'll be all ready to get the room set up in earnest, and can buy the necessary things that don't come during one of the showers. And then Eden will be here! How exciting.

My Eventful Evening

I've had an eventful night tonight and just wanted to share it with someone, so I thought I'd write to you, my dear audience....of two....or, maybe three...

Anyhow, tonight our very kind neighbor (who I've only ever said hello to and don't even know his name) knocked on our door because he noticed that Nate's old car was getting towed. He asked if we had a white car, and at first I said "no," because in my mind I've already written off the Paseo as past history, and kind of forgotten that it's still here. After we bought the Prius we decided to donate it. Nate tried to get it done before he left for the Workshop, but it just didn't get done before he left.

I've been looking at the windshield when I drive by, but missed the two citations our HOA patrol had given it for sitting in one place for so long (ever since we bought the Prius). oops. Nate had tried to move it before he left but the battery had died. So my very kind neighbor talked to the security officer and the tow guy with me, and all I had to do was pay the tow guy $90 for his time and they left the car. Which is a deal, because it's a couple hundred to get it out of impound if they do tow it. But it's ironic, isn't it, that it cost me money while it sat there waiting to be donated? ha ha.

Nate is quite chagrined, but I think it's somewhat funny. I think the sight of a pregnant, currently husband-less lady waddling out in the dark in her ill-fitting pink pajama bottoms helped the situation along a bit. (Seriously, who is going to argue with a very pregnant lady who is alone and "helpless"?) And apparently most people yell at tow drivers and security officers. They both commented on how pleasant I was. Hm. Note to self: when in trouble, be polite. It might get you somewhere. :)

I wasn't about to tell them about the year that Nate was gone and the battery died and I jumped it myself, drove it to Sears, got a new battery, came home, and then dealt with the "hit and run" on my other car all by myself. While finishing my master's degree, buying our first house and packing our rented condo. All by myself.

Ah, yes. Modern independant woman. Sometimes it's better not to look the gift horse in the mouth. ;)