Vote!

Who says America isn't progressive? They let whales vote this year. 

Here's me casting my ballot for democracy and not fascism!

Four Generations

Well, before AJ and I go into crazy zombie-apocalypse level quarantine (like I haven't been already - eyeroll) I had a chance to visit my grandma for what might have been the first time this year (!!) and definitely the only time since becoming pregnant. It was a special time for her to meet another one of her great-grandchildren, even if in utero!

Her only advice for me was to "hold the nurse's hand". Gee, thanks grammy!

The Work Shower

While virtual has been so hard to adjust to at times, and frankly quite painful at others, I'm surprised how actually fun and refreshing it can be!

Today my work hosted a virtual baby shower for me, and it really was so fun and nice! None of us really ever get to just talk anymore, and our team was kind of notorious for going off on tangents in meetings to hang out and laugh, and going to lunches and all that, and we basically went a whole year without any of it. So, it was nice to play games and have time to just relax and talk and not be working.

I didn't hear them say they were taking the photo haha

The games were fun and they even made me a hardcover book that had been delivered to me earlier this week that I got to open today that was really thoughtful.

As always... another event reminds me how real this is and I have a hard time believing it... it's a month from tomorrow... eek!

Baby Shower for Baby Girl

Yesterday was the virtual shower for our baby girl and it was really fun! I had some decorations from hosting New Year's Eve this year so I made us a little backdrop, and it was great to see so many people and also been able to fill people in on the pregnancy and growing bump, especially since I've been so sequestered this whole year. I've also been sleeping horribly lately, so I was really scrambling in the morning to get ready and to the computer in time.

I'm not sure if we were able to capture everyone on camera when we took these pictures, but it's at least a good sampling. It was so nice to be able to scroll through and see people's faces.

One of the games we played was having everyone come up with a name for our baby girl using the letters in mine and AJ's name (Alan Jackson LOL wasn't that a country singer?) and here's another sampling of some of the great suggestions that we got!

AJ chose Hulk. This is why I come up with the names and careful screen his responses LOL. It really was so nice to see everyone and interact. It's definitely no in-person shower, but I was surprised still by how nice it felt to gather and interact, I had a lot of good feelings as though we had met in person for a lot of it.

Since Zoom gifted us unlimited minutes for that meeting, grandmas and some aunts stayed on for awhile and we had a fun time talking and hearing birth stories and doing dumb stuff with our screens haha

The day before, I baked us a cake and some cupcakes to celebrate (it's not a baby shower without a cake!) so I started in on that.

We had no plans to take any maternity photos, but since we were planning on looking nice for the baby shower, I thought it would be a nice opportunity for us to take some pictures, so Kathleen put on a mask and came over and we walked through the neighborhood just to take some photos together. Here I am, in various stages of being a whale and a smaller whale.

I just love my face expression here.
Wish I could remember what or who I
was reacting to!

"AJ look deep into my eyes"

"Okay now AJ get out of my picture"

"Now AJ look at me with admiration
of my feminine mystique growing
your child"

Poor Nannerz. I promise she got lots
of treats when we got back to make
up for us bossing her around

Admire me, AJ

His beer belly has really started to
pale in comparison

Needless to say, we're not really good with the pictures, we can't not laugh but oh well. I'm more excited for our first photos as a family... whenever that will be!

Sterling Silver Day

Last night it occurred to me that today is September 25, or, 9/25. As a true basic, it has not escaped my eyes that all of my Tiffany's sterling silver jewelry is stamped with 925 (because sterling silver jewelry is composed of 92.5% silver, and is therefore sometimes just referred to as 925 silver). I tried to convince AJ that we should start celebrating "925 Day" and he should get me something sterling silver every September 25th. 

I then got a lecture on all the Tiffany's jewelry he has bought me throughout the years and that perhaps I should be the one buying him sterling silver for 925 Day. I told him that didn't sound right lolololol. But we then went down a rabbit hole on Tiffany's and boy howdy they seem to have really expanded their selection. The chess sets and playing cards and tape measures and even a friggin honey stick with a sterling silver cap on the end of the stick. They really should be playing up 925 day more! (Maybe they are and it's over my head because my brokeass is not in their target demographic LOL)

Over here we're getting ready for the baby shower on Sunday... the home is filling up with the gifts coming in and I have nowhere to put them since we need to move all the office stuff out of that room first. But we had fun trying out the stroller...!

(She got a treat to make up for her inconvenience)

And here are some scenes from our very uninteresting life lately...

See how Khaleesi tries to be me when I'm not around? This is how I know she loves me!

TGIF everyone, hope you have a nice weekend.

Happy September

It's September, which means I'm officially freaked out! According to iPhone, some of our hottest days are still ahead of us (I guess it is still summer until the second half of this month), but it officially creeps closer to fall and therefore, having a baby. (!!!!)

You'd think it'd be reality enough that I'm slowing down, probably going to need to take my wedding rings off this week before my fingers swell too much, can't stretch the same, feel lots of kicks and rolls, and look like this...

...but no, it's still really hard to comprehend that there's not only a baby inside, but that it's my baby, and also that it's like, really a real baby at this point. I'm in my 29th week and babies at 29 weeks are like, real, formed babies. I'm not sure when it will ever be real but it creeps up a little more each day.

I'm still not sure if Khaleesi "gets it" yet, but she has laid on my bump a time or two.

Speaking of Khaleesi... I pretty regularly take a nap on my lunch break, and rather than relocate, I just shift horizontally on the couch, and move from side to side since you're not supposed to sleep on your back or stomach. So imagine my supreese when one day I saw Khaleesi in my exact spot, at my exact nap time, in my exact positions. I just thought it was the cutest thing because during the day she usually sleeps in a room that we are not in, or up in her hammock on the wall, so I want to believe that she was just trying to be like her mama!

Sorry for the Khaleesi overload, but I just can't help but feel like she's the cutest, prettiest kitty in the world!

If only she was as nice as she is cute (she's not).

Anyways, looking forward to cooler days and oh $&!#, only 76 days to baby...!

Mission Inn Mini-Moon

I'll spare you the story, but basically AJ and I had credit for a two-night stay in a junior suite at the Mission Inn. It was originally scheduled for March (and we all know how that went) and long story short, it didn't seem possible to postpone our stay any further, so with a little trepidation, we decided to go for it. It also coincidentally happened to be the 3 year anniversary of our engagement. (We spent some time reliving that trip to Belize through our photos on our phone - what I wouldn't give to be able to be there again right about now!)

We really enjoyed our room, and because we were "just" in Riverside (plus you know, it's way too hot out and there's a pandemic) I felt like we really got to enjoy the room right nice, having meals at the dining table, hanging out in the sitting area and going to bed or napping in the living room. I swear there's nothing worse than having an amazing hotel room and not getting to enjoy it!

We had these little doors, which looked like ship doors, in the dining area
and also in our bedroom. They led out into the hallway, and I guess they
were servants quarters back in the day or something?? Cute nonetheless

Don't worry, the bed was made when we checked in, just didn't take the picture until later

The details make it what it is!

 

We had such a great amount of time to relax and enjoy the room, and also wander around the property, which turned into my mini maternity photoshoot.

 

The Mission Inn, like the city of Venice, Italy and the Greek Isle Mykonos, feels photogenic at every single turn and angle. You're just taking a picture of yet another building or corner, but somehow it feels like you still hadn't captured it all or this is even better than the last photo you took. So, sorry for the overkill. We're not even professional photographers (obviously LOL) so you'd think I'd be better off just downloading their own photos from their website or something but oh well.

 

Our room was in this corner along this rampart walkway. It was so dreamy!

We found the mirror from our wedding night where we took a picture
(and neither of us remembered until we were going through photos later)
and we tried to recreate it. We didn't put it side by side until afterwards and
saw we were on different sides... oh well. Still kute though!

The parrots were out on our last day! Where the heck do they go when
they're gone and what do they do? And with whom??

Well when we weren't in the room, we spent time in the pool. We were down there for shifts in midday, early morning and a late night swim. It was so fabulous and relaxing, although really hot. The pool was nice and cool (unlike the pool at the Palm Springs inn last weekend LOL) so it was easy to dip in and out to cool off, but sure felt like it wore off quickly.

The nighttime swim was so delightful! Even being there around 10:30-11p, it was still so warm
outside it was so nice, and you could just go into the pool and come out and feel fine

I did venture out with AJ to get food for one of the meals, and we decided to take the long way and walk around the downtown just a bit. My God how much it's changed even since our wedding in 2018! So many art ventures and installations, lofts and apartments, new buildings, new restaurants. I was in love.

And talk about surprises - Donut Bar! This started in San Diego and I heard about it from Pam & Co., who discovered it and were so into it, Donut Bar catered their wedding desserts back in 2015. So we definitely had that for breakfast on Sunday. Such a treat for them to expand to Riverside.

I sought this out. A bunch of art pieces went up right in response to the George Floyd riots and
protests in Riverside, and this was my favorite one and I was adamant to find it. Ironically Rage
is from Irvine, but they're meant for everyone!

Any iteration of the Riverside Raincross is my favorite

This definitely was not planned as a mini babymoon,but it was so fun and refreshing, that it kinda felt like that in the end.

...and now we're probably homebound for the foreseeable future. Wahhhhh!