New look

Everyone needs a new look every once in a while. And now that I'm sporting my new hair, I felt like my blog needed a face lift. So now we have a Marimekko-inspired look. It's orange! It must be good!

Time for me

As a mom, I have discovered just how easy it is to constantly put yourself dead last. I spend so much of my time thinking/worrying about Vivian, that sometimes I just can't care about anyone, or anything, else, much less myself. Vivian is #1, Richard is #2, the cats are (a somewhat distant -- to their dismay) #3, and if I have the energy, I am #4.

But that needs to change (if not the order, then at least the number of times I actually get to #4). I need to take care of myself to take care of my family. What's that annoying t-shirt say? "When Momma ain't happy, ain't nobody happy." I won't take on the appalling grammar -- I don't have time. But I do think I need to pay attention to myself a bit, so I can be happy and healthy. Because when I'm not, everyone at home feels the pain.

So, I'm starting by making doctor's appointments. After seeing a doctor every 2 weeks while I was pregnant, it feels a bit weird to not have seen someone for months. So I made an appointment for a physical, a flu shot and an eye exam. I also need to get into a dentist, which I have been putting off for far too long.

The upside for me? Once I get my new eye prescriptions, I can get lenses for my new glasses that I picked up at this weekend's L.A. Eyeworks sale! Thank you Ellen, for reminding me about this yearly event. I scored 3 pairs for $85: a dark green rectangular set, a light peach rectangular set and a fab gold-brown cat's eye pair. Pictures to come.

I'm also getting some knitting done, although no finished objects yet. I am making good progress on my Juliet, although I'm starting to think that the Noro Blossom I'm using, and its color stripes, will take away from the lace pattern. Oh well, too late now. It still looks fabulous, and I know I'll get a lot of use for it this winter.

Christmas is coming up, and I've gotten a late start on crafting, as usual. I have 5 knitting projects on the list, which is probably too many to finish, but I'm going to try anyway. Luckily, I'm not fooling myself that anyone is getting sweaters, and once I'm finished with Juliet (probably my last "me" project until after the holiday), I can cast on for the first.

Even though this post is about me, I couldn't leave without some gratuitous baby photos.

Vivian in her Pumpkin costume for Halloween

Vivian & I in the craziness of Hollywood Blvd. on Halloween (on our way to see The Nightmare Before Christmas in 3-D!)

Good year

Bad blogger. No posts in over a week!

My only excuse is that I'm sick. I've had a nasty head cold for the last few days (luckily, it seems to be starting to go away). But because of it, I haven't felt like doing anything. I have 3 pumpkins that I never carved, a costume that I didn't make, and decorations I never put up. Crap. I love Halloween, but I just had no energy this year.

Last week, I turned 32. I really think this is a good year. 32 just looks better than 31 -- round number, I'm now comfortably in my 30s, rather than just hanging around the edges. The day of my birthday was pretty low key. We went to Pizza Club and Richard had provided everyone with hats and noisemakers for me. Ashley even brought me chocolate cupcakes, which was very nice.

I know, Vivian looks really into the birthday spirit, doesn't she? But she is the best birthday present I could ever ask for.

Over the weekend, we headed up to Fresno for the largest Civil War reenactment west of the Mississippi. I'm a total history geek, so it was perfect for me. I loved seeing all the reenacters and how excited they were to be there. I know that I could totally be one of them -- heck, give me a few years (after Vivian and any siblings are a bit older), and I probably will be!

Vivian was an angel all day. Before the battle, people kept coming up to Rich and saying that he should be careful of Vivian because the cannons were very loud and would probably scare her. So before the battle got underway, he walked to the back of the field. And BOOM! The cannon fire felt like I had been hit in the chest. And Vivian? She slept through the entire thing. Richard kept asking me, "are we sure they tested her hearing in the hospital?" They did. She just wasn't worried about the cannons. She was snuggled in her Bjorn with Daddy -- what could go wrong?

On the crafty front, I have been knitting and crocheting. No Christmas gifts yet, but I'll start those soon. I'm working on my Juliet sweater and I finished a crocheted sweater for Vivian.


Halloween pictures to come. Vivian looks absolutely adorable in her pumpkin costume that my mom made for her. And tomorrow is our WeHo SnB Stitch n Witch party! Come on out and join the fun!

Pumpkin in the Pumpkin Patch

Yesterday, Rich & I took Vivian for her first visit to the Halloween Pumpkin Patch. Ok, so this visit may have been more for us than for her. At 16 weeks old, I'm not sure how much holiday spirit she absorbed. But she is the Pumpkin, so we had to take her for some photos.
And you cannot take a bad photo in a pumpkin patch.

Vivian was very patient, considering that Mommy kept trying to sit her up in and amongst pumpkins and gourds of various sizes. The pumpkin patch is up in Saugus, and the winds were extremely fierce. Vivian actually seemed to enjoy the wind, and I enjoyed the fact that I have short hair, which does not get tangled and messy!


We finally left when Vivian seemed she had had enough, and not a moment too soon.
The sky behind Rich & Viv isn't brown with the usual LA smog -- that's smoke. The Agua Dulce fire started while we were there, and now the road we took to the pumpkin patch is closed because of it.

When we got home, we headed over to the park to take some pictures of Vivian with her pumpkins, including some of her in the pumpkins.
She was only mildly amused. We only got a couple of good pictures of her in the pumpkin before she started to protest. But we continued to snap away, and took some adorable ones of her next to the pumpkins.

And finally, as the sun went down, I put the camera away. Vivian was very happy about that.