corner turned

oh drywall. you are a sight for sore eyes.

[we used durock above and next to the shower and mold-resistant drywall on the exterior wall. just in case you are wondering about the blue color. which i actually kind of love?]

i'm very much looking forward to a date night with my sweet husband this evening. monday is my birthday, and i think he's taking me to see the avengers tonight. and maybe some mama's pizza if we have time. pizza + action movie = a five-star date (in my humble opinion). enjoy your weekend, friends!

shower surrounds, childbirth class, and sympathy for darth vader

how is that for a post title? ka-POW!

1) we are on the VERGE of turning a corner in the upstairs reno. it took a few long evenings and the better part of a weekend afternoon, but ben (and i? very little "i" involved in this project) installed the tub and shower surround. sounds simple, right? ahahaha, not so fast. it never is as easy as it sounds. renovating never is.

renovating often makes me realize how much of a sinner i am: i want what i want and i get crabby when it doesn't happen. in the current situation, there are no light fixtures in the bathroom at the moment, so we use work lamps that also happen to heat things up to a toasty thousand degrees. 10pm + tired + sweaty + pregnant + remodeling woes = potential for sanctification. i truly pray that God would use these situations to teach me patience and kindness——i am going to need them!

2) we had a marathon childbirth class on saturday. we opted to do it all in one day instead of a five-week course. we watched a few birth videos that were pretty darn intense. uh, yup, intense. afterward, ben said that he wondered if going through stressful remodels will help us during the whole labor process. i wonder, too. not that it's gonna be a breeze, but yes——i think remodeling has definitely helped us learn about how we deal with stress and pain in situations where we are tired and crabby (me more than him). so we'll see what happens.

3) i just finished painting seven doors. now i have a ton of trim to do.

i wear this awesome respirator just to be extra extra safe for baby (even though we use water-based paint and the windows are almost always open). when i walked up behind ben and he heard me breathing, he said, "how's it going, darth?" poor darth. so misunderstood.

hoping the drywallers can make it today. then things will really turn a corner!

i'm gonna toot some horns

this post is a random mashup of people/places/things whose horns i want to toot. okay that sounds really weird but just let me, okay? i think it is the part of me that gets excited about a lot of things. i just want you to be excited with me.

1} have you heard of ekate designs and the orchard art house? erin kate is a super cool girl who makes beautiful jewelry. she's the friend of a friend who lives a few cities away and transformed an outbuilding on her property into an art studio. her wares are really unique and i'm rather smitten with her designs. i visited the orchard art house a few weeks ago and picked up a few gifts as well as a couple of goodies for myself, including these earrings. if you get a chance to go, you will not regret it. if you aren't local, check out her etsy shop!

2} slightly less exciting but immensely practical: aldi. i had my first aldi experience a few weeks ago: no frills, but i left with a ton of food (mostly produce) for like 17 bucks. i heard a rumor they are planning to open one in our city! i might become a regular.

3} ryan stadler photography. he was the second shooter at my sister's wedding and he did a wonderful job. he shoots some on real film, which i find very intriguing. check out his work!

4} friends and family who are wisdom givers and gear lenders for all things baby related. you know who you are. i am borrowing a bumbo, boppy pillow, bouncy chair, play mat, portable baby bed, bassinet, and other gear, which definitely helps with budgeting. i bought this changing table from a gal on craigslist (i didn't really intend to buy a changing table, but it's a long story) and all the baby goodies are collecting in a corner of our room until upstairs is ready. i took this picture a few weeks ago and the collection has grown since then.

may i just take a moment to say how excited i am about this crib bedding my mother-in-law gave me from her stash? she is like a professional deal hunter and found these items for a song.

but honestly, friends and family have answered my random questions, fielded many phone calls, walked through the target aisles with me to help with registering, and even given me a sweet pregnancy care package (complete with a body pillow that i rely on every night, because i am not a natural side sleeper). i love and appreciate you girls very much!

5} last but not least, my husband. he works really hard at his 9 to 5 and comes home and works more——on his business, on our house, on preparing the lesson to lead small group, on being a spiritual leader in our home. he was up until almost midnight on friday working on plumbing. i had a minor meltdown sunday over a waffle stuck in the waffle iron (i pretty much just started weeping) and he knew exactly how to love me in that situation. he's very sweet. and very patient. i am not patient. i'm really excited to parent with him. he is a wonderful blessing.

friday fun: ferns and first flowers

even though tulips and daffodils and other first bloomers have been going for weeks, these are my garden's first official 2012 flowers from a perennial geranium that didn't do super well last year. in fact, i'm not even sure i knew what color the flowers would be until i turned the corner yesterday and saw one blooming. today there are three. loving the purple.

and even though our back fence line is a wild mess of shrubs, vines, and decaying yard waste, i spotted these lovely ferns while mowing the lawn and clipped them for the kitchen.

i'm crossing my fingers that my annabelle hydrangeas and shasta daisies do well this year, because i'd love to have fresh flowers in the house all summer long. if not, i might just keep going back to the ferns, because i'm rather crazy about these pretty fronds.

do you plant flowers that you can cut and bring inside? any recommendations?

california knows how to party

yes it does.

ben and i snuck away to huntington beach late last week. he traveled for a work conference, and i was his moral support/clothing consultant (i ironed his clothes each morning). it is tough work, but hey. someone's gotta do it. ;)

when we checked into the hotel on wednesday, they upgraded us from a double-queen room to a king room, which happened to be a full-on suite. there were two bathrooms. fan-CIE!

ben thinks we got the upgrade because they saw my pregnant tummy. perhaps. i'll take it.

we explored the hotel a bit and stumbled upon this cozy little outdoor fireplace. tres romantic.

on thursday, ben was in sessions all day and i had some freelance work to do. i ventured out to a local panera for lunch and free wi-fi, and then we enjoyed in-n-out for dinner. i ordered a neapolitan shake off the secret menu. delish.

on friday, i had the entire day free! i started with a walk on the beach and promptly found myself in the middle of the ragnar relay. costumes, music, and some male speedos. very interesting stuff.

after a quick shower, i took the rental car down pch to laguna beach, driving through newport on the way. i've been to newport on another trip, and i wanted to go somewhere a little smaller, cuter, and less touristy. laguna was perfect. i really liked that city.

the beach i visited was much more interesting than huntington——more character somehow. it had a really fun vibe. see the houses built into the hills? i would have loved to see inside one or two of them.

i spent a few hours browsing the shops and people watching. i was tempted by these polka-dot toms and cutie stuffed animals for baby girl, but i showed restraint.

on friday night, i got to attend the conference's closing event with ben on the queen mary in my hometown of long beach. even though i was born there, ben teases me for pretending to be a californian because i only lived there a short time. i'm claiming it, though. i am!

it was a bit chilly, but we had a good time.

saturday might have been the best of all. while ben attended his last session, i took some pictures of the hotel. it was pretty fancy.

and then came the major fun! i got to meet ben's cousin angie, her husband keith, and their four wonderful children. one of the boys had a little league game and we tagged along. unfortunately, i neglected my camera, but here are a few shots of their two lovely girls looking very serious and ben tickling them as much as possible.

they fed us a delicious dinner. we both tried edamame for the first time and were pleasantly surprised. then they took us out for frozen yogurt. neither of us wanted to leave, but we had an early plane to catch and said good-bye around 10. we stayed at a hotel near the airport and caught a 7:45 flight back to good old minnesota. it was a fabulous trip——maybe the last time the two of us take a trip alone for a while. i am thankful i was able to go!