A New Decade

So today I officially said "Goodbye 20's, Hello 30's". I guess this really means I'm an adult. In some ways, I do feel like one (married, with a kid and a mini-van (D just got a Mazda 5)). However, I do still have juvenile tendencies (I still like Hello Kitty, I watch The Hills/Newport Harbor, and browse at Forever 21). I'm not sure when those things will go away...hopefully before I'm 40!

On Saturday D and I watched the Cal/Oregon game. Seriously, that was not good for our health! We had heart palpitations and trouble breathing. I think k was worried about us. OK, not really, but let's hear it for touchbacks!

Right after the game we dropped off k at my parents and had "date night" at Johnny Reb's. Recommended: swamp water (Arnold Palmer in a mason jar), St. Louis ribs, fried catfish, sweet potato fries. OK: biscuit, dirty rice, pinto beans. Stay away from: corn bread, mashed potatoes (unless you like them gooey).

k modeling her new clothes

Friday night D+L+k like to take it easy. We were chillin' so that we are well rested for the busy Saturday that we have planned. Here is k happy with Pooh Bear feet.

Bedhead

This morning k woke up with a serious case of bedhead. She looked like a different baby because her hair in front actually went down to form bangs instead of sticking straight up and out. Notice also the tuft of hair on her left hand side that gave her a side cowlick.

Today k had her 9 month checkup. She was fussing quite a bit and had to have a shot. The doctor predicted that she will take after D & me in height/weight based on her measurements. We'll see about that.

Rain

One of the fun things about being a parent is being able to see everything with "new" eyes. Early Saturday morning, k was intrigued by the first rainfall of the season.


One of our favorite activities during the weekend is taking naps!

k is 3/4 of a year old!

A Belated Birthday Dinner

Last night D went golfing with some co-workers after work, so we celebrated his birthday tonight. I made salmon with a pineapple-soy reduction, roasted asparagus and rice. I bought the fresh water (not farmed) salmon from Trader Joe's. D said he decided that salmon is his favorite food, so I guess that will be his birthday dinner from now on. k had some and seemed to enjoy it too.



After dinner D read k her favorite bedtime story, "Good Morning, Good Night".

A Double Birthday Celebration

Since D and I have birthdays 1 year and 11 days apart, it makes sense for my family to celebrate them both at one time. This year I requested a mocha cake (it has Kahlua) from Paula Deen's holiday magazine. It was delicious!


I love how the weather is getting cooler. It's time for k to go back to wearing footed pajamas. Here she is right after her bath. (We've started giving her baths in the regular tub and she doesn't like to sit down! D holds her while she stands up and I do the washing.)

A Wedding Shower

Today I hosted a wedding shower for R. Actually, I didn't really feel like I did much since it was held at a tea place called High Tea Cottage in Woodland Hills, and I had someone else plan the games! All I did was the invitations, prizes and favors...all things I enjoy doing :) We left the house an hour and a half before it started, but it took about two hours and fifteen minutes to get there. That's right...we were about 45 minutes late! I felt so bad, especially since I was supposed to be the "hostess", but it seemed that everyone was just talking and eating, so it wasn't too awkward. I didn't think traffic would be THAT bad on a Saturday morning, but I also didn't think that someone would decide to tow a HOUSE on the 101! Apparently it was too tall and hit the underpass, had to pull over and ended up blocking half of the freeway lanes. When we were coming home five hours later, it was still there, so I snapped a picture:


Kids, this is not a good idea.

Anyway, the food at the tea cottage was quite tasty. We had lavendar lemonade, fruit tea or English tea, mini quiches, sandwiches (cucumber, curry egg, chicken salad, cheese/fruit jam), ginger lemon scones, cranberry scones, and "delicate sweet morsels" (as stated on the menu).


Tasty, dainty sandwiches


Me and the Bride-to-Be

Thank you to D for taking k to a nearby mall and looking after her during the tea!

Another Week Goes By

Wow. It really is September now. The new fall t.v. season is on, not to mention college football :) Saturday D listened to the Cal game on the radio while I watched Oregon beat up Michigan. For some reason, I got into that one. Gotta love those "statute of liberty" plays--haha! Go Pac-10.

Saturday night we went to dinner hosted by a couple that D knows from b-school. D happened to run into them while having lunch in Irvine during the work week a while back. They have a 22 month old daughter who is so cute...she was sharing ALL of her toys with k. It's hard to imagine k will be that age soon, talking and walking.

Sunday was "Super SEYO Sunday" at WPC. We had a guest speaker, Jason Wright, formerly of the Seattle Super Sonics. I think that's a cool team name, btw. After the luncheon we stopped in at Joe's Italian Ice, which my mom had raved about. D had the Orange Twist and I had the Bada Bing Cherry Joe Latti. I really liked my italian ice--it had chunks of cherry in it! I want to try the other flavors now.

Here are some pictures of k standing up:

k's hair is getting pretty "fro-y". It won't stay down! She gets that from D.


Playing with the blinds. k can make anything amusing.

The good and the bad of Labor Day Weekend

The labor day weekend started off good. On Saturday a huge college football game was on; Cal vs. Tennessee. Both teams were ranked and the game was on national TV. The game was in Berkeley and Cal won 45-31. Out offensive looks as good as advertised, and our defense was OK.



But then on Monday, I ran the Disneyland Half-marathon. It started out at 6 a.m. and the temperature was 76 degrees with 61 percent humidity. A Disneyland cast member said that we were under a red flag warning due to the heat. By the time I finished it was 83 degrees. I thought I was going to run it quite a bit faster than last year; however, I was a minute slower. The experience was unpleasant and I thought of quiting. My feet were over-heating and I felt dizzy and had a little cramping. On the bright-side, even though 1,000 more people signed up; 159 fewer males beat me. I have decided to no longer run the Disneyland Half-marathon due to the race being in September (too hot), and the price is expensive($105), and I have to get there at 4:30 a.m. I signed up for the Surf City USA Half-Marathon (formerly Pacific Shoreline). It is on February 3rd 2008 (cooler), it is only $75, and I don't need to arrive there until around 6 a.m.

Half-Birthday Party

On Sunday we went to a Japanese-themed half-birthday party for two brothers at church. There were a lot of kids running around! I commented to D that this is what the vast majority of the birthday parties we go to will be like from now on. The girls received cute Japanese-y barrettes. I was amazed that k's stayed in her not-so-plentiful hair!


I'll let D fill you in on the rest of the weekend's events.

Hello, September!

This morning we went to Downtown Disney so D could pick up his bib # for his upcoming 1/2 marathon. They were already setting things up. Here are D and k by the finish line:



While D stood in line at the hotel, k and I took a little walk. I bought some beignets at the "express" Jazz Kitchen. They were pretty good, but I think I still have to go to Cafe du Monde in New Orleans to try the real thing.


I'm glad we're not spending the whole day at Disneyland today...it was already HOT at 9 a.m.!