Meet the Millwoods

New Blog

2010-05-05T21:29:00.002-05:00

Hi all!

I know, I know. Why don't I post anymore? Well, because I feel like you only want to see photos and I'm not good at remembering to take pictures and then I feel obligated to share every minute detail of our lives and that's extremely boring.

That said, I have started a new blog——one more intended for public consumption than the family-oriented thing I've had going on here. It's about my life as a mother, and I hope you'll find it entertaining. Check it out, become a follower and tell your friends! Mishaps of Motherhood

The next Professor Millwood ...?

2009-10-31T16:17:00.004-05:00

We don't do lobster where we come from

2009-10-31T16:01:00.005-05:00

There's nothing like a good ole New Orleans-style crawfish boil. First, you need some boiling water.

Then you spread out some newspaper and add some potatoes ...

Next up, the corn ...

Don't forget the Tony's ...

Last but not least, add the crawfish ...

Happy Halloween!!

D(elivery)-Day

2009-09-13T17:35:00.007-05:00

On Tuesday, July 7th, I went to the doctor for my weekly check-up. Though I wasn't due until June 30th according to their calculations, I had a very strong feeling that my baby was coming early—three weeks early to be exact. But when the doctor informed me I was at 1 cm. and I said, "So you don't want to keep me and let me have him today?" he just laughed and said, "No, no. You've got a few weeks to go."

A few weeks, my foot.

Here I am Wednesday morning just before I headed to work. I was super-swollen, super-hot, and super-ready to have that baby already. Lucky for me, he was ready to stop baking too ...

That night while watching So You Think You Can Dance, I started to feel contractions. Caleb started noting the times and we saw they were coming every 7 to 11 minutes. I was talking to Dad on the phone and he assured me that these were just Braxton-Hicks contractions and I would probably have them a few more times in the next few weeks. Well, you too were mistaken, sir.

I woke up at 1:15 Thursday morning assuming I just had to go to the bathroom (as I did a million times each night), but with the vague recollection that something painful had occurred. Thinking nothing of it, I started to go back to sleep and then I felt DEFINITE pain. "That seemed quick," I thought. So I eyed the clock and waited for it to happen again. A mere four minutes had passed—it was time to raise the alarm. So I calmly informed Caleb that I was possibly in labor.

His response was less calm, as he leaped up and hurried around, but I insisted that we wait a bit because I didn't want to show up at the hospital and it end up being false labor. He was convinced it was the real deal and promptly began shaving. (He knew Mom would be taking lots of pictures and since he'd been sick for the past week, he somewhat resembled a grizzly bear.) In the mean time, I sat on the bed and turned on Cheers. Of course, since the contractions were now four minutes apart, it didn't take long for me to experience another one. As I went to tell Caleb that I thought it was indeed the real deal, my water broke. Much to Caleb's alarm, I decided to take a shower and blow-dry my hair. (I didn't want to look super-greasy in all those first baby photos. You'll see soon that my plan didn't quite work ...)

Despite my dawdling, we were at the hospital by 2:00 and eagerly awaiting pain medication. As I've told many people, with each contraction I thought I was going to die, and then was even more discouraged when I realized I wasn't going to die, but continue to go through this in ever-increasing frequency. Needless to say, I was overjoyed when I got the epidural and proceeded to take a care-free nap.

Before I knew it, it was baby time. Apparently I pushed longer than was expected (almost two hours), but I was fine, calmly discussing the purchase of Wrigley Field and watching Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and Sports Center. Then, at 10:32 I had a perfect 6-lb. 3-oz., 19.5-inch redheaded baby boy. It was crazy. I didn't cry, but I think that was mostly because the whole thing was so surreal. But enough story. Let's get to some photos.

Caleb holding Axel for the first time:

Me holding Axel for the first time:

Me happily showered and holding him:

Caleb giving Axel his first lecture:

Happy grandmothers, Delly and Nana:

Snoozing in his little rolling cart bed:

Ecstatic Pop (Caleb's parents were able to drive down from Maryland once we told them we were at the hospital):

On our way home! Our first family photo:

More cute photos to come shortly, but Axel is calling me at the moment ...

Motherhood ...

2009-09-13T16:49:00.008-05:00

is time-consuming. But I suppose you could've guessed that. Still, that's no excuse for denying you the privilege of seeing the face of the most beautiful boy who has graced this planet. But before you get to see him, I have to put up those last few pictures I mentioned pre-baby—his first concert and baseball game. If you're only here for cute baby photos, feel free to skip to the next post, which I shall put up shortly.

While Caleb was off playing a camp somewhere, REO Speedwagon was playing City Stages. There I was, on the brink of fulfilling my life-long dream of seeing REO in concert for free (it pays to be editor of a local magazine ...), and I had no one to go with. Clearly as a 9-month pregnant girl, I couldn't go alone, and my standard date Kelly was sick. Brad offered to go with me, but let's face it, what fellow is dying to stand in sweltering heat to see REO Speedwagon with his wife's best friend? A good man, but when I got a hold of Karen and she was actually desirous of seeing the 70s super-group (that might be a stretch), he was off the hook, and I was on my way! Yay for Karen and Jeff who didn't run from me as I stood swaying to the music with a belly as big as a watermelon. Good times ... (Please note the rock hand gesture is ironic...)

Then later that week, Caleb and I went on our annual pilgrimage to Atlanta to see the Cubs play the Braves. It was an entertaining evening (even if the wrong team won): I was repeatedly asked by an usher if I was doing okay (I think she thought I was going to go into labor, and as you can see in this photo, I didn't look far off), discovered the importance of teaching my son how baseball is played so that he doesn't cheer for the right fielder the ENTIRE time he's in the outfield, and watched in horror as two loving parents revealed the dangers of taking your children to a baseball game. (We estimate they spent more than $100 on food alone.) The mother of the two very-close-in-age children also gave me an important bit of info: You can in fact get pregnant while nursing. "And then here you are at 40 with two little kids and you drink a lot of beer." Point taken. (Side note: this picture should serve as a reminder to all pregnant women that white is not your friend and your husband will lie to you about whether or not you look okay once you're too large to be able to see yourself.)

Okay, now onto the good stuff!

Ode to the Big Man

2009-06-28T18:45:00.006-05:00

As time for the little man to arrive draws near, I've been thinking more and more about how fortunate I am to have Caleb as my husband and the father of my son (so weird to write!). And while I try to make it plain how much I appreciate him, I have decided to seize the opportunity while he is away and can't read over my shoulder to make sure everyone knows why he's pretty much the best ever.

You see, Caleb and I have known each other a long time—a decade in fact. We spent many of those years as off-again, on-again best friends until finally dating and realizing this was the real deal. I can remember pulling up to my parents' house over Christmas break one day shortly after becoming an "item," and thinking, "I'm going to marry him." After years of being friends, it became abundantly clear that he was the one. It took a while because I always remembered him as the cute little 15-year-old playing bass in the band, lip-synching to The Carpenters, and making bizarre, funny videos with his friends.

But the truth is, Caleb had grown up in lots of ways that have made him the best husband I could ask for. He's still hysterical and super-cute, but he's also the most considerate, thoughtful, and loving person I've ever met. That's how I know that, in addition to being a wonderful husband to me, he's going to be the hands-down greatest dad any child has ever had. I mean, just look at this photo:

This picture is from several years ago when we were just dating and he spent the whole day with (me and) my two nieces at City Park Amusements, taking turns riding with each, since they fought over who got to be with him (I apparently was chopped liver), and generally entertaining them. It's been said that "not liking Caleb is like not liking puppies," and I think that's the truth. He is the picture of patience and kindness to every child who crosses his path, which makes me eternally grateful that he's mine all mine, because let's face it, I am not.

So here's to Caleb: The sweetest husband in the world, and the soon-to-be best dad ever. (And yes, this is obviously not OUR kid, but he looks like he could be! [It's my nephew Andrew] And look how cute he looks with a little boy!)

Fresh Ink, New Friends, and Promises of More to Come

2009-06-23T21:15:00.012-05:00

Though he may not be aware that he has done these things, Axel has already been to his first concert AND baseball game—all in one week! But let's back up.

Though we meant to go to JazzFest back in May, we didn't quite make it. Sure, sure, we went down to New Orleans, but we ended up spending a lot of time that weekend with Lacey. And when we spend time with Lacey, I think we all know what happens: there's a lot of eating involved (Crazy Johnny's AND Venezia) and someone (meaning Caleb) winds up with a new tattoo. (For those interested in shopping Lacey and JuJu's wares, visit Mid City Voodoux Tattoos.)

It went a little something like this: We pull up to the tattoo shop to see Lacey. As we get out, I say, "Wouldn't it be funny if I walked in and said, 'I want a tattoo!'?" To which Caleb replied, "You can't get one—you're pregnant. But wouldn't it be funny if we walked in and you said I could get a tattoo?" To which I replied, "That would be funny because that will never happen." And so, we entered the shop, Caleb resigned, me thinking nothing of it. Until I noticed a drawing of a coat of arms on the counter. That's when I turned to Caleb and said, "What about a coat of arms?" (For the record, I've always been a big fan of family crests. For any Kehoe readers out there, I credit Mrs. Dempsey for that class project we had to do—and my brother for making a really snappy one when he was in her class that my parents later framed and had hanging in our house.) Caleb said, "That would be cool!" And so, we set out to find the Millwood coat of arms. Turns out, it's really boring, so we decided to make our own. And here she is:

The pelican symbolizes devotion and self-sacrifice (and it's also the Louisiana state bird, so we doubly liked it). His crown is the celestial crown (that's what the stars are about), which represents heavenly rewards. The lozenge (diamond right below the pelican) stands for loyalty. The horse represents "readiness for all employments for king and country." And the axes, which typically stand for military involvement, really represent our first-born: Axel. The banner underneath says "Strength through Loyalty" in Latin.

All this is on Caleb's right arm, which he now calls his family arm, since it also bears the typewriter with my name. I have once again announced that this is the end of the tattoos. We'll see if I can stand stronger this time. I can only blame so much on Lace... (P.S. isn't she cute pregnant? You can't really tell in that photo, but she is I promise! Her little boy—Blaine—we'll be arriving just a few weeks after Axel.)

And now we fast-forward a bit. I'll throw in a few belly shots for good measure. Here I am at 33.5 weeks. Still looking relatively normal from the front, but ridiculously round from the side:

And some updated photos of his room, now that he has a mattress and shades and we got the chair-and-a-half in. We got a few albums hung (Stryper, anyone?), but we're still on the hunt for some more good ones. We took our Yellow Submarine gel (thanks, Daddy!) to get professionally framed today since it's actually nice and deserves more veneration than the Hobby Lobby jobs we did on some of our other stuff around the house (I like the frames, but the pictures warped a bit). When we get it back, it''ll hang next to the window by the chair.

Here we have a few of his future friends: the yet-to-be-named bear from Pop and Delly (taking suggestions here), Aslan, and Pigwidgeon. And of course, a soccer ball, since Caleb is obsessed. Luckily, it seems as though Axel is quite a fan as well, judging by his current and constant favorite activity of violently kicking me in the side. I'm getting my orange-slice-cutting skills ready!

A couple weeks ago, my fabulous friends Kelly and Emily threw a shower for me, and I got to see lots of my old Coastal pals, along with friends from church and even Ashley and Meera from home! It was super-great fun, and I totally forgot to take photos. Because I am bad at this. I hope to improve once Axel is actually born. Tons of ridiculously cute things were bestowed upon us, including our stroller, a bouncy seat, a whale-shaped bathtub, the totally rad shoes shown below, the greatest bedtime book ever (Goodnight NOLA), snuggly blankets, adorable onesies, and more. I have such great friends and family! Because I'm too lazy to take photos of everything, I pulled a few items out of his drawers (that's right, I'm on top of something—I washed his clothes IN DREFT) to show off. Just try to tell me my son isn't ready to rock and/or roll.

OK, this has turned into an obscenely long post, so I'm going to wait on photos of the firsts until next time, which I vow will be sooner than the last time. I have much to rant about—like how I'm confident that if I wait this long between posts again, I will already have a baby, despite the doctors saying I'm due July 28th. But more on that TK.

A Knack for Nesting

2009-05-13T21:01:00.021-05:00

As we prepare for Axel's arrival, we've been trying to get all of those annoying little house things taken care of that have fallen by the wayside. First on the list was the bathroom. Check. You finally saw that. Second, the baby's room. Checkity-check.

But now, in a much more timely fashion, you will see the rest of our progress. Here we have what our house looked like just the other week. It seems as though the people who owned the house before us had just painted it before we bought it ... but didn't scrape or prep the house at all. So it was getting really sad and peely. We decided to go with a more muted look. Check her out:

We went with November Rain again on the siding, but I promise you, it was recommended as an exterior paint color. In fact, we went with a palette they had in the Benjamin Moore exterior pamphlet, so if you don't like it, blame Ben. We still want to do some landscaping and move those holly trees so they stop blocking the windows. If anyone has landscaping prowess, please let us know. We need all the help we can get.

Here, the old porch. Now, much prettier. It's not screened again yet, which means bugs keep getting in when we leave the doors open. But on the positive side, Louzie doesn't seem to understand that no screen means she could technically leap through the holes and be free. Ever since she poked her arm through the old screen though, she's been a little hesitant to throw herself at it. I guess that helps. Or maybe she just likes us better now and doesn't feel a need to run away ... Either way, we're glad she has yet to escape, and we will rectify the un-screened screened porch situation soon. Also exciting, we put the screen door (which fell off onto the mail lady back in September '05) back onto the front door. It doesn't have a screen in it right now either. The neighbors must think we're totally bizarre ... but at least the house looks prettier in general!

And, one of my favorite details (thanks Josh and Elena!), our New Orleans manhole cover door mat!

Next up, the guest room. Formerly home to the twin beds from my childhood and their matching bedside table and dresser (not to mention some heinously ugly limey green walls), the guest room is now a stylish, restful haven for visitors. And guess what, married folks: you don't have to sleep in separate beds anymore!

Like it or not, we inherited many a lovely item from the store closing. For example, the rad mirror now serving as a headboard, rug, chair, and white lacquer bookcase. Caleb conquered his distaste for painting and covered the walls in a lovely steely blue and then styled the room all by himself! Is he talented or what?

The vanity I picked up at an antique shop is still in there, but I think its lines go rather well with the mirror, so it works. If you don't agree, please don't share.

While we were in New Orleans, we went to our favorite store, Renaissance, which is a furniture consignment place Mom introduced us to back in the day. Since apparently everyone in NOLA has amazing 19th-century goods hanging out in their homes, they bring them in here to sell them. You could go in every day and you'd see a whole new batch of stuff, so if you like something, you better grab it. Of course, if it has been there for a month, it's 20 percent off. Two months, 40 percent off. So sometimes you want to wait ...

Anyway, there were a ton of great paintings, and we started thinking, wouldn't it be cool to have a wall devoted to random portraits? The answer: yes. So we began our collection there at Renaissance with this 19th century painting and the lovely painted ladies. Personally, I love it.

So if you find any great portraits—doesn't matter what style—let us know!

Feeling Large ... and in Charge

2009-05-06T18:46:00.025-05:00

Well friends, you've waited long enough. Here is an update. And not just any update. An update with photos of the bathroom! That's right, after several months of its 95 percent completion, it is now 100 percent complete! But first, here I am at 27 weeks (which was last week):

As you can see, there has been a dramatic increase in the size of my belly, though it appears to still not be big enough for Axel, who is quite the boogier. He seems to like music and gets a little miffed when I stop singing. Such a good boy ... He loves his mama already. Speaking of the little man, let's take a gander at his room, shall we?

This is what you see right when you walk into the room. Previously, the whole space had been that bright blue color, but we decided we wanted it to be a little more subdued. So we chose November Rain, which—I may have mentioned before—Caleb suspected was a sign from God, and just left the back of the bookshelves blue.

We absolutely LOVE our crib and changing table/dresser. Because there are two windows and so many built-in bookshelves, there's not a whole lot of room for furniture, so I was a little unsure where the changer was going to go until Caleb pointed out it fit perfectly in the window, thus eliminating the bit of dead space under the window that had previously driven me crazy. Hoorah!

Here we have our fabulous crib, which sports just the right amount of modern design for our mish-mash of a decorating style. I just painted the canvas over the bed the other day. We enjoy bad puns...

Now before you get distracted by bathroom photos, I'll fill you in on a bit of news. Yesterday, I was named Editor-in-Chief of PORTICO magazine here in Birmingham. (You can see a free online version of the mag at porticomag.com. The web site needs work, I know, but one thing at a time, folks!) It's been a lot of work, and it's going to be a lot more work in the next few months. But it's extremely exciting!

Also, on the pregnant front, I failed my first blood glucose test. Note to all newly pregnant or not-yet pregnant friends: do NOT fail the first test. I have the 3-hour one tomorrow, so I don't know how awful it is yet. All I know is, it takes three hours and that sounds miserable, and—worst of all—you have to follow a really terrible diet. What are you supposed to do when the doctors simultaneously tell you to gain weight, and then hand you a sheet that says you can have 3 oz. of meat and 1 oz. of cheese! I'm STARVING! And as we have learned these past few days, when I am hungry, I am cranky. I might kill someone for a Hershey bar and a Dr. Pepper right now, so watch out. Fingers crossed that I pass the test tomorrow and go back to my cheery, weight-gaining ways! (Side note: I made sure to schedule the test far enough away from our trip to New Orleans so that I didn't have to miss out on anything good while we were home. More on that trip in a future post.)

Now onto the bathroom! It's still as small as ever, but ain't it purty? If you go back into the archives, you can see how atrocious it was before. Now there's a pretty white pennyround floor, freshly glazed tub, super-light green paint, new toilet, and snappy brown roman shade.

Inside the tub, we went with white subway tile and a dark gray grout. The fixtures, which you can't see, are chrome and squared-off and good-looking. We replaced the super-low sink that was hanging off the wall with a square pedestal sink and the messed up medicine cabinet and bald lightbulb with the wood-framed mirror and chrome square-ish light fixture. And finally, we took off the closet door and made a curtain to match the window shade. Yay for new bathroom!

Lies The Tokens Told Me and My Less-Than-in-Tune-with-My-Musical-Taste Friends

2009-03-30T18:46:00.007-05:00

First some fun. Check me out at 22 weeks! (This was taken last week.)

Now, down to business. As I have expressed in earlier posts, I was quite pleased with myself in acquiring a "zebra" rug to complement my soon-to-be-made "Welcome to the Jungle" sign for maybe-to-be-named-Axel's room. But as I lay in bed the other night, it occurred to me: Zebras don't live in jungles. And as I thought about it even more, I realized, neither do lions! Yet when you're looking at crib bedding, you will find many a jungle-themed set featuring lions and giraffes and sometimes even crocodiles. But they don't live in jungles!

Why did it take me until I was 25 to realize this? Safari? OK, I'll allow it. You can go on safari in the plains, grasslands, or deserts (which is where zebras, lions, and giraffes typically dwell), but jungle? 'Fraid not, friend. Just watch any nature program—or even The Lion King for that matter—and you will see, lions are not hanging out in jungles (except for that part when Simba runs away, but even then, that really should've been a forest, not a jungle). I feel as though I have been led astray my whole life long.

On a separate note, I have found the potential naming of my child and musical references made thereafter have led to endless amusement on my part. For example ...

the whole "Welcome to the Jungle" sign. Those in the know find it hilarious (as well they should), while others just think it's cute and that I'm going to cover the room in lions and giraffes and zebras (clearly not after the aforementioned discovery!).

Even funnier, though, has proven my comment about how appropriate it was that the color we painted the nursery is—I kid you not—called November Rain. While we did not select it because of it's name, we didn't doubt it was a sign from God. Especially after we painted a swatch on the wall and it looked super-good. The funny part though, is why people thought "November Rain" would be appropriate. Let's just say we announced in November that we were pregnant. You can use your imagination as to the assumptions made here ...

In case these last few paragraphs have been a mystery to you, let me explain. While we stumbled across the name Axel while searching for good Hebrew names (both Caleb and Abigail are Hebrew. In case you're interested, Axel means "Father of Peace."), it also happens to be the name of the lead singer of one of Caleb's favorite bands, Guns 'n Roses. And so, we make a lot of GnR and Axl Rose references around here, and in relation to the little man. For the record, both "Welcome to the Jungle" and "November Rain" are classic GnR songs.

All that to say, the nursery has been painted! Currently, unwanted furniture is still taking up the center of the room, so no photos. But we plan on having a yard sale/giving away a bunch of stuff in the next few weeks. Stay tuned ...

Fun Buys for Baby

2009-03-14T21:31:00.006-05:00

A lot of stuff is going on these days. As most of you know (or read above), we have decided to close the store. What with a baby on the way and the economy showing no signs of improving (some say for yet another year), we've decided it's time to bow out. But don't worry about us. We're excited about the future!

And speaking of the future, witness the first purchase I made for the little man's room. I think it's HYSTERICAL. It's the Dwell Studio for Target baby zebra rug that I've been eyeing for eons, but never had a reason to own before. Many of you know we're thinking about naming my fella Axel, so I've kicked around the idea of painting something that says "Welcome to the Jungle" to hang above his crib. (Get it? Welcome to the jungle? If you don't ... well ... Caleb will have to school you.) Since I'm not into uber-themes and don't want a full-on safari thing going on, I think the rug and canvas are the perfect combo for a hilariously hip room.

Now I must admit, this next one's for me ...

#1 on my irrational desire list is irrational no more, thanks to that wonderful purveyor of goods, eBay. Secretly, I really wanted the pink over the black, so I was ecstatic to find the bag for a fraction of retail cost. (Otherwise, clearly, it would not have been purchased). It came in the mail the other day and I gotta tell you, it's the biggest bag I've ever seen. I think it may be a baby carrier, not just a diaper bag. You know, like one of those things you stick chihuahuas in? Well I could fit twins up in this thing.

As for the rest of my irrational desire list, I'm over it. OK, except for a pair of jeans that I wouldn't mind having. Why must pricey designer jeans be the only kind that really fit?!

Snow Day!

2009-03-04T16:45:00.011-06:00

Just last Friday, Marisa and I were discussing how it rarely snows here (as it rained for 14+ hours straight). And then, what happened Sunday, but snow! And not ninny snow—real snow. Real, fluffy, snowball-throwin snow. Of course, it didn't start out that way. When I got up before 7, it was just a grainy kind of snow. But soon it got good. Caleb was in Montgomery playing a Disciple Now, so I had to document the winter wonderland situation. I forgot how fun snow was! Fun for like half a day of course, before it gets muddy and frozen over. But snow doesn't have a chance to get that way here, so it was great and I was instantaneously cheery.

Not that Louzie cared. She took a few good looks to scout out the white stuff. If you know her at all, you can probably guess her response. If not, click "read more" to check it out. (And see more fun snow photos)

Yes, folks, here she is. Play in the snow? That's for hooligans. Louzie prefers napping on the couch—with a pillow and blanket of course.

I, however, had to get going since I was singing that morning at church. When I called Mom, she was horrified that I was driving in such a terrible "storm," as the weathermen were calling it. I had to remind her that I lived in Evanston for four years, and that I had walked in storms much worse than this with more than a foot of accumulated snow already on the ground. This, in comparison, was nothing. And made me feel like a kid of 18 again! (Sad that 18 actually was kind of a while ago now.)

In child-like spirit, I grabbed my little friend Sara Beth, who actually is a "kid" of 17, though she's much wiser than her years (and me and probably most people) (also, she has the greatest folksiest singing voice ever and should record an album that everyone would buy), and ran into the snow.

Here, I would like to pause for a moment and reflect on how hung up my mother was on my not slipping. (Seriously, she said it a million times. Didn't you, Mom?) The reason for this is that she fell on some ice in D.C. while pregnant with me. Now, clearly you don't want pregnant people falling because it's never a good thing, but are you implying there was some damage done? Because, frankly, I think I turned out just fine. And I would also like to make another point: She was ice skating. That's right, ICE SKATING. While pregnant with me. Asking for trouble ... and then worrying about me walking on normal roads in normal shoes ... sheesh.

Then I coaxed Mom and Dad out of the house to meet me at Surin for Thai food, where I made a mini-snowman out of the snow piled up on the back of my car. And after lunch, I dumped Thai food all over my coat. Tear ... but my enthusiasm wasn't dulled. I snapped a few pictures (much to Caleb's chagrin) as I drove home and then took a lovely winter nap. All in all, a wonderful day. Hoorah for snow!

Baby Acrobatics, Elusive Bumps, and ... All Things Boy!

2009-02-28T12:17:00.010-06:00

That's right folks, TK is officially a boy! And yes, you can tell me it's never 100 percent sure, but gang, we're 100 percent sure. I'm just not including those photos on the web site, because that's awkward. So here he is: My little man at 18 weeks and 1 day. After the ultrasound, Mom and I met Daddy for a hearty lunch of pot roast and baked potatoes (the boy's favorites—he takes after his mother ...), and then headed out to put a dent in the struggling economy. It is now safe to say that he has every article of clothing required for the 0-3 month range. All totally rad, of course.

The little guy has also chosen to demonstrate his future soccer stardom recently. Ironically, last Sunday, Mom asked if I had felt him move, to which I replied, "Oh no. They say it could take till week 20." Then lo and behold, that night as I lay in bed reading Anna Karenina again, I felt the strangest lurch. Before I even had time to think, "What is that?" he struck again. I knew what it must be, since whatever organ was being beaten, it had certainly never experienced such a thing before. Despite my father's comment that once I felt him move, I would be all schmoopy about it and be sad when it didn't happen every 15 minutes, my gut response was, "Don't do that again!" Since then, my attitude has wholeheartedly changed. I am now sappy when he strikes, and typically end up laughing. (The look on Caleb's face the first time he felt it was hysterical and shall always be cherished.) If you look closely at the ultrasound, you will see little dots above his head. Those are his feet, primed for kicking. He particularly dislikes when I cramp his space by sitting with my knee tucked up to my chin. Lesson learned ...

As for the belly situation, I don't have an updated photo because, frankly, it's a hit or miss situation. Yesterday, I looked assuredly pregnant. Today, back to looking like I just have a little gut. I don't know what he's doing in there to make such a difference from day to day, but I'll wait till a good round day to take another photo.

Now, on to the Mom bag. I said that unless I could find a totally rock 'n roll bag, I would not yet upgrade. Well, have I found the bag. Those of you who know my pickiness about purses will know that I only carry Isabella Fiore. I justify the way-too-expensiveness of them by carrying them everyday until they deteriorate. If you have seen me, you have seen me with my black beaded "peace & love" bag, and you have seen me with it since Dec. 2002. (I know, because it was one of the best Christmas presents ever. Thanks Mom!) So it occurred to me, as I visited many a web site in search of a rockin diaper bag, wouldn't it be rad if Isabella Fiore made one? And then, thanks to the powers-that-be at Google, I found it: The best diaper bag EVER. Pricey? Well, yes. But more so than other swanky-ish diaper bags? I think not. And really, say I have three children. I will be carrying a diaper bag off and on for approximately 10 years. Shouldn't I look/feel awesome while doing it? I think so.

And so, this will kick off my list of irrational baby gear I would like.
#1: The "Baby Love" Tamara Tote Diaper Bag by Isabella Fiore.
Likelihood of purchase: I'd say pretty good because I like my rationalization.

In posts to follow, I will continue the list with items that I may or may not ever have realistic possibilities of owning. But that's pretty unimportant to me at this point. At five months from birth, I'm OK with being in dream mode rather than practical. As D-Day draws nearer, I fully anticipate my desires to come more in line with my pocketbook. (So then maybe my plan should be to beef up the pocketbook ... if only it were that easy ...)

Becoming a Mommy

2009-02-13T15:06:00.012-06:00

Sorry blog-followers, but we've had a busy few weeks. For those of you wondering how the bathroom turned out, it's fabulous, but you'll have to wait for photos. I'm waiting till we get the curtain and mirror officially hung before I take any pictures.

Instead, I'm giving you something some of you will think is even better: pregnant girl photos. So there's not a lot to see here. In person it's much more impressive, but here you go: me at 16 weeks.

In response to my new roundness, I have moved into full-on nesting mode. While stopping in at Hobby Lobby to get some fabric to make a curtain for the bathroom, I happened to find a plethora of ridiculously cute fabrics with which to make baby blankets, dresses (if TK's a girl), etc. Sure, I don't actually have a sewing machine, nor do I know how to sew, but I figure there's a first for everything, and Marisa has informed me that sewing machines are not as expensive as I thought. If Mom can just teach me how not to sew my fingers, I may be well on my way!

Anyway, to keep track of all my new mommy-like tendencies, I bought ... a planner. OK, so I didn't go out looking for one. I really just wanted a tiny calendar to stick in my purse, but apparently they don't sell calendars (much less tiny ones) after January 1st. And then I saw this little beauty. Don't I look more organized just by having this on my table? I'm a little worried about the fact that it won't fit in my purse, and I really don't want to upgrade to the Mom bag just yet. Not unless I can find one that's really rock 'n roll ...

In other big news (and all the more need for a planner), I have a new job! Starting Monday, I am the Managing Editor of Portico magazine. For those of you non-locals, it's a Birmingham lifestyle magazine with great photography and (magazine-nerd alert) fabulous paper. It will just be a part-time gig for now (so if anybody has a fun job I can do in the afternoons, let me know), but I'm really looking forward to getting back to work. They have a great readership and it's always fun to learn more about the town I live in, since I realize each day that I know very little.

So on to new adventures! And random ob-la-di plug, if you haven't been in in awhile, you should stop by because we're having a killer sale. If we weren't trying to save money for baby-related items, I would be all over it ...

For the Benefit of Baby...

2009-01-24T16:35:00.010-06:00

and, frankly, everyone who enters our home, we have begun renovating our bathroom. Hoorah! For those of you not familiar with the horrible mess that is that most heinous room in our house, here are some photos from when we were looking to purchase the house. Nothing has really changed. Since we knew we wanted to redo it, we didn't even bother to paint. Because there was no vent in the room, the tile and walls were always damp-looking and icky. It doesn't look that bad in these pictures since they had the house all gussied up to sell, but I vow to you, they must have performed some sort of magic to make it look this good because it never did again.

Here, the extremely low camp-style sink, toilet, and painted-shut window, all courtesy of 1951. Ah, how the floor tile cracked and always looked dirty ...

And the linen closet, which is right behind the door, so that when it's open, that door prevents anyone from opening the door into the room, resulting in lots of banging and annoyances.

And finally, the little mirror/medicine cabinet that we never used, with the awkward light fixture that we actually removed, so that we've been living with a bald lightbulb for approximately three years. (Such flattering light!)

The opportunity to renovate came upon us rather unexpectedly when on Friday the plumber and contractor said they were available on Monday. Luckily, Mom and Dad were headed out of town and said we could take over their house, so we've moved up in the world, and are currently rolling with the Mountain Brook crowd. I think it suits us ...

But really, here's what the house looked like by the end of the first day:

Since we were replacing all the fixtures and it would be very challenging to find tiles that could match perfectly to patch the holes, we decided to take down the walls entirely. (I tried to sound disappointed that this would cost more, but deep in my heart, it's what I really hoped for because I was not digging the tile walls all over.) Interestingly, back when they built these houses, they slapped about an inch of cement on the walls and then tiled over it, so we'll gain like three inches all around the room now that there's not all that tile.

Turns out, to tile the floors, they had a wood subfloor on level with the rest of the house, then poured three inches of concrete on that, and then tiled over it. Apparently, it's not the most effective way of getting the job done because all the tile had cracked, and the wood underneath had rotted. And at any given moment, I could've been giving little TK a bath when, like that terrible lullaby, down would go TK, bathtub and all—right through the crawlspace. Of course, to give TK a bath, we would have to shove a washcloth in the drain or something because the tub plug disappeared long before we came around. But all that will be rectified soon, when we get the tub a new drain and reglaze it.

There are now walls again and they tiled the tub surround, so we should be able to move back in around Tues. If I get new pictures, I'll post them, but just know it's going to look amazing. TK will be so happy ...

For the Love of Louzie

2009-01-21T17:37:00.007-06:00

I've heard it said that when you have your first child, you experience a new overwhelming love for the baby that you never could have previously imagined. While I do not deny that this will happen, I feel as though I have already had a glimpse of this love, and her name is Louziana, better known as Louzie (or Louzie-pants, depending how well you know her). I expect I will love TK more than I love her, but right now, it seems completely impossible. I mean, look at this face:

Let's review the wonders of Louzie:
1. super-cuddly
2. super-warm
3. smells like Fritos when she's been sleeping (sounds weird, but there's something lovely and comforting about it. No doggie smell here, just Fritos.)
4. thinks she's a human
5. likes to spoon (not kidding. Last week, we were laying in bed, getting ready to fall asleep with just a Louzie-sized gap between us. She took advantage and flopped down on her side, with her little hips curved around mine, her face against the top of my back, and one arm thrown over my side. Tell me that's not the cutest thing you've ever heard. She only moved when Caleb got tired of being the outside spoon and rolled over.)
6. spontaneously runs laps around the yard (which is terribly amusing to watch)
7. thinks she's a lapdog, and will sit on you despite weighing nearly 40 lbs.
8. gives you a high-five when you say "Go, Cubs!"
9. lets me use her as a pillow
10. sighs dramatically exactly like I do, and oftentimes immediately after I do

There are so many other wonderful things about Louzie—too many to count in fact. I only hope TK can live up to his/her big sister. Of course there are some inevitable downsides to TK. I mean, I won't be able to leave TK home all day alone—at least not without being arrested. TK won't head out through the doggie door to use the bathroom. I will instead be expected to change diapers. TK won't jump with joy when I open a fresh bag of kibble and be happy to eat the same dry food out of a bowl on the floor everyday. Boy, I had something good going with Louzie ...

In honor of TK, here's a baby photo of Louzie to enjoy. (Thanks, Mom and Dad for that ridiculous shirt Caleb is wearing.)

Call in the Cops

2009-01-08T10:21:00.003-06:00

Well, this morning my lovely morning sickness attracted the attention of the Homewood police department. Or at least some security guy.

All I know is, that when I left the house this morning shortly after having an "episode," I soon realized that it had not come to a conclusive end. As I crawled approximately half a block down the street, I decided there was no way I could make it to the store at 15 mph with my head below the steering wheel, and so pulled into the parking lot of an apartment complex.

Once there, I feebly attempted to call my mother. No answer. Cell phone. No answer. Mommy, where are you?! So I called Caleb, who is currently on the road to the outer banks of North Carolina and whimpered for a bit with my head leaning against the air vent next to the steering wheel—until I notice a man with a mustache and a black suit coat is approaching my car, flashing a badge. Awesome, the police think I'm casing the joint.

So I open the door (why not roll down the window?) and he says, "Are you OK?" To which I reply, "Oh, I'm just pregnant and I didn't want to throw up in my car." Apparently he was answering another call and saw me "slumped over" in my car and thought he better check. No fears, sir. I am not dead, just wishing I were...

Nothing but the facts, ma'am

2009-01-03T20:49:00.002-06:00

It will come as no surprise to those of you who know me well that I have decided to tell it like it is. And it is like this: Pregnancy is miserable.

Maybe I just haven't gotten to that lovely glowing stage yet (though I'm sure my face is quite flushed post any-time-of-day-sickness), but frankly, I'm not into nausea and nausea's all I've got right now. Emily has informed me that that misery is mostly confined to the first trimester, but that new miseries await you in the next. Oh boy! I did, however, appreciate the honesty, and will therefore pass it along.

I am aware that goodness comes out of this misery, and so I will persevere, but let me say it is a big relief that you all now know that I am pregnant so I no longer have to feign feeling well (which I wasn't very good at anyway). So bring it on, second trimester! I want to start showing so I can get a little recognition here—and maybe start feeling like it's real. Because right now, TK really just feels like what Caleb refers to as a "stomach bug." (That's what he called TK pre-announcement.)

And on a side note, I have concluded that TK is a boy. I have no real evidence of such a thing (though according to the Chinese calendar Lacey told me to look at, we're both having boys), but still, I have decided it must be. A friend at church said that when she had boys she was really irritable, unlike with the girls. When I shared this little tale with Daddy, his response was, "Well that's nice, but how will you tell?" Oh, ha ha, Father ... Still, I have been a little testy lately—even for me. But I guess we'll find out for sure at our appointment in approximately 8 weeks.

Another side note: I really don't have the energy to do much of anything, let alone exercise. Do you think all the work my body's doing to make the baby grow counts as exercise? It doesn't really seem to be improving the state of my thighs, but I think I've actually lost a few pounds. And if it does count, does that mean I can continue sleeping for rather large portions of the day? I sure hope so, because I've never been much for jogging ...

Learn the Lingo

2009-01-02T19:38:00.003-06:00

While Caleb and I have kicked around many a name for our future Millwood family member, not knowing the baby's gender has put a hamper on referring to him/her in writing and conversation. Since I don't like to call my child "it," and Baby Millwood is slightly tedious to type, I shall henceforth call my offspring "TK" for blogging purposes.

To clear up any potential misunderstandings (as brought to my attention by dear Marisa), TK is not the baby's future initials, but a handy-dandy journalism term used as a placeholder for information you do not yet have—information "to come." (The K is for phonetic reasons.) For example: "After being married TK years, TK and TK Millwood have decided to bring a new little baby TK into the world."

So until we know whether TK is a boy or girl (and possibly after if we haven't settled on a name yet), TK it shall be.

And on that note, TK and I are going to get back to watching the Law & Order: SVU marathon. Once Caleb goes back to work and we're not hanging out with him all day, I'm bound to do infinitely more blogging than before. Get excited!

The Year in Review

2008-12-30T17:25:00.004-06:00

2008 has been an extremely busy year for us. Let's take a quick recap:

In February, I was promoted to Associate Homes Editor at Coastal Living. That same month, Caleb and I decided we would open our own homes accessories store. Then in April, we signed a lease for our storefront and on May 1st, we started our renovations. At the end of May, Caleb graduated from UAB (hoorah!). In the middle of July we opened the doors of ob-la-di (hoorah some more!). Then we had a relatively peaceful autumn, until the end of the year when all hell broke out at Coastal Living and I was laid off (boo!).

But the climax of our year came when we found out that we are having a baby!

We've known since just before Thanksgiving, but we wanted to wait to tell the world until we saw the heartbeat, which we did yesterday. We are EXTREMELY excited, needless to say.

Chances are, I will update the blog a lot more now that I actually have something interesting to write about. In fact, I'll give you an update on the majority of the first trimester some other day. Right now, I'm hungry (big surprise), and dinner calls. So have fun looking at Baby Millwood! For me, it's taco time ...

Bains Party Time

2008-12-30T17:13:00.002-06:00

For the first time in eons, the whole Bains family was gathering somewhere other than Delaware (yay! sorry Ash ...) for Christmas. Unfortunately, poor little Andrew had to have his appendix taken out the night before they were supposed to fly down, so he and Ashley couldn't come. But Emma and Belle flew down, Mark drove over from Dallas, and Andrew, Abby, and Sophia drove over from NC. Once again, I pathetically took absolutely no photos. Which is a bummer because the kids were all really cute and much fun was had.

... wow, this did not make a good post.

A Very Millwood Christmas

2008-12-30T16:51:00.006-06:00

Since I'm no longer employed, we had the lovely opportunity to go down to New Orleans early pre-Christmas and hang out with the Millwood clan. The next morning we did our gift exchange. Randy and Adele gave us a box full of goodies for making soups and (how well do they know me?) brownies.

I'm most excited about trying out the potato soup (though Adele just sent me her recipe for her famous potato soup, which I'm sure will be much tastier, though far less simple). And then Josh and Elena gave us this really rad doormat that looks like a New Orleans manhole! That may sound crazy to non-New Orleanians, but it's just one of those things we like.

We had a ton of fun that week, eating everywhere we like to eat: Bud's Broiler, Middendorf's, Siamese Thai, Semolina, Camellia Grill, and the pavilion out back (for Adele's BBQ shrimp); watching White Christmas and A Muppet Christmas Carol. I got to hang out with Meera and Alana (two of my high school pals) and we even got to see our best friends who moved to Hawaii! Shamefully, I took no pictures of these things. However, I did take pictures of ... Josh's graduation!!

Yay Josh! He graduated from UNO with a degree in History. Elena was very proud and teary-eyed. So were Randy and Adele.

Catching up ... again

2008-12-15T19:10:00.006-06:00

So back in October, I went up to NC for a business trip and stopped off to see Andrew, Abby, and Sophia. We had a grand ole time, went to the state fair, saw Sophia dedicated at church, and made otherwise general merriment.

Here's Soph with a big prize-winning cow:

Time passed ... Halloween came along. We went to a party for our community group at church as Hannah Montana and Billy Ray Cyrus. Frankly, they were pretty bad costumes, as you can see below, but at least people were amused.

I mean, could those wigs be any worse? And what is with my gut? Note to self: do NOT wear a low-slung belt around a balloony type shirt. Or maybe it's just that you should NEVER stand that way ... The more I look at it, the more I think I look like a pregnant Britney Spears. But that would be so 4 years ago ... I am clearly a poor-man's Hannah.

So then more time passed, and we had a really nice Thanksgiving here with Mom and Dad, but there are no photos of that.

And finally, the big news for any of you who may not know it: I got laid off on Dec. 2nd. I have a few weeks of severance so I have a little time to figure things out ... but not much. I interviewed for a job in custom publishing, but (no surprise) they are no longer able to hire a full-time person. So if any of you have any leads for a gig in the journalism biz, I'd love to hear about it. In Birmingham preferably, since we can't move because of the store. Or freelance. Because I can do that from here. Prayers are appreciated!

Because Ma Said So

2008-10-08T09:56:00.005-05:00

Abby tagged me to answers these 35 Question about myself and then Ma called and told me I needed to do it, so here we go ...

1. Do you like blue cheese salad dressing? I like blue cheese anything. Especially the black and blue salad at Olexa's. Can we go there next lunch out, Ma?
2. Do you own a gun? No, but I do like to shoot Mark's guns at cans after Thanksgiving lunch
3. What's your favorite drink at Starbucks? I only go around Christmas when I can get a peppermint hot chocolate
4. What do you prefer to drink in the morning? OJ
5. Do you do push ups? why would I?
6. What's your favorite piece of jewelry? My fleur de lis necklace and the leather and pearl necklace Caleb gave me (and of course, my wedding ring)
7. Favorite hobby? singing, reading, musical theater
8. Do you have A.D.D? No, I'm a pretty darn good multi-tasker
9. What's one trait that you hate about yourself? I'm quick to anger. No good.
10. Name 3 thoughts at this exact moment: My head doesn't feel all that bad right now; It's so gloomy out it would be a great day to nap; and Kelly's right, today would be a good day for a Zombie-thon
11. Name 4 drinks you regularly drink. Dr. Pepper, water, Dr. Pepper, and Dr. Pepper
12. Current worry right now? will my headache ever completely go away? and will business pick up?
13. Current hate right now? certain frustrations with my job
14. Favorite place to be? in bed cuddled up with Caleb and Louzie
15. Do you like to travel? yes indeed.
16. What color shirt are you wearing? I'm wearing my new gray dress
17. Do you like sleeping on satin sheets? I prefer t-shirt sheets.
18. Can you whistle? yes
19. Favorite color? probably pink, teal, or black
20. If you could would you be a pirate? depends. If we're talking fictional Disney-like pirates, sure—seems fun. But real Somali-style, not so much.
21. What song do you sing in the shower? Recently I've been going back and forth between Maybe from Annie and Frank Mills from Hair. (I was practicing for an audition)
22. Favorite girl's name? Veronica Bonnieblue. Get used to it, folks.
23. Favorite boy's name? Caleb. But no, we will not make our son a junior.
24. What's in your pocket right now? I have no pockets
25. Favorite bedsheets as a child? I never had fun sheets. Thanks, Ma ...
26. Worst injury? I've always played it safe, so there's nothing to speak of.
27. Do you love where you live? I do actually. I miss New Orleans, but I feel like we're starting to fit in here in Birmingham
28. How many TVs do you have in your house? two
29. Who is your loudest friend? probably Erin Whitley (ha!)
30. How many pets do you have? one—Louzie-pants
31. Does someone have a crush on you? Caleb better ...
32. What is your Favorite Book? A Confederacy of Dunces or War and Peace or some such
33. What's your favorite candy? Sour punch straws or goobers
34. Favorite Sports Team? Cubs! (And I don't want to talk about it right now)
35. What was the first thing you thought of when you woke up? Does my head hurt?

So now I have to tag people to fill it out too. Let me think of people with blogs...: Marisa, Emily Ray, Melissa Richie, and the new moms with probably no time at all—Ashley and Dana

Making my big debut

2008-09-27T22:41:00.006-05:00

At the beginning of September, I started rehearsals for a musical with the Red Mountain Theatre Company here in town called Miss Vulcan 1939. Right now you're probably thinking one of two things: wait, you act? or when do you have time? The answer to both of those is: I don't. But I did it anyway! Back in the day when we moved to Birmingham I looked up local theatre companies thinking I'd go audition someday since I'd always wanted to be in a post-high school production. (I don't really count my little part in Joseph since it was kinda kids' theatre ...) In college, I went to one audition and totally choked. That and I was up against kids from one of the best acting schools in the country, so it was a smidge discouraging. So I went to auditions earlier this summer, thinking I was auditioning for Sweeney Todd. Turned out, they weren't really casting that show yet, just doing Dreamgirls and Miss Vulcan 1939. As you may imagine, I was not a fit for Dreamgirls. The few white girls in the show needed to do some major dancing, which is clearly not my forte. (In fact, the only reason I went to this audition was because it specifically said no dancing was required for Sweeney.) But now that this story has already gotten longer than I intended, I'll cut to the chase: I got cast as a holy rollin' debutante in Miss Vulcan, which is a musical that was written specifically for RMTC a few years ago. It's a Drop Dead Gorgeous-style story extremely loosely based on a real beauty pageant that happened in Birmingham in 1939. Two other debutantes and I are horrified to watch as a "nobody" who works at the local five-and-dime usurps us and wins the crown. It's super-funny and makes fun of everyone in Birmingham. My character was the mayor's daughter, who uses prayer, etc. to blackmail her father and manipulate people. How lovely! When my mom heard I was going to play a holy roller, she said, "Isn't that called typecasting?" Thanks, Mom...

But the show was really fun and I made some great new friends. I should've posted something earlier so y'all could've come, but ... well, I was busy. So here's a photo of me and the girls: Kristen, Barbara, and Katie. (Barb didn't get the memo that the debs were supposed to look mean ...)

And here's the whole cast and our director.

And here's a shot from the first scene:

Could I be any whiter?!

Anyway, so that took two weeks, but the director asked me to audition for an ensemble part in Sweeney, so I'm doing that this weekend. Wish me luck!

Other great things that happened the first half of September: Caleb and I celebrated our third anniversary!! Of course, we didn't actually spend it together because we worked all day and I had rehearsal all night, but still, three good years. Way to go us!

Also, Elena and Josh visited! Sadly it was because they were evacuating Hurricane Gustav, but it was nice to have them here! We didn't take photos. It's not really your top priority when you're thinking your home might be destroyed. But it wasn't! And all was well, so we're glad we got to spend the week with them. Hope you guys weren't too bored!

And then on the 15th, my honey bunny turned the big 2-5! We are officially in our mid-20s. Sigh. I guess we should start growing up. He got a new Cubs hat and some CDs and a massage, though sadly, I made him do some manual labor at the shop right after it. Sorry about that!

So now we're gearing up for the National League Division Series (Go Cubs!) and trying to do some marketing for the store. Look for our ad in the September issue of Birmingham magazine and some of our products in October's Portico Picks! And, of course, tell your friends!

Playing catch-up...

2008-09-18T17:41:00.018-05:00

As you can imagine, it's been a crazy few months. Still, my lapse in blogging is inexcusable. And so, I will rapid-fire catch you up on major events.

For my birthday I had the thrilling experience of heading to Galveston! For business! Woohoo! But my co-workers are really sweet and took me out to a nice meal and even got me a surprise dessert. Beeler, who knows me all too well, even got them to fill a to-go soup cup with Dr. Pepper for me to take back to the hotel. So all in all, a great 25th birthday.

After surviving the insane heat, wind, and stickiness of that lovely island, I flew directly to Atlanta, where I met Daddy and Caleb to go to the Cubs/Braves game. Obviously the Cubs destroyed them. There were even more Cubs fans in the stadium. At one point, we overheard a guy ask his friend, "Where did all the Braves fans go?" His friend said, "I think they both left." It was not a far cry from the truth.

Just a few days later, Caleb and I headed to New York for the New York International Gift Fair. It was my first time going to a trade show as a buyer instead of a journalist, so it was really fun. But poor Caleb didn't know what he was getting into. I don't know that his feet will ever be the same, poor thing. Still, we found some great vendors, but best of all, we realized we already had some of the greatest vendors out there. Good to know we had the business on track—or at least that we really know what our style is.

But let's backtrack for some photos. Here is our tiny hotel, and when I say tiny, I mean tiny. The door hit the itty bitty TV cabinet when you walked in the room and the bed was on the floor. But the "headboard" was neat ...

Here's Caleb's first time in Times Square, looking super-touristy:

Then we got all gussied up and saw Legally Blonde on Broadway.

The show was really funny. I would highly recommend it. Afterwards, we went back to the hotel to watch the Olympics .. and make each other laugh.

(I'm attempting to look like the girl in the painting. Not doing so well ...)

After spending long days at the show, we did some tourist things, checking out the Statue of Liberty, running around Rockefeller Center, etc. Before we hopped back on the plane for home we went to the American Museum of Natural History, where Caleb impersonated a grizzly bear.

Well that catches us up to the end of August. More posts TK (that's editor-speak for "to come").

And so it begins

2008-07-17T21:19:00.007-05:00

Thanks to all of you who made it out to the party Monday night! We had a great turnout and a lot of fun. For those of you who couldn't make it, here are a few photos of the shop to give you the idea of what it looks like now that we're in business.

Here we have the front living room set up:

To the right of the door, we have aprons, purses, and throw pillows:

Then we've got the dining area. (Pardon the iPod cord.) I had it nicely done up for the party, but I realized I had to put a few more things out for people to see everything they can buy. Alas, sales must come before absolute perfect style.

Next, over to our lovely bed, courtesy of Emily and Andy York. We painted their old headboard white and used it as a prop. It's actually gotten a few compliments ... In the back is the cute baby section. We hung a painting back there that I did when I was 8 or so, which someone actually liked! Allen made the striped curtain for us to hide the back door and bathroom.

And now the back living section:

And finally here's us gussied up for the party:

So far, we've had a lot of good foot traffic and good response from interior designers. Hopefully that will continue! We'll keep you posted ...

You're Invited:

2008-07-10T09:24:00.004-05:00

To all friends, family, and friends and family of friends and family who happened to stumble across our blog, if you can read this, you are welcome to join.

We're going to have some "refreshments" (to use the old-skool term) and a gift certificate giveaway or two, so come on down! (Though there will be music, I don't anticipate wild dancing taking place as some have suggested.)

Bring your friends!!

And if you can't make it to the shindig, stop by 10-6 Mon.—Sat. till the end of time, because as of Tuesday, we are open for business ...

Ladies and Gentleman, Start Your Window-Shopping!

2008-07-06T21:30:00.005-05:00

Downtown Homewood has a Fourth of July celebration, so we wanted to have the window display ready to spark some interest. Kelly and Brad came by the night before as we were standing in the window attempting to hang the chandelier. Thankfully, they hung around and helped us pick out what to put in the window, shuffle boxes, lift furniture, and give the thumbs up when it looked decent. Here, our end result:

And some close-ups (please pardon the reflections):

Brad was very proud that he paired the pink purse and green lamp. Way to be, Brad. Great color combo.

Now this week will be madness getting ready for our GRAND OPENING July 15th, so don't expect frequent posts. We'll be too sleep-deprived to partake in non-required activities ... Come by the store and see us!

Idea House Adventures

2008-07-06T20:44:00.009-05:00

A week or two ago I made a quick trip to Maine for our Idea House up in South Portland. Since it was my first time to Maine, I was pretty excited, though there wasn't really time for a whole lot of sight-seeing (other than when we got completely lost and ended up crossing a bridge into Portland proper) or Maine-y activities. We did, however, have time to get some pretty awesome lobster at The Lobster Shack, which was right on the water.

For me and Kristen, this was our first time eating lobster straight out of the shell. Here she is (on the right) with our Idea House interior designer, Tracey Rapisardi. (Check out her Portland shop at http://www.searosedesigns.com.)

Beeler and I were chowing down. Lobster is good, but lobster in butter sauce is waaaaaay better.

Mama Jean helped me when I had a little trouble getting ye ole lobster out of the shell. Even though it looks like an overgrown crawfish, it's a little harder to maneuver.

Back at the Idea House, the place was still under construction. As in, the stairs were not finished and we were walking around painters and the sound of buzzsaws filled the air. Even so, Beeler was in love with the tent in the bunk room.

And here's the view from the house. Pretty nice. Too bad they're going to build a house across the street in front of the water.

That's a wrap for the Coastal Living biz, which isn't what you want to see anyway. On to the good stuff!

We have signage

2008-06-25T20:10:00.003-05:00

So today the awning went up. Now we look like a legit business!

The interior painting is done, so we're pretty much set. Since I took this photo, the electrician finished putting in the recessed lighting and Caleb put most of the ceiling tiles up. Now we just have to get the inventory out on the floor!

As I've told most of you, we've had to push back our opening date because one of our furniture deliveries wasn't getting in on time. Now we're shooting for July 14th. Until then, check out our website: http://obladihome.com

I'll put up new photos once we start setting up the store! (But for now I'm off to Maine for the 9 to 5 job)

T minus 30 days ...

2008-06-01T20:54:00.003-05:00

And counting.

Well, the goal is to open on July 1st with a lovely soiree/preview party on June 30th, so we have got to bust a move. Our friend Andy from church has been fixing our drywall and was kind enough to bring around his electrician friend who is currently working on replacing the ugly flourescent lights with recessed lighting. Luckily they happened to be at the store on the terrible day that the drain behind the store was blocked (due to nearly 6 months of non-cleanage) and about a foot of water was pressed against the door, slowly trickling in ... and forming a river running through the shop to the front door. By the time Caleb arrived, they'd sopped quite a bit of it up. Fortunately, nothing was damaged and now we know that we have to be super-sure that the drain is clear. Which it now is.

So yesterday, Kelly and Brad came over to the shop with us to begin the painting process, and thank goodness they did because there sure is a lot of painting to do. They were super-troopers and we knocked out a lot. Caleb and I ended up sticking around till 8:00, though we found painting is way less fun when it's just us. And 103.7 only plays five songs, and that darn catchy Miley song isn't one of them.

Today we went back to do some more painting ... and we'll do it again tomorrow ... and the next day. Here's our progress:

We got most of the walls painted white, and we'll finish the other two tomorrow. But you can already tell how much cleaner and better it looks. We're doing the trim teal in the next couple of days ...

Outside they're still working on painting the ugly maroon trim white because it keeps raining every time they start. But as you can see, the Laser's Edge sign is down. We're going to get those lights down soon and then our awning should be getting in either this week or next. It's going to look soooooo good!

You can't really tell from these photos, but the floors look awesome. We ended up staining the concrete a walnut shade because there was this weird pink stain to half the slab and it was the only way to make the floors look remotely cohesive from one section to the next. Once we get all the painting done we'll be able to start moving furniture out onto the floor. Which is good, because this is what our office looks like:

That's all for now! I'll try to be better about posting as things happen. And start planning to be here for the 30th!

Awesome things that happened between the last post and now

2008-06-01T19:51:00.006-05:00

In chronological order and not order of awesomeness, since clearly as far as awesomeness goes, number two would win:

1. We went with Kelly and Brad to Atlanta to see The Swell Season. To quote Kelly, it was "life-changing." Totally phenomenal. I couldn't stop listening to the Once soundtrack before and now I particularly can't stop because it was AMAZING. AMAZING. Everyone should run out and buy their music right now. And here is a very far away photo of Glen and Marketa being AWESOME.

2. Andrew, Abby, and Sophia came to visit and see Mom and Dad's new house. We got to show them the shop and sit around and play with Sophia, who is even cuter now than she was last time we saw her. Apparently she started saying "mama" and "dada" days after we saw them. Back then she just sat around with her mouth open and did some squealing. Adorable, obviously.

3. We went with a big ole gang of friends to a mountain cabin in Blue Ridge, and it was the raddest rental house I've ever been in. Check it out. There was a lot of Rock Band- and poker-playing, and even a double-rainbow (though it's kinda hard to see the second one in this photo)!

On the second day, we took an incredibly long and round-about way of getting to a waterfall. (Seriously, like 1.5 hours when it was really just 30 minutes away.) Finally, after driving really far out of the way, we came across a farmer in a field. At first I thought he was a scarecrow since he was wearing overalls, a straw hat, and was standing with some sort of farming implement, but as Jodi pointed out, he was "a real, live farmer." After allowing us to turn around in his field and telling us that if we got to the farm we'd gone too far (which farm? His neighbor's? The one after that?), said kindly, "Well, y'all aren't even Yankees ..." In other words implying that we are the dumbest Southerners he's encountered in recent history. Once we finally made it back to the completely un-signed waterfall, Chuck, Emily, Paul, Jodi, Adam, Chad, Troy, Corey, Caleb, and I made the .6-mile hike. Then we milled about for a while, watching Paul and Troy slide down the rocks before heading back and taking the much shorter trip home for another family dinner. Good times were had!

4. Caleb traded in Elfie the Jetta Wagon for The Queen: his new Land Rover Discovery (and by new I mean 2004). It's already come in ridiculously handy with all the hauling necessary for business, and—frankly—it looks cool.

And now onto the business at hand ...

TCB

2008-05-07T20:46:00.000-05:00

For those of you not hip to the lingo, that means "taking care of business."

We got the keys to the shop May 1st and promptly started making some changes. Caleb got everything off the walls and ripped up the carpet and hacked up the nasty too-large counter. Here, some hacking:

I feebly attempted to scrape up the carpet glue from the concrete floor, but after about 10 minutes realized that my little body was not made for manual labor of any kind—particularly since I have the joints of an 86-year-old woman (I blame you, Dad). Instead we're going to pay a small fortune to some nice burly men with a big machine to buff it all off and then stain the concrete some nice color since everyone was giving us beef about the epoxy floors. Here's what the shop looked like at the end of the day. If you squint really hard, you might be able to see the slightly less thick clumps of glue in approximately 6 square feet of the far right hand corner:

This week we also got our first product delivery, which was incredibly exciting—better than Christmas morning (especially now that I'm not the kid getting all the presents). Below I took some bad pictures of a few of the items we're going to sell. I don't know how it's going to come out, but I know that in-person, I love them!

Here, some pretty dishes:

And here, a cute dish and glass that we hope someone will someday buy. This is part of our slightly hipper collection that we hope will attract some of the young folk as well:

And finally, for our cutie-pie baby section, a cutie-pie piggy bank:

We also got our friend Zack to come up with a logo for us. Here's what it would ideally look like, but the bag people (as in shopping bag printers) are giving us beef about having the teal and gold so close together, and frankly we don't feel like paying an arm and a leg for things we give free with every purchase and people will promptly throw away. So imagine it in solid teal:

our awning will have the logo like this:

So, as you can see, things are rockin and/or rollin. We'll keep you posted as things develop, but we're hoping to get the flooring done next. We hope to be up and running by July 1st. Those of you in town, start spreading the word!

"It is finished"

2008-05-07T20:34:00.000-05:00

Yes, it's true, Caleb has graduated!!!!

here's a slightly more pleasant photo:

His whole family came in town and since Mom and Dad had just moved here, we had a full-on family cook-out back at the house to celebrate. More fun was had, and it was nice to have the family in town. Y'all come back soon!

Also, big news that I have no photo for: Caleb got a big fat A on his final paper, and his professor even suggested he get it published! What a smarty-pants ...

Elvis, pralines, and all that jazz

2008-05-07T19:04:00.000-05:00

We've had a very busy month, so let's back-track. Two weekends ago, Caleb and I headed down to New Orleans for Jazz Fest. We got to stay with Josh and Elena and hang around and fall asleep watching Indiana Jones movies, which was—obviously—a good time. On Friday, we scurried in among the throngs of fest-goers, nabbed our crawfish bread, pralines, and roman candy, and parked ourselves at the acura stage in time to catch some chick pre-Robert Plant and Alison Krauss. By the way, they were AMAZING. However, we did not receive the memo that canvas folding chairs are apparently the new blanket. So while we were lounging on the ground, everyone else was living it up with their little cupholders and high-and-dry hineys. Here's Caleb enjoying the best food in the world: ye ole crawfish bread.

On Sunday, things got a little wet. In fact, the heavens opened right as we stepped through the gates, but we persevered. After enjoying a pate cooking demonstration, we bucked up and headed out into the rain for more crawfish bread. Then we waded through the mud to the gentilly stage, where—thanks to Josh and Elena's resourcefulness—we joined the seated masses with folding chairs of our very own. Snuggled under an umbrella with c-bread in hand, we were quite content.

Nearby, children frolicked in a fast-forming river, while older "free spirits" cut a rug in the mud. I was bummed that I missed the opportunity to wear my rainboots. I would've been so in style.

In the end, we saw Elvis Costello with Allen Toussaint and it was fabulous, naturally. Fun was had by all! We shall return ...

Introducing the future site of ob-la-di!

2008-04-18T17:27:00.000-05:00

Here she is! Sandwiched between a snappy shoe store and cute maternity shop is the future home of the best store ever!

For those of you behind the curve, Caleb and I are opening a home decor & accessories shop in downtown Homewood and it's called ob-la-di (is it really any surprise we went for a Beatles reference?). It's going to have some furniture and a ton of great home accessories—vases, throw pillows, blankets, bedding, some baby stuff, tabletop, lamps, bags, and more!

So I know it's been eons since I've posted, but I didn't want to give news until there really was news. But we have signed the lease, and now I will show you the "before," so you can be as thrilled by the transformation as we will be.

This is my view from standing in the storefront window (I know you were wondering how I could take a photo from such a high angle). It used to be an independent CD shop, so it's a little drab right now, but that will soon be rectified. We're going to build a new counter and move it down, so that it's more centrally located. We're replacing the ceiling tiles so they're nice and clean and matte and then putting in recessed lighting. The floors are going to be coated with a white epoxy (think like really pretty painted floors). Walls will probably be white or some shade close to it, and we're dabbling with painting the cross beams and trim a color like teal or gold just for a little pizazz. By the way, that's pretty much our color scheme: white with teal and gold accents. We'll have dark wood furniture pieces to anchor things. Of course the products will be tons of different colors, but you get the idea.

The wall straight ahead is the office/storage space. To the left is the bathroom. We're thinking of making that little pre-bathroom alcove the baby stuff nook since it's just about the right size to stick a crib in. We'll probably make a snazzy curtain to close off that little hallway. Outside, we're going to get a new teal awning with our logo (which my very artistic and talented brother is designing), and will probably paint the trim white ... or maybe teal. We don't want to overdo the teal though ... We've got all our stock orders figured out, so now it's just a matter of placing them. There are so many things to do!!

We get the keys May 1st, so those of you in town start limbering up for some major painting. We want to get this off the ground as soon as we can.

So that's what's going on with us! Feel free to leave comments of encouragement and/or advice—goodness knows we'll need it ...

Seriously? Has it been that long?

2008-02-02T18:28:00.000-06:00

Okay, I normally only post when I have what I deem interesting pictures to put on, but today I'm mixing it up and trying something new: just plain ole writing (namely because everyone I would normally tell this story to is out of town and/or busy).

So here we go. Yesterday I was watching the Janice Dickinson Modeling Agency (I know, but I was home from work with a major crick in my neck and a gimpy swollen eye. How do these things happen to me? and simultaneously?), and there was a client who wanted models to pose like dead rock stars. Now, this isn't the thrust of my story, but this one guy didn't know how to pose like Elvis! He kept saying, "I mean, that was so long before my time ..." Uh yeah, but still. IT'S ELVIS.

Anyway, so another girl was supposed to be Left Eye from everyone's favorite '90s R&B trio TLC. The girl admitted she needed to do some research (that's okay—I know she wants to be sure to get it right), but the kicker is, she said, "My mom was a really big TLC fan." HER MOM?! How old is this girl? How old am I that I can refer to her as a girl? And if I'm old enough to be shocked that someone's mother liked TLC, how old does that make the rest of you who are reading this? (haha ...)

Yes, we're those people

2008-01-22T21:08:00.000-06:00

But no, we don't take her out like this.

Caleb's new favorite pastime: dressing Louzie in my clothes. In case you come across something that you think could bring out her eyes, she's an adult XS.

She's a Coastal Living fan ...

A Belated Ho Ho Ho

2008-01-22T19:47:00.000-06:00

Merry Christmas! What's that you say? We're already a month into 2008? I had no idea! Seriously, no idea. I've been thinking it was 2008 for nearly a year now. But really, I know you're dying to see pictures from Christmas and hear about our atrociously fun travels, so here we go!

Caleb and I flew up to Baltimore, where we had a quick dinner with Randy and Adele before driving over to Delaware, where we were instructed to watch National Treasure the moment we walked in the door so that we could go with the kids to see the sequel the next day. Besides movie-watching and general merriment, we broke into teams to put together miscellaneous gingerbread objects. We were proud to be hand-picked by Andrew, and also pleased that he came with what looked like the easiest project: the Christmas tree.

I give you (the unshowered and icky) Team Millwood:

Turns out, they made the tree ridiculously challenging to break into pieces, so instead of 6 half trees, we had 10 or so tree bits. We tried to glue it together as best we could.

And yes, that is Andrew's foot unsanitarily close to the gingerbread.

And our masterpiece!

Others fared infintely better. Like Team Bains, who skillfully constructed the traditional gingerbread house, with Isabelle at the helm.

Or maybe it was Dad ...

And not to be outdone, Team Droste with the train.

On Christmas Eve, we went to Ash and Mark's church, where the music minister informed us that, despite his hacking and scratchy voice, he was the healthiest staff member of the day and so he graced us with his germy presence. I didn't know if I should be appreciative or grossed out. Then the kiddies got up and "sang" some songs. My favorite was the one that involved various farm animals singing happy birthday to Jesus. Or maybe those were separate songs ... I can't remember. It's all a blur. Anyway, here are the kids. Everyone decided that the very emotive and enthusiastic singer in the red dress up front looks quite a bit like yours truly in her prime.

Then we went home and did some gift-giving. I don't think it's a coincidence that you can only read "naughty" on the little man's pants ...

Mark busted out the traditional maternity Christmas sweater. Always good for a laugh. (In case you didn't notice, Andrew doesn't allow you to open your own presents.)

We gave Belle a Hannah Montana costume, which was a big success. She came running in singing some song that I'm assuming is from the show. I can't imagine it's anything that could have been successful anywhere but on Disney.

Christmas Day, we busted out some High School Musical. Dad was enthralled—with the movie and the "life-like" pig Belle got. When you petted it, it would wiggle it's tail and nose. It freaked me out a bit. Dad loved it, and occasionally stroked it. He needs a dog. P.S. This is a live-action shot. No posing has taken place.

The next day we went back to Baltimore and lived it up with the Millwoods, eating some good food, watching Juno (awesome), and playing some mean hands of UNO until the sleeping meds I had taken made me giggly and incapable of focusing my eyes. The next day, Josh and Elena came and we did some present-swapping. Happiness ensued.

I may look half-asleep, but I'm actually mad-psyched that Elena gave me the best CD ever.

And Caleb got this rad old-man hat. Here he is pretending to smoke a pipe. (yes, that's what that's supposed to be, if you were wondering.)

And here's Elena sporting the cute necklace I got her, and looking cute in general.

And then there's Casey, looking totally bummed because she knows in her heart that Caleb has a new love, and her name is Louzie.

Once the Christmas festivities were over, we headed down to Inner Harbor. Randy and Adele look so cute on the train.

We also mistakenly walked into the seedy part of town while trying to get back to the light rail. Now we know where John Waters got all his kooky ideas. Which reminds me, we also had a good time watching Hairspray, which Josh got Adele for Christmas. I took every opportunity I could to sing "Good Morning, Baltimore" the rest of the trip.

The day before we headed home, we all went to this fun park, where we nearly froze playing mini-golf and then burned up running around laser tagging. Fun was had by all, but I don't have any pictures of that because I wasn't going to let a camera weigh me down!

So that's all for Christmas. I'll try to be a little more timely and interesting with updates in the future ...

Laissez-les bon temps roulez!

2007-12-22T20:35:00.000-06:00

Lacey-face got married! And that was something we couldn't miss. So we headed on down to the House of Blues in New Orleans (cause if it's a Bayhi event, where else would it be?), where we stood around in the Voodoo Garden waiting for the nuptials to begin. And of course we weren't disappointed.

Here's the Mardi Gras Indian boogie-ing his way on down the aisle behind the second line band to kick things off:

And here come the new Mr. and Mrs. Jason Becker second-lining back down the aisle.

After parading a few steps down the street, we went up to the Parish room for the reception. We actually saw another second-line going on when we were on our way to the wedding. The tourists must've been amazed—you know they're thinking this happens every day.

They had a slideshow going of old pictures and there was one of me and Lacey from JazzFest circa 1997, where we were (of course) wearing long pants and round glasses because we were in our very cool grungey hippie phase. I was also wearing the Mardi Gras-colored tie-dyed shirt that we'd made on Hippie Day in 6th grade. Sad thing is, I still sleep in that shirt.

But here's me and the bride, not looking all that together different—though hopefully a little cooler:

And here's a rare picture of me and Caleb all gussied up:

Playing catch-up

2007-12-22T19:58:00.000-06:00

So it's been a very long time since we updated this thing... so let's take a trip back to Manifest for Thanksgiving. Here we have three generations of Bains ladies ... or Book ladies ... or a Bains lady, two Drostes, and a Millwood

The kids had too much fun at Grandma's, riding four-wheelers, trekking to the creek (or pond), and generally frolicking. Here's Andrew on the tire swing out back.

And here are a few of the uncles hanging out around the weenie-roastin' fire (which this year took place in an old wheel ...)

This is some of the food pre-feast. Note the two turkeys and the entire pig ...

Everyone gathering in the living room for prayer time.

And here's the whole spread. It may look like a lot, but there were 39 of us after all. (And that's with nearly half the family missing.)

After lunch, we went out for our annual shooting-stuff-in-the-gravel-pit time. When I was a kid, we called this place "Red Hill City" because the rain would wash away the dirt leaving little pillars under the rocks, so they looked like little buildings. I guess I should've taken a picture of that since it probably doesn't make sense to those of you who haven't seen it. But now we go there and shoot at plates and cans and stuff. Sometimes I even hit them.

Here's Caleb trying to look like he's very experienced with a Glock while Mark (my brother-in-law and owner of the gun) looks on (laughing inwardly I'm sure).

Emma and Belle rode with us for most of the 1150-mile trip, and despite the look on Belle's face in this picture, I'm pretty sure they both had a good time. Of course, they did have the luxury of watching DVDs for quite a bit of the way (those kids don't know how easy they have it). But I can't even get into it here about how callous they are toward the ridiculously sad story of Eight Below. I don't care how many times you've seen it, that movie is depressing.

And here, the obligatory road trip shot:

Caleb led us on a sing-along. I'm not sure why there's a mic in the car ...

Miscellaneous Hoo Ha

2007-10-29T20:44:00.000-05:00

No great stories to tell here today, just cute photos. First up, our adorable puppy-pants. She likes to nap on the couch.

I got to go visit Andrew and Abby and check out the new Bains lady, Sophia Louise. This is pretty much what she looked like the whole time (while Abby took a much-needed nap and Andrew and I played computer games old-school style).

When she wasn't in her bouncy seat, Andrew was constantly snuggling her. After lunch one day, Abby and I drove off without realizing he still had his nose pressed to the car window smiling at her. He's a happy daddy.

Then the next weekend, the Rays came to visit and Louzie made a new friend.

And finally, after our smashing success as Slash and Axl Rose at last year's Halloween party, we had to come up with something really good. Though it was a last-minute decision, we were a hit as Cinderella (pre-transformation) and her fairy godmother.

Well, that's all for now ... stay tuned for bound-to-be-amazing Thanksgiving photos.

Do you know what it means to miss New Orleans?

2007-09-29T19:49:00.000-05:00

'Cause we sure do ... The weekend of Caleb's birthday, we went down to New Orleans to see the new Ray baby, and boy was he cute! Mom and Dad were in Birmingham interviewing contractors for their new house, so they babysat Louzie-pants for us. Here, she takes a brief break from mauling Daddy to pose for the camera.

I flew down Thursday morning and headed over to the Rays' place, where we packed up the kiddies and headed out to run some errands (a good trial run for my trip to Andrew and Abby's in a few weeks!). Emily and I took Liam to Esplanade and ran through the absolute pouring rain to do some shopping . Once there, we met up with Alana, who was heading out the next day to backpack around Australia and New Zealand for the next six months. Emily and I, being married old fogies (and Emily a mother twice over), were extremely jealous. Nevertheless, we smiled for pictures.

That evening, Josh, Elena, and Adele (who was in town visiting) came over and we had a grand ole time reminescing and eating dinner. Then the Rays and I watched a ton of "The Office" and called it a night. The next day, Caleb was a very bad boy and skipped class to drive down early. We hung out over at the Rays for a bit before retiring to the Seminary for dinner with the fam. Heidi sure likes "Kala," though she was initially shocked to find out he wasn't a girl.

We played "princess" a lot, which involves wearing a necklace similar in appearance to the "heart of the ocean," and being announced to everyone else in the house.

Caleb and Kevin were so happy to be reunited.

Caleb was excited to see little Liam.

Heidi loves her new brother, whom she originally thought would be a girl. It took her awhile not to call him Haley ...

Later that night, we headed down to the Crescent City Tattoo Company to see my good ole pal Lacey-face.

And to get Caleb's birthday present!

I guess he really likes me... I mean, vows say "I love you," but ink is forever.

The next day, we had a really yummy birthday lunch with the fam. Since Randy wasn't around, he called just in time for cake. The rest of us sat around waiting ...

Elena and Adele are such good moms/sisters-in-law. They most assuredly made a cake, which hadn't even crossed my mind in all the New Orleans/tattoo hubbub. I'm a bad wife. Oh wait, I let him get another tattoo. Nevermind, I'm an awesome wife. Still, good thing there was some proper women to pick up the slack. Mmm Mmm cake!

Then we went back over to Kevin and Emily's to hang out with the chitlins. Caleb likes babies. We'll have to get him one one of these days. In the mean time, he's practicing on other people's.

I gave it a crack too ...

Here we try out a little family photo. How do we look?

And here's me and Em ... just like old times. Except she has two children.

And here's just another cute picture of Liam to wrap things up.

Two years of wedded bliss

2007-09-08T19:01:00.000-05:00

Or at least two years of wedded-ness.

It's true, folks! We survived, and I venture to say we both still like each other. Of course, I (Abba) am the one typing, so you may have to ask Caleb in a private conversation if he feels the same.

To celebrate, we headed up to Chattanooga

There, we had a lovely relaxing weekend, including massages, facials, and room service—aka too much fun. We also revisited a childhood classic, Ruby Falls. It was scary and dark ...

Just kidding!

No, seriously ...

After wandering through caves for an hour, we finally got to see the real deal. And so shall you.

Ain't she a beaut? Well, at least it was cool down there ...

We also went to the Hunter Museum of Art, but they don't let you take pictures there. And we drove out to the boonies to get cheap bathing suits at Target so we could share the whirlpool with a bunch of children up way past their bedtimes. So romantic. But hey, we had fun. Let's hope we can make it a whole two more years!

Let's go to Luchenbach, Texas ...

2007-09-08T18:20:00.000-05:00

Or at least Galveston and Corpus Christi. A few weeks ago I went on a whirlwind trip of the Texas coast with my new lovely friend in sales, Dawn. Among our many adventures, we stood atop a high-rise condo with no windows or barriers between us and the Gulf of Mexico, may or may not have participated in accosting a man "cruising" in a neighborhood built on a former "gay beach" site, spotted oryx and blackbucks (antelope more commonly found in Africa and India), went on a boat ride to nowhere for reasons unbeknownst to us, and fed longhorns (more on that later). We had the great privilege to stay at the Falcon Point Ranch (I'm wearing my bedazzled camouflage Falcon Point Ranch shirt as I type, in fact). Here's the view from my room:

And here's where I was lounging at 3:00 on a Wednesday afternoon instead of sitting in front of the computer in my cubicle:

I topped the evening off with my first ever soft shell crab. Did you know that there are more blue crabs caught in the San Antonio Bay than anywhere in New England? I found that interesting. Here, we have a boy who just caught a blue crab off the dock:

And more importantly, here we have Bill holding up a very tasty crab for eating (straight out of the bay!). I have to show you his because I'd already devoured mine ...

And speaking of Bill, let's talk about probably the most entertaining part of the trip: feeding the longhorns. Bill #1 owns Falcon Point and asked Bill #2 (seen in above photograph) to come and shoot a photo of him for the newspaper, since Bill #2 is a photographer. While killing time, the Bills decided to take pictures of me and Dawn feeding the longhorns. Unfortunately, I don't have any images to upload here, but at the conclusion of the story, I will give you a link and password, so you can laugh to your heart's extent.

Long story short, Dawn hid behind me or avoided the cows entirely, while I was repeatedly cornered against a barbed wire fence, had my entire hand inside a cow's mouth (I was almost bit once too!), AND—to top it off—was "hooked" by a longhorn. I feel that the term "hooked" is much akin to "friendly fire" in that there was nothing hook-like taking place. Plainly, I was gored. By a longhorn named Yoda, who was angry that I had run out of food. I had a very deep bruise on my shoulder. Others may tell you they saw no mark, but it's a bold-faced lie. The things I do for Coastal Living.

Check out the photos at http://collages.net. The username is Coastal Living Falcon Point and the password is 11586. And just know that you too would run away if you were eye-to-eye with a cow that has horns longer than your arms aimed at your head.

We've logged in again!

2007-06-28T20:02:00.001-05:00

This is a terribly exciting day, for we have managed to log onto our blog again! And we thought it was a lost cause. There's nothing actually interesting going on right now, but Andrew kept asking when we were going to post, so this is me posting. And I'll pacify you all with a few pictures.

In March, Caleb came on a business trip with me and we had a blast in Beaufort, SC, Savannah and St. Simons Island. We also got to see Mom, Dad, and Grandma, but I don't have any pictures of that.

Here's Caleb on the boat we took around Beaufort. We never did get to see the monkeys that were supposed to be on some government island. Quite a disappointment.

Here's me on the beach outside our inn on St. Simons Island. All the other pictures Caleb took are of birds and jellyfish. Too bad he can't win the Coastal Living photo contest. Or we could be headed to Hawaii ...

And here's the view from our room at the inn:

And finally, just for fun, here's a photo of us at our friends' rockstar wedding shower. We were supposed to be Grace Slick and Lionel Richie, but we've concluded that Caleb looks more like Yanni ...

That's all for now, folks!

Maybe it was worth it after all

2006-07-11T22:03:00.000-05:00

Let's take a moment to pat me on the back and say my graduate school education may have been worth something after all—though apparently not in the monetary sense. (Caleb says yet)

From the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication Student Magazine Contest:

Start-Up Magazine Project—Team
Judge: Roger Tremblay, Media Networks Inc.
First Place
Dad’s Life, Northwestern University
This is a concept that actually should be published because the market is clearly there to be had. I like alot of things about Dad’s Life. The art direction and design are very strong. The editorial is a nice mix of service journalism, reporting and presentation of issues that are relevant to the target audience. I thinkthe business plan is reasonably solid and in fact, might be a little on the conservative side. This is a magazine that would flourish at Rodale where it could be packaged with Men’s Life and Best Life and get arunning start on ad pages. There’s a lot of very good, thorough work here. This team clearly understands a lot about the magazine publishing business and would be welcome assets at any publishing company.

...General strengths of entries: Having looked at these projects for several years, I can say unequivocally that these are the best ones ever. It’s obvious that the students have learned an amazing amount of what goes on in the magazine publishing industry and will be way ahead of the game if they choose to maketheir careers in the business.

good ole Dad's Life. Check it out at http://dadslifemag.com

More kitchen stuff!

2006-07-07T20:14:00.001-05:00

So there were a few more snafus today in the kitchen process—namely, we didn't think about the fact that you can't have a sink without a countertop...and it takes two to three-plus weeks for them to template, make and install. swell. But that's ok, because we still love our new kitchen! Here are some appliance-filled pictures:

We've already made cookies! Of course, I didn't read the manual and ended up accidentally turning off the oven mid-bake (which explains why they took about 20 minutes to cook) and we'll have to wash the dishes in a bucket, but that's ok. Here we have the dishwasher—which we're terribly excited about after going two months without one—next to the gaping hole that is the future site of our apron front sink.

And the glorious new fridge

And the fridge's inside (it's the little things that excite us)

Here's where we'll stick our cookbooks, etc.

and finally, we've got a little place to put my vases and such on display

I tell ya, once we've got counters (and a sink) this kitchen is going to be perfect. Oh, and floors ... and a backsplash ... but those are coming soon!

The Kitchen Fiasco

2006-07-05T18:57:00.000-05:00

Well, it wasn't looking good there for awhile ... what with the whole cabinet chained to the wall by the dishwasher electrical cord thing, but the clever Caleb prevailed, cutting apart the metal cabinet to clear the way for our new beautiful kitchen! Examine the befores (ew!)

While we worked, Louzie watched the World Cup

(She's a little bummed——she was rooting for Germany)

..and now the half-way dones:

here, a quick beauty shot of our new colors——light blue ceilings, darker blue is the laundry room

It looks even better in person, but it's hard to get a good angle when the old junky dishwasher is still hanging out in the middle of the room. But new appliances are coming on Friday! So it'll look fabulous by then and we'll post new pictures. Counters are still in the distant future since they can't come to do the template until Tues. and it'll take three or more weeks to get them ready to lay down. And then we'll be ready to do the backsplash. Floors will be inserted at some point... We're just looking forward to having a functional kitchen again—even if that means plywood countertops.

Tell us your thoughts! (But only if they're good ...)