be mine, valentine! but give me the stretchy pants because I'm going back for seconds.

valentine's weekend was absolutely fabulous this year. aside from the fact that the Browns were in town visiting and sleeping in our guest room, we had a great time feasting and playing with all sorts of friends. a common thread was my expanding waistline, and it had nothing to do with my growing little spaghetti squash (we're about 11 inches long at 22 weeks!). girls night started it off Friday with sushi - in preggo-speak, that was a seaweed salad and 2 orders of cucumber rolls - and dessert of chocolate fondue with goodies to be dipped and s'mores at Whit's. I lumbered home happy as a clam.

Saturday night we went to dinner at BT's house with some other friends and absolutely gorged ourselves on good food and great company. she'd prepared a sensational shrimp bisque to start, then we moved on to homemade crab cakes, then steamed mussels in a delicious broth with bread for dipping, then the main course of paella, scallop casserole, beet and citrus salad, and fruit. when I crawled into bed I could barely breathe.








we also came home with sweet valentine's cards and a gorgeous, longlonglong-stemmed rose courtesy of PRice, which made the ladies all feel so special. mine went into a gorgeous bunch of wildflowers given to us by the Browns. here's Bethy and I before church showing off our bumps and maternity wear (see, sister-in-law - your clothing is being used! and getting compliments, I might add!):



Sunday was officially V-day, so we took part in our annual Sweetheart Banquet at church, a celebration honoring our older members. it went off really well - the food all turned out great, and my little cupcakes ended up being gobbled up. they were supposed to be red velvet, but I didn't use quite enough red food coloring. oh well... they were really tasty, easy to make, and looked so pretty on the platter Aunt Paula gave me and YaYa's cake stand:




other snapshots taken:







I was trying to get clear photos of E & M playing, and finally gave up and embraced the energy and happiness of two little girls having a giggly blast:









as for Mr. Bell and I, we ended up going to the house to work for a bit, then going and price-shopping at the hardware store, then finally came home to share some sparkling water, pizza, and chocolate-pecan-covered granny smith apple whilst watching Castle and Mad Men. heady love-stuff, indeed.

s.w.a.k.

-m.y.

facelift underway

a few shots of our first afternoon spent working on the house...

LBell and husband, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed!

see those water spots above his head? a trip to the attic revealed that they almost assuredly came from the A/C runoff pan. which is a little odd, since it's a pretty new unit, but is way better news than a leaky roof. husband is about to Killz that whole ceiling, as there are also black tape marks all over left from a Halloween party.

Chino and I mostly supervised the activity and did whatever odd jobs we could without inhaling paint fumes. I spackled more holes than he did. fyi, the window in this photo was the one totally covered by greenery... look at the wonderful light!

making friends. Chino actually knew Fluffy and Charlie from when we lived here before... their owners, the Fletchers, are really wonderful people. they even kept Chino sometimes when I had to travel. C. Fletcher, a New Orleans native, assured me that the Christmas decorations on the front of his house were coming down but that, since the Saints were winning, they had to stay up until after the super bowl. I guess it worked. :)

-m.y.

favorite things Saturday.

first off, let me just say that it took some willpower to allow the typo of the last post's header to remain unfixed. I think there was another typo/misspelling in the content of the post, too, but there was a lot to do the past few days so I made myself let it go. so I'm imperfect! now you KNOW!

back from travels and happy to be home. husband is just stirring so I'll pop off these things that I'm enjoying for your leisure reading pleasure:

1. the sun. blinding me with your light, I'd almost forgotten who you were. blink. you seductress, it's good to have you back.

2. smartwool socks. they are the bomb and I love them very much. thanks, husband, for the hook-up and thanks, smartwool, you've made my winter much more comfortable (not to mention colorful! they also come in regular colors, and it should be said that the variety of women's styles is totally better than the men's).

3. when I'm out and about and feel myself getting hungry, an easy, one-on-every-corner go-to snack has been the bean and cheese tacos from Taco Cabana. I love regular tacos but thought it best to refrain from mystery ground beef until this baby is born, and the b&c tacos have fit the bill as a quick fix. of course, that was before I went looking for an image this morning and found out the sodium content of one taco. sigh. it was nice while it lasted, taco-friend.

4. I don't like to drink white milk. I haven't since I was little. sure, I'll have some in my coffee or with my cereal, but you won't catch me drinking what's left over in the bowl after I've eaten the cereal out. shudder gross. however, I recently re-visited the childhood fave, Nestle Quik, and find it to be delicious. Cold cold Promised Land milk with this in it is so good I'm sad when I've finished drinking it... which has to be fast, because I don't want it to get warm or the chocolate to settle at the bottom. the only drawback is that milk makes my stomach, or taste buds, or something, feel... milky, so I have to wait and be judicious about what I imbibe next. no orange juice or coffee for sure, gag. Promised Land chocolate milk is good, too, by the way.

5. baths, every day. especially with good stuff in it, like the fizzy ball my father-in-law got me for Christmas from Bath Junkie or this simply wonderful, rejuvenating bath soak my sister-in-law gave me:

6. I used the funds my sweet grandma gave me to buy a few maternity things, and this was one of the most awesome purchases I made. these maternity leggings rule!

7. using Pond's reminds me of my Grandma. and I love to use it everyday... it makes me feel clean and soft.

8. I like olives.

9. I also like eating with chopsticks... aside from being fun, it forces me to eat slower which results in less heartburn. and that's always a good thing.

10. you couldn't keep me from bread right now. M brought home the yummiest bread this past week, and every morning I carved off thick slices to toast and gobble.

11a. in my first act of somewhat-violent goodwill toward the house on Woodfin, I took my clippers over Wednesday morning. our very nice renters had let the tree-shrubbery grow up over the front windows, which I seriously un-like. I'm sure it's rooted primarily in the fact that when I found the house, thanks to a Greensheet ad, it was literally covered in foliage and in the years I spent there there were many many hours of pruning and ripping and cultivating. so you'll understand why the roof-high greenery in the photo below struck a nerve:

11b. the house now sort of looks a little startled, like whoa! you can see me and I forgot to put on my shirt!, but it's all for the best. more natural sunlight can come in through the window and those bush-trees will fill in if they're regularly cut back.

12. feeling the bebe, as husband calls her, move around more. and actually seeing my stomach move a little! odd, odd sensations, but deeply sweet and fun. babycenter says she was the size of a banana at 20 weeks:

and we turn 21 weeks tomorrow, graduating to carrot. which we cannot wait to put in a lot of your baby food, little person!

honorable mentions of things to like right now: Niko Nikos always, sports bras, challenging yoga class, working more than I'd hoped, farmer's market this morning, good friends, sweet family, dear church, planning fun stuff, naps, the occasional diet coke, spreadable goat cheese from Pennsylvania, spicy pasta sauce, mostly controlling the urge to freak out about something, and reading my Francine Rivers book.

recommedations

here are some people/things I can totally recommend:

Downtown Radiator and Automotive

Manual at Downtown Radiator has been our go-to guy for at least a couple of years now. With an '03 Nissan Altima with over 170,000 miles and an Element approaching 90,000, we need a good, solid mechanic and Manuel is a straight-shooting, affordable guy. Case in point, our Element wouldn't start Saturday AT ALL - we couldn't even jump it to drive it to the shop. Everything about that situation seemed not good. After having it towed, we find out that yes, it WAS the starter, which Manuel was able to replace for less than $500. if you're looking to try a mechanic in the Montrose area, I'm comfortable recommending this guy.

West University Wrecker Service, near Lamar High School

I met Bob Ferguson Saturday afternoon. When the Element didn't start, I called Manuel to see if he had any tow truck connections and he gave me Bob's number. Bob was a straight up nice man, very reasonable, quick, and helpful (plus, he gave me a GREAT price). His number is 713-927-3058... put it in your cell phone in case you break down!

The Sewing Center

For hard-to-do alterations (or if you just want someone else to do them for you), the ladies at The Sewing Center on Rice @ Bissonnet have had my back for 4-5 years. It's a little pink building directly across Rice from Jax Grill, and they always do very good work. Just today, I took a pair of jeans and a maternity dress my grandmother gave me for Christmas over to be shortened, and the total will be less than $30.

Clothing-wise, I'd like to submit that I truly believe we've lengthened the life of some pieces of clothing by not drying them. in general, I try to let jeans, sweaters, and cotton clothing I love the color/fit of air dry so there's less fading and shrinking. my sister-in-law brought up the fact that jeans can sometimes feel rough/stiff after being air dried, but I've found that after you wear them they relax and feel normal again. it also helps to shake everything out well before laying them out, and a cycle with fabric softener also makes everything more pliable (though I'm not sure how much (if at all) the fab softener breaks down clothing...).

I've already mentioned my Goo Gone fix for oily patches on clothing, but it's worth repeating. if you've splashed bacon grease all over the front of your shirt, wet the offending area with hot water and rub on a bit of Goo Gone. gently work it in as you'd do any stain remover, and then give the whole garment a quick hand wash in hot water with some mild detergent or soap in the sink. the soapy hot water will wash the Goo Gone out - you don't want to just treat it with Goo Gone and leave it, as it can leave an outline when it dries. then, just launder as usual.

I'll add more to this list as I think of other people/places/products I use. feel free to throw out any you'd recommend!

-m.y.

honey, if that's movin' up then I'm movin' out.

it's a billy joel song. show of hands, who else had his greatest hits album?!

this evening, we'll be going over to Woodfin to do a walk through with our tenants and get the keys from them. as a fun blast back in time, here's me when I left the house to move in with my aunt in Montrose. I'd lived there 7 years - I'd invested a lot into the place and so much went down there. this photo was taken when I thought I was leaving it forever... I didn't know I'd be buying it a couple of months later:

it's pretty wild to us that this has all worked out so fast and we choose to believe that, like most things that've happened to us since we met, God is streamlining and expediting things. it's very comforting to have enough experience barrelling down life roads and wedging myself into uncomfortable situations to see the earmarks of His timing and orchestration: things tend to fall into place very naturally and yet all of the steps to be taken are still there... nothing is missed or skipped or forced.

that was one of the most remarkable things about dating mr. bell, actually, that gave me the most certainty that this was different - with past beaus, there were hardships and frustrations and something that didn't feel right, no matter how I contorted myself or how many discussions we had. and there was a lot of impatience, uncertainty, and self-doubt on my part... I sincerely hope to encourage my daughter to be more confident than I was. but when I began dating mr. bell, these things were out of the ordinary: a) we hung out a lot and talked, but he didn't try any funny business AT ALL. which was... different. I wasn't sure that he was really interested in me, but it certainly set a slower pace from the get-go, which actually allowed us to b) pretty much lay our cards on the table, instead of my usual modus operandi of going along and thoroughly enjoying the moment and hoping the dude would like me enough to accept the important parts of me as they came up later. a little wiser in my mid-thirties, I felt the impetus to lay out the things about me that are true and fixtures in my life now up front (like God and Jesus and my church and my Saturday night meetings and salient information from my past) and give him the opportunity to walk away if they weren't things he could fully accept. c) as problems and differences of opinion arose, we would hash them out as people do and I'd sometimes get that despairing feeling of 'it's not going to work, how CAN it?!'... and yet it somehow would, and instead of the same enduring arguments or repeated unfulfilled needs there would be compromise and change and increasing acceptance on both our parts. totally grown up, right?! d) for many reasons, one of the secret desires of my heart was to share a faith with my partner, but after years of dating I had begun to believe that it simply wouldn't happen. when mr. bell and I started dating I wasn't quite sure what he was up for in terms of practicing faith, but I determined that I wouldn't force or manipulate anything into happening. today I love the fact that I get to grow in and share my faith with mr. bell and completely trust that God is the author of all of it all.

to make a shorter paragraph: I used to live in a dating world full of red lights yelling 'STOP'. with mr. bell, while there were a few yellow ones to make you slow down and pay attention, they were mostly bright green and on those wonderful timers that cause the whole road before you to say 'come on, it's clear!'.

similarly, the events leading up to this move have been remarkably smooth. even though we're going to take some time and work on the house before we start physically moving, I'm going to need to start sorting through our things and packing up, especially while I'm still feeling so good. *cue heartburn from morning egg with toast. sigh.* while the house is clean, we took a few pictures yesterday for M's dad to use to advertise 406 to whomever lives here next. it's really wild to think of the place 2.5 years ago, when I first saw it. M moved into it first in, oh, September/October?, he proposed in November, and we worked very, very hard to make it a home for us so I could move in after our wedding in April. though not the easiest or most comfortable choice, it's no doubt been an incredible blessing to us and we have a lot of good memories and invaluable life lessons to take with us. here's one of my favorite photos of us when we were working on the house:

the kitchen, renovation underway:

and after!:

those countertops are a little more cluttered now. :) while looking through old photos I also found this sweet one, taken shortly after we'd finished the library/music room. and that's Ripley in it, too!

current photos:

I still need to get current shots of the kitchen and bedrooms, but they need a little orgainizing before that commences. :)

other note-worthy images:

it was asian night at our house the other night, and M served up this action:

those dumplings and vegetables were the BOMB, people!

and just because it makes me soft inside:

I could bury my face in that space between his softsoft ears all day. this was actually taken moments before I climbed in bed and husband really felt our baby for the first time. he talked to her for awhile and the more he talked the more she kicked. as I think about it again now the sweetness is overwhelming, really.

-m.y.

back in the saddle

we took a road trip to Hico, then Abilene, then Dallas, and I finally rolled back into town Tuesday night. I'm sort of a jerky-jerk for neglecting to pull out my camera, but... well, but nothing. I'm just a jerky-jerk.

I'm in the moment, man! Too busy livin' to go find a camera to *rabbit quotation fingers* capture the moment *end rabbit quotation fingers*. pssssh.

except I do have an iphone, and it captures stuff sometimes. here are some photos from Mo's birthday party which, if you'll notice, had the same theme as last year. our most precious, three-year-old niece has an enduring relationship with Mickey.

we spent most of the afternoon decorating before the party. here's M and I enjoying the spoils of our efforts (M's way of enjoying spoils is to look very serious and intense. he could totally double as Jack Bauer.)

after decorating, I went into the sanctuary of the church, stretched out on a pew, and was OUT for a good nap. baby girl and I were funky fresh for the partay. note: if my belly looks bigger, your eyes aren't playing tricks on you.

Singing happy birthday. Linda made the best cupcakes for Mo!

no joke, my sister-in-law is very talented.

Morgan, lustily enjoying the spoils of being the birthday girl.

there were large Mickey and Minnie balloons, and it was very interesting to watch the girls interact with them vs the boys. the girls by and large tried to hold the balloons' hands, lead them around, hug them, whatever. the boys just punched them. :)

at one point, Mickey lost his head. literally.

and since it was a separate balloon, it floated to the ceiling. one of the funniest moments of the party was M and Tres trying to retrieve Mickey's head... they drew a crowd of children who watched intently and honestly cheered when they finally brought it down (by attaching a piece of tape to the red balloon).

then M set about taping Mickey's head back on his body, which drew another crowd of interested onlookers. more gathered and there was another cheer when Mickey was in one piece again, but alas, those photos are quite blurry. probably from my laughing.

Miss Mo enjoying more spoils of birthday happiness...

some highlights of the weekend:

* Friday night with K & L. we went to Perini's for dinner and had bacon-wrapped, cream-cheese stuffed jalapeno appetizers, and the little being in my bowels kicked around like crazy. M proposed that maybe she was actually in pain, but I'm pretty sure it was more a 'YES, that stuff is awesome, woman!' expression. then we went and saw Sherlock Holmes and really enjoyed it.

* all day Sunday, really... muffins for breakfast, good church and lunch with family and friends, hanging out until we had to leave for Dallas. we just love these people, and it's hard to say goodbye.

* being with Mo... who's such a good, sweet girl. she wants to know WHY everything, and it's funny how intent she is when asking it over and over, as thought it's very important to know WHY we have to cut all of the flowers first before arranging them in Mickey cups. she also gives the best hugs and I admit my heart swells a bit when she picks me to sit by her in the car.

* going through L's maternity clothes! I've come home with another tub of great clothing, and I couldn't be more grateful.

speaking of clothes, I'm about to walk into the other room and start sifting through mine. some stuff will go in storage, some will be donated, and maternity-wear is coming out to stay.


with talk of showers coming up, I was asked about the colors we're going to choose for the baby's room. we've got some loose ideas... I threw out that I'm really thinking about light light blue on the walls with cherry red (and other) accents, and I hit a fabric store yesterday just to see what sorts of things are catching my eye. here's a smattering of stuff I piled up:



I haven't bought anything yet, but it's fun to look. speaking of fun, look at the little floor quilt LBell has already made:



so flippin' cute!! there are actually Dick, Jane, and Spot panels on the other side with sentences from the books, so baby Bell can learn to read while lolling on the floor. the fact that three of this baby's grandparents were public school educators can only be a plus. :)

-m.y.