Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Sleepless in Boston

I don't sleep well when I'm my normal self. When I'm my normal self, I take a sleep medication to help with the situation. Since I can't currently take medication (at least not anything strong enough to keep me asleep), I've spent a lot more time than usual playing with my Kindle Fire while Brad snoozes away. 

A couple months ago, I came across a blog that makes me laugh so hard it hurts. I came across it at a time when I really needed a good reason to laugh, which means I'm probably indebted to this blogger. Her name is Rachel, she's from Birmingham, and her blog is called Grasping for Objectivity in My Subjective Life.

I found her through a link posted on a Facebook friend's wall. I was intrigued by the topic of the link: "Gap and Old Navy sell Gateway Mom Jeans." Obviously, I had to check it out. After reading it, I had to follow up with some other related posts like this. Then, I noticed that she had a post about Downton Abbey, which I needed to know about. This led to lots of link following and LOTS of laughing. I've particularly enjoyed reading her posts filed under "Pregnancy: The Psychoses." It's like she's in my head.

So, if you have some free time*, I recommend you check out Rachel's blog. She's a mom of two cute kids, loves Jesus, an accountant, a jeans afficianado, and an unapologetic commentator on life. I can't stop reading her posts. In fact, I felt the baby kick for the very first time while reading Rachel's thoughts on life. They lift my spirits and make me laugh so hard that I'm always afraid I'll wake up Brad. Bless him.


*Warning: You may get sucked in. You might want to carve out some time for this reading experience.


Monday, October 29, 2012

Politics make me squirm, but...

Since I've had several pregnancy updates recently, I thought I'd tell you a little about my life that doesn't have anything to do with my state of health. My friend, Breanne, came to visit a few weeks ago (literally 36 hours after my ER visit...did I mention that health-related adventure? No? Well, I already promised not to talk about my state of health in this post.), and we had a great time visiting and doing the tourist thing around Boston. We went out for clam chowder (well, she and Brad got clam chowder...all things from the sea make me gag) and walked down to the harbor. We went to Louisa May Alcott's house in Concord (which was a great outing, by the way), and walked the Freedom Trail (although, one of the main attractions on our list we managed not to pass...it was ridiculous. And rather cold that day). 

It was great fun having Breanne visit! In addition to the touristy things, we also hung out and played Ticket to Ride: Europe with our friend Karl, who is working on the Romney campaign. That's right...we know someone working on a presidential campaign. How crazy is that? He gets to do all kinds of cool stuff (no matter what side of politics you may fall on) and meet folks who are pretty hot topics right now. Seriously, he has a picture with one Paul Ryan.

Anyway, a couple days after hearing some of Karl's adventures, Breanne and I found something politically hilarious on the Freedom Trail. In the courtyard of the Old City Hall, there's this:


It's a donkey because the current local leadership is primarily of the Democratic party. That's kind of funny to have a metal donkey in the courtyard...but the really funny part is this:


If you happen to be on the other side of the political fence, you have the option to stand in opposition (see the inscription underneath the elephant/Republican shoes?).

Oh, Boston. You kill me.

Friday, October 26, 2012

The Grumpy Timepiece Challenge

Continuing my most recent theme from Beauty and the Beast, I did this:


Guesses? My goal was this guy:


Cogsworth the Clock. Have I ever mentioned that I was actually a little scared of Beauty and the Beast when I was younger? I think part of it had to do with the fact that her dad is incarcerated in a creepy castle and that there's a HUGE, furry, unidentifiable beast. Probably.

Character: Cogsworth from Beauty and the Beast

Outfit:
*Brown skirt from Wal-Mart 2009.
*Brown sweater from Wal-Mart around the same time.
*Cami from Francesca's 2011.
*Belt also from Francesca's. I probably got them on the same trip...
*Watch is from Ukraine...probably 2009. It's still kickin'!

Disneybound inspiration board:


I think this is probably my last Beauty and the Beast post. I'm not sure I can think of any other characters that I can pull off in my current state and limited wardrobe options. :) Who knows, though?

Images from here and here.

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Some Baby Boswell Updates

The last time I wrote about baby stuff/pregnancy, I was very much in the midst (or perhaps depths?) of pregnancy wretchedness. To keep things completely honest, I'm still not a huge fan of being pregnant. I am really excited about our baby, but I have not enjoyed being pregnant. I'm in the middle of week 21 (which, by the way, is fully in the middle of the second trimester- a time when you're supposed to feel great and be full of energy...not the case at all), and I'm still dealing with a LOT of nausea. Thankfully, I have a good nausea medication now, which is helping. Sort of. But, on-the-whole, I'm feeling a bit better. Yay!

Except... I've developed an incredibly painful sciatic nerve situation. Some days, it's so bad that all I can do is hobble. This is bad, as Boston is a very pedestrian place. It can take quite a long time to get from one place to the next. I've been spending a lot of time with my heating pad.

In happier news, we found out that we're having a girl! I was completely convinced that we were having a boy. We had a boy name locked, loaded, and ready-to-roll. I'd been eyeing baby boy things on Pinterest, and the majority of our friends and family were also guessing boy. Surprise! She's a girl. We're excited! And narrowing down name options. I also think I've felt her move a couple of times.

Things are looking up, I think. And, now I have a new hobby: browsing for cute girl stuff. :)


Friday, October 19, 2012

The Bookworm Challenge

First of all, this challenge post officially catches me up to date with where I should be in posting. Whew! Secondly, I thought I'd do one in the same vein as the one right before this.



This is my attempt at channeling:



Belle. That very literature-loving lass. Did you catch that alliteration? So literary. 

Character: Belle from Beauty and the Beast

Outfit:
*Blue top from New York & Co. 2010.
*White sweater was a gift from Mom.

Disneybound inspiration board:



Sorry that so many of these don't have my pants/skirts pictured. Simple explanation: I was in a weird not-fitting-into-pants-well phase. I'm still kind of in that phase, but at least I now have two pairs of maternity pants. Yay, me.

Images from here and here.

The Ooh Shiny Challenge

To be more Disney-correct, I should probably call this "The Be Our Guest Challenge." But that would totally give it away too quickly, right? 




Amiee and I love to sing this guy's part of "Be Our Guest":




Lumiere! He's such a fun character, and as far as clothing challenges go, he's a great excuse to dress up all sparkly.

Character: Lumiere from Beauty and the Beast

Outfit:
*White/gold top from...I don't even remember. I'm pretty sure I got it around 2002 or 2003.
*Gold sparkly tank top...yeah. It might have been purchased on the same shopping trip as the white/gold top, but I honestly don't remember.
*Dangly earrings: Christmas gift from mom and dad 2011.

Disneybound inspiration board:




I really like this one. Hopefully, it won't be forever and a day until I can fit into it again. I'll definitely have to give it another shot!

Images from here and here.

Thursday, October 18, 2012

The Classic Disney Challenge

To compensate for the very non-Disney outfit of Prim, I thought I'd bring back some classic Disney. Here goes:



It's not an exact replica of her, but it's channeling her basic characteristics, I think. Your thoughts?



Minnie. Do kids even know who she is anymore? I hope so, but I know there's about a bazillion other characters floating around out there these days. 

Character: Minnie Mouse

Outfit:
*Top from Papaya 2010. 
*Scarf from my great-aunt.
*Red earrings from Ukraine. 2009 or 2010. Sometime while I lived there.

Disneybound inspiration board:



I'm sure I could have gotten a little more creative with this one, but let's be honest: I wasn't feeling well and didn't have the energy to sort through all of my belongings. The truth is ugly sometimes. I'm getting closer and closer to getting back on posting track. Hopefully this atones for my really long absence?

Images from here and here.

The Duck-Tailed Challenge

So, technically, this is another of those not-actually-Disney challenges. I just had the clothes for it. :) Here's she is:



Here's another shot that might give her away to anyone who's read the books:



If not, here's a shot of her from the movie:



Primrose Everdeen. She's one of the characters in The Hunger Games series, for those who haven't read/seen it. If you haven't, I get it. It's definitely not for everyone.

Character: Primrose Everdeen from The Hunger Games

Outfit:
*Skirt belonged to my grandmother. I tweaked it's length to better suit me.
*Shirt was a hand-me-down from Amiee when we did our closet clean-out at the end of 2011.

Disneybound inspiration board:

I think Brad got a chuckle out of this one. Maybe I don't make a very good Prim...? Eh. Maybe not. But I had the skirt. :) More to come.

Images from here and here.

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

The And His Merry Men Challenge

This is another of those characters that I shot back before I started changing shape. Interjection: I am actually still wearing mostly non-maternity clothes. I'm in maternity pants (or Brad sweatpants for sleeping), but most of my shirts are my regular shirts that either stretch non-awkwardly or are just of the flow-y variety.

Anyway, here's one of the FOUR characters that I'm behind in posting on. So ashamed...



You could probably guess from my not-so-subtle title (if not from my two different attempts at bow-and-arrow poses), but I was going for:


Robin Hood! I really loved this movie as a child, but we didn't own it. However, my dad's office had it and would play it in the waiting room, so I sometimes got to watch it there.

Character: Robin Hood (as in, the one played by a fox)

Outfit:
*Green top from Ross 2010.
*Belt was a gift from my mom.
*Brown skirt came from Wal-Mart 2009.

Disneybound inspiration board:

I'm working on whether or not I can pull off any characters with my current, limited maternity-ish wardrobe. We'll see how that goes.

Images from here and here.

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Shame-faced.

That's me. I'm a little shame-faced right now, as it has been almost one whole month since I last posted. 

...

So sorry.

To make up for it, I'm going to try to write quite a few posts over the next few days. Contrary to what my silence may cause you to think, things actually have been going on around here. So, please accept my apologies, still be my friend, and enjoy the next few days of catch-up blogging.


Boswell beach trip 2022: part 1

Just another friendly reminder that I'm still playing catch-up. Clearly, it is not currently July... We made another annual trip to Tops...