I got off my posting schedule...

You may not even have realized that I'd set a posting schedule up for myself, now that I think about it. I was trying to discipline myself a bit more and whatnot, so a few weeks ago, I made myself a schedule to follow. I did well for several weeks there and then fell off just a tad. Oops. In my defense, since I'm not a professional blogger, I let a few little things like traveling and visiting with family/friends and forgetting my camera and getting a cold get in the way of posting. My apologies.

As a recap, here are some things we've been up to this week:
1. Making new friends with the Jesuit community in Brighton (I really should do a separate post about this sometime.)
2. Traveling South (yay!) and getting to use the metal detector in the airport, rather than the radiation machine.
3. Baby shower for Claire! So much fun and such a neat blessing. 
4. Eating some of our favorite Southern meals (you know this is big for us).
5. Opening/giving some early Christmas presents.
6. Spending time with family. 
7. I caught the cold that Brad had during his last week of finals. Boo. Thankfully, it set in after the baby shower, so that I was able to go and visit all the friends who attended. I hadn't seen some of them in so long.
8. Planning our next phases of Christmas travel. We've got quite the schedule!

Hopefully, several of these things will have their own blog posts in the near future. That's the plan anyway. And, Amiee and I will be wrapping up our clothing challenge in the next two weeks, so we'll definitely be posting about that. We're a little sad, I have to say.

I hope everyone is having a lovely week-before-Christmas. 

The Knight in Shiny Earrings

I obviously didn't have a great title for this one... I was definitely reaching.

I've discovered that the majority of the pieces in my maternity wardrobe are of the black/white/gray/red/camel color variety. Surprisingly, I haven't really tired of much of it (minus the two pairs of pants that I rotate between). So, engineering what characters I can pull off is limited to what character boards I can find that fit into that color palate. I realize that makes it a little less interesting, but I've got to work with what I have, right?

I found this board just recently and realized how easily I could pull it off. I wore it to the hospital today for my rhogam injection (incidentally, we were gone from home for 3 hours for this little injection. Oi. Upside: the nurse that administered it reminded us of our friend's mom, which was fun.). Unfortunately, it was just Brad and me that could appreciate my effort.

Here goes:

I know; it's not terribly ornate, but come on...I'm a little limited. And, my internal temperature is ridiculously high these days, restricting the clothing I can wear. 

Here's my goal:

Prince Phillip. The dragon-slayer.

Character: Prince Phillip from Sleeping Beauty

Outfit:
*Black cami (maternity) from Old Navy this year.
*Sweater was a hand-me-down from my great-grandmother. I'm going vintage, y'all.
*Shiny earrings ("iron-clad"...much like a sword that would be wielded by a dashing prince. That works, right?)

Disneybound inspiration board:

I think I got pretty close. Boring, though it may be. :) Just a few more weeks to go with this year's challenge. Maybe- just maybe- we'll have another year's worth of challenge up our sleeves. We'll just have to see.

Images from here and here.

"OMG! Are you serious??"

Not the words you want to hear from the phlebotomist who has a needle stuck in your arm, right?

I had my glucose test last Friday. I'm one of those pregnant gals who a) still combats fierce nausea daily (despite the fact that I'm third trimester) and b) needs a light snack every hour-and-a-half to two hours in order to help keep the nausea in check (in addition to my anti-nausea medicine). So, having to fast prior to my glucose test was fairly torturous. Brad was a sweetheart and ordered a taxi so that I wouldn't have to ride on the train (Karen, Kat, and Breanne- back me up: that will make you nauseous even if you're not already feeling sick!), and we made sure to get there a few minutes before the lab opened so that we could be first in line. This lab doesn't really take appointments; you just show up, and it's first come, first served. Drat us...we were second in line. Overachievers.

When it was my turn, the lab tech started out by taking my pre-glucose sample, and I thought it was a little much to take four vials. Apparently, her supervisor agreed. This was the conversation that ensued (while the tourniquet was still tightly in place and the needle was in my arm):

Supervisor: "Did you just take four vials?"

Lab tech: "Yeah...was I not supposed to?" (um, that's not comforting...)

Supervisor: "No. She's here for a glucose test. You only need two." pauses...reads vial labels. "And, you used up all of the vials for her whole test."

LT: "OMG! Are you serious??"

Supervisor: "Yeah."

So, there I sat. Taking great comfort from the fact that the lab tech a) did not know what was going on and b) felt the need to have this full, very informal discussion right in front of me. I'm assuming they got everything worked out after that. I drank my gross glucose drink and felt even worse than I already did. We waited for an hour for my second blood test and then waited for another hour for the last one. Brad did homework. I tried to do things on my Kindle...but mostly just felt lousy and pitiful.

During the third blood test, I thought my arm was going to fall off from the pressure of the tourniquet while she thumped all over my arm to find a different vein. I may or may not have had little tiny tears well up because of that tourniquet...

Thankfully, it was finally over and we were able to go home. Even better was that I passed my glucose test, meaning I don't have gestational diabetes AND don't have to do the glucose test again. I'm probably equally happy about those two results. :)

The Day I Met My Favorite Bloggers.

Yes, you read that title correctly. Go ahead and call me a nerd. I know it's true.

My favorite blog is Young House Love. I read it every day (in fact, on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays, I check it twice a day because they do a morning AND an afternoon post. See how much of a fan I am?). It's a home improvement/do-it-yourself/life kind of blog, and I really enjoy it. I've been reading it for about 2 years, but I've actually gone back and read every post. Not all at one time...that would be crazy! I thoroughly enjoy their writing styles (it's a husband and wife team, and they're both very talented) and their content. 

Anyway, they recently published a book (!), and a few months ago, they posted about their book tour/signing schedule. Boston was on the list! I immediately begged Brad to go with me (he agreed), and we put it on the calendar. 

I was so excited. Counted down the weeks. Brad wasn't as intrinsically excited, but he was excited that I was excited.

The day of the book signing was supposed to be rainy all day. No big deal. It was dreary and overcast all morning and drizzled a little bit. By the afternoon, when I headed up to BC with Brad, it was flurrying. The forecast had most certainly not predicted that it would be cold enough for snow, but I didn't think too much of it; the ground was too wet for anything to stick. I had, thankfully, worn my heavy coat. Unfortunately, I passed quite a few BC students who had prepped for rain (lighter clothes, rain boots, umbrellas) rather than the strange wintry weather coming in.

By late afternoon, it was full-on snowing, and we discovered that a Nor'easter was blowing in. In a matter of hours, the soggy ground had completely frozen over, and the snow (that was coming down in earnest) was definitely collecting. By the time we left for the book signing, we were both wearing heavy coats with hood PLUS our hats under the hoods. It. was. cold.

We got to the book signing a little before 6:00 (official start time) and found ourselves at the back of a VERY long line. To cut to the chase, the supposed-to-be-2-hour-signing had us moseying up to get my book signed 3 hours after we got there. That's dedication. We got buddy-buddy with the people in line with us. One gal even took this picture for us:

The event was held at our local West Elm, and all of the West Elms that hosted YHL book signings served hot chocolate and cookies at their events. Also, do you see the snow on Brad's collar??

We got to chat briefly with John and Sherry, which was so fun. I even got congratulated on the whole being pregnant thing. They also asked if it was a boy or girl; Sherry was guessing boy based on "how I'm carrying her." Not sure what that means, though, because a few weeks later, one of our flight attendants said the same thing- only that she knew it was a girl. 

Anyway, I had a great time, and Brad got some reading for class done while we were in line. By the time we got home, this is what our apartment door looked like. Crazy.

The snow all melted the next day, and it hasn't been that cold since. And, I'll be getting an autographed YHL book for Christmas. Thanks, Santa. This is why living in Boston is cool.

The Witch Doctor Challenge

I'm once again venturing into the realm of Challenge 2012: Maternity Edition. I put this outfit together the other night before going to our neighborhood group from church, but I actually ended up tweaking it a bit before leaving the house. The outfit in the picture made me look rounder than I really wanted to, so I changed a few things and ended up looking more my actual size. Vanity...I know. I just didn't want to look last stages pregnant when I'm only 6 months (I realize that's hyperbole). I'm awful.

My character this week was:

Rafiki. I sort of accidentally ended up with a Lion King theme running through the last few outfits. Apparently they work best for maternity outfits? 

Character: Rafiki from The Lion King

Outfit:
*White cami from Old Navy (maternity).
*Gray sweater from Belk (maternity).
*Gold belt from NY & Co. 2010.
*Red earrings from Ukraine 2009.
*African beaded necklace gift from parents after trip to Rwanda a couple years ago.

Disneybound inspiration board:

So far, so good on the maternity challenge pictures. I only have to come up with a few more. I'm feeling confident. Just out of curiosity...any of you that have seen all of the challenge outfits this year, any favorites? Amiee and I are getting a tad bit nostalgic now that we're nearing the end, and I was wondering if our favorites are similar to yours. By the way, Amiee's going to play catch-up on updating her blog...once she finishes finals. Go, Amiee! Ace those tests!

Images from here and here.

On the problem of baby gear and living in a city.

I'm having Baby Culture Shock. Or, more accurately, Baby Stuff Culture Shock. There is so much out there for little wee ones. Annnnnd...I'm struggling to narrow it down. I think I might have written back in the summer about how Brad and I were trying to be very intentional about what we were packing for Boston and what we would be storing. This was an incredibly crucial element in our move- primarily because we now live in an apartment, and we walk or take public transportation everywhere. These two things combined really bring out the minimalist in you. 

Don't get me wrong: we are very blessed with our apartment and have a nice amount of storage space. We don't, however, have an attic, garage, or basement storage available, which means that we have to get creative with where to stash stuff. Stuff like the boxes our appliances came in, which aren't really vital to our lives at the moment but will be when we move again. Or our Christmas decor and out-of-season clothing. Our "spare room" is very multi-purposed. It's our "office" and extra storage and guest room and future baby room. It's not terribly big, AND there's a weight-bearing brick column right in the middle of the room. And a built-in desk (which is awesome but does limit room arrangement possibilities).

All that to say that we're having to be, yet again, incredibly intentional about what baby gear we plan to acquire. The great lure of the Baby Gear Industry is all of the cute stuff. The pink and ruffly and soft and adorable stuff. It calls to me and threatens to fog my rationality. I've been fairly disciplined in not giving into those Sirens. Rather, I've spent countless hours (no, really) researching and evaluating the best options for the necessities. Things that are practical and necessary and fit in our budget. Things that are Boston- and apartment-friendly. Things that have good safety ratings and customer reviews. It's way more intense than I would have thought.

Some of our thoughts/decisions/quandaries:

1. We made the decision (after crunching the numbers) to try our hands at cloth diapering. We calculated average costs of disposables versus what we'd pay in laundry (which we pay for with quarters...gag) over the remainder of the time that we'll probably live in this apartment. Cloth diapers won. Not for environmental reasons nearly so much as practical reasons. We decided on this brand (after researching sessions that made me want to rip out my hair). Seriously...this was the very first thing we decided on. Diapers. How precious.

2. We're planning to get a mini-crib. Why? Because a regular sized one won't fit anywhere in our apartment. Not exaggerating. The crib does have a rocking feature, though, which is awesome.

3. We're going to need to forego some other items marketed as "essentials" by the Target and Amazon registries, like a changing table. We just don't have room for one. We're definitely going to be the type that have those changing pads scattered around the apartment. 

4. The stroller search is enough to give me a migraine. We need something compact for use on the trains. That's pretty much non-negotiable. We can't really do the awesome systems that are the way to go in the South (you know, the Cadillac strollers with the snap-in baby carrier?). Wistful sigh. We're planning on using one of the strap-on baby carriers. It's what people do here...and is seemingly the only practical solution. I've seen exactly one woman with a traditional baby carrier; she looked like she was about to collapse carrying it.

5. Claire isn't going to have an awesomely Pinterest-ed out nursery. We'll make it as cute as we can, but function is definitely the priority and will take a lot of creativity to manufacture. The good things, though, is that we can attach things to the upholstered walls (remember how it's a soundproof room?) with push pins. That's kind of fun.

6. We don't have much room for baby items like swings or bouncy seats. I've looked into some travel swing options, which have a smallish footprint. Jury is still out on that (speaking of juries, I got jury summons for less than 3 weeks before my due date. What are the odds??).

Anyway, those are some of the scenarios that we're working with. We're also starting to think through where we will store things like the stroller. There's not exactly a natural spot for it. I'll keep you posted. I know you'll be waiting with baited breath.

Brad's Observations on Bostonian (student) Fashion

I wish I could get Brad to guest post on this, but 1) he is way too busy writing about people and concepts that are beyond me and 2) he probably wouldn't anyway.

We had been here for a couple of months before I felt well enough to venture out of the house (outside of a few doctor's appointments). I had this one week where I felt fairly decent (and actually thought I'd turned a health corner...ha. Silly me.), and I knew that Brad had been wanting to go do something together. Poor guy...we're in one of the coolest cities in the country, and he hadn't been able to get out and do anything with his built-in friend (that would be me). So, we went up the road to a little Mexican restaurant for dinner (Huntsvillians: it looks and operates like Little Rosie's...but it's, by no means, the same thing. It is fairly decent food, though.). After dinner, we went for a little walk around Boston College, because I still had not been up to campus at that point.

BC is beautiful. Truly. It's a lovely campus and makes you feel as if you would have been a smarter student had you been able to study in that environment. We really enjoyed walking around and just looking. 

Then, I started noticing how not dressy the girls looked. I don't know why, but I just kind of assumed that girls at a super fancy school would dress up a bit more. I mentioned to Brad that I was a little surprised by the sartorial choices. He surprised me by readily agreeing and giving me a run-down of what he had decided was "the outfit" worn by college girls in Boston:

*Black leggings instead of pants (and more than a few of them really shouldn't be wearing skin-tight bottoms.
*Classy mid-calf to knee-height boots. Usually brown.
*Generally a t-shirt.

I stopped and watched the girls who were passing by us. Whoa...Brad was right. 75% of the girls we saw were wearing "the outfit." Who would have thought?

Since then, I've noticed "the outfit" is prevalent at Boston University and Harvard, as well. As it starts to get colder, we keep wondering when "the outfit" will modify to adjust to the temperatures. So far...they've added scarves.

I'm still not going to discuss politics...

...but I don't mind discussing social gatherings. Hopefully, this post won't bring up any bad feelings or memories but will just have you saying, "Wow...Boston is cool."

I know that I've mentioned our friend, Karl, a few times. We know him from Union, and we ended up moving here around the same time this summer. Karl's job was working in the media department of the Romney/Ryan campaign. It was super interesting to hear things about Karl's job and all of the interesting people he met and the history he saw being made. He got to meet both Romney and Ryan (among others) and do quite a bit of traveling. I'm fully convinced that- no matter what side of the political fence you find yourself- Karl had a once-in-a-lifetime experience that was, admittedly, cool. 

And, he shared a taddy bit of it with Brad and me. Karl, as an employee, was given guest passes to the election night party at the Romney headquarters- which he gave to us! We got dressed up and spent the evening at a fancy convention center, watching the states fill in while we snacked on catered hor d'oeuvres. Granted, we weren't important enough to gain access to the actual center of events; we hung out in the overflow room, but we're not complaining. Brad was even interviewed by the Yale Daily News. And, no, his interviewer was not Rory Gilmore. Bummer.

We didn't stick around until the very end; I wasn't feeling well (which had less to do with the election and quite a bit to do with being pregnant), so we headed out around 10:00 and watched the remainder of results at home. 

Outside of the convention center. It was so glitzy and festive.

When we got off the shuttle bus that took us from the offices to the convention center, there were literally paparazzi-type folks sticking cameras in everyone's faces and snapping away. Right after I took this picture, I noticed Brad turning away from a few cameras. Bizarre.

Karl snapped this picture for us right before he went off to do very important work.

We really did enjoy our opportunity and are so grateful that Karl let us join him. We'll continue to pray for our president to have wisdom as he leads our country, whether or not we support all his decisions. And, as Brad told the Yale Daily News reporter who asked what his reaction would be if Romney lost the election, "We'll get up tomorrow, do our work, and live our lives- just like we did this morning."

Also...we miss having Karl in town. He's a fun one.

The Bird Beak Challenge

I'm being vulnerable with this picture, y'all. It's not terribly flattering of me and particularly makes me face look fuller than I'd like. Can we say it's the angle? (and pretend it's not actually my face?) I'm not really a baby-bump-photo-taker, so I'm not crazy about pictures of myself currently. I have, thus far, not found pregnancy to agree with me very much- whether in health or image, so there's a lack of photographic evidence in general. Does that make me a bad person?

When I realized I was running out of my pre-baby belly pictures, I frantically began searching both my scanty maternity wardrobe and Disneybound for characters I could scrounge up. Tricky, tricky. However, I think I came up with a few that I can pull together in the next few weeks. 

Here's my first attempt:

Amiee has already done this one, and our two takes on this character are definitely different and varied. Incidentally, the picture of us on her post was taken just a couple hours before Brad and I told her about Baby Boswell (and she bounced around the house for a few minutes in her excitement.). Our guiding light for this challenge:

Zazu! Poor Zazu...he only wants to help, and Simba just makes fun of him. And doesn't listen. And gets in trouble. Oh, Simba. If only you'd listened to Zazu's wise counsel...

Character: Zazu from The Lion King

Outfit:
*Blue shirt is from NY & Co. and is actually not maternity. Just stretchy.
*Cami is maternity and is from Old Navy (I have one in white and one in black, and they are pretty much worn daily.).
*Yellow sweater was a hand-me-down from Mary Ellen.

Disneybound inspiration board:

I have no idea what maternity character will be next, but I promise to come up with something. It definitely ups the "challenge" factor. And, let's all pretend that my face isn't as full as it looks, ok?

Images from here and here.

The Littlest Boswell

Katie reminded me recently that I've never posted about what we're planning to name our baby. I posted that she's a girl, but I never followed up with our thoughts on naming her.

We had our boy's name picked out for quite a while before we knew about Baby Boswell. We didn't even debate about it. We both loved it from the get-go. In fact, I asked Brad's mom to please not let her sister name her new pet bird Jack because that was the boy's name that we loved and were stuck on.

We did not, however, have a girl's name settled on. We'd gone back and forth with some names that we kind of liked. As usual, names I really liked were on Brad's "Ehh.." list and vice versa. Actually, I kind of think that maybe Brad wasn't really offering too much assistance in the girl's name department. I think he was more into responding to my suggestions.

Anyway, when we learned that she was a girl, we had to  get down to business on figuring out what we liked. It ended up not being too long of a conversation. We narrowed down the names we liked to essentially two names and then became rather introspective. After a little bit of thought, Brad offered this: "I like both names, but I think this baby's name is Claire."

Alright then. It's settled.

We'd decided a while back that her middle name would be Elizabeth. Elizabeth is a family name on both sides, and we just really like it on top of that. So, her name is Claire Elizabeth. Boswell, obviously. 

I supposed there's an off-chance that we will meet her and decide it's not the name for her, but I doubt it. We call her that now when we talk about her (or to her...we do that sometimes). Sometimes we call her Claire Bear.

It's not one of those names that I grew up just knowing I would name a daughter, but I love it now. I had wanted to name her Emma or Harper or Lily, but quite a few of my friends have had Emmas and Harpers recently. And, Amiee claimed Lily a while back for any potential future daughter (we divvied up names several years ago...what? You didn't do that??)

There you have it. She has a name. If you hate it, please don't let me know; I'm all emotional these days and probably wouldn't take it well. However, if you love it, tell me all about it!

The Out-of-Control Hair Challenge

No...this is not another Rapunzel challenge. And, yes, this should have been posted last Friday. Remember how I was in Alabama? (and yes, there is internet in Alabama...I was just busy with other things.)

Anyway, this is the last of the pre-baby-belly pictures that I squeezed in. I'm working on a few final outfits that are in my "maternity wear." I really should do a post sometime about how I've really avoided buying too much maternity wear. I've gotten pretty creative. But I digress.

Outfit:

This character goes along with my last character that I posted:

I was Merida, daughter of Queen Elinor. You know, minus the over-the-top hair. Interestingly enough, I have two really good friends (Kat and Amanda) who have hair that will do this naturally if left untamed. They're not redheads, though. It's really pretty fascinating to see. 

Character: Merida from Brave 

Outfit:
*Blue top from Ross...2010 maybe?
*Scarf from the Handbag and Jewelry outlet waaaaay back when. I don't remember exactly, but I was in high school.
*White cami from NY & Co. 2008.

Disneybound inspiration board:

Starting this coming Friday, we'll be in "real time" with the character pictures. I've found a few outfits that I can pull together with my current wardrobe. Here's hoping I can make it to the end of December!

Images from here and here.

I am thankful for the South.

I hope that Thanksgiving was wonderful for everyone. Brad and I spent it in Alabama, and I could not have been happier. Sorry for not updating in over a week; it's not that the internet doesn't work in Alabama- I was just too absorbed in being home to spend time with the internet. 

Thanksgiving Day was super. Mom really outdid herself with all the cooking- for about 20 people, no less. We ate. so. much. It's a little embarrassing, really. You haven't lived until you've tried my mom's squash casserole. Not even kidding.

In addition to the great family time (before poor Amiee succumbed to a nasty virus that had her holed up in her room), Mom and Dad treated us to so much of what I miss about Alabama. Note: it was mostly food-related. Barbeque with hushpuppies. Real Mexican. Milo's sweet tea. Chick-Fil-A breakfast. We also did fun Huntsville things like Bridgestreet (um, no, we did not go on Black Friday. We waited until Saturday.). We put up one of the Christmas trees (that's right- Brassarts have two. What? It's more fun that way.) and watched two of our traditional Christmas movies while snacking on sausage balls and chili with grilled cheese sandwiches. We would have done more on the movie front, but it didn't seem right to do it without Amiee. We watched quite a few Hallmark Christmas movies while eating copious amounts of leftover turkey, dressing, and my Auntie's cheese ball. Good grief...Brad and I put the hurt on that dip.

Because I'm still pretty incapable of doing mornings (yeah, I know...I'm just into my third trimester and still have morning sickness. I like to go all-out, what can I say?), we didn't make it to church at Whitesburg. Sad face. (psst- we'll be back for a few days in both December and January.).

It was very sad to leave. Oh! But, I did have find myself a little disappointed with my beloved Southerners. On the way to Huntsville, the TSA agents in Boston noticed my pregnant-ness and, rather than having me walk through the radiation-laden scanner or having a thorough pat-down, ushered me through the metal detector. And, they pointed me to the nearest rocking chair, in case I was tired. In Huntsville, I was put in the position of having to ask for an "alternative screening method." This definitely required a THOROUGH pat-down (after being read and shown a disclaimer about how invasive it would be- would I still like one? Really, TSA? I'm not protesting scanners; there just haven't been long-term studies in whether or not it will give my baby two heads.)...IN FRONT OF THE FULL GLASS WALL. That did not make me happy.

Despite that hiccup, we are back in Boston after a wonderful Thanksgiving celebration, and Brad is nose-to-the-grindstone for the next couple of weeks. Good thing he's so smart.

The Bearly Queen Challenge

This is another of the outfits I did back in August before we announced anything about Baby Boswell. Even though the picture looks like I might be showing, I actually still wasn't showing; the button/zipper of the skirt created that little illusion. Here's my character:

Brad and I went to see this gal in the theater in Humboldt shortly before we left Jackson. (For non-West-Tennesseans, Humboldt is a little small town about 15 minutes outside of Jackson, and their movie theater is in the cutest little downtown. It has exactly three screens, and the same family seems to work the ticket counter and concessions stand. We. Loved. It.) This was my goal:

Queen Elinor. Voiced by Emma Thompson who plays a different Elinor in Sense and Sensibility. I think that fact made me like Queen Elinor right off the bat.

Character: Queen Elinor from Brave

Outfit:
*Green top from NY & Co. 2010.
*Gold belt from NY & Co. 2011.
*Brown skirt from Wal-Mart 2009.

Disneybound inspiration board:

How fun. I only wish I had a fancy tiara to go with it. 

Images from here and here.

I definitely got called out.

While Karen was here, she, Karl, and I went to lunch one day at Wagamama. I learned from Karen that Wagamama is an international restaurant (seriously, I checked out the website and found it all over the world), but the only USA locations are right here in our very own Boston. On top of that, we had planned to hang out in Harvard Square/Cambridge, and there was a Wagamama right there. 

For any of you that didn't follow the link at the top, Wagamama is a Asian-fusion-type restaurant. Not really like P.F. Changs, but definitely not strictly a Chinese or Japanese or Thai restaurant.

Anyway, we went to Wagamama, and while I'm usually a fairly adventurous eater, I've tamed my ways while pregnant...I've just had too much of being sick to risk tempting my ornery system with foods that it isn't already used to. To play it safe, I ordered a fairly basic stir fry (rice, egg, random veggies, chicken...you know. Basics.). It was served in a big bowl with a little tiny bowl of miso soup. At the same time, Karl ordered a lettuce wrap appetizer that came with little bread-type plates for us to share.

I was enjoying my stir fry until I spotted it. My stomach turned, and I felt my gag reflexes kicking into gear. It was a shrimp. Gag. Swallow. Gag. I wrote about my extreme shrimp aversion a while back; I even wrote- nay, bared my soul- about how I couldn't even watch Olympic divers because they looked like shrimp while diving. This pregnancy has caused me to 100% loathe shrimp in flavor and appearance. Writing about it is making me queasy...

However, I was out in public and had to be a big girl. I knew there was no way I could keep eating with that shrimp still in my bowl...so, I surreptitiously removed the enemy, put him on a bread plate from Karl's appetizer, and used my empty miso bowl (turned upside down) to cover him up. Totally workable solution.

Unfortunately, he wasn't the only one. I had to fish out (no pun intended...ok, maybe a little) those little horrors and hide them with their buddy under the bowl. Due to this little operation, I was able to finish my lunch without getting sick. I had even kind of forgotten about them as lunch progressed.

That was until the waitress came to bring the check and start busing the table. She reached for my exiled bread plate and turned the miso bowl over in order to stack things more easily. Obviously, she spotted my shrimp. She looked at me, then kind of giggled and asked, "Um, were you hiding the shrimp?"

Sheepish face. "Um, well, yeah, actually..."

Waitress: "WHY??"

Me: "Well, I-know-it's-weird-but-I'm-pregnant-and-shrimp-makes-me-gag-now-and-I-can't-even-look-at-it?" (I said, all in one breath.)

Waitress: (laughs more...doubled over) "Well, ok then. Have a good afternoon."

Karl: "Erin, you just got called out."

Yes. Yes, I did. Drat you, you little sea creatures.

Backing up a little

Back in October, my family (minus Brad...he had school) celebrated Amiee's 21st birthday with a trip to New York City. Mom planned out an awesome few days of city-ness, and we made the most of our time (which included 2 hot dog meals!). We spent a decent amount of time in Times Square (Amiee just wanted to soak it in), ate at Serendipity (One Fine Day style), saw Mary Poppins on Broadway (LOVED. IT.), hung out the Plaza (even though we didn't run into Eloise), and met a celebrity. It was a great, great trip (although, my sciatica was ridiculous and made me verrrrrry slooooow). I am so ashamed to say that I only got three (3) pictures on my camera. Shame on me. So, I did what any resourceful gal would do and snagged some off of Amiee's Facebook. Hers are the fun ones.

Amiee originally wanted to see Lion King, but everything worked out better for us to see Mary Poppins. We all LOVED it- including Daddy. Here's the huge sign in Times Square. Right next to another show I'd love to see one day. Any other Newsies junkies out there??

Amiee's Instagram collage (clockwise): playbill, the curtain, and ticket.

We found this add on the backside of the building and had a little photoshoot. This was our favorite shot. I love how Daddy's getting into the spirit of things.

One of our all-time favorites. Although, Daddy will never forgive us for not giving him a heads-up about how it differs from the movie. I'm not sure why he's so shocked by that...

The Plaza. Amiee and I can quote (rather obnoxiously, I'm afraid) every line from Eloise at Christmastime. If you've never seen it, you are SO missing out. ABC Family usually runs it for 25 Days of Christmas. You must get yourself some hot chocolate and watch it. 

Our celebrity! He's the actor who plays Carlisle in the Twilight movies. So, maybe he's not a huge celebrity, but it totally counts! 

Here we are, very happily hanging out in Times Square. Such a great trip!

We all headed back to Boston for a couple of days, and we took a Megabus. Mom snagged us a deal of $2.50/per person. For a 4.5 hour bus ride from NYC to Boston! Can't beat that. If anyone is visiting NYC and wants to swing by to visit the Boswells in Boston, Mom can hook you up with the cheap tickets. Way to go, Mom.

My in-laws are visiting right now, and Kat comes in tomorrow! We're having a great time with visitors and are SO EXCITED about Thanksgiving next week. Yay!

The Metamorphing Challenge

I probably should have done this one way back in the beginning of the year when I did a theme month that she would have belonged in. I didn't, though. 

Since I didn't, here goes:

She's not a Disney character (don't sue!), and she doesn't necessarily have a specific costume that would give her away (although she does have some very specific characteristics...I just can't replicate them all):

Tonks (Nymphadora Tonks). She has the ability to change her hair color and nose shape at will. I can't...but I did try to screw my face up into the face that she makes while changing her appearance. Totally works, right?

Character: Tonks from Harry Potter

Outfit:
*Red shirt from Ann Taylor Loft 2008.
*Black sweater/shrug item from Papaya 2010.
*Silver belt was a gift from my Aunt in 2009ish.

Disneybound inspiration board:

I would love to have Tonks's metamorphmagus abilities. How fun to change you hair when you don't like it? Without having to pay? So cool.

Happy weekend!

Images from here and here.

Making the most of our time.

I have a really cool election night story to share, but I'll hold off on that for a few more days so that everyone can get back to life as normal. 

Brad and I really want to make the most of our time living in Boston. Unfortunately, those first few weeks/months were kind of eaten up with me being sick. The upside is that I'm a lot more mobile and able to function now, so we're able to participate more in our city's life. We've had a few visitors over the past month: Breanne, my family, Hughey, and Karen. In the next week, we'll have Brad's family and Kat. We're really blessed with wonderful family and friends that love us and want to visit us (...and Boston. Let's face it- we live in a very cool city.). 

Karen was here most recently, and we were able to do quite a bit while she was here. I'll share about some of our adventures over the next week or so. I need to apologize in advance for being bad at taking pictures. Oi. I'm just not on top of it sometimes. 

One of the cool things we did was go to a Celtics game. Now, ask me what I know about the NBA. Here's my answer: basketball. Michael Jordan. That's pretty much it. I now know that the Celtics are the beloved team of Boston. LOTS of green appears when they play at TD Gardens downtown. Also, one of their players (#5, Kevin Barnett) was born the year my parents graduated from high school, and he's 6'11". Whoa! So tall. That's, like, more than double my previous NBA knowledge.

Anyway, we got seats in the nose bleed section (about 7 rows from the top), but they were really not bad. We could see everything going on, so I'd say that's a win. Speaking of win...the Celtics did not win. They were playing the Milwaukee Bucks and lost by 10 points (we'll just ignore the part about how the Celtics were down by 20 for the majority of the game...), but it was fun anyway. We happened to be there for the first home game of the season, which was fun. There were pyrotechnics at the beginning and everything. Is that even legal indoors??

Our friend, Karl, also joined us, which made it even more fun. We had pizza at Regina's Pizza beforehand, which was great! We followed that up with cannolis from Mike's afterward (you know, while walking to the game), which was also great...but also kind of a mistake. So. Much. Food. 

Karl and Karen squished into our tiny book at Regina's.

Brad and me. I was the only one wearing green; I must be the real fan, right?

Game time! There were about one gazillion people there.

See that Gillette box? Ryan Lochte was in there! They showed him on the jumbo tron, and apparently, he was tweeting about it, too.

Between the food and the friends, we had a great time supporting the Celtics! Hopefully, we can go again sometime next year. Who wants to volunteer to be the friend(s) that join us??

The Friend Like Me Challenge

Amiee did this character sometime in September. She rocked it, and our friend, Kylie, took her pictures with a fancy shmancy camera. The pictures are fantastic and makes me wish Kylie could come take my pictures (and just visit because I miss her). 

Here was my attempt:

I was shooting for this guy:

When Amiee was little, Aladdin was her favorite movie...until the video tape went mysteriously missing (cough...Mom...cough). Before the tape disappeared, we really loved Genie. He's just so funny.

Character: Genie from Aladdin

Outfit:

*Blue top from NY & Co. 2010.

*Blue scarf from my great-aunt.

Disneybound inspiration board:

I realize this outfit didn't involve a whole lot and wasn't terribly creative, but I was very sick and not very unpacked when this picture was taken. I was also in a weird place pants-wise and didn't have a whole lot of options for creative lower-halves. So sorry.

Images from here and here.

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.