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.