A Little Glimpse Inside

Last night's rehearsal was surprisingly productive and almost relaxing. . . This close to a show going up (8 days to go!) It always gets a little scary & tense. We had a big group talk before we started last night, and heartfelt prayer, and things ran surprisingly smoothly.

These are a few of the moments before it got too dark for my little camera to manage to capture anything clearly:

The opening number. They are powerful singers and this number is an awesome way to kick it all off.

Ben had class last night, so Dave was standing in for him in this scene. Almost all of this set went up in just one day. . . and you can't even see it all in this photo. I was amazed.

Juan and Shannon "on the way to America".

Fingers crossed for a few more nights exactly like last night. . . If we have those, we just might make it.

itunes "random"

Have you ever noticed that once in a while your itunes will get stuck shuffling back and forth almost exclusively between 2 albums/artists all day long?

Today I'm stuck in a dimension that consists almost entirely of the 2 Dreamgirls CDs and John Mayer. 40 songs out of the 1500+ on this computer. . .

What IS that?

Regret

Have you ever involved yourself in something you thought was going to be great, only to find out, when it really was too late, that it was a much bigger thing than you anticipated?

Anyone who knows me knows that I do this on a fairly regular basis, on one level or another. (as one of my friends reminded me this morning) It generally involves craft projects, new recipes, or quilts. . . Sometimes they are projects on a larger scale.

Unfortunately, I'm deep in the middle of one of these situations right now, and I am SO regretting the decision I made to be involved in the first place. The following thoughts swirled around in my head last night as I stayed awake in a highly aggitated state for most of the night:

"WHAT WAS I THINKING?"

"No amount of money is worth what this is doing to me. . ."

"Is there any way out now?"

"WHY is this so hard?!"

"am I really THIS bad at this?"

etc. . .

Mostly, I've learned that there are certain, already stressful, projects you (or at least I) should never take on whilst pregnant. Never Ever EVER again.

Someone better hold me to that. . . in case pregnancy amnesia applies to this too.

Proud

I'm awfully darn proud of myself today, it's true.

Did I do something amazing at work? SOlve a problem the whole company has been dealing with for 4 years?

No.

What I DID do, is pack a lunch. I know, I know, that's not such a big deal to most of you. To me, though, it's huge! Factor in 2 things. . . .

#1-- I hate morning generally. Most especially pregnant mornings. The people who get to stop being sick ntirely by week 14. . . not my best friends. Mornings are hard. I'm tired, I'm nauseous, and I do NOT want to be up. I especially don't want to be making a sandwich at 8am.

#2-- I don't mind fast food. I eat a lot of it, frankly. I eat out about 2 meals a day at the moment, what with a show going on. . . And I really like a good hamburger. I don't eat at the same place every day. I throw in some variety. But I can get by on fast food just fine.

But we went shopping yesterday, and we bought sandwich stuff. And I miss too much work because I can't get up in the morning. And I am REALLY trying to stop wasting money by eating out so much. . .

Therefore, today I made my lunch, and I packed my insulated lunch bag, and I ate at my desk.

And I'm pretty proud of myself for that.

Who's It Going to Be?

My money is on Jordin. (not literally, calm down)

I like Blake, don't get me wrong. He was the best guy by far. But I think she's going to be the it girl.

I can't watch tonight (stupid rehearsal), but I'm going to log on to the internet pronto upon coming home and find out who it is. . .

Pink or Blue?

I don't know the gender of the little one in my belly yet. . . and it's kind of driving me nuts. There is so much I want to do to get ready, and I can't do a darn thing. . . It's a little stupid because, realistically, I don't have a single free second to do any of said getting ready.

Ragtime is taking up every available minute, and a few of those that aren't so available, to even BEGIN to stay on top of things. We open in 17 days, and we haven't totally finished blocking. I'm pretty freaked out. I'm sure it will be yet another of those magical theatre moments where everything comes together in the end. . . but still. So, really, I should ignore the growing child and his/her future bedroom for a few weeks. I should just put it out of my head until I actually have some time to deal with it. . . We'll see how I do with that.

Anyone care to venture a guess on the sex in the mean time?

Baby Names

In the quest for baby names, we don't want to pick the same name as every other kid born this year. . .

This is one of the coolest baby name websites I have seen.


You have to come up with your own names, but it tells you how popular it's been through the years. I love this idea, since we want to use family names, but we want to see how common they are. . .

We May Not Have In & Out. . .

But now we have something that comes close. . .

There's a new burger joint in American Fork. Driving past as it was being built I commented to Nick that it was called "Cheddars" & "what is it? A cheese restaurant?". He countered that it was, in fact, called "Chubbies".

This story only serves to prove that Chadders (as it is actually called) chose a really tricky font for it's logo.

Nick THEN told me that it was "just like In & Out". Yeah right. That's what Lucky Buns said once too. Lucky Buns was no In & Out. Which is why it is now out of business. . .

Chadders, on the other hand, is as close as I've ever come to eating In & Out without actually eating In & Out. It's awesome.

The place has only been open a week or so and the lines were already ridiculous, so I'm a little wary of telling everyone about it. . . but I have to share. . .

The following is a list of the things I already love about the place, having only been there once:

#1-- good ice. The little kind that I LOVE.

#2-- COKE!!!

#3-- grilled buns. just like In & Out does it.

#4-- fry sauce. This is the one thing absolutely Utah about this place, and if there was anything that could be improved upon in the In & Out model, this was it.

Hooray for Chadders!!

Maternity Clothing

I bought 2 pair of maternity pants, jeans and khackis, months ago, when a few things were still fitting, but the elastic waist just felt SO much better. . .

I basically alternate these 2 pair of pants and the white skirt I bought for Susan's wedding throughout the week. I have 2 or 3 shirts I can wear with said pants/skirt that don't cling to my ever growing belly and make people say "wow! You ARE pregnant". I need more clothes. But I don't want to spend a fortune on them either.

Also, walking into Motherhood gives me hives. I'm not sure why. . . probably because the time I tried I was with Ben and we had already been at the mall for a while. He was being very patient, but I was sure he was ready to be done, so I didn't feel like picking through the mounds of stuff with him in tow. I'm really not good at that, in general, picking through stuff to find clothes. I shop at places like the gap because they hang all of the same skirt on the same rack. All of the same pants are piled together. Once you find your pile, you only have to dig for your size. It's all laid out in front of you so you don't have to sift. . . I'm awful at the sifting.

As far as I can tell, maternity clothes shopping is all about sifting. . .

What's a girl to do?

WHY can't Anne Taylor make maternity clothes? WHY?! And how do you feel about online maternity shopping?

Anyone with experience that could shed some light on this would be much appreciated.

Potato Potato

I admit it. . . though it is invisible, I have a stat counter embedded into this blog. It allows me to see where the random visitors to my site reside, and often provides a very entertaining look into how people search Google. Today, for instance. One of the visitors to my blog came to me by way of the following search:

where mashed potatoes come from

Honestly. . . there are people out there that don't know that mashed potatoes come from whole potatoes, grown in the dirt, most likely in Idaho or somewhere thereabouts. . .? REALLY? You needed to do a search for that? (please don't be offended if you end up here again in your continuing search for answers to this eternal question)

In case you are interested, this is what google comes up with in answer to that search, including a link to my entry about fake mashed potatoes from KFC. Which, coincidentally, I ate for lunch today.

Studio 60 is Officially Cancelled

NBC announced their fall lineup today. Studio 60 isn't on it. But stupid Friday Night Lights is. . . There is no justice.

I'm going to go cry in a corner somewhere now . . .

Mother's Day Weekend

Truthfully, this weekend was crazy. We had a long long list of things to do and places to go, and I was a little afraid I would end the weekend a ridiculously tired lump. Which I sort of did. . . but it was still a lot of fun. Once we had finished a Saturday of rehearsal and a housing activity (which involved a lot of water), we made our way up North to a weekend with the fam.

Just a few moments from the weekend of family time. . .

The newly engaged Jeremy & Emily

Wee baby Aubrey hangin' with mom at dinner

And the post dinner nap

There was much more of course. Ben and the avacado baby got me a wonderful mother's day gift of a darling diaper bag (that I can't find a picture of online to save my life) and some yummy smelling lotion to add to my stash and help fight off stretch marks. Woo Hoo!

Wednesday Morning Conversation

Co-worker: (leaning over my cubicle wall) How attached are you to that poster?

Me: Why?

Co-worker: Can I have it?

Me: (glaring incredulously) Um. . . why?!

Co-worker: Because I want it. . .

Me: Fine, whatever

(said co-worker removes the poster from my cubicle wall and walks away)

--------------------------

What I was really thinking: How old are you? 3? You can have the poster if it means this conversation will END!

Pregnancy Sucks

There is a part of me that's nervous about the idea of my blog going all "Mommy". It's not that I think anyone will stop reading it, because, frankly, very few people do anyway. I just don't want to be one of those people who can ONLY talk about her baby. It's really not the only thing going on in my life right now (though a lot of the time I wish it was. . . I need a nap). BUT, it IS going on in my life. . . so sometimes I'm just going to have to go there.

Pregnancy has been relatively easy on me. But that doesn't mean I like it. (I say this with no ill will toward my unborn child who has absolutely no control over how he or she must come into this world, of course)

I think I can safely say, with no hesitation whatsoever, that pregnancy sucks. BIG TIME. I've only thrown up once during this whole "morning sickness" dance, and I still hate it. I know there are women out there who love it. I hate all of you too. . . sorry. You make the rest of us feel guilt over NOT liking to be pregnant.

I am starting to feel better, really. The nausea is subsiding. The lower back/leg pain is replacing it, however. And it is this point that makes me question a lot of my decisions up to this point.

I am a pill popper. Always have been. Everything from Advil to migraine prescriptions to Lortab are on my list of go-to cures when I hurt. I have always lived by the principle, if I can fix it fast by taking something, why not? I'm careful not to overdo any of them. I only take Lortab on the really really bad back days. And it's not as if I take something EVERY day. But I'm certainly not afraid to self-medicate either. I am recently questioning that choice. Because now. . . now I'm stuck with tylenol. Tylenol does absolutely nothing for me. If I was one of those people that treated my ailments more "naturally", I'd probably be a bit less grumpy these days. . . Maybe I'll have to look into that idea after this is all over with. . . And I've had my full strength epidural to deliver this child.



This is what the wee one looks like this week. It's the size of a large lemon, and now likes to squirm like nobody's business just to remind me he/she is there. As I said yesterday. . . a bizarre feeling.

You Know What's Bizarre?

Feeling a tiny little person doing back flips in your belly. . .

BIZARRE!

Houston

YES, we've been back for 3 days.

YES, I took a couple of pictures, though woefully few considering the opportunities I missed. I'll have to beg Robb for his shots :)

& NO, I have not managed to remember to bring my car reader to work to download said pictures. Once upon a time I left my camera at a party and my cable disappeared. Now I have to remember the card reader.

BUT, I will tell you all about the wedding. I'm going to do it in the form of lists, though, just for fun.

3 things we learned:
1- There is way too much pavement there. There are several options every single time you try to go anywhere, like onto the freeway. . .
2- Google maps is useless. They told us to go 3 exits too far, and then back track through a neighborhood to get to the temple, when we could have just gotten off earlier and been right there. Luckily Mormons are, by nature, late, so they planned ahead for lateness and we still made it.
3- Flying with "morning sickness" is UN FUN.

People we saw that we have always loved and don't see NEARLY often enough:
1- Susan pants the beautiful gorgeous bride and her awesome new hubby Andrew.
2- Robb and Michelle Gibbs, who hung out with us all day and introduced us to Pappasitos Mexican food.
3- Jeremy and Cindy Selim, who are some of our favorites from the BYU days. Cindy is pregnant with baby #3! How crazy is that?
4- Shane and Alexa Ballis (sp?). . . I didn't even realize we missed them, OR that they lived in TX, until we got there, but we had so much fun with them. They have 3 darling kids, the youngest of which, Lucy, I wanted to bring straight home with us. AND, they introduced us to Connies Frozen Custard. YUM.
5- Bonnie & Jason Stevens. We do see them in Utah occasionally, but we got to have delicious crepes for brunch in their darling house, and it was the perfect Sunday morning.

Hooray for fabulous trips to play with fabulous friends. Even if it was a short trip, it was awesome. And totally worth it.