A Good Read

After innumerable hours wasted in government offices trying to change my name a few months ago and who knows how many doctor's appointments where I skimmed aimlessly through the lastest issues of Parenting or People for 45 minutes only to spend 15 minutes of face-to-face time with my doctor, it FINALLY occurred to me that I should bring something to read when I know I'll have time to kill.

When I was younger I LOVED to read. Maybe it was the onset of high school and the sudden need to analyze every bit of literature that fell into my lap that killed that enthusiasm. Regardless, I had some time to kill yesterday, so I picked out a copy of J.D. Salinger's Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters from our bookshelf in preparation for my lengthy wait.

I can't tell you the last time I read a novel (or novella, as the case may be). Since college (it's been nearly 5 years now), I've started to read only a handful. And I've only finished 2, maybe 3 that I can recall. Yesterday, I managed to start and finish the story (mind you, it's less than 100 pages long). Nonetheless, there's quite the sense of accomplishment having read something from start to finish. I've decided that I would like to start reading for leisure more frequently. Appropriately enough, now is probably a good time to picking up just such a hobby. I'm not sure how much "downtime" I'll have as a new mother, but something tells me that there are bound to opportunities for me to read.

If anyone has any recommendations for a good book, I'm open to suggestions!

Idoling

Season 5 of American Idol started last week. Sometimes I forget how much a LOVE LOVE LOVE this show. Last night was the Greensboro episode. It's funny, but I hardly remembered that they held auditions in Greensboro, and it's only like an hour away. Besides that, Greensboro is such an odd location for them to visit. I guess it's central to the state of NC, but Charlotte or Raleigh would have seemed like a more metropolitan choice.

Regardless, there's definitely some talent in and around NC. All of my favorites thus far have come from the Greensboro auditions. I gotta admit, I think Kellie Pickler is a doll, though I think she may be a little bit TOO much like Carrie Underwood. I was also disappointed to find out she's not quite as "small-towny" as the show portrayed her to be. The girl's already competed in Gimme the Mike (a local equivalent to American Idol) and the 2004 Miss North Carolina pageant. Still, she's got a great voice, and I'm looking forward to hearing her sing again.

I also really liked the "babies mama" Kendra Winston and Paris Bennett. Of course, I hate this part of the show because there's no way they can showcase ALL the talent, and when it comes to Hollywood week people don't seem quite as talented as they did in the auditions or some really amazing talent starts to shine through. Basically, it's still anybody's guess as to who will make it to becoming the next American Idol.

And Counting ...

As of today, I officially have just 20 days until my due date. It's a little surreal being that close to the finish. At my doctor's appointment last week, my doctor made a comment about me being full-term and mentioned that if I was to go into labor they wouldn't stop me. Now, I know full well that there's a greater possibility that I will go at least 3 weeks before the baby arrives, but at this point the anticipation is KILLING me!

For the most part, we're ready for the baby. My mom hosted a shower last weekend. It was a blast! I'm so thankful for everyone who was able to be there or thought os us and sent gifts. We got so much great stuff. We were able to finish off the baby's room and seem to have all the essentials.

I got few cute pics of the shower today from my cousin Joanna:

This is a hat my mom's "crafty" friend Pam made for me.

Anna with this FANTASTIC bear Olivia and Mackenzie brought back for the baby from NYC

Too Much Mail?

I get probably 2-3 preapproved credit card offers a day. I suppose it's a good indicator that I have good credit, but I honestly have all the credit cards I really need. Today I noticed the OPT-OUT notification. By phoning 888-5OPTOUT (888-567-8688), you can remove yourself from the mailing lists that generate these pre-screened offers.

I called today. The process is totally automated, and relatively simple. I just had to verify contact information such as my phone number, mailing address, last name, social and birthdate. The phone call is fully automated. You actually CANNOT speak to a live person through that particular line. The technology seems pretty cool. You spell your name over the phone, and it recognizes really well what you've just said.

I did a little research, and found that you can accomplish the same thing through the following website: www.optoutprescreen.com.

DVR and the Future of Commercials

So, we're watching Las Vegas last night, recorded on DVR of course because ever since I first experienced this fantastic new technology, I absolutely DETEST watching live TV. At any rate, there's a part in the show where these three guys get kicked out of the casino for being overly zealous snowboarding fans. They leave the hotel and proceed, strangely enough, to the Winter Olympics.

Right from the start, it all seemed a little odd, but we watched. The "show" suddenly took on many of the characteristics of a commercial, but we continued to watch. We ended up watching what may have been the longest commercial in the history of man. In the end, we were pretty impressed that these ad executives had devised a scheme to keep the ever-eager-to-skip-commercials members of the DVR generation to sit and WATCH an ENTIRE commercial!

It got us wondering if this will become a new standard, incorporating plots and characters from a show into commercials so that DVR users aren't quite sure if the show's ended and the commercials have begun.

Making Room for Baby

Bryan and I tackled another phase of decorating the baby's room over the weekend - we hung border paper. All in all, the task was relatively easy. Bryan did a great job of aligning and smoothing the paper. I, on the other hand, am an excellent paper holder. Now that the walls are more or less complete, we loaded some of the furniture into the room.

The paper is officially recognized as "Boy's Career Bear Border-Blue" available from the Completely Kids Collection of Village Wallpapers. We've affectionately nicknamed it "Bears with Jobs".


The crib was a contribution from my parents. Believe it or not, this is the same crib that was used by me and my two brothers. Why my parents held on to it for so long is beyond me, but it ended up being a really special addition to the room. I guess we can't wait too much longer before purchasing a mattress and some drib linens. After all, baby's due date is about a month away!

This dresser was Bryan's as a kid. We've already talked about the likelihood of our little boy using this dresser as a ladder at some point. Bryan assures me that he already tried it, and the dresser is sturdy enough that it never fell on him as a kid. Ah, the joys of having a baby boy!

The bear was a gift from my mom. Ralph Lauren's Polo Bear was our original "inspiration" for the room - fitting considering what a Polo fanatic Bryan is.

I'm A Healthy Mom

One of my Christmas presents from Bryan (probably my favorite) was a membership to HealthyMoms. HealthyMoms is a fitness program geared towards pregnant and postpartum women. Having been fairly lethargic throughout my pregnancy, I was starting to get worried about the physical demands of labor and childbirth. I wanted to do something to get my body in shape for the big day, and HealthyMoms Total Body Conditioning class seemed like a good option.

My first class was last night. It was a BLAST! The workout was pretty simple - moderate aerobics followed by some arm toning using resistance bands. To be honest, I could probably get the same workout at home or in the gym, but the greatest advantage of HealthyMoms is the environment. The class had about 20 women, all in different stages of their pregnancies.

As opposed to a regular gym aerobics class, there's no pressure in this class if you can't keep up, and because everyone's in roughly the same boat, they all seem to understand if you opt for a lower impact workout. Not to mention the opportunity to talk to other pregnant women about their experiences.

I left the class feeling really energized and enthused. With just 40 days to go, that's definitely not a bad way to be feeling!

Car Shopping & Acorn Dropping

Well, 2006 has officially begun! Bryan and I spent our New Year's Eve Day car shopping. His Mazda 626 had its own little "year end blowout" and we figure it was time to start looking for something to replace the thing before we wasted anymore money keeping it running.

We scoured the greater Triangle area looking at more reliable models like Accords and Camrys. We test drove a few, but none felt just right. By the late afternoon, we were both tired and worn out. We decided to take a chance and stop by CarMax since their selection is better than most used car dealers, or so we figured, but they had nothing.

Heading down the road, we passed a Lexus GS 300 with a For Sale sign in the window. Bryan gawked and immediately tried to find a place to turn around. I was certain the car would be well out of our budget, but figured it couldn't hurt to look at the car.

The car was beautiful. It was a 1999 model, but in pristine condition. Without knowing the year, we might have thought it was brand new. More excitingly, it was within our budget!

This afternoon, we met with the seller to test drive the car and inspect it a little further. We are happy to report that we are now the owners of this beautiful, high-performance sedan (nearly). We have to finalize some of the paperwork later this week, but everything should go smoothly.

I was looking online for a picture of the car, and this is the closest I could find. The main difference is that the interior of Bryan's car is tan, not black.

Back to New Year's Eve. Once we'd worn ourselves out looking at cars, we headed downtown for a preview of Raleigh's First Night. It's a New Year's Eve celebration aimed primarily at families. We arrived just in time to see the children's 7PM New Year's countdown. It's essentially an early (re)enactment of the midnight festivities. The City of Raleigh has this giant acorn that they suspend from a crane and drop every New Year. The acorn countdown was followed up by some fireworks.

After the kids' countdown, we opted to skip out on the remainder of the First Night activities and went for dinner at The Bamboo Club. It's this Asian Bistro in North Raleigh. I ordered the Sizzled Red Snapper, which was served to me with an in tact fish carcass for display. It was somewhat of a surprise, but overall the dish was delicious. We headed home not much after 9:30PM and opted to watch Dick Clark and Ryan Seacrest from bed. We were both asleep well before midnight.

Sadly enough, I think this is the first year of those I'm able to remember that I wasn't up at the stroke of midnight, but I just didn't have it in me this year. All in all though, our year's off to an excellent start.