It's a Girl !

Last Friday, I went into Manhattan to be tortured by the one of the nation's premier OB/GYNs, which I wrote about here.

Well, the FISH results came back and baby is absolutely healthy and has all of the right chromosomes in all of the right combinations! Dr. Saltzman (of Carnegie Hill Imaging and who is not, in reality, a sadist but is, in actuality, the nicest and one of the most highly experienced CVS doctor performing that procedure in the country and who was so sweet to me during the torture and when he called personally to deliver the results) is, however, probably is a bit deaf now from my whoops of delight - particularly the one I let out when he said that my baby is a little girl!

I can't believe I am having a girl. People have been asking me which gender I preferred and honestly, I used to think it was a bunch of bullshit when people would say "I don't care, as long as it's healthy" but honestly, that's exactly how I felt. There was, of course, a part of me that wanted to little girl to dress in vintage Laura Ashley patterns but there was an equal sized part of me that wanted a little boy who would hold hands with his father on the way to the ball field and eventually become a short stop for the Mets.

And after I whooped in delight at the thought of hair ribbons and Sweet Sixteens, I felt guilty that it wasn't a boy to carry on his father's name. But as much as I know my husband would be an awesome dad to a little boy, I know that he'll get so much out of having a pink frocked darling who will always be her daddy's little girl.

And I know that she'll only be mine until puberty and then she'll hate my guts and wear a permanent pout and roll her eyes at me so often I'll cry myself to sleep.

But she'll love her daddy - that I know. My Matty is easily charmed by the right women and I know that Bebe LaPointe will work wonders on him. He'll benefit from constant devotion and love while I'll be without an appetite for her entire teen years.

And that makes me pretty happy because there's nothing I want more in the world than my Matty's happiness.

I went and bought a teensy, tiny pair of pink Converse All Stars and wrapped them up for Matt to open when he got home from work. His thing throughout this pregnancy has been sneakers - he can't wait to buy the baby all sorts of sneakers and so I wanted to show him that little girls can wear cute sneaks too.

Needless to say, he was thrilled when he saw the pink, if perhaps a little disappointed, but he quickly rebounded after I told him that yes, he could buy her all of the Mets, Cowboys, Rangers, and Rutgers gear he wanted...

... as long as it's pink!

Another Scottish Wedding

In just one month, I'll be heading to the land I love the most with the one I love the most for the reason I love the most: a Scottish wedding!

This will be the third Scottish wedding I've attended in as many years - mine being the second - and it's that of another one of the Scottish Walking Girls. Well, really a Scottish girl who is a Walking Girl by association and one brief walk but part of the transcontinental circle of friends I'm fortunate enough to belong to.

Lynsey is from Tobermory, pictured above, which is a village on the Isle of Mull but is currently living in Switzerland where she met her husband-to-be, a true Swiss Prince Charming who swept her off of her feet and turned her life into a real fairy tale (I'm not kidding: they live in a picturesque lakeside cottage in the countryside and spend their free time hiking in the Alps, wine tasting with friends, traveling the globe, and doing it all so happily it kind of makes one want to hurl).

I'm so excited for this wedding, as it will be a real blend of cultures in a gorgeous Scottish setting. They're getting married in a real castle (I got married at a ruined one, which kicked ass, in my opinion) and have two pipe bands lined up to entertain the guests until the wee hours. There will be lots of drams and pints and hell, I may even have a glass or two of champagne...

I mean after all, I'm sure French women don't abstain and since my last name is undeniably French, well, who's to argue?

It's Summertime!

After 10 LONG months spent waiting for its arrival, summer has finally graced me with its presence.

Summer should have begun this past Thursday, the morning after my last day of school, however Thursday and Friday were spent driving all over NJ and trekking in and out of Manhattan visiting specialists via my doctors orders and thus not basking in the glories of summer vacay.

Have I mentioned that I'm pregnant? No? Oh yeah, that's right - I haven't been blogging for the past few months because I've been too nauseous/exhausted/hormonal/mentally tapped to do so.

My first trimester sucked the life out of me in a cruel and almost sadistic way but hey - I hear I get a baby out of it in the end and that it will all be worth it.... hmm - kind of hard to believe after the horrific transabdominal CVS I experienced Friday at 90th and Madison, but I'll take people's word for it.

The results of the FISH test come back today and after seeing the results of my Nuchal first hand, I must admit that I'm not worried: the fold measurement was 1.7, my hCG was normal, but my PAPP-A was below average - the cut off mark is .38 and mine was .32 - and that, combined with my age, put me in the "at risk" category. That damn PAPP-A is responsible for making me endure a needle plunging up and down into my abdomen for over a minute but hey, it's over now and if it affords me reassurance that I'm growing a healthy babe, well then so be it.

The consolation is that not only do I find out about my baby's health today, I also get to find out its gender! Needless to say, I am ridiculously excited but not as excited as I am to find out that my Bebe LaPointe is healthy!

Cross fingers!

On Board For Headboards!

Last weekend, I made a headboard so

I thought I would blog the process,

step by step, in case you're interested in 

making one of your own. It was pretty easy 

but that's because I probably didn't do the

best job I could have, but that's kinda how I roll.

I bought a piece of plywood at Home Depot and had them

cut it to size, all for around $20.  Make sure to use solid plywood,

and not a piece of the cheaper stuff that isn't as solid.

At first, I was at a loss in terms of fabric.  I wasn't sure what color to use until 

I discovered that Target still sold our bedroom curtains online, so I bought one.

Fortunately, the material is thick and coarse because thin material 

doesn't work as well; make sure to use a heavier fabric so it covers the board nicely.

Then came the tricky part for me: finding batting and foam to go under the material.

Now, this probably won't be an issue for most of you, because you can probably 

just hop in your car and drive to Jo-Ann's Fabric, or Walmart, etc. 

I, on the other hand, didn't want to a). drive to Paramus on a Saturday or 

b). lose my parking spot so I walked over to Target and improvised with this:

and this (a mattress pad)

Worked for me and only cost, once again, $20. 

Once I had gathered all of my materials, I got to work.

The first step was to measure and cut a piece of foam to fit the board.

 

Then it was time for the fun to begin: 

Can't Stop, Staple Time!

First, the foam:

    Then, I stapled the batting over the foam:

Then, it was time for the hard part: covering the foam and battened covered plywood with the material.  It may not be hard for you; the reason it was hard for me is because my material was extra long and I wanted to keep it that way since we currently have a queen size bed, but are looking to upgrade to a king.  In order to re-use the material, I had to fasten it to the board without cutting off the extra length.  That way, when we upgrade, I can "unpin"(unstaple) the material from the queen board and, since I didn't cut it to size, use it on the new king size board.  Make sense?  I hope.  Here's how it turned out:

Not bad, eh?

I'm pretty proud of myself.  We're going to hang it this weekend and when we do, I'll let you know how we did it.  I've researched it online and found several options.  The one I wanted to use required special hanging hooks that I tried but failed to track down.  Hell, we may just drill it straight into the studs!

To end, here are just a few tips that I didn't mention above:

1. When you measure for the size, take into consideration where you want it on the wall and now much of it you want showing.  Looking back, I wish I would have gone longer in the length so it would extend down below the mattress.  Instead, ours will appear to float on the wall above the mattress.  We have a lot of pillow, so it should work... we'll see.

2. Solid colored material is the easiest to work with because you don't have to worry about matching up patterns or maintaining straight lines as you pull it around the board.  My material is pretty busy but in a good way: it hides imperfections!  

Traveling With Pomegranates

Good morning, lovelies!

I am going to make this short (which rarely happens); I have so much to do this morning here at work that I must treat blogging as a forbidden luxury...

but, I wanted to share with you a book I'm currently reading, one that has cracked open a tiny fissure within me and appears to be filling it with hope.

Traveling With Pomegranates is co-written by the woman who wrote that bee book and her daughter. It's a memoir structured around their travels (to Greece and France) as each attempts to define herself individually as a woman while re-connecting as mother and daughter.

The mother/daughter part is, for me, secondary to the story Ann, the daughter, weaves about her struggle to find "what she is supposed to do" in this life. 

Which is what I am currently struggling with that on a daily basis. Plus, it reads as a travel journal and ya'll know I'm nothing if not a traveler.

Check it out, yo!

Spring Cure Continues

Good morning! 

I've been up and at it again, trying to get this place 

in order and figuring out where to hang these prints:

I put this one in the hallway - it's a photograph by 

Grumpy George, a photographer on Skye.  

The view is from the Ardvasar Hotel, 

where I've spent many a Friday night playing

pool and chatting up the local farmers.

I can't decide where to hang this one, 

which I bought years ago and absolutely adore:

Sorry these pics are so unclear; 
they barely do it a bit of justice!

There's another framed print, a retro travel poster of 

Quebec City, sitting against the wall of the bedroom; 

I'll find a home for it as soon as our two Pam Carters 

return from the framer and I decide where they will live.

I'm so excited because yesterday when 

we returned from dinner, a package was 

on our front door step: my curtain had arrived!

This curtain matches the ones hanging in 

our bedroom; however this one is not going 

to dress a window, it's going to dress our headboard!

What do you think?

I'm hoping to get started on the project today

but more likely, I'll start it on Saturday.

I took some more pics this morning; I apologize

for the quality but man, it's raining 

cats and dogs and frogs and bats today and 

it's dark and gloomy - not the best the lighting 

for taking After shots but oh well.

Before

After

Before

After

Ok, so only the first two shelves are organized 

but it's a start.  The bottom two shelves will get their turn

as soon as we buy four more place settings of our dishes.

Kitchen Update:

Choosing how to go about it has 

been a constant back and forth, wavering

between painting the existing cabinets or

buying new lower cabinets and putting up 

open shelving to, well, open up the space.

If our kitchen wasn't such a small, awkward size

and if we weren't sticking to such a tight budget,

I would have everything made custom here.

Instead, I'm spending hours trying to figure 

out how to make one miserable corner functional:

Seriously - the drawer can't open unless the oven 

door is down! And while that space measures

38" wide and 26" deep, all of its storage space hidden

behind that little door is inaccessible - talk about a cruel joke!

That's why whoever designed this kitchen 
wins my Asshole by Design award.

What was he thinking?
Ugh, that corner is such a bitch!
We could leave it as is but wouldn't that 
make us Assholes by ReDesign?
Um, no thank you.

On a brighter note, on Saturday afternoon I received a 

$15 gift certificate from Crate and Barrel, for being 

such a "good customer" of their 58th and Madison Avenue store

(you know, the store I window shopped once a few years ago).

By pure chance, we already had planned on being in 

the city the following day... conveniently on 57th and Sutton Place.

Although $15 is barely enough to sway Matty to go out of his way,

I managed to convince him (after a brunch-load of Bloody Marys 

made from the secret family recipe) to swing by and 

lo and behold, we finally used some of our 

wedding gift cards, in addition to the $15,

and bought these (and a few not pictured):

I love them.  

They make me ridiculously happy and will

look fabulous in our pantry... after we shell out the cash

to have it California Closeted (or bootlegged by a 

similar company), that is. I had such fun yesterday rummaging

around the kitchen in search of dry goods (note to self: buy

 more dry goods so four containers can be put to better 

uses than housing bags of tea we don't drink).

Spring Cure

Hi, remember me?

Well, I've been busy the past week trying to de-clutter and organize the house  so its ready for spring.  Even though I've carted crate loads of stuff down to the basement, it still seems like this place is overrun with stuff, stuff, stuff!  I'm trying hard to make it look the way I want to feel: calm, peaceful, and at home.

Although these changes may look minor, they took a major effort.  Here are some before and afters:

Before

To left of the desk was the filing cabinet; 

housed underneath were all of the desk related wires 

(computer, cable modem, printer, lamp, etc) .

After

I emptied the bookcase, put the books in storage, 

and utilized the bookcase to add structure to the hall closet.

I moved the filing cabinet to the other side of the desk, 

removed the silver pulls and added the material to soften it.

I reorganized the pictures on the wall, too.

After

Now, look closer.  This is what took the most time.

I HATE wires and didn't know how to hide them 

but then it came to me: 

Pretty clever, eh?  Nothing a girl and a sharp knife can't fix!

Oh, and then there was the issue of the printer.  

You can't see its former home in any of these pics 

but it used to rest to the left, to the left...

 of the filing cabinet, on the floor,

 directly next to the window.

It drove me CRAZY.

Since we don't print too terribly often,

I decided to go the same route as the wire storage:

Check it out, yo.  

Our printer now lives in the box under the wires.

I know this isn't as exciting as, let's say, 

pics of the kitchen renovation that we

have yet to begin (don't worry, our planning 

is progressing in leaps and bounds) but

it's a pretty big start for me!