There are two announcements I always feel awkward about. They're important enough that you feel obligated to make them but there is no way to finesse the conversation towards the topic. Those two announcements are 1. being pregnant and 2. moving. Especially if there is no anticipating either event. In better news, I'm not pregnant. (I cannot handle another surprise on that front). In worse news, we're moving. Seriously. In less than a week we decided we were moving two weeks from then. A week from Sunday, to be precise. I have so many mixed emotions. I absolutely do not want to leave where we live now. It is my ideal location in every way except cost. To offset this disappointment, I started making a list of things I will be happy for in Texas. It looks like this:
1. Family (this really occupies several bullet points, but I'll spare you. One of those includes my sisters and home videos that have yet to be made. Even though I'm 26, I can still party.)
1b. QT!!!!!!!!!
2. One-Stop grocery shopping
3. A Wal-Mart that is open 24 hours and actually lower prices (even though I rarely went before I came here, I feel my joy at these two things may lead me to frequenting Wal-Mart post-move)
4. Super Target. 5 minutes from anywhere
5. Hot Tubs
6. Hot Summers
7. Humidity=curlier hair (not really a plus because when I say curly, I mean frizzy) and clearer skin (my skin loves Texas)
I don't even want to get in to things I will miss about living here. The list is far too long and I am trying to avoid tears. I think if I can get through the move without tears, they may never come.
So, that's my list. and this blogpost is my answer to the awkward announcement. If you can think of another awkward announcement or more positives to my Texas moves, feel free to share. If you can only think of things I will miss, keep those to yourself--my list is far too long as it is.
Now, on to packing. I haven't packed a thing and we move in T-minus 10 days. Ugh.
Showing posts with label shock and awe. Show all posts
Showing posts with label shock and awe. Show all posts
17.10.12
19.9.11
Day 27 & 28
Day 27:
SATURDAY! Saturday is my favorite day of the week because it is the day when Boyf is home and we have no obligations. Well, this Saturday I had the obligation of Charlie Brown, but that aside... SO, we decided to go on a hike. Not a horribly strenuous hike, but this particular hike called "The Dish". It is over by Stanford campus and the entire thing is paved, so it really shouldn't have been such a big deal.
Well, I guess I forgot that I'm 6 months pregnant. Even though I've been exercising, I haven't been tromping 5 miles on paved hillsides, and let's be honest: I'm not quite as pleasant when I am uncomfortable these days. Let's also be honest: baby does not like 5 mile hikes. It felt great, don't get me wrong. I was glad we went. But at the end, I definitely felt like I was going to herniate if I didn't sit down. David was all about going to the gym after the hike, but I was DONE. So we went to Costco instead. In hindsight, I should have gotten a slice of cheese pizza at Costco....
The rest of the day was cleaning, resting my body from the hike, and reading. I know, I should have taken pictures while we were hiking the dish, but I was too busy complaining in my head to remember. Actually, I lie. I remembered once when we saw a couple taking pictures. You see, The Dish is so named for the large Satellite Dish that sits on top of the hill. The paved path sort of makes this big oval around this hilly area, and at the highlight of it is a Satellite Dish. There was a couple taking pictures there. With the Satellite Dish in the background. I remembered at that point that I was going to take a couple of pictures of our nature walk, but after seeing that couple wanted to forget the pictures as soon as possible. David and I were laughing to ourselves and he commented that "they must be engineers." I guess we aren't really the picture hoarding types...
Day 28:
SUNDAY. We have a lot more in the way of obligations on Sunday. Church, lunch at the Taylor's house, Charlie Brown, being sick.
The Taylors are an older couple in our ward and they had a few younger couples over for lunch yesterday. They have 9 kids who are all grown and they are quite social, so I would not be surprised if they do this frequently. One of the couples who was there had a baby only a week-and-half old. They started talking about all of these horror stories having to do with labor and delivery... I think that's the worst part of being pregnant. Everyone wants to give you advice (fine) but they also want to tell you the worst stories they've ever heard about women giving birth and then say "but there's no way that will happen to you, so don't stress!" I have always had a fear about giving birth. I'm not afraid to hold a baby or take care of them--I actually think I know enough to not have to call someone every day and ask questions or be too paranoid--but physically giving birth? NO THANK YOU. I would happily bypass that step. Since I got pregnant as a complete surprise to all parties involved, I have decided to just forget the birthing process entirely. That way, I don't have to freak myself out about it beforehand and when its happening, there's nothing I can do about it so I won't freak out. This may not sound logical to you, but I know myself. This will work. So having to confront horror stories is mildly terrifying. When they also say the token "hope I haven't freaked you out too much!" I always say "no more than I already was" and everyone laughs. Next time I'm going to say what I am really thinking: "Of COURSE you freaked me out! I've NEVER DONE THIS BEFORE. And I HATE NEEDLES."
SATURDAY! Saturday is my favorite day of the week because it is the day when Boyf is home and we have no obligations. Well, this Saturday I had the obligation of Charlie Brown, but that aside... SO, we decided to go on a hike. Not a horribly strenuous hike, but this particular hike called "The Dish". It is over by Stanford campus and the entire thing is paved, so it really shouldn't have been such a big deal.
Well, I guess I forgot that I'm 6 months pregnant. Even though I've been exercising, I haven't been tromping 5 miles on paved hillsides, and let's be honest: I'm not quite as pleasant when I am uncomfortable these days. Let's also be honest: baby does not like 5 mile hikes. It felt great, don't get me wrong. I was glad we went. But at the end, I definitely felt like I was going to herniate if I didn't sit down. David was all about going to the gym after the hike, but I was DONE. So we went to Costco instead. In hindsight, I should have gotten a slice of cheese pizza at Costco....
The rest of the day was cleaning, resting my body from the hike, and reading. I know, I should have taken pictures while we were hiking the dish, but I was too busy complaining in my head to remember. Actually, I lie. I remembered once when we saw a couple taking pictures. You see, The Dish is so named for the large Satellite Dish that sits on top of the hill. The paved path sort of makes this big oval around this hilly area, and at the highlight of it is a Satellite Dish. There was a couple taking pictures there. With the Satellite Dish in the background. I remembered at that point that I was going to take a couple of pictures of our nature walk, but after seeing that couple wanted to forget the pictures as soon as possible. David and I were laughing to ourselves and he commented that "they must be engineers." I guess we aren't really the picture hoarding types...
Day 28:
SUNDAY. We have a lot more in the way of obligations on Sunday. Church, lunch at the Taylor's house, Charlie Brown, being sick.
The Taylors are an older couple in our ward and they had a few younger couples over for lunch yesterday. They have 9 kids who are all grown and they are quite social, so I would not be surprised if they do this frequently. One of the couples who was there had a baby only a week-and-half old. They started talking about all of these horror stories having to do with labor and delivery... I think that's the worst part of being pregnant. Everyone wants to give you advice (fine) but they also want to tell you the worst stories they've ever heard about women giving birth and then say "but there's no way that will happen to you, so don't stress!" I have always had a fear about giving birth. I'm not afraid to hold a baby or take care of them--I actually think I know enough to not have to call someone every day and ask questions or be too paranoid--but physically giving birth? NO THANK YOU. I would happily bypass that step. Since I got pregnant as a complete surprise to all parties involved, I have decided to just forget the birthing process entirely. That way, I don't have to freak myself out about it beforehand and when its happening, there's nothing I can do about it so I won't freak out. This may not sound logical to you, but I know myself. This will work. So having to confront horror stories is mildly terrifying. When they also say the token "hope I haven't freaked you out too much!" I always say "no more than I already was" and everyone laughs. Next time I'm going to say what I am really thinking: "Of COURSE you freaked me out! I've NEVER DONE THIS BEFORE. And I HATE NEEDLES."
7.9.11
Day #17
So maybe I missed 6 days.
Nobody was counting anyway.
Training is over and Boyf finally works a mere 20-minute bike ride from our home! I say bike ride because Boyf (David) takes his fancy bike (see THIS post about how I am an awesome wife and got him said bicycle) to work since we only have one car and sometimes pregnant people need cars to get places. That being said, I have now started my short run at the Palo Alto Children's theatre with "You're a Good Man Charlie Brown" and the hours have changed to a later time, so I leave right before he gets home and get home when he is ready to go to bed. It wouldn't be that big of a deal if he didn't like to go to bed at 8:30, but we can't all be nocturnal. Also, we don't all wake up at 5am to train for marathons.
While he has been slaving away, I have also been slaving away. I have been practicing so I can play an entire orchestra score with two hands at a piano at lightning speeds (if you don't believe me, listen to THIS) while trying not to laugh as the strange neighbor boy from downstairs lurks past our window. He seems to be very curious about all of the noise I make on the piano and as intelligent and horrifically nerdy as he may seem, he has failed to notice that even though our piano does not face the window, it has a high-gloss finish and basically acts as a mirror, so I see him clearly every time he walks by. I cannot blame him. I am an interesting creature. I am also curious and admittedly have eavesdropped on his conversations more than once as they wafted up to my bedroom window. He seems to really enjoy math. Almost every conversation I've heard him have has been about math. Except for the one where he thought it would be a great idea to tie a small kiddie pool onto a skateboard, put their cat in it, then drag it behind their car....
In other news, I must also admit that today I got a pizza for lunch. It was a medium pizza from Papa John's. My favorite. There are only two pieces left. So much for going to the gym this morning...and yesterday morning...and tomorrow morning. My mom told me several times about when she was pregnant with me and ate a lot of pizza in one day. She never quantified "a lot" but I will no longer think it is a lot until she admits that she ate almost two pizzas.
Tomorrow morning I have an appointment at the DMV. This is when I give in to all that is evil. I will register my car in California and I will get a California Driver's License. I don't feel that confident about giving up my Texas license and if they try to make me cut it up or something, I will shed tears. So many tears.
Well, I should have split that up into more than one blog post and made it seem like I had a lot of really exciting things to say, but I'm not so proactive that I am going to backdate any blog posts or copy and paste this one into multiple others, so this will have to do for now.
Nobody was counting anyway.
Training is over and Boyf finally works a mere 20-minute bike ride from our home! I say bike ride because Boyf (David) takes his fancy bike (see THIS post about how I am an awesome wife and got him said bicycle) to work since we only have one car and sometimes pregnant people need cars to get places. That being said, I have now started my short run at the Palo Alto Children's theatre with "You're a Good Man Charlie Brown" and the hours have changed to a later time, so I leave right before he gets home and get home when he is ready to go to bed. It wouldn't be that big of a deal if he didn't like to go to bed at 8:30, but we can't all be nocturnal. Also, we don't all wake up at 5am to train for marathons.
While he has been slaving away, I have also been slaving away. I have been practicing so I can play an entire orchestra score with two hands at a piano at lightning speeds (if you don't believe me, listen to THIS) while trying not to laugh as the strange neighbor boy from downstairs lurks past our window. He seems to be very curious about all of the noise I make on the piano and as intelligent and horrifically nerdy as he may seem, he has failed to notice that even though our piano does not face the window, it has a high-gloss finish and basically acts as a mirror, so I see him clearly every time he walks by. I cannot blame him. I am an interesting creature. I am also curious and admittedly have eavesdropped on his conversations more than once as they wafted up to my bedroom window. He seems to really enjoy math. Almost every conversation I've heard him have has been about math. Except for the one where he thought it would be a great idea to tie a small kiddie pool onto a skateboard, put their cat in it, then drag it behind their car....
In other news, I must also admit that today I got a pizza for lunch. It was a medium pizza from Papa John's. My favorite. There are only two pieces left. So much for going to the gym this morning...and yesterday morning...and tomorrow morning. My mom told me several times about when she was pregnant with me and ate a lot of pizza in one day. She never quantified "a lot" but I will no longer think it is a lot until she admits that she ate almost two pizzas.
Tomorrow morning I have an appointment at the DMV. This is when I give in to all that is evil. I will register my car in California and I will get a California Driver's License. I don't feel that confident about giving up my Texas license and if they try to make me cut it up or something, I will shed tears. So many tears.
Well, I should have split that up into more than one blog post and made it seem like I had a lot of really exciting things to say, but I'm not so proactive that I am going to backdate any blog posts or copy and paste this one into multiple others, so this will have to do for now.
26.8.11
Day #5
Day #5 was a good day with a crazy morning. To spare you the details, let's just say it took me lot longer to get around than I anticipated, and the used bookstore stop was a bust. I found out that they only buy books back from noon-530 Tues, Wed, and Sat. FAIL.
Once I got into the city, however, things started looking WAY, WAY up. Even though my tour was canceled, I was able to take a long walk to Pier 39. Along the way, I acquainted myself with Piers 1-38. Honestly, Pier 1 is pretty good, and there are a few restaurants to consider, but nothing really happens at the other piers. That is why Pier 39 is such a big deal. That and the Boudin Bread Factory. BEST SOURDOUGH BREAD EVER. Since we left here when I was just the ripe age of 6, I've remembered that name with fondness. So yesterday, I bought an entire loaf. and ate half of it myself. Also, Pier 39 is great because of this:
Who doesn't like barrels of Salt Water Taffy in any flavor you can imagine? Mix and Match, it's all the same price per pound. Now, there are many other things to do on Pier 39, but I always just hit up the Boudin Bread and the Salt Water Taffy. The rest is just tourist stuff. Then, I go check out the seals. I was, in fact, lucky. No mating seal hiding yesterday. They were bathing in the sun. I snatched this nice picture from my lookout point on the balcony above. That's what happens when you're pregnant and have to use every public bathroom you can find. (I hate public bathrooms, but there is not getting around them anymore--and I am never afraid to ask.)
I did, however, begin reading One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest while waiting for David to get out of training. I'm pretty excited because that also means that I have begun my challenge to read 26 books in the next year--one beginning with each letter of the alphabet! If you care, I'll keep you updated. If you don't, just skip those parts.
AND David got off at 4:30 instead of 6! That was a happy surprise, which meant we could wander the city together. We stopped at Embarcadero Center and were fortunate enough to see a large group of bikers rallied to the southwest of this fountain:
I would have snapped a picture of the bikers, but conveniently, many of them were in the nude. Well, not COMPLETELY nude, but nude enough to only have one part scantily covered. It was rather scandalous and humorous at the same time, but all I could wonder was "wouldn't that hurt when you were riding your bike?" Apparently they get together on the last Friday of every month in some city around the world and a bunch of people ride together. It's called "Critical Mass" and the first one was in September of 1992 in, you guessed it, San Francisco! So LUCKY FOR US (!!!!!) there will be a week-long festival of bike riding shenanigans next September to celebrate their 20th anniversary. I can't wait! In case you're curious you can check them out HERE.
After the nudists on bicycles, we didn't feel much like doing anything but wandering, so we wandered a bit more, thought about going to a movie but didn't find one we cared to see, and came home. It was a great day in a great city. Who knew you could need a scarf in August? Not a transplanted Texan, that's for certain.
Once I got into the city, however, things started looking WAY, WAY up. Even though my tour was canceled, I was able to take a long walk to Pier 39. Along the way, I acquainted myself with Piers 1-38. Honestly, Pier 1 is pretty good, and there are a few restaurants to consider, but nothing really happens at the other piers. That is why Pier 39 is such a big deal. That and the Boudin Bread Factory. BEST SOURDOUGH BREAD EVER. Since we left here when I was just the ripe age of 6, I've remembered that name with fondness. So yesterday, I bought an entire loaf. and ate half of it myself. Also, Pier 39 is great because of this:
I also tried to capture a picture of myself with my iphone, but in my attempt to avoid blatantly "myspacing" it, I failed miserably. The only result was a picture of my double chin.
AND David got off at 4:30 instead of 6! That was a happy surprise, which meant we could wander the city together. We stopped at Embarcadero Center and were fortunate enough to see a large group of bikers rallied to the southwest of this fountain:
After the nudists on bicycles, we didn't feel much like doing anything but wandering, so we wandered a bit more, thought about going to a movie but didn't find one we cared to see, and came home. It was a great day in a great city. Who knew you could need a scarf in August? Not a transplanted Texan, that's for certain.
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