Babymoon in Bodega Bay

We spent Saturday in Bodega Bay. We had never been there before and decided that it was still close enough in case anything happened with the pregnancy. We were a little sad leaving the city on Saturday - the weather was gorgeous and the traffic was horrendous, but all of that was quickly forgotten.

We arrived about 1pm and got some lunch at a place overlooking the water...got to see a few seals. Check in was at 4pm, but we tried to get in a little earlier. They weren't ready for us, so we just say on the adirondacks by the pool and took in the views while waiting for our massages. We both had massages - mine was a pre-natal and S had a therapeutic one. It was heavenly. We checked in and took naps right away. We had dinner reservations at the on-site restaurant, The Duck Club, which turned out to be delicious. S had Caesar salad and sole piccata and I had farmer's greens and then acorn squash stuffed with Isreali couscous, mushrooms and goat cheese. I am definitely going to try to recreate my entree this fall.

Yesterday, we ordered room service for breakfast. On the way home, we decided to take the scenic route - it was worth the extra half hour. We stopped at West Elm to make a return and then BRU to pick up the final items before BGD's arrival.

A Newborn Political Statement???

BGD will only be two weeks on on Halloween and I keep going back and forth on should I or shan't I? She already has an adorable pumpkin onesie that would definitely suffice, but besides her birth, this seems like a major photo opp. They have some cute bunting-style costumes, like a cute little peapod or even an air freshernener.

S decided maybe we should kick it up a notch...let's dress her as a polar bear in a bikini and call her "Global Warming".

My Last (un)Happy Hour

And the (un) isn't a bad thing...next time I will be getting my drink on. I guess booze has really been on my brain lately, but today especially when I think about all of the delicious cocktails I will not be consuming on this lovely day. I am meeting a few friends at a bar before my "newborn care" class tonight. This bar serves the BEST drink called the California Driver aka the Screwhound (I like the latter better) - it's freshly squeezed orange and grapefruit juices with mandarin vodka. Yum, yum, yum.

I need to start blocking sites at work

for my own good. I could look for baby clothes every day.

We love "fancy pants" in our family so when I found a legging version at gap.com for $5 - yep, I had to get them. BGD's little tush is going to look so cute in these!

Another great thing for fall: Apple Crisp

Ingredients
10 cups all-purpose apples, peeled, cored and sliced
1 cup white sugar
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup water

1 cup quick-cooking oats
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup butter, melted

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degree C).

Place the sliced apples in a 9x13 inch pan. Mix the white sugar, 1 tablespoon flour and ground cinnamon together, and sprinkle over apples. Pour water evenly over all.

Combine the oats, 1 cup flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda and melted butter together. Crumble evenly over the apple mixture.

Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for about 45 minutes.

Serve warm with vanilla gelato. Recipe from allrecipes.com - tried and true.

18 days and counting!

Jewels

Banana Republic has the most fabulous jewelry lately. I love all of the cabochon. The colors are beautiful and a perfect fall pick-me-up!

Out of the blue...or pink

Today I received an email out of the blue from one of my old college friends who I probably haven't talked to in about 10 years. She said she dreamt of me a few weeks ago and that I had a little baby girl. She found out through the grapevine that I was in fact pregnant and wanted to know if it was a girl. She just had a little boy two weeks ago. It was so good hearing from her, seeing pictures of her adorable son and planning to catch up once BGD arrives and things settle down a bit.

Baby Shower

The decor
Kara's Cupcakes
With the fabulous hostesses
My girlfriends threw me such a nice shower on Saturday. They really went all out. They used the butterflies from BGD's room and made their own decorations. The favors were little bags of Rolos, my favorite.


The menu included chicken salad and mozzarella/tomato/pesto sandwiches, Thai peanut noodle salad and a green salad with beet, feta, avocado, cranberries and walnuts, along with a white wine sangria. Not that I would know what it tasted like, but was delicious ;) To follow up the yummy lunch, they served a variety of mini cupcakes from Kara's Cupcakes in SF. I tried the coconut cream cheese and chocolate on chocolate and both were super yummy.



We played a great but not so delicious game where you had to guess the baby food. Most were easy, except for the macaroni and cheese one. Macaroni and cheese baby food? Are you kidding me? I didn't know you could make mac n cheese taste bad, but Gerber nailed it.



BGD and I made out like bandits and her wardrobe compounded once again, including a pink velour Juicy dress. We also got a few items to finish up her room, including her changing table and a bunch of cute PBK items from Bird Fairy Coco. It was such a special day filled with friends and laughter - I could not have asked for anything better!

Chihuly at the DeYoung

was amazing! I only wish there were more installations. His work is out of this world. We ran into my friend, Dale, who was there with work. I also saw my high school English teacher but couldn't remember her last name. I am glad Dale did. There is only one weekend left to see this exhibit. Go see it! But don't forget to purchase your tickets in advance!

After, we went to Pres a Vi in the Presidio for dinner. It was our second visit and more delicious than the first. The highlights were the yellowtail with jalapeno and blood orange and the phyllo flatbread with carmalized onions. Mmmmm...

On the way home, my mom called from a family friend's house to invite us over for dessert. Even though I was pretty tired, who could pass up homemade apple crisp and good company?

A great way to start "date night"!

Am I a lucky girl or what?!

I'm Full Term Today!

Today I hit the 37-week mark. YAY! I do feel slightly cheated that she is compared to Swiss Chard this week, when I think she is still in melon territory.

I am getting more and more ready to see this little girl's precious face. Friday night we had a wonderful date and Saturday my friends threw me the most wonderful shower. Yesterday I spent hours folding mini laundry. I will update with pictures later.

Do Not Try This at Home

Banana Republic was having a 30% off sale in honor of their 30th anniversary a few weeks back. Plus, I had $30 off in rewards coupons. Most of Banana's clothes aren't very maternity friendly, but I decided to treat myself to a few items for after BGD gets here.

I need some fall/winter type dresses so I found this little number. The box arrived yesterday and so I decided to try on the dress this morning. Wow. Don't try and put a regular, non-stretchy (although it has a little, or a lot, of give to at least make it over the belly) dress on a 9-month old belly. The site is not a pretty one. Luckily, I could see the forest through the trees and think that it's a keeper. Or at least worth trying on again in a month.

Chihuly: Take Two

S and I have been eager to get to the Chihuly exhibit at the DeYoung Museum. We went last Saturday around 1pm and they weren't letting anyone in until 4:30pm. We should have known better and bought tickets ahead of time. There was no way I was killing 3 1/2 hours at a museum, so we went and saw Burn After Reading, which was hlarious.


We have tickets for tomorrow night. They keep the museum open late on Friday nights. S was going to surprise me with dinner at Quince after, but food has been more foe than friend recently. I said I would rather go when we could really enjoy it. Instead, we are going to Pres a Vi in the Presidio. Tapas are more my style.


Since our "date nights" are going to be seeing a hiatus for a bit, I am REALLY looking forward to tomorrow night!!

I made "peace" with No-Name

Formerly of Alice 97.3 fame? Yep, that's the one. I made peace with him (You know: "Peace be with you. Also with you.") at church a few weeks ago. My stardar was failing me - luckily, S brought it to my attention.

It was almost as good as my Ethan Hawke siting circa 1997. Wait. Who am I kidding? Nothing will ever beat seeing Ethan Hawke crossing the streets in Chinatown at 1am, mouthing the words "Ethan Hawke" and having him smile at me.

Stylish Filing

When your regular manila folders just won't due, you can pick up these lovelies from the Paper Source. They come in four design styles.

Week 36: Crenshaw Melon

We've come a long way, baby! BGD is almost 6 pounds and 18.5 inches long. Less than one month to go.

All the Small Things

Last night, we had our hospital tour at CPMC. I was surprised by how large the recovery rooms are - most are converted double rooms. Some have terrific views. Besides finally meeting BGD, I am also looking forward to a post partum massage. For $60, you get a 1 hour massage - how can you pass that up? I don't love massages, but I will take advantage of this.

The lady who ran our breastfeeding class was giving the tour. She is quite a character. At the end of the tour, she was taking questions. One couple was concerned about the security of their baby and possibly being switched at birth. Our guide said that it isn't a concern given the security wristbands, but that she was, in fact switched at birth. Really. The irony of this whole situation gave us a good laugh.

We went to Asqew Grill for dinner. We had received two $12 vouchers when we had S's Kegs and Kebabs party and I will look for any excuse not to cook these days. Anyways, we ordered our food and went to pay the balance, but the sweet cashier told us there wasn't one. She comped our entire meal. So nice!

Friday Night Mocktail: Fizzy Lifting Drink

Combine one part cranberry juice with two parts Diet 7up. Cheers!

Gruyere Popovers

I've been making these for a while now and I've got a batch in the oven right at this very moment. They are so simple to make and always a hit. I should experiment with different cheeses and some herbs, but it ain't broke, so I'm not fixin it just yet.

Ingredients:
2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
2 cups whole milk
4 large eggs
Nonstick vegetable oil spray
1 1/2 cups grated Gruyère cheese (about 6 ounces)

Preparation:
Place one 12-cup muffin pan and one 6-cup muffin pan in oven. Preheat oven to 350°F. Whisk flour and salt in medium bowl to blend. Heat milk in heavy small saucepan over medium heat until very warm, about 125°F. Whisk eggs in large bowl to blend. Gradually whisk warm milk into eggs. Gradually stir flour mixture into milk mixture just to blend (batter may still be slightly lumpy).
Remove hot muffin pans from oven. Spray pans with nonstick spray. Spoon 1/4 cup batter into each of 16 muffin cups. Top each with 1 1/2 tablespoons cheese. Bake until puffed and deep brown, about 40 minutes. Remove popovers from pan.
Makes 16.

Whose baby needs "driving mocs"?

Mine does, of course!

Thanks, Old Navy.

One month from today...

BGD is due 10/12/08. Her grandma mentions at least once a day to me that she hopes the baby arrives on October 9th, so her birthday will be 10-09-08. I said, yeah, too bad she couldn't be born at 7:65 - that would be perfect.

Speaking of grandmas, my mom wants to be called "Cha Cha"...I don't really know why...and the jury is still out on whether or not it's going to happen.

BGD's Nursery

Talk about a labor of love! I need to stop reading home mags and other blogs because it gives me an inflated sense of creativity.

Before we moved, we painted the guestroom/nursery Benjamin Moore's "Nantucket Fog" so that it would be good for either a baby boy or girl. I knew once I saw a certain evite back in September 07 that if I had a little girl, I wanted to do some sort of bird theme and paint a tree on the back crib wall.

Well, planning got underway and I decided that with the help of my mom, a teacher, and an old school projector, this would be an easy project. Day one ended up with us free handing a bunch of pencil marks on the wall. Thank god for magic erasers - I was able to erase everything before S returned home from golf, so he was none-the-wiser on the lead fiasco that inhabited the walls hours earlier. After some adjusting, we got the tree too work.

The tree needed a little something and almost as if it was a personal wish, PBK came out with 3-D butterflies that were the perfect solution. And...voila!