Smack Talking

You know how all the manicurists in the nail salon chatter amongst themselves in Korean and you always think they're talking shit about you but you're never quite sure?

Well, THEY ARE.

I went on Saturday morning to get a mani/pedi . . . the first of my pregnancy and really only necessitated by the fact that I can no longer comfortably reach my toes (I can still see them though, which is why I wanted them to be pretty). My manicurist was the girl I usually ask for, and while I'm not regular enough at this whole manicure thing to have an actual relationship with her, I've seen her enough times that we do tend to chat a bit. She asked me how far along I was (teh belleh is no longer ambiguous) and we talked about babies for a bit. Then after an exchange between her and the girl who was doing my pedicure she said "You're what, 22?". Which, REALLY FLATTERING, but no, try 30. So I tell her this and she says something to the pedicurist which sets off a stream of chattering and lots of oohs and ahhs. All very nice, of course, because the point is they all thought I looked young, even if that meant they thought I was really young AND pregnant.

Then she asks me if my boobs are real.

And I don't know how much detail I've gone into here, but let it suffice to say they've gone up two cup sizes since I got pregnant and they weren't "small" to begin with.

So, moral of the story, YES, the nail salon ladies WERE all talking shit about me being 22 and knocked up with fake boobs.

ANYWAYS.

I've finally come out the other side from the (fabulous!) (but busy!) Etsy holiday rush and lately I've been focusing on trying to put together the best Xmas possible for my family. I had most of the gift shopping and making done, but I've done a few last minute bits as well as tons of wrapping, decorating and baking. On the agenda tonight is making two loaves of my Grandma's famous Raisin Bread and, you guys, these instructions? All I'm saying is I REALLY WISH she were around to ask for clarification and if you could all cross your fingers for me for a positive Raisin Bread outcome that would be super!

Bean has been cooking along just fine. VERY kicky with the kicking lately. I'm finally starting to get used to the feeling. Everyone told me it would be like 'butterflies fluttering' and I don't know if I've just got an especially strong baby or what but I haven't felt anything that I'd call "butterfly-ish". He KICKS. Last night he was kicking so I poked him and he waited a second then kicked back . . . we went on like this for a few minutes, me poking him and him kicking me. It was so incredible to feel like I was actually interacting with him. Of course now I think he's an extra strong genius baby . . . he isn't even born yet and I'm already assigning him superpowers.



Hope everyone's holiday gear up is trucking along well!

Coming up for air

So! The holidays on Etsy have been FANTASTIC. They've also been kicking my ass, hence the relative radio silence around these parts. I made my 1,000th sale on December 6th and today, just 11 days later I'm at 1054. Those are some pretty fierce numbers, methinks, and I've got the hours logged standing in line at the post office to prove it!

Postal line bitching aside, I'm seriously grateful to all the fantastic customers who have helped to make my little shop such a success this year. Thanks guys, for the wedding in Wales you collectively paid for and for the new master and Bean's room carpet we're installing in a month or two. And thanks for the fact that you all bought SO! MUCH! this holiday season that I don't have to decide between nice new carpet or new shutters for Bean, little man gets BOTH. Not that he'll notice or care, I realize . . . but this makes me one happy mama-to-be. He's going to have a kick-ass nursery and my little shop and all my amazing customers made that possible.

I make what I like and the world likes it enough to buy it. That little fact still blows my mind and makes me feel lucky every single day.

Aside from Etsy, there has been the usual holiday chaos over her in IndieHomeEc land: preparing for the big feast which will take place at Boy and my house this year (YIKES!), researching recipes and finding ingredients, wrapping up presents and doing last minute checks to make sure we haven't forgotten anyone or anything, trimming the tree, mailing out holiday cards (110!!!) and, starting tonight, BAKING LIKE A MADWOMAN! (Not to mention attempting to do my yoga every night because I feel like a whale when I don't, trying to stop myself from buying every cute Bean thing I see and failing miserably, visiting the doctor every four weeks and you know, just generally cooking a baby.)

How are your holiday preparations going?

New "Thing"

I have developed a fondness for coin pearls. They're coin shaped! They come in yummy colors! They're pearls!

Here are the recent results of my dalliance:

Mini Break

It is no secret around these parts that Boy and I like ourselves a good weekend getaway. We've visited Palm Springs and the Aerial Tramway, hiked Joshua Tree, took a boat to Catalina (back when we first started dating!), spent weekends in Vegas more than a few times, stayed in a Wigwam, toured Hearst Castle, took a cruise to Mexico, and had our fair share of Disneyland vacations.

When I see decent hotel rates or airfares I jump on them! And right after we got back from our wedding and agreed that we'd get annual passes to Disneyland this year, I held us a room at the Howard Johnson Plaza Hotel in Anaheim. We usually go for slightly more upscale hotels (with the obvious exception of the Wigwam!), but the reviews for this place are all just phenomenal. Check it out! Turns out, I went to Disneyland on the 22nd with my good friend Tara . . .then again on the 29th with Boy's family . . .so we really didn't wind up NEEDING to take the December 5th room I booked so long ago. HOWEVER, the HoJo is so highly rated it does tend to book up and I'd been wanting to try it out . . . not to mention that our rate was all of EIGHTY SEVEN DOLLARS for the night. ANNNNDDDD I "turned" 20 weeks pregnant on Saturday which boy and I considered to be a bit of a milestone. PLUS! I was sitting on the cusp of my 1,000th sale on Etsy, which did wind up happening over the weekend. Soooo . . . all things considered, the trip wasn't strictly necessary, but it was a nicely, if accidentally, timed celebration.



The hotel did not disappoint! They provided free pirate hats on check in, so I was pretty much sold right there. But things continued to get even better when we walked in to our (huge!) room (with balcony!). They had amazing coffee (I took a sip, yes I did. LET THE FLOGGING COMMENCE!), the location was perfect and we had Mimi's Cafe next door for a fantastic pre-Disney breakfast.

I'm sure you're all anxiously awaiting my Astro Blasters scores and, while I was sure the 398,00 I scored over Thanksgiving was a total fluke I was THRILLED to score just over 300k on the first round of this most recent trip! I then went on to score 44k and 77k. Hrumph. So it seems I'm REALLY GOOD at Astro Blasters, but only sporadically, which kind of makes it more fun, I think.

Boy and I also did some shopping for the Bean:



Had ourselves a (scared but) grand old time on the Ferris Wheel:



Ate ice cream for lunch:



And took a fairly ill-advised turn on the Astro Orbiter (Preggos are allowed to ride, but they should issue warnings about how dumb we look trying to hoist our girth in to and out of the rocket.)



All in all a very fun, very worthwhile trip. I can't help thinking that trips like these will be harder to take once Bean makes his appearance . . .then again, I can't help thinking how much fun he'd have on one. I lost track of how many times Boy and I said "Oh my gosh, Bean would totally flip out over this" during the course of the trip. I know I've technically got him with me all the time (I FEEL YOU KICKING NOW, BEANAGE!), but I still can't wait to show him the world on the outside.

How do you get your protein?

There's this weird misconception in the US that protein only comes from meat. Especially now that I'm pregnant, I get the protein question ALL THE FREAKING TIME. So, by way of example, I submit our dinner from the other night, Quorn Cacciatore:



- 1 package Quorn brand Naked Cutlets, heated in the microwave and cut into chunks
- 1 green pepper, thinly sliced
- 1 onion, thinly sliced
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- big handful of fresh oregano, chopped
- 1 large (28oz) can of diced tomatoes
- better part of a 2 cup bag of shredded skim mozzerella
- Olive oil
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 1/2 a package of whole wheat spaghetti


* In a large cast iron skillet, sautee onions, peppers and garlic in olive oil until beginning to soften.
* Meanwhile, prepare pasta and preheat oven to 375.
* Add Quorn, diced tomatoes, oregano, salt and pepper to skillet and let simmer on stovetop for about 10 minutes.
* Top skillet contents with cheese and place skillet in oven for 5 minutes or so, until cheese is melted and bubbly.
* Serve over pasta.

Makes 4 servings (3 if you are pregnant and could eat a house) totaling 134 grams of protein. So, depending on whether you go for big servings or small ones, that is 33 or 44 grams of protein per serving.

A Big Mac contains 25 grams of protein.

Case closed.

Husband Assistance

HEY! BOY! LOOK HERE! (Parents too)

My holiday list is as follows:

La Vanilla The Healthy Fragrance Mini Roller-Ball Set

What is better than a new perfume? FOUR NEW PERFUMES.

Henri Bendel Candle in Firewood

I looooveeee candles. Especially woody smelling ones.

Have It Sweet's Fleur de Sel Caramels

Pregnancy cravings . . . activate!

BabastudioPrague's The Penny Farthing. Three way messenger bag.

This bag has been in my Etsy Favorites for-EVER and I think it would make a spectacular diaper bag.


Be Maternity Over The Belly Leggings in Black (Small)
Admittedly, not so glamorous. But they'd really help me stretch my maternity wardrobe and the over the belly panels are the most comfortable, in my opinion.

Crabtree and Evelyn La Source Body Lotion



Recently got a hand cream tube in this scent and I NOW WANT EVERYTHING TO SMELL LIKE IT. So body lotion would be perfect.

Thanksgiving Festivities

So much with the festive, right?! I had a marathon of a Thanksgiving weekend.

My husband's mom was in town and we had the big meal on Thursday at my brother in law's house with my parents, both of my husband's and both of his siblings:



On Friday I started off the day with Smitten Kitchen's Pumpkin Waffles which were DIVINE and adored by all SEVEN PEOPLE who I made them for (except for my dad who suddenly and inexplicably won't touch pumpkin). Then, on my suggestion, we dragged everyone out to Hollywood to see Disney's A Christmas Carol in 3D at the El Capitan. FORTUNATLEY, for me who suggested the outing, the movie was spectacular. Far darker and more interesting than I'd hoped it would be and seeing it in such a huge, historic theater was tons of fun.

Saturday! I had a craft day planned with my sister in law and mother in law. My SIL and I worked on makeup bags, earrings and flower pins as holiday gifts for our friends while my MIL worked on a stocking for me to match the one she made for my Boy when he was small (awwww, right?!). I had both of my sewing machines out in the living room, the ironing board set up by the big window and blankets on the floor for us to sit on while cutting the PILES and SCADS of fabric and ribbon strewn around the room. We made a HUGE mess and had a TON of fun. Also ate the better part of a box of Peppermint Jo Jo's and watched Elf, which contributed tremendously to the PARTY! atmosphere.


Regular readers can probably guess what we did on Sunday. YEP, Disneyland. We went with my MIL, SIL and her boyfriend and a great time was had by all. We hit up all the usual suspects: Small World Holiday, Pirates, Mansion, Star Tours (preggo sat that one out), Peter Pan, the train and ASTRO BLASTERS on which I achieved the following astounding, and let's be honest, FREAKISH feat:


Boy and I are going back to Disneyland this Sunday so WE'LL SEE whether that score was a fluke (and I highly, highly doubt it wasn't). Meanwhile, I'm looking for a frame to put the photo up in the condo, obvs.

Hope your Thanksgiving was festive and fun!

Like I won the freaking lottery

So, yes, yes, I'll go over Thanksgiving and the myriad of fun things we did, but MUCH MORE IMPORTANT THINGS HAVE HAPPENED in the time between my last post and now, so I'll start with them:

MY BABY BEAN IS A BOY!!!

A perfectly formed, perfectly sized and perfectly adorable little boy.

And you know what else? I can feel him kicking. I felt the first kicks last Monday morning while still in bed. I didn't want to say anything right away because it isn't like I've got lots of experience in the baby kicks department, but I felt one little tap on my left side, followed by two more quick taps and I was pretty darn sure they were Bean related.

I had been waiting to feel the "fluttering" everyone describes and honestly? Never did. I felt kicks. Then on Thanksgiving day, at dinner, Beanages started up kicking again and my mom just happened to be sitting next to me so I grabbed her hand and SHE FELT HIM TOO! Over the next few hours and days, Boy felt him (has a few times now!) as did my mother in law and sister in law.

I felt Bean banging around in there before my big ultrasound yesterday, and when the doctor commented on how active Bean was it was a nice confirmation for me that, YES! I have been feeling movement!

We saw a few somersaults, a lot of hand waving, and, you know, THE GOODS. Which were definitively BOY SHAPED. He also did a fair bit of grimacing and wiggling away from the ultrasound wand. Methinks he isn't a big fan of being poked and looked at.

Things have been crazy good lately. My baby is healthy, I'm feeling great. My husband has been a true champ and has reminded me more or less daily why I married him. My Etsy shop has been doing spectacularly and I'm trucking right towards my 1,000th sale (hoping that will happen by year's end!). There's the small matter of how sometimes when I sneeze I pee . . . but that's a minor inconvenience in the face of so much HAPPY. Things are good . . . really, really good.