The Life and Times of Us

Disney World, Birthday, It's a Girl, Anniversary, Big Girl, Baby Girl

2011-05-19T15:58:00.005-05:00

Hello.

First, I just want to point out the date of this post. I started it back in May, but didn't finish it til the end of July. Um, yeah.

So, just some super duper quick bullet points because I should really update but I really don't feel like it and I'm really tired. So here goes.

We went to Disney World back in March for Macy's 2nd birthday. We came back two days early. Enough said.
Her Minnie Mouse birthday party turned out well though. Good times.
We found out that we're having another GIRL, who will be here any day now!
Burin and I celebrated our 2-year wedding anniversary back in May (although we've been together for, you know, 11 years).
Macy is in a big girl bed now (as of May) and potty trained (as of June). Growing up so fast. :(
Did I mention, Baby Girl will be here ANY DAY NOW. Of course, she deserves her own post when she gets here, so stay tuned...

Hello Blog.

2011-03-01T22:21:00.003-06:00

Hello, Blog. You're yellow, Blog. Hello, yellow Mr. Blog.

{Ahem.}

Wow! Where have I been? I think I have lost my blogging-ness. YKWIM? And this post is making no sense whatsoever so far.

But exciting things have been happening over the last couple of months! First and foremost - Macy is going to be a big sister! Baby #2 will be here around late July, and we should find out on March 21 whether it's a boy or a girl. I've always thought I wanted a boy and a girl, but the closer it gets, I think I'd really love for Macy to have a little sister. But, it'll be exciting either way. I'm just not going to know what to do with a boy!

In other news, we have a trip to Disney World coming up! This visit to the mouse house will kind of be several things wrapped into one - a honeymoon that we never went on, our first big family vacation, Macy's 2nd birthday trip, a get-away before Baby #2 gets here. I think it'll be... interesting... but we're looking forward to it!

And as mentioned, Macy will turn two years old in about ten days. How did that happen? No, seriously, where did the last two years go? So in addition to trip planning, I've also been party planning, and still don't have a date set quite yet. I've got the theme though! And it has something to do with.. a girly mouse.

Perhaps one day soon I will come back and update on our trip and party, and maybe include pics and stuff. Sadly, my camera currently has a layer of dust on it about 3/4 of an inch thick.

Merry Merry!

2010-12-25T01:25:00.000-06:00

{18 months and other random October things.}

2010-09-17T16:34:00.010-05:00

Really? It's been like two and a half months since I last updated? I must lead a really boring life; need to work on that. Help?

Since there's never anything to write about except the little munchkin, I figured I'd post about her being, well, 18 months. We went for a checkup a couple of weeks ago and she looks great. Her stats are as follows:

Height: 31.75 inches

Weight: 23 lbs 7 oz

Head circ: 46 cm

So that means in the past six months, she has gained about 2.5 pounds and is 2.75 inches taller. She is still in a size 3 diaper (size 4 at night), but she has gone up a shoe size to a size 6. She is in 18 month clothing - mostly. I have a feeling it will be hard to buy jeans for her this fall, because the 18 month size is too big in the waist, and the 12 month ones fit in the waist, but the legs are too short. Guess I'll need to really do some shopping around.

She can say 75+ words. I've kind of stopped keeping track as far as writing them down.

We got Macy a school bus slide thing for her 18 month 'birthday.' We would have waited until Christmas to get it for her as a big gift, but since she had started to climb up on everything, we decided to to ahead and get it for her so she could get some practice, both on climbing and sliding. She goes up and down about 4,058 times a day.

I signed Macy up for Kindermusik recently, which we have been going to for the past month or so? I enjoy going to it. And I think Macy does? Maybe? I'm not really sure. Because she wanders around most of the time and then about halfway through gets whiny and wants to go. Seriously? She's never around other kids except at Kindermusik and there's songs to be sung and all kinds of fun stuff to do (I think she does enjoy all that though) and it gets us out of the house for a little while, so I don't really understand why she always wants to go after we sing the welcome song. Attention span of a fly, I tell ya. Anyway, I do plan on signing up for next semester too.

And it is now October, which means we are anxiously awaiting the arrival of the newest addition to the Nowell family, who will be here very soon! October is my favorite month - fall, fair, festivals, birthday, friends' birthdays, and Halloween! Still trying to decide on a costume for Macy. I'm leaning strongly towards either a ladybug or Alice (in Wonderland). We will see. I probably will not take her trick-or-treating around the neighborhood since she is still so little, but we will probably go to the trunk-or-treat at the park the Thursday before Halloween. Oh! And another thing I look forward to is starting a tradition of going to the pumpkin patch and going on a hayride and taking pics in fields of pumpkins and choosing one to bring home! Eeps!

{words}

2010-07-22T23:01:00.020-05:00

This is more for my record than anything else really, but I just wanted to post Macy's words at 16 months! She has picked up a lot since her 12-month list!

English

*baby (which could mean baby, belly button, or the iPad)

*nigh-nigh (night-night)

*bo-bo

*boo (balloon)

*ah-doe (all done)

*daw-bay (strawberry)

*new-me! (for excuse me! after she burps) -my personal fave right now :)

*bye-bye tee-tee! (when we flush)

*bop bop bop! (for hop hop hop like a bunny)

*cacka (cracker)

*cookie

*why-why (Super Why and french fry)

*dooooo (close.. as in close the door)

*bow (bowl)

*way (rain)

*gop! (cup)

*gah (car)

*guh (girl)

*goga (yogurt)

*shoe (can't really spell how she pronounces it!)

*pea (peach)

*the-the (for paci or sassy as I sometimes call it)

*bah! (bath without the 'th')

*co-co (color.. as in color with crayons)

*yayyy!

*day dow! (lay down)

*Poppyyyy! (my dad), Da-da (Dottie, which I think she just confuses with the word daddy), and Kee (Chris).... although she doesn't really call any of them by name yet

*and just today she said "day-doooo" (thank you) when I gave her a cracker

Thai

*Mo-Mo yu nai? (Mo-Mo where are you?)

*bai baow (let's go)

*and she will put her hands together for the Thai greeting "sawatdee ka"

Sign

*milk

*sleepy

Also, something interesting that we've noticed is that she has translated a couple of words. The other day I told her to drink some water and she said "naam" (which is of course Thai for 'water'). And then Burin sometimes distracts her by holding her and going around to all the windows to look outside for Moby, and he says "mei mee" (which roughly means 'he's not there'), and she says, "no MoMo." I just find this fascinating, but I think that it is common for bilingual babies to do that.

I love that she is talking more, and she will try to repeat almost anything I ask her to. So fun!

{Strawberry Girl}

2010-06-30T23:04:00.006-05:00

(Yes, I cut off her name. She moves too fast. And no, she won't smile for the camera.)

Macy loves strawberries. Loves them. Asks for them by name. By the name of "daw-bay," that is. And she cannot say "daw-bay" without a smile on her face. Every time we open the refrigerator, she says "daw-bay! daw-bay daw-bay daw-bay!" She will eat strawberries any time of the day - morning, noon, or night. Whenever you put one in her face, she will eat it.

So, since she loves them so much, what did I have to do? Get her a daw-bay shirt, of course! I headed on over to Etsy (Etsy never fails), and came across this children's t-shirt shop called ispotyou, and had to immediately put my order in for a personalized strawberry t-shirt! It is so cute and well-made, and I look forward to shopping there more in the future when she has a new favorite obsession!

Splashing through water and squealing with delight

2010-05-19T13:05:00.001-05:00

How do you spell love?

2010-05-11T00:02:00.000-05:00

Piglet: How do you spell love?

Pooh: You don't spell it. You feel it.

Baby's Name

2010-05-07T21:14:00.001-05:00

I just recently started following KellysKorner blog, and every week she has this "Show Us Your Life" meme. This week the theme is baby names. I decided to participate this week and explain how we came up with Macy's name. I simply copied and pasted this from my December 2008 post, so some of you may have already read this.

First name: Macy

No, not after the department store, Macy Gray, or William H. Macy. We just like the name, it's a little different, it's only two syllables, easy to pronounce, and it's short (up against her gigantizoid last name). Also, when I was looking at the Nowell family tree (after we had decided on Macy), I came across a Macy Nowell who was born probably in the late 1800's/early 1900s, and was my great-grandfather's brother's daughter. How cool is that?! So it's a family name too.

Middle name: Blair

It's my mom's maiden name. Simple as that. And it's pretty.

Second middle name (yes, that's correct): Bunman

Pronounced boon-MON, it's Burin's mother's first name. He really wanted her name to be a part of the baby's name, and his mom meant the world to him (she passed away in February 2008), so I can understand. :) And, Macy can just use the middle initial B, which will go for either middle name.

Last name: N.

Sooo.. there you have it: Macy Blair Bunman N.

Macy update at one year old

2010-04-13T22:37:00.000-05:00

What is our one-year-old-who-thinks-she's-two-years-old, Little Miss Macy, up to lately? Well, she is walking and going everywhere and getting into everything. She tries to run if you chase after her, she tries to kick balls or whatever else is in her way, she dances when she hears music, and she climbs on everything she can get her little legs up on. She took her first step at 10.5 months and has been going non. stop. ever since. It's so weird to me sometimes because I hear about 13 month olds who are just beginning to walk, and here Macy is owning the place.

She is blabbing up a storm and quickly learning new words. Here's her vocabulary so far:

English

bye-bye
mama
dada
nana (banana)
momo (cat.. our cat's name is Moby, but we call him MoMo)
momo (Elmo)
daw (dog)
baw (ball or balloon)
no/no-no
uh-ohhh!
bubba (bubble)

Thai

num (for "naam," which means water/sippy cup)
bah! (for "bai!" which means "let's go!")
gai (chicken)

Sign Language (she doesn't really know how to use these properly, but if I say the words, she can sign them)

eat
more
all done

She went to her one-year checkup a few weeks ago, and is average for height and weight, at 21 pounds and 29 inches. She is wearing a size 3 diaper (size 4 at night) and size 12 month clothing, with some 18 month stuff here and there, and a size 5 shoe.

And speaking of clothing, I have been loving shopping for her some spring/summer clothes - sundresses, t-shirts and shorts, and swimsuits - eep! We finally got her a little pair of sandals too, which I love. They're the white Mooshu sqeakers with the little slots for interchangeable bows! That way, she can wear the same pair of shoes, while switching out and wearing coordinating/matching bows! Needless to say, I've done a little shopping on Etsy for some bows... and thinking about learning how to make them myself.

She knows where her hair, ears, eyes, nose, mouth, belly button, and toes are.

She loves to play outside, which we're doing more of now with the nicer weather, and still loves to play in water either during her bathtime or at the little water fountains we've taken her to at Dogwood and Renaissance (although it's still *just* a little early for outside water play). She still sleeps about 12 hours a night with a two hour mid-day nap, and will play quietly in her crib for the longest time after she wakes up (she likes to throw all her little stuffed animals overboard). She is eating almost completely table food now, and still takes three bottles a day - morning, pre-nap, and night. I know it's about time to wean her from the bottle, but... I don't think I'm ready to. :( She's my BABY still and is growing up way too fast!

So that concludes this edition of a Macy update! Time to go make that marking on her new wall growth chart...

Hello Spring

2010-04-07T11:35:00.001-05:00

Last Thursday evening, we decided to go to the park and let Macy run around. But at the last minute, I thought it would be a good time to get some Spring/Easter pics, so I put her dress on, grabbed her basket, threw in some Easter eggs, grabbed my camera, and off we went.

I had only gotten a couple of pictures on the normal setting, and somehow my camera got switched to the color swap setting, which is currently set to swap out green for a pinkish color. I did not even realize it had gotten switched, but I thought some of the pictures turned out amazing, and it gives them sort of a vintage-y/dreamy type feeling to them (or at least that's what I think anyway.. I do have sort of a different 'taste' when it comes to some things, hehe).

(love love love this one)

(and this one)

(and love love love this one too)

These next few are just some I had taken at my parents' house when we went over on Easter day.

And here she is with her Easter basket that she got when we got home Sunday evening!

And as usual, more pics on facebook!

Goodbye Winter

2010-04-05T13:01:00.001-05:00

The snow has melted, the sun has come out, and winter has faded away! I know it's a little late, but here's a little re-cap of some of our winter highlights that I don't think I ever posted on the ole blog.

We celebrated Daddy's birthday!

We sent Christmas cards.

We celebrated Christmas.

We played in the snow.

Macy took a nap... in the snow.

And Burin went snowboarding!

Macy's First Birthday!

2010-03-17T20:55:00.000-05:00

I swear it seems like just a few days ago we were bringing her home from the hospital, but in reality, we celebrated her first birthday! We kept all the celebration to a minimum, but still had a lot of fun.

Last Thursday, on her birthday, we dressed her up in her 'birthday girl' t-shirt and headed out for lunch and ice cream. We had planned to also take her to the Play Place that morning, but with swine flu coming back around and with strep going around, we decided it would be in our best interest to stay away from those 'germ central' type places. The first time we took her, we couldn't keep a plastic turkey leg out of her mouth (and who knows how many other kids have tried to eat that same turkey leg!). So, since the weather was nice, we went and walked around Renaissance and had lunch at Sweet Peppers, then walked around the corner to Maggie Moo's and got a big ole cup of ice cream to share.

On Saturday, we had her little birthday party here at the house and dressed her up yet again in her birthday outfit, and added her tutu! It is sooo cute on her! I think every little girl needs a tutu.

(waiting at the front door for her guests to arrive!)

A few things to point out in the photo above - I may have under-decorated, ya think? I was planning for a really simple party, but didn't realize how simple it was until I got it all put together! You see that ghettofabulous 'happy birthday macy!' sign? Yeah, that was done at the last minute because I realized that there was nothing that said 'happy birthday!' Also, Burin ran out at the last minute and picked up that gigantic balloon along with the little flowers. And to be honest, the cups and tablecloth were left over from my baby shower, so I decided to go ahead and use those. I'll do better next year, I promise. (Note to self: more colors, more decorations, more balloons, a better theme perhaps? make it a happy place!).

I think my cupcakes and cupcake tree turned out pretty sweet though!

Macy loves to share her food and is always reaching out with a tiny bit of something on her fingertips to feed us. So yes, she had to share some of her icing with me, Burin, my mom, Chris.... as Sean called it, a "communal sharing of the fingers." I guess it was kinda gross if you think about it.

So all in all, I think she had a good first birthday. Some of her gifts included clothes, books, and of course, toys.

I really can't believe a year has passed already, but I can say with 100% certainty that it has been the best year of our lives. We love this little girl so much!

(More photos on facebook!)

Eleven Months

2010-02-11T23:59:00.001-06:00

My baby girl is eleven months old - only one mere month away from her first birthday! Planning is in progress for that, even though it'll be a small shindig.

So what's Macy Blair up to right now? Well, she just started walking and she is just so proud of herself. She has five teeth (only three on the bottom - it's the weirdest thing.. that fourth one is nowhere in sight!), and the two on the top have just come through. She loves SuperWhy, Wheel of Fortune, bathtime, and books - I think she'd rather play with books than with her toys. Her favorite book right now is a little Bambi book that she wants us to read over, and over, and over, and over... though I think she likes to have any book read to her. It's so cute when she goes to get a book and bring to us to read.

She is also growing attached to a pink blanket that somebody gave me at my shower. She couldn't get attached to a small security blanket that I bought for her months ago. No, it's gotta be a big soft fuzzy blanket that I can just SEE me having to pack up everywhere we go when she gets older and really attached to it. It's ok though. There's just about nothing sweeter than a baby girl toddling around dragging her pink blankie behind her. :)

No first words yet, but we're working on it. She does seem to say "bah!" over and over when playing with her books. I don't know if she is trying to say "book," or "Bambi" maybe?

She loves to eat anything and everything bite size and crunchy - Cheerios, puffs, crackers, whatever. And bread, she loves bread. And yogurt, good lord she loves yogurt. If she will eat nothing else, she will eat yogurt. She loves to chew on a chunky green apple stick and suck the juice out of a piece of clementine or orange. And thus far, she has tried and liked American, Mexican, and Chinese food. The milder stuff, of course, but I know she likes a little bit of spiciness here and there. Like this one time (at band camp), I gave her a Hot Fry to taste and she was wanting to chow down the whole thing.

She likes to be tickled and to play peek-a-boo and for me to crawl around and 'chase' and catch her. She just collapses in a fit of laughter - which is another thing she loves to do and does a lot - laugh. And I love the fact that I can make her laugh.

Boredom

2010-02-05T23:11:00.000-06:00

*sigh*

blah.

I've kinda been feeling... bored, lately. As most of you know, I'm a stay-at-home-mom, and that's just what I do - stay at home and take care of Macy. Now, I LOVE doing this, but I don't ever DO anything else really. Burin goes to work, I stay home and go on Target runs, Macy isn't really old enough to do anything with, we've never had a playdate, we go to my parents on Sundays to visit, and I see one of my friends about every other week or so and grab something to eat and maybe go to a movie. And as far as true hobbies or 'extra-curricular' stuff - zip. zilch. nada. I feel a little like I've lost myself since I'm not in school or at an outside job anymore.

So, I've been thinking lately about some stuff I'd kinda like to do:

*Get my 'craft' back on. I used to have an Etsy shop, but closed it before Macy was born. Actually, it was when I found out I was pregnant because I couldn't use resin due to the toxic fumes. But, I've kinda missed those bottlecaps, rubber stamps, and magnets. Granted, I only made a few sales on Etsy, but it was fun just making stuff for the heck of it. Maybe I should dig it all out again.

*Learn Thai. Burin and I have been together for ten years and no, I haven't learned Thai yet. (What. You expected me to be fluent already?) I read some reviews about the Rosetta Stone program, which is supposed to be the best language learning tool out there, but there were lots of bad reviews of it and the way it was set up. Basically, I think it teaches as if they expect you to already be able to READ Thai. You expect me to be able to read those spaghetti noodle curly-Q's? I don't think so. Speaking is one thing, but reading and writing it is a whole 'nother thing. I do know a few phrases and words, but that's all. Anyhow, I still think I need to learn it, and Rosetta Stone is still a possibility. I don't want Macy and her daddy to talk about me and not be able to understand it!

*Learn some kind of graphic arts program. I'm a very visual person and I like to design my own things. I was trying to work on Macy's birthday invitation last night using Picasa - a photo-editing program. I guess it's cute (and I might use it) but it was gettin' on mah nerves. The text/font kept wanting to do its own thing. Anyway, I'd love to be able to make my own Christmas cards and all, like the one I ordered from a girl on Etsy. There are some cute first birthday invitations on there, but I really don't want to spend a lot of money on it since I won't be sending very many out. Any suggestions for easy-to-use graphics programs? Adobe? ......?

*Cook more. Or should I say, learn to cook more. I can hardly boil water, folks. Cooking is not a passion for me, and I don't really enjoy it. When I do cook, it seems like I make the same stuff over and over. And it seems like most of it comes out of a box or a can. Ugh. And I'm a very picky eater, so that doesn't help much. I don't typically like soups or casseroles, there's not a lot of veggies that I like, I don't eat seafood. Seriously, if it swims, I don't eat it. Period. Burin, on the other hand, will eat absolutely anything you put in front of him and not complain about it. I'm always looking at new recipes, but nothing has jumped out at me yet. But seriously, I need to learn to do something because Macy will soon be eating only table food! Having a kid just changes everything, doesn't it? (And ironically, I think I could watch cooking shows all day long. Something about them just fascinates me.. the ingredients, the food prep.. not that I would ever eat any of it though! lol)

*Read more. Books, magazines, whatever. That's an easy one though. Just gotta peel my eyes from the computer long enough.

So there you go. That's my kick-boredom-in-the-butt list. Now someone just needs to give me a butt-kick so that I can get into gear and do something!

Sailor Chicks

2010-01-27T14:24:00.000-06:00

I've never been interested much in sailing or anything, but I recently (as in yesterday) heard about a 16-year-old girl from California who just left on a mission to sail around the world solo and unassisted, going for world record for the youngest to circumnavigate the globe. There's also another 16-year-old out there from Australia who is doing the same thing. Anyway, I have become fascinated with their stories and just started following their blogs. Even though all that sailing lingo goes right over my head, it'll be interesting to follow their journeys and see where they are and how they're doing.

Talk about following your dream, huh? I know I'd be scared to death doing something like that - being alone, out in the middle of the ocean, encountering bad weather/rough seas and possibly pirates?! No thanks. But I do admire their courage.

Here are their links:

Sailor Abby from California

Sailor Jessica from Australia (I LOVE her pink boat!)

Flashback Friday

2010-01-15T10:34:00.001-06:00

Pretty cute kid, eh? Yea, that's me when I was about two years old or so. Probably in the winter of 1980, because it looks like there's snow on the trees in the fake background behind me. The picture is obviously from the late 70's or very early 80's when all the pictures had that wicked red tint to them. Lord only knows why, because it's not very appealing, is it?

Do any of you have old pictures you'd like to share? Go - do it! And then link up over on ChristopherandTia's page! Don't you just love her button over there, and down some? ---->

Earthquake

2010-01-14T21:24:00.001-06:00

The Haitian earthquake is all too reminiscent of the 2004 tsunami in Asia which devastated some areas of Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, and Thailand, and took over 230,000 lives. It's so hard to wrap my mind around natural disasters of this magnitude, and I just cannot comprehend the high death tolls associated with them. I hope to never, ever experience anything remotely close to an earthquake of this scale. The one I experienced last year in California is nothing compared to these, but it was enough for me. And the tsunami - I was too close for comfort for that too. We happened to be in Bangkok at the time, about 600 miles from Phuket (which was the hardest hit area of Thailand), so we were safe. I decided to dig up my old xanga blog post about our experience while there, and re-post parts of it here:

December 26, Monks and Tsunami. Quite an interesting day. It started out with us going to some kind of monk ceremony thing for Burin's nephew at a temple. He was beginning the process of becoming a monk for two weeks - a process I like to call "monkamorphosis." After this, we went back to the house where there was a separate monk event that was to take place. Nine monks arrived in a monkmobile, and they came in and did all the chanting and so forth, for the purpose of 'blessing the house.' Traditionally, Thai people, when they move into a new house (this was a new house), hold a ceremony where monks come in and bless the house, and it's all basically for good luck really. There were lots of family and family friends there that day, so the TV was turned off. But later in the afternoon, when we finally did turn it on, we learned of the earthquake/tsunami that had happened about 10:00 that morning, that took thousands upon thousands of lives all over Southeast Asia, including some on the island of Phuket (Thailand). So needless to say, our parents, friends, and almost anyone I ever knew freaked out and were worried about us. Luckily, we were about 600 miles away from where it all happened. What's scary is that we were actually planning to go to that island at some point while we were there. Thank God we hadn't gone yet, and for the lucky-monk-party. I even got holy water sprinkled on me that day by the head monk, and got a tiny brass good-luck elephant (elephants are a national symbol for Thailand, and symbolize good luck). Was it meant to be?

December 30, Burin Goes to Phuket. Yesterday on the news it was announced that the hospitals in Phuket needed volunteer doctors and interpreters, so Burin did the heroic thing and signed up to go, since he can do both and he is exactly what they needed. So he left early this morning to go, and he even got to take a military plane to Phuket so he thinks he's a bigshot now. :) I think Sean and I would have liked to have gone to help out, but unfortunately we had a flight out the next day to come home, and we couldn't really be guaranteed that we'd be back in time, so it was a little too risky for us to go, so we stayed behind. . .

December 31, Mississippi - here we come! ...we went to the airport to pick Burin up around 6pm ... as we were waiting, it was kinda sad because we saw a couple of people who had just gotten off a flight whose heads and arms were all bandaged up.. apparently, they were survivors of the tsunami...

It turns out that the hospital Burin went to already had enough doctors and things were pretty much under control by then, which is why he was there for less than two whole days (notice he didn't go until 4 days after the tsunami).

------

My heart goes out to all the survivors and victims of the earthquake in Haiti, to their family and friends. I hope they can soon find peace and comfort.

A year, or two, in review

2009-12-31T21:24:00.001-06:00

Wow, I can't believe I didn't do a 'year in review' this time last year, because, well, 2008 was pretty exciting. We moved to and from SoCal, went to tapings of Deal or No Deal and The Price is Right, experienced an earthquake. Went to Bangkok a time or three (and got 'married' there). Got engaged, officially. Found out we were expecting, subsequently found out it was a girl.

But I think 2009 has been the best year yet for me, for obvious reasons. The main reason being a super cute little girl named Macy. Then, after over nine years together, Burin and I finally ran down to the courthouse and got married.

I hope 2010 is good to us, and I'm sure it will be. I hope it's good to you, too.

The Night Before Christmas

2009-12-24T21:48:00.000-06:00

9 months

2009-12-22T08:02:00.000-06:00

Hello, neglected blog.

Macy is now nine months old and is growing like a weed. She finally got her first tooth and and has some more coming in. She is crawling at the speed of lightening and is pulling up on anything and everything she can. Trying her darndest to stand, too. :) She understands what "no!" means (or "no-no!"), and will shake her head yes and no (although I don't think she quite knows what she's doing). I can say "pat-a-cake" and she will clap her hands, and I can say "peek-a-boo" and she will cover her eyes. Oh, and when she hears music, she dances!

She had her nine month checkup yesterday. She is average for both height and weight (18.5 pounds). She got stuck twice - one finger prick for a CBC and one shot for the second part of her flu vaccine.

Christmas is quickly coming upon us, and I can't wait for her to get her presents from Santa. :)

In other news, today is Burin's birthday. I'll keep his age confidential. And I just joined a gym. Eep!

Another update soon! With pics, perhaps.

Trick or Treat!

2009-11-01T11:59:00.001-06:00

Here she is, our little baby bee, on her first Halloween!

Flashback Friday

2009-10-30T10:09:00.000-05:00

(click on image to enlarge a bit)

Ok, this isn't so much a 'flashback' as it is a let's-compare-mommy-and-baby-at-the-same-age photo. Macy was NO-O-O-O-T happy when I stripped her down to try to recreate that picture of me butt naked in my crib at six months. A couple of things to note: we're laying on the same Raggedy Ann & Andy blanket that my grandmother made (simultaneously now, "aww"). And let's just take a moment to marvel at my SWEET bumper pad. Lovely hues of pea green, mustard yellow, and tangerine orange. It was 1979 folks, what can I say. But Macy and I do favor a bit, no?

(I've been meaning to post this for a while, but forgot about it at some point. Oops.)

Fall, Family, Fun, Festivals, and Fairs

2009-10-21T21:46:00.000-05:00

I think October may just be my favorite month. It brings the start of the fall season, the Mississippi State Fair, my birthday, fall festivals, and Halloween!

Now, I admit, pre-baby we didn't go to the fair or any festivals, but now that we have Macy, I want to start being more active and start traditions early. And let me tell you, we have ventured out more in the past week than we have in the past ten years!

This past Saturday, we went to the Township Fall Festival on Highland Colony (didn't get there til towards the end but we still ate and had a family portrait made with the pony!). From there, we went to the Jackson Street Fall Festival. Not a lot going on there, but it was still nice to get out and walk around in the cool air.

On Monday, we went to the fair for a couple of hours. I think Macy enjoyed all the sights, smells, and sounds. Burin played a couple of games and won her a couple of stuffed animals! Then of course we had to eat some of the fair food. We ate at Penn's (this doesn't constitute as "fair food" to me though since you can go to Penn's at any time of the year), shared a funnel cake, and Burin got a roasted corn... cob.. thing. It was the first time in YEARS that I had been to the fair, and I'm pretty sure it was my and Burin's first time to go together as well! I'm telling you, we don't get out much, unless it's Target or WalMart.

This coming Saturday is the Renaissance Fall Festival. I'm not sure we'll make it to that one though since Burin has to work both Friday and Saturday nights, plus Macy and I have a little birthday party to go to that afternoon, but it sounds kinda fun.

Halloween is coming up after that and I cannot wait to get Macy all dressed up for her first Halloween! What oh what will she be??? ;)

Six Months

2009-09-25T17:39:00.000-05:00

I can't believe my baby is half a year old! As the saying goes, they grow way too fast! So what all have we been up to?

Well, our adventure with solid foods is going pretty well. So far she has eaten most everything I have given her, except chicken noodle dinner and turkey. I think it's the texture she doesn't like, so I'm going to wait a while before I try those again. But most all the other fruits and veggies she will eat.

She scoots and rolls all over the place and is trying her darndest to crawl! She gets up on all fours and rocks back and forth, and is on the verge of figuring out how to move one leg and arm at a time. It's only a matter of time before she takes off, I just know it! :)

She also sat by herself for the first time a few days ago. She still topples over eventually, so she still needs to work on those back muscles and learn to balance herself.

She is fascinated with carpet and will lay on the floor and scratch at it for minutes at a time.

She chews on everything, but no signs of teeth yet.

She loves the remote control, my BlackBerry, and Ziploc bags (yes, we let her crumple these while supervised). I'm determined to not buy her anymore fancy toys. (kidding.)

She reached for her daddy on her six-month birthday and it was the sweetest thing. She thinks the world of him.

She has started to babble a lot. So far it's "na na na na na na na," and last night she said "da da da" a few times. It even sounded like she said "blah blah blah" a couple of times!

She went for her six-month checkup last week and checked out ok, as usual. She weighs 16 1/2 pounds and is 25 1/2 inches. Head circumference is 42 cm.

So that about sums it up this go around. I had a lot more pictures I was planning to post, but I hate Blogger with every fiber of my being and its formatting and the things it does with photos and I just don't have time to mess with it right now. I can't even make paragraphs without having to put it in "edit html" mode?!?!

Oh well, until next time...

Quick update...

2009-09-02T00:07:00.000-05:00

...because I know you're ALL wondering, "What in the world happened to Brandi?" but mostly I know you're thinking, "It's about time for some more pictures of Macy!"

Well, a couple of weeks ago I cancelled the internet option on my BlackBerry, and right around the same time, my laptop crashed and died, so I have not been on the computer checking my email or facebook much at all since then because I'm not too thrilled about having to come use this big honkin' desktop.

But, I guess all this came at a good time and maybe it was a good thing to go cold turkey on computer/BlackBerry use because I was needing to do that anyway. I've been needing to try to structure my days more and do more things around the house and spend more time with Macy and all...

Things are looking up though as far as the laptop. Yes, I lost EVERYTHING on my hard drive... pictures, files, iTunes, you name it. I really don't want to think about it all. But fortunately we had a lot of pictures backed up on an external hard drive.. the one thing I'm mostly worried about right now is my iTunes. Gotta figure something out. Burin totally reformatted the computer and I think he is going to order another hard drive or something? I don't know. Hopefully I will get some pictures up soon though!

I think this one calls for celebration

2009-08-06T10:10:00.000-05:00

The first few times it was no big deal. I would dutifully take my lotion, lip gloss, and anti-bacterial out of the little purple makeup bag in my purse, put it in a Ziploc, and, like any obedient airline passenger, place it in the bin for TSA to inspect under the x-ray machine at the airport. I flew so many times between LAX and JAN last year that after a while, that Ziploc eventually became my permanent makeup bag. Switching those liquids from one bag to the other would be one less thing to worry about when traveling.

But somewhere along the way, I misplaced the little purple makeup bag, and I kept putting off looking for a new one because, well, the Ziploc worked fine, I guess. I mean, sure, it wasn't pretty, and no, I never took it out of my purse in public, but still, I just never put in the effort to get a new one. But yesterday, in the glorious land of Target, I finally got one. After carrying my powder and lip gloss around in a dirty, beat up Ziploc in my purse for a year - I think this calls for celebration.

Orlando Trip

2009-07-27T18:21:00.000-05:00

Two 30-year-old chicks, airports, hotels, rental cars, Cheesecake Factory, Mickey Mouse, American Idol Experience, Tower of Terror, roller coasters, House of Blues, souvenir shopping, Universal Studios, funnel cakes, The Ugly Truth, TGIFriday's, water rides (squishy, wet socks and shoes anyone?), The Cat in the Hat, Super Target (yes, Target!)...

That's the stuff fun trips are made of.

Four Months

2009-07-14T20:17:00.000-05:00

Macy had her four-month checkup today. Here's the stats, because I know you all want to know.

Weight: 14 lbs 12 oz (2 lbs heavier than two months ago)
Height: 24 1/2 in (1 1/2 inches longer than two months ago)
Head: 40 cm (err.. no change..)

Sorry Valerie, they didn't write down the percentiles this time!

What has Macy been up to?

2009-07-08T23:30:00.000-05:00

What else do I have to post about?

Chillin' in tha crib.

Tummy time.

First spoon feeding. Yes, more ended up on her than in her tummy.

Bumbo time.

(Have I mentioned that Macy is potty-trained? Yes, that's right. Every time she sits in her Bumbo, she goes poo. I. kid. you. not.)

And finally, she found her feet.

Her First Fourth

2009-07-04T02:15:00.000-05:00

Macy is terribly excited about celebrating her first Fourth of July!

Happy Independence Day!

We don't feed this child soap, I swear...

2009-07-01T00:09:00.001-05:00

...but she does like to bubble.

Laughter

2009-06-01T23:17:00.000-05:00

My baby is growing up too fast! She laughed for the first time today, and it was the sweetest sound. I must admit I'm a little jealous because Burin was the one holding her and playing with her in the back seat of the car before we left a parking lot. I was in the driver's seat so I didn't get to see it the first time, but I heard it. Then he turned her around to where I could see her and she laughed again! It was the cutest thing.

Anyway, in addition to rolling over, sucking on her hands, and grabbing/pulling on the front of her shirt or dress, her new thing is to suck her bottom lip in! She almost looks like a little old toothless man when she does it.

Pics coming soon! We got a new camera and I just haven't taken the time to figure out how to get the pictures off!

Two-month Checkup

2009-05-22T03:08:00.000-05:00

Macy had her two-month checkup on Tuesday and checked out fine! She got her first round of vaccinations - one oral and three injections. :( Not too many tears were shed. She cried for all of about two minutes and was asleep by the time we pulled out of the parking lot.

She is growing! Here's her stats:
Weight: 12 lbs 13 oz (80%)
Length: 23 inches (50%)
Head circumference: 40 cm (75%)

Burin is always commenting that Macy looks older than two months, and he attributes it to her face looking more mature than other two-month olds. Dr. Ellison even made a comment about how she looks older than two months!

She can almost hold her head up completely now, and is on her way to rolling over.. she just can't quite get her arm out from under her. She'll probably be walking by the time she's six months :D

Anyway, she goes back in July for her four-month checkup and second round of shots.

Wordless Wednesday

2009-05-20T11:31:00.000-05:00

The Knot is Tied!

2009-05-18T22:10:00.000-05:00

Why I Love My Refrigerator

2009-05-14T11:00:00.000-05:00

(click to enlarge if you feel so inclined)

I love going to my refrigerator. Why? Not because of what's in it (well... sometimes), but because of what's on it. I recently got out my ACEO collection and bought some of those magnet frames and stuck some on my fridge, collage-esque. I figured, what good are they doing in a binder where I can't see them? I love these little things. Tiny, affordable works of art. I think I'll be hitting up Etsy again soon to add to my collection. Wouldn't it be awesome to have my whole fridge covered with these? And if you haven't noticed, I seem to have a little theme going on....

I'll let you guess which one of these I made myself. ;)

The two chicks on the right are graduating this year! Congrats Nanci-Taylor and Courtnay!

Mother's Day and Fun With Iron-ons

2009-05-11T13:55:00.000-05:00

I had a great weekend/first Mother's Day visiting with friends and family! Macy had a little fever and was not feeling too well though, poor baby. :(

I thought I'd get a little creative, if you will, and bought some iron-on letters and made an "I luv Dot" onesie. I printed off a picture and put it in a 'grandma's brag book' for my mom for Mother's Day. I going to do the same for Pop (my dad) and put a picture in a frame for Father's Day next month!

Macy is two months old today! I'll do a two-month update after her appointment on Wednesday to get her shots. That is, if she'll be able to get them since she's been having fever (again today).

Things I Love About Her

2009-04-24T18:20:00.000-05:00

*The way she puckers her lips and looks up at me with her big brown eyes. It is so funny!

*Her cute little baby snores.

*The way she curls her fists close to her chest or mouth when she eats.

*The way she stretches - LOUDLY.

*The way she smiles when she is drowsy.

*Her eyelashes, which have really sprouted within the past couple of days.

*The way she "talks" sometimes when she has her pacifier.

*Her long toes - and the way she curls them.

*The way she sometimes reminds me of a Kewpie doll.

(photo taken from here)

Happy Easter!

2009-04-12T10:23:00.000-05:00

We took Macy to Northpark on Thursday to have her picture made with the Easter Bunny! She behaved pretty well. ;)

And the Easter Bunny came to visit her too! Here's her (not-so-traditional) Easter basket. He kept it pretty simple this year: some rattles, burp cloths, Easter booties, pacifiers, a Pat the Bunny book, and a pink hippo puppet/bath mitt (hidden behind the book).

Hey hey hey

2009-04-11T22:08:00.000-05:00

Look who's one month today!

(1 month Onesie compliments of Culpeper General!)

Err... 42 week update..?

2009-03-25T11:57:00.000-05:00

Well, most of you know by now that Macy made her arrival two weeks ago today on Wednesday, March 11, 2009, at 1:52pm. She weighed 8 lbs 1 oz (WHERE that came from I have no idea) and was 20 1/2 inches long.

So far motherhood has been great, but very busy and very trying at times! And Burin is so much greater at being a daddy than I ever thought he would be. He is right there changing diapers, feeding her, changing her clothes, and holding her every chance he can get!

Macy is a good baby so far and only fusses when she needs a diaper change or when she is hungry (which is A LOT), or when she just wants to be held. She doesn't really have much of a sleep routine yet (I mean, she is only two weeks old), but we're working on it.

Some of her little quirks - when she's hungry she turns her head all the way to one side and opens her mouth wide, like a little baby bird. And when she is in that half-awake/half-asleep state, she often smiles for about one second and it is the most beautiful smile! I can't wait until she really starts smiling. As far as her features, she definitely got her daddy's eyes and toes, and my nose and lips.

She went for her two-week appointment on Monday and she checked out well! She was up to 8 lbs 3 oz (weight at discharge from the hospital was 7 lbs 9 oz) and was still 20 1/2 inches long. Both height and weight were in the 50th percentile (that was for you Valerie!). We go back in mid-May for her two-month shots, which I know is going to kill me. :(

Overall, Macy is a happy and healthy baby and we are so blessed - she is perfect. She loves when her Pop and Dot and Uncle Chris come to visit and give mommy a little break, and she can't wait to meet her Uncle Sean and Aunt Dana!

Happy little family.

Macy in her going-home outfit, the same one I wore home 30 years ago.

Close-up!

Panda butt.

Bright eyes!

38 Week Update

2009-03-05T19:25:00.001-06:00

This could very well be the last picture of me pregnant! I had my 38 week (and 4 days) appointment today and I am dilated 3 cm. Everything still looked great and the doctor said she wouldn't be surprised if the big day was sometime this weekend or early next week! We will see. :)

37 Week Update

2009-02-27T22:17:00.000-06:00

I went for my 37 (and a half) week appointment yesterday and everything looks good! I'm dilated 1/2 cm, the baby's head is 'way' down, and she currently weighs in at 6 lbs 14 oz, which is in the 47th percentile blah blah blah statistics blah blah blah. So she'll definitely be a 7+ pounder when she gets here.

In the aftermath of the baby shower, I've been trying to get things together to pack in "the bag." Yes, that bag. The one I will hopefully remember to grab on my way out the door to the hospital. If anyone has any suggestions besides what's in the books and on websites as to what to pack, let me know!

Oh and check this out. I will be stylin' and profilin' in the hospital in my delivery "Gownie." Sorry, I will not model it for you at this time. If you want to see it, come see me in the hospital after the baby is born. :P

In other news and baby preparations, I completed the 4-week "Prepared Childbirth" class a couple of weeks ago, and this past Thursday night I took the breastfeeding class. Doesn't mean that I'm any wiser though! :D I've also been doing a little bit of baby laundry, and finally got all her bibs, receiving blankets, burp cloths, washcloths, waterproof mattress pads, socks and mittens all washed up. I still need to wash her actual clothes though, but kinda hesitant to, not knowing if she'll be able to fit into anything or not, and not knowing what the weather will be like! If I can return anything, I probably will, but just won't know until she gets here. Mom also got the layette that I wore home from the hospital 30+ years ago all washed up and ready to go - so yes, that means that Macy will be wearing the same outfit home. :)

It's all beginning to seem so real now, and it frightens me that in no less than about... oh, three weeks, we're gonna have a baby! But with some great advice from experienced mommy friends, I think we'll be just fine. ;)

Baby Shower!

2009-02-15T13:48:00.000-06:00

Had a great time at my baby shower yesterday! Thank you to everyone who came and brought (or sent) gifts!! Here's a few pics.

Me in my baby shower flair: a "new mom to-be" tiara and a baby booty corsage:

The diaper cake that Amanda made. LOVE IT and will not ever want to take it apart.

Mmm FINGER FOOD.

My cupcake tree!

The festivities/opening gifts. (Notice the pink baby rattle balloon in the upper right corner!)

One of my favorite gifts! A burp cloth with the baby's name embroidered on it made by a previous co-worker of mine!

Sweet baby

2009-02-14T00:59:00.000-06:00

Just had to post a quick picture of the vinyl wall decals that I bought from singlestonestudios on Etsy!

More to come later on my baby shower(s)!!

Foto Friday

2009-02-06T18:11:00.000-06:00

Finally. Furniture!

I love the clean, simple lines of this crib. It's not your typical "lifetime/convertible" crib (which realistically I know we would never use for a lifetime), and doesn't have the drop-side, which means it's safer. :)

The dresser/changing table combo, with her first books, stuffed bunny, and some little flowers in the cubby holes. :)

This is the "mawmaw" table, as Burin calls it. He can't stand these little tables, haha. But we already had it and I didn't want to buy anything else, so I put it in the nursery and bought a dark brown tablecloth for it.

I bought the little pink piggy bank at Hobby Lobby yesterday. It was only five bucks and I thought it was too cute not to get. :)

I will post more pics when I get the wall art in that I ordered. I also plan to paint/do something myself, just trying to come up with what (or if i can do it! haha).

Macy finally has somewhere to sleep and have her diapers changed

2009-02-01T12:52:00.000-06:00

We got the crib and dresser/changing table combo in yesterday! Also got the bedding washed up and put in. Pics coming soon! (Wanna get some kinda artwork on the walls first) ;)

Fun Finds

2009-01-28T11:12:00.001-06:00

So in preparations for Macy's arrival, we pretty much did a complete overhaul of the house this past weekend. The main thing we needed to do was get all the JUNK (and when I say JUNK, I do mean JUNK) out of the junk bedroom so that we could convert it to her nursery. And boy did we have some junk in the trunk. We threw out a TON of trash (and recycling!).

I just had share with you our most amusing finds that I'm not sure we will be able to part with solely due to their hilarity factor. I'm sure Burin thought he was the bomb dot com with these high-tech gadgets. Check out this cell phone and laptop (circa 1997?)!!

The laptop has to weigh like.. 13 pounds (and is about two inches thick), and the cell phone isn't much lighter. I mean, I'm pretty sure he communicated with aliens with this thing.

Misread signs by Brandi

2009-01-15T13:05:00.001-06:00

There's a store around the corner from here called Material Possessions. Every time I see the store name I get a little excited thinking it says Maternal Possessions... (omg it's a new maternity clothing store!)

Then I saw a billboard the other day advertising a casino in Vicksburg, and in big letters it said "Mystery Points." At first glance I swear I thought it said "Maternity Pants," and again got excited and was like "where?! ....... oh.."

Can you tell I'm in desperate need of somewhere else to shop for maternity clothes? I don't like it when I get let down like that.

I still can't get used to it

2009-01-09T18:52:00.000-06:00

It seems like almost every place of business I go into these days, someone is asking how far along I am, or when I am due.

I walked in the bank yesterday and the teller was like, "when are you due?" I thought she said "what do you do?" and I must have had this "come again?" look on my face (I mean, what business of it was hers what I do?), so she asked again. It finally registered, and I was like, "oh, in March." :)

Then I was in the produce section of Wal*Mart the other day and this old man comes right up next to me and asks, "how soon?" And again, I must've had this "huh..?" look on my face (you can't blame me here, it was an odd question), so he asked again. I said, "two more months."

"Whaddja order?"

"A girl." :)

And he walked off. It was kinda funny.

Maybe one of these days it won't catch me off-guard when someone asks. I guess maybe I still can't believe I'm pregnant. Or I "forget" that my belly is growing to noticeable proportions.

And I feel like my legs are getting shorter. Maybe that's because I can't see all of them when I look down.

Baby Bedding

2009-01-03T21:52:00.001-06:00

Ok, after MUCH searching for baby bedding, I think I have found it! You can click on the photos for a larger view and more detail.

**Update: It has officially been ordered! Yay! I actually got something done!

(I only wish her nursery could look like this!)

And here's a matching lamp and organizer:

Drum roll please...

2008-12-27T11:29:00.001-06:00

Here's a couple of pictures of Burin, me, and the 28-week belly on Christmas day at the elder Nowell household. Please forgive my general swollenness.. well, for obvious reasons, and then I had a cold, so I was sniffly, coughy, and sneezy (and still am) so my face looks like a mess.

Everything is still going pretty well with the pregnancy. I had an appointment a couple of weeks ago and everything looked really good. I had to do the glucose tolerance test, they checked for anemia, etc. and all the levels were great. I also had to get a shot because I'm Rh-negative, and will more than likely have to get another one after the baby is born. :(

They also did another sonogram, and the baby looks good. The tech could even tell that she already has some hair on her head! :) I can't wait to put tiny little baby bows in her hair. And do a little water spout ponytail on top of her head. Of course I would never do these things to myself, only tiny helpless little people that it actually looks cute on.

And now the moment you've all been waiting for: her name. Now keep in mind that this is not typed onto her birth certificate with a typewriter just yet, but it's the name that we think we're going with. I'll explain each one individually. (Got a while?)

First name: Macy

No, not after the department store, Macy Gray, or William H. Macy. We just like the name, it's a little different, it's only two syllables, easy to pronounce, and it's short (up against her gigantizoid last name). Also, when I was looking at the Nowell family tree (after we had decided on Macy), I came across a Macy Nowell who was born probably in the late 1800's/early 1900s, and was my great-grandfather's brother's daughter. How cool is that?! So it's a family name too.

Middle name: Blair

It's Mom's maiden name. Simple as that. And it's pretty.

Middle name #2 (yes, that's correct): Bunman

Pronounced boon-MON, it's Burin's mother's first name. He really wants her name to be a part of the baby's name, and his mom meant the world to him, so I can understand and oblige (I guess) :) Plus, she can just use the middle initial B, which will go for either middle name.

Last name: N.

Sooo.. there you have it.

Macy Blair Bunman N.

Lord help the poor child. ;)

LOOK!

2008-12-04T10:31:00.000-06:00

There's a snowman next to my Christmas tree!

>

Orrr that's possibly just me at 25 weeks/6 months. Only gonna get bigger, folks.

Here are some names that have crossed our minds: Sophee, Aven, Brooklyn, Macy, Brighton, and for possible middle names, Kate and Blair. Let us know what you think!!

(Also, see post below if you haven't already!)

♥
Brandi

Going private

2008-12-01T13:13:00.000-06:00

Sooo I think over the next couple of weeks I'm going to make my blog private. If I am related to you, friends with you, or went to school with you, and you would like to be on the list of 'allowed' readers, just send your email address to me at brandinowell at gmail dot com and I will send you an invite and add you. You will have to have a Google account to sign in though, but if you don't have one, you can sign up for one when I send the invite. Thanks.

♥
Brandi

It's a GIRL!

2008-11-22T22:30:00.000-06:00

Ok, well - as you can (or cannot?) see - I'm having a girl! {which i'm sure the whole universe knows by now...} I had an appointment on Thursday and found out I didn't have a sonogram scheduled until my next appointment, but I got out my puppy eyes and talked them into doing it on that day instead! :D As soon as the picture came up on the big screen, Burin and I both saw it at the same time, but I was speechless and was waiting for someone to confirm that it was a girl! We are too excited though, and I can't wait to start shopping for shoes and clothes! She seems to be healthy though and is still kicking and dancing up a storm with these feet of hers, and I'm loving every minute of it.

In other pregnancy news, I have now invested in Zantac and Tums, and it's becoming increasingly harder and harder to bend over to put socks and shoes on and to get in and out of the Pilot. And some days I feel like I'm already waddling (I'm 'only' 24 weeks, y'all). I will work on an updated belly shot soon!

Last but not least, I'm back home for good now, and have been for a couple of weeks! Burin flew back out to CA today to pack up the rest of our stuff, and he and his friend will be driving back here over Thanksgiving. :)

PS - no names yet. We're working on it! If you have any ideas, throw them our way. Unless you're S&D and can only come up with names like Bessie and Bertha and Brangelina. :P

Remembering Mr. Perkins

2008-11-03T10:57:00.001-06:00

Some of my earliest memories about Amanda's dad, Mike, involve him sitting at his work bench, working on some false teeth in his lab at their home, wearing those headset magnifier glasses, and going out on the boat those few summers. We'd stop at the gas station to fill up and get some potato chips and drinks, and head to the reservoir. It was there that I first attempted water skiing. He would eventually trade in his boat and his little truck for a convertible Mustang, and several years later, he would trade in his dental lab for an 18-wheeler and the open roads of the United States.

He was an avid Pearl "Pirate" Band groupie parent, and rarely missed a football game or band competition.

He was a pretty cool, laid-back, funny, easygoing man. A man whose 'vices' were Waffle House, Marlboros, and Necco candy wafers.

This is the last time I saw him. October 31, 2006, at Amanda's wedding.

He passed away last night, and he will be missed.

Please keep Amanda and her family in your thoughts and/or prayers.

"When are you moving back?!"

2008-10-27T17:53:00.001-05:00

Man, if I had a dime for every time someone has asked me that! :D haha.. it's good to be loved.

Here's my schedule (drum roll please):

November 7 - Flight from LAX > JAN. I'm bringing Moby and coming home! (for two weeks.)

November 22 - Flight from JAN > LAX. Burin, my dad, and I fly back out here to CA, pack up the car, and my dad and I are driving back to MS over the next three days or so, hopefully making it back by Thanksgiving day. Burin is thinking about going back to Bangkok for a couple of weeks, so he won't be coming with us. He'll come back to MS in his own time. ;)

And there you go.

What was that?

2008-10-20T23:06:00.000-05:00

You're ready for a non-baby related post? I guess I can oblige. Here we go.

Things I will miss about California:

the shopping - so many places to choose from!
In-N-Out
all the beach cities - so cool!
the weather - not too hot, no humidity (though I really do miss thunderstorms)
the diversity
Taco Surf - a really cool local Mexican restaurant
Trader Joe's
all the places to go and things to do in general

Things I will NOT miss about California:

traffic
smog
El Pollo Loco commercials - most annoying jingle EVER
this house - the ants, the street noise, the bad electrical wiring.. ugh
the rumble of fireworks off in the distance coming from here at promptly 9:30pm almost every night
skunks - omg the skunks
earthquakes - one was enough for me, thanks (though tornados are much scarier)
1850 miles

Good trip home

2008-10-16T23:12:00.000-05:00

I had a great time at home last week. I had several appointments and got to see lots of friends and family! :)

On Monday morning I had another pre-natal appointment and they did another sonogram. However, the baby decided to be stubborn and uncooperative, so we still don't know if it's a boy or a girl (hmm... stubborn and uncooperative.. a boy?!). ;) Maybe they'll do another one at my next appointment on 11/13.

The stats: the baby weighs 9 ounces, heart rate was 164, and my due date (as of Monday) is March 14!

I made it back safely to CA last night. At one point on the plane I looked down and noticed that one of the tiny diamonds in my engagement ring had fallen out. I am so disappointed! I guess we will see if the store can replace the stone. I hate dealing with things like this.

On a better note, I got my hair cut today and it was long overdue! It feels sooo much better.

I'm pretty tired and I may quite possibly be going to bed soon. (It's not even 9:15.. ugh). I'll blame it on jetlag rather than the fact that I'm now 30.

That's it.

2008-10-10T23:50:00.001-05:00

It's official. I'm officially a pregnant person. I'm now the (proud?) owner of maternity pants.

Oh yeah.

Stylin' and profilin'.

(no, this isn't me. everyone knows i'm not that tall and skinny!)

..And the baby was kung fu fighting!

2008-09-30T19:31:00.001-05:00

The baby was doing a little kung fu today and Burin was able to feel it move a couple of times! Wow!

Milestone!

2008-09-28T13:59:00.000-05:00

So, things are going along great! I'm 16 weeks today, and I have safely made into my second trimester. Yesterday I reached a pregnancy milestone - I think I felt the baby move! It was kinda funny though, because in my pregnancy book and on online baby sites, they say that you will be able to feel the baby move somewhere between 16 and 22 weeks, but first time mothers might not feel it so early (as 16 weeks). So I was all lounged out here in the living room with my feet propped up on the coffee table and my laptop kinda resting on my belly, when I felt a little *poke* and then another little *poke* a few inches below my belly button, right in the center. It was definitely not something I have felt before so I'm pretty sure it was the baby. I told Burin as soon as it happened, and he nonchalantly said "I think it's too early for you to feel - go use the bathroom." :D But, I think I finally have him convinced, and now he can't wait to feel the baby move! I also felt another little poke followed by some flutters last night. :)

I haven't gained but about three pounds since I found out I was pregnant, so I guess that's not too bad, but I know it's coming, one way or the other... I'm not in maternity clothes yet, but I will very soon be going out to find a BellaBand. I've been sitting around the house with my jeans unbuttoned and I'm sure before I know it, I'll be walking around with them unbuttoned too! So, BellaBand it is - stat!

I've been looking online a lot for baby bedding and I think I finally found one that I think I might go with, which could be for either a boy or a girl. I'm not going to post it just yet until I either know for sure, or until I buy it, because I kinda want it to be a surprise for Burin (because of what's on it and what it symbolizes) :) I think it would be neat though. But fear not! I will for sure be posting something one of these days about what bedding we're getting.

I've also been on a mission to find a baby memory book, and I think I found one I like at Borders, but it didn't have a barcode anywhere on it. I think it was probably supposed to come in a box, which was nowhere to be found, so I didn't bother with it. I'll see if I can find it somewhere else or maybe on Amazon, and in the meantime check out other baby books and compare them all. The baby book is something my mom did for all of us, and I without a doubt plan to do one for mine too! It's always fun to look at them every few years or so and see my 'firsts' and my measurements and locks of hair, etc. I need to get one soon though so I can start on it (the part leading up to the birth) before I start to forget stuff.

My second pre-natal appointment is coming up on 10/13, the day before my big 3-0!! They're supposed to be doing bloodwork at this one so it's not going to be too fun. :(

15 Weeks

2008-09-22T23:46:00.001-05:00

I'll consider this my first official prego picture. Do you spy a baby bump? :)

In case you haven't heard...

2008-09-12T12:32:00.001-05:00

We've got a baby on the way, due in mid-March, and we are all terribly excited! I am 13 weeks right now and I'm not really showing yet, but when I do start to get that baby bump, I'll post pics.

I had my first pre-natal appointment on September 4, and everything looked great. The baby looked healthy and was doing acrobatics, martial arts, gymnastics, something! The baby was so excited to see us that its arms and legs were flying everywhere - it was so cute! And the heart rate was 162 which is really good.

I cannot wait to find out if our little bean is a boy or girl! Then I can really start focusing on names and nursery themes/colors! :D

It also occurred to me yesterday that I'll be celebrating the next Mother's Day!

♥

Our New Favorite Place

2008-08-18T23:16:00.000-05:00

Over the weekend we went down to our new favorite shopping center in Rancho Cucamonga called Victoria Gardens. It is the neatest place! It is like an outdoor mall/village type shopping center, and there are tons of retail shops and restaurants. There's also a movie theatre and cultural center there. It's very kid and family friendly, and they have this little park area where they have different events on the weekends.

We went on Saturday and were there for a few hours. As we passed by this park area, we heard some live music so we decided to sit for a while and listen. This girl's name is Brooke Ramel, and she was very good - she sounds just like Jewel! She mostly did covers and took lots of requests, but she does have some songs of her own. Her songs have been featured in a couple of movies and a plethora of TV shows, like the Gilmore Girls, Six Feet Under, Charmed, and Dawson's Creek.

As you can tell, the kids loved her and they loved sitting on the steps right in front of her. It was so cute when she played a more upbeat song and all the kids started dancing around! This photo is a bit grainy, but these were two little sisters that were close to us and they were so cute!

Ants are going to pick me up and carry me away.

2008-08-08T21:29:00.000-05:00

Any day now, I'm just waiting for it. I'm waiting for my chair to slowly start gliding across the floor.

I AM SO SICK OF ANTS.

They are everywhere. Mostly in the kitchen, but it doesn't matter. Upstairs, downstairs, wherever. I have put probably twice the legal amount of insecticide out in the yard, I have somewhere in the neighborhood of, ohh, 30-something ant baits on the floors, counters, and cabinets. I'm sick of having to keep my cereal and Blow Pops in the refrigerator. I try REALLY hard to keep my counters clean and to keep Moby's little eating station cleaned, but NOTHING IS WORKING.

What's the next step? Get used to them already, or call the exterminator? Because apparently my extermination skills are lacking.

HALP. :(

5.4

2008-07-29T20:00:00.000-05:00

5-7 seconds. That's about as long as it lasted. 5-7 seconds.

I knew sooner or later we'd experience an earthquake, seeing as we are in California, and today was the day. I was in the shower (yes, the shower, of all places) and had just picked up my face wash bottle when I felt a bit of a jolt, I guess. My initial thought was that it was a truck bumping/passing by, as we do live right by a semi-busy road. But the longer it lasted, I knew it was a quake. So what did I do? Just stood there. In a glass shower. And "watched" the shaking and listened to the house creak and crack. As soon as it stopped, I stood there and yelled "HONEY!!!!!" as if to expect Burin to come "rescue" me or something. So I grabbed my towel and ran out of the shower and ran downstairs to where Burin was. The whole time, he was down here yelling "Brandi!!! Where are you?!?!" But of course I couldn't hear him for the shower.

Burin had gone to work for a little while this morning after having been on call last night, and got home and got into his comfy clothes, a t-shirt and undies (teehee). He was sitting in one of the chairs in the living room and he said with the initial jolts, it felt like someone had hit him in the back, or pushed the back of the chair and made him jump. When he figured out what it was, it didn't take him too long to get his jeans back on! I think he felt it more on the ground floor, which makes sense I guess. He said he had felt an earthquake in Thailand a long time ago and this one was worse.

But man, it was crazy! I was shaken up for a good two hours afterwards. Nothing fell off the counters or anything here and as reported on the news, there has been no major structural damage and no injuries anywhere. There has been some cosmetic damage and some groceries off the shelves at stores closer to the epicenter, but nothing too bad, thank goodness. I'm just glad I wasn't in one of the tall buildings in downtown LA, where they said the buildings were swaying. Can you imagine.

So after a few minutes when things calmed down, I called mom and told her about it, and then went to very quickly finish my shower because I was afraid aftershocks were coming, but we never felt anymore. They said that this one was the worst in 14 years, since the Northridge one back in 1994, which was a 6.1 and killed something like 72 people and injured hundreds more.

Hopefully this will be our last quake to experience, and if not our last, maybe it's the worst we'll experience.

Update update!

2008-07-11T00:25:00.000-05:00

We're still engaged! But no wedding plans yet. At all.

Tenneille came out and visited me a couple of weeks ago and we had a blast! The day she got here we went to Universal Studios, which was a lot of fun. Now, I'm not a fan of The Simpsons or anything (and I'm especially not fond of the "are we there yet?" commercials), but that new Simpsons ride was frikken awesome! I wanted to do it again but did not want to stand in that line again. Most of the other rides and attractions there was pretty cool too. Another day we went to Disneyland, which was ok, just a lot of kids and kiddie stuff. Most of the rides there were pretty amazing though. And OMG! we saw an actor there with his kids and a couple other people. His name is Rick Gomez and I only know him as Dave from the sadly-cancelled TV show "What About Brian," which was on for only a couple of seasons, last year maybe. He also had a very small part in that Transformers movie.

What else did we do. Oh! We went to The Price is Right! (I know, we're sooo cheesy). But it was so much fun! The waiting process was long and ridiculous, as in we got there before 6am to attend the 1pm taping. It was pretty rad though, and the studio of course looks so much smaller in person than it does on TV. The show came on yesterday morning and I saw us a couple of times!

The rest of the time we just rode around (because gas is just sooo cheap here) and went up to Malibu, the Santa Monica Pier, Huntington Beach, Hollywood, etc. Next time we'll try to make it to Jay Leno or something.

:D

Headed Back to the Land of Thai

2008-05-12T00:38:00.000-05:00

Well in about 24 hours we're headed back to Bangkok! We'll be gone for one week and are going for his brother's wedding which is next Sunday the 18th. I'm actually kinda looking forward to this trip because the last two were for unfortunate reasons and they were just very emotionally draining.

Anyway, it's our first trip as an engaged couple.. aawwwww. I know, I know... *gag*

♥
brandi

A new day, a new month, a new... relationship status?

2008-05-02T18:28:00.000-05:00

Ok I'll get right to the point WE'RE ENGAGED (as most of you know by now)!

Eight years on and it finally happened! We had of course been talking about getting engaged off and on over the years. We always knew we'd eventually get married, it was just a matter of starting the process and making it official, and now seemed like the 'right' time. We just wanted to make sure we were the one for each other! :D

So we went shopping for our rings last weekend in Hollywood at a shopping center called Hollywood & Highland. We had kinda looked in this store called Teno before and both remembered that we really liked their jewelry. It's a German company and everything in there is stainless steel and has a really modern and unique feel to it. We 'bought them out' so to speak, and ended up getting both my ring and band, and his band as well. No, this isn't your traditional engagement ring, but hey, when have we ever been traditional? hehe.. I love it. :)

I didn't get to wear the ring right away though, because Burin wanted to have a proper proposal and had in his mind how he wanted to do it. He happened to be off work yesterday (May 1), so we went to Seal Beach yesterday morning and luckily there was nobody really around (or we would have had to find someplace else because we all know how modest I am and don't like to cause a scene!). So he quickly got down on his knee in the sand by the water with the seagulls as our witnesses and asked. And that's when I said those three little words:

"It's about time." :)

Afterwards we went to have brunch at a restaurant that was right there on the water, and then went on about our day. And that was it.

We'll more than likely have the wedding in MS because we all know Doris ain't gonna get on a plane and come out here :P .. and we're thinking around August/September? I'll keep everyone posted with the details as I know them!

So, back to reality, everything has been great out here in CA! We're loving it. The gas prices, not so much. Tenneille rode out here with me when I moved in mid-March, and we had a blast the two days she was able to spend out here. We did a touristy Hollywood tour on one day and went to a taping of Deal or No Deal the next day. That particular episode (Star Wars-themed) actually aired this past Monday night and we were able to see ourselves a few times in the audience! Other than that, Burin and I mostly hang around here, though we have ventured out a time or two and rode along the Pacific Coast Highway, which in some areas has amazing views of the Pacific from a cliff. One of my favorite things to do is go to Hollywood and ride along Hollywood Blvd. or especially the Sunset Strip, look at the neat shops and restaurants, and watch for celebrities! LOL.. haven't had any sightings yet though, unfortunately (except for the time that Forrest Whitaker was on the same plane as I was coming from Memphis to LA). Maybe one day....

♥

brandi

What now.

2008-03-03T12:31:00.000-06:00

Well in my last post I guess I failed to mention that I was finally back at home for a little while! It was SO nice to not have to do a thing for an entire week.

On Wednesday though, I will be flying with my cat (as a carry-on, lord help me) out to California to get him settled in, and I will be back here in MS next Tuesday night (the 11th). Then, if the plans don't change, Tenneille and I will be leaving out next Friday afternoon with the Pilot packed up with as much stuff as possible and driving out to California and hopefully we'll arrive that Sunday afternoon. Tenneille will be flying back on Wednesday morning, and I will be staying out there! I'm sure it won't be too long after that that I'll be back for a visit. ;) Burin might even come back - he hasn't been here since early December! Starting in April he should be working seven days on and seven days off, so maybe we'll come back for a week and take care of some stuff around the house.

Off to clean and pack some stuff!

♥

Where in the world am I. And what am I doing.

2008-02-27T15:56:00.000-06:00

Funerals and weddings. Miss Universe and Pamela Anderson.

Wow, ok, so.. the past few weeks have been a whirlwind to say the least. Back on the 2nd of this month (a Saturday) I flew out to CA for what was to be about a week in order to look for a house. We found the ideal rental house that Sunday and signed a one-year lease on it that Wednesday! Here are the specs: it's in Signal Hill, a really nice community/city which is completely surrounded by Long Beach. It's a brand new two-story home with 3 bedrooms + a loft and 2.5 baths. As the name implies, it is on a 'hill,' and we are able to see out into the valley. The coolest part? On a clear day, from the loft window, you can see downtown L.A. and the Hollywood sign about 25-30 miles off in the distance! There is also direct access to one of the many parks in Signal Hill in the neighborhood so that is pretty cool too!

I was supposed to have been coming home that Friday night, but as many of you know, Burin's mother had been pretty sick and he had gotten a call that she was going downhill pretty quickly, so we both left on that Thursday and headed for Bangkok. Unfortunately she passed away just a couple of hours before we landed in Bangkok. So the next seven days were spent attending funeral services. In a nutshell, Thai funerals consist of having visitation at a temple for about six days, and a cremation service on the seventh day. Needless to say, it was very different from an American funeral.

For the next two days (Saturday and Sunday) I was sick in bed with food poisoning from a single slice of pizza, of all things. Not from some tainted street vendor food. (The pizza is what I had it narrowed down to anyway.) And I ate it out of courtesy! haha.. I wasn't too hungry but they had ordered pizza one night and had it delivered to the house, so everyone was like "Brandi, pizza! Brandi, pizza!!" So I ate a piece. And got sick. For two days. Although it wasn't nearly as bad as it could have been, thank goodness.

That Monday I was feeling better and was able to go shopping. See, Sean's wedding was Saturday and I was originally planning to come back home from CA and go shopping for something to wear to it, but since the plans changed and I was in Bangkok and was going to be flying directly to Virginia for the wedding, I had nothing to wear and had to go shopping so that I could take it with me! Luckily, I found a suit from the first department store I went to.

Burin, his sister, and I went to the famous floating market outside Bangkok on Wednesday morning. On our way there, his sister stopped at a gas station to use the restroom and came back to the car and said she saw Miss Universe in there! Haha.. she had also come out at about the same time and got into a Mercedes. It was Miss Universe 2005 Natalie Glebova (of Canada). She has received a lot of press in Thailand because the pageant was held in Bangkok that year, and she is also married to Thai pro-tennis player Paradorn Srichaphan. So it seems that everyone there knows her. I totally did my research here because I don't keep up with stuff like that, and I know I never would have known who she was if I would have peed next to her. All these pageant people look the same to me!

So we went on to the floating market, which is something I had been wanting to do for a while. Basically it's where vendors sell their stuff (souvenirs, fruits, etc) from boats or from along the sides of the waterways and canals, and you as a tourist can rent a boat and shop from right there in the boat! It also makes for some really cool and very popular photographs. And guess who we ran into while there.. yea, Miss Universe. She was taking pictures as Burin and I were acting crazy so we might just be on her camera.

This sweet little old lady on the right is 78 years old and sells coconut juice from her boat. That's Burin's sister in the middle.

On Thursday afternoon, we left Bangkok to head back to CA. Sitting next to us on the plane was um.. I'll just say a "she-man." I glanced at his/her boarding ticket, and yes, his/her name was Pamela Anderson. Didn't look a thing like her.

So we made it back to CA on Thursday afternoon and we went to pick up the key to the house and made a run to Target to pick up a couple of things. My flight to VA for Sean and Dana's wedding was early the next morning and I had two (yes, two) layovers, one in Phoenix and one in DC. I finally made it, but my luggage didn't. You can imagine how worried I was that I'd be wearing my airplane clothes to the wedding the next day! Fortunately, it made it on a flight that next morning so I was able to get dressed. The wedding was in the mountains and it was very nice, small, and simple. Kinda chilly too, about 40 degrees, but we didn't have to be outside for very long. Here's the happy couple, who are now honeymooning in Ireland. *sigh*

♥brandi

Once Upon a Time...

2008-01-29T18:35:00.001-06:00

...I was tagged by Valerie to post seven random facts about myself. Um.. here goes:

1. I love cheese.
2. I have collections of the following items: ACEOs, stamps, postcards, coins, and those pennies that you get pressed into an oval that imprints an image or something from the touristy place that you are at. (All these things are from around the world)
3. I love to travel and have been to Europe and Asia. My goal is to visit each continent. :)
4. I broke my ankle playing tennis about six years ago.
5. Growing up I never had any pets. Or a swingset.
6. I have a cat named Moby now. Still no swingset.
7. I've never had a cavity.
And a bonus: I've been in the same dang relationship for eight years! (not married, not engaged... *sigh*)
And a shameless promo: I have an Etsy store in which I sell bottlecap magnets that I make because I get bored! www.moxiecreations.etsy.com!

I would tag people if I had anybody to tag!

Meet Claire.

2008-01-11T15:42:00.000-06:00

With all this 'free time' that I have lately, I've been trying to do productive things and have been trying to get into artwork more. I'm really fascinated by a genre of art called ACEOs, which stands for Art Cards, Editions, and Originals. The only "rule" is that this artwork be 2.5 inches by 3.5 inches, the size of a standard playing card (and many people actually do use a playing card as their canvas). Any medium can be used - paper, paint, wood, metal, fabric, anything, and they can also be originals, prints of originals, or photos.

This is actually the second ACEO I have done (the first one was blah). I used textured cardstock, a rubber stamp, ink, a flower sequin, and Swarovski crystals. The image of the girl is from an ad in a magazine I have from 1969 (I love the ads from that era!) - I did *not* draw her! .. I'm not that good. :)

So what do you do with these things? A lot of people collect them. I'm just starting my own collection, and you can buy baseball card binder inserts and keep them all in a binder. Or, there are picture frames this size that you can use to display them individually or in groups. You can also make a collage out of several of them and have it framed that way (which looks really cool).

Class dismissed.

:)

♥brandi

Another day, another year..

2008-01-01T23:15:00.000-06:00

Seems odd that Burin was supposed to have started his new job in Long Beach today. :( Another month, I guess.

Some of my resolutions:
*Recycle more and generally be more environmentally friendly/conscious
*Read more (books, magazines, news)
*Do more art/learn new techniques
*Do/learn more about photography
*Learn another language (um, Thai)
*Live a more simple, clean, and clutter-free life

Happy new year, all.

♥brandi

New Specs

2007-12-29T09:01:00.000-06:00

Here's my new specs that I got in Bangkok. The chicks and doods dig 'em.

♥brandi

Back home, but change of plans!

2007-12-28T11:54:00.000-06:00

I made it back home from Thailand a week ago and have been trying to adjust to the time difference! So far so good, I guess? I've actually been going to bed pretty early, around 9-10:00, and have been getting up pretty early, between 7-8:00. Anyone who knows me knows that those are not my usual hours because I'm such a night owl! :D I really don't know what to do with my time now that I'm not having to go to work. I haven't done anything really productive yet, but I've got some things on my list ;)

There's been a pretty big change of plans though. Burin and I were supposed to come back from Thailand together on December 21st, stay in LA for a couple of days, and come back to MS on the 23rd. Well, due to Burin's mother's condition, he decided to stay in Bangkok for a few more weeks. Long story short, his mother ended up having several complications from the surgery she had on November 19. She had another surgery around the 19th of December, and has been in the SICU for several days. During her time in the hospital, Burin has been overseeing her care and treatment because, well, the Thai healthcare system and the American healthcare system are different, and he is treating her the 'American' way, which has literally saved her life. So, in that regard, he was not ready to leave his mom when it came time for our flight on the 21st. But, I decided to come on back home by myself due to the holidays, etc., and I had my flight back to MS on the 23rd moved up to the 21st.

Burin cancelled the five shifts he was to be working at CMMC this week. And as far as him starting work in Long Beach on January 1st, he has postponed that as well, and is thinking it will now be February 1st, providing the medical group allows him to do that. So, we shall see. Until then, I'm hanging out here at home.

Most of my time in Bangkok was spent hanging out at the hospital with his family (there are lots of 'em!), and every once in a while his sisters would take me shopping or something.. haha. No touristy sight-seeing things on this trip, unfortunately. We tried to have some fun though. On my last night in Bangkok, several of us went out for pizza and then went to Swensen's for ice cream! And since Burin's birthday was the next day, we got him an ice cream cake. :) Here's a photo of us with only part of his family - brothers, sisters, nieces, and nephews!

♥brandi

Long Life the King!

2007-12-12T21:03:00.001-06:00

I know English has to be a confusing and diffucult language to learn.

However, it makes me chuckle when I see embroidered on a shirt: Long Life the King! (One of the current favorite phrases around here is "Long Live the King!")

Guess I'll get back to the movie I'm watching on TV:
Live as a House.

♥brandi

Sawatdee Kaa!

2007-12-11T01:37:00.000-06:00

Sawatdee kaa (hello)! I know, it's taken me forever to make a decent post since we arrived here in Thailand! We've been fairly busy, but today I have been at the house all day by myself so I figured I'd update while I had the time.

Burin's mom has been in the hospital for about three weeks or so due to surgery and subsequent complications from it, so we're actually at the hospital much of the time visiting with her and the rest of the family.

However, we have had the chance to go shopping at a couple of malls, shops, and street vendors. So far, I've bought about four shirts and two pairs of shoes. The shopping here is great because the prices are so cheap compared to the States! The two pairs of shoes together cost around $17.00! If you're ever in Bangkok, you should definitely check out Siam Paragon, a very nice upscale mall with lots of major restaurants, movie theatre, etc. I haven't done souvenir shopping yet because I plan to do that this weekend at Chatuchak, the world's largest weekend market, where there is a huge variety of items at really good prices.

I've had a variety of food here, both Thai and American (McDonald's, KFC, Starbucks!). The photo above was taken at a really good restaurant, one of Burin's favorites in Bangkok, called Ban Khun Mae (which translates to My Mother's House). It is located in the Siam Square area, which is filled with tons of restaurants and little shops with the coolest stuff!

We saw the King of Thailand the other night! His sister is in the same hospital that Burin's mother is in. He was visiting his sister (security was obviously very tight), and when he got ready to leave, they blocked the streets off and people lined up along the sidewalks to get a glimpse. We just happened to be walking back to the hospital from getting something to eat and showed up just in time. When the motorcade came through, the king was sitting by himself in the back seat of a car that was all lit up so that everyone could see him! It is so different here because the entire population loves and worships their king (as opposed to the US where half the population dislikes President Bush), so he doesn't have to worry much about assassination or anything of the like. So, that was kind of a neat experience.

Some everyday observations:

Beverages: most people drink water, and it's only bottled water here. Refills on sodas, coffee, etc., are not free.
Snacks: Thai people love to snack all day long. At any time, day or night, there are street vendors selling all different kinds of food. If you go to someone's house, they have all sorts of snacks out on the table or counter. Anyone who shows up to the hospital room usually has some kind of food or snack! Seems like people are always eating, and they love to bring and/or offer you food! :)
Shave-free Thailand: Thai women do not shave. So when I ran out of the travel-size shaving cream that I brought with me, I set out on a venture to find some shaving cream. Men's only. No tangerine-melon scented shaving cream for me. Um, yea..... :(
Traffic: is horrendous. Enough said.
Pedestrians do not have the right of way. They will run you over! Especially the ones on motorcycles!

Essential things you should always have on your person while here:

Hand sanitizer, Kleenex hand wipes, something.
A small pack of Kleenex tissues, travel size roll of toilet paper, something.
A calculator so that you can convert baht to dollars while shopping (most cell phones have calculators now though).
A camera, for obvious reasons.
A Thai-English dictionary (although I don't have one; Burin usually serves as mine).

A haiku, or two:

chao phraya river/longtail boats, water taxis/in bangkok, thailand

thai wats, lights come on/gold against the dark blue skies/along the river

(We were at a restaurant last night that overlooked the Chao Phraya River, which runs right in the middle of Bangkok; Burin was visiting with a couple of friends and I was kinda bored and being neglected. Haiku happened. Note: a "wat" is a temple.)

Hot Chili Squid-flavored Lay's potato chips anyone?

♥brandi

From Bangkok

2007-12-09T13:37:00.000-06:00

We made it safely to Bangkok and have been here for a week now. If we weren't leaving the house so early in the morning and getting home so late at night (and tired), I'd love to update. Coming soon though, I promise. :)

♥brandi

Off to Bangkok in the morning

2007-12-01T01:12:00.000-06:00

It is cold and wet here in SoCal! Two things you wouldn't imagine it would be.

We went to Huntington Beach today to look around at apartments and townhouses. We didn't actually look at any places but we did find a couple that had a 'for rent' sign in the front. We called the number to get info, but there was no answer. There is one place we're really interested in. It's a townhouse that we found for rent on homes.com before we left and we went to check it out. Of course it was almost 5pm so we didn't get an answer for that place either. It's a 3 bedroom, 2.5 bath, 2-story house with garage. Really nice. Here's a photo of it courtesy of the website.

We really like the area. It has all the essentials - Target, Starbucks, and Barnes & Noble. haha.. Seriously though, there are some really nice shopping places there. I could get used to it. :) We're going to try to call back in the morning about this one. Keeping our fingers crossed!

My next post will be from Bangkok! Our flight is at 11:30 in the morning out of LAX. Travel time: about 18 hours. Ugh. Need to go pack and break out the trusty Ziplock bags.

♥brandi

Final stop: Cypress, CA

2007-11-30T13:38:00.000-06:00

We left Tucson around 11:30 yesterday morning and made it to Phoenix about an hour and a half later, where we stopped to visit my aunt and uncle in Glendale. I haven't seen them in probably over a year, so it was nice to make a pit stop by their house and see where they live! Aunt Hazel had made some brownies and they were sooo good.....mmm..... wish I had one right now. Oh wait, I can have one right now because she sent some for the road. :)

We stayed about an hour at their house and had to hit the road again. I tried my darndest to get a picture of a cactus, so here's a picture of one I got through the window while driving about 75 miles an hour. Why I didn't get a picture of one in one of their neighbor's yards, yea, I dunno. I guess I thought it'd be more of a challenge to find one while flying down the interstate. I like to keep things interesting.

So anyway, we made it to Burin's friend's house here in Cypress, CA, which is somewhere between LA and Long Beach, around 9:00 last night. Burin had an appointment/drug test/etc with the company he will be working for this morning, so I'm here waiting for him to get back. This afternoon I think we're going to go look around at houses and/or apartments, and do any last minute things since we're leaving for Bangkok in the morning.

And one last bit of exciting news for Southern Californians: it is raining, and I mean pouring this morning!! From what I understand, it has been quite a while since they've seen rain, and I'm sure with all the recent wildfires, they're glad to see it. I'm sure some kind of record is being set right now. Of course it would have to be the day we had planned to go out and look at apartments and all. Nice. :)

(Ok so maybe the rain isn't such good news.. it has resulted in flash flooding, mudslides, and fatal car accidents. eep!)

♥brandi

Second stop: Tucson, AZ

2007-11-29T12:18:00.000-06:00

I think driving on I-20 across west Texas is the most boring thing I have ever done in my entire life. No, seriously. Between Abilene and El Paso there is nothing, and I do mean nothing, besides you and a million truckers. I got so bored I had to dig out my camera. Here are a few results.

A nice sunset:

Some kind of self-portrait:

And a thumbs-up from my chauffer:

When we finally made it to El Paso, we made a Starbucks stop (surprise?). El Paso is a really nice place. I was impressed.

However, I was not so impressed with New Mexico. It stinks. Literally. No sooner than we got crossed over the state line did it start stankin'. It smelled like.. well.. the stinky end of a farm. Then we had to go through "Border Patrol," which consisted of stopping, the guy asking if we're citizens, us nodding our heads yes, him saying "ok," and us going about our business. I mean.....?....

We called it a night about 11pm when we got to Tucson, AZ, and by that time I was reeallly tired. We stopped again at a Best Western, and I was highly disappointed when I found out at breakfast that they didn't have an Arizona-shaped waffle-maker.
:(

Til next time...
♥brandi

First stop: Abilene, TX

2007-11-28T10:04:00.000-06:00

We finally left Jackson yesterday around 4pm, a few hours later than we had originally planned. We made a Starbucks stop in Shreveport, an IHOP stop in Arlington, TX (between Dallas and Ft. Worth), and we are now in Abilene at a Best Western (which I highly recommend - very nice). We took turns driving and got here about 3:00 this morning.

Here I am with a waffle in the shape of TEXAS!

No, I'm not pointing anywhere near Abilene. And please excuse the bed-head/no-makeup-sleepy-face.

♥brandi

Globe Hopping

2007-11-08T00:47:00.000-06:00

November 21: My last day at work!

November 27-29: Drive from MS --> L.A.

November 30: L.A.

December 1: L.A. -->Thailand

December 21: Thailand --> L.A.

December 22: L.A.

December 23: L.A. --> MS

December 31: Burin goes back to L.A.

Whenever: Brandi goes to L.A.

~♥~
Brandi

Resignation

2007-10-29T22:23:00.000-05:00

So two weeks ago today I turned in my resignation at work! It was tough, but.. gotta do what ya gotta do. I'm gonna miss that place; the people mostly.

As it stands right now, my last day at American HealthTech will be November 21, the day before Thanksgiving, and we plan on heading out to Cali on November 28. Since they may or may not have someone hired in my place by the time I leave, I offered to come back in January on a contractual basis to help train the new person (if needed).

Once I get a timeline firmed up of where we will be and when (between MS, CA, and Bangkok) I'll post it here. Probably for my own sanity so I'll know where I'm supposed to be! :D

♥
Brandi

Trading Pine Trees for Palm Trees

2007-09-30T22:42:00.000-05:00

Back in March of this year, Burin went out to California to visit some friends for several days, and basically loved everything the area (L.A./Long Beach) had to offer - the beach, the mountains, the weather, the food, and just the diversity of it all. He began thinking about how he might like to live and work out there, and possibly in the future open up his own urgent care clinic for the Thai population out there (~100,000). So, "for fun," he applied for his CA medical license back in April. According to the Medical Board's website, it would be a six to nine month approval process, so we weren't expecting to hear anything until at least the end of the year. Well, only nine weeks later, he received his very own California medical license in the mail. We certainly weren't expecting things to move so fast!

Over the next several weeks, he began applying for jobs (as previously mentioned, he would eventually like to open up his own clinic, but instead of doing it right off the bat, it would be better for him to get to know the system, get to know people and locations and all, so it's better that he get a 'regular' job to start off with). Eventually, he got three interviews lined up for the first week of August, so we took a little vacation! It was my first time to visit Southern California, so we did lots of sightseeing and touristy things around LA, Hollywood, Malibu, Venice Beach, Long Beach... and while it still felt like a vacation, it was weird knowing that we could possibly be LIVING there within the next few months! But somewhere in between all the fun stuff he went on the interviews. He didn't feel too positive about the first two he went on, but the third one, everything clicked. This was the one he felt the best about all along (a hospitalist position at Long Beach Memorial Medical Center - comparable to Baptist or St. Dominic's here in Jackson). About a week after we returned from the trip, he got a call and was offered the position. ( ! )

So yes, that's right: we're moving to California! He is slated to start his employment with LBMMC January 1, 2008.

"What about you, Brandi?" you might ask. I'm excited as ever and scared to death all at the same time! I've lived in Mississippi (and right around my family) practically my whole life, so this will definitely be a life-altering experience. One I'm looking forward to though. :) The world is so much bigger than Mississippi, and those who know me well know that I'm a city girl who loves to travel and experience different places. And, I've always wanted to live somewhere else, so here's my chance.... I guess to Burin, this is "just another move," since he's lived on the other side of the world and a few places in between :)

Burin actually does not want to sell the house here just yet because it's in a good location, businesses and shopping centers are popping up all around here (thus making the value of the property go up), and we will have somewhere to come back to when we visit! He may rent it out temporarily to someone we know, but we'll cross that bridge when we get there. We're planning to rent an apartment in the Long Beach area for a few months or so until we can get to know the community and what areas are good and what areas are not, and decide exactly where we'd like to be (there are so many towns out there). The only stipulations: there MUST be a Target, Starbucks, and Barnes & Noble in the area! :)

So now comes the not-so-fun task of resigning from our jobs. The way it's looking right now, we will be here through the end of November, and in December, we'll drive out to California, then fly to Bangkok to visit his family for a few days, fly back to LA and attempt to find an apartment, and then fly back to MS for the holidays. And then, back to California! I'm tired already. :)

As for a job for me, I'll more than likely wait until I'm out there and then try to find something. I think the whole job searching and interview process would be easier if I was actually out there. But, we'll see what happens. Maybe I'll just be a barista at Starbucks ;)

Well, I think that's about all I know for now. I will update once I know more!

♥
Brandi (& Burin)