from chaos comes clarity

Maternity pictures :)

2013-12-04T13:53:00.002-05:00

Happy December! This year has seriously flown by. Also, I'm 8 weeks away from baby girl's due date today! 8 weeks! 2 months! So crazy. Logan had a long weekend this past weekend so I had him take some baby bump pictures for me.

Um, so, here are a handful. :)

This picture cracks me up because it accidentally turned out totally 80's family portrait style

Anyway, things are going really well. This little girl has gotten significantly stronger and it's fun to feel her squirming around in there. Also, my tummy changes shape in the weirdest ways now when she's trying to get comfortable. At night Logan usually sings to her or reads her a story, which she seems to love because she moves closer to his voice. It's adorable.

I think we have almost everything ready for her to get here. At least I hope so!

Plus, sometimes Logan comes home with extra surprises. Yesterday he went shopping and came home with a soft pink sea horse light up stuffed animal that sings. When I was just about to question him, he gave me puppy dog eyes and said in his sweetest voice "baby needed this!" Ha ha.

In other news...well, there's not much. :) It's all pretty much revolving around baby these days. We did get our Christmas tree today, so that's fun. It hasn't snowed yet so I'm excited about that, and...and....that's it. Ha ha. Happy holiday season everyone!

Lighthouses in Maine, Boston exploring, and Baby :)

2013-11-27T16:35:00.000-05:00

Party in Boston! My sister texted me last week and asked if she could fly out a few days later to play. She's been here all week and it's been awesome.

We took a little day trip to Maine to check out the Head Light Lighthouse. It was gorgeous, you could see a few different lighthouses where we were standing...but it was oh so cooold!

We got some salt water taffy and ate dinner by a fire and headed back that night.

The rest of the week we went into Boston and did some things we missed on Melinda's last trip.

We went to Wicked Good cupcakes and tried a few. They're cute, they come in little mason jars.

We also did a few more things on the Freedom Trail, like visiting some stops from the underground railroad, visiting the museum of fine arts and the museum of the USS constitution, and Bunker Hill.

Toward the end of the week I was a bit exhausted (I'm finding I don't quite have the energy levels I used to these days!) Melinda planned us a spa day for the next day, which was the perfect day to spend a rainy day. I got my toes painted all cute, and got a "preggy massage", ahhh.....it was so nice.

The night before Melinda left we went to the Christmas tree lighting downtown. It's 80 feet tall, and they had a big countdown with Santa and snow and music. It was super fun. They had the lights dance to the songs when they lit it, as well as the trees around it, it was really pretty.

I was sad to see Melinda go. It's always lots of fun when she's around to play.

In baby news, this little girl is bouncing off the walls in there. She is getting so big and so strong it startles me how hard she kicks sometimes. She's also spoiled rotten already. Um...I might've gotten these this week:

I can't believe we're down to 9 weeks left. She's gonna be here before I know it! I can't wait to hold my little girl.

Cast Away: the costume

2013-11-02T11:25:00.000-04:00

I really like Halloween. Obviously for the candy, but I like dressing up, and I think it's gonna be all that much more fun when baby is here.

That being said, I rarely know what I'm going to be until the last second. This year I wanted to incorporate the baby bump somehow but all my ideas just seemed like they'd take a lot of effort and I have suddenly jumped into fall cleaning mode so I didn't know how I'd pull any of that off.

Finally, after much debate, I chose the easiest thing I could throw together and we got ourselves a quick homemade halloween costume that took only about as long to make as it took the paint on my shirt to dry.

So, Happy Halloween a couple of days late! Now if you'll excuse me, there are some candy bars calling my name over here....

2013-10-29T11:09:00.001-04:00

This blog coming to you live from....still in my bed.

Yesterday we decided to have Christmas early and buy ourselves a new king size mattress with a super cushy mattress topper. Oh. my. gosh. It's hard to say if I'll ever leave this bed today. I feel like I'm sleeping on a marshmallow.
When we went to buy it yesterday it was cold out, and then the sun went down and it got windy and freezy right when we were tying the mattress to the roof of the car and securing the box springs in the back. (and by we I really mean Logan, because let's face it, me and this belly aren't the most helpful with these sort of tasks these days).

Anyway, because it was suddenly wicked cold and looked a bit like rain, we were in a hurry and tied the ropes through the windows...without thinking to open the doors....which led to a very funny discovery when it was time to get in the car and drive away, only to find the doors were tied shut. Oops. I swear we're usually more capable in every day life, but we had a pretty funny day yesterday.

Because we'd spent so much time tying all these ropes and I was so cold, I decided I could totally heft myself up through the window. Ha. ...ha ha. My leg pretty much had to go up to my shoulder which was quite a feat as my belly was in the way, but Logan boosted me from behind and I eventually toppled inside. I'm sure it was super amusing for any bystanders who happened to see.

Oh, the adventures.

Speaking of, a couple days ago we went to Maine.

We don't really know where we're going to end up once we leave Boston, and we thought we'd check out Maine to see if we liked it. We went to Portland and wandered around and ate dinner there, and it was really pretty. Plus, we had the chattiest waitress I've ever met in my life. She was super cool. OH! and, we were right by this dock with a bunch of boats and as we were walking down the street, one of them blew its horn a couple times and it was the loudest, craziest thing ever. I had no idea boats were that loud. It was echoing all around us. Anyway, we plan to go back and check out some lighthouses and other areas, but it was a fun trip. (albeit, kind of freezing... guess that time of year is upon us.)

We finished our hypnobirthing classes this week. We couldn't make any of the regular classes because of Logan's school schedule so the lady who taught set up a new class for us and one other couple every week. That was nice because it felt like we could ask whatever we wanted and make sure everything was covered. I'm feeling tons better about having this baby now. Thank goodness. 3 months from today is baby's due date! :)

6 months along!

2013-10-09T16:57:00.002-04:00

Woo! I'm 6 months pregnant today! Can you believe it? Time is flying by!

To celebrate, baby gave me some swift kicks to the belly button until my adorable innie suddenly became an outtie. Thanks baby...

I feel pretty ginormous already, it's hard to imagine what this belly is going to be like in a few months!

2013-10-02T15:10:00.000-04:00

I'm a little behind again, but it happens.

A couple weeks ago Logan got asked to play at three different places for Harvard's back-to-school event, so we got to go stroll around their part of town.

It was pretty fun. I was looking for some good stereotypes but the only two I really saw were a couple guys with sweaters ties around their shoulders and when we stopped for lunch there were people playing chess at chess tables outside the cafe.

They gave us shirts that the alumni were wearing, so now I guess we get to pretend we're Harvard graduates too. Or...Havahd.

Other than that Logan has been going to school and I've been going overboard making hats for shmoopie. I just keep seeing cute ones and it has to be done, I can't help it! Pictures to come eventually, I'm sure.

We also started our hypnobirthing classes a few days ago. They're once a week for the next 3 weeks but so far so good. It really seems like a mind-over-matter (matter = birthing pain) sort of an approach which I could definitely stand to improve on. Birthing just seems scary right now.

We had another doctor's appointment where I got to hear little baby's heart beat and my doctor told me I'm exactly at the weight I should be and my tummy is exactly the size it should be and baby is doing awesome. Yay, go baby!

On that note, we've both had to go shopping because Logan lost a bunch of weight and I've gained some. When my doctor came in she saw my stomach and said "Hey! You popped!" Ha ha. I'm not sure exactly how I accomplished that, but it must be mostly fruit because that's all baby ever wants to eat.

Also, I keep having to laugh at myself because I get winded doing basically nothing. (We were walking around Boston the other day and stopped in the Sprint store so I could get a new battery for my phone and I had to pause between like, every 3 words as I was talking to the guy because I was all out of breath. Then I started laughing about it and that made it worse.) And forgetaboutit if I attempt the stairs up to my apartment. Let's just say it's a good thing we're only on the second floor. Apparently my body hasn't quite gotten used to lugging around a few extra pounds, or baby is just getting big enough that she's taking up some of my air supply. Probably a bit of both :)

Anyway, that's all for updates for now. Happy rocktober everyone!

2013-09-19T11:02:00.001-04:00

Yesterday I went in to Boston to play with Logan when he got out of class.

Pregnancy is such a strange thing for me. Even after being so sick and watching my stomach get bigger and buying all the adorable baby clothes, it hasn't all totally registered yet.

My whole life I've seen women walking along, bellies all round and full and I've thought, "aw, she's going to have a sweet little baby. How fun!"
On the way to the bus yesterday I caught a glimpse of my reflection in some glass doors and saw my round belly and thought, "oh my gosh! I'M that girl now! People are seeing me the same way I used to look at those pregnant women!" So weird.

I was riding the subway later in the day and a girl saw me and my belly and caught my attention to ask if I wanted her seat. I was only going one more stop so I politely declined but it made me grin that I'm showing enough that someone would offer.

Boston is beautiful right now. The leaves are already changing colors, the weather is cool but not cold yet, and there are always so many things to see and do.

We stumbled upon a farmer's market while walking around the city yesterday and got some fresh raspberries and ate them in the park. Well, mostly I ate them. Logan was a little slow reaching for them but he might have gotten a few before they were all gone. so yummy :)

We're starting a hypnobirthing class next week that will last through October, which I've mostly heard awesome things about, so we'll see how it goes. It will be interesting to see if it makes this whole having a baby thing seem more real, or if we'll just float through it in a surreal haze like we've sort of done for the last 5 months :)

Baby GIRL!

2013-09-10T10:49:00.000-04:00

Phew! I actually have an excuse for getting a little behind on posting this time...we've been on vacation!

Logan had 2 weeks between semesters so we went out to visit our families and I had an awesome baby shower :) We found out the day before we left that we are having...wait for it....

a baby GIRL!!!

Which, I AM SO EXCITED for! ha ha. I was totally tricked, too. When the ultrasound lady told us, she was like, "looks like you're having a girl..." and I half sat up and said, "really?! Are you sure??" ha ha. Anyway, bring on the girly stuff! I can't wait.

Logan was adorable and when we got to the car in the parking lot of the hospital he handed me a package that said "It's a girl!" on it, with these cute cute outfits inside that he had secretly picked out and bought:

I was dying in cuteness already. We decided to do a gender reveal at the baby shower, which meant we couldn't tell anyone for the first week of our trip out to Idaho/Wyoming. That proved to be harder than I thought because his sisters and mom all happened to know people who had already found out what they were having and apparently it was strange we didn't know yet and we had to keep making up things about when we were going to find out and whatnot. It was funny but we almost slipped up a few times.

We went to Jackson Hole with Logan's family (and stopped for square ice cream on the way)

and went to the Bar J Wranglers again, which baby loved. She started doing flips in my tummy from the start as soon as they started singing and playing their instruments.

We also went on a hike to some waterfalls, which we loved because we've been missing nature out in Boston, especially moving straight from St. George where we were out and about all the time.

baby bump!

We stayed in a place called Moose Creek while we were in Jackson, which we discovered right across our driveway, had Moose hanging out. :)

It was a super fun trip, we had a great time. We headed down to Utah the day after we got back from Wyoming and finally got to have my party and tell everyone the big news.

me and my sisters partyin'

At the end of everything my sister brought in Logan and a gender reveal cake and we had our moms guess what we were having and then we cut into it to show the pink frosting.

I got some stills from my cousin Cassidy who filmed it.

The party was a blast. I didn't get any pictures of the cuteness because they're all on my mom's camera, but we played games, hung out, and opened presents. Baby got some cute presents, I'm so excited.

Toys, books; it's starting to look like a baby lives here! I haven't even found a place for everything yet.
My cousin Christina made this baby sling and this adorable car seat cover for baby:

Tanya, Cristina, me and Tiffany

My mom made these bibs that I've been asking for because Justin had them when he was little and I loved them. They are like little cowboy bibs. (Or cowgirl in this case.)

Baby also got lots of clothes and accessories which were all super cute. She's a lucky little girl and she's not even here yet :) A huge thank you to everyone!

Jen, me, Shanda, and Logan's mom Tammy

Cassidy, Debbie, me, Alyson, Jenna and Christina's baby girl :)

and lots of other people at the party who's photos I still need to upload on my computer...

and to my mom and sisters for planning the whole thing while I was across the country. Thank you!

Melinda, my mom, me, my Grandma and Rebecca

The day after the party we got to play with my nephews Nathan and Jack, which was a blast like usual. I didn't even think to take any pictures but Nathan and I spent the morning defeating Captain Hook and Mr. Smee while fighting off alligators and digging up buried treasure, and Logan and Jack spent the morning making each other laugh. Those kids are ridiculously fun.

That night Jason came and he and Colie, Melinda and Rebecca, Logan and I all went up the canyon and had a bonfire. Logan brought his guitar and we requested whatever songs we could think of to sing along with while we roasted marshmallows. It was lots of fun.

Before they left, Colie gave baby this lace outfit that I'm dying over. Seriously, I can hardly handle it.

The next day when Rebecca got home from school we went to Orem and had lunch and met up with Melinda for baby clothes shopping! We bought out about 4 stores and baby is pretty much going to be super stylish. :) Ha ha. We really did get so many adorable things, though, I can hardly choose a favorite. I've put most of them away, but here are a few that were hanging up:

I can hardly wait to cuddle my sweet little girl. That pink bear suit is probably the softest thing I've ever felt and she's going to be so snuggly this winter!

On our way home from the last store we spied a shave ice shack and made a beeline for it. Turns out, they were HUGE and soft and yummy, so we all had some. :)

That marked off the last thing I'd had on my list that I wanted to do on our vacation. It was so fun, and good to see everyone after a year. Plus now I'm feeling way more ready for baby to get here than I was before. I can't believe she'll be here in a little over 4 months!

baby bump!

2013-08-15T19:35:00.001-04:00

Shmoopie is growing!

This is from 7 weeks ago:

Some days my tummy looks so huge, other days not so much.

Either way it's bigger than it's ever been and it's all getting exciting. You might not be able to tell as much I can, but....meet my little baby bump :)

a bit crafty...

2013-08-08T13:16:00.002-04:00

Hurray for August! I am feeling so much better this month, and it's awesome. I still get sick but it comes in waves rather than all day every day/night. I'll take what I can get!

Because I've been on the mend I've been getting a bit crafty over here this week. Mostly with our baby Shmoopie in mind. (we've been calling baby that since pretty much the week we found out about it, when we saw the name in a "popular names" baby book. Ha ha.)

These pictures were all taken on my phone, but you get the gist.

I made baby a hippie/surfer blanket:

Then I decided to make teeny little hats for shmoopie to match baby's daddy:

A frog and a viking:

This is probably the first winter of my life I'm looking forward to. :)

Yesterday I saw a few things on Pinterest and decided to try my own versions with my own twist, and the results were a new picture for baby's nursery:

and some new wall art:

I'm keeping my fingers crossed I keep feeling better...I'm pretty fond of it. :)

"Don't be sad and don't explain, this is where we start again..."

2013-07-31T09:43:00.001-04:00

As many of you may or may not know, I am a long time lover of all things Goo Goo Dolls, and especially Johnny Rzeznik.

This week Johnny got married...sigh. I know they've been dating for 8 years now, but some things can still just catch you off guard...

ha ha.

Anyway, in honor of his wedding here is the latest Johnny song off his newest Goo Goo Dolls album out last month:

"santa fe, are you there?"

2013-07-30T11:15:00.001-04:00

I keep coughing and sneezing at the same time. I don't think my body has quite figured out what's going on with all of these sudden changes. It all feels a bit confused.

Also, we sold my car and got a Santa Fe.
(are you singing the Newsies song yet? I can't help myself whenever I hear Santa Fe)

I was a little heartbroken, I'll be honest. I've had my car for the last 7 years, and it's the first thing I ever really bought that I felt was all my own.

We've traveled far and wide together and it was so sad watching it drive away.

At least it's for a good cause. We couldn't very well fit a baby car seat in the back of my little 2-door low rider without some difficulty.

Still....

So I've decided that while I'm sick, at least I can have a little fun with my responses when Logan asks me about my day. Usually it goes a little something like this:

That last one is scary accurate. Ha ha.

Also, yesterday I discovered my phone's taste in music.

Guess it's time to go rock out.

baby news: 3 months!

2013-07-26T08:42:00.000-04:00

I was watching 101 dalmatians the other day while feeling like death on the couch, and there is a scene in the beginning where Purdy (the main female dalmatian) is pregnant and sighs with a content smile on her face as she gazes out the window. Pongo turns to her and asks if she's alright and she dreamily looks at him and says something along the lines of 'I'm fine. After all, dogs have been having puppies long before us...' and then they snuggled up so sweetly, not a care in the world.

My popsicle almost went flying in the direction of the t.v.

Just because people have been having babies long before I came around doesn't mean I don't feel lousy! Now...if I could just manage to get off the couch and take a shower...maybe I could give some dreamy looks to my husband when he gets home, if only while gazing up from the toilet bowl.

In WAY more fun news, we went to the doctor last week for my first ultrasound, and it was so amazing. I don't know what I was expecting to see...a little blob in there? Something so tiny I wouldn't really know what I was looking at?

Anyway, as soon as we saw it I was in tears. It's a little baby in there!

The cutest thing I've ever seen.

At first we were just admiring it and looking at it from different angles, and then suddenly it woke up! We got to watch it reach down and grab its foot, then stretch its arms and legs way out- it started kicking its little feet around and then it even waved to us! I was dying.

3 months in and I already love this baby to pieces.

"first comes love..."

2013-07-24T08:28:00.001-04:00

In other news: I'm going to have a baby!!!

I wrote this post awhile ago, but since we hadn't announced it yet you can have a little backdating :)

I feel like I've been waiting for this baby my whole life. Logan has been steering me clear of baby sections in stores since we started dating, as my eyes welled up with tears at just how little and cute they all are.

After years of curled-up-on-the-floor debilitating stomach aches and some surgery for endometriosis a few years back I've spent what feels like a lifetime wondering if I'd be able to have kids someday.

Somewhere in the back of my mind I always thought it would be a great struggle for me to get pregnant. I pictured years of fertility treatments and tears ahead of me. I guess I was just trying to brace myself for the possibility. The unknown sometimes seems the hardest.

Our baby is not really what you might call "planned." I was on birth control when we first got married and after a couple months discovered that it turned me into a walking, sobbing, mess of a hormone cluster more than a functioning person.

I tried a couple other types and then just decided to give up.

Logan was pretty determined we were going to wait a few years before we had our first kid...and here we are now, barely past our first anniversary with baby on the way :) Ha ha. As overwhelmed as he may be, I will say he's handled the news with great excitement and finesse.

When I first found out, I had this big thing planned that I was going to wait 2 weeks to tell him until Father's Day this year. So cute, right? I bought a little onesie to give him and I was all prepared.

What I wasn't prepared for was the ridiculous amount of tears that came with the happy news of finding out I was pregnant. I was a mess! I ended up telling him within a few hours. I know, my resolve is incredible.

Not that it would have panned out the way I had planned anyway...

Within days I was pitifully hugging the toilet after every meal and lots of times in between.
It's been a real roller coaster.
Mostly just because in my saddest, sickest, hardest moments I start to question myself. It suddenly becomes obvious to me that maybe I'm not as cut out for this whole pregnancy thing as I've always dreamed I would be.

I've cried to my poor husband more than once that I was failing our little baby already by not being able to keep anything down. He's bought me pretty much every ginger snack under the sun, and spends most of the time he gets at home just trying to find me something I can stand to eat. As sweet as he is, in these moments he holds me and spouts off random things he's read about how the baby is just fine even if i'm sick and how I'm going to make it through this.

2 months in and I was already getting pep talks. Who would've guessed?

I didn't really expect pregnancy to be all baby kicks and hiccups and eating for 2, but I did expect lots of that. ha ha. I at least expected to be able to eat a meal and keep it down, or to be able to function like normal instead of running for the nearest curb/toilet every time my sense of smell was assaulted by..well...anything.
Which is pretty much all the time.

I guess having a little makeshift bed next to the toilet is what it is for now.

As much as it bums me out being so sick, it overwhelms me with happiness to think that this sickness is all going to end in a precious little baby of my own.

I made two of these, and since I like them both I'm just going to post them both. Haha.

2013-07-17T11:20:00.000-04:00

I feel like I should update, but I've been sick and I haven't even done anything worth updating about! Ha ha. We did go see Monster's University when it came out. In monster attire, of course.

I made Logan this jacket to celebrate the occasion. ha ha.

Other than that, July has been pretty slow-going. Logan is in school from sun up to sundown practically and it doesn't leave much time for playing.

One thing of note:
My sister Rebecca made the cutest music video ever for one of Logan's songs yesterday. Check it out. It's ridiculously adorable.

"It’s alright if I was older, It’s ok to lose your age..."

2013-06-12T12:32:00.000-04:00

Oops, I guess I totally skipped over a birthday update. My birthday started out pretty rough. I woke up sick and with an expired license, so I had to drag myself over to the DMV for 2 hours and pay lots of money to officially become a resident of Massachusetts.

it's a little obvious i still haven't gotten used to signing my new last name

On my way home, I got pulled over by a cop right across the street from my apartment for having expired tags. Sigh. He gave me a hard time about it, and also told me he should tow my car right then for it, and told me I was lucky I had just changed my license over or he would have taken me to jail. Charming. In the end, after lots of scolding and other ridiculous nonsense he ran my stuff, wished me happy birthday, and let me go.

I was feeling miserably sick so I crossed the street and came home and after a couple hours went over to Boston to meet up with Logan when he got out of class. We went to dinner and had cotton candy ice cream afterwards and he gave me an awesome birthday present which I'll have to post a picture of later because I forgot to take one.

Anyway, then we went home and partied with Mikey and I turned way old and Mikey and I celebrated our birthdays together. I've had him for 10 years this year. 10 years! I can hardly believe it's been so long.

Oh yeah, in other animal news, we found a cool nature reserve in our area and we got to go play with these owls. They were a hoot.

Happy June everyone!

"Everything is in tune and it's spring"

2013-05-24T09:36:00.002-04:00

It's starting to warm up around here which I guess means rain and more rain. Also, it apparently means a lot of birds around our apartment. I go to bed and wake up listening to birds chirp and sing songs. It's like a regular Disney princess movie over here.

Now if I could just train them to clean my house and cook my meals...

I also wouldn't mind if they wanted to make me some new clothes now and again.

"buuuudum buudum budum budum budum BUDUM BUDUM"

2013-05-21T16:28:00.001-04:00

I'm going to assume that a lot of you know I have an overwhelming fear of sharks. In the ocean, in the swimming pool, (I didn't say it was rational) basically just in water. I thought I had it under control but this morning I was taking a bath listening to Jónsi when the music suddenly changed to Jaws and Mikey came crawling in... shark fin and all.

I took a video afterwards because it was just so funny. I guess maybe there is something to be said about being around someone who tries to help you face your fears. Or maybe he's just lucky I didn't punch him in the nose. ;)

Just kidding.

I live with two hilarious mischief makers.

"this is the story you wanted to write, well tonight is the night that you can..."

2013-05-16T20:04:00.001-04:00

As I posted on facebook- Guess where we are?! The 14-yr-old girl in me is going wild right now.

Logan took me to Newsies on Broadway in NYC for our anniversary!

It was really good. It took a little getting used to because the characters were a little different (I mean- who can really play Cowboy except Christian Bale?) and they changed the lyrics to some of the songs (which I probably only noticed because I'm a long-time fanatic) but overall the show was great. I'm so glad we got to go!

We spent the day in New York and wandered around doing touristy stuff.

We got "NYC's best hot dogs" from a vendor on Times Square:

We went to the Empire State building, (look how cool the floor in there is. It was so pretty)

We went into M&M world and got a picture with this guy on our way out:

We visited the daily planet:

We stumbled upon this cool thing I've been wanting to take a picture by for years:

And we finished the trip with ice cream cones in Central Park:

We also had some other terrifying and hilarious subway experiences along the way, as well as the worst taxi driver in the history of taxis and drivers. Which I think means we got the whole New York experience. :)

Sidenote: I found out in the morning while getting ready that New York LOVES my hair. My hair does not reciprocate the adoration.

It took a minute and a good amount of water to calm this down to an acceptable level.

For a second there things were a bit reminiscent of my hair in the old days, as my mother so recently reminded me:

Are you jealous yet?

"this is really happening...it gets better"

2013-05-11T17:07:00.000-04:00

YOU GUYS. It's been sunny and warm, and I am so happy about it.

Me. Being happy about it.

Yesterday Logan officially finished his first year of school! I can't believe how fast this is going. We went out to dinner to celebrate, and we tried to go see The Great Gatsby, but it was sold out. (we went tonight instead.)

While we were downtown we walked through Boston Public Gardens, which I love doing. It's so pretty, they do a really great job keeping it up. There are swirly bushes and flowers of just about every color- right now there are tons of different tulips- and trees everywhere that have pretty blossoms that smell wonderful. I like sitting in the gardens and people watching.

The sunshine felt like it was filling me up and restoring all the energy I lost while hibernating over the winter. I think springtime here might be my favorite. It might be a little early to judge that, but I'm optimistic.

I really like Boston. I like riding the subway and seeing all the different musicians that play down there. Tonight there was a guy playing reggae. Last night 2 guys were playing some sort of peruvian music with a pan flute and such, and they were really good. People were dancing while waiting for the train, which made me laugh.

A couple weeks ago I was riding in a really packed subway car and I looked over and saw a unicorn riding with us. Minding his own business. Basically like this guy,

only with lots more people around, on a subway, and perhaps slightly not as well dressed.

I'm just saying, you never know what a trip into the city will bring and I like that. It's a fun place to be.

"Oh, I had one friend by my side.... Now I have two... him and you..."

2013-05-08T10:34:00.001-04:00

This morning I walked outside my apartment and was greeted by the salty smell of the ocean. Heaven. It's funny how some things can make your whole day just seem happier in an instant.

Logan bought me some watercolors a few months ago, which I've never used before. I mean, not since kindergarten. I read somewhere that you have to paint 100 paintings until you can decide if you're any good at it or not. While I'm not sure I'm getting any better at it, I've been having fun experimenting and playing with it.

Anyway, yesterday I decided to do some spring cleaning. While doing that I hung one of them up in the bathroom. I give you- Pete's Dragon.

I spent the rest of the day walking around with the songs in my head, which was fine, but especially amusing when I got to sing dragon. I don't mean to brag, but I do a pretty awesome Elliott. "boo bop bopbop..."

Some time later that night I got a phone call, and then a mysterious text from "carlos." It went a little something like this:

I'm not sure what was happening, but I'm pretty sure we bonded. I mean, how could we not?

"the stars are gonna guide me, i'll follow 'til I reach that brave new shore..."

2013-04-28T13:53:00.003-04:00

This week has been a good one. Last Saturday we went into Boston to enjoy the day.
On our way there we stopped at the beach which is about 15 minutes from our house and right by the subway station. We decided to film a video for Earth Day, and the beach seemed like a pretty place for it.

At least...that's what I thought until the wind hit me and I realized I could barely hold the camera because I was shivering. The video is here: I apologize in advance for the shakiness. I was trying, unsuccessfully, to hold still but there's only so much I can do with 50 degree weather! Also, if you listen at the end, I got to sing along with Logan on this one, which was fun.

It was nice to be back in the city after the almost week-long lockdown that had been happening. There were people everywhere, and we wandered along with them. It was sunny and pretty, and we walked through a couple parks in the middle of Boston.

The next day we filmed another video for Earth day, because Logan got a banjo he was super psyched about. Um, again, I was misguided by the sunshine and ended up shivering while filming. Please don't judge me. Next time I'll bust out the tripod if we do another one before summer!

Yesterday was our 1 year anniversary. I'm pretty sure this was the quickest year of my life so far. It seems so strange that it was a year ago we were getting married.
This year has been a whirlwind!

We had dinner and dessert plans in Boston and I was all ready to go when suddenly this person came wandering into the living room.

Breaking news: Beardy has left the building. I repeat: the beard is gone.

After I picked my jaw up off the floor I realized it was Logan.

I'd almost forgotten what his face looks like!
He's a little bit heartbroken and I'm still a little bit stunned. Ha ha.

We had a great day celebrating and he gave me a gift that I am so crazy excited for- I will be posting a picture of it later.

This year has been amazing!

Boston Marathon

2013-04-15T21:20:00.001-04:00

This morning was the first sunny day we've had in what feels like so long. I was excited, but bundled up anyway knowing that just because there is sunshine here, warmth doesn't inevitably follow. (insert sad face.) Logan teased me a little because I always seem to be cold and then we headed out on the subway into the city. Today was the Boston marathon, and also a holiday in Boston, "Patriot's Day", so Logan had no school and we thought we'd spend our time together at the festivities downtown. I was happy. It was sunny, it was warmer than it's been in a long time, and there were people everywhere. There was a sense of excitement for what we would see, and experiencing something new. We were going to be right there where people from all over the world were accomplishing their dream. Probably crossing this marathon off their bucket list.

When we got to the city, we were planning on heading to Copley Square, where the marathon finish line is. We figured there would be lots of things going on down there. I was suddenly starving on the subway and told Logan we should get lunch first. We stopped off about a mile from the marathon finish and as we were walking towards where we'd be eating lunch, we heard a huge boom. We looked around, but didn't see anything, and I assumed there was some sort of building construction demolition going on down one of the other streets. I guess my first thought just wasn't "tragedy".

We ate lunch, and when we finished, we walked outside and headed toward the finish line. I started looking around and enjoying the day when a big group of people passed us with the strangest looks on their faces. The only emotion I could read was fear. I turned to Logan and said "they all looked terrified." He agreed, and then I noticed the sirens on the street ahead of us. I looked around and noticed more people huddling together as they walked quickly past. We turned a corner onto the main street and Logan got a text from his school about bombs going off at the finish line. Suddenly it seemed to be everywhere. Everyone we passed was talking abut it. To each other, or on the phone. This many injured, this many bombs, subways shut down, etc, etc.

We walked further down the street and saw a group of people huddled around looking into a store window. I stopped to see what they were looking at, and there was a TV broadcasting the news that was just a few blocks from where we were standing.

We watched for a few minutes and everything seemed surreal. So many hurt. People looking for their families. After a few minutes we decided to move on, further from the explosions. We went over to Faneuil Hall to decide what to do next. We tried to go into a store there but they told us they were closing and that the Mayor was having everyone evacuate the city. "Go home and be safe" the girl told us as she shut the doors.

We waited there outside for awhile, watching people and trying to make any sense out of something that can't be made sense out of. We listened to sirens that seemed to surround us in every direction and heard people talking to loved ones letting them know they were alive and okay... and then we were able to get on a subway and head home.

Now that we're away from all the bustle and excitement and commotion it's starting to sink in a little more. It's so sad watching everything on the news. I can't believe how close we were to it all. My heart goes out to those injured and their family members in this tragic turn of events.

After watching the video clips people recorded, I was struck by the people in the videos they showed that were running to help. Strangers helping strangers. It's enough to fill your heart back up a little after so much sadness. Even with so much bad happening, there still seems to be room for a lot of good, too.

2013-03-30T17:49:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I got bored with my hair and cut some bangs. I didn't realize until afterwards that this basically left me with the same haircut I had as a kid...

2013-03-18T01:47:00.002-04:00

Wearing my Reptar tshirt and eating some lucky charms. I've got this St Patrick's Day handled.