Sound of Music Sing-a-Long

Yep, it's as awesome as it sounds. =) This past weekend, Mary and I went with a few of my former co-workers to the Hollywood Bowl to see the Sound of Music Sing-a-Long. It was so fun. People were very into it, with costumes and props for individual scenes. For example, when the Captain first meets Maria and introduces her to the kids, he has a whistle. Thousands of whistles made an appearance as soon as he started teaching her all the kids' signals. Very funny. And the Baroness got booed and hissed every time she came on screen - poor lady.

But taking the cake was Maria and the Captain's first kiss. Nearly everyone in the amphitheatre had poppers/streamers waiting for just that moment and it was so fun seeing and hearing them going off all throughout the venue. Truly like fireworks. Next year, we will be more prepared! These people had obviously been there before.

Anyway, here is a HORRIBLE photos of the Hollywood Bowl. I had never been there before - it's an amazing venue and the acoustics are incredible. I would like to go back and see something live there. (If only it weren't for the stacked parking - but, thanks to lots of good luck and a general willingness to drive through bushes, over grass and off the curb, Mary and I were able to get out without waiting for all the other cars around us). That's another story, though.
And here we are at Mary's house just before leaving. Our group went in costume and Mary and I didn't want to be party poopers, so we did our best. She is one of the kids in their traveling outfit just before they make a break for it. And me? Ten points for whoever can guess. (No guessing if I told you.)

It was such a fun night! I heart that movie. And my husband hearted not having to go. =)

This Zucchini Got Away From Us

Remember how in a previous post I mentioned how rapidly the vegetables are growing? Well, case and point. I looked at this zucchini on one day and on what felt like the next day, it was larger than a ruler. Crazy!
But not to worry - I put it to good use. I made two huge loaves of zucchini bread. Yum!

28 Weeks and Homemade Pudding

I'm 28 weeks, aka a little over 6 months, aka in my third trimester. All of a sudden it seems like Dec. 8th (or around there) is not that far away! I can't believe I'm in my final trimester. And I only have a little more than two months to go at work. Crazy!

We are getting very excited. In a few weeks, we're going to move furniture around (we just got a crib and changing table off Craig's list, thanks to my parents generosity!) and then after that we are going to register. I think both of these things will make it feel more real. But at least I'm good and showing now! Most people can tell I'm pregnant, so that's nice. =)

On a totally unrelated note (and not meriting its own post), I made homemade pudding last night. I got the recipe from the blog Frugal Girl, which I've mentioned here before. Her recipes are always so yummy. I had some buttermilk that I needed to use up, so I substituted one of the cups of milk with buttermilk and for the other cup used my rice milk, which I cook with all the time.

After letting it set for two hours, I was very excited about tasting it. Isn't it pretty? And how did it taste?


It was .... disgusting! Uneatable! Ian and I both threw the whole dish out. Terrible! Lesson learned - buttermilk is NOT good in pudding. I would like to try this recipe again, but next time, I'll follow it a bit more closely.

Life is Mysterious

This morning after I got up and checked my phone, I saw a text from a dear friend from 4:15AM, saying her baby was on its way and they were headed to the hospital. How exciting! I immediately set to praying for them, for a safe delivery, for a healthy baby, and I also praised God for this good gift he had brought into their lives and the baby they would meet today (barring a very long labor).

Then when I got to work, checked my email and saw one from another dear friend, newly pregnant, who started spotting last night and has cramps this morning. Of course, I am praying that the spotting will pass and the baby will stay put, but I can't help but marvel at the mystery of life. And I can't help but wonder what God's master plan is in all this.

But, for both friends, I trust and hope and pray.

A Few Musings

Last year at this time, we were still desperately wanting to get pregnant. It seemed like it was happening to everyone around us except for us. We'd already been trying for 6 months and didn't know that we had 6 more to go before that magic "pregnant" sign would appear on the stick. It was a hard time - at least, I think it was a hard time. That's what my journal indicates and even what this blog hinted at.

But the truth is, I can hardly remember it. Isn't that strange? Or is that God's mercy, that once the pain is past and answer has come, we can't remember the despair any more? During the year of trying to get pregnant, it felt so real, so raw, so present. But now I don't feel any of that; in fact, I can barely remember what it did feel like. When I look back now, it feels like less of a big deal, like we didn't even try that long, like it wasn't a disappointing process. I can hardly remember being sad each month, even though I know I was.

Why do you think that is? Is it, as I've proposed, God's mercy? Or is it part of being human, that we can only feel and hold onto the emotions we're experiencing now? So what does that mean about learning from past mistakes and being thankful for past blessings, like the Israelites were called to do? Is that categorically against our human nature? Or am I the only one who experiences this phenomenon?

Regardless, in this case, I'm thankful for the memory loss - or rather, the emotional memory loss. I know I felt sad, but I can't conjure up those feelings anymore. My emotions don't seem to remember them. And for that, I'm thankful. I can live in the blessing of this little life, which I feel inside me almost constantly, and not feel resentful that it didn't happen sooner, that it didn't happen on our time table, that it happened to other people faster, sooner, etc. I'm so thankful for our little cricket (less than three months to go!) and so thankful for my emotional memory amnesia.

Check This Out

Ian and I were driving home from my work one night last week and as we turned the corner to head toward our street, we saw this. It was coming from a busted fire hydrant - the whole sidewalk was torn up. It was shooting up like Old Faithful. In a matter of minutes, the whole intersection was flooded.

But not to worry; just after we turned right to head to our street, we saw two fire engines and three cops (must have been a slow day in Long Beach) and the next time we looked out our front door, the gusher was gone. But very exciting!

Vegetable Garden

In June, Heather and Ian planted a vegetable garden in our backyard. Being that this is my first experience with a veggie garden, I didn't know what to expect. But I certainly thought it would take a long time for us to start being able to eat out of the garden (given that we're still waiting for our first full crop of avocados since we trimmed the tree OVER A YEAR AGO when we bought the house). Anyway, back to a more productive topic (yes, pun intended!).

After it was planted, it did seem to take a few weeks for something to show, but now, WOW! Things are growing like crazy and I love it. Every few days I can't wait to head out to the garden to see what else has happened. I'm amazed at the process - a zucchini will be the size of a chapstick on Tuesday and then on Friday, it will be as big as a ruler. Incredible!

So, here are a few photos to show you how well everything is doing. Here are some yellow squash.
And the cherry tomatoes are so cute, and so delicious!

Can you see the bell pepper growing in the left hand side there? Beautiful!

Here are the squash and zucchini lined up on our counter, so you can see how nice and big they are. So far, I've made four loaves of zucchini bread and we've eaten squash for dinner several nights. If you've got a great recipe for squash or zucchini, let me know! Or if you would like some, we're more than happy to share. We're about to have five or six more of each to eat!

And here are the cherry tomatoes. Aren't they cute? I used these in a chicken salad last week and they were so yummy.

I've never considered myself a garden person, and the truth is, Ian does all the watering and weeding, but I do love to go out there and pick the ripe veggies!