Tick, tick, tick goes the clock

When I found out that I was pregnant there were enough questions, concerns, emotions to figure out. Then came the doozy....I had to find a new Dr.

I cried over finding a new Dr. I've had the same Dr. since before I met Paul & now I had to start fresh. Then to top if off I only had two Drs to chose from....after I stopped crying on the phone w/my provider I finally decided on Dr. Samudio.

She has been nothing but heaven sent. Not only does she answer all of our questions/concerns but when we talk to her it's more like spending time with a close friend or family then a Dr. Throughout my pregnancy Paul missed one appt. & she made it clear that was a no-no. ;) I think that made us closer to her. Just knowing that she cared enough to be honest with us & help us in any way she could. She even snuck us in for an extra ultrasound to see our Cameron & hugged us on each visit.

I'll miss a lot when we leave Cali but Dr. Samudio will always be in my top 5. She even requested that we keep in touch (as if she got rid of us that quickly!) & wanted to stay in the know about Cameron.

Don't forget me :(

This past weekend we drove out to Arizona. I've never been to Mesa & to be honest the only experience I've had with Arizona is Quartzite. Omg we all know how much I LOVE that place.

So needless to say I wasn't expecting too much. I tried not to expect anything so I wouldn't be too disappointed. I am definitely the pessimistic one in our relationship & even though I love Paul sometimes his "everything is sugar & spice & will work out in the end" speeches get a bit old. Especially when I'd rather wallow in self pity.

So early Saturday morning we got up, dressed, packed & kissed the poochies good-bye & told them to wish us luck. I think they might have wished more for themselves because what can I say? Arizona was pretty awesome.

On the drive there we saw a lot of this:

Now you can only play count the cactus for so long. :/

Thankfully the drive wasn't that bad. I drove from Cali to Quartzite & Paul drove the rest of the way (only 4 1/2 hrs. total, not too shabby). As soon as he hit civilization I noticed one thing right off the bat.

The freeway was bare....bare & free of any tagging!

I really wish I took pics but believe me I looked. Nothing on the ramps, street lights, stop signs....nothing. I didn't want to jinx anything so just kept an eye out. Little did I know Paul was noticing the same thing. If there's anything I hate is the awful look & aura of tagging. It's pointless & a disturbing reminder that there's a bunch of dumb asses in the area.

As we drove further into Az I noticed that the traffic was a lot calmer. There were cars on the road but no one was in a hurry, cutting in & out of lanes or riding our ass.

So far so good.

The city we'll be working out of is Mesa but we looked in the city of Gilbert (two exits away) for a place to live. As soon as we exited Power Rd. into Gilbert we were warmly welcomed by a huge sign glowing Super Target. If you know me, you know my love for Target. There was a grand opening for a 76 gas station. Full of free food, drinks, snacks, a jumper & a wall for rock climbing set up for kids to run around & play.

Just as I was settling down & getting rid of some anxiety the real pressure started.

Apartment hunting. BLAH! So after the first place I was already burnt (we arrived close to 1pm) & wanted to grab a bite to eat. New York Pizza Dept. was highly recommended & not a far drive so we headed out.

Cute right?

As soon as we went inside I noticed only one other family eating there. Maybe, they don't pick up until late afternoon? So I went to the bathroom to wash up & I'm not sure what hit me but I realized that this is it. When we go out to eat it's just going to be Paul & I. My aunt won't be waiting or meeting us anywhere. I won't be able to solve the child menu puzzles with my cousins & I can't grab sushi with Diana every time I'm sad.

I thought I was fine but reality hitting me out of nowhere really shook things.

So, I walked back to our table, sat down & cried. Paul held me & just reminded me of all the opportunities moving would give us & Cameron. I know he's right. I know this is the right thing to do. But moving still hurts my heart.

Before leaving the waitress gave us a welcome packet.

It was full of goodies. Menu, coupons & free dessert voucher. I don't know if she felt bad for us or was just truly nice but it did put a better light on the situation.

We went to a few more places. I didn't love any of them. Paul was still stuck on the first place which I liked but didn't love. Before leaving to Az I googled dog parks in Az & found Cosmo Park.

Wow! It was better than we imagined.

Full of dogs (most dog parks that we've been to have 5 or less) it had a man made lake for dogs to swim in or play fetch. There was even a ramp so the dogs could run off of it & jump into the water.
Obstacles through out the park to run over, under & through.

I couldn't help but get excited & look forward to bringing Oscar & Sadie back.


An Amphitheatre. Paul already envisioned Shakespeare being played. :)

There was even a kid area which I'm sure we'll visit plenty with Cameron.

To top it all off the restrooms were sparkling clean with no tagging! As you can see this "no tagging" feature is huge with me. When I asked an employee at one of the apt. complexes if they have somebody come out & paint over tagging she replied with, "what's tagging?" I had to explain that it's graffiti. She said, "we don't have that problem in Az." Music to my ears. Now I'm not naive. I'm sure it's somewhere but in the full two days we were there I didn't see it once.

But it's nice to know that if I do see some at Cosmo park there's a number I can call.

Oh, & I will. :)

We finally found (the last place we visited before heading home) an apt. I LOVE in an area that compliments our needs. But I'll save the stories & pics for another post.

Veggie Head

I couldn't pin point the exact date I was officially a vegetarian. Over time I eliminated certain foods from my diet due to my picky ways. If I had a hamburger it had to be beyond well done it was burnt. Chicken was only good if it were a strip (deep fried) basically I didn't want to see red or veins.

My downfall started off w/under cooked meat. I had it quite a few times in a row. A co-worker suggested we go to the infamous KFC for lunch & never really gone I agreed. If I only knew...years later I'm well aware of the mistreatment of their animals not only through caging but pumping them w/steroids to get them fatter quicker. Now, don't get me wrong. I didn't stop eating meat for the sake of saving a life. On that particular day the meat was so undercooked I couldn't stand looking at another piece of chicken or beef w/out gagging. I ate fish for awhile but even that proved to be devastating. Nothing worse than mooshy salmon. :(

Fast forward to 4 years later & I still (try) to avoid meat. I say try because even though I didn't believe cravings through prenancy my Cameron is proving that old wives tale to be very true. I've had meat three times during the last 6 months. :/

Try as I might to fight the cravings I never make Paul do without. There's quite a few veggie products he loves veggie burgers, soy sausage & veggie corn dogs but my man loves the real deal. So, usually when either one of us cooks there's always a dish with or without meat to please both our taste.

Probably my 2nd or 3rd month into my pregnancy I noticed there were certain foods that I could no longer stomach that were a staple in my diet. To put it short anything fried, cheese (in large quantity, meaning no cheese sandwich from Togos) or fast food Cameron is not a fan of. It's really not so bad. I've been eating healthier (a lot of fruits) & I cook a lot more at home.

Last night I prepared one of our favorite veggie pasta dishes. This recipe introduced us to Snow Peas & honestly I can't believe it took me so long! They're beyond delicious & add a nice snap to the pasta. I found the original recipe off of Eden Organic Pasta Company's website. I don't follow the recipe exactly. For one, I don't use their pasta but I do use bow tie. It's thin enough to add taste but not take away from other flavors. I substitute Feta cheese for Parmesan & last but not least I add pine nuts. Overall it's a wonderful & easy recipe. Plus there's always extra for lunch!

For Paul's main dish I marinaded Salmon the night before. I rubbed (yup, massaged the poor lifeless thing) with fresh lemon juice, sea salt & lemon pepper. Before popping it in the oven I cut a few slits through out the top & poured the juice mixture to add more flavor. By the time I was finished w/the pasta the fish was nice & flaky.

Here's a few snapshots (camera phone :/) of last nights dinner.

But I lika da fried foods :(

If you've never watched/heard of Over the Hedge that joke made no sense to you. :p

For the past month or so my taste buds have taken a turn for the worse. Or so I thought. I can't stand the taste of fried foods (mainly Red Robins awesome garlic fries boo hoo) & to top it off I can't eat alot. Alot meaning a normal portion. Now if I were on a diet this would be awesome but I'm not & having to decide what meal I can enjoy within 3 bites isn't my idea of a good time.

So lately I've been looking (please read: not willing to take the time to cook) healthy alternatives has been rather draining. Until this past weekend. After reading a recent post from my fellow veggie head Angelina posted this drool worthy recipe. Every since I stopped eating meat (5 years ago) one of the dishes I missed the most was a Flauta. After quickly becoming a member to Vegetarian Times I began searching & printing out various recipes. I decided that the Penne with pasta & vegetables recipe would make a perfect side dish. Paul loves to cook so it was nice having help in the kitchen. Especially since I'm a whiner when it gets too hot. :p

The only change I made was I added lemon pepper to the pasta. I love lemon pepper. I add it to everything, it's the yin to my yang. Paul doesn't understand the obsession but agreed it added a nice flavor to the mix. What I loved most about the entire meal was that it was healthy and my stomach didn't hurt afterward! Yay! For the time being (there's no commitment since I don't know how far my love for cheese goes) but I want to omit cheese as much as possible from my diet. I think that will help my stomach problems go away & heck meals are great w/out the fatty goodness!

The pasta was not only awesome the night of but it also made a wonderful potato salad the next day! I'm not a fan of leftovers but even I grabbed bowl for lunch. :)

Baby J rates this delicious dish worthy of 2 karate style kicks!

Sidenote: I suck. I forgot the computer plug for my camera. :( I'll have to upload pics another time. But by all means check out the linkys!

I love Target & Target loves ME

Where else can you go intending to buy shaving cream but leave with 20 other items you didn't realize you couldn't live without?!

Ahhh the glory of Target. On my lunchbreak today I have to visit the Redlands location to refill my prenatal pills. Since the refill would take 30 mins I decided to "walk" around. First stop was the shampoo aisle "wait, I think I really need conditioner!" then I headed to the card section. I always stop at the card section just to see what's new & who I can send it to. It's usually my bestie Julia but on this occasion I began to look for Pauly. Fathers day is this weekend & I already have a gift set in mind (future blog to come). As I read over each card I felt as though a blank card would be a better choice. That way I could fill it will all the gushy I love you's & sentimental you're going to be a great daddy to our baby as I wanted! So I left the fathers day aisle & found this card.

Jackpot! Not only does it have the infamous giraffe but it was blank inside & out. So I was about to leave the card aisle when I was stopped by a survey representative. She was super nice & said it would only take a few mins so I didn't mind. We gabbed about our significant other & I told her why I was purchasing this card & why I felt it was perfect (giraffe duh). Then at the end of the survey I received a $10 Target giftcard! Oh happy day!

Who says shopping is a waste of time? ;) Probably a man :p

Prenatal Pills $9.00
Awesome Card $2.99
Granola Bars $2.04
Conditioner $1.99
Sunny D $2.44
Deposit (boo!) $0.40
Skintimate $1.89

Getting paid for finding the perfect first fathers day card : PRICELESS

You can't see too clearly but the giraffe is full of peach fuzzes. :)

Long weekends

I don't know why but this weekend felt extra long & I loved it! Even though it's part of the weekday Thursday after work we decided (ok I decided but then I help Paul decided he wanted to as well) hike up the mountain trail near our condo. I didn't take a pic of the actual mountain (ok really big hill) but you get the idea.

There's our condo! Well....if you squint really hard. :p

You can see the 210 freeway to the left.

On Friday we relaxed & cleaned the house. I love the smell of a clean house.

Then Saturday I headed out to the beach w/Diana (BFF!) to Balboa beach. Paul stayed home & played sports w/the boys. Crazy boys running in the sun. We went where our toes could dig into the sand. The weather was perfect!

Then on Sunday Paul & I went swimming. :) The water was freezing! We decided the best way to get over the shock...was to jump in. :/ It wasn't so bad after my internal organs started working again. After swimming a few laps the water turned warm & it was really nice. The day was super hot so a cool dip was just what we needed. Afterward we head to PinkBerry. I've heard so much (yays & nays) about the place we decided to check it out for ourselves. WOW. The line was out the door so it was obviously the trendy thing to do. I loved all the gadgets along the wall which, were also for sale. I played w/each one as we waited. When it was finally our turn we realized we had no idea what we wanted. :p Our cashier was really nice & patient w/us newbies. Paul had Original with Kiwis, Strawberries & chocolate chips & I finally decided on a original/green tea swirl with granola, Fruity Pebbles (they're after my own heart) & rice cake bits formed into a marshmallow goodness.

I checked online & they're not listed but believe you me they were FAB. Despite the sticky tables & neglected bathroom I can't wait for our next visit. I particularly loved that it stayed cold & kept it's form until the very last bite. Mmmm! Paul liked it but isn't sitting at the edge of his seat for another trip. Then we went off to Target to blow $100 plus on wonderful nothings that we never knew we wanted until we arrived at Target. :p The magic of the red clearance tag! If you're a sucker like myself never look at the original listed price. It's usually .50-.75 cents more :/ Oh well! A sale is a sale!

Lovely weekend. :)

Ta Da!

As promised here's a picture of our new dinette table. We love, love, love it! Let me show you a before picture.
The poops love the camera :)

Upgrade? Good! Yay, no more having guest sit at the table as we stand (yes we've done that :p). In addition to our new table we've become more willing (& excited!) to host dinners & invite friends/family over for no reason what so ever. Sounds so silly but for whatever reason knowing that we have the room has given us a boost of confidence in hosting. Since the arrival of our new table we've had several guest over (for no special occasion other than to eat & hang out), Paul b-day dinner & we also started off Movie Night. Once a month Movie Night will be held by & the host decides on the dinner & the movie of choice. The guest are not allowed to know or have any say so in the movie. It pretty fun. Well to be fair we hosted the first of many but it was awesome watching my Aunt squirm through the first hour & a 1/2 of Superbad. hee hee! Our original choice was American Gangster but my uncle started talking about SB & how he always wanted to see it. Who were we to deny him this pleasure?! :D :D


Please don't feel sorry for her. Her halo falls every now & again. After the movie ended I asked if she enjoyed the movie. Her response?





"It was like a bad smell....I just had to get use to it."



HA! I love my Aunt. She's (along w/my uncle) will be hosting next movie night. Hopefully she isn't too evil w/her selection. ;)

Side note : In addition to our new table we picked up a few throw pillows. They matched our comforter perfectly & I really loved the Giraffe inspired pattern. :)

Yes I know our headboard is horrific. New bedroom furniture is next on the list!

Fun!

Aww he's my little protector. :)

Have some fun & try it yourself. :)

I love surprises!

Ok not the, "I'm really a man" type of surprise. My love is more geared toward, "I was thinking of you" moments. I had one yesterday & again today! My wonderful-awesome-thankgodIcamebacktoservice manager called me into his office after lunch & said, "I got you something."

YAAAAAAAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love, love, love colorful & bright post its! Color has the power to instantly but you in a good or gloomy mood & when I see yellow.......it makes me gloomy. At least in the boring Canary color Post-It has going on. :p Blah! Blah! Blah! The person in charge of ordering office supplies took it upon herself to save the company a few dollars by adding dull to our work space. BLAH! But in his own little way my mgr. said DAMN THE MAN! & showered me w/bright post-it goodness. :D Not only are they excessively bright they're also POP up Post-Its! I feel like royalty. :D I'm so happy by his act of thoughtfulness (yes that's a word) & the bright neon green post-its on my desk. :D



Then again today I was pleasantly surprised! I'm not a huge fan of sweets. Candy, ice cream (BLAH!), sweet or chocolate I can usually pass. Then there's Girl Scout cookies. Again, not a big fan. I can appreciate the thin mints but that's about as far as I'll go. Until a trip to St. Bros. w/Paul we had exactly $4 cash & I noticed a new cookie. They're called Thanks-A-Lot. Too cute. Plus they looked yummy. Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh they were SOOOOO yummy! We ate the whole box before going home. :/ I'm not a huge fan of chocolate so the thin layer was perfect! Unfortunately I haven't seen a Girl Scout since then & believe you me I'VE LOOKED! So today Paul came up to me & started telling me about a customer he helped & she asked if he liked Girl Scout Cookies. Omg how perfect!!! Thankfully my loving & thoughtful husband thought of little ol' me. :D

Asante Pauly Wally!

Queen of random

I never knew this about myself. Recently my bff(!) Jenn pointed this out to me. Not willing to believe I repeated the comment to Paul & it was confirmed......I'm hopelessly random. Now, I'm still not quite sure what this means. Am I random or just spontaneous? Let's take last night for instance. The "plan" was to finish my taxes (which I've been putting off because I'm incredibly lazy) & study for a test. Well at least the tax part was taken care of.

We live inside a gated community. Our condo is located right by the entrance gate so we're pretty much within 10 ft of the public park & the main street. While walking toward our place I noticed a dog (who I will refer to as No Name) in the middle of the road poking her nose through some trash. I initially freaked out not only because she was in the middle of the road but because a truck was heading straight toward her! So I walked (I've realized w/each stray I meet that running only provokes fear) so I briskly walked over to No Name & calmly w/a sweet voice called out to her. Thankfully she was very trusting. So trusting in fact she fell into my lap & dug her nose in between my arm. It was so touching! My heart melt when I realized how skinny she'd become. You could see all of her bones. :( I quickly took off my coat & wrapped it around her body. It was so sad. A few cars driving outside the complex stopped & asked a few questions, "was she the one in the fight? was she with the other dogs?" I had no clue. At that time I didn't even see any dogs. I had Paul go inside to get a collar & a leash (we have extras through out the house because I'm a compulsive shopper). I carried all the way to the front portion of our condo. To avoid any conflict I wanted her to meet Sadie & Oscar on common ground. As soon as they showed interest in one another we praised & gave out treats. No Name gobbled them right up! After the intro we decided to take them inside. Oddly enough she didn't understand what stairs were or how to get up them. So I placed a treat on each step & she climbed right up!Once inside I gave her a bowl of dry food. Poor thing was so hungry! I placed my hand inside to bowl to see her reaction & thankfully she just ate around it. Not sure of her background I wanted to make sure she wasn't aggressive. The other poopies even walked around the bowl while she was eating & nothing. YAY!

After praising her good behavior we gave No Name a quick tour of her new home, don't tell Paul I said that ;).

Look at that floppy ear!

Her gorgeous eyes :)

Next, we headed to the bathroom for a much needed bath. Getting her inside the bath was fun. :/ She stiffened & tried to escape. So since she was determined to fly out of the tub.......I joined her. :) It was pathetically sad when she began to push her nose through the crack of the shower doors & started to climb up the wall to avoid getting wet.

Notice all the dirty water!

She can't even believe all that dirt was on her!

After a nice hot bath we dried her w/a towel fresh from the dryer. Oscar & Sadie love this part. After washing all the gunk & dirt off of her coat you can see just how beautiful & shiny her true coat can be! Then afterward Paul took all three out for a walk. While they were away I made a quick dash to PetSmart to pick up a crate. If we learned anything from potty training Sadie it's you should always crate train them. That was not a easy or cheap lesson to learn. Plus the crate also acts as a "den" which can help calm any feeling of insecurity w/their surroundings.

Our first night with No Name was actually pretty easy. She realized begging for human food was wrong & not to go inside the kitchen.

She laid at our feet during American Idol & went into her crate w/out (much) hesitation. She's a real sweetheart & I'm really glad she found us. Since I have class tonight Paul is taking her to meet Dr. Sid to make sure she's healthy (besides malnourished), fixed & to check if she has a chip. I cannot express how well behaved No Name is around us & our poopies. She didn't mind my touching her feet & she loves Paul. I was really excited that she didn't fear men. Alot of strays unfortunately have that common fear. I'll be sure to keep you updated on No Name. We're still up in the air about whether or not she's going to stay w/us. First step is taking her to the vet & we'll go from there.

She seems to fit in rather nicely don't you think? :)