Just jumping in...

I've been avoiding writing here because SO MUCH has happened that there is no way to catch up on it all... but at the same time, I am constantly wanting to write here, just to document my life.

Short version: We're expecting our first baby! (But I think most of you probably already know that, so I won't try to catch up too much more).

I will be 24 weeks along on Tuesday, which means I am WELL into the glorious second trimester and more than halfway to holding a baby in my arms. Craziness!!!

What this means for this blog is that it will be turning into a baby blog, sadly for some, perhaps. But it's mine, and this is currently the biggest thing happening to me and I want to document it, if only for myself. If you don't want to read, click on that magical little "X" in the corner!

How are you feeling?
This is the question I get asked most often. Now, the answer is "Great!" A few months ago, it was not so great. Now that the all-day nausea and utter lack of appetite have passed, I feel wonderful. My belly is expanding, but I'm not huge. I can still move and bend over, and my toes are not yet strangers.

Answers to other FAQs:
It's a girl, and although we have a list of contenders for names, we don't have one picked and when we do, we won't be sharing it, not with nobody! My guess is that we will have 2-3 favorites and will wait until we meet her to ultimately decide.

No, we are not registered yet (not that you, random internet browser cares, I just get asked this a lot).

No, we are not ready. Is anyone ever ready?

I think that's all for now. Lots more to update, hopefully with pictures, including belly bump status, as well as my many, many sewing projects I've been completing lately (woohoo for nesting energy!)

Guess who?

We watched Guess Who's Coming to Dinner tonight, which aside from being a delightful film full of win, thanks to Hepburn and Tracy, not to mention Poitier, was very interesting from a historical standpoint.

Brief, necessary background: it's about an interracial couple (Poitier and pretty girl who very much looks like she could be Katherine Hepburn's daughter) and their families, who are trying to come to grips with the interracial-ness of it all.

First, it's odd and sad how this doesn't seem THAT dated. I mean, I would hope people wouldn't freak out quite so much at the thought now, but I was really hoping it would feel laughably old-fashioned. Or maybe it's just because the performances are all so good?

Second, the craziest thing is how coincidental and eerie parts of the movie seem now. To wit: the couple meet in Hawaii at the University of Hawaii (presumably), and then later in the movie, Poitier talks about how his love "is confident that every single one of their biracial children will grow up to 'be president of the United States and they’ll all have colorful administrations.'" (Source. Great minds!).

Uh. YEAH. I seriously stopped the movie and made us watch that part again. How crazy is that? Like, did they have a time machine? Nutterbutters, I say!

So I was happy that something that seemed so ridiculously outlandish to the characters was very, very true and real 40-50 years later, but then I was sad again because Spencer Tracy's character says something about how while the world will change, it likely won't be in his lifetime. I have no idea what it was like then (being not-alive and all), but I know it took until almost exactly one year ago for the dream of a biracial president to come true. Luckily, I think there were plenty of other changes before then, though less dramatic. Loving v. Virginia was the same year (1967).

Watching the movie, I was also strongly reminded of the very similar struggle happening this very moment (I'm looking at you, Maine). There's a scene where the very awesome priest looks at the couple and says something about how looking at them makes him so incredibly happy and hopeful. It's funny, but I feel the same way whenever I see a same-sex couple expressing affection in public (even just holding hands or hugging). I always smile at them (or just smile) and want to tell them what a cute couple they are or something, but that seems HIGHLY random. So I just feel very happy for them inside and walk by.

So when will we have the "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?" for this struggle? When can we look back at a scene and marvel at how far we've come? I hope we don't have to wait too long to make real progress. Nothing should hold back love.

Netflixing a relationship

I never really realize how different Peter's taste in movies can be from mine until we go through rating Netflix movies. We'll even have watched a movie together and discussed it, and still I will be surprised when he "likes" a movie and rates it 2-3 stars, when I've given it 5. Those movies we both love are relatively few and far between, and frankly, I can't predict when that will happen. I now know when he will hate a movie though. Usually it's the movies I love for a specific reason: they are quirky, they have unique cinematography, and/or they have a beautiful color palette. I think the only movie like this that he liked as well was Little Miss Sunshine. I'm very, very happy we could agree on that one.

That said, it's always nice to get a different perspective on someone you know so well. It's nice when people surprise you.

Saturday mornings

Me (7 AM): (thinking of everything I forgot to do yesterday) I don't really want to be awake.
Me (9 AM): (to Peter) What do you love about me?
Him: That you love sleep as much as I do.

Hint.
Hint.

I'm vicariously internet famous!

OMG. So, go to Cute Overload, and look at the very first picture (or scroll down a little if it's tomorrow now). See the adorable kitty and the adorable girl holding the "Absolutely YES!" sign? That's my friend Jess from high school! She and her now-fiance (yay!) came out to Boulder this summer (he's actually from here) so we got to have a drink with them and Colin's very cool family at the Dushanbe teahouse. I will try and see if I have a pic of us together (I'm pretty sure I do) just to prove it! I'm internet-famous by proxy!

I was so stinking excited when I saw this (I was following the saga before I even know who this "Jess" was, as Colin actually proposed on Cute Overload) that I made Peter pause Transformers. He seriously thought I was CRAZY for being so excited (before he knew what it was all about). Boy does not like his Transformers interrupted, I guess. But I think he understood once I told him! I'm so excited for them! They are a great couple, and wonderful people and I think they will be very happy together for a long time. Congrats, you two!

Thoughts on a Sunday Night

Tomorrow the rush begins. What am I thinking in these last few moments of my own?

I love my husband very much. I feel like we really reconnected over the weekend, just by spending time together (and having that time to spend to begin with) and making each other a priority. He is wonderful and my everything.

I can't wait until I no longer have 12 hour days. The worst of it is that I don't feel like I get anything done in those long hours. I'm in class or at a job, which cuts out time for studying, homework, or those million little tasks that need to be done during business hours (or while I have energy). Only two more years...

Somehow, we got Disc 4 of Dexter before we got Disc 3. This made me unaccountably sad every time this weekend I thought about sitting down to watch it with my snuggly husband, only to realize that we couldn't because nothing would make sense. I can't wait to get Disc 3 on Tuesday.

I would very much like the Buffs to win their next home game. Yes, it was very exciting at the end, but it would been much more exciting to actually win. I love you Buffs, please don't let me down. I really want to be there for a victory.

The Internet is evil. Sure, I know a lot of random, useless shit now, like that the Amber Room was built in the 1700s by the King of Prussia, taken by Russia, then taken by the Nazis and has since disappeared, but is this important? More important than my upcoming midterm? I think not.

Speaking of the evil of the Internet:
I saw a funny spoof of "Glengarry Glen Ross" on YouTube today. Peter and I watched that movie a couple years ago and thought it really didn't live up to the hype (you think nothing happens in some movies? Nothing *really* happens here!). But after watching this spoof, we were both like, "Were all those actors really in that movie?" I think we were early in our Netflix career at that point, and so only recognized a few of them. I know I didn't know Alan Arkin then because I had not seen the wonderfulamazingwonderfulness that is Little Miss Sunshine then, so I was not in love with Grandpa. But now I am. Maybe we should rewatch Glengarry Glenn Ross? Watch the preview, and let me know what you think:

Typing Bliss

I really like typing on this little MacBook. Its keys are very fun and clicky. I've heard that the new iMac keyboards are similar. Yay!

Nothing very exciting to post, but I had a little free time and felt like writing (typing) so you get a post. I have five projects due in the next week, so I'm a little busy with schoolwork. Peter started his week before school prep stuff, so he started his day at 6:45 AM and didn't get home until almost 6. Phew! I guess summer really is over and the fall of our great stress begins.

New Toys Part Deux

I wasn't expecting it, but we got a new MacBook today. Peter starts school next week and really needs something he can bring to school and back to work on lesson plans and other fun teacherly things, and since his old-ass laptop has forgotten it is a laptop and requires being plugged in constantly, he gets a new one. And oh what a new one it is! The clicky-ness of the keyboard, the teeny little camera practically smiling at you, and how can we forget the luscious,
glowy Apple logo on the back? Mmmm... I have been promised a new iMac when Leopard comes out (thank God for student loans and Peter's amazing scholarship this year). This way we won't have to fight over computers and we will both have what we need for school and hobbies (i.e., my photography obsession).

Peter also got iWork, which always looked appealing to me, but didn't since worth it before since it didn't have an Excel replacement (just PowerPoint and Word-like programs). Apple has now introduced Numbers, so it now replaces everything we ever used Office for. I think Peter was sold on it when he opened up the spreadsheet app and saw not only a grade sheet template, but also a science lab template, complete with incredibly easy charts and graphs. Like, wow. You mean, you can just highlight a chart, click a button and you get exactly the kind of chart you wanted all along? And don't even have to go through a 15-step "wizard" that never seems to get it right anyway? And on top of that, it looks like some high-end design team drew it, rather than a cubicle-dwelling number cruncher? Sweet.

I've played a little bit with the new iLife '08 (which the Apple store said we'd probably have to pay $10 to get the DVD mailed to us, but was already in the box as a "drop-in"). So far, so goo, though it's hard to get a real idea of it, since I don't want to crap up Peter's computer with my gajillions of gigs of media. I'll wait for my iMac to do that. Plus, I really don't have time to do much more than a little playing with my classes now. In the next week and a half, I have 5 projects due for two classes. So fun!

Toys!

Apple just unveiled the new iMac, iLife '08, iWork '08, new stuff for .Mac, and even more stuff. Woah! I hearty McHearterson the new iLife; it looks incredible. Some of the features look like they will make my life much, much happier. Of course, we're still going to wait until October when the new operating system is supposed to come out, but now we know what we are waiting for and that it will be so worth it! Now we just have to decide if we still want to go the laptop route, or if we'll update our little iMac (we'll still keep our half-basketball!). Le sigh. Oh Apple, how do you know what I want even before I know it?

Coming up for air

Sorry for the long down time between posts. This past week was even busier than usual, thanks to putting in about twice my usual hours at one of my part-time jobs.

Good news:
Peter has a bike, but if we want to go out together, he has to run while I ride the bike (we'd go 50 feet if it were the other way around). We'd talked about getting another bike for me, but we didn't want to spend as much as a new bike, or even a good used one, would have cost for something I might use a few times a month. Until Monday. Peter scored this beauty:
Guess how much? $6.50! OK, it didn't have a chain then, but even with a new chain (at less than $20, with installation), it's still the deal of the century! I've named her Bluebell and she is very fun. She's a little on the small side for my daddy-long-legs, but we're going to see if we can get a taller seat post so my legs aren't perma-bent. Compared to Peter's mountain bike, she's super fast and really light. I love the lightness because we live on the third floor, and I always struggled carrying the mountain bike up three floors of stairs after a long bike ride.
And now we can go on bike rides together!

Let's see, what else? We went to see Jeff Corwin a few weeks ago, but I forgot to blog about it. We're settling in to our schedules, but it's hard to get used to seeing each other for only a few hours a day when we usually were able to spend most days together (even if we were both just doing homework). The weather has been fantastic, giving everyone a lovely taste of spring, but we've lived through enough of this winter to get nervous if the weather is nice for too long. We don't want to get our hopes up because Mother Nature will just squash them under three more feet of snow. But this stretch melted almost all the snow! There are still a few black icebergs on those streets that never see sunlight, but those are generally avoidable.

Come on, Spring! We're more than ready for you!