the last month

so, we are just about one month away from the arrival of el niño!

my gut says he's going to be early, but i may very well be wrong and just wishing it so i wouldn't have to see my gut keep growing with each extra day.

here are a some things i'm hoping to do before then:
- find my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe
- eat at some new and old LA eateries (suggestions?)
- get back into the etsy world
- host a dinner pahh-tee or two
- do a photo session for someone
- learn how to use a sewing machine
- go to a dodger game

i had written the above thursday night as a draft, but oh what a difference a day makes! friday morning, i went in for my 3rd trimester ultrasound where they found my amniotic fluids were measuring lower than normal. at first they rushed me to labor and delivery to make sure my water hadn't broken [insert panic here], and then did a bunch of tests to monitor the baby. in the end they told me i didn't have to deliver the baby after all (whew!), but have to be on almost bed rest and go back twice a week until i do deliver to do all the tests and make sure baby's ok.

i know, being told to just rest might sound like a welcomed order, but not if you are crazy like me. it's probably a combo of my control freakedness and being in nesting mode that's put me in this high-productivity cooking, organizing, shopping/returning, cleaning (this one not aaas much, hehe) mode. like this morning, i woke up and felt determined i needed to juuust sort! the! laundry! so i started, joe told me to stop, i said okokok, and then secretly finished sorting it in super speed silence. sigh. this will be a good thing for me, to just let go and remember it's God who holds all things together. and He's taking care of our dear baby in my womb until it is the perfect time for him to come and meet us.

and thankfully i have joe to constantly remind me to take it easy AND make me banana chocolate chip pancakes on a saturday morning :)

ta-da!

after much time spent considering whether i should start blogging again and trying to muster up some motivation, i've finally made it back. can't believe that since my last post, the mrs. pyo club is preggers, preggers and re-preggers!

here are a few things that have kept me occupied outside the blog-world:
- going on a cruise. joe and i decided to try something neither of us had ever done and packed our bags, loosened our belts and hopped on a boat. not sure if we would do it again, but highlights included the 24-hour pizza parlor, geekily reading twilight by the pool, watching joe play in the ping pong tournament, and that arcade game where you put in quarters to push the other quarters to spill out so you can put them right back into the machine over and over again (how is this game even fun?!).



- eating diligently for two. after getting through the first trimester nausea, my appetite has returned with an unstoppable vengeance. some days i do a double-take at what i think is a kirstie alley sighting (she's looking great, by the way!), only to realize it’s my own reflection. and other days there's no double-take needed; i just look at myself and see eddie murphy in the nutty professor. straight up. doc even told me to take it easy and i realized i can tell her it's from the cruise for only so long.



- scouring craigslist for treasures. lately i’ve been checking craigslist non-stop for furniture and baby items. sometimes i go a little overboard, like the time i bought two different used pottery barn cribs and had to re-sell one on craigslist (for a minor profit). or the time i realized one of the sellers was a blogger i follow and admire, and acted like a total stalker-fan when i went to go buy the item. it’s all so much fun, until i am faced with joe’s voice of reason, accompanied by his stink eye.

- moving. we recently moved into a new apartment and all-in-all i love our new place - the neighborhood, the garage, our new washer and dryer, the plentiful windows. but, as i’ve been trying to convince my ever-so-practical husband, it could use a little extra help, like painting over the peach walls and maybe some decorative accents here and there. for example, the super cute hand-knit doll i found on sale at anthropologie for the nursery...that obviously doubles as an oddly-shaped back-support cushion for nursing...no? argh, i can feel joe’s stink eye just writing about it!

well, this retro-retro-retro-active blogging could go on forever so i'll leave it at that and save more updates, photos and my list of things to do before the arrival of el niño for next time...thanks for reading! :)

sisters via misters

last weekend i had the pleasure of journeying to the hot hot heat valley for the bridal shower of my future sis-in-law. her besties put together such a cute backyard garden party and my deep sadness over forgetting my camera was quickly appeased with yummies from porto's bakery, homemade desserts and the fun photo booth with props galore.

i'm so excited for their upcoming wedding (always love a good excuse to browse through wedding websites again) and to be gaining a sweet and most hilarious new sister. here i am with bride-to-be connie and our other sis-in-law susie. joe's brothers got excellent taste, ay?

california love, part 2

i couldn't have asked for a better 1[.07] year anniversary celebration than the mini-vacay up to the monterey bay we took last weekend. we persevered through some nasty la traffic and enjoyed the long and scenic route up the central coast where we were wow-ed at each turn by the ocean, mountains, huge trees, sheep?! -- such a far cry from life as we know it in orange county.

turns out one of the biggest motorcycle events in the world, ever (or something like that) was happening the same weekend but luckily it didn't keep us from enjoying our stay at the charming normandy inn (found via sfgirlbybay) and everything else on our jam-packed itinerary.

road trip to do's:
1. hike the north shore trail at point lobos state natural reserve


2. find pretty fishies at monterey bay aquarium


3. eat yummy fishies at old fisherman's wharf


4. get a fat slab of prime rib at clint eastwood's mission ranch restaurant


5. stop by to say hello to clint's sheep


6. play peekaboo at pfeiffer big sur state park


7. dig into delicious dishes at big sur bakery and restaurant


8. take a gazillion pictures with new camera


9. spend quality time with the dearest husband and thank him for being my america's next top model for half of the gazillion pictures


whew, is it just me, or does anyone else feel like they need a vacation after a vacation? traveling is fun but i could totally go for a veg day right about now to just watch tv and eat chocolate chip cookies, yummm...