Team Brummy

Rabbit, Rabbit

2012-02-01T18:18:00.001-08:00

Wasn't she beautiful?

My wonderful grandmother Lolly had many amazing traits and habits. It's been a hard 6 months since she went to be with her Maker, and I still miss her every day. One of my favorite habits of hers began on the beginning of every month. She taught us that the first words we said on the 1st day of the month should be "rabbit, rabbit" and that they would bring us good luck all month long. I spoke with her at least once a week but I would always get a call on the 1st and she would tell me that she had said Rabbit, Rabbit for me in the morning, just in case I had forgotten.

Rabbit, Rabbit

Tough Mudder 2012

2012-01-17T19:28:00.000-08:00

I hate New Years resolutions. I like having clear, measurable goals. If I see something I wish to change or try, then I hope to try and achieve it because I want to not because it was Jan 1st. And as a bonus, if I don't make every goal at least I've achieved something as I build my way toward it. So my goals for 2012 are to participate in:

At least one Olympic distance triathlon

At least one Sprint triathlon

A tough Mudder

and perhaps if I get talked into it, the SF GIANTS Half-marathon. But thats mainly because in years past you get to cross home plate at the finish line.

So if you want to try any of these with me let me know. The Tough Mudder registration is already open, and so far our "team" is going to do the one Sept 22 in Northern CA. Here is a link to see what a tough mudder is all about! Best of all it raises money for the Wounded Warrior Project

Last post of 2011

2011-12-31T20:00:00.001-08:00

I'm going to sneak in one last post for this year. I've been traveling the last 10 days and taking a break from blogging, but will be back starting tomorrow for the tens of you who read this blog!

Here is our vacation to CA by numbers.

Over the last 10 days

Miles flown: 1580

Miles driven: 700ish (thanks mom for letting us borrow the car, we love you!)

Christmas celebrations: 3

Birthday celebrated: 4 (Jenny, Ashley, Addison, & Jesus)

Book read: 2

Treats eaten: dozens upon dozens

Miles ran: 16

Inaugural family Rudolph Race runners: 4

Memories created: Hundreds

Pictures taken: 150

Be back soon!

Thankfulness wrap-up

2011-12-05T11:22:00.000-08:00

Day 28~ I am again very thankful for the friends we have that are our family. At Addison's Christening in May both of her godparents flew out for the occasion, and numerous friends drove out of their way to come spend this special day with us. We are so thankful for all of you!

Tara & I have been friends for 18 years! We're going on a girls trip to celebrate

when we get to 20!

Day 29~ I am thankful that I have my moms sense of humor, and I hope I pass it along to Addison.

Day 30~ I am thankful that I can capture moments like these on my phone. I have titled it 'Santa Fail' or if you can hear me laughing in the background, 'Parenting Fail'

Thankfulness days catch-up

2011-11-28T15:47:00.001-08:00

Thankfulness catch-up

I'm not sure where this month has gone, but it has gotten away from me! Again!

Day 18

I am very thankful for this little family that we've created. Each day is tiring and busy, and wonderful all at the same time.

Day 19~ I am thankful to live somewhere so beautiful, it may rain more than I love to say but its stunningly beautiful here. Can you believe this picture I took is a reflection in a little pond?

Day 20~ I'm thankful for the friends that become family, and getting to spend time with them.

Day 21~ I'm thankful that I did most of the prep work for thanksgiving earlier in the week, so I didn't have to start cooking until noon on thanksgiving day.

Day 22~ Im so blessed to have such amazing friends in my life, even if most of them do not live near me, although it makes me very thankful for the ones that do live here. I am so lucky to have friends send me boxes of clothes for Addison every month, or give me bags and bags of toys for her from their own 2 beautiful little girls. Addison gets to have playdates with these two amazing girls, and I am so thankful for that. I have had multiple friends fly out to come and meet her and spend time with us. I also had two amazing baby showers last year, one thrown by some of my dear friends back in CA, and a "virtual" shower where my friends from out of state each sent me a gift in the mail that arrived at the same time. I am so, so, thankful for each and every one of you.

Day 23- I am very thankful that most Eric's family could come up and visit for the holiday.

Day 24~ Although as a vegetarian it was very intimidating to cook the thanksgiving turkey, I'm glad that it came out edible and no one went to the hospital. And I'm very thankful to Jenny for cleaning it, because I just couldn't do it.

I am a little sad the only picture I got of my meal had the turkey in it.

Day 25~ I am thankful that it is time to decorate for Christmas. I love the decorations, music, and traditions we have.

Day 26~ I am glad to have found the second part of my student teaching placement, now I'm just waiting on the 1st part.

Day 27~ I am glad that I saw no part of a mall or shop on black friday.

Catch-up

2011-11-17T13:35:00.000-08:00

Well after a rough week, I am finally playing catch-up. First I got sick with an awful cold, then about 6 hours behind me Addison did. I don't think I've been this tired since she was a month old. Thankfully (Day 8) we seem to be on the mend!

Day 9- I am thankful that whenever I make plans to go home, I have so many wonderful friends and family to fill the time up with and visit.

Day 10~ I am thankful that I am able to have lazy mornings drinking coffee and hanging out with Addison.

Day 11 ~ I am thankful to have two wonderful sisters, whom I love very much and who love my daughter so much! I was pretty much a terror to them until we were in high school, mainly because I was so jealous of them growing up...know whats cooler than twins? Umm nothing. Thankfully they've forgiven me and now we have the relationship my mom dreamed about and wished for when we were kids.

Day 12~ This beautiful picture has my second home, Santa Cruz, in the background. It's one of my favorite places and I talk about it constantly. Can't wait for summer!

Day 13~ So thankful that we live close to family and get to go visit them! Here we are with my uncle checking out his current showing at a gallery in portland.

Day 14~ So thankful that we have so much family that loves on this little girl as much as we do!

Day 15~ Although it's been brutal at times, I'm very thankful for this life we've had in the military. We've gotten to travel, create memories, meet amazing friends, and enjoy the many blessings this life has to offer. And although I am ecstatic about moving back to CA and our new adventures coming up, I will miss this.

Day 16~ I am very thankful for all the men and women who serve in US military, and for their sacrifices so that I can live my life freely. I've gotten to meet some incredible people who give generously of everything they have, and ask for very little in return.

Day 17~ I am super thankful that the Niners are 8-1!!! I don't think thats happened since 1997, and it's almost made up for staying a fan during the last decade....almost.

Bonus post

2011-11-07T21:06:00.000-08:00

Addison's 10 month picture! Right now her favorite foods are: prunes (go figure), avocados, & veggie burgers. She loves looking at her board books, and trying to chew on them. We went to the library the other day and got some new ones for her to look at, but not chew on. She took a step on her own last week, which was really exciting for Eric and I to witness. She will take a step or two on her own right now but she does not like doing it for an audience, hence no video.

Thankfulness days 5, 6, & 7

2011-11-07T20:25:00.000-08:00

Day 5

I am thankful that I finished most of my credential classes in september so that I could spend the rest of the fall with Addison before starting work full-time in January. This time together is really special to me.

At the pumpkin patch bash our church put on!

Day 6

I am so thankful to have been able to go away on a girls overnight trip to Napa in Sept, with some of my oldest friends. We've been friends for close to 17 years and it was so fun to sit and talk, drink wine, talk, eat yummy food, talk, and laugh together.

Day 7

I am thankful that even though its been pretty cold here lately, it has been rather dry these last few weeks. I will take any break from rain that I can get!

Thankfulness Days 3 & 4

2011-11-04T22:03:00.000-07:00

Day 3

I am so thankful that every day Eric, Addison, and I wake up with more health than sickness.

Day 4

I am so thankful to be able to witness sunsets like these and with the people I love surrounding me. Even if I can no longer cartwheel properly....

Thankfulness Day 1 & 2

2011-11-02T11:46:00.001-07:00

Time for a month of posts about the many, many things I'm thankful for. My cup runneth over.

Day 1.

Obviously my two favorite people.

Day 2.

Getting to spend 30 years with this amazing woman, I miss you Lolly-girl.

Annual Lawrence-Brumfield pumpkin carving contest

2011-10-25T09:58:00.001-07:00

Time for our annual Lawrence-Brumfield pumpkin carving contest!!!

Target Practice

Moonset

Calvin and Hobbes wagon fun

I totally did it

Vote for your favorite pumpkin!!!!

It's tiring being this cute.

2011-10-20T13:56:00.000-07:00

My cup runneth over....

Occupy Reality

2011-10-14T12:03:00.000-07:00

So I’ve decided to write something about the ‘occupy wall street’ protests, because they are starting to really get me steamed up. Take this blog for what its worth, my opinion and nothing more.

If you ever met my family then you know I was raised to be open minded, stand up for others, and most importantly stand up for what I believe in.

When I first heard about the OWS protests last month I was wondering how exactly they would fare. As almost everyone knows, the best way to achieve any outcome is to have clear, measurable goals. So when a ‘leaderless’ protest without a clear agenda began to take root it piqued my curiosity. I think when people want to participate in organized, peaceful protests, the more power to them. It’s one of the freedoms people in this country should use and take advantage of. However I take issue when you start to negatively affect people who have nothing to do with the issue at hand. Here are my thoughts.

Perhaps if the OWS protests had started with clear leadership or goals, they might be making more headway. If you’re part of the 1% or the 99%, it really shouldn’t matter.

When you block the Brooklyn Bridge to protest you aren’t disrupting the people on Wall Street and Capitol Hill who made the bad decisions, or were involved in corporate greed. You are keeping other people from getting to their jobs or home, and I bet many of them can’t afford to miss work, or leave early to get to work because they can’t afford more childcare. You are also keeping emergency workers from responding to situations where people need help. It shouldn’t matter if you say the police did or did not allow you on the bridge, what did you think was going to happen?

I think we quickly forget that if you have ever attended a free public school, or had a minimum wage paying job than you are one of the few percent of people in the WORLD who have had that luxury.

The OWS protests have had numerous donations of items and services, and they are better equipped than most homeless shelters, or refugee camps that have been established for YEARS. Perhaps we should send those donations to people who aren’t choosing to sleep in a tent?

The OWS demonstrators in San Francisco congratulated themselves on keeping a bank closed. Well guess what, you know who you impacted the most? The tellers, security guards, and janitors who had nothing to do with the decisions of these banks over the last couple of years. They lost a day of pay, and Im pretty sure you didn't win any support for your cause from them.

I’m all for standing up for a cause and what you believe in, but lets try and have a little perspective about how you go about accomplishing it. Because when all I see are pictures of demonstrators listening to their ipods, watching movies/tv on their laptops, using ipads or using their smartphones you begin to lose your credibility and my attention.

If you need some ideas about ways to participate and help others consider learning more about the following:

Human trafficking in the USA, and the world

Dire famine in Africa, and many other parts of the world

Cancer medication shortfalls. Right now there are shortages of many types of drugs to help treat cancer and its side effects. Many doctors have to change care plans halfway through a treatment course because they are running out of drugs. They are starting having to make decisions on adults vs kids, who is in more dire need? These are real problems.

Lastly, here is a sign I saw that reminded me how thankful and lucky I am.

I choose…

To live by choice, not by chance;

To make changes, not excuses;

To be motivated, not manipulated;

To be useful, not used;

I choose self-esteem, not self-pity

I choose to listen to my inner voice,

Not the random opinion of others.

9 months

2011-10-01T12:12:00.001-07:00

Obviously I'm totally biased...but seriously, this kid is so stinkin' cute!

Let's get real

2011-09-14T11:51:00.000-07:00

I am borrowing this blog title from Mari who made a really excellent observation that so many blogs out there are about the super-moms who can do it all. This is not one of those posts. Case in point? I have a mountain of clean clothes that you could ski down, I loathe putting away clean laundry. LOATHE. Some days the gym is about getting a really great workout in. And some days? It's about going so I can take a shower uninterrupted. I used to put her in this seat in the bathroom, not so much anymore.

Case in point...by the way, this took her less than 90 seconds.

Seattle Triathlon (With update)

2011-09-13T15:04:00.000-07:00

I would be remiss if I didn't include the following dialogue posted within the comments section of this particular post

*Eric said...

I strongly object to this post. Chelsea has completely mis-quoted my comments about sharks. At no time did I make any comments about sharks in a lake....comments about sharks were made, BUT not in a LAKE.

*Chelsea said...

As the moderator and author of this blog I strongly object to the above commentary. The word 'shark' was bantered about quite liberally from the parties involved. However I was told if I removed said 'comment' I would be violating someone's free speech rights.

And back to the blog.....

The hardest part about turning 30?? Moving into the most competitive age bracket for triathlons. It is great that the elite athletes (very much not me) in this sport are in their 30's & 40's. As I am very much an amateur it doesn't really matter except now I'm getting blown out of the water in my age category. The triathlon on sunday was the 2nd time I haven't made it into the top 10 (out of 7 triathlons). And if you know me, you might know that I'm somewhat (cough, cough) competitive. What's frustrating is that if I was still in my age bracket of 25-29, I would have placed 1st & 2nd in the two triathlons this month. Anyways on to this weekend.

I consider any triathlon where I don't drown a success. So my triathlon on Sept 11, was very successful as I didn't drown or get stung by a bee (see previous post)! I had Jenny, Addison, and Eric there to cheer me on and take pictures of me huffing and puffing my way through the race. In my haste packing up everything for my triathlon, and what Addison needed overnight, I forgot my racing sunglasses which was only a minor irritation, however the glasses I had to wear kept slipping down my face which was no bueno. The weather was stunningly beautiful and I was only somewhat alarmed about sharks in Lake Washington after Jenny & Eric said they had read about some shark sightings...in a lake....and I somewhat believed them. All that shark talk must have been an incentive because after a moment of panic in the water I found my rhythm and PR'd with my swim time. I swam the distance in less time than I did 2 weeks ago and the distance was twice as long....go figure. The bike part was fine, just a lot more hilly than I anticipated. The bike course took you along one of the floating bridges in Seattle, which was beautiful but definitely challenging. The run was fast and less hilly than the bike. Overall it was a great course and well-organized event.

Giving mommy a good-luck hug

1/2 mi swim in beautiful (shark-free) Lake Washington

Hanging out with Auntie Jenny

Ugh, only in WA would someone be this pasty at the end of summer

All done!! Now time to nap!

2011-09-05T09:01:00.000-07:00

It's football season!!!! GO BEARS!!!!
I don't think she actually realizes how much football is in her future.

Time for a tri

2011-08-30T12:20:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I participated in my first triathlon since Addison arrived. It went well, could have been better but could have been worse. Especially since I had to take 6 weeks off this summer after the fracture in my foot.

The weather was absolutely stunning, summer has finally arrived in WA! The water in the lake was even warmer than the air at 7:30am. I'd say about 3/4 of the participants were wearing wetsuits and the rest of the people braved it without one. The swim portion started a little choppy, it took me awhile to get my rhythm going, and I had to stop at one point and fix my goggles which were leaking, never easy to do in the middle of a lake with people splashing around you. I ended the swim a lot stronger than I started and dashed to my bike, which is usually my strongest area. I hoped on the bike and had a great first half of my ride, the course had a few moderate hills and only one steep hill. Halfway up the very steep hill a guy in front of me spun out on some gravel and bailed off his bike, which caused me and two other people to have to bail off our bikes too. We were on a road that wasn't closed off to traffic and we had to bail instead of going into the oncoming lane. Unfortunately the hill was so steep I couldn't get any traction to get any forward motion, and neither could the other three people who jumped off their bikes either. We all had to jog the rest of the way up the hill with our bikes. I felt better when I noticed that one of the guys jogging up the hill with us was one of the elite athletes on his second loop. After getting back on and enjoying another couple miles I felt a bee hit the opening of my helmet and get trapped underneath (yes seriously!!). I tried lifting my helmet up as I was riding to get it out but no dice, it promptly stung me on the side of my face near my scalp/hairline. And so being mildly allergic to honey bees I pulled over to a race volunteer and took off my helmet so they could help me. I obviously didnt have a mirror so I couldn't see anything but I took about 7 minutes with the volunteer to make sure that the stinger was out and that it wasn't immediately swelling up. Since my adrenaline was coursing through my system I was a little concerned that the venom from the stinger might make its way through my system quicker as well. Once I was satisfied I'd be able to finish the bike course I hopped back on and finished. I've never had to get off my bike in a race and this time I had to do it twice! In the transition area I made my way over to Eric to confer and make sure that the stinger was gone. Once he gave me an ok, I set off on my run. The run part went really well, and much faster than I anticipated, not running with a jogging stroller really helped!

I crossed the finish line and set off for the EMT booth just to make sure everything was ok. So other than adding almost 10 minutes to my bike ride due to the two issues, I felt pretty great about the race overall and actually made it into the top 10 for my age group. After a breakfast of french toast we headed home and stopped promptly to get antihistamine. The sting finally stopped hurting yesterday but I still have a marble size lump on my head and it is incredibly itchy now.

I owe a big thank you to Eric for getting up and leaving with me at 5am, and to Jenny who stayed home with Addison since she was a little fussy the day before, I didn't really want to inflict that on Jenny & Eric during the race.

All in all I am happy with how I did, and I have my next race in two weeks. Although I am my own worst critic and I really need to get out of my own head, instead of focusing on the fact I did a triathlon Im focusing on the bike section which did not go well, and I need to stop doing that.

The warm lake

Check out the nervous/fake smile

About to start riding

Eric's handiwork with the camera

Yay all done!

Not quite Wordless Wednesday

2011-08-24T10:07:00.000-07:00

I miss you Lolly-girl

2011-08-22T11:06:00.000-07:00

There are some pretty dire circumstances right now in the Horn of Africa with a severe famine. If you feel like there is any amount you can donate to help here are some charities that are working to serve this area.

Ask 5 for 5

Unicef

World Vision

UN World Food Program

A year ago

2011-08-18T11:28:00.001-07:00

What a difference a year makes

Just about 23 weeks pregnant

Now just about 7.5 months old

Take a minute!

2011-08-08T16:01:00.000-07:00

If you have a chance my dear friend Gayla has a wonderful blog and it was just nominated by Parents Magazine for a blog award. If you have a second head over and vote for her! She and her incredible husband Joe have three gorgeous babies! The triplets are: Ava, Brayden, and Gavin. And Ava is my sweet, sweet god-daughter! It seems like every few weeks I get a package in the mail from them full of baby clothes, books, toys, pacifiers, and bottles! I've bought less than a dozen things for Addison since she was born if that gives you an indication of how many beautiful clothes they have sent our way. We are so blessed to have them in our lives, our next step is getting them stationed closer to us!

Vote here, it only takes a second.

Gayla's blog: if you want to read about their adventures with 3!

My darling god-daughter Ava

Gayla and I (2008)

First time for everything

2011-08-03T15:29:00.000-07:00

This post chronicles my first foray into attempting to make fried food. Even though I lived in the south for 4 years, I never tried it. Although deep-fried turkey's were a thanksgiving staple out there, as well as tur-duck-en (turkey stuffed with duck stuffed with chicken), both of which I never tried. Sometimes being a vegetarian really pays off! We have a small vegetable garden out front this year with: corn, tomatoes, blueberries, onions, rosemary, basil and zucchini. In an attempt to avoid homework I decided to try my hand at making deep-fried stuffed zucchini blossoms. And I threw in some onions for good measure. Frying the food was interesting to say the least, but a lot easier than I anticipated. While Eric really enjoyed the food, I'm just not a big fried foods fan. I always feel a little sick after eating anything fried, but I did try one of the stuffed zucchini blossoms and it was pretty good.

I also have been making batches of pesto with the basil I have, and I'm on my last remaining pot of basil before the weather kills it. I could eat pesto off of a spoon I love it on everything!

Pretty flowers

delicious flowers!

And of course the pesto making!

mmmm delish olive oil from italy; courtesy of Rebecca

Garlic, cheese, pine-nuts, olive oil and basil....how can it not be delicious?

freezes beautifully too! I make a bunch to freeze for wintertime.

6 month check-in

2011-08-02T15:44:00.000-07:00

Wow, over six months old already! July was a big month for Addison Phair. She learned to crawl, cut her first tooth, started solid foods and had her first stomach virus (definitely the least favorite accomplishment).

She has been crawling for about 2-3 weeks now but Eric didn't arrive home from Australia until last week, and I didn't want to tell him over the phone that she was crawling, as I wanted him to see it for himself first. So Eric left for 5 weeks to Australia and returned to a much more grown-up little lady; a tooth, crawling, and eating solid foods, overall a really big month for her!

We are finally enjoying "summer" here! It's been beautiful and sunny for the last week. The next few weeks will be very busy with school, and as Eric transitions into his new position. In other news, Eric got accepted into a law school in CA! He applied a year early at a school that accepts deferments. He is going to retake the LSAT and apply to a few more schools to give us the best options possible, but the countdown to moving back to California has started! 350 days left! (Can you tell we are excited?)

Seven months old!

*Technically.....

2011-07-23T21:12:00.000-07:00

*Technically I am still wearing my walking boot (which I've named Lucky). However, I am hoping to start working out again this week and training for a couple of triathlons for the end of the summer. Although I grudgingly acknowledge that I will not be competing in the one next weekend. But after 9 months last year of being too sick to workout (Thank you Addison, although you were totally worth it), and now getting sidelined with this injury I am really over not getting to be active. Here are a couple of races that I am hopefully going to slowly compete in. Any takers? Anyone interested in doing one with me? Rebecca is my inspiration as she is hardcore and 31 flavors of awesome for competing in a half-ironman next year!

So if you want to do one with me let me know, and all these races are great for beginners!

Lake Meridian Triathlon, Kent WA August 28

Escape from Seattle Triathlon September 11 or TREK Womens Triathlon September 10

and this race raises money for numerous programs that benefit soldiers returning from Iraq

or Afghanistan. Race for a soldier October 16

The black shoe I am currently wearing....

The black shoes I'd much rather be wearing

And because I can't help but post a picture of her!

Someone is trying carrots for the first time!

Not melting

2011-07-20T13:53:00.000-07:00

As most of this country is melting in a heat wave, I am in a rare location where it is currently 58* and raining. In July. I love hot, dry weather because apparently I was meant to live in an oven, so yes I am a little jealous of all the status updates I'm reading of my friends who are in these much warmer locales....the grass is always greener eh? I really try to have a positive attitude towards Washington's weather because when it's nice it's GORGEOUS! Daylight lasts in the summer from 4:30am-10pm, it's amazing at 4pm to still have the sun almost directly overhead. When you can see the sun that is. I'm trying really hard to have a "pollyanna" attitude about the weather because I keep hoping it is going to become gorgeous again. It doesn't help that I just returned from 3 weeks of glorious sunshine in California (and an awesome tan to boot), because nothing can live up to that weather. (Yes I am completely spoiled and I know it).

Addison had her 6 month check-up this week. Just a few weeks late after our 4-day trip to CA turned into almost 4 weeks. Lots of shots, but she is a champ. She is currently 17.9 lbs and 26.5 inches. Which puts her in the 75th percentile for height and weight and the 40th percentile for head circumference.

So we are slowly settling back into things here, and I am avoiding homework like a champ. I just dont have the inclination to do schoolwork this week, which is unfortunate because it's not going to take care of itself.

Checking out the ocean, we dipped her feet in and she thought it was great. Lots of smiles!

Tuesday 10 (It is tuesday right?)

2011-07-05T17:39:00.000-07:00

Tuesday 10

10. Being stubborn finally kicked me in the butt, or rather the foot. My foot had been increasingly hurting over the course of 2 weeks but I continued to run on it because I just thought it was my running shoes or that I wasn't stretching properly....WRONG. I had a small fracture in my foot. And now I'm on crutches....For 3-6 weeks....with an infant.....awesome. And when I told the ER doctor that I absolutely couldn't be on crutches because I have a baby and a couple of triathlons coming up he laughed and said "not anymore". Great bedside manner.

Quite possibly the only ER that I've even been to that has valet parking, and free wi-fi, thats Stanford for you.

9. Addison turned 6 months old last week! We celebrated by having her try food for one of the first times today. After doing research and knowing what I learned in my nutrition classes we decided it would be best for her to not start food until she was 6 months old, but thats just what worked for us, everyone is different.

8. Addison is very close to crawling, which means life is going to get a lot busier....and now I'll need to babyproof!

7. Addison and I just spent 5 great days with Eric's parents. So much fun to be with them and the weather was great, at least to me. It was 99-100* with no humidity! My kind of weather because apparently I was meant to live in an oven.

6. I'm spending three weeks with my parents while I'm on crutches since I can't really carry Addison around too easily. It was that or putting her in a laundry basket and tying a rope around my waist to carry her around the house.

5. I had a glorious week off of school! Back to the grind now; 2 more classes until I'm done with my teaching credential (minus the student teaching next Jan-June), and then only 3 more classes until I have my masters in educational leadership. I'll be done (hopefully) in December, I keep telling myself that there is light at the end of the tunnel and that I never want to go back to school.....maybe.

4. Being in the Bay Area for three weeks is getting me excited for moving back here next summer. Our 1-year countdown will start in the middle of July!

3. I wish I had some more funny stories this post is severely lacking in them. Well I can say that I blame Rachel and Mari for introducing me to the timesuck that is pinterest.

2. I'm very sad by the Casey Anthony verdict, what a sad miscarriage of justice. I just have to remind myself that she will be held accountable eventually.

1. The Giants are in 1st place!!!!!! And even better than that???? The dodgers are in LAST!!!

Mazel!

I heart California

2011-06-04T08:37:00.000-07:00

(Disclaimer, I have no idea why this is underlined and I can't get it off of the post)

Addison and I spent a glorious 10 days in California full of family, friends, fun, food and sun! Eric got to join us for 4 days at the end of our trip. Have I mentioned how much I love being so close to our families?! And starting next summer we'll be even closer, not exactly sure where we'll be, but we will be in CA nonetheless! And now a bullet list to breakdown our CA trip. (Mari you really need to start doing those again!)

· I started our trip off with running the bay to breakers (see previous post). I spent the next 5 days relaxing with friends in the sun, doing homework (blah), and hanging out with the family.

· On Friday my good friends Kim and Courtney arrived for the weekend, and I go to meet Kim’s beautiful little girl who is 6 weeks older than Addison. We were having Addison’s christening and they came out to celebrate with us for the weekend. Andrew, Addison’s godfather also flew out from Texas to meet her and come to the christening.

· Eric and I attended a wedding of our good friends Jason and Eleanor, it was a baseball theme wedding and so unique and beautiful. Instead of throwing flower petals the flower girl carried a pennant that said, “Here comes the bride” so creative!

· Addison got to see her other aunties too: Desi, Eliza, Tara and meet new ones: Kristin, Allison and Monica.

· It was especially great to see our friends Stu and Leslie who made an 8+hour roundtrip drive to meet Addison and come to the christening. We are lucky to have such amazing friends.

· Eric and I also celebrated our birthdays with a joint christening/birthday party, which was a lot of fun! And the weather was gorgeous to boot!

· And on the other side of the country our amazing friends celebrated the 1^st birthday of their triplets! Happy birthday to Ava, Brayden and Gavin!

·Thank you to everyone near and far who made the weekend so special for us, and to our amazing parents who threw such an amazing party!

Lolly and all her grandchildren

A 4-generation photo

Beach theme party= yummy cupcakes

It's my party and I'll sleep if I want to..

Courtney & Kim

Addison with her Godfather Andrew

Because.....

2011-05-28T14:26:00.001-07:00

Because I thought going to school while pregnant and having an infant wasn't totally crazy (I blame pregnancy induced hallucinations last summer). I am halfway through my Masters & CA State Teacher Credential program. Each 12 week class (1 quarter) is condensed into a 4 week intensive class, although the same amount of work still applies (boo). My quarter ends tonight and after 10 luxurious and leisurely days in CA I am trying to finish everything and maintain my current GPA (because I've become an academic snob/perfectionist). So I can't procrastinate (any more than I already have) and do a thorough post about our trip to CA, so I will leave you with a picture essay.....

Me now......

My desk.....

Hopefully my evening (And I wish this was my real bath)

Almost Wordless Wednesday

2011-05-18T20:57:00.000-07:00

They see me rollin'

California love

2011-05-16T09:51:00.000-07:00

Bay to Breakers by the numbers:

4 ~ Hours of sleep I got before the race since Addison decided to be up and excited about the race from 2:45-5

7.4 ~ Miles long

11% ~ Incline over Hayes St Hill

0-200ft sea level ~ over the course of 6 blocks

8 ~ total people in our group

28-70 ~ age range of the individuals in our group (although Ashley and I were the only people under 60)

50,000 ~ Registered participants in the race

25-35,000 ~ Non-registered participants who "crashed the race"

70-80% ~ Of people who walked the course

10 ~ Naked men that I saw throughout the run, all old white guys...gross

1 ~ Naked chick....mmm owwww?

1/2 mile ~ how far we had to walk from the start line before we could actually start jogging very slowly.....think regular city streets with 80,000 people on it

1 ~ number of times it rained

1 ~ hour it took to find Ashley in the crowd of people at the end. It was like looking for a needle in a stack of needles.

2 ~ Jello shots I was offered instead of water on the course

0 ~ That I actually took because I had Eric's disbelieving voice in my head.

The fun part of the Bay to Breakers is that it's not a race for time, it can't possibly be when you have to walk so much of it because there are so many people and no actual place to run. Towards the middle and end of the race you can run on the sidewalk on the left-hand side, to bypass all the walkers. I also stopped to take pictures and get cash from an atm to have just in case. It was also nice because we rented a van and had the driver drop us off and pick us up so we didn't have to deal with parking or traffic.

Ashley and I before the run

Soooo many people...

Some of the crowd...don't look too closely I didn't check to make sure that everyone was fully clothed in these shots

Some of the costumes

A house party on the side of the course, where they are leading the walkers in a round of YMCA with a boombox

The big news

2011-05-02T15:17:00.000-07:00

Something to reflect upon. And whether or not we agree, the beauty of this country (that my husband and many of our dear friends fight for), is that we do not have to agree with one another.

I have very mixed feeling about the last 24 hours. While I am very happy that Usama Bin Laden can no longer murder innocent people, I do not rejoice in the fact that an individual full of hate, and with blood on his hands, died without knowing the love of Christ, or the grace of salvation. It takes so much more effort to spew hate and vitriol, how sad that he was such a horrible individual, responsible for the death of so many.

I think the celebrations in front of the WH were inappropriate in the manner in which they were conducted. A candle lighting ceremony or memorial for those who died at his hand would have been far more appropriate.

This is very hard for me to remember at times like these, but I have to go back to this verse and quote, in order to not allow the hate that permeated his life, to ever have a grasp in mine.

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. – Matthew 5:43-45
"Jesus was stretching the imagination of the Jewish listeners. To love your enemies is to acknowledge that God loves them too. This is another way of saying that there is hope for anyone. No matter how evil or unrighteous someone may seem, the sun still shines upon them. We are challenged to live in the love of our heavenly Father, who wishes for none to perish and all to come to repentance."

Thursday 10

2011-04-14T14:59:00.000-07:00

Thursday 10 in pictures! The first two pictures are circa 2007, the rest are from the last few weeks. I blogged twice in one week which means I'm totally procrastinating from schoolwork!

Bay to Breakers 2007.....B2B 2011 is only 5 weeks away!

NC 2007, you can barely tell that Rebecca is 5 months preggo here!

Jump around

celebrating 5 years of marriage!

Check out the person in flip flops...are you really surprised?

3 months old on March 30!

Long Beach WA

Ummm I'm bizarre?

Mama goes for a run= my warm suit!

Bear got attacked by an overzealous groomer :(

Not quite Wordless Wednesday

2011-04-13T10:00:00.000-07:00

Actually not even close to a wordless wednesday because we all know that I love to talk and especially love to give my opinion!

Homegirl does not like to nap. Apparently its against the geneva code to force this kid here to nap....who knew? So in retaliation, when she does finally fall asleep it's generally with her face pressed up against her lovey because she knows it means 1) I won't dare move it and 2) I'll constantly check on her because of it.....if her refusal to take a nap is any indication of how strong-willed this child is going to be than we are in it DEEP....VERY VERY DEEP. I have read multiple books on the subject and tried various methods but it's very much one step forward two steps back. She is SLOWLY transitioning to taking a morning nap. I don't get it, but she *usually* (don't want to jinx myself here) sleeps 12 hours straight at night. Roughly 7-7 give or take 30 minutes, which I know won't last so I'm going to ride it out as long as I can. I know I could put her in the swing or take her for a drive and she'll fall asleep but I want her to learn to fall asleep for naps in her crib first before I move on to the easier places for her to sleep.

Move my lovey and I scream

Spring cleaning & Spring chopping!

2011-04-02T19:48:00.001-07:00

Spring cleaning time! I love this time of year, where in most places spring is fully on its way. Here in Washington not so much, although I'm a big cheerleader of Washington the weather from March to May is probably the hardest to take. At this point it has been gray for sooooo long that all you want to do is see the sun. I cannot wait for summer!!!

Since I've had this last week off of school I've spent it organizing and cleaning. I also (gulp) chopped 12 inches off of my hair! I told the hairstylist I wanted it about an inch above my shoulders and apparently to her that meant chin-length. As soon as I get used to it I hope I'll start liking it, and I'm donating the hair to Locks of Love so it's going to a good place. Since my hair inexplicably got so dark during my pregnancy I also got highlights for the first time ever. Yes, I'm almost 30 and have never gotten highlights.

Pictures of our spring cleaning to come as soon as our garage is finished, but to give you an idea...this is the first time since we've lived here that I've been able to park in the garage.

Before and after

OPENING DAY!!!!!

2011-03-31T10:16:00.000-07:00

LETS GO SF!!!!!

Now I have no expectations for a stellar season, in fact I commit myself to expecting the opposite....but I'm a fan no matter what. I'm just glad I got to see a World Series win in my lifetime. All thanks to the lucky bump I was carrying...the newest Giants fan!!!

GO GIANTS!!!!!

I wish they all could be.....

2011-03-27T11:11:00.001-07:00

....California Girls

Even though Addison was born in WA like her father, she will be a California girl! We went home on a whirlwind trip so that I could take the CSET, which is an exam for teachers. And an incredibly ridiculous one at that, but that's a whole other post.

Addison did fantastic on our flight down and back, only crying for a minute or two on each flight. Which I know won't last once she gets older and more mobile, so I'm thankful for this small gift. Even though she only briefly cried it still really flustered me, because you think everyone is judging you and annoyed with you. Maybe it's a new mom thing, I don't know. Thankfully when Addison and I flew back the woman in my aisle was a mom, and very kind by offering any help I needed. It also relaxed me because I knew she wasn't going to get annoyed by crying.

Addison met a whole slew of new relatives when we went down, as well as some of my friends. After my test on saturday one of my oldest friends (we met and became friends in sixth grade) and her family held a little baby shower for Addison and I, which was wonderful.

After that we drove to Santa Cruz where Addison got to meet her great-grandmother, Lolly-girl. We also walked down to the harbor where a wave from the tsunami hit and caused about 18 million dollars of damage, and sunk about 3 dozen boats. It was crazy to see entire docks missing, the harbor was the 2nd hardest hit area in CA. It's only a few hundred yards from Lolly's house and it was so sad to see the boat owners looking helplessly at the damage.

After spending the night at mouse house we left the next morning for Pebble Beach to see Ashley's new apartment and so Addison could meet her grandpa, step-grandma & other great-grandma. We walked down to the beach for a little while before it started raining and headed back home.

Eric left on Monday to go back to work and Addison and I stayed for two extra days to hang out with family and friends. Our next trip back will be in May for 10 days when I am going to run the Bay to Breakers for my 30th birthday, and we are going to celebrate a friends wedding as well as hopefully have Addison christened in my home church.

Meeting Lolly-girl!

Meeting her Auntie Tara

Sleeping through our 1st trip to the beach!

Our first trip to the beach!

Picture with my grandmother's butler....yes really.

Loving on Jeeves

Ummm yea I'm weird!

Napping with Granddad

A four generation photo

Hanging with her Auntie Eliza & Auntie Desi

Loving on her Papi

Loving on Nonni and Papi

One last thing, my amazing friend Gayla is doing a walk-a-thon to raise money for March of Dimes. If you are able to donate anything to this amazing cause it would be greatly appreciated. Here is a picture of her three sweet children and my beautiful god-daughter!

March of Dimes-Luchetta Triplets

Saturday mornings

2011-03-19T10:29:00.000-07:00

Just another quiet saturday morning in the Brumfield house....notice the baby isn't making any noise.

St. Patrick's Day

2011-03-17T14:15:00.000-07:00

I got bit by a leprechaun!

Because it's 3am and I'm bored

2011-03-03T09:55:00.000-08:00

I bet there are some of you who know almost everything on this list.

A~Age: 29 for just a little while longer.

B~ Bed Size: King - and saving up for a sleep number bed!

C~Chore you hate: emptying the dishwasher, I would rather scrub out toilets.

D~Dogs: two - Bear our 3.5 yr old mischievous husky and Abby our 4.5 yr old bossy mutt. Both are rescue doggies!

E~Essential Start your Day Item: A shower.....but it rarely happens. So I guess water? To drink or bathe in.

F~Favorite Color: Right now I'm really into purple.

G~Gold or Silver: Silver.

H~Height: 5'8.5"

I~Instruments you play: Ha! Totally and utterly tone-deaf and the whole math thing makes it difficult for me to read music.

J~Job Title: Mommy! And a student (again) I'm in school getting my CA teaching credential and Masters in Ed. So between having an infant and school my life is full-time!

K~Kids: One! Beautiful Miss Addison Phair who is just over 2 months old oh and the dogs too!

L~Live: Washington. Winters that = rain and clouds and summers that = glorious days of light from 4:30am until after 10pm!!

M~Mom’s Name: Sue

N~Nicknames: Chels & schmels

O~Overnight Hospital Stays: Just 2: one for an emergency appendectomy in high school (day of finals thank you very much!) and when having Addison

P~Pet Peeve: The sound of sneezing...it's like nails on a chalkboard. Oh and pretty much every WA driver....who comes to a dead stop when merging onto the freeway? You merge with the flow of traffic, we're not at a stop sign! Oh and poor grammar...hmmm I seem to have a lot of pet peeves.

Q~Quote from a Movie: "Haha you're very funny. You're obviously a comedian" ~Franck `Father of the Bride' (Martin Short)

R~Right or Left Handed: Right

S~Siblings: 2 amazing sisters Ashley and Jenny and two stepbrothers Mitch and Jordan

T~Time you wake up: Ha! Changes every night 3am, 6am & 8am. However Addison started sleeping through the night at 5 weeks. I just get up to pump, lets hope she continues to be an awesome sleeper.

U~Underwear: ewww who doesn't?

V~Vegetable you Dislike: mmmm probably eggplant but I love pretty much all vegetables, and considering I'm a vegetarian that's pretty important.

W~What Makes You Late: Right now Addison but before her......myself mainly.

X~Rays You've had Done: My back, ribs and teeth.

Y~Yummy Food You Make: I think my pasta dish is what sold Eric on our relationship. I love making up recipes and I don't always follow the directions. However, I suck royally at baking, which might be the whole non-directions thing.

Z~ Zoo Animal Favorite: I'm a total buzzkill and don't like Zoo's, but I guess I'll have to suck it up now that we have Addison. So I'm going to go with penguins.

TOP 5

2011-03-02T10:18:00.000-08:00

TOP 5 reasons that Addison Phair is awesome!!!!

1) I've found the one person on earth that finds me utterly fascinating all the time. Granted, it may be because her world is fairly limited at this point but I'll take what I can get.

2) When out running errands having a cute baby with you makes people much more forgiving of the greasy hair, bloodshot eyes and extra 10-20 lbs you are carrying around.

3) She loves my singing to her, which brings the grand total of people who do to 1. My singing sounds like a bag of cats hitting the wall, so until she can vocalize her opposition to my singing this is what she gets.

4) I get to use the CARPOOL lane!!! While this may seem lame to many of you, the traffic up to Seattle can be ridiculous due to the inability of Washington drivers knowing how to drive in the rain (yeah, ironic I know). This cuts my drive time way down which is great.

5) No one can judge you for staying in your pajamas well past noon.

and of course like all mothers before and after me, I have the cutest, smartest and funniest baby in the world.

Pictures!

2011-02-25T21:50:00.000-08:00

Some pictures of the last few weeks and a real blog post coming. Soon as I'm finished with my current class I can take a little time and write a real blog. School, studying for the CSET and having an infant is a lot of work! Good thing she is sooooo stinkin' cute!

Ciao Bella!

2011-01-26T17:26:00.000-08:00

I got the best surprise when Rebecca showed up on my door when Addison was a week old!!! She left her two little boys and flew all the way out from OH to WA to come help us out and spend time with Addison and I before she moves to Italy. This wonderful friend came to visit 1 week before the movers came to pack up her house for the big move, crazy girl! It was so wonderful to visit with her and spend time together, the next time we get to see each other will hopefully be in Italy! I'm going to try and take a hop/space A flight out there this summer with Addison if I can, and hopefully with Eric, if his work schedule permits. I am so excited for her and this new journey she is beginning and I am so so so blessed to have her in my life, thank you my friend!

Cinco de Mayo run 2008

Rebecca at her baby shower (Summer 2007)

Rebecca and I in Columbus, OH (Feb 2010)

Welcome to the world

2011-01-07T13:45:00.000-08:00

If you voted girl.....She's here! Addison Phair was born Dec 30th at 7:37pm after 27 hours of labor, if 27 sounds long it feels even longer. Arriving at 8lbs and 20.5in of joy! She has dark blue/gray eyes and light brown hair.

I managed to get about 17hrs through before giving in and getting an epidural. Since they induced me a week early they were using pitocin to speed up my contractions, that stuff is deadly strong. Every time they turned it up I felt my contractions go through the roof. After 17hrs of that I got the point where I was getting sick during each contraction, so out came the drugs. Apparently there was a sale of dull needles at Kmart because the Dr told me he would have the epidural done within 10 mins, try 30! Apparently my back was so tight he was having a hard time getting the needle in place, and Im having to hold perfectly still while he is digging around in my spine with a needle when Im having contractions every 90 secs, and throwing up to boot. I've got Eric holding my side, a nurse holding my front, bless her heart I was trying to not throw up on her but her face was literally inches from mine. The Dr finally got the epidural placed and the next 10 hours were far more pleasant. Just under 2hrs of pushing later out popped Addison.

The Dr told Eric he could look and tell me if it was a boy or girl, which was really neat for him. They placed her on my chest and Eric and I fell in love on the spot! We got cleaned up and headed over to the postpartum floor. Whoever designed maternity floors was definitely a man, no woman would have newborns sharing a room together. Eric had to leave pretty soon after we got to our room since it was about midnight and way past visiting hours. My roommate decided she needed to have her tv on all night even while she was sleeping, between my nurses coming in and hers there was very little sleep. Ive heard all sorts of horror stories about the nurses/doctors at Army hospitals but luckily I had fantastic care. Every Dr/Nurse did a phenomenal job and I couldn't have been happier with my experience with them.

After 4 days in the hospital I was more than ready to go, they kept me a bit longer because I lost a lot of blood during delivery and my blood levels were too low and they wanted to give me a transfusion, but luckily the numbers stabilized and they let us go around 9pm Saturday night, where it was a bone-chilling 20 degrees when we left. Brrr.

We are slowly getting used to little sleep but staring at her makes it totally worth it. She has had a little trouble putting on weight due to my milk supply still not completely in, so the Dr.'s have her on formula which I am supplementing with nursing and pumping. Hopefully that gets better in the next few days.

My mom stayed with us the first week and we were very sad to see her go yesterday. My sister Ashley stayed here for 4 days taking care of the dogs while we were at the hospital and we couldn't have done the last week without them. My mom watched Addison for us and we got to go out on a date the night before she left which was great. Due to my blood levels being so low I'm not allowed to drive for 3 weeks and it's been way too cold to go out of the house, so it was nice to get out for a little while. Hopefully I'll be cleared to drive again before Eric goes back to work, or else that will make for some long days.

We are busy settling into our new family of 3. Eric has until the 18th off because his 10 days of paternity leave dovetailed nicely into the 4-day MLK weekend, so it's nice that he won't be taking any leave.

Picture time with Nonni

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-24T22:09:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas!

Hopefully we can actually get a photo of Eric and I together tomorrow. Last set of pictures before we meet bump. My hair has turned really dark this winter, not sure if it's because of the pregnancy. We are enjoying a quiet Christmas here in WA this year for obvious reasons, but we look forward to being with family again next year. We are hoping bump decides to settle in until Jenny and Ashley get back on monday since they are our dog-sitters!

38.5 weeks

Only a few days left as the "babies" of the family

My favorite picture

It's about that time

2010-12-16T21:49:00.000-08:00

Time to start placing your bets on who we are going to meet here pretty soon. Shall we be introducing?

Jack Michael, named after my grandpa Jack and Eric's brother Michael.

Addison Phair (pronounced fair), Phair which is a family name on my side.

My "official" due date is Jan 1, 2011

So you get to pick:

Jack or Addison

2010 or 2011

December or January

Height/Weight

Date/Time

Just a few "old wives" tales to help you out.

1) I'm carrying ridiculously high, way way up in my ribs.

2) I've been told it looks like I'm carrying a basketball

3) No appetite= no cravings but I have been drinking OJ almost every day which I never loved before unless it had champagne in it....mmmm mimosa's!

4) I've been measuring early at all my appts but Eric and I are both very stubborn people and this baby could have a double dose

5) I have the line running the entire length of my belly but it breaks up at my belly button and then starts again a whole inch to the left, so it's not a straight line

6) I've had morning sickness the entire time, although now I can control it with the awesome drugs I'm on

Eric's official guess is: Boy

Chelsea's official guess is: Girl

Here is a picture of 37 weeks to help you

And if you are really interested my mom has a $5 pool going that you can be a part of!

37 weeks

2010-12-12T13:10:00.001-08:00

I used to have ankles, and I liked them. Now I have whatever is considered beyond cankles. I've had problems with swelling in my legs since about 26 weeks, and I know that I look like an NFL linebacker with these legs and it's unfortunately been difficult to embrace such a look. And now I have pitting edema, or as my sister Ashley calls it"memory foam feet" (I like her description better). My feet are so swollen that my slippers no longer fit, and I can press my finger down into my foot and it leaves an indentation long enough for me to get my camera and take a picture. So not fun! Try not to be jealous!

Thankfulness day 25, 26, 27

2010-11-27T15:37:00.001-08:00

I am very thankful that the 1st turkey I cooked, came out perfectly. At least that's what everyone told me since I did not have any, and no one had to go to the ER after dinner....bonus!

I am very thankful that my table was filled with family, friends and food.

I am very very thankful that while I pass these last few uncomfortable weeks away on the couch, that there are some good football games on.

Thankful day 24

2010-11-24T10:41:00.000-08:00

I'm thankful for such an amazing vet. Oh the life of these dogs. Today I took Abby to the vet to get her velociraptor-like nails clipped, get her yearly exam and a few shots. If there is anything Abby hates more in this world, it's a trip to the vet. She has to get a muzzle, and she is freaking out the whole time. It is not fun to take her to say the least. So we are waiting in the exam room and she is cowering under my legs and when the vet comes in she nicely asks "Are you sure she needs a muzzle, she seems so scared" Um yeah if you want to touch her nails you better hope she has a muzzle on. Luckily the vet we saw loves Abby and is able to calm her down, so she lays perfectly still for her exam and her shots (obviously some people are meant to be vets) and when she comes back from getting her shots her muzzle is off and she is prancing around as the vet feeds her treats. And the vet tells me what a sweet dog she is, which I'm thankful other people can see even when she is scared. As for Bear, he hates being left alone without Abby and we try to never do it because he gets really anxious in his kennel. And since today I have a million things to do, clean and write a paper I really did not feel like cleaning up after an 'accident' in his kennel so since I've been up since 5:30 (thank you pregnancy insomnia) I devised a plan to trick Bear into thinking Abby was here while we were gone. I left Abby's blanket in his eye-line and rolled up a black jacket and placed it on her blanket partially in his view, after I snuck her into the car I had Eric bend down and kiss the "Abby" on the blanket goodbye. And it totally worked, this is the 1st time he hasn't had an accident while we were all gone! Yes a lot of work for a trip to the vet, but I'm sure you trick kids just as much when you're a parent so hopefully I'm ahead of the game!

I live a very plush life

Thankfulness day 22

2010-11-22T10:53:00.000-08:00

I am thankful I have one dog who loves the snow, even if he tries to eat a majority of it. And I'm very thankful to be getting a pedicure today, since I haven't been able to reach my feet in awhile they are looking pretty......not great.

This is also the same amount of snow we received during the entire winter last year, and that was in January.....so we'll see what happens. But I'll take this any day over the humidity in NC

Thankfulness days 20 & 21

2010-11-21T17:52:00.000-08:00

6 weeks (or less!!!!!!!!) to go

I think I have finally hit that end of the 3rd trimester blahs... The energy I've enjoyed these last few weeks is nowhere to be found. I'm sure the non-sunny weather isn't helping but it is so hard to get motivated to do anything and it takes forever to get out of the house. Which is unfortunate because I know that it will not be any easier to get going with a baby. We've put the finishing touches on the nursery and it is almost complete, and I'm really happy with how the room turned out. We decided on using the guest room at the front of the house instead of the room next to ours for a few different reasons, next to us means it's also next to the guest bathroom, laundry room, TV room, kitchen area and main area with the dogs. And trying to keep noise to a minimal level in all those places did not sound fun, and our house isn't that big so it's not like I'm going to have to go really far in the middle of the night for feedings. At least that's what I'm telling myself now.

~I'm so thankful that this nursery is done and is just waiting for bump to make it's appearance.

~ I'm also very thankful to have my husband home who insists on being the one to run to the grocery store tonight, in the snow, during football.

As you can see we went with a Beatrix Potter theme, I loved all those books growing up and already got the full set of them for the nursery.

Ignore the glare on the wall

Day 19

2010-11-19T22:49:00.000-08:00

I am very thankful that Eric's business trip to Japan was successful and that when I wake up in the morning....or from my 1st nap of the day that he will be home!

Day 18

2010-11-18T21:43:00.001-08:00

I am very thankful that I have the opportunity to go back to school to obtain my teaching credential and masters degree right now. School ends on Dec 18th and I have several more classroom observations that I need to complete before that. I am also very thankful that after the 18th I'll be taking time off until February and spend time enjoying being a sleep deprived, deliriously happy new mommy!

Day 17

2010-11-17T14:28:00.000-08:00

I'm thankful that there is light at the end of the tunnel and before we know it Bump Brumfield will be here in 7 weeks or less (emphasis on the less)!!!!

Here is a 33 week picture

Day 16

2010-11-16T20:27:00.000-08:00

I am thankful for the season of coupons. I'm not very savvy at coupon-ing, however some of my other friends are really good at it. I usually try and stick to the perimeter of the grocery store when I shop as that's where most of the fresh food is kept; meats (for Eric), dairy, produce, bakery etc. Often it's hard to find coupons for these items, and I don't see the point of buying something that's on sale if I don't usually use it. Today though I totally scored with my coupons, I keep a binder with different sections (yes I'm obviously very type-A) and I place my coupons in there so I can easily see what I have, I use business card place holders. I also have a club card from Safeway (ahh so glad to live near a Safeway again), where I can go on their website and load coupons directly onto my account. So all I have to do is swipe my card or input my phone number at the checkout stand. Today almost every item I bought had a coupon, including one for the produce dept! In total I saved $52 and got almost every single thing I need for Thanksgiving dinner for 6, with the exception of the turkey!

Day 14 & 15

2010-11-15T20:12:00.001-08:00

Day 14
I'm thankful that there is supposed to be some sun out on Tuesday before the forecasted snow this weekend. Also side note, when you ask me when I'm due and I respond between Christmas and New Years, please don't use that as an opening to tell me that this is supposed to be a very harsh, snowy winter, because I live 25 mins from the hospital and this doesn't make me feel better.
Day 15
I am thankful that I am almost done with Christmas shopping, and no I'm not an over-achiever, it comes from a deep desire to not be around any crowds while I'm 9 months pregnant, because then the crazy pregnancy hormones kick in and it isn't pretty! And Eric is pretty afraid I might get arrested for shoplifting because I have the pregnancy stupids and I have ACCIDENTALLY put things in my pockets to hold before I get to the checkout line. But I have always remembered when I get up there to take them out of my pocket, but I guess I can't wear anything with pockets between now and when this baby comes!

Day 13

2010-11-13T19:42:00.000-08:00

I'm thankful for my sweet god-daughter Ava! She is going to be so spoiled as the only girl with two brothers! My friend Gayla does an amazing job with these sweet babies and I am in awe of her because of the work it takes with triplets (that's right 3!) is something I cannot even begin to comprehend. Gayla has great style and has blessed me with lots of her maternity clothes (that's right I fit into clothes that someone pregnant with triplets wore), as well as so many other goodies for the baby. I wish we lived closer together, if you want to follow her adventure she has a great blog.

Gayla and I before all the babies!

Ava and I at her christening in the beautiful chapel at West Point

Brayden, Ava and Gavin celebrating their first Halloween!

Day 12

2010-11-12T19:42:00.000-08:00

I'm not very good at math...in fact I'm horrible. And I hate math with a passion. But I'm thankful to see that I'm not the only one bad at math. I think someone else failed fractions here. Eric and I got a pizza from Papa Murphys tonight and we usually go half-sies (halv-sies?) but not tonight. Thank you teenage worker at Papa Murphys for my 2/3rds of a veggie pizza! Sadly, (well Eric is sad about it) this isn't the 1st time they have gotten a little liberal with the veggie side. And this is a family-size to boot!

Day 11

2010-11-11T21:42:00.000-08:00

I am very thankful to Eric, our friends and family who have all served this country by protection our freedoms. I cannot wait until everyone is home. I love you babe!

Day 9 & 10

2010-11-10T13:15:00.000-08:00

Day 9
I'm thankful that I have a sense of humor and the ability to keep a straight face. Sometimes I just assume people are as sarcastic as I am. Luckily most of my family and friends have a great sense of humor too (who wants to be friends with someone who isn't funny?) Yesterday when I picked up my prescription at the pharmacy, the pharmacist gave me a stern warning that I'm not allowed to have any alcohol with this medication. I was about to laugh out loud (thinking it was a joke) when I saw her face and realized it wasn't. Mind you, Ive been taking this medication for 6 months and they have never told me this before. I'm not quite sure what it was about my countenance that screamed, "I'm going to go knock a few cold ones back". Perhaps the belly?

Day 10
I'm also very thankful that I have healthcare that currently pays for this medication. These anti-nausea meds are the same ones that chemo patients take and at 2 pills a day x $25 a pill, they very quickly add up. I take one every morning at 5:30 and last week I fell back asleep before I took it and woke up getting sick about 2 hours later. I am so grateful that these pills have taken away 90% of my nausea and morning sickness for the last 6 months.

Day 8

2010-11-08T20:52:00.000-08:00

I'm very thankful to have a hubby who is so handy, because there is usually at least 2 or 3 things on my honey-do list for him. He just put up this pot/pan rack for me and it only took 2 extra trips to Lowe's (blessedly only a 2 minute drive from the house). And this was after we spent a few hours putting the mural up in the baby's room. Note to self, do not wait until you are 8 months pregnant to measure out, cut-out, paste and hang wallpaper type material. But it came out fantastic! Pictures to follow! And I'm also very thankful for my beautiful all-clad cookware! Thanks Mom!

Day 7

2010-11-07T16:34:00.000-08:00

I am thankful for Fall and the yummy goodies that is brings even if I have no appetite to eat them, they are still fun to make. Here is my 1st attempt at an apple pie from scratch. It came out perfectly. Next up this week is a pumpkin pie with a small sugar pumpkin I got in my last box from our CSA. Maybe Rebecca has some tips? She just made one from a pumpkin she got in her CSA box.

Day 6

2010-11-06T22:38:00.001-07:00

I am very, very thankful for daylight savings time tonight! An extra hour of sleep will be wonderful, lets hope our little soccer player actually lets me sleep instead of playing monkey bars on my lower rib cage!

Day 5

2010-11-05T21:29:00.000-07:00

I am thankful that we live so much closer to CA and our family and friends now. Eric got the chance to zip down to CA for two days this week to see his family and go to the Lakers/Kings game, and apparently Im supposed to say I'm glad the Lakers won.

Day 4

2010-11-04T21:01:00.000-07:00

I am very thankful to have such wonderful friends, even if most of you live very far away from me! I am very thankful for my dear friend Eliza, who celebrates her birthday today. Eliza and I have known each other since middle school, and she is one of three amazing women who threw me a beautiful baby shower in MP in September. We also got to celebrate her wedding earlier this year. I love you my friend, happy birthday!

Day 3

2010-11-03T17:43:00.000-07:00

Day 3:

I'm thankful for the stunningly beautiful Fall day we had. Not a cloud in the sky, with temps in the 60's and all the beautiful Fall colors on the trees. Bear and I were able to enjoy a very leisurely stroll in the sunshine!

Abby loves Fall too!

Thankful days

2010-11-02T21:07:00.000-07:00

I really enjoyed Mari's idea of posting something each day that I'm thankful for. Let's see how long I go before I miss a day.

1) I am VERY thankful the Giants won the World Series (You didn't really think that I wasn't going to mention it did you? In fact I'll be doing a whole blog)

2) I'm very thankful that in less than 8 weeks I'll be holding a beautiful baby and I will no longer be pregnant. In addition to the good looking support stockings I have to wear, just like my 89 year old grandma (Hi Lolly! No joke, we wear the exact same brand) I now have to wear a back brace to keeps my ribs from moving further out of alignment, bump has pushed/kicked them out of place.

Here is a recent picture, I'm halfway to 32 weeks!

Annual Lawrence-Brumfield pumpkin carving contest

2010-10-30T20:17:00.000-07:00

Today was the 2nd annual Lawrence-Brumfield pumpkin carving contest (have I mentioned how much I LOVE living near my family again!).

We went out to an Apple farm near here that is very well known for their award winning cider, and it was delicious! We indulged in cider and their homemade apple fritters which were outstanding. We had lots of fun walking around, although it would have been a little better if it hadn't been raining, but it eventually stopped so we walked around the animals pens. I wonder if those turkeys will still be around in a month or so?

Picking out pumpkins!

The world famous (and delicious) apple fritters

All the different types of apple ciders: strawberry, black cherry, blueberry, spiced and regular. The hot spiced cider was absolutely delicious and we got to sample the others too. All of them are made with no sugar or preservatives, only apples and fruit. DELICIOUS!

Taking home our haul

The farm had ducks, turkeys, piggies, rabbits, goats and sheep.

The Contenders

Dwight Shrute

Jack Skellington

Conjoined twins

Here fishy, fishy, fishy

Tuesday 10

2010-10-12T20:57:00.000-07:00

1) Eric has spent every weekend since August up in Seattle taking a prep class for the LSAT. He took the test last weekend yay! So now I get to see him on the weekends woohoo!

2) I'm back in school getting my CA teaching credential/Masters degree and I have so many examples of what not to do for my papers from teaching in NC. Sometimes I wonder if the professor thinks I'm making stuff up. Especially since the more I learn about rules/regulations the more I realize how many laws my school in NC was breaking.

3) Eric and I went on a date night to celebrate his taking the LSAT, and we saw one of our favorite comics (Jim Gaffigan) up in the city with my sister and her friend. I love living so close to my family.

Date night

4) Now that Eric will be home on the weekends the nursery will slowly come together. He put the crib together Sunday and Abby was the 1^st to test it out, luckily she did not like it and I do not see her trying to be around it or in it.

5) I love the fall here, it’s not the rainy season yet and the trees are just beautiful! Fires, pumpkins, cool nights and apple cider are the best!

6) We just passed the 28-week mark! Only 1 trimester to go, yikes! We are going to start a poll and take dibs on the baby’s sex and what year it’ll be born in. I’m due Jan 1^st, but the baby has been measuring 8-11 days early at my appointments.

7) I’m definitely in the nesting phase. My pots/pans cupboard is driving me crazy, I want to organize all my Tupperware, wash all the baseboards in the house and last weekend I washed out the washing machine because it wasn’t clean enough.

8) Still no appetite which is a bummer going into the season of delicious foods. Eric has been a champ since most times when he asks what’s for dinner I reply, “Ugh nothing, do we have to eat again”?

9) This back and rib pain is something fierce. I feel like I need a forklift to help me turn over at night since I can only sleep on my side for so long until it gets really painful. And I only have one in here, I have no idea how my friend Gayla did it with 3!!!

10) I’m ecstatic that the Giants won the NL west, even if they did almost put me into early labor during all 4 games. I’ll be the 1^st to admit I’m shocked they won and are moving on to the next round of play-offs but I’m so happy one of my teams is doing so well, because the niners….not so much. This video is great and even Eric admitted he thought it was really funny and well-done, strong words coming from a Dodgers fan.

(Almost) wordless wednesday

2010-10-06T20:44:00.001-07:00

Lets GO GIANTS!!!

They may get no further than the playoffs, but Im just happy they're going!!!!

All baby stuff from my wonderful friends!!!

Bump's first game

26 weeks

2010-09-29T17:06:00.000-07:00

Busy busy busy! Thats been my life for the last month, and I have some stories that Ive been wanting to blog about, but I figure Id get this picture up and maybe my mom wouldnt ask multiple times when Im going to blog again! So mom this one is for you!

26 weeks (Forgive the I just came back from the gym and havent showered yet look)

Apparently bump thinks my ribs are moveable and is doing its very best to try and kick them out of place. We had another ultrasound on Monday and the saw that the babys feet are high up near my ribs (something I could have told the sonographer before we went in). Again they told us that bump is all arms and legs, since they are measuring 8 days ahead but the rest of bump is measuring on time. The upper back pain Ive had for the past 10 days is quite something, Im pretty much tethered to the heating pad at all times. Breathing without pain has become somewhat of a challenge too, luckily its mainly on my right side.

It is so much fun to watch my belly ripple and have Eric feel the kicking, I cannot believe we are almost to the 3rd trimester!!!

19 weeks

2010-08-06T21:43:00.000-07:00

Well just about 19 weeks. I haven't thrown up in 14 days (new world record), but I still am pretty nauseous in the mornings and evenings. My doctor said I should be getting my appetite back in the next few weeks so fingers crossed! We have our in-depth ultrasound appointment next friday, can't wait to see how much the baby has grown. And yes mom, we are still not finding out the sex of the baby.

A genuine bump that is somehow the entire length of my torso

Not quite Wordless Wednesday

2010-07-21T12:34:00.001-07:00

Dinner with Eliza & Desi

Mom & I, relaxing outside

Eric loves his ollieberry pie

16 weeks! Almost halfway...wow

Sea lions in Monterey

My grandpa's military medals

Monterey Aquarium

Pismo Beach

View from our hotel room in Pismo

Extra special corn

2010-07-08T13:59:00.000-07:00

Thursday 10 (Thanks for the idea Mari!)

1. It's 90 degrees with no humidity and absolutely glorious! Yay for summer and not feeling like you're breathing wet jello (NC I'm talking to you)

2. My garden has been growing beautifully and I'm picking a few strawberries every day and they are delicious!

3. Sometimes when I'm really lazy I have considered spraying febreeze on the dogs when I didn't feel up to bathing them. (Don't worry PETA I never followed through).

4. It's not because I'm a vegetarian but it totally creeps me out that there are 38 ingredients in McDonalds Chicken nuggets, 38!!! What the heck is in there? I'm sure when we have kids they will have them at some point, but seriously....

5. I love living so close to home, I've already been back to CA more times since we've moved here than I did the entire 3 years we lived in NC. Speaking of CA, we go back for 10 days this weekend.

6. The only craving I've really had so far is for OJ. I still have no appetite which makes grocery shopping problematic, because I think "Why go to the grocery store, it's full of food, eeww gross". Needless to say Eric has been doing a lot of shopping lately.

7. I'm just about 15 weeks and the nausea is almost completely gone, hallelujah!

8. The only thing more depressing than bathing suit shopping , is maternity bathing suit shopping.

9. Boy do the pregnancy stupids kick in early, I've started driving somewhere and completely forgot where I was going and ended up coming home because I couldn't remember. (It ended up being the library)

10. ummmm I read magazines from back to front, a habit I picked up from Courtney.

Fresh food!

2010-07-02T09:44:00.000-07:00

This summer we decided to use a local CSA (community-supported agriculture) farm to buy almost all our produce, and we hit the amazing farmers market here fairly often as well. If you aren't sure how a CSA works, you pay the farmers some money upfront to help with their operating and starting costs. Throughout the summer we will get a box of produce every week of food grown on their farm, a lot of times the food has been picked that day or the day before. It's delicious! I have never had carrots that taste so...umm carroty. They smell great and taste even better. We planted a small garden and have been picking strawberries everyday, can't wait for the zucchini to be ready. I've included a picture of the burgers Eric made with some of our fresh produce, I think there is spinach, onions, garlic in it. He also added some oats, cheese and an egg to keep it all together, he said they turned out delicious! If you want to look up a CSA in your area here is the website http://www.localharvest.org

Finally a couple pictures

2010-06-28T21:05:00.001-07:00

I finally got around to taking pictures, but I definitely need some practice. They didn't come out great, hopefully next time they will be a little better. The good news is that while the nausea and vomiting isn't completely gone, it's much better than it was before. I'm hoping this means I can start driving again, I'm going a little stir-crazy.

2010-06-22T18:29:00.000-07:00

So the finish line should be coming up very soon, sometime in the next 1-4 weeks. But I’m REALLY praying for the end of the week when I hit the official end of the 1^st trimester. I was planning on taking 12 week pictures today to post up here, but then I realized that would entail showering and most likely washing and brushing my hair so that was ruled out.

I’m still not able to work out or drive, and I’m going more than a little stir-crazy at home. Since driving makes me sick, and throwing up while driving is not particularly safe I have only driven if it’s been out of absolute necessity, and unfortunately for Eric, groceries haven’t counted as necessity over the last 7 weeks. I know this whole experience is worth it, and at the end I’ll have a little bundle of love that makes me forget everything and I cannot wait for that!

Jordan, Mitchell and John

I got to go home to Menlo Park at the end of May to spend some time with my grandma who is living with my parents now, and it was a very nice relaxing time. I spent a majority of it with her in the backyard reading and napping since the weather was absolutely gorgeous. I also got to see my older stepbrother graduate college, and my younger stepbrother was home on a brief break from law school and it was nice catching up with both of them.

Cousins' photo-op with Carolynn, Sean, Ashley, Jenny, me and Eric

My mom came out at the beginning of June for my sisters’ graduation ceremony, yay to Ashley who now has her Masters Degree in Sports Administration and Marketing!!! Eric and I drove up to Seattle for her ceremony and met up with my dad who flew up for the occasion and both of my cousins who are home for the summer from law school and undergrad. It was nice to see the sun for a brief sojourn of time, and get to spend time with my family. It is so great being able to see my family as often as I do, now that we are all living so close!

Hopefully the next time I post I’m back to normal Chelsea, I miss her!

Ashley, Mom, me and Jenny

Popsicles and Soup

2010-06-08T20:50:00.000-07:00

I have a horrible poker face. Really it’s just awful, whenever I play cards and I get a good hand, I laugh. Nothing like giving yourself away by laughing out loud every single time. So I haven’t blogged lately, and not for my usual lazy reasons. I actually do have a lot to talk about, but again I must reference my poker face failings. I have wanted to blog, but there seems to be one big subject on my mind, and yet I wasn’t quite ready to blog about it yet, until today.

Coming Jan 1^st, 2011 (or around there) will be Baby Brummy!

I am just over 10 weeks along and today we got to see the baby and hear the heartbeat. And those of you wondering, there is only one in there. And considering my family history, it could have easily been more than one.

I am ecstatic that there are only a few more weeks left in the 1^st trimester as I have been horrendously ill, and I cannot wait to join the land of the living again. I have a condition called Hyperemesis Gravidarum , and basically have spent the last 4 weeks on the couch or throwing up. I’ve had to go to the ER to get IV fluids and right now I’m on some pretty powerful drugs, (the same stuff they give chemo patients) to help with the nausea and vomiting. Losing 8 lbs so far has been a fairly unpleasant experience. So onward to better health during the 2^nd trimester!!! Of course I’ve have been telling everyone my theory that my friend Desiree and I came up with. Since the baby has a few Dodger genes (shudder) in it, it is getting rid of them by making me so sick and in a couple of weeks the yucky Dodger genes will be gone and the sweet baby Giants fan will be happy.

Eric has been so wonderful during this last month, pretty much taking over the cleaning, grocery shopping and cooking, since the sight and smell of food is too much to handle most of the time. I love to eat and CANNOT wait to have an appetite or desire for food to come back.

So right now I’m on a pretty consistent diet of popsicles and soup.

When things calm down over the next few weeks, I hope to be better about blogging! Thank you for all the prayers and support we have received over the last month!

The beginning of wedding season

2010-04-12T14:06:00.000-07:00

Since I got a personal request to update my blog (note: I’m really good at procrastinating) I decided to indulge my few, but faithful followers!

At the end of March I went down to Fresno, CA to celebrate one of my best friends getting married! Court and I lived together for a few years during and after college, and moved 3 times together! Her wedding was a blast, and absolutely stunning. Her parents have a beautiful estate in Clovis, with gardens that are the crown jewel and often wind-up on garden tours. So the reception took place in her backyard, and everything was gorgeous! It was such a fun wedding, and luckily the entire bridal party (all 20 of us) was fun and outgoing. So we ended up doing dances back down the aisle after the ceremony, which was a lot of fun, and I’m guessing on video somewhere! There are also a few of us, who have all been in each others’ weddings (this is the 3^rd one in Clovis), and it’s always fun to be silly with the girls and lots of wine-drinking and picture taking ensues. My parents came out and it was nice to spend time with my mom and John. Here are a few pictures. I was VERY sad to leave the exquisite 70’s+ bright and sunny weather for WA, where it rained for the next 11 days straight. Ah well, summer is not that far off. And I can't wait to go visit San Diego to see Courtney and Andy, where he is a Pastor and she is a Nurse Family Practitioner.

Courtney & Andy Kelly!!!

Elizabeth and I! We met after college through Courtney & Kim, but have traveled all over together. We've hit up Vegas, San Antonio and pretty much all over CA!

Kim and I have been friends since Freshmen year at Azusa, we've been roommates, travel buddies and have been in 4 weddings together!

Getting to hang out with my amazing family!

Umm yea that's Klassy with a K!

Beautiful reception

Beautiful gardens

Head table for 40!

The girls!

The BEAUTIFUL bride

Megan and I. We decided we are going to be professional bridesmaids since we are so fun, and apparently conceited for thinking that!

Love ya girl!

March Madness

2010-03-23T07:57:00.000-07:00

During the middle of March I got to participate in the yearly Make-A-Wish Gala/Auction in Seattle. I work as a volunteer for MAW, primarily as a wish granter for kids with life threatening illnesses, but I do get to work some events and this one was so much fun! Especially getting to dress up, although the events we put on at Cold-stones' are pretty great too, who doesn't love ice cream?

Some Seattle Sounders Gear

I got to walk around selling $25 tickets for a raffle at the end of the night. They also gave us some masks and feather boas to wear to add to the "Carnivale" theme.

This night had a ball/auction/and wine bar. The bar made out of ice was particularly impressive. They poured the mixed drinks in the top of the columns and it ran down through the ice into drinks (hey it doesn't take a lot to impress me).

Signed Mariners Baseballs

I love how MAW comes up with really unique ideas for their fundraisers. When I worked with the LA chapter, we had a wine/ food pairing afternoon on the Paramount Pictures lot, so we ended up having the booths on different fake movie sets, like a European village and the canals of Venice.

Fancy bottles of Wine

Amazing ice sculpture (the top of the columns is where they poured the mixed drinks)

On Thursday I get to make my way down to CA for my best friend's wedding, and Eric is going to meet me and my parents down there. He'll be flying back from Japan and then hopping on a plane to CA the next morning, it'll be great to see him after his month-long "business trip". At 6'2", he feels slightly like Andre the Giant over there.

It will also be nice to have him there because there are a group of us 3-4, who have all been in each others weddings, and this is the first one he is going to attend other than our own. He has always been gone, either deployed or in the field, or at school, so I am ecstatic to have him finally there to celebrate!

Courtney and I, circa 2005? So excited for her wedding this weekend!

2010-03-01T12:56:00.000-08:00

Veggies and dirt! Growing up I’ll admit that I hated to eat my vegetables without complaint, especially when my dad would microwave baby carrots (the taste still makes me gag). So bright and clever child that I was, I would hide carrots and broccoli in my socks when at my dads house, as there was no dog there to give me away(Yea, Eric and I will be having a payback kid for sure!). So I know that I shocked my parents a few years ago by becoming a vegetarian, and eating mainly veggies now because I love them.

When we lived in NC I started a garden one spring after borrowing Rebecca’s copy of “Gardening for Dummies”, which sadly was still pretty advanced for me. I was used to shopping in grocery stores and farmers markets, not planting my own veggies. However, my mom and stepdad have a pretty good garden going and I was inspired to start one after living there during part of the time that Eric was deployed.

My garden in NC did all right, it didn’t completely die and it produced enough food to go in salads over the summer. However, going to CA for a month during Eric’s block leave sent

many of their plants to their ultimate demise, even with a watering system in place.

So this summer having much less land, Eric and I joined a CSA, something I’ve wanted to do the last few years. Here is much more articulate description of a CSA than I could give. “A CSA is a subscription-like program that allows you to buy your produce directly from a local farm. By purchasing a CSA share from the farm in the spring, you help with early season start-up costs and ensure a stable customer base for us, the farmers. In return for your financial commitment, you’ll receive a weekly box of freshly picked organic produce as it becomes available throughout the growing season.”

So for 18 weeks from mid-June until October we’ll receive boxes like this, which is a sample box from the farm we chose

If you want to find a CSA in your area check out this website

Local Harvest

If you’re in NC, I think that Gabe and Mari have found a CSA.

I think it’s really important to put money into the local economy whenever possible. I also went our local library and checked out a bunch of books on container gardening and planting in small areas. So we bought some planter boxes that are raised garden beds that will hopefully do well on our front porch. Eric wanted to build them but seeing as he is gone for the next month, it would have been a close call for planting some of the early crops. I’ll hopefully

go from this:

to this:

· Just as a side note, here is a recent photo below. This is on top of Bear waking up at 2:30 every night for the past week and a half, ready to go and done with sleeping for the night

t. I tell Eric it’s good practice for the future (distant future, not immediate), especially since our skills proofing the house need some work obviously. Bear has somehow managed to MacGyver himself out of his kennel repeatedly, so now we have two carabineers on his door as well. Apparently he doesn’t like John Grisham because we are still looking for the cover to “The Innocent Man”, I’m going to check the yard for it in a few days. Great practice right?

I love reading!

What.... sitting on the floor is so pedestrian

Fun times in February!

2010-02-15T12:56:00.000-08:00

Such a good-looking kid! He comes from good stock.

The month of February has flown by so far, and soon it will be spring. At the beginning of the month we went on a whirlwind trip to visit Rebecca & Steve, and their two precious & gorgeous children. After an obnoxious wait on the plane for the pilot to show up, (yes seriously and secondly who boards passengers if the pilot hasn’t even made it to the airport yet?)., we finally took off after spending 2 HOURS (for a 54 minute flight) on the plane waiting at the gate! I can’t imagine having an infant or toddler and trying to entertain/contain them for an additional 2 hours in a cramped airplane seat. Finally our pilot arrived from his other flight at the other end of the terminal, seriously that’s what they told us 60 minutes into our wait (when really I’m banking on the fact that he was at the airport bar). So we land and unfortunately don’t arrive until after 11pm, bless Rebecca for waiting at the airport that late and then driving us through the snow back to their adorable house.

I keep telling him how good one of these makes him look.....

The four of us stayed up for awhile excitedly chatting since we haven’t all been together in a year (due to Eric and Steve both at different schools for part of 2009), and finally we went to bed sometime after 1am, knowing that Steve & Rebecca would undoubtedly be up very soon with either Logan or Christian or both. We got up the next morning and made our way over to their extraordinary gym, seriously it was the nicest gym I have ever been to. After working out we met the guys and relaxed in the hot tub before picking the boys up from the daycare. We went home and had lunch, and of course played board games while the boys slept. Rebecca and I ventured out in the pretty snow to go get pedicures and to Teavana to fill up on yummy teas.

Aunt Chelsea & Uncle Eric

That night Steve & Rebecca got a babysitter and the four of us went out for Sushi for Rebecca’s birthday, which we finished off with coffee and enormous desserts at Cheesecake factory. The next morning we got up and went to their church which was great, we came home and while the boys were sleeping we manages to get some more board games in. Steve also bought the most incredible cheesecake for Rebecca’s birthday and we dove into it and all its deliciousness.

We ate even more during the superbowl, which Rebecca and I were mainly watching to see the commercials because if the Niners aren’t in it, who really cares?

Having not stuffed ourselves already the entire weekend with delicious food we got up the next morning and had “croissant french toast” with toasted & sugared pecans, and some incredible coffee from Africa. I was afraid of not being able to buckle my seat on the plane ride back after all that deliciousness! We managed to fit in some more games (do you see a trend here: yummy foods, tea, coffee and board games) before Rebecca took us to the airport, while Steve wrote a paper, and a big thank you to Steve for taking the day off of work to spend time with us!

Yea for double date night

We were so blessed to spend time together in fellowship and with dear friends, next time Rebecca & I think we should rent a big house with these amazing friends whom we miss living near, and I couldn’t agree more!

2010-01-27T09:03:00.000-08:00

Finally time for me to write a blog post, because for the time being (hopefully very short time being), I am a lady of leisure. I finally finished school last week and now am looking for more of a full-time position in addition to my hours at the gym. If you know me, you know that I function best when I am working full-time. I hate not being busy, and I wish I could enjoy this gift of free time, but it’s hard for me to do.

So I now have a 2^nd bachelors degree in Nutrition Science. I had to go back again because my 1^st degree was in Elementary Education and I had no science background whatsoever. Now that I have finished this program I need to wait and see if I am admitted to the next step of the program, which is a coordinated program in dietetics with a 900-hour internship and that would begin in the fall. If I get into the program and pass the courses, after I finish the internship I could sit for the Registered Dietitian exam, but that’s about 18-24 months away. Since there are not any programs near us, I have applied to 1 of the 2 schools in the country, which offer the program I need so prayer for that would be greatly appreciated.

I’m now teaching spin classes, (or cycling classes, since I’m not spin certified) when people show up, which at 6am is not that often. Soon I’ll be making Eric take the class. If you have any fun music suggestions let me know.

One of my best friends is getting married this spring and I got to down to CA earlier this month for her bachelorette party weekend, which was a lot of fun.

Eric and I are going out to visit Rebecca and Steve & the boys in a week and a half and we are SO EXCITED!!!!!!!! And a big congrats go out to our friends Joe & Gayla, who will be having triplets this summer! I hope to go out for a week after the babies are born and put my nanny skills to good use.

Celebrating finishing school with a glass of champagne! (Abby as you can see is excited too)

Me and the beautiful bride to be!

2010-01-20T18:13:00.000-08:00

Almost done with school!

This is my last week before I finish my program that I started in Feb/08~

I am so tired that Im going cross-eyed as I finish my papers...BUT.... that may have more to do with the bachelorette party weekend I just spent in California!

I promise a more thorough update when Im done, if Im not in a sleep coma by then!

Although I need to give major credit to my wonderful husband who cleaned the entire house while I was gone this weekend, best gift ever!

Merry Christmas & Happy New Years!

2009-12-30T20:37:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas & Happy New Years! I know Im about a day early for NYE and about a week late for Christmas but Im not entirely sure that I'll make it to midnight tomorrow night to wish you all a Happy New Years. (And yes I know how old that makes me sound) However since I will be up and leaving for the airport tomorrow morning around 4, it's fairly safe to say I'll be asleep by the time the ball drops.

Eric and I have had a wonderful albeit busy vacation in Northern Ca. Our trip in numbers.

After our quick flights on Virgin America (three cheers for no longer having to fly cross country)

we drove about: 500 miles over the course of 10 days

Christmas celebrations: 4

Holiday parties: 2

Birthday parties: 1

We drank hot chocolate, eggnog (only Eric blech), champagne (yum!), wine, coffee: gallons

We ate cookies, brownies, fudge, birthday cake & candy: POUNDS (most of them mine!)

And now our time is coming to an end and we make a very early trip to San Francisco Airport in the morning to fly back to WA.

When Eric is happily ensconced in his football coma on New Years day I can hopefully add a blog with pictures!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Really?

2009-11-18T07:53:00.000-08:00

So the government has put out a report saying women should now not get life-saving mammograms for another 10 years, and in a couple of years a majority of us will be on government healthcare....I'm sure there is no connection. Heck the idea to wait ten years makes sense if the number of cancer cases is rapidly dropping, we found a cure and we have fixed our sedentary lifestyles & unhealthy eating habits, but we haven't.....What a disappointment this decision is.

2009-11-14T09:42:00.000-08:00

If only I could actually dance as well as I do in this video. I had to make a new one, and keep this tradition going for a 3rd year.

2009-11-14T09:39:00.001-08:00

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown Post

2009-11-02T18:10:00.000-08:00

Lately my blog posts have been as elusive as the Great Pumpkin (great movie!) So in order to have an incredibly long post to catch up all 5 of you (that might be a generous estimate) who read this, here you go!

~After leaving DC, I spent some time in VA before Eric and I left for Florida. We had originally planned on a cruise to Italy with our friends Stu and Leslie, but the Army (deep sigh) decided that instead Eric was going to rigger school (thanks for that). So instead we made our way down to the 2^nd happiest place on earth, and spent 6 days in Orlando.

What made Orlando even better was the freak heat wave with temps in the mid 90’s during our entire stay, which wouldn’t have been so bad if it wasn’t so humid. It was like trying to breathe in jello. I somehow convinced Eric that participating in a 10k through Walt Disney World was a really fun idea. So we signed up for the Race for the Taste, which started off at ESPN Wide World of Sports, then went through Hollywood Studios and ended up at Epcot. Despite the rancid humidity it was really fun running though the parks before they opened. And at the end you got to stroll through Epcot’s food and wine festival (which was delish!)

Before the race through Disney World (still smiling)

It was so humid that I felt the Army 10-miler the week before was much easier than this race...it was that gross.

Splash Mountain

Yay I finished the race AND I didn't get heatstroke!

Smiling through the stickiness!

I flew back to WA two days before Eric, and he spent time with our friends Gabe and Mari in Fayetteville. Where he came back with even more respect for Mari, and all the work it was with two little one’s while Gabe was away.

~Our husky, Bear decided to welcome me home by eating a rope or towel the next day while I was at work. That evening he started throwing up and getting sick every 20-30 minutes, after a call to the emergency vet at 1am, they told me to come in at 7am if he wasn’t any better. At 7 after neither of us going to sleep since he was still throwing up twice an hour I took him to the vet. After a long tense day of running tests, x-rays, barium drips, they determined that he needed to go to a 2^nd hospital to have a scope go down his stomach to see what was going on, and there they discovered a rope/piece of towel that was caught in his small intestine, so off he went into emergency surgery. Oh and I was supposed to be at the airport an hour away picking up Eric, so I thoughtfully rented him a car to pick up, then there was a blackout (I know seriously) at the airport and they were processing all car rentals by hand. So needless to say, it was a very long day. Bear came out of surgery and we picked him up the next day. The vet told us that if he hadn’t had surgery within the next 2 hours he wouldn’t have made it. Since we don’t have kids, our dogs are our kids to us, and its so hard watching them sick and hurt, I cannot even imagine what it is like when it’s your own child. But Bear pulled through and earned the new nickname Zipper Belly from my sister. He just got his staples out this weekend and he is back to new.

~ I finished my quarter of school and I have a glorious ten days off before I start again, but it is my last quarter and I will finish in January (huzzah). I spent last weekend at an intensive 2-day yoga-fit training in order to decide if teaching Yoga is something I am interested in, I learned a lot and I am able to teach level 1 yoga classes now, but I think I will continue towards my 200hr certification before I add one more thing to my plate.

~My sisters came down for a Halloween pumpkin carving contest, which Eric won (I think he got the pity vote since he was a novice) but it was a lot of fun to spend time with them. It is so nice to be close to family again~

Eric's awesome pumpkin

Yes my sisters and I dressed up, Eric was a party pooper

What I have a weird sense of humor...

Yay Eric won!

Back to the East Coast for a spell

2009-10-06T12:35:00.000-07:00

Well I am back on the East Coast already, and luckily the first stop is my favorite place on the entire eastern seaboard (not to be dramatic or anything) DC! I love DC and have gotten to come over and spend some time here during the last 3 years. In fact I can say that it is the only place on the east coast that I would ever consider living. You know when you go to a city and just know you could live there and love it, thats how I feel about it. Even the different times Ive gone and had a great time in NYC, Miami, San Diego, Atlanta, it's the only place I have ever felt like I could live.

This time was even better than last because 1) it wasnt only 15 degrees and 2) I wasn't chasing 95 middle schoolers around the place for a week (which was still surprisingly a lot of fun, although that may have had more to do with the chaperone meetings in the hotel bar at night?)

I was in DC to run the Army 10-miler on a team of amazing ladies. This run raises money for different family support groups in the military. It was chaos! There were about 30,000 people who ran it. I came out 3 days before the race so I could explore the city and sights. Eric came up a couple of days after I got here and we got to see a Holly and Dan (who were also racing, and much faster) and have lunch with them after we went to the International Spy Museum on Saturday (something fun I did with the middle schoolers too). Saturday afternoon we met up with our good friends Gayla and Joe and got to spend the afternoon walking around Georgetown before a delicious carbo-load dinner with the team. We also got to meet Megan and Rich, who are good friends of Joe and Gayla. It was a blast to hang out with them and hopefully we all get to meet up soon again!

This is me pretending to be happy after mile 8

Sunday morning started off cold and early, the ladies and I walked down to the metro around 5:45 and hopped on a train to the Pentagon where the race started and ended. The race was beautiful and it wove through downtown DC, over the bridges and past all the major monuments (although I didn't really look at them, seeing as I was concentrating on not falling and being carted off by an ambulance).

Gayla, me and Megan

Our entire team made it through in less 2 hrs! After checking out of the hotel afterwards, Eric and I drove to Charlottesville, VA where Joe and Gayla live while Joe is attending UVA and earning his Masters. It is a beautiful, quaint town and I loved all the little shops and restaurants. I got to spend the night with them, and in the morning Gayla and I got much needed pedicures for our thrashed feet! Then we went and got lunch at a delicious burger bar that had the most incredible veggie burger and sweet potato fries.

Gayla dropped me off at Eric's apt at Ft. Lee where he finishes up school on Wednesday, and after that we will be off to FL for a week, then we will both be back living on the West Coast!

All of team lipstick 6 after finishing!

Winner winner chicken dinner

2009-09-24T11:44:00.000-07:00

Ha the title got you to click on my page! It's just something I would say to my students (and people wonder why I get along so well with middle schoolers).

Here is a picture of the lake where I swam in my triathlon last weekend; this picture shows how beautiful the lake is during the summer.

Here is a picture of the lake when I swam during the triathlon last weekend.

Welcome to WA weather. Now I must say that these last two months I have been here have been GORGEOUS! (Rachel please take note because I want this as your number 1) It has only rained a handful of times, in fact the day before the triathlon was 85 degrees and not a cloud in the sky. Of course those clouds opened up about 3 hours before the triathlon started. Since it was the first rain in a few weeks, the roads were a little slick, and I was already determined to bike a little slower especially down hill, in the pouring rain so as to not completely eat pavement on my bike…or running. (Gravity and I are not the best of friends). Setting up my stuff at the transition area was interesting because everything was soaked before I even finished laying it out. Luckily the swag (stuff we all get) in the race bags came with a hat and a mini towel, which I used on my bike.

I was really nervous about the swimming part because my last triathlon in August was poorly run and managed and I completely panicked in the water. I am not a strong swimmer and I have to spend a lot of time practicing, I’m just slow and steady. Here is a scene from that triathlon; there was only 1 wave of swimmers about 125 people (first big mistake), some people were still putting on their wetsuits others were swimming about 10-15 yards offshore to get warmed up and used to the water. The announcer says “are you ready”, to which the man next to me says “seriously?” and the announcer says “seriously yes” and then blows the horn to start! No warning, no 2 minute time announcement just “go”. And that’s how I started off in front of the guy who had just completed the ironman! (2^nd big mistake). The IRONMAN! For those of you who don’t know, that’s the granddaddy of all triathlons (2.4 mi swim, 112 mi bike ride and 26 mi run) and I started out in front of him (for about 10 yards) then I was promptly swum over, kicked in the side (therefore choked on water), kicked in the face (knocked my googles down) and that’s when I panicked. I finished the swim but I also left a scathing review on active.com regarding the entire race, including the fact that they had 1 person in a rowboat as the only “lifeguard” or help in the water. (3^rd mistake)

So long story even longer, I was very nervous about the swimming part of this tri, but guess what…it rocked! They spaced out the waves of swimmers by about 4 mins, each group was given a color-coded cap and you swam with your group, there was also 3 people who swam with each group to give assistance to whomever needed it. They also had swimmers treading water to assist, paddle-boarders, and kayakers throughout the swim portion. This time no one swam over me or even got close enough to kick me, I swam on the outside of the perimeter (a farther distance, but that was fine with me as long as I was by myself). In fact I’d dare to say that the swim was the warmest part of the entire race, of course my wetsuit helped.

I finished the swim, and hopped on my bike. I was freezing at this point but didn’t have any water-proof clothes with me and knew my cotton clothes would only make me colder. The bike part was great except for the hills (not the uphill) but the downhill. At this point it was raining so hard that it was stinging, all I can say is that rain is a great motivator to go as fast as possible in order to finish. Biking down hill in the rain was a little nerve racking, especially when a car would go by. However there were a lot of volunteers stationed along the route to make sure everyone was safe and going the right way. I’d say they had about 100 volunteers who seemed to be incredibly happy to be out in the rain helping. (Crazy? Perhaps)

I didn't eat pavement on my bike, but it was a valid fear.

Luckily by the running portion it had tapered off to a drizzle and my motivation was to finish and get in warm sweats and some hot starbucks! Luckily the rain motivated me to go the fastest I ever have and I ended up placing 2^nd in my age group and got a medal during the awards ceremony! I then won a brand-new wetsuit in the raffle and I NEVER win things so the pictures they have of me winning, I look completely shocked. Aside from the rain, it was a great event and I look forward to doing it again next year.

So you think it's time for a new post?

2009-09-20T19:01:00.001-07:00

I suppose that since I basically only blog once a month, that it is finally time for a new blog. Well you are right, but I'm going to have to put you on the back burner until mid-terms are over. I would love to procrastinate and write a lengthy, witty blog but since I am only one quarter away from graduating (Que the Hallelujah music) I should focus on school, especially since I am leaving for two weeks at the beginning of October and I usually get a lot (umm actually nothing) accomplished whilst traveling. I will leave a bloggy shout-out to my dear friends Eliza and Courtney who both got engaged this summer. Their weddings will be this spring and I CANNOT wait! Eliza and I have known each other since middle school, and Court and I have been friends since college, and even after 3 1/2 years of marriage, Ive still lived with her longer than I have Eric!

Eliza, Desiree and I.

(You two should be happy I didn't put the pictures of us modeling muu-muu's on here)

Court and I

From sea to shining sea of boxes

2009-08-17T16:50:00.001-07:00

To be fair a lot of these are empty and I haven't broken them down yet, and a lot of these are full and I haven't even looked at them yet

There is a hallway somewhere under all this

More boxes.....

So I suppose I should update my blog considering I got a personal request from Kallie, and you should never say no to a cute pregnant lady. So since I last wrote, I have traveled 3000 miles with two dogs and a trailer, and my mom bless her heart. The trip was loooooooonnnnnnnnggggg. We stopped about every 3 hours to let the dogs out and to stretch our legs. That made for a much longer drive, and by the way in case you are wondering, North Dakota is the most BORING state ever (so boring it deserves all capitals). The dogs did pretty well in the hotel rooms considering. Although trying to keep them quiet was a task at times. They did not adjust so easily to the time changes, so they were getting up progressively earlier every day. Instead of at 5am they were getting up at 3:30 or 4. And not going back to sleep, which usually meant we were up for the day as well. We only suffered one bathroom accident on the whole trip, and I felt completely vindicated in my germ-phobic tendencies of never going barefoot in hotel rooms after that. So after 6 days of being in the car for 9-11 hours each day we finally made is to WA! (Cheering in the background). My sisters came down from Seattle and brought us dinner, and we got to spend some time together before they took my mom back with them to Seattle before her flight the next morning.

Mom and I survived the trip!

Jenny, Mom and I

We made it to WA!

Cheers to being close to family again

Love my sisters

I have gotten to spend the time I’ve been here exploring the area and spending time with my sisters which has been wonderful. We live in Lacey which is on the border of Olympia the capital of WA. There are bike lanes, crosswalks and sidewalks. It is so amazing to live near freeways, grocery stores, culture and Starbucks! No more driving 25-30 minutes to just get to town. Olympia has one of the best Farmers Markets around and I have definitely taken advantage. The farmers market is located on the waterfront and it is a beautiful walk around the harbor.

View of the Harbor

Capitol Bldg which overlooks the water

Love the smells & sounds of the harbor, reminds me of Santa Cruz

Walking along to the Farmers Market

Over the last 3 weeks I have been getting stuff done around the house, which is still surprisingly time consuming even though I didn’t have any of our stuff since it was still in storage in VA. Apparently being completely incompetent is a pre-requisite to work in a certain office at Ft. Lee. Since I was leaving NC on July 15^th we were very much hoping that by the middle of June we would have our orders so we could file them and have our stuff moved to WA instead of up to VA where Eric is. Well of course that didn’t happen, so 7 (SEVEN) weeks after we were supposed to get our ‘official’ orders, they finally came in at the beginning of August. So our stuff made its way across the country and got here last Thursday. So only a month without any of our stuff, not great but not the worst I have heard in military circles. Sharing on an air mattress with two dogs however was a little cramped, but I was most excited to have a place to sit again. I did not miss having a TV for a month, but I did miss having a desk/chair. Trying to sit cross legged on the floor writing a 30page paper was heinous. I finally started camping out at Panera Bread Co to write my papers and take my finals because they had tables and chairs, and cookies!

Me, Jenny, Carolynn and Ashley. My sisters and I got to have dinner with our cousin Carolynn, after she got home from spending the summer working at the US Embassy in Ghana. She is starting her 2nd year of law school at Cornell and was home in Seattle for a few days.

Dinner with the family!

I am slowly getting settled in, there is a 17 mile-long wooded trail about a ¼ of mile from the house, and the dogs and I go on an hour long walk every day. One of the biggest differences between here and NC is that out here you always see people out running, biking and walking their dogs. Which is just how it was where I grew up, gotta love the west coast!

I’ve still got about 150 more boxes to unpack and the house currently looks like a tornado blew through it. My wonderful sister, Ashley, came down for the weekend and spent 3 days helping me start to unpack and move boxes. I’ve got a triathlon coming up on Sunday that I am most definitely not prepared for, but I am looking forward to wearing my new tri wetsuit!

Delicious finds from the Farmers Market.

The lavender is now drying on my wall, and it smells heavenly.

Flowers for sale at the Market.

The last few weeks...

2009-07-08T04:20:00.000-07:00

So since my last post 3 weeks ago I haven't done anything. Really. I've just sat at home wishing for things to do, oh wait sitting idly by is not in my nature. I remember growing up my mom would ask me to just sit still for 5 mins, yes I was one of those kids. And yes, I know if we have kids we will have a payback child for sure.

So over the last few weeks I flew out to CA for 12 days to attend two weddings, see family, go to my mom's 60th b-day/retirement party and see friends. While still trying to keep up with hmwk and papers (colossal failure).
It was so much fun to go to Holly & Dan's wedding and it was absolutely beautiful. Holly looked amazing, as did her bridesmaids, two of whom are dear friends that I hadn't gotten to see in awhile. And I have to add that having an In N'Out truck quite possibly made it the best wedding Eric has ever been to, including our own! The food was delicious and the weather perfect for such a fun day.
Eric then left back for VA and I flew onto the Bay Area. I got spend a couple of days at home seeing my friends, Robyn, Desi and Eliza before driving down to Clovis to begin the wedding festivities for Kim. It was so much fun being back in Clovis, I really miss living there. Kim and I have been friends since freshmen year when we lived on the same wing in our dorm. We then lived together for 2 years off campus and have been back and forth to see each other since graduation. Since Kim's wedding was on a Friday night, the rehearsal dinner was Thursday and the festivities started Wednesday. It was a great time to be surrounded by some of my closest friends whom I don't get to see as often as I like. Kim was a beautiful bride and we had a lot of fun getting ready for the wedding. Kim also lucked out with a beautiful location and perfect weather. Her photographer Ken Kienow was amazing, and if you ever looking for pics to be done, you should use him.
My mom's party was held at our family's place in Santa Cruz, my grandma's house and it was a blast. There were at least 50-60 people there for the authentic Louisiana Shrimp Boil, the chef was amazing and so was the food! I had never been to one before and it was quite entertaining, I think the bar and karaoke machine helped too! It was nice to catch up with my mom's friends who I don't get to see that often. My sister Ashley flew down for the party after her HALF MARATHON that morning (I come from a line of crazy people), and we got to spend the next day relaxing on the beach and strolling through downtown Santa Cruz.
I also managed to fit in seeing my dad and got to look at his beautiful wedding photos, he got married in May to a wonderful woman, welcome to the family Cindy!
The night before I left Desi and I had our classic chick flick movie night and went to see, The Proposal which was surprisingly good! At least we no longer cut class to go see movies together, because that NEVER happened in high school......

I flew home and was back at work the next day and frantically trying to play catch up (still am) with my schoolwork. In hindsight I should have taken this quarter off because it was difficult trying to get all my work done on time (didn't happen). I'm guessing that moving next week and starting my cross country drive with the dogs (yea I'm certifiably crazy) will only add to the backlog of homework I have.
So today is my last day of work before the madness ensues. I am going to really miss these kids, and I wish they were moving to WA also so I can continue watching them.
The dogs and I leave next Wednesday/Thursday depending on when the movers actually finish boxing up and packing the truck. The moving company says it will only take Monday and Tuesday and I laugh at that estimate.
These last few days I have been spending a LOT of time plotting our trip to WA. It is hard to find hotels that accept dogs, that aren't sketchy and where I won't end up with bed bugs. I spent a lot of time on mapquest and tripadvisor.com which were both very valuable sources of information. The dogs and I will make our way to Lexington, KY and then onto Chicago to pick up my mom who will finish the drive with me (Thank you, thank you, thank you). From there we will hit all the major hot spots of Minneapolis, Mn; Dickinson, SD; Missoula, MT and I think I'm forgetting a place..oh well.
So if I don't end up posting from the road (probably won't happen, but I still beat Kallie in posting pics from the wedding) this will be my last post before I make it to WA! I think I'm going to write a book called "Abby & Bear go Cross-Country". I'm sure they will provide much entertainment along the way, although I'm secretly hoping they sleep for most of the trip!

My two favorite bridesmaids!

Holly you are STUNNING!

Finally get to have picture of us that I didn't stretch my arm out to take!

In N' Out! Yum!

Court, Jaime & I. All the roommates together again!

Beautiful Chickim & I

We are so funny, we make ourselves laugh!

Um not a great pic I know, but the only one with the couple

Food from the shrimp boil

Raging Cajun food! Yum

Seriusly great food, people & drinks!

The girls, just missing Jenny.

Desi, Robyn, me & Eliza my favorite girls.

Because Im stubborn

2009-06-16T04:36:00.000-07:00

Goals for this triathlon:

1) Don't drown-Check
2) Don't fall off bike- Check

I had my triathlon during the first week of June. I was really looking forward to this one because I spent a lot more time in the pool getting stronger as a swimmer. Not quite sure how I survived being on a swim team for 5 years growing up....Also I'm still not quite sure why I chose to do a triathlon in NC in June (90 degrees and extreme humidity is not pleasant!), but I feel that Rebecca's encouragement was a part of it!

Luckily my AMAZING husband came home for the weekend and helped me with the driving and was my own personal cheerleader. I was also blessed to be able to borrow a very nice road bike from Brooke, so that I didn't have to rent one or use my mountain bike. Thank you Brooke!

Saturday I expected to rest, hydrate, carbo load and see our friends Joe and Gayla off onto their next adventure with a goodbye dinner. What I didn't expect was to get knocked on my back by either food poisoning or a 24 hr stomach superbug. Saturday night after missing the farewell dinner and desperately trying to re-hydrate I had to make the decision of whether or not I was going to still get up at 4 am (4am!!!!yuck) and drive to the triathlon to compete. The intelligent/rational part of me knew it probably wasn't a good idea. I knew that I was dehydrated and my body was exhausted from fighting off the bug (and losing I might add). But since my stubbornness is also another glorious gift of mine I decided to muddle through it. Because hyponatremia... so not a big deal ( Ok actually a big deal).

Eric and I got up at 4 (again I have a wonderful, supportive husband) and drove the 2 1/2 hrs to the event.

By time I got through the swimming portion (Ok, rather during the middle of the swimming portion) I knew I probably had made the wrong decision. But c'est la vie, I was going to finish this race unless they carried me out on a stretcher (which I envisioned happening during the middle part of my run).

So I finished the race and didn't do that badly, I got 9th in my age group and 34th overall out of 240. But I'm hoping the next one feels a little better going into it.

If it looks like I'm choking Abby, I can assure you I'm not but that it's the only way to get her in a picture sitting still.

My wonderful hubby

Still smiling (only because I haven't started yet)

Fake smiling as I go from the swimming part to the bike part.
And like I take pictures as the end!

Team Brummy

Rabbit, Rabbit

Tough Mudder 2012

Last post of 2011

Thankfulness wrap-up

Thankfulness days catch-up

Catch-up

Bonus post

Thankfulness days 5, 6, & 7

Thankfulness Days 3 & 4

Thankfulness Day 1 & 2

Annual Lawrence-Brumfield pumpkin carving contest

It's tiring being this cute.

Occupy Reality

9 months

Let's get real

Seattle Triathlon *(With update)*

Time for a tri

Not quite Wordless Wednesday

A year ago

Take a minute!

First time for everything

6 month check-in

*Technically.....

Not melting

Tuesday 10 (It is tuesday right?)

I heart California

Because.....

Almost Wordless Wednesday

California love

The big news

Thursday 10

Not quite Wordless Wednesday

Spring cleaning & Spring chopping!

OPENING DAY!!!!!

I wish they all could be.....

Saturday mornings

St. Patrick's Day

Because it's 3am and I'm bored

TOP 5

Pictures!

Ciao Bella!

Welcome to the world

Merry Christmas!

It's about that time

37 weeks

Thankfulness day 25, 26, 27

Thankful day 24

Thankfulness day 22

Thankfulness days 20 & 21

Day 19

Day 18

Day 17

Day 16

Day 14 & 15

Day 13

Day 12

Day 11

Day 9 & 10

Day 8

Day 7

Day 6

Day 5

Day 4

Day 3

Thankful days

Annual Lawrence-Brumfield pumpkin carving contest

Tuesday 10

(Almost) wordless wednesday

26 weeks

19 weeks

Not quite Wordless Wednesday

Fresh food!

Finally a couple pictures

Popsicles and Soup

The beginning of wedding season

March Madness

Fun times in February!

Merry Christmas & Happy New Years!

Really?

Seattle Triathlon (With update)