Project for the little girl

So I wanted to make a blanket or something for the little one that will be here soon, but just hadn't figured out what to do yet. Then, Chris bought me a serger and a new sewing machine for my birthday/Christmas, and then I really needed to make something. So I went to the fabric store yesterday without a clue as to what I was actually looking for. I ended up with the following to make a blanket for her. I cut the pieces out last night and came up with a pattern.Then today I pieced them all together (I felt very much like my Great-Grandma Waite who made a quilt a week and we all had baby blankets from her).
Here's a close up of the fabrics I was using. (Also proof that I am not a expert seamstress or quilter, as not many of the corners line up exactly.) The blue is a flannel backed satin, the green is a fleecy bumpy fabric and the polka dot is a cotton calico. The back will be a light pink flannel to make it soft and cozy. I'll post more pictures as I progress. I also bought some fun fabric to make some burp cloths, When I get those made I'll post those too.

Birthdays....

Birthdays are always interesting, not because of anything in particular, just interesting. In years past, we have spent many birthdays (and celebrations of birthdays) at one of our favorite places, Disneyland. It is always a fun place to celebrate and we get to celebrate our anniversary there too. Last year, because we didn't know how much longer we would be in SoCal, we let our passes expire. It was really kind of a sad day.

Now, we are permanent SoCal residents, but because of the baby on the way it doesn't make much sense to renew our passes yet. (So not worth it if I can't ride all of the fun rides).

So needless to say, this year our birthdays were not spent at the happiest place on earth. Instead we have spent the majority of our time and effort looking for a house to buy. This has been a very exhausting and sometimes discouraging road. But we keep trudging along...through all of the places that you have to drag yourself through before the right house comes along.

And last night, after seeing two terrible properties, Chris and I could not go to sleep because we were laughing too hard about nothing in particular. I am grateful that through everything we still are able to laugh at crazy things, knowing that in the end, the Lord will provide the right house at the right time and everything will work out in the best possible way for us.

And I have to hope that the right time will be before this little girl has her birthday.

And the flavor is...

Pink!

And no, she does not have a name yet. We've got a short list, but have yet to finalize one. We've still got time right? And yes, we do realize that our little girl will be here before we know it. And hopefully we'll have a house to bring her home to.

If at first you don't succeed...

So occasionally I have suffered from leg cramps when I first wake up or while I am sleeping. The solution is simple, get out of bed, put pressure on the leg that is cramping to stretch the muscle out. Then get back into bed and or get up and get going.
Saturday, however was a different story. Envision if you will the following...
My alarm went off at a nice time for a Saturday (5:45 am). I turned my alarm off, stretched, and instantaneously both calves seized. I clambered out of bed to stretch them out and make the cramps go away in rapid fashion. BAD idea. Knotted calf muscles don't support very much weight...especially when both legs are cramped. Crap. Down I go. Onto my knees. Only problem? Legs are still excruciatingly painful. I hear Chris pop up out of bed wondering what in the world is going on. Bad idea #2. Try to stand up again. Crap. Down I go. Again. The other way onto my backside.
Chris: What is going on? Are you okay?
Me(in tears): yeah...my legs cramped...both of them...I fell over...twice...
Chris: do me a favor...don't stand up again...
Me(still in tears, but laughing as I picture in my mind's eye what has just happened): okay
I proceed to just lay on the floor laughing and crying and laughing some more. I finally crawled back into bed (I needed a few more minutes at this point) and reset my alarm to make sure I got up in time to get to the temple. Three days later I still can't stand on my tip toes without feeling like I've done a million stairs and laugh out loud every time I think about it...
Lesson? Don't point your toes when you stretch your legs, it doesn't end well. Ever.

Ch-ch-changes...

Yeah, there are a lot of those going on around here. First, have left Limbo-land, and plan on being permanent residents of San Diego. Chris is loving his new job and the career opportunities there. Although we are remaining in San Diego, we will be moving within the area again (because 5 times in 6 1/2 years wasn't enough), because starting this fall our family will be bigger by 1. (And not because Nick will need a break from Russian winters.) We are expecting our first child to arrive around November 3, and are super excited!

Hooray for Sunshine Dollars!

Why you ask? Because that is what our currency will continue to be. After a year of searching, applying, flying, interviewing, wondering, praying and a lot of waiting, Chris has now embarked on an amazing career here in sunny San Diego. He started with a company called Illumina on Monday, and has loved every minute so far. So for all of you who never made it out (or didn't come often enough) we'll still be here when you finally decide to come see why we love it so much. Of course, because we get paid in sunshine dollars, (and landlords like real dollars) accommodations may be tight/limited, but we'd love to see you!

Sucker Shot

See here's the thing- I don't like these shots (Color spotting in a B&W, either by pseudocoloration or resaturating a spot) in wedding portfolios cause they're WAYYYYYYY over used (that and the fact that 99% of the people that shoot and publish B&W didn't compose the shot to be B&W to begin with).

That being said I couldn't help myself on this great B&W surf shot I took last year.

~ Chris

How soon is too soon?

**I apologize there was an error in the HTML that made this movie a link for some time. Sorry for those of you that suffered. I fixed it.

Not having children of mine own, I can't speak. That being said, I feel that the sooner kids know the safer they'll be.

We often times feel that PSAs are "preachy," or that they don't mean anything to us, I for one feel that this PSA is perfect.

Chris

Graffiti or Art?

So I vote for art (I think Inky, Pinky, Blinky and Clyde would agree with me). Let's face it- it's an ugly storage container on the side of a hill- painted in drab and rust; or, it is a source of a smile everyday for me and others as we walk to work.

Why I hate working late @ SIO

So many of you know that I work down at the Scripps Institute of Oceanography @ UCSD sometimes. This involves some very boring work in a lonely dungeon of a room. It is worsened by the fact that if I turn down the hall I am greeted by a wall of windows looking out over the beach and the pier. Combine that with the beautiful sunset and the idea of me still being here for another 3 hours and you know why I don't like being here in the evening.

**On a side note: This is what sunset on Nov. 9th looks like in SD- beats snow any day!

Why?

So the question I pose is not, "Why does this area exist?" It is instead, "Why do we need a sign reminding us what is not allowed in there (keep in mind the lactation area should be in a clean area, one would hope) since, in theory, that stuff is not allowed in ANY clean area?"

'Course maybe it's just a nice reminder not to walk in if you don't want an awkward encounter. Especially if you come bearing bad stuff.

Junker Car

So last year when Lish wrecked the Aveo (yeah, yeah, not her fault) we got an awesome situation- we got back 99.x% of the original value of the car. Essentially we had equity in the car. So we bought a new car. As is the norm when you buy a new car we had a work order on it, including tint and such. So during that time the dealer put us in a rental car. PIECE OF JUNK!

It was an '08 Chev Cobalt bare-bones. It couldn't have been more stock had it tried. So I decided to enjoy it. The plastic (not vinyl, straight up blown mold plastic) dash was awesome. I'm pretty sure I could have sanded a 2x4 on it, it was so "texturized."The ghetto trash plastic E-brake surround and the super sweet shifter with vinyl boot that was coming off was just the icing on the garbage cake.

It's a shame that the car bottoms out so easily at 75 and it's also a shame that it'll only go 55ish in 3rd with an RPM around 4K... little things to think about.

Updates...

Yes, it really has been 5 months since we posted anything. It's not for lack of doing or, even for that matter, lack of writing (we have several half-posts sitting, waiting to be finished). So over the next few days we'll hopefully get the pictures and stories up. In the mean time welcome to November.

Oh, by the way, you may have noticed that we fixed the background to be more SD appropriate.

Chris & Lish

Graduation...

Okay, so after 5 1/2 years of long, hard, work, Chris was hooded last Saturday. Here are a couple pictures of his really cool robes...

Why I need a GPS

So I try to avoid posting too much crap on the blog that really doesn't belong there (All my Star Wars crap, etc.) but I've found a new reason to get a GPS

TomTom

(Be sure to stay till the end as there is a great musical moment in the last 10 secs)

I can say this: I know what I want for Christmas.

Chris

Done and Done and Done

It's all over. I'm a doctor now (yes, technically I am really a doctor!). The good news is I got my PhD without any difficulty (I mean to say that the day of things went smoothly) and now I just need to find a job. I continue down that road and hope that maybe one of these applications will finally pay off. In the mean time I just wanted to say thanks to everyone who called, wrote, came down, etc. to cheer me on, it was awesome. I'm just glad it's over. Worst part about all of this is that as of right now, nothing has changed, same title, same jobs needs, same everything.

~Chris

Empire

So for everyone out there who is not me- this Friday is the 30th Anniversary of the Empire Strikes Back- the best, in my opinion, of the Star Wars saga.

In honor of that, I found the following:

Empire (premake)

Interestingly, other than the starting roll of words and text all the scenes are from other movies from the 40's - 60's. Nice to see the roots of such an awesome movie.

All things Star Warsey

First is quite possibly the best wedding cake I've seen in a long time.

Bridepop

The other one is a great site that I followed for the better part of a year. The guy who did it is a great photographer. Good use of macro (close-ups) and the juxtaposition of subject matter was just awesome. I recommend you take the time to look through the whole album at some point.

Stormtroopers 365

May 20th

So I am defending my PhD dissertation that morning.

As is required it is a public defense. So that means that anyone and everyone is invited- don't worry you won't be the only non-scientist as I know for a fact several of our friends and family will be there as such here are the details:

Moores UCSD Cancer Center

Goldberg Auditorium

May 20th, 9:00 AM

3855 Health Sciences Dr. 92093

It will last about 1 hour (maybe a few minutes over)

after the defense we'll be having food and such in the next room over, so...

If you're gonna come and want to eat please just RSVP us by any means (Text, IM, here on the blog, facebook, etc.)

Thanks to all the well wishers and everyone for the help.

Really!?!

So I saw this story on yahoo this morning and all I could say was, "Really!?!" I must be living in the wrong country...

Yahoo Video