This is what 41 weeks looks like.

The little man must have dropped a little, because this was 38 weeks, in which I swear I look bigger:

So either way, let's just call my figure "ample." Can we agree on that term? Even my wrists are beefy. I feel like I'm cutting off my circulation just by putting one of those big ponytail holders around my wrist.

I had the great fortune of renewing my drivers license two weeks ago. Probably got a few eye rolls on the "weight" section of my application. Also, looking at the pictures side by side (my last drivers license photo was taken last year when I legally changed to my married name) is a little comical. My eyes are so much smaller now and so much closer to the middle of my head. Also, suddenly my eyebrows are way too skinny for my face.

This too shall pass?

So a little note on my progress. Without grossing you out too much, nothing has happened in three weeks and we scheduled an induction for Monday. On Wednesday of this week, I started getting strong, regular contractions and they haven't let up yet. Some are stronger than others and some are longer than others, but they're never close enough and/or long enough to warrant a trip to the hospital. So, we stick with our induction plan. Our instruction was to go when contractions are five minutes apart and a minute long. So far, if they're 5 minutes apart, they're 30 seconds long. If they're a minute long, they're 10 minutes apart.

Memo to my body: make up your mind!

If I could jump on a trampoline right now, I would, but I think it would hurt too much, just judging my how painful it is to simply climb into bed or (shudder) roll over in bed.

Last night I woke up six times in eight hours to breath through contractions/go to the bathroom. Six times in eight hours! I have been pretty lucky so far and had a fairly easy pregnancy: no sickness, limited swelling once summer ended, only sporadic heartburn and sciatica, and pretty good skin. I figure at this point I'm just ramping up my weeklong labor, which I believe started on Wednesday.

We can't wait to meet this little guy! A couple weeks ago the doc did a short ultrasound just to check out fluid levels and stuff like that. And don't worry, he is a cute one (and I mean the baby, not the doctor)!

Sweet Song.

I don't know if I'm just pregnant and emotional, or what, but I am so in love with this little song.

I bought the newest Death Cab for Cutie album after going to an expensive-yet-less-than-acoustically-pleasing concert of theirs last month, and my opinion of the band's music has been restored, nay, risen to a new level. To recap my true feelings of their last four albums, since you care and all, it would be:

transatlanticism: like very much

plans: love

narrow stairs: meh

codes and keys: adore

The song is "Stay Young, Go Dancing", and the video looks like a stylish life insurance video, as a DJ I was listening to today described it. I'm pretty excited that they're playing this one on the radio. I think it has the staying power of "I Will Follow You Into the Dark" without the hipster creepiness.

But lest you worry, let me assure you that Ben Gibbard's hipsterness has reached a new level, as you'll notice in the video (which you'll totally watch, I know) as he's now rocking an updated Kurt Cobain look. Kinda carrying the torch since KC can't...or something. You know Kurt would probably have his own brand of hipster if he were still with us today.

But I digress. Here you go:

Here's where we're at.

Not done yet...some change in plans, but overall we like where this is headed!

Ongoing project #1

So, my first ongoing project in the house is painting all the drab yellowish, scuffed, dirty baseboards and trim in nice glossy pure white.

Is this still in style?

I don't care. I think it makes a room look so much better! Here is a phone shot where you can see some comparison:

I'm just realizing how bad this picture is.

See how in the taped section, there is hardly any differentiation between the wall color and trim color? It all blends and looks blah. But in the untaped section to the left, the trim has already been painted. It really makes the wall color pop, and I'm even thinking that once our cabinets are pure white, we might not even need to change the wall color (but of course that's all TBD).

So it might look like a slight improvement, but in person it makes a huge impact! It's making me fall in love with our wall color all over again. It almost makes me want to paint the ceilings.

I am a woman obsessed!

I did the family room tonight while I listened to The Voice.

Do you watch this show? I like it. Except, am I the only one who was once again reminded of how NOT equal Cee Lo is vocally to the other judges during that awkward Queen medly? Oh boy.

Oh hello, second trimester.

It's true what they say. The second is better than the first.

I can't believe how productive I've been at work lately.

Also, on the drive home tonight I heard this song which I thought you'd all like to enjoy:

Well, I wanted to post "At the Stars" by Better Than Ezra. But apparently there is no decent embeddable version of the song available online. So just imagine it, I guess.

Anyway, I think the next project is the kitchen. It will be like this, ish:

This is Dana's kitchen from House*Tweaking. I like all the basic elements here: white cabinets, gray walls, modern hardware, butcher block island.

But I think we'll add a little funk. We will have a beadboard island painted aqua blue, and a painted backsplash in a tile pattern in a rich indigo blue. I will add a cornice box curtain above our window incorporating the colors we've got going in here...you guessed it: indigo, aqua, and limey avacado green. Oh, and we'll keep our blonde bamboo floors, white appliances and (for now) the light countertops, other than on the island where we'll follow Dana's lead (and every other blogger's lead) and go to IKEA for a wood top.

Here's a gorgeous blurry cell phone picture of what our kitchen looked like when we took possession of the house, with our ideas:

Think it will work?

Sudden even greater respect for design bloggers and DIYers the world over.

Ahhhh. So, we have finally pretty much finished our first major project in the house. Yes we started this project before we moved in and yes we've lived here for five weeks.

Give us a break - we have jobs and it's the playoffs.

Anyway, we (I say 'we' but really I did very little of the back-breaking work because I'm a lady wimp) laid tile throughout the laundry room, powder room and short hallway between the garage and the family room.

Tangent - one of the things I love about our house is that the laundry room is not a hallway between the garage and the rest of the house. I hate that! I also hate when the laundry room is actually a laundry slash bathroom. That is just gross. No slashy rooms allowed here unless it's the kitchen/dining room or the family room/home theater. yep, those would be the two acceptable slashies.

Mark scraping the floor and making a comely face. I'm standing in the family room taking this picture. that door leads out to the garage. You can see some of our gorgeous linoleum by Mark's leg.

The area had some bad linoleum that was peeling and looked dirty. Probably because it was dirty. So Mark and his friend Mike ripped it out.

Then they scraped the adhesive off the cement floor.

The scraping was a multi-day process that included some chemicals. I decided to stay far away.

Then there was self leveling.

Then there was tiling. Also a multi-day process. I also painted the walls in the process.

Well, the past two days we have laid quarter-round trim around the baseboards to hid the tile edges (yeah, we know you're supposed to take the baseboards off before you tile...) and painted all the trim a nice glossy white.

Here's what we have now!

This picture was taken from where Mark was sitting in the first picture. To the left of where I'm standing is the door to the powder room, which will one day be cute and I will show it to you then.

A little anticlimactic? I know. This is why I have even more respect for design bloggers and DIYers. If I were a design blogger, the room would be merchandised with pretty shelves over the dryer and a sign that says "laundry" on weather-worn barn wood and beautiful basket-style hampers for whites, colors and towels at the end of the room. A sassy roman shade would grace the window and let's be honest, it would probably have crown molding.

But I'm a real person and I don't have crown molding in my laundry room.

Sorry!

But I do kind of want the other stuff I mentioned above. All in time.

Are you pinterested?

Hey blog friends, are you on Pinterest.com yet? If you are, let's be friends. If not, I can send you an invitation to join.

Yep, it's exclusive.

On second thought, they let me in, so...

You can see my pins here. I'm building an arsenal of ideas for decorating this house.

Regrets re: the wedding.

via Yahoo

Not my wedding. Mine was fabulous.

I’m talking about the royal wedding. So many regrets. Well, really just one. I regret not watching it!

I know, I know. I pretended not to care. I shouldn’t care, really. But what it really comes down to is, we all grew up loving Prince William. In terms of foxiness, he could only really be matched by Jonathan Taylor Thomas.

And Kate is so beautiful. I really love her hair, her posture and the fact that she is always smiling. Seriously, she can’t take a bad picture. She is always glowing. Of course, wouldn’t you be glowing too if you grew up reading YM, Backstreet Boys blaring on your boom box because you called in the request to the DJ like SIX TIMES, and dreaming about marrying Prince William, and then actually be the one who ends up really marrying him? From what I understand from my mom and her generation, Prince William is really like Donny Osmond of the 90s and on a global scale.

(And what ever happened to JTT? Pretty sure he just went to college and got some real person job. Probably just a guy paying his bills and maybe supporting a normal person family and paying his normal person mortgage. BOR-RRRING.)

And her dress, forget about it. Amazing.

It’s just so nice to see people in love and so happy. It really reminds me of how happy my life is and how glad I am that I married my husband. What a good choice we made. Before I met my husband, weddings made me uncomfortable, and I kind of dreaded going, honestly, but now they just make me happy. As my friend from the Cynic Picnic once told me, “marriage is one of the things about growing up that truly is all it’s cracked up to be.”

OK, I’ll stop.

So, did you watch? Was is magic?

No internet at home means...

I soon may have to figure out what on earth is up with my mobile blogging application. I cannot get it to work!

And if you haven't noticed, I have been trying to blog more regularly, having been inspired by some other bloggy friends doing the same such as Just Pudge and House of Chaos.

So I leave you with this: Are you caught up in a sudden wave of domesticity as I am with my recent home ownership and mounds of decorating and organizing calling my name?

If the answer is yes, why don't you try out my new favorite cooking blog:

How Sweet It Is

You won't be sorry, but your waist and thighs might be.

I mean, Strawberry Bacon Orzo Salad? Triple Layer Cookies and Cream Crunch Bars? Is this thing even on?? What are you still doing here???

Dang, she's good!

Late to the party, but I hope you all voted for Haley!

Now I'm going to pack my apartment. Serious this time, guys.

"You're leaving? But we just got Chik-Fil-A!"

Yes, that was one reaction when we told people we were moving this weekend (so soon!).

I have to admit I am sad to be moving away from Chik-fil-A, but I am more sad to move away from so many people we have made friends with in the short time we've lived in this neighborhood! You Cottonwood Heights people are a breath of fresh air and we will miss it here.

We will miss you.

But, we're on to a new adventure...a new adventure whose carpets got cleaned today and look amazing! If you living in Utah County, I would really recommend Heller Carpets.

My parents moved this week, too. It's a little surreal to think I might never go back to the town where I lived for a cumulative 10 years or so. I have to say I never felt a huge connection to the place, which is weird. It is where I went to high school. But it is kind of a weird place (I mean, how many places can you go in America and find a beauty school called "Mr. Leon's School of Beauty"???).

So, there it is. Moving jitters setting in. I hope we like our new house and neighborhood! Most of all, I hope we like the paint color in the bedroom...

Who's to say what's tacky? Or, the one where I put rugs on carpet.

Let's get this out of the way right now: there are plenty of things that I find tacky.

I won't get into them now at the risk of being tacky (ha) but by now it's pretty obvious I have some pretty major opinions about pretty minor things. (pictures hung too high, socks with sandals, ivy used in any indoor capacity whatsoever...ok, so I will get into it just a little)

In my perusing of decor/design blogs, of which I have done plenty in recent times, it's come to my attention that some designers consider two of my favorite things to be tacky:

1. Hanging pictures of your own family in your house

2. Using area rugs on carpet

Now for the first one, I'd definitely say the "moderation in all things" rule applies, but to me, your home is personal! Shouldn't you fill it with things that you love, including pictures of the faces you love?

And the area rug thing...I say a big room is always better with a rug, no matter the flooring. Please observe my super-budget bachelorette pad:

While not exactly the picture of sophistication, I thought it was a cute room and before I put down the rug, it looked sooo lonely in there.

So what do you think? Are family pictures and rugs on carpet taboo at your house?

Cool song.

Have you heard this one?

It's a toe-tapper.

And apparently I'm the kind of geriatric that says things like "it's a toe-tapper."

Goodbye, rental market!

Wow, when we were looking for an apartment last summer, it was bru. tal. Anything decent was snatched up in a day, or like, more expensive than our future mortgage. Really even gross apartments were flying off the market.

"Recently remodeled" did necessarily mean they'd updated anything other than paint since 1975.

"Cozy" often meant "I'm actually a studio apartment with no dishwasher."

"Charming" often meant "I smell like mold and don't bring a baby over here because yes, those are lead paint chips all over the pet-stained floor."

Anyway, now that we're, barring anything crazy, buying a house in the next month, we need to get rid of our lease. Don't worry, I listed it last night and got nine (9) calls in 24 hours.

People have been laying it on thick! Complimenting my decorating choices, telling me sob stories, offering us more money than we've asked for, sending thank you texts a-la-smitten girl post first date, the whole thing.

I think the rental market is just as bad as it was last year!

You gave us quite a scare.

So I went to log on to my blog tonight and, oh what's this, it's been removed??

Heart attack. I have had this blog for three years and it would be so sad if it really were deleted. Haven't backed up in a while and I've got to do that!

Turns out there was some suspicious activity on my email...so...sorry if you got a sketchy email from me, especially if we haven't spoken in years and seeing my name conjured up all kinds of memories for ya. (I also need to tell you all that the first time I typed that sentence right there I typed 'expecially.' What am I, someone who doesn't know how to spell?)

And sorry if you got a sketchy blog comment from me.

Let that be a lesson to all of us - make sure you're in https:// when you log on to your accounts, and use a strong password! Heck, go for 2-factor authentication if you think you'll always be able to have your phone with you when you log on.

How bout these cute curtains?

Ikea curtains at Creative Little Daisy.

Perfect Gray

There have been so many discussions in Blog Land about the perfect gray color. If we end up with the house that we want (that would be the short sale, affectionately referred to several posts down as "gross honey oak"), I want gray as the everywhere color - hallways and "neutral" areas since I love a cool palate and the carpet in that house has kind of a gray tone.

House*Tweaking dedicated a post to Benjamin Moore's Edgecomb Gray. I think I love how it contrasts with those nice white mouldings. Not "hospital gray," but definitely not boring beige.

Hi there, Gorgeous.

How much do you love this house? I just saw it over at Ten June, who saw it on Young House Love. Notice the IKEA treasures here, making me believe that real people live here.

Because dealing with my insurance company customer service department is not such a Zen experience,

(a little note...my home internet hasn't worked since Monday, so when I say "today" in this post, it means Monday.)

I have been listening to Carly Simon’s Moonlight Serenade album today.

Oh, have you heard this album? If not, you are really missing out. It reminds me of this Tony Bennett album my mom had when I was little. The Duets album. Do you know that one? Well it’s good too. But I love Carly Simon’s rich, easy voice dripping all over these beautiful songs like melted chocolate.

Try this one. I would like to turn it up loud as I cook dinner. It’s a very “Sabrina” vibe. That sounds much more Zen to me than explaining to yet another person at my insurance company that no, we do not own the blue Toyota anymore so will you please stop charging us for it? Pleasandthankyou.

Because dealing with sinus infections and lingering colds every other month is not such a Zen experience,

I have been really enjoying dairy-free ice cream.

It’s come a long way, people. I only wish so much of it wasn’t soy. Can we do this with other beans? If we can’t, no matter. I will take the glorious, decadent peanut butter zigzag cup of joy. Thank you Smiths for stocking foods for wimpy milk-free people like me. If you, too, have re-acquired a milk allergy, try this one. You will think at first that it will surely lead to your next bout of bronchitis, but I promise, there’s no dairy there. (That's Purely Decadent Peanut Butter Zig Zag)

Because guilt about not recording my thoughts/feelings/story is not such a Zen experience,

I am blogging. I’ve been going through an identity crisis with my blog. I don’t know who she is anymore or how we’re connected. I do know that I miss blogging. Yesterday Mark was writing in his journal and I said to him, “can you just go ahead and write my life story in there too?” He said he would, then, “well, you have a blog.” Oh yes, and what a dedicated effort that’s been lately.

And, because waiting to hear back on a short sale is not such a Zen experience,

I’ve begun gathering images of rooms to re-create in our new home. Whenever we do get it. I’ve found some great design bloggers and I keep them on my left sidebar. Please, cruise them early and often. A feast for the eyes is in store for all who partake.

For example, today on Emily A. Clark, I found this. How perfect would it be to find out that the Billy bookcase dimensions are such that I could put a few side by side and have them perfectly take up an entire wall with no awkward space on the sides? And I’ll definitely be doing this perfectly orderly gallery wall with family shots. (image from this post)

Tonight, House faces his toughest challenge yet.

I know that most House fans have been with the show for about 7 years, but I started this week. So, indulge me. I find this show strangely compelling...I only wish you had to watch it in order to follow some kind of over-indulgent, twisted story line. These episodes are pretty much one-offs. Which means I can jump right into a marathon on Bravo.

Right now I'm watching the one where House is pretending to be gay to weasel his way between his roommate doctor and the new neighbor so then the roommate doctor shows up at the restaurant where House and the cute neighbor lady are having dinner and proposes to House to get him to back off. I really like that lady's hair.

I like Olivia Wilde a lot better than the girl who was on the earlier episodes. Do we ever find out why she's so whiny? I mean earlier girl? Whiny.

Maybe I do need to watch these in order.

Please tell me you did something equally exciting with your weekend.

A Case of the Mondays.

Because the "Sunday Night Blues" hit extra hard in the dirty-snow days of late winter, sometimes we all (ok I) need a pick-me-up or pep talk to come up swinging come Monday. Today I wanted to remind myself of this little something I saw on my friend Melissa's blog a while back. I don't know where it came from originally...anyone know? I think I've seen it somewhere else.

Anyway, I need to take a minute to think about if I'm happy. But only a minute. If you think about it too long, you're never happy, and also, you become a self-absorbed crank with no friends. (Harsh but true.) Sometimes when I've got a case of the reds and I stop to think about if I'm happy, I realize I actually am, but I just have a pebble in my shoe. Usually by taking care of this small thing, which, let's be honest, is usually my attitude, I've turned my frown upside down by remembering all the good things I've got.

I'm going to sign off now before I get all Pollyanna on you.

Monday: we can do this, people.

Why Splenda?

So I like Diet Coke.

We know this, right?

One of the myriad reasons I love Cottonwood Heights, our current city, is that ever since we've lived here, I've always been able to find Diet Coke on sale. And not those lame 2 liter jobs. I mean a solid 5 for $14 12-pack sale.

I'm not kidding. Like every time I go shopping, there it is.

(Utah - land of addicts? Yes, I know.)

Well, the fun ended a couple weeks ago. This week when I went grocery shopping, there was nothing on sale. Nothing except...wait for it...Shasta.

If you, like me, have not had Shasta since you were 7, and even then you only drank the strawberry kiwi flavor, let me now assure you that it is horrid. Especially the diet flavors, which are all sweetened with Splenda.

Splenda!

Who thought of Splenda? Worst fake sweetener by a long shot.

So here is my question tally for the week, for those of you keeping score at home:

1) Why Winter?

2) Why Splenda?

3) Why Rachel McAdams movies post-Mean Girls?

Why winter?

Why winter? Really. I have been contemplating it all day (who are we kidding, I have been thinking about it since the day after Christmas), and I still don't understand its purpose. Like movies such as The Time Traveler's Wife, designed with the sole purpose of making people sad, winter's one goal is to inflict misery.

Today dawned sunny and clear, with scarcely any smog cover. If you know anything about our winter air quality in Utah, you understand what a big deal this is. The sun is quite deceiving, however, because the second I stepped outside the air made me cough.

People.

It is so cold, it literally takes my BREATH away.

I thought those were just song lyrics written for Maverick, and then only figuratively, but really they're about Utah and they're not romantic and they don't incite positive feelings.

In conclusion, I dislike winter and The Time Traveler's Wife.

Spring, pretty please?

More kitchen talk.

All, thank you for the feedback on the kitchen! After hemming and hawing and dragging my feet, we went to another city to look at homes today...and while we did see some real freak shows, we also saw some good stuff and ended up putting in an offer. I'm excited! And, the kitchen in this place is much bigger (and I must admit I am sacrificing the sex appeal for the space) and is a little bit of a project, purely cosmetically, of course. And, it's on a street with a really adorable name.

So, wish us luck. This house is a short sale, so the bank might take about six years to get back to us.

But get this!

We went to go prepare our offer, and immediately started quoting different offer amounts to each other, then looking at each other like we were crazy ("well hello, high roller," "and hi you, cheapskate") only to find out that the price of the house dropped by $10k today. Today! I printed off the sheet for it last night, and this morning they lowered the price.

I'm thinking this might be the one.

And so my next kitchen question for you is:

See all that honey oak? Is it sacrilegious to paint it? I mean, it is real wood...but if I think it's ugly, can I paint it? It's not exactly upgraded materials at use here, people.

P.S. how could the agent not get into this place to take pictures from the inside? The world may never know.

In your professional female opinion,

is this kitchen too small?

I'm afraid it might be.

To the left is a wall with the fridge and floor to ceiling built-ins. Beyond that door that you can barely see is the laundry room, which has a ton of pantry space.

I should also tell you that the rest of the house is very cute.

Exhilarating.

That is what I'd call today. Today it was sunny and at lunch, I didn't wear my jacket. And when I left the office at the end of the workday, it wasn't dark.

To quote the teacher at church on Sunday, "remember, Spring is coming. Someday."

Just looking out the window at the non-foggy day warmed my bones and lifted my spirits! Let's remember this feeling when it snows this weekend.

In other news, lately when I approach my blog and contemplate posting, I feel like I'm working up the nerve to call a somewhat-serious boyfriend who has just returned from a long vacation to Europe, and I am surging with awkwardness at the first hand-hold since the vacay, and the first suggestion of an evening outing, and feeling all intimidated because he has just been to Europe and learned the ways of the world while I've been here in Utah just mincing about.

Only it's my blog that's just been mincing about. I have been doing stuff.

I promise, I have been doing stuff.

And while we're on the dating vein, I have told a couple people that house hunting is like online dating. You compulsively browse photos and biographical tidbits online and think you've made the right choice, but then you show up at the date and what you were expecting to be a Zac Efron turns out to be more of an Uncle Rico. All the online photos are about ten years old, "athletic" really means "overweight" and "charming" really means "dilapidated." Oh, and "recent remodel" means "honey oak cabinets and emerald green carpet."

No but seriously, have you already broken your new year's resolutions?

I should have known.

So hi, how are you? Already broken your new year’s resolutions? OK.

The first bit of good news this year is that we are buying a house! That’s right. For me that means my house/home/nesting compulsion has been temporarily validated and I am free to peruse home listings and talk about colors and finishes and layouts willy nilly. With wild abandon. Incessantly, really. I grew up on model homes and Trading Spaces, people, and old habits die hard.

*Tangent*

Why did any of us think the things they did on Trading Spaces were OK? I shudder to think…remember the one with thousands of silk flowers stapled to the walls of that bathroom???

*End Tangent*

My entire life, I have had this thing for architecture. I like buildings, and houses especially. I like to study their lines, think about what they’re made of, how old they are and what the people who have inhabited them have been like. I cried when I saw the Provo Tabernacle burning. That’s a post in itself. I’ve always thought it would be the coolest thing ever to buy a historic home and restore it to its original glory (plus modern plumbing and wiring) and live there for a long time. The house would be part of my stewardship and a way of contributing to society. I would be respecting those who came before me by taking care of the home they lovingly built, and also doing a service to my community by preserving a beautiful piece of our past. People could drive by my house and think, “Wow, what a beautiful old place…” and proceed to wonder the same things I always wonder about an old house.

But then we actually decided to buy a place and the thought of doing all those extensive, engrossing projects sounded like about the worst thing in the world to me. With my husband and I both working full time, the last thing I wanted to do was coordinate logistics for major revamping of anything in the house. We wanted someplace that was “done.” Of course we might paint some walls, but that was the extent of what I was willing to do. I limited my searches to things that looked move-in ready.

Now that we’ve started looking…wow, is there such a thing as move-in ready? Actually, we did see one that was move-in ready and (SHOCK) looked exactly like the pictures. And, I might add, has a cute modern kitchen and the most gorgeous hardwood floors. But then we saw one that felt amazing to be in (bright, welcoming, spacious), but upon closer inspection, needed a ton of work. I’m talking re-facing cabinets, reinforcing subfloors, replacing flooring, widening staircases…

Guess which one I’m thinking about constantly?

I should have known this would happen. What business do I have telling myself I won’t want a project? It’s me. I always want a project.

And to answer your question, yes, I would make many changes in the project house that would give it a look similar to the move-in ready house.

But they would be MY changes.

Am I ill?