Happy Halloween!

Is there anything cuter than kiddies in costumes??
Wishing everyone a sugar-crash-free holiday!!

Phillie's Best!!

In honor of the World Series victory by the Philadelphia Phillies (HOORAY!), I wanted to talk about cheese steaks.

On Belmont Avenue, not far from our condo, there is a restaurant called Philly's Best. I was first introduced to Philly's Best 4 years ago by Denver. Can you imagine my skepticism when Denver (a Midwesterner, but the son of a Philadelphian) claimed that there was a shop in Chicago that could serve up a cheese steak just as authentic as those on the East Coast? I was even more skeptical when the take-out guy on the phone said they didn't have sliced pickles for my steak. Hello? There was no way this sandwich was going to be right.

Well, I was totally wrong. Even without the pickles, Philly's Best is truly that: It is the BEST cheese steak in Chicago and it can stand up to any Philadelphia steak out there. They import the bread, they use white American cheese, I could go on and on. Suffice to say that in a blind tasting I would bet dollars to donuts that Philly's Best could beat any East Coast Steak.

The last time I ordered, (my usual: chicken cheese steak w/ onions & ketchup) the guy looked at me and says, "You from Philly?"

I immediately gave him that glare of, "who wants to know" but still answered, "No, Delaware. Why?"

"Ketchup on your steak, only Philly people ask for ketchup."

"Oooh..." And a genuine smile hit my face, my East Coast authenticity shows through even at a steak shop.

"Wait a sec, I'll be right back" And this heavy set Philadelphia-turned-Chicagoan hustles off for what seemed like an eternity. When he came back, he stuffed a Tastycake into the sack and gave me a wink.

I'm now a regular at Philly's Best.

Honeymooning

Denver and I in Avignon, France, on our Honeymoon.

I am officially at the halfway point in my pregnancy! I can't believe it's been 20 weeks already. This would be the theoretical honeymoon phase of pregnancy: I'm not so big that I'm terribly uncomfortable and there is not an immediate need to do a lot of planning or baby stuff buying quite yet. We're in a lull. Which is nice. It could be the last lull for a long while.

I love animals

It's no secret that I love animals; tame, clean, well-behaved ones in particular. So whenever I have a camera in hand, I like to record my brushes with the wild. I thought I would share some of my favorites below.

Denver-A rare breed of wine drinking animal.

This Kitty was spotted at Taylor's Automatic Refresher in Napa. She was a wild one.

This little guy was at a truck stop in southern France. By truck stop, of course, I mean gourmet restaurant serving wine & fresh bread that happened to be off of a highway.

Charlotte, my favorite. She was in the IN-and-OUT burger parking lot and I immediately accosted her owner. It looks like I'm strangling her but really I'm just trying to grab her collar and make a run for it.

A true Parisian. This mutt refused to acknowledge me or my camera.

An Eze, France Border Collie. There was nothing to herd in this town but tourists, unfortunate for the dog.

This is not a zoomed in photo- this is actually how close the squirrels come to people at MSU's campus. He thought I had food.

This is Winston, a wild little Corgi we met in Washington. He was a rascal.

This is me in a few more hours.

Break Stuff

Years ago, during my waitress-ing days, I specifically remember an incident where I had dropped something (a ramekin perhaps?) and a coworker jokingly asked if I was pregnant. It would've been very Jamie Lynn Spears of me at that time so the answer was of course, no I am not. This coworker went on to explain, quite simply, that pregnant women drop stuff.

That bit of wisdom has stuck with me through the years, but it was not until just this week that it took on a whole new meaning.

Monday morning I dropped the bar of soap in the shower so many times that I gave up.

On Tuesday I dropped my glasses, a bottle of water (capped), a book, and my keys (repeatedly).

On Wednesday I dropped my glasses again, a food covered fork, and an empty plate (causing the plate to break, but with no audience there was no "OOPAH")

I think eventually I'll just stop picking everything back up.

Russian Wisdom

I am all about natural remedies and holistic cures, and I've learned from experience that foreigners seem to know more about this type of thing than the average joe. Mostly because the FDA is brilliant at disabling natural practices from superseding anything remotely pharmaceutical, but that is neither here nor there.

I had my first prenatal massage yesterday. I've had a very tiring few days and I thought a good massage might help coax my muscles into action. Typically when I get a massage it is for a specific problem- crink in the neck, knot in the back, etc. But this was the first time I had nothing to tell the therapist when she asked me why I was there. I just sort of shrugged and said, "I'm pregnant," as if to say, "isn't that enough?"

I've had this therapist before- and she's a talker. Usually I like to just sit in the silence, but this woman is full of that Russian wisdom about herbs and the like, so when I'm there for a particular problem, I appreciate any advice she can impart. However, yesterday's advice was of a different sort, more like fortune telling. Keep in mind that during this dialogue she has a very thick Russian accent.

"Have you felt baby kick"

"Yes, I have!"

"What was the date?"

"The exact date?"

"Yes, do you remember?"

"Actually, yeah I think it was the 9th"

"Do you know why I ask you this specific date?"

She waited for me to respond.

"No. Why."

"20 weeks from this date, you give birth"

"Oh, okay, that would be a little early but that could work."

"Yes, this always work for first time mother. 20 weeks from first kick you will have baby."

Mark your calendars everyone- February 26th it is. Hmmmmm, I sure hope it's not a leap year.

19 Weeks!!

Drumroll please...She has a belly!!! WOOHOO!

Granted, this was after a big meal of pasta and then an ample serving of Yo-Berry...but there is no denying it- I officially have a baby bump. It's been fun thinking of new and creative ways to wear clothes. And the best part has been not buttoning up the jeans or trousers and throwing on a Bella-Band. That little miracle has saved me from getting into the nightmarish world of maternity pants. Gag.

Week 18, where is the belly?

I'm nearly to 19 weeks and I know what you're thinking, "when do we get to see more of Kristen's belly?" Well I'm sorry to have to tell you that I've decided that the exposed belly is no longer fully appropriate. I don't really want to see it, and frankly, I don't want any of you to see it either. So we'll do clothed versions from here on out. (queue the Debbie Downer music)

How about that survey- 'Boy' has jumped ahead! Shocking! 21 more weeks of anticipation, I can hardly wait!

In other news, I continue to feel fantastic, with the rare day of pure exhaustion being the only exception. I finally feel like I've tackled my major prenatal acne attack so now we are just rolling along. I'm hungry all the time and I'm even starting to like vegetables again. Life is good!

And the most exciting news of all, I've begun to feel the babe move! I noticed some flutters about 3 weeks ago and now I'm feeling full kicks! It's been the coolest part about being pregnant up to this point. I take that back- having a root beer float just because I feel like a root beer float regardless of time of day or proximity to meal-time has been pretty awesome as well.

Northern Michigan Pics

Overlooking Glen Lake from Sleeping Bear Dunes National Park

COLOR

Ginger the Dog. The sweetest pup I've met in a long time.

View of Lake Michigan from the beach at Glen Arbor

Sunset over Lake Michigan

Spartans vs. Hokies

I feel compelled to share a brief, but all too common bit of dialogue that Denver and I exchanged this weekend as we watched the MSU vs. Whoever-they-were-playing game on Saturday. Not only can I not recall their opponent because of my Pregnancy Brain, but frankly I was asleep for most of the 4 quarters.

The whole thing started when MSU scored, and Denver had the fight song queued up to play on his ipod.

I grasped on to my belly, and half jokingly said, "Don't listen baby!"

"How could you say that?" Denver was SO perplexed by my comment, but still in good spirits.

"Well, I don't want the baby to think it's a Spartan"

Denver lost all of the color in his face at this point. "I can't believe you just said that."

"It's true."

"But I'm a Spartan, and you married me."

Which prompted my need to explain to Denver that I didn't marry him because he was a Spartan. Shocking.

Eventually, we had to agree that imposing a school choice on an unborn child is as useless as arguing over the idea of imposing a school choice on an unborn child.

Secretly I play the Hokie Pokie on my ipod, on repeat, up to four times per hour, every day.

Zen Baby

As you may have noticed, we are not finding out the gender of our baby before the birth. Which actually makes the polling seem all the more interesting. Girl is in the lead, and most everyone has guessed girl thus far which leads me to think boy.

Denver, from the get-go, has said girl, I think mainly so that when and if it is a boy he will be doubly excited. Either way, he's banking on being able to throw a football around with whatever it is. Good luck with that buddy. I'm like a dodge ball team's nightmare: I can't catch and I'm scared of the ball. Hopefully Denver's genes will win that battle.

In the mean time, nursery planning was getting tricky with no decided gender. That is until we made the decision to go completely Sprocket-style with our newborn. No elephants or fluffy ducks allowed here. We're sticking to wooden blocks and completely neutral decor. It'll feel like a European jail except with softer finishes.

Think back to what your nursery looked like...keep thinking...keep going...that's right, you have no idea what your nursery looked like because you don't remember. So it was decided that WE should really like the way all of the stuff looks and we don't really dig crazy bunnies and plastic gizmos all over our city apartment.

I know, I know, we're like total party-poopers, a la Lilith & Frasier. But we're okay with that if it means keeping it feng shui for our little zen baby.

Fall Color

To celebrate Denver's birthday we're headed up to Northern Michigan for the weekend. Wait- did I already post that? Apologies, that would be pregnancy brain in full swing.

We'll be sure to post a new belly shot after the weekend!

If it LOOKS like a Hokie....

Denver celebrates a rather significant birthday on Sunday, so significant that I feel it would be inappropriate to announce his age out loud.

(HE'S GOING TO BE THIRTY-FIVE, CAN YOU BELIEVE IT??)

To celebrate we are headed to Northern Michigan to take in the Fall colors over the weekend. We're very excited to get out of the city for a few days and I think Denver is even more excited to be unplugged, particularly from anything resembling a stock ticker.

Canada, eh?

I'm headed to Canada tomorrow for the Toronto International Art Fair where Gallery KH will be showing the best of the best in the hopes of some major sales! I'll be back on Tuesday and will be sure to update you on the adventures of being pregnant in a 'foreign' land.

I sure hope they sell Doritos in Canada....