A Fashion Compliment From a Male Perspective

Yesterday as Wendell was heading off to work I emerged from our bedroom fully dressed. He paused and gazed at me. This is what I was wearing:

Please look over the dazed look on my face, I was still half asleep

He says to me, "That's one of my favorite outfits that you wear". His statement of course put a smile on my face. Then he added, "You look like one of Zack Wylde's guitars".

Of course that added some much needed morning laughter to my smile. Men do give the best descriptive compliments, don't they?

Update!

I'm currently at 34 weeks. It's hard to believe so much time has passed so quickly! In less than 6 weeks, I'll be a Mom. I'm excited and terrified at the same time. Well, it's mostly the thought of the teenage years that really terrify me. That and the fact that this tiny little being will be completely dependent on Wendell and I. I will no longer be #1! Talk about having to put your ego in check, haha.

As each day passes I can feel changes in the baby's movements. I could literally just sit and watch my belly for hours. Watching her move around reminds of those cartoons where a cat is shoved into a bag and he goes nuts trying to get out. That, or something reminiscent of that scene in Alien where the baby alien is about to bust out of that guy's belly. It is just absolutely amazing to me when I can tell which body part is jabbing me. I'm hoping we'll be able to get a picture of a tiny hand or foot pressing up against my belly.

I've been starting to get a little antsy. Wendell has been for quite some time now, it's the sweetest thing really. I feel blessed. So far this pregnancy has been pretty smooth. No major aches or pains, no major mood swings, no crazy cravings, etc. I can no longer reach my toes, so I don't get to change my toe nail polish as often as I usually do, and I don't quite trust Wendell to do a bang up job.

Hopefully delivering this baby will go as smoothly as my pregnancy thus far. I can't wait to meet her AND to have my mother and mother-in-law with me for the first few weeks. It feels like the day can't get here soon enough, but I know it'll be here before I know it.

I'm Going, Going, Back, Back to Cali, Cali!

In about 48 hours I will be arriving at LAX. It's been almost two years since I've been back home. While my last two trips home were only for extended weekends, this one is for a whole week! Words cannot express the excitement of getting to spend time with my family and friends; seeing how much my nephews have grown over the past couple of years, and getting to meet my grandneice for the first time.


One of the things I'm looking forward to the most is spending time with my Mom. Not to mention getting to eat some authentic mexican home cooking. Oh, how I've missed her cooking!!!

Another thing I can't wait for.....THE BEACH!!! Hot sand and cool water; and possibly getting some color on my pale legs.

Of course some shopping will be squeezed in. Although, most of my shopping will be done here:

L.A. gets a lot of flack for all the smog, snobs, traffic, etc., but I always have and always will LOVE it! The music and art scenes, the food, the endless entertainment possibilities; I take the good with the bad. Besides, it's the non "Hollywood" parts of L.A. that really make the city the gem that it is.

The main reason for my trip home is the baby shower my Mom and sisters are having for me. Of course, I'd take any reason to visit home. I'm just uber excited to share my pregnancy with my family and friends, even if it is only a weeks worth. Tomorrow is going to draaaaaaaaaaaaag!

The only bad part about going home.....Wendell isn't coming with me.

No More Mrs. Lead Foot

Ever since I was given a set of wheels of my own at the age of 15 I've been somewhat of a speed demon. I was never one for souped up cars or anything like that; I've just always enjoyed a comfortable highway speed of at least 80mph.

Even my awesome 1970VW convertible beetle would be maxed out to 90mph on occassion. Her name was Squirt and she looked a lot like this beauty:

image borrowed from here

Despite my lead foot tendencies, I was always a very cautious; mostly defensive driver. I was never wreckless while driving in bad weather; which wasn't often growing up in sunny Los Angeles. And the one car accident I did have where I was at fault was a minor fender bender pulling out of a parking lot while mildly distracted.

Now that I am expecting my first child I've eased up on the lead and am even more cautious than ever. However, my patience with moronic drivers has decreased.

Yesterday while on my way home I encountered one of these moronic drivers. As I was exiting the freeway, lowering my speed; this jackhole comes flying down the a little street that intersects with my exit. He was coming so fast that he California rolled into the first lane (I was in the second); he paused long enough to look dead at me driving in his general direction. Instead of STOPPING like any sane person would; he slammed on his gas completely cutting me off. I had to slam on my brakes and swerve to avoid colliding with him. I laid on my horn and began to curse at him from behind the wheel.

Despite his Evel Kneivel stunt he puttered along at a relatively slow pace allowing me the chance to pull up beside him where he was greeted with a lively display of my "bird" and plenty of enunciation so that he could make out all of the expletives I was hurdling his way.

The whole incident freaked me out. My heart was racing and I had to remind myself to breathe slowly. It was then that I realized that slamming my brakes caused my seatbelt to tighten around my lower belly. Once I was home I had a hard time getting out of my car due to sore muscles. If any neighbors were watching me they probably had a little giggle watching my walk.

I did my kick count and called the doctor; everything is just fine. The whole ordeal was just a reminder that you simply cannot trust other drivers to use common sense or even basic courtesy.

I'm just going to have to get use to trading in my days of driving down the highway at 85 with the top down for a mere 5 miles over the speed limit with my hands at 10 and 2.

Shopping For Baby

I spent the last couple of weeks completing my registries for my upcoming Baby Shower. Since I typically know what I want once I take a look at something I figured this would be as easy as 1-2-3.

WRONG!

Wendell and I first headed to Babies "r" Us to sign up for a registry. We had no idea what we were in for. The clerk handed us a scanner and told us to roam around the store scanning anything we may want to add to our registry. The first aisle we stumbled into was the car safety/accessories. We stood there wide eyed, mouths agape and we both uttered "whoa". We did this every time we walked down a new aisle. We were just as excited to be looking at all of this stuff, but we weren't expecting to be so overwhelmed!

I was at a complete loss once we got to the areas with strollers, car seats, and playpen/sleeper combos. There were so many colors, patterns, and safety features. Of course they were all described wonderfully. But which one was actually "better"? I couldn't tell you how many times I reminded myself of the little green alien toys from Toy Story with all the times I said "Ooooooooooooo".

We couldn't decide on a single one of those items, so we decided to move on. After going through several more aisles of things we couldn't decide on and about 3 hours after entering the store we decided to call it a day and go get some much needed food. After all we could finish doing this online in the comfort of our own home in our undies, haha!

The Babies "R" Us site was a little frustrating due to the fact that there were a few in-store items that weren't available online. Thankfully someone suggested amazon.com. Just when I thought I couldn't be overwhelmed any more than I already was; it got worse. Where "Babies" had several products, brands, etc., amazon had thousands.....THOUSANDS!!!

It took us forever to finally finish not one, but two registries.

Now that I'm shopping for mommy items like bras I'm right back to searching through an endless selection with my eyes wide and my mouth agape, but this time I'm not saying "whoa". I'm saying "damn it"; this time I have to go through this process alone. I don't see Wendell trying on any bras anytime soon.

28 Weeks Later

Haha

The day I found out I was pregnant I thought to myself, "Oh, I'll have so much to blog about, it's going to be easy keeping up regularly with my blog".

Yeah, right.

My first trimester kicked in and all I did was sleep. I'd come home from work and tell Wendell I was just going to lay on the couch for 20 minutes and then I'd get dinner started. About two hours later he would wake me up and hand me a plate full of food. On weekends I napped often; sometimes just a couple of hours after waking up.

Once my second trimester gave me most of my energy back I read, and I read a lot. About what to expect, what was healthy and unhealthy and how to be as organic as possible. I daydreamed and I window shopped, A LOT.

Blog? What blog?

Now that I'm a mere three months away from motherhood I've been thinking constantly about the kind of example I'm going to set for my child and future children. After all, parents must be what they want their children to be. If only it could be as simple as "Do as I say, not as I do". While I still haven't figured out what I want to do when I "grow up" I realized I have to stay true to commitments I make to myself; keeping up with this blog being one of those commitments. If I can't follow through on something I enjoy what kind of message will I be sending to my child? So, here I am, making a promise to myself for all the world to see. It's the first step towards changing the things I don't like about myself; for a better me so I can be a better role model to my kids.

This should be quite a journey.

Our Wedding - Part 2: The Ceremony

Just in case you missed Part 1, you can read all about it here.

I wanted to start this post with a picture of what the arbor we got married under looked like BEFORE the rain:

My mother and I spent the last week before the wedding making all of the paper flowers, so I was a bit bummed out when they didn't look this good for our wedding pictures. The best part about these though was the time my mother and I spent at my kitchen table talking, laughing and enjoying each other's company. It's a memory I will cherish and hold dear to my heart for the rest of my days.




Wendell and I are blessed to have a group of incredibly talented friends; from musicians to bartenders, their talents added plenty of spice to our special day. We were fortunate enough to have our ceremony graced by the musical talents of Eddy & Heather Green. I walked down the "aisle" to their rendition of Billie Holiday's 'There is no greater Love'. I wish I had an audio sample for everyone to hear (and for my ipod).



My sisters have always been my best friends and completely spoiled me growing up. My little brother was my partner in crime and we were the best of friends, practically attached at the hip until my early 20's. Kristen is one of the very few friends I've ever had that I can actually say is a BEST friend. I loved having them with me for the few days they were here. The only thing missing was my other sister Maribel who unfortunately wasn't able to make the trip. I would've loved for Wendell's family and the rest of our friends to have met her as she is such an essential part of my family and who I am (as is the rest of my family).



Despite my father's horrendous allergies I must say that I could see how happy and excited he was on this day. While we waited for the heavy rain to pass he kept everyone warm and entertained with shots of tequila and his comedic prowess.

I love the fact that my Dad used the umbrella to keep himself dry, haha. I'll never forget the look on Wendell's face when he first saw me. At that moment nothing else existed. I couldn't feel the rain; all sound was muffled nor did I see anyone else. For that moment it was just me and Wendell and the sound of my pounding heart in my ears.

A few final words from my Dad before "giving me away".

Carl was the most perfect officiant. There was a window of time where we weren't sure if he was going to be able to make the trip to marry us. This was one of the things that I was really stressing over. I just kept thinking that there wouldn't be anyone else that could fill his shoes. Luckily, he was able to make it. Wendell may have written the ceremony, but no one else but Carl could have delivered those words with such eloquence and sentiment behind them.

My Dad hugging Wendell, this was HUGE for me. My Dad didn't like any of the guys I dated, ever. Then he met Wendell, and hugged him on the very first day that they met. I should've known then that he was "The One".

It rained through the entire ceremony. It was a warm, light rain with dime sized raindrops. The air smelled of dewey grass which was only intensified by the humidity.

Before exchanging our rings I had my Mom and my "maids" bless Wendell's ring. A few extra good vibes are always a good thing. The best part about that was when my sister handed my Mom the ring. A HUGE clap of thunder rang out, almost as if the gods were stamping the blessing with their seal of approval.

Wendell wrote our vows and ceremony. It was something we had planned on writing together, but he called me back into our computer room one day and had written everything out. It was perfect, I didn't want to change a thing. My favorite part was a line from a song he had written for me that he included in our vows....le swoon!

We handed out maracas for everyone to shake in celebration during our first kiss as Mr. & Mrs. Wendell Hess. It was a perfect touch for our Mexi-themed day.

Oh, the aftermath of bright red lipstick!

I've heard so many horror stories on in-laws, but I couldn't have gotten a better deal. It's like having two sets of parents!!! I absolutely adore this woman!

I loved that we kept our ceremony short and sweet. It allowed us more time to enjoy moments like the one captured in this photo, as well as time celebrating our union with our loved ones. Which of course is never enough time.

Finally, we have (most of) the extended family in one shot. I absolutely LOVE this photo!

Part 3: The Reception coming up!!!

Our Wedding - Part 1: Getting Ready

The wait is over! After two months of anticipation I've decided to end my procrastination streak and you're finally getting the rundown on our special day.

We had some stressful moments during the planning process, but I was nicely surprised on the day of our wedding at how relaxed I was. I know having my Mom with me was a huge influence. Since we had an evening wedding I didn't have to get up too early; something I'm NOT a fan of doing. Wendell on the other hand was already gone when I awoke.

My Mom and I had the morning to ourselves. We talked and laughed as we began our preparations for the day. I was even able to have a relaxed breakfast with both of my parents. I had missed breakfast with them. It wasn't something we did together often since my Dad works early in the morning and I couldn't remember the last time the three of us had sat down and not only enjoyed breakfast, but each other's company as well.

After breakfast and running a few last minute errands I picked up Kristen; one of my bridesmaids (and best friends) for some pampering time. We headed out to a local salon to have our nails done; something else I hadn't done in quite some time. The lady that tended to us was really sweet. Unfortunately she worked rather slowly and I wasn't able to make it to the MAC counter and have my makeup done as I had planned.

We had a rather small budget for this wedding and I didn't really see the need to spend hundreds of dollars on makeup for one day. Granted it was one of THE most important days of my life, but I still couldn't bring myself to spend that kind of money, especially because I'd only be getting charged that much because it was my wedding day and not because some magical technique was going to be used on my face. And besides, I've always liked how my makeup turned out when I would visit the MAC counter (well, with maybe one exception). And the bonus, I'd end up with some new makeup. Alas, I didn't make it. So, I just opted to paint my own face.

This was also the point I think I started to stress out a bit. I had left Kristen at the salon because I had to get home, do my makeup, gather my belongings and get to the cottage to have my hair done. I foolishly told Kristen I'd be back to pick her up and take her back to her hotel so she could get ready. I hadn't realized exactly how late it was. It took me a long time to accept the fact that I wasn't going to be able to do what I had promised and I felt bad leaving her to taxi it up to get around. Turns out I stressed out for nothing as she made it to the wedding.

Finally at the cottage I was able to relax again. Having my hair played with has always been soothing for me. Getting my hair done was a definite highlight! Our friend Eddie did an amazing job. I couldn't have asked for a better stylist.

Apparently Wendell was stressed out more than I was. He kept having people check up on me, pacing and most likely biting his nails. Luckily he had Carl, one of his best friends and our officiant there to calm him down and get him to laugh.

I enjoyed a couple of margaritas while hanging out with the most important women in my life: My mom, my sisters and my friend Kristen. I was also taking care of a few last minute details; like putting together our playlists. And of course I was indulging my ego and enjoying having my picture taken, especially with my mom.

After the beautification process was complete, it was time to put on the dress. The dress that my mom had made from scratch by a seamstress friend of her. Aside from having my family with me, it was THE best gift I could've gotten that day. I had found the dress of my dreams online only to find it had sold two months prior to finding it. I simply sent my mom the pictures and VOILA! I had my dress!

My parents brought a gift for Wendell too. A guayabera. It was perfect for our mexican themed wedding. He looked so handsome in it and it complemented my dress so well.

The ceremony was set to start at 6pm but it started to rain. And not just a simple rain, it POURED! There was plenty of thunder and lighting that came along with it. It was decided to have the ceremony moved indoors but I really had my heart set on an outdoor ceremony. So, with the help of the magnificent Danielle, wife of our friend and officiant Carl, we had everyone move back outside once the rain lightened up enough. At this point the awesome mexican paper flowers my mother and I spent the previous week working on had withered during the downpour.

The sun had started to peek out. After eight months of planning and a couple of freak out moments I was ready to walk the walk. I, along with my Maids of Honor and Bridesmaid were ready to go.

To be continued..........................Part 2 coming up tomorrow!

Procrastination Is The Name Of The Game

So, it's been a month since I promised wedding details and pictures "soon". Um, yeah. I could give you a humongoid list of things I was doing that prevented me from delivering said post, but most of it was simply procrastination. However, I didn't have all of my pictures yet either, so THAT is the real source of my procrastination (but not really). That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

Seriously though, it's coming soon. I promise, scouts honor and all that jazz.

We Did It!!!

Many more details and pictures to follow, soon!