krisalis

Redesign ahoy.

These photos were taken in the booth at Amy’s Ice Cream.

The first shot went while I was still putting money in the slot, and I love the look on Mark’s unsuspecting face. Heh.

On days like today, I am completely amazed that I managed to live in Scotland for eleven years of my life. How did I do it?

It’s the first really cold day of winter here in Austin, and the temperature dropped from being in the mid-60′s (around 12-15 degrees Centigrade) to the low-30′s (around 0-5 degrees Centigrade) overnight. It’s grey, wet, windy and miserable outside.

And I really don’t like it.

I remember back to cold, black mornings in Edinburgh, getting up for lectures in the morning and putting my clothes for the day on top of the radiator before diving into the shower, so that I could climb into toasty warm undies and jeans. I remember drinking endless cups of tea and coffee in the flat, curling my fingers around the mug to stay warm. I remember a particularly bleak winter studying for my January finals, seated at my desk fully clothed, wrapped in a duvet, wearing fingerless gloves with my slipper clad feet pressed up against an electric heater.

My first Austin winter after 6 consecutive Singaporean “winters” was quite a shock to the system – I had very little winter clothing and had apparently lost all tolerance for dealing with sub-70degree (20C) temperatures. This is now my third Austin winter, which is in no way even close to conditions in Glasgow or Edinburgh, and my coping mechanisms have improved somewhat thanks to some sensible clothing and general acclimatisation, but the bare fact remains that I just don’t like the cold. I don’t like the grey. I don’t like the wind.

Now if you throw in a whole bunch of snow, a few mountains, some raclette and a couple of glasses of vin chaud, well, that’s a different story all together.

Thanksgiving dinner

Originally uploaded by krisalis.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We did the 5mile Turkey Trot this morning, then we came home and made egg and tomato sandwiches, and I baked pumpkin scones. I did a bit of knitting, read a magazine and had a nap, then Mark, Rosie and I went over to my parents house for dinner.

Lennie, Mark and I played Scrabble, which Lennie won, by pulling out a 42 point word on her second to last go. Sheesh.

We ate lots of good food – turkey, corn on the cob, roast potatoes and sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, carrots, gratin dauphinoise, gravy, cranberry sauce – the works. There were also some new additions to the menu – a strangely good sweet potato dish containing walnuts with marshmallows on it. Mum made mince pies and Lennie made apple pie for dessert.

I did a lot of knitting, and Katie made us watch ‘Chitty Chitty Bang Bang‘.

Now we’re home again, snuggled into the sofa, watching ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ on DVD.

Bump watch, week 22

Originally uploaded by krisalis.

22 weeks worth of baby belly. That’s 5 months! 4 more to go.

Mr. Starwars.

Originally uploaded by krisalis.

One grande non-fat pumpkin spice latte for Mr. Starwars.

We’re talking about gift ideas over dinner on Saturday night.

Lennie: “There’s this Nike watch I really like. Our cross country team got one for my friend Callie. You can engrave a message on the face.” Me: “Oh yeah? That sounds cool. Did you engrave Callie’s watch?” Lennie: “Yeah, we chose some scripture from Isaiah. It’s very Callie.” Me: “Sweet. What would you like engraved on your watch? Len: “I don’t know. Something Lennie.” pause Mum: “Like, ‘Run faster, dammit!’ ?” Len: “Yeah!” Me: “Nice. Very spiritual.”

Bump Watch, week 21

Originally uploaded by krisalis.

Belly at 21 weeks.

I’m a fairly high energy person, and I’ve been reluctant to let pregnancy slow me down. Sure, I’ve stopped biking and running and I haven’t done any more triathlons, but I still expected myself to be able to keep up with my life at the usual pace.

In retrospect it seems obvious that I probably pushed myself too far.

After a fighting off a cold, getting through a hectic weekend, and enduring three days of back-to-back meetings, lunches and dinners that had me on the go for 12-14 hours straight, I wound up in the ER on Wednesday evening after experiencing some bleeding. The people at the hospital were completely wonderful, and Mark has been Super Husband Man throughout; strong and calm and comforting. Fortunately, the baby seems to be doing fine – strong heartbeat and lots of wriggling, but it gave me a huge fright and I’ve been taking things very easy since then.

I didn’t leave the house between arriving home on Wednesday evening and late Saturday afternoon. I slept 14 hours on Wednesday night, worked from home on Thursday, slept 12 hours on Thursday night, worked from home again on Friday, and slept another 12 hours on Friday night. Something tells me I was more tired than I thought.

I had a follow up doctor’s appointment today just to re-check everything looks OK, and it does, so I’m allowed to be out and about again, but I’m definitely making a concious effort to slow down and take things a little easier. I’ve got DVDs lined up from NetFlix, and plans afoot to knit a simple baby blanket. I may try to do a little redesign around here. Oh, and I’m starting to take care of some advance Christmas shopping online. Hey, I said I was going to slow down…not stop completely. I’d go mad.

But I know there are bigger things to think about. Or, more specifically, one tiny little thing. It’s terrifying. But wonderful.

I haven’t written a ‘this weekend’ post in a while, but we did a lot of things this weekend, and I want to be able to remember them.

• Voted. Well actually, I voted on Friday afternoon, on my way home from work.
• Went to see Ben Folds play at Stubb’s. I only figured out Ben Folds was in town on Friday morning, but I went by Waterloo in the morning to see if there were still tickets available. There were, so we got 3 – one each for me, Mark and Nathan. Excellent concert. Particular favourites included ‘Fred Jones, Part II’ and all the bits where Ben played with his $2000 red synthesizer. Sweet!
• Dropped by my parents house on the way to see Ben Folds play to show them our sonograph pictures and let them rub my belly.
• Got up at 10am on Saturday morning, and had a nice warm bubbly bath
• Went for an early lunch at Madras Pavillion with the Thursday home group crowd. The food was good! Particularly enjoyed the masala tea and the hot dosai. Mmm.
• Headed home and got dressed up to attend a wedding. The dress I was intending to wear really accentuated my belly bump, so I switched outfits a few times, but ultimately ended up wearing the black belly bump dress anyway.
• Attended a Cathlolic wedding ceremony of some family friends, which was lovely, but rather long and I kept getting lost and not knowing when to sit or kneel or sing or stand.
• Went back to my parents house for an hour or so before going to the wedding reception. I drank some tea and read the paper.
• Went to the wedding reception, which turned out to be a fantastic party. My parents and sisters were all there, as were two of my brother in laws (Marc and Nath) and of course, husband-man. We danced a lot and generally had a good time. Nathan caught the bride’s garter. And wore it on his head.
• Got up early on Sunday morning (well, 8am felt early after the wedding festivities) and went for breakfast at Magnolia cafe. I had the oatmeal.
• Took Nathan to the airport, so he could head back to Australia. The house is too quiet without him.
• Went home and did some much needed cleaning and several loads of laundry.
• Met my family for coffee at Uno.
• Had a nap.
• Went back to my parents house for dinner. My mum made roast lamb with wasabi mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green beans, carrots and cauliflower with gravy. Katie made banana bread. I ate a lot, and it was goooooood.
• Went home and watched ‘Grey’s Anatomy’.
• Went to sleep.

Bump watch, week 19. Originally uploaded by krisalis.

And so the belly grows.