until 2012...

I'm taking a little bloggy hiatus next week for the holidays. 

Time to step away from the internet while we spend time with family. 

But never fear! 

We'll be busy filming all the festivities for a Christmas 2011 music video. 

Here's last year's edition with Chas' family: 

Have a happy Christmas and a wonderful New Year! 

Loves. 

Photo Booth Anonymous (PBA)

Hi. 

My name is Sam...

and I take Photo Booth pics of myself. 

It's a multi-faceted issue.

There are silly Photo Booth pics and there are oh-hi-I'm-trying-to-be-a-model Photo Booth pics. 

There are also Photo Booth pics with my husband, Chas. 

All forms are equally weird. And equally awesome.

Why do I do this?

Mostly it's just because I'm bored, waiting for Chas to get home, or in the mood to waste some time. 

But sometimes, yes sometimes...

it's purely because Photo Booth can make a no-hair, minimal makeup day look good. 

Any other fellow PBA members?

The first step is recognition of your powerlessness over Photo Booth. 

:) 

start the new year off on the right foot!

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sixteen weeks

Thanks for sharing in our happy little girl news yesterday! 

We are beyond excited. 

After finding out on Thursday, we celebrated with a Hires cheeseburger and onion rings lunch. Then we made a quick stop at Old Navy for some pink and white striped onesies. 

We're also pretty sure that we've found the perfect name. 

But that'll stay a secret until she's here :) 

we're having a...

Music: Tally Hall, "Be Born"

last week's highlights

I almost can't believe how busy we were last week!

We made lots of homemade bread braids (Chas learned to braid!) for friends' Christmas presents.

My little sister came home from her mission.

We went to work Christmas parties and friend Christmas parties. 

We had scones and hot chocolate at Chas' parent's house. 

We found out the gender of little cryings (I promise the announcement is coming soon!). 

We ate margherita pizzas and gelato for my mom's birthday. 

All day Saturday, we got to film and interview people behind-the-scenes at the Mormon Tabernacle Christmas concert. 

(I was this close to Jane Seymour!)

I dyed my hair.

Yesterday, we had a family party for Rosie's homecoming and a second Thanksgiving.

Last night, we had a yummy ham dinner with Chas' family, set up the nativity, read the Christmas story scriptures, and sang every single Christmas hymn (including one Chas' dad wrote himself!). 

Fewf!

...I need a nap. 

what made yesterday just perfect

Yesterday was a wonderful, wonderful day. 

We found out the gender of little cryings! 

But more on that later. 

Chas and I want to make an extra special little post for the official announcement coming soon! 

But, in the meantime, here's a little something that added to the wonderful-ness of yesterday. 

 (If I was a Mormon Fundamentalist, I would want you as my sister wife.)

Girls' Christmas Party!

There was hand-made matching red turtlenecks, yummy treats, fancy drinks, cute decorations, talking, laughing, talking, and more laughing. 

And then there was the white elephant gift exchange.

I lovingly offered my first marriage's wedding announcement/invite...framed beautifully. 

I went home with Heather's old nursing bra. 

I just love these girls. 

P.S. 

Can we please have a moment of silence for Holly's Christmas tree and amazingly-wrapped presents?

At the very least, a slow clap is in order. 

All those little details! Stunning.

homecoming: a picture story

All together for the first time in three years! 

home at last!

 My little sister comes home from her mission today! 

I can't believe it's been 18 months and I can't wait to see her meet nephew Banks for the first time! 

We're picking her up at the airport this morning. 

Lots of hugs and happy crying to ensue...

(Stayed tuned for pics, I'm sure!)

Giveaway! {little hank}

Today's giveaway is brought to you by one of my good friends, Heather of Little Hank! 

A mother of two girls, Heather finds herself making tiny ties for the little gentleman.

Each tie is up-cycled from vintage men's ties and will fit perfectly around that chubby baby boy neck you know and love! 

And, just as a side-note, I gave one of these ties to a friend recently and, let me tell you, it was a total hit at her baby shower. Thanks to Little Hank, I definitely won cutest baby shower present contest, hands down. Not that giving presents is ever a competition, but who doesn't love the little pride that comes with knowing you scored a home-run in the giving department?

Today, Heather is giving one Little Hank tie of the winner's choosing!

To enter, must be a follower of Young People in Love. 

Then, visit Little Hank and let me know which tie is your favorite and what little gentleman you'd love to give it to!  

For an extra entry: 

Follow Heather's blog here. 

And, in case you want to just grab one and be done with it, Heather is giving all YPIL readers a special 15% off your purchase all month long. Just use code HOLIDAY15 at checkout.

Good luck! 

>>>

And the winner of the Pics-O-Andrea giveaway is: 

Congrats!

presently...

You couldn't really tell I was pregnant before last week. 

Now I have a little star-bellied sneech tum. And I love it so much. 

I've had a few people tell me it looks like I'm carrying pretty low and how that usually means there's a little boy inside. 

Our appointment is next week and hopefully we'll find out if that's true!

I recently started doing prenatal yoga. I never ever, ever exercise so I'm hoping this will be good for both the health of me and little crying's and the delivery. 

Chas and I are still praying every night that doors will be made open for us to be able to pay for little cryings on our own, without insurance. 

We still feel confident that everything will work out somehow. 

I've also been praying and trying to actively look for ways to serve others. 

I really want to be able to step outside myself and my little life of comfort and make connections and help others. But sometimes I don't know where to start, especially when everyone else around me seems fine and dandy as well. 

I'm still on the look out. 

I had a really great, long convo with one of my sisters recently. 

In a lot of ways, it felt like an answer to prayer. 

We talked about lots of different things, but all of them were valuable, important topics.

I came away from that conversation grateful for a chance to really connect with my sister. 

I had an increased resolve to set aside past hurts and exercise real forgiveness, compassion, and empathy for others. 

And we talked about how it's so easy to get caught up in yourself: how you look, what you're doing with your life, what you love, how others might perceive you. And how when you're so focused on yourself, you simply don't have the time and energy to look outward and extend yourself towards others.

I want to be able to slowly free myself from all the "me, me, me" so I can stretch out a hand, offer a genuine smile, and give real love to the people around me. 

Pregnancy is a funny thing.

Aside from the morning sickness, one of the biggest things I've dealt with for the past few months is "preggo brain." 

My mind will just go blank, without a moment's notice. 

As you can imagine, this makes for some interesting times in my work as both a therapist and professor. 

There has been a lot of, "Uhhh...Ok. I promise I had a thought just now...but now I don't." And that's on a good day- when I can actually string a full sentence together. Sometimes, when preggo brain strikes, I can't even put words together to make a sentence. My mind is totally blank. 

It's awesome. 

In fact, just last week in one of my classes, a student asked a question and this was my response,
"Umm...Ok. I'm not even going to pretend that I know the answer to that right now because I don't. Sorry." 

Hehe. 

Oh man. 

A little off-shoot of preggo brain has been the way my "container" or ability to effectively hold and contain difficult emotions has diminished.

I've started to try to keep the content and themes of my therapy groups much more light and not so intense. 

It's helping.

But, in my personal life, things can't always be kept so nice, light, and positive. 

Things can and will get kind of intense and, normally, that's just fine. 

But now, all of a sudden, my emotions are so much closer to the surface and I'm having a hard time expressing myself without becoming a blubbering weirdo. 

I'm learning to be more forgiving and patient with myself and this new, much more emotional me. 

But what I don't like, preggo or not, is allowing my emotions to get the best of me. 

I recently had an opportunity to be confronted with frustration, hurt, and anger. 

And, because of this, I also had the opportunity to confront myself and examine both what I did well in this situation and what I could have done better.

Sometimes I actually enjoy trying to figure myself out and get more self-awareness.

It's almost becomes a little game I play in my head.

I'll ask myself questions like, 

"Now why is it exactly that this situation was so difficult for me? What's my deal? What part of it can I own for myself?" 

"What aspect of my thinking around this situation is just self-serving and what part is really true?" 

"Why is it that holding onto little bits of resentment feels almost good to me?"

"At what point do I need to stop venting and move into proactive, positive problem-solving?" 

"What is within my power to address this issue in a way that is the most effective for both sides?" 

I want to be better. 

And this pregnancy is giving me a wonderful opportunity to be better than I was before. 

I love you, little cryings. 

just some thoughts on blogging and how I need a blog cleanse

If you're a blogger, have you ever had the thought, "What the heck am I doing?!"

I have.
Lots, actually.

Let's be honest. Blogging can be weird in many ways.
I write about my life and strangers read it.
I take pictures of random things, of Chas, of the food we make, of my shoes with leaves around them.
I ask Chas to take pictures of me.
Yup, it's weird.

My first reaction, when I meet someone who reads my blog or overhear someone telling another about my blog, is embarrassment. I worry about what people must think or will think of me when they know that I do all those things with my blog.

But here's what I've recently decided:

If you're gonna blog, then just do it. And be proud that you do it.

Be able to see the blogging thing clearly for what it is- strange in some ways but also really great in some ways, too. Just accept all aspects of the blogging package and, most importantly, be proud that you're someone who wants to take a healthy risk to put some good out into the world.
And if people think you're weird/dumb/annoying/embarrassing for doing so, then that's their deal. Let them worry about their own reaction. You don't have to.

So next time, instead of feeling embarrassed of my blog, I want to be able to say something like,
"Yup! I have a blog! My husband and I take pictures of each other, I write about our life together, and it's pretty crazy. Check it out if you want!"

Aware. Confident. End of story.

>>>

On a similar note, I've been feeling pretty burnt out on the whole blogging thing.
I started this blog when Chas and I got married and I decided I wanted a way to honor the happiness that we had together, a happiness in marriage that I'd never thought possible before.

But, lately, I've kinda wondered if there was a way I could just burn it all to the ground.

It's honestly real work to think of something fun and new to post five days a week. I think a lot of the pressure I feel has to do with the pictures. I'm pretty picky about the images I put on this blog and it can get tiring trying to make sure that every post has a great picture to accompany the text.

Staying true to what I want this blog to be versus what I think others want it to be can be a tricky business.

I feel like I need to just get back to the basics with this.
I need to just write.
I need to just externalize my thoughts without having to worry about a darling picture to match or whether or not people will love the post. I need to put me first for a bit.

So that's what's going to happen around here for a little while. Just my thoughts. Simple and straight-forward.
The pictures will definitely return, I'm just not sure when exactly. We'll just see what happens, I suppose.

I hope you'll stick around and want to keep reading.
But if you're bored with my thoughts and/or are here mainly for the photos, that's cool too.
Again, I just need to do this for me.

A little blog cleanse, if you will.

Thanks for listening.

Hue&Hum

I'm so excited to introduce you to our friends and neighbors (for real- they live two blocks down from us)!

I also went to high school with both these guys. 

Perfect match made in the cutest artsy heaven. 

Hue is here today to tell you more and share an early Christmas present with you!

Let me introduce myself, my husband, and our blog to you.  I'm an artist, Hum's a guitarist.  I met (and fell for) Hum when we were awkward teenagers in high school way back before I knew I wanted to be a hue and before he knew he wanted to be a hum.  We got married a couple years after that, and now that we're grown-ups (well, not really) we create art and music for a living.  I (Hue) am the pen and brush (literally) behind the Hue & Hum blog.  I paint for a living and am an aspiring artist.  Hum plays the electric guitar like nobody's business.  He plays in the band Fictionist who, believe it or not, recently got signed to Atlantic Records!... and yes, we were very excited.  

A couple of months ago Hum and I were playing a Christmas carol called, "Were You There On that Christmas Night?", ever heard of it?  It's one of our favorites.  We were working on it for a different project, but we had so much fun we thought, "Heck.  We should record our own christmas album!". And so we did.  

Hum oversaw the production of the album.  He recorded guitars in our tiny bathroom at home, layered effects, and made sure everything sounded extra groovy.  I oversaw the album art and production, and it would be easy to argue that I had a little too much fun.  I felt like I was in 3rd grade again, I built a little diorama-like set up with fabric, cardboard, and ugly little plastic glittery snowflakes.  Here is a music video showing the in-process album artwork with the third track from the album, "Angels We Have Heard on High".  Enjoy.

>> You can pick up Hue & Hum Christmas via Hue's etsy shop.

Guess what!?  Here's a giveaway you can all win!

>> Follow Hue & Hum on facebook for a free christmas download!

...

Aren't they the coolest? 

They are also just genuinely kind, great people. 

And hard, hard workers. 

Can't beat that. 

And seriously, friends, this is a really fun album. 

Hue dropped a copy off at our place and I've been listening to it all day. 

Good Christmas stuff!

cutest

Last weekend, Chas casually handed me this drawing and said, "Oh, it's just a quick little sketch of little cryings at 8 weeks." 

There are a few things you should notice about this: 

The growing placenta attached to the tummy.

The fact that he signed it.

And, as Chas pointed out, 

"If you look closely, you can see the little toe buds coming in nicely."

But why choose to draw little cryings at 8 weeks when I'm almost 14 weeks now?

I'll tell you why.

In one of our pregnancy books, it has big illustrations of what the baby looks like each week. 

The drawing in that book of the baby at 8 weeks is probably the cutest thing I've ever seen. It looks like a sweet little marshmallow pup. 

I flip back to that page often and just love to look at it. 

(I'm weird.)

But Chas' interpretation is even better. 

And is now the wallpaper image on my phone. 

Life is good. 

it's an iPhone life

These two pics are the only photographic evidence of our Thanksgiving. And now I'm realizing that they were just some treats we got two days after Thanksgiving. So they probably don't count but boy, were those treats tasty. 

I was gonna document our Thanksgiving fun times but ultimately decided that nah, I'd rather just focus on one thing: eating. 

So consider the fact that there aren't any pictures, proof that we were too busy eating and being happy. 

Speaking of eating and being happy, 

I surprised Chas earlier this week with a special dinner: 

fresh, baked king salmon burgers. 

All I had to do was splurge a little at the grocery store and get a fresh cut fillet.

When I pulled it out of our fridge later that night, we both felt pretty fancy pants unwrapping it from the butcher's paper. 

Then I just seasoned it with olive oil, salt and pepper, basil, rosemary, and parsely, wrapped it in tin foil and cooked it for about 45 minutes. 

So. Good. 

"Special" was said a lot before, during, and after dinner. 

And last we have something else that's pretty special. 

Chas decided to participate in Movember. 

It was a very special 24 hours indeed.