what i've sewn

we tried to be creative this year and sew or make as many Christmas gifts as possible. here are some we've completed. click on any photo to see it close up.

1. a skyline pillow. can you tell it is of seattle?

2. another skyline pillow. this one is (supposed to be) of nyc from brooklyn.

3. a man-apron. thanks to my grandpa for modeling!
it's hard to see but the 3 pockets are made of cactus fabric

4. and this one, not sewn but tied, is a little fleece baby blanket.

what they made

as mentioned earlier, there was a lot of cooking and a lot of eating going on during the week i spent with my family. since luke & i don't regularly eat such comfort, homemade, home-cooked, made-by-moms-&-grandmas - type meals, i wanted to dedicate a post to them.

there were honeybaked hams & turkeys, a million yummy vegetables, fresh lasagna, huge salads, smoothies and homemade cinnamon rolls. more pictured below...

homemade noodles for chicken soup

fresh baked cornbread

eggs & biscuits

the classic breakfast

what i made

it was my night to cook in texas, and i'd had a request "not to cook anything weird". it was so wonderful to cook in my mom's new kitchen with a giant island, double ovens, gas stove and all the utensils i could ever hope to need. such a difference from our current studio kitchen life. thanks, mom!

here's what i came up with:

oprah's 4 cheese macaroni & cheese

fresh herb salad with spiced grilled chicken

and my new classic, fresh rosemary bread.

thanks to my dad, unica was busy chewing/eating too:

week 19: a mango

the little one is growing and is now about the size of one of our favorite fruits - a mango!

here are some fun birthday facts that were sent to us for april 18th, 2009:

• Your baby's birthstone will be Diamond(Innocence)
• Your baby's Astrological Sign will be Aries
• Your baby's Flower is Daisy or Sweet Pea (Yellow, Red and colorless)
• Your baby will be born in the Chinese Year of The Ox
• This time next year your baby will be 31 weeks old!
• Your baby will start kindergarten in 2014, be old enough to drive a car in 2025, finish high school in 2027, and will graduate from college with the class of 2031, give or take a year. Can you imagine?

mr. & mrs.

my dear friend sara and her novio rod were married on oct. 18th. they asked me to photograph their beautiful day. it was easy to shoot - a gorgeous couple in love, a modern-urban venue at the new sheraton in downtown phoenix, a bridal party who was up for anything, and their family and friends who danced the night away.

here are a few shots from their day:

the rings:

the girls:

the guys:

and the couple:

the terrace in the upper left corner is where the ceremony was held:

and here they are, about to escape to their wedding night:

thank you rod & sara for including me in your special day.
congratulations on the start of a beautiful life together!

arizona! hawaii!

a few weeks ago i spent a long weekend in phoenix, thanks to the fabulous wedding of my beautiful friend sara. unfortunately i didn't take many photos of the trip other than of the wedding day. so i don't have much to show here except for the image above which was the view from my hotel room. i had such a great time eating mexican food, hanging out with my bff sarah, visiting my old church, breakfast with dean & kathie, lunch with my aunt, uncle & cousins, a hotel slumber party with rachel & maria, shopping and eating more mexican food.

meanwhile, luke was enjoying himself on a weekend trip to hawaii! he was there to attend and present at the 2008 Second Language Research Forum. while there, he hung out with uncle ken who lives in honolulu, walked to waikiki, stayed at and enjoyed the univeristy of hawaii campus, met with new and old nau friends. he didn't remember to take any pictures either, except for one afternoon where he had a traditional homemade vietnamese dinner made by friends.

week 18: our sweet potato

it's week 18 and our little one is the size of a sweet potato. last week was onion week. we heard his/her heartbeat again last thursday, at 157 beats per minute. it was amazing!

i may or may not have felt movements, starting on halloween. i'm not totally sure yet...

just before thanksgiving we'll have our first (and probably only) ultrasound. we won't be finding out if it is a boy or girl, but we are super excited to see him or her in there. hopefully happy and healthy.

the majority of our family - everyone but my grandma i think - predicts that it will be a boy. all of my dreams have had baby boys in them, but i think it's because of the predictions. we still don't have any idea or feeling one way or another.

tejas

unica and i needed a break. a vacation. away from our dark little studio life, and near family. so we've hit the road for texas.
we drove 5 hours to my grandparent's house in ohio. the next morning the four of us piled into their new car that they so graciously offered to be driven, and we drove two more days (about 17 hours) to prosper, tx where my parents live.
unica and i have been so happy - space to walk around, sunlight through the windows, warmer weather, major yummy food for every meal, Christmas hallmark movies, and family to enjoy.
we've done some Christmas shopping and some vegging out. some cooking and lots of eating. i've been sewing some pretty cool stuff with the help of the ladies here - i'll dedicate a post to that later.
luke, we've been missing you majorly. wish you were here. we hope you are getting a ton of work done without us to distract you. <3

leslie street

we're getting tired of posting about hopeful home possibilities. it's hard, especially being first time buyers - we know better than to get too set on any home, but i do anyways. luke is better at staying realistic and keeping the emotions out of it. it is definitely discouraging to have them keep falling through, over and over. but, we know God has the perfect home (bought or rented) for us, and so it is exciting to get closer and closer to that place.

the house above is our new (and only) prospect at this point. it is a foreclosure, and on a great street about 2 miles from campus. we saw it today and will put an offer on it tomorrow. it needs some work, and has a moldy pantry, but other than that it looks like applying some fresh paint and refinishing the hardwood floors would really improve it.

our votes are in

first belly photo

a few weeks ago, at 14 weeks.