Hands down...

...this is the very best way to spend a $1.10. Potbelly's Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie.

Sorry there is no picture of the actual cookie. That's because it was gone before I left the parking lot. The diet is going to be a good time after this baby arrives.

In other news around Dallas...get on over to Central Market or Whole Foods to pick-up your green chiles if you haven't already. CM has a sushi roll including a massive piece of green chile. It's to. die. for. Aside from sushi they have a whole ton of other green chile goodness.

As far as I'm concerned, nothing smells better than roasting green chiles. Yummy goodness!




Chuy's is also starting their green chile fest. We checked it out last night. Good stuff. They're hotter than last year, that's for sure! But TASTY.

Have a great weekend, readers!

Finito!

The nursery is finally complete!

In its former life, this room was a guest bedroom. It's seen a lot. Lots of guest have rested in this bed and lots of snuggly singles have not rested in this bed. The Chief's clothes have resided in this closet, and I used to beautify each day at the dressing table in this room. All the filth, hairspray and dry-cleaning bags have been scrubbed and put away and the room is sweet and fresh for a precious little one.

Take a look...

BEFORE:

Please pardon the pile under the window that started mounting before the transformation.



AFTER:

I decided I wanted this room to be very fresh feeling, so I went with a very light cream on the walls. It's a custom mixture based on what I thought I wanted from Pottery Barn and white.


I hope the Green Trellis makes Julia as happy as it does me!




Did you notice the picture above the crib is the same from before? That belonged to my grandmother and has a date on the bottom of 1898 from the New York Art Exchange. I think that's special. I (Clint) painted up the frame to give it a new look!










This was the last little piece to the nursery and has turned into one my favorites.

If I had an unlimited budget I would have recovered this super comfy glider in a gray linen. We worked with the color, and I think it came out just fine.


I copied this bird mobile from Erika over at Urban Grace. It's from Sundance and one of the very first purchases I made when I found out I was pregnant.


This view of the nursery makes me happy. Light, bright, fresh and white. The little linen dress on the left was purchased in Houston at a shop in Rice Village. It's quite darling and so French...I love it! The middle outfit with Julia's monogram in kelly green is from Miss Jana. She knew that would be a perfect fit! The sack on the far right is Julia's baptism gown. It's so lovely.


The yellow, French hat rack was purchased in Warrenton, if you recall from an old post. I spied it and knew I had to have it.


What little girl doesn't need a Parisian covered changing pad?!

The green lamp and gold TOMS. Yes.

As I mentioned before, this is my rocking chair from my room as a little girl. Miss Jennie re-did the chair and stool for me to use in the nursery. I couldn't love it any more!


This chest holds a lot of treasures I have collected over the years. I know, I know, as soon as she starts moving this is going to be a disaster...but I will deal with that then. For now, it's a trip down memory lane that I love gazing at each day.





The owl found a home! He has no special meaning, he's just cute!
Do you not love those precious Moroccan shoes? I can hardly wait to get her little feet in those!
And do you spy my nephew sleeping on my brother's shoulder? Nothing more precious...



Building blocks in Spanish and English. The picture of the butterfly showing "Mariposa" is my favorite.


My bug!! This picture is special because 1. I bought him this outfit. 2. He is dressed as a mini-me of my brother and 3. My dad was the king of a blue pin-point button down. With that red hair it just seals the deal. I love this picture.


My Beatrix Potter Collection. My parents bought this for me in London, and I treasure each piece.


My Aunt Becky bought me these Disney books, and I somehow kept up with them all these years. I added glammed up gold, flower bookends. So girlie!


I ordered this chocolate chevron tray in hopes it would work on her little side-table, but it's too large. Cute in the chest, nonetheless.



And the chandelier. Love, love, love the chandelier.

Thanks for continuing to read the sagas on fabrics, ideas, favorite pieces and all the in-between. It has been such a fun and special process putting all of this together for my child. I know she probably won't remember this room, but maybe she'll appreciate the pictures one day!

Guess this makes us "ready"!

Kinda Scary Larry

What's happening, friends?!
Well, today was full of appointments. It started off with a teeth cleaning at the dentist and then onto the OB. I assumed all was normal until Dr. S listened to the baby's heartbeat. It was HIGH. Going as fast as could be. Her face showed a lot of concern, which made me very concerned.
She ended up monitoring the heart rate for 45 minutes and then sending me for a sonogram. The baby's heart rate did come down to normal and everything on the sono looked good. The only other concerning thing was her weight. She's little. Really little. 13th percentile little. So the inducement is set as of now for Sunday, September 12. That is, unless anything changes between now and then. So, there you have it. 39 weeks and we're out!

For those of you that we alarmed today, I do apologize, but appreciate you thinking, praying and sending us your well wishes. This momma was a little overwhelmed with the thought of a possible c-section this afternoon. Amazing how much I love this little one before I've ever met her.

I'll keep you all posted!

Restaurant Week. Over it.

This past weekend was the start of KRLD's Restaurant Week. I've participated with either girlfriends or The Chief or both since I moved to Dallas. Every year at every spot I'm a little disappointed.

In case you're not familiar, here's the premise. Make a reservation at one of Dallas's hotspots and pay $35 per person for a 3 course meal, not inclusive of alcohol. So what this typically turns into for me/us is spending a fortune because naturally we go outside the lines in our wine, cocktails, after dinner drinks, additional hors d'oeuvres, ordering the more expensive dessert than what’s offered or succumbing to the wine pairings offered. Part of the proceeds go to local charity, so you feel at least decent about the gluttony. However, I read this year in D Magazine that there is a whole racket going along with this. There are several fat cats making large, and I mean large, paychecks on this deal. Okay, fine, whatever, I still go.

This year the foodie in my family (my brother) asked if we'd like to go with them. It kinda became annual after last year. When Alli was at this exact stage of preggers we went to Wolfgang Puck's 560 at the top of the Reunion Tower. This year I was given some options in which to choose, and I suggested Pappa's Steakhouse. Supposedly the best in Texas and strangely, we had never been. So we booked it up and looked forward to the evening for several weeks.



Our reservations were late so the parental units could also enjoy Restaurant Week and then pick-up little tyke for a 'spend-the-night' night. 9:15 pm was the time and the beginning of this year's experience.

Menu was good. Sometimes these places totally chinch you on the offerings. This one was good. Salad for first, two steak options, lobster or salmon for the main and several desserts for the last. In our family, we always start with cocktails and make it clear we'll be moving into wine with dinner. I don't think there was any mistaking this guy was getting ripped off on a bunch of iced teas and waters. There is a little bit of judgment by the servers at most of these places that because it's "Restaurant Week" you're skimming and trying to eat at an establishment that typically you would not or could not afford. That rubs me the wrong way. I’m not in a tank top and fanny pack straight from Six Flags.



We order up and mention that we have the vouchers for the 4th course (picked-up at Central Market with a $25 purchase) but 3 of the 4 were left in another car that was not valet parked out front. We asked if we could go ahead with the 4th course and drop the vouchers off tomorrow. Per our outstanding server, that wasn't feasible. Really? The 4th course was a Lobster Bisque. Come on, dude. Just bring the 3 cups of soup out here...it will buy you a much bigger tip in the end. Much bigger. But, no dice. No voucher, no soup. Big mistake man, big. Huge.

The four of us are fairly certain a vat of Lobster Bisque went out to the dumpster somewhere around 10:30 pm on Saturday night.

The meal goes on and none of us are impressed with his skills. He offers no wine suggestions and no real hospitality other than the constant offer of ground pepper on everything I ordered. Then it comes to dessert. As it turns out since we were the LATE seating the upgraded dessert that the brother, the sister-in-law and I ordered is no longer available. Well, of course it's not. So The Chief suggests he allow us to order off the regular dessert menu. That must have bugged because he flippantly came back with dessert menus for the three of us, but not Clint. We get it, he ordered a dessert that is available, but to be the kind of "Best Steak Restaurant in Texas" why wouldn't you bring out four dessert menus? Who knows. It's Restaurant Week. I guess they assume most of these peeps aren't ever coming back, so what do they care if they rub you the wrong way?

We ate our desserts, which were decadent. The guys ordered some brandy and we finished up our evening. The bill came and it was paid, which by the way, was no where near the $35 x 4 for dinner. As soon as the credit card receipts were signed, hotsy-tottsy picked them up and was never to be seen again. A little abrupt and rude, or so I thought. And yes, in case he was on the edge of his seat, he got 15%. Sorry. You could have scored yourself a good 20-25% if you had brought the damn Lobster Bisques and been cool about the dessert faux pas.

So...what's going to happen next year? Well, for me, I'm going to Fearing's NOT ON RESTAURANT WEEK. It's my favorite restaurant in Dallas and a close #2 to my favorite meal in the US. Second only to the Wasabi Crusted Filet at Buddakan in Philadelphia. Random, I know. Don't judge until you try it.

Fearing’s in inside the Ritz-Carlton, so naturally their service is impeccable. Your champagne glass is never half full, exactly the way I like it. Their wine list is top-notch. Their maître D's are great. The atmosphere is lovely. I'll order the Crispy Barbecue Blue Point Oysters for an appetizer and then move onto the Pan Roasted 'BBQ Spiced' Filet and Chicken Fried Maine Lobster served on Queso Fresco Corn Potatoes and Cynthia's Soft Spinach Taco. I’ll make a separate donation to the recipients’ of KRLD Restaurant Week and enjoy my dinner by leaps and bounds.
Next year I will probably be back to drinking my dessert, so I'll skip all this chocolate cake non-sense.

COUNTDOWN has begun.

Well friends...here it is. August 19. That's exactly ONE MONTH from pea pod's anticipated due date. Can you believe it? I can't. I feel huge and naturally, in Texas it's a scorching 100 degree day...but truth be told, I don't feel all that badly. I keep waiting for the really bad part to hit, but so far, so good. I pushed it too hard a week or so ago and was reminded that when they speak of the pregnant, the elderly and those with upper respiratory problems that I fall squarely into that category. Okay, fine. I'll do my running around earlier and later and not at 3 pm.

The dreaded "check down there" starts on Tuesday. That whole things still kinda freaks me out. I can't imagine that it's normal to walk around with "progress", but they say a lot of women do. This whole process has been a gigantic learning experience, so I suspect nothing different in the next four weeks.

I hope you'll all be excited to know that the nursery is one tiny step away from being finished. As soon as the final, final touch is there I will post some pictures for you to see! There is nothing flashy about it, it's all very simple, very sweet and very me. I love it and it brings about a sense of peace that I had hoped for. Guinness loves to sit on the glider with me and dream about what Jules will look like. He's certainly in for a world of change, but he will always be my first little snuggle bug, and I hope we can keep lovin him too.


All of this to say, the princess scored a precious little Christmas outfit today. She certainly didn't need A THING, but everyone has to dress up for Jesus's birthday and especially when it's your first rodeo. So I'm thinking white tights and a white cardigan and maybe some flashy, red, patent leather shoes. We'll see.

I wish you all dreams of snow, sugarplums and Santa.

The Mainstream, is it so bad?

Mainstream: The prevailing current of thought, influence, or activity.
To incorporate into a prevailing group

Somewhere along the way I was told or observed that mainstream wasn't all that cool. Maybe it's because I have an older brother that has thought outside the box for a long time. Not to mention he's pretty smart and has been able and capable of making decisions for his bad self for a long time. He was always on the cutting edge of all things cool. And not necessarily what everyone else was doing or thought was cool. He was into snow skiing. We're from Texas. My dad built him a half pipe in the driveway for his skate board. He had motorcycles and water skis. He thought lava lamps and florescent lights were cool. He listened to The Smiths and Morrissey. He asked for things like a Galileo Thermometers for Christmas. He wasn't always your baseball playing, average joe. This must be where this whole idea of "mainstream" is for the non-thinker comes in for me.

I think mainstream is an easy way of getting from A to B. By this I mean in all regards...music, books, newspapers, news, etc. I try and be "cool" and intellectual and go for the indie route, but to be honest, sometimes I just like the mainstream. May it be lazy or not. I like mainstream music. Mainstream books. Mainstream tv. Mainstream movies. Mainstream stores. The mass produced, in your face, don't have to work for it Mainstream.

This brings me to my love for the book Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. You heard of it? I kid, there's no way you haven't. For heaven's sake you can buy an Indonesian knock-off pillow at World Market and pretend you're all Bali like. Or I read today that they're marketing Liz Gilbert's three stops as packaged vacations. I know, it's everywhere and it's all about mainstream. But...I really enjoyed it. It's no Great Gatsby or Wuthering Heights, but it was good. At least to me.


What appealed most is that I think everyone probably identifies with soul searching. No? Have you ever sat up in bed in the middle of the night and thought "what in the hell am I doing and what is the point of all of this?" I have. Several times. At different times in my life. And I'm only 29. That's scary.




Nevertheless, I loved the book. I really loved the part where Liz travels to Rome. I love Rome. I love Italy as a whole even more. Reading that part was like listening to my favorite song on the radio over and over while drinking my favorite bottle of wine (Jordan Chardonnay in case you want to love on me post pregnancy) with my favorite friends. Just doesn't get any better. The way pasta was described and the whole atmosphere just lit me up inside.


















Although I have never been to India or Indonesia, those parts were great too. I had my own thoughts going on as she was in each spot. I read the book quickly and was fully satisfied with the selection.


Then when I found out Julia Roberts was playing the role of Liz Gilbert that most definitely sealed the deal for me. No lie. I love her. Here we go again, the mainstream. I get it. She's probably a big, Hollywood, left-winger that chums up with the likes of Susan Sarandon and Barbara Streisand, but I don't care. On screen I love her. Everything she's in is a must see for me. It started with Pretty Woman and then back tracked to Mystic Pizza and then onto good ones like Pelican Brief and Erin Brockovich. I even had my hair done like hers in Ocean's 11 for my wedding. I love her hair, I love her style and I love her name. Not saying my child's name is after her in any sort of freakish, groupie way, but not saying it's not either. It's just cool, never goin out of style. Classic. Not so much mainstream.



Again with the mainstream, I tivo Oprah. Not saying I think Oprah is the Queen of Sheba, but I like me some Oprah some days. Some days I don't. But Julia on Oprah was a good day. She loves her kids, her family and that seems to come first to her. That's cool. Mainstream or not. She takes naps some days with her little guy, Henry. And that's cute.

So The Chief and I saddled up for the movie on opening night. I loved it moreso than the book. I thought it portrayed Italy EXACTLY how I would describe it. I also thought Julia Roberts took the role of "soul searching" and broadened it from just Liz Gilbert's experience to one everyone could identify. She made it feel more real. They also showed more of New York than I expected, which was a treat. And they referenced James Taylor and Sting, which are two more of my all time favs. The cast was perfection. Richard from Texas was spot on. And Javier Bardem is hot. The way he calls everyone "darling" is well, darling. I think anyone with an accent is pretty hot, and he fit the bill in this movie.





So I guess my point is, if you travel for yourself and see other cultures and broaden your horizons on your own is it okay to enjoy some day to day mainstream? Is it completely blinding to do what the crowd is doing? Does that make me lazy? Probably. But so long as I'm fulfilled, who cares!