Prenatal Yoga

In my previous Yoga Update, I mentioned that I was going to try out a class at Ashtanga Richmond. Well, I really liked that class. The two classes are very different from one another.

The one that I attended originally (was located at Yoga Source but is now in a different location) uses a lot of props. We each have 2 blankets, a bolster, 2 blocks and sometimes a strap. For several of the poses, we have to get everything in place before we can do the pose. This class is run by a company called OmMama. They are in the process of opening a standalone prenatal/postpartum fitness and education center in the fall that will be near my house. I'll be able to take Peanut to the Itsy Bitsy Yoga classes. Check out this book.

The new one at Ashtanga Richmond uses only the yoga mat. It's quite different. We don't do the full Ashtanga series but we definitely are doing modified poses. She has us squatting and staying in that position for what seems like an eternity (and other poses that are not easy but will help us to stay strong throughout pregnancy).

In the end, I like each of them for different reasons. The OmMama class although easier still gives me a workout and makes me feel good after. We all go around the room at the beginning of class and give an update on how far along we are and any issues we're having (i.e. swelling, backaches, etc). The instructor usually tailors the class to those issues to help us understand things we can do at home to help alleviate them. For the Ashtanga class, I like that it's more of a workout. I feel like I'm strengthening myself. That will be good for the labor part as well as getting back in shape afterwards.

Yoga Update

I have now been to the Yoga Source prenatal yoga class twice. I can definitely tell that it helps with opening up my abdomen area. The weekend before the class last week, I was feeling scrunched up. After the class, I felt taller and much more comfortable.

I am also going to try out a class at the Ashtanga studio. I won't be able to fit that into my schedule until next week. The one issue with that class is that it's at 5:30pm in Carytown. That's 25 minutes from work and I have to have time to change. That means I have to leave work by 4:45pm at the latest. That's a little early but I'm going to check out the class and then make a decision. I'll give another Yoga Update after that class next week.

Big News

I know it's been a long time since my last post. I've been keeping up with other blogs but haven't felt like updating my own. I think part of the reason was that I have some news but couldn't share it until now. MTH and I are expecting a little baby in mid-September. We're very excited! MTH wanted me to post the first ultrasounds here but the pictures of them didn't turn out very well. It would just look like big black blobs.

My hope is to get back into posting on the blog and NOT have all of my posts be about my pregnancy :) We'll see how it goes.

Out of Commission

I haven't updated over the past few days due to the lack of a computer. MTH and I were drinking some wine on Saturday night and he decided that the computer also needed to have a taste. Unfortunately, computers and liquids do not mix. The short story is that the motherboard got fried and we had to go buy a new computer on Sunday. But, of course, we wanted our data from the old computer. Thus, the wait. The data transfer took 3 days. Now, I'm on my new Macbook. I have to admit, it's quite fun to have a new computer. The best part is the little camera above the screen. MTH and I spent at least 30 minutes playing with it last night.



I hope to post more tonight but if not, it probaby won't happen until Sunday night as I"m off to Atlanta tomorrow afternoon for a weekend of debauchery with the "ikki" part of Stikki.

3rd Annual H Christmas Party

For recipes of items mentioned here, check out my food blog, food for my life.


Note - everyone is around the dining room table - where all the food is.


Not many people in the front room - where all the decorations are!


Fondue and cookies for dipping are in the lower right corner.


Cheesecake brought by one of the guests on the lower right corner and my homemade marshmallows in the bottom middle.


Close up of the cookies - Mexican wedding cookies, orange sugar cookies and pecan mandelbrot - along with the chocolate fondue. It's a beautiful Bodum fondue pot compliments of my Turkish friend, EE

One last view of the table - on the far end are cheeses including manchego, garrotxa, brie and cheddar. In the middle are deviled eggs and sandwich rolls. These were such simple but popular items!

Checklist Update (and Additions)

Here's an update on what's left:

1. Phoebe - the not so terror cat
2. Thanksgiving - Done
3. Running - Done
4. Christmas Decorations
5. Christmas Party - Gave a quick update
6. Awesome Dress
7. New Furniture - Done
8. Resolutions
9. NYE Party
10. Christmas

Party Update

The party was a huge success. I have some pictures that I took as I was cooking on that Friday but no pictures from day on SAturday nor that night from the party. Thank goodness someone else took pictures at the party with their iPhone. I'll eventually post those as well.

One resolution for the New Year - at least one post per week!

My Food Blog, Take Two

According to one of my faithful readers, my update post below about the food blog was not clear. So, here's my second try.

I will not be posting within this blog when I update the food blog. Instead, I'll update the link to the right with the date that I made the udpate. Please check out the link and you'll see when I last updated the blog (12/2/07 as of this writing). Let me know if there is still confusion (if you're interested)!

Checklist Update

Here's an update on what's left:

1. Phoebe - the not so terror cat
2. Thanksgiving - Done
3. Running - Done
4. Christmas Decorations
5. Christmas Party
6. Awesome Dress
7. New Furniture - Done

My Food Blog

I'm going to try to keep up with that blog again. You may notice a pattern. I started that blog almost a year ago exactly. I think I get in the mood for cooking because of Thanksgiving and Christmas. In case you're interested in reading the food blog when it's updated, I'm going to update the title on this blog with the date of update. That way you won't be disappointed by clicking through and finding that I haven't updated the food blog yet.

Long Overdue

MTH and I bought new front room furniture back in September and new dining room table in early November. Here's some pictures:







Phoebe loves this new carpet. The good part is that when I say love, I mean that she loves to lay on it, not scratch it!


We have one of these shelves on either side of the fireplace in our front parlor.

My Life Lately

This post was originally written on 6/24 but I didn't publish it until today, 7/1.

I know that I haven't posted much lately. Here's a quick review of what's been going on:

1st week in June:
I went to a Happy Hour with my kickball team at Nacho Mama's. We're called the Bad Guys from Fraggle Rock. I'm not sure what the significance of that name is. That weekend MTH and I went to DC for the Lawyers Have Heart 10K. The night before the 10K, AL and I went to the Village Bistro and The Dairy Godmother, home of the best French custard. I definitely miss Alexandria! I had hoped to stop by Cheesetique and Whole Foods before leaving the DC area but MTH had to hurry back on Saturday in order to work and work out.

2nd week in June:
We had our first kickball game. We lost (badly). But, we did have fun at Sine after the game. That weekend was the James River Scramble and the James River Splash that MTH and I took part in. For the rest of the weekend, I hung out with my parents. MTH was working a lot of that time unfortunately. He did get to catch up with us over dinner on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights. SM, Mom and I made a cake to celebrate SM's and MTH's birthdays early. We also tried out barbecuing chicken on the grill with woodchips. I made a homemade bbq sauce that we brushed on the chicken at the end. It turned out quite nice.

3rd week in June:
I missed our second kickball game on Tuesday as I thought I was going to be traveling to Northern VA for work. I ended up staying in Richmond until Wednesday. I was going up to NYC to go to a work party with MTH. As a side note, MTH has been basically working out of the NYC office lately. My flight was originally supposed to leave at 7:15pm. Instead, we left around 10:15pm. Because I was so delayed, MTH and I landed at LaGuardia about the same time. He was coming from a day trip to Dallas. We took a taxi to our hotel, W New York. When we go to check in, they inform us that they are sold out and that they've rebooked us at their sister property, the W New York Court. They pay for the taxi ride there. We go to check in there and they were so slow that it was at least another 15 minutes before we got to our room. We were in bed by 1am. MTH had a wake up call at 7am but neither of us got up. Six hours is just not quite enough sleep for me. I was up and working by 8am though. Then, I left for the party at 3:15pm. It was in a place called Rye, NY. We took a black car there. The party was quite nice. It was catered with Cuban/Latin inspired dishes. After dinner, we had a Texas Hold 'Em tournament. I did respectably but did not win. We ended up not getting back to the hotel room until after 11pm. I'm too old for late nights during the week! I got up the next morning at 7am in order to head over to KSH (my sister-in-law) to work for the morning. She and I then headed to Grand Central Station for lunch with MTH and MDH (her husband, MTH's brother). MTH canceled on us as he had a phone call for work. After a nice and extremely quick lunch at Junior's, I headed to LaGuardia. I had a 2 hour meeting from 2-4 but my flight was scheduled to leave at 5:19pm so I needed to be inside the security area in order to be on time for the flight. I was inside by 1:30pm. But, then I couldn't find a place with power or wireless for my computer. So, I bought a one day pass to the US Airways Club. It worked out for the best anyway as there were no announcements in there. That makes for a better situation when you're on the phone. Unfortunately, my flight did not leave at 5:19pm as scheduled. Instead, it left around 10pm. At this point in my life, I am not at all fond of US Airways. They are extremely unreliable and on top of that, they do not communicate very well with their passengers. The only good part about the evening is that MTH and I were there together. If I hadn't been in NYC with him, he would have been in the airport trying to get home while I was at home in Richmond, waiting on him to get there. Yesterday, we slept late in order to catch up on our sleep. I then went for an hour long walk with Britgirl. MTH and I met up with Britgirl and BL (her boyfriend, my friend from work) at Millie's for a nice dinner. Britgirl will be going back to England next weekend for a month. She's changing her visa to a student one as she's going back to school in the fall. After dinner, MTH wanted to see the DC United soccer game so we headed to Penny Lane Pub. While MTH and BL watched the game, Britgirl and I played some terrible games of pool but they were fun. We also played some games of darts. They were not as fun. Today, I've gone for a 4 mile run and am now getting a list together to go to the store.

That's June in a nutshell so far.

Hiatus

Yes, it's been a long time since my last post. 35 days to be exact. At first, I had no choice as we had no internet connection when we moved into the new place. Then, I just wasn't in the habit anymore. I've kept up reading my normal blogs: ETK, Blondie, loud and she who updates her blog less than me, e.

I'll post more later to catch you up.

Our House (Almost)

We're almost residents of The Fan District in Richmond, VA. MTH and I did our walkthrough of the house on Friday morning. There were only a couple of things that the seller needs to do and they are all minor. We sign on the dotted line on Monday morning. Then, we will officially own a house again. The movers will show up on Wednesday along with our new furniture and Comcast. It's going to be a busy day. The movers will unpack all of our boxes. But, that only means that they will put our stuff onto a flat surface, not in its proper place. I'm hoping that I'll be able to keep up as they unpack and actually have the place somewhat organized by the end of the day. MTH and I leave for Atlanta on Friday evening so we'll have no time for unpacking the weekend after the movers come. Then, next week, we leave for Las Vegas on Thursday evening. Even so, I believe that we'll be fully into the place before that trip. We'll just have to buckle down and get some stuff done at night during the week.

House Update

Old House Update:
We've sold the house! We listed on Wednesday of last week and accepted the offer on Monday of this week. We did not expect it to be so easy. We didn't even have an open house. We're moving our stuff out this coming Friday or Saturday. I'm hoping we can talk the moving company into only scheduling one day for the move. Our house is tiny. I really don't want to take Friday off when I really don't think that's necessary!

New House Update:
We're going on a walkthrough on Monday. We still don't have our closing date set. We still need to get an appraisal (I believe they went on Friday) in order to finalize the mortgage and homeowner's insurance. We really want to close by the end of February so that we can move in by the first weekend in March. That would give us more time to move in before we travel for MTH's half marathon and our friends' wedding in Las Vegas.

Internet is Back On

We've figured out how to get the internet to work but not the wireless part yet. We'll probably end up waiting on the wireless until we move to our new place.

Quick Update

We've moved to Richmond and are living in our temporary housing. I currently don't have access to the internet at home so will not be able to fully update until we get that fixed. Hopefully we'll get it up and running soon!

Happy New Years!

Hope everyone had a great New Years eve. MTH and I had a low key but fun one in Baltimore. I'll share my resolutions soon :)

Christmas Decorations Update

As I mentioned in my previous post, we bought a couple more nativity scenes to add to the collection. Here they are:



Since we were at a Christmas store, MTH decided we needed a couple more ornaments. Here they are as well. They're both inspired by The Nutcracker.





Also, here's an update on the how the paperwhites are doing! They're really growing. I have no idea when they'll bloom though. I wish it would be before Christmas but I have a feeling it won't be.

food for my life

That's the name of my new cooking blog. I'll still keep up with this one and will definitely still talk about food here. As the name implies, it will be food that I eat everyday which can include simple but tasty dishes but could also include fancy, hard to make ones. Hopefully you'll enjoy both types and might even get an idea or two for your own meals. Feel free to leave comments!

food for my life .

Enjoy!