7 Things

Up North Preppy tagged me last week... here are 7 things about me:

1. Every afternoon I turn the light off in my office and work just using the light from the window ... the overhead lights get old after a while.


2. I love the idea of buying clothes in bright colors, but tend to buy black, white and cream. Stacy London would get annoyed with me.


3. I am really not that preppy.


4. I wish that I had an accent. Oh wait, I do. I wish I had British accent.


5. Not a fan of pink and green.


6. I posted something on my blog about Perez Hilton, sent it to him, and he posted it on his site. He took all the credit for it and I got annoyed with him and quit reading his blog.
   
7. I worked at a tanning salon in college and was flashed the first day on the job. When the cops were interviewing me about what happened they wanted to know if he had any distinguishing characteristics. My response was "like, was it cold outside?"

Also, there are new pictures over at Baby M.

Do you H1N1?

When it comes to medical issues, I am generally pro-medicine. I get my child vaccinated, I give her medicine if she is sick, and I like to listen to my pediatrician. I do research about important medical issues and Mr. and I make decisions based on our opinions as well as the opinion of her pediatrician.

When we were at the pediatrician for Baby M’s 6 month check up I brought up some questions regarding the H1N1 (swine flu) vaccine. I wanted to know her opinion on the issue. She said she had not seen enough information regarding the vaccine and did not want to make a recommendation yet. The government was having a hard time getting enough people to participate in trials, therefore the trial information was lacking.

I have some major questions regarding this vaccine and I am not sure if I want to get Baby M vaccinated for this virus. I know you can get the preservative free vaccine, but that does not calm all of my fears. I want to know long term effects. I want to know the short term effects. I want to know how this vaccine was generated so quickly. Do the benefits out weigh the risk?

Since I have a lot of mom friends in blogland, I want to know what you are doing. Even if you have not made up your mind, I want to know.



**She has already received the first dose of her seasonal flu shot, and Mr. and I also get the flu shot.**

Photography Snob

I am a photography snob. I don’t like studio pictures. I don’t like props. I don’t like the “put your hand on his shoulder and tilt your head” poses. I don’t like the photo collages they try to con you into buying. And I definitely don’t like the cheesy backgrounds. I would much rather get quality, nice pictures done once a year, versus going to a cheap-o picture place every couple of months.

That being said, Saturday morning started bright and early with some family pictures. My parents won this photo session at a charity silent auction, so at least the money went to a good cause. And yes, these were studio pictures. The “studio” was a tiny, cramped and hot 9x9 bedroom at the photographer’s house. They husband and wife team took our lead and only did the poses that I suggested. The only pictures that were taken were when A was looking (and smiling) directly at the camera. If you have ever tried to photograph a 7 mo old, then you know that they are constantly on the move. And it was HOT. I mean, dripping in sweat hot. Plus, they wanted us to pose in front of a grey and blue marble-esq background. Gag me. (I had her switch it over to a solid white background)

We have to go back in 2 weeks to look at the pictures. At the photographers house. Um...… How will I be able to criticize the pictures when the photographer is in the same room with us? Hopefully we got a couple of good shots. Cross your fingers.

What I really want to do is hire Lauren Larsen Photography. I found out about her from a friend and I am in love with her stuff. I have already told Mr. that we are going to hire her for family pictures this spring.

Hey good lookin... what ya' got cookin?

Last week I made a recipe from Figs, Lavender and Cheese and it was delish.

Bacon wrapped chicken, stuffed with chive goat cheese

I mixed fresh chives with the goat cheese.

Cut the chicken breasts in half lengthwise, spread the cheese in the middle, and then wrap bacon around the cheese stuffed chicken.

Pan sear for a couple minutes, and then pop in a 400 degree oven for about 20 min.

Serve with roasted squash, zucchini , red bell peppers.... and of course, wine.

Like it?

I am not a very girly girl. Yes, I love high heels, lip gloss, mascara and clothes, but I do not love hearts, flowers, crosses, angels, unicorns or puppy dogs. (Actually, I love puppy dogs, I am just not going to put them on my blog design.)

That being said, it can be hard to find a cute (free) blog header that is chic, fun and does not make me want to gag. Therefore, I just made my own. And, I made some for my friends and Baby M.

Want one? They are $10. Shoot me an email mrspreppy@gmail.com

Bill and Giuliana

In the world of Tivo I hardly ever watch anything on the night it originally airs. Yet, there is a short list of exceptions: Grey's Anatomy, Gossip Girl, Flipping Out...

I have now added 1 more to that list - Bill and Giuliana.

I am in love with these two. I feel like Giuliana would be soo much fun to hang out with .... a real girl's girl that also has a sense of humor. And Bill is also pretty funny. You can tell they are crazy about each other, but they also drive each other crazy sometimes.

They have homes in LA and Chicago. How fun would that be? Mr. and I were talking about it and I was saying that it would be fun to have a 'city house' and a 'suburb house.' We already have the second one... now we just need to get something like this:

The 'burbs are great for the schools and yard, but I think I am more of a city girl. Ah... the compromises of marriage.

Fall Forecast

Old Navy has really stepped up their game lately. I am loving a lot of their fall stuff, plus the price tag is pretty nice.

The preppy and the sophisticate are my favorite of these three.

And they also have some cute baby stuff.

Michael Jackson skin

Since giving birth to be wonderful Miss A, my body has gone through some **interesting** things... and interesting is putting it lightly... 6 battles of mastitis, a blood clot in my wrist, high blood pressure/extreme swelling, torn tendon in wrist from the repetitive motion of picking her up, a pyogenic granuloma on my face that I had that lasered off and now melasma...

What is melasma? It makes your skin look like this:

Sometimes it is called pregnancy mask. Mine developed the FIRST day we were at the beach this summer. Even with 30 SPF, within 30 min I had brown spots on my forehead, cheeks and upper lip.

And the best part is that it it is impossible to cover up with makeup. I constantly look like I need to wash my face and make an appt with the waxer. Lucky me.

I saw the dermatologist this week and if I want to jump start the clearing up process I can get facial light treatments, laser resurfacing or have a chemical peel done. Yes! Sign me up! Oh wait.... those are out of the budget. Which leaves me with the most affordable option. Bleaching cream.

Yes, the cream that Michael Jackson used to transform from a black man to a white woman. One of the side effects of the cream is being able to moon walk and possibly losing your nose.

Is it in bad taste that I make a joke about a man that recently passed away? Too late.

***That picture is NOT me. No way am I going to post a close up pic of my spotted face.***

Tooth!

We have teeth! Her first tooth finally broke though on 8/31.

Since this photo was taken another one has broken through. She HATES it when we try to feel her gums and she does everything possible to push us away, so getting this picture was a major accomplishment.

In about 5 (or so) years the tooth fairy will come visit Miss A. I loved the tooth fairy growing up - he/she would always leave us crisp dollar bills that had been sprinkled with fairy dust. My brothers and I must have been extremely sound sleepers because the $1's would always be under our pillows!

She already has a couple of tooth fairy related items, one being this bear. I am not much on cheesy stuff like this, but this one is fun. My parents got it for her when she was born... I love that you leave the tooth in the pouch on the back.

(When you think about it, the entire tooth fairy process is pretty nasty....)

There are new pictures over at Baby M.

Gallery Wall

There is nothing like hosting a big party to make you get random house projects completed. Baby M's baptism luncheon/party was a couple weeks ago and it was just the motivation I needed to complete my gallery wall.

Blue Eyed Bride and Mojito Maven have shown us their gallery walls and here is mine.

Right now, it is a mix of engagement, bridal portraits, wedding pics and Baby M's newborn pictures. I plan on rotating pictures on this wall, but at the same time keeping a good mix of our life up there. All of the pictures are framed in black frames with white mats, but they do not all match.

Having a house is like one big project.... next up is refinishing our dining room table and chairs!

Baby Steals & Deals

The Preppy Baby posted this site the other day and I have become addicted to it!

Baby Earth is a great site, but what I love most is the GaGa Deal. Every hour a new item is posted and for every second the item remains unsold, the price drops. They only offer a certain number of items at this price, because at any point the product can sell out. It is exciting to see how low the prices can get.

The Maclaren Quest sale just ended and yesterday there was a Britax sale. Both items ended up selling for MUCH LESS than what we paid for them at Babies R Us.

Mad Men

Mr. and I really want to start watching Mad Men, but we have not seen the first two seasons.... We are currently tivo'ing season 3 with the hopes of watching at some point, but sitting down to catch up on seasons 1 & 2 don't seem too likely. Something about having a 6 month old cuts into tv time.

Here is my question... could we start watching with season 3 and know what is going on? I know a lot of blogland is crazy about the show, so maybe you all could give me some sites to help get caught up.