Well, it's too cold for Birkenstocks.....

....but we're PREGNANT!!! Woop woooooop!!!!

:)

Apparently I'm a good-news-blogger; I haven't been here since 2 weeks after our wedding, and you may not hear from me until after I give birth. 

Maybe absence has made your heart grow fonder?

...or maybe you're wondering why I even still visit my blog at all!

either way, here I am, 11 weeks pregnant, and happier than I've ever been in my whole life.

So far I can summarize the pregnancy experience in the next few words:

             nauseated                    excited              
 nauseated                  sleepy               nauseated
                hopeful                  nauseated              
  curious                   nauseated                 blessed

..........did I mention nauseated??

To be completely serious, I've been thinking a lot lately about all of the anecdotes you come across relating to pregnancy (there is more anecdotal information about pregnancy than ANY OTHER TOPIC on the planet. I guarantee that.) Some of it is very informative, and some of it (as my friend Vani would say) is just BUNK.

Your skin is going to get so bad, you'll feel like you're back in high school.

The weight that I gained went straight to my ass, and I no longer recognized it as my own.

Your boobs will hurt SO BAD that you won't want your husband to breathe near them...

When I was pregnant all I could eat was pasta and processed cheese products.

Hot tubs, herbal teas, caffeine, booze, soft cheeses, sprouts; you know, all those things you used to LOVE?? You won't even miss them by the second trimester.

You're going to feel reeeeally sexy and want to do it all the time. And sex is stress-relieving, so you should.

.....and the list goes on.

While most/all/some/whatever of these might be 100% true, my concern is that women (and their partners) may be missing out on become distracted from some of the REAL important stuff by focusing on these tales.

The "real" stuff I speak of is as follows:

YOU'RE HAVING A BABY.
You're creating a human.
You're bringing a life into the world. 
You are soon going to be the life force for another living thing. 
....and, most importantly in my opinion, you will soon get to love and be loved in a way you have never felt before.
            
So, my boobs hurt, I'm gassy all the time, I've gained three pounds (apparently in my face,) and I don't really feel sexy. ever.

When I'm done with these minor inconvenienes, I will have accomplished the coolest and most mind-blowing thing I've ever dreamed of, and I'll have a new being to share love with.

Thanks for listening.

and thanks to the Creator of this life, whoever/whatever/however You exist, for the blessings that are my love-filled days. 

Could I look more exhausted?? But oh, so happy...

(((There are 1.5 solid lines on that pregnancy test... which apparently means PREGGO. It took us a while to figure out what 1.5 solid lines meant, but by test #5 we were pretty sure...)))

I wanna be pregnant in Birkenstocks.

Got your attention with that one, I bet.....

True statement: I do, eventually, want to be pregnant. in Birkenstocks. I'll let you know when that happens.

SO, it's been 6 months since my last entry. Life has been quite busy since January, sooooo let's begin:

I'm officially a Mrs. 

(((!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)))

for the record, while it may be unnecessary to REstate, I deeply believe that everyone should have the right to legally become a Mr./Mrs. I pray every day that it happens within my lifetime.

Here comes a quick not-so-quick summation of all of the amazing things that have happened in the last month...

The wedding was lovely and beyond anything we thought we'd accomplish.  I've never enjoyed eating crawfish more, and even ended up doing the cliche cake-in-the-face move. I loved every minute of it. Davo could've lived with out the cake face. ;)

A glass was dropped off of the balcony, we started 30 minutes late, and the parking lot on the invites wasn't the parking lot we had reserved. 

Wabi Sabi.

And then.......

I worked for a few days, went through an emotional "joy hangover," and re-upped the joy on our way to southern Utah for our honeymoon. 

And then...

Driving through Zion was close to God; I can't imagine the connection I would've felt had I gotten to climb around in there a little.  I'll be back.  Escalante was hottttttt, but calf creek falls was stunning.  Hells' Backbone Grill in Boulder, UT was sweet, and in a LOVELY setting.  (((I mention nothing about the food, you'll notice.)))  Camping outside of Boulder was like camping at home in Flagstaff, but in the middle of nowhere with a creek outside of the tent.  Three of my favorite things in one place (Flagstaff, Creek, Husband); it was my favorite night of the whole trip.  Moab was hotter than Escalante, BUT the bike ride above the rim of Canyonlands was unforgettable.

...HOWEVER, the bike gear we left on the sidewalk outside of our car was apparently VERY forgettable. The Dead Horse Point visitors' center staff were incredibly helpful and we came home to a box full of our helmets, gloves, CAMERA, and snacks.  Thankful for kind strangers on that day.

And then....

Telluride happened. A couple days of alone time with my handsome man, including some sweet birthday time, and then bluegrass.  Minus the sickness caused by a combination of allergies, smoke, dust, and a respiratory infection it was the best bluegrass yet.  John Fogerty kicked some serious ass, and a good marshmallow fight while listening to Yonder will always make me smile.

Now that that's out of the way.......

Today I have two words on my mind: flexibility and forgiveness. Today these words mean that I do my best to eat healthy, live positively, and support values I believe in. And when I don't, I forgive myself and hope those around me do the same. I believe in supporting a world where we all eat (what I call) "happy meat," but every once in a while I'm so hungry or something just sounds good enough that I'll take a bite of unhappy meat.  I value guiding my life with healthy, productive practices (i.e. avoiding high fructose corn syrup, exercising, being nice to people) BUT I reeeeally appreciate the flexibility and forgiveness that comes on the days when I'm just not at my best.  That said, I will continue to do my best to support the consumption of local, happy foods of all kinds, I will try reeeeally hard to stay positive and perky as much as I possibly can, and I thank you all in advance for understanding when it's just not as easy as I'd like it to be.

love to you.

~*la*~ ((SMITH!)) :)

Sedona, humanitarian politics, and Bill Gates

Three thoughts so far today that I'd like to share:

a.) Sedona with the pups (and a few wonderful peeps) yesterday was a hugely needed day of sunshine and exercise.  The feeling of sweat and dirt all over my body never fails to get me back to feeling like myself again. 

b.) I was going to go on a rant about Rick Santorum and his unworthiness of presidential candidacy, but instead I'll simply try to describe my view of politics.  I believe that in order to lead people, one needs to love people.  All people. I also understand that you need insight, some serious guts, and even more revolutionary thought. For the record, I do think Obama posesses all of these traits, and that he also has the potential to make things happen. I think he has a lot of factors stacked against him right now, and I don't think he's figured out how to make all of his ideas a reality yet.  Just for the record.

3.) Maybe Bill Gates should run for president.  In his 2012 annual letter he covered the complex issue of development, with which he has great amounts of experience. To sum it up incredibly briefly: if we put our time and money into helping developing communities, as well as improving our own education system, our society (locally and globally) will flourish in the future.
((you really should read it for yourself: http://www.gatesfoundation.org/annual-letter/2012/Pages/home-en.aspx#familyplanning))

Gates covered several issues including vaccinations to keep our children healthy, teaching skills in order to promote sustainable agriculture, as well as the distribution of contraceptives and sexual education in order to halt a rapdily increasing world population.

My apologies to any who agree with Mr. Santorum, but compared to his belief that homosexuality shouldn't exist lest it take over the world and people stop making babies, Gates' realistic, humanitarian efforts to make our world a better place make some serious sense.

If I'm right, Bill Gates might just be the man for the job.  He obviously makes things happen (The Global Fund raises billions of dollars each year for research and treatment of disease in developing countries; and the U.S. Fund is currently doing research in peer evaluation and other measures to improve our country's education system). He clearly has a genuine love for human beings, and he clearly has guts.  Not to mention insight and a nack for revolutionary action.

Wow. How's that for a rant?? This might be the only politically-driven entry you'll ever get from me.  I hope it made sense.

On a lighter note.....

We've lined up our caterer, our cake maker, and have narrowed down our choices for live music to TWO, so the wedding planning is coming along! yayyyy!

Now... if only we could figure out how to fit 150 people in our backyard comfortably.....

We'll do our best.

Ta ta for now. Love to you all.

oh, hey!

ARGH it's been two months since my last entry. I'm completely comfortable placing blame in this situation, and the blame goes to......

the holidays. obviously.

Thanksgiving was lovely, Christmas was a much-needed break from reality, and (I think I may have said this for at least the past four years) I've never been so excited to celebrate the beginning of a new year. ever.

And, so, here we are.

Restarting the blog, planning a wedding, thinking about babies (all the time), and enjoying every "in with the good air, out with the bad."
Speaking of breathing and meditation...

"I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear." ~ MLK, Jr.

Please breathe with that one for a moment.

(((((                 )))))

As I began this new year, I vowed that I would FINISH at least FIVE days of the MASTER CLEANSE!!!

You know, the one where you drink NOTHING but LEMONADE (made with cayenne pepper and maple syrup) and LAXATIVES for up to 40 days.

I began with the initial goal of five days, and on day two I was feeling GREAT, contemplating making it a full TEN days.
and then I googled it, and read a bunch of stuff enlightening me on how much I did NOT really want to do it.
... and I made it through 48 approximately 42 hours.
but I tried so hard.
nope, I didn't.

Since then I have begun my mornings with a detoxifying juice, followed by grapefruit, to give my metabolism that boost that actually does make me feel great.  If you want the recipe I'd be happy to share.
I'd also be happy to share the author/title of the book where I found it, since I obviously didn't just make up this magic juice.

Minus the food poisoning I got after my lovely sushi date night last weekend, I'm feeling great these days. I'm running and working out when I feel like it, I'm eating great, and I'm happy.

On THAT note, I'd like to end my first entry of 2012 with my first DIY step-by-step!
YAYYYYY!!!!

I wrote a thank you note to our family's lovely friend Kathy, (who has so generously created/contributed a GORGEOUS set of earrings to my wedding attire.) and I got inspired.  I had seen something about spray painting lace on Etsy Pinterest while looking through wedding stuff with my mom recently,  and decided I'd try to spruce up that lame-o thank you note a bit and do it MYself. Check it out:

((( Thanks go to Crystle for introducing me to Pinterest, i.e. this generation's version of CRACK ))))

Step 1 - get stuff

Step 2 - lay lace over notecard and spray

Voila.



Stick with love. 

~*la*~ 

"Ethnic".. and other complicated words

Davo recently bought me the book Semantic Antics: How and why words change meaning, which is structured like a dictionary of sorts, allowing you to read the history of how specific words have changed over the years.  For example, the entry for the word "wierd" is found under "W" and reads as if you were looking into the pages of a dictionary, except you instead find the word's definitions from 1400, 1605, and 1816; and they're all different.


Of course, I love it.

 Soon after receiving this book, my friends and I got into a discussion about the word "ethnic."  I used it casually in conversation, and was alerted of my friend's sensitivity to the word.  In my mind, I thought, "'ethnic' just refers to unique groups of people. Yes, sure, some people have misused it ((see: ethnic cleansing)) but the word in itself isn't hurtful/hateful/ignorant..." And, so, I assumed I'd be able to look to my new book to find the history of the word and how it changed.  "Ethnic", however, is not in my fabulous new book; boo.    This word has been on my brain all week, so, naturally, I looked up a few ideas/opinions on the subject. 

I found an article, written in 1975 by Vladimir Menart, Deputy Chairman of the New South Wales Ethnic Communities’ Council in which he states:

The meaning of a word depends on its usage.The Greeks who originated the word "Ethnic" still use it in the sense in which other Continental Europeans use the word "National". In this sense of the word everyone is an "Ethnic"... I believe that in this sense "Ethnic" should be defined by us as meaning peoples, communities and activities having a separate and particular language culture background.

(((((((((((((This was MY definition of the word, just stated much more gracefully)))))))))))))))))

The other school of thought could perhaps prefer to define "Ethnic" as applying only to minorities consistent with the American usage of the word ... 

...Having in mind all the pros and cons I am inclined to think that the word "Ethnic" should be defined in the sense nearest to the original Greek usage of the word. If the minority aspect is to be stressed the word "Minority" can be added to "Ethnic". But whatever we do let us make the definition short and to the point. Long definitions mean more words and more words mean more problems.

Thank you, Mr. Menart, for being so articulate and giving me warm fuzzies. 

However, I believe his statement, "the meaning of a word depends on its usage" can be taken two ways:

I can defend my use of hateful words because my intention is not hateful.

OR

Words that are historically or generally used hatefully should be accepted as hateful and not used lightly.

I think we need to keep both meanings in mind, but, as many of you know, I tend to agree with the latter of the two.

I don't mean everyone should stop using all words that may be taken the wrong way.

I simply mean we should think before we speak, and we should think about who we're talking to when we do speak. 

...and, if you just don't care about offending people, do what you want; just don't be surprised when certain people seem to not want to talk to you.

Please please please, to any of you reading this, if I EVER say something to offend you, let me know.  Speak up.  Information is the key to healthy, respectful communication.

 Love love love to all, even those of you whose language I sometimes find hard to hear :)

PS: Kim Kardashian got married, and then got a divorce. Can someone remind me why I should care?

PPS: I'm confused by Herman Cain.  Can someone explain Herman Cain to me?

PPPS: If you love bluegrass and/or Yo Yo Ma, PLEASE check out the Goat Rodeo Sessions. AMAZE.

*****My friend Ronak and Rachelle, who started this whole "ethnic" discussion, just sent me to this article regarding ethnic food... an issue I meant to touch on, but didn't. Read on. It's a good one: ******
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203476804576616682225637832.html

Insidious.

a.) the movie was pretty rad.  I recommend it, with the disclaimer that the 1st half absolutely outshines the 2nd. Overall, I'd give it a B+.


Insidious  (((the part where I thought I might have actually pooped my pants.)))


2.) As I continue to find words I don't know the meaning of, I am humbled and inspired all at the same time. 

Upon examination of the word "insidious" the first exemplary sentence I came across was, "..the insidious nature of stress" (the partner definition to this sentence: "proceeding in a gradual manner, but with harmful effects.")

"The insidious nature of stress" might be my new favorite understanding of stress as it has played a role in my life until now (and will probably continue to do so for the remainder of it.)

I believe the concept of "stress" began in middle school, when I began making my own decisons ("I have to choose my own electives???") The girls were starting their periods; the boys were often "moved" at inconvenient times of day; the boys everyone was getting acne, and we ALL wanted to make out with everyone else. 

Since then, that little nasty "stress" thing has insidiously become more and more involved in my activities of daily living.

From first periods to my first home purchase nothing has been more salient in my life than STRESS.  It's so sad.  I began practicing yoga in college to rid myself of the stress in my life.  I know now that there really isn't a way to "rid" yourself of it, you just have to find ways to breathe yourself through it.  It will occur no matter what, we just need to know how to make it through without losing our shiz altogether. 

Today I planned to write about all of the exciting wedding stuff I've been doing lately (please see ridiculously adorable photo below) BUT sometimes we digress to reveal what's REALLY on our mind.

Breathe through your stress, my friends. Don't deny or ignore it, just take a deep breath, and lighten your heart.  Be kind to each other.  Be sympathetic to what each other is going through.  Go for a walk.  Lie on your back and stare at the clouds. Hug your neighbor.

"Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a harder battle." 

Love each other, and breathe.
~*la*~

We haven't sent them out yet... but they're gonna be cuuuuuute......

Idiosyncracies



Once again, I heard a word on NPR today that got my brain a-movin'.

Claire Danes, a person from several of my most lasting childhood memories, was interviewed discussing some new TV show she's on (Sorry Claire, but I highly doubt it will ever compare to My So-Called Life. I just don't see that happening.)
 

argh, I miss that show.

Anyhow.

She used the word "idiosyncratic," describing Temple Grandin's physical mannerisms as a person on the spectrum of Autism.  I thought, "Hmmmm there's a word I've never used!" I guessed what it could possibly mean, but having never used it I actually wasn't sure.

Sidenote: I'd HEARD this word several times before, just never really thought about it; for the record.

So, I looked it up.

I looked it up in several places, and came to the conclusion that it can be used to mean "quirky" (which I view as a positive descriptor) or "peculiar" (not always used so positively.) Sure, those two words are pretty closely related, but in my brain there's a very big difference between the two.

I began thinking of what might be construed as some of my idiosyncracies...
...and I made a list:

My rate of speech.  Is it an idiosyncracy to talk so quickly that your own mother sometimes has trouble understanding you??

My inconsistent grooming habits. A solid handful of my friends seem to be grossed out intrigued by the fact that I don't shave my legs/armpits on the daily. or weekly. or.... monthly. Idiosyncracy? Maybe.

My enjoyment of kid company more than grown-up company. We understand each other more than I understand some adults; what can I say?

My obnoxious fear of bees. No, I'm not allergic. Whoever said fears have to be be rational?!

My less obnoxious (but slightly quirkier) sensitivity to people touching my neck. Don't ever touch my neck without warning me. You might get punched in the face, and it won't be my fault.

This list could go on and on for each of us....

So, do all of the "quirks" listed count as idiosyncracies?

...and where does the word come from??
((When I can't figure out words' roots I get nervous.))

So many questions about one word.  Imagine how many words are out there that you've never used....