Bumpwatch- Week 29

How Far Along: 29 weeks! The size of an acorn squash. Supposedly, he is getting pudgier and smarter. He also really loves Otis Redding and early morning dance parties. I also read a disgusting statistic about how much he pees in me a day which I think is causing some real beef between us.

Best Moment of the Week: Our Babymoon! We headed on our last plane trip to New Orleans to just focus on each other (I'm lying, we went to buy inappropriate beads and eat). We succeeded in all our goals, had a pretty laid back trip for us, and explored the French Quarter. Hopefully, my amniotic fluid tasted delicious and we can raise our spawn on spicy deliciousness. Definitely our best food trip ever, and we had a great time, even if I couldn't have a hurricane. I think taking a final pre-baby trip was a genius idea (I am sure it was a marketing ploy, but I don't care), and I am so glad we did it.

Most Interesting Prego Quirk:  I have the sniffles all the time now. This is a separate issue from embarrassing weeping (especially at Baby Yoga). Your body is trying to keep infection out, and this part never stops, so you just end up having sniffles all the time to push out germs.  I also feel like I am covered in fuzz, and my belly button is doing something never before seen in nature . It's amazing how gross you can be in so many ways at once (but drunk strangers will still tell you you're cute).

I Would Really Like Some: Man, it's hard to think of much after a weekend of eating all the time in New Orleans. We ate so much! I would like to have a pomegranate Jamba Juice. I would also like to have a Mai Tai (yes, still) and like a whole loaf of french bread. Eat n Park cookies. A ham sandwich. Basically, I am just building a list of things in my head I could reunite with once the spawn is born.

 

Bizarro Thing No One Warned me About:  Even when you feel like some new twist in your pregnancy is a really huge bummer, your doctor will (and should) remain underwhelmed. I felt this week like things stopped being all fun and started getting real, but no one else seems worried (no one else in real life- you can find someone freaking out about anything on the internet). This is obviously a good thing, because my doctor's lack of alarm just puts things into perspective. You may be having the hardest week of your pregnancy, but it's somebody else's easiest week, so buck up.

And The Boy?:He has decided that BBG's best friend is named Blad, because if the little parasite is up and moving, I am heading back to the bathroom as soon as I return. The Boy says BBG wakes up and immediately hugs his best friend Blad (think Vlad, but more like an essential human organ). When Blad shrinks, BBG freaks out and hugs him even more. Apparently Bumbo Baby is incredibly clingy as a friend, and has a real fear of desertion, because all he wants is for poor shrinking Blad to get up and play with him.

We babymooned, and it was good. We had an awesome time, but we overestimated the amount we could eat without feeling horrible. I was shocked to see how sad he seemed when the weekend was over, because I think we are now out of distractions. This is happening, so maybe we should start putting furniture together and figuring out exactly how to keep this person alive when he gets here.

Looking Forward to: Our moms being here! The Boy's mom bought her tickets for when the baby comes, and I don't think anything more exciting could have happened. I feel like it will be so comforting to have our moms here to learn from and get support from. I feel really lucky that his parents will be here for both of us, but especially for him, because I really can't decide whether he will be elatedly silly, epically afraid, or tapped right back into his middle child baby-hating. 

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My Favorite Things from our Quick Trip to New Orleans

1. Collaborative Packing- This fine art nearly transforms the chore into fun. Nearly. I feel like we will spend the rest of our life perfecting the strategy and getting our time down. I think we have finally reached the point where it takes more time to unpack than to pack, but we still overpack every single time. Does anyone have any tricks for this?
2. Horse paintings- On Thursday, I genomed a lot of beautiful things from a gallery in Hong Kong, and was shocked just how often horse paintings still came up (historically, it makes sense, but horses still dominate the contemporary work as well). Jack Donaghy would approve (especially if you threw in some ship paintings).
3. Green Onion- Makes anything instantly seem super fresh.
4. The African Cafe in the Seattle Airport- On Friday morning when we walked by, "Circle of Life" was playing. That is how legitimately "African" this restaurant is. Also, they don't sell any actual African food.
5. Spiderman kid in the Houston Airport- I am not impressed by the Bush Airport; there are no maps, it makes no sense, and they only put moving walkways in places where you do not need them. It actually seems to want to impede your  ability to make decisions (we can all just imagine the political joke that will get me angry family emails here). Truly, this airport is a mess. On the other hand, there was a kid (in a suit no less) who was doing spin moves and casting webs all over the place. Why didn't Sartre say "Heaven is other people, at least the ones pretending to be Spiderman"?

6. Our First Kitchen Nightmares Restaurant- How did we kick off our trip to the Big Easy? By going to the place where the owner threatened to feed Gordon Ramsey to the alligators. And we ate alligator. The Boy read that the busy idiot brother is no longer attached and the place is pretty good now. I have fried oysters, and they were awesome, so I agree, though Gordon would not like the pictures in the menu. Also, we had the first of MANY super kickass New Orleans servers.

7. Late Night Beignets at Cafe du Monde- We planned on going for breakfast, but we just happened upon the cafe on our first walk around the French Quarter (drunks, but mostly sloppy not belligerent or angry), so we went for it. It reminded me of those dates  you go on where you are having such a great time that you add another activity on to the end. Just the kind of business you can't pull with spawn, and therefore a perfect part of our babymooning.

8. New Orleans Cemeteries- I knew that New Orleans funerals were these kind of joyful, musical events, but the cemeteries are also amazing. Like beautiful little death cities. Apparently because of where the city is built, bodies will eventually float back up if you bury them in the ground, which sounds pretty horrible for everyone involved. So this solution proves to be creepy and beautiful, while avoiding the body floating which is plenty creepy, but not beautiful.

9. Creole Tomatoes- I love a tomato, and love a tomato salad even more. I wanted to try the creole tomato, because it has a reputation for being really sweet and delicious. It reminded me of tomatoes people grew in Pennsylvania, but it still made me happy.
10. New Orleans Service- Almost all of our servers were awesome. We were nervous to go to Commander's Palace (we just feel like posers at fancy places), but the whole jazz brunch had a fun playful atmosphere, and our server was funny, odd, and really welcoming. God bless a server who can see you are pregnant and comes up with some cocktail ideas for you. Also, her food runner had a ridiculous mustache, kept dancing when he thought people weren't looking, and requested the band play slayer. He also gave the Boy a hat for finishing his dessert. I guess the focus on really capable and warm servers makes sense with the Southern hospitality deal, but it still caught us by surprise.

11. Pag's future career- Commander's Palace (and many other local restaurants) has a jazz brunch where a small ensemble plays while you eat. I can totally imagine Bullyhill Brass doing it, and we heard so many songs that I mostly have only heard my relatives play, so that was exciting.
12. Dude Pool- I was so excited to go swimming (seriously, the best feeling ever to walk into the pool right now), but it turned out to be very busy in the afternoon (despite the impending thunderstorm). It was busy with dudes, looking for hot girls in swimsuits. The ratio of men to women was like 10 to 1 (and most of the women were older or me), and the bros were each pretty bro-ish. Two women were at the pool, and I saw the men kind of circling, but neither woman looked all that interested. The Boy says New Orleans serves as the Las Vegas of the East, and it did have large collectives of dudes, but I have to believe Las Vegas pools are luckier for the men. Also, I would like to be a yenta and just brazenly force people's love connections.
13. Pregnancy stories- People in New Orleans were really friendly and ready to share their own pregnancy and delivery tales. My favorite/ the most traumatizing was told to us by a girl in a candy store, whose cousin gave birth to triplets when they thought she was only expecting one baby. I do not understand how this could possibly happen, but it is truly horrifying.
14. The Besh and his hair- We went to a John Besh restaurant, and they have all of his cookbooks right up front, so in case you didn't know before, you are eating a beautiful person's food. Also, the food was delicious. Best pasta ever (with more tomatoes!).

15. Street musicians who are really freaking good- the majority of the Seattle street musicians play acoustic guitars and mumble. On our last night, we just walked around the city, and we came across the best trio ever (though Nick felt they played the same song too long). One of my favorite moments of the whole trip.
16. D2, DC, and too much time in the airport- We showed up at the New Orleans Airport 2 hours before our flight (our standard time) at 11 AM. We were through security at 11:06. The terminal only had 12 gates. We perhaps made a mistake, but we had a fun time doing laps in the airport, because we are weird like that.
17. Pens that explode- About once a year, I have a pen destroy my hands, some chunk of clothing I am wearing, and The Boy's fledgling belief that I am sort of like an adult. It's worth it to use nice pens, not horrible ones like he does.
18. The Sadness of a Trip being over being Replaced by the Comfort and Drive of getting back home- I think we get sad every time we have to leave, and this trip was perhaps even worse, because we knew we wouldn't be adventuring again any time soon. But you get home, and you can be in your own bed,  and you start checking things off your list, and it mostly feels really good. Back to work!

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Picture of the Week- New Orleans

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Quote of the Week- Traveling

"Wherever you go, go with all your heart" - Confucius

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It's all about 1940s glamour! With two lovely new vintage brides.

Dear Reader
Thanks for all your gorgeous comments on the new Dorothy dress, the latest 1940s style from my Heavenly Collection. I'm so pleased you like her...

Today I have two beautiful new brides to share. Both wear original 1940s vintage lace wedding dresses. And both look so stunning - so elegant and glamorous. First Rhiannon...

And now Annie, in a lovely tea-length lace dress. Annie is a professional dancer and really knows how to twirl...!

I'm definitely seeing a renewed popularity for 1940s glamour, so I though I'd do a little recap today of the all fabulous 1940s things we've been thinking about... Just scroll down to see what takes your fancy, and click through the links to see the full posts...

First, some lovely real vintage brides. Here is Lucie, in stunning original 1940s lace...

And Lisa, in sophisticated 1940s-inspired Bette dress, from my Heavenly Collection...

Next some fabulous 1940s style icons. First the sultry and sophisticated Lauren Bacall. What a woman!

And the fabulous Bette Davis... She is of course my inspiration for the Bette dress...

And here's the actual Bette 1940s-style dress she inspired...

On the subject of dresses, don't miss this wonderful original 1940s vintage lace wedding dress and jacket...

And lastly, some ideas for starlet-style hair to complement your 1940s wedding dress...

Phew, I think that's quite enough for now! I hope you'll make time to bring a little 1940s movie star style to your day today... 

See you next week

Love

Helena

Heavenly Vintage Brides

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September Gussing Up Inspiration and What Worked in August

 September Gussing Up Inspiration

When you get to third trimester fashion ideas, you see a lot of things that basically just say get through it and wear whatever still fits, but I love the fall and layers, so I still want to enjoy it. Here are a few things I thought were cute-

from lazy-saturdays.com

 God bless Krista and her beautiful beautiful hair. I have been growing out my hair for childcare purposes, but these pictures make a powerful argument for pregnancy and bangs.

from http://www.stillbeingmolly.com/2013/08/06/believes-love/

 Cotton maxi skirts and t-shirts may be the most comfy prego option without looking like you have given up completely, but I like efforts like Molly's to step it up just one more level. This looks like an actual outfit. I am going to work on this in September.

from whatiwore.tumblr.com

Excited for outfits like these (maybe less cheetah) because scarves make everything a little mor stepped up. My cousin wore a getup like this with leggings to the shower, and she looked adorable. This is how we are transitioning summer clothes into the fall (going to really try to avoid buying more clothes).

And What Worked in August

 

 

Man, looking right while prego is a moving target. I definitely got rounder this month, so I have to really work around the belly. This sunflower dress from Asos gets compliments basically every time I put it on, and it just makes me feel happy. It reminds me of things I wore as a kid, in a good way. On the other hand, it is puffy, so I look like a whole lot of woman, and it doesn't photograph all that well. These 2 pictures were taken a (very expanding) month apart, but you can't tell the difference. I imagine it will stay a staple until the parasite moves out.

  This dress, which was either from Old Navy or the Gap, feels like a t-shirt and looks pretty nice with pre-prego cardigans. It proved to be breezy for the hot weather, and I am not so big yet that I don't love the horizontal stripes.

 This orange dress (also from Asos) has turned out to be a real winner. I highly recommend buying their casual dresses, because they are comfy. My prego fashion all functions on 2 rules- 1. You have to cinch between the nunjas and the baby mountain (life is too short for mumus) and 2. don't get tricked into high necklines. They love selling dresses cut up to your neck, but a V or scoop makes all the difference when you are sort of stubby to begin with.

  I planned on wearing this burgundy number to our baby shower (I feel like it is really grown up looking for some reason), but the day before I saw the belt Aunt Rene made, and I wanted to really show it off.

 So I wore a teal maxi dress from target which had primarily served as everyday wear (it was already pilling from my computer bag and trips to COCA), No one seemed to mind. Looking at pictures, it may not have been the most flattering choice, but really the only way to look good all the time while prego is to never move you hands off the top and bottom of the belly. The color really highlighted the belt, which was always going to be the prettiest thing I wore anyway. It looked like my belly was exploding with life.

My tips for baby shower wear- just wear whatever you feel like you look good in and you know photographs well. And then just hold onto your belly for dear life.

 I also had to pick a dress for pictures, and I think this was my biggest fashion win for the month. The little floral print is nice, the v-neck looks pretty (though I could have ordered it in a slightly smaller size, and I think it photographed well. Also, the belt was probably my best purchase for the whole shebang, It makes everything look put together.

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6 Things for the Last Two Days- My Mailman, Women Listening, and Horse Paintings

1. Getting a scanner at CoCA- This is a huge victory for the Archive Project, and I am genuinely psyched about it.

2. Shirley and Stephanie- We have been watching a lot of Top Chef New Orleans. A lot. We feel prepared for our eating babymoon, but it won't be the same without these two gems of the show there with us. Perhaps we can be excessively enthusiastic and openly neurotic (shocked face every time they find out they have to cook? Really?) to make up for them being there. Or maybe we will see them there?

3.Jun- I think I have written about my love for our mailman before, but on Tuesday I was carrying a pile of sheets when I saw him, and he got excited because he thought the baby was born. Best mailman ever.

Manet, Luncheon on the Grass, 1863- from http://the-toast.net/2014/06/23/women-listening-men-art-history/

4.Women Listening to Men in Western Art History-http://the-toast.net/2014/06/23/women-listening-men-art-history/ Perfect Gift from my Dad yesterday. Go read it and have yourself a giggle.

5. Horse paintings- Everywhere I turned yesterday, horse paintings! Hilarious.

6. SeattleEater.com- Granted, we had dinner at Panera bread last night, but it's nice to read about some of the restaurants in the area anyway. I am sure eventually we will do better.

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