Dear My Sixteen Year Old Self

Dear Self,

Hi there.  Listen girly, one piece of advice today-

Do not, and I repeat for exaggeration, do not ever consent to accept any jewelry from any of your male acquaintances under any circumstance unless his name is Jake with blond hair, blue eyes, and speaks perfect Cantonese.  Do you hear me?  For it will only lead to heartbreak...

Sure it might seem like a very romantic thing for an admirer to hand you a robin-egg-blue-colored box with a perfectly tied white ribbon wrapped around it, and you might feel awkward refusing the gift but it would be a wise decision to just say thank you but no thank you.  And then say it again to the many more robin-egg-blue-colored boxes that will be presented to you in the future.  Because when that person no longer admires you nor you him, you will think to yourself Darn it!  Now I can never wear that tiffany bangle that matches so well with everything and makes all of my outfits look so much better.  And then you will go out in search for another bangle that will fit your tiny little wrist just as perfectly and fail miserably.  Still, you refuse to wear the one that was gifted to you so you buy another one, exactly the same, and hope that if you ever run into your ex wearing the bangle that he will not mistake the gesture.  Because, let's face it, the best thing you got out of that relationship was the knowledge that Tiffany makes an absolutely stunning bangle that fits you perfectly.  Was that too harsh?  I'm not sorry to have spoken the truth.

And guess what?  That Jake I mentioned earlier.  He is going to be the one.  Believe it or not, he absolutely adores you and is running out of ideas of what to get you for all of the special days that you're going to spend together.  He will get so desperate that he'll come home one day and have in his hands frying pans as a "just because" surprise present.  He's really cute, that one.

Yours truly,
Your Wiser Self

Corn Boil FHE

Nom nom nom...  I have successfully taught Ethan to say nom nom when he wants food.  It's quite cute.  In the past few weeks, he has also learned to conduct when he hears music, say "all done!" when he's done eating, clap his hands, sign more (finally!), and "sing a song" by saying la la la la la on the same note.  He's a smart little boy, that one.

We went to a corn boil FHE hosted by our ward today.  I had mine mexican style with mayo and parmesan cheese and cayenne pepper.  It was delicious.  I would never have guessed!  Yum!

I hope you had a wonderful Monday night with people you love as well.

No-brainer Dress

I gave a talk at church today.  It was more like I barfed it out.  I did a horrible job...  But people in our ward are all super nice--they risked their salvation to make me feel better by lying and saying that I did a good job.  The biggest liar of them all is my very own husband Jake.  He has gotten so good at lying over the years, always telling me that I look cute even when I am in my most unattractive hoodie and sweats with hair looking like the former abode of some really messy birds, that I was almost convinced that I really did a good job.

Anyway, let us move on.  Shall we?

I knew that I would have no time for the usual Sunday routine (which is where I try on about a dozen outfits before settling on the winning contestant to wear to church) what with the talk and nursery lesson and all; so when I was laying in bed thinking about it last night I decided to wear one of my no-brainer dresses.  I love no-brainer dresses.  I wish that my closet was crammed full with them but they are not easy to come by.  They need to be low-maintenance (absolutely no ironing or for heaven's sake dry cleaning required), modest (the most I will have to wear is a wonder tee with it), and cute.  An extra bonus would be that I could nurse in it as well.  When I chance upon a no-brainer dress, I do my wiggly-hop-hop dance.  It's pretty intense.  This dress fulfills all the requirements and it was a pretty great day when I snatched it off of a rack at Nordstrom :)

p.s. The dress looks shorter in the pictures than it is in real life.  The wicked wind not only blew the dress a few inches up, it also made my hip looks like a giant pumpkin.  Thanks a million!  Humph!

I'm Going to be Sick...

Because I'm going to give a talk in church tomorrow.  Why would the bishopric think that I have anything valuable to say on the topic of pioneers?  I do not know.  I'm so nervous I swear I am going to throw up all over the podium.  But then again, I got an A in public speaking when I was in college.  How did that happen?  I know not.  I just remember that my professor was quite fond of me.  Anyway, there is nothing much I'd like to say about my day.  All I have been doing is preparing for my talk.  Oh, but here are two pictures from my phone...

I found this new magnet arrangement on the dishwasher when I came downstairs in the morning.

Apparently the hubby did it after he washed the dishes the night before.

...

Need I say more?

I think he thinks that I think he looks cool.

And I suspect that he's going to be quite the heartbreaker when he turns three.

Heaven help me.

The Nook

Ah, the nook.  Let me tell you about the nook.  The moment those evil little e-readers came out on the market, I knew that they should never be trusted.  How suspicious I was of the kindle and the nook and the hundred other e-readers there were.  I was an inside-out gung-ho paper girl.  I love paper.  I love the feel and the smell of it, and that's why I got so entranced by bookbinding.  The idea of reading a book on a digital device was unthinkable!  Blasphemy even!  

Until the hubby got me one the summer I was pregnant, that is.

I didn't love it at first even though it was nice.  The words on the screen were clear and crisp, almost exactly like you're reading an actual book.  I appreciated how it was so well designed that it's very natural to hold and I love the page-turning buttons on both sides of the device.  The first feature that started turning my anti-e-readers guard off was the dictionary, of course.  The dictionary on the nook makes it so fast and easy to look up words.  Plus, it was far more precise than the walking dictionary (aka husband) that I had to use when we were out.  I took it on several road trips and vacations.  It was super nice that I didn't have to haul 10 pounds of books with me when I had the nook.  It's extremely light and it takes up hardly any space at all in my purse.  Also, you seldom have to charge it.  The battery lasts forever.

And then came the little one.  The mini made it quite hard to read.  You need some practice and extra flexible arms to turn a page without waking or distracting a little one sleeping or nursing in your arms.  And it's almost impossible to hold your baby's head (my baby's head size was in the 100th percentile let me remind you) and a hardcover that's on the larger size with one hand for more than fifteen minutes without it falling asleep so I once again turned to my nook and it served me well.  I grew to love it more and more over time.  I feel like the best thing about it right now is that I can get digital books downloaded onto my device from our library without driving in the hot hot car under the hot hot sun with a hot hot baby in the back seat to the library.  What's more?  I suspect that my paper-loving gene has somehow transfered to my child.  His little hands find papers to tear everywhere we go.  There was this one day when I found him tearing out pages of the Ensign and chewing them--he was literally feasting upon the word of God.  But I digress...  My point was that with the nook, I'm saving money from all the tape that I would otherwise have to buy to tape up destroyed pages or to tape the mini's little hands together to stop him from tearing my books up.

The nook, of course, is not perfect and there are things I don't like about it.  The on/off button on the back is total garbage.  Also, the material on the back is extremely prone to smudges and finger prints which makes it look dirty all the time.  But these are all little things that I can live with.

Anyway, I better sign off now to spend the rest of the evening with the hub.  How's that for an abrupt end to a blog post.  Happy weekend everyone!

One of Those Days

Today was one of those days.  I dutifully changed both Ethan and me out of our pajamas after we woke up at the crack of dawn, only to find ourselves in fresh, new sets of jammies.  Being woken up by a cramping belly instead of a cooing baby was a sign of a pajamas-only day.  It was the right decision.  All day long I have been suffering from these horrible aching cramps.  Luckily, I had my mini prince charming right next to me giving me hugs and kisses and love, making me laugh, and keeping me company.  He made me feel a whole lot better.  I guess the ibuprofen helped lift my spirits as well but the mini is to be thanked.  He did, however, demand that I drag myself out of bed and fill his already-protruding belly.  So I fixed him something.  Now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure 80% of what he ate today was the color orange.  Carrots, oatmeal, sweet potatoes, mandarin oranges, cheddar cheese, blueberries, peaches, goldfish, Chinese dumplings, tomato soup, and rice.  Wouldn't it be fun to do a rainbow week where you only eat one color from the rainbow each day in the week.  You would probably starve on blue day.  And purple.  I sincerely hope that E doesn't turn orange in his sleep tonight.  That would be tragic--too severe a punishment for a mother's cramp-induced negligence.

Man Pleasing Chicken. Not.

I found this recipe on pinterest.  Lots of my girlfriends pinned it with captions like "best chicken ever!" and "man pleasing chicken!  So easy to make!"  I've tried my fair share of pinterest recipes and most of them are indeed amazing so I had high hopes for this.  What a bitter disappointment.  How can I share the truth out but not sound rude?  Let's put it this way: there is room for improvement.  Lots of room to be exact.  Jake was more forgiving than I was, he gave it a three star.  I gave it a two.  It was just not very good.  If you're looking for a quick and delicious baked chicken recipe, try Parmesan crusted chicken instead.  The fresh rosemary in this reminds me of another chicken recipe I absolutely love with rosemary in it.  I'll make it and share it on this blog soon.

{ Maple and Mustard Chicken }

From Witty in the City

Chicken thighs, about one and a half pounds

1/2 cup Dijon mustard

1/4 cup maple syrup

1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar

Salt and pepper, to taste

Fresh rosemary

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  Place chicken in a shallow baking dish.  Salt and pepper chicken.  Mix together mustard, maple syrup, and rice wine vinegar.  Pour over chicken.  Bake for 40 minutes.  Baste chicken with sauce half way through baking.  Sprinkle rosemary on top before serving.

Two Books and a Movie

Guess who read two books in four days after not reading a single non-parenting book for a whole ten months?  Me.  It's like I've been denied the happiness of reading and now I'm just soaking it all in while making up for lost time.  I really enjoyed both of these books and would highly recommend them.  Before you pick them up, know that they are both on the sad side.  Small As an Elephant really made me think about my relationship with Ethan and about the kind of mother I want to be.  Jefferson's Sons was very interesting.  This book motivated me to do some extra research on Thomas Jefferson, who I admittedly didn't know very much about other than that he was a founding father and the third president of the United States.  It also made me think hard about slavery.  I bawled hard at the end of this book.

Speaking of crying, this is a movie that will make you cry...

I know this movie has been out for a while, but the truth is that I haven't been to the movie theater since before Ethan was born (the last movie I saw in theater was Captain America!) so I'm a little behind.  Nevertheless, this is an excellent movie.  It breaks my heart to think of all the children who lost their parent(s) in 9/11.

I think of my own death someday in the future and of Ethan all alone in the world and it makes me panic.  I don't like thinking about it too much but I do think about it sometimes.  It could happen, you know, me leaving this world before Ethan is grown.  Maybe that's why I am always thinking of what kind of legacy I am leaving for him.  I have never been a very faithful traditional journal keeper.  I have a few of them stacked somewhere with only the first few pages filled because...  For starters, they don't spellcheck.  I would hate for my posterity to think that I'm no good at spelling (even though that's the truth!), and blogging is much more fun.  Whether I'm going to live till tomorrow or until I'm eighty years old, I would like E to have some of my words with him, telling him that I love him after I'm gone.  I love him so much, right now, as I type, and right now, as you're reading this.  I also hope that when he looks at the pictures I take of him that he'll be able to see himself through my eyes and realize just how special and important he is to me.  Life is fragile.  Love the people around you, be kind, breathe the air, and live life.

A Peculiar Email

On Saturday morning, I got a very strange email.  It was very strange indeed.  An email from the year '69.  See for yourself...

The most peculiar thing of all is that I couldn't open it, and I couldn't delete it either.  When an out of ordinary thing happens like this, I tend to let my mind go wild.  Jake said that it was probably just a junk mail gone bananas but that's just so uncreative.  I suspect that it is an email from my although-unimaginative-but-genius husband who, in the future, has invented a time machine and traveled back to 1969 to send me this email.  Heck it could even be from 1869 for all I know!  Actually, now that I think about it it's more likely to be from 2069.  Perhaps he didn't invent a time machine but an email time machine where you could send emails to the past!  Now wouldn't that be groovy.

Anyhow, our weekend was pretty quiet other than the email from the past (or future).  It rained when we were out on our Costco run, Ethan went wild.  He thought the umbrella was the coolest thing of all. How would you feel if we moved to Seattle?  I've always had a thing for Seattle and I blame it on Sleepless in Seattle, of course.

And we went to church on Sunday.  Here is a picture of our strikingly good-looking child.  He was quite sought-after at nursery today among the ladies.  One of the girls gave Ethan about a dozen looooong hugs and half a dozen kisses while we were in there.

Yes I take lots of carseat pictures.  There are no better opportunities for pictures than when a child is strapped still.

Thank You Muffin Tins

What do you do when you're trying to cook dinner and your baby is crawling on the kitchen floor, opening and closing your kitchen cabinets, strewing tupperware and cutting boards all over the floor, and pulling on your pants so hard that they're threatening to come off?  You can give up and cry and then order take-out.  But Pinterest suggests otherwise.  What you should do is to nicely set him in his highchair, explain to him that you're working in the kitchen, pull out a muffin tin, and drop some goldfish and cheese in the cups.  It's amazing how long this can keep him entertained, and it helps him to brush up on his fine motor skills as well.  Thank you muffin tins.

once upon a time, there was a little boy...

...he was very handsome with hair just like his daddy's: it seems to have a mind of its own, always so full of life and character, going every which way it desires, and makes the most awesome bedhead. These photos were taken by the little boy's mommy whose life was filled with light and joy ever since they put him into her arms for the first time.

Here's to obstinate hair and chubby thighs.