By Julie

1.
My cousin got married! The rehearsal was on Thursday, the wedding and first reception was on Saturday, and the second reception was on Sunday. Yes, it was a BIG Chinese wedding all right! :)



2.
Our master bath project is finally done! The last piece -- the glass wall/door for the shower -- was installed this Friday. It's beyond anything I could have imagined.



3.

I ate more meat this week than the entire first three months of this pregnancy put together, all because I was craving daikon. We went to 99 Ranch and got some daikon so I could make beef and daikon soup. I ended up eating leftovers for three days and was very happy about it.

Here's the recipe I made up. Get a big pot that's about twice as wide as it is tall. Heat up some oil. Chop up one gigantic yellow onion and two big chunks of ginger each about the size of my thumb and stir them around in the oil, then cover the bottom of the pot with one layer of beef chunks. After browning the beef evenly on all sides, splash some soy sauce over the beef, then add enough water to fill half the pot. Get a piece of daikon about the size of my forearm, cube it, and drop it all in the pot. Then drop in three handfuls of baby carrots and some chopped green onions. Wait about 15 to 30 minutes, then skim off the nasty weird foam at the top. Wait another 15 to 30 minutes, then say "Supercallifragilisticexpialidocious", open the pot, and you'll find some truly fine soup. Results not guaranteed because the size of your thumbs and forearm -- not to mention your pot -- may differ from mine, and maybe you didn't pronounce "Supercallifragilisticexpialidocious" right.

4.

Kevin turned off the smart key entry on my Prius because more and more car thiefs have learned how to hack it, and now my car doesn't know me. I keep walking up to my car expecting the door to unlock itself for me. It's been two weeks and I still haven't gotten used to it. Boo.

Labels: chinese, food, home improvement, kids

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By Julie

It's been a hectic week. Somehow we made the time to attend two harvest festival fundraisers. Bought a total of three pumpkins, among other things. Hopefully we'll have time to carve them properly, unlike last year.



We also went shopping for a suit for Alex. He's going to be ring bearer at my cousin's wedding. Word to the wise, the only major department stores that carry boys' formal wear are JCPenney and Sears. Between the two we got the entire outfit, including belt and shoes.



In pregnancy news, I'm at week 12, so the first trimester is officially over. Why do I still feel like total crap??? I've heard comments that morning sickness can go through the 4th month. Okay, fine, I can deal with four months, but please just don't let me be one of those poor women who's sick even as she's being wheeled into the delivery room.

Labels: kids, pregnancy, shopping

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By Julie

1.

This weekend we saw the Dali: Painting and Film exhibit at LACMA. I liked the theme of the exhibit, but after seeing his films I have to say I much prefer his paintings. Even Destino -- an animated collaboration between Dali and Walt Disney that was supposed to appear in the original Fantasia but was only recently completed in 2003 -- doesn't compare to his paintings, though his sets for Alfred Hitchcock's Spellbound were kind of cool.

Dali was such an obsessive person -- every single one of his works was based on his obsessions -- but at least his obsessions are all his own, unlike the religious iconography that so many artists overuse. Spotted many references to the Spanish Civil War, as expected. There are so many alternatives to war. When will people learn?

2.

Kevin's been reading Steinbeck and getting in touch with the spirit of his forebears. Now he's talking about getting up at 4:30am to work the land. I'm scared.

3.

I started watching the Inspector Lynley mysteries, a BBC series based on novels by California writer Elizabeth George. I'm a huge fan of the mystery genre called the Cozy. In Cozies, the murder is usually committed by someone known to the victim within a small intimate circle, and it's usually solved within a short time period. So far I've only watched two episodes. They're very good, but I wonder if I should read the books instead. Some of those crime scenes have been pretty graphic, and I'd rather they be left to the imagination.

4.

I tried to explain to a childless person what would possess two sane people to decide to have not one, not two, but three children. At one point I joked that I must have really bad memory because I forget all the hard parts. She nodded gravely and said, "It's kind of like buying on credit..."

5.

Speaking of the hard parts, poor Ana had a 24 hour stomach bug, and poor Kevin was up all night taking care of her. Luckily after the first day she was feeling much better, and after several days of almost nothing but juice and water, she's pretty much 100 percent.

The rest of us didn't catch it, thank goodness. I'm having enough trouble eating as it is. Earlier this week the baby finally let me eat some meat. But when I tried to repeat it later in the week my stomach rebelled, and I was lying on the sofa groaning all evening.

I'm at week 11. The first trimester is almost over. Shouldn't these weird food aversions be gone by now??? I've been fantasizing about being able to eat meat, ANY meat, but especially the spicy pork platter from this teriyaki bbq place near our house... *drool*

Labels: art, books, parenting, pregnancy

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By Julie

1.

The 2nd (annual, I hope!!!) LA Weekly Detour this weekend was just as rocking as last year.

As usual with these music festivals, I buy the tickets, then sit back and let Kevin do all the research. He plays their songs on Myspace and comes up with a list of which bands to see. I just tag along, enjoying the scenery.

Invariably there's one band that gets all my love. This year it's Kinky *swoon*

(The Cool Kids are cute too, though more in a younger brotherly way.)

Photos and videos forthcoming.

2.

YAY! Sis finally made the announcement! :D Her due date is about a month after mine.

Speaking of which, I'm 10 weeks pregnant. Everything continues to smell bad, and I still can't eat meat. Plus the kid is still giving me weird dreams. One morning I woke up hyperventilating. Fortunately it was almost time to get up anyway, but the weirdness stayed with me all morning.

With the 2nd and subsequent baby I notice that my belly grows faster. No changes on the scale yet, just stretching out early in preparation. Ironically one of the few pairs of normal pants that still fit me is a pair of "skinny jeans". It's so low waisted that my belly just hangs over the edge. I cover it with a loose button down shirt and no one knows the difference.

3.

Our master bath project is 98 percent done. Today Kevin gave the kids a tour. They were both blown away. I appreciate that they've inherited our excellent taste, but I'll have to institute a signup sheet for this bathroom or else I'll never get to use my new bathtub.

Labels: home improvement, music, pregnancy

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