candy wreath

I bought these corn candies after seeing the Women's Day magazine with a cute corn candy wreath on the cover. Seemed doable, seemed adorable, seemed like an easy project to attempt. Only problem is that the rest of the bag has been mysteriously eaten. And this cute dish is almost gone too. I don't know who keeps eating them around here, but Rory is not a huge fan which makes me a bit suspicious of myself.

me and the dmv

A few tips from my week at the DMV:

1. Plan your day as if going to the DMV is the main event. Go get a new magazine and grab a hot apple cider before you arrive. Because the DMV will end up being the main event of your day, whether you are in a hurry or not. So sit back, settle in, and just wait for your lucky number to be called. It's going to be a while.

2. Plan on going to the DMV two times. For real. I don't believe I have ever been there when I haven't gotten to the front and they say something like, "and do you have two certified pieces of mail addressed to you at this location?" What? No. I have my license here, my car insurance, title to my vehicle, checkbook...

This week I truly planned on the second trip, so my rejection at the first one didn't bend me out of shape. I had even told Rory that morning that I was doing my preliminary DMV visit today. Now deep down I was hoping it would be my only visit, but when I had to return home without plates and a MN license, I was relatively less annoyed.

3. And a final bonus thought: it's not really fair to have to take a drivers license picture when you're 9 months pregnant. A bit round in the cheeks, I'd say. But, they did let me make up my own weight based on not being pregnant, so now I'll have a little piece of plastic with a magical, hopeful, dreamy number written in. Maybe, one day...

enter to win!

Rory is celebrating the 10 year anniversary of his company Swift Weather this month. It's a pretty big deal and we're excited about hitting such a landmark.

To celebrate, he has put together a month of weekly giveaways on the Weather Defender Blog. All you have to do to enter is leave a comment answering the question that pertains to the giveaway. The giveaway for this first week is awesome...and I really want it myself. But Rory told me that I can't enter because it would look bad if his wife took the loot. Point taken, but this thing is cool... and it retails at $99:

That said, I would LOVE for YOU to enter to win. It would please me to no end to see someone I know take some of these great prizes for themselves.

Just click over to The Weather Defender Blog and answer this question: Have you ever had a close encounter with Severe Weather? A winner will be picked on Sunday, so bop over now, and drop Weather Defender a line. :)

can you imagine?!!

Mom Groves just sent me an email filled with pictures of Holland in May. She said the pictures reminded her of the rainbow cake. Just look at this picture! Hello Life List...I must go here some day. I can't imagine seeing these tulips first hand.

Actually, I know that Washington grows a lot of Tulips too..and that might be more realistic than Holland and could easily be done as a trip to see my brother and his family. Hmmm...I think Rory is going to hear about this idea at lunch time.

36 weeks

Monday marked our "one month countdown" (give or take...can't make a paper chain for a due date I'll have you know.). Went to the doctor and was told, "the baby has dropped!" I have no idea when this happened, but I do know that in the last week or so I have started walking with a bit of a waddle, and I'm thinking this might be why (?!!)

We went to our birthing class that night and toured the hospital. A whole new reality came into focus and Rory and I had a really good talk about beginning to feel how this is going to change our lives forever, while still not sure what that means. But we're excited about this change and starting to actually feel a bit more mentally prepared.

We finished our baby registry at Target and Babies R Us as well that day. Let's be honest: I have no idea what I'm scanning and for what reasons. There are parents out there with spreadsheets and consumer reports...and that's great. But Rory and I operate a bit differently. Prices were either reasonable or offensive and decisions were made accordingly. Mostly we just wandered each aisle saying things like, "I like these colors together." "Okay, good, scan it."

Last night we went to my cousin Mark and Kathy's for dinner. They are our neighbors now! Just 15 blocks away and it is a dream come true. Mark made the most amazing supper for us (the lasagna had SEVEN cheeses in it and he broiled the pears for the salad!) Then I whipped out my LeSporte Sac with crayola markers from sixth grade and made Kathy draw on my belly.