A well dressed. . .

XX

Stayed tuned. . .

In roughly 18 hours' time, we should know how many X chromosomes our soon-to-be first-born has!

Eye doctor

Josh and I took advantage of my AMAZING eye insurance the other day, since it runs out at the end of the year.

For me, the visit to the eye doctor was a fairly routine event, though the second the assistant told me I was faced off with the air-puff machine I started to blink like a maniac.

But, unbeknownst to me, Josh hadn't had a formal eye exam since seventh grade. When he was 12, he had super-hero vision (20/40?). Several years of film editing later, it's now 20/15. Still not bad.

I got through my exam in a matter of minutes--an exam complete with dilation (did you know that's how that word is spelled? I always thought there was another a in there--kind of like "Ti-a-juana" instead of the correct, three-syllable "Tijuana"). It took Josh considerably longer.

And when the assistant lady (for lack of a formal term) had turned him over to el doctor, she told me why: he was fascinated by everything in the office. He was asking a gazillion questions, trying the tests out on himself a second and third time, etc. Like a child in a candy shop to employ a well-worn cliche (see, I do know some, Kip!).

At one point, Josh, so incredulous of his failing eyesight, asked if there were any "math equations" in the list of letters he was supposed to be reciting. His next question was whether all of the letters were in the Latin alphabet (he thought he was seeing Cyrillic).

Then he reappeared, fully di -a lated. Oh the pain! The agony of the bright lights as he attempted to find some now-needed editing glasses under the $190 price limit. (When I say price limit I mean that my insurance will completely pay for deluxe lenses and frames, as long as the latter are $190 or below.) I had been given the shade inserts, pictured above, to put in my glasses. Of course, it wasn't bright enough inside to need them. That didn't stop Josh from repeatedly attempting to balance them between scrunched eyes and puckered nose whilst he scanned the racks.

Ultimately, he was unimpressed with the "nerdiness" of the glasses offered. In other words, he wanted nerdier glasses. But I told him his computer wouldn't be able to tell.

He did become very attached to this pair though, so don't be surprised if he's wearing them the next time you see him:

My personality DNA

Benevolent Creator

Mouse over the different colors to see what traits they stand for.

You'll soon realize that one of my highest traits is masculinity--and my lowest? That's right: femininity. Does this trouble me? No. Does it intrigue me? Of course.

So, in the provided glossary I looked up the terms masculinity and femininity and this was the unhelpful definition: The degree of your stereotypically-male/female traits. So now I want a definition of "stereotypically-male/female traits" (by the way, there shouldn't be a hyphen after an adverb ending in -ly!). Maybe it's my obsessive attention to punctuation coupled with my deftness at peeing outside, learned in the Mexican countryside, that boost that masculinity score. Only kidding--not about my obsessions and skills--but about the contents of the quiz. If you take it, your punctuation proficiency and ability to go #1 in off-beat places will remain unknown.

Snow

Sunday morning we woke up to a thud that shook our house. I think this branch, fallen from our across-the-street neighbors' tree, may have been to blame.

For some reason, Josh's legs never get cold.

I love what the trees around our house do in the snow:

Christmastime

It again

I'm a little late on this one, but here goes:

What Was I Doing 10 Years Ago?
I was a junior in high school, getting ready to move to the Dominican Republic with my family for a semester. I hadn't quite yet decided to break up with the really bad boy I was dating, but that would come soon. I was also soon to transition from a horrible phone job to working with friends at what was then Zuka Juice. My life was looking up, even if I didn't know it yet.

What Was I Doing 5 Years Ago?
I was just a little more than 2 weeks away from getting engaged and madly in love with the man I'd been dating for 2 1/2 years. I was living at home in my blue and green room, likely working on papers for British lit, Shakespeare, and Literature and Film classes and looking forward to Christmas.

What Was I Doing 1 Year Ago?
I was still recovering from a work trip to Spain, Belgium, and the Netherlands, which put me very behind in the two classes I was teaching (in addition to my full-time job). So, grading.

What Was I Doing Yesterday?
Designing covers for the next CultureGrams print edition at work, grading personal essays after work, watching The Office (I've finally been converted to the American version), and knitting.

5 Snacks I Enjoy
Bananas in anything. Cheese...yum. Dried mangoes. Can Indian food count as a snack? Herbal tea.

5 Things I Would Do if I Had a Million Dollars
Buy a great, historic house. Take a trip to the other side of the world. Fund one of Josh's (low budget) feature films. Buy a Prius. Put the rest away for retirement/savings (what rest? I spent that fast).

5 Places I Would Run Away To
For comfort, my parents' house. For romance, the bell tower. For nostalgia, Berkeley. For adventure, Fiji. For assurance, the midwives' office.

5 T.V. Shows I Like
Lost, Arrested Development, The Office (I'm counting the British and American versions as one), Monk, Big Love (I know, I know. I thought it would be awful too, but it's really good). (And Seinfeld goes without saying.)

5 Things I Hate Doing
Grading. Waiting. Cleaning the bathroom floor. Shopping for jeans. Taking off my shoes in the airport.

5 Biggest Joys of the Moment
Feeling the baby move (maybe?). Teasing Josh--and getting teased back. Christmasing up the house. Spending time with family and friends. Feeling cozy.

I'm opening this up to anyone who feels like doing it. The 10- and 5-year questions were especially interesting to think about for me.

CS3 logo, or I'm a nerd

Today I downloaded a trial of Adobe Illustrator CS3. And I hate the new logo.

All of the Illustrator documents on my desktop went from looking like this:

To this (though at a better resolution, of course):
It's sort of weird that I don't like the switch. In general, I would describe my aesthetics as modern and minimalist (hence my lack of blog design...well, that's one excuse anyway). And though I used to hate the color orange, I've recently started digging it. Plus, I understand the motivation behind the new design: it's very Web 2.0-ish (check out the Blogger logo for one example) and suggests that the Adobe products are "elemental" for a designer.

But references to the periodic table or no, it just doesn't look pretty anymore. I miss my flowers.

And, yes, I'm a total nerd.

Opening the door

I love the second before opening a hotel room door. It excites me. Granted, it's less exciting in a large chain, like the one I just stayed in, but exciting nonetheless. This was one of the small unanticipated pleasures of traveling around Europe, staying in a different hotel room every night or two, when I was younger. What will I find when I open the door? What kind of atmosphere will this temporary home have? What kind of view? And it doesn't matter if the room itself disappoints because a new one will replace it tomorrow.

It's here!

I have been anticipating Christmas more than ever this year--can I blame that on hormones too? Anyway, we picked out a tree last week but didn't get around to decorating it until last night. It smells heavenly and makes me so happy to be at home.

As a kid, most every year, we would get a new ornament for the tree. Plus I have lots of ornaments given to me throughout the years by grandparents and friends. Since Josh and I have been married, we've tried to buy an ornament or two every time we go on a trip. We now have quite the eclectic collection, but I wouldn't trade it for a more Martha Stuart-ish version for the world. What are your Christmas tree traditions? (Scroll down for San Diego pictures.)

San Diego trip

I was in San Diego for a work conference over the weekend. I didn't have much downtime, but I love San Diego so much that it was fun nonetheless. And I got to go to dinner with my friend Sally, who's doing a PhD at UCSD.

I was oh-so-impressed with the hotel. Very nice.

A funny story: We had a focus group with customers and teachers on Saturday afternoon, which included a lunch catered by the hotel. Before the meal started, we editors were getting settled and the server (who will henceforth be called "the butler") overheard some of us talking about how much nicer this focus group was going to be than one held in Reno--in a Casino--a few months previous. He jumped in to say that the Hyatt where we were staying was ranked #1 in the country and that he worked for the owner. Then, unprompted, the butler started listing off all of said owner's possessions, which included a $5 million boat (the tallest in the harbor), 5 homes, one of which was worth $35 million, a BBQ that ignites in response to the heat of a human arm, etc. It was very odd. But then I started thinking about how if you're a butler (his stance and attention to detail seemed to suggest the position), maybe that's how you introduce yourself--by talking up your boss. What a strange butler world.

Some views from my room.

The weather was really foggy and rainy on Thursday and Friday.

But that didn't stop us from eating at some great restaurants (Thai, Indian, and Italian). Pictured here is one of my favorite desserts of all time--also featured at PF Chang's. Wrapped bananas and homemade ice cream.

I also got to enjoy awesome 80s architecture at the convention center during the day.

And witnessed a Santa convention one night.

Sunday morning we finally had some free time and the weather was beautiful! We hung out in Seaport Village...

...and enjoyed San Diego's flora and fauna. Or maybe just the flora? What does the fauna stand for anyway?

Also, while there, I dreamed that the baby was a girl. But my dreams have never been prophetic before...

Heater woes

Our heater is on the fritz. Sometimes it works fine and sometimes--like all of last night--it blows cold air or none at all and refuses to budge from 50 degrees. It only takes a small failure in technology to realize how vulnerable we really are.

Thanksgiving break

We had a great time over Thanksgiving break, eating, relaxing, and hanging out with family.

Dinner with Josh's family was delicious: turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, candied yams, cranberry sauce, stuffing, rolls, and lots of pie.

We watched this movie--an interesting series you should check out if you haven't already.

The next day we had way too much fun at the Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving Point...

...where we nearly got attacked by a shark...

...watched a 3-D movie...

...and stared in amazement at a beast who could easily fit my father in its stomach.

The day ended with dinner with friends Jeff & Holly and Sharon & Bill. Here's Alex, the latter's daughter, who unprompted totally posed for the camera.

A beautiful response

I don't know how you all felt about the talk Sister Beck (Relief Society president of the LDS church) gave at the last General Conference, and I don't mean to offend anyone, but it was very difficult for me to listen to. It wasn't that I disagree with the importance of having children or even with the general thrust of the talk, but I felt like it focused on some of the least important aspects of the amazing, divine role that is motherhood (such as appearances and housework) at the expense of the things that really matter. I've talked to many other women who felt similarly.

I was forwarded a statement by a friend that sums up many of my feelings on the matter beautifully. It's written by thoughtful, faithful LDS women, and I'm glad there is such a collective voice. Read it here. I don't mean to set this response up as a counterpoint necessarily to Sister Beck's talk, as I would hope that Sister Beck would agree with much of what is written here, but I think the document does a good job of extended and reshaping a narrative of motherhood and womanhood.

A reassurance, a plan, a fear, and a complaint from a pregnant woman

(Don't worry, I'm no where near this big yet, though I do feel like I "popped" out this week.)

I had my second official appointment with the midwives today, and everything looks good. We heard the heartbeat again and actually recorded it this time. I'll post it soon, though I'm sure no one is nearly as interested in that sound as we are. But what a delightful sound it is! (Though Josh is half-jokingly convinced that the machine makes the sound--he still can't quite believe there's a baby in there.)

And I have my ultrasound date: December 19--the day we will find out if our child will have a good name or lots of cute clothes. Just kidding. Kind of. We have two boy names picked out already but are having a tougher time with the girl names, but I have oh-so-many cute little-girl-baby dresses from the sale rack when I worked at the Gap (I know, I know, it was premature. What can I say? I like to plan ahead). Josh actually doesn't want to find out the gender at all, but that is not even an option for me. I don't care if curiosity killed the cat. I'm no feline.

However, I have to say I'm sort of nervous about the "face" shot on the ultrasound. I've seen a couple of images of these now, and I'm sorry to say that they utterly freak me out. And Josh? Well, the words "nightmares for the rest of my life" tumbled from his lips when I showed him one. The profiles are so adorable and look like a little baby, but from the front? Total alien. I think it's partly because I've always been really scared of things that were part human or in the process of transformation (like the Shaggy Dog, for instance--no, really). Anyone else have this problem at their "big" ultrasound or was it just so cool to see the baby that it didn't phase you?

Speaking of pre-natal care (WARNING: this next part is slightly gross, though not in the grand scheme of pregnancy-related topics), what is the deal with peeing into the blue cups? We live in the twenty-first century with technology that allows us to buy anything we want from where ever we want without even standing up and no one has invented a smarter/cleaner way to do this?! I mean, what would be so hard about designing some sort of contraption that automatically catches pee in the toilet, then siphons it into some pre-labeled container? It can't be that hard. I think pregnant women of the world should unite and push for such an invention.

7 random things

Okay, I've been "tagged," so here goes (a little belatedly):

1. A while ago, Josh was reading a magazine article, looked up, and asked me if I ever count my steps when I walk. I realized I do. Turns out he was reading a list of OCD symptoms. But believe me--if you saw my house, you would know that I don't actually suffer from that disorder. I generally (well, at least before I was pregnant and slept all the time) keep things picked up, but dusting? What's that?

2. My mom kept her last name, so I grew up with a hyphenated one. She decided to do this in the throes of the early feminist movement in Berkeley, CA. But I lived the name--and explained it 10,672 times--in Provo, Utah. Not only was my last name hyphenated, it was also really hard to spell and pronounce and was so long that only half of my last name and first name appeared on class rolls. I had teachers with straight faces call out "Rock" during roll (not how I would pronounce "Rac," but there you have it). My current last name, though Josh considers it a spelling and pronunciation nightmare, is a cake-walk by comparison.

3. I have a BA and MA in English. I'm a writing teacher. I'm an editor. But writing still feels like pulling my teeth out a lot of the time. Well, maybe not the writing itself, but the thought of writing.

4. I have been to every country in Western Europe except Portugal (so silly with all the Spain visits!) and Ireland. I really, really want to go to Cuba and a lot more of Latin America. Josh has been scared of Latin America ever since crowds of vendors tried to sell him things at a Mexican stop on our honeymoon cruise. He couldn't believe that I would just walk past those vendors without even a glance, let alone a polite expression of regret at not being able to buy their wares.

5. Josh and I call the baby-in-utero "pinhead," a nickname derived from one of the early weeks in our pregnancy book (when the baby was the size of a pinhead). It's a term of endearment, I promise.

6. I don't know if I'll ever go for the PhD, mostly because I think I lack the personality for such intense specialization. But I have been in school (as a student and/or teacher) now for 22 years. Straight. I don't know what's going to happen when I stop teaching--or at least take a break--next year. Yikes.

7. I often dream about houses, literally. Like I go on house tours in my dreams at night. This is something I've inherited from my mom.

I suppose I'm supposed to "tag" someone now? How about Lori, Angie, and Raschel.

Court (or "Jailbird part II")

Well, I was right--the movie truck incident was to blame for Josh's arrest. Josh's court appearance today was pretty uneventful. He showed up, found out what he was being charged with (expired registration--on a truck that wasn't his--and "failure to secure a load," meaning that the truck's drive line had dropped out). That and "failure to appear" in court for a court date he was never informed of.

Needless to say, he pleaded "not guilty," and that was it. The judge scheduled a pre-trial date in January. That's when Josh will get to explain the story to a judge. Hopefully everything will be dropped, and if not, the production company will pay the fine.

The most disturbing part of the whole experience were the other people there. I had no idea there were so many drunk drivers and domestic abusers in Provo! Yikes.

Also, the judge (who came in at 9:45 though everyone's appointment was at 9:00) would always start by giving this really scary-sounding sentence: the woman who plead guilty to a DUI was sentenced to 180 days in jail and something like $13,000. Then he waived everything but 2 days in jail and $1,300. Then he said she could do 48 hours community service instead of the jail and could make monthly payments. I think our justice system likes giving people heart attacks (not that a drunk driver doesn't deserve one).

The really funny thing? That DUI woman's boyfriend, upon walking out of the courtroom, said "Why would you choose community service?! In jail you get to watch TV and you get free food. It's way better."

Turley family reunion

This last weekend was a Turley family reunion at the Timp lodge near Aspen Grove (up Provo Canyon). For some people, a family reunion means lots of distant relatives. For my dad's side of the family, just getting all of the siblings, their kids, and their kids' kids together is a major event. Even with one sibling's whole family missing, there were still about 40 people there.

We talked, ate good food, played games--predominantly the Turley family favorite: Around the World ping-pong--had a talent show (for some it was a mock-talent show), hiked, and hung out. Unfortunately, Josh missed much of it because he had to shoot a music video...but such is life.

You've gotta love the back of Timp.

My dad; brother-in-law, Jon; cousin-in-law (is that a term?) Brittany; and my mom on the trail to Stuart Falls.

The view from behind Stuart Falls.

We chased a flock of wild turkeys, though never got close enough for a good picture.

Grandpa wearing Diana's hat--he looks quite dapper, no?

There were so many cute kiddies there...

I fell in love with this chunker, who ate people's fingers whenever he could get his hands on them.

Such a cute bug-in-a-rug/burrito.

Lowell Pictures

Many Lowell pictures to come (finally got them from my dad). Just a warning--they're mostly buildings. It was me walking around the city with a camera for a couple days.

Lots of Bricks
I love brick buildings and Lowell was full of them. Here are some random shots from around town (including some non-brick things).



Churches
A very small sampling of the gorgeous churches in Lowell.



Mill
The water that powered the textile mill (and view from my hotel room), the mill compound itself, the stairs the workers had to trek up and down each day, the loom room, and close-ups of looms. There is something beautiful about the repetition of the looms and even the pieces that made up each loom. The factory itself was like a fabric of sorts.



Houses
I'm a house nut, and I fell in love with the houses in Lowell. There were more normal sized houses too, but these were some of the most spectacular ones that greeting me on my drive in.



Kerouac and Guthrie
The actual scroll on which Kerouac wrote On the Road and a Woodie Guthrie tribute show (part of the Lowell Celebrates Kerouac! festival). I heard some lyrics to Guthrie songs I'd never heard before, like this last verse to This Land is Your Land:

In the squares of the city--In the shadow of the steeple
Near the relief office--I see my people
And some are grumblin' and some are wonderin'
If this land's still made for you and me.