Peer Advisor Dinner @ Nanayiro

Monday evening we had a wonderful end-of-they-year appreciation dinner for our Peer Advisors who I supervised this year at the Career Center with my colleague Becky. We had a tasty Japanese/Sushi dinner at a great local restaurant in Downtown Berkeley, Nanayiro. I will really miss co-managing the Peers next year, as it has been such a great experience for me over the past 2 years. But luckily 5 of them are returning next school year so I'll still get to see them around. Thanks for a great year Peers!

Mother's Day

Yesterday David and I spent a lovely Mother's Day with my Mom & Dad. We ate a delicious brunch at Cockadoodle Cafe in their outside patio, strolled around the Park Street Fair in the sunshine, and spent some QT just catching up and enjoying each others company.

It was also my first "official" mother's day, even though my baby is only about 4-5 inches long at this point. : ) But regardless, I spent some time reflecting on all of the exciting things that will be happening in the near future as we prepare for the arrival of our baby in November. And on Mother's Day next year, I'll have a 6 month old infant!

I love you mom....Happy Mother's Day!

Kitty fix for the day....

Although all 4 of our kitties tolerate each other (for the most part) and play together regularly, Misty is still the "odd cat out" at times. She is much more independent and crazy with her kitten-like energy, and she often antagonizes the other cats and even picks fights with them. So needless to say it can be hard to capture all 4 of them together in one photo while behaving in a calm and civil manner! The one place where they can all usually hang out together in peace is by the sliding glass door in our living room that looks out to the balcony and the trees. They love to watch the world go by, listen to the birds, and chase bugs that fly by the window. I love my cats!

I also think it is so funny that Oliver loves to sit on my work bag in the morning when I'm getting ready to leave, or even crawl inside some times. I think this is his protest, trying to prevent me from leaving him alone all day. Poor kitty... : )

My Pregnancy.....

Since I announced my pregnancy a few weeks ago, I haven't really blogged about my experience. So today I wanted to post a "belly pic" to share with all of you. Today I am 14 weeks and 4 days along, and my belly is slowly growing and expanding. So far my pregnancy has been very positive - my first trimester nausea was very mild (although still annoying at times), and it has pretty much diminished at this point. I do have some other interesting symptoms and side effects, but I'll spare you the details for now. : ) I am feeling more energetic than I did last month, however I do still get sleepy during the afternoons and often feel tempted to take a nap on my office floor. And the best part of all is that the pregnancy is finally staring to feel more REAL, and we're getting very excited as we begin planning and preparing for our baby to arrive. We may be able to find out the baby's sex next week, but if not we'll definitely know after our 20-week ultrasound on June 16th. I'll keep everyone posted! : )

Amsterdam!

So we have just over 2 weeks until we leave for our Amsterdam/Belgium trip....yay! We are so very excited for this vacation - not only to see our friends and explore Europe, but to just get away from the hustle and bustle of "normal life" for awhile.

There are so many things I would love to do while in Amsterdam, including a visit to Anne Frank's house, a candlelight canal cruise, and exploring Vondelpark. My friend Torrey (who we're staying with and visiting while in Amsterdam), also told that they have a cat museum that features all cat-related art....how cool! Since David and I will be in Amsterdam for almost a whole week, we also want to take a day-trip outside the city to explore the surrounding areas - maybe take a train ride to look at windmills, tulips, and perhaps the coast along the North Sea. I can't wait!

Curry.....yumm!

Tonight I made a delicious chicken & veggie curry from scratch, and it was so tasty! Given that we're on a budget these days, I am even more motivated to cook at home and try new recipes - and this one was a keeper.....very close to restaurant-quality. I enjoyed it with my Thai red rice, while David had his white jasmine rice. We both had happy stomachs after the meal. : )

New Carpets, New Home!

I LOVE our new carpets! They are made from recycled plastic bottles, so not only are they very "green" and good for the environment, but they are also very stain resistant and easy to clean! Installing the new carpet is the first step towards getting our house ready for our little one who will arrive this Fall. We also rearranged our bedrooms to make space for the nursery furniture! David was so kind to give up his studio, but we did move his desk and audio equipment into the nook in our master bedroom which worked out really well! I am so excited to buy the baby furniture now....I want a natural wood crib and changing table/dresser set. It will be so fun to decorate our little one's future room!
We're still working on rearranging stuff and getting everything settled, but we made huge progress yesterday and should finish up this weekend. It feels like a brand new home! And I think the cats like it too... : )