Inspired

I went to a book club the other night at my friend Nancy's house and along with the good conversation and good company was some really FABULOUS food. I think one of the most fabulous things about the food was how simple it was to prepare and to serve. I realized, or maybe more accurately recalled, that entertaining doesn't have to be painstaking or work intensive. With the right ingredients and clean presentation you can let the food do the work for you! Nancy had a wonderful array of "heavy hors d'oeuvres" including:

-grape tomato, basil, and fresh mozzarella on toothpicks (looked gorgeous on a large white square serving plate)
-bacon wrapped dates (one of my absolute favorites!)
- I contributed a chicken salad that had pecans, apple, mandarin orange, celery, and a little bit of curry powder and orange juice to thin the dressing.
- the best spinach and artichoke dip I think I have ever had
- French baguette (for dip and chicken salad)
- chocolate fondue (with strawberries, banana, and marshmallow)
-almond pound cake
- spinach salad with toasted walnuts, goat cheese, and strawberries in a strawberry vinaigrette.

Now, I'm not trying to knock the usual party fare... chips, salsa, chex mix, seven layer bean dip, beanies and weenies..... etc. They certainly have their place. I just really don't think that the above mentioned dishes take that much longer to make! Why not indulge? It's true that fresh ingredients do cost a little bit more, but I really think it's worth it. Especially the salad. So simple, yet so charming and delicious! I could go on about this forever. I feel like food occupies the majority of my waking thoughts right now. I don't know if this is a pregnant thing or just a me thing... Either way, I want to throw a party now!!

Baby Names

Or baby name....

I had debated posting this on our blog as Cliff and I had originally planned to keep the name to ourselves and our immediate family but word just seemed to get out and honestly I'm not very good at keeping secrets either... So this may be old news to some of you, but for anyone else that wants to know we have been calling our little one Lilia and there doesn't seem to be any turning back :) Cliff and I both came up with Lilia and he chose Rebekah as the middle name. There you have it! Lilia Rebekah May. I have been calling her Lil' May for fun :)

She has been keeping me company with her kicks and somersaults since Cliff left. She seems to really enjoy wriggling and squirming around when I am laying on my back at night. Usually I don't notice her as much when I turn on my side to go to sleep, but these past few nights she has been waking me up! She kept me up until 12:30am last night and then woke me up again at 3:00 and at 4:00am! Is this a sign of things to come??

Driving in Japan

This is a picture of a pretty average size road for a residential area.

So ever since we got here and noticed how narrow the roads could be in Japan, Cliff and I wondered what would happen when two cars tried to go down a road that was really only wide enough for one....

I drove over to a friend's house tonight and she lives out in town. I got to experience this phenomenon first hand on a very steep hill. I tell ya, driving in Japan is not for the feint of heart, but if you have a little patience and a lot of courage - it can actually be a lot of fun!

I remember when I lived in Spain I thought I could NEVER drive in a foreign country. It was just too crazy and the roads were too narrow. I couldn't say that about Europe now :)

Expanding

I feel like I have doubled in size in the past two weeks... or maybe even since the ultrasound! I was feeling my tummy the other day and I shrieked because I could feel (for the very first time in my life) the bottom of my once extremely "inny" belly button! Cliff thought I'd seen a spider or something. It's like this all happened overnight!! Was it this way for any of you moms out there? Am I going to recognize myself in the mirror tomorrow morning??

In other news, I am unfortunately still pretty nauseous but I only throw up about once or twice a week now, which is much much better. Sometimes I can "mind over matter" it... by laying down. I think part of my problem is motion sickness that I have never experienced before getting pregnant. Every time I have to drive anywhere or sit on a bus for a while I definitely get sick. Did this happen to any of you? I've pretty much resigned myself to being at least a little nauseous at best for the rest of this pregnancy. At least I can cook again :)

My skin if finally starting to clear up a little bit again, but man! that first trimester or so was rough! I had worse acne than I experienced as a teenager!!

As I mentioned on Facebook... I am very aware of my "round ligaments." It's true, no one really warned me about this painful stretching... I don't want to be too graphic but along with the pain that I've had on the lower sides of my abdomen, as my mom said when she was pregnant with me, "it feels like someone kicked you in the crotch wearing a cowboy boot." Isn't my mom great? That is EXACTLY what it feels like. I went for a long walking tour of some of the shrines in Tokyo and by the end of the day I was nearly in tears and ready to collapse. After that little stint I have decided that I need to walk more so that I don't completely freeze up but that I need to take it a little slower.

Well I guess that is about it for now! Cliff leaves for another 5 weeks tomorrow. He gets to go to San Diego, (LUCKY!) for some training. I am really really going to miss him. It has been sooooooooo nice having him here to help. He has really been the model husband this holiday season and I am definitely going to have a harder time without him around. I am going to send him to Target while he is in the states to pick some things up for me. Oh how I miss Target. Those of you who live in the good 'ol US of A should NEVER take such stores for granted!!

I never thought this day would come...

As of two (or so) weeks ago, Cliff and I became the proud owners of a ...*gasp* MINIVAN.... pictures to come....

You laugh, but we got a beautiful silver Honda Odyssey with built-in GPS (although in Japanese) for $1300. Can you really argue with that? We couldn't.