Wonderful weekend/Mother's Day

 

{Mother's Day flowers from Hank and Henry}

Oh, what a weekend! I spent half of it in Phoenix, and half it at home, up here, and every moment was just lovely. On Friday Sarah and I spent some time working on a project with a crew from Samsung (more about this tonight) and had the best time. I can't wait to share!  We ended the night with frozen yogurt and I went back to my parents' with a happy heart and stomach!  I've written about Sarah a million times here, but let me say again how wonderful it is to spend time with her. She's been one of my dearest friends for close to a decade now and I am so appreciative of her. I wish you all knew her, because if you did I know you'd be nodding your head in agreement when I talk about what a good person she is. I love love love her. So yes, Friday was awesome, then Saturday I woke up and had a great early Mother's Day with my mama, sister and Henry. We shopped for a little bit, then ate lunch at Pita Jungle. I typically get the Macro Platter but lately have been into the Mediterranean Chicken Salad, so that's what I got. My Mom got a Greek Salad and my sister got the the Macro...and we all shared a hummus trio of course. Afterward I worked out, and then Henry and I headed back up the mountain home (we live about two hours away). Upon our arrival I was greeted with a huge vase filled with the most beautiful Mother's Day flowers! Hank did good. ;) We went downtown for dinner and ate tamales at Hugo's, then came home and relaxed. I went to bed feeling like it was Christmas Eve due to Mother's Day being the next day! It was my very first one, and Hank went above and beyond to make me feel so special, and all day long I felt like my heart was going to burst from a mix of being so happy, and feeling so thankful.  We started the day with cuddles in bed, and then we had a slow morning filled with a yummy breakfast and lots of lounging. Later in the day we went to the champagne brunch at the Sheraton. It was awesome- I think my favorite were the huge dessert tables, filled with eclairs and cream puffs and tarts and pie and cake...DELICIOUS. I had a taste of everything. The rest of my Mother's Day was spent at home- Hank and I finished a ton of "around the house" projects and we ended the day watching Life as We Know It. My choice of course but "my choice" was the theme of the day, so why not?! The entire experience of actually celebrating Mother's Day was amazing- I woke up to so many sweet texts, tweets and voicemails that I felt like it was my birthday. Being a Mom is the absolute best thing that has ever happened to me, and it was so fun to spend an entire day celebrating that. I already can't wait until next year!

Here are some photos from the weekend:

left-right: Tony filming Ethan in some AZ terrain; Tony/Ethan, part of the Samsung crew; playing tourist for the day; prettiest Suki; Friday night pre-frozen yogurt; Mama, Henry and me; Lauren and Mom at Pita Jungle in Mesa; me in one of my favorite vintage tops; hummus trio- regular, cilantro jalapeno, and roasted red pepper; Aunt Lauren and Henry; my delicious salad; Pandora knows me too well- one of my favorite songs off one of my favorite albums- "Cat Heaven" by Jets to Brazil; dinner at Hugo's; Daddy and baby; tamale plate- so good; Facetiming with my Mom on Mother's Day morning; a new spring hat; Greek yogurt, berries and granola, the best snack ever; spring cleaning and getting dresses picked out for a "Shop My Closet" pop up blog; Henry sleeping in his favorite new position.

and p.s. Have you entered the Paper Mama giveaway yet? It ends tonight! 

goodbye weekend!

Oh, what a weekend. For some reason I feel exhausted right now, even though I've been getting a lot of sleep. Let's just hope I'm not getting sick because this week is crunch time for my sister's wedding! Yes, in LESS THAN A WEEK my little sister will be a married woman. That just seems crazy to think that she is all grown up. It's funny how certain people in your life always seem the same- in a weird way I think I always imagine my sister as being much younger than she is, and it's often surprising when I'm hit in the face with all of these adult things she's doing.

The past few days have been a whirlwind of getting things done, which is a always a good thing, and I'm feeling very inspired and fresh. Yes, fresh. I know that may be an odd way to describe my current and most common mood lately, but I just mean that I feel new and happy and just "fresh." Take from it what you will. But I attribute this overall wonderful feeling to a number of things, from hanging out with new people, spending more time with friends, Madeline and Henry starting to really notice one another, happiness in so many of my loved ones' lives, and getting some decorating done around the house. Happy. And plus, my baby sister is getting married, how could I not be on cloud nine?! This week is going to be a good one, I'm sure of it. I will mention though one tiny little weird thing that I sometimes do when I'm this happy...I start thinking about how strange it is to be happy, and to fully know that I won't be happy forever. I've always been this way, it's like I almost can't exist in the happy moment for too long before I have to remind myself that it will soon be gone. Bizarre, I know. And luckily I've pretty much stopped those kind of thoughts (they ruin everything!) but I do think about it sometimes when I type something like that out. Oh, brain. Why you so crazy. And on that note, I am going to get back to my sewing, but here are some photos and highlights from the past few days via instagram. Enjoy your upcoming week!

left-right: view from a neat kaleidoscope in a gallery downtown, Henry and Lisa at the Raven for afternoon tea, a bit of Henry's nursery (yes his nursery tour is overdue and coming soon finally, I promise!), my darling boy and his drool, Hank and me at Kokopelli's, Adie's delicious dinner- red enchilada tacos, our double dates, our family, Henry snoozing in his swing, coconut tea at Wild Iris, Henry with his grandparents, mini carrot cake I split with Adie (so good), my new jewelry tray, shoes in the mail- thanks UPS man!, sleeping baby, sewing on a Sunday night.

Week in photos

This week has been a good one. Originally it was supposed to be my last week of work, but I decided to just keep on going and work through next week as well. It's funny because I wasn't even sure if I wanted to go back at all this year, or even work past Fall Break, but it's just been so much fun that it's actually a little hard for me to just be done. As of today I'm 11 days from my due date and still feeling really wonderful. And yes, I know...wonderful and almost 39 weeks pregnant don't always go hand in hand! I feel lucky I've been feeling so good. I attribute this to still working out almost everyday, whether it be walking for an hour outside or doing the elliptical followed by light weights. Pregnant women: stay active! I swear it's been the best thing for me and has made this pregnancy such a pleasant experience! Also: if you're planning on getting pregnant and aren't much of an exerciser, start now! I know due to circumstances not everyone is able to exercise throughout the entire 10 months but if you can, I say do it.

So yeah, we've had a super fun weekend so far...we are just about done with the nursery (photos very soon), my parents came up for brunch and a fun day of family stuff yesterday, and I managed to get a lot done. We're also allllmost done with Modern Family Season One too. And helloooo, how have we never seen this show before?! It's amazing and so, so funny!

Today Hank and I got up early and fit in a workout, then I came home and enjoyed my current favorite breakfast: an Ezekial cinnamon raisin English muffin with Trader Joe's peanut butter, Wallaby lemon yogurt with raspberries, and a little orange juice. So good. I could eat that exact combination at every meal. Right now I'm about to start prepping homemade ziti for dinner tonight- have you ever had baked ziti? It's seriously SO GOOD. We're having family over tonight which will be fun, and then I will getting ready for my last week of work. I'm really excited. :)

Here's my weekly collage 'o photos! I hope all of you had a great past week, and I hope this week is even better. I'll be back later tonight or tomorrow with a special letter to Henry. Happy Sunday!

left to right: a beautiful quilt for Henry made by Erin's mama Anita, finishing up Harry Potter Book 4 (so obsessed), so many band shirts Hank is boxing up and saving for H. when he gets older, Mom and Dad downtown, steamed cinnamon apples and raisins, my handsome husband, root beer float night, my Mom's vegan, sugar-free, pumpkin biscuits (made with fresh pumpkin!), my last evaluation at work, an amazing sunset from our driveway, one of my favorite iPhone apps, takeout Thai food date night, a cute mobile in the nursery, some changing leaves, a deliciously huge vegan cookie I enjoyed at work, my aforementioned breakfast from this morning!

the week in photos

from left to right: Madeline lounging in the sun (it's tough being a spoiled pup!), one of my favorite nighttime snacks- fresh air popped popcorn with sea salt, a really funny/cute letter my students wrote to me, my handsome breakfast date, The Bagel Cafe downtown, our delicious bagels, so many baby socks to match, the Lights show with Erin and Hank, hot apple cider/hot chocolate break, the adorable HCHIV onesie from Erin, Madeline and me hanging out in bed, more onesies from EP!

Overall this past week was wonderful! Towards the end of the week work got a little rough- it's hard to be on my feet all day and I found that I was having some increased stomach-area cramping (contractions maybe? I feel like I still don't know what's a contraction or not), and I was just overall uncomfortable. I am thinking that next Friday (38 weeks) will be my last day of work, and it's definitely going to be a little sad to say goodbye to my students. I've talked about it before but this year has been just wonderful- my best year ever. I feel like I finally have gelled as a teacher, which is ironic, but maybe that's just how it goes. Five years later and it's a LOT easier. And really fun! It helps that I'm a huge nerd about my subject area, American Literature. I'm going to miss it for sure but at the same time I'm just beyond excited about my "new" job like I've said a million times before.

So yes, good week for sure. I'm looking forward to these next couple of weeks and really just wondering when I'm going to go into labor (19 days 'til my due date!)! Talk about crazy anticipation. It's wild! I obviously won't be blogging while I'm in the hospital but I'm sure I will be tweeting, so if you'd like, feel free to follow me over there: twitter.com/danihampton. I'm not going to play by play the birth or anything but I will definitely update when I go into labor, etc. AHH just typing that out makes me feel SO insane but so excited. The count down is definitely on and I am ready (or at least I keep telling myself that).