stormy storms.

There has been a storm over Minnesota and quite a bit of the Midwest/Canada for a few days now. It sounds like a very unique storm – a bomb cyclogensis (cool name). While the components of the storm sound way cool, in my opinion, I’m a little disappointed in the manifestation. It’s been gloomy and windy and a bit rainy. I think the most significant feature has been a record drop in the barometric pressure which apparently briefly lowered the boiling point here in MN. You can read about a bomb cyclogensis, which is kind of like a hurricane, here.
Sometimes I think I should have been a weatherman (except a woman). But most times I think I should have been a little bit of everything that I’m not. Up next I will be a mom. Following close behind I will be a self employed photographer (Don’t hesitate to pray about that one. Actually pray about the mom thing, too!). Someday I wouldn’t mind being a barista again. I would love to be a city planner. There are sometimes that I would like to be a mechanical engineer. There are many times I would like to be an architect. I would also like to be a full time crafter. I wouldn’t at all mind being a journalist. One time, in high school, while I was working at Trader Joes, a costumer asked me what I was going to major in in college. I believe I was rather undecided at that point (a biologist, a biology text book artist, or an architect). I expressed my frustration and inability to choose and the man responded by saying my spectrum of interest and my personality are “both a blessing and a curse.” Hmm. So, what should I be when I grow up?
Tyler’s family came to visit last week into the start of this week. They helped us get a start on baby’s room. Early this morning, when the doors at my office were not yet open, I took a trip to Home Depot and bought the paint. The walls will be Newport Blue and the trim will be Blanket Brown. No, that does not mean we’re having a boy. My mom thinks that means we’re having a boy. We don’t know. Okay?
Early Saturday morning we’re taking a plane to Denver. In Denver we will get on another plane and fly to Seattle. In Seattle we will look at things and I will take photos of things and we will visit our friends Ben & Jordan. With Ben & Jordan we will drive to Vancouver for a bit. On Tuesday next week we will fly to Denver. And from Denver we will fly back to Minneapolis where we will go to sleep, get up and go to work, and go to sleep, and get up and go to work, and do it all over again and again and again and again. Until February. Oh, February, sweet February.
Oh, back to the trip. When in Canada I want to go to Point Roberts, WA. Why do you want to go to Washington when you’re in Canada, Emma? (You might ask) Well, internet reader, you can only access Point Roberts from Canada, boat, or air. I think that is odd and I would like to see it for myself. Kind of like that funny little part on top of Minnesota. I want to go there, too.
In conclusion, substituting the word “babies” in the place of the word “birds” in the phrase “kill two birds with one stone” does not seem to have the same effect.

Anti-BPA Victory!

The government of Canada formally declared bisphenol A, a chemical widely used to create clear, hard plastics, as well as food can liners, to be a toxic substance on Wednesday.

The compound, commonly known as BPA, has been shown to disrupt the hormone systems of animals and is under review in the United States and Europe.

This is why we rarely used canned things and no longer use plastic water bottles or cheap plastic Tupperware. We do have some nice plastic storage containers that are BPA free but I continue to refuse to warm them up. Even without BPA there are still probably pretty weird things in there that I would rather not help leech into my food. Especially while being pregnant. And I am registering for all BPA free kid stuff – teething rings, spoons, bowls, cups, nuks, etc.

It just baffles me that there can be something so potentially harmful used in so many ways without hesitation – maybe its cheaper to use, maybe its easier, who knows?! But if it is causing harm its significantly more expensive and harmful to humans in the long run due to medical costs so governments really should take note, even if only motivated by the potential future costs. But really, what if chemicals in plastics cause developmental changes in fetuses and infants and they end up with developmental disabilities? They then weigh on the system for the rest of their lives needing increased medical and school services. So… save some money in the long run and research our food and research what chemicals are in and around us and maybe everyone will be better off, no?! I don’t know. I could go on forever….

I encourage you to read this article (quoted in italics above) in the NY Times titled Canada Declares BPA, a Chemical in Plastics, to Be Toxic.

I'm glad to see some countries acknowledging it and am interested to see what this may spur...

Caponi Contest / Cookie Cookie

I keep repeating posts but here's something somewhat significant that I just posted tonight on frostonflower.com:

When we visited the art park highlighted in my previous post I happened to notice a 1/4 sheet flyer for a photo contest ending on 10/10/10 on our way out. I pocked one as we walked back to the parking lot. In the midst of a weekend full of plans and other photo things I quickly edited a few and sent them to the contest email address. I heard back today that I received an Honorable Mention. I believe there was a 1st & 2nd place as well as 3-4 honorable mentions. I suppose, for not having known about the contest prior to taking the photos and simply taking them to practice using certain settings, I did pretty well! You can view all of the entries and the contest info here. The winners are not currently highlighted.

Tonight I have made cookies for the second time this week. Probably 4th time this month. Wow. Are you drooling?? :)

Caponi Art Park

Thursday of last week was our third anniversary. Unfortunately since it was a Thursday we both had to work. It was also the second post season Twin's game so we went to Tooties in NoMi and watched the game and at dinner (for the second night in a row!). I ducked out early for pre-natal yoga and met Tyler at home before heading off to bed.

We (thankfully!) took Friday off. We had a city inspector over to our house to view or roof issue before writing an order for Sela to come back and fix the still leaky part of our roof. We bummed around before heading to St. Paul for lunch and a midwife appointment at a new clinic. I'm pretty sure we were both pretty impressed by the place and the time and attention that they gave us. I think we made a good switch moving to HealthEast. :)

After the appointment we went to The Tea Garden for some bubble tea and sipped them as we drove to Eagan to visit the Caponi Art Park. The following are some photos that I took while I was there.

Good day for a ceremony.

If I just heard the Sunday news correctly, this day last year (10/10/09) we had an inch of snow and it was in the 30s. The forecast for today is 78 and on Friday a record of 87 was set. October weather is so... interesting!

Frost on Flower News

There's a new post up over at frostonflower.com. Click here!

I shoot my first wedding tomorrow! Oh my! Wish me lots of luck and send beautiful photo thoughts my way, if you would. :)

Ultrasound.

We had our ultrasound on Monday. *FINALLY* I think it got scheduled back in July. Isn't that a horribly long time to wait? July - October? Granted it was the end of July through the very beginning of October, but still!! I left work early (which worked out well since I stayed late a few times last week) and picked Tyler up and we headed over for our last visit to Park Nicollet, at least for this child having thing.

[ Have I mentioned that in a previous post? We toured both Methodist (Park Nicollet, where I'm going right now) and St. Joe's two weekends ago (Health East) and were both left feeling like Methodist was not the place for us and both really enjoyed St. Joe's. I've had my records transferred and have my first appointment at a Health East clinic on Friday but still went with the ultrasound so it would be done sooner. :) ]

Per ultrasound protocol, I drank a lot of water before the appointment and did not go to the bathroom. Boy was that not the least bit comfortable. Ugh. In fact it was terrible. Luckily about half way through the tech wanted the little guy (or girl) to change positions so she told me to go to the bathroom. Oh, relief! :)

The ultrasound was quite long and we saw and learned much more than I anticipated. We saw all of the usual parts: head, facial features, arms, legs, and tummy, but also went inside each of those appendages and into all of it's organs! I wasn't expecting such detail. Our tech measured the thickness of it's skin around it's skull, parts of it's brain, the chambers of it's heart, all of its leg and arm bones, and even it's kidneys! We could see the heart beating and see each of the chambers. We saw it's fingers and toes. We saw something in it's tummy which means the digestive system is working correctly. It has a chin, it doesn't have a cleft lip, it doesn't have club feet, and all of it's measurements are in line with a 9 1/2 week baby (with the exception of the legs which are measuring 20 weeks). We saw it scratching it's ear and the back of it's head. In one of the photos below it's hand is resting under it's chin. Overall the ultrasound was a lot of fun and everything seemed to be pretty normal! :)

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Adventure.

Today I went on a sort of shopping adventure. I rarely shop - besides the grocery store, of course - but today was different!

First, I went to Marshalls in Crystal with a gift card and a pair of white Levis jeans to return (because who wants white jeans?!) in hopes of acquiring a yoga mat and possibly something else if the gift card would allow it. I was in luck! I have a new comfy green yoga mat that I can begin using at my next prenatal yoga class on Thursday. I also stumbled upon something I had seen online once before. Its a ceramic compost container for the kitchen that has a carbon filter to reduce the smell. We've been using random bowls so this is a huge improvement! Its bright red and will look lovely whenever we happen to improve the kitchen. It looks like this (which I now realize is strikingly similar to a fire hydrant - oops):


I then went next door to Target. Now, I have nearly vowed to not shop at Target due to some discouraging, but somewhat expected, comments that Tyler was made aware of BUT a few days ago I stumbled upon some Target giftcards in our bedroom. I can't recall how exactly this happened but we had two cards with $63 left over from our wedding nearly three years ago! I knew immediately that I wanted that money to help me get some better fitting maternity clothing. (Maternity? Oh it sounds so weird!) I tried on quite a few shirts, a dress, and some pants. While I had $64 to spend I had to be careful. Pants are a priority - I think I can stretch shirt wearing out for quite some time still but bottoms are getting awkward. I found two nice pairs but they were both $29.99. :( I put everything else back, grabbed a very cheap and much needed article of intimate apparel, and left!

Next I headed to Barnes and Noble in Minnetonka for a much needed book. I had previously placed it on hold online so all I had to do was walk up to the check-out counter, tell them my name, and purchase the book. Its a very well reviewed book about how to use features on my Canon 7d as well as when to use the different features. I have wanted this book since I first read about it. I've already begun reading it and hope it will help me a bit a week from today when our neighbors Beth and Carly get married as I'm taking photos for them! :) Here is the book:


I ended my adventure at Rainbow in St. Louis Park doing this week's (and hopefully some of next week's?!) grocery shopping. I got needed ingredients for meals as well as for baking more stunning chocolate chip cookies. :)

In conclusion, I spent about $4 at Marshalls and $1 at Target and it felt nice to have the freedom to shop a bit today. :) We budget for basically everything and while it gets us what we need it can sometimes feel a little restraining. But I know its for the better!

poor little thing.

This made me laugh/nearly cry. At 19 weeks this is what they tell me "it" looks like. Doesn't that look horrible? I feel so sorry for it! I wish I could give it more room! I hope it doesn't look like that when we get to see it on Monday - I'll feel terrible!



Have I mentioned that I feel it all the time? Maybe not all the time, but close to it. Much more than I would have expected at 19 weeks. I can feel it in my tummy, I can feel it with my hand on my tummy, and I even saw my tummy move today! I'm not even very big yet - its just crazy active. I guess its making up for my inactivity... Or maybe its telling me it wants more chocolate milk. That's something I can do. :)

Happy October 1st :)

Occasionally I get a bit down on blogs that do not update frequently enough, enough to keep me entertained while I'm on hold at work, or eating my lunch, or whatever it may be. And then I realize that I tend to be pretty inconsistent when it comes to updating my (our) very own blog. So I've come to apologize. I'm sorry.

I've finally edited the photos from our trip to Chicago so I'll add a little postie post about that soon. Possibly this very weekend.

On Monday is our ultrasound so we get to peer inside and see our new little friend. Its been trying to communicate by poking/kicking/hitting me but I am unfortunately not fluent in morse code so I have no idea what its trying to say. I started prenatal yoga last night. I think I stretched my bottom muscles a bit too far - they bothered me today.

A somewhat amusing text message interaction with Tyler yesterday when I was thinking about the wonderful cupcakes from Cupcake across the street from work:
Me: Please tell me that I don't need a cupcake.
Tyler: You don't need a cupcake.

Honey found a cat in the backyard this morning. I sat outside and called it kit-cat for a while and made cat calling type sounds. I was hoping it would still be in the backyard when I got home from work but that was an unrealistic thought.

Also, we just booked tickets for a trip to Seattle. 10/30-11/2. Neither of us have ever been there before.