Thursday, September 30, 2010
So I know I'm totally dropping the ball on posting our amazing diners but they have been put on hold. I am so sick!! All I've been doing is sleeping. Jesse has been such a good husband taking the best care of me. Hopefully I'll be up and posting in no time. As for now back to bed for me.
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Jesse my amazing husband, is a very very good cook. If fact, when he was trying to figure out what to study in school i was trying to pushing him towards a culinary degree. He went the route of graphic design instead but it's for the best, now he isn't burnt out on cooking and i reap the benefits.

 In an attempt to save money and plan our grocery shopping out better we made a full plan of dinners for this week.  We usually just buy the regular same old every week and put something together from that. I was kinda getting sick of the same menu so we are trying out this new method. 

We went shopping fully decked out with our menu for the week. we made sure to figure out what ingredients we need for each meal and went to town. We ended up spending about the same as we usually do  but had way more fresh items actually i'd say more then half our cart was fresh veggies and fruits. yummy!! 

Tonight's Menu:
Portabella Mushroom Sliders
-with-
-Organic Grilled Portabellas
-Organic Avocado
-fresh field greens
-Jesse's Special Zesty Sauce
-Munster Cheese
-On whole wheat sub rolls

&

Raspberry Mint Salad
-with-
-Fresh Field Greens
-Organic cherry tomatoes
-Vegan Feta cheese
-Fresh Mint
-Ripe Raspberry's
-With a raspberry vinaigrette

&

Lemon/Mint Ice Tea (very Refreshing)

Stay Tuned for the rest of the weeks menu

stay tuned for tomorrow's meal!!! 
xoxo 
Friday, September 24, 2010

With her sense of movement well developed by now, your baby can feel you dance. And now that she's more than 11 inches long and weighs just over a pound (about as much as a large mango), you may be able to see her squirm underneath your clothes. Blood vessels in her lungs are developing to prepare for breathing, and the sounds that your baby's increasingly keen ears pick up are preparing her for entry into the outside world. Loud noises that become familiar now — such as your dog barking or the roar of the vacuum cleaner — probably won't faze her when she hears them outside the womb.

As im writing this bay Jovi is kicking up a storm! I'm watching my belly move around from her movements. I feel like she is getting a lot bigger. I feel my skin stretching so tightly. Its a very crazy feeling. i guess i thought pregnant ladies had squishy bellies nope mine feels like a ballon. 

the past two days were pretty bad for me. I went to work fine on weds day but left hardly being able to walk. i had some major pains on my right side just below my bikini line.  I took it easy for the rest of the night but yesterday it was worse. I couldn't walk for most the day.  I called my mid wife and she told me
 that it was probably my round ligaments which hold the uterus in place. She told me i would have to see a chiropractor  and a get a prenatal massage to help the pain. Well i booked my appointments for the first opening (next Tuesday and Thursday) thinking i would be in pain till then, but i woke up this morning feeling great.  I'm definitely learning that everyday your body feels different during pregnancy. one day your fine the next you limping. Who knows what tomorrow may bring. 

Baby's size? baby jovi is a little more than a pound and 11 inch long.

Weight gain? im at about 13 pounds now. 


Stretch marks?  still holding strong, but my belly feels so taught that im worried they might show up. 


Belly button in or out? still an inny

Sleep? this  week has been pretty good sleep wise. i have made it almost the whole night through a few nights in a row. 

Best moment this week? getting to video chat with jesse's mom. I always forget that it's possible to video chat so when we do it's pretty amazing. 

Any cravings? nah, i pretty much eat the same way i did before i was pregos 





About a year ago we scored these amazing chandeliers. Im a total sucker for chandeliers and i seriously have way to many. Jesse has been resisting my pleadings for him to hang them, but i finally broke him down. It took a year but it was worth it. I think they look amazing. Jesse even likes them now that they are up. 






xoxo
Thursday, September 23, 2010

Jesse and I had the best night ever!! Wednesday night are usually reserved for midweek church service but tonight we decided to take the night off and go on a date night. We've been so busy with baby planning and doctor visits that we havent had a chance to do something just for us.  Well tonight was that night. 

we started at burgers on the edge. usually we both shy away from anything with burger in the title but we heard they have really good veggie alternatives. It's the kinda of place where you get a menu slip and check all the things you want on your burger. Yummy!!! We both fell in love and are totally going back.

After dinner we went to the movies. Neither one of us really keeps up on what is playing, so we had no idea what to see. We only watch movies rated below R. That knocked off half the movies on the list. Jesse spotted one called "Devil" directed by M Night Shyamalan who is one of jesse's favorite directors. Well that plus the name, I mean we were skipping church to see a movie called Devil, perfect choice. 

This movie was so so so so good!!! i'm not joking I'm not easily impressed by movies but seriously this one was really well made. The story line had me on my toes the whole time. Jesse was really scared and we both jumped a few times. And the ending!! lets just say i never ever saw that coming!! I"m not one who likes to give things away so i wont say much more but you should really go see it.  

On another note. I'm a Christian and I would love to see more christian or faith themed movies made that arent absolutely cheesy or overly in your face about salvation. I think so many of these movies end up turning people away instead of drawing them in. This movie Devil does one of the best jobs i have ever seen in telling the story of forgiveness/ salvation. I dont know if it was meant to do that or if it was just my interpretation.  Again I dont want to give it all away i just think it was super moving and suspenseful with meaning, a hard thing to do.  So please if you see it let me know what you think.

After the movie Jesse and I crawled into bed and had some awesome one on one cuddle time ( much needed) and now we are comfortable and cosy sitting next to each other on our laptops. Jesse designing and Me bloging. 


xoxo 




Sunday, September 19, 2010


I know it's been awhile since I posted pictures of tattoos I've been working on. I'm sorry, I've just been lazy.

Work has been great now that Im not sick. I'm finally taking on new clients again and getting to do some pretty cool stuff. I feel like being sick was a blessing in disguise. it allowed me to take a much needed break from the routine of drawing none stop and let me appreciate tattooing again. 

on a funny note I noticed my belly brushing against my client a few times today. I hope it didin't freak him out

check out my work

finally finished this one. It's totally one of my favorites. Mike is such a good client and i have done all of his tattoos. He has the best most tattooable fair skin!! 


 I did this one today. It's only part of a full leg sleeve. I've been really into tattooing poppies instead of roses lately.




This was just a fun traditional piece. i wish i got to do more stuff like this. I also wish that i could get a better picture of this tattoo but it wraps way too much around her leg to feature it all in one photo. sorry if it's confusing. 



Im not sure if you can tell from the photo or not, but I'm totally reworking this tattoo. The client got the original done by a friend who was just learning how to tattoo. It's pretty badly done and i'm trying to fix it up and make her less of a play boy angel. I forgot to get a picture of it before i re did the outline. there was no banner or cloth covering her up and she was fully nude. I really like doing stuff like this. Its a really fun challenge making a bad tattoo come to life. the hard part is that if it's drawn badly to begin with i cant do to much about that.  I'll post more photos of it when it's fully done. 



and just a cute tree frog. this was a pretty fast tattoo. nothing to crazy about it. I just think it's cute. 
ohh and the woman who got it was a labor and delivery nurse so we talked a lot about babies!!


speaking of babies 

So I nearly passed out today. that has nothing to do with tattoos, but i thought I'd throw it out there. I decided to walk the long way home from work today and get a little extra exercise. It wasn't a far walk at all but i guess that piled on top of me climbing the stairs to our apartment was enough to do me in. By the time i unlocked my front door everything was going black. I sat down as fast as i could and focused on my breathing but the blackness just kept getting worse till my ears were ringing. It was only by the grace of god that i didn't pass out. thank god i didn't I was all alone and i'm not sure what would have happened. After a few mins of deep breathing i got better. i guess i just need to be even more carful about over exerting my self.



We also met with our midwife today. She said every thing is progressing perfectly. Im right on schedule. she gave me some advise for heart burn and sleeping better. other then hearing Jovi's heart beat it was pretty uneventful, but still good to know everything is going perfectly. 




Friday, September 17, 2010


How our baby's growing:

At 11 inches (the length of a spaghetti squash) and almost 1 pound, your baby is starting to look like a miniature newborn. Her lips, eyelids, and eyebrows are becoming more distinct, and she's even developing tiny tooth buds beneath her gums. Her eyes have formed, but her irises (the colored part of the eye) still lack pigment. If you could see inside your womb, you'd be able to spot the fine hair (lanugo) that covers his body and the deep wrinkles on his skin, which she'll sport until she adds a padding of fat to fill them in. Inside her belly, her pancreas — essential for the production of some important hormones — is developing steadily.

I didn't know that her eye color isn't developed yet. yet! I'm really hoping she has my colored eyes, green, with all jesse's dark features. I think that would be stunning. actually I'll be pretty happy if she looks just like her daddy as long as she gets the green eyes. Jesse has all the good genes tall, thick hair, clear fair skin, I hope she takes after him.

She has really started moving around. She went from these tiny little bumps and kicks, to full on tumbling and jumping. Some times me and jesse just sit and watch my belly moving around.  I dont think ill ever get sick of feeling her moving around in there. She's also moving around all through out the day. Before She was really active at night time and a little bit in the morning. Now she moves around all day long even when i'm tattooing. 

Thursdays have become baby day. both Jesse and i have the day off together and since it's a week day its perfect for doctor appointments, shopping for baby stuff, doing home projects. Today we started with lunch at my favorite cafe and then got straight to business.

 We took at trip to Babies R Us to finalize our registry. My amazing friends back home on the east coast our throwing me a baby shower in NJ in a few weeks. So we wanted the registry completed before then.  Man, going through that whole store with the little gun is fun but so so tiring. I'm hoping we got everything we need on that list. It's hard to know was is necessary and what is excessive. Either way it was a good trip and the staff was super helpful. 

After that we rushed home so Jesse could sell his Imac. He really wants a laptop instead of his desk top so he has been trying to sell it on craig's list. Well, we totally lucked out. this morning a woman called jesse and wanted to come pick up his computer today. Somehow it came up that I was expecting and she  told jesse that she just had a baby 6 mons ago and wanted to get rid of a few things. Not only did she buy his computer but she gave us a really good swing that moves both forward and side to side, a vibrating bouncer and a baby sling!!! umm all i have to say about that is God is good. So far we have been so blessed and haven't needed to buy much other then a few booties and cloth diapers. 

Saturday is our next midwife appointment. I'm sure it's not going to be anything more then a simple check up, but i'm looking forward to seeing our progress. So far as of last thursday I have only gained 10 pounds. Everyone says that im right on target. I have to admit seeing the scale passing numbers i have never been close to before is pretty scary. I know it's part of the process and most the time im ok with it but i dont think any girl likes gaining weight.

Mama to be answers these questions every week about her pregnancy progress. I really love that idea and im totally stealing it from her and will be doing the same each week. 

Baby's size? baby jovi is about 1 pound and 10 inch long.

Weight gain? 10 lbs as of a week ago so maybe a little more now.


Stretch marks?  so far so good! my mom didn't have any with twins and dont think they run in the family so im hoping i dont get any.


Belly button in or out? still an inny i thought it was gonna pop out last week but this week it is kinda turning more in the a slit shape.


Sleep? ehh, i have been struggling with sleeping since month 1. I sleep with five pillows all around me propping me up. I get up about every two hours to pee and get really grumpy when woken up.

Best moment this week? watching Jesse tech out on strollers at babies r us today. knowing where we came from to watching him be so pumped on being a father is so so cute.


What I'm looking forward to? Going to NJ in a few weeks. I have really been missing the east coast. 

                                                  





xoxo



Tuesday, September 14, 2010
At our wedding someone gave us this really awesome photo album that I have been meaning to fill it but  instead I keep putting it aside. So I have finally decided to fill it up. Instead of it being a wedding album I want it to kinda tell our story. I'm going to take all the really good photos from when we met to current. I didn't really know much about my parents history before I was born. They didn't have many photos just the ones of their wedding and of my mom being pregnant. I would have loved to know more and look at pictures of them dating and stuff.  So Jovi isn't going to have that problem!! Yesterday I went through all of our photos from the last three years and picked out a lot of my favorites.  

 Not only do i want to share some of those photos but i want to share our story. I know parts of it are similar to every love story, boy meets girl they fall in love blah blah blah. but ours has it's ups and downs and i think it's really interesting. 

Jesse and I have been married for almost a year now and we dated for about 2.5 years before getting married. I know it sounds crazy but seriously I fell in love with him the moment I saw him. My friend Cody dragged me to this play that all his band mates were in. I don't remember the play to well but i remembered Jesse. I'm the kinda girl who always had a crush on the cutest guy in the play but it never goes any where. haha 

after the play the cast came down off stage to greet everyone. I blushed as I shook jesses' hand and told him that he did a good job. I guess i didn't leave my mark. to this day he doesnt remember meeting me that night. 

He does remember meeting me a few weeks later at his old bands video shoot.  Once again Cody invited me out to be an extra in his bands video shoot. I kinda guessed that jesse would be there so i quickly agreed grabbed my friends and it the road. The shoot was in this tiny punk rock house and the band was playing in the living room with a crowd dancing all around them. It was a lot of fun. Afterwards, it turned into a party and we all hungout. Jesse was there and this time he noticed me. he came over and introduced him self. i told him we met a few weeks earlier and he blushed at forgetting me.  By this time I could tell he was one of the cool kids. you know, a total james dean, cigarette in hand beer in the other eyeliner on and  wearing a leather jacket. I was having second thoughts about him. I not into to guys that are all about their image and being cool. 

I guess later he asked cody about me and told him that he thought I was really pretty. So now cody is really trying to hook us up. After the video shoot we all went bowling. It was so awkward, my friends and cody's band mates. The cool kids and the geeks, hahha that's what it felt like anyway.  Jesse hardly said one word to me. He was with this one kid who was totally wasted So i figured jesse was drinking a ton too.  that was another strike. I mean he was adorable and i couldn't deny that but im not really into that stuff. It might have been love at first sight but I was second guessing my self at this point. 

Jesses' friend told me that after bowling they were going to go play a show. Now it was already mid night and im thinking where in the world could you be playing!?!?!?  then jesse chimes in with, "yeah, you should come, I'll give you a ride there and home" but, I didn't really want to go. they were drunk and at this point I was kinda filling my head with all these thoughts of how he was a player and just wanted to get some. I told him no and then got in the car with cody and left. 

Cody ended up going on and on and on about how amazing jesse was and how he really is a good guy and I should give him a chance.  Well, we ended up at this show. It was really an open mic night at a hippy venue. The place smelt of patchouli and there were people doing that slow strange kinda ravish dance, and pillows all over the ground to lay on!! I'm thinking what have i gotten my self into!! We did not fit into this place. i picked a pillow and laid down.  Jesse came over and laid with his body going the opposite way but our heads were really close to each other. We talked for at least an hour. I realized that he was drunk at all and actually really fun. We laughed so much about the day and that currently we are laying on pillows at a venue in the middle of the night.  I felt like i knew him forever. and that love feeling started coming back. 

then he played. Jesse's is magical on stage. He is not only talented but he has so much charisma. It wasn't hard to be totally captivated by him. He and  his music didn't fit into where we were or the people he was playing to but it didn't matter. It didn't matter that by now it was 3 in to morning and i had almost been up for 24 hours. I just wanted to hear him and find out who this guy was. 

After he played we all went out for breakfast at a all night dinner. Me and jesse sat across from eachother. I was hoping the night wouldn't end. We both ordered the same thing. A grilled cheese sandwich. the waitress got confused and only brought out one sandwich though so we shared it.  the night went on and just kept hoping it wouldnt end. eventually all the food was gone and the sun was coming up. We had to part ways. I had cody bring me home. 

I had only a few hours before I had to go to work. I laid in bed to excited to sleep knowing that there was something different about Jesse he wasn't just a regular crush....

 
here is the video from that day. im the girl crowd surfing in the end. 

this is the day I met Jesse. we went hiking before the video shoot. 






these are just some awesome photos the Rzone took of Jesse. I love them 

All these other photos are from shortly after meeting Jesse.

 


























these are only a few of our photos from that early part of our relationship. i'll post more in part 2
I hope you like them.

xoxo 



Saturday, September 11, 2010
So i have to admit, I hate 99% of all the strollers I see. They are usually these huge obnoxious hard to maneuver unstylish beasts!! yuck. but I know I need to get one so I've been keeping eye out for anything better then the norm. we aren't going crazy trying to buy a lot of new things for Jovi since she is just going to grow out of it all so quickly. I mean she is our first and I want to go over board with an adorable nursery  and cute shoes and clothes but we are trying to stay practical and remember that newborns cant walk and don't need shoes no matter how cute they are!  I've been finding  a lot of things used on craig's list and we are getting tons of hand me downs from friends who have recently had babies.  

That being said I'm still thinking about buying a new stroller. I mean I'm going to be using it a ton and that means I better like it.  A few friends have offered us theirs and its really tempting to not have to spend the $200+ on one, but like I said earlier I hate most strollers. 

Well I have been doing some online research and found a few strollers I think I could live with 


This would be my favorite one... I'm such a sucker for houndstooth!  and it's small adorable, and converts to many different positions...only it's 750 pounds... i have no idea what that is in dollars but it's way more then this mama wants to spend. 




This is adorable, affordable ( 200$ with shipping on ebay) , but huge! doesn't really work for a toddler, doesnt change positions and is probably a pain in the butt to maneuver around a busy super market.

 




I like this one just not in red. it's not my dream machine but i'd be happy with it. it's affordable, changes positions and is easy to move around. I actually met a girl with one of these yesterday at lunch. she said she was really happy with it and said it was super easy to use. at 299$ I think this one might be hard to beat.  I also says that it fits most car seats which is perfect since Jesse's mom already gave us one. 

One last option. I found this guy on ebay too. it's only 212$ but i'm waiting to see how much shipping is going to be. it's in Australia. It comes in three colors, red, blue, and black. I would get the black one. It also changes positions and is smaller. I'm not sure how I feel about it yet though. I guess i'll know when i find out what the shipping is going to be. 


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amy jean
hawaii
happily married, two amazing children Jovi and Nixon. living my dream life in Hawaii
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