You guessed it! We are having a baby!  I have to say that Charlie knew before any of us. As soon as I became pregnant, he followed me around like crazy and when we slept he would curl up next to my belly with his arm on it like he was hugging it. Now I am a little too big for that!

We came back from the doctors today with a clean bill of health. We couldn’t be happier. We are due in late July and although we couldn’t get a perfect angle today we are about 90% sure it’s a girl. Based on the sonograms so far she has Chris’s personality. We’ve seen her lounging with her hands behind her head, punch back at the sonographer when the tech had to push down really hard to get a good shot, and finally get bored with all of us and stick her thumb in her mouth and go to sleep.

This was us at 8 weeks.

I have to get some pics of me now and post them soon because with each passing week it gets a little harder to see my feet. And climb the stairs. And resist chocolate.

So that’s what’s up with us. I will continue to post pics here as we take them.

It’s bizarre to go from being ridiculously happy to completely devastated, but our little family of me, my husband, and our dog are closer for it.

I feel better every day although my hormones are completely out of whack and if I have even an ounce of soy sauce I gain 3 pounds that don’t go away. I have pimples on my forehead which is a completely new sensation, even through my teenage years I never had acne. The estimate is 6 months to get back to normal. I’ve got 4.5 more to go.

Sometimes I want to shout what happened from the rooftops because it’s hard to exist in the world, and even email people without them knowing that my heart is in tiny little pieces. Sometimes I am grateful for the privacy.

So yeah, my husband is amazing. More supportive and loving than I could have ever dreamed he’d be. My true hero.

Not easy.

So this week it was a marathon of Bridezillas for me. Now I know that this show is completely mindless, but hey, even I have standards for the crap I watch on TV.

In one of the first episodes I noticed that they were spending a lot of time narrating about the weight of the bride. The next thing I know, there is a close up of the NV bottle and the bride is doing somewhat of a commercial for the product. How she feels, that she looks better, that she’s lost 9 pounds in a short period of time….um….where is my ranting raving bridezilla? Why is she not freaking out that her flowers are the wrong shade of pink or whatever. That’s what I came to see people. What the heck is this? Why am I watching her all happy working out with a trainer decked out in NV gear and asking her how much she likes the product? We go to commercial, and we are back to our mad and crying bride. Only now I am thinking maybe she’s so cranky because she is on some diet pill.

Go ahead a couple of episodes, and we meet a new bride. Out of nowhere she and her fiance decide to go to the beach. She goes into the bathroom, puts on her bathing suit, freaks out, comes out in a towel and says she’s not going anymore, she hates her body, etc. Then with her wrapped in the same towel she’s giving her interview about how unhappy she is with her weight, and we get the closeup of the NV bottle again, and she’s off to the same gym, and there’s that guy again in all of the NV gear. Later we see her at her cake tasting refusing to actually swallow a piece of cake and spitting everything out into a napkin.

Something is off. I do a search and learn that:

“The network’s ad sales team also sold a first-time package to diet supplement brand NV across all 18 episodes of Bridezillas this season. The deal, which also includes custom vignettes, tagged tune-in spots, on-air billboards, online banners and placement in WE TV on demand, features product integration in four installments of the show.”

Listen. I get it. I fast forward through the commercials (love you DVR – one of the best inventions EVER), I wouldn’t know about NV if it weren’t for this product placement, but it’s just so awkward and contributes nothing to the storyline of the show whatsoever. Look at Project Runway or ANTM and how they do it. We’ve got the wall of accessories that is sponsored, we’ve got sponsored contests, but it makes sense within the damn storyline already.

I was a bride. I stepped up the workouts and had more willpower to watch what I ate leading up to that day, perfect target audience for this show. But the implementation is not good. It just sticks out like a sore thumb.

What about a few befores and afters on the brides? Maybe do full disclosure and have the brides say that part of the reason they are doing the show is to have a chance to try the product. At the very least, having someone taking the product and then flipping out on their loved ones and making everybody around them miserable doesn’t really shine that great a light on NV. I know that product placement is here to stay, but just like bad social promotion, there is a right way and a wrong way to do it.

Any other examples of some bad product placement you guys can think of?

I lucked out and was able to keep my wits about me and not swerve into the next lane to avoid it. That would have definitely resulted in an accident. I was sure that my windsheld was going to shatter, but it didn’t, and the luckiest part about everything is that I was able to keep my cool and not catch up to the woman in front of me and run her off the road.

Grr.

Back in the year 2000….Imagine a team that has a so-so record throughout the year. The fans are getting restless, the players seem uninspired, and then their coach walks up to the podium at a press conference. The media is hounding him about the losses the team is suffering and he says “I am raising the stakes right now … If this is a poker game, I am shoving my chips right in the middle of the table. I am raising the ante. Anybody who wants out, can get out. This team is going to the playoffs. OK? This team is going to the playoffs.” (Have you ever had anyone believe in you that way? To WILL you to succeed?)

And the next game they lose is the superbowl. That was my introduction to football. Chris and I had been dating about 7 months. He was a football fan although it wasn’t something we watched a lot. Then came “the pledge”. And it became a “can’t miss it” situation.

The ride in between that pledge and the superbowl was one of the most fun times of my life. We used to watch the games at the Salty Dog in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. The place would be packed. Sometimes if it was an early game it would be full of the “regulars” sipping coffee because it was too early to serve alcohol. You would nod and smile at each other, but only after you had your table and your territory was marked.

Afternoon games were more fun. Hit the gym in the morning hard, get ready, have the early game on in the house. Around 3 mosey on over to the Salty Dog (around the corner), get your table by 4, watch the game, and then head back for Simpsons and Sopranos. Always happy, because your team was pulling off miracles like it was what they were born to do.

Gentlemen, do you want to share your love of football with your woman? Do you want her to understand why for 5 months out of the year it is perfectly acceptable to refuse any Sunday plans unless the plans are with someone who has an awesome TV? You’ve got to explain it. Explain the nuances, explain the drama. Layout the soap opera that is the NFL.

Answer the questions. When I first started watching football, I told Chris that if I played football I would definitely pick a number in the 80’s for my jersey. They seem to be the luckiest ones that always catch the ball. Little did I know that wide receivers jobs are to catch the ball, and they are denoted by having numbers in the 80’s. I was so excited when I told him my theory.

Explain why she needs to keep an eye on number 10 today since it’s his first time playing his old team. In between plays when it looks like people are just standing around, give her some insight as to what they might be getting ready to do. Going for it on 4th down? If you don’t know what that means its b-o-r-i-n-g, and the players are just hanging out. If she knows, then the anticipation builds and her eyes might be closed during the actual play because she just can’t take the suspense anymore.

Ladies, if you give it a real chance, this is what you’ve got in store for you:

1. Miracles. Am I Dramatic? Yes. But I’ve seen them with my own eyes. I’ve seen Ron Dayne who really doesn’t seem to be the “thunder” he was billed as, drag himself into the end zone with 3 enormous guys hanging off of him. Fueled only by his internal drive. I’ve gone back to that moment many times when my company was starting and I needed to power through an all nighter.
2. Drama. All week long things happen in football. There’s trash talking, there are injury reports, trades, speculation, and it all comes to a head on Sunday. It’s like a never ending soap opera that isn’t going to ever “jump the shark” when the two main characters hook up.
3. Comedy. If you are into slapstick comedy, it doesn’t get much funnier than some of the commercials during football Sunday. Every once in a while something hilarious happens in the game too. We were at Giants stadium the day that Martin Gramatica kicked a field goal against the Giants, and then proceeded to injure himself severely by celebrating. Have you ever heard 60,000 people yell “d**k” at the same time? Pretty funny.
4. Talent & Poetry. Sometimes football just looks like a mess. If you look at it in slow motion it is a game of precision and grace. The quarter back must throw the ball so accurately that if it is a quarter of an inch off it’s an interception. He’s anticipating where his teammate is going to be, not where he actually is at the time of the throw. The receiver leaps into the air to catch the ball, he knows where he’s meant to be and it’s his job to be there, with huge linebackers barreling towards him. They are trying to take him out (And if they break his knee in the process, tough noogies. It’s understood by all involved, and no one is going to be suing anybody.) He catches the ball but its still not over. He’s got to come down from the air not only alive and intact but within the end zone. You will see guys twist in mid air to get the tippy top of their shoe within that white line. And it all happens within a few seconds. That’s what they are planning when they are standing around in their huddles for what seems like half the game.
5. History. Each team has a legacy. Their own heroes. For the Giants it’s the original L.T. (Lawrence Taylor). He is such a figure that during that fated season of 2000 during the playoff game to win the division they just had him standing on the sidelines. To remind the players of what they can accomplish. To remind them of greatness. For inspiration. New players come in and you watch them become the legends of tomorrow.
6. It All Counts. There are only 16 games in an NFL season. There are really no throw away games. I find it difficult to really get into baseball and basketball this way because there are simply too many games to have to keep track of. I don’t have that kind of time. Even in the playoffs, you lose once, you’re out. No series, no BS, no second chances.

And a bonus…Have I mentioned the tight pants?

And so, on the eve of the Giants first game of the season I am excited. I know that there are mountains for them to climb if they are going to have a real shot at winning. But I have also seen miracles happen. And hell, there’s always next year. You know I’ll be here.

1. I have no desire to ever use my credit card there again. I think from now on all purchases will be made in cash at this grocery store. In fact, during this purchase I found myself totally shielding the keypad where you punch in your pin from the cashier.
2. I’ve decided that either my fellow shoppers are sinister and stealing merchandise, or the employees I am handing my credit card over to are stealing.
3. Why was this sign placed where all customers could see it?
4. This was a form letter with the amount of money lost inked in with a sharpie. I am therefore assuming that this is a common occurrence in the supermarket business. Talk about shrinkage! (If this is common there should also be protocol about not posting this sign where your customers can see it!)

My husband and I were once at the same supermarket and got extremely helpful service from our cashier. My husband went to the manager to compliment the employee and the manager came out of his office with a dreaded look on his face. He obviously was preparing himself for some kind of complaint. When we told him that we wanted to compliment our cashier the manager mumbled a thanks and that was that.

Things go wrong in business all the time. The fact that this letter was a template and just taped to the wall tells me that there is an overwhelming complacency within the company for this kind of thing. Or it could be normal in the supermarket business, I really don’t know. Either way it feels like they have things backward.

We’ve been house hunting up in New Paltz, NY. I just love it there. We had some pretty rigid requirements when trying to decide on where to live.

Hubby needs an office and I am aching for a creative space to call my very own. To paint the walls pink or even plaid if I so choose. To sit with a cup of coffee, learn to sew again, sit and write letters, read a book, do yoga (have to learn it first), be creative for my clients, all the while having romantic comedies or reality shows about fashion, decorating, and weddings on a loop. So now we’ve got a need for a house, with 2 rooms that are not bedrooms that are to be used only by one person each. This imaginary house is getting bigger and bigger. I don’t want to be greedy but it would be wonderful if those 2 office/creative spaces had a window each…ouch, if you live in NY like us tack another 50,000 on to your purchase price at least.

If all things were equal, and our families, and jobs would follow us anywhere we would probably be on our way to North Carolina.

We went there for a conference over the summer last year and fell in love. I love the affordability of the houses, the public education system is top notch (I am opposed to private schools because we are a mixed religion couple and I don’t want to put our kid in a Jewish or Catholic school), Raleigh was a really fun town to go to and hang out in, and its in the middle of NY and Florida so you get a nice combo of weather. And my main thing is ample parking.

I imagine us on Sundays driving into town, throwing the car in a lot (and it not costing $60.00) and walking up and down the streets with Charlie. Sitting outside and having our coffee and reading the paper. Or even taking mini laptops with us and writing, answering emails, browsing the Internet. Soft southern accents greeting us hello; maybe we know some of the people and we chit-chat for a little while. I’ve morphed into a southern belle and carry a chic paper fan with me for when it’s just too hot. Seersucker suits abound. Lemonade in the summertime.

But all things are not equal and we are too family oriented to be a plane ride away. Especially with kids in our near future. I’ve heard its essential to be near at least one set of grandparents.

We would want the town we live in to have:

• Action – I want to belong to things. We want to go out to dinners, see shows, and attend music festivals, book readings, and shop. So it must have a vibrant feel.
• Education – We will be having kids in the future and I want them in public schools without having to worry about overcrowding, quality of education, and crime.
• Parking – In a word. I can’t circle the block endless times to get a container of yogurt. It’s just not an option anymore. I want to be able to commit to attending an exercise class and not have to worry about missing the first 15 minutes because of parking. Last night it took me 20 minutes to find a spot at the gym. Or freeze my buns off while walking to said class because I had to park 3 or 4 blocks away. Or look for parking on a Saturday night heading out to dinner for a longer amount of time than it takes to actually eat the meal.
• Cleanliness – I want to live in a community of people that would actually hold litter in their hand for the extra 5 minutes it takes to reach a garbage can instead of simply tossing whatever it is on the ground. It’s an eyesore and it makes me feel defeated.
• University or Adult Learning Center – I want to take classes in things that interest me. And have them be taught by individuals that have met with reasonable success in that area.
• Social – It would be nice to have young couples around that are in the same stage in life as we are.
• Reasonably Priced – What I’ve described above can easily be attained in any town if you’ve got money to burn. But I live in America. I want where I live to at least have some correlation to the national average. For example, if the average home in America is $250,000. I would have a hard time justifying paying more than $500,000 for an “average home”. A palace should cost what a palace is worth of course. But a decent home in a sweet neighborhood should not be $900,000. What about the American dream? And if it costs that much more than the national average to buy a regular home, what’s happening here? What’s going on in this country that the AVERAGE is that low if it’s not realistic?
• Safety – When someone smashes in the window of my car and steals the GPS system and then proceeds to stab it with a screw driver just for vandalism’s sake, it would be nice to have a police officer take a report. Maybe, even if its half hearted, can they actually attempt to look for the guy?

And really, it’s just got to feel doable. It has to be a place where I actually want to raise children, leave my house, and take part in activities. When I walk the dog I want to not have to worry about irresponsible owners that have their dogs off leashes that attack my puppy. I have to want to be a part of it.

We took my mom up there to check it out and get a feel for the town. She seemed into it. At one point she said it’s “her kind of town”. I just feel very free when I am in New Paltz. It’s not that far from where our office is located.

Anyone who is reading this lives somewhere. How did you wind up where you are geographically? Are you from there? Did you move there for a job? School? Are you where you are because of opportunity or loyalty to family? Are you there because it’s where you started and you like it?

I think I might be partial to clothing whose name starts with the letter “L”. My wedding dress’s name was “Liliana“, and the dress above is “Lia” from the J Crew fall collection. I am loving their new stuff right now. The photography is so vibrant and refreshing it makes me want everything and to also get into wearing headbands more. Unfortunately they always seem to slip off the back of my head.