The Every-day Life and Adventures of an American Bombshell

Slices of Christmas

2011-12-27T17:37:00.000-08:00

There are a lot of things I want to remember about this Christmas. It's a pretty landmark year; my Georgia's first Christmas, our first New York City Christmas, and our first Christmas away from family--unless you count the Christmases on the mission, and somehow, those don't count.

I went to some decent effort to make Christmas magical for my family this year, like my mom used to for my family. We continued some family traditions and we started a couple new ones. Here are a few of the more enchanting memories from Christmas this year:

Making Christmas cookies

Watching Christmas movies

Having the missionaries over for dinner a few days before Christmas

(no photos of this, but I really enjoyed it and want to make it a Christmas week tradition)

Christmas eve dinner with friends

The Christmas nativity pageant (Amelia's angel costume)

My girls by the Christmas tree

And handmade gifts. I made this doll for my Amelia,

and I couldn't have wished for a better reaction.

Love at first sight. "It's my special doll! I love it!"

I love you too Babydoll. Forever's like.

Merry Christmas.

Christmas in Microcosm

2011-12-16T11:17:00.000-08:00

There are so many emotions wrapped up in the events and festivities surrounding Christmas. I think Amelia experienced all of them when we took her to visit Santa Clause this year.

Waiting in line: Joyful Anticipation

Expectant Excitement

Impatient Boredom

The moment arrives: Performance Insecurity

Over Attachment, Needing Validation

And finally, Post Christmas Let Down

All of that in just under an hour. No wonder the kid was exhausted when we got home.

Memorializing

2011-12-08T14:07:00.001-08:00

While we had guests in town recently we took the opportunity to visit the grounds of the 9/11 Memorial. The memorial buildings themselves are still under construction and the museum is not yet open, but there are two large fountains in the footprints of the Twin Towers with the names of the victims inscribed along the sides. It really is a beautiful place and I think it's important for my family to take advantage of our close proximity to this historical spot and instill proper respect in my girls by visiting often.

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree

2011-12-07T13:51:00.001-08:00

For the first time in I don't know how many years, and definitely the first time since we've been married, I have a live christmas tree this year. I wish I could say we all went as a family to a charming christmas tree farm somewhere in upstate New York and chopped it down ourselves; that would be so quaint.

But we didn't.

We bought it out front of our local ghetto grocery store. But we did all go as a family to pick it out (though Missy G didn't give much of an opinion on the matter) and it smells great and it's so darn cute, perfect for our little apartment.

This pic doesn't show the Christmas tree, but I just love it. My pretty baby and all the bright colors.

See? Perfect fit in the one, tiny, empty nook in our apartment.

Georgie's contribution to the Christmas decorating party was to hold the traditional Tidwell family Christmas Lamb; a job that Amelia assigned to her, and she preformed admirably.

Only $20 and because it's such a "dainty" tree, we didn't even have to strap it onto the top of the car (which is good, because we don't have one). Pete just carried it the block and a half home, holding it aloft like the statue of liberty.

Best part? I don't have to store it when Christmas is over. That sells it all right there.

The Blessed Angel

2011-12-07T11:00:00.001-08:00

(Doesn't that sound appropriately holiday-esque? I thought it was rather clever.)

Sunday, November 13th was Miss Georgia's blessing day. We choose that date because Pete's parents were here with us and we wanted to share the occasion with family.

Pete gave Georgia a beautiful blessing (with no surprises about the name). Unfortunately, the babe fussed through the whole thing--which was uncharacteristic; she's a pretty mellow little girl.

We took a few photos to commemorate the occasion, but I'm planning on having a professional photo shoot of Georgia in her blessing dress soon. So those pictures should be forthcoming. In the meantime, here's my girl on her special day:

Georgia with Mom and Dad. Amelia ran off to nursery as soon as the meeting ended--as she always does.

With Grandma and Grandpa Tidwell.

And her proud Mama. Sorry for the goofy grin, I couldn't really help it.

Bronxing at the Zoo

2011-11-30T09:54:00.001-08:00

My Mother and Father-in-Law were in town recently to meet the newest little tidbit and to enjoy the city. Pete took a couple of days off work and we decided to make good use of the family membership to all the zoos in New York City I bought by visiting the Bronx Zoo.

Several of my friends advised me not to go; my baby was only about two weeks old and they said I should take advantage of having family in town so I could rest. But I didn't want to rest. I was antsy and ready to get out of the house, so I rebelled and went to the zoo anyway. Took Georgia with me too.

I'm so glad I did.

The weather was perfect; I couldn't have asked for a lovelier day of sunshine and more breathtaking leaves. And I took some stunning portraits of my family. Wouldn't have missed it for the world.

Autumn in New York

2011-11-27T18:24:00.001-08:00

Yes, it is a song. But it's also reality here, and it couldn't be more beautiful. I'll show you.

And this face. My girls make autumn in New York even more magical.

Georgia on my Mind

2011-11-27T18:14:00.001-08:00

Happy One Month to the gorgiest Georgia. She's a wee angel and I think I shall keep her for a very long time.

Waiting for Baby Adventures Part II

2011-11-16T18:09:00.000-08:00

I took the crew to the Central Park Zoo; it seemed much more entertaining than letting everyone sit around waiting for me to go in to labor. Here's Amelia showing her Mimi the seals. They're her favorite attraction at the zoo, and can't you see why? Much more interesting than the more exotic animals that just sleep all day.

Mimi's always a good sport about climbing into tight spots with her grandgirlies.

It was a pretty effective form of entertaining distraction. We wore the girls out (which they did for us in return) and scratched off another day on the waiting-for-baby countdown. (Which honestly seems so silly now that she's here.)

Adventures with Visitors, Part I

2011-11-15T18:15:00.000-08:00

I've been so busy, and taken so many photos, over the past month with having so many visitors staying with us that writing about all our ventures and adventures would not only be tedious for me, it would be completely uninteresting to anyone who read about them. So instead of favoring my faithful, loyal blog followers with all the details, I've decided to highlight a few favorite moments, as captured on film.

Today's feature is from way back on October 20th, the day my Mom arrived in the city. Auntie Sharon and Cousin Lulu were also with us and we all went for a walk in the nearby Conservatory Garden in Central Park. Check out some of these images:

Birth Story

2011-11-08T12:40:00.000-08:00

The Birth Story of Georgia Daisy Tidwell;

A true and accurate account of maybe not the world's fastest birth, but certainly one of the top ten.

Georgia was a bit more than fashionably late. My Mom flew in to New York City on the 20th of October 2011, the day before the baby’s due date, and planned to spend ten days that she pictured would be filled with snuggling grandbabies and looking after our apartment while I recovered from childbirth. My sister Sharon and her little girl Caroline had already been with us for a week just in case the baby came early.

A gesture that proved to be a kind but most unnecessary precaution.

For days we (Mom, Sharon, Caroline, Amelia and I) played at playgrounds and walked all over the city trying to get something (Georgia) moving and at least mom had two grandbabies to snuggle in the meantime. But people were getting antsy and Mom was beginning to worry that she’d have to leave before baby girl made her entrance. Finally Sharon decided that if the baby didn’t come by Thursday the 27th she’d go home to Boston and her much neglected husband.

Georgia clearly took the threat seriously, because at 4:00 in the morning of the 27th I woke up with a heavy contraction. I hefted myself to my other side intending to go back to sleep, when another contraction came, and this one was accompanied by a trickle of fluid. I sat up and small gush of water let me know that this was the real deal.

I shook Pete’s shoulder and said, “I think my water just broke,” and asked him to hand me my phone so I could call the Brooklyn Birthing Center—the birthing facility located an hour away where I planned to have my natural, hypno birth—and speak to a midwife.

The midwife told me to take a shower and then to come right in because even though she expected that it would be several hours before the baby was born, I had tested positive for group strep B and needed about four hours worth of penicillin treatment while in labor.

Pete called a car service and I took a shower, meanwhile the contractions (or “birth waves” as my Hypnobabies home study course calls them) were beginning to come about five minutes apart and were picking up in intensity.

The car arrived at 5:00 A.M. and Pete and I crawled in the back. My “easy, comfortable birth waves” were coming every three minutes now and back labor was setting in.

If our driver, Rashid, suspected that I was in labor he didn’t acknowledge it (I can’t imagine he didn’t noticed the huge pregnant woman heading out in middle of the night, in the rain, with an overnight bag, a boppy pillow and an empty infant car seat and put a few clues together). But he was completely undisturbed by the miracle nature unfolding in his backseat; he blasted his Bollywood pop music anyway and I’d swear he went out of his way to hit every bump in the road between Manhattan and Brooklyn.

Luckily there was minimal traffic at five in the morning and the drive only took us the hour we were planning on—but it was a long hour for me. I had my earphones in listening to hypnosis suggestions, which helped block out the irritating, whiny Indian music most of the time, and helped me keep under control, if not as blissfully comfortable as the CDs promised.

Pete and I arrived at the Brooklyn Birthing Center just before 6:00 A.M. and met one of the midwives there. (As luck would have it, she was the one midwife in the practice whom I had never met, but I was beyond caring at this point.) She took me into an exam room and was chatting away, asking me questions that I was primarily ignoring and getting my IV hooked up. Then as she had me lay back so she could check my dilation, she cut her chatter short and asked, “are you pushing?!”

I wasn’t trying to, but yes, I was in fact pushing. She checked me and said, “the baby’s head is right there, if we don’t get you into a birthing room now, you’re going to have this baby right here.”

The midwife had me waddle down the hall to the birthing room while she called her birthing assistant on the phone and yelled, “I’ve got a woman crowning right now, get here!”

I was pretty much doubled over at this point; my body had completely taken over and was pushing at will. I lay down on the bed on my side and Pete was on the bed next to me holding my leg. (Bless him for being a brave and supportive soul; this was all a bit more nature than he had bargained for, but he was an incredibly good sport—even when he got blood and guts on his pants.)

Within fifteen minutes of walking in the front door of the birthing center, and five minutes of lying down, my body spontaneously pushed out a baby with very little conscious direction on my part. (It 6:25 A.M. to be exact) I didn’t even have time to get undressed and put on one of those silly gowns they make you wear. My special “Birthing Time” hypnosis CD that I had been saving for this moment went un-listened to.

Just after she was born, the midwife laid the wriggling baby on my chest and I heard her cry for the first time. This was the moment when I knew that all the trouble and expense we had gone to in order to have a natural, unmedicated, out-of-hospital birth was worth it. The stress of finding a midwife who would accept me so late in my pregnancy, the three hour trips to the birthing center for five minute appointments, the daily hypnosis exercises, and the extra money we had to pay for choosing an out-of-network care facility all culminated in a perfect, beautiful birth of a perfect, beautiful girl.

Which brings me to the verdict: does hypno birthing actually work?

I guess that depends on what your goal is. I can’t say my labor (the birthing waves) was completely painless—the level of discomfort was pretty high—but it wasn’t necessarily my goal to have a painless birth.

My goals going into this whole hypno birthing business were to stay calm and completely in control throughout labor and delivery, to have a more aware and emotionally present birth experience than I had with my first birth, and to ease the transition into life postpartum. Check, check and check. So, yes, hypno birthing worked for me. It helped me achieve the birth that I wanted and I feel great postpartum.

I realize there may be other factors that contributed to achieving those results, but I strongly believe in the power of positive thinking, and in a nutshell, all hypno birthing is is training your mind to think positively about the birth experience. So I’m glad I did it, and yes, I’d do it again.

Isn't she gorgeous? She came so fast that she wasn't even cone headed. A dandy little bundle for a Mama to cuddle.

The Announcement You've Been Holding Your Breath For

2011-10-31T11:38:00.000-07:00

Thanks to my sister Sharon for creating this video announcement for us. The official birth story is in the works and will be posted shortly (I know you all want to know how hypno birthing went and find out if it's legit).

Enjoy.

Untitled from Charlotte Tidwell on Vimeo.

Fall Family Fun in NYC

2011-10-14T12:24:00.000-07:00

I guess I've been a bit preoccupied with being 40 weeks pregnant lately, but really, there are other things going on in life. So here's an attempt at posting something completely un-baby related. If the mad squirming sensations in my belly allow me to sit here long enough to post it, that is.

Saturday we decided to take a Family Fun Day. I was a bit bummed because I had been planning a trip to Boston, but thought better of it when early morning contractions (or "pressure waves," as my Hypnobabies course calls them) reminded me that I probably shouldn't be leaving town--or at very least sitting on a Chinatown bus for four+ hours--so close to my due date. (My only mention of pregnancy, I promise.)

So instead, Pete and I determined to find some fun things to do around here--it is New York City after all, and one is rarely strapped for something to do.

First we hit the Harlem Harvest Festival. It included a small Farmers' Market and featured booths from some local Soul Food restaurants. It was my first time having fried catfish and grits for breakfast. Not bad really. But the best part was after Pete bought a plate for us to share he noticed the scruffy, probably homeless man sitting on the other end of our bunch eyeing our food, and he quietly got up and bought another plate. He does stuff like that all the time and it makes me so proud of him.

A booth at the Harvest Festival was handing out free small pumpkins for kids and Amelia was completely delighted. She took at least five whole minutes choosing out her pumpkin and spent the rest of the morning strapping her pumpkin into the stroller and making sure it was safe and secure. She also was loving the music blaring from the speakers (an eclectic mix of Old School Whitney Houston, authentic African music and ghetto thug music that I couldn't begin to identify).

Happily, the festival wore her out and she came home to take a fabulous nap--which meant I got one too.

That afternoon we decided to check out the Central Park Zoo. I recently bought a family pass membership to all the zoos in the city (there are five scattered throughout the boroughs) and it felt like a good day to start getting our money's worth.

I shouldn't have mentioned the word "zoo" to my two-year-old, she got pretty excited to see the lions and the elephants--which there aren't any at the Central Park Zoo. It's a small zoo, with more petting zoo type animals than typical zoo animals, but there are Polar Bears and monkeys and seals and penguins, so she was pacified. (However, when we got home and I asked her what her favorite part of the zoo was, she kept saying, "I like the elephants and lions.")

After the zoo closed we took a leisurely walk through the park looking for signs of fall--I hadn't seen any yet, but was able to find ONE tree that had started turning colors--when we stumbled across the Central Park Skaters. I forgot how much I love these guys. They set up a makeshift skating rink in the park on Saturdays and blast disco music and skate like their lives depended on it. All different styles of skaters congregate; there are the proper disco skaters with super long skinny legs sporting huge afro hairstyles. There are the older, chubbier set wearing workout clothes straight from a Richard Simmons video. There are figure skaters who are lean and graceful. There are even latin dancer couple skaters who make me blush a bit and wonder if I should cover my toddler's eyes.

After leaving the park we walked a few blocks to 72nd and Broadway and stopped at a little pizza joint for dinner. Amelia thought she was out very late because it was getting so dark, but it was really only about 7ish when we left the pizza place. It was a perfect day with my family and made me feel better about missing my trip to Boston.

Now, if only this baby would hatch, I could get out to enjoy more of Fall and Halloween in New York City, as at the moment my ankles are a bit too squishy to enjoy much of anything except a good nap.

Full Term

2011-10-05T19:14:00.000-07:00

38 Weeks of pregnancy looks awesome on me.

Listening to the Prophet

2011-10-05T19:04:00.000-07:00

This was a lesson for me in picking my battles.

Yes, my child is wearing nothing but her swimsuit in October. Yes, she is also sitting on my bedroom floor instead of at the table while eating her lunch. And yes, she is eating straight junk (macaroni and cheese) for lunch--I can count the times I've let her do that on one hand.

But she is also attentively listening to President Monson. I decided not to mess with this scene--could I really ask for anything better?

Living Life

2011-10-05T18:27:00.000-07:00

So, I'd like to say that I haven't been posting anything on this blog for a while because I've been too busy living life to write about it. I guess in a sense, that's accurate. But not living life as in I'm-so-cool-and-do-so-much-fun-stuff-that-I-can't-be-bothered-blogging way. It's more like I'm-so-pregnant-and-watching-my-two-year-old-wears-me-out-so-I-sleep-whenever-I-get-a-few-minutes-of-peace life.

But that is life, or at least at the moment.

Not that we've done nothing of interest in the last three weeks; we have. My big sistee Sharon and her pinchable toddler came to stay with us for a few days. I took loads of photos of our girls. Here are a couple cuties:

We had fun showing Sharon and Lulu the New York Mommy Scene. Parks, playgrounds and, oh yeah, food. We had quite a lot of that too. All part of living life to it's fullest. Or at least my fullest.

Out to the Ball Game

2011-09-06T14:24:00.000-07:00

The New York County Fair was held over Labor Day weekend. It sounded like charming, good old fashioned family fun with rides, games, food, crafts, contests, animals, even pig races and pie eating contests.

But it was all the way out in the center of Staten Island. So we went to a Yankees game instead (that's only 15 min on the subway). But totally all-American, wouldn't you say?

I, of course, took the opportunity to bring along the new camera (I feel as though I should name the camera. He's more or less my new constant companion).

Here are a few of my favorite images of the day.

Amelia was really interested in the ball game for about 3.5 minutes. Pete was so proud of how excited she was when we arrived in our seats and she kept saying, "Baseball Mama, those mans are playing baseball!"

This man was in heaven. Pete's pretty sure there's a very large baseball field in the Celestial Kingdom.

And of course, what's a baseball game without hotdogs and ice cream? Not a baseball game at all actually.

Here's Amelia explaining the game to Baby Tina. I heard her say, "He has to hurry up or he'll go to time out." Priceless.

*Note: Pete wants me to make clear that he is in no way a Yankees fan in particular. The man just loves baseball and we happen to live in New York City not too far away from Yankee Stadium and get cheap tickets (as in, $6 or so). The hat is one of many in his collection of hats from places we've lived and visited. Just so you know.

Getting Excited

2011-09-02T12:28:00.000-07:00

I think this picture appropriately expresses the overall feeling at our place right now:

Thanks to Pete's Mom and Dad for helping us get ready, "Bayou" shirts are just what we needed to get in the spirit. I'm making carmel popcorn and homemade Oreos (dyed blue, of course) and I bought the blue potato chips. We invited over some neighbors.

Now, if only the Time Warner guy would show up to finish wiring us for cable, our BYU Opening Game Party would be complete. Go Cougars!

Irene has Run

2011-08-27T13:41:00.000-07:00

This has been an eventful weekend--in a boring sort of way.

Basically, life has been suspended indefinitely as the entire Eastern Coast of the United States collectively holds its breath waiting to see what exactly Irene has in mind. It's my first hurricane. And I was curious to see how this would all go down.

Sadly (but I guess it really is for the best) there is not much to report. My little family has spent nearly the entirety of the last 48 hours indoors. We are safe and well. We have power. We have yet to break into our three and a half cases of water we stocked up on in preparation for this storm (we have started snacking on the granola bars and peanut butter filled pretzels though. Tasty.)

So how have we been passing the time? Other than eating? Well, let me me tell you; there has been a lot of watching the news, interspersed with a little Peter Pan, Finding Nemo and The Jungle Book; a fair amount of coloring; some Ring-Around-the-Rosie; a bit of baking; and a lot a lot a lot of playing with my new Nikon D3100.

Oh, did I mention I got a new camera? It's a nice one. Pete and I bought it as a consolation prize after we we missed the charter bus that was supposed to take us to his company party somewhere in upstate New York. I guess he never got the email telling us to be there at 8:45 instead of 9:30, which was the original time. Sad.

So instead of spending the entire day with a whole bunch of professional people I don't know who are still incredulous that Pete is actually married and has 1.75 children, by choice, and at his tender age, we went to Costco and bought a camera.

Luckily we had a few good hours before the storm was scheduled to hit, so we got to take some shots outside. Here are a few of the very first images taken with my brand new SLR:

This is the first shot I took just after inserting the fully charged battery. Fitting, I think, to capture a shot of the most important person in my life as my first photo. And a genuine smile too!

Out to the park; these were taken at the Conservatory Garden and a playground nearby.

I know I have loads to learn about how to use this camera, and as soon as the population of NYC is allowed out of our apartments I'll try to capture some of the local aftermath of the storm. Until then, I'm photographing every detail of Amelia's life. So stay tuned for those pics!

Oh, and I wanted to mention something I think is interesting; about three weeks ago the Bishopric of our ward gave a special lesson on hurricane preparedness. New York City hasn't been hit by a hurricane in living memory for any of the ward members, so many of them were a bit skeptical about the likelihood of ever needing to know the information. But the Area President felt inspired that the members needed to know how to prepare for the chance that a hurricane might hit. And just in time. Pretty awesome, yes?

Pete's Rockin' (Literally) Birthday

2011-08-24T12:14:00.000-07:00

According to CNN, the last time New York City felt the tremors of an earthquake was in 1944. (I can't vouch for this, I've only been here a month. But I believe it's been a long time.) That is, a long time until yesterday.

To celebrate my wonderful husband's 29th birthday, Washington D.C. honored him with a 5.9 on the Richter Scale. Unfortunately, Pete was at work on the third floor of the L'Oreal Building with earphones in at the time and didn't actually feel any of the shake up.

Pity. He always wanted an earthquake for his birthday.

I did feel the tremors, but it took me a while to realize what was going on. For a few moments I thought the contractors down on the first floor were engaging in some overly zealous work on the pipes. But then a picture fell off my kitchen wall and I noticed the blinds were swaying in the bedroom. Probably not the contractors.

I debated on rushing in to check Miss Amelia, who was well into a most refreshing nap--refreshing for both of us, but decided not to. I was busy wrapping a few little gifts for the birthday boy and getting his celebration ready, I couldn't be bothered with interruptions from earthquakes and the like.

Pete's birthday bash turned out to be enjoyable for everyone involved, even if he did miss out on the earthquake. Miss Amelia and I got dressed up in our fanciest and met him outside his office when he got off (at a normal, decent hour, none-the-less, which is unusual for him these days) and we walked down to a little Mexican Grill called Oaxaca Wa Ha Ka for dinner. It's a casual place (so we were a little overdressed, but didn't care) structured much like Cafe Rio but with distinct NYC touches (they offer filet mignon burritos instead of the regular shredded beef and pork variety).

When we arrived home after dinner Pete went on a little treasure hunt throughout our apartment to find 29 little notes I had posted listing things about him that make me smile. Actually, once I got going writing those notes, I had a hard time limiting them to 29. He's a good man. I'm a very lucky lady.

Miss Amelia wasn't overly patient while Pete read his love notes; she kept pulling on his arm and saying, "Come on, come see your birthday in my room," referring to the dessert and little pile of presents I had arranged on the dining table (which, yes, is in fact in the nursery. Our place is petite, and that's the biggest room in the apartment).

Once he had dried his eyes after reading my heart-felt birthday messages, we let Amelia lead us into the nursery/dining room where he opened a few gifts and we shared some dessert.

If you're wondering how one makes a birthday cake for a cake artist and aspiring pastry chef, I didn't. I decided instead to go the nostalgic route and made the cream cheese pie he always requested that his mother make for his birthday growing up. But instead of topping it with canned cherries or strawberries like the recipe calls for, I made a fresh lime sauce and served it with some lightly crushed raspberries.

Pretty powerful stuff; I kind of wish there wasn't half a cream cheese birthday pie lurking in my refrigerator.

Here's the birthday boy enjoying some of his presents. Just about everything he got was work related; new work shoes, shirts, a framed family photo for his desk, and a treat stash to keep him going on the job.

I apologize for the photos being so sub-par; these were taken on my iphone. (But I'm planning to get the SLR soon, so look forward to a drastic improvement in the photographic quality of my blog!)

Overall the celebration was pretty low-key, but I think he knows Amelia and I are crazy about him and I know he felt loved. Which was the point, really.

Success!

Thoughts: NYC MommyBloggers

2011-08-09T13:36:00.000-07:00

I was pretty passionate in my last post about wanting to start writing seriously again. And I still am.

But since our move I can't find the right flash drive to recommence devout work on my novel and my belly is too big for me to be bending over boxes searching for it, so instead I'm going to write about that class of women who are becoming almost as mocked and famous as talentless hotel empire heiresses; NYC MommyBloggers.

I have just spent a rainy afternoon (properly utilizing nap time, of course) reading the musings and perusing the photos of these women and I have learned a few things about being a mom in NYC.

1. You have to have a professional grade camera and take artsy pictures of your kids that are never balanced and are full of sun flares to be a "real NY Momma."

2. It is not only advisable but entirely necessary to have some extravagant form of entertainment planned for your child (age is not factor) every single day. Zoos, museums, concerts, puppet shows, circuses, and whale watching voyages are all good ideas. Playdates must have themes, include costumes, and feature an extensive snack buffet (preferably purchased at Trader Joe's).

3. Your child cannot leave the house without wearing one of those floppy fisherman hats.

4. Stroller=status symbol. You can definitely pick out the professional mommys by checking out the strollers they they stand guard over at the playground.

5. All of life's business, no matter how personal, can be conducted on an iPhone on a park bench. The loss of one's iphone is a catastrophe comparable to losing one's left hand.

6. The absence of a cutesy little nickname for your husband is the mark of a true amateur mommyblogger. (Examples: Holbs, Hussy, DH, etc.)

7. If you're any good at mommyblogging, you will be writing for at least three online magazines, have a long list of sponsors, and land free photo shoots with trendy photographers every few months to document your exciting, modern life balancing shopping trips, trying out restaurants and handcrafting wall coverings for each new season.

These are a few of my first observations about the online representation of the world and culture I am entering. I laugh, but I love it. I can't wait to help plan my first playdate and I'm diving into consumer reviews on DSLR cameras (my little point and shoot got misplaced/stolen at the French restaurant, remember?)

I already have the iphone. (Just not very many people to call yet.)

So I'm living large in NYC. Make that very large. And mommybloggers, though you are ridiculed for being frivolous and at times insanely over the top, I think we'll get along just fine. I have a lot to learn from you. Even if I don't live on the UWS.

Prodigal Bombshell

2011-08-08T10:37:00.000-07:00

I really want to start writing again.

I mean writing seriously. But I'm afraid to make that commitment. Writing is just so . . . so . . . demanding. I took what I then hoped would be a "brief professional sabbatical" from my daily writing routine about, oh, seven months ago, primarily because I was newly pregnant, constantly queasy and all I wanted to do in any precious spare moments was curl up and sleep.

Did I mention that was seven months ago? I guess it just got easy not to write. Because remember? Writing is demanding.

I'm not sick anymore; just continually eating. Kind of like Brad Pitt in the Ocean's movies:

Okay, nothing like that really. But having one hand and a mouth occupied with a granola bar or trail mix at all times of the day does make it difficult to write. Not to mention frequent trips to the kitchen and/or bathroom to refill my stores, or empty them. Enough said.

But I live in New York City now. People here are creative. They sculpt things or paint things or photograph things or cook things or produce things. People sing, they act, they dance; sometimes all at once in a moving subway car. Some people spray paint things on walls and fire hydrants.

I find all this energizing. Alicia Keys was right; this city will inspire you. Being surrounded by the artistic expressions of some of the most creative minds in America makes me want to write again.

But. Writing is demanding. And I'm going to have a baby in ten weeks.

(By the way, I still don't have a doctor for that whole process--I've called six different clinics attempting to schedule an appointment and have been turned down flat by five of them; "I'm sorry ma'am, you're just too far along." The last clinic I called will supposedly call me back sometime today to let me know if one of their doctors is willing to take me on; "I guess you really do need a doctor, and fast." Indeed.)

So perhaps now is not the most ideal timing in the world to throw myself back into a dedicated writing routine? Perhaps I should be spending my energies finding a crib, practicing breathing exercises, sorting out insurance and maybe even finding a qualified individual to deliver my child?

But I want to start writing again. And now is almost certainly a better time than after the baby is born. So I believe I'll take advantage of the inclination to write while I have the energy to do so. Wish me luck; I'm going in!

The Bombshell has Landed

2011-08-02T10:53:00.000-07:00

So, I live in New York City now. Very near Central Park in fact. I am not, however, a true New Yorker just yet as I have not started jogging in Central Park without a shirt on. Or at all.

I'd love to post photos of what I like to call our "dainty" (read: tiny) apartment, but I can't. Sadly, I lost my camera somewhere between 5th and 3rd Ave after having dinner at a charming little French restaurant called Matisse. I had a roasted duck breast and mashed potatoes with a salad, and blueberry almond frangipane smothered in creme anglaise for dessert. The food was great, in case you were wondering.

But it means that I have no photos to post. Nothing for the past month in fact, which is one reason I have neglected to post anything for your reading enjoyment.

There are two bright spots of this sad, sad tale, and they are these; one: I now have a very legitimate excuse to save up for the Digital SLR that I have been fantasizing about for the past year, and two: my sister Sharon took quite a lot of photos of the week we spent visiting her family in Boston before moving on to NYC.

So, it looks as though I may have a few wee pics to post after all.

Amelia's been excited to see "Baby Caroline" for weeks but I don't think poor Lulu shared her enthusiasm for seeing her relations.

My girl loves the sand more than just about anything.

Here's me looking very un-bombshell. More like Mom-shell.

But that's the truth of it these days. Sigh.

The carousel at Boston Commons. You'd never know from these pics,

but the kid was having the time of her life.

Boston has a fabulous Children's Museum with more things for a busy kid to do and see than there is time in one afternoon. And I was pretty entertained too.

Nice night along Boston Harbor.

So, thanks Auntie Shrew for the photos. And for hosting my family for a few days. We had a ball in Boston and can't wait to host a party here in NYC. But please remember to bring your camera.

Happy (Belated) Father's Day

2011-06-28T12:13:00.000-07:00

To this guy in particular:

As you can see, the Babes is crazy about you,

And so am I. Thanks for being the best Daddy a girl (and a Mama) could ask for.

Champagne Taste

2011-06-15T13:35:00.000-07:00

But I'm afraid we'll be living on a beer budget.

As our move to the city draws ever closer (and perhaps as my nesting instinct begins to chafe in the back of my consciousness) I find myself spending more and more time shopping for the perfect everything for our new apartment.

It only makes sense, because you see, we're getting rid of a lot of our furniture before we move. The couches are too big to bring with us (there's no way we're getting those beasts up four narrow flights of stairs, let alone finding a place to park them once in the apartment) Pete's desk is also too bulky and heavy to be practical, and our dining set has outlived it's welcome in this life. Not to mention that all our linens are five years old now and well ready to be retired. So really, we need to refresh our home furnishings collection.

This is where the problem comes in. My philosophy is this; if we have to buy new furniture and linens, we might as well invest in pieces we love and want to keep forever. Like these:

Definitely an investment at just a shade under 4 grand, but well worth it. Can you even imagine the family photos we could take on this gorgeous sofette?!

Only $2,000 for the privilege of sleeping in a bed this unique and inspiring every night!

How can you not feel like you're at the spa in a bathroom decked out like this?! I think it was somewhere in the neighborhood of $108.

My sweet angel husband's thoughts are these; we have a young family and limited space and resources. We should buy inexpensive furnishings that meet our needs and we won't be devastated if they get "well used" by our kids. We can get really nice furniture someday when we have a house to put it in and more money to buy it with.

His idea of the way we should furnish our home looks more like this:

Ikea, $699. Actually, he'd probably go for a fabric version that's even cheaper.

We bought this bed from the couple leaving our apartment, the split queen box spring included, for $100. Also Ikea originally.

Ikea again. I think this one was $12.99.

And this doesn't even touch the debate about what to get the for baby to sleep in. We're planning on converting Amelia's crib into a toddler bed, (yes, my two-and-a-half-year-old still sleeps in a crib. It just keeps her too well confined at night and nap times for me to willingly give it up just yet) so Babygirl 2 needs a new bed. I've been dreaming of this one for months:

An instant heirloom and a steal at only $549.00 on sale!

Pete favors this option:

Ikea for $99. (In all fairness, Pete didn't actually pick this out, he's just more comfortable with the price range).

So what's a girl to do? I guess this is what people mean when they talk rubbish about "compromise in marriage," and "living like college students after graduation," and all that type of rot.

But maybe compromise means I can still have at least one really nice piece that I adore? Maybe???

Amelia

2011-06-11T21:41:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I held my girl in my arms and rocked her to sleep.

This may not sound like anything out of the ordinary, but it has been months, perhaps even a year since she has actually fallen asleep in my arms. Not much of a snuggler.

So I cherish the moments when she lets me hold her and I can just look at her face and try to memorize every soft little curve.

I know many young moms start to worry when they are expecting a second child that they won't be able to love the second baby as much as they love their first. I can understand that. It seems almost impossible to feel to same depth and intensity of emotion for more than one child at a time.

But I don't worry about that. I'm more concerned about the opposite. I'm afraid that, out of mere default, this new baby will come into my life and need all my time and I won't be able to have the tender moments with my first baby anymore. I'm afraid the sweetness and the endearing helplessness of a newborn will take up so much room in my life that there won't be as much room for Amelia. I'm afraid of losing my girl.

For more than two years this sweet baby (second only to her Daddy, and maybe the occasional particularly divine piece of European chocolate) has been the gravitational center of my own personal universe. How can my heart not break at the prospect of relegating "Amelia Time" to the moments when I'm not either busy caring for an infant or too exhausted to move?

I feel as if I'm gaining one baby and losing another.

All you sage and experienced people, please say I'm being irrational. Please say this is a ridiculous fear and that nothing will change between my Babydoll and me. Please say she won't resent me, or worse, stop needing and wanting my attention when I have less of myself to give her.

But even if you say all these things I'm not sure I'll believe you. Not until I see it for myself.

The Celebrating Begins

2011-06-06T20:20:00.000-07:00

On Friday I went in for my ultrasound and to find out the gender of our baby. I guess I should say we went in for my ultrasound; Peter, Amelia and I. It was a family affair. But this time around I wanted things to be a bit different. Instead of lying on the table and having the ultrasound technician say, “It’s a _______,” which I felt was a little anticlimactic for an announcement that changes my entire life, I wanted to make a bigger deal of the whole experience. In fact, I wanted to turn it into a celebration.

So Pete and I decided not to have the tech tell us the baby’s gender. Instead, we had her write it down on a card and seal it in an envelope. (She warned us when to close our eyes during the ultrasound so as to maintain the surprise.) Then we took the envelope to a local baby boutique and Pete chose out a pair of baby boy shoes and I chose a pair of girl shoes. We made sure the boxes were the same size and shape. We then took the shoes and the envelope up to the girl at the register and asked her to open the envelope and ring up the appropriate pair of shoes and giftwrap them for us without us seeing which shoes won.

That evening, Pete and I had our parents and my brother and sister come over for an announcement party. They were all there as we opened the gift and found out whom to expect to arrive in October (aside from Moms, sisters and Relief Society ladies).

Here’s the video (please pardon the squealing. It’s a McKinlay thing):

BIg News from Charlotte Tidwell on Vimeo.

I am excited to have another girl. I simply couldn't be happier. Because happy is what happens when all your dreams come true. Isn't it?

But even though most of my heart is rejoicing for this new little girl to come into our lives, there is a small but very real part of my heart that is mourning for the loss of the baby boy of my dreams. (Not my literal dreams--I haven't had any visitations in my sleep. Just to clarify).

I just mean that I was the teensiest bit hoping for a boy. Maybe just to have a completely new experience. Maybe because I know how badly Pete wants a son. Maybe because I come from a family of mostly girls and part of me wanted assurance that I will have a son on this side of the grave. I don't know.

But I do know I'll get over it long before this girl is here and that I'll feel nothing but adoration when I see her. It's part of my plan. You know, my plan for a more emotionally connected and conscientious birth experience. The one that will make me a calmer, more loving and in control mom during those first postpartum weeks. Probably.

So.

Thus begins the shopping. There's nothing like shopping baby girl clothes to eradicate any wistful thoughts of baby boys that can wait their turn!

Thursdays

2011-05-26T13:54:00.000-07:00

Thursdays are a big day at our house.

Why are they such a big day? Because Thursday is Garbage Day.

That's right. We (Amelia and I, but mostly Amelia) wait patiently all week for Thursday to come so we can eat our lunch sitting on the front porch waiting for the garbage truck to roll down the street. It's a clear highlight of the week. The little doll loves watching the garbage truck with it's mechanical arm reaching out to lift our bin, empty its smelly contents into the back of the truck, place the bin back on the street and move on. Then she waves and calls "'Bye Babage truck," until it is well out of sight.

She even had me make up a song for her about the garbage truck. It's to the tune of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.

I guess the reason I'm writing about this is because today I found out that a good friend and previous mission companion's two-year-old daughter has just been diagnosed with Leukemia. She's in surgery today. I don't know the prognosis.

When I heard the news I gasped. How could a beautiful two-year-old, practically a baby, have to deal with a life threatening disease? How could my friend who is my age be expected to know how to handle having a child with cancer?

It hit really close to home. I have a two-year-old daughter. She is precious. She is happy and active and loves to watch the garbage truck.

I picked her up and held her as tight as I could and wouldn't let her go until she wriggled free saying, "Mama, I have to go tinkles."

My heart is full. Full for my friend and the challenge her family has been given. Full for my daughter and all the little things that make her such a funny, joyful, absolutely essential part of my life.

Good luck to the Briggs family. God bless you.

And in a small way, thank you. For reminding me that my life is bigger than shopping lists, potty training and researching details for our big move. I still get to watch the garbage truck every Thursday with my girl.

Pretending it's Spring at the Tulip Festival

2011-05-09T11:56:00.000-07:00

For the past four or five years I've wanted to check out the Tulip Festival at Thanksgiving Point and for some reason or other have never made it. I figured this year was my last opportunity, 'cause they don't have tulips or gorgeous gardens or anything in NYC.

Just kidding.

But I really wanted to make sure I caught it this year (especially since Pete's parents have a pass and could get us in for free) so we made a date and we went. Amelia was much more delighted to be with her grandparents and cousin Paisley than she was about the flowers. In fact I didn't get a single photo of her interacting with the flowers because every time she paid any attention to them at all she beheaded a pansy.

Did I mention I had to get a new camera? My trusty old DMC-TZ3 ended his sojourn in this life a week before Pete graduated--an event I intended to document. I was forced to buy a new camera, and since neither timing nor finances allowed for the purchase of the DSLR that I have been lusting after for months and months, I got another point and shoot. I decided the Tulip Fest was a great time and place to break it in.

Here we are at what Thanksgiving Point has named "Monet's Pond"--though having been to visit Monet's home in France and seen his pond, this one isn't quite as impressive.

After looking at my photos, I think we (the camera and I) need to get to know one another a bit better. The camera is a touchscreen model with all the settings hidden somewhere in it's digital insides, so I couldn't control the images as much as I wanted to. It's going to take some practice, (and possibly even reading the owner's manual) to get the photos I want.

I'm having trouble cropping images without losing clarity and I just don't feel that the pics are as sharp as they should be. Anyway, we had a great time and I'm learning to use my new camera.

And it's finally spring. Took long enough this year . . .

Only one of the biggest, best, most exciting days in our ENTIRE lives, that's all!

2011-04-25T12:50:00.000-07:00

My man.

Is done.

With school.

Hoorayhoorayhoorayhoorayhoorayhoorayhooray.

Pete graduated from BYU on Friday with a degree in Advertising. He has a job waiting for him in NYC working in marketing (not modeling) for L'Oreal USA.

A good job.

A job that means that although we will not be living in a penthouse apartment in Midtown, we will also no longer be students.

I'm pretty stoked about this.

Here are some pics of the day:

Is it Possible to be a Bombshell and a Hippie at the Same Time?

2011-04-18T13:27:00.000-07:00

Alright, so the deal is this:

I'm seriously considering hyponobirthing/waterbirth this time around.

I know. I seem more like the type to schedule an induction (a week early) and demand the drugs at the first sign of labor-related discomfort. That's pretty much what I did with my first child.

But.

Although the birth experience itself last time went okay (really, I had nothing to compare it to other than the horror stories I had heard of 75 hour labors and emergency c-sections, and my birth was nothing like that) I had a really hard time coming home.

A really hard time.

I felt emotionally numb and physically shattered for three or four days after my baby was born, and when I finally started feeling something at all, I cried for about two weeks straight.

Part of my emotional wreckage postpartum may have been due to the fact that I was alone. Pete of course had to go back to work and school after a couple of days, and my mother, who had taken time off work to be with me, promptly developed appendicitis and spent her leave time in the hospital recovering from an appendectomy.

Part of the problem may have been the fact that it was gloomy winter and I was stuck in a basement apartment with very little natural light and unable to get out much for exercise.

Regardless of what the problem was I did not, as such, transition well into motherhood.

I want this next experience to be different.

Very different.

Which is why I'm looking into different birthing options in the hopes that a more conscientious birth will lead to a smoother postpartum and bonding experience. I'm already established with a midwife instead of an OB/GYN and I think I've decided on a birthing center instead of a hospital birth--which means a natural, drug free birth rather than having the practically irresistible option of an epidural only feet away.

Of course, choosing a natural birth means looking into alternative pain management options, and thus far, hypnobirthing and waterbirth are the most appealing to me. I know for certain I at least want to labor in water, that sounds much more relaxing than being strapped flat on my back being held down by beeping monitors and IV tubes.

Also, I'd like to try prenatal yoga.

Anyone have any experience with prenatal yoga? I found a place in Mapleton that sounds pretty good, but I'd rather not travel that far if I don't have to.

Please share your (educated) thoughts and experiences. With the added challenge of moving to NYC and being far from home and family, I really need this birth and newborn phase to go as smoothly as possible, and I'm trying to plan for the best experience I can early on to facilitate that goal.

Spring, Renewal, Rebirth and that sort of Thing

2011-04-13T19:21:00.000-07:00

The sun was shining today (though I believe it's storming outside now) which was a first for longer than I care to remember.

Amelia's poor face is slowly healing (the wounds were self inflicted--she picks at every little thing until it becomes a big oozing crater in her face. The only way we've been able to keep her from reopening the sores is to tape mittens onto her hands at night).

Pete graduates from BYU next week. Hoorah hoorah hoorah!

We're moving to NYC in July--it's starting to finally feel real!

And I'm slowly getting back into writing. Slowly. I wrote a whole bunch of notes for a new story idea the other day, and I've been bulking out a few chapters on my current project. I'm less overwhelmed by it now but I still need some motivational umph. Reading a good novel should help inspire me; any suggestions?

Anyway, here are some more photos of the babes.

Our local park is not the world's greatest park, there's not much of a playground and no walking paths, flowers or any other landscaping. But, having said that, I am VERY grateful to the park management for finally removing the dead cat that has been stinking up the place for the past couple of weeks. How I love American Fork.

And here's Amelia in her favorite place. Snuggling her Daddy and watching videos on his iTouch.

2011-04-05T12:32:00.000-07:00

I feel as though I should update this blog as I (rather rashly) promised to do in my last post, yet I somehow find myself scrambling for anything of interest to write.

I did have an ultrasound a couple days ago and got to peek at my baby (I loath the word fetus and will refer to him/her as a baby regardless of the the current stage of development) which was exciting. But at 11.5 weeks there wasn't much to see, a barely humanoid form with a heartbeat. So I won't post the picture because I can hardly make anything out of it myself and can't expect any readers to get overly excited about it.

I could write for a very long time about food and my tempestuous relationship with it of late, but I can't imagine a detailed history of my cravings and aversions commanding too much interest either. Suffice it to say, early spring strawberries are my salvation and cold cereal has made a remarkable resurgence in my diet.

I haven't really been writing much lately--surprise surprise--or at all actually. I lost the motivation after printing out the first 100 pages of my bakery romance and starting to read it. I haven't allowed myself to do any, I mean any editing on it with the hope that writing right through it would help me to actually finish an entire draft. Instead, I realized how very much work it needs and got depressed. But I didn't bin it and I plan on picking it back up. Soon. Like, this afternoon, maybe.

So, what have I been doing? I haven't been writing, cooking, or doing much exercising or even read anything new in what feels like ages.

Well, I have been hanging out with my girl.

We go to the park--when it isn't blizzarding. We chill at the various BYU museums. We do a lot of coloring, and watch a few movies. Momminess is pretty all consuming for me right now, because it's all I seem to have energy for. But I've been pregnant before and I know things will balance out soon. I'll regain some energy and enthusiasm for life. I will write again, and I know my creative cooking days are just beginning.

So thanks for your patience. In the meantime, more photos of the cutest 2-year-old ever.

Suspicious Activity

2011-03-22T12:11:00.000-07:00

Hi, remember me? I used to blog here in this little corner of cyberspace. That was before my child ripped out half the keys on my keyboard and I lost all motivation to share my life and fascinating thoughts with the world and I let the blog go feral for a month or so.
So what prompts my sudden unexpected return to blissful blogging now?
Well, a few things.

Firstly, thanks to a reasonably decent tax return, we bought a new computer. Hoorah, hoorah, hoooorah! We got a Mac, in case you're interested and it has all it's keys. Pete has been converted to Apple for a good long time, and my growing interest in photography, coupled with my sister's zealous proselyting for the Apple cause, convinced me a Mac would be a good investment.

I wish I had captured Pete's face when I casually suggested that we use our tax returns to buy a Mac. He was assuming we'd use the money for something disciplined and responsible, like paying off our credit card, and saving for Amelia's college education. But as soon as I mentioned the magic "M" word, discipline went out the window and he immediately began researching models, pricing and programs. (Note, we did actually put a hefty amount toward our credit card as well, we are not completely irresponsible regarding finances--but it looks as though poor Amelia will just have to get a job someday.)

Another reason I was jump-started back into blogging (remember, that's what I was talking about) is that my Mom called me with a distressing discovery; she had tried to visit my blog--no doubt hoping for a scintillating update that sadly wasn't there, and couldn't find it.

My blog I mean. It had been removed. Gasp, I know. All my interesting and insightful thoughts on life, not to mention my priceless photos were simply, gone. It pains me to think what she, and others who had a similar experience, must have felt at finding my blog to be missing.

Actually, I only know of one other person who noticed, but still, there may have been others. It's possible. So I got on the (new) computer and dug around google until I found a help page.

Apparently, my blog as well as my email had been disabled because there had been some suspicious activity regarding my google account. I never did find out exactly what that activity was, they just made me change my password and called it good, thankfully restoring my blog and email at the same time. So no worries.

And the last reason I've returned to blogging?

Well, I think I've nearly finished throwing up now and might feel more up to it in the next few months. Hopefully.

October 23, 2011. Save the date!

More Thoughts on Food . . .

2011-02-21T13:00:00.000-08:00

Because I think about it just about all the time.

I realize that many of my faithful, devoted readers are fabulous cooks. I learn things from you all the time. But there may be a few of you who, like myself, grew up in a culinarily-challenged home and didn't learn absolutely anything of value from your parents regarding food preparation. (Sorry Mom, but it's true. Green bean-hamburger casserole garnished with tater tots is not the final word in taste or nutrition.)

So I thought I'd share a few things I've learned in recent months that have led to tastier and healthier meals at my house. You may already know all these things, but as I've had to teach myself, the following revelations are new(ish) to me:

1. Chicken thighs are more flavorful than chicken breasts. I always thought that a skinless, boneless chicken breast was the tastiest cut of chicken. I was wrong. Thighs have generally undergone less processing--as in, less enhanced with "chicken flavored solution" and that sort of thing, and they tend to be juicier and more tender.

2. Buying your shrimp raw and cooking it yourself tastes immeasurably better than buying the precooked variety (and cheaper). Some people don't like to divine their own shrimp, they get creeped out by all the little legs that make shrimp look like real living creatures. But it really isn't that hard or time time consuming, and the boost in flavor is incredible.

3. Pureeing vegetables makes a lovely, creamy soup without the cream. This winter I've made smooth parsnip soup, butternut squash soup, sweet potato soup and mushroom soup all from purees and they've been fab. Homemade soup is tastier and easier to make than I ever thought: I usually just make up the recipe and I never include the poultry carcasses or huge chunks of canned tomatoes my mother felt were a necessity in all her homemade soups. No wonder we dreaded Mom's homemade soup growing up; there was always a very good chance of getting a bone in your soup.

4. Spinach smoothies make a great breakfast. May sound odd, but go with me on this one--fresh, raw spinach actually has a pretty mild flavor. Stuff your blender with spinach and add a bit of whatever fruit you have on hand, I particularly like fresh pineapple or kiwi slices, then add a shot of apple juice or water to moisten it and blend till smooth. The resulting smoothie is vibrant green (unless you added blueberries, in which case it will be muddy brown) but will taste like the fruit you added. This is so good for you, you can get in a couple servings of green leafy veggies first thing in the morning instead of sugary cereal, syrupy fruit juices or empty carbs.

5. The Greeks made many notable contributions in the fields of art, language, philosophy, math, politics, rhetoric, architecture, etc. But I'm rather a fan of Greek style yogurt. I eat it for breakfast with my spinach smoothie. It is high in calcium and bacteria that are very good for your digestive system, but contains virtually no sugar or artificial sweeteners like grocery store yogurts. My two year old loves it. She usually ends up stealing mine at breakfast, so I have to eat it fast if I want more than a spoonful or two.

Greek, or Plain yogurt is great in cooking and serves as a substitute for higher fat foods like sour cream, mayonnaise, vegetable dips, ice cream and many other things.

A dollop of yogurt is a great garnish on soup. Paired with fresh fruit or drizzled with honey it makes a great dessert. I am always finding new uses for it, in fact I'm seriously considering investing in a yogurt maker so I can brew up my own homemade yogurt at home.

Feel free to share wisdom and insights you've gained in the kitchen; I feel like a true novice on my journey to culinary competence.

My Funny Valentine

2011-02-16T16:36:00.000-08:00

My little lady turned two. Two whole ones.

There's so much I could say about her; she's pretty much been a dream baby. She has yet to throw a real tantrum, she never took a binki--so no breaking her of the habit, and her day-to-day destructiveness is reasonably minimal.

My girl has a heart melting smile and enchanting blue eyes that are enhanced by her signature pink Fisher Price spectacles. She sings and dances all day, and I can usually hear her singing in her room long after I've put her to bed at night.

Her favorite songs right now are: Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, You are my Sunshine, Rock-a-Bye Baby, ABC's, Book of Mormon Stories and Head Shoulders Knees and Toes. She loves Sesame Street and could watch Charlie and Lola on Youtube all day.

Pete and I dote on this little girl. She is my Sunshine, my LoveBug, my Dollface and My Funny Valentine.

Happy Birthday Baby Girl.

Craftiness = Stalling

2011-02-10T12:34:00.000-08:00

I know I should be working on my book. My dashing young husband printed out the whole beast for me two days ago (there are 100 pages, not including notes) so I can read through it and see where I need to fill holes and re-work story lines. But I have yet to pick it up.

The stack of papers is just too intimidating at this point. Besides, what if I read it and realize that now that's it's actually printed on paper instead of floating inside my USB it's rubbishy rubbish? I don't think I could get over that easily.

And besides again, I've been busy. Being crafty.

No, you are correct, I am not normally a particularly crafty person. In fact the advent calendar I threw myself into making before Christmas was sadly abandoned after I tired of wrestling with technical difficulties involving my relic of a sewing machine. But I will finish it someday--it looked so cute on the online tutorial!

Yet, despite my general uncraftiness I tend to get the bug every now and again around holidays. It probably has something to do with that darn Martha Stewart and her inexhaustible supply of "easy and simple" holiday crafts that are usually not nearly as simple as she makes them look, and I can almost always find a way to spoil.

But this time Martha was right. I can make homemade soap in the shape of cute little hearts for Valentine's Day. See:

I tried two different molding techniques and the first ones turned out too think and the second ones too thin, but at least now I know what I'm doing.

And making soap together provided great bonding time with my little lady--which cannot be said for the time I spend writing. After we set the soap aside to cool, Amelia and I sat on the kitchen floor, shared a bowl of popcorn and listened to a fabulous Ella Fitzgerald CD. It was a picture perfect morning.

And I actually finished something crafty. Hoorah, hoorah for me. I'll read my book tomorrow, I'll probably be in the mood then, right?

Love for Dan

2011-02-05T17:15:00.000-08:00

Friday was the Benefit Concert/Silent Auction for my cousin Dan Sloan, who recently had to have a large brain tumor removed. At the last minute--Wednesday afternoon to be exact--I decided that Pete should make one of his fancy cakes for the auction,and because he is Peter and quite possibly the most wonderful man in the modern world, he agreed to take on the project. That's the kind of guy he is.

We decided on a topsy turvy Valentine's Day cake, mainly because we had never done one before and wanted to try the technique. We should have planned more time for our learning curve; two days really wasn't enough. This was the most frustrating cake we've ever made; we had to re-do nearly every single step at least once. We had a couple very late nights working and reworking this cake. But in the end it was all worth it; we couldn't have asked for a better result.

Here are the pics:

Oh, and the cake did pretty well at the auction. We started the bidding at a very generous $75, and it ended up going for $300. Not too shabby. We were ecstatic to be able to bring in that much money for such a good cause.

The concert was great too; my cousin Joel Aldrich performed as well as a second cousin Rachael Cutler, as the lead singer for the band No Limits. (Incidentally, Rachael went to elementary school with Pete and had a monster crush on him for years. I haven't seen her for a very long time, so when Pete and I showed up together she was shocked to learn we were married. Ha! I win, I win!)

Anyway, the concert headliner was Jason Hewlett. I had never heard of him before so I didn't know what we were in for, but he put on a great show, better than I expected. He performed several celebrity musician impersonations, ranging from Elton John to Michael Jackson, and Bon Jovi to Jonny Cash. Hi-larious really. And my little girl L-O-V-E-D it. I think becoming a concert groupie is in her future. She danced the night away and never got tired even though we kept her out waaay past her bedtime.

I took this during the only ten seconds of the night she held still the whole night.

So, thanks, to my cousin Cassi for organizing the whole night, to Pete for being willing to work so hard on the cake, to the strangers who paid so much money for the cake, and to my Auntie Iris (Dan's Mom) for taking me shopping for new school shoes and clothes when I was ten. Lots of love to you all.

First Chapters

2011-02-02T21:18:00.000-08:00

I love to write first chapters. Often when I get a new idea for a book, or even just a character for a book, I write a first chapter. Then I can either put it away for a while and continue on whatever book I'm working on, or I can launch into a new project.

Or I just keep writing first chapters, which, honestly, is about 75 million times easier than seeing a project through to finish, which is probably the real reason I do it. I don't know how many first chapters I have waiting patiently in line for their turn to be the star of my attention.

I wrote a first chapter the other day that I particularly enjoy; the idea for the character came upon me as I was out for a run pushing my little girl in the jogging stroller, and trying not to freeze to death. The thing is, I'm afraid the voice is too similar to that in a series I've been reading on and off for a few years. I guess that's what first drafts are for--I like the idea/character too much to abandon her simply because she has a lookalike British cousin already taking up real estate on bookstore shelves.

Although I promise, promise that I am dutifully working away on my Bakery Romance I thought I'd include a tantalizing excerpt from my latest first chapter. Here you are, enjoy:

Welcome all my dear, dear, loyal fans to the first exciting edition of my memoir!

I’m guessing that you’re all wondering how I, at such a young and tender age, came to have the great foresight and wisdom that I should begin recording my memoirs for your own personal benefit? I will tell you; according to The Bombshell Manual of Style, an amazingly informative and insightful resource, all the great bombshells wrote memoirs. It is simply a fact of nature, and who am I to argue with nature? And who are you to argue with me? But let us not fight. I forgive you, and we will move forward.

First things first I suppose; I was born Meredith Louise Evans, though I realized early on that Meredith was not an appropriate name for someone like me, and Louise was even worse. I have tried on various names over the years in my search for the right name for myself, and let me tell you it can be ridiculously difficult to get people to call you Davinia or Desiree, even though these names are much more fitting of a person with my sparkling personality and natural charisma. Currently most people call me Meri and that will have to do until I get an agent; then he can spend all his time getting people to call me the right name. Whatever that may be.

Bombshells can come from a variety of family backgrounds, the Manual says, ranging from privileged and refined to undesirable and even traumatic. Marilyn’s mother was clinically insane so she was raised in a series of foster homes until she got married at fifteen just to escape being traded around like a re-gifted Christmas sweater. This gives me hope that I can aspire beyond the mundane and dreary life that my parents have created for me. My father is one of those baldish, intellectually-type people who sit in offices at universities and give fatally boring lectures on famous sewer systems—which makes me wonder how a sewer gets famous anyway?

My Mom doesn’t really do anything as far as I can tell; I mean she drives my little brothers around to karate and soccer and violin lessons and stuff, and she volunteers sometimes at their school, and she seems to be forever folding laundry, making dinner and doing dishes, but other than that she doesn’t do anything and she’s always complaining about how busy she is and how she has no time for herself. The woman appears to suffer from lack of vision and direction in my opinion, and she could seriously use a makeover.

My brothers are of the common, pesky variety, always employing their limited powers of reasoning to come with new ways to torture me and make my life miserable. Alex is nine and Gavin is ten, but everyone always thinks they’re twins. People stop my mom and say “Your boys are so darling, are they twins?” and mom smiles this sloppy smile and says,

“Why, no. They’re actually a year apart, but Alex is just getting so tall he looks older, doesn’t he?” Smile, smile, pat, pat, barf, barf.

One good thing about my family though is that I’m the only girl. This means that I get my own bedroom and bathroom with absolutely no competition. My BFF Callie has two older sisters and she never gets any bathroom time and has to wear their hand-me-downs all the time. I feel really bad for her, but such is life.

Hope you enjoyed the preview. At the rate I'm going I won't get around to finishing this book for ten + years, but, as all good things, I intend for it to be worth waiting for.

Snow Angel

2011-01-27T13:35:00.000-08:00

Took these great pics of my Babygirl--who isn't as such a baby anymore--playing in the snow. Oh, how I love them. Her. all of the above.

P.S. Look what I made for Valentine's Day:

Very crafty of me, huh? I found the template for it on Marthastewart.com. Only don't look too closely at it; it isn't a very professional example of the ancient German art of paper-cutting. But I felt very accomplished for making it. And festive.

Hating the things I Love

2011-01-24T11:59:00.000-08:00

I should be writing right now. I mean really writing. Writing like working hard on my novel, constructing complex and multi-dimensional characters who face unbelievable conflicts and are forced to make life altering decisions, but always maintaining a touch of humor.

But I don't want to.

I don't want to because I have a bit of a headache and my cranky, eczema afflicted toddler has finally gone down for a nap, and I even baked bread this morning, so can't I take a break? Don't I deserve a leisurely hour or two after being so productive and patient and domestic this morning?

No?

Sigh. All right. I'll do some writing. But only 500 words, that's it!

grrr.

Writing about Writing

2011-01-13T18:44:00.000-08:00

Right now I want to write about writing; because after all, Moi am a writer.

Depending on the day.

Anyway, I wanted to tell you all a bit about the project I currently have in the works. I'm doing this in hopes that writing about writing will re-excite me about my novel. You know, bring back that spark and motivate me to want to spend some quality (quantity) time together.

Side Note: the terms I'm using to describe my project have led me to the realization that my relationship with my novel is very much like a marriage--I won't say my marriage, that's grounds for giving too much info--just A marriage, and I'll tell you how; I love my project. I really do; that's why I committed to it in the first place. It's charming and funny and I enjoy spending time with it. But sometimes I get busy, and well, distracted. Then I start ignoring my novel so I can work on "more important things," and I think, "It can take care of itself for a while. Really, It won't even notice if I don't work on it for a few days. Or weeks."

But it notices. And gets moody. So then when I'm all geared up and ready for some prime writin' time, it refuses. Nothing comes. Sigh.

Then you have to work like the Dickens (Charles Dickens, in fact--who worked a lot at writing. If you don't believe me, read one of his books, any one will do; and you'll soon see what I mean) to get back on good terms with the novel. You know, reread previous material; freewrite; brainstorm, write pages upon pages of dribble, bake cookies; eat cookies; etc. until the novel is in a more congenial mood. (If you are guessing that this is precisely what I'm doing now, that is an astute observation.)

So, on to telling you about my masterpiece-in-progress (it can't hurt to flatter it a bit, can it? It works in marriages--so I've heard).

My novel is about a girl. Exciting, eh? Her name is Ginger. She is seventeen and lives in New York City where she works in the family bakery owned by her parents. Ginger has a knack for baking and can't imagine a happier life for herself than working in the bakery for the rest of her life and becoming a celebrated pastry chef like her father.

Ginger has an older sister (Rose) who is not interested in the bakery at all. In fact, Rose despises the bakery. She is extremely beautiful and ambitious (not necessarily in that order) and she is heavily involved in campaigning to reach her life's goal of becoming a supermodel. For real. Rose sees the family business as being 'small time," and a waste of time.

Ginger and Rose are very close despite their opposite personalities and Ginger has an immensely difficult time dealing with some drastic decisions Rose makes.

In the meantime, it is the summer between Ginger's Junior and Senior year in high school. She is working blissfully at the bakery full-time and trying to ignore the growing stack of college applications her father keeps piling in her bedroom. She has no desire to leave home, the bakery or her family for the unknowns of college. It is during this time that she meets Christian.

Christian is an amiable and disarming farm boy from Upstate New York who delivers fresh eggs to the bakery every week. Ginger is immediately attracted to him and a relationship develops between them that causes Ginger to question a lot of things about herself. This is the primary plotline that moves the novel.

While all of this is going on, Ginger becomes interested in reading the journals of immigrants who came to America in the early 1900's. She comes across the life story of an Irish girl (Margaret Murphy) and recognizes how much the two of them have in common despite being separated by over 100 years. The whole novel intersperses snippets of Margaret's journal with the experiences Ginger is having, comparing and contrasting them.

I can't tell you too much more about the story without spoiling it. But I hope it sounds interesting. I've certainly spent a lot of hours working on this, and am bound and determined to finish it.

Someday.

Hopefully when I do, it will be worth reading (or rather, publishing--which are two entirely different things, incidentally) and then you all will be able to know the whole story.

But for now, I have some serious writing to do.

Help a Cousin Out

2011-01-13T17:21:00.000-08:00

Hello Devoted Readers,

It has been a long time since I posted anything on this blog--I've been busy on many, many exciting projects (more about that later) but I have decided to break my prolonged silence for a good cause. A charitable cause, even.

No, really, it's a charity.

My cousin, Dan Sloan, recently discovered that he has a very large brain tumor that really ought to come out. That costs a pretty hefty chunk of change. In order to raise money for his surgery a benefit concert has been organized with 100% of the proceeds going toward his medical care. If you are in the Salt Lake area on February 4th and enjoy good entertainment, or if you are interested in donating to the cause see the poster below:

Or visit his website:

Olde Fashioned Tidwell Family Christmas

2011-01-01T13:10:00.000-08:00

Baking our favorite treats.

Visiting Temple Square with the fam.

Window shopping at the Grand America Hotel--where Pete and I spent the first two days of our honeymoon, incidentally.

Christmas Eve at Tad and Sarah's--where Paisley announced that she's going to be a big sister!

Christmas morning at home.

More spoiling at Grandma and Grandpa McKinlay's on Christmas Day.

The favorite gift of Christmas. Amelia positively squealed when she ripped back the paper and saw this baby doll and a stroller from Mimi and Bampa. She has rarely been parted from them since.

Exhausted after a long day of celebrating the season.

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a long night.

Christmas Party at Tidwell's

2010-12-14T12:48:00.000-08:00

Here are my favorite images from our Tidwell family Christmas party. My camera had a hard time dealing with how dark the room was, so the lighting on many of these is pretty strange. But I adore them anyway.

Amelia and her cousin Taebria are only about three months apart, though Taebria is much taller (and is much more advanced linguistically--I attribute that to her being a fifth child where Amelia is a first). They've only recently started playing and interacting, which I must say, is pretty darn cute.

And I love this one:

It's not as sharp as I would like (see above note about the light situation) but I love the colors and I think it captures a beautiful moment.

Thanks Mom and Dad Tidwell for a Christmas bash and photo op!

Saturdays Before Christmas

2010-12-12T20:26:00.000-08:00

We are getting ready. If the Grinch can't keep Christmas from coming neither can college professors, despite their determination to pour on excessive amounts of homework and their dedication to designing horrifying exams with the intent of keeping holiday cheer at bay until the last possible moment. We remain joyful and triumphant.

Saturdays have been our big days for Christmas-ing. And watching Cougar Basketball, which does as much for my holiday mood as anything. The last two Saturdays have been spent in Salt Lake City watching the Cougars play at the Energy Solutions Arena and heartily beating such teams as Hawaii and Arizona. Lovely.

Amelia is being properly raised in the way she should go so that when she is old she will be a Cougar fan. She loves the fight song and cheers "Rah, rah, rah" in the car all the time now.

After the basketball games the last two weeks, we've made our way over to the South Towne Expo Center for the Festival of Trees and the Elves Gift Show, respectively. I love the Festival of Trees; there's always so much color and creativity, and there's always at least one Harry Potter themed tree. Oh, and it's all for a good cause; Primary Children's Hospital kept my brother alive growing up, so depending on how much you like my brother that's either really heroic, or a dangerous liability. At any rate, the trees did not disappoint (but might I take this moment to comment that there were far too many Ute themed trees this year).

I had never attended the Elves Gift Show before, but I found a two for one deal, so we decided to give it a whirl. It wasn't as spectacular as I expected, but it provided for some cutie tootie photo ops, as follows:

The main reason we decided to go to the Elves Gift Show was to take the Babydoll to see Santa. She is quite taken with "Sanna" ever since she saw him from afar at the Festival of Trees. We thought she'd be overcome with joy at the opportunity to meet him. Well, she was overcome, but not so much with joy. This is as close as she'd get before melting down and screaming:

And yet, she was content to watch him from afar for a good portion of the evening.

Luckily, the Babes was less hysterical at our ward Christmas breakfast when Santa made an appearance, and she was gracious enough to sit on his lap for a photo, though her generosity did not extend so far as to smile.

So Christmas really is coming to our house. We welcome and embrace it, at least on Saturdays when Daddy isn't too busy with finals to come home from the library.

Thanksgiving Stuff n' Such

2010-11-29T12:14:00.000-08:00

Okay, first things first; for those of you wondering if I ACTUALLY went for a run on Thanksgiving morning, the answer is a resounding YES! I did. And I coerced my husband and child into coming with me. It was freezing, I think the temperature had dropped to about 13 degrees Fahrenheit (which is -10.5 degrees Celsius for you metric people) so we were chilly. In fact the poor babes cried for about 15 minutes when we got home because her hands were thawing out and it was painful.

But we went.

And guess what else we did that morning? We sold Pete's car. Hooray! He's been trying to sell his Volkswagen GTI for months and we finally found a buyer, and on Thanksgiving Day. How appropriate.

Later that afternoon we went over to Pete's parents house for a laid back Thanksgiving Dinner. Not many people were able to make it because of illnesses and schedule conflicts, so we were a small group. I really enjoyed having a more intimate party, we all sat at the same table and I was able to see and speak to every person there. Amelia got to play with her cousin Paisley and all the adults played games after dinner.

The girls caught some quality Sesame Street on Uncle Tad's iPhone.

We headed to my parents house later for dessert and chitchat. Of all my siblings only my brother was able to come home for dinner, so it was a pretty low key Thanksgiving, but that only makes me more excited for Christmas when more people will be around. We did, however, catch my sisters Danielle and Allysann on Skype, so it was almost like they were there.

Here's Amelia talking to her Aunt Deedee.

A week or so ago we got a Kohl's ad in the mail featuring a blonde model that Amelia was convinced was her Aunt Deedee. She got very upset when I threw the ad away a couple days later, and kept peering into the garbage can calling "Aunt Deedee? Aunt Deedee?" She has finally stopped looking for Aunt Deedee in the garbage and calls to her in the computer now instead.

And on Saturday we put up our Christmas tree.

I almost canceled Christmas decorating on Saturday because of the DEVASTATING outcome of the BYU Utah football game, but eventually I decided that Christmas was more important. While we decorated the tree we listened to the Cougar basketball team beating St. Mary's and winning the South Padre Island invitational on the radio, so that helped me to feel some Christmas cheer.

Amelia hasn't left the Christmas tree for anything other than eating and sleeping since we put it up. I have a feeling this is going to be a magical Christmas season with my girl this year.

Holiday Cheer

2010-11-23T12:12:00.001-08:00

I've been thinking a lot lately about how I want to celebrate the holidays with my own little family. For several years, either school or work have been so crazy and hectic around this time of year that the holidays have kind of flown by and I've barely gotten any celebrating in at all. Now that I'm a dedicated stay-at-home-for-real-mamma, I plan to rectify the situation. In style.

I've started compiling a list of holiday traditions that I feel can really help capture the spirit and meaning of the holidays for us. Some of these I've "borrowed" from friends and family--so if you see something that looks familiar on here, thanks for the idea. I probably got it from you.

And please feel free to add any meaningful traditions or activities you can think of; this certainly isn't an exhaustive list.

Thanksgiving:

1. Go for a family run on Thanksgiving morning. This may not sound like a great idea on a crazy, hectic morning when there is so much "stuff" to do, but if you are largely going to be spending the day feasting--and who doesn't love a good feast--and lounging watching football, you may be glad you did. Went for a run, I mean.

2. Post a Grateful List on the refrigerator at the beginning of Thanksgiving week and add to it throughout the next few days. Some people like to write things they are thankful for on slips of paper and keep them in a jar. That's great too, but I prefer to have them posted where I can see them.

3. Read the Thanksgiving Story. Most Christian families read, and even act out, the Christmas Story on Christmas Eve to help their kids keep in touch with the true meaning/reason for Christmas. Reading the Thanksgiving Story can have the effect of reminding us that Thanksgiving is really about showing our gratitude to God and celebrating blessings, not merely gorging on fabulous rolls and pies. Those are considerable perks however . . .

4. Write Thank You letters as a family. It is, after all, a holiday of thankfulness. Thanking the people who make a difference in our lives is entirely appropriate.

5. Allow each child to be in charge of preparing a dish (age appropriate). This year I'm going to have Amelia help make our cranberry punch.

Christmas

1. Have a count down to Christmas with bedtime stories. Whether it's 12 days, 25 days, or whatever, read one Christmas story every night until Christmas Eve to help kids get in the spirit. (By the way, I'm accepting Christmas book recommendations to help me implement this one.)

2. Participate in Sub for Santa or Angel Tree programs. We've done this the past two years and I can honestly say it has been the most memorable part of Christmas for Peter and myself each year.

3. Decorate with homemade decorations; paper snowflakes, gingerbread men and/or houses, string pop corn, make tree ornaments from favorite photos and toys, string up Christmas cards. There are countless resources for homemade decoration ideas online, but my favorite is of course the Queen Maven, Martha Stewart.

4. Visit Temple Square if you live in Utah, or some other light festival if you don't. My family has done this every year that I can remember (except that Christmas I spent in Northern Ireland) and I'm not sure Christmas could really come if we didn't.

5. In keeping with remembering that Christmas is really about Christ, I like the idea of allowing each child to pick out a small, inexpensive picture of Jesus to keep in their room as the first gift of the season. (With Amelia's tract record, we'll be lucky if the picture makes it to Christmas Day.)

6. Christmas pedicures! We'll do these at home, I'm not about to pay to take my toddler to the salon. But I love the idea!

7. My very favorite thing that my in-laws did with their children was that the kids made homemade nativity scenes. Then they put them away and gave them to each child on their first Christmas with their spouse. The nativity set we have is one my husband made when he was four years old--I bet it's the only nativity set in the world that includes, elephants, a rhinoceros, snakes, and a beaver.

This is what I have come up with, of course adding in holiday baking, music, and all the indispensable Christmas movies. And I'm planning on recreating a cute Christmas advent calendar that I saw at Pottery Barn last year and couldn't afford to buy. Oh, and you can bet I'll take many many millions of photos of my child and probably post too many of them here, but then, that's what mommy blogging is all about.

Happy Holidaying!

Letter to my MC

2010-11-22T11:57:00.000-08:00

Dear Ginger,

I wish I knew you better. I feel confident that you are a great girl but every time I feel like I’m getting a handle on your character, you come out with something totally different. I know what you want. I know what obstacles you face. I’m just not entirely sure how you go about dealing with them. Would you mind cluing me in? This could be a really mutually beneficial relationship you know.

I do enjoy your sense of humor; I wish you would allow it to shine through more often. That is one of my goals for you. I also appreciate your vivid imagination and daydreams. You are a smart kid and have a lot of potential. Please get in touch with me soon so I can get a clear vision of exactly who you are, it would save us both a lot of time and frustration.

Warmest regards,

Charlotte

Yet Another Reason why BYU is the Best

2010-11-21T17:47:00.000-08:00

How much do I love this? A very great deal.

Destiny is calling, and I'm scared to answer.

2010-11-09T10:55:00.000-08:00

I am afraid of research. I finally wrote through a block in my story yesterday, but if I accept the direction it seems to want to take I'll have to do a TON of research and to me that means risking sounding like I don't know what I'm talking about because how do I know when I've done enough research? Sigh.

It also means that my story may turn out a bit heavier than I originally intended, which is good and bad. Good because I'm not a big fan of reading fluff, so why should I write it? Bad because I think fluff is easier to write and I just want to get through this novel so I can have one finished and learn from the experience. Then I can write heavier stuff because I'll be wise and experienced and know how to deal with myself as a writer, listen to my characters, craft brilliant plotlines and handle editors.

Do I take the path of research and risk sounding like an ignorant poser writer, or do I stick to the fluff and get 'er done? I think I know the answer to that. But I'm starting to not recognize the project I initially set out to complete and I can't decide whether or not I'm okay with that. As a writer, shouldn't I have some measure of control? Or do I just teach correct principles and trust that my characters will govern themselves to the best possible end?

Writing is harder than people think it is. I should get paid for this.

Cake for an 18th Birthday

2010-11-02T16:27:00.000-07:00

Pete has been going through cake art withdrawals since he's been too busy with work and school to play in the kitchen as much as he'd like, so he was ecstatic when this cake was commissioned. It is for an 18th birthday for the daughter of a friend of his.

He's getting quite profesh, don't you think?

Looking Good in the Hood

2010-11-02T16:03:00.000-07:00

Halloween in Utah County was a bust. It rained all evening, and even when it wasn't raining it was cold and windy. So I didn't get any good pics of my girl living it up trick-or-treat style. Luckily, I did make the effort to take some photos of the babe in costume at the lovely American Fork Amphitheater, I mean I had to document my first ever homemade Halloween costume (the cape and hood, not the dress--the dress actually came back from someone's trip to Austria and has been in my family at least since Kait and Ally were little enough to wear it. Lucky us.)

Here are some of my favorite shots of Little Red at her best:

Picking our Pack of Pickled Pumpkins

2010-10-27T21:02:00.000-07:00

Just kidding, they weren't pickled. But it was fun/freezing to go back to Pumpkin Land--the pumpkin patch of my childhood--to buy our pumpkins. The wagon shopping carts were a hit.

I love this photo by the way.

Pumpkin carving for FHE has been one of the most successful lessons we've had; I may start carving scripture stories onto the sides of pumpkins in the future.

I helped Amelia carve a bat into her pumpkin and Pete carved very spooky talons into his. I tried to use a power drill a la Martha Stewart to turn my pumpkin into one of her "celestial luminaries" but it didn't work very well. Our drill bit was too small, so I settled for just the candle instead.Here is the finished product:

Happy Halloween from the Tidwells!

Eyes

2010-10-27T20:51:00.000-07:00

I asked the Dollface what she was drawing today and this is the look she gave me:

I guess if I'm not mature enough to appreciate her art she can't be bothered explaining it to me.

Fall Fest at the Farm

2010-10-21T21:05:00.000-07:00

Babydoll and I visited cousins in Springville and they introduced us to a little farm and pumpkin patch in their neighborhood. (Thanks Em!)

There were animals (sheep, donkeys, goats, a llama and a baby kangaroo or wallaby thingy)

Lots of hay (which, you'll notice, matched Amelia's hair quite nicely)

A tractor

And pumpkins.

And here's my favorite pic of the day:

Just because.

Adventures in Pumpkin Land

2010-10-20T21:06:00.000-07:00

I took the little doll to Pumpkin Land to search for the Great Pumpkin. She was happy enough to dive into the pumpkin patch, soaking up all that sincerity and whatnot,

until she realized that she could not get back up. Then she panicked.

But I saved her from an untimely demise by pumpkin. After that she stayed a bit more aloof, keeping the pumpkins firmly beneath her feet.

We love the Great Pumpkin.

Picturesque Picnic

2010-10-18T20:33:00.001-07:00

As promised, here are a few of the family pictures we had taken a while ago. I've seen probably a dozen versions of the family in the orchard photo shoot, so I wanted to do it a little bit differently. I decided a picnic with beautiful food and lots of bright colors was just what we needed to make our family photos different and memorable.

Reading, Writing and Family Photos

2010-10-12T10:33:00.000-07:00

No time to post much, I finished re-reading The Hunger Games last night and started right into Catching Fire so I can finally get to Mockingjay--I know, I must be the last person in the world to read it, and I still have to write my 1,000 words on my novel while the girlins naps. Busy, busy.

But if you want to see a preview of the family portraits we had taken last month, visit the photography blog of the ever talented Lesley Colvin, and then feel the frustration that Les has moved to New York and isn't available to take your family portraits too. Unless of course you live in New York, in which case you should call her.

I'll post a few of my favorite photos on this blog as soon as we get the CD, promise!

My Heart Books

2010-10-06T20:43:00.000-07:00

A while ago my husband shared with me a Weezer song called Heart Songs in which the lyrics list the artists and specific songs that influenced, inspired and directed Weezer’s musical career. I’m not a singer, and I don’t really have a lot of Heart Songs that make me who I am. But I have Heart Books. Books I feel so poignantly about that they have become part of me; that after reading them I could never be quite the same.

Tonight I finished re-reading To Kill a Mockingbird for the seventeenth time. I picked it up a few days ago because I had nothing new or interesting to read and I was trying to fill time until my Mom would hurry up and finish Mockingjay already and pass it on to me. I was looking for a distraction. Instead I was reminded why To Kill a Mockingbird is my all-time favorite book (outside of canonized scripture, of course). I had to wipe tears from my eyes so I could focus properly to read the last few pages. There are some passages in that book that are so beautiful they make my heart hurt in a way I can't really define.

Maybe it’s because the adventures with Jem, Scout and Atticus are over. Possibly it’s because I know I’ll never be able to write something that breathtaking.

Last week I attended a reading with Newberry Honor author Gary Schmidt (The Wednesday Wars, Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy). He’s brilliant. I love his work; a true master of voice and character. When someone asked him about his writing process he said many things, one of which was, “Never be in a hurry. Your writing is never served by being in a hurry.”

Sometimes I am in a hurry. I get frustrated with how slow writing is, and think, “If I was really any good at this it wouldn’t be so hard for me.” I am wrong. Gary says he never writes more than 500 words a day. With 500 words he is able to maintain a level of quality that keeps his books honest and from the heart. At that pace, words mean something. There is a great deal of thought and care that goes into every single one of those words, and it shows; they are beautiful.

I don’t know how long it took Harper Lee to write To Kill a Mockingbird, but I do know it was the only book she ever wrote. Her life’s work.

And so I have decided something; I don’t have to be a prolific or well know writer. It doesn’t matter if I only ever publish one book, as long as that book is as charming, as funny, as heartbreaking and as stirring as my Heart Books, as an author, I will be an earth shattering success.

What We've Been Up To

2010-09-29T20:31:00.000-07:00

Coloring with crayons.

Sunday morning snuggles.

Chilling in Dad's car

Playing at the park.

Wearing gorgeous Italian shoes.

So life is good.

Charlotte the PR Princess

2010-09-28T11:02:00.000-07:00

I think I offended one of my visiting teachers today. She was politely asking me about my transition from New York City life to small town Utah life (I guess she forgot the part when I told her I'm from Utah County and we only lived in New York for a summer).

I made some careless remark about how the two are completely different worlds and illustrated my point by saying that the other day our neighbor up the street had a deer carcass slung across the back of his car, and that when I drove by he waved a dismembered hoof at me in what he must have thought was a friendly and comical gesture. (The neighbor, not the deer--the deer was clearly unable to wave anything on his own accord.)

My VT replied with a tight-lipped "My husband and all my kids are hunters, they all have tags this year." (I don't know what a tag is, but I imagine it somehow makes it legal for people to roam the woods and shoot things.)

Sorry.

At least I didn't launch into an anti-hunting tirade (I do have one prepared in case I ever need one).

At the Car Wash

2010-09-25T16:04:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday Pete and I decided that our cars were way past due for a scrubbing. Out came the buckets, sponges and hoses and went to work cleaning off months of caked on summer dirt. Amelia was inspired by our car washing efforts and decided her "truck" needed a bath too. She babies her wheels just like her daddy.

On an entirely different note, I'm pretty excited about the new novel I'm working on. For those of you whom I haven't told, I actually decided to write a (gasp) romance. I think I promised myself at one point that I'd never do that, because, let's be honest, how many romance novels have you ever read that have really changed your life? Or that you even remember three months down the road? Not many in my reader's history.

But this one isn't just going to be a romance. It will have a romance in it, but it's also the story of a family (I always write about families). It is set in New York City (surprise, surprise) probably in Greenwich Village. It's a bakery romance. A feel good, light, hopefully charming, and if I'm lucky, witty romance. And I'm ambitiously hoping to juxtapose a past and present element to the story. A then and now historical parallelism.

It's nothing like the novel I've been working on off and on (more off than on) for two years. Did I finish that novel? Don't ask. But I will. Maybe. It has too many scenes that I love too much to forget about completely. So likely, yes I will finish it. When I am struck with the brilliance to do it right. Until then, I'm enjoying light and happy romance.

So far the BR (bakery romance) consists of a loose plot outline, five solid chapters, several pages of notes and a recipe. Tons of dirty writing (as in rough draft, come on people) left to do and a good deal of research. But oh, so exciting! Please bless I stay motivated and actually finish this one!

Nicknames

2010-09-16T20:47:00.000-07:00

Is it really any wonder I call this baby "Dollface"?

She is every inch my little Dollface.

Huge, Amazing, Earth-shattering Announcement

2010-09-15T11:33:00.000-07:00

At least it is to our family. You ready for it?

Here it is: Pete got a job offer from L'Oreal, and we decided to accept it.

Do you realize what this means? I'll make a list of exactly what it means:

1. Despite the less than joyous economy, my husband has a job waiting for him when he graduates. A rather good job. A career-type job working for a fortune 500 company in New York City. (I heard on the news a few days ago that for every job posting in the U.S. there are an average of 250 applicants. Having a job with a huge international corporation waiting for you while still in school is unheard of right now.)

2. We'll have really good health, dental and vision coverage (hooray for vision coverage--we don't have the best track record in that area).

3. We'll be moving back to the East Coast; always a dream of mine.

4. We'll be much much closer to my sister Sharon and her cute baby--Amelia can grow up with her cousin!

5. I'll cash in big time on free and half price beauty products from a huge range of names, like Ralph Lauren, Yves Saint Laurent, Lancome and of course L'Oreal. If I play my cards right I could fend off fine lines and wrinkles for the rest of my life.

6. We'll be able to save for a house.

7. I'll be living only minutes away from the best theaters, shopping and museums in the country.

8. FOOD. We'll be living in a Food Network addict's nirvana.

9. I'll be closer to the center of the publishing scene so I'll be able to pursue my writing career more closely.

10. We'll be missionaries. I have a feeling this is the main reason God is sending us to New York anyway. I always knew Pete was destined to be very involved in missionary work; he's just too good at it. I'll have to step up and do the same.

So, as you can see, this job means a lot of things to our family. We're just so relieved to have made the decision (believe it or not it took us two weeks of debating a too-good-to-be-true job offer before deciding to accept it) and to have a plan.

And we are so grateful. Thank you, thank you Heavenly Father.

Living in Utah and Having a Yard

2010-09-11T11:56:00.000-07:00

Amelia is very taken with our new yard. It isn't really that big, but it serves as a stark contrast to our New York apartment on the fifth floor with no grass anywhere in sight. This is my typical view from the living room at any waking hour of the day:

On this particular day it happened to be raining lightly and the babes was pretty sure rain gutters were invented for her to soak her shoes under.

Her other favorite yard activity is driving in her car; or rather being pushed around in her "truck" as she calls it. We're outside playing in her car every day, pushing Amelia all over the driveway and back patio while she honks the horn and shouts "beep beep!" I guess she learned that one in New York, 'cause I never taught her that.

And the last thing Meli-buttons has discovered the yard is good for is hosting parties. She loves for Grandma and Grandpa to come over and bring their dog (Uncle Ernie) who isn't allowed in the house.

Being back in Utah has reminded me of all the things I love about the place I grew up and it's fun to be where I can let my child play outside barefoot and run through grass. Enjoy it while it lasts baby girl, who knows where we'll be next year?

Farewell to Central Park

2010-09-08T20:41:00.000-07:00

Here are a few of my favorite photos of our last afternoon in Central Park. I'm going to miss that place. These were all taken in the Bethsaida Terrace area, one of our favorite places in Central Park.

And here's one of me; I was there too.

Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Grey Bridge

2010-09-06T12:32:00.000-07:00

Have you ever heard of the classic 1950's storybook of The Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Grey Bridge? I hadn't either. But it exists, and the lighthouse the story was based on is located in Washington Heights, about a mile from where Pete and I lived this summer. We took Amelia to visit the sight memorialized in this charming tale of bravery and stalwart vigilance.

She wasn't as taken with the lighthouse as I would have wished, but she certainly enjoyed playing in the rocks on the grounds.

What delighted me the most wasn't the lighthouse either, or the bridge or even the rocks; my favorite part of the excursion was the appearance of Little Toot himself, immortalized by the Andrews Sisters.

Meanwhile, Back in NY . . .

2010-09-06T11:43:00.000-07:00

Every year for Pete's birthday I try to come up with something creative to make the celebration memorable. This year we went to a Yankee's Game. (Sorry to all you fundamentalist Rod Soxers,but we were in New York. What's more New Yorkish than the Yankees?)

Ironically enough, the Yanks were playing the Seattle Mariners, which is the team Pete grew up watching, so we didn't even know beforehand which team we were there supporting. But it really is more fun to support the home team, especially if they're winning, and so we cheered for the Yankees.

Speaking of their home, have you ever been to Yankee Stadium? My goodness, it almost felt like hallowed ground.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not becoming the world's most psycho Yankee fan; anyone who's heard my spiel about professional sports knows that I am disenchanted with the whole industry. I feel like if athletes get paid too many millions to play a game it losses its soul and becomes a (corrupt) business venture rather than a sport. But some of the best baseball players to swing bats have been Yankees. And baseball is a nostalgic piece of our country's heritage. Some of my favorite all-time books and movies about growing up in America involve hero worshiping great baseball players--think The Sand Lot, Al Capone does my Shirts, The Wednesday Wars, Bat 6, A League of their Own and The Old Man and the Sea.

Of course, this wasn't the stadium that the Yankees played in, not the legends like Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe Dimaggio and Micky Mantle. It's a new stadium, less than a year old, but it's been designed as a monument to the greats as much as a venue for the current team to play in. That's probably what I enjoyed about the game the most.

Pete, well he just loves the game. Which is precisely what made it the perfect birthday celebration for him. Happy 28 Sweetbaby!

McKinlay Family Conference 2010

2010-09-04T20:53:00.000-07:00

If you're wondering where I've been for the last little while the answer is; all over the map. Pete, Amelia and I moved from New York back to good old Utah County, and good thing too, because we were just in time for the 2010 McKinlay Family Conference.

One of the events of the weekend was a Tea Party, and I think the Babes could get used to this business of bottomless cookies. Even if it means she has to wear a ridiculous party hat.

More photos and updates to come soon, hooray for finally being online!

Nautical New York

2010-08-23T15:21:00.000-07:00

Another day of our ramblings through the city brought us to the Brooklyn Bridge and the South Seaport. It's surprising how you can still find scenes like these surrounding such a busy, modern city as New York.

And here we are at the Brooklyn Bridge. This trip evoked fond memories of watching Newsies in elementary school with my sister and our friends; they all had a crush on Spot Collins (I maintain I did not--but really, who knows? I can't remember who I had a crush on when). "Let's hear it for Brooklyn!"

I do remember that now I have a crush on Pete. And photographic proof.

SoHo Safari

2010-08-19T18:56:00.000-07:00

Now that Pete is finished with his internship (which went so well by the way) we are officially on vacation. We decided to spend some time wandering around different areas of the city that we hadn't as yet ventured into, SoHo being the first. We'd heard that SoHo was a really artsy area of town. This is what we found:

Artistic indeed.

My Little Prodigy

2010-08-19T18:01:00.000-07:00

As we are getting ready to move to a new place in Utah there are a few things about New York I think Amelia is really going to miss; her morning music time is definitely among them.

Food for Thought: Real Food = Real Thought

2010-08-17T15:49:00.000-07:00

Those of you who know Pete and me personally know that we are Food People. (I hesitate to call ourselves "foodies" as I think that term is jealously guarded by a small, elite, and militant group of individuals who would probably eschew us with a firm hand based on the fact that we have eaten at Arby's by choice in the last six months. I can't give up the curly fries.) But we love food. And we love to make food and get really excited about trying new foods.

And I've been thinking about food a lot lately. Individuals and cultures have largely defined themselves in terms of diet and cuisine since the first pot of neolithic stew made it's unfortunate appearance. We're lucky early man didn't give up on cultivating his palate right then and there. So, defining ourselved using what we cook and eat as criteria, who are we as Americans? I'm not sure we know. Probably cheap, fast and easy. Hooray.

Oh, and did I mention that I've been readying Michael Pollan lately? This book:

Brilliant stuff. I am starting to believe it should be required reading in all college and university health courses. I know I will never think about food (particularly supermarket food) the same way.

So with the influences of the Food Network, Michael Pollan and all the different food cultures that New York has to offer swirling around in my nose and my brain, I've been making a more conscious effort to be actively aware of what I eat, and more to the point, what exactly is in what I eat.

Tonight Pete and I took a step in reclaiming our freedom from the extensive and unpronounceable ingredient lists found on typical packaged foods that are more reminiscent of a science lab than a kitchen, and made homemade tortillas for our Mexican dinner. Delicious. I'm so energized by the success. And it wasn't even hard!

Now, I'm not going to get all crazy and utterly refuse to eat anything that has been in the slightest bit processed or lacks sufficient nutritional information, especially as a guest. It seems impractical, and besides I quite agree with the French who believe that having special dietary requirements is bad manners. But I am committed to eating as locally and seasonally as possible. Not necessarily organically, or vegan, or even vegetarian. Just fresh and local. With myself (or Pete) being the chief preparers of food. Sticking to these guidelines, I believe, will help us to stay healthier, learn to live better, and attune us to enjoying the truly finer things in life.

Now I need to find a good local Farmer's Market in Manhattan.

One Year and One Half

2010-08-16T17:59:00.000-07:00

It's true. The Babe is officially 18 months old.

What was once my sweet little bundle of newborn cuddliness is now an independent and grown up girl complete with electronic gadgets and fashion accessories.

To celebrate the occasion Pete made his signature Key Lime pie; a bit sophisticated for a toddler, but then, she's a sophisticated young lady, as you can see from the photos:

Following the pie demolition, the Half Birthday Girl required a bath. I love these bath time pics (no worries, she's decent--at least for at her age).

And because milestones like this make me a tad sentimental, I want to share some updates on Miss Amelia Rose.

Amelia is a happy, happy girl. She has limitless confidence and will talk to anyone and everyone. She especially loves to make new friends on the subway and in elevators.

Amelia loves music and will stop what she's doing and dance whenever she hears music. TV commercials, opera in the park, street entertainers, break dancers on a street corner, it doesn't matter she'll dance along. She also loves to play on the keyboard in our apartment, pounding along with the pre-recorded songs.

Amelia loves Indian food, Mexican food, Italian food, and anything spicy or sweet.

Amelia loves shoes and actually loves to shop for shoes too. When my sister was in town and we went to Daffy's to find discount designer baby shoes for my niece, Amelia went nuts piling the stroller high with shoes from the shelves. Poor Caroline was buried under all of Amelia's selections. She also loves to try on my shoes and wear them around the house.

Amelia loves jewelry and will make friends with whoever is wearing the most glitz at church so she can play with their jewels.

Amelia loves things that smell good, and will carry my lotions and perfumes around the house sniffing them loudly.

Amelia loves other babies; "baby" is probably her favorite word at the moment (doggie, daddy, please and sippie being close seconds).

This girl is pure sunshine and Pete and I are crazy about her. Happy 1/2 birthday Sweet Baby!

Strolling at the Park

2010-08-14T18:48:00.000-07:00

We spend a lot of our days at local parks. Here's the latest collection of park pics.

One thing I love about NYC parks is that most of them have water areas for kids to play in. This is especially nice since it's so blasted hot in Manhattan in the summer and the thought of taking the babyface to a public swimming pool here is a bit unsettling. (Who knows what's in the water??) So an alternative way to cool off is appreciated.

Cookies Please Mamma

2010-08-14T18:37:00.000-07:00

Sorry baby, not until after your dinner.