I'm just wild about ...

... Harry.

The concert tonight at Red Rocks was outstanding. His band was on fire, and he brought Lucien Barbarin, who plays a mesmerizing jazz trombone. Barbarin was even working it on the stage, lying sultrily across the top of Harry's Steinway & Sons black piano during a rendition of Basin Street Blues. They both sang. Truly a riot.

Harry made jokes ("Boy it sure is hot out here." The temp was in the 50s.), walked across the stage like a drunken sailor while showing us all how they dance in New Orleans, got sentimental about his hometown and the Musicians' Village, played three different pianos and even tried his hand(s) at the bongos.

He sang Jambalaya On The Bayou, directing his big band to "laissez les bon temps SWING, MAN!" He even threw in a reference to his wife, Jill, in the same song.

And during a super jazzy version of Didn't He Ramble, in which the 50-year-old Barbarin also sang a few bars, Harry busted out "Fish don't fry in the kitchen, beans don't burn on the grill. Took a whole lotta tryin', just to get up that hill."

Oh, and the best part?

We were about 10-15 feet away from the stage in the third row. Quite amazing.

Blast from the past

Today I saw a real, live lemonade stand! And they were troopers, sitting on the corner in Montbello in high winds. As far as I could tell, it was two young girls and two adults, perhaps Mom and Dad?

Didn't we all want to run a lemonade stand when we were younger? But this one was pretty high-tech, if memory serves (when the days of a plastic pitcher full of the lemony concoction and Dixie cups atop a card table was all it took, and enough coins in the bank to make change).

It was equipped with two five-gallon jugs, rows of disposable plastic cups and a wooden framing around the table area, all painted lemon yellow with black LEMONADE lettering at the top.

I was just dying to see how much they were charging for one cup!

Gabby rules

Either that's her slogan, or she makes up her own "rules" along the way, my youngest cat is just rotten to the core. But I love 'er!

Goofing around the other day, she looked so playful standing next to the little "fun fur" mouse I crocheted for her.


Then with a flick of her tail -- it has a mind of it's own, you know -- she let out a gurgly, chirpy meow and dashed under the bed. If this is her idea of hiding, she had better rethink it. Every time I see this (and she does it often), I tap on her tail with my toe. She doesn't like that.

iPods, on your mark

I'm borrowing this task from another fellow blogger. Thanks J.

Instructions:
1. Put your music player on shuffle.
2. Press forward for each question.
3. Use the song title as the answer to the question even if it doesn’t make sense. (I cheated here by skipping the iTrip stations that came up...to be fair, only two did.)

How do you feel today? Battleflag - Lo-Fidelity Allstars
What's your outlook on life? Winter Wonderland - Harry Connick Jr.
What does your family think of you? Greenbacks - Ray Charles
What do your friends think of you? Awakening - Michael Mandrell
What do your exes think of you? It Had To Be You - Harry Connick Jr. (instrumental)
How's your love life? I Can Help - Billy Swan
How will your love life be in the future? Fallin' - Alicia Keys
Are you good at school? Disappear - Hoobastank
Will you be successful? Here Comes The Hotstepper - Ini Kamoze
What song should they play at your birthday? The Jitterbug - Harry Connick Jr.
What song should they play at your graduation? Perfect - Alanis Morissette
The soundtrack of your life? Do Dat Thing - Harry Connick Jr.
You and your best friends are? U Can't Touch This - McHammer
Happy times? Weed With Willie - Toby Keith
Sad times? Juke Box Blues - Reese Witherspoon
Every day? Corazonado - Ricky Martin
For tomorrow? Aye Davanita - Pearl Jam
For you? Used To Love U - John Legend
What does the next year have in store for you? Science of Beauty podcast (attraction, puberty, hormones, etc.) - Science Channel
What do you say when life is too hard? Mr. Sunshine - Lori McKenna
What do you want as a career? Nowhere With Love - Harry Connick Jr.
Your favorite saying? U Got It Bad - Usher
How will you die? Ballad of Spider John - Jimmy Buffett (who has arachnaphobia here?!)

Just passing it on

Have a good and "Funnellicious" day.

That's coming straight from the dry-erase board in front of the Funnelicious snack stand at the People's Fair. Not only did the vendor offer funnel cakes, soft pretzels and meatballs on a stick were also for sale.

Belly movement update

OK, after Sunday's post, I haven't felt anything else.

But here is how it went down. I was taking a little walking break with a coworker, and about five paces away from the lobby door to the street, I felt a huge whack on the inside of my belly button.

One kick, punch, stretch. That was it. I explained the feeling to someone, and they discounted it as gas. I've never had gas that felt like that (and was so short-lived..haha). Anyway, after being stopped in my tracks, I waited about 15 seconds and still no movement. I waited all night. Went home and laid still, again, waiting. Still five days later, nothing. I guess I have to be patient.

My nurse practitioner said I should be feeling movement at about 20-22 weeks, and I just passed the 18-week mark yesterday. Still, I made notes of the "movement" and hopefully I'll know what it really feels like soon!

In another weird feeling last week, I felt a silly "ripping" sensation on my tummy. I thought I sprouted my first stretch mark (lovely), but when I got home I didn't see anything (and still no signs of the pesky little buggers). Ladies, it felt like a nylon run. Imagine a big rip in your pantyhose, running up your leg. That's what I felt on my stomach. Weird, I know!

Neon goofs

So I was driving home from work and many many things caught my eye.

First, it was at a salon next to my work. Then there was another one in a convenience store. Yet another one in a storefront on Broadway.

They were neon signs, advertising "OPEN" when the stores clearly were not at 12:30 a.m. After working in my family's restaurant and closing a few times, I learned the one thing we were not to forget is turning off the "open" sign. I guess it's a pet peeve of mine now.

It also is worth mentioning the convenience store on Lincoln is called "Snack Attack." That reminds me of one of my favorite recent Saturday Night Live skits. Click the link below and enjoy...(boy, those cupcakes look good)!

Lazy Sunday skit

I think ...

...I felt the baby move! More on this later!

Fear factor

My worst fear still is having another miscarriage. After learning another dear friend on one of my grief and loss message boards is losing her baby at 12 weeks, I realize lightning can strike twice. (In my case, three times...) The only words I can muster is, "It's not FAIR!"

I used to get so angry at girls/women who found themselves with unwanted pregnancies. There are good women all across the world -- at least three women I hold dear to my heart -- who cannot bear their own children. And they want to. Desperately. When I went through each of my losses, I felt like I saw pregnant ladies everywhere. I got mad. I didn't understand this anger. Why are they round and happy when I've lost three angel babies in nine months? It's just part of this cruel but necessary process of grieving.

Nobody should ever have to lose a baby, but it happens, and that just makes me relish in the fact this pregnancy is relatively easy. I say easy because I'm less worried about the things I cannot control. I can do all I can up to a point, as in eating right, not doing any heavy lifting, driving safe, getting enough rest. But the things that are out of my hands are exactly that. Out. Of. My. Hands.

So this morning, I cozied up with my rented Doppler again, not sure if I should send it back by the first of the month or keep it a little longer. As I pressed the wand a few inches below my belly button, there it was. My little baby's heart beat chugging along, sounding anywhere between a galloping horse, to a light "thump, thump, thump". My sister-in-law described it as sounding like shaking a piece of sheet metal (she's right!). I've described it as a "swoosh/swish" noise. Just as I steadied the wand in place, the heartbeat grew stronger and louder, then it waned. Then I heard a noise -- the baby doing a flip or a turn? -- I guess I won't know. But s/he was moving around in there, dodging the wand then cozying right up next to it, as if to say, "Look, Ma, I can swim and do somersaults and move around all I want to in here."

It made me smile. It also made me be thankful for what I've got here. This miracle of pregnancy never ceases to amaze me.

The Bunnski

I have to get a picture of this today when I walk by, but yesterday, I saw a little sticker dressing up the blue mail box on the southeast corner of 12th and Bannock.

It's a picture of a rabbit on top of "THE BUNNSKI" lettering. On the upper-right corner is a blank text bubble, like in a comic strip. Does this mean you fill in the blank as to what the bunnski is going to say?!

I Googled it ("the Bunnski", exactly) to see what came up, and there's one photo on Flickr with the Bunnski trio -- three of the same stickers affixed to a window above some very creative lettering. Check it out.

Edit: As you can see, I got those snapshots!

Dream weaver

In the past week, I've had the most odd dreams! Here's a sampling, and just in case you wondered, it's one of the symptoms of pregnancy.

1. A home invasion. C. and I were in our townhome, but there were "people" there watching us. They didn't hurt us, just terrified the crap out of me. So we were trying to create a diversion, find a way to get out of the house. Since they had turned out the power, I had this idea that we light some matches up close to the fire alarm and when the sprinklers went on, we'd magically escape through the back door. (We don't even HAVE sprinklers!) So there I was spending book after book of matches under the fire alarm since the ceiling fan kept blowing them out. Plus, the guy who smokes (C.) didn't have a lighter. Go figure. Well, I succeeded finally, and we ran out the back yard, and just then, I cried "HELP!! HELP!!" And that was out loud in real life, so I woke up C. in the process and he calmed me down and I went back to sleep!

Later, when I was explaining this dream to him, he kept finding holes in my story. It totally made sense in my head while it was going on, but who makes sense of dreams, anyway? For one, he said if we're trying not to call attention in the DARK, why would we be starting matches? If the power had been cut, how was the ceiling fan on, etc. Gee, thanks for the comfort. :-P

2. Food dreams. I've had more of these, but this one stands out. There was an old lady with her white hair tucked away in a bun, and she was wearing a frilly apron. She was making buttermilk biscuits, her hands and apron white and powdery with flour, her biscuit cutter moving swiftly across the dough. When the biscuits came out of the oven warm and flaky, then came the country gravy with sausage. It was one of the best food dreams I've had. Homemade country gravy and biscuits. YUM!

3. Cheating dreams. Either me on C. or, more often, him on me. This one was him cheating on me with a real person I know (a distant, distant friend of a friend). I obviously won't say who, but this person is 20 years his senior, has a gruff voice and almost reminds me of another person I've met called Butch. It is hilarious in retrospect. I found out C. had been sneaking out with said person to rendezvous in her minivan. Ew. This probably was partly because of our talk the other day about how he doesn't want to be a "minivan" family. Luckily, our soon-to-be family of three won't require a big passenger vehicle!

4. Another type of kidnapping/home invasion dream. This was just last night. I was being held captive in a one-room structure, with dirt floors, ants all around and a tiny little stove top. Out the window, I could see sagebrush for miles, and mountains in front of a gorgeous sunset with terrific colors. There was another girl with me, and just when we were ready to make our big escape (and me moving rather swiftly with a swollen belly), our captors were walking back across the field carrying two brown bags of groceries each. There was lettuce peeking over the top of one bag, oranges in another. Does this qualify as a food dream? Like we weren't leaving now that fresh produce was coming our way?!

Can't wait to see what my brain cooks up tonight!

Things that make you go . . .

. . . hmmm.

Our newspaper's health and fitness editor walking past the stairs to take the elevator to the parking garage.

Signs of spring

Seeing all the brightly colored spring clothes cropping up around town, I thought of the equally bright houses and other structures C. and I viewed while riding from Braco to Montego Bay in Jamaica.

The hues snapped against the blue sky -- yellow, blue, orange, green, red, peach, teal. One structure popped out from behind another, sometimes in time with the music coming from the taxi driver's radio on the drive to the airport. We even spied some metal palm trees painted in bright colors.

The one white building that would leave a lasting impression on me is the Rose Hall Plantation. It rests on a hillside east of Montego Bay, peering down at the road and coastline below. Here lived Annie Hall, the "white witch" and a figure of Jamaican folklore. Though we used our trip as a re-energizing, we didn't do any sightseeing. This tourist spot would be on my list should I ever return to this side of the island.

Click here to read a little snippet.

To Moms everywhere

This is for all the "Moms" in my life, I hope this day truly is a special one.

Shoot, I forgot to buy that Prius

Six months ago, I was "complaining" about the price of gas at the nearby Pilot station.

Just last night, it was more expensive than the diesel price. "UNLEADED $3.079" was staring back at us in bright red letters. C. was asking me why gas has gone up so much in the past month. I say it's the season. Memorial Day is coming up, along with all those road trips.

Luckily, we have a Nissan that gets about 27 mpg and a Kia that averages 33 mpg. We did the math for our upcoming trip to Taos, N.M., and by driving the Kia, we'd save only four gallons over the length of the trip. That's a savings of about $12-$15.

C. and I are willing to pay that for the luxury of cruise control, power locks and power windows.

So what are you paying in your neck of the woods?

Toilet humor

Warning: Pregnancy complaints ahead.

Every morning, I marvel at the capacity of the human bladder. After some cursory research, it's about one liter, give or take a few ounces. So with a growing uterus squishing my bladder and all the extra blood volume in my bod, it's no wonder I feel like I have about five times that amount when I awake in the night, sometimes four times, and stumble toward the toilet. Is it mother nature's cruel little joke of getting us "used" to the overnight feedings? That's one theory.

I just want my sleep.

Drumroll, please

I'm pregnant! In my 14th week, to be exact (which also means I've officially entered the second trimester). I'm due Nov. 1!!



An excerpt from one of the many pregnancy Web sites:

The second trimester is typically experienced as the most exciting yet enjoyable of the three -- the morning sickness is gone, you definitely feel and look pregnant, but you’re not yet reaching the overstuffed lumbering mammoth state.

True? Well, I'm still suffering from morning sickness, cravings, and all the other fun stuff pregnancy brings (gas, bloating, dizziness, headaches and an overall "blah" feeling, but only part of the time). But we have seen the little "pumpkin" on the ultrasound. S/he was about 7 weeks old at the time and there were two gestational sacs. Twins? Maybe at first, the doc said. But now there's one healthy dude or dudette in there. Plus, we have heard the heartbeat. Honestly, it was the sweetest sound I've ever heard in my life. Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh, swoosh... I have a .wav file of it if you're interested in hearing it (says the proud mama).

Want to take part in our baby pool? Here's the link (or find it in my "Links" section):

Scratch-my-head moment

Walking past Civic Center Park, I saw all the worker bees hustling to get their booths set up for the Cinco de Mayo parade and celebration.

Just then, I walked by a man setting up a sign that touted "Gyros!"

... for Cinco de Mayo? I know, I know, but it at least gave me a giggle.

Money

After months of parking along a street about 0.6 of a mile away from work where there are no meters, just "timed" honor-system-type parking for 2 hours (I tend to stretch the limit a little), I parked at a meter today. Excuse? I was running late. Really late.

I have my little cash key, and when I inserted it into the slot, I felt robbed. Four bucks to park for four hours before I could move my car safely into the garage at work. Boy, am I spoiled.

Bunch o' savages in this town

To steal a line from Clerks, there truly are a bunch of savages in this town. Grr!

On my way home from work, I caught a glimpse of some idiot's graffiti on our neighboring 'hood's welcome sign. You know, the signage that signifies the name of a certain community? Well...three big characters scrawled in black covered the entire sign, and it has to be 8+ feet high.

Luckily, ours hasn't been tagged yet. It's probably our sign's size (3 feet tall with dark brick) and lack of room to vandalize. But it seems week after week the sign across the street gets hit. What gives?

Reminds me of the graffiti we saw stamped on several fences and buildings on our way to the Montego Bay airport. Simply put, it read "Big Nuni Singer."

Hmmm...