have cold, will get cupped.

this is what happened at the acupuncturist's office last week, when i went in for a cold---not only did behnaz the nice acupuncturist stick needles all over my eyes, and entire sinus area, forehead, arm and ankles to clear up my decongestion, she cupped my back! it wasn't at all painful or unpleasant, it was actually very relaxing and soothing, esp with all the new agey music playing softly in the light-filled room, with the buddha statues lording over me. (that's not me in the pictacure below though--i'll have you know my back is much nicer than that one). that was last thursday, and ever since, i've gone through umpteen boxes of tissues and my nose has been running like a broken tap.
i have to say, the visit to behnaz's office as referred by my midwife's office, since i can't take any prescription cold or antibiotic medicine (not that those will help), has piqued my interest in all things alternative and chinese medicine. i've been looking up all sorts of things on the internet, and am convinced that ancient chinese medicine has all sorts of wisdom that i've never really investigated. it makes a lot of sense, to eat well, to eat yin/yang/hot/warming/cool foods for your body and to seek balance. right now, i'm drinking a lot of ginger tea with honey, and i've read that i need to eat red beans for my kidneys, which controls the water/elimination and nasal passages elements of the body. all of this actually reminds me of my granny, who used to get treated with chinese medicine all the time.

merry christmas, happy new year, happy everything. will update the baby alert, as soon as baby's train arrives at the station.......stay tuned.

a perfect day: magic hour at hermosa beach

37 weeks!
sunday, late afternoon, nearly sunset. last night's rains gave birth to one of the most perfect, beautiful, picture-postcard sunny days today, that one can only experience in sunny southern california, crisp, clear, blue, gold, orange and white. that was the color of the beach at hermosa beach, all turquoise and radiant sand, seagulls flying ahead, little kids playing on the pier and sledding down sand dunes. we've got about three weeks to go, and counting. john and i are happy and pleased as punch.

at left, the beach at hermosa, looking south toward palos verdes peninsula in the far background.

baby names and more baby project runway

last night, john and i met up with his old high school buddy, pat, and his wife chris, for dinner at belmont shore in long beach. it was slightly drizzly, rainy, and we had dinner at this lebanese place that's pretty good, sunnin cafe. pat and chris both suggested 'patrick' and 'christopher' as first names for our little boy. hmmm... all great names! names are so important! so hard to choose! but we've decided (i've decided for the both of us, rather) that we're going to let the baby tell us his name when he arrives. so far, john has two favorites, 'donovan' and 'liam,' which are not favorites or first choices of mine. my first name choices are 'callum' which means 'dove' in gaelic... and 'connor'. chime in, people! let's take a vote:

a. donovan
b. liam
c. callum
d. connor

this week, my non-sewing self is happy to say i made this kimono from marthastewart.com. it WAS easy, as they said it would be. i took the time to read the instructions (which i absolutely hate doing) but it worked out in the end. i had a piece of plain muslin, added single bias tape to the neck and as ties, and voila, a kimono!

you can see more of my beginning sewing projects here.

t-shirt into baby pants

t-shirt into baby pants, originally uploaded by deniro and mango.

another pair of cute pants! big thanks go to those sewing bloggers out there in interweb land.

she's washin' dishes...and baby clothes....she's so ambitious, she even sews

to help with my manic, waiting-for-baby energy, i've taken up sweatshop-style sewing, without patterns, without lessons, just pure gut instinct to make SOMETHING for the baby, by hand. wiht the help of some great sewing bloggers, who seem to be up my alley with their style of 'no stress, no pattern' seamstressing (as i sorely lack any and all sewing technique or actual skill), i've made baby clothes, or rather, pants! i'm pleased as punch, as old t-shirts in the back of my drawer have become little pants for our soon-to-arrive little boy. 24 days to go and counting...

more sewing projects (and cute pics of my cats) can be seen here: