it's bloomin' beautiful!

you know it's almost summer when the jacaranda trees are a-blooming! i took this picture of the jacaranda tree outside our bedroom window. this was taken on probably the last cloudy day we'll have in a long time... unfortunately. hot hot days ahead. :(

TV, you're so overrated!

tonight's program: an evening at home with the bakers.

tonight's menu: BBQ salmon with squeezed lemon wedges, mushroom risotto and merlot.

tonight's entertainment: several selected songs from vetiver and sufjan stevens and original artwork by michael baker.

i'm (not) suave.

okay, here's something that hasn't happened in a long time: this morning i was working at an elementary school and there was a police officer taking statements because there had been a break-in at one of the classrooms last night. when the principal came out of her office, she and the police officer decided to go check out the classroom. as he left he said thanks, smiled as he walked towards the door, gave me a "knowing look" and left. i'm not sure what this "knowing look" meant but i guessed it was a police officer flirting tactic. (they probably teach that sort of thing in police academy for the times they will meet random women in elementary school offices.) whatever the "knowing look" was supposed to mean i took it as a flirt, and i'll admit, it made me feel pretty flattered. sure i'll get an occasional "look" from sweaty men buying budweiser at the grocery store but cops? not everyday. so anyway feeling pretty smug about myself i walked back and as i sat down i crossed my legs and THUD! i dropped my right foot into the trash can under the desk.

ooooh yeah, i'm a freakin' catch! so, that was a great lesson in humility Lord. thanks for that. a month from sunday will be michael and my two year anniversary. it's great being an "old married couple" and no longer newlyweds. everyday i continue to realize how blessed i am to have a guy like michael. even when i do dumb things (and especially when i realize i'm still a dumb dorky girl who drops her feet into trash cans) he loves me anyway. :)

go cal poly go

on saturday michael and i drove up to northridge with his family to watch brian run his last race for cal poly. it was pretty bittersweet to be there for the end of such a huge chapter in brian's life. here's a few pictures.

sweet, sweet freedumb.

i had my final appointment with the doctor this morning regarding my molar pregnancy. whoo hoo! i'm negative for any tumors which means i'm finished with the weekly blood tests and check-ups and waiting for the results. i'm still on my doctor's orders to wait four more months before trying for another baby and that's okay, for now. i'm sure in a few weeks i'll get the "baby-eyes" again and start wandering the baby section in target until michael finds me and sweetly pulls me away. also i'll probably be so busy fixing the new house and sewing curtains i won't even have any time to think of babies. that's what i'm hoping anyway.

speaking of our adorable fixer house, michael and i walked through home depot on tuesday and i wanted to buy everything and take it all home. so many (and sometimes overwhelming) choices! i think i'm going to tackle paint options first, i'm thinking of olive green for the exterior trim and nice light calming colors inside: sage for the kitchen, robin's egg blue for one of the bathrooms and maybe a creamy yellow for the other. michael loves wood paneling and wants to install some in the loft, so you can imagine how excited he was to find out it's only $16.95 a sheet! also, i found some great shutters for $27.95 a pair! niiiiiice!

i'd like to buy a juicer to make fresh lemonade from the lemon trees in the backyard, but i'm wondering what other recipes i could use with lemons. any ideas? anyone? (lauren???) :o)

reflecting...

last sunday was more difficult than it should have been for such a relaxing day. both michael and i woke up in a great mood and were actually on time for church for once in a great while, something about weekends seems to make us move slower. after church, we drove to his parents house to spend mother's day with them and have lunch. michael bought his mom some cute yellow tulips and we went to a great new seafood restaurant (in the desert no less) and had a great time visiting with them. i called my own mom and wished her a happy mother's day and thought about how happy i was for her and her new job. joey was a little sore from getting his annual shots the day before so he insisted on cuddling with me the entire day. poor little guy, i wasn't complaining though since he smelled so good from his bath that his "grandma" julie gave him. :)

a great day, but in the back of my mind i kept thinking about how this would have been my very first mother's day. when i was pregnant i was so looking forward to mother's day, when people would congratulate michael and i. they would smile, give advice, maybe rub my babybelly and i would smile back because i knew i would be some body's mother very soon. there was nothing like that for me this year and perhaps now i'm recognizing my loss in new ways. i don't know if i'll ever truly be able to be a mom, but at least i know that i was some body's mom, even if it were for a short time.

escrow baby!

we're in escrow now and we just got back from signing one of the many contracts with our realtor. this is pretty exciting. our realtor is one of our favorite people now because everytime he calls and everytime we see him, we get closer to closing on our house. he must think we're naturally the jolliest people in the world because we're always so happy to see him. we always come up to him with smiles, handshakes and our traditional "HI, HOW ARE YA???" he is the proofreader of contracts, our prepared liaison, our 30 years of experience, our cerebral suit-wearing muscle...



...he's pretty cool.

my "garden."

yes, more pictures of my little container garden. :) hopefully soon when we move i will be able to plant them in the ground in an actual garden, but for now our porch will have to do.


here's my gardenia and oh! what's that? it's already budding! there's dozens of little buds and new leaves stretching out everywhere! i've heard gardenias are a little moody and sometimes won't bloom if they're stressed (sort of strange how they have "personalities" eh?) and so i was relieved when i found these little buds peeking out. i've been moving it in and out of the sunshine daily to give it the right amount it needs since i bought it and i constantly check it's moistness. it seems to like the morning sun the best and a little watering every other day.


here's the newest addition to the family, our avocado seed. michael named him hass. so far hass has been very boring and doesn't feel like growing yet. sometimes they can take awhile to sprout and i only "planted" him a week ago so i guess i shouldn't worry. i've heard that avocado trees won't bear fruit unless they're grafted and at first i was really intimated, but now i think how rewarding it would be to say i grafted my very own avocado tree! of course i'll have to do some more research on grafting before i'm completely comfortable. for instance, i learned today that every hass avocado has indirectly come from a single tree. each hass avocado tree was grafted from an original tree planted in the late 1920s by a postman named rudolph hass. apparently the tree he planted grew such good avocados he patented the tree and grafted the seeds from the original tree. aaaand he also probably made millions of dollars.


family photo (with gnorman the gnome in the background)

another house update!

our offer was accepted by the realtor!!! they said that we were the highest offer and that they will submit it to their lender. unfortunately, since there are so many short sales in california right now we won't hear if we've been accepted by the lender for another month or so. more waiting!!! at least we know that we have beaten the other offers and are indeed the highest bidder.

hopefully we will hear back sooner rather than later!

a weekend visit.

on sunday we visited my brother and his girlfriend brandi and brought joey to meet brandi's new kitten, izzy. after joey and izzy entertained us for awhile, michael helped james with the BBQ and we soon had lunch ready. after our BBQ chicken, steak, pasta salad, corn on the cob and fruit salad, (mmmm!) we decided to take a walk around abalone cove. i wasn't wearing the right shoes for navigating rocky beaches, but it was really beautiful anyway. it was great to have a cool cloudy day for once, it's been so hot and muggy in riverside lately. after abolone cove we drove to the redondo beach pier and bought ice cream, (for michael) churros (for james and brandi) and coffee (for me, of course!) for dessert.


joey was pretty surprised to be included for once. this is his "no, seriously? we go bye bye???" face.


the introduction of izzy...


the battle is on! joey loves izzy but wanted her to chase him instead of punching him in the face. izzy is fearless and loves a challenge. (izzy won all of their matches, she's a good little boxer)


cleaning up after lunch. mmmm BBQ!


a tuckered out izzy. battling dogs three times the size of you is tiring.


brandi and james, laughing it up at abalone cove. :)

update...

so we put in an offer for the via san jose house! we'd love to hear some GOOD NEWS but we're really trying to be realistic because there are multiple offers already. all we can do is pray, and wait...

(sigh)

i hate waiting...