Gone Baby Gone

Friday night Todd and I went to the movies and saw the new Casey Affleck/Morgan Freeman movie, Gone Baby Gone. It's a crime drama/mystery that takes place in Boston, and we both really liked the movie. It got excellent reviews from Ebert and Roeper (and others), but the box office take has been small so far. I think it's even been lagging behind Good Luck Chuck which got horrible reviews.

Ticker for Baby

'Cravings'

I am now addicted to the Java Werks decaf mocha frappe, which costs the ridiculous price of $2.50. I find myself driving out of the way to go by this coffee joint on my way home from work. This graphic was my attempt to copy the Java Werks logo, but it appears to be incomplete.

Other things I am interested in eating now are jalapeno peppers and other spicy peppers.

What We're Watching This Fall

Here are the TV shows that we digitally record and watch on a pretty regular basis:
The Office
30 Rock
My Name is Earl
Dancing With the Stars
Shark
Cold Case
CBS Sunday Morning
The Real World (Sydney)
How I Met Your Mother
Football Night in America
Globe Trekker
Oprah

New Shows This Year We've Been Watching:
Moonlight
Women's Murder Club
Pushing Daisies

Susan & Donna's Halloween Party

Tonight was Susan and Donna's annual Halloween Party - girls only. Costumes are required. We all had a great time and the costumes were hysterical. With my limited costume options due to limited clothing that actually fits, I went as a (pregnant) hippie. The button I wore read, "Ask me about my Woodstock 'souvenir.'" The best costume was Jane (on the left in the 2nd photo), who came as Britney Spears with a wig and two plastic dolls slung around her neck. We all enjoyed the banana split - three girls who came as chocolate, vanilla and strawberry. The last photo is of me with Susan, who is also pregnant and went as Sister Susan.

37 Weeks

With only three weeks to go before Curtain Climber arrives, we're doing a lot of last-minute tasks. We've organized her closet, put together an infant swing and more. This must be the nesting thing, but this weekend, I spent several hours organizing our home office so it will be habitable for guests, cleaning the house, paying bills, and wrapping Christmas presents. Yes, you read that right. :-) I'm also including a belly shot here for posterity.

Fontanelle Neighborhood

Sunday we went to the Home Builders Assn of Jackson's Tour of Homes in Fontanelle subdivision in Madison. This subdivision is part of a new-urbanism type development in Madison and there were 6 custom-built homes open for viewing. All had been professionally decorated and furnished. Some really cool home features we saw included a brick screened porch, backyard fireplaces, showers with 9 showerheads coming from above and sides, and an awesome television inside a bathroom mirror.

What We're Reading

I am just finishing Secrets of the Baby Whisperer, and Todd is halfway through Baby Wise. Then we'll switch books. The countdown to Curtain Climber's arrival is 5 weeks. But who knows, she may come early.

Mississippi State Fair

I met Dave, Beverly and Stacey at the Mississippi State Fair on Sunday. We ate and saw the kind of things you only see at the fair each year. For example, the top photo is a cute little trolley-shaped food stand called the Whistle Stop Cafe, but the most notable thing is at the bottom right of the sign - check it out. It says they serve 'monte crisco' sandwiches - that's right, not monte crisTo sandwiches, but obviously the kind made with shiny lard. The second photo is of a deep-fried Snickers bar, which surprisingly only cost $3 - just about the cheapest thing they sell around there. Since I am pregnant and ate what I wanted to eat, I will unapologetically list it here: (1) free biscuit with syrup from Miss. Ag. Department booth [a bit dry] (2) $5 for 2 crawfish pistolets from a cajun booth [yummy], (3) $5 for a 1 pound cinnamon roll [good enough to save half and eat Monday morning for breakfast], and (4) a $4 'daiquiri' flavored non alcoholic slushie [pretty adequate substitute for alcohol]. Photo #3 is Stacey, me and Beverly posing in front of one of the horrid rides. None of us rode any of the rides but they were fun to watch.

Laura & Chris's Wedding

Today was the wedding of our friends Laura and Chris, and it was just beautiful. We had a great time. I did not take any photos at the church, but took all of these at the reception. At the top are Laura and Chris cutting their gorgeous cake, which was white with green and purple decorations and flowers.

The next photo is of me, Beverly, Jennifer, Laura, Stacey, Vanessa, Julie and Susan.

The third photo is Todd and Stacey.

The final photo is me with Laura looking great in her gorgeous dress - candlelight with subtle green and purple beading.

Southern Miss/Rice Football Game

Wednesday night we drove to Hattiesburg for the Southern Miss football game at The Rock, which we could have watched from home on ESPN2. This was the second home game of the year, and we watched the first one in the pouring rain - that's why I never posted photos from that (Sept. 1) game - it was raining too hard to take my camera to the game. Anyway, Southern Miss played Rice and we made it to the game in time to see the third play of the game, in which Martaveous Young, the starting QB, was injured. That would set the tone for the game. The backup QB, who was injured himself, ran the show and pretty soon Southern Miss was down by 3 touchdowns. Todd and I left at about 9:15 pm to drive back to Jackson, and at that time Southern was playing as bad as the Saints on offense. However, they made a 4th quarter comeback, which we listened to on the radio, and came within a 2 point conversion of tying up the game. Anyway, the top photo is from our seats at The Rock - section C row 36. The second photo is Todd and my mother, who came to the game with us. The third photo are our friends Julie and Jimmy, with whom we have our tickets. Next game in 10 days is Homecoming. Hopefully the team can get it together before then and maybe get our starting QB, Jeremy Young, back.

Wednesday, my co-workers were sweet enough to take me to lunch and give me and the Curtain Climber some great gifts. This first photo is of the divine petit fours with baby bottles and safety pins on them. The second photo is all of us in front of the new P.F. Chang's restaurant in Ridgeland. Mac took the photo, and pictured are Sherry, Nikki, Joy, Amy and me. I am in the foreground of the photo and I will blame that for the fact that I appear absolutely huge in this photo!

Cokie's New Bed

This past weekend we spent some time preparing the baby's room. We put bedding on the crib, cut tags off the baby's clothing and washed everything, and put together our new pack and play portable crib. Cokie the cat thought all of these preparations in the guest bedroom were for her, and she promptly curled up in the pack and play for a nap. The second photo here is of the crib. I'll post more photos of the nursery as it progresses.

The FKB Baby Shower

Last week the girls from Formerly Known as Bunko (FKB for short) had our monthly get together at Carol's house, and they were sweet enough to bring cute gifts for me and the Curtain Climber. I couldn't resist taking a photo of the cute desserts - the blue and brown K petit fours and duck cookies. Pictured from left are Nicole, Kelly, Susan, Gail and Caron, plus me. Carol took the photo.