I had my baby shower over the weekend!

We had such a great time – thanks to my wonderful sister and sisters-in-law who planned it. The shower was held at the Capital City Club in Brookhaven. Such a pretty place. Let me set the scene: private room decorated in gold and cream, 4 cute round tables with adorable table toppers (see picture on left), and a fantastic and obscenely long buffet table full of delicious finger foods – tea sandwiches, little pastries, fruit with chocolate sauce, the works. Not to mention the most important part – great friends and family!

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Our relatively uneventful summer is over. Uneventful is good when you have twins.   Sophie and Doran went back to school this week. I’m happy, because they love school, but it also means they are another year older, and that realization is still a hard pill for me to swallow.

I’ve handled the move up to first grade much better than kindergarten, which was a huge transition because it meant that the kids weren’t babies anymore. I sort of envy some of my friends who have little ones at home and older kids in elementary school. That seems like the best of both worlds.

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We have installed a security system in our house.  It makes me feel like a real grown up and everything!  I like that satisfying “beep, beep, beep” when I leave in the morning and come home at night that goes on until I disarm the system.  It has been on the ever-growing to-do list for the past 3+ years since we moved in so it’s good to get that done.  Now that Baby D (still nameless, the poor kid) is making his debut in two short months, it is more important than ever to me that I feel like we are protected from all the bad guys out there.

Here is a really good website about securing your home against burglary.  I’ll admit I glazed over a bit when it referred to “one-inch throw bolts” and “four-screw strike plates” but there is some good information and a lot of great tips that are easy to heed:

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It’s been a while since I first wrote about starting a nutrition plan, and 3 months later, I’m still going strong.  Well, except for that week on the cruise.  And that visit to Florida to see my parents.  But the good news is that I am almost halfway to my weight loss goal!

It certainly hasn’t always been easy…it’s never easy when you go out to eat with friends, and everyone else is gorging on yummy french fries.  Or when you really don’t want to cook, but ordering in means either pizza or Chinese food, neither of which fit into a healthy eating plan.

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So we are having this wonderful vacation driving through the Florida Keys.  (They are so gorgeous – - I especially liked Islamorada and Marathon Keys.) But on the drive home, we get a call from our neighbor who very casually mentions, 15 minutes into the conversation, that the windshield of my car is shattered.   Well, that put the kibosh on joyful conversation for the next 200 miles.

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One of my co-workers caught me eating a danish today and said “Wow! You’re eating!” implying that I, Lianna Shen, do not eat. Which is so far from the truth it’s scary and almost crazy that he made this comment.

To further substantiate my point, my brother called to let me know he’s transferring all our childhood VHS home videos to DVD, and while doing so noticed that I am eating in every single scene. Granted, most home videos are of birthday parties and Halloween when candy and cake must be eaten, but there are a couple scenes he pointed out that really do reflect the truth of my dietary habits:

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If this looks like an interesting post to you, you’ve probably already crossed or are on the brink of crossing the threshold between productive contributor to the economy and obsessive shopaholic. I, unfortunately am on the heavier end of the spending scale, as was made very apparent to me this past weekend when some weekend visitors dropped by…

Boyfriend’s mom: “Oh, that’s a cute purse. My, you have a lot of purses!”
Me: “Nah, not really.”
Boyfriend’s mom: “Hmm…how many do you have?”
Me: “Oh, probably around…ten or so.”
Annoying BF: “That is incorrect.”
Me: “What? No, really. Like 12.”
Annoying BF leaves room to go count purses while i bite my fingernails in nervous anticipation. Boyfriend returns with count.
BF: “25.”
Me: “Okay but that’s including evening bags and clutches which really don’t count…”

To be honest, I really don’t think 25 purses is that much, especially when only half of them are in my actual rotation. However, I do know that to some (most) people this sounds extraordinarily ridiculous, so in the interest of making myself (and many of you!) less ridiculous, here are some home organization tips that can help you make the most of your space and thus let it appear that you do not own an inordinate amount of clothing/bags/shoes etc.

1. Color-coordinate! By hanging all your black dresses together in one tight section of the closet, 10 black dresses can look like 3 black dresses to the naked eye! This trick works best on dark colors.

2. Store your out-of-season accessories. You are not going to use your beach totes in the winter, so put them in boxes until they are needed. That way when someone goes to count your purses, the 12 or so stowed under your bed or in the hall closet will be unseen.

3. Give to charity. If you are expecting a perpetual influx of goods, it only makes sense to flush out unnecessary items every once in a while. Every few months, give your closet a once-over and fill up a garbage bag full of clothing/accessories you can give to charity. It will feel great, and you can better justify your spending if you make it a regular habit to give away.

4. Hire a personal organizer. You know what, maybe you just need one of those professionals who will come in, put labels on everything, tell you what you do and don’t need, in order for you to come to your senses. Maybe you do have too much stuff. Maybe you do need to stop shopping. Maybe…

5. Get a closet makeover. If your closet looks good, no one can say you have too much stuff! Have you seen those lifestyle of the rich and famous-type shows where they have an entire room devoted to a person’s clothing and accesories? Of course we shake our heads and say “oh, what has America come to?” but at the same time, it’s like art! I recently turned the cove in our bedroom into my personal “dressing room” and hung hooks on the wall for all the purses. I even put a chaise in there! And despite my mate’s comments about how our room is now a “shrine” to my shopping obsession, it actually looks like I have less stuff.

I could keep going on this topic and eventually it might lead to a warning about how in this day and age and shape of our economy we really should start spending less, blah blah blah….but honestly, if everyone stops buying new shoes and purses, do you know what will happen to our economy? I shudder to even think about it. So, Americans, do your country good. Keep your closet organized, give to charity, and keep buying those purses!

A pregnant lady loves to eat.

First, we are hungry as we have another whole person taking their share of whatever we eat. Fetuses can be selfish like that.

Second, it’s about the only fun thing we can really do these days. No drinking a beer with the hubby when football comes on (I may shed tears over this at some point now that the season is starting), no riding rollercoasters, no traveling to fun places after a certain point (sadly I am there), no sitting in wonderful and relaxing hot tubs to ease our sore muscles, no, no, no!!!

Third, every time we turn around a non-pregnant person is smiling at us with a gleam in their eye and encouraging us to eat more – “You are eating for two! It’s totally ok, and actually important for the health and welfare of your CHILD that you eat that 3rd cupcake. Don’t you care about your CHILD??”

And so we have food. And NO ONE can take that away from us! Try, and you may lose a finger.

Ah, but here is the catch. Even in the wonderful world of food there are things that we are denied. Many delicious things. No sushi and no unpasteurized cheese (there goes one of the few ways I make salad tolerable, blue cheese crumbles). No soft serve ice cream (WTH??) and no cold deli meat. Don’t eat any of certain kinds of fish and limit your intake of other, less toxic kinds. No caffeine and no artificial sweeteners (goodbye to my love, Diet Coke). Careful with raw veggies. It’s like I have to carry around a list of approved foods which might include bread, water and overcooked chicken.

Well, my friends, fear not, for the pregnant lady will inevitably seek out acceptable food and find a way to indulge! So after a long introduction, here are my favorite places to eat while pregnant:

Filed under “Feel good about getting in some veggies while also eating 1,200 calories in muffins”:
Roasters 3 Veggie Meal
Sweet Tomatoes

Filed under “Sandwiches I am allowed to eat while I pine away for a Publix sub”
Jason’s Deli BLTs
Firehouse Subs (YUM)

Filed under “Reasons there must be a God: BBQ is not forbidden to pregnant women”
Pig N Chick (check out their great Kudzu reviews!)
Dreamland BBQ
KC Pit BBQ

And finally, filed under “Things that I eat unselfishly because my child NEEDS nourishment”
Cupcakes
My wonderful husband surprised me with these at my desk yesterday and yet again proves the thesis of my previous post.

Now, if you will excuse me, it’s time for me to run out for lunch #1.