April 24

I love days of significance. I love having a brain that strives to remember weird "anniversaries".

For the purpose of today's post, lets focus on April 24, shall we?

April 24, 2010

In unrelated (or maybe related?) significance, it is my cousin Jocelyn's 3rd anniversary.  Happy anniversary to the Aalborgs!!  They had one of the most beautiful weddings of all time and I was so excited for their big day.  However, my attitude turned pretty sour at the reception when I got asked for the 90th time if I had a boyfriend, and the night ended with me hiding from the bouquet toss in the bathroom, trying not to cry.  Even watching my mom and aunt chug wine in the parking garage couldn't pull me out of the funk that was my single life.

April 24, 2011

Easter weekend 2011 had me hanging with my bff and her then-fiance, doing wedding planning things for their upcoming wedding in September.  We spent the weekend at her parents house drinking vodka tonics by the fire and dancing in the kitchen with her dad.  On Easter Sunday, (April 24!), her mom made us all Easter baskets and read us an old, innocent children's book that was later deemed racist.  We kept the vodka tonics coming, and later that afternoon, I received a message from this online dating site that I had a love-hate relationship with.  This message was from a "Mookalakahini" - first impression: Is he Hawaiian?  The first line of his message read "Will you marry me?" which was playing into some things I had said in my profile about not needing to get married tomorrow, just wanting to find a non-boring, non-annoying, non-loser.  After reading that line, my crazy brain had a field day!  "What if we actually did get married?? Wouldn't that be hilarious?!?"  We messaged a few times back and forth that day (I would hate to read the transcripts, as who knows how many VT's I had consumed at that point) but I do remember feeling so different about this "Mike" person.

April 24, 2012

This was my Facebook status:

"A year ago today I started talking to a man named Mike. Now, this Mike character and I are flying home from our honeymoon. Life can change so quickly!!!"

Enough said =)

April 24, 2013

Now, here I am, 9 months pregnant and ready to take on a new adventure with my friend Mike.  I could wish that I would go into labor today, just to keep the 4/24 fun going, but as some of you may know, this baby cannot arrive until May 1 otherwise this mama gets ZERO paid maternity leave.  Soooo...I "patiently" wait.

My body aches, my mind is restless with anxiety, but I can't help but be filled with jitterbugs today as I think about how one day can change your life in such an unexpected way.  Mike is the biggest blessing and even when he forces me to have conversations about hard things like benefits and bills and math in general, I still feel like I should be giving thanks constantly for getting to have him in my life.

Welp, to sum up: April 24, you're pretty cool.

Overwhelmed (the good kind)

After a few weeks of ignoring the mess of the nursery, today I finally found motivation to begin to organize. After pancakes and coffee of course. I strapped on my trusty belly support band (thanks Britt!) and waddled my puffy feet into the room.

I am overwhelmed in the very best way. How can people be so generous and supportive??? The unique books, the adorable onesies, the softer-than-soft blankies...I can't imagine preparing for the birth of a child without the kind of support that we have. I know I'm not the only person about to have a baby, and I'm not the only person who is showered with love, but my goodness. It makes me feel guilty. Did I write my thank you cards on such a way that expresses how full yet guilty my heart feels at having this room full of awesome baby stuff?? Maybe I just think about what it would be like if I didn't have this support and what that would feel like and that makes me extra emo. But seriously.

I think about the giant bag full of goods from my sister, and how she has been so great to me (while juggling school and work and 3 kids and a life) and when she had her first baby I probably gave her a hug or something equally unuseful.

Precious Erin Cochran put her always-present charm on her gift and gave mike and I some prezzies too, along with prezzies for Maxer, and I get overwhelmed thinking about how she finds the time to find these funny books and freaking adorable cd holders, and I think, do I even deserve this??

So, I'm feeling overwhelmed and also concerned that I haven't been able to adequately express my gratitude. So please forgive me, but if you could peek I to my heart you would find that it's pumping so much love and thankfulness that each pump wants to gush out a million tears. How's that for dramatic.

Anyway, I'm not trying to gloat about how much cool stuff we just got for our little guy. I've just had a week where I've been upset with my body and my coping abilities and I've needed a serious attitude adjustment. Maybe now that I am the mature age of 28, my perspective will begin to mature as well. Fingers crossed!!!

But seriously check some of this stuff out (mostly clothes...I guess I am just not realizing how fun it's going to be to put a human in these things!!!)

Happy Saturday pals.

Vewy intewesting

I think its important to note that I am not very politically versed.  I took a "test" my senior year and discovered I was a Democrat (along with ONE other person in my class...ha!) and from there I have always felt a little more inclined to agree with the Dems.  However, after quitting my job at the Elections Dept. (where my affiliation determined who I was allowed to do certain election-related tasks with, due to bi-partisanship) I changed my affiliation to Unaffiliated...and life has been pretty much the same ever since.

I normally stay out of debates because I don't know enough to take a strong stance, but I know what I feel is right and I know what I feel is wrong.  I happened to click on The Article Every Liberal Needs to Show a Conservative floating around Facebook, and surprisingly, I was able to read the whole thing.  Normally I just skim the first few sentences, and it gets waayyyy too intense with language and Syria and nuclear bombs and amendments and blahdy blah, but this was a good read.

For those of you who have no interest in clicking on that article, at least read this portion of it.  I thought it was very striking and he makes 2 shockingly obvious points.

And that concludes this political message from Shleemanee.

We’re Out to Preserve the Sanctity of Marriage
Unless you want to make divorce illegal, don’t tell me about same-sex marriage “ruining the sanctity of marriage.”

Divorce did that long ago.

Same-sex Marriage overall

Honestly, I’m exhausted with the same-sex marriage “debate.”  There is no debate.

Procreation is not a requirement for the right to marry, nor are those who procreate required to get married.

“Homosexuality is a sin” comes from religion.

The term “traditional marriage” is defined from religious text.

Our country does not establish laws based on religion.

Therefore your “arguments” are invalid.

The end.

The Haps

Whats been going on lately!  Just a whole lot of life and sore body syndrome.  I don't quite remember when it started, but I find myself wanting to hobble around like a grandpa lately.  When I get up from my desk at work, I have to take a second to compose myself before walking into the hallway.  Getting out of bed in the morning first requires a grunt, then a roll, then the final dismount. I also find myself frequently checking my reflection for waddling.  I try so hard be diligent in placing one foot directly in front of the other, instead of one foot next to the other.  I believe this is where the penguin waddle sneaks in, and I won't have it!!!!  I am also determined to not let my pregnancy affect my work, (I have a pretty hard-core, "Independent Woman" boss) so I find myself trying extra hard to not let it be known that my pubic bone hurts and my lower back aches and my inner thighs feel like I ran a marathon (wait...do I even know what that feels like??) and not to mention sometimes the thought of getting my very own human in a few weeks gives me rapid heartbeat.  No no, these feelings and thoughts will not be shared within the workplace!

Last night, after a tasty dinner at Fired Up (owned by a fellow UW grad, makes deliciously wood-fired treats like brussel sprouts, pizza, chicken wings, etc!) we went to Target to get our sweet Brynnie a birthday present, and to get all the other random necessities that get added to "The List" throughout the week.  Dryer sheets!  Hangers!  Vitamins!  I LOVE TARGET!  I don't normally take Mike with me when I grocery shop or browse the aisles at Target, mainly because I like to have a plan and stick to it, and I get stressed when I feel like people are waiting on me, and then I make unthoughtful decisions.  Either way, Mike was in charge of the cart, and I kept trying to ditch him so I could get little things for his Easter basket. I was able to ditch him so successfully that I had to call him to locate him.  When we finally found each other, he's like...uhhh, have you seen our cart?  MIIIIIIKE!!!  Apparently the last thing he did was throw a kit kat into the cart, and then all of the sudden he looked into our cart and all he saw was Tostitos chips...NOT the one hundred items I had already added.  We looked up and down all the aisles, and finally we found our abandoned cart full of our precious items in the middle of the aisle across the store.  Apparently someone had cart swapped with Mike and when they realized what they had done, they ditched the cart and ran.  Phew.

This weekend we'll head back to FoCo to love on the Sater girlies, in particular, birthday girl Brynn!  I'm also getting a prenatal massage, which I'm hoping is the cure-all for my achy body.  Kickball starts next week, in which I will play the role of Team Babysitter.  Most of you will recall that this is the role I perform best in.  So in between staring at the calendar to see how long until my due date (how many weeks? how many days? how many week days? how many work days? how many more Tuesdays?, etc) we have been keeping ourselves busy.  Here are some fun pics...

Look at all these baby shower treats!  Such a fun day.
Makes me feel so good to think of all the love that Maxwell is being born into!

Demetri Martin and I.  After some good LOL's at his show, we bought his book of hilarious
illustrations for Maxwell.  Still pondering what birthday is appropriate to give it to him =)
(simply precious side note: Demetri's other book was what I bought for Mike's birthday, a week after we started dating)

Birthday lunch for Juan Wheeler.
(photo courtesy of pregnant, non-shot taker, Ashley Atkinson)

I just love this one.  Sweetness in the front, chugging mama in the back.

What's in my brain - Thursday edition

I have noticed that being visibly pregnant encourages strangers to be extra kind to me.  Ladies in the movie theater chat me up, old men linger to hold the door, stuffy security guards lighten up to ask me if I am smuggling a watermelon (badump ching!), etc.  I am normally very awkward about small talk with strangers, so this has been a great way to always have a go-to topic if there is nothing else to say but conversation must be prolonged.  So, if anyone else is looking to temporarily cure awkwardness, just get pregnant!

Every time my sister posts pictures of her darling girls on Instagram, I just stare at them...and think about how I love them so much it hurts.  I'm anticipating the love I will feel for our little guy will be similar, but I'm not sure I can handle it if its anything more...how can a little face grab your heart so fiercely?!

My sister and I had a conversation yesterday about the decision to add child life insurance to our plan, and it makes me so sick to think about that I don't even want to recall our conversation, but I love hearing my sister's practical yet touching thoughts regarding her girls.  I am so glad she became a mom first, because I learn so much from her!

Then if I really want to keep riding the emo train, I'll put on any jam from Adele's album "21" and drift back to when Mike and I first met, and we listened to that cd over and over again in my teensy little basement apartment while we drank wine and talked and talked and talked.  Such good mems.

Welp, I better stop there otherwise I'll have to go into the bathroom and cry.  Is it lunchtime yet?

Messages to little Ash

I wish I could go back to the 9 year old me that sewed a plaid skirt in 4-H and say, "Psst...someday, you'll wish you could sew.  Learn this craft NOW and foster it and love it, because it could lead you to great success!"  If the 9 year old me didn't get the memo, I'd share it again with the 16 year old me who made attempted a pink button-down shirt in Home Ec.

I wish I could go back to the little Ashley who would get so frustrated with piano lessons that she would sit at the piano in tears.  I wish I could tell her to practice, practice, practice, and stay with it, because someday there will be pianos left untouched, and she'll wish she could sit down and play the afternoon away.

I totally get now why parents force us to do things.  You guys, in some instances, they actually DO know best!!  I'd probably mention that to little Ashley too, but she'd probably be too busy plucking her eyebrows to care.  Ah, adolescence.

Please, no more Harlem Shake

At the risk of sounding like a geriatric...Please, I beg you.  No more Harlem Shake.  For the last couple of weeks, I've heard about it and seen different groups doing it, so finally I watched a couple videos.  I feel like I am missing something.  What IS the Harlem Shake besides a bunch of people shaking their bodies, some in costumes.  Is that it?!?  Am I not noticing something ultra cool that is secretly happening in the background?

This morning I was just trying to enjoy a leisurely bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios and watch some Today Show before work, but they had to cloud their broadcast by including a story about some college kids organizing a Harlem Shake on an airplane.  They showed a preview of the video and it made me cringe.  They showed the 3 kids they were about to interview regarding the shenanigans, and they looked so proud of themselves, I cringed even harder and changed the channel AQAP.  As quickly as possible.

Then, I got to work, and one of my co-workers mentioned how she thinks our office should get on the Harlem Shake train somehow.  I was like, are you IN MY BRAIN??  Absolutely NOT.

I know, I know...just by talking about this "art", it has already accomplished its goal, even though I hate it and I don't get it.  But please, can it just go away already??

And now, in the spirit of Tri Delta's pro-con-con-pro process, I will end on a pro:

Things I am looking forward to:
SPRING!!! (warmer weather, iced coffees, bright colors, gardening plans, turning off the heat...the list goes on and on!!)
The time change!  Its practically here, already!!
New kickball team (I am the team babysitter...probably for the best...)
Pedicures this weekend
About time for the Clique Baby Boom to start (cue Marsh, then Jen, then Me, then Sam, then Julie!!)

Happy Friday all!