La Petite Chic

Highlights of 2009

To see the highlights from 2008, click here.

January: Jon and I rang in the New Year with our good friends, Allison and Ryan, at a schwanky hotel overlooking the Baltimore Inner Harbor. We explored the option of selling our condo and got the bad news that we were going to lose money, a lot of money. I also hoped right along with many other Americans for change and peace and love. 

February: February found us on our annual Caribbean cruise where we visited Puerto Rico, St. Thomas, St. John, St. Maarten, Antigua, St. Lucia and Barbados. We went to the Virginia Wine Showcase with a group of friends where I ran into my favorite wine pourer yet again! This was the month we put our condo on the market and I gave you all a virtual tour of our home. And finally, Jon caught me off guard with a difficult question that I think I came up with a pretty good answer for.

March: I wrote about my infertility struggles, a topic that I had been avoiding although it was heavy on my mind. Amazingly, we accepted an offer on our condo in March after being listed on the market for just 24 days! I experimented with a few fun recipes and finally shared our engagement story after promising to tell it for a very long time.

April: I fretted over a job interview for a position that I didn't ultimately get, but it sure did rise my blood pressure at the time. We packed up our home and moved everything to my parent's house, though we stayed in our condo to the bitter end to avoid the dreaded D.C. commute. I also paid homage to my beloved Holly, whose absence still stings.

May: I had interviews for two fantastic job opportunities in the Baltimore area and ultimately accepted an offer with a federal agency. We went "camping" with friends at Harpers Ferry where we made delicious magical omelettes and I came across my best yard sale find ever: a vintage pink beach cruiser for only $15!

June: Jon and I spent the weekend in Ocean City, Maryland while I recovered from oral surgery which involved a sinus augmention; a freaking sinus augmentation! I got to catch up with college friends and teammates at Sherry's bridal shower and got completely lost (and panicked!) on the Garden State Parkway. We finished June up at our first Jimmy Buffett concert of the summer in New Jersey where I made friends with parrots and pickles and pirates! Shortly thereafter, I found out I was pregnant!

 

 

July: I suffered from major writer's block this month as I wanted nothing more than to share the news of our pregnancy with you all, but I did manage to come up with a few unofficial rules of house hunting based on personal experience. Jon and I went to Honfest, one of my favorite Baltimore traditions, and then finally (FINALLY!), I shared the crazy story of how I got knocked up! Unfortunately, I also caught the swine flu this month and it was more devastating than anyone expected.

 

 

August: We attended Sherry and Matt's wedding in New Jersey...it was the first and last big event of my pregnancy. August was overwhelmingly shadowed by the news that I lost our sweet baby. Writing was therapeutic for me as I recovered from the D&C and the shock and pain of losing the pregnancy.

 

 

September: Jonathan and I celebrated our third (3rd!) wedding anniversary with a mini replica of our delicious wedding cake. I co-hosted a bridal shower for my fabulous now cousin-in-law, Amanda, and had fun with the beachy theme. We were given the green light to start trying to get pregnant again which we were both happy and fearful about. Jon and I officially started house hunting and managed to find our dream home on the very first day out. I also started my new job and celebrated my birthday, all on the same day!

 

 

October: I put my toes in the water of the proverbial infertility world by taking my first round of Provera and Clomid, all the while trying to keep from drowning in work and anniversary and birthday celebrations. My hair got chopped and we found out that another offer was accepted on our dream home. (Boo!) Jon and I celebrated our 3rd anniversarymoon in Key West where we managed to stumble into a nude bar by mistake! We continued our anniversarymoon in Orlando at the Epcot Food and Wine Festival and finished up our Florida roadtrip in Naples at my cousin's gorgeous wedding on the beach. October also marked one whole year of our journey to become parents.

 

November: Jon and I had a big decision to make between two homes in our desired neighborhood. After a nerve-wracking offer and counter offer battle, our offer on the house was finally accepted! My infertility journey continued after a failed first round of Clomid which earned me an increased dosage and a wish for a Christmas miracle.

 

 

 

December: I wrote about my Thanksgiving recipe experiments and got great news about our home's value. We got ready for Christmas and I shared my apprehension about this month's cycle of Clomid and when to share the news of a possible positive outcome. The biggest thing to happen to us this month? We became homeowners again!

 

 

Looking back on 2009, I'm amazed by all of the difficult times we went through yet we still managed to keep our humor, our optimism and most importantly, our love, alive. I just know that 2010 must have wonderful things in store for us. We'll make sure of it.

Home Sweet Home

We did it! After what seemed like a million and one signatures, Jon and I are happily homeowners once again! We really couldn't have asked for a better settlement. At their request, we met with the sellers (one daughter and one son of the trust) before we settled and it really was so good to meet them and learn more about the history of the house.

They told us that their father graduated from the Naval Academy (which is just about 10 miles down the road) in 1942, married their mother right after graduation and then was shipped off to the war. Their parents bought the house brand new in 1961 and lived there ever since. Military habits must die hard; there are meticulous notes on every little thing on the house and at least three locks on every outside door! The pride of ownership really does shine through and gives Jon and I peace of mind to know that the house was so well taken care of all these years.

Though I was ecstatic about buying the house, I couldn't help but feel sad for the sellers. They grew up in this house and are now well into their sixties and it was obvious how hard it was for them to let go. I can completely empathize with them because it was so difficult for me to sell our condo after living there for just three years! We exchanged numbers with them and I plan on getting their addresses so that I can send them a little update on their beloved house once we get settled in. Our realtor overheard them saying how nice we are and how happy they are that the house is going to us so that makes me feel a little bit better.

After settlement, we drove back to the house to drop off a load of boxes and Jon surprised me by carrying me over the threshold! It was adorable. We're celebrating our new home by hosting a small New Year's Eve party tomorrow night with some of our local friends. We don't have our t.v. and any furniture moved in yet so we told everyone to think of it as camping and bring their folding chairs and air mattresses! That pretty much guarantees that it's going to be a good night!

Christmas in Review

WHEW!! The holidays have a way of wearing one out, don't they? Our Christmas was the usual whirlwind of activity shuttling between Pennsylvania and Maryland, but oh, how thankful we were that our journey didn't start in Virginia as it used to. There's nothing quite like D.C. traffic to turn a girl into Scrooge.

We spent a lovely and quiet Christmas Eve with Jon's family where we stayed up late playing Apples to Apples and Pictionary, both of which I managed to win, the former all by myself and the second with my "incredibly good interpreter of stick figures" sister-in-law. She's due with her second child in January so that was probably the last time we'll see her before Jake arrives! I finally got to feel him kick, which I believe is the first time I've ever felt a baby quick. It's so crazy and amazing to know there's a little person floating around inside that belly!

We drove back to Maryland on Saturday afternoon to celebrate Christmas with my parents and sister. It was a madhouse of dogs, with Lola, my parent's two dogs and my sister's three dogs, plus the one she was fostering for the weekend. Love for animals runs deep in my family! Unfortunately, the rest of our weekend was marked by a minor flood in my parent's basement thanks to the two feet of melting snow.

It turned out to be a blessing in disguise because it forced my parents to go through all of the old boxes and junk that's been collecting in their basement since moving there in 1998. My parents have some serious hoarding saving tendencies and this was a long time coming. We ended up having four carloads of donations for Goodwill, with many more soon to follow! Thankfully, our moving boxes are stored in a different section of the basement so they escaped the flood.

And in case you forgot (since I haven't mentioned it in what, a week?), we finally settle on our house tomorrow! We're both so anxious to get the renovations started and have already met with our general contractor to discuss the plans. Jon and I will be doing most of the demolition ourselves (the fun part!) and will leave the more complicated stuff like plumbing and electrical work to the professionals. Don't worry, I'll be taking a ton of pictures along the way, especially since Jon bought me a replacement camera battery charger for Christmas after I lost the original charger. Ooh la la, the romance, it is alive!

(He did get me some really wonderful Christmas gifts, including a Le Creuset large risotto pot*, a wicker basket for my vintage beach cruiser and charcoal gray Chuck Taylors! My baby is good.)

EDITED TO ADD: Julie, this piece was in Dijon (yellow), my second favorite of the Le Creuset colors. (Jon bought it at the Le Creuset outlet where the Caribbean color isn't carried quite yet.) However, the rest of my collection is in the Caribbean color...it's my favorite!

Wishing You a Merry Christmas

From the La Petite Chic family to yours,

 
 

Waiting and Wondering

In case my absence caused you to wonder if I'm pregnant, I can assure you that I'm not (as far as I know). My lack of writing is simply due to the fact that a) I can no longer blog at work (imagine that!), b) writer's block and c) the holidays have already worn me out! That first one has been a huge issue for me because not only can I not blog at work, I can't even access the internet unless I find an unclassified computer to jump on. Not that I would have time to anyway because my new job is keeping me super busy. It's good though. Even though half of the time I feel like I have no idea what I'm doing, I've gotten some really wonderful praise from my clients and that reminds me that good customer service trumps lack of experience any day!

As for the writer's block, I used to do a lot of my writing in the morning, ahem, at work. (I swear I still got all of my work, and then some, done!) I never thought myself to be a morning person until a few years ago when I would find myself getting so much done before I left for the office. My mind is fresh in the morning and my energy and creativity comes so easily. It's been a hard transition for me to go from writing in the morning to writing at night. There is working out to be done and dinner to cook and by the time I finally get to sit down, I'm exhausted! I think it's also been hard since we've been living with my parents and I don't have my own writing space anymore. Luckily, that will be changing very soon so I hope to get back into a more regular blogging schedule.

Now that I explained all of that, back to the baby talk. Once again I find myself in that awful waiting period to see if this cycle of Clomid was successful. I feel really hopeful this time around because I finally got the second dark pink line on the ovulation test telling me that I ovulated. I've also been charting my temperatures and they are actually making sense instead of being totally random like they usually are. That's a good start, right? I'm so thankful that the waiting this month is during the holidays because I have a lot of things to distract me. As a side note, for anyone trying to conceive, I highly recommend the book "Taking Charge of Your Fertility" by Toni Weschler. I've been a faithful reader of it since we started last October and it's been really helpful in helping me understand my body and it's natural signs.

That all being said, even if we do get pregnant this cycle, I won't be announcing it here until after those critical first twelve weeks are over. Miscarriage has a way of making you gun-shy and cautious and above all else, incredibly scared of the what-ifs. It's terribly sad, but true. One of the wonderfully kind commenters on the post when I announced my miscarriage wrote, "It is so unfair when this happens to a couple, and I think when it happens in a first pregnancy it is double unfair. It takes away your innocence and the magic of pregnancy; it is a true robbery." Julia, you said it perfectly. Whenever we do get pregnant again, it won't be the same. We'll always be nervous and we'll always worry and we'll always remember the pain of losing our first.

I do so hope we get to experience it again soon, though. Despite all of my fears, nothing can beat that feeling of growing a new life inside of you.

A Plea for Recipes!

Dear Readers,

Pretty please send me your best and most delicious potluck recipes. My new workplace loves to party and between the two of us, Jon and I have three upcoming potlucks. Hot recipes, cold, easy or difficult, I don't care. If it's your favorite, please share it! Either leave me a comment with the recipe (or link to it) or send me an e-mail. Consider it your Christmas gift to me! I'll be forever grateful. :)

Love,
Katie

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

Have I mentioned that I stalk our house? I make sure that Jon and I drive by it at least once a week, usually twice, just to say hi and see what's new. I know, I'm completely crazy! Jon jokes that our neighbors will think I'm staking the neighborhood out to rob it, but I really don't care. It's fun to check in on it. We rode our bikes to it two weekends ago and actually met one of the trustee's of the house. She grew up in it and was able to tell us a lot about the neighborhood and the history of the house. It's so obvious that the house was well loved by their family and still is. She's been taking care of the yard the whole time it's been on the market! 

We drove by it again this weekend and noticed that someone hung a Christmas wreath on our door and put a big red bow on our lamppost. I squealed like a little girl on Christmas morning over that! I'm sure it was the same woman we met who put them up, but it really made Jon and I feel special and welcomed!

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I addressed and mailed all 71 of our Christmas cards this weekend. I was a little behind on sending them out this year because I couldn't decide on a photo to use and I was also waiting to design, order and receive our moving announcements to stuff along with them. There's no way I was going to send those out separately with the outrageous postal prices! I'm so happy with the way both our cards and our announcements turned out. Love Kodak Gallery!

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We made our first batch of Christmas cookies this weekend! I'm not much of a cookie person (I prefer cake or cupcakes), but Jon loooooves cookies so he's always on me to bake them. This first batch was chocolate chip, but he's also requested molasses and oatmeal raisin cookies so I guess I'll be making those before Christmas arrives. We also got our first batch of snow this weekend so it really felt like the holidays around here!

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Operation Bebe is in full effect. We're on cycle day 10 today and all of you Clomid ladies know how important that date is! (For those who are fortunate enough not to know, days 10-20 are the days you're supposed to ahem, "get it on".) Cross your fingers that I actually ovulate this time. As my doctor tells me, "If we can just get you to ovulate, I know you won't have a problem getting pregnant!" Let's hope she's right. One promising thing is that my cycle actually started spontaneously this time. I was just about to start my next round of Provera when it just showed up on it's own. Hooray for something working the way it's supposed to (though it was over 20 days late)! If we get pregnant this round, we could very well have an anniversary baby. And we thought that time of year was already crazy for us...our anniversary, baby's birthday?, my birthday and Jon's birthday all within 31 days of each other!

A Little Bit of This and That

Our life has been so, so hectic! We drove straight from work last Wednesday to spend Thanksgiving with Jonathan's family in Pennsylvania. His parents always host their extended family so it was a busy day of catching up with aunts and uncles and cousins. I was sick with a cold so I didn't eat much, but hey, it was good for my waistline! I always like to bring a dish or two whether or not I'm hosting and this year I wanted to put a little Southern spin on things.

(As an aside, if you know a Marylander, ask them whether they live in a Southern state or a Northern state. Personally, I believe Maryland to be a Southern state based on the people and culture in the area where I grew up and live, but ask anyone north of Baltimore and they'll probably tell you it's a Northern state. It's always an interesting debate! Though we are south of the Mason-Dixon line so I think I win!)

Anyhow, I made a double batch of Paula Deen's Creamy Macaroni and Cheese and my goodness, was that a big hit! I substituted half of the cheddar cheese for Gruyere, one of my favorite "melty" cheeses, and it was absolutely divine. I also made Homemade Cranberry Sauce again this year and now I really don't think I can ever go back to canned. Don't get me wrong, the canned sauce tastes just fine, but the homemade sauce is just so pretty!

For an appetizer, I made Pumpkin Pie Dip, my go-to recipe for any occasion in the fall. It's always a crowd pleaser. I think I should just start carrying the recipe with me because someone always asks for it! And finally, Jonathan and I made a jumbo batch of Bourbon Slush. We brought it to Christmas last year and it was all gone by the time we got to dessert, so we knew we had to make it again. It is so delicious but you have to be careful because it goes down very easily!

I've already decided that I want to host Thanksgiving next year since we'll finally have enough room for both of our families to fit in our home at the same time. That never could have happened in our itty-bitty condo. Our new house has a formal dining room which I can't wait to break in. It wasn't a must-have on my house list, but it was definitely on my wish list. Now we just need some dining room furniture!

Speaking of the house, it was appraised on Saturday and we received some wonderful news: It appraised for $50,000 over what we paid for it, which means we have instant equity in the house! And that's before any of the renovations we have planned for it! This house is definitely all about location, location, location and it showed in the appraisal. That bit of good news helped to soften the blow of finding out that the first house we put in offer in on (the one we fell in love with on our very first day of house hunting) sold for just $3,000 over our offer. Three thousand paltry dollars! That is nothing in terms of affecting your monthly mortgage payment.

However, when we made that offer, Jon and I both promised that it was our bottom line and we couldn't have any regrets. That's easier said than done, but luckily we are just as in love (for completely different reasons!) with the house we're buying. We settle in just 28 days now and we've already come up with decorating plans. Since we are so close to the water, we want our home to be just like a casual and comfy beach house. We're planning on having a lot of grays and blues and greens and maybe some yellow here and there for pops of color. I can't wait to get started!