Extra Thankful

On a scale of 1-10 this past week has been 11. A lot of good things happened this week and overall life is coming up roses.

Monday: The company I work for, Dwellevate, launched it's website finally after like 8 long months. This was a great way to start my week. Extra happy bosses equal extra happy couple of work days. I plan on posting more about Dwellevate next week, so I can give you all an idea of what my role was.

Tuesday: After freaking out all weekend long about trying to get our of lease, we found out that they would void it with no penalties. Halleluiah! Now the hunt is on, and we don't have a lot of time. Gotta be out of here by June 30th.

Wednesday: Today we got even more wonderful news. Not many people know this, but we had a little bit of a love bean scare. At my ultrasound around 18/19 weeks they found a Chorid Plexus Cyst on our bean's brain, they're pretty common and usually mean nothing, but sometimes it can mean the baby will have Trimosy 18 . Though my doctor wasn't concerned, it still scared the living day lights out of me and the hubs. And today I had a follow up ultrasound with the high risk doctor—CYST IS GONE!! I'll still have another follow up ultrasound with the high risk doctor, but not for 10 weeks.

In other happy love bean news, we're having a girl! At my previous ultrasound, she had her legs crossed the entire time and the tech couldn't tell. This time she was still a stubborn little thing, but no boy parts in sight, so girl it is!

Another fun thing about today was that Tim and I went to a Cub's game. It was freezing, we totally busted our budget and bought a freaking $49 blanket, and left in the 6th inning because it started raining, but we still had lot's of fun. We've gotta soak in all the couple time we can this Spring and Summer.

Thursday: My 5 day weekend starts!! My little brother is graduating from high school. And I'll be there, YAY!

Friday - Monday: I'll be in the Mitten camping with the fam, eating lot's of good food my daddy makes over the fire and eating s'mores.

Needless to say, I'm feeling extra thankful for all the wonderful things in my life.

We're Movin'

Have you ever made a choice that at the time, felt right, made sense and made you happy, and then a few weeks later you find yourself freaking out, crying and regretting that very same choice? Please tell me I'm not alone here...

With the upcoming arrival of our love bean, Timmy and I had a pretty big choice to make. Do we stay in our totally awesome downtown apartment with amazing views of Lake Michigan that we love so much, or do we move north and try to find a cheaper place to live? We decided to stay. We thought it made sense, close to the doctor, we're comfortable here, there's room for baby and though it would be tight we thought we could afford it.

Fast forward to last weekend...

I had been researching day care costs and decided to use our budget spreadsheet to simulate what our budget would become after love bean's arrival. Surprise, it would have been a little more than just tight. Cue the crying, freaking out and regretting that we renewed our lease a few weeks ago. When Tim got home from work we talked it over and decided to see if we could get out of our lease, if we couldn't we'd try to sublease it.

Oh happy Tuesday! We found out that they are going to void our lease!! We don't have to pay any sort of fee either, which is awesome. Now the hunt is on for a new place to live. We realize we're probably going to have to down grade considerably, but we'd rather do that than worry if we can afford rent/day care that month. Love bean will be more than worth it I'm sure :)

My Style: Maternity

I'll be 22 weeks tomorrow! I can still fit into all my pre-pregnancy clothes, which is really nice, but things are getting a little tight. And since my belly started to pop a couple weeks ago I've been keeping my jeans up with a hair tie. I did buy a pair of maternity capris, and thanks to my momma I got to go a little shopping spree and get some other new clothes!

Almost half my shopping spree budget was spent on unmentionables...O.M.G. getting some bras that actually fit my growing ta tas, has made such a HUGE difference! I went into Forever 21 thinking that I'd be able to get lot's of stuff because I'm really not big at all, but that was real depressing. Mostly because even though they'd fit me now, I knew they wouldn't fit through the entire pregnancy, so I settled on one shirt (the plaid one in the top left corner) and a pair of leggings.

The rest of my shopping I did online at Motherhood. I ordered the dress and 4 other shirt in the picture above. They haven't arrived yet, but I can't wait to try them on and hang them in my closet. I love new clothes!! I didn't buy any jeans, because I can still wear mine pretty comfortably unbuttoned, and I'm debating between jeans and shorts, though I'll probably end up getting a pair or two of both.

One other item on my list to buy it a bathing suit. I am NOT looking forward to this at all. I've always hated buying bathing suits and with my aversion to "naked" pregnant bellies, it's gonna have to be something that completely covers me. Needless to say, I will not be one of those women who rock a bikini the whole nine months. Go them. But it's not for me.

25 Before Twenty-Five Update

My momma brought to my attention over the weekend, that I haven't blogged about my 25 Before Twenty-Five list in awhile. So, I thought I'd give you and update.

The week before Easter I crossed off #13: Give food to a homeless person on the street. I didn't write a separate post about it, because it wasn't something I really planned. Tim and I had volunteered to help pass out granola bars attached to a card inviting people to our church. And even though he came to me, instead of me giving him food while he was sitting on the street, I still counted it.

I'm also one fifth of the way to crossing off #25: Read 10 books off of Time's All Time 100 Novels. I've now read Catch-22 which I talked about here and on my way home from work today, I finished Atonement.

"A magnificent deception. Briony Tallis, the intricate English girl at the center of Atonement, is a budding writer. At the age of 13 she believes that through her powers of invention and language, "an unruly world could be made just so." In a complicated way, she turns out to be right, but only after she turns out to be catastrophically wrong. In the first half of the book, she passionately misunderstands a series of events she witnesses on a summer day in 1935, which leads her to formulate a lie that ruins the lives of her older sister Cecilia and Cecilia's lover Robbie. So much for the virtues of the imagination. But McEwan is crafty. Even as he shows us the deadly force of storytelling, he demonstrates its beguilements on every page. Then he leads us to a surprise ending in which the power of fiction, which has been used to undo lives, is used again to make heartbroken amends."

You've probably seen or at least heard of the movie starring Keira Knightly, but like usual the book was so so so so much better! If you like reading love stories, period pieces or just magnificent fiction writing in general, you should read this book and soon! 

USVAP Benefit

Last week Tim won tickets (through work) to see Gary Sinise and the Lt. Dan Band. If you're like me you don't think you have a clue who Gary Sinise is, but trust me you do. He played Lt. Dan in Forrest Gump, he was in Apollo 13, is on CSI: NY and lots others. We felt pretty cool, our name was on a list, and since Midas sponsored the benefit, we got to sit in the VIP room.

sorry for the blur it's the best I could do.

The show was a benefit the the United States Verterans Art Program (USVAP). The foundation's mission is to:

"To provide "Artistic Tools" (musical instruments, painting supplies, art scholarships, cameras, computers, etc.) to wounded service members; and to bring visibility to the power of art and how it might bring cathartic inner solace for those Americans who have sacrificed in service to their country.

To provide "Artistic Tools" (through veteran initiatives) to selected individuals who wish to continue their pursuit of artistic expression but are unable to do so, due to some aspect directly related to the consequences of war. . ."

The band was a lot of fun, they played all covers and were really fun to watch. Between sets, they gave away a camera and some other things to Iraq/Afghanistan war vets. To see a soldier whose life has forever been changed after serving three tours in service to our country, get up and say "Thank you. This means so much to me, but really, I was just doing my job" was so humbling and seriously, brought tears to my eyes.

May Love List

It's finally May, the weather here in Chicago seems to be finally warming up for good. I was beginning to think that it was going to stay Winter forever.

Can't wait until the city looks like this. It's so pretty in the Spring

Things I'm Loving This Month

• Tim felt our love bean move for the first time. The smile on his face was priceless!
• Loads of family time, though I'm not really looking forward to all the driving. We'll see both sides of the family month.
• My cutie pie niece Raelin turns 1
• Little brother is graduating from high school
• Spring weather
• The Voice - best singing competition show ever. 

I haven't blogged since Easter. I'm actually thinking about not blogging anymore. I don't think I really add anything new to the blogging world, I'm not sure how many and how much people enjoy reading my ramblings and a lot of the time I just don't know what to write about. Maybe I just haven't found my niche yet...so I'll give it another go here.

I'd love some feedback though, are there certain things you like reading about? Things I've wrote about that you think I should just keep to myself? Do you want to hear more about baby? About the city? My relationship, apartment, my rants and raves, more graphic design? I don't care if your a family member, friend, stranger, regular reader or you've just stumbled upon That's So City. I'd love to hear from you!

------

I'd love for this Maternity Slouch Joe Dress from TopShop to magically appear on my doorstep...

It's 48 Euro according to Google that's roughly $70. I promise if you send it to me, I'll wear it enough you'll get your money's worth :)