Pebbles for my Private Spa

The master bathroom in our new house is very small. And right now, it is uglier than ugly (you can see for yourselves below). But when I am done with it, it will be my own private spa with a pebble-tile steam shower, aaaaahhh. I had this whole spa thing pictured in my head, so I thought that this is going to be easy, just go and pick out the materials to match the picture in my head.. Well, not so fast! There are millions of choices to choose from, beginning with the pebble tiles! Black, white, light gray, dark gray, green, pink, etc. I like the more natural look of the gray pebbles, but even in the gray family the choices are endless. What to choose????

This is the space that will be TRANSFORMED into BEAUTY and TRANQUILITY!!

Oh, and (yay!!) we get the keys to our new house on Monday night, which is when all this fun is going to BEGIN!

Goodbye Idol

I have to admit that I have been watching every season of the American Idol until now. Some seasons have been better than others. My daughter has grown to love the show too. But last night marked the end of the Idol for me. I am a big fan of Simon and now that he is leaving, I doubt that the show will be very interesting next season, it had already grown a bit tired this season. I may still get a peek in here and there, but I doubt I will be into it as I have been until now. So Goodbye American Idol, it was fun while it lasted! And congrats to Lee and Crystal!

BTW - I thought that Paula Abdul looked fabulous in the fuschia dress. I wish my legs would look half as good when I am her age!

Entre S'il Vous Plait

Here are the current plans for my entrance, although I am still debating whether to do black or white marble floor:

Black (or white) marble tile floor (the tile would continue into the kitchen, thus creating unity between these spaces)
One wall all mirror
Black lacquered desk for keys and mail
A fun rug to keep things light and set the mood
Black crystal chandelier hanging overhead

Rug http://www.cb2.com/family.aspx?c=170&f=5802

Walmart Dress and Sex and the City 2 Premier

I almost dropped my eyes when I saw Wendy Wiliams wearing the same (or almost same) Walmart dress to the Sex and the City 2 Premier as I wore to the wedding on Saturday night. The only difference was that my dress was from the maternity collection. Sex and the City being the fashion icon of the decade, that is one bold move. I guess I have REALLY been right when I have been talking about fashion going more and more democratic in the past few years. And Sex and the City has a lot to do with that movement too, combining high and low and wearing what looks good (regardless of price tag!). I don't know if Manolo Blahniks would ever have become so popular without the show. Before SATC Blahniks and other shoes in that price range were for the Park Avenue trust fund socialites - but now all of us regular working girls want to wear them too... Whether that's a good or a bad thing, I don't know (it is a bit insane to drop a week's salary on shoes - but then again - who says that we have to always be sane)! All I do know is that I personally don't own one single pair of Manolos and I feel a bit deprived. However, since I am NOT shopping anymore (I keep repeating that like a mantra, in the hopes that I can really brainwash myself into NOT shopping completely), there will not be Manolos in my near future.

The new NYC Fashionista

My 7-year old daughter has always been into fashion - to the extent that I need to put on brakes at times, after all, she is only 7 and there is so much more to life than fashion. She has decided and styled all her outfits on her own for a couple of years now, and does a wonderful job if I may say. I loved this outfit because of the bright turqoise and the color coordination or purple and turqoise.  

Why does it have to be Sunday night?

What a lovely weekend this was! The highlight was a beautiful wedding at the Water Club. The tables were not numbered but named according to famous places in NY and London (the bride is from NYC and the groom from London). The live band was great and of course I had to shake my pregnant booty on the dance floor.

Unfortunately the above picture is the only one I took all night.. I am so bad! I should have taken a pic of the beautiful bride.. and the lovely view from the Water Club. And have someone snap a picture of me and my hubby..but no, I just get so in the moment that I forget about the camera. I guess what made the evening ever more lovely for me was all the wonderful compliments I received. I am not sure if people were just feeling a bit sorry for the obviously pregnant lady and wanted to make me feel better, but I probably have never received so many compliments in one night.

I had on a very cheap maternity dress from Walmart (of all places!!) I normally do not patronize Walmart from various reasons, one big reason being that I don't like their employment policies and cheap bad quality disposable stuff from China, and the second that New York does not have a Walmart store. But someone had told me about a line that Norma Kamali designed for Walmart and me being a big fan of cheap chic I had to give it a try. I ordered a bunch of maternity stuff online and the box arrived the day before the wedding. The Norma Kamali dress was just a black lycra thing with a tie in the back (it really showed off my belly though because I rather look like I am pregnant, not fat), but it fit me perfectly. So I wore the $20 Walmart dress with my Nine West silver heels, silver Tory Burch clutch, my black and diamond vintage cartier watch, a huge pave diamond ring and a big costume necklace of glittering glass I had scored from eBay a while back.

I guess I normally let myself look pretty drab these pregnant days since this one time that I got dolled up with good hair, make-up and a decent manicure I got so many oohs and aahs. The best compliment of course from my husband who at some point looked at me when we were dancing and said that you're the most beautiful woman in this room by far....after almost 19 years he can still make me so happy.

When it rains, it pours - or take this Kimora Lee Simmons!

So I never got to share what I did get for mother's day (which, in case you haven't noticed, is a humongous affair in this family - probably because I was the type to never have children and then ended up with 2 and a third on the way). Anyway... After all the talk about a Bottega Veneta and secretly hoping that my hubby would have somehow scored a Birkin at some auction, I got neither. But I did get bags. Four of them, as a matter of fact! What did I say - when it rains, it pours :-)

The story of the bags starts with an illegal ponzi-scheme recently discovered by the Securities and Exchange Commission. Often times when all other avenues to recover moneys have been exhausted, there is an auction that sells the criminal's possessions, such as cars, yachts, art, etc. all the way down to the jewelery and bags of the criminal's poor wife. Enter my husband whose hobby it is to check out auctions. He happens to go to this particular auction where they are selling the stuff that the Ponzi-scheme criminal and his wife used to own. My hubby was really after a certain very rare watch, which he did not win. But then as he was leaving a lot of four Louis Vuitton bags came on, and he thinks, hmm, my wife has been talking about bags like a crazy woman lately, let me bid on this one. And he wins the bid! And goes home with four brand new looking LV's.. A few days later it's mother's day - so guess what mommy got?

TV Obsessions - part 2 - 9 by Design

Bravo's new reality TV show, or docu-series, as Bravo calls it, is just delicious! With the baby-boom in my own life, it is amazing to watch a show about a really cool family with 7 children (no, it's not a typo!). And it's not his children and her children, these children are all from same parents, and live with their parents all the time. However, the show is not about the children, but about designing homes. A very timely subject for me, again. So it's no wonder I have been obsessed about the show. The first time I saw the show I dreamed about the family the whole night. And the second night I was renovating my new home in my dreams all night, with the catch that my new home was really their home. I know, Freud might have an opinion on that one.

The Novogratz family lives in my favorite NYC neighborhood, the West Village, and buys old dilapidated buildings and builds gorgeous and unique modern homes in them, all in the lower Manhattan area so that their kids don't have to change shcools when they move, which is apparently quite frequently. They basically started out as house-flippers and have since expanded to taking on other people's design jobs too. The homes are full of unique and creative details, and the furniture and art are a mix of very high end designer stuff and some rare vintage finds. The color scheme is mostly white which appeals to my Scandinavian sensibility. However, there is always some pops of strong color, and it's never boring or too precious looking. I have definitely had some ideas for my own home by watching the show, and some ideas that I was on the fence with were confirmed.

In the next episode the whole family will travel to London. I can't wait to see how they pull that off...

Design Overload at the A&D Building

Yesterday I attended the Opening Night at the A&D Building. It is an event for interior designers mostly and open to trade only, but a good friend of mine (who just happens to be an interior designer!) sneaked me in with her. For the mere mortal it was a design overload. But what a happy overload! There were tons of showrooms that were hosting receptions with wine, prosecco, and little bites to eat. Parteeeee! I had such a craving for the prosecco but in my condition it is verboten so no prosecco for me..just for my friend who enjoyed quite many glasses!

We started our tour with the Holly Hunt showroom, which was a totally new place for me. It is my friend's favorite, and apparently the favorite of many of her firm's upscale clients. We then moved on to the B&B Italia, who had the best party with a drop-dead-gorgeous DJ and the most fabulous new furniture collection. 

Given that I am in the process of planning my new kichen I was most interested in kitchen designs. The Varenna kitchen by Poliform was the tops! Loved it!

It would take too long to list every kitchen showroom we visited, so let me just think back to the big themes..

1. Stainless Steel - it was everywhere. Obviously in appliances, but also in countertops, islands and cabinet doors.
2. White Marble - it too was everywhere. There was all kinds of different looking and differently treated white marble.
3. White and Black - most of the showkitchens where glossy white and black, simple, and even plain. There was a lot of white glass!
4. No pulls - most of the cabinet doors had no pulls/knobs/handles, which gave the showkitchens an extremely streamlined look. Even the drawers had either no pulls or as unnoticeable pulls as possible.
5. Induction Cooktop - all showkitchens featured  this cooktop. The old electric cooktop was nowhere to be seen.

TV Obsessions - part 1 - Crazy Housewives

There are a few programs that I am totally addicted to..and I am sorry to say but they tend to be reality series.. There are actually four shows playing now that I have to watch. Thank God for DVR!!! (Recording cable box - without which I would never watch any TV except for the news.) Bravo is obviously the channel where most of it is happening as there are three must-see shows playing now on Bravo.

The Real Housewives of New Jersey is on its second season, and the ladies are so totally crazy that you just cannot stop watching. All I keep thinking about is why would anyone want to have themselves be depicted in the way those women come thru in that show. They are just so totally bitchy, stupid, insecure and vain. And their cluelessness just makes it all so hilarious! They are so proud of their gigantic homes decorated in god-awful "French Chateau" style that would give a migraine to any normal person visiting. I guess because of all this, I am just so totally hooked...

Then there is the Real Housewives of New York City. Who are not really housewives as most of them seem to do at least some kind of jobs (except perhaps the "Countless" Countess Luann, or new girl Sonja). We know these girls pretty well now as it is season three already.. And they sure have issues as well, but are somewhat more identifiable than the NJ housewives. Communication is a big issue here - I feel that they could all work out their issues if they all just learned to communicate better. And that includes listening as well as talking! But then again, if they did that, they would be almost like normal people, and the show would not be fun to watch..

The third Bravo show deserves its own entry so more about that later - I can just say that I am OBSESSED thinking about the family that the show is about!

Happy Mother's Day!

I have been pampered by my wonderful family all weekend long! I really am very blessed to have my adorable girls with each their own individual, amazing, fun and smart personality. And of course I am very blessed to have a best friend, lover, handy man, and the best father for my children all wrapped in one husband. A thought goes out to all those women too who want to have a family / children so badly but for some reason cannot... I am hoping the universe will make it happen for you!

So much excitement..

Kids have so much energy, it almost makes you exhausted just to watch.. Like roaming around in the West Village, Soho, China Town and Little Italy all day wasn't enough, my daughter invited a friend over and is now doing limbo, solving mysteries and just running around dancing and making silly sketch jokes.. How much would I get done if only I had that energy level?

What's in a Name?

Since I have been thinking about names lately (my new baby, my blog and changing lifestyle), I paid attention to the bit of news I heard the other day, about recent studies done in Canada and Holland about the effects of women adopting their husband's name when they get married. Very interesting study indeed, and the information made me very happy that I kept my own surname.

The women that take their husband's name are perceived as much more stereotypically female, lower-educated, with more children and more traditional family values, who work less hours in non-management jobs. In a job interview situation, if the interviewer knew that a woman had taken the husband's name, they perceived their salary requirement at over a $1000 less than women who had kept their own name.

I was pretty stunned about this, but I guess I shouldn't have been. The world still sees women as submissive and to some extent as "property". Even though sometimes it is annoying that my children have a different last name from mine (my husband insisted that they have his name), I am still happy that I kept my own name, my own identity and better career development prospects.

Gritty New York

On Friday I made the difficult decision of not doing my usual 2-week+ trek to Finland in the summer. I love the Finnish summer, with mosquitoes and all.. It is so clean, fresh and wonderful compared to a sweaty, humid New York summer. This summer, however, we will be in the middle of a huge renovation, packing up, moving and I will be quite pregnant in the middle of all this. It just adds up to a bit too much, so something has to give. 

Oh, and by the way... Our renovation project is getting bigger and bigger as we have decided to change the place of the stairs to the second floor of our new house. My husband and I finally sat down last night and drafted a budget for our big renovation (we could almost build a new house for the money that it will take - craaazyyyy - and a bit scary!). It looks like mommy has to do without a Bottega Veneta or a Birkin for now! But that is just fine. The new house will have plenty of space for my existing bag collection which I will be able to display in a way that I actually have access to all my treasures - who needs a new bag when they can have 20 that feel like new?

My Favorite Flower

This beautiful bloom is my favorite flower, 

and this specific peony is even more special because it grows in my mother's garden.

I will definitely plant some peonies in my own yard next summer.

Appliances Part II

I love to cook with a gas range. Gas reacts immediately when you want to change the heat level and there are no set levels as in most electric cooktops. However, our new house does not have a gas connection. Originally we were determined to change the house from oil heat to gas, but after doing some research we figured that it may not be worth the cost and effort, even in the long run. (Writing about oil vs. gas comparison could be its own post, so I won't go into details here.) Since we decided that there will be no gas connection, I had to start looking at electric stoves and cooktops. The latest thing is the induction cooktop which has some interesting features. The cooktop itself does not heat up, but the heat is transferred to the vessel sitting on the cooktop. The catch is that the vessel has to be good quality stainless steel. I use a lot of non-stick pots when I cook, which are not ideal for induction. However, induction can boil a pot of water in 90 seconds (Welcome fast pasta!), i.e. much less than a microwave oven, and has almost an endless range of heat levels, and is very steady in the heat level.

Induction Pros:

• Very FAST
• Reacts immediately when you change the heat level
• Child friendly because the cooktop does not heat up
• Easy to clean because messes don't burn into the hot cooktop

Inductions Cons:

• Only works with good quality stainless steel pots

Because I don't want to give up my health conscious ways and love of non-stick pots, the solution is a Hybrid Cooktop. It has two induction elements and three regular electric elements. So far I have only found this Electrolux cooktop that would work, but it looks really good!

My motto

I have always believed that "The Best is Yet to Come". I love my life, and I don't like too much change. However, I believe that change is inevitable to move forward and to make things better. I also believe that life will carry you, if you try be a good person and make good decisions. "The Best if Yet to Come" is my motto and perhaps the new name of my blog. I will try it as the title for this page for a few days and let's see how I feel about it..

Appliances, Part I

If a refrigerator can be dreamy, then this Sub Zero is...THE DREAM!

I have to think big when it comes to the fridge. We have a five-person family, and an au pair living under one roof, and we all like to eat a lot  :-) 

However, this fridge may stay as just a dream because it's so damn expensive, about $14,000, plus taxes and insurance /maintenance plan, totaling to about $16,000... With the big renovation that is not doable. But a girl can always dream, right?

Planning the new Great Room

I am really looking forward to having a big kitchen where family and friends can hang out and everyone can relax, enjoy good food, wine and company. My husband and I like to cook and entertain, and have been doing it in our small apartment kitchen with no problem. But now that we own a house, I am suddenly so fed up with the smallness of our galley kitchen where two people can hardly pass.

We have big plans for the kitchen of our new house. Currently the house has a smallish kitchen with an eat-in section, a separate formal dining room and an adjoining window screened porch. We will knock down the dividing walls and make this into one big open great room, which will combine kitchen, dining and family room areas. The room will have lots of windows as both the current porch area and the formal dining room have walls that are almost all windows looking out to the greenery of the back yard. This will be the heart of the house and the space where we will probably spend most of our time in. It's a major renovation waiting to happen!

Below are pictures of the current state of affairs. I am hoping that I can post the after pictures in early July...

This is the current kitchen. We will most likely keep these cabinet doors, just replace the pulls. However, the kitchen will be gutted out, the dividing cabinets will be removed and there will be an island with a hybrid induction cooktop (more about that later). We will redesign the spacing of the cabinets and all appliances will be changed. I have found a gorgeous fridge, and a double wall oven. I am still looking for the dishwasher. The countertops will be granite, and naturally the wallpaper is history. I have not decided on the back splash yet. The floor tiling will be changed.

This is the eat-in section of the kitchen. The wall that divides the kitchen and dining rooms will be demolished.The windows will be floor to ceiling panels.

The dining room windows will be replaced with sliding doors opening up to the deck on the back yard. Both end walls will be demolished.

This is the probably the most challenging part of the whole renovation. This area will be our TV room, joined to the great room. The area needs to be insulated, it needs new flooring, windows, and walls. We will install a wood burning stove to this space as well to have the cozyness of a fireplace without having to actually build one (there is a built in fireplace elsewhere in the house). We already bought the couch for this room from the fabulous ABC Carpet and Home store (it's the creamy white leather couch that I featured previously on this blog). The door to the back yard will be removed (or closed if for village rule purposes it cannot be removed).

Here are a couple of pictures of great rooms that have inspired me, both are contemporary but not too modern, very warm and welcoming with a neutral to warm color palette:

Bottega Veneta (for Mother's Day?)

Mother's Day is fast approaching and my husband asked me today to give him some hints for a mother's day present. I looked around at some of my favorite stores' web sites and as usual I was drawn to bags...once bag crazy, always bag crazy. I have been planning to add a Bottega Veneta to my collection, but have not found the right one (the crocodile Bottega that I have been known to rave about is wayyyy to expensive, and since one of my new rules is to do without until you can have what you really love, I have passed it on the Bottegas) - until now - because this bag is crazy cool. It's a little rough but at the same time very chic and most importantly, very easy to match with almost any outfit that I would wear, whether business or weekend. Here it is:

It was love at first sight! Although I have not yet actually seen it.. I need to get myself to Bergdorf's fast to touch and feel this beauty and to see how the proportions work for me.

There are other possible Bottega options, but they are more basic and boring (not to mention cheaper, in case there is a budget for the mother's day present):

 This one is a the same basic tote but the color really gives it a punch. I am just not sure it's me:

Earth Day

I just realized I should have saved my composting entry to today, the Earth Day. To celebrate the topic, here is a great link to making your compost :-) http://www.nature.org/activities/art23424.html

Even though it's been around for 40 years, I feel like the Earth Day is getting a lot more emphasis this year than ever before and I think it's great! Having grown up in Finland where untouched and unspoiled nature is never too far away, you grow up undestanding and appreciating the natural environment. I am very happy that my daughter is also growing up understanding how important it is to protect the earth and conserve energy. Her wonderful teachers are focusing on the things that everyone can do in their daily lives to live more green. My darling 7-year old goes around our apartment and turns off lights from rooms that no one is in, she unplugs unnecessary gadgets and chargers when not in use, turns off the water while brushing her teeth and inspires us to pay attention to these things too.

New Name and Identity Crisis

Since I won't live in New York City anymore, I was thinking I should change the name of my blog. I started brainstorming new names, but they all seem so lame. Suburban Fashionista, Surburban Fashionista Queen (as suggested by my daughter, who BTW, wants to start her own blog at the ripe age of 7!!), Suburban Style, Fashion and Style in the Suburbs. Yuck... Seems as if I am stuck on the word Suburban...and I guess that is why all the names are so boring. Suburbs are boring. I can only ask what the hell was I thinking, buying a house in the suburbs? What am I doing to myself? I don't want to become a boring suburban soccer mom who drives around in a minivan - nightmare! Thank God my kids don't do soccer. I think I am going through a small identity crisis. All my life I have identified myself as a Citygirl. So what happens to that identity now that I won't live in the City anymore? And, what will I name my blog?

From Birkins to Composting

Isn't it wonderful what a wide range of items a person can be interested in? Sometimes it is pretty funny though. I just feel a bubbly giggle coming up when I think about my current obsessions and put them side by side: Birkins and Composters. So far apart, but still so important. My transformation from a Citygirl to a real suburbanite is taking place faster than anyone could have imagined. And I am embracing that transformation whole heartedly. Soon I may even purchase my first Crocs (NOT!).

So yes, I am a bit obsessed about composting. But being still at least half-hearted citygirl I have been looking for a composting bin that would look good, not smell and not attract flies.. And surprise, I have found some good options. Gardening seems to really have moved to the 21st Century. Here are some great futuristic looking composting globes that may even work as pieces of lawn art:

When a dream almost comes true..

For the longest time I had dismissed Hermes Birkin bags as something quite ridiculous because I felt that they were too expensive to be taken seriously. Meanwhile I bought a couple of designer bags each season and those did not come cheap even though they were nowhere near to the prices of Birkins. When I recently stopped shopping I started looking at things a bit differently. Birkin (and Kelly - but I just love big bags, which is why I am focusing on Birkin) is something that lasts forever. The style never changes, never goes out of style, it is classic and has exquisite workmanship which is quite rare these days.  Birkin is recognizable, but probably not by the masses, which also makes it more desirable for me, as I am sick of logos and bling bling. (The other bag on my wish list is a Bottega Veneta - also logo free, but so far the purchases for the new house have overruled any accessories shopping.)

So about six months ago I made an announcement to my husband in which I told him to forgo any Valentine, Birthday, Mother's Day, Christmas or Just-because-I-love-you presents for the next couple of years and just get me a Birkin for my 40th birthday (along with a big party weekend in Vegas!!). Since then my darling hubby has had his eye open for Birkins. He now recognizes the bag that he had never heard of before and can point it out for me if he sees someone carrying it.

On Thursday he went to an auction partly because they were auctioning off a Blue Jean Birkin (among some artsy objects that we were interested in). He was a successful bidder, in the end competing with an old lady who looked like she probably had a good collection of Birkins. I guess she was missing the Blue Jean as she had the guts to bid higher and higher. In the end it was too much even for my dedicated hubby and the old lady won the prize. The good news is that there is another auction coming up soon with a Birkin on the list! Did I tell you that once my man has gotten something in his head, he is relentless until he gets what he wants, even if it takes a lot of effort and a long time - so I am assured that I shall have my Birkin one day.

Birkin is a bag that evokes passionate following, as evidenced by the books that have been written about it, most famously by Michael Tonello: Bringin Home the Birkin -My Life in Hot Pursuit of the World's Most Coveted Handbag. (The title says it all!)

Whole blogs have been dedicated to Birkins: http://mybirkinblog.blogspot.com/2009/10/my-birkin-blog-spots.html

Varpunen - A home worth featuring

What a nice surprise it was this morning as I checked my email and the Remodelista entry contained a wonderfully original and stylishly black and white little home from Finland. I love this home because it has obviously not been decorated with big money, but with big vision and ideas. I wish I had half the creativity of this decorator!

Spring has sprung

I love Michelle Obama's style! As does the rest of the world..everyone seems to be in awe of our first lady and her easygoing and yet elegant and always appropriate style. I have always found spring dressing a bit difficult. I am not big on pastels, flowery stuff and all that. But Michelle Obama does the Spring Dress so well, kudos to her.

Memories of Snow

Now that it is almost summer, snow looks almost exotic..

Stella McCartney for Gap

I finally had a chance to go to the Gap yesterday to check out Stella McCartney's collection for Gap Kids. I loved the collection, especially the tissue thin cotton ruffle tops for girls and the adorable eyelet and fish dresses. For some reason I can't post pics today, so you need to go the Gap web site to view these very cute clothes.

Members Only

I have to admit that I am quite the sale-hawk and a self-anointed outlet queen. I just get very excited about the thought of getting something for less. At some point this was almost a problem as I would buy anything if it was on sale..thinking that I was getting a good deal..even if I did not need or even like the product (usually shoes, bags, clothes, accessories) very much. I have a $5 Gucci scarf in my closet still that is uglier than hell! And the load of Marc Jacobs shoes that were 90% off (I mean seriously - who could NOT buy MJ shoes for 90% off??). But both the scarf and the shoes (about 5 pairs including boots) have never been used and take up valuable space in my closet. I hear someone say eBay - but I have tried it and it is just too much work for not much profit.

So, to the topic of the title --> Members Only. I was very excited when about a year or two ago I got invited to a couple of Members Only discount shopping sites, namely Ideeli and Gilt. These are sites that sell higher end overstock at a reasonable discount, usually about half off the original price. The sites send you an email about the upcoming sale and what they have in inventory, and you have to place an order at the specified time when the particular product that you want is on sale. A great idea I thought - and could not wait to start getting the emails and snagging up the best deals. Two years later I have purchased NOTHING from these sites. My inbox is overflowing with the constant emails and I have had to designate the emails as junk because they crowd out the really important emails. One of the biggest turn-offs for me is that the sales are final sales and cannot be returned. When you are buying online it is really important that you be able to return as you cannot properly assess the color, quality and fit of the product based on the picture on the screen. Another thing that bugs me is the Members Only aspect. Just as fashion has been democratized by outlets and cheap chic collections, these members only sites just rub me the wrong way.

 I have to admit that I may have grown out of the sale and outlet craze - and graduated into a mature, considering consumer. Makes me proud to say! But I am still wondering whether I should keep the MJ shoes as we move in the summer - or just admit defeat and donate to goodwill?

Jetlag and Happy Easter Monday

My eyelids are drooping as I write this and it is 4:16 in the afternoon. Jetlag is taking over. I took a little Easter break and went to visit family in Finland. Came back yesterday. I cannot cope well with jetlag and suffer both ways. It is worse of course when you fly east because you lose time. Usually Ambien is helpful in keeping some semblance of "normal sleeping hours" but being pregnant I did not use any drugs this time.. Luckily after all these years all my friends and family in Finland know that I am totally out of it until about noon time. (Thank God for mummu who happily feeds and entertains the kids while mommy sleeps..) Now, back home in New York I try to hold on to the pattern of going to sleep early and waking up early. Unfortunately it only lasts so long... There are some good news too: Despite the jetlag, I finally feel like a human being again - seems like pregnancy hormones have stabilized and there is no more morning sickness or overreaching tiredness. The first ultrasound results were good too, which is a blessing at this (advanced) age :-)  (and the ultrasound person gave me his personal opinion that I may be carrying a boy - a welcome addition to balance out the girl power in our family)...but don't tell anyone yet as this information has not been fully confirmed yet.