Thirty-fun.

Lake Tahoe

My family spent the week in South Lake Tahoe to celebrate my dad's 60th birthday.  What a blessing it was to have us all there under one roof as this doesn't happen very often.  Mom had us going nonstop with a fun adventure everyday...gondola ride, shopping, eating, bike riding, eating, paddle boating, eating, parasailing, trout fishing, eating, MS Dixie tour, hiking, putt putt golfing, eating.  This was typical Chao fashion - nothing but the best and LOTS of yummy food. 

Brad and I were the last to leave.  As we sat outside eating our apples, we over looked serene lake and just thanked God for giving us such a beautiful setting to share sweet memories.

Until Christmas...

Happy to the 4th

Last weekend we spent fourth of July cooking out with friends, watching Lesnar choke out Carwin during UFC 116, playing beer pong like we were back in college and soaking up some sun in Sausalito with the fam.  Couldn't have asked for more!  Well, it would have been cool if it were a clear night so we could actually see the fireworks.  The burst of lights through the city fog and loud bang, whizzes & cracks were all San Fran had to offer.

Wine-O-NO!

And all he wanted was some wine with his cheese and crackers.

The culprit (and maybe a little frustration).

We died laughing and then ever so carefully cleaned up the mess.  This morning we still had wine dripping from our cabinets.  AWESOME!

One year

I know, I have totally been slacking on this blog.  There's just been more to talk about that involves baby Fine than our own lives.  And it's going to get even worse when he arrives.

So the only thing worth talking about is the celebration of our one year anniversary.  This was on May 23 and yes it's a little late, but better late than never.

Since Brad and I were in two different states for our anniversary, we decided to celebrate a week later which was over Memorial Day weekend.  We celebrated with a couples massage, a 5 mile hike in the Muir woods followed by Outback (which I begged to go to) and also a late night dinner at Fresca.  It was perfect!  Unfortunately we never got around to eating a slice of our wedding cake, but maybe we will have another special moment to celebrate...like in September :)

I can't believe how fast a year flew by.  I thought I could never love someone more, but each and every day I grow to love/appreciate Brad and find something new to love about him (if you can believe that)!  He's a special someone.

Miami MAYhem

Brad and I (along with 11 other friends) took a vacation to Miami Beach this past weekend.  We had planned this long before we knew we were pregnant and we were so glad we did!  It obviously was a different trip for me, but I still hung in there like a trooper.

We ate some of the best food at Prime 112 (where we missed Bill Clinton by one day) & Sushi Samba, danced the night away until 2am, lounged in our cabanas, watched the sunset and soaked up as much sun as we could before heading back to the arctic tundra.  Oh how I miss being able to walk outside for 5 minutes to then be drenched in sweat.

It was so great to be surrounded by some of the most amazing people.  This is what made our trip.  We feel so fortunate to have some of the coolest people in our lives.

His words

I was going through some old emails today and came across these sweet words written by my baby back in August 2003...

"As you explore different areas of interest out here I want to be someone you can bounce ideas off of and expect nothing but an honest answer, as well as someone you can just be stupid with and have fun.  I think God has blessings for us that are beyond our wildest dreams.  Ephesians4:1 tells us to live a life that is worthy of our calling.  That is a short verse, but has big impact.  God has blessed us with some valuable traits that people cannot learn or fake .......  we just have it.  We have no choice, but to use our talents to glorify HIM!  How fun to help encourage each other along the way."


Love this man sitting next to me. 

A Carmel/Santa Cruz Easter

This weekend Brad and I took a little jaunt down south to try to get away from the misty/cold SF weather.  I knew the weather wasn't going to be that nice as the high was only supposed to be 58 and overcast, but I still wore my swimsuit, sandals and a sun dress in hopes to will the sun to come out and play...and it worked!  My husband thought I was a genius.

We strolled down the Santa Cruz boardwalk walking into every shop to see the different items they had to offer, slurped up some delicious clam chowder and Stella, watched the locals surf, and studied the seagulls.

After a few hours in SC, we headed down Hwy 1 taking the scenic "17-mile drive" along the untouched Pacific coast to catch a glimpse of the Lone Cypress and Pebble Beach Golf Course.  The homes along this drive were absolutely gorgeous and we had several serious conversations of how we could become Carmel homeowners.  It was entertaining.

Downtown Carmel certainly lived up to the rumors: quaint shops, miniature homes,  thick air of pretension, tacky galleries and tearooms.  

That evening we hit up a romantic "home" restaurant, highly recommended by one of our friends, called Casanova.  They presented a fabulous French/Italian/Spanish fusion menu and some of the best crème brûlée that has ever hit my lips.

We woke up to the pitter-patter of rain hitting our patio, but that didn't stop us from grabbing a yummy Easter breakfast and walking hand in hand on the white-sand beach.

It was the prefect weekend for my little family...a sweet memory.

a hidden treasure

I came across this cute little store, Lovejoy's Attic, on my way home from an afternoon at Dolores park and fell inlove with this antique framed chalkboard.  Without hesitation I purchased it and skipped my way home feeling like I had just won the lottery. 

Brad and I decided we will take turns and write a message a week.  It can be anything...something encouraging, something naughty, something funny, whatever!  This was my first.

Fam in SF

My entire family was out in San Francisco the last week, even Ryan made it for a few days which was an unexpected surprise.  It was awesome!  We had some great fellowship time, drama time (a must with the Chaos) and Sonoma wine time.  My aunt Suzi (mom's youngest sister) was out here as well so we were able to hang with her and now fiance.  Congrats again Suzi-Q!

Sunday of course came way too quick.  Goodbyes are always hard especially when you know you're not going to be seeing your family until September. Grrr.  Thank goodness for skype, twitter, facebook and email!

Lucca Bun Turns One!

My little precious niece hit one years old this week!  It feels like yesterday when we were all at the hospital waiting on her arrival.  Her rents threw her a grand little party on Saturday and I was glad to be apart of it all.  Happy birthday turd!

 

How 'bout them Hogs

If the Razorbacks are near, we're there. Last weekend we went to see the Hogs baseball team beat up on the Cal Berkeley Bear tree huggers. It was a beautiful day on the other side of the Bay Bridge. We weren't expecting a good turn out for our Hogs, but suprisingly there were a lot of Razorback fans.

Baby blogging

So I've decided to start a blog dedicated to anything and everything related to this little thang growing in my belly.  I will still try to update this blog, but for all baby updates, please follow A TASTE OF FINE WINE...AND YOU!

Knead vs. Need

Instructing Brad on how to give me a back rub...

me: move your hands like you're kneading bread.

brad: (in a scary serious voice) uh, what do you mean? I don't need bread unless I'm making a sandwich.

HELP.

First Purchase

I know, I know...how cliché to buy a piece of clothing with the name of the city/district you live in, but I just had to. It was far to cute to pass up! First purchase for my babe and I can just tell I'm going to have way too much fun doing this. I just hope the father of my child is ready for the damage that's about to be done! I think he has a good idea...

2 Steps Forward, 2 Steps Back

This week has proved to be especially challenging. Just when I thought I had crushed this morning sickness, runny nose/cold, back aching, constantly tired phase of my pregnancy, something else has reared its ugly head. It's called TOO MUCH ENERGY. And no it's not because of caffeine. My energy during the day is like drinking 10 Red Bulls, but without the crash! It's like my heart is going to beat out of my chest 24/7. I'm not sure if it's anxiety or what but it sure is disturbing. To make matters even worse, when I do finally fall asleep I almost always have to get up to weewee and then I'm up for the rest of the night. What is up with that?!!! I'm not sure I have ever experienced something like this in a natural state.

Another thing I'm noticing is my dream cycle. It's not very normal whatsoever (well neither am I), but to have rapid dreams where you partially wake up after each dream is not cool. Each dream makes complete sense. They are not dreams that I've heard about of leaving my child unsupervised, but a series of dreams that replay my real life incidents, they just have a different twist to them. I wonder what the heck that means.

And this metallic taste in my mouth has got to go away. I feel like I've been gnawing on aluminum foil for several hours. Not very pleasant. I've learned that sour and citrus foods help with this so I'm downing OJ like it's no one's biz.

I can't whine too much as I have the honor of carrying one of God's beautiful miracles and to be honest with you it hasn't been bad at all. If this is all He's got for me then I'll be genuinely disappointed. Bring it.

So what's our little one up to these next two weeks? Goob is about 3.2 to 4.5 inches from crown to rump and weighs approximately 1 ounce now and is about the size of my fist. The face is becoming more and more developed; eyes moving closer together, ears moving up into position away from the neck, the cheeks and bridge of nose appear, if it's a baby boy, the prostate will appear and the ovaries descend from the abdomen into the pelvis in baby girls.



We sometimes get so caught up in the little things like baby names or the cutest clothes and decorations to buy or who it will look like that we don't appreciate the many blessings that are happening each passing hour. It's just amazing.

Oh baby could it be...

Nah, not us. Not the couple who just got married and moved to SF to explore a new city together. Not the ones that wanted to wait at least a year to even start trying. Not us who thought there was absolutely no way it could be possible so decided not to take any preventative measures. Hehehahahoho! After dousing 4 First Response sticks it finally settled in that yep, we're having a kid.

Although not planned, we are tickled silly knowing we have our first little goober on the way. God's best gifts in life usually come unplanned and nothing can prepare us for this sweet little thing that's about to enter our lives. We're just taking it one step at a time and celebrating each victory as it comes.

Today we had our first big triumph...we went in for our 10 to 13 week integrated screening test, meaning they take a risk assessment for Down Syndrome and Trisomy 18 (disorder of human chromosomes) evaluating the patients age, blood work and ultrasound screening. After restlessly waiting for the test results and taking a few videos, even though we were told we couldn't, the doctor finally came into the room with a little smirk on her face and gave us the news of "well, it looks like you are negative, negative in positive way!" A relief washes over us in an awesome way. She continued to tell us super-duper news, not only are we negative, but our risk is lower than the programs cutoff. Sweet! Felt like a 10lbs weight just released from my heart strings. I know we're not out of the clear just yet, I still have this Brad Fine as my childs father to worry about :)

We saw our little ones profile, arms, legs, bladder, intestines, left & right cerebral hemisphere and heart. Babes is 3inches long, about the size of a lime and was bouncing around like a little nut (just like mama) even putting a hand in the mouth. We both looked at each other just hoping that didn't indicate a thumb sucker. You can suck your thumb all you want little one, just join this world healthy, happy and ready to be smooched on!





Little thumb sucker





12 weeks, 5 days

Trouble in SF

Two of my very best girlfriends came to visit me this past weekend for an overdue birthday celebration!! The monsoon actually held out two of three days they were here so we were able to rummage through the many things this city has to offer. After our 4 hour detour to the relaxing Burke Williams resort, we continued on with a stroll through bustling Union Square, drove through the "always crowded no matter the weather" Embarcadero, got our rubber neck on down Lambard St., joined the many voyagers on the Golden Gate, and made it to several of my treasured restaurants in this city. Oh and not to ever forget our final stop to Mitchells famous ice cream before we all crashed out. I've become a great peddler of SF, going on probably my 25th visitor excursion, but I've learned to create a new experience for myself and those I'm with.

My girls have made this place feel a little more like home and I am so ever thankful for their beautiful spirit and laughter they shared with me.