Lately

The other day Livia wanted to paint, and after finishing all her paintings began carefully "painting her nails." Funny girl. Ü Here I am at 7 months. I don't feel any bigger than I did at 6 months, but all my measurements are right on, so I must be growing! Last week I got an email from half-off San Francisco for $8 tickets to see Disney on Ice. They had a matinee performance on Friday, and since we had no plans I just went ahead and bought it on a whim. (I do wish I had known that parking was going to be $25 though. Does that seem excessive to anyone else??)
In any case, Livia was positively enthralled. She's only seen Beauty and the Beast and some Mickey Mouse shows, so she couldn't fully appreciate all the other characters and scenes, but she was still on the edge of her seat the entire time! It was a fun mother-daughter activity, and she's been talking about it ever since. Her favorite part was a scene from Fantastia, where all the brooms were skating across the ice.

Last weekend Livia got to stay with her cousin Ella while Chase and I spent Friday night and all of Saturday together, just the two of us. (Can you tell I'm trying to get in lots of fun activities and time with my current family before the new baby arrives and I become crazy??)

One of my favorite things to do is eat out at really nice restaurants. The only problem is, of course, that it's not easy for us to drop $200 on a single meal. But Chase really enjoys it too, so we decided that we can make it a once-a-year type of deal. And so that's what we did on Friday night! I always like to try something new at restaurants like this, because I figure if there's any chance of me liking something, it will be at a place where it's been prepared extremely well. I have never liked seafood, and my current quest is to find types of seafood that I can enjoy. I discovered on Friday that I do, in fact, like scallops! Shrimp however, is still a no-go. I've tried it nearly a dozen times now, in various preparations, and I just don't like it. I also gave veal sweetbreads a shot, and they were good, but probably not something I'd order again.

On Saturday we attempted to sleep in and both woke up between 6 and 7 a.m., as usual. Seriously? This was probably our last chance to sleep in for the next year or so! I was so annoyed with my internal alarm clock.

I dragged Chase to the Winchester Mystery House, which we both ended up finding rather interesting. The people who took the tour with us were almost more fascinating though. A few were so focused on the "haunted" aspect of the house, it was almost comical. The only picture we took all weekend was outside of the house.

The rest of the day was spent eating out, walking around, going to see a movie, buying some new books, and just generally enjoying each other's company. Livia had a blast with Ella, and is anxious to play with her again soon (which is good, since we'll be watching her on another weekend so they can have a weekend away, too!)