FYI.

for all you pregnant mamas out there, asos is having a great sale on maternity clothes, which includes FREE SHIPPING. this is bananas considering they’re based in the UK. just check out some of these great deals:

off the shoulder striped top, $20.29

stripe bow back top, $30.44

contrast bow top, $23.67

these are just 3 of my favorites, but there is a lot more cute stuff, including quite a few things around the $10-20 mark!  i have ordered from this company before and was very satisfied with the customer service and quality for the price.  man, this is starting to sound like a paid endorsement (it’s not).  as you pregnant and formerly pregnant ladies know, it can be incredibly difficult to find cute, affordable maternity clothing.  i’ve relied on the internet for a lot of my maternity shopping.  in my one-horse town the only maternity store is target!  i do love me some target, but i find that their preggo selection is limited and changes too infrequently.  i hope you enjoyed my tip for the day.  if any of you end up ordering anything, i’d love to see what you picked out!   can you tell i’m seriously lacking in females friends out here?

p.s. if you enjoyed this style tip, vote for me!

guess what?

not only am i too lazy to set up my tripod, but i also have red hair! i wasn’t sure about it last night, but now i think i love it!

and another:

today travis and i went out to lunch to celebrate the end of his first year of grad school. we went to one of our favorite local spots, farm, and got some delicious BLTs. their menu touts them as the “world’s greatest BLT”. it sounds a bit hyperbolic, but it’s completely true. all of the ingredients are locally sourced, super fresh and delicious. plus, they have GOAT CHEESE and AVOCADO on them! i suddenly hear julie andrews softly singing “my favorite things” in my ear. travis even got a little wild and ordered a glass of wine with his sandwich.

tonight, travis is working and i’m going to start on a new project for sylvie’s nursery. i’m drawing a large world map to hang on the wall above her crib. i want to draw indigenous animals on it, too. something similar to this:

i think i’ll go get started! i hope everyone’s weekend starts off well. happy friday!

my day off.

i have every thursday off from work. as soon as i let my managers know about the pregnancy, i requested to have a weekday off each week. i needed a day, the same day every week, to count on to get things done. they decided thursday would work best, so thursday it is!

travis is done with his classes for the year, which means we actually got to spend the whole day together! he used to have class every thursday at 6:30. we went to target and scored a really nice duvet cover for our bed for $8.00! it was a return from an internet purchase, and marked down from $60.00. it matches our bed perfectly, which is not always an easy task. you see, our bed is bright yellow.

after perusing target and satisfying my craving for an auntie anne’s soft pretzel, we ventured over to mira salon to get my hair cut! the stylist i used to see at my old hair place quit, so i thought i’d try a new place. this salon got good reviews and has cheaper prices to boot! my stylist, tiffany, did a great job. it’s quite a bit shorter than i asked for, but my hair grows like a weed these days anyway. i love having short hair! it is so much easier to deal with. if you don’t like it, that’s ok. after all, i am the only person who needs to. without further ado, here is my new haircut and a 22 week bump picture!

i also have a food picture to share with you tonight. i made tabouleh and travis made his famous labni dip, and we enjoyed a greek(ish) feast for dinner!

i just want to take it easy tonight. i’m still exhausted from work yesterday. 8 hours on my feet is getting tougher! my plan is to watch the office, 30 rock, and dye my hair red. YEP! more changes. i love having red hair, and i think this haircut needs something other than a mousey brown. don’t worry how the dye will affect little sylvie! i’m using a demi-permanent, ammonia-free, soy-based, natural dye! (whew! that last sentence was hyphen city!) it’s totally safe to use during pregnancy. i’ll post another set of pictures tomorrow to show off the red. before i set to work, i think it’s about time for a klondike bar. it’s like pregnant lady crack! have a happy thursday night!

my tuesday (in pictures).

okay. this first picture is technically from monday night, but it’s too awesome to not post. this is how we do a family portrait around here.

we went up to greenwood today to get some registering done at babies r us and target.

the drive is about an hour long and almost entirely on one road. i hate driving there with a fiery passion, but it is the closest place with any baby-related stores. greenwood also has a super target, which is one of the world’s most amazing things.

we got a yummy lunch while we were up there.

travis pulled a sneak attack and snapped this picture of us trying to navigate the endless aisles of crap at babies r us.

when we got home, travis took auggie on a nice long walk while i cooked us some dinner. i made tofu tempura, vegetable stir-fry and quinoa.

all-in-all it’s been an eventful day. we got so much done! we also picked out our glider today. i want to give a big, fat THANK YOU to my sister-in-law, melissa and my brother, michael, who bought it for us! right now i just want to watch glee, put the glider together, and do some of this:

have a happy tuesday!

music monday.

i don’t have much to say tonight. last week was gross, but this one is looking better. things are looking up for old sara hinkle.

in lieu of a regular post this evening, i will share some songs that always get my monday mornings started off right!

first, a classic:

second, a favorite:

third, mr. ben folds:

fourth, a guaranteed smile-inducer:

fifth, another favorite:

i think that’s enough for now. what songs never fail to put a big, fat smile on your face?

the last few days.

I have spent the last 4 days being really sick. All of this culminated in a trip to the ER in the middle of last night. I literally woke up screaming at 2 in the morning with severe upper abdominal pain. I’ve dealt with migraines and ovarian cysts for years. This pain trumped those issues NO PROBLEM. I couldn’t stand up at all and could barely breathe. All my body could manage was to vomit repeatedly, and it took all of my strength to make it from the bed to the bathroom. Travis managed to keep his cool and get a nightgown and shoes on me and a shirt and jeans on himself. Luckily, the hospital is a mile down the street from our apartment.

I’ve been to the ER in the before thanks to those aforementioned issues. In fact, this was my second trip to this hospital since moving here in August. The first was when I got 2nd degree burns all over my hand on my birthday, but that’s another story. This trip was different right off the bat. They immediately moved me upstairs to Labor and Delivery, hooked me up to a contraction monitor, and got the doppler ready. Once the pain began to subside, I could feel Sylvie moving around like crazy. They found her heartbeat right away, and she kicked the nurse’s hand when she placed it on my stomach. Clearly, Sylvie was fine.

After an hour strapped to the monitor without a single contraction, they unhooked me and let me rest a little. A lab technician came up and drew a few vials of blood and I gave a urine sample. Both of those came back totally normal. The doctor decided it was probably just severe stomach cramps, which were exacerbated by my GERD and the fact that I had been sick with a killer stomach virus for the last three days. We were back home and in bed by 5:00 in the morning.

I can’t even begin to tell you how scary it was to be in that wing of the hospital at 21 weeks. All I kept thinking, over and over, was, It’s not time for this yet. The upside of all of this was our nurse. She was fantastic. She reassured me, talked me through everything that was happening, and kept me laughing. I cannot say enough good things about her. I hope to see her again in August when it comes time for us to meet our little girl.

It was quite the scare, but I am happy to report that I feel much better today. Sylvie is kicking away as I type this, and the 3 of us are tired, but in good spirits. I just want to relax for the rest of the night and snuggle up between my man** and my pup. Goodnight.

**By the way, what a man he is! Throughout the whole ordeal, he stayed calm and collected. He was amazing, as usual. I am so blessed to call him my husband.

wishlist.

i want these! in hebrew and spanish, please!

that’s all.

25 things.

here are 25 you may not know about me.

1. my favorite colors are blue and mustard yellow.
2. our dog, auggie, is half chihuahua and half italian greyhound. we considered naming him umberto burrito to cater to both of his nationalities.
3. travis and i were born 2 days apart, on september 21 and 23, 1985.
4. we both weighed 7 pounds 15.5 ounces at birth.
5. my favorite television shows are the office (american), 30 rock, it’s always sunny in philadelphia, glee, top gear, iron chef, top chef, and no reservations with anthony bourdain.
6. my least favorite shows are anything starring giada de laurentis, rachel ray, and oprah.
7. i’m slightly obsessed with cryptozoology and even did my senior thesis in college on bigfoot.
8. i went to art school (the maryland institute college of art in baltimore) and have a BFA in sculpture.
9. i almost transfered out my sophomore year to study anthropology.
10. i don’t do sculpture anymore (never really did). instead, i focus on illustration. you can find some of my more recent work here.
11. travis does most of the housework (bless him), except for cleaning the bathroom and some of the laundry.
12. my dream jobs are food critic and docent at the british museum.
13. i sang in a punk rock band in high school. our name was e.t.c.
14. during that period in time, i looked like this:

15. my favorite authors are kurt vonnegut, jr. and italo calvino, and i have read almost every book they’ve written.
16. i hate discussing politics.
17. i love all dogs, but have yet to meet a cat i like.
18. i have had the same favorite band, ben folds five, since i was 9 years old. that’s 15 years of true, unwavering love right there.
19. i have 7 different kinds of salt in my cupboard right now: hawaiian pink, hawaiian black, fleur de sel, truffled, kosher, pacific flake sea, and iodized table salt.
20. i will eat almost anything once. some of my “strangest” meals have included pig ear, honeycomb tripe (cow stomach), and bone marrow on toast.
21. my favorite movies are the royal tenenbaums and the room.
22. a portion of my left eyebrow sticks straight up. nothing makes it smooth down. i love it.
23. i am irrationally afraid of spiders, but most insects (except for the really large/gnarly ones) don’t bother me.
24. i really love beer. i went through the book 1,001 beers you must taste before you die and tallied how many i’ve had. the final count was 111.
25. i have a hard time making new friends. that is the one thing about myself i’d most like to change.

there you have it! 25 things you probably didn’t know (and had no desire to) about me. happy friday!

p.s. if you enjoy hanging out in this corner of the internet, vote for us!

authentico!

for dinner tonight (our 4:30 early bird special dinner), we had three cheese tortellini.

before you get all you’re a wonderful cook!  it looks so delicious!  what talent you have! please be aware that i woke up a little under the weather this morning and it’s all courtesy of buitoni and mr. paul newman (may he rest in peace).  the basil, however, is from our new garden.

********

i don’t believe i ever shared the fact that i put together sylvie’s changing table this week.  here it is in all its glory!

yep, that’s our kitchen in the background.  we’re fitting all of this (and us) into a 730 square foot, one bedroom apartment.  the nursery is really the back half of our living room, which was originally an office/workspace.  it’s a space of about 9 feet by 7 feet and is open to the rest of the living room/kitchen.  if you have a house or even just a second bedroom, consider yourself lucky and me jealous.  we, in the words of the immortal tim gunn, MAKE IT WORK.  (is anybody else super stoked about the project runway finale tonight?)

in addition to our changing table, we added some new baby items to our arsenal this week.

we splurged a little on this lamp from urban outfitters because LOOK AT IT.  it’s a yellow bunny for goodness sake!

we also purchased a grey moby wrap and this mobile from our friendly neighborhood baby boutique.  sylvie’s nursery is really starting to come together!

me want food.

we’ve had some delicious food around here in the past 24 hours.  last night, for dinner, we made trout with compound butter (unsalted butter, garlic, lemon juice, salt and parsley), quinoa with lemon and parsley, and a small parsley salad (parsley, white wine vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper).  we went a little parsley crazy last night!

travis makes his own crazy good version of labni dip.  labni is traditionally yogurt that has been strained and thickened.  we just buy greek yogurt instead.  he mixes it with lemon juice, grated garlic, olive oil, salt, and parsley.  we eat this stuff like crazy around here.  i love it with pita and veggies.

this tangy delight got me through much of my first trimester, when nothing else sounded appetizing.

i guess the synopsis of this post is WE LOVE FOOD.