Snow Me Up.

It recently snowed in the mountains and to some folks, it would seem like a dream. White snow covered mountains mean hot chocolate, fires and snuggles. Not to me. I have a love/hate relationship with the snow. I can't stand being cold and having cold ears, nose, cheeks. I hate being stuck inside all day. Plus, my snow gear is not at all chic but more lumber jackish. I do think it is a beautiful treat to see so much white. It gives a serene and angelic feeling so I ventured out and walked with Ava. A quick one.



The Road.

Not liking her snow bunny attire.



Unfavorite Things.

Words that I cannot stand to hear as of late:

• Preggo
• Fetus

Preggo just sounds dumb. It reminds me of spaghetti sauce. Please don't get offended if you occasionally or frequently say it. I know it's just shorter than pregnant and it's easier when on Facebook talking about your fetus which reminds me of feces. Enough said.

Ava's Adventures.

A lot has been happening in Ava's land so by association with her, that means mine too. Last week, we went to sushi in Hillcrest and walked to Balboa with an old, dear friend. I like meeting up with old friends. It's nice when nothing really has changed expect maybe the color of our hair and bank accounts (although, I'm sure mine hasn't changed since high school). And then Ava's aunt from Sacramento came down and brought cute little gifts. None of which were documented for blogging purposes but that's ok.

What Ava says:

>Mama

>Hi (sounds more like "iiiigh" with her mouth wide open)

>Shoe (sounds like "zhu" super fast)

>Ticom (we have yet to find out what it means. we believe it may be Polish)

What Ava knows:

>Sunglasses go on your face. (she tries to put them on)

>Cellphone goes to your ear. (she talks to daddy a lot)

>Shoe goes on your foot.

>Stroller means fun. (she wanted to climb in her stroller and then I just pushed her around the yard)

>Kisses. (you might have to ask 5 times, but you'll get a wet kiss)

>Momma loves her. (daddy too)



Ava is a big girl.



And then this happened. The dreaded head cold.

                                    

Ava is always catching what one of us has. And it's usually from her father since he works in a bacteria infested machine shop. But this time it was the school teacher who got Ava sick. Dang those dirty high school kids!

I'm a firm believer in fresh air so we made our way to the park.

                                   

Aren't baby sweats the cutest?

                                    

Ava has her arm around Duplo. She loves him.

Sneak Peak.

Here's a small preview via Rafal's ghetto LG of our kitchen as it stands:

                                  

The cabinets are a cream on maple wood. Absolutely divine and consistent with my vision for this space. The paint color is dramatic and when Rafal first painted the walls I gasped because it was soo dark. But I'm glad I chose such a color as it really pops against the cabinets.

Rafal has already given me bad news with 'problems' he encountered:

1. The dishwasher has no hook up either electrical or plumbing (the electrician didn't account for a dishwasher)

2. The molding doesn't fit.

3. (completely unrelated) The faucet in the bathroom doesn't work.

I want to cry when I hear this sort of news. I hate setbacks. This renovation is stressful. When Rafal calls me with bad news, I have to take a moment and breath or else I yell and he takes it personally as if I'm attacking him when we both know that it's almost never his fault. And we are expecting company, yay!

Devil My Eggs.

Are you a member of a family who fancies eggs? I am. Rafal loves the egg sandwiched I make. I try not to make them too often since I use a whole heck of a lot of oil to fry them. Ava likes scrambled eggs with toast in the mornings. I alternate between that and oatmeal with banana. But I know if she had it her way, she'd choose the eggs over the healthy mush. And since I am a member of WIC, we get a bunch of eggs. Bonus: I can choose the organic kind. Sometimes, the containers overlap and we end up having too many eggs. What's the remedy to this egg pickle? Deviled Eggs.

I'm sure everyone has made a batch of these bad boys at least once in their life. Hopefully. I like them. They're good. Rafal realllly likes them. He once at a whole batch (a dozen eggs cut in half. 24 halves) in one evening.

Can you make more of those egg things? You just ate the whole carton! That's how that went.

Boil them eggs real nice.

Cut lengthwise and scoop out the middle.

Here is where you add anything to the mixture. I've seen some weird stuff mixed into the stuffing which I'm sure tastes just yummy but in my fridge, we just have the basics: mayo and mustard (use the deli mustard for an extra kick. if you want to use the crappy 'yellow' mustard. be my guest) salt &pepper to taste.

Paprika (not on all because Ava is going to try them)

The Paula Deen version, she garnishes with sweet gherkin pickles (totally Polish) and pimentos. That just sounds delish!

Mine

It's no secret that having a baby has consumed my life. Maybe it sort of snuck up on me or it could have been intentional (I mean, she's a beaut. How could you not be obsessed?), either way, my child is the center of my world. It's a interesting concept in that when you are younger, it becomes the ulimate quest to find the meaning of life. Being a great education, partying/ living care free, obtaining that dream job, finding true love, or just 'being' and experiencing the tranquility of the quiet and undisturbed. But as soon has you have a child, it sort of becomes tunnel vision. At least it was for me. Everything that I thought was important just fades away and all I can see is Ava when I close my eyes. I still have a sense of identity post Ava's arrival. I'm still a student. I'm a daughter. I'm a wife. I'm a friend. But she makes my life that much richer.

After nap cuddles are my favorite.

Toddler Pea Coat? Yes, please

Cuteness

Check out how wide I can open my mouth, Mom!

I'm going to be the first to say that it takes a village to raise a baby. It was clearly ment for two (or more) people hence why we are suppose to get married first. My husband is a great father and it's clear in Ava's adoration for him. And my mom, who likes to remind me that Ava calls her 'mama', make everything that much easier. Props to my family.

The Bodyguard And Whitney.

Everyone has that film that defines their youth. The movie that we watched over and over, hitting the rewind button on the vhs player as many times as our parents would let us. We can look back and remember what movie it was that made us fall in love with each character and made us want to be an actress (or singer). Mine was The Bodyguard with the late Whitney Houston and Kevin Costner. I cannot remember how old I was, but I know I was young. As a matter of fact, I cannot remember which obsession came first. The movie or Whitney. Kind of like the chicken or the egg dilemma. But The Bodyguard was it for me. I even made my mom rent it while vacationing in Germany and watched in continuously dubbed in German (as far as I can remember, I never understood German television. They speak too fast).

I adored Whitney. I wanted to be her. I used to sing I Will Always Love You to my Oma and I sung Jesus Loves Me to my great aunt who later gave me a beautiful picture of Jesus Christ (which we still have but my mom placed a picture of my dad in the frame. Sacrilegious? maybe). It's true to say I have never seen The Sound of Music but instead it was The Bodyguard and Whitney's beautiful ballads that made me love music and think I could also sing that way. My mom repeaditly reminded me that I sang like crap and to persue another dream. Henceforth, I call her the dreamkiller to this day.

And fell completely in love with Kevin Costner. I'm still obsessed with him. Like, I'd be his wife.

Are they not beautiful?

                                          

So reflecting upon Whitney Houston's career has brought a bit of nostalgia to my heart. I play many songs by her and each has brought me to tears. I won't go into the debacle that surrounds her death but instead remember her as such a beautiful voice and a key component in my childhood. She had an amazing voice that has been imitated but not duplicated and I'll still sing I Will Always Love You and think that I sound just like her.

Valentine's Day a la Olkiewicz Style.

Rafal is always busy. Working full time, overtime and on the house (not to mention the countless runs to Home Depot because he continues to buy the wrong part for the bathroom sink, ugh!) is a recipe for a tired man. If he's not working, he is sleeping. So we planned to celebrate Valentine's on Saturday instead of Tuesday and it was also planned that we would spend all day and night together (I had to schedule it with my mom about a month in advance as she knows Ava is a lot of work over a 24 hr period)! This was a big deal to me because I know time is not something my husband has a lot of.

Our date started at Target to get a shower liner and other mandatory items like candies and a loofah. Rafal also snagged one of those humongous containers of cheese puffs that are so strategically placed at the ends of aisles (although Rafal found this container shoved in the back of wine bottles in the alcohol aisle). 



Yum-meee!



We just happend to have movie passes to AMC Theaters and we decided to go to the Fashion Valley location. Big mistake. As it were, Bros and their ladies convened for the annual Supercross down the street at Qualcomm. What is usually already a crowded area was a rat race trying to get into the stadium and even the mall. Traffic and a lot of people stresses me out but Rafal is patient with me thus being one of the many reasons why I love him. Right when we were about to get in the line to buy the tickets, Rafal says he left the passes in the car. Are you kidding me! (smothered with a Polish accent) I told him to have a nice time walking back to the car alone, cause I was going to be in Anthropologie. Rafal did find me adoring this spindle of knobs, hookes and switch plates. These very well could be the death of our bank account. Knobs and other kickknackes are my thing. I feel like they add something extra and give a plain dresser a vintage feeling. Alas, I didn't buy anything as I am finding myself to be a bit more financially responsible as of late.

Paradise.

We sat on the patio/food court and watched the people pass by. We talked about our Ava and how much we love her. We laughed at the funky dressed people and Bros/ their ladies (in a nice way of course). Rafal leaned over and gave me small kisses. It was nice.



It's an ongoing joke that noone can spell or pronouce his name.



Good picture of the man I married.

So the movie. I'd like it to be known that I didn't make Rafal see the ultimate chic flick The Vow but opted for the violent, shoot 'em up, cinematic adventure Safe House. I just didn't want to watch Rafal constantly shift in his seat and glare it me in the darkness, plus Denzel W. is one of my faves. Points on the wifey front.

Ava's Adventures

Getting our taxes done was on the forefront of our agenda this year as we have had the refund allocated to various housing expenses since July '11. And it just so happens the accountant the Siders' have on payroll lives in Pacific Beach. How convenient! I dropped off our W2s and we were off. There was a playground that was crawling with babies and their moms and/or nannies. Ava and I found a spot to lay out our blanket and she B-lined towards the sand. It was beautiful watching her meander her way through the sand and playground obstacles. I like to stay back and watch her explore at her own pace. She is very friendly and thoughtful. I have noticed her tenderness (minus the few times she has eye gouged or head slapped other babies) as she likes to give kisses and expresses a slight "Hi".

Anyways, it only took 30 minutes for the accountant to let us know we'll be getting a few dollars back. The bulk of which will be going straight towards the kitchen. Easy come, easy go!

The Good, The Bad, and The Extremely Ugly!

This, my friends, is the outside of our house as it stands now.

I have no words.

I try to remember what I was thinking when we put an offer on this monstrous piece of crap. Why did I want to live here?

We are in the process of picking out/ siding for that one wall that is covered in Tyvek. Thank heavens for tax returns!

Renovation For Dummies.

Part Two

After the master was complete (more or less), we tackled the bathroom. And when I saw 'we' I mean I told Rafal where I wanted things, what things I wanted to keep (the tub**), how I wanted the tile, and a lot of other executive design decisions and he did them. Perfectly.

Please keep in mind, I am totally budget conscientious so if this bathroom looks very standard it's because it is. This whole bathroom cost us about 2 grand and I am so proud of it.

Original. Take a look at that baby vanity. No, thank you! 



Demo.



New drywall, tile floor, and shower walls.



Finished shower



Love it.

Add caption



So the bathroom was so awkward and small since that pipe ran right through the middle of it and a linen closet took up 3 quarters of the entry way. So 'we' rerouted the pipe, took out the linen closet, installed a pocket door and moved the toilet near the shower. It completely maximized the space and I like to remind Rafal that all of this was my idea!

**The original tub is a beaut. Old cast iron and they just don't make them like that anymore. Rafal didn't like it because it's completely scratched up but I didn't want a flimsy fiber glass tub that bends when you stand on it. Plus, I wasn't going to spend $300 on a tub. Plain and simple. Rafal wasn't happy. But wifey always wins!

-I'd like to applaud my husband who did all this himself. From the demo, to framing in the window, to the hardy backer, to drywall, to tile work (which is fabulous), to framing in the pocket door, and much more. He is a genious and that's not even his trade! Every girl's dream...

Born To Be Wild.

This past... well.. whole month, I've felt so overwhelmed with the house renovation. It's an accumulation of everything from time away from the man in my life, spending a loooot of money, and driving back and forth from PV to town. Plus, I started school. But don't get me wrong... school isn't stressful. Mostly because I refuse to even read my text book until the day before a test. But still. I'm in class until 9:50pm on Mondays.

So, I ask my mom if she wanted to take a day and do nothing but fun things. (I didn't even bother asking Rafal since he works all the time. That Polish work ethic, I tell ya.) So we went to one of our favorite spots, Balboa Park. I know, I know. Total tourist spot and always full of people. Today was no exception. But I'm fond of the old baroque buildings and even though I don't go in the museums, I feel worldly just walking by and gawking at the posters detailing the exhibits inside. Plus, I'm a sucker for those IMAX movies. Born To Be Wild was about orphaned orangutangs and elephants in Borneo and Kenya. Beautiful to say the least.

Ava loved the IMAX

Girl knows how to rock sunglasses.

As you can see, we enjoyed sitting in front of the Botanical Gardens and let Ava run a muck. And that she did.