Merry Christmas

We think little trees are the best...and for the record, our tree was labeled "LARGE table-top tree".

We're spending our first Christmas without either of our families. We miss them so much but are enjoying a very relaxing holiday with no travel involved. The only real excitement we've had this season was the other night when Sameer lit his pants on fire while lighting the Advent candles. These kind of things happen to Sameer...

backing up to October

Because this blog serves as my journal/scrapbook of our days, I hate that I never posted pictures of our time in CA back in October. So before Christmas comes or our baby is born, I must highlight some good times we had over 2 months ago. I know it's a little silly.

We got to spend a whole week in California leading up to Doug and Tracie's wedding. It was a wonderfully special and busy week....I got to go to a few fittings with Tracie, both for my dress and her dress. Each time we went (it seemed like every other day) I was a little bigger and she was a little smaller. So we kept one bridal store very busy!

We were blessed with not one but TWO baby showers. My mom threw a lovely ladies only shower for family and family friends. It was early for a baby shower (early in that I was only 22 weeks) but it was so special to me and my mom just has that certain touch - there were so many thoughtful details throughout the house.





Our friends Anna and Adam Bendorf also threw us a couples shower and that was so fun. It was so nice to see everyone and have them celebrate our baby-on-the-way with us. They had lovely desserts and then later gave us a scrapbook with pictures of the evening. I don't have digital pictures of that event but we do have a picture of all the stuff our little guy has been given from the two showers. I'd say his wardrobe is off to a great start!



Three days before Doug and Tracie's wedding, Sameer and I celebrated our FOURTH anniversary with a day in Pasadena. We ate at an old favorite - All India Cafe. Mmmm. Then we finished the night off with dessert at the Vines in Valencia. I don't think anyone in SCV ever eats there but since our wedding reception was at the Hyatt we've gone there for a special dessert a couple of times. The Florentine Art is my favorite - delicious! White chocolate mousse with fresh berries in a sugar almond shell. You can't go wrong.



Then of course there was the wedding and all it's festivities. Tracie was a good sport the night before when we took her out to eat and then back home for gifts and dessert. I'll refrain from posting pictures of what she got that night. :)



Finally, the wedding day. I couldn't believe how quickly it came. Everything was JUST BEAUTIFUL. Tracie was absolutely stunning and smiled radiantly all day long. She was also a cheerful & gracious bride to everyone throughout the day. Because it was an evening wedding we even had a nice relaxing morning sitting around eating breakfast with our cousin Erin.

The reception had Doug and Tracie's personalities written all over it - from the music to the candy buffet.





When the reception was finally over everyone was rushing around gathering things and Sameer and I were sitting around talking to people and trying to make sure we signed the guest book. Suddenly it was really quiet and empty and we realized that almost everyone had left. My parents, who were supposed to give us a ride home, had completely forgotten about us and had driven off already. Fortunately, Danny and Lindsay were still around so we did get home that night.:)

Soon we were on a plane back to NC. It's a strange feeling when something you look forward to for so long is over...it was especially hard to say goodbye knowing we wouldn't be back for Christmas. Hopefully they'll all be visiting us soon when the baby arrives!

our (kind of) "free" piano

Beautiful, isn't it? Read on to find out how it ended up in our living room.

The story of this piano is special to me, so to make a short story really really long:

When we bought this house we knew exactly where the piano would fit. It was always the plan to bring my piano over. When we looked into the cost of moving it from CA to NC, I realized it would cost more than the piano was even worth just to get it here. So I was piano-less for what seemed to be too long of a time. I had a digital piano but it DID NOT COUNT. AT ALL. Anyone who really plays the piano knows this. And my digital didn't even have speakers or normal pedals - and it was on a wobbly stand, so it was practically useless to me.

Last spring we started to look into purchasing a piano just before we found out we were pregnant so then we forgot about the piano idea for a while.

As time went on I kept thinking about pianos....wanting one, longing for one, probably too much. It just made me so sad to not have one around after playing the piano for almost my whole life. I wanted our baby to hear piano music. I wanted to be me - and the musical side of me had been buried for too long at this point.

So I decided to start looking on craigslist for a free or almost free piano even knowing that free pianos are usually a lot of trouble and have a lot of issues. I didn't care. I was desperate...for any piano, no matter how awful or cheap or old or messed up or ugly. I would have even settled for a spinet.

One day I saw this 12 year old 48 inch Kawai piano listed for WAY LESS than it should be. (I had been looking for pianos on craigslist obsessively for weeks and this was a rare ad. Most of what I had been seeing were $700 Wurlizter spinets from the 1950's or something - bad deals)I showed Sameer and he said, "Wow, we have to figure out a way to get that." I was surprised because even though the price was really low for what it was, it was WAY MORE expensive than free and I couldn't think of any way we could possibly get it.

Then I started thinking - I own one piano in CA and a digital here in NC. What if I sold them both? Then we could get this piano. I honestly don't know why this NEVER occurred to me before. My parents are storing my piano for me in their home and I just always assumed I'd have it again someday if we moved back to CA. I never wanted to sell it. But neither of these pianos were doing me any good so I started listing them on craigslist and ebay. I called my mom and asked her to find the serial number on my piano and I told her my plan. Meanwhile I had emailed the owner of the Kawai and she answered my questions and said we could come by and look at it. The next day I found a piano technician who was available to go with us to look at the Kawai. We looked at it. We loved it. We left. The piano technician said it was a great deal. We went home. I cried. (I am pregnant, you know.) More people were coming to look at it the next day and I knew it wouldn't last and my pianos hadn't sold yet so we couldn't make an offer. My hope had been that since the economy is so bad, we would be the ONLY people interested in the piano and she would hold it for us or something until we got the money together from our other pianos. That was not going to happen.

My mom had told me to call her after we looked at the piano so I called her and told her I loved it but didn't think we could get it. That night Sameer and I talked about it. I was distressed by how much I wanted it. I mean, really...I have A LOT. And no one NEEDS a piano, right? I prayed that night that I would be content without it and stop wanting it. Sameer prayed that we could get it somehow. The next morning my phone rang at 7:30 - it was my mom and it was 4:30 am in CA so the timing of her call scared me. She told me that while she was having morning coffee with my dad (yes, they get up insanely early) she told him about our piano search and he said he would like to keep my piano in the family and would buy it from me.

When she told me this, I was floored. My parents already have a piano. This isn't the best time for them to be buying a second piano that THEY DON'T NEED that is already sitting in their house. He also offered the EXACT price we had hoped to get for the piano but I had never told my mom that number because it had NEVER occurred to me that they would buy it. Never.

I was so blown away by his extravagant kindness. I was teary all the way to work and then some. I just couldn't believe that he would do that so I could have a piano here. The great thing is, they're giving the piano they bought from me to my sister someday when she and Doug have a bigger place. My parents always sacrificed so much for us to continue taking piano lessons when we were growing up. It was never easy to squeeze it into the budget but it was important to them and to see that it was STILL important to them really really touched me. The way this all turned out was so special to me - way more special than if I had been able to sell the piano to a stranger. I'm not really sure how my parents could afford it this time of year and right after Tracie's wedding so their sacrifice means a lot to me and I feel very loved. I'm still blown away by the gesture. It's quite amazing to have someone do something so sacrificial for you so that you can have something that is not even a necessity.

My digital piano also sold quickly so the Kawai was in our home by Wednesday. (We had claimed it right after my parents said they would buy mine.) It needs to be tuned but we LOVE having it. I've been pulling out my books and getting back into Bach. Sameer is learning how to play it too :)

So, if anyone's still reading this, sorry for the long post - and thank you, Dad.