Um - I say no!

My first NO goes to people who "like" their own status updates on facebook. Isn't it implied that you like what you said, given that you wrote it? I mean, you have all power to delete the status if you think it's unlikable, given that you wrote it. I just think the extra "pat on the back" or the extra "I'm so in love with my relationship status" is just redundant and borderline ego patting. That's all.

My second NO goes to Toyota. My first car was a Toyota so this NO is extra sad. But, I absolutely hate their new Highlander car commercials where the kid is talking about how cool his mom is for the type of car she drives, while placing pity on his classmates whose parents drive uncool cars. Are we supposed to want to buy a Highlander because our kids will supposedly think we're cool? That's absolutely, positively ridiculous. First off, I hope I don't care if my kids think I'm cool. Secondly, I hope that if they do think I'm cool, it's not solely based on the vehicle I'm driving. Who here is about to spend the type of cash a Highlander costs just to appear trendy and in-the-know with their kids? Whoever would say yes to this question should be in therapy. I honestly haven't seen a child character appear more self-righteous, egotistic, materialistic, "too cool," and entitled than the kid they've chosen to portray. Gross and shameful Toyota!

My last NO goes to my gag reflex. It's just gotten ridiculous. I'm feeling much better...but my gag reflex hasn't caught up yet. The most mild of smells puts my stomach muscles in a hyper flex mode and I end up peeing my pants. The other night I peed my pants three times...without vomiting, just having a gag fit. Irritating! I'm not embarrassed since I've only peed my pants at home, but having to wear four different pair of undergarments (why is it called a pair?) in one night is downright pathetic.

The First Anniversary...

On October 24, 2010 (yes this post is entirely overdue) - Cody and I celebrated one year of marriage in Branson, MO. We had a great time getting away from the yogurt shop! I can't believe I'm married and get to share my days with Cody. Finding the person you want to spend eternity with is a miracle. And I feel blessed to have the miracle reoccur everyday as I enjoy the journey of marriage, 365 days and counting, with Cody. Ok now, enough of the mushy stuff. I promise.

Cody and I enjoyed the beautiful fall colors on the drive there (thanks Ozark Mountains).


We enjoyed outlet shopping (Cody especially got some great finds).

We enjoyed the old downtown Branson:





And the new Branson Landing: shops, photobooth, restaurants, lake view, and the water & fire show.



We enjoyed two shows: SIX (The Knudson Brothers) and The Shanghai Circus (Chinese Acrobats). Both shows were entertaining, and the performers were extremely talented, but let me just say that we were the youngest couple in the audience by at least 40 years. At least. And the only complaint I have is that the performers in Shanghai Circus finished their very impressive tricks with the most painful smile you've ever seen. I'm guessing it's somewhat of a cultural thing, but I'm telling you, they didn't look like they were having a very good time. They looked constipated. Or was it depressed? The Knudson Brothers, on the other hand, couldn't get enough applause.




We enjoyed going out to eat and having the BEST FRIED MOZZERELLA EVER at Macaroni Grill. It was so yummytastic!


WARNING!!! A RANT IS ABOUT TO ENSUE:

We endured through a long 3 hour presentation of a time share to get our show tickets 90% off. You see, they trick you when you first arrive in Branson. A "ticket center" or "visitor information center" in Branson is really short for "time-share presentation plus tickets center". We signed up because of frugality, but learned some lessons for the next time we agree to go on "a 90 min. presentation to see something pretty."

We were so pissed off when we left the presentation, especially Cody. First, why would we buy "vacation ownership" for $34,000 dollars after only a 3 hour presentation? People did, but that's a lot of money to invest in something you don't know a lot about. And why would we buy "vacation ownership" before we have "home/condo ownership"? HELLO?! We wouldn't because it's irresponsible, but they argued it's equity. Dumb. All the bank sees is less of a down deposit and another financial obligation pulling at your money.

Second, they assume we want to stay in a condo instead of a hotel - our little family of two. Why would we need three bedrooms and for that matter, a kitchen, living room, and laundry room while having to drive, yes drive to access the pool on the other side of the property, when we can get a much cheaper hotel room, which is plenty big for this party of 2, cleaned daily, walk to the pool downstairs, while enjoying the people watching and lovely energy that accompanies hotels. I hate being secluded from action and making a bed on vacation. Plus, on vacation I like to eat out. Shoot, I like to eat out whenever possible. BECAUSE IT'S FUN!

Thirdly, some of your properties are nice, especially the one we toured in Branson, we will admit, but why purchase ownership in a property that will depreciate as the facility gets older and there is little incentive to be a competitive, up-to-date vacation location when your vacation packages have all been sold. Hotels need to remodel and rejuvenate or lower their prices to stay booked. I like that drive to stay in the market. But if you have people guaranteed to come and they've already paid the money, what drive do you have to add ameneties or remodel?

Fourthly, most of your U.S. properties are in CA, which doesn't do much for us future CA residents. What's the fun in vacationing in your back yard?! Other locations are in places like Branson, which was fun for 2 nights, but hardly worthy of a yearly repeated, week long vacation.

Fifthly, the "trade in" vacation options for international travel were outdated and out of the cities. I want to stay in London proper when I visit London. Not a stupid condo in the suburb where I would need to take a train into the city every day to sightsee. No thank you!

Lastly, I noticed your hidden housekeeping (not during but after your stay), "necessary upgrades," and other fees. I'm not dumb. If this was such a steal, you wouldn't need to sell us so hard and fast and worry about us "thinking it over tonight" or doing research, because the package would sell itself and the paying customers would find you.

In the end I did feel bad for our sales rep, because he didn't get a sale, on the flip side he did waste too much of our time. The free Diet Coke and tickets saved us from completely losing our cool.

With the presentation behind us, we enjoyed our little family of two in our remodeled hotel: walking to the hot tub in our robes (instead of driving), and having a free breakfast. I love getting away and enjoying Cody outside of everyday life...and can do that easily and spontaneously without the financial burden of "vacation ownership."

Real Quick...

First and foremost, It's Snowing!! :)

I've always thought Arkansas to be beautiful. The Spring blossoms were amazing, the summer (although too hot and too humid) was lush and green, and the fall ended up being the colorful reds, oranges, and yellows. But Winter has been a bust. An absolute UGLY bust. The grass is all dead and brown. The trees are bare. The sky is gloomy. And unlike most parts of the U.S. that have beautiful snow to make winter magical, AR only gets about 4 snow days and the snow doesn't stick :(

But it is snowing right now. And the falling white stuff is so pretty.

*side note: I've never heard so many people talk about snow, prepare for snow (which will melt come morning), and discuss cancelled work/school. It's amusing and bizarre.*

Secondly, I asked Cody what traits he wants our kiddo to get from him. He starts,

"My patience...intellegence...awareness."

I stopped him right there. "What kind of awareness - spatial awareness?"

He said, "Yeah, spatial awareness...balance...social awareness...and my digestive system."

What? Does he think I'm some kind of ungraceful, aloof, dumb, impatient, burping, barfing, goof?! He has since stated he was joking, "obviously."

And the answer comes right at a time you wish he'd say, "I don't know what I want our baby to get from me, but I hope he gets your ..." and then ensues a list of compliments.

Oh, the humor.

*side note: Cody is most definitely correct that our kid should get his digestive system.*

My Body Make-over - My journey

2010 was the year of fat.

I, Robin Orvin, probably gained over 25 pounds and had a body make-over of sorts. You could say that it was getting married (and out of the pace and pressure of singledom).

Or maybe it was moving to Arkansas (and doing less exercising due to a hot and humid summer).

And you'd probably all agree that opening a yogurt store contributed (candy, sugar, and more candy).

I'm sure there were many factors related to my expanding body, but I handled it well and owned it. I've always had self-esteem completely unrelated to my size and reflection in the mirror. I consider myself blessed in this way, as I know so many who have good days or bad days based on their reflection or the number being shown on their scale. Just one of the reasons I don't weigh myself regularly.

Well, I'm pregnant now. I'm supposed to have an expanding body, it's expected. And all I did the first trimester is lose weight. Thanks to my little mouse inside of me (trust me, the baby is a mouse according to the first ultrasound), I'm fitting back into my pants that have been shelved for at least 9 months. And I do like being able to wear my clothes, but this is only one of two benefits of pregnancy sickness I can think of. The other one is knowing my body is busy at work producing hormones to help the fetus grow (I guess).

I'm in my second trimester now and I'm getting less nauseous. I've even had a handful of days where I've not had to take my Zofran pill (those days are heaven!). Food is still scary most days (will it come back to visit my mouth after I swallow it?), but on others it is almost as good as it was before the mouse arrived. Given my improving condition, I feel like I've gained my weight back, but according to the scale at the doctor's, I've lost another pound. I feel like my stomach is huge. My pants still fit, but my belly to me seems ginormous.

And here is the weird part:

I really was ok with being huge without child, because I knew at any moment, I could resolve to change my look if I so desired. But, being huge with child is less easy for me to swallow at this point because 1. I don't feel like I, at 15 weeks, should look pregnant yet (especially since it's my first) and 2. I can't do anything about my size considering I'm definitely not over-eating. And my belly isn't hard and cute, it's just large and I don't have an ounce of control. I've got a lot more time to get big, and am more than happy to get as big as a house if this baby requires it - but not starting before 4.5 months.

So 2011 is going to be the year of baby. My body will expand and make-over much more than it did in 2010. I am fully expecting to be gushy in my stomach post baby. I'm really not worried about that - nor a huge belly come March, April, May, June. I welcome the natural and normal change/damage a baby causes on a female body - I just really wasn't expecting it to happen this early.

And before I sign off, let me just share a bit of naive truth: I didn't expect to be even 1/4 as sick as I've been. I expected in pregnancy: varicose veins, possible stretch marks (to match those who've graced my butt for decades), back pain, difficulty sleeping, cravings, swollen everything, emotional roller coasters, and every other symptom but those that I've had: burping, aversion to food, nausea, vomiting, and dehydration.

What a journey this little mouse has taken my body on...oh, the places we'll go!

10 things I love about my pregnant wife

For this last installment of the things I love about my wife, I list 10 things that I love about my wife that I didn’t even know until she got pregnant. Lest anyone feel that this post is disparaging to my wife, I’m sure she loves many of these things about herself just as much or even more than I do.

I love that my un-pregnant wife doesn’t burp constantly. Something about being host to a fetus has caused severe irritation to whatever causes burping. The poor woman burps constantly.

I commented previously how much I love that my wife loves to sleep. I just thought she loved to sleep until I saw how much she sleeps now that she is pregnant. She wakes up from a nap and is already tired.

I love (and miss) that my wife at one time loved food. We looked forward to going out to eat, or just looked forward to lunch and dinner at home, and would even spend time at dinner discussing what we should eat for the next meal. Those days are now gone. The thought of pretty much any food is enough to trigger the vomit reflex.

On that same note, I miss that my wife no longer appreciates smells. She used to swoon over my well cologned body. Now she doesn’t even want me to use scented soap. Anytime I cook, she gags. Anytime we drive by restaurants, she gags. When she walks into any room in our apt, she gags. I have resorted to eating in my car just to avoid smelling up the apt.

Robin has always been one to internalize everything she witnesses. If we watch a movie about a transvestite clown that has a hoarding problem, she will turn to me and say “please don’t ever be a transvestite clown that has a hoarding problem”. Now that she is pregnant, she frets about any disease, ailment, or condition that she hears about, reads about, or sees on tv, no matter how far-fetched or rare. I pray daily for a healthy baby.

I just thought that my wife cried a lot. I remember a previous post about dreading this very thing because I knew pregnancy exacerbated crying tendencies. I could not have been more correct. Just the thought of something that could possibly be construed as sad, happy, sappy, touching, or patriotic is enough to elicit tears.

Robin is adamant about not knowing the gender of the baby too soon. She wants to know the sex a few weeks before the birth, but not any sooner. Most people are trying to talk her out of it, but she is convinced that knowing the sex and then naming the child before it is born will make the pregnancy go by slower and that she will go crazy buying things for the baby. As far as I am concerned, she is the one suffering all the side effects of pregnancy, so if she wants to wait a few weeks, it is fine by me.

Robin has always been very vocal about not wanting to have a baby anytime in the month of June or even early July because she didn’t want any child to steal her birthday glory. The first due date we got for the baby was June 21st, Robin’s exact birthday. However, all those worries about having to share a birthday went out the window, she was just ecstatic to be pregnant(the due date has since been moved to June 28th). I think it was just a test. She passed.

Robin has always been adamant about not wanting to have really gender specific things for the baby. If it is a girl, for example, she hates the bright pink ruffled car seat, hello kitty rattles, and pink polka dot crib stuff. I guess our baby will be constantly clad in bland yellow clothes and will only be allowed gender neutral toys and accessories, but that just seems like so much work, so I hope Robin relents on this one.

Even before she got pregnant, Robin bought a name book and had been marking that thing up more than her seminary scriptures. One night she went over each of the girl names she had marked as “like”. Out of the dozens of names she read aloud, I liked a grand total of 2. Most of the names my wife likes would have been great if our baby was born at the time of the Boston Tea Party. She claims the names are timeless and classic. I claim that school bullies couldn’t care less about timeless and classic. Luckily, we do agree on some names—but I guess we’ll only be having two kids.

In a few short months all these points will be moot(or mute, as Robin says) and we will be happily celebrating parenthood, but until that point comes—it is just fun to discover all the things I love about my wife that I didn’t even know until she was with child.

It is amazing to watch day by day as a human life grows inside of my wife. I couldn’t be happier that Robin will be the mother of this child. That is one lucky baby.

Thanksgiving...

I hope everyone's Thanksgiving was gooble, gooble good. My Thanksgiving was great and I'll post about it and the CA trip soon, but tonight I want to give thanks to my Cody.

He is a hard worker.

He's a hit with my nephews.

He is on top of things - he gets things done.

He hates fish and never requests it for dinner (I hate fish too).

He is sensitive to me and my needs.

He vacuumed yesterday, bought me a red poinsettia plant for our coffee table, and cleaned up for my return to AR (he flew home one day earlier than me).

Which brings me to my next point - He lets me vacation more than him. I flew to CA on Monday and he didn't until Wed. and he flew home one day earlier than me. He's just selfless like that.

I have so much in my life to be grateful for and one of my most treasured blessings is a husband who was worth waiting for (through bad dates, Mr. Wrongs, and years of no significant other).

Today is the Superbowl...

the World Series...

the U.S. Open...

the NBA Playoffs...

March Madness...

the Stanley Cup Playoffs...

the World Cup...

of politics and Cody couldn't be more enthralled. My husband loves going to sporting events and will watch sports on the television in social environments, BUT he is not the type of man to watch Sports Center at the end of the day or a game (whether playoff or not) on his own.

And although he's not an avid sports lover, he is obsessed with politics. He has scheduled our employees today so that he can vote, and then retire to the house early for watching everything politics.

And now I find myself asking him if we are going to be ordering in tonight so that we don't miss any announcements. Who am I? When did I start caring? I now watch Fox News, CNN, and MSNBC (in that order). All channels I wasn't acquainted with prior to marrying my husband.

So in conclusion: Cody is unlike most men when it comes to sports, but competition is competition - whether in sports or politics - and like other men, he does love himself a good competition.

Off to watch some political commentary and outcomes.