see.first.day

The night before we hung out in the hospital until almost midnight waiting for the Doctor to tell us what Loni's new birth plan was to be. The Doctor finally arrived and informed us that she was to try to have the baby the next day. And they would make it as natural as possible.
8:30 AM (the next morning) as we prepared to head up to the hospital, we get a phone call. Loni was going in for a stat c-section. Again, serious complications.
On the way to the hospital we get the news that baby boy
Owen James Brang was born and very healthy.

Not much else to say... he is perfect.

Very first hours of life.

The talk of the nursery with his HUGE feet!

We found out my brother has Swine Flu or H1N1 Virus. Yep. He can't see his new baby boy for 7 days. So sad. Here he is via video chat.

The "moms" or "grandma's" rather.

Loni's dad... Owen's grandpa.

Loni, meet your baby boy. Her first time seeing Owen.

After the longest day, sleepless night, surgery, and medication Loni is still looking so beautiful. I think she has pure joy emitting from her skin!

Loni is great, Owen is perfect and we are all so proud and so happy. Now the real fun begins!

see.labor.of.love

I am in Florida for the week for several reasons:

1. To see my family
2. My sister-in-law Loni is pregnant and due at any minute: Due date 09/30
3. My sister's birthday

I arrived on Tuesday thinking by this time I would have a new nephew to coo over. However, when I arrived Loni was still pregnant and my family was all waiting anxiously. So what do we do when waiting around anxiously trying to pretend we are not waiting around anxiously?
Eat!

Mom, and baby Charlotte eating Mexican food! Yum!

Looking forward to her new cousin!
So during lunch we get a call from Loni saying she is in the Hospital for observation. See, Loni had a birth plan to have her baby naturally at the Birthing Center in Gainesville so this call was a little bit of a surprise. So after lunch we head over to the hospital. We find out, due to unexpected complications, it would be safer to have the baby at the hospital then what she had planned. This was tough news. When we get tough news... what do we do?
We stick together. The girls all got together and had a hospital pow-wow.

The moms oooing and awing at Loni's pregnancy pictures.

Loni, looking beautiful even after a long day and 9+ months pregnant! She is still radiant.
Loni checked into AGH (Alachua General Hospital) which, sadly, is closing very soon. AGH is known for their incredible staff. This is Patti, aka peppermint Patti. She is one of the reasons Loni is smiling.

Loni had the perfect pregnancy! She was never sick, she only gained 25lbs which was all baby (as the doctor said), and she had the best attitude about becoming a new mom!

You might be asking 'where is daddy?' Aka my brother. Well, at home, with the flu. Another total bummer. Thank goodness for wi-fi, macs, and video chatting.

Aunt-Mel.

My sister, Jen. She is a Nurse Practitioner here in Gainesville. Meaning if you are a patient at Shands or AGH you are a VIP.
Can you tell we love cameras?
More to come!

see.breakfast.in.bed

When it comes to mornings there are 2 types of people: morning people and those who dislike morning people. I am the former, Mike is the latter. I love mornings. Once I wake up, I can't fall back to sleep and I am full of energy. Most mornings, I get up and I am busy doing things and (by no fault of my own) they happen to be very loud activities. Again, probably the reason Mike, is not a morning person. So this past Saturday I decided to wake up and stay busy by making Mike breakfast in bed. I know, I know... so nice :0)

Breakfast in bed: Orange and Honey Muffins.
Step 1: Grate 2 sweet ripe oranges for orange zest.

Step 2: Peel zested oranges, cut each orange into small 1/4" slices.

Step 3: Some Honey- I happened to have Orange Honey but the type doesn't matter.

Step 4: 1 teaspoon honey in muffin cups.

Step 5: Place an orange slice on top of each teaspoon of honey.

Step 6: Combine dry and wet ingredients of flour, sugar, salt, baking soda, orange zest, eggs, milk( instead of milk I used a combination of soy milk, applesauce, and yogurt), and oats!
Once combined spoon into muffin cups on top of orange and honey.

Step 7: Bake until golden on top.
Step 8: Bring tea and muffins to grouchy non-morning person and suddenly morning people are not so bad! This can work on just about anyone! I have found Christmas mornings are only complete with fresh cinnamon rolls and coffee = morning people instantly!

see.shadow

Last Wednesday, I put the job hunting on hold and drove over to Amy Beck Cake Design Shop located in Lincoln Park.

When I first walked into the shop I could not believe that this was their actual job! To bake and be creative all day!
I was greeted by my pal I met the other night who got me this shadow day and she put me right to work! There were 3 ladies working and Amy of Amy Beck was on her way over from a morning tasting. The day I visited was cake stacking day- no need to explain- so there was cake everywhere. It was really amazing.

I wasn't able to take any actual pictures but I was asked to make a few things from gum paste some of which consisted of painted iridescent pearls (as seen above).
The day was over too quickly and I enjoyed every minute. It was truly a wonderful experience and really got me thinking about what truly makes me tick: being creative and food!
Thanks Amy and crew!
want to see more? Visit www.amybeckcakedesign.com

see.something.different

What do you want to be when you grow up?

I try to answer that question everyday. Yep, it's true... I just don't know. Now that we have moved to a new city... I plan to figure this out. Some people just know what they want to do.

Mike... he loves books and knowledge. Sometimes he will talk to me about what he is learning or reading and it literally sounds like another language. I know he is speaking English and the words sound right but I just watch them fly right over my head. He wants to teach people (in real language) about what is inside some of our greatest books.

At one point I thought I wanted to go into medicine and make people feel better when they are sick.

Then I thought, I can't be so creative in medicine, maybe I want to design the spaces people feel better in. So I am in interior architecture and for the past 2 years I work on Health care design...

But tomorrow, I am going to scratch a little 'itch' so to say. I met a friend here in Chicago the other day. She works in a bakery designing cakes. Tomorrow I am going to shadow her and her bakery friends. Let's see... baking, sweets, making people feel good, and design. Hmmm... I will let you know what I... cook up!
:0)

see.we

The day after we arrived in Chicago, we had so much to do. We managed to find a futon among other things and due to Michael's storage situation we couldn't pick up his belongings until Tuesday. Tuesday we got up, collected Michael's stuff around town and he took the U haul trailer back to the rental shop while I walked to the bank.
I was having some banking issues... not to name names but a certain California teller lead me to believe that I had to close my bank account take all my cash (along on our road trip) and reopen the account in Chicago in order to keep banking with them. Long annoying story.
Realizing I was misinformed and had multiple overdraft fees I marched myself up to the bank and 2 hours later finally get things resolved. Meanwhile, Michael is calling and texting me frantically about meeting up for coffee. This was unlike him (to be so persistent about my coffee needs) so i told him to bring some up to the bank. We walked back home when I was finished and then something strange happened... When we walk in the door of the apartment, Mike grabbed my hand and insisted I sit down on our 'new' futon (I hadn't had lunch yet so asking me not to go directly to the kitchen was um... difficult) but he insisted. I sit down and just as I do, he kneels down and asks me to marry him. Yep, right there, surrounded by boxes and tape. I said 'yes yes yes!' and there we were crying and hugging and just lots of happy tears!
We reenacted the proposal in the park with pictures so you get some kind of visual ;0)

Michael, Miles and ring.
The ring (by the way) is from Brilliant Earth. They are located in San Francisco. The platinum is recycled and the diamonds are from Canada. The halo setting is just beautiful! Michael had just got it in the mail hence his utter persistence and excitement. Very sweet. It's been a long road... literally and figuratively and Michael said that he couldn't wait another second.

This is on the lake in Chicago. About a 20 min. walk from our house.

So excited!! Engaged to my best friend!

Our first picture as an engaged couple!

see.roadtrip.day.7

9.06: day 7 "last day... again"
Eau Claire, Wisconsin.
7:00 AM came quickly as we rushed to pack up and head towards the only mechanic that was open on Sunday of Labor Day weekend. We eat a fast breakfast and hop in the car and it starts... reluctantly. The car was still running at this point, it however, was having a difficult time staying 'on' and really couldn't go over 30 mph... and don't forget we are still pulling our trailer. eh. After taking 3 wrong turns, we make it to a hill. Probably the largest hill in Wisconsin. I am driving so we approach the hill and I look at Michael and say 'well should we attempt this?'
He replies... 'sure'.
We make it about 1/5 of the way up the hill and the car just dies. Frustrated we roll the car and the trailer back down the hill and into a parking lot. And we are at a loss.
Then a woman came out of nowhere and knocks on our window asks... "Do you two need a tow?"
It just so happens that Mrs. Hebert was standing nearby and watching all of the dramatic hill rushing we were doing and after we pulled over she called her husband who has a HUGE truck with a trailer hitch to come help us out! Yea, I know. Dumb luck strikes again!! So they take the trailer, Mike and Miles to the mechanic. I call a tow truck and tow the car.
!!!Thank you to the Hebert Family in Eau Clair, Wisconsin!!!!
2 hours later we are sitting at a Starbucks next to the mechanic's shop (recounting all of our luck we have had and hoping it would continue) we then get a phone call. Seems like the plastic cover over the spark plugs was cracked and needed to be replaced... ha, no big deal. The car was fixed before we finished our coffee. The tow and fixing the car (for both days) did add up but it could have been a lot worse. We were on the road before noon.

The rest of the drive was full of nervous energy. I just knew something else was going to happen, we really just wanted to get to the apartment, unpack and turn in the trailer. I only took 2 pictures this day.

See... we made it :)

And finally the place. Again, since we were so exhausted I didn't take any pictures so all I can provide is an overview. The big pink arrow is pointing to our coach house. A couch house is an apartment above a 2 car garage- at one point long ago this space was used to house coaches and horse-drawn carriages. The main house (across) the yard is where our landlords 'Niko and Cindy' reside. They also rent out the top floor and the basement floor of the main house. So we basically moved into a ready made community. Everyone, was happy to meet us and fully welcomed our arrival!
It's good to be home.

see.roadtrip.day.6

9.05: day 6 "Last Day"

We left Plymouth, MN (which is right outside of Minneapolis) for our final day of the trip. The total drive time for the day... approx. 7.5 hours. The night before, we slept at the Red Roof Inn for 59.00 per night and the dog was free. The room was surprisingly nice considering the price. We let ourselves sleep in this morning till 9AM as we were so tired from driving the day before. It is amazing how sitting in a car for hours upon hours can cause such heavy exhaustion! We were so very hungry because the dinner the night before consisted of 1 snickers bar split 2 ways. We found breakfast and were on our way.
We drove right through Minneapolis and entered into Wisconsin. Wisconsin (by the way) is beautiful this time of year. Sweet rolling hills, green grass, rivers, big shady trees.... BOOM! As we were driving my car decides to have a stroke on the highway. The 'service engine soon' light is flashing and we are off the road. We realize something very bad has just happened on the easiest terrain of the trip. This also happened to be Labor Day weekend. A time when most people are not at work. We called probably 20 - 25 mechanics, my Dad (who is in Florida) is calling around the area we were in too, for us. So the only place we found open and that felt sorry for us happened to be this guy Josh, at an oil and lube shop.

Here she is... 'Ol Velveeta' in the shop.

Mr. trailer not far behind.

And then we wait. Wait to see what Josh can find. Josh was our 'Obi-Wan Kenobi' of the town mechanics. He was our only hope.

I found it strange that the place we ended up was right across the street from a 'Mike's Smokehouse' and (as you can see below) on the corner of Frank St.

Michael's name = Mike Franks... hmmm....

The guy is super friendly and did the best he could but we end up $100 more broke and the car is even worse off. Frustrated, tired (ONLY 5.5 Hours from Chicago) we call a hotel and 'pull over' for the night.
The hotel we found was nice, dinner was hot and delicious, happy hour consisted of cheap local beer and the Gator game was on. From there... rest.

see.roadtrip.day.5

9.04: day 5
As you can see from the map we had simple driving instructions for the day... Due East then take a left and drive North.

About 10 hour driving day plus an additional stop for a (lesser known) national monument...

So this is "Mount Rushmore". It is located about 30 mins. outside of Rapid City. All joking aside... I was actually pretty excited to see this huge rock sculpture.

"Mike- try looking presidential, I'm going to take your picture so it looks like your head is up there too! Your mom is going to love this!" and Mike says "what?" and just smiles. Still cute.

Once we got to the monument, parked, realized Miles was not allowed to roam around with us so we had to leave him in the car, we walked up to the huge rock, checked it out and then... (don't tell anyone) but I was ready to go. Sure it is impressive but you can only stare at a rock for so long. eh.

We were able to get a little hike in around the um, faces. This little hike was more my style. Away from the crowds of people and into these caves where, as seen above, you get a glorious view of nostrils. I felt a little embarrassed staring so blatantly up into Mr. Washington's nose. Lincoln was having none of this and is covered, most appropriately with a tree branch, thank you sir.

Since our little side trip for the day lasted a little longer then we expected, we had to skip "Badlands National Park". We were both pretty upset about this decision but it wasn't an option. The trip to the Badlands would have taken an extra 3 hours. We did however, get to see these little beauties!

We basically drove up to the entrance of "Badlands National Park" just to see what we were missing and on the way back to the highway there was a Historic Prairie Home. But what was even more exciting were the White Prairie Dogs all around the home. SO CUTE! This is the ONLY white Prairie Dog 'Town' in the world.
http://www.prairiehomestead.com/prairie_homestead.html

We laughed for a while just thinking about 'Prairie Doggin'- in case you don't know what it is look it up: urbandictionary.com
Yes, we need to grow up.