The Lame Game Continues

Thanks for playing, everybody!

Okay, so far the people have spoken thus:

Esme: Four votes and one "nay" (which was actually just a statement of confusion toward pronunciation. I counted it as a negative).

Corinne: Also four votes and one "nay" ("nothing special")

Campbell: Two votes and two "nay"s (or comments about soup/masculinity)

Darcy: Two votes and one "nay" (a boy name? I've only heard it as a girl's, except Mr. Darcy, and it's his last name).


Write-ins of honorable mention:

Daphne received two votes
Tessa is cute
I like Piper but I'm betting Spencer doesn't (although it fits all prescribed guidelines--not too 'pansy', would look good on resume, not too common, easy to spell...)


I'm not going to comment on all the other suggestions, except Nor's, because I think she really wants me to. I figure the rest of you don't NEED to know if I really like the names or not. Nor does.


Vivian=Will Smith's aunt (Fresh prince) (Also "Viv Clive" is a little much).
Magnolia: Uh, doesn't sound like a person to me. And would you call her Maggie for short?
Cassandra: Does sound good with Clive but is the name of a girl who desperately wanted to rip Spencer out of my grip and marry him herself. I do think it is really cute and doesn't Cassie Clive sound nice?

Thanks everybody for your input! Tonight I informed Spencer that Iwas resigning from the game and that I would call her whatever he names her. He told me he was about to tell me the exact same thing. I said it first, so I won. We'll let you know what he decides, and meanwhile, keep us posted on any new ideas, suggestions, or anything else.

More Cadence-isms

Some of my latest faves from my crazy kid:

-She loves to point out "booty mawks" (beauty marks, which can be moles, freckles, or pimples).

-She can't pronounce her "r"'s.

-She can sing the alphabet, several primary songs, and loves "the hard rain song" by Bob Dylan, and more.

-She can identify all the letters of the alphabet (capital only).

-She's into kissing me. She grabs my face like she's seen Daddy do, and kisses my chin, my forehead, my cheeks, my neck, etc. It's one of those little payoffs for all the difficult times.

-She uses phrases like: "Oh, what have we got here?" and "Does that sound nice?"

-She insists on helping with all household chores, "brooming", vacuuming, washing dishes, laundry, etc.

-She has moments of extreme frustration that she vents by screaming whatever word she can think of at the time. My personal fave was, "MARACA!!!!!"

Some things that are more perplexing and frustrating than cute:

-She refuses to pray. She liked it at first, now she won't participate.

-She is lately very very emotional and dramatic and is almost obessessed with doing the opposite of what I say.

-She STILL hates getting her diaper changed.

Well, I'd better end this on a good note...

She may be a little fireball lately, but she is still the sweetest little talker you've ever seen. She likes to talk about anything she hears or sees. Today she talked a lot about Machu Pichu and China (places she learned about on Little Einsteins at least one week ago). She remembers everybody she meets. She's a little motor-head--she can hear or see a helicopter or motorcycle before anybody else. She loves to watch Daddy play a racing video game that involves fast vehicles and lots of crashing. She gives great hugs and loves to sing happy birthday to anybody that she likes. What a cutie.

"Cadence, make a pretty face."

Okay, now tell my your favorite things that your child is doing lately. And tell me I'm not the only one whose child drives them nuts sometimes, too!

The Lame Game

Naming a child is not as much fun as little girls dream it is. At least for Spencer and I. We've largely avoided it this pregnancy, and we've hardly made any progress. Now that we've only got a month left, we're getting more serious about it. We think we've decided on one, but we're ready to open up the game to the masses.

Here's how it's going to work: I'll tell you the handful we're already considering. Then I'll give you my guidelines, and then you may vote and/or suggest as many as you like. Remember, it's a girl (so they say).

Names currently up for consideration (in alphabetical order, not necessarily in the order of importance):

Campbell

Corinne

Darcy

Esme

We will probably use Jeanette as the middle name with whatever name we go with (unless it obviously doesn't go). (Jeannette is my Mother's middle name).

Now for my guidelines:

1. No top ten names. Emily, Hannah, Olivia, Ava, are all examples of cute names that are in the top ten for 2007 according to the social security website.

2. Preferably no J names.

3. Single-syllable names don't sound as good with Clive (i.e. Blythe Clive).

4. The simplest/most standard spelling should be used (not that I don't like my own name).

5. Spencer is resistent to any name that is "too pansy". I've tried to tell him that we have girls, so get over it, but he can't. I like "pansy names". For example, Violet is too pansy for him. I think of a little girl in a dress and picture calling her the name in question. Spencer pictures the name on a resume. NERD.

6. Easily shortened, as I'm really prone to doing so. i.e., i love the name Scarlet, but knew I would call her "scar", which isn't as fitting for a little girl as it is for an evil lion-uncle.

Okay-- let the naming begin!

Also, I love this picture because it is SO Spencer. If you don't see it, you should see his pictures of when he was a little boy. Spittin' image. (minus the pink).

Tagged! I feel so special!

Thanks, Kristen--I've never been tagged before...maybe it will get old, but not yet.

Rules: Answer questions, tag more people, comment on their blogs so they know they've been tagged, and then tell Kristen I fulfilled my tagging responsibilities...right?

5 Things on my t0-do list:

1. Get my house presentable so that when Mimi has her baby her fam can stay here.
2. finish matching blankets I'm making for my girls.
3. Have baby.
4. Pack for trip to Utah (that comes before #3).
5. Eat popsicles.

5 Snacks I love:


1. Popsicles
2. Poptarts
3. Cake
4. Popsicles
5. Candybars
(I know, I know, you had no idea what a health nut I am.)


5 Things I'd do if I suddenly became a millionaire:


1. Ask my husband what the heck I should do, let him invest much of it, but be specific about my spending rights.
2. Send my parents on a dream vacation...probably Fiji, which is my Dad's dream.
3. Pay for my sib's college edu.
4. Buy a changing table, a glider, and furniture for our bedroom.
5. Build a school in India or Africa or Burma (maybe all three if I could get a good deal on a school...) That's an idea I got from Spencer's co-worker Prashant who is in the process of doing so.

5 Places I've lived:


1. Salem, Ut
2. Ephraim, UT
3. Summit, NJ
4. Dodgeville, WI
5. In a hotel in Lake Forest, CA (that's in "the OC")


5 Jobs I've had:

1. File-girl at Sprinkler World
2. Free-weenie Friday-girl at Sprinkler World (really)
3. Waitress at Los Hermanos
4. On-site Manager at Roman Gardens
5. Reading Tutor


5 Things people don't know about me:


1. I won the 5th grade spelling bee.
2. I'm actually really tall, I just slouch.
3. I love playing dress-ups.
4. When in Thailand, I got my eyebrows tattooed for $25, it was my best impulse buy. BTW, they don't numb you in Thailand. That's right, I know what it feels like to get a tattoo. (it hurts.)
5. When I was single I used to have this wink that was really powerful. I used it to get things like a TV, surround-sound speakers, and some box that makes it all work together for our apartment, tickets to a concert, and many, many dinners. All for free. I don't use it any more, but I'm teaching it to Cadence. My former roommate, Elisabeth had a "for free smile", used in the same manner. Together we were unstoppable and incredibly powerful. We practically owned everything in sight. For free.

This was the moment I decided to make Spencer fall madly in love with me. I winked and he was mine. He still doesn't know what hit him.

Okay, now for the hardest part:

I tag:

Megan Riz, Kelli P., Gina, Jeanne-Marie, and Elisabeth. Ahahaha... I wish I could tag everybody, now I want to know how everybody would answer these.

Worth a Thousand Words

Sociology...so hot right now...

There's nothing quite as romantic as spending a weekend away...together...alone...in one of the world's most sociologically-fascinating spots.

Don't read the bumper-stickers too closely, there are some bad bad words. But please do read what is painted on the window: "Fall In Love With Everything..." This was the most gorgeous camper-trailer I've ever seen.

Ever been to Venice Beach, CA? Venice Beach is located right next to Santa Monica. It's actually a little city called Venice, which is named because it was designed to be "California's little Venice", in the 1940's, I think, when a series of canals were built and classy neighborhoods to go with them. In the 70's those classy neighborhoods had turned to--what else but--hippy communes and artist's pads. Today the canal neighborhoods are returning to their roots--upscale snobbish types, as all the hippies and artists have moved to the beach.

The Cadillac Hotel, one of two hotels on VB. We're pretty sure, by the way, that a homeless guy slept in our (actually trevor's) car the first night. We had to give the keys to the security guy...who probably made a buck or two off of the comfortable flat-back of the Pathfinder.

The thing I love about VB is that while on one side of the street you have regular beach boardwalk stores, on the other side, the beach side, you have street vendor after street vendor, as well as some amazing street performers. Many of the vendors live right there on the beach. They roll out of their "beds" on the beach or the grass in the morning and set up shop. They are all really happy to talk to you, share their stories with you, give you their political views and religious beliefs, as well as those of some of the other vendors around.



There was this one guy who had a little booth set up, similar to the "tarot card and palm reading" booths, only he was the "handwriting guru". Now, I know that the science of handwriting analysis exists, and I was really interested in how legit this guy was, but was too cheap/scared of getting bamboozled to confront him. He yelled out to us, "I analyze pregnant women for free!" My lucky day! I copied the sentence he asked me to, and he began a 30 minute analysis of me, which was 99% hogwash. He told me things like, "You procrastinate." and, "you are hormonal." and a bunch of other stuff that you can say about 95% of the population (the hormonal thing, i mean the pregnant population). Regardless of how much crap he was telling us, we stood there fascinated by his stories and his life. Spencer and I soaked it in. My generous husband gave him a dollar, and we moved on to the "Venice Beach Freak Show", where we saw a two-headed turtle, a two-headed snake (both live), and a white-tailed deer's bottom turned upside down and decorated like a monkey face (it was titled, "Swamp Monkey"). Classy joint. A great way to spend $3.



Later we talked to a woman who told us all about this poem she had written which had a lot to do with strength of women and that the "fathers need to return to the seed". She wanted to tell me the very deep meaning to it because I was pregnant and she thought it might touch me. I actually really liked the poem. That was right before we got FREE HAIRCUTS from a Paul Mitchell trailor that was promoting the movie "You Don't Mess With the Zohan".

After that we met up with our good friends who live in Santa Monica, Chris and Kristen, who were also celebrating an anniversary (happy 6 months!). With Chris and Kristin across the way from our hotel entrance. Isn't the mosaic mural great?

We had dinner together and Chris asked in a slightly puzzled way why I would choose Venice Beach for a romantic getaway. A good question. Are you all wondering? It never occurred to me before he asked, that it wasn't the most romantic spot. All Spencer and I need is strawberries and chocolate for dipping (which I brought), an ocean to look at (he gets in, I don't), and lot's of good people-watching. Sunday morning we sat on the roof-top of our hotel and watched the VB scene unfold. We watched the homeless folks roll out of bed and walk the 20 steps to the boardwalk.

The morning scene just in front of our hotel.

Some got set up, others sang made-up songs quite loudly, some started yelling political protests against "corporate america" (the one who chiefly was doing this, it turns out, is rumored to have won a couple of court cases against the city and is doing very well for himself), another guy stood in one spot, rocking heel-to-toe rather cooly as he took pictures of passers-by with a cell phone. We observed for who knows how long. I'm sure many people would have people-watched with me, but not with the fascination and appreciation that Spencer did. That morning I was reminded how perfect he is for me.

Thanks for the wonderful weekend, Spencer. And thanks for being my best-sociology-friend. Oh yeah, and thanks for surprising me with the amazing jewelry that I don't deserve but gladly accept. That's a Carolyn Clive Classics original, with a 10.5 ct Amethyst and the setting is hand-designed by his Grandmother, who sells to Saks 5th Ave. Now I have to get new clothes to match it! :)



PS, and thanks Mom and Dad Clive for the hotel and for taking care of Cadence for us that weekend. You made it possible!

COUSINS!

Last month we went to Chicago to see Clifford, Gina, and Reese. I was still pretty sick at the time, so I wasn't much fun, but the girls had a blast together. For those of you who don't know, Reese is Cadence's only Clive cousin and they are only a month and 1/2 apart. I finally downloaded my pictures and they are so cute. These girls really entertain eachother, and Cadence still asks to go to Chicago to see Reese. It is going to be so much fun to live near them for the next couple of years. Just look at what friends they are:

Cadence has never looked forward to bathtime as much as she did at Reese's house. Fun!

A lot of macaroni and cheese was consumed that week. They loved to sit next to eachother and make silly sounds to laugh at together.

Sitting down to discuss the political satire and underlying social commentary of Dr. Suess. They honestly just wandered off together with their books and sat down like this. No pose.

Thanks, Clifford, Gina, and Reese for all the fun and for making us feel so welcome!