that's miami

Yesterday I was sitting on the terrace with Jack and Chewy and I noticed that it had started raining. Only, where I was looking it was sunny with blue skies. I turned 50 feet to the right and it was raining. 50 feet to the right of the rain and it was sunny and blue skies again.
SO I took pictures.
To the South

To the West

To the North

Freaky!

christmas fun

We had a really nice quiet Christmas, just the 3.5 of us. We all enjoyed our presents, especially Chewy. I wish I had made a video of the approximately 3 minutes it took from when we gave him the lamb until it was in the condition you see above. Chewy is very serious about his business.

Later in the day, we had a big Christmas dinner and then went to see the Benjamin Buttons movie. It's a great movie but I have to warn you that if you have ever cried at a movie, bring an entire box of tissues. There was a point where I had to concentrate very hard in order to not sob out loud and make a complete fool of my pregnant self. Go see it!

After the movie, I was standing outside waiting for Chris to get the car out of the garage and 2 people literally stopped in their tracks, stared at me belly and said, "WOW! You're due, like any minute now, huh?"

They may as well have just stood pointing and yelling, "Circus Freak!"

Now, I tend to have a sense of humor about these things and actually share in most people's wonder and amazement regarding the size of my belly at this point. It really seem to defy most laws of physics at this point. But after having contractions for the last 2 nights, including during the entire movie, and all the other pains and discomfort that I am feeling, it can get to be a little annoying to have people staring and pointing.

To make it even better, when our friend came to wait with me a minute later and I told him what had just happened, he looked at me and said, "You really can't blame them. You are about as pregnant as any girl I have ever seen."

OK, you got me there. Point and stare all you want. I totally deserve it.

a very miami weekend

On Saturday, we did some of this:

(Thank god for flattering angles)

And on Sunday, we did some of this:

There's nothing like December in Miami.

Also, if you will notice at the bottom of this page, Kumar's Countdown is on the LAST BABY! We have 28 days left until the big day and I'm afraid my luck with certain things is about to run out. I have been much more puffy all weekend and there is nothing I can do to help it except to lay on my left side with my feet up and drink a ton of water. That is really not making it easy to get anything done (or have any fun at all) so I guess I'm just going to be puffy for a while. We're in the homestretch and the end is in sight!

august / december

The Summer of 1999, I spent some time in Hamburg, Germany. I had been working for German clients in Miami for years and that Summer I was invited by an agency to come and spend at least a month and meet new clients and work and hopefully make a lot of money. August in the modeling world is a very slow month and in some cities (Milan, Paris) there is actually no work at all and in others (New York) it is just very slow. Hamburg is one of the strange ciites where there is still a lot of work to be had in August so I thought it would be a good idea to go.

I did not know this until I got there, but Hamburg in August is like most other cities in, say, November.. The average temperature when I was there was 53 degrees and it rained Every. Single. Day. If you can overlook the weather (or are one of those sick people who enjoy that sort of thing) Hamburg is a beautiful city and it is only an hour or so by train from Berlin and I suggest anyone who is in the area to go at least for a few days.

Above and below are some pictures that I took when I was there. I made some really good friends when I was there, friends who I kept in touch with for years. Notice the turtle neck sweaters and jackets we are wearing? In August! Below are some pictures that I took while I was shooting a commercial in Berlin.

(and please excuse the quality of the photos, they are scans of pictures taken back when we used FILM if you can remember back that far...)

This morning I woke up to find that some very Hamburg-like weather had hit Miami. Chewy and I went on our morning walk and I was wearing long pants and a thermal hoodie (Chris's of course because I can no longer fit into any of mine) and the rain was sometimes coming sideways, which to me says;
"Let's get this walk over with as quickly as possible and get back to the nice dry house" but to Chewy said;
"Finally! Some decent weather to walk in! I can stop and smell every dripping wet plant and pile of garbage I pass on the street today and really enjoy this gorgeous weather!"
Looks like, for Chewy's sake, we should consider moving to Germany.
Or maybe we'll just ship him off to a Swiss boarding school.
I would like the sun back.

going, going, (gone?)

Anyone who has come to visit us has seen the ugly monstrosity that is the construction site behind our building and asked, "What's going on over there?" because it has been in the same state for 4+ years now. From the day we moved in the summer of 2004, not a day of work has been done on this building/eyesore/potential deathtrap.

Until this week. Chris and I were leaving one morning and we both just stopped in our tracks when we saw this.
3 men in hard hats tearing the thing down! We were both stupidly giddy over this but after staring at this thing for 4 years, it's so nice to think that this may actually finally be gone.

where would you rather be?

Today I went to see a potential pediatrician for Kumar. I made the appointment super early (7:45) so that Chris could come with me before work but of course, that did not work out because this is the day he starts JURY DUTY!!

*Cue: creepy music and thunder clap over the courthouse*

Since Chris was going to be trapped in the most horrible criminal courthouse ever made, I didn't have the heart to make him feel bad about missing the visit because having to spend the day (or possibly multiple days) there is punishment enough. I know how horrible this place is because I had to go there 3 years ago, about a week before we left to get married and luckily the judge took mercy upon me and let me go after the first day when I told him that I was going to St Lucia to be married in a matter of days. His exact words were, "Get out of here and go get married." He was a nice judge and I have not gotten called back again *knockonwood*....

Anyway, the pediatrician took his time and answered all my questions about vaccines and cord blood banking and other stuff on my list and I had a nice little tour of the place and it seemed like they have a good set up. They have a lab on the premises and a bunch of other locations in the area that have doctors on call after hours and weekends so there are really no complaints. I have an appointment with another pediatrician next week after I get back from my trip that has a much smaller office and then we will make a decision. Since I really have no problems with this first place and they were both recommended by my OB, it makes me comfortable to make a decision after only seeing the two.

Considering we are going to be spending a lot of time in the pediatritian's office the first year of Kumar's life, this is a good place to do it. The second place will definitely not be able to beat the view from the exam rooms:

the calm

This was such a nice relaxing weekend. Chris was kind enough to walk Chewy both mornings which may not seem like a big deal but it is a nice feeling to be able to roll over and go back to sleep in the morning without the guilt of knowing that Chewy is patiently waiting for me to take him out.

Also, we did something we always talk about but never seem to do and that is go to the beach. We actually went both Saturday and Sunday and bought a beach umbrella so we will go more often and stay longer. For those of you in the northern regions of the country, it may be hard to imagine but it is still incredibly hot here most days and sitting in the sun for more that 10 minutes or so is just way too much, even when you are not 7 months pregnant, but when you are, it is unbearable. So the umbrella was very very important. Also, I have really started liking being in the water and floating around and swimming a little so it was nice to be able to do that in the ocean instead of the over-chlorinated pool.

On the Chewy front, he is feeling better. We still haven't taken him to the park but he is back on the long-walk schedule and he hasn't shown any more signs of pain so hopefully in a couple of days he can go back to the park and run around like I know he is dying to do. Because nobody likes to chase a ball more than Chewy.

ending the week with some rainbows

little venice

The last two days, my street and all surrounding streets have been flooding both in the morning and in the afternoon, and lasting about 5 hours each time. Living at sea level and 100 yards from Biscayne Bay, I have gotten used to a small amount of water in the streets at various times in the last four years, but these two days have been the worst ever.

Yesterday afternoon I could not take Chewy to the park because that would mean driving my car through all that water (which is made up of bay water that has come into the street through the sewer system, and this bacteria-ridden brackish water is not something I want to drive my car through, call me crazy.) When I cannot take Chewy to the park, that means we have to take a nice long walk but there was nowhere to walk without facing down foot-high water in the street so we ended up walking in circles for about a half hour.

This morning, after wandering the neighborhood again, I decided to call the Public Works Department of this fair city and.....it didn't go well. Some guy gets on the phone and proceeds to speak to me as if I was a 4 year old needing a lesson on the changing tides and how because it has rained so much the last 2 days (no, it really hasn't rained hardly at all the last 2 days, a couple of showers at night and I don't think it has rained at all in the last 24 hours.) there is nowhere for the water to go so when the tide comes in, the water has to come through the sewers and into the street. Gee, thanks for the lesson, but I have lived here for four years and am VERY familiar with the changing tides and have seen the bay water come up through the sewers many times but NEVER THIS BAD AND ALL I'M ASKING IS WHAT IS BEING DONE ABOUT IT BUT YOU CAN'T HEAR ME BECAUSE YOU ARE TOO BUSY TALKING ABOUT ALL THE RAIN WE HAVE (not)HAD!!!!!!! (*deep, cleansing breaths*)

He really could not answer me. He WAS helpful enough to tell me that the tide would be low again around 11:00 and the streets should correspondingly clear then as well. Thanks. I guess I will begin rearranging my life now around the tides since you are really not giving me any answer to when is this going to stop happening twice a day except for when it stops raining so much. (and it hasn't really been raining anyway so now you are just making me mad!)
My favorite part of the conversation was when he said he would connect me to the "Sewer Supervisor" who I was really excited to speak to, but alas, I only got his voicemail.
Guess he's out somewhere supervising the sewers. In the meantime, I need to go get Chewy a pair of rubber boots to match mine.

wordless wednesday

great balls of .... water!!, originally uploaded by buki-rama.

are you mockin' me?

I tok Chris to Coral Gables to check out my pictures.
The following is his reaction:

good news

This last week has been quite exciting! First, I made a decision early last week to leave my Miami agency and go to a new one where I know I will work much more. Sounds easy enough right? Not really. See, there was the small detail of a contract, a contract that has been self-renewing since 1997 and just renewed this past May for 2 more years. I refused to let that small detail stop me though, so long story short, I had a meeting with the second-in-charge last week and today he finally sent me a letter that they are releasing me from my contract. I had to sort-of-kind-of fudge the truth when he asked me what my plans were but the truth is that they really do not have many clients for me to work for in my pregnant state and I know that this other agency does so I had to do what I could to get it done.

Also, I know that once I have the baby I will still work as much, if not more than I did before because my old booker of over 10 years is now at the new agency and she totally kicks ass! She has always been so good to me and always fought for me when she needed to and I trust her more than anyone in the business. (Ha! Spell check just suggested that I use the word "booger" instead of "booker". She will really appreciate that but I'll stick with booker.) Just to make me feel that much better about my decision, before i even got the e-mail to her that my contract was released, she called me to say that they booked me for a job in November for a pregnancy magazine. And they have a few more things lined up between now and then.

So, that turned out well.

Just to keep things interesting, one night last week, I noticed that a mole that I got a few months ago (and had been ignoring) wasn't a normal mole but rather was scabby and had actually scratched off a little bit. I know from my father's history with skin cancer that the scabby moles tend to be something to worry about so I went to the dermatologist and she took it off and stitched me up and told me to come back in a week to get the biopsy results. (words nobody likes to hear) Luckily, the Dr. didn't make me wait a whole week and called me today to tell me that it was completely benign and nothing to worry about at all. I get the stitches out on Thursday and that will be that. And let me tell you, this was a MUCH better experience than the last time I got stitches. The initial shot of lanocaine was no picnic but after that I really felt nothing and it was all over and topped off with a single band aid in 10 minutes. Success!
Tomorrow I am going to my Shiny New Agency to get some digital pictures taken to send out to clients and have lunch with my booker (still not booger) and hopefully I will get to working soon!!

blown up and plastered

Well then. That was quite a downer.
We move on!

Last week a friend of mine called to tell me that she had just seen me in Coral Gables. I was home and had been home all day so I told her it must have been someone else who looks like me.

No, she said. You are plastered all over Miracle Mile!

So I went yesterday to check it out. And this is what I found:











This goes on for blocks in downtown Coral Gables and I found it quite scary to see myself in so many places at once but that did not stop me from wandering around in the FL heat and take pictures of every single one I found. It will be fun to show Kumar one day.

the mighty mighty ike

We may or may not be taking this show on the road early next week, depending on what Hurricane Ike decides to do. Chris is already calling it Ike Turner and is convinced that Ike is going to be as mean as his name-sake was in the 70's.

Nobody named Ike should be underestimated.

We have already reserved a hotel in Orlando for the whole family (thank God for pet friendly hotels) so if things begin to look bad by Monday morning or so, we can just get into the car and go. If it looks like it may not be so bad or we will not get a direct hit, we will stick it out here at home. I already bought the Official Canned Food and Water of Hurricane Ike and am kind of excited to fire up the Weather Alert Radio-TV that I bought 2 years ago and put in a closet and never touched since.

The only good thing about these storms going by this week is that it has been really breezy and this morning it was only in the 70's! I came home from my walk this morning and actually turned off the air conditioner and opened the windows and as of 1:00 this afternoon, they are still open. It is so nice to be able to air the house out a little after being shut up in here since May or so. It probably won't last too much longer but for half a day, it's a nice change.

If you will notice at the bottom of this page is Kumar's Countdown and today is the first day of the official 6th month! We have less than 125 days to go and I really cannot believe it! I have been working on our gift registry and all of this is starting to make me believe that there really is going to be a little baby coming to live here with us in...oh...less than 4 months!

Also, for anyone who has tried to call my house this week and not gotten through, we have finally gotten rid of our home phone after months of debating and stalling (on my part). We can be reached on either of our cell phones and if you do not have those numbers just send me an email.
I will post updates on the hurricane situation and what our plans are.

dexter next door

Chris and I spent the weekend watching the second season of Dexter on DVD. For those of you who are not familiar with Dexter, it is a series on Showtime, which we do not have (though I have debated getting it just because of this show) so we have to wait for the seasons to come out on DVD which is sort of torturous but so worth the wait. I have not been so hooked on a one-hour series since the Sopranos and I don't know what secret cable channels have but they really know how to put on a show.

We started watching season 2 on Friday night and after waiting 5-6 months for this season to come out on DVD, we kind of got carried away and are already half way through the season. I was sad to notice this morning that we only have 5 episodes left to watch but when it is midnight and an episode ends, we both look at each other and say, "One more and we can go to sleep." because we just have to know what happened..... (Really you should go out and get season one and tell me after 3 episodes if you are not totally hooked.)

Anyway, Dexter is a guy who lives in Miami and works for the fictitious Miami Metro Police Department as a blood spatter expert. The twist is that Dexter uses his inside info. at the MMPD to find out who is suspected of murder but for what ever reason, were able to beat the rap and Dexter takes justice into his own hands and kills them himself. And he doesn't just kill them, he does it in a very careful, methodical way. Somehow, you really find yourself liking Dexter despite this small quirk he has, and that is part of the magic.

Perhaps it was with a few hours of Dexter in my mind that I was coming home from my morning walk with Chewy and saw one of my neighbors who is usually very friendly and normal but was looking a little odd. He had just come out of the stairwell that leads into the garage, and was just sort of looking around with a perplexed look on his face.

Me- "Hi. How're you doing?"

Him-"What's going on?"

Me-" uhhhh... What do you mean?"

Him-(looking at me for the first time) " Well if you don't know I can't tell you."

Me-"What do you mean? What's happening?"

Him-" There was a murder."

Me-".........."

Him- " ...in the master bedroom."

Me-(having not had more than a thimble full of caffeine in my body for almost 6 months and being completely shocked and did I mention it was 10AM on a Sunday and I was up late watching Dexter??) "What master bedroom?"

Him-(walking away) "I can't tell you."

I ran up the stairs and as I walked past the elevator, I heard another neighbor who may or may not be the lead troublemaker/steroid abuser/loudmouth in the building say,

"Murder? In this building? No, I don't think so man." and get into the elevator.

Whaaaaaaaaaatttttt?!?!?!?!?

I go into the apartment and tell Chris everything that was said and that this guy is really giving me the willies and we decide that either:
1)He is really really messed up on drugs and totally hallucinating
2)Perhaps he stayed up late playing Clue and has gotten really carried away, in which case I should have asked him if he used the candlestick or the rope?
3)He was sleepwalking
or, the most likely to me,
4)He killed his live-in boyfriend and lost his mind a little bit and we are about to be living an episode of CSI Miami very shortly.

As I write this, it is Tuesday morning and have not seen that guy or his boyfriend again and they only live down the hall and I usually see one or the other at least once a day. Also, their hurricane shutters have been closed all weekend, though that is not completely unusual for some people in this building who close their shutters whenever we get a strong gust and there was a hurricane within 500 miles of us this weekend but I will not be convinced there isn't something going on until I see one or both of them again.
Chris wants to see him just so he can ask him why he felt the need to say something like that and scare his pregnant wife but I just want to know that we are not living two doors down from our very own Dexter. How long does it take til we can smell a dead body? Can I Google that?

hello? hello? oh hi!

This was a very full week for me, so you will excuse the lack of posting the last few days. Morgan went back to NJ yesterday afternoon and luckily her flight took off just before the whole FAA Glitch Thing, so she actually got home on time.
I am posting a bunch of pictures of our week on flickr so click on over there for some of those.

We really got a lot accomplished in the time she was here, though I think we did slightly less than last year because I really am not tolerating the heat of summer as well, being almost 6 months pregnant and all, things swell that shouldn't and the heat and humidity just seem to suck all of my energy pretty quickly.
Despite this, we went to the Seaquarium, the Science Museum, Boomers! (a giant arcade/batting cages/go-karts/general-fun things for kids of all ages) the Monkey Jungle, the beach and even did a little shopping on Lincoln Road.
Not bad for 7 days.

Also, today marks the beginning of my 22nd week of pregnancy and holy beach balls batman!the belly is just getting bigger and bigger. I took some pictures a couple of days ago and I am sure it's even bigger than last week. This is the point where almost everyone I see who hasn't already said anything, is like, "Whoa, you're pregnant aren't you?" And I'm like, "Yeah, I am. You thought I was just letting myself go these last few months." and they look embarrassed and say, "No, you look great, I can barely even tell." and I say, "Whatever. Liar."
I really am trying to embrace the changes my body is going through and all the weight I have put on (still (barely) under 20 pounds) and it's all worth it when every night,I lay on the couch and I can feel the little guy moving around and 3 times now I have felt him kick me from the outside. Unfortunately, Chris has still not been able to feel it but that will change very soon and he will be big and strong enough to really give me some karate kicks and I both can't wait and am terrified of it.

But isn't that what being a mom is all about?

dolphins are pregnant for over a year. oh my.

My niece Morgan is in town for the week and today we went to the Miami Seaquarium where Morgan got to swim with the dolphins.
A good time was had by all!

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Also, today marks the beginning of week 21 and spending the day at the Seaquarium, I felt very very pregnant.

Let's see how far we have come...