m.i.s.s.i.s.s.i.p.p.i.

so we're in mississippi.

i would write and brag about all the cool things we've done since the last post as is customary.

but, we're in mississippi.

we're presently waiting for our movers to deliver all of our stuff from brooklyn, which means in the meantime, we've spent the whole weekend in our brand new empty apartment.

luckily, someone who named their wireless network motorola hasn't password protected their network, so at least we have the internet. between that, iPhone games, and chain restaurants we have survived our first weekend in D'Iberville, MS.

i'd post some sweet pictures, but we haven't taken any.

well, at least it's warm. it was 80 degrees at like 8:30 this morning. so maybe we'll go hit the pool(s) at our apartment complex...

stay tuned for equally exciting updates throughout the next twelve months in Biloxi, Mississippi...!

celebrations.

this week was monumental.

first of all . . .

PETER GRADUATED!!!!!!

i am so so so proud of him! 4 years, many sleepless nights studying for tests and dealing with difficult patients, and he is finally done! to help us celebrate and join in all of the graduation ceremonies, peter's mom, dad, brother, sister, and nephew came out to new york for the week. we had a very busy, fun-filled week . . .

on wednesday, may 20th was columbia university's commencement ceremony. it was a VERY hot day, and the ceremony was outside in columbia's square just below the library and alma mater statue. the setting was really magnificent and dramatic. and even though it was hot, it was beautiful and it was so fun to see peter sitting there with his harry potter costume and waving a giant blown up toothbrush!






after the commencement ceremony on wednesday, we went to peter's graduating class awards ceremony. peter, being the stellar student he is, won two awards, one of which was for leadership and the other was for his excellence in pediatrics. good job, peter!!!

on thursday, may 21st, was the dental school graduation where peter was hooded with his lilac colored doctoral hood. it was a really neat ceremony as well, and they even had author jeffrey sachs speak.




and then friday, saturday, and sunday were filled with fun, fun, fun! we went to storm king in upstate new york, did a ton of shopping, saw guys and dolls on broadway, and ate at lots of yummy restaurants.

oh yeah and on friday we also found out that . . .

IT'S A BOY!!!!!!

i don't know, what do you think?

so. we can't tell. can you?

emily and i have this awesome friend, that we'll call miss k, who works as a nurse at an urgent center in northern manhattan. well, we were having dinner with miss k, her husband mr. m, and my cousins stevey and hannah last weekend. miss k told us to come by some time after hours and she would set us loose with the ultrasound machine. she gave it a shot. we gave it a shot.

this is what we got. female?



and this. male?



even with miss k's skilled guesses, we have no idea what we are having yet. we'll have to wait until next week for the real deal to tell us whether to start buying pink or blue...

what do you think?
be sure you log your vote on the sidebar... we'll leave the poll open until we actually find out what we're having next friday...

Remember When.

Not so many years ago. An odd man named Al Gore invented the internet.

Not so long ago, Harvard types decided to make it even better.

Introducing Wolfram Alpha

If this project takes root, it could totally change the way we access information on the Internet. Granted, I've never wanted to know which is higher/longer, Mt. Everest vs. Golden Gate Bridge. But I have wanted to know what's the best season to visit Thailand or which is a better March vacation between Old Europe and Central America.

From the looks of it, the Wolfram Alpha Project might actually be the true iteration of Web 2.0 that has longed been prophesied about.

And then there is this:

MiFi, as delightfully explained by the wonderful David Pogue of the NYT. The possibilities are endless... Let's just hope the pricing comes down on usage for this magic umbrella.

Oh, and here's an old picture from San Francisco from almost two years ago when Emily and I met up for Memorial Day Weekend. Weird how much has happened since then.

On This Day in 1981

Happy Birthday Emily!

Today Emily turns _ _ years old. I don't think she's actually old enough to be embarrassed about her age. But you can do the math from the title of this post.

Anyway. Wish her a happy birthday today or whenever you end up reading this post.

We started the celebration a little early. And by early, I mean 4:45 on a Friday afternoon. I thought 2-3 weeks would be plenty of time to get a decent reservation time for dinner. I should have learned my lesson from Valentine's and other holidays when it's impossible to get a decent time to eat at restaurants that actually take reservations that far in advance.

Anyway. 4:45 PM or 10:30 PM. Those were our options. So we opted for the earlier one. Of steakhouses in the city, Peter Luger's Steakhouse sits near the top of most lists. Plus, it's right here in Williamsburgh and we're trying to do all the things we can't do once we leave at the end of the month, which include fancy steak houses.

The food was delicious. The clientele was memorable. And the waiter put the actual T-bone of our porter house-for-two steak in the take home bag with everything else. I'm trying to talk Emily into making a good stew with that bone. Although, neither one of us really knows how to do that either.

After dinner we did some birthday shopping at the Brooklyn Industries outlet store that was across the street. By time we have this baby, (boy or girl), it's going to be decked out in all sorts of Brooklyn Industries apparel, including a onesie that says, "Made in Brooklyn."

Today, to continue the birthday celebrations, we made sushi for lunch. Sushi is one of Emily's favorite foods, but since she got pregnant, she hasn't been able to have any sushi because of the fish. So we made our own from various combinations cucumber, carrots, steak, kewpie, tamago, and green onions. I must say, I thought it was delicious.

Plus we got to break out some of japanese cooking stuff, like these cool bamboo sushi platters that my cousin Alana gave us for our wedding.

I think our baby's pretty excited about his/her mother's birthday because he/she has been super active and being pretty good at making Emily pretty sick. That's so cute of the baby to want to join in the celebrations like that. We're just hoping he/she lets up a little bit so we can go see Wolverine Origins sometime this afternoon. (Her choice, not mine, I promise. I wouldn't make her go see an X-Men movie on her birthday, unless she totally wanted to see it, and she does)...

Anyway, Happy Birthday Emily!

baby bedding

so i'm thinking about making the bedding for our baby's crib. is that crazy? but i figure, since my mother is a genius when it comes to any and all things sew-y, and since i'm going to be home with her in california this summer for the WHOLE month of july . . . why not give it a try?! and well, if i totally screw up, then i have her nice and close to fix it! so, i've just started looking for material, and i've found a few gender-neutral prints that i really like from sew mama sew. but i would LOVE to have your opinion on which pattern you like best!

finally.

after almost 5 months of being married, we FINALLY received our wedding pictures from our photographer. (who is amazing by the way. check him out here.) so . . . i thought i'd post a few of my favorites for you all in case you're interested. seeing these pictures reminds me of what a wonderful day we had and how blessed we were to have so many friends and family in attendance at our wedding ceremony, reception, and open house.

check out our adorable sea creature!

by emily.

so yesterday peter and i trekked up to the upper east side for our nucal translucency screening ultra sound. in this ultra sound they were checking for genetic abnormalities, such as downs syndrome, and trisomy 13 and 18. luckily, after the blood test and ultra sound, our results showed that the likelihood that our baby will have one of these disorders is very, very slim.

below are some of the pictures of our baby from our ultra sound. it was AMAZING how much we could see of our cute, little, alien baby! the technician also did a 3D ultra sound, and even a 4D ultra sound (the 4th dimension being time, which basically means we got to see a live video of our baby squirming around). we had so much fun watching our little one bounce, kick, squirm, and shake its little body all over the place. we couldn't believe how active it was throughout the whole ultra sound, but then once the technician had me cough, we were really in for a show! anyway, we hope you enjoy the pictures!!!!!

we think it is trying to suck a thumb...




this is the 3D picture. and that is just the umbilical cord... :) we don't know the gender yet...

To All You April Fools...

There seems to be quite a bit of skepticism and unbelief surrounding the great news on our blog two days ago. Granted, Emily and I have never had a baby to announce before and this is our first time ever telling people that we are expecting, so we're not really sure how people normally react. But, I'd have to say, the response was odd. Of course you've read some of the comments on the blog. Here's a sample of some of the other off-blog disregards we got.

Me (text message): D'you see our blog today?
Cousin 1 (reply): I know what day it is.

Friend 1: (sacastically) Congratulations...?
Me: (shrug) I guess
Friend 1: It (the joke) was too obvious. You should have built it up for a few days before.

Friend 2: You guys joke too much.
Me: What are you talking about?
Friend 2: Uh. Preggers...? Where did you find that picture of the pregnancy test?

Friend 3: "_____________"
(didn't even say anything, i.e. didn't even think the joke was real enough to mention)

Friend 4: Atta boy. That better not be a joke.

Friend 5: Tell me the truth about the blog or I'll be mad at you.

Friend 6: Wait, what the crap, I've never taken a test like that before. Does line mean that you are? Or is that a (-) negative sign and it means that you aren't? Shut up, seriously.... but it's April Fools, so it's not real. I don't think it is true because of your classic "We're engaged" post earlier. You think you're so funny.



Well the truth is: we do think we are pretty funny. What's even funnier is the reverse April Fools joke we pulled on all you non-believers. [A special thanks to my family for playing along and acting like they didn't know and refused to believe]

So here's one more picture to try to convince the skeptics...
If you look in the upper left corner you'll see "Townsend," and no that is not a borrowed picture. Our scheme is not that elaborate. You can also see the "Downtown Women" label for our doctors in Soho, plus the handwritten due date of 10/23/09 and the 8w2d label from 3/11/09 meaning that we are just coming out of the first trimester and really, really hoping that Emily's constant morning sickness will start to fade very soon.



As for the picture we put up. Two lines means pregnant. For those of you who have been to our apartment, that is definitely our black coffee table and those are my blurry thumb and fingers...

I hope this post clears up any confusion about our reverse April Fools day prank. If you still don't believe us, feel free to call our parents, grandparents, or siblings....

New Month, New Beginnings

Today is the first day of April.
Today is also my grandmother's birthday.

So in the spirit of the first day of this new month and in the spirit of celebration, I will post this for your viewing pleasure.
I hope you like it.



I hope nothing else is as cool as this for you today...