if you're looking for me

I've been hanging out over here...kimikocherie.tumblr.com

I may be back though.

week two in photos

perspective

Sometimes I look at this kid and think, "she's such a big girl!!" At week one she weighed in at 5lb 11oz and now she weighs 16lb 5oz. Which, let's be honest, is anything but big. So maybe it's just her personality that's grown. Either way these pictures help put things in perspective.

don't tell her but...this girl is itty bitty!

this kid is one

With all the madness going on these last few weeks I never even addressed Miss K's milestone birthday. My little girl is officially a running, babbling, eating absolutely everything-in', cannot be contained one-year-old. She has the sweetest six-toothed smile in the land and has changed every inch of our world for the better. We love you Miss K!!

why else would grown-ups dress up for a superhero themed kids birthday.

just another morning in waikiki

Mr. Awesome had an interview in Waikiki this morning so Miss K and I decided to tag along. Bright and early we loaded into the car and made the twenty minute drive to the most popular beach on Oahu. On a side note, it is incredibly easy to be a morning person in Hawaii because the island and all the little birds and creatures on it have their own natural rhythm, there really is no use fighting it. Plus, Miss K's "natural" rhythm still has her waking up between 4 and 5 a.m.

But back to Waikiki. This place is Hawaii on steroids and is definitely not the place for the easily overstimulated. Throngs of tourist line the streets and long stretch of beach and small local shops vie for space between luxury powerhouses like Coach and Louis Vuitton. Even at seven in the morning this place is buzzing. You will find a lot of people who loathe this place and avoid it like the plague but I'll tell you why I am not one of them.

Here's what Waikiki has going on...it is a literal one stop shop, in the sense that you have the beach, restaurants, bathrooms, and an ABC store (for anything you could need) on literally every block and for a Washingtonian with a bit of a Starbucks habit there are more than a handful in just a few short blocks. And while the North Shore may be the place to be for watching the best surfing, Waikiki is definitely the place to be for people watching. As a professional eavesdropper the number languages alone is baffling, far exceeding the number overheard in the International Terminal at SFO. Every color, every body type, every age is present and accounted for in Waikiki...and they are friendly!!

Miss K has first hand experience being that an older Korean woman (I'm guessing at least 80) just happened upon us walking and decided to come along. She swooped up Miss K's hand, gave me a nod and a smile and the three of us continued on for at least a block before going our separate ways.

There's so much more to say about Waikiki so I'll be sure to revisit but for now suffice to say that it's pretty sweet that Mr. Awesome can be all dressed up headed to an interview while Miss K and I can be ready to hit the beach and all three of us can go about our business on the same block.

we made it!!

These last few weeks in Washington have been hectic. We've had boxes to pack. We've had a birthday to both plan and execute. I had a half-marathon to shoddily train for and run, while Mr. Awesome had tests to take and relocation planning to undertake. All three of us have had multiple doctors and dentist appointments and I can't even count the numbers of hugs and goodbyes we received. However on Tuesday, after five hours of sleep, two packed cars, and two flights...we arrived. At our new home...

To everyone who sent us off...we love you, we miss you and we absolutely can not wait for you to visit!!!

Mahalo.

my phone is having an awesome summer

Thank God for camera phones and their amazing ability to document the everyday, seemingly mundane moments...they never looked so pretty!!

a note on moving

Dear Miss K,
I know without a doubt that the road map of your life will take you all over the world. Between your daddy and I we’ve covered quite a few bases ourselves and look forward to showing you as much of this great big, beautiful place as possible before you strike out on your own adventures. However, having moved around myself I know how important it is to know where you’ve been, if only because it makes your story that much more compelling. So my beautiful little girl let me tell you a little about where your adventure began.

Your story began in a little house, under a big Magnolia tree, on a street called Oakes. Now this may not be one of the great wonders of the world but I assure you that there was many an Everest for you to conquer in that little space. You were so little, and not just baby little, but just under six pounds little. On the day we brought you home we made the three minute drive from the hospital to the house and all of a sudden we were on our own with a baby and this place that had just been a house quickly became a nest as we hunkered down and settled into the rhythms of being three. Every single day you grew, not just in size but more amusingly in personality and this little house was your playground and classroom.

So I hope one day when you’re older you’ll see a picture of this house, and be able to say...
this is where I....
learned to crawl and just as quickly walk
judo chop while flying through the air
got that little scar on my forehead from a confrontation with a coffee table
said Momma (FIRST...regardless of what daddy says)
hid in the Magnolia tree with daddy...momma was not amused
ate just about everything
projectile vomited
was rocked to sleep to the sounds of the rain outside my parents window
got my first four teeth, started to bite!!
predominately slept in mom and dad’s bed (horizontally), never mind the perfectly good crib
loved and was loved on a million times a day
climbed stairs, the coffee table, and had absolutely no respect for the edge

(this is just a few of a long list of firsts)

I know that years from now this house will be buried somewhere deep in your subconcious memory. It will be overshadowed, no doubt, by the amazing people, places and things that will undoubtedly surround you or maybe the current challenges you may be facing. I also know it was just a place, but everyones story starts somewhere and this was yours. A little house, under a big Magnolia tree, on a street called Oakes where you learned to conquer giants because you were fearless, because you had absolutely no concept of failure and because you already knew we would be there to catch you. Three things i hope you will always carry with you from this little house.

Love,
your momma

a first

For the holiday weekend (yeah I'm behind)our little posse headed down to Portland to visit family and relax, well Miss K and I relaxed and Mr. Awesome did a crap-ton (an actual unit of measurement) of work. In order to avoid distracting him, which happens to be one of my greatest joys, my step-mom and I took both Miss K and my niece to the Portland Zoo.

The weather and the little ones were both perfect and we enjoyed a few hours walking around and looking at all the exhibits. I didn't expect much of a reaction from Miss K considering how little she is but she was super talkative and wanted to touch everything.

here are some highlights...

1.) elephants are typically my favorite animal at the zoo and the Portland Zoo didn't disappoint with two babies running around. 2.) we agreed that this was a favorite stop, the lighting makes them look so graceful and majestic. 3.) Clearly my niece was in awe. 4.) Holy telephoto lens Batman.

5.) There were two hippos making the rounds, all glossy and burly. 6.) My niece and her Nana 7.) Miss K and I baby bjorned it up the whole time:) She was such a trooper 8.) Who doesn't like a cow, Miss K wanted to climb into all the pens at the petting zoo.

9.) The African Safari exhibit was in full effect, with pretty much all the animals out and about. 10.) This guy was just munching away, perfect for a photo-op 11.) Obviously the Northwest part of the zoo has to represent and on this particular day it was the most packed part of the whole place. 12.) How every good day at the zoo should end:)

Happy Monday!

look who it is

this blog has been hijacked by Lady P and I intend to give an account of my experience with/and leading up to, rice cereal.

1. As you may have assumed I have been on a very strict liquid diet for the past 5ish months and let me tell you liquid diets aren't for everyone. People (I won't mention names) cook upwards of three meals a day of cereal, sandwiches, pizza, steaks!!! But do I get any....NO!! They like to make me think that it's because I'm lacking in the teeth department but lets keep it real, I would gum a steak to death.

2. The next step was to lay the groundwork for my foray into food. I did this by constantly gnawing on my hands whenever my parents were eating. This combined with a steady stream of drool and a little glassy eye did just the trick. Well let's be honest it took them a minute to put it all together (they may be teachers but sometimes I wonder). Needless to say, I was ready, the date was set.

3. Apparently a utensil was needed, I was given one purely for photographic purposes. I would not be allowed to drive.

4. I was nervous. What if it tasted like rotten oysters? and what do oysters even taste like?

5. It was pleasant, in a milky sort of way. My review: it was not horrible, must try again!!

6. However, it definitely was no steak!!

if you haven't already heard

my little terror

Dear Miss K,

You my dear have recently taken up tantrums. Yelling, head-flinging, crying like you lost a limb, almost ten month old tantrums. It's kind of hard to take you seriously when you have those two little vampire teeth up top, and when the legs that you're so adamantly kicking have the cutest little rolls on them. Please know that I understand how inviting the...stairs, trash can, recycling bin, toilet and dishwasher are. They are new and amazing...I get that. I also know that you really don't understand me when I say "NO," is that why you smile? Do you secretly understand what I'm saying?

You're strong-willed like your parents. You have your dad's sense of adventure and your mom's enthusiasm for mocking people. We get to see it all on a daily basis. However, there is something I want you to know: every once in awhile there is a tantrum that is so epic or a day that is so tiring that I just have to take a breath and close my eyes. When I do this I'm not cursing you under my breath, I'm not wishing I was on a beach somewhere in Tahiti (well, maybe), and I am never ever ever angry at you. When I close my eyes I think of those little chubby legs, those sweet little vampire teeth, how your daddy makes you crack up by flying you around the living room, how thankful I am that, tantrums and all, I'm your momma.

When I open my eyes and you're looking at me like "how dare you zone out in the middle of this epic display of tantrumdom," I have to laugh.

We're in this together little one, rain or shine.

Love,

Momma

lazy days are here again

and by lazy of course i mean incredibly hectic, amazingly crazy days are here!! that is at least for the next few months. We have a lot of business to cross off our increasingly long list of things to do, including, but not limited to chopping my hair off on thursday!! I have been contemplating this for awhile and have actually backed out of a couple of appointments due to cold feet but in a couple days there will be no running. I gave my hair stylist permission to hunt me down and drag me in kicking and screaming.

Also ushering in this season of change was some beautiful weather this weekend. Now if only all of May could look like the first day with its perfect cornsilk blue skies and the smell of barbecue wafting through the streets. Unfortunately, the sun likes to play hard to get here in the northwest and after a wonderful weekend it won't be calling again til Wednesday. Luckily we were able to take advantage...

Happy Monday Friends!!

there's alot of this going on

Poor baby...four teeth at once is no fun. Don't worry she's not self-medicating.

i am the biggest dork in the land

Up until this past weekend the longest amount of time I spent away from Miss K was to go to a football game up in Seattle. However, this weekend I was gone twelve hours on both Saturday and Sunday and I have to say...It was awesome. Although I missed my munchkin terribly I had an amazing time at The Society of Childrens Book Writers and Illustrators Annual Conference. The weekend was filled with good food, great feedback, and amazing speakers. The conference also afforded me the opportunity to geek-out when meeting Holly Black (for those not hip to YA or children's lit, she wrote The Spiderwick Chronicles). Here's me looking like a tool...

I don't know why I always squint like that!! Anyway, she gave a wonderful keynote address along with Dan Santat and E. Lockhart.

I also had the opportunity to get some great feedback regarding Swept, come away with a lot of new ideas for other projects and most importantly I was able to meet, in person, several of the agents I plan to submit to early this summer.

Whew!! I was exhausted by the time it was all over but so incredibly excited.

i'm off to start revisions:)

portlandia and the fam

So as previously mentioned birthday week was capped off by a little trip down to Portland where we arrived bearing gifts...

The Mr. and I are notorious for showing up with junk food, a habit that my family both loves and hates equally. This dozen contained doughnuts (obviously) covered in everything from crushed up Butterfingers, purple Koolaid and my personal favorite Captain Crunch. They're just lucky that I didn't bring a box full of maple bars with bacon (a specialty at Voodoo Doughnut).

We had such a good time visiting the family and I was super excited to see my nieces who are getting so big, FAST! We got a chance to go to dinner with the whole posse and Miss K got loved on the whole time.

We generally don't get to go and visit as much as we'd like considering they're only a couple hours a way but it's always a blast when we do. The funny thing is we typically don't do very much when we do head down, more often than not we all end up in my parents room piled onto their California king-sized bed talking about the weird t.v. shows my dad watches and stealing gummy bears. Maybe that's why I enjoy myself so much, there's never an agenda. We sit and talk about everything from what our hopes and plans are to how M. Night Shyamalan butchered The Last Airbender and whether or not that is forgivable. My sister's and I migrate in and out of the room, now chasing after babies of our own and Mr. Awesome leans against the dresser and throws his two-cents in too. The dogs even congregate in the room. It's one of my favorite things about going to visit.

On Friday my sister, her boyfriend, Mr. Awesome and I all headed out to the movies sans babies and when we returned both our little girls were passed out, having worn themselves out, in between their NaNa and Grandpa on that bed that I love so much:) I think that's just awesome.