Today I’m going to gush about my husband, Nick, for no other reason than I want to. But don’t worry, I won’t get too mushy. One of the things that first attracted me to him – aside from his dashing good looks – was that he always made me laugh even though he has this really dry, sarcastic sense of humor. I’m almost the complete opposite (no surprise there since we’re perfect opposites) because I like pun-y, corny jokes that my six-year-old nephew might tell. My favorite joke, for example, is What did the fish say when we ran into the wall? “Dam!”
Hahahahahahhahaha. Cracks me up every time. He doesn’t get it, though 😉

You can probably imagine what it’s like when the two of us are together.  We often have conversations that go a little something like this:

Me: I need to moisturize my hands. They’re so dry.
Nick : Drink more water. Moisturize from the inside.
Me: “moisturize from the inside”… that could be a slogan for something.
Nick: Yeah, water.

He ain’t wrong….

Then, of course, you have these gems:
Nick: those look creepy
me: you look creepy

…….

me: I wish we could get a goat and make cheese with its milk
Nicholas: I’m not a farmer
me: I know, you’re a grouch

And this text that shows real love between husband and wife:
Me: [at the store, getting essentials for the upcoming snow day]: I got soup, sandwiches, and cereal. Anything else?
Nick: Not off the top of my head. I’m getting beer. You need any wine?

One morning I gave the dogs a small bite of my scrambled eggs at breakfast and Nick said I would be the type of mother that would spoil my kids by giving them whatever they wanted. When I got to work, I find a message from him saying he wants to get a new phone:

me: it’s not in the budget
Nick: that’s not fair
me: well, life isn’t fair.

See, I’d make a great mother! 😀

The Kilwin’s lady gave Nick more ice cream than me and his response was, “Sometimes my good looks get me things.”

Other things you’ll overhear in our house:
Me: Can you mute the tv, please? I want to watch this seal dance to the Backstreet Boys.
Nick: Oh, I heard about that….

He gives me this look a lot.

Not only do we make a great team, but we’re really funny — and fun — to be around. I love him so much and wouldn’t want to spend my life with anyone else!

Photo source

While I don’t want this space to start centering around my pregnancy and the coming baby, it is an integral part of my life — of our NCsquared Life, if you will — so I can’t ignore it. One aspect that I’m really excited about is the Centering Pregnancy classes that Nick and I decided to join. Centering Pregnancy is prenatal care that happens in a small group of expectant mothers and their partners/companions and follows the recommended schedule of prenatal visits, but each visit is about 90 minutes hours long, giving women 10 times more time with their provider. Women are empowered  in their prenatal care by taking their own weight and blood pressure and recording their own health data with private time with their provider for belly check. Then everyone in the group (there are 2-3 other couples in mine) circle up where a healthcare provider leads discussions and interactive activities that address important and timely health topics. I think one of the coolest aspects about this form of care is that it brings 8-10 women who are all due at the same time together for care. I’ve only been to one class so far but I really like it. My particular class (there are several classes that meet at different times) is very diverse with lots of different ages, ethnicities, races, etc. and I’m really looking forward to getting to know everyone and creating a bond with these other expecting mothers.

In our class, we talked a lot about nutrition and what we should and shouldn’t eat. Here are the lifesavers that my provider approved:

• Lunch meat. Because food standards are so high in the U.S., there’s almost nothing to worry about when eating turkey, ham, bologna, etc. In fact, she said we’re more likely to get sick from spoiled mayo from leaving the sandwich out too long, if, for example, you make a sandwich in the morning for your lunch later that day and you don’t properly refrigerate it.
• Sushi and smoked salmon. Same as above! She also said that if you ate a lot of sushi pre-pregnancy then your body is already used to that bacteria so you’re going to be fine. She did advise to use your nose: because of pregnant ladies’ super-heightened sense of smell, we’d be able to smell if something wasn’t right. If it smells off, don’t eat it. And that goes for everything! But look, this girl loves her sushi.
• Soft cheeses, from the grocery store. Again, same as above regarding the high food standards in the U.S. Just make sure the cheese was made with pasteurized milk and you’re good to go.
• Soft or runny eggs. My favorite part of the egg has long been the runny, gooey yolk. Dipping toast in yolk to me is like breakfast heaven. So I was really excited to hear my doctor say it’s perfectly fine to eat runny eggs.
• Coffee/caffeine. Most recommendations say you can have up to 200 mg per day, which is about one cup. My doc said we could have more than that and we’d be fine, but these days my heart will let me know if I’ve had too much because it will start beating so fast or feel fluttery. One cup is enough for me right now, for sure.
• Alcohol.* Controversial, I know, but hear me out. My doctor said that having the occasional glass of wine (the key word here being occasional, obviously) will not give your baby Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. Examples she gave as ‘occasional’ was having one glass of wine with Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner, or having one glass of champagne on New Year’s. I think this is reasonable. After all, you hear of European women drinking wine all the time during their pregnancies and their kids turn out fine.

*Listen, I’m not a healthcare provider so I’m not claiming that I know best and I’m definitely NOT trying to give you medical advice so please don’t try to sue me. I’m simply sharing the information that my provider gave to me. Obviously, every person has to make their own decisions and if they choose to avoid every single one of these things, then more power to them. I applaud their decisions. My decision, however, was to drive straight to Bruegger’s Bagels after this appointment and scarf down a smoked salmon bagel. And so far, I’ve been just fine!

I can’t wait for class next month when we discuss body changes and the common discomforts of pregnancy, and how to take care of yourself. I’ll be sure to share any interesting information we receive!

Until next time,
Nikki

Hi readers!

This is my first post in about six months. My previous posts became sporadic and were unreliable so I decided to take a break to figure out what blogging meant for me while I balanced everything else in my life. I’ve been giving it a lot of thought lately, which prompted me to write this post. I have a lot of ideas (and outfits) for this space, so I think I’m ready to come back. In the meantime, let’s play catch up. I might create fuller, more detailed posts on each event at a later time, but here’s what life has been like in a nutshell for NCsquared.

Travel
-In May, Nick and I attended my friend’s wedding over Memorial Day weekend in Charleston, SC. It was held at the aquarium and was the first time I’d ever been to a wedding in an aquarium, and it was absolutely beautiful.

Hominy Grill in Charleston, SC. Delicious food! I would highly recommend you check it out if you’re ever there.

-In July, we visited my best friend, Karissa, in Los Angeles. I’ve been to see her there once before, but this was the first time Nick and I went together and we had a blast. I met Karissa when I first moved to Durham and she moved to LA about five years ago to pursue her PhD at USC. I miss her like crazy so getting to spend almost a week with her was the best.

NCsquared in Santa Monica. You can see the Santa Monica pier behind us!

The bad news
At the end of August, our beautiful dog and light of our lives, Chico, suddenly passed away from cancer after 10 years of providing us with so much love and happiness. We’re still so heartbroken. I would like to do a memorial post in the future when it gets a little easier to write about him.

Chico Antonio, 2006-2016. RIP little man

The good news
NCsquared is becoming NCcubed (NC3) as I’m currently 18 weeks pregnant! Everyone who has known me for a long time (in real life) was super shocked to find out we’re having a baby… on purpose… because all through our 20s, we had no desire to have children. Things change, though, and life plans get re-evaluated, and one day you may realize that, actually, you do want a little mini-me (or mini-him) running around in your life. And that’s okay. I’m due in March and we are thrilled.

NCsquared is having a baby!

As you can imagine, the last few months have been an emotional rollercoaster for me, but I’m looking forward to getting back into the swing of writing about my life. I hope you find it entertaining, educational, and informational! It feels good to be back.

Nikki of NCsquared Life

 Let it Shine Linkup | Hello Monday Linkup

A whole month has gone by and I haven’t posted a single thing. For that, dear readers, I apologize. I’ve mentioned a time or two how I’m not the greatest blogger and that’s only made more difficult when life starts to get the better of you.

We received some unfortunate news a few weeks back; Nick was informed he’d be getting laid off from his job, along with about 200+ other employees of this company. Needless to say, I had to focus on more pressing matters than taking pictures of my clothes. I don’t make any money from this blog so it was put on the backburner while we kicked up our job search, reached out to our networks, applied to every job we could find, and considered the very real possibility that we may have to give up our life that we’ve worked so hard to build in a community we love so much.

There is a bit of good news, though! I have amazing friends that have helped out in big ways. Thanks to my friend, Sarah, I started a part-time job as the office manager of a women’s rights organization that I really admire. I’ve also started a job in retail and Nick has picked up a part-time job in a bottle shop so I know we’re going to be alright. I feel really confident that more full-time opportunities in my field will pop up soon and Nick has a ton of poosibilities (not to mention a great mentor) so I just know something will come along for him soon, as well; life can’t get me down just yet!

The other good news is that I regularly get dressed for both of my jobs so that means more outfit posts! In the meantime, here are two outfit that I was planning to share before taking a break:

Blue Stripes Vol. 2:

You’re not experiencing déjà vu, I have worn an outfit almost identical to this one here. When you find a good formula, you should stick to it. I don’t have a lot to say about this one so I’ll just leave it here.

Top & Scarf: Gap | Jeans: Banana Republic | Shoes: Gap Outlet | Necklace: Loft Outlet

Palazzo Pants:

How fun are palazzo pants? They feel kind of like pajamas when I wear them. I feel like they’d look better if I were about 5-10 inches taller but these wedges make them work. I’ve only worn these once because they’re a tad snug these days but maybe this summer I’ll throw them on more often.

Top: Banana Republic | Pants & Wedges: Target | Jewelry: Old Navy

Since I’m regularly getting dressed for work, I’ll have more posts this week so stay tuned!

This past weekend was one of the best that I’ve had in a long time. I had a friend date on Friday where we had dinner, drinks and saw a movie as is our tradition; then on Saturday, I had a lovely brunch with a friend I haven’t seen in a few weeks; all ending with Nick and I grilling out and got a lot of yard work done.

We ended up having an impromtu fiesta for two with grilled steak fajitas and a delicious black bean and corn salad. We ate outside on our deck, which we haven’t done in a long time. It was the perfect little fiesta!

We grilled the fajita veggies (red, yellow, and orange peppers along with a white onion) in the cast iron skillet on the grill and they tasted fantastic.

Our black bean and corn salad was thrown together using black beans, corn, a diced jalapeno, a small can of rotel tomatoes, and diced red onion. We also threw it in the cast iron skillet and it turned out really well with the perfect amount of spiciness.

On a separate note, I haven’t done much shopping these last few months, but I really wanted a new denim jacket that is much lighter than my current one. While I was out, I picked up a few extra tops and a pair of coral pants, because they’re all the rage right now. I’m sure you’ll be seeing both of these outfits show up on the blog in the near future.

Dressing room photos from Gap