Project Life Tuesday - Week 32

Welcome to Project Life Tuesday 2011! If you are new to my blog, welcome! I hope you will stay awhile. I'm Jessica and I am participating in Project Life, a different way to record our lives by taking one photo a day. This was inspired by the fabulous Becky Higgins who has put together a wonderful kit to make this challenge easier.

Don't worry, I'm not leaving traditional scrapbooking behind. This just gives me the opportunity to focus my scrapbooking on trips and things that are important to me right now and not get all bogged down with every birthday, dinner, and holiday that comes along.

Each Tuesday, I will post my pictures/journaling from the previous week. Project Life Tuesday was created by Jessica Turner over at The Mom Creative and she hosts a linky for readers to link up their pictures. So if you want to join in or want to see others POTW, just click the Project Lift button at the top of this post.

And finally, my POTW:

Saturday: FC Barcelona came to the US to play Club America in the Herbalife world Football Challenge. Juan was so excited to see his favorite soccer team in person. We bought tickets months in advance, at a pretty penny to make sure our seats were decent. $300 including parking. The game was scheduled to start at 3pm. We left our house about 2:15pm and made it to the Cowboys stadium by 2:45pm or so.  There were no signs directing us to the parking area, so we followed the sign for general parking and that's where we hit traffic for both the game and the ball park.  We literally sat at a standstill for over 45 minutes.  It was the most RIDICULOUS thing I've ever seen. Not to mention it was about 106 degrees so cars were overheating and having to be pushed everywhere you looked. The most digusting part, that wasn't even where we were supposed to go to park, it was the back of the stadium where we first exited the highway.  Needless to say by the time we found the parking, got to the stadium and then found our seats (which no one could seem to direct us to) it was half time.  Then we learned that Messi, Barcelona's number one star player and the one that Juan was SOOOO excited to see, was on vacation and didn't even attend the game.  Other favorites like Puyol attended but didn't play.  There were a few starters playing like Iniesta, David Villa, Keita, and Daniel Alves all played, but they were pulled out soon into the 2nd half.  It was so disappointing that we missed so much of the game, but even more disappointing that Juan didn't get to see his all time favorite athlete.

Led by forward David Villa’s first-half goal, FC Barcelona took care of Club America, 2-0, in the international friendly.

*Fans were booing often in the first five minutes because of the slow tempo. That quickly changed following Club America forward Vicente Vincente Sanchez’s opportunity to score in the seventh minute. Sanchez received an entry pass with only FC Barcelona goalie Victor Valdes in front of him but tangled legs with an FC Barcelona defender behind him in the penalty box. Valdes wasn’t tested much in the game before he was substituted for Jordi Masip. Club America had only one shot in the first half and four total against Valdes before he exited in the 73rd minute.
* Villa took over with a brilliant performance in 75 minutes of action, earning the Coors Light Man of the Match. Villa actively pursued to find the open spots on the field starting in the 10th minute. He frequently found himself in the penalty box leading another FC Barcelona charge against Club America and goalie Armando Navarrete. Villa scored off a beautiful assist from defender Adriano Correia. Villa gained so much separation from Club America defenders that he was waiting for the ball to arrive in the box before his header reached the back of the net. Villa finished the game with seven shots, four on goal.
*FC Barcelona midfielder Thiago Alcantara drew some of the loudest cheers from fans when he displayed his crafty footwork and nifty dribbling abilities. Alcantara finished the match with three shots. Forward Pedro Rodriguez also had a solid outing despite only one shot. Rodriguez always seemed to be matching Villa stride for stride down the field when FC Barcelona was in attack mode. FC Barcelona finished the match with 15 shots, seven on goal.


*Club America made a charge in the second half following a couple of key FC Barcelona players subbing out of the game. Club America had eight shots in the second half with Sanchez and forward Christian Benitez leading the way with a combined five shots. Perhaps the biggest chance to score an equalizer came in the 65th minute when Benitz was called offsides on a through ball from midfielder Edgar Castillo.


*FC Barcelona added to its lead in the 90th minute on midfielder Seydou Keita’s tapper in the goalie box. Forward Gerard Deulofeu received a cross from the right side of the field and dribbled from the left into the penalty box. Deulofeu dribbed down the goal line and lifted the ball over a diving Navarrete, making it an easy score for Keita, who was right in front of the goal.


*FC Barcelona also dominated the time of possession over Club America, 71 to 29 percent. It also edged out Club America eight to four on corner kicks. Club America was shut out in its three World Football Challenge defeats and allowed five goals during the exhibition tournament.

*60,807 people were in attendance to watch the match, but it goes without saying that if two-time FIFA World Player of the Year Lionel Messi would’ve played for FC Barcelona, it would’ve drawn a larger crowd. As fans were leaving at the conclusion of the match, the video board at Cowboys Stadium showed a commercial starring Messi and quite a few fans stopped heading for the exits to watch one of the biggest names in the soccer world. 

Sunday:  My work girlies threw me an awesome baby shower at Danna's house today. It was beautiful and awesome! They did a Storybook theme for the event. They had a even set up a special event, in which each guest brought a photo and created a 12x12 scrapbook page for Madalynne's personnal storybook filled with all the people she is going to know and love. Each page was themed based around what that guest wanted to do/or teach Madalynne in the future. The album turned out adorable. Each person also brought a storybook along with their gift, so we got some wonderful little books, most lovingly signed with special notes to Madalynne.  There was even a supercute cake from delicious cakes with little booties on top. They decorated adorably and had little outfits strung on clothesline across the window. The game was about nursery rhymes and let us all laughing. It was fabulous and Juan even attended. He is so excited about our little girl that he wants to be part of everything. It was nice as he was the official photographer!  Thanks again girls! It was absolutely wonderful! 
 

Monday: We are getting quite the little mound of clothes for Madalynne between those I received at the shower, those we've purchased, and those that Vanessa gave from Ashlyn's hand-me downs. I have done about 8 loads of little laundry and managed to get everything cleaned, organized and hung in her closet. I can't wait to dress her up in all of this cuteness!

 

Tuesday: We are still finishing up the final details on our home renovation. Mom made us dresser "doilies" that match our new bedding and she brought them over today. We have been using white towels to protect the furniture.  These look MUCH better! We also finally got a few more photos hung on the wall, including our engagement photo in our bedroom. 

 

Wednesday: Today I am officially 31 weeks pregnant! Stats: weight 237.1 lbs. This week, our baby measures over 16 inches long. She weighs about 3.3 pounds (try carrying four navel oranges) and is heading into a growth spurt. She can turn his head from side to side, and her arms, legs, and body are beginning to plump out as needed fat accumulates underneath her skin. She's also moving a lot, too, so I am having trouble sleeping because her baby's kicks and somersaults keep me up. All this moving is a sign that my baby is active and healthy. 

Thursday: This week was extra exhausting for me.  On top of my normal work schedule, I had to squeeze in a 6 part narrative on a huge campus that I am not at all familiar with, Medical City Dallas Hospital.  My "evening" job accounted for about 40 extra hours this week. 17 hour days are not exactly what my body was calling for. Thankfully, I managed to do most of the report on my couch, although it did make a mess of our living room.

 

Friday:  Juan bought another gift for Madalynne today at his favorite french store at Northpark. He was so excited about his find. It is adorable, but I was not quite as excited as he was as my friend, Danna, had already given us her old tummy time mat and it was twice as expensive as the original one we registered for. He was so excited because this one was pink and matched her room. I know bright colors stimulate little minds, so I was concerned that all of the muted pink wouldn't be as stimulating for her. Then Juan said dejectedly that he would return it and I felt like a complete creep! It is adorable and does match perfectly.  Who am I to burst his little bubble. He really thought I would absolutely adore it. We are keeping it, and it does look super cute in her room. I really need to let go a bit and let him be the father he wants to be. The last thing I want to do is diminish his excitement.

Thanks so much for visiting my little part of the blogging world today! I so love my blogging friends and the comments they leave.  Hope you are having a fabulous week.