Canceled

I always like to spell the word "cancelled" but blogger yells at me and tells me it should be "canceled". Potato, po-tah-toe, the result is the same, my IVF has been cancel(l)ed.

To recap, on Sunday morning the ultrasound showed 3 nice follies after 5 days of stim (so, very early) and my E2 was a happy 298. Then on Tuesday, I had lost one of the follies to ovulation and my LH and Progesterone were elevated. My RE had hoped that there was still a chance that we could rescue those last 2 follies, but the O train was leaving the station. On Wednesday's u/s, those last 2 follies were gone, having O'ed sometime between 8am on Tues and 8am on Wed. Probably on the earlier side because there were not fluid-filled cysts visible on Wed's u/s which you'd see for several hours after ovulation. We had "relations" on Saturday pm, Tuesday pm and Wednesday pm, but I'm afraid even the Tues pm may have been too late, assuming that the 12-24 hour life of most eggs is more on the 12 hour side for my old, crusty eggs -- if I ovulated those last 2 eggs shortly after they were seen on the Tuesday u/s, maybe at 10am -- then our 8pm Tuesday sexytime was pushing it.

So, I'm bummed to say the least. I was expecting a BFN out of this cycle, but at least the opportunity to complete the cycle. I was so excited after Sunday's u/s when we saw those three follies. I'm like a starving orphan who is happy for a crust of bread these days, but I would happily taken that crust of bread and thought it was better than filet mignon. But then even that crust of bread is taken away, so I'm left without food and a salivating mouth to boot.

I could handle a lost cycle and just pick myself and move into a December IVF if this had not counted with my insurance company as one of my precious covered cycles. But yes, my particular corner of the evil empire considers it an IVF cycle from the moment the meds prescription is filled. Part of me understands this, on the doses that I am on, I probably took over $6,000 worth of stims already. But they get out of continued monitoring and especially the ER and ET. I wish we had an option to pay off the meds out-of-pocket (not like we have that money sitting around) and still retain this covered cycle.

One thing I did get lucky on: my RE, Dr. Awesome, had a cancellation for an appointment yesterday, so I snatched it up. He was thoroughly perplexed by my cycle, especially compared to the previous cycle. In IVF #1, I stimmed for 15 days, had almost no response and went into ER with 1 follie with no sign of surging on my own. With IVF #2 after only 5 days of stims, I had those 3 follies and they were very big for only 5 days (16/15/13) and then, of course, surged on what was probably day 6. Total flip-flop and he can't figure it out. Yes, I increased the Meno.pur for this cycle (thus increasing LH) but the change shouldn't be this drastic. He did say it gives him hope that maybe the ovarian reserve on Rightie isn't as bad as we thought (I'm not holding my breath). The plan for the next maybe-cycle is to add in Gani.relix, which suppresses the surge, super early, like Day 3. I'm sure it'll be a disaster in its own new and spectacular way, but I appreciate his creativity.

So, the plan is to start EPP (estrogen patches + gani.relix shots) next Tuesday as a lead-in to a December IVF. If, somehow, one of those 3 eggs that were flying out of my ovary on Tues/Wed happens to take, the estrogen and LH-suppression will not hurt it. So yes, friends, I'm back on board for stressing out about travelling and Christmas-time and ER. Someone in the IF universe sure loves to play with me.

Update: follie check #2

Ugh, I'm trying to keep a stiff upper lip here, but it's like IF Gods hate me. Every time I make peace with the basket of crap I've been given, they think of another way to screw me.

I just spoke with my nurse. She confirmed the two follies at 17mm but also told me that my E2 has only gone up to 304 (from 298) since Sunday. In addition, my progesterone level is creeping up. These combined are not a good sign because it sounds like my body is wanting to ovulate on its own. Plus, there is the mysterious disappearance of that 3rd follie, so they think instead of it pooping out, it maybe has actually released on its own.

I have to say that I'm not totally surprised after my hormones had been stuck in neutral for 6 weeks, but I do want to scream. I'm going in again tomorrow for another check and depending on that, the cycle may be canceled or converted to IUI. Either of which will still count as an IVF according to my insurance company, so I lose one of my precious covered cycles no matter what. Stupid fuckers.

To rub salt in the wound, I was forced to use the word "relations" (in lieu of "sex") on the phone with the nurse and I felt like a total tool. But at least I've confirmed that NoodleGuy and I should get busy tonight, just in case. I don't think I need to tell you how not-in-the-mood I am.

Thanks fucking universe. I thought I had seen and done it all and you found something shiny and new to screw with me. I have lost my newfound zen. Blah.

Follie check #2 - 7 days of stims

Disappointing follie news this morning, I lost one of the big follies and am down to two. Also, none of the smaller ones has progressed past 12mm, the smallest my clinic measures. The two big ones left are both 17mm, so it seems like the Ganirelix is at least doing it's job in slowing down the growth of the lead follies. But I think I'm getting to that window where there would be too big a discrepancy between the largest and any smaller ones to enable catching up. So now I just need to cross my fingers that these 2 big ones can hold on for ER. Sigh, it'd be really nice to be one of those women who got tons of follies so each one didn't seem so critical.

I'll know more when the nurse calls later but I suspect I'll stim for a couple more days, giving one last shot to the smaller follies and be checked again on Thursday. Once these bigger ones pass 20mm, I don't they'll want to wait too much longer, but we'll see.

I promised myself that I would not get too emotional over this cycle. After IVF#1, I saw the writing on the wall about how bad my OR was and after the 2nd loss in Sept I saw how compromised the eggs are that I have remaining. So, I'm trying to just feel lucky that I have great insurance coverage and can do 2-3 Hail Mary IVFs before moving on to Plan B.

These follies are now dubbed Antony & Cleopatra, so named because denial ain't just a river in Egypt. I'm disappointed but trying to just keeping moving forward. My lack of response is no long the painful shock that it once was. I'm evolving! ;)

Stim day	IVF#1 (June 2009) with EPP	IVF#2 (November 2009) without EPP
1	Gonal-f 450 Menopur 150 Estrogen patch	Gonal-f 150 Menopur 450
2	Gonal-f 450 Menopur 150 Estrogen patch	Gonal-f 150 Menopur 450
3	Gonal-f 450 Menopur 150 Estrogen patch	Gonal-f 150 Menopur 450
4	Gonal-f 450 Menopur 150 Estrogen patch	Gonal-f 150 Menopur 450
5	E2: 96.4 Right ovary: 2-4 follies<12mm Left ovary: nada Gonal-f 450 Menopur 150 Estrogen patch	Gonal-f 150 Menopur 450
6	Gonal-f 450 Menopur 150 Estrogen patch	E2: 298 Right ovary: 16mm, 15mm, 13mm, a few < 12mm Left ovary: nada Gonal-f 150 Menopur 450 Ganirelix
7	Gonal-f 450 Menopur 150 Estrogen patch	Gonal-f 150 Menopur 450 Ganirelix
8	E2: 137 Right ovary: 13mm, maybe another <12mm Left ovary: nada Gonal-f 450 Menopur 150 Estrogen patch	E2: later this afternoon Right ovary: 17mm, 17mm, a few < 12mm Left ovary: nada Gonal-f 150 Menopur 450 Ganirelix
9	Gonal-f 450 Menopur 150 Estrogen patch Ganirelix
10	Gonal-f 450 Menopur 150 Estrogen patch Ganirelix
11	E2: 254 Right ovary: 17mm, 8mm, a couple too small to measure Left ovary: nada Gonal-f 450 Menopur 150 Estrogen patch Ganirelix
12	Gonal-f 450 Menopur 150 Estrogen patch Ganirelix
13	E2: 401 Right ovary: 18mm, 7mm Left ovary: nada Gonal-f 450 Menopur 150 Estrogen patch Ganirelix
14	Gonal-f 450 Menopur 150 Estrogen patch Ganirelix
15	E2: 415 Right ovary: 25mm, 7mm Left ovary: nada TRIGGER
16
17	EGG RETRIEVAL # of eggs: 3 (suspected 2 immature)
18	Fert report: 1 fertilized
19
20	3-DAY TRANSFER one 8-cell, low fragmentation HIP embie
Result	Beta scheduled for 14dp ER AF shows 13dp ER BFN Trivia: surprise natural BFP in the next cycle, 9-week m/c

The Three Amigos!

NoodleGuy and I headed up my my first u/s and b/w for IVF#2 this morning. Thanks for all the great vibes in the past few days - they worked! I've got 3 big follies developing on rightie! And this is only after 5 days of stims, albeit tsunami doses. I know for most other women three follies would be kind of a disaster, but it's great progress for me! I only have ever gotten one follie in all the five injectable cycles I've done, be they IUI or IVF.

Here is today's full report:
E2: 298
Right ovary: 16mm, a 15mm and 13mm. Urban legend has it that there may be a few more less than 12mm
Left ovary: dead as a doornail
Mood: the oh-so-trite cautiously optimistic

I've made a little chart below comparing this cycle to last. This is where you sigh and think "dork!". In my defense, I thought the comparison could be handy not only to myself but also to other low responders who might be interested in the changes that a Menopur-heavier dosage have wrought. I've heard alot of varying responses to Menopur; some people report better quantity and quality, some report low quantity but better quality, some report worse overall. I'm guessing it depends if low E2/low LH is your issue or not, and it appears to be mine.

You can see in the chart that my E2 is already WAY better than last cycle, where at 11 days of stims I still wasn't at the level that I am now after only 5 days. In addition, I have those 3 measurable follies, which I never got to last cycle. In addition, they're having me add in Ganirelix already tonight -- I didn't get to that tipping point until Day 9 with cycle #1.

I promised myself that I wouldn't get too excited about this cycle, in case everything falls apart as it always seems wont to do. I don't want to have to check myself into Dr. Happy's Nut Hut right before Thanksgiving. I'm trying to take this one day at a time and feel happy for any improvement I see from the past and that's what I see here. So a tiny, little "yay" from me. I hope the Woofing Gods* don't hear me.

* "Woofing Gods" are NoodleGuy's term for sports-related trash talking. Whenever he starts talking big about the Red Sox, for example, they go on a prolonged losing streak. The Woofing Gods are always on the lookout for big egos and big mouths. They spend most of their time monitoring Yankee fans.

Stim day	IVF#1 (June 2009) with EPP	IVF#2 (November 2009) without EPP
1	Gonal-f 450 Menopur 150 Estrogen patch	Gonal-f 150 Menopur 450
2	Gonal-f 450 Menopur 150 Estrogen patch	Gonal-f 150 Menopur 450
3	Gonal-f 450 Menopur 150 Estrogen patch	Gonal-f 150 Menopur 450
4	Gonal-f 450 Menopur 150 Estrogen patch	Gonal-f 150 Menopur 450
5	E2: 96.4 Right ovary: 2-4 follies<12mm Left ovary: nada Gonal-f 450 Menopur 150 Estrogen patch	Gonal-f 150 Menopur 450
6	Gonal-f 450 Menopur 150 Estrogen patch	E2: 298 Right ovary: 16mm, 15mm, 13mm, a few < 12mm Left ovary: nada Gonal-f 150 Menopur 450 Ganirelix
7	Gonal-f 450 Menopur 150 Estrogen patch
8	E2: 137 Right ovary: 13mm, maybe another <12mm Left ovary: nada Gonal-f 450 Menopur 150 Estrogen patch
9	Gonal-f 450 Menopur 150 Estrogen patch Ganirelix
10	Gonal-f 450 Menopur 150 Estrogen patch Ganirelix
11	E2: 254 Right ovary: 17mm, 8mm, a couple too small to measure Left ovary: nada Gonal-f 450 Menopur 150 Estrogen patch Ganirelix
12	Gonal-f 450 Menopur 150 Estrogen patch Ganirelix
13	E2: 401 Right ovary: 18mm, 7mm Left ovary: nada Gonal-f 450 Menopur 150 Estrogen patch Ganirelix
14	Gonal-f 450 Menopur 150 Estrogen patch Ganirelix
15	E2: 415 Right ovary: 25mm, 7mm Left ovary: nada TRIGGER
16
17	EGG RETRIEVAL # of eggs: 3 (suspected 2 immature)
18	Fert report: 1 fertilized
19
20	3-DAY TRANSFER one 8-cell, low fragmentation HIP embie
Result	Beta scheduled for 14dp ER AF shows 13dp ER BFN Trivia: surprise natural BFP in the next cycle, 9-week m/c

We hit Costco and dim sum brunch on the way home so, all in all, a good day! I'm making pico de gallo this afternoon while NoodleGuy sets up his new phone. We'll watch the Pats vs the Colts tonight and save Dexter for tomorrow. I love weekends.

And away we go! IVF#2

OK, maybe here is the short post I've been looking for: I started stims for IVF#2 last night. Eek!

My bloodwork on Monday showed that I'm still stalled at baseline, so Dr. B didn't see any reason to wait. I'm on 150 Gona.l-f/450 Men.opur, a flip-flop of IVF#1, hoping to get my measly 3-4 antral follies to actually grow together and surpass the follie total of IVF#1 (El Uno). Good luck, they're a stubborn bunch. No EPP this time as it needs to be started prior to stimming, plus my stalled levels are pretty much what they'd look to attain with EPP anyway.

This saves me the angst of trying to get this done before Christmas, which is awesome. Though I'm still a little cursed by the holiday fairy because if I stim 15 days like I did last time (please Lord, no, because that long pretty much means another failed cycle), ER will be Thanksgiving morning. Gah! I can just imagine the excuses to the in-laws for showing up at 4 o'clock in the afternoon. "Sorry, Mama N, I couldn't mash the yams because I was busy having my follicles aspirated in search of your one and only grandchild, please pass the cranberry sauce."

I'll stim for 5 days and go in on Sunday morning for my first b/w and u/s. Our favorite dim sum restaurant is near the clinic, so NoodleGuy will come with me and we'll get dim sum brunch on the way home, yay food!

I have to kick myself back into TTC gear, though. I had guzzled half a beer with dinner last night (mmm, Sam Adams Blackb.erry Whi.tbier!) before it hit me that I was not on TTC vacation any more!

IVF#2 motto: More than one! More than one!

Out, damned spot!

In my head, as I start writing this, I intend for it to be a quick, short post. NoodleGuy is on our cleared porch (patio furniture put away for the season) BBQing a flank steak for our dinner. I'll do a little work after dinner and he'll watch an episode or two of Batt.lestar G.alacti.ca. I'm planning on making Tollh.ouse cookies after I finish work (screw you, fertility diet, you haven't helped me so far) and then we'll watch De.xter before bed. If anyone else watches De.xter , are you as impressed with Jenn.ifer Carp.enter's acting as we are? It's hard to play a spazz and still be so likeable and believably competent, she's been aces this season. As far as the short post goes, I know it's useless. I'm a chatty and long-winded blogger and message board poster. I try to be succinct and fail, miserably. Tell me, fair maidens (and the occasional knight), if I lose you with my blathering, please, and I'll try to clean up my act.

In TTC news, I'm on CD31 which is long for me and my temps continue to be astoundingly low and erratic. I'm also on about day 12 of spotting. Frustrating because 4 weeks after the D&E, I seemed to have a pretty normal AF, so I'm a bit confused by this bizarro cycle, but Dr. B was not concerned. My layman's explanation for the long cycle & ongoing spotting is that since I didn't O this cycle and thus my progesterone didn't climb, I did not have the sharp progesterone drop that would normally trigger AF. Instead my lining is just shedding slowly, not by bodily triggers but by gravity and just sheer disinterest in sticking around, like a company holiday party in my uterus.

I go in for b/w tomorrow as I mentioned a few days ago, though I got more info on Dr. B's plan for me from Nurse D. The plan is still to check my E2/LH/Progesterone to see what my body is doing ovulation-wise. But unlike my belief that if it's not doing anything, we'll just keep testing until a cutoff point of about November 18th (timing this all to be done before Christmas), instead, if I'm still baseline tomorrow, we'll just get started with the stimming. ACK! Not. mentally. prepared! On the one hand, I'm psyched, let's just get this show on the road, less holiday stress, easier to get these next three IVFs out of the way and move on to Plan Z if they go as badly as I predict. On the other hand, a girl needs a little mental preparation for this stuff, where's my OCD time in all this?? I'll be cheated out of obsessively rearranging dates in Go.ogle calendar, trying to play out every possible scenario of ER and ET and then forgetting it all and doing it again three hours later. Every day. For the 2 weeks leading up to the start of stims. Where is the justice in that?!

I'll find out on Tuesday what the deal is, next day results because I'm saving myself the 45 minute drive into the clinic and just going to my local Q.uest for the b/w. I'm not sure which scenario I'm rooting for right now; it'd be nice to hear that my hormones are starting to behave and I can expect to O naturally this cycle and can do the estrogen priming at the end of this cycle. But I'll be a little let down now that they've dangled the immediate gratification carrot in front of me. Oh well, patience is a virtue, I suppose. And area in which I am not nearly virtuous enough. I'm a patience floozy.

In other big Noodle News, with some of my birthday loot (Apple giftcard and moola), I have procured myself an iPh.one! I'm in lust with it. It's dirty and one-sided and all about looks and servicing my needs, so I can't call it love. But I sure do lust it. I spent yesterday setting it up and downloading a bunch of apps, the first of which was Sk.ype. At my job we use Sk.ype as our IM client and, as such, it's the defacto way to tell if someone is working. My company has people all over the country, so IM is how we keep track, not in person. Now, I certainly don't cheat the system, I work waaaay more than my allotted 37.5 hours per week and never complain about weekend launches or the occasional 2am kerfuffle. But I would like to be able to go to my IF appts midday without people necessarily knowing that I'll be away from my desk for 2.5 hours, as even b/w usually takes me over 2 hours since the clinic is 45 minutes away without traffic, and there's always traffic. So now, I can go to the clinic with no one at work the wiser, haha! Take that potentially imaginary co-workers! The sad thing is, I think I'm so clever, and I bet my co-workers have been doing this for a year.

Finally,I was also going to include answers to some questions that have come up in my comments over the past few weeks. As I've lamented before, G.oogle doesn't allow you to respond directly to comments -- grrr -- so I never know whether to post replies in my own comments (where they might never be seen), email the person directly (which doesn't help other readers who may have wondered the same thing) or address it in a later post (which may seem random). So, I figure I'll try and compile them (unless they seem urgent, and then it'll be an email) and post the answers on a day when I have nothing else to say. And today clearly is not it.

The quest for a short and cute post is still in the works.

Back and in good shape

We're back from San Fran and we had a great time! We walked so much that by Monday afternoon (day 3 of our trip) NoodleGuy and I were both whimpering in pain due to our throbbing feet. We had to wait 20 minutes for a bus at one point and were both basically lying on the sidewalk by the time it came, haha. We really did feel rejuvenated by the weekend, though. We explored everything in SF proper. We walked the Golden Gate bridge, up and down Lombard street, waited in insane lines (exacerbated by the cables breaking down twice) for the cable cars, hung off the sides of the cable cars, took a tour of Alcatraz, went to Chinatown and Japantown, Fisherman's Wharf, Union Square, North Beach, Embarcadero and Mission Hill.

Some photos:





Photos are: Golden Gate bridge, view from cable car, view of Alcatraz, Lombard St, Chinatown, Fisherman's Wharf-ish.

Last impressions: we want to live in North Beach. SF reminds us alot of Boston except bigger and better. There are alot of homeless people in Union Square (and this is from a gal who grew up in NYC). There are alot of smokers in SF, very surprising. There are alot of restaurants in SF (we later read that it has more restaurants per capita than anywhere else in the US). We loved riding the cable cars. We loved the weather and natural beauty of the city. We love Virgin America.

We got back late on Tuesday night and then yesterday was my birthday, so it's been an exciting few days. We went out to dinner last night and I got an excellent, knee-length down jacket from NG for my bday. It's black with a grey (fake) fur-lined hood and manages to be awesomely warm though still flattering form-wise for a down coat.

In IF news, I had my saline sonogram yesterday and it's all clear! Whew! Last time I went in expecting everything to be fine and turned out to need a hysteroscopy to clear out what turned out to be @ 10 polyps. Yet another in my long list of "unexpected" bad news IF appts. You'd think I'd learn by now not to go into appts all starry-eyed and optimistic, right? Anyhow, this time we were all good, thank God.

In a rare occurrence, I actually got my own beloved Dr. B for the procedure and was able to talk to him about my concerns over what my f'ed up body is doing right now. Ongoing spotting for a week now and no real AF and no apparent O last cycle. This is highly unusual for me, and it adding to the can-we-get-this-done-before-Christmas stress. Dr. B said he's get me home for Christmas (love him!) and gave me 3 options:

1) Start stimming now, he had looked at my ovaries and they were quiet, good for starting. That would mean skipping the estrogen priming. That kind of surprised me, I wasn't really mentally ready to start.

2) Go on BCPs to take over my cycle and time AF in a few weeks, again skipping EPP. Not a great option for me because BCP over-suppresses me, pretty much dooming the cycle. You can tell already that I wouldn't choose this option.

3) Wait and see, hope my body moves on naturally and do b/w every few days to see if I ovulate. If my body behaves, I can still do EPP and if it doesn't by a cutoff date of about 11/18, I can go on Provera and still force AF. This option gives us the chance of still doing EPP, if things happen naturally.

I opted for the final choice because I'd like something to happen naturally ;). And I think EPP is my best shot so I'd like to squeeze it in, if I can.

Dr. B looked at my antral follies yesterday too. For once he actually saw Ol' Leftie, but it was quiet as a doormouse. Poor Leftie. On Big Rightie, he saw 3-4 antral follies, which is par for the course for me. I'm praying that I can get a few more eggies than AFC shows, but who knows. Since I only got one follie last time, I'd be happy enough if those 3-4 to behave. So long & short of it, it looks like I'm on schedule for a mid-December IVF.

I don't have buckets of hope like I did way back when but at least I'll be doing something instead of waiting. Remember the early days of IF when IVF seemed like a last resort, but one that would surely work? Like the Holy Grail? Yea, now I'm more like an IF atheist. I'll be watching from the sidelines as my RE plays puppeteer with my body. I already know I'll feel more like a spectator than a participant, and maybe that's a good thing.

IVF#2 getting closer, whether I like it or not

Thanks so much for all the great San Fran advice! I've written down every single one and am going armed to SF with a heady list of foods and activities and only 2.5 days in which to do them! But I'm going to try -- I can eat alot! Also, we are planning to do the Castro district on Halloween night, thanks for the reco Cindy! I've spent many a year in NYC partying at the Coney Island Mermaid Parade or the Halloween Parade in the Village, so I know a good party when I hear of it!

I received my mongo box of IVF meds for my December cycle by FedEx yesterday. It's seriously insane, because I'm such a poor responder, how much stuff is in this box. I have 8 boxes of Men.opur (that's 64!! vials), 6 G.onal-f 9001iu pens, 10 Ganire.lix syringes, 1 Ovi.drel, many Vive.lle estrogen patches, a couple of boxes of Crin.one and many, many, many "supplies". Seriously, if this IVF got cancelled and I sold these on the blackmarket, I could do a lovely kitchen remodel. Or, if I decide to bail on this whole crazy baby-makin' exercise, I could pretend to do my remaining 5 covered IVFs and just amass mountains of fertility meds -- if I weren't really taking them, they'd think I was an even POORER responder than I am (though hard to get much worse than one follie) and start sending me, double, TRIPLE what I already get!! In five cycles, I could have enough cash to buy a cheap cabin in Vermont and live out the rest of my crazy, childless days!!

Of course I'm kidding. I'm not cut out for insurance fraud, the viewing of too many episodes of Oz has cured me in the contemplation of most crimes. I just wish I could parcel out these remaining 5 IVFs to women who could actually stim well and then steal their babies. Ha! Kidding again. Maybe. >:)

I'm in good spirits, work has calmed down and we've got our mini-vacation on the horizon. I'm trying not to think too hard on the fact that despite this massive box of stims, I will likely again only get one follie. That follie's a hard worker, though, I have to say. Though my RE thinks the one follicle that's working varies each cycle, I really think I just have one underpaid, illegal immigrant in there, working overtime while the other lazy, upper-class follies just lie around. I liken it to my mom, who came here in 1969 from Holland as a nanny and was so worked into the ground by her evil Park Avenue employers and their two spawns of Satan, that she resorted to cannibalism. Not her own, of course, but she chopped off the top of her finger (by accident!) when making a salad for the family and left it in the salad for them to consume. Heh, if you only knew my shy, meek mom, you'd know why this is so awesome. My sisters and I like to act it out every Thanksgiving, a performance that never fails to impress my mother with our comedic skills and grotesque humor.

My temps continue to be a mystery, I'm still way below baseline and zigzagging up and down. No definitive O at all which never happens to me. I had a big drop this morning and now, not surprisingly, have some spotting. I went in for that b/w this morning to see if my beta is finally negative and I also got the nurse to tack on hormone levels so I can see where I stand cyclewise. Praying that my hormones make it looks like AF should come in the next week!

Finally, in fashion news, I am in love with the Bootcut Cords from J.Cr.ew. I have the hardest time find cords that are good for me -- I'm 5'7" so I like them long, but I don't like lowrise. Finding them long enough for my legs but also long enough not to drag down enough to sport whale-tail is tough. I have an easier time with jeans because there's more variety, but I like to have something other than jeans to wear over the 6 months of almost winter/winter/where-the-hell-is-spring that is New England. These cords are great! They're stretch, so they fit snugly but not tight and come in lots of pretty, jewel colors. The best part is that the local outlets near me sell them for $35 instead of the egregious $79.50 on the website. Just wanted to spread the love in case anyone else has similar pantaloon challenges and has a J.Cr.ew outlet near them.

Can you tell I've been drinking coffee this morning!?