Thursday 5 June 2014

Blue Hawaiian

Round 35: September 2041 (Spring)

Amar Hamilton is 40, Adrienne Novak is 34 and Beau is 3. 
(Miles is 38, Matilda is 35, Zane and Chloe are 30, Austin is 20 and Phoebe is 4)
Narrated by Adrienne Novak

Right now, I don’t have to go into work until late but I tend to get up early anyway and hang out with Beau for a bit.


Even three years later, I still feel like Amar is better at all this stuff than I am but I do okay. 

At least Beau is old enough now that I can leave him alone for a few minutes and trust he won’t get into too much trouble.

Actually, if he’s playing with his blocks, I can almost guarantee that he won’t be interested in anything or anyone else for a good while. He loves his blocks. 

We set up the table for him because we thought he might have inherited an artistic gene from Amar and me - we’re both very creative people. But that kind of thing doesn’t interest Beau at all.

I'm so curious to see what kinds of hobbies Beau might pick up as he gets older. He’s starting pre-school next year, so I guess we’ll get to find out soon enough. 

He’ll be the only pre-schooler in the class but we’re not worried about him. He loves going new places and he’s a very outgoing little kid. 

Amar takes him into work with him every now and then and he loves it. He’s made best buddies with Austin, one of the other photographers. 

At the very least, he’ll have Phoebe with him. When he starts pre-school, Phoebe will start kindergarten and they’ll be in the same classroom. 

They see each other all the time, because it’s a good excuse for me and Matilda to catch up. We live so close by that it’s so easy to just meet at either one of our houses. 

Matilda and Miles are about 95% sure they won’t have any more kids, so they've been trying to stop Phoebe from turning out too spoiled. 

She has a tendency to be a bit demanding as it is, so it’s good for her to spend time with other children, so she knows she can’t always get her way. 

She’s usually pretty good when she comes over to our place but Amar wasn't too thrilled with her when Miles and Matilda brought her to his studio for a photo session. Amar doesn't really do that sort of photography any more but he did it as a favour to Matilda. 

Apparently, they took quite a while to get going, mostly because of Phoebe and her tantrums. 

They got through it in the end but only after Matilda flat out bribed her with the promise of ice cream afterwards if she would just sit still and be good for half an hour. 

When Amar got home, he said sessions like that were exactly why he does fashion photography. Models are much easier to work with, he says.

Yeah, I'm sure that’s the only reason. Nothing to do with Amar also getting to look at beautiful women all day. 

I know him way too well. We've been exclusive for ages now but I don’t expect he’ll ever stop looking and even flirting sometimes. 

Amar and I have been engaged for two years now and we still haven’t actually tied the knot!

Zane asks us about it all the time. Being 10 years younger than Amar, people probably wouldn't have expected Zane to be the one to get married first. 

It does seem a bit strange from the outside but Amar and Zane lived their 20s very, very differently. It all makes sense to anyone who actually knows them 

But now, Amar and I do actually want to get married. We've been taking steps to get there but it’s been difficult.


Amar has been really busy setting up his studio. He moved to a bigger location a while back. It’s all done now but that was a few months of pretty hard work for him.

I'm now a team supervisor at the design firm. Coming in a bit later and having an extra day off is a perk but I've taken a bigger workload at the same time. I'm expected to do a fair bit at home when I'm not working as well. 

I enjoy it but it’s definitely one more thing taking up my down time, which is fairly limited at the moment. 

And then of course we both have work to do here at home, with Beau. He takes up the majority of our “down” time. 

He’s a pretty great kid but he’s still only three. Toddlers are hard, even well-behaved ones.

We have, at least, set a wedding date but until recently, we weren't sure if we were going to postpone it again or not. 

We decided on February next year, in a nice park close by. By then, it should still be warm but not insanely hot and it would be a beautiful venue, with plenty of space for the kids to run around as well.

Then I got pregnant. It’s an unexpected but a wanted baby but it meant I’d be about 6 months pregnant at the wedding, which isn't ideal. 

It’s still a bit early to announce anything but I did float the idea of postponing the wedding to Mum, without mentioning that I was pregnant. 

I thought she’d be okay with it, because she’s pretty laid back about that kind of thing but instead, she asked if we really had to. 

Grandpa has apparently been really, really looking forward to the wedding. He’s been so down since Grandma died and Mum has been worried. 

She was hoping the wedding would give him a little boost. It was something Grandma had been looking forward to (and nagging us about!) as well, so she thinks Grandpa would appreciate that as well.

Well, I didn't really feel like I could go ahead and postpone after that! 

Amar was happy to leave the decision to me, seeing I’ll be the pregnant one. So I guess, when I finally get married, I’ll be walking down the aisle with a rather sizeable belly!

It’s not really how I ever pictured my wedding, I have to admit. Then again, nothing in my life is quite the way I might have imagined it and I think it’s somehow all worked out for the best in the end. 

Notes:
  • Title is from Blue Hawaiian by Pavement.
  • I kind of kept forgetting Adrienne and Amar were even engaged but I figured I might as well get them married off anyway! I'm going to stick with February 2042 and will be adding it to the schedule when I get a second to do so.
  • And Baby Hamilton #2 will be joining us in May 2042, just a few months later. I am on the lookout for maternity bridal gowns as we speak! I haven't had a pregnant bride since Aphrodite Nihill (who was Adrienne's great aunt by marriage), so I'm kind of excited too. 
  • Amar's new photography studio is this lot by blissful_indigo but redecorated a bit. I never install lots with CC these days, so I just downloaded the window sets and put in my own stuff elsewhere. I love the lot - so much bigger than Amar's old studio (which was a teeny 1x1 lot!)

20 comments:

  1. Beau is a cutie! I wonder how he feels snout becoming a big brother? The pregnancy surprised me! I didn't see it coming but I'm happy for the couple. And yay for setting a wedding date! That is exciting!

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    1. I'm thrilled with how Beau turned out. I was hoping he'd look like Amar at least a little, just to get some more genetic variety around, and he does. He'll be 4 by the time the baby comes around and more able to show how he's feeling about it as well! He's a pretty nice kid, not a grump like his mum, so hopefully he'll be happy with the new addition!

      And with the wedding, since I just realised he'll be 4 by the time that happens too!

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

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  2. I laughed out loud at models being easier to work with than little spoiled girls… wondered if Amar might be a teensy bit more attracted to models, rather than them being less demanding? Maybe not…but then I read Adrienne’s next line and realized I wasn’t off base. So now you will have a pregnant bridesmaid AND a pregnant bride to prepare for.

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    1. Amar definitely has his own reasons for working with fashion photography and they have very little to do with avoiding spoiled little girls! ;)

      Yep, I've got Audrey (whose dress I have already chosen) and then Adrienne a few months later! I think Adrienne will be trickier but I'm confident I can find something at the same time. :)

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

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  3. Ate my comment!

    It's about time Adrienne and Amar got their butts down the aisle. And I'm even more excited about the pregnancy! Hopefully she won't be too uncomfortable. Yes, Beau will have a friend in school, but Phoebe looks like a diva in the making! Matilda and Miles might want to stomp that down before it becomes a bigger problem.

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    1. Amar and Adrienne certainly took their sweet time (which I admit was not ALL their fault!) but it kind of fits their personalities as well. Lucky sim women don't get as uncomfortable as real women, so Adrienne will probably be fine! She might need an extra serving of food from the buffet though, lol!

      Phoebe definitely has some diva tendencies! Matilda and Miles try not to spoil her (occasional bribery aside!) but her granddad is another story. She's the first and only grandchild and will probably remain so for a while, so he can't help himself. They probably need to rein him in more than anyone else!

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

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  4. I'm surprised they didn't just move up the wedding. It doesn't seem like they're into big fancy weddings and they could plan a nice simple one before she starts showing. I think I only had a few pregnant brides, Suzanna McMillain was the largest one, the others were not showing yet. Either way can't wait to see the new baby and the wedding

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    1. Well, I had practical reasons for not moving it up! I have Lucy and Edward's wedding in December, so I want to focus on that until then. I don't want two weddings too close together, as even smaller ones are quite intensive for me to plan. I can't hold it too early in her second trimester either, because it'll be on a community lot (no room at their house) and she'll end up with a third trimester bump. So February made the most sense, considering that and what else I have scheduled!

      Hopefully, it will all come together nicely and I'll enjoy it and you guys will enjoy seeing it! :)

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

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  5. Aw, I love this couple! I'm so happy they're expecting number 2, even if it's going to interfere with the wedding. Hopefully you can find a stylish dress for her to wear down the aisle with that belly. ;)

    Phoebe being a handful at the studio wasn't a surprise. I really hope her personality tempers out a little more as she gets older! Even so, she'll be an interesting one to watch grow up, haha.

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    1. I really like Adrienne and Amar together as well! I'm most excited about the wedding AND the baby! I think Tanja had an awesome pregnant bride recently, so I'm going to have to go back and check what she was wearing.

      I think Phoebe's brattiness can be partly blamed on being a bit spoiled and partly just being 4 and not having much knowledge on how to be socially appropriate yet! So she could go either way, I guess. ;)

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

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  6. I wouldn't have minded seeing Beau as an only child, I think he'd do great :) But I'm very excited about this new baby anyway! I'm sure he of she will be just as cute as Beau :)

    I kind of like it that Phoebe is a little bit spoiled :) I think she's going to be very interesting, especially when she's a teen :)

    I love Amar's business! It's a great lot! And it made me realise that I need a photography lot in my hood somewhere as well! I loved the photoshoot with Miles and Mathilda and Phoebe, and I loved the shot where Mathlida is bribing Phoebe.
    I've been putting it off for a long time, but I think I need to start looking in playing with allmenuson, there are so many interactions that are great for storytelling!

    I'm very much looking forward tot he wedding! I'm sure Adrienne will make a lovely bride!

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    1. No, I wouldn't have minded either! But seeing they had the spare bedroom and their IFS was high enough to allow for wanting another child, I took Adrienne off her BC. So he'll be getting a little brother or sister soon enough. :)

      I like Phoebe as a spoiled little diva as well. It's nice to change things up a bit. I have had brats before but I haven't really done the spoiled thing, I don't think.

      I was so happy to find that lot! It's not the kind of lot that you see shared very often, so it was very serendipitous that it was uploaded not too long before I started playing this family. And yes, you definitely need to play with allmenus on. Some of the interactions don't work and drop out of the queue but there are enough that do work that make it very handy. Another one I like a lot is the Bigfoot Hug and "Greet" - really good if you need a shot of sims shaking hands!

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

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  7. Yay babies! Yay weddings! I hope Augustin lives long enough to attend the wedding and see his new great-grandbaby.

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    1. Lots of celebration in this update, huh? I already know if Augustin will live long enough to see this wedding or not, so I'll just say Augustin seeing his granddaughter get married is my preference as well!

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

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  8. I haven't commented in forever, but I've been catching up, and Beau is just adorable. I'm also excited to see these two get married. For some reason, I love when romance sims settle down. I'm excited to see their wedding.

    If you're having trouble with a dress, I know most of Skell's gowns have morphs, Trapping has some, flowermisty did some conversions at TBTO that have them, Cynnix did a ridiculously dramatic gown also at TBTO with morphs, and I've even used the AL sundress with Amaryll's flats in white for a casual wedding with a pregnant bride.

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    1. Beau is a total sweetheart, isn't he? I always love it when Romance sims settle down too. It just seems to be somehow more significant when they're ready to give up their wandering ways and stick to the one person.

      Thank you for the tips on the dresses! I knew about Skell and the AL sundress but not the others, so I'll check them out!

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

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  9. Excited for a baby and a wedding! I can see why she might want to put the wedding off, but I'm glad she isn't! About time for these two to tie the knot. Really liked seeing Amar at work, and Phoebe is adorable, love seeing her bribed to get her picture taken. I'm curious how she will be as a teen, and if she will be after the limelight or not.

    Absolutely adore Beau, too cute, I saw him as an only too, but am very happy to see them have another. Curious who they will take after. They've really grown up nicely together, Adrienne and Amar, I didn't know if Amar would ever settle down, and he's become such a great dad and soon to be husband.

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    1. Getting married while heavily pregnant is not ideal to Adrienne but she's going to do it to appease Augustin (and Naomi!) They've put it off long enough anyway.

      I'm rather intrigued by Phoebe as well. I'm glad I made Matilda and Miles playable, so I'll have the opportunity to really delve into her story when she gets older.

      Now that Amar and Adrienne have one kiddo who looks like Amar, I wouldn't mind them having one who looks like Adrienne. With Amar's colouring, maybe? Get some more blonde genes in the hood. They are almost as rare as redheads once were, I think!

      And yes, I love Amar as a dad! So cute. I always feel that way about my romance sims when they get all domestic. :) I'm sure he'll be a good husband too but I do like it that he'll be almost 41 by the time he actually gets married. His younger self would approve!

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

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  10. A wedding and a baby, wow these two are going to be busy! I've excited for them both though. :) Beau is an adorable little boy and I wonder what their next bub will look like, ooh and if it'll be a boy or girl. Do you think they'll find out the sex or want to keep as a surprise?

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    1. There will definitely be a lot going on for Adrienne and Amar for the next nine months! I'm looking forward to it all too.

      Unfortunately, there's no way to know the sex of a baby before it's born in TS2. It's not decided until birth and will likely be different if you exit out and load the family again. So all my families keep the sex a surprise, basically because they have no other choice! If I was playing TS3, they would find out, no question - I always check the second my sims get pregnant in that game!

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

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