Attempt at a photo shoot

My husband isn't too keen on allowing me to take Brayden to get photos taken at a studio where they charge an arm and a leg.  It's understandable, but sometimes you just want those cliche holiday or milestone photos.  I have experience in photography myself, but not studio photography.  Today we gave an attempt at an Easter photo with Brayden.  Aside from a toddler not wanting to sit still for more than one third of a second, my "backdrop" was a white bed sheet (which works pretty decently) except when you have it hanging from the mantel by Yankee candles setting on it.  Yeah, you can picture that.  Of course they came tumbling down after ten minutes along with one of my hand made pottery bowls, which shattered.  I wasn't too broken hearted.  I was more broken hearted that it just didn't really work out.  Maybe we will give it another shot some other time.  Here is what I came out with...still a handsome guy!

And the last one is where it all came tumbling down! Love my boy!

E-meals- pork ribs and dandelion

I've always been a fan of ribs out at a restaurant but it never crossed my mind that I could buy and make my own at home.. And so easily too!! These were delicious. Rubbed with salt, pepper and chili pepper and just baked for a couple of hours. The meat fell right off the bone. So yummy!! And I dipped mine in some bubba gump bar-b-q from my Memphis family :) The dandelion on the other hand.. I'm not sure about that. I think that maybe I should have gotten more and used only leaves and not stems. They just tasted funny. Maybe because it was dandelion? Haha!

Emeals- spicy beef and red pepper stir fry with sesame broccoli

Yum yum yum yum yum. Give me something spicy and it almost doesn't ever matter what it is.. I love it!

In all seriousness, this was really good. Flank steak is never my first choice but I used it to stick with the recipe. It just seems tough and not very juicy. This beef stir fried with green onions and red peppers and then topped with a sauce made from soy sauce, hot sauce and arrowroot .. It's almost like we ordered it right from a Chinese food restaurant! So good! The broccoli was just basic steamed broccoli with salt, pepper and poppy seeds. Zach says he would've tested positive for opium. Psssh..

A-plus!!

NYC - Wicked!

This past weekend was eventful to say the least.  Our original plan was for our friends Kim and Seth to come to our house Friday evening to stay, and then we would all take the train into the city on Saturday morning.  Wouldn't my luck have it that I woke Friday morning and promptly barfed.  Pregnant, you say?  Not this time.  I wish that was the reason.  I have no idea what it was, but I was so sick all day.

Kim and Seth decided to stay in Bethlehem Friday night with plans to meet Zach and I in the city Saturday morning if I was well.  If I was not, then Seth would take my ticket and they would go to Wicked without me, and our hotel would just go to waste as it was nonrefundable.

My mom and aunt arrived in Avon around 1 p.m. Friday and I was still sick in bed.  Momma's present always makes her child better.  I threw up one last time, stuffed some pretzels down my throat, showered and forced myself to go out for some fresh air.  Saturday morning I woke, not feeling the best, but enough to hop on the train to the city.

Zach and I took the New Haven train into grand central station at about 9:30 a.m.  We dropped our bags at the hotel, grabbed a coffee and did a little shopping until our friends arrived.  Then, we all did a little more shopping, found a place for NYC pizza, and headed to the show.  The boys dropped us at the theater and went on over to the Brooklyn Brewery. 

Once Kim and I sat down in our seats, fifteen minutes didn't pass before I was scolded three separate times by the same usher woman.  First, my coat was hanging too far off the back of my seat.  Next, my bag was supposed to have been stuffed "airplane style" under my seat and not at my feet.  And finally, the strap of my purse should be off the floor or someone might trip.  Good grief lady.

WICKED...was WICKED!! We just loved it.  I was nearly crying by the end, and Kim was!  Magnificant.  There are not more words for me to describe how amazing the show was. 

Note to self:  see more broadway.

Later, we had dinner at a perfect little Italian restaurant right down the street from the hotel, and found a Penn State Alumni bar from there.  Here, on two different occasions, a passerby came crashing into our table, one more memorable than the other.  The fellow ended up buying a round of drinks and our appetizer to make up for soaking our boys with his beer.  He preceded to stay for a game he invented where he asked us "couples" questions to see who knew who better, forgot his debit card, and when we thought he was gone for good, bought us another round of drinks from the street! 

All in all, we had a great time.  Zach and I were both under the weather.  He had a terrible cold and I was still recovering from my "24 hour bug."  I'm so happy to be so close to the city.  It's always an exciting time for short trips.  Here are a couple of photos from the weekend..

Starting the day

I've never really been much of a breakfast person and everyone always tells you this is the most important meal of the day. Generally speaking, breakfast for me is a cup of coffee.

My new favorite thing to have first thing in the morning is vanilla flavored yogurt mixed with granola and fresh fruit. I found this granola the other day at stop and shop and absolutely love it!! I've paired it with the store brand Greek vanilla yogurt and fresh strawberries.

EMeals- juicy baked chicken and elegant spinach

This chicken was very like any other shake and bake chicken you might make. Brushed with mayo and shaken in a ziploc with panko bread crumbs mixed with Italian seasoning, the chicken was juicy like the name and yummy. I pounded it thin so it baked quickly which is nice.

The elegant spinach was not my thing. What is "elegant" spinach anyways? What makes it so elegant? Weird name. Anyway, basically sautéed mushrooms and spinach and then simmered in a teeny but of lemon juice, Worcestershire, and sour cream. I'm just not sure about the sauce. It tasted sour or something. I didn't like it. Oh well :-(

EMeals- chicken soup

This meal was a crockpot meal, so super easy to throw together and it was probably the most perfectly sized "two person" recipe that I've ever made. I actually cooked it a whole hour less than the recipe said but I think the chicken would have been over done had I let it stew longer.

It's just chicken broth, bite sized chicken pieces, cannelli beans, a little tomato paste, roasted red peppers, onion, garlic, salt and pepper. Once it was done, I stirred in spinach and topped it with Parmesan cheese.

This was incredibly hearty. Zach scarfed his bowl down real quick and I couldn't finish mine. Very good.

EMeals- morraccon flank steak with garlic and olive oil couscous

This steak was seasoned with salt, pepper, cumin, cinnamon and sugar. The combination seemed strange to me but the flavor was yummy. I didn't let it set for 30 minutes like the recipe suggested so I don't know if that took away from the flavor. I don't, however, think I'd ever buy another flank steak. The seasoning was delicious but the steak itself was lacking flavor and quality.

I've never had couscous before but it was good. Definitely a quick and easy side prepared just like rice. I don't actually know what couscous is. I'll have to do some research. It comes in many different flavors.

I figured I would give an update on my first cleanse day. The 30 day cleanse I'm doing is mostly shake days with four cleanse days once a week throughout the month. On these days you eat no food except maybe an apple, some almonds or any of the isagenix snacks approved for this day. You drink different things throughout the day. It was brutal. By the end of the day I was nearly vomiting and had a killer headache. I don't do well when I don't have food. But I did wake up the next morning feeling great and not hungry. Lost three pounds on the cleanse day and went back into the shakes and normal food the next day.

All that makes this cleanse sound really terrible but its not :) the first cleanse day was hard, yes, but it was worth it and I feel great. It's great because I can eat real food and nothing is really off limits. More updates on all this later.

EMeals- skillet pork chops and asparagus with hollandaise sauce

Mmm Mmm Mmm. This was tasty! The pork chop were sautéed quickly on both sides and seasoned with salt, pepper and paprika. Then I added Marsala cooking wine and simmered. So easy and so tasty.

The asparagus was steamed and topped with homemade hollandaise sauce. I could have done without the sauce. It didn't seem to add much flavor and I actually soaked up some of the meat juice with the asparagus and loved it even more.

Definitely a remake! Zach and I both love it!

Turkey avocado grilled cheese

This eMeals was kind I fun because I love grilled cheese so much. I LOVED this! My avocado was not ripe enough so I had a hard time mashing it up but it worked. Zach won't eat it of course so I made it for lunch and I will probably have it the next two days for lunch since I am working at night. I've also just started a 30 day cleanse so I have two shakes a day and one 600 calorie or less meal so these eMeals work perfectly for me.

Definitely making this one again!!

Lime fish tacos with pineapple-jalapeño sauté

We've been busy and just not able to have sit down meals since my last post. Zach would not even try this meal so I made it early and had it myself for an early dinner before work.

The tilapia is baked topped with an olive oil, lime juice, and cilantro mixture. The "taco" part of it is a romaine lettuce leaf and then it is topped with shredded cabbage. The pineapple- jalapeño sauté is a mixture of red pepper, pineapple, jalapeños and garlic sautéed in olive oil.

The fish taco was boring and lacking flavor. It didn't taste bad but I won't make it again. The pineapple- jalapeño sauté on the other hand was full of yummy flavors. The pineapple and red pepper exploded with their sweetness and then it was followed by the spiciness of the hot peppers. Maybe a little too hot for he average person but I love hot foods. I was surprised at how well I enjoyed this and I will make it again.

eMeals #5 - Salisbury steak and salad

So our friends Matt and Christi introduced us to this email subscription called eMeals. You sign up based on how many months you want to up to a year for only $60/year. I only signed up for three months because I didn't know if we would actually do it. You also choose the size of your family. I chose two because Brayden really just eats tidbits of what we are
eating. And then you choose the plan.. Low carb, low fat, clean eating, etc... I chose low carb, for no particular reason, I just wasn't sure which one to choose.

Tonight was the fifth meal we did. We're doing 4-5 meals a week out of the 7 they send you. I work two nights a week and there's usually a quick meal or a fend for yourself night, depending. The great thing besides the healthy meal options is that the previous PDFs that you've received are alway available for reference. AND you also get the shopping list which makes it really easy. Usually most of the ingredients are used for more than one meal, so there is less waste as well.

Tonight was Salisbury steak and a salad. I'm following the recipes straight up and the salad was romaine with onions and red pepper and Zach won't eat that so he had peas lol.

I thought it would be fun to post after each meal with a picture and a rating from both of us and Brayden.

Ratings:
Me- a little too salty, but I like the steak and mushrooms. Salads are always simple and yummy. I used creamy poppyseed dressing.
Zach- really flavorful. Likes the mushrooms better than the peas
Brayden- he ate some mushrooms and steak and even some red pepper from the salad. He loved the pepper!

Difficulty- really simple

Dreams do come true

It's been three weeks since we arrived in Connecticut. We are just now finding a place for everything. Not much thanks to the moving company who took two weeks to deliver all of our stuff. Ce la vie.

This weekend the Libra's are visiting for a day on their way through. Excited to spend a little time with them and happy that they will be nearby soon since they are relocating from Texas to Philly.

Looks like things are working out the way I've always wanted after all ;)

So long Iowa

Wow.. I'm really bad at writing in this blog. I think about it a lot but then I never get around to sitting down and writing. I'll tell you one thing.. We've had a crazy year. I'm so looking forward to a slightly less eventful 2013.

My dreams have finally come true! Zach accepted a new job (after what seemed like a grueling search) in Simsbury, Connecticut. This is 3-5 hours from his parents and mine respectively... Depending on how fast you drive and the traffic. This is.. Well it's hard for me to put into words the way it makes me feel. Excited, nervous, relieved, overwhelmed. And I've been so busy that I'm not even sure I've been able to feel those feelings. Has it really sunk in that I could jump in the car and see my parents in 4 hours? ...probably not.

After all the complaining I did and depressing thoughts I had about being stuck in Iowa so far away from everyone I cared about, I never thought that I would be sad to leave. I never really understood that we had actually created roots there. We were married when we lived there. We created our first home there, owned our first pets there. Our son was born in Des Moines. That will always be his birth place. That's so weird. Iowa? And it's so exciting to think about going back to visit in the future.

And now here we are in Connecticut. Closer to everyone we care the most about, but now also so far away from some that have grown to be so special in my heart. But I'm so happy. So happy that we don't have to jump on a plane to go home for Christmas.. And that my mom can jump in her car to come see us for a weekend because she won't get on a plane.


❤


June 1 2013-- Krista and Rashawn wedding (bridesmaid and ring bearer)
June 22 2013-- Kristen and Patrick wedding (bridesmaid)
August ?? 2013-- sunset beach

Work It...

I stopped my ideal protein diet awhile ago. It was so great and I lost a lot of weight really fast and in a healthy way. Once all the wedding madness started I sort of decided to take a break over those weekends and then I just could never quite get back to it 100%. What's the point in spending the money on it when you're not sticking to it, right? So I stopped cold turkey. Since then, I've gained about 7-10 pounds back. I'm not completely sure how much and that's been since about April or so. It's pretty disappointing and I'm pretty sure the weight gain happened when I was eating pretty terribly lol. I guess that's what will happen!!

I also wasn't able to workout when I was doing the diet and since then be been back to the gym, which has been great. I've been following my own sort of routine and recently started going to fitness classes. I've done Zumba a few times, which is pretty fun but I'm pretty sure I look really bad doing it. The class that I really love is body pump. It's so intense and it's a total body workout and I just love it. I've only been to it once a week for three weeks now and I'm already noticing definition. I can only attend on Fridays because their childcare is not open all day long. My time is sort of limited because of that. Anyway, I'll try to post about some progress.

In a few days we leave for New York for Garrett and Jenna's wedding weekend!! I'm so excited to see everyone and to stay a whole weekend at a super nice country club. Zach is a groomsman. My parents are coming to New York and staying for the weekend to keep Brayden. Zach and I have never been apart from him at the same time. It's going to be a little mini vacation for us!!

First Year Photos

Of course I wanted to do a photo shoot for Brayden's first birthday and of course Zach didn't want to because he says it's a rip off. Well, pictures are priceless! So I grabbed my Nikon and we headed downtown Des Moines to the sculpture garden there to do our own little photo shoot. And I have to say, the photos turned out fab and were completely free!! (hunny, you were right...) Here they are. Enjoy!