Baby "Cinderella" is One Month Old!

Hey One Month!

*I enjoy longish naps in my swing

*I'm getting much better at lifting my head

*I actually don't mind "tummy time"

*People are starting to say that I look like my dad, I think I have my mom's eyes though

*I have crazy hair

*My favorite toy is my elephant named "Azul".....my mom says he's the color blue, I don't know what that means or why his name is Azul but he makes noise & he's fun

*Milk is my fave, I'm not super picky with the temperature of it

*I brought in the new year with a midnight snack & then promptly went to bed

*I've outgrown most of my newborn clothes & I'm wearing Size 1 diapers

*I've started to smile on purpose & enjoy looking at the world around me

*It's been lots of fun meeting my mom & dad's friends (Miss Jackie, Miss Michelle, Tia Mireya, Uncle Matt, Tia Lo, & Miss Mel), I'm looking forward to meeting many more!

*Spent Christmas Eve with my Nana & Papo & went to church for the very first time at Stonebriar Community Church

*Sometimes when I'm in my swing & sleeping I startle myself & look like I'm talking with my hands

*I'm the Aggies good luck charm since they are undefeated since I've been born...WHOOP!  

*My favorite book is "Snuggle Puppy"....it's my fave because that's what my dad calls me

*I'm hoping to start sleeping longer stretches at night....I've already figured out how to eat one less meal at night

Dining Room Renovation

The dining room is FINALLY done!  WOHOOOO!  The furniture, accessories, & lighting have been in place for a while, but we just got the painting done!  I'm thoroughly loving the color, it's pretty fabulous, Lake is still warming up to it.  ;)

Dining Room Table & Buffet:  Ashley Furniture (circa 2008)

Mirror:  Not sure, we've had it a while

Chairs:  World Market, these took me FOREVER to find all of them!

Lamps:  Target

Vases, Flowers, Candle Holders, Plates & Bowls:  IKEA

Plate Chargers:  World Market

Chandelier:  Lamps Plus (Plano)

Guest Room Renovation

So this post is a long time coming but I've finally been able to sit down & get this done.  We spent lots of time putting together our new home & we absolutely love it!  One of my favorite rooms in the house is our "official" guest room, I say "official" because it won't change into anything else, mainly because it has it's own bathroom in it.    We went with gray & yellow as the color scheme.

Bed:  Ashley Furniture

Duvet/Duvet Cover/Bedding:  Bed, Bath, & Beyond

Throw Blanket:  West Elm

Frames:  IKEA

Photos in Frames:  Courtesy of our honeymoon in Paris (2008)

Nightstand:  Lamps Plus

Lamp/Chair/Mirrored End Table:  Target

More reno posts to come ;)

When We Found Out About Our Girl

So right before Week 15 we found out that we would be expecting a sweet bouncing baby GIRL!  Yay for bows, ribbons, & sparkles!  If you're wondering how we found out so early (normally if a couple wants to find out their baby's gender they wait until their mid-point ultrasound to "see" the goods...or not, I guess).  At my Week 10 appointment my doctor offered us the option of doing blood work to test for a ton of different things, one of which would be the baby's gender, we thought, why not, we want to know anyway, so that's what we did!  :)

Below you'll find the video we sent to our close family & friends to let them know the big news!  Enjoy!

Oh My Goodness....I LIVE HERE! (and other realizations)

Yesterday, after an incredibly fun morning of volunteering at the Dallas Arboretum, which like seriously, if you've never been during "Blooms"...you have to go!

Spring at the Dallas Arboretum

Anyway, I was driving around doing house stuff (or as my bestie calls it, my foreman job!) and I went to look at a piece of furniture at a store location in Plano (Lamps Plus), when I got there, the piece that I wanted & had seen online wasn't available, but was in stock at their Dallas location.  I asked where it was, they told me & I was like...oh, I know how to get there, cool!  Hop into good 'ol Roxie, start making my way down 75 & of course there's a wreck, because...well, that's life here, so I make an exit around Mockingbird to avoid traffic & get to my location off of Knox....as I'm meandering on side streets to get to my location, I realize that I know exactly where I'm going & no longer need my Google Maps app.  (Side note:  before October all these streets & highways were GIBBERISH to me, so don't worry if you're confused)  As I pull up to the store, I think to myself, when did I become so acquainted with my new home?  When did I understand & remember where streets were in reference to where I am?  It was an odd feeling, it made me super happy & a little sad all at the same time.  Happy because this really does feel like home now, which may be an odd statement to say considering that we've lived here for almost 5 months now & getting to know this city has basically been a job for me.....but on the sad side of things it also made me miss SA, which I know, we don't live there anymore, I need to get over it, but still, I have slight pains at times of missing my former city....just like I still get pings of pain when I miss the Valley.  Moving is a funny thing, it's an awesome opportunity to get to know a whole new place, all new awesome people, but I think, for me, it's also made me appreciate the things about SA & the Valley that I love & when I do get to see those things again, makes me appreciate that time even more!

Maybe I'm being nostalgic because we are about to move into our new house on Tuesday, YES TUESDAY!  This entire process has taught me immense patience & also made me a granite expert, though I'd really rather NOT be!  As we bid farewell to our Addison apartment & say HELLO to our new home in the 'burbs I'm very grateful for all the past 5 months have brought to us, the good, the bad, the frustrating, and the wonderful moments are all apart of this new journey of ours.  I'm really excited to see what this next chapter brings!

Let's do this!

I think my "granite expertise" was well learned!  We
are in love with our new kitchen!

No Bread Pizza

So this is another Pinterest find, but I did change up the original recipe, just a smidge.  Here's where I got the recipe/idea from:  Portobello Pizza Bites

Ingredients:
**NOTE:  I only made this for myself & had a side of avocado, tomato, mozzarella, evoo, & basil salad.  By myself with nothing else, I could probably eat closer to two of these ;)**
**NOTE2:  The list of ingredients is totally up to you & how much stuff you want on your pizza, so apologies for no exact measurements**

1 Large Portobello Mushroom Cap
Marinara Sauce (from the can & proud!)
Fresh Mozzarella Cheese (cubed)
Red Peppers
Turkey Pepperoni
Parmesan Cheese

What To Do:
- Set your oven to 400 degrees, while your oven preheats, start on your mushrooms.
- Take your mushroom & with a damp paper towel clean the top side of the mushroom.  Be really gentle with it, don't run the mushroom under water as they tend to soak up liquid easily & will have a more rubbery texture if you do that.
- With a spoon scoop out the underside of the mushroom, be careful with this as well, the mushroom is "sensitive".  Also scoop out/off the stem.  Toss all that fun stuff & now you have the "bread" for your pizza.
- On a baking sheet lined with foil place your mushroom top side down.  Bake for 7 minutes.
- Remove your mushroom from the oven.  **Mine was a little sweaty so I drained the excess liquid & cleaned it up just a bit**
- While your creating your pizza, turn on your broiler
- Spread your marinara sauce, add your mozzarella & the remaining toppings.
- Once your broiler is ready, put your topped pizza back in the oven for 3-5 minutes, mine were in there for about 4 minutes, just wanted to get it melty.
- Enjoy!!  This is definitely a "knife & fork" kind of pizza, the mushroom wasn't really crispy, so I think it may be hard to eat like a regular slice of pizza

Finished product on the right, good stuff.

Stuff I'd Do Differently Next Time:

I think I'd like to place the mushroom under the broiler for maybe a minute before adding the toppings, just to see if any "crisping" would happen & also maybe season the actual mushroom itself, not 100% sure with what, but this recipe was so easy that I think you can make it your own without really messing anything up.  Also, I want to try these as tiny little appetizers by using the mini portobello mushroom caps, they'd be so fun & easy to make!  

Oh the possibilities.....try 'em out, let me know what you think!  Hope you enjoy!

The Food on Pinterest is Good TOO.....Sometimes...

So just like my clothing pins, I also pin a ton of recipes on Pinterest, it's my "comida" board, that's "food" for you none bilingual folks ;)  Anyway, along with getting fashion inspiration from my pins, I've also decided to actually start making the food that I pin!  I've made a few things before from a recipe pin, some are good, some are NOT!  It's always hit or miss, but I've also become a slightly better cook (slightly), so seeing ingredient combos in recipes I have a little bit better of an idea of what does or doesn't taste good together at least for what myself & the hubs likes!

So here's the recipe, which was originally posted on March 7th 2010 on the blog "i nom things"

Lemon Garlic Chicken Spaghetti – serves 2 (I added the chicken to the recipe)

2/3 lb. chicken breast (cubed, I added this to the recipe)

4 oz dry spaghetti  (no clue how much that actually is, just grabbed & broke in half, twice)

1/4 cup grated parmesan (used a mix of parmesan, fontina, & asiago)
2 tsp olive oil
1 clove garlic (used 2 medium cloves)
lemon
2 tbsp pine nuts (rough chopped these guys)
5-6 basil leaves, chiffonaded (I call this making basil confetti, thanks Rachael Ray!)

Here are the ingredients (minus the chicken)...and yes, I do lots of my shopping at
Whole Foods...don't hate!

- Cube the chicken.  In a bowl drizzle Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO) over the chicken.  I also squeezed the other half of the lemon on the chicken just to tie together all of the flavors.  Season with salt & pepper.  Sauté chicken until cooked through, remove from heat & off to the side.

- Pour in EVOO and chopped up garlic into a small frying pan and let it cook over low heat, until the garlic starts to brown on edges.  Immediately remove from heat and reserve.  The fragrance from this is so so so good!  While that’s starting up, boil up some spaghetti.

- While the pasta is boiling, chop up your basil like some fun confetti & rough chop your pine nuts.  Let me add, I've never actually had anything with pine nuts, I was actually really liked them, gave the recipe a great crunch!

- In a large bowl pour your garlic oil, garlic chunks and all, squeeze in juice of 1/2 lemon.  Add in your basil confetti & your pine nuts.  Drain your spaghetti & throw it in the bowl with cheese and toss until well combined, don't forget to add in that chicken you set aside a while ago.  Add in some cracked black pepper & plate. I added in another little bit of the shredded cheese to each plate.

Finished product, good times.

The texture on this was crunchy, which sounds odd, but it was good.  The taste is light & tangy, I was a big fan.  The only thing I could think is that I could have had a little more of the garlic oil....maybe I made too much spaghetti, but all in all, a great, pretty easy recipe that I'll definitely be making again!

Two thumbs up & I'd recommend on a summer evening, very light & refreshing ;)