4 days

the weekend is coming! the weekend is coming! and for me, it starts tomorrow. yeah! and monday is a holiday, so that means i get 4 days off! 4 days at home to be with my baby. double yeah!

i want to make something fun this weekend. shaun and i already celebrated valentine's last tuesday because my mom is our only babysitter right now and she will be out of town this weekend. plus, i got shaun tickets to the UK game, so we celebrated a little early. but...i still want to do a little something on sunday. have some kind of tasty treat for dinner and dessert. but i don't know what to make. i'll probably go with red velvet cake for dessert. shaun looooves the cream cheese icing i make. and i was watching sunny anderson's cooking show on the food network the other day and this is the red velvet cake she made. i think i'm going to use regular cream cheese icing, but the look of this one is so cool. i'll let you know how it goes.

but what should i make for dinner? shaun is so picky i don't have a lot of options. i read great recipes all the time, but it almost always includes cheese or ranch or seafood or rice. he is pretty much against all this stuff, plus much more. maybe something steak related? does anyone know any good recipes?

hopefully we will be able to get out and do something and the snow won't keep us house bound. usually i love staying in on cold weekends, but i want to go out and do something. i need a new jacket. one with a hood that is water resistant. {note to future mothers: it is almost impossible to hold an umbrella while holding a baby. so unless you can rock the wet hair look, which i cannot, you need a coat with a hood} shaun (my amazingly generous husband) is giving me his $50 gift card to dick's! i'm looking for something like this:

i hope they are having a sale in the store and i can get a good deal!

happy v-day weekend blog land!

5 months

baby girl-

i can't believe it. 5 months have passed and you are growing faster than i can track!

you are obsessed with your feet these days. every chance you get you are grabbing for them. while your eating, playing, getting your diaper changed. you LOVE your feet! (i love them too - they are really cute and chubby!) they are a little bit ticklish now. i can tickle the bottom and you curl your toes and pull away. daddy is always smelling them and teasing that they are really stinky. i just tell him - stop sticking your nose in them!

you are also starting to sit up on your own a bit. you aren't quiet strong enough to sit straight up, but you are learning how to hold your self up with your arms. i've been trying to get pictures of you sitting up and have a TON where you are tipping over. I have to admit, those are my favorite. but every time you fall you just roll over to your back and squeal with delight. you really enjoy looking around while sitting up. it's like a whole new world for you where everything isn't only horizontal.

you are laughing and playing and smiling all the time. you really are a happy baby. you sleep through the night (11 hours be exact) and you love to hear yourself squeal. you like to practice standing, and i get excited but freaked out at the same time when i think about you crawling and walking soon. you are my sweet baby girl and my favorite person to spend time with (next to daddy).

and you've started to reach for things. papers i'm holding in my hands, my phone, kona. you looove kona. he is your buddy. every time he is in the room you are fixated on him. you reach for him and he stops and licks your hands (before i can stop him!) and you giggle and squeal. you have also started reaching out for our faces. sticking your fingers in our mouths and reaching for our noses. you especially loves daddy's face right now b/c he has a bread. you are always trying to grab the hairs on his face.

you bring us so much joy baby caroline. i can't believe 5 months have already passed. keep growing strong baby girl. we love you more that you could ever imagine.

uh

i don't feel well today. i really don't want to complain, so i am trying to think about better days to come.

right now i wish i was here:

with these people (plus baby caroline, baby elliott, and baby boy stone)

doing this...

i have no idea who these people are eitehr. but we keep teasing that we are going to take a family picture all wearing white shirts on the beach. who knows. if mandy has it her way, we will! =)

uh. i wish it was july....

do you ever?

do you ever go through your day thinking "i should blog about ." but then when you really think about it your either doesn't seem worthy or an entire blog, or if you do only blog about that you will seem a little weird. yeah, me either....

i was talking to my best friend cami the other night and she was saying she writes entire blogs in her head all the time. (even though she doesn't actually have a blog - i think she needs one) i do this too. but i either forget about it later when i'm in front of the computer, or the little topics that pop in my head don't seem blog worthy.

well, this morning i've got 3 random, i mean RANDOM things i've thought about blogging about before.

shazam - do you have an iphone? do you have the app called shazam? i think it's the coolest app out there. there are so many times i hear a song and really like it. but it's on a random commercial, or a tv show. how the heck am i suppose to find out who sings it? SHAZAM! all you have to do is hold your iphone up while the song is playing. shazam will listen and figure out the song. then they tell you who sings it, what album it's on and they take you directly to the itunes store and tempt you to buy it. it's sooooo cool! i have used it so much. i've even been on the look-out for commercials b/c my brother has wondering about certain songs too. if you don't have this application, you NEED it.

twilight- have you read the series? oh man. i read the series while i was pregnant and, of course, have seen both the movies (a couple of times). these books are so good! but sometimes, (i kind of hate to admit this, but if you've read them i think you can relate) i think about bella and edward and jacob throughout my day. i think about them at school, or walking on the beach at la push. i think about how much they love each other and how weird it is that they aren't real. i was so wrapped up in their lives when i was reading the books i just kept wanting to find out more. have your read midnight sun? oh - if you are a twilight fan and you have no idea what i'm talking about, you are in for a treat! go {here} and enjoy my friends. enjoy!

status updates on facebook- do you do these? i don't. i don't think there is anything wrong with them, i just don't think people care that i'm going to the dentist. or that i'm hungry. yes, i read others. and lately i feel like all people do is complain. is this how it's always been and i'm just not noticing? i can't stand it! now, i had this conversation with someone just recently and they said, "you do realize that you are complaining about people complaining, right?" ok- yes, i realize that, but i'm not doing it on facebook, so it's ok. =) but seriously, it makes me sad that all people have on their mind sometimes are complaints. sometimes i wish everyday was thanksgiving. at least that day most updates were about things people were thankful for.

well, that about it. sorry this was kind of a boring blog.

here's a little picture from my saturday morning. it was early and cold, but still so pretty.

happy snowy saturday to you!

a weekend of random fun

we didn't do anything super amazing this past weekend, but it was still pretty fun! i'm starting with friday and ending with monday. that is my weekend since i'm off on mondays!

friday: i went to old navy on my lunch break. i scored BIG on jeans! i'm trying to loose weight and i'm not back in the size i wore right before C came, but i've been wearing a pair of jeans i wore before i lost weight to get pregnant. those jeans are now too big. so, i needed a pair of transitional jeans. i didn't want to spend much, maybe $20. well, i found some and guess how much i payed? guess? $8.50! what?!?! all sale was an additional 50% off! i don't know if this sale is still going on, but they had TONS of jeans. and these are not some jeans that i'm just settleing for, i really like them. it was definitely a score!

before i got home, shaun caught our baby daughter doing this!

evidentally we are going to have to keep an eye on her!

saturday: we went to the castle! no, no. not the jewelry store. castle post. my brother is a chef there and he gave us a little tour. it was so neat! i've driven past that castle sooo many times since i was a little and we tickled pink to finally get a look inside. this place is pretty fancy. i would LOVE to stay there some night with a whole bunch of friends. but right now, i'm happy with the tour.

later, when we got home, the UK wildcats become #1! another great day!

sunday: well, we didn't really do much. i actually cleaned (scrubbed) both the bathrooms and did laundry. it wasn't really fun, but it was a great feeling when i finally took a shower and then later gave caro a bath in our shiny bathtub.

monday: C and i went to hobby lobby. mostly we just walked around. i really love it there. i only spent about $8 on some reeds for the bathroom, but i still walked the whole store. so many things to look at and get ideas from.

and later, i made apple spice cupcakes from scratch. i found the recipe here on christi's blog. i was able to do everything pretty flawlessly. the icing was spectacular! and the delce de leche made the cupcakes quite a sweet treat! shaun went nuts over them! i love baking for him. =)

yes, i stole her picture. but mine looked almost identical. except for the frosting.

the weekend ended with a wonderful surprise! my best friend cami called and we each set up skype on our computers! it was amazing! i got to talk to her, brad (her husband), owen (her sweet 2 year old) and baby elliott (5 months). i almost started crying i was so excited. cam and i talk and email as much as we can, but i still haven't met elliott. she was the one that was born at 28 weeks. she looks AMAZING! so healthy and so big. what a wonderful way to end the weekend!

back at work now. listening to all the sirens go by from wrecks on the roads this morning. glad i'm in here!

taking a break

today it is cold and rainy outside. and usually i eat my lunch at my desk and go out and run errands on my lunch break. but i really don't have any errands to run today, and it's so yucky outside, i really don't want to get out to do nothing. and, if i do go out, i will just go somewhere that i am tempted to spend money. so - today i'm going to stay in and take my break here in my office. i'm going to dream about spending money.

this spring shaun and i are thinking (just thinking/dreaming) about putting our house on the market and moving somewhere new. we will of course stay here in lex, but we want to find a house that is a little bigger that we can stay in for a loooong time. i love our little house. it has been a wonderful first home. but, if finances line up and we are able to sell our house, we are ready to move on.

so, why am i telling you this? because moving means a clean slate - a new place to decorate! (whoops, the rhymes...) and i've got tons and TONS of ideas spinning around in my head. i've been thinking about some of these things for awhile, but hadn't given them much thought b/c i have a 4 month old. and, because some of these ideas mean spending some money. and if we want to move, we have to save. but once the move is on, i'm implementing as many of my ideas as i can get away with!

first- the guest bedroom. right now we have an old bed frame that is a light oak color. it was actually my mom's bed when she was a teenager. also, there is a really u.g.l.y nightstand that belonged to shaun in his college days. (i've kept it only because we needed somewhere to put the tv on in the guest room) well, i have dreams to paint them! i was watching HGTV the other day (i'm kind of obsessed) and they painted some mis-matching furniture the same color and it looked awesome! like an eclectic little set. i REALLY want to do this. i'm thinking a light aqua color. and i'm going to replace the hardware on the nightstand. i'm thinking pretty glass nobs would look perfect. i want to do the walls in a light gray. something that will make the furniture stand out more. and i want light bedding too. i have a white quilt on the guest bed right now. i'm pretty sure shaun will want me keep that for a bit longer and if i want to move on to other projects, i will most likely agree.

second- our bedroom. right now it's a wonderful shade of blue. a lake blue. i really like it a lot. we have some wonderful dark wood furniture in there and i've always loved the blue and brown combination.

our room after we first moved in. bedding has changed, but the furniture and walls are the same.

but a new house means new colors. so, for the our next bedroom i want red. don't get freaked. i don't mean red walls. i mean red accents. and not red red. but not burgundy either. more like a brick red. and some tan and cream too. i think a nice neutral on the walls would be nice, and then red on the bed. and maybe, just maybe some bright aqua? it's so cute and trendy right now. i'm not committing to it 100%, but its an idea i have. i really like this pillow from pottery barn. this is the look/vibe i'm thinking.

Still clean lines, but a little richer. i'm thinking that in our next house i would like to have more subdued walls and then pops of fun and color in the accents. right now, all my walls are painted distinct colors. i really can't change things much at all. this way, i'll have more flexibility whenever i get new ideas.

OK- third and final for right now. (this is by no means the end of my ideas, but i don't want to get too far ahead of myself. we may not even move. i guess if we don't i could do all these things to my current house, but that's not as fun.) the kitchen. i want white cabinets, a subway tile back splash, butcher block countertops and green planty accents. wow! what a dream! i'll probably get the white cabinets (probably have to paint), and the green accents will probably be possible too. but the back splash and countertops will most likely be in the years to come. right now our kitchen is brown. brown walls, brown cabinets, and brown counter tops that look like fake wood. i want something fresh!

so, this blog is mostly for me to remember all the ideas i have in my head. i felt like i needed to write them down somewhere. i still have so many more, but i'll save those for another time.

hope you enjoyed my rambling. now, back to work. breaks over...

let's try mousse

i really like making desserts (and eating them too, duh) and for christmas my brother got me a great new dessert cook book. so, this past weekend i decided to take a stab at one of the recipes. and i chose one from the international dessert section. a bitter chocolate mousse. made with orange liquor and yummy "expensive" chocolate.

i have to admit it was kind of tricky. luckily for christmas i also got my beautiful stand mixer. there was a lot of beating. and beating and beating and beating. i also had to use my old hand mixer, but was very thankful for my kitchen-aid.

there's kind of something that comes over me whenever i'm baking. i get stressed out and think to myself "what am i doing? how did i get myself into this?" but as soon as i taste test my progressing creation i get really excited about what i'm doing. and when shaun walks in and peeks over my shoulder wondering when can have a bite, i look forward to serving it.

so here's my finished product. our friends paul and steph came over and on saturday night when i served my mousse. everyone ate every bite. i was pretty excited to see everyone enjoyed what i had made. in the end it wasn't as difficult as it seemed somewhere in the middle. if anyone wants the recipe let me know. i decided not to add it as my blog. sometimes i don't like reading blogs on food preparation. which is strange since it's something i enjoy. but anyway - let me know if you want to give it a try. it was really yummy and kind of fancy!

ps- even though this blog is pretty short it took my quite a while to write tonight. why? because shaun is out with his bible study guys and i'm at home alone (baby C is asleep -- don't worry) watching the bachelor! i've never really watched one before and these girls are ridiculous! there are boobs flying around everywhere! but i'm hooked....i. can't. stop. watching.