Sayonara, March

When the clock strikes midnight tonight, it will be official: I'll have made it through winter.

:::huge sigh::: Oh, thank GOD.

These winter months have felt exceptionally long this year. In fact, I even bitched about it a few times on here! But I was also in the early stages of pregnancy and experiencing the exhaustion that comes with that, so it's hard to say what was really to blame for my funk. I still think the weather is a major culprit, though. I just really do not like winter.

After the holidays were over, I set my sights on April. To get there, I had to take each month at a time--sometimes one day at a time. It was daunting. It seemed endless.

But now? Now, April is here. :::happy dance:::

We'll likely still experience some cold, dreary days, but the nice days will be more abundant, so I can handle it. In fact, we're welcoming April with a bang--80 degree weather is forecasted for Friday and Saturday! The weather report has been making me giddy every night this week.

See you next year, March. I'm through with you.

Here comes the sun.

Read more...

Neutral

You know what's hard? Trying to design a unisex nursery.

Traditionally, if you're not going to find out if it's a boy or a girl in advance, your choices are green, and yellow. Or...

Nope. Just green and yellow.

At first, I thought I'd like to stick with that tradition, since I like the combination of green and brown. But when it came down to actually looking at nurseries in this color scheme... eh, I don't know. And when I asked Michael, he specifically said he really didn't want to do green or yellow, either.

So now I'm thinking I want to do something more modern. The biggest problem is really with bedding. Seems like every design screams boy, or screams girl. We have such clearly defined "gender specific" themes in our culture, and it really does make things difficult.

Actually, we're thinking about painting the nursery walls a bright aqua blue. I love blue. But it seems like most aqua blue nurseries you find online are designed for little boys. Booooo, I say. Boo!

But I like the walls in these rooms:

I feel like if I can find the right bedding, everything will come together and the aqua walls will work for a boy OR a girl. The other problem with the bedding is that we don't really want bedding. The baby can't sleep with half of that fluffy crap anyway (increases the SIDS risk), so all we're really looking for is a fun patterned sheet (hard to come by, seems most are solids or boring patterns), and a cute crib skirt. I'm not even looking for matchy-matchy. The design could be made up of other bright colors that are nice with the aqua.
Something like this cute multi-colored bumper that caught my eye. But it's a bumper. :( Too bad the set's sheet doesn't come like this!

We're most likely going with a dark, espresso colored crib. And now that I'm looking at it, we probably don't even really need a fancy skirt with it, since it barely shows.

And so the challenge begins. I scour the internet looking for inspiration photos, but haven't found anything I'm absolutely in love with yet.

So the search continues...

Read more...

Take Me Away (to Florida)

Now that we are just a few weeks out from our trip to Florida, I have to follow my blogging tradition of asking you all for official suggestions.

We'll be in Key West for four days. We'll be in Miami for two days.

We're open for suggestions on anything--activities, restaurants, landmarks, etc. For Miami, we're even open to suggestions for places to stay, as we haven't booked anything for that leg of the trip yet. We've been attempting to bid on hotels on Priceline, but haven't had any luck so far. We are hoping to stay in Miami Beach somewhere. But again, open to what you have to say on the matter. Our budget is moderate, as we'll spend most of our time our exploring, not in the hotel.

Also, as a reminder, we're flying into Miami, staying in a hotel somewhere (we'll definitely use Priceline for that night), then getting up early the next day and driving down to Key West to start our trip there. So we're also looking for the "insider" tips on where to stop along the way! We're prepared to take our time getting down to Key West, so we're willing to make multiple stops throughout the Keys. (Later in the week, we'll drive back up to Miami to spend the remainder of our trip.)

What are the must-sees? Must-dos? The not-worth-its?

Annnnd... go. :)

Read more...

Cinnamon Sugar Biscotti

After the chocolate biscotti came together really easily and was successfully baking in the oven, I decided it was safe to take on a second flavor in one night. I have a lot of coworkers, so I wanted to make sure that there was a decent amount of biscotti to go around.

For batch #2, I turned to something completely different--cinnamon sugar biscotti. Cinnamon sugar anything just might be my favorite in the whole wide world. I'm just sayin'.

And these were a cinnamon sugar hit. Hello, gorgeous. Crunchy, sweet, spicy--perfection.

This morning, I walked into my office armed with dozens of biscotti cookies. As the new girl, I aimed to please. And let's just say...

I came.
I saw.
I conquered.

Things I learned during this baking venture:

1. Biscotti is really easy to make. It requires a lot of baking time when compared to other "cookies," but the dough comes together quickly and there is not any part of the process that is hard.
2. Biscotti is apparently impressive. People could not believe that I made it at home. Sometimes, I confessed to how easy it is; other times, I continued to let them be impressed. :) A girl can't reveal all of her secrets!
3. My coworkers love biscotti. Rumors spread that there was biscotti in the kitchen before I could even get them all laid out on the plates. After I sent out an e-mail, there was a mad rush to the kitchen. Well before lunchtime, all that remained of the biscotti? Crumbs. Lots and lots of crumbs. Which leads me to my last point...
4. Biscotti is MESSY. Crunchy = crumbly. Be prepared to get crumbs everywhere! It's worth it, though, and shouldn't be a problem unless you don't own a vacuum cleaner. Or a broom.

Both the chocolate and cinnamon sugar flavors were awesome, but in different ways. I highly recommend that you choose one (or both) and make these for someone very, very soon. You'll knock their socks off!

Cinnamon Sugar Biscotti
(Source: Joy the Baker)

Ingredients:
- 2 cups flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 6 Tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 egg
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla

For topping:
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 beaten egg (for brushing biscotti before baking) - I just used the egg white discarded from using the extra egg yolk in the biscotti dough. No sense in wasting another egg!

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F and arrange two baking racks in the upper portion of the oven. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cinnamon, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

3. In a small bowl, also whisk together the cinnamon and sugar for the topping and set aside.

4. In the bowl of a stand mixer, fit with a paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes. Scrape down the down and beat in the egg followed by the egg yolk. Beat in the vanilla extract.

5. Add the dry ingredients to the creamed butter all at once. With the mixer or just with a spatula, bring all of the ingredients together until a somewhat stiff dough is formed.

6. Divide the dough in two on the two making sheets. Shape each half of dough into a 9-inch long and 1 1/2-inch wide log. Brush with the beaten egg and sprinkle very generously with cinnamon sugar. Bake the two sheets on two different racks in the oven for 20 minutes. Rotate the cookie sheets for even baking and bake for 20-25 more minutes until golden and firm to the touch.

7. Remove from the oven but keep the oven on. Let biscotti cool until able to handle. Using a serrated knife, cut logs into 1/2-inch wide diagonal slices. Place biscotti cut side down on baking sheet and sprinkle with more cinnamon sugar. Bake again until pale golden, about 10-15 minutes.

8. Store in an airtight container for up to one week.

Read more...

Chocolate Biscotti

I'm almost done with my second week at my new job, and today I realized that I have yet to introduce any of my new coworkers to my tasty treats.

I rarely baked for my coworkers at my old job, because everyone was too good--no one would eat it. Plus, my office was pretty small and there weren't many people, so even a single batch of cookies was too much to bring.

My new company is a completely different story; I discovered this last week, on St. Patrick's Day. I was meeting with a coworker in a common area of the office when someone came in to announce that there were clover-shaped cookies in the kitchen. People ran, y'all. When I went into the kitchen a while later, it looked like the cookie platter had been raked over by a pack of wolves. And so I knew: These people like to eat.

I've had a few biscotti recipes bookmarked for quite some time. I've been intending to try them, as I've never made biscotti before, but it's rare that I bake up breakfast treats, so I haven't had much opportunity to make them. But as I took a few minutes earlier today to brainstorm about what I could bring my new coworkers, I quickly settled on biscotti--two different kinds of biscotti. Oh yeah, baby: Go big or go home.

First up is this chocolate biscotti from Dorie. That's right; I got to bust out the Baking Bible!

Instead of making them exactly as the recipe calls for, I tried a variation that I saw posted at Proceed With Caution, which substituted white chocolate chips for the almonds. Yum.

This biscotti has wonderful chocolate flavor, and although I thought the white chocolate chips were a bit overpowered by the cocoa, they still added just a little extra something that made these so perfect. Delectably crunchy... there is no doubt my coworkers will love them!

Chocolate Biscotti
(Source: Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan)

Ingredients:
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2 tablespoons instant espresso powder (I replaced with additional cocoa powder)
- 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 stick (6 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup chopped almonds, blanched or unblanched (or about 4 ounces white chocolate chips)
- 4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped, or 3/4 cup store-bought mini chocolate chips (I only had regular-sized chocolate chips, so I chopped them up so they were smaller)
- Sugar, for dusting

Directions:
Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment or a silicone mat.

Sift together the flour, cocoa, espresso powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt.

Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar together on medium speed until pale, about 2 minutes; the mixture may be crumbly. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, add the eggs and vanilla and beat for another 2 minutes; don’t worry if the mixture looks curdled. Reduce the mixer speed to low and mix in the dry ingredients in 3 additions, mixing only until a dough forms. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Mix in the chopped nuts and chocolate, then turn the dough out onto a work surface and knead in any dry ingredients that might have escaped mixing.

Divide the dough in half. Working with one half at a time, roll the dough into 12-inch-long logs. Flatten both logs with the palm of your hand, so that they are 1/2 to 1 inch high, about 2 inches across and sort of rectangular, then carefully lift the logs onto the baking sheet. Sprinkle each log with a little sugar.

Bake the logs for about 25 minutes, or until they are just slightly firm. The logs will spread and crack--and that’s just fine. Remove the baking sheet from the oven, put it on a cooling rack and cool the logs for about 20 minutes. (Leave the oven on.)

Working with one log at a time, using a long serrated knife, cut each log into slices between 1/2 and 3/4 inch thick. Stand the slices up on the baking sheet--you’ll have an army of biscotti--and bake the cookies again, this time for just 10 minutes.

Transfer the biscotti to a rack to cool.

Read more...

The Big Reveal

After we found out we're having a baby, we immediately wanted to be able to tell--to shout it from the rooftops, if you will. But the logical part of me wanted to wait until after 12 weeks, and I was determined to stick to that. However, we decided pretty quickly that we'd tell our parents and siblings as soon as possible. Just so we could let someone in on our little BIG secret.

We got the positive pregnancy tests on a Tuesday, and it just so happened that Michael's sisters were both going to be coming home for a visit on Saturday. We knew we wouldn't be able to get through a visit with them without saying anything, so it was clear that Saturday was going to be the day.

We wanted to tell my family around the same time, so I quickly pulled together a family dinner at my mom's house for Sunday... regardless of the fact that we had JUST had a family dinner on the Sunday before. I wondered if anyone would be suspicious, but when I offered to make chili for everyone, no one seemed to bat an eye at the idea of a good meal.

The next step was to figure out how to tell everyone. I really wanted to do something cute, but not something everyone had seen before. There are so many good ideas out there, and since I hadn't given it much thought it advance, I suddenly felt the pressure to pick just the right thing.

Ultimately, I decided to stay true to myself. What better way to tell than by baking something? I had heard stories of something called a "gender reveal" cake. After the big ultrasound, the couple brings the cake to their families, and when they cut into it, it's either pink or blue--revealing to everyone the sex of the baby. I figured I could take that idea and make it into a "baby reveal" cake by making it both pink and blue. When I told Michael, he was completely on board with it.

And, well... it turned out exactly how I hoped.

The only challenge with this idea is that it had to wait for dessert! We had to sit through mingling, dinner, and clean-up with our families before we could get everyone settled down for dessert. In the meantime, our lips were sealed, which was really hard!

Michael's Family:
First, we ran into a bit of a snafu getting my younger sister-in-law home from college for the weekend. We were in a panic because we really wanted her to be there, in person, when we told the whole family. Her original ride home fell through, so we were left trying to figure out an alternative. Cristina really didn't want to inconvenience anybody, so she was refusing all of our ideas. Although we thought for SURE she would think something was up, we ended up insisting that we'd come to get her to bring her home for the weekend. We drove the hour there and the hour back just so she'd be there for our big announcement. Luckily, she didn't really think anything of it.

I told my mother-in-law that I had made her favorite banana cake. I've made it for them numerous times before, so it didn't seem unusual to them that I would bring a cake for no special reason. My stomach was in knots and my heart was racing as my mother-in-law began cutting into the cake.

The first time she pulled the knife out, I immediately saw pink crumbs. I wondered if she'd even cut a whole piece before she figured out that something was up. Sure enough, she noticed--she said, "Wait. You've never made it like this before. Why is it pink?" I tried to write it off, casually saying, "Oh, I just decided to add some food coloring this time, for fun." She continued to cut the cake, and finally pulled the first slice out onto a plate. At this point, she saw the blue. My mother-in-law seemed confused, but did not get it.

Thankfully, my sister-in-law was paying attention as well, and she immediately blurted out, "WAIT A MINUTE. IS THAT SUPPOSED TO SYMBOLIZE SOMETHING?!?" Michael and I kind of just looked at her, smiling, and Melissa started screaming "Are you serious??" and everyone else caught on, and more screaming ensued. It was hilarious.

My Family:
The next day, I brought the second banana cake to my mom's for my family. This time, I was in charge of cutting the cake. Again, I was totally anxious, practically shaking as I cut into the cake. I plopped a piece of cake onto a plate and handed it to my sister-in-law, Kara. There were comments like, "Ooh, pretty colors." And I said, "Yeah, I used food coloring."

I handed out a second piece, this time to my mom. No one was saying anything. Inside, I was dying. After Melissa had figured it out so quickly the day before, I was thinking for sure someone would know from my family, too. Finally, as my mom was about to dig in, she said, "What's the significance of the pink and blue?" I just looked at her. Still, NOTHING. I gave Kara a look. Nothing from her, either.

I stood there in awkward silence, and suddenly, my brother goes "You're pregnant. She's pregnant!" I wouldn't have expected one of my brothers to be the first person to figure it out, but was so thankful that he did! The rest of my family was messing up our plans! :) My family was really excited, too. I joked with them that they're all pretty slow on the uptake since they were so clueless at first.

It was a really fun experience to be able to tell both of our families, and I think they all appreciated the creativity behind the reveal. Now that we are "out" to the whole world, some of them are sharing the story with others, too. It's cute.

We made the announcement to our families when I was only 5 weeks pregnant. Now? 14 weeks pregnant... tick tock, tick tock, tick tock...

Read more...

Recent Read: The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown

Back in 2003-2004, when The Da Vinci Code was taking the world by storm, I decided to do things the “proper” way (sooo unlike me, right?) and read the first book in Dan Brown’s series... well, first. (Crazy idea, I know.) So I started with Angels and Demons, flying through it pretty quickly, despite being in my senior year of college and not having much interest in reading anything I didn’t have to read. I loooooved Angels and Demons. Later, I went on to read The Da Vinci Code, and although it was entertaining and I liked the mystery surrounding the story, I didn’t find it to be nearly as intriguing as Angels and Demons. Go figure.

I feel much of the same way about Dan Brown’s latest installment in the Robert Langdon series, The Lost Symbol. Was it interesting? Sure. Was it full of Brown’s signature suspense? Yes. Was it entertaining? Uh huh. But still, for me, it could not live up to the thrill of Angels and Demons. Sorry, Mr. Brown!

In The Lost Symbol, Robert Langdon is back, and he is—you guessed it—thrust into another life or death situation in which only his extensive knowledge of symbology and history can save the day. One of Langdon’s close friends, who happens to be an influential leader among the Masons, has been abducted and is being held at the whim of a madman. (On a side note, I always find it amusing how sophisticated the villains’ plans are in Brown’s novels. Oh, the lengths his bad guys will go...)

This time, instead of traveling across the Atlantic to Rome or Paris, Langdon stays closer to home as this mystery unfolds in our nation’s capital, Washington, D.C. The story’s villain is after something that he feels only Langdon can give him, which is the knowledge to decipher a very specific code. Of course, it’s not that easy, and we follow Langdon through a harrowing evening of adventure and horror.

As with any other Dan Brown novel, I found myself bored with many of his tangents, during which he uses Langdon’s intelligence and experience to depart from the story to enlighten us about some obscure group of people in history and tells us all about the historic symbols. Some of these things can be interesting, but for most of them, I found myself skimming because for me, a layperson who doesn’t know much about these groups or their symbols, the knowledge adds nothing to the story. Some of it just seems to go on and on... and on. Let’s put it this way—there is a reason why Brown’s books are so long. The man can be long-winded! (I do not know anyone else who has a tendency to be wordy. I do not. Nope. Stop looking at me.)

Still, like I said, I did enjoy the book and it is a departure from the type of novel that I usually enjoy. I ended up buying it for my dad for Christmas, as I knew he would find it interesting as well. He is a history buff and lives not too far away from D.C. After we had both gotten through the book, it was fun to discuss with him.

If you’ve read Dan Brown’s other novels and enjoyed them, I think you’ll enjoy The Lost Symbol, too. If you’ve never read anything by Dan Brown, I recommend starting with Angels and Demons. Although the books in this series do not need to be read in order, I think Angels and Demons is the best way to introduce you to Brown, and get your feet wet in terms of all of the symbology!

Read more...

Walk it out

It has been so beautiful outside over the last several days.

I got home from work a little later than usual this week, as it was my first on the job and I have a lot to learn! But starting on Wednesday, the weather was so nice that as soon as I was home, I was changing my clothes and grabbing Tessa’s leash. Every night, we’ve been enjoying a long walk route which takes us a little over three miles—which is a long way for little legs like Tess has! In turn, she has been one tired girl, and we’ve been tired, too—that fresh air is good for all of us.

Hopefully nice weather + new job is a worthy excuse for my lack of blogging the last few days?

Thanks to my new job, my husband and I work less than half a mile from each other now. It’s pretty awesome. Yesterday, he came over to my office and we ended up walking a couple of miles on our lunch break. It was nice to get out into the sunshine in the middle of the day like that, and nice to spend some extra time with Michael, too! And we STILL took Tess for a walk after we got home from work, too! Lots and lots of walking for this pregnant lady. :)

This morning, Michael went skiing with his dad while I stayed home and did some spring cleaning. My energy really is coming back (although I do find that I am still quite tired in the evenings!) and I decided to take on some areas of the house that have been seriously neglected throughout the past couple of months. What I really want to do is give this place a good, thorough vacuuming (edges, couch, blinds, ledges, etc.) but our vacuum cleaner is a piece of crap and there is hardly any suction in the hose, making all of the attachments virtually useless. We are getting ready to invest in a Dyson, but have yet to pull the trigger on that. You know you’re an adult when you’re excited about the purchase of a vacuum cleaner.

Anyway, by the time I was done scrub-scrub-scrubbing, it was early afternoon, Michael was home from skiing, and we decided to go on another long walk. Fourth day in a row—it feels nice to be active!

I want to get down on my knees and beg Mother Nature not to take all of this away from us, but it’s no use—the weather is supposed to be back to the “typical March” cold and dreariness early next week. Still, I know it’s only a matter of time now before we get this nice weather more consistently, and I just. can’t. wait.

Read more...

Baby Fever

Sometime after we were married, my husband and I started talking about timing for the "next step"--when we would have a baby. Although I started to have inklings of "baby fever" just a few months after the wedding, we agreed to enjoy the first year of marriage and revisit the subject around our first anniversary.

I don't want to get into all the nitty-gritty details of our journey to have a baby. But I do feel like fertility problems are sometimes a little "taboo" or something, so I feel a certain responsibility to at least be honest about our experience. As we were going through it, we didn't share our troubles with anyone. We really held onto the ideal, and wanted our families and friends to be surprised. Plus, I didn't think I could handle people asking me about it, because some days, it was the last thing I wanted to think/talk about. There were days, sometimes weeks, that were extremely hard. In the end, our problem paled in comparison to the problems of others, but when you're in it, every problem seems difficult to deal with--no matter how small or large.

Essentially, after being off birth control for 7-8 months (we weren't trying during this time), my body decided to stop ovulating consistently. Coincidentally, my body stopped working right at the time we had decided to start trying to get pregnant. Last summer, I went 100 days without a period before my doctor gave me drugs to have one. We thought perhaps it was an anomaly, but in the fall, it happened again, and it became clear that we weren't going to get pregnant if I couldn't get my body working like it was supposed to.

After some evaluation, my doctor suggested Clomid. By this point, we were pretty frustrated since it had been months and we hadn't even had a chance to get pregnant yet. In order to move forward and get the show on the road, we agreed to give the Clomid a try. My doctor told me that we had three cycles of Clomid to get pregnant before she would refer us to a reproductive endocrinologist (fertility specialist).

Long story short--Clomid was my miracle drug.

Our first Clomid cycle was a bust, and I was tremendously disappointed and discouraged. When the end of the second cycle was drawing near, I took a pregnancy test and got a negative--again. For whatever reason, I was more relaxed about the results this time, and went on with life. The next day, I tested again: another negative. Life continued to go on. Two days after that, my period was officially due. I took a third test, waited for two minutes, didn't see anything (another negative, I figured) and went back to bed until the alarm.

When I got out of bed half an hour later and went to shower, I took a second look at the test and saw the faintest of faint second lines. I thought perhaps it was an evaporation line, and knew I couldn't trust the results since the "testing period" had long gone, so I really didn't think much of it at all. But I did say to Michael--"This is weird. There is something there, and that's never happened before. If I don't get my period today, I'm testing with the GOOD test tomorrow." (So far, all the tests I had taken were Dollar Tree tests.)

I never got my period. (Oh, and my chart? Possibly the most beautiful chart EVER, if I do say so myself.)

On Tuesday morning, we woke up together and I went into the bathroom to test. I broke out the "big guns"--a First Response Early Response. I took it, opened the door, and waited for the results with Michael. After a minute or two, I turned around, picked up the test, and started laughing. There were two lines, and there was no question about it. We knew then that we're having a baby. I think we were both in shock. We laughed, we hugged, I cried.

Of course, I still wanted to "confirm" with a digital. Because I was apparently too giddy to read directions correctly, I accidentally wasted two digitals. They came up with invalid results. I was pissed! I just wanted to see the word "pregnant" pop up, was that too much to ask? Thankfully, the third (and last) digital test in the box worked, and I got my wish. "Pregnant!" From then on, it was real.

January 12, 2010 = Life will never be the same.

Read more...

Book Recommendations?

I have a couple of book reviews I need to catch up on here, but I'm currently not reading anything. I usually have a "queue" of some sort--a list of books I've been wanting to read. Or sometimes I'll just stumble upon something that sounds good and read that. But right now? Nada. Zilch. Zip. Nothing.

I need some new recommendations! I'm not too into chick lit (at least not the "extreme" chick lit stuff--no Nicholas Sparks, for instance). If you want to see some of the things I've read and enjoyed to get an idea of my taste, see my books label.

What have you all read lately that you've loved?

I need to get myself to the library!

Read more...

Trial by Fire

My first day at the new job was pretty insane. It was unlike any other "first day" I've ever had, that's for sure.

Usually, you kick back, get acclimated with your new workspace and computer, meet with HR, fill out a trillion forms, shake a lot of hands, and putz around for most of the day. In fact, in my past experience, that's really how the first week goes.

Not for me. Not here. Not today!

I got a call from my new coworker last night at about 8:00 telling me that I actually needed to be at work an hour early this morning. Yikes! It was fine, and it's not something that will happen often, but it was still quite an interesting way to start things off.

Plus, I had to wear a suit. But it was also fine and won't happen very often. It would've been more fine if my suit pants still fit. HA! Well, I could button them, but not comfortably. I totally had to bust out the Bella Band today. :) My suit pants never had a lot of wiggle room in them, so it makes sense that they are the first to be sacrificed to the growing baby belly. (I'm still not officially "showing"--still waiting for that to happen!)

Anyway, I was out of the office at the special event until around 11:00 a.m., when we finally went back and I was actually able to sit down at my new desk. I had enough time to catch up on my (already full) e-mail inbox before my coworker and I headed out for lunch. Back to the office a little before 2:00, and it was time for training with IT, meetings with HR, and then a meeting with my coworker so she could hand off a bunch of writing assignments. Assignments that are due Wednesday. Awesome. (Truly.)

I'm not used to being so busy! For the past 3.5 years, I've grown accustomed to the slow pace that was my old job. I like the feeling of being occupied again. It certainly made the day go by faster.

Everyone I've met seems really great and I'm excited. Oh, and probably the best thing I found out today--my new company offers short-term disability insurance coverage! Can I get a "WOOHOOO"? I'll pay a small amount out of every paycheck to cover the premium, and when I'm on maternity leave later this year, I'll get paid 60% of my salary. I repeat, WOOHOOO! I was going into it expecting for the entire leave to be unpaid, so this was fantastic news.

For those who asked or may have been curious, my new company was fully aware of the pregnancy prior to my taking the job. Even though I knew I wasn't required to tell them in advance, I felt badly entering a job with what I felt was such a big secret. I told up front, and I'm so glad that I did! They have been really great about it. I'm lucky to have entered such a supportive environment.

I couldn't sleep last night. I think it was a combination of being messed up from daylight savings and being anxious about starting the new job. I couldn't shut my brain off. Couple that with the fact that I had to get up an hour early and I am TIRED! I'll be ready for bed tonight, that's for sure.

Tomorrow: Day 2! :)

Read more...

Baby Pics

During my 13 weeks of pregnancy, we've been fortunate enough to be able to see our baby twice already.

Actually, the first time was not fun. I had a miscarriage scare that sent us rushing to my doctor's office. I was shaking, I was bawling, and I feared for the worst. I kept thinking, "This is not how I wanted to have my first ultrasound." But then the tech brought an image up on the screen and said, "There is your baby. And that flickering is its tiny heartbeat."

Awesome. So, so awesome. I laughed; I have never been so relieved.

This is what the babe looked like at 7 weeks. Pretty funny to look back at now! After this, I was routinely calling it "The Blob." :)

At our first doctor's appointment at 8 weeks, we were presented with the option to do an NT scan (an ultrasound and bloodwork that tests for the probability of Down's, and the Trisomy disorders). After some research and conversation among ourselves, we decided to go for it and scheduled the scan for the 12th week of pregnancy. We figured that it was an opportunity to see our baby, and also hopefully get some reassurance that it's healthy.

We went in for the NT scan ultrasound and bloodwork on Monday, and that was when we got this lovely profile shot (the one I posted to announce the pregnancy on the blog!):

The baby had its hands up by its mouth a lot (like it does in this shot). I wonder if this means it's going to be a thumb sucker.

It's amazing how much development happens in the first trimester. Look at what a difference just five weeks makes! We went from a Blob Baby to a "real" baby, with facial features, arms, legs, fingers and toes. I'm constantly in awe of what's going on inside of my body right now. Every week, we read about the development and it's just incredible. During the ultrasound, I couldn't stop giggling, just because I couldn't believe that we were looking at this thing that's growing inside of me.

The baby was really active. It kept turning, rolling, and bouncing around. It kept moving its arms and legs, too. Here, the tech got a really good shot of the baby's hand and fingers. It was waving at us, like "Hi Mom and Dad!"

Here, the baby rolled over to face us. This is a straight-on shot of the face, but I know it's hard for most people to make out. Even my dad, who is a former x-ray tech and should be able to read these things, couldn't see the face. I think I'll have to draw him a diagram!

The baby kept showing of its legs, too. Baby kept sticking them up straight in the air. I can't wait until I can feel those little legs kicking me! :)

Our next ultrasound (and probably our last) is scheduled for the end of April, when we'll have the anatomy scan. I'll be around 18-19 weeks pregnant then. This is the ultrasound where we would be able to find out the sex of the baby, except we're not going to. ;) I'm looking forward to seeing the little bugger again!

Read more...

Logan's Sesame Street Party

Today, we drove down to my sister-in-law's for our nephew's first birthday party. We got to spend a few hours with them before the rest of the guests arrived, which was nice since we haven't seen them in almost two months!

From the moment we walked in, Brendan was all over the cupcakes. He wanted a cupcake sooooo badly. Every single time he was in the dining room, he was asking about a cupcake. By some miracle, he managed to wait until the party was in full force, everyone had eaten, and the gifts had been opened. But then, as soon as someone mentioned it was time for cupcakes? The kid bee-lined into the dining room.

The birthday boy, Logan!

When presented with the smash cake, like a lot of kids, Logan didn't really "get" it. He did experiment by putting his fingers in it a bit, but then he actually got a little bit fussy because I don't think he liked the feeling of the frosting caked on his fingers. Silly boy; it's CAKE!

He did eventually take a pretty decent chunk off the side of the cake and Melissa cut it up for him to eat. He did seem to enjoy it.

Meanwhile, Brendan was FINALLY getting his hands onto the cupcake that he had been wanting all afternoon. He was damn sure he wanted Elmo, too. There wasn't any hesitation in his choice.

Love.

As soon as he was done devouring Elmo, he said, "I want Oscar!" He didn't get another one right away, but later on, before we left, Melissa let him have an Oscar. After he had a few bites of Oscar, he said, "Now Big Bird!" Hilarious. The line was drawn there, though. But we let him keep a Big Bird AND a Cookie Monster to save for tomorrow. :)

Overall, a successful first birthday for Logan. And the cupcakes were a huge hit with big brother Brendan!

Read more...

Sesame Street Cupcakes

Today was the polar opposite of yesterday. Today, I had no problem sleeping in until 9:30 a.m., as it was completely gloomy and rainy outside. Still, I had a bunch of things on the agenda that needed to get done, so it wasn't exactly a lazy day. It sure did feel nice to sleep in, though!

My sister-in-law, Melissa, asked me to make a birthday cake for Logan's first birthday, as I did for Brendan's first (and second) birthdays. She told me that the theme for the party was going to be Sesame Street, and left it up to me from there.

A few weeks back, when I did Google searches to look for inspiration for cakes, I came across some really cute character cupcakes. Since I knew I was going to be doing a huge cake for Poppy's birthday just one week before, I figured cupcakes would be a nice change of pace. I was right--these seemed like very little work compared to the fire truck cake. The most tedious part was actually coloring all of the icing--so many colors! After that, they actually came together pretty quickly.

Although I found pictures of a TON of different characters in cupcake form, I decided to stick with four of them--Elmo, Cookie Monster, Big Bird, and Oscar the Grouch. Also, to make sure all things are "fair" among brothers, I had to make Logan a smash cake like I did for Brendan. I decided to keep it pretty simple and pipe the Sesame Street sign on top, to tie everything together with the cupcakes.

A closer look at the cupcakes:

All of the characters' eyes are made with mini marshmallows that I cut in half with kitchen scissors. I piped the little pupils on with black buttercream. The mouths for Elmo, Cookie Monster and Oscar are all made out of half an Oreo cookie. I piped Elmo's fur with a star tip, and his nose is an orange miniature gumball. Cookie Monster's fur is piped with tip #233, used for hair, fur, grass, etc.

Big Bird's feathers are done with a leaf tip. I made the pieces for his beak using yellow candy melts. I drew the shape on a piece of paper, then traced it using the melted candy. I let them dry, then used two of them for each Big Bird (one for the top part of the beak, one for the bottom). I piped on Big Bird's eyelids using a light blue buttercream. Like Cookie Monster, Oscar's fur is also done with the #233 tip. One of the things that makes Oscar look like Oscar is the eyebrows, so I drew those on using brown buttercream.

And a closer look at the cake.

These were fun to make. I loved Sesame Street as a kid!

Read more...

Spring Fever

Today was so, so beautiful... from beginning to end. I loved every second of today.

Since yesterday was my last day of work and I don't start my new job until Monday, I have myself a lovely little 4-day weekend here. This morning, Michael woke me up to tell me he was leaving for work a bit before 8:00. After he left, I tried to get back to sleep, but was disturbed by the BRIGHTEST SUNLIGHT EVER shining through our bedroom window. It was shining at just the right angle to render our blinds ineffective. I snuggled with Tess and watched TV for a while to see if I would drift off to sleep again, but alas... I just could not wait to get up and enjoy the day.

I "recorded" my day with a series of cell phone pics. Those of you who follow me on Twitter have probably already seen most of these!

First, I ate breakfast, browsed the web, and then relaxed on the couch and watched some morning television. I opened the blinds for Tessa so that she could look out and enjoy lying in the sunshine. My view:

(Notice my Christmas pajama pants? Awesome.)

After a while, I got up and baked a cake and a batch of cupcakes for Logan's birthday party, which is Saturday. I won't decorate until tomorrow, but I figured I'd get a head start by getting the baking done today. While I did that and a lot of other things around the house, Tess continued to enjoy the sunshine:

She was in her version of heaven, I think. (Notice the doggy nose marks all over the window. A good Windexing is in order. Sheesh.)

After everything was baked and some of my "chores" were done, I threw on some workout pants and a long-sleeved t-shirt. I broke out my iPod and a pair of SUNGLASSES (yessss!) and asked Tessa if she wanted to go for a walk. "Walk" is a magic word in Tessa's world. She totally understands what it means, and when you say it, she will jump all over you like you just told her she won the lottery.

We set out for our walk and I was even more pleased with the weather than I thought I would be. It was 60 degrees and perfectly sunny and I loved it so much. I kept closing my eyes and just breathing in the fresh air, feeling the sun on my face and the (relatively) warm breeze. Ahhhh. Days like this are just what I need after what has felt like a substantially long winter. Still, I was reminded that winter is not quite over:

There was still plenty of snow to be seen on our walk. And I know this day is just a spring tease, but I DON'T CARE.

We took our extra long walking route, as I really didn't want to go back inside. Like, ever. It felt so good to be out and getting some outdoor exercise. Although she is a complete trooper and will keep walking as long as we do, I could tell little Tess was getting pretty tired after a while. It's a long walk for her little legs!

She stuck it out, though, and we finished our route. When we got home, Tess collapsed into the sunny grass and rolled over for belly rubs.

Unfortunately for her, it was then that I realized just how dirty her belly had gotten from our walk, so it was straight into the bathtub for her. But I did grab one last photo, of Tessa and her mama enjoying the sunshine:

After a bath for Tess and a shower for me, we both were ready to relax for a little while.

Someone was super tired.

In the late afternoon, my sister-in-law, Cristina, came over and we played Super Mario Brothers Wii until Michael got home from work. From there, we walked to a restaurant close to our house to treat her for dinner, since she's home from college on spring break.

I loved today.

Read more...

Chapter: Closed

I worked my last day at my job today.

Even though it was my choice, and I'm excited about where I'm going, I still couldn't help but feel somewhat sad. I worked at this company for 3.5 years, and I have so many great memories of it. It was time to move on, but still... there is much that I will miss.

I worked with some really great people. That's always the hardest part--leaving the people who you are accustomed to seeing and talking to on a daily basis. Even though you vow to stay in touch, even though you do stay in touch--it is never the same as it was.

I feel extremely lucky to have left on such good terms. My boss and coworkers responded to my leaving by being supportive. They understand that it's a valuable opportunity for me, and can put their happiness for me ahead of their disappointment. I so appreciate that. Last week, my closest coworkers (the ones I work with every day) took me out to lunch, and gave me gifts--one for me, and one for my unborn baby. :) Today, I was thrown a cake reception by a larger group of coworkers, and everyone gathered to tell me I would be missed.

As I was wrapping things up this afternoon, one woman came up to me and handed me a gift bag, saying "It's just something for your baby." I said, "You really didn't have to do this! Thank you so much!" and she said, "Oh, it's nothing!" I opened it up when I got home tonight, and inside were three little baby toys that attach to the car seat or stroller. They are so adorable... hardly "nothing." It was so thoughtful.

After all of the kind words people have said to me over the last week, I feel humbled. It's nice to know that I was liked and appreciated.

I feel like a part of me is in denial! Even though I packed up all of my things, transferred all of my files, and said my goodbyes, I still don't really believe that I'm never going to walk into work there again. As I walked to my building this morning, I tried to take it all in. It's my last time here. This is the last time I'm going to walk into this place in the morning. Still... it's not real yet. I guess it'll take a while to sink in.

Again, I'm happy about the choice I've made and the change I've invited into my life, but it's still weird to leave a place you like. Maybe it's extra hard because I never hated working there. For the most part, I really loved it. I had bad days, but who doesn't? My choice to leave stemmed from the lack of opportunity for growth and advancement. If my company could've offered that to me, I probably would've stayed there for a really long time.

But it is done. It is over. It is time to move forward, onto better things and greener pastures and all that.

Still, I pause to reflect on the past 3.5 years--on the people who have touched my life, on the things I have seen and done. I think about how all of us will move on. For me, it's with a new company. For them, it's with a new person to replace me. Weird. It is really weird to think about someone else doing my job. Especially since I made so many changes to the way the company did things; it feels like a lot of those things are my projects. But now they are someone else's.

*sigh*

Out with the old; in with the new.

I am ready for the future. But I will never forget the past.

Read more...

1 + 1 = 3

So, we're expecting a baby.

In other words, this is the real reason I've sucked at blogging (and sucked at life) for the last two months. At least it's a good excuse, right?

I've been tired. Really, really, really tired. But I've noticed an improvement the past few weeks, and things are looking up from here. I think I'm coming out of the first trimester funk and entering into the "magic" that is supposed to be second trimester.

I'm sitting here now, trying to figure out how the hell to condense the last eight weeks into a coherent post. And well, I don't think I can! Even though much of what I've been up to has been boring as hell, there still seems to be much to talk about. I guess we can start with what are probably the frequently asked questions. These are the ones I'm getting from people in real life, and the answers:

How far along are you? When did you find out? I am 12 weeks pregnant. We found out on January 12, when I was a little over 4 weeks pregnant.

12 weeks already?? Why didn't you tell me sooner?? We told parents and siblings pretty much right away (more about that later!). For everyone else, we decided we wanted to wait until we were further along, when the risk of miscarriage was minimized. It's not that we didn't want to tell people, it's just that we didn't want to un-tell. We ended up spilling the beans to a few close friends along the way, but it was kind of on a "need to know" basis. We didn't even tell our grandparents until now! It was a hard secret to keep, but I still think it was the right decision for us.

How are you feeling? I'm feeling really good these days. I have been really lucky, as I had virtually no morning sickness. I had a few weeks around 7-9 weeks when I felt like total garbage, but I soon discovered that it was my prenatal vitamins, not pregnancy, that were making me ill. As soon as I switched to taking them right before bed (instead of with breakfast), I felt like a new woman.

Was this planned? Yes, it was. Very much so. This baby has been wanted for a while.

Are you going to find out the sex? Nope! We like the idea of keeping it as a surprise for delivery day. Everyone is going to have endure the suspense until September.

Do you have names picked out? We're about 99% sure we do. But guess what? We're not sharing that before the birth, either. I know, I know. We are evil. Believe me, we're already getting grief from family and friends about our level of secrecy, but oh well! :) Everyone will survive, I assure you.

Have you had any cravings? Mustard. Traditional yellow mustard. I'm in love with it right now.

Are you showing? Not really. I've just started to notice some slight changes in my abdomen, but it's not visible to anyone else yet. I'm not wearing maternity clothes yet, though my pants are starting to feel tight in the afternoons (after I eat lunch). Hello, bloat! I'm just waiting for the day when I wake up and can no longer button my pants. It's coming, I can feel it.

I think that probably covers the basics. Let me know if I'm forgetting anything. :) I want to point out now that I have no intention of turning this into a "baby blog," so I hope that those of you who don't give a crap about babies will still visit me! With that said, I've never placed this blog in any sort of category at all; I've always just posted about what's going on with me, my thoughts, what I'm cooking, what I'm working on, etc. So it's only natural that I'll be posting about the pregnancy/baby on a pretty regular basis. Especially in the next week or two, since I'm sort of making up for lost time! Please bear with me as I work out a balance between the "old me" and the "current me."

Thank you for all of the congrats messages on my announcement post! It is really overwhelming to receive messages from so many well-wishers. It is nice to know that there are people out there, aside from our family and friends, who care.

Read more...

September 19, 2010

Read more...

Fire Truck Cake & Fire Cupcakes

When my husband asked me if I'd be willing to make a cake for Poppy's surprise 80th birthday party, it didn't take long before I had pictures and ideas running through my head. And once I had it set in my mind that it would be a fire truck cake, there was no way I was going to let them bring in some store-bought cake for Poppy's big birthday party.

The only challenge that lay ahead was in figuring out just how in the hell I was going to pull this off.

It involved sculpting, people. And measuring. And fondant pieces and red icing. Red, which is a freaking bear of a color to make. Oh, and a TON of icing. Like, 5 batches worth. And um, to top it all off, I had to figure out a way to make this cake to serve 80 people.

I can say now: mission accomplished. (Thank you, baby Jesus.)

As with any cake project I've taken on, I started in Google Images to find photos for inspiration. It was a little bit difficult to find something that fit my own vision, but I felt like I really needed something to go on to help me with this monstrous task. Thankfully, I eventually found Julie at Peanut Butter & Julie. She did a really cute fire truck cake that pretty closely fit what I was picturing in my head. And, even better, she was super helpful in answering questions for me, too. So big thanks go to Julie.

Still, I found that with many parts of this project, I really just had to figure it out as I went along. Thankfully, it all ended up working out for me. But it was a lot of work. So much work. I literally worked on some aspect of this thing every night this past week, starting on Monday. Before I even started, I made a "schedule" of tasks for each night, doing what I could in advance.

And it's done! It's DONE. So pardon me while I share a bunch more photos. I just can't resist. (I'll also share some more info, too, for those of you who may stumble across this post doing your own Google searches for "fire truck cakes.")

The cake itself is constructed from four half-sheet cakes. I used a regular cake recipe (red velvet--I thought the color was really appropriate for a fire truck!) in each one, so the cakes were pretty thin. I found it was easier to work with thin layers because of the sculpting/shaping I decided to go with in the middle (with the varying heights). I filled the cake with buttercream icing between each layer, and it's frosted with buttercream as well.

The tires are mini chocolate donuts, and the lights are Jolly Ranchers. The ladders and the hose are made out of marshmallow fondant. The ladders are hanging on the sides of the truck using pretzel sticks as hooks. Everything else is buttercream. I "dirty iced" the whole cake, then covered it using a medium star tip.

I sculpted the fire hydrant out of fondant and let it dry out in the open for several days. The hose and water are also made of marshmallow fondant. The writing is in buttercream.

The cake board is a 2'x2' piece of plywood that we got at Home Depot. I covered it in black fabric (thanks again for the tip, Julie). The cake itself is sitting on a cakeboard that I cut to the exact size of the cake. When I first set the cake on it, there were little edges of the cake board showing, but as I iced and decorated, it was easy to cover up the edges of the cake board so it wasn't visible. It looked like the cake was sitting directly on the fabric.

I'm worried that the cake might not feed everybody at the party, so this is my solution. I made a batch of vanilla cupcakes (24 of them), and topped them to look like fire. The icing is yellow/orange buttercream, and the flames are made out of candy melts. I printed out a picture of a clipart flame, and traced it a bunch of times to make the candy topper for each cupcake.

Happy 80th Birthday, Sibby. :) I should've explained the significance of the fire truck--Poppy has been a volunteer firefighter for many, many years. Of course, he can no longer do any of the actual firefighting work, but he's still heavily involved in the fire company. I'd say the majority of the attendees at the party are going to be his buddies from the firehouse. It seemed only appropriate to honor Poppy and all of his friends.

I can't wait to show off this monster at the party tonight!

Read more...

Ketchup Day

Welcome to Ketchup Day: March 2010 Edition. Come on in and sit down for a while. :)
______________________________________________________

So I have fallen into "crappy blogger" mode again this week. I wish I could get back into the routine of it, but it has been hard. I have been so busy, though. We haven't been cooking hardly at all, and it seems like there haven't been enough hours in each day. I'm exhausted!

I promise I'm going to try to be better again really soon. We've had nice, sunny weather the past few days (still cold, though), and it's like my energy is renewed just from seeing sunlight. As the weather gets warmer, it'll only get better. I can't wait.
______________________________________________________

My time at my current job is winding down. It's starting to feel a little weird; I think I'm in a little bit of denial! I've been here for 3.5 years and it's always strange to make such a big change.

Yesterday, my department went out to lunch together one last time, and next week, I have another lunch and a farewell cake planned in my honor. At least I'm lucky enough to be leaving on good terms, right? I feel blessed.
______________________________________________________

Aside from my job change situation, another thing that has been keeping me really busy this week is a CAKE! I'm working on the most complicated cake design I've done yet. It is kicking my butt. I've spent every night this week working on it, and tonight will be the biggest night yet. The cake is for Michael's grandfather's surprise 80th birthday party, and the party is tomorrow, so... well, needless to say, it'll be done soon. I'll reveal tomorrow!
______________________________________________________

I'm actually looking forward to the Oscars on Sunday, even though I only care about maybe six of the awards. I find everything else to be tremendously boring (I don't even really care who is wearing what), so I'm planning to DVR and fast-forward to the good parts.

My guesses for the big awards:
Christoph Waltz (Inglourious Basterds) for Supporting Actor
Mo'Nique (Precious) for Supporting Actress
Jeff Bridges (Crazy Heart) for Lead Actor
Sandra Bullock (The Blind Side) for Lead Actress (I love, love, LOVE her. I really hope she wins.)
James Cameron for Director
Avatar for Best Picture

We'll see how it goes. I don't really think there will be any surprises this year.
______________________________________________________

I've been up for a new phone for a while now, but haven't been especially motivated to actually go and get the upgrade. We're sticking with Verizon, so I'm sticking with BlackBerry. I currently have the Pearl, which I've liked, but I'm ready for a "full-size" BlackBerry. I can get the Tour or the Curve. Anyone with any opinions on that? Just curious.
______________________________________________________

I think that does it for now. I hope everyone is well, and I hope you all have fabulous (and SUNNY!) weekends.

Read more...

Birthday Baby

Today is our nephew Logan's first birthday.

It's so hard to believe! He is still such a baby. I think perspective shifts when it is a second child. Brendan is so big and grown, and in turn, makes Logan look so little and young.

It seems like it was just yesterday when we drove down to meet him! His birthday party isn't until the weekend of the 12th, so for now, we have to wish him a happy birthday from afar.
Happy Birthday, Lo-Lo! We love you very much. :)

Read more...