Back to Work

Monday marked the beginning of my first full week back at work. It was a bittersweet event. Obviously I would miss Azra during the day, but I was also longing to get out of the house and be around people again. I missed my coffee breaks with co-workers and actually stepping foot outside to get some fresh air. Late fall is just not a great time to be home with a newborn. There were only a handful of days that weren't too windy, cold, or rainy in which to take Azra outside.

I eased into the transition back to work by going in part time last week. It was so nice to be back, that I actually had to remind myself to miss Azra. That sounds terrible, I know, but it was a much needed break after three months. However, now I'm no longer forgetting to miss her, but rather remembering how great it was to be around her all of the time. I could barely pull myself away from kissing her squishy little cheeks before I dropped her off!

But then again, who couldn't resist those big blue eyes and silky soft cheeks?!

Now that I'm back, the guys were pestering me to bring in treats to mark my return. I had every intention of bringing something delectable into work. So much intention that I actually baked something and boxed it up to bring the next morning. Only problem? It never made it out the front door!

Andes Creamy Mint Brownies

Photo and Recipe Courtesy of Tootsie.com

Brownies:

1 pkg fudge brownie mix (eggs, oil and water, according to package)

1/2 cup Andes Mints, chopped

Topping:

4 squares white baking chocolate, chopped

1 1/4 cups heavy whipping cream, divided

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 Tbsp sugar

1/2 cup chopped Andes Mints, divided

Directions

Preheat the oven according to brownie box. Lightly grease a 9x13 baking pan. Prepare the brownie mix as directed; stir in chopped Andes Mints. Pour the batter into the baking pan and bake according to package directions. Cool in baking pan completely.

In a saucepan, combine white chocolate and 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly until smooth. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla extract. Refrigerate 30-40 minutes or until chilled. In a mixing bowl, beat heavy cream, gradually adding the 2 Tbsp sugar until stiff peaks form. Gently fold into the chocolate mixture then add 1/4 cup Andes Mints. Spread over the brownies and sprinkle with the remaining 1/4 cup of Andes Mints. Refrigerate.

I must warn you that the last part is vital to the taste of the brownies. For some reason, neither Chris nor I were wowed by the brownies when they were complete. However, after letting them sit in the fridge for a few hours definitely did them good. The homemade whipped cream and the fudge with a hint of mint really stood out once it was chilled. Someday I might make these again to take into work, but this batch is staying right here with me.

Homemade Hot Chocolate

Des Moines is being hit by a snow storm tonight, and being bundled up all day left me craving hot chocolate. We usually buy the packaged stuff that you mix with water, which is hardly appealing come to think of it. I didn't have any on hand, and I wasn't about to head back out and brave the weather. How about homemade?! It's cheap, easy, and tastes even better than the super-sugary packet stuff. Here's what I came up with:

Peppermint Hot Cocoa
(serves 2)

4 Tbsp water
4 Tbsp sugar
3 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1/8 tsp peppermint extract
2 cups milk

Whisk the first four ingredients over low heat in a small saucepan until the sugar and cocoa is dissolved. Pour in the milk and heat until hot. Enjoy - it's that easy!


I played around with it a bit, with the above being my favorite version so far. I think I might try melting some chocolate chips in it to make it a little thicker, or even swapping cinnamon for the peppermint. The main goal was to have something simple that is made from ingredients I always have on hand. I'll now be adding hot chocolate to my list of things I'll only make homemade.

Orange You Glad You Tried It?!

Okay, that's a super corny title - but fitting! Last week I decided to try picking up a few new-to-me vegetables. I'm trying to remember to buy what's in season in order to keep my grocery bill down (read here for some other helpful hints from Sarah). So, I came home with a spaghetti squash and butternut squash in my ugly reusable grocery bag. The only problem: I had no idea what to do with them! After a few searches, I found a butternut squash recipe that I just happened to have all of the ingredients to, so of course I had to try it!

Mashed Butternut Squash and Pears

Adapted from: Food Network

1 large butternut squash

2 Anjou pears

4 Tbsp unsalted butter

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 1/2 Tbsp brown sugar

1 tsp ground ginger

Salt and pepper, to taste

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Cut the squash in half lengthwise and remove the seeds. Peel the pears, cut in half and remove the core. Place the pears and squash, cut side up, on a foil-lined baking sheet.

In a small saucepan, over low heat, melt the butter. Whisk in the vanilla extract, brown sugar and ginger, and remove from the heat. Brush this mixture onto the squash and pears, then season with salt and pepper. Set the remaining mixture back over low heat. Roast the squash and pears until soft, about 45-60 min (mine went 55 min), when a knife can be inserted easily into the flesh. Scoop out the flesh of the squash and place into a large bowl with the pears. Mash them with a fork and stir in the remaining butter mixture.

So, the mash may not look all that appetizing, but I promise it was delicious! It had the sweetness from the brown sugar, but all of the nutrients of the squash that you just can't find in a regular old potato. The pears added a nice and unexpected touch. I could eat this stuff every night!

And while I was waiting for the squash in the oven, I decided to try another recipe that would help clean out my fridge. I saw cream cheese frosting (which I never have on hand, but I had a coupon that made it free!) and some leftover carrots. Carrot cupcakes? I think so!! Only problem? The recipe called for whole-wheat pastry flour. What the heck is that? I did have some healthy flours leftover from my homemade protein bars. However, I have yet to label my fancy flour containers, so regrettably I cannot tell you what I added! I'm guessing that it was spelt flour. Lesson here - it seems that any wheat flour will do as they turned out delicious!

Carrot Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

Adapted From: Food Network

3/4 cup spelt flour

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

3/4 tsp ground cinnamon (I love this stuff!)

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

1/4 cup vegetable oil

3/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

2 large eggs

1/2 cup natural applesauce

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 cups finely shredded carrots

1/4 cup finely chopped walnuts

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line 12 muffin cups. Sift together the first 6 ingredients. In a large bowl, whisk the oil, brown sugar and eggs until well combined. Whisk in the applesauce, vanilla and carrots. Add the dry ingredients and mix until combined. Stir in the walnuts. Divide the batter between the muffin cups and bake about 20 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Transfer to a wire rack and cool.

Happy Anniversary Home Sweet Home!

It has been one year this week since we moved into our first house. Not only were there ups and downs in the house searching process (a cinder block house, a haunted one, and even one with the world's first microwave), but in home owning as well:

• We moved into the house hoping to take nice warm bath, but discovered that our lovely white tub was actually spray painted (remember this?) and bubbled when hot water hit it. After many, many, many hours of scraping the tub (thanks mom!!), we can now enjoy a relaxing bath.
• We found ourselves shop vac-ing up buckets of water from our basement drain, only to find out that we had a collapsed sewer line. We chose the short-term solution for now and are holding off as long as we can to fix it due to the $10,000 price tag to replace it.
• We also survived our first winter in a house without insulation by wearing layers upon layers of socks, slippers, hoodies and robes, but still found ourselves freezing! Seriously. It was a constant 55 degrees in our great room - if we were lucky!

So, what did we do for our house after it has done so much for us?? We bought him a new coat (in the form of insulation in the attic), and a face lift (in the form of many, many gallons of paint throughout the house). This month's project was the great room. We have been dying to get this makeover underway, but we could not settle on what we wanted. Finally, with my parents coming to town for a few days, I took the reins and made a plan. We wanted something that was classic and we could easily update with the new "in" accent colors to keep it fresh.

The Before: It was a BLANK slate. The only color in the room was the fireplace and matching carpet, and while we don't yet have the funds for new carpet, we could do something about the fireplace and walls.

Note: Previous owner's furniture

The AFTER: A tan color on the walls, rich chocolate brown drapes (thermal backed to keep the cold out), and a drastically different fireplace (I'm still not sure about the color, but it's growing on me) really warmed up the room. A $3 garage sale mirror and $5 can of brown paint from the mistint section at Lowes = a lovely addition to set apart the two spaces.

We also moved in our bookcase from our old office (now nursery) and transformed it into a dining room-ish display on the top, with our "junk drawer" in the bottom. I shopped around my house for things to display, and while I admit that it's not all that stunning, it is a heckuvalot better than the junk that used to be stored in the open shelving. Plus, I can still keep all of my odds-ands-ends hidden in the bottom half thanks to Chris' brilliant idea of lining the see-through glass doors. I shopped around my house again and found some wrapping paper that looked modern and still enabled us to see the etched detail in the glass. It may have been a free makeover, but it made a big impact nonetheless!

The BEFORE: Again, it was a super plain and boring space and even though the room was cold in the winter, we could at least try to warm it up with color and fabric.

The AFTER: Some Craigslist furniture, more drapes, and no more ugly blinds on the French door took the space from bland to cozy. We're still looking for the perfect art to hang on either side of the window, and a new end table, but it is definitely an improvement.

Besides all of the great aesthetic changes, my dad also donated his talent by ripping down all of the trim to insulate behind the wood work as well as properly rehung the doors. In addition, we stuffed some old blankets up the fireplace to stop any airflow there. We now have less cold air coming in and less warm air escaping. While the robe and slippers were comfy, our new great room is cozy even without all of the layers.

Beggar's Night vs Halloween

This was our second Halloween here in Des Moines, but this year was the first that we actually celebrated. Last year was spent with Chinese food and an episode of Ghost Adventures in the loft. Some might think this was a pretty uneventful way to spend Halloween - and they'd be right. The Chinese food was sub par at best, and halfway through the night long Ghost Adventures Live episode, we found out it was all a hoax. BOO!

Now that we have a child, we can actually participate in trick-or-treating without strange looks! Only we couldn't participate in trick-or-treating, but rather begging. The Des Moines area celebrates two holidays for some reason - Halloween and Beggar's Night. The latter is very similar to the trick-or-treating on Halloween night back in Nebraska. Rather than say "trick-or-treat," beggars are supposed to do a trick or joke in return for a treat. Des Moines is apparently extremely proud of this as all you hear on the radio or read in the newspaper is about how you'd better have your joke ready for Beggar's Night. I can appreciate how the native Des Moinesians are attempting to keep the tradition alive, but it doesn't seem to be working. We spent Beggar's Night at our friends' house and most of the beggars would fore go the joke and go straight for the candy bowl.

We decided to take our little ones out to beg at a few houses to tell a joke or two (probably more so for candy for us to eat rather then their first experience in a costume). Azra went as a banana, but I can't say that she enjoyed it too much:

Once she was next to her boyfriend Cavan, then she was much more content:

All-in-all it was a good night, and Halloween night at another friend's house was fun as well. However, an eve to the eve of All Saints Day seems to be a little unnecessary. Let's just stick to good ol' Halloween.

Panera-Inspired Chicken Salad

Azra and I met Chris for lunch at Panera last week. I wasn't too hungry, so I was just going to get a bagel until I saw the poster for this:

Photo Courtesy Panera Bread

It is the Napa Almond Chicken Salad and is made with "pepper-mustard chicken, fresh celery, seedless grapes, almonds & special dressing." It was absolutely fantastic and I knew that it was something that I'd love to have all of the time, just not for the $6.00 price tag. So I thought, why not make it at home? Now I'm no Paula Deen, but I figured that I could handle a chicken salad. All of the ingredients except the dressing are things that I usually have on hand, so I could justify spending the $5.00 on a really good dressing since I'd be saving so much by eating it at home. I bought Marzetti poppyseed dressing (the stuff found in the produce section by the pre-packaged lettuce) because it's light, creamy and gives a subtle flavor similar to their "special dressing."

Des Moines Almond Chicken Salad

(clever, I know)

2 chicken breast

2 celery stalks, chopped

red grapes, halved

sliced almonds

Marzetti Poppyseed dressing

rosemary

salt & pepper

(Forewarning: My directions lose points for lack of detail.)

Throw some rosemary, salt and pepper into a pot. Add the chicken breast and fill with water until it just covers the chicken. Cover and place over high heat until it reaches a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer until the baby stops demanding your attention. Remove from heat and let cool during the diaper change. Shred the chicken and place in a mixing bowl. Pour a good amount of dressing into the bowl, then add the grapes, celery and almonds. Mix well and add more dressing if needed. Place over some yummy bread or a thin bun. Enjoy and go back for seconds!

Who needs a bread machine??

I ran across an interesting recipe the other day for a 5-minute artisan bread. I never buy bread because the loaves are green with mold before I even get to finishing it off. However, this recipe is EASY! Throw the ingredients in the mixer, pop it in the fridge, and tear of pieces of dough to bake at your leisure. Simple as that! Plus, it promised me a bread that would be crunchy on the outside and chewy on the inside, so I knew that I must try it.

Artisan Loaf

(Makes four 1 lb loaves)

3 c lukewarm water

1 1/2 T yeast (1 1/2 packets)

1 1/2 T coarse salt (I only had regular old table salt, but hope to try coarse next time)

6 1/2 c flour - unsifted, unbleached, all-purpose white flour (I used 100% whole wheat)

Add yeast and salt to the lukewarm water in the mixer bowl. Using the dough hook attachment, add the flour while mixing on medium speed until uniformly moist. Cover the bowl loosely. Rise at room temperature for about two hours. Pop it in the fridge.

After returning from a long day at work, take out a handful of dough and sprinkle with flour. Stretch all four sides of the dough around the bottom. Rest for 40 minutes on a well floured pizza peel (I just used a cutting board. After 20 minutes, preheat the oven to 450 with a baking stone in the middle rack and a broiler pan beneath it. Once the 40 minutes is up, sprinkle the top of the loaf with flour and slash the top of the bread. Slide the loaf onto the baking stone. Pour 1 cup of hot water into the broiling pan and quickly close the door (to keep the bread moist). Bake for 30 minutes, or until the crust is browned and firm to the touch. Cool completely on a wire rack and you will end up with this yummy bread:

The bread wasn't yet European bakery quality, but it has strong potential! Next time I will use the coarse sea salt and try playing around with different flavors - maybe the addition of herbs, honey, etc to kick it up a notch. Anyone know how to add the whole grain texture??

The dough lasts up to two weeks in the fridge, and the longer it sits the more flavorful it becomes. It can be used for a variety of meals and since Friday is Pizza Night at the Brock household (as Chris is obsessed with pizza), tomorrow I'm trying it as a pizza crust!

Month One: Joys of Parenting

It's hard to believe that our little girl is one month old today! Here she is doing her one-month birthday dance:

It seems like it was only yesterday that she entered into our lives (very painfully, I might add! :) ). I've truly enjoyed the last four weeks home that I've had with her, and I'm so glad that I have another eight left before I have to leave her for work.

After making it through month one, here are a few of the lessons I have learned about parenting:

1. Moms don't wear sweats and a ponytail sans makeup because they're lazy, it's due to being interrupted by the baby every time you're about to step foot in the shower.

2. You either quickly learn how to feed both you and the babe concurrently, or you don't eat.

3. The three changes per day due to spit up, pee, and other baby excrement are not only the baby's clothes being changed. Note to self: Triple check the fit of the diaper before sitting your baby on your lap. Assume all wet spots on your leg are baby pee and not spilled water.

4. Purchase a large computer hard drive before the baby's arrival. We hit the 300 photo mark by only the third day of her life. It'll take me weeks to pare down and organize all of the photos!

5. Looking into her big blue eyes makes you forget about your lack of sleep, cute clothes and good looks that went out the window when she came into this world.

A Birth Story

It has been two weeks and four days since the arrival of our beautiful daughter, Azra. Today marks the day of my first week at home alone with the baby. Chris and I really enjoyed two weeks at home together to spend some quality time with Azra, and each other. Now that I'm on my own, I can finally get to sharing all the of the details of her birth!

After 39 weeks of patiently awaiting our baby's arrival, I was beginning to get particularly antsy. Not only did I have to endure the constant emails/calls/texts from my caring friends and family asking if she had arrived yet, but I had to carry around all the extra weight which was really starting to hurt my legs and back. Once I hit the due date, I had permission from my midwife to begin trying everything I could to speed up the process a bit. On Monday the 14th, I started trying oils, teas, and I even turned to acupuncture!

On Wednesday I went to bed only to feel too restless to stay there, so I went downstairs and watched TV for awhile. Around midnight I started feeling contractions that were strong enough to interrupt me from watching "The Rachel Zoe Project." I didn't really believe that it was true labor, but I decided to start timing them for lack of anything better to do. After an hour of contractions, I was beginning to get a little lonely. Still not believing that I was in labor, but hoping that I was, I went upstairs to wake up Chris so he could keep me company. I don't think he believed it either because he seemed a little annoyed to have been waken up at one in the morning.

At this point, I completely lost track of time. I remember the contractions being much more intense than I ever could have anticipated. I rotated between the exercise ball, the bath tub and the bed. I don't really recall ever telling Chris to do anything to help, but he was always there doing just the right thing nonetheless. From rubbing my back during contractions, continuously bringing me water to drink, to even turning off the lights and lighting candles in the while I was in the bath tub, everything he did was just perfect. I didn't really have much time to think about what was going on as I was trying to sleep for one or two minutes in between the contractions. However, I imagine he was beginning to get a little nervous (especially given my frequent shrieks of pain!).

After my water broke (luckily, while I was in the tub), Chris knew that it was time to go. I was able to make my way back to the great room while Chris packed the car and put our dog in the kennel. By this time, I was in too much pain to get up and walk to the car. During a very short break in between contractions, he helped walk me to the car. It must have been right before 8 by this time because I remember looking ahead to the road and seeing all of the cars of rush hour. Luckily we live only five minutes from the hospital, so I was in my hospital room in no time.

By the time I got to the room, I was already 8 centimeters and feeling the urge to push. Pushing was super difficult, but less painful than the contractions. I felt like she would never arrive, but Chris was right there for me, cheering me on, and reassuring me that I really could do it. After 1.5 hours of pushing, Chris proudly announced that we had a beautiful daughter. The midwife laid her on my chest and she looked up at Chris and I like she knew exactly who we were.

Azra Mae Brock

8 lbs 2 oz

9.17.09 - 9:14 AM

Once a Month Cooking

Last week Chris and I decided to partake in some "nesting" before the baby arrived. We made sure the bags were packed, cameras charged, house cleaned, and freezer stocked just in case the little one decided to make an appearance sometime soon (which doesn't seem to be the case - getting impatient!). I found a website dedicated to the art of "once a month cooking" and I decided to give it a try and drag Chris along for the ride.

The site is Once a Month Mom. An amazing lady plans and posts her menus, recipes, and shopping lists for these once a month adventures in the kitchen - I don't think I'd even have an ounce of energy to do it without her direction. For the month of August, she had fifteen different recipes posted - we decided to trim it down a bit for our first attempt and only make nine of them. However, many of the recipes were enough for more than one meal, so they should last us quite some time.

After four hours in the kitchen, my sous chef and I had a stocked freezer that looked like this:


You'll notice that we also have a lot of pre-portioned veggies such as zucchini, onions, celery, etc that can easily be added to any meal instead of having to take the time to prepare these items that we don't regularly have on hand. Additionally, that delicious pink concoction to the right is my egg-free homemade ice cream which I will be sharing the recipe for later this week. As of last night, the container is now empty!

Thanks to Once a Month Mom, Chris and I now have the following meals at our disposal for all of those nights when we're just too tired to cook after the baby arrives:

• Hot Roast Beef Sandwiches
• Garden Chowder
• Chilaquile Casserole
• Hubby's Favorite Casserole
• Baked Rigatoni
• Chili Cheese Potato Casserole
• Lemon Chicken with Veggies
• King Ranch Chicken
• Creamy Rigatoni with Chunky Tomato Vinaigrette
  

Thus far we've tried the Garden Chowder as well as Roast Beef Sandwiches with a homemade Au Jus (and using the left over beef to make yummy Beef Taco Salads). Tonight we're trying the King Ranch Chicken. I have to say that it was kind of fun cooking all of these meals together, and I foresee this being something we continue to do in the future (provided that Chris is willing!). It makes it a lot easier to shop, cook and plan meals when doing it all at once. Plus, I only spent $45 for all of the groceries to make these meals, which evens out to $3 per meal (some recipes made more than one pan) which is pretty darn good in my book. After a long day we can just thaw, pop in the oven and enjoy!

The Oasis

My birthday present from Chris was about 3-4 days of hard labor. When we moved into our house, we somehow neglected to notice just how hideous part of the backyard was. The area behind the garage was gravel instead of grass, and not having much space in the backyard to begin with, I knew that I wanted to expand the green space to the hidden area. It was a lot more work than I thought that it would be.

Here you see the gravel, the overhanging tree from the neighbor, and the half of the tree trunks (the ones that Chris couldn't lift on his own) that the previous owners so graciously left us:


We began by piling up all of the gravel into the corner so we could prepare the area for grass and plants. The rest was put off for a few weeks, so then we had to deal with some nasty weeds that started growing all over the place.


We tried to recycle as much as we could. We kept about half of the gravel to use as the base for the furniture area and the rest was hauled away by a Craigslist-er. We also had quite a bit of mulch left from when we had three tree stumps removed from the yard, so we used that for the plants. Lastly, the odd square concrete piece in the picture above was transformed into the base of our Young House Love inspired firepit. A clearance furniture set, a few battery operated lights (there's no electricity back there), trimming of the tree branches, and more than a few trips to Lowe's left us with one of my favorite places at our whole house:


It's quickly becoming one of Lola's favorite spots too, as she always brings her toys over to that area instead of on the patio like before. I love the extra green, the warm fire, as well the country-like feeling you get when you're sitting back there at night and shut off from the rest of the world. Plus, how can you beat S'mores on your birthday? Best gift ever? I think so!

Coupon Crazy

I think I'm coming down with whatever illness my grandma has that causes her to shop for things simply because they're good deals. It's not that I'm buying things that I don't need, perhaps just things that I don't need now. But I'll need them someday, and I'll be able to find them in my neatly organized "grocery store" the day I do (now if that doesn't sound like a spitting image of Grandma, then I don't know what does!). I stumbled across a great site for coupon cutters called Fabulessly Frugal and now I am absolutely addicted. It gives a breakdown of somes uses for current coupons and sales that can often get you items for a huge discount, or even FREE! My lovely husband was nice enough to go along for the ride tonight (and even dig through the gross recycle can for some coupons I accidentally tossed) to humor me. He was a good sport, so I bought him a Twix bar...I had a coupon for it!

So here's tonight's breakdown:

OfficeMax -

HP 2 pack Black Ink: $26.99

Used 20% paper bag & $10 coupon from OfficeMax mailer

Saved: $15.40

Final Price: $11.59

Target -

Venus Embrace Razor: $7.94

Gillette Fusion Razor: $7.94

Gillette Shampoo: $3.59

Poptarts: $1.92 (on sale for $1.46)

Apples: $1.10/lb

(2) 10ct Bic Pens: $2.00

Used (2) $2.00 off razor coupons plus a coupon for FREE shampoo with the purchase of the Fusion, a $1.00 off coupon for 1 lb of apples (i.e. FREE apples), $0.75 off Poptarts, and (2) $1.00 off the purchase of two Bic products.

Received a $5 Target gift card for purchasing the two razors.

Saved: $11.80

Final Price: $12.64

Walgreens -

Softsoap Body Wash: $3.99

Conair Brush: $2.99

Huggies Wipes 216ct: $7.99

Flintstones Vitamins (my favs!): $7.99

Used a $2.00 and $1.00 off coupon for the vitamins and a $2.00 and $1.50 off coupon for the wipes.

Received $6 gift certificate for purchasing the body wash and brush (i.e body wash FREE and brush only $1!).

Saved: $12.50

Final Price: $10.47

Original Cost for Everything: $74.31

I paid: $34.70

I never would've thought that I could get things for free! Being the huge nerd that I am, I find that super exciting and the shopping experience was pretty fun f or me. I can't say the same for Chris, though. Especially since I had to split the Target and Walgreen purchases so he could first buy the items which got the gift certificates so I could then use the certificates on the rest of the purchases. Grandma would be proud, I'm sure!

And what makes me an even bigger nerd? My handy dandy receipt/coupon organizer. It's original intention was to provide me one spot to keep all of my receipts. I'm notorious for returning things without them, and it drives Chris bonkers. Now I know exactly where to find them, and there was even room left for all of my fun coupons!

Is it super lame that I'm looking forward to the ads and coupons that will be arriving with my newspaper this Sunday??

**Update**

I just returned from HyVee for my Sunday grocery shopping and ran across another awesome deal! Glade Fabric & Air Freshener on clearance from $5.39 to $0.50! I did a double-take too! I stocked up and came away with 12 bottles (although I don't know if I'll ever need that many!).

Original Cost for all 12: $64.68

I paid: $6.00

Bump Watch: 36 Weeks

I wanted a low-key birthday, so Chris and I went out to the Des Moines Rose Gardens and then ended up stumbling upon Greenwood Park. We'd never been and I've always wanted to go, but I've had problems convincing Chris that it'd be a good time. The gardens were beautiful and there were still some roses in bloom, but I can only imagine what it'd look like in the middle of summer with all of them in full bloom. Next year I'll go to find out! Does anyone know when roses bloom??

After walking around the gardens for a bit, we stopped to get a few photos of my growing belly. Here I am at 36 weeks:

After the photo op, we made our way over to a bench for a little rest. We noticed a little water peeking behind some trees and went to investigate. As we kept walking, we stumbled across a secluded lake in the middle of the city! It was super peaceful and relaxing just sitting there, feeling like we were miles outside of the city.

(Photo courtesy of PictureDesMoines.com)

One of my favorite things about Des Moines is that there are so many hidden oases right inside the city. Next up, I'll show you my very own oasis - right in my own backyard!

Restaurant.Com

I recently ran across this great deal at Restaurant.com:

I've never previously used the site myself, but I've heard everyone else talking about it. At $2 per $25 gift certificate, who could pass it up?! All you need to do is set up an account on their website and purchase away. I left their shop with four $25 gift certificates for a grand total of only $8 - I couldn't believe it! With my parents relocating soon to Omaha, I thought I'd buy a few for restaurants there so we could try out some new places. These are the gift certificates that I went with: Billy's in Lincoln, and Bistro 121, Lit, and The Melting Pot in Omaha. Unfortunately, there weren't too many restaurant options that I was interested in here in Des Moines, but luckily I found some for great restaurants when we travel. The gift certificates are good for one year so be sure to stock up if you have plans to hit KC, Minneapolis, etc!

This great deal ends tonight! Be sure to head here and get some for yourself!

SuperFreakonomics!

I love to read - particularly non-fiction. I've usually got three books going at once, and although it may take me awhile to get through them when I'm busy, they are conveniently located throughout the house so I can pick one up when I have the time. I always get the question of how I can read multiple books at once. To which I say, "How do you keep track of the 10 TV shows that you watch per week?" Your response: "Touché."

Current Reads

In my purse (for the bus ride to/from work): Eat, Pray, Love

--An interesting telling of a divorcee's year in pursuit of travel and happiness. The whole part in India bored me, but overall it's a good read so far.

On my nightstand: Lies Across America

--I'm only about 20 pages in, but thus far it's an astonishing account of the multiple historic sites, statues, plaques, etc that speckle our country and how they often misrepresent what actually happened. One fun fact from it: The "birthplace of Abraham Lincoln" which tourists so often visit was actually built 30 years after his death!

And, I'll admit it - in the bathroom :) : Lies My Teacher Told Me

--Again, I just started this one. It's by the same author, but it's far less intreguing so far. Same premise as Lies Across America, except this one talks about history textbooks. Perhaps it gets better as you go along, but I usually don't spend more than a page worth of time in there (because you were just dying to know!).

The best part is that I got these, and many of my books at garage sales for a whole 50 cents each! They're in like new condition and I can take my time on them if needed rather than be restricted by the library due dates. Although I do still frequent the library when a book comes out that I just have to read. I'm getting on the list for this one as soon as I can:

The first book was awesome and I can only imagine that this one will be even better. The authors even have a blog on the New York Times website to keep me happy during the interim between their books. Make sure to check out Freakonomics - I'm sure you'll be waiting in line for SuperFreakonomics if you do!

Freebie Bouquets

Check out the assortment of bouquets beautifying my humble abode:

A few orange-tipped roses on the dinner table-

Some tiny purple orchids in the entryway-

And these beautiful purple and green orchids gracing the stand in our front room-

No, it's not my birthday, or anniversary. Would it surprise you to learn that these weren't even from Chris? (Well, not me, considering he gave me a bag of flour for our first Valentine's Day.) They're actually from my friend's wedding two weeks ago, and the last two bouquets are still holding on! They gave away all of the ceremony and reception flowers to me and some other friends who stuck around until the end. I felt a little bad for taking them, but when else would I have such expensive flowers filling my house? If only I had visitors so they could be admired by my guests. :) She had a stunning Indian wedding - I sat mesmerized the entire time by everything happening in the ceremony. Even though it was all in Sanskrit and I had no idea why she was throwing rice over her head or holy water on her forehead, it was beautiful nonetheless. Hopefully I'll get some pictures up soon for some proof!

Le Petit Garden

The state of our yard when we moved into our house left something to be desired. One of the corners wasn't pretty to look at (not to mention the eyesore behind the garage that Chris just finished for my birthday - more on that to come) and I knew that it would make the perfect place for a little garden. It's in plain sight upon entering our backyard, so I had to give it a complete overhaul. Unfortunately, I forgot to take before pictures, but here is the finished product shortly after the initial planting:


Since then, I have planted strawberries in the center, and the marigolds have really filled out to make quite a nice border. The only thing I am having a problem with are the four plants along the fence. One of them has shot up and produced pretty flowers:

The rest of them are still midgets like these (Please excuse the weeds, by the way. My belly is filling out to the point of making it quite uncomfortable to work that close to the ground):

I feed them plant food, as instructed, but only one of them seems to be benefiting from it. And although it looks better than before, I sure wish that they'd all grow properly to provide some lushness and color that the yard desperately needs!

San Diego - FINALLY!

So, it only took me five months to get this posted - what is wrong with me?! You'd think that we must not have had a very good time if it took me this long, but quite the contrary - we had an AMAZING time! Let's start off with a recap:

Chris celebrated his 30th birthday this February. I wanted to do something big and unexpected, and we happened to have a few thousand flight points lying around and a good friend out in San Diego who we hadn't been out to visit. What's better than a free birthday gift, right?! Chris was driving me nuts about theXBox he thought he was receiving, so imagine his surprise when my brother (in town to take care of Lola while we were gone) and I picked him up from work the Friday before his birthday! Adam drove us to the airport while Chris started to figure it out. I wasn't going to let him see the tickets beforehand, but I caved and showed him where we were going. He was super excited, and I was even more excited because I love giving gifts!

We were there for 3.5 days, and I must say that we loved every single minute of it. Matt had a great apartment just outside of Little Italy downtown. We were walking distance from great little shops and restaurants, the ocean, and the famous San Diego Zoo. Being the early bird that I am, I got up and walked around downtown until I stumbled upon a coffee shop and just sat outside enjoying the beautiful city and weather. We just loved the city and the people. Everyone was so laid back and friendly. They all seemed to be walking their dogs, and some even took them to work with them likeMochaccino here:


Saturday morning was spent on a much anticipated whale watching cruise. Chris and I really wanted to go while in Iceland, but we didn't get it done, so we were super excited to see some up close in the prime of their migration.

We saw a ton of dolphins, which was really neat...

...but, unfortunately, the only whales we saw during our vacation were these:Bummer.

Next up: Tijuana. I had been to Cancun before, but never had I experienced anything like the Mexican border town of Tijuana. It was so odd that I don't even have the words for it.

Here's Chris looking a little apprehensive about his entry into the foreign land...

...and he still looks a little scared on our way back to the U.S....
I think just about everyone in Tijuana wanted out of there. Check out the wait back into the border:It's a good thing we walked across so we didn't have to wait in line!

We also visited something on the very top of my list: the world-famous San Diego Zoo. I absolutely love zoos, so I was super excited to see something that blows even the Omaha Zoo out of the water. Chris took some fantastic photos of many of the animals there which we've hung in the babies room, so you'll have to wait until the big reveal of the nursery to see those. For fun, I'll tease you with this awesome shot of me:
The rest of the time was spent by Matt showing us around pretty much every single part of San Diego (or so it seemed), so I'll leave you with a few more pictures:

La Jolla

Ocean Beach

San Diego Skyline

And no birthday would be complete without a shot of tequila from an unmarked bottle purchased from a creepy dude in Tijuana. Good thing I had the excuse of being pregnant so I could sit this one out!

Mom's 50th Birthday

Can you believe that my lovely mother is now half a century old? I remember the days when I thought that 50 was a couple of years shy from life in a nursing home, but now it seems like a vibrant and fun age when you actually begin envisioning the reality of the fun you'll have during retirement (unlike the 30 years of dreaming I have left to go). I mean, heck, my Grandma is over 70 and she's still out-running us. Okay, maybe walking, but she even manages to do a load of laundry, cook, and clean while us youngsters are rubbing our feet afterwards.

Lucky for me, my parents still have the spunk to drive six hours round trip to visit us for the day. To top it off, it took more like 7-8 hours due to the crazy RAGBRAI (annual bike ride across Iowa - a huge event here) traffic. They arrived around 11:30, which gave me plenty of time to hit up a few garage sales as well as the grocery store before their arrival. While I was at the store I saw a beautiful, unique floral arrangement. I just had to bring it home with me for my mom, even though I knew it was kind of a weird gift for someone driving three hours back home. Though she loved it, she was gracious enough to leave it with us to bring some much needed color into our great room. Aren't these flowers just awesome - I love the lime green ones, and isn't the big pink one just to die for?

The one thing that I wanted to be sure to do was to make her a cake. I don't ever remember her having a birthday cake, but she always made sure to have one for us! I searched long and hard for the perfect homemade recipe before stumbling upon a delectable cake at my friend's bridal shower the night before. I made sure to get the recipe, and it was semi-homemade - even better! It was a super moist yellow cake topped with a light and creamy frosting.

I wanted to make a beautiful display, so I made two round cakes instead of a sheet cake in order to put it atop my pretty cake stand. However, I neglected to note that the light and creamy frosting would not bode well for a stacked cake. My gorgeous two-tiered cake quickly looked like Mt. Everest on a 100 degree day - it all came falling down. My luscious white frosting starting sliding down the sides into a gooey blob along with the perfectly placed pineapple topping. And like a mom to her 5-yr old cake decorating daughter would say, she told me it was great....only I'm a 24-yr old! It was delicious nonetheless, and I didn't need her confirmation as my tummy voted itself -- I ate the leftover half of the cake in two days. :) So, without further ado, I give you The 50th Birthday Cake (I don't have the name for it, so someone should help me come up with one!):

(I told you it was ugly - and this was before the rest of the pineapple and frosting fell!)

1 box yellow cake mix (and whatever other ingredients it calls for)

1 box white chocolate pudding

1 tub Cool Whip

Prepare and bake yellow cake mix according to package. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then transfer to wire rack to cool completely. With a toothpick, make multiple pokes throughout the cake (without poking through all the way to the bottom).

Prepare pudding according to directions. Before it thickens, pour enough over the cake to cover it. Use a spatula to spread evenly in order to ensure that it gets to all of the toothpick holes. After the remaining pudding has thickened, gently fold in the Cool Whip with a spatula. Spread over the cake and top with fruit, if desired.

I also added about 1/2-3/4 cup coconut (I eyeballed it) to my cake mix before baking to give it a little extra yumminess. I topped mine with pineapple, but strawberries, kiwi and banana would also be delish!

**I think it would be best to use recently thawed Cool Whip as I believe that the creamy consistency of the cool whip was one of the culprits in my sliding frosting goo. Better yet, stick to a sheet cake for this one so it has nowhere to go but in your tummy!

Real Simple for $5?!

My favorite magazine is about $4 at the store for one issue. My usual course of action while waiting in a checkout line is to glance through all of the magazines while Chris unloads and pays for everything. Now I can count one less magazine off my must-read list while in line because I just got a year subscription for Real Simple for only $5!!! What a deal! And I know that the yummy recipes and organization tips will come in extra handy with Curtis keeping me busy!

Check out this deal for yourself here.