NYC Love

I have a deep love for New York City. I would go as far as to say it is my FAVORITE city!
We were able to visit twice while we were living in Boston and that was not enough. One day I am going to get my Mama and my sisters to go back with me but until then I must live off these memories...

Our most recent trip to the Big Apple was Feb. 2011. It was a birthday/Valentine's Day treat and I couldn't have asked for a better gift!

Here are some highlights and things that I never want to forget...

Checking into our hotel...I actually get hotel sick if I don't get to stay in one often enough. {We may need to sneak in one more weekend away before the baby comes!}

Braving Central Park Zoo in the Rain!

The city was really very beautiful...the mist was kinda perfect.

Warming up at the Russian Tea Room {this was a fun experience but the food was just ok}.

The tea and desserts on the other hand, were wonderful!

CUPCAKES!

Manhattan Temple...I just love that it is right in the middle of everything.{I am a Mormon and we attend Temples if you are curious about this click here}

Strolling {or walking quickly as it was almost dark} through Central Park.

Serendipity for dinner and Frozzzen Hot Chocolate! The food here was AMAZING!

This was taken from the Ferry...on our way to meet Lady Liberty!

THE BULL! 

I took this waiting in line at the Shake Shack.  Their burgers and concretes were the best!

Wall Street before it got all occupied and such.

New construction at Ground Zero...

Night time in Times Square!

We really wanted to Ice skate at Rockefeller Center but I had twisted my ankle earlier and it didn't seem like  a smart idea!

We had sushi, more cupcakes, went to Dylan's candy store and shopped on 5th Avenue! It was fabulous.

I picked up this great bag...not on 5th Avenue but on somewhere-sketchy-Avenue!

The most amazing 3 days.
On the way home we even stopped and had dinner with friends!

Such a great trip with so many great memories.

I 

 NYC

What's in a name?

Apparently a lot.
Have you picked out a name for the baby yet?
This is pretty much the only thing anyone asks us...which is totally understandable.
However, we are not sharing Baby Girl's name till her birthday.
At first we weren't even going to settle on one until we saw her but as it turns out my friend Holli was right.
Naming this child has been a spiritual experience but we are still keeping it a secret.
We can't wait to share this baby with everyone and her name...10 more weeks!!

Dinner: Stuffed Flounder

I have been in a cooking funk lately and that just isn't me. 

I LOVE cooking...like really love it and its basically in my blood {not to brag but...I come from a long line of seriously good cooks}.

Culinary lineage aside, I haven't been a star in the kitchen and I don't know if its pregnancy or what but the funk needed to go.

How does one get out of a cooking funk?

By being prepared!

* I searched the interwebs and found some new recipes then did a little grocery shopping {emphasis on "little"...I scoured the pantry and freezer first and only had to pick up a few things}. 

* I put our menu up in the kitchen. I also have a board on Pinterest : Dinner This Week {lots of great recipes there but I love that can pin from other sites too}

* I did prep work during the day {I'm a stay at home almost mom, 3rd trimester pregnant, so this is easy for me but when I worked I did the prep at night or early in the morning}. Having some or all of the work done makes it that much easier to cook and not give into the "I'm tired let's eat out" feeling.

* Stick to the plan! If it's on the menu...cook it!

This has totally been working for me this week and on the menu last night was this Stuffed Flounder recipe.  The original recipe seemed a little bland for us so I read the reviews and found lots of helpful ideas.

 I added more of everything to the stuffing mixture because it didn't seem like enough. I also added fresh garlic, red pepper and salt.

The recipe didn't call for any seasoning in the fish but I marinated it in lemon juice and Tony's {creole seasoning that is great on all meats and veggies- spicy so go easy if you don't like things to be to spicy}.

I was a little worried about the stuffing part but it was really easy. Also, some of the reviewers said that they used red snapper or tilapia instead of flounder. So...if you don't like flounder use something you like. Anyway, just be gentle when handling the fish cause it can fall apart on you. When you are done stuffing just set in in the pan. I lined my pan with foil {I always do this for easy clean up...always}.

We had grilled asparagus as a side...

Super simple, just olive oil, Tony's and lemon juice. I started cooking it when I put the fish in the oven and the timing was perfect. I used my grill pan over med/hi heat just till it had grill marks and started to get a little tender. 

The final product was great and really easy!

Will requested that this be added to the "List" {I have built a repetoire of recipes that we know that we both love and I cook 2 or 3 of those recipes each week...I can make most of them without a following a recipe. Basically it has to be good to get added to the "List"}!

Here is my version of the Stuffed Flounder:

Ingredients

2 small garlic cloves, minced or pressed

• 1 pkg sliced baby portobella mushrooms {I chopped them up smaller}
• 3 handfulls fresh spinach {I removed the stems}, rinsed and chopped
• 3 tablespoon crumbled feta cheese
• 4 (4 to 6 ounce) fillets flounder- marinated in lemon juice and Tony's

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Swirl some olive oil in a medium skillet and garlic and cook on low for 2 minutes.
3. Add the mushrooms and cook about 5 minutes or until the liquid released from the mushrooms has evaporated, stirring occasionally.
4. Add the spinach to the skillet. Cook and stir about 2 minutes or until spinach is wilted. Remove from the heat and drain excess moisture{this is important, you don't want the mix to be watery}. Sprinkle the feta cheese over the vegetables with salt and red pepper, then stir it in.
5. To assemble the fish rolls, place one-quarter of the spinach mixture onto the wide end of each filet. Carefully roll the filet around the spinach mixture. Use wooden toothpicks to hold the end of each roll in place.
6. Line an 8x8 glass dish with foil. Place the fish rolls, seam side down, in the baking dish.
7. Bake in a preheated oven for *15 minutes or so until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork and is opaque all the way through.

 *my flounder cooked in 15 minutes, very thin fish will cook quickly


Tonight I am trying a new twist on Chicken Parm! I will report back!


Happy cooking...until next time!

In need of a pause button...

*Before I get into this post I want to thank all who commented on my last post! I am feeling clearer on some things but I think I'm settling down a little. I'm trying to worrying less about the "when the baby comes" and trying to just enjoy pregnancy which brings me to today's topic...

I am almost 30 weeks pregnant...and I can't believe it. 

No. Really. It's just crazy. 

Life since the move feels like a blur. A beautiful, incredible and wonderful blur but, a blur nonetheless. 

I just can't process the amount of time that has gone by. 

I just wish I could press pause and stop time for a little while.

There is so much that I love about this pregnancy and this time in my life but it is just flying by and that makes me kinda sad.

My goal for the next 10 weeks is to slow down (since there is no pause button...darn it.).  I have been so obsessed with what life after baby will be like and I need to shut that down for a while. 

I really love being pregnant. Even with all the unpleasant side effects (ps..there are so many and some that no one ever mentions…just saying) I am happy to be carrying this little person. I love feeling her kick and squirm and get hiccups. It is amazing. 

I still need to prepare for little miss's arrival but I need to reflect a little and take some time to just be pregnant!

Until next time...

Calling All Mommies

Again...there is so much catching up I want to do on this blog (for the journalness of this space mostly, but I also want to share it with you guys) but my mind is stuck on my ever growing belly and as the weeks tick away there is really not much else I think about!

Here is what is weighing on me the most right now:

• Cloth Diapering
• Have any of you cloth diapered?  What brands did you use?  I have done a TON of research and have picked out a few that I want to try {gDiapers and BumGenius} but I'm just curious to know what others are using. We plan to do cloth diapers at home and disposables on the go. Thanks to my cousin Debbie...I have a ton of information already but I am just looking for more opinions. (P.S. If you think that I'm crazy and wish to tell me so...please know that I have already been told.  I may be crazy but we have made a choice to cloth diaper. :-)
• Breastfeeding
• I really want to breastfeed.  {I know some women don't and it is all a matter of personal choice. I'm not pushing anyone to do it...I just want to.} I also really want Will to be involved. He is so into everything "baby" and I love it. He  has even had some really great decorating ideas for the nursery. Anyway, I know that he will really want to have some feeding time and I want him to have it.  So...obviously I will pump but this is cause for even more research! 
• Which pump is really the best? 
• Do we pump and bottle feed exclusively (I know that initially I need to breastfeed but at what point do we introduce the bottle and do I keep breastfeeding while we are using bottles)?
• Bottles? Seriously. Short and squatty, tall and skinny, angled, bottles with the liners.  They all say that they prevent gas and that they are more like breastfeeding but which ones are really better?
• Basically...I have looked into the Medela system. Electric double pump, bottles, nipples and their storage system. Just looking for advice or comments on what any of you have used.

Well...that is basically it. This is what keeps me up at night goggling away! I'm just trying to settle on those 2 things and be as educated as possible before the nugget's arrival. Which is in like 12 weeks. Crazy. I am in my THIRD trimester. I can't believe how fast the weeks are passing.  There is so much we need to do and so little time left! Anyway please feel free to comment about your experiences.  Your thoughts and advise will be appreciated. I know that everything will work out. Everything will be fine...but the biggest change in my life is coming and I just feel the need to be as prepared as possible!

Looking back...Christmas 2010 (Part 2...in TEXAS)

I have so much to catch up on....

Our last memories from Boston,

All of our summer fun,

Home makeover projects, 

Life with our crazy puppy, 

Pregnancy, 

Christmas, 

2012 and all of our goals...

So every time I sit down to blog I have to decide what to blog about. Tomorrow I may just write myself silly and get up to date. Anyway, that is tomorrow and this is today and today we are going to wrap up what I started here. 

Photo dump in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1

Will and I had a great "Pre-Christmas" together but unfortunately he wasn't able to come to Texas with me...

I had to travel alone and my sister Amanda and Franklin {the cute dog in the picture below} were kind enough to pick me up! 

We headed straight to Mama and Daddy's to start cooking and prepping for all the holiday fun!! 

Christmas Eve is spent with my Mama's Family.  We always have seafood gumbo {to give everyone a break from all the traditional stuff}and it was sooo tasty. I am lame and didn't get any pics from that party...but know that lots of fun was had by all!

Sadly...I don't have a picture of the best surprise.  We were planning trip to Houston {Amanda's (pictured above) House} to have our family Christmas because Jake {youngest sibling} and April {oldest sibling} and her family couldn't make it before Christmas. Little did we know they started driving in the middle of the night on Christmas Eve and made home by the time that we were waking up to start prepping for the day! It was like those Folgers commercials! We were thrilled to see them!

My Uncle on my Daddy's side owns a cute restaurant in my tiny home town and we had our Christmas Dinner with the that side of the family there! It was too fun!

There was plenty of room for all the yummy food...

and plenty of room for our supper large family {no one took a picture but we more than filled up the entire dining area}!

We still headed to Houston after stuffing ourselves to meet up with Jake...did I mention that he could't make it with April0? Anyway, we went to Houston and prepared yet another feast!!

We waited for Jake to arrive so that we could open gifts...

I have pictures of the gift opening but it was late and we weren't very pretty so I thought better of posting those!

I do have this one...

Since Will couldn't make it home {There was a chance for deployment so he couldn't travel...} thanks to XBox and Kinect we were able to video chat with him through the TV! It was so fun...we could all see and hear him and he could see and hear all of us!

We had a blast opening gifts and making new memories! It was a great Christmas! 

The next day everyone had to return to their home...but we spent one last day enjoying each other!

I had a good time playing with this picture!

I swear that I have not been over served...but it sorta looks that way!

 We stuffed ourselves at Lankford Grocery {one of the best burgers in Houston!} and then we hit up Sprinkles for a cupcake!! 

I really enjoyed last Christmas.  I love my family and I happy to have been able to spend that time with them!