Baby Shower Luncheon

My sweet girlfriends threw me a quaint little baby shower last weekend. When asked what I wanted to do for a baby shower for my 2nd child I felt we didn’t need a big to do, but had something much smaller in mind. An afternoon catching up with my girls…talkin’ about babies, husbands, houses, decorating, gossip, etc…It could not have been more perfect.

Lauren thought of every detail from the invitations to the location, and the decorations. We went to Gather. Which if you live in the area you must visit, and bring your wallet. You will want to purchase just about everything in this wonderful little store. Lauren featured the store on her blog, you can see a little bit more here.

She decided on a book theme, which I love. I received some special books that we can share with our new little one when she arrives (Lola can spot a book from a mile away and already loves them too). Emily brought adorable (and delicious) cupcakes, made by a friend of ours, decorated in nursery rhymes. The food and drinks were amazing too! Again…all I can say is everything was perfect.

Love you girls. Thank you

 

Happy Wednesday!

Gotta love Kindergartners….

I had a student come up to me and say:

“Mrs. Lindsey, I know how you got pregnant.”

“Oh yeah, how’s that?”

“Well, you just go on a date and then you become pregnant.”

“Oh is that, right?”

“Yes.”

Next, I had another Kindergartner draw me a lovely picture. They are usually of nice flower gardens, cars, sunshine’s, etc….but not this time. He said, “This is how you get the baby.”

Pool season begins!

We made it to the pool for the first time this summer and Lola had a ball. She has been loving her swim lessons over the past few weeks so I figured she would. However, I was so excited to get her to our local pool because of the great kid area. She was able to run around and play in the various water spouts, kicking and laughing all the while. Hope yall had a good weekend too!

Fit Salad Re-do

We went to Mosaic for dinner last weekend, one of our favorite places. We both ordered salads…im not sure if it was because they sounded delicious or if it was really because we wanted to splurge on the unbelievable cookies they serve for dessert afterwards. Either way, Alan’s salad was specifically wonderful so I decided to try and recreate it for dinner tonight. 

Here’s what you’ll need to do:

The restaurant serves Tuscan Kale for their green, which my local grocery store does not carry. Our regular organic kale was just fine to me though. Toast walnuts. Hard boil some eggs. Mix up a lemon vinaigrette (see below). Then get chopping and tossing-

To your chopped kale add:

• chopped cucumbers
• tomatoes (I used Cherry)
• carrots, shredded
• feta
• dried cranberries
• edamame
• your toasted walnuts
• hard boiled egg

For the vinaigrette I mixed the following ingredients:

• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 1 tbsp chopped shallot
• 1 tbsp honey (you could use sugar to sweeten if you prefer)- I used a local made almond honey and it made all the difference!
• juice of 2 lemons and a bit of the zest
• 1 1/2 tsp dijon mustard

Not sure if he was just trying to please his pregnant wife who slaved in the kitchen after getting home from work, while holding our 1 year old…but he said my version of the salad was better than the restaurants. Ill take it!

Now if I could only re-create the cookies.

 

 

A day at the Zoo.

It was a wonderful Memorial Day Weekend. The weather stayed in the 70′s which was amazing, as I am not looking forward to being extremely pregnant in the heat of summer. Today we decided to take Lola to the Zoo. We all had a such a great time! There were moments Alan and I got so excited we felt like kids again.

I think the highlight for all 3 of us was feeding the giraffes. Lola squealed with excitement when he licked the food right out of her hand (I might of squealed with excitement also…). I think one of Alan’s favorite parts was having the birds fly right onto his hand to eat…or it might of been observing how enormous an orangutans hands really are. After visiting each animal Lola kindly gave them all a “bye camel” or a “bye birdy,” etc. and blew all of them kisses.

Great day!

“Someone’s in the kitchen with Momma…”

It’s finally done! Over the past several weeks we have been working on a play kitchen for Lola. This was originally going to be her 2nd birthday gift (which wouldn’t be until September), but it came together much sooner and I know she will love having it to play with all summer while home with me. Now that I have another little girl on the way, I can picture Lola and ________(still thinking of names!) baking and cooking Alan and I all sorts of play food, looking as precious as can be for years to come.

Here’s how everything came together. We first found an old kitchen cabinet from our local ReStore. Luckily there was an extra side cabinet that seemed perfect to become a refrigerator too.

We then needed to raise it to the correct height, add a counter top, change the hinges on the stove, create shelving, and cut the holes for the sink and oven (all possible because of my Dad!).

Next, it was time to prime and paint. We used a magnetic primer on the front of the refrigerator so Lola could play with her magnetic letters there. 

During all of the construction and painting I was searching for the perfect little faucet, hardware, dishtowel/aprons, oven mitt (ended up sewing myself), food, pots and pans, dishes, etc. The wire baskets I found at an antique store and added chalkboard signs. For the stove top I bought wooden circles and dowels at Michael’s then got to work!

We are in love with the outcome and Im pretty sure Lola loves it also!

Again, this would not have ever been possible without the help of my Dad! Thank you! It is because of him I have this- we can home make anything- attitude

Happy Mother’s Day

What a wonderful holiday…so wonderful I think work should also honor it by closing tomorrow. I wish…

Lola and Alan made sure it was quite a special day for me. We had a great breakfast at home for my Mom and Dad with a french toast casserole, fresh fruit, yogurt, and homemade granola. After lunch me, Alan, and Lola headed to Lewis Ginter to listen to some live jazz and frolic through the gardens. I only wish we had gotten there sooner. It was beautiful. The weather was perfect. We laid out a blanket and played with Lola- read books, danced, and shared an ice cream cone. We finished the day with a yummy cookout at Alan’s parents. Oops…we actually finished out Mothers Day with me sitting in a chair, nice a cozy with a blanket and the Baby Name book, watching Alan wash my car! That was just icing on the cake…right before it got dark out he offered to wash it as one final “pamper me” item…and I agreed to come watch.

The last picture is right after I laid my baby girl down for bedtime tonight…she gave me a sweet smile and said “Wush you Momma.” Melt my heart…had to throw that picture in there!

Hope your day was as lovely. And Happy Mother’s Day again to my Momma, the best in the world! Love you!

Outdoor weekend fun

We had a wonderful weekend with lots of play time outdoors. Lola also had her first swim lesson and loved every second of it (that one was indoors)! Hope yall had a good one also.

now…wishing you a Happy Monday!

Girlfriend time

It feels like forever since Ive spent any time with “just the girls.” So this weekend Alan and I headed up to visit our closest friends and spend some quality time together. While the husbands stayed home with the kids, Lauren and I ventured out for hours! We shopped a barn sale, ate an amazing lunch outside at Magnolias at the Mill, then took our time strolling through Old Luckets Store.

We all had such a wonderful time just laughing, talking, and watching the kids play together. I didn’t have my camera but here are a few shots from my phone.

Love you John and Lauren-xoxo

Cucumbers, a power food.

I recently learned the amazing effects cucumbers can have on your health (read here). The health issues that this green vegetable aid unfortunately directly affect myself and loved ones in many ways. Needless to say we will be incorporating more cukes into our daily diet.

So, the first thing I decided to make was Cucumber Juice. I must say this turned out to be quite a beautiful spring beverage. The taste is a bit too strong for me, but after diluting it with water it became very refreshing. Lola on the other hand thought it was the best juice in the world, as is, and downed it (she also likes to sit and eat a cucumber like its a banana, weird but fine with me).

I peeled and chopped 2 cucumbers, then tossed them in the food processor. Place a cheesecloth over a mesh strainer, then place over a bowl. Allow cucumber juices to drain. After about 10-15 minutes squeeze cucumbers in the cheesecloth to get out as much juice as possible.

I was able to get about one mason jar full of juice from my 2 cucumbers. Feel free to sweeten with sugar, agave, honey, or anything else you enjoy!

Other recipes with cucumbers I will try in the near future:

• Cucumber Soup
• Cucumber Tea Sandwiches
• Cucumber Salad
• Watermelon-Cucumber Juice
• Cucumber-Feta Toasts