can you tell i don't feel good?

my pictures are all crooked and i haven't bothered to straighten them
yucky dishes in the sink

unmade bed (for 2 days)

piles of laundry

my house is rarely this messy, but instead of straightening up, all i feel like doing is reading blogs and taking naps.

at least my living room looks nice and straight. i hadn't shown pics of the living room since we rearranged the furniture. we took out the coffee table and switched the couch and chairs around...it feels way more open to me, and i can finally utilize the bar behind the couch...so if you see any great bar stools, let me know!

and we got sadie's stroller! my grandparents bought it for us and it's really cute!

and i went to the doctor today. my lungs looked clear but he wanted me to take tamiflu as a preventitive measure. since i was already there, he did my 24 week appt. i've gained a total of 12 pounds and am measuring exactly 24 weeks, so technically i'm measuring a week further along than i thought! i had a lot of questions for him because i am getting our birth plan together. did any of you have formal birth plans? like exactly what you want to happen during labor and delivery? i know things most likely won't go exactly the way i plan, but i think it's good to have specific things written down (if you want pain meds, thoughts on induction and c-section, etc.)

i hope you are enjoying this monday more than me! byebye!

sick days

sick days cramp my style. i stay really busy most of the time, even if i'm just at home. but when i'm sick and don't feel like doing anything at all, i sit around and think about what needs to be done and how i don't have the energy to do it. i have been feeling bad since wednesday, but the last two days have been not fun at all. i think i have bronchitis...my chest is so heavy and i am coughing like crazy. so i've been guzzling orange juice and water and taking robitussin dm.

so because i've stayed home all weekend, i have gotten to see a couple of movies i hadn't seen. hannah montana was so cute and sweet, and duplicity was confusing but good! i still want to see love happens, but i'm honestly afraid to go to the germy movie theater to see it...we have had major outbreaks of swine flu here, so i am limiting the amount of time i spend in crowded places right now!

let's see...how about a pregnancy update? as of last week, i've gained 11 pounds. my next appt. is thursday, and i'm expecting a total weight gain of at least 14-15 pounds. i am officially a chunky monkey now! i'm starting to get the dark line running down my tummy, which is kind of funny looking. sadie is kicking so much! she loves it when her daddy reads her a bible story at night and gets really active when he begins to read to her. she weighs over a pound now and is the size of a baby doll. she can hear everything i hear, and i read that she can also feel the motion when i dance (so i guess i better start dancing more and see if she likes it! hehe) here i am at 23 weeks... i'm hoping tommorrow i feel like making some banana bread! it is one of my favorite homemade snacks. heated with a little butter...yum! here is a new recipe that i haven't tried yet. i'll let you know if it's good!

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 cups walnuts, toasted and chopped coarse

3/4 cup sugar

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 very ripe, soft, darkly speckled large bananas, mashed well (about 1 1/2 cups)

1/4 cup plain yogurt

2 large eggs, beaten lightly

6 tbsp of unsalted butter, melted and cooled

1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1. Turn on the oven to 350F.

2. Butter and flour the bottom of a loaf pan.

3. Mix the mashed banana, eggs, yogurt, melted butter and vanilla in a large bowl.

4. Stir the walnuts into the banana mixture (doing so will reduce the risk of over-mixing).

5. Sift flour, sugar, salt and baking soda into the banana mixture.

6. Using a rubber spatula, very gently mix the flour with the wet ingredients. Stop as soon as the dry ingredients are moistened. The batter should be chunky instead of smooth. If you have a smooth batter, then you will end up with a tough banana bread.

7. Bake for 55 minutes or until a wooden skewer comes out clean after inserted into the bread.

8. Let the bread cool in the pan; slice and serve.

{new loves}-edited-more symphony pics

good morning! it is a gorgeous day here...sunny and cool. last night was the symphony. can i just say (to quote rachel zoe) it was ah-mazing and bananas! after the intermission, the pianist came out with NO SHEET MUSIC and played brahms concerto in d minor for AN HOUR. i have 2 pages of fur elise memorized and think i'm doing fine ;) but really, it was incredible and moving. we were talking after the performance, and you can tell he doesn't think the music, he just feels it...to know the entire piece from memory and to know at just what exact moments to play and not to play with the orchestra playing behind you the whole time is genius!

mom got much better pictures than i did of us actually in the symphony hall. i'll post those when she emails them to me...these are the only pics i got of us at cheddar's getting a snack after the symphony.

now for my friday new loves...i have narrowed down my choices for a baby bag. and these are the top 2 picks. which do you like better? (oh and i bought a beautiful diaper bag organizer from LAF brand so i can use a regular purse instead of using a traditional diaper bag)

and i am so ready to buy boots for the fall. i am LOVING tall, flat boots right now!

i found these on piperlime...the first are anne klein

these are ralph lauren

these are steve madden

lastly, if you need a great laugh and some yummy recipes for quesadillas, check out cjane's blog today...this video is too funny!

http://blog.cjanerun.com/2009/09/cheesy.html

happy friday!

houses and football

it's been a chilly fall week here...such nice weather for pajama wearing and snuggling!

we closed on the spec house we built on tuesday! yea! i really loved this house and wanted to move in it...but i want to move into every house we build ;) i used a lot of the same colors and ideas from our personal home in designing this one, and i love the way it turned out.

here is the front elevation... here is the kitchen...

one of my former bosses ended up buying the house, so it's cool to personally know the family that will be living there!

now for very important news...mike finally got his trophy for being the fantasy football champ last season. he is now a 2 time ff champion and i hoping for his 3rd win this season! way to go babe!

22 weeks

today has been a good day. i did laundry, got a cute top for my pregnancy pics in october, and bought groceries! and sadie's bedding was delivered...it's so beautiful!!

here i am at 22 weeks...

and here is my menu for the week:

monday-roasted chicken with red potatoes and cream of mushroom soup

tuesday-eat out

wednesday-pancakes, bacon, scrambled eggs

thursday- parmesan crusted tilapia, couscous, and steamed broccoli

friday-roasted chicken w/cream of chicken soup, sweet potato, pinto beans, corn bread

saturday-eat out

sunday-corn bread, sausage, fresh veggies & dip

monday- soft tacos with ground beef, fresh guacamole and salsa

tuesday- leftovers

have you seen this movie? we haven't yet, but it looks really cute!

we are going to see this guy, nikolaas kende, at the waco symphony orchestra on thursday night. he'll be playing selections from beethoven, mendelssohn, and brahms...i'm super excited! i love listening to the piano-it always makes me want to practice more, and it makes me think i should be a lot better than i am, since my mother was a piano teacher, and i've played all my life {wink}

friday night dinner

the dinner turned out so good! it tasted great, but i was so anxious to eat, i forgot to take pics of the food before we dug in!

i love raffia tied around anything. don't you?!

i got the yeast rolls in the freezer section. they were already cooked, just needed heating up for about 10 minutes...but they tasted homemade. so good!!

after dinner, tim and kali brought the movie 'state of play' with ben affleck and rusell crowe. it was really suspenseful and had me guessing until the very end.

saturday afternoon, we stayed around the house, then registered for some baby stuff at target and got whataburger for dinner.

there's been a LOT of football watching at our house too! right now, we are watching the steelers and bears play...really i'm just blogging and mike's watching. and he's so happy because uc berkeley is now ranked #6 after usc and byu's loss, and cal's win over minnesota. go golden bears!

{new loves}

i accidentally hit 'post' without writing anything, so this is my 2nd attempt at this post. sorry.

do you love sweaters? i do. and here are some of my new favorites for the fall...the first three are from anthro and the last is from banana.

tonight i'm making a big dinner that i'm so excited about eating, i dreamed about it this morning! ha! i was inspired to cook a ham after jennifer told me she made one last weekend. it sounded so yum (thanks jen!)...i'm making a ham, homemade mashed potatoes, green beans, yeast rolls, and a pumpkin pie. i'll try to post pics of it this weekend!

oh, and on my last post, from the pics, it looked like we bought a black crib for sadie, but we bought that crib in white! that was just the floor display...

trip to plano and fall decor

yesterday mom and i drove to plano to spend the day with susanne...we had so much fun! susanne is in the middle of her 21 day cleanse, and it was her first day getting to eat chicken/fish, so as soon as we got there, we drove to pho mac...the most wonderful vietnamese food ever. if you live anywhere remotely close to plano, you have to eat there and get menu item B8!
i cannot begin to describe how wonderful this dish is! it's a cut up chicken breast over rice noodles, with fresh carrots, lettuce, and cucumber, and a delicious spring roll. you dip your food into the sauce which is vinegar and red pepper flakes.

we shopped around and picked up mckinlee from school. she looks and acts so grown up now...it's too cute! then we went back to susanne's and watch sadie's ultrasound video and they gave me some of mck's cute baby clothes and toys for sadie...our last stop was lone star baby, which is a fantastic baby/kids store with gorgeous furniture, bedding, and tons of other stuff. this is mom and i standing next to sadie's crib (which mom and les so generously bought...thank you!!)

i could have stayed in this store for hours!

i loved this high chair and it would go perfectly in my black & white kitchen...this may be a future purchase!

so today, i had a ton of errands to run...one of which was going to hobby lobby to stock up on fall decor. they have all the flowers and wall hangings on sale this week, so i picked up a few things...

here are the cubbies in our mud room

a new flower arrangement for the dining table

our entry table

and the front door

i already had this urn so i just added the flowers/greenery, but needed filler...so i used leopard tissue paper and bunched up pieces of a j.crew bag to fill in (i'm thinking i may get some of that stuff that looks like twigs in a birds nest, but this was a short term solution)

and i loved this sweet autumn sign

happy fall!

headbands and heartburn

i hope you had a great weekend! ours was nice, but R-A-I-N-Y...all weekend long. i'm not complaining though because i love the rain and dark, cloudy weather. and with rain, came cooler temps which is fantastic. we took a walk tonight, and i actually got chilled.

i've been making flower headbands for sadie. i saw all these adorable ones on etsy for like $12 a piece, and decided i could make them for MUCH LESS...so i bought the flowers, bling for the centers, alligator clips, and ribbon at hobby lobby, and i ordered the headbands (crocheted and nylon) online at a wholesaler. so now i have all these flower headbands made for about $40, where i would've spent that on about 4 headbands on etsy!

and here is my 21 week picture...she has really started kicking these last couple of weeks. she's quite active, but not so much a morning person (just like me;)

saturday, we met some friends in temple at bj's...the best restaurant! they had a special where you got a huge pizza, two salads, and this dessert called a pazookie for $20. we ordered it and i specifically asked for no huge tomato chunks on my pizza, but the waiter forgot to tell the kitchen, so he brought us a second pizza for free. so i ate a huge salad, pizza, and this dessert, and was so uncomfortably full afterwards!! i HAVE to remember to eat smaller meals, which i usually try to do, but sadie was not digging all that food!

here is the pazookie, which is a huge choc. chip cookie with ice cream on top...

and i took 4 or 5 pics of kevin, cheryl, and katie but my flash wasn't working...

so i finally got the flash to work, and didn't realize kevin had his eyes closed!

and here is braely, corey, luke, and amelia...happy 7th anniversary today!!