Don't let this photo from Monday fool you...

We are expecting snow today! Crazy, right?! And "they" keep talking about what a cray winter we should be prepared for. We shall see!

It's been awhile, so here's what we're into these days:

* Jett is into building things with Duplos (and promptly knocking them down). And cars. Lots of cars! He's more or less a professional conversationalist these days, too, so that's quite fun. One of our hot topics currently os his birthday party, which will be here before we know it!

* Ryan is into makin' jamz with his new MacBook Pro (IKR).

* I'm into trying to prepare for holiday fun! Oh, and I'm also into looking forward to seeing Ryan Adams on December 6th. And I'm obsessed with that new podcast Serial.

Holla!

Summer on a Skewer

I'll admit - It's been SUPER hard to figure out my schedule/life-balance with my new work schedule. But I have faith that as it becomes more familiar, I'll be able to figure out the best time to blog, respond to emails in a more timely manner, etc.!

J and I are preparing to go to a friend's brunch this morning, and after I made my dish, I couldn't NOT take a picture - it was just too pretty! And then I realized that I must share this dish on my blog, for anyone trying to think of a yummy (and oh so seasonal) dish to bring to a party/cookout/whatever...

Here's a pic of the lovely Caprese Skewers:

I'm obviously not the first to post a Caprese Skewers recipe online, and I'm definitely not saying this is the BEST Caprese Skewers recipe out there... I just wanted to share what I did, and hopefully inspire!

Here's how I made mine:

First, I prepared my ingredients... I rinsed the fresh basil and grape tomatoes, grabbed the fresh mozzarella (it was already shaped into the perfect size for the skewers, so that was a time-saver!) and gathered my skewers. Then I simply added the ingredients to the skewers - I opted to do a tomato-basil-mozzarella-tomato-basil-mozzarella-tomato pattern, which worked very well, especially since the tomato on the end cleans up any of the mozzarella that likes to stick to the skewer. After the skewers were ready, I placed them on a foil-lined platter (just so the Italian dressing would stay contained), drizzled with a little Italian dressing and sprinkled with sea salt and pepper. 

Voila! It's really that easy.

It's such a fun recipe, since you can really change up the ingredients...  I've made them in the past with prosciutto (which was delicious!), and I've also used a variety of dressings/oil-and-vinegar combos for the drizzle. Also, you could change up the seasonings that are sprinkled on top, add more veggies, or anything, really. You could also make mini skewers using toothpicks.

So fun! And so seasonal! Enjoy!

XO

Favorites 3/28/14

A few of Jett's favorites (subject to change in 5 minutes):

- Franklin's Tower by The Grateful Dead... This one has been a favorite for a while, actually... But now he's actually asking to listen to it, which is terribly cute. Every morning during breakfast a teeny tiny voice says demands "Play roll away! Play roll away!"

- Strawberries or strawbrys, as he says. He could eat a million a day! For breakfast, we usually have a variation of the above photo. It's blueberry granola, plain Greek yogurt (we LOVE our plain Greek yogurt around here), dried cranberries and blueberries. Jett prefers his deconstructed, however, and always with an addition of strawbrys.

- Cars (the movie)... Just like his requests for Franklin's Tower, every day he requests "Watch Cars?! Watch Caaaaaaaaaaars?!" And of course, he still loves playing with his Hot Wheels, or any other cars/trucks for that matter.

Anyway, just thought I'd share. 

XO

Transitions, y'all

Such a beautiful little poem, huh? I'm really trying (hard) to keep that in mind lately...

Moving and starting a new job are always included in the "most stressful life events" lists, and this past year has been full of both of those things. First, before moving to Oklahoma, our house was on the market for eight months - stressful! Then we moved far, far away from our comfy little East Nashville neighborhood to Tulsa, which was where my husband grew up, so anything he knew about the place was circa 1997ish. Then, right away, my husband started a new job (which was in a new industry, even), and I tried to settle into stay-at-home (or stay-at-my-inlaws?) mommyhood. Fast forward 11 weeks and we were closing on our new Oklahoma home, realizing that if we wanted to pay our mortgage payments, I should probably work part-time. So then I started a few (yes, a few) part-time jobs, some I've actually loved...

And now, I'm jumping back into the full-time workforce. But I'm going to work from home. Which is awesome and scary and exciting and nerve-wracking all at the same time. I wasn't really looking for something full-time... It kinda just worked out that way. But I'm ready for this new adventure.

Which brings me back to the poem...

Sometimes it's hard to wear that smile all the time (especially on days like yesterday, when at&t had me in frustration-tears), but we gotta keep on keeping' on, huh? And I have a bright-eyed 2-year-old keeping watch on me 24/7, helping me to be accountable for every action/reaction throughout the day. :)

Oh, and just in case my moving/getting new jobs rant in paragraph 2 sounded a little too negative, I just want to mention that we LOVE our house, LOVE our new city and love (lowercase-love, haha) all of our new jobs. The only thing I'd like to go back and tell myself a year ago is to ENJOY my stay-at-home mommy time, because that precious year went by fast and I spent way to much time dwelling on financial stress. Ugh.

It's been a year of stretching, a year of growth. And boy, have we grown. So excited for what's in store! 

XO

The February Funk

So, apparently there is a thing called Seasonal Affective Disorder (or S.A.D.), which, according to the National Library of Medicine is "a type of depression that occurs at a certain time of the year, usually in the winter."

And I'm guessing that S.A.D. is most common in the lovely month of February. This month is just the pits. It feels like it's been winter FOREVER, and yet Spring seems SO far away. 

I, just like many people, I'm guessing, tend to feel a little "blah" in February. January is fun, fresh and new, with all of its resolutions and promise of a bright, shiny year ahead, so we deal with the snow and the cold. And when February hits, we're just plain O-V-E-R it, huh?

However, I had a revelation this week... I know that most of the resolution-makers see January as the best place to begin. And, yes, I've been brainstorming a list the things I'd like to change in my life since 1/1/14, but I've realized that when I typically put my plan to action is actually in February.

I blame S.A.D. (or the "February Funk", if you will) for not only pulling me down this time of year, but also for helping me to get my rear into motion. There have been quite a few Februarys in the past decade that I can remember making drastic changes. I've trained for two half marathons, and went on a two-week vegan kick (which eventually led to becoming a vegetarian), and I started all of these things in - yes - February.

And today I started training for yet another half marathon. I half believe I'm crazy, since after the Country Music Half in Nashville last year, I claimed that I wouldn't be training for another long distance race for awhile. But what can I say? The S.A.D. has gotten to me once again, forcing (helping?) me to M-O-V-E.

Plus, I need to get a little dirt on my new running shoes. :)

Anyway, I hope all of you are having the loveliest of lovely Februarys, and hopefully you don't have to train for a half marathon to alleviate the winter blues. 

Happy Saturday! XO 

uh, YUM!

Hay, y'all!

I just wanted to give a shout-out to a Tulsa restaurant we enjoyed on New Year's Day...

Dilly Deli is awesome! If you live here and haven't tried it, you're missing out. We've been on the hunt for yummy local spots since we moved here last March, and we decided (unanimously) that Dilly Deli should be placed on the list of places we'd be proud to take our out-of-town guests. 

I had the delish Green Eggs and Ham, which is crispy hashbrowns with spinach, prociutto, pesto, parmesan cheese, sundried tomatoes and 2 fried eggs. Basically YUM on a plate. Those joining me (Ryan, Jett & Linny) loved what they had, too, but my memory can't be bothered to recall the details of what they ate.

Here are a few pics from our first of many trips to Dilly Deli:

Oh, and check their website for the menu, as well as their fun weekly happenings (kids eat free on Thursdays!). And don't let the fact that they're downtown scare you away... Parking is way easy. Much different than the Nashvegas Downtown craziness we're used to.

XO

Goal writing

I start every year with my "staple" resolutions of exercising more, eating better, reading/writing more, and being an all-around better mother/person/wife/friend/sister/daughter/etc.

This year, though, I've been thinking beyond simple resolutions... I've been thinking about the act of setting goals and actually achieving them. Big, serious stuff!

One thing I've heard a lot about lately is the fact that writing your goals down makes you much more likely to achieve them. Why? Maybe it's because we feel more committed when we've put pen to paper? Or maybe it's just because we have a physical reminder once those goals can be seen daily on a piece of paper? I'm not sure why this is, but it definitely deserves a chance. If nothing else, it'll help me to conceptualize some of the goals floating around my head.

Any other goal-setting/achieving tips i shoould be aware of? Do you write down your goals?

XO

Franklin's Tower

Jett and I were just perusing Spotify, listening to the new Head and the Heart album, when he informed me (in his own special way, hehe) that he wanted to listen something else.

He's always loved the Grateful Dead, so I put on a little dance tune (Franklin's Tower, which we've been playing for him since he was a newborn) and he was so excited! Not only did we have a little dance party, we also had a sing-along (one of the first for him, as far as I can remember)!

So, watch the following video, and just imagine Jett singing "roll away... the dew!". And if you want some fun, happy music that your baby is sure to love, play some Dead!

Haul out the holly!

Hey y'all! I hope you're enjoying this most wonderful time of the year!

We've kept ourselves mighty busy, and I have to admit... When your holi-DO list is a mile long, things can get a little stressful.

And then you start feeling a little under the weather, and then, well, things are even MORE stressful, because not only are you blatantly failing to meet your holi-DO deadlines, you're also feeling not-so-hot and therefore upset that you're not enjoying this time of year as much as you SHOULD be.

I am guilty of letting the holi-DO list/deadline stress get to me... And, yes, I haven't been feeling so great. 

BUT! Here we are, just three days before Christmas, and I'm determined to make them full of peace, love and JOY. It's easy to let the stress get to us, isn't it? Sometimes we just have to take a step back and focus on the reason of the season. 

Here's a cute picture that I snapped last weekend at a friends' house. We were invited over to make Christmas cookies, and it was such a lovely time! I think we might try to make some gingerbread men this week, too, just to round out the holiday baking fun! 

I hope you're having a relaxing weekend, enjoying family and friends!

XO

20 - 23 months!

I'm *ahem* just a little behind on my monthly updates! Ha! 

It's so fun to look at four of these together, though, to see how much he's grown in such a short time! I'm so excited to compile ALL of the pictures (We will have 22 after his 24-month photo... I bought them when he was already a couple months old. We might have to rely on ol' Photoshop for months 1 & 2!). 

Here's what he's up to now:

Talking! He "talks" all the time, and loves to say hello and goodbye... And he's very polite with his frequent use of "thank you"! He also really likes to talk about cars and trucks and`calls most SUVs "Hummers". He loves to point out kittys and dogs too! He's great with names, and gets very excited when we talk about family coming to visit!

Running! Instead of merely walking, it's usually a run/walk for Jett. Ha! He's pretty quick, and I'm sure he'll be at a full-blown sprint in no time!

He is loving his pre-school and has already made some friends. In fact, he was sitting "very closely" near a girl in his class the other day and even put his hand on her arm! A little heartbreaker already! Last month when they were working on a Thanksgiving activity, he actually answered his teachers when they asked what he was thankful for. "Dad", he said. And while I would've loved a mention (LOL), I'm proud of him for understanding! His teachers also told us that one day he was trying to share his lunch with a classmate. Love it!

He is really loving playgrounds now, especially slides! Sometimes he can be a little risk-taker and wants to go on the big kid playgrounds!

We (affectionately) call him "Bam Bam" every now and then when he's being especially rough at home. Lately, he has been wanting to run on the couch, bounce against the side and fall flat on his back. He loves to make his momma nervous! 

He's also loving music, and LOVES to dance! His daddy's (and Uncle Walker's) guitars are probably his favorite things in the world, and he also loves his little drum set!

We've been enjoying getting into the Christmas spirit around here! Jett loves our Christmas tree (our first real one in YEARS!), and we hope to pay a visit to Santa soon!

That's what we've been up to lately! It's hard to believe our little guy will be TWO in less than a month! 

XO

Saturday things!

Hey y'all! Here's what's going on in my world...

1) The above picture was from a meal my husband called "the best meal I've ever made", to which I responded, "Ever?", naturally... But really, guys... Make this one. Fairly easy, and so, so good! It's Real Simple's Chicken & Dumplings. Oh, and the "best meal" comment came after a little *ahem* discussion about his distaste for onions, and his concern of the "large pile of onions" I had included. Ha!

2) Speaking of delicious recipes, I also made this baked ziti this week. YUM! I just discovered the website where you'll find the recipe... It was started by the Pioneer Woman herself - I'm looking forward to exploring!

3) If you live in the Tulsa area, Whole Foods is having some unreal deals throughout the next month... Check their Facebook for deets.

4) On one more food-related note... With the mother of all culinary holidays right around the corner, I've been doing a little pie research. Since my sister and I usually host the dinner, I'm not used to not making the entire meal. Therefore, the pumpkin pie I make (the one thing I'm in charge of) must be the most delicious! Ever! I've been eyeing this recipe. Thoughts?!

Happy weekend, y'all! XO

we heart nashville

A couple months ago, Ryan and I celebrated our 10th (TENTH!) anniversary, and decided that there was nowhere we'd rather spend it than Nashville.

Okay, maybe we could've gone for a trip to Paris, or San Francisco, or NYC... But Nashville was a close runner-up. :)

I'm so glad we were able to call Nashville "home" for nearly seven years... I'll always have a soft spot in my heart for the place. And since we still have lots of family and friends in the area, we'll definitely be back often! 

After rolling into town at 3 a.m. (I'm seriously too old for that... It took me at least a day to recover!), we enjoyed a full day - I was able to attend a baby shower for a dear friend, and we had a family hair appointment at Salon Bouge, LOL.

And of course, this wasn't just your average family hair appointment... It was Jett's FIRST haircut! He did great (I'm sure the Yo Gabba Gabba on the iPhone helped a little!).

He also had a chance to catch up with a lady friend at Aunt Ali's salon...

That night was our big anniversary celebration! When we were planning, it was hard for us to decide between the tried and true (Rumours East) and the new and noteworthy (Rolf & Daughters), so we did both!

We went to our absolute favorite place ever - Rumours East - for some wine and cheese outside on the lawn, and then hopped over to Germantown to check out a newish restaurant that's been getting a ton of buzz (and that I hadn't been able to get reservations at in the past!) - Rolf & Daughters.

Both were fabulous, but, really, I can't imagine the experience at Rumours East being more perfect! If you're ever in Nashville, GO THERE!

At Rolf & Daughters, one of the things that we shared was the squid ink pasta. It was seriously the best pasta I've ever had - I most definitely recommend it!

Rolf & Daughters also has fabulous cocktails!

The next day, we hung out with Cici, and enjoyed a little Chuy's after doing a little H&M shopping...

That evening, we met some friends at an old fave, Silly Goose. Because, really, what's a trip back to Nashville without a little King Kong?

It was so fun catching up with these lovely ladies! And look at cute pregnant Mende (second from left)... She doesn't look 32 weeks pregnant, does she?

On Sunday, we were invited to the Bouge Estate (my words, not theirs, LOL) for a most fabulous brunch. Their house and surrounding property is so lovely, I didn't want to leave!

But, alas, we had to leave, as there was somewhere we had to be... The Titans/Jets game! And what a game it was!

Oh, and this last picture is from after we returned home... It was my most treasured "souvenir"... A bag full of TJ's goodies!

So, until next time, Nashville! Love ya! XO

TGIF Things!

As we are now SPRINTING through this most wonderful (and busiest) time of year, I'm reminded to take time to do those things that are important to me, like:

1) Spending time with my little guy! We've had a blast enjoying these warmer than usual days at the park, and he's officially a fan of Starbucks now (he loves the hot chocolate!).

2) Cooking nutritious and delicious meals for my family!! Of course, it's nice to take short cuts on some nights (Hello takeout!), but there's nothing better than sitting down with loved ones to share a home-cooked meal. On Tuesday night, I made Real Simple's Baked Chicken Parmesan which was a big hit in my house! I ended up only using 2 chicken breasts, though, which worked totally fine with this recipe. Also this week, I made some yummy (and super simple) stuffed mushrooms to take to a dinner party. I'll post the recipe soon!  

3) Soaking up the beauty of the gold/orange/crimson leaves, which are now starting to fall to the ground (so sad!). It seemed like one day, all of a sudden, the trees exploded with color... And now, only a couple weeks later, that window is starting to close.

So, happy Friday, y'all! Have a wonderful weekend! XO

FALL in love

Hey y'all!

I've been completely HORRIBLE about blogging lately. We've had so much going on in this little family of ours (good, productive things!), I'm surprised I actually remembered to brush my teeth before running out the door this morning.

After months of stay-at-home-mommyhood, I've rejoined the working world. But my part-time jobs (yes - there are TWO of them.) aren't like anything I've ever done before. Doing things so different from the norm is refreshing, but also a little exhausting! My next big career-related thing is in January, so things may be completely changing once again - we'll see! Right now, I'm just taking advantage of these out-of-my-comfort-zone experiences and thinking of this time as a period of growth. What that really means, I'm not sure yet, but do we really ever know exactly what we're doing?

Amidst all of our changes around here, we've been trying to enjoy the last bit of fall. The leaves have exploded and now frame the quaint neighborhood streets with gold, crimson and burnt orange. My favorite fall sky is a grey one, so that I can see the brilliance of the colors against a neutral background. Gorgeous!

Anyway, yes... Super bizzy, but I just HAD to post these cute pics of our trip to Carmichael's Pumpkin Patch in Bixby - such a wonderful place!!

Have a happy week! XO